New Cars and Trucks to be CRUSHED under new LEGISLATION!

Politicians Want to Use Tax Dollars to Crush Newer-Model Trucks and SUVs


Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Oppose S. 247 and H.R. 520
SEMA ( Specialty Equipment Market Association) is opposing an effort by some Washington lawmakers to include a national car crushing program in the upcoming economic stimulus package. Vehicles targeted for the scrap pile will likely include Chevy Blazers, Silverados, S-10s and Tahoes; Dodge Dakotas and Rams; Ford Explorers and F-Series; Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers; and any other SUV or truck that obtains less than 18 mpg.

The so-called “Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act” is "Cash for Clunkers" with a twist. Instead of focusing exclusively on old cars as is typical with scrappage programs, this bill will target any vehicle with lower fuel-economy ratings. Participants will receive a cash voucher to purchase a more fuel-efficient new car or used car (model year 2004 or later) or receive credit for the purchase of public transportation tickets.

Under the legislation, “fuel efficient” means at least 25% better mileage than the CAFE standard. It will be illegal to resell the scrapped vehicles. Bill sponsors want to destroy 4 million pickups and SUVs over the next four years.

The program will fail to achieve its goal of improving fuel efficiency and stimulating car sales, but will increase unemployment and the cost of used cars and parts. Here’s why:

* Given the minimal $1,500–$4,500 voucher value, the program will lure rarely driven second and third vehicles that have minimal impact on overall fuel economy and air pollution. This is not a wise investment of tax dollars.

* The program will reduce the number of vehicles available for low-income individuals and drive up the cost of the remaining vehicles and repair parts. This is a basic supply-and-demand reality.

* The program will remove the opportunity to market specialty products that are designed exclusively for the targeted pickups and SUVs, including equipment that increases engine performance and fuel mileage. Congress will be enacting a program to eliminate jobs and reduce business revenues in the automotive aftermarket.

* The idea that the trucks and SUVs must be scrapped in order to save energy is irrational. The program’s “carbon footprint” does not factor in the amount of energy and natural resources expended in manufacturing the existing car, spent scrapping it and manufacturing a replacement car.

* The program fails to acknowledge driver needs, such as the ability to transport a family, tow a trailer or rely upon the performance, safety and utility characteristics associated with the larger vehicles. Instead, these vehicles will be destroyed.

* There is no evidence that the program will achieve the goal of boosting new-car sales or increasing fuel mileage. Many states have considered scrappage programs in the past as a way to help clean the air or increase mpg, but abandoned the effort because they simply don’t work. The programs are not cost-effective and do not achieve verifiable fuel economy or air-quality benefits.

* The program will hurt thousands of independent repair shops, auto restorers, customizers and their customers across the country that depend on the used-car market. This industry provides thousands of American jobs and generates millions of dollars in local, state and federal tax revenues.

“Our members, like all business entities, are suffering the effects of the stalled economy,” said Steve McDonald, SEMA vice president of government affairs. “In fact, for our members that market product for newer vehicles, we depend on a thriving and vibrant auto industry to create new business opportunities. We support efforts to spur new-car sales. We don’t, however, support public policy efforts that we are convinced don’t work and will waste tax dollars in the process.”

Congresswoman says: Foreclosed on your home? DON'T MOVE!

Excerpt:
DOBBS: (There is) seething anger tonight at the federal government’s utter failure to help homeowners in danger of losing their homes, even as the government is spending literally trillions of dollars to help out banks, investment companies. There were more than three million foreclosure filings last year, a million people foreclosed upon. Now, one lawmaker, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur says it’s time for homeowners to fight back, exercising squatter’s rights.

Drew Griffin, of our Special Investigations Unit, with the report.

GRIFFIN: Elected officials are saying Toledo is not in a recession, it is a depression. It is this bleak backdrop that inspired Toledo Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur to take the floor of the House earlier this month to tell her constituents to stay put.

REP. MARCY KAPTUR, (D) OHIO: So I say to the American people, you be squatters in your own homes; don’t you leave.
KAPTUR: It’s a national crisis. And it is the proximate cause of this economic downturn; the housing foreclosure crisis. I did everything I could when Congress reconvened this year to urge the President, our Speaker, our leadership to move the FDIC and the SEC into their proper position in this economy to do these workouts.

And that has not been done. And this week we had to pass a stimulus bill in the House to try to pick up some of the casualties and give them a little life support. But the real problem is, that the FDIC and the SEC have been superseded by the U.S. Treasury Department, –

DOBBS: Right.

KAPTUR: — which has no history in workouts. And that’s the problem. They’re using the wrong agency to resolve this crisis.

DOBBS: And Sheila Bair, the Chair of the FDIC, we’ve got to give great credit. She has been talking about this issue –

KAPTUR: Yes.

DOBBS: — throughout. She has been sensitive and forthright about the issue. You know, I guess the issue here also becomes, we are a nation of laws. At what point does telling a person, as you have, to just exercise squatter’s rights — at what point are you bumping up against the issue of breaking the law?

KAPTUR: Well, you know, Lou, the problem is that these families haven’t had proper legal representation. Most of these companies on Wall Street can’t even find the loan, and they have not properly noticed the homeowner under the Truth and Lending Act and the Real Estate Practices Act. DOBBS: Right.

KAPTUR: If you really look at the fine print, these Wall Street firms can’t find the loan. They’ve divided it up into so many pieces, so there’s a legitimate question in the law as to where that deed, where that loan actually is.
DOBBS: In point of fact, it’s not — to be clear, if there’s no note, there is no debt?

KAPTUR: That’s right. And if you don’t have proper legal representation — and I mean good legal representation — what happens to the homeowner in places like our region is, they’re law abiding people. They’re afraid and they leave the property. I say your biggest right is to hold on to your property. The law is on your side.

DOBBS: Marcy Kaptur, I’m sure that millions of Americans and the folks in Ohio appreciate you being on their side.

KAPTUR: Thank you. DOBBS: Marcy Kaptur, thank you very much, Congresswoman from Ohio.
LINK
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BANKS And Lenders Nationwide shutting off CREDIT! 2 TRILLION to be CANCELLED!

Comment: The damage to businesses will be huge. Many are using their line of credit to buy goods and keep the doors open. These credit companies are taking the bailout funds and investing it into other countries because of the risk here. ( You will be hearing about these money movements in the future guaranteed!)

Banks and other lenders nationwide, seeking to reduce their debt exposure, are shutting off and limiting consumer credit card lines, even for many customers who carry low balances and pay on time.

As much as $2 trillion in consumer credit - nearly half of what is available - could be rescinded, according to an estimate by a prominent banking analyst. Just two years ago, institutions were handing out liberal borrowing lines to almost anyone. But now, drowning in debt and soured investments, lenders are seeking to stop consumers from running up big balances in hard times, bills they might not be able to pay.

The credit squeeze doesn't just limit spending potential; it can also damage cardholders' credit ratings by making them appear to be riskier borrowers. And in many cases, the institutions pulling back on credit took government bailout funds that were supposed to encourage them to lend more freely.

Diana Lawton, a 44-year-old freelance writer in Chelmsford, is one of those being affected by the change in credit-line policies. She said American Express Co. called her last week to say her two charge cards - one personal, one for business - had been frozen pending a "financial review." Lawton, who had been using the personal card since 1988, said she was stunned. The company offered no explanation, accord ing to Lawton, but told her she could apply for reinstatement by submitting two years of income tax returns, along with three months of pay stubs and bank records.

Outraged at having to undergo a 10-day investigation of her finances, Lawton canceled the cards. "I know the economy's bad," she said, "but this is just shocking to me."

American Express, which has received $3.4 billion in federal bailout money, declined to discuss Lawton's situation. Lisa A. Gonzalez, a company spokeswoman, said that on "isolated occasions" it asks card members to provide financial information. "Though we continually look at the credit limits we offer card members and review them on a case-by-case basis, we are being more targeted in response to economic conditions," Gonzalez said. "This may also include cancellations."
LINK

Over 400 Depression and Survival Guides. EVERYONE WILL USE IT! ONLY $3!

It looks like WEEKS before the Government says we are in a GREAT DEPRESSION

On the job front, the Labor Department reported that the number of workers receiving unemployment benefits jumped 159,000 last week to 4.78 million, the most since the government began keeping records in 1967.

As a proportion of the workforce, which has grown substantially since the 1960s, the number of people on unemployment was the highest since 1983.

There was no sign of improvement in the housing market. The number of new homes sold in the U.S. plummeted 15% in November to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 331,000, nearly half of the number a year earlier, the Census Bureau reported.

Based on that sales rate, it would take almost 13 months to eliminate the current backlog of unsold new homes, suggesting that construction -- already at a near-standstill -- would be unlikely to pick up any time soon.

And orders for durable goods -- including big-ticket purchases such as automobiles and refrigerators -- dropped 2.6%. Excluding a huge increase in military purchasing, the drop was 4.9%. Inventories of durable goods rose to their highest level since the government began keeping track in 1992.

"It's looking like it's going to be the most severe recession since the Great Depression, or at least one of the most severe," Herzon said.

Thursday brought another wave of layoff announcements from U.S. companies, reflecting mounting distress in many corners of the economy, especially manufacturing. For some of the firms, it was the second time in the current downturn that they had unveiled cutbacks.

Cessna Aircraft Co., citing an increase in orders canceled or delayed, said it planned to lay off 2,000 workers. The Wichita, Kan., company earlier had announced 2,600 job cuts.

Oshkosh Corp., a truck maker based in Wisconsin, said it would cut 1,050 jobs, bringing to 2,400 the number of jobs eliminated since last summer.

Slot-machine maker International Game Technology said it would lay off 200 workers, citing the effect of the recession on the casino industry. The Nevada firm cut 500 jobs in November.

Eastman Kodak Co., the maker of photography products, said it would eliminate as many as 4,500 jobs, or about 18% of its workforce, after reporting a fourth-quarter loss.

Reflecting the turmoil in the financial services industry, money management firm OppenheimerFunds Inc. said it laid off 220 employees this week, or 9% of its workforce.
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DOW to 2000 and the S&P to 200? MASSIVE Collapse Coming!

The rules of technical analysis for this pattern are:

Pennants are continuation patterns - that is, whatever direction the market is moving when it comes in, it will move when it comes out.
The minimum target for the move is given by the length of the pole to which the pennant is attached.
In this case the pennant prognosticates a move downward of six hundred S&P 500 points from the break, which occurs at approximately 810.

That gives us a target on the S&P 500 of 210.

No, that's not a misprint.

I said two hundred and ten, and I meant two hundred and ten.

This puts the DOW at TWO THOUSAND.

Mr. President, Congress, and the rest of the fools in Washington DC, including TurboTax Timmie: You only get one shot at this and you better stop writing checks with your mouth that you cannot cash. This goes DOUBLE for Ben Bernanke.
There is no "market-friendly" solution to this mess folks. There are, however, disastrous decisions that can be taken, and continuing to hide losses - and the truth - will lead directly to that disaster.

We must deal with the bad debt by forcing it into the open. Transferring it from one pocket to another fixes nothing and if we're not careful we will wind up precipitating a bond market collapse coincident with the stock market melting down to a degree that is several times worse than what we saw in September and October.

Unless President Obama wants to be known as our second Herbert Hoover, he must not allow the game-playing to continue any longer.

Neither you or I want to see the S&P 500 collapse down into the 200s with 75% of the listed firms in this country going under. Nor do we want to see 20 or even 30% unemployment. I'm sure you're not interested in seeing not a 30 or 40% loss in your 401k as you had last year, but an 80% loss. And I'm very, very certain that having the government - both state and federal - unable to raise operating funds and being forced to cut off social services and entitlements is not on your "desirable" outcome list. Yet all of this can and will happen if the bond market dislocates and starts a cascade. The price action in the market over the last couple of weeks is a strong warning that "borrow and spend" will not work and the market is getting rather upset with papering over ever-expanding losses.

It would be nice if President Obama had several weeks or even months to coordinate a strategy. Unfortunately the market doesn't work this way, and it appears that he is being forced to either crap or get off the pot essentially now, lest the market decide for him.
LINK

Here is your List of FAILED BANKS!
LIST

World is wondering how the US will PAY FOR THIS MASSIVE DEBT!

Ernesto Zedillo, the former Mexican president, said the United States "needs to show some proof they have a plan to get out of the fiscal problem." (Scott Eells/Bloomberg News)
World worries how U.S. will pay for stimulus

By Nelson D. Schwartz Published: January 30, 2009



DAVOS, Switzerland: Even as the U.S. Congress looks for ways to expand President Barack Obama's $819 billion stimulus package, the rest of the world is wondering how Washington will pay for it all.

Few people attending the World Economic Forum question the need to revive America's economy, the world's largest, with a package that could reach $1 trillion over two years. But the long-term fallout from increased borrowing by the U.S. government, and its potential to drive up inflation and interest rates around the world, seems to be getting more attention here than in Washington.

"The U.S. needs to show some proof they have a plan to get out of the fiscal problem," said Ernesto Zedillo, the former Mexican president who helped steer his country through a financial crisis in 1994. "We, as developing countries, need to know we won't be crowded out of the capital markets, which is already happening."

Zedillo said that Washington, unlike most other countries, had the option of simply printing more money, because the dollar was a reserve currency for the rest of the world.

Over the long run, that could force long-term interest rates higher and drive down the value of the dollar, undermining the benefits that come with its special status.
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Obama is alienating the world ECONOMY: BUY AMERICAN OR ELSE!

'Countries around the world are expressing grave concern': PM Of Canada

As passed by the House, section 1110 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 says, "None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this act may be used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron and steel used in the project is produced in the United States."
This language won't necessarily be in the bill when it gets to Obama's desk for signing, but the final version could be even worse from the point of view of U.S. trading partners.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that a Senate version of the bill, yet to be acted upon, goes further, requiring, with few exceptions, that all stimulus-funded projects use only U.S.-made equipment and goods.

Differences between House and Senate bills are reconciled in a process called conference. Although the president may ask for legislation, he doesn't get to write it, even when his party controls both chambers.
At the same time, the United States has treaty obligations that they have signed on to — NAFTA is one, the World Trade Organization is another — and we expect the United States to live up to its treaty obligations of open and fair trade."

Canadian steel producers and builders say they have "grave, grave concerns" about the bill.
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In Brussels, the European Union warned Thursday that it would protest the provision, the Associated Press reported. Europe will not "stand idly by and ignore" a provision that "prohibits the sale or purchase of European goods on American territory," EU spokesman Peter Power said.

Disturbing Economic News out of Davos, Switzerland

The gloom surrounding this year’s World Economic Forum descended into confrontation yesterday as international labour leaders launched a withering attack on the 1,400 business executives and 41 heads of government at Davos over what the labour leaders alleged was their failure to respond effectively to a deepening crisis of their own creation.

Guy Ryder, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said that the current financial turmoil had triggered a social timebomb that would lead to deepening civil unrest and soaring crime.

The comments from the confederation, which represents 168 million workers in 157 countries, are the most ferocious example yet of a backlash that has persuaded many who attend frequently to stay away from Davos this year. Yesterday Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, became the latest political figure to stay away from the meeting, after a similar move by David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary.
The ITUC warned that around the world more than 50 million jobs could be lost this year and that more than 200 million people would be driven into absolute poverty. The confederation said that the financial crisis had arisen because of “rampant speculation and financial profiteering” and that new global financial architecture needed to be established to “support regulation and ensure coherence”.

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said there’s no hiding from the worsening global economic crisis, and stressed the need for quick and “drastic action” to turn the tide.

People worldwide are “depressed and traumatized” to see their life savings, including homes and pension funds, disappearing, Murdoch said at a press briefing in Davos, Switzerland, today.

“It would be very foolish if we said here we are, we had a crisis, and how do we get out of it quickly,” he said. “The crisis is getting worse. When you get to the real economy, values are still going down.”

New York-based media company News Corp. in November reduced its fiscal 2009 profit forecast because of reduced ad sales at its newspapers and Fox television.

“You have world financial markets, it doesn’t really matter where you’re talking about in the world,” Murdoch said. “There’s no hiding place, the world financial markets are in a great state of disarray.”

Huge Protests starting in FRANCE over Economic Collapse! GREECE TOO!

Huge crowds have taken to the streets in France to protest over the handling of the economic crisis, causing disruption to rail and air services.
The head of France's biggest union said a million workers had rallied to demand action to protect jobs and wages.
But despite the show of public support, the strike appeared to be falling short of the paralysis forecast by unions.
Regional trains and those in and around Paris were hit, and a third of flights from Orly airport were cancelled.
Forty per cent of regional services were running, train operator SNCF said, and 60% of high-speed TGV services. Three-quarters of metro trains were running in Paris.
Paris's second airport was heavily hit by the strike, but flights out of the larger Charles de Gaulle hub were experiencing only short delays, AFP news agency said.

Overall, some 23% of the country's public sector workers are thought to have joined the action, which was called by eight major French unions.
Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT union, told AFP more than a million workers had joined the action, making it impossible for French President Nicolas Sarkozy to ignore their concerns.
In Paris, tens of thousands of protesters have set off from the Place de la Bastille on a march towards the centre of the city.
Earlier, some 25,000 to 30,000 people rallied in the city of Lyon, according to organisers and police.

In Marseille, organisers and the authorities disagreed, with the former putting the number of demonstrators at 300,000 but the police estimating 20,000 had taken part.
With unemployment looking likely to hit 10% by next year, the French are now looking for assurances from their president that he will drop his programme of cost cutting reforms and instead turn his attention to relaunching the ailing economy, our correspondent says.
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Greece:
Under the headline "Is Greece a dangerous country", an editorial in the daily To Vima said: "Now the country is cut not only in two, but in many pieces, everyone should think of ways of confronting a crisis which is sure to hurt the Greek economy severely. Last night, there was little indication that the protesters would back down. "If need be we will stay here until Easter. If need be, our tractors will grow roots," said one farmer. "We are bankrupt. We've got nothing to lose."
GREECE LINK

Get ready for the NEW 2 Trillion Dollar Bank BAILOUT!

New Bank Bailout Has $2 Trillion Price Tag

Thursday, January 29, 2009 8:10 AM


U.S. government officials seeking to revamp the financial bailout have discussed spending another $1 trillion to $2 trillion to help restore banks to health, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The paper said the Barack Obama administration could announce its plans within days but has not yet determined the final shape of its new proposal, and the exact details could change.

The administration is also seeking more effective ways to pump money into banks, and is considering buying common shares in the banks, according to the paper.

A Treasury spokeswoman told the paper that "while lots of options are on the table, there are no final decisions" on what she described as a "comprehensive plan."

"The president has made it clear that he'll do whatever it takes to stabilize our financial system so that we can get credit flowing again to families and businesses," she told the paper.

The U.S. Treasury has already disbursed nearly $294 billion from the government $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP to shore up the banking system and faltering U.S. automakers. Billions more have been pledged for particular uses.

A Treasury spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a Reuters email seeking comment that was sent after normal business hours.

The WSJ said another way being considered for the government to inject money into banks is the purchase of convertible bonds, in which the government would be paid interest now but have the option to get common equity later.
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Don't believe we are GOING INTO A DEPRESSION? This will Convince you.

Military FEMA Camps are HERE!

By: Lee Rogers

A new bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives called the National Emergency Centers Act or HR 645. This bill if passed into law will direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish national emergency centers otherwise known as FEMA camp facilities on military installations. This is an incredibly disturbing piece of legislation considering that the powers that be have already set in motion an agenda to setup a nationwide marital law apparatus through U.S. Northern Command and the Department of Homeland Security. Apparently, the fusion centers, militarized police, surveillance cameras and a domestic military command is not enough. Even though we already know that detention facilities are already in place, they now want to legalize the construction of FEMA camps on military installations using the ever popular excuse that the facilities are for the purposes of a national emergency. With the phony debt based economy getting worse and worse by the day, the possibility of civil unrest is becoming a greater threat to the establishment. One need only look at Iceland, Greece and other nations for what might happen in the United States next. With this in mind, it appears as if these so called national emergency centers will be used in a national emergency but only if the national emergency requires large groups of people to be rounded up and detained. If that isn’t the case, than why have these national emergency facilities built in military installations?

Let’s look through the various portions of the bill. Here is section 2 of the bill taken directly from the proposed legislation.
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Ron Paul: We are determined to get into a DEPRESSION!

A MUST SEE! Here is the map results of the past PRESIDENTIAL election:
MAP

IMF:Worst Growth in 60 Years!

World economic growth is set to fall to just 0.5% this year, its lowest rate since World War II, warns the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In October, the IMF had predicted world output would increase by 2.2% in 2009.
It now projects the UK, which recently entered recession, will see its economy shrink by 2.8% next year, the worst contraction among advanced nations.
The IMF says financial markets remain under stress and the global economy has taken a "sharp turn for the worse".
"We now expect the global economy to come to a virtual halt," said IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard in a statement.
The IMF says that despite a number of policy moves, which have been carried out by many states, financial strains remain.
The report comes on the same day the International Labour Organization said that as many as 51 million jobs worldwide could be lost this year because of the global economic crisis.
The IMF says future co-ordinated financial policies should concentrate on recognising the scale of financial institutions' losses and on providing public support to those institutions that are viable.
"Such policies should be supported by measures to resolve insolvent banks and set up public agencies to dispose of the bad debts, including possibly through a 'bad bank' approach, while safeguarding public resources."
LINK

Just in:Boeing plans to slash 10,000 jobs as the economy weakens

Here is where the 825 Billion is going! This is INSANE! CALL YOUR SENATORS!

• The non-job creating spending in this bill includes:
a) $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. ( will this create 1 job?)
b) $400 million to study climate change. ( What's there to study? Its a climate change!)
c) $200 million to revitalize the National Mall, including planting new sod.( BULLDOZE IT DOWN around $10,000 +removal!)
d) $1.1 billion to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a permanent board to ration health care services, a precursor to universal health care. (A Billion dollar BOARD OF HEALTH? Enough for FREE HEALTH CARE for a YEAR!)
e) Hundreds of millions of dollars for contraceptives and family planning services through Medicaid.
f) $650 million dollars for additional digital TV converter box coupons. ( turn the TV off and get to basics, IDIOTS!)
g) $166 billion in direct aid to help states pay their bills. ( Due to illegal immigrants)
h) $13 billion for reading programs.
i) $15.6 billion to increase the maximum annual Pell grant (for college students) by $500 from $4,360 to $4,860.
j) $3 billion to public health departments for additional immunizations. ( immunize yourself from a DUMB Gov't)
k) $1 billion in additional funding to pay heating bills of low-income Americans. ( Give them a JOB, clean the streets ANYTHING)
l) $1 billion for the 2010 census. ( To count illegal IMMIGRANTS?)
m) $100 million for National Science Foundation scholarships.
n) $200 million for nutrition programs. ( Buy Macdonalds , Burger King and the rest of them foul places AND SHUT THEM DOWN!)
o) $200 million to provide incentives to teachers to raise test scores. ( Teach students how to write a check, pay a bill, apply for a scholarship, grocery shop, how to apply for a rental apt, EVERYDAY STUFF YA KNOW? BUT TEST SCORES? Bunch of Simpletons)
p) $2 billion in additional funds for low-income child care.
q) $900 million in additional funds to prepare for the pandemic flu. ( WHAT? Probably find a cure for every disease in the world with that money!)

COMPLETE BREAKDOWN HERE

UN Crime boss states DRUG MONEY saving BANKS!

VIENNA: The United Nations' crime and drug watchdog has indications that money made in illicit drug trade has been used to keep banks afloat in the global financial crisis, its head was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Vienna-based UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said in an interview released by Austrian weekly Profil that drug money often became the only available capital when the crisis spiralled out of control last year.

"In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital," Costa was quoted as saying by Profil. "In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system's main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor."

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had found evidence that "interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities," Costa was quoted as saying. There were "signs that some banks were rescued in that way."

Profil said Costa declined to identify countries or banks which may have received drug money and gave no indication how much cash might be involved. He only said Austria was not on top of his list, Profil said.
LINK
Comments: Watch the Movie "Cocaine Cowboys". It shows the drug money flow and how it started new banks in the 70's and 80's. When the cops busted the drug flow business in South Florida all the banks went BANKRUPT! The economy went into a huge recession..

MORE Proof Banks are INSOLVENT. 3.5 TRILLION IN LOSSES. OBAMA SPEAKS!

President Obama is considering another massive injection of cash into America’s stricken banking system, a move that will be deeply unpopular with the public but is being forced upon him by the speed at which the US economy is unravelling.

With the collapse on Saturday of the third US bank this month — the First Centennial Bank of California — Mr Obama is under pressure to spend hundreds of billions more to rescue the financial system. It would come on top of last year’s $700 billion (£515 billion) Wall Street rescue package that was opposed by most Americans. They viewed the plan as a bailout of the bankers that they blame for the financial crisis.

Any additional move to ease the crisis afflicting America’s banks will be separate from Mr Obama’s $825 billion economic stimulus package that senior aides spent the weekend trying to sell to a growing number of Republican sceptics and the US public.

The huge stimulus package, aimed at creating jobs and re-starting the economy, is expected to pass Congress because Mr Obama enjoys majorities in the House and Senate. His hopes of winning bipartisan approval for the plan have foundered in recent days because of growing Republican misgivings about the size of the Bill and whether it will work.
Mark Zandi of Moodys.com, an economist who spoke to Senate Democrats on Thursday, said that conditions in the US banking system were “eroding far more rapidly than anyone anticipated”
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Jim Sinclair: You won't even see the Bank Collapse COMING!

Dear Comrades In Golden Arms,

The day in 2009 that insolvency comes in the planetary form, you can be sure of only one thing: You will not know it.

Your government, whomever they are, will keep the collapse a total secret until you are completely wiped out by hyper-inflation and/or insolvency of your retirement plan.
You cannot trade your way to insurance. That concept is egomaniacal and downright stupid.
Own gold and gold shares or you will be the victim of your government and the media's feeling that you are:


NOT WORTHY OF THE TRUTH
Jim's Outlook On 2009
Posted: Jan 26 2009 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: January 26, 2009 at 12:20 am
Filed under: General Editorial

Dear CIGAs,

1. Before 2009 is out the next major economic shock will become obvious. There is not one major funded retirement program intact thanks to the manufacturers and distributors of OTC derivatives. The unfunded ones are a total loss. Retirement in the future is totally out of the question. Many now retired will end up in the same situation as those trying to live off fixed income. Both categories are being culled from the human gene pool.

2. By my 68th birthday Obama will recognize his position as a bagged President, knowing then that the economic situation does not have any practical solution.

3. By July 4th, 2009 the rally in the US dollar will have become a simple hope for the lows to hold.

4. My long held targets of $1250 and $1650 for Gold that were once laughed at as outrageously high can now be laughed at for being painfully too low.

5. Only gold and related shares are insurance against the economic cataclysm now taking place.

Everyone is looking for where and when the top in gold will come. Will it be Jim's $1650 or Alf Field's $10,000 plus before it comes back down?

To put it nicely, you are all wrong. Gold is going up and STAYING up.

There is no top to look for because like all things people strive for, the top does not exist.

Gold will trade within $200 of a given point as a product of the Master of the Financial Universe, Paul Volcker, taking control when all this is totally out of control. He will instate the revitalized and modernized Federal Reserve Gold Certificate Ratio, not gold convertibility, and not tied to interest rates as an automaticity. Only then can Volcker put in place policy backed by the sitting administration that has a provable history of starting the change from deficit to surplus, his price of saving the world one more time.

The Gold mining business will then be the best business there is and the highest dividend paying monetary utility.

Respectfully yours,
Jim

Analyst Says MUCH WORSE to come. Banks are BROKE! Your going to LOSE A LOT OF MONEY! CANADIANS you have been LIED TO!

We are not going to belabor this point but it is deadly important. Private equity investors and professionals are pulling their money out of banks. A professional run on banks has begun. If you have CDs or funds in banks that exceed six months of operating expenses remove them immediately. Your alternative is gold and silver related assets or Swiss franc Treasuries. ...

The entire world is entrapped in a web created to bring about world government.

As we’ve said, the major financial institutions in the US are broke. The Fed and Treasury know and a few in Congress. The rest of our legislators do not understand or want to understand. Congress is only interested in payoffs and pedophilia. These are the same people who allowed $350 billion in TARP funds to be stolen.

There is no question now but Bank of America and Citigroup are broke. Plus banks in Canada (Canada Mortgage Problem LINK) and Europe. You can add JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

The American Council of Life Insurance has been pleading with regulators to adopt a variety of changes in capital and reserve requirements before companies must file their annual reports for 2008. ..........

The meltdown in the financial markets has reduced the value of insurance companies’ investments, leaving them with a thin cushion. You all know what will happen when the Dow falls from 8,000 to 4,000, they’ll be out of business and you will lose lots of money.

2009 will be a dangerous year for life insurers and 2010 will be worse.

Do not stand by as regulators paper over insurers problems. It could well mean a disaster for you later. There is a serious problem and the insurers and regulators do not want you to know about it. Consumer protection is getting thrown out the window just as protection in banking has.
LINK
Check these headlines:
1.Gerald Celente: "Code Red Alert, economy in collapse, drastic measures to be taken, possible bank holidays, gold confiscation, and mega-bailouts"
2.Daily Reckoning: "Secretly, bankers are already being advised about how to handle a bank holiday . . ."
3.The Economist: "Blank cheques, bankruptcy, nationalisation: the options are dire, but governments must choose between them"
4.Bloomberg: "U.S. government's pledge of billions to Citigroup and Bank of America is simply nationalization by another name"
5.UK Guardian: Cabinet Minister Says "The banks are ****ed, we're ****ed, the country's ****ed" as Desperation Begins to Grow Inside Government
6.Wall Street Journal: What to Do if Your Bank is Seized by the Government
7.Tom Whipple: "The world's economy is either collapsing or is putting on a very good imitation of collapsing . . ."
8.Washington Post: "Shadow banking system has effectively shut down . . ."
9.Option Armageddon: Is It Time to Start Stuffing Money in Our Mattresses
10.The New Yorker: Fraudulent Schemes Detonating as Economy Collapses

CANADIAN GOVERNMENT IS LYING TO THE PUBLIC! Canada is just as bad as the US mortgage problem. You just don't know it YET!
LINK

3 TRILLION needed to save US BANKS! Emergency Meeting this WEEKEND! Nationalization COMING!

By MICHAEL GRAY

Last updated: 12:31 pm
Posted: 3:09 am
January 25, 2009

The heat is on the Obama Administration.

Congressional leaders are pressing the White House to come up with a plan as soon as this week to save the banks and jumpstart the economy.

As the Obama economic team huddles this weekend in an attempt to hammer out the framework of their plan, three options have been bandied about:

* Nationalizing the banks.

* Creating a government-owned "bad bank" to take the toxic assets off of the bank's balance sheet.

* Continuing the Bush Administration rescue plan of pumping in taxpayer money on an as-needed basis.

A nationalization plan would likely wipe out all shareholder equity, including the preferred shares, and turn ownership of the banks over to Uncle Sam.

It's a long shot plan few favor - for many reasons. One, it would balloon the federal debt and, most likely, fuel a spike in inflation.

MORE: HEDGIES CASH IN ON BANKS
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MORE: FULD ( Lehman Brothers) SHELTERS ASSETS UNDER WIFE'S NAME
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On the upside, it would stop the drip-drip-drip of asset meltdown the banks and the Treasury Dept. have been dealing with since October - with no end in sight.

"If you took a nationalization policy, you would at least create some degree of certainty because now you know the government is going to stand behind these institutions," said Kevin Jacques, 49, a former economist with the Treasury Department.

As it stands now, "it's almost like some kind of weird partial nationalization," Jacques said.

For instance, the government took management steps at both Citigroup and Bank of America when it forced the banks to slash their dividends to a penny.

Moreover, there are 318 banking institutions right now receiving government assistance to prop up their balance sheets, and 8,000 firms in the US banking industry overall.

The trillion dollar question: How many of them would fall under the nationalization plan?
With a little over $350 billion already infused into the banking industry through TARP and countless billions through the Fed, many see the cash having little benefit for the economy. Plus, some Wall Street firms have estimated that it will take $3 trillion to right the banks.
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Britain's BANKS hours away from COLLAPSE! AND IT COULD STILL HAPPEN!

Revealed: Day the banks were just three hours from collapse
By GLEN OWEN
Last updated at 11:21 PM on 24th January 2009

Narrow escape: The Bank of England was forced to contact RBS's creditors abroad to persuade them not to withdraw their funds

Britain was just three hours away from going bust last year after a secret run on the banks, one of Gordon Brown's Ministers has revealed.

City Minister Paul Myners disclosed that on Friday, October 10, the country was 'very close' to a complete banking collapse after 'major depositors' attempted to withdraw their money en masse.

The Mail on Sunday has been told that the Treasury was preparing for the banks to shut their doors to all customers, terminate electronic transfers and even block hole-in-the-wall cash withdrawals.

Only frantic behind-the-scenes efforts averted financial meltdown.

If the moves had failed, Mr Brown would have been forced to announce that the Government was nationalising the entire financial system and guaranteeing all deposits.
We are not out of the woods yet,' she said. 'I fear for Barclays, after the fall in its share price, and Lloyds has been damaged by the HBOS takeover.'

She added: 'If it was panning out in that way, then the Government would have had no choice but to step in and nationalise the entire financial system.'
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All banks on the verge of COLLAPSE! CHECK THIS OUT!

Word on the street is that Obama is in a CLOSED DOOR MEETING and it has to do with the massive failures of banks that will be occurring soon..VERY SOON! Many sites are reporting this scary info.
GRAPH IN FULL HERE

---Here is one site reporting this---
Link1

Unfortunately (sometimes) due to the huge traffic that has been directed to that site, the info has gone to the side bar and the remarks are unable to be read!

====Here is another link====
LINK2

Here is another link read about half way down

LINK3
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Flood of Home Foreclosures coming will be WORSE THAN YOU THINK!

Flood of foreclosures: It's worse than you think
Banks are moving slowly to list repossessed homes for sale, which could mean that housing inventory is even more bloated than current statistics indicate.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Housing might be in worse shape than we think.

There is probably even more excess housing inventory gumming up the market than current statistics indicate, thanks to a wave of foreclosures that has yet to hit the market.

The problem: Many foreclosed homes and other distressed properties that are now owned by banks have yet to be listed for sale. The volume of this so-called 'ghost inventory' could be substantial enough to depress already steeply falling prices when it does go on the market.

"That's not good news," said Pat Newport, an analyst with IHS Global Insight. "[Excess] inventory is the biggest problem in housing these days, and it leads to lower housing prices, which leads to more foreclosures."

RealtyTrac, the online marketer of foreclosed properties, recently discovered that it has far more foreclosed properties listed in its database, which the company compiles using courthouse records, than there are listed in the multiple listing services (MLS) maintained by real estate agents.

The phenomenon of a growing ghost inventory doesn't promise to get better anytime soon, as long as the rate of foreclosures continues to ravage the market. There were more than 3.1 million foreclosure filings in 2008, according to RealtyTrac.

Said Sharga: "I don't see how we can avoid another 3 million in 2009."

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Collapsing States can't pay UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE! People STARVING!

Kentucky: Overloaded phones bring long lines to state unemployment offices

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - The unemployment lines continue to stretch in Kentucky with people calling WAVE 3 to talk about it. So many people needed help it jammed the state's 400 phone lines and overloaded the website. WAVE 3's Shayla Reaves tells us where they ended up going for help.

No matter what time they arrived just about everybody expected a wait at the unemployment office Monday morning. So many people tried to call or go online for unemployment help that the State's system overloaded. The problem started Sunday and spilled out to branches across the Bluegrass Monday.

"Actually I was supposed to go back to work this week, but I couldn't go to work today because I had to come down here and take care of this," said Kayla Carter.

Louisiana: Unemployment call lines hard to get through

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) -It's bad enough getting laid off during these hard economic times. But then, what if you have difficulties getting the help you need when you're trying to get unemployment benefits.

Safety supervisors help oversee those big maintenance overhauls known as turn arounds at refineries. That's what Pat Keller does, but she's been unemployed for about nine months now. "Due to cutbacks across the United States I have become unemployed for an extended length of time."

Pat says she received unemployment benefits and then became entitled to emergency benefits. But before she makes a claim she says she needs to speak to someone at the Louisiana Workforce Commission. She says she's been trying since before Christmas. "Today for instance, I started at 8:47 this morning. I've called seven times and I get a recording. When I get to the right menu I need and the right office I guess, it says we have too many calls, we can't handle you right now and the call is ended."


Mich. to add unemployment call center, more staff

Michigan plans to beef up its overwhelmed unemployment system with a new call center and hundreds of new workers to take and process calls.

Although the current system is helping 12,000 jobless a day with claims, the phone system has been getting 1 million attempted calls a day, unemployment officials said. Workers who have turned instead to an unemployment Web site often have found it slowed by heavy volume.

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What is GOLD and SILVER? A 5 minute video that will change your THINKING!

Due to the Patriot Act, the Privacy that was guaranteed by the 4th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution has for the most part disappeared in the area of investments. Today just about every asset and investment can be traced; is reportable and visible by the watchful eyes of the Federal Government.

Except!...for “Private” Gold & Silver, one of the Last Private investments in our “Monetary system”.

CODE RED: Economy in Collapse - Drastic Actions Will Be Taken

KINGSTON, NY, 22 January 2009 -- President Barack Obama will use his poll shattering popularity to swiftly enact policies that will prove to be among the most costly and potentially destructive in America's history, predicts Trends Research Institute Director Gerald Celente.

"We are forecasting dramatic measures will soon be taken by the Obama Administration that will worsen the credit crisis and severely damage the nation's economic system," says Celente.

According to The Trends Research Institute Director, the new President who swept into the White House on a tidal wave of unprecedented enthusiasm and the blessings of a strong majority, will have free reign to take whatever actions he deems necessary.

"Whatever Obama wants, Obama gets. Desperate, scared and not knowing what to do to survive the economic storm, people are seeking a messiah to save them, and Obama is their man," said Celente. "When fear rules, reason and logic are ruled out." (According to an AP poll, 71 percent of Americans believe the economy will improve during the first year of the Obama presidency.)

The 332-point stock market decline that greeted Mr. Obama into office (a record breaker for Inauguration Day) and today's 105-point market decline will be followed by a steady stream of worsening economic news and major financial calamities, Gerald Celente forecasts. Just as President Bush exploited 9/11 as a pretext to wage the War on Terror, invade Iraq, abrogate the Constitution and exert broad Executive powers (with bipartisan and majority public support), President Obama will be given even greater latitude to fight a war on economic terror, predicts Celente.

For example, Timothy Geithner, President Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary, has pledged to expand and prolong government intervention in the financial markets. He said his economic team would take "forceful" and "substantial action" on a "very dramatic scale" to "forge an integrated strategy on how best to achieve currency realignment."

Celente advises to closely read the signals that have been clearly telegraphed by Mr. Geithner. "From proclaiming a bank holiday, confiscating gold to backstop devaluing currencies, mega-bailouts for the too-big-to-fails ... to nationalizing public firms and dollar devaluation ... whichever of these or other actions are taken, the financial burden will fall on the American people," Celente forecasts.

Blame the Little People

In his inauguration speech President Obama warned Americans of tougher times ahead and for the need to make greater sacrifices. In doing so, the President placed equal blame for the global financial crisis on the public's "collective failure to make hard choices," along with the "consequences of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some."

"The President is correct. Many have spent beyond their means, borrowed themselves into debt, took risks playing the markets, and speculated on real estate," said Celente. "But comparing Main Street's financial missteps to the large scale corruption and criminality of the banks, brokers, insurance companies, hedge fund operators, mortgage companies, rating agencies and buyout firms that cooked the books, enriched executives, ripped off clients and rigged the numbers, is further evidence that Obama is a Wall Street man.

Trendpost: Do you know where your money is? Is it safe? Will you be able to get it when you need it? What will you do if trading is temporarily suspended on Wall Street? Will you be able redeem your CD's?

The new Treasury Secretary promises "a very dramatic scale" of action that may in turn require you to take very dramatic counter measures to protect your assets. We forecast with great confidence that whatever actions Washington takes to save the "too big to fails," they will prove very costly for the "too small to saves" who will be forced to foot the bills and eat the losses.
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© MMIX The Trends Research Institute ®

Banking system is INSOLVENT: says US SENATOR!

MEANING:Usually, insolvency is a prerequisite to an application for bankruptcy protection.
Senator Calls On President, Congress To Tell Americans: Our Banking System Is Insolvent

January 22, 2009 (LPAC)--Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), rose to speak on the floor of the Senate this afternoon during Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearings, but on the subject discussed in the morning on the stimulus package. His message was simple: Our banking system is insolvent, and until that is dealt with, no amount of money we put into the system will work.

While Corker is a staunch "fiscal conservative" ideologically opposed in general to government action, today he argued the following, as monitored on C-SPAN television: We are putting capital into insolvent banks, he said. They are hoarding the TARP money, because they know their losses coming up are much larger than what they have. They are calling in letters of credit, because they need the money.

We are running out of powder to solve problems. Trillions of dollars of capital will be lost in the credit markets; a zombie banking system is being created.

Large banks, banks which we all respect, are insolvent, and need to be seized. Write-downs must be done. The longer we wait, the further we will be from dealing with the root issue.

That root issue is that much of our banking system is insolvent. Assets must be written down to their real value. We do that with derivatives. We need to do that with mortgages. Mr. President, you did not create this problem. But we must tell our people that their banking system is insolvent, he said.

He noted his agreement with Sen. John Kerry's statements in the morning Finance Committee hearings: Talk to bankers on Wall Street. They know they are insolvent. We have to face it like adults. Face up to the insolvency. Face up to these major losses. We have to do something about that first, before doing things that might be helpful after we do this.

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Thousands of CARS abandoned at airport in DUBAI! DUE TO ECONOMIC CRASH!

Mumbai/DUBAI - JAN 14: It's the great escape by Indians who've hit the dead-end in Dubai.

Local police have found at least 3,000 automobiles -- sedans, SUVs, regulars -- abandoned outside Dubai International Airport in the last four months. Police say most of the vehicles had keys in the ignition, a clear sign they were left behind by owners in a hurry to take flight.

The global economic crisis has brought Dubai's economic progress, mirrored by its soaring towers and luxurious resorts, to a stuttering halt. Several people have been laid off in the past months after the realty boom started unraveling.

On the night of December 31, 2008 alone more than 80 vehicles were found at the airport. "Sixty cars were seized on the first day of this year," director general of Airport Security, Mohammed Bin Thani, told DNA over the phone. On the same day, deputy director of traffic, colonel Saif Mohair Al Mazroui, said they seized 22 cars abandoned at a prohibited area in the airport.

Faced with a cash crunch and a bleak future ahead, there were no goodbyes for the migrants -- overwhelmingly South Asians, mostly Indians - just a quiet abandoning of the family car at the airport and other places.

While 2,500 vehicles have been found dumped in the past four months outside Terminal III, which caters to all global airlines, Terminal II, which is only used by Emirates Airlines, had 160 cars during the same period.

"The construction and real estate industry has been hit following the global slowdown and the direct fallout is that professionals working in the realty industry are rapidly losing their jobs," said a senior media professional, in-charge of a realty supplement in Dubai. "In fact, my weekly real estate supplement usually had 60% advertisement and ran into 300-odd pages. In the last seven weeks, it's down to 80 pages and with fewer advertisments," he added.

Mumbai resident D Nair (name changed) had been living in a plush highrise in Sharjah for the past four years. However, the script went horribly wrong when his contract was terminated. Nair used all his credit cards to their maximum limit, shopping for people back home. He then discarded his Honda Accord before returning to India for good. Nair, who stays in a rented apartment in Navi Mumbai today, has a Rs15 lakh loan with a Dubai bank.

Another such victim of the meltdown said he bid goodbye to his car in a small bylane near the airport and hailed a cab. "I was scared because a number of us were doing the same and did not want to be questioned by the police. There was no way I could afford to pay the EMI of 1100 Dhirams for my Ford Focus," he told DNA on condition of anonymity.
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HSBC on the verge of COLLAPSE! GET YOUR MONEY OUT! Needs 30 BILLION DOLLARS!

By Bei Hu

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc fell for a sixth straight day in Hong Kong trading after shareholder Knight Vinke Asset Management LLC said Europe’s largest bank may need to sell shares to plug a “substantial” capital shortfall.

London-based HSBC slumped 3.9 percent to HK$62.30 at 11:18 a.m. local time, the lowest in a decade and extending the longest losing streak since September. The stock has lost 15 percent this year, making HSBC the worst performer on Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Knight Vinke joined Morgan Stanley and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in predicting HSBC will be forced sell shares for the first time since the financial crisis began in 2007. Fitch Ratings said Jan. 16 it may cut HSBC’s credit rating as the global recession undermines the bank’s finances.

HSBC’s Household International unit, an investor in sub- prime loans, “has turned out to be an unmitigated disaster,” Knight Vinke said in a statement published on its Web site on Jan. 18. HSBC spokesman Patrick McGuinness declined to comment today when reached by telephone that day.

“There can be little doubt that HSBC will need substantial additional capital if Household is not restructured,” Eric Knight, chief executive officer of Knight Vinke, said in the statement.

HSBC may need to raise as much as $30 billion and cut its dividend in half, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Michael Helsby said in a Jan. 13 note to clients. The company’s so-called core capital ratio of 7.3 percent is among the weakest among European and Asian banks, the analysts said.

Fitch cut its outlook on HSBC’s debt to “negative” from “stable” and said the bank’s long-term issuer default rating may be lowered over the “medium term.” HSBC’s profitability in the fourth quarter was probably “weak” and the bank is increasingly likely to need to raise funds to support the U.S. unit, Fitch said.

SAVE YOURSELF! Over 400 Depression and Survival GUIDES only $2!

THE COLLAPSE OF CAPITALISM
AND THE SAFETY NET OF GOLD
For Ponzi schemes to succeed, they must expand faster than the request
for redemptions. If they do not, they will collapse. This is what happened
to Bernard L Madoff Investment Services, the largest Ponzi scheme in
history. The same is about to happen to capitalism.

Although capitalism is not a Ponzi scheme, credit-based economies, sic capitalism, and
Ponzi schemes share the same fatal flaw. Both must constantly expand or they are in
danger of collapse. Today, because capitalist economies are no longer expanding, but
contracting, their continued contraction will lead to collapse.
EXCELLENT ARTICLE A MUST READ!

Martial Law coming due to THE COMING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE?

It Could Come to This
David Cox

(Editor's Note: Mr. Cox is warning us about what he thinks is about to happen in England. I believe that there is a good chance the same thing is about to happen in America. Coming soon to a country near you. - JSB)

The recession is worse than we are being told and its social consequences could be explosive.

There is something oddly muted about current discussion of our economic difficulties. The Government fears we may have to wait until the second half of the year for an upturn. The Opposition warns that counter-recessionary measures may mean higher taxes in future. We should be so lucky.

Doubtless those in charge of our destiny are wary of sparking panic. Hence their reassurances that whatever we face, it won't be anything like the 1930s. On this, at least, they're right. Things could be far worse.

Today, a frozen credit market and impending deflationary spiral are combined with unprecedented global imbalances. The predicament this creates will not be dissolved by fiscal stimuli, debt guarantees and quantitative easing. Such measures may however make things worse.

The US cannot run a deficit big enough to keep its people in work. Attempting to do this will doubtless prompt increasingly impoverished but ever more indebted Americans to demand protectionism. This seems likely to prompt competitive devaluation and the disintegration of the global economic system.

In a worst-case scenario, strikes, riots and looting could all occur forcing the Government to impose martial law.

In such a world, Britain's debt will leave our country particularly disadvantaged, as sterling's slide is already indicating. UK bonds are likely to become unsaleable long before their American equivalents. If our public finances collapse, the IMF is unlikely to be in any position to rescue us.

The Government may find itself obliged to default on pensions and benefits, ravage public services and resort to hyperinflation to dissipate its liabilities. This could make the middle classes as disaffected as the workless.

Our society is no longer cohesive enough to accept whatever share-out of pain authority dictates. Strikes, riots and looting could all occur. Martial law may be required, as Britain loses, perhaps for ever, its standing as a serious world player.

It might never happen. However, any serious approach to our present difficulties must acknowledge that it might.
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U.S. AND Britain on the EDGE OF BANKRUPTCY! The World DEPRESSION IS NEAR

Comments: Here is what we all have to look forward to. The total collapse and meltdown of society due to the Governments inability to control spending. The more money distributed for bailouts the worse its going to get. HERE IS THE RESULT:

Gordon Brown brings Britain to the edge of bankruptcy
Iain Martin says the Prime Minister hasn't 'saved the world' and now faces disgrace in the history books

They don't know what they're doing, do they? With every step taken by the Government as it tries frantically to prop up the British banking system, this central truth becomes ever more obvious.

Yesterday marked a new low for all involved, even by the standards of this crisis. Britons woke to news of the enormity of the fresh horrors in store. Despite all the sophistry and outdated boom-era terminology from experts, I think a far greater number of people than is imagined grasp at root what is happening here.

The country stands on the precipice. We are at risk of utter humiliation, of London becoming a Reykjavik on Thames and Britain going under. Thanks to the arrogance, hubristic strutting and serial incompetence of the Government and a group of bankers, the possibility of national bankruptcy is not unrealistic.

The political impact will be seismic; anger will rage. The haunted looks on the faces of those in supporting roles, such as the Chancellor, suggest they have worked out that a tragedy is unfolding here. Gordon Brown is engaged no longer in a standard battle for re-election; instead he is fighting to avoid going down in history disgraced completely.

This catastrophe happened on his watch, no matter how much he now opportunistically beats up on bankers. He turned on the fountain of cheap money and encouraged the country to swim in it. House prices rose, debt went through the roof and the illusion won elections. Throughout, Brown boasted of the beauty of his regulatory structure, when those in charge of it were failing to ask the most basic questions of financial institutions. The same bankers Brown now claims to be angry with, he once wooed, travelling to the City to give speeches praising their "financial innovation".

Does the Prime Minister realise the likely implications when the country joins the dots? He has never been wild on shouldering blame, so I doubt it. But Brown is a historian. He should know that when a nation has put all its chips on red and the ball lands on black, the person who made the call is responsible. Neville Chamberlain discovered this in May 1940 with the German invasion of France.

We're some way from a similar event. But do not underestimate the gravity of the emergency and potential for disgrace.

The Government's bail-out of the banks in October with £37 billion of taxpayers' money was supposed to have "saved the world", according to the PM, but now it is clear that it has not even saved the banks. Our money kept the show on the road for only three months.

As the Liberal Democrats' Treasury spokesman Vince Cable asks: where has the £37 billion gone? The answer, as Cable knows, is that it has disappeared down the plug hole.

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ANOTHER ARTICLE HERE:
The United States and the United Kingdom stand on the brink of the largest debt crisis in history.

While both governments experiment with quantitative easing, bad banks to absorb non-performing loans, and state guarantees to restart bank lending, the only real way out is some combination of widespread corporate default, debt write-downs and inflation to reduce the burden of debt to more manageable levels. Everything else is window-dressing.
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Commercial market to collapse ANY DAY NOW

Ghost Malls Will Be Appearing
James Quinn January 19th 2009

Cutting Edge Economic Crisis Analyst


America’s economy supports more than 1.1 million retail stores. There are approximately 1,100 Malls in the United States, not counting the thousands of strip mall centers. That will soon change as once thriving malls become ghost malls. By 2011, America’s malls within two years will have an entirely different set of numbers.

International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) chief economist Michael Niemira tries to put a good face on the gloom. He says, “In the midst of all this doom and gloom, it's hard to imagine it getting better... But keep in mind, what happens in strong downturns is there's a hefty pent-up demand. It's wrong to extrapolate these conditions for the next year or two."

But Mr. Niemira is probably wrong. There is no pent-up demand. Americans have bought everything they’ve desired for the last twenty years. The over-spending and over-leverage will take a decade to unwind.

According to the ICSC, about 150,000 stores are anticipated to shut down in 2009, in addition to the 150,000 that closed in 2008 and 135,000 in 2007. Normally, 110,000 to 125,000 new stores open per year. At least 700,000 of retail jobs will be lost. The opening of new stores will grind to a halt in 2009.

Some major retailers that have closed or will close include: Circuit City -728 stores; Linens N Things - 500 stores; Bombay Company- 384 stores; Sharper Image-184 stores; Foot Locker -140; Pacific Sunwear - 153. Other large retailers are closing underperforming stores and scaling back expansions plans. By 2011, at least 15% of the existing retail base will have gone to retail heaven. With the amount of vacant stores likely to be in excess of 200,000, there will be no need for the construction of new locations for many years.

Most of the retailers that are closing lease their locations from mall developers such as General Growth Properties, Simon Properties, Mills Corp., Pennsylvania REIT, and Vornado Realty Trust. These developers have a quadruple whammy hitting them in 2009. Many borrowed heavily to finance massive mall expansion. These loans were generally for five to seven year terms. The Wall Street wiz kids and their Collaterized Debt Obligation (CDO) machine generated the vast majority of financing in the last half decade.

According to commercial real estate expert Andy Miller, the collapse will come more rapidly than the residential collapse. “By contrast,” he says, “in the commercial world, the properties are fewer and much bigger. For example, you may have ten properties in a commercial pool that ultimately works its way into CDOs. Those loans are huge. You may have a shopping center loan in there for $25 million and an office building loan for $30 million dollars. As a result, if you have a default on just one of those loans, you can effectually wipe out all of the subordinate tranches.
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