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MAMMATUS OVER MANHATTEN: "Yesterday, after a summer evening thunderstorm, a bank of spectacular mammatus clouds formed over Manhattan," reports Snehal Patel of New York. "It was an amazing display that looked like large orange cotton balls falling from the sky." He took this picture using an iPhone 3G.
"The most entertaining part of the display was the crowds of people running out of restaurants and lining the streets to catch a glimpse!"
Mammatus clouds, named for their resemblance to a cow's underbelly, sometimes appear at the end of severe thunderstorms when the thundercloud is breaking up. Researchers have called them an "intriguing enigma," because no one knows exactly how and why they form. The clouds are fairly common but often go unnoticed because potential observers have been chased indoors by the rain. If you are one of them, dash outside when the downpour stops; you could witness a beautiful mystery in the sky.
more images: from Alex Barnard of New York City; from Marilyn Stern of Manhattan, New York City; from Terry Pundiak of Palmer Township, PA; from Martin Popek of Nýdek, Bystřice nad olší, Czech republic; from Dan Linek of Brentwood, New York
| Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett the Latest Celebrity Victims of Big Pharma (NaturalNews) That Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett both died in the last 48 hours is shocking news to many, but it's not nearly as surprising as the fact that they were both killed by Big Pharma's toxic drugs. Michael Jackson, we now know, died... |
| Medical Madness: More Women Scared Into Double Mastectomy as Way to "Prevent" Cancer (NaturalNews) Increasing numbers of women are choosing to have both breasts removed in order to avoid breast cancer -- but doctors warn that many of these procedures may expose women to serious risk without providing the promised benefit. In general... |
| Excessive Laptop Computer Use Linked To Male Infertility (NaturalNews) It's not only Big Pharma making billions off of the sometimes too-gullible American public. The infertility industry is raking in about two billion dollars a year -- even though many of the costly treatments have dismal success rates (http... |
| Battle Autism with Bentonite Clay Many autism treatment centers are incorporating the use of Bentonite clay in their successful treatment regimens. Detoxing and chelating with calcium Bentonite clay baths is proving to be a key factor in their success. Studies are showing... |
| Permanent Posture Change is the Key to Freedom from Chronic Pain Chronic musculoskeletal pain indiscriminately affects millions of people and has now become a problem of epidemic proportions. Globally people are suffering and searching for answers, but neither conventional nor alternative medicine seems... |
| Discover the Amazing Benefits of the Olive Leaf Our bodies and immune systems are constantly fighting off foreign things such as pollution, bacteria and viruses. Stress from our fast paced lives is a leading cause of the further weakening of our body's ability to combat illnesses. Using... |
| Vitamins Slow Eye Degeneration in Senior Citizens A specific combination of vitamins and other nutrients may significantly slow down the rate of sight loss in Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), a major cause of blindness in the elderly, according to new research conducted at Queen`s... |
| | The Caduceus Decoded: Secret Symbols Reveal Dark Agenda of Western Medicine (NaturalNews) Everywhere in western medicine you find the Caduceus symbol: It's the staff entwined with two serpents, with wings at the top. You'll find it emblazoned on medical texts, medical school certificates, medical websites and even in hospitals... |
Baghdad bombings proceed at rapid pace 26 Jun 2009 Eleven people are reported to have died in a bombing which occurred in an industrial area of Baghdad. The bomb injured many other people after a motorbike, which was placed amongst other motorcycles, exploded.
Blast claims 11, injures 46 in Baghdad 26 Jun 2009 At least eleven people have been killed and forty six others wounded after a bomb exploded in the Iraqi capital's market, Iraqi officials have said. According to Iraqi security officials, the bomb went off at a market selling motorcycles in the Bab al-Sheikh area of central Baghdad on Friday.
Did toxic chemical in Iraq sicken GIs? 27 Jun 2009 ...What these three men -- one sick, one dying, one dead -- had in common is they were National Guard soldiers on the same stretch of desert in Iraq during the early months of the war in 2003. These soldiers and hundreds of other Guard members from Indiana, Oregon and West Virginia were protecting workers hired by a subsidiary of the giant contractor, KBR Inc., to rebuild an Iraqi water treatment plant. The area, as it turned out, was contaminated with hexavalent chromium, a potent, sometimes deadly chemical linked to cancer and other devastating diseases.
Ministry of Defence blocks Wikileaks --Whistleblower site made off-limits to personnel after publishing operations manuals used by troops 25 Jun 2009 The Ministry of Defence is trying to block all internet access to the whistleblowing site Wikileaks from thousands of its own computers after discovering that dissidents have been using it to leak copies of British military manuals. Newly obtained MoD emails reveal alarm over the discovery that Wikileaks is freely publishing manuals that are used by patrols in Iraq. One email says: "There are thousands of things on here, I literally mean thousands. Not just UK MoD but other places as well. Everything I clicked on to do with MoD was 'restricted' ... It is huge." [Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!] Dismay was sparked by the discovery that Wikileaks had posted copies of a 2007 manual on UK tactics for Iraq and Afghanistan, and a handbook on Istar (intelligence surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance) on its website. [Well, have a nice dish of dismay!]
US wants to [again] delay release of CIA report 26 Jun 2009 The U.S. government wants to wait until next week [LOL, during the July 4 holiday, when no one is paying attention] to give the American Civil Liberties Union a 5-year old internal CIA report that criticizes its harsh interrogation torture program. On Friday, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to allow the release of the report to be delayed until Wednesday -- two weeks since it was first expected. The government is struggling over how much of the classified CIA inspector general's report should be made public.
Delay in Releasing CIA Report Is Sought 20 Jun 2009 The Justice Department needs a week to complete its review of a 2004 CIA inspector general's report before releasing it in redacted form to civil liberties advocates, officials said yesterday. Government lawyers notified the American Civil Liberties Union of the delay yesterday afternoon, citing a longer-than-expected review process at the CIA. Activists requested the report as part of a longstanding Freedom of Information Act lawsuit focusing on the U.S. government's detention and treatment of terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
US counterintel chief to be replaced 26 Jun 2009 The U.S. official in charge of catching foreign spies and foiling their plots is leaving his post on July 4. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair announced the departure of Joel Brenner, the national counterintelligence executive for the last three years, in a message to employees sent Friday.
Administration considering executive order authorizing president to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely 27 Jun 2009 The Obama administration is considering forgoing legislation and issuing an executive order that would authorize the president to incarcerate some terrorism suspects indefinitely, White House officials said Friday. Such an order would be controversial -- seemingly aligning the administration with a disputed legal doctrine of former President [sic] George W. Bush, whose lawyers held that the president had sweeping authority in wartime to imprison those he deemed threats to national security. Obama officials sought to play down the significance of the discussions by an administration panel... They said that lawyers had not written a specific proposal and that nothing had been submitted to the White House for review by senior officials.
Under cover of the Friday afternoon Obama Administration civil liberties/environmental 'bad news' dump: White House Drafts Executive Order to Allow Indefinite Detention of Terror Suspects --Friday 26 Jun 2009 5:18 PM The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations. Such an order would embrace claims by former president [sic] George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Under one White House draft that was being discussed earlier this month, according to administration officials, detainees would be imprisoned at a military facility on U.S. soil but their ongoing detention would be subject to annual presidential review. U.S. citizens would not be held in the system.
US sends 10,000 troops to an Afghan opium hub 27 Jun 2009 A new wave of US troops has arrived in Helmand, an opium-growing southern province where the foreign troops in Afghanistan have lost several grounds to the Taliban in recent months. According to the US Army, the troops are tasked with improving the order ahead of the August 20 presidential vote as well as fighting the 'insurgents' with widespread power in the province.
Roadside Bomb Kills 3 Aid Workers in Northern Afghanistan 24 Jun 2009 A roadside bomb on Tuesday killed three Afghan aid workers with a partner organization of the United Nations refugee agency in a northern province, a sign of the militants’ continuing efforts to extend their reach in the country. The three aid workers were driving in Jowzjan Province when their car was struck by a remotely detonated roadside bomb operated by someone watching the road, said Muhammad Khalil Aminzada, the provincial police chief.
G8 condemns N. Korea's missile tests 26 Jun 2009 Foreign ministers from Group of Eight countries today condemned North Korea's nuclear and missile tests and urged the country to return to the negotiating table. After its nuclear explosion last month, the United Nations slapped sanctions on Pyongyang. "We condemn in the strongest terms the nuclear tests" in May, and the April launch using ballistic missile technology, "which constitute a threat to regional peace and stability," the G-8 foreign ministers said in a statement during their meeting in Italy.
Ahmadinejad warns Obama over interference 27 Jun 2009 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized his American counterpart anew, saying Barack Obama's stance on Iran's post-election protests has jeopardized his change-seeking posture. Addressing a group of judiciary officials on Saturday, President Ahmadinejad questioned President Obama's objective in making what he described as interfering remarks about the current political situation in Iran.
Iran's Ahmadinejad compares Obama to Bush 25 Jun 2009 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Barack Obama on Thursday of behaving like his predecessor towards Iran and said there was not much point in talking to Washington unless the U.S. president apologised. Obama said on Tuesday he was "appalled and outraged" by a post-election crackdown and Washington withdrew invitations to Iranian diplomats to attend Independence Day celebrations on July 4. "Mr Obama made a mistake to say those things ... our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously (former president [sic] George W.) Bush used to say," the semi-official Fars News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. [Obama doesn't just 'say' things Bush used to say: He *does* things Bush used to *do.* --LRP]
US State funds covert Israeli linked Iran Visual News Corp aka Peyman Online 2007 (WikiLeaks) 12 Apr 2008 This file provides budgetary information regarding a specific covert new media initiative funded by the US State Department that targets Iran. This document was leaked because the man who is in charge of the initiative has strong ties to Israeli Intelligence and subcontracts portions of the work to Israeli intel fronts such as MEMRI using US tax dollars. It is currently not known if this project is still being funded by the US State Department. [Well, we should call/e-mail and ask. Grants Administrator: Ann Perrelli, 202-776-8545, perrelliAM@state.gov. Recipient's Administrator: Avi Davidi, 202-374-3420, avidavidi2006@gmail.com.]
CIA has Distributed 400 Million Dollars Inside Iran to Evoke a Revolution 18 Jun 2009 Former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig claims the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution. In a phone interview with the Pashto Radio on Monday, General Beig said that there is undisputed intelligence proving the US interference in Iran. "The documents prove that the CIA spent 400 million dollars inside Iran to prop up a colorful-hollow revolution following the election," he added. Pakistan’s former army chief of joint staff went on to say that the US wanted to disturb the situation in Iran and bring to power a pro-US government.
Iranian envoy: CIA involved in Neda's shooting? 26 Jun 2009 The United States may have been behind the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan, the Iranian woman whose fatal videotaped shooting Saturday made her a symbol of opposition to the June 12 presidential election results, the country's ambassador to Mexico said Thursday. "This death of Neda is very suspicious," Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri said. "My question is, how is it that this Miss Neda is shot from behind, got shot in front of several cameras, and is shot in an area where no significant demonstration was behind held?" He suggested that the CIA or another intelligence service may have been responsible. Though the video appeared to show that she had been shot in the chest, Ghadiri said that the bullet was found in her head and that it was not of a type used in Iran. "These are the methods that terrorists, the CIA and spy agencies employ," he said.
U.S. denied Iran official visa for U.N. meeting: envoy 26 Jun 2009 Tehran's U.N. envoy on Friday accused the United States of denying Iran's first vice president and members of his delegation visas to attend a three-day U.N. conference on the global financial crisis. "I am indeed delivering this speech on behalf of Dr. (Parviz) Davoudi, first vice president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who along with members of the Iranian delegation was not able to participate in the conference," Iranian U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee told the U.N. General Assembly. "Their entry visas were not issued by the host country," he added, referring to the United States.
Israeli troops raid peaceful anti-wall protest 27 Jun 2009 Israeli soldiers have attacked dozens of Palestinian and international peace activists protesting against the 'Apartheid Wall' in the West Bank. Israeli forces attacked Palestinian villagers along with their international and Israeli peace supporters during the weekly non-violent protest against the wall in Ni'lin and Bil'in villages, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday.
A Journalist Beaten -- One Year Later By Mohammed Omer 29 Jun 2009 June 26, 2008 is a day I will never forget... That day I was detained, interrogated, strip searched, and tortured while attempting to return home from a European speaking tour... I want to address the denials from Israel and the inaccurate reporting by a few journalists in addition to requesting state of Israel to acknowledge what it did to me, prosecute the members of the Shin Bet responsible for it and put in place procedures that protect other journalists from such treatment.
Murdoch's Wall Street Urinal sued: Ecuador to sue WSJ over FARC allegations 26 Jun 2009 Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has vowed to sue the Wall Street Journal for linking his government to the Colombian FARC rebels. "We will sue this newspaper because we are sick of their lies," Correa told reporters on Thursday after addressing the UN General Assembly's Conference on the world financial crisis, Reuters reported. "We demand the Wall Street Journal provide proof," he said, dismissing the journal's accusations that he is affiliated with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Obama administration seeks to quash suit by 9/11 families By Barry Grey 26 Jun 2009 The Obama administration has intervened to quash a civil suit filed against Saudi Arabia by survivors and family members of victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The suit seeks to hold the Saudi royal family liable, charging that it provided financial and other support to Al Qaeda and was thereby complicit in the hijack bombings that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington DC. [See: Documents Back Saudi Link to Extremists 24 Jun 2009.]
Swine flu shot campaign could involve 600M doses 27 Jun 2009 A potential fall swine flu immunization campaign may involve an unprecedented 600 million doses of vaccine, but health officials are still trying to figure out how to find enough workers to administer all those [deadly] shots. Although about 300 million people live in the U.S., health officials say children and some adults may need two doses of the vaccine.
Arkansas State Health Department: Mandatory Vaccines Are Constitutional --Legal council tells concerned caller that American citizens must accept enforced shot in event of mass swine flu vaccination program By Paul Joseph Watson 26 Jun 2009 A member of the public who was concerned about a mandatory mass vaccination program in light of the swine flu pandemic called the Arkansas State Health Department for advice only to be told that mandatory vaccines were constitutional and could be enforced at gunpoint by the government if necessary. The editor of the popular blog "Pissed Off Former Democrat" phoned the legal council at the Arkansas State Health Department to seek advice about obtaining waiver forms for a future mass swine flu vaccination program.
Voting Himself Rich: CDC Vaccine Adviser Made $29 Million Or More After Using Role to Create Market By Dan Olmsted and Mark Blaxill 16 Feb 2009 Dr. Paul Offit of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) took home a fortune of at least $29 million as part of a $182 million sale by CHOP of its worldwide royalty interest in the Merck Rotateq vaccine to Royalty Pharma in April of last year, according to an investigation by Age of Autism. Based on an analysis of current CHOP administrative policies, the amount of income distributed to Offit could be as high as $46 million.
Members of U.S. House Financial Services Committee snapped up or dumped bank stocks as bottom fell out of market 25 Jun 2009 As financial markets tumbled and the government worked to stave off panic by pumping billions of dollars into banks last fall, several members of Congress who oversee the banking industry were grabbing up or dumping bank stocks. Anticipating bargains or profits or just trying to unload before the bottom fell out, these members of the House Financial Services Committee or brokers on their behalf were buying and selling stocks including Bank of America and Citigroup -- some of the very corporations their committee would later rap for greed, a Plain Dealer examination of congressional stock market transactions shows.
Historic climate bill passes House in a close vote 26 Jun 2009 By a narrow margin, the House of Representatives on Friday took the first legislative step in U.S. history to reduce the heat-trapping gases building up in the atmosphere and gradually shift America to cleaner sources of energy. With strong pressure from President Barack Obama to move ahead on one of his priorities and over the strong objections from Republicans and some Democrats, the House voted 219 to 212.
Brazil approves controversial land tenure law 26 Jun 2009 President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has approved a law that could legalize landholdings by some 1 million squatters occupying a Texas-sized chunk of the Amazon rain forest, despite environmentalist fears it will accelerate deforestation. The law, approved late Thursday night, affects 260,233 square miles (67.4 million hectares) of federally owned land that for decades has been illegally occupied -- mostly by small farmers, but also by large property holders and loggers.
Governor Used State's Money to Visit Lover 26 Jun 2009 Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina acknowledged Thursday that he visited his mistress in Argentina on a taxpayer-financed trade mission to South America early last summer, an admission adding another layer to a scandal that produced increasing calls for his resignation. Mr. Sanford called questions about the trip to Argentina "very legitimate" and said he would reimburse its costs. Documents provided by the South Carolina Department of Commerce suggested that they totaled at least $12,000. [See: Larry Craig: I Did Not Meet Governor Sanford In Buenos Aires 25 Jun 2009 (Satire).]
Previous lead stories: FBI report: Saddam Hussein 'would have sought security agreement' with US --Iraq leader 'would have cut a deal' with Bush 24 Jun 2009 Saddam Hussein feared Iran's arsenal more than a U.S. attack, and even considered asking ex-President [sic] George W. Bush "to protect" Iraq from its neighbor, once secret FBI files show... Asked how he would have faced "fanatic" Iranian ayatollahs if Iraq had been proven toothless by UN weapons inspectors in 2003, Iraq's ex-president said he would have cut a deal with Bush. "Hussein replied Iraq would have been extremely vulnerable to attack from Iran and would have sought a security agreement with the U.S. to protect it from threats in the region," according to a 2004 FBI report among the declassified files. Without Bush's help, "Iraq would have done what was necessary," he told FBI Agent George Piro in his Baghdad International Airport cell. [Right, but there was the matter of the *oil.* See: Iraqi officials plan welcome-back party for Big Oil 25 Jun 2009.]
Iraq opens fields; Exxon, Shell seek foothold 26 June 2009 Iraq is set to welcome back foreign oil companies into the war-torn nation to develop the world’s third-largest crude reserves three decades after expelling them. Eight of the world’s top 10 nonstate oil producers, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, are vying for the right to help Iraq develop six oilfields and two natural-gas deposits. More than 30 companies in total are bidding for $16 billion worth of technical service contracts for producing fields that will be awarded in Baghdad on June 29 and 30. "Iraq is the big prize in the region," said Raja Kiwan, a Dubai-based analyst at consultants PFC Energy.
US drone strike kills 80 Pakistanis By Tom Eley 25 Jun 2009 On Tuesday, an unmanned US Predator drone fired missiles into a funeral procession in the Pakistani region of South Waziristan, killing as many as 80 people and maiming dozens more. It was the deadliest US attack within Pakistan to date. The mourners had gathered for the funeral of seven victims of another US drone attack that had taken place earlier the same day.
Published Monday - Friday about 8 AM Central Time Except Holidays....many major typos are fixed by 8:30 daily
Saturday June 27, 2009 07:25 AM CDT
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Life In Depression 2.0
I've been doing the research for this week's Peoplenomics.com Report (Meet "The Wall" Archetype) which deals with two very curious kinds of 'walls' that will become apparent over the next two months, or so. The first 'wall' is the one California is being marched to on the budget front while the second is some discussion of what some investors - even though they can see the crapstorm on the horizon - are frozen behind their mental 'walls' (paradigm constructs/boundaries) to the point where they are frozen and unable to act in advance of events. The story of 'deer-blinded-by-headlights' in the face of approaching disaster that kept people in Banda Aceh standing on the beach looking a the 'big wave' coming toward them...
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The astute investor realizes that the 'dance' between the inner and outer realities is often best considered by looking for memes and archetypes in play. As, for example, the concept 'Diaspora' in the www.halfpasthuman.com predictive linguistics has been forecasting showed up in the mainstream financial press this week as the Wall Street Journal, no less, headlined how the "Unemployed hit the road to find jobs."
At the same time there have been numerous moves afoot in Washington to sell 'climate change' / cap & trade as 'solutions to what ails us.' Overnight, the House passed the energy-climate bill, which was strictly along party lines between the democons and republicorps, which in turns both are financial boot-lickers to the lobbyists who really run the country. One has to wonder who'd be left to run the country were it not possible to go to Washington poor and return a few years later not only rich, but set up for life.
As Fox columnist Glenn Beck's article headline "Cap and Trade is about Power and Control" certainly comes as no surprise, since that's what Washington politics always has been about, at least since the bankster coup of 1913.
And speaking of which, you saw where Ben Bernanke is getting a bit afraid - to the point of making what one could interpret at veiled threats, should the move to audit the (not really) Federal Reserve come to pass? Dandy video and coverage over here.
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Despite how you choose to interpret the chief moneychanger's comments, it's already too late. The inexorable forces of greed are about to push us into the second leg down beginning sometime between two weeks hence and mid-September.
Not that it should come as any surprise when it gets here, since a one-year-running total of bank offices and ATM's closing is certainly running at levels that are actually above the Great Depression rates with five more banks taken over by the FDIC on Friday of this week.
In fact if you look just at the closures since the National Bank of Commerce failing in January (the first of 2009 to bite the dust)( you will find a total of 45 banks have failed this year which doesn't sound too bad until you count up the number of failed offices: 323 to be exact, and since we're just barely 6-months into the year, that pencils out to 53.8 bank offices per month failing.
Comparative Depression Studies
To be sure, the Second Depression is more difficult for most people to perceive, through no particular fault of their own. It's that time really are different, which is why it's said that history doesn't exactly repeat itself; only that it rhymes.
Consider some of the data I've presented previous - and try to take all these factors as a 'whole' so you can wrap your head around what's going on:
Bank Failures:
This is an almost impossible number to meaningfully compare because of changes in technology between the 1930's failures and the 2008-on collapse which arguably is still picking up steam. Back then, online banking, ATM's and such didn't matter. Still, there are banks failing all over the place and this week's closures/reorganizations impacted 13 bank branches. How does that compare with the roughly 3,000 banks that had failed in the first 2½-years of the first Depression? It could be argued that when both online and in-person plus ATM's are added, we're doing about the same. Or, worse.
Personal Impacts
One thing is true of Depression 2.0: You're going to feel it later than your parents (or grandparents) did in the 1930's. Just considering the $200-billion in bank bailout money spent (and not even considering the draw-downs of FDIC, the average cost in constant dollars per capital was around $483 (2009 dollars) then versus $650 just in bank bailout money (not counting AIG, GM, and other printing press adventures) this time around.
Why isn't it widely acknowledged yet? Simple...
Immediacy of Impact
The main difference is that by 1933 (when $3½ billion call it) had disappeared in failed banks, the money was immediately gone. That caused people to immediately stop spending because the losses were both personal (bank shuttered) and devastating (since business accounts also failed).
In today's disaster-in-slow-motion, FDIC is simply arranging shotgun marriages/takeovers, and where necessary printing up dollars from their 'insurance' funds to cover the losses. However, whether FDIC can survive with enough money to keep up the paper issuance is arguable. At some point, FDIC will likely be forced to go to (guess who?) The Treasury or Fed to make ends meet and that, in turn, will fuel inflation.
Credit Cards As Relief
In the 1930's event, there was something called 'relief' - think of it as a forerunner of the modern welfare system. We don't have 'relief' per se, but we do have unemployment insurance, and for people who have been 'caught out' with jumbo mortgages and falling home prices, the credit card has been providing food on the table for millions.
Except now, we're seeing that banks are quickly lightening up on credit card limits - while at the same time increasing their interest rates, which will have the net effect, from a public policy standpoint of reducing the amount of relief available. Bad policy, as I see it, but then again, no one asked George. The alternative would be to declare a federal usury cap on credit card operations and take over that set of money-changers and implement a digital currency system parallel to the paper system, with tight controls and convertibility to either a gold & silver, energy, or calorie standard. But, again, no one asked.
Taxation Issues
As was the case in the 1930's, we're about to run into a major slide in tax revenues to run government. The problem in a nutshell is that property tax revenues and income taxes (Did I mention sales taxes? You get the idea, right?) are all going to fall over the next few years and as they do, the wet dreams of a federal budget anywhere short of hyperinflationary levels becomes unreachable.
Housing prices are going to continue to fall. Just for example, I talked to a couple of know in southern California this week who had to file BK last year - the $650,000 home they had at the peak sold for about $283,000 a year later. Guess where those losses go?
From a tax standpoint, 100% inflation could push it back up to $566K, so you can see why hyperinflation from a policy standpoint is actually desirable.
In fact, 200% inflation would be even better, and my guess is that's how all this will eventually work out with everything costs 3-04 and maybe 10-times what it costs now, such that bankers will be able to remain whole in their loans and government will continue to increase spending.
The trick, in all this, is that us regular human's aren't being filled in on these underlying pressures. Yet, I do have a number of friends who also see it coming. One of my local acquaintances and his wife are building a brand new home right now because they figure that within a year (or three at the outside) the inflation to pay for all of what's going on right now will massive increase their net worth.
Same reason that I bought an old collectable sports car; in times of inflation prices of things down go up - the Big Lie covers up this simple fact: The purchasing power of money gets watered down.
If you want to get a good handle on the future, consider what things will be like when inflation to 10-times current prices comes along.
Gold will be up around $8,000 an ounce. Silver at least $150. A new car will be up in the $200,000 range. A home that may be had now for $100,000 in some areas could pop to $1-million.
While that's going on, oil will be up around $700-$800, Gasoline $20-25 at the pumps and milk could touch $50/gallon.
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The biggest danger to the Fed's money monopoly (a power reserved in the Constitution for Congress, which abdicated in 1913) is that if they can't print money fast enough, and push it out into the financial system, there comes a point where incipient deflation comes in. And that's bad for everyone.
Inflation works because it destroys cash savings, and promotes the power-crazed political agenda of concentration of government control and actively says "Rent your lifestyle, don't own it outright - you'd have to be a fool to do that!"
You can see how they are trying to keep their foot just lightly on the gas by studying the reconstructed M-3 rates here at Trader Bart's site, which is based on John Williams 'Shadow Stats" work.
By the way, John Williams (Shadow Stats) called this in 2008 with his report you can read here that says - among other things, that "Hyperinflationary Depression Remains Likely As Early As 2010"
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There's some theoretical work that says governments maintain power and control by the application of force. Sometimes it's control of food, other times control of money, and yet others, through the invention (creation) of an external enemy - whether it's warring hordes from somewhere or the designer flu/diseases.
Whether it's all somehow orchestrated by secretive groups that meet once a year for the most elite of Bohemians or building-burger insiders, or whether it's just how chaos in a competitive financial blender works, is not something we need to agree on this week.
All we can do is look at the numbers:
The Dow lost about 101 points for the week.
FDIC closed down 13 bank branches of five more banks.
Cap & trade is being hyped because it will give the PowersThatBe still more control mechanisms\
And since I'm not writing Saturday columns any more, I think I'll hit the shower and then head down to the local ham radio club's Field Day outing and see if I can't score a breakfast burrito.
Independence of thinking, independence in communications, food, water, seem like worthwhile things to invest in, along with independence in energy and most everything else.
One closing point as Saturday's coffee gets cold: You work for 'the man' during the week. I'd ask if you're working as hard in your own behalf toward a personal long-term vision is your 'spare' time? If you are, you're among the few humans to do so.
See you Monday morning...(unless you're a subscriber, in which case, I'll explain how California going broke is another likely windfall for offshore hedge funds. It's cute how they do it...it really is...)
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Send comments to george@ure.net
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