The Unraveling of the Empire of Finance Capital
Printer-friendly versionby BAR executive editor Glen Ford
The more the Wall Street financial class dominates political affairs in the United States, the sooner they will meet destruction. By giving the banksters everything they wanted, including free money, the Obama administration actually accelerated the processes of finance capital’s decline. That’s because, unfettered, capital behaves in ways that make its contradictions even more acute.
The Unraveling of the Empire of Finance Capital
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
“The more politically dominant finance capital grows, the deeper and more frequent the crises.”
We are living through an acute and irreversible stage of the systemic decline of finance capital. Not coincidentally, it is a time when Wall Street’s political supremacy in the U.S. is all but complete, having wholly captured or neutralized both political parties. This period is increasingly characterized by overlapping, cascading crises. Although the exact point in time that we entered this tumultuous juncture in history, under the firm hegemony of Wall Street, is subject to debate, we are clearly there.
The crises of bursting dot.com, stock and housing bubbles have been superseded by finance capital’s inability to reflate any of the old domestic bubbles, despite the transfer to Wall Street of $12-14 trillion through its synchronized servants in the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve. While unreconstructed “left” Obamites moan that the object of their hopes has failed to apply enough “stimulus” lubricant to get the machinery rolling, the real story – the one historians will tell – is that an administration whose economic policies were minted by Wall Street cannot halt the unraveling of the finance capitalist system.
The reason is simple: Wall Street’s hegemony, its unfettered freedom to act out its imperatives, inevitably spawns recurring – and ever deeper – crises. The more politically dominant finance capital grows, the deeper and more frequent the crises.
The crisis is now general, meaning the machine cannot be repaired. If $14 trillion – roughly the size of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product – couldn’t fix finance capital, nothing can. Indeed, it appears the greatest transfer of wealth in history, purportedly designed to flood the United States with loaned money, is instead being exported, causing such horrendous destruction to the world economic order that nations are joining to fence out the piranha-like U.S. dollar, before it destroys human society.
“An administration whose economic policies were minted by Wall Street cannot halt the unraveling of the finance capitalist system.”
The latest permutation of the general finance capitalist crisis has revived calls for a moratorium on home foreclosures, but may threaten an even greater catastrophe for the bankster class. The big-bank practice of “robo-signing,” where institutional officers certify to their personal familiarity with the terms and ownership of impossible numbers of mortgages per sitting – sometimes hundreds a day – has led Bank of America to voluntarily halt all foreclosures and wreaked havoc throughout the industry. If banks can’t prove, and courts don’t know, who lawfully owns what mortgage, then past and future foreclosures are under a cloud – another stake in the heart of the housing market. But, according to reporting by finance writer Ellen Brown, most of the mortgages bundled as securities in elaborate “tranches” by Wall Street may have been illegally processed through Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS). The banks claimed the MERS were temporary holders of the sliced-and-diced mortgages, but courts have concluded that MERS, as mere financial instruments, can own nothing and assign nothing. Therefore, “the chain of title has been irrevocably broken.”
Beyond the sheer, mind-boggling fiscal and human mess of it all, and whether the banks can survive having all that financial paper, good and bad, tied up for who knows how long, there is the howling question of what the banks owe each other? Can the fantasy values of these securities survive the kind of examinations that might be spun off by the “robo-signing” scandal? And if a number of major banks prove to be insolvent – as many suspect – what will be the governmental response?
We know the answer, or ought to. The Obama administration, with the compliance of Democrats in Congress, will mouth words and propose solutions formulated by a consensus of the Wall Street players that come out on top of the rubble, just as occurred post-September 2008. And because the political hegemony of Wall Street will remain intact – What is there to threaten it? – the remedy will encourage and feed the base imperatives of the finance capitalist class, leading inexorably to the next disaster and an accelerated process of destruction.
“U.S. finance capitalists, engorged with ‘free’ Fed money, went on a predatory speculative rampage.”
When the bankers got everything they wanted last time around – from Obama and the Fed, not the Congress – they took the trillions and went on a financial jihad against, literally, every government and currency on the planet. As research professor and former Wall Street economist Michael Hudson explains in his article, “How the U.S. Launched a New Financial World War, and How the Rest of the World Will Fight Back” (October 10, Counterpunch), U.S. finance capitalists, engorged with “free” Fed money, went on a “predatory” speculative rampage that has united growing parts of the planet in mutual protection societies against the U.S. dollar. Hudson’s scenario looks very much like what I foresaw in 2003, when a pattern emerged of global resistance to U.S. military and economic aggressions that I called “the redlining of America.” Of course, the redlining of America is economically problematical for common folks in the U.S., but we will all benefit from an earlier death of U.S. imperialism, which would be the result. In the interim, the people must organize their own movements of resistance to Wall Street’s domestic depredations, and try our best to disarm the imperial monster to whatever degree possible, since he will become even more dependent on his guns as imperial economic power crumbles.
All this means steering clear of the Democratic Party, which is wholly owned by finance capital and cannot help but serve it. Fortunately, the Democrats cannot save Wall Street from itself, no matter how hard they try.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.
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Back to Bretton Woodssssss Fixed parityyyyy
China has capital control’s on foreign monopoly money coming in, and they prosecute their own crooks. They’re copying American political economy of protection of domestic manufacturing. The evil Globalist taught them this system because they knew that the evil Chinese government would ruthlessly enforce slavery for foreign investment. This might be another miscalculation by the globalist being that the Chinese people have high I.Q.’s Just like the American revolutionaries and abolitionist.
Remember this while the globalist have their IMF bash China convention in the Washington:
Thailand might lead the world into The Post Globalization Era = Capital controls and exchange controls against hot monopoly money for everyone!
Remember the most intelligent leader during “the Asian contagion” of 98′ – Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohammad!
Back to Bretton Woodssssss Fixed parityyyyy
From Wiki:
1997 Asian financial crisis
During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, IMF had prescribed a recovery package for Malaysia, but Mahathir defied international pressure, his then Deputy Anwar Ibrahim, and conventional wisdom in rejecting the package. Though economic prosperity has been mixed since then, Mahathir argued that Malaysia's recovery was relatively faster and better, as compared to many other Asian countries affected. After the financial crisis, the IMF and World Bank acknowledged that Mahathir's approach had worked.[31]
During Mahathir's administration, there was some speculation activity on the part of the administration which caused losses for Malaysia. Between 1981 and 1982, Malaysian businesses became involved in the international tin venture. The activity caused the price of the commodity to skyrocket, resulting in the collapse of the export market for tin. This venture cost Malaysia USD 80 million or MYR 209 million in losses.[32]
In 1990, Bank Negara Malaysia became involved in the Pound Sterling speculation. The speculation activity failed and costs the central bank USD 4 billion.[33] In 1994, the bank continued to pursue the speculation activity and further lost USD 2.2 billion. Finally, in 1994, the central bank technically become insolvent and was bailed out by the Ministry of Finance.[34][35]
It is believed that the Asian financial crisis caused Mahathir Mohamad to become sympathetic to the Gold Dinar movement. In a speech given at a Gold Dinar convention, he said that "since the Bilateral Payments Arrangements have worked using the US Dollar as the trading currency, switching to the Gold Dinar is simply done by substituting the Gold Dinar for the US Dollar."[36] He continues to attend Gold Dinar events, and is currently being advertised as a guest of honor by organizers of the world riba conference, that features many other speakers related to the Gold Dinar movement.[37]
"Globalism" (looting): If its the end, then Good Riddance!
At the IMF, Japan, Korea, Brazil, Thailand, Rebel Against Globalized Hot Money Speculation Stoked by Bernanke's QE2; Capital Controls for Self-Defense Gain Ground
Webster G. Tarpley
TARPLEY.net
October 13, 2010
The just concluded fall session of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank may in retrospect mark the beginning of the end of the post-1990 world system based on financial globalization and the unbridled supremacy of speculative hot money flows. Meeting in Washington, the representatives of 187 countries utterly failed to reach any agreement reaffirming the discredited “Washington consensus,” which has functioned as the charter of the world looting and exploitation under the banner of globalization for the last two decades. They punted, and passed the buck to the IMF, which is almost certain to get nowhere. The death-knell of globalization may already have sounded.
The immediate perspective is that more and more countries will now manage their currencies and institute capital controls as a means for defending themselves against massive speculative influxes of hot cash, in particular from the notorious Federal Reserve 0% dollar carry trade. Capital controls allowed Malaysia to fare better than any other country caught up in the “Asian contagion” crisis of slightly more than a decade ago, so there is reason to believe that the current popularity of capital controls will be a modest step in the right direction. However, the beginnings of a real and permanent solution to the current world economic and financial depression require a restoration of the fixed currency parities and narrow bands of oscillation which characterized the Bretton Woods system of 1944 to 1971. A restoration of the positive features of Bretton Woods is now the concrete goal towards which international negotiations should now be directed, starting at the G20 meeting soon to be held in South Korea. National Tobin taxes to discourage speculation and aid distressed budgets should also be enacted.
http://tarpley.net/2010/10/13/at-the-imf-japan-korea-brazil-thailand-reb...
@E.C.
Some clarity about the "typical white persons" thinking is in order when talking about this engineered collapse. That's why I take a look at their websites:
Deliberately Engineered Economic Collapse in USA Leading to Martial Law
http://www.philipbrennan.net/2010/10/15/deliberately-engineered-economic...
U.S. Troops To Deal With Rioting Americans
http://www.infowars.com/u-s-troops-to-deal-with-rioting-americans/
Obama’s March To Martial Law - Interview With Joe Cortina
http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=543
GEORGE ORWELL’S ZIONIST NIGHTMARE
http://www.realzionistnews.com/?p=213
Of course, the people conspiring to destroy all Nation states and set up a feudal world government, includes some Anglo elitist, and DOES NOT include ALL Jewish peoples.. When you examine this sort of thinking, it becomes very clear that from now on we must be careful that Blacks and Latinos are not used as cannon fodder by the people pulling the strings of government, the private sector, the media, the democratic party, the foundations, and the think tanks.
There are people trying to destroy America and then redirect white rage away from them and on to Blacks, Latinos, and Arabs. When the real enemies of the poor, and the White, Black, Latino, Asian, Arab, and Indian middle class, IS Wall st., London, the monarchy's, and the greedy, monopolistic, multinational corporations.
Because the NWO globalist want to plunder Mexico, and aren't interested in setting up governance there that's accountable to the Mexican people, they encourage the illegal crossing of our borders, because they want to increase the burden on the American worker and tax-slave. And if U.S. Citizens complain that America is being destroyed, we don't want less jobs, slave wages, government rationed healthcare, higher taxes, the implosion of our social safety nets etc.. The illuminati just sends out their Rockefeller/Gates/Soros/Ford foundation funded groups like La Raza (“For the race everything, outside the race nothing.” “Por La Raza todo. Fuera de La Raza nada”) and MEChA to label all of us racist..
Well La Raza and MEChA need to take note. The foundations are not concerned with the civil liberties of people in the third world, including Mexico, or American citizens for that matter. They are determined to exploit both sides of the conflict in order to further their global dominance and ultimate eugenics depopulation agenda.
Excellent expose` on what's really going on down there in Mexico right here:
Welcome to Mexico! Excuse the Mess—We’re Remodeling
by Keith Johnson
http://revoltoftheplebs.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/welcome-to-mexico-excuse-the-mess—we’re-remodeling/
C.N. you're a "mad scientist" "Brilliant!"
C.N. said:
"Some clarity about the "typical white persons" thinking is in order when talking about this engineered collapse. That's why I take a look at their websites."
(Pssst. C.N. This is why I read Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Red Book, with a bit of Good Housekeeping thrown in for balance. Why speculate about what the honey's are thinking in and outside of the bedroom and workplace when they'll tell you? LOL)
But kidding aside, you are on point. I approach my day as a "cultural anthropologist." One reason I "vibe" with people so well is because I'm interested in what they're thinking and how it jibes with my own worldview or suppositions. I could care less about their education, profession, skin color, or social status; even when people say "dumb shit" it can be put into context or a schematic, or at least it's worth trying to. It's fun to draw out and upon their tendencies.
All of us draw on these "manifestations" or deductions (some of which are "Aha" moments) and reduce them to annectdotes, in some instances,-- over a period of time. Some webistes like Antiwar.com and Black Listed News come from more than one slant or political orientation or philosophy, and this alone makes them a good read. I also highly recommend Asia Times for international analysis. The quality there is leaps and bounds better than what the US produces. And all of these sites have their own ideologues in-resident: Raimonda who edits Antiwar.com claims he's a true Libertarian whereas Spengler on Asia Times is an avowed Zionist/ Neocon, who believes in the cultural AND moral superiority of the West. Spengler pulls no punches, and engages in few nuances, unvarnished views are essential to good analysis. In sum, different takes and reads on Globalism and Militiarism and what it means are helpful.
C.N. I just brushed up on Larouche's bio at wikipedia (oft times a questionable "source" in itself) and it's quite interesting. Let me just say this, if former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, whom I respect, says LaRouche was imprisoned on trumped up charges,-- "unbelievable" as Ramsey described them--then LaRouche probably deserves some audience as someone who has at least experienced government suppression and selective, vindictive prosection. I think the "question" for many of us with LaRouche is whether he's Left or Right Wing, or hard Right? (And I don't doubt the MSM has distorted some of his views, like they did Ron Paul). After reading the bio I surmise he's oft times unfairly criticized for behing Right Wing, when compared and contrasted to his "Communist" affiliations? I'm inclined to say that ANYTIME the US Gummint engages in political prosecution, it's worth understanding what the prosecuted parties are saying. Interesting, if it's some SUBVERSIVE SHIT, inquiring minds want to know. (Waiting to hear more from LaRouche. LOL)
LaRouche table and volunteers in Manhattan some months ago
I was rolling past a table of LaRouche ugly posters, and a guy holding a photo jumped into my face (I'm at wheelchair level) - shoving a LaRouche publication with Obama's face with a Hitler mustache on it into my face and I yelled "Get away". Nasty crap. West 23 St., Manhattan.
Here are a few links...
The Battle for Justice:
The LaRouche Case
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/exon/exon_toc.html
Hugh de Courcy vs. LaRouche: The British Israelites
by Scott Thompson
http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/courcy.htm
Exonerate LaRouche
http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/exonpt.htm
From "Operation Fruehmenschen" to McDade-Murtha:
The Case of Congressman Dymally
by Harley Schlanger
http://members.tripod.com/~american_almanac/dymally.htm
Cynical Negro: 2 thumps up!
C.N., I was jesting and giving you some grief about Alex Jones and Infowars a couple weeks ago. I said then, I don't dismiss Infowars in toto, there's some good stuff there, I'm posting an article here thats an example. Regarding the Russian Professor, I don't know about the "takeover" but you can argue that with China floating our debt and economy that's not far-fetched. As far as the "Balkanization" of America? that's already taking place too to a certain extent, "Red & Blue State demarcations is only the tip of the iceberg. I don't now about the "breakaway states" being taken over by foreign countries altogether. Having said all that, the Russian professor is spot on in a lot of respects, you don't need a PhD to decipher the train wreck around the corner. Here's my take.
The American public can expect two things after November: (1) D.C. gridlock like you've never witnessed before, the Tea Party scum will make Newt's government shutdown look like the White House Easter Egg hunt. Look forward to an unparalled inability of the US to solve it's problems, look for the most inane and banal flotsam perpetrating as political discourse in the history of the world. Look for the MSM to highlight those banalities, we might find that following Congress member's "lifestyles" and personal contradictions, RANK HYPOCRISIES, will be a Reality T.V. show that outperforms Real Housewives or Idol. (2) Accelerated economic decline. The mortgage robo-signing fraud is just the tip of the iceberg and will render unstable the architecture of the so-called recovery which is about reinflating real estate and having the government purchase the non-performing loans off the banksters books in return for the banksters buying US treasuries. Everything, every transaction, every theory, is now suspect.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/america-on-the-brink-of-a-second-revolu...
America on the brink of a Second Revolution
Commentary: 2010 elections guarantee gridlock, anti-capitalist class war
Intellectualism and critical thought will all but disappear. In the meantime the country will go to hell in a hand basket.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/is_a_new_dark_age_at_hand_1.html
Failure? Failure is ALWAYS AN OPTION, it's always a choice by folks with freewill. Failure is not ony what we've chosen in this country, it's what we've now EMBRACED. My goodness how we love the fucking idiots and syncophants parading as leaders in this country, we pray to our gods of ignorance and stupidity daily. Don't worry, your prayers will be answered.
http://www.infowars.com/russian-professor-collapse-of-america-could-begi...
Russian Professor: Collapse Of America Could Begin In Two Months
"Russian Professor Igor Panarin says that events are continuing to confirm his doomsday prediction first made over 10 years ago, that the United States will completely collapse like the Soviet Union before the end of 2010, and warns that the chaos could begin to unfold in as little as two months." (This coincides with the November elections and the coming gridlock)
Since 1998, Panarin has been warning of a future disintegration of the United States and the collapse of the dollar. The recent election victory for Japan’s Democratic Party is another sign that the economic collapse of the U.S. is imminent, according to Panarin.
“Today I received another confirmation that the collapse of the dollar and the US is inevitable. Japan’s Democratic Party won the election, and I’d like to remind you that its leader [Yukio Hatoyama] has the snubbing of the dollar among his economic plans. In plainer words, he plans to transfer Japan’s monetary reserves from US dollars into another currency. The move will seriously accelerate the dollar’s exchange slump as early as this November. Disintegration will follow shortly,” he said, adding that next year China would also begin to massively dump the dollar and that Russia would begin to sell oil and gas for roubles.
Panarin previously stated that the dollar would eventually be replaced with “a common Amero currency as a new monetary unit”, referring to the Security and Prosperity Partnership agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico."
The Professor went on to say something many of us have long said:
“Obama is “the president of hope”, but in a year there won’t be any hope,” said Panarin. “He’s practically another Gorbachev – he likes to talk but hasn’t really managed to do anything."
Get that guys? "In a year there won't be any hope." Professor, me thinks you are being way to generous, ain't no hope now.
Wait,... be quiet.... is that the sound of teeth gnashing I hear?
p.s. Did yall get your Social Security COLA today?
p.s.s. C.N. the jury is still out on Lyndon Larouche citations; well...actually.... the jury just might be adjourned and disbanded. LOL C.N. I enjoy your contributions brother.
THE FAILURE OPTION
The Russian state which has succeeded the allegedly "failed and collasped" Soviet state still spans 11 time zones, still controls more nuclear warheads than any nation other than the United States, still has unparalleled natural resources within its borders, still suppresses racial and ethnic minorities, and is still run by the same white/European Russian. They've merely swapped out their shabby Communist era suits for better tailored Western styles. Modern Russia appears to benefit the same people that it always has and to "fail" the same people that it always has. I can easily imagine a failed American Empire in which anti-Black racism, sanctioned by custom and by law, continues to flourish even as places such as China, India, and Brazil become major players on the world stage, while Africa, including the much over-hyped South Africa, remains nothing more than a politically and economically irrelevant repository of cheap raw materials.
hahaaaaaaaaaaaa
The man and his comrades are simply brilliant LOL! I'll be posting more LaRouche stuff shortly..
On Dem.pty, vote,etc:I voted today; here's why and for who(m)
I voted today. By mail. Here's why and then, for who(m) -
At 70, I have witnessed a piece of history. Voting is important for me. My vote is more important to me than the political parties/gov't consider it = I make sure I vote. (NYC does not enforce wheelchair access at polling sites, which means the gov't is not eager for my/our vote. Many many sites bar wheelchair users by having steps, no ramp, etc. Machines for people with disabilities is a whole huge topic and the gov't fails there,too.) It used to be free/paid return postage for my ballot, but no more. Not so easy for people on the Absentee Ballot for Homebound Disabled to get stamps, or even know the postage on the large envelope (no national regs on ballot size of absentee ballots/envelopes and the US post office couldn't give me the correct postage over the phone a year ago).
So I voted by mail. I hope it is delivered. I hope my ballot is counted.
Who got my vote? I voted for Charles Barron for Gov. on the Freedom Party. I know his work for a long time. My vote will be in the 50,000 needed to get the Freedom Party on the next election ballot. I also voted for Atty Gen on Freedom Party line, although I voted in the Dem. Primary for someone.
I voted for a Dem. but on the Working Families Party line for NYS Senator, a guy I voted for in the Dem. Primary.
I left many blanks on the ballot. That sends a message,too.
Sitting in environmental pollution, ill, posting this comment on BAR because of my liking of the site. No, I don't agree with everything but BAR often comes closer to where I'm at than any other site. Getting older is great for women. We "come into our own" and are stronger, despite physical frailties. Basta.
The System will collapse under the weight of its own lies
Glen said: "Beyond the sheer, mind-boggling fiscal and human mess of it all, and whether the banks can survive having all that financial paper, good and bad, tied up for who knows how long, there is the howling question of what the banks owe each other? Can the fantasy values of these securities survive the kind of examinations that might be spun off by the “robo-signing” scandal? And if a number of major banks prove to be insolvent – as many suspect – what will be the governmental response?"
Glen, that compound question aptly sums up the situation on the domestic front. In the fancy parlance of economists, we'd call it a "clusterfuck." What were are seeing is unprecedented criminality and greed, lies and frauds woven within, without and on top of other lies and frauds. It's a web of fraud and criminality and distrust that is unparalled in the history of the world
Does it not seem clear that unless the inflated real estate market and it's inflated securitized products CORRECT themselves (that is, the inflated prices adjust to real world prices), we are just pissing in the wind, we are just poor, lost souls wondering in the darkness? There are no current policy or legal proscriptions worth serious consideration because the web of lies and fraud cannot be untangled. The dilemna is that if the system were to become untangled we'd have either a public revolt (when the dimensions of the crime are exposed) or an accelerated collapse instead of the gradual one we're currently experiencing.
It's a hell of a conumdrum isn't it? No solutions, no where to hide, no direction to go in, but DOWN. It all spells war in the end, in all probability, on the theory that the Oligarchs will go kicking and screaming. Of course the counterargument is that the Oligarchs don't care, they Oligarchs can hit the enter button and move their "capital to safety," where you and I and "we" are srewed. Many US Money Managers are already betting on the dollar decline. I have no doubt many US "Vulture Capital" funds are already buying up Greek debt, as they did African debt. (Another top censored story of Project Censored). And US corporations are sitting on over a Trillion dollars, watching and waiting to hedge their bets, their gains and losses. And as Glen said, they simply don't trust each other's balance sheets. Where was Sarbannes-Oxley in all of this, what did we learn from Enron? I'll tell you what we learned that laws and regulations are expandable by money and greed, that we live in a system of no accountability. Back in the days I worked at FDIC at least we sued the then "Big 5" (or 8?) accounting firms. Have you all seen any auditors sued lately?
With the bursting of the Stimulus Bubble, and high crimes and misdemeanors in the nation's real estate market, with hopes and dreams based on REINFLATING the Real Estate Bubble, you can get some sense of how HUGE this problem is and that it won't go away, and that "the end," no matter what it is, is going to be bad.
On the International Front, the rest of the world is already starting to realign, the #1 story of Project Censored's Top Stories for 2009-10 is:
Global Plans to Replace the Dollar
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/1-global-plans-to-re...
Read em and weep you Miltie Friedman, Ayn Rand acolytes.
Excerpt:
"Nations have reached their limit in subsidizing the United States’ military adventures. During meetings in June 2009 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, world leaders such as China’s President Hu Jintao, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation took the first formal step to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. The United States was denied admission to the meetings. If the world leaders succeed, the dollar will dramatically plummet in value; the cost of imports, including oil, will skyrocket; and interest rates will climb.
Foreigners see the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) as Washington surrogates in a financial system backed by US military bases and aircraft carriers encircling the globe. But this military domination is a vestige of an American empire no longer able to rule by economic strength. US military power is muscle-bound, based more on atomic weaponry and long-distance air strikes than on ground operations, which have become too politically unpopular to mount on any large scale.
As Chris Hedges wrote in June 2009, “The architects of this new global exchange realize that if they break the dollar they also break America’s military domination. US military spending cannot be sustained without this cycle of heavy borrowing. The official US defense budget for fiscal year 2008 was $623 billion. The next closest national military budget was China’s, at $65 billion, according to the Central Intelligence Agency.”
p.s. I can't wait till it's announced Friday that there won't be any COLA increases for Social Security recepients, who knows, before all is said and done, those Uncs and Aunts, and Moms and Pops who marched in the Civil Rights era, may take to the streets in their motorized scooters and walkers. That would be a sight to see.
EC
Desperate DumbocRATS Announce Plan to Bribe Seniors with $250 Checks before election day LOL!
http://www.infowars.com/democrats-announce-plan-to-bribe-seniors-with-25...
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
October 19, 2010
In a cynical move to scrape up votes next month, Democrats are making a pitch to give Social Security recipients a one-time payment of $250. Democrats insist the bribe is meant to make up for a second year without a cost-of-living increase due to low inflation prior to the Fed’s plan to crank up the printing presses and create inflation.

The scheme falls on the heels of Congress failing to renew COLA increases on Social Security payments.
Earlier this month, Congress failed to approve the Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), which could total $25 billion for the nation’s more than 50 million Social Security recipients. Congress enacted COLA in 1975 to help Social Security residents keep pace with inflation.
The Federal Reserve is about to resume quantitative easing at the $100 billion-per-month range. Quantitative easing is Fed-speak for increasing the money supply and creating inflation.
Pelosi and Reid say they will introduce the legislation when Congress critters return for the lame-duck session in November. In the meantime, they are using the promise as a campaign pitch. “Instead of helping seniors,” said Pelosi’s office, “Republicans, backed by their allies on Wall Street, are threatening to privatize and cut Social Security, just as they tried to do under President Bush.”
Pelosi neglected to mention that during the 2008 election cycle, Wall Street’s donations were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. In 2009, Democrat Dick Durbin told a Chicago radio station that banks own Congress and party affiliation is irrelevant. “And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2009/04/30/ownership
“The only thing standing in the way of America’s seniors receiving this critical support are Senate Republicans,” said Reid. In fact, 12 Democrats joined 37 Republicans in blocking the $250 “bonus” earlier this year.
Confronted with the Fed’s determination to crank up the money supply and price inflation, seniors have few options. A meager $250 check, offered by conniving Democrats who are about to be duly trounced out of Congress, will be little comfort. “What’s a senior to do? Either take more risks by investing in the stock market or cut back on consumption. Neither strikes me as a wonderful way to spend one’s not-so-golden golden years,” writes Peter Cohan for Daily Finance:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/retirement/social-security-flat-squeez...
Seniors would be far better off if they invested in gold and silver instead of throwing their money away in the rigged game that is the casino stock market.
Another Infowars home run
This article is dead on. Here's the score: $144 Billion for Wall St. crooks, (-$25) Billion for 50 million seniors. N.C., how low is low? I mean how horrible are the Dummocrats? How craven and pathetic? I can't wait till the Cat Food Commish reduces/cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. I think those cuts are all but a foregone conclusion. The question afterwhich will be "now what?"
Will people continue to believe in Obama and the Dummocrats? Will Black approval drop? Only time will tell C.N. because here's the counterweight, and the Oligarchs know this: some of these cretins coming into Congress are so abhorrent, so worthless and dufeless, so repugant and ignorant, don't be surprised if "lesser evilism" rears it's head again. I for one don't care C.N., the crash is coming I say bring it on, the suspense is killing me. But millions upon millions will rely upon the drip, drip drip of Dummocrat cyanide. The Rethugs and Tea Scum don't scare me, they in fact DO REPRESENT America. Face the reality folks. It might be painful to catch your significant other in a tryst, but it can be very liberating if processed correctly.
Btw, does anyone have any idea when we'll some the top management at some of the top accounting firms frogged marched out of their penthouse suite? And to think that I passed on being an accounting major because of the math and stats?
So true
".....since he will become even more dependent on his guns as imperial economic power crumbles."
So true, Glen. Quite frightenng, since those guns are awesome and more powerful than the arsenal of any other nation on thr planet. Nothing will stop the decision-makers from using them whenever and whereever they please, especially when they become desperate. That's something no one seems to be preparing for.
Also largely overlooked: The US fleet is the only naval force currently able to protect the global trade routes which have to flow constantly and cannot be blocked up for any substantial period of time, e.g. during a crisis. This is another trumpf card, or bargaining chip.
ANCIENT TRADE ROUTES
Most trade routes, both overland and oceanic have existed since antiquity, long before there was a Roman, British, or American navy or military to "protect" them. Asians and Africans and Europeans and others will find a way to trade with each other if they want to, even without the existence of one all powerful navy or military acting as a police force/protection racquet. Groups such as the Somaili "pirates" can be bought off just like they have been traditionally until the time that the Somali state heals itself. Piracy in many forms has always been a cost of doing global business, whether or not America likes it. Don't get me started about the fleets of factory ships from foreign lands which have systematically stripped the coastal waters of much of Africa of it fish stocks. To this day, the so-called Skeleton Coast of Namibia is still littered with the bones of whales left there by New England whalers during the heyday of whaling.
The "guns" won't work, only nukes: American Century is over
The handwriting has been on the wall for all who care to see. How long have we been involved in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan? And what do we have to show for trillions upon trillions in expendictures?
China has locked up Iraq oil reserves and on their way to doing with same with Iran. Militarily, the US is a paper tiger as Dilop Hiro breaks it down in this essay: The only military weaponry of supremacy we have is the nuclear bomb, the US military cannot defeat insurgencies, the record is clear from Lebanon, to Somalia, to Yemen, to Iraq, and Afghanistan.
IMO, on of the funniest, most insightful and brilliant writers in the world is Pepe Escobar. In Globilistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War, Pepe seems to posit (among many other things) that no about of weaponry or gated fences will keep the masses at bay.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6952616/Globalistan-How-the-Globalized-World-i...
America Is Suffering a Power Outage
…and the Rest of the World Knows It
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175299/tomgram%3A_dilip_hiro,_the_waning...
p.s. The Iranian President is receiving a hero's welcome in Lebanon as we speak, so much for the threat of US "sanctions." Before Petraeus decided to buy off the Sunni, who were fighting a 3 front war (if not 4): U.S., Shia (Iran?), and A.Q. the Iraqi insurgency fought the US to a draw. (Like Hizbollah fought the Israeli's to a draw), and right now the longest war in US history, one that we are losing and WILL lose btw, is being fought against people with a life expectancy of less than 60 years, who weigh 150 lbs wet., who don't have night googles, flack jackets, mash units, or tents with McDonald's. Can yall feel me?
The only remaining arrow in the American quiver is the nuclear bomb. Whether or "when" that arrow is retrieved from the quiver and placed into the bow is the only remaining question of so-called military power?
sanctuary
During this unraveling we will need urban intentional communities to help one another, functioning on the barter system, hydroponic farms and water purification systems. If pidgeons flourish on rooftops in cities, why wouldn't chickens?
Ditto
Wise to husband and "harvest" other protein sources. They eat guinea pigs in parts of S. America, goats on the rooftop in the Middle East. Bartering? Pretty soon the economy will evolve around one humongous, never-ending "garage and yard" sale. Might as well get use to it.
haha
Some of us are already used to used goods!
Baby Phat? I don't need no stinkin Baby Phat
ALL OF US better get used to it. I grew up on hand me downs, Hand me downs from my brothers and 2 new outfits for school, and then 1 or 2 for Xmas. I didn't wear bell-bottoms until the Afro was almost obselete. (lol). I did "vintage" clothes before they were considered "vintage." Some good stuff I might add, until everybody caught on, or before Goodwill Industries started advertising on T.V. And as you can see, didn't affect my self esteem, yall see how humble I am (lol).
In closing, the thought of buying high-end shit for babies and 2 and 3 year olds was considered profane in my time. Buying some shit for a 24 month old for $40 made in Honduras for 40 cent, that looks like the shit at Wal-Mart for $4 w/o the logo. I don't get it. Who are the spoiled brats here? Mommy or the 1 year old?
But I imagine a whole lot of folks will "get it" soon. "Ahhh." I can hear the sound of teeth gnashing already..
darn!
LOL! EC u r hilarious! Yep! Let's revive those lost arts of darning and mending! Garments can last eons while becoming more colorful, soft and dear.