August 16, 2010 posts

Business / Economic / Financial

[ This link to a somewhat more cumulative blog posts page will precede current days news since most all topics remain current in terms of impact and longer-term effect and can be searched by topical index term more easily. The same is provided since the blog site http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com has just been censored as to size by google which is typical for google as nsa / cia / gov’t shill as more are becoming aware of. The same is true for microsoft, another co. that’s seen their best days and relies on the government to maintain their monopoly. Up to now the better page http://www.scribd.com/alpeia is provided for ease of formatting and clarity thereby while the Washington Post page is the real deal but without formatting http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/community/mypost/index.html?plckPersonaPage=PersonaComments&plckUserId=alpeia&newspaperUserId=alpeia ]

Are You Ready For How Bad It Will Get? Graham Summers | ‘There are numerous components in the latest GDP number that are extremely suspect. The vast majority of investors are going to be taken to the cleaners. I realize this view is far from the consensus. Even those who are in the bear camp aver that the Stimulus did in fact bring us out of recession at least temporarily.

However, I would strongly contend that the recovery was in fact non-existent for the following reasons:

1. The Government data used to validate the recovery (GPD, unemployment, etc) is clearly massaged if not bordering on outright propaganda

2. We are in fact in a depression and the “recovery” was simply a bounce in economic activity taking place within the context of a larger economy contraction

Regarding #1, every Government data point used in promoting the “recovery” had some degree of fudging in it. Let’s consider GDP for instance.

There are numerous devious tactics used to overstate GDP growth, however, the most obvious gimmick the BLS uses is overstating GPD growth in the present and then revising it lower in the subsequent quarters.’

AP BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS ‘Homebuilder confidence sinks for 3rd month WASHINGTON (AP) -- Homebuilder confidence dropped for the third straight month in August as the struggling economy and a flood of cheap foreclosed properties kept people from buying new homes. The National Association of Home Builders said its monthly index of builders' sentiment about the housing market fell to 13, the lowest reading since March 2009. The index is adjusted for seasonal factors. Readings below 50 indicate negative sentiment about the market. The last time the index was above 50 was in April 2006…’

Celente: Stock Market Crash Before End of 2010 Gerald Celente believes that the stock market will crash before the end of 2010 , gold will soar.

YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: ’ Last week's near 4% loss made for a bit of a hangover Monday morning as stocks opened with a loss. An early bounce helped the broader market improve its position, but it still finished flat. Early participants were dealt few trading cues. Among the more notable headlines, there was lower-than-expected annualized second quarter GDP of 0.4% in Japan, renewed selling in Europe, a slightly smaller-than-expected rise in the August Empire Manufacturing Index to 7.1, and an earnings miss from home improvement retailer Lowe's (LOW 19.70, +0.11)…’

The Not-So-Brave New World of QE Whitten ‘The path of global markets going forward could well be determined by policy makers and politicians, not by natural economic incentives or the self-elightenment of "Mr. Market." Yet investor faith in the Fed, particularly as regards the effectiveness of its QE program, may be sorely misplaced. In the not-so-brave new world of QE, hedge funds, billed as some of the smartest risk takers on Wall Street, are beginning to look like ultraconservative Midwest pension funds, piling into treasuries and "safe" big-cap blue chips. According to Greenwich Associates, hedge fund trading volume in US treasuries surged by more than 70% in the past year as they focus their attention on more liquid assets. (Hedge Funds Pile into the Treasury Bond Market). A Bloomberg article notes the parallels between the Fed's actions and the failed policies of the Bank of Japan, with the US Fed predictably insisting that it isn't following the Japanese playbook … US Banks Still Hiding Losses A recent post by Edward Harrison in Seeking Alpha flatly states that the U.S. banking system as a whole is probably insolvent. (US Banks Still Hiding Losses). This is exactly what was said of Japan’s banking system before 2003. According to Harrison, "The likely future losses of loans and assets already on balance sheets at U.S. financial institutions, if incurred today, would reveal the system as a whole to lack the necessary regulatory capital to continue functioning under current guidelines.” …’

From Good to Mediocre ‘Through last Friday, 2,127 US companies had reported quarterly numbers this earnings season. What started out as a strong earnings season is going out with a whimper (earnings season ends tomorrow with Wal-Mart's report)…’

10 Signs The U.S. is Becoming a Third World Country Activist Post | Key economic indicators point to a situation potentially worse than the Great Depression.

“Surprisingly” Bad Economic News Bob Livingston | Have you noticed how often the elitist “economists” in government, academia and the media are surprised by bad economic news?

Are You Ready For How Bad It Will Get? Graham Summers | There are numerous components in the latest GDP number that are extremely suspect.

Without a Revolution, Americans Are History The United States is running out of time to get its budget and trade deficits under control. Despite the urgency of the situation, 2010 has been wasted in hype about a non-existent recovery. As recently as August 2 Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner penned a New York Times column, “Welcome to the Recovery.”

Treasuries, Gold Rally as Stocks Retreat on Economy Concern Treasuries rallied, sending 10-year yields to the lowest level in more than 16 months, while stocks retreated and gold rose following reports showing weaker-than- forecast growth in New York manufacturing and Japan’s economy.

How Goldman Sachs Is Screwing Over Other Banks In The Coming GM IPO As if its rivals didn’t have reason enough to hate Goldman Sachs (GS), they’ve just been given one more reason.

China Favors Euro Over Dollar as Bernanke Alters Path Bloomberg | China, whose $2.45 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves are the world’s largest, is turning bullish on Europe and Japan at the expense of the U.S.

(8-16-10) Dow 10,302 -1 Nasdaq 2,182 +8 S&P 500 1,079 –0- [CLOSE- OIL $75.24 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $2.74 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.11 REG./ $3.26 MID-GRADE/ $3.35 PREM./ $3.69 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,217 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $18.11 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,523 (+56% for year 2009) / DOLLAR= .77 EURO, 85 YEN, .63 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ 10 YR NOTE YIELD 2.58% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 6 Theories On Why the Stock Market Has Rallied 3-9-10 [archived website file] Risks Lurk for ETF Investors The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 The Week Ahead: Risk Is Off the Cliff; Unwind Has Begun Jan 31, 2010 01-13-10 Forecast for 2010 from Seeking Alpha Contributor THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover Current Economic / Fiscal Charts Trendsresearch.com forecast for 2009 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net MUST READ: JEREMY GRANTHAM’S QUARTERLY UPDATE 25 January 2010 (850 on the S&P) by TPC The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

High Probability for Lower Market Prices Ahead ‘…Economic numbers being what they are (very poor), we should expect a downward revision of second quarter GDP to 1.5% from the originally disappointing number of 2.4%. As more data is being released it is apparent that we are witnessing even further deterioration here in the third quarter…We may have reached a tipping point where many are tired of others being the benefactors of taxpayer money …’

Gold Providing Safety During Market Downturn ‘ … The death cross occurs when the 50 day moving average crosses the 200 day moving average on the downside. These patterns, when combined with other technical indicators can predict major market downturns…THE ODDS OF A LONG TERM DOWNTREND ARE BECOMING HIGHLY PROBABLE. THESE SIGNALS COULD POSSIBLY INDICATE THE START OF A TWELVE TO EIGHTEEN MONTH DOWN CYCLE. Gold, on the other hand, has shown great relative strength despite the general markets correcting and negative sentiment about the economy from Washington…’

Pension check may not be in the mail Chicago Tribune | Illinois public employees who think the state constitution guarantees that they’ll get all their pension benefits

Back to School? Bring Your Own Toilet Paper New York Times | “The first time I saw it, my mouth hit the floor,” Emily’s mother, Kristin Cooper, said of the list, which also included perennials like glue sticks, scissors and crayons.

An Argentina-like Economic Crisis Scott Strzelczyk | The United States’ economic decline precariously resembles Argentina’s economic collapse.

U.S. Economy Near Point of No Return Dan Weil | The Federal Reserve’s decision to expand its quantitative easing by purchasing more Treasuries is a dangerous one.

Obama Says Private Accounts Would Endanger U.S. Social Security Benefits President Barack Obama said Republican proposals to have people invest Social Security benefits in private accounts would increase the U.S. budget deficit and put retirement money at risk to “the whims of Wall Street traders.”

The Trade Deficit Nightmare When they hear the word deficit, most Americans immediately think of the U.S. government budget deficit which is rapidly spiralling out of control.

Fed Official Admits the Fed Starts Boom/Bust Cycles There are all kinds of things awry with this article…

Fed’s Hoenig: Keeping Rates Too Low ‘Dangerous Gamble’ The Federal Reserve is undertaking a “dangerous gamble” by keeping rates at near zero for so long, and must start raising rates or risk damaging the nascent U.S. recovery, a top Federal Reserve official said on Friday.

Will Quantitative Easing By The Federal Reserve Unleash Economic Hell? The Economic Collapse | Most of the folks populating Congress are so incompetent that they should not even be hired to mop the floors of a Dairy Queen.

China surpasses Japan as world's No. 2 economy Washington Post

HK stocks seen lower; property in focus HONG KONG, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks are set to open weaker on Monday after the local government announced new measures to cool the property market as prices head for historic highs.

Dr David Kelly was on a hitlist, says UN weapons expert as calls grow for full inquest Mail Online | Dr Richard Spertzel claimed Dr Kelly was on a ‘hitlist’ in the final years of his life.

Iran Attack This Week? Kurt Nimmo | John Bolton and the neocons refuse to accept that Iran’s facility will produce nuclear energy and insist it will be used to create nuclear weapons.

The Hidden Tragedy of the CIA’s Experiments on Children Shortly after deciding to initiate her own LSD experiments on children, Bender attended a conference sponsored by a CIA front group, the Josiah Macy Foundation.

Shilling for War on Iran I guess I was naïve in thinking that The Atlantic and its American-Israeli writer Jeffrey Goldberg might shy away from arguing for yet another war — this one with Iran — while the cauldrons are still boiling in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even world-class chutzpah must have its limits, I had thought.

U.S. Economy Near Point of No Return Dan Weil | The Federal Reserve’s decision to expand its quantitative easing by purchasing more Treasuries is a dangerous one.

Will Quantitative Easing By The Federal Reserve Unleash Economic Hell? The Economic Collapse | Most of the folks populating Congress are so incompetent that they should not even be hired to mop the floors of a Dairy Queen.

Drudgereport: O FALLS TO NEW LOW AT GALLUP DAILY...
China overtakes Japan as No. 2 economy...
China Favoring Euros Over Dollars...
'Without a revolution, Americans are history'...
NEWSWEEK: World's Best Country: Finland [USA #11]...
House to cut food stamps to fund Mrs. Obama's 'let's move' initiative...
Banks to benefit most from White House effort to fight foreclosures...
Petraeus: 'We're doing everything we can' …[Sounds like a plan!]...
Builds Case for 'Success' in Afghanistan …[If only words could make it so!]...
Karzai asks Obama for review of war...
Foreign troops deaths pass 2,000...
MYSTERY: West Wing of White House covered in tarp...
Harvard University fund sells all israel holdings... … UPDATE: Harvard insists israeli shares sale not driven by boycott...
GOOGLEVERIZON Deal: Fears for Privacy...

HOW TO BEAR MARKET PROOF YOUR PORFOLIO Simon Maierhofer, On Friday August 13, 2010, ‘… The 22 trading days following the April 26 market highs erased eight months worth of gains. Bear markets move much quicker than bull markets.

Rule #1: Better too Early than too Late

When preparing for a bear market (we'll discuss in a moment why we have been preparing for a bear market), it is prudent to start early. Anyone who sold their long positions as early as September last year would be in a better position than the buy-and hold crowd that is still clinging to their holdings.

Rule #2: Don't Trust Wall Street and the Media

By now, even the mainstream media is sensing that something might not be quite right with the market's performance. However, there is still hope that the second half of the year will get a lift from positive earning results. Before you bet your money on that line of reasoning, consider the picture the media painted days within the April 2010 market top.

April 19, 2010 'America is back - The remarkable tale of an economic turnaround' – Newsweek
'Recovery tilting to V-shape as profits prompts growth revision' - Bloomberg

April 25, 2010: 'U.S. stocks cheapest since 1990 on analyst estimates' – Bloomberg
'Technical Analysts see room to roll' - Wall Street Journal

April 27, 2010 'Greece contagion fears unfounded' - Reuters

May 3, 2010: 'Manufacturing in U.S. grows at fastest pace since 2004 as recovery gains traction' - Bloomberg

Over the past two and a half months, the S&P (NYSEArca: SPY - News) and Dow (NYSEArca: DIA - News) have lost as much as 17%. A 20% loss is considered the mark of a new bear market. In essence, we are only one bad day away from the next bear. Of course, throughout the massive bear market rally from the March 2009 lows, which the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter predicted via the March 2, 2009 Trend Change Alert, the newsletter maintained that it was only a bear market trap which would fool a majority of investors. On April 16 it stated that 'Most bulls have no clue why they are bullish except for the fact that they feel the need to play the momentum game. Sounds like 2000 and 2007 all over again. The message conveyed by the composite bullishness is unmistakably bearish.'

Rule #3: Don't Underestimate Cash

In a period of falling prices, cash or cash equivalents like short term Treasuries (NYSEArca: SHY - News) maintain your purchasing power - long-term Treasuries (NYSEArca: TLT - News) are interest rate sensitive and may move faster than you think. When stocks fall and you are able to maintain your purchasing power, you are able to buy stocks at a discount. In essence, cash offers a positive return in periods of falling prices. Additionally, or alternatively, investors may choose to buy short or leveraged short ETFs such as the Short S&P 500 ProShares (NYSEArca: SH - News), UltraShort Russell 2000 ProShares (NYSEArca: TWM - News) UltraShort S&P 500 ProShares (NYSEArca: SDS - News), Short Financial ProShares (NYSEArca: SEF -News), Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3x Shares (NYSEArca: FAZ - News) and many more.

Rule #4: Don't Procrastinate

On May 14, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter predicted that the S&P (NYSEArca: IVV - News) will fall through the important 1,040 resistance level. Aside from a small cluster of resistances (one being round number resistance), a break below 1,040 opened the door wide for significantly lower prices. We mentioned above that we've been preparing for a reemerging bear market even before the April highs. Why? Simply put, stocks are overvalued. How can that be? One of the above headlines read that U.S. stocks are cheapest since 1990, at least according to analyst projections. The key word is projections. Analysts project operating earnings for the S&P to clock in at $94.83 in 2011. This is higher than the 2007 peak of $91.47. That's right, despite record high unemployment, a European (NYSEArca: VGK - News) debt crisis, a 17% U.S. market correction, and all the other problems economists expect corporate profits will exceed their 2007 all-time highs. Does that sound reasonable to you? Keep in mind that projected earnings are just that - projected. They can and will change. In fact, analysts have a reputation of following the trend. In April 2008, analysts predicted earnings of $113. After cutting its forecast to $53, Goldman Sachs cut its earnings forecast to $40 in March 2009. As we know today, stocks rallied, and actual 2009 earnings came in at $56.87. The list goes on, but the simple message is that analysts tend to be overly optimistic before the fall and overly pessimistic before a rally. Right now they are overly optimistic. The conclusion is easy.

Rule #5: Know who to Trust

Even when basing the current P/E ratio on overly optimistic estimates, it is still far away from the P/E ratios seen at historic market bottoms. The same holds true for dividend yields. A look at various valuation measures shows that the market is overvalued by much more than just 10 or 20%. The ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter provides a detailed analysis of four valuation metrics with a near spotless track record of historic accuracy…’

No Exit, Stage Left or Right Peter shiff ‘… Those who fear a double dip recession are justified in their concerns, but they are also missing the big picture. The 2008 recession never ended. It was merely interrupted by trillions of dollars of stimulus that purchased GDP “growth” with borrowed money. But as the bills come due, GDP should now contract … After decades of abuse, it’s time for the Fed to take make a dramatic exit, because the US economy can’t take it anymore.’

An Argentina-like Economic Crisis Scott Strzelczyk | The United States’ economic decline precariously resembles Argentina’s economic collapse.

The Dollar’s Third and Final Act LewRockwell.com | The US credit system is in the midst of its third credit crisis since the advent of the Federal Reserve.

Roubini: Even If The Economy Doesn’t Technically Double Dip, It’s Still Going To Be Awful If you haven’t seen it already, I highly recommend this interview with Nouriel Roubini. Particularly he raises the point that while the U.S. may not technically double-dip into a new recession, it’s going to feel like it is.

Hindenburg Omen: Stock Market Crash Imminent? Easily the most feared technical pattern in all of chartism (for the bullishly inclined) is the dreaded Hindenburg Omen. Those who know what it is, tend to have an atavistic reaction to its mere mention.

Capital Controls: The Final Phase in the Great Looting of America Eric Blair | Capital controls are the next big event in the government-banking-oligarchy’s great looting of America.

Jobless claims jump to 5-month high The number of first-time filers for unemployment insurance rose to the highest level since late February last week, according to a weekly government report released Thursday.

Deficit in July Totals $165.04 Billion The U.S. government spent itself deeper into the red last month, paying nearly $20 billion in interest on debt and an additional $9.8 billion to help unemployed Americans.

Fed Leads America “To The Brink Of Collapse” When even the New York Times and CNN are admitting that the United States faces not only a double-dip recession but potentially a new great depression, any alarm bells that have not been rung should now be sounding loudly.

Bailouts Went To Foreign Banks: Congressional Report Confirms What We Already Knew A Congressional Oversight Panel issued today highlights the fact that large portions of the Treasury’s $700 billion bailout fund have gone straight into the coffers of foreign banks, a fact that we knew months ago, but is only now being officially recognised.

Fed Leads America “To The Brink Of Collapse” Paul Joseph Watson | Bernanke announcement that central bank will buy US debt marks point of no return.

15 Economic Statistics That Just Keep Getting Worse The Economic Collapse | Anyone who claims that things are getting “better” is either ignorant, completely deluded or is purposely lying.

Economy Teeters On The Brink and Market Manipulation Continues Bob Chapman | It’s just the same old, same old, business as usual in America.

The Fed’s New Round of Quantitative Easing Is Like Trying to Patch Leaking Pipes by Pumping in More Water Washington’s Blog | The government hasn’t even tried to replace the leaking sections of pipe in our economy.

Is this finally the economic collapse? Fortune | Should we bite the bullet and accept that current economic policy dictates 0% returns-on-savings, even as Washington continues to lever-up our future to the point of economic collapse?

U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don’t Even Know Bloomberg | Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.

Marc Faber: Protect Your Property with High Voltage Fences, Barbed Wire, Booby Traps, Military Weapons and Dobermans Investment guru and publisher of The Gloom, Boom and Doom report, Marc Faber, regularly discusses investment strategies for protecting and building wealth during times of economic distress.

Makeup of Obama's housing reform panel draws ire (Washington Post) [Wow! Talk about late to the party! I mean … a conference? It’s not as if this was some new or novel problem coming down the pike. Then there’s the everything but the core issue / problem approach that seems recurringly fashionable.] Advocates say that the administration is excluding consumer and community groups from playing prominent roles in a government-sponsored conference next week that will kick off efforts to overhaul national housing policy.

Economic indicators reflect weak recovery (Washington Post) [Recovery? I say they’re dreamin’! So does Schiff, (Peter Schiff: “We’re in the Early Stages of a Depression” The Motley Fool | Four years and the worst recession since the Great Depression later, Schiff stands alone again with a bleaker diagnosis for the economy: an inflationary depression.) among other economists, (Economists Herald New Great Depression The world is currently experiencing the modern day equivalent of the Great Depression, according to a prominent economist who has added his voice to scores of others now forecasting ongoing economic doom on a scale not seen since the 1930s.) , and my position and that of demographer Dent (This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up move was a manipulated bull (s***) cycle in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed.

Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011, but if the banking system continues to implode a deep downturn or depression could begin sometime in 2009 instead of 2010.
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012 ).

Warnings: Social Security at risk (Washington Post) [ Not this again! It bears repeating, that was always a bad idea and there was a plethora of reasons set forth on my site as to why the social security privatization plan being shilled by moron war criminal dumbya bush on behalf of the wall street frauds was an exceedingly bad idea. Indeed, as defacto insolvent as america / the social security system is, the nation and system would have been wiped out by privatization debacle. Talk about too big to, but still failed. It was a bad idea then, and though accusations may fly as to fear mongering, the reality of the venality attendant to such a preposterous course on behalf of the wall street frauds requires vigilance, scrutiny, and discourse concerning even the remote possibility of such a fool-hearty betrayal of the citizenry of the nation. As such, as off the mark as wobama has almost invariably been, he’s on the mark on this. ]ANALYSIS | Obama says GOP wants to privatize program, but liberals see a different threat.

Foreclosures surge 9 percent in July (Washington Post) Those glass-half-full frauds on wall street along with the administration will be cheering this unequivocally bad news with a dubious retort as ‘used home sales will rise’ … riiiight! Anything you say …

Stocks dip for third straight day (Washington Post) [Investor fears? How ‘bout reality. Even an essentially non-business site as Drudge has the pulse of this pervasive realization that ‘those dogs of happy days are here again don’t hunt no more’. Check the heads: DRUDGEREPORT: America Is 'Bankrupt Mickey Mouse Economy'...
WIRE: USA 'Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It'...

DEFICIT ADDS $165,040,000,000.00 -- IN ONE MONTH!
YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT HITS RECORD HIGH
JOBLESS CLAIMS JUMP TO HIGHEST SINCE FEB...
California can't pay bills -- may use IOUs for August payments...
DEFICIT ADDS $165,040,000,000.00 -- IN ONE MONTH!
Homes lost to foreclosure up 6% from last year...
Grim Voter Mood Turns Grimmer... and Economists Herald New Great Depression The world is currently experiencing the modern day equivalent of the Great Depression, according to a prominent economist who has added his voice to scores of others now forecasting ongoing economic doom on a scale not seen since the 1930s. Peter Schiff: “We’re in the Early Stages of a Depression” The Motley Fool | Four years and the worst recession since the Great Depression later, Schiff stands alone again with a bleaker diagnosis for the economy: an inflationary depression. My take: This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up move was a manipulated bull (s***) cycle in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed

Pearlstein: The FCC and the bandwidth wars (Washington Post) [The internet has been among the few areas of growth and american prominence, at least at this point in time. Clearly, as with the throng that heralded in NAFTA, the self-interested voices of ie., google, verizon, etc., are similarly anathema to the greater good (as was NAFTA). Berners-Lee spoke against such parochialism in no uncertain terms, much as did Ross Perot on NAFTA and history has proven Perot correct as is so of the mind numbing approaches of google, verizon, etc.] Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse (infowars.com) [ Timothy Berners-Lee, putative father of the internet along with Cerf, has already weighed in on this topic and strenuously opposed same and whose learned opinion should be given great weight. google and verizon as mere government shills at best and government, ie., nsa / cia, etc., operatives at worst, are ‘johnny-come-latelies’ and died fast in government hands! ]. So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it.

AP Business Highlights ‘Jobs picture dims as unemployment claims rise WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy is looking bleaker as new applications for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in almost six months. It's a sign that hiring remains weak and employers may be going back to cutting their staffs. Analysts say the increase suggests companies won't be adding enough workers in August to lower the 9.5 percent unemployment rate. First-time claims for jobless benefits edged up by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 484,000, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's the highest total since February. Analysts had expected claims to fall…’

Bearish Sentiment Falls to 14-Week Low [Talk about contrarian indicators!] AAII – ‘Bullish sentiment rose 9.4 percentage points to 39.8% in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. Despite the size of the increase, the proportion of individual investors expecting stock prices to rise over the next six months is only at a two-week high. The historical average is 39%. Neutral sentiment, expectations that stock prices will stay essentially flat over the next six months, fell 1.3 percentage points to 30.1%. The historical average is 31%. Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall, dropped 8.1 percentage points to 30.1%. This is a 14-week low. The historical average is 30%. The survey period, Thursday through Wednesday, needs to be taken into consideration when looking at these results. Stock prices were essentially flat through most of this week's survey period (with the obvious exception of yesterday), giving some investors hope that a short-term bottom had been established. Though there were big changes in bullish and bearish sentiment, both optimism and pessimism are close to their historical averages. As a result, I would argue that individual investors' confidence in the market remains fragile…’

Lavish lifestyle for bank executive in Waters case (Washington Post) While this is typical of California, isn’t it as typical of the wall street frauds? Scammin’ everybody with that too big to fail b*** s*** when they’re a net economic drain, high frequency churn-and-earn computer programmed trading scams among the more blatant frauds emanating from their insatiable greed and sense of entitlement. Previous post: Cities, counties could slash 500,000 more jobs (Washington Post) Could? I’d say must. Particularly when you factor in that this election ‘spurt’ leaving the nation even more bankrupt is illusory. I had occasion some time ago in speaking with a long-time California resident (instructor at the college gym where I worked out) to express my surprise at the bloated (municipal, state) high-priced bureaucracy which of course is not productive except as to higher taxes and which is at the forefront in the city of Bell where the city manager was paid nearly 900,000 annually (with benefits the package was an incredible $1,500,000), and specifically mentioned the part-time typical compensation of $100,000 and contracts to interested, even familial, parties. Of course, no one has done this better than feinstein, albeit on a more federal level and China contracts through her husband’s companies, as previousl set forth on this website. Drudgereport: 'Where do the bailouts end?' [I feel compelled to comment here that even capital hill math would be hard-pressed to justify $26 billion taxpayer / treasury dollars they don’t really have, to save 300,000 state / local government jobs! After all, the nation is defacto bankrupt! ]

Bailouts benefited foreign firms (Washington Post) True enough! But, truth be told, the fraud giving rise to the financial debacle was home grown americana. Moreover, the remnants of same are still out there in the trillions, now ‘marked to anything they so choose’, courtesy of a complicit, albeit after the fact, congress. This is the point … rather than as should have been the case of making the perps pay, the bailouts / cover-ups by now enablers if not accomplices is ending quite badly with much worse to come, and that includes those european lightweights who have come into the fraudulent wall street fold to theirs and the world’s economic and financial detriment.

U.S. trade deficit startles markets (Washington Post) [ Unexpectedly? I don’t think so! And, I have my site, other references / links and posts to prove it; and, what’s more, I’m not alone. After all, what are NAFTAs for anyway. However, I also must candidly admit I don’t frequent the mainstream blather / propaganda that includes the ‘money-honeys’ (when the messenger’s more important than the message, problems and distortions are bound to follow) and their ilk, etc.. NBR’s about it and even they have their pressures (I don’t consider the Washington Post mainstream in the pejorative sense of the word, with a rich journalistic history to back that up, all things considered) ]. Unexpectedly bad news from three continents reinforces fears that global recovery is faltering.

Obama signs $26 billion jobs bill (WP) [I feel compelled to comment here that even using capital hill math one would be hard-pressed to justify $26 billion taxpayer / treasury dollars they don’t really have, to save 300,000 state / local government jobs! After all, the nation is defacto bankrupt! I think the former Soviet Union would have done the same.]

Fed action signals new activism (Washington Post) [ Riiiiight! The activist fed! That’s all we need. As if we needed more of what brought us to this point! Certainly the fed’s role in the continuing and current financial crisis / debacle cannot be ignored or disputed. Nothing like a hegelian methodology to create the very problems for which they are called upon to offer solutions, increasing their sense of importance, and concentrating power thereby. (Think about it. It is really rather quite absurd that each meeting time the financial markets hold their bated breath for these incompetent boobs). Then there’s the cover-up with an opportunity for enrichment of some, usually the tight-lipped yes-men then ever after and forever bonded in what becomes tantamount to an almost fraternal link by ‘virtue’ of the crime thereby. No, I’m not saying their initial missteps were necessarily badly intended, but the manipulations thereafter to obfuscate their incompetence (senile greenspun, no-recession-helicopter-ben, etc.) comes at a great price and is nothing less than tantamount to or just outright crime. I’d abolish the fed without hesitation or compunction. After all, at this point of decline and defacto bankruptcy of the nation you certainly can’t point to success nor argue their indispensability. Then there’s also the missing trillions, over-printing of fiat currency, and all that sub rosa activity with the worthless fraudulent toxic paper which I believe is being supplanted with ultimately hard currency to the great benefit of the frauds and great detriment to the nation.]

ACCORDING TO TECHNICAL INDICATORS, MELTDOWN IS POSSIBLE Simon Maierhofer A SOLID TRACK RECORD An analysis of the SMA crossover buy/sell signals triggered for the S&P over the past 10 days shows that six of the eight signals (75%) were correct. ..LAGGING BUT ACCURATE Many dismiss the 200-day or other SMAs as lagging indicators. Although an indicator may be lagging it doesn't mean it's incorrect or should be dismissed… Even though a lagging indicator, the rain does confirm that a storm is coming. A PRO-ACTIVE APPROACH You'd expect Wall Street and the financial media to be the financial weather man and warn you of upcoming storms. Unfortunately, that is not so. Leading up to the April 2010 recovery highs, Wall Street and the media proclaimed the skies are clear, 'sunny throughout the year' was their weather forecast. Only after investors got drenched, did Wall Street recommend pulling out the umbrella. Sure enough, as soon as the umbrellas came out, stocks switched into rally mode and the sky cleared up. Unlike Wall Street, the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter warned of the brewing storm while it was still sunny. On April 16, the newsletter warned that 'historically, there has rarely been a more pronounced sell signal ... When consumers spend, they do so with credit cards. Visa and Master Card both got hit with a death cross. It's just a matter of time until the discretionary sector follows. WAIT, THERE IS MORE …High copper prices are reflective of high demand and a humming economy. Lower copper prices signal trouble ahead. On June 22, an ominous death cross visited copper's chart. PUTTING THE ODDS IN YOUR FAVOR Investing is a game of probabilities. While you always want to have the odds in your favor, you never want to bet against the odds. Right now, the odds are piling up on the bearish side of the ledger. Even though Wall Street is saying that the sky has cleared up, 'meteorologists' with a better track record are warning of the storm ahead. In fact, there is one rare chart formation that strongly suggests the onset of a 2008-like decline, a development that's certainly supported by the number of death crosses spanning a variety of markets. The August issue of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter includes a detailed short, mid and long-term forecast, along with the one chart that tells the market's story and true bearish potential.

Congressman Calls Vote on $26 Billion Jobs Bill a Sign ‘We’re Not Bankrupting the Country Fast Enough’ With a tone of sarcasm, a California Republican congressman said that he “knows” why members of the U.S. House of Representatives were summoned from their home districts back to Washington, D.C., and the halls of Congress.

U.S. Is Bankrupt and We Don’t Even Know Bloomberg | Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.

Crowd waiting for housing vouchers gets rowdy Atlanta Journal-Constitution | A crowd of people hoping to get federal housing assistance became unruly Wednesday morning with reports of fights breaking out in the crowd.

Californians’ income falls for first time since WWII Sacramento Bee | The personal incomes of Golden State workers fell by that amount in 2009 compared with the previous year.

Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse [ Timothy Berners-Lee, putative father of the internet along with Cerf, has already weighed in on this topic and strenuously opposed same and whose learned opinion should be given great weight. google and verizon as mere government shills at best and government, ie., nsa / cia, etc., operatives at worst, are ‘johnny-come-latelies’ and died fast in government hands! ]. So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it.

San Francisco Fed: “A Recessionary Relapse Is A Significant Possibility Sometime In The Next Two Years” [ Picture the fed as a pseudo ninja with fancy foreplay / motions getting decked / ‘koed’ with a simple right-hook to the jaw by the antagonist named reality. All this finagling, manipulation, fiat currency over-printing, and nation bankrupting debt, and … nothing / nada / ‘growth ‘ estimates revised downward, unemployment unabated since economic reality figures somewhat in hiring to say the least, and jobs transferred overseas ain’t comin’ back. Quite simply, this is a depression no matter what they call it! ] Presented without commentary, suffice to say that idiots who look at the LEI and factor for the curve inversion subindicator deserve all they get.

Peter Schiff: “We’re in the Early Stages of a Depression” The Motley Fool | Four years and the worst recession since the Great Depression later, Schiff stands alone again with a bleaker diagnosis for the economy: an inflationary depression.

Democrats, Advocacy Groups Blast Cuts to Food Stamps to Fund $26B Aid Bill Some Democrats are upset and advocacy groups are outraged over the raiding of the food-stamp cupboard to fund a state-aid bailout that some call a gift to teachers and government union workers.

15 Economic Statistics That Just Keep Getting Worse A little over a week ago, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner penned an article for the New York Times entitled “Welcome To The Recovery” in which he touted the great strides that the U.S. economy was making.

America Is ‘Bankrupt Mickey Mouse Economy’: CIO America is a “Mickey Mouse economy” that is technically bankrupt, according to Jochen Wermuth, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and managing partner at Wermuth Asset Management.

DRUDGEREPORT: America Is 'Bankrupt Mickey Mouse Economy'...
WIRE: USA 'Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It'...

DEFICIT ADDS $165,040,000,000.00 -- IN ONE MONTH!
YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT HITS RECORD HIGH
JOBLESS CLAIMS JUMP TO HIGHEST SINCE FEB...
California can't pay bills -- may use IOUs for August payments...

DEFICIT ADDS $165,040,000,000.00 -- IN ONE MONTH!
Homes lost to foreclosure up 6% from last year...
Grim Voter Mood Turns Grimmer...
Claims of Afghan civilian deaths spark protest...
Military sees heavier fighting in fall...

PAPER: 10 reasons why Obama presidency is in meltdown...
GALLUP: Even the Poor Are Abandoning Obama; Approval Under 50%...
Obama abolishes White House position dedicated to transparency...

Michelle Obama popularity falls...

UPDATE: Suspected serial killer arrested in Atlanta...
Attempting to flee to israel … to be with kindred spirits ...

MOB RUSH FOR FED AID DRAWS RIOT POLICE
DOW drops 265...
Feds rethink policies that encourage home ownership...
Obama: $3 Billion More in Aid for Unemployed...
US posts widest trade gap in 20 months...
Q2 GDP Growth Could Be Revised To Just 1% After Trade Data...
PUMP: FED TO BUY MORE DEBT...
DOWNGRADES OUTLOOK...
US-backed fighters in Iraq defect to al-Qaida... [Winning hearts and minds … for Al Qaida … just one too many civilian deaths for no good reason at all ]

BACK TO SPEND SOME MORE!

Republicans Suggest Names for 'Second Stimulus' Bill...
'Where do the bailouts end?' [I feel compelled to comment here that even capital hill math would be hard-pressed to justify $26 billion taxpayer / treasury dollars they don’t really have, to save 300,000 state / local government jobs! After all, the nation is defacto bankrupt! ]

9 Reasons Why You Won’t See A Jobs Recovery Anytime Soon In two words: small businesses.

Federal Employees Earn 30 to 40 Percent More than Private-Sector Workers, Study Finds Federal employees earn 30 to 40 percent more money than their private sector counterparts on average, a study from the conservative Heritage Foundation finds.

The Oil Price Surge Indicator Says There’s A 100% Chance Of A New Recession No, that headline is not a typo.

Gerald Celente On the Alex Jones Show: Double Dip Depression Will Lead Us Into War The white shoe boys are taking us into the worst depression in history.

Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse [ Timothy Berners-Lee, putative father of the internet along with Cerf, has already weighed in on this topic and strenuously opposed same and whose learned opinion should be given great weight. google and verizon as mere government shills at best and government, ie., nsa / cia, etc., operatives at worst, are ‘johnny-come-latelies’ and died fast in government hands! ]. So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it.

Economists Herald New Great Depression The world is currently experiencing the modern day equivalent of the Great Depression, according to a prominent economist who has added his voice to scores of others now forecasting ongoing economic doom on a scale not seen since the 1930s.

Ambac says it's working on bankruptcy filing MBIA Inc. reports a quarterly profit, while rival bond insurer Ambac Financial Group posts a loss....

Food Inflation Coming To A Household Near You, As Wal-Mart Hikes Prices At Fastest Pace Since Early January Nothing to see here, except yet another sign of the food inflation that’s the story of the moment.

Albert Edwards Explains How The Leading Indicator Is Already Back Into Recession Territory And Why The Japan “Ice Age” Is Coming Albert Edwards reverts to his favorite economic concept, the “Ice Age” in his latest commentary piece, presenting another piece in the puzzle of similarities between the Japanese experience and that which the US is currently going through.

The Horrific Derivatives Bubble That Could One Day Destroy The Entire World Financial System Today there is a horrific derivatives bubble that threatens to destroy not only the U.S. economy but the entire world financial system as well, but unfortunately the vast majority of people do not understand it.

Fed set to downgrade outlook for US Financial Times | The Federal Reserve is set to downgrade its assessment of US economic prospects.

Goldman Made Between $11 And $16 Billion In 2009 Trading CDS And Other Derivatives As part of its most recent FCIC grilling, David Viniar left the political theater a month ago with a homework assignment to disclose all of the firm’s derivative profits, as well as provide granular detail on its derivative trades.

Japan Redux: A Video Case Study Of The Upcoming U.S. Lost Decade Whether one believes in inflation or deflation, one thing is certain: in many ways the current US experience finds numerous parallels to what has been happening in Japan for not one but two decades.

Pentagon can’t account for $8.57 billion in Iraqi funds B is for billions. And b is for it’s hard to believe that they’ve done it again. The last time, even more money vanished, which I noted in my article, Following Pentagon trillions to Israel and 9-11. This was under the Zionist Dov Zakheim’s watch as Comptroller of the Pentagon from May 4, 2001, to March 10, 2004.

Wall Street bill sweeps away stray remnant of 1933 Glass-Steagall Act In seven simple lines buried in this year’s financial overhaul bill, lawmakers swept away one of the last vestiges of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that held sway over markets for decades.

Small firms pay price of bank boom: As bankers celebrate more profits, more companies die from lack of loans Small businesses are paying the price for the banks’ dramatic return to bumper profits.

Dollar approaches 15-year low against yen The dollar plunged to a fresh eight-month low against the yen after US employment data disappointed expectations, raising the prospect of looser monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.

Riiiiight! That ‘no-longer looking’ dynamic that saves the day and the ue rate at 9.5%. At this rate of progress, and according to their thinking and manipulations, full employment at an unprecedented 0% unemployment is just around the corner as everyone stops looking for the jobs no longer here, many of which were sent overseas and which are not coming back owing to substantial economic structural / financial shifts.

Jobs Report: Companies Slow to Hire ABC News - Only about 8 percent of the 8.4 million jobs lost at the peak of the recession have been recovered, leaving millions of Americans still looking for work, according to an analysis by ABC News' Business Unit. Video: News Update: US Unemployment Rate Holds at 9.5%, 71,000 Jobs Added in June SmarTrend News 71K more jobs not enough to dent unemployment rate The Associated Press

When perusing the headlines and the following, I immediately thought ‘between Iraq and a hard place (Afghanistan and america’s defacto bankruptcy)’:

Between a Rock and a Hard Place Jerry Slusiewicz ‘Everyone knows that being between a rock and a hard place is not a good place to be. That is where the market is right now. We continue to have terrible news in the housing sector. There is no general economic recovery as of yet. Jobless claims continue to mount, while net new jobs are not being created in a significant enough number to even sustain the population growth (approximately 150,000 net new jobs per month needed). By far the majority of economic reports for May, June, July, and now August, have been worse than forecast. That includes home starts, home sales, home-builder confidence, retail sales, auto sales, consumer confidence, durable goods orders, manufacturing, jobs, etc. Yet the market rallies or barely goes down on these bad reports. What gives? It seems that bad news is good news right now…

Social Security in the red this year Washington Times | Meanwhile President Obama’s health care overhaul has given Medicare’s basic Hospital Insurance an extra 12 years of financial stability, though it did not solve all of the program’s long-term challenges.

U.S. Employers Shed Jobs WSJ | he U.S. economy shed more jobs than expected in July while the unemployment rate held steady at 9.5%, a further sign the economic recovery may be losing momentum.

Impoverished U.S. City Will Close Libraries Mob infested, pervasively corrupt jersey’s most impoverished city will close all three branches of its public library at year’s end unless a rescue can be pulled off. Camden’s library board says the libraries won’t be able to afford to stay open past Dec. 31 because of budget cuts from the city government. The city had its subsidy from the state cut.

Dollar approaches 15-year low against yen The dollar plunged to a fresh eight-month low against the yen after US employment data disappointed expectations, raising the prospect of looser monetary policy from the Federal Reserve.

IRS To Withhold Indicator That Shows Refunds Owed To Taxpayers Think of all the budget savings from the ever increasing lack of transparency.

Visualize Your State’s Financial Collapse Better Than Ever Just because wishing away local and state financial collapse doesn’t work quite as well as it does at the Federal level (courtesy of everyone’s favorite printer genie), attached is a terrific interactive chart.

Stepping Aside Because I Can Always Buy Back In Leigh Drogen ‘I sold out of everything this morning, for a few reasons…First, breakouts don’t always work and momentum stocks have a habit of ending their trends abruptly.
Second, …I can buy back in this afternoon if I change my mind (not likely). I see more risk to the downside here than I do to the upside. …Third, the jobs number tomorrow scares me. No, it doesn’t matter what the number is, we all know it’s going to be bad, what matters is how the market reacts, and I have the feel it’s not going to be good. Fourth, many of my oscillators are overbought here.Fifth, and finally, I don’t like the fact that this rally has primarily taken place on the back of the most beaten down sectors. …It all just doesn’t pass the smell test for me. I’ve been successful at this not because I’m always right, but because I know when I’m wrong and I’m willing to change course or step aside. Right now, I’ll step aside.’

Were Unemployment Claims Really So 'Unexpected'?

Food stamp use hit record 40.8m in May The number of Americans who are receiving food stamps rose to a record 40.8 million in May as the jobless rate hovered near a 27-year high, the government reported yesterday.

Journalists Still Hiding Obama’s Broken Promises on Jobs On Aug. 6, everyone’s attention will be fixed on the release of July’s unemployment numbers. The national unemployment rate is forecast to increase to 9.6 percent, according to Bloomberg News’ survey.

Gold Alternative To Debt and Market Manipulation The Keynesians are on the edge of implementing more quantitative easing (QE) as we predicted they would.

11 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is Bad Millions of Americans are waking up to the fact that the Federal Reserve is bad, but very few of them can coherently explain why this is true.

WE’RE UNDERESTIMATING THE BEARISH POTENTIAL Simon Maierhofer, August 3, 2010
’… Will Anything Stop the Market? Something Did
… At the same time, the April numbers were lowered the second time by an additional 24,000 units, while May sales were revised lower by 33,000 units. To summarize, April and May sales were reduced by 57,000 units. Therefore, June sales were 24% above May sales. By the way, May sales were the lowest on record…

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: Unemployment Could Go Up Before It Comes Down [Ooooh! Sounds like a plan ‘tiny tim’! … God bless us everyone! ] Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledged that it is still a “tough economy” for most Americans, and warned it’s possible the unemployment rate will go up for a couple of months before it comes down as more people enter the labor force.

China Officially Enters The Gold Market: Full Release Of PBoC’s Plan To Expand And Develop China’s Gold Infrastructure The moment many gold bulls have been waiting for – the Chinese Central Bank has just released a directive informing everyone it is commencing the development of a healthy gold market.

The Dollar Continues To Fall Like A Knife, As Euro Breaks Well Above $1.32 Another violent change of direction from what we’ve come to expect from the euro and the dollar.

22 Statistics About America’s Coming Pension Crisis That Will Make You Lose Sleep At Night As the first of the 80 million Baby Boomers have begun to retire, it has become increasingly apparent that the United States is facing a pension crisis of unprecedented magnitude.

Americans who swap passports London Telegraph | At the US Embassy in London, there is a waiting list that none of the officials likes to discuss. At the US Embassy in London, there is a waiting list that none of the officials likes to discuss. On the list are Americans hoping to give up their citizenship… (sure sign of insanity … I mean, Orwellian england of all places?)

Temporary Firehouse Closures Begin In Philadelphia CBS 3 | The city of Philadelphia has started temporarily closing fire stations in order to balance its budget.

Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police force St. Louis Dispatch | East St. Louis will layoff 37 employees, including 19 of its 62 police officers.

Come on! Who are they kidding? All the data was bad, and that ‘not bad as expected dog don’t hunt anymore’!

They’re losing their minds in china:
Silicon Alley Insider: ‘… The first big economic news of the week was the Chinese PMI which indicated that Chinese manufacturing was inching ever closer to contraction. But contrary to the expectations of some, it did not spook investors. In fact, Asia had a very big night, with Shanghai gaining about 1.3% …’;

europe:
the basket-case eu economy, with obfuscation taken directly out of the fraudulent wall street playbook including fake stress tests, saw air ball stock rally based on earnings data long ago discounted;

u.s.:
We already know they’re criminally insane on wall street! Yahoo: ‘…The mood improved further still after the ISM Manufacturing Index for July came in at 55.5. That may have marked a pullback from the 56.2 of June, but it exceeded the 54.2 that had been widely expected ...’

Oh, yeah … there’s also the higher oil prices, ever more worthless Weimar dollar part of the rally, and so on!

This is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits since there is much worse to come!

Warning Signs Suggest Market Headed for Another Collapse … One can find no shortage of fundamental or mechanical theories explaining what might form the basis of a future financial collapse published at Zero Hedge, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Nouriel Roubini or Karl Denninger. In fact, I buy into a lot of the evidence presented by these sources, and believe that one gains a better grasp of financial reality spending 10 minutes with Zero Hedge than spending 2 weeks listening to the mainstream financial media. It is laughable to compare the vacant drivel coming out of Dennis Kneale to even one single article published by Tyler Durden or Ryan Iskander…

1. HEAD & SHOULDERS ON THE S&P 500, DOW JONES, AND NASDAQ …

2. BULLISH FLAG ON THE VIX? We can’t have a massive spike in volatility without a coinciding collapse in the equity markets …

3. THE DEATH-CROSS ON THE S&P SUGGESTS THE 2009 TO 2010 RALLY MIGHT BE OVER

…

4. THE VOLUMELESS RALLY & MUTUAL FUND OUTFLOWS

…

5. 1,000 POINT FLASH CRASHES

…

6. BOND MARKET DISTRUSTFUL OF THE RALLY

…

7. MARKET LEADERSHIP IS WEAKENING

[chart] … ‘

INSIDER TRANSACTIONS (Washington Post) This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up move was a manipulated bull (s***) cycle in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed.

Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011, but if the banking system continues to implode a deep downturn or depression could begin sometime in 2009 instead of 2010.
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012

Why Must The Media Keep Trotting Out Senile Incompetent greenspun And His Economic Lunacy? …and we continue to talk ourselves off the edge of the cliff. For the second week in a row Meet The Press trotted out the most financially incompetent of the financially incompetent and placed them on their undeserving pedestal.

Key Components Of America’s Military Are Now Dominated By A Chinese Monopoly Most of America’s key military technologies require rare earth elements, whose production China holds a near-monopoly over.

alan greenspan: “The Financial System Is Broke” We will be in deflation until the broke financial system becomes unbroke… and then we will have hyperinflation. [Little bit late to be talkin’ the obvious truth!]

Trying to make August less of a 'dog' with sidewalk sale (Washington Post) Sounds like a new, new plan to deal with the overwhelming success of the panoply of government stimulus / tarp, etc., plans ‘financed’ with money they don’t have and taxpayer ‘largesse’. For those who’ve lived long enough, they’re waiting for the apple carts.

Did TARP work? Two economists say yes. (Washington Post) Come on! What do you expect them to say? They’re invested in that position having supported same despite the massive fraud for prosecution and disgorgement was appropriate. Indeed, moody’s itself has been faulted (liable?) for lax valuation / rating standards which contributed to the debacle. Moreover, these ‘cheerleaders’ can always be counted on to toe the network line which ultimately enables the ubiquitous frauds we’ve seen. Amazingly, senile incompetent greenspun, co-architect / enabler of the fraud / debacle was interviewed and used such words in conjunction as ‘modest recovery, pause, double-dip possible, quasi recession’. What total b***s***!

Are the American people obsolete? Salon | The richest few don’t need the rest of us as markets, soldiers or police anymore. Maybe we should all emigrate.

What's coming this week (Washington Post) How ‘bout last week and the new american economic institution colloquially now known as ‘bank failure Friday’ (the news dump so as to avoid the so-called ‘news cycle’). Then, let’s hope for real rather than election-year market frothing fake / false / manipulated data.

U.S. bank failures total 108 after 5 shut on Friday U.S. bank failures reached 108 so far in 2010 on Friday as regulators seized five small banks in the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast, none publicly traded.

Foreclosures Continue To Dramatically Increase In 2010 Economic Collapse | RealtyTrac says that unemployment has become the major reason for foreclosures. In a very alarming sign for the U.S. economy, foreclosures have continued to dramatically increase in 2010. But there has been a shift.

U.S. recovery hopes fade as economic growth dips Washington Post | The recovery is fading, and a troubling new pattern is setting in: economic growth that is too slow to put Americans back to work. The recovery is fading, and a troubling new pattern is setting in: economic growth that is too slow to put Americans back to work.

Ron Paul Goes After The SEC’s FOIA Exclusivity, Introduces SEC Transparency Act What is unclear is whether the Ron Paul law prohibts SEC staffers to spend 40 hours per week to browse porn on the taxpayer’s dime.

U.S. recovery hopes fade as economic growth dips The recovery is fading, and a troubling new pattern is setting in: economic growth that is too slow to put americans back to work.

Stocks' Late Push: Some Optimism, Some Pessimism [Late push … as in a constipated bowel movement … Come on! Another one of those push the computer programmed trade button and off we go, reality / valuation / economics be damned. In real security analysis (very simplified / summarized), as opposed to the continued frauds on wall street, one must begin with the largest and most significant aggregate (a simple word picture / analogy: ‘rising tide lifts all boats’). If you get this right, the probabilities in your favor are substantially enhanced. From there, you want leading industries, and leading companies within said leading industries (again, larger aggregates then picks, to enhance probabilities, not guarantees, in your favor). Your time frame, 1-3-5 yrs tops for projections, (including income statement/EPS, balance sheet, and applying an appropriate P/E – a detailed, multi-faceted approach beyond what could be described in this summary); and, that’s all they are, projections. Beyond that time frame, your guess. On fraudulent wall street, every day, though already discounted in large part (6-8 mos, approx.), the market spins, churns, and with lightning fast computerized high-frequency trade programs commissions in huge volumes like no other time in financial history when real valuation meant something, with no net economic value added, but very lucrative to the frauds on wall street, which ultimately is a net detriment to the economy / the nation /and other industries as we’ve seen and as described elsewhere on this site and in these posts http://albertpeia.com . Preposterously, they even sometimes refer to seasonal factors as if hearing them for the first time and ‘explaining’ an up move (almost invariably already discounted). Today, they shrugged off the deepening economic reality despite the election year frothing / manipulations. This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up move was a manipulated bull (s***) cycle in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed. ].

Slowing economic rebound raises unemployment fears (AP) [Wow! Talk about understatements!]

China Becomes Second Biggest World Economy China has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy, the fruit of three decades of rapid growth that has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

Hank Paulson Wants To Fix Fannie And Freddie By… Recreating Fannie And Freddie Former Treasury Secretary, Goldman Sachs CEO, and bailout architect Hank Paulson has a bit of a head-scratcher of an op-ed in the Washington Post this evening all about charting a course for sustainable housing policy in the US.

Marc Faber Questions if Dow Could Hit 1,000 In the August edition of the ‘The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report’ Marc Faber questions whether the Dow could hit 1,000 as predicted by Robert Prechter, based on his interpretation of Elliot Waves, Fibonacci numbers and socioeconomic trends. Prechter, who has written 13 books on finance (external link), believes that the stock market is historically overvalued in terms of dividends and earnings, because of a “great rise in positive social mood.” But the mood changed in 2000 and the “trend toward negative social mood will lead to an economic contraction,” according to Prechter. “Small bear markets lead to recessions, big bear markets lead to depressions. The current bear market will be the biggest in nearly 300 years, so the depression will be correspondingly deep,” Prechter said.

The International Money Changers Reward the Euro for Forcing Austerity Activist Post | The growing noise for “solutions” to America’s very real debt problems is becoming louder as the calls for confiscating Social Security and Pensions are now everyday news.

Wall St falls after weak outlooks drag (Reuters) U.S. stocks sagged in volatile trading on Thursday after weak outlooks from technology companies and downbeat comments from a Federal Reserve official gave investors little reason to buy.

US Treasury is running on fumes The White House is screaming like a stuck pig. WikiLeaks’ release of the Afghan War Documents “puts the lives of our soldiers and our coalition partners at risk.”

Trillions for Wall Street Mike Whitney | The bottom line? When Wall Street is hurting, money’s never a problem.

Look What Surprises They Snuck Into The Financial Reform Bill The Economic Collapse | The financial reform bill was supposed to “fix” Wall Street and the financial system, but it did not do much of anything. Even just a decade ago, major pieces of legislation in the U.S. Congress would be just a few dozen pages long. But today, it seems like every time Congress passes an important bill it ends up being over a thousand pages long.

Cash-starved California orders unpaid leave for workers California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal state of emergency Wednesday, requiring most state employees to take three days of unpaid leave per month until a new budget is enacted.

The Obama Administration Tries To Propagandize Its Way To An Economic Recovery Yesterday we noted how, absurdly, The White House blog was trumpeting a new cheap housing program as part of its recovery efforts.

Fed says some districts report slowing economy (Reuters)

Flaws of the European Stress Test … 'Bank stress test' became the magic phrase. Nothing calms fear like a stress test that's labeled as rigorous. The stress test raises a few very obvious questions: 1) Will it work? 2) Why was it needed in addition to a $1 trillion aid package? 3) Is the stress test just a gimmick to appease investors? The stress test is conducted by the London-based Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS). Ironically, the test has ignored the majority of banks' holdings of sovereign debt. Sovereign debt concerns by the so-called PIGS countries (Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain) triggered the latest wave of financial problems. Ignoring sovereign debt in the Euro stress test would be like ignoring toxic real estate assets in the U.S. 10% Good - 90% Bad According to a Morgan Stanley survey, European banks hold about 90% of their Greek government bonds in their banking books and 10% in their trading books. The bonds in the banking book are generally held until maturity, the bonds in the trading book are traded more frequently. According to a document obtained by Bloomberg, the stress test assumes a loss of 23.1% on Greek debt, 14% on Portuguese bonds, 12.3% on Spanish debt, 4.7% on German debt, 10% on U.K. debt, and 5.9% on French debt. However, the stress test only looks at the bonds held in banks' trading books, which account for a mere 10% of Greek bond holdings. Can that be called a stress test? Nouriel Roubini says that 'the assumptions made about economic growth, about sovereign risk are not realistic enough.' The fact that only seven banks failed the test with a combined shortfall of $4.5 billion confirms the lax nature of the test. … The U.S. Bank Stress Test - A Nice Façade A closer look under the hood of the U.S. bank stress test, however, shows that there's not much substance behind the facade either. It was determined that the 19 tested U.S. banks need to increase their balance sheets by $75 billion to meet the conditions of what's termed the 'worst case scenario.' To a large extent, the $75 billion of additional capital was financially engineered. Banks didn't have to actually raise $75 billion. They were able to change the label of some of their assets on their balance sheets. The government supported this practice via mandatory convertible preferred shares (detailed analysis in May 2009 issue of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter) …’

SEC Says New FinReg Law Exempts It From Public Disclosure So much for transparency.

Regulatory Magic President Obama has signed the financial industry regulatory overhaul — officially, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Predictably, what he said about it cannot possibly be true.

Jim Rogers Calls CNBC A Market PR Agency Whose Sole Purpose Is To Make Stocks Go Higher A “cheeky” Jim Rogers appeared earlier on CNBC Europe (which incidentally is orders of magnitude better than its US equivalent), and confirmed the depths to which the once relevant and informative TV station has now fallen.

Flashback: Bush report: Sending jobs overseas helps U.S. The movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of a positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if it causes short-term pain and dislocation, the Bush administration said yesterday.

Smoking Guns of U.S. Treasury Monetization Kitco | A significant feature of fiat money systems is the privilege for the custodian of the reserve currency to engage in regular practices of ham-fisted monetary management.

Banking Disaster Largely Ignored By Mainstream Media Greg Hunter | It is amazing to me how little time the mainstream media is spending on this unfolding financial disaster and how much time it is devoting to things like Mel Gibson’s domestic problems.

Moody's: Regional banks on review for downgrade (AP)

Consumer confidence dims (Reuters) Job worries drove July U.S. consumer confidence to its lowest since February, with one in six people expecting lower income in the next six months, underscoring the precarious state of econo...

Global steelmakers paint gloomy picture (Reuters)

State budget gaps total $84 billion: study

Another Recession Due Circa 2012: Jim Rogers A new recession would be due around 2012 but central banks will not be able to throw cash at it anymore, Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, told CNBC Tuesday.

Marc Faber: Relax, This Will Hurt A Lot Marc Faber closed out this week’s Agora Financial Symposium with a speech that pretty much recapitulated the view that the end of the world is if not nigh, then surely tremendous dislocations to the existing socio-political and economic landscape are about to take place (with some very dire consequences for the US).

The Continuing Crisis in the New World Order LewRockwell.com | The crisis continues in the new world financial order with no end in sight and no real solution being put forth.

China Calls Our Bluff: “The US is Insolvent and Faces Bankruptcy as a Pure Debtor Nation but [U.S.] Rating Agencies Still Give it High Rankings” America’s biggest creditor – China – has called our bluff.

US bank failures in 2010 surpass 100 WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. bank failures this year have surpassed a bleak milestone of 100 as regulators shut down banks in Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Kansas, Nevada and Minnesota. The six bank seizures announced Friday bring to 102 the failures so far in 2010. The pace of bank closures this year is well ahead of that of last year, which saw a total 140 bank shuttered amid the recession and mounting loan defaults …

On the Disconnect Between the Market and the Economy Michael Shulman:

• The index of leading economic indicators fell 0.2% in June, the second drop in three months. A negative surprise.

• Unemployment claims rose to 464,000, more than expected.

• Uncle Ben said we are facing a period of “unusual uncertainty.” No kidding.

• Uncle Ben said we need continuing stimulus to a Congress unwilling to stimulate anyone or anything other than lobbyists with cash to contribute.

• Home sales fell 5.1% in June…’

(No recession helicopter ben) Bernanke Admits Major Policy Failures; Stocks Soar Darryl Montgomery What's wrong with this picture? In his bi-annual testimony before Congress yesterday, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke admitted that after more than a year and a half of zero interest rates and $3 trillion in federal deficit spending since 2008, the best case scenario for the U.S. economy is slow growth and high unemployment. The S&P 500 is up 2.5% so far this morning on this 'good' news. Bernanke's congressional testimony included the following statements (emphasis added by me):

"Most [FOMC] participants viewed uncertainty about the outlook for growth and unemployment as greater than normal, and the majority saw [at the June Fed meeting] the risks to growth as weighted to the downside."

"Financial conditions--though much improved since the depth of the financial crisis--have become less supportive of economic growth in recent months."

"Many banks continue to have a large volume of troubled loans on their books, and bank lending standards remain tight. With credit demand weak and with banks writing down problem credits, bank loans outstanding have continued to contract."

"After two years of job losses, private payrolls expanded at an average of about 100,000 per month during the first half of this year, a pace insufficient to reduce the unemployment rate materially. In all likelihood, a significant amount of time will be required to restore the nearly 8-1/2 million jobs that were lost over 2008 and 2009."…

Serious Analysis has given rise to a realistically mocking view of the current fraud on wall street:

The Markets & The 'Teen Drama Economy' Jonathan Cheng If the market’s mood swings these days are reminding you of high school, you’re not alone ...

NATIONAL / WORLD

Drudgereport: WASHPOST TAKES ON THE SPOOKS: Hidden world, growing beyond control...
854,000 people have top-secret security clearance...
You really have to laud The Washington Post for this investigative brilliance which whether people appreciate it or not, requires great corporate and personal courage; even more so inasmuch as this is their backyard, so to speak. Clearly, this illuminates the boondoggles which amazingly are coming at a time when america will not be able to handle ‘bare necessities’ much less the self-perpetuating, need-creating, bureaucracies which I’ve previously likened to a perverse version of ‘Field of Dreams’ where if you will commit taxpayer dollars, they’ll find / create a war, conflict, new war, etc., to spend it on. NSA Has Gotten So Big, Area Around It Has 112 Acres Of Parking Spaces In yet another terrifying expose, The Washington Post continues to lift the veil on just how massive the US government’s spying operation has become.

The following youtube video is well worth the look and explains how and why the frauds on wall street have gotten away with their devastating fraud thus far. The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed. ( UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE... CIVIL RIGHTS PANEL TO PURSUE FED PROBE IN BLACK PANTHER CASE... ex-Justice official quit over the handling of a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party accused his former employer of instructing attorneys in the civil rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims US v. AZ... Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud Obama broke promises ):

‘THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAaQNACwaLw&feature=PlayList&p=2EFAB57B44063742&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1. [ The Obama Deception Number 1 on U.S. Google Trends ]

‘The Obama Deception’ Censored ‘The Obama Deception’ has been censored In light of this development, I provide an archived site version which appears to be complete (but will be compared with earlier version and replaced with same if incomplete) http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

Then there is the well researched, produced, and informative ‘ESOTERIC AGENDA’ which explains how we’ve gotten to this forlorn point: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7052400717834950257#

For the Same Reason I’ve Included Here a Web Site Archived FLV Version of Esoteric Agenda http://albertpeia.com/esotericagenda.flv

Who’s Barry Soetoro, wobama? Get your very own BARRY SOETORO T-Shirt and ask the question, "Where is the Birth Certificate?". The REAL name of President Barack Obama is BARRY SOETORO so get a t-shirt with a picture of him on the front and the question, "Where is the Birth Certificate?". http://infowars-shop.stores.yahoo.net/basot.html Obama’s Comeback Strategy: Appearing On “The View” Now we know how the President will turn his flagging political fortunes around… [More b*** s***!].

Is Obama a Marxist? He Works for the Bankers Glenn Beck, the Fox News talking heads, and no shortage of Tea Party activists like to characterize Barry Obama as a Marxist.

Poll: Waning support for Obama on wars usa today | Support for Obama’s wars fell to 36%, down from 48% in a February poll.

President Obama’s Real Name “Barry Soetoro” Tops Google Trends Yet another search term announced during the Alex Jones Show, “Barry Soetoro” has topped Google Trends’ hot searches, and that means a boost to exposing important keys to President Obama’s true history. The #1 search trend corresponds with a visit to Austin, Texas today from President Barack Obama, a.k.a. Barry Soetoro.

Barry Soetoro AKA Barack Obama’s Political Dynasty Crashes And Burns While Barry Soetoro’s family lavish themselves at a luxury Spanish resort amidst deepening economic turmoil, back home Obama’s political dynasty crashes and burns as his approval ratings plunge to a record low of 41 per cent with less than a few months to go before the October midterm elections.

The Fraud Of Barry Soetoro (a.k.a. Barack Hussein Obama) (Feb. 24 ...
February 11, 2009
’Dear Senators and Congressmen:
Thank you for taking the time to review the documentation relevant to the Constitutional legitimacy of the presidency Barack Obama. There have been various problems with the vetting of Mr. Obama throughout the campaign and the present. I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight the most pertinent and alarming issues that have been clearly revealed. I’m sure you will agree that this information must be further investigated promptly before any damage is done to the United States and its citizens beyond the Constitutional compromises that currently exist. Most interesting, though, is the fact that Mr. Obama has not simply ordered the original vault copy of his birth certificate to be sealed and chosen to retain three (3) law firms to defend the various cases spending a reported $800,000 (of whose money?). If Mr. Obama has nothing to hide, then why fight the more than 42 cases in federal courts alone (according to Justia) and similar number in state courts of which the merits are well-founded and substantiated through factual evidence, state and federal statutes, and international laws? Main issue is that the state of HI, according to statue 338 allows Foreign born children of Hawaiian residents to obtain Hawaiian birth certificates and obtain them based on a statement of one relative only. There is plenty of evidence of Mr. Obama being born in Kenya and obtaining his Hawaiian birth certificate based on a statement of his grandparent only, who simply didn’t want to deal with immigration and not based on any records from any hospitals. Extensive searches in the State of Hawaii showed no birthing records for his mother [Stanley] Ann Dunham in any hospital in Hawaii. … I request all of this information to be forwarded to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senate Finance Committee, Senate Judicial Committee, Mr. Steven Whitlock, director of the whistle blower office of the IRS, ICE, State Department, and FBI for further investigation.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Orly Taitz, Esq.’

Did Google Block “Barry Soetoro” Search Term? Screenshots obtained by a Prison Planet reader suggest that Google may have moved to de-list “Barry Soetoro” as a popular search term shortly after it rose to the top of the Google Trends charts after yesterday’s effort by radio talk show host Alex Jones to focus attention on Barack Obama’s real name.

Exposing World Government: United We Fall Documentary Now Featured on Prison Planet.tv Kurt Nimmo | United We Fall breaks down the North American Union and how “free trade” agreements between the United States, Canada, and Mexico are impoverishing people and stripping away national sovereignty.

The Ecstasy of Empire Paul Craig Roberts | Without a revolution, americans are history.

Rand Paul Slams Obama: Stop Forcing Big Government Down Our Throats Steve Watson | Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul made an impassioned speech this weekend slamming the actions of the Obama administration for continuing a big government agenda at the expense of the American people.

Hal Turner Betrayed and Burned by Government He Served Kurt Nimmo | The case of Hal Turner should serve as a warning to those considering cooperating with the government.

Internet Kill Switch Bill Moves Closer To Senate Vote An Internet kill switch bill that would give President Obama the power to shut down parts of the world wide web for a period of at least four months without congressional oversight has moved closer to a Senate vote, with one of its primary advocates, Democratic co-chairman of the House Cybersecurity Caucus Jim Langevin, threatening a “cyber-9/11″ if the legislation is not quickly passed.

Exposing World Government: United We Fall Documentary Now Featured on Prison Planet.tv United We Fall, a documentary by Bryan Law and Dan Dicks, breaks down the North American Union and how “free trade” agreements between the United States, Canada, and Mexico are impoverishing people and stripping away national sovereignty.

Rand Paul Slams Obama: Stop Forcing Big Government Down Our Throats Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul made an impassioned speech this weekend slamming the actions of the Obama administration for continuing a big government agenda at the expense of the interests of the American people.

AT&T claims net neutrality is oppressive US TELECOM AT&T has come out in support of Google’s contention that wireless communications are different than wireline Internet services.

Government Using Google Earth To Loot Destitute Americans Aerial imaging technology is being used by the government to spy on Americans in an effort to collect revenue and enforce ordinances on swimming pools without safety certificates, junk cars being stored without permission, unlicensed porches, and a myriad of other petty transgressions that the state is feeding off in complete violation of the Fourth Amendment to suck citizens dry of whatever income they have left after being looted of trillions of dollars in wealth that the state has transferred to foreign banks.

On Facebook: Israeli soldier posed with bound Arab (AP)

Capital Controls: The Final Phase in the Great Looting of America Eric Blair | Capital controls are the next big event in the government-banking-oligarchy’s great looting of America.

Military Industrial Complex: Of 158 retired generals advising wars, 80% tied to defense industry; 29 are defense CEOs USA Today | Of the 158 retired generals and admirals identified as mentors, 80% had financial ties to defense contractor; 29 were company executives.

Cybersecurity Lie Exposed: Power Plants Are Not Connected To The Internet Senator Joe Lieberman’s draconian Internet takeover legislation, the 197-page Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, is being promoted as a vital tool to protect vulnerable infrastructure hubs from terrorist attacks, but as a recent Wall Street Journal report makes clear, large industrial power and water plants are not even connected to the public Internet.

Vegetable zionist Zelig joe lieberman’s Model For America: Purging The Internet of Dissent When political Zelig joe lieberman attempted to justify draconian legislation that would provide President Obama with a figurative kill switch to shut down parts of the Internet, he cited the Chinese system of Internet policing as model which america should move towards

Obama Approval Rating Revisits Rock Bottom Despite Positive Media Spin Despite positive corporate media spin amidst a cacophony of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, Barack Obama’s approval rating matched its record low today according to Rasmussen Reports.

Bailouts Went To Foreign Banks: Congressional Report Confirms What We Already Knew A Congressional Oversight Panel issued today highlights the fact that large portions of the Treasury’s $700 billion bailout fund have gone straight into the coffers of foreign banks, a fact that we knew months ago, but is only now being officially recognised.

Activists Take On Fluoridated Water in Wichita Concerned citizens in Wichita, Kansas, have informed that city’s public officials about a poster campaign designed to inform the public about the health hazards of water fluorination.

Illegal Immigrants Account for 8% of U.S. Newborns, Study Shows As many as 340,000 of the 4.3 million babies born in the U.S. in 2008 had at least one parent who was an illegal immigrant, according to a Pew Hispanic Center study of Census Bureau data.

Infowars.com Poll: Attack On Iran Imminent Kurt Nimmo | Nearly 60% of respondents to an Infowars.com poll believe the U.S and Israel will attack Iran in the near future.

Activists Take On Fluoridated Water in Wichita Infowars.com | Concerned citizens in Wichita, Kansas, have informed that city’s public officials about a poster campaign designed to inform the public about the health hazards of water fluorination.

Fed Leads America “To The Brink Of Collapse” Paul Joseph Watson | Bernanke announcement that central bank will buy US debt marks point of no return.

15 Economic Statistics That Just Keep Getting Worse The Economic Collapse | Anyone who claims that things are getting “better” is either ignorant, completely deluded or is purposely lying.

Economy Teeters On The Brink and Market Manipulation Continues Bob Chapman | It’s just the same old, same old, business as usual in America.

Google and Verizon DID do a deal for new internet ‘first class’ superhighway Technology giants Google and Verizon have today paved the way for a future ‘two-tier’ internet in which companies can pay extra to make sure their services get through. Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse [ Timothy Berners-Lee, putative father of the internet along with Cerf, has already weighed in on this topic and strenuously opposed same and whose learned opinion should be given great weight. google and verizon as mere government shills at best and government, ie., nsa / cia, etc., operatives at worst, are ‘johnny-come-latelies’ and died fast in government hands! ]. So Google and Verizon went public today with their “policy framework” — better known as the pact to end the Internet as we know it.

Iran Retaliates Against Sanctions: To Drop All Trade In “Filthy” Euro, Dollar Yet another step in the escalation between Iran and the US came earlier today.

The Cycle of Violence in Afghanistan Last week the National Bureau of Economic Research published a report on the effect of civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq that confirmed what critics of our foreign policy have been saying for years: the killing of civilians, although unintentional, angers other civilians and prompts them to seek revenge. This should be self-evident.

Economists Herald New Great Depression The world is currently experiencing the modern day equivalent of the Great Depression, according to a prominent economist who has added his voice to scores of others now forecasting ongoing economic doom on a scale not seen since the 1930s.

Street Action: Poison In Tap Water Fliers Went out on a beautiful Saturday after noon in Edmonton Alberta posting more fliers, posters etc. had a great time had a few people harass me but nothing big. Just gave me motivation to do more!! Resistance is Victory. Never Forget that.!!

Wheat Crisis Threatens Inflationary Timebomb, Food Riots Russia’s ban on wheat exports following widespread fires in the country sent food prices skyrocketing by 19 per cent in just a single week as fears grow that global volatility in foodstuffs and commodities could lead to a worldwide inflationary timebomb accompanied by widespread food riots.

The Obama presidency increasingly resembles a modern-day Ancien Régime: extravagant and out of touch with the American people What the great French historian Alexis de Tocqueville would make of today’s Obama administration were he alive today is anyone’s guess.

The Coming Collapse of The U.S. Political Establishment The last U.S. puppet regime to fall will be. . . the puppet regime in the White House.

Afghan war ‘kills 1,325 civilians this year’ More than 1,300 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, mostly by Taliban insurgents, a leading Afghan rights group said Sunday.

Recession in U.S. Even Worse Than Estimated, Revisions Show The worst U.S. recession since the 1930s was even deeper than previously estimated, reflecting bigger slumps in consumer spending and housing, according to revised figures.

Iran Unveils New Submarines and Makes More Persian Gulf Warnings Iran announced the addition of four new submarines to its fleet Sunday, saying the Iranian-manufactured vessels to be deployed in the Persian Gulf have sonar-evading technology and can launch torpedoes and missiles simultaneously.

Pentagon can’t account for $8.57 billion in Iraqi funds B is for billions. And b is for it’s hard to believe that they’ve done it again. The last time, even more money vanished, which I noted in my article, Following Pentagon trillions to Israel and 9-11. This was under the Zionist Dov Zakheim’s watch as Comptroller of the Pentagon from May 4, 2001, to March 10, 2004.

Fidel Castro: Obama can avert impending nuclear holocaust Miami Herald | If Obama approves an attack on Iran, war will spread through the Middle East and Asia and cause hundreds of millions of deaths, Castro warned.

Who poses the real threat to the Internet? A new opinion piece on CNN.com argues that it’s the government, not the companies providing internet access, that is the real danger to free speech and the internet. [I personally have found more often and prospectively problematic is that said government / company distinction is one without a difference when the government flexes muscle, particularly with leverage as ie., to non-performing monopolist microsoft, nsa/cia partner google (to a lesser extent at this juncture), cnn/timewarner cable (incompetence also a factor), fedex, etc.].

Wow! Talk about stretchin’ it! Alleged by black shooter: prejudice displayed by company as they fired thornton for stealing / selling the company’s beer he was supposed to be delivering … The ultimate race card … Riiiiight! You can’t make this stuff up! Fatal Shootings Reponse: 'No One Died After Police Arrived On Scene' Hartford Courant - As police on Friday concluded their on-scene investigation into Tuesday's mass killing at Hartford Distributors, they also began evaluating their response to the tragedy. Police arrest woman they say accepted beer from Connecticut shooter CNN Omar Thornton 911 Call: "I Wish I Could Have Got More of the People" CBS News

Voters Reject Notion That “Government Can Do Anything It Likes” A Rasmussen poll indicates that an overwhelming eighty-six percent (86%) of voters nationwide say there should be “limits on what the federal government can do”, in response to recent comments from pro-Obamacare Congressman Pete Stark.

Swine Flu Investigator Jane Bürgermeister Faces Prison Now that there is verifiable, unambiguous evidence that the Austrian government and state prosecutors have faked criminal charges to provide a pretext to arrest and detain me, I am going to apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

U.S. Employers Shed Jobs The U.S. economy shed more jobs than expected in July while the unemployment rate held steady at 9.5%, a further sign the economic recovery may be losing momentum.

Gold Surges To Three Week High As Dollar Tanks Gold prices have surged to to three week highs as the stock market and the U.S. economy continue to flounder, leaving investors seeking a safe haven in hard assets.

Globalists Race To Enforce Criminal Carbon Tax Despite the failure of last year’s Copenhagen climate summit, the United Nations is pushing ahead for a global carbon tax that will bankroll the expansion of world government as globalists attempt to make Americans pay for the evisceration of their own sovereinty and future prosperity.

Poison Tap Water Exposed As Soft Kill Weapon Water fluoridation has come to refer to the addition of over 40 chemicals into the water supply that synergistically come together to wreak havoc on the body and its processes.

Fluoride Truth on Australian TV – Fluoride Retards the Brain TV NEWS show exposes Fluoride for what it is – poison!

Poison Tap Water Makes Number 1 Google Search Poison tap water has become the number one trending search term on Google trends today after our efforts to bring attention to how sodium fluoride in tap water is a deadly health threat went viral.

Sodium Fluoride: Poison In The Tap Water Alex Jones is launching a new campaign to inform the public about the toxic chemical fluoride being added to tap water across the country. While EPA scientists and workers are calling for an end to water fluoridation, the government is doing everything in its power to continue and even increase the amount of toxic chemicals being added to public water supplies.

Naked Body Scanners: Monumental Cover Up Exposed At the height of the furor over airport body scanners earlier this year, the TSA publicly stated that it was not possible to store, record, transmit or print out the images that show in detail the naked bodies of men, women and children that have passed through them. At the time we presented evidence to the contrary. Now it has been conclusively proven that the TSA and other federal agencies using the scanners flat out lied to an unwitting public.

Material girl Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette on a glitzy Spanish vacation NY Daily News | But while most of the country is pinching pennies and downsizing summer sojourns – or forgoing them altogether – the Obamas don’t seem to be heeding their own advice.

SEC Probes BP Potential Insider Trading: Sources Reuters | U.S. securities regulators are investigating whether people may have illegally profited from trading on nonpublic information at BP in the weeks following the disastrous Gulf oil spill.

Rockefeller Foundation Developed Vaccines For “Mass-Scale” Fertility Reduction In its 1968 yearly report, the Rockefeller Foundation acknowledged funding the development of so-called “anti-fertility vaccines”

China Holds More Military Exercises Amid Tensions With U.S. Chinese armed forces on Thursday continued a second set of back-to-back exercises, underscoring expanding capabilities and ambitions that have prompted unease among top U.S. military officers. That unease has been exacerbated by Beijing’s freezing of military-to-military ties.

Preparing for World War III, Targeting Iran Humanity is at a dangerous crossroads. War preparations to attack Iran are in “an advanced state of readiness”. Hi tech weapons systems including nuclear warheads are fully deployed.

Pentagon tells WikiLeaks: "Do right thing" (Reuters) [Great advice … if only the endless war, military complex based pentagon could take it!] The Pentagon demanded on Thursday that whistle-blower web site WikiLeaks immediately hand over about 15,000 secret Afghan war records it had not yet published and erase material it had alrea…

US faces deadliest month in Afghan war With 63 US service members killed, July has become the deadliest month for American forces stationed in war-torn Afghanistan.

Google and CIA Plough Millions Into Huge ‘Recorded Future’ Monitoring Project Google’s cosy relationship with the U.S. spy network has once again been thrust into the spotlight as the company is reported to have jointly invested with the CIA in an Internet monitoring project that scours Twitter accounts, blogs and websites for all sorts of information, and can also “predict the future”.

Google and CIA Fund Political Precrime Technology More evidence has emerged revealing Google’s spook connections. Noah Shachtman, writing for Wired, details how the CIA’s technology investment operation, In-Q-Tel, and Google are supporting a company that monitors the web in real time.

President Obama calls African-Americans a ‘mongrel people’ President Obama waded into the national race debate in an unlikely setting and with an unusual choice of words: telling daytime talk show hosts that African-Americans are “sort of a mongrel people.”

White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity The Obama administration is seeking to make it easier for the FBI to compel companies to turn over records of an individual’s Internet activity without a court order if agents deem the information relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.

Google and CIA Plough Millions Into Huge ‘Recorded Future’ Monitoring Project Steve Watson | Search Company’s ties to spy agency in spotlight again over real time Internet monitoring.

Google and CIA Fund Political Precrime Technology Kurt Nimmo | Google is complicit in the concerted effort to build a huge surveillance and control grid.

Source of leaked military docs unknown: WikiLeaks While the United States is trying to hunt for the individual behind the massive leak of US military data on Afghanistan war, the whistleblowers’ website, that made the 91,000 classified documents available to the world, has said that the source of leak is unknown.

Document leak part of U.S. plot, says Pakistani ex-general with ties to Taliban From the deluge of leaked military documents published Sunday, a former Pakistani spy chief emerged as a chilling personification of his nation’s alleged duplicity in the Afghan war — an erstwhile U.S. ally turned Taliban tutor.

Leaked files indicate U.S. pays Afghan media to run friendly stories Buried among the 92,000 classified documents released Sunday by WikiLeaks is some intriguing evidence that the U.S. military in Afghanistan has adopted a PR strategy that got it into trouble in Iraq: paying local media outlets to run friendly stories.

World Net Daily (I found them to be a less than credible israeli / bush aministration shill at best and haven’t even looked at said site in many years) writer says Fluoride is good for you. An open letter to Phil Elmore Rob Dew / Kurt Nimmo | The only winners are the aluminum and fertilizer industries that work hand in hand with public water works to send toxic waste into the homes of millions across our country.

Congress extends war funding for Afghanistan Baltimore Co. Independent Examiner | Congress voted to extend funding for the war in Afghanistan by an additional $59 billion late on Tuesday.

Kucinich: 92,000 reasons to end the wars AFP | US lawmakers opposed to the Afghan war, emboldened by a huge leak of military files on the conflict, pushed Tuesday for pulling US forces from Pakistan.

Oliver Stone has apologized for his anti-Semitic rant, but is the damage already done. What damage? To perceived reality as opposed to reality? When you look at america’s pro-israel, self-destructive, contra-indicated policies, including the hands off policy vis-à-vis fraudulent wall street, you see the truth to what he says which is what so many astute individuals are already thinking / realizing. How can people continue to ignore the truth, to their own detriment Think about it. Do you really think he would risk the typical onslaught if the same weren’t true? ‘Director Oliver Stone has been forced to make a grovelling apology over an anti-Semitic outburst. The double Academy Award winner claimed that the Russians suffered more during the Second World War and that there was a Jewish 'domination of the media'. Stone also said that Jews had '****ed up' U.S. foreign policy for years and suggested the British supported Hitler ...’ The relentless attacks on Mel Gibson are of the same caliber and purpose; suppression of truth!

Infowars.com Poll: Majority Believe Road Warrior Depression Coming Kurt Nimmo | Like the Great Depression, the Greatest Depression now being scientifically created has a specific agenda in mind.

On the Bloated Intelligence Bureaucracy

Disappearing Act: $8.7 Billion of Iraq Development Money Missing Kurt Nimmo | Government says it is all the fault of shoddy accounting practices.

Ahmadinejad: US Expansion Of War In Middle East Imminent Steve Watson | Tensions rise with saber rattling rhetoric.

David Cameron: Israeli blockade has turned Gaza Strip into a ‘prison camp’ David Cameron used a visit to Turkey to make his strongest intervention yet in the intractable Middle East conflict today when he likened the experience of Palestinians in the blockadedGaza Strip to that of a “prison camp”.

Rockefeller Study Envisages Future Dictatorship Controlled By Elite … (Vegetables … Yes, Asparagus, not Broccoli) … Here’s the pathetic news, however; it’s called reality: [Neanderthals, Humans Interbred, DNA Proves Signs of Neanderthals Mating With Humans - ‎Neanderthals mated with some modern humans after all and left their imprint in the human genome. Genome hints humans, Neanderthals rolled in prehistoric hay You're a Neanderthal: Genes say yes — a little bit (AP) Neanderthals and people interbred, fossil analysis finds For more info on man’s humble beginnings, see here http://www.albertpeia.com/anthroindex1.htm Previously I wrote: FOUND: MISSING LINK BETWEEN APES AND MAN.... These stories, and the many like it, are old news and I subscribe to the more studied view that there is no “missing link” per se and in my view they are distinctions without significant differences. I previously wrote: [see infra] and [Interestingly, my intuitive (but unstudied) thoughts prior to closer examination of the compelling subject of Biological Anthropology remain what I believe to be the correct scenario. Specifically, very simply stated, for the most part, the more “enlightened” (but not by much; by mutation, accident, luck, intervention, etc.) left the unvarying confines of their Sub-Saharan origins, experienced diverse new environs, challenges, etc., experienced what has been described (by neuroscientists, psychologists, etc.) as neurogenesis in varying degrees and forms thereby over time, which trait was selected for and is consistent with the purported multi-regional evolutionary model which does not overtly contradict ultimately, initial African origins. Races, sub-species, missing links, etc., are subsumed in this very humbling and sorrowful tale of the “dawn of man”.] [see infra] …] Global pandemics that kill millions, mandatory quarantines, checkpoints, biometric ID cards, and a world of top-down government control. These things are not lifted from the latest sci-fi blockbuster movie, they’re part of the Rockefeller Foundation’s vision for what the globe might be like in 15-20 years’ time under a new world order tightly controlled by the elite. [That’s getting awfully close to the outside ‘decades, not millennia or even centuries’].

Iran accuses US and UK of supporting group behind mosque attacks Iran is vowing to hunt down a Sunni separatist group which claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing that killed 28 people at a mosque in the south-eastern city of Zahedan.

US, NATO behind Iran bombings: MP An Iranian lawmaker slams the recent bombings in the country’s southeast as a plot by Western military forces in the Middle East to spread terror on Iran’s borders.

WASHPOST Ombudsman: Why Silence on Black Panther Story? (Washington Post) ‘Thursday's Post reported about a growing controversy over the Justice Department's decision to scale down a voter-intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party. The story succinctly summarized the issues but left many readers with a question: What took you so long? For months, readers have contacted the ombudsman wondering why The Post hasn't been covering the case. The calls increased recently after competitors such as the New York Times and the Associated Press wrote stories. Fox News and right-wing bloggers have been pumping the story. Liberal bloggers have countered, accusing them of trying to manufacture a scandal. But The Post has been virtually silent. The story has its origins on Election Day in 2008, when two members of the New Black Panther Party stood in front of a Philadelphia polling place. YouTube video of the men, now viewed nearly 1.5 million times, shows both wearing paramilitary clothing. One carried a nightstick…’

Latino KKK: You are too white to be American! ALIPAC | Tan Klan woman can scream racist comments because the Obama administration and most of the major news networks in America have her back.

‘West, israel linked to SE Iran blasts’ A ranking official with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has implicated “the us, israel and some european countries” in the deadly blasts in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan.

De-classified Vietnam-era Transcripts Show Senators Knew Gulf Of Tonkin Was A Staged False Flag Event Over 1,100 pages of previously classified Vietnam-era transcripts released this week by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee highlight the fact that several Senators knew that the White House and the Pentagon had deceived the American people over the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Afghans march in Kabul to denounce NATO strikes that killed civilians: Demonstrators shout anti-American slogans, denounce NATO strikes (Washington Post ) Sounds like a plan! Almost surreal was the appearance of gates on failed network ‘news’ show to shill the non-strategy of draw down (of troops) linked to success. What success? Just being there and every day they’re there is unequivocally abject failure. Celebritology Weekend: Angelina Jolie biography arrives; Heidi Montag files for divorce (Washington Post ) I usually don’t weigh in on entertainment news, but this headline concerning what appears to be a disparaging, and quite selectively so, purported biography of Angelina Jolie is very disheartening when you consider the numerous instances of failed leadership at nearly all very high levels of government having so detrimental an impact on the world, that morton deems his time appropriate to an actress who has actually tried to do good things (U.N., etc.) without having to. Indeed, even her latest film ‘Salt’ (spectacular by any standard as is her performance – there are at least 2 winning sequels there with 4 the max and stretching it owing to age – she puts all, and I mean all the ‘Bonds’ to shame) had an important message in terms of the damage to this nation by a seemingly endless, nation-bankrupting, anti-american (war criminal israelis already, and quite correctly, globally hated) sentiment producing war strategy that is neither strategy nor reasonably consistent with any positive american goal / objective; but rather is such a debacle and folly that the same could very well be one that only an enemy of defacto bankrupt america could hatch and for the reasoning set forth in the well-written / directed film. She astutely observed and talked about the synchronicity of the film as juxtaposed to recent events revealing that she is wiser than most in Washington.

Wall Street Is Laundering Drug Money And Getting Away With It Zach Carter | Wachovia was moving money behind literally tons of cocaine from violent drug cartels. It wasn’t an accident.

Drudgereport: NEW LOW FOR O: USATODAYGALLUP HAS OBAMA APPROVE AT 41%...
America Is 'Bankrupt Mickey Mouse Economy'...
WIRE: USA 'Bankrupt and We Don't Even Know It'...

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT HITS RECORD HIGH
JOBLESS CLAIMS JUMP TO HIGHEST SINCE FEB...
California can't pay bills -- may use IOUs for August payments...

DEFICIT ADDS $165,040,000,000.00 -- IN ONE MONTH!
Homes lost to foreclosure up 6% from last year...
Grim Voter Mood Turns Grimmer...
Claims of Afghan civilian deaths spark protest...
Military sees heavier fighting in fall...

UPDATE: Suspected serial killer arrested in Atlanta...
Attempting to flee to israel … to be with kindred spirits ...

DEFICIT ADDS $165,040,000,000.00 -- IN ONE MONTH!

MOB RUSH FOR FED AID DRAWS RIOT POLICE
DOW drops 265...
Feds rethink policies that encourage home ownership...
Obama: $3 Billion More in Aid for Unemployed...
US posts widest trade gap in 20 months...
Q2 GDP Growth Could Be Revised To Just 1% After Trade Data...
PUMP: FED TO BUY MORE DEBT...
DOWNGRADES OUTLOOK...
US-backed fighters in Iraq defect to al-Qaida... [Winning hearts and minds … for Al Qaida … just one too many civilian deaths for no good reason at all ]

BACK TO SPEND SOME MORE!

Republicans Suggest Names for 'Second Stimulus' Bill...
'Where do the bailouts end?' [I feel compelled to comment here that even capital hill math would be hard-pressed to justify $26 billion taxpayer / treasury dollars they don’t really have, to save 300,000 state / local government jobs! After all, the nation is defacto bankrupt! ]

CASTRO WARNS OF IMPENDING NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST
WELCOME TO THE RECOVERY...
JULY UNEMPLOYMENT -131,000 JOBS...
Revised: May/June -97,000 jobs than first reported...
Odd mix of bad news...

CASTRO WARNS OF IMPENDING NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST
Michelle Obama 'modern-day Marie Antoinette'...

NYT: 'Leaves the taxpayers with a hefty bill'...
While Obama preaches sacrifice, his family frolics in Spain...

Gazpacho, turbot, veal and ratatouille with the king...
Lavish Obama vacation in time of economic turmoil raises eyebrows...
BAKER: 'Leaves taxpayers with hefty bill'...
Hollywood star-studded gala at first lady's luxury hotel...

MICHELLE O'S $375,000 VACATION?!
Strolls Marbella after State Dept. 'racist' Spaniards gaffe...

White House calling: Please will you make a coat for Michelle...

Boy Scouts boo Obama...
GALLUP: Blacks and Whites Continue to Differ Sharply on Obama...
JUDGE KNOCKS DOWN MARRIAGE PROP IN CA
BLOW TO O: MO SAYS NO
Voters overwhelmingly rejected federal mandate to purchase health insurance...

Americans swap passports; Desire to avoid tax leads some to renounce citizenship...
Ahmadinejad survives blast near motorcade...
'Stupid Zionists have hired mercenaries to assassinate me'...

FALTERING RECOVERY TRIPS DOLLAR...

GM, FORD and CHRYSLER Sales All Lag Estimates...

Stimulus Slammed: Republican Senators Release Report Alleging Waste...
The 100 worst stimulus projects...

SHOCK VIDEO: DEM CONGRESSMAN BRAGS: 'FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN DO MOST ANYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY'...
Deadliest Month Of Afghan War

Paper: Will Washington's Failures Lead To Second American Revolution

Maxine Waters faces trial over bank bailout funds...

HOT WATERS
Dems Say Sorry, Charlie...

Democrats Say Rangel Should Resign...
Obama: Time For Rangel To End Career 'With Dignity'...

60,000 babies born to 'noncitizens' get U.S. birthright - in Texas alone...

Dutch become 1st NATO member to quit Afghanistan...