Iris Scanners Create the Most Secure City in the World. Welcome, Big Brother

(FastCompany) – We’ve all seen and obsessively referenced Minority Report, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s dystopian future, where the public is tracked everywhere they go, from shopping malls to work to mass transit to the privacy of their own homes. The technology is here. I’ve seen it myself. It’s seen me, too, and scanned my irises.

Biometrics R&D firm Global Rainmakers Inc. (GRI) announced today that it is rolling out its iris scanning technology to create what it calls “the most secure city in the world.” In a partnership with Leon — one of the largest cities in Mexico, with a population of more than a million — GRI will fill the city with eye-scanners. That will help law enforcement revolutionize the way we live — not to mention marketers.

“In the future, whether it’s entering your home, opening your car, entering your workspace, getting a pharmacy prescription refilled, or having your medical records pulled up, everything will come off that unique key that is your iris,” says Jeff Carter, CDO of Global Rainmakers. Before coming to GRI, Carter headed a think tank partnership between Bank of America, Harvard, and MIT. “Every person, place, and thing on this planet will be connected [to the iris scanner system] within the next 10 years,” he says. Read entire article

Mao, Blood-Lust and The Scientific Dictatorship

(PrisonPlanet) – “They (the Gods) all want me to give them something to drink. They have worked well for me. They have helped me. Now they are all hot. They’re thirsty. They want to drink. They want to drink blood. Then I drink blood. I swallow it. I give it to them. And that quiets them. That calms them. That refreshes them...”

From La Psychologie religieuse des Achumawi: Description of an ancient sacrificial rite performed by an Achomawi-shaman.

In their June, 2010 magazine-issue, the Dutch Central Bank portrayed mass-murderer Mao Zedong arrogantly on the cover. By blatantly depicting the mass-murderer’s face the Bankers not only dance on the graves of the dictator’s victims, they’re dancing on the graves of their own victims- as Mao was directly put in power by the global bankers. Besides being directly responsible for the murder of at least 20 million people, Mao was also in the habit of kidnapping, raping en murdering young women for his royal pleasure. These historical facts have not deterred the Dutch Central Bank.

This is just one example of the unbridled hubris with which the banks throw their blood-lust in your face. But the blood-lust is more than lust. It’s a belief-system, a cult, that has infiltrated politics, economics, military and, last but not least, science.

Video: The Government is the Servant, Not the Master

(Fox) – Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano –

Video: Japan – America’s Lost Decade – InflationUS

MSM: European police to spy on Britons: Now ministers hand over Big Brother powers to foreign officers

(DailyMail) – Ministers are ready to hand sweeping Big Brother powers to EU states so they can spy on British citizens.

Foreign police will be able to travel to the UK and take part in the arrest of Britons.

They will be able to place them under surveillance, bug telephone conversations, monitor bank accounts and demand fingerprints, DNA or blood samples.

Anyone who refuses to comply with a formal request for co-operation by a foreign-based force is likely to be arrested by UK officers. Read More Here

Video: The Love Police vs. The Globalist (Ian Goldin, former VP World Bank)

Filmed 23rd July 2010 at Secret Garden Party 2010 in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.

I was giving a speech at this festival and realised they’d invited a globalist as well. The Love Police go to investigate. As usual, the minions of the borg stand by their mainstream man.

State-Sponsored Eugenics in Uzbekistan Made Possible by UN, US and World Bank Funding

(Infowars) – The British Independent featured an AP article last Saturday, detailing suspicions that health officials in the Republic of Uzbekistan are widely involved in involuntary sterilization-practices. At first glance, the story may seem wild and baseless. Nothing however is further from the truth.

The AP-reporter spoke with a 24-year old housewife named Saodat Rakhimbayeva, an extremely brave woman who tells a heart-wrenching tale of state-sponsored eugenics in her home country of Uzbekistan. After giving birth to a premature boy, she had to witness her son dying just three days later.

Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money And Getting Away With It

(AlterNet) – Too-big-to-fail is a much bigger problem than you thought. We’ve all read damning accounts of the government saving banks from their risky subprime bets, but it turns out that the Wall Street privilege problem is far more deeply ingrained in the U.S. legal system than the simple bailouts witnessed in 2008. America’s largest banks can engage in flagrantly criminal activity on a massive scale and emerge almost completely unscathed. The latest sickening example comes from Wachovia Bank: Accused of laundering $380 billion in Mexican drug cartel money, the financial behemoth is expected to emerge with nothing more than a slap on the wrist thanks to an official government policy which protects megabanks from criminal charges.

Economy

(WSJournal) – Fed Sees Slower Growth

Federal Reserve officials, who are likely to reveal Wednesday a cut in their assessment of the growth outlook, are divided on how aggressively the central bank should act if the economy slows further. Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – Why Watching CNBC Can Be Hazardous To Your Wealth – Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – Bloomberg Poll Finds Americans No Longer Drinking Kool Aid, 71% See Economy “Mired In Recession” – Tyler Durden – Read More Here

(NYDaily) – Are the jobs gone for good? The facts about this downturn are very grim – Read More Here

(BuffaloNews) – Feeling crunch of a high jobless rate – Read More Here

(WashTime) – Both parties mull raising retirement age – Read More Here

(PoliticsDaily) – Cap-and-Trade Will Be Part of Senate Climate Change Bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed Tuesday that the Senate will soon debate a bill to reduce pollution and that the legislation will include a scaled back version House-passed language to reduce carbon output by charging some polluters for emissions above a certain threshold. Read More Here

(Stateline) – Collapse in Living Standards in America: More Poverty By Any Measure

15 million unemployed, homelessness has increased by 50 percent in some cities Read More Here

(ABCNews) – Autos and Gasoline Drag Retail Sales Lower in June – Read More Here

(Examiner) – U.S. banks laundering Mexican cartels’ drug money – Read More Here

(Independent) – Britain’s debt: The untold story

The true scale of Britain’s national indebtedness was laid bare by the Office for National Statistics yesterday: almost £4 trillion, or £4,000bn, about four times higher than previously acknowledged. Read More Here

(RestoreTheRepublic) – Video: The Reality Report – Tom Woods on the Economic Meltdown!!! – Gary Franchi – Video Link Here

(InflationUS) – Video: Empty Store Shelves Coming to America

(RussiaToday) – Video: Webster Tarpley – ‘Obama, the Wall St. puppet’

The Obama administration could be nearing the finish line for financial reform legislation that has been a political football tossed back and forth between both parties. Will this bill change the way Washington and Wall Street work? Can it turn around the economic downturn?

(NewAmericanRepublic) – Chinese rating agency strips Western nations of AAA status

China’s leading credit rating agency has stripped America, Britain, Germany and France of their AAA ratings, accusing Anglo-Saxon competitors of ideological bias in favour of the West. Read More Here

(Truthout) – How Brokers Became Bookies: The Insidious Transformation of Markets Into Casinos

“You all are the house, you’re the bookie. [Your clients] are booking their bets with you. I don’t know why we need to dress it up. It’s a bet.” – Sen. Claire McCaskill, Senate Subcommittee investigating Goldman Sachs (Washington Post, April 27, 2010) Read More Here

REPOST – (AspenDaily) – Historian warns of sudden collapse of American ‘empire’

Harvard professor and prolific author Niall Ferguson opened the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival Monday with a stark warning about the increasing prospect of the American “empire” suddenly collapsing due to the country’s rising debt level. Read More Here

(RussiaToday) – Video: Economic Collapse – Rich continues getting Richer and Poor gets Poorer

Video: Who repealed the Glass-Steagall Act?

The Glass Steagall Act President Roosevelt signed into law was repealed. See who swept aside the banking firewall protections on the 12th of November 1999.

Pfizer: The Drug Giant That Makes Bank from Drugs That Can Kill You

(AlterNet) – To say that Pfizer has been accused of wrongdoing is like saying BP had an oil spill.

The drug company Pfizer is best known for Lipitor, a drug that brings cholesterol down and Viagra, a drug that brings other things up.

But the “world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company” which sits between Goldman Sachs and Marathon Oil on the Fortune 500, is also closely associated with a seemingly never-ending series of scandals. Read More Here

MSM: Biometric ATM gives cash via ‘finger vein’ scan

See Also: (Telegraph) – Intelligent cars will report accidents to authorities – Read More Here

(CNN) – Poland’s cooperative BPS bank says it’s the first in Europe to install a biometric ATM — allowing customers to withdraw cash simply with the touch of a fingertip.

The digit-scanning ATM, introduced in the Polish capital of Warsaw, runs on the latest in “finger vein” technology — an authentication system developed by Japanese tech giant Hitachi.

The company says that an infrared light is passed through the finger to detect a unique pattern of micro-veins beneath the surface – which is then matched with a pre-registered profile to verify an individual’s identity.

“This is a substantially more reliable technique than using fingerprints,” Peter Jones, Hitachi’s head of security and solutions in Europe, told CNN. Full article here

Video: Emergency S.O.S. – America Falling to Foreign Bank Takeover – Fourth of July

(July 2) – Alex Jones breaks down the takeover by offshore banking powers– newly empowered by Congress’ banking “reform,” expanded taxes worldwide, as well as accelerated moves towards ending the Dollar’s reserve status, including urging from a recent United Nations report.

This Fourth of July, the United States is indeed in peril; it is not only the Gulf Oil Spill, Russian spies and threats of war with Iran which Americans must worry about. Instead it is the quiet but deadly conquest by private, central banks, who lobbied Congress to once again vest new powers in the Federal Reserve and, by all indicators, further weaken the U.S. economy through its future actions.

The financial crisis has indeed been developed in such a way that no nation can ever repay all the debt, and control by global economic forces is all but inevitable.

Economy

(FoxBusiness) – Video: Ron Paul, Judge Andrew Napolitano on Money Rocks – Financial Reform – View Video Here

(CSPAN) – Video: Ron Paul on Audit the FED – Video Link Here

(FoxBusiness) – Video: Ron Paul on FOX Business News on the Fed – Video Link Here

(PaulWatson) – Dollar Plunges After UN Call To Ditch Greenback

U.S. economy enters “total freefall” as double-dip recession looms Read More Here

(Telegraph) – Time to shut down the US Federal Reserve? – Read More Here

(Forbes) – Why The Greater Depression Still Lies Ahead

If policymakers do not understand the real cause of a problem, they will in all likelihood be unable to provide a genuine solution. Read More Here

(AP) – May pending home sales tumble without tax credits

The National Association of Realtors said Thursday its seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes dropped 30 percent in May from April. The index fell to 77.6 from 110.9. May’s reading was the lowest dating back to 2001. Read More Here

(AP) – 1.3 million unemployed won’t get benefits restored – Read More Here

(LondonTelegraph) – Prices rise as New Zealand passes emissions trading scheme

Petrol and power prices have risen sharply in New Zealand after the government introduced a controversial emissions trading scheme. Read More Here

(TheHill) – Waxman to Push Carbon Tax in Conference if Senate Falls Short – Read More Here

(RealClearPolitics) – Video: “Stop Spending!”: CNBC’s Santelli Warns Liesman “November 2nd Is The Day”

“I want this government to stop spending! Stop spending! Stop spending! Stop spending! STOP SPENDING! That’s what we want! Stop spending,” Rick Santelli yelled from the floor of the Chicago Board of Traders. Read More Here

(RussiaToday) – Video: Gerald Celente go for the Gold – Video Link Here

Also: Video: Gerald Celente With Jim Blasingame – June 22 2010 – Part 1 – Part 2

Video: Peter Schiff on Wall St. Unspun – Part 1 of 6 Here

(McClatchy) – Video: Goldman admits it had bigger role in AIG deals – Video Link Here

(Rense) – Who Will Pay – Wall Street Or Main Street? – The Tobin Tax Of The VAT? – Ellen Brown

Wall Street banks have been saved from bankruptcy by governments that are now going bankrupt themselves; but the banks are not returning the favor. Instead, they are engaged in a class war, insisting that the squeezed middle class be even further squeezed to balance over-stressed government budgets. All the perks are going to Wall Street, while Main Street slips into debt slavery. Wall Street needs to be made to pay its fair share, but how? Read More Here

(LATimes) – With federal stimulus funds running out, economic worries grow

Much of the $787-billion stimulus has been spent, creating jobs and extending jobless benefits. But with lawmakers reluctant to approve more funding, concerns are rising about staving off another recession. Read More Here

(Reuters) – Nearly 1 in 3 first-quarter home sales a foreclosure: report – Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – RBS: Equity Investors Are The “Worst Cult In History,” Prepare For The “Cliff Edge” – Read More Here

(WebOfDebt) – “Deficit Terrorism” and Economic Warfare – Ellen Brown

All the Perks are going to Wall Street, while Main Street slips into Debt Slavery Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – Stimulus or Austerity: The People vs. the Banks – Shamus Cooke

The most powerful nations in the world met recently at the G-20 in Toronto and managed to agree on only one thing of significance: the need to reduce deficits, “half by 2013.” Implied by the statement is the need to lower deficits via “austerity,” meaning eliminating or reducing social programs.

Why does every mainstream political pundit or corporate CEO fanatically agree that reducing deficits is the most important thing to do now? Let Obama explain: Read More Here

(InternationalForecaster) – Struggling and Faltering to Manage Economic Recovery – Bob Chapman

No Austerity, full steam ahead, Faltering markets, threats to social stability, Europe struggling with PIIGS, No end in California, economic disasters in the making, an oil soaked letter in Louisiana, consumer spending is uninspiring, Read More Here

25 Signs That Almost Everyone Is Expecting An Economic Collapse In 2010

At times like these, it is hardly going out on a limb to say that we are headed for hard economic times.  In fact, it seems like almost everyone in the financial world is either declaring that a recession is coming or is busy preparing for one.  The truth is that bad economic signs are everywhere.  Consumer confidence is plummeting, big banks are hoarding cash, top financial experts are issuing recession warnings and it seems like almost everyone is trying to accumulate as much gold as possible.

Economy

(MercuryNews) – Defeat of jobs bill in Senate costly to California

Hundreds of thousands of jobless residents will see their unemployment checks cut off. The deficit-plagued state budget stands to lose billions of desperately needed dollars. And a tax credit for research and development, long prized by the tech industry, appears to be on life support. Read More Here

(Telegraph) – Ben Bernanke needs fresh monetary blitz as US recovery falters

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is waging an epochal battle behind the scenes for control of US monetary policy, struggling to overcome resistance from regional Fed hawks for further possible stimulus to prevent a deflationary spiral. Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – Mission Accomplished:The Reagan Occupation and the Destruction of the American Middle Class – Read More Here

(WoodTV) – 400k unemployed in MI to lose benefits

Comes on heels of GOP killing Senate extension Read More Here

(WeAreChange) – We are Change Plans End the Fed protest on Independence Day

We Are Change groups from MD, VA and DC have joined togeather to hold an End The Fed protest in Washington DC in honor of Independence Day. The event will be on Saturday, July 3rd and the permits are already in. Read More Here

(KDVRDenver) – Bank of America, Freddie Mac Sell Homes Without Notice – Read More Here

(USAToday) – Obama Gets “Financial Reform” Bill as He Heads for G20

“We are poised to pass the toughest financial reform since the ones we created in the aftermath of the Great Depression,” Obama said at the White House as he prepared to leave for the G-20 summit in Canada. Read More Here

(WPost) – New Financial Overhaul Gives Government Broad New Powers To Seize Financial Firms – Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – These 8 Members Of Congress Are Under Investigation For Fundraising During The Financial Reform Debate – Read More Here

(FoxNews) – Senate Republicans Defeat Jobless Aid Measure Over Deficit Fears

The Senate has failed to reach an agreement to extend weekly jobless benefits, leaving more than a million out-of-work Americans without an unemployment check by week’s end.

The 57-41 loss was a major blow for President Obama and Democrats. They needed three more votes — for a total of 60 — to stop a GOP filibuster. Read More Here

(TampaBay) – Pinellas to lay off 211 county workers

The layoffs run through virtually every department, affecting everything from parks and street repairs to customer service and health care. Read More Here

Economy

(LondonTelegraph) – Federal Reserve cautions on US economic growth – Read More Here

(PeoplesWorld) – Texas poor say “No more!” – Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – Consumer Spending is Flat, Unemployment is Rising: The Case for a Second Round of Economic Stimulus – Mike Whitney – Read More Here

REPOST – (CNBC) – Soros Says Germany Could Cause Euro Collapse

German’s budget savings policy risks destroying the European project and a collapse of the euro cannot be ruled out, billionaire investor George Soros said in a newspaper interview released on Wednesday. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Deutsche Bank: U.S. Financial Conditions Just Collapsed Back To Crisis Levels

Financial conditions appear to have worsened substantially in recent quarters based on our update of the broad index of US financial variables presented earlier this year at the US Monetary Policy Forum. In the wake of recent developments in Europe, increased stress in financial markets has pushed that index halfway back to its immediate post- Lehman crisis lows. Read More Here

(BeforeItsNews) – Russia buys 16 percent of global gold production

According to the Russian Central Bank, Russian gold reserves just hiked 1.1 million ounces in May. Given global mining production is just 6.8 million ounces a month, this represents 16.1% of monthly global mining production.

This is the largest one month purchase of gold by the Russian Central Bank, which has been buying gold at a rate of 250,000 ounces a month for the past three years, and comes just as Putin is pushing for a single world currency and last week revealed the currency’s first proof coin. Read More Here

(WSJ) – Small Banks and Big Risks – Read More Here

(AlterNet) – The Bank Lobby Gets Desperate on Derivatives – Read More Here

(WSJ) – States Face New Pinch as Stimulus Ebbs

Tax Receipts Aren’t Rebounding Quickly Enough to Offset Declining Federal Aid; Push for Additional Medicaid Help Stalls Read More Here

(WSJ) – Video: Opinion Journal – Here Come the Tax Increases – Video Link Here

(CBS5) – Oakland To Send Out Layoff Notices To 200 Officers

Despite concerns about the city’s violent crime, the Oakland City Council on Tuesday voted to send out layoff notices to 200 police officers.

There seemed to be little choice. The city is facing years of multi million dollar deficits, and the public safety budget is a rich target representing about half the general fund. Read More Here

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – China Officially Disses the Dollar (and Treasury Debt)

The Peoples Bank of China has announced that it will no longer fix its currency in terms of the dollar. Instead it will manage the yuan against a basket of currencies. Read More Here

Climategate

(Telegraph) – Japanese told to go to bed an hour early to cut carbon emissions

Japanese households are being urged to go to bed one hour earlier than normal in order to help tackle climate change. Read More Here

(June 24) – Video: Lord Christopher Monckton: The Global Warming Take Over Grid – Alex Jones Tv

Alex also talks with British consultant, policy adviser, writer, columnist, and hereditary peer, Lord Christopher Monckton.

Economy

(InternationalForecaster) – Central Banking in Crisis: Some Twenty Countries on the Verge of Insolvency – Bob Chapman

Market Volatility as the Debt Implosion Continues Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – Financial Crisis Conducive to Instability of Asia’s Currency Markets: South Korea Imposes Currency Controls – Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – “Dying Detroit”:: The Impacts of Globalization. Social Decay and Destruction of an Entire Urban Area – Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – The Gold Market: When Will the SEC Prosecute for Market Rigging? – Read More Here

(Telegraph) – Lord Rothschild fund joins World Gold Council to put £12.5m into BullionVault

Tim Levene of Augmentum Capital, a fund backed by Lord Rothschild’s RIT Capital Partners, said the investment was not a bet on the gold price but on “the future growth of the BullionVault platform”, which stores physical gold for private clients in London, New York and Zurich. RIT currently has 9pc of its assets in physical gold. Read More Here

(FoxBusiness) – New Home Sales Fall 33% in May to Record Low

The U.S. housing market is in crisis.

A day after a disappointing read on the market for existing homes, the government said Wednesday that sales of new homes fell to their lowest level on record last month, a potentially crushing blow for an economy that is still looking for its footing. Read More Here

(PragCap) – Russell: This is One of the Largest Tops in Stock Market History

Mr. Russell thinks we might be on the verge of a terrible collapse:
“We’re now in the process of building one of the largest tops in stock market history. The result, I think, will be the most disastrous bear market since the ‘30s, and maybe worse. Read More Here

(VoiceInTheWilderness) – Is America Destined to Starve?

Americans are no longer prepared to take care of their basic needs without the involvement of the federal government. The majority of Americans have relinquished the responsibility of their future survival to bureaucrats. How and when did we, as an intelligent and formerly self-reliant populace, decide to become wards of the state? Read More Here

REPOST – (LATimes) – Video: California city to lay off all city employees, dismantle Police Department – Video Link Here

(Reuters) – World’s rich got richer amid ’09 recession: report

A stock market rebound helped the world’s ranks of millionaires climb 17 percent to 10 million, while their collective wealth surged 19 percent to $39 trillion, nearly recouping losses from the financial crisis, according to the latest Merrill Lynch-Capgemini world wealth report. Read More Here

(DealBook) – Despite U.S. Plea, European Bank Pushes Austerity – Read More Here

Climategate

(RoySpencer) – The Global Warming Inquisition Has Begun – Read More Here

(FinancialTimes) – Obama to push climate change on back of BP spill

Barack Obama will on Wednesday make a renewed push to spur the US Senate into action on climate change, saying the BP oil spill underlines the urgency for the country to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels. Read More Here

The New World Order Government Take-Over is Well Underway

(WRH) – The New World Order Banker Cartel takeover starts with the destruction of the economic might of the United States. To accomplish this task as follows:

1) Creation of the private Federal Reserve Bank in 1913. He who prints the money controls the government. Prior to this period, whenever congress over spent, it lead to inflation or devaluation of the currency. The people reacted by voting out big spending congressmen. The Federal Reserve Bank allowed congress to spend while shielding them from voter retaliation by the people.
2) Initiate free trade agreements to bleed out the industrial might of the United States to third world countries. Trilateral Commission sponsored GATT, NAFTA and World Trade Organization.

Economy

(MyBudget360) – Middle class shackled by banking debt chains. 113 million households each owe an average of $113,000 in banking debt for mortgages, student loans, credit cards, and auto loans. $45 trillion in household sector debt, government debt, and domestic financial sector debt Read More Here

(AP) – More borrowers in trouble despite federal help

Result could be a new wave of foreclosures as thousands exit program – Read More Here

(RawStory) – US economy still in ‘incredibly difficult period’: Geithner – Read More Here

(TIME) – Inside the Dire Financial State of the States – Read More Here

(Infowars) – The Difference Between Economic Policy and Monetary Policy Read More Here

(Cryptogon) – Video: Chinese Manufacturers Looking to Replace Workers with Machines – Video Link Here

(Infowars) – When will the SEC prosecute for market rigging? – Read More Here

(NYTimes) – Rats Jumping Ship: Orszag Leaving as Budget Director

Peter R. Orszag will leave his job as the White House budget director in July, according to someone familiar with his plans, making him perhaps the first official to leave the Obama Cabinet and removing a major player from President Obama’s economic team. Read More Here

(NewsBusters) – Hoyer Nixes Middle Class Tax Cut, Says Too Expensive – Read More Here

(LATimes) – Maywood to lay off all city employees, dismantle Police Department – Read More Here

(BusinessWeek) – Osborne Increases U.K. Value-Added Tax Rate to 20% (Update1) – Read More Here

(DanielAmerman) – Video: Deadly Danger Of Dow 50,000 – Video Link Here

(CorbettReport) – Video: The Meaning of “Austerity”

“Austerity” is one of those Orwellian terms that has been injected into our political discourse precisely because it is a nice-sounding word for a very painful reality. “Austerity” implies discipline, self-restraint, even nobility. “Austerity” is prudent. “Austerity” is modest. “Austerity” is a virtue. It is an end in itself.

If the IMF or the European Central Bank come to the people of a collapsing European nation and tell them to sacrifice their pensions and their savings and their very standard of living all for a debt that their government has fraudulently racked up in their name, no one would go for it, and rightly so.

But tell those same people that they need to implement “austerity measures” in order to “get back on their feet” economically, and many will be willing to live in the harshest of conditions, content to put up with the dismantling of their nation itself in the vain hope that by giving more power to the international financial institutions they can somehow avoid economic collapse.

Economy

(BusinessInsider) – Greek Communists Say IMF-Imposed Austerity Means “Dachau Conditions For Life”

Greek communists are cranking up the rhetoric against IMF-imposed austerity measures, now calling for war against the Athens government. Read More Here

(TheStreet) – Gold Prices Top Record, Break $1,260 – Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Greenspan Says U.S. May Soon Reach Borrowing Limit

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. may soon face higher borrowing costs on its swelling debt and called for a “tectonic shift” in fiscal policy to contain borrowing. Read More Here

(Fool) – The Coming Financial Meltdown

The problem is getting worse. Notional amounts of derivatives held by federally insured banks have risen to more than $200 trillion. Read More Here

(MyNews4) – Video: Nevada’s unemployment rate to reach No. 1 in U.S. – View Video Here

(PaulWatson) – Obama Plans To Sneak Through Carbon Tax By Stealth

Job killing, economy wrecking, middle class destroying consumption tax to be added in lame duck session after November elections Read More Here

(WebOfDebt) – Hyperinflation or Deflation? Dramatic Fiscal Austerity Measures: “Deficit Terrorists” Strike in the UK — The USA is Next – Ellen Brown

Last week, England’s new government said it would abandon the previous government’s stimulus program and introduce the austerity measures required to pay down its estimated $1 trillion in debts. That means cutting public spending, laying off workers, reducing consumption, and increasing unemployment and bankruptcies. It also means shrinking the money supply, since virtually all “money” today originates as loans or debt. Reducing the outstanding debt will reduce the amount of money available to pay workers and buy goods, precipitating depression and further economic pain. Read More Here

(Reuters) – Philly Fed Factory Activity Index Plummets in June

Factory activity growth plummeted in the Mid-Atlantic region in June, a survey showed on Thursday, adding to worries that the short and tepid U.S. economic recovery is now fizzling. Read More Here

(StarTribune) – Video: In jail for being in debt

You committed no crime, but an officer is knocking on your door. More Minnesotans are surprised to find themselves being locked up over debts. Read More Here

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – Swiss Legislators Sell American Tax Evaders Down the River to Bailout Big Bank

The legislators have approved a law that clears the way for the government to hand over the names of thousands of alleged U.S. tax evaders to the Internal Revenue Service, dodging the risk that the U.S. would reopen a bruising tax case against Swiss bank UBS AG, according to WSJ. Read More Here

(RawStory) – US jobless claims in surprise rise

New claims for jobless insurance benefits in the United States rose unexpectedly for the second straight week, the government said Thursday on concerns unemployment may derail the economic recovery. Read More Here

(NBCSandiego) – New Wave of Cuts at Union-Tribune: Sources

The San Diego Union Tribune told employees Thursday the company is cutting close to 40 newsroom positions, according to sources. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Illinois Debt-Default Insurance Climbs to Record High (Update1)

“If the spread is the widest, it says the problem is bigger than it’s ever been before,” said Peter Hayes, who oversees $106 billion of municipal bonds for New York-based BlackRock Inc. “It’s a reaction to the inability to pass a budget. We’ve seen a greater unwillingness from Illinois and the market is reacting to that.” Read More Here

BREAKING – (SCMLA) – Video: Banks In Oaxaca, Mexico No Longer Accept American Dollars

SoCal Martial Law Alerts (SCMLA) interviewed Lee, an American who discovered while on a recent (Christian) mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, that Mexican banks will no longer exchange American dollars for Mexican pesos.

Lee said that, when he first arrived in Oaxaca two weeks ago, the banks would still exchange American dollars for Mexican pesos, but then when he accompanied a friend to a Mexican bank approximately one week ago, that’s when he discovered the policy change regarding dollar-to-peso currency exchanges.

Video: The Alex Jones Show Hour 1 – Globalist Family Ties & Obama’s Hidden Agenda

(June 16) – Alex breaks down the hidden agenda behind the BP Oil spill and shows how all the Elite families of the world have secret ties to each other and their nwo Master.
Part 1 of 4

Economy

(Reuters) – Moody’s Cuts Greece Government Ratings to Junk

Moody’s on Monday downgraded Greece government bond ratings into junk territory, citing the risks in the euro zone/IMF rescue package for the debt-laden country. Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – Bulging Inventory Signals Next Leg Down in Housing – Mike Whitney

Did the Federal Reserve collude with the big banks to hold millions of houses off the market until the Fed finished adding $1.25 trillion to the banks reserves? Did the Fed do this to make it appear that its bond purchasing plan (quantitative easing) was stabilizing prices when, in fact, it was the reduction in supply that stopped prices from plunging? It sure looks that way. This is from Bloomberg News: Read More Here

(HuffingtonPost) – “Dr. Death Says The U.S. Is Really, Really Sick.”

According to Roubini, for the US, the second half of 2010 will be worse than the first. US industrial capacity has fallen from 70 to 65%. Restocking depleted inventories is complete.

The United States, 25% of the global economy, can’t rein in its spending or cut debt. President George Bush inherited a surplus and went on to create the biggest deficit in US history (excepting WWII). Now, President Barack Obama is making matters worse by piling on more unsustainable debt. Read More Here

(DailyBell) – Doug Casey Revisits the Greater Depression and Explains the Realities of Investing in the 21st Century – Read More Here

(MoneyNews) – Volcker Warns: We Are Running Out Of Time

America is running out of time to fix its huge economic and fiscal problems, warns former Fed chair Paul Volcker, who now heads a financial advisory board to President Obama.

“Restoring our fiscal position . . . sorting out a reasonable approach toward limiting carbon omissions, and producing domestic energy without unacceptable environmental risks all take time,” Volcker writes in The New York Review of Books. Read More Here

(MarketWatch) – Bearish Schultz says hyperinflation may happen suddenly

Commentary: Crash-predicting letter says recovery might not come until 2028 Read More Here

(WPost) – Obama pleads for $50 billion in state, local aid

President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters” and to support the still-fragile economic recovery. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Economy in U.S. Slows as States Lose Federal Stimulus Funds – Read More Here

(PaulWatson) – Central Bank Hid Housing Market Crash Forecast

New revelations concerning how the Irish Central Bank hid data in a 2006 report indicating that a housing market crash was imminent underscores once again how financial elites covered-up signs of the coming economic turmoil in order to exploit the crisis at the expense of the people.

Months before the Irish housing market started to crumble in early 2007, which was followed by a wider collapse in the UK property market, the Irish Central Bank buried data from a crucial report which suggested that a 15 per cent fall in house prices was around the corner.

World War

(RussiaToday) – Video: Predator Drones – Joking over innocent deaths?

(KurtNimmo) – Israeli Official Threatens to Kill Turkish PM

Uzi Dayan, former deputy Chief of General Staff in Israel, says the Jewish state should consider a possible Turkish military escort of Gaza aid ships an act of war. “If the Turkish prime minister joins such a flotilla,” Dayan told Israeli army radio, according to the Jerusalem Post, “we should make clear beforehand this would be an act of war, and we would not try to take over the ship he was on, but would sink it.” Read More Here

(Haaretz) – Israel and Obama Hail UN Sanctions as Defiant Iran Vows to Keep Enriching Uranium

Ahmadinejad says resolution should be ‘thrown in waste bin’ as world powers extol UN vote; EU says ready to restart negotiations. Read More Here

(TheFreeGazaMovement) – Survivor Testimonies From Flotilla 31 May 2010

For three days as they were held in captivity and unable to speak on their own behalf, Israel presented the massacre against civilian passengers on the Mavi Marmara as self defense against a “lynching.” Now that the passengers are returning to their home nations, the global community is hearing a much different story, not just regarding the incident but also their treatment afterwards once in custody. Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – Israel’s Cult of Victimhood – ‘Barefoot’ soldiers on the high seas – Jonathan Cook – Read More Here

(STOPNATO) – The US-NATO “Arc of War” Stretches From Afghanistan to the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus – Rick Rozoff – Read More Here

(Blumenthal) – Israel Military Admits It Doctored Gaza Freedom Flotilla Audio Clip

The IDF admitted today in a press release that it doctored audio footage from its exchanges with the Gaza flotilla in order to paint the flotilla passengers as anti-Semites. I am beginning to wonder if the Israeli military hired James O’Keefe to handle its press shop.

This is the IDF’s “clarification:” Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – Iran’s Disappeared Nuclear Scientist: Video Points to Unlawful US Abduction – Finian Cunningham – Read More Here

REPOST – Video: Nobel Peace Prize Winner shot by Israeli army in Palestine

Footage showing Irish Noble Peace Prize recipient, Mairead Maguire getting shot by Israeli army who opened fire at peaceful demonstrators in the West Bank village of Bilin on April 20, 2007, following the international conference on popular resistance (April 18-20, 2007). Maguire was shot by a rubber-coated-metal bullet in the leg. Maguire speaks after she received first aid. – Video Link Here

REPOST – Video: UK Jewish MP – Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza

(Uruknet) – Nailed Again: IDF Description of Suspicious Photo It Distributed Is Retracted

On May 31, the IDF Spokesman’s Office distributed a photo of a bearded Muslim man with a knife surrounded by reporters. Daylight was pouring in from a window or door behind the reporters. Offered without context or explanation, the photo played up a classic Orientalist stereotype of violent, fanatical, and even suicidal Muslims determined to kill Jews. It was included in an article based on testimony from anonymous commandos with the following title: “Israeli Navy Commandos: Gaza flotilla activists tried to lynch us.” – Read More Here

(AlethoNews) – Israeli Troops Issue 10-day Eviction Orders To Palestinians In Jordan Valley

Five Palestinian families in the Jordan Valley, in the eastern part of the West Bank, received eviction orders from the Israeli military on Sunday, just days after Israeli settlers set up an illegal outpost on the families’ land and took over a water well in the area. The eviction orders told the families to vacate their homes and land within ten days so that Israeli troops could occupy it. Read More Here

(RussiaToday) – Video: Israel’s deadly attack on U.S.S. Liberty emerges from the past

Before Israeli commandos shot 9 peace activists to death aboard the Mavi Marmara, 34 American military men were killed by Israeli jet fighter planes. It happened in 1967 during the 6 day war and it became an event these men and women would live with for the rest of their lives. For 40 years survivors of the USS Liberty — sworn under oath — were forbidden to tell their stories. But today, the surviving crewmen talk candidly about the dreadful day their nearly lost their lives. They gathered at the Arlington National Cemetery for the somber memorial service.

Economy

(YahooTechTicker) – REMEMBER: In 1930, They Didn’t Know It Was “The Great Depression” Yet

In the past year, we’ve written a lot about the similarity between the rally of early 1930 and the one we had through April of this year.

The early 1930 rally came after the market had fallen nearly 50% in the fall of 1929. The spring 1930 rally took the market up nearly 50% again, to a level that was only about 20% below the previous peak.

That rally, of course, was also the biggest sucker’s rally in history. After the market peaked in April 1930, it crashed again, eventually ending up down 89% from the 1929 high and more than 80% from the 1930 high. The market did not reach the 1930 high again for another quarter of a century. Read More Here

(HuffingtonPost) – Long-Term Unemployed Now 46 Percent Of Unemployed, Highest Percentage On Record

The proportion of people jobless for six months or more has accelerated in the past year and now makes up 46 percent of the unemployed. That’s the highest percentage on records dating to 1948. By late summer or early fall, they are expected to make up half of all jobless Americans. Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – Europe Chooses Depression – Mike Whitney

Forget about a smooth recovery. Finance ministers and central bank governors of the G-20, met this weekend in Busan, South Korea and decided to abandon “tried and true” expansionary fiscal policies for their own strange brew of belt-tightening policies and austerity measures. Read More Here

(EuroPacificCapital) – Key Indicators of a New Depression

With the mainstream media focusing on the country’s leveling unemployment rate, improving retail sales, and nascent housing recovery, one might think that the US government has successfully navigated the economy through recession and growth has returned. But I will argue that a look under the proverbial hood reveals a very different picture. I believe the data shows that the US economy is badly damaged, and a modern-day depression has begun. In fact, just as World War I was originally called The Great War (and was retroactively renamed after World War II), Peter Schiff has said that one day the world will refer to the 1929-41 era as Great Depression I, and the current period as Great Depression II. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – U.S.’s $13 Trillion Debt Poised to Overtake GDP: Chart of Day – Read More Here

(AP) – Financial crisis panel subpoenas Goldman

A panel probing the causes of the financial meltdown has issued a subpoena for documents from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., accusing the firm of stonewalling an investigation. Read More Here

(PaulWatson) – Investment Banker: It’s Going To Get Nasty – Buy Land, Barbed Wire And Guns

A top investment banker has warned that the economic fallout of the sovereign debt crisis could get so nasty over the next five years that people would be wise to abandon the markets and instead buy land, barbed wire and guns.

With gold smashing through its all time record high this morning on the back of fears over a double dip recession, analysts are turning increasingly bearish on the markets. Anthony Fry, senior managing director at Evercore Partners, told CNBC that the bond markets could turn nasty over the next few months and said that the current problems created by the European debt crisis could be with us for at least five years.

Economy

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – HOT: Curious Trading by Federal Reserve Advisor May Result in JPMorgan Chase $1.264 Billion Windfall – Read More Here

(NYTimes) – Home Owners Stop Paying Mortgages – Read More Here

(MiamiHerald) – Gulf shrimpers fear oil spill will put them out of business – Read More Here

(CNNMoney) – Three American cities on the brink of broke – Read More Here

(BizJournals) – Four more Ga. banks get consent orders – Read More Here

(NewsObserver) – Mental health group can pay only half wages – Read More Here

(Fox43) – Video: Thousands of job losses possible if federal funding expires – Read More Here

(HometownAnnapolis) – Cohen to unveil more budget cuts – Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – Bank Of International Settlements Warns To Ignore Banker “Doomsday Scenario” Fearmongering And Racketeering – Tyler Durden

Over the past two years, the one strategy that has elicited the greatest amount of anger in the general population has been the traditional resolution to the “lowest common denominator” strategy of fearmongering or racketeering by the financial elite, any time it was faced with a status quo extinction event Read More Here

(TheEconomicCollapse) – Europe’s Coming Summer Of Discontent

The summer of 2010 promises to be the most tumultuous summer in the short history of the European Union. The sovereign debt crisis sweeping the continent threatens to cause economic and political instability on a scale not seen in Europe for decades. Read More Here

(Reuters) – China warns debt woes threaten global recovery

China warned on Monday that Europe’s struggle to contain ballooning debt posed a risk to global economic growth, raising the specter of a double-dip recession. Read More Here

(Reuters) – ECB warns of more bank loan losses

The European Central Bank warned on Monday that euro zone banks face up to 195 billion euros in a “second wave” of potential loan losses over the next 18 months due to the financial crisis, and disclosed it had increased purchases of euro zone government bonds. Read More Here

(PressTV) – Eurozone jobless rate hits record high

Unemployment rate in the Eurozone counties has jumped to a historic 10.1 percent — its highest since the introduction of Euro.

According to statistics released by the European Union, almost 16 million people living in the Eurozone countries are currently out of jobs. Read More Here

(ABCNews) – Hewlett-Packard to Cut 9K Jobs; See $1B in Charges

Hewlett-Packard Co. said Tuesday it will cut about 9,000 jobs and take $1 billion in charges over three years as it creates fully automated commercial data centers. Read More Here

(AP) – Video: Deep Cuts Looming for Nation’s Public School Kid

Budget crises across the nation are forcing thousands of teacher pink-slips, shuttering classrooms and cutting school programs. This is the first story in a 3-part AP investigation series.

Economy

(HuffingtonPost) – The Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Mutilated Our Economy

$1,000,000,000,000.00 – As of today, that’s how much we’ve spent just in direct costs so far on the stupid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Video: Pento Sees `Double-Dip Recession’ in U.S

Michael Pento, chief economist at Delta Global Advisors, talks with Bloomberg’s Margaret Brennan about the outlook for the U.S. economy and investment strategy. Pento says the Federal Reserve is keeping interest rates artificially low and that he sees a “double-dip recession.” Video Link Here

(ComingDepression) – Venezuelan inflation rate hits 30 percent; South American currency planned

“That’s an incredible surge,” Adrian Aguirre, an economist at Caracas-based Bancaribe SA, said in a telephone interview. “The fact that food prices rose by more than 11 percent is something we’ve never seen in the last decade.” Read More Here

(ComingDepression) – The PIIGS are dying: Spain following Greece

“Europe’s top job-creator only two years ago, Spain now has the region’s highest unemployment rate, at just over 20 percent, and is the slowest of the major economies to emerge from the global recession. Meanwhile, the ratings agency dealt a blow to state efforts to shore up confidence in its finances by cutting the country’s rating one notch from AAA to AA plus” Read More Here

(TheComingDepression.net) – New Jersey, Florida, California, Illinois canaries in coalmine

“We [Miami] are not the only city, municipality to be going through this. It looks like Los Angeles sometime next week or the week after will be going bankrupt. It looks like there will be 30 more cities following suit.” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said the state is “careening our way toward becoming Greece” and can’t afford the cost of benefits and pensions for current workers. Read More Here

(RollingStone) – Wall Street’s War – Matt Taibi

Congress looked serious about finance reform – until America’s biggest banks unleashed an army of 2,000 paid lobbyists Read More Here

(RawStory) – US House votes quadrupling of per-barrel oil tax

The US House of Representatives on Friday voted to more than quadruple a per-barrel oil tax that fills a special trust fund to pay for damages from major spills like the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Read More Here

(NeithercorpPress) – Warning Signs Of Full Spectrum Collapse Are Everywhere

The sovereign debt crisis in Greece and many other European nations has, at least for the moment, open a gap in the wash of financial disinformation that has prevailed in the mainstream media for the past year. Read More Here

(Reuters) – Geithner offers China vow of greater fiscal discipline – Read More Here

(DailyBell) – EU Spins Out of Control

Euro under new pressure after Spain’s debt rating is downgraded … Markets set to fall after ratings agency Fitch strips Spain of AAA score … French debt rating also threatened, says budget minister Francois Baroin Read More Here

(SafeHaven) – The Looming Financial Holocaust – Is Closer Than We Thought ..

We had expected the broad stockmarket and the resource sector to stabilize and start to recover last week and they did, and while we are likely to see further recovery in the days and perhaps weeks ahead, there have been some ominous developments in the recent past that we would be most unwise to ignore. Read More Here

(MarketOracle) – Gold and Silver Bull Market Progress Report – Read More Here

(MineSet) – The Same Big Fat Greek Problems are Coming to America

We would all like to think the U.S. will not suffer the same problems as Greece. I am talking about drastic spending cuts to just about everything. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – U.S. Inflation to Approach Zimbabwe Level, Faber Says (Update2)

The U.S. economy will enter “hyperinflation” approaching the levels in Zimbabwe because the Federal Reserve will be reluctant to raise interest rates, investor Marc Faber said.

Prices may increase at rates “close to” Zimbabwe’s gains, Faber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Hong Kong. Zimbabwe’s inflation rate reached 231 million percent in July, the last annual rate published by the statistics office Read More Here

(ExpressCoUK) – RBS REJECTS PROTESTS OVER £1BN BONUS PAYOUT

ROYAL Bank of Scotland will ignore protests and award up to £1 billion in bonuses to its staff next month. The bank will pay out a combined total of between £950 million and £1 billion. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Top German Bankers See Plot To Funnel Bailout Money To French Banks

From the beginning, it’s been clear that the bailout of Greece would be a bailout in large part of French banks, owing in part to the fact that French banks had the biggest exposure.

Yet apparently some top German bankers are alarmed at how things are playing out. Read More Here

(EconomicCollapseBlog) – The U.S. Economic Collapse Top 20 Countdown

So just how bad is the U.S. economy?  Well, the truth is that sometimes it is hard to put into words.  We have squandered the great wealth left to us by our forefathers, we have almost totally dismantled the world’s greatest manufacturing base, we have shipped millions of good jobs overseas and we have piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of mankind.  We have taken the greatest free enterprise economy that was ever created and have turned it into a gigantic house of cards delicately balanced on a never-ending spiral of paper money and debt.  For decades, all of this paper money and debt has enabled us to enjoy the greatest party in the history of the world, but now the bills are coming due and the party is nearly over.

In fact, things are already so bad that you can pick almost every number and find a corresponding statistic that shows just how bad the economy is getting.

You doubt it?

Well, check this out….

Video: Gerald Celente on Goldseek Radio

Economy

(CommitteeForAbolitionOfThirdWorldDebt) – Eurozone Economic Crisis: Call For a European Mobilisation Against the Dictatorship of the Creditors

Text of the La Marlagne Declaration Read More Here

(HuffingtonPost) – Tier 5: The Despair Of The 99ers

Hundreds of thousands of long-term unemployed people across the country are watching in despair as Congress limps toward a reauthorization of jobless aid programs that won’t even help them.

They are the 99ers, people who have exhausted the maximum 99 weeks of unemployment benefits available in some states. Read More Here

(MotherJones) – Soldier in Iraq Loses Home Over $800 Debt

Michael Clauer is a captain in the Army Reserve who commanded over 100 soldiers in Iraq. But while he was fighting for his country, a different kind of battle was brewing on the home front. Last September, Michael returned to Frisco, Texas, to find that his homeowners’ association had foreclosed on his $300,000 house—and sold it for $3,500. This is story illustrates the type of legal quagmire that can get out of hand while soldiers are serving abroad and their families are dealing with the stress of their deployment. And fixing the mess isn’t easy. Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – Dollar to be Replaced with IMF’s SDR as Reserve Currency?

Jim O’Neill, who did not make any friends within the bear community earlier today, has written an interesting paper on the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights, and whether this hypernational currency can ever become a reserve currency as is, and/or with the CNY as a constituent member. Read More Here

(Globe&Mail) – Greece could set off bigger debt bomb

Let’s play a little game called Disaster. Imagine an event that could trigger a genuine, knock ’em down, worldwide catastrophe. Think of Pearl Harbor, multiplied by 10, or even 100. Read More Here

(BizJournals) – N.C. loses 1,800 more construction jobs

North Carolina lost 1,800 jobs in the construction industry in April, according to a report released Friday. But the study also shows the industry’s nationwide slowdown is beginning to wane. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Berlusconi Says $30 Billion of Budget Cuts Needed to Save Euro – Read More Here

(CNBC) – More Cities on Brink of Bankruptcy – Read More Here

(BizJournals) – Cincinnati State hikes tuition 3.5% – Read More Here

(HoweStreet) – Miami Commissioner Says Bankruptcy is City’s Best Hope; Chris Christie Says New Jersey Careens Towards Becoming Greece – Read More Here

(CNNMoney) – Youth jobless crisis could have lasting impact – Read More Here

(NBCMiami) – Video: Miami Budget Begging for Bankruptcy – Video Link Here

(WPost) – 100,000 teachers nationwide face layoffs – Read More Here

(AmericanThinker) – Folly Central: Obama Considers Another Stimulus

Another stimulus. That’s right. You read correctly. The U.K.’s Telegraph reports that dour President Obama and his cadre of thick-headed left-wing ideologues are weighing additional borrowing. This time to the tune of $200 billion. Paltry when stacked against the trillions in debt the nation is already massing? Can you say the “tyranny of compounding interest?” Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – The Worst Money Supply Plunge Since The Depression Means A Double Dip Is Now A ‘Virtual Certainty’

The negative take is that this crashing money supply will lead to both deflation and a double dip recession: Read More Here

(ABCNews) – National Debt Soars Past $13 Trillion – Read More Here

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – Subprime Goes to College: $300 Billion in Defaults Coming

Mike O’Rourke (Via ZeroHedge) has a nice summary of yesterday’s Ira Sohn Research Conference.

Of note was Frontpoint’s Steve Eisman, who has spotted another private sector industry that is in bed with government big time ,that is taking advantage of the poor, and will collapse. Here’s O’Rourke’s report on Eisman’s speech: Read More Here

(TaxProf) – Gird Your Loins: IRS ‘Wealth Squads’ Are on the Way

Newly created exam teams will scrub wealthy taxpayers’ hedge funds, trusts and foreign accounts. Read More Here

(DailyFinance) – BankWatch: TARP Investments Lead to Huge Losses for U.S. Treasury

As struggling banks get acquired or fail, the U.S. Treasury is shouldering a growing burden: Its investments in TARP are turning out to be a bust, leading to huge losses. And there are signs of more trouble ahead. Read More Here

(AmericanThinker) – Another Sham Stimulus Bill – Read More Here

(WashingtonPost) – 100,000 teachers nationwide face layoffs

Senior congressional Democrats and the Obama administration scrambled Wednesday to line up support for $23 billion in federal aid to avert an estimated 100,000 or more school layoffs in a brutal year for education budgets coast to coast. Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – Credit Storm in Europe; Politics on Capital Hill – Mike Whitney

Credit market turmoil in the Eurozone has ignited frenzied trading on global markets. On Tuesday, shares tumbled nearly 300 points on the Dow Jones before launching an unconvincing 257-point late-day comeback. Wednesday the mayhem continued; all the major indexes seesawed wildly as positive news on durable goods was nixed by reports on wobbly EU banks. Read More Here

(HuffingtonPost) – The Cult of Subprime Central Bankers

The world is suffering from the worst downturn since the Great Depression. The crisis has left tens of millions unemployed in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. The huge baby boomer generation in the United States, now on the edge of retirement, has seen much of its wealth destroyed with the collapse of the housing bubble. Read More Here

(WSJ) – Banks Trim Debt, Obscuring Risks

Three big banks—Bank of America Corp., Deutsche Bank AG and Citigroup Inc.—are among the most active at temporarily shedding debt just before reporting their finances to the public, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows. Read More Here

(Fox) – Video: Freedom Watch – Reigning in National Debt

May 26 – What role did supply-side economics play in creating U.S. deficit?

Economy

REPOST – (Examiner) – CAFR: US agencies have billions, trillions in investments while crying budget deficits

Gerald Klatt and Walter Burien are unrecognized heroes. These individuals are national leaders who have communicated how government agencies conceal American taxpayers’ money in surplus accounts that collectively total trillions of our dollars. The data is found in government agencies’ Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports (CAFRs).

What CAFRs reveal is a communist-style policy whereby the US taxpayers surrender enormous assets to the state, who then “invest” these collective trillions that swell in these accounts. Concurrently, taxpayers are informed of budget deficits to either squeeze more taxes from them and/or cut public services. To add insult to injury, the state lies in omission by never reminding Americans of their hard-earned and withheld trillions as they eliminate jobs, reduce education, and attack the quality of our lives. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Hugh Hendry’s Slams Economist Jeffrey Sachs: I Would Recommend You Stop Going Skiing And Panic

The European banking system is in crisis, says Hendry.
“I would recommend you panic.”
The hedge fund manager of Eclectica Management went on BBC Newsnight last night to play pessimist against Jeffrey Sachs, an economist from Columbia University. Read More Here

(Consumerist) – Your Household’s Share Of The September 2008 Economic Collapse: $104,350

A recent report from the Pew Charitable Trusts tallies up each US household’s share in the economic collapse. Your household’s share? $104,350. That includes lost income, government bailouts, and both reduced home values and reduced stock values. Read More Here

(MyBudget360) – Most over valued region in San Francisco gets a taste of the commercial real estate bust. $3 trillion in loans starting to implode at a faster rate. Why commercial real estate will plunge FDIC insured banks into closure. Bought for $415,000 per apartment unit – Read More Here

(RollCall) – House Democrats Lack Votes for Extender Package

The tax and unemployment benefits extension bill appeared on the brink of collapse Thursday afternoon, with House Democratic leaders short of the votes they need to pass it and fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats defecting. Read More Here

(CNBC) – Video: Gold at $36,000 Not as Ridiculous as It Sounds?

Gold has reached record highs in recent weeks, but it will continue to rise, Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital told CNBC Wednesday. View More Here

(OpenCongress) – Stimulus II — Big Vote Today, Here’s What’s in It

The Democrats have prepared a second, smaller stimulus bill of about $127 billion in new short-term spending called the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, and they are planning to hold a vote on it in the House on today. Late on Wednesday night, the bill was revised. Here’s what’s in the final bill. Read More Here

(InterForecaster) – Bob Chapman: They Want A Collapse, Its Deliberate

Europe is rescuing its economy in the same way that the Federal Reserve has attempted to same America’s financial system and economy. They have used an unprecedented aid and stimulus package to offset massive fiscal deficits. In the US a deflationary depression was avoided at least temporarily and that is what is now being attempted in Europe with the guidance of the Federal Reserve. Read More Here

(QBit) – Toll privatization scheme in Michigan HB 4961 amounts to a tax paid directly to private corporations, without representation

Michigan House Bill 4961 [pdf] boils down to Taxation without Representation – turning the State’s right to levy taxes over to private international corporations, essentially ceding sovereignty over critial infrastructure. The corporations will be able to levy highway tolls without oversight or regulation on US citizens, should this bill pass. Read More Here

(LondonTelegraph) – Paper: Financial Crisis Worse Than 2008

This financial crisis is worse than the sub-prime crash of 2008 because the sums are so much bigger and it is governments that are in dire straits. Edmund Conway explains the dangers. Read More Here

(PaulWatson) – Ron Paul: Inside Sources Told Me Fed Is Panicking At Mass Awakening

Appearing on The Alex Jones Show yesterday, Congressman Ron Paul revealed that through his inside sources he had learned that the people who control the Federal Reserve are panicking about the fact that Americans are waking up to the fact that the U.S. is controlled by the central bank. Read More Here

(KurtNimmo) – Fiat Money Supply Contracting at Great Depression Level

The bankster operative who helped destroy Glass-Steagall is back.

Larry Summers, Obama’s top economic adviser, has told Congress to “grit its teeth” and approve a fresh fiscal boost of $200 billion to keep growth on track, reports the Daily Telegraph. “We are nearly 8m jobs short of normal employment. For millions of Americans the economic emergency grinds on,” he said. Read More Here

(May 26) – Video: Walter Burien Explains The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report on Alex Jones Tv – Part 1 Here – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – The Hire, Fire, Hire Census Game, Or Why the Unemployment Numbers Are Improving

You know the old saying: “Everyone loves a charade.” Well, it seems that the Census Bureau may be playing games.
Last week, one of the millions of workers hired by Census 2010 to parade around the country counting Americans blew the whistle on some statistical tricks. Read More Here

(EconomicCollapseBlog) – Are We About To Witness The Greatest Banking Consolidation In U.S. History?

As the number of bank failures in the United States continues to accelerate, many analysts are warning that we could soon see unprecedented changes in the U.S. banking industry. In fact, there are some economists that are warning that we could be about to witness the greatest banking consolidation in U.S. history. Read More Here

(WashingtonsBlog) – Top Bond Vigilante: Fiscal Austerity May Not Work

Gross says in his latest investment outlook that austerity may not work to lower sovereign debt: Read More Here

(TheMessThatGreenspanMade) – In a Word, the Problem is “Debt”

Recent developments in the euro zone that increasingly look like they will lead to the restructuring (if not the collapse) of one of the world’s major currencies and the potential for this “contagion” to move first north to the U.K. and then west to the U.S. have many people wondering what’s gone wrong with the global monetary system.

How could advanced Western economies have run into such trouble? Read More Here

(RussiaToday) – Video: Max Keiser – Big Banks Allocate Losing Trades to Clients, Keep Winning Trades for Themselves

Max Keiser – journalist, former Wall Street broker and options trader, and inventor of the software which is now being used for high frequency trading – claims that the big banks retroactively allocate losing trades to their clients, and keep the winning trades for their own proprietary trading desks:

World War

(Aljazeera) – Video: Israel’s Gaza PR offensive

While boats battle to get through the siege of Gaza, Gazans can eat out in fancy restaurants and have no need of aid. That’s what Israel has been telling journalists, at least. Sherine Tadros picks apart the media campaign.

(LewRockwell) – Is the U.S. Government Planning War to Quell the Tide of Economic Unrest?

In my opinion and in a word: Yes! Read More Here

(KurtNimmo) – Paul Craig Roberts: Government Abandoned Vietnam POWs

Appearing on the Alex Jones Show today, Paul Craig Roberts talked about the shameful abandonment of POWs by the U.S. government. Roberts mentioned an article by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Sydney Schanberg posted on the American Conservative website entitled McCain and the POW Cover-Up. Read More Here

(AFP) – Russia wants ‘100% proof’ N.Korea sunk ship

Russia will not support efforts to punish North Korea for sinking a South Korean warship until it is fully convinced Pyongyang was behind the incident, a foreign ministry spokesman said Thursday. Read More Here

(AmericanConservative) – Hundreds Of POW’s Left To Die In Vietnam, Abandoned By Their Government – Read More Here

(Gowans) – The sinking of the Cheonan: Another Gulf of Tonkin incident

While the South Korean government announced on May 20 that it has overwhelming evidence that one of its warships was sunk by a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine, there is, in fact, no direct link between North Korea and the sunken ship. And it seems very unlikely that North Korea had anything to do with it. Read More Here

Video: Ron Paul – Video Update – Military Spending

Congressman Paul discusses upcoming military expenditures, foreign policy and our economy. Recorded Tuesday May 25, 2010 – View Video Here

(Redress) – Framing Pakistan: how the pro-Israel media enables India’s surrogate warfare – Read More Here

(SouthLebanon) – Proximity Talks Hide a Reality of Failure and Land Theft

Headlines last week that the Palestinian Authority (PA) was offering bigger than expected concessions on land to Israel might give the uninformed reader the impression that Palestinians are the ones occupying Israeli territory from which they are being asked to withdraw. Read More Here

(LockheedMartin) – DARPA Awards Lockheed Martin $3.9M Contract to Develop Advanced Rifle Scope for Soldiers

The Dynamic Image Gunsight Optic or DInGO system will enable soldiers to accurately view targets at varying distances without changing scopes or suffering a decrease in optical resolution. The system will enhance soldiers’ ability to accurately hit targets at a range of between three and 600 meters. Read More Here

(SouthLebanon) – End the Blockade in Gaza

Normally, such a goodwill mission would seem entirely innocuous. But in this case the crisis afflicting Palestinian civilians has been created by foreign policy: It is a product of Israel’s decision to besiege Gaza in defiance of international law and of United States support for this blockade. Read More Here

(SouthLebanon) – Dangerous Emulations

Perhaps, the worst punishment besides death meted out against the Palestinian population by Israel is the demolition of their homes. It is cruel, inhumane and humiliating. We have seen far too many pictures of wailing women and distraught men standing beside a heap of rubble and mangled steel, a book caught between two bricks or a dolly’s arm stretching out grotesquely from between iron bars. Read More Here

(Ning) – Israel: Aiding Gaza provocative act

A top Israeli official has described launching an international convoy to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip as an act of provocation.
“The sail is a provocative act that is unnecessary in light of the figures, which indicate that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is good and stable,” AFP quoted Colonel Moshe Levy, who heads the Gaza coordination and liaison office, as saying on Wednesday.
This is while a survey conducted by the United Nations Development Program showed that the continued Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip has been the main cause of the slow pace of reconstruction and aid relief. Read More Here

(RiaNov) – UPDATE: Russia sends its mightiest warships for drills in Far East

Flagships of three Russian fleets have united in Russia’s Far East for the large-scale naval exercises in the Sea of Japan in June, a Pacific Fleet spokesman said on Wednesday. Read More Here

(HuffingtonPost) – Israeli Warplanes Strike Gaza – Read More Here

(Independent) – US to launch covert strikes on terror targets

The US has authorised a sweeping expansion of covert military operations in the Middle East and Africa, aimed at destroying terrorist networks in the region, and preparing the ground ahead of any presidential decision to attack Iran. Read More Here

(Kuna) – Israeli troops demolish biggest UNRWA summer camp in Gaza

Israeli armed troops Sunday attacked one of the largest camps set up by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on the shores of Gaza Strip.
An agency spokesman, Adnan Abu Hasna, told KUNA that the attack on the camp took place in Sheikh Al-Ajlan area in eastern Gaza.
“The destroyed camp was among camps that organize ‘summer games’ for Palestinian school children,” he added. The UNRWA camps also offer educational programs, music, art, and physical education activities, he noted.
The UNRWA organizes coastal summer camps to help alleviate some of the tension Palestinian children have to suffer due to their living conditions. – Source; Kuna

(AlManar) – Gaza Mission Activist: It’s Just Like Facing Nazis

Eight ships are already making their way through the Mediterranean towards the Gaza Strip in the framework of a European aid mission – with activists aboard the vessels likening their work to the anti-Nazi effort during World War II. Read More Here

(DesertPeace) – An American Jew In Israel Who Refuses To Keep Quiet

Attorney Emily Schaeffer immigrated to Israel to defend the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank. ‘I guess most Israelis would view me as a traitor,’ she says, ‘but I don’t intend to keep quiet just because I came from afar’

Video: Dylan Ratigan – Biggest Transference Of Wealth In History!

Part 1 of 2

Video: Norman Finkelstein – Israel being exposed and feels threatened

(RussiaToday) – Israel has refused to permit Noam Chomsky, the linguist and icon of the American left, to enter the occupied West Bank from Jordan. Some argue that Chomsky, an 81-year-old professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, could pose a risk to Israel. Norman Finkelstein says that Israel has been exposed to the world during the Gaza conflict and now feels threatened.

Economy

(TheStar) – European debt fears batter TSX

Fears that the effects of a government debt crisis could push Europe into a severe economic downturn sent the Toronto stock market tumbling Monday. Read More Here

(ComedyCentral) – Video: The Daily Show with John Stewart on Hoarders – Video Link Here

U.S. Debt Clock – View Clock Here

(ChartingStocks) – Why Gold And The Dollar Are BOTH Rising

An unusual dynamic has taken shape over the last few months – Both the US Dollar and Gold have been rising together. Normally, such a movement would seem counter intuitive as Gold is a commodity and commodities tend to move in the opposite direction of the US dollar. Read More Here

(FT) – Financial Crises Getting Worse Worldwide

The pace and severity of financial crises has taken an ominous turn for the worse. Over the past 30 years, a crisis has occurred, on average, every three years. Yet, now, only 18 months after the meltdown of late 2008, Europe’s sovereign debt crisis has hit with full force. With one crisis seemingly begetting another, and the fuse between crises now getting shorter and shorter, the world economy is on a very treacherous course. Read More Here

(Reuters) – Sears and Kmart to offer cash-for-gold service

Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O), which expanded its layaway program to help cash-strapped consumers pay for purchases during the recession, is now helping its customers exchange their jewelry for cash as gold prices soar. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – `There’s No Money Left,’ U.K. Minister Learns From Predecessor

Arriving for work at the U.K. Treasury last week, the incoming chief secretary, David Laws, found a note from his predecessor, Liam Byrne, offering advice on the job.
“Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left,” Laws cited it as saying. Read More Here

Implode-O-Meter: Vicious Cycle – View Meter Here

(Bloomberg) – ‘There’s No Money Left,’ U.K. Minister Learns

Arriving for work at the U.K. Treasury last week, the incoming chief secretary, David Laws, found a note from his predecessor, Liam Byrne, offering advice on the job.

“Dear Chief Secretary, I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left,” Laws cited it as saying.

“Which was honest,” Laws, whose position is the No. 2 in the Treasury after the chancellor of the exchequer, told a press conference in London today. “But slightly less than I was expecting.”

The note underscores the task facing Britain’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition as it seeks to reconcile demand for improved health and education services with promises to reduce the largest budget deficit since World War II. Read More Here

(May 16) – Video: Alex Breaks Down “Death of The Middle Class” on Alex Jones Tv Sunday Editon

Alex breaks down the international banking cartels continued plunder of the middle class here in america and how far they will go. – Part 1 Here Part 2 Here

(TimesOnline) – Germans lose faith in EU

The multi-billion-euro payout for Greece, followed by an even more expensive rescue package for the threatened single currency, has created the greatest political climate change in a generation. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Stocks, Euro Plunge on Concern Austerity Plans to Curb Recovery

Asian stocks fell the most in almost six months, led by the Shanghai Composite Index’s 5 percent plunge, the euro dropped to its lowest against the dollar since 2006 and the cost of insuring bonds from default jumped on concern European austerity measures will derail the recovery. Read More Here

(PaulWatson) – Financial Terrorists Want Global Currency, Global Central Bank

During a recent speech at a conference of elitists in Zurich Switzerland, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn called for the introduction of a global currency backed by a global central bank which would act as the “lender of last resort” in the event of a severe economic crisis, which would represent another lurch towards fascist centralization of power by financial terrorists busy exploiting the fiscal chaos they created in order to impose world government.

Stating that “crisis is an opportunity,” Strauss-Kahn said that globalists should exploit the financial chaos plaguing the world in order to push for “a new global currency issued by a global central bank”. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Germans Fantasize About New Rich-Nation Currency Bloc That Doesn’t Even Include France

Tonight’s must-read comes from Ambrose-Evans Pritchard at The Telegraph who offers some clear views on why the EU’s big shock & awe rescue plan is not having its desired result — why it hasn’t fully instilled confidence. Read More Here

(EconomicCollapseBlog) – The Extreme Frustration Of Unemployed Americans

When Barack Obama visited Buffalo recently, he was greeted by a billboard advertisement with a very pointed message about unemployment. In just a few words it summarized the frustrations of an entire region. The billboard along I-190 had this very simple message for Obama: ”Dear Mr. President, I need a freakin job. Period. Sincerely, inafj.org.” As word about this billboard got out, it quickly made headlines all over the United States. Why? Well, the truth is that millions of hard working Americans are extremely frustrated about their lack of work right now. When you don’t have a job and you can’t provide for your family, very little else seems to matter. In fact, according to a recent Gallup poll, unemployment is now the second most important issue to American voters. The number one issue is the economy. Read More Here

(AFP) – Euro rescue package ‘just buys time’: Merkel

A trillion-dollar package to shore up ailing eurozone economies merely buys time until the deficits of certain members of the 16-member zone are cleaned up, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday. Read More Here

(SilverBearCafe) – Rigging the Markets – How They Do It

While the rest of the financial world struggles, it might seem strange that four of the largest US banks have made record profits this past quarter – and not just on average, but every single trading day. Too good to be true? Indeed. Read More Here

(HuffingtonPost) – Detroit’s Unemployment Rate Is Nearly 50%, According to the Detroit News

As many have noted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which culls federal unemployment data, does not account for all of the jobless in its widely-quoted national unemployment figures. Among those omitted: part-time workers who are looking for full-time jobs and frustrated job seekers who abandon their job search altogether. Read More Here

(BeverlyHillsCourier) – Flood Of Calif. Businesses Abandon State

Numerous California businesses are packing up their bags and trading in the blue skies and hot weather to head east.

The Courier obtained a copy of the businesses leaving California this year. They are: Read More Here

(SKOptionsTrading) – Where next for Gold?

So far in 2010, all eyes in the gold market have been looking up at $1225 wondering whether gold get back to that all time high? Now that question has been answered yet another arises, where next for gold? Read More Here

(SteveWatson) – Video: Ron Paul – Those Who Voted Against Audit The Fed Will Pay The Price

Texas Congressman Ron Paul appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box earlier today to discuss the financial crisis and his ongoing effort to audit the Federal Reserve.

Paul, speaking publicly for the first time since the Senate passed a watered down version of his HR1207 amendment to fully audit the Fed, said that those who had essentially voted for more Fed power would see repercussions.

Economy

(ZeroHedge) – With Local Gold Inventories Depleted, Panicking German Dealers Stage Run On Krugerrands – Tyler Durden

Last week we noted that several prominent Austrian and German gold dealers had run out of inventory and were no longer transacting with a European population that has suddenly discovered gold religion. As a result, dealers are now focusing procurement efforst outside of Europe, with South Africa receiving the brunt of Europe’s panic for physical precious metals. As the FT reports, “At the Rand refinery in South Africa, the phone has not stopped ringing this week.” Just imagine what will happen when the gold bug goes airborne and jumps across the Atlantic… Read More Here

(Rense) – Our Sympathies To The People Of Greece – It’s “déjà-vu all over again”!!! – Adrian Salbuchi

When Argentinians watch the news today and see the terrible things that are happening in Greece, we cannot but say, “Hey!! This is EXACTLY like Argentina in December 2001 and beginning of 2002!”. Then too, Argentina underwent its worst systemic banking, public debt and monetary collapse which led to social turmoil, mad violence, rioting, and social war. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Greece Considering Legal Action Against U.S. Banks for Crisis

Greece is considering taking legal action against U.S. investment banks that might have contributed to the country’s debt crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou said. Read More Here

(ChartingStocks) – Federal Deficit Chart (1901 to 2010)

Federal Deficit chart from 1901 to present. It aint pretty! See comparisons of current deficit with that of World War 2 below. See Chart Here

(GlobalResearch) – Financial Fraud. How It Works. The Truth behind the Madoff Investment Scandal

The mass media is not telling the entire truth about the Bernie Madoff scandal and that is contributing to the suffering of the victims of the largest investment scandal in history. Massachusetts School of Law Dean Lawrence Velvel ought to know; he’s one of them.
“Let me tell you the things you don’t know,” said Velvel, who has written extensively on the complex subject in books and blogs and hosted several television programs dealing with the Madoff affair. “The media isn’t telling the whole story because they generally focus only on the very wealthy people who were taken in. But the vast majority of the victims are ordinary people, like you and me, and they are the ones who are now left twisting in the wind. It looks to us like the wealthy are being helped now while the average bloke who put in $500,000 or $750,000 and who needed to use the income in order to live is being hurt.” Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – The Vicious Circle of Debt and Depression – It Is a Class War

Never before has so much debt been imposed on so many people by so few financial operatives—operatives who work from Wall Street, the largest casino in history, and a handful of its junior counterparts around the world, especially Europe. Read More Here

Will the Wall Street Banksters Ever Be Held Accountable? – Danny Schechter

We are all still stuck in the “big Muddy.” No, not the wars of old or even the oil disaster. The mud I am referring to is more like quicksand and it sucks anyone who wants to look at what happened in the financial crisis deeper and deeper into it.

Soon, you are buried in shifting sea of so-called “exotic financial instruments,” and tranches, derivatives, credit default swaps, naked short-selling, etc and so forth, ad fin item. It’s murkier in there than in the oil-infested waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Stop, my head hurts. Read More Here

Video: More Banking Propaganda Brought to You by a Division of The Royal Bank of Scotland –

Video: Paul Watson Discusses Trilateral Commission wanting War with Iran on The Alex Jones Show

(May 14) –

Economy

(LewRockwell) – Beware the Recent Situation in Greece: It Will Happen Here! – Gary D. Barnett – Read More Here

(WashingtonsBlog) – Mervyn King: “World’s Worst Financial Crisis Ever”

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King says: “We are still halfway through the world’s worst financial crisis ever.” He is in good company.

The following experts have said that the economic crisis could be worse than the Great Depression: Read More Here

(CalculatedRisk) – California: “Absolutely terrible” budget cuts to be announced at 4 PM ET – Read More Here

(YahooFinance) – Video: TechTicker – Dow Tumbles as “Disintegration” Fears Haunt Europe

Hopes that a massive $1 trillion bailout for Europe would hold the financial markets together came unglued Friday. Stocks tumbled around the world and the U.S. followed suit. Heading into the close, the Dow was down more than 230 points. – Video Link Here

(GeorgeWashingtonBlog) – The Bailout of Big American Banks Has Cost Trillions More Than We’ve Been Told

Granted, the $700 billion dollar TARP bailout was a massive bait-and-switch. The government said it was doing it to soak up toxic assets, and then switched to saying it was needed to free up lending. It didn’t do that either. Indeed, the Fed doesn’t want the banks to lend.

True, as I wrote in March 2009: Read More Here

(MarketWatch) – The second debt storm

The debt mountain that brought down some of the world’s biggest banks and dragged the international financial system to the brink of disaster has simply shifted to governments. Now it’s threatening countries around the globe — and, if left unchecked, could rip the very fabric of Europe’s economic system and wreck economic recoveries in the U.S., China and Latin America. Read More Here

(USAWatchdog) – Is the Financial System Corrupt?

Recent headlines coming out of the financial world have been jaw dropping. Here are a few: Read More Here

(WSWS) – US media demands Greek-style austerity for American workers

In recent days, the US media—led by the standard bearer of American liberalism, the New York Times—has insisted that workers in the US, like their brethren in Greece, have been living the good life for far too long and must accept a drastic and permanent reduction in their living standards. Read More Here

(CNBC) – Video: The Economy & Your Portfolio with Rick Santelli ‘This European Crisis Should Be A Wake Up Call’

A look at the big issues facing the economy and how investors are playing them, with Michael Pento, of Delta Global, and Jordan Kimmel, of National Securities. Video Link Here

FLASHBACK – (WashingtonExaminer) – In 2005, U.S. intelligence warned of Euro econ crisis and EU’s demise unless welfare states downsized

In 2005, the National Intelligence Council prepared a prescient report warning that overextended welfare states could lead to economic crisis and possibly the collapse of the European Union sometime in the next 15 years: Read More Here

(FinanceMarkets) – US banks under investigation

Eight Wall Street banks are facing an investigation following allegations that they provided misleading information to several ratings agencies in order to gain a better rating for mortgage securities. Read More Here

(ChartingStocks) – Dollar Jump Resembles ‘08 Crash

On Wednesday, I wrote about the troubling signal given by the Volatility Index (VIX) as it surged in a manner which resembled the 2008 crash. Today we can add another market indicator to the “trouble” list – The US Dollar. Read More Here

(AlethoNews) – New Iran sanctions bill to kill 20,000 US jobs each year

Major US firms are warning Congress against passing legislation to impose new sanctions against Iran, saying such sanctions will further damage the US economy.

Boeing Co. and Exxon Mobil Corp. are lobbying to fend off tightened sanctions against Iran that business groups say will cut US exports. Read More Here

Video: The New World Order Currency Crisis

(Kitco) – Five Facts You Need to Know About the Financial System

Let’s connect the dots on the ENTIRE financial system right now. Read More Here

(LondonTelegraph) – US faces same problems as Greece, says Bank of England

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, fears that America shares many of the same fiscal problems currently haunting Europe. He also believes that European Union must become a federalised fiscal union (in other words with central power to tax and spend) if it is to survive. Just two of the nuggets from one of the most extraordinary press conferences I have been to at the Bank. Read More Here

(LondonGuardian) – Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull France out of the euro

French president Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to pull his country out of the euro if other EU countries, especially Germany, did not agree to help rescue debt-laden Greece. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Volcker Sees Euro ‘Disintegration’ Risk From Greece

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker said he’s concerned that the euro area may break up after the Greek fiscal crisis that sparked an unprecedented bailout by the region’s members. Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – Financial Chaos And The Smell Of Napalm In The Morning

What in God’s name should we make of it all? On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange had its most severe plunge in history – nearly 1000 points, before it recovered minutes later. On Monday, it shot up 400 points, one of the biggest spikes in memory. All told, the variance was around 1400 points over the period of a couple of days.

The context for this, of course, is the financial turmoil that has spread from Greece and is sweeping across Europe, threatening the very existence of the European Union and the Euro as a common currency. Last week alone, it is estimated that global stock markets lost $3.7 trillion of their value as a result of this crisis (1). According to the Canadian finance minister Jim Flaherty, not even the Canadian economy is immune from the financial contagion. Read More Here

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – Geithner Briefs Super Power Elite, Friday Afternoon

In addition to Rockefeller and Lady de Rothschild, on Friday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Geithner will also meet with the other members of the Board of Directors of the Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics to discuss the Administration’s agenda for economic growth and strengthening the global financial system.

Here’s the hefty list of the Institute’s Board of Directors: Read More Here

(HomeSolutionCounselors) – You are not in default. Freddie Mac is making your payments!

Yes it is true. I have seen it with my own eyes and IN WRITING. In our office we have on record a statement from Freddie Mac, which they submitted to the courts, that “Freddie Mac has made all relevant and required payments to the investors on behalf of the borrowers.” Did you catch that?!?!

Yes, Freddie Mac acting as the Master Servicer, has been making payments to the debt owners of a mortgage. How can the borrower be in default? Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Euro Breakup Talk Increases as Germany Loses Its Currency Proxy

What was conceived as a club for Europe’s strongest economies was expanded for political reasons, leaving the currency union with minimal powers to police deficit spending and no safety net for dealing with countries, like Greece, that veer toward default.

German officials are already debating what was unthinkable to the euro’s architects: that a currency union designed in its founding treaty to be “irrevocable” might not be. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said March 12 that expulsion from the euro may be the ultimate penalty for serial violators of debt rules. Read More Here

Economy

(Boston) – Double dip in housing values continues, despite tax credit/spring bump – Read More Here

(ClarionLedge) – Revenue: April numbers are sobering

Gov. Haley Barbour said last week that April revenue was 8.5 percent below estimates – a $45.1 million shortfall. Read More Here

(SacramentoBizJournal) – State’s revenue below projections for April

California’s controller, John Chiang, said the state’s April cash receipts fell below budget estimates by $3.6 billion, or 26.4 percent. Read More Here

(MinnPost) – 41 percent of metro area single-family homes believed ‘underwater’ – Read More Here

(MaverickBlog) – What Business is Wall Street In ?

My last two posts were designed to stimulate discussion. But lets talk the real problem that regulators, public companies, investor/shareholders and traders face. The problem is that Wall Street doesn’t know what business it is in. Regulators don’t know what the business of Wall Street is. Investor/shareholders don’t know what business Wall Street is in. Read More Here

(WashingtonsBlog) – Challenger Investigation Got $175 Million. Columbia $152 Million. Lewinsky $30 Million. 9/11 $15 Million. Financial Crisis Gets Only $8 Million – Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Video: Jim Rogers on Greece Bailout, Yuan, Stocks – View Video Here

(NewsMax) – Video: Jim Rogers – Next Recession Will Be Much Worse! – View Video Here

(KurtNimmo) – Video: Obama’s Supreme Pick Kagan Is A Bankster Operative

Democrats are going gaa-gaa over Obama’s Supreme pick Elena Kagan. “Democrats praised Kagan as ‘razor sharp’ and impeccably qualified for the lifetime appointment on the nine-member bench, but Republicans promised to vigorously vet a ’surprising’ choice, noting she had never been a judge,” reports Agence France-Presse. “I have selected a nominee who I believe embodies… excellence, independence, integrity and passion for the law, and who can ultimately provide that same kind of leadership on the court,” Obama said at the White House. View Video Here

(AmpedStatus) – High Frequency Terrorism: How the Big Banks and Federal Reserve Maintained Their Death Grip Over the United States – David DeGraw & Max Keiser – Read More Here

Layoffs:

Dean Foods – 350 to 400
RBS – 2,600
Update: Fort Wayne IN – 300 Teachers to Learn Layoffs Numbers today
City of Costa Mesa – 51 Possible
Town of Mesilla NM – 4
Newark Valley Central School District – 11

(InfoClearingHouse) – Kagan: – Goldman Sachs – Shifting Court to Right?

“A narrow elite is imposing itself through the legal system, and ordinary Americans need to start asserting themselves.”
The Wall Street Journal reports: “The White House said Friday that Elena Kagan’s membership on an advisory panel for the securities firm Goldman Sachs Group Inc. wouldn’t disqualify her for a position on the Supreme Court. … From 2005 to 2008, Ms. Kagan was a paid member of the Research Advisory Council of Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute, according to financial-disclosure reports she filed after being appointed to her current job. The form shows she was paid $10,000 in 2008, when she was dean of Harvard Law School.” Read More Here

(StraightGoodNews) – Goldman Sachs Set to Plan Sell-Off of Ontario Assets

Huge and controversial banking firm has a history of playing both sides in privatization deals Read More Here

(AmericanEveryman) – The Stock Market “Glitch”: Blackmail by Big Banking?

The White House gets its way again. They get their way on two measures that would have given the people at least a little control of the “too big too fail” banking system. But how they got it, well that might just be the REAL story of the day.
“I mean this really sounds like market manipulation to me. This is outrageous.” Read More Here

(PaulWatson) – Bankers Destroy Global Economy by Design to Consolidate Power

American taxpayers have been freshly liberated of hundreds of billions more dollars as part of the IMF’s new bailout package which is principally going straight to European banks, in addition to the Federal Reserve program to ship U.S. dollars to Europe, in a move that represents little more than a desperate effort to save the Euro and rescue the credibility of economic global governance. Read More Here

(SteveWatson) – Bankers, Economists: Mass Centralization At Heart Of Euro Bailout

Huge Euro rescue is latest step on the road toward a monolithic globalist federal union Read More Here

(AFP) – Fannie Mae seeks new $8.4 billion US bailout to stay afloat – Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – EURUSD Roll Over Accelerates, Market Playing Catch Up – Tyler Durden

This may very well still turn out to be the shortest and must futile trillion dollar bailout in history yet. Don’t forget it was the EURJPY correlation desks that freaked out on Thursday and drained all NYSE liquidity in stocks.

It will be truly amazing if we get another 1000 point move in the Dow… But not up. Read More Here

(InternationalForecaster) – The latest Greek tragedy And Sovereign Defaults Pose A Great Threat – Bob Chapman

The latest Greek tragedy continues to leave carnage in its wake, crime compounds the debt problems, Problems everyone knew about nobody did anything about, the Sovereign debt bubble is now upon us, and could bring the world financial system down, a situation like the French Revolution in Greece, food stamps at a record high, unemployment and problems of poverty in the US, Read More Here

(NYTimes) – Video: Markets Welcome E.U. Rescue Package

Global markets rallied Monday, reversing the steep declines of recent days, after European leaders agreed to provide a huge rescue package of nearly $1 trillion to combat the debt crisis that has engulfed Europe, and central banks began injecting cash into the financial system. View Video Here

(EconomicCollapseBlog) – Is The Greek Debt Crisis Being Purposely Hyped And Manipulated? – Read More Here

(KurtNimmo) – Banksters Throw a Trillion Bucks Down a Black Hole

The EU apparatchiks are in crisis mode. European Union boss Jose Manuel Barroso told us not to worry, though. They’re on it.
“This morning’s agreement will ensure that any attempt to weaken the stability of the euro will fail,” said Barroso today as the EU threw around a trillion bucks at the cancer spawned by the Greek debt crisis. “We have stated that we will do whatever is necessary to defend the stability of the euro,” he said with an actor’s confidence. Read More Here

(Guardian) – The Greek spirit of resistance turns its guns on the IMF

Years of national denial about looming bankruptcy have turned to resentment as Greece is told how it must tackle its debt crisis Read More Here

(PaulWatson) – American Taxpayers Looted To Bail Out The Euro

American taxpayers have been freshly liberated of hundreds of billions more dollars as part of the IMF’s new bailout package which is principally going straight to European banks, in addition to the Federal Reserve program to ship U.S. dollars to Europe, in a move that represents little more than a desperate effort to save the Euro and rescue the credibility of economic global governance. Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – The Latest US Taxpayer Bill To Save Europe, And Specifically The French Banks: $57 Billion – Tyler Durden

As the US and its taxpayers represent roughly 20% of total IMF funding, today’s 3% loss in dollar purchasing power to the middle class will cost the middle class $57 billion. Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – Summary Of The Biggest Bail Out Ever: Even Keynes Is Spinning In His Grave – Tyler Durden

Europe has now followed the Fed in its all in move to prevent the disintegration of the euro and of Europe. As we expected, the EU was leaking various rumors to gauge market interest, and as speculated earlier, the final cost ended up being just short of one trillion. Here are the key summaries: Read More Here

(LondonTelegraph) – British taxpayers ordered to bail out euro

All 27 EU finance ministers have been summoned to Brussels on Sunday to sign up to a “European stabilisation mechanism. Britain will be unable to veto this as it will be put through under the “qualified majority voting” system. Read More Here

(AP) – Federal Reserve opens credit line to Europe

The Federal Reserve late Sunday opened a program to ship U.S. dollars to Europe in a move to head off a broader financial crisis on the continent.

Other central banks, including the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan also are involved in the dollar swap effort. Read More Here

(C4L) – Video: Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk –

Video: Greg Palast – “Remove the Bloodsuckers”

(TheExcavator) – The solution to the Greek crisis, and the global debt crisis, is simple according to investigative reporter Greg Palast. In his 2001 article called “The Globalizer Who Came In From the Cold,” Palast suggests that we should “remove the bloodsuckers,” who are the global financial wizards that work at the IMF, WTO and the World Bank and practice the art of dark finance. Palast details the step-by-step plan of how these transnational economic parasites bring entire nations to ruin, which he learned after he gained a hold of some precious World Bank documents that laid out the banksters’ game-plan of how to harness the financial will of sovereign nations and use it against them. Palast also talked with Joseph Stiglitz, the former Chief Economist of the World Bank and a Nobel prize winner, for the piece.

Video: Greece riots – 100,000 fight against harsh cuts in Athens financial crisis protests

See Also:

(CNN) – Video: Greece Descends Into CHAOS! – Video Link Here

(BusinessInsider) – Pictures Of The Most Violent Greek Riot Yet – Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – Greece: Poverty and Social Implosion in the Wake of the Financial Bailout

“This is not our debt, but we are being made to pay for it,” said one angry Greek worker, explaining why he like thousands of other Greeks are taking to the streets in protest at their country’s bail-out plan. Read More Here

(KurtNimmo) – Deadly Greek Bank Fire Blamed on Opposition to IMF Austerity

How to discredit growing opposition to “austerity” measures? Kill a few people. It looks like this may be what happened in Greece today. Read More Here

(TimesOnline) – Greeks begin two-day strike as banking system is saved from meltdown

Greek public sector workers today began a 48-hour national strike that is a first test of the Government’s ability to enact new austerity measures agreed with the EU and IMF in return for billions of euros in aid. Read More Here

Economy

(AU) – Housing market will implode, warns Edward Chancellor

AUSTRALIA is in the midst of an unsustainable housing bubble that could burst at any time, warns the man who predicted the global credit bust of 2007. Read More Here

(DailyFinance) – FDIC Shuts Seven More Banks at a Cost of Over $7 Billion

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation closed seven more banks on Apr. 30, bringing the total to 64 for the year. The day was particularly expensive, costing the agency just over $7 billion. Read More Here

(Telegraph) – Radical tax on debt put to parties

Households should pay a new tax on every pound of debt they owe, according to one of Britain’s leading economists. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Find Out How Much The Greek Bailout Is Costing YOU – Read More Here

(GlobalResearch) – The Criminalization of Wall Street: Will Any Exec at Goldman Sachs Go to Jail? – Danny Schechter

Will Goldman survive the assault? Will the threat of criminal charges being pursued against the world’s leading investment bank spill over onto others on Wall Street? Is the criminalization of the crisis underway, or is all this just a maneuver? Read More Here

(InfoClearingHouse) – The Subprime Conspiracy: Was There A Plan to Blow Up The Economy? – Mike Whitney

Many people now believe that the financial crisis was not an accident. They think that the Bush administration and the Fed knew what Wall Street was up to and provided their support. This isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. Read More Here

(Reuters) – Morgan Stanley fined $14 mln for hidden block oil trade

U.S. futures regulators fined Morgan Stanley (MS.N) $14 million for failing to report a big block oil trade and fined Moore Capital $25 million for attempting to manipulate palladium and platinum futures. Read More Here

(TheState) – Bartering up as economy down

Bartering, trading goods or services rather than charging cash, is an ancient practice. But it has gained popularity during the economic meltdown that left many short on cash but rich in talent or treasures. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – David Kotok: $12.5 Billion Is Just The Start Of The Oil Cleanup Costs, And A Double-Dip Is Now Way More Likely

David Kotok of Cumberland Advisors is out with some very gloomy comments about the economic ramifications of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and what it will cost. First he notes the ugliest case scenario:

This spew stoppage takes longer to reach a full closure; the subsequent cleanup may take a decade. The Gulf becomes a damaged sea for a generation. The oil slick leaks beyond the western Florida coast, enters the Gulfstream and reaches the eastern coast of the United States and beyond. Use your imagination for the rest of the damage. Monetary cost is now measured in the many hundreds of billions of dollars.

As for numbers: Read More Here

(WebOfDebt) – Hollywood and The Rigging of Financial Markets – Ellen Brown

Betting on the Gross Profits of Upcoming Movies Read More Here

(HuffingtonPost) – Video: Warren Buffett – Nothing ‘Unique’ About Goldman Sachs Deal Targeted By The SEC

In two interviews this morning, Warren Buffett reiterated his support for Goldman Sachs in the wake of the SEC’s civil fraud charges levied against the bank. Read More Here

Video: Gerald Celente on Liberty Round Table with Sam Bushman

April 30, 2010 – “This isn’t socialism. The merger of state and corporate powers is fascism” – Celente