Global Market Watch
The Global Market Watch is posted on this site under that menu – not in the blog. The data is download from CSI.
Medicare is Seizing Estates of anyone over 55.
Submitted by Glen Downs:
“So here’s the deal: since 1993 there has been a federal law requiring states to recover at least some of the costs of Medicaid-covered medical care for anyone 55 years old and up, from the estates of those covered.
States enforce this law, with their own laws and policies added in, differently in every state. But the general principle is there. Up until now the usual consequence has been things like this: Medicaid puts a lien on the house of someone in a nursing facility who has run out of money, and after they die, the heirs find they have to buy the house back from the state if they want it.
We haven’t had lots of people younger than 65 on Medicaid, because in most states simply earning less than the Federal Poverty Level did not qualify one for Medicaid.
And we haven’t had many people with lots of assets on Medicaid, because in most places you have to have less than around $2400 to your name before Medicaid will cover you. You can keep your house and your car, but Medicaid reserves the right to put liens on them and take them when you die.
But now we have the Affordable Care Act, and its expectation that everyone in the lower tier of income will end up in the Medicaid system. To accomplish this, they have dropped the asset test. So now we will have lots of people ages 55-64, who have assets but not a lot of income right now, for whatever reason, on Medicaid.
The kicker of it is, if you make the right amount to qualify for a subsidized health insurance plan, your costs are going to be shared and subsidized by the government. But if you go on Medicaid, you owe the entire amount that Medicaid spends on you from the day you turn 55.”
States enforce this law, with their own laws and policies added in, differently in every state. But the general principle is there. Up until now the usual consequence has been things like this: Medicaid puts a lien on the house of someone in a nursing facility who has run out of money, and after they die, the heirs find they have to buy the house back from the state if they want it.
We haven’t had lots of people younger than 65 on Medicaid, because in most states simply earning less than the Federal Poverty Level did not qualify one for Medicaid.
And we haven’t had many people with lots of assets on Medicaid, because in most places you have to have less than around $2400 to your name before Medicaid will cover you. You can keep your house and your car, but Medicaid reserves the right to put liens on them and take them when you die.
But now we have the Affordable Care Act, and its expectation that everyone in the lower tier of income will end up in the Medicaid system. To accomplish this, they have dropped the asset test. So now we will have lots of people ages 55-64, who have assets but not a lot of income right now, for whatever reason, on Medicaid.
The kicker of it is, if you make the right amount to qualify for a subsidized health insurance plan, your costs are going to be shared and subsidized by the government. But if you go on Medicaid, you owe the entire amount that Medicaid spends on you from the day you turn 55.”
The NSA Is Changing the Behavior of the World
Merkel said that the difference between the NSA and the East German Stasi, is that the Stasi did not get caught. The backlash against the USA is really off the charts. The US press will not report just how damaging this has become internationally. Now in Germany as in Switzerland and even down in Brazil, everyone is looking at creating domestic internet facilities that are NSA proof. The NSA having to know what everyone is doing and thinking is just tearing the world apart at the seams. What is the point of being in a relationship if you do not trust your partner? How long would it last if everything they did you questioned? What goes for a personal romantic relationship is the same in politics on a global scale. If you do not trust your allies, guess what – it is divorce time, This why the NSA needs the biggest storage facility in the world – to store not just every American phone call and email, but the whole world! These people who feel such a need trust nobody, and thus reveal that they themselves are not trustworthy for they judge others by themselves. And when you question them, they say see, you must be dishonest or you world not question them. The only resolution become divorce.
Stuxnet Worm
News is breaking that the famous Stuxnet Worm that the US and Israel developed to infiltrate the Iranian nuclear systems, may have also infiltrated Russia, asreported by RT.
Stuxnet is a computer worm that was discovered back in June 2010 and is believed to have been created by the US and Israel agencies to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Stuxnet Worm initially spreads via Microsoft Windows (of course), and targets Siemens industrial control systems and that is the key. This is the first discovered malware that actually spies on and subverts industrial systems that also includes a programmable logic controller (PLC) rootkit.
The Stuxnet Worm initially spreads indiscriminately, but includes a highly specialized malware payload that is designed to target only Siemens supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems that are configured to control and monitor specific industrial processes. Stuxnet infects these PLCs by subverting the Step-7 software application that is used to reprogram these devices.
Several versions of the Stuxnet Worm targeted 5 Iranian organizations, with the probable target widely suspected to be uranium enrichment infrastructure in Iran. Symantec anti-virus noted back in August 2010 that 60% of the infected computers worldwide were in Iran. The Worm does not cause actual damage allow it to exist without detection. However, some reports that Siemens equipment procured secretly around the embargo, has been damaged.
This level of cost leads to the conclusion that a major attack of this nature would be far too expensive and yield no commercial benefit leading to the conclusion that this is carried out by top national security that cares not about the cost. This view became supported when F-Secure’s chief researcher Mikko Hyppönen who commented in a Stuxnet FAQ, “That’s what it would look like, yes”. It has been speculated that Israel and the United States were behind the creation of the Stuxnet Worm.
Euro – Germany – Trade
QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, it was great to have you here in Europe. You mentioned before that Germany needs the euro to maintain its trade surplus with Europe. There seems to be a rising tide that is starting to recognize that, especially here in Greece. Is this the seeds of the collapse of the euro?
ANSWER: There is little doubt that Germany’s greatest benefit from the euro is to be able to sell its products to all of Europe without currency wars. Germany is the core economy of Europe and the strength behind the euro. However, it will defend its trades surplus for if that fails, there ia zero reason to support the Euro for the capital will flow out of Germany not in. The core European nation’s export strength gives a false sense of security to the Euro for on a collective basis, it is merely a redistribution of wealth and income within Europe if you take the Marxist/Socialist view, which will no doubt become a popular viewpoint in Europe.
Keeping Europe in tact with a strong Euro benefits Germany at the expense of the periphery that is subjected to DEFLATION and German Austerity that is damaging Southern Europe’s economy and driving up both taxes and unemployment. This view is starting to gather steam behind closed doors. Many in Europe are now starting to probe Germany’s trade surplus. Even the IMF is now urging German Chancellor Angela Merkel to reduce its trade surplus to help its euro partners cut trade deficits to boost their economies.
So yes, this is the seed of destruction. Because there was no consolidation of national debts, there is still behind the Euro this image of separate but equal, when it is in fact separate and distinct. There was a single currency, without the backbone structure to support it. Consequently, the Euro runs the risk of complete collapse, but a Euro decline will then upset Germany and then the silver strings that bind the nations together will be stretched to the limit. Of course, you have the EU Commission that has eliminated democracy in Europe and they will seek to keep it together to merely keep their jobs and power-base. We are silently witnessing the federalization of Europe in which the people will have no say. So the likelihood of the Euro going off the boards entirely is not great unless the tide turns against the EU Commission as well,
Last week’s interest rate cut by the ECB surprised everyone, but it is very bad news not good news.The markets are still interpreting interest rates with a Marxist slant insofar as this stupidly believe lower interest rates are bullish rather than a sign that the economy is not borrowing for it fails to see an opportunity. The lower rates deprive savers and elderly of income and send pension funds into insolvency. This was a sign that the worst is by no means over for Europe.