MSM: Vending Machines Of The Future

(MyFoxNY) – Your thumbprint might soon be the key to an afternoon candy bar. A Massachusetts based vending machine company is joinng the growing ranks of companies that are field-testing new technologies.

Next Generation Vending and Food Service is experimenting with biometric vending machines that would allow a user to tie a credit card to their thumbprint.

“For a certain demographic that is pretty cool,” says company president John S. Ioannou.

Next Generation is currently testing about 60 of the biometric machines in various locations in the northeast. Read More Here

Another Senate Charade – Matt Taibbi

(RollingStone) – This note comes courtesy of my friend David Sirota out in Colorado. This is a classic example of how the Senate works. If the public understood better how rigged this game is, and how few issues are actually left to an honest vote in the legislature, I’m pretty sure the pitchfork factor would be twice even what it is now.

The short version of this story: Bernie Sanders had put forth a proposal in the Senate to put a 15 percent cap on credit-card interest. Who isn’t in favor of this kind of legislation? The only difference between credit card companies and loan sharks at this point is that you can choose to not patronize a loan shark. As an adult professional in this country one has to have a credit card – it’s impossible to rent a car, buy a hotel room, shop online or do countless other things without one.

But all the credit card companies use the same insane formulae based on FICO scores to charge exorbitant interest rates for anyone who slips up – and they don’t exactly make it easy to not slip up. (I’m doing research on this subject so anyone who has a particularly egregious story about being ripped off by credit card companies, please write in). Almost everyone has horror stories about consumer credit and my guess is that if put to a national referendum, something like the Sanders 15% cap would pass pretty easily.

Video: Road Warrior-level collapse imminent – Alex Jones says we must take corrective action now

(AlexJones&AaronDykes) – Move towards global currency as U.S. loses status, faces depression and sees dangerous cuts to services as economic instability sets in

The United States as we know it has ended, Alex Jones warns, as the nation has lost its credit rating with China, its Dollar reserve status and faces saddling debt and cuts in programs and services.

Economy

(SmirkingChimp) – Is the Depression Coming? Or Is It Here?

The FBI arrests 1,200 Americans for mortgage fraud in the largest crackdown of its kind in history. There is no media focus on the companies that securitized and insured their toxic loans. This white-collar crime sweep is, at best, a one-day story with most of the reports carried by local outlets. Read More Here

(MyBudget360) – Commercial real estate transactions collapse 90 percent from 2007 to 2009. The next taxpayer bailout in the $3.5 trillion CRE market. From $522 billion in sales to $52 billion. CRE market over 4 times the size of the entire credit card market

The massive commercial real estate market is already plaguing the weak balance sheets of banks. It is the case that each Friday, we are likely to see one U.S. bank fail because due to high levels of commercial real estate (CRE) debt on their books. This market is likely to cause the failure of hundreds of banks and put the economy down into another real estate funk. Read More Here

(July 2) – Video: Bill Still – The Secret of OZ / Solutions For a Broken Economy – Alex Jones Tv

Alex talks with Bill Still, the man behind the monetary reform documentary The Secret of Oz(available at the Infowars Store). Still’s previous films include the popular The Money Masters and Capital Crimes. The Secret of Oz won best documentary of 2010 at the Beloit International Film Festival, the Silver Sierra Award for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Yosemite Film Festival, and other prestigious awards. Part 1 Here

(PeopleManagement) – Graduate unemployment rate ‘set to hit 25 per cent’

The UK’s graduate unemployment rate could soar to nearly 25 per cent due to public-sector budget cuts, with newly qualified jobseekers outside of London the worst hit, new forecasts have predicted. Read More Here

(SacBee) – Schwarzenegger orders minimum wage for state workers

The Schwarzenegger administration today ordered State Controller John Chiang to reduce state worker pay for July to the federal minimum allowed by law — $7.25 an hour for most state workers. Read More Here

(LATimes) – Unemployment rate dips as more workers leave labor force

Employment-seekers decline by 652,000 June, which may reflect people giving up on job-hunting and a reluctance to hire. Overall, the jobless rate falls to 9.5% from 9.7%, the Labor Department reports. Read More Here

(DocumentingReality) – Starting in 2011—next year—the W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are provided – Read More Here

(ElliotWave) – Banks Continued Failure To Realise Commercial Real Estate Losses…

The massive commercial real estate market is already plaguing the weak balance sheets of banks. It is the case that each Friday, we are likely to see one U.S. bank fail because due to high levels of commercial real estate (CRE) debt on their books. This market is likely to cause the failure of hundreds of banks and put the economy down into another real estate funk. Read More Here

(AsiaTimes) – Smell of economic death

I know, alas, that there is nothing that can be done to prevent unimaginable suffering and the collapse of the economy, now that the US Federal Reserve has created so much excess money and credit, and, to make matters infinitely worse, are still doing it, more than ever! Read More Here

(Prairie2) – The Depression with no name

If Europe is serious about austerity this would be bad news for the US in several ways. Read More Here

(Money&Markets) – Double-Dip Recession Warning Signs Everywhere! Batten Down the Hatches!

The bright red warning signs of a double-dip recession are flashing everywhere. And I do mean EVERYWHERE. Read More Here

(BuzzFlash) – Wall Street is a Crime Scene, Not a Financial “Cyclical Aberration”

It’s shocking that more than 20 years after the movies “Wall Street” revealed the underlying corruption of America’s financial center, it is still difficult to get the corporate mainstream media to understand that the economic “collapse” of the last two years was a swindle and not a cyclic aberration. Read More Here

(BeforeItsNews) – House Refuses to Look At the Books – What’s Wrong With You and I Looking At The Fed and how it uses our money?

Since 1913 the actual buying power of the dollar has gone down by 95.6% – You can’t buy a gallon of gas for 8c any more. Read More Here

Climategate

(NYTimes) – Climate Scientist Cleared of Altering Data – Read More Here

(ForeignPolicy) – Whatever It Takes – Why I won’t back down on climate change – John Kerry – Read More Here

(EconomicCollapseBlog) – 50 Random Facts That Make You Wonder What In The World Has Happened To America

Our world is changing at a pace that is so staggering these days that it can be really hard to fully grasp the significance of what we are witnessing.  Hopefully the collection of random facts below will help you to “connect the dots” just a little bit.  On one level, the facts below may not seem related.  However, what they all do have in common is that they show just how much the United States has fundamentally changed.  Do you ever just sit back and wonder what in the world has happened to America?  The truth is that the America that so many of us once loved so much has been shattered into a thousand pieces.  The “land of the free and the home of the brave” has been transformed into a socialized Big Brother nanny state that is oozing with corruption and has accumulated the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world.  The greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen is falling apart before our very eyes, and even when our politicians actually try to do something right (which is quite rare) the end result is still a bunch of garbage.  For those who still love this land (and there are a lot of us) it is heartbreaking to watch America slowly die.

The following are 50 random facts that show just how dramatically America has changed….

Economy

(Money&Markets) – China’s Currency Manipulation: About to Cause a Global Explosion? – Read More Here

(Guardian) – UK’s first ‘conservation credit’ scheme launched – Read More Here

(Fox) – Video: Freedom Watch – Who Owns the Gold in Ft. Knox?

Ludvig von Mises Institute Chair Lew Rockwell on auditing the Federal Reserve

(CNBC) – Video: Steve Wynn Takes On Washington

Steve Wynn, a casino resort/real-estate developer who has been credited with spearheading the dramatic resurgence and expansion of the Las Vegas Strip, talks about the Fall of America. Video Link Here

(GlobalResearch) – The European and U.S. Economies: Falling Dominoes – Shamus Cooke

Attempting to fix an unfixable problem can create new problems. Why is the global economy unfixable in the current context? For one, the cause of the depression is never mentioned in the mainstream media or politicians. And when a disease is misdiagnosed, a prescribed medication creates new afflictions.

Massive, bad debt is often cited as the cause of the global depression, but whythis debt existed in the first place is never discussed. Quite simply, the debt was needed to buy the products of corporations that wages once consumed. Over time, corporations drove down wages to out-compete each other while driving up profits, creating the global “demand” for credit, which the banks are now demanding be paid back. Read More Here

(BitsOfNews) – Pol/Econ: Deregulation and the Triumph of Wall Street

One year removed from a catastrophic, global, economic meltdown, and 26 months removed from the start of the credit crisis, our political establishment is either unwilling or unable to reform the system and punish the perpetrators of this debacle. The situation is so far beyond the pale that it makes one wonder if another catastrophe is even avoidable. Read More Here

(ZeroHedge) – Europe: A Continent Of Lies And Broken Promises; How The EU Elite Got It Wrong On The Euro – Tyler Durden

Openeurope.org.uk has put together a paper of the most blatant half-truths, propaganda, and outright lies, abused by Europe not only over the past month, but also over the past 10 years, for the entire duration of the now rapidly collapsing eurozone experiment. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Dow Ends Worst May Since 1940 On Spain Debt Downgrade, Korea Tensions

U.S. stocks slid, capping the worst May for the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1940, while the euro slumped and Treasuries rose as a downgrade of Spain’s debt rating and escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula triggered a flight from riskier assets. Read More Here

(Rasmussen) – 80% Favor Auditing the Federal Reserve

Eighty percent (80%) of Americans now agree with Congress that auditing the Federal Reserve Board is a good idea, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Just nine percent (9%) oppose an audit of the Fed, and 12% more are not sure. Read More Here

(CSPAN) – Video: Moonbat Bachmann complains about $2 billion for raises for Americans – says we can’t afford it

Wait a minute – don’t we pay FAR more every year to a foreign terrorist country that has attacked us?

She doesn’t hesitate repeating the neocon lie about government workers making more than those in the private sector. She does not compare those with the SAME position as she claims – she uses “averages.” Well, government does not hire burger flippers. It is the new attack on the Middle Class – government workers are that, by and large. Video Link Here

(Examiner) – Ellen Brown: US economic reform creates full-employment, renewed infrastructure, zero national debt

Attorney and author of the brilliant Web of Debt, Ellen Brown, is among the leading US advocates of monetary reform and state-owned banks. Among Ellen’s articles is one worth highlighting for how quickly a national economy can turn from ruin to astounding productivity: Nazi Germany’s direct creation of money to pay for public goods and services. Read More Here

(PostGazetta) – Port Authority warned of layoffs, route cuts without more state aid – Read More Here

(RedactedNews) – Insider Trading Is Perfectly Legal – But Only For Members Of The U.S. Congress – Read More Here

REPOST – (CNBC) – Dollar Primed for Collapse by End June: Charts

The dollar’s recent strength has been explained by most market analysts as a result of the euro weakness rather than any fundamental support for the greenback. In fact, a closer look at the dollar’s chart – particularly the dollar index – suggests the currency may be primed for a collapse. Read More Here

(Money&Markets) – Credit Crisis Indicators Going Bonkers Again! Batten Down the Hatches!

Heads up people. Something very big is happening in the global credit markets — something you darn well better pay attention to. Read More Here

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – It’s the Bailout of the Banksters Before Greece Is Taken Down

WSJ has a remarkably to the point story explainning why Greece will end up restructuring, but that there will be a delay until the banksters are protected: Read More Here

(Boston) – Romania to cut wages despite strike threat

Romania will go ahead with sweeping wage, pension and benefits cuts despite unions’ threats to stage a general strike, Prime Minister Emil Boc said Wednesday. Read More Here

(DSNews) – Federal Reserve’s MBS Purchases Could Lead to Record Earnings of $70B – Read More Here

(TheEconomicCollapse) – The Depression Of 2011? 23 Economic Warning Signs From Financial Authorities All Over The Globe

Could the world economy be headed for a depression in 2011?  As inconceivable as that may seem to a lot of people, the truth is that top economists and governmental authorities all over the globe say that the economic warning signs are there and that we need to start paying attention to them.  The two primary ingredients for a depression are debt and fear, and the reality is that we have both of them in abundance in the financial world today.  In response to the global financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008, governments around the world spent unprecedented amounts of money and got into a ton of debt.

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

(GoldPrices) – Gold, Silver and Mining Companies Shaping Up

We will kick off with a review of the charts for gold, silver and the gold bugs index, the HUI, in an attempt to see where we are now and just where we might go from here. However, to put the charts into context we need to take into consideration the surrounding political, economic and investment landscape. These are volatile times with the financial markets in turmoil as what were perceived to be sound and secure governments now toil under the strain of their own excesses. The borrow and spend philosophies are coming back like a bad penny, to haunt not just those who caused this mess, but also for the rest of us, who are expected to clear it up. Read More Here

(InternationalForecaster) – Towards Another Stock Market Meltdown? – Bob Chapman

This past week the Dow fell 4%, S&P 4.2%, the Russell 2000 fell 6.4% and the Nasdaq 100 fell 4.4%. Banks fell 5.4%; broker/dealers 4%; cyclicals fell 5.6%; transports 5.5%; consumers 3.4%; utilities 4.3%; high tech fell 3.7%; semis 1.3%; Internets fell 4.2% and biotechs 4.2%. Gold bullion fell $56.00, the HUI gold index fell 11.4% and the USDX, dollar index, fell 0.8% to 85.38. Read More Here

(BusinessInsider) – Video: Marc Faber – “The Banks Are Gone” – (Part 1 Video Below)

Marc Faber spoke with Bloomberg Television about his bearish views on markets yesterday, and they remain as bearish as always.

“The banks are gone,” according to Marc Faber, and are only being kept alive by European Central Bank and government aid programs. Part 2 Here

(HuffingtonPost) – $1 Trillion for Wars Makes No Sense By Any Measure

This May 30 at 10:06 a.m., we will reach another dubious milestone in our almost nine years of war. At that precise moment, we will have spent $1 trillion in operational costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tracked by the National Priorities Project’s cost of war counter. Read More Here

(SteveWatson) – Secret Clause Reveals Europe Bailout Designed To Destroy Global Economy

A secret exit clause written into the trillion dollar European bailout agreement will ensure the creation of more debt in Europe, worsening the global economy, decimating nation states and allowing power to be consolidated into fewer super-elite hands.

As the Financial Times reports today, the major German newspaper Bild says it has obtained a copy of the bailout agreement and has set about “exposing” a series of secret clauses. Read More Here

(GoldScents) – How Do You Answer The Question

Let me start off by pointing out that we did indeed break below the yearly cycle low yesterday. Read More Here

(AP) – Falling home prices stir fears of new bottom

Tax credits and historically low mortgage rates have failed to lift home prices so far this year. Prices fell 0.5 percent in March from February, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city index released Tuesday.

That marks six straight months of declines — a sign that the housing market is going in reverse. Read More Here

(BigGovernment) – Faber: Nations Will Print Money, Go Bust, Go to War…We Are Doomed

Today the leading Austrian economic think tank, the Ludwig von Mises Institute held a conference at the University Club in Manhattan in which Marc Faber, famed contrarian investor and publisher of the “Gloom, Boom and Doom Report” gave his perspective on the financial crisis and his outlook for the future. Read More Here

(CNBC) – Libor Spike Is Rekindling Fears Of Another Financial Crisis

A recent spike in the rate banks charge each other for short-term borrowing is reviving investor fears that the market is returning to the abyss of the credit crisis. Read More Here

(OilPrice) – The Hard Truth About Residential Real Estate

Anyone who believes that housing is on the rebound, and that now is the time to buy, should take a very hard look at the numbers I dredged up for my spring lecture and luncheon tour.

There are 140 million personal residences in the US. Today, there are 26 million homes either directly or indirectly for sale. Read More Here

(Cryptogon) – Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In California

Understand the purpose of the drug war with just one story. Hint: Law enforcement is used to keep supplies down and prices high.

So what changed?

California is broke and the state government wants a cut of the action. Read More Here

(RevoltofthePlebs) – Fear and Loathing (and Lost Wages)

Last week, Barrack Obama brought his stage show to a manufacturing plant in Youngstown Ohio and took credit for 290,000 new jobs added to US payrolls in April. “The fact is, our economy is growing again,” he boasted “Any fair-minded person would say that if we hadn’t acted … more people across America would be out of work today.” He’s speaking of course of the $787 billion Recovery Act that pumped even more counterfeit cash into the economy and is now redeemable (at interest) by the Federal Reserve from your American tax dollar. Read More Here

(BusinessWeek) – Christie Says N.J. ‘Careening Toward Becoming Greece’

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

(Bloomberg) – Moody’s Reiterates U.S. Spending Risks Credit Rating

The U.S. government’s Aaa bond rating will come under pressure in the future unless additional measures are taken to reduce projected record budget deficits, according to Moody’s Investors Service Inc. Read More Here

(FoxNews) – Despite Soaring National Debt, Congress Goes on Spending Spree

As the national debt clock ticked past the ignominious $13 trillion mark overnight, Congress pressed to pass a host of supplemental spending bills to, among other things, fund the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, ramp up security on the U.S.-Mexico border and prevent teacher layoffs. Read More Here

(PaulWatson)  – Video: Rothschilds Engineer Fire Sale Of UK Infrastructure To Offshore Corporations

The Rothschild banking family is pushing for the privatization of the UK’s motorway network that would force Brits, who already pay road tax, to enrich the coffers of private corporations intimately tied in with the Rothschilds by means of road tolls and pay-by-mile schemes enforced with spy cameras.

“A plan to privatize the UK’s motorway network, giving toll firms access to large swaths of road, would take place under the guise of paying down the government’s debt, British media reported Tuesday, citing a number of key officials who support the scheme, proposed to all major political parties by NM Rothschild, one of the world’s oldest, most influential and little discussed investment banks, founded by the Rothschild family,” reports Raw Story. –

Economist Tim Madden: The PIIGS Brief: understanding how oligarchs rig, loot our economies

(Examiner) – Tim Madden is an economist with expertise on credit and banking. Tim and I are colleagues in lobbying government for public banking, with concentration in the US for state-owned banks (and here). The good news is that structural solutions to our economic controlled demolition are obvious and simple; and explained beautifully by many of America’s brightest historical minds. The bad news is that we’re still mired in oligarchic looting of our economies.

Video: Ron Paul – Euro Bailout Will Lead To Currency Collapse

(PaulWatson) –  As Europe is bailed out to the tune of nearly $1 trillion dollars, Congressman Ron Paul warns that the constant monetization of debt, allied with taxpayer-funded bailouts, will inevitably lead to runaway inflation and the collapse of paper currencies.

Under the terms of the Federal Reserve’s credit swap deal with the EU – in addition to an additional IMF bailout of which U.S. taxpayers will be picking up 20 per cent ($57 billion dollars) of the tab, Paul pointed out that not just taxpayers but “anybody that buys anything” will be funding the European bailout because of the attendant inflationary consequences.

Health Care Tyranny

Health care spending accounts for approximately 17% of GDP in the USA. Until last week about 50 cents of every health care dollar was being spent by the government with the remaining 50 cents so being spent in the private sector. Until last week about 11% of the healthcare industry was controlled by government monopoly in the form of Medicare, Medicaid, Indian Health Care, Veterans Health Care, and other entities (all failing with trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities). The 6% remaining in the private sector is subject to heavy government intervention (i.e. largely a political capitalism, not free market capitalism). With the passage of Obamacare the remaining 6% of the health care industry will soon fall under the complete control of the federal government. Experience and the laws of economics tell us that a government monopoly on health care means costs will spiral out of control, taxes will skyrocket, innovation will be curtailed, the brightest minds will flee the health care industry, shortages, waiting lines, and unnecessary mortality will result. Welcome to the tyranny of socialized medicine.

Economy

(WAPost) – Wa. Post: Citi sale “would amount to a validation of bailout”

Among the banks that rule Wall Street, Citigroup got a bailout that was bigger than the rest. Now the company is about to pay a king’s ransom for its federal rescue. Read More Here

Video: Federal Reserve End Game – View Video Here

(TalkRadioNews) – Sarkozy Calls For World Economic Regulation – Read More Here

(Fox) – Peter Schiff Discusses The Jobs Bill On Freedom Watch – View Video Here

(GoldSeek) – Gerald Celente – This time they will close Banks & Wall Street – View Video Here

(CNBC) – Video: Jim Rogers – Commodities More Attractive Than Currencies – View Video Here

Marijuana Legalization ~ Grassroots Industry or Corporate Takeover

California state officials have determined that the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 has enough eligible signatures to appear on the November ballot. This ballot measure would allow the possession of 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use by individuals aged 21 and older and the ability to cultivate gardens up to 25 square feet. Currently, possession in California is a misdemeanor that carries a $100 fine. The Act would ban the use in public or around minors.

A no brainer … right … End the insanity of this aspect of the war on drugs, tax it and go on our merry way. Maybe it’s not that simple. Read More Here

(InternationalForecaster) – Credit Crisis, Outrage, Far From Over

Bernanke re-nominated, outrage at banks, insolvency the real state of banks, crime pays when you are at the top, sovereign debt crisis around the world, debt and derivatives products were all just a ponzi scheme, the problem wont go a way when the system is purged, PIMCO Bill Gross warns of inflation, big cutbacks in services… Read More Here

(PrimaPanama) – Disturbing new U.S. law aims to end individual foreign bank accounts – Read More Here

(WashingtonTimes) – KUHNER: Will America break up?

President Obama is splintering America. The passage of Obamacare was a historic victory for liberal governance. Yet, its true cost may be that it triggers the eventual breakup of the country. Read More Here

(CrooksAndLiars) – Too Big To Jail? DoJ: Wall St. Bailout Buds ‘Co-Conspirators’ In Plot To Rip Off State, Local Governments

Municipal bonds are where a lot of the political kickbacks and corrupt deals are typically hidden, so I can’t say I’m surprised. In fact, it’s sort of funny that the governments dealing with these guys apparently thought they could trust them, considering how crooked the business is. Lie down with dogs, rise up with fleas, as the nuns used to say:Read More Here

(AllGov) – Chertoff Joins Defense Firm that Defrauded U.S.

Michael Chertoff, the former homeland security chief who’s not been shy about exploiting terrorist threats for the benefit of his clients, has decided to join a top defense contractor that defrauded the U.S. government. Read More Here

(EconomicPolicyJournal) – Obama’s New Housing Program Is a Huge Gift to Banks

Dean Baker does a great job of explaining what it will do. And, while Baker does imply that the Administration may have been a bit naive in structuring the program this way, I doubt it. Further, you can be sure that Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon understand exactly what this structure means. Here’s Baker: Read More Here

(SeattleTimes) – Recession’s untold story

It turns out the job of dog-kennel assistant is even less glamorous than it sounds Read More Here

Woman Who Invented Credit Default Swaps is One of the Key Architects of Carbon Derivatives, Which Would Be at the Very CENTER of Cap and Trade

(WashingtonsBlog) – As I have previously shown, speculative derivatives (especially credit default swaps or “CDS”) are a primary cause of the economic crisis. They were largely responsible for bringing down Bear Stearns, AIG (and see this), WaMu and other mammoth corporations.

According to top experts, risky derivatives were not only largely responsible for bringing down the American (and world) economy, but they still pose a substantial systemic risk:

German Central Bank Admits that Credit is Created Out of Thin Air

(WashingtonsBlog) – Most people think that banks lend solely from their base of deposits. Some also know that with fractional reserve banking, they can loan out many times more than they actually have in reserves.

Creating our Own Credit: The Growing Movement for Publicly-Owned Banks – Ellen Brown

(GlobalResearch) – As the states’ budget and credit crises deepen, four states have initiated bills for state-owned banks, and candidates in seven states have included that solution in their platforms.

Economy

(CBCNews) – European fraudsters steal $7B in carbon credit scam

Fraud within Europe’s carbon credit trading system has cost taxpayers more than $7 billion in the last 18 months, European police said Friday. Read More Here

(Bloomberg) – Yuan Poised to Become Reserve Currency, Goldman’s O’Neill Says

China’s yuan is destined to become a global reserve currency rivaling the dollar and the euro, as the nation’s economic power increases the currency’s allure, said Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Read More Here

(Telegraph) – Quarter of adults out of work, official figures show

More than one in four adults in Britain are not working, after a record number left the workforce in recent months, official figures indicated. Read More Here

(MyBudget360) – The Anti-Savings Model – Offer 0.1% APY on Savings Accounts and Charge 15% on Credit Cards. A System Designed to Punish Savers and Encourage Extravagant Spending via Usury. Read More Here

(Reuters) – NY Atty Gen seeks probe of public retiree payments

New York authorities, agencies, and local governments that pay public workers some of the highest salaries and benefits in the state must explain how they are calculated, the attorney general said on Thursday in a new bid to root out abuses. Read More Here

(Yahoo) – Bernanke Wants to Eliminate Reserve Requirements Completely Read More Here

(Telegraph) – Latvia government collapses amid economic crisis

Latvia’s coalition government has collapsed after failing to tackle a crippling economic crisis. Read More Here

(NPR) – U.S. Bank Auditors Got Bonuses Before Crisis

Banks weren’t the only ones giving big bonuses in the boom years before the worst financial crisis in generations. The government also was handing out millions of dollars to bank regulators, rewarding “superior” work even as an avalanche of risky mortgages helped create the meltdown. Read More Here

(SilverBearCafe) – Idaho’s plan to downgrade the dollar

A bill to allow citizens to pay their taxes with silver medallions gains support. Goldbugs are watching closely.Read More Here

Expose Transgressions and Set Boundaries on Stimulus Packages

AIG dragged onto the carpet for publishing falsified debt ratings, fines called for when fraud charges should be laid, white collar crime knows no end, books cooked, real estate downside points to deflationary depression, debt continues to grow, borrowing in the debt market again. stimulus packages knowing now boundaries. Read More Here

(AlterNet) – How the IRS Helps H&R Block Scam Taxpayers

Tax preparation giants are making a killing on short-term, high-interest, fee-laden loans on tax returns. Read More Here

(WCBSTV) – New York State Tax Refunds Put On Hold

Gov. Paterson Freezes $500 Million, Says Financial Situation The Case, Won’t Start Sending Again Until April 1 Read More Here

(WND) – YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE … Census threat: $5,000 fines

U.S. congressman slams ‘Big Brother’ questions Read More Here

(AuctionBytes) – IRS to Track Online Sellers’ Payment Transactions Beginning Next Year – Read More Here

(DailyMail) – £1,000 fine for using wrong bin: Families face new crackdown over household waste

Householders could be fined up to £1,000 if they fail to comply with complex new rules on refuse sorting. Read More Here

Economy

(Money&Markets) – More Retirement Disasters

I can’t believe the number of frightening retirement stories I’ve seen in just the last week. They suggest that the vast majority of our country’s citizens are completely unprepared for life after work. They point to a governmental backup system that is getting ever more desperate. And they suggest that other traditional sources of retirement income — such as corporate pensions — are in grave danger of imploding. Read More Here

(LATimes) – More homeowners are opting for ‘strategic defaults’

Underwater on their mortgages and angry at banks, more borrowers are choosing to hand over the keys, even if they can afford the payments. Read More Here

(GoldEagle) – Through a Looking Glass Darkly

“We are spending more money than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. After eight years, we have just as much unemployment as when we started and an enormous debt to boot.”
-US Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, May, 1939
I forget who first said it, but it was, “A $ million here a $ million there, pretty soon we are talking about real money.” It took approximately 20 years before it became “A $ billion here a $ billion there…..” and it wasn’t very long before “A $ billion … “became “A $100 billion…” Now, virtually overnight while no one was watching, it’s become “A $ trillion here a $ trillion there…” Are we still talking about real money? And are we still not looking? We are certainly not trying to do anything about it. Read More Here

(NYTimes) – Junk Bond Avalanche Looms for Credit Markets

When the Mayans envisioned the world coming to an end in 2012 — at least in the Hollywood telling — they didn’t count junk bonds among the perils that would lead to worldwide disaster, Nelson D. Schwartz writes in The New York Times. Read More Here

(MSNBC) – Yes, we do still make things in America

U.S. factories keep churning out goods, but jobs disappear by the millions Read More Here

(EconPolicyJournal) – The New U.S. Government Off Balance Sheet Scam

Senator Chris Dodd, who is not seeking re-election, has decided to treat the American people to one more scam, probably because scamming is all he knows how to do Read More Here

(SFGate) – Pink slips sent to thousands of Calif. teachers

California’s budget crisis could cost nearly 22,000 teachers their jobs this year. Read More Here

Top Ratings Agency Warns Austerity Riots Could Hit America

(PaulWatson) – Top ratings agency Moody’s has predicted that the U.S. and the UK could witness similar riots to those seen in Greece in response to emergency austerity measures imposed by governments in an effort to retain their AAA credit status.

Economy Kept On Life Support While Global Governance Is Organized

(NeithercorpPress) – Winter is slowly melting away here in the U.S., and Spring will soon be upon us. Wall Street is currently flush with delight at the year long run of the stock market (driven by fiat bailouts), which at first glance appears to be doing quite well, though international incidences such as those in Dubai and Greece have revealed how shaky the market actually is in the face of any unhealthy news. In the meantime, the dollar, recently on the edge of detrimental value loss, has made a semi-miraculous recovery in the span of a few months, especially as the Euro suffers. Official employment numbers, despite the continuous loss of jobs monthly, have somehow fallen and are for the moment stabilized. Is it time for America to dust off the old credit cards and return to the wild and rollicking carefree spending days of pre-2007? Perhaps not…

Video: EMERGENCY ALERT – Historic Bailout Trial

(GaryFranchi) – Historic Bailout Trial 3/11/10 with opening arguments by Bob Schulz of the We the People Foundation will commence tomorrow. All patriots are needed to attend to witness and document this case. The constitutionality of the robbery of the Treasury of the United States by the criminal Wall Street Bankers hangs in the balance. SPREAD THE WORD!

Denninger: Let’s Cut the Crap — We Are in a Depression Right Now

(SHTFPlan) – So let’s cut the crap – we are in a Depression right now.  We are pretending we are not, just like you can pretend you didn’t really lose your job so long as your credit card does not reach its limit.  We have been in that depression for about 18 months and there is no evidence that we will exit it, as we have yet to find a way to pull back the deficit spending without an instantaneous collapse in the economy.

Video: Daily Show – Make it Rain Bank of America

Wyatt Cenac examines Bank of America’s hidden credit card fees with a former employee and a mafia loan shark. View Video Here

Greenspan: Worst Financial Crisis EVER, INCLUDING the Great Depression

(WashingtonsBlog) – Greenspan just said that the current credit crunch is “by far the greatest financial crisis, globally, ever” — including the 1930s Great Depression.

Bloomberg notes:

Greenspan said that while the economy was in worse shape in the Great Depression, the recent financial crisis was potentially more harmful than that in the 1930s because “never had short-term credit literally withdrawn.”

Head Of Greek Debt Office Replaced By Former Goldman Investment Banker

(ZeroHedge) – And so the tragicomic becomes surreal. Yesterday’s news about the departure of the head of the debt management agency, Spyros Papanicolaou, was somewhat of a yawner, until we realized that his replacement would be none other than Petros Christodoulou, who until today was head of Private Banking and Group Treasury at the National Bank of Greece (reporting directly to the CEO of the NBG Tamvakakis), as can be seen on the org chart below. Yet was is oddest, is that Mr. Christodoulou worked not only as head of derivatives at JP Morgan but also held comparable posts at Credit Suisse, and… wait for it, Goldman Sachs… Uh, say what? Read More Here

Video: Did Wall Street bail out Greece? – Russia Today

(February 16, 2010) – The European Union has asked Greece to explain reports that it engaged in derivatives trades with US investment banks that may have allowed it to mask the size of its debt and deficit from EU authorities.Goldman Sachs made up an exchange rate that allowed the Greeks to look as though they were only engaging in a currency swap when, in effect, they were getting more than a billion more than they should have from the trades in credit.

Video: Real list of countries on verge of bankruptcy

(TheComingDepression) – Let’s talk a bit about these supposedly broke governments that have been reaching insolvency, and in cases like Iceland in 2006 and Argentina in 2001, have declared bankruptcy. It seems to most, as it would to anyone not ideologically retarded, that for all the public “brokeness” going on, there is always enough money for a bailout for some big bosses. Indeed, there’s never a shortage of money (or credit; whatever you want to call it) when it comes to buying up some big boss’ bad debt, or fleecing the public purse to provide him (them) with a fat tax cut so they can “create jobs” (see: off shore, low wage).

Descent Into Barbarism: The US and NATO Wage War on the World

The argument is won: capitalism as an effective system to organise society and provide for human needs has expired. The evidence is conclusive. Trillions of dollars to kickstart the economy in the US and Europe may have given an ephemeral lease of life to the financial class to spin the casino wheel once again, but it is more apparent by the day that the tentative “recovery” has spluttered to a standstill. Gridlocked by unprecedented levels of personal and national debts, the engine of production – the real economy – is in a state of rigor mortis.

What Do Rising Sovereign Credit Default Swaps Mean?

(WashingtonsBlog) – Rolfe Winkler argues that – in the short-run – the PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) will slash their budgets and get bailed out by the EU.

The “Other Reason” Why the U.S. is Not Regulating Wall Street

(WashingtonsBlog) – Sure, American politicians have been bought and paid for by the Wall Street giants. See this, this and this.
And everyone knows that the White House and Congress – while talking about cracking down on Wall Street with strict regulation – have actually watered down some of the most important protections that were in place.

Who’s Left? A Few Ultra-rich and Us, the Tapped-out Masses

About to lose your home? Have you lost your home? Can you make the interest payments on your credit cards? Can you afford to maintain your car, your family’s incidental needs, your children’s health, or even buy enough food, gasoline or heating fuel?

Video: Marc Faber on The Alex Jones Show – World Economy Is Doomed

Alex talks with contrarian investment analyst and entrepreneur Marc Faber. Faber publishes the monthly investment newsletter The Gloom Boom & Doom Report. On March 9 2009, he correctly predicted a U.S. stock market bottom.

Are we in an Economic Depression? – Bob Chapman

Few professionals are yet willing to admit we have been in a depression for the last year.
You have to understand the position that economists and analysts are in. They work for corporations, insurance, Wall Street, banking and government and if they thought we were in a depression and they publicly announced that all chances for advancement would be lost or they would be squeezed out of the firm or simply fired.

Video: The Debtors Revolts against the Big Banks The Keiser Report with Max Keiser

Every week Max Keiser looks at all the scandal behind the financial news headlines. On todays show Max Keiser and co-host Stacy Herbert look into the scandals of the inexplicable Timothy Geithner, the crisis levy planned by Obama, and luxury cruise liners in Haiti. Keiser also talks to Ann Minch, who started a Debtors’ Revolt in the US by refusing to pay her credit card bill unless her bank lowered their rate.

Color it Red: State Budget Gaps

In “Chart of the Day: State Buget Gaps 2010,” Credit Writedowns points us to a disturbing graphic in a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, entitled  “Policies for Increasing Economic Growth and Employment in 2010 and 2011.”

As CW’s Edward Harrison notes,

this is not just about California. Come summer 2010, the most severe gaps will be closed via budget cuts or tax increases unless the Federal Government can pull a rabbit out of the hat.

Liberals Call for Moving Money Out of Large Banks

Are you angry about Wall Street’s reckless excesses? Are you disappointed with President Obama’s limp approach to reform? You can change this, acting individually and collectively. Withdraw your deposit and savings accounts from the large banks that brought the system to ruin and were subsequently rescued with billions in government bailouts. Put your money instead in smaller, safer banks or credit unions closer to home–the thousands of community institutions that do not harvest their profits from greed and recklessness.

Decline in Credit Card Debt in the United States – Bob Chapman

Review of Markets – Americans borrowed less for a 10th consecutive month in November with total credit and borrowing on credit cards falling by the largest amounts on records going back nearly seven decades.

If Government Won’t Break Up the Giant Banks, Let’s Do It Ourselves

(WashingtonsBlog) – As everyone knows, the economy cannot permanently recover and truly stabilize until the giant banks are broken up. The top independent experts agree that the “too big to fails” are a drain on the economy and put the entire system at risk.

There Is NO Economic Recovery Happening

(MarketTicker) – We cannot recover until we purge the excess debt from the system, and the longer we take to do that, the longer the pain will last and the worse it will be.

MSM: Home equity lines have dried up across U.S.

(MSNBC) – Borrowing on the home for quick cash is a lot harder than it used to be in the United States, and it’s causing headaches for homeowners, banks and the economy.

Princeton Economist and Computer Scientists Show that Derivatives Are Inherently Vulnerable to Fraud

(WashingtonsBlog) – As I have previously noted, credit default swaps are destabilizing for the economy. See this. And the models used to evaluate financial instruments – such as the Gaussian copula formula for CDOs – are inherently flawed.

Economic News

(LATimes) – Small-business bankruptcies rise 81% in California

With credit tight and consumers still pinching their pennies, many business owners find they can’t go on. Read More Here

“Monetary Policy” Transfers Your Children’s Future Earnings to the Financial Elite

The bail-out of Wall Street and the banking and mortgage industries is not monetary policy; it is a massive transfer of wealth from future taxpayers to the Financial Power Elite. Read More Here

(MailOnline) – 27,000 firms go bust (and the same again are at risk)

More businesses have gone bust in the current recession than in any other since records began, figures show. Read More Here

(MailOnline) – £10bn of rip-off overdraft charges won’t be refunded

Banks will be able to keep £10billion from rip-off overdraft charges after the Office of Fair Trading abandoned a legal challenge yesterday. Read More Here

(RussiaToday) – Video: 9/11 heroes in life-struggle as Obama signs multi-billion war bill

President Obamas plan to pump more than six hundred billion dollars into U.S. defense next year has outraged many Americans. Rescuers whose health suffered after working at Ground Zero say the government should pay for their medical care – not pour more money into war. Video Link Here