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http://www.newsforreal.com Stephen Pizzo has been published everywhere from The New York Times to Mother Jones magazine. His book, Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, was nominated for a Pulitzer.
It's the money, stupid:) But no matter what, nobody is going to address the Elephant in the closet: Central Reserve Banking + Fractional Reserve Banking + Legal Monopoly on Money = Voodoo economics. There is no need for a 'gold standard'. Even a gold-based national currency is going to tempt the politicians to muck it up sooner or later. What is required is what Hayek called the 'denationalisation of money', for the simple reason that every time there is a government-backed monpoly - whether car manufacturing, railways, or money - the quality of the product, in this case money, goes to hell because the monpolist benefits from producing a bad product if the consumer has no choice but accept it. In the case of money: it is legally prohibited to not accept the US dollar as payment. "Denationalisation of Money - The Argument Refind" by F. A. Hayek - ISBN 0-255-36239-0 Here's a good summary of the argument (I do not know the author, so I do NOT endorse anything else on that webpage): http://www.maxmore.com/hayek.htm Happy reading - and hold on tight.... by
dietwaldclaus (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 8:34:26 AM
Mike Folkerth is the author of "The Biggest Lie Ever Believed" and is not your run-of-the-mill author of finance and economics.
Stephen Your article is accurate in that the average American is clueless regarding the severity of our economy. And you are also correct that it is different this time; very different. The frontrunner's have no concept of what keeps America working. Or if they do, they are keeping a very good secret. Ron Paul did a nice job of laying out our problems, but was branded a nut case for telling the truth. Both NAFTA and the WTO were passed on Bill Clinton's watch. Obama seems like a decent person, but his economic policies are laughable. McCain admitted that he doesn't know anything about the economy. So where do we go from here? The truth is that America's economy reached zenith some years ago. Exponential growth in a finite world with finite resources is mathematically impossible. by
Mike Folkerth (99 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 477 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 8:42:51 AM
Let's keep it real. Sorry, but I don't think it helps anybody when the rather simple and straight-forward issue of money and the monetary crisis gets mixed up with nonsense like "Kennedy wanted to put an end to the FED". Kennedy was planning no such thing - it's just another silly idea with no backing in reality. The monetary crisis is real, the Federal Reserves' fiat money problem is real, but who killed Kennedy has nothing to do with that. Kennedy was just another lousy politician with nothing but his own aggrandization in mind. I really don't understand why Americans make him out to be some kind of hero or genius. He started the Vietnam war, hello! Bay of Pigs.. that was Kennedy. Heavens, give up on the fool. Focus on what's real: centrally planned money supply causes economic booms, and will eventually result in busts. Unfortunately, we all fail to realize that it was the boom that was bad for the economy, and that the bust is simply gravity asserting itself. We need the bust, the earlier the better, because the later it comes, the worst it will be. by
dietwaldclaus (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 1:49:41 PM
Money as Debt video I also just watched that video, Money as debt. It's brilling until about minute 27, after which it degrades into sheer nonsense and confusion about money. Just one example, and I paraphrase from about minute 34: "if gold were money, than those who have all the gold have all the money" - uh, yes, and a lot of good all that gold would do them. Unless they loan it out or buy stuff with it, what are they going to do with it? If some people hoard gold, that does not mean that everybody else is going to starve, it means that those who hoard gold are eventually going to starve, unless they spend it. So, watch hat video until about minute 27, and then switch it off, unless you want to be utterly confused (or supremely amused). by
dietwaldclaus (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 3:05:28 PM
I am a musician, homeschool mother of three, and Ron Paul supporter.
Amen... Rumor has it that RON PAUL IS STILL IN THE RACE. Only Ron Paul has tied the issues of unConstitutional war in Iraq to the economy. I daresay ONLY Ron Paul gets it. by
wgadget (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 15 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 2:26:53 PM
Can somebody please explain to me that Europe and Australia have exactly the same system of a federal reserve and fractional reserve lending, but their economies, particularly that of Australia, is booming? So it must be something else than just the money system. Sydney, Australia by
Robert Hoogenboom (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 152 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 3:51:41 PM
Fractional Reserve Is of course the same in most countries, as far as I know. It's a lousy system, but some countries manage it better than others (just as it is possible to build a decent car in a government monopoly). The US system seems to have gone particularly nuts in recent decades. Don't forget that Australia is also a country that exports a lot of raw materials and benefits from the current high value of commodities. The same is true for Canada and Russia. But, at the very basis, all countries using a fiat-money fractional reserve government sanctioned monopoly money system have the same problem. Just not necessarily as bad. by
dietwaldclaus (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 4:50:01 PM
Mr. Danforth is a supporter of the Constitution of the United States of America, as defined by Thomas Jefferson.
I'll Explain It The economies of Europe are on the brink of the same meltdown as the US, and for the same reasons. Recent news shows that Australia is going the same way, leading off the bust with a credit crunch. The problem is that the central banks in those economies had to follow the Fed in its inflationary pattern, otherwise their currencies would rise against the dollar too much, and that would threaten exports. Although they have now pretty much given up, and some of them are raising their interest rates to stop inflating so fast, allowing their currencies to rise to new highs, they still have a long way to fall. All of that extra currency floating around leads to booms or bubbles financed not from savings but from the fake money, which causes prices to rise. Withdraw the money, and get back to 'real' demand, and the bubble pops, asset prices fall, economic activity drops, and the standard of living of everyone drops as prices adjust out across the economy to reflect the amount of fake money pumped in. It may very well be that Australia and certain European economies will suffer shallower recessions and recover earlier, because they are raising interest rates and forcing a credit crunch earlier. But the credit crunch is worldwide, and the recession will be worldwide, with the US leading the way down the rathole. It appears that banks everywhere wanted in on that easy money action, and are now getting burned. Tell me what you think of this article: by
John Danforth (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 86 comments)
on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 7:17:04 AM
link broken. by
dietwaldclaus (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 11:52:49 PM
Its Wall Street, Stupid! It's NOT the economy, stupid! It's Wall Street, Dummy! The entire mandate of the Fed, and the whole purpose of printing $5 trillion dollars and borrow another $5 trillion dollar, is to make sure Wall Street banks and brokerages can borrow an unlimited amount to make obscene billions in profits. When you can borrow from the Fed at 3-4%, flip and loan it out at 10% - 18%, it's a no-brainer. Wall Street did make about $1 trillion in profits over the past years. From the millions of suckers who loaded up themselves to the eyeballs (and over the head) with debts. But, of course, that's not enough. Human greed is great while the Wall Street kind is limitless. So they started selling subprime toxic waste to the poor and to all the fools of foreign banks. It's a mafia racket dressed in the same 3-piece suits. So now people walk out of their mortgages, and foreign banks and investors walk out of the USA. We're all alone now. We can enjoy the recession all by ourselves. Thank you Wall Street. Bin Laden would admire all the damages you've done. Hay, maybe he did the right thing hitting WTC after all ?! by
TomK (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 194 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 4:06:32 PM
Yes, you are right in so far that the economy - the real economy that actually produces stuff - is about as good as it gets in the US. Labour productivity is fantastic, and after 200 years without war or any serious socialism, there was little to mess up the economy as such. However, the monetary system is a complete mess, and since you need money to do anything, you are affected by what the banker boys and government contractors do to the money supply. But it's the banks who run the money system as a legal monopoly, after all. by
dietwaldclaus (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 4:53:25 PM
K.I.S.S. The War Is The Economy by
Angelo (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 141 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 5:28:46 PM
Novelist. General contractor.
unstructuring finance The immediate cause of the economic problem is not the billions being dumped into the Iraq War rat hole, it is the fraud perpetrated by the banks in the name of debt "securitization". Banksters made bad loans to borrowers buying real estate in an inflating market. To protect themselves from the potential defaults on these bad loans, the banks securitized the debt, ie, bundled up mortgages into a package and called it a "security". They then sold this security to other investors and these investors are left holding the bag as the borrowers begin to default in the deflating housing bubble. A CDO, collateralized debt obligation, bought by an investor for 50k, is suddenly worthless because it can't be resold to some one else, even for 10k. It has become toxic. To add insult to injury, the unwitting investor who bought this CDO, listed it as an asset on his own balance sheet and very likely used it as collateral to borrow more money. This is a small example of the new financial world, Alan Greenspan's world, of "structured finance" which has been made possible by the banking deregulation championed by Greenspan and the radical "free market" ideologues that came into power with Ronald Reagan. The cornerstone of banking regulation put in place during the Depression to prevent this kind of financial malfeasance, the Glass-Steagal Act, was repealed in 1999. Slick Willy Clinton signed the bill and gave the pen he used to Sanford Weil, the financial genius of Citibank who specialized in handing out credit cards to everyone in the same way banking fraudsters have been giving mortgages to everyone regardless of ability to pay. There's short term money in it, but no future, as we will all learn very shortly, as our privatized banking system goes bust. We must return to the Constitution, which mandates a government monopoly for the creation and regulation of the nation's money, Article 1, Section 8, through the US Treasury. Get rid of the private monopoly Federal Reserve, and return to the Constitutional public monopoly. The people are fools to trust the money power to the rich. It is an open question whether the people will ever wise up. by
Joseph Danison (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 6:02:19 PM
The mafia Fed? What's the central banks of Canada, Mexico, Japan, Britain, France, etc. ? The Bank of Canada, Bank of Mexico, Bank of Japan ... respectively. They're 100% owned by the state, regulated under special laws, with independent governors appointed by the ruling administration. They all have one and only one mandate: protect the value of the currency - because all currencies today are fiat, thus requiring special protective management. These central banks works for the state, and thus the people. Their governors are directly accountable to parliament, can be fired but not interfered with. What's the central bank of the US? The Federal Reserve - a quasi-government organization OWNed by private banks. The presidential appointed 'governor' is not really such, but chairs a committee of state central banks, whose mandate are twofold: protect the value of the currency, and promote economic growth. But these two objectives are contradictory most of the time. Since the Fed is privately owned by the banks, history has shown that many Fed chairmen have consistently chose economic growth over currency stability. By pumping ever endless supply of money to the banks, who always make money first when the economy grows, and always get bailed out when the economy tanks. What about the currency? Well, the US dollar has lost more than 95% of its value since WW2. The US Fed is in reality a servant of the banks, pursuing a single policy - unlimited and unending credit expansion. Unstructured finance is the trick the private banks used to act like the Fed - ability to print money privately. Trillions were created during the good times, the billions of profits collected. Without creating any economic value. How long can this last - the ever bigger devaluation of a fiat currency? As George Soro recently said: The 60 year long credit expansion of the US may be coming to an end. The problem is not fiat currency per se or fractional banking - many other countries have these. The problem is this particular Fed system in the US, its proven history of serving the banks instead of the people (or the real economy), and its collusion to let the private banks create private money at will, in any amount, and in any way they see fit. by
TomK (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 194 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 7:56:58 PM
A former (for now) local politician and political activist turned business owner. 40, single.
It MIGHT WELL BE the NEXT war by the time November arrives The National Intelligence Estimate last December made sure that the international community will not go along with sanctions against Iran over the issue of nuclear proliferation. Therefore, Bush, Cheney, and the Pentagon find themselves in a bind. In their minds, the only method of "punishing Iran" left to them now is to outright attack Iran. And it probably makes perfect sense to Cheney/Bush for the U.S. to strike Iran right before our next presidential election so that they have a good excuse for declaring martial law and suspending that election for as long as seems necessary to scare the voting public here. Orwellian? Insane? Like no other policies of this administration? While the flavor of the campaigns might seem like the economy for the moment, we should never take our eyes off the war ball no matter how badly we mix our metaphors. by
Petercapecod (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 7 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 7:18:57 PM
Kennedy printed over 4 Billion in NEW CURRENCY you hacK click here Fedearl reserve Notes went into circulation. by
Scott Ledger (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 135 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:27:49 PM
link is not working besides, what kind of site is that in any case? So Kennedy printed more money, and that was good because....? by
dietwaldclaus (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 9:33:35 PM
Try this link exsecutive order #11110 look into it by
Scott Ledger (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 135 comments)
on Monday, March 3, 2008 at 10:19:18 PM
My name it means nothing, my age it means less. My deeds of activism are mine to enjoy and share as I feel necesary, not as some clown in a small forum's administration thinks I must..This place gets worse each and every visit.
err that site you proffer says volumes, but not about the subject.....jesus is savior.com....perhaps you failed to note that the economy includes saving it aint that kind of saving..... by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 7:59:53 AM
Siamdave is a Canadian expat living in Thailand where he teaches English to doctors in the daytime and tries to save his 'real' country from the body snatchers (=capitalist predators)from his secret fortress On Green Island (http://www.rudemacedon.ca/lgi/ogi-home.html)at night. A tough job, but ....
on the path - a good and very necessary discussion - if more people understood what was happening with 'their' money, I do think the revolution might start. Which is one reason at least so many who run the system are so determined that 'the people' never find out what is going on. TomK, you were half right about Canada, with the Bank of Canada, but that's only the theory - in practice, the gov betrayed the people of Canada beginning in the 70s, and turned the money creation power over entirely to private banks, and it's been downhill since then, at least for 'we the people' - been a gravy train for the banks, of course. It's explained in more detail here - Banketeering - how the banks have been stealing trillions from you, and the tap is still running - with some more thoughts about why a return to the gold standard is very much NOT a good idea, in my opinion. by
siamdave (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 17 comments)
on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 12:36:58 AM
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head tells me that the subject better quickly become the US economy. If it doesn't the war will end anyway. Let me explain.
