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Archive for the ‘One World Currency’ Category

More economic news from someone who has been more right lately than most….

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Doomsday warnings of US apocalypse gain ground

Economists peddling dire warnings that the world’s number one economy is on the brink of collapse, amid high rates of unemployment and a spiraling public deficit, are flourishing here.

The guru of this doomsday line of thinking may be economist Nouriel Roubini, thrust into the forefront after predicting the chaos wrought by the subprime mortgage crisis and the collapse of the housing bubble.

“The US has run out of bullets,” Roubini told an economic forum in Italy earlier this month. “Any shock at this point can tip you back into recession.”

But other economists, who have so far stayed out of the media limelight, are also proselytizing nightmarish visions of the future.

Boston University professor Laurence Kotlikoff, who warned as far back as the 1980s of the dangers of a public deficit, lent credence to such dark predictions in an International Monetary Fund publication last week.

He unveiled a doomsday scenario — which many dismiss as pure fantasy — of an economic clash between superpowers the United States and China, which holds more than 843 billion dollars of US Treasury bonds.

“A minor trade dispute between the United States and China could make some people think that other people are going to sell US treasury bonds,” he wrote in the IMF’s Finance & Development review.

“That belief, coupled with major concern about inflation, could lead to a sell-off of government bonds that causes the public to withdraw their bank deposits and buy durable goods.”

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More not so good news for our nation, all you have to do is look at the charts below.

We are in uncharted territory now.

As prophecy unfolds, we, as a nation, will need to be knocked down.  Several factors are converging to make this possible, devaluing of our dollar, run away unemployment, dismantling of our capitalist system, socialist agenda aligning with other world powers, and at some point, the rapture.

It will be interesting what triggers the first domino or if they have already dropped and we don’t know it.

The good news is Christ promised to keep us from the worst with his promise to rapture the church….

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IMF fears ‘social explosion’ from world jobs crisis

America and Europe face the worst jobs crisis since the 1930s and risk “an explosion of social unrest” unless they tread carefully, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Duration of unemployment in the US - Bureau of Labor Statistics

Duration of unemployment in the US, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Us long-term unemployed - Bureau of Labor Statistics figures

US long-term unemployed, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.

“The labour market is in dire straits. The Great Recession has left behind a waste land of unemployment,” said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s chief, at an Oslo jobs summit with the International Labour Federation (ILO).

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I post this article for two reasons, first the outlook on Gold and Silver.  Both are where even bond holders are fleeing now.

Second and most important, the fact that they expect the Federal Reserve to buy $1 trillion worth of our debt over the next few weeks.

Many expect that to “help” stabilize us but if you peel the onion, you would see that it means we are printing money to buy the debt.

This is extremely dangerous as it has never ended well in the history of fiat currency, and certainly never been done at this level.

Folks, we are at the edge of a cliff, maybe hanging by a twig.  Get prepared for a rocky fall if they print the money.

Other forces are aligning to pick up the pieces….

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Stocks, Treasuries, Gold Gain on Fed Bond-Purchase Speculation

Stocks rose for a fifth day, the longest streak for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since July, while gold surged to a record and Treasuries gained on speculation the Federal Reserve will purchase as much as $1 trillion in bonds to bolster the economy.

The S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent to 1,123.95 at 3:20 p.m. in New York, led by technology companies on speculation of increased buybacks and dividends. Gold futures surged as much as 2.4 percent to $1,276.50 an ounce and the 10-year Treasury yield slid 9 basis points to 2.66 percent. The Dollar Index, which gauges the U.S. currency against six major trading partners, slumped 1 percent as the yen surged to a 15-year high and the Swiss franc touched $1 for the first time this year.

A total of $1 trillion in bond purchases would improve stability in financial markets and boost real gross domestic product by as much as 0.4 percentage point, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s chief economist Jan Hatzius said. The central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee will meet next week to set policy.

“The Fed has a couple of more bullets in the chamber,” said Michael Nasto, senior trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc., (more…)

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Mind boggling statistics, all while plunging into a recession.

Not sure you could do much more to run us into the ground.

Oh wait?

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Obama Added More to National Debt in First 19 Months Than All Presidents from Washington Through Reagan Combined, Says Gov’t Data


President Barack Obama speaks in Seattle on Tuesday, August 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(CNSNews.com) – In the first 19 months of the Obama administration, the federal debt held by the public increased by $2.5260 trillion, which is more than the cumulative total of the national debt held by the public that was amassed by all U.S. presidents from George Washington through Ronald Reagan.

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Frank posted this yesterday on his site.

A peek into our future….

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Potential Collapse of Kabul bank

Prophecy Sign: Revelation 13:16-17 warns us of what?  You will need to know exactly what this prophecy says so that when you see the world’s economic systems crash you will know what is about to happen next. Read what Jesus stated. “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

If you are new to my site I suggest you go back and read my previous warnings where I tell you that banks around the world will fold up and in the end there will be a global economic collapse that will help force the man Jesus spoke to us about in verse 16-17 to take control of the world.  The current global economic is growing and the news out of Kabul is a prime example of what I have been warning you about.

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Click on the article title for a link to full original referenced article.

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This is a serious issue as outlined below.

Is it an isolated incident or just the first or second domino….

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Pakistan: Finance Minister Warns Imminent Complete Economic Breakdown

The Sinister Plan is in final phase now.. Pakistani citizens simply have no idea that they are facing the worst ever crises in recent history. Floods will bring hyper-inflation, shortage of food, magnified power crises and collapse of entire political and economical system if this devastation continues. Now AmericaIsraelIndiaNato will have the perfect excuse that Pakistan nuclear weapons could go in hands of Taliban or Al Qaeda in these chaotic times when Pakistaniextremists are on the loose! armed and security forces are fully occupied doing rescue, relief and rehabilitation work in hundreds of cities and villages while  the economy is collapsing fast and

KARACHI: Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh warned that government would not have enough money to pay the salaries to the government employees after two months as a result of country’s worst flooding. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh cautioned Federal and Provincial Governments and military authorities to demonstrate highest level of fiscal responsibility in order to avert a ‘complete economic breakdown’.

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More articles on the state of the US and world economy.

More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini

Bank Run 2011?

5 Doomsday Scenarios for the U.S. Economy

Venezuela introduces Cuba-like food card

These all layout a pretty grim picture.  The million dollar question is when will it snap.

Only God knows and He is not telling. =)

We must prepare our families for tough times so that we will be prepared to help others that did not remain watchful, for we know not how much we will have to endure until Christ returns to rapture his church.

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Another stepping stone in the path to the prophecy that allows the Antichrist and his regime control all buying and selling interactions.  The Mark of the Beast will be the key, but all of this infrastructure will be needed to make it work.  The last line of the article was what raised my eye brow.

The firms also aimed to develop a universal standard for all electronic identity and mobile transactions.

Wow, that pretty much covers it doesn’t it?

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New interface could increase contactless processing speed

A French firm has designed a new interface which could increase the processing speed of contactless smart card technology.

Research company CEA-Leti has developed a prototype of the software which transfers data at 6.8Mbps, compared to the current standard rate of 848Kbps.

CEA-Leti aims to attain speeds over 10Mbps and is currently talking with the International Organisation for Standardisation, in partnership with Gemalto, about implementing the package.

Contactless smart card technology was originally created to be used with bank cards and transit schemes which only require low transfer rates.

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“Strangely” familiar to earlier this year with Greece, the world dominos may be beginning to fall, where the US falls in the mix is unknown.  There are some theories…

But if it took the entire world to bail out Greece, what would it take for us?

Can you see the single world government and currency on the horizon?

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Ireland insists not on same road as Greece…

…despite ballooning bank debt

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Ireland’s finance minister, Brian Lenihan, in Brussels for discussions with the European Commission over the bail-out of nationalised Anglo Irish Bank, whose costs are ballooning, insisted the debt black hole at the heart of the company will not bankrupt the government.

The bank has recently announced that it will probably need some €25 billion in fresh capital, equivalent to a full 19 percent of the country’s GNP. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has said that it believes this to be low-balling the true figure, estimating that the real cost could come to €35 billion.

The vast sums have frightened markets, which worry Dublin will have trouble paying its debt.

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Further talk about a global currency and this time by the French President, who has gone as far as to make it their number one agenda item during their one year stint as head of the EU starting in November. 

They would like it completed before the end of their term, November 2011. 

Prophecy’s are lining up and coming into focus….

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Analysis: Sarkozy to press currencies role for G20

President Nicolas Sarkozy has set an ambitious agenda of creating a new international monetary system and taming commodity speculation for France’s presidency of the G20 global economic leadership forum from November.

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Prepare for the worst, hope for the best…

Things are going to get worst, what they are doing with the economy has never worked in history.

It will be interesting what will be the trigger.

World dropping the dollar, loosing our AAA rating, the rapture, or self-inflicted decline from politicians.

On a lighter note, which headline doesn’t seem to belong?

Oh right, another vacation, that’s helpful.

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UNEMPLOYMENT JUMPS TO 9.6%...
Economy LOST 283,000 jobs during 'Recovery Summer' months...
NPR: 'Recovery Summer' Ends With Economic Pothole...
Labor Sec. Declares: 'There are jobs out there'...
TREASURY HEAD RUSHES BACK FROM VACATION; AIDES SEARCH FOR OTHER JOBS PACKAGE...
120 Days to Go Until Largest Tax Hikes in History...
President Claims Job Creation; Doesn't Mention Net Job Loss of 54K...
HE NEEDS A VACATION: OBAMA TO CAMP DAVID...
Taxpayers to face initial loss on GM IPO; Treasury to sell first shares below break-even...

'WE'RE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION'

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Click on the article title for a link to full original referenced article.

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Below are three articles that show further steps our current administration is trying to take, some successful, some not.  All of these are leading us to be more inline with the world by either giving up pieces of our sovereignty or lowering our standards economically.  Either way, it is preparing us for a single government over the entire globe, chipping away piece by piece.

First we have key Obama Ally working with global leaders to institute a global tax, first step on a slipper slope.  Question, who do you contact or protest or vote out to get rid of a global tax?

Second, we have the government trying to shut down an entire industry due to a couple mishaps.  They say it is to protect our coasts, problem is if we are not drilling, Russia and Venezuela are going to start drilling in the exact same spots.  So we are just as much at risk with no jobs or economic benefit.  And do you think those countries safety standards are lower or higher than ares?

Third, our southern borders are getting worst.  We are loosing parts of our country (50-100 miles inland) and our government will not do anything about it.  Why?  Several reasons probably, they want to nationalize all the illegals to get new voters, they need to keep open borders to allow better integration for a “North American Union”?

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One of the things missing from the Bible’s end times prophecy is America.  That has always been perplexing as we over the years have been a strong Christian nation, probably the strongest in the world.  There are a lot of theories around what will happen, but the collapse of our economy and leveling of the playing field (no super power) is bound to be needed for other events to take place.

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This has been an area of little to no transparency for quite some time.  There is a lot of concern by those trying to keep track of what is being done with our gold supply, that massive deception has been taking place over the last few decades….

Something to watch.

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Ron Paul questions whether there’s gold at Fort Knox, NY Fed

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said he plans to introduce legislation next year to force an audit of U.S. holdings of gold.

Paul, a longtime critic of the Federal Reserve and U.S. monetary policy, said he believes it’s “a possibility” that there might not actually be any gold in the vaults of Fort Knox or the New York Federal Reserve bank.

The libertarian lawmaker told Kitco News, a website tracking news about precious metals, that an audit was necessary to determine how much the U.S. maintains in gold reserves in case the government were to use gold to back the dollar.

“If there was no question about the gold being there, you think they would be anxious to prove gold is there,” he said.

“Our Federal Reserve admits to nothing, and they should prove all the gold is there. There is a reason to be suspicious and even if you are not suspicious why wouldn’t you have an audit?

“I think it is a possibility,” Paul said when asked if there was truth to rumors that there was actually no gold at Ft. Knox or the New York Fed.
Paul had been one of the Republicans to spearhead a broader audit of the Fed as part of the Wall Street reform bill passed through Congress this year. The provision, which was weakened somewhat in the final version, found Paul joining with a number of Democrats to require the Fed to open its books and outline its assets and liabilities.

The gold reserves, which Paul’s new bill would audit, are generally seen as a guarantee on a nation’s currency, but the U.S. moved the dollar away from being tied to the price of gold in 1972.

Paul stopped short of calling for the reinstitution of the gold standard and instead called for the government to allow the use of hard currency — gold and silver tender — alongside the use of the dollar.

“If people get tired of using the paper standard they can deal in gold or silver,” he said.

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Link to full original article: Ron Paul questions whether there’s gold at Fort Knox, NY Fed

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Terry from Rapture Ready had a good “Nearing Midnight” article this week on how current events are shaping up for the economic controls the Antichrist will use to control and rule the world during the tribulation.  Very good article….

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Economy Nucleus of Tribulation

One prophetic element stands out in considering the seven-year Tribulation era, with regard to the Antichrist regime. That is the economic platform prophesied to be at the heart of the beast system.

With so many signals in view that point to the brewing Tribulation tempest, we should expect–if we are reading the end-times signals correctly—that this heart of the Beast should be well along in its construction. We have covered all of the indicators found within current issues and events that we believe are signals like those given by Jesus and the prophets. National and world economies have been dealt with in our efforts to make prophetic sense of the dynamic rearrangements taking place in recent years, months, weeks, and days.

America’s staggering weight of debt and swift economic decline is front and center in pointing to the fact, we believe, that this is the generation that stands at the end of one dispensation–the Church Age–and upon the precipice of the next–the Tribulation. Each hour seems to bring additional confirmation that the Tribulation storm is about to break upon an uncomprehending world. Such confirmation is present in abundance in the realm of geopolitics and global economics.

Since Bible prophecy clearly foretells that the Antichrist government, thus the economic engine that will power that absolute dictatorship, will emerge from Europe, we need keep our prophetic antennae pointed in that direction–i.e., we must be especially alert to news involving movement within Europe to cause significant changes to global economic structure.

The following excerpt from the Wall Street Journal registers an interesting blip on my own end-times radar screen.

PARIS —French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on the world’s twenty largest economies to work together to reform global monetary order.

“We must define a new framework for discussing currency movements,” Mr. Sarkozy said, adding that it is “nonsense” to talk about exchange rates without including China, which has accumulated huge foreign exchange reserves.

He said stabilizing erratic foreign exchange and commodities markets will feature high on France’s agenda when it heads the Group of 20 [in] November. He added there is a need to reduce the U.S. dollar’s dominance as the reserve currency of choice.” (Nathalie Boschat and David Pearson, “Sarkozy Outlines G-20 Priorities,” Wall Street Journal, 8/26/10)

Prophecy scholars and others have long pondered why the U.S. , the most powerful nation in history, isn’t mentioned by name–or even by significant reference—in God’s Word. We continue to flounder in attempts at finding an exact answer for that question. However, with the recent astonishing changes nationally and abroad, the answer seems to be in the process of forming.

Monetary manipulation is at the root of the change taking place. The American dollar must be removed as the currency standard so that a global currency not underwritten by any national monetary unit can be established. This is precisely the Beast economic order I’m convinced Bible prophecy describes as outlined in the following:

And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. (Rev. 13:16-18)

This speaks to me of a computer system –a hybrid Internet whereby all citizens of the global economic order will be absolutely controlled at every level of life. Probably, it will consist at its heart of electronic funds transfer (EFT)–a system of Special Drawing Rights (SDR). Anyone refusing to toe the mark of the Antichrist’s regime will face having his or her SDR account blocked or removed completely from the system. Fear of starvation is a mighty motivator to comply.

Pressures are mounting for a completely changed global economic order. Even the king of the kings of the East, China, is at the center of the dynamics driving the changes.

Most economists who are honest will admit that the current building economic heap of debt cannot continue to accumulate. They are amazed, in fact, that everything hasn’t already collapsed into total, worldwide depression. I again offer my belief that it will be the Rapture that causes the ultimate implosion and collapse.

The great world leader called in Revelation “the Beast” will be there to implement a satanically-inspired economic scheme that will at first offer hope –that will for a time “cause craft to prosper” (Dan. 8:25). But Antichrist’s plan will achieve what it will be designed to do: enslave most of the world in electronic bondage.

Jesus offers the opposite of what the counterfeit, Antichrist, will produce. Jesus promises: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). We must at every opportunity lift up the Holy name of Jesus before the eyes of a world headed into the terrors of the Tribulation.

— Terry

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Link to full original article: Economy Nucleus of Tribulation

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Second media outlet confirming the deception that has been spread that the Iraq war is the primary reason for the deficit.  The graph below sure is scary.  Look how fast that jumped in 2009,  Wow, we are so over extended….

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CBO: Eight Years of Iraq War Cost Less Than Stimulus Act

As President Obama prepares to tie a bow on U.S. combat operations in Iraq, Congressional Budget Office numbers show that the total cost of the eight-year war was less than the stimulus bill passed by the Democratic-led Congress in 2009.

According to CBO numbers in its Budget and Economic Outlook published this month, the cost of Operation Iraqi Freedom was $709 billion for military and related activities, including training of Iraqi forces and diplomatic operations.

The projected cost of the stimulus, which passed in February 2009, and is expected to have a shelf life of two years, was $862 billion.

The U.S. deficit for fiscal year 2010 is expected to be $1.3 trillion, according to CBO. That compares to a 2007 deficit of $160.7 billion and a 2008 deficit of $458.6 billion, according to data provided by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

In 2007 and 2008, the deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product was 1.2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

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Link to full original article: CBO: Eight Years of Iraq War Cost Less Than Stimulus Act

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Is it a slippery slope or innovation to save money?

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California students get tracking devices

RICHMOND, Calif.—California officials are outfitting preschoolers in Contra Costa County with tracking devices they say will save staff time and money.

The system was introduced Tuesday. When at the school, students will wear a jersey that has a small radio frequency tag. The tag will send signals to sensors that help track children’s whereabouts, attendance and even whether they’ve eaten or not.

School officials say it will free up teachers and administrators who previously had to note on paper files when a child was absent or had eaten.

Sung Kim of the county’s employment and human services department said the system could save thousands of hours of staff time and pay for itself within a year.

It cost $50,000 and was paid by a federal grant

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Link to full original article: California students get tracking devices

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Good summary of how our current set of politicians is running our nation into the ground.  The awakening of the American people has been amazing over the last year.  Whether it will be enough or is not to late, probably depends more on God’s plan.  Hopefully, the awakening will turn more back to God.

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The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government in U.S. History

Current federal budget trends are capable of destroying this country

There is an instinctive conclusion among the American public that President Obama’s stimulus package has failed to create a sustained recovery. Unemployment has increased, not declined; consumers have retrenched; housing starts have crashed along with mortgage applications; and there is a fear that a double-dip recession may very well be in the pipeline. The public perception, reflected in Pew Research/National Journal polls, is that the measures to combat the Great Recession have mostly helped large banks and financial institutions, and that’s a view common to Republicans (75 percent) and Democrats (73 percent). Only one third of either political leaning thinks government policies have done a great deal or a fair amount for the poor.

There is another instinctive conclusion among the American people. It is that the national deficit, and the debts we have accumulated, are of critical political importance. On the national debt, the money the government has spent without the tax revenues to pay for it has produced mind-numbing numbers so large as to be disconnected from reality. Zeros from here to infinity. The sums are hard to describe; it is hard to describe an elephant, but you know one when you see one. The public knows that, shuffle the numbers as you may, the level of debt is unsustainable.

Who could be surprised since millions of voters have discovered that for themselves? As one realizes the morning after the night before, there is an unavoidable penalty for excess. It is unnerving to wake up and learn that you have a mortgage on your home that exceeds the value of the property. Or, and too often both, you have a credit card line that you cannot repay and the issuer has you on the rack for ever bigger compound interest on the debt. The lesson has been well and truly learned that debt catches up with you. Millions understand that they are just going to have to find a way to live within their means—and then still eke out some savings to pay down debt. And there are well over 14 million Americans without a paying job, so the level of discontent is very high. Just how are they going to regain control of their lives?

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Link to full original article: The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government in U.S. History

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This article gives a little insight into the snowball effect that the US dollar collapsing could trigger.  Or it maybe it will be the other way around.  Either way, the Bible predicts we will have a single world currency and a single world government.  America’s prominence must be diminished.

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Mullen: National Debt is a Security Threat

The national debt is the single biggest threat to national security, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tax payers will be paying around $600 billion in interest on the national debt by 2012, the chairman told students and local leaders in Detroit.

“That’s one year’s worth of defense budget,” he said, adding that the Pentagon needs to cut back on spending.

“We’re going to have to do that if it’s going to survive at all,” Mullen said, “and do it in a way that is predictable.”

He also called on the defense industry to hire veterans and become more robust in the future.

“I need the defense industry, in particular, to be robust,” he said. “My procurement budget is over $100 billion, [and] I need to be able to leverage that as much as possible with those [companies] who reach out [to veterans].”

Mullen highlighted the unity of purpose between the government and industry as well, in working to solve national security issues.

“I have found that universally, [private-sector workers] care every bit as much about our country, are every bit as patriotic and wanting to make a difference … as those who wear the uniform and are in harm’s way,” he said.

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Link to full original article: Mullen: National Debt is a Security Threat

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The question that is never asked is where does the Fed get the $1.7 trillion that is “pumped” into the economy.

There is a reason no one, not even congress, can see the Fed’s accounting records.  They are printing most if not all of that $1.7 trillion.  At some point, that will crash the dollar, clearing the way for a world currency.

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Bernanke says recovery softer, Fed to act if needed

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (Reuters) – U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday the economic recovery has weakened more than expected and the Fed is ready to take further steps if needed to spur slowing growth.

Bernanke’s comments, in an address to an annual conference of global central bankers held by the Fed, came as the government reported that economic growth in the second quarter was weaker than it had originally estimated.

With interest rates held at ultra-low levels since December 2008, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s policy-setting body, has turned to other measures, pumping more close to $1.7 trillion into the economy.

“The committee is prepared to provide additional monetary accommodation through unconventional measures if it proves necessary, especially if the outlook were to deteriorate significantly,” Bernanke told the Fed conference, held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

He made clear, however, that the U.S. central bank has not decided what would prompt additional easing.

“At this juncture, the committee has not agreed on specific criteria or triggers for further action,” he said.

Bernanke said the U.S. central bank’s purchases of longer-term securities have been effective in lowering borrowing costs and that he believes the benefits of buying more such assets, if needed, would outweigh any disadvantages.

U.S. stocks turned lower initially after Bernanke’s comments but then recovered to trade about 1 percent higher, while U.S. Treasury bond prices were lower, as was the U.S. dollar.

OTHER OPTIONS

Bernanke also said other options to spur economic growth — such as committing to hold interest rates exceptionally low for an even longer period than is currently priced in to financial markets, or raising the Fed’s inflation targets — would be less effective in the current environment.

He stressed that the high jobless rate remains a concern to policy makers, and said the Fed would be vigilant against deflation — a dangerous downward spiral in prices that chills economic growth by making both businesses and consumers reluctant to make purchases– even though it is not currently a risk in the United States.

“Because a further significant weakening in the economic outlook would likely be associated with further disinflation, in the current environment there is little or no potential conflict between the goals of supporting growth and employment and of maintaining price stability,” he said.

Investors and economists said Bernanke’s remarks indicated that he favored more quantitative easing measures.

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Link to full original article: Bernanke says recovery softer, Fed to act if needed

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Quantitative Easing, otherwise known as printing money to buy our own debt, is the very beginning of hyper-inflation.  It is laying the foundation.

Why the big words?  Deception.  Everyone knows printing money leads no where good.  And this is leading toward one world currency.  Stay watchful…

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Ben Bernanke under pressure to prop up US economic recovery

When Ben Bernanke addresses the annual symposium of central bankers in Jackson Hole tomorrow he does so against arguably the most challenging backdrop in his tenure as Federal Reserve chairman.

At the end of a week of gloomy reports, Bernanke faces mounting expectations from markets that the Fed will step in to prop up the US’s faltering economic recovery. News of stalling business activity and dismal home sales have fanned talk of a double-dip recession at a time when all the easy options have run out. At the same time, divisions appear to be emerging among his committee of policymakers.

Bernanke’s speech at the Wyoming symposium, entitled The Economic Outlook and the Federal Reserve’s Policy Response, will be scoured for any signs that he will live up to his nickname of “helicopter Ben” and scatter more money over the faltering US economy.

Following a slew of downbeat economic indicators, market expectations are growing that there will be more quantitative easing from the Fed before the end of the year. Under the radical scheme, also used in the UK last year, central banks pour money into buying assets such as government bonds from banks and the commercial sector, pumping more cash into the financial system and at the same time cutting market rates.

The Fed’s latest policy meeting was reportedly the most contentious in Bernanke’s four-and-a-half-year term there, but resulted in a decision to carry out what has been described “QE-lite”. It decided to reinvest the proceeds of its maturing holdings of mortgage-backed securities by putting the funds into Treasury bonds.

Many economists say the next move will be more full-blown QE. But not everyone agrees it is the best way to prop up a fragile recovery. With the US growth outlook already “alarmingly bad”, bond yields had fallen sharply, noted Rob Carnell at ING Financial Markets. If part of the aim of QE was to lower market rates, what was the point of embarking on it when they were already falling on their own?

“The market’s fixation with QE is misguided,” said Carnell. “Buying more bonds when fixed-income markets are already rallying strongly is a bit of a waste of time, and about the only ‘good’ argument for doing so would be that it might help to prevent a rout in equity markets. They will, at least temporarily rally on action of this kind.

“The problem is that the key word here is ‘temporarily’. A policy that will not provide anything more than a shot in the arm for market confidence will sooner or later be swamped by the tide of bad news still flowing.”

Others are sceptical that Bernanke will feel he is in a position to drop any hints on more QE given the recent report in the Wall Street Journal that seven out of 17 officials disagreed with or expressed reservations about “QE-lite”.

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Link to full original article: Ben Bernanke under pressure to prop up US economic recovery

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This is just the first step, we will see many more moves over the next year, maybe more. 

The dollar is sinking, the timing just depends on if countries and banks figure a way to get out that is painless or bite the bullet. 

Bible Prophecy tells us we will have one world currency.

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Banks back switch to renminbi for trade

A number of the world’s biggest banks have launched international roadshows promoting the use of the renminbi to corporate customers instead of the dollar for trade deals with China.

HSBC, which recently moved its chief executive from London to Hong Kong, and Standard Chartered, are offering discounted transaction fees and other financial incentives to companies that choose to settle trade in the Chinese currency.

“We’re now capable of doing renminbi settlement in many parts of the world,” said Chris Lewis, HSBC’s head of trade for greater China. “All the other major international banks are frantically trying to do the same thing.”

HSBC and StanChart are among a slew of global banks – including Citigroup and JPMorgan – holding roadshows across Asia, Europe and the US to promote the renminbi to companies.

The move aligns the banks favourably with Beijing’s policy priorities and positions them to profit from what is expected to be a rapidly growing line of business in the future.

The phenomenon will accelerate Beijing’s drive to transform the renminbi from a domestic currency into a global medium of exchange like the dollar and euro.

Chinese central bank officials accompanied StanChart bankers on a roadshow to Korea and Japan in June. The bank held similar events in London, Frankfurt and Paris.

Lisa Robins, JPMorgan’s head of treasury and securities services for China, said there had been a “spike in interest” from international clients.

An increasing number of Chinese companies have been asking foreign trading partners to accept renminbi as payment, said Carmen Ling, Hong Kong head of global transaction services at Citi.

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Link to full original article: Banks back switch to renminbi for trade

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This from Pravda.  Who would of thought they would see clearer than our US main stream media.  We need to buckle up and prepare for the next twelve months plus….

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Economic Armageddon: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Double Dip is Here!

The worst nightmare forecast by economic specialists over the previous years has come true: new research by economic gurus in the United States of America has revealed a bleak scenario: the United States’ economy is in a state of depression. Yes, it is the Double Dip, a roller-coaster ride to economic catastrophe and it has arrived. To come: massive debt default, the failure of entire nations and widespread starvation in the western world.

The research referring to the works of a number of leading economists (David Rosenberg, Fred Harrison, Arthur Laffer, Nobel Prizewinner Paul Krugman, Robin Griffiths) is revealed in the article by US based analyst and writer, Terrence Aym*. And it makes terrifying reading.

While these leading economists represent different views from opposite ends of the political spectrums both in the USA and the UK, on one thing they agree: the decade ahead is going to get worse.

David Rosenberg states categorically that the United States’ economy has entered another Great Depression, the beginning of the double dip much referred to in recent years, following the shocking revelation in July that the US real estate market has collapsed 27% compared with July 2009.

British economist Fred Harrison explains that property speculation around the globe was responsible for the boom and bust waves ripping through the world economy and claims that tax reforms could have avoided the crisis. What he predicts now is a decade-long depression fuelled by “a massive contraction in demand” resulting in a 45 trillion-dollar debt default and unemployment rates of 25% in the USA and UK. Worse still, Harrison predicts the failure of entire nations and “something unseen for hundreds of years could appear again: wholesale starvation of peoples in some Western countries”.

Harrison, we remember, was dubbed by Spectator Business in 2008 “the canary in the housing mine”… “Nostradamus could scarcely have been more accurate”.

According to the research in Terrence Aym’s article, US economists Arthur Laffer and Nobel Prizewinner Paul Krugman agree with Harrison and foresee higher unemployment, more foreclosures, more failed businesses, a worsening credit crisis and housing slump in the USA.

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Link to full original article: Economic Armageddon: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Double Dip is Here!

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A mountain of economic articles are popping up.  It looks like the next 3-4 quarters are going to be very eventful, some might say Biblical?

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Is the U.S. the Next Bear Stearns?

The U.S. government is handling its finances just like Bear Stearns, paying for long-term liabilities with short-term funding, says Jason Trennert, chief investment strategist at Strategas Research Partners.

The difference is that the government prints its own currency. “But the private sector has shown that’s not a very good way of running a railroad,” he told WSJ.com video.

About 60 percent of the Treasury’s debt matures within three years. That begs the question of why the government isn’t issuing debt as long-term as it can, Trennert says. After all, some companies are looking at issuing 100-year bonds to lock in these low interest rates.

Trennert sees two possible explanations.

“First, you want the deficit to look as low as possible now, so you keep your interest expenses low,” Trennert said.

“The other reason is more frightening. Marginal buyers of debt, in particular the Chinese, have shown they don’t want to lend long-term. They want the leverage that comes with having Uncle Sam go back to them every week or two.”

That means the deficit could represent a national security issue, Trennert says. “I don’t want to be overly conspiratorial, but certainly you’re conceding some sovereignty when you fund yourself this way.”

To be sure, there are signals that the Obama administration is shifting to longer-term debt, he says. “But the magnitude of the debt is so large that you’ve only just begun.”

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Link to full original article: Is the U.S. the Next Bear Stearns?

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Biden hails credit

So yesterday he says we are on the right path, and today he is shocked a small business owner can get credit?

Which one is it?

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Biden hails credit

Since practically Day One of the Obama administration, there’s been a crystal clear message: Credit lines have to loosen in order to improve the economy.

“It’s a recovery that will be measured by whether families and entrepreneurs can get the loans they need,” President Barack Obama said in 2009.”That’s why we’re freeing up credit that’s frozen with a program that supports the market for more car loans, and student loans, and small business loans; and with a plan that will partner government resources with private investment to break the logjam that is currently preventing our banks from lending money to even the most creditworthy customers.”

But in one of Vice President Joe Biden’s frequent casual moments, he joked about just how tight credit lines still are 19 months later.

At Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza for the Middle Class Task Force roundtable, the restaurant’s co-owner Joel Mehr “told Biden that he and his co-owners have two stores and are getting ready to open a third (great news for lovers of good pizza),” according to a pool report.

Biden then asked Mehr, “How in God’s name did you get credit?”

“Mehr said he went to 20 banks before finding a local one in D.C. that would give him a loan,” the pool report said.

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Link to full original article: Biden hails credit

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Are you still in the market?  You should probably read up on this omen….

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Yes Folks, Hindenburg Omen Tripped Again

The Hindenburg Omen reared its ugly head late last week, signaling more doom and gloom as stocks plod along amid the dog days of summer.

The Omen, a technical indicator which uses a plethora of data to foreshadow a stock-market crash, was tripped again on Friday, marking the second time since Aug. 12 it has occurred. (It also came close on Thursday, but one of its criteria fell short.)

The latest trigger has prompted the Omen’s creator, Jim Miekka, to exit the market. “I’m taking it seriously and I’m fully out of the market now,” Miekka, a blind mathematician, said in a telephone interview from his home in Surry, Maine. “I would’ve probably stayed in until the beginning of September,” depending on how the indicators varied. “That was my basic plan, until the Hindenburg came along.”

The Omen has been behind every market crash since 1987, but significant stock-market declines have followed only 25% of the time. So there’s a high likelihood that the Omen could be nothing more than a false signal.

But that isn’t stopping Miekka from taking any chances, especially as September, typically the market’s worst-performing month, sits only one week away.

“It’s sort of like a funnel cloud,” he said. “It doesn’t mean it’s going to crash, but it’s a high probability. You don’t get a tornado without a funnel cloud.” He added he’s not currently shorting anything, although he may look to short Nasdaq stock index futures in the next few weeks, “depending on how the technicals go.”

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Link to full original article: Yes Folks, Hindenburg Omen Tripped Again

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More signs of an economic slowdown at best. 

You will also note in the article that the economists numbers are always lower than the governments. 

Something that is not widely known is that the government can and does release numbers to the media and then adjust them later over time.  These adjustments tend to always be more negative and closer to reality. 

Something to watch…

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Roubini Says Q3 Growth in U.S. to Be `Well Below’ 1%

Nouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who predicted the global financial crisis, said U.S. growth will be “well below” 1 percent in the third quarter and put the odds of a renewed recession at 40 percent.

Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics LLC, said his forecast assumes the government will lower its estimate for growth in the second quarter to an annual rate of 1.2 percent “at best.”

“All the growth tailwinds of the first half of the year become headwinds in the second half,” he said in an e-mail message, including the government’s $814-billion stimulus plan, hiring for the census, and incentives such the cash-for-clunkers program and tax credits for first-time home buyers.

In the best scenario, he said he expects an “anemic, sub- par, below-trend U for many years given the need and process of deleveraging” by households, governments and the financial system.

“With growth at a stall speed of 1 percent or below, the stock markets could sharply correct, and credit spreads and interbank spreads widen while global risk aversion sharply increases,” he said. “Thus a negative feedback loop between the real economy and the risky asset prices can easily then tip the economy into a formal double-dip,” he said, referring to two recessions in a quick succession.

The Commerce Department may report revised figures in two days showing the economy grew at a 1.4 percent pace in the second quarter, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. That’s down from an earlier estimate of 2.4 percent, because of a widening trade deficit, a smaller buildup of inventories and weaker construction.

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Link to full original article: Roubini Says Q3 Growth in U.S. to Be `Well Below’ 1%

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When this happens it will be huge.  Imagine all of the interest rates for our Trillions of debt ratching up, just like the home owners that had adjustable rate mortgages but with now limits. 

It is something to keep an eye on, and will probably play a significant role in our collapse and the formation of a one world government with a global currency. 

Once this happens, we will have no choice but to print more money to cover the expense, thrusting us into hyper-inflation.  Stay watchful…

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S&P Says US Should Act to Protect AAA-Rating

The United States government needs to take steps to preserve its top AAA-rating, a Standard & Poor’s Ratings (S&P) official told Dow Jones newswire in an interview published on Thursday.

Financial Crisis

The measures taken in response to recommendations President Barack Obama’s commission on fiscal responsibility would be crucial in the view S&P takes on the U.S. credit rating, he said.

“It is very important for the credit standing of the United States that the Congress considers very carefully what the fiscal commission proposes,” John Chambers, chairman of S&P’s sovereign rating committee, was quoted as saying.

“It is very important for Congress to take the required steps.”

S&P maintains the United States’ top AAA rating with a stable outlook, meaning there is not a significant chance of a change in the near future.

However, it has repeatedly warned about the gigantic deficit and the debt burden in the world’s biggest economy, calling it a challenge for the government.

David Beers, S&P’s global head of sovereign ratings said in a July report the U.S. does not have unlimited fiscal flexibility and the best-case scenario for the U.S. would be for its debt-GDP ratio to peak at around 80 percent, although there was a chance it could exceed 100 percent.

“So we don’t think these political decisions on tackling the public finances can be put off forever,” Beers said in the report.

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Link to full original article: S&P Says US Should Act to Protect AAA-Rating

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There are so many headlines on some of these topics that I am going to start grouping them together.

Here is a string of articles concerning our privacy and our governments disregard for it.

Did you imagine this when the patriot act passed?  Or we started screening at airports?

Is this America or the eastern bloc?

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MAG: The Government's New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS...

Pre-Crime Technology To Be Used In Washington...

Software Predicts 'Criminal Behavior'...

Full-Body Scan Deployed In Street-Roving Vans...

Links from Drudge Report 8/25/10.

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I believe all of this is funneling toward the end times prophecy of the Mark of the Beast.

It is slowing breaking down our defenses to this type of intrusion under the deception that they need it to protect us.

Slowly they will shift public opinion and acceptable standards to the point, people will think it is a great idea and happily get the Mark (referred to as the Overton Window).

I do believe that all Christians will know what the mark is and what it means.  It is not something that will sneak up on us.  God has said so and placed in us the Holy Spirit that will warn us as well.

I share Paul’s “Blessed Hope” that we will not be here to experience it.  The rapture of the church will certainly thin the watchmen, and allow the deception to run wild.

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Let’s play a game…

Which of these articles doesn’t belong?…

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BIDEN: 'We're moving in right direction'...

Worries about recovery deepen...

'Hindenburg Omen' creator exits stock market...

Economy in 'Depression, Not Recession'...

Dow Faces 'Bouncy Ride to 5,000'...

Typical Slow Summer -- or Something Darker?

New Home Sales Sink to Lowest Pace on Record...

Investors Scatter to Safety...

MORGAN STANLEY: Government Bond Defaults Inevitable...

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I pulled these off the front page of Drudge Report this morning.

These are not minor headlines, each of these 10 years ago would have been huge news!

Amazing, how many negative indicators we are seeing daily.  We have become so numb to them.  We are being warned.

But the deception is so great between the government and the media that many people do not know what is coming.

It amazes me that our Vice President can stand up and say we are heading in the right direction.  It begs to question what direction are they facing, where do they want us to head?

Please listen to the warnings and help wake up those that are not awake yet.  We have passed all the exits, we must turn to God and stand behind him for what is coming our way.

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Another commodity where prices are hitting all time highs.  Prophecy is in the process of being fulfilled.

Revelation 6:6 – “Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

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Consumers face jolt from coffee prices

A 12-year high in bean prices means some coffee companies are passing on increased costs to caffeine junkies.

Posted by InvestorPlace on Monday, August 23, 2010 11:12 AM

By Burke Speaker, InvestorPlace.com

Coffee prices surged to a 12-year high Monday, pushed by last year’s poor Central and South American harvests and upcoming heavy storms in other coffee-producing regions that are adding to an already tight period for availability.

Now consumers could be taking a hit, with Dunkin’ Donuts, Folgers and Maxwell House brands all feeling the heat.

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Link to full article: Consumers face jolt from coffee prices

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One of the major events that will occur before the Antichrist can rise to power is the collapsing of all the nations into a single world government and single world currency.  Prophecy scholars had until recently struggled with how could this happen with the United States leading the world as a sole super power.  Over the last ten years, cracks have begun to form in the United States economy.

You combine this with the articles comparing our economic situation with Greece, and ours is measured to be worse.  The only major difference, and why we are still afloat, and that is the ability to print money.  Greece can’t due to being tied into the Euro.

Take a look at what is happening to Greece in the article below.  It just might be a glimpse into what we may experience in the near future.  There is much speculation you can read on how we will get to One world Government, One world Currency, and One world religion.  And it is just that, only God knows, the events before they happen.

But I can watch trends and assess what can’t be there for God’s prophecy to be fulfilled.  It is kind of like reverse engineering.  We know the end state and we know where we are today.

I believe our economy will collapse to a level where we will be on par or below other nations of the world.  This simply has to happen for God’s Word to be fulfilled (how and when are unknown, but how big are the cracks today?).

I am sure the rapture will help expedite it at some point.  If the US is the largest Christian nation, then when Christ calls all of His church to heaven, the void left will certainly be felt.  I think about that a lot, what chaos would that create?  Think about it, would losing all of the Christians be similar to 70% unemployment from a productivity stand point?.

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Greece Enters Death Spiral

Spiegel Online International reports Tensions Rise in Greece as Austerity Measures Backfire

The austerity measures that were supposed to fix Greece’s problems are dragging down the country’s economy. Stores are closing, tax revenues are falling and unemployment has hit an unbelievable 70 percent in some places. Frustrated workers are threatening to strike back.

This dire prognosis comes even despite Athens’ massive efforts to sort out the country’s finances. The government’s draconian austerity measures have managed to reduce the country’s budget deficit by an almost unbelievable 39.7 percent, after previous governments had squandered tax money and falsified statistics for years. The measures have reduced government spending by a total of 10 percent, 4.5 percent more than the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) had required.

The problem is that the austerity measures have in the meantime affected every aspect of the country’s economy. Purchasing power is dropping, consumption is taking a nosedive and the number of bankruptcies and unemployed are on the rise. The country’s gross domestic product shrank by 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. Tax revenue, desperately needed in order to consolidate the national finances, has dropped off. A mixture of fear, hopelessness and anger is brewing in Greek society.

Unemployment Rates of up to 70 Percent

Unemployment in the city [the shipbuilding district of Perama] hovers between 60 and 70 percent, according to a study conducted by the University of Piraeus. While 77 percent of Greek shipping companies indicate they are satisfied with the quality of work done in Perama, nearly 50 percent still send their ships to be repaired in Turkey, Korea or China. Costs are too high in Greece, they say. The country, they argue, has too much bureaucracy and too many strikes, with labor disputes often delaying delivery times.

Barely any of the country’s industries can keep up with international competition in terms of productivity, and experts expect the country’s gross domestic product to fall by 4 percent over the course of the entire year. Germany, by way of comparison, is hoping for growth of up to 3 percent.

Sales Figures Dropping Everywhere

A short jaunt through Athens’ shopping streets reveals the scale of the decline. Fully a quarter of the store windows on Stadiou Street bear red signs reading “Enoikiazetai” — for rent. The National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce (ESEE) calculates that 17 percent of all shops in Athens have had to file for bankruptcy.

No Way Out

The entire country is in the grip of a depression. Everything seems to be going downhill. The spiral is continuing unabated, and there is no clear way out. The worse part, however, is the fact that hardly anyone still hopes that things will improve one day.

‘Things Are Starting to Simmer’

Menelaos Givalos, a professor of political science at Athens University, has appeared on television, warning viewers that the worst times are still to come. He predicts a large wave of layoffs starting in September, with “extreme social consequences.”

“Everything is getting more expensive, I’m hardly earning any money, and then I’m supposed to pay more taxes to help save the country? How is that supposed to work?” asks Nikos Meletis, the shipbuilder. He predicts the situation will only become more heated. “Things are starting to simmer here,” he says. “And at some point they’re going to explode.”

How Long Can Greece Hold On?

Inquiring minds just might be asking “How long can Greece hold on?”

I do not have the answer to that, besides it’s not the important question. A far more worrisome question is “When does similar strife spread to Spain, Portugal, and perhaps even Italy?”

Part of the blame for this goes to the bailout plan itself. France and to a lesser extent Germany would not take haircuts on Greek debt. Aid to Greece by the IMF and European banks simply threw good money after bad.

The problem did not go away. Instead, terms of the bailout made the situation worse.

Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com

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Link to original post: Greece Enters Death Spiral

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This is some scary stuff, remember when all of that big brother stuff seemed so sci-fi?  The two quotes that took my breath away were:

“I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.”

and

The 55-year-old also predicted that in the future, Google will know so much about its users that the search engine will be able to help them plan their lives.

The sad thing is I believe him.  People don’t want to think these days, we are so dumbed down with the media sound bites and mindless TV.  People don’t know how to think two or three steps ahead to the consequences for their actions or the actions on their behalf.

Additionally, the fact that someone would have to change their name to avoid being associated with what they did, points directly to the fact that we are living in times like “the days of Noah”.  Which was another warning from Christ in his Olivet Discourse.

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Young will have to change names to escape ‘cyber past’ warns Google’s Eric Schmidt

The private lives of young people are now so well documented on the internet that many will have to change their names on reaching adulthood, Google’s CEO has claimed.

By Murray Wardrop
Published: 7:00AM BST 18 Aug 2010
Google's CEO Eric Schmidt says young people should be allowed to change their names to escape their past lives on Facebook
Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt Photo: AFP

Eric Schmidt suggested that young people should be entitled to change their identity to escape their misspent youth, which is now recorded in excruciating detail on social networking sites such as Facebook.

“I don’t believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable and recorded by everyone all the time,” Mr Schmidt told the Wall Street Journal.

In an interview Mr Schmidt said he believed that every young person will one day be allowed to change their name to distance themselves from embarrassing photographs and material stored on their friends’ social media sites.

The 55-year-old also predicted that in the future, Google will know so much about its users that the search engine will be able to help them plan their lives.

Using profiles of it customers and tracking their locations through their smart phones, it will be able to provide live updates on their surroundings and inform them of tasks they need to do.

“We’re trying to figure out what the future of search is,” Mr Schmidt said. “One idea is that more and more searches are done on your behalf without you needing to type.

“I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.”

He suggested, as an example, that because Google would know “roughly who you are, roughly what you care about, roughly who your friends are”, it could remind users what groceries they needed to buy when passing a shop.

The comments are not the first time Mr Schmidt has courted controversy over the wealth of personal information people reveal on the internet. Last year, he notoriously remarked: “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

Earlier this year, Google was condemned by the privacy watchdogs of 10 countries for showing a “disappointing disregard” for safeguarding private information of its users.

In a letter to Mr Schmidt, Britain’s Information Commissioner Chris Graham joined his counterparts in countries including Canada, France, Germany and Italy, in raising concerns over its Street View and Buzz social networking services.

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Link to original article: Young will have to change names to escape ‘cyber past’ (link from Rapture Ready News)

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Saw this article on Drudge from the BBC, it caught my eye because of the ‘indefinite’ that drudge added to his title.

When digging into the article, I was amazed that they are striking over a 1.6% difference in pay.  The Government offered them a 7% raise that they can barely afford, but the unions are striking and demanding 8.6%.

We as a world have lost complete perspective.  We have the same attitude here in the US.  I am always amazed when during down years, people still expect an increase in pay, as if no outside forces affect them personally.

I think it is this loss of touch with reality which is also leading us down the one world government and to one world currency.  Today, we will vote for anyone that will help us personally in the short-term, whether it aligns with common sense or reality is not even considered.

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18 August 2010 Last updated at 11:05 ET

South African workers begin strike

Striking workers in Katlehong and Pretoria protest over pay

Public sector workers in South Africa have begun an open-ended strike, having rejected the government’s offer of a pay rise.

Unions affiliated with Cosatu, South Africa’s main union federation, have been holding out for an 8.6% rise, more than the latest government offer of 7%.

The strike was reported to have got off to a slow start, though unions say more than a million people could take part.

Many schools, hospitals and public offices are expected to be affected.

Police, teachers, doctors, and nurses are demanding an above-inflation 8.6% pay rise, improved housing subsidies, and other benefits.

But South Africa’s government says it can barely afford the 7% offer it has put on the table.

The government needs to find 5bn rand (£440m; $687m) and will have to “re-prioritise” its plans for the year to fund their offer, the minister in charge of the public sector has said.

“It is not the final offer of choice, it is the final offer out of affordability,” Minister for Public Service and Administration Richard Baloyi told reporters at the Parliament in Cape Town.

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Link to full article with a video as well: South African workers begin strike

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There are many theories out there on what will trigger America’s collapse.  One of the techniques we used on the USSR before the collapse was the arms race.  We out spent them.

The tables may be turned, as China passes Japan to become the #2 economy in the world, is moving away from investing in the US dollar & Treasuries, and is now pushing on the military side.  Do I think we will end up at war with China?  No, but it will help nudge us closer to the edge and stretch our already stretched military even further.

There is also the deception question of why was this report delayed, and buried on a busy news day…

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China Targets U.S.

Posted 06:56 PM ET

Chinese navy seamen stand in front of missiles from the frigate Ma'anshan. A Pentagon report says China is “pursuing a variety of air, sea,...Chinese navy seamen stand in front of missiles from the frigate Ma’anshan. A Pentagon report says China is “pursuing a variety of air, sea,…

Defense: A Pentagon report suppressed by the administration describes a massive Chinese military buildup that has only one purpose: to deny us access to the Western Pacific and destroy American forces that try.

The required annual report to Congress on China’s military power was finally released Monday amid questions of why the document, due in March, was delayed five months. With the Ground Zero mosque dominating the news, maybe now was considered a good time to sneak the grim news past the American people.

Perhaps it was to avoid offending the sensibilities of the country helping to finance the Obama administration’s unconscionable debt. Maybe it was delayed to avoid questions as to why, with this growing threat, we are unilaterally disarming, shredding our nuclear inventory and canceling major weapons systems America needs to defend itself.

We have commented extensively on China’s growing threat, and this report, coming alongside news that China has passed Japan as the world’s second largest economy, confirms our worst fears as China builds a military far beyond its legitimate defense needs.

The 2010 report, curiously renamed the “Annual Report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China,” speaks of China’s program to deny U.S. forces access to regions it considers critical to its security.

“China is fielding an array of conventionally armed ballistic missiles, ground- and air-launched cruise missiles, special operations forces and cyberwarfare capabilities to hold targets at risk throughout the region,” the report says. These targets would be American bases and carrier battle groups that might be sent to aid Taiwan.

The 74-page Pentagon report also notes that China is “pursuing a variety of air, sea, undersea, space and counterspace” weapons designed specifically to attack U.S. forces. Primary among them is the Dong Feng 21D carrier-killer ballistic missile that can hit moving and heavily defended American carriers with pinpoint accuracy at distances between 900 and 1,000 miles from China’s coasts.

China’s midrange missiles are “designed to target forces at sea, combined with overhead and over-the-horizon targeting systems to locate and track moving ships. At the same time, China’s growing cyberwarfare and anti-satellite capabilities are designed to blind and hinder any U.S. military response.”

For anti-access airstrikes, the Chinese have home-built fighter aircraft as well as Russian Sukhoi SU-30s, all armed with anti-ship cruise missiles. At sea, anti-access weapons include guided missile ships equipped with anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles.

China’s increasingly blue-water navy includes Sovremenny-class guided-missile destroyers purchased from the Russians. They come equipped with supersonic, sea-skimming SS-N-22 Sunburn cruise missiles designed for one purpose: attack American carrier battle groups.

China has six nuclear-powered attack submarines and 54 quiet, diesel-electric submarines, many of them equipped with advanced, anti-ship cruise missiles. In October 2006, a Chinese Song-class attack submarine surfaced within weapons distance of the American carrier Kitty Hawk off Okinawa. China also plans to deploy two aircraft carriers of its own by 2015. It has already acquired four retired carriers.

As Defense Secretary Robert Gates leaves his post, we have more to worry about than our strategy in Afghanistan and the July 2011 target for withdrawal.

China is challenging diminishing American power in the Western Pacific and globally, and Gates’ replacement and the rest of the administration need to be grilled on what they intend to do about it, if anything.

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I found the link in theRightScoop.com news section.  Link to original article: China Targets US

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I found this commentary on Frank DiMora’s blog this morning. 

It is concerning China’s decision to begin selling off US debt and dollar holdings, while favoring EU and Japan currencies. 

There are several prophesies tied to this, first the rise of the old Roman Empire Christ spoke of, and second the consolidation to one world currency.

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Prophecy Sign: Both Daniel and Jesus warned us that the old Roman Empire would again rise in the last days. That empire, the Western and Eastern legs of that empire have already been raise again.  The Western leg is called the European Union and most of the nations in the EU use the currency called the euro. Although the EU has been hurting economically the euro is still out doing the US dollar.  As the America economic scene looks more like a new depression China is turning to the euro.  Is this things to come?  Since Jesus warned of the rise of the old Roman Empire and we are seeing signs that nations want to turn to the euro instead of the dollar, we need to keep an eye on the EU.

“China Favors Euro Over Dollar as Bernanke Alters Path” “

China, whose $2.45 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves are the world’s largest, is turning bullish on Europe and Japan at the expense of the U.S. The nation has been buying “quite a lot” of European bonds, said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to the People’s Bank of China who was part of a foreign-policy advisory committee that visited France, Spain and Germany from June 20 to July 2. Japan’s Ministry of Finance said Aug. 9 that China bought 1.73 trillion yen ($20.1 billion) more Japanese debt than it sold in the first half of 2010, the fastest pace of purchases in at least five years. “Diversification should be a basic principle,” Yu said in an interview, adding a “top-level Chinese central banker” told him to convey to European policy makers China’s confidence in the region’s economy and currency. “We didn’t sell any European bonds or assets, instead we bought quite a lot.” China’s position may make it harder for the greenback to rebound after falling as much as 10 percent from this year’s peak in June as measured by the trade-weighted Dollar Index. The nation cut its holdings of U.S. government debt by $100 billion, or 11 percent, through June from last year’s record of $939.9 billion in July 2009, according to Treasury Department data released today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-15/china-favors-euros-over-dollars-as-bernanke-shifts-course-on-fed-stimulus.html

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Link to full blog page: Frank DiMora’s Blog it is toward the bottom of the post.

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Good News, it looks like a good number of  us (American’s) are learning our lesson about debt and starting to buckle down.  The debt numbers are still huge but directionally positive.  Wish our government would wake up, but then again, that assumes they are not doing it intentionally which some believe there is strong evidence for…

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Scorning debt, consumers’ credit scores soar

By Helen Chernikoff

NEW YORK | Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:42pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Consumers have tightened their belts to the point where they could take on a lot more debt if they wanted it.

But they don’t.

The average credit score rose to 704 in July, a level not seen since the first quarter of 1998, according to data that Equifax Inc (EFX.N), one of the largest U.S. credit bureaus, provided exclusively to Reuters.

That means lenders consider consumers to be improved credit risks and would be happy to have more of them as customers. Yet many consumers still seem to find debt too risky, said Dann Adams, an Equifax executive.

“Traditionally, what you see is after a recession is that consumers are the engine on the locomotive for economic growth,” Adams said. “Now it looks like they’re the caboose.”

The data is based on Equifax’ 200 million-plus files of U.S. consumers using credit. The credit risk score forecasts the likelihood a consumer will fall 90 days or more behind on debt within two years, with 850 the highest score. The higher the score, the less likely a borrower will fall behind on debt.

A decline in debt mirrored the rise in credit scores.

July saw total consumer debt outstanding fall to $10.8 trillion from a peak of $11.5 trillion in October of 2008. Consumer debt includes mortgages and credit cards. See related graphic: link.reuters.com/muf94n

The savings rate rose to 6.4 percent in June from 6.3 percent in May to reach the highest level since June of last year.

“The big question is whether that money moves back into the economy,” Adams said.

This protracted reluctance on the part of consumers to take out debt and spend it is unmatched in recent memory.

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Found this post on Frank DiMora’s site today, it is one of the two articles I posted yesterday but with some good commentary and a couple of short videos.

Prophecy Sign: Revelation 6:6 “Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”  Last week I showed you that the prices of wheat has increased 40-50%. Check out my post dated Aug. 6, 2010.  Now I want to show you what they are saying about barley.

“The price of barley, an important feed grain for the European livestock industry, has more than doubled in six weeks in response to the drought affecting Russia and Ukraine, prompting fears of increases in the cost of meat and poultry. –Barley production is also down in the European Union and Canada – two other large exporters – due to bad weather.”

I hope you are getting picture? Everything Jesus has warned us is come to pass right before our eyes.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/443d72ee-a316-11df-8cf4-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F443d72ee-a316-11df-8cf4-00144feabdc0.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.raptureready.com%2Frapnews_db.php


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Frank DiMora put this list together of predictions, I have included a link to his original post below.  I love the title.  It is an amazing list in the volume, but once you start reading through some of them it starts gets serious.  I don’t necessarily agree with all of them or even most of them (I haven’t added them up) but I wanted to post his list in its entirety. It is interesting to see directionally what experts think is coming our way.  He divided it into two sections, the first one is secular voices and the second is prophetic voices.  I have added some bolding and underlining to make those sections clearer.

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Do you suppose there is something to this?

Economic Crash Forecast for 2010
3/24/10
Secular Voices
Bob Chapman
First 6 months of 2010, Americans will continue to live in the ‘unreality’…the period between July and October is when the financial fireworks will begin. The Fed will act unilaterally for its own survival irrespective of any political implications …(source is from insider at FED meetings). In the last quarter of the year we could even see Martial law, which is more likely for the first 6 months of 2011. The FDIC will collapse in September 2010. Commercial real estate is set to implode in 2010. Wall Street believes there is a 100% chance of crash in bond market, especially municipals sometime during 2010. The dollar will be devalued by the end of 2010.
Gerald Celente
Terrorist attacks and the “Crash of 2010″. 40% devaluation at first = the greatest depression, worse than the Great Depression.
Igor Panarin
In the summer of 1998, based on classified data about the state of the U.S. economy and society supplied to him by fellow FAPSI analysts, Panarin forecast the probable disintegration of the USA into six parts in 2010 (at the end of June – start of July 2010, as he specified on 10 December 2008)
Neithercorps
Have projected that the third and final stage of the economic collapse will begin sometime in 2010. Barring some kind of financial miracle, or the complete dissolution of the Federal Reserve, a snowballing implosion should become visible by the end of this year. The behavior of the Fed, along with that of the IMF seems to suggest that they are preparing for a focused collapse, peaking within weeks or months instead of years, and the most certain fall of the dollar.
Webbots
July and onward things get very strange. Revolution. Dollar dead by November 2010.
LEAP 20/20
2010 Outlook from a group of 25 European Economists with a 90% accuracy rating- We anticipate a sudden intensification of the crisis in the second half of 2010, caused by a double effect of a catching up of events which were temporarily « frozen » in the second half of 2009 and the impossibility of maintaining the palliative remedies of past years. There is a perfect (economic) storm coming within the global financial markets and inevitable pressure on interest rates in the U.S. The injection of zero-cost money into the Western banking system has failed to restart the economy. Despite zero-cost money, the system has stalled. It is slowly rolling over into the next big down wave, which in Elliott Wave terminology will be Super Cycle Wave Three, or in common language, “THE BIG ONE, WHERE WE ALL GO OVER THE FALLS TOGETHER.”
Joseph Meyer
Forecasts on the economy. He sees the real estate market continuing to decline, and advised people to invest in precious metals and commodities, as well as keeping cash at home in a safe place in case of bank closures. The stock market, after peaking in March or April (around 10,850), will fall all the way down to somewhere between 2450 and 4125 during the next leg down.
Harry Dent (investor)
A very likely second crash by late 2010. The coming depression (starts around the summer of 2010). Dent sees the stock market–currently benefiting from upward momentum and peppier economic activity–headed for a very brief and pleasant run that could lift the Dow to the 10,700-11,500 range from its current level of about 10.090. But then, he sees the market running into a stone wall, which will be followed by a nasty stock market decline (starting in early March to late April) that could drive down the Dow later this year to 3,000-5,000, with his best guess about 3,800.
Richard Russell (Market Expert) (from 2/3/10) says the bear market rally is in the process of breaking up and panic is on the way. He sees a full correction of the entire rise from the 2002 low of 7,286 to the bull market high of 14,164.53 set on October 9, 2007. The halfway level of retracement was 10,725. The total retracement was to 6,547.05 on March 9, 2009. He now sees the Dow falling to 7,286 and if that level does not hold, “I see it sinking to its 1980-82 area low of Dow 1,000.” The current action is the worst he has ever seen. (Bob Chapman says for Russell to make such a startling statement is unusual because he never cries wolf and is almost never wrong)
Niño Becerra (Professor of Economics)
Predicted in July 2007 that what was going to happen was that by mid 2010 there is going to be a crisis only comparable to the one in 1929. From October 2009 to May 2010 people will begin to see things are not working out the way the government thought. In May of 2010, the crisis starts with all its force and continues and strengthens throughout 2011. He accurately predicted the current recession and market crash to the month.
Lyndon Larouche
The crisis is accelerating and will become worse week by week until the whole system grinds into a collapse, likely sometime this year. And when it does, it will be the greatest collapse since the fall of the Roman Empire.

WALL STREET JOURNAL- (2/2010)
“You are witnessing a fundamental breakdown of the American dream, a systemic breakdown of our democracy and our capitalism, a breakdown driven by the blind insatiable greed of Wall Street: Dysfunctional government, insane markets, economy on the brink. Multiply that many times over and see a world in total disarray. Ignore it now, tomorrow will be too late.”
Eric deCarbonnel
There is no precedence for the panic and chaos that will occur in 2010. The global food supply/demand picture has NEVER been so out of balance. The 2010 food crisis will rearrange economic, financial, and political order of the world, and those who aren’t prepared will suffer terrible losses…As the dollar loses most of its value, America’s savings will be wiped out. The US service economy will disintegrate as consumer spending in real terms (ie: gold or other stable currencies) drops like a rock, bringing unemployment to levels exceeding the great depression. Public health services/programs will be cut back, as individuals will have no savings/credit/income to pay for medical care. Value of most investments will be wiped out. The US debt markets will freeze again, this time permanently. There will be no buyers except at the most drastic of fire sale prices, and inflation will wipe away value before credit markets have any chance at recovery. The panic in 2010 will see the majority of derivatives end up worthless. Since global derivatives markets operate on the assumption of the continued stable value of the dollar and short term US debt, using derivatives to bet against the dollar is NOT a good idea. The panic in 2010 will see the majority of derivatives end up worthless. The dollar’s collapse will rob US consumers of all purchasing power, and any investment depend on US consumption will lose most of its value.
Robin Landry (Market Expert)
I believe we are headed to new market highs between 10780-11241 over the next few months. The most likely time frame for the top is the April-May area. Remember the evidence IMHO still says we are in a bear market rally with a major decline to follow once this rally ends.
John P. Hussman, Ph.D.
In my estimation, there is still close to an 80% probability (Bayes’ Rule) that a second market plunge and economic downturn will unfold during 2010.
Robert Prechter
Founder of Elliott Wave International, implores retail investors stay away from the markets… for now. Prechter, who was bullish near the lows in March 2009, now says the stock market “is in a topping area”, predicting another crash in 2010 that will bring stocks below the 2009 low. His word to the wise, “be patient, don’t rush it” keep your money in cash and cash equivalents.
Richard Mogey
Current Research Director at the Foundation for the Study of Cycles- Because of a convergence of numerous cycles all at once, the stock market may go up for a little while, but will crash in 2010 and reach all-time lows late 2012. Mogey says that the 2008 crash was nothing compared to the coming crash. Gold may correct in 2009, but will go up in 2010 and peak in 2011. Silver will follow gold.
James Howard Kunstler (January 2010)
The economy as we’ve known it simply can’t go on, which James Howard Kunstler has been saying all along. The shenanigans with stimulus and bailouts will just compound the central problem with debt. There’s not much longer to go before the whole thing collapses and dies. Six Months to Live- The economy that is. Especially the part that consists of swapping paper certificates. That’s the buzz I’ve gotten the first two weeks of 2010.
Peter Schiff (3/13/2010)
“In my opinion, the market is now perfectly positioned for a massive dollar sell-off. The fundamentals for the dollar in 2010 are so much worse than they were in 2008 that it is hard to imagine a reason for people to keep buying once a modicum of political and monetary stability can be restored in Europe. In fact, the euro has recently stabilized. My gut is that the dollar sell-off will be sharp and swift. Once the dollar decisively breaks below last year’s lows, many of the traders who jumped ship in the recent rally will look to re-establish their positions. This will accelerate the dollar’s descent and refocus everyone’s attention back on the financial train-wreck unfolding in the United States. Any doubts about the future of the U.S. dollar should be laid to rest by today’s announcement that San Francisco Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen has been nominated to be Vice Chair of the Fed’s Board of Governors, and thereby a voter on the interest rate-setting, seven-member Open Markets Committee. Ms. Yellen has earned a reputation for being one of the biggest inflation doves among the Fed’s top players.” Schiff is famous for his accurate predictions of the economic events of 2008.
Lindsey Williams
Dollar devalued 30-50% by end of year. It will become very difficult for the average American to afford to buy even food. This was revealed to him through an Illuminati insider.
Unnamed Economist working for US Gov’t (GLP)
What we have experienced the last two years is nothing to what we are going to experience this year. If you have a job now…you may not have it in three to six months. (by August 2010). Stock market will fall = great depression.  Foreign investors stop financing debt = collapse. 6.2 million are about to lose their unemployment.
Jimmy “Doomsday”
DOW will fall below 7,000 before mid summer 2010- Dollar will rise above 95 on the dollar index before mid summer 2010- Gold will bottom out below $800 before mid summer 2010- Silver will bottom out below $10 before mid summer 2010- CA debt implosion will start its major downturn by mid summer and hit crisis mode before Q4 2010- Dollar index will plunge below 65 between Q3 and Q4 2010. Commercial real estate will hit crisis mode in Q4 2010- Over 35 states will be bailed out by end of Q4 2010 by the US tax payer End of Q4 2010 gold will hit $1,600 and silver jump to $35 an oz.
George Ure
Markets up until mid-to-late-summer.  Then “all hell breaks lose” from then on through the rest of the year.

Prophetic Voices
Neville Johnson
As I thought and prayed about the past year I felt the Lord say to me that 2010 was a year of labor pains, with the contractions getting closer and closer together towards the end of the year.
Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj
Starvation and famine/financial problems will develop. Terrorist attacks. Banks close. Tsunami. 7 new diseases worse than swine flu.
Amos Scaggs
The ultra-rich will go broke. I don’t mean go bankrupt I mean go broke, no money. I saw ultra rich people working for food because they were broke. This will happen by mid-February 2011.
Andrey Rasshivaev
The world is going to face the total and complete economical and financial collapse in August-September of this new 2010 year.
Greg Evensen
Economic meltdown and possible martial law in the mid summer 2010.
Larry Randolph
… there is yet a seven-fold shaking of greater magnitude coming that will produce enormous and perhaps catastrophic disruptions on economic, political, geophysical, atmospheric, and spiritual levels.
Weather Bill
Huge earthquake on the west coast in early September 2010. This earthquake to come is going to start the swift downfall of America.
Harold Eatmon (1998)
I had a vision of the stock market soar and then crash. After the crash, many big business corporations and private parties bought up stocks because of the low cost to buy in. Then I saw the market begin to climb again in a short period of time. Then it crashed again bringing tremendous loss, ruin and devastation to all who bought in the first time. This is what I have labeled “Two Black Mondays” . The time period between the Two Black Mondays was very close together. I could not tell exactly how close. There are some tell tale signs indicating the season and the setting. I saw the season to be when *”the leaves fall to the ground”* then the first crash would occur.”Like Joseph in Genesis, I believe America will have fat years of financial blessing. I also believe there are coming lean years of financial difficulty for America.  [Note: while this doesn’t give an exact date, this prophecy was dead on accurate-the markets crashed -777 points on MONDAY 9/29/08, roughly 1 week into the FALL (leaves fall to the ground.) The markets then rebounded OVER A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME (from April 2009 to October 2009 the markets rallied nearly 4000 points!) and everyone bought back in. According to this prophecy, the next huge crash will happen on a Monday. Eatmon even accurately predicted the coming ‘fat years’ and the now present ‘lean years’]
Robert Holmes
On October 21, 2008 the Lord said to me (of the global economic crisis): “It will be a dead cat bounce,” meaning it will go down fast, bounce back then fall again. In April 2009, after some growth had taken place, the Lord affirmed, “Don’t get too excited about the market news, it will crash again.” In September 2009, He commented on stock market prices (as measured by the Dow Jones), “It will be a W curve”. Though it will improve through to mid 2010, it will crash again under “the weight of debt”.
Deryn Johnstone (1/25/2010)
“We will experience a worldwide economic upheaval resulting in the collapse of our monetary system. This economic crash will come suddenly, sending shockwaves throughout the world. It will be the opening of the establishment of a new one-world monetary system under a new one-world government. When this worldwide economic disaster hits, it will be unlike anything we have ever experienced. The world will be thrown into a state of shock. Panic and fear will grip the hearts of the people everywhere. They will be confused, not knowing what to do or where to go. During this time, the people of God will be clearly distinguished from the world by God’s supernatural provision in their lives. It will not be the absence of problems and adversity among God’s people that will be a witness to the world, but in the midst of this financial crisis the world will see God’s strong arm of provision for His people.
Robert L
What is going to happen this year? 1. The stock market in America will not only crash, it will no longer exist 2.  The President of the USA will foolishly bring sanctions on the nation of Israel 3. There will be a great earthquake that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific 4. The greatest fear will be none of these things; it will be the lack of food men will fear most. The sad truth is that even after all these things have taken place in 2010, most will not repent and turn back to God, most will become even more corrupt as we speedily rush toward the end of time.

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Excellent article from CNN Money.  It is the most straight forward and easy to understand forcast I have read in a while.  As I have said in the past, button down the hatches and prepare your family…

Click on the link below to go to original article at CNN.

Is this finally the economic collapse?

By Keith R. McCullough, contributorAugust 11, 2010: 2:07 PM ET

 

FORTUNE — The Great Depression. Wall Street in 1987. Japan in 1997. Points of economic collapse are generally crystal clear in the rear-view mirror. Professional politicians in Japan have been telling stories for 20 years as to why they can prevent economic stagnation. In the US, the storytelling started in 2007. All the while, stock market and real-estate prices have repeatedly rallied to lower-highs, then collapsed again, to lower-lows.

Despite the many differences between Japan and the US, there is one similarity that continues to matter most in the risk management model my colleagues and I use at Hedgeye, our research firm — debt as a percentage of GDP. Now that the US can’t cut interest rates any lower, the only option left on the table is what the Fed just announced it would start doing — buying Treasury debt. And that could lead the country to the brink of collapse: According to economists Carmen Reinhart & Ken Rogoff, whose views we share, crossing the 90% debt/GDP threshold is the equivalent of crossing the proverbial Rubicon of economic growth. It’s a point from which it’s almost impossible to return.

On July 2nd, we cut both our third quarter 2010 and full year 2011 GDP estimates for the US to 1.7%. At the time, the consensus around US economic growth estimates was about 3%. Now we’re starting to see both big brokerage analysts and the Federal Reserve gradually cut their GDP estimates, but not by enough. Even our estimate for 2011 is still too high.

Slowing growth, both domestically and in China, is core to our bearish views on both the strength of the US dollar and US equities. There will be a downward bias to our US growth estimates as long as debt-financed-deficit-spending continues to be the solution politicians and central bankers turn to as a fix to our financial crisis.

Markets trade on expectations. Yesterday’s zig-zag in the S&P 500 was unlike most sleepy August trading days in America. That’s because the ‘government is good’ crowd leaked word that this second round of “quantitative easing,” known as QE2, was coming, and that Ben Bernanke was going to respond to our buy-and-hope begging. (The first round of quantitative easing was the Fed’s unprecedented purchase of agency debt to prop up the housing market, along with credit facilities for big banks, which began in 2008 and ended earlier this year.)

To think that we have institutionalized market expectations to this degree is downright frightening. It seems impossible but true that all rallies start and end with rumors about what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a humble looking man of government, had to say at 2:15 PM EST yesterday afternoon, or any other day he makes a statement.

So now what?

With 40.8 million Americans on food stamps (record high) and 45% of the unemployed having been seeking employment for 27 weeks or more (record high), what’s left if (or when) QE2 doesn’t kick start GDP growth? Should we start begging for QE3? Should we cancel the bomb of the National Association of Realtors’ existing home sales report, scheduled for public release on August 24th? Or should we bite the bullet and accept that current economic policy dictates 0% returns-on-savings, even as Washington continues to lever-up our future to the point of economic collapse?

Before the Fiat Fools — Hedgeye’s name for political actors and bankers who have placed their hopes of economic recovery in printing endless supplies of new cash — run out campaigning for QE3, maybe they should analyze some real time market results to yesterday’s announcement of QE2:

1)The US dollar is battling for resuscitation after 9 consecutive down weeks — down 9% since June.

2) US Treasury yields are making record lows on the short end of the curve, with 2-year yields striking 0.49%.

3) The yield spread (in this case the difference in return between 10-year and 2-year Treasury bills, which shows a long-term confidence when high) continues to collapse, down another 4 basis point day-over-day to 223 basis points.

4) The S&P 500 is down below its 200-day moving average (a common signpost for the health of a market or stock) of 1115.

5) US Volatility (VIX) is spiking from its recent stability.

6) In Japan, long time quantitative easing specialists found their markets closing down overnight by 2.7%, which makes them down 11.9% for the year to date.

Lest our doom and gloom seem built entirely on technical measurements, what they boil down to is actually quite simple — an idea about our country which dates back to 1835. Alexis De Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America, which was published that year, seemed to warn of this day when he wrote: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.”

— Keith R. McCullough is CEO of Hedgeye, a research firm based in New Haven, Conn. To top of page

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