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" Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants – but debt is the money of slaves." - Norm Franz, Money and Wealth in the New Millennium

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Former Democratic Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder used to call Ronald Reagan the "Teflon president" because he wasn't blamed for anything adverse that happened during his administration. Nothing "stuck" to Reagan, she used to say, because he was the "great communicator."
Smoking gun evidence? IRS targeting began day after chief met with Obama at White House, 6/11/13

Despite the dreadful consequences that taxing the Internet will cause, something that I covered in a previous piece on this website, Congress seems dead set on bringing sales taxes to the Internet. Unfortunately, this effort gained a powerful and respected ally this past week.
Remember When the Internet Was a Tax-Free Paradise?, 4/20/13

Is Bitcoin the new gold? Some former gold bugs certainly think so. And its value has skyrocketed in recent months.
What Bitcoin Really Is, 4/1/13

"EBT (electronic benefit transfer) benefits have more than doubled during the Obama administration’s last four years, creating tens of millions of new dependents who now vote based almost entirely on who gives them the most handouts."
Cashless Society is Almost Here – And With Some Very Sinister Implications, 3/12/13

The relentless war against cash payments waged by governments worldwide has perhaps gone furthest in Scandinavia. The ostensible reason given by our rulers for suppressing cash is to keep society safe from terrorists, tax evaders, money launderers, drug cartels and sundry other villains, real or imagined. But the actual aim of the recent flood of laws rendering cash transactions less convenient or limiting or even prohibiting them is to force the public at large to make payments through the financial system in order to prop up the unstable fractional-reserve banks and, more importantly, to expand the ability of governments to spy on and keep track of their citizens’ most private financial dealings. One ingenious friend from Norway has fought to protect his right to use cash by invoking his government’s own legal tender laws against it. Here is his story in his own words.
Using Legal Tender Laws Against the State?, 3/9/13

"Every revolution needs a good crisis in order to germinate its seed. The cashless revolution is no different. It should be abundantly clear by now that the global financial meltdown has been engineered at every juncture of its unfolding by the very private central banks who expand and contract the money supply. A dollar or euro collapse will trigger a global economic crisis, which is a prime opportunity to introduce the next phase."
Sinister Cashless Society is Almost Here, 12/2/12

"The ignorance of the American populace is overwhelming. While not to belittle the Bank of America employees for there lack of knowledge, I hope they research this and start their education soon."
I try to Redeem My Silver Certificate for Silver at BofA, 10/26/12

What if there was a financial system that would eliminate the need for the federal government to go into debt, that would eliminate the need for the Federal Reserve, that would end the practice of fractional reserve banking and that would dethrone the big banks? Would you be in favor of such a system?
What If We Adopted A System Where The Banks Did Not Create Our Money?, 10/22/12

The Rockefeller global oil and banking empire has been the subject of much critical commentary on the Internet. However, the Rockefeller Octopus’s tentacles into every facet of America’s banking, oil (through their control of Standard Oil), military, educational, and foreign policy apparatus was exposed in a monograph prepared by the Soviet Union in 1959. An English translation of the Soviet article prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency’s Foreign Documents Division and dated December 16, 1959, was uncovered from the CIA’s archives. The paper is titled: “About Those Who Are Against Peace.”
Rockefeller Global Tentacles Exposed in 1959 by the Soviet Union, 10/20/12

The latest executive order (EO) emanating from the White House October 9 now claims the power to freeze all bank accounts and stop any related financial transactions that a “sanctioned person” may own or try to perform — all in the name of “Iran Sanctions.”
Another Obama Executive Order Allows Seizure of Americans' Bank Accounts, 10/18/12

Large Cash Transactions Banned In Mexico ... Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon has signed into law a ban on large cash transactions. The ban will take effect in about 90 days and it is part of a broader effort to control monetary flows within the country. Under the law, a Specialized Unit in Financial Analysis operating within the Attorney General's Office will be created to investigate financial operations "that are related to resources of unknown origin." For real estate transactions, cash payments of more than a half million pesos ($38,750) will be forbidden and, for automobiles or items like jewelry, art, and lottery tickets, cash payments of more than 200,000 pesos ($15,500) will be forbidden. The law carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison. – Forbes
Now Mexico Bans Cash, 10/18/12

It still says, “legal tender for all debts, public and private” – but it’s becoming clear the powers-that-be would much prefer you used something else. Besides cash money, that is.
Legal Tender... Except When It’s Not, 10/4/12

In short it’s a flashy way of trading small amounts of bitcoins in a physical way. These “Bit-Notes” are NOT the safest way of storring your bitcoins but it dose make a great way of giving someone their first bitcoins attached to some great looking graphics. DTOM has asked for some graphics from the Muslim Agorist, Davi Barker and he delivered these great designs. I may start selling these on the website but I will be bringing a number of them to the upcoming Libertopia Event in San Diego and and will be passing them out to people who might want to know more about bitcoins but dont know how to get started. Stay tuned for a update and instructions on how to use them.
What is a Bitcoin Bank Note?, 9/30/12

A video clip posted by the Drudge Report that has since gone viral which shows an Obama supporter semi-incoherently blathering about how she is voting for Obama because the government gave her a free phone tragically underscores how the state exploits dependency by offering poor people trinkets while simultaneously stealing their entire economic future.
Forget Your Free Phone, Obama Has Screwed The Poor, 9/28/12

The Eleventh Circuit US Court of Appeals has ruled that private contractors operating toll roads on behalf of the state have the power to detain and store records on motorists who pay by cash at toll booths – another example of how using cash is increasingly being treated as a suspicious activity.
Court Rules Motorists Can Be Detained For Paying By Cash at Toll Booths, 9/24/12

If you think the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing will only affect the US dollar, think again. Now that the United States has officially begun it’s third round of money printing to the tune of at least $40 billion monthly, central banks around the world will also act to ‘defend’ their currencies in kind.
"Dollar Index Headed for Rapid Collapse" Over Next 3 to 4 Weeks, 9/19/12

“In early scenes from Goethe’s tragedy, Mephistopheles persuades the heavily indebted Holy Roman Emperor to print paper money – notionally backed by gold that had not yet been mined – to solve an economic crisis, with initially happy results until more and more money is printed and rampant inflation ensues.”
ECB Debasement is akin to Work of Devil – Risk of "Rapid Currency Depreciation", 9/19/12

Hyperinflationary episodes have appeared several times over the past century – 55, to be exact – as the world's nations have experimented with fiat currencies backed by the full faith and credit of the governments that issue them.
How 9 Countries Completely Lost Control of Inflation, 9/18/12

The National Bureau of Economic Research has published a new paper analyzing 138 years of economic history in 14 advanced economies, which proves that high levels of private debt cause severe recessions.
Too Much Government Debt Hurts the Economy, but Too Much Private Debt Kills It, 9/9/12

Robert Neuwirth spent four years among the chaotic stalls of street markets, talking to pushcart hawkers and gray marketers, to study the remarkable "System D," the world's unlicensed economic network. Responsible for some 1.8 billion jobs, it's an economy of underappreciated power and scope.
Power of the informal economy, 9/6/12

When the consequences of runaway debt, out-of-control deficit spending, and money-printing schemes come home to roost, it's not exactly a stretch to believe that high inflation will result.
What to Do When Inflation Gets Out of Hand, 9/4/12

Communities around the world who find the mainstream economic system taxing at best and downright disempowering at worst are taking matters into their own hands. With micro-currency and modern day barter systems, people are making positive strides in curbing economic downturns. Both promote ingenuity, economic sustainability, prosperity and connection with neighborhood commerce. As more cities, towns and rural hamlets embrace alternative currencies and bartering, abundance thrives -- free of national and global financial strangleholds.
Declare economic independence with revolutionary micro-currency, 9/1/12

Authorities are winding down their criminal investigation of the failed brokarage firm, MF Global, and despite the lack of oversight and the loss of more than $1 billion in customer funds, it now seems unlikely that anyone at the firm will face criminal charges.
No One Will Be Charged With a Crime for the MF Global Collapse, 8/16/12

The bottom line is starkly simple: end the current trend—now—or face total economic collapse and complete societal upheaval in the not-so-distant future.
The Ponzi schemes and wishing must end or the end will come faster than anyone thinks.
1/3rd of Americans now on federal welfare, 8/13/12

Global currency debasement has been one of the main drivers for gold's appreciation and massive jumps in central bank balance sheets are also associated with kicking off big moves in gold. With the massive amount of debt to roll over just ahead and the likely increase in central bank balance sheets, we may just see gold head to new all-time highs as global investors move to protect their capital from the tidal wave of cheap money.
Global QE Is Coming: Let the Gold Mania Begin!, 7/26/12

...This is going to spread. It will appear whenever governments and banks break down. When this happens, production will scape the tax collector’s nets. The tax collector cannot track everything. He cannot brig charges against everyone. The more people who get away with unreported income, the more difficult it will be for governments to avoid contraction.
The future will have smaller, weaker governments.
Alternative Digital Currencies Based on Barter, 7/17/12

On Friday, July 6, President Obama signed into law a bill that would renew transportation programs and extend low interest rates on student loans for one year. While this minimal gesture resulted in, no doubt, sighs of relief from those burdened by student debt, tucked away within the bill's pages was a little-noticed proposal to further erode the funding of workers' pensions. The bill was a brilliant sleight of hand where what it appeared to be giving with one hand distracted the public from what it was taking away with the other.
Pensions Under Attack in America, 7/16/12

The mechanisms for transferring wealth from the majority to the elite involve a massive conspiracy to deceive with the primary goal of getting all to jump into tangled heaps of collapsing markets.
Elites Bilk Populace through Manipulation of Currency, Interest Rates and Precious Metals, 7/14/12

When Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase Bank, appeared before the Senate Banking Committee on June 13, he was wearing cufflinks bearing the presidential seal. “Was Dimon trying to send any particular message by wearing the presidential cufflinks?” asked CNBC editor John Carney. “Was he . . . subtly hinting that he’s really the guy in charge?”
Wall Street's Protection Racket of Covert Derivatives: JPMorgan Derivatives Prop Up U.S. Debt, 6/25/12

If you have wondered whether all of the bad news you've heard regarding home values, real wages and other economic data since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008 is true, wonder no more.
It is. And what's more, it's likely a lot worse than you thought.
According to federal figures, the average American household's wealth declined by a staggering 40 percent since President Obama took office, wiping out nearly 20 years' worth of wealth accumulation and growth; middle-class families bore the brunt of that decline, by the way (what else is new?).
Wealth of Americans plummets 40% during Obama's reign in office, 6/13/12

Add up the monthly mortgage bill, maintenance, homeowner's insurance, and taxes. Then, even after subtracting the tax deduction, renting is probably cheaper. And that's before you consider the down payment.
Even After the Housing Crisis, You're Still Better Off Renting, 6/5/12

The American dollar bill is packed full of occultic significance all of which is explained such as the language used, the pyramid, the all seeing eye, the numerology and the owl of moloch. The Bohemian Grove is also briefly discussed given the connection it has with the very same pagan deity being worshipped by some of the world's leading and most powerful politicians, industrialists and media moguls. Excerpts were taken from a lecture given by researcher and historian Jordan Maxwell.
What's All That Creepy Occult Stuff on U.S. Money, 5/19/12

The global "recovery" is based not on reducing debt but on increasing it. Nice, but where's the collateral? The basic idea of debt is that credit is extended based on collateral, i.e. something of enduring, tradable value, or an income stream that isn't reduced to zero by non-discretionary spending and taxes.
A funny thing happened to collateral like housing equity and financial assets in the past four years--it shrank by trillions of dollars. According to the latest Z1 "Balance Sheet of Households and Non-Profits" from the Federal Reserve, real estate fell by $4.9 trillion since the bubble top in 2007 and owners' equity lost $4.2 trillion.
Entire Global Economy Depends On Collateral That Doesn't Exist, 5/2/12

In what can only be described as a sign of the harsh economic times, new data shows that tens of millions more Americans have been placed on public assistance since the Great Recession began in 2008.
45 million people in 2011 received food stamps, a 70% increase from 2007, 4/27/12

“Bottom-bouncing” is the term John Williams of Shadowstats.com uses consistently to describe the true state of the economy. The mainstream media would like you to believe that with every slight uptick in the economy, we have hit bottom and are in a so-called “recovery.” The upticks are reported with wild enthusiasm, while the downticks are brushed over. The latest bad news for the economy came from the housing sector. CNBC reported Monday, “In a stark reversal during the heart of the spring housing market, confidence among the nation’s homebuilders dropped in April to levels not seen since January. An association index measuring sentiment fell three points, changing course after seven straight months of gains. It now stands at twenty-five; fifty is the line between positive and negative sentiment. ‘What we’re seeing is essentially a pause in what had been a fairly rapid build-up in builder confidence that started last September,’ said National Association of Home Builders Chief Economist David Crowe in a release.”
Bottom-Bouncing Economy, 4/18/12

Iraq has decided to hold off on a plan to knock three zeros off the nominal value of bank notes of its currency because it does not believe the economic climate is suitable, the cabinet secretary said.
Iraq halts plans to redemoninate dinar, 4/13/12

Every quarter the Office of the Currency Comptroller releases its report on Bank Derivative Activities, and every quarter we find that the Too Big To Fail get Too Bigger To Fail. To wit: in Q4 2011, of the total $230.8 trillion in US outstanding derivatives, the Top 5 banks (JPM, BofA, Morgan Stanley, Goldman and HSBC) accounted for 95.7% of all Derivatives.
Top 5 Banks Hold 95.7%, Or $221 Trillion, Of Outstanding Derivatives, 3/26/12

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will this week take some initial steps to unseat the US dollar as the preferred worldwide currency for trade and investment in emerging economies.
BRICS Move to Unseat US Dollar as Trade Currency, 3/26/12

Once upon a time, there were two United States Senators. One was a Democrat. The other was a Republican.
They were very concerned. The government's deficit was up again this year. Of course, it was always up again, every year. But this was becoming a problem. It was making it harder to borrow money. Creditors wanted evidence that the government could pay its bills without facing the nasty trolls called bond vigilantes.
They had to find ways to bring in more revenues.
Uncle Gary's Bedtime Story: 'Why Congress Invented Tax-Deferred IRA Accounts', 3/22/12

Just like the highly publicized war on drugs that the US government has been waging – and losing – for decades, it is doomed to lose its surreptitious war on cash, because the free market can and will respond to the demand of ordinary citizens for a reliable and convenient money.
Can the US government get away with Banning Cash?, 3/21/12

Every good survivalist has a stockpile of things he or she recognizes their family may need to survive a natural or man-made disaster. However, many people forget the value of maintaining a barter store as well.
16 SHTF Barter Items To Stockpile, 3/17/12

As Americans, we live in two worlds; the world of mainstream fantasy, and the world of day-to-day reality right outside our front doors. One disappears the moment we shut off our television. The other, does not...
Americans Will Need Healthy Black Markets To Survive, 3/3/12

First high gas prices, now water. A shocking new report about the nation's crumbling drinking water system says that Americans should expect their bills to double or triple to cover repairs just to keep their faucets pouring. That means adding up to $900 a year more for water.
U.S. water bills to triple, 2/27/12

Do you want to know what the future of America is going to look like? Just check out what is happening to Detroit. The city of Detroit was once one of the greatest industrial cities in the history of the world, but today it is a rotting, decaying, post-apocalyptic hellhole. Nearly half the men are unemployed, nearly half the population is functionally illiterate, more than half of the children are living in poverty and the city government is drowning in debt. As economic conditions have gotten worse, crime has absolutely exploded. Every single night in Detroit there are frightening confrontations between desperate criminals and exasperated homeowners. Unfortunately, the police force in Detroit has been dramatically reduced in size. When the police in Detroit are called, they often show up very late if they even show up at all. Detroit has become a lawless hellhole where violence is the currency of the streets. If you want to survive in Detroit, you better be ready to fight because there are hordes of desperate criminals that are quite eager to take literally everything that you have got. But don't look down on Detroit too much, because what is happening in Detroit will soon be happening all over America.
20 Things We Can Learn About The Future Of America From The Death Of Detroit, 2/13/12

Noah and his family warned of a coming flood. He was likely ridiculed for building a boat in his front yard and driving everyone else’s property value down. Flood? What flood?
You can’t hide a flood but you can hide a financial implosion. The financial day of Armageddon occurred some time in the recent past and it is government’s job to keep the suicide rate down and to calm the masses and act like everything is normal. The goal is to keep the women shopping. The Super Bowl serves as an excellent distraction. It’s just a temporary recession, right? No, it’s the financial collapse of modern civilization and it is being papered over. If you blinked your eyes, you probably missed it. But then you probably sleep better than I do.
Why Hasn’t the Day of Financial Armageddon Occurred Yet?, 1/23/12

What are the options? First, make sure you’ve got a considerable percentage of your assets in physical gold and silver. Second, make sure you have a considerable percentage of your assets diversified in one or (preferably) more foreign jurisdictions and that those foreign assets include real estate. Third, plan on future bubbles being inflated. Including one in gold mining stocks, which now offer excellent value.
Learn To Make Terror Your Friend, 1/7/11

It's only a matter of time before the Federal Government collapses. There is no way it can meet its trillion-dollar obligations to provide pension checks and medical care for retirees. Medicare and Social Security face a predicted $60 trillion shortfall in meeting their commission to pay for the health care and retirement of pensioners.
American Wealth Eroding, 12/27/11

The National Association of Realtors has revised existing home sales 14% lower for the past four years.
The drop represents the loss of more than two million sales from an inflated rate, bringing cumulative sales to 17.7 million for the four-year period.
Together, this paints a far more dire picture of the nation's housing market than was originally thought, and distorts the pace of the economic recovery in the U.S.
NAR Just Made The Mother Of All Data Revisions, 12/21/11

Even though most Americans have become very frustrated with this economy, the reality is that the vast majority of them still have no idea just how bad our economic decline has been or how much trouble we are going to be in if we don't make dramatic changes immediately. If we do not educate the American people about how deathly ill the U.S. economy has become, then they will just keep falling for the same old lies that our politicians keep telling them. Just "tweaking" things here and there is not going to fix this economy. We truly do need a fundamental change in direction. America is consuming far more wealth than it is producing and our debt is absolutely exploding. If we stay on this current path, an economic collapse is inevitable. Hopefully the crazy economic numbers from 2011 that I have included in this article will be shocking enough to wake some people up.
50 Economic Numbers from 2011 that are almost too crazy to believe, 12/20/11

As long as there has been a Wall Street, there have been thieves to plunder it. Oddly enough, the nature of the crimes hasn’t changed much over the years. Magnates with rich political ties quietly manipulate the market, maintain a squeaky-clean public image, and try to run off with their bag of loot just as their sandcastles are crumbling.
Do they get away with it? More often than not, the answer is yes. Bernie Ebbers, the most unfortunate of the bunch below, is currently serving 25 years in a low-security prison. The rest either received wrist slaps or, as Sun Tzu and Bud Fox have both said, had the chance to “split and re-evaluate.”
History of Wall Street Crime & Punishment: 10 Most Intriguing Cases, 12/16/11

The NAR’s data have been, in part, used as evidence of economic recovery. We now learn that the numbers are pure conjecture.
There’s no reason for concern, however. Even though home prices undoubtedly benefited from the false perception that millions of homes were being sold and the market was bouncing back, Reuters reports that this latest revelation will have no negative impact on the market.
“The benchmark revisions will be published next Wednesday and will not affect house prices.”
We were worried there for a minute, but apparently there’s nothing to see here and we can just move along.
Massive Downward Revisions Imminent: National Association of Realtors Miscounted Millions of Home Sales over last 5 Years, 12/15/11

What happens when you attempt a cold shutdown of one of the biggest debt spirals that the world has ever seen? Well, we are about to find out. The politicians in Europe have decided that they are going to "take their medicine" and put strict limits on budget deficits. They have also decided that the European Central Bank is not going to engage in reckless money printing to "paper over" the debts of troubled nations. This may all sound wonderful to many of you, but the reality is that there is always a tremendous amount of pain whenever a massive debt spiral is interrupted. Just look at what happened to Greece. Greece was forced to raise taxes and implement brutal austerity measures. That caused the economy to slow down and tax revenues to decline and so government debt figures did not improve as much as anticipated. So Greece was forced to implement even more brutal austerity measures. Well, that caused the economy to slow down even more and tax revenues declined again. In Greece this cycle has been repeated several times and now Greece is experiencing a full-blown economic depression. 100,000 businesses have closed and a third of the population is living in poverty. But now Germany and France intend to impose the "Greek solution" on the rest of Europe. This is going to create the conditions needed for a "perfect storm" to develop and it means that the European financial system is heading for an implosion of historic proportions.
17 Signs That The European Financial System Is Heading For An Implosion Of Historic Proportions, 12/13/11

"The entire financial system of the Western world is imploding,” said Jim. “There is exponentially rising risks for individuals and their money…the risk right now–is people losing their entire life savings. I cannot seem to get people to understand this."
Jim Willie: "The Public Will Not Wake Up Until At Least One Million Private Accounts Are Stolen", 12/5/11

The MF Global bankruptcy (eighth largest in U.S. history) has all but destroyed confidence in the options and commodity markets. It is an event with enormous implications across the world’s economic spectrum.
Gerald Celente: Fourth Estate Pleads the Fifth, 12/1/11

We live in interesting times. Even as our own civilization hangs on the precipice of financial solvency, the priorities of the uninformed masses as so distorted that many will actually camp out in front of a Best Buy store in order to be the first in line to save $100 on a big-screen TV. In a time when the very problems of society are rooted in over-consumption and too much television, the everyday pleebs place such high importance on expanding the size of their mainstream media hypnosis devices that they will physically fight each other to get one of these TVs at a slightly lower price.
While consumers shop, U.S. descends into planned financial implosion that favors corporate elite, 11/26/11

One of the signatures of the Great Recession is the fact that we have sustained, long-term high unemployment along with a labor shortage. While unskilled blue-collar workers can't find a job, corporations like American Electric Power are struggling to find enough trained electricians, pipe-fitters, and other skilled workers.
We Are All Expendable Now, 11/25/11

For decades we were warned that when the Baby Boomers started to retire that this country would be facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Well, that day has arrived ladies and gentlemen. Back on January 1st, the Baby Boomers began to retire and more than 10,000 of them will be retiring every single day for years to come. Most of them have not saved up nearly enough money for retirement. At the same time, private sector pension plans are failing all over the place, hundreds of state and local government pension plans from coast to coast are woefully underfunded, and the Social Security system is on the road to complete and total disaster. A massive wave of humanity is hitting retirement age at a moment in history when the U.S. economy is coming apart at the seams. We do not have the resources to keep the promises that we made to the Baby Boomers, and most of them have not made adequate preparations for retirement. What we have is a gigantic mess on our hands, and millions of Baby Boomers are going to find retirement to be very bitter and very painful.
25 Bitter And Painful Facts About The Coming Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis That Will Blow Your Mind, 11/23/11

This whole mess stinks to high heaven. I am with Gerald Celente, if the largest commodity broker in America can go bankrupt and nothing is done, then where can you put your money and expect it to be safe? I, for one, do not accept that Jon Corzine is stupid enough to lever up MF Global 40:1 and use the proceeds and customer money to bet on European sovereign debt. This was a hit, pure and simple. That is why there is no resolution to the problem, and it is just another example of the deeply corrupt US political/financial axis. It may take money away from a bunch of commodities speculators, and it may cool down the perceived inflation, but it is just another hole in the dike which is The US Financial System. A dike whose life can probably now be measured in months, not years.
MF Global: Was It a deliberate Hit?, 11/21/11

U.S. stocks skidded on Monday, extending losses from across Europe as fears over out-of-control government debt on both sides of the Atlantic hit financial markets.
Markets dive as debt rattles investors, 11/21/11

Survivors of concentration camps report that the secret to staying alive was often simple: those who were near the kitchen made it; those who were not didn’t.
In our modern, degenerate form of capitalism the secret is the same: you want to be near the kitchen…the place where the food is handed out. You want to be near the government. That’s why there are so many lobbyists in Washington. And why the only city in America where property prices are going up is Washington, DC.
The politicians collect money from all over the country. They give much of it away in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Montgomery County, Maryland and Fairfax County, Virginia are two of the richest counties in the country. Why? They’re right next to the kitchen.
Symbiotic Relationship of Feds and Insiders, 11/18/11

Presented without comment, merely to confirm that the market as we know it, no longer exists.
Entire System has been Utterly Destroyed by the MF Global Collapse, 11/17/11

Days before the doomed financial broker filed for bankruptcy, MF Global conducted “unexplained wire transfers” that led to a $900 million shortfall in client funds, leading customers like Gerald Celente to learn that their accounts had been looted and setting the precedent for internal bank runs as more big firms go bust.
MF Global Looted Customers’ Accounts Via Internal Bank Run, 11/16/11

Money market funds are still a giant industry, but you have to ask why. Limits on bank deposit interest rates are long gone for individuals, so even before today's near-zero returns, the yield advantage on money market funds was modest at best. And with the bogeyman of sovereign default peeking out of so many windows lately, the phrase "Treasury bills-only" no longer has quite the tranquilizing effect it once did. In fact, given that most FDIC-insured deposits are owned by Americans (aka potential voters) while much of the Treasury debt is owned by non-voting foreigners, FDIC-insured bank deposits may be a better bet than T-bills.
Today there is little good reason to use a money market fund for substantial amounts of cash.
An Investment Whose Time Has Passed, 11/3/11

With the European Union heading into a tailspin as its member countries inch closer to default one by one and with the US federal deficit continuing to grow, it's safe to say that government bonds are no longer the safe havens that they once were. What do investors turn to then? Precious metals like gold, of course.
But I'm always reminded of what my college economics professor told me: At the end of the day, whether it's dollars or gold, you value it because it can be exchanged for a sandwich. If you're starving, the cure for your pangs is a sandwich, not a bar of gold. So, in a stumbling global economy like ours, the hottest place to park your money might be farmland.
Forget Gold, Farmland Is Today's Hottest Investor Safe Haven, 11/1/11

As the Greek economy succumbs to the debt crisis and individual Greeks are made poorer each day through austerity measures and job cuts, many have begun resorting to traditional bartering as a way to make ends meet and at the same time increase their involvement with neighbors and their general community.
Services being bartered include anything from language classes and babysitting to hand cooked meals and daily labor.
Barter Society Emerges in Greece as Crisis Deepens, 10/31/11

Many of the world's financial experts have reached a consensus concerning the fate of the global economy and what they see in their economic crystal balls is enough to give even Nostradamus a case of the jitters.
They see an uncontrolled financial derivative bubble that is the mother of all bubbles. When it bursts—not if, but when—the entire world economy could collapse.
Inflating derivatives bubble could doom entire world financial system, 10/31/11

Of course, by now you know the EU has announced another "miraculous" bailout. But this article, written by one of our favorite mainstream journos, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, shows why it won't work, can't work and NEVER WILL work. Hats off to Ambrose. Such clarity is not usually the bailiwick of the mainstream press, not even the Telegraph.
In fact, the "miracles" that are announced regularly by the Eurocrat brain trust are nothing more than an elite dominant social theme. Crises are SUPPOSED to be solved by the most brilliant among us ... and top governmental officials have the goods. That's why they are there, to tackle problems too complex for the rest of us.
Only Unlimited Money Printing Will 'Help' the EU Now, 10/27/11

Most people have no idea that Wall Street has become a gigantic financial casino. The big Wall Street banks are making tens of billions of dollars a year in the derivatives market, and nobody in the financial community wants the party to end. The word "derivatives" sounds complicated and technical, but understanding them is really not that hard. A derivative is essentially a fancy way of saying that a bet has been made. Originally, these bets were designed to hedge risk, but today the derivatives market has mushroomed into a mountain of speculation unlike anything the world has ever seen before. Estimates of the notional value of the worldwide derivatives market go from $600 trillion all the way up to $1.5 quadrillion. Keep in mind that the GDP of the entire world is only somewhere in the neighborhood of $65 trillion. The danger to the global financial system posed by derivatives is so great that Warren Buffet once called them "financial weapons of mass destruction". For now, the financial powers that be are trying to keep the casino rolling, but it is inevitable that at some point this entire mess is going to come crashing down. When it does, we are going to be facing a derivatives crisis that really could destroy the entire global financial system.
Coming Derivatives Crisis That Could Destroy the Entire Global Financial System, 10/21/11

The world economy may still be in the doldrums, but global wealth continues to grow, hitting an all-time high this year of $231 trillion, according to a new global wealth report from Credit Suisse.
And more than ever, that figure is concentrated at the top of the pile. A mere 0.5% of the world's population owns an eye-popping 38.5% of its total wealth.
As protests against the "1%" continue to rage on in downtown Manhattan and cities across the globe, we're taking a look at how wealth is distributed and which countries are increasing their share of the world's richest people.
13 Staggering Facts about the Global Super Rich, 10/19/11

I linked a Youtube presentation a couple of days ago by a professor who explained the exponent thing. It was dry and I bet nobody went and watched the whole series; it was basically an hour long.
Yet if you don't understand this, you understand nothing when it comes to economics and the lies told by both the left and right. You are not stupid, however: you are ignorant.
That ignorance is intentional. Our "educational system", our bankers and our politicians intentionally fail to explain the fundamental concept explained in this Ticker for one and only one reason: Once you understand it - truly understand it - you can never fall victim to a ponzi scheme. Not only that, you will never allow any society you are a member of to fall victim to one either, as you will recognize the inherent danger and demand that they be stopped and the people responsible either locked up or burned at the stake (after a proper trial, of course.)
What You Simply MUST Understand about Ponzi schemes, 10/18/11

Marc Faber the Swiss fund manager and Gloom Boom & Doom editor spoke Tuesday about the Occupy Wall Street protests, blaming lobbyist and Washington for the current economic stagnation and characterizing Wall Street as a "minority" that is only "using the system."
He suggested protesters should instead go after the real culprits in Washington and "also occupy the Federal Reserve on the way."
Marc Faber says Americans need to tighten their belts, save more and work more for lower salaries, 10/17/11

The U.S. economy is dying and most American voters have no idea why it is happening. Unfortunately, the mainstream media and most of our politicians are not telling the truth about the collapse of the economy. This generation was handed the keys to the greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen, and we have completely wrecked it. Decades of incredibly foolish decisions have left us drowning in an ocean of corruption, greed and bad debt. Thousands of businesses and millions of jobs have left the country and poverty is exploding from coast to coast. We are literally becoming a joke to the rest of the world. It is absolutely imperative that we educate America about what is happening. Until the American people truly understand the problems that we are facing, they will not be willing to implement the solutions that are necessary.
Top 100 Statistics About the Collapse of the Economy That Every American Should Know, 10/10/11

Predictions of an economic apocalypse are no longer restricted to the realm of fringe doom and gloomers lurking in the dark corners of the internet. As we've previously suggested uncertainty now pervades the social consciousness, not just in America, but the world over. Every major media outlet in developed nations is now reporting on the headwinds facing the so-called recovery. The problems and threats confronting the stability of the globe can no longer be dismissed as theoretical arguments, because they are now being actualized – in real time.
Economic Apocalypse Goes Mainstream: Meltdown in Two to Three Weeks, 10/8/11

A week after the BBC exploded Alessio Rastani to the stage, it has just done it all over again. In an interview with IMF advisor Robert Shapiro, the bailout expert has pretty much said what,once again, is on everyone’s mind: “If they can not address [the financial crisis] in a credible way I believe within perhaps 2 to 3 weeks we will have a meltdown in sovereign debt which will produce a meltdown across the European banking system.
IMF Advisor: Global Financial Meltdown in 2 to 3 Weeks, 10/6/11

This economic crisis is like a cancer. If you just wait and wait thinking this is going to go away, just like a cancer it's gonna grow and it will be too late. What I would say to everybody is get prepared. This is not a time right now to wishful think that the Government is going to sort things out. The Governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world. Goldman Sachs does not care about this rescue package neither does the big funds. So actually, I would actually tell people, I want to help people. People can make money from this, it isn't just traders. What they need to do is learn about how to make money from a downward market. The first thing people should do is protect their assets, protect what they have because in less than 12 months, my prediction is that savings of millions of people is gonna vanish and this is just the beginning. So I would say, be prepared and act now. The biggest risk people can take right now is not acting.
Wall Street trader stuns world by telling the truth about coming economic collapse, 10/1/11

The latest quarterly report from the Office Of the Currency Comptroller is out and as usual it presents in a crisp, clear and very much glaring format the fact that the top 4 banks in the US now account for a massively disproportionate amount of the derivative risk in the financial system. Specifically, of the $250 trillion in gross notional amount of derivative contracts outstanding (consisting of Interest Rate, FX, Equity Contracts, Commodity and CDS) among the Top 25 commercial banks (a number that swells to $333 trillion when looking at the Top 25 Bank Holding Companies), a mere 5 banks (and really 4) account for 95.9% of all derivative exposure (HSBC replaced Wells as the Top 5th bank, which at $3.9 trillion in derivative exposure is a distant place from #4 Goldman with $47.7 trillion). The top 4 banks: JPM with $78.1 trillion in exposure, Citi with $56 trillion, Bank of America with $53 trillion and Goldman with $48 trillion, account for 94.4% of total exposure. As historically has been the case, the bulk of consolidated exposure is in Interest Rate swaps ($204.6 trillion), followed by FX ($26.5TR), CDS ($15.2 trillion), and Equity and Commodity with $1.6 and $1.4 trillion, respectively. And that's your definition of Too Big To Fail right there: the biggest banks are not only getting bigger, but their risk exposure is now at a new all time high and up $5.3 trillion from Q1 as they have to risk ever more in the derivatives market to generate that incremental penny of return.
Is Morgan Stanley Sitting On An FX Derivative Time Bomb?, 9/24/11

The USPS employs a larger horde than Genghis Khan: 656,000 union members driving 260,000 vehicles. It is the second-largest employer in the United States after Wal-Mart. It has a government-granted monopoly on first class mail. In 2007 an FTC report noted that the service does not pay taxes, including property tax on its 38,000 facilities; does not pay vehicle registration fees, and can borrow at subsidized interest rates from the U.S. Treasury.
And they do borrow… which is how they get away with claiming that they are "not subsidized". They don’t get subsidies (except in some years, when they do), they just get loans… and more loans… and more loans. Maybe they should join up with Bank of America or Goldman Sachs and add subprime mortgages to their services at the stamp window.
End of the Phony Express, or: The USPS Goes Postal On Our Economy, 9/22/11

The world economy has entered a "dangerous new phase," according to the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. As a result, the international lending organization has sharply downgraded its economic outlook for the United States and Europe through the end of next year.
IMF: World economy enters 'dangerous new phase', 9/20/11

Although the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) continues to insure loans with down payments as low as 3.5%, obtaining a mortgage for purchasing an owner-occupied home is becoming exceedingly difficult throughout the nation. Even the number of FHA-insured mortgage originations has been plunging. According to FHA’s Outlook, only 68,336 FHA-insured purchase loans were originated in July 2011. That was down 37% from a year earlier. For the entire 2011 fiscal year to date, purchase loan originations were down by 33% over 2010.
The MBA graph is very ominous in its message. As I read it, the mortgage market for purchase of homes is slowly but inexorably dying. Wishful thinking will not bring it back to life.
Surge in All-Cash Buying Signals Demise of 'Normal' Housing Market, 9/19/11

Despite the understandable human tendency to help others, government spending cannot be a net creator of jobs. Indeed many efforts currently under consideration by the Administration and Congress will actively destroy jobs. These initiatives must stop. While it is easy to see how a deficit-financed government program can lead to the creation of a specific job, it is much harder to see how other jobs are destroyed by the diversion of capital and resources. It is also difficult to see how the bigger budget deficits sap the economy of vitality, destroying jobs in the process.
Peter Schiff: How the Government Can Create Jobs, 9/14/11

There were only 1.75 full-time private-sector workers in the United States last year for each person receiving benefits from Social Security, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Social Security board of trustees.
That means that for each husband and wife who worked full-time in the private sector last year there was a Social Security recipient somewhere in the country taking benefits from the federal government.
Labor Dept. Data: Only 1.75 Full-Time Private Sector Workers Per Social Security Recipient, 9/12/11

America's epitaph one day may read it's how an economic/military powerhouse hollowed out in disrepair, long surpassed by other industrial giants that understood good policies and instituted them.
Under Obama's plan and others like it, it's not only assured, it's accelerating.
Obama Style Stimulus - handouts to the rich plan, 9/11/11

Ron Paul has performed a great public service in alerting the voters to the danger of the Federal Reserve System. He has exposed the source of mass inflation and hyperinflation. He has exposed the source of the boom-bust cycle.
The FED cannot escape. Its policies must lead to booms and busts. This is inherent in all central banking. The FED will choose a repetition of the boom-bust cycle rather than impose hyperinflation, for which it can no longer escape blame. Too many people have heard Ron Paul's warning.
Ron Paul Has Saved Us From Hyperinflation, 9/10/11

Although it was labeled and hyped as a "jobs plan," the new $447 billion initiative announced last night by President Obama is merely another government stimulus program in disguise. But semantics are of supreme importance in American politics...some could argue that word choice is the only thing that matters. As a result, despite the fact that this plan bears no substantive difference from previous stimulus bills, the President never once mentioned the word "stimulus" in his hour-long speech. But a rotten banana by any other name still stinks.
Barackabaloney - More of the Same, 9/10/11

The financial crisis in Europe has become so severe that it has put the future of the euro, and indeed the future of the EU itself, in doubt. If the financial system in Europe collapses, it is going to plunge the entire globe into chaos. The EU has a larger economy and a larger population than the United States does. The EU also hasmore Fortune 500 companies that the United States does. If the financial system in Europe breaks down, we are all doomed. An economic collapse in Europe would unleash a financial tsunami that would sweep across the globe. As I wrote about yesterday, the nightmarish sovereign debt crisis in Europe could potentially bring about the end of the euro. The future of the monetary union in Europe is being questioned all over the continent. Without massive bailouts, there are at least 5 or 6 nations in Europe that will likely soon default. The political will for continued bailouts is rapidly failing in northern Europe, so something needs to be done quickly to avert disaster. Unfortunately, as anyone that has ever lived in Europe knows, things tend to move very, very slowly in Europe.
20 Quotes From European Leaders That Prove That They Know That The Financial System Is Doomed, 9/7/11

Even if you are already wealthy, some thought on this topic is worthwhile. What would you do if some act of God or of government, a catastrophic lawsuit or a really serious misjudgment took you back to Square One? One thing about a real depression is that everybody loses. As Richard Russell has quipped, the winners are those who lose the least. And as far as I’m concerned, the Greater Depression is looming, not just another cyclical downturn. You may find that, although you’re far ahead of your neighbors (you own precious metals, you’ve diversified internationally and you don’t believe much of what you hear from official sources), you’re still not as prepared as you’d like.
I think a good plan would be to approach the problem in four steps: Liquidate, Consolidate, Create and Speculate.
Money: How to Get It and Keep It, 9/3/11

Most of the worst financial panics in history have happened in the fall. Just recall what happened in 1929, 1987 and 2008. Well, September 2011 is about to begin and there are all kinds of signs that the financial world is about to hit the big red panic button. Wave after wave of bad economic news has come out of the United States recently, and Europe is embroiled in an absolutely unprecedented debt crisis. At this point there is a very real possibility that the euro may not even survive. So what is causing all of this? Well, over the last couple of decades a gigantic debt bubble has fueled a tremendous amount of "fake prosperity" in the western world. But for a debt bubble to keep going, the total amount of debt has to keep expanding at an ever increasing pace. Unfortunately for the global economy, sources of credit are starting to dry up. That is why you hear terms like "credit crisis" and "credit crunch" thrown around so much these days. Without enough credit to feed the monster, the debt bubble is going to burst. At this point, virtually the entire global economy runs on credit, so when this debt bubble bursts things could get really, really messy.
25 Signs That the Financial World Is About To Hit the Big Red Panic Button, 9/1/11

The latest IRS offshore voluntary disclosure initiative (OVDI) ends Aug. 31, 2011. You must have the disclosure process underway by that date, and completed by Nov. 30, 2011. To qualify for the OVDI, you need to file amended tax returns; file delinquent disclosures of foreign bank accounts on Treasury Form TD F 90-22.1 (the “FBAR”); and pay whatever taxes, interest, and penalties apply. The 2011 OVDI Web site FAQs provide several examples of how specific taxpayers with unreported accounts would be dealt with – and yes, the penalties mount up quickly. To view the FAQs, click here.
Should you participate in the OVDI? The answer is maybe, but only after you consult with a qualified tax attorney (not an accountant). This arrangement provides attorney-client privilege for your discussions. The tax attorney can then retain an accountant to prepare the necessary returns, and decide whether you should participate in the program.
However, neither the Fifth Amendment, nor time, is on your side. You only have one week to begin the process.
No 'Right to Silence' To Avoid Disclosing Information About Offshore Accounts, 8/31/11

Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.
Social Security disability on verge of insolvency, 8/22/11

The survey found that for many Americans, the foundation of their retirement strategy is simply not to retire, to work considerably longer than the traditional retirement age, or work in retirement.
New Retirement Plan: No Retirement, 8/20/11

I’ve repeatedly noted that corruption at the top leads to lawlessness by the people.
William K. Black – Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, and the former head S&L regulator – notes that conservative French economist Frédéric Bastiat said the same thing more than 150 years ago.
Real Reason the SEC Has Been Shredding Documents For Decades, 8/19/11

Food prices are skyrocketing all across the globe, and there's no end in sight. The United Nations says food inflation is currently at 30% a year, and the fast-eroding value of the dollar is causing food prices to appear even higher (in contrast to a weakening currency). As the dollar drops in value due to runaway money printing at the Federal Reserve, the cost to import foods from other nations looks to double in just the next two years -- and possibly every two years thereafter.
That's probably why investors around the globe are flocking to farmland as the new growth industry. "Investors are pouring into farmland in the U.S. and parts of Europe, Latin America and Africa as global food prices soar," reports Bloomberg magazine (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...). "A fund controlled by George Soros, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, owns 23.4 percent of South American farmland venture Adecoagro SA."
Jim Rogers is also quoted in the same story, saying, "I have frequently told people that one of the best investments in the world will be farmland."
Why is George Soros selling gold and buying farmland?, 8/14/11

If you liked the past two weeks, you're going to love the next two years: welcome to the age of instability. As I explained yesterday, the quasi-religious belief in the stock market as a secure store of wealth has faded, and for good reason: The Junkie in the Pool and False Idols: Faith in Wall Street and The Fed Has Has Eroded (August 10, 2011).
In a nutshell, the Federal Reserve and Federal government's extend-and-pretend, mark-to-fantasy, paper over bad private debt with trillions in public bad debt "fixes" of the broken economy have failed, completely, utterly, miserably. Rather than drain the cesspool of impaired debt, risky bets gone bad and rampant abuse of the rule of law, the Fed and the Central State have poured trillions of dollars more bad debt into the fetid pool of sewage and sludge, which is now full to bursting.
Welcome to the Age of Instability, 8/11/11

Some state and local governments that issue debt could face “significant stress” if market instability continues and see credit downgrades, Moody’s warned Wednesday.
Moody's warns state and local governments could see credit downgrades, 8/11/11

Standard & Poor’s lowered the AAA ratings of thousands of municipal bonds tied to the federal government, including housing securities and debt backed by leases, following its Aug. 5 downgrade of the U.S., reports Bloomberg.
The rating company assigned AA+ scores to securities in the $2.9 trillion municipal bond market including school- construction bonds in Irving, Texas; debt backed by a federal lease in Miami; and a bond series for multifamily housing in Oceanside, California. Olayinka Fadahunsi, an S&P spokesman, said he couldn’t provide a dollar figure on the affected debt.
Be very careful holding muni-bonds. A downgrade of a muni debt can be very costly in terms of interest rates for some of these municipalities---some of them, on their own, already are substandard credit risks.
S&P Cuts AAA Ratings on Thousands of Municipal Bonds, 8/10/11

Wall Street opened the game with a debt downgrade, implying more are to come unless action is taken. The new Pentagon chief replied that any cuts to the military budget would be a “doomsday mechanism” that “would do real damage to our security, our troops and their families and our military’s ability to protect the nation.”
Will Americans be so afraid of terrorists that they will give up their entitlements? Will false flag terrorist events be perpetrated in order to elevate this fear? Will Wall Street provoke crises that are perceived as a greater threat?
From whom do we need greater protection than from Wall Street and the military/security complex and from our government, which is the tool of both?
What the S&P Downgrade Really Means, 8/9/11

Fear has taken over on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrials fell 634.76 points, the first trading day since Standard & Poor's downgraded American debt. . It was the sixth-worst point decline for the Dow in the last 112 years and the worst drop since December 2008. Every stock in the Standard & Poor's 500 index declined Monday.
Dow plunges more than 634 points after downgrade, 8/8/11

One of the world's leading credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor's, has downgraded the United States' top-notch AAA rating for the first time ever.
US loses AAA credit rating after S&P downgrade for the first time ever, 8/6/11

Stocks around the world tumbled Friday ahead of crucial U.S. jobs figures, continuing a losing streak reminiscent of the aftermath of the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Growing panic about the debts of big eurozone countries like Italy and Spain combined with fears the U.S. may be heading back into recession. Jobs figures later could heavily-influence whether the U.S. economy is indeed on the point of shrinking again.
Global stocks tumble amid recession fears, 8/5/11

Any way you cut it, it was a terrible day for the stock markets. Worries about the state of the economy in the U.S. and around the world slammed stocks on Thursday, driving the Dow Jones industrial average to close down more than 500 points. It was the Dow's worst drop since October 2008.
Stock markets have terrible day; Dow drops 500 points, 8/4/11

In this game, the house always wins. Bipartisan complicity stacked the deck against millions of working households, needing to know that political Washington is scamming them. The end result is the banana republicanization of America.
Debt Ceiling Roulette - Class War, 7/30/11

I flipped on the shadow box and was treated to Obama's latest attack on the Republicans. During his delightful abuse of the English language and rape of the Truth, it dawned on me we needed some kind of "catalog of definitions" to sort out all the lies. This debt debate is like a boxing match where the referee has brass knuckles and a serious grudge against one of the contestants. Even the pundits who aren't in the tank for Obama are accepting false premises.
Debt Debate Definitions: Your Guide Through the Current Manufactured Madness, 7/28/11

Millions of Americans believe they’re sitting pretty with their pensions funds, 401(k) retirement plans and medical benefits. But, as we’ve written previously on numerous occasions, pensions are anything but safe.
We’re starting to see the coming pension wipe out creep up in smaller cities, and you can be assured that this will spread like wildfire as local, state and federal governments that have over committed funds and underestimated economic growth and tax revenue struggle to stay in the black.
Pension Fund Ultimatum: A Haircut Looks Better Than a Beheading, 7/27/11

The US has lost its AAA status. Anybody who knows what’s going on knows that the US is now the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. It’s only Moody’s and S&P that haven’t figured out what’s going on. The world, the investment world, the financial world knows that America is not AAA anymore. Who cares what Moody’s said? Moody’s has gotten everything wrong in the past 10 years, why do you pay attention to them?
US is the Largest Debtor Nation in History, 7/27/11

The crumbling U.S. economy is putting an extraordinary amount of financial stress on American families. For many Americans, "flat broke" has become a permanent condition.
10 Facts About The Financial Condition Of American Families That Will Blow Your Mind, 7/25/11

In spite of constant headlines about debts and deficits, most Americans don’t really believe the U.S. dollar will collapse. From knowledgeable investors who study the markets to those seemingly too busy to worry about such things, most dismiss the idea of the dollar actually going to zero.
History has a message for us: No fiat currency has lasted forever. Eventually, they all fail.
A Thousand Pictures Is Worth One Word, 7/23/11

There's a reason this article is so short. There has been much talk about the federal "debt ceiling." It's all absurd. There is no debt ceiling, and never was. It's a show put on by liars and crooks. What good is a "restriction" that someone imposes upon himself, and can undo himself? It's not a restriction at all. Will the political crooks give themselves permission to spend more money they don't have, on the promise that they'll eventually rob you to pay for it? Gee, I wonder. Of course they will. Look how many "restrictions" on the political crooks end with: "unless Congress passes a law over-ruling this." Holy smokes. How stupid are Americans? The fact that this passes for "news," or a serious topic of discussion, is pathetic. "That gang isn't allowed to do X, unless they first give themselves permission to do X." And THAT is what passes for useful, learned discourse in America today. Gack. Aak aak, gackity gack.
Larken Rose: Debt Ceiling Silliness, 7/18/11

Though the White House is loath to admit it, a recent analysis of the administration's stimulus program found that for each job created, taxpayers coughed up a stunning $278,000. To put that into perspective, it means the government quite simply could have handed a $100,000 check to everyone whose employment was supposedly made possible with stimulus dollars, and taxpayers would actually have come out about $427 billion ahead of the game.
Economics of the insane: Obama's stimulus cost $278,000 for each new job created, 7/8/11

In this bubblicious world of trillion dollar deficits, sovereign bailouts, and fiscal stimulus measures of historical proportions, there is one economist whose theories and underlying philosophy underpin the foundation of modern macroeconomics.
His name is John Maynard Keynes, and his most famous work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) has become the playbook from which politicians and central bankers are making their trillion dollar decisions.
Get your hands on the government’s playbook, 7/4/11

We know the Federal and State governments are in serious fiscal trouble. Having overspent and over borrowed, they are now faced with the real prospect of having to reduce jobs, spending programs and retirement related benefits.
But the States and the Federal government are not alone. During the boom times of entitlement spending and government largess leading up to the financial crisis, local governments that include cities and counties spent their share of forward earnings as well. And now those uncontrolled fiscal policies are coming home to roost. For those Americans who have worked for decades with the hopes that their pensions, health care and other benefits would be there when they retire, we offer a glimpse into what the future may hold:
Coming Destruction of U.S. Pensions, 7/1/11

If you do much grocery shopping, you have probably noticed that the cost of food has been rising at a very brisk pace over the past year. So why are food prices rising so fast? According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, inflation is still very low and the economy is improving. So what is going on here? When I go to the grocery store these days, there are very few things that I will buy unless they are on sale. In fact, I have noticed that many of the new "sale prices" are the old regular prices. Other items have had their packages reduced in size in order to hide the price increases. But with millions of American families just barely scraping by as it is, what is going to happen if food prices keep rising this rapidly?
Why Are Food Prices Rising So Fast?, 6/25/11

For the better part of a century the foundations for a semi-comfortable retirement for many Americans have rested on the financial pillars of rising real estate and equity prices, positive real interest rates on savings, the continued solvency of public and private pension plans, and the reliability of national entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicaid). But in the last few years, the economic sands have fundamentally shifted and these pillars are no longer sturdy, some have cracked completely. For many Americans, the traditional idea of a comfortable retirement, filled with golf carts, cruises, and fishing trips, is going the way of the dodo bird.
Extermination of Retirement, 6/16/11

Over the last decade, the share of U.S. national income taken home by workers has plummeted to a record low. Check out the chart below, compiled by the Labor Department, and posted this week by conservative writer David Frum. It shows that the decline began with the brief recession that followed 9/11 in 2001. But it continued even as the economy picked up again, and got even worse once the Great Recession hit. In the weak recovery since then, workers' share of income just kept on falling.
Workers’ share of national income plummets to record low, 6/14/11

We do not need incredible amounts of capital, large numbers of businesses, or a magical money making scheme to establish strong alternative economies. We only need intelligent, independent, and determined people, who are willing to actually take the initiative to make things happen for themselves and for others.
To ensure that end, the Alternative Market Project is here for you. We cannot make people take action, but we can do our utmost to help them once they decide to do so. But where to begin? What if we have immense determination but are unsure how to take the first step? Let’s start there. Below, I have outlined a few very easy projects each Alt-Market member can work on that will put you on the right path, and towards a full fledged barter economy:
Easy First Steps To Building Your Barter Network, 6/14/11

The mainstream financial media are running stories on the next financial crisis. This is unheard of two years into a so-called economic recovery. So weak is this recovery that the old pre-2008 confidence has not returned. The first sign that "this time, it's different," was Treasury Secretary Geithner's statement, which received widespread coverage, that there will be another crisis.
Next Financial Crisis - That Speeding Freight Train You Hear, 6/11/11

The concept of private barter and alternative economies has been so far removed from our daily existence here in America that the very idea of participating in commerce without the use of dollars or without the inclusion of corporate chains seems almost outlandish to many people. However, the fact remains that up until very recently (perhaps the last three to four decades) barter and independent trade was commonplace in this country. Without it, many families could not have survived.
Whether we like it or not, such economic methods will be making a return very soon, especially in the face of a plunging dollar, inflating wholesale prices, erratic investment markets, and unsustainable national debts. It is inevitable; financial collapse of the mainstream system ALWAYS leads to secondary markets and individual barter. We can wait until we are already in the midst of collapse and weighted with desperation before we take action to better our circumstances, or, we can prepare now for what we already know is coming.
Top Post-Collapse Barter Items & Trade Skills, 6/9/11

The average price of staple foods will more than double in the next 20 years, Oxfam warns. The world is entering an era of permanent food crisis, which is likely to be accompanied by political unrest, and the situation will lead to an unprecedented reversal in human development, it said.
World entering era of permanent food crisis, 6/9/11

Bitcoin is a new digital currency traded over p2p connections that is essentially untraceable and not connected to any bank. This has made it a favorite of the tech-literate crowd, but two US Senators are looking to crackdown on Bitcoin after reports that it is being used to buy illegal drugs online.
US Senators Seek to Crackdown on Bitcoin, 6/8/11

The global economy has become so incredibly unstable at this point that it is not going to take much to plunge the world into a horrific economic nightmare. The foundations of the world economic system are so decayed and so corrupted that even a stiff breeze could potentially topple the entire structure over. Over the past couple of months a constant parade of bad economic news has come streaming in from Europe, Asia and the United States. Signs of an impending economic slowdown are everywhere. So what "tipping point" will trigger the next global economic downturn? Nobody knows for sure, but potential tipping points are all around us. Today, the global economic system is even more vulnerable than it was back in 2008. Virtually none of the systemic problems that contributed to the 2008 collapse have been fixed.
Tipping Points, any one of which Could Potentially Plunge the World Into a Horrific Economic Nightmare, 6/8/11

Google Inc. isn't asking for a share of the payments revenue generated with its new mobile wallet. Nevertheless, partnering with the search engine juggernaut could be a trade-off for banks. Google plans to make money through an associated service in which merchants pay to display coupons on the phone screen. Banks may be leaving money on the table if they allow Google to keep all of that advertising revenue for itself, some experts said.
Google Wallet Puts Banks In Its Pocket, 6/6/11

The report, Emerging Trends in Mobile Banking, discovered 57% have used mobile banking more frequently in the past year than they did in the previous year, 68% find banking on the handset easier than over the internet, and 70% are very keen to use their mobile to buy things. Really, very keen? That may change when they get to the shops and discover the mobile phone battery is dead. Or the shop in question doesn’t accept Nokia money, only Motorola money. “You want to pay by iPhone sir? There’s a 1.5% handling fee for that as Apple charge us extra” and so on.
I’m not knocking NFC just for the sake of it; I can see huge potential for the technology. But to suggest that most of us will be flocking to pay for stuff with it in just a handful of years from now is folly of the first order. Until a smartphone is as small as my debit card, has the same battery life and can be pretty much guaranteed to be accepted everywhere I go, I think I will be sticking with my flexible friend.
Mobile money: a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, 6/2/11

...But not all Bitcoin enthusiasts embrace Silk Road. Some think the association with drugs will tarnish the young technology, or might draw the attention of federal authorities. “The real story with Silk Road is the quantity of people anxious to escape a centralized currency and trade,” a longtime bitcoin user named Maiya told us in a chat. “Some of us view Bitcoin as a real currency, not drug barter tokens.”
Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable, 6/1/11

The news that frequent CNBC guest Peter Yastrow of Yastrow Origer (and formerly with DT Trading) told CNBC that “We’re on the verge of a great, great depression. The [Federal Reserve] knows it” is going viral today.
"We Are on the Verge of a Great, Great Depression", 6/1/11

The cover story of this week's issue of Bloomberg Businessweek examines the United States Postal Service as it hurtles toward insolvency at an alarming rate.
Facing a projected $6.4 billion loss this year, the Postal Service is expected to hit its own debt ceiling by the end of this fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The federal government will then have to choose between letting the agency default on its massive pension obligations or bailing it out to the tune of more than $50 billion.
11 Things You Should Know About The U.S. Postal Service Before It Goes Bankrupt, 5/31/11

This economic recovery has excluded working and middle class Americans which begs the question, what really defines a financial recovery? In past and distant recoveries the economic gains were widely distributed amongst all Americans. Most realize that income gains will never be equal simply because in a market based economy those with certain desirable skills will be rewarded more than others. Yet in the last decade the banking sector has co-opted the government to turn it into a welfare state for the large banks. Desirable qualities are now replaced by predator diseased qualities of ripping off the taxpayer for bad market based bets. That is why recent data showing that nearly 50 percent of Americans are unable to come up with $2,000 in 30 days if an emergency came up is startling. $2,000 for most is the basic monthly expenses on food, home, and other little items. So half our country is living one paycheck away from financial collapse. 44,000,000 Americans are living with food assistance from the government already. Keep in mind the recovery has been going on now for close to two full years. According to the NBER the recession was over in June of 2009. The fact that $2,000 is enough to bankrupt half of American households tells you about the new state of our economic recovery.
Half of All Americans Would be Unable To Come Up With $2,000 in 30 Days, 5/27/11

The Economic Collapse has put together a stupendous list of 20 startling facts about the US housing market:
1. According to Zillow, 28.4% of all single-family homes with a mortgage in the United States are now underwater.
2. Zillow has announced that the average price of a home in the U.S. is about 8% lower than it was a year ago...
20 Startling Facts About the US Housing Market, 5/19/11

Today is going to be a special edition of my weekly updates! Those of you who know me probably know I’ve been invested for over 7 years. Over the last few years, I have been reporting, speculating, and sharing information on the Iraqi Dinar with anyone who cares to hear… the group has grown into the tens of thousands.
Time to debunk some rumors on the Iraqi Dinar, 5/8/11

Nibiru, to the Babylonians, was the celestial body associated with the god Marduk. The term "Nibiru" comes from the Sumerian cuneiform tablets and writings dating 5,000 years old. The term Nibiru means "Planet of the crossing", and it's cuneiform sign was often a cross, or various winged disc. The Sumerian culture was located in the fertile lands between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, at the southern part of today's Iraq.
Iraq, the Iraqi Dinar and Nibiru, 5/7/11

The National Inflation Association (NIA) is pleased to officially announce that it will soon be releasing its hour long documentary 'College Conspiracy', which will expose the U.S. college education system as the largest scam in U.S. history. NIA has been producing 'College Conspiracy' for the past six months and plans to release the movie on May 15th. NIA members will be given the first opportunity to watch this must see documentary, which we hope will change the college education industry for the better.
Why America's College Bubble Is Next To Burst, 5/8/11

Reuters reports that the US Treasury has informed lawmakers it needs a $2 trillion debt limit increase to operate... until the end of 2012. Better stated, this is 112% of US GDP (which will soon be declining).
US Treasury Tells Lawmakers It Needs $2 Trillion In Debt Capacity, 5/4/11

You’ve probably heard the term “smart money” used by various pundits, a reference to those investors and institutions that are consistently better at making money than the uninformed masses. Which begs the question: are you one of them? To answer that query, let’s first describe smart money (not to be confused with the magazine by that name) so we have an idea of what makes this group of investors successful…
Are You a Smart Money Investor?, 5/2/11

To most Americans it's unthinkable that the U.S. dollar could someday be relegated to second-class status as a currency, but what they may not realize is that the transition is already underway.
Panic selling of the U.S. dollar now underway as debt system implodes, 4/28/11

Alan Greenspan recently argued in the FT that the Dodd Frank Act fails to meet the test of our times. In defense of this view, Greenspan paints a disturbing view of the modern world as a financial dystopia in which humans are at the mercy of a financial machine they have built but can no longer hope to manage. Greenspan argues:
Greenspan Says We Live In A Bleak Dystopia Where Financial Regulation Is Impossible, 4/26/11

Over the past few years, mainstream analysts have shown a tenacious blind faith in the U.S. economy and the dollar that goes far beyond religion to the point of mindless cultism, so, when even they begin to question the future of American finance (as has been occurring more and more everyday), you know its time to worry.
Into The Economic Abyss, 4/25/11

All those who were hoping global stock markets would surge tomorrow based on a ridiculous rumor that China would revalue the CNY by 10% will have to wait. Instead, China has decided to serve the world another surprise. Following last week's announcement by PBoC Governor Zhou (Where's Waldo) Xiaochuan that the country's excessive stockpile of USD reserves has to be urgently diversified, today we get a sense of just how big the upcoming Chinese defection from the "buy US debt" Nash equilibrium will be. Not surprisingly, China appears to be getting ready to cut its USD reserves by roughly the amount of dollars that was recently printed by the Fed, or $2 trilion or so.
China Proposes To Cut Two Thirds Of Its $3 Trillion In USD Holdings, 4/24/11

In case you missed it, earlier this week China announced that its foreign currency reserves are excessive and that they need to return to “reasonable” levels. In politician speak, this is a clear, “we are sick of the US Dollar and will be taking steps to lower our holdings.” Remember, the US Dollar is China’s largest single holding. And China has already begun dumping Treasuries (US Debt).
It’s Official: China Will Be Dumping US Dollars, 4/20/11

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has cut the outlook on US sovereign debt to "negative", raising doubts about Washington's ability to tackle its huge debt and fiscal deficits.
Debt warning rocks US economy, 4/19/11

Dr. Marc Faber spoke with CNBC this morning about currency markets, notably the recent movements in the euro, global long-term position in the dollar, and the rise of gold and silver. Earlier, Faber spoke about his view of the U.S. deficit situation. He expects the U.S. government to raise the debt ceiling, but doesn't seem Republicans and Democrats building a budget plan in which taxes are raised and spending cut, the real recipe for deficit reduction.
Dollar's Value In The Future Will Be Zero, 4/18/11

real stunner. S&P just downgraded the US debt outlook to negative. Stocks just moved violently lower. Still, the current debt outlook is stable. The Dow is off 133. In addition to the market impact, this will probably have a big impact on the US debt debate. Gold spiked on the news
Markets Are Tanking After S&P Downgrades US Debt Outlook To Negative, 4/18/11

Goldman Sachs executives deceived clients in order to profit off the brewing financial crisis and then misled Congress when asked to explain their actions, concluded a top lawmaker who led a two-year investigation into Wall Street's role in the meltdown.
Blankfein Could Face Criminal Prosecution For Role In Financial Crisis, 4/14/11

President Barack Obama will on Wednesday seek to wrest control of Washington's fevered debate over the economy and bulging deficit, sure to be a dominant theme of his 2012 reelection bid.
Obama prepares plan to avert financial ‘Armageddon’, 4/13/11

After years of being the primary supplier of funding to the US credit-money shell game, one more ex-PBoC member wakes up from the "great normalization" acid trip, and in a Caixin editorial says what virtually everyone now understands all too well: the Treasury market is one "giant Ponzi scheme."
Ex-PBOC Official Wakes Up From The Acid Trip: "U.S. Treasury Market Is A Giant Ponzi Scheme", 4/11/11

Collapse of economy happening now. Ties to Japan's economy evident
ALERT - Get READY for titanic is SINKING NOW!, 4/10/11

Faber says the Fed will keep interest rates below the rate of the cost of living increase as far as the eye can see. He argues that cash and bonds are dangerous in this environment, and suggests moving into asset classes like commodities, real estate, equities, and art. The investor argues that gold is not in a bubble, as most investors are not buying the precious metal. Faber thinks gold is cheaper today than in 1999 when it was $252.
Marc Faber: Cash and Bonds Dangerous in this Environment, 4/9/11

The Federal government is trying to establish bartering private currency of any type as an illegal enterprise in a false interpretation of the court's recent conviction of Liberty Dollar's owner Bernard Von NotHaus.
Federal government seeking to make forms of bartering illegal after court ruling, 4/4/11

One of the difficulties that critics of central banking have, all over the world, is that academic economists are almost universally supportive of central banking. To understand why this is the case, we must understand the economics of banking as an aspect of the economics of cartels. All modern banking systems are based on government licensing and regulation. All licensing and regulation systems create barriers to entry. All government-created barriers to entry create cartels. All central banks are enforcement agents of the national banking cartel.
Why Economists Love the Federal Reserve, 3/30/11

Some lawmakers and market analysts are expressing rising concerns that a demand for capital by earthquake-ravaged Japan could lead it to sell off some of its huge holdings of U.S.-issued debt, leaving the federal government in an even tighter financial pinch.
Fears rise that Japan could sell off U.S. debt, 3/24/11

You are on the back of a tiger. You had no say in the matter. You are part of the international economy, and central bankers run it. First they inflate. Then there is a boom. Then there is price inflation. Then they stop inflating. Then there is a recession. To keep it from becoming a depression, they inflate. Year after year, decade after decade, generation after generation, this is what central bankers do.
Bernanke Riding the Tiger, 3/26/11

2011 is shaping up to be a really bad year for the U.S. economy. There are all kinds of indications that big trouble is ahead. So far financial markets are weathering all of the chaos around the world fairly well, but just as there were huge flashing warning signs before the 2008 financial crisis there are also huge flashing warning signs now. The price of oil is soaring, the U.S. housing market is experiencing huge problems, the cost of living in America recently hit a new record high and each week the globe seems to become even more unstable. How much pounding can our fragile economic system take before it completely collapses?
15 Indications That Bad Times Are About to Hit the U.S. Economy, 3/25/11

The US Dollar's inflationary death spiral continues. We've now taken out the 2010 low leaving only two more lines of support before we're in completely uncharted territory. At its current rate of collapse, the US Dollar will do this within the next 3-4 months. This means the greenback will break into a new all-time lows by 2H11, which will precipitate the coming inflationary collapse.
Dollar Will Collapse Within 3-4 Months, 3/24/11

Two years ago, George Soros said he wanted to reorganize the entire global economic system. In two short weeks, he is going to start - and no one seems to have noticed. On April 8, a group he's funded with $50 million is holding a major economic conference and Soros's goal for such an event is to "establish new international rules" and "reform the currency system." It's all according to a plan laid out in a Nov. 4, 2009, Soros op-ed calling for "a grand bargain that rearranges the entire financial order."
GS Aims to Remake Entire Global Economy, 3/23/11

The economic collapse of Japan has begun. The extent of the devastation is now becoming clear and many are now projecting that this will be the most expensive natural disaster in modern human history. The tsunami that struck Japan on March 11th swept up to 6 miles inland, destroying virtually everything in the way. Countless thousands were killed and entire communities were totally wiped out. So how does a nation that is already drowning in debt replace dozens of cities and towns that have suddenly been destroyed? Many in the mainstream media are claiming that the economy of Japan will bounce right back from this, but they are wrong. The tsunami decimated thousands of square miles. The loss of homes, cars, businesses and personal wealth is almost unimaginable. It is going to take many years to rebuild the roads, bridges, rail systems, ports, power lines and water systems that were lost. There are going to be a significant number of Japanese insurance companies and financial institutions that are going to be totally wiped out as a result of this great tragedy. Of course in the days ahead the Japanese people will band together and work hard to rebuild the nation, but the truth is that it is impossible to "bounce right back" from such a massive loss of wealth, assets and infrastructure.
14 Reasons Why the Economic Collapse of Japan Has Begun, 3/16/11

Marc Faber provided his latest views on the markets and global economy this morning in light of the nuclear crisis in Japan. In a CNBC interview, the editor of The Gloom, Boom & Doom report made a bevy of predictions – which included many more rounds of quantitative easing (up to QE18), and eventually World War III
QE18, WWIII Ahead, 3/15/11

Really, sit back and think about it. Put some thought into figuring out how difficult it is to successfully manipulate real estate (commercial and residential), stock and bond markets in just one major country. Then give the same thought to how difficult it would be to do the same in nearly all of the developed nations who participated in this crisis. The mere attempt to do so has loaded them up with debt at a time of marginal if not negative GDP and economic upside, a disgruntled populace ripe to ripple from the causes of social unrest rising from the rife economic conditions that the aftermath of incessant bubble blowing has wrought, and last but not least - fundamentally overvalued investment markets.
True Cause Of The 2008 Market Crash Looks Like Its About To Rear Its Ugly Head Again, With A Vengeance, 3/11/11

Raise the cost of financing by 40%, and you can knock 40% off the value of your property. That is off of today’s prices, which are already down 40%-60% from the 2007 peak, depending on your neighborhood.
This will inevitably lead to a secondary banking crisis and another stock market crash. If you are wondering about those Armageddon type forecasts that have the Dow plunging down to 3,000, this is the intellectual foundation behind them. That is when we find out how much freedom really costs.
Rent, don’t buy. If the roof leaks, the furnace breaks, and the toilet blocks, you just call the landlord, as I have done with my wonderful new rental here in sunny California.
Sword Hanging Over the Housing Market, 3/10/11

In his latest monthly note, PIMCO's Bill Gross said he didn't know who would be buying Treasuries after QEII ended this summer. He said, specifically, that he wanted out of the market. Well, he has. ZeroHedge has a look at Bill Gross' latest holding, which confirm the exodus from Treasuries, and a massive build up in good old greenbacks.
Bill Gross Puts Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is, And Completely Abandons US Treasuries, 3/9/11

Government payouts—including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance—make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement. Even as the economy has recovered, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research using Bureau of Economic Analysis data.
Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages, 3/8/11

And Americans are complaining at an average gas price in the mid $3 range. In Europe, gasoline has just hit an all time record of $8.632 per gallon! As HLN.be reports: "tomorrow the price of gas will reach an absolute record. Petrol 95 can hit €1.624 per litre. This breaks the 2008 record of €1.61 per liter." Translated into American this means that a gallon of gas in Europe is now an unprecedented $8.632 per gallon, which will certainly result in Europe literally and metaphorically grinding to a halt.
European Gasoline Hits All Time Record Of $8.632 Per Gallon, 3/8/11

It is not just the United States that is headed for an economic collapse. The truth is that the entire world is heading for a massive economic meltdown and the people of earth need to be warned about the coming economic disaster that is going to sweep the globe. The current world financial system is based on debt, and there are alarming signs that the gigantic global debt bubble is getting ready to burst. In addition, global prices for the key resources that the major economies of the planet depend on are rising very rapidly. Despite all of our advanced technology, the truth is that human civilization simply cannot function without oil and food. But now the price of oil and the price of food are both increasing dramatically. So how is the current global economy supposed to keep functioning properly if it soon costs much more to ship products between continents? How are the billions of people that are just barely surviving today supposed to feed themselves if the price of food goes up another 30 or 40 percent? For decades, most of the major economies around the globe have been able to take for granted that massive amounts of cheap oil and massive amounts of cheap food will always be there. So what happens when that paradigm changes?
People of Earth: Prepare for Economic Disaster

All 50 states have been overcharging their citizens with taxes "in excess of needs" .. and hiding it in the Bank of New York in multiple accounts. The information about the Investment accounts are available to the Public via the State Treasurer's Office in what is entitled, "Local Government Investment Pool". Legislators VEHEMENTLY deny they exist . . even when one hands them a copy of the State's own publication. So . . there is a big lie by state governments told against their own people . . the states are not bankrupt. Their funds are hidden. No one has accountability for the interest made off the Bank of New York, nor do they use the money for the citizens. America, your money to save the nation is over $64 TRILLION and is in the Bank of New York:
Index of /STATES

When Barack Obama, the Federal Reserve and the mainstream media tell us that we are in the middle of an economic recovery, is that supposed to be some kind of sick joke? According to newly released numbers, over 44 million Americans are now on food stamps. That is a new all-time record and that number is 13.1% higher than it was just one year ago. So how many Americans have to go on food stamps before we can all finally agree that the U.S. economy is dying? 50 million? 60 million? All of us? The food stamp program is the modern equivalent of the old bread lines. More than one out of every seven Americans now depends on the federal government for food. Oh, but haven’t you heard? The economy is showing dramatic improvement. Corporate profits are up. The stock market is soaring. Happy days are here again.
You Call This An Economic Recovery? 44 Million Americans On Food Stamps and 10 Other Reasons Why The Economy Is Simply Not Getting Better, 3/4/11

Bernanke's plan to recreate Libya in our own back yard is continuing to work magnificently. It is no surprise that on Charles Ponzi day, the update to food stamp usage indicates that in December those receiving an average of $134 per month has just hit 44.1 million people. These lucky people will soon be able to buy an inflation adjusted 2.3 crumbs of notional bread with this generous handout from the Chairsatan. In other words, America is now the land of the free, home of the brave, of whom 14.3% can't afford to eat, even with all the new jobs created by both the old QE1, Lite and 2, and soon to be 3. Don't forget that according to the Bernank, QE2 has already created 250,000 new jobs... all at the a modest cost of $1.3 million per job.
On Charles Ponzi Day We Celebrate Another All Time Record In Food Stamp Usage, 3/3/11

On the day after pastor Lindsey Williams went on the Alex Jones Show and talked about the globalist plan to destroy the dollar and jack up oil prices through the stratosphere in an effort to wreck the economy, the price of oil went up to just short of $100 per barrel. Sources inside the oil industry told Williams the price will ultimately reach between $150 and $200 per barrel. Williams also told Alex Jones the oil producers Saudi Arabia and Iran will be targeted.
Oil Prices Skyrocket After Williams’ Latest Revelations, 2/23/11

You really can't make this shit up: "The economy is in a much stronger position to handle” rising oil prices, Tim Geithner said today during a Bloomberg Breakfast in Washington. “Central banks have a lot of experience in managing these things." We are, all of us, now doomed.
Geithner Says Not To Worry About Surging Oil Prices, 2/23/11

The last time the oil price lost all sense of gravity, as it threatens to again with the price of Brent crude now well north of $100 a barrel, it helped tip the world economy into the deepest recession since the 1930s.
Oil price shock: Pandora's Box is opened, 2/22/11

Even during this time of relative economic stability, the U.S. middle class is still being ripped to shreds. If there are those among your family and friends that are somehow convinced that the U.S. economy is recovering nicely, you might want want to show them the following 18 very sobering facts...
18 reasons why the middle class is in deep trouble, 2/22/11

As Noam Chomsky puts it: "The population in the United States is angry, frustrated and full of fear and irrational hatreds. And the folks not far from you on Wall Street are just doing fine. They're the ones who created the current crisis. They're the ones who were called upon to deal with it. They're coming out stronger and richer than ever. But everything's fine - as long as the population is passive." That is our problem. Even if the people want to know, it is not that easy to find out. Let us thank the media and our government for that.
US economics: One big Ponzi scheme, 2/20/11

The 401(k) generation is beginning to retire, and it isn't a pretty sight. The retirement savings plans that many baby boomers thought would see them through old age are falling short in many cases.
Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short, 2/19/11

A most dastardly deed occurred last Friday when the Obama administration issued a 29-page policy statement totally abandoning the federal government’s time-honored role in helping Americans achieve the goal of homeownership. Instead of punishing the banks that sabotaged the American ideal of a nation of stakeholders by “securitizing” our homesteads into poker chips to be gambled away in the Wall Street casino, Barack Obama now proposes to turn over the entire mortgage industry to those same banks.
Obama and Geithner's Insidious Plan to Hand the Entire Housing Industry Over to the Banks, 2/17/11

Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them.
Why Isn't Wall Street In Jail?, 2/16/11

Whether a person loses everything all at once, or a piece at a time, the end result is the same, however, there is something especially cruel in the idea of fiscal theater; the act of inspiring false hope that a financial environment is sound when it has, in truth, already suffocated. Why would our modern day robber barons put so much energy into constructing a fake recovery? There are many reasons, but first and foremost, to create apathy. To lure us towards inaction. To swindle us into assuming the storm will blow over, and all will return as it was. Unfortunately, recovery without intense restructuring of our economic system is impossible. The fundamentals do not support the suggestion in the slightest. The question is, who will be at the helm when the dust settles and this restructuring does eventually occur? Will the American people take the lead, as they should, and commit to a concrete free market rejuvenation of our financial environment? Or, will we sit back yet again, and let the banksters set us up for the next grand disaster?
How To Fake An Economic Recovery, 2/16/11

Global food prices have hit "dangerous levels" that could contribute to political instability, push millions of people into poverty and raise the cost of groceries, according to a new report from the World Bank.
World Bank: Food prices at "dangerous levels", 2/15/11

John Steinbeck wrote his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath at the age of 37 in 1939, at the tail end of the Great Depression. Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize for literature. John Ford then made a classic film adaption in 1941, starring Henry Fonda. It is considered one of the top 25 films in American history. The book was also one of the most banned in US history. Steinbeck was ridiculed as a communist and anti-capitalist by showing support for the working poor. Some things never change, as the moneyed interests that control the media message have attempted to deflect the blame for our current Depression away from their fraudulent deeds. The novel stands as a chronicle of the Great Depression and as a commentary on the economic and social system that gave rise to it. Steinbeck’s opus to the working poor reverberates across the decades. He wrote the novel in the midst of the last Fourth Turning Crisis. His themes of man’s inhumanity to man, the dignity and rage of the working class, and the selfishness and greed of the moneyed class ring true today.
Grapes Of Wrath - 2011, 2/14/11

Few believed the housing market here would ever collapse. Now they wonder if it will ever stop slumping. The rolling real estate crash that ravaged Florida and the Southwest is delivering a new wave of distress to communities once thought to be immune — economically diversified cities where the boom was relatively restrained.
Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable, 2/14/11

In a February 6th article on record global prices for food I had presented the Food Price Index that was prepared by the FAO of the United Nations (see chart here). The point of that article was that nothing creates the potential for civil unrest and rioting in the streets quite like the lack of available or affordable food. The frost at the beginning of February that plunged the U.S. into the freezer made its way into Mexico and has reportedly caused 80-100% crop damage. As a result there exists the very real potential for a spike in U.S. food prices and shortages of inventory.
Mexico loses 80-100% of crops to freeze, US prices to skyrocket, 2/12/11

The Obama administration is releasing a white paper today with it’s suggestions to reform the housing market, and the National Association of Realtors is up in arms. It’s been circulating some “talking points” and it has some dire predictions.
Obama Administration Wants To Make Us A Nation Of Renters, 2/11/11

The world is in the midst of a second global food crisis in only three years, pushing prices up, adding to the ongoing protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East. Globally, food prices set a new record in January dues to large increases in the prices of corn, sugar grains and oil. Many argue there are direct links between Wall Street, the sale of food futures, and the printing of money by the Federal Reserve is printing leading to inflation worldwide. Previously commodities markets operated under a system of physical speculators and hedgers who operated based on seasons as food products changes. However, Goldman Sacks created a structure where they continued to buy the product out of seas, based on futures as opposed to conditions.
Goldman to blame for global food crisis, 2/11/11

For over a year now, Zero Hedge has been predicting that in its foolhardy attempt of "inflation or bust", the Fed's actions would sooner or later lead to mass rioting and possible revolutions as a result of surging and out of control food prices.
Fed's Role In Recent Food Price Ignited Revolutions, 2/7/11

We are officially in the middle of the worst housing collapse in U.S. history – and unfortunately it is going to get even worse. Already, U.S. housing prices have fallen further during this economic downturn (26 percent), then they did during the Great Depression (25.9 percent). Approximately 11 percent of all homes in the United States are currently standing empty. In fact, there are many new housing developments across the U.S. that resemble little more than ghost towns because foreclosures have wiped them out. Mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures reached new highs in 2010, and it is being projected that banks and financial institutions will repossess at least a million more U.S. homes during 2011. Meanwhile, unemployment is absolutely rampant and wage levels are going down at a time when mortgage lending standards have been significantly tightened. That means that there are very few qualified buyers running around out there and that is going to continue to be the case for quite some time to come. When you add all of those factors up, it leads to one inescapable conclusion. The "housing Armageddon" that we have been experiencing since 2007 is going to get even worse in 2011.
Housing Armageddon: 12 Facts, 2/3/11

For those 17% of people who think the economy is in recovery and the other 33% who believe it will happen soon, we point you to the latest statement from current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who outlines the severity of the problem.
Shocking admission from Tim Geithner: U.S. on the brink of catastrophic collapse, 1/6/11

The National Inflation Association is pleased to announce its top 10 predictions for 2011.
NIA's Top 10, 1/4/11

Though fraud and complicity are presented in the mainstream media as isolated conspiracies outside the status quo, the truth is that the status quo is now entirely dependent on fraud and complicity for its very survival. Every level of the status quo would immediately implode were fraud and complicity suddenly withdrawn from the system.
Fraud and Complicity Are Now the Lifeblood of the Status Quo, 11/12/10

The banksters asset-stripped the public. Twice. The first time in the 1990s with the Internet bubble, the second time in houses. If you bought a home from 2003 onward you got screwed. It doesn't matter if you were a good borrower or not - you overpaid. American business was also asset-stripped. We covered this by shipping our labor off to China, India and Vietnam.
During the last part of the 2000 decade, the Federal Reserve, Bank Regulators, Government and the Banks themselves were all in on it. We know this. We know it because Citibank's former Chief Underwriter has testified to it under oath. It is not speculation or mathematics, it is admitted fact. This was an intentional, malicious act that involved government and finance. Your "representatives" didn't represent you, they represented the banks. They acted as guards not of your wealth, but instead they held you at gunpoint while the bank robbed you. This is the proximate cause of the market and economic collapse - your productive wealth was literally stolen through these frauds.
America's Alarm Clock Has Rung: Time's Up, 11/4/10

The government's entire strategy now - as during the S&L crisis - is to cover up how bad things are. But it is not only a matter of covering up fraud that has already happened. The government also created an environment which greatly encouraged fraud.
Fraud Started At the Very Top: With Government Leaders, 11/2/10