41 IMF Bailouts And Counting – How Long Before The Entire System Collapses?

Michael Snyder

Broke nations are bailing out other broke nations with borrowed money.  Round and round we go - where we stop nobody knows. As of April, 41 different countries had active financial "arrangements" with the IMF.  Sometimes they are called "bailouts" and sometimes they are called other things, but in every single case they involve loans.  And most of the time, these loans come with very stringent conditions.  It is a form of "global governance" that most people don't even know about.  For decades, the IMF has been able to use money as a way to force developing nations to do what it wants them to do.

But up until fairly recently, this had mostly only been done with poor nations.  But now an increasing number of wealthy nations are turning to the IMF for help. We have already seen Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Cyprus receive bailouts which were partly funded by the IMF, Spain has received a bailout for its banking sector, and as I noted yesterday, it is being projected that Italy will need a major bailout within six months.  How long can this go on before the entire system collapses?

Well, that would depend on how much money the lender has.

We Need More Drones!

Actually We Don’t

• We don’t need more DRONES!
• We don’t need the PATRIOT ACT!
• We don’t need the NDAA!
• We don’t need more WARS!
• We don’t need more BANKER BAILOUTS!
• We don’t need to be TOLD what to EAT, DRINK, or THINK!

ALL this is happening today using your tax dollars and it will get worse unless we peacefully and positively come together to reform our electoral process NOW.

Free & Equal’s 2012 Presidential debates (remember the real debate moderated by Larry King) rocked the political establishment and we want to do it again in June with the United We Stand Festival!

The United We Stand Festival in Little Rock Arkansas this summer will bring together honest people just like you who have had enough.

Our line-up is building daily.

Honest speakers and musicians expected to confirm:

• Jesse Ventura on running for office and how he became governor.
• G Edward Griffin on the Federal Reserve.
• Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK on Drones.

Not to mention “A’ list musical talent like “Golden State Band”, “Jordan Page”, ”Lupe Fiasco”, “Ziggy Marley”, “David Grohl”, and more!  

With a successful United We Stand Festival we will be able to move forward immediately on projects such as:

• Free & Equal National Database
• Free & Equal Honest Network
• Free & Equal Nationwide State Leadership Caucuses
• Free & Equal 10-City University Bus Tour

If you agree with what we are doing and want more FREEDOM and a brighter future for our country, then help us start NOW.

CONTRIBUTE, Volunteer, or Share on Facebook, tweet on Twitter! 

We must raise $15,000 by Monday March 25th to reserve the Verizon Arena.  As of now we are ALMOST there!  BUT LET’S DOUBLE OUR GOAL!
Even if it’s $1.00, $5.00, or $10.00.  ANY AMOUNT will make a HUGE difference.   

Thank you for your support and to all who have donated so far.  All donations are tax deductible.  

The time is now to turn up the volume of the revolution peacefully and positively so our youth and everyone else can become Free & Equal always and forever with the United We Stand Festival.

If you donate $25 or more, we’ll send you a Commemorative DVD of the 2012 Free & Equal Elections Presidential Debates personally autographed by Christina Tobin and you’ll also be sponsoring a local student whom we’ll invite for free!

PS:  Get even more inspired by listening to our
Free & Equal theme song by Jordan Page HERE!

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G. Edward Griffin: Protectors of the Public

This is the third installment in a series of chapter summaries from G. Edward Griffin's must-read book The Creature From Jekyll Island.  This book may be the most important "red pill" available and we highly recommend that you buy and read the full book at RealityZone.

G. Edward Griffin

Buy Here

Chapter 3 Summary: Protectors of the Public

The game called bailout is not a whimsical figment of the imagination, it is real. Here are some of the big games of the past and their final scores. 

In 1970, Penn Central railroad became bankrupt. The banks which lent the money had taken over its board of directors and had driven it further into the hole, all extending bigger and bigger loans to cover the losses. Directors concealed reality from stockholders and made additional loans so the company could pay dividends to keep up the false front. During this time, the directors and their banks unloaded their stock at unrealistically high prices.  When the truth became public, the stockholders were left holding the empty bag. The bailout, which was engineered by the Federal Reserve, involved government subsidies to other banks to grant additional loans. Then Congress was told that the collapse of Penn Central would be devastating to public interest. Congress responded by granting $125 million in loan guarantees so that banks would not be at risk.  The railroad eventually failed anyway, but the bank loans were covered. Penn Central was nationalized into AMTRAK and continues to operate at a loss.

In 1970, as Lockheed faced bankruptcy, Congress heard essentially the same story. Thousands would be unemployed, subcontractors would go out of business, and the public would suffer greatly. So Congress agreed to guarantee $250 million in new loans, which put Lockheed 60% deeper into debt than before.  Now that government was guaranteeing the loans, it had to make sure Lockheed became profitable.  This was accomplished by granting lucrative defense contracts at non-competitive bids.  The banks were paid back.

What the Heck is a Bailout?

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Bankers and Fools

Robert Bonomo, Contributing Writer

Activist Post

After a tense week with world markets teetering on the edge of collapse Angela Merkel finally met with her French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy and they ended the seven-month chill in their once cozy relationship. According to The Independent, they faced a serious impasse regarding bank haircuts in the "déjà vu all over again" Greek financial crisis. Sarkozy fought tooth and nail to guarantee that the largest holders of Greek debt, the French banks, wouldn’t get a clipping. Merkel made a valiant effort to demand accountability from the banks but she finally caved in, giving great comfort to the second largest holders of Greek debt: the German banks.

According to the Financial Times, French banks are holding $53 billion in Greek debt, Credit Agricole alone is $30 billion invested, while German banks are holding $34 billion. Colloquially speaking, Frau Merkel and Monsieur Sarkozy know who their daddy is.

Despite Political Theater US Gov't is "Too Big to Fail"

Paul Craig Roberts
Lew Rockwell

Although the financial press speculates about a downgrade of the US government's credit rating and default if political impasse prevents the debt ceiling from being raised in time, I doubt anyone really believes that the debt ceiling will not be raised. It is just all a part of the political theater of the next couple of months.

Republicans will blame the budget deficit and accumulated national debt on Medicare and Social Security. Wall Street sees billions of profits in privatizing either, and debt rating agencies will oblige their Wall Street paymasters by opining from time to time that US Treasury bonds might be downgraded unless "entitlements can be addressed and the deficit brought under control."

Democrats will say that the budget deficit cannot be addressed without an increase in tax revenues, especially from the rich whose incomes have exploded upward while their tax rates have declined.

Fed to States: "Drop Dead"

Dees Illustration

Ellen H. Brown
Web of Debt

“Ford to New York: Drop Dead,” said a famous headline in 1975. President Ford had declared flatly that he would veto any bill calling for “a federal bail-out of New York City.” What he proposed instead was legislation that would make it easier for the city to go bankrupt.

Now the Federal Treasury and Federal Reserve seem to be saying this to the states, which are slated to be the first ritual victims in the battle over the budget ceiling. On May 2, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that the Treasury would stop issuing special securities that help state and local governments pay for their debt. This was to be the first in a series of “extraordinary measures” taken by the Treasury to avoid default in the event that Congress failed to raise the debt ceiling on May 16. On May 13, the Secretary said these extraordinary measures had been set in motion.

The Federal Reserve, too, has declared that it cannot help the states with their budget problems -- although those problems were created by the profligate banks under the Fed’s purview. The Fed advanced $12.3 trillion in liquidity and short-term loans to bail out the financial sector from the 2008 banking collapse, 64 times the $191 billion required to balance the budgets of all 50 states. But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke declared in January that the Fed could not make the same cheap credit lines available to state and local governments -- not because the Fed couldn’t find the money, but because it was not in the Fed’s legislative mandate.

The federal government can fix its own budget problems by raising its debt ceiling, and the too-big-to-fail banks have the federal government and Federal Reserve to fall back on. But these options are not available to state governments. Like New York City in 1975, many states are teetering on bankruptcy.

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Mainstream media receives millions of taxpayer dollars via Obamacare slush fund

© AFP/File

Jonathan Benson
Natural News

If you have to be convinced that Obamacare was not created with the best interests of average Americans in mind, consider the fact that the government health care bill has allocated a $5 billion "slush fund" to be distributed specifically to companies, states, labor unions, and media outlets hand-selected by the Obama Administration. And nearly a million-and-a-half dollars from this fund have already been given to both The Washington Post and CBS Corporation to use for their early retirement programs.

The "Early Retiree Reinsurance Program" (ERRP) is said to have been created for the purpose of helping "participating employment-based plans" cover a portion of the costs involved with employees who retire early. But based on how the money has been distributed thus far, the fund appears to be nothing more than a payoff slush fund that both rewards supporters of Obamacare with cash, and encourages those in influential roles to continue supporting the health care scheme.

"It is fine with me if they continue covering the Obamacare debate," said Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, concerning the news media receiving Obamacare payoffs, in an e-mail toThe Daily Caller. "When NBC used to cover energy issues, they identified themselves as a subsidiary of General Electric. CBS and Washington Post just have to disclose that they are subsidiaries of the Obama Administration."

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Nuclear Power Exposed as a Product of the State (Video)

Freedomain Radio

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Why You Should be Freaked Out About the Stock Market

Phoenix Capital Research
Zero Hedge

I doubt you will see this chart in the mainstream media any time soon... if EVER.

This is a chart of the US monetary base. In simple terms, it charts how much money the Fed has pumped into the system (at least that it admits). So it’s a kind of visual of the Fed hitting the PANIC button: when the monetary base explodes higher, the Fed is FREAKING out.

You'll note that during the Financial Crisis the Fed didn't do much until the autumn of 2008 when it pumped nearly $1 trillion into the system. Think about that, the Fed didn’t go nuts pumping money until the stuff REALLY hit the fan.

You'll also note that there's only one other time when the monetary base went absolutely vertical: TODAY.

Indeed, the Fed has pumped nearly $500 billion into the system since the start of 2011. Don't even try to tell me  this is QE 2. If it was then the monetary base should have spiked in late 2010, NOT in 2011.

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Portugal braces for govt collapse over debt vote

Wikimedia image Lars Aronsson

Barry Hatton
Yahoo/AP

LISBON, Portugal (AP) -- Portugal's government is on the verge of collapse after opposition parties withdrew their support for another round of austerity policies aimed at averting a financial bailout.

The expected defeat of the minority government's latest spending plans in a parliamentary vote Wednesday will likely force its resignation and could stall national and European efforts to deal with the continent's protracted debt crisis.

The vote comes on the eve of a two-day European Union summit where policymakers are hoping to take new steps to restore investor faith in the fiscal soundness of the 17-nation eurozone, including Portugal.

Last year, both Greece and Ireland had to accept multibillion dollar rescue packages after markets lost faith in their governments' efforts to deal with their debt burdens.

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US bank bailout was 'critical': Congress watchdog

© AFP/File Nicholas Kamm

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government's multi-billion-dollar bank bailout helped avert a second Great Depression and cost taxpayers much less than expected, but was far from perfect, a congressional watchdog said Wednesday.

The Congressional Oversight Panel said the controversial $700 billion dollar bailout, launched in 2008, provided "critical" support for financial markets at a key time and will cost $25 billion -- a fraction of the original estimate.

The Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP), which was signed into law by then president George W. Bush and taken up by Barack Obama, "provided critical support to markets at a moment of profound uncertainty," it said in its final report.

The comments come nearly three years after the government stepped in to oil the wheels of the financial markets after Lehman Brothers' collapse prompted vital inter-bank lending to dry up, leaving many household names in jeopardy.

Government Promises to Cut Social Security in Urgent Compromise

Activist Post

It's official, national austerity measures are here!  As Wisconsin protesters fill the streets because of lost rights and benefits to workers, the nation is gearing up to face similar losses with social security being cut.  Comedian George Carlin warned us that this day would come:


"Now they're coming for your social security money . . . they want it back so they can give it to 
their criminal friends on Wall Street." -- George Carlin. 

The debate has moved from whether or not to cut social security, to how many cuts, how much, and when they'll start.  Threatened with the prospect of a government shutdown, Democrats are pushing for compromise by agreeing to cut social security to avert a manufactured "shutdown" disaster.

For years the government has had no problem raiding the surplus in the social security fund to pay for wars, bank bailouts, General Motors, and a slew of other unfunded giveaways.  Yet, now, as they claim bankruptcy, they seek to take even more from the program.

As Marti Oakley recently pointed out:

The federal government DOES NOT fund Social Security!  Social Security funds the federal government.

Since the Johnson Administration of the '60s, the S.S. fund has been plundered and the surplus from the fund used to finance wars and the daily operations of the federal government. This came as a result of Johnson declaring that these surplus funds would be added to the general fund.  Once there, the funds could be used for anything and everything.

Now, seniors and future generations that had nothing to do with creating the national debt and massive shortfalls in social security are going to pay the price.  Seniors have already had cost of living increases to their SS checks frozen for the last two years.  This has been especially painful given the double-digit inflation to necessary goods like food and energy, and services like healthcare.

It seems the government is going to take and take until the people push back and say that enough is enough.  Again, the people are not at fault and yet they are being treated like tax slaves to bailout the slave masters.  It doesn't matter whether you believe in cutting entitlement programs or not.  The overall equation for the average citizen has tipped so far in the favor of the elites who orchestrated this mess, that it's time to draw the line in the sand.

The perceived debt problems will not be solved by cutting social security while the wars continue and the banks get a blank check from the taxpayer.  If we aren't ready to fight for their deserved benefits now, then we may deserve the absolute looting that is occurring.

RELATED ARTICLE:
Budget Cuts Will Speed Up Engineered Economic Collapse

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US Fed lent $3.3tn to multinationals, billionaires and foreign banks

US central bank releases details of thousands of secret loans to global firms as well as foreign banks and American billionaires

Dominic Rushe
Guardian

The global credit crunch of 2008 ran deeper and wider than previously disclosed, forcing the US government to fund firms including General Electric and Toyota, along with banks and billionaire investors, according to documents released by the Federal Reserve.

Under pressure from politicians, the US central bank has released details of 21,000 transactions it made as the global economy faced meltdown.

As well as its well-publicised support of the banking system, the Fed's aid reached far beyond Wall Street, offering finance to the motorbike manufacturer Harley-Davidson, the industrial equipment maker Caterpillar, the telecoms company Verizon and even the computer billionaire Michael Dell as it struggled to keep the economy going. The lending reached $3.3tn (£2.1tn) at its peak.

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The Worst Year Ever

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The Austerity Hammer Starts to Fall on United States as Debt Consumes Europe (VIDEO)

It's the Bankers or the People - You have been Warned!

Alex Jones and Aaron Dykes
InfoWars

Problem, Reaction, Solution: Derivatives, Crash, Too Big To Fail, Bailout, Nationalization, Budget Crisis, Privatization, Debt Slavery, Austerity, Evaporating Pensions, Central Banks, Big Government, World Government. It’s been quite a saga, but this economic crisis has been planned sabotage by design. The age of the Offshore Global Cartel is the age of economic warfare with the wealthy Western world. The 3rd World has largely already been brought to its knees. The remaining vestiges of national sovereignty must be eliminated and the middle class consumer society must be swept back to the feudal age by way of a tidal wave looting of living standards, cut wages & pensions, and the bread and circuses of cheap plastic goods and entertainment. The upper middle classes, the array of independent businesses, remaining lone giants and other true competition to the New World Order mafia economy system must be consolidated or dominated.

Alex Jones explains why it is the bankers or us will be free at the end of this crisis. The total cost of the derivatives is over $1.5 Quadrillion, a sum that will completely consume the world in perpetual debt, a sum that can never be repaid. It is an economic shearing, a shearing of the sheep. The economic crisis has always really been a complete transfer of power to the banking class.


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US Debt Woes Expose Hidden Austerity and Public Looting

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US Ready to Back Bigger EU Stability Fund: Official

Reuters

The United States would be ready to support the extension of the European Financial Stability Facility via an extra commitment of money from the International Monetary Fund, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday.

"There are a lot of people talking about that. I think the European Commission has talked about that," said the U.S. official, commenting on enlarging the 750 billion euro ($980 billion) EU/IMF European stability fund. "It is up to the Europeans. We will certainly support using the IMF in these circumstances."

"There are obviously some severe market problems," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "In May, it was Greece. This is Ireland and Portugal. If there is contagion that's a huge problem for the global economy." 

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