The global economy is heading for a massive amount of trouble in the months ahead. Right now we are seeing the beginning of a credit crunch that is shaping up to be very reminiscent of what we saw back in 2008. Investors and big corporations are pulling huge amounts of money out of European banks and nobody wants to lend to those banks right now. We could potentially see dozens of "Lehman Brothers moments" in Europe in 2012. Meanwhile, bond yields on sovereign debt are jumping through the roof all over Europe. That means that European nations that are already drowning in debt are going to find it much more expensive to continue funding that debt. It would be a huge understatement to say that there is "financial chaos" in Europe right now. The European financial system is in so much trouble that it is hard to describe. The instant that they stop receiving bailout money, Greece is going to default. Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain and quite a few other European nations are also on the verge of massive financial problems. When the financial dominoes start to fall, the U.S. financial system is going to be dramatically affected as well, because U.S. banks have a huge amount of exposure to European debt. The other day, I noted that investor Jim Rogers is saying that the coming global financial collapse "is going to be worse" than 2008. Sadly, it looks like he is right on the money. We are in a lot of trouble my friends, and things are going to get really, really ugly.
The sad thing is that we never have recovered from the last major financial crisis. Right now, the U.S. economy is far weaker than it was back in 2007. So what is going to happen if we get hit with another financial tsunami? The following is what PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian said recently....
"What’s most terrifying, we are having this discussion about the risk of recession at a time when unemployment is already too high, at a time when a quarter of homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, at a time then the fiscal deficit is at 9 percent and at a time when interest rates are at zero."
Can things really get much worse than they are now?
Unfortunately, yes they can.
Not that things are not really, really bad right now.
In Los Angeles earlier this week, approximately 10,000 people lined up for free turkey dinners.
So how many people will be lining up for free food when the unemployment rate in the U.S. soars into double digits?
Right now there is so much economic pain in America that it is hard to describe. According to a recent report from one nonprofit group, 45 percent of all people living in the United States "do not have enough money to cover housing, food, healthcare and other basic expenses".
If this is where we are at now, how much trouble will we be in as a nation if a financial crisis worse than 2008 hits us in 2012?
The primary cause of the coming financial crisis will almost certainly be the financial meltdown that we are seeing unfold in Europe.
The economic downturn that began in 2008 caused the debt levels of quite a few European nations to soar to unprecedented heights. It has gotten to the point where the debts of many of those nations are no longer sustainable.
So investors are starting to demand much higher returns for the much greater risk associated with investing in the bonds of those countries.
But that makes it much more expensive for those troubled nations to fund their debts, and that means that their financial troubles get even worse.
Over the past 12 months, what we have seen happen to bond yields over in Europe has been nothing short of amazing.
Just check out this chart of what has been happening to the yield on 2 year Italian bonds over the past 12 months.
And keep in mind that these bond yields have been spiking even while the European Central Bank has been buying up unprecedented mountains of bonds in an attempt to keep bond yields low.
There has been a fundamental loss of faith in the financial system, and it is not just happening in Europe.
Just check out this chart. As that chart shows, credit default swap spreads all over the globe are absolutely skyrocketing and are now higher than we have seen at any point since the great financial crisis that shook the world during 2008 and 2009.
Panic and fear are everywhere - especially in Europe. In fact, it looks like a run on the banks has already begun in Europe.
The following comes from a recent article in The Economist....
"We are starting to witness signs that corporates are withdrawing deposits from banks in Spain, Italy, France and Belgium," an analyst at Citi Group wrote in a recent report. "This is a worrying development."
Nobody wants to lend money to European banks right now. There is a feeling that they are all vulnerable and could fail at any time, and this lack of confidence actually makes that possibility even more likely.
The following is a short excerpt from a recent CNBC article....
Money-market funds in the United States have quite dramatically slammed shut their lending windows to European banks. According to the Economist, Fitch estimates U.S. money market funds have withdrawn 42 percent of their money from European banks in general.
And for France that number is even higher — 69 percent. European money-market funds are also getting in on the act.
So what can be done?
Well, in a different CNBC article, Mitchell Goldberg was quoted as saying that even "a bazooka" is not going to be good enough to fix this situation....
“It’s too late for a bazooka,” said Mitchell Goldberg, president of ClientFirst Strategy. “Now we need inter-continental ballistic missiles. This is getting worse very quickly.”
This is kind of like watching a horrific car wreck happen in very slow motion.
The financial system of Europe is dying and everybody can see what is happening but nobody can seem to find a way to fix it.
Not that we are solving our own problems here in the United States.
The vaunted "supercommittee" that was supposed to get a handle on our debt problem was a complete and utter failure.
Barack Obama has shown that he has no clue what to do when it comes to the economy, and Ben Bernanke has been preoccupied with roaming around the country trying to get people to feel more "warm and fuzzy" about the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve actually has more power over our economy than anyone else. But instead of fixing things they only keep making things even worse.
The only people that the Fed seems to be helping are the banksters.
What you are about to read should really, really upset you. According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Reserve has actually been tipping off their upcoming moves to top financial professionals. In turn, these financial professionals have been using that information to make a lot of money for themselves and for their clients....
Hours after an Aug. 15 meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in his office, Nancy Lazar made a hasty call to investor clients: The Fed was dusting off an obscure 1960s-era strategy known as Operation Twist.
The news pointed to a boom in long-term bonds.
It was a good call. Over the next five weeks, prices on 10-year Treasury bonds soared, offering double-digit returns in an otherwise dismal year.
By the time the Fed announced its $400 billion Operation Twist on Sept. 21, the window for quick profits had all but slammed shut.
Ms. Lazar is among a group of well-connected investors and analysts with access to top Federal Reserve officials who give them a chance at early clues to the central bank's next policy moves, according to interviews and hundreds of pages of documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal through open records searches.
You just can't make stuff like this up. The corruption at the Federal Reserve is totally out of control. After nearly 100 years of total failure, it is time to shut down the Federal Reserve.
Not that Barack Obama should get a free pass for the role that he has played in this economic downturn. He inherited a complete mess from Bush and has made it even worse.
Today, millions of business owners are so frustrated with Washington D.C. that they don't know what to do.
For example, one business owner down in Georgia has posted signs with the following message on all of his company's trucks....
"New Company Policy: We are not hiring until Obama is gone."
The business environment in this country becomes more toxic with each passing year, and the federal government has already strangled millions of small businesses out of existence.
In addition, politicians from both parties continue to stand aside as tens of thousands of businesses, millions of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars of our wealth get shipped out of the country.
During 2010, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities a day were shut down in the United States. We are committing national economic suicide, and the top politicians in both political parties keep cheering for more.
Well, millions of ordinary Americans can see what is happening and they are preparing for the worst.
The following report comes from an article that was recently posted on the website of the local CBS affiliate in St. Louis....
A chain of three stores that sells survival food and gear reports a jump in sales to people who are getting prepared for the “possible collapse” of society.
“We had to order fifty cases of the meals ready to eat to keep up with the demand in the past three months,” said manager Steve Dorsey at Uncle Sam’s Safari Outfitters Inc. in Webster Groves. “That’s not normal. Usually we sell 20 to 30 cases in a whole year.”
So are you prepared for the coming collapse?
If you still have a great job and things are still going well for you, then you should definitely be thankful. Compared to the rest of the world, most of us are incredibly blessed.
But let there be no doubt, the U.S. economy is going to get a lot worse in the years ahead.
Just because you have a job today does not mean that you will have one tomorrow.
Just because you have a nice car and a big home today does not mean that you will have them tomorrow.
We all need to try to become a lot less dependent on "the system", because "the system" is failing.
A whole lot of trouble is coming.
You better get ready.
Source With Links: The Economic Collapse
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Senate Moves To Allow Military To Intern Americans Without Trial
NDAA detention provision would turn America into a “battlefield”.
Paul Joseph Watson
The Senate is set to vote on a bill next week that would define the whole of the United States as a “battlefield” and allow the U.S. Military to arrest American citizens in their own back yard without charge or trial.
“The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president—and every future president — the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world. The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself,” writes Chris Anders of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
Under the ‘worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial’ provision of S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is set to be up for a vote on the Senate floor Monday, the legislation will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports the bill.
The bill was drafted in secret by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), before being passed in a closed-door committee meeting without any kind of hearing. The language appears in sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA bill.
“I would also point out that these provisions raise serious questions as to who we are as a society and what our Constitution seeks to protect,” Colorado Senator Mark Udall said in a speech last week. One section of these provisions, section 1031, would be interpreted as allowing the military to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens on U.S. soil. Section 1031 essentially repeals the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 by authorizing the U.S. military to perform law enforcement functions on American soil. That alone should alarm my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but there are other problems with these provisions that must be resolved.”
This means Americans could be declared domestic terrorists and thrown in a military brig with no recourse whatsoever. Given that the Department of Homeland Security has characterized behavior such as buying gold, owning guns, using a watch or binoculars, donating to charity, using the telephone or email to find information, using cash, and all manner of mundane behaviors as potential indicators of domestic terrorism, such a provision would be wide open to abuse.
“American citizens and people picked up on American or Canadian or British streets being sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Really? Does anyone think this is a good idea? And why now?” asks Anders.
The ACLU is urging citizens to call their Senator and demand that the Udall Amendment be added to the bill, a change that would at least act as a check to prevent Americans being snatched off the streets without some form of Congressional oversight.
We have been warning for over a decade that Americans would become the target of laws supposedly aimed at terrorists and enemy combatants. Alex Jones personally documented how U.S. troops were being trained to arrest U.S. citizens in the event of martial law during urban warfare training drills back in the 90′s. Under the the National Defense Authorization Act bill, no declaration of martial law is necessary since Americans would now be subject to the same treatment as suspected insurgents in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
If you thought that the executive assassination of American citizens abroad was bad enough, now similar powers will be extended to the “homeland,” in other words, your town, your community, your back yard.
Source With Links: Infowars
Paul Joseph Watson
The Senate is set to vote on a bill next week that would define the whole of the United States as a “battlefield” and allow the U.S. Military to arrest American citizens in their own back yard without charge or trial.
“The Senate is going to vote on whether Congress will give this president—and every future president — the power to order the military to pick up and imprison without charge or trial civilians anywhere in the world. The power is so broad that even U.S. citizens could be swept up by the military and the military could be used far from any battlefield, even within the United States itself,” writes Chris Anders of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
Under the ‘worldwide indefinite detention without charge or trial’ provision of S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill, which is set to be up for a vote on the Senate floor Monday, the legislation will “basically say in law for the first time that the homeland is part of the battlefield,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who supports the bill.
The bill was drafted in secret by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), before being passed in a closed-door committee meeting without any kind of hearing. The language appears in sections 1031 and 1032 of the NDAA bill.
“I would also point out that these provisions raise serious questions as to who we are as a society and what our Constitution seeks to protect,” Colorado Senator Mark Udall said in a speech last week. One section of these provisions, section 1031, would be interpreted as allowing the military to capture and indefinitely detain American citizens on U.S. soil. Section 1031 essentially repeals the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 by authorizing the U.S. military to perform law enforcement functions on American soil. That alone should alarm my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but there are other problems with these provisions that must be resolved.”
This means Americans could be declared domestic terrorists and thrown in a military brig with no recourse whatsoever. Given that the Department of Homeland Security has characterized behavior such as buying gold, owning guns, using a watch or binoculars, donating to charity, using the telephone or email to find information, using cash, and all manner of mundane behaviors as potential indicators of domestic terrorism, such a provision would be wide open to abuse.
“American citizens and people picked up on American or Canadian or British streets being sent to military prisons indefinitely without even being charged with a crime. Really? Does anyone think this is a good idea? And why now?” asks Anders.
The ACLU is urging citizens to call their Senator and demand that the Udall Amendment be added to the bill, a change that would at least act as a check to prevent Americans being snatched off the streets without some form of Congressional oversight.
We have been warning for over a decade that Americans would become the target of laws supposedly aimed at terrorists and enemy combatants. Alex Jones personally documented how U.S. troops were being trained to arrest U.S. citizens in the event of martial law during urban warfare training drills back in the 90′s. Under the the National Defense Authorization Act bill, no declaration of martial law is necessary since Americans would now be subject to the same treatment as suspected insurgents in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
If you thought that the executive assassination of American citizens abroad was bad enough, now similar powers will be extended to the “homeland,” in other words, your town, your community, your back yard.
Source With Links: Infowars
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Gerald Celente : Prepare for a Bank Holiday after Christmas
Gerald Celente : the CME group , the crooks over there that said they guarantee everything they've lost over 2.5 billion dollars in equities shares since this thing happened I like to see it go down to ZERO , CME ? may be it's the Chicago Mafia Enterprise . Where is the money Duffy that you said you are going to guaranty , how come the presstitutes are not calling them out on this , and I'll tell you why because may be they do not have the money , here is a scenario I am going to give you a scoop , you go back Alex to when Obama was elected I said prepare for bank Holiday what happened is I am doing research on the Corzine Thing there it pops up with Joe Biden , you remember he was senator from that state over there the loophole state Delaware that gives all these corporations a free ride before he became a vice president he is out there campaigning for Corzine in his boarded efforts to get reelected as governor and he talked about about a bank holiday ........ i am saying this because I believe the entire system is collapsing I believe they're going to keep propping it up until after Christmas so that they can suck everybody in to spending money that they do not have and buying a lot of Christmas crap that they do not need and after that scam is over BAAM it is going to come down.
They Know Social Unrest is a Foregone Conclusion
Mac Slavo
One simply cannot ignore the progressively deteriorating economic and political conditions in just about every industrialized nation (as well as ‘periphery’ countries like Syria and Egypt). The people are getting frustrated at the inability of political leaders to put forth any meaningful solutions. Moreover, they are dismayed at the utter lack of empathy from politicians who claim to be just like the rest of us, but regularly use their positions of power to amass more wealth and influence for themselves and their well connected friends at the expense of the electorate.
As Sovereign Man Simon Black points out in The Government Is Getting Prepared, What About You?, the last week provides some insight into the emotional and psychological state of the globe’s populace as evidenced by the First Lady of the United States being booed at a major sporting event, and a similar occurrence in Russia with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, not to mention the continued protests in the U.S., Europe, the middle east and elsewhere.
It really doesn’t matter where in the world you are. The people have had enough. And, the majority of them are holding on to the (false) hope that the next election will somehow change things. Just as Scott Brown’s election to the Senate in 2010 at the height of the Tea Party movement failed to change or improve anything because it turns out that the knight in shining armor was just another political prostitute, so too will the next election fail to fundamentally alter the direction we’re headed (unless something amazing happens like the election of a true third party thinker).
People may be holding out hope that things will get better. When the elections of 2012 come and go, and nothing has improved, what we’re seeing play out on the streets of America today is going to intensify. If you think police response is brutal now, wait until the Molotov cocktails start flying.
From Sovereign Man via The Daily Sheeple
These minor instances are emblematic of the massive rift that has emerged between the ‘people’ and their leaders. Politicians may be completely out of touch, but they’re not stupid… and they’re taking steps to prepare.
In so many places around the world right now, anger, animosity, hostility, and anxiety rule the day. For the time being, though, the vast majority of this negativity has an outlet in the political process.
You see, between now and the end of 2012, several hundred national and provincial elections are scheduled around the world– from this past weekend’s parliamentary elections in Spain to presidential elecions in Russia, France, the United States, Mexico, Finland, Iceland, India, Switzerland, South Korea, Yemen, Egypt, and more.
Consequently, people have an outlet to invest their anger and hostility. Emotions are running high, but people at least have a shred of hope that if ‘their guy’ gets elected, everything will get better.
It won’t. And, next year once the election-cycle has disappeared, there will be no more peaceful outlet for all of the anger that has been building up.
That’s when emotions will spill into the streets. And it won’t be peaceful protests being met with violence… it will be violent riots being met with even worse violence.
Politicians are cunning. They can see the writing on the wall, they know that social unrest is a foregone conclusion, and they’re preparing to defend the status quo at all costs.
[emphasis added]
Government game theorists, who have been war-gaming scenarios that include large scale economic breakdown and civil unrest, know what’s headed our way. If you’re wondering why military troops are being trained for domestic policing and why local police forces are being weaponized and militarized, then you need only consider the law of parsimony (Occam’s Razor). The simplest explanation tends to be true – and in this case, the simplest explanation is that the government is planning on complete pandemonium in America.
Source: SHTFPlan
One simply cannot ignore the progressively deteriorating economic and political conditions in just about every industrialized nation (as well as ‘periphery’ countries like Syria and Egypt). The people are getting frustrated at the inability of political leaders to put forth any meaningful solutions. Moreover, they are dismayed at the utter lack of empathy from politicians who claim to be just like the rest of us, but regularly use their positions of power to amass more wealth and influence for themselves and their well connected friends at the expense of the electorate.
As Sovereign Man Simon Black points out in The Government Is Getting Prepared, What About You?, the last week provides some insight into the emotional and psychological state of the globe’s populace as evidenced by the First Lady of the United States being booed at a major sporting event, and a similar occurrence in Russia with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, not to mention the continued protests in the U.S., Europe, the middle east and elsewhere.
It really doesn’t matter where in the world you are. The people have had enough. And, the majority of them are holding on to the (false) hope that the next election will somehow change things. Just as Scott Brown’s election to the Senate in 2010 at the height of the Tea Party movement failed to change or improve anything because it turns out that the knight in shining armor was just another political prostitute, so too will the next election fail to fundamentally alter the direction we’re headed (unless something amazing happens like the election of a true third party thinker).
People may be holding out hope that things will get better. When the elections of 2012 come and go, and nothing has improved, what we’re seeing play out on the streets of America today is going to intensify. If you think police response is brutal now, wait until the Molotov cocktails start flying.
From Sovereign Man via The Daily Sheeple
These minor instances are emblematic of the massive rift that has emerged between the ‘people’ and their leaders. Politicians may be completely out of touch, but they’re not stupid… and they’re taking steps to prepare.
In so many places around the world right now, anger, animosity, hostility, and anxiety rule the day. For the time being, though, the vast majority of this negativity has an outlet in the political process.
You see, between now and the end of 2012, several hundred national and provincial elections are scheduled around the world– from this past weekend’s parliamentary elections in Spain to presidential elecions in Russia, France, the United States, Mexico, Finland, Iceland, India, Switzerland, South Korea, Yemen, Egypt, and more.
Consequently, people have an outlet to invest their anger and hostility. Emotions are running high, but people at least have a shred of hope that if ‘their guy’ gets elected, everything will get better.
It won’t. And, next year once the election-cycle has disappeared, there will be no more peaceful outlet for all of the anger that has been building up.
That’s when emotions will spill into the streets. And it won’t be peaceful protests being met with violence… it will be violent riots being met with even worse violence.
Politicians are cunning. They can see the writing on the wall, they know that social unrest is a foregone conclusion, and they’re preparing to defend the status quo at all costs.
[emphasis added]
Government game theorists, who have been war-gaming scenarios that include large scale economic breakdown and civil unrest, know what’s headed our way. If you’re wondering why military troops are being trained for domestic policing and why local police forces are being weaponized and militarized, then you need only consider the law of parsimony (Occam’s Razor). The simplest explanation tends to be true – and in this case, the simplest explanation is that the government is planning on complete pandemonium in America.
Source: SHTFPlan
17 Quotes About The Coming Global Financial Collapse That Will Make Your Hair Stand Up
Is the world on the verge of another massive global financial collapse? Yes. The western world is drowning in an ocean of debt unlike anything the world has ever seen before, and our financial markets are gigantic casinos that are dependent on huge mountains of risk and leverage remaining very stable. In the end, this house of cards that has been built on a foundation of sand is going to come crashing down in a horrifying manner. Usually in this column I go on and on about why things will soon get much worse. But today I am going to take a bit of a break. Today, I am going to let some of the top financial professionals in the world tell you why things will soon get much worse. Many of the quotes that you are about to read just might make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Most people out there have no idea what is about to happen. Most people out there are working hard and are busy preparing for the holidays and they are hopeful that the economy will turn around soon. But that is not going to happen. We are heading for another major global financial collapse, and when it happens the U.S. economy is going to get even worse.
The epicenter for the coming global financial collapse is almost certainly going to be in Europe. As you will see below, financial professionals all over the world are sounding the alarm about Europe. It is a disaster that everyone can see coming but that nobody seems to be able to prevent.
Of course the failure of the "supercommittee" in the United States certainly is not helping matters. There is already talk that we may soon see another downgrade for U.S. debt. It is hard to even describe how incompetent the U.S. Congress is.
There is a tremendous lack of leadership both in the United States and in Europe right now. The financial world is more interconnected than ever before, and when the financial dominoes start to fall it is going to take a miracle to keep a complete and total disaster from unfolding.
So when the time comes, who is going to step forward and provide that leadership?
That is a really, really good question.
Right now, panic and fear are spreading like wildfire in the financial world and nobody knows for sure what is going to happen next.
But one thing is for certain. Pessimism is growing stronger by the day.
The following are 17 quotes about the coming global financial collapse that will make your hair stand up....
#1 Credit Suisse's Fixed Income Research unit: "We seem to have entered the last days of the euro as we currently know it. That doesn’t make a break-up very likely, but it does mean some extraordinary things will almost certainly need to happen – probably by mid-January – to prevent the progressive closure of all the euro zone sovereign bond markets, potentially accompanied by escalating runs on even the strongest banks."
#2 Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup: "Time is running out fast. I think we have maybe a few months -- it could be weeks, it could be days -- before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it."
#3 Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank: "If you don't think Merkel's tone will change then our investment advice is to dig a hole in the ground and hide."
#4 David Rosenberg, a senior economist at Gluskin Sheff in Toronto: "Lenders are finding it difficult to finance their day-to-day operations with short-term funding. This is a lot like 2008 but with more twists."
#5 Christian Stracke, the head of credit research for Pimco: "This is just a repeat of what we saw in 2008, when everyone wanted to see toxic assets off the banks’ balance sheets"
#6 Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "At this point I’d guess soaring rates on Italian debt leading to a gigantic bank run, both because of solvency fears about Italian banks given a default and because of fear that Italy will end up leaving the euro. This then leads to emergency bank closing, and once that happens, a decision to drop the euro and install the new lira. Next stop, France."
#7 Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group: "More and more, we are hearing anecdotal comments from individual and professionals that this is the most difficult environment they have ever experienced as the market is like a fish flopping around after being taken out of the water."
#8 Bob Janjuah of Nomura International: "Germany appears to be adamant that full political and fiscal integration over the next decade (nothing substantive will happen over the short term, in my view) is the only option, and ECB monetisation is no longer possible. I really think it is that clear and simple. And if I am wrong, and the ECB does a U-turn and agrees to unlimited monetisation, I will simply wait for the inevitable knee-jerk rally to fade before reloading my short risk positions. Even if Germany and the ECB somehow agree to unlimited monetisation I believe it will do nothing to fix the insolvency and lack of growth in the eurozone. It will just result in a major destruction of the ECB‟s balance sheet which will force an ECB recap. At that point, I think Germany and its northern partners would walk away. Markets always want short, sharp, simple solutions."
#9 Dan Akerson, CEO of General Motors: "The ’08 recession, which was a credit bubble that manifested itself through primarily the real estate market, that was a serious stress....This is much more serious."
#10 Francesco Garzarelli of Goldman Sachs: "Pressures on Euro area sovereign bond markets have progressively intensified and spread like a wildfire."
#11 Jim Rogers: "In 2002 it was bad, in 2008 it was worse and 2012 or 2013 is going to be worse still – be careful"
#12 Dr. Pippa Malmgren, the President and founder of Principalis Asset Management who once worked in the White House as an adviser to President Bush: "Market forces are increasingly determining what the options are and foreclosing on options policymakers thought they had. One option which is now under discussion involves permitting a country to temporarily leave the Euro, return to its native currency, devalue, commit to returning to the Euro at a better debt to GDP ratio, a better exchange rate and a better growth trajectory and yet not sacrifice its EU membership. I would like to say for the record that this is precisely the thought process that I expected to evolve,but when I proposed this possibility back in 2009, and again in September 2010, I had a 100% response from clients and others that this was “impossible” and many felt it was “ridiculous”. They may be right but this is the current state of the discussion. The Handelsblatt in Germany has reported this conversation, but wrongly assumes that the country that will exit is Germany. I think that Germany will have to exit if the Southern European states do not. Germany’s preference is to stay in the Euro and have the others drop out. The problem has been the Germans could not convince the others to walk away. But, now, market pressures are forcing someone to leave. Germany is pushing for that someone to be Italy. They hope that this would be a one off exception, not to be repeated by any other country. Obviously, though, if Italy leaves the Euro and reverts to Lira then the markets will immediately and forcefully attack Spain, Portugal and even whatever is left of the already savaged Greeks. These countries will not be able to compete against a devalued Greece or Italy when it come to tourism or even infrastructure. But, the principal target will be France. The three largest French banks have roughly 450 billion Euros of exposure to Italian debt. So, further sovereign defaults are certainly inevitable, but that is true under any scenario. Growth and austerity will not do the trick, as ZeroHedge rightly points out. Ultimately, I will not be at all surprised to see Europe’s banking system shut for days while the losses and payments issues are worked out. People forget that the term “bank holiday” was invented in the 1930’s when the banks were shut for exactly the same reason."
#13 Daniel Clifton, a policy strategist with Strategas Research Partners on the potential for more downgrades of U.S. debt: "We would expect further downgrades, a first downgrade from Moody’s and Fitch and possibly a second downgrade from S&P."
#14 Warren Buffett on the problems in the eurozone: "The system as presently designed has revealed a major flaw. And that flaw won’t be corrected just by words. Europe will either have to come closer together or there will have to be some other rearrangement because this system is not working"
#15 David Kostin, equity strategist for Goldman Sachs: "The wide range of possible outcomes on both the super committee process and the unstable political economy in Europe drives our view that investors should assume the worst while hoping for the best."
#16 Mark Mobius, the head of the emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management: "There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner"
#17 Gerald Celente, founder of The Trends Research Institute: "The whole system is going down. Pull your money out your Fidelity account, your Scwhab accout, and your ETFs."
Are you starting to get the picture?
When so many top financial professionals are freaking out like this, perhaps the rest of us should start paying attention.
They are telling us that "time is running out".
They are telling us that "there is definitely going to be another financial crisis".
They are telling us that this "is going to be worse" than 2008.
They are telling us that "the whole system is going down".
Yes, a devastating financial collapse really is coming. Just like in 2008, it will seem like the "end of the world" while it is happening, but it won't be. It will severely damage our financial system and our economy, but it will not finish us off.
Think of it this way. When you build a sand castle at the beach, it doesn't get totally wiped out by the first wave or the second wave that hits it. Each wave does significant damage, but the destruction of your sand castle is a process.
It is the same thing with the U.S. economy. We once had the most incredible economic machine that the world has ever seen. It is constantly being gutted and the financial crisis of 2008 hit us really hard, but we are still doing okay.
After this next financial crisis we will be in even worse shape. But we will still be breathing.
More "waves" will come after this next financial crisis. If we continue on the road that we are on, our economy will progressively get worse and worse.
Not everyone will agree with this analysis, and that is okay. In the end, time will reveal the truth to all of us.
Right now, we all need to get ready for the next wave that is about to hit us. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs over the next few years. Hopefully you are prepared for that.
Source: The Economic Collapse
The epicenter for the coming global financial collapse is almost certainly going to be in Europe. As you will see below, financial professionals all over the world are sounding the alarm about Europe. It is a disaster that everyone can see coming but that nobody seems to be able to prevent.
Of course the failure of the "supercommittee" in the United States certainly is not helping matters. There is already talk that we may soon see another downgrade for U.S. debt. It is hard to even describe how incompetent the U.S. Congress is.
There is a tremendous lack of leadership both in the United States and in Europe right now. The financial world is more interconnected than ever before, and when the financial dominoes start to fall it is going to take a miracle to keep a complete and total disaster from unfolding.
So when the time comes, who is going to step forward and provide that leadership?
That is a really, really good question.
Right now, panic and fear are spreading like wildfire in the financial world and nobody knows for sure what is going to happen next.
But one thing is for certain. Pessimism is growing stronger by the day.
The following are 17 quotes about the coming global financial collapse that will make your hair stand up....
#1 Credit Suisse's Fixed Income Research unit: "We seem to have entered the last days of the euro as we currently know it. That doesn’t make a break-up very likely, but it does mean some extraordinary things will almost certainly need to happen – probably by mid-January – to prevent the progressive closure of all the euro zone sovereign bond markets, potentially accompanied by escalating runs on even the strongest banks."
#2 Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup: "Time is running out fast. I think we have maybe a few months -- it could be weeks, it could be days -- before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it."
#3 Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank: "If you don't think Merkel's tone will change then our investment advice is to dig a hole in the ground and hide."
#4 David Rosenberg, a senior economist at Gluskin Sheff in Toronto: "Lenders are finding it difficult to finance their day-to-day operations with short-term funding. This is a lot like 2008 but with more twists."
#5 Christian Stracke, the head of credit research for Pimco: "This is just a repeat of what we saw in 2008, when everyone wanted to see toxic assets off the banks’ balance sheets"
#6 Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "At this point I’d guess soaring rates on Italian debt leading to a gigantic bank run, both because of solvency fears about Italian banks given a default and because of fear that Italy will end up leaving the euro. This then leads to emergency bank closing, and once that happens, a decision to drop the euro and install the new lira. Next stop, France."
#7 Paul Hickey of Bespoke Investment Group: "More and more, we are hearing anecdotal comments from individual and professionals that this is the most difficult environment they have ever experienced as the market is like a fish flopping around after being taken out of the water."
#8 Bob Janjuah of Nomura International: "Germany appears to be adamant that full political and fiscal integration over the next decade (nothing substantive will happen over the short term, in my view) is the only option, and ECB monetisation is no longer possible. I really think it is that clear and simple. And if I am wrong, and the ECB does a U-turn and agrees to unlimited monetisation, I will simply wait for the inevitable knee-jerk rally to fade before reloading my short risk positions. Even if Germany and the ECB somehow agree to unlimited monetisation I believe it will do nothing to fix the insolvency and lack of growth in the eurozone. It will just result in a major destruction of the ECB‟s balance sheet which will force an ECB recap. At that point, I think Germany and its northern partners would walk away. Markets always want short, sharp, simple solutions."
#9 Dan Akerson, CEO of General Motors: "The ’08 recession, which was a credit bubble that manifested itself through primarily the real estate market, that was a serious stress....This is much more serious."
#10 Francesco Garzarelli of Goldman Sachs: "Pressures on Euro area sovereign bond markets have progressively intensified and spread like a wildfire."
#11 Jim Rogers: "In 2002 it was bad, in 2008 it was worse and 2012 or 2013 is going to be worse still – be careful"
#12 Dr. Pippa Malmgren, the President and founder of Principalis Asset Management who once worked in the White House as an adviser to President Bush: "Market forces are increasingly determining what the options are and foreclosing on options policymakers thought they had. One option which is now under discussion involves permitting a country to temporarily leave the Euro, return to its native currency, devalue, commit to returning to the Euro at a better debt to GDP ratio, a better exchange rate and a better growth trajectory and yet not sacrifice its EU membership. I would like to say for the record that this is precisely the thought process that I expected to evolve,but when I proposed this possibility back in 2009, and again in September 2010, I had a 100% response from clients and others that this was “impossible” and many felt it was “ridiculous”. They may be right but this is the current state of the discussion. The Handelsblatt in Germany has reported this conversation, but wrongly assumes that the country that will exit is Germany. I think that Germany will have to exit if the Southern European states do not. Germany’s preference is to stay in the Euro and have the others drop out. The problem has been the Germans could not convince the others to walk away. But, now, market pressures are forcing someone to leave. Germany is pushing for that someone to be Italy. They hope that this would be a one off exception, not to be repeated by any other country. Obviously, though, if Italy leaves the Euro and reverts to Lira then the markets will immediately and forcefully attack Spain, Portugal and even whatever is left of the already savaged Greeks. These countries will not be able to compete against a devalued Greece or Italy when it come to tourism or even infrastructure. But, the principal target will be France. The three largest French banks have roughly 450 billion Euros of exposure to Italian debt. So, further sovereign defaults are certainly inevitable, but that is true under any scenario. Growth and austerity will not do the trick, as ZeroHedge rightly points out. Ultimately, I will not be at all surprised to see Europe’s banking system shut for days while the losses and payments issues are worked out. People forget that the term “bank holiday” was invented in the 1930’s when the banks were shut for exactly the same reason."
#13 Daniel Clifton, a policy strategist with Strategas Research Partners on the potential for more downgrades of U.S. debt: "We would expect further downgrades, a first downgrade from Moody’s and Fitch and possibly a second downgrade from S&P."
#14 Warren Buffett on the problems in the eurozone: "The system as presently designed has revealed a major flaw. And that flaw won’t be corrected just by words. Europe will either have to come closer together or there will have to be some other rearrangement because this system is not working"
#15 David Kostin, equity strategist for Goldman Sachs: "The wide range of possible outcomes on both the super committee process and the unstable political economy in Europe drives our view that investors should assume the worst while hoping for the best."
#16 Mark Mobius, the head of the emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management: "There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner"
#17 Gerald Celente, founder of The Trends Research Institute: "The whole system is going down. Pull your money out your Fidelity account, your Scwhab accout, and your ETFs."
Are you starting to get the picture?
When so many top financial professionals are freaking out like this, perhaps the rest of us should start paying attention.
They are telling us that "time is running out".
They are telling us that "there is definitely going to be another financial crisis".
They are telling us that this "is going to be worse" than 2008.
They are telling us that "the whole system is going down".
Yes, a devastating financial collapse really is coming. Just like in 2008, it will seem like the "end of the world" while it is happening, but it won't be. It will severely damage our financial system and our economy, but it will not finish us off.
Think of it this way. When you build a sand castle at the beach, it doesn't get totally wiped out by the first wave or the second wave that hits it. Each wave does significant damage, but the destruction of your sand castle is a process.
It is the same thing with the U.S. economy. We once had the most incredible economic machine that the world has ever seen. It is constantly being gutted and the financial crisis of 2008 hit us really hard, but we are still doing okay.
After this next financial crisis we will be in even worse shape. But we will still be breathing.
More "waves" will come after this next financial crisis. If we continue on the road that we are on, our economy will progressively get worse and worse.
Not everyone will agree with this analysis, and that is okay. In the end, time will reveal the truth to all of us.
Right now, we all need to get ready for the next wave that is about to hit us. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs over the next few years. Hopefully you are prepared for that.
Source: The Economic Collapse
Saturday, November 19, 2011
The Coming European Superstate That Germany Plans To Cram Down The Throats Of The Rest Of Europe
A lot of people were puzzled about what German Chancellor Angela Merkel meant when she recently stated that the ultimate solution to the financial crisis in the EU would “mean more Europe, not less Europe”. Well, now we are finding out. A leaked internal German government memo entitled “The Future of the EU: Required Integration Policy Improvements for the Creation of a Stability Union” actually proposes the creation of a “European Monetary Fund” which would be given the power to run the economies of troubled European nations. This “stability union” would be quickly followed by the creation of a full-fledged “political union”. Essentially, this leaked memo proposes the creation of a “European Superstate” which will be crammed down the throats of the rest of Europe whether they like it or not. National sovereignty would be a thing of the past and European bureaucrats would run everything. Of course this will never be accepted by the people of Europe until they feel the bitter pain of the coming financial collapse, but we are starting to see that there is already a clear plan for what the Germans wish to implement in the aftermath of the coming crisis.
A lot of people have just assumed that if there is a massive financial collapse in Europe and the euro crashes that it will mean that end of the euro and potentially the breakup of the EU. But that is not what the Germans have planned at all.
An article in the Telegraph has posted details about the leaked internal German government memo mentioned above. It really is startling to see that a full-fledged “political union” in Europe is being discussed at the highest levels of the German government….
The six-page memo, by the German foreign office, argues that Europe’s economic powerhouses should be able to intervene in how beleaguered eurozone countries are run.
The confidential blueprint sets out Germany’s plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis by creating a “stability union” that will be “immediately followed by moves “on the way towards a political union”.
It will prompt fears that Germany’s euro crisis plans could result in a European super-state with spending and tax plans set in Brussels.
Can you imagine what Europe would look like under such a plan?
National sovereignty would be a thing of the past.
Another article in the Telegraph says that the leaked memo proposes that immediately a “European Monetary Fund” should be set up that would have the power to take over and run the economies of European nations that get into too much debt. But according to the memo this would just be an intermediate step toward a full “political union”….
The six-page German foreign ministry paper sets out plans for the creation of a European Monetary Fund with a transfer of sovereignty away from member states.
The fund will have the power to take ailing countries into receivership and run their economies. Even more controversially, the document, entitled The future of the EU: required integration policy improvements for the creation of a Stability Union, declares that the treaty changes are a first stage “in which the EU will develop into a political union”. “The debate on the way towards a political union must begin as soon as the course toward stability union is charted,” it concludes.
As the crisis in Europe has gotten worse, the Germans have become more aggressive about throwing their weight around. At this point, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most important politician in Europe and she has been taking the lead in responding to this financial crisis.
As I have written about previously, there have been persistent rumors that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been “secretly plotting” to create a “new eurozone” that will fundamentally change the way that Europe is run.
For example, the following is from an article that recently came out in the Telegraph….
France is drawing up plans to create a breakaway organisation of eurozone countries with its own treaty, parliament and headquarters – a move that could significantly undermine the existing European Union.
That same article also talked about the goals that France and Germany are hoping to achieve through all of this….
France and Germany are understood to want to strengthen the union between eurozone countries with new taxes and legal measures to stop nations borrowing and spending too much in future.
Of course it is important to note that there is no way that the people of Europe are going to go for any of this right now.
But after feeling the pain of a massive financial collapse for a while will they change their minds?
What is clear is that the status quo is not going to last much longer. Something has got to change. Unfortunately, Germany and France seem determined to push the rest of Europe in the direction of creating a European Superstate.
If you want to get a really good idea of what is happening in Europe right now, just check out this video of a recent speech by Nigel Farage on the floor of the European Parliament on November 16th, 2011. Trust me, it is worth the couple of minutes that it takes to watch it.
But before fundamental structural changes take place in Europe, we are going to see an absolutely crippling financial collapse first. With each passing day, there are more signs that things are rapidly unraveling. The following are just a few of the noteworthy news items from Europe that have come out over the past week….
*In Italy there were violent clashes between protesters and police after Mario Monti unveiled his new austerity program. To get an idea of how crazy things are getting over in Italy, just check out this video.
*Just like what happened when austerity was implemented in Greece, it looks like Italy is now headed down the road toward a major recession. Industrial orders in Italy for the month of September declined by 8.5 percent. That is really, really bad news.
*The EFSF has already been forced to buy up huge numbers of its own bonds. That essentially means that the EFSF is already a bad joke.
*Dozens of big banks all over Europe have been downgraded in recent weeks. Even German banks are getting downgraded now. The other day, Moody’s downgraded the ratings of 10 major German banks.
An increasing number of people that work in the financial world are starting to get really freaked out about everything that is going on.
The following is what Mark Mobius, head of the emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management, had to say recently….
“There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner, because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis.”
Willem Buiter, the chief economist of Citigroup, believes that if something is not done quickly, there will be a financial collapse in Europe in very short order….
“Time is running out fast. I think we have maybe a few months — it could be weeks, it could be days — before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it. So they have to act now.”
Ann Barnhardt of Barnhardt Capital Management actually shut down her entire firm because she could no longer guarantee that the money her clients were putting into the futures and options markets would be safe. Posted below are extended excerpts from the open letter that she recently released to the public. Normally I would not post such extended excerpts, but in this case I believe that they are warranted. What Barnhardt has written should be a huge wake up call for all of us. It is refreshing (and a bit frightening) to get an honest assessment of the corruption in the financial world from someone that has made a good living in that world. The following is how she began her letter….
It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.
The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.
So how did the MF Global collapse wreck the system? Barnhardt went on to explain this….
The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.
Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.
Even more frightening, Barnhardt says that the MF Global collapse is just the “tip of the iceberg” and that more collapses like this are about to happen….
I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.
So what does Barnhardt say that we should all do? She is actually recommending that everyone should completely abandon the futures and options markets….
And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.
Remember, a few weeks ago I warned you all that a massive derivatives crisis is coming. Anyone that plays around with derivatives at this point is playing with fire. Barnhardt says that she will never reopen her firm until Barack Obama is removed from office and fundamental reforms to the financial system have been implemented….
Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.
We are on the verge of a financial crisis that could potentially be just as bad (or even worse) than the financial crisis of 2008.
Right now, 2012 is shaping up as a very, very bad year.
As I have written about previously, when European leaders proposed that private Greek bondholders should take a “50% haircut”, they massively undermined faith in the European financial system.
Now panic and fear are in the air and it is unlikely that financial markets will be calmed any time soon.
Already, there are early signs of the kind of massive credit crunch that almost brought about “the end of the world” in financial markets back in 2008.
For example, a CNBC article that was posted on Friday reported that the flow of credit in Europe is seriously drying up….
Fear over European banks’ exposure to risky government debt stalked markets and harried bank executives on Friday, as unsecured lending between banks evaporated and the cost of secured loans rose.
And as a recent article posted on Zero Hedge discussed, a similar thing is starting to happen in the United States….
The entire dollar funding market is now at levels not seen since the Lehman collapse and is effectively frozen. Only this time it is much, much worse as never before has the global central bank cadre been assumed and implied to be backstopping the global liquidity cascade. Ex-out the implied backstop by the monetary authorities, and liquidity is now locked up more than ever in the history of capital markets.
So what should we do about this?
We should take action and get prepared for what is coming.
Unfortunately, an increasing number of Americans seem to be “checking out” instead. According to a recent Gallup poll, alcohol consumption in the United States has hit a 25 year high. More than one out of every ten Americans over the age of 12 is on prescription antidepressants, and most American families spend endless hours staring at the television in an attempt to escape the pain and the frustration that they constantly feel.
Hopefully by working together we can help more Americans (and more Europeans as well) to wake up, to get off their couches, and to take action in a positive way.
Time is running out and the economic crisis is rapidly getting worse.
We don’t have any time to waste.
Source With Links: The Economic Collapse
A lot of people have just assumed that if there is a massive financial collapse in Europe and the euro crashes that it will mean that end of the euro and potentially the breakup of the EU. But that is not what the Germans have planned at all.
An article in the Telegraph has posted details about the leaked internal German government memo mentioned above. It really is startling to see that a full-fledged “political union” in Europe is being discussed at the highest levels of the German government….
The six-page memo, by the German foreign office, argues that Europe’s economic powerhouses should be able to intervene in how beleaguered eurozone countries are run.
The confidential blueprint sets out Germany’s plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis by creating a “stability union” that will be “immediately followed by moves “on the way towards a political union”.
It will prompt fears that Germany’s euro crisis plans could result in a European super-state with spending and tax plans set in Brussels.
Can you imagine what Europe would look like under such a plan?
National sovereignty would be a thing of the past.
Another article in the Telegraph says that the leaked memo proposes that immediately a “European Monetary Fund” should be set up that would have the power to take over and run the economies of European nations that get into too much debt. But according to the memo this would just be an intermediate step toward a full “political union”….
The six-page German foreign ministry paper sets out plans for the creation of a European Monetary Fund with a transfer of sovereignty away from member states.
The fund will have the power to take ailing countries into receivership and run their economies. Even more controversially, the document, entitled The future of the EU: required integration policy improvements for the creation of a Stability Union, declares that the treaty changes are a first stage “in which the EU will develop into a political union”. “The debate on the way towards a political union must begin as soon as the course toward stability union is charted,” it concludes.
As the crisis in Europe has gotten worse, the Germans have become more aggressive about throwing their weight around. At this point, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the most important politician in Europe and she has been taking the lead in responding to this financial crisis.
As I have written about previously, there have been persistent rumors that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been “secretly plotting” to create a “new eurozone” that will fundamentally change the way that Europe is run.
For example, the following is from an article that recently came out in the Telegraph….
France is drawing up plans to create a breakaway organisation of eurozone countries with its own treaty, parliament and headquarters – a move that could significantly undermine the existing European Union.
That same article also talked about the goals that France and Germany are hoping to achieve through all of this….
France and Germany are understood to want to strengthen the union between eurozone countries with new taxes and legal measures to stop nations borrowing and spending too much in future.
Of course it is important to note that there is no way that the people of Europe are going to go for any of this right now.
But after feeling the pain of a massive financial collapse for a while will they change their minds?
What is clear is that the status quo is not going to last much longer. Something has got to change. Unfortunately, Germany and France seem determined to push the rest of Europe in the direction of creating a European Superstate.
If you want to get a really good idea of what is happening in Europe right now, just check out this video of a recent speech by Nigel Farage on the floor of the European Parliament on November 16th, 2011. Trust me, it is worth the couple of minutes that it takes to watch it.
But before fundamental structural changes take place in Europe, we are going to see an absolutely crippling financial collapse first. With each passing day, there are more signs that things are rapidly unraveling. The following are just a few of the noteworthy news items from Europe that have come out over the past week….
*In Italy there were violent clashes between protesters and police after Mario Monti unveiled his new austerity program. To get an idea of how crazy things are getting over in Italy, just check out this video.
*Just like what happened when austerity was implemented in Greece, it looks like Italy is now headed down the road toward a major recession. Industrial orders in Italy for the month of September declined by 8.5 percent. That is really, really bad news.
*The EFSF has already been forced to buy up huge numbers of its own bonds. That essentially means that the EFSF is already a bad joke.
*Dozens of big banks all over Europe have been downgraded in recent weeks. Even German banks are getting downgraded now. The other day, Moody’s downgraded the ratings of 10 major German banks.
An increasing number of people that work in the financial world are starting to get really freaked out about everything that is going on.
The following is what Mark Mobius, head of the emerging markets desk at Templeton Asset Management, had to say recently….
“There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner, because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis.”
Willem Buiter, the chief economist of Citigroup, believes that if something is not done quickly, there will be a financial collapse in Europe in very short order….
“Time is running out fast. I think we have maybe a few months — it could be weeks, it could be days — before there is a material risk of a fundamentally unnecessary default by a country like Spain or Italy which would be a financial catastrophe dragging the European banking system and North America with it. So they have to act now.”
Ann Barnhardt of Barnhardt Capital Management actually shut down her entire firm because she could no longer guarantee that the money her clients were putting into the futures and options markets would be safe. Posted below are extended excerpts from the open letter that she recently released to the public. Normally I would not post such extended excerpts, but in this case I believe that they are warranted. What Barnhardt has written should be a huge wake up call for all of us. It is refreshing (and a bit frightening) to get an honest assessment of the corruption in the financial world from someone that has made a good living in that world. The following is how she began her letter….
It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.
The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.
So how did the MF Global collapse wreck the system? Barnhardt went on to explain this….
The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.
Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.
Even more frightening, Barnhardt says that the MF Global collapse is just the “tip of the iceberg” and that more collapses like this are about to happen….
I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.
So what does Barnhardt say that we should all do? She is actually recommending that everyone should completely abandon the futures and options markets….
And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.
Remember, a few weeks ago I warned you all that a massive derivatives crisis is coming. Anyone that plays around with derivatives at this point is playing with fire. Barnhardt says that she will never reopen her firm until Barack Obama is removed from office and fundamental reforms to the financial system have been implemented….
Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.
We are on the verge of a financial crisis that could potentially be just as bad (or even worse) than the financial crisis of 2008.
Right now, 2012 is shaping up as a very, very bad year.
As I have written about previously, when European leaders proposed that private Greek bondholders should take a “50% haircut”, they massively undermined faith in the European financial system.
Now panic and fear are in the air and it is unlikely that financial markets will be calmed any time soon.
Already, there are early signs of the kind of massive credit crunch that almost brought about “the end of the world” in financial markets back in 2008.
For example, a CNBC article that was posted on Friday reported that the flow of credit in Europe is seriously drying up….
Fear over European banks’ exposure to risky government debt stalked markets and harried bank executives on Friday, as unsecured lending between banks evaporated and the cost of secured loans rose.
And as a recent article posted on Zero Hedge discussed, a similar thing is starting to happen in the United States….
The entire dollar funding market is now at levels not seen since the Lehman collapse and is effectively frozen. Only this time it is much, much worse as never before has the global central bank cadre been assumed and implied to be backstopping the global liquidity cascade. Ex-out the implied backstop by the monetary authorities, and liquidity is now locked up more than ever in the history of capital markets.
So what should we do about this?
We should take action and get prepared for what is coming.
Unfortunately, an increasing number of Americans seem to be “checking out” instead. According to a recent Gallup poll, alcohol consumption in the United States has hit a 25 year high. More than one out of every ten Americans over the age of 12 is on prescription antidepressants, and most American families spend endless hours staring at the television in an attempt to escape the pain and the frustration that they constantly feel.
Hopefully by working together we can help more Americans (and more Europeans as well) to wake up, to get off their couches, and to take action in a positive way.
Time is running out and the economic crisis is rapidly getting worse.
We don’t have any time to waste.
Source With Links: The Economic Collapse
Friday, November 18, 2011
Great Changes
Glynda Lomax
I was thinking about a close friend who is going through a divorce and how she has adapted to all the changes the divorce has brought into her life when the Lord began to speak this word to me today.
In this new year as change rolls out across the earth, many will find they can no longer live their old ways. Change will be required in order to survive. My people will be led to change beforehand.
My people shall rise up to this change as if they expected it for I will prepare them beforehand for what is coming. Those near Me who walk in My ways will be prepared. Much change is indeed coming, great changes you know not of.
It is of utmost importance My people walk in complete obedience to Me at this time. There is no time for dragging your feet, for resisting change when I bring it into your lives. I am preparing you for what lies ahead, My people, and if you resist, you will not be ready when change is forced upon you. Yield to My gentle leading.
A time of much chaos is approaching in the world. Stable systems are no longer stable, leaders no longer lead and guide, but fall themselves into traps the enemy has set for them. Some of these I give way to fall, others are tempted and give in to what they know they should not do. They will be found out. The time when systems in place operated faithfully is gone now to make way for change.
Change is coming, and those who deny it are deceived. Those who resist it will be taken forcefully by it, and will not be ready. Those who yield to Me and My leading will be hidden in Me as the changes come. Ready and prepared, they will not be devastated by events soon to happen.
The stage has been set and now is ready for all My word has foretold. The man of perdition shall soon appear. He comes to deceive and destroy all mankind. He shall have his way with many. There are many in the world who are willing to be deceived for wealth, for pleasure, or for the sake of being exalted among men. They do not believe in what is yet to come, but consider it a fairy tale of sorts devised by the weak. They shall know they have been deceived in the end.
My Children, stay close to Me for what is coming in the world shall indeed terrify many. It is not My will that you would be afraid, for these things must happen
Thessalonians 2:1-4: Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Source: Wings of Prophecy
I was thinking about a close friend who is going through a divorce and how she has adapted to all the changes the divorce has brought into her life when the Lord began to speak this word to me today.
In this new year as change rolls out across the earth, many will find they can no longer live their old ways. Change will be required in order to survive. My people will be led to change beforehand.
My people shall rise up to this change as if they expected it for I will prepare them beforehand for what is coming. Those near Me who walk in My ways will be prepared. Much change is indeed coming, great changes you know not of.
It is of utmost importance My people walk in complete obedience to Me at this time. There is no time for dragging your feet, for resisting change when I bring it into your lives. I am preparing you for what lies ahead, My people, and if you resist, you will not be ready when change is forced upon you. Yield to My gentle leading.
A time of much chaos is approaching in the world. Stable systems are no longer stable, leaders no longer lead and guide, but fall themselves into traps the enemy has set for them. Some of these I give way to fall, others are tempted and give in to what they know they should not do. They will be found out. The time when systems in place operated faithfully is gone now to make way for change.
Change is coming, and those who deny it are deceived. Those who resist it will be taken forcefully by it, and will not be ready. Those who yield to Me and My leading will be hidden in Me as the changes come. Ready and prepared, they will not be devastated by events soon to happen.
The stage has been set and now is ready for all My word has foretold. The man of perdition shall soon appear. He comes to deceive and destroy all mankind. He shall have his way with many. There are many in the world who are willing to be deceived for wealth, for pleasure, or for the sake of being exalted among men. They do not believe in what is yet to come, but consider it a fairy tale of sorts devised by the weak. They shall know they have been deceived in the end.
My Children, stay close to Me for what is coming in the world shall indeed terrify many. It is not My will that you would be afraid, for these things must happen
Thessalonians 2:1-4: Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Source: Wings of Prophecy
"The Entire System Has Been Utterly Destroyed By The MF Global Collapse"
Presented without comment, merely to confirm that the market as we know it, no longer exists.
BCM Has Ceased Operations (source)
Posted by Ann Barnhardt - November 17, AD 2011 10:27 AM MST
Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,
It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.
The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.
The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.
Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.
I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.
Perhaps the most ominous dynamic that I have yet heard of in regards to this mess is that of the risk of potential CLAWBACK actions. For those who do not know, “clawback” is the process by which a bankruptcy trustee is legally permitted to re-seize assets that left a bankrupt entity in the time period immediately preceding the entity’s collapse. So, using the MF Global customers as an example, any funds that were withdrawn from MFG accounts in the run-up to the collapse, either because of suspicions the customer may have had about MFG from, say, watching the company’s bond yields rise sharply, or from purely organic day-to-day withdrawls, the bankruptcy trustee COULD initiate action to “clawback” those funds. As a hedge broker, this makes my blood run cold. Generally, as the markets move in favor of a hedge position and equity builds in a client’s account, that excess equity is sent back to the customer who then uses that equity to offset cash market transactions OR to pay down a revolving line of credit. Even the possibility that a customer could be penalized and additionally raped AGAIN via a clawback action after already having their customer funds stolen is simply villainous. While there has been no open indication of clawback actions being initiated by the MF Global trustee, I have been told that it is a possibility.
And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.
Remember, derivatives contracts are NOT NECESSARY in the commodities markets. The cash commodity itself is the underlying reality and is not dependent on the futures or options markets. Many people seem to have gotten that backwards over the past decades. From Abel the animal husbandman up until the year 1964, there were no cattle futures contracts at all, and no options contracts until 1984, and yet the cash cattle markets got along just fine.
Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.
To my clients, who literally TO THE MAN agreed with my assessment of the situation, and were relieved to be exiting the markets, and many whom I now suspect stayed in the markets as long as they did only out of personal loyalty to me, I can only say thank you for the honor and pleasure of serving you over these last years, with some of my clients having been with me for over twelve years. I will continue to blog at Barnhardt.biz, which will be subtly re-skinned soon, and will continue my cattle marketing consultation business. I will still be here in the office, answering my phones, with the same phone numbers. Alas, my retirement came a few years earlier than I had anticipated, but there was no possible way to continue given the inevitability of the collapse of the global financial markets, the overthrow of our government, and the resulting collapse in the rule of law.
As for me, I can only echo the words of David:
“This is the Lord’s doing; and it is wonderful in our eyes.”
With Best Regards-
Ann Barnhardt
Source: Zero Hedge
Note: You must be making preparations NOW! Watchman57
BCM Has Ceased Operations (source)
Posted by Ann Barnhardt - November 17, AD 2011 10:27 AM MST
Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,
It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.
The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy.
The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system.
Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette.
I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm.
Perhaps the most ominous dynamic that I have yet heard of in regards to this mess is that of the risk of potential CLAWBACK actions. For those who do not know, “clawback” is the process by which a bankruptcy trustee is legally permitted to re-seize assets that left a bankrupt entity in the time period immediately preceding the entity’s collapse. So, using the MF Global customers as an example, any funds that were withdrawn from MFG accounts in the run-up to the collapse, either because of suspicions the customer may have had about MFG from, say, watching the company’s bond yields rise sharply, or from purely organic day-to-day withdrawls, the bankruptcy trustee COULD initiate action to “clawback” those funds. As a hedge broker, this makes my blood run cold. Generally, as the markets move in favor of a hedge position and equity builds in a client’s account, that excess equity is sent back to the customer who then uses that equity to offset cash market transactions OR to pay down a revolving line of credit. Even the possibility that a customer could be penalized and additionally raped AGAIN via a clawback action after already having their customer funds stolen is simply villainous. While there has been no open indication of clawback actions being initiated by the MF Global trustee, I have been told that it is a possibility.
And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.
Remember, derivatives contracts are NOT NECESSARY in the commodities markets. The cash commodity itself is the underlying reality and is not dependent on the futures or options markets. Many people seem to have gotten that backwards over the past decades. From Abel the animal husbandman up until the year 1964, there were no cattle futures contracts at all, and no options contracts until 1984, and yet the cash cattle markets got along just fine.
Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy.
To my clients, who literally TO THE MAN agreed with my assessment of the situation, and were relieved to be exiting the markets, and many whom I now suspect stayed in the markets as long as they did only out of personal loyalty to me, I can only say thank you for the honor and pleasure of serving you over these last years, with some of my clients having been with me for over twelve years. I will continue to blog at Barnhardt.biz, which will be subtly re-skinned soon, and will continue my cattle marketing consultation business. I will still be here in the office, answering my phones, with the same phone numbers. Alas, my retirement came a few years earlier than I had anticipated, but there was no possible way to continue given the inevitability of the collapse of the global financial markets, the overthrow of our government, and the resulting collapse in the rule of law.
As for me, I can only echo the words of David:
“This is the Lord’s doing; and it is wonderful in our eyes.”
With Best Regards-
Ann Barnhardt
Source: Zero Hedge
Note: You must be making preparations NOW! Watchman57
Friday, November 11, 2011
Change Is Coming
Glynda Lomax
I had a really restless last evening and woke up in the wee hours of the morning and could not go back to sleep, even after praying. I found out today that many others also felt it, so I began to seek the Lord about what we were sensing. This is what He said.
This land has known a time of ease and prosperity and prosperity made fools of many who found the world too alluring to resist. I shall began to tear down the false gods My people have chosen over Me and reveal their powerlessness one by one.
Some of you will weep as you see your false gods destroyed but this must be done, that you may know Me as the one true living God. Your false gods are only illusions the enemy has devised to steal your worship away from Me.
Many of you have felt a stirring in the spirit of late. You have felt weeping in your soul for the lost, those who do not know Me. You have felt My grief at those who will be lost in the end.
The time has come for My judgments to be rendered in the earth. Many lives shall be lost in what is coming. Many souls will be lost to the enemy if My people do not obey Me in this time. I desire My people would pray focused prayers - for the lost, for their cities, for their nations, that I may show mercy. If My people do not obey Me, some of the lost will be among their own families and loved ones. They shall suffer greatly for their lack of obedience in this time.
Tell them. Tell them I am coming. Tell them to be ready to hear My commands. Tell them to start praying and not cease until it is over. Tell them I am coming.
You shall see fearful sights. Men's hearts truly will fail them in what they see. A change is coming. Things will not ever go back the way they were after this change. This change will not appear the way you think it will. It will come softly, but it is a big change, behind the scenes, and the impact will be high. The change will not be evident immediately, but over time. Once it has taken place, however, it will not revert. You will not be able to miss this change once it has taken place, and you will know what it is.
You must tell My people how to prepare for this change. Tell them I love them (I heard such incredible sadness and grief in His voice when He said that He loves us!) Tell them My judgments are righteous and those who are judged now have time to repent. (There are people in whose lives God's hand of judgment is already beginning to fall - I saw in my spirit that these were the ones He meant here).
Those who are judged later will not.
Tell My people to pass before Me (I saw His throne in my spirit and felt He meant to pass before His throne by praying) and repent of every sin they know of they have and let Me help them. The time to turn from your sins is now - do not wait, My children! Do not wait, for time is much shorter than you think. Come before Me and confess your sins now for My judgments are coming to your land and many of you will not have time later. (I felt a really terrible heaviness in my spirit when He said that.) You must not neglect to do this. Even sins you think of as small must be confessed that I may forgive you now and you must turn from them. What is coming in this next year will create a rocky path for many of you to walk on, your times will not be easy. Difficulties shall abound all around you.
The changes you see happening now are only the very beginning. Some of you believe everything will return as it was and that it will be (what we call) "business as usual," but it shall not be so. Change is here to stay.
In coming months, you shall feel as if you are standing on shifting sands for there will be constant change. Some of these changes you may suspect are coming, others will be complete surprises to many of you.
It is time to move forward, My people, for time is short.
Psalm 96:5: For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 106:36: And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
Luke 21:25-26: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (26) Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Joel 2:13: nd rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
You can download this word with my comments in MP3 format on my Blog Talk Radio Show page here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/glyndalomax/2011/11/11/straight-talk-with-glynda-lomax
Source With Links: Wings of Prophecy
I had a really restless last evening and woke up in the wee hours of the morning and could not go back to sleep, even after praying. I found out today that many others also felt it, so I began to seek the Lord about what we were sensing. This is what He said.
This land has known a time of ease and prosperity and prosperity made fools of many who found the world too alluring to resist. I shall began to tear down the false gods My people have chosen over Me and reveal their powerlessness one by one.
Some of you will weep as you see your false gods destroyed but this must be done, that you may know Me as the one true living God. Your false gods are only illusions the enemy has devised to steal your worship away from Me.
Many of you have felt a stirring in the spirit of late. You have felt weeping in your soul for the lost, those who do not know Me. You have felt My grief at those who will be lost in the end.
The time has come for My judgments to be rendered in the earth. Many lives shall be lost in what is coming. Many souls will be lost to the enemy if My people do not obey Me in this time. I desire My people would pray focused prayers - for the lost, for their cities, for their nations, that I may show mercy. If My people do not obey Me, some of the lost will be among their own families and loved ones. They shall suffer greatly for their lack of obedience in this time.
Tell them. Tell them I am coming. Tell them to be ready to hear My commands. Tell them to start praying and not cease until it is over. Tell them I am coming.
You shall see fearful sights. Men's hearts truly will fail them in what they see. A change is coming. Things will not ever go back the way they were after this change. This change will not appear the way you think it will. It will come softly, but it is a big change, behind the scenes, and the impact will be high. The change will not be evident immediately, but over time. Once it has taken place, however, it will not revert. You will not be able to miss this change once it has taken place, and you will know what it is.
You must tell My people how to prepare for this change. Tell them I love them (I heard such incredible sadness and grief in His voice when He said that He loves us!) Tell them My judgments are righteous and those who are judged now have time to repent. (There are people in whose lives God's hand of judgment is already beginning to fall - I saw in my spirit that these were the ones He meant here).
Those who are judged later will not.
Tell My people to pass before Me (I saw His throne in my spirit and felt He meant to pass before His throne by praying) and repent of every sin they know of they have and let Me help them. The time to turn from your sins is now - do not wait, My children! Do not wait, for time is much shorter than you think. Come before Me and confess your sins now for My judgments are coming to your land and many of you will not have time later. (I felt a really terrible heaviness in my spirit when He said that.) You must not neglect to do this. Even sins you think of as small must be confessed that I may forgive you now and you must turn from them. What is coming in this next year will create a rocky path for many of you to walk on, your times will not be easy. Difficulties shall abound all around you.
The changes you see happening now are only the very beginning. Some of you believe everything will return as it was and that it will be (what we call) "business as usual," but it shall not be so. Change is here to stay.
In coming months, you shall feel as if you are standing on shifting sands for there will be constant change. Some of these changes you may suspect are coming, others will be complete surprises to many of you.
It is time to move forward, My people, for time is short.
Psalm 96:5: For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.
Psalm 106:36: And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them.
Luke 21:25-26: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (26) Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Joel 2:13: nd rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
You can download this word with my comments in MP3 format on my Blog Talk Radio Show page here:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/glyndalomax/2011/11/11/straight-talk-with-glynda-lomax
Source With Links: Wings of Prophecy
Health department tyrants raid local 'farm to fork' picnic dinner, orders all food to be destroyed with bleach
Ethan A. Huff
It is the latest case of extreme government food tyranny, and one that is sure to have you reeling in anger and disgust. Health department officials recently conducted a raid of Quail Hollow Farm, an organic community supported agriculture (CSA) farm in southern Nevada, during its special "farm to fork" picnic dinner put on for guests -- and the agent who arrived on the scene ordered that all the fresh, local produce and pasture-based meat that was intended for the meal be destroyed with bleach.
For about five years now, Quail Hollow Farm has been growing organic produce and raising healthy, pasture-based animals which it provides to members as part of a CSA program. And it recently held its first annual "Farm to Fork Dinner Event," which offered guests an opportunity to tour the farm, meet those responsible for growing and raising the food, and of course partake in sharing a meal composed of the delicious bounty with others.
But when the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) got word of the event and decided to get involved, this simple gathering of friends and neighbors around a giant, family-style picnic table quickly became a convenient target for the heavy hand of an out-of-control government agency. And Monte and Laura Bledsoe, the owners and operators of Quail Hollow Farm, were unprepared for what would happen next.
SNHD official Mary Oaks raids picnic without cause or warrant, orders destruction of dinner food
Laura Bledsoe explains in a letter to her guests written after the fact that two days prior to the event, SNHD contacted the farm to say that, because the picnic was technically a "public" event, the couple would have to obtain a "special use permit," or else face a very steep fine. Not wanting to risk having the event disrupted, the Bledsoes agreed to jump through all the demanded legal hoops even though their gathering was really just a backyard picnic.
But the day of the event, an inspector from SNHD, Mary Oaks, showed up and declared that all the food the Bledsoes would be serving was "unfit for consumption," and that it would have to be destroyed. Though there was no logical or lawful reasoning behind this declaration, and the Bledsoes had complied with all the requirements, Oaks insisted that the food be discarded and destroyed using a bleach solution.
One of the so-called reasons for this action included the fact that some of the food packaging did not contain labels, even though labels are not necessary if the food is eaten within 72 hours. Oaks also cited the fact that some of the meat was not US Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified, that the vegetables had already been cut and were thus a "bio-hazard," and that there were no receipts for the food (which was all grown on the farm, not purchased from a grocery store).
You can view pictures of the event, as well as video footage of Inspector Oaks raiding the party, at the following link:
http://www.reallyvegasphoto.com/Eve...
Unaware of their rights, the Bledsoes initially complied with Oaks' unlawful demands and destroyed the food. But shortly thereafter, Laura's husband Monte remembered that they had an emergency contact number for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) on their refrigerator.
Shocked that they even had to resort to this desperate measure, the Bledsoes called FTCLDF for advice and spoke with General Counsel Gary Cox, who instructed them to ask Oaks for a search and arrest warrant, which of course she did not have. The Bledsoes then asked Oaks to leave the property, upon which she allegedly stormed off in anger and screamed that she was going to call the police.
Police eventually arrived, but unaware of why they had been called and what the alleged crime was, they, too, left and offered their apologies to the Bledsoes. Fortunately, the Bledsoes were able to improvise with the chef to create a whole new meal for their guests, which ended up turning out to be a type of blessing in disguise, according to Laura.
The entire shocking incident serves as a reminder to know your rights when it comes to food and health freedom. Without a proper search or arrest warrant, so-called health inspectors or law enforcement officials have no business on your property. And if they ever try to pull a stunt like what happened at Quail Hollow Farm at your gathering, you have every right to demand that they vacate your property as well.
Sources for this article include:
Be sure to read Laura's full account of the raid here:
http://www.quailhollowfarmcsa.com/3...
And check out the video footage captured at the event, including footage of SNHD inspector Mary Oaks, here:
http://www.reallyvegasphoto.com/Eve...
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034125_food_freedom_picnic.html#ixzz1dP9sdNre
Source With Links: NaturalNews
It is the latest case of extreme government food tyranny, and one that is sure to have you reeling in anger and disgust. Health department officials recently conducted a raid of Quail Hollow Farm, an organic community supported agriculture (CSA) farm in southern Nevada, during its special "farm to fork" picnic dinner put on for guests -- and the agent who arrived on the scene ordered that all the fresh, local produce and pasture-based meat that was intended for the meal be destroyed with bleach.
For about five years now, Quail Hollow Farm has been growing organic produce and raising healthy, pasture-based animals which it provides to members as part of a CSA program. And it recently held its first annual "Farm to Fork Dinner Event," which offered guests an opportunity to tour the farm, meet those responsible for growing and raising the food, and of course partake in sharing a meal composed of the delicious bounty with others.
But when the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) got word of the event and decided to get involved, this simple gathering of friends and neighbors around a giant, family-style picnic table quickly became a convenient target for the heavy hand of an out-of-control government agency. And Monte and Laura Bledsoe, the owners and operators of Quail Hollow Farm, were unprepared for what would happen next.
SNHD official Mary Oaks raids picnic without cause or warrant, orders destruction of dinner food
Laura Bledsoe explains in a letter to her guests written after the fact that two days prior to the event, SNHD contacted the farm to say that, because the picnic was technically a "public" event, the couple would have to obtain a "special use permit," or else face a very steep fine. Not wanting to risk having the event disrupted, the Bledsoes agreed to jump through all the demanded legal hoops even though their gathering was really just a backyard picnic.
But the day of the event, an inspector from SNHD, Mary Oaks, showed up and declared that all the food the Bledsoes would be serving was "unfit for consumption," and that it would have to be destroyed. Though there was no logical or lawful reasoning behind this declaration, and the Bledsoes had complied with all the requirements, Oaks insisted that the food be discarded and destroyed using a bleach solution.
One of the so-called reasons for this action included the fact that some of the food packaging did not contain labels, even though labels are not necessary if the food is eaten within 72 hours. Oaks also cited the fact that some of the meat was not US Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified, that the vegetables had already been cut and were thus a "bio-hazard," and that there were no receipts for the food (which was all grown on the farm, not purchased from a grocery store).
You can view pictures of the event, as well as video footage of Inspector Oaks raiding the party, at the following link:
http://www.reallyvegasphoto.com/Eve...
Unaware of their rights, the Bledsoes initially complied with Oaks' unlawful demands and destroyed the food. But shortly thereafter, Laura's husband Monte remembered that they had an emergency contact number for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF) on their refrigerator.
Shocked that they even had to resort to this desperate measure, the Bledsoes called FTCLDF for advice and spoke with General Counsel Gary Cox, who instructed them to ask Oaks for a search and arrest warrant, which of course she did not have. The Bledsoes then asked Oaks to leave the property, upon which she allegedly stormed off in anger and screamed that she was going to call the police.
Police eventually arrived, but unaware of why they had been called and what the alleged crime was, they, too, left and offered their apologies to the Bledsoes. Fortunately, the Bledsoes were able to improvise with the chef to create a whole new meal for their guests, which ended up turning out to be a type of blessing in disguise, according to Laura.
The entire shocking incident serves as a reminder to know your rights when it comes to food and health freedom. Without a proper search or arrest warrant, so-called health inspectors or law enforcement officials have no business on your property. And if they ever try to pull a stunt like what happened at Quail Hollow Farm at your gathering, you have every right to demand that they vacate your property as well.
Sources for this article include:
Be sure to read Laura's full account of the raid here:
http://www.quailhollowfarmcsa.com/3...
And check out the video footage captured at the event, including footage of SNHD inspector Mary Oaks, here:
http://www.reallyvegasphoto.com/Eve...
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034125_food_freedom_picnic.html#ixzz1dP9sdNre
Source With Links: NaturalNews
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
New Street Lights To Have “Homeland Security” Applications
Paul Joseph Watson
UPDATE: Presumably in response to this article being linked on the Drudge Report, the company behind ‘Intellistreets’, Illuminating Concepts, has now pulled the video from You Tube entirely, presumably nervous about the negative publicity that could be generated from concerns about street lights being used for “Homeland Security” purposes – their words, not ours. We have added an alternative version of the clip below, but it may be subject to removal at any time. The video is still available on the company’s website.
RELATED: Promo Video For DHS-Backed ‘Spy Street Lights’ Pulled From You Tube
New street lights that include “Homeland Security” applications including speaker systems, motion sensors and video surveillance are now being rolled out with the aid of government funding.
The Intellistreets system comprises of a wireless digital infrastructure that allows street lights to be controlled remotely by means of a ubiquitous wi-fi link and a miniature computer housed inside each street light, allowing for “security, energy management, data harvesting and digital media,” according to the Illuminating Concepts website.
According to the company’s You Tube video of the concept, the primary capabilities of the devices include “energy conservation, homeland security, public safety, traffic control, advertising, video surveillance.”
In terms of Homeland Security applications, each of the light poles contains a speaker system that can be used to broadcast emergency alerts, as well as a display that transmits “security levels” (presumably a similar system to the DHS’ much maligned color-coded terror alert designation), in addition to showing instructions by way of its LED video screen.
The lights also include proximity sensors that can record both pedestrian and road traffic. The video display and speaker system will also be used to transmit Minority Report-style advertising, as well as Amber Alerts and other “civic announcements”.
With the aid of grant money from the federal government, the company is about to launch the first concept installation of the system in the city of Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Using street lights as surveillance tools has already been advanced by several European countries. In 2007, leaked documents out of the UK Home Office revealed that British authorities were working on proposals to fit lamp posts with CCTV cameras that would X-ray scan passers-by and “undress them” in order to “trap terror suspects”.
Dutch police also announced last year that they are developing a mobile scanner that will “see through people’s clothing and look for concealed weapons”.
So-called ‘talking surveillance cameras’ that use a speaker system similar to the Intellistreets model are already being used in UK cities like Middlesborough to bark orders and reprimand people for dropping litter and other minor offenses. According to reports, one of the most common phrases used to shame people into obeying instructions is to broadcast the message, “We are watching you.”
The transformation of street lights into surveillance tools for Homeland Security purposes will only serve to heighten concerns that the United States is fast on the way to becoming a high-tech police state, with TSA agents being empowered to oversee that control grid, most recently with the announcement that TSA screeners would be manning highway checkpoints, a further indication that security measures we currently see in airports are rapidly spilling out onto the streets.
The ability of the government to use street lights to transmit “emergency alerts” also dovetails with the ongoing efforts to hijack radio and television broadcasts for the same purpose, via FEMA’s Emergency Alert System.
The federal government is keen to implement a centralized system of control over all communications, with the recent announcement that all new cell phones will be required to comply with the PLAN program (Personal Localized Alerting Network), which will broadcast emergency alert messages directly to Americans’ cell phones using a special chip embedded in the receiver. The system will be operational by the end of the year in New York and Washington, with the rest of the country set to follow in 2012.
The notion of using the street lights as communication tools to broadcast “alerts” directly from the federal government is also consistent with Homeland Security’s program to install Orwellian ‘telescreens’ that play messages by Janet Napolitano and other DHS officials in Wal-Mart stores across the country.
The fact that the federal government is funding the implementation of ‘Intellistreets’ comes as no surprise given that the nation’s expanding networks of surveillance cameras are also being paid for with Department of Homeland Security grants.
Source With Links: Prison Planet
UPDATE: Presumably in response to this article being linked on the Drudge Report, the company behind ‘Intellistreets’, Illuminating Concepts, has now pulled the video from You Tube entirely, presumably nervous about the negative publicity that could be generated from concerns about street lights being used for “Homeland Security” purposes – their words, not ours. We have added an alternative version of the clip below, but it may be subject to removal at any time. The video is still available on the company’s website.
RELATED: Promo Video For DHS-Backed ‘Spy Street Lights’ Pulled From You Tube
New street lights that include “Homeland Security” applications including speaker systems, motion sensors and video surveillance are now being rolled out with the aid of government funding.
The Intellistreets system comprises of a wireless digital infrastructure that allows street lights to be controlled remotely by means of a ubiquitous wi-fi link and a miniature computer housed inside each street light, allowing for “security, energy management, data harvesting and digital media,” according to the Illuminating Concepts website.
According to the company’s You Tube video of the concept, the primary capabilities of the devices include “energy conservation, homeland security, public safety, traffic control, advertising, video surveillance.”
In terms of Homeland Security applications, each of the light poles contains a speaker system that can be used to broadcast emergency alerts, as well as a display that transmits “security levels” (presumably a similar system to the DHS’ much maligned color-coded terror alert designation), in addition to showing instructions by way of its LED video screen.
The lights also include proximity sensors that can record both pedestrian and road traffic. The video display and speaker system will also be used to transmit Minority Report-style advertising, as well as Amber Alerts and other “civic announcements”.
With the aid of grant money from the federal government, the company is about to launch the first concept installation of the system in the city of Farmington Hills, Michigan.
Using street lights as surveillance tools has already been advanced by several European countries. In 2007, leaked documents out of the UK Home Office revealed that British authorities were working on proposals to fit lamp posts with CCTV cameras that would X-ray scan passers-by and “undress them” in order to “trap terror suspects”.
Dutch police also announced last year that they are developing a mobile scanner that will “see through people’s clothing and look for concealed weapons”.
So-called ‘talking surveillance cameras’ that use a speaker system similar to the Intellistreets model are already being used in UK cities like Middlesborough to bark orders and reprimand people for dropping litter and other minor offenses. According to reports, one of the most common phrases used to shame people into obeying instructions is to broadcast the message, “We are watching you.”
The transformation of street lights into surveillance tools for Homeland Security purposes will only serve to heighten concerns that the United States is fast on the way to becoming a high-tech police state, with TSA agents being empowered to oversee that control grid, most recently with the announcement that TSA screeners would be manning highway checkpoints, a further indication that security measures we currently see in airports are rapidly spilling out onto the streets.
The ability of the government to use street lights to transmit “emergency alerts” also dovetails with the ongoing efforts to hijack radio and television broadcasts for the same purpose, via FEMA’s Emergency Alert System.
The federal government is keen to implement a centralized system of control over all communications, with the recent announcement that all new cell phones will be required to comply with the PLAN program (Personal Localized Alerting Network), which will broadcast emergency alert messages directly to Americans’ cell phones using a special chip embedded in the receiver. The system will be operational by the end of the year in New York and Washington, with the rest of the country set to follow in 2012.
The notion of using the street lights as communication tools to broadcast “alerts” directly from the federal government is also consistent with Homeland Security’s program to install Orwellian ‘telescreens’ that play messages by Janet Napolitano and other DHS officials in Wal-Mart stores across the country.
The fact that the federal government is funding the implementation of ‘Intellistreets’ comes as no surprise given that the nation’s expanding networks of surveillance cameras are also being paid for with Department of Homeland Security grants.
Source With Links: Prison Planet
DHS-Funded Taser Drone Launched in Texas
UAV used against insurgents in Afghanistan can incapacitate suspects from above.
Paul Joseph Watson
A Department of Homeland Security-funded surveillance drone deployed against insurgents in Afghanistan that can also be used to tase suspects from above has been unveiled by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office and will be operational within a month.
“At $500,000 a pop, Montgomery county spent $250,000 to get the UAV. The rest was covered by a Department of Homeland Security grant,” reports KBTX.com.
Although its initial role will be limited to surveillance, the ShadowHawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, previously used against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and East Africa, has the ability to tase suspects from above as well as carrying 12-gauge shotguns and grenade launchers.
“We look forward to utilizing it in a variety of capacities that protect our employees from harm to the extent possible and to enhance the protection to our citizens and their safety,” said Montgomery County Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel.
The ShadowHawk is a 50lb mini drone chopper that can be fitted with an XREP taser with the ability to fire four barbed electrodes that can be shot to a distance of 100 feet, delivering “neuromuscular incapacitation” to the victim. The drone can travel at a top speed of 70MPH and can operate for 3.5 hours over land and sea.
A video clip of the drone shows off its impressive maneuverability as it tails a suspect attempting to evade capture with sophisticated object tracking technology. Another video shows the drone conducting surveillance of two individuals involved in a firearm transaction.
More powerful military Predator drones are already being used to kill American citizens overseas, including 16-year-old Denver-born Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, prompting fears that drones could be used within the United States to meter out extrajudicial punishment, something that surpasses anything George Orwell predicted in 1984.
The fact that the drone was partly funded with DHS grant money further illustrates how the Department of Homeland Security is determined to turn America into a high-tech police state.
While the federal agency openly flouts immigration laws by authorizing illegal aliens to work in the U.S., billions of dollars have been poured into “homeland security needs” for state and local governments to keep tabs on the American people, including the rollout of a surveillance camera network that is now blanketing major cities across the nation.
Even more Orwellian are proposals also being backed by the federal government to turn street lights into sophisticated surveillance tools that can not only record video and conversations, but also have “homeland security” applications including displaying messages that encourage Americans to report on each other as part of DHS’ ‘See Something, Say Something’ snitch campaign.
Source With Links: Infowars
Paul Joseph Watson
A Department of Homeland Security-funded surveillance drone deployed against insurgents in Afghanistan that can also be used to tase suspects from above has been unveiled by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office and will be operational within a month.
“At $500,000 a pop, Montgomery county spent $250,000 to get the UAV. The rest was covered by a Department of Homeland Security grant,” reports KBTX.com.
Although its initial role will be limited to surveillance, the ShadowHawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, previously used against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and East Africa, has the ability to tase suspects from above as well as carrying 12-gauge shotguns and grenade launchers.
“We look forward to utilizing it in a variety of capacities that protect our employees from harm to the extent possible and to enhance the protection to our citizens and their safety,” said Montgomery County Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel.
The ShadowHawk is a 50lb mini drone chopper that can be fitted with an XREP taser with the ability to fire four barbed electrodes that can be shot to a distance of 100 feet, delivering “neuromuscular incapacitation” to the victim. The drone can travel at a top speed of 70MPH and can operate for 3.5 hours over land and sea.
A video clip of the drone shows off its impressive maneuverability as it tails a suspect attempting to evade capture with sophisticated object tracking technology. Another video shows the drone conducting surveillance of two individuals involved in a firearm transaction.
More powerful military Predator drones are already being used to kill American citizens overseas, including 16-year-old Denver-born Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, prompting fears that drones could be used within the United States to meter out extrajudicial punishment, something that surpasses anything George Orwell predicted in 1984.
The fact that the drone was partly funded with DHS grant money further illustrates how the Department of Homeland Security is determined to turn America into a high-tech police state.
While the federal agency openly flouts immigration laws by authorizing illegal aliens to work in the U.S., billions of dollars have been poured into “homeland security needs” for state and local governments to keep tabs on the American people, including the rollout of a surveillance camera network that is now blanketing major cities across the nation.
Even more Orwellian are proposals also being backed by the federal government to turn street lights into sophisticated surveillance tools that can not only record video and conversations, but also have “homeland security” applications including displaying messages that encourage Americans to report on each other as part of DHS’ ‘See Something, Say Something’ snitch campaign.
Source With Links: Infowars
Coming Soon: Computer Chip Implants For Human Tracking
Mac Slavo
While the FDA says growing your own food is against your best interests, consuming raw milk is dangerous, and alternative medicines need to be controlled by large pharmaceutical companies, subcutaneous passive microchip implants capable of tracking and logging everything from your medical and financial history to your day-to-day movements around the city are perfectly acceptable:
The Food and Drug Administration said that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.
With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it.
Think UPC code. The identifier, emblazoned on a food item, brings up its name and price on the cashier’s screen.
The microchips have already been implanted in 1 million pets. But the chip’s possible dual use for tracking people’s movements — as well as speeding delivery of their medical information to emergency rooms — has raised alarm.
Source: MSNBC
We can fully expect the new human tracking chips to be progressively integrated into our society over the next decade. Americans have already implanted the chips into one million of their pets. And what are we as citizens if not pets of the government? As such, we’ll be treated much the same way.
First they’ll start with voluntary programs for those on government sponsored healthcare plans. Membership will have its benefits, and those with the chip will be able to see their doctor quicker than the unchipped. This may even be expanded to include quicker security screenings at airports and other TSA checkpoints.
Then, the Department of Homeland Security will order tens of millions of chips to have on standby in case of a major disaster or emergency. In fact, the Israeli military did just that in October of 2011:
PositiveID Corporation Receives VeriChip Order for Use With Israeli Military
PositiveID Corporation, a developer of medical technologies for diabetes management, clinical diagnostics and bio-threat detection, announced today that it has received an order for its VeriChip™ microchip to be used for disaster preparedness and emergency management in Israel by an integration partner.
The Company’s integration partner intends to provide the microchips to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the State of Israel’s military force.
Marc Poulshock, PositiveID’s Vice President of Business Development, said, “We believe there are many important applications for the VeriChip and our associated intellectual property including next-generation identification and bio-sensing capabilities. Our partner is looking to help healthcare organizations, militaries including the IDF, and governments with their disaster preparedness and emergency response needs.”
Source: Positive ID
What that basically means is that in an emergency situation, such as a declaration of martial law, chipping stations will be immediately deployed. It will be for you and your family, and will ensure that you’ll receive emergency rations and other services in the event of a serious catastrophe.
Next, they’ll require all government healthcare recipients to be chipped in order to prevent rampant fraud. An off-shoot may be to implement nationwide chipping programs for those receiving any government benefits including social security, Medicaid, Medicare, and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance.
Prisoners and even detainees will be part of the first adopter groups. What better way to keep tabs on criminals and parolees?
Once the benefits have been visually and linguistically programmed via Walmart shopping counter promotional TV messages and the people have been desensitized to the privacy threat (kind of like cell phone cameras and microphones in every pant pocket or purse in the country), and success stories are touted by mainstream media, we’ll move to full implementation across the entire domestic population of the United States.
School safety and protecting the children is always the easiest first step, thus chip scanning stations will join metal detector security screenings at your local public education institutions. Don’t want to chip you child? No problem! That just means they can’t go to school, which means that you are an abusive parent and Child Protective Services will be coming over for a home wellness visit.
Around the same time we’ll begin to see chip scanning stations deployed (much like TSA checkpoints popping up all over the country today) across public venues that include city urban centers, sporting events and public transportation systems. In fact, you probably won’t be allowed to ride on a public transit vehicle without a chip – because it’s just too dangerous.
Eventually, the chip will need to be implanted into every American. It’s a safety and anti-terrorist thing – you know how it is. We’ve got to do it!
Oh, have you got a problem with all this?
Why?
If you’re not doing anything wrong…
Source: SHTF Plan
While the FDA says growing your own food is against your best interests, consuming raw milk is dangerous, and alternative medicines need to be controlled by large pharmaceutical companies, subcutaneous passive microchip implants capable of tracking and logging everything from your medical and financial history to your day-to-day movements around the city are perfectly acceptable:
The Food and Drug Administration said that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.
With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it.
Think UPC code. The identifier, emblazoned on a food item, brings up its name and price on the cashier’s screen.
The microchips have already been implanted in 1 million pets. But the chip’s possible dual use for tracking people’s movements — as well as speeding delivery of their medical information to emergency rooms — has raised alarm.
Source: MSNBC
We can fully expect the new human tracking chips to be progressively integrated into our society over the next decade. Americans have already implanted the chips into one million of their pets. And what are we as citizens if not pets of the government? As such, we’ll be treated much the same way.
First they’ll start with voluntary programs for those on government sponsored healthcare plans. Membership will have its benefits, and those with the chip will be able to see their doctor quicker than the unchipped. This may even be expanded to include quicker security screenings at airports and other TSA checkpoints.
Then, the Department of Homeland Security will order tens of millions of chips to have on standby in case of a major disaster or emergency. In fact, the Israeli military did just that in October of 2011:
PositiveID Corporation Receives VeriChip Order for Use With Israeli Military
PositiveID Corporation, a developer of medical technologies for diabetes management, clinical diagnostics and bio-threat detection, announced today that it has received an order for its VeriChip™ microchip to be used for disaster preparedness and emergency management in Israel by an integration partner.
The Company’s integration partner intends to provide the microchips to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the State of Israel’s military force.
Marc Poulshock, PositiveID’s Vice President of Business Development, said, “We believe there are many important applications for the VeriChip and our associated intellectual property including next-generation identification and bio-sensing capabilities. Our partner is looking to help healthcare organizations, militaries including the IDF, and governments with their disaster preparedness and emergency response needs.”
Source: Positive ID
What that basically means is that in an emergency situation, such as a declaration of martial law, chipping stations will be immediately deployed. It will be for you and your family, and will ensure that you’ll receive emergency rations and other services in the event of a serious catastrophe.
Next, they’ll require all government healthcare recipients to be chipped in order to prevent rampant fraud. An off-shoot may be to implement nationwide chipping programs for those receiving any government benefits including social security, Medicaid, Medicare, and Supplemental Nutritional Assistance.
Prisoners and even detainees will be part of the first adopter groups. What better way to keep tabs on criminals and parolees?
Once the benefits have been visually and linguistically programmed via Walmart shopping counter promotional TV messages and the people have been desensitized to the privacy threat (kind of like cell phone cameras and microphones in every pant pocket or purse in the country), and success stories are touted by mainstream media, we’ll move to full implementation across the entire domestic population of the United States.
School safety and protecting the children is always the easiest first step, thus chip scanning stations will join metal detector security screenings at your local public education institutions. Don’t want to chip you child? No problem! That just means they can’t go to school, which means that you are an abusive parent and Child Protective Services will be coming over for a home wellness visit.
Around the same time we’ll begin to see chip scanning stations deployed (much like TSA checkpoints popping up all over the country today) across public venues that include city urban centers, sporting events and public transportation systems. In fact, you probably won’t be allowed to ride on a public transit vehicle without a chip – because it’s just too dangerous.
Eventually, the chip will need to be implanted into every American. It’s a safety and anti-terrorist thing – you know how it is. We’ve got to do it!
Oh, have you got a problem with all this?
Why?
If you’re not doing anything wrong…
Source: SHTF Plan
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