Economy

Ron Paul To Ben Bernanke: ‘People Lose Trust In The Government Because You Lie To Them About Inflation’ – ‘98% Of The Dollar Value Is GONE From The 1913 Dollar!’

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Must-see!

On inflation:

– Inflation Calculation Leaves Out Food, Energy Prices (NPR)

– A Tale Of Two Inflations: Why US CPI Is Flawed And Why Bernanke Will Maintain ZIRP As Revolutions Rage (ZeroHedge)

– Ron Paul To Ben Bernanke: “People Lose Trust In The Government Because You Lie To Them About Inflation”(ZeroHedge, Feb. 29, 2012):

Anytime Ron Paul sits across from Ben Bernanke you know sparks will fly. Sure enough, they did: starting 3 mins 50 seconds into the clip below, Ron Paul, guns blazing, asks the Chairman if he does his own shopping, if he is aware of what true inflation is, and if he knows that Americans don’t trust the government because they are being lied to about inflation. And it only gets better, once Paul starts brandishing a silver coin. The punchline: “The Fed will self-destruct anyway when the money is gone” – amen. And ironically letting the Fed keep on doing what it is doing will achieve that in the fastest possible way. In fact, letting the system cannibalize itself with no further hindrances may be the best option currently available – just go to town.


YouTube Added: 29.02.2012

HILARIOUS: Ben Bernanke: ‘The ECB Is Well Capitalized’

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ROFL!

– Ben Bernanke: “The ECB Is Well Capitalized” (ZeroHedge, Feb. 29, 2012):

This will be one of those “one picture is worth a thousand words” posts.

A quick preface:

During Congressional testimony, Ben Bernanke defended the Fed’s FX swap lines by saying that the ECB was “well-capitalized.” So instead of spending countless words explaining why that may not be quite so, we will merely show the bank’s total assets (net of LTRO 2) and its capital and reserves (link). The adjusted balance sheet is pro forma for today’s LTRO 2, which we noted earlier will add at least €311 billion in net assets to the ECB’s balance sheet, and potentially much more. Assuming the minimum, it means the ECB’s balance sheet will now hit €3 trillion. The capital backing these assets is €82 billion across the entire Eurosystem. In other words, the ECB’s leverage is 36.6x. This according to Ben Bernanke is “well-capitalized.”

And visually.

David Icke: When The Knock Comes On Your Door! & The Madness Of War! (Video)

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YouTube Added: 25.02.2012

Mitt Romney Lays Out His Economic Vision – In Empty 65,000-Seat Stadium

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– Romney lays out economic vision – in mostly empty stadium (MSNBC, Feb. 24, 2012):


– Picture of the Day: Romney Speaks to an Empty Stadium (The Atlantic, Feb. 24, 2012):

Question: Who schedules a speech in a 65,000-seat stadium if he only expects 1,200 attendees?

Answer: Mitt Romney.

‘S&P Declares Greece in Default’ (Wall Street Journal) – ‘The Greek Default Begins (Sky News) – ECB Puts Greek Banks On Emergency Aid After Downgrade (Reuters)

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– ECB puts Greek banks on emergency aid after downgrade (Reuters, Feb. 28, 2012):

Greece’s central bank is likely to step in to smooth funding for the country’s banks after an earlier-than-expected downgrade of the nation’s credit rating prevented them from borrowing against Greek government bonds.

– S&P Declares Greece in Default (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 28, 2012):

Greece became the first euro-zone member officially to be rated in default, 13 years after the single European currency was adopted to strengthen the European Union.

Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s long-term credit rating to selective default from double-C. The move was expected, as S&P said this month that it would consider Greece in default if it added “collective-action” clauses to its sovereign debt, effectively forcing all bondholders to accept a bond-swap offering. …

– The Greek Default Begins (Sky News, Feb. 28, 2012):

The talking is over; it is finally happening. For the first time since World War Two, a developed nation is going into default.

That’s the significance of the events of the past 24 hours, with Greece’s debt being classified as in “selective default” and the European Central Bank banning it from its cash window. Months of planning by both banks and policymakers have gone into ensuring that Greece’s negotiated default will be a smooth painless process. We are about to find out whether that planning pays off.

Now, we shouldn’t be surprised by Standard & Poor’s decision to cut the rating on Greece’s sovereign debt from CC to SD (which stands for “selective default”). The ratings agencies had always said that, given private investors are about to lose just over half the value of their debt (through a complex bond swap), this downgrade would be a natural consequence.

Nor should we be shocked that the ECB says it will no longer accept Greek debt as collateral: in fact, the only surprise is that it’s taken this long – on the basis of the ECB’s previous policy, the bonds should have become ineligible when were first downgraded from investment status two years ago.

Read more‘S&P Declares Greece in Default’ (Wall Street Journal) – ‘The Greek Default Begins (Sky News) – ECB Puts Greek Banks On Emergency Aid After Downgrade (Reuters)

So Greece ‘Defaults’ And Europe Moves On …

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FYI.

– So Greece ‘Defaults’ And Europe Moves On… (ZeroHedge, Feb. 28, 2012):

Via Peter Tchir of TF Market Advisors,

So far there are no dramatic consequences of the Greek default. The ECB did say they couldn’t accept it as collateral, but national central banks (including Greece’s somehow solvent NCB) can, so no real change.  We will likely get a Credit Event prior to March 20th once CAC’s are used to get the deal fully done.  Will the market respond much to that?  Probably not, though there is a higher risk of unforeseen consequences from that, than there was from the S&P downgrade.

Read moreSo Greece ‘Defaults’ And Europe Moves On …

David Rosenberg: ‘It’s A Gas, Gas, Gas!’ – ‘So here we have real incomes and wealth both deflating and the masses believe that recession is off the table because of a liquidity-induced four-month rally in the stock market. Go figure.’

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… and study the Weimar Republic!

– David Rosenberg: “It’s A Gas, Gas, Gas!” (ZeroHedge, Feb. 27, 2012):

Once again, if one wants to get nothing but schizophrenic noise from several momentum chasing vacuum tubes which very way may take the market to all time highs on 1 ES contract churned back and forth, by all means focus on the “market” which for the past three years is merely a policy vehicle of the monetary-fiscal fusion regime (thank you Plosser for confirming what we have been saying for years). For everyone else, here is the traditionally solid economic commentary from David Rosenberg. Considering that the central planners have pumped $7 trillion, or 50% of their balance sheet, in the stock market in the past 4 years, to offset precisely the warnings that Rosenberg issues on a daily basis, we are far beyond debating whether or not those who observe the economy realistically are right or wrong. The only question is whether the central banks can continue to expand their balance sheet at an exponential phase to offset the inevitable. Answer: they can’t.

Read moreDavid Rosenberg: ‘It’s A Gas, Gas, Gas!’ – ‘So here we have real incomes and wealth both deflating and the masses believe that recession is off the table because of a liquidity-induced four-month rally in the stock market. Go figure.’

HSBC Evacuates From Japan

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See also:

– Evacuate Tokyo And All US Forces From Japan! (Veterans Today): ‘Tokyo Radiation Level 25 Times The Fukushima Mandatory Evacuation Zone’

– HSBC is evacuating Japan (Fukushima Diary, Feb. 26, 2012):

Following up this article..4 major Japanese corporations are evacuating to Osaka

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation is going to withdraw from Japan.

Read moreHSBC Evacuates From Japan

Everything Not Nailed Down Being Bought

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$15 for a loaf of bread … coming to a store near you.

– Everything Not Nailed Down Being Bought (ZeroHedge, Feb. 27, 2012):

When in doubt – buy. When in doubt what – everything. As the chart below shows starting with the open of the US market, literally everything has been bought: stocks, bonds, crude, gold, and ‘logically’, the VIX. It took the market virtually no time to remember that when trillions in liquidity are being injected into the market courtesy of central planners, a downtick is verboten. Next up: waiting for WTI $110. Should take a few minutes at most.

Animation: America’s Metamorphosis To A Welfare State

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– Animation: America’s Metamorphosis To A Welfare State (ZeroHedge, Feb. 27, 2012):

Still confused why there are those who call America the USSA? Don’t be. As the following animation from the NYT so vividly shows, government benefits across the US have nearly tripled from a modest 7.8% of all personal income in 1969 to a ‘European’ 17.6% in 2009. And this before Obama went to town (as a reminder total debt has risen by over $4 trillion under Obama – a significant portion of that has gone to fund social welfare). Thus, we are confident that as of this writing, the government accounts for at least 20% and possibly as high as a quarter of all personal income. One can use any word to describe that transition depending on one’s personal political preferences, except for one: “sustainable.”

Source: NYT

Greek Farmers Offload Crops At Cost Price, Cutting Out The Middle Man

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– Greek farmers offload crops at cost price (Guardian/AP, Feb. 25, 2012):

Associated Press= KATERINI, Greece (AP) — Hammered by the financial crisis that has led to ever diminishing income, a group of residents in northern Greece have joined forces with potato farmers to slash consumer prices and ensure producers can get their crop to markets by cutting out the middle man.

Hundreds of families turned up Saturday in this northern Greek town to buy potatoes at massively reduced prices, sold directly by producers at cost price. They lined up in cars and with bicycles, on foot and with scooters to collect their bags of spuds from a truck that flung its doors wide open and was doing a roaring trade in the parking lot of a local courthouse.

Farmers say it costs about 20 cents ($0.27) to produce a kilogram (2 pounds) of potatoes, but that wholesalers will only buy them for 10-12 cents to get the crop to supermarkets, where they sell for about 60-70 cents a kilogram. Faced with making a loss, many producers say they have been unable to even get their products to the market.

Read moreGreek Farmers Offload Crops At Cost Price, Cutting Out The Middle Man

Hinde Capital CEO Ben Davies: Greece Is Just A Preview Of What’s Coming For The Rest Of Us (Video)

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YouTube

– Ben Davies: Greece Is Just A Preview Of What’s Coming For The Rest Of Us (ZeroHedge, Feb. 25, 2012):

All eyes are on Greece these days, with hopes the situation there can soon be resolved and the global recovery kicked into high gear.

Sadly, those hopes are misguided claims Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital. In fact, he says, Greece’s pain foreshadows the future awaiting the rest of the world.

It all comes down to simple math. Greece has increased its debts at a rate far faster than its income has grown. At some point, the debt became so large that the country could no longer service it.

What makes the rest of the PIIGS immune from a similar fate? Or Japan? Or the US? Or the OECD, in general?

Nothing.

Yes, Greece had a smaller, shakier economy and doesn’t have a central bank to print its own currency at will like Japan or the US. But even those countries with a printing press learn that, after a certain point, expanding the money supply only complicates the problem of too much debt by inflating key economic input costs and dangerously weakening the currency.

Read moreHinde Capital CEO Ben Davies: Greece Is Just A Preview Of What’s Coming For The Rest Of Us (Video)

‘America’s Per Capita Government Debt Worse Than Greece’, As Well As Ireland, Italy, France, Portugal And Spain (Chart)

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– Chart: ‘America’s Per Capita Government Debt Worse Than Greece’ (The Weekly Standard, Feb. 23, 2012):

The office of Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, sends along this chart, showing that ‘America’s Per Capita Government Debt Worse Than Greece,’ as well as Ireland, Italy, France, Portugal, and Spain:

4 Major Japanese Corporations Evacuate From Tokyo To Osaka

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– 4 major Japanese corporations are evacuating to Osaka (Fukushima Diary, Feb. 25, 2012):

On the regular press conference of Tokyo mayor on 2/24/2012, it turned out that 4 major Japanese corporations are moving the head offices from Tokyo to Osaka.
The companies are

Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsui&CO.,LTD
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd
Sumitomo Mitsui banking corporation

Read more4 Major Japanese Corporations Evacuate From Tokyo To Osaka

‘Oil Won’t Stop Until The Economy Breaks’

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For your information.

– “Oil Won’t Stop Until The Economy Breaks” (ZeroHedge, Feb. 24, 2012):

As gold strengthens on the back of the extreme experimentation of the world’s (now-sheep-like) central bankers’ easing and printing protocols, it does no real harm to the world, but as John Burbank (of Passport Capital) notes, the painful unintended consequence of all this liquidity is energy costs skyrocketing – and it won’t stop until the economy breaks. The negative feedback loop, that we pointed to yesterday as potentially the only thing to stall a magnanimously academic response to the insolvency we see around the world (and the need for deleveraging at this end of the debt super-cycle), of oil prices into the real economy will be devastating not just for US but for EM economies, though as the bearded-Burbank reminds us – Saudi benefits greatly (and suggests ways to trade this perspective). Flat consumer incomes while costs are rising is never a good thing and while we make new highs in oil in terms of EURs and GBPs, he warns we may soon in USDs also. Summing up, his perspective is rising tensions in the Middle East combined with central bank liquidity provision are a huge concern: “We’re actually quite bearish. The only reason all this liquidity is coming into the market is because things are really bad. It’s not because things are good. It’s hard to know where things are going to go. The point is, just because they’re putting liquidity in the market doesn’t mean the economy is improving.”

Edited Transcript below:

On the price of oil and his Saudi investments:

“[Oil] is up 16%, more than any of the indices. It’s a big problem for the rest of the world – central bank easing and liquidity providing presents a lot of problems for the average consumer here but also for emerging markets around the world.”

Read more‘Oil Won’t Stop Until The Economy Breaks’

Mike Krieger Of KAM LP Presents ‘The Playbook’ Of TPTB

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– Mike Krieger Presents “The Playbook” (ZeroHedge, Feb. 23, 2012):

Submitted by Mike Krieger of KAM LP

It’s like a ride in an amusement park and when you go on it you think it’s real, because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, round and round, it has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly colored and it’s very loud. And it’s fun for a while. Some have been on the ride a long time and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And others have remembered and they come back to us and they say: Hey, don’t be afraid ever, because this is just a ride. And we kill those people.

Shut him up, I’ve got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry, my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real. It’s just a ride, but we always kill those good guys who try to tell us that and let the demons run amok. But it doesn’t matter because it’s just a ride and we can change it anytime we want. No job, no savings money, just a choice right now between fear and love.

– Bill Hicks 1961-1994 (great quick little clip here)

The Playbook

It was always going to be a scary thing when the American Empire decided to turn its sights inward.  Americans like to look at “shock and awe” and cheer.  They think murder is fun and games.  They think we are winning when we lose a little bit more with every new bomb we hurl.  They think we are killing “the enemy” when in reality we are killing ourselves.  The truth is that all the shadow government in the U.S. (you know the unelected guys that never leave and tell the elected guys what to do) has been doing is what corrupt elites have been doing since the beginning of time.  Protecting their commercial interests.  While many here in the United States have been lulled back into another complete coma state by the garbage that spews from the television set and a stock market that marches higher every day with no volatility, the shadow government is using this time wisely.  They are passing laws such as the NDAA, which as we know allows for the indefinite detention of American citizens without trial.  In case you haven’t seen some of the commentary by several Senators on the matter take a quick look for yourself http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xytHJRmY0PI. Joseph Lieberman is one of the most despicable and downright evil Americans to have ever “served” this country.

Beyond the NDAA, TPTB are rushing to silence the thing they fear the most.  The internet.  As I have said for years now, the internet is the game changer and the reason I believe TPTB cannot win this fight using the same strategies that have been used by immoral control freak elites since the dawn of human civilization.  This is because the “playbook” has been exposed.  There are many plays in this book, and over the years I have outlined many of them, but the two that they like the most and the ones we need to be most aware of are.  1) Divide and conquer. 2) Problem, reaction, solution.

Read moreMike Krieger Of KAM LP Presents ‘The Playbook’ Of TPTB

The Greek Military Is Ready To Take Over Greece

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– Greek military ready to intervene and take over Greek Parliament (Examiner, Feb. 23, 2012):

The Greek military is ready to take over Greece and dethrone Papademos’ led transitional government according to two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity but are high ranking members of the Greek armed forces.

The onset of the military intervention plan found its roots when Mr. Papoulias, Greek President, held a state dinner surrounded by his military leaders and asking for their support to take Greece back and protect its sovereignty.

The call for support of the military was held after the Financial Times leaked the story that Germany wanted to put Greece under the auspices of a new EU commission, led by Germany.

Such a drastic action may have serious consequences for Greece one of which is that this will definitely result in the country leaving the Eurozone, but that may be the least of their immediate problem.

Read moreThe Greek Military Is Ready To Take Over Greece

Federal Reserve Writes Sweeping Rules From Behind Closed Doors

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The private Federal Reserve banksters tell other banksters what to do.

What could possibly go wrong?

From the article:

“The Fed isn’t breaking any laws by not having open meetings.”

Because the PRIVATE Federal Reserve Bank is ABOVE THE LAW (Video)!

– Fed Writes Sweeping Rules From Behind Closed Doors (Wall Street Journal, FEBRUARY 21, 2012):

The Federal Reserve has operated almost entirely behind closed doors as it rewrites the rule book governing the U.S. financial system, a stark contrast with its push for transparency in its interest-rate policies and emergency-lending programs.

While many Americans may not realize it, the Fed has taken on a much larger regulatory role than at any time in history. Since the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul became law in July 2010, the Fed has held 47 separate votes on financial regulations, and scores more are coming. In the process it is reshaping the U.S. financial industry by directing banks on how much capital they must hold, what kind of trading they can engage in and what kind of fees they can charge retailers on debit-card transactions.

The Fed is making these sweeping changes—the most dramatic since the Great Depression—almost completely without public meetings. Rather than discussing rules and voting in public, as is done at other agencies with which the Fed often collaborates, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and the Fed’s four other governors have held just two public meetings since July 2010. On 45 of 47 of the draft or final regulatory measures during that period, they have emailed their votes to the central bank’s secretary.

Read moreFederal Reserve Writes Sweeping Rules From Behind Closed Doors

Interview With Prof. Dr. Busby And Leuren Moret – Fallujah, Fukushima And The Global Radiation Catastrophe … Exposing Worldwide Depopulation And Genocide

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MUST-LISTEN!!!

FULL INTERVIEW: MP3: Leuren Moret & Chistopher Busby (The Real Deal):

NB: The mp3 link has been corrected with the February 2012 interview.

Part 1:

– Fallujah, Fukushima, & the Global Radiation Catastrophe, Part 1 (Veterans Today, Feb. 13, 2012)

Part 2:

– Fallujah, Fukushima, & the Global Radiation Catastrophe, Part 2 (Veterans Today, Feb. 23, 2012):

The 20th century proved to be a century of great advancement towards the centuries old goals of the ruling elite – global slavery and total control of the world’s resources.

Through the Bilderberg Group, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Vatican, CIA and MI6, and the European Union (EU), and profiteering from the global drug economy – the ruling elite have developed their agenda to depopulate and remove independence from all countries and permit the aristocracies tyrannical rule from behind the military might of the United Nations (UN). Covert and overt nuclear wars are causing a catastrophic decline in the global population, funded by profiteering war mongering bankers, and politicians who authorized the use of genocidal nuclear weapons while investing in pharmaceutical companies to treat the epidemic of global illnesses caused by their nuclear weapons.

The recent skiing accident by Dutch Prince Friso, led to the exposure of the deep criminal activities of the Dutch and other aristocracies:  “Grim Tidings From the Netherlands: Prince Bernhard’s Grandchildren Continue Bilderberg Legacy”. For centuries, through the Dutch East India Company, the deep involvement of the Dutch crown in the global drug trade has now been exposed as the source of the Dutch monarchies tremendous wealth. As second son, Prince Friso was involved in many aspects of the development of technologies for total control of the human race from space (HAARP), was employed by Goldman Sachs (the Rothschild bankers), Wolfenson of the World Bank, and presently a uranium enrichment company. Despite being a homosexual, he married the former girlfriend of one of the top ten drug dealers (a Dutchman) in the world – with ties to Queen Beatrix (his mother) through her lawyer. The aristocracy likes to keep their enterprises “in the family””The Real Deal” Radio Show (February 3, 2012)

“The Real Deal” Radio Show (February 3, 2012)

Host: Jim Fetzer: James Fetzer Ph.D.

Guests:
Dr. Busby: Christopher Busby, Ph.D.
Leuren Moret: Leuren Moret, B.S., M.A., PhD (ABD)

Editor’s Note: This transcription was prepared by William B. Fox, Publisher, America First Books, who also helped organize this interview. Let me add a special note of appreciation to Leuren Moret, who has done a brilliant job of providing the photos and graphs that accompany Part 1 and Part 2, which have substantially enhanced the presentation of the stunning information provided by her and Christopher Busby during this historic interview.  They both deserve our highest praise and commendation.

Hour Two

Dr. Fetzer: This is Jim Fetzer, your host on “The Real Deal”, continuing my conversation with Leuren Moret, an independent geoscientist, who has done expert studies on Fukushima among her other research efforts, and Dr. Christopher Busby, visiting Biomedical Studies Professor at the University of Ulster, expert on the effects on what turns out to be enriched uranium in Iraq, and who has authored a new book in Japanese about the Fukushima disaster. Leuren, I know you have a number of things you would like to say.

Leuren Moret: Yes, in 2009 I was invited to my second War Crimes Conference in Malaysia by Tun Dr. Mahathir [former Prime Minister of Malaysia], and Chris was there in 2007. He did an absolutely wonderful, wonderful presentation. And my presentation in 2009 was titled “UN 2008 Report Evidence of Global Decline in Population and Fertility”. I put up two United Nations [UN] diagrams [Fig. 8, 10] from that report – their [UN] own report – that demonstrated that since 1986 all countries in the world, all regions in the world, have had declining populations and declining fertility.

Read moreInterview With Prof. Dr. Busby And Leuren Moret – Fallujah, Fukushima And The Global Radiation Catastrophe … Exposing Worldwide Depopulation And Genocide

‘The Money Masters’ (Full Documentary)

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FACING UP TO THE 

Nation’s Finances
National Debt Clock

 

Flashback.


YouTube

‘Inside Job’ (Documentary On The Financial Crisis – Full Length HD) – Narrated by Matt Damon

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Inside Job, Narrated by Matt Damon (Full Length HD) from jwrock on Vimeo.

Description:

‘Inside Job’ provides a comprehensive analysis of the global financial crisis of 2008, which at a cost over $20 trillion, caused millions of people to lose their jobs and homes in the worst recession since the Great Depression, and nearly resulted in a global financial collapse. Through exhaustive research and extensive interviews with key financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics, the film traces the rise of a rogue industry which has corrupted politics, regulation, and academia. It was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.