Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The New Deal: 1932-2011


by Moe Lane 
“Whether you agreed with the New Deal program or not, you could always actually define it in terms that were internally self-consistent. Broadly speaking, it was a broad agreement among various groups that America’s most pressing problems could be managed and ameliorated on a broad scale through ‘expert’ and judicious government intervention; and that such intervention dampened the uncertainty and anxiety that might otherwise cause societal panics and economic dislocations. Again: you don’t have to agree with that (I don’t) to recognize that it existed as a coherent policy.

But now that has gone by the wayside, to be replaced with a system that… apparently plans to trade support for permanent government dependency programs for minorities, in exchange for legislating the fringe progressive morality of affluent urbanites.”


"Occupy" movement "OK" with voilent revolt

Cornel West: Ultimate Push for Entitlements Will Be ‘Fought in the Streets’ by Occupy Movement
by  y

During an appearance on MSNBC Monday, Princeton University professor Cornel West told host Martin Bashir that, ultimately, the war for entitlements will be “fought on the streets” by the Occupy movement.
“I think the problem is that the poor children, keep in mind it’s 42% of poor children who live at or near poverty, it’s 25% in poverty. Our audience needs to keep that in mind,” West started.

Regarding new entitlements for the poor, West said, “Poor children need more than just a $1,000 for their family, they need a war against poverty to make it a major priority in the way which we have a priority for Afghanistan, and a priority to bail out banks, and a priority to defend corporate interests when it comes to environmental issues.”

After heaping praise on the Occupy movement for raising awareness, West said, ”It’s a major question of priorities here. That’s why the Occupy movement is so important because some of this is going to be fought in the streets. Civil disobedience does make a difference,” he said.


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/cornel-west-ultimate-fight-for-entitlements-will-be-in-the-streets/

The odds of capitalism surviving for just over a year form now are exactly fifty/fifty.

By Tyler Durden

One can listen to Eurocrats promising the moon and the stars, and that the zEUR0.PK will survive come hell or high water, or one can trade the probability of the Eurozone's breakup based on reality. For those who opt for the latter, they should head over to Intrade where the contract pricing the possibility of "Any country currently using the Euro to announce their intention to drop it midnight ET 31 Dec 2012" is now trading at perfectly even odds or 50%. In other words, the "upside benefit" of the EFSF, the ECB, the IMF and ultimately the Fed have been reduced to coin toss odds. Naturally, if there is a break up in the Eurozone the fallout will be massive and will likely lead to a far worse outcome than the freezing of money markets in the aftermath of the Lehman bankruptcy. In other words, the odds of capitalism surviving for just over a year form now are exactly fifty/fifty.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/intrade-odds-euro-collapse-end-2012-now-50

Monday, November 28, 2011

More rolling blackouts coming

Meeting EPA's emission regulation deadline will spur blackouts, utility suit says

Kansas electric utility Westar Energy contends that meeting a mid-December Environmental Protection Agency deadline on new air emission regulations will result in rolling blackouts for its customers.

"We asked the EPA for more time, but they tell us they're enforcing the Dec. 15 deadline," said Westar Energy CEO Mark Ruelle. "So we're pushing back. KCPL, Sunflower and us have asked a court to stay the rule. It's not our style, but we've sued through the court in D.C. and the Kansas Attorney General has filed his own lawsuit."

At issue is the schedule to meet reductions in the emission of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from coal burning plants in Kansas.

From when the EPA published its preliminary regulations last year to its final proposal that came out this summer, the rules changed, requiring the utility to cut its emissions another 40 percent because of pollutants the agency argues drift into other states.

"We've cut sulfur by 80 percent and NOX (nitrogen oxide) by 50 percent," Ruelle said, from highs in the years 2002 and 2003. "We've still a ways to go, but we have a plan to get there. Then this rule came out based on emissions crossing state lines. It came out in July and it says we must comply by Jan. 1. You can't."

The company can meet the more stringent regulations, but not until 2018, Ruelle said.

A separate study by the Southwest Power Pool agrees with Westar's assessment.


In a September letter to the EPA, which used the word concern seven times, the organization warned an initial "reliability analysis" of utility operations under the EPA timeline pointed to hundreds of potential system overloads in the region and more than a thousand cases of system voltages going too low to meet mandated levels.

The result, the letter advised, could include "the potential of cascading blackouts similar to what occurred in 2003 or which could require the shedding of firm load, or localized rolling blackouts initiated by utilities within the SPP region, to avoid more widespread and uncontrolled blackouts and to remain in compliance with reliability standards."

While some of the contingencies could be resolved, the letter stated, several could not.
"SPP encourages the EPA to work with generation owners to develop flexible compliance schedules to ensure equipment installation is completed in a timely, safe, reliable and cost-effective manner without an arbitrary deadline," the letter stated.

It also recommended including a waiver in its rules to allow power companies to seek extensions while new power is created.

Even the Citizens' Utility Ratepayer Board, which represents customers in utility rate requests, voiced sympathy to Westar's situation.

"The EPA really kind of ambushed the utility, in terms of the process," said David Springe, CURB's consumer counsel. "Clearly they're all working toward reducing emissions to the level the EPA wants. In their final order they were really radically different than the preliminary. They changed the mark they were supposed to hit and made it under a timeline that is simply not reasonable."

Whether the EPA sticks with its deadline or works with utilities, it's ultimately the consumer that pays, Springe said.

"Whether it's January or 2015, they have to retrofit the plants and rates will go up," he said. "I don't know that I've seen a full rate estimate, but it won't be small."

http://energybiz.com/article/11/11/meeting-epas-emission-regulation-deadline-will-spur-blackouts-utility-suit-says


NDAA S1253 spells Martial Law for US

Heard of life in prison without parole?  Try life in prison without TRIAL, or even without being CHARGED for a crime.  Sounds like something that happens in a 3rd world dictatorship?  Can't happen in the US?  Think again!  The US Senate will be voting on this soon!
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012, or S. 1253, has received tragically sparse coverage and I must admit that I was not aware of it until a reader emailed me about it.

If you think the PATRIOT Act is bad, just wait until you check out sections 1031, 1032, 1033, and 1036 of this horrific bill.

If these provisions are enacted, it would give the federal government the explicit power to imprison civilians, including American citizens, indefinitely with no charges or trial.

This would include individuals apprehended both inside and outside of the United States, meaning that this could give the federal government the ability to openly detain American citizens for their entire lives without so much as a single charge.

This provision includes people who had absolutely no role in the attacks of September 11th, 2001, or any hostilities whatsoever and would mandate military detention of certain civilians.

This includes civilians arrested within the United States who would otherwise be outside of military control while also transferring all responsibilities to the Department of Defense.

Instead of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, National Security Division, or the United States Attorneys, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Prisons, the Marshals Service and/or the state attorneys general handling the prosecutorial, investigative, law enforcement, penal and custodial authority, the Department of Defense would handle it all.

That means that all control would be taken out of the hands of civilians and put into the brutal grip of the American military, essentially meaning a military takeover of our so-called justice system.

All they would have to do is classify you as a terrorist, no need for actual charges or participation in hostilities; you could be locked up indefinitely for any reason or no reason at all if the Department of Defense saw fit under this NDAA.

This is so fundamentally un-American, the ACLU can’t help but write that the provisions are “inconsistent with fundamental American values embodied in the Constitution and in the country’s adherence to the rule of law.”

These provisions of the NDAA are so radical that they actually remove much of the protections American citizens have had since 1878 under the Posse Comitatus Act and the Non-Detention Act of 1971.


http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/s-1253-will-allow-indefinite-military.html

Harmful Radioactive Rice Harvested in Japan

The Fukushima prefectural government in Japan has announced that radioactive cesium beyond the provisional regulatory limit was detected in unmilled rice harvested at five farms in the Onami district of Fukushima Prefecture.

Radioactive cesium exceeding the limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram was recently detected in harvested rice at another farm in the area, fueling concerns among consumers.

This time as much as 1,270 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram was detected in unmilled rice, the prefecture said Friday. The rice has not been shipped to the market. Instead, it was stored in farmers' warehouses or a local agricultural cooperative, or was distributed to farmers' relatives.

The prefectural government is currently analyzing all the rice grown by the 154 rice farms in the district, or 4,752 bags containing 30 kilograms of rice each. It has finished inspecting 864 rice bags from 34 farms so far.
Apart from the first farm where rice was found to have been contaminated, excess radioactive cesium has been detected in 103 rice bags from five farms.

Excess cesium was detected in all 24 rice bags from the farm that produced rice in which radioactive cesium at 1,270 becquerels per kilogram was found. The minimum level of contamination at that farm was 970 becquerels per kilogram.

Radioactive cesium between 540 and 1,110 becquerels per kilogram was detected from unmilled rice from another farm, according to the prefectural government.

The five farms are located from one to 2.5 kilometers (0.62 to 1.55 miles) from the first farm in question. They have nothing in common with the first farm topographically, such as using the same freshwater from a mountain in their rice paddies.

In addition to the Onami district, the prefectural government is inspecting rice harvested in Date, which includes some hot spots recommended for evacuation, and in three other cities - Fukushima, Soma and Iwaki - which include areas with relatively high levels of radiation.
 

THE EUROZONE HAS 10 DAYS AT MOST

Why now? Because the increase in core yields, the failure of that German bund auction, and the increase in Spanish and Italian short-term yields, as well as the tightening of money for the banks, means it's all almost over unless Europe immediately cooks up some kind of ECB-backed/Eurobond/fiscal union concoction.

I am hearing that there are exploratory talks about a compromise package comprising those three elements. If the European summit could reach a deal on December 9, its next scheduled meeting, the eurozone will survive.

If not, it risks a violent collapse. Even then, there is still a risk of a long recession, possibly a depression. So even if the European Council was able to agree on such an improbably ambitious agenda, its leaders would have to continue to outdo themselves for months and years to come.

"Italy’s disastrous bond auction on Friday tells us time is running out. The eurozone has 10 days at most."

http://www.businessinsider.com/wolfganc-munchau-the-eurozone-has-10-days-at-most-2011-11#ixzz1ezx3WL4R

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

War with Syria / Iran coming soon?

Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 Parks Next Door To Syria Just As US Urges Americans To Leave Country "Immediately"




Yesterday we reported that the Arab League (with European and US support) are preparing to institute a no fly zone over Syria. Today, we get an escalation which confirms we may be on the edge. Just out from CBS: "The U.S. Embassy in Damascus urged its citizens in Syria to depart "immediately," and Turkey's foreign ministry urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia to avoid traveling through Syria." But probably the most damning evidence that the "western world" is about to do the unthinkable and invade Syria, and in the process force Iran to retaliate, is the weekly naval update from Stratfor, which always has some very interesting if always controversial view on geopolitics, where we find that for the first time in many months, CVN 77 George H.W. Bush has left its traditional theater of operations just off the Straits of Hormuz, a critical choke point, where it traditionally accompanies the Stennis, and has parked... right next to Syria.


And from CBS:
"The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," said a statement issued to the American community in Syria Wednesday and posted on the Embassy's website. "The number of airlines serving Syria has decreased significantly since the summer, while many of those airlines remaining have reduced their number of flights."

The warning followed an announcement in Washington this week that Ambassador Robert Ford would not return to Syria this month as planned, indicating concerns over his safety.

The Obama administration quietly pulled Ford out of Syria last month, citing credible personal threats against him.

The Turkish foreign ministry on Wednesday urged Turkish pilgrims to opt for flights to return home from Saudi Arabia and avoid traveling through Syria for security reasons.

The warning came two days after Syrian soldiers opened fire on at least two buses carrying Turkish citizens, witnesses and officials said, apparent retaliation for Turkey's criticism of Assad. The Turks were returning from Saudi Arabia after performing the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Uh...Got Brent?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/aircraft-carrier-cvn-77-parks-next-door-syria-just-us-urges-americans-leave-country-immediately



Price of oil to go up in 5...4...3...2...

3 scenarios where the U.S. bails out the EU


By James Pethokoukis

The EU is drowning debt and heading into recession. What if Germany can’t save Europe, either by contributing more dough to a eurozone bailout fund or by pressuring the European Central Bank to buy the debt of troubled nations such as Greece, Italy, and Spain? A currency breakup would inflict huge financial and political costs that would surely damage the U.S. economy, as well. Would Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and President Barack Obama really just stand by and watch Europe drag America down with it? And in an election year? Coming to profligate Europe’s aid would cause a political firestorm worse than TARP with both the Tea Party and Occupy movements hammering Washington. But yet it is not out the realm of possibility …
Scenario One: Obama goes for a SuperTarp (via John Ellis of Business Insider):
In the days leading up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers, then French Finance Minister (now IMF Managing Director) Chistine Lagarde told then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson that he could not allow Lehman to fail. The ramifications would be catastrophic, she said. She was mostly right. Three years later, it will be Angela Merkel talking to President Obama,Treasury Secretary Geithner and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke with exactly the same message. The United States government and the Federal Reserve must come to the rescue of the Eurozone or the ramifications will be catastrophic. And she will say that she needs roughly $1 trillion in financial guarantees and liquidity support. That’s the number that will calm the markets. … And there will follow perhaps the defining moment of the Obama Presidency. If Obama goes forward and provides all or part of the $1 trillion guarantee, he will likely cut his own political throat in so doing. If Obama declines to go forward and provide all or part of the $1 trillion guarantee, he will likely preside over the second massively destabilizing financial panic in four years, thus insuring a second Great Recession, thus cutting his own political throat.
2. Scenario Two: Bernanke creates a Coalition of the Willing Central Bankers (via economic analyst Ed Yardeni):
Given the ECB’s reluctance to act, I suspect that the Fed will spearhead the formation of a Global Liquidity Facility (GLF) to avert a global financial meltdown. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke demonstrated that he is a master at putting together such emergency measures back in 2008. In effect, it would act as the world’s central bank. Mr. Bernanke is clearly very worried about the prospect that the European sovereign debt crisis is a contagion that could spread to the US, as evidenced by his bizarre town hall meeting with troops returning from Iraq on November 10. The GLF would receive deposits from the Fed and other participating central banks, including the ECB. The funds would be used to buy the bonds of debt-challenged governments that would be required to accept strict supervision of their fiscal and regulatory policies by the IMF.
You might be thinking that I’ve gone mad. Actually, I’m simply predicting the behavior of our wild and crazy Fed officials. Last Wednesday, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren noted that the Fed and the ECB worked together during the 2008 global market meltdown, and “if there was a (new) crisis I would expect that there would be some coordinated activities (again). We would want to make sure … that people have access to short-term credit markets.” He added, “We’re not at that point right now, but there are clearly stresses in short-term credit markets.” He said, “We’re watching that very closely, and if it becomes appropriate for us to take more actions to try to relieve that, I fully assume that we would do something.” Mr. Rosengren isn’t on the FOMC, but he is one of Mr. Bernanke’s most supportive colleagues.
3. Scenario Three: Bernanke goes all unilateral (via David Zervos of Jefferies): 
A mass exit from or a complete breakdown of EMU will be determined by the German stance on monetization. There have been hundreds of calls by non-German Euro area leaders, US politicians, academics and private sector business leaders to monetize. And if the Germans block it in Euros, the printing presses in Drachma, Punt, Escudo, Peseta, Lira and Francs will surely be fired up once again. In the end of course there will be more paper money in the world chasing the same amount of goods and services – that is the end game!! The path to the end game is of course messy! And let’s face it, we would all like to avoid “messy” if possible.
There is one easy way to do that – get the Americans involved. The US can force monetization at the ECB. If the Colonel deems sado-fiscalism as a global systemic threat (which it is), the Fed could act. The Fed has an account at the ECB in Euros. When the pesky Europeans borrow dollars from us on currency swaps to fund their insolvent banks we get this lovely account. And right now the Euros just sit there! If things get messy we just jack the “unlimited” lines up, back up the forklift, and buy Euro area bonds. Lots of them. Say a trillion or two across all non-German markets. The Fed already owns nearly 100b in German and French bonds. And if anyone tries to default down the road, well we have a few hundred billion in European gold to confiscate in the basement of the NY Fed. And if that’s not enough we just institute “annual fees” for NATO membership or start confiscating European assets in the US. If the shenanigans in Europe are going to mess up a US recovery, or even a presidential election, then there should be a serious US response. We did not spend all that money on the Marshall Plan just to have Europe blow up the world again! Good luck trading.
None of this sounds too appetizing. Then again, neither does another major U.S. recession. 2012 maybe like 2008 — in all the worst ways.

http://blog.american.com/2011/11/3-scenarios-where-the-u-s-bails-out-the-eu/

Monday, November 21, 2011

New Concerns: Libya has Chemical Weapons from Iran?


Revolutionary fighters from the Transitional National Council (TNC) found the shells at two sites in central Libya in recent weeks

U.S. intelligence agencies are now spearheading an investigation to find out how Qaddafi's regime obtained the shells, with a senior U.S. official saying they are "pretty sure" the custom-designed shells were produced by Iran.

Qaddafi's regime was "sitting on stuff that was not secure, and the world did not know about it,"



http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/11/21/libya-may-have-received-shells-for-chemical-weapons-from-iran-report-says/

US knee deep in bad European debt


 “While the Treasury has been at pains to say that direct U.S. bank exposure to European countries now receiving bailout aid -- Greece, Ireland and Portugal -- is moderate, once the debt of Italy and Spain, plus credit default swaps, and U.S. bank indirect exposure through European banks are added, the potential sum could exceed $4 trillion.”

So in other words, we’re SCREWED.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Is China Bankrupt?

Chinese TV Host Says Regime Nearly Bankrupt

By Matthew Robertson
China’s economy has a reputation for being strong and prosperous, but according to a well-known Chinese television personality the country’s Gross Domestic Product is going in reverse.

Larry Lang, chair professor of Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in a lecture that he didn’t think was being recorded that the Chinese regime is in a serious economic crisis—on the brink of bankruptcy. In his memorable formulation: every province in China is Greece.

The restrictions Lang placed on the Oct. 22 speech in Shenyang City, in northern China’s Liaoning Province, included no audio or video recording, and no media. He can be heard saying that people should not post his speech online, or “everyone will look bad,” in the audio that is now on Youtube.

In the unusual, closed-door lecture, Lang gave a frank analysis of the Chinese economy and the censorship that is placed on intellectuals and public figures. “What I’m about to say is all true. But under this system, we are not allowed to speak the truth,” he said.

Despite Lang’s polished appearance on his high-profile TV shows, he said: “Don’t think that we are living in a peaceful time now. Actually the media cannot report anything at all. Those of us who do TV shows are so miserable and frustrated, because we cannot do any programs. As long as something is related to the government, we cannot report about it.”

He said that the regime doesn’t listen to experts, and that Party officials are insufferably arrogant. “If you don’t agree with him, he thinks you are against him,” he said.

Lang’s assessment that the regime is bankrupt was based on five conjectures:


Monday, November 14, 2011

The US Economy Could Collapse This Week




Since the derivatives and housing market implosion of 2008, America and the rest of the world has been spiraling down a chasm some in this country still refuse to take note of. The question has never been whether there “will be” a full scale financial disaster. The end to that chapter of this story was already written years ago. Rather, the real question has been “when” will this inevitable event culminate? Sadly, speculation on the matter has met an irreconcilable road block. The fact is, all the necessary elements are in place to bring down our fiscal shelter not in five years, not in one year, not in six months, but today. That’s right…..the economy as we know it has the potential to derail completely before you wake up for your morning poptart.


In the case of economics, traditional views and standards have gone completely out the window in a way that I and probably every other analyst in the field have never heard of or encountered. All expectations are now null and void. Manipulation of the marketplace is no longer a subversive and secretive process, but open government and central banking policy! Who could have guessed five years ago, for instance, that U.S. taxpayers would be saddled with bailouts of the EU? Who could have predicted that global stock market psychology would be dominated for over a year by the debt drama of a country as economically insignificant as Greece? And, who could have foreseen that destructive fiat stimulus policies would soon be common knowledge events amongst the citizens of various faltering nations?

Liberty Movement analysts have been sounding the warning alarm for a long time on the possible consequences of Federal Reserve actions as well as government expansion, but to witness the scale of the fraud being unleashed and the brazen manner in which it is being implemented is something else entirely. Even now, the sheer scope of the systemic collapse is breaking into territory that may not be fully understood for decades to come.

As the process of destabilization unfolds, the best we can do is stay attuned to political and financial shifts that often go under-reported in the mainstream media. This gives us the ability to gauge the nature and speed of the crisis so that we can move to guard ourselves effectively when the time comes. Even the smallest morsel of information can have incredible significance. These holes in the fog are brief, but they reveal much. Some of this data signals a new and powerful wave of change on the horizon, a startling chapter which may be the last for the ailing economy as we know it…

READ MORE:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-economic-collapse-we%E2%80%99re-soaking-it

What’s of value right when the economy goes to hell?


by FerFAL

As Greece and Italy go to hell in a hand basket, down here in the Banana Republic of Argentina we’re seeing a déjà vu of the 2001 collapse. The government imposed a “green” corralito by which through one excuse or another the American currency is being unofficially but effectively banned. The US Dollar was the way in which Argentines protected their savings from the even more volatile funny money that is the Argentine peso. With the new restrictions, before buying dollars you have to be authorized by the AFIP, the Argentine version of the IRS. Through a complex system that not even themselves understand, they check how much money you earn, what are your expenses, how much you may have saved based on that, and only then do they somewhat estimate what you should be allowed to buy. There’s people that own big companies that aren’t even allowed 50 USD.

To close the corralito even further the banks themselves came up with their own set of rules for the purchase of dollars, simply making it impossible to buy the American currency. The only way to buy dollars then is the black market where the dollar reaches 5.50 or 6 pesos per dollar, against the official rate of 4.26 pesos per dollar. In the black market caves and “arbolitos” (arbolito=tree, named based on them selling/buying the green USD) there’s been several reports of SIDE agents (our CIA) closing them down, and arresting both customers and owners of the joints. Why the arrests aren’t done by the police, I have no idea. This would be the time to stay put and wait until things settle before trying to buy USD.

So yes, these are interesting times to say the least. Lots of rumors, lots of desperate people out there.  People that were just about to travel and needed dollars but cant buy them, people about to close business deals in dollars but cant get the money either. USD accounts being closed, Pesos accounts being closed as well out of fear and the too vivid ghost of 2001. Interest rates have doubled in banks in the last few days and everyone is just waiting, and I guess that the key word in today’s article. Waiting, staying put to see what happens. What happens when the economy is about to collapse, or just collapsed? Everyone waits. I saw the exact same thing 10 years ago. No one buys anything or sells anything unless they really have to.
What’s on high demand during times like these?? Nothing.  Nothing at all. All the survival BS about this and that “being worth its weight in gold!!” its proven yet again to be false. At least during the peak, the initial days, everyone stays put.

The food you buy at the supermarket, you go to work and school, pay your bills, but other than that you don’t spend a buck unless you have to. The only thing I do notice is that regarding imports, if someone needs something that was imported in USD and they can buy it in pesos, they do so quickly speculating the USD will keep going up in price. Keep that in mind and close deals quickly if you think a devaluation would work against you. A tell tale of what happened was seen a few months ago when imports stopped rolling in.

Other than that what people really want is dollars, the only way in which you can escape the peso. Gold and silver being marketed in USD are also being restricted. I posted about this being a good way to save what you had in an Argentine forum, I hope at least some people took advantage of that loophole during the couple days that it lasted.

The lesson here is simple: For Argentina its USD, that’s what we’ve always gone to during complicated times and that’s what the government always restricted right before everything goes to hell. For US its going to be gold and silver, that your version of what the dollar means for us. When the government starts looking for ways to directly or most likely, indirectly restrict the purchase and sale of precious metals, that’s when you know the S is just about to hit the fan.

The Argentine government just created a new department, specifically to hunt down “financial criminals”, you know, old ladies that try to buy a Benjamin or two.

Little lessons from Argentina boys and girls, please don’t EVER allow this sort of thing to happen in your country.


http://www.themodernsurvivalist.com/?p=1700

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Army contemplates US financial meltdown

By Peter Schweizer

There was an Alternative Futures Symposium recently put on by the Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC) at the Army Training and Doctrine Command in Fort Eustis, Virginia.  They didn’t look at the threat posed by a nuclear Iran or Islamist terrorism.  They looked instead at the prospects of a US financial meltdown.  The news is not good.

The seminar included 85 experts from finance,  academe and the military.   How bad is the American debt situation?  ”If you were a banker would you lend us money?”  asked Robert Wiedemer,  one of the participants.  ”The answer is ‘no.”  He said things don’t look that dire right now because interest rates are so low.  But when they go up by just 1% (which they will inevitably),  that will raise the interest on the debt by $150 billion a year. 

Over the next few years,  he predicted,  we are “going to see bad things.”

Another problem is the exploding U.S. money supply.  Frank Finelli,  a managing partner of The Carlyle Group,  told the group we are risking a major crisis by flooding the market with money.  ”Such tremendous increase in the money supply has not been accompanied by economic growth in the United States,”  he said.   He noted that the U.S. economy was larger in late 2007 than it was in the second quarter of 2011.

Lurking in the background as America deals with its financial mess is China.   “China does view financial power as an exercise of power in a way that the United States does not,”  said Finelli. “The United States only exercises financial power through its corporations.”

General Patrick J. Donahue of ARCIC said that the Army and the other services will need to cutback to pull America back from the financial precipice.   The situation “requires some changes in how we think and how we operate.”  Proposed solutions include reducing overseas bases and setting up new alliances with allies that can better finance overseas operations.

http://bigpeace.com/pschweizer/2011/10/31/army-futures-conference-sees-us-financial-meltdown-soon/