Archive for the ‘Depression 2.0’ Category
10 Amazing Charts That Demonstrate the Slow, Agonizing Death of the American Worker
The middle class American worker is in danger of becoming an endangered species. The politicians are not telling you the truth, and the mainstream media is certainly not telling you the truth, but the reality is that there is nothing but bad news on the horizon for workers in the United States. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-amazing-charts-that-demonstrate-the-slow-agonizing-death-of-the-american-worker
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Bank Runs and Bullion Bank Runs to Climax Soon in the U.S.
The Western nations really truly sincerely need a wake-up call on reality, and it is coming as a paradigm shift with shock waves. When the coming dust clears, the evidence is plain that the change to be seen will be dead banks in dissolution with private bank accounts vacated. In other words, razed leveled banks with no functioning operating offices, and bank accounts showing zero balances. The consequence is ugly and powerful, lost client trust in the banking institutions. http://silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-bank-runs-bullion-bank-runs-to-climax-soon-in-the-us/
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The Other Planet
As we’re plodding through earnings season, we’re seeing a repeat of a show we’ve seen too many times. More companies are beating on the “earnings” report, but missing on the sales or “revenue” part of the equation. Well folks, as wildly interesting as “new accounting” has become, there comes a time when you just can’t cut, make up things, fire folks, dispense with costs, declare revolving costs as one time charges, etc. In simpler terms, there’s a time when all the magic accounting in the world doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t sell anything. http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/The_Other_Planet
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The Housing Shell Game: Prices Up, Ownership Down
Why are housing prices rising when the homeownership rate has dropped to its lowest level in 18 years? Actually, it’s not as confusing as it sounds. The Fed’s low interest rates have triggered a flurry of homebuying by Private Equity firms and other speculators which has reduced already-tight supply and pushed up prices. Of course, there is a downside to all this speculation, which is that real, “organic” demand from ordinary working people looking for a place to live, has dropped off sharply. That’s why the homeownership rate is in the dumps. It’s also why existing homes sales declined 0.6 percent in March and “the volume of purchase applications is at levels last seen in 1998″, because as prices edge higher, more people are opting to rent rather than own. Who can blame them? http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/03/the-housing-shell-game-prices-up-ownership-down/
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Recovery for the 7 Percent
by Paul Craig Roberts. Since the recession was officially declared to be over in June 2009, I have assured readers that there has been no recovery. Gerald Celente, John Williams (shadowstats.com), and no doubt others have also made it clear that the alleged recovery is an artifact of an understated inflation rate that produces an image of real economic growth. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/04/28/recovery-for-the-7-percent-paul-craig-roberts/
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24 Signs That U.S. Cities Are Turning Into Poverty-Stricken Hellholes
Our once proud cities are being transformed into poverty-stricken hellholes. Did you know that the city of Detroit once actually had the highest per-capita income in the United States? Looking at Detroit today, it is hard to imagine that it was once one of the most prosperous cities in the world. In fact, as you will read about later in this article, tourists now travel to Detroit from all over the globe just to see the ruins of Detroit. Sadly, the exact same thing that is happening to Detroit is happening to cities all over America. Detroit is just ahead of the curve. We are in the midst of a long-term economic collapse that is eating away at us like cancer, and things are going to get a lot worse than this. So if you still live in a prosperous area of the country, don’t laugh at what is happening to others. What is happening to them will be coming to your area soon enough. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/america-the-fallen-24-signs-that-our-once-proud-cities-are-turning-into-poverty-stricken-hellholes
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Fed Desperate To Stop Collapse
Let us be sure we understand how risks for the once masterful US economy became so great. The main cause of America’s demise is the offshoring of manufacturing and professional service jobs. This deprived the US economy of consumer income and state, local, and federal governments of tax base. When the offshored production comes to the US to be marketed, it drives up the trade deficit. The result is larger surpluses in the hands of foreigners, who use the dollars to purchase income-earning US assets. Consequently, this income also flows out of American hands into foreign hands. Drained of consumer purchasing power, the US economy faltered. The Federal Reserve decided to substitute an increase in consumer debt as a substitute for the missing growth in consumer income in order to keep a consumption-driven economy alive. http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/4/24_Former_US_Treasury_Official_-_Fed_Desperate_To_Stop_Collapse.html
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Abnormalcy Bias
The 100 year downward spiral began gradually but has picked up steam in the last sixteen years, as the exponential growth model, built upon ever increasing levels of debt and an ever increasing supply of cheap oil, has proven to be unsustainable and unstable. Those in power are frantically using every tool at their disposal to convince Boobus Americanus they have everything under control and the system is operating normally. The psychotic central bankers, “bought and sold” political class, mega-corporation soulless chief executives and corporate controlled media use propaganda techniques, paid “experts”, talking head “personalities”, captured think tanks, and the willful ignorance of the majority to spin an increasingly dire economic descent as if we are recovering and getting back to normal. Nothing could be further from the truth. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=52862
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If This Continues the Currencies Will Literally Collapse
I don’t recall any point in history where debt monetization has ever ended well for the currency of that particular nation. In fact, it has always led to the collapse of currencies. But what we are seeing right now is the price of commodities continues to fall in spite of massive money printing, and it has central planners concerned because their tools are becoming less and less effective. In a debt based economy, if you don’t have a constant increase in borrowing, and if you don’t have a constant increase in the amount of debt that consumers are willing to take on, then the economy contracts. That’s what we are dealing with here. http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/4/17_If_This_Continues_The_Currencies_Will_Literally_Collapse.html
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25 Things That You Should Do to Get Prepared For the Coming Economic Collapse
It has been estimated that there are now three million preppers in the United States. But the truth that nobody really knows the actual number, because a lot of preppers keep their “prepping” to themselves. So what are all of those people preparing for exactly? Well, survey after survey has shown that “economic collapse” is the number one potential disaster that preppers are most concerned about. Of course that shouldn’t be surprising because we truly are facing economic problems that are absolutely unprecedented. We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, the global banking system has been transformed into a high-risk pyramid scheme of debt, risk and leverage that could collapse at any time, and wealthy countries such as the United States have been living way above their means for decades. Meanwhile, the United States is being deindustrialized at a blinding pace and poverty in this country is absolutely exploding. Anyone that is not concerned about the economy should have their head examined. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/25-things-that-you-should-do-to-get-prepared-for-the-coming-economic-collapse
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Government Builds It With Your Money and They Don’t Come
Mantua Square continues the legacy of the welfare state begun in the 1960s by LBJ and his Great Society programs. There were thousands of low income high rises built in the 1960s and 1970s to provide subsidized housing for poor people. Mantua Hall was an 18 story taxpayer gift to Philadelphia’s poor. As with most of these tenements, it quickly became a rat infested, crime ridden, drug paradise where even the Philly police would not approach. It became a dangerous crumbling disgrace. It proved that giving ignorant, lazy scumbags free housing with no strings attached and no requirements to work or keep their homes in any semblance of order leads to really bad consequences. So what did the liberal Democrats that run Philly do? They imploded the 18 story drug house in 2008 and started over. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=51422
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The World is Now on Fire and There Will Be Hell to Pay
The world is literally ablaze with the creation of money, and there will be hell to pay for what is taking place right now. The monetary policy of Japan has now spread out from Japan to Europe and will eventually infect the entire globe. Markets now give the appearance of having no rules. This is a world that, for the time being, seems to have repealed the normal law of consequences, but I can assure you this will end in tears. http://kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2013/4/9_Sinclair_-_The_World_Is_Now_On_Fire_%26_There_Will_Be_Hell_To_Pay.html
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The Tunnel People That Live Under the Streets of America
Did you know that there are thousands upon thousands of homeless people that are living underground beneath the streets of major U.S. cities? It is happening in Las Vegas, it is happening in New York City and it is even happening in Kansas City. As the economy crumbles, poverty in the United States is absolutely exploding and so is homelessness. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-tunnel-people-that-live-under-the-streets-of-america
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The Fed’s Fear Scale: Holdings of Cold Hard Cash at a Record
In 1969, notes greater than $100, including the cool $10,000 note that would still pay for a lot of things, were retired due to “declining demand.” Prematurely, it turns out. Because demand for cold hard cash, despite plummeting use of it for transactions, has surged. Reason: fear. http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2013/4/8/the-feds-fear-scale-holdings-of-cold-hard-cash-at-a-record.html
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More Than 101 Million Working Age Americans Do Not Have a Job
The jobs recovery is a complete and total myth. The percentage of the working age population in the United States that had a job in March 2013 was exactly the same as it was all the way back in March 2010. In addition, as you will see below, there are now more than 101 million working age Americans that do not have a job. But even though the employment level in the United States has consistently remained very low over the past three years, the Obama administration keeps telling us that unemployment is actually going down. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/more-than-101-million-working-age-americans-do-not-have-a-job
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The 21 Key Statistics About the Explosive Growth of Poverty in America
If the economy is getting better, then why does poverty in America continue to grow so rapidly? Yes, the stock market has been hitting all-time highs recently, but also the number of Americans living in poverty has now reached a level not seen since the 1960s. Yes, corporate profits are at levels never seen before, but so is the number of Americans on food stamps. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/21-statistics-about-the-explosive-growth-of-poverty-in-america-that-everyone-should-know
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The Stockman Backlash
This week, while economists should have been closely considering the implications of the actual bankruptcy of Stockton, California, they instead heaped scorn on the perceived ideological bankruptcy of David Stockman. In other words, Stockman trumped Stockton. Ronald Reagan’s former Budget Director contributed “Sundown in America” a multi-page opinion piece to the Sunday New York Times which loudly and eloquently described the illusions of our current economic system. While I don’t agree with everything Stockman believes, I think he is showing great wisdom and courage in making dire predictions and calling for extreme changes in our policy and politics. What was perhaps more surprising than the Times’ uncharacteristic decision to run the piece in the first place was the vitriolic and largely ad hominem backlash against Stockman that quickly emerged from across the political spectrum. http://lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff215.html
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The ZIRP Death Knell
The official 0% rate signals a death knell to the national financial foundation and economic vibrancy, the climax event slow in its pathogenesis following the departure from the Gold Standard in 1971. The official 0% FedFunds rate (call it 25 basis points, no matter) is a direct signal of terminal illness for the entire capitalist structures within both the United States and its Western partners who stupidly or helplessly follow its lead. http://silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-zirp-the-death-knell/
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U.S. Dollar — Surrounded and Check-Mated
An unstoppable sequence of events has been put into motion finally. The pressure has been building for months. Some themes are plainly evident, except to those who wear rose colored glasses in the U.S. Dome of Perception. http://silverdoctors.com/jim-willies-most-important-article-ever-usdollar-ring-fenced-checkmate/
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Available
The feudal financial industry lords are feasting on caviar and champagne in their mountaintop manors while the serfs and peasants scrounge in the gutters for scraps and morsels. This path has been chosen by the king (Obama) and enabled by his court jester (Bernanke). Money printing and inflation are their weapons of choice. We are living in a 21st Century version of the Dark Ages. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=48749
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How the Wall Street Shysters Are Creating an Artificial Housing Frenzy
Time to go shopping for a home and join the herd above. You do not want to miss out in this current mania. The current momentum is clearly unsustainable and anyone looking to buy in a somewhat desirable neighborhood today without a big down payment or solid amounts of cash is simply looking for a dragged out headache. Are you willing to make an offer without even looking at the property? Are you willing to go way over asking price? These are things you may need to do if you want to purchase in this current market in California. What is interesting is that even with all this renewed buying, the homeownership rate really isn’t going up. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=51501
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10 Hilarious Examples of How Clueless U.S. ‘Leaders’ Are About the Economy
Sadly, many Americans are not even going to see the crash coming because they still have faith in the “experts”. They haven’t figured out that the “experts” really do not know what they are doing. The blind are leading the blind, and in the end the results are going to be absolutely tragic. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/denial-is-not-just-a-river-in-egypt-10-hilarious-examples-of-how-clueless-our-leaders-are-about-the-economy
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The Missing Recovery
Officially, since June 2009 the U.S. economy has been undergoing an economic recovery from the December 2007 recession. But where is this recovery? I cannot find it, and neither can millions of unemployed Americans. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/03/01/the-missing-recovery-paul-craig-roberts-2/
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All of This Whining About the Sequester Shows Why America is Doomed
Even if the budget really was being “cut” by 85 billion dollars, that only would only amount to a “cut” of 2.4 percent to federal spending. It would barely make a dent in the federal budget deficit for 2013. The U.S. government would still accumulate about as much new debt in fiscal year 2013 as it did in all the years from the inauguration of George Washington to the inauguration of Ronald Reagan combined. Our debt to GDP ratio would continue to soar. The sequester cuts would essentially only be a minor bump on the road to financial oblivion. But if you listen to Barack Obama and his allies, they would have you believe that we are facing a great national crisis because of these impending cuts. They would have you believe that hundreds of thousands of people will lose their jobs and that many government agencies will no longer be able to operate effectively. They would have you believe that “granny won’t get her lunch” and “roofs blown off by Hurricane Sandy won’t get repaired.” Well, if all of that is true, then what in the world would our country look like if we actually cut a trillion dollars from the federal budget this year and started living within our means? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-28/guest-post-all-whining-about-sequester-shows-why-america-doomed
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Historic Financial Collapse Coming
More than a crisis, it is more accurately described as a collapse of a corrupt inequitable monetary system, and a desperate defense by the major Western bankers to preserve their power over nations and their governments, alongside a vile vicious violent attempt by the United States to maintain its privilege as owner of the vast U.S. dollar counterfeit machinery, as controller of vast banking pillars of paper columns, and as commander of a vast military. The U.S. is about to fall into the Third World. http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-gritty-questions-on-the-historic-collapse/
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Retail Apocalypse: Why Are Major Retail Chains All Over America Collapsing?
If the economy is improving, then why are many of the largest retail chains in America closing hundreds of stores? When I was growing up, Sears, J.C. Penney, Best Buy and RadioShack were all considered to be unstoppable retail powerhouses. But now it is being projected that all of them will close hundreds of stores before the end of 2013. Even Wal-Mart is running into problems. A recent internal Wal-Mart memo that was leaked to Bloomberg described February sales as a “total disaster”. So why is this happening? Why are major retail chains all over America collapsing? http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34003.htm
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It’s Always the Best Time to Buy
The negative equity position of millions of homeowners gets at the gist of the effort to re-inflate the housing bubble. By artificially pumping up home prices, the Wall Street titans and their co-conspirators at the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department are attempting to repair insolvent Wall Street bank balance sheets, lure unsuspecting dupes back into the housing market, reignite the economy through the old stand-by wealth effect, and of course enrich themselves and their crony capitalist friends. The artificial suppression of home inventory has been working wonders, as 2 million homeowners were freed from negative equity in 2012. If they can only lure enough suckers back into the pool, all will be well. Phoenix must have an inordinate number of chumps with home prices rising by 22.5% in 2012 as investors and flippers poured into the market with cheap debt and big dreams. Of course everything is relative, as prices are still down 44% from the peak and 40% of mortgages remain underwater. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=49703
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There’s Still a Foreclosure Crisis
So, the banks are deliberately keeping the majority of distressed homes “off market” in order to keep prices artificially high, fleece another generation of credulous buyers, and effect the appearance of a revitalised and soaring housing market. Now–tell me–which part of this equation even vaguely resembles a “free market”? It’s all central planning by a criminal bank cabal that controls all the levers of state power lock, stock and barrel. http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/02/19/theres-still-a-foreclosure-crisis/
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Student Loans Called ‘Federal Debacle’
With two-thirds of college graduates owing at least $25,000 on student loans and 53 percent of recent grads unemployed or underemployed, taxpayers could be responsible for tens of billions of dollars for loans that won’t be repaid. http://amac.us/student-loans-called-federal-debacle
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U.S. Retirement Accounts at Risk
Retirees, investors, business owners, and countless others are becoming increasingly concerned by the growing debts of governments worldwide. As Japan slips into its third decade of an ever-deepening recession, observers also point to the United States, whose national government indebtedness is now the largest of any in human history. Consider these facts. http://lewrockwell.com/orig14/ross-m1.1.1.html
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Bond Bubble Expectations
Bonds are loans that have the expectation of payback with interest. Government bonds are viewed as the safest financial instrument since the primary fiscal obligation of the state is to honor the terms of their own notes. However, in the fevered climate of currency wars among central banksters, the security factor of capital repayment is rapidly coming into question. As interest rates rise, the economic value of the bond diminishes. This inverted normal relationship is the essential dynamic of lending money with the purchase of Treasury Bonds. So what is all the talk about a bond bubble and likelihood that it will destroy your underwriting capital? http://www.batr.org/negotium/021313.html
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All is Well
The entire system is corrupt to its core. Both political parties, regulatory agencies, Wall Street, the Federal Reserve, and mainstream media are participants in this enormous fraud. They grow more desperate and bold by the day. The lies, misinformation and propaganda being spewed on a daily basis become more outrageous and audacious. They are using the Big Lie method on a grand scale. They frantically need to lure the muppets into the stock market and the housing market to keep the game going a little longer. You can sense we are reaching a tipping point. The system they have created is mathematically unsustainable. Therefore, it will not be sustained. The world is going mad. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=48126
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Housing Hijinx
There’s a lot confusion about the recent uptick in housing prices, which–according to CoreLogic– have gone up 7.4 percent year-over-year. Many analysts think that that the “bottom is in” and the market is about to roar back to its bubble-era highs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Housing prices are likely to remain flat for years due to persistent high unemployment, negative wage growth, crippling student loan debt, and changing attitudes about home ownership. The reason prices have been going up can be explained in one word: speculation. http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/02/11/housing-hijinx/
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The U.S. Economy is Now Dangerously Detached From Reality
We now live in an entirely fabricated fiscal environment. Every aspect of it is filtered, muddled, molded, and manipulated before our eyes ever get to study the stats. The metaphor may be overused, but our economic system has become an absolute “matrix”. All that we see and hear has been homogenized and all truth has been sterilized away. There is nothing to investigate anymore. It is like awaking in the middle of a vast and hallucinatory live action theater production, complete with performers, props, and sound effects, all designed to confuse us and do us harm. In the end, trying to make sense of the illusion is a waste of time. All we can do is look for the exits…There is some tangible reality out there, but it is difficult to find, and there are few if any mainstream numbers to verify. One has to remember always that the fundamental world of money and trade revolves around real people and real circumstances. No matter how corrupt our economic system is, as long as there are human beings, there will always be supply and demand that cannot be hidden. We have to look past the “official numbers” and look at the roots of trade. Where has demand fallen? Where has supply diminished? Where are the tangible goods and needs and how have they changed? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/guest-post-us-economy-now-dangerously-detached-reality
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15 Signs That You Better Get Prepared for the Obama Recession of 2013
You better get ready, because there are a whole host of signs that economic trouble is on the horizon. U.S. economic growth slipped into negative territory during the fourth quarter of 2012. That was the first time that has happened in more than three years. Several important measures of manufacturing activity have also contracted in recent weeks, and consumer confidence is way down. There is a tremendous amount of economic pessimism in the air right now, and Americans are pulling enormous amounts of money out of our banks and they are buying up precious metals at unprecedented rates. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/15-signs-that-you-better-get-prepared-for-the-obama-recession-of-2013
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37 Statistics Which Show How Four Years of Obama Have Wrecked the U.S. Economy
The truth is that the first four years of Obama were an absolute train wreck for the U.S. economy. Over the past four years, the percentage of working age Americans with a job has fallen, median household income has declined by more than $4000, poverty in the U.S. has absolutely exploded and our national debt has ballooned to ridiculous proportions. Of course all of the blame for the nightmarish performance of the economy should not go to Obama alone. Certainly much of what we are experiencing today is the direct result of decades of very foolish decisions by Congress and previous presidential administrations. And of course the Federal Reserve has more influence over the economy than anyone else does. But Barack Obama steadfastly refuses to criticize anything that the Federal Reserve has done and he even nominated Ben Bernanke for another term as Fed Chairman despite his horrific track record of failure, so at a minimum Barack Obama must be considered to be complicit in the Fed’s very foolish policies. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/37-statistics-which-show-how-four-years-of-obama-have-wrecked-the-u-s-economy
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Apparitions in the Fog
Virtually all of the mainstream media, Wall Street banks and paid shill economists are in agreement that 2013 will see improvement in employment, housing, retail spending and, of course the only thing that matters to the ruling class, the stock market. Even among the alternative media, there seems to be a consensus that we will continue to muddle through and the day of reckoning is still a few years off. Those who are predicting improvements are either ignorant of history or are being paid to predict improvement, despite the overwhelming evidence of a worsening economic climate. The mainstream media pundits, fulfilling their assigned task of purveying feel good propaganda, use the 10% stock market gain in 2012 as proof of economic recovery. The facts prove otherwise. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=47568
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The Coming Debt Limit Drama: Government Wins, We Lose
by Ron Paul. Last week President Obama bluntly warned Congress that he will not negotiate when it comes to raising the statutory debt limit. If Republicans attempt to use a debt ceiling vote to win concessions on spending from the White House, Mr. Obama threatens simply to raise the limit by executive order or other unilateral action. This is business as usual in Washington. Democrats literally do not believe we have a deficit and debt problem, and reliably propose greater borrowing and spending. Republicans talk a good game when it comes to government debt, but have no credibility to argue against deficits or abuses of executive power. Brinksmanship ensues, and ugly compromises are reached at the 11th hour. We all lose as the endless borrowing and money printing further erode our dollar and our economy. http://the-free-foundation.org/tst1-21-2013.html
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Do You Want to Scare a Baby Boomer?
If you want to frighten Baby Boomers, just show them the list of statistics in this article. The United States is headed for a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and we are woefully unprepared for it. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/do-you-want-to-scare-a-baby-boomer
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We Are Witnessing the Slow, Tortuous Death of the American Worker
Once upon a time, the U.S. economy produced a seemingly unending supply of good paying jobs that enabled American workers to buy homes, raise families and live the American Dream. But now all of that has changed. Over the past several decades, there have been some fundamental shifts in our economy that have steadily eroded the value of the American worker. Thanks to incredible advances in robotics, computers and other fields of technology, many economic activities that once required a tremendous amount of manpower now require very little. Nothing is going to reverse those technological advances, so the jobs that have been lost as a result are now gone forever. But there are millions of other good jobs that we have lost that we could have done something about. http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/we-are-witnessing-the-slow-tortuous-death-of-the-american-worker
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Insights Into Cultural Shifts From a Visit to a Hardware Store
“So this is what it looks like when a society is starting to collapse,” the man standing behind the counter at the hardware store said matter-of-factly. The remark had been directed at no one in particular, but generally at anyone standing nearby. As I was among that audience, I looked at him inquisitively, eliciting in return a look indicating that his observation should be intuitively obvious to even the casual observer. “We should not be this busy,” he continued. “People are normally out Christmas shopping for the latest tech gadgets for their kids, but instead they are spending their hard-earned money here.” I had to agree with his observation, because the place was packed, and it was obvious that his inventory was disappearing from the glass showcases and from the wall behind the counter quicker than the store could replenish it. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-11/guest-post-insights-cultural-shifts-visit-hardware-store
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20 Facts About the Collapse of Europe That Everyone Should Know
The economic implosion of Europe is accelerating. Even while the mainstream media continues to proclaim that the financial crisis in Europe has been “averted”, the economic statistics that are coming out of Europe just continue to get worse. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/by-the-numbers-20-facts-about-the-collapse-of-europe-that-everyone-should-know
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Revolution vs. ‘Turboparalysis’ — The Real New Normal
Why has a global calamity produced so little political change and, at the same time, so little rethinking? Part of the answer, I think, has to do with the collapse of the two-way transmission belt that linked the public to the political elite. But there is a deeper, structural reason for the persistence of turboparalysis. And that has to do with the power and wealth that incumbent elites accumulated during the decades of the global bubble economy. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-07/revolution-vs-turboparalysis-real-new-normal
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Economy to Swan Dive in 2013
Hold your breath, the race to the bottom is ready to escalate. The consequence of the corporate consumerism economy has reached the tipping point. The old rules that mainstream spending will dig the way back to prosperity are permanently dead. The one sure implication that is indisputable is that taxes are set to rise at unprecedented levels. With Obamacare revenue obligations coming into effect, the latest phase of centralized medical socialism spreads like a virus. Under such circumstances, how can the patient regain his health? http://www.batr.org/negotium/010213.html
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The Coming Isolation of the U.S. Dollar
The typical human reaction to any infection, vermin, danger, or toxicity is to stand back, to isolate the agent, to trap it, to prevent its further spread or release, then to remove it in a safe secure way if possible using trained professionals. Eventually decisions must be made on the level of acceptable risk on the removal, like what is willing to be lost or damaged or killed in the process. Risk analysis, cost trade-offs, and minimization decisions must be evaluated and executed. The toxic agent in global trade, global banking, and global bond market is the U.S. dollar. http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-the-coming-isolation-of-usdollar/
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The Structural Endgame of the Fiscal Cliff
To understand this endgame, we need to start with the financial and political basics of wealth and power in the U.S. Put these nine structural dynamics together and the endgame becomes clearly visible: Politically, a Tyranny of the Majority comprised of those who draw direct transfers/benefits from the Federal government, is ruled by the top half-of-1% financial aristocracy who own the majority of income-generating assets. The minority, who pay most of the taxes (the 24.5% between the majority and aristocracy), will see their taxes rise as the aristocracy buys loopholes and exclusions while the bottom 50% pay no income tax. Financially, the Federal government’s spending has outrun the tax revenues being collected. Structurally, Federal expenditures for entitlements (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans Administration, etc.) will rise as Baby Boomers retire en masse over the next 15 years, while tax revenues will stagnate along with earned income. There is no way to square these circles. What few dare admit, much less state publicly, is that the Constitutional limits on the financial Aristocracy and the Tyranny of the Majority have failed. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-26/guest-post-structural-endgame-fiscal-cliff
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$100 Bill Becomes the New $1 Bill
The amount of $100 bills being printed is to set to spike 100%. In the fiscal year ending in October 2012, the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing printed up 3 billion $100 notes, a record amount of production. A bit of the demand comes from sources like drug dealers, arm smugglers, tax cheaters and bribes. Still other demand is due to the fact that increasing amounts of US citizens are losing faith in government and/or the economy and are shunning traditional investment strategies. The lack of trust has resulted in a spike in gold bullion and precious demand, but, also, for $100 bills. http://silvervigilante.com/100-bill-becomes-the-new-1-bill/
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75 Economic Numbers From 2012 That Are Almost Too Crazy to Believe
The mainstream media continues to tell us what a “great job” the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are doing of managing the economy, but meanwhile things just continue to get even worse for the poor and the middle class. It is imperative that we educate the American people about the true condition of our economy and about why all of this is happening. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/75-economic-numbers-from-2012-that-are-almost-too-crazy-to-believe
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The Fiscal Cliff is a Diversion: The Derivatives Tsunami and the Dollar Bubble
The “fiscal cliff” is another hoax designed to shift the attention of policymakers, the media, and the attentive public, if any, from huge problems to small ones. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/12/17/the-fiscal-cliff-is-a-diversion-the-derivatives-tsunami-and-the-dollar-bubble/
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An Economic Fairy Tale
Once upon a time there lived an independent and industrious people in a land called Ameristan deep in the realm of Middle Income. Their kingdom was unlike any other recorded in the ancient histories, primarily because they had no “king”. Instead, the Ameristanians had decided long ago that kings were much more trouble than they were worth, and, using cost/benefit ratio analysis, came to the conclusion that it was better to hang such ambitious power mongers by their necks and govern themselves instead. Unfortunately, many generations had passed, and the revolutionary fire of Ameristan had grown tired and dormant. Eventually, many of the people began to forget where they had come from. One man, a humble farmer and proud father by the name of Finn, had not forgotten. He had noticed well the fact that the citizenry had grown complacent and dependent upon the welfare of the Council Of Elders, who were once honorable and installed by the vote of the people, but whose actions now seemed indifferent or even hostile. Being a private merchant, he took careful note of the extreme decline in the country’s production capabilities, which had been outsourced to less freedom loving nations of goblins and imps in the West who, dominated by their masters, were willing to work for almost nothing if only to be given a reprieve from being savagely beaten with bamboo sticks. He noticed that most of the craftsmen were disappearing, replaced by grinning lycanthropic salesmen and simpering mole people who clung to any terrible brand of remedial employment they could find, no matter how demeaning or low paying. Ameristan had become a land of Unicorn-burger flippers, Swamp Banshee back washers, Dwarf tossers, Jabberwocky jugglers, Bugbear shavers, etc. They were like the peasants of the old days; beggars, thieves, and slaves. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-14/guest-post-economic-fairy-tale
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15 Signs That the Economy is Rapidly Getting Worse Heading Into 2013
How can the corporate media claim that the U.S. economy is “improving” when it is painfully obvious to anyone with a brain that the middle class is being absolutely eviscerated? http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/15-signs-that-the-economy-is-rapidly-getting-worse-as-we-head-into-2013
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Our Collapsing Economy and Currency
Is the “fiscal cliff” real or just another hoax? The answer is that the fiscal cliff is real, but it is a result, not a cause. The hoax is the way the fiscal cliff is being used. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/12/01/our-collapsing-economy-and-currency/
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Paul Krugman’s Dangerous Misconceptions
In a recent article at The New York Times entitled ‘Incredible Credibility’, Paul Krugman once again takes aim at those who believe it may not be a good idea to let the government’s debt rise without limit. In order to understand the backdrop to this, Krugman is a Keynesian who thinks that recessions should be fought by increasing the government deficit spending and printing gobs of money. Moreover, he is a past master at presenting whatever evidence appears to support his case, while ignoring or disparaging evidence that seems to contradict his beliefs. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-29/guest-post-paul-krugmans-dangerous-misconceptions
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Is This Recovery ‘Self-Sustaining’ or Merely a Mind Trick?
Those looking at fundamentals such as household income/debt and sales see more of a Mind Trick being played on the weak-minded. If you can convince me the economy is expanding and inflation is rising, I will be more likely to risk borrowing and spending more than I can afford. The “real” economy might be sputtering, but my belief in the “recovery” will support my confidence in the wisdom of leveraging more of my (shrinking) income into debt-based consumption. This debt-based consumption (according to the Keynesian Cargo Cult) will spark so much “growth” that the expansion will become self-sustaining. Corporations will see the rise in sales and become confident enough to make capital investments and hire more workers, who will then spend their paychecks consuming more stuff, and so on. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-27/guest-post-recovery-self-sustaining-or-merely-mind-trick
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Who’s Afraid of the Fiscal Cliff?
What should Speaker John Boehner do? Tell the president politely that America’s problem is not that we are taxed too little but that we spend too much – and the GOP will not sign on either to tax rate or tax revenue increases. For Republicans believe that would further injure the economy – especially an economy limping along at between 1 and 2 percent growth. http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/whos-afraid-of-the-fiscal-cliff/
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Fallacies Such as MMT Are ‘Leading the Sheep to Slaughter’ and ‘We Believe War is Inevitable’
Trillions of dollars of debts will be restructured and millions of financially prudent savers will lose large percentages of their real purchasing power at exactly the wrong time in their lives. Again, the world will not end, but the social fabric of the profligate nations will be stretched and in some cases torn. Sadly, looking back through economic history, all too often war is the manifestation of simple economic entropy played to its logical conclusion. We believe that war is an inevitable consequence of the current global economic situation. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-17/kyle-bass-falacies-such-mmt-are-leading-sheep-slaughter-and-we-believe-war-inevitabl
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The FHA is Blowing Up: Bad News for the Housing Market
The FHA is already in trouble despite a miraculous “housing recovery” and we haven’t even hit a severe cyclical economic slowdown yet, which is almost certain to occur in 2013. What shambles do you think the housing market will be in once that happens and the last backstop to housing is broke? You can kiss this “housing recovery” goodbye. I think home prices nationally could fall 25%+ from here. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-15/guest-post-fha-blowing-bad-news-housing-market
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50,000 Zombie Firms to Fail if Rates Rise
There are almost 150,000 zombie firms in the UK – businesses that are fundamentally broken, and only still alive because ultra-low interest rates are holding down their debt repayments. But while some firms may be able to restructure their debts and business processes to thrive in the long run, up to 50,000 are deemed “beyond hope” by the IfT, as they can barely pay interest on their debts, let alone repay the capital. http://www.cityam.com/latest-news/50000-zombie-firms-fail-if-rates-rise#.UKIUBjml_nA.twitter
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Stocks Tumble as Congressman Predicts Economic Riots in America
According to Rep. John Fleming, we won’t be getting out of the woods anytime soon, especially with Obama at the helm. “It looks like we’re going to have to go through the same or similar pain [as Greece] to get real reforms,” the Louisiana Republican told the Daily Caller on Sunday. He said that if the current economic trend is not reversed, “what’s going to happen is there’s going to be a day of reckoning that gets into a serious situation where we have to make tough choices.” http://www.infowars.com/stocks-tumble-as-congressman-predicts-economic-riots-in-america/
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The Financial Super-Storm of 2013
The destructive whirlwind that hits New York in 2013 will be a financial Frankenstorm. Four years of glorious central-planning “extend and pretend” have enriched the political and financial Aristocracies, and imbued them with a bubble-era hubris that they have indeed gotten away with murder: the $6 trillion the Federal government borrowed over the past four years, the Fed’s $2 trillion in fresh cash, the Fed’s $16 trillion bailout of the banking sector and various perception management manipulations have righted the storm-tossed ship. All those with power in 2008 remain in power and all those with outsized wealth in 2008 still hold their outsized wealth. The global tsunami of borrowed and printed money lifted the water-logged dinghies of the debt-serfs enough to give them hope of better times; meanwhile, their adjusted income has declined 8%: they are poorer while the neofeudal Aristocracy is much wealthier: same as it ever was, right? Except the financial tides and winds have shifted, and the linearity of central planning is about to be disrupted by nonlinear, positive-feedback storms. Let’s list a few of the major storms brewing. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-31/guest-post-financial-super-storm-2013
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The Virtual Recovery
Real median household income at the end of 2011 is back where it was in 1967-68. Moreover, Williams has deflated household income to get its real value by using the official inflation measure, which substantially understates inflation. If Williams had used the 1990 or 1980 official government methodology for calculating the consumer price index, the real median incomes of households would show a larger decline. Moreover, the low 2011 real median household income is the summation, in most cases, of two household earners, whereas in 1967-68 one earner could produce the same real income. As Nobel economist Gary Becker, my former colleague as Business Week columnist, pointed out, when both husband and wife have to work in order to maintain the same purchasing power, household income from the wife’s in-kind household services is eliminated. Therefore, the monetary measure of the dual household income overstates income, because it is not adjusted for the lost benefits formerly provided by the wife who at home managed the household. Americans are far more oppressed by the power brokers in Washington than statistics display. Moreover, the young are born into the oppressive, exploitative American system and do not know any different. They are fed by the Presstitute media with endless propaganda about how fortunate they are and how indispensable their wonderful country is. Americans are kept in a constant state of amusement, and many never grasp the loss of their civil liberties, job and career opportunities. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/10/29/the-virtual-recovery/
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Is Housing About to Tank?
Same old, same old, right? Prices up, sales down. Of course, Ben Bernanke thinks he can turn things around by lowering rates, flooding the system with liquidity, and reflating property values to the point where people start spending like crazy again. But that hasn’t happened yet, has it, mainly because Bernanke’s crackpot QEternity has turned out to be a big, fat bust. Did you know that in the six weeks since Ben Bernanke launched QE3, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has dropped just 10 lousy basis points, which is virtually no difference at all. At the same time, the S&P 500 has slipped 2 percent, while mortgage applications have gone into a deep swan dive. In other words, Bernanke’s “accommodative policy” has had no meaningful effect on housing at all. The market is still mired in a depression with just modest improvements in new homes sales. And even that’s looking a bit sketchy. http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/26/is-housing-about-to-tank/
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37 Facts About How Cruel This Economy Has Been to Millions of Desperate American Families
Over the past decade, things have steadily gotten worse for American families no matter what politicians have tried. Poverty and government dependence continue to rise. The cost of living continues to go up and incomes continue to go down. It is truly frightening to think about what this country is going to look like if current trends continue. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/37-facts-that-show-how-cruel-this-economy-has-been-to-millions-of-desperate-american-families
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Obama And Romney Both Favor a One World Economic System That Kills American Jobs
Either way this election turns out, American jobs are going to continue to get slaughtered by the millions. During this campaign, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have both attempted to portray each other as the “outsourcer in chief”. Unfortunately, they are both right. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have both participated in the outsourcing of American jobs, and both are openly admitting to the American people that they favor the emerging one world economic system which will continue to destroy millions of American jobs. In fact, they argue with each other about which of them will be more aggressive in pursuing more “free trade” agreements over the next four years. Unfortunately, the “free trade” agreements that the U.S. government enters into are never “fair trade” agreements. As a result, over the past decade we have lost tens of thousands of businesses, millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of national wealth. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/obama-and-romney-both-favor-a-one-world-economic-system-that-kills-american-jobs
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This is the Housing Bubble Beneath the ‘Recovery’
We want to ‘believe’, we really do; but anyone with any sense (and no skin in the game) can see through the data; the eon-like periods of foreclosure and the drastically reduced supply. No matter how ‘bullish’ homebuilders are, or how much they dream of a future pickup, calling the recovery (as Bob Shiller recently noted) is just a fool’s errand. The truth is, for the average citizen, housing is not recovering – and the wealth effect is not creating animal spirits – and we do indeed have more to fear than fear itself. The following 79 second clip from Bloomberg TV should perhaps clarify the ‘difference’ in demand for housing. Primary residence ‘buyers’ are down remarkably, while ‘investors’ are up dramatically – now at pre-crisis bubble levels! Perhaps, as we noted here, Och-Ziff’s stepping away from the ‘flip-that-house’ or ‘REO-to-Rental’ game is as good an indicator of exuberance as any. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-19/housing-bubble-beneath-recovery
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Derivative Meltdown and Dollar Collapse
Nation states held hostage to financial manipulation are slaves to the central banks. With the demise of the Dollar, the fake debt obligations of the United States must be repudiated. Foreign states are prepared to sever their links to the Dollar reserve currency, by trading directly in the domestic currencies of other countries. Interacting commerce in Dollars with American companies will continue, but the yoke of Federal Reserve Notes legal tender will be rejected when the derivative meltdown explodes. http://www.batr.org/negotium/101712.html
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Let’s Talk About Facts, Not Fear
It’s not just debt burdens that are problematic. ‘Rich’ countries in the West are also rapidly debasing their currencies, spawning tomes of regulatory impediments, restricting the freedoms of their citizens, aggressively expanding the powers of the state, and engaging in absurd military folly from Libya to the South China Sea. Once again, this is not the first time history has seen such conditions. In our own lifetimes, we’ve seen the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the tragi-comical hyperinflation in Zimbabwe, and the unraveling of Argentina’s millennial crisis. Plus we can study what happened when empires from the past collapsed. The conditions are nearly identical. Is our civilization so different that we are immune to the consequences? http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-15/guest-post-lets-talk-about-facts-not-fear
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Preparing for the Collapse
They say the best defense is a good offense, but sometimes it’s the exact opposite. If you have a good defense, you don’t need to worry about what offense the other team has. Such is the case with the coming financial collapse. http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/Preparing_for_the_Collapse
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Warnings That a Massive Stock Market Crash May Be Imminent
In the financial world, the month of October is synonymous with stock market crashes. So will a massive stock market crash happen this year? You never know. The truth is that our financial system is even more vulnerable than it was back in 2008, and financial experts such as Doug Short, Peter Schiff, Robert Wiedemer and Harry Dent are all warning that the next crash is rapidly approaching. We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world and Wall Street has been transformed into a giant casino that is based on a massive web of debt, risk and leverage. When that web breaks we are going to see a stock market crash that is going to make 2008 look like a Sunday picnic. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/warnings-that-a-massive-stock-market-crash-is-imminent
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Coming To A Gas Station Near You?
This is neither from the near (or distant) future, nor from a movie starring Will Smith in which he fights vampire zombies (at least not yet). It’s from the here and now, Calabasas, CA to be precise. And it may be coming to a gas pump near you in the immediate future. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-05/coming-gas-station-near-you
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Another Phony Employment Report
Turning to the 114,000 new jobs, once again the jobs are concentrated in lowly paid domestic service jobs that cannot be exported. Manufacturing jobs declined by 16,000. As has been the case for a decade, two categories–health care and social assistance (primarily ambulatory health care services) and waitresses and bartenders account for 53% of the new jobs. The BLS never ceases to find ever growing employment of people in restaurants and bars despite the rising dependence of the US population on food stamps. The elderly are rising as a percentage of the American population, but I sometimes wonder if employment in ambulatory health care services is rising faster than the elderly population. Whether these reported jobs are real, I do not know. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/10/05/another-phony-employment-report/
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Economy 101
I have been warning anyone who will listen that our worldwide economic system based on the Fabian-Keynesian economic system would collapse in 2013-14. Most have ignored my warnings much to their own peril. The situation has in the last two months deteriorated considerably and thus I am again warning you to guard your assets, because they are now in greatest peril. I will make this short and to the point. The outcome of this election has little bearing on the situation because the inherent congressional and executive financial overreach places such dramatic financial pressure on the economy that it cannot survive the oncoming debacle. By February of 2013 America will have to provide an additional trillion dollars to meet the already established Obama expenditures. No running candidate if elected can do anything to prevent that. http://www.a2zpublications.com/blog/46/Economy-101
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Here Comes a New Wave of Market Manipulation
Bernanke is attempting to manipulate asset prices by trying to force capital into certain asset classes such as equities and housing to re-inflate both of these bubbles. Bernanke does NOT want people to save, and he does not want American’s to own precious metals, as evidenced by his response to Ron Paul last year in which he claimed gold is no longer money, even though the Central Banks are hoarding gold and silver in an environment where they are printing epic amounts of fiat currency. http://www.silverdoctors.com/here-comes-a-new-wave-of-market-manipulation/
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14 Signs That the World Economy is Getting Weaker
Anyone that believes that the United States (or any other major nation for that matter) is going to escape the next wave of the economic crisis is simply not being realistic. Why do you think central banks all over the world are in “panic mode” right now? They are firing all of their ammunition and printing money like there is no tomorrow in an attempt to keep the system together. Unfortunately, it is not going to work. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/14-signs-that-the-world-economy-is-getting-weaker
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Death Knells for the U.S. Dollar
The bankers are determined to ruin the entire system in order to retain power, all while dispensing increasingly nonsensical dogma like from heretical high priests about the effectiveness of their solutions. Theirs is heresy built upon alchemy laced with arrogance, with no precedent of success in past history. http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-death-knells-for-the-usdollar/
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QE4? The Big Wall Street Banks Are Already Complaining That QE3 is Not Enough
QE3 has barely even started and some folks on Wall Street are already clamoring for QE4. In fact, as you will read below, one equity strategist at Morgan Stanley says that he would not be “surprised” if the Federal Reserve announced another new round of money printing by the end of the year. But this is what tends to happen when a financial system starts becoming addicted to easy money. There is always a deep hunger for another “hit” of “currency meth”. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was probably hoping that QE3 would satisfy the wolves on Wall Street for a while. But at this point the Federal Reserve has already “jumped the shark”. If you don’t know what “jumping the shark” means, you can find a definition on Wikipedia right here. Whatever shreds of credibility the Fed had left are being washed away by a flood of newly printed money. Those running the Fed have essentially used up all of their bullets and the next great financial crisis has not even fully erupted yet. So what is the Fed going to do if the stock market crashes and the credit market freezes up like we saw back in 2008? How much more extreme can the Fed go? http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/qe4-the-big-wall-street-banks-are-already-complaining-that-qe3-is-not-enough
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Americans Are Literally Being Worked to Death
Are you constantly tired and do you feel incredibly stressed almost all the time? Well, that means that there is a really good chance that you are a typical American worker. Even though our incomes are going down, Americans are spending more time at work than ever before. In fact, U.S. workers spend more time at work than anyone else in the world. But it was not always this way. Back in 1970, the average work week for an American worker was about 35 hours. Today, it is up to 46 hours. But there are other major economies around the globe that are doing just fine without burning their workers out. For example, the average American worker spends 378 more hours working per year than the average German worker does. Sadly, for many Americans work is not even finished once they leave the office. According to one recent survey, the average American worker spends an extra seven hours per week on work tasks such as checking emails and answering phone calls after normal work hours have finished. Other Americans are juggling two or three jobs in a desperate attempt to make ends meet. Americans are busier than ever and work is often pushing the other areas of our lives on to the back burner. What this also means is that “family vacations” are becoming increasingly rare in the United States. In fact, Americans spend less days on vacation than anyone else in the industrialized world. While some would applaud our “work ethic”, the truth is that the fact that we are being overworked is having some very serious consequences. In fact, as you will see below, Americans are literally being worked to death. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/americans-are-literally-being-worked-to-death
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Are You Seeing What I’m Seeing?
Any critical thinking person should realize the Federal Government has been systematically under-reporting inflation since the early 1980’s in an effort to obscure the fact they are debasing the currency and methodically destroying the lives of middle class Americans. If inflation was calculated exactly as it was in 1980, the GDP figures would be substantially lower and inflation would be reported 5% higher than it is today. Faking the numbers does not change reality, only the perception of reality. Calculating real median household income with the true level of inflation exposes the true picture for middle class America. Real median household income is lower than it was in 1970, just prior to Nixon closing the gold window and unleashing the full fury of a Federal Reserve able to print fiat currency and politicians to promise the earth, moon and the sun to voters. With incomes not rising over the last four decades is it any wonder many of our 115 million households slowly rot and decay from within like an old diseased oak tree. The slightest gust of wind can lead to disaster. http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=40366
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The Trouble With Printing Money
In order to believe that the Fed or any other central bank can get us back to ‘normal,’ you have to believe that it is normal for borrowing to exceed income and (here’s the kicker) that it can do so forever. Many people cling to the thin hope that somehow the Fed and its related entities across the globe can get us safely back on the yellow line in the above chart, angling forever upwards at 45 degrees. Well, if it’s not possible for you, personally, to forever borrow more than you earn without someday getting into financial difficulty, it is not possible for two or ten or 310 million of you to do so. The math does not change simply because a nation is involved instead of an individual. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-trouble-printing-money
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10 Shocking Quotes About What QE3 is Going to do to America
Ready or not, QE3 is here, and the long-term effects of this reckless money printing by the Federal Reserve are going to be absolutely nightmarish. The Federal Reserve is hoping that buying $40 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities per month will spur more lending and more economic activity. But that didn’t happen with either QE1 or QE2. http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/10-shocking-quotes-about-what-qe3-is-going-to-do-to-america
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Bernanke Advocates Blowing Asset Bubbles as the Antidote to Depression
If there was one absolutely must see moment exposing everything that is broken with the Fed’s brand new policy of QE-nfinity, it was this exchange between Reuters’ Pedro da Costa and the Chairman. It explains, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the only goal the Fed now has is to reflate the stock market bubble to previously unseen levels, to focus on generating jobs although not for everyone but only for Wall Street, consequences be damned, because by the time the consequences arrive, and they will (just recall that subprime is contained) they will be some other Fed chairman’s problem. Bernake’s term mercifully runs out in January 2014. http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/09/14/bernanke-advocates-blowing-asset-bubbles-antidote-depression-184361/
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The Revolution From Above
Today the Western peoples are experiencing the destruction of their well being that is comparable to what the one percent in Rome imposed on Roman citizens and conquered peoples. Here is how John Williams phrases the wipeout of Americans’ hopes: “Consumers simply cannot make ends meet. Inflation-adjusted, or real, median household income declined for the fourth-straight year, plunging to its lowest level since 1995. Deflated by the CPI-U, the 2011 reading actually stood below levels seen in the late-1960s and early-1970s.” “At the same time, despite the ongoing nature of the economic and systemic-solvency crises, and the effects of the 2008 financial panic, income dispersion—the movement of income away from the middle towards both high- and low-level extremes—has hit a record high, instead of moderating, as might be expected during periods of financial distress. Extremes in income dispersion usually foreshadow financial-market and economic calamities. With the current circumstance at a record extreme, and well above levels estimated to have prevailed before the 1929 stock-market crash and the Great Depression, increasingly difficult times are likely for the next several years.” http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/13/the-revolution-from-above-paul-craig-roberts/
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The Pauperization of America
There is a new phenomenon: a ballooning lower class. It now engulfs 32% of all adults. In America! Where lower class is the unmentionable class, the class that doesn’t exist, just like the upper class doesn’t exist, but for different reasons. http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2012/9/11/the-pauperization-of-america.html
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The Student Loan Debt Bubble is Creating Millions of Modern Day Serfs
Student loan debt has become a trillion dollar bubble which has shattered the financial lives of tens of millions of young college graduates. When you are just starting out and you are not making a lot of money, having to make payments on tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt can be absolutely crippling. The total amount of student loan debt in the United States has now surpassed the total amount of credit card debt, and student loan debt is much harder to get rid of. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-student-loan-debt-bubble-is-creating-millions-of-modern-day-serfs
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The Federal Reserve’s Cargo Cult Magic: Housing Will Lift the Economy (Again)
I have often identified Keynesian economists and the Federal Reserve as cargo cults. After the U.S. won World War II in the Pacific Theater, its forces left huge stockpiles of goods behind on remote South Pacific islands because it wasn’t worth taking it all back to America. After the Americans left, some islanders, nostalgic for the seemingly endless fleet of ships loaded with technological goodies, started Cargo Cults that believed magical rituals and incantations would bring the ships of “free” wealth back. Some mimicked technology by painting radio dials on rocks and using the phantom radio to “call back” the “free wealth” ships. The Keynesians are like deluded members of a Cargo Cult. They ignore the reality of debt, rising interest payments and the resulting debt-serfdom in their belief that money spent indiscriminately on friction, fraud, speculation and malinvestment will magically call back the fleet of rapid growth. To the Keynesian, a Bridge to Nowhere is equally worthy of borrowed money as a high-tech factory. They are unable to distinguish between sterile sand and fertilizer, and unable to grasp the fact that ever-rising debt leaves America a nation of wealthy banks and increasingly impoverished debt-serfs. The Keynsian Cargo Cult relies on an essentially magical belief that government give-aways will raise “aggregate demand,” the “animal spirits” demand for more of everything, which will magically increase productivity, wealth, etc. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-federal-reserves-cargo-cult-magic-housing-will-lift-economy-again
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Spinning Bad Financial News Into Good
by Paul Craig Roberts. The “powerful American economy” is an economy that cannot produce its own clothes and shoes, or the manufactured products, including high technology products, that it consumes, or its own energy, all of which it imports by issuing more debt. The “great hegemonic American economy” is on the verge of total collapse, because the only way it can pay for the imports that sustain it is by issuing more debt and printing more money. Once the debt and money creation undermine the dollar as world reserve currency, the US will become overnight a third world country, much to the relief of the rest of the world. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/08/spinning-bad-financial-news-into-good-paul-craig-roberts/
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Junkie Recovery
As I see it, the West’s economic depression is being directly caused by an excessive total debt burden — just as Japan’s has been for twenty years; the bust occurred on the back of a huge outgrowth of debt and coincided with the beginning of a painful new era of deleveraging. And the central bank response has been to preserve the debt burden, thus perpetuating the problems rather than allowing them to clear in a short burst of deflationary liquidation as was the norm in the 18th and 19th centuries. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-junkie-recovery
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Now That the Easy Stuff Has Failed, All That’s Left is the Hard Stuff
Toady politicos and their apparatchiks are squirming and twisting, trying not to visibly break impossible promises while continuing to divert billions to their their donors and insider pals. The problem is that this approach will bankrupt the nation and spark an overthrow of the Status Quo. The system has been pushed to extremes: the expectations are impossibly high, the promises are impossibly generous and the sums of money demanded by the vested interests “just to stay afloat” are stratospheric. The “run to fail” levers have all been pushed to the maximum, and it is simply too politically painful to make any real-world adjustments that might save the system from imploding. Nobody wants a crisis, yet a crisis is the only thing that can save the system from implosion. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-now-easy-stuff-has-failed-all-thats-left-hard-stuff
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The Permanent Unemployment Economy
The official underreporting of the unemployment statistics is a well-known fact. The cavalier dismissal of the systemic dismantling of the market economy by the Obama administration is undeniable. Notwithstanding, the lack of living wage jobs is not simply a partisan issue. Ever since the adoption of the globalist free trade betrayal, the national suicide of the free enterprise economy has continued. Transiting skilled employees into government dependents is an overt component of the “New Age” of reduced wealth and servitude for the ordinary American. http://www.batr.org/negotium/090512.html
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The $3,200,000,000,000 Question: Why Housing Has Much More to Drop Before It Bottoms
It is no secret that having failed repeatedly at the trickle down aspect of QE1, QE2, Op Twist 1, Op Twist 2 (and implicitly LTRO 1 and LTRO 2) as it pertains to the man in the street (if not the man in Wall Street, who was subject to 1-2 years of subpar bonuses which have since regained their upward trendline), the last effort the central planners of the world, and the administration, have is to furiously do everything in their power to reflate housing one more time, following what is already a triple dip in home prices ever since the December 2007 start of the Second Great Depression. Which is why month after month we get seasonally fudged, conflicted and outright manipulated data from various sources how housing has bottomed, for real this time, and things are finally looking up. Remember: with any con game, the key word is confidence, and the U.S. consumers need to regain their confidence. Sadly, as the following very simple chart and accompanying explanation, the answer to the housing question is only one: there will be no housing recovery until much more debt is eliminated. $3.2 trillion to be precise. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/3200000000000-question-why-housing-has-much-more-drop-it-bottoms
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Morgan Stanley Faces Imminent Failure and Ruin
Begin with a preface to any meaningful that could change the entire US landscape, a redux of what happened four years ago. Consider the next Wall Street financial firm failure. It is in progress. It is not avoidable. It will have numerous ramifications. It will open the door to account thefts, the burial of documents, the ransack of undesired leveraged positions, the concealment of wrecked derivatives, and a path toward the merger of surviving (selected core) firms. http://www.silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-morgan-stanley-faces-imminent-failure-ruin-may-see-1st-private-stock-account-thefts/#more-12746
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More Than Half of All Americans Are at Least Partially Dependent On the Government
Once upon a time, the free market was the one that distributed nearly all the wealth in our system. But now the federal government has become a giant deluded “Santa Claus” that distributes goodies to the American people far beyond its actual capacity to do so. In fact, we are borrowing trillions of dollars that we do not have so that our politicians can continue to buy votes with handouts. Look, we will always need a safety net. We don’t want anyone in America starving to death or sleeping in the street. However, our current system has gotten completely and totally out of control. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/more-than-half-of-all-americans-are-at-least-partially-dependent-on-the-government
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Get a Job If You’re Lucky, But You Might Be Looking for Another One Soon
Sharing the hopes and disappointments of trying to find work through a “Job Club.” http://www.alternet.org/economy/get-job-if-youre-lucky-you-might-be-looking-another-one-soon
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Shhhh — It’s Even Worse Than the Great Depression
No matter what color Kool-aid you prefer, a Harvard Law School graduate who wipes his ass with the constitution will occupy the White House until 2016. Any flavor difference you think you detect is artificial. Neither party has any intention of balancing the budget or stopping the generational rape of America. They exist only to give you the illusion of choice. http://lewrockwell.com/orig13/mchugh1.1.1.html
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Payday Lenders Use Courts to Create Modern Debtors’ Prison
The Bill of Rights in the Missouri constitution declares that “no person shall be imprisoned for debt, except for nonpayment of fines and penalties imposed by law.” Still, people do go to jail over private debt. It’s a regular occurrence in metro St. Louis, on both sides of the Mississippi River. http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/payday-lenders-use-courts-to-create-modern-debtor-s-prison/article_f56ca6aa-e880-11e1-b154-0019bb30f31a.html
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The Global Demise of Pension Plans
We have been saying for a long time that anyone in the western world who’s 10-15 years away from collecting their first pension payments, shouldn’t expect to get much, if anything, when the time comes. This is because, obviously, the economy has deteriorated as much as it has. It’s also because, in essence, pensions plans are the ultimate Ponzi schemes. http://theautomaticearth.com/Finance/the-global-demise-of-pension-plans.html
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Spot the Housing Bottom: New Homes For Sale Drop to Lowest Ever
Looking at the headline number in the just released New Home Sales data one would be left with the impression that the tepid “recovery” in housing may be chugging along: after all with a seasonally adjusted annualized 372,000 new homes sold in July, this was an improvement to the revised 359K in June (ignoring that the US housing market at best continues to drag along the bottom). This impression, however, promptly changes when one looks at the underlying data. The reality: the actual number of new homes sold in July was 34,000, the same as in June, and the lowest since March. Of this, a massive 3,000 (yes, three thousand) homes were sold in the Northeast in the entire month. Where things get worse is when one looks at the number of new homes for sale. At 142,000 (of which just 38,000 actually completed), this was the lowest number. EVER. And finally, to ruin all hopes that the housing bottom may mean an actual pricing bottom, the median new home price slid to $224,200, down from $229,100 in June, and the lowest since January, while the average home price declined from $266,900 to $263,200. This was the lowest average price posted so far in 2012. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/spot-housing-bottom-new-homes-sale-drop-lowest-ever-average-new-home-price-plunges-2012-lows
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The Hollowing Out of America, Up Close and Personal
Today, a rarity at this site, a book excerpt — from Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, a new work by Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges and American Book Award-winning graphic artist Joe Sacco, a cartoonist I much admire. The book itself is a unique all-American road trip, part riveting text by Hedges, part comics by Sacco. It takes the reader through the most extreme “sacrifice zones” in a country that is slowly hollowing itself out. In this excerpt, the two road warriors have made it to an area of West Virginia where coal mines, dangerous as they were, once supported town life, but more recently have either mechanized or closed down. This particular community, Gary, West Virginia, writes Hedges, has “fallen into terminal decay. There are today 861 people in Gary. There were 98,887 in McDowell County in 1950. Today there are fewer than 23,000. The countywide per capita average income is $12,585. The median home value is $30,500. Gary’s rutted streets are lined by empty clapboard houses with sagging roofs.” http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175585/tomgram%3A_hedges_and_sacco%2C_a_twenty-first_century_american_sacrifice_zone/
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When the Weakest Critical Part Fails, the Machine Breaks Down
When financialization fails, the consumerist economy dies. This is what is happening in Greece, and is starting to happen in Spain and Italy. The central banks and Central States are attempting resuscitation by issuing credit that is freed from the constraints of collateral. The basic idea here is that if credit based on collateral has failed, then let’s replace it with credit backed by phantom assets, i.e. illusory collateral. In essence, the financialization system has shifted to the realm of fantasy, where we (taxpayers, people who took out student loans, homeowners continuing to make payments on underwater mortgages, etc.) are paying very real interest on illusory debt backed by nothing. Once this flimsy con unravels, the credibility of all institutions that participated in the con will be irrevocably destroyed. This includes the European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve, the E.U., “too big to fail” banks, and so on down the financialization line of dominoes. Once credit ceases to expand, asset bubbles pop and consumerism grinds to a halt. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-when-weakest-critical-part-fails-machine-breaks-down
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Understanding Economics
Why do the cognitively challenged say that Obama is a socialist? The man is an arch-conservative. (I’m not sure what arches have to do with it, but never mind.) He bailed out Wall Street, the beating heart of predatory capitalism, and then carefully didn’t prosecute those who masterminded the sub-prime scan. Socialists hate Wall Street. Obama breast-feeds it. And he sends the military to bomb every country he has heard of, which is very conservative. He is ideally qualified to be president of Guatemala. http://www.fredoneverything.net/UnderstandingEconomics.shtml
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The middle class American worker is in danger of becoming an endangered species. The politicians are not telling you the truth, and the mainstream media is certainly not telling you the truth, but the reality is that there is nothing but bad news on the horizon for workers in the United States. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/10-amazing-charts-that-demonstrate-the-slow-agonizing-death-of-the-american-worker
