This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: The Great Global Debt Prison
- Ben Bernanke
- Bond
- China
- Citigroup
- Credit Crisis
- Creditors
- Debt Ceiling
- default
- ETC
- Federal Reserve
- Foreign Interest
- goldman sachs
- Goldman Sachs
- Greece
- Gross Domestic Product
- Guest Post
- Home Equity
- Hyperinflation
- International Monetary Fund
- Italy
- Middle East
- Mortgage Loans
- National Debt
- Portugal
- Quantitative Easing
- ratings
- Ratings Agencies
- Reserve Currency
- Stagflation
Submitted by Giordano Bruno of Neithercorp Press
The Great Global Debt Prison
By Giordano Bruno
Neithercorp Press – 2/4/2011
Tense and terrible times inevitably summon an odd coupling of two
very different and difficult human conditions; honesty, and brutality.
Certain painful truths are revealed, and often, a palpable fury erupts.
Being that times today are particularly tense, and on the verge of
being spectacularly terrible, perhaps we should embrace both conditions
in a constructive manner, and become brutally honest with ourselves.
This begins by admitting to that which most ails us. It begins by
admitting how far we have fallen…
Our economy, our culture, our entire world, is built upon debt. No
one ever asked us if that’s how we wanted it, it is simply how the
system was designed when we came into it. Many of us have lived our
entire lives under the assumption that debt is a necessary function of
daily commerce and a valuable driver of successful society. Most
households in America operate at a steep loss, trapped in constantly
building cycles of liability and interest. There are even widely held
schools of economic thought that are centered completely on the
production and utilization of nothing but debt. Only recently have many
people begun to ask themselves what the tangible benefits are (if any)
in being dependent on debt based finance.
After careful examination, it becomes evident that debt does not fuel
economy, it suffocates it. It does not nurture growth, it stunts and
poisons it. Extreme debt is not a fundamental organ in a body of
commerce; it is an aberration, a spreading cancer which disrupts the
circulation of healthy trade. Debt is, in large part, unnecessary.
Of course, debt can be very useful if you are the controller or
determining overseer of a system, especially if you wish to centralize
and maintain power over that system. The tactical wielding of debt has
been used by elites for centuries as a means to imprison the masses, or
to create an atmosphere of endless dependency. Let’s take a look at
what debt really is, and how it is being used against the average
American today…
Understanding Debt
The Charles Dickens classic ‘Little Dorrit’ is commonly
misinterpreted as a “love story”, however, the primary character in the
book is not Little Dorrit, or the kindly Arthur Clennam, but the debt
system of Britain itself, and its effects on every social class from the
street beggar to the elitist socialite. Dickens despised the idea of
debt and debtors prisons, being that his father was thrown into one for a
good portion of his life, forcing young Charles to work just to support
his parents. Dickens understood well the evil intent behind the debt
system, and railed against it often in his writings.
One figure in ‘Little Dorrit’ which fascinated me was the character
of Mr. Merdle, a national banking superstar who dominates the investment
world with the help of British treasury officials and various political
deviants. Merdle is referred to by merchant circles as “the man of the
age”, a financial marvel who seems to make fortunes in every endeavor
he touches. Little does anyone realize that Merdle is a fraud, a Ponzi
scheme artist who takes money from unwary speculators and sinks it into
increasingly more tenuous investments. In order to continue hiding the
fact that all his financial ventures are ending in ruin, he lures more
and more depositors to pay off previous debts. The problem is that
Merdle is creating debt to chase debt. Eventually, his insolvency, and
that of all those who trusted him, will catch up and overtake the lie he
has carefully projected. All economic instability is invariably
revealed, no matter how expertly it is hidden.
Mr. Merdle, in my mind, is an almost perfect literary representation
of today’s private Federal Reserve and the global banking syndicates of
JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, etc. The Federal Reserve, with the
help of politicians on both sides of the aisle, created a series of
illusory incentives (through interest rate cuts) which allowed banks to
begin lending almost unlimited fiat at rock bottom prices. America was
awash in credit, to the point that it was nearly impossible for the
average person to avoid the temptation of borrowing. What we didn’t
understand then, but are beginning to grasp now, is that credit derived
from fiat is not “capital”, it is NOT wealth. Credit is the creation of
an obligation, to be paid at a later date, if it is paid at all, and
because there are no rules to tie the debt to any legitimate collateral
(at least for banks), there is nothing to back the obligation if it
falters. Therefore, fiat induced credit is not the creation of wealth
(as Keynesians seem to believe), but the destruction of wealth!
Because of its lack of tangibility, debt can be packaged and
repackaged into whatever form banks like. Derivatives are a perfect
example of the phantom nature of debt; securities which have no real
value whatsoever yet are rated and traded as if they are a solid
commodity. This brand of commerce is, at its very root, a kind of
fiscal time bomb. Just as in the literary world of ‘Little Dorrit’, the
Ponzi scheme in our very literal world had to reach a tipping point, and
in 2008, it did.
One glaring difference between our troubles and those of Dickens’
fiction is that Merdle actually feels guilt over what he has done (or he
at least fears the justice that will be dealt him), causing him to
commit suicide towards the end of the novel. In the real world, the
Merdles of our era appear fully content to watch this country crumble
due to their intrigues, and rarely suffer any consequences for what they
pursue. In fact, the modern banking elite are more liable to revel in
the searing shockwave of a credit detonation, rather than feel any
“remorse”. The point is, Dickens saw clearly over 150 years ago what
many Americans today still do not; debt is an abstract idea, an absurd
game which confuses and ensnares innocent people. Debt based systems
con the citizenry into trading away their tangible wealth and labor for
the promise of future settlements that will never come. Debt serves
only to weaken the masses, and empower creditors.
The Consequences Of Debt
How has debt based economics served us so far?
The credit card debt of the average American household ranges from
$8000 to $15,000. Total household debt including mortgage and home
equity loans has hit an average of 136% of annual household income:
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/credit-card-industry-facts-personal-debt-statistics-1276.php
http://blogs.forbes.com/moneybuilder/2010/06/24/one-big-difference-between-chinese-and-american-households-debt/
Approximately 80% of mortgage loans issued to subprime borrowers over
the past decade were Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARM), meaning 80% of
mortgages in the U.S. have reset or are ready to reset at much higher
interest rates. There were approximately 1.4 million bankruptcy filings
in 2009, and 1.5 million in 2010. One in every 45 homes in America
received a foreclosure filing in 2010:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/top-10-cities-where-foreclosure-rates-are-highest-2011-01-27
http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/BankruptcyStatistics.aspx
Keep in mind that in 2005, new government regulations were
implemented making filing for bankruptcy much more difficult. In 2006,
filings collapsed. Now, despite stringent obstacles, filings are up
again over 100%.
The “official” national debt now stands at over $14 trillion, which
is around 100% of U.S. GDP (with entitlement programs like social
security included, this number is probably closer to 400% of GDP) . The
100% mark is often cited as the breaking point for most countries
struggling to sustain liabilities. Greece’s national debt stood at 108%
– 113% of GDP when it collapsed into austerity. From 2004, to 2010 (a
span of only six years) our national debt has doubled. To put this in
perspective, it took the U.S. over 200 years to reach its first trillion
dollars of debt. Now, we are looking at the accumulation of at least a
trillion every year. This is unsustainable.
The much talked about debt ceiling has been raised six times in the
past three years. This frequency is unprecedented. International
ratings agencies are now openly suggesting an end to America’s AAA
credit rating:
A credit rating downgrade would be devastating to what little foreign interest is left in the U.S. Treasury bond investment.
On the local front, cities and states are on the verge of folding due
to the evaporation of municipal bond markets. Cities depend greatly on
two sources of revenue in order to continue operations; property taxes,
and municipal investment. Property taxes, obviously, are disappearing
as property values continue to spiral downwards. This leaves only
municipals, which have also unfortunately fallen off the map:
Wall Street analyst, Meredith Witney, recently stated in an interview
with 60 Minutes that she believed 50 to 100 American cities would
default in the midst of a municipal crisis in 2011. She was promptly
lambasted by the rest of the MSM for her prediction. In my opinion, she
was rather minimalist in her estimates, especially if the Federal
Reserve does not commit to another round of quantitative easing (QE3)
for the states (Bernanke denies this policy would be enacted by the Fed,
though, which means there is a good chance it will be).
To summarize, the U.S. is swimming in debt. Absolutely nothing has
been changed for the better in terms of wealth destruction and
liabilities since the credit crisis began, and the situation only looks
more precarious with each passing quarter.
Where Is The Debt Roller Coaster Taking Us?
What is the most likely outcome of the conditions described above?
The vital factor will be the continued Federal Reserve policy of fiat
bailouts as a “counterbalance” to the evolving debt crisis.
As is clearly explored in the Dickens novel we discussed earlier,
staving off the effects of debt by creating more debt is a temporary
solution that only leads to greater calamity down the road. Anyone who
believes that fiat inflation actually “cancels out” debt instability is
going to find themselves sorely disappointed. At bottom, government
created stimulus is not a solution to corporate engineered debt burdens,
but a reallocation of debt away from banks and into the laps of the
American taxpayer. The Federal Reserve and our own Treasury have not
paid off anything. They merely shifted the responsibility of payment
away from the banks that created the problem, and handed that
responsibility to us. On top of this, they have also set the dollar up
for a crushing blow of devaluation. Here is where the prison bars
enclose…
If our historic debt is not being diminished, but only moved around
while it expands, then this means that eventually our credit worthiness
will come into question. In fact, it already has. Foreign investment
in long term Treasuries has dwindled. Our own central bank is now the
largest holder of U.S. debt, surpassing even China (Note: this news has
so far been ignored by almost all mainstream outlets):
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/120372fc-2e48-…
So, the question of debt default turns from theoretical to quite
imperative. If the Federal Reserve continues buying our debt with fiat,
it means that the effects of the debt will only be delayed, the dollar
will be dropped as the world reserve currency, and hyperinflation is a
certainty. If they do not continue buying, then our government
defaults, the country’s financial infrastructure ceases to exist, the
dollar loses its world reserve status, and hyperinflation is a
certainty. The banking elites haven’t just erected a prison, they’ve
tossed us in Alcatraz!
The battle over yet another increase of the debt ceiling has obscured
the fact that the debt has already done all the damage it needs to do.
Freezing the ceiling in place becomes a battle of principle, and an
important one, but it would in no way stop the dysfunction and chaos to
come. At best, it might shorten the duration of the disaster by a few
years. The important thing to remember is that government intervention
will only incur greater loss. There is no easy way out, no magic
shortcut, no last minute brilliant idea that will wrap up this mess.
Years of hard work, determination, honesty, and sacrifice are ahead of
us.
Inflation will be the buzzword of 2011. Endless debt facilitates
endless Keynesian liquidity. Expect to see commodities double once
again this year.
Household debt will probably level off through 2011, as more
Americans abandon their credit habits and make more concerted efforts to
save. In 2009, Visa lost 11% of its credit use, while MasterCard lost
22%. Over 8 million consumers have stopped using credit cards
altogether since the end of 2009:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/holiday-shopping-americans-cut-back-credit-card/story?id=12367547
Bank lending is still tight as creditors raise the requirements
necessary to receive FHA (Federal Housing Administration) mortgages:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-17/home-ownership-gets-harder-for-americans-as-lenders-restrict-fha-mortgages.html
Will credit use and debt based consumption ever return to levels similar
to 2006? Not a chance. One might predict then that savings will rise
dramatically as credit use falls, but this too is unlikely. Why?
Because over the next year Americans will be spending far more on
essential goods due to inflation than they ever have before. Whatever
savings they would have accrued will be eaten up by the relentless spike
in commodity prices. The term used for the combination of chronic
debt, low job growth, and burgeoning inflation, is “stagflation”. I
honestly can’t think of a worse situation than being subject to
exploding costs in light of a dilapidated standard of living. As
Dickens points out plainly in ‘Little Dorrit’, how can a man be expected
to settle his obligations when he is imprisoned for them?
Breaking The Cycle In The Midst Of Global Strife
Why after thirty years under the despotic rule of the Hosni Mubarak
regime did the Egyptian people suddenly decide to revolt? Why now? The
MSM will field a number of political tales, but the key to most popular
uprisings, especially in the Middle East, has been the lack of
necessities. The last time Egypt saw an uprising of this magnitude was
during the Bread Riots of 1977, when the IMF terminated state subsidies
of basic foodstuffs. Is it any wonder that turmoil has developed so
quickly in the region as grain prices double? This is the devastating
power of debt, and the so called “solutions” which merely perpetuate
debt.
Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen, are only the beginning. The sting of
inflation will be unbearable as austerity measures take hold in Europe,
and the potential for riots in Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy looms
large. The most volatile environment on the planet to date, however, is
the United States, which, as we have shown in previous articles, is
being dismantled deliberately and viciously in preparation for IMF
regulation and centralization. Today, the IMF is stalking Egypt, ready
to pounce as the nation goes mad. Tomorrow, it will be us. I will be
very surprised if we are not hearing about IMF intervention in the U.S.
economy and the dollar by the end of this year, offering more debt, and
more unaccountable governance.
The secret to breaking the circle of debt is to adopt a policy of
decentralization, and self sufficiency. To take back control of our
local commerce and to establish micro-economies with self contained
methods of trade. Debt must be removed from the equation altogether,
and systems protected by flexibility and redundancy must be applied.
Savings and meaningful production would have to take the place of
endless spending and outsourcing. The claustrophobic nurse-maid
philosophies of globalism would have to be cast aside and replaced with
goals of independence and self reliance. By cutting our dependency on
the corrupt establishment, we sever its ability to feed off of us. By
building a better system, we make the faulty one obsolete. Whether or
not we throw off the trappings of the debt machine is entirely up to us.
Two very important steps are required; the realization that debt is
not the only way, and, the realization that debt is the worst way.
Prosperity is not achieved at the expense of the future. The society
that finally takes this fact to heart will accomplish incredible things
indeed…
»
- 55636 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
unfortunately, the belt has moved from our waist to our neck
Calling in PM's this time will never happen.
The people in '33 trusted and feared their Govt much more than now.
We have SEEN the Beast, and they have lost our confidence.
Plus, because of the difference in mores, and values, from then to now, we're a different country.
There was a book out a while back, called Breaking the Law in the name of the Law.
This has nothing to do with what I am about to say.But, it is the same thing.
When your SEE the ultimate authorities stealing and whoring at will, at your expense,indebting you and yours forever, rewarding those that started the destruction even more, its very easy to rationalize doing the exact same things.
IF they do not suffer for the greater good, then why would you?.
Answer....you will not.
And neither will 99% on this site.
I see nothing to quibble with in your comment. I think any move toward the gov't acquiring its citizens' gold will just result in shining a light on gold's value. Don't rock the gold boat if you're Uncle Sam. Besides, not being on the gold standard has taken the sting out of any confiscation. Revaluing would serve no purpose. I see the gov't as serving the same moral example as a corporate CEO. Set a mood or atmosphere of deceit or dishonesty and it trickles down throughout the organization. Same with the gov't action today. You are right that as long as we have a shared pain, we will share the sacrifice. It ain't happening.
The 80s, in a nutshell.
So the next avitar is Mr. Hankie?
I think you've got the poo sitch handled for us.
a compelling argument for silver, as mass confiscation would be logistically impossible; ooopppsss, there is more gold than silver because silver gets used up, and gold doesn't.
Folks are now aware of the context of FDRs '30s gold confiscation and the way it played out. We know that many/most didn't comply.. and that those that did got screwed. Lesson learned.
Futhermore, folks now are REALLY pissed off at the Federal Government.
BO or any other Bankers puppet can't muster any convincing arguments.
If the Feds are looking for trouble, then they'll certainly find it by attempting
to confiscate Gold.
If the govt tells you to hand over your physical bullion and you actually do it, you're an idiot. I buy mine in cash and nobody but my dad knows where it is, or even if I have any. Pay cash for it, and hide it.
What bullion?
Thanks, fellows, for the good answers about the government not calling in gold and silver. Feel a little better by reading your comments.
Now about those seeds for planting and surviving on a garden....
Thanks for the link, RR.
Exactly! I coined this phrase regarding how to store your precious metals. Keep them "cool, dry and nearby"!
most gold ever mined has disappeared into private hoards. Most is already in the hands of the global banking elite. in the future government attempts at gold confiscation won't be neccessary. Events will unfold in such a way that gold will cease to circulate freely and world trade will collapse..........by design. This is the entry point of some new world currency that you will need to settle all debts...........or else
I respect your thinking, gentlemen but there is no way present-day America will return to a gold standard. That will only happen if we reach a Mad Max / Canticle for Liebowitz scenario.
And the talk about 'worthless dollars' is half-baked. If you are looking to park one hundred billion dollars in a security, then yes, the USD is unattractive. But on the level where most of us live, dollars are short.
Stagflation is an ungainly word but that is the condition we are in.
Personally my next question is - what is the breaking point? Egypt and Tunisia reached theirs. I am looking for China to raise rates significantly to try to get a rein on their condition. $4 gasoline? Open question.
I am looking for a sharp and major correction in the precious metals because that is the Fed's favorite whipping boy and a dropping gold price 'suggests' dis-inflation (another clumsy word). Uncle Sugar just opened the door for QE3 this week. Did Au respond as it should? I say no/. It's going down.
Think like a reptile and you will see a little further down the path where our masters are going to lead us.
Hell, gasoline is already $3! $4 is a given. I agree regarding commodities et alia. Look at the demand destruction in 2008 that tanked commodities. Multiply by 10 and that's where we will get eventually. After the toilet flushes, then we will have hyperinflation. Believe it or not, the dollar, at least for a short while, will be king again. Does anyone remember the $1.5 quadrillion in bad derivatives that still have to be unwound? They must unwind! Gold has good support at "$522".
You are 2nd guessing yourself.
QE3 will probably not be necessary but Ben may well do it anyway.
That doesn't make QE3 a done deal in the market by a traders point of view.
So rumors of golds demise are exaggerated.
Personally, $4+ gas sucked big time, but I could tolerate/survive it. Even tried maintaining an 800-mile round trip relationship at $4.29 a gallon, driving an F-150 truck.
But $5 gas?? That might be the breaking point.
On a long enough time line.....
The rub is how to play it in the shorter run.
Just want to thank everybody for the quality posts.
Just a corollary to the macro debt discussion.
I have been trolling for cheap real estate in California for over a year. In deal after deal I come across the agent/bank (they are all OREO) will never take a discounted cash offer. The game today is to ask the borrower to buy it at asking price, but offer a credit for repairs, but provide a FHA 203(k) repair loan as part of the sale.
They are desperate to keep homes above the $100,000 value in California. So, that $120,000 house with no roof, kitchen, carpet/paint or HVAC is sold for $120,000, but with a $40,000 repair loan budget to get the house livable. The bank will not take $80,000 cash and close in 10 days. They would rather formulate some zero-down finance package to another non-qualified buyer and keep that debt on the books. Frankly, the banks should not even care because they make up their FHA owed deficiency from the taxpayer anyway.
People forget. On a bank's balance sheet the debt IS the asset. Your checking account is their liability.
The way out of all of this is to inflate/deflate debt as a ratio to the value of the real property, just like what county assessors do. I don't see how the homeowner suffers on their equity, the county gets less taxes, but the bank keeps the debt at nominal value plus all the accrued interest, penalties and fees against the methodical pay-down. Simply put if the market or the note holding bank become impaired significantly for a long duration, just mark down the debt as a ratio to the market and hand the balance over to the mortgagor. Then allow the mortgagor to sell or keep it, hence price discovery occurs on the ground and not in some phantom boardroom 2,000 miles away from the action.
Debt is how money is created. Money is created to help distribute the wealth that comes from the earth. All wealth comes from the earth.
Oil comes from the earth. Oil has made possible all of the productivity gains over the past 100 years. If money was not created, the oil would still be in the ground. Economies grow because of debt creation. Fortunes are made because of debt creation. Nationwide standards of living rise as a result of debt creation.
The difference is the kind of debt. Debt invested in production pay itself off. Cheap energy makes it easy to pay the debt off.
However, it is human nature to do too much of a good thing. As the primary input to the productivity became RELATIVELY more expensive, it became easier to make a fortune selling debt than producing goods. Debt began to be used for consumption of goods. Not a productive endeavor.
Again, I will say it. The availability of cheap energy is what makes money creation. Money can be created to match up to the goods created. Whether the cheap energy that this country enjoyed over the last 100 years was due to discoveries here, or our taking advantage of ignorant people in other places, it WAS cheap energy that made it possible.
And a second point. I get disgusted hearing all these anti-government capitalists complaining about "socialism".The only socialism that they don't like is the socialism that give money to poor people. Socialism was alright when it promised a retirement to the workers who then did not feel the need to save and spent all their money on the goods that the capitalists were selling. And took on the debt that the capitalists were selling. Social Security and Medicare took away the need for people to save to pay for their medical expenses in old age. So they bought stuff.
The capitalists don't seem to mind the government keeping the cost of war off the books. As long as they are spending the money on war hardware.
This war on government is a two faced sham. The republican/tea party/capitalists want to downsize government to avoid the regulations that will rein them in. Now that baby boomers are retiring, they want to do away with social security. Yea, the stupid greedy baby boomers spent all their money on Escalades and Hummers from those second mortgages on their McMansions, but the money went to the merchants selling that crap.
The world economy has boomed over the past 50 years due to the expansion of debt fueled by cheap energy. The world will need to throttle back. This means sharing, taking care of each other, and living within our means. Socialism. You watch. Those people rioting in the streets of Tunisia and Egypt, and wherever is next, when and if they get a chance to select their own government, it will not be a free market capitalist model, it will have strong elements of socialism. Because socialism is how people take care of each other.
That is socio-economics....
socialism? the collective believes it owns nearly half of my labor... if that isn't socialism, what is? oh, you mean the kind where the collective also grabs half of the income and the wealth of the super-rich? do you also believe in unicorns?
Boy, that was kind of ranty, wasn't it.....
And totally wrong. Socialism is how the aristocracy returns to power.
Only to the extent that pushing the pendulum all the way to one side creates that much stored energy to carry it back in the other direction. There has to be some general dichotomy of connections and distinctions that push against each other.
That pendulum never seems to swing as far back to right as it used to. Our end is in sight.
Conservatism is the anti-aristocracy of our times.
Your knowledge of history seems thin. Traditionally the conservatives were the aristocrats. How often were kings referred to as liberal? What you are thinking of is libertarianism, which was a reaction to the statist liberalism of the post Depression/WW2 era. Liberalism evolved out of the expansion of social and economic power, while conservatism was more a function of the consolidation of it. To the extent Roosevelt used government to expand rights to the poor and this became institutionalized into the "politically correct" view by the seventies, the natural reaction was a return to states rights, community and religion based power structures. Necessarily supported by corporate interests which used them as leverage against federal power. Politics really isn't about two clearly definable sides, but is more of a maelstrom of competing interests, with those who have your back often simply using you as a shield.
Sorry, but with the advent of Crony Capitalism we have gone full circle to feudalism.
Now the king determines who prospers by imperial fiat. Just look at the waivers granted to trusted contributors like BP or GE, or the Unions.
The Barons no longer have to follow the law that governs lesser men.
I don't really care where people find the base to oppose this corrupt fascism that is not even trying to hide its true self anymore. All allies are welcome.
Liberals are the useful idiots of the current aristocracy.
Good post.
Probably people like us have always felt this way, down the years.
Look up General Smedley D. Butler and his 'War is a racket' quote from 1935..
Good for you to bring him up.
To my mind, General Smedley Butler was one of a very select few reputable, moral, honorable and (rare for military) AWARE US military officers going. It's a shame he isn't widely venerated for being such.
Even so, as Marine Corp General Bulter admits in his writings, he was blinded to the truth while he was in service. It was only after retirement, upon reflection, that he was able to put things into perspective and come to his conclusions.
Folks, if you aren't educated as to who General Bulter was, what he was part of, and his subsequent thoughts ... then do yourselves a service by investigating him.
General Smedley Butler was a patriot.
essence
i was going to put a link in - he deserves it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smedley_Butler
Gen Patton was going the same after WW2 until he died under mysterious circumstances.
The West seemed to be able to allow leaders of true character rise to the fore in the past, that really seems to be no longer the case and thats why we're going down.
Every politician seems on the make with no respect or morals.
This means the system has broken down and the calls for change are needed and necessary.
Cheers mate.
thanks for the posts
The way I read Butler, he was all for kicking ass and taking names. He just opposed the limited wars and nation building that is the path for corrupt entities to profit on suffering.
Like Ike, he is only quoted by the left in a very limited way.
Ask the average 'conservative' what they're conserving...I generally get a stumped stare.
they're conserving fascism,corruption,war mongering, AND A FIRM SELF-DELUSION that this is somehow defensible
Ask the average "progressive" what they are progressing toward.. Deer in the headlights..
I notice your response lacks any info on what you're conserving...could it be the status quo...of the 19th century? You know...when businessmen shot their workers if they got out of line, racists were endemic, and only 2.5% of kids obtained a high-school education?
And ask the average 'conservative' what's wrong with child labor and you get a blank stare.
True but oh snowball stop... ask a liberal what's so liberating and a stumped stare is followed with "pick a word - control"
Liberal tolerance is as oxymoron-ish as hip-republican.
Both sell me on other oxy's.. both love the contradictions.. voluntary compliance, working retirement, resident-alien, sanitary-landfill, political-science, military intelligence, security exchange, housing development.....
And everyone's favorite... debt reduction through credit expansion.
Progressives were the ones yelling about the Patriot Act, against repealing Glass-Steagall ("control", right?), and pleading for sanity on the run up to invading Iraq.
FWIW, I'm not an advocate of gun-control or censorship, one of many points on which liberals and I tend to disagree.
Trust me i hear u. But it wasn't just liberals and progressives.. it was the true "conservatives/libertarians" complaining as well. And what happened since to that progressive "yelling"? Where the fuck is it now as the neocon agenda continues on nearly every major issue. I beg for it to come back. Shows u the extent of manipulation and pacification in this 2 party paradigm... it succumbs to the age old "at least I'm not liberal, or at least I'm not conservative". We get nowhere and that IS the goal and the point. Neither truly wants change. The dems dont want war to end as much as the pugs dont want illegals to be deported... both are needed to feed the ponzi. Divide and conquer so the real agenda can stay intact... and that is to "keep things exactly the way they are"
I know u see it snowball. Clear as day. So my question to u is... what the hell do we do about it? And if nothing is the answer, why?
Divided, not conquered (yet anyway), but yeah...I do get tired of voting against what I perceive to be the greater of two relative evils.
The first step is understanding what's actually going on. Since we're both here on ZH, I think we can check that one off.
The second step was to stop enabling those who would subjugate me (e.g. avoided taking out a mort during the bubble, moved my money from Wells to a small credit union, paid off all my outstanding debt, and started protecting a good chunk of my wealth with PMs).
The third step is/will be to get past the (often petty) differences and find the common ground around which to build consensus for an alternative to the status quo. This is where I am currently stumbling...ya can't find commonality with people who want to yell "Statist!" and then run off like an ADHD kid when you don't immediately see eye to eye. My frustration is self-evident in my posts...like a drunken sailor with Tourette's at times. It's like they (and perhaps I) prefer the combative aspects of the div and conq strategy to actually working against it. These "powers that be" have been at this game for a very long time; I'm not surprised I've been schooled in the first few rounds.
The answer is definitely not 'nothing'.
I haven't convinced myself that the ballot is inferior to the bullet yet, but it sure feels that way when I watch the MSM and see the sheeple reciting the same lines.
Sometimes "change from within" seems possible (but then I watch 'The Candidate' w/ Redford, great pic).
Sometimes I want to rage against the machine, but I'm no Che.
So I go back to step one and keep trying. Every once in awhile, I'll get to step 3 and find someone like yourself to connect with; for that, I humbly thank you.
Wow... How such obvious answers can often be so extremely enlightening. Its a good post, and one I needed. You got the cogs spinning again, as I'm often "stuck" as well. I won't pretend that frustration will stop with adhd armchair quarterbacks claiming they have the solutions. But you should know that from all that I've read here on zh... you have the ability to contribute and stimulate on a level that most would appreciate. Birth pains to change are and will continue to come... and this path, whatever it is, will need direction and leadership. Dont sell yourself short in this department. Brutal honesty is necessary, and i often appreciate the quality of your "bite"... and this IS needed. But hopefully, for many of us equally guilty, it will become more the exception, and less the norm. Zh is one great forum... and thanks for reminding me.
I've thought about politics since I was selected to go to CA Boy's State in high-school (the fascist training program responsible for Lott, Cheney, Clinton, etc), but with all these junks to keep my ego in check the world remains safe for now.
Along those lines of thought, Bad Religion's "Leaders and Followers"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYZRBwYFIP0
Deep. Reply following consumer bowl. Space too narrow anyway. Think less politician, more fringe inspiration for common collective.
Alright I see where this is going. From one pissed off concervative to another. Keep stirring the pot.
Btw... dig ure pic. U may be unknowingly foreshadowing new government "revelations" to the public with all the pre-conditioning Im recognizing on the tube. Wouldn't be surprised to see some "celestials" in the Consumer-Bowl ads tonight.
Thanks. Got tired of my paperbag head...dunno what happened to the "snowman warming his hands on a pile of burning cash" icon I used to have.
You mean the conservatism in congress that is now attempting the make the unconstitutional patriot act permanent!? "Libertarianism" is the anti-aristocracy of our times. Government doubled in size on our war crimes president George Bush's watch.
I'd be a libertarian, but they believe in killing babies in the womb. So, they can all go die in fire for all I care.
you can be a Rand Paul libertarian.
the kind that believes in state denial of an individual's right to body sovereignty if that individual is a woman.
y'know, it's never about control of the sperm, just the womb, always the same story, throughout the centuries.
can't give birth, just death.
Ever see a photo at ten weeks?
The decision involves two bodies. Everything else is a lie.
Women should raise delicious fetus' for meal supplements. I'm sure there is a market for this most tender of meat. A quick abortion and then...Mmmm....fetus.
tell it to the sperm-spreaders Rodent.
it takes two to tango, but only one gets the punishment.
the "decision" only involves one body, and the "government" is NOT that body.
He's an army guy. He wants you to bust your ass raising the kid so he can run it over with a tank.
aye, which is why I made a decision very early on in my life to not have children in a culture that breeds for death. . .
I have "volunteered" many long hours trying to undo the damage of false belief systems enforced on the children of other people, in varied cultures, it can be heartbreaking. . .
sag rising Heph, jupiter/uranus conj in 8th. . . watching the upcoming transits over the spring equinox zero point aries.
game changer when uranus crosses that line, particularly with the fed's chart *nods*.
Aura, as you brought it up I will give you this reply:
Did it ever occur to you: control of your own lust and desire? The real issue, the bottom line that everyone just ignores,-you enjoy the act of sex, not it's well known result.
The whole abortion issue(as well as the homosexual life style) is a microcosm of the fact that our society is based on materialism and self satisfaction. As a society we are now paying the price for so many selfish actions leading to the abuse of the innocent, abuse of the body's normal functions ,and in economics of our public and private debt. (To my view they are like halographic images of the each other reflecting on each , showing the basic failings of our materialistic life style)
We want all our cravings no matter how damaging to society to be satisfied.
I am as guilty as most in these failings so do not think I put myself above anyone posting here.
Does it ever occur to anyone that nature is bottom up, not top down? The universal state of the absolute and therefore any spiritual absolute, is the essence from which we rise, not an ideal from which we fell. Individually people might have some sense, but collectively we tend to cancel a lot of it out, as everyone grabs their share. So we rise and fall with the regularity of waves hitting the beach. Since we have become top predators, necessarily we have become our own most proficient destroyer. We have some grasp of nature, but sociologically we are at a stage of evolution that biology went through some hundreds of millions of years ago, as single celled organisms evolved into multi-celled ones and developed the ability to reproduce as a way to reset against structural decay. For all those libertarians out there who really just want their share of the loot, the majority of the cells in the body are independent bacteria with some symbiotic relationship to the host organism.
PS, Please learn what conservative means. Try telling a British Conservative that they are anti-aristocratic.
I live in the US. Conservative does mean anti-aristocracy.
why, yes it has overmed, as a matter of fact. . . which is why I've never actually had an abortion.
however, did it ever occur to you that with every single unwanted pregnancy, there was a sperm-spreader present? no one ever seems to remember this fact, that the sperm-donor can impregnate hundreds of women in the time it takes to gestate a human, while the pregnancy takes a woman out of action for at least half a dozen months. . . hows come no laws for the boys?
in fact, has it ever occurred to you that while en-forcing un-wanted pregnancy on the woman, maybe the daddy-gov't could require a paternity test to find the sperm-donor, and eliminate his future anonymous donating with a quick snip? that might be just the deterrence needed to bring about change in their insistence on not using a condom, which is the main reason for unwanted pregnancies.
but this is not the point of my original post, which was to call attention to the "libertarian" choosing sides with the fundieXtians, a surefire vote-getter - how those lofty "libertarian" ideals about personal freedom seem to dis-appear when it comes to body sovereignty, and the boys get all funda-mental religious laws when a woman's body is being out-lawed.
just like a the daddy sky-gods commandeth, in all religions.
hivemind.
Socialism is how the aristocracy returns to power.
Before the ultimate FASCISM..
We don't take the time to figure out what's happening until we have to and then it's usually too late. It is all about energy, as everyone wants to leverage out more than they put in, which goes on until there is nothing left to leverage, so everybody moves on to other things and the system collapses.
I do think that one way to get a sustainable economy is to treat money as the public contract it is. That way, there is no social acceptance of hoarding beyond one's needs, or manifestly cheating others to acquire it. The law of supply and demand does apply to capital. Only as much can be effectively saved as can be prudently loaned, so with a limit to storing wealth, it is actually economically inefficient for outsized fortunes. It's one thing if you are making lots of money and investing it back into a your own productive business, but when you invest it with someone else, this borrower is actually the productive one and should be nurtured by the economic community, not squeezed for all they are worth.
That is the problem with capitalism, as the lenders have the political clout, they must continually find new borrowers to leverage value from.
Money is a form of public utility, similar to any broad circulatory system, like roads and needs to be treated as such. We all like having roads, but there is little inclination to pave more than is necessary and no one cries socialism over the fact they are public property.
Your comment is ludicrous. Dream on.
Yeah, top down planning for the good of the masses that is how people take care of each other.. Where do people get these ridiculous ideas from, it is like history books were outlawed..
"As is clearly explored in the Dickens novel we discussed earlier, staving off the effects of debt by creating more debt is a temporary solution that only leads to greater calamity down the road. Anyone who believes that fiat inflation actually “cancels out” debt instability is going to find themselves sorely disappointed. At bottom, government created stimulus is not a solution to corporate engineered debt burdens, but a reallocation of debt away from banks and into the laps of the American taxpayer. The Federal Reserve and our own Treasury have not paid off anything. They merely shifted the responsibility of payment away from the banks that created the problem, and handed that responsibility to us. On top of this, they have also set the dollar up for a crushing blow of devaluation."
Pretty much sums up the situation and agrees with what every Hedgetard here has known for 3 years.
Exactly. Nicely succinct.
Good thing we have this little law we can enact that can sort through ALL debt, and determine whether it is 'real', or 'fake'. Whatever is fake (about 17 trillion of it) is tossed, gone, finito.
Bailouts...gone
State debts....gone (some most likely taken up by federal gov't...like after rev war...but most likely AFTER settling for pennies on the dollar)
Derivatives...gone
Mortgage and other Securitizations...gone
What is this great law to get rid of this great fraudulent DEBT that is strangling, destroying, and giving Ben the feeling he needs to print?
Why it's a repeat of a law we had on the books, so it's not like it's brand new.
Which of course that law was based off of two earlier laws, one by Lincoln and one by Hamilton.
We repealed this law in stages, and finish doing that in 1999.
Yes, we're talking about Glass-Steagall. The law with the power to destroy ALL fraudulent debt on the books of anything American. Can it do it worldwide?
Sure can. Each country will need to do it themselves, but yes it can be done worldwide. Once the avalanche starts, everyone with a brain and values survival will change. Or else they can sit at the bottom of the mountain with the big snowball hurling towards them. Their choice. But for once, for these monetarist, it'll actually be a REAL choice, instead of a fake monetary one they thought was 'real' their entire careers.
Glass-Steagall
NAWAPA (aka the parson project...on paper in designed form since the 1960's, and what LBJ wanted to do after Vietnam...whoops)
We're only idiots in a land where debt can be cancelled and we have a HISTORY of it, that we cannot cancel the most blantantly obviously fraudulent debt ever.
Gee I don't know why we're heading for a brick wall, I just can't seem to hit the brakes, which my company invented. If we go down, it's tantamount to a cop dying from choking on a donut. Seriously stupid.
Removing Glass-Steagall was like removing the stop signs at a busy intersection (all that orderly stopping/going is clogging up traffic, doncha know) -- and putting up speeding signs instead. Increase the speed of the traffic and somehow the accidents will be reduced. Great thinking, eh?
While I'd certainly like to see Glass-Steagall reinstated, it will only provide a modicum of restraint on the TBTF in that it would limit the jackboots to gambling with their own money instead of theirs and yours combined. It does nothing to address securitization (which didn't exist until the 80s), fractional reserve lending (which will provide the leeches with capital with which to gamble), or derivatives (also fanned into a forest-fire by the CFMA).
You've got the right intentions, but are sadly misinformed on many counts.
Another point: it needs to be done worldwide and in unison to be meaningful, otherwise it is merely an invitation to capital flight.
one step/day at a time, baby.
Glass-Steagall AND CFMA, yes exactly. So few recognize the inherent leverage and power to distort risk that CFMA enabled.
In the days of simplicity as I think of them, risk was moderated or reduced via less leverage and or reducing exposure, not by purchasing "insurance" by the basis point. If risk was destabilizing, risky positions were reduced. An insurable interest was required to buy insurance, and the insurance seller was required to have the capital to back up the claims against the policies it was selling.
Financial instruments that produce zero sum games (negative sum games after bankster fees are extracted) are malicious instruments that encourage speculation and gambling behavior, and a blood funnel feeding the parasitic beast.
Simplified Securitization has its place, but risk must not be allowed to be obscured with derivatives. If an investor wants "fixed" income from debt products, recognition that default risk, prepayment risk, inflation/loss of purchasing power risk must stay with the repackaging of the loan, for that is what it is.
In laymans terms. Intermingling of bank and insurance company finiancial instruments
"Today they say that we are free..only to be chained to poverty" Bob Marley
We could change it up a little bit, I don't think Bob would mind,
"Today they say that we are free only to be hung to this debt tree."
It's just an elegantly updated version of the old "Company Store" system. Marley's eyes were wide open.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt_bondage
if we all got out of debt in unison, we'd have no liquidity at all -- perhaps better to change the consumptive debt money system first and then have that debt jubilee, after.
best article and comments i have ever read, in my entire life. this education that i am receiving today from all of zerohedgies, makes my heart so strong. sad thing for me, i have no one to email this brilliant article and comments to. maybe some day i will. that day will be a memorable moment, especially if i am still alive.
in Romans 13:
Amen.
WTF?! We almost never agree, Rodent, and I rarely give a shit about junks, but what kinda bitch would junk an "Amen"?
God help us.
'tis the down-side of anonymity, Bob. probably one of them commie athiests. PS: betcha your whine and this one pick up junks, too HA!
I don't junk anyone. I'm not shy.
Weird how Militant Atheism is practiced with religious fervor. ;)
I wonder if they know Amen simply means, "I agree"?
That was my exact thought as well. It is ironic--and I say that (as you know) as an atheist. It's not the belief system that is the most important thing; fanaticism destroys everything, however good, that suffers its embrace.
Mankind is a spiritual animal. Everyone is religious about something. The only question is, "About what?"
Sounds good, but thats not the PLAN>
.
When you're not watching TV, you are asking questions. It's all bait and switch.
Barry is going to bring us down, unless we all wake up.
You were already brought down...he's just the guy in the seat for this round of musical chairs.
Yes, Barry is the puppet de jour!
the only thing that can grow infinitely on a finite planet is the money supply.And possibly greed.
i think the powers that be will drive our system right into the ground. I dont know why they would. It seems intentional.And i dont like it.I doubt they could be so misguided and stupid as to have this be an unintentional consequence of their actions.Just what are they trying to accomplish?Them thar theys have everything already.....bond-like arch villains out to control the whole world?Reminds me of the french kings playing chess with a giant board and people dressed as the pieces.
As for a solution, i dont see any sort of workable fix for the issues we have now, unless they wanna play 'trading places' eddie murphy style with all of us. We are all but pawns in their great game.A rigged game at that.
If you look at a 'name' U.S. company... let's take JP Morgan as an example, you'll see that a good part (and increasing part) of their revenues is coming from outside the U.S. We've seen this in U.S. corporations since the Reagan years.
Outsourcing jobs to countries with lower labor and environmental costs, moving profits off shore to indefinitely delay US taxes ... all with government help mind you (via bought off congress). That's been the thrust of these past decades.
To get back to your question as to why the PowersThatBe would drive the system into the ground. Why it's to consolidate contol. The coup de grace, the serfdom of America as the banksters assume ultimate contol on a worldwide scale.
The creation of the Fed was the first step. Now they're going international.
Look at the EU. The very same interests with major holding in US big banks have investments in EU banks (did it escape you that the Fed bought 100's of BILLIONS of toxic MBS from Germanys Deutsche bank) That makes sense if the owners of the Fed have major holdings there that need bailing out due to bad bets.
On both sides of the Altantic the same thing is happening ... i.e., governments are being pressured by the real rulers to shift the big banks leveraged debts gone bad to the public. Ephermeral puppets such as Obama, Merel and Sarkosy do the bidding of the real Controllers. And the contollers are the owners of the big western banks. Our monetary/financial system has been crafted by them so that they make money even in their sleep. Everything goes thru them. Even Governments.
The big banks have managed to obtain a monoply to create money, and they charge interest on this. Even to the government that gave them the monoply in the first place! Everyone is a serf to them.
A worldwide financial/monetary crisis is a window of opportunity for the big banks to introduce the equivalent of a world Fed. Likely this would be the IMF and SDRs as the new fiat currency. Along with this would come a host of faceless, unelected beaurcrats to administer and control the new world order (look to the EU and it's Brussels bureaucrats, unaccountable and unaudited).
Oh come on, how the hell are you supposed to afford a house without a mortgage?
Save for it, and/or operate well below your means. Yes, it means roommates and/or living in shitty places for a few years, but seriously, it works.
Talk with someone who is fully employed who due to whatever circumstance, ended up living back at home w/ parents, friends, in a RV parked in someone's back yard, whatever. They'll usually tell you it was the fastest time of savings growth in their history. Or, someone who's in their peak earning years and winds up in a crap apartment due to relocation, fire, etc. -- same story, the cash piles up fast.
The debt trap is to get your to spend money you don't have on something you could save for, and then take a cut (interest) pretty much forever. If you delay gratification and save, trap avoided and you're way, way better financially.
FYI I live in a place that is about 1/30th the value I could qualify for on a mortgage, and I've had an after-tax savings rate of anywhere from 30-80% of my annual income for the past 20 years as a result.
people used to save up for things, some still do
Build it yourself ?
Without the financing support and leverage of the mortgage, prices would be much, much lower.
I like Tyler's point it, it might be easier to start with a new system, organic, local, and ignore the old system. The old system is so corrupt, it is unchangable. However, figure out the perfect system for just 1 city, and we have succeeded.
One fresh, new, organic system for one specific city that addresses everything above (local commerece, currency, banking) and then export that model to ant city that wants it.
The cities need to default, tell the Feds to fuck them selves, and give all the property to the local residents. Maybe a local currency could be derived/backed by the city property and infrastructure for local commerce.
Maybe even a Mayor can delcare everyones mortagage is now considered "paid in full" and tell the bankers to go fuck themselves.
Oh Trustworthiness:
Actually lots of that going on as folks adjust, e.g.
http://www.ithacahours.org/ (even the moonbats have figured this out).
ZH has had many articles on e.g. Michigan folk side stepping the FRN system.
- Ned
I've been bartering my time, skills & created items for decades now, simultaneous with one foot in (and out of) the "system" but always favouring the equitable trade side of things.
the key is trust, and the willingness to see value in an other's time, or skills, or creations - awareness of the human you are exchanging with, and respect for their efforts (reciprocal).
not always compatible with individuals steeped in competitive ego-states, because the trust is not fostered. . . generosity and kindness are often sneered at by those who cannot give freely, and many people can spot the un-trust-worthy a mile away.
while "barter" can happen on such places as craigslist, the best system is through networks of trusted social groups/intentional families - I have a few places in the world I can rely on should an quick exit be desired - these are priceless, trustworthy communities, not perfect, but certainly preferable to many other "choices" available.
certainly, going forward, it will be preferable to barter & share within a trusted network - how else to maintain a certain "off the radar" life?
Right! Screw the feds "and" the horses they rode in on!"
Thorough and accurate analysis. Explains why commodities--food, gold, oil, silver, etc--have been soaring as hard asset protection of wealth from the falling paper currencies. The Baltic INdex shows there is little demand ..so we know demand is a small part of the rise in commodities and wealth preservation by buying hard assets is the way to go.
Thank you for this article.
Mr Bruno has nailed it. Great read and screws down the main points of the parasites (monopolists) leverage on societies back. The only part missing is a call for an end to Govt, the greatest Ponzi of all, and the root of all the other Ponzis, including the big banks debt-based money system.
Remove Govt and the ratchet for all other monopolist parasites (and corruption) get taken away.
its so obvious yet so hard to imagine, for most.
Indeed. We have vast amounts of 'baggage' in our minds, hundreds of years of ingrained largely liberal ideas, to clear away before we can imagine freedom from the parasitical organ that is 'democratic Govt " as well as other institutionalised white elephants (defence, banking, pensions, taxation, passports etc etc).
But the good thing every institution which is swimming in BS is doing itself in infront of everybodies eyes. Over the next 6 years they will all collapse in their own promises and people will be negative and cynical toward all for failing them and exposed, like all liberal ideas, as Emperors wearing no clothes.
It's the opportunity we need to rid us of them (parasite monopolist organisations)
i am not optomistic that we will see an awakening to the truth of self-ownership in our lifetime, but like the genie, this meme is out of the bottle, and there is no way to stuff it back in. the end of the enslavement of humanity is in sight.
1. most peoples property taxes are rising not falling, and this trend is not in reversal.
2. [50 to 100 American cities would default in the midst of a municipal crisis in 2011] - the federal reserve already has the legal capacity to step in and borrow to muni bonds, there just has to be political will to start it.
Your assertion that the Fed will default $ by stopping purchases of tbills is incorrect, the price will just go up. Default will come from congress's failure to raise ceiling.
The Feds tbill purchases are not causing inflation; oversimplification that is widely held to be true......truth be told, our money supply is shrinking in the real economy as derivatives balloon debt to 1,500T, but that isn't real economy money; talking about the 2 as if they are the same is misleading.
Agreed debt prison is result of the path we are on now, with no [tangible benefits in being dependent on debt based finance]. NEED ACT, check it out.
[The secret to breaking the circle of debt is to adopt a policy of decentralization, and self sufficiency.]
[By cutting our dependency on the corrupt establishment, we sever its ability to feed off of us]
Bankers would have us believe it is their sole right to conjure into existance our money supply, and that Government ought not be in the banking business, and stick to borrowing $ from them. I say Government should tell bankers money creation is the Governments responsibility, and banks should get out of the government business.
It's quite simple really...debt itself is not bad and if managed properly can help speed along growth. When debt is misused there will be volitility and potential boom-bust. The big variable in the equation is human behavior. If people weren't greedy by nature, if good judgement prevailed and if people always followed the rules (and if they didn't they suffered painful consequences), then utilizing debt would be good. However, when greedy and corrupt people get in bed with greedy corrupt politicians and allow ridiculous behavior putting other people at risk (with no personal risk of their own), the consequences will inevitably be bad. We are seeing this now. Eliminating debt is not the answer. Punishing those who misbehave is the answer...take away everything they have, banish them from ever doing anything but being a low level employee and put them in jail for their crimes. If we need to change the laws to allow these bastards to be more easily prosecuted and convicted, I'm all for it. Not to do so will result in a great divide between rich and poor. The split will create dissention and anger and violence, the end result being Egypt or worse. I would like to see Geithner resign and a pro public Treasury Secretary take his place. I would like to see this new Treasury Secretary disband the to big to fail banks and create a competitve system where regulations control risk taking. I know, it's to much to ask for...I will wait for the day that our out of touch, imbecile, lying (speak with forked tongue) egomaniac president watches as his legacy is cast in stone when the common folk he was elected to represent revolt and the streets are washed in the blood of financial criminals (not all bankers are bad). 3800 bankers were prosecuted and put in jail during the last finacial crisis...Eric Holder and his boss must have lots of rich friends, because in spite of the biggest disater of my lifetime, not a one has done the perp walk.
PS Even a return to Glass Steagall would be good....
Fdic insured entities should be strictly regulated boring utilities. The rest should be allowed to fail when they do, and not be subsidizes by the people. A quick depression and a few hangings and then debt monetization would have been a better sequence to follow. The option to hang some bankers and throw the less guilty in jail is still available. We should be able to take care of these criminals ourselves and not have to rely on al queda to take out the bankers.
Hey! The banksters "are" Al Qaeda! Al CIAeda is a creation of our patriots at the CIA.
Thats probably a bit too paranoid. I know jamie dimon is never going to open a letter or let his family open a letter again. Too much nasty shit could be put in the letter. A microgram of polonium, a tiny amount of anthrax too small to be detected, i think.al queda is likely to get one of the bankers if they try.
why hasnt everyone just run up their UNSECURED credit cards and then walk away .....if everyone did this then the RESET correction would have to happen.....plus you get to enjoy all your purchases
Credit Scores.
They're continued usage is a real problem we must confront.
Mike Krieger's new forum.
http://ampedstatus.org/network/groups/krieger-updates/
Talk about debt slaves? almost one trillion student loan debt and they get out of college and can't find jobs and they cannot discharge the debt through bankruptcy.
parents should have bought a 2nd POS house w/ no money down, taken out HELOC and then walked away from their underwater pile of crap without any student debt......20-20 hindsight
this is the thesis of the NIA, their movie about it should be out by spring
... bbbbbbbuuttt, a college education is necessary to progress in the world.
Define 'progress'.
Right now, it seems like a college education may get you a job at Applebees in most places.
But the competition will be stiff for the post.
As I was relocating several tons of global warming residue today, this ear-worm was killing me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpTJg2EBpw
From THE MAN: 'I was born one morning when the sun didn't shine, I picked up my shovel and walked to the mine. ... I owe my soul to the Company Store."
- Ned
The Big Banks are prepared for social unrest. That will not be the way out of this mess. An Apache helicopter is a tough opponent.
No, we need Senators and Congressmen who are not bought and paid for by the Big Banks. This is not impossible. It is wrong to give up on that concept. If voters booted any politician who supported today's policies it could be done. But evil is close to achieving the point-of-no-return since half our citizens pay no taxes and are on the Government teat.
If you think there is no political solution, which is a reasonable opinion, than it seems to me owning a working farm and some PM is about all the average person can do to prepare.
I'm not quite ready to give up yet.
How about we set up our own Tahrir Square at 200 West Street in Manhattan?
That way, if people want to attack us, they end up blowing up GS.
Too much consensus in these comments. The reason the US Govt. has pursued the strategy of massive deficits is because of credit contraction--as consumers pull out, the government wishes to keep the outstanding debt levels high because credit is money. How it all ends is anybody's guess, but that is definitely why they are doing it.
As far as commodity prices, that is just all the outstanding slosh trying to find a place to gain traction. Commodity prices will rise, until they don't as demand is wiped out. Then all that slosh will be destroyed or go someplace else. It's all just a big game,
I have seen zero hard evidence that the riots overseas are due to food shortages. Not one single piece of evidence. It is entirely possible, but I have seen no hard evidence of it.
"zero" .. "not one single piece" .. WOW!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/political-economy/2011/01/spike_in_global_food_prices_tr.html
But just look up the price of most anything: Energy, Food, Cotton, Copper, Gold etc. etc. etc.
The point is money is supposed to be a store of value. When you print an endless amount of money it is no longer a store of value.
Your private Federal Reserve Bank starves poor people to bailout Big Banks...
I find it sad you are o.k. with that.
>>How it all ends is anybody's guess,<<
not if you understand math and run the numbers.
if money is kept tied to debt, we get a vicious deflationary collapse that will financially wipe out many americans and, frankly, kill many americans.
if the money / debt connection is severed and raw emission of currency follows and gets into the hands of the people somehow (not through wages as wages are arbitraged by slaves controlled by organ harvesting criminal dictators)
I didn't get why the author thinks that the following scenario ends up directly in hyperinflation...
1. interest rates rise dramatically.
2. commodities rise dramatically.
3. wages go nowhere as slave labor arbitrage limits wage growth.
4. corporate earnings collapse - over levered companies go bust.
5. unemployment skyrockets.
6. debt service sky rockets - government lays off millions.
7. state governments go bust - lays off millions.
8. people rush to get dollars to pay down debts - money supply drops dramatically.
9. IMF steps in an cuts SS, medicare, unemployment and social services to the BONE.
that smells like deflationary napalm in the morning to me.
yes, eventually hyperinflation will make the dollar worthless - all currencies end up there eventually. but i bet that this doesn't happen until the robber barons own all the real assets they can by busting as many citizens in all countries as possible.
>>but that is definitely why they are doing it.<<
no, they are transferring the debts of the private robber barons and their corporations to the public.
period.
everything else is just a distraction or the cost of keeping a revolution at bay.
Yes and well put. It may be a combination of deflation of certain "assets" and inflation of the essentials of life e.g. food/energy. BTW, #'s 6 & 7 are consummations greatly to be desired. The deflation of which you speak is the evaporation of fiat money and it associated "debt", the interest of which has been used to produce world wide slavery.
Speaking of real assets, has anyone looked inside the vaults of Fort Knox lately...
PT, but if credit (money) massively collapses as i suspect will likely occur, there won't be much money to pay for anything - even energy and perhaps food.
i don't think prices can continue to increase as the money supply is cut in half or worse.
however, its affordability may well be a lot lower even thought the price is lower. if half the money is taken out of the economy and prices drop 25%... its less affordable.
ultimately, the dollar is worth $0.
i can't get the idea that a vicious, brutal debt deflation pit with very sharp spikes in the bottom of the pit before we get there.
I think debtors realize the HORROR of deflation and they are all hoping to get a "get out fo debt free" card.
maybe - but the other side of that trade are the people who will determine deflation or hyperinflation.
maybe they wipe out their debt ownership.
or maybe they wipe out debtors after looting the treasury blind.
head on a swivel.
the system only works as long as society doesn't have to pay back their debts.
I don't follow your logic but that could be my fault.
I usually find it hard to believe there is a Grand Conspiracy behind today's mess.
Our Federal elected officials are "owned" by the Big Banks. I tend to think that was all that was necessary to create the current death-spiral. If nobody cares what happens 10 years out, and decisions are made by Banksters, well we were bound to end up screwed. It doesn't have to be some Secret Conspiracy; just souless douche-bags looking out for themselves and their Banks, in the short-term.
I certainly don't see why the money supply gets cut in half. Once the private-to-public debt transfer is accomplished I think hyperinflation is the natural course of things, as long as the Big Banks are calling the shots. Banks will always be levered debtors by definition, I think. I can't see why Banksters would ever want deflation.
I'd be interested in what you think I am missing...
It is perhaps ironic that ursury, decried by all major religions, will be the downfall of what was formerly known as Western civilisation. John Adams knew that the lack of understanding of the the nature of coin and circulation would be the most likely source of turmoil for the republic. Even an infamous lunatic of the 20th century railed against "intererst slavery" in his little noted (until it was too late) autobiography. Who knew?
What is hitler and mein kampf? Did i win? More world history for 800 please Alec.
Ding, ding, ding! the Daily Double. This monetary banking system, conceived centuries ago, has lead to spiraling debt threatens to fracture the world economy into itty bitty pieces...
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a4X4XSXn4aHw
(I know it is an old article but a classic Bloomberg Headline)
Bravo. Your insight is very much appreciated.
There are only three final outcomes to debt :
Repayment
Default
Part repayment part default
The problems of excessive debt and leverage cannot be solved by taking on more debt and leverage. The ponzi scheme can only go on till you have someone willing to lend you money to pay the previous lender. The game stops when your cost of borrowing becomes exceptionally high or there is a shortage of lenders willing to lend.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article24581.html
You've posted this before so that gives me the right to mark your piece out of 5.
I give it 2 and a half stars out of 5.
Started well and got a bit dull. Better than i could do admittedly.
Constructive criticism when you put your head above the parapet and keep posting it.
When you deal in fantasy, fiat, and contrived wealth, there is no such thing as 'sustainability'. As long as we choose to dream the elites dream, we can perpetuate the nightmare through endless hours. The only disturbance to our continued slumber is that there are some, like Islam, the Austrian's, and a few sovereigns that don't buy into the soma-induced debtscape.
on a superficial level, you have a point. but on a basic level, MONEY IS DEBT.
if society doesn't take on debt, there is no money.
let me repeat that.
IF SOCIETY DOESN'T TAKE ON DEBT, THERE IS NO MONEY.
that is a problem that needs to be solved.
the problem is that the robber baron financiers will have to take a "haircut," and that just isn't civilized. the serfs need to starve before that happens.
Trav7777777777
Take a knee.
Debt based money is the root of ALL evil. The debt is created out of nothing but YOU get to pay back the princepal (which exists) AND the interest (which was never created) so you thats how the rat race works, they always win and some of the rats always loose
lose the debt and win the war
this site is over loaded with iq
and yet there is arguement
over this simple concept?
take the hit
stop being a wuss
take the next few hours of your life
to contemplate a world where you and everyone you know
has no debt
I mean your personal debt
not the debt foisted on you by your govt.
let us not quibble
if you stopped consuming and lived within your means
you would be in control
even a dumb ass like me knows this to be true
since to live is to suffer...
suffer for the cause, suffer for the victory, suffer for enlightenment
suffer till the debt is gone and give your suffering meaning
wusses...
+1/0
Have had no debt since 1997, fck em all
usury is "creation of fiat currency"...we should put an end to any kind/form of it.
no debt, then
no usury
live on
ockham's razor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg
I use paper to wipe my glutius maximus. Pretty soon, I will be able to use FRNs too!
"[T]here is no need of fighting to overcome this single tyrant, for he is automatically defeated if the country refuses consent to its own enslavement: it is not necessary to deprive him of anything, but simply to give him nothing; there is no need that the country make an effort to do anything for itself provided it does nothing against itself. It is therefore the inhabitants themselves who permit, or, rather, bring about, their own subjection, since by ceasing to submit they would put an end to their servitude." -- Etienne de la Boetie
Good article. Thank you for your work. The debt cycle must end, although I believe it is too late already and we are running into a iron wall at 100 MPH.
There were a couple of mentions of Zeitgeist: Moving Forward and the Venus Project in this comments thread. That's understandable considering the difficulty in picking winners in the abundance vs. scarcity WWW smackdown. We recently drafted an in-depth article on the movie. You can read it here if you like: http://tradewithdave.com/?p=5282
Dave Harrison
tradewithdave.com
A balanced review of the movie (and ideas)...
http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=34225
Definitely food for thought all-around and I plan on taking the time to watch it myself soon.