'US economy to probably face another double-dip recession'

The national survey of law enforcement agencies has found that Police are encountering more domestic violence related to the sluggish economy. It concludes that police are responding to more reports of domestic incidents, regardless of whether charges are filed.

Police say domestic-related aggravated assaults increased nearly 10% in 2011 compared to last year. The new study comes against the backdrop of grim forecast for the US economy. Earlier reports say poverty in America is expected to get worse in the coming years.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Dave Lindorff who is with the Thiscantbehappein in Philadelphia to further shed light on the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: It is a very alarming finding. Poor economy is driving an increase in domestic conflict. What is awaiting the US as the economy has not been able to pick up yet?

Lindorff: First of all, the economy is not picking up. We are getting stories now that the economy is slowing down again, that job growth is such as it was. It is already starting to shrink again and that other factors like home crisis are still slumping.

So all the things that they were saying were suggesting a weak turnaround are now looking more like another slump. So I would not be surprised to see the United States heading for another like a double-dip recession the way they are having in Europe, it stands to reason. All the austerity policies are having this effect and then you get to the story which is not really a new story.

Every time there is a recession all the way back to World War II, we have seen rises in domestic violence when you have increases in joblessness and stresses in the home because of economics and this is the worst case of those stresses since the 1930s.

Press TV: The Department of Homeland Security has also recently bought 750 million ultra-deadly hollow-point bullets, banned by the Hague. This means two bullets for every American. Do you see any connection between these two developments?

Lindorff: Absolutely, I mean we are talking about domestic insecurity on two levels for spouses in the home and for all of us in the country when they talk about that kind of level of bullets being purchased and these are killer bullets.

So yes, you really have to wonder Homeland Security would be buying bullets that are designed to maim and kill when they are supposed to be trying to keep Americans safe. That is what they are always saying.

This is not for the army. People need to understand we are talking about bullets being purchased for domestic use, 750 million of these bullets.

Press TV: So 750 million of these ultra-deadly hollow-point bullets, the introduction also of the NDAA, and reports of growing domestic conflict. It does sound like a bleak future for the US and it raises the question: is America getting closer to becoming a police state?

Lindorff: There are so many ways. I hate to overuse the term. I have lived in China which is a police state; I understand what a real police state is like.

We just had a glimpse of it with the escape of that blind lawyer and how the police state there reacted to it by arresting everybody connected with his escape even though he was not charged wit anything. That is a real police state.

But a lot of the things that have been happening in the US over the last ten years or so have been tending towards the elements that need to be in place for there to be a police state.

I mean people need to understand that I can sit here and say this to you and walk out the door knowing that I am not about to be arrested as I walk out the door. It is a very free society.

But these elements are all being put in place so that if the wrong person gets in power or if some events develop that lead to riots in the street on the large scale or those kinds of things, all those elements are now here so that we could morph into a police state very quickly.

MSK/JR