By Giordano Bruno
Neithercorp Press
At first, we were told the American economy was a freight train; invincible. After the derivatives and mortgage crisis began in 2007-2008, we were told the problem was a mere blip in our financial timeline; nothing to be concerned about. In 2009, we were told that the recession was over, and that “green shoots†were on the way. Later, they said we were “turning the cornerâ€, whatever that means. In 2010, we were told it was time to get used to the “new normalâ€, which of course has yet to be clearly defined. Now, at the cusp of 2011, the year which many establishment economists originally claimed would bring a bright new era in U.S. employment and finance, it has become clear to much of the public that we are being deliberately herded with empty words and false promises towards a very dangerous and uncertain future.
We have discovered that there is no “new normalâ€. The word “normal†denotes a certain consistency, a set of rules to the system which are generally understood, yet we have seen nothing consistent except the continued downward freefall of our fiscal infrastructure and the end of anything remotely resembling stability.
I feel quite a bit of empathy and maybe even a little remorse for those who blindly believed the mainstream nonsense of the past few years. I can’t imagine being so lost and so utterly disappointed on such a regular basis. The only good to come out of this dashing of false hopes is that it has caused many to begin questioning what the hell is really happening. Why have things only become worse? What about all the government legislation and stimulus? When is it finally going to produce the effects that were once guaranteed? In fact, what are the benefits of ANY action the government or the private Federal Reserve has taken so far?
Let’s look at financial conditions across the globe and here at home, and perhaps we can gain a true understanding of the situation before us, and find answers for some of these questions…
Europe: American Instability With An Accent?
How many times over this summer did we hear about the bailout that “saved†the EU? About as much as we heard about the bailouts that supposedly saved America.
In spring, the MSM was warning of complete disintegration of the European Union. After the Greek bailout, all was suddenly well. The turnaround in rhetoric was enough to give me whiplash. I’m curious now as to where all that candy-coated bubbly adoration for European bonds and the Euro went. When I warned during the “summer of bailout love†that nothing had changed in the EU accept the media’s coverage of the problem, this is what I was talking about…
As we have been pointing out for the past two years, the debt default problems in the EU are not going away, nor are they likely to go away for quite some time. Greece, for instance, is now under review for yet another ratings downgrade by the S&P:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-03/greece-s-credit-rating-may-be-cut-by-s-p-as-eu-rules-threaten-bondholders.html
All the exuberance over the IMF/EU bailout of Greece this spring was for naught, as the country continues to falter with no end to their debt woes in sight. The bailout changed nothing (because bailouts never do). This lesson in Greece has apparently made no impression on mainstream media analysts and international investors, who now applaud a similar bailout of Ireland, and who will probably applaud the bailouts of Portugal, Spain, and Italy, once it finally becomes evident to the public that those countries are in equally terrible financial conditions.
Credit-default swaps for Portugal and Spain have risen to record levels as their debt exposure, which has been ignored by the MSM until this past month, is slowly revealed:
This means that the cost of insuring Portuguese or Spanish debt securities is becoming untenable. Like a couple of convicted drunk drivers, the risk of insuring them is tremendous. The likelihood of a crash is simply too high.
Italian bank refinancing costs are also exploding due to the unsustainable debt of the government, meaning an expanded credit crisis is looming for Italians (could this signal a coming bank holiday?):
Ireland and every other EU nation’s response to this disaster will, obviously, be the implementation of austerity measures in order to pay off their IMF creditors. Ireland has already announced a possible 20% cut in overall spending and the simultaneous raising of taxes; a double whammy for Irish citizens who will now lose many government aid programs while at the same time losing valuable income out of their pocket:
Countries that find themselves this indebted to the IMF rarely if ever actually improve conditions enough to pay off their liabilities, and that is not an accident. Global bankers have no intention of ever releasing EU nations from their clutches. The debt cycle must go on forever…
The debt crisis across the Atlantic is culminating in a massive destabilization of jobs markets, which is something we rarely hear about in terms of Europe. Eurozone nations have hit an overall record high “official†unemployment rate of 10.1% (double that for the REAL unemployment rate):
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/7216710.html
The point? Just under the surface Europe is in a shambles, the Euro is in almost as much danger as the Dollar, and this development will come to a head very soon. Already, the EU is moving to enact a “European Stability Mechanismâ€, which will effectively divide core EU nations like Germany and France from ‘peripheral’ countries like Greece or Portugal:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101203/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_debt_rules
More fiscally stable nations such as Germany will no longer be required to foot the bill for those members of the EU that show signs of default. Even now, Germany is refusing to boost aid to EU bailout funds:
This is something we talked about with great concern at the beginning of this year, as richer European countries tie their economies to China and let the rest of the West rot. On one hand, it seems practical for sovereign countries to protect themselves and refuse to pay for the mistakes of others. However, the primary point of all of this has been ignored by the MSM, which is the fact that the EU should never have been formed in the first place. So far it has resulted in nothing but calamity for most participating countries. Surely, the IMF will drop by to pick up the pieces and “save†the union that was never wanted or needed, after the people are sufficiently desperate.
What this shows is that nearly all of the crises we are confronted with daily here in the U.S. are also striking Europe; there’s just much less talk about the EU disaster from local economic analysts. Regardless of what the MSM claims, Europe as we know it is about to change dramatically. In the U.S., the metamorphosis could be even more shocking…
The Recession That Ate America!
The jobs report from the Labor Department last week underlined the breadth of the collapse in America. Establishment economists were heralding the Christmas season as a turning point (yet again) in the U.S. economy, for jobs, and for sales. Predictions for job creation ranged from around 150,000 to 400,000 openings. Traditionally, they would be correct in expecting such a spike in employment, but we are not living in typical times. The jobs report revealed only 39,000 newly employed, and being that Labor Department numbers are generally manipulated, we could safely suggest that almost no jobs were added. All in the midst of the Holidays, when temporary hiring is supposed to boom:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/03/news/economy/november_jobs_report/index.htm
Now, some analysts are beginning to suggest that the U.S. is heading “back†into a recession. The problem is that in order to go into a second recession, we would have to actually exit the first recession before hand:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B52NK20101206
Whether or not you believe that we are facing a double dip, or that we are caught in one long economic death spiral, one must ask the question: where did all that bailout money go that was supposed to stop this? Recently, we received a pittance of a glimpse at the Federal Reserve balance sheet for part of the stimulus program. What little data was made public was not comforting…
If you thought that stimulus packages from the Fed would actually go into the U.S. economy, you were greatly mistaken. The largest recipients of bailout dollars from the Federal Reserve (paid for with your tax dollars) were FOREIGN BANKS. That’s right, the liquidity injections that have put the very health of the dollar at risk and stoked a growing trade and currency war across the planet did not even go towards the economy in which you live! Overseas banks such as UBS and Barclays received the largest portion of the $3.3 trillion in emergency stimulus that was outlined in documentation the Fed was forced to release due to lawsuit:
Remember, this $3.3 trillion is just what the central bankers openly admit to. We haven’t even scratched the surface of Fed accounts or Fed secrecy yet. One factor in stimulus injections that often goes under the radar is overnight lending. It has been revealed that the Fed has created at least $9 trillion which was then pumped into major banks over the course of the past two years. Merrill Lynch alone snapped up $2.1 trillion:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/01/news/economy/fed_reserve_data_release/index.htm?source=ft
This brings up another important question: if the major banks have been privy to so much capital, why aren’t they lending to the public? Maybe because they are still broke, even after all that Fed liquidity! Currently, top U.S. banks still face a $100 billion to $150 billion shortfall according to Basel III rules (again, this is just the amount that has been admitted):
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AL0A220101122
This amount of capital retention would suggest a ‘deflationary’ crisis, but instead, we have so far witnessed a falling dollar and rising prices on most goods and commodities. Gold is hovering near $1420 an ounce as I write this. Silver has broken the $30 an ounce mark. Oil is flirting with $90 a barrel, and is firmly entrenched above $3 a gallon, very close to where we predicted during the summer (we still have three weeks to hit $100 a barrel). Other base goods are spiking much faster…
The most recent and disingenuous talking point used by the MSM to explain away rising prices is that it is a result of “demand†by growing developing nations like China. Below are a couple examples, including an article which blames rising cotton prices on demand from China, and rising oil prices on “economic recoveryâ€, which is an unbearable load of media manure:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE6AA0XV20101206
Anything to avoid the word “inflationâ€, and most especially the word “hyperinflationâ€. The problem with the demand argument is that while there is growing need for materials in places like China, this is certainly not at all the driving force behind the explosion in prices. A good way to gage this is by examining the BDI (Baltic Dry Index).
The BDI measures the cost of shipping raw materials across the ocean as well as the amount of goods being shipped. It is one of the few economic indicators that cannot be manipulated by international banks or governments. A dramatic drop in the BDI shows a sharp decrease in demand for global shipping and thus reveals a slowdown in the overall economy. This is exactly what occurred at the beginning of the credit crisis in 2007-2008. However, the BDI can also be measured in comparison with the values of stocks and commodities. Under normal conditions of supply and demand, if the BDI were to drop (or deflate), then the value of most stocks and goods should also drop. This has not been the case, as the below graphs illustrate:
BDI vs. S&P 500
BDI vs. CRB Index
BDI vs. Crude Oil
BDI vs. Gold
BDI vs. Copper
BDI vs. Soy
Now, there have been small deviations in the past between stocks and commodities versus the BDI, but usually it is the BDI which leads the deviation, and not the commodities. As the final year of every graph shows, there has been a significant decoupling of the price of stocks and goods when compared with the amount of shipping of those goods. To put it simply; demand is low, all over the world, yet prices continue to climb skyward at an incredible pace. This suggests to me that we are seeing the beginning of hyperinflation, mostly in the U.S., and in no way a recovery.
The main culprit in creating the inflation millstone is, as you probably guessed, the Federal Reserve. Being that much of the fiat the Fed throws out is going into foreign entities, we have not seen effects as pronounced as they would be if all that cash was flowing into our local markets. This has not, though, stopped devaluation of the dollar itself, which is the true cause of inflation beyond money supply.
Foreign central banks are all too aware that the Greenback will soon be history. Treasury auctions are producing dismal results for anything other than very short term T-bonds, and the Fed is quickly becoming the ONLY buyer of U.S. government debt:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/weak-29-billion-7-year-auction-prices-225-bid-cover-drops
And, the biggest news of the year, the news that almost no mainstream outlet in America covered: China and Russia have announced that they will stop using the dollar for trade between the two countries:
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90859/7208907.html
“Wen said Beijing is willing to boost cooperation with Moscow in Northeast Asia, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in major international organizations and on mechanisms in pursuit of a “fair and reasonable new order†in international politics and the economy.â€
“Sun Zhuangzhi, a senior researcher in Central Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the new mode of trade settlement between China and Russia follows a global trend after the financial crisis exposed the faults of a dollar-dominated world financial system.â€
Skeptics and disinformation campaigns will likely argue that Russia is barely in the top ten trading partners of China, and the announcement is not a threat to the dollar’s world reserve status. What they will neglect to mention is that China and Russia’s political influence internationally goes far beyond trade decisions. How long before the other BRIC nations, India and Brazil, follow suit and drop the dollar when trading with China? How long before European countries, or even OPEC nations, join this trend? What you are witnessing today is the median step before the final collapse of our currency, and when the history books are written, it will probably be this period that is singled out as the trigger point for the event.
Get Ready For Weapons Of Mass Distraction
As we have written about many times and qualified in great detail with page after page of supported evidence, the shell shocked state of the economy is no accident. The financial implosion is itself a distraction from the centralization policies of corporate cartels through organizations like the IMF or the Federal Reserve. But as the breakdown progresses (and I think we have shown succinctly that it will), the masses will eventually look for the antagonist of this story. The elites will have no other choice but to conjure villains from the ether to divert attention away from themselves and their detrimental policies. Not to mention, the number of us who understand the criminal nature of central banks is becoming precariously threatening to the continuance of those policies.
The Liberty Movement has hit a point of critical mass. The alternative media is dominating over mainstream corporate news sources. Our fight for transparency in information is reaching every corner of the world. Our membership is growing beyond what many of us had ever imagined possible. Projects such as the ‘Buy Silver: Crash JP Morgan’ campaign have gone effectively viral. Ideas like the popular purchasing of physical precious metals to counter the COMEX manipulations and short positions of big banks have been around for a long time, but in the past couple of years, we finally have the support base and cultural clout to make them a reality with the fantastic media reach of men like Max Keiser, Alex Jones, websites like Zero Hedge, and many others.
The more prominent our movement becomes, the more dangerous we are to global banks, and the more likely we are to see the enactment of engineered events designed to fog the battlefield and confuse the public. The goal of globalists will be to fabricate threats which appear to be more immediate or more frightening than the power grabbing schemes of the elites themselves. Imagine you have cancer, but are then suddenly confronted with a live grenade in your lap. Which problem is going to receive your full attention at that moment; the grenade, or the cancer? The dilemma is that both eventually end the same way. This is how elitists operate; deny people the chance to deal with the long term threat by diverting them with short term catastrophes.
A new ‘Gulf of Tonkin’ off the shores of North Korea, the release of a weaponized computer virus into Wall Street trading networks, yet another attempted or successful terrorist attack with highly questionable players and suspicious results, or maybe a Treasury dump by China resulting in a trade or even shooting war. I can’t say where the punches will come from, but I do know that the hits are on their way. The state of our economy and of public opinion is reaching a crescendo and something has to give. The global banks will do anything to ensure that they are not set in the crosshairs of those people who are forced to suffer, even if it means throwing numerous innocents into the path of the oncoming bullets (figurative or otherwise).
At bottom, to fully comprehend the events that are taking place, and that are about to take place in our economic and cultural environment, we have to focus on the ignition source. If your house is set on fire, do you blame the house for burning? Do you blame the fire? Or do you blame the people that started the fire? I have a feeling the coming months will be crucial in this regard, and how tomorrow unfolds will depend greatly on our ability to lock hold of the influential financial arsonists of today, and never let them go.
You can contact Giordano Bruno at: [email protected]
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This is probably the most direct, well written piece on the economic situation of the past few years and what lies ahead, that I have ever read…
Well done.
thanx mac,
excellent rendition of reality.
i also just read roger wiegand’s article “phase two of greater depression II begins now” at kitco.com. it’s also excellent.
kudos to alex jones and max keiser. these guys are what journalism should be………….
Weapons Of Mass DistractionÂ
Says it all to me. Even if you have never been allowed to look behind the curtain, now you know. You can never go back unless you fall out.
Great summary and analysis. Â I fear these globalists are coming after our media sources next in order to weaken our unity and strength. Be vigilant.
That is usually the first strategic move Leonidas. But they already have in many aspects.
With those of you with ears to hear, this could be your final warning…but then again, we’re talking sheeple here – and in my 10 years of preparation I’ve learned that 99.9999% of them don’t or won’t listen. Musheadroom will tell you to fold over more crisp $10 fraudulent reserve notes, but I’m here to tell those of you that will listen that you don’t have enough beans, bullets or band aids and time is wasting.Â
“weapons of mass distraction” I have to remember that one…
mr. gmafb
i take major exception to your totally unfounded and grieviously erronious statement that ten dollar bills are “fraudulent reserve notes”. these magnificent bills have had the full faith and credit of the american federal reserve banking system for almost one hundred years. the american federal reserve banking system is the most respected and powerful banking system the world has ever seen ever since in was started one hundred years ago by german and english bankers in the jekyll island hunt club which was owned by that patriotic american banker j. p. morgan.                                                              Â
did you know that the federal reserve is the only profit making corporation in the united states that pays absolutely no state or federal income taxes. now you have to agree that’s real power. a new crisp uncirculated ten dollar bill will always get you fuel or food or whatever else you need  - even if there is a little minor short term ripple in our powerfull economy.
if you feel you need “beans, bullets or band aids” ten dollar bills will always get you an ample supply. furthermore, you can’t prove me wrong. when has not american ten dollar bills not been able to provide their owners with all the necessities and all the luxuries that  they need or want? the answer is NEVER. therefore you have just been proven wrong and should apologize immediately.                                                                           Â
incidently, i do accept apologies from bloggers who i have proven wrong such as in this case.
Give me a frickin break, most here are 99.99999% in the know except the ones that say hard & soft commodities just sit there. They are right too (but they don’t even know that). That is it’s job to just sit there. It doesn’t go up or down in value. The fiat money does. A gallon of gas along with a bucket of beans has always been a gallon of gas or a bucket of beans. Hard commodities, even more so.
Mushroom: I am sure that the 14,000 varieties of toadstools in the world look to you for guidance with pride and admiration.
Mushroom, you crack me up.
Wryrony is an art form
 Sooo the great Stimulator Uncle Ben keeps stimulating as usual! expecting just what?
People with no jobs are NOT spending, People with part time jobs are cutting back, Retirees on SS are NOT spending as the BLS keeps playin with the numbers to keep from increasing the COLA, and to top it off, they are also not able to supplement that SS with their savings any more that used to at least pay something.
All I wanna see is these mega banks start to pay “higher rates” back to me for my tax dollars they got bailed out with.
Yeah, yeah, so the low rates are wonderful for the market, and the buyers of the shit they keep tellin me isn’t inflated. What I see is my $$$ isn’t able to keep up with the usual BS normal people buy on a daily basis, and don’t even look at your new tax bills, property, real estate, insurance, ect, ect. Of course if you got a few million sittin around even the 1% is still making you coffee money.
And that Debt Board with Erskine and Simpson that met has a fix, (another pair of uber bootsy brothers like Kud & Kram) just take even more from the lower classes and make sure the millionaires inherit the planet. But it may not fare well for them in the end.
Anyway……… I’m not sure just how all this will wash out, with the debt ever increasing to a point of no return, and talk about the dollar’s days being numbered, and PM bugs fondling their metal who knows if it will even matter in the end. Besides if inflation does rear up, and Uncle Ben decides to actually raise rates, than I assume I/we will just be back to the same level, as prices will continue to go up also. But “par” would be better than this, slowly being bled out with no way to keep up with this “no inflation”Â
Where does one get “new uncirculated” $10 bills? Mine are always used. I know the Mint use to sell the pages of 1’s & 2’s but they always wanted a large premium for them.
Comments….. Well I have to agree with Mushscroom on the $10.00 bills – doesn’t even have to be $10.00 bills, any kind of bill will work. Because I believe big brother is tracking our purchases through credit cards and ATM purchases, it’s difficult to trace you through using physical money. Accumulate a little bit at a time. We happen to live near two casinos, they are a good place to walk in with $100.00 bills and ask for 20’s, 10’s and 5’s. Beats going to the bank where they ask you a bunch of questions about the money. Sometimes I’ll put the $100.00 bill into a machine, get a paper pay out and trade it in for paper money. I’m now using cash for all purchases – including gas.
Mushroom,
I see what you are doing! Its a good thing. Keep it up!
Come see us at http://neithercorp.us . There is a forum and and public chat. Join Gio, Ogden, myself and many others in the forums and areas that will help you understand what is goind on.
I must mirror my comments from the original site:
Bridge out? No, no, NOOOOOO! The bridge is fine. Drive this way people. No problems here. Oh, I know it LOOKs like its out but its not. Its fine.
This is what the US Gov would say if the title picture of this article were a picture of the US Economy. The entire thing is devastated and wrecked, yet, we keep getting the “recovery†keywords.
Another fine, insightful, well researched article, Gio! I’ll have to say, I’m fairly well read on the internet and for financial novices (me, in most directions) your content is precious and easily understood.
We have this mess that Gio so pointedly reveals above, Mac Slavo ( https://www.shtfplan.com/precious-metals/liquidate-iras-and-401ks-or-suffer-grievous-losses_12082010 ) talks about the confiscation of private retirement savings. Can anyone think that we’re going to come out of this soon or in good shape?
God.
Guns.
Guts.
Groceries.
Gasoline
Gold.
In that order. G6. Remember: Its all about balance. Start small and build. Your time is a little short, I think. But, some is better than nothing. Chaos is coming soon. It will be a time of cleansing.
Godspeed to all. Stay safe.
Our beloved great leader BHO had a news conference on Monday, 12/13/2010, where he announced that he was diverting money from an increase in food stamp benefits designed to help feed poor families in order to increase spending for the free school breakfast/lunch programs to help feed poor children. President Obungle seemed as if he was very proud of this as an accomplishment. According to him this was a “winning situation”.
Let me see if I have this straight in my mind; taking funding from one program designed to help feed one group of poor people and diverting it to another program designed to help feed another group of equally deserving people is a win?
Why don’t we just stop funding a stupid war in Afghanistan that we will never win to the tune of 100Â + billion $ and fund BOTH programs designed to help poor people here in the United States?
I guess that this is why I am not President of the United States; I am too stupid to understand the logic behing President Obungle’s great victory.
Me bad.
@mushroom…spend’em while the sheeple are still accepting them. Weimar is coming to a store near you, in fact after your dear Fraudulent Reserve Bank finishes printing another trillion of them, they should be worth about a penny a piece in buying power. I was simply suggesting that those (with two or more firing neurons) that aren’t intending to use them as toilet paper should trade them for tangible goods asap. Beans, bullets and band aids will be worth their weight in silver and gold long after you are using your stack of $10 bills to wipe your dainty little arse… — I understand your attempt at Wryrony, however, no apology is extended…
Excellent, well written. I agree with PatriotRider and apache. The best I’ve read lately. I’m sending it out to a bunch of folks.Â
mushroom – keep up the good work. maybe i better trade in some huns for some of those tens….
MadMarkie – obama has to take what he can for victories. Sometimes I like to move some money from one pocket to the other too. Give’s me a powerful feeling.
I just want to update my bathroom from $1 bills to $10 “bills”. Flying monkeys is still a option if I can’t get the sheets of uncirculated. I still have #1 tp that you can get online.
GMAFB:  I gave up on mankind many years ago. I only associate with like minded folks.  People won’t listen or think you’re a doom and gloom type, so I gave up informing long ago.   So, let ’em starve.  I tell no one anymore.  I agree with you to spend it while you can and as long as  currency is being accepted.
It’s incredible to see how people can’t understand the social, class-struggle nature of all these events, considering only their economic-cycle or criminal aspects. The truth is parasitic financial class and the industrial bourgeoisie are fighting against workers’ class, and this will became clear when repressions and wars worsen. It’s the same story as in past centuries, and the scientific way people can win and change the world is learning from Lenin, reconstruct a centralized bolshevik international party, seize the power and abolish the private property of production means, salaries, money, banks and markets. Â
Comments….. Mad Markie said: Let me see if I have this straight in my mind; taking funding from one program designed to help feed one group of poor people and diverting it to another program designed to help feed another group of equally deserving people is a win?
—————————–
Well, it would take less money for a family on food stamps to feed their children IF they are getting their meals at school. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. And remember with those food stamps, the family can still buy all the junk food they want – cocoapuffs, cakes, etc. Does anyone think that a kid who is use to eating frozen pizza, hot dogs, chips, mac and cheese and chocolate milk will all of a sudden begin to eat brussel sprouts, kiwi fruit and nonfat milk? The coming waste of food at schools will be mind boggling. However, it will be a homeless person’s paradise–dumpster diving 101. If I were homeless and hungry, that’s the first place I would head.
WAKE THE HELL UP AMERICA! — “The Revolution has Started”
This site is like coming to a wake. Most people have given up. We are beat up a little, but we are not done. Enough talk.  It’s time to act. Nothing changes until you Stand Up. Now stand upppp.
Read “Common Sense 3.1†at ( http://www.revolution2.osixs.org )
We don’t have to live like this anymore. “Spread the News”
FIGHT THE CAUSE – NOT THE SYMPTOM
orsobubu…..save it,those SOBs and their ways of thinking ARE whats running the country now…we sure dont need any more marxism, we need liberty and individual rights… lenin and company were not friends to either!
That class warfare jelousy crap really helped germany and russia become almost heaven didnt it!? Yessir a regular paridise on earth…not!
We have big time problems but we sure as hell arnt going to look to lenin and that crowd for salvation…we watched that play out over there awhile ago!
It didnt work for them and it wont work for us!
GoldenFoxx: I am SO disappointed in you! After all of this time on this site, and you forgot the number one rule of “bigger government is better government”: get another government entity involved between the recepients of food stamps and the federal government.
The schools (state and local government)!
Comments…..Durango Kidd said:
GoldenFoxx: I am SO disappointed in you! After all of this time on this site, and you forgot the number one rule of “bigger government is better governmentâ€: get another government entity involved between the recepients of food stamps and the federal government.
The schools (state and local government)!
———————————-
What????? I am against ALL government intrusion! I’m against food stamps/school free lunches, etc! I dunno which part of that you missed? Or are you for bigger government and your admonishing for that? For the record–screw the government and all its welfare programs.
Comments…..Comments…..Durango Kidd said:
GoldenFoxx: I am SO disappointed in you! After all of this time on this site, and you forgot the number one rule of “bigger government is better governmentâ€: get another government entity involved between the recepients of food stamps and the federal government.
The schools (state and local government)!
———————————-
What????? I am against ALL government intrusion! I’m against food stamps/school free lunches, etc! I dunno which part of that you missed? Or are you for bigger government and your admonishing for that? For the record–screw the government and all its welfare programs.
OK, this is a decent article BUT:
Factors not considered in Commodity inflation:
BAD crop yields GLOBALY. ( http://www.iceagenow.com and understand we are headed into a bad patch for agriculture).
OIL ( or Arab/ West Texas /light Sweet crude grades) are UP! ( again) so that affects EVERYTHING including the extraction of COPPER, Ag, Au, fertilizer prices from NG etc. Higher crude prices put upwards pressure on ( almost) every other source of energy that people try to use INSTEAD of expensive crude…
WAR(s) They are expensive, and the “I-Wacky” war did not even ensure that oil dropped in price, quitet the opposite…no spoils of wars for the USA. :(   The “insurgency” hampred efforts at extraction up until recently…
LOW INEREST RATES, makes it easy to service large DEBTS of the kind the USA has. But when the FED keep rates below any gains because of inflation, taxes, etc. people alway look to invest elsewhere, so a “Bull Market” in commodiites become the next “hot spot” to make a buck in speculation…while the Granny who puts her USD in CD’s gets shafted. This puts even more upward pressure on commodities…
It’s not ALL Q.E. that is causing price gains…Â
No GF it was togue in cheek 🙂
Comments….. Durango Kidd
No GF it was togue in cheek
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I need to lighten up then..I’m just too serious these days.
hey morpheus, take your marxism 2.0 and shove   it up your collectivist ass. do you really think putting a few American flags and pics of Patriots on your pages of neocommunist rantings are gonna fool enough people into taking the bait.Thomas PAINE was the closet thing to a socialist that our fouunding fathers felt  comfortable associating with.  you cannot positively cite FDR and be taken seriously by REAL constitutional patriots.  I wouldn’t be suprised if soros is your sugar daddy
in fact,dopheus, if i were to take a guess. i would say you are friends with van jones. Â still time to puke up the RED pill
REB,
what you describe about russia and germany 90 years ago was exactly the consequence of the defeating of the international revolutionary communist party, the first and the only political party in the history of the world that stopped a war, gave universal political suffrage, declared absolute gender parity, reduced faith to a personal matter and so on. Bolsheviks were defeated and destroyed by Stalin’ national state capitalism, the same type which is now in command in US, China, Europe, etc.Â
I think your hope in a revenge of free market is a dream. Free market is dead. State capitalism and protectionism will rule. World workers will suffer a lot if they fail to unite and organize against respective state elites.
The problem is We the People have become way to optimistic, and always believe “they will pull a rabbit outa their ass” and this will all go away.
I dont think thats the case, this has gotten way to out of hand. Its going to go down, its just when is that going to happen?
The average Joe is too scared to stand up to this tyranical government, because we see how easy it is for them to rail road us, and incarcerate you for the made up story your not..they will call you a rapist , or molester as they have Assange , all because he’s opening up the eyes of some, and showing the world their corruptness..again if you stick up..you will get hammered down..
The general population know this and dont want to stick out, so until a large enough group sticks together and moves to demand attention from this government , your not going to see what this country needs, its just going to give them what they want..more control..even if its passive agressive control.
If the Revolution has started as some say..it better man up , and fast..and start becoming a force to be reconed with…or our way of life as we know it..is over.
Greese is rioting today. The bond makets will explode.
Tom,
Unfortunatelly nothing can change the decisions being made.
I was in the strike. People are angry, but the riots, burnings, and other crap is caused by a group of “anarchists”.
Of course real anarchists have a totally different point of view for society.
These people belong to two categories:
1. Real idiots who just want to break and burn.
2. Police snitches who enter the strike groups in order to cause trouble and stain the strikes.
What’s really happening in Greece of the midlle class, is a slow, deep, and silent anger which grows day-by-day. People still bear all austerity measures due to a cash momentum from previous years. But you sense this hate all over, like a the smell of a rotten corpse
My opinion is that within the next year that most bank accounts will drain, then we see the potential of spontaneous uprising.
Manos
@ GF
I was doing a job at a local high school 3 years ago, putting AC and a new drop ceiling in the cafeteria kitchen. Due to problems with the existing systems, safety issues; the school board wouldn’t let them do any ‘cooking’ at the beginning of the school year. They don’t really cook anyway, all they do is heat/warm crap up.
So the students received cold cerial, milk, juice and fruit for their free breakfast. They trucked in cold sandwiches, chips and a juice type beverage from another school for lunch. The students hated this food and for the most part refused to eat their FREE breakfast and lunch!
The 5 or 6 Hispanic ladies that I had working with me on a daily basis to keep the kitchen area clean enough to dispense food in while the work was going on couldn’t believe the ‘fringe benefits’ they received on my job …… they all took home great big boxes of sandwiches, juice drinks, milk and cerial that they fed to their families for as long as they were on the job.
Then the kitchen manager started receiving death threats from the parents! This poor woman, who had no control over the situation, got cussed out at least 20 times a day, each and every day, on the phone ….. by the parents!!!
This just goes to show you that no good deed goes unpunished. These students whose parents were supposedly too poor to provide them with a breakfast or lunch turned down perfectly good food that the school officials had gone to extra efforts to provide them with. Gratitude??? Go figure!!!
Stay safe Manos for you & your family. I will never get caught up in an angry crowd.Â
the only answer to our economy is war.
look at all the opportunities - iran, greece, chavezland, ireland, iran, pakistan………………..
go getum obama. hi ho silver (and gold)………
Won’t begin to try and top the accolades already expressed towards this fine article.  There are few of this length that I finish. This one…..no problem. Terrific writing with perfect ability to express the truth.
I will mention though, that no one should forget about those C-notes that will need to be exchanged in the near future. The new C-note means the old ones will eventually be worthless. One shouldn’t forget that going to a bank with a handfull at that time will be troublesome to say the least. Goldenfox mentioned he uses Casinos to change his. I do the same and and even hit my bank occassionly with 3-4 hundred to exchange for $50’s. I would advise everyone to do the same. Don’t wait until they introduce the new bills!!!!!!!!!!!
Walk back towards the light Codger.
Comments…..MadMarkle said: This just goes to show you that no good deed goes unpunished. These students whose parents were supposedly too poor to provide them with a breakfast or lunch turned down perfectly good food that the school officials had gone to extra efforts to provide them with. Gratitude??? Go figure!!!
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Oh I believe you how ungrateful people are when they don’t pay for the food, but they have been conditioned to believe that they are entitled to every whim and whistle. Greed is when you get something for nothing and whine that it isn’t enough. Go to the grocery store on the first day of the month and check out all the crap these people buy with our money. Then we get to take care of their medical needs because of all the crap they eat. As I said before, no one can control what someone puts into their mouth–except for the government, and we can think up all kinds of ways that they can and will do it. When Mulechelle says that “we can’t leave it up to the parents” that tells us that it’s time for the government to step in and become the parent. What’s next? CPS showing up on your door step to inspect what’s in your frig and cupboards? Don’t say it can’t happen here.
orsobubu, first of all “I” didnt refer to russia or germany and what happened there 90 years ago although I am well aware of it YOU did.
You refered to class struggles and to learning from lenin and to siezing the means of production ect… all catch phrases in commie lingo.
Im simply telling you it didnt work…wont work ,we dont need to give every communist variant and its adherants a “chance” to try their own special recipe out on people anywhere… especially here in America!
Americans are not suffering from a lack of government regulation and control…quite the opposite we are being choked to death by rules and regs,communism isnt a system void of these items…its worse.
And dont tell me free enterprise doesnt work,the problem is that it hasnt been allowed to work since the early 1800s,we need more liberty and personal freedom,not more centralized control.
Communism and most all the other “isms” fear the free individual,they cant control a freeman,much less a nation of them,I know that and the communists know that,I will stand up for what America was supposed to be…what she could be,unattainable or not ,thats my target.
I do not subscribe to any ideal that would try to say that because the system has been corrupted and co-opted by evil men (or corporations)that we should just throw it away and try another one that we know for sure doesnt work period!
I will always fight to be free and to defend the liberty of others who aspire to live in a free America,sorry but you will never find me supporting anything that shackles the minds or bodies or property of men and women,communism in all its forms does just that,regardless of protests to the contrary!
orsobubu,to correct my first statement,I did refer to germany and russia and to the failure of communism there…I was not however refering to the “purge” that took place under stalin of all opposition or to germanys experience.
The problem is its always the way tyranny works,the strong kill the weak…thats the way the world works.
Comments…..lets see..bho is gonna rob the rich so that the poor will have jobs, and he is gonna rob the poor to feed the poor fat kids in school lunch programs. and bho likes to put our soldiers,sailors, and airmen in danger by advertising his plans to all. God help us all! let the rich take care of themselves. if a person is out of job then they need to get to creating one of their own. and the poor fat school kids-drop their feeding programs and let their parents worry about it..if they are hungry enough they will eat what is put in front of them. i am just so sick to death of the whiners…
REB,
united states people have a “genetical” allergy to communism. This is a consequence of the race against USSR, of the mcchartyism, of their particular territory, history and civilization etc. They think they are in some way “exceptional”, and they cannot understand the logic of the events standing in front of them. People in europe have a broader view, and they know these events are exactly the way history works: imperialism, the struggle among classes and national capitalisms. What americans generally ignore is WHAT communism really is. Communism never existed. What you call communism is state capitalism, a production system based on money, banks, salaries and state-controlled market. Lenin too never said he made communism, he said he made the state capitalism. It’s a scientific reality that after big free market crisis, always the bourgeoisie state kicks in for a rescue and takes the control. Often the result is protectionism, fascism and war. Obviously Stalin, Pol Pot, etc and their western enemies had all the advantage to make people believe communism really existed, but there is a difference from ideology and reality. Communism is just a theory and a practice, a scientific doctrine that teaches workers how to organize to free themselves from the capitalistic slavery (the proletarians get only what’s necessary in average to reproduce, the production means owners get almost all the profits), take control of land and industries, and get almost ALL the product they make. Communism is a program for the future of human race, it teaches us that next leap (the last were transition from serfdorm to capitalism and imperialism) can be reached only by revolution and a phase of proletarian dictatorship. This is not nice, I know, but history is not fair. The alternative is state capitalism, fascism and war. Please get your attention on this crucial point: this is a SCIENTIFIC doctrine, called marxism or dialectic materialism, and the finest all-time epistemologists, like Feyerabend, Geymonat, etc, are Marx followers. This not a matter of mine believes or yours, this is a philosophical certainty (with all its limits of course); also Popper, the strongest communism adversary had to invent a fallacious theory just because marxism demonstrated absolutely right.
And, about you last statement, the strong always kill the weak: it is perfectly right, this is a full-fledged marxist cornerstone. Today, proletarian class is FAR stronger that capitalist class: it’s scientifically unavoidable that – in perspective – the’ll organize, take the power, resolve the contradiction between who produce the wealth and who holds it, and change the world another time.
Manos - I would really enjoy reading a blog about what is going on in Greece, from your perspective. Do you have a blog or are you considering creating one?
The mainstream media tends to ignore things like this. It would be good to hear from someone who is there and has reason to lie about what is happening.
Manos:Â I’m sorry, I meant “NO reason to lie about what is happening.”
orsobubu…I believe you are correct in your first observation,freethinking Americans from our nations birth and before have had an allergic reaction to anything that denies men their liberty,I know I do…I can only pray that there is an epidemical outbreak of it that sweeps this nation again and perhaps the world.
As far as our exceptionalism is concerned its for real,not that I think we are exceptional in a “superior” manner,we are just people,in an exceptional nation,perfect?…no…but none are
We are the only nation that has ever been founded on what we are founded on and we have the potential to be what we can dream to be,thats exceptional…I can plainly see our faults and try to correct them, but inspite of them all I love America with no apologys.
You appear to be someone who tries to think things through to their seemingly logical end..I can respect that,but although I appreciate your logic,I can never endorse the end conclusion … I hope you are wrong.
I’d also  wager that the (American)adversion to communism and all its cousins predates soviet russia and the cold war or McCarthy,there were many persons both in europe and in America in the 1800s who professed communism in one form or another and tried to find disciples to spread its tenents into America,they were not successful and I hope they never are.
We can argue all day about what communism is or is’nt and what particular name it should go by,but the fact is its still anti-free individualism,that is why it will not sell to any American who values his/her freedom,hence our collective allergy to it.
Liberty and individual freedom are my foundational standards ,I believe that rights are given to each person by God as a birthright,that other persons( including groups such as governments and corporations) have no right to interfere or meddle with those rights,govts and corporations grant privileges,groups grant them too,usually to persons who will kiss their butt…Im no fan of privleges,only rights.
Ultimately mankind will make that final decision you allude to ,will they cherish freedom enough to die for it… or will the collectivist/strongman  mentality be the way they go,its a push and pull struggle that is as old as mankind and will last a good while longer I reckon.
I believe the ones who will cherish freedom enough to fight/die for it are still the majority in America,
just like most people who read/post on this site and thousands of others who never do…we have to believe in our guts that no matter how bad it gets we will survive it and then dare to dream and to believe once again that our better natures and natures God will help us build another America that reflects in a truer sense what our founders envisioned,not an acceptence of some alien system in place of their vision…thats my vision and prayer. Thanks!
REB,
I understand your concerns but I cannot help. The world has some type of violent revolution or counter-revolution in its future. I fear you risk to bet on an idealistic view of individualism, missing the real historical movement. Listen to me, I’m not saying that your vision of return to an individualistic society in US is wrong. If some counter-revolution comes, this can really be one of the possible results. What I’m saying is that the human society after a counter-revolution will be pushed back and lose centuries of progress. A dispersed, agrarian society is one of the best scenarios. One of the ugliest, is a society devastated by war. I cannot explain here why the individualistic, free-market social relationships represent seriuos limits to human productive potential at best, and include very dangerous perspectives on the long run.
I suggest you to start studying some easy book like “wage-labour and capital” by marx (free on the internet). from there you can go on and start to discover the intrinsic, mathematic limits of the capitalistic production system. Remember, absolutely never a bourgeoisie economist succeeded in explain scientifically how capitalism could develop without horrible and destructive crisis. Marxism – instead – shows very clearly how mankind can organize to realize a society without wars, without exploitation, with the highest amounts of condivided richness, and it is the only method i.e. to develop massive robotization, desert cultivation and outer space industrialization, all out of reach of our surplus-value constricted societies. Of course this requires to wipe out capitalists, and this is the reason capitalists have all the motivations – using the media they own, including the internet – to instill in people’ heads their free-market and individualistic old ideologies. These old ideologies today are unable to control the enormous mankind productive capacity: current material, productive base requires a more advanced politic ideology to be directed in order to fullfill its potentials. This will represent the resolution of a philosphical contradiction, because today ideologies are older than material economic structure, and this is absolutely scientifically impossible to be maintained. To maintain this state, capitalists need to kick back the production system and destroy large amounts of human progress, only this way they could govern people with their surpassed ideologies. But, if you like to live in a middle-age or de-industrialized agrarian society, you’re right to be against communism.
Given a choice between maxism at its finest possible point with all its scientific productive capabilities performing to perfection like a hive or living in Jeffersons agrarian dream…I pick Jeffersons dream.
I have studied marx/engels and lenin/trotskys theorys just as I have studied Madison and Jefferson and Locke,I simply agree with the latter on what is just and proper for mankind ,theirs being the idea that men can choose for themselves to either excel or to drop out of society as far as they want to,versus the formers scientificly organized society where people are put wherever the society and its rulers deem they are the most useful to the “whole”.
I try to stay on the outside of the system as much as possible,no way could I tolerate being told what to do any more than I am already,Im already an outlaw and a rebel in this system,God only knows what would happen to me under an “organized” system,but I know it wouldnt be good.
Seems you already know the working rules of hypothetical future communist societies; I think that’s impossible to say, Marx himself refused to describe them. If you went back to XIV century, at the beginning of capitalistic production system, you could never imagine the social-economic relationships of the new era. So it makes no sense to imagine today that, in a world without workers exploitation, the same workers will not be able to decide their destiny. The social relationships will be forged along the developing of the economic revolution.
Indeed, IMHO it’s possible mankind will organize to work less and less hours, because of lack of competition, of consumerism, of duplication of efforts to destroy the market adversaries, of limits to robotization, of market anarchy, of boureaucracy, of litigations about money crimes, and so on and on for pages. I think our capitalistic production system today could already give us all the necessary to live a full life, also if we worked 3-4 hours a day. Instead, the capitalistic system is exactly the reason why we cannot decide our destiny as men, bound to the mathematic necessity of surplus value and its endless reproduction. It is a fact that nowadays workers have to work more hours and more intensely just to stand global competition.
And take into account the fact the capitalistic society is already an extremely socialized production system (with the contradiction of privatized profits to be resolved): in our advanced capitalistic factories, i.e. General Motors, the production organization is extremely centralized and planned; but things would be really worse in case of an individualistic, agrarian old type of society, where you really need to break your back all the day to make a decent living. And it is contradictory if you says that in a capitalistic, free-market society you could decide for yourself, the opposite in a communist society: in capitalism, the worker sell its work-force to the capitalist, so he cannot decide. In communism, everybody will feel motivated to work at their best, because of lack of injustices, of the shortness of the work hours, of the shared production goals to be collectively achieved. An enormous quantity of free-time and variety of activities could be possible for everyone. Also, there is no reason to believe you couldn’t live a life out of the social planned organization (if you don’t try to restart a capitalist illegal activity), only by your means if you desire. Finally, I think you could live your “outlaw” life more easily under communism, because, philosophically, communism is much more near to anarchy than capitalism, and anarchy is really the final goal of a communist society. Every communist is an anarchist, I think you should study in deep this aspect with great attention. An anarchist is a real enemy for a capitalistic state, because obviously he refuse to subdue to the surplus value-exploitation mechanism. For a communist state, the anarchy is the ultimate goal, the destruction of the state itself.
orsobubu……Its all hypothetical my friend,all of it,thats the nature of human debate and planning….there may well be a future worldwide communist state,or mankind will figure out how to quit trying to “rule” other men and freedom will be more the rule.
I cant say ,I can only do what I can to help insure its not the former.