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Where Are We Now? A Comparative Timeline Approach
Let's assume that the statement "its never different this time" is there for a reason, and is fundamentally correct. In which case this time is just like some other previous time. Furthermore, considering that the underlying reasons for the Great Financial Crisis of 2007 never went away but merely saw their symptoms masked by trillions of dollars in monetary and fiscal stimulus, it is safe to say that what is currently happening in Europe, accompanied by financial failures in the US, is merely a continuation of that epic collapse that started all the way back in 2007 with the failure of New Century. And since history always rhymes, and all too often it is easy to ignore the big picture of the past, we would like to remind readers of precisely what the key events in the first great collapse were, transpose these to the present, and attempt to predict the future. The questions are: who is next, when, where and how. To help us with the answer, here is a brief history of two timelines...
Here is the compare and contrast courtesy of South of Wall Street:
- April 2007 | New Century goes down SEC Filing
- June 2007 | Bear Stearns suspends redemptions from its High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund - (With that name, who put money in this thing? Enhanced Leverage...)
- July 2007 | Bear Stearns liquidates said funds U.S. Bankruptcy Filing -
- August 2007 | Countrywide borrows the entire $11.5 billion available in its credit lines with other banks. Fitch Ratings downgrades & SEC Filing
- January 2008 | Countrywide goes down - BofA 'buys' them
- February 2008 | Northern Rock goes down UK Treasury Release
- March 2008 | Bear Stearns goes down - JPM 'buys' them Federal Reserve Press Release
- July 2008 | SEC bans naked short selling in the securities of Fannie, Freddie, and banks SEC Press Release
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September 2008 | Fannie and Freddie are wiped out
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September 2008 | Lehman goes down - Merrill is 'bought' buy BofA
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September 2008 | SEC bans on short selling in the stocks of all companies in the financial sector PR
- September 2008 | All types of facilities, guarantees, and swap lines are extended (TAF, AMLF)
- September 2008 | JPMorgan 'buys' Washington Mutual
- October 2008 | Wells Fargo 'buys' Wachovia
- October 2008 | TARP comes to life H.R. 1424 | Public Law
Where are we now?
- February 2010 | EU and Greece reach austerity plan
- April 2011 | Portgual asks for a bailout
- October 2011 | Greece 'haircut' ruled voluntary - MF Global Goes Down - CDS now meaningless
- December 2011 | Greek default no longer the world's focus as Italy collapses
- January 2012 | Greece defaults
- March 2012 | Germany to leave the EU
- June 2012 | French banks fail - French yields soar as bond auctions fail
This WSJ timeline is worth considering as we are now 18 months into the 'crisis'.
Europe is no different than the US housing bubble that lead to the subsequent credit crisis. It was fairly straight forward that the housing mess would end poorly. However, it played out slowly ... until it didn't. The housing collapse and ensuing credit collapse were the most well documented events that no one was prepared for.... until Europe.
MF Global and Greece are NOT going to be the end of this story, they're the New Century or Bear Hedge Funds of this collapse. We're just beginning. Are you prepared?
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Well Italy is on the verge. In less than 8 hours (at 9.30AM EST) there will be a crucial vote on the Italian budget. If it fails, Berlusconi falls.
Germany to leave the EU
Not gonna happen. All German politicians are corrupt to the bone.
All GERMAN politicians are corrupt to the bone?
ALL POLITICIANS ALLOVER ARE CORRUPT TO THE BONE!
At some point, the interests of the politicians will be better served leaving the EU rather than staying. Politicians are always among the first rats off a sinking ship -- and Europe is taking on water fast.
For the time being, centralized power and stability from Brussels is a sweet temptation to politicians wrestling with their own national problems. But as it becomes increasingly clear that the dream of a unified Europe is collapsing, and that events are spiraling rapidly out of anyone's control -- politicians in all countries will *desperately* seek to put distance between themselves and the failed management team in Belgium. (Who in their right mind would lash their careers to the mast of Von Rumpuy's sinking ship?)
Public anger will increasingly be directed at "Europe" -- and nationalism will go vertical.
For the time being, a small handful of Eurocrats are the only ones left in Europe who still believe that the European dream is possible. And their numbers are shrinking fast. From a populist perspective, Europe is (and always was) a group of warring tribes that can't stand one another. When the shit hits the fan, even formerly euro-centric politicians will play that card -- as it will be the only card left to play.
It is encouraging that political factions in both Europe and America can see the coming crash. How can a blood bath be avoided?
Cooperation is the key to all levels of human endeavor and leads to prosperity, peace, and well being. Execution of a solution will fail unless you get past the same 666 ton dinosaur which continues to destroy voluntary exchange and voluntary cooperation everywhere on this planet, and that dinosaur is government in its present form.
Almost everywhere in the West now, if you attempt to employ those with low value skills, (sadly most recent college graduates in America today or the legions of the uneducated, who both lack practical experience), you will discover that you are prevented in doing so by the fact that too high costs will cause you to fail. You would destroy more wealth than you would create if you attempted to do so. The reason this is so is that the cost to employ them or even to try self-employment as a strategy are too great: either due to minimum wage laws, and/or because of mountains of regulations and/or license requirements, and especially because of taxes.
So political camps could agree on many things, but until the underlying problems caused by that "dinosaur" are changed the economy will not improve but continue towards collapse. Governments destroy market ecosystems. Market ecosystems are how human civilizations survive and thrive.
It is encouraging that those who lack the understanding of how wealth is created, (both on the "left" and the "right"), at least see large amounts of wealth being stolen and given to those with the most wealth. This happens as a natural result of the problems just cited above. More and more, the ones able to make a "profit", (not the same as creating wealth when a government can inflate the currency and corrupt the meaning of "profit"), are those who can overcome the high costs of taxes, regulations, inflation, and wage laws. Such "winners" have enough resources to meet each of these burdens, often because they also have enough "money" and power to employ government to their advantage and to prevent less affluent or less powerful parties from entering the market ecosystem. As things are, government will continue to attempt to grow as it always does, but even those with wealth and power begin to see that the system must crash soon.
We seem to be at the point that wealth, (things you NEED and things you want): the basis for life and well being, is being destroyed so quickly now in both America and W. Europe that those who can do so are in the final stages of preparing a place of safety from the coming storm and the rest are just waking up to how bad things are getting. The solution is voluntary exchange but you have to do something about that dam "dinosaur" or you will DIE! I hope "we" choose life and not death.
The more powerful human technology becomes, the more essential it becomes to avoid concentrating power in the hands of the "few". The ultimate dispersion of power would be ultimate "self" government: each person as sovereign. The ultimate way to disperse power is to never attempt to concentrate it to begin with. A free market "ecosystem" is the closest that we can come to total dispersion of power, thus we must move to voluntary exchange and non-aggression in all aspects of "government" - meaning free market ecosystems in adjudication/arbitration/law and free markets ecosystems in defense/insurance/enforcement.
We are running out of time. I don't want to live in another stone age. We can cooperate or we can choose to enforce our selfish will upon others who do not agree with us through political power. The first way leads to life, the other leads to death and misery. If we do not choose cooperation soon very many will die.
Mike Ruppert has some good resources on the subject on how to organise communities and it's being done in rural situations. The cities however are going to be a different animal all together. I even think he pops on here once in a while, but he's fairly busy with his projects.
So what if a large swathe of the human population is sentenced to live under some retarded ruling block. Stay in the country, find a good community and work in that environment. Right now, saving humanity isn't the problem, we've got people coming out of our ears.
where are we now?
europe, 1913.
http://azizonomics.com/2011/11/07/israel-iran-war/
where are we now?
europe, 1913.
http://azizonomics.com/2011/11/07/israel-iran-war/
HI CPL:
"Saving humanity isn't the problem"
How much one person values a particular human life is of course subjective. I feel much richer when people are alive and even more rich when they are living enjoyable, "decent" lives. But then that is me.
I hope you feel that saving YOUR life, at least for now, is valuable to you. I hope you agree that most people might feel that continuing their lives is important to themselves. In fact people who want to stay alive have been know to do desparate things!
The more desparate people get, the more destructive they can be. I wish you success if you are focused on going somewhere where the mob can't get at you. Once you get there, if you can not cooperate with your new neighbors you will ultimately fail. The desire to impose one groups will upon another through force and through political means seems near universal at the moment. Your safe haven can turn into a hell in a heartbeat. I think you will discover in time "he who saves his life will loose it" but then that could have some kind of deep esoteric meaning that we may not understand.
The state of technology is such that the desparate or ignorant can "reach out and touch you" in so many ways even if you work very hard to prevent it. Fukashima fallout is touching almost everyone on this planet now. That is a tragedy and the ignorance of how to have abundant, safe, clean, and inexpensive power is also tragic.
We have a shortage of certain types of people! A shortage of those who understand and are being permitted to create wealth. IF your sole mission is preserving you loved ones lives without regard to helping others then will you be creating wealth and well-being or burying what you have in a cave some where? For you maybe it might come down to life and death. Will you not try first to teach your neighbor how to be wealthy? Enjoy the world that you help to create.
I am not my brother's keeper in that light. Few are willing to entertain the idea of moving back into the age of steam, so there is simply nothing to be done about it. And forcing people to accept a concept of even modest change is not palatable for most. That horizon of change is now closer than it was three years ago, pardon 4 years ago from the first death rattle in 2007.
So if there was a concern to educate and place information in the hands of the public, that point is long well past. Short of kidnapping, the acceptance of a massive human culling is all anyone can do. As you've mentioned Fukashima, yes, between that, bee colonies collapsing, an over abundance of arts majors and fewer hands that can actually build, develop and maintain the systems required for a person's daily affairs (currently). Most people that you will see today will eventually get caught in that trap of obliviousness that requires the blinders are fully covering their eyes, hearts and minds.
I already am in a comfortable place and working with my neighbours and fellow villagers. Most of us have been very busy establishing a strong community with general improvements to poorly thought out government approved solutions. Out of the 8000 or so of us, the only ones that can't craft are the older citizens of our town where time and arthritis has taken their hands along with their faculties. So here we are nearly four year after the fact, the horn was blown, and 99.999% stayed completely unaware of the nonsense being done behind their backs.
For our small town the wake up call was the closure of not one, but all manufacturing facilities, town hall meeting was called and history was explained. The general employment in the area has obviously fallen, it was a decision by our local council to start mapping the requirements for what we needed as an area. Some shuffling, redevelopment of some abandoned stone homes and ancient warehouses build in the 1800's and reeducation on how to build without power tools was set up. I am an engineer by trade, but as my town option I selected carpenter, although I am thinking of stone mason is the next thing I would like to accomplish. We have nurses, doctors, electricians, a couple of geothermal specialists that are here as well, plus everyone farms to some extent. There are a couple of lazy shits that are in town and have been on welfare for multi generations that aren't taking part, but the folly and risk is theirs to take.
While I was put on this earth to give help to those that I am associated with, even lend a hand to a stranger. I was not put here to save the entire planet, especially those that have no interest in performing the most basic tasks of life. I could point to a million and one reasons as to why people would sell themselves short and avoid their basic responsibilities to their own communities and themselves. But why bother, the human race as far as I'm concerned is happy amusing itself to death, they would gladly give their left nut to have that "car", "shoes", kids, house, etc.
The elusive thing that drives them to swallow from the trough of life like greedy swine, eating everything with no expectations of return if only to be slaughtered for their poorly lived lives. I have no sympathy for the devil nor the people expect to "get some" for the little or no contribution offered.
That is the foundation of commerce and community. The swap of trust in return for energy, which energy re-enforces trust. Right now, should trust be blindly given to a goat herder in Albania, or a house wife in England, or a retired civil servant drawing a pension? In my minds eye, no. Without the currency of trust, my energies certainly will not be given, there are other things closer to home that require attention. The phrase pick your battles comes to mind.
If you wish to jump feet first into the messianic please feel free to do so. I have other work to do before even considering looking in the direction of saving the planet or the population on it.
+ infinity.
see my post below.
"I already am in a comfortable place and working with my neighbours and fellow villagers."
ok, it's an "anonymous" village somewhere, i get it
...but your description made me curious...what state/region, cpl?
sounds very Kunstlerian....i've wondered how a semi-return to the 19th century would be pulled off outside the pages of a book. I've also had the sense that it's beginning to happen here and there...some are oblivious, some are OWSing but some are already growing beards and heirloom veggies
Ottawa Valley specifically. If you've eaten a strawberry in May, it's probably from one of the fields here or Niagra region. If you smoke dope in NYC, our number one cash crop is the massive amount marijuana we produce along with corn (none this year, too much water to grow).
Kustler had been a source of inspiration for some in town. I am drawing most of my inspiration from the universe of steam punk. Personally i enjoy the flexibility of networks/servers/PC to develop community ties and kick ass playing a FPS. So most of my engineering skills have gone into how to replicate what we have, smaller and off grid.
Tell you one thing, Ham radios are dirt cheap now and can be purchased by the box load in a Salvation Army.
So yes. If you are interested in seeking a "lifeboat" Mike Ruppert has collapsenet, that gives civic frameworks and other things of interest by region.
One thing I can say for many Canadians from what you have posted before, when "the Man" tries to stick his nose in the community's business, that community seems mighty good at having that individual reconsider his conduct. I hope that remains so for you and yours in the future.
The "steam power" thing may not be the way we have to go in the future. Me and a lot of friends are working hard to see that it doesn't come to that. But then, if humans can't grow out of the habit of forcing thier will on their neighbors who are minding their own business (what "government" does as an institution)..., a case can be made that humanity is not ready for the kind of power we are talking about for the future. Even though humans are already ready to risk their survival on this planet by using unsafe nuclear technology that can destroy the ecosystem for millions of years just to boil thier water, if they become able to boil their water without any scace "fuel" and do it safely and just about anywhere "out there" and then those who won't "mind their own business" might try to mind the business of those who live on other planets. That just wouldn't do!
The unmarried mother of four, who drives a primer-coated Chevy Citation with no muffler and spends her tire money on cigarettes. She gets her ACTUAL tires from the good will of a local Church she doesn't even attend. She's (and this is harsh) a nonproductive parasite.
And she is legion. This is to differentiate between (her) and the OTHER mother of four whose deadbeat husband has left her, as she is struggling through night courses to get a job where her kids don't have to be on food stamps any more. One is trying, the other is not. One is a producer, the other is a consumer. One is a provider, the other is a leach. One is walking dead, the other is unmeasurable potential.
Which one will survive? Which one is the future of this country? Isn't that really the question we are all here at this blog to ask as we check in on things every day, sometimes several times a day? Aren't we all, somewhere deep inside, hoping for the global economic earthquake that clears the table of the one, and sets it back up for the other?
Drive around. Walk around. Go to " peopleofwalmart.com " and see. Look, look! See all the dead and dying! See the humanity which has given up! I'm not talking about Values Clarification. I'm talking about hard, cold survival! Who can and who can't? You can look in their eyes and see the answer.
This is the scenario that sets itself up like ten-pins for nature to come through like a bowling ball and separate the wheat from the chaff.
Nature and math. Two very ugly, very bitchy sisters. They don't take prisoners.
You got it.
Alternatively if working in parallel with math and nature, a boon may be created for those willing to expend the energy and trust of it. Drift from the scope of the two sisters, as you mentioned, they don't take prisoners nor will they leave anyone to bury the dead.
Middle ages have an excellent example of human population reduction and the boon. It took a 30% drop in population of Europe to create the boon of sciences and because wealth was primarily gold or property, the shrinking population allowed for those without to fit properly into the resources in the given area. While it was a horrible event, the culling did provide comfort for those after...well until they fucked too much and filled up the air gaps with more people.
Historically many more examples can be pointed out to illustrate that sometimes a smaller human population that is mindful of the situation at hand can provide a wealth of sorts.
It's an interesting thing wealth. I have become rich over the years but I started wealthy. My wealth is my family and my friends, the experience and education I've received. the coin I've made is from my energy extended in adventures in running a contract engineering company that was hard saved and invested.
All of this wealth was generated from the energy of others willing to extend the trust to me, to then in turn offer people around me the skills I've learned. What the valuation in money is depends on location and more or less the ability to haggle. I've done projects for a "metric shit tonne of money" as well as projects under the proper term of "fuck all and not at all". I've done them while poor and rich in coin. Currently the organizational efforts that my area is co-ordinating is under the "we get paid fuck all if at all." because the situation isn't about money anymore.
This situation is about survival of the species in a regional location which happens to be Canadian sub-tundra. Before embarking on this project three years ago I had no clue, zero, nada, zip on the true complexities to how a town works and where triage was going to have to be performed. The learning curve is very steep and the engineered solutions are difficult to find once you remove oil out of the equation. Every piece of infrastructure that does anything in terms of sanitation, management or redevelopment all require energy. Lots of it.
The one thing that coin can buy is information. The first thing done was expand the library and the vocational skills literature. When you have 600+ people all professional trades working to develop a learning resource, the work goes quickly and with minimal hindrances. Even trained library volunteers to rebind instead of rebuy.
Anycase...there are a couple thousand towns and villages in North America that are ready to allow what will happen gracefully in the 200,000 lives that have been working very hard to avoid sub-urban and city issues concerning infrastructure and civic planning
you're making a tragic mistake if you think you can "opt" out of the system in any sort of civilized way. The urbanized masses whipped into a frenzy by their masters will demand to extend their will over whatever productive countryside that they need to sustain whatever lifestyle they have, or the promises of a better one. Add in some Fukishima miscalculations, some drifting GMO pollen clouds, and where does this mystical land of self governance and polictical independence exist? That is what has always happened throughout history. If you possess anything of potential value, they will come for it. sooner, or later, they will come.
the hard part isn't building your shangri la, it will be keeping the thieves, barbarians, invading armies, tax men, and do-gooder bureaucrats out.
Vol Exchange... "The ultimate dispersion of power would be ultimate "self" government: each person as sovereign."
....................................
If we move in this direction we have anarchy. If anarchy prevails there will be no property rights for any but the most powerful, greedy and ruthless and these are the people that control our gov and the world economy now.
Without property rights there is no civilization, only continuous waring tribal factions.
The world needs LIMITED government and a means to insure that it remains limited. So far the world has not solved the dilemma, for not even the constitution of the US is obeyed any longer. Over time all government grows into monstrosities that exist to redistribute taxes to buy votes, serve the powerful financiers to attract campaign contributions with which to buy votes, and pass ever more laws and regulations to benefit large corporations at the expense of small business. Without the prosperity of small business within a nation, that nation will fail in time.
All manner of 'forms of government' have been tried and all have, so far, failed. I have no answer as to what form of government could be created that could be limited in size over a period of hundreds of years.
I only know one thing for sure. We should be very careful not to fall victim to a populist orator with big promises in the coming hard times. Down that path there be dragons. Good luck to us all.
Snidely,
"The ultimate dispersion of power would be ultimate "self" government: each person as sovereign."
Worked very well from the foundation of our nation, until government got into everyones pockets.
Can you govern your self, and your life, your actions?.
I think yes.WE ARE(were) sovereigns, not citizens.
You stepped out of line, and the community took care of you.I think the majority of a people are better aware of whats best for them, than the frigging Nazi's running our lives.
"Worked very well from the foundation of our nation, until government got into everyones pockets."
How well did it work out for those burned at the stake in the Salem witch hunts?
How well did it work out for the freed blacks in the south that were hanged because they were accused of 'looking at a white woman'.
Have you ever lived in a 'small community'? I have, it's no piece of cake if your ideas differ one iota from consensus opinion. Is that the sort of community you want to live in? If so, join the anarchists in Montana... or, where ever they cluster now.
Anarchy always 'works'... for the anarchists!
"
Can you govern your self, and your life, your actions?.
I think yes.WE ARE(were) sovereigns, not citizens."
No man is an island. Trade always begins and that is the beginning of the end of 'man as an island'. No man is a soverign... all people are dependent on trade for few areas of the world produce all the items required for life and a well rounded diet. If you really believe that you could be self sufficient why don't you try it? It is bust ass work for an individual to sustain life without cheap energy... anarchists will not cooperate enough to provide cheap energy... or transportation infrastucture...just one example.
"You stepped out of line, and the community took care of you."
In more ways than you can imagine!
"I think the majority of a people are better aware of whats best for them, than the frigging Nazi's running our lives."
We had the best system the world has ever devised... It was called the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Where were you when the UnPatriot Act was passed? Were you one of the idiots that thought the Iraqis would welcome us with rose petals? Do you bend over at airport screenings so the apes can look up your ass? Hell, when I was young I got on a airplane and bought my ticket from one of the stewardesses while in flight. Where were you when Bush the Moron landed on an aircraft carrier and proclaimed 'Mission Accomplished'? Were you waving a flag?
Truth is, we have let the best system of government ever devised slip away from us... while the pols were blowing smoke up our asses...
SW:
"How well did it work out for those burned at the stake in the Salem witch hunts?"
That was in a semi-thocratic system of colonial government imposed by force and organized through a monopoly of "legeal" force in that colony. It was certainly not "self" government with free markets in adjudication or defense.
"No man is an island. ....etc"
"Self" government is not issolation, nor is it self-sufficiency. To the extent that people cooperate they govern themselves. And to that extent they will thrive. Forcing others to support your political system through taxes promotes conflict. In a self-government system when some one chooses not to cooperate and attempt theft, fraud or force, the rest of the neighbors will be better served dealing with that agression through free-market services and not through political organization. The power of the purse in a free market ecosystem perpetually preserves power where it justly belongs- in the hands of those who have the character to justly create and use what enables their co-survival with other cooperating humans -(aka: "wealth").
"We had the best system the world has ever devised... "
We fought a revolution proclaiming a more potent statement of truth than any people had up to then "We hold these truths to be self-evident...". Everyone has equality of rights ("all Men are created equal"). "Just government" is only "just" when it is based on the CONSENT of the "governed" (Thomas Jefferson- Declaration of Independence).
The first constitutional convention was a betrayal of these truths by a gang of deist who boldly decided to form a gang called "Congress that would have its preferences enforced by an allied "executive" power and adjudicated by a monopoly of allied Federal justice, all bankrolled by the organized theft of Americans enacted by these key words in the US Constitution: "Congress shall have power to law and collect taxes..."
Or as is precisely illustrated here:
"I'm Allowed to rob you!" -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngpsJKQR_ZE
If they had done the deal and paid for it by usage fees and not taxes (voluntary exchange) then it would have been as close to perfect as it could have been. Then they would be free to deny "service" to those who didn't wan't to "purchase" their service. and this would have been in a conducive environment to cooperate with any other defense and adjudication/arbitration services that might have offered services to those who did not consent to that particular set of fees for that particular bundle of services that "Congress" was offering. It was a tragic moment in history that such great truths as were proclaimed in the revolution were discarded by the system that claimed to uphold them.
Congress did not ask, it grabbed and usurped, got some to agree with the crime syndicate, and then demanded tribute from those they decided to tax!
"Truth is, we have let the best system of government ever devised slip away from us... while the pols were blowing smoke up our asses..."
What actually happened is that this particular system of organized theft, fraud, and murder started very small but had access to large amounts of wealth by wealth producing semi-free individuals who could be taxes to feed the beast and allow it to grow. And through time, as ALWAYS happens when theft, fraud, and force are made "legal" in a monopoly - that theft, fraud, and force grew to become the biggest organized threat to human survival on this planet!
Exactly. For societies to produce enough wealth to live comfortably, there must be private property, and hence there must be some guarantor that one's property rights are respected. This means some kind of coercive power throughout a region that is accepted by a sufficiently large proportion of the populace that it can function efficiently.
Of course, an organisation that has sufficient coercive power to protect you from predators has sufficient power to become a predator, indeed, THE predator, and it seems that all governments slip into this role eventually. The American experiment started reasonably well (at least, by historical standards - we can't ignore the lack of womens' rights, and slavery) but the US government is rapidly becoming US citizens' biggest threat.
When people say 'the price of freedom is eternal vigilance' they often seem to forget that the biggest threat to their freedom may just be their own government becoming tyrannical.
HI SW:
Sadly there are two very contradictory meanings to "anarchy" and one of them is a form of propaganda promoted by those who benefit most from "a monopoly of legal force" in a given location (what you might call "government").
You do not seem to understand the proper and non-corrupted meaning. Chaos is not "self-government"! People cooperate because that's what works in life! Ultimately imposing ones views on others by force fails and always will. Cooperation and well being thrive in a market ecosystem. Learn it or experience the consequences of destroying market ecosystems through your ignorance and the tyranny you create through taxes!
SW you are letting mind controlling propagandized words do your thinking for you instead of understanding the ideas being conveyed through those words. This is what most people do. This is one reason why no political power can ever be trusted to obey any "constitution" as it gains more power. Please get educated before you help cause more misery and death! If you pay taxes to a governemnt you are partialy responsible for the misery and death they cause (especially the USA!). Good luck going forward. I hope you find peace and prosperity. May I suggest you read:
"Healing Our World" by Mary Ruwart:
http://www.ruwart.com/Healing/ruwart_all.html
Peace to you. Please grant peace to me in exchange!
V Exchange... "Sadly there are two very contradictory meanings to "anarchy" "
No, there is only one defintion of 'anarchy'... Regardless of how much you would argue to the contrary. By definition, any form of government excludes any possibility of anarchy.
"People cooperate because that's what works in life! Ultimately imposing ones views on others by force fails and always will. Cooperation and well being thrive in a market ecosystem. Learn it or experience the consequences of destroying market ecosystems through your ignorance and the tyranny you create through taxes!"
Anarchy is chaos and people rarely cooperate in chaotic situations. 'Imposing one's views on others' is absolutely necessary to defend property rights and individual rights (Bill of Rights)... which is the bed rock of peaceful society. Taxes are a necessary evil that is required to maintain a 'limited' government that's primary duty is to maintain property rights and each individuals rights. Problem is, the US Gov has grown too much and has become afraid of it's own population. Therefore, our individual and property rights are under attack by those that are supposed to maintain them.
You long for anarchy but have you experienced it? Do you really want to follow a person that has spent her life working in Big Pharma? What qualifies this woman to carry the banner for all Americans? I don't believe we have had a 'good' president since Eisenhower (and I am not a fan of even Ike) but the woman you choose to follow is not my ideal, either. She opines that she is a Libiterian but what is she really? Since all pols are liars we cannot know what she would try to do until she reaches a position of some power... which seems to me very unlikely...and, if she does reach a position of power it will be because she sold out for campaign money.
I wish you good luck and peace.
AW:
Anarchy: an - archy: Without Hierarchy. Where everyone truely has equality of rights and no one can claim higher authority over anyone else. If you, because of cultural views, really enjoy the word "government" then please substitute "self" government instead of the apparantly very "scarry" (to you) word "anarchy", and please recall that each "self" has equality of rights and governing authority under such a system.
If you want to voluntarily form groups and set up rules for the group, FINE, as long as your group is VOLUNTARY!!!! You try to violate my inherent rights then you cease to be "government" and become a criminal! And if you get some of your friends to do your dirty work then your are an organized crime gang. Simple. You make things so complicated for your understanding when you assign magic powers to the mystical word "government" and then deny the same curtesy of using your own magic words for me. If one person or a gang of a million practices theft, fruad, or murder it is still a crime!! Get it???
SW:
"Anarchy is chaos and people rarely cooperate in chaotic situations. 'Imposing one's views on others' is absolutely necessary to defend property rights and individual rights (Bill of Rights)..."
No! When the issue is human action, as opposed to acts of nature ... , theft, fraud, and the initiation of force create chaos! The absense of these allows the environment conducive to "cooperation". And you are, once again, doing what I warned you against in the previous post. You again are using the statist propagandized false meaning of "anarchy" to fail to grasp what a monopoly of force wishes to survive by at its victims expense. Anarchy does NOT mean that you will have chaos!!! It means that those who choose to practice chaos will not be able to capture "legal" theft, fraud, and first use of force in order to "legally" initiate chaos! I also give you the simple correct meaning in the other post to your last post.
would you be my friend?
Seriously
Excellent comments. I believe that the elite who control the ecosystem WANT the death. So therefore people will die. That's what I'm preparing for
All the best to you
So, a good solution would be to eliminate minimum wages so the American worker gets the same as the Chinese or Indian or Hatian or your default slave labour wage? That would return profits for those who "hire", right? RIGHT?
OR another solution would be, if we're gonna liberate capital to do whatever it wants, we should also liberate labour, so it also can do what it wants. So people can flow as freely as capital... that would be a good one.
Or if we don't like em immigrants, we could go back to restricting capital, so competition isn't with slave labour anymore...
Destroying government, the only refery on the law, would only create private law: that is, bilateral contracts without regards to anything but what's written there (something already happening). Also, without a government to balance big business, the big moneyed dicks would end up being the owners of everything: they'll face no scale competition. Somethig that's also already happening.
My idea, thinking about that last paragraph is that maybe, instead of making the government grow, big biz grow, what we've managed to achieve is to destroy the public thing. You remember how's that in Latin? The Res-publica...
Now we have the private thing, and the state ended up being the guardian of that. Guardian of a few who made it so, this providing privi-legos, the private law. One set of rules for them big dicks, another for the rest.
But the solution is not destroying the "guardian", because then they would guard themselves... at our peril. We should reclaim the guardian for everyone, as it originally was. Without that, there'll be only serfdom by the hands of the powerful. Now they have the state in their hands. Without the state, they'll create their own. And you'll be fucked.
As my grandpappy used to say, "They are all crooks."
As my grandpappy used to say: LET'S GO KILL US SOME BLACKJACKETS!
It's too late to work within the system, and too soon to shoot the bastards.
- Claire Wolfe 101 Things To Do 'Til The Revolution
Speaking of "ALL", what's going on with the sudden silence re Spain? (After all the noise and video.) Coincidentally the silence occurred right after Santander was named one of the 29 banks deemed too large to fail. Anybody have a clue?
what would happen to Italy if Berlusconi fell? The markets seemed to rally (both in Italy and US) when rumor of his resignation spread..
Yes, because someone will come up with the idea that anything might be better as a PM than Berlusconi. Even a radioactive rod would do a better job. So? Rally along. Sorry, but when I last checked, everything could get a positive spin - and some of those spins make you cynical (like Japan in March).
About Germany leaving the EURO? Not possible with the current (and of course corrupt) politicians. But inflation is also not possible - it's already eating away what people earn (still media is ensuring readers that higher wages would be also a terrible thing.) - I might remind you that Germany did everything to keep wages low in the recent years - which also curbed the German consumer (buy the cheap stuff - which lead to the famous ad slogan 'Geiz ist geil' (avarice is awesome - geil has also connotation to being lustful) - so some Germans are refering to be the 'China of Europe' (not meant positively).
Why is Germany still in the game? Well, I think one reason is that some companies hope to get some more specialized workers from those nations that are currently going through a stressful time. Might be from Spain, might be from Italy, even from Greece (although it seems that Greek people want to emigrate to Australia...). And the political message is - "we cannot destroy what we have accomplished in the last 50 years". "If the Euro fails, Europe as an idea fails" - back to square one. Somewhat ironic if you think about the "unity" in Europe and about "democracy" as a whole.
There are now bitter clashes within German media - some say this is the end of democracy and that we need to restore democracy (like the highly respected German philosopher Habermas), some even go further and say - well, it's postdemocratic - we must think how to deal with it - Democracy has failed. And some think - Oh welll - all that talk about democracy is an exaggeration (like Fleischhauer) by a few doomers (lol and even dares to put Habermas into that category - fucking idiot).
Other than that it is a foggy and greyish Tuesday in a busy country called Germany. And I hope I will get a chance to see 'Little Bob' (ref: to El Hierro) soon before he goes Surtseyan. I'll migrate with the other birds to the South for a few days, before 'Winter is coming' and I'll have to pick a fight with White Walkers here.
I'm pretty sure that the "inanimate carbon rod" could still steal the republican nomination
"In rod we trust". LOL
In Rod We Trust
"I'm pretty sure that the "inanimate carbon rod" could still steal the republican nomination"
You forgot to add .... "and win 65% of the popular vote in November."
Maybe Ron Paul will chose it as a running mate...
I would suggest adding:
November/December 2012 | First Greece and then Italy demonstrate the inherent limitation in parlimentary democracies when neither can put together governing coalitions. See Belgium: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/05/belgium-no-government-2011_n_949284.html
barliman
I know I'm going to get shot down for this but.....
This is a summary. I can't see any evidence of a comparative timeline or any meaningful attempt at trying to make a comparison or try and establish where we are now in comparison to 2008 or what comes next (except for 'it's not over')
These were the established objectives of this article.
I think that it shows that no comparative timeline is possible and this searching for a "Lehman Moment" is silly.
Instead of looking at two meaningless timelines it would be better to look at the last 5 years as one continuous timeline.
PS, I really do think that zerohedge makes some really valuable observations. I just don't think this is one. Sorry.
"Instead of looking at two meaningless timelines it would be better to look at the last 5 years as one continuous timeline."
All of human history is a single, continuous timeline.
We are not involved in a fucking football game. There are no 'quarters', 'halves' or 'end of game' clocks. And, the very best gamblers are only right about 66% of the time when picking winners of sporting events. Amazing, a sporting event where the relative strengths and weaknesses of opponents are known and the success rate of picking winners is not very good.
So, on what do you base the premis that ZH, or anyone, should be able to predict a 'timeline' for future political/economic events? What great event have you personally predicted that actually came to pass? And, if you did predict something that came to pass do you attribute your prediction to analysis of events or to luck?
You are living in a dream world. Try reading more real, not revisionist, history.
You've misread my post. (if you're replying to me)
"We are not involved in a fucking football game. There are no 'quarters', 'halves' or 'end of game' clocks. And, the very best gamblers are only right about 66% of the time when picking winners of sporting events. Amazing, a sporting event where the relative strengths and weaknesses of opponents are known and the success rate of picking winners is not very good."
Is exactly the point I was making.
"So, on what do you base the premis that ZH, or anyone, should be able to predict a 'timeline' for future political/economic events? What great event have you personally predicted that actually came to pass? And, if you did predict something that came to pass do you attribute your prediction to analysis of events or to luck?"
I wasn't proposing that a prediction could be made.
"You are living in a dream world. Try reading more real, not revisionist, history."
Try reading the post you're replying to.
"These were the established objectives of this article."
I did read your post and it sounded like one great, long whine. Like a bleating sheep that has glimpsed the wolf and has no place to shelter.
It's gonna get very rough. Rougher than you can imagine and there is not going to be anyone but you for you to rely on. No one, no government, no homeland security, no cops, no anything is going to be around when you need them the most. Sometimes knowledge can be the most powerful weapon one can possess.
History is a continuous timeline and the more you understand about what has happened the better you will understand human nature... which moves history forward and, at times, backward. Human nature is about power and that which brings power, money. But, as the bard noted, the path to power is not simple and never free of traps and pitfalls and schemes and counter schemes, etc... We call it history. The bard turned it to entertainment but at the same time educated the serfs to the intrigues of power.
The main thing to understand is that there are no defined 'times' in human history. I read people on this site that are complainging about 'this collapse has gone on too long, let's get it over with!'... Bullshit... We are still playing soft ball... the hard ball game has yet to start. How were the serfs in continuously waring world to feel? Did they not yearn for an end to rape, pillage, death, war, famine, disease? Hell yes, but their's was only a cry in the dark and the reason that they prayed so much... But the suffering continued.
BTW, nothing wrong with my eyesight, no need to bold your sentences... unless you feel it lends weight to your contentions... :)
I used the bold to differentiate between your quotes and my replies.
I can tell that you're one of those guys who thinks he's the only one who sees the truth and everyone else is an idiot.
"The main thing to understand is that there are no defined 'times' in human history." You don't say, and there's me waiting for the commercial breaks.
Listen, Eistein. Timelines are a tools used by historians. I know they can not be used to predict.
"These were the established objectives of this article." Indeed, this article had a stated objective. I personally don't think it was ever viable to try but that was the objective.
What's your point? You seem to be implying that my position is different from that which I've stated.
"Listen, Eistein. Timelines are a tools used by historians."
I'm a historian and I do not use timelines to differentiate one era from another... with the exception of geological time.
"What's your point? You seem to be implying that my position is different from that which I've stated."
My point is that there are no timelines and no one can predict what is going to happen in the future with any certainty.
For instance: I think we are in a depression that began ~ 2007 and will end in the future depending on events that play out between now and that unknown future date. The events are unknowable because of the occasional altruistic human being. Most human actions are fairly predictable... but there is the occasional contrarian altruist that gums up the predictability of the future. In addition, there are unknown natural disasters that may occur and effect decisons.
I only differ with you on your desire for anarchy. It has been tried and it may work for periods of time in small populations. Studies done by socioligists suggest that a population of about 140 individuals is the limit. Once the population exceeds ~ 140, too much time is required for individuals within that population to greet and pass information on a daily basis. If the 'greeting and bsing' breaks down people withing the group become suspicious of the motives/aims of other members. IOWs, too much time is lost bsing and productivity suffers, for division of labor occurs even in very small populations. If a guy is going deer hunting he hasn't the time to shoot the breeze with 140 people before the hunt... it would be noon before he reached the woods. Anyway, even in a small group, someone is always striving for leadership and there goes the anarchy neighborhood.
Anarchy in a large and complex society, which requires a great deal of cooperation among people to keep everything running smoothly, is a really dumb idea.
You should delve into the history of the nation state Sparta. It's an interesting study and much can be learned from their experiences.
You're an historian ?
"I only differ with you on your desire for anarchy." That's the point that I stopped reading. Where you've got that from I just don't know.
Double post. Sorry.
My impression was that the article sought to disprove the premise that "this time is NOT different."
And that the predictive timelines were there for personal amusement/loose example (I enjoyed them).
!! Folks on this site should not be slapping ZH when it sticks its neck out. This is what we pay them for (and get value for every penny we pay). Take ZH's opinion/analysis, work it through yourself, and then either discard or give it creedence.
If you want an outlet for inane comments, useless information, and lack of any semblance of valuable analysis, scroll past the article to the area marked 'Comment viewing options...'
(I know that's harsh. Those of you who submit thoughtful and useful analysis know who you are and should disregard that last sentence)
The mother of all busts a cometh.
Oh how I pine for the olden days;
New Century
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Century
Excellent piece of commentary. How do politicians and greedy CEO's sleep at night after the games that they play hurt typical citizens trying to live life.
Astounding the greed and outright callousness of these people. Lynch mob and pitchfork time
They laugh about it. they think what they are doing, is doing it right....being pure capitalist. Which is not true.
Sadly, they do laugh about it. The sociopaths care not that their actions are helping only themselves while destroying the real world economy. The sociopaths care not that they are shitting in their own nest and that, in time, their nest will be uninhabitable. The sociopaths think that they can run away to some 'new nest' but that will not work for they will find that in their new nests they will be surrounded by predatory foreign governments and populations that will confiscate what they have stolen from their former nests/countries.
If a financial system exists only to help itself, of what use is that financial system to the people of the world?
and... Why should the people of the world allow a financial system to exist that is of no use to all the main streets and people of the world? And, why should the people of the world bail out the predators with their taxes and their national assets?
Politicians believe they can make people believe that a fouled nest is luxury. And so far the politicians are very comfortable about their ability to placate the people with illusions.
The knives are out. Tomorrow Cesar will be dead.
Cesar needs a slow death none of that quick painless crap.
He deserves to be eaten by Komodo dragons!
Yes he does, and great avatar. +1000 internets for you.
Looks like a Hollywood doom/action/drama blockbuster, but in real life and no happy ending.
They will print. They will have to print, somewhere between December 2011 and January 2012. A bigger question is whether they'll two-tier the Eurozone before or not. I am not saying that Greece will not default, but somwehere in there they will be forced to at least attempt and monetize a portion of the debt. I'm eagerly awaiting the next PM dip.
Cheers.
So glad this site references '07 - that's when the wheels really started coming off the bus but, everyone talks about '08 events.
The wheels started falling off in 2000. They were able to hide it for a few years buy levering up. The problem is now it takes more and more leverage every year to support the ponzie but there's no more leverage to be had. All they can do now is print.
Actually to be technical. The wheels started falling off in 1913 on Jekyll island when they created the abomination known as the Federal Reserve.
The wheels started falling off 12000 years ago when we industrialized agriculture and settled down to accumulate 'wealth and status' instead of carrying it on our backs.
Women do the carrying. Men need their hands free for fighting.
1694. The Bank of England.
To give the doomers a timescale on just how long this can all go on.
~1980 yrs ago......Who did Jesus actually get pissed of at and kicked them out of the temple?
The money changers.
Yeah, I knew that the world situation was screwed by 2000 on a lot of levels - I was just in a position to really afford a house I could be happy with, long term. When I started seriously looking I thought prices had already gone retard and it was obvious that what you get in return for hard work is more work, not more income. I'm tired of waiting for this shit to fall apart.
Me too. Let's do this thing! I can't wait for my monster..er...mother to lose her precious retirement money!
Did your mommy refuse to buy you 'all the toys the other kids had'? Don't worry, your mom is losing her 'retirement money' every day that Ben continues to print.
"Let's do this thing" ... same thing the Nazis were saying as Hitler was gaining power.
You best buckle up sonny... This ride is not going to be like a roller coaster, where you know there is a definite 'end'.
Your end and the end for many will be much more agonizing than that suffered by 'Mr Pink'.
Actually I don't want one penny from my mother. Her love and obsession with money and useless crap sickens me. Last week she told me I was a big disappointment because I didn't finish college and make over 100k a year.
Yes, I realize she is losing her money every day and that is why I want it to speed up. Maybe if she goes broke I can have my real mother back from the despicable creature that has taken over her body.
Don't worry Snidley, I'm buckled up. Are you?
"Her love and obsession with money and useless crap sickens me. Last week she told me I was a big disappointment because I didn't finish college and make over 100k a year."
Good on you! Money has uses but if it tears families apart it's time to rething it's uses.
"Maybe if she goes broke I can have my real mother back from the despicable creature that has taken over her body."
I hope you have better luck than I did. Mine grew up in the depression and suffered a lot of hunger and deprivation... she never got over it and her pursuit of money wrecked our family.
Yeah, I'm buckled up. Good luck.
Look at the BS coming out of France ;
French finance minister says new budget savings will be sufficient to absorb any further economic shocksNow that's funny.
French finance minister says new budget savings will be sufficient to absorb any further economic shocks
Even my cat is telling me that is crap that even the mice wouldn't believe. These shit head politicians think they can sprout any and every sort of lie because everybody is doing it.
Ya, it's like saying just one Depends diaper will take care of all future dumps.
http://policyandmore.blogspot.com/2011/11/leaders-songs.html
When do you think this very very important corporation will go belly up
http://www.manta.com/c/mmg5dxg/government-of-the-united-states
I think the timelines are a bit optimistic. Double them.
Germany & France will be the last ones out of the Euro. They (the ECB) will print to save Italy.
=> Huge boom in 2012
Free banking, bankruptcy, and an end to the welfare state would cure all this. Hit the fucking reset button.
JULY 2012-public executions of all politicians commence. oligarks are beheaded first. world rejoices. markets catch a bid.
err... cds are worthless? it's well known everyone takes voluntary haircuts nowdays.
What size "haircut" would trigger CDS payouts? Is it only 100%? If so, the CDSs are essentially worthless (not completely so, but close enough). It's understandable too, in that there are multiples of them written relative to the underlying. Can you say, "scam?" Say it with me, "scam." CDS=scam.
Not only is CDS a scam but the entire attack on the economies of Europe are a scam that could not happen without CDS.
Soros needed real capital to bring down the economy of England. The big banks of the world, big hedgies of the world, need only CDS... and an infinite amount of CDS can be created to bring down any financial institution in the world.
The truth is that the US needs the Euro currency to vanish if dollar hegemony is to be maintained... CDS is the 'new invention' that can do the trick.
Be careful what you wish for, you might get it.
andrew marshall:
In the face of this massive global social, political, and economic crisis, the reaction of the world’s elite is to further centralize power structures on a global scale, to further remove power from the rest of humanity and move it upwards to a tiny elite. This not only creates massive disparity and inequality, but it establishes the conditions for an incredibly radicalized, restless, and angry world population. As such, the centralized global power structures that elites seek to strengthen and build anew will ultimately be authoritarian, oppressive, and dehumanizing. This is so because the social unrest resulting from this massive global impoverishment will make the apparatus of oppression necessary in order to secure and maintain those very power structures. In short, if the elite do not become oppressive and totalitarian, they will lose their grip on power in the face of massive global social unrest. This will require brutal wars of domination abroad, and ruthless techno-social systems of oppression at home.
'Freedom' is an mirage only on display until it interferes with the goals of the sociopaths... You can quote me on that one.
I saved Mr Marshall a lot of words.
That "timeline" is simplistic drivel. All eyes on Europe!
How's that Super Committee doing on deficit reduction? Any update on the Fed's timeline for commencing their "exit plan"? How are things looking for the retail make-or-break Holiday shoping season? Have F&F's brilliant policies got the housing crisis under control yet?
Stick that in your timeline and see where it takes you.
Last I checked, CA's mark-to-fantasy budget is out of money by Thanksgiving.
Tippy: So what is your timeline? Seriously, I'm looking for constructive opinion here. (Not drive by tomato throwing)
Predicting the future is hard. Even with the inside info WSJ gets
Predicting the future is impossible except occasionally and on the shortest of timelines.
Humans are not all rational and do not always act in their own best interests... insured by the existence of individual egos... and that some individuals can evaluate information and act on it while others do not.
Add to this the fact that we each have more disinformation than information... and some of the disinformation is created in our own heads from connecting dots that may or may not exist.
The so called Super Comittee is a pile of BS and needs to be taken to the woodshed. Idiots at best. No clue how to solve any issues.
When the Super Committee announces they need another couple of months because they are "so damn close" to a deal the markets will cheer. Then in March when the Super Committe announces they came up with 10 trillion dollars in cuts without raising taxes or touching the 3rd rails the markets will explode higher in joy and amazament that polotics can work and we all got along in the end for the common good. Sites like this will be asking for the details of this plan which will obviously not be announced. They will start announcing the details or lack of around 2014. This will go on for a long time IMHO.
SocGen Scraps 2011 Dividend as Profit Drops
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-08/societe-generale-profit-falls-3...
Europe will be forced to go back to two or multi-tiered currency, but like the "voluntary" bond haircut BS to avoid CDS payouts, Germany and probably norway and a few other strong nations will be forced to form a "core-euro" and the others will be revalued, but still using a re-alighned "euro". They'll try to male it look like the euro did not fail, just had to be re-alighned........The United States thinks it is better, of course, yet they have record poor, record food stamps, record middle class destruction and record rich, these extremes will self-correct one way or the other...yet the US thinks it won't collapse, it will....slow motion train chugging along to the cliff's edge, till the tracks give out....when we see bankers and financial "engineers", by the thousands jump out of sky scrapers, swallow some shotguns, etc, etc, to their deaths, then the productive part of the economy, whatever is left, will pick up the pieces and begin to heal........that will be a good time to buy.
Yeah, the collapse may not be a straight drive dow the center...I'd say more of some sort of left field, poppy/droppy sort of surprise, one that we all should be able to see coming, but can't. I dunno. Like a crazed Israeli attack on the rest of the Middle East, closing the Straits of Hormuz, thus choking off the lifeblood and air for all the dithering bullshit plans of various dithering bullshit packed with pathological liar supercommittees everywhere.
As for Israel, the new slogan is, "Suicide bombing- the prerogative of nations."
Someday, a future generation will look back at the summation of a 100 years or so and say "wow, that was obvious!"
Right now... in our shoes, I sort of agree that we will struggle to identify the trigger point in advance. Something is bound to give at some point though. It is just that the timeframes for these things to unfold is much longer than we really think is possible. A couple of years ago, when someone suggested we might be looking at 2013-2015 to really see things get ugly, I thought "no way." Makes alot more sense now watching the neverending flow of parlor tricks being played to maintain some semblence of global liquidity - even if artificial.
All that's happening is predictable, as there are 7 stages that every major economy goes through. Those who know how it works profit & massive wealth is transferred to them. Several months ago I learned this information from a millionaire whose site I found & am sharing it with everyone I know.
His free video
"How To Create Incredible Wealth in Today's Economic Crisis"
is at:
http://theelevationgroup.net/presentation/register.php?a_aid=160667&a_bi...
Hope this info helps everyone as much as it has me.
Dr. Nancy
^^^^^^^^^^^^
BOT POSTING
Based on Ponzi dynamics, credit expansions and speculative manias are naturally self-limiting. Credit expansions expand exponentially until the debt they generate can no longer be serviced and no one remains to push prices up further.
Central Banks, Bubbles And The Coming Unwind
The privately held Federal Reserve is the top regulator of to big to fail banks. It's creation of money out of thin air and lending it at interest to the sovereign is the most insidious of criminal PONZIS, for which it's facade of regulations and monetary policies follow.
If we want real oversight in the Financial Markets, too restore real Free Market Capitalism to the Republic, we must first eliminate the most pernicious corrupting force of all. END THE FED.
See:
Money Power And The Central Bank: Life Is But A MEME
END THE FED: THE FIRST STEP IN RESTORING OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC