What is in store for the billions of poor people around the world who live on $1 a day? What is in store for the relatively rich populations of America and Europe when fuel prices have greater and greater impact on already rising food prices, driven up by these same speculators?
Give it another month and when the prophesy of $150 a barrel sinks into the collective consciousness of all the truckers, fishermen, farmers who use fuel and pesticides and fertilizers, not to mention the ordinary motorist trying to get to work, expect the proverbial ‘doodoo’ to hit the revolving air machine.
There have been many articles alluding to the fact that America is already bankrupt, having spent billions on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the burgeoning U.S. Department of Homeland Security, all in hock to China, Japan and Asian countries.
The dollar is steadily tanking and today the New York Times sent me a news alert, which said, ‘The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell about 400 points, driven by economic concerns and by oil prices that soared to near $140 a barrel.”
In 2008, for example, it took $21.57 to buy what $1 bought in 1913.
The Last Great Bubble - Counterfeiting the Dollar
The last few years has seen a series of "nested bubbles" popping. The Internet bubble popped and brought down the tech sector, which brought down the NASDAQ, which is bringing down the U.S. economy. But the granddaddy of them all, the bubble, which envelops them all, is still in play.
You may be inclined to think that the green bills in your wallet are dollars, but I have shocking news for you: They're not. They're counterfeits. Since 1913, a gradual shift has turned our money from wealth to debt, and finally into a speculative investment.
For more detail on the creation of the Federal Reserve and the history of the decline of the dollar and the Congress see,
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_02/nystrom022602.html
For the causes of the Great Depression of the 1920s see,
http://www.gusmorino.com/pag3/greatdepression/
“The Great Depression was the worst economic slump ever in U.S. history, and one which spread to virtually all of the industrialized world. The depression began in late 1929 and lasted for about a decade. Many factors played a role in bringing about the depression; however, the main cause for the Great Depression was the combination of the greatly unequal distribution of wealth throughout the 1920s, and the extensive stock market speculation that took place during the latter part that same decade. The misdistribution of wealth in the 1920s existed on many levels. Money was distributed disparately between the rich and the middle-class, between industry and agriculture within the United States, and between the U.S. and Europe. This imbalance of wealth created an unstable economy. The excessive speculation in the late 1920s kept the stock market artificially high, but eventually lead to large market crashes. These market crashes, combined with the misdistribution of wealth, caused the American economy to capsize.
The federal government also contributed to the growing gap between the rich and middle-class. Calvin Coolidge's administration (and the conservative-controlled government) favoured business, and as a result, the wealthy who invested in these businesses. An example of legislation to this purpose is the Revenue Act of 1926, signed by President Coolidge on February 26, 1926, which reduced federal income and inheritance taxes dramatically. (Echoes of George Bush’s tax cuts for the rich?) Andrew Mellon, Coolidge's Secretary of the Treasury, was the main force behind these and other tax cuts throughout the 1920s. In effect, he was able to lower federal taxes such that a man with a million-dollar annual income had his federal taxes reduced from $600,000 to $200,000. Even the Supreme Court played a role in expanding the gap between the socio-economic classes. In the 1923 case Adkins v. Children's Hospital, the Supreme Court ruled minimum-wage legislation unconstitutional.”
Do you see the similarities to the 1920s Great Depression? Almost all the factors are in place now that were contributing to the situation then, except that now the situation is global.
Break out the old records of the depression songs like:
