The Tip Of The Iceberg Of The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Shake America To The Core

The Tip Of The Iceberg Of The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Shake America To The Core (Economic Collapse, July 22, 2013):

he pension nightmare that is at the heart of the horrific financial crisis in Detroit is just the tip of the iceberg of the coming retirement crisis that will shake America to the core.  Right now, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are hitting the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen every single day until the year 2030.  As a society, we have made trillions of dollars of financial promises to these Baby Boomers, and there is no way that we are going to be able to keep those promises.  The money simply is not there.  Yes, I suppose that we could eventually see a “super devaluation” of the U.S. dollar and keep our promises to the Baby Boomers using currency that is not worth much more than Monopoly money, but as it stands right now we simply do not have the resources to do what we said that we were going to do.  The number of senior citizens in the United States is projected to more than double by the middle of the century, and it would have been nearly impossible to support them all even if we weren’t in the midst of a long-term economic decline.  Tens of millions of Americans that are eagerly looking forward to retirement are going to be in for a very rude awakening in the years ahead.  There is going to be a lot of heartache and a lot of broken promises.

Read moreThe Tip Of The Iceberg Of The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Shake America To The Core

Pulitzer Prize Journalist Chris Hedges: “We’ve undergone a coup d’état, a corporate coup d’état in slow-motion. And it’s over. They’ve won.”

– Hedges: We Must Grasp Reality to Build Effective Resistance (The Real News, July 18, 2013):

HEDGES: Because the formal mechanisms of power don’t work. We’ve undergone with John Ralston Saul calls correctly a coup d’état, a corporate coup d’état in slow-motion. And it’s over. They’ve won.

Read morePulitzer Prize Journalist Chris Hedges: “We’ve undergone a coup d’état, a corporate coup d’état in slow-motion. And it’s over. They’ve won.”

Rioters Set Paris Ablaze Over Ban On Islamic Veil

Rioters set Paris ablaze over ban on Islamic veil (Independent, July 21, 2013):

Twenty cars were burned and four people arrested early today in a second night of violence in a Paris suburb after allegedly heavy-handed police action to enforce France’s ban on the full-face Islamic veil.

Riot police were on patrol in the same suburb west of Paris this afternoon when a fire broke out in a disused furniture warehouse, but it was not immediately clear whether this had been started deliberately. Six young people were arrested in the suburb of Trappes on Friday night when 200 rioters besieged a local police station to protest against police violence. A 14-year-old boy suffered a serious eye injury.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls appealed for calm. Community leaders said that the riots were a response to the frequent violence and insulting language used by police, rather than a protest against the two-year-old law banning burkas or other full-face coverings.

On the second night of protest about 50 young people burned cars and threw Molotov cocktails at riot police. Both sides agree the protests began when a three-man police patrol stopped a young woman wearing  a face veil on Friday night. The woman’s mother and husband became  involved in an argument with the officers.

Police say the older woman rammed one officer with a pushchair, and her husband punched another and then tried to throttle him.

Read moreRioters Set Paris Ablaze Over Ban On Islamic Veil

Syria Says Russia Committed To S-300 Systems Contract – Russia Defends S-300 Deal

Syria says Russia committed to S-300 systems contract (PressTV, July 23, 2013):

Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil says all agreements for Russia’s contract to deliver S-300 air defense missile systems to Damascus are still in place.

Jamil also said Russia and Syria are discussing the possibility of Moscow extending a loan to Damascus.

Russia defends S-300 deal with Syria (PressTV, July 22, 2013):

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has defended his country’s S-300 air defense missile deal with Syria as a transparent and legal contract.

“The contract on S-300s is absolutely legal, it’s transparent and it’s fully in line with the international norms and with the Russian export control legislation,” Lavrov said on Friday.

During an interview with Lebanon’s al-Manar TV in late May, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Damascus is already in possession of the first batch of S-300 missile defense systems from Russia.

Read moreSyria Says Russia Committed To S-300 Systems Contract – Russia Defends S-300 Deal

AND NOW: Cyprus Jailing People For Debt!!!

H/t reader M.G.:

“Adding to this mess, here is a story from Cyprus. They are jailing people for debt. Didn’t the 19th century teach these clowns anything? How can people pay if they are in jail?
Here is the link. Insane.”

You can’t make this stuff up!


Rise in debtors adds to prison overcrowding (Cyprus Mail, July 23, 2013):

THE ALREADY over-full Nicosia Central Prisons is becoming even more crowded as the financial crisis worsens and more people are being jailed for non-payment of fines and other debts.

Prison Governor Giorgos Tryfonides told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that efforts were being made to help such convicts pay off their debts in instalments.

“We are trying our best to make plans for payment of debt so an arrangement can be made with the attorney-general to postpone any punishment as long as the instalment is accepted by the plaintiff,” he said.

Due to the crisis, the number of people facing jail for financial reasons is on the rise compared to other years, Tryfonides said, adding on certain days up to five people might be imprisoned for similar offences.

Read moreAND NOW: Cyprus Jailing People For Debt!!!

OH, SURE! … France ‘Returns To Growth’ And Spain Sees Slump Easing – Eurozone Crisis Live (Guardian)

H/t reader M.G.:

“Here is a link from the Guardian. Japan and Spain markets moving ahead. Nation leaders promising to keep growth in markets. The marriage of business and government was defined as pure fascism by Mussolini……appears the entire world is trying his model.

Not one word about Spain borrowing from SS.”


France ‘returns to growth’ and Spain sees slump easing – eurozone crisis live (Guardian, July 23, 2013)

Related info:

Insolvent Spain Forced To ‘Borrow’ From Social Security Fund To Pay Pensions

Welcome to the ‘recovery’:

Worldwide Unemployment Crisis: 93 Million Unemployed Workers In G20 Nations

Euro Area Government Debt Rises To New Record High

10 Reasons Why The Global Economy Is About To Experience Its Own Version Of “Sharknado”

Meanwhile, In A European Galaxy Far, Far Away …

Mussolini quote:

“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”
Benito Mussolini

 

Former Award Winning ‘Spiegel’ Journalist On ‘Inner Press Freedom’ And Censorship (Video In German)

For my German speaking readers.



YouTube Added: 10.07.2013

Related article:

Germany undervalues journalism, union chief says (Deutsche Welle, Jan 12, 2011):

China, Zimbabwe and Iran all come to mind in discussions about press freedom – not Germany. But Michael Konken, chairman of journalists’ union DJV explains why journalism in Germany is endangered.

Insolvent Spain Forced To ‘Borrow’ From Social Security Fund To Pay Pensions

Insolvent Spain Forced To “Borrow” From Social Security Fund To Pay Pensions (ZeroHedge, July 22, 2013):

Spain’s slow-motion implosion into an insolvent singularity has been one of the most amusing sideshows for over a year. The chief reason for this is the sheer schizophrenic and absurdist polarity between the sad reality, visible to everyone, and the unprecedented propaganda by the government desperate to paint a rosy picture. While on one hand the economic data shows very clearly the painfully obvious sad ending for this chapter of European integration, it continues to be punctuated almost daily by such amusing confidence games as Spain’s Economy Minister de Guindos telling anyone who cares to listen that the labor market is improving “beyond the seasonal pick up” and that Q2 GDP would be close to zero (because 0% GDP is the new killing it). That’s the good news.  The bad news is that as Reuters reports, and contrary to fairy tales of unicorns and soaring 0% GDP, Spain’s government is so insolvent, it was just forced to “borrow” from its social security reserve to fund pension payments.

From Reuters:

Spain tapped its social security reserve fund for the second time in a month on Monday, the Labour Ministry said, to help with extra summer pension payments as unemployment and retirement costs deplete government funds.

The government turned to the fund for 3.5 billion euros ($4.6 billion) on July 1 then for a further 1 billion euros on Monday. Spanish pensioners receive two cheques in summer and two over the Christmas holidays.

Read moreInsolvent Spain Forced To ‘Borrow’ From Social Security Fund To Pay Pensions

Euro Area Government Debt Rises To New Record High

Euro Area Government Debt Rises To New Record High (ZeroHedge, July 22, 2013):

While the European economy may be moving in a straight line from upper left to lower right, the same can not be said for the level of debt in Europe, which has taken on the inverse trajectory. As per the just released quarterly update of Euro area government debt, in Q1 2013, total government debt in Europe as a % of GDP just hit a new all time high of 92.2%. This compares to 90.6% in the previous quarter, and up from 88.2% in Q1 2012.

The proud Q1 debt-to-GDP outliers, where the local economies are expected to continue plunging and thus send the stock markets (if mostly that in the US) surging, are the following:

Read moreEuro Area Government Debt Rises To New Record High

Study: 100% Of Children Exposed To Excessive Amounts Of Arsenic, Dioxins And Pesticides

See also:

Non Organic Foods That Contain Upwards Of 180 Times The Fluoride Level Of Tap Water


100 percent of children are found to be exposed to excessive arsenic, dioxins and pesticides in latest study (Natural News, July 21, 2013):

A new study on dietary toxin exposure found that all the participating children exceeded the cancer benchmark levels for arsenic, dioxins, dieldrin, and DDE, while 95 percent of preschoolers exceeded the non-cancer benchmark for acrylamide. More worrying was that the cancer risk ratios were exceeded 100-fold for arsenic and dioxins.

Children and adults exceed cancer benchmark levels for six toxins

Read moreStudy: 100% Of Children Exposed To Excessive Amounts Of Arsenic, Dioxins And Pesticides

Non Organic Foods That Contain Upwards Of 180 Times The Fluoride Level Of Tap Water

Some non-organic foods contain upwards of 180 times the fluoride level of tap water, says expert (Natural News, July 22, 2013):

As a follow-up to our earlier report on fluoridated food crops (http://www.naturalnews.com/036753_fluoride_pesticides_grapes.html), the following report explains a bit more about the true toxicity of the food supply in regards to fluoride chemicals. According to fluoride expert Jeff Green, many non-organic foods contain extremely high levels of fluoride because of the pesticide chemicals sprayed on them — and in some cases, non-organic produce contains up to 180 times the amount of fluoride found in tap water.

Fluoride-based pesticide chemicals such as cryolite (sodium hexafluoroaluminate) are commonly used on non-organic food crops because they are highly effective at both killing pests and protecting crops against pest damage. But these same chemicals tend to persist in, and on, produce, where unsuspecting consumers regularly consume them with their everyday meals. According to Green, about one-third of the average person’s fluoride exposure comes from non-organic food grown using fluoride chemicals.

“Cryolite is actually sodium aluminum fluoride … this sodium aluminum fluoride is especially effective at killing bugs,” says Green. “It’s also very sticky, so when they spray it, it’s more likely to stick on your produce, unless you’re … really working at trying to get it off of it.”

Many common fruits, vegetables loaded with fluoride

Citrus fruits, it turns out, are allowed by law to be contaminated with up to 95 parts per million (ppm) of sodium aluminum fluoride, while potatoes are permitted to have up to 22 ppm on the outside skin, and two ppm on the inside flesh. Raisins are allowed to have 55 ppm of the chemical, while romaine lettuce can have up to 40 ppm. But perhaps the worst offender is iceberg lettuce, which is allowed to have a whopping 180 ppm of sodium aluminum fluoride, or 180 times the amount of fluoride typically added to municipal water supplies.

Read moreNon Organic Foods That Contain Upwards Of 180 Times The Fluoride Level Of Tap Water

We’ve Been Lied To About Iceland’s ‘Recovery’

Wow. This story about Iceland’s “recovery” is a complete lie. (Sovereign Man, July 22, 2013):

July 22, 2013
Reykjavik, Iceland

Without doubt, Iceland was the canary in the coalmine for the sovereign debt crisis that is unfolding across the world right now.

It was the first place to go bust, crumbling under the weight of a credit-fueled boom that brought down most of the country’s banking sector and sent the currency into freefall.

Read moreWe’ve Been Lied To About Iceland’s ‘Recovery’

Britain’s Duchess Of Cambridge Gives Birth To Baby Boy

Now that is ‘all-important’ news, right?


Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to baby boy (CNBC, July 22, 2013):

Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge delivered a baby boy Monday afternoon, an event analysts said would be “overwhelmingly positive” for the U.K. economy.

The child of the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton and Prince William will be third-in-line to the throne. Middleton gave birth in the private wing of Saint Mary’s hospital in London.

The boy, whose name was not immediately revealed, weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces.

Related info:

God Don’t Save The Queen

The Queen’s Hidden Cousins: Banished, Shuttered Into An Asylum In 1941 And Left Neglected – New Documentary Reveals All

Mass Genocide Of Mohawk Children By UK Queen And Vatican Uncovered In Canada

Landmark Ruling Lifts ‘Veil Of Secrecy’ From Prince Of Wales’s Duchy Of Cornwall Estate (132,000 Acres Of Land In 23 Counties, Providing an Income Of £17.8 Million Last Year)

Prince Charles Has Been Offered Veto Over 12 Government Bills That Might Affect His Private Interest

Prince Charles Says His Ancestry Can Be Traced Back To Vlad The Impaler, The Inspiration For Dracula

Prince Charles’s Income From Taxpayers Rises 18 Percent – Inflation? What Inflation?

Prince William and Kate Middleton Royal Wedding Date Is On The Wedding Anniversary Of Adolf Hitler And Eva Braun

UK Government Orders Information Blackout On EU Farming Subsidies For The Royal Family

The Royal Family To Be Granted Absolute Protection From Public Scrutiny (Here are some of the stories they didn’t want us to know.)

Queen Tried to Use State Poverty Fund to Heat Buckingham Palace

Flashback:

History:

The British Royals since 1714 are coming from the House of Hannover and the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The Royals are ‘really’ Germans.

The royal family’s official name, or lack thereof, became a problem during World War I, when people began to mutter that Saxe-Coburg-Gotha sounded far too German. King George V and his family needed a new English-sounding name. After considering everything from Plantagenet to Tudor-Stuart to simply England, the king and his advisors chose the name Windsor.

Why the people cheer at Royals who have lived and still live off of them and who still receive paychecks funded by the taxpayer for doing NOTHING is beyond me.

The more people’s lives suck and the more uneducated they are, the more they seem to have a tendency to romantically adore their Royals.

The World’s 15 Biggest Landowners (Business Insider):

#1 Queen Elizabeth II

Land: 6.6 billion acres of land worldwide including Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia and a few other spots here and there. Also, the all-important Falkland Islands.
Background: England’s third (and most likely soon to be second) longest serving monarch, Elizabeth II retains royal title over The British Commonwealth and as such manages to keep her face on money throughout the globe.

With her 6.6 billion acres, Elizabeth II is far and away the world’s largest landowner, with the closest runner-up (King Abdullah) holding control over a mere 547 million, or about 12% of the lands owned by Her Majesty, The Queen.

Acreage estimates provided by The New Statesman.

Barclays Warns ‘End-Of-QE … Would Make 2000 Bubble Look Like A Day At The Beach’ (Video)

Barclays Warns “End-Of-QE.. Would Make 2000 Bubble Look Like A Day At The Beach” (ZeroHedge, July 22, 2013):

“It’s hard to make the case that [US stocks are up 17% on a 2.5% earnings rise] based on fundamentals alone – it’s money in motion,” is how Barclays’ CIO Hans Olsen describes the unreality occurring in US asset markets currently. He noted in last week’s interview with CNBC that Bernanke’s experimentation has created asset-inflation “that would make the stock market bubble of 2000 look like a day at the beach. It’s really quite remarkable.” Critically, as many have noted, he notes “let the market start to price things based on fundamentals again rather than money printing. The sooner we get back to a market pricing, the more sustainable it becomes.” What is ironic is that Olsen is overweight stocks in spite of all this – but like everyone else in the status quo – is hoping Bernanke keeps the house of cards from collapsing. Olsen appears to be among the very few career bankers willing to tell the truth – the fear being, of course (as we showed here) that it would mean their “skills” are completely meaningless. 


Hans Olsen, Chief Investment Officer, Americas at Barclays explains why his group has been engaged in the deliberate retreat and rotation from and within fixed income.

Detroit Plans To Cut Pensions … Cries Of Betrayal

“They want your f$$$ing retirement money!”
George Carlin (2005)


Cries of Betrayal as Detroit Plans to Cut Pensions (New York Times, July 22, 2013):

Now there is a new worry: Detroit wants to cut the pensions it pays retirees like Ms. Killebrew, who now receives about $1,900 a month.

“It’s been life on a roller coaster,” Ms. Killebrew said, explaining that even if she could find a new job at her age, there would be no one to take care of her husband. “You don’t sleep well. You think about whether you’re going to be able to make it. Right now, you don’t really know.”

Detroit’s pension shortfall accounts for about $3.5 billion of the $18 billion in debts that led the city to file for bankruptcy last week. How it handles this problem — of not enough money set aside to pay the pensions it has promised its workers — is being closely watched by other cities with fiscal troubles.

Read moreDetroit Plans To Cut Pensions … Cries Of Betrayal

MRI Research Reveals Cancer Cells Thrive On Processed Sugar

New MRI research reveals cancer cells thrive on processed sugar (Natural News, July 17, 2013):

Do you have a sweet tooth? If so, your dietary habits could be significantly adding to your risk of developing cancer. New research published in the journal Nature Medicine has confirmed that processed sugar is one of the primary driving forces behind the growth and spread of cancer tumors, so much so that the future of cancer screening could rely on scanning the body for sugar accumulation.

Scientists from University College London (UCL) in the U.K. made this discovery after experimenting with a new cancer detection method that involves utilizing a unique form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). After sensitizing an MRI scanner to look specifically for glucose in the body, it was revealed that cancer tumors, which feed off sugar, light up brightly as they contain high amounts of sugar.

Read moreMRI Research Reveals Cancer Cells Thrive On Processed Sugar

Scientists Find Excess Salt Consumption Causes Millions Of Heart Disease Deaths Worldwide

Excess salt consumption found to be the cause of millions of heart disease deaths worldwide (Natural News, July 20, 2013):

New cases of cardiovascular disease continue to mount in the U.S. and worldwide, making this the leading killer of men, women and children in western cultures. Enlightened, health-conscious individuals now understand that heart disease is not only preventable, but also treatable in all but the most advanced stages. Lifestyle modifications including elimination of processed and fried foods, smoking cessation, stress reduction and adequate physical activity are among some of the changes that promote heart health and dramatically lower future disease risk.

Excess salt consumption from synthetic salt products is a known risk factor for early heart disease, but researchers now report that sodium, largely coming from the disproportionate amount of processed foods that many people eat, is killing millions around the globe. Scientists from the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health now report the result of their research that found how eating too much salt contributed to 2.3 million deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other heart-related diseases throughout the world in 2010, representing 15 percent of all deaths due to these causes.

Read moreScientists Find Excess Salt Consumption Causes Millions Of Heart Disease Deaths Worldwide

Soy Products Linked To Cancer: 4 Convincing Reasons To Cut Soy From Your Diet Today

Soy products linked to cancer in lab tests: Four very convincing reasons to cut soy from your diet today (Natural News, July 16, 2013):

As time goes by, people are steadily waking up to some of the proven facts about soy, such as the knowledge that most soy is GMO. If that is the case, one can deduce that to solve the problem one can simply buy organic soy products. While it’s true that organic soy is healthier for you than GMO soy, there are other facts about soy that pose serious health risks. Here are four facts that debunk soy as a healthy food choice.

Four reasons to phase-out most soy products on the market

1. Soybeans contain large amounts of toxins. Unlike with other foods where any toxins are destroyed or deactivated during cooking, the toxins in soybeans remain intact. Some of these toxins, or “enzyme inhibitors,” block the actions of enzymes needed for the digestion of protein. The enzyme inhibitors in soy are linked to cancer in lab animal tests. Test animals fed enzyme inhibitors developed enlargement and pathological conditions of the pancreas, including pancreatic cancer.

Read moreSoy Products Linked To Cancer: 4 Convincing Reasons To Cut Soy From Your Diet Today

After Detroit Bankruptcy Filing, City Retirees On Edge As They Face Pension Cuts (Washington Post)

“They want your f$$$ing retirement money!”
George Carlin (2005)


After Detroit bankruptcy filing, city retirees on edge as they face pension cuts (Washington Post, July 21, 2013):

DETROIT — The battle over the future of Detroit is set to begin this week in federal court, where government leaders will square off against retirees in a colossal debate over what the city owes to a prior generation of residents as it tries to rebuild for the next.Soon after Detroit emergency manager Kevyn D. Orr and Gov. Rick Snyder (R) approved a bankruptcy filing Thursday, groups representing the 20,000 retirees reliant on city pensions successfully petitioned a county court to effectively freeze the bankruptcy process.

Now, city and state officials, who say the court ruling will not affect their plans, are asking a federal judge to hold hearings early this week to validate the bankruptcy and move forward with a strategy for Detroit to discharge much of its estimated $19 billion debt.

Orr has promised that retired city workers, police officers and firefighters will not see pensions or health benefits reduced for at least six months. But on Sunday, he said those retirement benefits will have to be cut down the road.

Read moreAfter Detroit Bankruptcy Filing, City Retirees On Edge As They Face Pension Cuts (Washington Post)

Gold Backwardation Goes Mainstream … Reuters: ‘Run For Your Gold, There Is Not Enough For All’

From the article:

“That’s why a fall or rise in gold prices is not so relevant anymore. The monetary ‘fire alarm’ message, courtesy of the relationship between spot and futures prices, is run for your gold, there is not enough for all.”


Gold Backwardation (GOFO) Goes Mainstream (Liberty Blitzkrieg, July 21, 2013):

Back on April 19, I highlighted an excellent write up by Professor Antal Fekete on gold backwardation and the end of fractional reserve bullion banking titled: Who Said the Hydra Would Take it Lying Down. In it he wrote:

In waking up too late that there was a problem after gold futures markets have been flirting with backwardation for a year or so, officialdom was forced to act. Act it did in a typically haphazard fashion. A few days ago, on April 12 and 15 the paper gold market was demoralized by a ferocious attack on the lofty gold price. This in and of itself is proof that Bernanke is fully aware that permanent gold backwardation is imminent, and that it will create and unmanageable situation. It’s got to be stopped in its track at all hazards.

In fact, however, a lower gold price is making the problem more intractable, not less. The Fed is diving from the frying pan into the fire. This is the point missed by almost all observers and market analysts. They ignore the underlying flight into physical gold that continues unabated, in spite of (or, better still, because of) the panic in the paper gold market. The Fed’s intervention in bankrolling short interest is going to back-fire, for the following simple reason. The Fed’s strategy is inherently contradictory. A lower price for paper gold makes it easier, not harder, to demand delivery on maturing futures contracts.

Several months later it appears Professor Fekete’s comments have been spot on, and the “hydra” has continued to employ brute force on the paper gold market in an effort to shake whatever supply they can from the financial trees. Unfortunately for them, it’s not working and gold’s backwardation continues to expand. Zerohedge has done a great job covering this ahead of the mainstream media as usual, most recently here.

Amazingly , it appears the mainstream media is now picking up on this huge development. In an article two days ago Reuters wrote:

July 19 (IFR) – A dislocation in the gold futures market indicating that demand for physical delivery of the metal is now far outweighing supply has intensified in recent weeks, increasing concern in the market that the change may not be a momentary blip and participants may have become over-leveraged.

Read moreGold Backwardation Goes Mainstream … Reuters: ‘Run For Your Gold, There Is Not Enough For All’

WAS Ron Paul RIGHT?

WAS HE RIGHT? (The Burning Platform, July 20, 2013):

Ron Paul wrote this scathing assessment and prediction about the newly created DHS eleven years ago. He was outraged by the $3 billion price tag. The DHS 2014 budget is $60 billion. Were his warnings about the American people being spied on by our government accurate? Are you safer today than you were in 2002? Do you have more or less liberty and freedom than you had in 2002? Was it worth it?

The Homeland Security Monstrosity

Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

November 19, 2002

Read moreWAS Ron Paul RIGHT?