THE ECONOMY & YOU # (Daily Updated Videos & Articles)

A Web of Financial Fraud and Criminality: America's Shadow Banking System
by Ellen Brown
January 26, 2012
Web of Debt

The Wall Street Journal reported on January 19th that the Obama Administration was pushing heavily to get the 50 state attorneys general to agree to a settlement with five major banks in the “robo-signing” scandal. The scandal involves employees signing names not their own, under titles they did not really have, attesting to the veracity of documents they had not really reviewed. Investigation reveals that it did not just happen occasionally but was an industry-wide practice, dating back to the late 1990s; and that it may have clouded the titles of millions of homes. If the settlement is agreed to, it will let Wall Street bankers off the hook for crimes that would land the rest of us in jail – fraud, forgery, securities violations and tax evasion.

To the President’s credit, however, he seems to have shifted his position on the settlement in response to protests before his State of the Union address. In his speech on January 24th, President Obama did not mention the settlement but announced instead that he would be creating a mortgage crisis unit to investigate wrongdoing related to real estate lending. “This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans,” he said.

The Deeper Question Is Why...

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

What is "Moral Capitalism"?
by William Bowles
January 27, 2012
williambowles.info

PM Cameron's call for a "moral capitalism" would be laughable if it weren't so tragic and hypocritical. After all, hasn't it been capitalism's alleged occupation of the 'moral high ground' what they now choose to call 'humanitarian intervention' that has been used as a justification for mass murder and genocide? But plainly the millions killed and the countries decimated don't fall under Cameron's definition of what is and isn't 'moral'. Clearly, it's for 'local consumption' only.

What it does epitomize is a desperate capitalism that has just plain run out of excuses for the world's desperate state of affairs. After all what does 'moral capitalism' really mean? The rich sharing their wealth with the poor? Fewer crooks and gangsters in government? An end to crony capitalism? The end to a political class that works solely on behalf of capital?

Examining Cameron's vision of his capitalist 'morality' a little more closely and it's clearly empty, meaningless rhetoric as the following excerpts demonstrate:

- "He used his speech to discuss his vision for a transformed capitalism, based on two principles "which have been at the centre of Conservative thinking for centuries"."

- ""The first is a vision of social responsibility, which recognises that people are not just atomised individuals, and that companies have obligations too."

- ""And the second is a genuinely popular capitalism, which allows everyone to share in the success of the market.""

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

Only Two Types of People Will Survive Economic Collapse
Friday, January 27, 2012
Activist Post

Living in a world engulfed by economic crisis teetering on collapse requires preparation for worst-case scenarios. Whether it is losing a job to downsizing, a currency crisis, or full-blown economic system failure, being prepared is just plain smart.

Already, nearly 30% of Americans are either unemployed or under-employed, and desperation is surely setting in for the millions whose unemployment benefits have expired with little hope on the job front.

Many have been able to weather short-term storms by prepping for a rainy day with extra food storage and other supplies, and by having some savings. Indeed, everyone should be preparing in this manner, and then some, given the bleak economic climate. However, if an economic meltdown becomes prolonged, there will only be two types of people that will survive: Takers and Producers.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Monsters of Anarchy - Post Collapse Security Considerations
The following video is an extremely unsettling look at a potential future for the ultimate Taker scenario following societal collapse. This potential future, however, is well-grounded in the reality of the past in such countries as Argentina.



Last Edited by RoXY on 02/03/2012 12:43 AM

How the Banks Broke the Social Compact, Promoting their Own Special Interests
by Prof. Michael Hudson
January 28, 2012

Banks Weren’t Meant to Be Like This. What will their future be – and what is the government’s proper financial role?

The inherently symbiotic relationship between banks and governments recently has been reversed. In medieval times, wealthy bankers lent to kings and princes as their major customers. But now it is the banks that are needy, relying on governments for funding – capped by the post-2008 bailouts to save them from going bankrupt from their bad private-sector loans and gambles.

Yet the banks now browbeat governments – not by having ready cash but by threatening to go bust and drag the economy down with them if they are not given control of public tax policy, spending and planning. The process has gone furthest in the United States. Joseph Stiglitz characterizes the Obama administration’s vast transfer of money and pubic debt to the banks as a “privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a ‘partnership’ in which one partner robs the other.”2 Prof. Bill Black describes banks as becoming criminogenic and innovating “control fraud.”3 High finance has corrupted regulatory agencies, falsified account-keeping by “mark to model” trickery, and financed the campaigns of its supporters to disable public oversight. The effect is to leave banks in control of how the economy’s allocates its credit and resources.

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

Baltic Dry Index Signals Renewed Market Collapse
Shipping tipping point?
Brandon Smith, Contributing Writer
Monday, January 30, 2012
Activist Post

Much has been said about the Baltic Dry Index over the course of the last four years, especially in light of the credit crisis and the effects it has had on the frequency of global shipping. Importing and exporting has never been quite the same since 2008, and this change is made most obvious through one of the few statistical measures left in the world that is not subject to direct manipulation by international corporate interests; the BDI. Today, the BDI is on the verge of making headlines once again, being that is plummeting like a wingless 747 into the swampy mire of what I believe will soon be historical lows.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Iran, Gold and Oil - The Next Banksters' War
SARTRE, Contributing Writer
Monday, January 30, 2012
Activist Post

Remember the real reason why Moammar Gadhafi is dead. He dared to propose then started to create an alternative currency to the world reserve U.S. Dollar.

The lesson learned in Libya is now ready for teaching in Iran. Forget all the noise about going nuclear; the true message is that the banksters' rule, and nation states serve their ultimate masters.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

This Is a Breakdown Crisis
Charlie McGrath, Contributing Writer
Monday, January 30, 2012
Activist Post

Some staggering numbers suggest things are already spiraling out of control. Consider that in less than 5 years we've seen the number of people receiving direct government payments rise by $600,000,000,000.00 or 32%, with a projection of 500 billion more by 2016.

Or, the fact that 49% of Americans now live in a home where at least one person receives a government benefit; that's a 44% increase.

And possibly the most telling statistic: 46 million Americans who need food stamps to support themselves or their family. That is a 45% increase in just 4 years!

CONTINUE + Video: [link to www.activistpost.com]

International Business – Davos Style
James Hall, Contributing Writer
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Activist Post

The first lesson of international business is that the monopolies that drive the commercial trading system only hold loyalty to the god of capital. Making money means retaining a profit on trading transactions of business companies.

The notion of making money means something very different to the financial empires that speculate on currencies, commodities, bonds and equities. When the two worlds come together to celebrate the common interest of their pirate culture, the Davos port of call is a necessary winter holiday.

No doubt, the world’s financial outlook is still bleak. The needed measures and will to repudiate the ill-gained debt bubble, that has much of the world facing insolvency, is a taboo alternative. The proverbial can that cannot be kicked far enough down the road of postponement keeps the party going for a little while longer. The life style of the super wealthy accustomed to flying into the Alpine village on Gulfstream V’s can hardly relate to the plight of people eating cat food. No surprise, this is the reality that escapes normal reporting.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

your quite the doomer arent you

Tech Giants Under Fire for Conspiracy to Suppress Employee Wages
Brandon Turbeville
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Activist Post

If current events continue in their present direction, seven of the world’s largest and most influential tech companies may have to pay anywhere from 5% to 10% of the yearly earnings of tens of thousands of their employees. Not only that, but these payouts may have to be calculated all the way back to 2005.

As reported by TechCrunch, Google, Apple, Adobe, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, and Lucasfilm are now defendants in a class action lawsuit alleging that the tech giants conspired together with the purpose of violating long-standing antitrust laws in order to artificially suppress the wages of their employees.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Not at all, far from it, actually.

I just like to be well informed.

Water Industry and World Bank Partner on Scheme to Drive Public Water into Private Hands
Thursday, February 2, 2012

DAVOS-KLOSTERS, SWITZERLAND – This January 26th, the water industry will privately review its newest strategy for driving public water resources into private hands at the World Economic Forum. A partnership quietly launched in October with funding from the World Bank, Coca-Cola and Veolia will report on progress towards its stated mission to “transform the water sector” by establishing “new normative approaches to water governance” that put the private sector in the driver’s seat in water management.

Calling itself the Water Resources Group (WRG) and headed by Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathei, the corporation has already targeted the countries of Mexico, Jordan, India and South Africa to “shape and test governance processes” that would make water privatization more feasible and profitable. The fact that the Group has not invited publicity, and the Bank was unwilling to comment upon its launch, underscores how controversial its founders know the endeavor to be.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

The Real Economic Picture: "There is No Recovery"
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
February 2, 2012

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

Sovereign Debt and "Triple A Ratings": The People's AAA : Audit, Action and Abolition of Neoliberal Economic Policies
by Damien Millet and Eric Toussaint
February 4, 2012


AAA … three letters that ring like a sardonic laugh denoting the top credit rating given by the ratings agencies. A company or a State with an AAA rating is considered credit-worthy by lenders and speculators and can borrow at more favourable rates. But to obtain – or maintain – this symbolic grade, European governments will go to any lengths, including the application of austerity policies that place their economies under the diktat of creditors. The AAA is a front that conceals social regression on a grand scale, human rights violations, and blood, sweat and tears for the most vulnerable citizens.

AAA… Three letters that ring like the laugh of the hyena as creditors reap profits while people’s rights are sacrificed with the active complicity of the heads of European States, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the Central European Bank. Lenders and speculators have taken the most reckless risks, convinced that the public authorities would bail them out in time of crisis. Up to now they have been right. Bank bailouts have been organised, States have provided guarantees amounting to thousands of billions of euros, the wishes of creditors have been pandered to. States have spent colossal sums to bail out banks before imposing massive austerity measures which the people often oppose with determination. Street protests, general strikes, the Outraged (Indigné) movement and social struggles are reasons for hope if they can succeed in federating at European level. It is time for peoples of Europe to unite.

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

Cashless Society: Bank of America Refuses Cash for Mortgage Payment
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Activist Post

In another example that we appear to be rapidly moving into a cashless society, Bank of America in California refused to accept cash for a mortgage payment. The manager of the bank said it was against their policy to accept legal tender physical currency (aka U.S. dollars) as payment for BoA mortgages.

The customer attempting to pay his mortgage, firefighter Robert Somerton, recorded the ordeal in Lakeport branch which made the bank manager so upset that he called the police. The police detained Somerton for a half hour before releasing him with a warning that he may never return to that BoA branch or he'll be arrested.

CONTINUE + Video: [link to www.activistpost.com]

The January Jobs Are Statistical Artifacts
Paul Craig Roberts
Monday, February 6, 2012
Activist Post

Last Friday the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the first month of this new year 243,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate (U.3) fell to 8.3 percent. This good news is a mirage. It is due to faulty seasonal adjustments and to the BLS birth/death model. In a prolonged downturn, seasonal adjustments and the birth/death model produce nonexistent employment.

The unadjusted data show a rise in the unemployment rate. The birth/death model, which estimates the net effect of jobs lost from business failures and jobs created by new start-ups was designed for a normal growing economy, not for a prolonged downturn four years old. Statistician John Williams (shadowstats.com) reports that the BLS adds 48,000 new jobs per month to the payroll employment report based on the birth/death model even though the economy has not come out of the deep recession. In other words, over the course of a year, the birth/death model adds about 580,000 jobs to the reported jobs numbers. End of year benchmark revisions quietly take the nonexistent jobs out of the totals, but these revisions do not receive headlines and pass largely unnoticed.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

Home Foreclosures and Shadow Banking: Why All the "Robo-signing"? - Why the AGs Must Not Settle: Robo-signing Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
by Ellen Brown
February 5, 2012
Web of Debt

A foreclosure settlement between five major banks guilty of “robo-signing” and the attorneys general of the 50 states is pending for Monday, February 6th; but it is still not clear if all the AGs will sign. California was to get over half of the $25 billion in settlement money, and California AG Kamala Harris has withstood pressure to settle.

That is good. She and the other AGs should not sign until a thorough investigation has been conducted. The evidence to date suggests that “robo-signing” was not a mere technical default or sloppy business practice but was part and parcel of a much larger fraud, the fraud that brought down the whole economy in 2008. It is not just distressed homeowners but the entire economy that has paid the price, resulting in massive unemployment and a shrunken tax base, throwing state and local governments into insolvency and forcing austerity measures and cutbacks in government services across the nation.

The details of the robo-signing scam were spelled out in my last article, here. The robo-signing fraud and its implications are expanded on below.

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

Keeping the Global Monetary System Afloat, Postponing Massive Debt Default
by Bob Chapman
February 8, 2012
International Forecaster

There are many ways for sovereigns to sell their bonds or roll over existing bonds, and one of those wrinkles we mentioned last week. We saw European banks buying US Treasuries and that is happening. These euro banks buy Treasuries and then put them up for collateral with the ECB and purchase the three-year 1% yield repos being offered by the ECB. This is really another form of quantitative easing. It may be debt but it is also an expansion of the money supply. This little game allows US Treasury financing and if something goes wrong the ECB, the public, gets caught holding the bag. Obviously this is another part of the Ponzi scheme that the elitists are using to keep the monetary system afloat.

The idea that Germany wants Greece to give up control of tax and spending decisions has met a stonewall in Greece, as one would expect. That is like financial occupation, what the Greeks went through in the 1940s. We do not think the German demands have a chance of acceptance and that $170 billion bailout will take place.

The Troika has proposed extra Greek spending cuts of 1% including health spending, defense and an additional 150,000 jobs over the next three years. The IMF has said such cuts will impair any recovery, so the question arises why do they want to keep on cutting when they know the economy will experience depression?

The merger of the EFSF and the ESM is off as Germany parliamentarians refused approval. It was stopped by Volker Kauder, the floor leader for the CDU, Chancellor Merkel’s party. Mrs. Merkel is in serious political trouble

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

RECESSION: The Decimation of Bank Profits - Falling revenues, increasing losses, profits adrift...
by Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin
February 9, 2012


First semester 2012 - The decimation of bank profits
Falling revenues, increasing losses, profits adrift: this is the Western banking background in late 2011! And yet all this is happening in a very favorable context for banking institutions’ balance sheets who continue to assign their own prices to their assets (using the accounting tricks of « hold to maturity » (1) – or « fair value »). But even this may not last more than a further quarter or two ... because of Greece and Euroland! And yes, they really are the causes of something very damaging to the banking model of recent decades, but not in the sense that Wall Street and the City would want to believe, i.e. because the Euroland banks would collapse dragging down the whole world with them (so far, only Wall Street and the City in 2008 gave us a banking system collapse, sealed off - for a time - by a raid on taxpayers' money (2)). No, if there really is Greek and Euroland responsibility, it’s in Euroland’s willingness to require creditors to include the losses in their balance sheets, putting pressure on the banks to take on a substantial portion of these losses. This wasn’t done in 2008. Greek debt is now at a 50% discount. But Greece is but a drop in the ocean of coming bank losses: the entire Western banking system floats on a sea of more than doubtful debts.

CONTINUE: [link to globalresearch.ca]

Digging Deeper Into Who Controls The World
Susan Jennings
Friday, February 10, 2012
Activist Post

As we delve deeper into world control, more information arises that helps us understand the current global situation. Many people are unaware of the interconnectedness between the largest global companies.

Eighty percent of the world's wealth appears to be earned by a "core" of 1,318 corporations, which in turn are being controlled by only 147 companies. Seventy-five percent of these companies are financial institutions -- and the top companies on the list are the Federal Reserve banks.

CONTINUE: [link to www.activistpost.com]

I would be surprised if this weren't true. What's truly astonishing is that they control things so thoroughly that we don't ever hear about this stuff. I mean, they kept the partial fed audit that showed PROOF of their criminal activities as quiet as humanly possible without destroying the evidence. When I tell people they don't believe me.

Now THIS is doom.

Anyone planning for barter?

i BELIEVE, I BELIEVE, I BELIEVE!!!!!! Praise the Lord