Matt Taibbi: Secrets And Lies Of The Bailout (Rolling Stone)

Secrets and Lies of the Bailout (Rolling Stone, Jan 4, 2013):

It has been four long winters since the federal government, in the hulking, shaven-skulled, Alien Nation-esque form of then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, committed $700 billion in taxpayer money to rescue Wall Street from its own chicanery and greed. To listen to the bankers and their allies in Washington tell it, you’d think the bailout was the best thing to hit the American economy since the invention of the assembly line. Not only did it prevent another Great Depression, we’ve been told, but the money has all been paid back, and the government even made a profit. No harm, no foul – right?

Wrong.

It was all a lie – one of the biggest and most elaborate falsehoods ever sold to the American people. We were told that the taxpayer was stepping in – only temporarily, mind you – to prop up the economy and save the world from financial catastrophe. What we actually ended up doing was the exact opposite: committing American taxpayers to permanent, blind support of an ungovernable, unregulatable, hyperconcentrated new financial system that exacerbates the greed and inequality that caused the crash, and forces Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to increase risk rather than reduce it. The result is one of those deals where one wrong decision early on blossoms into a lush nightmare of unintended consequences. We thought we were just letting a friend crash at the house for a few days; we ended up with a family of hillbillies who moved in forever, sleeping nine to a bed and building a meth lab on the front lawn.

Read moreMatt Taibbi: Secrets And Lies Of The Bailout (Rolling Stone)

HUMOR: Top Ten Reasons Why Fiat Currency Is Superior To Gold (Or Silver) Money

Top Ten Reasons Why Fiat Currency Is Superior To Gold (Or Silver) Money (The Daily Capitalist, Dec 27, 2012):

By John Butler, on December 27th, 2012

In the spirit of the holidays and hope for a more prosperous 2013, I thought my readers might appreciate a little humour to partially offset the relentless doom and gloom associated with the Amphora Report. So please, don’t take this edition too seriously. But if you happen to stumble across a ‘paperbug’ or two over the holidays, perhaps you could share some of the points made here. Humour sometimes helps people realise just how hopelessly misguided they are. Cheers!


Number 10: There Is Not Enough Gold (Or Silver) In The World To Serve As Money

Let’s begin with the obvious. We know that central banks the world over have printed money at exponentially growing rates for years. There is now so much paper and electronic money floating around the world that gold (or silver) can not possibly be expected to keep up. You can’t print gold, after all, you need to find it, dig it out of the ground, refine it, etc, a hugely expensive and time-consuming process which practically ensures a stable rather than exponentially growing supply of the stuff.

Read moreHUMOR: Top Ten Reasons Why Fiat Currency Is Superior To Gold (Or Silver) Money

The Real Crisis: ‘People Have Lost Trust In The Government And The Market’

The Real Crisis: “People Have Lost Trust In The Government And The Market” (ZeroHedge, Dec 27, 2012):

The death of the ‘cult of equities’ was a popular topic this year among both fringe blogs and the best-known institutional asset managers and sell-side strategists. As AP discusses in this excellent article, ordinary Americans – defying decades of investment history – are selling stocks for a fifth year in a row. It’s the first time ordinary folks have sold during a sustained bull market since relevant records were first kept during World War II. The answer is both complex and simple but summed up best by a former stock analyst’s comment that in order to buy stocks “You have to trust your government. You have to trust other governments. You have to trust Wall Street, and I don’t trust any of these.” With Fed policy trying to force investors back into stocks (at any cost), a former fund manager notes, presciently that, “When this policy fails, as it will, baby boomers will pay the cost in their 401(k)s.” Are we the new ‘Depression Babies’? We suspect so.

Investors, as you well know, are leaving the equity markets in droves…

Read moreThe Real Crisis: ‘People Have Lost Trust In The Government And The Market’

Chart Of The Day: The Death Of America’s Middle Class

Chart Of The Day: The Death Of America’s Middle Class (ZeroHedge, Dec 18, 2012):

There is only chart that everyone should see that is part of Reuters’ must read special series: The Unequal State of America: Redistributing Up – it is the chart we have said over the past 4 years is the only one that matters for America – that showing the flattening of America’s wealth distributon Gaussian curve, aka the plunder and accelerating destruction of America’s middle class, at the expense of the poorest and the wealthiest. This is nothing but the inevitable outcome of a co-opted, conflicted and controlled marionette government, which does the bidding of the wealthiest lobby powers (read corporate shareholders and Wall Street), partitioning the bulk of the wealth to the richest, while sending the scraps to the poorest in order to keep itself in power due to the power of the ever poorer, democratic majority. Alas, since there is never a free lunch, and since the Fed does not create wealth but through its currency debasement merely accelerates the transfer of wealth, someone ends up footing the bill? Who? None other than that part of the US population which made the United States of America the greatest country in the world, and is now watching it implode first slowly, then fast.The chart in question:

How does Reuters frame this ever so critical topic that only impairs the ever more disenfranchised, ever declining middle class, and thus few actually bother discussing:

In the town that launched the War on Poverty 48 years ago, the poor are getting poorer despite the government’s help. And the rich are getting richer because of it.

The top 5 percent of households in Washington, D.C., made more than $500,000 on average last year, while the bottom 20 percent earned less than $9,500 – a ratio of 54 to 1.

That gap is up from 39 to 1 two decades ago. It’s wider than in any of the 50 states and all but two major cities. This at a time when income inequality in the United States as a whole has risen to levels last seen in the years before the Great Depression.

Read moreChart Of The Day: The Death Of America’s Middle Class

Mainstream Media Finally Awakens To The Fact That Big Banks Are Criminal Enterprises

Mainstream Media Finally Awakens to the Fact that Big Banks Are Criminal Enterprises (ZeroHedge, Dec 16, 2012)

Wake Up! 11 Facts That Show That Europe Is Heading Into An Economic Depression

Most countries in Europe are already in depression.

Ask Gerald Celente and others if you don’t believe me.

The big reset, the greatest economic collapse in world history is coming.

This is the ‘Greatest Depression’.

And many people seem not to get what I am really talking about when I say ‘prepare for collapse’ and what I mean by ‘total collapse’ and the resulting consequences.

(You need food, water and full survival gear [And don’t forget that sleeping bag for extreme cold conditions!], gold & silver and if possible a fully equipped, self-sufficient remote farm … and friends.)


Wake Up! 11 Facts That Show That Europe Is Heading Into An Economic Depression (Economic Collapse, Nov 30, 2012):

Europe is not just heading into another recession.  The truth is that Europe is heading into a full-blown depression.  The economy of the EU is actually larger than the U.S. economy, and we are watching it melt down right in front of our eyes.  Things just continue to get worse in Europe, and yet somehow the authorities over in Europe just keep insisting that everything is going to be “just fine”.  Well, everything is not “just fine” over in Europe right now.  Unemployment in the eurozone has just hit another brand new record high.  In some nations in Europe, the unemployment rate is already significantly higher than anything the United States experienced during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  Europe is a continent that is collapsing under the weight of its own debt, and this is just the beginning.  A lot more pain is on the way.  Officials over in Europe are trying to hold the European financial system together with duct tape and prayers, but it could literally fall apart at any moment.  Europe has a much larger banking system than the United States does, so when a financial collapse happens in Europe, it is going to be very significant for the entire globe.  Sadly, most Americans do not even pay attention to much of anything that is happening in Europe.  They tend to think that the United States is the center of the universe and that as long as we are fine that everything will be okay.  Well, all of those people who are not paying attention need to wake up.  First of all, the U.S. economy is most definitely in decline.  Secondly, the European economy is imploding right in front of our eyes and Europe is going to end up dragging the entire globe down with it.The following are 11 facts that show that Europe is heading into an economic depression…

Read moreWake Up! 11 Facts That Show That Europe Is Heading Into An Economic Depression

Europe’s Depression, Japan’s Disaster, And The World’s Debt Prison

Europe’s Depression, Japan’s Disaster, And The World’s Debt Prison (ZeroHedge, Nov 18, 2012):

Originally posted at Der Spiegel,

Prison of Debt Paralyzes West

By Cordt Schnibben

Be it the United States or the European Union, most Western countries are so highly indebted today that the markets have a greater say in their policies than the people. Why are democratic countries so pathetic when it comes to managing their money sustainably?

In the midst of this confusing crisis, which has already lasted more than five years, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt addressed the question of who had “gotten almost the entire world into so much trouble.” The longer the search for answers lasted, the more disconcerting the questions arising from the answers became. Is it possible that we are not experiencing a crisis, but rather a transformation of our economic system that feels like an unending crisis, and that waiting for it to end is hopeless? Is it possible that we are waiting for the world to conform to our worldview once again, but that it would be smarter to adjust our worldview to conform to the world? Is it possible that financial markets will never become servants of the markets for goods again? Is it possible that Western countries can no longer get rid of their debt, because democracies can’t manage money? And is it possible that even Helmut Schmidt ought to be saying to himself: I too am responsible for getting the world into a fix?

Read moreEurope’s Depression, Japan’s Disaster, And The World’s Debt Prison

Gerald Celente Nov 5, 2012: ‘Crash, Depression, Currency War, World War’ (Video – 3/5 – German Subtitles)


YouTube

Description:

Gerald Celente, the founder of the Trends Research Institute, at the Marriott Hotel in Munich, Germany, on November 3rd, 2012. Celente was holding a presentation later on on the Internationale Edelmetall- und Rohstoffmesse, the largest precious metals conference in Europe. You can find Gerald Celente at trendsresearch.com and trendsjournal.com.

‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 112-Year-Old Pennsylvania Apparel Maker To Close

Flashback:

Welcome to the Recovery (New York Times, by Timothy Geithner, August 2, 2010)

‘Recovery’ is the ‘Greatest Depression’.

See also:

Lockheed Martin To Lay Off 123,000 Employees!!!

‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 15 Signs That Layoffs And Job Losses Are Skyrocketing



Chief Executive Officer Walter Meck is surrounded by idled sewing machines set aside for sale at FesslerUSA apparel manufacture in Orwigsburg, Pa.

112-year-old Pennsylvania apparel maker to close (NBC News/AP, Nov 5, 2012):

One of the last U.S. apparel manufacturers of its kind is losing its shirt.

FesslerUSA had survived war and depression, free trade and foreign imports, producing millions of knitted garments from its base in eastern Pennsylvania. Five years ago, third-generation owner Walter Meck and his family were feeling so good about the company’s prospects they doubled capacity, moving into a former pencil factory outside the small town of Orwigsburg.

They were still setting up shop in the new place when the Great Recession hit.

Sales plummeted. Financing dried up. And, after a long struggle to keep the manufacturer afloat, Meck has finally run out of time and money, still awaiting the strong economic rebound that never came. Production will shut down in early November, tossing 130 employees out of work and ending a run of nearly 113 years.

“We’re not even on life support any more,” the downcast CEO said in an interview on the floor of his cavernous factory, ominously quiet on a recent workday.

Read more‘Welcome To The Recovery’: 112-Year-Old Pennsylvania Apparel Maker To Close

Former US Army Intelligence Officer James Wesley Rawles: America Will Experience Weimar-Style Hyperinflation – ‘People Have No Idea What COLLAPSE Might Look Like’ (Video)


YouTube Added: 14.10.2012


YouTube Added: 14.10.2012

See also:

Interview With Former US Army Intelligence Officer And Bestselling Author James Wesley Rawles: Global Economic Collapse – Gun Confiscation – How To Survive The End Of The World – If The Power Grid Goes Down We Are In A Massive Die Off Situation Where Literally More Than 50% Of The Population Of The Country Could Die In Just One Winter (Video)

Books from James Wesley Rawles @Amazon.com:

Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse

How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times

Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse

Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse

Former FBI Chief Ted Gunderson: CIA & Satanism, Peadophilia, Organized Child Kidnapping Rings, International Trafficking Of Children, Terrorism, Illuminati, NWO (Video)


YouTube

PIMCO’s Bill Gross: ‘Ours Is A Country Of The SuperPAC, By The SuperPAC, And For The SuperPAC’


Elite puppets Obama & Romney 2012!


Bill Gross: “Ours Is A Country Of The SuperPAC, By The SuperPAC, And For The SuperPAC” (ZeroHedge, Nov 1, 2012):

Curious why we dedicate precious virtual real estate to periodically bring to you the “billionaires behind the best presidents money can buy“? Bill Gross explains why?

Time To Vote, from PIMCO’s Bill Gross

So I pulled out my magic lamp that for some reason works only every October 22nd, and rubbed until the Genie appeared in his red and white checkered cloak with a 10-inch diameter Flavor Flav clock hanging ceremoniously around his neck. Being a rather forward, although not disrespectful Genie, he immediately said, “Mr. G, instead of the yield on the 10-year Treasury, perhaps this year you should wish to know who is going to win the Presidential election?” After some thought I replied, “Nah, I need some breaking news, Mr. Genie, something that will make a difference, something that will shock the world, like when does the iPhone 6 come out?” Obama/Romney, Romney/Obama – the most important election of our lifetime? Fact is they’re all the same – bought and paid for with the same money. Ours is a country of the SuperPAC, by the SuperPAC, and for the SuperPAC. The “people” are merely election-day pawns, pulling a Democratic or Republican lever that will deliver the same results every four years. “Change you can believe in?” I bought that one hook, line and sinker in 2008 during the last vestige of my disappearing middle age optimism. We got a more intelligent President, but we hardly got change. Healthcare dominated by corporate interests – what’s new? Financial regulation dominated by Wall Street – what’s new? Continuing pointless foreign wars – what’s new?I’ll tell you what isn’t new. Our two-party system continues to play ping pong with the American people, and the electorate is that white little ball going back and forth over the net. This side’s better – no, that one looks best. Elephants/Donkeys, Donkeys/Elephants. Perhaps the most farcical aspect of it all is that the choice between the two seems to occupy most of our time. Instead of digging in and digging out of this mess on a community level, we sit in front of our flat screens and watch endless debates about red and blue state theologies or listen to demagogues like Rush Limbaugh or his ex-cable counterpart Keith Olbermann. To express my discontent, Genie, along with my continuing patriotism, I’ve created a modern-day version of our Pledge of Allegiance. Place your hand over your clock and recite after me:

Read morePIMCO’s Bill Gross: ‘Ours Is A Country Of The SuperPAC, By The SuperPAC, And For The SuperPAC’

The Truth About America’s Jobless Rate

By Mike Stathis

Mike Stathis holds a Master’s of Science in biological chemistry and biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania and was formerly a National Science Foundation research fellow at U.C. Berkeley. Mike serves as the Chief Investment Strategist of AVA Investment Analytics. As the only expert who predicted the financial apocalypse in detail, Mike has been a valuable source of guidance for investors, helping them to navigate the real estate and banking crisis, as well as the resulting global economic collapse. The accuracy of his predictions has positioned him as one of America’s most insightful and creative financial experts. He is the author of America’s Healthcare Solution, The Wall Street Investment Bible, America’s Financial Apocalypse, Cashing in on the Real Estate Bubble, America’s Financial Apocalypse, and The Startup Company Bible for Entrepreneurs.

From the article:

“Washington does not want Americans to understand the real economic problems facing their nation because it’s all about maximizing corporate profits at any expense, as one would expect from a fascist government. This is specifically why profits have remained near record-highs throughout the current recession, now entering its 59th month.”

The truth about America’s jobless rate (PressTV, Oct 30, 2012):

In many respects, much if not all of the economic gains made in the United States from the past decade have been wiped out due to Wall Street malfeasance. Looking forward, I expect America to lose at least another decade.

While some of the economic turmoil is certainly due to the biggest real estate collapse in US history, a much larger portion is the result of the weak job market which is likely to persist for a number of years.
Although the real estate market appears to have bottomed, you should not expect anything other than a very gradual rise from here. In the absence of bubble conditions, the rate of real estate appreciation generally tracks that of inflation.

The biggest lift to the real estate market would come from lasting improvements in the job market. Thus, it is important to identify the real reasons for the persistently high unemployment rate so that adequate solutions can be designed. If the factors accounting for the continued weakness in the labor market are not addressed, America stands a good chance to lose much more than a decade.

Read moreThe Truth About America’s Jobless Rate

Iconic NY Steakhouse ‘Gallagher’s’, Which Survived The Great Depression, Is Closing

Iconic NY Steakhouse “Gallagher’s”, Which Survived The Great Depression, Is Closing (ZeroHedge, Oct 25, 2012):

The Department of Labor’s WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) website may have been exempt from layoff notices related to the fiscal cliff, but it still provides a sufficiently (bleak) complete picture about the real nature of layoffs and business cycle in general in America’s busiest city. Which is why it was precisely using the WARN website that we learned that one of New York’s most historic steakhouses, “NY’s Prime Steakhouse since 1927” Gallagher’s, located on 52nd street, and which survive the great depression, is shutting down on January 16. Surely neither the surging price of meat, nor the ability of patrons to spend charge $46.95 for an 18 ounce sirloin, has had any impact on the decision to close this iconic restuarant which survived the Great Depression, but failed to survive Tim Geithner’s “recovery“.

From WARN:

Date of Notice: 10/23/2012

Read moreIconic NY Steakhouse ‘Gallagher’s’, Which Survived The Great Depression, Is Closing

US Foodstamp Usage Rises To New Record High

US Foodstamp Usage Rises To New Record High (ZeroHedge, Oct. 5, 2012):

While the 0.4% perfectly unmanipulated and totally coincidental swing in the unemployment rate in an Obama favorable direction one month before the election came at a prime time moment for the market, one hour ahead of the open, setting the market mood for the rest of the day (which despite all best efforts still closed red, valiant efforts by Simon Potter and the FRBNY’s direct pipe to Citadel notwithstanding), there was one other, far more important data point released by the government’s department of agriculture, sufficiently late after the market close to impact no risk assets. That data point of course was foodstamps (or the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP), and we are confident that no readers will be surprised to learn that foodstamp usage for both persons and households, has jumped to a new all time record.

Read moreUS Foodstamp Usage Rises To New Record High

How Bad Was The Great Depression? (Video)

And this time it’s the ‘Greatest Depression’.


How Bad Was The Great Depression? (ZeroHedge, Sep 29, 2012):

To properly understand the events of the time (and to put them in today’s context), we believe, like the FEE, that it is factually appropriate to view the Great Depression as not one, but four consecutive downturns rolled into one. These four “phases” are: I. Monetary Policy and the Business Cycle; II. The Disintegration of the World Economy; III. The New Deal; IV. The Wagner Act. The first phase covers why the crash of 1929 happened in the first place; the other three show how government intervention worsened it and kept the economy in a stupor for over a decade. The following brief clip and article shine a light on how bad things were and what was done in the name of ‘helping’ – there are many shocking analogies for current government-inspired acts from taxation to protectionism to money-supply ‘tricks’.

Everyone has heard the sage observation of philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s a warning we should not fail to heed.


YouTube

Great Myths 2011 Final Web

Have The Last 5 Years Been Worse Than The Great Depression?

AGAIN: This is the ‘Greatest Depression’.


Have the Last 5 Years Been Worse than the Great Depression? (ZeroHedge, Sep 21, 2012):

What Do Economic Indicators Say?We’ve repeatedly pointed out that there are many indicators which show that the last 5 years have been worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s, including:

Mark McHugh reports:

Velocity of money is the  frequency with which a unit of money is spent on new goods and services.   It is a far better indicator of economic activity than GDP, consumer prices, the stock market, or sales of men’s underwear (which Greenspan was fond of ogling).  In a healthy economy, the same dollar is collected as payment and subsequently spent many times over.  In a depression, the velocity of money goes catatonic.  Velocity of money is calculated by simply dividing GDP by a given money supply.  This VoM chart using monetary base  should end any discussion of what ”this” is and whether or not anybody should be using the word “recovery” with a straight face:

In just four short years, our “enlightened” policy-makers have slowed money velocity to depths never seen in the Great Depression.

(As we’ve previously explained, the Fed has intentionally squashed money multipliers and money velocity as a way to battle inflation. And see this)

Indeed, the number of Americans relying on government assistance to obtain basic food may be higher now that during the Great Depression.  The only reason we don’t see the “soup lines” like we did in the 30s only because of the massive food stamp program.

Read moreHave The Last 5 Years Been Worse Than The Great Depression?

Gerald Celente: Criminal Banksters Launching World War III (Video)


YouTube Added: 17.09.2012

If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.
– New York Post

When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.
– CNN Headline News

There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.
– CNBC

Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.
– The Wall Street Journal

A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.
– The Economist

Marc Faber: ‘Fed Will Destroy The World’ (Video)

Marc Faber: “Fed Will Destroy The World” (ZeroHedge, Sep 14, 2012):

“Everything will collapse” is the consequence Gloom, Boom, & Doom’s Marc Faber sees from the Fed’s latest ‘stimulus’ (and the fallacy and misconception of how money-printing can help employment). In a wondrously clarifying interview on Bloomberg TV this morning, Faber explained why he was ‘happy’, since “the asset values of his holdings will go up” but as a responsible citizen he is worried becausethe monetary policies of the US will destroy the world. It truly is class warfare under a veil of ‘its good for you’ as he notes: “the fallacy of monetary policy in the U.S. is to believe this money will go to the man on the street. It won’t. It goes to the Mayfair economy of the well-to-do people and boosts asset prices of Warhols.” Congratulations, Mr. Bernanke.

Must-watch (or read the transcript) – it is truly remarkable.

Faber on more Federal Reserve stimulus:

“It is difficult to tell what will happen. I happen to believe that eventually we will have a systemic crisis and everything will collapse. But the question is really between here and then. Will everything collapse with Dow Jones 20,000 or 50,000 or 10 million? Mr. Bernanke is a money printer and, believe me, if Mr. Romney wins the election the next Fed chairman will also be a money printer. And so it will go on. The Europeans will print money. The Chinese will print money. Everybody will print money and the purchasing power of paper money will go down. And I don’t like bonds. I don’t particularly like equities, but I think equities are a better space to be in than bonds.”

Read moreMarc Faber: ‘Fed Will Destroy The World’ (Video)

The Bill Clinton Myth

The Bill Clinton Myth (ZeroHedge, Sep 9, 2012):

Earlier this week, former U.S. president Bill Clinton gave the keynote address to the Democractic National Convention in an effort to lend some of his popularity to Barack Obama.  With the unemployment rate still stubbornly high at 8.1%, Obama has lost many of the enthused voters who put him into the Oval Office in 2008.  Clinton was tapped to deliver the speech not only because of his image of a wonkish pragmatist but because of his presiding over the booming economy of the late 1990s.  Like a prized mule, Clinton was dragged out to give Democrats someone to point to and say that his policies were the hallmark of smart governance.

Read moreThe Bill Clinton Myth

Shhhh … It’s Even Worse Than The Great Depression

This is the ‘Greatest Depression’.


Shhhh…It’s Even Worse Than The Great Depression (ZeroHedge, Aug 20, 2012):

According to Wikipedia, Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) affects one percent of the population and has little to do with looking at yourself in the mirror.  It has a lot to do with unrealistic fantasies of success, power and intelligence.   Some NPD sufferers become cult leaders or mass murderers, the rest become  economists and policy-makers.   Despite having a highly elevated sense of self-worth,  narcissists have fragile self-esteem and  handle criticism unpredictably, so let’s keep this to ourselves….

Velocity of money is the  frequency with which a unit of money is spent on new goods and services.   It is a far better indicator of economic activity than GDP, consumer prices, the stock market, or sales of men’s underwear (which Greenspan was fond of ogling).  In a healthy economy, the same dollar is collected as payment and subsequently spent many times over.  In a depression, the velocity of money goes catatonic.  Velocity of money is calculated by simply dividing GDP by a given money supply.  This VoM chart using monetary base  should end any discussion of what ”this” is and whether or not anybody should be using the word “recovery” with a straight face:

In just four short years, our “enlightened” policy-makers have slowed money velocity to depths never seen in the Great Depression. Hard to believe, but the guy who made a career out of Monday-morning quarterbacking the Great Depression has already proven himself a bigger idiot than all of his predecessors (and in less than half the time!!).  During the Great Depression, monetary base was expanded in response to slowing economic activity, in other words it was reactive (here’s a graph) . They waited until the forest was ablaze before breaking out the hoses, and for that they’ve been rightly criticized.  Our “proactive”  Fed elected to hose down a forest that wasn’t actually on fire, with gasoline, and the results speak for themselves.  With the IMF recently  lowering its 2012 US GDP growth forecast to 2%, while  the monetary base is expanding at about a 5% clip, know that velocity of money is grinding lower every time you breathe.

Read moreShhhh … It’s Even Worse Than The Great Depression

Central Banks And Wall Street Insiders Are Rapidly Preparing For The Greatest Financial Collapse In World History

This is the ‘Greatest Depression’.


Startling Evidence That Central Banks And Wall Street Insiders Are Rapidly Preparing For Something BIG (Economic Collapse, Aug 16, 2012):

If you want to figure out what is going to happen next in the financial markets, carefully watch what the insiders are doing.  Those that are “connected” have access to far better sources of information than the rest of us have, and if they hear that something big is coming up they will often make very significant moves with their money in anticipation of what is about to happen.  Right now, Wall Street insiders and central banks all around the globe are making some very unusual moves.  In fact, they appear to be rapidly preparing for something really big.  So exactly what are they up to?  In a previous article entitled “Are The Government And The Big Banks Quietly Preparing For An Imminent Financial Collapse?“, I speculated that they may be preparing for a financial meltdown of some sort.  As I noted in that article, more than 600 banking executives have resigned from their positions over the past 12 months, and I have been personally told that a substantial number of Wall Street bankers have been shopping for “prepper properties” this summer.  But now even more evidence has emerged that quiet preparations are being made for an imminent financial collapse.  That doesn’t guarantee that something will happen or won’t happen.  Like any good detective, we are gathering clues and trying to figure out what the evidence is telling us.

Why Is George Soros Selling So Much Stock And Buying So Much Gold?

I am certainly not a fan of George Soros.  He has funneled millions upon millions of dollars into organizations that are trying to take America in the exact wrong direction.

Read moreCentral Banks And Wall Street Insiders Are Rapidly Preparing For The Greatest Financial Collapse In World History

The Return Of The 1930s Midwest Dust Bowl

This time it is the ‘Greatest Depression’.


Return of the Dust Bowl (Independent, Aug 11, 2012):

The parched prairies of the Midwest are facing a natural disaster not seen since the ‘dusters’ of the 1930s

The jam jar sitting on John Vannatta’s kitchen table appears to be filled with coffee, until he shows you the label on the lid. The preserve inside is history, saved from a time when black blizzards filled the sky, turning day into night; a time when Americans starved. “Pure 1930s Blow Dirt,” it reads. It might also say: don’t forget, lest it happens again.

Not that Mr Vannatta, 92 – or his neighbour Huston Hanes – needs reminding. Both retired farmers, they are members of a very small club indeed: the last survivors of that great American epic, the Dust Bowl, that spanned 1932 to 1936 and coincided with the Great Depression.

Read moreThe Return Of The 1930s Midwest Dust Bowl

11 Things That Can Happen When You Allow Your Country To Become Enslaved To The Bankers

11 Things That Can Happen When You Allow Your Country To Become Enslaved To The Bankers (Economic Collapse, Aug 9, 2012):

Why are Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and so many other countries experiencing depression-like conditions right now?  It is because they have too much debt.  Why do they have too much debt?  It is because they allowed themselves to become enslaved to the bankers.  Borrowing money from the bankers can allow a nation to have a higher standard of living in the short-term, but it always results in a lower standard of living in the long-term.  Why is that?  It is because you always have to pay back more money than you borrowed.  And when you get to the point of having a debt to GDP ratio in excess of 100%, you are basically drowning in debt.  Huge amounts of money that could be going to providing essential services and stimulating your economy are now going to service your horrific debt.  Today, citizens in Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy are experiencing a standard of living far below what they should be because the bankers have trapped them in endless debt spirals.  Sadly, the vast majority of the people living in those countries have absolutely no idea what is at the root cause of their problems.

Read more11 Things That Can Happen When You Allow Your Country To Become Enslaved To The Bankers