Q: Mr. Soros, in spite of massive interventions by governments and federal banks the financial crisis is getting worse. The stock markets are in free fall, millions of people could lose their jobs. More and more companies are in trouble, from General Motors in Detroit to BASF in Ludwigshafen. Have you ever seen anything like it?
A: Soros: " Never. I find the present situation dramatic and overwhelming. In my latest book “The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008” I predicted the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. But to tell you the truth: I did not actually anticipate that it would get as bad as it did. It has gone beyond my wildest imagination."
The economy fell off the cliff, you begin to see mangled bodies lying at the bottom.
Q: Was it a policy mistake to let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt?
A: Soros: " It was a fatal mistake. I would have never expected that the authorities let such a big investment bank go. "
Q: Will there be more victims?
A: Soros: Possibly. CitiBank, one of the world’s largest banks, is currently at the center of attention (eds. note: The $300 billion US government plan to stabilize CitiBank had not been approved by the time of this interview). There are some other bodies lined up for potential trouble. The situation is very similar to the 1930s -- but it is going to unfold differently.
Quote: We have learned not to allow the financial market to collapse. Quote: We will spend all the money in the world to prevent that from happening.
Q: What are your expectations for the next Secretary of the Treasury?
A: Soros: I think we need a large stimulus package which will provide funds for state and local government to maintain their budgets -- because they are not allowed by the constitution to run a deficit. For such a program to be successful, Quote: the federal government would need to provide hundreds of billions of dollars. In addition, another infrastructure program is necessary. In total, the cost Quote: would be in the 300 to 600 billion dollar range: Q:: Could Obama be the first "post-American president" -- because his country loses economic force and "soft power"?
Soros: If Obama is wise, he will find common ground with China to solve this crisis. If he wants to do it alone, we will go into a worldwide depression because America is not in a position by itself to clean up the mess it created. FULL ARTICLE HERE __________________
November 17, 2008 (LPAC)--Cargoes are rotting on the docks around the world, unable to be delivered, due to a lack of financing. The shipping business depends upon letters of credit: for cargoes to move, the shipper needs to know when he puts a cargo on a ship that the buyer at the other end will be able to pay for it, and this is where the banks come in. Banks provide the guarantees of payment through letters of credit and related credit lines, so that the goods upon which the world depends can move. This system has functioned for hundreds of years, but is now breaking down. Due to the collapse of the banking system, banks are increasingly reluctant or unable to issue these letters of credit, and charge significantly more for the letters that they do issue. The result is that an increasing number of shipments are sitting on the docks, in warehouses, or in the cargo holds of ships, orders are being canceled, or not even placed. The global supply chain which connects producers with consumers is breaking, and the consequences will be dire indeed.
The leading edge of this trade crisis is in bulk commodities, which have been hit with a dual whammy of plunging commodities prices and trade-finance shortages. Adding to the difficulty is that many bulk cargoes are financed in dollars, and dollars are increasingly difficult to obtain due to the demands of the multi-quadrillion-dollar derivatives market.
The world depends upon trade, especially during this age of globalization, with nations more dependent than ever upon foreign suppliers for the necessities of life. When this trade slows, people begin to die. When the wheat doesn't get exported, the mills cannot produce flour, the bakeries cannot produce breads, and the stores have no bread to sell. When the iron ore doesn't ship, no steel can be produced, which means factories begin to shut down, and so on, until the entire economy grinds to a halt.
We can live without the derivatives markets, the CDOs, and the other alphabet-soup financial gimmicks, but we cannot live without global trade, and we cannot survive if the supply chain breaks. That means we need a functioning banking system, one which can meet the needs of the population. What we have instead is a system that has failed to the point that it can no longer meet its basic responsibilities, and must be reorganized according to the principles outlined by Lyndon LaRouche.
The consequences of a collapse of the global supply chain would be catastrophic for all of mankind--death, famine, pestilence, the breakdown of civilization itself. The failure to solve this problem, whether by incompetence or deliberate intent, is genocide. The Anglo-Dutch Liberal financial system has failed, and we must abandon it in favor of an American System credit system, quickly
Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012...Trend forecaster, renowned for being accurate in the past, says
The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.
Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.
Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.
"We're going to see the end of the retail Christmas....we're going to see a fundamental shift take place....putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree," said Celente, adding that the situation would be "worse than the great depression".
"America's going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for," said Celente, noting that people's refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.
Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as "The Panic of 2008," adding that "giants (would) tumble to their deaths," which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.
The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.
The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, "The world's middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest," and that, "The middle classes could become a revolutionary class."
In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.
"There will be a revolution in this country," he said. "It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen."
"The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop."
"It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more."
"We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension."
"When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente." — CNN Headline News
"A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties." — The Economist
"Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right." — USA Today
"There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about." - CNBC
"Those who take their predictions seriously ... consider the Trends Research Institute." — The Wall Street Journal
"Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark ... he's one of the most accurate forecasters around." — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Mr. Celente tracks the world’s social, economic and business trends for corporate clients." — The New York Times
"Mr. Celente is a very intelligent guy. We are able to learn about trends from an authority." — 48 Hours, CBS News
"Gerald Celente has a solid track record. He has predicted everything from the 1987 stock market crash and the demise of the Soviet Union to green marketing and corporate downsizing." — The Detroit News
"Gerald Celente forecast the 1987 stock market crash, ‘green marketing,’ and the boom in gourmet coffees." — Chicago Tribune
"The Trends Research Institute is the Standard and Poors of Popular Culture." — The Los Angeles Times
"If Nostradamus were alive today, he'd have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente." — New York Post
So there you have it - hardly a nutjob conspiracy theorist blowhard now is he? The price of not heeding his warnings will be far greater than the cost of preparing for the future now. Storable food and gold are two good places to make a start.
The credit crisis is slowly hitting credit card companies. One of these "credit companies" will be filing for bankruptcy, as many consumers are unable to make their payments. Any care to guess who is FIRST?
American Express, hammered by the credit crisis, says it will slash 7,000 jobs as part of a drastic cost-cutting initiative.
