2009-Massive Bull Run on GOLD and SILVER coming! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

With the massive monetary expansion experienced in recent months and the promise for unprecedented levels of money and credit supply increase in coming months, the United States Federal Reserve looks on paper to be sending America straight into hyperinflation. Germany's post-World War I Weimar Republic, post-World War II Hungary, 2001 Argentina, and present day Zimbabwe are all analogous examples of massive debt monetization, which all led to hyperinflationary disaster. Never before has the entire world's economy been linked to one nation's, however, as is the case today with the United States.
The answer is gold, and it is the only way to prevent the hyperinflationary scenarios referenced above from materializing in the United States. My prediction: gold breaks $2000/oz in 2009 and $10,000/oz by 2012.
Gold Article

Interesting Article below on the Coming Depression:
I want to be bitter about the year 2008. I really do.

You don’t need a deep level of understanding to be upset by this year.

Among the obvious reasons:

• Oil trading at $147 per barrel broke my bank over the summer as I paid $4.40 for gas.



• Oil trading at $31 this month is just insulting with the economy so badly off. More people in the United States can afford gasoline, 1 in 10 of those to go to a job they no longer have.

• Nearly 2 million people in the United States have lost their jobs in the last 12 months. Another 3 million could lose their jobs in the next 12 months. And I’m not sure that takes into any account the vagaries of the auto industry.

• This is the worst recession since the Great Depression, we hear. At that point, 1 in 4 Americans was without a job. Imagine knowing twice as many people without a job, then hope with all your might that something turns around to keep that from happening.

Although the newspaper industry is burning at only a slightly slower rate compared to the automotive inferno, I am a lucky one to have a job (so much for being bitter). But some of the ironies that exist among people I know are unbelievable. They draw sarcasm like blood.

One example belongs to my best friend, a security guard who lives in Detroit. Seven months ago he was unemployed and had a place to live. He’s now homeless, living with an acquaintance whose home is also being foreclosed upon. He’s got until February to find the next place to land. Some of you may recognize his name, Damien, from a column I wrote about him three years ago after he landed a job at a mortgage broker.
Full Article

Top 2008 Predictions! Ask an ANALYST! YOU GET THIS:

Here are some of the worst predictions that were made about 2008. Savor them—a crop like this doesn't come along every year. You wonder why so many have lost their savings? Keep listening to these people for future predictions and you will be in the soup lines. Unless you realize what is actually coming (A DEPRESSION) the sooner you will prepare for it and SURVIVE!

1. "A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!" —Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008

At the time of the prediction, the Dow Jones industrial average was at 12,300. By late December it was at 8,500.

2. AIG (AIG) "could have huge gains in the second quarter." —Bijan Moazami, analyst, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, May 9, 2008

AIG wound up losing $5 billion in that quarter and $25 billion in the next. It was taken over in September by the U.S. government, which will spend or lend $150 billion to keep it afloat.

3. "I think this is a case where Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM) are fundamentally sound. They're not in danger of going under…I think they are in good shape going forward." —Barney Frank (D-Mass.), House Financial Services Committee chairman, July 14, 2008

Two months later, the government forced the mortgage giants into conservatorships and pledged to invest up to $100 billion in each.

4. "I'm not an economist but I do believe that we're growing." —President George W. Bush, in a July 15, 2008 press conference

Nope. Gross domestic product shrank at a 0.5% annual rate in the July-September quarter. On Dec. 1, the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that a recession had begun in December 2007.

5. "I think Bob Steel's the one guy I trust to turn this bank around, which is why I've told you on weakness to buy Wachovia." —Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Mar. 11, 2008

Two weeks later, Wachovia came within hours of failure as depositors fled. Steel eventually agreed to a takeover by Wells Fargo. Wachovia shares lost half their value from Sept. 15 to Dec. 29.
6. "Existing-Home Sales to Trend Up in 2008" —Headline of a National Association of Realtors press release, Dec. 9, 2007

On Dec. 23, 2008, the group said November sales were running at an annual rate of 4.5 million—down 11% from a year earlier—in the worst housing slump since the Depression.

7. "I think you'll see [oil prices at] $150 a barrel by the end of the year" —T. Boone Pickens, June 20, 2008

Oil was then around $135 a barrel. By late December it was below $40.

8. "I expect there will be some failures. … I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system." —Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, Feb. 28, 2008

In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in U.S. history to fail. Citigroup (C) needed an even bigger rescue in November.

9. "In today's regulatory environment, it's virtually impossible to violate rules." —Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007

About a year later, Madoff—who once headed the Nasdaq Stock Market—told investigators he had cost his investors $50 billion in an alleged Ponzi scheme.

10. "There's growing evidence that parts of the debt markets…are coming back to life." —Peter Coy and Mara Der Hovanesian, BusinessWeek, Oct. 1, 2007.

Oops.

Peter Schiff new VIDEO Dec 29 CNBC

Recap...

Supply will and already is decreasing, demand will continue however.
America price of goods will "go through the roof". Demand abroad will be huge because the dollar will fall and other currencies will increase so they can buy stuff that because it's so high will make it hard for us to purchase.

Andy Busch said, "Biggest risk for2009, large devaluation of the dollar".

Peter said the Government has messed this up and can't fix the mess we are in. The stimulus packages will do nothing to stop what's coming.

Euro will do well with dollar devaluation.

Andy Busch agrees with Peter on almost everything.

Stimulus= Inflation

Gov. interferes with free market that could help fix this.

Capitalism is what really fixed the first depression.

Lots of people employed in sectors they should not be.
Assets that are over valued.
We've spent years and years squandering out wealth.
We've borrowed too much money and allowed our infrastructure to decay.

Andy said they are going to reregulate the financials to boost consumer confidence.

Peter said that is not what we need. It won't work. That's what the gov. has been doing and it has done nothing to help.

Andy is placing his faith in gov. regulators. Peter said he has no faith in them because if you look at their record they have not fixed a thing.

Peter totally blames the government for the mess, Freddie and Fannie and the like. They are the ones who created these huge problems and guaranteed them.

Some older man (didn't get his name) said if we let the free market animals go we will be in a Depression in a instant.

Peter totally disagreed.

Bottom line is they think the government will fix this. Peter says it's the government that got us into it.

Peter says inflation is on the horizon. ( BUY GOLD/SILVER)

Amazing, Peter gives facts and past behaviors as his reasons and the other guys think more regulation will fix this....go figure.

The GREAT DEPRESSION CAME QUICKLY!

STANLEY COLBERT
From Monday's Globe and Mail
December 29, 2008 at 12:00 AM EST
As I remember it, the Great Depression came quickly.

My father suddenly stopped wearing suits and going to an office. We moved from a house to an apartment. After a while, he left the house wearing a brown uniform with a leather clip-on bowtie. He had connected with a job as a service station attendant at an Esso station. He pumped gas and wiped windshields. That didn't last very long. A few blocks away, the Socony station put up a sign saying, "Six gallons for a dollar!" The owner of my father's station countered with a sign saying, "Six gallons for 99 cents!" That worked for a few days until the Socony station posted "Six gallons for 98 cents! In less than a week, both gas stations went out of business. My father threw away the leather bowtie. We moved to a cold-water flat over a tire store where the rent was $5 a month. It was called that because there was no heat or hot water.

For kids like me, too old to be underfoot and too young to be in school, the Depression became a challenge. It was important not to be an added burden to our parents and we became self-sufficient quickly. My first order of business was to scout the empty lots that dotted the neighbourhood for discarded wooden boxes or anything that looked combustible. Cooking and heating in our flat was performed by a large, wood-burning stove in the kitchen. Buying wood was out of the question. The best source of wood was the empty crates outside the fruit and vegetable markets. That discovery also led a few of us kids to a solution to a common problem: always being hungry. We became adept at unashamedly stealing potatoes from the baskets outside a market. We'd target a different market each day, saunter past in twos or threes, and while one of us distracted the shopkeeper, the others pocketed the potatoes. We'd take them to an empty lot, build a small fire and bury the potatoes in the ashes. When we couldn't wait any longer, we'd dig them out, scrape off the black soot and eat them. More often than not, they weren't fully cooked, but it didn't matter. They were a filling alternative to the rations that faced us when we got home.

For the longest period of time, most of our meals at home revolved around Heinz ketchup. No Depression home was without it. Thinned with hot water, it served as a tasty soup. Add a kaiser roll (three for a nickel) and it was dinner. Poured straight from the bottle, it became a sauce for spaghetti. Lathered on a tough piece of cheap beef, it helped the chewing and made the meat palatable.


I never twigged to how my mother knew I was eating roasted mickeys, as we called our charred potatoes. She finally told me the tipoff was the rim of black around my lips and my teeth. She never asked how we got them.

A few odd jobs that my father found helped pay the rent and a little more. And somehow, my parents always found something to laugh about, which kept our spirits up. Then Roosevelt was elected and promised change, but it was a long time coming. I continued to scour the streets for empty pop bottles that returned a deposit of two cents each. We searched the trash bins outside bus stops and subway stations for newspapers that still had the White Castle coupons that appeared from time to time, offering six hamburgers for 25 cents.

As time went by, I got older and taller and began my schooling, I needed some new clothes and my parents took me to the Lower East Side, where pushcart vendors offered bargains in clothing. I remember that whatever we bought, it was always a size larger than it had to be, so I could grow into it. For years, I had one pair of shoes, from Thom McAn at $3.95, a major investment. As a result, they were periodically refurbished with soles and heels by the local shoemaker until I could no longer get my feet into them. Somewhere I have a fading photograph of a class picture, where all the boys were supposed to wear jackets. I didn't own one. One of the girls lent me her jacket for the picture, out of concern, and if you look closely, you can see that I'm the only boy with a jacket buttoning the wrong way.
FULL ARTICLE

1 in 10 on FOOD STAMPS in FLORIDA with MANY more applying!

By JOSE PAGLIERY
The Miami Herald

Monday, December 29, 2008

MIAMI — Unemployed and strapped for cash, Floridians are asking for state assistance to feed their families in record numbers.

In the last two years, the number of Floridians on food stamps has increased more than 40 percent to 1.7 million. That increase is the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And it's the second-largest jump in the state's history, surpassed only during the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, said an analyst at the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington-based think tank.

Almost one in 10 Floridians is now on food stamps, and state managers say many more qualify.

Evidence of the unprecedented rise was on display at the Florida Department of Children & Families office in Miami recently, where the line of people waiting for help snaked out the door and around the corner.

One of them was Hardy Prado, who held his 22-month-old daughter in his arms while he waited to check on the status of his application.

As a handyman, his work is irregular and his paycheck isn't enough to pay the bills. And Prado said it has been almost impossible for his partner, Ana Camacho, to find work since she left her job at a Doral flower shop on maternity leave in February 2007.

With every increase of the unemployment rate, drop in the housing market and tightening of credit, food stamp lines have lengthened, said Stacy Dean, a director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

People "lose income, and they need help buying food," she said.

Dean said it's no surprise that Florida's increase surpasses the rest of the nation. Nationally, states hit hard by the housing downturn have experienced the largest increases, such as Nevada.

The nationwide rise, Dean said, is consistent with previous recessions. In 1991, the number of Floridians on food stamps was close to one million people — about 7.7 percent of the population.

Of the 1.7 million now on food stamps, about 356,000 of them live in Miami-Dade County, more than 127,000 in Broward.

A person living on their own who earns $1,127 or less a month can qualify for food stamps, as can a family of four making $2,297 or less monthly. The dollar requirement changes depending on the number of people in the household.

Certain documented immigrants are eligible and no poor undocumented immigrant children are turned away.

FOOD STAMP ARTICLE

US States SELLING ASSETS! Cash-strapped states weigh selling roads, parks!

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.
Valuables like these are in for a closer look as 44 states cope with deficits.
Like families pawning the silver to get through a tight spot, states such as Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has hinted that his January budget proposal will include proposals to privatize some of what the state owns or does. The Republican is looking for cash to help close a $5.27 billion deficit without raising taxes.
GOP lawmakers are pushing to privatize the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the state lottery. Both steps require a higher authority — federal legislation in the case of the airport, a voter-approved constitutional amendment for the lottery. But one lawmaker estimated an airport deal could bring in at least $2.5 billion, and the lottery $500 million.

Selling Assets

As Goes California, So Goes the Nation?Economic Downturn Threatens California's Health Care System
California has often been in the vanguard of trends that come to affect the whole country. It is looking now at bankruptcy. But who will bail it out? California politicians, including Governor Schwartzenegger, have shown neglect in managing the money given to them in good faith by the taxpayers. They are now dilly-dallying in a show of "chicken" as the state goes ever nearer to complete meltdown.
California Meltdown

Another Analyst predicting A MAJOR DEPRESSION

I don’t have a crystal ball, but my forecasts have been fairly accurate and quite profitable over the past few years. While 2008 has been a tough year, all signs point to 2009 being much worse. Here is what I see on the horizon for the upcoming year.

1) The stock market decline will accelerate in 2009, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping below 6,000. Extreme volatility will engulf the markets with plenty of counter-trend rallies that will be fueled by speculators “calling the bottom,” only to find a new bottom the following month.

2) Unemployment will rise dramatically as “official” statistics reach towards 10% and true unemployment rises closer to 20%.

3) Real estate prices will continue to drop as rates reset and foreclosures increase across the country. Commercial real estate will finally follow residential, as price declines accelerate due to foreclosures on shopping malls, retail outlets, office buildings, etc.

4) Bailouts will continue, with more industries lining up for government rescue packages and both the financial and auto industries returning to the trough for more of their fix. This will lead to prediction #5.

5) Deflation will subdue and the first signs of hyperinflation will appear in the back half of 2009 as the trillions in bailout dollars begin to flow into the economy. The price declines that are a result of liquidation and de-leveraging, will give way to skyrocketing prices as politicians continue trying to print and borrow our way out of bad times. This will lead to prediction #6.

6) The dollar will resume its downtrend and make new lows during the first half of 2009. This will continue throughout the year with the dollar reaching into the low 60’s as the world loses confidence in the U.S. currency and the U.S. government’s ability to repay its debt.

7) Oil will rise from current lows and find a “fair price” somewhere in the $75 - $100 range, where it will float for much of the year. This will benefit alternative energy companies, although any gains will be muted by credit contraction and the overall market decline.

8) Agriculture prices will return to an uptrend as declining investment and unpredictable weather patterns lead to supply shortages amidst an ever-expanding population and increase in inflation.

9) Gold will make a new all-time (nominal) high reaching a price of $1,400 or more during 2009. A panicked flight to safety could push gold towards $2,000, although the central banks will dump gold on the market or make other attempts at suppressing the price advance.

10) All of the above will lead to increased crime and civil unrest with protests in the streets, bank runs and an increased police and military presence trying to bring stability to cities.

I wish that my predictions were a bit more uplifting, but we are truly in dire straits with conditions only continuing to worsen. The United States is essentially bankrupt and running on borrowed money and borrowed time. Many Americans will be facing severe financial hardship for the first time in their lives.
Full Article

Your NEW list of LAYOFFS, CLOSURES and SHUTDOWNS

Comments: Stay tune I will have many more layoffs, closures and Shutdowns in the coming days POSTED HERE:
Pharma Layoffs
UK Adams Clothing Store CLOSED
ADAMS CLOTHING
UK Insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor has predicted the collapse of between 10 and 15 national retail chains by mid-January as the recession bites.

Last week, Seymour Pierce retail analyst Freddie George interviewed 22 large retailers and concluded: “It’s official — this will be the worst Christmas for many years . . . the weak sales trend and the intense discount activity will continue well beyond January 2009, and lead to a further step down in 2009/10 profit forecasts.”

NYC Considers Buyouts to Shed Employees
Buyouts
Siemen's Canadian Plant Moves to Mexico -280
SIemens
Reed & Barton -20
Reed
AK Steel Idles Workers
Steel Workers
Dymo to Cut Jobs
Dymo
Layoffs Coming to Beaver County PA
Beaver County
Four Financial Firms in Boston Chopping Jobs -110
Financial Firms
Kansas City Public TV Lays off 10%
KC Public TV
Diamond Chain Co. in Indianapolis -64
Diamond Chain
Mervyns -1747
Mervyns

Lots of Layoffs in Tulsa: Gatorade -87
Tulsa Layoffs
Royal River Casino -47
Royal River Casino
Mooney Aircraft -40
Aircraft
18 Court Reporters Axed, Replaced by Technology
Reporters

Companies Cut Hours & Salaries to Avoid Layoffs
Layoffs
60% of Companies Polled Expect More Layoffs in 2009
More Layoffs

Contractors Forced to Layoff After CA Stops Payments
Contractors
Brooke Corp. Bankrupt -150
Bankrupt
Local Ohio Govts. Prep for Layoffs
Local
Long Time Autoworkers Weary of Layoffs
Autoworkers
Gem Grading Co., GIA Cuts 117


Arena Football League Shuts down -400
Football League
Layoffs List for New Mexico
New Mexico
Case New Holland 10 Week Shutdown
New Holland
Flying B Ranch -33
Flying B Ranch
Republic Services Inc. -40
Republic Services
Guelph Ontario Layoffs

GOLD RUSH for COINS, BARS as SHORTAGES Continue!

A rush on gold in tough times
Amid mounting woes on Wall Street, demand for gold bars and coins is running high.
BY SANDY SHORE
Associated Press

DENVER -- Investors who have forsaken shaky financial markets for the safety of gold must feel a little bit like prospectors.

As the worst recession in at least a generation spreads, so too does the clamor for gold bars and coins, assets less likely to go up in smoke like so many derivatives and asset-backed securities.

''I've never seen a case where demand was so high and supply was so short,'' said Chicago coin dealer Harlan Berk, who has been in the business 44 years.

Spikes in demand for gold coins this year appear to run parallel with the mounting woes on Wall Street.

In August, as the Federal Reserve pumped $62 billion into the U.S. banking system and rejected requests for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take on more debt, sales of the popular American Eagle coin were suspended for a week.

The U.S. Mint was unable to get enough gold blanks from suppliers to match demand, Mint spokesman Michael White said.

COIN SHORTAGES

In late September, when a massive bailout for the nation's biggest banks failed, sales of the American Buffalo coin were suspended until Nov. 3 because of shortages.

Yet even before the full extent of the financial crisis was known, investors had begun to load up on gold and other assets that could be held in the hand.

By early spring, investors were snapping up precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum, said Beth Deisher, editor of Coin World trade magazine.

Gold for April delivery shot up to a record of $1,033.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange on March 17. According to a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research released this month, that was just three months into the U.S. recession.

That correlation continued throughout the year as Wall Street institutions fell.

''People sensed there was something going on that they didn't quite understand,'' Deisher said.

In the third quarter, when the government bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Fed gathered the chiefs of major banks on Wall Street to plot a rescue, and Lehman Brothers descended into bankruptcy protection, gold sales went into high gear, said Natalie Dempster, head of the World Gold Council's North American investment unit.

U.S. demand for gold coins and small bars jumped 600 percent and international demand rose 121 percent, according to the council.

GOLD ARTICLE

50,000 RETAIL STORES WILL CLOSE IN 2009! Can you say "DEPRESSION SALES"?

NEW YORK -- Retailers will face a Darwinian fight for survival next year as they run out of cash as early as January and competition forces thousands of store closings, according to private-equity buyers and restructuring experts.

Probably 50,000 stores could close without any effect on consumer choice, Gregory Segall, a managing partner at buyout firm Versa Capital Management Inc., said earlier this month during a panel discussion.

"The United States is massively over-stored in all categories," Mr. Segall said. He said his firm is in "a wait mode" and he expects banks to squeeze retailers after Jan. 1.

Plunging home prices, rising unemployment and tightening credit have led consumers to rein in spending, resulting in what may be the worst holiday season in at least four decades. Macy's Inc., Kohl's Corp. and other retailers have marked down items 50% to lure customers, eroding margins at a time when store owners hope to make a third or more of their annual profit.

Only retailers with healthy balance sheets will survive the recession, said Matthew Katz, a managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners LLP.

"This is a very Darwinian time," Mr. Katz said.




At least a dozen U.S. retailers have entered bankruptcy this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Circuit City Stores Inc. and Boscov's Inc. have said they will reorganize and leave court protection as smaller chains, while Linens ‘n Things Inc., Sharper Image Corp., and Value City Department Stores LLC all plan to liquidate.

There are some "fires that need to be left to burn" in retail, Mr. Segall said. "At the moment we think it's a time for a very cautious approach."

Increases in consumer confidence, reductions in credit spreads and a lower jobless rate would be indicators that the retail sector is beginning to turn around, panelists said.

"Americans are inherently optimistic," said Cathy Leonhardt, a managing director at boutique investment firm Peter J. Solomon Co. "And when the credit markets open back up, and they will, our optimism comes back."

The Standard & Poor's 500 Retailing Index had shed 29% by mid-December, with only three of its 27 members posting gains. The index doesn't include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, which had climbed 16%.

While Wal-Mart will continue to be important, smaller specialty stores are returning, said James Schaye, chief executive officer of Hudson Capital Partners LLC. The liquidation firm's clients have included Kmart and Linens ‘n Things.

"People are going back to the one, or two, or three-store chains," he said. "People are getting a little tired of going to the mall and buying all the same thing."

Overall, the retail market will get tougher starting next month as banks start to see all "the messes that have been left to fester," Versa's Mr. Segall said. With the turmoil in the financial sector, banks have been focused inwardly for the past few months and that will change come January, he said.

There are also some perfectly healthy companies trading at distressed values, according to Leonhardt at Peter J. Solomon.

Full Article

Worst Christmas Sales in 40 YEARS as the DEPRESSION Deepens!

Dec. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Consumers spent at least 20 percent less on women’s clothing, electronics and jewelry during November and December, resulting in what may be the biggest holiday-shopping sales decline in four decades.

“It’s been difficult, much more difficult than anyone expected,” Gilbert Harrison, chairman and chief executive officer of retail advisory firm Financo Inc., said today in a Bloomberg Television interview from West Palm Beach, Florida. Consumers “will spend on necessities, they’ll spend on what they need, but they’re being very particular in what they’ll buy.”

Discounts of 70 percent off or more by Macy’s Inc., AnnTaylor Stores Inc. and other retailers failed to prevent a spending drop of as much as 4 percent during the final two months of the year, according to data from SpendingPulse. Including fuel, sales tumbled as much as 8 percent.
More than a dozen retailers, including Circuit City Stores Inc., have sought bankruptcy protection this year as the credit squeeze and the U.S. recession dried up funding. The holiday results indicate further filings are possible, along with consolidation among similar companies, said Harrison.

The decline is the worst since MasterCard Advisors started tracking data in 2002 to provide the SpendingPulse service, said Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis, in an interview yesterday. He estimates sales, excluding autos and gasoline, fell 2 percent to 4 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24.

The Breakdown for the Coming Depression includes PREDICTIONS FROM THE PAST

67,000 Factories CLOSING

GOLD to $2000

BMW MERCEDES TOYOTA COLLAPSE

PETER SCHIFF on the COMING DEPRESSION

BEER SALES FLAT

Steel Mills Closing

20 Trillion and Counting

Real Estate in Canada to PLUMMET

10 Jobs for the Coming Depression

Funeral Home Bankrupt Bodies Evicted

Shipping Companies Collapsing

Take your Money out of the BANK

Who owns the FEDERAL RESERVE?

LOOKOUT for the Next 2 MONTHS!

1/3 of the G8 Worlds BANKS will be CLOSED, MERGED or BANKRUPT in 2009

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Financial analyst Ralph Silva of TowerGroup told CNBC this morning that he expects no less than one third of banks to fail in 2009 and that anything up to a thousand could collapse if they don’t merge.
Silva said that only five or six global banks have enough funds to survive comfortably throughout 2009.
“The rest of the banks, and that means a thousand other banks, don’t have enough money to get themselves through 2009,” added Silva.

“In 2009 we’re gonna see one third of the banks in the G8 countries disappear, either being merged, forced or not forced, or completely disappearing,” said Silva.
The analyst predicted that rather than letting banks fail, governments will force them to merge, citing the example of Bradford and Bingley in the UK, which would lead to “very few banks owning quite a bit more.”
Silva warned that banks would not be able to lend any money throughout 2009 because they would be more concerned with merely surviving and being able to pay their own employees.

VIDEO

The US Military is Ready when the DEPRESSION HITS!
Military Riot Check

INCREDIBLE and OUTRAGEOUS! AMERICAN EXPRESS GETTING BAILED OUT! 3.39 BILLION! 2 PAGE APPLICATION ENCLOSED!

Times of India

24 Dec 2008, 0024 hrs IST, AP

NEW YORK: American Express Co. said on Tuesday it received preliminary approval to obtain $3.39 billion in capital as part of the government's $700 billion bank investment program.

Primarily a credit card lender, American Express changed its structure to become a bank holding company last month. The change in status allows American Express to tap a wide array of government funding and lending programs, including the bank investment program.

Other major financial firms have been becoming bank holding companies to access federal lending programs, such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and CIT Group Inc.

CIT, a New York-based commercial finance firm, had its status change approved on Monday, and received preliminary approval to obtain $2.33 billion as part of the investment program earlier on Tuesday.

The government investment, administered by the US Treasury Department, is part of a broader program to invest in banks amid the ongoing credit crisis. It's an effort to stabilize the financial services sector and spur lending between banks and to consumers and businesses.

Comments: Here is the application that AMERICAN EXPRESS filled out for Federal Aid! Its ONLY 2 pages long. Please scroll down the page and view it. Would your company like to turn into a bank and receive aid? Try it, everyone else does! What a SCAM this government is!
APPLICATION FOR AID HERE
Federal Reserve makes GMAC a bank holding company

Dec 24 05:42 PM US/Eastern
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
AP Economics Writer
Write a Comment

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Federal Reserve has granted a request by the financing arm of General Motors to become a bank holding company, allowing it to petition for money from the government's $700 billion rescue program.
As a bank holding company, GMAC Financial Services will also be able to get emergency loans directly from the Federal Reserve. Without backing, GMAC could have been forced into bankruptcy protection.

The Fed said it had determined that emergency conditions existed because of the crisis in the financial system.

The Fed's decision comes five days after the Bush administration said it would tap the bailout fund to provide emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler LLC to buy them time to reorganize and avoid having to file for bankruptcy.

Housing Prices Collapse at Near-Depression Pace

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sales of single-family houses in the U.S. dropped in November by the most in two decades and resale prices collapsed at a pace reminiscent of the Great Depression, dashing hopes that the market was close to a bottom.

Purchases of both new and existing houses dropped 7.6 percent, the biggest decline since January 1989, to an annual rate of 4.43 million, government and industry figures showed today. A 13 percent drop in the median resale price was the most since records began in 1968 and was likely the largest since the 1930s, the National Association of Realtors said.

“Housing is still in a freefall,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts.

The figures were worse than economists had forecast and signal that the battered housing market that led the economy into a recession may be taking another lurch down. Sliding property values mean more Americans will be under water on their mortgages, destroying household wealth and undermining consumers’ purchasing power.
resident-elect Barack Obama plans an unprecedented economic stimulus to restore growth, and pledged on Dec. 13 to limit foreclosures. One tenth of U.S. families who own a home are in financial distress, Obama said.

“We need desperately to get this economy moving,” Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, who is leading the incoming administration’s initiative to bolster the middle class, told reporters before a meeting with Obama’s economic advisers today. Transition officials are “getting very close” to an agreement with lawmakers on the size of the stimulus, Biden said.

Below Estimates

The Realtors’ figures showed home resales, including condos, fell 8.6 percent to an annual rate of 4.49 million, below all but one estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 63 economists. The median resale price dropped to $181,300.

Separately, the Commerce Department reported that new- home sales fell 2.9 percent last month to a 17-year low of 407,000. The median sales price declined 11.5 percent from a year earlier to $220,400.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Check here if YOUR HOME BUILDER IS GOING BANKRUPT!

DETROIT IN GREAT DEPRESSION! Average home price $18,513 - Unemployment rate 21%

The Great Depression has reached Detroit. The average price of a home is now $18,513 and unemployment has reached 21%, and it’s expected to get worse. Detroit is facing a crisis of epic proportions that officially puts Detroit statistically (and real term) on par with the great depression. Many readers of Tribble Ad Agency are advertising centric.. and due to the rash of layoffs within all Detroit Advertising firms has put the city on the map for the wrong reasons.
It has become the center of all that is wrong with America… and nothing of what is right.
For example, the crime rate has fallen…. because of lack of targets within the city. Meaning there is nothing left to steal. In fact, even the criminals don’t want to leave jail.
Heard confirmed that some offenders, notably those without homes of their own, were now expressing reluctance to leave jail when their sentences were done.
Home values have plummeted to levels not seen in 1/2 a century… and the 21% unemployment has in some cases been projected to double within 12 months if the auto industry totally collapses.
To make matters even worse, Detroit has superseded New Orleans as the “worst city” in America…. but New Orleans had a Hurricane they could assign blame to… Detroit has no such natural disaster crutch.
“It’s a depression — not a recession,” McDuell said, with the authority of someone who has lived through both. “It will get worse before it gets better.”
It’s a man-made disaster.
Regarding a local food bank in Detroit that has seen record numbers of individuals entering the system:
“Many people are first-timers — they have no idea how to navigate the system, how to qualify for food stamps,” Wells said. “Last year, some were donors — now they’re clients.”
In short, last year they donated money into the system… now they are feeding from it because they themselves are in hard financial times.
Detroit needs a miracle, the chances of it showing a resurgence is slim to none in the current economic outlook.
FULL ARTICLE

THOUSANDS of hotels,shopping malls,complexes and commercial buildings GOING BANKRUPT

With a record amount of commercial real-estate debt coming due, some of the country's biggest property developers have become the latest to go hat-in-hand to the government for assistance.

They're warning policymakers that thousands of office complexes, hotels, shopping centers and other commercial buildings are headed into defaults, foreclosures and bankruptcies. The reason: according to research firm Foresight Analytics LCC, $530 billion of commercial mortgages will be coming due for refinancing in the next three years -- with about $160 billion maturing in the next year. Credit, meanwhile, is practically nonexistent and cash flows from commercial property are siphoning off.


Comments: With these bankruptcies coming, the unemployed will be in the 100's of thousands. Of course they will ask for handouts and with that comes the huge increase of massive debts that devalues the dollar even more. Gold and Silver is your only option to preserve wealth with the coming collapse of this economy! Most of these buyers of commercial buildings bought without any money down. They secure leases then ask for mortgages. Now with this collapse coming they are asking for more free money?
Flying J files for bankruptcy
Cash crisis » Company cites falling oil prices, credit crunch
By Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 12/22/2008 12:34:55 PM MST

Flying J. Inc., which operates 250 travel plazas and fuel stations across the country, on Monday filed for bankruptcy, citing a cash shortage brought on by plummeting oil prices and problems getting credit.
The Ogden-based company filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
Flying J said all its operations will remain open as the company restructures.
The company is seeking protection from creditors after facing "an unprecedented combination of factors," said J. Phillip Adams, Flying J CEO and president.
He cited a precipitous drop in the price of crude oil and a lack of available financing from its usual lending sources.
"With this sudden and unanticipated inability to meet our liquidity needs, we regret we had no other choice than a Chapter 11 filing to enable us to stabilize our financial base," Adams said.
Flying J is one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. Sales exceeded $16 billion in 2007.

March 2009---Unemployment WORLDWIDE and COLLAPSE OF ALL PENSION FUNDS for US, CANADA,UK, JAPAN,NETHERLANDS and DENMARK

EAP/E2020 anticipates than the unfolding global systemic crisis will experience in March 2009 a new tipping point of similar magnitude to the September 2008 one. According to our team, at that period of the year, the general public will become aware of three major destabilizing processes at work in the global economy, i.e.:

• the length of the crisis
• the explosion of unemployment worldwide
• the risk of sudden collapse of all capital-based pension systems
The risk of sudden collapse of all capital-based pension systems
Finally, among the various consequences of the crisis for dozens of millions of people in the US, Canada, UK, Japan, Netherlands and Denmark in particular (3), there is the fact that, from the end of the year 2008 onward, news about major losses on the part of the organizations in charge of managing the financial assets supposed to finance pensions will multiply. The OECD anticipates that pension funds will lose 4,000 billion USD in 2008 only (4). In the Netherlands (5) as well as in the United Kingdom (6), monitoring organizations recently blew the whistle asking for an emergency contribution reappraisal and a State intervention. In the United States, growing numbers of announcements call for contribution increases and benefit reductions (7), knowing that it is only in a few weeks time that most of these funds will start calculating their total losses (8). Most of them are still deluding themselves about their capacity to build up again their capital after the markets turn around. In March 2009, when pension fund managers, pensioners and governments will become simultaneously aware of the fact that the crisis is there to last, that it coincides with the « baby-boomer » generation’s age of retirement and that the markets will not resume their 2007 levels until many long years (9), chaos will flood this sector and governments will reach the moment when they will be compelled to nationalize all these funds. And Argentina, who took this decision a few months ago already, will appear a pioneer.

All the trends described above are already at work.

FULL ARTICLE

WORLD faces total FINANCIAL MELTDOWN Like GREAT DEPRESSION: Bank of SPAIN

WORLD FACES TOTAL FINANCIAL MELTDOWN: Bank of Spain chief
Quote-

The governor of the Bank of Spain on Sunday issued a bleak assessment of the economic crisis, warning that the world faced a "total" financial meltdown unseen since the Great Depression.

"The lack of confidence is total," Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said in an interview with Spain's El Pais daily.

"The inter-bank (lending) market is not functioning and this is generating vicious cycles: consumers are not consuming, businessmen are not taking on workers, investors are not investing and the banks are not lending.

"There is an almost total paralysis from which no-one is escaping," he said, adding that any recovery -- pencilled in by optimists for the end of 2009 and the start of 2010 -- could be delayed if confidence is not restored.

Ordonez recognised that falling oil prices and lower taxes could kick-start a faster-than-anticipated recovery, but warned that a deepening cycle of falling consumer demand, rising unemployment and an ongoing lending squeeze could not be ruled out.

"This is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression" of 1929, he added.

Ordonez said the European Central Bank, of which he is a governing council member, would cut interest rates in January if inflation expectations went much below two percent.

"If, among other variables, we observe that inflation expectations go much below two percent, it's logical that we will lower rates."

Regarding the dire situation in the United States, Ordonez said he backed the decision by the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates almost to zero in the face of profound deflation fears.

Central banks are seeking to jumpstart movements on crucial interbank money markets that froze after the US market for high-risk, or subprime mortgages collapsed in mid 2007, and locked tighter after the US investment bank Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in mid September.

Interbank markets are a key link in the chain which provides credit to businesses and households.
ARTICLE HERE

Here is the LIST of the BIGGEST Billionaire LOSERS of 2008

In this market, the larger the fortune, the farther the fall.
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson was on top of the world he spent his life amassing a mega-fortune in conventions and casinos--was worth $28 billion.
Since the beginning of 2008, LVS shares have plummeted 95%, erasing $24 billion from Adelson's fortune.
Following Adelson in the loss column is America's second-richest man, Warren Buffett. The Oracle of Omaha (who held the title of world's richest man in March) lost $16.5 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK - news - people ) fell 28% this year.
Software visionary Bill Gates was America's third-biggest loser; he watched his shares of Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) decline 45%, wiping $12.3 billion off his personal balance sheet in 11 months.
Rounding out the top five biggest losers: investor Kirk Kerkorian and Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) Co-founder Larry Page, who each lost $11.9 billion. Page's Google shares shed 59% of their value this year.

Kerkorian lost billions in his casino, oil and auto stakes. His largest holding, MGM Mirage (nyse: MGM - news - people ), is down 87% since January. He also recently disclosed he sold a significant portion of his shares of Ford at a loss.

Stephen Schwarzman's 234 million shares in Blackstone Group (nyse: BX - news - people ) were worth $5.2 billion 11 months ago. The stock has fallen 72% since then, reducing the value of Schwarzman's stake to $1.5 billion--a loss of $3.8 billion.
Wesley Edens, co-founder of hedge fund Fortress Investment Group lost 1 billion his shares are worth less than $100 million.

Source: Forbes SLIDE SHOW OF THE BILLIONARES

Here is the MASSIVE FAMOUS CLIENT LIST of the 50 BILLION DOLLAR BERNIE MADOFF rip OFF!

Bernie Madoff's Victims (So Far)
Comments: The charitable donations that were targeted for Universities, Colleges, Research institutions etc. will all be suffering greatly. Tuition's will skyrocket, research will halt, companies that had invested in this scam will close. Many will become unemployed. Will the NY Mets be able to pay their players??

HSBC "has emerged as one the largest victims of Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud with potential exposure of about $1bn...HSBC’s exposure stemmed from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, that wanted to invest with Mr Madoff. HSBC’s direct exposure is believed to be about $1bn in loans provided to clients who invested some $500m of their own funds in Mr Madoff’s venture. Under the typical terms of these deals, if the US authorities recover any funds from Mr Madoff, HSBC will be paid first, with its clients suffering the first tranche of losses." (FT:)

Access International. $1.4 billion

Fortis Bank. $1.4 billion

Man Group’s RMF division has about $350m invested in funds which outsourced their management to Madoff securities, although this is a tiny fraction of the division’s $25bn of assets. (FT)

Tremont Capital. Fund of funds. $3.3 billion invested. (FT)

Pioneer Investments, an arm of Italy’s UniCredit, had “substantially all” of $835m invested with Madoff. (FT)

Union Bancaire Privet: $1.1 billion

Benbasset & Cie: $935 million

THE MASSIVE LIST HERE

HUGE LIST of Layoffs, Closures and Cuts for the Coming Depression

Major Layoff Headlines

Bank of America to cut up to 35,000
Rio Tinto Mining Cutting 14,000 Worldwide
Office Depot Will Close 112 Stores
Stanley Works To Cut 2,000
KB Toys Bankrupt Closing All 460 Stores
Citigroup will have to cut 75,000 by next year
Financial Layoff Tally 290,000
Facchina Construction -400
BlackRock - 500 Layoffs
Union Tank Car layoffs 130
GT Solar lays off 25 workers
Sonus to cut 50 workers
C&H Sugar idles 700 workers for week
Ainsworth Lumber Layoffs 280
C-Vision is eliminating 38 jobs
Axe falls on 300 jobs at Ceramaspeed
December layoffs exceed 100k
Greenheck Fan laying off 164 workers
TXI Riverside Cement to layoff 88 workers
Real Estate Investment Firm Cuts 100
Wooden Truss Manufacturing Plant Closes -20
Idaho tax agency cuts 63 workers
Tyco Electronics Announces 2500 Layoffs Worldwide
JP Morgan Home Lending -402
2,100 Digitas Layoffs in US
NY paper goods manufacturer will lay off about 70
2 Manufacturers Slice 160
Volvo cutting 142 jobs at Hagerstown
Alcatel-Lucent to cut 1,000 management jobs
Beryllium Alloy Plant Laying Off 30
Pfizer Slashing 700 Jobs in France
Fairchild Semi Laying Off 1,100
Cooper Tire to Close 1 Plant
Quebec Shipyard Laying off 1,100
Layoffs Coming To Channellock
75 Recycling Plants Have Closed Nationwide
Crane Composites Closes Plant -86
Brake Manufacturer Closing Plant -460
Sprint: Layoffs Coming
CBS Begins CNet Layoffs
ACH Food Processor -450
GE Healthcare plans job cuts
Gary Hardy Chrysler plans to liquidate its inventory -9
Shreveport TV station axes six employees
Sara Lee plans to outsource 700 jobs
S&K Famous Brands closing 58 stores
Gerdau Ameristeel Laying Off 150
Sands Casino -216
Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Axes 30
Orange County: up to 800 Layoffs in Social Services
Layoffs Slated for Indy Racing League
St. Louis Metro -600
Layoff Rumor: Inc Magazine
American Ordnance lays off 62 at IAAP
US planned mass layoffs rise in Nov -Labor Dept

Potash Corp. -900
IPG to Cut Up to 2000 Jobs; PHD Atlanta to Close
Sovereign Bank to cut 1000 Workers
Owatonna glass maker announces layoffs
Norwich University to eliminate 27 positions
Toyota Supplier to Layoff 20%
EA layoffs hit 1000, Black Box closing
Atlantic City Casinos Chopping Heads
Targanta axes 75% of staff -86
Kaiser Aluminum Closing, Scaling Back Plants -170
ABX Air begins cuts: 838 to lose jobs
Town of Mammouth Lakes -9
Chromalloy cuts another 75 jobs
WTNH Slashes Workforce-22
MPBN LayoffS-6
Cummins Emissions lays off 100 Wisconsin workers
Federal government lays off 1500 in DC
Alberta Oil Jobs Evaporating
Cuts at University of Missouri Could Total 100
University of Maine -15
Severstal Steel -500
Putnam Trucking -12
Mando Corp. Temporary Layoffs -200
Lucent North Andover plant shuts its doors today
Hospital lays off 30, closes floor
SUNY Press lays off 5 workers
De Beers Diamond Mine: 10 week shutdown
Montgomery County Maryland Embracing Layoffs

Ruby Tuesday to close 60 restaurants
Flandreau casino layoffs leave 47 people jobless
State of PA Loses 26,000 Jobs In November
Marriott Vacation Club, Orlando Call Center -173

DESA to Close, 431 Workers Lose Jobs
U.S. Steel: 69 more workers sent packing
Whitman-Walker Clinic -45
City of Ashland, OR lays off 3 workers
From an employee: I'm not unemployed but I may as well be, working as a server in these times. I barely get 3 days a week, and no one tips. I often walk home with less than 10 dollars in my pocket after working 5 hours. And that $3.77/hr server wage doesn't go very far.

No more photos of THE COMING DEPRESSION! POLAROID BANKRUPT another FRAUD!

Polaroid in bankruptcy protection

Source: BBC

Camera-maker Polaroid has filed for US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection amid allegations of fraud by the founder of its parent group.

Polaroid has been owned by Petters Group Worldwide since 2005, which was established by Tom Petters.

Mr Petters is now "under investigation for alleged acts of fraud that have compromised the financial condition of Polaroid," the firm said. Authorities believe that Tom Petters, the founder of Peters Group, was running a £3bn fraud scheme.

Polaroid is best know for inventing instant photography. But it stopped making the instant cameras about two years ago due to falling sales in the face of the growing popularity of digital cameras.

Another Economist proclaiming a Depression GREATER than 1929

Interview with Nassim Nicholas Taleb, famous economist and author of “The Black Swan” and Dr. Mandelbrot, professor of Mathematics. Both say that the present economic situation is far more serious than the Great Depression and the economy during the American Revolution.
Grocery stores will not be able to pay employees creating closures due to lack of revolving credit. I don't sleep very well as to what is coming. This is worse then what you think.. This is NOT a personal opinion.

Economic COLLAPSE in the UKRAINE-Coming to NORTH AMERICA

Economic meltdown prompts protest in Ukraine
By MARIA DANILOVA, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 13 mins ago

KIEV, Ukraine – The currency has lost half of its value, tens of thousands face layoffs, residents in the capital are bundling up in winter clothes as the heat sporadically goes out and Russia is threatening to cut off gas supplies.

It's going to be a tough winter in Ukraine.

"I could understand if this were a village, but for the capital of a European country not to have heating, water and gas — how can this be?" asked Tamara Osipova, one of about 1,000 angry protesters outside the Kiev mayor's office on Thursday.

This ex-Soviet republic has been one of hardest hit by the global financial crisis. Expert warn that the discontent visible Thursday could turn into mass opposition to a government paralyzed by political infighting.

"This is all going to boil over next year," political analyst Ivan Lozowy said. "Desperate people are capable of desperate actions."

After years of robust economic growth, Ukraine has sunk into a deep recession, pressured by a drastic fall in the exports of steel, the core of the economy. A lack of confidence in the banking system, coupled with constant political turmoil under President Viktor Yushchenko has spurred a sharp devaluation in the national currency.

The hryvna has lost a half its value since the global credit crunch hit in September, and closed at trading 9.8 to the dollar Thursday, down from 4.9 in September.

Valentyna Ivanova, a 68-year-old retired engineer, said she could not survive on 700 hryvna a month — half of which she will spend on utilities after fees were raised.


Yushchenko has forecast the economy will contract up to 10 percent by the first three months of 2009.

Many Ukrainians also borrowed dollars to buy apartments and cars. Yushchenko's economic adviser, Valentyn Zhukovsky, predicted that up to 60 percent of them may default. That will prompt some banks to confiscate property, while others may go bankrupt, experts say.
Valentyna Ivanova, a 68-year-old retired engineer, said she could not survive on 700 hryvna a month — half of which she will spend on utilities after fees were raised.

"When I come home I should eat something, shouldn't I? And how will I buy food?" she asked at the protest.

Full Article

People BEGGING on their KNEES for a JOB- for a JOB at the DUMP! Desperate and starving here in AMERICA! THE DEPRESSION IS HERE!

136 people show up for 3 jobs: "I actually had people on their knees begging me."

Smelly jobs suddenly a lot more attractive

Wanted: Laborer willing to work 10-hour days outdoors in the stench and dust of the Pinellas County landfill. That's year-round, so you'll really enjoy the summer months when the landfill is ripest.

Starting salary: $9.50 an hour, plus benefits.

Sound like the job for you? With the economy crashing and unemployment rising in the Tampa Bay area, 136 people, most out of work, answered yes last month and applied for three such jobs.

"At one point I actually had a line of people 10 feet out the door waiting to talk to me," said Scott Hanus, an operations manager for Veolia Environmental Services, which runs the landfill. "I actually had some people down on their knees begging me."

Hanus placed an ad in the St. Petersburg Times for the openings on Nov. 24. In rosier times, such an ad might attract 10 job seekers. Hanus said that with the overwhelming response, he stopped taking applications around noon the next day.

The ad was for spotters, who show customers where to dump their loads and make sure that prohibited stuff like batteries, oil and paints aren't going into the landfill.

Some who applied had college degrees, Hanus said, and many had recently been laid off or seen their companies shut down. The three people hired had a fair amount of experience working outdoors and solid customer skills, Hanus said. They started Dec. 8.

None of the four applicants who had begged on their knees for work because they could not pay the rent or feed their families was among them.
FULL ARTICLE
"It was pretty hard watching so many people hurting," Hanus said.

Kyle Martin, who lives in St. Petersburg with his fiancee, is one of the fortunate three. He lost his job as a cabinet shop manager about two months ago, when the company had to cut back.

He had been starting most days at a Hess station, where he'd buy the newspaper, scan the want ads and then go bang on doors.

The 23-year-old had no success. Facing the prospect of applying to fast-food joints, he jumped at the landfill job opening.

Martin said he loves his new line of work. There's lots of overtime to be had, he said, plus he gets to be outside.

"I thank God I've got a job, I got a house and a beautiful wife-to-be," Martin said.

Another Distressing Job Article
As rain pelted the roads and Obama announced more Cabinet appointments, close to 500 people filed through the hotel lobby, hoping to get a job flipping or serving burgers.

Today more of the same is expected, meaning that by day’s end close to 1,000 will have applied for no more than 50 $10-an-hour jobs at an In-N-Out restaurant opening at Tropicana Avenue and Tee Pee Lane.
Some wore ties. Some wore their pants too low. Some were balding. Some owed two months of mortgage payments. Some spoke openly of suicide. Some asked this reporter for a job. Some asked the manager at the hotel hosting the event for a job.

Former Fed governor hints at big upward revaluation of GOLD $5000-$1000 an oz. AND PETER SCHIFF Dec 17 2008 GET RID OF YOUR DOLLARS NOW!

Former Fed governor hints at big upward revaluation of gold


Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Interviewed Monday this week on the "Trading Day" program of Business News Network in Canada, former Federal Reserve Governor Lyle Gramley hinted that a big upward revaluation of gold may figure heavily in the Fed's attempt to rescue the U.S. economy.

The program's guest host, Niall Ferguson, an author and history professor at Harvard, asked Gramley, now senior adviser at Stanford Group in Houston, about the seemingly grotesque expansion of the Fed's balance sheet in recent months.

Ferguson asked: "I've heard it said that the Fed has turned into a government-owned hedge fund, leveraged at 50 to 1. Do you feel nervous about what this might actually do to the Fed's reputation?"

Gramley replied: "I think you have to reckon with the fact that one of the Fed's assets is gold certificates, which are priced, as I remember, at $42 an ounce, and if we were to price them at market prices, the Fed's leverage would look a lot less than it is now."

While valuing the U.S. government's claimed gold reserves at today's Comex closing price of around $822 per ounce instead of the government antique bookkeeping entry of $42.22 per ounce would indeed vastly expand the government's monetary assets, it might not be enough to offset the liabilities and guarantees the government lately has taken on. But the job might be done by revaluing the gold to $5,000 or $10,000 per ounce, as the British economist Peter Millar speculated two years ago might be necessary to prevent debt deflation:

Tonight's Peter Schiff Radio Commentary-GOLD and the COLLAPSING US DOLLAR "this will DESTROY everyone in its wake" "Depression is coming" "Get out of DOLLARS RIGHT NOW!"



PART 2

US Texas Congressman RON PAUL on the REMOVAL of the FEDERAL RESERVE, THE COMING DEPRESSION and WORLD GOVERNMENT!

The Bailouts are getting worse. The Government is nationalizing corporations. This "Government" is going to create a fascist type (definition of:) Government. The Army is moving thousands of troops to the streets for future riots and chaos from the ECONOMIC DISASTER. We cannot be saved. World Government is coming and is planned. IMF states GOLD will be the WORLD WIDE RESERVE currency of choice. The Internet may be SILENCED! Sit down have a martini and LISTEN to this VERY IMPORTANT INFO:


PART 2

Swiss Gold in Demand as trust in BANKS DIVE with a COLLAPSING DOLLAR!

Swiss gold bullion in huge demand as trust in banks dives
Swiss gold refiners are having great difficulty in keeping up with demand for gold bullion leading to long delivery times as investors wary of other stores of wealth.
Author: Arnd Wiegmann and Lisa Jucca
Posted: Wednesday , 17 Dec 2008
MENDRISIO/ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (REUTERS) -
Sealed off by grey concrete walls and barbed wire, the workmen in protective glasses and steel-toed boots at this smelter cannot work fast enough to meet demand from the nervous rich for gold.
This refinery near Lake Lugano in the Alps is running day and night as people worried about recession rush to switch their assets into something that may hold its value.
"I have been in the gold business for 30 years and I have never experienced anything like this," said Bernhard Schnellmann, director for precious metal services at the refiner Argor-Heraeus, one of the world's three largest.
"Production has dramatically increased since the middle of the year. We cannot cope with demand," said Schnellman, wearing a gold watch on his wrist.
Spot gold hit a record $1,030.80 an ounce on March 17. It fell below $700 in late October, partly because investors sold their holdings to cover losses in equity and bond markets hit by the credit crisis, and is now around $830 an ounce.
The trigger for the price to rise again could come from a much weaker dollar, making gold cheaper for holders of other currencies, and a renewed aversion to paper assets as governments and central banks pump large amounts of cash into the economy, stoking inflation.
FULL ARTICLE

Peter Schiff new VIDEO on the Coming Collapse Dec 16

We will follow in the footsteps of ARGENTINA not JAPAN. More analysts are fighting Peter Schiff!

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes a depression is COMING

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper believes a depression is possible and says he's never seen such economic uncertainty.
Harper said the outlook for the Canadian economy is increasingly hard to read.

"The truth is, I've never seen such uncertainty in terms of looking forward to the future," Harper told CTV television on Tuesday. "I'm very worried about the Canadian economy."

When asked whether a depression might be possible, Harper answered: "It could be, but I think we've learned enough about depression; we've learned enough from the 1930s to avoid some of the mistakes that caused a recession in 1929 to become a depression in the 1930s."

The credit crisis and a global sell-off of commodities have slowed Canada's resource-rich economy. Alberta's once booming oil sands sector has cooled as every major company has scrapped or delayed some expansion plans.

The manufacturing sector in central Canada is also in trouble. Canada could lose more than 580,000 jobs within five years if Detroit's Big Three automakers go out of business, according to an Ontario government-commissioned report.

The review, prepared for Ontario's Ministry of Economic Development and released Tuesday, warns that the collapse of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC would send lasting shock waves through the economy.

Ontario Economic Development Minister Michael Bryant said Tuesday a proposed 3.4 billion Canadian dollar ($2.8 billion) rescue package is needed to avoid a "catastrophic" chain of events.

Harper said Canada will almost certainly be run a deficit in 2009 as the government spends billions to prop up the economy. Opposition parties tried to topple Harper's Conservative government earlier this month after his fiscal update didn't include a stimulus package.

Investors Selling the US dollar before COLLAPSE

Investor Jim Rogers urged people to get out of the dollar and says he expects to be rid of all his U.S. currency assets by summer next year.

"If you have dollars, I urge you to get out,'' Rogers said in an interview from Singapore. He is chairman of New York-based Rogers Holdings, formerly known as Beeland Interests Inc. "That's not a currency to own.''

... Rogers, who predicted the start of the global commodities rally in 1999, criticized Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke for comments on the currency before a congressional committee on Nov. 8.

"He is a total fool,'' Rogers said. "He said Americans who buy only American goods are not affected if the value of the U.S. dollar goes down. I was terrified.''

Bernanke said the only effect of a weaker dollar on a typical American with their wealth in dollars, buying consumer goods in dollars, would be "their buying powers, it makes imported goods more expensive.''

Rogers said that's not right.

"If you only buy American products and the dollar goes down, the price of oil goes up, copper goes up, wheat goes up,'' he said. "That affects you. He doesn't understand the economy as far as I can see.''

The Taj Mahal is not accepting Dollars anymore either. .

U.A.E. May Peg to Currency Basket, Al-Suwaidi Says

Chinese TV: Dump the Dollar
America Will Soon Owe More Than Its Citizens Are Worth
FINANCIAL CONDITION OF THE USA

Sunday Edition of 60 minutes HOUSING COLLAPSE COMING

Watch CBS Videos Online

US dollar Plunging GOLD -SILVER FLYING

Comments: Dropping interest rates make way for deflation followed by rising interest rates (propping the dollar UP) thus creating HYPERINFLATION. GOLD is now beginning to take off. So the cycle continues. When HYPERINFLATION happens, the dollar nears zero, GOLD will be hitting $5000 and you will be running around with a wheel barrow filled with useless bills looking for bread.



NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rallied more than 2% Monday to their highest level in two months as a falling U.S. dollar increased the metal's appeal as an alternative investment and as surging crude-oil prices raised gold's value as a hedge against rising prices.
Gold for February delivery jumped $22.50, or 2.7%, to $843 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Oct. 15.
Monday's gain in gold followed its 9% advance in the past week.
The front-month December contract, which expires on Dec. 29, rose 2.3% to $838.10 an ounce. Open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts of the December contract, stood at 811 as of Friday, or 81,100 ounces, according to Comex data.
Gold inventories held by the Comex for futures delivery stood at 2,846,513 ounces as of Friday, down 90,915 ounces from a day ago, according to the latest data from the exchange.
"A weaker dollar coupled with firmer energy prices ahead of the OPEC meeting" boosted gold values, said Edward Meir, a metals analyst at MF Global.

Gerald Celente Predictions AUDIO INTERVIEW on the COMING DEPRESSION. Dec 14 2008

Gerald Celente: $2000 Gold and the Break up of the US, Bank Holiday, Run on the banks, Federal Reserve took over the Treasury Dept., Riots and more!
Lew Rockwell interviews Gerald Celente

FULL AUDIO HERE

GERALD CELENTE
The World's #1
Trends Forecaster