Clinton is Either Ignorant or Lying...O'Malley Too

That's what Norman Solomon, documentary producer & long-time political activist, said on Democracy Now today.  I agree.  He was talking about her response regarding a question on Edward Snowden during the Democratic Debate Tuesday night.  Hillary essentially said that Snowden "could have been" a whistleblower "if" he had gone through the proper channels and gotten the "protections" provided to whistleblowers.

That statement by Clinton is either a lie, ignorance on her part, or a really bad joke.  Tom Drake, Jeffrey Stirling, and several others spent months going through the proper, internal channels with their whistleblowing.  All that did was target them for persecution, and then selective prosecution.  "Selective" because guys like David Petraeus only get a slap on the wrist.  Guys like Brennan, Panetta, & Clapper get NOTHING.

As Solomon stated (paraphrased), Obama's war against whistleblowers and journalists is unprecedented in our history.  Indeed.  Barack Obama is perhaps the most Fascist President we've ever had in the Oval Office.  Propaganda calling him "socialist" is just that---propaganda.  As I've pointed out many times, both FDR and Mussolini defined Fascism as:  the marriage of the Power of the State to the Power of Big Business.  That fits Obama to a tee.  Those who wept with joy at his election in 2008 must be the most disappointed voters in our political history.  They elected a Corporatist posing as some sort of Populist and/or Leftist.

Then, too, we had O'Malley of Maryland in the Debate stating that "whistleblowers don't run to Russia".  Again, ignorance, or a lie, or a bad joke.  Snowden was on his way from Hong Kong to Ecuador.  At the stop in Russia (or maybe in-flight from H.K.), the U.S. Gov't revoked his passport.  He then wasn't allowed to board the plane to continue his journey.  It always amazes me how politicians twist stories to suit their particular agendas.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Truth is Being Sidestepped, Omitted by Politicians & the Corporate Media

Those at the highest levels in politics, along with the Corporate Media, are avoiding talking about the Economic Crisis in this great Land.  For most people here, the American Dream has turned into the Nightmare of the Working Poor.

Fifty percent of working households in the USA now are economically insecure.  They are just getting by... barely.  Many of them have two part-time jobs because they can't find a decent-paying, full-time gig.  Many companies nowadays prefer part-time workers...fewer employee benefits to cut into corporate profits.  Ask the Great Wall of Mart...the largest private employer in the world.  Because these workers are only scraping by, they can't save for emergencies...or anything else.

Many college graduates now are working as bartenders, or waiting tables in restaurants, or working as CSRs in "call centers", or as security guards (the minimum wage type), or as part-time cashiers in retail stores.  Not only have wages across the board stagnated for the last thirty years, but adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage in this country is the same as it was in the 1960's.  Meanwhile, those few in the Upper Crust here have seen their incomes go up by 700% in the same time period.

Ever since NAFTA and other "Free Trade" Agreements were approved, millions of jobs have evaporated from our economic landscape.  Since the year 2000, about 60,000 factories have closed or been moved out of the country.  The TPP will exacerbate the problem.  The jobs replacing those generally good-paying manufacturing positions are mostly, to be blunt, shite...crap...bullshit.  For the most part, they are low-paying, often part-time, and sometimes temporary.  They rarely match the jobs lost in terms of pay & benefits.

The 2008 Crisis resulted in the loss of eight million jobs.  It's clear by now that the cause of that Crisis was not only "greed".  Massive fraud was involved...by Mega Banks, by stock-rating agencies, by real estate brokers, by due diligence companies, etc.  On top of all that, the highest levels of the Fed Gov't were not paying attention to the developing Crisis.  Worse yet, at the beginning of the meltdown and in between the times when TARP was voted down by the Congress and when it finally was passed, the Fed Reserve made between $12 trillion and $13 trillion (estimates vary) available to several Mega Banks in loans at point two-five percent (.25%) interest.  That amount of money is equal to all Fed Gov't expenditures from the Revolutionary War to the beginning of 2008.  Think about that.  It turns out that the overwhelming bulk of those loans was not converted into loans for businesses or consumers.  The Mega Banks either hung onto it or used it for more stock market casino gambling.  Neither action created any jobs.  The Fed saved the Mega Banks instead of the economy of our Land.

What should have happened is QE for the People instead of the Mega Banks.  All those trillions of dollars did not "trickle down" to the economy of We the People; those dollars stayed in the Big Banks.  QE for the People would have saved the economy.  About 70% of our economy is driven by consumer spending.  It isn't driven by Mega Banks or the Stock Market...and especially, not by the Casino Gambling done by Wall Street ever since the invention of bizarre financial derivatives.  Those derivatives now infect almost all commodities and stock transactions to the tune of $1.25 quadrillion (best estimate by experts).

Estimates of the real unemployment rate are at about 20%.  Some people have given up looking.  I remember looking in 1997 for what turned out to be my last wage-slave job...the last before I retired in 2004.  I sent out 88 inquiries & resumes, had 16 different interviews, and finally secured a job after about five months of effort.  I was getting fairly discouraged just prior to being hired.  Some people today have been looking for two years; imagine how they feel.

Despite what the highest levels of the Gov't and the Corporate Media tell us, there is no Recovery going on in the U.S.  Any honest evaluation of our economic condition shows that.  In addition, the world economy and financial situation appear to be imploding.  The whole scenario, according to many reputable analysts, is so fragile that we are a hair's breadth away from another Great Depression.  Unfortunately, too many people in Power seem to have their heads in the sand.  Either that, or they don't want to risk putting us into a panic.  Or, worst case, they are keeping us in the dark until they and their Big Business Cronies can suck as much wealth as possible out of the economy before the Crash.  [The last choice probably is unlikely...but I would never say that it's impossible.]

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

The Political-Financial Complex

Ike was right when he warned us about the danger of acquisition of power by the Military-Industrial Complex.  Steve Keen, an Australian Economics Professor, is right when he warns us about the Political-Financial Complex...a term coined by him.

A perfect example of the Political-Financial Complex is as follows.  Not too long ago, a lobbyist for CitiBank essentially authored a Rider to a Legislative Bill in the U.S. Congress.  This was not just any old Bill the Rider was attached to---it was the Omnibus Spending Bill for the U.S. Gov't...if I recall correctly, it was a $1.1 trillion Bill.  The CitiBank Rider basically rolled back some protections that were in the Dodd-Frank law.  Dodd-Frank was nothing to write home about, but it did give some protection from out-of-control elements in the Financial Sector.

Mega Banks are major contributors to both Dems & Repubs in the U.S...at the same time; in other words, the Banks contribute to both Party candidates in the same election.  The reason for that could be innocent, but somehow I doubt it.  Then, too, we have estimates from a few different sources stating that in the 2016 national election cycle here, about $10 billion dollars will be spent by all major candidates.  That's not only a reflection of how debased the dollar has become; it's also an abomination.  It would be interesting to know how much of that total is/will be coming from Mega Banks.  At the end of 2014, five of the largest banks here had total assets of about seven trillion dollars.  Those banks are:  J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup (CitiBank), & U.S. Bancorp (U.S. Bank).  They could easily fund a very significant percentage of 2016 election expenditures.  [There are probably a dozen ways around rules limiting political contributions...if any of those rules still exist.]  I think it's very naive to believe that politicians are not influenced by major campaign contributions.  As someone (can't recall who) once stated,  "The Big Banks don't influence elections... they own them.".  Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but not by much.

According to CNBC, the banks listed above account for 45% of the banking industry.  Think: Sherman AntiTrust Act, Clayton AntiTrust Act, and Federal Trade Commission Acts.  Think: monopoly.  Think: common sense.  Since 2008, the "Too-Big-to-Fail" Mega Banks have grown by 37%.  So much for the politicians "protecting" us.  Those banks need to be broken up...ASAP.  Either that, or make banks public utilities. North Dakota has just such a public bank; it outperforms Wall Street while being heavily regulated.

All of this is not only a U.S. problem...it's a worldwide problem.  Those at the seats of public and private Power collude to convert publicly owned infrastructure into privately owned assets controlled by Mega Corporations.  "Austerity" is imposed on countries in order to save not their economies, but instead, to save the out-of-control Financial Sectors in those countries.  Banks weren't meant to be financial parasites engaged in speculating on bizarre, highly risky derivatives and other no-job-creating ventures.  They once served a legitimate, almost modest function:  servicing home, auto, and business loans.  The Mega Banks have become giant casinos... to the detriment of the Lower and Middle Classes around the world. Unfortunately, politicians everywhere aid and abet them.

Boycott Mega Banks.  They create almost zero new jobs.
Lobby to have them broken up.
Following the successful example in N. Dakota, lobby to have banks converted to public utilities. 

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Thanks for the Great Response...

to my offer in the post titled, "How to Prepare for the Coming Financial and Economic Crash", dated Monday, September 28, 2015.  Thanks, too, to those of you who later had kind remarks relative to the Guide.  That makes the effort of constructing it worthwhile.
Happy Trails
p.s.  As you probably know by now, I'm fairly certain that the Crash already has started.  It may take a few months or even a year to reach critical mass.  Good luck to us all if my best guess is correct.

This is Not Free Market Capitalism

This will be short.  For decades, I've been an informal student of economic systems, and in particular, Free Market Capitalism.  From all I've read and seen, there is no such thing in the world today.  Perhaps in the days of Adam Smith (the 1700's) it existed, but no longer.  Even in the mid-to-late 1800's, during and shortly after the Industrial Revolution began, Free Market Capitalism was gone.  That can be shown quite easily.

1.  The great railroad barons, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and Jay Gould, essentially were given large tracts of land on both sides of the rail tracks by the Gov't.  That's not Free Market Capitalism (FMC)...it's Crony Capitalism.
2.  The tycoon banker, J.P. Morgan, sometimes would lend vast sums of money to the Fed Gov't.  That's not FMC either.  That's also Crony Capitalism.
3.  The great steel entrepreneur, Andrew Carnegie, was known by his critics as the "Crony Capitalist".

Today in the USA, and all countries with an intrusive central bank, Free Market Capitalism does not exist.  The proof of that is simple.  When interest rates essentially are set by central planning bureaucrats in, for example, the Fed Reserve--- instead of by the Market--- that's not Free Market Capitalism.  The fact is, we have a Mixed Economy in the USA.  So do almost all "democracies" in existence, including the social democracies (or democratically socialist countries) in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe.  I'm not saying that's good or bad; it's simply a fact.

My point here is this:  I believe Capitalism is a great economic system, but Free Market Capitalism is no more.  I'm really tired of the so-called "Right" claiming they practice FMC (as opposed to "Socialism"), and the so-called "Left" claiming that most of our ills are due to "Capitalism".  Neither one is correct.  Some of what Big Business practices is Capitalism, some is Crony Capitalism (aka, Fascism), and some is Socialism.  The same is true of our Gov't.  As to the Left's claims, many or most of our ills are due to Crony Capitalism and super-huge companies that may as well be monopolies.  That means the Gov't (Republicans AND Democrats) is partially responsible.

We definitely live in a Mixed Economy.  For example, we do have some Capitalism (mostly in the SMALL Business sector), but we also have not only the Fed Reserve interfering with the Money Market, but we have the V.A. Health Care System (a good thing), as well...which is pure socialized medicine.  The patients go to Gov't clinics/hospitals where they are treated by Gov't employees who use Gov't equipment and Gov't-purchased medicines.  Except for a small co-pay, it's all paid for by the Gov't.

Capitalism is here to stay, but it's not Free Market Capitalism.  It's a mixture of this and that.  Even China is embracing Capitalism to some degree.  Russia is now Crony Capitalism gone wild.  So to those on the Right, I would suggest this:  stop complaining about Socialism; we've had some degree of that in this Land for a long, long time.  To those on the Left, I would suggest:  stop complaining about Capitalism; it works, we've had some degree of it for a long, long time, and the problem is Crony Capitalism.  If you know what that means, then you know that the Gov't is a big part of the problem.

Not only my opinion.  Be well

 

How to Prepare for the Coming Financial and Economic Crash

I've written a concise Guide (15 pages, large type) with the title above.  [The Table of Contents is found below.]  Sometimes I copy things I've written elsewhere and post them here.  Unfortunately every time I do that, the copied piece does not paste correctly onto this venue.  To get it readable requires a lot of editing.  Due to time constraints, I can't do that amount of editing for 15 pages; therefore, I'm offering the following alternative.

If you're interested in having a copy, email me and I'll reply with the file attached.  There's no cost to you whatsoever.  This blog doesn't have thousands of readers at any one time, so I should be able to handle any requests.  [In 8.5 years (or so), there have been only about 44,500 pageviews.  I suspect that's because most of my posts irritate both the "Right" and the "Left". :)  UPDATE---as of August, 2016, this blog is at 58,000 pageviews...better, but still puny.]
For a copy, email:  AbstractCowboy@gmail.com .  Title your email:  My Order.

                              Table of Contents

Subject                                             Page

Part I---  Causes

          Brief History of Underlying Factors....1

          Summary of 2007-2008……………..2

          Beyond 2008………………………...3

Part II--- Steps to Prepare

          The Problem with Mega Banks………5

          Will Any Bank be Open?…………….6

Will Paper Money be Any Good?.........7

          Commodities, Tangible Assets………8

          Home Security………………………10

          Barter………………………………..11

          Psychology…………………………..12

          Time…………………………………12

Part III--- Going Forward

The Powers-That-Be…………………14

We the People………………………..14

The subtitle of the Guide is:

A Bit on the Causes,

And

A Lot on How to Weather the Storm

A Very Concise Guide

I'm still of the opinion that a severe Crash may or may not happen, but it seems logical to me (given current conditions) to prepare for one.  Even if it doesn't happen, 99% of the commodities I suggest that you stock up can be used by you & your family in the future.  If the Crash does occur, then you'll be better prepared to handle it than a lot of other people.  Preparing is a win-win situation.  By the way, the Guide is much expanded from my last post...and includes a lot of that post in a small section of the text.  Finally, sometimes emailing a document messes it up for some reason.  I've emailed the Guide twice so far, and both times some of the page numbers (found at the top of each page, not the bottom) were somehow out-of-place; nevertheless, the text was completely readable & the Table of Contents still worked.

Be Well

Has the Crash Already Started?

Let me state up front, I'm not an economist or monetary theorist, or anything of that sort.  I rely upon a wide variety of those people (their writings & interviews) for information; that variety stretches all across the political spectrum.  This is not a "Right-Left" issue.  Also, any conclusion from anyone regarding an economic crash really is nothing more than an educated guess; no one knows for certain (despite what they might say) until after the fact.  Nevertheless, things are not looking good, as follows.

1.  China already has started dumping the dollar.
2.  Japan (one of our staunchest allies) is setting up a currency swap agreement with Russia...totally by-passing the dollar.  Trade between those countries will be in rubles and yen.
3.  Several other Asian countries are setting up currency swap agreements amongst themselves...totally by-passing the dollar.
4.  The BRICS countries have launched their own development bank.
5.  China and Australia have set up a currency swap agreement...by-passing the dollar.
6.  India and Japan have done the same.
7.  China has set up currency swap agreements with several countries.
It seems clear that many countries are sick & tired of the U.S. Govt's Financial & NeoImperalist Hegemony.  This could very well mean the end of world reserve currency status for the dollar.

In addition---

1.  All the analysts I've read or heard agree that stocks & bonds here are highly overvalued; to a slightly lesser degree, so is real estate.  These same analysts say that the Fed Reserve has been propping up the financial & real estate assets for years with QE and essentially ZERO % interest rates, but now the Fed basically is out of tricks.  If they raise rates to where they should be, the Recession will slide into a full-blown Depression; if they don't, the Asset Bubble will burst...as all bubbles eventually do.
2.  The Fed Reserve is monetizing our debt.  Since the Crash of 2008, it's the Fed who has been buying the majority of U.S. Treasury Bonds.  Foreign gov'ts no longer are as interested in financing our debt as they once were.  Monetizing our debt is not sustainable.
3.  As stated in a previous post, the prices of gold and silver (to a lesser degree) are being manipulated by Mega Banks and Mega Hedge Funds in order to give the dollar the appearance of being strong.  Some evidence suggests that Gov'ts also are involved in this price manipulation.  Keeping the prices low via manipulation of the Futures Market is a priority for the Oligarchs.
4.  The real unemployment rate in the USA is estimated to be somewhere around 20%, not the 5.X% reported by the Gov't & the Corporate Media.
5.  Most of the money pumped to banks via QE is either still sitting in the banks OR it was invested in no-job-producing ventures, such as foreign currencies, bizarre financial derivatives, physical gold, and physical silver...as well as the Futures Market.  Put simply, the Fed saved the Mega Banks rather than the economy.
6.  The Global Debt Bubble now is about $200 trillion...and ready to burst.
7.  It's estimated that the Financial Derivatives Bubble is about $1.25 quadrillion... a bomb that may or may not eventually explode.

None of the above is good news.  The global economy appears to be imploding.

Even if the dollar's world reserve currency status ends, though it would collapse our economy, it wouldn't be the end of the world (so to speak); however, the road to recovery would be long and extremely difficult.  A few analysts are predicting that we will be bartering in commerce for a time; I think that could happen, but it's not for certain.  Nevertheless, just to be safe, I see a few things that people would be wise to do.
1.  Get out of any MEGA Bank, ASAP.  As pointed out in a previous post, in the event of a crisis they will be BAILED-IN.  Your money will be confiscated..."legally".  That's according to the latest G-20 Agreement signed by President Obama...late last year.
2.  Keep some amount of ready cash stored at home...or somewhere nearby & always accessible.
3.  As much as you can, accumulate some amount of commodities*** (including food) that might be used for trade.  That's not to say you need to go to the extremes of some of the "Preppers" out there, but it seems prudent to position yourself so that you could survive for at least a few months.  IF there is a huge Crash, it might take that long (or longer) to get some sort of monetary system up & running...some consumer liquidity in place.
***Commodities for barter would include:  OTC medicines, water filters, food seeds, long shelf-life foods, firewood, toiletries, gasoline & oil, silver, common calibers of ammunition, various tools (hoe, shovel, etc.), warm clothing, solar energy components (if possible), fresh produce (if possible), blankets, alcoholic beverages, & yes, even tobacco, food animals if possible (chickens, goats, etc.), & others.  Pick & choose.  Some, such as seeds, toiletries & water filters, take up little space.  [I suspect that I've missed some of the best items for bartering...do some research on your own.]

I realize all this sounds rather pessimistic.  I see it as being realistic.  Many economists, monetary theorists, money/portfolio managers, financial analysts, etc. agree that we are facing the distinct possibility of a major financial/economic Crash much worse than 2008 sometime relatively soon.  Some of them predict no later than the end of 2016.  These people span the entire political spectrum, so I don't believe this is political, partisan propaganda.  Most of the works I've studied are not by people selling gold or silver...or anything else, not even a book.  That suggests we should pay attention to what they're saying.  Again, though, remember that it's all an educated, best guess.  No matter what they say, none of this is guaranteed to happen.  Nevertheless, it very well could happen.  As the Boy Scouts say, "Be Prepared".

Not only my opinion.  Be Well