Changes to the Blog

This Blog was set up as a convenient way to track multiple blogs through the RSS Feeds. Unfortunately all but the "AND BULLION" blog list sections are now full and I cannot add any new blogs to these sections. Which is unfortunate as I'm regularily coming across interesting new(and old) sites with RSS feeds, across a broad range of subjects, but that I now cannot add to my lists .

I have decided therefore to create another page element above the 'posts' section giving me 5 RSS feeds instead of 4 with the ability to add up to another 170 new blogs/sites in the future. This however will make posting almost irrelevent as posts will appear under the blog list feed.

I will therefore no longer 'post' but have 5 RSS feed sections, all tracking blogs/sites.

I'll leave this post up for a couple of days to give regular readers a chance to get a 'heads up' before changes are made and to allow feed back (if anyones got any).

BBB

US military complex gets rich off of Afghanistan

Medical Journal: Legalize ‘After-Birth Abortions’, ‘Infants Are Not People’

A paper just published in the Journal of Medical Ethics says that parents should have the right to kill their newborn infants, because infants are not people.

A paper in the The Journal of Medical Ethics, an international peer-reviewed journal for health professionals and researchers in medical ethics, argues that murdering newborn infants should be legalized.

The rational? “Infants are not people”....more

Four Horsemen - Official Trailer II

'Plan for an economic 9/11': Analysts warn Americans to buy guns and gold, predicting market crash and street riots within a year

Just when you thought unemployment was dropping and stock markets were surging back, these three analysts today sent out a stark warning to Americans to brace for another financial crash.

Trend forecaster Gerald Celente advises buying a gun to protect your family, stocking up on gold if the dollar crashes and planning a getaway, so it’s no shock he’s preparing for an ‘economic 9/11’.

Share prices and unemployment are posting their best figures in four years since the recession hit, but Mr Celente, along with authors Harry Dent and Robert Prechter, says the rebound won’t last....more

Society’s Five Stages of Economic Collapse

Society as we know it will break down and collapse in a five stage process outlined here. While it can be accelerated by certain events like war, a natural disaster, pandemic, terrorist attack, or even an impending asteroid impact, history has shown that economic collapse will essentially happen in this five stage process. To survive the collapse, it is important to read and interpret the signs and understand what assets are important to the current situation so you can be prepared for the worst thereby allowing you to survive intact and with as little damage as possible....more

'Britain on path of bankruptcy'

Turk - Something Big is About to Happen in Gold & Silver

With gold near $1,770 and silver near $35.50, today King World News interviewed James Turk out of Spain. Turk told King World News the fact that silver is not pulling back is an indication of how strong that market is right now. Here is what Turk had to say about the situation: “This is a great start to the week for the precious metals, Eric. We need to see this kind of strength to make sure both gold and silver follow through in the next few trading days to confirm the big gains from last week where gold climbed 2.9%, while silver soared 6.4%. It is remarkable to see both metals hold their gains with no profit taking. Clearly, traders see something big is about to happen, and so do I.”

James Turk continues:

“In this regard, I have mentioned several times my expectation that once resistance at $35 is taken out, silver will climb to $68-$70 in 2 to 3 months. I still expect that outcome, but of course, only time will tell. I thought it might be tough going for silver in the $35-$36 area, but maybe not based on the strength we are seeing today....more

Following the Trend

Gold and silver are headed higher propelled by a powerful bull trend. Gold is climbing on its way to new multiyear highs, buoyed by massive government intervention in the capital markets. We will see gold exceed its 2011 highs this year. Silver will also soar to new highs.

What is behind this bullish prediction? Can we pinpoint the cause and effect relationship to the rise in the precious metals? Is now the time to buy gold and silver?...more

HSBC joins list of companies evacuating Japan

The global banking conglomerate HSBC has announced they will be shutting down their business and offices in Japan and evacuating to Osaka

Previously, the Fukushima diary reported on 4 major global corporations packing up their bags and evacuating Japan.

4 major Japanese corporations are evacuating to Osaka

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

The companies are

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

Today, as a follow up to that article, The Fukushima diary reports that HSBC is joining the list of conglomerates evacuating to Osaka....more

Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part I)

It is almost surprising that the concept of slavery is very foreign to those living in the developed world, especially the U.S., since it was extensively practiced as recently as 70 years ago. What’s more disturbing about this ignorance is the fact that the system of post-Civil War slavery in the U.S. was not so different than the systems of slavery many Americans and Europeans will be experiencing in upcoming years. Indeed, I’m sure many people will probably take offense to such a comparison even being made, as they feel it demeans the atrocious acts committed in the past

I would argue, however, that we demean history by failing to understand it and learn from it. Many people refer to debt slavery when referencing current policies of the West, especially in Greece right now where the concept has become very real, but they perhaps still under-estimate how bad it can get. These systems of slavery are primarily borne out of deeply-rooted economic structures which foster high levels of dependency, greed and malice by those with unchecked levels of political power. In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, these powerful groups consisted of wealthy Southern agricultural and industrial elites....more

Our Depraved Future of Debt Slavery (Part II)

There have been many forms of “debt slavery” throughout history, and almost everyone is chained to the oppressive financial, corporatist system now in one way or another. Although, this fact has not even remotely sunk in for millions of people who, unfortunately, have absolutely no clue how bad it can get. The real issue here, however, is not necessarily what people will have to do to survive the upcoming storms. Rather, it is what they will be forced to do to remain a functioning part of the system under threat of excessive monetary punishment, physical confinement or violence to them and/or those close to them. So, one must be financially/coercively attached to the system to be a “debt slave”.

If you are allowed to voluntarily downsize your living standards and retain some freedom of movement/action, then you are not really a slave. And that's not meant to demean the existential struggle of the chronically unemployed and/or homeless people living on the streets or in the subway, whose numbers are bound to increase and many of whom will die of sickness, cold and hunger, but it's hard to say that they are “attached” to our economic system of complicity and coerced participation. The most obvious way this slavish attachment forms is through personal debts/obligations...more

Inverted Totalitarianism and the Corporate State

Stricken with a terminal disease, the decline of traditional society is unavoidable. For decades, the political institutions that fostered a Republic based upon individual liberty and responsibility fade into fond memory. Defenders of all that made America a shining example of human freedom are attacked and ridiculed for holding onto a moral and ethical system that is based upon the dignity of every individual. Most will blame the failure of this decay on the politicians that willfully pander to the masses with the next generation of social welfare programs. While defining a politician as a scoundrel, deserving damnation, seems obvious; the underlying source of the decay that eats away the culture comes from various directions.
The trends toward despotism are visible for all to see. Most prefer their blinded vision because accepting the lethal condition might require some proactive response. The idea that a single dictator will seize power and rule as a tyranny seems foreign to many plebeians. Yet, the daily news that flows from the corporate mass media build upon the absence of real reporting and fundamental truth that ignores, denies and substitutes meaningless stories for earth shattering events. ...more

20 Signs That Dust Bowl Conditions Will Soon Return To The Heartland Of America

For decades, the heartland of America has been the breadbasket of the world. Unfortunately, those days will shortly come to an end. The central United States is rapidly drying up and dust bowl conditions will soon return. There are a couple of major reasons for this. Number one, the Ogallala Aquifer is being depleted at an astounding pace. The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the entire world, and water from it currently irrigates more than 15 million acres of crops. When that water is gone we will be in a world of hurt. Secondly, drought conditions have become the "new normal" in many areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and other states in the middle part of the country. Scientists tell us that the wet conditions that we enjoyed for several decades after World War II were actually the exception to the rule and that most of time time the interior west is incredibly dry. They also tell us that when dust bowl conditions return to the area, they might stay with us a lot longer than a decade like they did during the 1930s. Unfortunately, without water you cannot grow food, and with global food supplies as tight as they are right now we cannot afford to have a significant decrease in agricultural production. But it is not just the central United States that is experiencing the early stages of a major water crisis. Already many other areas around the nation are rapidly developing their own water problems. As supplies of fresh water get tighter and tighter, some really tough decisions are going to have to be made. Fresh water is absolutely essential to life, and it is going to become increasingly precious in the years ahead....more

The Destruction of The US Economy is Assured

The slide toward sovereign bankruptcy and economic collapse continues. The best efforts of politicians and their sycophants in the media to convince you otherwise are being contradicted routinely by the the harsh facts of the marketplace. Their propaganda appears increasingly incredible.

The private economy has shown virtually no improvement despite stimuli in magnitudes never before imagined. After trillions of dollars of deficit spending and similar amounts of Fed monetary chicanery no recovery has occurred. No recovery can occur until massive amounts of debt are liquidated. Current debt levels are unsustainable for many. For others, the debt requires spending reductions in order to reduce it. Others will just have to default in one fashion or another...more

US spies on Britons from UK soil

An investigative report has accused the U.S. government of using a controversial spy station in Yorkshire, Britain to “subvert and destroy democracy”.

The report funded by the Joseph Rowntree foundation was based on an investigation led by Steve Schofield into the Menwith Hill base near Harrogate, the daily Morning Star reported.

It revealed for the first time the station’s integral role in military offensives – potentially including drone strikes – and corporate snooping.

The investigation found that the cost to the British taxpayer of hosting the base has been grossly downplayed while the alleged benefits to the local and national economies have been hugely exaggerated.

The cost of policing the station is in excess of £500,000 each year, with the cost to the Ministry of Defense over the last five years estimated at over £7 million....more

‘Crash Prophets’ Now Warning About 2013

Speaking of crash prophets like Stephen Roach, I’ve noticed for a while now that well-known investor Jim Rogers has been sounding the alarm over 2013 and beyond. I wrote just last Wednesday:

However, Boyle notes that the former partner of George Soros has concerns about the United States after 2012. From the article:

Rogers, who doesn’t own US stocks, warned that next year is likely to be more painful than 2012.
“In 2012, we have elections and many governments pumping money into the economy, spending and printing money. It’s 2013-14 we have to worry about,” he said.

So what does Rogers see in store for the U.S. economy next year and beyond that’s so worrisome?...more

Pentagon Demands $100 Million More For War With Iran

Pentagon wants $100 million extra to be prepared for a war with Iran. The money, requested from the Congress, is to beef up US military presence in the Persian Gulf and rapidly upgrade weapons to more effectively combat Iranian armed forces

US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Gulf region, wants them prepared to defeat the Iranian fleet and shore artillery. They also want additional drone capabilities and mine swiping equipment to clear the Strait of Hormuz, should Iran act to set mines there as it threatened to, reports The Wall Street Journal

As part of the push, US spec-op team stationed in the United Arab Emirates has also been ordered to be prepared to take parting in military action in the region, the newspapers says citing defense sources. The unit is currently training elite forces of the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait and other US allies in the region...more

Nest

Can we really print ourselves to prosperity? Is this time different? Have we really discovered the secret unlimited potion that makes economies grow? No, no and no.

Over the past 40 years, we have printed money and expanded the credit system to grow our economy. During this period, as we papered over cracks that appeared in the system, we continued to grow the economy in nominal terms. By not resolving underlying issues, economic cracks grew into gaping holes requiring increasing amounts of credit and monetary expansion to maintain a semblance of prosperity.

Crisis after crisis, opportunities to resolve massive imbalances were simply pushed into the future, allowing those imbalances to compound. While many view the 2008 crash as the apex of the credit and monetary cycle, I fear it is not.

Since 2008, economic policy based on credit and monetary expansion has not changed and continues to push an escalating crisis into the future...more

Gas Prices Signal Tsunami of Inflation

A good friend of mine, who has family living abroad, called me this weekend. One of the first things out of his mouth was about his sister in London and how she was dealing with “terrible inflation.” No doubt he was talking about the spike in gasoline prices that have risen to more than $8 a gallon. (The official inflation rate in the UK is around 3.6%, but I’m sure the numbers over there are as reliable as the inflation numbers in the U.S. where fuel and food are not counted in the so-called “core” inflation.) Part of this price spike is due to Iran cutting off crude oil shipments to the EU recently, but part of it is the fact the UK has been engaging in quantitative easing (QE), or money printing, to help its ailing economy and insolvent banks. Just in the last few weeks, it announced another $50 billion in QE. The UK is not alone as most Western countries are engaging in QE to prop up an insolvent system bloated on bad debt...more

Wyoming Prepares Doomsday Contingency Plans “In the Event of a Complete Economic or Political Collapse in the United States”

Three million Americans, often ridiculed by family, friends and mainstream media for their paranoia, aren’t the only ones preparing for the potentiality of catastrophe resulting from natural or man-made causes. Recent legislation in Wyoming would open the door to studies into the possibility of far-from-equilibrium situations and SHTF preparedness plans that include alternate currencies in the event of a dollar collapse, redundant food distribution networks, preserving utility infrastructures, as well as raising and maintaining a well regulated militia if the situation calls for it....more

Inflation — The Final Blow

The developed economies of the world have opened the money spigots, hardly the policy response one would expect if there were truly signs of an economic recovery underway.

The massive money and credit creation is sitting in the banking system like dry tinder just waiting for a spark to set it ablaze. How quickly it happens is anyone’s guess, but once it does we are likely to be enveloped in a worldwide inflation unlike anything before ever witnessed...more

WW3 Trigger: US To Implement Syria Aerial Blockade

Israel’s second largest newspaper is quoting a U.S. military official who has outlined a plan to implement a U.S. backed aerial blockade over Syria, reminiscent of the NATO lead no-fly zone over Libya.

However, the news paper reports the plan is to be modeled after NATO’s intervention in Kosovo which led to shelling of the nation.

According to the report the plan calls for the establishment of international humanitarian missions to handle Syrian refugees before the blockade is to be implemented.

Earlier U.S. drones were reported to be operating over Syria which prompted Iran to say Syria has the right to shoot down the drones and stern warnings from China and Russia to respect Syria’s sovereignty....more

Britain becomes a nation of debt slaves as regulation and inflation deter saving

Now that interest on debts absorbs nearly a quarter of British households’ net income, according to the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), many families are discovering how cruel a taskmaster compound interest can be.

If you think conventional savings products – like pensions and managed funds – provide poor value, then just wait till you see how bad the ‘returns’ on borrowing are. While instant gratification has come to be regarded almost as a ‘yuman right’ in the credit-fuelled consumer societies of the developed world, the costs of that delusion will mount over the decades ahead. Worse still, the Government is actively encouraging young people to take on massive debts before they have any means of repaying them.

Even at today’s low rates of interest, debt that is allowed to accumulate on debt will often roll up faster than the debtor’s ability to repay it. For example, anyone who borrows £10,000 at a typical mortgage rate of 3.5 per cent will repay a total of very nearly £15,000 over the standard 25-year term....more

Ben Davies: Greece is Just a Preview of What's Coming For the Rest of Us

The Greatest Episodes of Market Manipulation…Is Silver Next?

The latest market manipulation could be ripped from the pages of a Hollywood thriller, according to Peter Krauth, a highly regarded expert in metals who runs the Global Resource Alert investment service.
Only this story is not fiction... and it's happening now, he says.

Krauth spent the last six months conducting an exhaustive investigation of a backroom deal to keep the price of silver artificially depressed. Now he's ready to expose what's been going on behind the scenes in the silver market and why the price is headed to $200 or more.

He reveals all the details - and how investors can profit - in a free report. ...more

George Osborne: UK has run out of money

In a stark warning ahead of next month’s Budget, the Chancellor said there was little the Coalition could do to stimulate the economy.

Mr Osborne made it clear that due to the parlous state of the public finances the best hope for economic growth was to encourage businesses to flourish and hire more workers.

“The British Government has run out of money because all the money was spent in the good years,” the Chancellor said. “The money and the investment and the jobs need to come from the private sector.”....more

Iran: drumbeat of war has a familiar sound

The drumbeat of war with Iran grows steadily more intense. Each day brings more defiant rhetoric from Tehran, another failed UN nuclear inspection, reports of western military preparations, an assassination, a missile test, or a dire warning that, once again, the world is sliding towards catastrophe. If this all feels familiar, that's because it is. For Iran, read Iraq in the countdown to the 2003 invasion.

A decisive moment may arrive when Barack Obama meets Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, in Washington on 5 March. "The meeting … will be definitive," said Ari Shavit in Haaretz. "If the US president wants to prevent a disaster, he must give Netanyahu iron-clad guarantees the US will stop Iran in any way necessary and at any price after the 2012 [US] elections. If Obama doesn't do this, he will obligate Netanyahu to act before the 2012 elections."

If accurate, this is not much of a choice. It suggests military action by the US or Israel or both is unavoidable, the only question being one of timing...more

Financial Markets 2012: Bombs... er Government Bonds, Fiat Currencies and Gold

The UNFOLDING destruction of the developed world's economies and financial/currency systems continues apace. Public servants are trying to defy Mother Nature with the stroke of a pen; she will not yield to this. Radical Marxist POLITICAL solutions to practical problems are at the end of their collective ropes (double entendre intended). You CANNOT store wealth in paper, PERIOD. Those who do will get what they deserve: NOTHING. It has been and will be printed endlessly from this point forward as Socialist government policies have destroyed wealth creation and substituted Ponzi asset-backed economies in their place. Now those economic models have reached their COLLECTIVE endpoints....more

$15 Trillion Bond Fraud to Prop up the U.S. Dollar?

“The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.” – Lord Acton

It reads right out of a fictional spy novel and is quite interesting considering the scale of the potential money laundering fraud – $15 TRILLION! The plot involves the US government lying about hundreds of thousands of tons of imaginary gold, illegal wire transfers and loans or counterfeiting totalling $15 trillion used to prop up the U.S. dollar as bond buyers have disappeared.

This staggering amount of $15 Trillion matches the total amount of the U.S. ‘official’ debt. It would be easy to dismiss this story on the surface as fake, but the funds were apparently cleared and accepted by senior executives at both HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Lord James of Blackheath, a member of the UK House of Lords, has done his research and claims that the $15 trillion is the property of what some people have called “the richest man in the world”, Yohannes Riyadi. My Riyadi is supposedly descendent of the emperors of the Indo-China dynasty. At farfetched as it sounds, Lord James of Blackheath claims to have seen some of his accounts, showing that he owns upwards of $36 trillion. Others point to the fact that the name Yohannes Riyadi is listed on the NY FED website in connection with other bonds scams. However, an original copy of the document has been unveiled with the signature of Ben Bernanke. ....more

Britain’s battle plan for war with Iran

BRITAIN is drawing up plans to send hundreds of troops and an extra nuclear sub to the Gulf as tension mounts with Iran.

Defence chiefs are convinced the UK will be swiftly sucked into any new conflict with Tehran's fanatical regime.

They say it is a matter of WHEN not IF war breaks out - with 18 to 24 months the likely timescale.

The Army, Royal Navy and RAF will have crucial roles if hostilities are triggered by president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nuclear stand-off with the world....more

Gerald Celente,- Capital Account - 24 February 2012

The Coming Storm

The current state of finance continues to change at rapid pace and global economies have slowed to levels significantly less than experienced in decades. The time has come to accept things are not as they once were and what we experience is not a regular economic cycle. Individuals prepared to navigate through this new climate will emerge when the storm is over, as the architects of tomorrow. Preparing requires; planning, an understanding of and the ability to economize, the capacity to be flexible, and thinking outside the ideas of what has been considered “normal”....more

Grocery Store Wars

12 Preparedness Tips for Families with Children

Something I have not given much thought to is how to deal with survival and preparedness matters when there are young children in the household. Perhaps it was watching the children on Doomsday Preppers that set me on this path, or perhaps it was just something I started thinking about on my own.

Whatever the reason, I have always treated young children as mini-adults, able to rationalize and understand and feel the emotions and body language of the adults around them. And I love kids. Even though I don’t have any of my own, I recognize and love that they are fresh and unspoiled by life and its failures. For no other reason, I wish to share my thoughts on preparedness for families with little ones under the roof....more

On the streets of Athens: 'If things get any worse, I won't be able to survive...'

Maria Svoronou has three jobs and was finishing a 12-hour day as eurozone leaders were finalising Greece's rescue package in Brussels. For all her hard work, she earns only €870 (£730) a month and says that "if the situation gets any worse, I won't be able to survive".

Ms Svoronou, aged 33 and with a degree from Edinburgh University, has a job teaching film at a private college in Athens, for which she is paid €10 an hour. Her second job is teaching primary school children road safety; the third is translating the dialogue in Bugs Bunny cartoons from English into Greek for €1.60 a page. She likes all three jobs, adding: "I am better off than all those Greeks who are unemployed." But she is thinking about emigrating. Greece is full of well-educated but poorly paid people who expect their pay to drop further or to lose their jobs entirely.
In central Athens, mental health workers have occupied the Ministry of Health building, protesting that swingeing cuts are having a catastrophic effect on their patients' care....more

Cash Of The Titans: Against The Noxious Fantasy Of Limitless Growth

The concept of endless economic growth, accepted as sacrosanct by both U.S. mainstream political parties, and internalized as the dominant mode of mind by the general population of the corporate/consumer state is mirrored in the exponential mathematics of a malignancy.

Cancer, if given voice, would proclaim itself to be a believer in "free market values"…devoted to the principle of endless growth…until, of course, it would silence its own voice by killing its host.

Likewise, all life seeks limits or prematurely dooms itself.

The same holds true with addiction to unlimited economic expansion…the craving for incessant ascension is, in fact, a doomed Icarusian flight....more

USA Slipping and Sliding Towards Fascism

The Fascist conception of the State is all embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism, is totalitarian, and the Fascist State - a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values - interprets, develops, and potentates the whole life of a people.
Benito Mussolini, 1932

I never watch the State of the Union in the US. I just can't stand someone looking into my eyes and lying to me for an hour. But I sometimes like to skim the transcripts after, mostly for entertainment, to see how they spin everything.

But the one thing I've noticed is there are never any tangible plans or strategies laid out. It's pure demagoguery. But, behind the scenes, the US Government is working to transform the country in leaps and bounds... and not for the better....more

THE NEW NORMAL

I lived in Detroit for three years. Well, not really IN Detroit, out in the suburbs, and I moved away 11 years ago, by the grace of God. There is always a lot of talk and writing about Detroit. The downtown was a war zone, even back then. It looked like Beirut. It looked like a war had been fought there. Working in the ER’s, I saw worse carnage than at a MASH unit during the Vietnam War. No human being should have to live in such conditions, or be subject to the terror which is a fact of life in Detroit.

Eleven years later, it’s gotten much, much worse. This article brings the reality of Detroit to full light, and even I was shocked. Just read this article to see what life will be like nationwide before long. Don’t think it will happen to you? Guess again. And this is what’s coming to all cities before long, except it will be worse when the direct-deposit and SNAP benefits stop flowing from Uncle Obama. This is what’s coming to a city near you folks. If Detroit is the future of America, it’s time to hit the road to greener pastures, while we still can...more

Pasteurized milk 150 times more contaminated with blood, pus and feces than fresh milk - videos the CDC won't show you

The vaccine-pushing, disease scare-mongering agency known as the CDC has put out a stunning piece of propaganda attacking fresh milk (raw dairy), claiming it is "150 times more dangerous" than pasteurized milk. This is all part of their anti-American agenda to crush food freedom and criminalize fundamental farming practices upon which this very nation was founded. (Yes, George Washington and the founding fathers drank raw milk, grew hemp and even smoked a little weed as medicine.)
But what the CDC won't dare reveal to the public is the far more horrifying truth: Pasteurized dairy is produced in the dirtiest milk factories imaginable, where blood, pus, e.coli and other truly dangerous pathogens are routinely bottled into milk containers and fed to consumers.
That's the whole point of pasteurization, you see: To kill everything that might be alive in their ultra-dirty milk. The real purpose of pasteurization is not to simply "make milk safe" as is claimed by the CDC, but rather to allow the dairy industry to operate DIRTY. It's so much easier to just cook the crap out of the milk (yes, there's fecal matter in it) than to clean up their operations, get it?...more

Herding Greek Cats From Bondage, Gold and Silver Battleground

Listen to the empty words of the last bailout for Greece. Credibility with the Jackass was lost back on the third bailout, well over a year ago, out of the six bailouts in total. Perhaps it is seven comprehensive final bailouts. The pattern is clear. The politicians, without popular support, forge agreements on debt coverage with the Greek officials. The deals fall through, hit the ground, and expose the lack of support even from the European bankers, led by the Germans. The pattern has been vividly clear for over a year, enough for my dismissal of new accords right away on the basis that the German bankers will not conform and agree to the deals struck. The political leaders in France (Sarkozy) and Germany (Merkel) are due to lose their offices, yet they continue to march around at useless summits attempting to cut last ditch agreements that mean nothing. The people are not willing in Germany to hand over any more than the $3 trillion to date, from the start of the common Euro currency experiment. The bankers, like at the Bundesbank, should attend the summits, but that would be too obvious on where the majority of power is held. What is unfolding is a comprehensive Greek Govt debt default from the inability to contain the situation, the impracticality of the austerity budgets put in place, the wreckage that has come to the Greek Economy, and the intractable solution...more

BIX WEIR: Silver More RARE Than Gold

John Williams of Shadow Stats "This is end of the world type stuff"

James Turk Favors Silver in ‘Ongoing Bull Market’

“The reality is, is all of this money printing, all of this debt is going to end up badly and in that kind of environment, gold and silver will both soar and that’s what we’re about to see here with the way the metals are trading,” predicts James Turk, in a interview with Mineweb, adding that “You really can’t predict what event or what catalyst will occur to cause the metals to move higher, it’s just an ongoing bull market.”

Last week Turk told Hard Assets Investor that “As bullish as I am on gold going forward, I’m even more bullish on silver, because my expectation is that their ratio is going to continue to fall as this precious metals bull market continues to move forward.” He also said that “silver, interestingly, is still in stage one of its bull market. And that’s why it gets so little attention worldwide, compared to gold, for example. But when silver goes above $50, it will be just as significant as when gold went above $1,000. Silver will be entering stage two of its bull market.”

He recommends “two-thirds gold, one-third silver and by the time this bull market is over, the silver component of your portfolio will have a higher currency value than the gold component because of the outperformance as a result of the decline in the gold-silver ratio.”....more

18 Ways Government Wastes Your Money

David Zeiler writes: Never mind the $15 trillion national debt; the government blew $592,000 on a study last year to figure out why chimpanzees throw poop. That's just one example of government waste described in a recent book by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK. His "Wastebook 2011" features 100 examples of needless or ill-advised government spending. It adds up to $6.9 billion that America can't afford. And while such waste is just a fraction of the federal government's $3.8 trillion budget, a country that needs to borrow 36 cents of every dollar it spends should not be throwing money away on non-essential research. Like why chimps throw poop. Here are 17 other things the government wasted tax dollars on last year:  ...more

‘Fantastic Opportunity’ in Silver: Gold Mining CEO

Australian gold miner, Kingsgate Consolidated, reported an almost 200 percent jump in profits for the second half of 2011 on Wednesday, boosted by robust sales of the precious metal. But, the company is planning a bigger push into silver in the coming years, according to the CEO Gavin Thomas.

“Silver is a fantastic opportunity…I see there’s a lot of upward price (for the metal), because of the lack of supply,” Thomas told CNBC on Wednesday, adding that silver could rise to $50 per ounce over the next 24 months.

Supply of sliver is under pressure because, lead and zinc mining, which silver is a bi-product of, is becoming less prolific, Thomas said. At the same time, he notes that demand for silver is increasing as medical and industrial uses for the metal are discovered and investment interest from India and China rise....more

UK surveillance culture, ‘runaway’

The UK’s leading privacy campaign group says the British government has developed an out-of-control ‘surveillance culture’ as it revealed the true cost of the country’s CCTV cameras.

Big Brother Watch, Britain’s leading campaign group defending individual privacy and civil liberties, has revealed that the real cost of installing CCTV cameras in Britain over the past four years saying it stands at more than GBP 515 million.

Despite the huge cost of the British government’s ‘haphazard and badly measured rush to spy on citizens,’ Big Brother Watch maintained that there is no evidence showing any decrease in crime due to the increase in surveillance....more

The Toxic Triad: How Big Food, Big Farming, and Big Pharma Spread Obesity, Diabetes, and Chronic Disease Across the Globe

One third of our economy thrive on making people sick and fat. Big Farming grows 500 more calories per person per day than 25 years ago because they get paid to grow extra food even when it is not needed. The extra corn (sugar) and soy (fat) are turned into industrial processed food and sugar-sweetened beverages - combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are proven to be addictive. These subsidized ($288 billion) cheap, low-quality foods are heavily marketed ($30 billion) and consumed by our ever-widening population with an obesity rate approaching three out of four Americans. The more they eat, the fatter they become. The fatter they become the more they develop heart disease, diabetes, cancer and a myriad of other chronic ailments.

Today, one in 10 Americans have diabetes. By 2050 one in three Americans will have diabetes. The sicker our population, the more medications are sold for high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, and many other lifestyle driven diseases. The Toxic Triad of Big Farming, Big Food, and Big Pharma profits from creating a nation of sick and fat citizens...more

THE AMERICAN SUCKER

Epitaph: The Late, Great United States

Armageddon Approaches

“An Israeli attack on Iran would create a disaster.” — Zbigniew Brzezinski

“The entire lake will become a killing field…the Gulf will run red with American blood.” — Military specialist Mark Gaffney.

Bombing Iran could be the final nail in the coffin of America—a decaying and morally bankrupt superpower where torture has been normalized and where the President is now free to kill anyone he chooses, anywhere in the world, who he happens to suspect is a terrorist.

Right now, Iran appears to be the object of universal detestation, at least among those who control the mainstream media and who are anxious to persuade the easily duped masses that Iran is a major threat to civilization.

Iran is perfectly capable of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz if it wishes, doing immense damage to the US navy in the process. It possesses a vast array of anti-ship weapons called Sunburn missiles, which it has procured from Russia and China over the last decade. These are state-of-the-art weapons developed by the Russians as a low-cost challenge to the expensive, tech-heavy weaponry of the US. Specifically, they are designed to sink ships, including America’s titanic aircraft carriers....more

Supply-driven pharmaceutical drug and disease marketing has turned nation into pill-popping hypochondriacs

Ever since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to allow drug companies to air direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for prescription drugs on national television back in 1997, drug industry sales and profits have soared exponentially. Combined with its direct-to-doctor (DTD) marketing-slash-bribery schemes and the endless creation of new drugs for made-up diseases and conditions, Big Pharma has successfully created a hypochondriac society where every feeling, emotion, and unique human idiosyncrasy is considered to be a disease in need of a drug -- and millions of people have bought into the lie.

According to a fascinating and very well-written report in AlterNet, Big Pharma is in the business of marketing disease just as much as it is the drugs that supposedly treat disease. Known as "supply-driven marketing," the drug industry has to continually invent new conditions that require the use of exclusive, patented medications, as well as convince the public that it has such conditions. And adult ADHD, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and sleeping disorders are just a few of today's most common "blockbuster" conditions with vague diagnosing guidelines that the industry uses to push more drugs.

When one condition reaches its marketing "peak," in other words, or when the exclusive drugs used to treat that condition lose patent protection and become open to the generic market, drug companies simply invent a new drug for a new condition that they scare the public into thinking they have. Adult ADHD, for instance, is the new depression, covering a wide range of supposed "symptoms" with which millions of people "suffer." Such symptoms are deliberately vague and highly-subjective, which means that millions of people viewing print and TV ads designed to scare them into thinking they have these conditions become self-diagnosed hypochondriacs...more

Rising Food Prices Propelling Inflation Worldwide

Popular financial newsletter Profit Confidential reports that global food prices jumped 1.9% in January around the globe, the biggest monthly gain in 11 months. According to Michael Lombardi, lead contributor to Profit Confidential, things are going to get worse.

“At a time when economic growth worldwide is slowing, citizens around the world are hampered in their spending because their personal budgets are being ‘eaten’ away by higher food prices,” says Lombardi.

While in the U.S., food costs account for less disposable income than in developing countries, Lombardi points out that low-income earners here in the U.S. don’t have that luxury: “Their food costs, as a percentage of income, are comparable to developing countries.”...more

Normalcy Bias

This Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Living Through the Real Estate Crash and Bankruptcy, by Brad C.

My experience with a tax audit, real estate crash, rental house woes, foreclosures, layoff and bankruptcy:

In a nutshell, we went from a 4,000 square foot home, worth more than $1 million, a vacation home, new RV, Mercedes convertible, Jeep, $50,000 SUV, 20 rental properties, a property management company and a great full time job... To living in a modest rental house in the middle of nowhere....more

Civilisation faces 'perfect storm of ecological and social problems'

Celebrated scientists and development thinkers today warn that civilisation is faced with a perfect storm of ecological and social problems driven by overpopulation, overconsumption and environmentally malign technologies.

In the face of an "absolutely unprecedented emergency", say the 18 past winners of the Blue Planet prize – the unofficial Nobel for the environment – society has "no choice but to take dramatic action to avert a collapse of civilisation. Either we will change our ways and build an entirely new kind of global society, or they will be changed for us"....more

The Real Mega-Trend That Guarantees the Cost of Living Will Rise

As noted previously, the world’s central banks, while flooding the financial system with liquidity to combat their dreaded debt deflation, have let the inflation genie out of the bottle. However, there is a second, far more important trend that will determine a higher cost of living going forward: that of finite resources vs. an exponentially growing population.

In 1800 there were roughly 800 million people on the planet. Today there is north of seven billion. And according to Mark McLoran of Agro-Terra, the Earth’s population will be growing by 70-80 million people per year going forward....more

10 Signs That America Is Decomposing Right In Front Of Our Eyes

The decay of society is so much harder to quantify than economic decline is. The government keeps lots of statistics on things like unemployment and inflation, but it really does not keep track of how sick and twisted people are becoming. Most of us recognize that the character of the American people has changed dramatically over the decades, but unlike the national debt, you can't easily point to a chart or a graph to show exactly how bad things are getting. In this article, my approach will be to point you to various "signs" of social decay. Signs tell us where we are at now and where we are headed. Some of the signs that I will use will be statistics while others will simply consist of anecdotal evidence. Yes, anecdotal evidence is not perfect, but when you put enough of it together it starts to paint a pretty clear picture of what is going on out there. America is becoming a truly frightening place. Our cities our decaying, thieves are becoming bolder, you never know who you can trust and everyone seems depressed. America is decomposing right in front of our eyes, and it is time that we all admitted it....more

Consequences To Expect If The U.S. Invades Iran

Let’s be honest, quite a few Americans love a good war, especially those Americans who have never had to bear witness to one first hand. War is the ultimate tribally vicarious experience. Anyone, even pudgy armchair generals with deep-seated feelings of personal inadequacy, can revel in the victories and actions of armies a half a world away as if they themselves stood on the front lines risking possible annihilation at the hands of dastardly cartoon-land “evil doers”. They may have never done a single worthwhile thing in their lives, but at least they can bask in the perceived glory of their country’s military might.

This attitude of swollen ego through proxy is not limited to the “Right” side of the political spectrum as some might expect. In fact, if the terrifyingly demented presidency of Barack Obama has proven anything so far, it is that elements of the “Left” are just as bloodthirsty as any NeoCon, and just as ready to blindly support the political supremacy of their “side” regardless of any broken promises, abandoned principles, or openly flaunted hypocrisies. No matter how reasonable or irrefutable the arguments against a particular conflict are, there will ALWAYS be a certain percentage of the populace which ignores all logic and barrels forward to cheerlead violent actions which ultimately only benefit a select and elite few....more

BREAKING NEWS - US DECLARES WAR ON IRAN ?

Instability in the Oil and Currency Markets: Petro-Dollars and the Oil Bourse

Over in Europe in December the ECB received a $1 trillion illegal loan from the Fed. 523 banks quickly borrowed $650 billion and late in February and they will borrow another $850 billion. Yes, they’ll borrow it all and then some, if available you might arbitrarily add 03% to the 1% cost to cover shortcomings of collateral. That isn’t all that bad because the average yield on senior unsecured bank debts are 4.3%. If invested that way that is a 3% return with little risk. They call this a license to steal. We the public don’t get these kinds of offers. That is $1.5 trillion and if fractionalized at 9 to 1 is more than $14 trillion. In a similar situation the Fed lent to Goldman Sachs, JPM and Morgan Stanley and they made $13 billion borrowing from the Fed, so you can see the tremendous profits that are going to be gleaned by European banks. We’d call this a subsidy or better yet a bailout.

The flip side of this lending, if only 5% reaches into the economies of the US, UK and Europe over the next 1-1/2 to 2 years, that represents business loans of $10 billion, at a minimum. This is super charged money and will affect these economies starting in the second or third quarter. That is why all these economies are going to do better than almost all analysts and economists had predicted. They do not understand the strength of this volume of money and credit in turning these economies around. The players all know of the inflationary implications but believe them to be preferential to deflationary depression. It is easy for the Fed to create money and credit, so they have chosen this way, the only way short of deflationary depression, to bail out the financial system over and over again. This infusion of money and credit will continue as inflation climbs. When hyperinflation of 30% to 50% becomes reality the game is over. The big question is how long will it take? We do not think anyone has that answer at this juncture, but we can assure you that with this kind of aggregate creation is certainly going to bring about hyperinflation...more

Greece shows us how to protest against a failed system

I do not like violence. I do not think that very much is gained by burning banks and smashing windows. And yet I feel a surge of pleasure when I see the reaction in Athens and the other cities in Greece to the acceptance by the Greek parliament of the measures imposed by the European Union. More: if there had not been an explosion of anger, I would have felt adrift in a sea of depression.

The joy is the joy of seeing the much-trodden worm turn and roar. The joy of seeing those whose cheeks have been slapped a thousand times slapping back. How can we ask of people that they accept meekly the ferocious cuts in living standards that the austerity measures imply? Do we want them to just agree that the massive creative potential of so many young people should be just eliminated, their talents trapped in a life of long-term unemployment? All that just so that the banks can be repaid, the rich made richer? All that, just to maintain a capitalist system that has long since passed its sell-by date, that now offers the world nothing but destruction. For the Greeks to accept the measures meekly would be to multiply depression by depression, the depression of a failed system compounded by the depression of lost dignity...more

How Clinging to Mommy and Daddy Is Ruining a Generation

As children grow up and venture out into the world, the transition from a bustling household to an empty one can be difficult – so, why not skip it all together? That’s what millions of families are doing, not just in the U.S., but across many developed countries. In Italy, the culture of “mammismo” or mamma’s boys, is widely accepted – today, 37 percent of men age thirty have never lived away from home. In Japan, “parasite singles” are chastised in the media for depending on mom and dad, but having few other options, they do it anyway.

In the U.S. the proportion of people age 30 to 34 living with their parents has grown by 50 percent since the 1970s, and the recession has only made things worse. In 2010, over 5.5 million young adults moved back home with their parents, a 15 percent increase from 2007. The shift is so widespread, parenting guides for this stage of life are even starting to crop up, like the recent How to Raise Your Adult Children. Author Katherine S. Newman explores the effects of this growing phenomenon in The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition, and talks with The Fiscal Times about the troubling future consequences of this new family structure...more