February 2010 – Page 2 – Infinite Unknown

US: New-home sales fall to record-low level

February 24, 2010 by Infinite

Tax credit can’t halt decline to 309,000 annual pace in January

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales of new U.S. homes plunged 11.2% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000, the lowest rate on record dating back to 1963, the Commerce Department estimated Wednesday.

The third-straight drop in sales on a month-to-month basis was unexpected. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch forecast sales to rise slightly, to a pace of 355,000, with buyers taking advantage of a new federal tax credit. Read our complete economic calendar and consensus forecast.

“The housing market remains very, very distressed,” wrote Dan Greenhaus, chief economist for Miller Tabak & Co.

“There may have been some weather-related issues playing havoc with the sales data but clearly, these results are extremely unnerving,” wrote Jennifer Lee, an economist for BMO Capital Markets. “There is nothing positive to glean from this report.”

Tens of thousands protest across Spain at PM Zapatero’s pension reforms

February 24, 2010 by Infinite

People in Barcelona protest against government plans to increase the retirement age

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Spain last night in the biggest test of the country’s Socialist Government, which is under pressure.

With a general strike threatened in the summer, the two biggest Spanish unions staged protests in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante.

The Union General de Trabajadores (UGT) and the Confederación Sindical de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), are planning to stage 57 protests in other parts of the country until next week.

Unions are angry about the Government’s proposed pensions reforms which would extend the legal retirement age from 65 to 67.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister who recently came under pressure from financial markets to introduce measures to bring the country out of recession, now finds himself threatened by his political allies in the unions.

The protests are the first time that Mr Zapatero has faced street unrest since he came to power in 2004. Leading members of the Prime Minister’s party took part in the protests, a sign that his popularity is dwindling.

US: Baby DNA Sent To Military Lab For National Database

February 24, 2010 by Infinite

State says blood specimens were sent for research that will help identify missing persons.

Lawyer Jim Harrington has sued over lack of consent in DNA policy and may sue over database.

An Austin lawyer threatened to pursue a new federal lawsuit Monday after learning that some newborn blood samples in Texas went to the U.S. military for potential use in a database for law enforcement purposes.

The Department of State Health Services never mentioned the database to Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, who settled a lawsuit in December with the state over the indefinite storage of newborn blood without parental consent, or to the American-Statesman, which first reported on the little-known blood storage practice last spring. Harrington said he thought another suit was likely unless the health department destroys the information obtained from the blood samples or obtains consent.

“This is the worst case of bad faith I have dealt with as a lawyer,” he said Monday.

US Unveils Plans For New $1 Billion High-Security Embassy In London — The Most Expensive It Has Ever Built

February 24, 2010 by Infinite

US diplomats add a moat to their expenses at $1bn London embassy

A model of the US Embassy in Battersea, complete with moat 30m wide and rolling parkland

The United States has unveiled plans for its new $1 billion high-security embassy in London – the most expensive it has ever built.

The proposals were met with relief from both the present embassy’s Mayfair neighbours and the residents and developers of the Battersea wasteland where the vast crystalline cube, surrounded by a moat, will be built.

The decision to abandon the former site in Grosvenor Square by 2016 came after a prolonged battle with residents angered by the security measures demanded after the September 11 attacks. More than a hundred residents took out a full-page advertisement in The Times to oppose tighter measures that they said would leave the area more vulnerable to attack.

The new embassy, on a former industrial site behind Battersea power station known for its gay clubs, will be designed by Kieran Timberlake, the Philadelphia architect.

A moat 30 metres (100ft) wide and rolling parkland will separate the building from the main road, protecting it from would-be bombers and removing the need for the blast barriers that so dismayed the people of Mayfair.

The State Department sought to play down the cost of security measures, noting the expense of London building work. But the price puts the London embassy above the US’s most fortified missions, including the Baghdad embassy, which cost $600 million (£390 million) but required a further $100 million of work on air conditioning, and the Islamabad embassy, still under construction, which has cost more than $850 million.

It also does not include the 17.5 per cent VAT demanded by the Treasury on all buildings in Britain and which the US has refused to pay.

Greece: Police Clash With Protesters During Strike Against Austerity Plan

February 24, 2010February 24, 2010 by Infinite

– Nationwide Strike Paralyzes Greece (Wall Street Journal)

– Germany parries Greek broadside over Nazi occupation (Reuters)

Clashes broke out between police and protesters on the streets of Greece

Police in Greece have clashed with protesters striking over austerity measures designed to save the economy.

Greek police fired tear gas at a group of some 50 protesters on the edges of the rally, reports said.

It is the second general strike in two weeks and coincides with growing anger at the EU’s response to the crisis.

The action is set to be the biggest since Greece’s socialist government introduced cuts to bring the country’s debt and deficit under control.

Greece has closed airspace to all flights, trains and ferries are standing idle, and archaeological sites have been shut.

The country currently has a spiralling public deficit of 12.7%, more than four times higher than eurozone rules allow.

The government has pledged to cut this to 8.7% this year, and also reduce the 300bn-euro ($419bn; £259bn) national debt, by freezing public sector salaries, raising the average retirement age to 63 by 2015, and increasing taxes on petrol, alcohol and tobacco.

It also wants to crack down on tax avoidance. Greece’s black economy is estimated at 30% of official gross domestic product.

New York State Comptroller DiNapoli: Wall Street Bonuses Rise 17%

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

– US: Wealth Disparities Approaching 1920s Levels

Thomas DiNapoli, New York State comptroller, listens during an editorial board meeting in New York, on June 1, 2009. (Bloomberg)

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — Wall Street bonuses rose 17 percent in 2009 from a year earlier as the securities industry rebounded from the financial crisis, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said.

Financial firms disbursed $20.3 billion compared with $18.4 billion in 2008, DiNapoli’s office calculated, basing its estimate on personal income-tax collections. It doesn’t include stock options or other types of deferred pay. The bonus pool was the second-largest ever, DiNapoli said in his yearly report.

In The Worst Possible Moment, Fitch Downgrades Greece’s Largest Banks To BBB

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

Bund Spread Jumps 10 Bps To 325

And just as Greece was about to launch its 10 year bond offering… Where is Papandreou to claim that Fitch was bought by all the accounts (who may or may not invest in the €5 billion issue) to make the price even better.

Because the spread to Bunds just jumped by about 10 bps to 325 following the news. Fitch notes: “The rating actions reflect Fitch’s view that the banks’ already weakening asset quality and profitability will come under further pressure due to anticipated considerable fiscal adjustments in Greece.

In particular, Fitch believes the required fiscal tightening that needs to be made by the Greek government will have a significant effect on the real economy, affecting loan demand and putting additional pressure on asset quality.

The latter could result in higher credit costs, ultimately weakening underlying profitability.” In the US, where any news is good news, equities jump following the headline.

From Fitch:

Fitch Ratings-Barcelona/London-23 February 2010: Fitch Ratings has today downgraded the Long-term and Short-term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of Greece’s four largest banks, National Bank of Greece (NBG), Alpha Bank (Alpha), Efg Eurobank Ergasias (Eurobank) and Piraeus Bank (Piraeus) to ‘BBB’ from ‘BBB+’ and ‘F3’ from ‘F2′ respectively. The Outlook on the Long-term IDRs is Negative.

At the same time, the agency has downgraded the banks’ Individual Ratings to ‘C’ from ‘B/C’, whilst the ratings of the banks’ senior, subordinated and hybrid capital instruments have all been downgraded by one notch. The Support Ratings and Support Rating Floors (SRF) of all four banks have been affirmed.

A full rating breakdown is provided at the end of this comment. Separately, Fitch has also affirmed Agricultural Bank of Greece’s (ATEbank) Long-term IDR at ‘BBB-‘, which is on its SRF, and Short-term IDR at ‘F3’. The Outlook on the Long-term IDR is Negative. ATEbank’s IDRs, Support Rating and SRF are based on sovereign support as the bank is majority-owned by the Greek state (rated ‘BBB+’/Negative Outlook).

FDIC Report: ‘We Were Broke And Getting Broker’

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

Amazing…

700 troubled banks is bad, and far worse than 552 last quarter.

But the $20.9 billion loss in the deposit fund, after losing $8.2 billion last quarter, is beyond bad and well into the psychotropic medication range.

Remember that the Deposit Insurance Fund went negative last quarter. Now it has lost another $20.9 billion.

What does the FDIC say?

The agency hopes to make up that loss through advance payments by banks of $45 billion in fees

There’s that “hope” word again.

Oh, once you’ve prepaid your fees, what happens if the losses continue? Can’t collect the same fee more than once, right?

That’s what I thought.

“Each account insured to at least $250,000 through 12/31/2013 – so long as we can continue to borrow money from Treasury to pay you.“

They leave that last part of the sentence out, of course.

FDIC Reports 27 Percent Jump In Problem US Banks

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of “problem” U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993 and a sign the industry’s recovery is still shaky, regulators reported on Tuesday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said the industry overall eked out a profit of $914 million for the quarter, benefiting from a healing economy, but said the improvement was concentrated in the largest banks.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the profit was a huge improvement over the $37.8 billion loss the industry reported in the fourth quarter of 2008. “It’s not that this was a strong quarter. It’s simply that everything was so bad a year ago,” Bair said in a statement.

European Banks Face €1 Trillion Debt Showdown

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

European banks need to roll over €1 trillion (£877bn) of debt over the next two years at a much higher cost and in direct competition with hungry sovereign states, according to a report by Morgan Stanley.

The bank has advised clients to prepare for chillier times as monetary tightening begins in the US and China, causing major spill-over effects in Europe.

Roughly €560bn of EU bank debt matures in 2010 and €540bn in 2011. The banks will have to roll over loans at a time when unprecedented bond issuance by governments worldwide risks saturating the debt markets. European states alone must raise €1.6 trillion this year.

“The scale of such issuance could raise a significant ‘crowding out’ issue, whereby government bonds suck up the vast majority of capital,” said Graham Secker, Morgan Stanley’s equity strategist. “The debt burden that prompted the financial crisis has not fallen; rather, we are witnessing a dramatic transfer of private-sector debt on to the public sector. The most important macro-theme for the next few years will be how easily countries can service and pay down these deficits. Greece may well prove to be a taste of things to come.”

Prosecutors Interrogate 51 Turkish Military Commanders Over Planned Coup To Destabilize The Country By Blowing Up Mosques And Topple The Islamic-Rooted Government

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

FILE – In this Sept. 19, 2003 file photo, Turkish commanders, from left, Chief of Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, Land Forces commander Aytac Yalman, Navy Commander Ozden Ornek and Air Forces Commander Ibrahim Firtina seen during a meeting of the National Security Council in Ankara, Turkey. Police detained more than 40 high-ranking military commanders Monday, Feb. 22, 2010, for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government. Several high-ranking members of Turkey’s military, including Firtina and Ornek, were among those detained. The sweep highlighted the ongoing struggle between the secular establishment and the Islamic-oriented government, and left many wondering if the military no longer called the shots in a nation accustomed to viewing it as the pillar of the secular state. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)

(AP) ANKARA, Turkey — Prosecutors on Tuesday interrogated 51 Turkish military commanders, including former Air Force and Navy chiefs, over alleged plans to destabilize the country by blowing up mosques to trigger a coup and topple the Islamic-rooted government.

It was the highest profile crackdown ever on the Turkish military, which has ousted four governments since 1960. For decades Turkey’s senior officers, self-appointed guardians of the country’s secular tradition, called the shots.

But the balance of power in this EU-candidate country appeared to have shifted Monday as police rounded up the 51 military commanders, following the gathering of wiretap evidence and discovery of an alleged secret coup plan, dubbed “the sledgehammer.”

The nationwide sweep has dramatically deepened a power struggle between the secular establishment and the government, which has strong electoral backing and the European Union’s support. Turkey’s elite military — known as “pashas,” a title of respect harking back to Ottoman times — were once deemed untouchable.

“The most heavy sledgehammer to military custody,” read banner headline of daily Taraf, which has published leaked military documents that lead to the detentions.

Secret AIG Document Shows That Goldman Sachs Minted Most Toxic CDOs

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

The building that will house the new headquarters of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. beginning in March, stands at 200 West Street in New York, U.S., on Jan. 20, 2010. Photographer: JB Reed/Bloomberg

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — When a congressional panel convened a hearing on the government rescue of American International Group Inc. in January, the public scolding of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner got the most attention.

Lawmakers said the former head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank had presided over a backdoor bailout of Wall Street firms and a coverup. Geithner countered that he had acted properly to avert the collapse of the financial system.

A potentially more important development slipped by with less notice, Bloomberg Markets reports in its April issue. Representative Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, placed into the hearing record a five-page document itemizing the mortgage securities on which banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Societe Generale SA had bought $62.1 billion in credit-default swaps from AIG.

These were the deals that pushed the insurer to the brink of insolvency — and were eventually paid in full at taxpayer expense. The New York Fed, which secretly engineered the bailout, prevented the full publication of the document for more than a year, even when AIG wanted it released.

That lack of disclosure shows how the government has obstructed a proper accounting of what went wrong in the financial crisis, author and former investment banker William Cohan says. “This secrecy is one more example of how the whole bailout has been done in such a slithering manner,” says Cohan, who wrote “House of Cards” (Doubleday, 2009), about the unraveling of Bear Stearns Cos. “There’s been no accountability.”

CDOs Identified

Famous Investor Marc Faber: ‘Buy Farmland And Gold’ – ‘Prepare For a Dirty War’

February 23, 2010 by Infinite

“When I tell people to prepare themselves for a dirty war, they ask me: “America against whom?” I tell them that for sure they will find someone.”
– Marc Faber

I told you before that after bankrupting America and destroying the dollar the plan of the elite is to start WWIII.

There are also other forces at work that try to stop this, but you need to prepare yourself now, in case the elitists get their way.

I am not talking about preparing yourself out of fear. Not so many years ago preparedness was common sense.

The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash.

The bleak warning of social and financial meltdown, delivered today in Tokyo at a gathering of 700 pension and sovereign wealth fund managers.

Dr Faber, who advised his audience to pull out of American stocks one week before the 1987 crash and was among a handful who predicted the more recent financial crisis, vies with the Nouriel Roubini, the economist, as a rival claimant for the nickname Dr Doom.

Speaking today, Dr Faber said that investors, who control billions of dollars of assets, should start considering the effects of more disruptive events than mere market volatility.

“The next war will be a dirty war,” he told fund managers: “What are you going to do when your mobile phone gets shut down or the internet stops working or the city water supplies get poisoned?”

His investment advice, which was the first keynote speech of CLSA’s annual investment forum in Tokyo, included a suggestion that fund managers buy houses in the countryside because it was more likely that violence, biological attack and other acts of a “dirty war” would happen in cities.

He also said that they should consider holding part of their wealth in the form of precious metals “because they can be carried”.

One London-based hedge fund manager described Mr Faber’s address as “excellent, chilling stuff: good at putting you off lunch, but not something I can tell clients asking me about quarterly returns at the end of March”.

Study: Serious birth defects linked to the agricultural chemical atrazine

February 22, 2010 by Infinite

Gastroschisis in 30-week fetus. Photograph of cesarean delivery shows bowel protruding through anterior abdominal wall defect.

(NaturalNews) Gastroschisis is a birth defect in which the intestines, and sometimes other organs, develop outside the fetal abdomen and poke out through an opening in the abdominal wall. Long considered a rare occurrence, gastroschisis has mysteriously been on the rise over the last three decades. In fact, the incidence of the defect has soared, increasing two to four times in the last 30 years. But why?

Researchers think they’ve found the answer. The culprit behind the suffering of babies born with this condition appears to be the agricultural chemical atrazine. That’s the conclusion of a study just presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) held in Chicago.

US: Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs

February 22, 2010 by Infinite

“There are no bad jobs now. Any job is a good job,”…

To get Americans to accept this survival mentality is the next step planned by the elitists, in achieving their goal to turn Americans into slaves.

The plan is to bankrupt America, so that Americans will be so poor – within the next 2-3 years – that they will not have any strength left to rebel the New World Order.

They still call it the Great Recession, when it is really the Greatest Depression.

Government Is Funding Research To Get Drones To Fly Anywhere in Britain

February 22, 2010 by Infinite

The UK is broke, …

– Britain At Risk Of Worse Government Debt Crisis Than Greece

… but there is always more than enough taxpayer money left for corporate pals, Big Brother and the New World Order.

The Government is funding new research aimed at getting permission to fly drones anywhere in Britain, in a move which could benefit defence companies BAE Systems, EADS and Thales but inflame civil liberty concerns.

Eye in the sky: a Merseyside police officer tests a remote control helicopter Photo: John Giles/PA Wire

The use of unmanned aircraft for surveillance hit the headlines last week, after Merseyside Police had to ground their drone when it was discovered they were using it without a licence.

But a government-funded European group is pushing ahead with work aimed at showing that drones, known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), can safely be used in civil airspace. Drones cannot be flown outside regulated areas at present because they are controlled remotely and do not have the ability to “see”.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) must be satisfied the aircraft has the same ability as a piloted plane to spot unexpected obstacles and take action to avoid them, before they will be let loose above Britain. The CAA also restricts the use of drones for surveillance because of concerns about invasion of privacy.

The European Defence Agency has hired aerospace and defence group EADS to research how communication via satellites can be used “for the integration of unmanned aircraft systems into European airspace”, with the goal of starting demonstration missions next year.

The study aims to show that satellites are reliable enough to allow uninterrupted communication between the drone and the person piloting it remotely, giving the aircraft an adequate “sense and avoid” capability to make it safe to fly in built-up areas and to share the sky with other planes.

Drones are of interest to the military and the police as surveillance tools, and could be used by immigration authorities for patrolling Britain’s coastline. But concerns have been raised because the UK is already one of the most “watched” countries in Europe, with the proliferation of CCTV cameras.

US: Wealth Disparities Approaching 1920s Levels

February 22, 2010 by Infinite

I have told you many times in the past that the policies of the Fed and the US government, that are controlled by the elite, are all about destroying the middle class, bankrupting America, destroying the dollar and turning the US into a Third World country.

They have almost made it! They are very close now to ‘mission accomplished’, if they are not stopped right now.

This crisis has only just begun.

“When a country embarks on deficit financing and inflationism you wipe out the middle class and wealth is transferred from the middle class and the poor to the rich.”
– Ron Paul

This graph was an eye opener for me (not that I should be surprised):

My Take:

What a time to be an oligarch! All I wanted to do was vomit when I saw this.

Folks, there is no way we can have economic prosperity in this country when the top 1% has all of the money. The middle class is basically being destroyed right in front of our very eyes. Consumption economies die when the consumers have no money to consume!

I see growing signs of desperation and anger as the wealth of this nation continues to get transferred to the elite of this nation.

People are starting to “lose” it as a result. This past week’s airplane event in Austin was a disturbing development. I must admit that I really am not surprised. The government shouldn’t be either.

Things are only going to get worse in the violence department as the taxpayers continue to get violated and more desperate as a result of this economic cataststrophe. The news media tried to downplay the actions in Austin.

I think Washington was both surprised and concerned about what took place in Texas.

I have to ask: Should the government really be surpised that an American flew a plane into an IRS building in a fit of rage as we all get repeatedly fleeced by the political and social elites of this country?

Let me preface all of this by saying violence is not the answer here. However, why shouldn’t every American be infuriated by what has ocurred since this crisis began?

All the government has done is bail out Wall St. continuously since 2008. My guess is the disparity of wealth in this chart would look even worse if it included 2009. The rest of America has basically been ignored minus a few housing programs to help lower mortgage payments.

That’s what’s been so frustrating about this whole crisis and America is finally starting to get it. Just about ALL of the steps that have been taken by the government to help fix this crisis have involved throwing more and more money to the financial elites of this country. I mean, the examples are endless: TARP, AIG, Bank of America, Citi, Freddie, Fannie …. Need I say more?

The sheeple are finally realizing that the money is not trickling to them like Washington had promised when they threw billions to the banks. The people have only seen things get worse while Wall St. has prospered. They now want to know where their friggin’ bailout is!

They are also realizing that the goverment’s actions since this all started in 2007 have done nothing but drop the yields on their CD’s to 0%. Gee thanks!

Let’s not forget that the sheeple/middle class were also victimized by Wall St. as they were gamed into buying homes they couldn’t afford. When this fantasy came crashing down they were again violated as they saw their 401k’s get cut in half.

The people of this country can only take so much before they start going postal!

In fact:

The Wall St Journal had an article out yesterday around the increasing threats of violence against the IRS:

WASHINGTON-The federal agency charged with ensuring the safety of IRS employees said it has seen an uptick in the past several years in threats against agency personnel.

In the past four years, there appears to have been a “steady, upward trend” in the number of threats against IRS employees, said an official with the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration. That assessment, offered in response to an inquiry from Dow Jones Newswires, is based on preliminary data, the official cautioned.

The middle class in starting to feel like that pledge in the movie Animal House who says “thank you sir may I have another” after getting repeatedly paddled by his brothers.

Study: Nap ‘Boosts’ Brain Learning Power

February 21, 2010 by Infinite

Sleep is important for assimilating new information

A nap during the day doesn’t just beat tiredness, but actually improves the brain’s ability to absorb new information, claim US scientists.

Volunteers who slept for 90 minutes during the day did better at cognitive tests than those who were kept awake.

The results were presented at a conference in California.

A UK-based expert said it was hard to separate the pure “memory boosting” effects of sleep from those of simply being less tired.

Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness, but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap

Dr Matthew Walker, UC Berkeley

The wealth of study into the science of sleep in recent years has so far failed to come up with conclusive evidence as to the value of a quick “siesta” during the day.

The latest study, from the University of California at Berkeley, suggests that the brain may need sleep to process short-term memories, creating “space” for new facts to be learned.

In their experiment, 39 healthy adults were given a hard learning task in the morning – with broadly similar results, before half of them were sent for their siesta.

When the tests were repeated, the nappers outperformed those who had carried on without sleep.

Checks on brain electrical activity suggested that this process might be happening in a sleep phase between deep sleep, and dreaming sleep, called stage 2 non-rapid eye movement sleep, when fact-based memories are moved from “temporary storage” in the brain’s hippocampus to another area called the pre-frontal cortex.

Brain ‘inbox’

Dr Matthew Walker, who led the study, reported at the AAAS conference in San Diego, said: “Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefulness, but, at a neurocognitive level, it moves you beyond where you were before you took a nap.

“It’s as though the e-mail inbox in your hippocampus is full, and, until you sleep and clear out all those fact e-mails, you’re not going to receive any more mail.

“It’s just going to bounce until you sleep and move it into another folder.”

Dutch PM: Troops to leave Afghanistan in August

February 21, 2010 by Infinite

Related articles:

– Dutch exit could leave key Afghan area vulnerable (Washington Post)

– Dutch Government Has Collapsed In Dispute Over Afghanistan (BBC NEWS)

dutch-troops-to-leave-afghanistan-as-planned_pm

The Dutch troops were to have returned in 2008

A day after his cabinet collapsed, the Dutch prime minister says he expects Dutch troops to end their mission in Afghanistan in August as expected.

“If nothing else will take its place, then it ends,” Jan Peter Balkenende told Dutch television.

The cabinet fell after the two largest parties failed to agree on a Nato request to extend the tour of the almost 2,000-strong Dutch contingent.

A Nato spokesman said it would provide support to Afghans whatever happened.

The uncertainty over their deployment comes as Nato, US and Afghan forces are engaged in a large military offensive against the Taliban in neighbouring Helmand.

The governor of Uruzgan province said peace and reconstruction efforts would suffer a setback if the Dutch left.

Asadullah Hamdam told the BBC they were playing a vital role building roads, training the Afghan police and providing security for civilians.

“If they withdraw and leave these projects incomplete, then they will leave a big vacuum,” he added.

Judge Napolitano and Angela Keaton on Freedom Watch: Obama’s Bush Foreign Policy

June 9, 2010February 21, 2010 by Infinite

An elite puppet worse than Bush! Change!

Added: 20. February 2010

UK: Tories offer bank shares bonanza for all as poll lead dives

February 21, 2010 by Infinite

Maybe the headline should read:

‘Tories plan to bribe voters, by selling bank shares to the taxpayers, that they already own’

The government bought the shares with taxpayers money and now the Tories plan to sell those bank shares back to the taxpayers, who already own them?!

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!

What is the alternative?:

– Gordon Brown Praises New World Order (19 Feb 2010)

Doomed!

George Osborne

(The Sunday Times) — THE Tories are planning a bank shares bonanza for millions of families as they fight to save their lead in the polls, which has slumped to just 6%.

Cheap shares would be offered to small investors when the government’s £70 billion stake in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group is sold, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said last night.

The “people’s bonus” plan comes as a Sunday Times/YouGov survey today reveals that the Tories’ lead over Labour has slipped to the narrowest gap in more than a year.

The poll, the first in a series of weekly surveys which will be conducted between now and the general election, puts the Conservatives on 39%, down one point on January’s figure, and Labour on 33%, up two. The Liberal Democrats drop one point to 17%.

Gordon Brown Praises New World Order (19 Feb 2010)

November 6, 2017February 21, 2010 by Infinite

The government and the Bank of England are bankrupting the UK and destroying the pound, forcing the New World Order as SOLUTION upon the people.

Replacement:

Added: 19. Februar 2010

The government and the Bank of England are destroying the UK:

– Britain At Risk Of Worse Government Debt Crisis Than Greece

– UK Annual Inflation Jumps, Prompts Bank Of England Explanatory Letter

– Societe Generale chief strategist Albert Edwards: Greek bailout only delays ‘inevitable’ Eurozone breakup

– Societe Generale Chief Strategist Albert Edwards: Theft! Were the US & UK central banks complicit in robbing the middle classes?

– Marc Faber on CNBC: All Governments Will Default On Their Debt, Including The US

– PIMCO’s Bill Gross: UK a ‘must to avoid’ as its debt lies ‘on bed of nitroglycerine’ (!!!)

– Bank of England’s ‘nerves’ to be tested as inflation jumps most on record in December

– Fitch warns: Britain and France risk losing their AAA rating

– Moody’s warns of ’social unrest’ as sovereign debt spirals … because of bankster bailouts

– UK taxpayers face £2 trillion unfunded pensions liability, more than £80,000 for every household

– Moody’s: Top US And UK Debt Ratings May ‘Test The Aaa Boundaries’

– Treasury Pre-Budget Report Warning: UK ‘Faces Decades of Debt’

– Morgan Stanley: Britain risks sovereign debt crisis in 2010

– OECD warning: Britain risks ‘debt spiral’

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.” – John Adams

FDIC Seizes 4 More Banks; US Bank Failures In 2010 Rise To 20

February 21, 2010 by Infinite

The banks are bracing themselves for the coming commercial real estate meltdown:

– US Banks Facing $1.4 Trillion Crisis Over Commercial Real Estate Loans

Expect more than 1000 banks to fail, when the real tsunami hits:

– Bank CEO: 1000 Banks to Fail In Next Two Years

The problem is that the FDIC is broke:

– FDIC insurance fund is now broke, closes quarter $8.2 billion in debt

– FDIC Insuring 8200 Banks with $9 Trillion in Deposits and ZERO in the Deposit Insurance Fund

If the FDIC runs out of money, then Timmy Geithner will surely help!???:

– Obama Signs Law Raising Public Debt Limit from $12.4 Trillion to $14.3 Trillion

– Obama’s $3.8 Trillion Budget: Tax Rise of $1.9 Trillion for Richer Americans, Businesses

The US is totally broke.

What could possibly go wrong?

– Rep. Ron Paul At CPAC 2010: ‘We Are On The Brink Of A Financial Cataclysmic Event.’

WASHINGTON — Regulators shuttered four banks Friday, from Florida to California, as local banks continue to buckle across the country.

Twenty banks have toppled so far in 2010 and 185 have failed since January 2008, with regulators expecting to close dozens more by the end of this year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimated the four failures Friday cost its deposit insurance fund more than $1 billion.

The largest bank to fail Friday was the 10-branch La Jolla Bank in California. Its $3.6 billion of assets made it the biggest bank to fail in 2010. The FDIC sold all of La Jolla’s deposits and virtually all of its assets to OneWest FSB, a thrift created last year after investors bought up pieces of the failed IndyMac Bank. The FDIC and OneWest agreed to share future losses on $3.3 billion of the La Jolla Bank’s deposits.

Rep. Ron Paul At CPAC 2010: ‘We Are On The Brink Of A Financial Cataclysmic Event.’

February 21, 2010February 20, 2010 by Infinite

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“I place the economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword. The other is by debt.”
– John Adams

“The one aim of these financiers is world control by the creation of inextinguishable debts.”
– Henry Ford

“I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution — taking from the federal government their power of borrowing.”
– Thomas Jefferson

Dutch Government Has Collapsed In Dispute Over Afghanistan

February 20, 2010 by Infinite

Dutch forces have been in Uruzgan since 2006

The Dutch government has collapsed over disagreements within the governing coalition on extending troop deployments in Afghanistan.

After marathon talks, Christian Democratic Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced that the Labour Party was quitting the government.

He offered his government’s resignation to Queen Beatrix in a telephone call.

The premier had been considering a Nato request for Dutch forces to stay in Afghanistan beyond 2010.

But Labour, the second-largest coalition party, has opposed the move.

Just under 2,000 Dutch service personnel have been serving in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan since 2006, with 21 killed.