Friday, October 1, 2010

Will the Dollar Rebound Before Being Dissolved Into Global Currency?

Eric Blair

Every time the dollar begins to decline, I wonder, "Is this it, is this the end to the fiat dollar?"  The fundamentals suggest that it should be finished, but just as the world is about to declare it dead, miraculously a global storyline seems to emerge just when needed and foreign investors rush back in for "safety."  A clear example was the steady drumbeat of a sovereign-foreign-debt war that resulted in reports of whether the Euro would even survive, while the dollar enjoyed a triumphant ride up victory mountain.

Since the "world" declared the Euro debt crisis saved, the focus has shifted to exposing America's deficit problems, which has led to the dollar collapsing to its 5-month low against the Euro. There seems to be a growing realization by foreign countries that a volatile dollar as the world's reserve currency is unhealthy for their nations and the global economy as a whole -- especially as it pertains to vital commodities like oil and food.  This increased awareness is causing foreign governments to invest more in other currencies, gold, and even vast stretches of agricultural land -- while beginning to advocate for a more stable global reserve currency.

Israeli Art Students Going Door To Door In Utah County

The Intel Hub Radio

A stunning report out of ABC 4 News has highlighted yet another case of mysterious Israeli Art students. Residents in and around Utah County have received knocks on their door from people claiming to be Israeli Arts students trying to raise money for their local gallery. Instead of pitching their product, these supposed art students asked national security questions that would be sure to get the average citizen on numerous terror watch lists.
Sales people working neighborhoods in Northern Utah County have been asking some odd questions that have nothing to do with making the sale. Folks are reporting that they’re asking about the new National Security Agency’s data center that is being built at Camp Williams. ABC 4 News

Where Are Oil and Gas Prices Heading Next?

Marin Katusa
Chief Energy Strategist
Casey Research

Oil is heading to US$200 per barrel. This isn’t speculation but hard fact. But forewarned is forearmed, and with this price expected within the next five years, investors have plenty of time to position themselves.

We recently have been talking about tools that investors can use to navigate the economic landscape. The gold-to-oil ratio is one such tool, but another popular compass is the oil-to-natural gas ratio.

A Race to the Bottom

Peter Schiff
Euro Pacific Capital

Long ago, before economic models developed their current levels of sophistication, it used to be that the goal of a government’s economic policy was to bring prosperity to its citizens; in other words, to raise the general level of material comfort, while at the same time reducing the amount of toil required to attain that end.

However, due to the blather spouted by modern economists, success is no longer measured in those terms. Instead, governments simply look to pump up nominal levels of gross domestic product (GDP), while simultaneously catering to the needs of entrenched political classes. As exports feed directly into GDP, currency devaluation has been widely used as a means to boost exports and therefore achieve ‘prosperity.’ In this model, selling is an end unto itself. There is no focus whatsoever paid to the obviously negative consequences of currency debasement: diminished purchasing power and lowered living standards.

Consumers Still Aware of Impending Doom

10% Savings Rate + Consumer Spending at 65% of GDP = Retail Disaster

Jim Quinn
Minyanville

Now that the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, CNBC, and every other mainstream media outlet have figured out what some financial blogs figured out months ago, everyone knows that American consumers haven't yet begun to deleverage. Consumer credit outstanding peaked at $2.58 trillion in July 2008. It has plummeted all the way to $2.42 trillion today, a 6% reduction over two years. The full $160 billion reduction can be attributed to write-offs by the Wall Street, Ivy League MBA-run banks.


American consumers don't want the Age of Mammon to end. They will need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Age of Austerity. Consumer expenditures peaked at $10.2 trillion in the third quarter of 2008. They reduced spending for two quarters, but when Big Daddy Government handed them billions and told them to spend it on cars, appliances, and homes, they dutifully obeyed. Today, consumer expenditures stand at an all-time high of $10.3 trillion, still accounting for 70.5% of GDP. There really has been no hint of austerity by Americans. It's a false storyline. The major reductions in consumption still loom in the future.

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Dwight Was Right: Military-Industrial Complex Does Run The Government

The title "Commander in Chief" is ceremonial, like "Employee of the Month" at your local Burger King.

Michael Moore

So...it turns out President Eisenhower wasn't making up all that stuff about the military-industrial complex.

That's what you'll conclude if you read Bob Woodward's new book, Obama's War. (You can read excerpts of it here, here and here.) You thought you voted for change when you cast a ballot for Barack Obama? Um, not when it comes to America occupying countries that don't begin with a "U" and an "S."

In fact, after you read Woodward's book, you'll split a gut every time you hear a politician or a government teacher talk about "civilian control over the military." The only people really making the decisions about America's wars are across the river from Washington in the Pentagon. They wear uniforms. They have lots of weapons they bought from the corporations they will work for when they retire.

Waiting for the Next Bankster Financial Meltdown

Youtube - fal2grace

Dylan Ratigan Show--Sept. 30: "Inside Job" director Charles Ferguson takes an in-depth look at how "banksters" brought the nation to the brink of a collapse and why the government continues to let them do it.



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The Official Apology (and admission) for the Intentional Infection of Guatemalans by the U.S. Government


Joint Statement by Secretaries Clinton and Sebelius on a 1946-1948 Study 

Following is a joint statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on the U.S. Public Health Service Sexually Transmitted Disease Inoculation Study of 1946-1948: 

BEGIN TEXT:

The sexually transmitted disease inoculation study conducted from 1946-1948 in Guatemala was clearly unethical. Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health. We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices. The conduct exhibited during the study does not represent the values of the United States, or our commitment to human dignity and great respect for the people of Guatemala. The study is a sad reminder that adequate human subject safeguards did not exist a half-century ago. 

Background Checks Required to Visit Your Kids at School

Matt Ryan
InfoWars

Over 3,700 schools in Texas and 7,000 nationwide have implemented a system requiring parents visiting their children to undergo a background check upon arrival to the school. This check is carried out by a company called Raptor, which summarizes their services as:
Thousands of schools and community facilities across the country use Raptor’s V-soft visitor management and screening technology to help protect children from sex offenders, domestic dispute offenders and other trespassers. V-soft works in conjunction with law enforcement to add an extra layer of security and keep our kids safe.
While the mission of protecting children from sex offenders has a broad appeal, domestic dispute charges include a broad range of situations including issues as minor as loud arguments among siblings. A definition of domestic dispute from USLegal.com describes the term as including non-crimes:
A domestic dispute is generally any quarrel, which may or may not include violence, within a family or between members of the same household. Definitions are governed by local laws, which vary, and may also cover including any child or an adult or fully emancipated minor who is a spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, former cohabitant or person with whom a suspect has had a child or has or has had a dating or engagement relationship. It may or may not include criminal behavior. Local laws should be consulted for specific requirements in your area.
According to Raptor, their background check includes arrest records, which doesn’t indicate conviction or acquittal indicating that the notion of being innocent until proven guilty does not apply here. Below are the records included in a Raptor background check:

Read Full Article

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Architects build an ARK as work dries up

De Rijke Marsh Morgan will seek out work in Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands on the barge, complete with design studio

Robert Booth
Guardian

When the economic storm came they were hit harder than any other profession, but architects are nothing if not ingenious. One of the UK's leading practices is building an "ark" to find work in more clement overseas markets as designers brace themselves for a fresh downturn.

De Rijke Marsh Morgan, which tomorrow hopes to scoop the £20,000 Stirling prize for the building of the year at a gala ceremony in London, is planning to send its staff, no doubt two-by-two, on to an industrial barge loaded with a fully-functioning design studio and office across the North Sea to Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands to take on new work. The 60-metre-long reconditioned Rhine barge is being fitted at a total cost of around £400,000 with a cargo-style container with room for 32 desks, a pair of meeting rooms, a model workshop and a covered exhibition space on the terrace.

Global unemployment to trigger further social unrest, UN agency forecasts

International Labour Organisation (ILO) notes that social unrest has already been reported in at least 25 countries

Madrid protests - Paul White/AP Photo
Julia Kollewe
Guardian

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has warned of growing social unrest because it fears global employment will not now recover until 2015.

This is two years later than its earlier estimate that the labour market would rebound to pre-crisis levels by 2013. About 22 million new jobs are needed – 14 million in rich countries and 8 million in developing nations.

New Osama bin Laden tape criticizes governments over Pakistan flood response

Pakistan Floods - AFP
Telegraph

A voice purporting to be that of the al-Qaeda leader calls for the creation of a new relief body to aid Muslims.

It was the third message in recent weeks from al-Qaeda figures concerning the massive August floods that displaced 8 million people in Pakistan, signalling a concentrated campaign by the terror group to exploit public discontent and present itself as protectors of the poor.

"What governments spend on relief work is secondary to what it spends on its armies," bin Laden says on the 11-minute tape called, "Reflections on the Method of Relief Work." The authenticity of the tape could not be immediately verified.

Bin Laden said a new "well-funded" relief organisation should be created to study Muslim regions near bodies of water to prevent future flooding, to create development projects in impoverished regions and to work on farming and agriculture to guarantee food security.

Read Full Article

The Truth Shall Set You Free (VIDEO)

BlipTV

Iris Scanning Set To Secure City in Mexico, Then the World

Coming to see you soon
Aaron Saenz

The million-plus citizens of Leon, Mexico are set to become the first example of a city secured through the power of biometric identification. Iris and face scanning technologies from Global Rainmakers, Inc. will allow people to use their eyes to prove their identify, withdraw money from an ATM, get help at a hospital, and even ride the bus. GRI’s eye scanning systems aren’t more secure than others on the market, but they are faster. Large archway detectors using infrared imaging can pick out 50 people per minute, even as they hustle by at speeds up to 1.5 meters per second (3.3 mph). The first phase of the Leon iris and face scanning project has already begun. It is estimated to cost around $5 million and focuses on law enforcement agencies’ security check points. Over the next three years commercial uses will be rolled out with banks leading the charge. Check out the videos below to see GRI’s wide range of iris scanning stations in action. Whether you’re jealous or intimidated by Leon’s adoption of widespread eye identification you should pay attention to the project – similar biometric checkpoints are coming to locations near you. Some are already in place. 


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Study Shows Monsanto Roundup Herbicide Link to Birth Defects

William Engdahl
Global Research 

A major new scientific study has confirmed growing conviction that the world’s most widely used chemical herbicide, Monsanto Corporation’s Roundup is toxic and a danger to human as well as animal organisms. The latest scientific research carried out by a multinational scientific team headed by Professor Andrés Carrasco, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Embryology at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and member of Argentina’s National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, presents alarming demonstration that Monsanto and the GMO agribusiness industry have systematically lied about the safety of their Roundup. Roundup in far lower concentrations than used in agriculture is linked to birth defects. The health implications are huge. All major GMO crops on the market today are genetically manipulated to “tolerate” the herbicide Roundup.

American College Student Gunned Down, Kidnapped And Tortured In Secret Prison

United States Court Of Appeals 9th circuit sealAlexander Higgins Blog

I have recently wrote about the Supreme Court Decision to legalize CIA abduction, overseas detention and torture of American citizens.

US Courts Legalize CIA Abduction, Overseas Detention, Torture Of Innocent American Citizens
A ruling by the US Federal Appeals Court has legalized the abduction, overseas detention and torture of innocent American citizens and removed the possibility for any recourse by those wronged.
A University of California professor further wrote about the abuses of the power that the Obama Administration has elevated since taking over the policies of human rights and civil rights violations from the Bush Administration.

America's Crumbling Infrastructure



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Researchers Found 40-Fold Increase in Carcinogenic Compounds in Gulf

Dan Froomkin
Huffington Post

Researchers testing the waters off Louisiana in June found hugely elevated levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, some of which are known carcinogens.

The researchers from Oregon State University say that a device taking samples just off the shore of Louisiana's Grande Isle registered a 40-fold increase in PAHs between May and June.

What's worse is that the sampling device was specifically designed to measure the fraction of PAHs in the environment that could make their way through a biological membrane.

"This is a measure of what would enter into an organism," said Kim Anderson, an OSU professor of environmental and molecular toxicology.

"There was a huge increase of PAHs that are bio-available to the organisms -- and that means they can essentially be uptaken by organisms throughout the food chain."

Read Full Article

UN Fact-Finding Mission Says Israelis "Executed" US Citizen

Gareth Porter
Truth Out

The report of the fact-finding mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla released last week shows conclusively, for the first time, that US citizen Furkan Dogan and five Turkish citizens were murdered execution-style by Israeli commandos.

The report reveals that Dogan, the 19-year-old US citizen of Turkish descent, was filming with a small video camera on the top deck of the Mavi Marmara when he was shot twice in the head, once in the back and in the left leg and foot and that he was shot in the face at point blank range while lying on the ground.

The report says Dogan had apparently been "lying on the deck in a conscious or semi-conscious, state for some time" before being shot in his face.

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Bernero lobbies for a state bank in Michigan

Karen Bouffard
Detroit News

Democrat Virg Bernero says opening a state-operated bank is a key to restarting Michigan's struggling economy and spurring job growth, but detractors are concerned it would be unfair competition for the private sector.

Bernero's "Main Street Bank" would guarantee or provide loans to Michigan businesses that contend they've been cut off by traditional lending institutions despite good credit ratings and viable business plans. The Lansing mayor would model it after the only other bank run by a state: the Bank of North Dakota.

"Wall Street banks are not lending to Michigan's small businesses, and reports show that is the number one problem blocking job creation here," Bernero said. "If we invest in our small businesses rather than Wall Street banks, we can finally break the credit crunch logjam and unleash Michigan's entrepreneurs to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs."

Read Full Article

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JPMorgan Suspending Foreclosures

David Streitfeld

In a sign that the entire foreclosure process is coming under pressure, a second major mortgage lender said that it was suspending court cases against defaulting homeowners so it could review its legal procedures. 

The lender, JPMorgan Chase, said on Wednesday that it was halting 56,000 foreclosures because some of its employees might have improperly prepared the necessary documents. All of the suspensions are in the 23 states where foreclosures must be approved by a court, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida and Illinois.

The bank, which lends through its Chase Mortgage unit, has begun to “systematically re-examine” its filings to verify that they meet legal standards, a spokesman, Tom Kelly, said.

House Democrats shelve net neutrality proposal

Joelle Tessler
Associated Press

House Democrats have shelved a last-ditch effort to broker a compromise between phone, cable and Internet companies on rules that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or degrading online traffic flowing over their networks.

House Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., abandoned the effort late Wednesday in the face of Republican opposition to his proposed "network neutrality" rules. Those rules were intended to prevent broadband providers from becoming online gatekeepers by playing favorites with traffic.

Feds Use Pre-Crime To Target Disgruntled Veterans

Mind Machine Project purports to find domestic terrorists by building psychological profiles from illegally wiretapped phone and email conversations 

Paul Joseph Watson -- Prison Planet 

The government seems to be obsessed with targeting disgruntled veterans with pre-crime and other unconstitutional forms of surveillance, demonization and harassment, the latest example being an Orwellian software program that purports to identify potential terrorists by analyzing the tone of phone conversations and emails to detect “resentment toward government”.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Mind Machine Project, which is currently being demonstrated to law enforcement officials around the country, is primarily aimed at weeding out ‘troubled veterans’ who may be planning to commit terrorist bombings or political assassinations, by illegally wiretapping their phone calls and Internet communications in order to build psychological profiles.
As we reported yesterday, the program purports to be able to identify “resentment toward government,” which is characterized by the technology’s proponents as some kind of mental illness that requires the involvement of “health professionals,” or worse, a trait of domestic terrorists planning imminent attacks.

Bill Gates says vaccines can help reduce world population

Mike Adams

In a recent TED conference presentation, Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to new vaccine efforts, speaks on the issue of CO2 emissions and its effects on climate change. He presents a formula for tracking CO2 emissions as follows: CO2 = P x S x E x C.

P = People
S = Services per person
E = Energy per service
C = CO2 per energy unit

Then he adds that in order to get CO2 to zero, "probably one of these numbers is going to have to get pretty close to zero."

Following that, Bill Gates begins to describe how the first number -- P (for People) -- might be reduced. He says:

"The world today has 6.8 billion people... that's headed up to about 9 billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent."

You can watch this yourself at:
http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=A...

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