Economy

Corporate Coup d’État In Slow Motion: How Corporations Have Taken Over World Governments

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FYI.

H/t reader M.G.:

“Although speaking on a climate change panel, Chris Hedges does a great job in just a few paragraphs to describe how corporations have taken over the world governments, making the citizen impotent to act. Started with that SOB Clinton (whom I despise completely), Obama has finished it. Speaking liberally while cynically destroying every right the people ever had.
This is the best summary of what has happened in a few paragraphs I have ever read on the takeover of the US and other nations.”

– The Coming Climate Revolt (Common Dreams, Sep 23, 2014):

By Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges made these remarks Saturday at a panel discussion in New York City titled “The Climate Crisis: Which Way Out?” The other panelists were Bill McKibben, Naomi Klein, Kshama Sawant and Sen. Bernie Sanders. The event, moderated by Brian Lehrer, occurred on the eve of the People’s Climate March in New York City. For a video of some of what the panelists said, click here.

We have undergone a transformation during the last few decades—what John Ralston Saul calls a corporate coup d’état in slow motion. We are no longer a capitalist democracy endowed with a functioning liberal class that once made piecemeal and incremental reform possible. Liberals in the old Democratic Party such as the senators Gaylord Nelson, Birch Bayh and George McGovern—who worked with Ralph Nader to make the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Mine Safety and Health Act, the Freedom of Information Act and the OSHA law, who made common cause with labor unions to protect workers, who stood up to the arms industry and a bloated military—no longer exist within the Democratic Party, as Nader has been lamenting for several years. They were pushed out as corporate donors began to transform the political landscape with the election of Ronald Reagan. And this is why the Democrats have not, as Bill Curry points out, enacted any major social or economic reforms since the historic environmental laws of the early ’70s.

Read moreCorporate Coup d’État In Slow Motion: How Corporations Have Taken Over World Governments

Cargill Sues Syngenta After China Refused 1.4 Million Metric Tons Of Corn Contaminated With GMOs

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– Trading giant Cargill sues Syngenta over lost profits due to unapproved GM corn (Natural News, Sep 23, 2014):

Cargill is a vast USA-based agribusiness with a multinational empire that dominates the food industry in exporting grains, producing food additives and providing processed food products to McDonalds.

Cargill is in the food-trading business purely for control and profit, and they are pro-GMO, of course. Nutritional quality is of no concern. But they don’t like it when their export sales are spoiled by a GMO company’s effort to insert their corn product into a large shipment exported by Cargill to China, a nation that hasn’t approved it.

The corn was from Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera (MIR162) seed, which was approved for cultivation in the United States in 2010. But the Chinese government had not approved this genetic strain. Earlier, China had declared GMOs safe and acceptable and became the target of GMO producers and grain traders, especially Cargill.

Read moreCargill Sues Syngenta After China Refused 1.4 Million Metric Tons Of Corn Contaminated With GMOs

Ukraine Introduces Capital Controls

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– Ukraine Introduces Capital Controls (Zerohedge, Sep 22, 2014):

A few days ago we showed how when Obama said there would be “costs” for Moscow in the Ukraine-Russian conflict, he got the recipient country of said costs woefully wrong, as confirmed by the economic data released by Ukraine which showed its Industrial Production crater at a pace on par with the Lehman collapse, confirming the Ukraine economy was on the verge of a spectacular implosion just in time for the harsh, Gazprom-free winter to finish off what little economic activity is left.

Ukraine-Industrial-Production

The resulting selloff in the Hryvnia and Ukraine bonds, was therefore, hardly surprising.

Which probably means the news reported by Bloomberg moments ago, which cites Ukraine’s Unian news service, that the Ukraine central bank just instituted restrictions on Hryvnia use, i.e., capital controls, should also not come as a surprise, yet for all those expecting Russia to crater first under the weight of western sanctions, to see said cratering take place in western-backed (and IMF guaranteed) Ukraine is probably just a little unpleasant.

The details:

Read moreUkraine Introduces Capital Controls

Jack Ma: If You’re Poor At 35, You Deserve It

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– Jack Ma: If You’re Poor At 35, You Deserve It (Zerohedge, Sep 22, 2014):

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Jack Ma believes people lose out in life because of these 4 reasons: Being myopic to opportunity, Looking down on opportunities, Lacking understanding, or Failing to act quickly enough. “You are poor, because you have no ambition.” Go big, or go home. Otherwise, you’re wasting your youth.

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The Illustrated Guide To Keynesian Vs Austrian Economics

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– The Illustrated Guide To Keynesian Vs Austrian Economics (Zerohedge, Sep 22, 2014):

There has been an unsettled debate among economists for a century now of whether government intervention is beneficial to an economy. The heart of this debate lies between Keynesian and Austrian economists (though there are other schools as well). In order to get a full understanding of the two schools of economic thought, the following infographic should help…

Economics-Infographic
Source: The Austrian Insider

The PetroYuan Cometh: China Docks Navy Destroyer In Iran’s Strait Of Hormuz Port

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– The PetroYuan Cometh: China Docks Navy Destroyer In Iran’s Strait Of Hormuz Port (ZeroHedge, Sep 21, 2014):

Since China fired its first ‘official’ shot across the Petrodollar bow a year ago, there has been an increasing groundswell of de-dollarization across the world’s energy trade (despite Washington’s exclamations of ‘isolated’ non-dollar transactors). The rise of the PetroYuan has not been far from our headlines in the last year, with China increasingly leveraging its rise as an economic power and as the most important incremental market for hydrocarbon exporters, in the Persian Gulf and the former Soviet Union, to circumscribe dollar dominance in global energy – with potentially profound ramifications for America’s strategic position. And now, as AP reports, for the first time in history, China has docked a Navy Destroyer in the Southern Iranian port of Bandar-Abbas – right across the Straits of Hormuz from ‘US stronghold-for-now’ Bahrain and UAE.

The rise of the PetroYuan has not been far from our headlines in the last year:

Read moreThe PetroYuan Cometh: China Docks Navy Destroyer In Iran’s Strait Of Hormuz Port

This Is Why Russia & China Are Now ‘The Enemy’

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Putin-Gold

– This Is Why China Russia & China Are Now “The Enemy” (The Burning Platform, Sep 20, 2014):

The suppression of gold prices is essential at all costs to the Anglo-American banking interests. The saber rattling and attempts to lure Russia and China into military conflict are about who controls the financial world.

Russia and China keep accumulating the eternal currency – gold.

russia-gold

China-Gold

The American Empire and their EU disciples continue to accumulate debt and print fiat currencies. Has fiat paper ever won out over gold in the long-run? Change is coming. Revolution is in the air.

You can sense the desperation of the ruling oligarchs. Their fiat world is beginning to crumble. But they will not go without a bloody fight.

The Big Picture For Gold And Silver

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– The Big Picture For Gold And Silver (ZeroHedge, Sep 20, 2014):

With precious metals back at 4-year lows against a backdrop of gold migration from west to east, paper vs physical divergences, ‘disappearing’ Comex positions, dark pools in London, collateral grabs, and massive monetary policy extremist actions; we thought the following two presentations worth considering. Tocqueville’s John Hathaway delves into the darker corners of today’s gold markets while Mike Maloney reminds us of the big picture behind gold and silver as wealth insurance. The failure of a monetary system is never a smooth road – it is rocky and undulating, with twists and turns that don’t appear on any map. But the destination is always without question, despite suppression efforts: Gold will inevitably respond to an expanding fiat currency supply. That simple.

Read moreThe Big Picture For Gold And Silver

Meanwhile, Here’s What The “Super-Rich” Are Rushing To Buy

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gold-bar

– Meanwhile, Here’s What The “Super-Rich” Are Rushing To Buy (ZeroHedge, Sep 20, 2014):

If you said shares of BABA, you’d be wrong. According to the Telegraph, the exodus out of paper wealth and into hard assets is reaching a fever pitch as the “super-rich are looking to protect their wealth through buying record numbers of “Italian job” style gold bars, according to bullion experts.”

The numbers cited by the paper are impressive: the number of 12.5kg gold bars being bought by wealthy customers has increased 243% so far this year, when compared to the same period last year, said Rob Halliday-Stein founder of BullionByPost. “These gold bars are usually stored in the vaults of central banks and are the same ones you see in the film ‘The Italian Job’,” added David Cousins, bullion executive from London based ATS Bullion.

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Congress Brings Atlas Shrugged To America With This New Bill

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From the article:

“Enter H.R. 5445, the “Postal Jobs Protection Act of 2014?.

I was utterly stunned when I read this. The meat of the bill consists of just 26 words:

“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no mail processing facility operating as of September 1, 2014, may be closed or consolidated prior to December 31, 2015.”

Let that sink in a minute: they want to pass a law to ensure that NO US postal center can be shut down through the end of next year.”

– Congress brings Atlas Shrugged to America with this new bill (Sovereign Man, Sep 19, 2014):

It was known as Directive 10-289, and it was the government’s last-ditch, desperate effort to control the collapsing economy.

The President, along with some of his senior advisors at the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources, all widely agreed that the only way out of the crisis was expand government power.

The directive was passed quickly, and among its key provisions:

Read moreCongress Brings Atlas Shrugged To America With This New Bill

50 Facts That Show How Far America Has Fallen In This Generation

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American-Flag-Tattered

– 50 Facts That Show How Far America Has Fallen In This Generation (The American Dream, Sep 18, 2014):

What has happened to America?  Please show these numbers to anyone that does not believe that the United States is in decline.  It is time for all of us to humble ourselves and face the reality of what has happened to our once great nation.  For those of us that love America, it is heartbreaking to watch the foundations of our society rot and decay in thousands of different ways.

The following are 50 facts that show how far America has fallen in this generation, but the truth is that this list could have been far, far longer…

#1 According to a survey that was just conducted, only 36 percent of all Americans can name the three branches of government.

#2 Only 25 percent of all Americans know how long U.S. Senators are elected for (6 years), and only 20 percent of all Americans know how many U.S. senators there are.

Read more50 Facts That Show How Far America Has Fallen In This Generation

Quantitative Proof The Fed Is Destroying The Middle Class

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Quantitative Proof The Illuminati Banksters Are Deliberately Destroying The Middle Class

Federal-Reserve-Bernanke1

– Quantitative Proof The Fed Is Destroying The Middle Class (Voices of Liberty, Sep 19, 2014):

Listening to pundits on television, one would think we’ve found a magical species of leprechauns that piss gold rainbows amongst the masses and so we need never again worry about the economy, the markets and whether or not things are improving. And looking at the market’s six-year run to all-time highs, perhaps such euphoria is warranted.

I mean, isn’t the market supposed to be a highly efficient gauge of the underlying economy? The market is a function of expected future cash flows based on demand, supply and productivity. If true, and if the market is at all-time highs, then things must be good, correct?

Read moreQuantitative Proof The Fed Is Destroying The Middle Class

This Pension Fund Is Daytrading Your Retirement Funds, With Up To 500% Leverage

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roulette_0

– This Pension Fund Is Daytrading Your Retirement Funds, With Up To 500% Leverage (ZeroHedge, Sep 19, 2014):

While we have already noted the backlash against hedge funds as a result of their chronic underperformance of the market over the past 5 years, resulting in first Calpers and now Texas Pensions to pull money out of the asset class, the reality is that in a micro-managed world in which the Fed itself is the Chief Risk Officer of the S&P 500, there is no need to actively manage assets – after all the money printer itself is doing so on behalf of everyone. However, it is not just highly paid hedge funds – paid highly to hedge risk which simply does not exist until such time as central banks lose control – but pension, mutual and virtually every other class of actively managed money will underperform the S&P as long as the central banks are actively pushing asset values higher (and when they stop watch out below because no amount of shorts or puts will offset the carnage that will result).

Read moreThis Pension Fund Is Daytrading Your Retirement Funds, With Up To 500% Leverage

Jim Rickards: ‘World In Indefinite Depression’

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Related info:

– Top Financial Experts Say World War 3 Is Coming … Unless We Stop It

– Jim Rickards: ‘It Could Be A Failure To Deliver Physical Gold,’ ‘Physical Gold Is Disappearing, There’s A Mountain of Paper Gold . . . So A Failure to Deliver Could Cause Panic Buying of Gold.’

– Jim Rickards & The Euro Gold Standard: ‘Sorry, You (Banksters) Played, You Lost’ (Video)

– James G. Rickards of Omnis Inc.: Get Your Gold Out Of The Banking System

– ‘World in indefinite depression’ (RT, Sep 19, 2014):

We are in global depression which started in 2007 and is going to continue indefinitely, Jim Rickards, economist and author of “Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis,” told RT.

China’s central bank is injecting a combined 500 billion Yuan into the country’s top banks – a move signaling the deep concerns of an economic slowdown in China. A downturn in China`s economy, as investment is scaled back in Chinese real estate, has prompted economists to forecast further financial defaults and slowing economic growth in the second half of the year. Will this monetary easing fix China’s short-term problem and put it back on the path to prosperity in the long-term? Erin from “Boom Bust” asked economist, Jim Rickards, in her show.

Read moreJim Rickards: ‘World In Indefinite Depression’

10 Warning Signs Of Global Financial Meltdown

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– 10 warning signs of global financial meltdown (Telegraph, Sep 19, 2014):

Stock markets and investors around the world have enjoyed record gains but the clouds are gathering

It is always best to fix the roof when the sun is shining, and with stock markets at or near record highs around the world then there is no better time than now to make sure investments and financial security are in good order.

Based on the following 10 charts there is every reason to think that the record run of gains for investors might be running out of steam, and that means taking some profits and raising cash would be a good idea.

Of course there is always the unknowable chance that European Central banks press the button on mass monetary easing, or for that matter central banks in the US, UK or China. But that is a dangerous investment strategy to rely on given the outlook below.

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World Bank Whistleblower Karen Hudes: Underground Bunkers, Scorched Earth & The ‘Eradication’ Of Humanity (Video)

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Full interview:

Karen Hudes Exposes *ALL* The Jesuit Order and her Startling Confession on Gold

Sep 11, 2014

– World Bank Whistleblower Karen Hudes: The Real Powers Behind President Barack Obama

– World Bank Whistleblower Reveals How The Global Elite Rule The World (Video):

Karen Hudes: We’re Running Out of Time! We’re Dealing with Whether We Can Continue as Humanity

– World Bank Whistleblower Karen Hudes: ‘Second Species’ Controls Earth

House Passes Bill To Audit Federal Reserve

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– House passes bill to audit Federal Reserve (The Hill, Sep 17, 2014):

The House on Wednesday passed legislation to audit the Federal Reserve System.

Passed 333-92, the bill would require the comptroller general to conduct an audit of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors and banks within one year and submit a report to Congress on the findings. A total of 106 Democrats joined all but one Republican in support of the measure.

A version of the bill sponsored by then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) passed in 2012 by a vote of 327-98. Paul’s son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), who failed to advance in a Senate GOP primary earlier this year, said the measure would increase transparency at the Federal Reserve.

Read moreHouse Passes Bill To Audit Federal Reserve

More Than Just Gas: Is This Natural Resource The Reason For The Ukraine Civil War?

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Ukraine coal

– More Than Just Gas: Is This Natural Resource The Reason For The Ukraine Civil War? (ZeroHedge, Sep 18, 2014):

Earlier today, we got a definitive confirmation that when Obama was talking about “costs” when jawboning on the ongoing Ukraine civil war, he envisioned not only Germany, and thus Europe, both of which are teetering on the edge of a triple-dip recession due to Russian sanctions, but Ukraine itself. The reason: the Ukraine economy appears to have ground to a halt following an overnight report that the war-torn country’s industrial output plummeted 21.4% Y/Y in August, above the 18% estimate, and some 12.7% on a monthly basis. As the chart below shows, this was the biggest drop in industrial production since the global crisis of 2009 and followed a 12% fall year-on-year in July.

Read moreMore Than Just Gas: Is This Natural Resource The Reason For The Ukraine Civil War?

The Dow And S&P 500 Soar To Irrational Heights While The Ultra-Wealthy Rush To Buy Gold Bars

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gold-bars-737

– The Dow And S&P 500 Soar To Irrational Heights While The Ultra-Wealthy Rush To Buy Gold Bars (Economic Collapse, Sep 18, 2014):

Did you know that the number of gold bars being purchased by ultra-wealthy individuals has increased by 243 percent so far this year?  If stocks are just going to keep soaring, why are they doing this?  On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 both closed at record highs once again.  It is a party that never seems to end, and there are a lot of really happy people on Wall Street these days.  But those that are discerning realize that we witnessed the exact same kind of bubble behavior during the dotcom boom and during the run up to the last financial crash in 2007.  The irrational exuberance that we are witnessing right now cannot go on forever.  And the bigger that this bubble gets, the more painful that it is going to be when it finally bursts.  Those that get out at the peaks of the market are the ones that usually end up making lots of money.  Those that ride stocks all the way up and all the way down are the ones that usually end up getting totally wiped out.

Read moreThe Dow And S&P 500 Soar To Irrational Heights While The Ultra-Wealthy Rush To Buy Gold Bars

Household Net Worth Hits Record $81.5 Trillion In Q2 Driven By Stock Market Surge

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– Household Net Worth Hits Record $81.5 Trillion In Q2 Driven By Stock Market Surge (ZeroHedge, Sep 18, 2014):

When earlier today, the Fed released its latest Z.1 (Flow of Funds report) for the second quarter, there were few surprises: thanks to the relentless liquidity injections by global central banks (charter here) resulting in record stock market levels, total household net worth rose once more, increasing by $1.4 billion in the quarter (up from a downward revised $1.2 billion in the previous quarter) to a record $81.5 billion. This was the result of a $95.4 trillion in total assets, offset by $13.9 trillion in liabilities, mostly mortgage debt of $9.4 trillion, as well as some $3.2 trillion in consumer credit.

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Which means that yet another quarter has passed in which the bulk of “wealth creation” has benefited only the richest component of US society, something that even French economists have finally noticed. As for the non-rich… well, recall: “America’s Poor Have Never Been Deeper In Debt.”

How much longer can the stealthy wealth transfer of the Fed and its central bank peers, in which only the super rich benefit, continue? The answer is unknown, but if nobody has noticed yet, after some $26 trillion in net worth increases benefiting only the wealthiest Americans, then we doubt anyone will ever notice.

South African Rand Tumbles To 7-Month Lows As Central Bank Governor Steps Down

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– South African Rand Tumbles To 7-Month Lows As Central Bank Governor Steps Down (ZeroHedge, Sep 18, 2014):

In a surprise for the market, South Africa’s Reserve Bank chief Gill Marcus has announced she will not be available for another term when her contract is up in November. On the heels of an expected decision to leave rates unchanged, this has sent the Rand tumbling to its lowest since February. While Marcus exporessed every confidence in her successor, it appears the market is less confident (for now). Forget the economy, sell ZAR because the true leader of the nation’s wealth is to step down…

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The REAL Reason Britain is Freaking Out About Scottish Independence

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– The REAL Reason Britain is Freaking Out About Scottish Independence (Washington’s Blog, Sep 17, 2014):

David Cameron and the British media have been freaking out about the potential Scottish independence.

They’ve blathered on about “history”, “common defense” and other red herrings.

But it’s really all about oil …

Specifically, if Scotland becomes independent, it gets to keep 90% of the revenues from its huge oil reserves.

The New York Times reports:

Read moreThe REAL Reason Britain is Freaking Out About Scottish Independence

The Trolling Continues: Fed Chairwoman Expresses Her Condolences To America’s Poor

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– The Trolling Continues: Fed Chairwoman Expresses Her Condolences To America’s Poor (ZeroHedge, Sep 18, 2014):

As we discussed earlier in the week, Janet Yellen has released a speech this morning explaining how sorry she is about ‘the poor’ and why they need to get rich. In the speech below, she stresses, “how important it is to promote asset-building, including saving for a rainy day, as protection from the ups and downs of the economy,” despite falling incomes, rising costs, and extending credit, we assume she means. The Fed Chairman has some words of encouragement for the tens of millions of Americans who live at or below the poverty level, including that threatened with extinction class, affectionately known as “the middle.” Her message? It is important to build assets, or said otherwise…  get rich and she promises to “continue to promote asset-building.”

  • *YELLEN SAYS FIGURES ON POOR AMERICANS’ ASSETS IS `SOBERING’ (indeed! but not the rich eh?)
  • *YELLEN SAYS HOUSING CRISIS LEGACY STILL HURTING POOR AMERICANS (need another bubble)
  • *YELLEN: HOUSING IMPROVING, WILL STAY KEY FOR FAMILY ASSETS (as homeownership tumbles)
  • *YELLEN SAYS AMERICANS NEED MORE DIVERSIFICATION OF ASSETS (buy stocks too)
  • *YELLEN SAYS FED WILL `CONTINUE TO PROMOTE ASSET-BUILDING’ (count on the Fed to lift prices)
  • *YELLEN: CRISIS SHOWED VULNERABILITY OF LOW-ASSET HOUSEHOLDS (poor people should save more!)

Remember, one of our favorite charts, showing that while the rich hold assets, the poor are merely drowning in ever more debt:

Read moreThe Trolling Continues: Fed Chairwoman Expresses Her Condolences To America’s Poor