INSERT INTO `wpzp_posts` VALUES
(1806, 3, '2016-04-27 11:07:45', '2016-04-27 15:07:45', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;">Click Here <span style="color: #000000;">to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County is mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all of North Carolina.\r\n\r\nWhen the mills began shutting down, those with marketable skills left to seek employment elsewhere. Some stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is, it''s inefficient and often corrupt, placing a parasitic drag on otherwise productive economic activity. All too often government is little more than a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested model has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are unique. When an employee becomes ''vested'', they can often move to a new government job and begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, some government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately, has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nThe key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nDo we need more taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats?\r\n\r\nHow about more highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days? What about more programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''?\r\n\r\nShould we bulldoze additional commercial properties, making way for more taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks? How about Laurinburg''s new multi-million dollar City Hall/Police Department?\r\n\r\nWhat about arresting more potheads, building more prisons, jails and lockups?\r\n\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<a href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or support (at) carolinacrossroads (dot) news</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-27 11:07:45', '2016-04-27 15:07:45', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1807, 3, '2016-04-27 11:10:56', '2016-04-27 15:10:56', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County is mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all of North Carolina.\r\n\r\nWhen the mills began shutting down, those with marketable skills left to seek employment elsewhere. Some stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is, it''s inefficient and often corrupt, placing a parasitic drag on otherwise productive economic activity. All too often government is little more than a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested model has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are unique. When an employee becomes ''vested'', they can often move to a new government job and begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, some government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately, has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nThe key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nDo we need more taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats?\r\n\r\nHow about more highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days? What about more programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''?\r\n\r\nShould we bulldoze additional commercial properties, making way for more taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks? How about Laurinburg''s new multi-million dollar City Hall/Police Department?\r\n\r\nWhat about arresting more potheads, building more prisons, jails and lockups?\r\n\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-27 11:10:56', '2016-04-27 15:10:56', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1808, 3, '2016-04-28 12:41:37', '2016-04-28 16:41:37', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County is mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all of North Carolina.\r\n\r\nWhen the mills began shutting down, those with marketable skills left to seek employment elsewhere. Some stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is, it''s inefficient and often corrupt, placing a parasitic drag on otherwise productive economic activity. All too often government is little more than a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested model has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are unique. When an employee becomes ''vested'', they can often move to a new government job and begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, some government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately, has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nThe key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nDo we need more taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats?\r\n\r\nHow about more highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days? What about more programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''?\r\n\r\nShould we bulldoze additional commercial properties, making way for more taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks? How about Laurinburg''s new multi-million dollar City Hall/Police Department?\r\n\r\nWhat about arresting more potheads, building more prisons, jails and lockups?\r\n\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 12:41:37', '2016-04-28 16:41:37', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1811, 1, '2016-04-28 13:58:39', '2016-04-28 17:58:39', '<ol>\r\n 	<li><strong><span style="color: #008000;">http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/federal-asset-forfeiture-program-already-back-in-business.html</span></strong></li>\r\n</ol>\r\n<strong><span style="color: #008000;">2. Cop and FBI Agent Beat Wrong Suspect, Deleted Videos by Witnesses:</span></strong>\r\n<strong><span style="color: #008000;">http://youtu.be/4J4VR4gFlwU</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #008000;">3. San Antonio Cop Body Slams 12-Year Old Girl Knocking Her Out</span></strong>\r\n<strong><span style="color: #008000;">http://youtu.be/g8Kx_bscRMo</span></strong>\r\n\r\nTo be sure, there are plenty of bad guys and Law Enforcement stands between them and us. Their service is greatly appreciated and in exchange they are well compensated.\r\n\r\nThe Police are our employees. They work for us. They are paid with our tax dollars.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Americans are not required to obey laws that are unlawful or unconstitutional, nor is Law Enforcement empowered to enforce laws that defy the Constitution.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1021 alignright" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/we-support-our-police-300x198.jpg" alt="we-support-our-police" width="300" height="198" />\r\n\r\nDoes local law enforcement now feel it needs a cheerleading squad to post signs of support?\r\n\r\nIt''s true, the internet is brimming with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">videos</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(3)</span> showing Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) harassing, abusing, pepper spraying, tasing, beating, robbing, arresting, shooting and killing innocent citizens.\r\n\r\nLEOs are using powerful, unlawful means like <span style="color: #0000ff;">''<a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/who-is-spying-on-you/" target="_blank">Stingrays</a>''</span> to collect private information, conversations and metadata on <strong>each and every citizen, </strong>regardless of whether we are suspected of criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLEOs routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://youtu.be/kfzwjd8EWdo" target="_blank">stop citizens</a> </span>going about their normal business, in a ''supposed'' effort to prevent crime.\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1601 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/police-shaking-person-upside-down-300x168.png" alt="police-shaking-person-upside-down" width="300" height="168" />FBI statistics disclose that in 2014 alone $4.5 billion was <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">stolen</a></span> from the American people.\r\n\r\nHomes, cars, business assets and cash are being routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.naturalnews.com/041828_cops_innocent_civilians_civil_forfeit ure.html" target="_blank">seized</a></span>, without any charges filed or even the pretense of illegality or wrongdoing.\r\n\r\nIn contrast, the FBI states that only $3.5 billion was lost due to actual burglaries. <strong><em>That’s right; according to our own FBI, the vast majority of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">thefts</span></span></em></strong><em> (1)</em><strong><em> are being committed not by burglars, but by Police</em>. </strong>Many Departments now build <em>''theft''</em> right into budgets so they can plan in advance how much to steal.<strong>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nIs it any wonder Americans increasingly view Police as dangerous predators? Should honest, God fearing citizens be forced to cower before those paid to serve and protect us?\r\n\r\nPolice recruits are trained to view the American people as ''the enemy''. LEOs are increasingly becoming mafia style enforcers who make sure we don''t forget who’s really in charge?\r\n\r\nLEOs are often ex military, and while there can be valuable synergies between the two, there are important and fundamental differences as well.\r\n\r\nThose drawn to military and law enforcement careers often express a strong preference for <strong><em>order</em></strong> and <strong><em>control,</em></strong> versus <em><strong>individual freedom</strong></em> and <em><strong>liberty</strong></em>. This might work well in a military setting, but it can make things very difficult when it comes to achieving the <em><strong>right balance</strong></em> needed to ensure peace, security, freedom and liberty in an open society. LEOs must walk a fine line, theirs has never been an easy mission.\r\n\r\nMany Departments screen potential recruits, eliminating those with high IQ''s, as intelligent individuals are more likely to question orders that are illegal, wrong, immoral or unconstitutional. Why is law enforcement purposely rejecting the very people our society needs most fill these positions at such a critical time in our republic''s history?\r\n\r\nAs if to spray gasoline on an already blazing fire, Legislators pass tons of laws each year, most of which are neither well thought out or needed. The legislative process does not ensure laws are <em>just, lawful or constitutiona</em>l.\r\n\r\nMost legislation isn''t even written by the legislators we elect, but rather by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">professional lobbyists</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> in the employ of large corporations. Legislators routinely vote for Bills they''ve never seen, let alone read. Such <em><strong>Legislative abuse places an enormous burden upon LEOs </strong></em>who take a solemn oath to enforce the laws and defend the Constitution. How can LEOs defend that which millions of Americans have sacrificed, fought and died to preserve if we don''t give them clear, lawful directions?\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse, Washington DC now showers state and local law enforcement with virtually unlimited taxpayer funded <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">grants</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/federal-law-enforcement-grants-and-crime-rates-no-connection-except-for-waste-and-abuse </span>to acquire gnarly war wagons, military style combat gear, sophisticated surveillance technology, ALRs (automatic license plate readers) and the latest in crowd control. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Law Enforcement and Soldiers going off to war. <em><strong>This poses a systemic threat to our nation, our freedoms and liberty.</strong></em>\r\n\r\nDepartments are equipping vehicles with Dash Cams and officers with Body Cams in a ''stated effort'' to reign in rogue behavior, supposedly introducing transparency and accountability. This sounds great until one realizes that Officers are able to selectively turn cameras <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>on and off</em></strong> </span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">(2)</span> to suit their needs, and despite claims to the contrary, can and do <strong><em>edit footage</em></strong> when necessary to make sure videos fit the narrative they want told.\r\n\r\nWe’ve attended community programs sponsored by Local Law Enforcement, and quite frankly, came away disappointed. There appears to be little understanding and even less interest regarding the role today’s policing is expected to play if we are to successfully battle crime, while remaining a free people in an open society.\r\n\r\nOfficers appear more interested in controlling and manipulating dialogue and public perceptions rather than doing the hard work needed to address increasingly brazen criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLocal Law Enforcement agencies are among those feeding at the <em><strong>Federal</strong></em> taxpayer trough to acquire the latest gadgets, gear and surveillance equipment. In exchange they agree to share information (through <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">fusion centers</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/16942-dhs-creates-new-fusion-centers-taking-control-of-local-police<span style="color: #000000;">)</span> </span>with Federal agencies that could not otherwise legally possess such information.\r\n\r\nThis seemingly innocent exchange <strong>is<em> extremely short sighted </em></strong><em><strong>and potentially very dangerous. </strong></em>By the time Americans discover the all too real dangers, it could be too late. <em><strong>Once a nationwide Police State is firmly established, there won''t be any going back.\r\n</strong></em>\r\n\r\nThose who know their history understand that <em><strong>what''s going on today is an exact replay of what happened in Hitler''s Nazi Germany</strong></em>, only with today''s much advanced technology.\r\n\r\nA large and growing number of Law Enforcement officials are themselves extremely concerned and have formed the <a href="http://cspoa.org/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>CSPOA</strong></span></span></a> (Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association) in an effort to protect our nation. Local law enforcement officials are not members of this group.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Our Law Enforcement exists to serve and protect u</em>s</strong>, not roll out the red carpet for Washington''s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">schemers, scammers, kleptocrats and psychopaths </span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span>.\r\n\r\n<em><b>"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety". </b></em>Benjamin Franklin<b>\r\n</b>\r\n\r\nNumerous attempts were made to engage Laurinburg Police Chief Darwin Williams and Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey regarding the issues raised in this article. No response was received.\r\n\r\n<address>Sources:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">David Stockman''s Contra Corner</a></address><address>Natural News</address>&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/privacy-surveillance-spying-video/" target="_blank">Privacy, Surveillance, Spying (VIDEO)</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/mayor-police-chief-poised-to-shift-gears/" target="_blank">Mayor &amp; Police Chief Poised to Shift Gears</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/we-support-our-police-part-1/" target="_blank">We Support Our Police</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Do Police Need a Cheerleading Squad?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1258-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 13:58:39', '2016-04-28 17:58:39', '', 1258, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1258-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1812, 1, '2016-04-28 14:08:50', '2016-04-28 18:08:50', 'To be sure, there are plenty of bad guys and Law Enforcement stands between them and us. Their service is greatly appreciated and in exchange they are well compensated.\r\n\r\nThe Police are our employees. They work for us. They are paid with our local tax dollars.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Americans are not required to obey laws that are unlawful or unconstitutional, nor is Law Enforcement empowered to enforce laws that defy the Constitution.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1021 alignright" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/we-support-our-police-300x198.jpg" alt="we-support-our-police" width="300" height="198" />\r\n\r\nDoes local law enforcement now feel it needs a cheerleading squad to post signs of support?\r\n\r\nIt''s true, the internet is brimming with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">videos</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/g8Kx_bscRMo </span>showing Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) harassing, abusing, pepper spraying, tasing, beating, robbing, arresting, shooting and killing innocent citizens.\r\n\r\nLEOs are using powerful, unlawful means like <span style="color: #0000ff;">''<a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/who-is-spying-on-you/" target="_blank">Stingrays</a>''</span> to collect private information, conversations and metadata on <strong>each and every citizen, </strong>regardless of whether we are suspected of criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLEOs routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://youtu.be/kfzwjd8EWdo" target="_blank">stop citizens</a> </span>going about their normal business, in a ''supposed'' effort to prevent crime.\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1601 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/police-shaking-person-upside-down-300x168.png" alt="police-shaking-person-upside-down" width="300" height="168" />FBI statistics disclose that in 2014 alone $4.5 billion was <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">stolen</a></span> from the American people.\r\n\r\nHomes, cars, business assets and cash are being routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.naturalnews.com/041828_cops_innocent_civilians_civil_forfeit ure.html" target="_blank">seized</a></span>, without any charges filed or even the pretense of illegality or wrongdoing.\r\n\r\nIn contrast, the FBI states that only $3.5 billion was lost due to actual burglaries. <strong><em>That’s right; according to our own FBI, the vast majority of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">thefts</span></span></em></strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em> http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/federal-asset-forfeiture-program-already-back-in-business.html</em></span><strong><em> are being committed not by burglars, but by Police</em>. </strong>Many Departments now build <em>''theft''</em> right into budgets so they can plan in advance how much to steal.<strong>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nIs it any wonder Americans increasingly view Police as dangerous predators? Should honest, God fearing citizens be forced to cower before those paid to serve and protect us?\r\n\r\nPolice recruits are trained to view the American people as ''the enemy''. LEOs are increasingly becoming mafia style enforcers who make sure we don''t forget who’s really in charge?\r\n\r\nLEOs are often ex military, and while there can be valuable synergies between the two, there are important and fundamental differences as well.\r\n\r\nThose drawn to military and law enforcement careers often express a strong preference for <strong><em>order</em></strong> and <strong><em>control,</em></strong> versus <em><strong>individual freedom</strong></em> and <em><strong>liberty</strong></em>. This might work well in a military setting, but it can make things very difficult when it comes to achieving the <em><strong>right balance</strong></em> needed to ensure peace, security, freedom and liberty in an open society. LEOs must walk a fine line, theirs has never been an easy mission.\r\n\r\nMany Departments screen potential recruits, eliminating those with high IQ''s, as intelligent individuals are more likely to question orders that are illegal, wrong, immoral or unconstitutional. Why is law enforcement purposely rejecting the very people our society needs most fill these positions at such a critical time in our republic''s history?\r\n\r\nAs if to spray gasoline on an already blazing fire, Legislators pass tons of laws each year, most of which are neither well thought out or needed. The legislative process does not ensure laws are <em>just, lawful or constitutiona</em>l.\r\n\r\nMost legislation isn''t even written by the legislators we elect, but rather by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">professional lobbyists</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> in the employ of large corporations. Legislators routinely vote for Bills they''ve never seen, let alone read. Such <em><strong>Legislative abuse places an enormous burden upon LEOs </strong></em>who take a solemn oath to enforce the laws and defend the Constitution. How can LEOs defend that which millions of Americans have sacrificed, fought and died to preserve if we don''t give them clear, lawful directions?\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse, Washington DC now showers state and local law enforcement with virtually unlimited taxpayer funded <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">grants</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/federal-law-enforcement-grants-and-crime-rates-no-connection-except-for-waste-and-abuse </span>to acquire gnarly war wagons, military style combat gear, sophisticated surveillance technology, ALRs (automatic license plate readers) and the latest in crowd control. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Law Enforcement and Soldiers going off to war. <em><strong>This poses a systemic threat to our nation, our freedoms and liberty.</strong></em>\r\n\r\nDepartments are equipping vehicles with Dash Cams and officers with Body Cams in a ''stated effort'' to reign in rogue behavior, supposedly introducing transparency and accountability. This sounds great until one realizes that Officers are able to selectively turn cameras <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>on and off</em></strong> </span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/4J4VR4gFlwU</span> to suit their needs, and despite claims to the contrary, can and do <strong><em>edit footage</em></strong> when necessary to make sure videos fit the narrative they want told.\r\n\r\nWe’ve attended community programs sponsored by Local Law Enforcement, and quite frankly, came away disappointed. There appears to be little understanding and even less interest regarding the role today’s policing is expected to play if we are to successfully battle crime, while remaining a free people in an open society.\r\n\r\nOfficers appear more interested in controlling and manipulating dialogue and public perceptions rather than doing the hard work needed to address increasingly brazen criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLocal Law Enforcement agencies are among those feeding at the <em><strong>Federal</strong></em> taxpayer trough to acquire the latest gadgets, gear and surveillance equipment. In exchange they agree to share information (through <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">fusion centers</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/16942-dhs-creates-new-fusion-centers-taking-control-of-local-police<span style="color: #000000;">)</span> </span>with Federal agencies that could not otherwise legally possess such information.\r\n\r\nThis seemingly innocent exchange <strong>is<em> extremely short sighted </em></strong><em><strong>and potentially very dangerous. </strong></em>By the time Americans discover the all too real dangers, it could be too late. <em><strong>Once a nationwide Police State is firmly established, there won''t be any going back.\r\n</strong></em>\r\n\r\nThose who know their history understand that <em><strong>what''s going on today is an exact replay of what happened in Hitler''s Nazi Germany</strong></em>, only with today''s much advanced technology.\r\n\r\nA large and growing number of Law Enforcement officials are themselves extremely concerned and have formed the <a href="http://cspoa.org/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>CSPOA</strong></span></span></a> (Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association) in an effort to protect our nation. Local law enforcement officials are not members of this group.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Our Law Enforcement exists to serve and protect u</em>s</strong>, not roll out the red carpet for Washington''s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">schemers, scammers, kleptocrats and psychopaths </span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span>.\r\n\r\n<em><b>"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety". </b></em>Benjamin Franklin<b>\r\n</b>\r\n\r\nNumerous attempts were made to engage Laurinburg Police Chief Darwin Williams and Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey regarding the issues raised in this article. No response was received.\r\n\r\n<address>Sources:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">David Stockman''s Contra Corner</a></address><address>Natural News</address>&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/privacy-surveillance-spying-video/" target="_blank">Privacy, Surveillance, Spying (VIDEO)</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/mayor-police-chief-poised-to-shift-gears/" target="_blank">Mayor &amp; Police Chief Poised to Shift Gears</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/we-support-our-police-part-1/" target="_blank">We Support Our Police</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Do Police Need a Cheerleading Squad?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1258-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 14:08:50', '2016-04-28 18:08:50', '', 1258, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1258-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wpzp_posts` VALUES
(1813, 1, '2016-04-28 14:10:08', '2016-04-28 18:10:08', 'To be sure, there are plenty of bad guys and Law Enforcement stands between them and us. Their service is greatly appreciated and in exchange they are well compensated.\r\n\r\nThe Police are our employees. They work for us. They are paid with our local tax dollars.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Americans are not required to obey laws that are unlawful or unconstitutional, nor is Law Enforcement empowered to enforce laws that defy the Constitution.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1021 alignright" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/we-support-our-police-300x198.jpg" alt="we-support-our-police" width="300" height="198" />\r\n\r\nDoes local law enforcement now feel it needs a cheerleading squad to post signs of support?\r\n\r\nIt''s true, the internet is brimming with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">videos</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/g8Kx_bscRMo </span>showing Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) harassing, abusing, pepper spraying, tasing, beating, robbing, arresting, shooting and killing innocent citizens.\r\n\r\nYes, LEOs are using powerful, unlawful means like <span style="color: #0000ff;">''<a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/who-is-spying-on-you/" target="_blank">Stingrays</a>''</span> to collect private information, conversations and metadata on <strong>each and every citizen, </strong>regardless of whether we are suspected of criminal activity.\r\n\r\nSure, LEOs routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://youtu.be/kfzwjd8EWdo" target="_blank">stop citizens</a> </span>going about their normal business, in a ''supposed'' effort to prevent crime.\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1601 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/police-shaking-person-upside-down-300x168.png" alt="police-shaking-person-upside-down" width="300" height="168" />FBI statistics disclose that in 2014 alone $4.5 billion was <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">stolen</a></span> from the American people.\r\n\r\nHomes, cars, business assets and cash are being routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.naturalnews.com/041828_cops_innocent_civilians_civil_forfeit ure.html" target="_blank">seized</a></span>, without any charges filed or even the pretense of illegality or wrongdoing.\r\n\r\nIn contrast, the FBI states that only $3.5 billion was lost due to actual burglaries. <strong><em>That’s right; according to our own FBI, the vast majority of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">thefts</span></span></em></strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em> http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/federal-asset-forfeiture-program-already-back-in-business.html</em></span><strong><em> are being committed not by burglars, but by Police</em>. </strong>Many Departments now build <em>''theft''</em> right into budgets so they can plan in advance how much to steal.<strong>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nIs it any wonder Americans increasingly view Police as dangerous predators? Should honest, God fearing citizens be forced to cower before those paid to serve and protect us?\r\n\r\nPolice recruits are trained to view the American people as ''the enemy''. LEOs are increasingly becoming mafia style enforcers who make sure we don''t forget who’s really in charge?\r\n\r\nLEOs are often ex military, and while there can be valuable synergies between the two, there are important and fundamental differences as well.\r\n\r\nThose drawn to military and law enforcement careers often express a strong preference for <strong><em>order</em></strong> and <strong><em>control,</em></strong> versus <em><strong>individual freedom</strong></em> and <em><strong>liberty</strong></em>. This might work well in a military setting, but it can make things very difficult when it comes to achieving the <em><strong>right balance</strong></em> needed to ensure peace, security, freedom and liberty in an open society. LEOs must walk a fine line, theirs has never been an easy mission.\r\n\r\nMany Departments screen potential recruits, eliminating those with high IQ''s, as intelligent individuals are more likely to question orders that are illegal, wrong, immoral or unconstitutional. Why is law enforcement purposely rejecting the very people our society needs most fill these positions at such a critical time in our republic''s history?\r\n\r\nAs if to spray gasoline on an already blazing fire, Legislators pass tons of laws each year, most of which are neither well thought out or needed. The legislative process does not ensure laws are <em>just, lawful or constitutiona</em>l.\r\n\r\nMost legislation isn''t even written by the legislators we elect, but rather by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">professional lobbyists</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> in the employ of large corporations. Legislators routinely vote for Bills they''ve never seen, let alone read. Such <em><strong>Legislative abuse places an enormous burden upon LEOs </strong></em>who take a solemn oath to enforce the laws and defend the Constitution. How can LEOs defend that which millions of Americans have sacrificed, fought and died to preserve if we don''t give them clear, lawful directions?\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse, Washington DC now showers state and local law enforcement with virtually unlimited taxpayer funded <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">grants</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/federal-law-enforcement-grants-and-crime-rates-no-connection-except-for-waste-and-abuse </span>to acquire gnarly war wagons, military style combat gear, sophisticated surveillance technology, ALRs (automatic license plate readers) and the latest in crowd control. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Law Enforcement and Soldiers going off to war. <em><strong>This poses a systemic threat to our nation, our freedoms and liberty.</strong></em>\r\n\r\nDepartments are equipping vehicles with Dash Cams and officers with Body Cams in a ''stated effort'' to reign in rogue behavior, supposedly introducing transparency and accountability. This sounds great until one realizes that Officers are able to selectively turn cameras <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>on and off</em></strong> </span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/4J4VR4gFlwU</span> to suit their needs, and despite claims to the contrary, can and do <strong><em>edit footage</em></strong> when necessary to make sure videos fit the narrative they want told.\r\n\r\nWe’ve attended community programs sponsored by Local Law Enforcement, and quite frankly, came away disappointed. There appears to be little understanding and even less interest regarding the role today’s policing is expected to play if we are to successfully battle crime, while remaining a free people in an open society.\r\n\r\nOfficers appear more interested in controlling and manipulating dialogue and public perceptions rather than doing the hard work needed to address increasingly brazen criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLocal Law Enforcement agencies are among those feeding at the <em><strong>Federal</strong></em> taxpayer trough to acquire the latest gadgets, gear and surveillance equipment. In exchange they agree to share information (through <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">fusion centers</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/16942-dhs-creates-new-fusion-centers-taking-control-of-local-police<span style="color: #000000;">)</span> </span>with Federal agencies that could not otherwise legally possess such information.\r\n\r\nThis seemingly innocent exchange <strong>is<em> extremely short sighted </em></strong><em><strong>and potentially very dangerous. </strong></em>By the time Americans discover the all too real dangers, it could be too late. <em><strong>Once a nationwide Police State is firmly established, there won''t be any going back.\r\n</strong></em>\r\n\r\nThose who know their history understand that <em><strong>what''s going on today is an exact replay of what happened in Hitler''s Nazi Germany</strong></em>, only with today''s much advanced technology.\r\n\r\nA large and growing number of Law Enforcement officials are themselves extremely concerned and have formed the <a href="http://cspoa.org/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>CSPOA</strong></span></span></a> (Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association) in an effort to protect our nation. Local law enforcement officials are not members of this group.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Our Law Enforcement exists to serve and protect u</em>s</strong>, not roll out the red carpet for Washington''s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">schemers, scammers, kleptocrats and psychopaths </span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span>.\r\n\r\n<em><b>"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety". </b></em>Benjamin Franklin<b>\r\n</b>\r\n\r\nNumerous attempts were made to engage Laurinburg Police Chief Darwin Williams and Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey regarding the issues raised in this article. No response was received.\r\n\r\n<address>Sources:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">David Stockman''s Contra Corner</a></address><address>Natural News</address>&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/privacy-surveillance-spying-video/" target="_blank">Privacy, Surveillance, Spying (VIDEO)</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/mayor-police-chief-poised-to-shift-gears/" target="_blank">Mayor &amp; Police Chief Poised to Shift Gears</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/we-support-our-police-part-1/" target="_blank">We Support Our Police</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Do Police Need a Cheerleading Squad?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1258-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 14:10:08', '2016-04-28 18:10:08', '', 1258, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1258-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1814, 1, '2016-04-28 14:15:18', '2016-04-28 18:15:18', 'To be sure, there are plenty of bad guys and Law Enforcement stands between them and us. Their service is greatly appreciated and in exchange they are well compensated.\r\n\r\nThe Police are our employees. They work for us. They are paid with our local tax dollars.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Americans are not required to obey laws that are unlawful or unconstitutional, nor is Law Enforcement empowered to enforce laws that defy the Constitution.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1021 alignright" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/we-support-our-police-300x198.jpg" alt="we-support-our-police" width="300" height="198" />\r\n\r\nDoes local law enforcement now feel it needs a cheerleading squad to post signs of support?\r\n\r\nIt''s true, the internet is brimming with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">videos</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/g8Kx_bscRMo </span>showing Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) harassing, abusing, pepper spraying, tasing, beating, robbing, arresting, shooting and killing innocent citizens.\r\n\r\nYes, LEOs are using powerful, unlawful means like <span style="color: #0000ff;">''<a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/who-is-spying-on-you/" target="_blank">Stingrays</a>''</span> to collect private information, conversations and metadata on <strong>each and every citizen, </strong>regardless of whether we are suspected of criminal activity.\r\n\r\nSure, LEOs routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://youtu.be/kfzwjd8EWdo" target="_blank">stop citizens</a> </span>going about their normal business, in a ''supposed'' effort to prevent crime.\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1601 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/police-shaking-person-upside-down-300x168.png" alt="police-shaking-person-upside-down" width="300" height="168" />FBI statistics disclose that in 2014 alone $4.5 billion was <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">stolen</a></span> from the American people.\r\n\r\nHomes, cars, business assets and cash are being routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.naturalnews.com/041828_cops_innocent_civilians_civil_forfeit ure.html" target="_blank">seized</a></span>, without any charges filed or even the pretense of illegality or wrongdoing.\r\n\r\nIn contrast, the FBI states that only $3.5 billion was lost due to actual burglaries. <strong><em>That’s right; according to our own FBI, the vast majority of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">thefts</span></span></em></strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em> http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/federal-asset-forfeiture-program-already-back-in-business.html</em></span><strong><em> are being committed not by burglars, but by Police</em>. </strong>Many Departments now build <em>''theft''</em> right into budgets so they can plan in advance how much to steal.<strong>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nIs it any wonder Americans increasingly view Police as dangerous predators? Should honest, God fearing citizens be forced to cower before those paid to serve and protect us?\r\n\r\nPolice recruits are trained to view the American people as ''the enemy''. LEOs are increasingly becoming mafia style enforcers who make sure we don''t forget who’s really in charge?\r\n\r\nLEOs are often ex military, and while there can be valuable synergies between the two, there are important and fundamental differences as well.\r\n\r\nThose drawn to military and law enforcement careers often express a strong preference for <strong><em>order</em></strong> and <strong><em>control,</em></strong> versus <em><strong>individual freedom</strong></em> and <em><strong>liberty</strong></em>. This might work well in a military setting, but it can make things very difficult when it comes to achieving the <em><strong>right balance</strong></em> needed to ensure peace, security, freedom and liberty in an open society. LEOs must walk a fine line, theirs has never been an easy mission.\r\n\r\nMany Departments screen potential recruits, eliminating those with high IQ''s, as intelligent individuals are more likely to question orders that are illegal, wrong, immoral or unconstitutional. Why is law enforcement purposely rejecting the very people our society needs most fill these important positions at such a critical time in our republic''s history?\r\n\r\nAs if to spray gasoline on an already blazing fire, Legislators pass tons of laws each year, most of which are neither well thought out or needed. The legislative process does not ensure laws are <em>just, lawful or constitutiona</em>l.\r\n\r\nMost legislation isn''t even written by the legislators we elect, but rather by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">professional lobbyists</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> in the employ of large corporations. Legislators routinely vote for Bills they''ve never seen, let alone read. Such <em><strong>Legislative abuse places an enormous burden upon LEOs </strong></em>who take a solemn oath to enforce the laws and defend the Constitution. How can LEOs defend that which millions of Americans have sacrificed, fought and died to preserve if we don''t give them clear, lawful directions?\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse, Washington DC now showers state and local law enforcement with virtually unlimited taxpayer funded <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">grants</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/federal-law-enforcement-grants-and-crime-rates-no-connection-except-for-waste-and-abuse </span>to acquire gnarly war wagons, military style combat gear, sophisticated surveillance technology, ALRs (automatic license plate readers) and the latest in crowd control. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Law Enforcement and Soldiers going off to war. <em><strong>This poses a systemic threat to our nation, our freedoms and liberty.</strong></em>\r\n\r\nDepartments are equipping vehicles with Dash Cams and officers with Body Cams in a ''stated effort'' to reign in rogue behavior, supposedly introducing transparency and accountability. This sounds great until one realizes that Officers are able to selectively turn cameras <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>on and off</em></strong> </span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/4J4VR4gFlwU</span> to suit their needs, and despite claims to the contrary, can and do <strong><em>edit footage</em></strong> when necessary to make sure videos fit the narrative they want told.\r\n\r\nWe’ve attended community programs sponsored by Local Law Enforcement, and quite frankly, came away disappointed. There appears to be little understanding and even less interest regarding the role today’s policing is expected to play if we are to successfully battle crime, while remaining a free people in an open society.\r\n\r\nOfficers appear more interested in controlling and manipulating dialogue and public perceptions rather than doing the hard work needed to address actual criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLocal Law Enforcement agencies are among those feeding at the <em><strong>Federal</strong></em> taxpayer trough to acquire the latest gadgets, gear and surveillance equipment. In exchange they agree to share information (through <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">fusion centers</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/16942-dhs-creates-new-fusion-centers-taking-control-of-local-police<span style="color: #000000;">)</span> </span>with Federal agencies that could not otherwise legally possess such information.\r\n\r\nThis seemingly innocent exchange <strong>is<em> extremely short sighted </em></strong><em><strong>and potentially very dangerous. </strong></em>By the time Americans discover the all too real dangers, it could be too late. <em><strong>Once a nationwide Police State is firmly established, there won''t be any going back.\r\n</strong></em>\r\n\r\nThose who know their history understand that <em><strong>what''s going on today is an exact replay of what happened in Hitler''s Nazi Germany</strong></em>, only with today''s much advanced technology.\r\n\r\nA large and growing number of Law Enforcement officials are themselves extremely concerned and have formed the <a href="http://cspoa.org/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>CSPOA.org</strong></span></span></a> (Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association) in an effort to protect our nation. Our Local law enforcement officials are not members of this group.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Our Law Enforcement exists to serve and protect u</em>s</strong>, not roll out the red carpet for Washington''s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">schemers, scammers, kleptocrats and psychopaths </span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span>.\r\n\r\n<em><b>"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety". </b></em>Benjamin Franklin<b>\r\n</b>\r\n\r\nNumerous attempts were made to engage Laurinburg Police Chief Darwin Williams and Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey regarding the issues raised in this article. No response was received.\r\n\r\n<address>Sources:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">David Stockman''s Contra Corner</a></address><address>Natural News</address>&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/privacy-surveillance-spying-video/" target="_blank">Privacy, Surveillance, Spying (VIDEO)</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/mayor-police-chief-poised-to-shift-gears/" target="_blank">Mayor &amp; Police Chief Poised to Shift Gears</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/we-support-our-police-part-1/" target="_blank">We Support Our Police</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Do Police Need a Cheerleading Squad?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1258-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 14:15:18', '2016-04-28 18:15:18', '', 1258, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1258-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1817, 1, '2016-04-28 14:49:02', '2016-04-28 18:49:02', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County is mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all of North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMills and manufacturing facilities fled the heavily unionized, high cost norther states during the 1940''s and 50''s high costWhen the mills that originally located here began shutting down, those with marketable skills left to seek employment elsewhere. Some stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is, it''s inefficient and often corrupt, placing a parasitic drag on otherwise productive economic activity. All too often government is little more than a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested model has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are unique. When an employee becomes ''vested'', they can often move to a new government job and begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, some government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately, has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nThe key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nDo we need more taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats?\r\n\r\nHow about more highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days? What about more programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''?\r\n\r\nShould we bulldoze additional commercial properties, making way for more taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks? How about Laurinburg''s new multi-million dollar City Hall/Police Department?\r\n\r\nWhat about arresting more potheads, building more prisons, jails and lockups?\r\n\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 14:49:02', '2016-04-28 18:49:02', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1818, 1, '2016-04-28 15:10:33', '2016-04-28 19:10:33', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County is mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all of North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations originally fled to the South from heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. When those same companies discovered that NAFTA now made it even cheaper for them to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled.\r\n\r\nWorkers with marketable skills left Scotland County to seek employment elsewhere. Some stayed behind, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have already toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are especially interesting and unique. When an employee becomes ''vested'', they often earn the ability to move to a new government job where they begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, some government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately, has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, the key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nDo we need more taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats?\r\n\r\nHow about more highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days? What about more programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''?\r\n\r\nShould we bulldoze additional commercial properties, making way for more taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks? How about Laurinburg''s new multi-million dollar City Hall/Police Department?\r\n\r\nWhat about arresting more potheads, building more prisons, jails and lockups?\r\n\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-28 15:10:33', '2016-04-28 19:10:33', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1819, 1, '2018-09-17 01:00:56', '2018-09-17 05:00:56', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1832 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/automation-equals-fewer-jobs-300x192.jpg" alt="automation-equals-fewer-jobs" width="300" height="192" />\r\n\r\nScotland County desperately needs jobs. An expensive new Economic Development Director was recently hired to ''make it happen''. Previous directors failed to produce results.<span style="color: #0000ff;">\r\n</span>\r\n\r\nIn today''s rapidly shifting employment environment this is going to be a daunting challenge. AI (artificial intelligence) driven automated robotics is progressing at an unimaginable pace and the truth is, few employment categories will prove immune to this onslaught.\r\n\r\nHere''s a great interview that brings this issue into focus:\r\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\r\n\r\n<center></center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> </span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/ward-named-economic-development-director/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ward Named Economic Development Director</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/open-honest-transparent-city-council-needed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Open, Honest, Transparent City Council Needed</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/the-money-masters-rise-bankers-video/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Money Masters (Video)</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'Automation = Fewer Jobs', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'automation-equals-fewer-jobs', '', '', '2019-03-12 13:34:14', '2019-03-12 17:34:14', '', 0, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/?p=1819', 0, 'post', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wpzp_posts` VALUES
(1820, 3, '2016-04-29 10:43:25', '2016-04-29 14:43:25', '(PIC)<span style="color: #0000ff;">Dieter - Start Here, don''t forget to do SEO below.\r\n</span>\r\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\r\nThis article: http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n\r\n<center></center><center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">HIDE: Author box and Related Posts on side --&gt;</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Automation Means Fewer Jobs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1819-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 10:43:25', '2016-04-29 14:43:25', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1819-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1821, 3, '2016-04-29 14:14:05', '2016-04-29 18:14:05', '(PIC)Bisphenol A or BPA is found in many everyday items we use. In addition to being suspected of causing cancer, it''s an estrogen mimicker which can cause the early onset of puberty in girls and feminization of males.\r\n\r\nNegative publicity has caused some manufacturers to eliminate BPA from products like baby feeding bottles and teething rings, but it remains in most plastics and canned goods, where it''s used to coat the inside of cans.\r\n\r\nManufacturers don''t want consumers to become frightened, so they''re lobbying to prevent labeling requirements that would disclose the presence of BPA.\r\n<blockquote>"<em>To tell or not to tell. That is the dilemma and heated debate which is occurring in California over Bisphenol A (BPA) in some of the canned food products sold at grocery stores. The regulators are concerned that wording on the label is too scary.  They claim to be worried that poor customers won’t buy canned food anymore.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/03/29/the-undeniable-reasons-why-civil-war-is-near/" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/california-to-delay-bpa-warnings-on-canned-foods-because-regulator-says-label-is-too-scary.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">Activist Post</span></a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <a href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">email</span></a>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></span></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'BPA in Canned Goods', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1450-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:14:05', '2016-04-29 18:14:05', '', 1450, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1450-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1822, 3, '2016-04-29 14:19:49', '2016-04-29 18:19:49', '', 'bpa-in-canned-goods', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'bpa-in-canned-goods-2', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:19:49', '2016-04-29 18:19:49', '', 1450, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/bpa-in-canned-goods.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1823, 3, '2016-04-29 14:22:37', '2016-04-29 18:22:37', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1822 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/bpa-in-canned-goods-300x221.jpg" alt="bpa-in-canned-goods" width="300" height="221" />Bisphenol A or BPA is found in many everyday items we use. In addition to being suspected of causing cancer, it''s an estrogen mimicker which can cause the early onset of puberty in girls and feminization of males.\r\n\r\nNegative publicity has caused some manufacturers to eliminate BPA from products like baby feeding bottles and teething rings, but it remains in most plastics and canned goods, where it''s used to coat the inside of cans.\r\n\r\nManufacturers don''t want consumers to become frightened, so they''re lobbying to prevent labeling requirements that would disclose the presence of BPA.\r\n<blockquote>"<em>To tell or not to tell. That is the dilemma and heated debate which is occurring in California over Bisphenol A (BPA) in some of the canned food products sold at grocery stores. The regulators are concerned that wording on the label is too scary.  They claim to be worried that poor customers won’t buy canned food anymore.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a href="http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/03/29/the-undeniable-reasons-why-civil-war-is-near/" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/california-to-delay-bpa-warnings-on-canned-foods-because-regulator-says-label-is-too-scary.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #ff0000;">Activist Post</span></a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <a href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">email</span></a>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/extend-life-save-planet/" target="_blank">Extend Your Life &amp; Save the Planet!</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/hormones-matter-for-all-of-us/" target="_blank">Hormones Matter for All of Us</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/avoid-knee-replacement-and-pain/" target="_blank">Avoid Knee Replacement and Pain</a></span></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'BPA in Canned Goods', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1450-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:22:37', '2016-04-29 18:22:37', '', 1450, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1450-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1824, 3, '2016-04-29 14:23:25', '2016-04-29 18:23:25', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1822 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/bpa-in-canned-goods-300x221.jpg" alt="bpa-in-canned-goods" width="300" height="221" />Bisphenol A or BPA is found in many everyday items we use. In addition to being suspected of causing cancer, it''s an estrogen mimicker which can cause the early onset of puberty in girls and feminization of males.\r\n\r\nNegative publicity has caused some manufacturers to eliminate BPA from products like baby feeding bottles and teething rings, but it remains in most plastics and canned goods, where it''s used to coat the inside of cans.\r\n\r\nManufacturers don''t want consumers to become frightened, so they''re lobbying to prevent labeling requirements that would disclose the presence of BPA.\r\n<blockquote>"<em>To tell or not to tell. That is the dilemma and heated debate which is occurring in California over Bisphenol A (BPA) in some of the canned food products sold at grocery stores. The regulators are concerned that wording on the label is too scary.  They claim to be worried that poor customers won’t buy canned food anymore.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2016/03/29/the-undeniable-reasons-why-civil-war-is-near/" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/california-to-delay-bpa-warnings-on-canned-foods-because-regulator-says-label-is-too-scary.html" target="_blank">Activist Post</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/extend-life-save-planet/" target="_blank">Extend Your Life &amp; Save the Planet!</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/hormones-matter-for-all-of-us/" target="_blank">Hormones Matter for All of Us</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/avoid-knee-replacement-and-pain/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Avoid Knee Replacement and P</span>ain</a></span></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'BPA in Canned Goods', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1450-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:23:25', '2016-04-29 18:23:25', '', 1450, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1450-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1825, 1, '2016-04-29 14:39:21', '2016-04-29 18:39:21', '(PIC)Scotland County desperately needs jobs. An expensive new Economic Development Director was recently hired to ''make it happen''. Previous directors failed to produce results.<span style="color: #0000ff;">\n</span>\n\nbest of times this wouldn''t be an easy task. In today''s rapidly shifting employment landscape, it''s going to be even more challenging. AI (artificial intelligence) driven, automated robotics is progressing at an unimaginable pace and the truth is, there are few employment categories that will prove immune to this onslaught.\n\nHere''s a great interview that brings this issue into focus:\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\nThis article: http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment\n\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\n\n<center></center><center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">HIDE: Author box and Related Posts on side --&gt;</span></strong>\n\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\n\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\n\n&nbsp;\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\n&nbsp;\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\n\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Automation = Fewer Jobs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1819-autosave-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:39:21', '2016-04-29 18:39:21', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1819-autosave-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1826, 1, '2016-04-29 14:40:33', '2016-04-29 18:40:33', '(PIC)Scotland County desperately needs jobs. An expensive new Economic Development Director was recently hired to ''make it happen''. Previous directors failed to produce results.<span style="color: #0000ff;">\r\n</span>\r\n\r\nIn today''s rapidly shifting employment environment this is going to be a daunting challenge. AI (artificial intelligence) driven automated robotics is progressing at an unimaginable pace and the truth is, few employment categories that will prove immune to this onslaught.\r\n\r\nHere''s a great interview that brings this issue into focus:\r\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\r\nThis article: http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n\r\n<center></center><center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">HIDE: Author box and Related Posts on side --&gt;</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Automation = Fewer Jobs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1819-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:40:33', '2016-04-29 18:40:33', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1819-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1827, 1, '2016-04-29 14:41:48', '2016-04-29 18:41:48', '(PIC)Scotland County desperately needs jobs. An expensive new Economic Development Director was recently hired to ''make it happen''. Previous directors failed to produce results.<span style="color: #0000ff;">\r\n</span>\r\n\r\nIn today''s rapidly shifting employment environment this is going to be a daunting challenge. AI (artificial intelligence) driven automated robotics is progressing at an unimaginable pace and the truth is, few employment categories that will prove immune to this onslaught.\r\n\r\nHere''s a great interview that brings this issue into focus:\r\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\r\nThis article: http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n\r\n<center></center><center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">HIDE: Author box and Related Posts on side --&gt;</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Automation = Fewer Jobs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1819-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:41:48', '2016-04-29 18:41:48', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1819-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1828, 1, '2016-04-29 14:43:30', '2016-04-29 18:43:30', 'To be sure, there are plenty of bad guys and Law Enforcement stands between them and us. Their service is greatly appreciated and in exchange they are well compensated.\r\n\r\nThe Police are our employees. They work for us. They are paid with our local tax dollars.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Americans are not required to obey laws that are unlawful or unconstitutional, nor is Law Enforcement empowered to enforce laws that defy the Constitution.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1021 alignright" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/we-support-our-police-300x198.jpg" alt="we-support-our-police" width="300" height="198" />\r\n\r\nDoes local law enforcement now feel it needs a cheerleading squad to post signs of support?\r\n\r\nIt''s true, the internet is brimming with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">videos</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/g8Kx_bscRMo </span>showing Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) harassing, abusing, pepper spraying, tasing, beating, robbing, arresting, shooting and killing innocent citizens.\r\n\r\nYes, LEOs are using powerful, unlawful means like <span style="color: #0000ff;">''<a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/who-is-spying-on-you/" target="_blank">Stingrays</a>''</span> to collect private information, conversations and metadata on <strong>each and every citizen, </strong>regardless of whether we are suspected of criminal activity.\r\n\r\nSure, LEOs routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://youtu.be/kfzwjd8EWdo" target="_blank">stop citizens</a> </span>going about their normal business, in a ''supposed'' effort to prevent crime.\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1601 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/police-shaking-person-upside-down-300x168.png" alt="police-shaking-person-upside-down" width="300" height="168" />FBI statistics disclose that in 2014 alone $4.5 billion was <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">stolen</a></span> from the American people.\r\n\r\nHomes, cars, business assets and cash are being routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.naturalnews.com/041828_cops_innocent_civilians_civil_forfeit ure.html" target="_blank">seized</a></span>, without any charges filed or even the pretense of illegality or wrongdoing.\r\n\r\nIn contrast, the FBI states that only $3.5 billion was lost due to actual burglaries. <strong><em>That’s right; according to our own FBI, the vast majority of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">thefts</span></span></em></strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em> http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/federal-asset-forfeiture-program-already-back-in-business.html</em></span><strong><em> are being committed not by burglars, but by Police</em>. </strong>Many Departments now build <em>''theft''</em> right into budgets so they can plan in advance how much to steal.<strong>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nIs it any wonder Americans increasingly view Police as dangerous predators? Should honest, God fearing citizens be forced to cower before those paid to serve and protect us?\r\n\r\nPolice recruits are trained to view the American people as ''the enemy''. LEOs are increasingly becoming mafia style enforcers who make sure we don''t forget who’s really in charge?\r\n\r\nLEOs are often ex military, and while there can be valuable synergies between the two, there are important and fundamental differences as well.\r\n\r\nThose drawn to military and law enforcement careers often express a strong preference for <strong><em>order</em></strong> and <strong><em>control,</em></strong> versus <em><strong>individual freedom</strong></em> and <em><strong>liberty</strong></em>. This might work well in a military setting, but it can make things very difficult when it comes to achieving the <em><strong>right balance</strong></em> needed to ensure peace, security, freedom and liberty in an open society. LEOs must walk a fine line, theirs has never been an easy mission.\r\n\r\nMany Departments screen potential recruits, eliminating those with high IQ''s, as intelligent individuals are more likely to question orders that are illegal, wrong, immoral or unconstitutional. Why is law enforcement purposely rejecting the very people our society needs most fill these important positions at such a critical time in our republic''s history?\r\n\r\nAs if to spray gasoline on an already blazing fire, Legislators pass tons of laws each year, most of which are neither well thought out or needed. The legislative process does not ensure laws are <em>just, lawful or constitutiona</em>l.\r\n\r\nMost legislation isn''t even written by the legislators we elect, but rather by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">professional lobbyists</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> in the employ of large corporations. Legislators routinely vote for Bills they''ve never seen, let alone read. Such <em><strong>Legislative abuse places an enormous burden upon LEOs </strong></em>who take a solemn oath to enforce the laws and defend the Constitution. How can LEOs defend that which millions of Americans have sacrificed, fought and died to preserve if we don''t give them clear, lawful directions?\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse, Washington DC now showers state and local law enforcement with virtually unlimited taxpayer funded <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">grants</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/federal-law-enforcement-grants-and-crime-rates-no-connection-except-for-waste-and-abuse </span>to acquire gnarly war wagons, military style combat gear, sophisticated surveillance technology, ALRs (automatic license plate readers) and the latest in crowd control. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Law Enforcement and Soldiers going off to war. <em><strong>This poses a systemic threat to our nation, our freedoms and liberty.</strong></em>\r\n\r\nDepartments are equipping vehicles with Dash Cams and officers with Body Cams in a ''stated effort'' to reign in rogue behavior, supposedly introducing transparency and accountability. This sounds great until one realizes that Officers are able to selectively turn cameras <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>on and off</em></strong> </span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/4J4VR4gFlwU</span> to suit their needs, and despite claims to the contrary, can and do <strong><em>edit footage</em></strong> when necessary to make sure videos fit the narrative they want told.\r\n\r\nWe’ve attended community programs sponsored by Local Law Enforcement, and quite frankly, came away disappointed. There appears to be little understanding and even less interest regarding the role today’s policing is expected to play if we are to successfully battle crime, while remaining a free people in an open society.\r\n\r\nOfficers appear more interested in controlling and manipulating dialogue and public perceptions rather than doing the hard work needed to address actual criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLocal Law Enforcement agencies are among those feeding at the <em><strong>Federal</strong></em> taxpayer trough to acquire the latest gadgets, gear and surveillance equipment. In exchange they agree to share information (through <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">fusion centers</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/16942-dhs-creates-new-fusion-centers-taking-control-of-local-police<span style="color: #000000;">)</span> </span>with Federal agencies that could not otherwise legally possess such information.\r\n\r\nThis seemingly innocent exchange <strong>is<em> extremely short sighted </em></strong><em><strong>and potentially very dangerous. </strong></em>By the time Americans discover the all too real dangers, it could be too late. <em><strong>Once a nationwide Police State is firmly established, there won''t be any going back.\r\n</strong></em>\r\n\r\nThose who know their history understand that <em><strong>what''s going on today is an exact replay of what happened in Hitler''s Nazi Germany</strong></em>, only with today''s much advanced technology.\r\n\r\nA large and growing number of Law Enforcement officials are themselves extremely concerned and have formed the <a href="http://cspoa.org/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>CSPOA.org</strong></span></span></a> (Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association) in an effort to protect our nation. Our Local law enforcement officials are not members of this group.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Our Law Enforcement exists to serve and protect u</em>s</strong>, not roll out the red carpet for Washington''s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">schemers, scammers, kleptocrats and psychopaths </span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span>.\r\n\r\n<em><b>"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety". </b></em>Benjamin Franklin<b>\r\n</b>\r\n\r\nNumerous attempts were made to engage Laurinburg Police Chief Darwin Williams and Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey regarding the issues raised in this article. No response was received.\r\n\r\n<address>Sources:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">David Stockman''s Contra Corner</a></address><address>Natural News</address>&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/privacy-surveillance-spying-video/" target="_blank">Privacy, Surveillance, Spying (VIDEO)</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/mayor-police-chief-poised-to-shift-gears/" target="_blank">Mayor &amp; Police Chief Poised to Shift Gears</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/we-support-our-police-part-1/" target="_blank">We Support Our Police</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Do Police Need a Cheerleading Squad?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1258-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:43:30', '2016-04-29 18:43:30', '', 1258, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1258-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1829, 1, '2016-04-29 14:55:15', '2016-04-29 18:55:15', 'To be sure, there are plenty of bad guys and Law Enforcement stands between them and us. Their service is greatly appreciated and in exchange they are well compensated.\r\n\r\nThe Police are our employees. They work for us. They are paid with local tax dollars.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>Americans are not required to obey laws that are unlawful or unconstitutional, nor is Law Enforcement empowered to enforce laws that defy the Constitution.</strong></em>\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1021 alignright" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/we-support-our-police-300x198.jpg" alt="we-support-our-police" width="300" height="198" />\r\n\r\nWhy does local law enforcement now feel it needs a cheerleading squad to post signs of support?\r\n\r\nIt''s true, the internet is brimming with <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">videos</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/g8Kx_bscRMo </span>showing Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) harassing, abusing, pepper spraying, tasing, beating, robbing, arresting, shooting and killing innocent citizens.\r\n\r\nYes, LEOs are using powerful, unlawful means like <span style="color: #0000ff;">''<a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/who-is-spying-on-you/" target="_blank">Stingrays</a>''</span> to collect private information, conversations and metadata on <strong>each and every citizen, </strong>regardless of whether we are suspected of criminal activity.\r\n\r\nSure, LEOs routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://youtu.be/kfzwjd8EWdo" target="_blank">stop citizens</a> </span>going about their normal business, in a ''supposed'' effort to prevent crime.\r\n\r\n<img class="size-medium wp-image-1601 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/police-shaking-person-upside-down-300x168.png" alt="police-shaking-person-upside-down" width="300" height="168" />FBI statistics disclose that in 2014 alone $4.5 billion was <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">stolen</a></span> from the American people.\r\n\r\nHomes, cars, business assets and cash are being routinely <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://www.naturalnews.com/041828_cops_innocent_civilians_civil_forfeit ure.html" target="_blank">seized</a></span>, without any charges filed or even the pretense of illegality or wrongdoing.\r\n\r\nIn contrast, the FBI states that only $3.5 billion was lost due to actual burglaries. <strong><em>That’s right; according to our own FBI, the vast majority of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">thefts</span></span></em></strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><em> http://www.activistpost.com/2016/03/federal-asset-forfeiture-program-already-back-in-business.html</em></span><strong><em> are being committed not by burglars, but by Police</em>. </strong>Many Departments now build <em>''theft''</em> right into budgets so they can plan in advance how much to steal.<strong>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nIs it any wonder Americans increasingly view Police as dangerous predators? Should honest, God fearing citizens be forced to cower before those paid to serve and protect us?\r\n\r\nPolice recruits are trained to view the American people as ''the enemy''. Are LEOs increasingly becoming mafia style enforcers who make sure we don''t forget who’s really in charge?\r\n\r\nLEOs are often ex military, and while there can be valuable synergies between the two, there are important and fundamental differences as well.\r\n\r\nThose drawn to military and law enforcement careers often express a strong preference for <strong><em>order</em></strong> and <strong><em>control,</em></strong> versus <em><strong>individual freedom</strong></em> and <em><strong>liberty</strong></em>. This might work well in a military setting, but it can make things difficult when it comes to striking the <em><strong>right balance</strong></em> needed to ensure peace, security, freedom and liberty in an open society. LEOs must walk a fine line, theirs has never been an easy mission. In today''s politically charged atmosphere, it''s more challenging than ever.\r\n\r\nMany Departments screen potential recruits, eliminating those with high IQ''s, as intelligent individuals are likely to question orders that are illegal, wrong, immoral or unconstitutional. Law enforcement is purposely rejecting the very people our society needs most to fill these important positions at such a critical time in our republic''s history?\r\n\r\nAs if to spray gasoline on an already blazing fire, Legislators pass tons of laws each year, most of which are neither well thought out or needed. The legislative process does not ensure laws are <em>just, lawful or constitutiona</em>l.\r\n\r\nMost legislation isn''t written by the legislators we elect, but rather by <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">professional lobbyists</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> in the employ of large corporations. Legislators routinely vote for Bills they''ve never even seen, let alone read.\r\n\r\nSuch <em><strong>Legislative abuse places an enormous burden upon LEOs </strong></em>who take a solemn oath to enforce the laws and defend the Constitution. How can LEOs defend that which millions of Americans have sacrificed, fought and died to preserve if we don''t give them clear, lawful directions?\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse, Washington DC now showers state and local law enforcement with virtually unlimited taxpayer funded <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">grants</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/03/federal-law-enforcement-grants-and-crime-rates-no-connection-except-for-waste-and-abuse </span>to acquire gnarly war wagons, military style combat gear, sophisticated surveillance technology, ALRs (automatic license plate readers) and the latest in crowd control. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell the difference between Law Enforcement and Soldiers going off to war. <em><strong>This poses a systemic threat to our nation, our freedoms and liberty.</strong></em>\r\n\r\nDepartments are equipping vehicles with Dash Cams and officers with Body Cams in a ''stated effort'' to reign in rogue behavior, supposedly introducing transparency and accountability. This sounds great until one realizes that Officers are able to selectively turn cameras <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>on and off</em></strong> </span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://youtu.be/4J4VR4gFlwU</span> to suit their needs, and despite claims to the contrary, can and do <strong><em>edit footage</em></strong> to make sure videos fit the narrative they want told.\r\n\r\nWe’ve attended community programs sponsored by Local Law Enforcement, and quite frankly, came away very disappointed. There appears to be little understanding and even less interest regarding the role today’s policing is expected to play if we are to successfully battle crime while remaining a free people in an open society.\r\n\r\nOfficers appear more interested in controlling and manipulating dialogue and public perceptions rather than doing the hard work needed to address real criminal activity.\r\n\r\nLocal Law Enforcement agencies are among those feeding at the <em><strong>Federal</strong></em> taxpayer trough to acquire the latest gadgets, gear and surveillance equipment. In exchange they agree to share information (through <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">fusion centers</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/item/16942-dhs-creates-new-fusion-centers-taking-control-of-local-police<span style="color: #000000;">)</span> </span>with Federal agencies that could not otherwise legally possess such information.\r\n\r\nThis seemingly innocent exchange <strong>is<em> extremely short sighted </em></strong><em><strong>and potentially very dangerous. </strong></em>By the time Americans discover the all too real dangers, it could be too late. <em><strong>Once a nationwide Police State is firmly established, there won''t be any going back.\r\n</strong></em>\r\n\r\nThose who know their history understand that what''s going on today is an <em><strong>exact replay of what happened in Hitler''s Nazi Germany</strong></em>, only with today''s much more advanced technology.\r\n\r\nA large and growing number of Law Enforcement officials are themselves extremely concerned and have formed the <a href="http://cspoa.org/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff;"><strong>CSPOA.org</strong></span></span></a> (Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association) in an effort to protect our nation. Local law enforcement officials are not members of this group.\r\n\r\n<strong><em>Local Law Enforcement exists to serve and protect u</em>s</strong>, not roll out the red carpet for Washington''s <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">schemers, scammers, kleptocrats and psychopaths </span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span>.\r\n\r\n<em><b>"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety". </b></em>Benjamin Franklin<b>\r\n</b>\r\n\r\nNumerous attempts were made to engage Laurinburg Police Chief Darwin Williams and Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey regarding the issues raised in this article. No response was received.\r\n\r\n<address>Sources:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/when-the-state-is-not- your-friend-police-asset-seizures-in-2014-exceeded-all-burglaries/" target="_blank">David Stockman''s Contra Corner</a></address><address>Natural News</address>&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/privacy-surveillance-spying-video/" target="_blank">Privacy, Surveillance, Spying (VIDEO)</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/mayor-police-chief-poised-to-shift-gears/" target="_blank">Mayor &amp; Police Chief Poised to Shift Gears</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/we-support-our-police-part-1/" target="_blank">We Support Our Police</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Do Police Need a Cheerleading Squad?', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1258-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 14:55:15', '2016-04-29 18:55:15', '', 1258, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1258-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wpzp_posts` VALUES
(1830, 1, '2016-04-29 15:03:28', '2016-04-29 19:03:28', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. Scotland is the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations originally fled to the South from heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. When those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled.\r\n\r\nWorkers with marketable skills left Scotland County, seeking employment elsewhere. Some stayed behind, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have already toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are especially interesting and unique. When an employee becomes ''vested'', they often earn the ability to move to a new government job where they begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, some government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately, has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, the key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nDo we need more taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats?\r\n\r\nHow about more highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days? What about more programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''?\r\n\r\nShould we bulldoze additional commercial properties, making way for more taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks? How about Laurinburg''s new multi-million dollar City Hall/Police Department?\r\n\r\nWhat about arresting more potheads, building more prisons, jails and lockups?\r\n\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:03:28', '2016-04-29 19:03:28', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1831, 1, '2016-04-29 15:03:55', '2016-04-29 19:03:55', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. Scotland is the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations originally fled to the South from heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. When those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled.\r\n\r\nWorkers with marketable skills left Scotland County, seeking employment elsewhere. Some stayed behind, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have already toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are especially interesting and unique. When an employee becomes ''vested'', they often earn the ability to move to a new government job where they begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, some government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately, has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, the key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nDo we need more taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats?\r\n\r\nHow about more highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days? What about more programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''?\r\n\r\nShould we bulldoze additional commercial properties, making way for more taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks? How about Laurinburg''s new multi-million dollar City Hall/Police Department?\r\n\r\nWhat about arresting more potheads, building more prisons, jails and lockups?\r\n\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Deep Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:03:55', '2016-04-29 19:03:55', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1832, 3, '2016-04-29 15:04:22', '2016-04-29 19:04:22', '', 'automation-equals-fewer-jobs', '', 'inherit', 'open', 'closed', '', 'automation-equals-fewer-jobs', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:04:22', '2016-04-29 19:04:22', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/automation-equals-fewer-jobs.jpg', 0, 'attachment', 'image/jpeg', 0),
(1833, 3, '2016-04-29 15:09:17', '2016-04-29 19:09:17', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1832 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/automation-equals-fewer-jobs-300x192.jpg" alt="automation-equals-fewer-jobs" width="300" height="192" />Scotland County desperately needs jobs. An expensive new Economic Development Director was recently hired to ''make it happen''. Previous directors failed to produce results.<span style="color: #0000ff;">\r\n</span>\r\n\r\nIn today''s rapidly shifting employment environment this is going to be a daunting challenge. AI (artificial intelligence) driven automated robotics is progressing at an unimaginable pace and the truth is, few employment categories will prove immune to this onslaught.\r\n\r\nHere''s a great interview that brings this issue into focus:\r\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\r\nThis article: http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\r\n\r\n<center></center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/ward-named-economic-development-director/" target="_blank">Ward Named Economic Development Director</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/open-honest-transparent-city-council-needed/" target="_blank">Open, Honest, Transparent City Council Needed</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/the-money-masters-rise-bankers-video/" target="_blank">The Money Masters (Video)</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Automation = Fewer Jobs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1819-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:09:17', '2016-04-29 19:09:17', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1819-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1834, 3, '2016-04-29 15:12:56', '2016-04-29 19:12:56', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1832 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/automation-equals-fewer-jobs-300x192.jpg" alt="automation-equals-fewer-jobs" width="300" height="192" />\r\n\r\nScotland County desperately needs jobs. An expensive new Economic Development Director was recently hired to ''make it happen''. Previous directors failed to produce results.<span style="color: #0000ff;">\r\n</span>\r\n\r\nIn today''s rapidly shifting employment environment this is going to be a daunting challenge. AI (artificial intelligence) driven automated robotics is progressing at an unimaginable pace and the truth is, few employment categories will prove immune to this onslaught.\r\n\r\nHere''s a great interview that brings this issue into focus:\r\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\r\n\r\n<center></center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> </span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/ward-named-economic-development-director/" target="_blank">Ward Named Economic Development Director</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/open-honest-transparent-city-council-needed/" target="_blank">Open, Honest, Transparent City Council Needed</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/the-money-masters-rise-bankers-video/" target="_blank">The Money Masters (Video)</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Automation = Fewer Jobs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1819-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:12:56', '2016-04-29 19:12:56', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1819-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1835, 3, '2016-04-29 15:14:06', '2016-04-29 19:14:06', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1832 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/automation-equals-fewer-jobs-300x192.jpg" alt="automation-equals-fewer-jobs" width="300" height="192" />\r\n\r\nScotland County desperately needs jobs. An expensive new Economic Development Director was recently hired to ''make it happen''. Previous directors failed to produce results.<span style="color: #0000ff;">\r\n</span>\r\n\r\nIn today''s rapidly shifting employment environment this is going to be a daunting challenge. AI (artificial intelligence) driven automated robotics is progressing at an unimaginable pace and the truth is, few employment categories will prove immune to this onslaught.\r\n\r\nHere''s a great interview that brings this issue into focus:\r\n<blockquote>"<em>While not part of the official economic lexicon, I consider a ''malincentive'' a useful word to describe any promise of short-term gain whose long-term costs outweigh any immediate benefits enjoyed. The temptation to urinate in one''s pants on a cold winter day to get warm is a (perhaps unnecessarily) graphic example of malincentive. Yes, a momentary relief from the cold can be achieved; but moments later, you''ll have a much larger problem than you did at the outset.</em>" <a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></a></blockquote>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<a href="http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/97851/automating-ourselves-unemployment" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Peak Prosperity</span></a>\r\n\r\n<center></center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> </span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/ward-named-economic-development-director/" target="_blank">Ward Named Economic Development Director</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/open-honest-transparent-city-council-needed/" target="_blank">Open, Honest, Transparent City Council Needed</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/the-money-masters-rise-bankers-video/" target="_blank">The Money Masters (Video)</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'Automation = Fewer Jobs', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1819-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:14:06', '2016-04-29 19:14:06', '', 1819, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1819-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1836, 1, '2016-04-29 15:16:06', '2016-04-29 19:16:06', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. Scotland is the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations originally fled heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. When those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nWorkers with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Some stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have already toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique aspect. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to a new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, the key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from the cruel and unjust dependence of <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nWe don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>To bulldoze more commercial properties to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>A new multi-million dollar Laurinburg City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>To arrest more potheads, build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThe truth is, there is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows how to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. Are you ready to carry your share?\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Deep Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:16:06', '2016-04-29 19:16:06', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wpzp_posts` VALUES
(1837, 1, '2016-04-29 15:21:32', '2016-04-29 19:21:32', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. Scotland is the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations originally fled heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. When those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nWorkers with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Some stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Others attached themselves to the County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have already toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique aspect. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to a new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension and benefit costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will only get worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, the key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst, we don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>New multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry our share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Deep Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:21:32', '2016-04-29 19:21:32', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1838, 1, '2016-04-29 15:31:46', '2016-04-29 19:31:46', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. Scotland is the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. When those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have already toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government remains a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique situation. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to a new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet another pension. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nTo make matters even worse, today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied persons do you know who claim disability checks each month?\r\n\r\nThis very sweet deal for some, unfortunately has destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, the key to success is already in our pocket. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst, we don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>New multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Deep Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:31:46', '2016-04-29 19:31:46', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1839, 1, '2016-04-29 15:38:26', '2016-04-29 19:38:26', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. Scotland is the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. While this may have been a good move from an individual perspective, it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have already toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government remains a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique situation. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to a new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nTo make matters even worse (for taxpayers), today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied persons do you know who receive disability checks each month?\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some, has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty? As dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is already in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family building jobs that offer a genuine sense of self worth. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education that frees children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst, we don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Deep Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:38:26', '2016-04-29 19:38:26', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1840, 1, '2016-04-29 15:45:26', '2016-04-29 19:45:26', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique situation. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to a new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse (for taxpayers), today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied persons do you know who receive disability checks each month?\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is already in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide real living wage, family building jobs. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst, we don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we truly want it. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Deep Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:45:26', '2016-04-29 19:45:26', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wpzp_posts` VALUES
(1841, 1, '2016-04-29 15:47:17', '2016-04-29 19:47:17', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique situation. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to a new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse (for taxpayers), today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied persons do you know who receive disability checks each month?\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is already in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide real living wage, family building jobs. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst, we don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we truly want it. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:47:17', '2016-04-29 19:47:17', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1842, 3, '2016-05-03 01:00:10', '2016-05-03 05:00:10', '(PIC)President Abraham Lincoln is generally credited with ending slavery. The facts don''t support this conclusion, but that''s not what this article is about.\r\n\r\nThe question is: Did President Lyndon Johnson knowingly and purposefully reintroduce slavery when Congress passed his ''War on Poverty'' program in <span style="color: #ff0000;">1965</span>?\r\n\r\nJohnson is rumored to have consumed a 5th of ''Jack'' every morning by 11AM. Some say he personally murdered at least three individuals as part of his rise through Texas politics. He was so powerful as U.S. Senator that few dared cross him. Many believe he was a central figure in the conspiracy to assassinate President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert. It was Johnson''s decision alone to escalate the Vietnam Conflict into a costly war that would claim the lives of 55,000 Americans, including a disproportionately large number of African-Americans.\r\n\r\nFew who knew him would argue that Johnson was a nice person.\r\n\r\nWas Johnson''s tender, loving concern for America''s poor and downtrodden genuine, or was his War on Poverty really a well thought out plan to re-enslave those who had been freed?\r\n\r\nFirst, let''s understand one central fact: There were more <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">Irish Slaves</span></span> in America than African American slaves.\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> </span>\r\n<blockquote>"<em>123</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></blockquote>\r\nThis article: ____ INSERT LINK\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;">123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n\r\n<center></center><center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">HIDE: Author box and Related Posts on side --&gt;</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">123</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Did Lyndon Johnson Bring Back Slavery?', '', 'draft', 'open', 'open', '', '__trashed', '', '', '2018-11-09 04:47:17', '2018-11-09 09:47:17', '', 0, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/?p=1842', 0, 'post', '', 0),
(1843, 3, '2016-04-29 15:56:48', '2016-04-29 19:56:48', '(PIC)<span style="color: #0000ff;">Dieter - Start Here, don''t forget to do SEO below.\r\n</span>\r\n<blockquote>"<em>123</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></blockquote>\r\nThis article: ____ INSERT LINK\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;">123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n\r\n<center></center><center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">HIDE: Author box and Related Posts on side --&gt;</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Editorial', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1842-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-29 15:56:48', '2016-04-29 19:56:48', '', 1842, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1842-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1845, 1, '2016-04-30 09:10:52', '2016-04-30 13:10:52', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique situation. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse (for taxpayers), today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied persons do you know who receive disability checks of one sort or another each month?\r\n\r\nGovernment is also responsible for the biggest scam in human history: <strong>Inflation</strong>, the thief that comes in the night, slowly stealing everything you''ve  worked and saved for. This scam works so well, simply because most folks don''t understand how money gets <span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">created</span> (The Money Masters)</span>.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is already in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide real living wage, family building jobs. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst, we don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we truly want it. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-30 09:10:52', '2016-04-30 13:10:52', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1846, 1, '2016-04-30 10:40:45', '2016-04-30 14:40:45', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are an especially interesting and unique situation. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nTo make matters worse (for taxpayers), today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied persons do you know who receive disability checks of one sort or another each month?\r\n\r\nGovernment is also sees to it that everything you''ve worked and saved for is slowly and systematically stolen through purposely created (picture of toilet paper) <span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">inflation</span> (The Money Masters)</span>. This, like other scams, works so well that most folks have no idea a thief in the night is constantly robbing them little by little. Government workers don''t share inflation''s burden along with the rest of us, as they received regular pay increases and ''cost of living adjustments'' (COLA). We pay for the problems politicians create.\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is already in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide real living wage, family building jobs. We have the ability to do this.</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nFirst, we don''t need:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we truly want it. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-30 10:40:45', '2016-04-30 14:40:45', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1847, 1, '2016-04-30 11:02:52', '2016-04-30 15:02:52', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they skedaddled once again.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are especially interesting and unique. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to new government jobs where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nIt gets even better (except for taxpayers), as today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied persons do you know who receive substantial disability checks of one sort or another each month?\r\n\r\nGovernment also sees to it that everything you''ve worked and saved for is slowly and systematically stolen through purposely created (picture of toilet paper) <span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">inflation</span> (The Money Masters)</span>. This, like other scams, works so well that most folks aren''t even aware that a thief in the night constantly robs them little by little.\r\n\r\nGovernment workers don''t share inflation''s burden with the rest of us, as they received regular pay increases and ''cost of living adjustments'' (COLA) regardless of performance or economic circumstances. We pay for the problems politicians create.\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing salary, pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide real living wage, family friendly jobs. We have the ability to do this. Do we have the will?</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n 	<li>Eliminate Scotland County''s corrosive, regressive, business killing ''Personal Property Tax''. Until this is done, there will be no economic rebirth.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>How do we rebuild prosperity?</strong>\r\n\r\nThe answer is simple: Get government out of the way, allowing ''market forces'' to automatically re-balance, creating a new equilibrium. The effects wouldn''t be immediately apparent, and those currently feeding at the taxpayer''s trough would surely be displaced, but we either take advantage of the opportunity to implement positive, rational, logical change in an orderly manner, or wait until financial crises occurs, guaranteeing an extremely painful and unpredictable outcome. Now is the time to act, while we still have options.\r\n\r\n<strong>Here''s what we don''t need:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More idiotic programs like our ''Certified Retirement Community''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\nThere is no <em>''free lunch''</em>. <strong>Rebuilding prosperity is challenging, but it''s achievable if we truly want it. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-30 11:02:52', '2016-04-30 15:02:52', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
INSERT INTO `wpzp_posts` VALUES
(1848, 1, '2016-04-30 11:25:05', '2016-04-30 15:25:05', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high tax, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they once again skedaddled.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are especially interesting. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to new government positions where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nIt gets even better (except for taxpayers), as today''s standard policy is to use ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied ex-military and government workers do you know who receive substantial disability checks of one sort or another each month?\r\n\r\nGovernment also sees to it that everything you''ve worked and saved for is slowly and systematically stolen through purposely created <span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">inflation</span> (The Money Masters)</span>. This, like other scams, works so well that most folks aren''t even aware a thief in the night constantly robs them little by little.\r\n\r\nPoliticians feverishly maintain that there''s a ''free lunch'' and we can continue to spend money we don''t have without consequences, by endless deficit spending and outright money printing. The facts (picture of toilet paper) show otherwise, as inflation has destroyed purchasing power to the point where some can only afford to buy toilet paper in single rolls, one at a time. How many of you ever expected that wiping your butt would become a cause for concern?\r\n\r\nGovernment workers don''t share inflation''s burden along with the rest of us, as they received regular pay increases and ''cost of living adjustments'' (COLA) regardless of performance or economic circumstances. We pay for the problems others create.\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing salary, pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide real living wage, family friendly jobs. We have the ability, do we have the will?</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n 	<li>Eliminate Scotland County''s regressive, corrosive, business killing ''Personal Property Tax''. Until this is done, there will be no economic rebirth.</li>\r\n 	<li>Get government out of the way, allow ''market forces'' to re-balance, creating a new equilibrium. The effects wouldn''t be immediately apparent, and those currently feeding at the taxpayer''s trough would surely be displaced, but we either implement positive, rational, logical change in an orderly manner, or risk waiting until financial crises overtakes us, guaranteeing extreme pain and an unpredictable outcome. It''s time to act, while we still have options.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Here''s what we don''t need:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More nonsense like our ''Certified Retirement Community'' program.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build and fill yet more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Rebuilding prosperity will be challenging, but it''s fully achievable if we truly want it. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-30 11:25:05', '2016-04-30 15:25:05', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1849, 1, '2016-04-30 11:35:34', '2016-04-30 15:35:34', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high tax, high cost northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they once again skedaddled.\r\n\r\nThose with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Some attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on what would otherwise be productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions are especially interesting. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to new government positions where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nIt gets even better (except for taxpayers), as today''s policies encourage the use of ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied ex-military and government workers do you know who receive substantial disability checks of one sort or another each month?\r\n\r\nGovernment also sees to it that everything you''ve worked and saved for is slowly and systematically stolen through purposely created <span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">inflation</span> (The Money Masters)</span>. This, like other scams, works so well that most folks aren''t even aware that a thief in the night is robbing them little by little.\r\n\r\nPoliticians feverishly maintain that there''s a ''free lunch'' and we can continue to spend money we don''t have without consequences, by creating endless deficits and outright money printing. The facts (picture of toilet paper) show otherwise, as inflation has destroyed purchasing power to the point where some can only afford to buy toilet paper in single rolls, one at a time. How many expected that wiping their butts would become a cause for concern?\r\n\r\nGovernment workers don''t share inflation''s burden along with the rest of us, as they received regular pay increases and ''cost of living adjustments'' (COLA) regardless of performance or economic circumstances. We pay for the problems others create.\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing salary, pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the current situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door to the prosperity we seek.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenses</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide real living wage, family friendly jobs. We have the ability, do we have the will?</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n 	<li>Eliminate the County''s regressive, corrosive, business killing ''Personal Property Tax''. Until this is done, there will be no economic rebirth.</li>\r\n 	<li>Get government out of the way, allow ''market forces'' to re-balance. The effects wouldn''t be immediate, and those currently feeding at the taxpayer''s trough would surely be displaced, but we either implement positive, rational, logical change in an orderly manner while we still have options, or risk waiting until financial crises overtakes us, guaranteeing extreme pain and an unpredictable outcome.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Here''s what we don''t need:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More nonsense like our ''Certified Retirement Community'' program.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive investigations) so we can build and fill yet more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Rebuilding prosperity will be challenging, but it''s fully achievable if we truly want it. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-30 11:35:34', '2016-04-30 15:35:34', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1850, 3, '2018-11-08 01:00:27', '2018-11-08 06:00:27', '<p><img class="size-medium wp-image-1929 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/chemtrails-whats-going-on-300x240.jpeg" alt="chemtrails-whats-going-on" width="300" height="240" />We''ve all looked up into the sky and seen jets streaking across the horizon leaving a crisscross pattern of trails in their wake. Government officials tried to allay public concern by explaining these were ''condensation vapor trails'' (contrails) caused by normal jet engine exhausts at high altitude.</p>\r\n<p>While this may have fooled the Sheeple, those more astute noted that, unlike contrails which quickly dissipate, these trails lingered, often for hours.</p>\r\n<p>Word eventually began <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="https://youtu.be/rAxXyMAmBMs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">leaking out</span></a></span> that chemicals were being sprayed by large, unmarked aircraft, and that this was occurring with regularity across the entire nation as part of a secret military black ops program.</p>\r\n<p>When confronted, government spokespeople next tried to explain that the spraying was part of a harmless weather modification program that has been going on since the 1940s, but mounting evidence released by whistleblowers shows these chemicals are anything but harmless,; rather, a highly toxic mix of heavy-metal nano-particles and extremely dangerous radioactive isotopes.</p>\r\n<p>Just what is going on, and why are virtually all Americans and American soil being bombarded with this extremely toxic brew? We met with 8th District U.S. Congressman Richard Hudson''s ''Constituent Relations Manager'', Chris Maples, and asked him about Chemtrails. He told us: ''The Congressman isn''t concerned'' and then bolted. If there''s nothing wrong, why doesn''t anyone want to talk about this?</p>\r\n<p>Many scientists believe military related weather modification is part of the story, and that''s bad enough, but a growing number now believe it''s part of the much larger Rothschild New World Order ''<strong>Agenda 21 and Agenda 2030</strong>'' depopulation program aimed at reducing world population levels.</p>\r\n<p>Healthcare professionals report emergency rooms nationwide are full with individuals, especially the young and old, reporting breathing difficulties, headaches, flu like symptoms and blurred vision.</p>\r\n<p>The Internet is loaded with stories about how Merle Haggard and Prince''s recent deaths were related to their high profile efforts to expose this sinister, evil and deadly program.</p>\r\n<p>Here are a couple of videos that shed some light on these mysterious goings on:</p>\r\n<center></center><center><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mEfJO0-cTis?rel=0" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center><center></center><center><span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong> </strong></em></span></center><center></center>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<center><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X3lW-TGGlk0?rel=0" width="480" height="360" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<center></center><center><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rAxXyMAmBMs?rel=0" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></center>\r\n<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;"> </span></strong></p>\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">email</a></span>.</address>\r\n<address> </address>\r\n<address>Related Articles:</address>\r\n<address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/big-bada-boom-video/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Big Bada Boom! (Video)</a></span></address>\r\n<address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/the-money-masters-rise-bankers-video/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Money Masters (Video)</a></span></address>\r\n<address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/video-century-enslavement-history-federal-reserve/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #0000ff;">Century of Enslavement (Video</span>)</a></span></address>\r\n<address> </address>\r\n<address> </address>\r\n<address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]</p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<p><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em></p>\r\n<p><em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em></p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;</p>', 'Chemtrails - What''s Going On? (video)', '', 'publish', 'closed', 'closed', '', 'chemtrails-whats-going-on-video', '', '', '2019-03-12 13:31:58', '2019-03-12 17:31:58', '', 0, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/?p=1850', 0, 'post', '', 0),
(1851, 3, '2016-04-30 11:55:45', '2016-04-30 15:55:45', '(PIC)<span style="color: #0000ff;">Dieter - Start Here, don''t forget to do SEO below.\r\n</span>\r\n<blockquote>"<em>123</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;">Read more...</span></blockquote>\r\nThis article: ____ INSERT LINK\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #333333;"><em><strong>Sources:</strong></em></span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;">123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"> 123</span>\r\n\r\n<center></center><center>*** EMBED VIDEO HERE ***</center><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">HIDE: Author box and Related Posts on side --&gt;</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">ALL LINKS - Change to Blue</span></strong>\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></span></address><address><span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></span></address><address> </address><address>Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links which, if used to purchase products, would yield a small commission to CarolinaCrossroads.News. This is how we support our website and efforts to bring you the news and information we believe are important to our viewers. Thank you for your support.</address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DRAFT - Chemtrails  <-- CHANGE TITLE', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1850-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-30 11:55:45', '2016-04-30 15:55:45', '', 1850, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1850-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0),
(1852, 1, '2016-04-30 12:06:17', '2016-04-30 16:06:17', '<img class="size-medium wp-image-1172 alignleft" src="http://carolinacrossroads.news/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/department-commerce-2016-tier-designations-300x162.png" alt="department-commerce-2016-tier-designations" width="300" height="162" />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="color: #000000;">Click <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/scotland-county-mired-in-depression-part-1/" target="_blank">Here</a></span> to read</span> <span style="color: #000000;">Part 1</span></span>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nScotland County remains mired in a <strong>Deep Depression</strong>. We''re the most economically depressed county in all North Carolina.\r\n\r\nMill and manufacturing operations fled heavily unionized, high tax, highly regulated northern states during the 1940''s and 50''s. Later, when those same companies discovered that NAFTA made it even cheaper to move operations to China and Mexico, they once again skedaddled.\r\n\r\nMany with marketable skills left Scotland County seeking employment elsewhere. Others stayed, hunkering down, hoping for a comeback. Still others attached themselves to County, School District and City of Laurinburg governments. This may have been a good move from an individual perspective, but it''s been a disaster for our economy.\r\n\r\nToday, <strong>Government Employment</strong> stands as the cornerstone of Scotland County''s economy. This would be fantastic except that government doesn''t actually produce anything; rather it consumes (through the miracle of taxation and fees) that which others have toiled to produce.\r\n\r\nSure, government provides some needed services, but the fact is its inefficiency and corruption places a parasitic drag on otherwise productive economic activity. For the most part, government is a conduit via which the fruits of others'' labor gets redistributed to favored friends, political cronies and valuable vote generating demographic constituencies. This time tested <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;">model</span></span> <span style="color: #0000ff;">(Abramoff video)</span> has been with mankind throughout history.\r\n\r\nGovernment employee pensions deserve special mention. When employees become ''vested'', they often earn the right to move to new government positions where they begin qualifying for yet more pensions. <em>''Rinse and repeat''</em> several times, and you can see that by the time actual retirement age is reached, many government workers retire with two, three or even four pension checks coming in each month. Talk about striking gold!\r\n\r\nIt gets even better (except for taxpayers), as today''s liberal policies encourage the use of ''disability'' as a means of further enrichment. How many able bodied ex-military and government workers do you know who receive disability checks of one sort or another each month?\r\n\r\nGovernment also sees to it that everything you''ve worked and saved for is slowly and systematically stolen through <span style="color: #0000ff;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">inflation</span> (The Money Masters)</span>. This, like other scams, works so well that most folks aren''t even aware a thief in the night is robbing them little by little.\r\n\r\nPoliticians feverishly maintain <span style="color: #000000;">that</span> there is a ''free lunch'' and we can continue spending money we don''t have without consequences, by creating endless deficits and outright money printing. The facts <span style="color: #ff0000;">(picture of toilet paper)</span> show otherwise, as inflation has destroyed purchasing power to the point where some can only afford to buy toilet paper in single rolls, one at a time. How many ever expected that wiping their butts would become a cause for concern?\r\n\r\nGovernment workers don''t share inflation''s burden, as they receive regular pay increases and ''cost of living adjustments'' (COLAs) regardless of performance or economic circumstances. We pay for problems others create.\r\n\r\nThis sweet deal for some has unfortunately destroyed public finances, as skyrocketing salary, pension, benefit and disability costs now eat up an enormous share of public budgets. Is it any wonder County, Municipal and School coffers are running on empty?\r\n\r\nAs dire as the situation is, it''s <em>''baked into the cake''</em> that things will get demonstrably worse unless we radically change course.\r\n\r\n<strong>BLUEPRINT for PROSPERITY</strong>\r\n\r\nFortunately, <strong>the key to success is in our pocket</strong>. It''s up to us to reach in, grab it and turn the lock that opens the door.\r\n\r\nWe must:\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dramatically reduce expenditures</span> of Scotland County Government, Laurinburg City Government and Scotland County Schools.</li>\r\n 	<li>Organically grow ''real'' 21st century employment opportunities that provide living wage, family friendly jobs. We have the ability, do we have the will?</li>\r\n 	<li>Deliver ''cutting edge'' public education, freeing our children from the shackles imposed by today''s burdensome rules, regulations, curriculum''s, policies and politically driven agendas.</li>\r\n 	<li>Banish slavery once and for all, ridding ourselves from cruel and unjust dependence on <em>''institutionalized poverty''</em> designed to ensure that we and future generations remain in bondage.</li>\r\n 	<li>Eliminate the County''s regressive, corrosive, business killing ''Personal Property Tax''. Until this is done, there will be no economic rebirth.</li>\r\n 	<li>Get government out of the way, allow ''market forces'' to re-balance. The effects won''t be immediately apparent, and many currently feeding at the taxpayer''s trough would surely be displaced, but we either implement positive, rational, logical, necessary change in an orderly manner while we still have options, or risk waiting until financial crises overtakes us, guaranteeing extreme pain and an unpredictable outcome.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Here''s what we don''t need:</strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n 	<li>More taxpayer funded commissions, boards, blue ribbon panels, study groups, pedigreed intellectuals, bureaucrats, grants, seminars or retreats.</li>\r\n 	<li>More highly compensated Economic Development gurus trying to bring back the ''good ole days'' by taking money from one taxpayer''s pocket and putting it in another, calling it ''job creation''.</li>\r\n 	<li>More nonsense like our ''Certified Retirement Community'' program.</li>\r\n 	<li>More commercial properties bulldozed to make way for additional taxpayer funded ''sculpture'' parks.</li>\r\n 	<li>More multi-million dollar boondoggles like Laurinburg City Council''s new ''Colonial Williamsburg'' City Hall/Police Department.</li>\r\n 	<li>More arrests of potheads (following months long intensive, expensive investigations) so we can build and fill yet more prisons, jails and lockups.</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<strong>Rebuilding prosperity will be challenging, but it''s fully achievable if we want it bad enough. </strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>Carolina Crossroads News</strong> understands the mission, knows what it takes to reach the goal and is willing to carry its share of the water. What we can''t do is carry your share too.\r\n\r\n<strong>Your future is up to YOU!</strong>\r\n\r\n"Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act" Dietrich Bonhoeffer\r\n\r\n<strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">LINK YOU WANTED: http://henrymakow.com/2016/04/slavery--guilt-as-a-jewish-weapon.html</span></strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table style="height: 36px;" width="128">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="85">&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<blockquote>"<em>Based on its unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and property tax base per capita, Scotland is consistently <a id="KonaLink0" class="kLink" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status#"><span style="color: #595959;"><span class="kLink">classified</span></span></a> by the N.C. Department of Commerce as a Tier I county — among the 40 most distressed in the state.</em>" <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Read more...</a></span></blockquote>\r\n<span style="color: #ff0000;">DIETER - HERE''S PART 1 FOR YOUR REVIEW:</span>\r\n\r\n<strong>Scotland is the most economically distressed county in North Carolina</strong>. Unfortunately, that''s not breaking news.\r\n\r\nWe wholeheartedly agree with sentiments expressed by State Senator Tom McInnes, who recently stated: "The way it is right now, we can’t make anybody locate a plant in Scotland County if they don’t want to come here. We’ve got to give them a reason to come here. We’re going to have to work in a different way than we’ve been working..."\r\n\r\nDespite longstanding and ongoing attempts by County gurus to bring in new industry, the fact is Scotland County will never again be a manufacturing magnet. Mexico''s new and highly automated state of the art plants pay wages of only $2 per hour and No benefits. Even Chinese wages are higher, causing factories there to now relocate to cheaper venues like Vietnam in order to compete. Despite often repeated prognostications, even ''The Donald'' won''t be able to reverse this trend.\r\n\r\nAs Senator McInnis continued: "... we’re going to have to work together... to offer 21st century curricula for <strong>the jobs that we have available and not the jobs that we wish we had.</strong>”\r\n\r\nAmerica was founded upon the concept of a largely self regulating and self righting <strong>Free Market Economy</strong>. This was by no means perfect, but a great, prosperous and self governing republic was built upon its foundation. We became ''The Shining Light on the Hill'' that others looked up to and sought to emulate. Unfortunately, that was a long time ago.\r\n\r\nThere can be no doubt that Scotland County was destined to experience difficult times when mills and manufacturing began fleeing, first to China and then Mexico, but according to Free Market dogma, things would have eventually righted themselves had market forces been allowed to play out.\r\n\r\nThat didn''t happen, and today, decades later, despite massive application of state and federal grant programs and tax incentives being thrown at the problem, Scotland County remains mired in a Deep Depression. Worse yet, subtract state and federal welfare programs, along with generous USDA subsidies, supports, loans and grants, and Scotland County''s economy would be deader as a door nail.\r\n\r\nThe reasons the Revival never took hold here are easily identified, straight forward, and well understood... not complicated at all. <strong>The question is: Are we going do anything about it or do we intend to mire in this pig slop until there is absolutely nothing left?</strong>\r\n\r\nBefore we move on, let us share a brief but telling story. After purchasing a former manufacturing plant, we made an appointment to talk with Scotland County''s Director of Economic Development. He proved to be friendly, intelligent, well educated, articulate and courteous. He was also highly compensated with a salary of $80k per year, plus a generous benefit package.\r\n\r\nWe began the discussion with our vision of how we could play a role in assisting the County from its obsolete manufacturing based economic model to a forward looking high tech model, but nevertheless, one that could, with little training, take advantage of the County''s existing, but largely unskilled human resource base.\r\n\r\nThe Director listened politely, but soon enough broke in, stating with crystalline clarity, that unless we were prepared to bring at least 700 jobs to the County (for starters), it wasn''t worth his time to continue talking with us. We expressed puzzlement as to that magic 700 job number, wherein he replied that the County was putting the final touches on a project that would bring a large Japanese clutch manufacturing operation to the County that would employ 700.\r\n\r\nWe weren''t quite ready to take no for an answer and inquired who was next on the County ladder that we could talk with. The County Manager was ''the man'', but was not presently available. We left our contact information and we assured he would contact us. We never heard back.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<table width="705">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td width="705">Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.</td>\r\n</tr>\r\n</tbody>\r\n</table>\r\n<strong>End of Part 1 - Stay turned for\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\nSource:\r\n\r\n<span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://laurinburgexchange.com/news/ap-wire/3568/county-could-lose-tier-status" target="_blank">Laurinburg Exchange</a></span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<address>You reach Carolina Crossroads News at (888) 472-7555 or send us an <span style="color: #0000ff;"><a style="color: #0000ff;" href="http://carolinacrossroads.news/contact-us/" target="_blank">email</a></span>.</address><address> </address><address>Related Articles:</address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-have-enough-to-survive- &lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retirement/" target="_blank">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/baby-boomers- reinvent-to-&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;p&gt;retire/">123</a></address><address><a title="123" href="http://restlessboomers.com/will-you-work-until-you- drop/">123</a></address><address> </address>[polldaddy rating="8361352"]\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;"><em><strong><span style="font-size: 16px; color: #de030b;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans- serif;">We''d love to hear your questions or comments below. Thank you.</span></span></strong></em></p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p>\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">Fair Use Notice: This website post may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for news reporting, educational and other limited purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law.</span></span></em>\r\n\r\n<em><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: verdana,geneva,sans-serif;">CarolinaCrossroads.News (‘CCN’) has no control over and does not endorse any external Internet site that contains links to or references CCN.</span></span></em>', 'DONE - Scotland County Mired in Depression (Part 2)', '', 'inherit', 'closed', 'closed', '', '1177-revision-v1', '', '', '2016-04-30 12:06:17', '2016-04-30 16:06:17', '', 1177, 'http://carolinacrossroads.news/1177-revision-v1/', 0, 'revision', '', 0);
