The Coming Depression: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

U.S. "Feral Reserve Boink" Reels Into the Jubilee Year

Richard Sauder

Oh, did I misspell U.S. Federal Reserve Bank? You'll have to excuse me. I'm feeling a little dizzy this afternoon, because it is all unraveling so fast now. The world of high finance is cracking apart, outright falling apart. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank is failing, mostly because the U.S. Federal Reserve Note is rapidly losing value, mostly due to the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank's own criminally stupid, criminally inept and criminally corrupt policies, and since the Federal Reserve Note is essentially its one and only product, its bread and butter, the whole criminal cabal is destined for the ash heap of history, and soon. Consequently, by Christmastime the USA and most of the rest of the world are likely to be in a chaotic uproar, much more so than now. We'll be lucky if these monsters-pretending-to-be-humans do not stage a notorious "false flag" terrorist attack in Paris or Montreal or Chicago or …. You name the place, and use that as a trumped up casus belli to go after Iran and initiate a general, global war, likely nuclear, in a desperate, Strangelovian bid to fight their way out of terminal, imperial collapse.

How do you get ready for The End of The World As We Have Known It? I don't know. But I do know that a lot of people will not take the abrupt change(s) well. It is quite possible that very large numbers of people will die from complications associated with systemic financial failure - from utter destitution, from violent crime, from mob violence, from military assaults and warfare, from disease, from hunger, from exposure to extreme cold, from radiation poisoning as more nuclear power reactors fail and melt down, etc. There may be a spiritual ascension, as the Russian scientists seem to think. Or not. But first it does look like we are imminently going to hit an extremely rough patch in the road. What happens after that is anyone's guess. I suspect there are myriad possibilities that span the gamut from unspeakably hellish to unimaginably sublime. Get ready. Because we are all about to sail together right over the edge of the Known Universe, and into uncharted territory, a real terra incognita.

Next Global Financial Crisis Looms

Shah Gilani

Finance analysts are predicting that the world is on the verge of yet another financial meltdown and will be tipped off by the credit default of a European country or the rejection of a central bank in the interbank borrowing market. The resulting panic will set a global collapse in motion that will rival or surpass that seen in 2008. Experts say the problem will be exacerbated by central banks’ inability to take on more sovereign debt. Printing money devalues their debt, and borrowing from beleaguered countries to lend to distressed banks only increases suspect debt. This could cause banks to stop lending to one another and the entire system may freeze.

The primary danger we face is not a sovereign default. It's that banks will stop trusting what's really on the balance sheets of their peers and consequently stop lending to one another in the short-term funding market. If just one money-center bank with significant balance sheet exposure is turned away from the interbank funding market, other banks will clamor for liquidity by hoarding cash and seizing collateral. Consequently, the whole system could falter, freeze and crack. Market volatility has many fathers, but the big daddy of them all is that worldwide contagion will follow a banking panic.

Las Vegas City Officials leave Sin City like Rats fleeing the Ship???

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Charles Rexford

The future of troubled North Las Vegas rests in the weary hands of a few remaining employees, or so it seems lately. The city not only suffered massive layoffs as revenues tanked during the recession, but top executives have been leaving in droves. And who can blame them? The city had to trim some $60 million in recent years from its general fund budget….

Even state officials, who have the power to take over North Las Vegas’ finances, have expressed alarm over the sorry state of the city's dwindling budget, at least 18 upper-level employees have resigned or have taken buyouts in the past couple of years, including a city attorney, a city manager, a utilities director and both the director and assistant director of finance.

Where are the 2.5 Million Jobs, Mr. President?

Karin McQuillan

A job is not something you defer thinking about, when you don't have one, Mr. President. Now that you're back from vacation, I'm not looking forward to your jobs speech. I lie awake at night worrying about my two cousins and a friend of thirty years -- one lost a small business, the second is watching his business go down the tubes, and the third, who supports her handicapped daughter, can't find a job. Another friend tells me her son who graduated college a year ago can't find work. He feels like a total failure in life as only a 22-year-old can, and she is worried about him. One of his jobless college friends recently committed suicide. None of these people I love and worry about show up in the unemployment statistics.

The 2.5 million jobs are invisible because they don't exist. The suffering of my relatives and friends and that of 25 million unemployed Americans is real, and increasingly desperate. It's time to follow the success in job creation of Republican states such as Wisconsin and Texas, and drop the unsuccessful ideas of this wastrel White House. Please, Mr. President, we can't afford another 2.5 million of your phony jobs.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

"Mr. Cheney's Victory Lap"

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Gonzalo Lira

Why have we lost our egalitarianism? Why have we lost our equality before the law? I think it’s because we have lost our moral self-confidence: The confidence which gives us the ability to say out loud and with a firm voice, “This here is right, while that there is wrong.” . . .

Our economy is falling apart because our common spirit is exhausted, beaten down, and miserable—we have lost our vigor as a people. And the reason we have lost our vigor is because we have seen too many injustices, too much corruption—too much evil—that goes unremarked upon, tacitly accepted, and therefore unpunished.

Put America Back To Work

Bob Herbert

The biggest domestic policy failure has been the refusal of top officials in the White House and in Congress to recognize the severity of the employment crisis that has settled like a plague over American workers. There is no longer any excuse for believing that the Great Recession and its aftermath was a more or less typical economic downturn to be followed by a robust recovery. That’s a pipedream. What we are experiencing is an economic disaster, the worst reversal to hit the U.S. since the 1930s. The human suffering is profound. Some 14 million Americans are officially counted as unemployed. Nearly half have been out of work for six months or more, and many have been jobless for a year or two or longer.

Like infrastructure spending, a carefully crafted direct jobs plan would be an investment that would be repaid many times over, just as investments in Hoover Dam, rural electrification, the Works Progress Administration and the G.I. Bill delivered enormous long-term benefits to the society. F.D.R., in his first inaugural address, told a worried nation that “our greatest primary task is to put people to work.” It was a task, he insisted, that should be treated “as we would treat the emergency of a war.” The question today, in one of our darkest economic hours, is whether we’re smart enough to heed that essential lesson of history.

When The Rich And Powerful Overplay Their Hand

JAMES LAXER

We are in the grip of a socio-economic crisis in which the rich and the powerful in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Euro Zone countries and Canada refuse to share the burden of coping with the economic disaster they did so much to unleash. A few among them -- Warren Buffet and Liliane Bettencourt -- get it. The rich can overplay their hand and can end up spoiling the whole party for themselves and their wealthy confreres.

The problem is that right-wing revolts can get out of hand and can create difficulties, even grave difficulties, for the rich and the powerful and the states that do their bidding. Those at the helm on both sides of the Atlantic are playing dangerous games. It is far from certain that they will be able to control the forces they are unleashing. Some may believe that we live in the eternal present of neo-liberalism. History shows us that that is not a good bet. The old spiritual is almost certainly a better prognosticator: "No more water, the fire next time."

Hurricane Irene and the Financial Crisis

Ira Stoll

Two disasters, partially of the government's own making. Watching Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York order businesses to close and citizens to evacuate their homes in advance of Tropical Storm Irene reminded me of the actions taken by President George W. Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis. The similarities are striking. In both the financial crisis and Irene, the government actions taken were exceptional and involved depriving people of private property without the due process required under the Fifth Amendment. In the financial crisis, Bush and Paulson seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in what Paulson later described as an ambush.

In both events, unelected technocrats played a big role. In the financial crisis, it was Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner, who stayed on after the Bush administration to serve President Obama. In Irene, it was the meteorologists and the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, William Craig Fugate, an Obama appointee whose prior job was as director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management under Florida’s Republican governor, Jeb Bush. In both cases, critics of the government’s actions are marginalized in the political and press conversation as a wild-eyed extremist, anarchist, fringe. Yet who were the real destroyers of order here—the skeptics, or those in government who use a predicted emergency to seize property and power, close businesses, or force people from their homes?

Polish Finance Minister Says Europe At Risk Of "Collapse"

ANDREW RETTMAN

Polish finance minister Jacek Rostowski has said the EU could "collapse" if leading countries such as Germany mishandle the financial crisis. The minister said: "European elites, including German elites, must decide if they want the euro to survive - even at a high price - or not. If not, we should prepare for a controlled dismantling of the currency zone." "We have a simple choice: Solidarity or the collapse of Europe."

But he added that wealthy northern countries as well as non-Eurozone EU members will suffer if the euro falls. "It's hard to imagine anything that would hit the Dutch, German or Finnish economy harder than the collapse of the banking system in any Eurozone country," he said. "The collapse of the Eurozone would [also] be catastrophic for Poland."

Monday, August 29, 2011

From Green to Red - Is Credit Crunch 2.0 Imminent?

Satyajit Das

In Crosstown Traffic, Jimi Hendrix sang: "can't you see my signals turn from green to red, And with you I can see traffic jam straight up ahead." In global financial markets, the signals have changed from green to red. But rather than a simple traffic jam, a full scale credit crash may be ahead. In financial markets, facts never matter until they do but there are worrying indications.

Fact 1 - The European debt crisis has taken a turn for the worse. There is a serious risk that even the half-baked bailout plan announced on 21 July 2011 cannot be implemented.

Fact 2 - Problems with banks have re-emerged. Banks globally, especially European banks, are seen as increasingly vulnerable to European debt problems. The total exposure of the global banking system to Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy is over $2 trillion. French and Germany banks have very large exposures.

Fact 3 - Money markets are seizing up. Banks and financial institutions are finding it increasingly difficult to raise funds. Costs have risen sharply.

Fact 4 - The broader economic environment is deteriorating. The global economic recovery is stalling. The risk of a recession or minimal growth is significant. The favorable stock market reaction to the latest report of growth in orders for durable goods in America misses an essential point. At around $200 billion an month, it is still around 20% below its peak in 2007 and only at 2000 levels.

If market seize up again, then "this time it will be different". There might just not be enough money to bail out everyone and every country that may need rescuing. Government policy options are severely restricted. Government support is restricted because of excessive debt levels and the reluctance of investors to finance indebted sovereigns. Interest rates in most developed countries are low or zero, restricting the ability to stimulate the economy by cutting borrowing cost. Unconventional monetary strategies - namely printing money or quantitative easing - have been tried with limited success. Further doses, while eagerly anticipated by market participants, may not be effective. The global economy may muddle through, but a second credit crash is now distinctly possible. But the trigger and timing is unknown. As John Maynard Keynes remarked: "The expected never happens; it is the unexpected always."

If You Thought August Was Bad, Just Wait Until September!

Chris Puplava

Up until August, this year had been fairly dull as the S&P 500 was in a trading range somewhere between 1250 and 1350. The selloff was due to a slew of negative economic releases which led to lowered economic growth expectations as well as renewed concerns over European sovereign debt markets and banks. Since August 8th the S&P 500 rallied just under 10% before selling off once more. The S&P 500's trading range is now between 1205 and 1120, and unfortunately I think we may have another repeat in which negative economic releases and continued worries over Europe may see the current trading range broken to the downside with the markets erasing QE2’s entire rally from 2010.

"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked" (Warren Buffett). The same issue we faced back in 2008 remains, too much debt. You can't solve a debt problem with more debt and while you can paper over debt with money printed out of thin air as Fed Chairman Bernanke has done, it's the lower economic end of society that feels the pain of higher commodity inflation. Rather than let bond holders and commercial banks take the pain for restructuring current debt imbalances, central banks continue their endless stream of bailouts. With the global economy slowing we are likely to see further financial stress ahead and yet an ever stream of bailouts. Expect a rough two-week period ahead as August economic data is very likely to show further slowing. Until the Fed enacts more money printing and the government more bailouts and fiscal stimulus, I would stress caution ahead as defense and capital preservation should remain the dominant investment theme.

Central Bankers Worry Economy Still in Peril

JON HILSENRATH & CHARLES FORELLE

After four years of fighting crises and pumping money into the financial system, the world's central bankers are concluding that the global economy is still in a precarious position and the policy apparatus is ill-equipped to help. The mood here in the Grand Tetons, where central bankers and private economists from around the world gather each August, was distinctly gloomy. The angst was underscored in a blunt speech by the International Monetary Fund's new managing director, Christine Lagarde. "We risk seeing the fragile recovery derailed," she said Saturday. Those risks have been aggravated, she said, by the publics’ sense that policy makers' response has been inadequate. "We are in a dangerous new phase," the former French finance minister said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke disclosed the Fed has expanded its September meeting of policy makers to two days, Sept. 20 and Sept. 21, to contemplate its options. "Unfortunately," economists at IHS Global Insight said this weekend, "the Fed doesn't have any rabbits to pull out of the hat to magically re-ignite economic growth. It is doing what it can (and that will probably mean more quantitative easing at some point), but its prime ammunition has already been used."

Three Years after Lehman, A New Debt Crisis Looms

Larry Elliott

The F word is back. Back in the financial markets, back in the conclaves of central bank governors, back among the manufacturers and the high-street retailers. The four-letter word is fear. Back in the spring, few imagined that we would be approaching the third anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers on 15 September with such a sense of unease. The belief in early 2011 was that economic recovery was now well enough embedded for central banks to start raising interest rates and for finance ministries to crack on with the job of reducing budget deficits.

Economic downturns usually go through five distinct phases: bubble, denial, acceptance, panic and recovery. This fifth phase officially started two and a half years ago, but the drip-drip of disappointing news from the around the world in recent weeks has made financial markets highly averse to taking risks. Higher unemployment, slower growth, currency tensions have all led to a rush for safe havens. The markets are now wondering whether this is one of the rare crises that has a sixth phase – relapse. At root, the suspicion is that the problems that caused the crisis in the first place have not been solved, that politicians are offering weak leadership, and that the next few months could see the start of phase two of the Great Contraction.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

More Bankers Feel the Sharp Edge of Recession - 60K Axed!!!

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Charles Rexford

The Dutch bank said it will cut 2,350 staff, or just under 10pc of its workforce, over the next three to four years as part of a wholesale restructuring of its business designed to save hundreds of millions of Euros in costs. Taking the cuts announced by ABN into account, the total number of banking sector job losses announced in recent months now exceeds 60,000 or roughly 5pc of the industry headcount.

“When managements resort to headcount reductions, these are a powerful signal that firms think the revenue outlook has weakened beyond just normal volatility,” said analysts at Barclays Capital in a note to clients published this month. Nearly all of Europe's major banks have announced year-on-year falls in revenues for the first half of the year as markets have deteriorated.

Global Economic Growth Stalls Amidst Debt Crisis, Austerity

Global Research

Andre Damon writes: A new batch of economic figures released this week confirms a renewed economic downturn, amidst an intensified assault on jobs and living conditions internationally.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the gross domestic product of its member countries grew by only 0.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, dropping from 0.3 percent in the first quarter. Growth has slowed for four consecutive quarters, hitting the lowest level in two years.

Financial markets are looking to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech on Friday in the hopes that he will announce another round of “quantitative easing,” that is, the printing of money to flood the financial system with cash.Such a move, motivated by the overriding concern of the Obama administration to defend the wealth of the financial aristocracy, would do no more to resolve the crisis than previous such measures. On the contrary, it would only further undermine the credibility of the dollar, intensify national divisions, and set the stage for even greater attacks on the working class.

Nick Clegg Needs To Demand Action Over Chancellor's Reckless Economic Policy

Voice of the Mirror

Chancellor George Osborne’s tax rises and spending cuts are choking recovery – with economic growth stalled at 0.2% over nine months. Conservative economic policy is bankrupt, and the price of his ideological experiment is being borne by families and businesses struggling to make ends meet.
The economy was doing better under Labor, getting back on its feet after the global financial collapse. Mr. Osborne first slammed on the brakes then rammed it into reverse gear. The result is an unbearable squeeze in living standards and lost jobs.

The Chancellor was reckless to suck £12billion spending power out of the economy with a record VAT rise then impose too deep, too soon spending cuts. Nick Clegg appears to be waking up to the damage inflicted by the Tory coalition. Instead of grumbling, the Deputy Prime Minister should demand action – or the future prosperity of Britain will be destroyed.

Jobs, ISM Reports May Spark More Recession Talk

Steve Goldstein

Last month’s 117,000 expansions in nonfarm payrolls wasn’t even strong enough to meet population growth — and the August report may even be worse. Economists polled by MarketWatch are expecting the Labor Department on Friday to report just 46,000 jobs outside of the farm sector created during the month.

There also will be the negative impact from the now-concluded strike of Verizon workers, which has shown up in the unemployment benefit filings. Resler estimates a 45,000 reduction from Verizon alone.
The view that the U.S. will avoid a lost decade because the policy response was quicker and bigger than in Japan is not very convincing when the U.S. economic performance has already been worse than Japan’s,” they said in a note to clients. …….. “The U.S. could easily be facing another five years of weak economic growth. And the argument that if the U.S. was going to fall into deflation it would already have done so doesn’t stand up when it took nine years for deflation to take hold in Japan.”

Where Is The Help For Economic Disaster Area Of North Adams?

Maynard Seider & Chuck Collins

I WONDER whether President Obama, vacationing in Martha’s Vineyard, read last Sunday’s front-page story about conditions in North Adams (“Between haves, have-nots, an ever greater gulf’’). How would he react to the difficulties that single mother Mindy Shoestock has in feeding her two sons and paying monthly bills while earning $9 an hour as a shift manager at McDonald’s?

Well, it’s no fault of Shoestock’s that a huge corporation such as McDonald’s pays her only $9 an hour. And the people of North Adams are not to blame for the banking collapse and this “Great Recession.’’ So, why not provide federal emergency aid to those facing social and economic disasters?

If we want to reduce extreme inequalities, the wage floor will have to rise. That would be no curse, but a blessing, a sign that we’re the kind of Commonwealth we’d all like to live in. That is one curse we don’t want to reverse.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Economic Growth Stalls amidst Debt Crisis, Austerity

Andre Damon

A new batch of economic figures released this week confirms a renewed economic downturn, amidst an intensified assault on jobs and living conditions internationally. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the gross domestic product of its member countries grew by only 0.2 percent in the second quarter of this year, dropping from 0.3 percent in the first quarter. Growth has slowed for four consecutive quarters, hitting the lowest level in two years.

In the United States, Bank of America announced thousands of layoffs earlier this month. The company has come under renewed pressure, with its shares falling more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year. In what appears to be an emergency effort to shore up the bank, Warren Buffett, the multibillionaire financier, said Thursday he would buy $5 billion of newly issued Bank of America stock. The move echoes a similar action on the part of Buffett in 2008, when he invested in Goldman Sachs and General Electric at the height of the financial crash. Such a move, motivated by the overriding concern of the Obama administration to defend the wealth of the financial aristocracy, would do no more to resolve the crisis than previous such measures. On the contrary, it would only further undermine the credibility of the dollar, intensify national divisions, and set the stage for even greater attacks on the working class.

UN Warns of Plight of Millions of Stateless People in the World

Sports & Stars

The United Nations has warned that about 12-million people across the world have no citizenship of any country and consequently suffer from a denial of basic human rights. The problem is growing worse because children of stateless parents are themselves stateless. The UN said the problem is most acute in South East Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

At present, only 66 nations are signed up to the 1954 Convention which entitle stateless people to minimum standards of treatment; and only 38 states have agreed to the 1961 Convention which allows for provides a legal framework to help states minimize statelessness. "After 50 years, these conventions have attracted only a small number of states,'' Guterres noted.”It's shameful that millions of people are living without nationality - a fundamental human right."

Why Democracies Will Always Go Bankrupt

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Gonzalo Lira

I don’t find economics particularly intimidating, or even particularly challenging—it’s just finance’s snooty but poor (and slightly daft) older cousin. History’s surprisingly ignorant and blinkered accountant. Philosophy and Math’s lightly retarded, puritanically rigid, and altogether rather embarrassing spawn. Now, it’s all good and fine for me to rant about how useless economics is—but these aren’t empty complaints on my part: I can point to a single, specific, monumental failing of economics—a failure in the discipline which pretty much proves my point: The United States is going bankrupt—and economics cannot explain why.

My bet is, the 10% of GDP deficits will be even larger in the coming years. And they will not stop in 2013 or 2016—the only thing which will stop the ever-increasing deficits is national bankruptcy. The American democracy cannot prevent this bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is the inevitable, inexorable end. I hope I have proven why.

England Riots 2011: Rioters Show no Remorse for Their Actions, Society Break Down or Lame Excuse?

Thomas Costello

It is becoming abundantly clear that the rioters that took hold of the streets of Birmingham, London and Manchester two weeks ago show little remorse for their criminal behavior. The actions of the rioters across England have destroyed people's livelihoods, their homes and the confidence of the communities that could no doubt see businesses leave the areas affected. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that the longer term effects of the riots will be falling house prices in the areas that were the focus of media attention as well as some areas becoming abandoned.

A second poll, this time an ICM poll for the Guardian on the same date revealed that 52 per cent of people blamed bad parenting on the riots with 47 per cent blaming gang culture. The British public was appalled by what happened two weeks ago and it is time to accept that these rioters were no more than opportunists and thugs’ hell bent on causing damage because police were stretched. Where were the placards, marches and protesters? The government must be on the side of the communities affected and must work to stop such incidents happening again but we must not make lame excuses for the true reasons why shops were looted and homes burnt down across England a fortnight ago.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Top 5 Most Economically Damaging Natural Disasters in History

International Business Times

As Hurricane Irene barrels its way up the eastern coast of the U.S., forecasters are predicting not only brutal gale-force winds, torrential rains and massive flooding of low-lying areas, but also multibillion dollars in economic damages. While it's impossible to accurately gauge the financial impact of an impending natural disaster, Irene would truly have to be a catastrophic event to fall into the following list of the costliest natural disasters in recorded history.

The enormous costs of this double-tragedy, currently estimated at about $235 billion by the World Bank, is surely to keep rising, The Japanese government’s own estimate for financial losses already exceed $300 billion.

The Un-Recovery

R.A. | LINDAU,

THE Bureau of Economic Analysis just released its second estimate of GDP growth for the second quarter, and the pace of expansion was revised down, from 1.3% to 1.0% (a bit worse than the revision to 1.1% that was expected). The 0.4% first quarter growth estimate wasn't changed, which means that for the first half of 2011 the American economy expanded at a 0.7% pace. That's below the rate of population growth, which is to say that in per capita terms output continues to shrink. So how are things looking forward?

Imports subtract from measured output, so falling imports made for faster growth—but still signaled a weakening domestic economy. Federal government spending was up slightly in the second quarter, but the net government contribution was still a drag, thanks to falling state and local spending. Moving forward, the federal government will join state and local governments in consistently subtracting from output. Private investment and consumption could make up the gap, but American confidence has been badly shaken by the debt-ceiling battle and financial market havoc.

It's worth noting, however, that while the GDI figures are stronger than the GDP figures, they still point to a slowdown in economic activity as the year went on, and they still point to an economy performing well below potential in the second quarter.

Cash Strapped Aussie Families Return to Walton’s - Era Lifestyle

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Charles E. Rexford

A growing number of Australian households have three and even four generations under the same roof due to financial pressures, natural disasters, aged-care limitations, offspring staying at home longer and high childcare costs. According to futurist Mark McCrindle, by 2020 we will flashback a century and there will be a return to the multi-generational household like the Walton’s family, made famous in the smash hit television series of the '70s and '80s.

There will be more multi-generational households in the future but it's not all rosy. After a year of a big family sharing the same bathroom and struggling for privacy, cracks can form," Mr. Chalke. "I don't think we will ever revert back to the days of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Charlie Bucket lives with his poverty-stricken parents and both sets of grandparents, who share one double bed.

"After a terrible year, family is everything and it is great that when times are tough financially and mentally you can find that it is family that really matters. The Walton’s was a great example of how generational support is priceless when money is tight."Corny as it seems it's heart warming for a big family to wish each other goodnight before lights go out."

Quick Facts: Homelessness in US

Presstv

The homeless population in the United States increased by approximately 20,000 people -- or 3 percent -- from 2008 to 2009.
A majority -- 31 of 50 states and the District of Columbia -- had increases in their homeless counts. The largest increase was in Louisiana, where the homeless population doubled. While most people experiencing homelessness are sheltered, nearly 4 in 10 were living on the street, in a car, or in another place not intended for human habitation. From 2008 to 2009, the number of unemployed people in the United States increased by 60 percent from 8.9 million to 14.3 million people. Nearly three-quarters of all U.S. households with incomes below the federal poverty line spend over 50 percent of monthly household income on rent.

While real income among all U.S. workers decreased by 1 percent in 2009, poor workers' income decreased even more -- dropping by 2 percent to $9,151. Poor workers in Alaska, the District of Columbia, Maine, and Rhode Island saw their incomes decrease by more than 10 percent. Foreclosure affected nearly half a million more households in 2009 than in 2008, a 21 percent increase for a total of 2.8 million foreclosed units in 2009. The number of foreclosed units more than doubled in Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Mississippi, and West Virginia.

Half of all states have multiple risk factors for increased homelessness; that is, they have rates worse than the national average on at least two of five indicators -- unemployment, foreclosure, doubled-up, housing cost burden, and lack of health insurance. California, Florida, and Nevada -- states known to have been disproportionately impacted by the recent housing crisis -- have both high rates of homelessness and high levels of unemployment, foreclosure, housing cost burden, lack of insurance, and doubling-up.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Even the Fat Cats at Wall Street are feeling the PAIN!

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Charles E. Rexford

In early summer, before layoffs began sweeping across Wall Street, billboard-sized photos of employees were plastered on the walls, pillars and elevator banks of Credit Suisse Group AG's offices in the United States and abroad.

The museum-quality prints, depicting workers from administrative assistants to senior executives, were emblazoned with motivational words like "Proactive" and "Partner." By mid-July, however, the photos disappeared and the Swiss banking giant began laying off 2,000 employees.

Credit Suisse's timing illustrates the unanticipated dangers of rampant job-cutting, which tend to run in cycles on Wall Street. Employee morale often plummets at a time when survivors are asked to pick up more responsibility and customer relations can suffer as service and relationships deteriorate.

Where Are We?

Greg Hunter

Yesterday, the Dow was up more than 300 points, and gold hit another all-time high before dropping nearly $100 an ounce. You would think the stock market was back and the gold trade was over. Wall Street is excited about recent bad economic news that just may force Fed Chief Ben Bernanke to start a third round of Quantitative Easing for the third quarter (QE3). I hate to break it to Wall Street, but QE3 is already underway in the form of 2 years of guaranteed near 0% interest rates.

That’s the close up of the economy. The wide shot reveals something much more profound and dangerous for anyone who does not know which direction the giant economic cruise ship is turning. The problem the world faces today is crushing debt. In America, it is at the local, state and federal level. On top of that, there have been many promises made in the form of retirement and health care. In Europe, the same thing, except there the problem is more immediate and dire. The fate of the European Union hangs in the balance.

What is happening is nothing short of a reevaluation of money, and thus we see gold breaking new all-time highs. In his latest post, Jim Willie of Goldenjackass.com gives this warning to the common man about the perils of holding cash. Willie said, “Prepare to protect your personal wealth during the grandest transfer of wealth in modern history, from toxic paper to reliable hard metal with no counter-party risk. Money is in the process of being invalidated and redefined. The Paradigm Shift continues at work.” So, we are at the edge of a cliff in this grand cycle. It is said, it is not the long fall that can kill you, but the quick stop.

America: Food Stamp Nation

Reuters

Altogether, there are now almost 46 million people in the United States on food stamps, roughly 15% of the population. That's an increase of 74% since 2007, just before the financial crisis and a deep recession led to mass job losses. At the same time, the cost doubled to reach $68 billion in 2010 - more than a third of the amount the US government received in corporate income tax last year - which means the program has started to attract the attention of some Republican lawmakers looking for ways to cut the nation's budget deficit. In some parts of the country, shoppers using food stamps have almost become the norm. In May 2011, a third of all people in Alabama were on food stamps - though part of that was because of emergency assistance after communities were destroyed by a series of destructive tornadoes. Washington DC, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oregon and Tennessee all had about a fifth of their population on food stamps that month.

"It's a good thing that the government helps, but if employers paid enough and gave enough hours, then we wouldn't need to be on food stamps," said Green, who has a six-year-old daughter. Of course, with an unemployment rate over 9%, some argue that those with any job at all are lucky. Millions of Americans whose unemployment benefits have expired have to exist only on food stamps and other government aid, such as Medicaid healthcare support. And even with unemployment benefits, said Jessica King, 25, from Portland, Oregon, her family juggles bills to ensure the electricity stays on. They are also selling some belongings on Craigslist to raise funds.

In An Unsustainable System, A Warning of Collapse

Bob Chapman

We do not believe that Americans, particularly elderly Americans, understand what the elitists are up to in regard to Social Security and Medicare. The Council on Foreign Relations and the Peterson Foundation has for years been working on plans to terminate Social Security and Medicare. Cuts in these paid for programs were impossible to get through Congress. Thus, the ruse was born of getting around Congress. A flash issue was raised regarding a short-term debt extension that could have been passed in 15 minutes that demanded budget cuts for passage. In that process the Obama Enabling Act was formulated, patterned on the German Enabling Act passed in 1933 by Adolph Hitler. It allows a 12-person panel to bypass Congress regarding legislation. The changes are made in this committee and cannot be debated or amended and must be voted on via a straight up and down majority vote. While this was transpiring, as part of the plot, Standard and Poor’s downgraded the US debt rating based upon there not being large enough cuts in what Congress likes to call entitlements, which are not entitlements, but paid for benefits.

As we have often said, the problem and debt has only been extended. All the debt is unpayable. Interest rates and bond yields of troubled nations are such that debt cannot be repaid. How can anyone have confidence in a broken system? Unsustainable is the operative word. There is no political courage to end all this because all of the key figures and many others are controlled by the Illuminists, who want world government. They will hold out until the system has collapsed, and hope they can save themselves. That is why people worldwide have to prepare for what is coming. Europe’s financial collapse will be the catalyst that will cause all other nations to fall. That is why it is so very important that all of your investable assets be invested in gold and silver, coins, bullion and shares.

The President’s Bold Jobs Bill (Maybe) / Stock Tip: Be Worried. Workers are Consumers – Robert Reich

BY ADMIN

The President is sounding like a fighter these days. He even says he’ll be proposing a jobs bill in September – and if Republicans don’t go along he’ll fight for it through Election Day (or beyond). That’s a start. But read the small print and all he’s talked about so far is extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits (good, but small potatoes), ratifying the Colombia and South Korea free trade agreements (not necessarily a job-creating move), and creating an infrastructure bank. An infrastructure bank might be helpful, depending on its size. Which is the real question hovering over the entire putative jobs bill – its size?

Repeat after me: Workers are consumers. Consumers are workers. We’re slouching toward a double dip, and the stock market is imploding, because consumers – whose spending is 70 percent of the economy – have reached their limit. It’s not just the jobless who can’t spend. It’s mainly people with jobs. Median wages continue to fall. Weekly wages in July for Americans with jobs were 1.3 percent lower than eight months before. America’s median earners are now earning less (adjusted for inflation) than they earned ten years ago.

Get it? It was only a matter of time before the boom on Wall Street turned into a bust. Economic booms cannot continue without American workers participating in them. Foreign consumers have helped sustain earnings, but that won’t continue, either. The European economy is sinking and China is pulling in the reins on growth. What will happen to the Dow Jones Industrial Average when corporate earnings revert to their historic average relative to American wages? I’ve seen various estimates. They’re not pretty.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Something Wicked this Way Comes - Chapter 4

User submitted - Article

Charles E. Rexford

The year 2011 has almost reached its end. Some say, at the point of a major psychic shift, time seems to speed up – known as the Quickening. While I am not a predictor of the future, my eyes can in fact see through the veil of lies and illusions. The good news is, I am not the only one who senses something is amiss with our current world-state. Regardless of my belief that there is a predetermined agenda being orchestrated against the people of the world, you also will have to face the coming Brave New World System.

Without rehashing all the devastating events caused by the Elites – dollar debasement, terrorism fears, wealth distribution etc. – we need to discuss ways to protect against these calamities. Regardless what country you are from, the hedges I am suggesting are universal to all. We are all one family, even though a small cabal of Elitists would tend to disagree.

My final and most important suggestion is to stop watching television. Before you look away in disgust, hear me out. Think back and tell me what is on television that either teaches or enriches your mind? Even the History Channel plays reality TV shows now, so the whole media outlet is hopeless. I personally gave up TV eight months ago and I swear to you I have missed nothing important. During this time, I have even read a book or two; remember what those are? The main benefit of shutting the TV off is you will no longer see or hear the daily propaganda. The talking-heads can no longer alter your state of perception and you will quickly see through the veil of lies and deceit. Turn the TV off.

Growth Slows Across World's Strongest Economies

Max Clarke

GDP growth across the world’s most developed economies slowed over the second quarter of 2011 to reach just 0.2%, as continued unrest in the global financial markets threatens a second economic collapse.

The US economy increased its growth rate from 0.1% in Q1 2011 to 0.3% in the second, though the forecast had been for 0.5%. Economic growth in the world’s biggest economy serves as a barometer for the broader health of the global economy, and so significant a downward revision reflects the growing pessimism about the state of the global recovery.

Europe Is Facing Stagnation As Its Growth Engine Stalls

Russell Lynch

Europe faces the threat of economic stagnation after an alarming collapse in business confidence during August, a gloomy industry survey warned today. Financial information firm Markit's latest worrying snapshot of flagging growth in the eurozone showed activity stuck at 22-month lows during the month and the manufacturing sector shrinking for the first time since 2009.

The mounting evidence of stagnation will put more pressure on the European Central Bank to reverse its two interest rate rises this year to tackle high inflation. A leading German trade association cut its growth forecasts to 2% in 2011 and just 1% in 2012, and the ZEW institute added today that confidence among German investors also fell sharply in August.

European Bank Job ‘Bloodbath’ Surpasses 40,000

Gavin Finch and Liam Vaughan

UBS AG (UBSN)’s decision to cut 5 percent of its workforce brings to more than 40,000 the number of jobs cut by European banks in the past month as the region’s worsening sovereign debt crisis crimps trading revenue. UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, said yesterday it will eliminate 3,500 jobs, mainly from its investment bank. It follows HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), which announced 30,000 cuts on Aug. 1, Barclays Plc (BARC), which is cutting headcount by 3,000, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS), which is eliminating 2,000 posts. Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) announced 2,000 reductions on July 28.

The banking industry overall is clearly re-shaping its cost base,” said Andrew Gray, banking leader at accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in London. “We may well see some further losses of jobs over the course of the second half of 2011. Exactly where is impossible to say, but we will see some further cuts from other institutions.”

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Sovereign Man

Zell am See, Austria

One of my favorite books is the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant-- West Point graduate, Union commander, former President, and failed businessman. It's a bit long-winded, but brutally honest, and much of the first volume deals with Grant's personal experiences as a young military officer during the Mexican War. The Mexican War was a turning point in American history; fought between 1846-1848 after the US annexation of Texas, it represented many unfortunate firsts for the United States:

Grant later writes, "Experience proves that the man who obstructs a war in which his nation is engaged, no matter whether right or wrong, occupies no enviable place in life or history."
Not much has changed. The next 165 years of warfare in the United States are filled with lies, deceit, false flag operations, imperialistic conquest, and state-sponsored media propaganda. Those who dared question the official stories were vilified and dismissed as unpatriotic conspiracy theorists. The most recent example was the capture and death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011 by the famed SEAL Team Six.

It's ironic that the government often relies on an insipidly weak logic when it erodes the privacy of its citizens. If you don't like how USA PATRIOT Act provisions allow then to tap your telephone or check out your rental history, they say, "Hey, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!"

15 Examples That Show Many Americans Have Become So Desperate That They Will Do Just About Anything For Money

The Economic Collapse

More Americans than ever are desperate for money and many of them will do just about anything to get it. The crumbling U.S. economy has pushed millions of ordinary Americans to the brink of utter desperation. When it comes time to choose between being able to survive or breaking the law, many people are choosing to break the law. These days it seems like Americans will do just about anything for money. All over the country, there are areas where just about anything that is not bolted down is being stolen. A lot of people have resorted to making money however they can - selling drugs, selling their bodies, shoplifting, invading homes, taking bribes ........

A 59 year old man from North Carolina named Richard James Verone was so desperate for money that he actually robbed a bank and got caught on purpose so that he could be put in prison and be given free health care. One day Verone walked into an RBC Bank in North Carolina, handed a clerk a note demanding exactly one dollar and sat down and waited for the police to arrive and arrest him. Verone has a growth on his chest and two ruptured disks but he does not have any health insurance. He is hoping that in prison he will get the medical treatment that he needs. As society continues to unravel, prison is going to look like an appealing option for more and more people. At least in prison you get fed, you have a roof over your head and they will take care of your medical needs. For a whole lot of Americans, that would be a major step up.

America is changing. The safe, secure environment that we all used to take for granted is dying. The number of truly desperate people rises by the day, and many of those desperate people are willing to do just about anything for money. The United States used to have a thriving middle class, but our economic system has been so manipulated over the decades that now almost all of the economic rewards go to the very top of the food chain. 25 years ago, the wealthiest 12 percent of all Americans controlled 33 percent of all the wealth. Today, the wealthiest 1 percent of all Americans control 40 percent of all the wealth.

Broke! 10 Facts About The Financial Condition Of American Families That Will Blow Your Mind

The Economic Collapse

The crumbling U.S. economy is putting an extraordinary amount of financial stress on American families. For many Americans, "flat broke" has become a permanent condition. Today, over half of all American families live paycheck to paycheck. Unemployment is rampant and those that do actually have jobs are finding that their wages are rising much more slowly than prices are. The financial condition of average American families continues to decline and this is showing up in all of the recent surveys.
For example, according to a new Gallup poll, "lack of money/low wages" is the number one financial concern for American families. To make ends meet, many American families are going into even more debt and ........

Where in the world did all of the good jobs go? Well, the truth is that millions of them have been shipped overseas. Our politicians promised us that merging our economy with the economies of other nations where it is legal to pay slave labor wages to workers would not create more unemployment inside America. They were dead wrong. Now we are being told that we just need to accept a lower standard of living.

Millions of our good jobs are being shipped out of the country. But it is not just the globalization of the economy that is destroying our jobs. The federal government bureaucracy has become so oppressive that it is amazing that anyone is still willing to hire workers in this day and age. Hiring workers has become so complicated and so expensive that many small business owners want to avoid it at all cost.

Taxed Into Oblivion

The Economic Collapse

In the United States today, we are being taxed into oblivion, yet it is being done so stealthily that most Americans don't even realize what is happening. Most people are fixated on federal income tax rates, but the federal income tax is only one of the dozens of different taxes that each of us pay each year. The politicians have learned that people get really upset when income tax rates are raised, so they have found hundreds of other ways to raise taxes on us. What most taxpayers in the United States today are facing is "death by a thousand cuts".

Federal income taxes definitely still hurt, but the reality is that where we really get hit is in all of the other taxes that we pay. American families pay Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, state income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, death taxes, various excise taxes, gasoline taxes, tire taxes, utility taxes, liquor taxes, telephone taxes and cigarette taxes just to name a few. The truth is that there are dozens and dozens of different taxes that most Americans pay each year, and there are a whole bunch of others that get passed on to us through businesses that we deal with.

So, no, raising taxes is not going to fix what ails us. It would just feed the monster that we have created in Washington. We are already being taxed into oblivion. Middle class America can't take much more of this. We need to change our entire approach to taxation in this country, because right now our tax system is fundamentally unfair and it is not working.

Eurozone Services, Factories Hit As Germany Weakens

Reuters

The eurozone's dominant service sector was effectively stagnant this month after two years of growth while manufacturing activity shrank for the first time since September 2009, key surveys showed on Tuesday.

The surveys point to a flat quarterly GDP growth and adds to signs that an economic slowdown is spreading beyond the periphery and taking root in core members of the bloc, including Germany. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which measures activity of firms ranging from restaurants to banks, has now been above the 50 mark that divides growth from contraction for two years.

"Manufacturing is struggling but that has been joined by a weakening of services sector growth. The outlook for the service sector has also fallen sharply," Mr Williamson said. Earlier data from Germany, Europe's largest economy, showed its manufacturing sector grew faster than expected but growth in its service sector nearly ground to a halt. In France the service sector unexpectedly picked up pace but factory activity declined for the first time in over two years. The grim numbers come on top of fears that the United States, the world's largest economy, will slide back into recession and after earlier flash data showed activity in China's manufacturing sector shrank in August for a second month running.

The Government’s Work Program Is under Threat of Financial Collapse.

Ian Mulheirn

The government’s Work Program gives monetary incentives to private and not-for-profit providers for getting the unemployed into work. However, the Social Market Foundation’s, Ian Mulheirn discusses new research which finds that the program is now at risk of financial collapse due to contractors failing to meet the minimum requirements to due to the unreachable performance standards expected of them. Such a collapse would be bad for job-seekers, subcontractors and the taxpayer.

The Government’s flagship back to work scheme, the Work Program, is in peril. The bold new scheme, which pays private and not-for-profit providers by results for getting the long-term unemployed into work, looks likely to substantially undershoot the Government’s expectations, putting it at risk of financial collapse.

Widespread provider failure or a late bailout would be bad for jobseekers, expensive for the taxpayer and fatal for many subcontractors, especially not-for-profit providers. In the light of this new evidence and the deteriorating labor market outlook, DWP should revise its minimum performance expectations, and introduce more credible incentives. It should also establish greater transparency about how it derived its estimates of minimum performance, and clarify how they would vary if economic conditions deteriorate, to create greater certainty and strengthen accountability. And, to advance the Government’s aim to be the “most transparent government in the world”

Monday, August 22, 2011

20 Signs That the World Could Be Headed For an Economic Apocalypse In 2012

The Economic Collapse

If you thought that 2011 was a bad year for the world economy, just wait until you see what happens in 2012. The U.S. and Europe are both dealing with unprecedented debt problems, the financial markets are flailing about wildly, austerity programs are being implemented all over the globe, prices on basics such as food are soaring and a lot of consumers are flat out scared right now. Many analysts now fear that a "perfect storm" could be brewing and that we could actually be headed for an economic apocalypse in 2012......

There is already a tremendous amount of economic pain on the streets of America, but unfortunately it looks like things may get even worse in 2012. The once great economic machine that was handed down to us by our forefathers is falling to pieces all around us and we are in debt up to our eyeballs. The consequences of our bad economic decisions are hurting some of the most vulnerable members of our society the most.........

It is a crying shame what is happening out there on the streets of America today. Please say a prayer for all of those that are sleeping in cars or tents or under bridges tonight. Soon even more Americans will be joining them........

Bad News

The Economic Collapse

The bad news about the economy just keeps rolling in. If this is an economic recovery, what in the world is the next "recession" going to look like? Today there was another huge truckload of bad economic news. The stock market had another 400 point "correction", applications for unemployment benefits are up again, inflation is higher than expected, home sales have dropped again and Europe is coming apart at the seams. The financial markets have been in such a state of chaos recently that days like today don't even seem "unusual" anymore. But we should all be alarmed at what is happening ........

So now we have high unemployment and high inflation. Oh goody! All of this stagflation is almost enough to make one nostalgic for the 1970s. The housing market is getting even worse. According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of previously owned homes dropped 3.5 percent during July. That was the third decline in the last four months. Sales of previously owned homes are even lagging behind last year's pathetic pace. Mortgage rates are now the lowest they have been since the 1950s, but there are very few interested buyers in the marketplace.........

Yet a cancer-stricken lady tries to hold a few yard sales to pay her bills and authorities come down on her like a ton of bricks. Does that seem fair to you? Our world is getting crazier every day. The bad news is going to keep pouring in. Global financial markets are being held together with chicken wire and duct tape. At some point the pyramid of corruption and con games is going to come crashing down. If you still have faith in the system, you are not very wise. We are heading for an economic collapse that will be absolutely unprecedented, and you need to be getting prepared.

21 Signs That The New Reality For Many Baby Boomers Will Be To Work As Wage Slaves Until They Drop Dead

The Economic Collapse

All over America tonight, millions of elderly Americans are wondering if their money is going to run out before it is time for them to die. Those that are now past retirement age are not going to be rioting in the streets, but that doesn't mean that large numbers of them are not deeply suffering. There are millions of elderly Americans that are leading lives of "quiet desperation" as they try to get by on meager fixed incomes. Many are surviving on Ramen noodles, oatmeal, peanut butter or whatever other cheap food they can find in the stores. There are some that are so short on cash that they will not turn on the heat in their homes until things get really desperate. As health care costs soar, millions of elderly Americans find themselves deep in debt and facing huge medical bills that they cannot possibly pay. A lot of older Americans would go back to work if they could, but jobs are scarce and very few companies seem to even want to consider hiring them. Right now caring for all of the Americans that have already retired is turning out to be an overwhelming challenge, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. ........

There are millions of Americans out there that have done everything "right" all of their lives, but that now find the system letting them down in their golden years. So how badly are some people hurting? These are Americans that should be getting ready to enjoy their golden years, but that are now fighting just to survive.........

The truth is that there is simply no way that we can keep all of the financial promises that we have made to elderly Americans even if the most optimistic projections for our economy play out. If the worst happens, we are going to see a lot more elderly Americans eating out of trash cans and freezing to death in their own homes. The United States is facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude. A comfortable, happy retirement is rapidly going to become a luxury that only the wealthy will enjoy. For most of the rest of us, our golden years are going to mean a whole lot of pain and suffering. That may not be pleasant to hear, but that is the truth.

Will There Be A New Recession?

Edward Seaga

The American economy is in deep trouble again; so is the worldeconomy. Over the last century, whenever there has been a global financial crisis, events show that it started in the United States. In 1929, the stock market was almost totally wiped out by a free-fall loss of 89 per cent of its assets. It started when the US Congress proceeded to impose wide-scale punitive duties on 20,000 items of import. Sensing that there would be retaliation by the imposition of similar duties on exports to other countries from America, Wall Street stockholders embarked on a panic sell-off which eventually created the Great Depression........

Rather than turn away good money, Wall Street developed financial derivatives, including fraudulent schemes, to sop up the excess. This led to the creation of subprime mortgages (mortgages with little or no collateral). Trillions of dollars of this virtually worthless paper was wrapped with regular mortgages and sold as investment packages to investment houses, insurance companies and banks throughout the world. When this was discovered, financial houses realized that the worthless investments were pushing them to the brink of financial collapse. Many did.......

........ the only sustainable way out of this crisis is for them to work harder, cut wages, produce goods more cheaply to compete better, and improve earnings at home and abroad, from which they must save more in order to borrow less and thus strengthen their currency, failing which the value of the reserve currency, the US dollar, will continue to slide until - like it or not - the US will no longer be the largest, strongest, most powerful economy in the world, but a second-rate economic power?

Would they be prepared to say that the prosperity dream, as they have known it, is now ending? A lower level of living is inevitable? I doubt it. A cultural shift of oceanic dimensions would be needed to do this. But it is the willingness to grasp the deep dimension of these consequences which will determine whether new recessions will follow and the cries continue for jobs, jobs, jobs.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Jobs: Worse Than You Think

Chris Isidore

The U.S. labor force is shrinking, as more Americans are giving up hope. Last month, only 58.1% of Americans age 16 and over were employed, a significant drop from before the recession and the lowest since 1983.That's especially worrisome to economists, who say a steady increase in those dropping out of the work force and not being counted in the unemployment rate is disguising just how bad the labor market really is.

"When we have a time when the labor force is not growing normally, e-pop provides the cleanest assessment of what is going on in the labor market," said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. "What you see is from '07 to '09 -- it fell off a cliff, and it hasn't recovered since then."

The result is a shrinking pool of workers that isn't keeping pace with population growth. "If anything, we're likely to continue to see this ratio of those in the labor force go down further," said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board.

Manufacturing Industry in Crisis as Prime Minister Warned Of Mass Job Losses

Simon Benson

JULIA Gillard has been warned of a new jobs crisis in manufacturing, where thousands of cuts are expected to be made this week. The first round is expected to be announced today in the steel and aluminium sectors. Union officials say the industry is going through one of its hardest times since the Great Depression of the 1930s...

Crisis talks are believed to have been held over the weekend between Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes, Ms Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan. It is believed "thousands" of jobs will be lost in base metals industries over the coming weeks as the high Australian dollar continues to put pressure on the sector, particularly manufacturing exports.

"The calls that are concerning me the most are the calls I've had over the past three to four days from the CEOs of the major employers of the AWU membership, foreshadowing substantive announcements over the coming couple of weeks and months that will have a fundamental shift in the nature of manufacturing. "We are going to see huge amount of jobs go. This is one of the worst periods Australian manufacturing has gone through since the Great Depression." Mr. Howes said the downturn was primarily due to the high Australian dollar and called on the Government to join the US in trying to pressure China to float its currency.

But he also called for the Government to intervene in the Australian resources sector and mandate a buy-Australia policy. He described as "scandalous" the lack of Australian made and owned products and services being used by the resources sector.

Stocks: Fear Takes Center Stage

Ken Sweet

Nervous investors hoping for a reprieve this week will be disappointed……, The past month has been nothing but a disaster for stock market investors. The S&P posted its biggest four-week loss since March 2009. Meanwhile, safe haven plays like gold and U.S. treasuries have soared, with gold hitting a new record high day after day…..

This week will be fairly quiet as far as scheduled economic and company events, but fears about the U.S. possibly heading into another recession and the financial crisis in Europe are expected to weigh heavily on trading…..

"What's worrying the markets are the perception that there isn't much more that can be done by the Fed and politicians," said Rob Lutts, chief investment officer with Cabot Money Management. "All three -- the White House, the Fed, and Congress - are in a bind that I have never seen before."

Europe's financial situation is a mess, it's getting worse, and Wall Street has zero confidence that politicians will be able to fix it. Those fears have spilled over into the region's banking sector, where rumors that European banks are having trouble getting financing are stirring up ugly memories of the weeks leading up to Lehman Brothers' collapse. Many believe a default is inevitable."Europe is at a very pivotal point right now [as far as] deciding the fate of the whole euro zone,"……

My View: Financial Crisis Likely To Repeat Itself

Tom Maertens

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in 2010 that that the Wall Street meltdown “was the worst financial crisis in global history;” that 12 of the 13 most important financial institutions in the United States were close to failure “within a week or two.”……

The speculation and outright fraud was enabled by years of deregulation and by Bush’s appointment of toothless industry lobbyists as “regulators.” Goldman Sachs, for example, sold subprime mortgages designed to fail and then bet against those instruments by selling them short (for which they were fined $550 million). Deutsche Bank sold its clients subprime mortgage bonds that one of its own traders had described as “pigs.”…..

The eventual collapse resulted when housing prices dropped, which increased mortgage defaults; that made mortgage-backed securities held by banks as collateral nearly worthless……These sweetheart loans gave recipients cash at near-zero interest rates (.0078) that they then loaned back to the government at 3 percent by investing in T-bills, a license to print money. So the financial class got bailed out but the middle class paid the price; a record 2.82 million homes were foreclosed just in 2009, according to RealtyTrac and millions of jobs were lost. A Fed survey found that American families lost an average of 23 percent of their household wealth between June 2007 and March 2009, a total of $19.4 trillion. After the S&L debacle, more than 800 bank officials went to jail.

But neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations conducted criminal investigations of the deceptive loan practices, the fraudulent accounting, the insider trading and the conflicts of interest behind the current crisis…… We are setting ourselves up for another crisis.……

An Empire in Decline. The Debt Crisis is Just a "Prelude to War

K. Selim

"How can an empire in decline impose its views? The U.S. not only shows obvious signs of economic collapse, but also of genuine regression: the American dream no longer exists. The U.S. establishment, Democratic or Republican, is not prepared to cash in its last major comparative advantage - military supremacy."……

Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz (1780-1831), the German military strategist once said that 'War is the continuation of politics by other means.' Given the political dead-end the West seems to be on, his maxim may once again prove all too true. Western governments appear powerless to confront the current crisis and the looming threat of a depression, with all of the serious consequences that implies. The colossal debt of nations and bleak prospects for growth are creating a panic situation on financial markets around the world. A crash is not a figment of the imagination…..

What we should fear is that war may become - as history attests - the last recourse of capitalism in crisis. "Common sense" might call for a significant reduction in the U.S. military budget as a path toward effective treatment of America's gigantic debt. But the cynicism of short-term interests is little concerned with common sense. Given the impasse among ultra-liberals [i.e.: pro-capitalists] and a recession that further widens already intolerable social divisions, a war would allow them to revive the machine. But it would have to be a war of the "first order," because the low-intensity wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have only served to deepen deficits and have had no impact on a system of industrial production quite ill-suited to asymmetrical conflict. Crises of capitalism, which are paid for by the most vulnerable, are settled permanently only in blood. It is certainly not out of solidarity with speculators that we so closely follow stock market anguish……

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Intergenerational 'Con Job'

MARK MILKE - TROY MEDIA

The latest deals to "save" American and Greek public finances - those countries can now put themselves into even deeper debt - should puncture the illusion the welfare state was ever a success; fact is, it was always built on borrowed time and borrowed money. Successive postwar generations went to the doctor, availed themselves of government services, built roads and enjoyed other partially debt-financed benefits. It's akin to buying an expensive home and handing the delayed mortgage payments to your kids when they turn 18……

For example, since 1995, and as a percentage of its economy, Greece's total tax take has been about one-eighth to one-fifth higher than the United States (depending on the year). But high-tax Greece put itself into more debt, as did the (relatively) low-tax U.S. In other words, the assumption that higher tax revenues will save a country from its spending and borrowing addiction is mistaken. A high-tax, inefficient tax regime can slow economic growth and encourage tax cheating and depress tax receipts - another one of Greece's many problems, actually……

Global Markets Buckle as Bad News Sparks Heavy Sell-Off

Associated Press

Just when Wall Street seemed to have settled down, a barrage of bad economic reports collided with fresh worries about European banks on Thursday and triggered a global sell-off in stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 419 points -- a return to the wild swings that gripped the stock market last week. The selling began in Asia, where Japanese exports fell for a fifth consecutive month, and continued in Europe, where bank stocks were hammered because of worries about debt problems there, which have proved hard to contain……

On Wall Street, the losses wiped out much of the roughly 700 points that the Dow had gained over five days. Some investors who bought in the middle of last week decided to sell after they were confronted with a raft of bad news about the economy. More people joined the unemployment line last week than at any time in the past month. The number of people filing claims for unemployment benefits rose to 408,000, or 9,000 more than the week before……

And the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to its lowest on record. The rate on the most popular mortgage hit 4.15 percent -- just below the 4.17 percent reached last November. The last time long-term rates were lower was in the 1950s, when 30-year loans weren't widely available……

Recession Coming? Forecasters Say we’re Likely To Muddle Through

JAY BRYAN

One of the wittiest expressions of this truth came from Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Samuelson. More than four decades ago, he said that economists who claimed the stock market had predicted four of the past five recessions were giving it too little credit. In fact, he said, it predicted “nine out of the last five recessions.”

Underneath the humor, there’s a serious point. The stock market measures what investors guess about the outlook for corporate profits, and there’s a very big incentive for them to be trigger-happy. If they’re among the first to anticipate a slump or an upturn, they can avoid losses or reap profits in a far bigger way than their colleagues…….

Two especially important ones are the diminution of serious auto-industry disruptions caused by the March earthquakes in Japan and a big drop in gas prices since last spring. Cheaper gas puts more spending power in consumers’ hands. Dales agrees, noting that these two factors were so harmful that a return to normal will by itself constitute a fairly important boost to the economy. Interruption of auto and parts shipments from Japan alone probably slashed the pace of economic expansion by as much as one percentage point at its worst.
Second, the phenomenon of a double-dip recession – one that closely follows an earlier slump – is very rare. By Dales’ reckoning, there were only two of these in the past 75 years and both were caused by very big government blunders……

The first blunder was in 1937, when both the Roosevelt administration and the Fed tightened the screws on the economy, causing the recovery from Depression to go into reverse for a while. The second was during a recovery in 1981 marked by persistent inflation, when the Fed jacked up interest rates to about 20 per cent…….

A Recipe for Economic Disaster

Frank Ryan

Leadership is about self-sacrifice, not personal gain. As Congress and the president debated the increase in the debt-ceiling limit, millions of Americans have been held hostage by threats to entitlement programs. Equally as terrorizing, entire industries have been paralyzed by the lack of direction and decision from the government relative to regulations from newly enacted laws. The unintended consequence of this foolhardy approach to governing sets the stage for economic disaster. When fear is combined with the regulatory uncertainty, the stage is set not just for a double-dip recession but, worse yet, a depression.

Fear is not hope! Getting the debt-ceiling increased is not the objective. The objective is to foster an atmosphere of hope, one of confidence, and one in which our citizens are comfortable to take risks by spending. Fear stops spending dead in its tracks…..

The reckless spending of the current and prior administrations is a disgrace and has put Americans in the grip of a relentless system that traps all of us in a quagmire so deep that many feel hopeless…..

Friday, August 19, 2011

The End of the World Is Nigh!

User submitted - Original Article

Charles E. Rexford

Do I really believe the end of the world is near? As for the financial word – Yes, I do! We are all watching the financial indexes whipsaw back and forth with our money. The magnitude of market moves have not been seen in recent times, so what do we do? I personally have not been overly affected by the recent financial negativity. I am not in the equities markets; I got rid of my unwanted house long ago and have plenty of Gold and Silver already. When the time comes and the U.S. population is truly desperate, I will be there to buy property at pennies on the dollar. Now, this may sound harsh, but this is exactly what the upper Class –Royal Elitist Class (REC) are doing. I am taking a page out of their manual and will use it to my benefit. The western economic order as you knew it is dying, how will you protect yourself and your family from what is about to come?

If you read Chapter’s 1 & 2 on We, the Human Robots Blog, then you would already know what is occurring and why. If you recall, I outlined some of the causes of our current mire. The toxic derivatives created by the slimy, cretin’s we call The Big Banks. I discussed how these same banks still hold trillions of dollars worth of toxic garbage on their books, while our leaders forced us to buy it back (our tax money) from the banks at prices well over the true value. Therefore, it is now obvious to most that The Big Banks, our federal Government and the Multi-national corporations work hand-in-hand to steal the wealth of everyone else except their class (REC). I think we can all officially call ourselves Serfs, as we are losing our wealth faster than the blink of an eye. When will we wake up? How can we defeat them?

There are ways to protect ourselves from these dire circumstances. There are 5 strategies that I am personally employing that hurt them where it counts.

1) Get Out of the Markets
2) Buy Physical Gold and Silver
3) Stop Being An Oblivious Consumer
4) Make Your House A Home
5) Find Way To Reduce Your Tax Obligation

'Flash Mobs' Pose Challenge To Police Tactics

Rick Jervis

Armed with cell phones and connected through Facebook, bands of young people have been rushing into stores to steal goods or assaulting bystanders in a spate of recent "flash mob" incidents across the USA. Philadelphia leaders imposed an early curfew on parts of the city this month after roving bands of teens beat and robbed bystanders during violent attacks across the city. This week, surveillance cameras caught several dozen youths swarming into convenience stores in Germantown, Md., and Washington, D.C., and stealing armfuls of snacks and drinks as the store clerk looked on helplessly.......

How best to combat the technology-connected crimes — and how far police agencies should reach into private online and mobile phone access — are at the core of a growing debate among police officials, city leaders and civil rights activists. Everyone agrees: it’s an uncharted territory for law enforcement.......

After the violent attacks by youths in Philadelphia, city leaders decided to enforce a 9 p.m. curfew for teens under 18 in certain parts of the city, says Everett Gillison, the city's deputy mayor for public safety. Police officers began closely monitoring Facebook and Twitter pages for signs of trouble, he says........

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