Elaine Meinel Supkis
China has sent us a very loud warning. If we default on our many billions in debts to China, there will be a blinding, hideous retaliation. I expected this would happen after the Olympics closed with China taking the lion's share of gold medals. We look back to a year ago to see how this present banking collapse was proceeding last August. And we look at August, 1930. Similar situation! Not unexpectedly. The US empire is bankrupt. Biden was chosen to herd Obama into office. Biden's son is a credit card lobbyist. Arrest everyone. The Bushese are even more corrupt: they are owned by the Chinese and Saudis. Today is a grim day after a grim year. The US empire is dead but still rolls onwards due to inertia and fear.
First, we visit Culture of Life News exactly one year ago:
August 26, 2007: Rashomon: Everyone Tries To Explain Death Of Banking
In the famous movie, 'Rashomon', four different people tell four different stories about a rape/seduction/murder. The present economic meltdown is similar: so many people are lying or concealing stuff, it is very hard to sort out what is true, what is fake and where this will end except I know it will end badly. We have had a philosophy of global trade/global banking for quite a few years now yet many people trying to make sense of this latest...and not so unusual...banking collapse tend to overlook key players and misunderstand key philosophical banking issues. China and Japan are NOT playing the same game or using the same rules Europe and the USA use.
The bizarre financial systems we see today was set up in the West, with the collapse of communism. When communists coupled their own, new system with the Cold War economic alliance which was set up so that the two losers in WWII could hyper-prosper, thus has created a New World Order that is totally insane and utterly impossible to sustain. The US was persuaded to rebuild the communist empires. The thinking was, if they became stronger and more capitalistic, they would become friends of the US.
This infantile way of thinking is due to propaganda put out by the elites, themselves. The grave danger of all propaganda is, one ends up believing the fake stories. This is why a cold-eyed look at reality is necessary. History never was a conflict between economic systems. It was and still is a conflict between EMPIRES. Empires have been founded on every possible sort of system, style, philosophy and economics. But they all have many, many things in common. This is why recognizing the history of empires and the dynamics of domination are more useful than dickering over details.
The old article from last year is important reading. In it, I tried to explain how the collapse which had barely begun last August, would evolve. I knew this was a major, major global banking collapse due to too much lending, too much overspending. And I knew that the key to all this was in the US global empire: the US was already bankrupt. No one wants to admit this. Everyone wants the US to continue paying its debts. The last thing they want is for the US to do what Germany did in 1933: totally default on all international debts.
Just as the US tried, from 1923 onwards, a desperate stream of continuing lending to Germany to keep their economy afloat so Germany could pay WWI reparations and therefore, fund England and France's repayment of loans from America to run that ruinous war. The collapse of this circle of higher and higher lending coupled with a flood of foreign savings pouring into the US markets from 1922-1929, destabilized international banking and commerce. Which was still, despite the bankruptcy of England, run on the English currency as the base.
Note here how empires run along as if they are alive and well, long after they have died! This is a characteristic feature! Important as all hell. For dead empires always keep moving from sheer momentum. Electrical shocks are applies to keep the dead beasts going and they go and go. The Ottoman Empire, locus of WWI's energies, was dead in 1750. But all the European rising empires kept it alive because they were competing with each other over dismembering that older empire. The whole thing finally came apart in 1914 when the heir to the Viennese throne was assassinated. Now, the Ottoman Empire is a small rump, Turkey. And the rest is being shattered into ever-smaller slivers.
England sailed merrily along after basically being destroyed in WWI. But when the Japanese and Germans poked at the paper tiger of bankrupt England, it all collapsed so fast, the armies and navies of Germany and Japan could barely keep up. The 'Blitzkrieg' aspect of all this was due to the utter collapse of English power.
The US empire is DEAD. Yes, dead. Not totally in the grave...yet. But it is financially dead. The military will follow suit. Our only solution is total warfare, I fear. The summer conventions this year are very dark indeed, as I will explain later. Back to money matters: neither candidate has the solution to our financial destruction since both support wild military overspending. And we are bankrupt. This is part of the international instability. The US cannot pay for the empire we saddled ourselves with. We can ruthlessly cut off our free protection services to Europe and Japan! And we might survive our own collapse.
But this option is not allowed. Unlike in the 1930's when the Asian and European powers wanted us to eat their bitter war fruits while they invade our markets, our own nation took severe measures to withdraw and protect itself. This may have caused WWII but I would state here that we would have LOST WWII without a single bullet being shot if we took up the burden of the entire French and English empires! There was no way we could afford that. Nor would it make any sense. Later, when we tried this in Indochina, we were thumped, hard. At least with WWII, both England and France had to surrender significant degrees of autonomy in order to have us rescue them from the messes their dying empires created.
Financial crisis enters new, uncertain stage
Losses expected to double, while Fed remains under microscope
(MarketWatch) -- The financial crisis has entered a new phase and will likely bring total credit losses above $1 trillion, according to a leading academic who has been studying the turmoil since its beginning a year ago.Princeton University economics professor Hyun Song Shin says the subprime mortgage crisis has already cost financial institutions roughly $500 billion. Now, however, the problem has spread to the real economy, and losses on credit cards, consumer and business debt should match or exceed those from subprime mortgages and the like, he said.
"We'll see as much as the subprime losses again on the other side, at the very least," Shin in an interview Saturday with MarketWatch on the sidelines of the Federal Reserve's two-day annual economic seminar in Wyoming.
The International Monetary Fund has estimated that financial institutions will suffer a total $945 billion in credit losses. Shin said that remained a credible number, but was still probably on the low side.
"We are probably half way [through the financial turmoil], "Shin said. "The first stage is done -- we're at the second stage. ... The real issue is how much is how much the prime mortgage portfolio is going to be affected. That is going to depend on how far house prices will fall."
I wasn't invited to this picnic. So I will hang out with the grizzly bears outside the Jackson Hole fences and yell at them all: 'Hey, you guys are supposed to be EXPERTS and some of you dudes even claim to be experts about the Great Depression! So why are you guys all so utterly clueless?' I am happy that this one intellectual giant can see part of the truth. About time. Yes, indeed, we are in the 'second stage' of this epic banking collapse! Wow.
Um, this being year 2 in the collapse, I have been running past postings on anniversary days to show clearly, where we were a year ago and where we are going today. It is striking! The Second Great Depression or GDII is an echo of the previous one just as WWII was an echo of WWI. The Great Depression II is going to probably be worse than the previous one just as WWII was worse than WWI. The British Empire was big. But the US empire dwarfs that. England didn't have troops in the majority of the world's countries. The English economy didn't overwhelm all other economies. The expenses for running the British Empire were far less than the epic hemorrhaging of red ink by the US during times of low-level colonial wars.
Enraged mobs might wipe out British interlopers in India or China but were helpless when fairly small armies with little equipment were hauled in to kill civilians or poorly-paid native troops. The US occupation of hostile territory, on the other hand, is tremendously expensive. And deliberately so. The US military is very anxious to spend as much money as humanly possible, as fast as they can. This is immensely profitable.
And we are bankrupt. The fact that our entire financial system is collapsing as fast as the World Trade Center fell on 9/11 is significant. For they are one and the same. The people who benefited most from that attack were our military/industrialists and the global revolutionaries seeking to destroy US economic powers.
The housing bubble was launched because the US emperor, Bush, wanted Americans to be enthusiastic about widening the empire and overspending on wars. Instead of a punishing rise in taxes and restrictions in trade, the US tried the usual imperial solution to pesky revolutionaries: throw money out the window to the masses. This created global inflation. And destroyed international values, trade and banking. Not the act of buying those stupid houses, it was blasting that huge hole in the Cave of Death so we could get rich, killing civilians far away. If everyone in America paid their debts, the #1 debt to pay is to pay taxes to cover the costs of war. Since war money flows OUTWARDS, this is a much greater danger to our financial welfare than social services. Social services are INTERNAL. War is EXTERNAL.
We became stronger after WWII because despite external flows of goods and money, we taxed ourselves to the hilt to pay for this. But since wages and jobs went up due to the dominance of the US in industrial output, all was in balance. Today, we are a global industrial MIDGET. And what production we now have, increasingly, it is owned by the people we defeated in WWII or defeated in the Cold War!
Freddie, Fannie Failure Could Be World `Catastrophe,' Yu Says
(Bloomberg) -- A failure of U.S. mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be a catastrophe for the global financial system, said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China's central bank.``If the U.S. government allows Fannie and Freddie to fail and international investors are not compensated adequately, the consequences will be catastrophic,'' Yu said in e-mailed answers to questions yesterday. ``If it is not the end of the world, it is the end of the current international financial system.''
*snip*
``The seriousness of such failures could be beyond the stretch of people's imagination,'' said Yu, a professor at the Institute of World Economics & Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. He didn't explain why he held that view.China's government hasn't commented on Fannie and Freddie.
The Olympics are over. After the West earned the Gold Medal in Whining About The Hosts and after the US got the Gold Medal in Sneak Attacks On Russians, we are entering a new system today! The news from China is very dire. The Chinese are losing patience with the US. They held off slitting our economic throats due to the anticipated Olympics. But the US and NATO did a dual attack: they continued to demand the dismemberment of China while attacking Russia's borders.
China and Russia are solvent. The US is bankrupt. Now, China 'be bank'. Frankly, the Chinese are NOT shocked about the US going bankrupt. THEY PLANNED THIS. They knew that if they held the keys to the bank vaults, they could strangle the US. This silence from Beijing is not stupid. It isn't from annoyance. It is PART OF THE PLANS.
Few people believe me when I say, this plan was cooked up in the US back in the 1980's when the Chinese finally understood capitalism and saw clearly how the US had gone off the financial cliff after the Vietnam War. The US ruling class cannot claim they had no idea the Chinese figured things out. I told everyone until blue in the face, what was going on. Bush Sr. wanted to be ambassador to China back in the seventies because he knew he could make a financial killing and in addition, get Chinese support for getting more power in America.
For Bush was head of the CIA before hiking off to China to get rich. He had all the inside information from my mom and dad. It was my mom and dad who suggested to the CIA, they have the Chinese officials live in my house, for example. We all know each other. Just as I knew Moynihan and D'Amato when they were the Senators for New York. All of them knew about China and China's desire to get a grip on capitalism so they could make their empire stronger. They also knew of the Chinese cynicism about bribery. After all, they spied on Bush when he was ambassador! And they were VERY inquisitive when it came to spying, by the way.
For example, once when my mother and father wanted to talk privately, they went into the shower. A frustrated Chinese agent burst into the bathroom, demanding they stop it, now. This was during Madame Mao's days.
China's silence today is tactical. Being very aware about the entire issue of 'face', they send out courtiers to step forwards and issue threats and demands. Only these are 'suggestions.' The Chinese have made it utterly clear, the US cannot fob off all losses onto China. If the US does this, unnamable horrors will occur. I have said in the past, the rulers of China won't hesitate to whack us very, very hard. They don't want an army of super-rich in China, either. They want to balance state power with private power. Unlike the US which has utterly divorced the people from the power at the center, handing it over to the hyper-rich. Both alien and domestic. The Chinese want to use Bill Gates, not create him.
The international financial systems are broken. They cannot be fixed unless the oath breaker, the US, resumes fiscal responsibility. None of the US allies, Japan, Germany, France or England, want this. They need to keep the US misspending money protecting THEM. Even as they poke at Russia and China. Every tiny principality and statelet also wants this. They can all call upon the US to protect them while they roar defiance to their neighbors. Gads. So instead of us turning aside from this bankrupt situation, it increases. All the war bellows we will be hearing at the Conventions will confirm this to the Chinese: the US thinks it will have enough money from Europe and Japan to keep going.
THIS IS FALSE. If Europe and Japan can fund the US empire, it will be only for a few more years, if that. And only if the US keeps away from conflicts with Russia and China over other nations such as Georgia or Iran. If we insist on confrontations, they will give this to us. By bankrupting the US. If Europe and Japan want to buy ALL the US dollars and debts held by Russia And China, they can! BE MY GUEST. Try keeping the dollar 'strong' while buying up $3 trillion in communist held US debts and dollars!
THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. They could do this by getting loans from each other. This will increase global inflation, of course. We tried this after losing the Vietnam War. Unlike in 1980, the US can't scare Saudi Arabia into our embrace. The kings were terrified of communists. But now, they are terrified of the bin Laden religious revolution. Which has not died. It is stronger than ever and eating up Pakistan pretty rapidly. It has defeated the US. We just won't admit this.
Both China and Russia can protect the Saudi royals. As the US collapses, the Saudis are already being hammered by US financial losses. If the US goes bankrupt to China and Russia, ALL OTHER SYSTEMS WILL FOLLOW SUIT. This is unavoidable. We can't do a selective bankruptcy. If we cheat the Saudis out of their oil profits just like we did in the 1990's, they will rush to China and Russia for help and protection. And they will join them in basically suing the US for past financial damages. Using the UN. Which still exists. And will be run by a consortium of holders of US debts. Trust me on this.
Rapid rise of dollar may endanger U.S. and world economies
So why has the dollar climbed 7 percent against a basket of currencies since July 15? It is all relative. The outlook for the American economy may be grim, but that of the rest of the developed world is deteriorating rapidly. "This spreading weakness abroad - and it is worse now in Europe and Japan than it is in the U.S.A. - is the primary reason for the dollar's recovery," said David Rosenberg, an economist at Merrill Lynch.Data released Friday showed that Britain's economy did not grow at all in the second quarter. The euro zone recorded its first-ever contraction during that period.
Revised figures due Thursday are expected to show that the U.S. economy grew at a solid 2.7 percent annual rate in the second quarter, according to economists polled by Reuters, well ahead of the 1.9 percent pace that was initially reported.
But don't expect much of a celebration on Wall Street, because few investors believe this pace can be sustained. Ironically, the recent resurgence in the dollar is part of the reason why.
For the global economy, a strengthening dollar is a mixed blessing. It is good news for European exporters, who have long complained that an expensive euro was hurting their business. It is not such great news for the U.S. economy, which has relied on export demand to compensate for sluggish domestic spending.
Indeed, foreign trade added 2.4 percentage points to second-quarter U.S. gross domestic product, its largest contribution in nearly 28 years, according to calculations from the research firm Global Insight. The revised data Thursday may show that it provided an even stronger kick of 3.2 percent. In other words, without trade, the second-quarter GDP figure could very well have been negative.
If we subtract the US budget deficit for this year which is rapidly approaching a trillion dollars and subtract our trade deficit, the 'growth rate' falls to well below zero. Goosing our economy with that $600@ gift to US tax payers worked. But it increased our debts to China and Russia. So it simply made our situation worse. No sane human overseas is fooled by our GDP figures. Besides, some of this was due to the sudden hike in US exports when food and fuel shot up. The US exports lots of food.
Special to The New York Times.
September 18, 1930
EXPORTS IN AUGUST ABOVE JULY TOTAL;
Amount, Though, Is Far Below That of Month in 1929--Imports Lowest in 10 Years.DRIFT OF GOLD CONTINUES. Steady Stream of Money Metal Flowing From Country Lately-- Silver Movement Shrinks. Foreign Trade in Merchandise.
One year after the fall in stocks in 1929, this was the headlines! How similar it is today! Metals of all sorts are flowing out of America. I get emails and see stories in the news about the inability to buy gold or silver in physical form. See how this was happening in the past? Imports were lowest and look at today: our government is boasting that imports are down. Japan and Europe can't save the US finances if they are losing the ability to export to the US. This is part of the deflationary liquidity trap.
1930 NYT: AUGUST FLOTATIONS ARE YEAR'S LOWEST;
Offerings of Stocks and Bonds Total $236,250,000, Against $564,739,000 in July. SALES OF SHARES ARE FEW Most of Lien Securities Put Out In Last Eight Months Are of Public Utilities. Offerings Show Big Changes. August Offerings Are Compared.
Looks like today's news. Now, back to today:
Borrowing at Merrill, Wachovia Hit With Record Refinancing Bill
(Bloomberg) -- Merrill Lynch & Co., Wachovia Corp., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the rest of the U.S. finance industry are about to find out how expensive credit has become.Banks, securities firms and lenders have a record $871 billion of bonds maturing through 2009, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., just as yields are at their most punitive compared with Treasuries. The increase in yields may cost them as much as $23 billion more in annual interest versus a year ago based on Merrill Lynch index data.
Higher refinancing expenses will restrict the ability of banks to borrow in the capital markets and lend, further cutting off credit to consumers and businesses and curbing what is already the slowest growing economy since 2001. Standard & Poor's said last week that it had a ``negative'' outlook on almost half of the 50 highest-rated financial institutions in the U.S. as of June 30, the highest proportion in 15 years.
Even as the bigger bankers are paying more and more to access money, thanks to the Federal Reserve cheating savers in our bankrupt nation, rates are rising for them. But not for savers. This is STUPID. And totally infuriating. The US bankers, instead of attracting savings, are BORROWING and doing this overseas. They used to go to Russia, China and Saudi Arabia for funds. But as we can see, these three entities are increasingly united in refusing us this option.
One trillion in bonds will be maturing this next year. Someone with money has to buy them. Who are these people? Will people being cheated out of their savings by the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy these bonds? HAHAHA. NO. The minute we understand this, we have to get on our hands and knees and crawl to the Dragon Throne, the the Double Eagle Throne and to Mecca's rulers and head to the floor, beg for mercy. Is this being discussed?
NO! Not at the Teddy Bear Picnic at Jackson Hole. Nor was it discussed at the Bilderberger Meeting in DC. HAHAHA. Actually, it was. With fear and trembling. 'How can we kow tow without letting the peasant masses see this?' was what they said to each other. Once the proud flag waving, gun owning American peasants figure out, the ruling elites in America are fools and stooges of the communists and Arabs, they will revolt. If they think McCain isn't a stooge, well, they should watch the Three Stooges. He ain't Larry. He is the bald guy who crashes into walls.
Obama is being led by the hand in the art of kow towing while pretending to be Kennedy. Kennedy was at the apex of our power. Obama is at the nadir. The best we can hope here is, he is enough a gentleman to do this with enough grace, the real rulers in China, Russia and Saudi Arabia will allow him to pretend to be proud and not a beggar at their gates. But the advisors to Obama want to confront China and Russia. And hate Saudi Arabia. I don't see how any of this is possible, frankly.
Obama Aides Defend Bank’s Pay to Biden Son
During the years that Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. was helping the credit card industry win passage of a law making it harder for consumers to file for bankruptcy protection, his son had a consulting agreement that lasted five years with one of the largest companies pushing for the changes, aides to Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign acknowledged Sunday.Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter, received consulting fees from the MBNA Corporation from 2001 to 2005 for work on online banking issues. Aides to Mr. Obama, who chose Mr. Biden as his vice-presidential running mate on Saturday, would not say how much the younger Mr. Biden, who works as both a lawyer and lobbyist in Washington, had received, though a company official had once described him as having a $100,000 a year retainer. But Obama aides said he had never lobbied for MBNA and that there was nothing improper about the payments.
*snip*
“Senator Biden has a 35-year record fighting for people against powerful interests, whether it’s drug companies, oil companies or insurance companies,” David Wade, a spokesman for the Obama campaign, said in a statement. “He took plenty of knocks from the largest employer in his state because he demanded changes in the bankruptcy bill. But legislating requires compromise. Senators cast tough votes. Congress worked on the bankruptcy bill for nearly a decade, over five Congresses, to forge a bipartisan compromise.”
ALL the teeming relatives of the Senate and other seats of power are lobbyists. 'Hey, dad, hey, honey, hey, gramps, can you sign this bill for my employers?' these flock of locusts babble. They are legion and they are a sign of corruption. Nearly everyone in DC is corrupt these days. Give them money, they give back corruption. The use of family members as lobbyists should be outlawed. Arrest them all! McCain has a paid lobbyist for Georgia where we just saw a sneak attack on Russia. These people are TRAITORS. I can't emphasize this enough. Corrupting the political system is treason. When our lawmakers are lawbreakers, we get a broken system. Broken systems go bankrupt. We are going bankrupt.
Frontline: Secret History of the Credit Card Industry
But it was 1980, South Dakota's economy was a mess, and suspicion was an instinct that Janklow could not afford. "We were in the poor house,'' he recalled. "It cost 42 cents a bushel in 1980 to haul wheat. When something's only selling for $2.20 a bushel, you certainly can't afford to be paying almost 50 cents a bushel to ship it.''
The calls were from Citibank, which was having a serious problem of its own. "It was very simple,'' said Walter Wriston, then the chairman of Citibank. "We were going broke.''The bank had lost more than $1 billion on its audacious foray into the credit card business, and the future looked even worse. The trouble, simply put, was that the rate of inflation exceeded the amount of interest Citibank was allowed to charge its credit card customers under New York usury laws.
But the bankers saw opportunity and salvation in the plains of South Dakota. Within days of those first phone calls, a team of top executives arrived from New York with a proposal for Mr. Janklow: If South Dakota would quickly pass legislation that would enable Citibank to move its credit card operations to the state, they would bring hundreds of high-paying white collar jobs to the state.
The unlikely alliance would clear the way for Citibank to turn a money-losing credit card operation into a vastly profitable business. "All of their senior people used to say it,'' Mr. Janklow said. "That South Dakota saved Citibank. I believe it did. That South Dakota saved Citibank.''
Congress protects systems that are set up to bleed the US public dry. Everyone wants laws that protects this process and are willing to buy up all our political leaders to gain this. Citibank is always in the news. Despite this scam they pulled 35 years ago, they are still going bankrupt! They are basically owned by the Chinese and Saudis. Citibank is grossly overextended and hasn't near enough capital to stay alive much longer. All the tricky schemes to bleed money from the US consumer have failed, in the end. There is no going back. After bankrupting the consumer, the consumer can't consume. The scheme to flood the consumer market with new lending has now failed. The housing bubble was the last grasp at piling unpayable debts upon the US consumers.
Even if all the sons, daughters, wives, husbands, cousins, and other relatives beg Congress to pass bad laws, this won't bring in a flood of money to the sponsors of these craven family members seeking greater and greater wealth. Nearly all of Congress is multimillionaires now. The Clintons, when Hillary took office, were in debt. Then, over the course of just 7 years, they raked in over $100 million by selling Hillary like she was a political Monica giving blow.
The two candidates for President who were not multimillionaires were Kucinich and Ron Paul. Both were brutally muscled aside by the media. The media has a whole flock of relatives of the rich and powerful, working with or for them.
Culver knocks Agriprocessors, company answers back
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver has some harsh words for an embattled kosher meatpacking plant that's accused of child labor violations and was the site of a huge Immigration raid.It's an unusual move for a governor to knock a company that employs hundreds in a rural part of the state, but Culver said past violations and new allegations at Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville called for the criticism.
He published his thoughts in a guest column in the Des Moines Sunday Register, where he said Agriprocessors has "chosen to take the low road in its business practices." Culver also charged that the meatpacker has taken advantage of a failed federal Immigration system.
"In doing so, this company has fallen far short of meeting the high business standards that Iowans expect," Culver said.
Note that the powerful Jewish owners are NOT being arrested. Being connected helps. This mirrors the US punishing the lowest level guards in Iraq in the torture cases there. Punishing the guys following orders is typical. And corrupt. The failure of immigration right in the wake of 9/11 is treason. The borders are closed to people like myself. If I try to cross, I will lose my computer. And since I write about stuff like when I was a hippie and took LSD, why, this is also grounds for grounding me. But illegal aliens flowed back and forth with total impunity. Back in earlier times, the US government said they would prosecute owners of factories who fire Americans and rehire illegal aliens. So what happened?
Lobbyists. This is not being fixed. Our legislators want to get rich, not serve the nation.
Dear Elaine,
The foreigners suing American filth wall st. scum firms has begun "Abu Dhabi bank sues in U.S. over risky investments
Mon Aug 25, 2008 6:36pm EDT" .....The show has begun,the Olympics are over, North Korea gave us the middle finger and is now proceeding with nuclear enrichment, because we wont take them off the terrorist sponsor list. And just for shits and giggles watch this video from Rep.Stark claiming debt=wealth, and the more debt we have the welathier we are? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjbPZAMked0
Posted by: Ralph | August 26, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Oh, wow. EVERYONE is going to sue us. One can be a con artist only if one has the power. The US has lost all power. So long as we are mired in Afghanistan. Funny, this was bin Laden's strategic game plan. He is a genius. He played the family friends, the Bushes, like a fiddle.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2008 at 02:00 PM
War is EXTERNAL - Not anymore baby. The post 9/11 security apparatus makes no distinction between internal/external borders.
As the financial crisis continues to erode the living standard of Americans deranged with hubris dreams of national entitlement, and all those sweet trappings of apple pie 4th of July picnics, individuals with white picket fences around homogenous suburban geniality - Soon these opiated dreamers will become a real threat to the power brokers of the Zombie Nation.
On to the illogical rise of the Zombie Nation's currency - Could it be orchestrated to allow for some last minute shuffling out of dollar dominated assets before the inevitable GSA bailouts (possibly the Jap CB)?
Thanks, Elaine for your insights and fertile prodigious writing.
Posted by: Jojo | August 26, 2008 at 02:11 PM
Interest rate is going to raise soon.
Good in the long run, will be deadly in the short run with Bush incompetency.
Inflation will rage like nobody's business as money sloshing back in. (or maybe not, since everybody is maxed out and the bank can spend those money)
Posted by: Anthony | August 26, 2008 at 02:13 PM
I am so disgusted with the political bullshit I am physically sickened. I was going to root for Nader, but he just never stops talking stupid. Other day: [para. to the effect] "My candidacy will help Obama." Say what? I can't even begin to figure out what he is saying. Plus, his assortment of ding-dong agents are stuffing my in-box with tons of screeds that go nowhere. So now I will root for Cynthia McKinney. Ive analyzed Bob Barr, et al, but they all have drawbacks. McKinney seems to be the best one.
Link = mckinney2008.com
McKinney 2008 com
Link = mckinney2008.com/PRESIDENT/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=26&task=videodirectlink&id=38
McKinney Interview with Retired CIA Analyst Ray McGovern
Another big coup; I just received a special free copy of Webster Griffin Tarpley's new book about Barack Obama. I showed it to two responsible friends who run blogs (they want it to be cited by frequent bloggers - It's copyright, so I can't just take too much of a sample). No response from the friends much beyond "#!$&*^?!#@ AIPAC." Unlike anything quite like I've ever seen, it is just crammed with the most hair raising details you (perhaps) could imagine. Let's just say that it's not for the faint of heart!
Link = 'mmm'.tarpley.net/
About the Book
Link = 'mmm'.amazon.com/Obama-Postmodern-Making-Manchurian-Candidate/dp/0930852885/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215453402&sr=8-2
Available from $10.36 at Amazon
I strongly recommend it. Tarpley is "from the left," and he makes a clear case that we had better get our asses a peace movement. Obama and Biden are not going to change diddly! PERIOD!
Obama
The Postmodern Coup
Making of a Manchurian Candidate
|¯
On Tuesday, January 8, [New Hampshire] primary day, the shameless and naked media hype continued. Exit pollsters sent by the media consortium appeared at the polling places, and one college professor from St Anselm College remarked later on MSNBC that the exit pollsters that she had seen were feckless and callow youths, wildly flailing in their task, not knowing whom they should interview, not understanding voter profiles, and all in all thoroughly unprofessional.
|_
I love the way Tarpley describes our wonderful Monopoly Mass Media.
Link = 'mmm'.infowars.net/articles/august2008/260808Motormouth.htm
Link to New Tarpley Infowars Post: Motormouth Joe Biden - Warmonger, Wordmonger And Political Hit Man
Posted by: blues | August 26, 2008 at 02:17 PM
That bribing business is funny. The Western leaders are busy getting bribed/bribing each other in a big endless circle, even the Saudis are in on it. Yet the Chinese seem to refuse to play that game. I suspect the Bilderbergers of the West are desperate to create a Chinese ruling class/power elite they can incorporate in their own corrupt circles. Only with China it isn't working, they know that game too well.
Posted by: Christian W | August 26, 2008 at 02:48 PM
I think Putin opted out too. Good for him!
Posted by: DeVaul | August 26, 2008 at 02:58 PM
Beijing swells dollar reserves through stealth
Oh man, when it comes, it is going to be one heck of knockout punch.
Posted by: RobG | August 26, 2008 at 03:30 PM
Hahaha, and Chinese intervention allows Bernanke to croon about the newfound 'strength' of the dollar!
Posted by: Christian W | August 26, 2008 at 03:40 PM
HAHAHA. About the 'Chinese forcing banks to hold reserves: HAHAHA. I wrote about that. The stupid geniuses in the dying HSBC have virtually NO RESERVES. For this stupid bank to hammer on China when China DID THE RIGHT THING is brainless.
China kept upping the reseves TO PREVENT INFLATION. The US dropped reserves to ridiculous levels and now there is no cushion if a bank guessed wrong about markets.
And the US boasted about 'attracting foreign funds' while the Chinese correctly said, 'We are being flooded with inflationary funny money!' And they stomped on it!
They are doing two things we are not doing: capitalizing their banks and preventing money from sloshing about a la Brazil or the US. When Russia allowed this, they went bankrupt. The US is going bankrupt. We should have upped the banking reserves...in 2001. Now, it is too late.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2008 at 04:08 PM
Correct, Christian. The Chinese are on the Other Side of the Mirror. We think up is down and in is out. They know it is the exact opposite. This is why the goofy people at HSBC are hollering about the Chinese preventing hyper-speculative activity while the US desperately tries to create even more hyper-speculation.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2008 at 04:10 PM
We know that things are spiraling out of control economically. The Fed, Treasury and the Executive branch lost control of our economy some months back and know our line of credit, thought to be infinite, will very soon be called in. As a result, our neocon ruling elite, like a mafia family, are preparing to "take" what we need militarily.
Ralph posted above that Abu Dhabi bank was suing. This is big in that other middle east concerns may do the same. And, what if our oil credit is shut-off? Our military would come to an abrupt halt if the flow of oil is impeded. This is not an option for the US.
Now, things may be spinning out of control militarily as the US and Israel are positioning for violent confrontation.
1) POTI, Georgia — Defying Russia, an American warship that brought humanitarian aid to Georgia was expected to arrive Wednesday in this nervous Black Sea port that's being watched over by Russian soldiers, Georgian officials said.
1) The move would put U.S. military assets within close range of Russian forces for the first time since the Georgian conflict began, potentially setting up a confrontation with Moscow, the dominant naval power in the Black Sea. The arrival of U.S. vessels was certain to anger Moscow. A senior Russian military official said Tuesday he was "bewildered" by the growing presence of NATO warships in the northeastern Black Sea. Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn told reporters in Moscow that nine NATO ships were in the region, including a U.S. vessel that arrived late Tuesday, the Russian Itar-Tass news agency reported.
It wasn't clear how Russia would respond. Russian warships have been spotted off the coast of Georgia and, earlier this week, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Nogovitsyn as saying that Russian forces in the Black Sea might carry out searches of cargo ships "with the goal of preventing diversions and provocations."
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/
story/50744.html
2) A crash of a Boeing-737 crashed Bishkek’s international airport Manas, the Kremlin press service reported. It was on its way to Tehran. Among those on board were 44 Iranian Scientists and Engineers. Mossad?
http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/173187
3) MOSCOW — Russia stunned the West on Tuesday by recognizing the independence claims of two Georgian breakaway regions, and U.S. warships plied the waters off of Georgia in a gambit the Kremlin saw as gunboat diplomacy.
The announcement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ignored the strong opposition of Europe and the United States, and signaled the Kremlin's determination to shape its neighbors' destinies even at the risk of closing its doors to the West.
"We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a Cold War," President Dmitry Medvedev said hours after announcing the Kremlin's decision and one day after Parliament had supported the recognition.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/26/
russia-recognizes-breakaw_n_121386.html
Posted by: DrKrbyLuv | August 26, 2008 at 04:21 PM
The fun starts at the first of the two Fascist National Conventions. Photo below is what is happening just 100 miles south of here. The Gitmo of the West is filling fast with all them homegrown terrorist Americans exercising their silly Constitutional rights before the oligarch ruling class. "Let Fascism Ring!!" motto for this election.
http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=2075744
Posted by: Q | August 26, 2008 at 04:57 PM
"And we are bankrupt. The fact that our entire financial system is collapsing as fast as the World Trade Center fell on 9/11 is significant. For they are one and the same. The people who benefited most from that attack were our military/industrialists and the global revolutionaries seeking to destroy US economic powers."
I really thought you had it figured out for a minute ;)
Posted by: Joe | August 26, 2008 at 05:02 PM
FNM-S & P affirms Freddie Mae's Senior
Un-secured debt at AAA/A-1 ????????????????
They are about to go bust.................
Elaine???????????????
Posted by: don | August 26, 2008 at 06:45 PM
It's absolutely amazing the ability of chinese economy to snort up all those dollars. They are buying up dollar asset at what? $80-100B/month?
Pretty soon, they are going to control half of planet liquid asset... and just pay cash for the entire north america instead of invading.
Posted by: anthony | August 26, 2008 at 07:20 PM
Standard and Poor should be renamed Stupid and Poor.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2008 at 07:24 PM
Good, Anthony. That is exactly the plan.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2008 at 07:25 PM
Elaine, how would a US default on debt be deflationary? It's Argentina all over again!
I can imagine papa McCain paying our Ruhr Valley slaves in buckets of bonars!
This dollar run-up is absurd. The dollar needs to correct to where we lose the trade deficit.
Try $200 oil.
Posted by: whine & cheese | August 26, 2008 at 07:36 PM
DrKrbyLuv,
The thing to watch is how many of the naval warships which the U.S. sends to Georgia on a "humanitarian" mission remain in the Black Sea after delivery rather than exiting it. So far, the first one is sticking around. We old-timers recognize Cold War brinksmanship: the classic gambit is for the U.S. or Russia to make big verbal threats (the U.S.'s favorite tactic) and/or push military hardware at a previously hands-off part of the opponent's turf. My prediction is a stupid attempt to build up U.S. aggressive naval forces in the Black Sea using the "humanitarian aid" cover, which will either fizzle out (cause it's just a bluff) or bring about a Russian retaliation somewhere (Cuba, for example).
Elaine,
"If Europe and Japan want to buy ALL the US dollars and debts held by Russia And China, they can! BE MY GUEST. Try keeping the dollar 'strong' while buying up $3 trillion in communist held US debts and dollars! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. They could do this by getting loans from each other."
The dollar-reserve nations don't give a crap about the strength of the dollar except as it affects their own internal economic well-being. To them, it's not primarily perceived as "loans" to the U.S. to prop us up, but rather as "currency management" or "savings" to sustain their level of exports (by capping their currency value), subsidize certain sectors of their economy, and/or insure access to certain resources (commodities are traded internationally in dollars). Yet, you have a great point. Even if they don't INTEND to subsidize the U.S. with loans, they are.
You are absolutely correct - and the only analyst out there calling attention to this - that continuing to loan to a bankrupt country that can never pay you back (and isn't even trying but is pursuing ever-greater debt levels) has historical precedents in the U.S. loans to Germany after WWI. That, too, was done by the lender in self-interest to try to protect money alread invested. We know how that ended.
We also know that over the last decade banks, mortgage companies, and GSEs made all those crazy loans, borrowing from each other with ever-greater leverage, in their own self-interest, and now the Fed and Congress - in their own self-interest - are pouring more money into them to keep the Ponzi scheme from collapsing faster than it already is.
I expect that the creditors of the U.S will maintain this fine tradition of throwing good money after bad (by continuing to squirrel away surplus dollars and buy our negative-interest-rate debts) until forced to stop by circumstances beyond their control (their own economic crises, internal political upheaval, war).
Posted by: Michael | August 26, 2008 at 07:49 PM
Heh, and the Chinese are running around the world buying real stuff with their dollar hoards while the $ still has any value :P
Then one day soon the $ goes *puff* and every dollar runs back to papa Uncle Sam and Mama Mz Liberty.
Posted by: Christian W | August 26, 2008 at 07:56 PM
Thanks for all the information and comments today!!!! I sincerely enjoy reading these comments because they are real eye-openers.
Today, it wasn't raining. So I was outside all day, doing things that couldn't be done during the long, wet, wet summer.
There was so much economic news today, I am writing more tonight. The world is entering Stage II of the Great Depression II. The echoes from the past are very strong, very strong. Including the US turning even more overtly fascist.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2008 at 08:23 PM
Loved your article Elaine, but I still disagree about the US entering a major war, rather we will probably be fighting ourselves and the new owners will enforce the law not Uncle Sam. Our traitors will be enjoying their new paradise in Dubai to continue their partying.
Posted by: Royal Dutch Paper | August 26, 2008 at 09:18 PM
If Ambrose is correct in this article that M3 is SHARPLY contracting (who knows, the criminals at the Federal Reserve who print their magik freemason money decided to hide this info) then this is CLASSIC 1929 plan in action.
Prints tons of paper money to make the wage slaves happy for a bit, get companies to expand by taking on debt because they think the new money is real, and then retract the money supply to crash the wage slaves, which crashes the industry, and then swoop in with all the stashed away cash and repossess all the industrial assets.
IT IS TREASON.
Americans are too F&^&*ing retard to realize they do not control their money supply, or even that controlling your money supply is important.
But damn are they good at buying F%*&^ing iPhones. Yippee.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/
main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/08/19/
cnusecon119.xml
"The US money supply has experienced the sharpest contraction in modern history, heightening the risk of a Wall Street crunch and a severe economic slowdown in coming months.
Data compiled by Lombard Street Research shows that the M3 ''broad money" aggregates fell by almost $50bn (£26.8bn) in July, the biggest one-month fall since modern records began in 1959. "
Posted by: GK | August 26, 2008 at 09:25 PM
They say it better than I can:
http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/The_Big_Sting_Two
"The Big Sting One was essentially a run-up of real estate and financial markets through rampant speculation caused by the malevolently profligate financial policies of the recently formed Fed, a private consortium of big bankers intent on taking over our political and economic systems so that they could manipulate them for fun and profits until they were ready to discard them in favor of a one-world system. At the height of speculation, the insiders who owned the Fed or were otherwise a part of the elitist group of megalomaniacs in government and business acting in concert with the Fed and its Illuminist cadre, were told that the Fed was going to pull the plug on the money supply and send the markets into a tailspin. This same group of insiders were further told when this fiendish event would happen. The insiders were given sufficient notice so that they had time to gradually liquidate their paper holdings and convert them into gold and other real tangible assets such as commodities. They were later told, in the aftermath of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the election of FDR as President in 1932, that eventually ownership of gold, without disclosure of personal holdings to the government for possible confiscation, would become illegal. Once again, the insiders were given plenty of notice, this time to rat-line their gold bullion safely to Europe and other offshore locations, thus freeing them from the disclosure requirements and possible confiscation. Once again, all the non-insiders were left holding the proverbial bag. Then FDR, in 1933, like a good Illuminist lapdog and fascist scum-bag, after bilking the public out of their gold by scaring them into redeeming it from the government at $20 per ounce under threat of confiscation and jail for non-compliance with the disclosure requirements, raised the redemption value of gold from $20 per ounce to $35 dollars per ounce, for a nice, tidy profit of 75% for all the fraudster insiders who sat afterwards like fat cats on their hoards of offshore gold while the rest of the country went into deep depression, complete with daily foreclosures, bank failures, soup kitchens and bread lines. What an evil, despicable group of human beings these insiders were, in ways that defy description.
And now they are at it again, as The Big Sting Two gets underway. "
Posted by: GK | August 26, 2008 at 10:44 PM