Public Service Announcement
5 weeks ago
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Will blind pursuit of growth lead to end?
Now what you just saw. Watch following video in context of growth and how it can easily become exponential growth over a period of time. Why it is important to not blindly put our faith in techonology to deal with problems caused by blind pursuit of growth.
I doubt we even have any leader who actually understands the problems with growth over time...
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
48 Laws of Power
The following are 48 Laws of Power. It is useful to understand how Power works.
The 48 Laws of Power is a 1998 book by Robert Greene. The book shares thematic elements with Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince and has been compared to Sun-Tzu's classic treatise The Art of War.
The 48 Laws of Power is a 1998 book by Robert Greene. The book shares thematic elements with Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince and has been compared to Sun-Tzu's classic treatise The Art of War.
PLANETARY BANKRUPTCY
Following is an excellen article reproduced here from site http://un-debt.net/
'If all the bank loans were paid up, no one would have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of currency or coin in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks for our money. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money, we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp upon the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible - but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it is widely understood and the defects remedied very soon.' - Robert H. Hemphill, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
In order to give a full meaning to the quote above, it is essential to mention that it applies to any 'fiat' currency, not just the US Dollar. Fiat money's value is backed by confidence in the economy and covered by the government which decrees it to have value - and more importantly (here comes the devious twist) is also backed by a promise to pay! So, let's stress it again: not only the banknotes remain in our wallets at the condition we pay them back but will retain their value as long as we are able to take on debts. How confident are you in 'a piece of paper' that is worth less that it's printed on, because it is the strict bottom line as Former Fed. Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker puts it in 'The Ascent of Money', a pbs.org video at 17:36 min. Such a concept is repellent to the mind because if we give it a thought, we begin to perceive the illusion we live in - to feel like our spiritual self and our hyper-materialistic driven environment are set for a inevitable collision course.
Since last September, world nations have grasped the importance to prop up the USD and that the failure to do so would have dire consequences. Confidence in the world currency reserve is eroding at a faster pace every day. These grave threats could all vanish overnight if people were able to make the link between the amount of taxes paid since they joined the workforce and the promises made to them during all this time - then asked themselves honestly: what did come true, was it all a dream? If they were doing just that, maybe they would demand the repudiation of their (illegal) *National Debt* to start with. Politicians who want to be elected use the old trick named 'the carrot and the stick'. Their promises will demand raising taxes. Governments have always overspent and it is precisely this pattern which corrupts minds across the board. Passing debt onto further generations is not really a concern because nearly everybody wants it N-O-W! More dramatically, the financial structure is built in a way to preserve itself, nobody wants to lose one's entitlements: so the cure is to inject more cash into failed programs and accept corruption as a fatality. Moral hazards do not go away, they merely become bigger threats as decades pass by. How many layers of fallacies are needed to realize that fiscal straitjacket on a government level is a myth?
Alas without the power to tax, the economic world cannot exist because money wouldn't have any value at all, this is a simple as that. The top 10% depends on this scheme to consolidate wealth. The most appalling is that even the architect of our current system once confessed the awful truth:
'Should government refrain from regulation (taxation), the worthlessness of the money becomes apparent and the fraud can no longer be concealed.' -- John Maynard Keynes, 'Consequences of Peace'
It is precisely taxpayers' money that first enabled the predatory behavior of lobbies and cartels feeding today off bailouts, which are nothing more than the bones of global debt carcass. We are just running on empty and it's only a matter of time before the music stops. This is a very last cancer stage: taxpayers have been unknowingly the engine of their own demise and now must endure a 'die or spend mode' as their insolvent central banks turned them into lenders of the last resort to rescue the ' Davos Golden Boys' way of life. Told that their house value was the safest piggy bank on earth, many worked hard and spent as if there was no tomorrows while not realizing that what was done to them was exactly the same as the economic Hitmen did to the third world countries.
Our World Managers Succumb To Monetary Dementia
Let's consider some eye-popping figures: if a big bank such as 'Bank of America' needed a $131bn bailout, CiTi finds itself on the brink of liquidation, Merrill Lynch clients pulled $10Bn in the fourth quarter, J.P. Morgan profit fell more than 75%, hedge funds lost $350Bn in 2008 and pension funds (worth $15Tn) threaten to implode... we are indeed walking on very thin ice. Interestingly, American taxpayers seem to keep their eyes on the ball better than their lawmakers. Has a stimulus ever been necessary at all? Anti-Bailout coalitions and advocacy groups have begun to mushroom nationwide. A recent poll revealed that 60% of Americans want the bailout of the financial sector to stop; yet the DC Geniuses (who still can't figure why printing our way out of debts will aggravate the liquidity crunch) plot the next step after aid to Citigroup and Bank of America. Unethical premises and remedies multiply moral hazards. One of the unintended consequences to finance those 'has-been businesses' is creating a new menace to the economy: 'Zombie' Debtors that will be feeding off the taxpayers and stockholders — as healthier rivals become increasingly threatened with 'organized competition' put in place by Lawmakers. The price of protection shows its true colors: it allows the government to decide who can live - or die: it is fascism in disguise. The ugly side of intervention is precisely its addictiveness. And that is why institutionalized debtism has a lethal track record.
An 'almost incomprehensible' amount of cash evaporated, this the Global crisis 'has destroyed 40pc of world wealth', Steve Schwarzman admitted. Indeed, where the heck did all the money go? When money is debt it is negative wealth... got it?
Two days before his inauguration, Obama urged to move swiftly to rescue the banks continuing to hemorrhage billions of dollars. As the situation worsens by the day Bernanke skipped Congressional Financial Hearings in favor of a secretive euro bankers confab. According to Ron Paul, the meetings took place in Basel and were chaired by ECB's Jean-Claude Trichet - not so surprisingly the mainstream outlets remained elusive about them. Just like a bad quality varnish peeling under the pressure of a nail, the magic really vanishes when one looks at Obama's billionaire pals' list and who is throwing money into the most lavish Inauguration in history. Guess what? The biggest part of the pie goes to the financial sector. Obama is no savior... and here is why:
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' investigative watchdog, has found that "a majority of America's largest publicly traded companies and the U.S. government's largest federal contractors use multiple subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to conduct business... The culprits include some corporate giants who are receiving countless millions in bailout money, Leonnig notes. ... (01/16/09) - more
As credit card spending in 'The Rich West' screeched to a halt, China Central Bank, which called Paulson a 'gangster', is trying to prevent a quagmire; and so far the only remedy is the Yuan devaluation. How smart is this really? Doing so is extremely tricky because competitive devaluation (race to the bottom) has limits. If things really go wrong, it may lead to a professional run on banks. So much for our fabulous globalization, heh?! But what if banks do not start lending again (what wouldn't fix the downhill trends if they did either)? Evans-Pritchard leans toward a collapse that could drag the entire planet into a remake of the Great Depression. SocGen warned too that the Chinese economy is imploding and speculates about the possibility of regime change. Flash back: that very dire outcome was forecast in 2004 by Krassimir Petrov. There is practically no doubt that the Chinese will overcome the shock a lot better since they are already accustomed to sweatshop wages. For us, it will be a rude awakening and we could see, in the so-called free world, a suicide epidemic as currently witnessed among young Chinese women.
In Russia, troubles are brewing too. Last November, its stock market is down 70 percent from late spring 2008 and since then anti-Western rhetoric abound. In December alone, the central bank spent $70BN to rescue its currency and avoid the panic of a currency collapse reminiscent of the 1998 crisis. As of January 13, the WSJ reported that the drastic measures didn't prevent the Ruble from nose-diving and massive lay-offs from bringing wages back to earth. The Jungle is surely fairer than our financial environment. Ireland is in the midst of a housing bust and real estate prices are predicted to fall by 80%. Icelanders have to go back fishing to survive the complete demise of their banking system - now seen as the worst economic crash of any country in peacetime, BBC reported. The Japan's jobless are encouraged to accept a government program that focuses on reviving the ageing countryside amid a worsening recession. All this is a mere glimpse of what is coming next: your government will soon turn out being the biggest employer, that's where minimum wage laws start fitting the big picture. How great is this? But wait, the avalanche of bad news isn't over just yet... 40% of Latin America’s financial wealth was wiped out in the first 11 months of 2008. On the old continent, the monetary union has left Eastern Europe trapped in depression. Um-um, wasn't that part of the world too in the midst of a b-o-o-m-i-n-g housing market until early 2008, setting off alarms bells at the IMF? Financial alchemists like Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi, a ECB board member, perfectly knew that the euro pegs would lead to boom and bust cycles. How bad could it really get? Just look at the Zimbabwean hyperinflation (hitting 231 million percent!) that has left the country with more than half the population starving and of course, the United Nations is begging for more aid. Once again, the UN is showing its uselessness!
So now, we can begin to see why Trichet said that 2009 will be ‘substantially’ worse than forecast. He blamed 'mispricing of risk' for the downturn and ended his statement by saying that 2010 will be the year of the recovery. On Jan 29, in France, one million protesters demanded Sarkozy to do better at protecting jobs and consumers during the crisis. When will the masses realize that 'managed economies' do not work but are implemented to protect those in power? Moreover, how smart is it to ask people who couldn't see the bust coming to find appropriate solutions? Our problems cannot be solved by the minds that created them in the first place. Sure, after the bust the economy always comes back, it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when'. Uncharted waters. Guru Trichet even made an esoteric statement in the Dow Jones News as of 01/29, and which amounts to 'another nuclear option':
ECB is already carrying out many 'non-standard' operations, like massive liquidity injections... We are in a non-standard world. So whether or not we will embark on other non-standard operations, I said already that I wasn't excluding that," he said. And it shouldn't be wise to bet on 2010 at all, as such a leverage needs a lot more than two years to be cleaned up. Think of ten years or more instead. The Euro could be toast for good. Meanwhile Germany forecasts the worst economic growth since WWII and riots spread throughout in Eastern Europe. An article in The Spiegel even describes Great Britain as a second Iceland and Italy as a second Argentina. The European Parliament lamenented that six to eight countries had to reduce their deficits but no receipe as how they might go about doing that. There is no solution other than debt liquidation. On the other side of the North Sea, in Ireland (whose economy will shrink 10% by 2010), a leading economist advised a withdrawal from the euro unless Ireland gets its part of the bailout pie.
(01/19/09) "If we have a single currency there are obligations and responsibilities on both sides. The idea that Germany and France can just hang us out to dry, as has been the talk in the last couple of days should not be taken lying down," he said.... By keeping with the current policy, the state is ensuring that Ireland turns itself into a large debt-repayment machine. Is this the sort of strategy to win wars?", he said. more
Speaking of bailouts, The European Commission approved a French plan to allocate firms affected by the crisis up to EUR500,000 in aid. In America, Bailout money used for lobbying and Obama promises that he will push bankers to lend more, he doesn't want them to sit on the money that they got from taxpayers. Paid by the taxpayers... then borrowed again by them with an interest... doesn't this make sense or perhaps is debt laundering legal? In England, dementia struck a step further as the BofE’ s multibillion-pound scheme will offer credit to new car buyers to rescue the moribund motor industry. And there is more, the government also contemplates an insurance crackdown targeting two million uninsured drivers who, as a result, could get their cars seized and crushed! There is even sillier: US Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank who declared that companies with corporate jets may forget about the bailout money. Nevertheless, a few days later the press reported that taxpayers were also funding Citibank's jet.
Black clouds are gathering above the horizon. Europeans are waking up to the abrupt demise of democracy as discovering the fine print in all the treaties. The IMF just announced that the world trade collapsed by staggering 45% in the last quarter of last year. Even the euphoria of Obama's inauguration didn't last long. The same day Dow closed below 8,000 as banking fears were gripping the European markets and bringing shockwaves from the United Kingdom too. British Banks got a £1TN injection which didn't prevent RBS shares to plunge 70%. London is faced with a bloodbath. Brown admitted there is not yet a limit on how much risk taxpayers must bear as a result of his rescue plan, but he even promised financial institutions that they will get more cash if they pass it on. Looks like the Brits are too being set up for the mother of all crashes. With the UK government debt alone and future liabilities not included, this means that every new baby is born with £17,000 debt. Checkmate! UK cannot take Iceland's soft option, Evans-Pritchard explains:
The parallels with Iceland are disturbing. The country was ruined by the antics of its three big banks. They built up foreign liabilities equal to 900pc of GDP. Operating as hedge funds, they borrowed in dollars, euros and pounds to speculate....If Britain walked away from UK banks' $4.4TN of foreign liabilities – worth eight times Lehman Brothers – it would destroy the credibility of the City and take the whole world into deeper depression... The sovereign debt of Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Korea is all being tested by the markets. The core of countries deemed safe is shrinking by the day to a half dozen. Sadly, Britain is no longer one of them. (01/20/09)
Describing in length the fundamentals of the American economy at this stage is more or less a naughty intellectual exercise. As the bank bailout is expected to cost $4Tn, U.S. financial losses could reach $3.6TN and suggest that the banking system is 'effectively insolvent' contends Nouriel Roubini, New York University Professor and former financial Clinton's adviser. Back to spending orgy. The clock is really ticking; even the legendary investor Jim Rogers predicts a total decline in 2009. We can get a better sense of absolute gloom and doom if we take into account the Asset 3 Level also known as ‘mark to make believe,’ thus whose market prices are based on the banks' 'unobservable inputs' that 'reflect management’s own assumptions'. So now we have phantom asset values which remind of the CDOs' notional values, also called by Warren Buffett WMDs. The Titanic is about to hit the iceberg. Gerald Celente doesn't chew his words when commenting on the ongoing dreadful meltdown. The situation is so dire out there that global banks have joined the clamour for bailouts. Do our demented global elites deserve to be rescued - honestly?
The Demise of Mainstream Economics “All truth passes through 3 phases: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed, and Third, it is accepted as self-evident.” — Arthur Schopenhauer
Almost every teenager has been warned about the dangers of getting into debts, but they all grew up accepting that a government debt was acceptable and even honorable. As this editorial points out earlier, if the scheme is run by the top managers of a country, the amount of debts can only grow exponentially. One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure what happens when the national debt exceeds the GDP. For the bankers it doesn't really matter, they operate for profits and when money is debt (does not exist) massive liquidations are ineluctable. The (bank) shareholders and the taxpayers are simply left holding the bag. As stipulated in 'Beyond The Age of Usury', today's events are far from being isolated. Luckily, such facts are everywhere on the Internet: we only have to keep an open mind and allow reality to reveal itself. They represent a recurrent pattern that is concealed to preserve a feudal hierarchy. The book titled The Bankers That Broke The World and written by Liaquat Ahamed - here reviewed by the New York Times - tells us about a macabre monetary story that looks much like today. The parallels are uncanny. That book should be on your must read list this year. If your budget is tight, there are plenty of free online books that will do the job and which you can find in the library of the site.... time is running out. As financial illiteracy and corruption are about to engulf the whole planet, some speculate more and more about the meanings of The Mayan 2012 prophecy. One thing is certain though: it is The End Of The World As We Know It - or TEOTWAWKI as an acronym frequently used by the doomsayers.
It is going to take the collapse of the dollar to have a mentality change and address central banking, Congressman Ron Paul conceded recently on MSNBC. Since we cannot escape what is coming toward us, a Biblical debt jubilee and the implementation of 'honest money' are the only long-term answers. The people have to free themselves because the 'powers that be' will never admit to being the rulers by deception. More positively, this battle cannot take place on the streets but in each of us individually; and it can only be won if waged peacefully and spiritually. There is no such a thing as a war to end all wars.
And ultimately, everything is bound to be overcome or disappear eventually. If 'We The People' were able to find our way back to prosperity, we'd no longer be living in a world where destruction is more profitable than peace and with the fear of technology. It would also enhance the smooth transition to the development of a resource based economy as advocated by Jacky Fresco who dedicated is entire life to The Venus Project... (to be continued)
'If all the bank loans were paid up, no one would have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of currency or coin in circulation. This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks for our money. Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money, we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp upon the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible - but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it is widely understood and the defects remedied very soon.' - Robert H. Hemphill, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
In order to give a full meaning to the quote above, it is essential to mention that it applies to any 'fiat' currency, not just the US Dollar. Fiat money's value is backed by confidence in the economy and covered by the government which decrees it to have value - and more importantly (here comes the devious twist) is also backed by a promise to pay! So, let's stress it again: not only the banknotes remain in our wallets at the condition we pay them back but will retain their value as long as we are able to take on debts. How confident are you in 'a piece of paper' that is worth less that it's printed on, because it is the strict bottom line as Former Fed. Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker puts it in 'The Ascent of Money', a pbs.org video at 17:36 min. Such a concept is repellent to the mind because if we give it a thought, we begin to perceive the illusion we live in - to feel like our spiritual self and our hyper-materialistic driven environment are set for a inevitable collision course.
Since last September, world nations have grasped the importance to prop up the USD and that the failure to do so would have dire consequences. Confidence in the world currency reserve is eroding at a faster pace every day. These grave threats could all vanish overnight if people were able to make the link between the amount of taxes paid since they joined the workforce and the promises made to them during all this time - then asked themselves honestly: what did come true, was it all a dream? If they were doing just that, maybe they would demand the repudiation of their (illegal) *National Debt* to start with. Politicians who want to be elected use the old trick named 'the carrot and the stick'. Their promises will demand raising taxes. Governments have always overspent and it is precisely this pattern which corrupts minds across the board. Passing debt onto further generations is not really a concern because nearly everybody wants it N-O-W! More dramatically, the financial structure is built in a way to preserve itself, nobody wants to lose one's entitlements: so the cure is to inject more cash into failed programs and accept corruption as a fatality. Moral hazards do not go away, they merely become bigger threats as decades pass by. How many layers of fallacies are needed to realize that fiscal straitjacket on a government level is a myth?
Alas without the power to tax, the economic world cannot exist because money wouldn't have any value at all, this is a simple as that. The top 10% depends on this scheme to consolidate wealth. The most appalling is that even the architect of our current system once confessed the awful truth:
'Should government refrain from regulation (taxation), the worthlessness of the money becomes apparent and the fraud can no longer be concealed.' -- John Maynard Keynes, 'Consequences of Peace'
It is precisely taxpayers' money that first enabled the predatory behavior of lobbies and cartels feeding today off bailouts, which are nothing more than the bones of global debt carcass. We are just running on empty and it's only a matter of time before the music stops. This is a very last cancer stage: taxpayers have been unknowingly the engine of their own demise and now must endure a 'die or spend mode' as their insolvent central banks turned them into lenders of the last resort to rescue the ' Davos Golden Boys' way of life. Told that their house value was the safest piggy bank on earth, many worked hard and spent as if there was no tomorrows while not realizing that what was done to them was exactly the same as the economic Hitmen did to the third world countries.
Our World Managers Succumb To Monetary Dementia
Let's consider some eye-popping figures: if a big bank such as 'Bank of America' needed a $131bn bailout, CiTi finds itself on the brink of liquidation, Merrill Lynch clients pulled $10Bn in the fourth quarter, J.P. Morgan profit fell more than 75%, hedge funds lost $350Bn in 2008 and pension funds (worth $15Tn) threaten to implode... we are indeed walking on very thin ice. Interestingly, American taxpayers seem to keep their eyes on the ball better than their lawmakers. Has a stimulus ever been necessary at all? Anti-Bailout coalitions and advocacy groups have begun to mushroom nationwide. A recent poll revealed that 60% of Americans want the bailout of the financial sector to stop; yet the DC Geniuses (who still can't figure why printing our way out of debts will aggravate the liquidity crunch) plot the next step after aid to Citigroup and Bank of America. Unethical premises and remedies multiply moral hazards. One of the unintended consequences to finance those 'has-been businesses' is creating a new menace to the economy: 'Zombie' Debtors that will be feeding off the taxpayers and stockholders — as healthier rivals become increasingly threatened with 'organized competition' put in place by Lawmakers. The price of protection shows its true colors: it allows the government to decide who can live - or die: it is fascism in disguise. The ugly side of intervention is precisely its addictiveness. And that is why institutionalized debtism has a lethal track record.
An 'almost incomprehensible' amount of cash evaporated, this the Global crisis 'has destroyed 40pc of world wealth', Steve Schwarzman admitted. Indeed, where the heck did all the money go? When money is debt it is negative wealth... got it?
Two days before his inauguration, Obama urged to move swiftly to rescue the banks continuing to hemorrhage billions of dollars. As the situation worsens by the day Bernanke skipped Congressional Financial Hearings in favor of a secretive euro bankers confab. According to Ron Paul, the meetings took place in Basel and were chaired by ECB's Jean-Claude Trichet - not so surprisingly the mainstream outlets remained elusive about them. Just like a bad quality varnish peeling under the pressure of a nail, the magic really vanishes when one looks at Obama's billionaire pals' list and who is throwing money into the most lavish Inauguration in history. Guess what? The biggest part of the pie goes to the financial sector. Obama is no savior... and here is why:
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' investigative watchdog, has found that "a majority of America's largest publicly traded companies and the U.S. government's largest federal contractors use multiple subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to conduct business... The culprits include some corporate giants who are receiving countless millions in bailout money, Leonnig notes. ... (01/16/09) - more
As credit card spending in 'The Rich West' screeched to a halt, China Central Bank, which called Paulson a 'gangster', is trying to prevent a quagmire; and so far the only remedy is the Yuan devaluation. How smart is this really? Doing so is extremely tricky because competitive devaluation (race to the bottom) has limits. If things really go wrong, it may lead to a professional run on banks. So much for our fabulous globalization, heh?! But what if banks do not start lending again (what wouldn't fix the downhill trends if they did either)? Evans-Pritchard leans toward a collapse that could drag the entire planet into a remake of the Great Depression. SocGen warned too that the Chinese economy is imploding and speculates about the possibility of regime change. Flash back: that very dire outcome was forecast in 2004 by Krassimir Petrov. There is practically no doubt that the Chinese will overcome the shock a lot better since they are already accustomed to sweatshop wages. For us, it will be a rude awakening and we could see, in the so-called free world, a suicide epidemic as currently witnessed among young Chinese women.
In Russia, troubles are brewing too. Last November, its stock market is down 70 percent from late spring 2008 and since then anti-Western rhetoric abound. In December alone, the central bank spent $70BN to rescue its currency and avoid the panic of a currency collapse reminiscent of the 1998 crisis. As of January 13, the WSJ reported that the drastic measures didn't prevent the Ruble from nose-diving and massive lay-offs from bringing wages back to earth. The Jungle is surely fairer than our financial environment. Ireland is in the midst of a housing bust and real estate prices are predicted to fall by 80%. Icelanders have to go back fishing to survive the complete demise of their banking system - now seen as the worst economic crash of any country in peacetime, BBC reported. The Japan's jobless are encouraged to accept a government program that focuses on reviving the ageing countryside amid a worsening recession. All this is a mere glimpse of what is coming next: your government will soon turn out being the biggest employer, that's where minimum wage laws start fitting the big picture. How great is this? But wait, the avalanche of bad news isn't over just yet... 40% of Latin America’s financial wealth was wiped out in the first 11 months of 2008. On the old continent, the monetary union has left Eastern Europe trapped in depression. Um-um, wasn't that part of the world too in the midst of a b-o-o-m-i-n-g housing market until early 2008, setting off alarms bells at the IMF? Financial alchemists like Lorenzo Bini-Smaghi, a ECB board member, perfectly knew that the euro pegs would lead to boom and bust cycles. How bad could it really get? Just look at the Zimbabwean hyperinflation (hitting 231 million percent!) that has left the country with more than half the population starving and of course, the United Nations is begging for more aid. Once again, the UN is showing its uselessness!
So now, we can begin to see why Trichet said that 2009 will be ‘substantially’ worse than forecast. He blamed 'mispricing of risk' for the downturn and ended his statement by saying that 2010 will be the year of the recovery. On Jan 29, in France, one million protesters demanded Sarkozy to do better at protecting jobs and consumers during the crisis. When will the masses realize that 'managed economies' do not work but are implemented to protect those in power? Moreover, how smart is it to ask people who couldn't see the bust coming to find appropriate solutions? Our problems cannot be solved by the minds that created them in the first place. Sure, after the bust the economy always comes back, it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when'. Uncharted waters. Guru Trichet even made an esoteric statement in the Dow Jones News as of 01/29, and which amounts to 'another nuclear option':
ECB is already carrying out many 'non-standard' operations, like massive liquidity injections... We are in a non-standard world. So whether or not we will embark on other non-standard operations, I said already that I wasn't excluding that," he said. And it shouldn't be wise to bet on 2010 at all, as such a leverage needs a lot more than two years to be cleaned up. Think of ten years or more instead. The Euro could be toast for good. Meanwhile Germany forecasts the worst economic growth since WWII and riots spread throughout in Eastern Europe. An article in The Spiegel even describes Great Britain as a second Iceland and Italy as a second Argentina. The European Parliament lamenented that six to eight countries had to reduce their deficits but no receipe as how they might go about doing that. There is no solution other than debt liquidation. On the other side of the North Sea, in Ireland (whose economy will shrink 10% by 2010), a leading economist advised a withdrawal from the euro unless Ireland gets its part of the bailout pie.
(01/19/09) "If we have a single currency there are obligations and responsibilities on both sides. The idea that Germany and France can just hang us out to dry, as has been the talk in the last couple of days should not be taken lying down," he said.... By keeping with the current policy, the state is ensuring that Ireland turns itself into a large debt-repayment machine. Is this the sort of strategy to win wars?", he said. more
Speaking of bailouts, The European Commission approved a French plan to allocate firms affected by the crisis up to EUR500,000 in aid. In America, Bailout money used for lobbying and Obama promises that he will push bankers to lend more, he doesn't want them to sit on the money that they got from taxpayers. Paid by the taxpayers... then borrowed again by them with an interest... doesn't this make sense or perhaps is debt laundering legal? In England, dementia struck a step further as the BofE’ s multibillion-pound scheme will offer credit to new car buyers to rescue the moribund motor industry. And there is more, the government also contemplates an insurance crackdown targeting two million uninsured drivers who, as a result, could get their cars seized and crushed! There is even sillier: US Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank who declared that companies with corporate jets may forget about the bailout money. Nevertheless, a few days later the press reported that taxpayers were also funding Citibank's jet.
Black clouds are gathering above the horizon. Europeans are waking up to the abrupt demise of democracy as discovering the fine print in all the treaties. The IMF just announced that the world trade collapsed by staggering 45% in the last quarter of last year. Even the euphoria of Obama's inauguration didn't last long. The same day Dow closed below 8,000 as banking fears were gripping the European markets and bringing shockwaves from the United Kingdom too. British Banks got a £1TN injection which didn't prevent RBS shares to plunge 70%. London is faced with a bloodbath. Brown admitted there is not yet a limit on how much risk taxpayers must bear as a result of his rescue plan, but he even promised financial institutions that they will get more cash if they pass it on. Looks like the Brits are too being set up for the mother of all crashes. With the UK government debt alone and future liabilities not included, this means that every new baby is born with £17,000 debt. Checkmate! UK cannot take Iceland's soft option, Evans-Pritchard explains:
The parallels with Iceland are disturbing. The country was ruined by the antics of its three big banks. They built up foreign liabilities equal to 900pc of GDP. Operating as hedge funds, they borrowed in dollars, euros and pounds to speculate....If Britain walked away from UK banks' $4.4TN of foreign liabilities – worth eight times Lehman Brothers – it would destroy the credibility of the City and take the whole world into deeper depression... The sovereign debt of Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Italy, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Korea is all being tested by the markets. The core of countries deemed safe is shrinking by the day to a half dozen. Sadly, Britain is no longer one of them. (01/20/09)
Describing in length the fundamentals of the American economy at this stage is more or less a naughty intellectual exercise. As the bank bailout is expected to cost $4Tn, U.S. financial losses could reach $3.6TN and suggest that the banking system is 'effectively insolvent' contends Nouriel Roubini, New York University Professor and former financial Clinton's adviser. Back to spending orgy. The clock is really ticking; even the legendary investor Jim Rogers predicts a total decline in 2009. We can get a better sense of absolute gloom and doom if we take into account the Asset 3 Level also known as ‘mark to make believe,’ thus whose market prices are based on the banks' 'unobservable inputs' that 'reflect management’s own assumptions'. So now we have phantom asset values which remind of the CDOs' notional values, also called by Warren Buffett WMDs. The Titanic is about to hit the iceberg. Gerald Celente doesn't chew his words when commenting on the ongoing dreadful meltdown. The situation is so dire out there that global banks have joined the clamour for bailouts. Do our demented global elites deserve to be rescued - honestly?
The Demise of Mainstream Economics “All truth passes through 3 phases: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed, and Third, it is accepted as self-evident.” — Arthur Schopenhauer
Almost every teenager has been warned about the dangers of getting into debts, but they all grew up accepting that a government debt was acceptable and even honorable. As this editorial points out earlier, if the scheme is run by the top managers of a country, the amount of debts can only grow exponentially. One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure what happens when the national debt exceeds the GDP. For the bankers it doesn't really matter, they operate for profits and when money is debt (does not exist) massive liquidations are ineluctable. The (bank) shareholders and the taxpayers are simply left holding the bag. As stipulated in 'Beyond The Age of Usury', today's events are far from being isolated. Luckily, such facts are everywhere on the Internet: we only have to keep an open mind and allow reality to reveal itself. They represent a recurrent pattern that is concealed to preserve a feudal hierarchy. The book titled The Bankers That Broke The World and written by Liaquat Ahamed - here reviewed by the New York Times - tells us about a macabre monetary story that looks much like today. The parallels are uncanny. That book should be on your must read list this year. If your budget is tight, there are plenty of free online books that will do the job and which you can find in the library of the site.... time is running out. As financial illiteracy and corruption are about to engulf the whole planet, some speculate more and more about the meanings of The Mayan 2012 prophecy. One thing is certain though: it is The End Of The World As We Know It - or TEOTWAWKI as an acronym frequently used by the doomsayers.
It is going to take the collapse of the dollar to have a mentality change and address central banking, Congressman Ron Paul conceded recently on MSNBC. Since we cannot escape what is coming toward us, a Biblical debt jubilee and the implementation of 'honest money' are the only long-term answers. The people have to free themselves because the 'powers that be' will never admit to being the rulers by deception. More positively, this battle cannot take place on the streets but in each of us individually; and it can only be won if waged peacefully and spiritually. There is no such a thing as a war to end all wars.
And ultimately, everything is bound to be overcome or disappear eventually. If 'We The People' were able to find our way back to prosperity, we'd no longer be living in a world where destruction is more profitable than peace and with the fear of technology. It would also enhance the smooth transition to the development of a resource based economy as advocated by Jacky Fresco who dedicated is entire life to The Venus Project... (to be continued)
Monday, February 23, 2009
AIG needs $60 billion more as of 2/23/2009
AIG in talks with U.S. government, sees $60 billion loss: source
American International Group Inc, rescued twice last year by the U.S. government, is asking for more aid and bracing for a fourth-quarter loss of roughly $60 billion, a source familiar with the matter said. It would be the biggest loss in a quarter in corporate history.
American International Group Inc, rescued twice last year by the U.S. government, is asking for more aid and bracing for a fourth-quarter loss of roughly $60 billion, a source familiar with the matter said. It would be the biggest loss in a quarter in corporate history.
Red Alert: Major Meltdown Imminent!
Red Alert: Major Meltdown Imminent! - Link
Some Key Points from article:
Stock market crash: A swift plunge in stocks to about 5000 on the Dow, 500 on the S&P 500 and 900 on the Nasdaq … or lower. (For our reasons, see “Stocks to fall AT LEAST another
40%!“)
Corporate bankruptcies: A chain reaction of Chapter 11 filings or federal takeovers, including not only General Motors and Chrysler, but also Ann Taylor, Best Buy, Jet Blue, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears, Toys “R” Us, U.S. Airways and even giants like Ford or General Electric.
Megabank failures: Bankruptcies or nationalization not only of Citigroup and Bank of America, but also JPMorgan Chase and HSBC. (See my January issue, “Megabanks Could Fail Despite Federal Aid.”)
Nationwide epidemic of small and medium-sized bank failures: Outright FDIC takeovers, with little prospect of nationalization. (I’ll give you a link to our free guide with a more extensive list
in a moment.)
Insurance failures: State takeovers of companies like Ambac Assurance, Bankers Life and Casualty, Conseco, FGIC, Medical Liability Mutual, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance, Nuclear Electric Insurance, PMI Mortgage, Standard Life of Indiana and many others. (Our free guide also contains a more extensive list of insurers.)
Cities and states: An epidemic of defaults by thousands of cities, states and other issuers of tax-exempt municipal bonds.
Stock market shutdowns: Trading halts on major, big-cap stocks … plus on-again, off-again exchange shutdowns, making it increasingly difficult for investors to liquidate their holdings at any price.
Credit market deep freeze: A virtual shutdown in all debt markets except U.S. Treasuries. An avalanche of selling — and virtually no buyers — for corporate bonds, commercial paper, asset-backed securities, municipal bonds and all forms of bank loans.
Government bond collapse: A steep decline in the price of medium-and long-term government securities, as the U.S. Treasury bids aggressively for scarce funds to finance a ballooning budget deficit.
Shocking? Perhaps. Avoidable? No.
Some Key Points from article:
Stock market crash: A swift plunge in stocks to about 5000 on the Dow, 500 on the S&P 500 and 900 on the Nasdaq … or lower. (For our reasons, see “Stocks to fall AT LEAST another
40%!“)
Corporate bankruptcies: A chain reaction of Chapter 11 filings or federal takeovers, including not only General Motors and Chrysler, but also Ann Taylor, Best Buy, Jet Blue, Macy’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears, Toys “R” Us, U.S. Airways and even giants like Ford or General Electric.
Megabank failures: Bankruptcies or nationalization not only of Citigroup and Bank of America, but also JPMorgan Chase and HSBC. (See my January issue, “Megabanks Could Fail Despite Federal Aid.”)
Nationwide epidemic of small and medium-sized bank failures: Outright FDIC takeovers, with little prospect of nationalization. (I’ll give you a link to our free guide with a more extensive list
in a moment.)
Insurance failures: State takeovers of companies like Ambac Assurance, Bankers Life and Casualty, Conseco, FGIC, Medical Liability Mutual, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance, Nuclear Electric Insurance, PMI Mortgage, Standard Life of Indiana and many others. (Our free guide also contains a more extensive list of insurers.)
Cities and states: An epidemic of defaults by thousands of cities, states and other issuers of tax-exempt municipal bonds.
Stock market shutdowns: Trading halts on major, big-cap stocks … plus on-again, off-again exchange shutdowns, making it increasingly difficult for investors to liquidate their holdings at any price.
Credit market deep freeze: A virtual shutdown in all debt markets except U.S. Treasuries. An avalanche of selling — and virtually no buyers — for corporate bonds, commercial paper, asset-backed securities, municipal bonds and all forms of bank loans.
Government bond collapse: A steep decline in the price of medium-and long-term government securities, as the U.S. Treasury bids aggressively for scarce funds to finance a ballooning budget deficit.
Shocking? Perhaps. Avoidable? No.
AMEX paying some cardholders to cancel
AMEX paying some cardholders to cancel
American Express wants you to leave home without them.
In a marketing turnabout, the largest U.S. credit card company by purchases, is offering select members a $300 gift card to drop its card, according to a notice on its web site.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
March towards nationalization
The U.S. government may end up holding as much as 40 percent of Citigroup's common stock, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website, citing sources familiar with the plans.
U.S. seeking up to 40 percent stake in Citigroup: report
U.S. seeking up to 40 percent stake in Citigroup: report
Jumbo Loan Defaults Rise at Fast Pace as Rich Suffer
Luxury homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments at the fastest pace in more than 15 years, a sign the U.S. financial crisis that began with the poorest Americans has reached the wealthiest.
Jumbo Loan Defaults Rise at Fast Pace as Rich Suffer
Jumbo Loan Defaults Rise at Fast Pace as Rich Suffer
No market bottom in sight
Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.
Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse"
Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse"
Five Stages of Collapse by Dmitry Orlov
Five Stages of Collapse by Dmitry Orlov
Stages of CollapseStage 1: Financial collapse. Faith in "business as usual" is lost. The future is no longer assumed resemble the past in any way that allows risk to be assessed and financial assets to be guaranteed. Financial institutions become insolvent; savings are wiped out, and access to capital is lost.
Stage 2: Commercial collapse. Faith that "the market shall provide" is lost. Money is devalued and/or becomes scarce, commodities are hoarded, import and retail chains break down, and widespread shortages of survival necessities become the norm.
Stage 3: Political collapse. Faith that "the government will take care of you" is lost. As official attempts to mitigate widespread loss of access to commercial sources of survival necessities fail to make a difference, the political establishment loses legitimacy and relevance.
Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that "your people will take care of you" is lost, as local social institutions, be they charities or other groups that rush in to fill the power vacuum run out of resources or fail through internal conflict.
Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in the goodness of humanity is lost. People lose their capacity for "kindness, generosity, consideration, affection, honesty, hospitality, compassion, charity" (Turnbull, The Mountain People). Families disband and compete as individuals for scarce resources. The new motto becomes "May you die today so that I die tomorrow" (Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago). There may even be some cannibalism.
Link to the complete article
Stages of CollapseStage 1: Financial collapse. Faith in "business as usual" is lost. The future is no longer assumed resemble the past in any way that allows risk to be assessed and financial assets to be guaranteed. Financial institutions become insolvent; savings are wiped out, and access to capital is lost.
Stage 2: Commercial collapse. Faith that "the market shall provide" is lost. Money is devalued and/or becomes scarce, commodities are hoarded, import and retail chains break down, and widespread shortages of survival necessities become the norm.
Stage 3: Political collapse. Faith that "the government will take care of you" is lost. As official attempts to mitigate widespread loss of access to commercial sources of survival necessities fail to make a difference, the political establishment loses legitimacy and relevance.
Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that "your people will take care of you" is lost, as local social institutions, be they charities or other groups that rush in to fill the power vacuum run out of resources or fail through internal conflict.
Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in the goodness of humanity is lost. People lose their capacity for "kindness, generosity, consideration, affection, honesty, hospitality, compassion, charity" (Turnbull, The Mountain People). Families disband and compete as individuals for scarce resources. The new motto becomes "May you die today so that I die tomorrow" (Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago). There may even be some cannibalism.
Link to the complete article
Coming Hyperinflation...
Here is an excerpt from the article which provides indepth analysis for coming hyperinflation.
Overview
The U.S. economy is in an intensifying inflationary recession that eventually will evolve into a hyperinflationary great depression. Hyperinflation could be experienced as early as 2010, if not before, and likely no more than a decade down the road. The U.S. government and Federal Reserve already have committed the system to this course through the easy politics of a bottomless pocketbook, the servicing of big-moneyed special interests, and gross mismanagement.
The U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon. Bankrupt sovereign states most commonly use the currency printing press as a solution to not having enough money to cover their obligations. The alternative would be for the U.S. to renege on its existing debt and obligations, a solution for modern sovereign states rarely seen outside of governments overthrown in revolution, and a solution with no happier ending than simply printing the needed money. With the creation of massive amounts of new fiat (not backed by gold) dollars will come the eventual complete collapse of the value of the U.S. dollar and related dollar-denominated paper assets.
What lies ahead will be extremely difficult and unhappy times for many. Ralph T. Foster, in his "Fiat Paper Money" (see recommended further reading at the end of this issue), closes his book’s preface with a particularly poignant quote from a 1993 interview of Friedrich Kessler, a law professor at Harvard and University of California Berkeley, who experienced the Weimar Republic hyperinflation:
"It was horrible. Horrible! Like lightning it struck. No one was prepared. You cannot imagine the rapidity with which the whole thing happened. The shelves in the grocery stores were empty. You could buy nothing with your paper money."
Something wicked comes this way...
Derivatives the new 'ticking bomb'Buffett and Gross warn: $516 trillion bubble is a disaster waiting to happen - Paul B. Farrell
Taken from article above:
=================================================================
Data on the five-fold growth of derivatives to $516 trillion in five years comes from the most recent survey by the Bank of International Settlements, the world's clearinghouse for central banks in Basel, Switzerland. The BIS is like the cashier's window at a racetrack or casino, where you'd place a bet or cash in chips, except on a massive scale: BIS is where the U.S. settles trade imbalances with Saudi Arabia for all that oil we guzzle and gives China IOUs for the tainted drugs and lead-based toys we buy.
To grasp how significant this five-fold bubble increase is, let's put that $516 trillion in the context of some other domestic and international monetary data:
U.S. annual gross domestic product is about $15 trillion
U.S. money supply is also about $15 trillion
Current proposed U.S. federal budget is $3 trillion
U.S. government's maximum legal debt is $9 trillion
U.S. mutual fund companies manage about $12 trillion
World's GDPs for all nations is approximately $50 trillion
Unfunded Social Security and Medicare benefits $50 trillion to $65 trillion
Total value of the world's real estate is estimated at about $75 trillion
Total value of world's stock and bond markets is more than $100 trillion
BIS valuation of world's derivatives back in 2002 was about $100 trillion
BIS 2007 valuation of the world's derivatives is now a whopping $516 trillion
===================================================================
Do you see something out of sync here? If not then better take some MATH 101 classes. What this tells me is that $2.5 trillions on bailout and stimulas spent so far is meager chump change compared to whats headed our way. It reminds me of this song...
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Something wicked this way comes
Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat,
and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Something wicked this way comes!
Taken from article above:
=================================================================
Data on the five-fold growth of derivatives to $516 trillion in five years comes from the most recent survey by the Bank of International Settlements, the world's clearinghouse for central banks in Basel, Switzerland. The BIS is like the cashier's window at a racetrack or casino, where you'd place a bet or cash in chips, except on a massive scale: BIS is where the U.S. settles trade imbalances with Saudi Arabia for all that oil we guzzle and gives China IOUs for the tainted drugs and lead-based toys we buy.
To grasp how significant this five-fold bubble increase is, let's put that $516 trillion in the context of some other domestic and international monetary data:
U.S. annual gross domestic product is about $15 trillion
U.S. money supply is also about $15 trillion
Current proposed U.S. federal budget is $3 trillion
U.S. government's maximum legal debt is $9 trillion
U.S. mutual fund companies manage about $12 trillion
World's GDPs for all nations is approximately $50 trillion
Unfunded Social Security and Medicare benefits $50 trillion to $65 trillion
Total value of the world's real estate is estimated at about $75 trillion
Total value of world's stock and bond markets is more than $100 trillion
BIS valuation of world's derivatives back in 2002 was about $100 trillion
BIS 2007 valuation of the world's derivatives is now a whopping $516 trillion
===================================================================
Do you see something out of sync here? If not then better take some MATH 101 classes. What this tells me is that $2.5 trillions on bailout and stimulas spent so far is meager chump change compared to whats headed our way. It reminds me of this song...
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Something wicked this way comes
Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat,
and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
Something wicked this way comes!
They say nobody saw it coming...
This is for all those people who think that this economic downturn is due to something quiet mysterious. Specially for all those folks who keep believing that 'No one can predict where it is headed and worst of all is that nobody saw it coming'. What a load of bull. There were many who knew what they talk on bubblevision was a lie. A big fat lie. There were people yelling at top of their lungs trying to point out systemic risk facing our planet's economy before any of those so called thinking heads on bubblevision. But they were and still branded as Dr. Dooms on various bubblevision channels. Any reasonable and logical human being can understand that something rotten about this economic mess or should i call it a catastrophe is being covered up.
Wake up people. What they are hoping to do with this stimulus and bailout money is like trying to use deodorant while sitting on pile of horseshit, hoping no one will smell the horseshit.
Warren Buffett warned his shareholders about WMD called Derivetives back in 2002,
"The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle, and these instruments will almost certainly multiply in variety and number until some event makes their toxicity clear. Central banks and governments have so far found no effective way to control, or even monitor, the risks posed by these contracts. In my view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal."
Excerpt from Warren Buffett's Warning to Shareholder in Annual Report 2002
Charles Hugh Smith made predictions about stock market falling by atleast 3000 points back in November 2007. Here are his predictions (Listed in his own words). I have posted link to his complete article if you are interested in reading his obituiry for entire economy.
"Here are a few predictions:
1. The Dow Jones Industrials will drop hundreds of points in a day, very soon, losing at least 3,000 points within the next few weeks.
2. The Shanghai stock market will lose half its value, dropping from 5,800 to under 3,000.
3. Major banks will be declared insolvent.
4. Major lay-offs will occur as U.S. retail, auto and house sales plummet.
5. The tech high-fliers (RIMM, GOOG and AAPL) fall will precipitously
As I have noted here last week, trading curbs (and the uptick rule on shorting) have both been abolished. There are no constraints on the market falling; a free-fall of several thousand points in a single day is now possible. I also ran a chart of the VIX volatility chart which suggested a breakout up (i.e. a sharply declining market) was probable. Maybe I'm off by a few weeks, but I think not.
The Empire of Debt is crashing, and it won't take months for the global financial markets to react. For alas, the money's already lost. Not that the mainstream media will be willing to state this inconvenient truth...."
Here is the link to his complete analysis and prediction..
Empire of Debt I: The Great Unraveling Begins
And then there are people like Peter Schiff, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Gerald Celente, Jim Rogers and many more. These people may not be completely right in their predictions but from what i have read and heard from them over the past few years, they have been darn close to what has transpired over past 18 months. They saw it coming. And our leaders have audacity to come on bubblevision and tell people, this was 'some random collapse', 'some unknown phenomenon', and sickening lie that 'nobody saw it coming'...? WTF? you are telling me nobody saw this coming!!!!!
Wake up people. What they are hoping to do with this stimulus and bailout money is like trying to use deodorant while sitting on pile of horseshit, hoping no one will smell the horseshit.
Warren Buffett warned his shareholders about WMD called Derivetives back in 2002,
"The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle, and these instruments will almost certainly multiply in variety and number until some event makes their toxicity clear. Central banks and governments have so far found no effective way to control, or even monitor, the risks posed by these contracts. In my view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal."
Excerpt from Warren Buffett's Warning to Shareholder in Annual Report 2002
Charles Hugh Smith made predictions about stock market falling by atleast 3000 points back in November 2007. Here are his predictions (Listed in his own words). I have posted link to his complete article if you are interested in reading his obituiry for entire economy.
"Here are a few predictions:
1. The Dow Jones Industrials will drop hundreds of points in a day, very soon, losing at least 3,000 points within the next few weeks.
2. The Shanghai stock market will lose half its value, dropping from 5,800 to under 3,000.
3. Major banks will be declared insolvent.
4. Major lay-offs will occur as U.S. retail, auto and house sales plummet.
5. The tech high-fliers (RIMM, GOOG and AAPL) fall will precipitously
As I have noted here last week, trading curbs (and the uptick rule on shorting) have both been abolished. There are no constraints on the market falling; a free-fall of several thousand points in a single day is now possible. I also ran a chart of the VIX volatility chart which suggested a breakout up (i.e. a sharply declining market) was probable. Maybe I'm off by a few weeks, but I think not.
The Empire of Debt is crashing, and it won't take months for the global financial markets to react. For alas, the money's already lost. Not that the mainstream media will be willing to state this inconvenient truth...."
Here is the link to his complete analysis and prediction..
Empire of Debt I: The Great Unraveling Begins
And then there are people like Peter Schiff, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Gerald Celente, Jim Rogers and many more. These people may not be completely right in their predictions but from what i have read and heard from them over the past few years, they have been darn close to what has transpired over past 18 months. They saw it coming. And our leaders have audacity to come on bubblevision and tell people, this was 'some random collapse', 'some unknown phenomenon', and sickening lie that 'nobody saw it coming'...? WTF? you are telling me nobody saw this coming!!!!!
Journey Begins
Tik tok tik tok…as the time makes it’s eternal forward march, i am wondering what’s next? I feel the urge to do something and i feel compelled to do nothing. Conflicting feelings perplexes me. It feels as if this eternal march of time is pulling me, pushing me, coercing me towards future. Towards future that i am in no hurry to find out and yet anxious to discover. It is a paradox which teases me and plays with me yet i feel strangely peaceful.
You may discover as i have, once set free from the mysterious web we call system, the world around turns into an aura of strange properties. You are split in half. Your body performing actions and mind dwelling in void, the world unknown. Tik tok tik tok…at one moment, I am sitting at the window, sipping coffee, rain blurring the Michigan lake view in tiny infinite droplets. At another I am falling in void, never ending dark hole. I await my future, your future, our future with dispassion and interest. My mind is filled with conflicting thoughts as if right side of three pounder blended into the left. I think such transformation can happen when you are jolted out of your dream state and shown the reality. It feels like i have been hanging upside down for over so many aeons that time sieze to exist and all you know is void filled with never ending tik tok tik toks. You may wonder how I know its been enternity. I do know. There is a watch facing me, you, us. Laughing at me, you, us. Pointing its three fingers in various direction pointing out our helplessness and pathetic state we are in and worst we are headed towards. Time always finds state of helplessness as its biggest triumph. Pointing and accusing and fulfilling.
Its constant tik tok tik tok annoying me, filling me up by one tik one tok at a time, draining me by one tik one tok at a time. By now I cannot even remember how I landed up at this god forsaken place. My memory fails me. Am I going to die hanging upside down?Is this the end? I ask and a faint smile appears on my face. The idea of death, entering in a ghost world, sounds so inviting. I have never felt so confident about the end of any kind. I just wish for this insanity to end. See I was an ambitious, optimist, hard working fool with a various college degrees. I have a job which can be considered great compared to what people have these days. I was loking foward to next review and next bonus. But it was all before this hanging upside down business started making sense. I had seen the dots but picture only started emerging over past few weeks. Three months can undo two decades of doing. I feel i am enlightened.
The truth is nothing. We are nothing. Nothing matters. No reason matters. No effort matters. The grand design rules. We go around trying to plan what may appear as chaotic web called life. We plan for retirement, we plan for wedding, we plan for kids, we plan for better future, we plan for bad times and sadly some of us even plan for thier death. It is our frugal attempt to manage so called chaos. But only tiny problem is that universe has different plan. Yes, universe has its own plan. The plan of universe trumps every other plan. Universe is moving towards ultimate complexity at all times with increasing speed. Our plans dont matter. Our plans are almost always heading directly against the goal of ultimate complexity. We are bound to fail. Ultimate complexity must be achieved. Thats the grand design. Our plans, stimulus and bailouts will not succeed. Thats how simple it it.
You may say that I have lost my mind. I say try accepting that you are hanging upside down while hearing tik tok tik tok do its work. I await my fate. I await the end. I await the new beginning...
You may discover as i have, once set free from the mysterious web we call system, the world around turns into an aura of strange properties. You are split in half. Your body performing actions and mind dwelling in void, the world unknown. Tik tok tik tok…at one moment, I am sitting at the window, sipping coffee, rain blurring the Michigan lake view in tiny infinite droplets. At another I am falling in void, never ending dark hole. I await my future, your future, our future with dispassion and interest. My mind is filled with conflicting thoughts as if right side of three pounder blended into the left. I think such transformation can happen when you are jolted out of your dream state and shown the reality. It feels like i have been hanging upside down for over so many aeons that time sieze to exist and all you know is void filled with never ending tik tok tik toks. You may wonder how I know its been enternity. I do know. There is a watch facing me, you, us. Laughing at me, you, us. Pointing its three fingers in various direction pointing out our helplessness and pathetic state we are in and worst we are headed towards. Time always finds state of helplessness as its biggest triumph. Pointing and accusing and fulfilling.
Its constant tik tok tik tok annoying me, filling me up by one tik one tok at a time, draining me by one tik one tok at a time. By now I cannot even remember how I landed up at this god forsaken place. My memory fails me. Am I going to die hanging upside down?Is this the end? I ask and a faint smile appears on my face. The idea of death, entering in a ghost world, sounds so inviting. I have never felt so confident about the end of any kind. I just wish for this insanity to end. See I was an ambitious, optimist, hard working fool with a various college degrees. I have a job which can be considered great compared to what people have these days. I was loking foward to next review and next bonus. But it was all before this hanging upside down business started making sense. I had seen the dots but picture only started emerging over past few weeks. Three months can undo two decades of doing. I feel i am enlightened.
The truth is nothing. We are nothing. Nothing matters. No reason matters. No effort matters. The grand design rules. We go around trying to plan what may appear as chaotic web called life. We plan for retirement, we plan for wedding, we plan for kids, we plan for better future, we plan for bad times and sadly some of us even plan for thier death. It is our frugal attempt to manage so called chaos. But only tiny problem is that universe has different plan. Yes, universe has its own plan. The plan of universe trumps every other plan. Universe is moving towards ultimate complexity at all times with increasing speed. Our plans dont matter. Our plans are almost always heading directly against the goal of ultimate complexity. We are bound to fail. Ultimate complexity must be achieved. Thats the grand design. Our plans, stimulus and bailouts will not succeed. Thats how simple it it.
You may say that I have lost my mind. I say try accepting that you are hanging upside down while hearing tik tok tik tok do its work. I await my fate. I await the end. I await the new beginning...
Ants?
"Hey. Could we do that again? I know we haven't met, but I don't want to be an ant. You know? I mean, it's like we go through life with our antennas bouncing off one another, continously on ant autopilot, with nothing really human required of us. Stop. Go. Walk here. Drive there. All action basically for survival. All communication simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient, polite manner. "Here's your change." "Paper or plastic?' "Credit or debit?" "You want ketchup with that?" I don't want a straw. I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be ant, you know?" - Waking Life
So here it goes. I was watching Waking Life, the episode about opera woman talking with the protaganist about recognizing human beyond the facade of lables. Something about that episode struck a real chord with me. To allow our souls confront each other and communicate. Ane I cannot agree more with the opera woman about humans turning into ants. I dont want to feel like an ant. I dont want to be labled as home owner, consumer, employee, graduate, alien, or native. I just want to feel like a human. I want you to see me as human and understand me as a human. If even for a brief moment, i just want to feel like a human being and i want to see that in your eyes and i want you to see that in my eyes. Dont you?
Here is the link to Waking Life - Ants video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly1jejsjOhw
So here it goes. I was watching Waking Life, the episode about opera woman talking with the protaganist about recognizing human beyond the facade of lables. Something about that episode struck a real chord with me. To allow our souls confront each other and communicate. Ane I cannot agree more with the opera woman about humans turning into ants. I dont want to feel like an ant. I dont want to be labled as home owner, consumer, employee, graduate, alien, or native. I just want to feel like a human. I want you to see me as human and understand me as a human. If even for a brief moment, i just want to feel like a human being and i want to see that in your eyes and i want you to see that in my eyes. Dont you?
Here is the link to Waking Life - Ants video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly1jejsjOhw
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