There is little one can say about a video such as this but nazi Germany has arrived in the US predicted by many for years. The writing was on the wall so people shouldn’t be surprised. Credits to the editor of this video Matt D and to YouTube user clipofreality who uploaded this clip on [...]

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OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington state is shuttering the official tourism agency that unifies its marketing message and abandoning all public support for one of its largest industries. By the end of next week, it will be the only state in the nation without any money to spend on self-promotion. The transition is the most extreme example of the widely varying strategies among states trying to balance budget cuts with ways to spur economic growth. Some are pouring millions of dollars into fresh marketing, while others like New York and Arizona are slashing their promotional spending to help shore up state budgets. Then there’s Washington. “What Washington has done puts that state on an island,” said Geoff Freeman, executive vice president of U.S. Travel Association. “No state at this point in time has been, with all due respect to Washington, as short-sighted as those leaders have been.” Washington’s tourism spending dropped in recent years from about $7 million annually to about $2 million annually. Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt, who has for years sat on a commission that guides the state’s tourism strategy, said the full elimination of that money was an unfortunate consequence of the current budget crisis. “When you’re taking kids off health care and raising tuition, you have to make some tough decisions,” Hewitt said. While about half of states are shrinking their marketing budgets, the other half are increasing them, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Congress, meanwhile, recently approved a public-private partnership to draw international visitors, fearing that millions around the globe were shying away from the United States as a whole. Costs for the program will be divided equally between the government and private industry. Michigan, which has consistently had one of the nation’s worst unemployment rates, has boosted its state-funded promotional spending from about $5 million per year in 2005 to $25 million per year now. The state is in the middle of its largest national advertising buy — spending more than $11 million to splash its “Pure Michigan” message on cable. George Zimmermann, vice president for Travel Michigan, said their research indicates that a dollar spent on out-of-state advertising returns $3.29 cents in tax money alone — and much more for businesses. “It’s a bit of a no-brainer,” Zimmerman said. “Tourism is not the answer to restoring the Michigan economy, but we do believe it’s one of the answers.” The only other state that comes close to rivaling Washington’s cuts during the recession is Connecticut, which essentially eliminated its tourism budget for two years but maintained its staff. Connecticut is now quickly reversing itself, with a new budget for the biennium that starts in July proposing to restore $15 million to the program. Randy Fiveash, Connecticut’s tourism division director, said the industry there has been limping along and struggling to stay competitive “We know we lost market share,” Fiveash said. To fill its void, Washington’s tourism industry has established a new organization to promote the state. It will take over some state assets — such as the tourism website — but is still trying to identify a way to steadily fund a marketing campaign. The group has raised more than $300,000, said Kim Bennett, president and CEO of the Vancouver Regional Tourism Office in southwest Washington. She would like to see a minimum of $15 million. “We cannot continue to operate and be competitive with other states without appropriate funding,” Bennett said. “Everyone who is selling a good or a service or a destination, you have to get out and market. Your competitors are out there marketing.” Washington’s tourism industry is the state’s fourth largest, and visitors to the state spent some $15.2 billion in 2010, according to state figures. ___ Mike Baker can be reached at http://twitter.com/MikeBakerAP Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook

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NEW YORK – Soaring gas prices are starting to take a toll on American drivers. Across the country, people are pumping less into the tank, reversing what had been a steady increase in demand for fuel. For five weeks in a row, they have bought less gas than they did a year ago. Drivers bought about 2.4 million fewer gallons for the week of April 1, a 3.6 percent drop from last year, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse, which tracks the volume of gas sold at 140,000 service stations nationwide. The last time Americans cut back so much was in December, when snowstorms forced people to stay home. Before the decline, demand was increasing for two months. Some analysts had expected the trend to continue because the economic recovery was picking up, adding 216,000 jobs in March. “More people are going to work,” said John Gamel, director of gasoline research for MasterCard. “That means more people are driving and they should be buying more gas.” Instead, about 70 percent of the nation’s major gas-station chains say sales have fallen, according to a March survey by the Oil Price Information Service. More than half reported a drop of 3 percent or more — the sharpest since the summer of 2008, when gas soared past $4 a gallon. Now it’s creeping toward $4 again. People are still taking a hit, even as they conserve gas. That’s because gas prices are going up faster than people are cutting back. Gas is 32 percent more expensive than it was in April 2010. In all, Americans are paying roughly $340 million more per day to fill up than they did a year ago. Gas prices have shot up as unrest in North Africa and the Middle East rattled energy markets and increased global demand for crude oil squeezed supplies. A gallon of unleaded regular costs $3.77 on average, and only Wyoming has an average lower than $3.50. Gas is already 41 cents more expensive than at this point in 2008, when it peaked at $4.11 in July. Most analysts are sticking to forecasts of a high of $4 a gallon, though some have predicted $5. Across the country, some drivers are already hunting for cheaper gas, sometimes with the help of a mobile phone app. Others are checking out bus and train schedules, reconsidering mass transportation, or trading in their SUVs for more fuel-efficient models. Kim Cramer, who works for Radio Flyer in Chicago, has started walking and carpooling more. She’s also learned to be choosy, buying gas in suburbs, where she’s learned she can save as much as 20 cents a gallon. “I try to fill up anywhere besides the city,” she said. About two and a half days’ worth of Whitney Shaw’s pay each month goes just to fill up her 2001 Hyundai Accent. The administrative assistant is thinking about taking the bus for her daily commute, 50 miles each way between Branford, Conn., and Hartford. “It’s three hours of pay from work just to fill up my tank even once, so I’m definitely feeling it,” Shaw said while filling up for $3.61 a gallon at a Valero station on the Berlin Turnpike. Americans also appear to be turning to smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Sales of the Hyundai Sonata and Elantra soared 55 percent in March. Meanwhile, sales of Chevy’s Suburban SUV dropped nearly 24 percent. The decline is somewhat puzzling because Americans typically curb their driving only as a last resort, after sacrificing other forms of discretionary spending, like shopping for new clothes, or going to movies, concerts and restaurants. But demand for gas is falling while other types of spending are on the rise. Retail sales rose 2 percent in March compared with a year earlier, surprising economists who were expecting no increase or even a decline. Gamel said it’s too early to tell whether this is the kind of long-term decline in demand that the economy endured during the recession. Prices already are in the range when Americans started to leave their cars in the driveway several years ago. Drivers began to cut back on gas in October 2007, when the national average approached $3 per gallon. Even if demand for gas keeps falling in the U.S., it probably won’t be enough to force the price down. That’s because worldwide demand for crude oil keeps rising. Global demand for oil is about 87 million barrels per day, matching its peak from 2007. It is expected to grow to more than 88 million barrels a day by year’s end, with most of the increase coming from China. At the same time, supply is shrinking because of uprisings in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East. In the United States, people are watching their local gas stations a little more carefully. Some are even getting rid of their old gas-guzzler. Andrea Meyer of Manteno, Ill., has done both. She buys gas in the middle of the week because prices seem to jump over the weekend. And she recently sold her 2005 Chevy Envoy SUV and bought a 2011 Chevy Cruze, which gets 30 miles per gallon. She still spent about $200 on gas for the new car from mid-February to mid-March. “I won’t go hungry tomorrow,” she says. “It’s just taking away from me getting ahead faster. It throws off everything. It immediately makes you reprioritize.” ___ Associated Press Writers Barbara Rodriguez in Chicago, Ben Dobbin in Rochester, N.Y., and Stephanie Reitz in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this story. Follow Yahoo! News on Twitter , become a fan on Facebook

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