Economic Armageddon and You (Video)

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Bankers vs. People

Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog

The entire crisis in Greece (and the rest of the world) all comes down to bankers vs. the people.  The bankers made crazy, reckless loans to this tiny country.  If you look back to when the loans were first offered, it’s hard to believe the banks did not know what they were doing.  Did they not know that most people in Greece did not pay taxes?  Did they not know many retired at 50 years old? Did they not know about all the government social programs?  After all, Greece has a socialist government for goodness sakes.

What is going on in Greece is similar to the subprime loan crisis.  Here, people just stopped paying and walked away when the market crashed.  In Greece, the bankers want to turn people into debt slaves for a generation to get their money back.  Heaven forbid any banker writes off the debt and not take a bonus.   David Stockman, who was Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Reagan Administration, said last week on CNBC that Europeans are going to become tax and debt slaves to continue to pay bankers.  The report said, “In Europe, Stockman raged against a dichotomy of tax and debt slavery created by the EU: “They’re attempting to go turn the prudent Europeans of the north into permanent tax slaves in order to bail out the big banks in France and Germany and elsewhere who don’t deserve a bailout,” he said, adding that, “In order to accomplish that, they will attempt to turn the millions of people who live in southern Europe into permanent debt slaves in order to pay the piper from the guarantees coming from the north.” (Click here for the complete CNBC report.)

There is no wonder why protests in Greece turned violent yesterday.

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Greek government survives vote

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Harry Papachristou and Barry Moody
Reuters

Greece's embattled government on Wednesday survived a confidence vote crucial to avoiding a sovereign default, as thousands of protesters chanted insults outside parliament.

The assembly voted confidence in the government, reshuffled by Prime Minister George Papandreou to stiffen resolve behind a painful new austerity program, by 155 votes to 143 with two abstentions. All Papandreou's Socialist Party deputies voted solidly with the government.

"If we are afraid, if we throw away this opportunity, then history will judge us very harshly," Papandreou said in a final appeal for support before the vote.

The closely watched vote had an immediate impact with the euro making gains, although traders said continuing concerns about implementation of the measures contained the currency's advance.

Protesters besieged parliament in Syntagma square, chanting slogans against the politicians, shining hundreds of green laser lights at the building and into the eyes of riot police outside and pushing their hands forward in a traditional insult. 

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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.

Is This It? Mass Rioting, Civil Unrest In Greece As Economists Warn Of Global ‘Armageddon Scenarios’

Steve Watson
Infowars

As protesters continue to run riot in the streets, economists are warning that the whole of Europe and by extension, the rest of the world could face financial armageddon should Greece default on its debt, in the absence of a second bailout.



Financial experts are warning of a ‘Lehman Moment’ as the European markets are beginning to show signs of unraveling in the wake of the Greek crisis.

“The markets have moved from simply pricing in a high probability of a Greek debt default to looking at a scenario of it becoming disorderly and of contagion spreading to other economies like Portugal, like Ireland, and maybe Spain, Italy and Belgium.” a former UK Treasury official told Bloomberg news.

10 Tipping Points Which Could Potentially Plunge The World Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare

Dees Illustration

The Economic Collapse

The global economy has become so incredibly unstable at this point that it is not going to take much to plunge the world into a horrific economic nightmare.  The foundations of the world economic system are so decayed and so corrupted that even a stiff breeze could potentially topple the entire structure over.  Over the past couple of months a constant parade of bad economic news has come streaming in from Europe, Asia and the United States.  Signs of an impending economic slowdown are everywhere.  So what "tipping point" will trigger the next global economic downturn?  Nobody knows for sure, but potential tipping points are all around us.

Today, the global economic system is even more vulnerable than it was back in 2008.  Virtually none of the systemic problems that contributed to the 2008 collapse have been fixed.

Mark Mobius, the head of the emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management, was recently was quoted in Forbes as saying the following....

There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis.

When Money Dies: The Dollar Vigilante Interviewed on Freedomain Radio (Video)

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When Money Dies: The Dollar Vigilante Interviewed on Freedomain Radio (Video)

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Ruppert: Economic COLLAPSE Coming by July (Video)

CollapseNet

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US Fed to meet as global crises loom large

The US Federal Reserve building
© AFP/File Karen Bleier

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Federal Reserve's top policymakers meet Tuesday with an upbeat US economic outlook clouded by a devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan and unrest in the Middle East.

The Fed's rate-setting panel is expected to keep stimulus policies in place -- including ultra-low interest rates -- even as unemployment eases, consumer spending picks up and businesses grow more optimistic.

"We anticipate a more upbeat assessment of the economy and a less pessimistic tone towards the labor market," said Fabio Fois of Barclays Capital.

The Fed is expected to continue to unfurl a $600 billion stimulus spending designed to jolt the US economy back to full health, but one which critics warn is a risky gambit that is stoking inflation.

The Fed is expected to wave off concerns about rising prices, which have only been fueled by fighting in Libya that has pushed up the cost of oil.

With Americans struggling to pay gasoline prices that have risen around 43 cents a gallon (3.8 liters) in the last month to an average of $3.54, the Fed has insisted that core inflation remains in check.

The Fed's measure of inflation ignores volatile food and energy prices, which are often the costs most keenly felt by consumers.

On Friday the head of the powerful New York Federal Reserve, William Dudley, said inflation levels remained well below the two percent rate which the bank says spells a healthy economy.

"Inflation expectations are well-anchored today and we intend to keep it that way," Dudley said.

But as the economy improves, pressure is building on the Fed to ease its stance.

The central bank "will have to change its inflation language," John Ryding and Conrad DeQuadros of RDQ Economics said in a client note.

"Core inflation has stabilized and picked up slightly, oil and commodity prices have increased significantly, and inflation expectations have risen."

"The Fed, we believe, is on the wrong side of the inflation story."

But events in Japan may have eased pressure on the Fed to reverse course.

The economic impact of a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan -- the world's third-largest economy -- is still unknown, although few believe a serious spillover is likely.

"Our early assessment is that Japan's GDP will take a hit for a quarter or two, but then bounce back as reconstruction gets into gear," said Patrick Newport of IHS Global Insight.

But coupled with rekindled sovereign debt crisis in Europe that saw Spain and Greece's sovereign ratings downgraded in the past week, and rising oil prices, the potential exists for an external brake on US growth.

Against this backdrop the Fed is expected to stand pat.

"The economic outlook has improved considerably in the past six months," according to Dudley that was the aim of the Fed's strategy "this is welcome and not a reason to reverse course."

But some experts believe the Fed might soon do just that.

"This is likely to be the last gathering before the Fed has to begin prepping the markets for the end of QE2," said Stephen Stanley of Pierpont Securities using the jargon name for the Fed's easy monetary policy -- quantitative easing.

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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UK banks borrowed more than $1 trillion from US Federal Reserve

British banks borrowed more than $1 trillion (£640bn) from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis, led by Barclays following its swoop on the US business of Lehman Brothers.

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Richard Blackden and Harry Wilson
Telegraph

The disclosures came because the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act forced the Fed to reveal which banks and companies it lent money to in an effort to shore up the financial system from the end of December 2007 onwards.

It released the details of more than 21,000 individual transactions on its website on Wednesday, which showed that British banks represented more than a third - about $1.5 trillion - of the $3,300bn lent by the US authorities to prop up the financial sector.

Barclays borrowed $863bn from the Fed, with almost half coming in overnight loans through the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, a programme established by the central bank to help those banks that deal in US Treasuries.


Barclays has since repaid all its loans and said that much of its then borrowing was down to its purchase of Lehman’s US business.

Royal Bank of Scotland borrowed $446bn, Bank of Scotland $181bn, Abbey National $19bn and HSBC borrowed less than $10bn.

The figures for the banks represent the total amount they borrowed and not the total outstanding borrowing at any one point.

RBS said it no longer used any of the Fed scheme and had “significantly reduced” its borrowing from central banks.

The Fed said on Wednesday that the fact banks from across the world has tapped its emergency lending “reflected the severe market disruptions during the financial crisis and generally did not reflect participants’ financial weakness”.

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World At A Boil With War And Economic Crisis

Order Out of Chaos

Bob Chapman
International Forecaster

There is no question that the world is at a boil. Germany is drawing anger; N. Korea has attacked S. Korea; flaying about the FED’s Mr. Bernanke blames China for America’s sad economic and financial dilemma; five suits, class action and RICO, have been filed against JPMorgan Chase and HSBC for having manipulated silver prices and class actions are rumored to be in process for naked shorting, which has been rampant in the market for years, a felony hedge fund investigation of insider trading, which the SEC has absolutely refused to pursue. The US is still occupying Iraq and has a war raging in Afghanistan to protect the opium and marijuana crops, the largest in the world, which generate $300 billion in profits a year. Socialists, having recently relinquished power in the US House of Representatives are calling Republicans an axis of depression. The socialist, what they cannot control, they attempt to destroy. It reminds us of Italy’s communists.

The New Fed policy of QE2 is considered by US detractors to be a step too far. The Fed has entered the inner sanctum of realm of no return. If QE 2 and a hidden QE3 don’t work, then the monetary game is over. The Fed is in a desperate position and instead of letting depression take its course, the groundwork of which was caused by the Fed, Wall Street and banking, it is again rolling the dice intent on extending and buying time. If the Fed and its owners refuse to bite the bullet great inflation will ensue dependent on the size of QE2. If it were to stay at $600 billion inflation would increase. If the Fed is forced to increase the injection to more than $2 trillion there will be far more inflation. Unfortunately, we cannot depend on government statistics because government has a track record and propensity for masking the truth. There are those that believe that this is a monetary experiment and that it is not. What we are seeing has been tried in different forms for centuries, quite unsuccessfully. As a result, to thinking people, the Fed and Mr. Bernanke have lost most of their credibility, and that view is justified. Mr. Bernanke’s recent reference to “rebalancing the global economy” is just another effort to justify current monetary policy. What Mr. Bernanke is really advocating is a world balancing where countries with surpluses use those funds to assist those with deficits. He wants a global village where interests of individual countries must reflect the interests of the global economy as a whole. Of course, nowhere to be found is sovereignty in this planned redistribution of assets.


This is the same goop Treasury Secretary Mr. Geithner fed us at the G-20 meeting. The concept of lets all of us go bankrupt together, utopianism at its finest. Fortunately in both cases the concept of global rebalancing went over like a lead balloon. Any honest economist knows this is a rehash of flawed policy. When government and the Fed abandoned the gold reserve standard on august 15, 1971, they knew where this would all end up, but they did it anyway in their march toward a world financial order and world government. After that historic date there would be no return to sound money until the system was totally purged. We have heard the call for almost 40 years of the amalgamation of nations for the interest of all. Individual countries must sacrifice their interests for the entire global economy. this is why the Fed has deliberately accommodated monetary excesses since then.

We have written about this embarrassment of planned destruction for 45 years and until recently our thoughts were ignored. Thanks to talk radio and the Internet, that reaches the entire world, we are finding that more and more people are waking up to the truth. Since the 1980s we have had one fiscal and monetary crisis – one after another. Now that the world is beginning to discover what Europe and the US have been up to for years these internationalists now find themselves in deep trouble. Their real problem is too many people now know what they are up to.

China just injected $2.3 trillion into their economy to spur domestic demand and create jobs. The result has been funds flowing into the stock market, real estate and the general financial sector, which has created a misallocation of funds and leaping inflation. Bank set asides were just raised, but that has happened a little too late to escape some major damage. Chinese are traveling to Hong Kong from the mainland to shop because the cost of goods is 10% to 95% cheaper. The Chinese obviously went along with US ideas to inflate domestic demand by stimulating their economy, so that consumption and imports would rise. Thus, we see China is having some of the same problems the US is having.

Leaving china behind for a moment we have to deal with corporate fascist Keynesianism, which believe it or not is being called radicalism even in mainstream circles of economic and monetary management. They are finally realizing that the Fed has inflated markets worldwide. In addition, it has long been a government and Fed policy to manipulate securities markets worldwide and provide finance as well. The insider trading the Justice Department is pursing is an example, as well as the JPMorgan Chase/HSBC silver manipulation cases. As we said, next comes naked shorting and front running. Let’s hope somehow we can bring these sociopath criminals to justice and at least for a time have an honest system.

As a result the financial world has turned to gold, which is up 24% and silver up 65% this year.

Investors believe that the rescue of Ireland is a done deal – not so fast. The Irish are really irate at having to bail out the bondholders. As we said before this is all about the banks being bailed out by the taxpayer.

In the US aggregate household net worth is $12.2 trillion lower today than it was three years ago at its pre-depression peak, a horrible decline of 18.5%, all in order to bring about the conditions to implement world government. That is about $100,000 per household. That money is never coming back nor is what was once known as the American dream and way of life. Baby boomers see it coming and denial is grudgingly becoming acceptance. The ratio of household net worth to disposable personal income has gone from 639% to 472% and it is still plunging. The savings rate, out of fear has risen from minus 0.5% to 5.5%, but still has to double from here to help get the economy going again. At the same time the Fed and Treasury are telling Americans to take on more debt. Homeowners equity has collapsed below $7 trillion from $13.5 trillion, making the situation worse – employment is off 7.5 million and full-time jobs are off 10 million, the worst numbers in 11 years. Real unemployment is 22-5/8%.

If QE2 is terminated at $600 billion watch out, because the economy will head straight into a great dark pit. All the numbers we see are signaling a strong need for more than $600 billion.

Ireland’s government has collapsed as front page headlines in Dublin blare we were lied too. We saw the same thing come out of Greece and next is Portugal and then Spain. Debt is being restructured and it won’t last. Who wants to live in depression for 30 to 50 years, while bankers get richer and more powerful?

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Spain's leader vows deficit reduction amid crisis

Harold Heckle
Associated Press

MADRID — Spain's prime minister mounted a vigorous defense Saturday of his nation's economy and finances, insisting his administration will forge ahead with austerity measures and force troubled banks and regional governments to reveal information about savings and restructuring efforts.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was responding to heavy market pressure that has put Spain in the spotlight as the country that could plunge the 16-nation euro zone into meltdown if it were to end up needing a bailout like those provided to Ireland and Greece.

Many investors believe Portugal could be next in line to need a bailout, and they fear Spain could then follow.

Zapatero spoke after meeting with the heads of 37 of the country's largest corporations, and he said Spain's plans for deficit reduction and increased competitiveness will restore the international confidence that has crumbled throughout the week.

Among those present were Emilio Botin, chief executive of Banco Santander S.A., the country's largest bank, Cesar Alierta of telecommunications giant Telefonica S.A. and Antonio Brufau of energy company Repsol YPF.

The meeting happened a day after Zapatero ruled out any possibility that Spain would require a bailout.

"The government is committed to austerity, to reducing the deficit," Zapatero said Saturday, seeking to reassure investors that his government is taking the threat to its economy seriously.

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Banksters Are Coming For Your Retirement Next

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Red alert over bizarre North Korean plan to attack G20 summit with chemical weapon balloons

James Chapman
Daily Mail

A bizarre plot by North Korea to attack the G20 summit using balloons filled with biological or chemical weapons emerged last night.

The claim that ageing tyrant Kim Jong-Il will attempt to disrupt the gathering – attended by David Cameron and other world leaders – has been taken seriously by Western diplomats.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked China, North Korea’s chief ally, to rein in Kim. And security is now at red alert for the conference in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Kim Jong-Un, Kim’s third son and expected successor, is thought to have been ordered to find ways to overshadow the meeting.

His father’s secretive regime has acted aggressively in the past at times of internal change, external tension or when the rival South is the focus of world attention.

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Living Beyond Our Means: 3 Charts That Prove That We Are In The Biggest Debt Bubble In The History Of The World

The Economic Collapse Blog

Do you want to see something truly frightening?  Just check out the 3 charts posted further down in this article.  These charts prove that we are now in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world.  As Americans have enjoyed an incredibly wonderful standard of living over the past three decades, most of them have believed that it was because we are the wealthiest, most prosperous nation on the planet with economic and financial systems that are second to none.  But that is not even close to accurate.  The reason why we have had an almost unbelievably high standard of living over the past three decades is because we have piled up the biggest mountains of debt in the history of the world.  Once upon a time the United States was the wealthiest country on the planet, but all of that prosperity was not good enough for us.  So we started borrowing and borrowing and borrowing and we have now been living beyond our means for so long that we consider it to be completely normal.

We have been robbing future generations blind for so long that it doesn't even seem to bother most people anymore.  We have become accustomed to living in debt.  We go into massive amounts of debt to get an education, we go into massive amounts of debt to buy a home, we go into massive amounts of debt to buy our cars, and we even pile up debt to buy holiday gifts and to purchase groceries.


Just check out the chart posted below.  It shows the total credit market debt owed in the United States.  In other words, it is a measure of what everyone owes (government, businesses and consumers).

30 years ago, total credit market debt owed was less than 5 trillion dollars.  Today, it is over 50 trillion dollars.  Total credit market debt is now at a level equivalent to about 360 percent of GDP.  This is what has been fueling the great era of "economic prosperity" that we have been experiencing....   

So what is the answer to this problem? 

Read Full Article and See Other Charts

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Is the American Dream Over?

America has long been a country of limitless possibility. But the dream has now become a nightmare for many. The US is now realizing just how fragile its success has become -- and how bitter its reality. Should the superpower not find a way out of crisis, it could spell trouble ahead for the global economy. 

Spiegel Online

It was to be the kind of place where dozens of American dreams would be fulfilled -- here on Apple Blossom Drive, a cul-de-sac under the azure-blue skies of southwest Florida, where the climate is mild and therapeutic for people with arthritis and rheumatism. Everything is ready. The driveways lined with cast-iron lanterns are finished, the artificial streams and ponds are filled with water, and all the underground cables have been installed. This street in Florida was to be just one small part of America's greater identity -- a place where individual dreams were to become part of the great American story.

But a few things are missing. People, for one. And houses, too. The drawings are all ready, but the foundations for the houses haven't even been poured yet.

Apple Blossom Drive, on the outskirts of Fort Myers, Florida, is a road to nowhere. The retirees, all the dreamers who wanted to claim their slice of the American dream in return for all the years they had worked in a Michigan factory or a New York City office, won't be coming. Not to Apple Blossom Drive and not to any of the other deserted streets which, with their pretty names and neat landscaping, were supposed to herald freedom and prosperity as the ultimate destination of the American journey, and now exude the same feeling of sadness as the industrial ruins of Detroit.

Florida was the finale of the American dream, a promise, a symbol, an American heaven on earth, because Florida held out the prospect of spending 10, perhaps 20 and hopefully 30 years living in one's own house. For decades, anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 people moved to the state each year. The population grew and grew -- and so too did real estate prices and the assets of those who were already there and wanted bigger houses and even bigger dreams. Florida was a seemingly never-ending boom machine.

Could the Dream Be Over?

Until it all ended. Now people are leaving the state. Florida's population decreased by 58,000 in 2009. Some members of the same American middle class who had once planned to spend their golden years lying under palm trees are now lined up in front of soup kitchens. In Lee County on Florida's southwest coast, 80,000 people need government food stamps to make ends meet -- four times as many as in 2006. Unemployment figures are sharply on the rise in the state, which has now come to symbolize the decline of the America Dream, or perhaps even its total failure, its naïveté. Could the dream, in fact, be over?

Americans have lived beyond their means for decades. It was a culture long defined by a mantra of entitlement, one that promised opportunities for all while ignoring the risks. Relentless and seemingly unstoppable upward mobility was the secular religion of the United States. Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, established the so-called ownership society, while Congress and the White House helped free it of the constraints of laws and regulations.

The dream was the country's driving force. It made Florida, Hollywood and the riches of Goldman Sachs possible, and it attracted millions of immigrants. Now, however, Americans are discovering that there are many directions that life can take, and at least one of them points downward. The conviction that stocks have always made everyone richer has become as much of a chimera in the United States as the belief that everyone has the right to own his own home, and then a bigger home, a second car and maybe even a yacht. But at some point, everything comes to an end.

The United States is a confused and fearful country in 2010. American companies are still world-class, but today Apple and Coca-Cola, Google and Microsoft are investing in Asia, where labor is cheap and markets are growing, and hardly at all in the United States. Some 47 percent of Americans don't believe that the America Dream is still realistic.

Read the 6-part Full Report

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