The increasing degree of corruption in our financial and political system continues to blow my mind. Every day I uncover new evidence and facts about just how rotten to the core our system has become. What's even more staggering is that the average American just "turns the other cheek" and let's it happen. The Government has zero opposition to its frightening move towards a Totalitarian State.I just can't believe that the average American looks at the stock market and says, "this country is in great shape - just look at the Dow." There is no way that the public is THAT stupid or blind.
And this stage show going on DC between Democrats and Republicans is nothing more than idle entertainment. MTV for the political class and for the masses who are glued on a daily basis to the farce that is disguised as news being broadcast on Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg and CNBC. Amazingly to me, intelligent, educated adults just stare and absorb and accept. It's Huxley's "Brave New World" unfolding before my eyes. What passes for "news" and accurate reporting of the facts is a complete insult to the intelligence of the few of us left who have the willingness to question what's happening and to grasp the real truth. The truth is that this country is collapsing.
Whatever you want to call going on in DC right now, it is an unmitigated fact that the end result will be an even bigger disaster for our country. What really staggers me is that Americans are pounding the table for a resolution to the budget and debt ceiling impasse. For what end? So that the Government can continue its deficit spending and INCREASE the ability to print money and create more debt in order to fund that spending. It's the equivalent of the chickens in the barnyard cheering for Colonel Sanders - on their way to the slaughterhouse. You got that America: anyone who is supporting either Party in this DC debate is no better than one of Colonel Sanders' chickens - about to be fried and eaten.
I was having a discussion with a friend earlier this morning about what's happened to this country:
It's amazing how robotic Americans have become - Huxley's brave new world is here. What irritates me the most is this insistence and widespread acceptance that you have to be "socially/politically correct."And if you think I'm wrong about our country slipping into Orwell's or Huxley's vision for our future back in the 1940's, just think about the significance of these current images of our country:
The people running the show behind the scenes - the true elitists - were brilliant in choosing a black man to be President. His policies are more fascist than were Bush's but you can't disagree with Obama or you risk being labelled "anti-black." I had that aspect figured out right after he was elected in '08.
You can't name one campaign promise Obama has fulfilled other than Obamacare, which is going to probably be - ironically - the sledge hammer (not straw) that breaks this country's back.
"Of course, things are a bit different now since we became a nation of overfed clowns dedicated to getting something for nothing, but despite the abject futility of American life in its current incarnation, there is room for plenty of violence and destruction. The sad and peculiar angle of the current struggle is that both sides in government wish heartily to keep all the rackets of daily life going — they just disagree on the distribution method of the vig." James Kunstler: Creepily Close
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/images/sp_en_6.gif)
Right on. You can add this photo, which gets extra points for prescience.
ReplyDeletehttp://willyloman.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/police-state.jpg
I'm guessing that's Boston? I would add it but the post is too long already. Plenty of people read these comments so it will be viewed for sure
DeleteYup. All for one teenager too.
DeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteYou have to understand that most people who are not in the elite classes have been working in mindless jobs and have been immersed in a fish bowl of propaganda their entire lives (consider school as a form of work for kids).
During their lives it felt normal to come home from work/school, plop on the couch and watch TV, hang out at a bar, or play sports.
Until 2008, most people relied on 'The American Dream' that said f you just hung in there and kept working, your assets would increase in value so you could eventually retire along with your promised Social Security (which was supposed to retain its value).
Very few people had the common sense to continue to study how the world works beyond their 'required' education and even those who went on to 'higher' education found that it was just more of the same rote learning. (I got my Masters Degree in 1993 at the age of 50 while caring for my last elderly relatives and was a waste of my time as the country was in the process of 'downsizing' and beginning its series of Middle East wars).
Those that stuck it out for those 'tickets' (diplomas) to a better meaningless job with better pay might have had the common sense to question the system but, more than likely, just used their greater income to 'recreate' more with more expensive toys and maybe a little more free time from their jobs or made it a part of their jobs, like golf, etc for management seminars.
Very few people took the time to use their at home time to study why the situation was starting to crumble unti it did fall apart in 2008 to the point they couldn't ignore it when it affected them personally through loss of their job and/or income and shocking decrease (if not total losss) of their savings and houses (which they soon found out, NOBODY really OWNS!)
The government has always been extremely proficient in being able to bore the citizenry to death through the use of 'government speak' and bureaucratic procedures and hearings in order to keep the normal person from being able to endure their proceedings.
CONTINUED BELOW
That and the fact that the govt has manipulated (threatened, bought) the MSM into being their stenographers and propaganda pushers has created an environment where anyone, like yourself, who has caught on and actually put forth effort to inform his fellow serfs as to what is going on, feels almost crazy in the process as he/she becomes more isolated from the herd each day.
ReplyDeleteYou should not be surprised at what is happening as it has happened to every empire in history (just follow Martin Armstrong).
I caught on in 1973 when I read Harry Browne's book How to Profit from the Coming Devaluation (still a classic!) and bought silver and made a bundle and became an account rep at Pacific Coast Coin Exchange (mentioned in the book), now MONEX, and learned about the commodity markets and have never been the same since. For 40 years I have been trying to explain what is going on to friends and strangers to no avail even though everything I have told them has come true. Again, another waste of my time.
Even those of us who are more informed may regret our efforts to prepare for the inevitable collapse. I personally, being 69 years old am eager to have a quick death before the worst arrives. If I was younger and in better physical shape I would be geared up and on the warpath to assassinate as many of the bastards as I could before they got me. Unfortunately, not enough people seem to realize they are going to die whether they fight back or not.
You are still young enough to want to survive and fight back through your website. I don't envy you as you will probably be one of the people the government want to shut up soon when martial law goes into effect...or you will be attacked by the throngs of serfs you think you have wealth they can take from you with little effort by invading your home or offices and holding you hostage until you cough up your gold and supplies.
There is nowhere to run to any longer as the U.S. collapse will take down the entire world with it if even for a brief time.
It's going to be a hell of a heaven.
I've thought "The Road" scenario is where we're headed ever since I read the book over 4 years ago.
DeleteSUGGESTION
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if you could find somewhere to post the character LIMIT allowed in the comment section as well as having a character counter to we will know when we are approaching that limit.
I wish I knew. If you google "google blogger" it might tell you. It's a limitation of the software, unfortunately.
DeleteI'm with you, Dave, though I try to retain a sense of humor, as this glimpse into the future suggests...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2012/11/26/cartoons_20121119#slide=6
This is the result from decades of Apathy and Sloth.
ReplyDeleteMany Americans are out-of-work and finding no work at all. They were told they were too over-qualified and today they are told they are under-qualified. They are more concerned about paying the bills and having food than the Dow. They are not mindless; they are worried about ending up on the streets. And that damn federal workers are protesting about not getting their nice salary?? They're going to get back pay when its all over PLUS are collecting unemployment!
ReplyDeleteBodies Double as Cash Machines With U.S. Income Lagging: Economy
DeleteHair, breast milk and eggs are doubling as automated teller machines for some cash-strapped Americans such as April Hare.
In all but two quarters since the beginning of 2011, “hair,” “eggs,” or “kidney” have been among the top four autofill results for the Google search query, “I want to sell my...,” according to Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at New York-based ConvergEx Group, which provides brokerage and trading-related services for institutional investors.
While Americans can legally sell hair, breast milk and eggs, the sale and purchase of a kidney in the U.S. is against the law.
“The fact that people even explore it indicates that there are still a lot of people worried about their financial outlook,” said Colas, who tracks off-the-grid economic indicators. “This is very much unlike every other recovery that we’ve had. It’s going to be a slow-grinding, very frustrating recovery.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-15/bodies-double-as-cash-machines-with-u-s-income-lagging-economy.html
Is this part of the feds model?
This was......................
Why The Wall Street Casino Lives On
On a personal note: This section is perhaps the most brilliant explanation ever as to why the Fed bailouts of Wall Street since the financial crisis were an asinine idea that benefited the “0.0001%” with destructive consequences for everyone else, including the taxpayer, and the main-street economy.
Drastically overpriced debt is eventually smacked with painful losses on the free market, but not on a Wall Street served by compliant central bankers. When the Bernanke Fed bailed out Bear Stearns in March 2008, for example, it was sitting on tens of billions of impaired or worthless assets.
Among this financial sludge was $1.1 billion of the undistributed Extended Stay paper. Accordingly, the taxpayers of America through their central bank became the owners of busted bonds which, on the margin, had funded nearly half of Blackstone’s legendary profit on the sale to Lightstone.
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/10/13/why-the-wall-street-casino-lives-on.html
This is true for Reno Nevada section of Craiglist. There are people willing to pay females for their eggs or to be a surrogate mother. NEVER was like this before.
DeleteDylan Ratigan finally ranted out on MSNBS about the BS in The District of Corruption.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3BHujm3cpY
But it doesn't matter. America is only worried about their free ride EBT cards and what mindless Star Search , Dance show is on the idiot box.
Number 1 show in America is The Walking Dead on AMC, a sort of "The Road" with the exciting allure of the walking "Americans," err dead who rip people apart in incredibly violent assaults weekly.
Incredibly violent, in a yeah, thats the way it is fashion, which is a primer to where I fear America is headed. Take The Road, mix in The Walking Dead and Voila......our American future.
http://www.amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead
I'll take Brave New World over 1984 any day. Soma and no-strings-attached sex sound more palatable than continuous surveillance, the thought police and room 101. Today's society, however, seems to contain element of both.
ReplyDeleteGold Wars
ReplyDeleteWhat Mr. Lips has left for us as his legacy is a detailed history of the manipulation of gold, going back to the 1930s and accelerating with the Bretton Woods Agreement at the end of World War II. He details the attempts to control price (and dollar-gold exchanges) through the 1950s that eventually led to the creation of The London Gold Pool in 1961. The LGP was "funded" with gold from eight countries, half of which was supplied by the United States, and was set up specifically to provide physical supply for the gold market anytime that price threatened to break away from the $35 cap. Sound familiar?
Global demand for gold (again, sound familiar?) led to the eventual dissolution of the LGP in 1968 but attempts to control price continued. However, the U.S. government's need for cash was so great that it's printing demands escalated. This dollar devaluation prompted other countries, led by France, to demand more and more gold in exchange for their dollar reserves. Faced with the prospect of losing almost all of the United States' gold through this Bretton Woods exchange mechanism, President Milhous I closed "the gold window" on August 15, 1971. The U.S. and, by extension, the entire world has been on a confidence-based, fiat currency system ever since.
Closing the gold window had the additional impact of making gold price manipulation even more important. The survival of the entire global currency system now relied upon trust and confidence. A sharply rising gold price was, and still is, a reflection of a general lack of confidence and trust in the viability of paper money.
And did you know this? In an attempt to spur Americans to re-acquire gold from the global market, President Chevy Chase signed a bill in 1974 making it legal once again for American citizens to own physical gold. The law went into effect on January 1, 1975. Do you know your history well enough to know when The Comex began trading paper gold futures? (It's OK. I didn't know this, either.) Trading in Comex gold futures was launched on December 31, 1974. Isn't that handy? Well, anyway, Mr. Lips' book is chock full of nuggets such as this one and it's why I'm so emphatically recommending it to you today.
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/5151/gold-wars
"This year the people are being given a choice, as someone so aptly put it, between an ineffective and compromised gamekeeper and one of the worst and greediest of the poachers. Obama was marketed as an independent outsider, but he is not. They are both owned by the system, each in their own way." -- Jesse at http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2012/07/big-banks-continue-to-game-system-with.html
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more and am increasingly distressed by the responses I see around me. Failing radical change in fairly short order, the path I see ahead is bleak indeed (and may be bleak even with radical change). How radically different our decisions would be if we considered the future our children and grandchildren will really have to confront.
A second commodities Gann 60-year follower says we are going to see a huge unexpected burst in inflation into next spring starting very shortly, if only from soybeans repeating +76% 1953- Apr/1954.
ReplyDeleteHe says Gann made boatloads on this one, just a few years before he died.
http://www.harmonictiming.com/content/2013/10/13-U13-HT-Video-4.php
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"America stands as a country that provides the most reliable and universally recognized way to store surplus financial resources. There is no other alternative now either to the dollar or to the U.S. as the least risky place of storing available funds," deputy director of the Institute of the USA and Canada, Viktor Supyan told Pravda.Ru. "Even in the crisis of 2008-2009, most countries tried to convert their available financial resources in the dollar, although the crisis began in the USA. Everyone knew and understood that - but there were no other reliable financial instruments either then or now."
ReplyDeleteIn other words, the U.S. political system still ensures the credibility of the dollar as the most stable currency. It is for this reason that frequent disagreement within the political elite in the U.S. causes concerns among financiers and economists. The Republicans' dissatisfaction with, in their opinion, socially -oriented policies of Democrats, led by President Obama, led to the failure to adopt the proposed budget. If the situation does not change, in mid- October, the country will not be able to make current payments on external debt, which will mean default.
Moreover, the stubbornness of Republicans questions the move to raise the "ceiling" of the national debt, which already exceeds the previously adopted ceiling of 16.5 trillion dollars. Freezing the national debt at the current level is impossible. It will take the country to bankruptcy.
However, as we remember, the reliability of the dollar also depends on the economic wellbeing of the United States, which is actually a problem. It would not sound paradoxical, but external borrowings, which international investors are so interested in, put pressure on the U.S. economy, which already lies under a weight problems. The situation when one economy and one currency dominates the world, is not normal, and many experts acknowledge that. Mikhail Khazin, who visited the Rhodes Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations" in October, wrote : "Those who are professionally engaged in economic matters, in one voice say that there are not years, but months or even weeks left before the collapse."
http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/15-10-2013/125913-usa_budget_crisis_dollar-0/
Homeland security preparing for next Wall Street collapse?
ReplyDelete"Reports are that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is engaged in a massive, covert military buildup. An article in the Associated Press in February confirmed an open purchase order by DHS for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. According to an op-ed in Forbes, that's enough to sustain an Iraq-sized war for over twenty years. DHS has also acquired heavily armored tanks, which have been seen roaming the streets. Evidently somebody in government is expecting some serious civil unrest. The question is, why?
Recently revealed statements by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the height of the banking crisis in October 2008 could give some insights into that question. An article on BBC News on September 21, 2013, drew from an explosive autobiography called Power Trip by Brown's spin doctor Damian McBride, who said the prime minister was worried that law and order could collapse during the financial crisis. McBride quoted Brown as saying:
If the banks are shutting their doors, and the cash points aren't working, and people go to Tesco [a grocery chain] and their cards aren't being accepted, the whole thing will just explode.
If you can't buy food or petrol or medicine for your kids, people will just start breaking the windows and helping themselves.
And as soon as people see that on TV, that's the end, because everyone will think that's OK now, that's just what we all have to do. It'll be anarchy. That's what could happen tomorrow.
How to deal with that threat? Brown said, "We'd have to think: do we have curfews, do we put the Army on the streets, how do we get order back?"
McBride wrote in his book Power Trip, "It was extraordinary to see Gordon so totally gripped by the danger of what he was about to do, but equally convinced that decisive action had to be taken immediately." He compared the threat to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Fear of this threat was echoed in September 2008 by US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, who reportedly warned that the US government might have to resort to martial law if Wall Street were not bailed out from the credit collapse.
In both countries, martial law was avoided when their legislatures succumbed to pressure and bailed out the banks. But many pundits are saying that another collapse is imminent; and this time, governments may not be so willing to step up to the plate."
http://english.pravda.ru/business/finance/10-10-2013/125875-wall_street_collapse-0/
"The simplest form of surveillance technology is an IMSI catcher. IMSI stands for International Mobile Subscriber Identity, which is unique to every mobile phone. These highly portable devices pose as mini-mobile phone towers and can capture all the mobile-phone signals in an area. In this way, they can effectively identify and locate all phone users in a particular place. Some are small enough to fit into a briefcase, others are no larger than a mobile phone. Once deployed, the IMSI catcher tricks phones into wirelessly sending it data.
ReplyDeleteBy setting up several IMSI catchers in an area and measuring the speed of the responses or "pings" from a phone, an analyst can follow the movement of anyone with a mobile phone even when they are not in use.
One of the key players in this field is the Melbourne, Florida-based Harris Corporation, which has been awarded almost US$7 million in public contracts by the FBI since 2001, mostly for radio communication equipment. For years, the company has also designed software for the agency's National Crime Information Center to track missing persons, fugitives, criminals, and stolen property.
Harris was recently revealed to have designed an IMSI catcher for the FBI that the company named "Stingray". Court testimony by FBI agents has confirmed the existence of the devices dating back to at least 2002. Other companies such as James Bimen Associates of Virginia have allegedly designed custom software to help the FBI hack into people's computers, according to research by Chris Soghoian of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The FBI has not denied this. The bureau "hires people who have hacking skill, and they purchase tools that are capable of doing these things", a former official in the FBI's cyber division told the Wall Street Journal recently.
The technologies these kinds of companies exploit often rely on software vulnerabilities. Hacking software can be installed from a USB drive or delivered remotely by disguising it as an email attachment or software update. Once it is in place, an analyst can rifle through a target's files, log every keystroke, and take pictures of the screen every second. For example, SS8 of Milpitas, California, sells software called Intellego that claims to allow government agencies to "see what [the targets] see, in real time" including "draft-only emails, attached files, pictures, and videos". Such technology can also remotely turn on phone and computer microphones, as well as computer or cellphone cameras to spy on the target in real-time."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-01-151013.html
Carmen M. Segarra v. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, et al.--Case Analysis
ReplyDeleteThis is right in line with Pining 4 the Fjords’ recent blog post about criminal organizations and fraud, and the effort to pin any blame on underlings because the criminal orders that come from the top are not able to be proved by real evidence. In short, those at the top escape prosecution, because the underlings do the deeds, and either get caught, or quit before getting caught.
“They wanted me to falsify my findings,” Segarra said in a recent interview, “and when I wouldn’t, they fired me.” That blurb is from http://www.propublica.org/article/ny-fed-fired-examiner-who-took-on-goldman
This quote from the story caught my attention: “After the Dec. 8 meeting, the New York Fed’s senior supervising officer at Goldman, Michael Silva, called an impromptu session with Fed staffers, including Segarra. Silva said he was worried that Goldman was not managing conflicts well and that if the extent of the problem became public, clients might abandon the firm and cause serious financial damage, according to Segarra’s contemporaneous notes.”
What Silva is saying is so simple, yet so evil. Silva was saying, in short, that illegal activity, so long as kept hidden from the public, is okay, because the alternative is unacceptable, i.e., “might cause serious financial damage.” Again, for whose benefit? Passive language always is murky, because Silva does not say for WHOM the financial damage would be caused to! Was it the insiders at the banks? Or was it some other group? There you have it. Institutionalized fraud, on a grand scale, countenanced by the regulators of the supposed “fair” system of capitalism in the United States. Disgusted yet?
I am not going to spend any time further addressing the back story which was done very well by propublica.org, et al., but I will analyze the actual allegations and give my humble legal opinion about the lawsuit.
She is, by any measure, a perfect example of an elite insider–and an Ivy League trained lawyer, too. Except, she did not toe the line like she was supposed to. Why not? Who on earth would have the audacity, the temerity, to stand proud and refuse to perform illegal activity, especially after such a long, and storied educational and occupational history? I for one, am flabbergasted with this insider turning on the FED. It seems, almost Karen Hudes-like. Really. So, it could be that whoever was grooming and mentoring her will be on the chopping block for allowing this protégé to tell tales . . .
Back to the lawsuit.
Michael F. Silva is “a relationship manager for the Fed Reserve Bank of NY.” Here is the interesting part: “prior to serving as the relationship manager for the FRBNY – Goldman relationship, Silva was chief of staff to Timothy Geithner . . . [and] is currently chief of staff and senior vice president for the executive group at the FRBNY. Silva first became employed by the Federal Reserve as a law clerk in 1992.”
WELL LOOKEY THERE . . . Silva was Geithner’s boy. He is trusted, having worked at the FRBNY since 1992.
http://www.tfmetalsreport.com/blog/5153/breaking-news-carmen-m-segarra-v-federal-reserve-bank-new-york-et-al-case-analysis?
The growing 90% club and why gold production is going to go to zero
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately the club is looking like it is going to have to hire a bigger venue for its next AGM as we have new members making their way up to the check- in desk every day. We currently have 58 gold mining companies down between 80-90% with once giants like Kinross Gold and Novagold among their ranks. This on-going tragedy in the mining sector is showing no sign of letting up but at this gold price it is unlikely to do so. The reason why mining companies are falling by 70-100% in the hundreds now is very simple. In our analysis, it costs over $1750 to mine an ounce of gold if you add in all the costs of running a mining company, not the published cash costs or the all in sustaining costs. The mining industry can argue till they are blue in the face that their costs are $800 or $1200/ ounce but if you only produce negative cash flow (that’s a LOSS to the non-analysts) when gold is below $1750, then it’s pretty clear in my books what is happening. This is going to be far worse than the late 1990s I’m afraid. We have many friends in the mining business and this is a true tragedy for the industry. Whether you believe it is a bullion bank or central bank conspiracy in forcing the gold price lower, it doesn’t matter, we have to deal with the reality. As the old hired gun said in the famous film with John Wayne, aptly named “El Dorado”,
“Faith can move mountains, but it can’t beat a faster draw”
http://www.hindecapital.com/blog/the-growing-90-club-and-why-gold-production-is-going-to-go-to-zero/
twitter sells nothing but more advertising yet the miners have a scarce resource and wither....insane
Dave- you bring up an interesting concept, Americans as Colonel Sander’s chicken on the way to the slaughterhouse. I think in a way we are and we don’t even seem to care. Those that represent us are completely incompetent and we apparently have a very low regard for them as evidenced by the low congressional approval rating-yet we continuously vote for them.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think the public is stupid or blind-I think we are now all so wrapped up in ourselves that we could care less about anything that does not affect us. We are living in a very selfish culture where anything that doesn’t affect us directly is meaningless. We are breeding this into our children. This is of course good for the government and those in power, they essentially have a free pass to do what they want because unless it effects me directly-then who cares.