Monday, July 30, 2012

Get Your Own Lobbyist! Send a Delegate to Tampa Today!





Dear Twisted Politix,

As you know, the Republican National Convention is right around the corner!

From the beginning, I’ve said this convention in Tampa will be a critical step for our R3VOLUTION.

That’s why I’ve instructed my campaign staff to offer financial assistance to our delegates who otherwise wouldn't be able to make it in order to ensure every one of them can reach Tampa.

But in order to make this a reality, can I count on you to please make a generous contribution to help as many of our campaign’s delegates as possible make it to the Republican National Convention?

As you know, the establishment hasn’t just sat still and quietly watched us take over party chapters and rack up delegates.

Their opposition has required our campaign to spend resources in Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, and Oregon to defend our gains and defeat their challenges.

And with August just around the corner, we want to make sure we can cover expenses for delegates that need help reaching the convention.

Your contribution will be put directly toward transportation, lodging, and other costs associated with getting these delegates to Tampa.

This is incredibly important for a number of reasons:

***  First, the Republican National Convention is our opportunity to plant our flag and show that our Liberty movement is the future of the GOP.

Seeing a flood of pro-liberty delegates and so many new and young faces in Tampa will respectfully send that message to the GOP establishment.

***  Second, we’re expecting a credentials battle at the Convention to ensure the national GOP doesn’t just “look the other way” at some of the dirty tricks my supporters had to deal with in many states.

I’ll need my supporters in Tampa to help ensure as many of our campaign’s delegates get credentialed as possible.

***  And finally, the Republican National Convention provides us with the opportunity to affect the Party Platform.

As you know, pro-liberty delegates will be fighting for an internet freedom plank, an Audit the Fed plank, and a plan opposing the indefinite detention of American citizens.

We may also have a battle over a plank opposing the so-called “PATRIOT” Act and undeclared wars.

Getting these crucial issues in the Republican Party Platform will not only show that we are the future of the GOP, but also perhaps even help convince some legislators who were “on the fence” on these issues to start coming our way.

That’s why I’m hoping I can count on you to make a generous contribution to help our campaign’s delegates get to Tampa.

There’s no doubt that our Liberty Movement is growing by leaps and bounds.

And it’s because of your hard work and dedication that we are the future of the Republican Party.

Thank you for all of that hard work and for everything you’ve done for my campaign!

For Liberty,

Ron Paul


Sunday, July 29, 2012

Top US Military Brass Accuse Cheney of Architecting The September 11, 2001 Attacks

(June 20, 2012)

The former head of the Star Wars missile defense program under Presidents Ford and Carter has gone public to say that the official version of 9/11 is a conspiracy theory and his main suspect for the architect of the attack is Vice President Dick Cheney.

Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Lt. Col., USAF, ret. flew 101 combat missions in Vietnam. He is the recipient of the Eisenhower Medal, the George F. Kennan Peace Prize, the President's Medal of Veterans for Peace, the Society of Military Engineers Gold Medal (twice), six Air Medals, and dozens of other awards and honors. His Ph.D. is in Aeronautics and Nuclear Engineering from Caltech. He chaired 8 major international conferences, and is one of the country's foremost experts on National Security.

Bowman worked secretly for the US government on the Star Wars project and was the first to coin the very term in a 1977 secret memo. After Bowman realized that the program was only ever intended to be used as an aggressive and not defensive tool, as part of a plan to initiate a nuclear war with the Soviets, he left the program and campaigned against it

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Dear #RonPaul fan regarding #AudittheFedbill

July 24, 2012 Dear Concerned Citizen: Thank you for writing me in support of H.R. 459, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which would give the Government Accountability Office the authority to audit the Federal Reserve and its member components and report to Congress on the results. I strongly agree that such independent audit authority is essential. You will be happy to know that I am a cosponsor of H.R. 459 and voted to pass it on July 25, 2012. The bill passed the House by a vote of 327-98 and I am hopeful the Senate will move to vote on the bill as soon as possible. The Federal Reserve System operates as the central bank for the United States, managing the economy's money supply and overseeing the banking system. Historically, the Fed has not picked winners and losers when distributing money, nor has it brought significant credit risk onto its balance sheet. It has slowed or stimulated the economy by raising or lowering interest rates. Starting in March 2008, however, the Fed used its emergency powers to take massive credit risk onto its books. We now know that as of September 2009, the Fed's balance sheet had expanded from around $800 billion to over $2 trillion, not including off-balance sheet liabilities it guaranteed for Citigroup, AIG, and Bank of America, among others. Recent press reports suggest the Fed did significantly more to bolster the finances of the major financial institutions-- to the tune of up to $7.7 trillion in short term borrowing to shore up their balance sheets—financing that was kept secret and had no strings attached. An audit is the first step in bringing greater accountability to this system. It is essential that we bring more transparency to the Federal Reserve and ensure that the American public and Congress have a clear understanding of the actions the Fed has taken in order to determine the appropriate measures that need to be put in place to avoid another financial crisis in the future. Thank you again for writing me about this issue. I value the messages I receive from my constituents and use them to better inform my decision making process. I hope that you will continue to call or write me in the future on matters important to you. All the best, Jackie Speier Member of Congress

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Dear Ron Paul Fan, the Audit the Fed Bill Passed the House






Dear Ron Paul Fan,

Minutes ago, the U.S. House voted to pass our Audit the Fed bill!

For more information, and to find out how your representative voted, be sure to check www.CampaignForLiberty.org.

Thanks for your help to achieve this historic victory!

Only a few years ago, few would have believed that two thirds of the U.S. House would support a complete audit of the Federal Reserve.

It’s time to further shock the establishment by carrying our momentum over into the Senate.

And that’s where Audit the Fed faces its toughest test yet.

Ben Bernanke and his bankster pals know they can count on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and their other allies to do everything in their power to stop our transparency effort.

With your support today, we can unleash a grassroots tidal wave of action and show these “Wall Street Senators” that who they really should be worried about serving is their constituents – instead of providing cover to the Fed’s destruction of our money and economy.

The energy, enthusiasm, and passion are on our side – and so is a major victory in the U.S. House.

You and I CAN win this fight.

Thanks again for your support!

In Liberty,

Matt Hawes
Vice President

P.S.  H.R. 459, our Audit the Fed bill, has passed the House!

Be sure to check www.CampaignForLiberty.org to see how your representative voted.

Ben Bernanke and his bankster pals know they can count on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and their other allies to do everything in their power to fight our transparency effort.

So C4L must be able to unleash a grassroots tidal wave of pressure on the Senate right away.


Friday, July 20, 2012

CALL YOUR Congressman NOW! To Support Ron Paul's Bill to Audit the Federal Reserve!

Congressman Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill, H.R. 459, will be voted on this Tuesday, July 24, in the U.S. House!

Audit the Fed will be brought up under a "suspension of the rules."

This means the Fed's allies won't be able to offer ANY amendments to water down the bill.

But under suspension, we must have a two-thirds majority to win, so we need your help more than ever to push the bill over the top.

Audit the Fed currently enjoys the support of a majority of the U.S. House, but you and I know from experience that nothing can be taken for granted.

Please contact your representative right away and demand they vote "YES" on Audit the Fed.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CD 1) 202-225-3311 Rep. Wally Herger (R-CD 2) 202-225-3076 Rep. Daniel E. Lungren (R-CD 3) 202-225-5716 Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CD 4) 202-225-2511 Rep. Doris O. Matsui (D-CD 5) 202-225-7163 Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D- CD 6) 202-225-5161 Rep. George Miller (D-CD 7) 202-225-2095 Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CD 8) 202-225-4965 Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CD 9) 202-225-2661 Rep. John Garamendi (D-CD 10) 202-225-1880 Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CD 11) 202-225-1947 Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CD 12) 202-225-3531 Rep. Pete Stark (D-CD 13) 202-225-5065 Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CD 14) 202-225-8104 Rep. Mike Honda (D-CD 15) 202-225-2631 Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CD 16) 202-225-3072 Rep. Sam Farr (D-CD 17) 202-225-2861 Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CD 18) 202-225-6131 Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CD 19) 202-225-4540 Rep. Jim Costa (D-CD 20) 202-225-3341 Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CD 21) 202-225-2523 Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CD 22) 202-225-2915 Rep. Lois Capps (D-CD 23) 202-225-3601 Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CD 24) 202-225-5811 Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CD 25) 202-225-1956 Rep. David Dreier (R-CD 26) 202-225-2305 Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CD 27) 202-225-5911 Rep. Howard Berman (D-CD 28) 202-225-4695 Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CD 29) 202-225-4176 Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CD 30) 202-225-3976 Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CD 31) 202-225-6235 Rep. Judy Chu (D-CD 32) 202-225-5464 Rep. Karen Bass (D-CD 33) 202-225-7084 Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CD 34) 202-225-1766 Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CD 35) 202-225-2201 Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CD 36) 202-225-8220 Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CD 37) 202-225-7924 Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CD 38) 202-225-5256 Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CD 39) 202-225-6676 Rep. Ed Royce (R-CD 40) 202-225-4111 Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CD 41) 202-225-5861 Rep. Gary Miller (R-CD 42) 202-225-3201 Rep. Joe Baca (D-CD 43) 202-225-6161 Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CD 44) 202-225-1986 Rep. Mary Bono (R-CD 45) 202-225-5330 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CD 46) 202-225-2415 Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CD 47) 202-225-2965 Rep. John Campbell (R-CD 48) 202-225-5611 Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CD 49) 202-225-3906 Rep. Brian P. Bilbray (R-CD 50) 202-225-0508 Rep. Bob Filner (D-CD 51) 202-225-8045 Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-CD 52) 202-225-5672 Rep. Susan Davis (D-CD 53) 202-225-2040

Your dedication and determination have produced this historic moment in our battle against the Fed, but our work is not done yet.

Please contact your representative right away and demand they vote "YES" on Audit the Fed.

There has never been a better chance to turn Audit the Fed into the law of the land, but our success depends on your willingness to take action now.

Time is short, so please contact your representative today!

In Liberty,

Deb Wells Interim California State Coordinator Campaign for Liberty

P.S. Congressman Ron Paul's H.R. 459 will be voted on this Tuesday, July 24, so time is running out to call your representative!

Please contact Congress right away and urge your representative to vote "YES" on Audit the Fed!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

The LIBOR Manipulation Scandal is the Tip of the Iceberg - Gold, Silver, Oil, and the Petrodollar

Have you heard about the LIBOR fixing scandal? Perhaps you have heard that Barclay's paid a tiny fine for their part after they admitted guilt, which is highly unusual.  What you probably haven't heard is how deep the rabbit hole goes, ho broad the scandal is and how it all impacts YOU!

Does it affect mortgage rates in the USA?  Yes.
Does it affect money market funds where your 401k money may be sitting? Yes.
Does it affect the price of US treasuries? Yes.
Does it affect the interest rates you pay on car loans? Yes.  Business loans? Yes.

You get the point.  Now let's dive in to help you understand what you will NOT hear on Bloomberg, Yahoo News, Associated Press news, Reuters News, and ANY major media outlet.


So the LIBOR rigging scandal involves various large banks, mostly primary dealers to the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England (pretty much every bank that received bailout funds in 2008 and more), and their efforts to keep interest rates low.  By doing so, they improve the value of the debt based assets on their balance sheets.  By collaborating with each other over time, these banks, which have overlapping shareholders, appeared to the outside world as being more solvent, more fundamentally sound than they really are.  LIBOR is the basis for floating rate debt instruments like the collateralized debt obligations (CDO) that exploded in 2008 and caused the global credit system to freeze up.  CDOs are a derivative product whose purchase price benefits with a lower interest rate.  By colluding with other market makers, these large banks can push the LIBOR rate lower and make financials look better just in time for quarterly reports.

The other asset that banks hold on their books are US treasuries.  The Federal Reserve lends money to these primary dealers at 0.25% interest rates while they buy US treasuries which pay up to 2% interest.  By doing this in the billions of dollars, banks are able to generate stable income simply from the spread, essentially with no risk.  As the global interest rates are pushed down by the Fed and the Bank of England, and many other central banks, the yield on treasury bonds goes up.  By manipulating LIBOR, these banks can increase the value of the bonds they have on their books, thus making their assets look better than their liabilities and improving their financial statements in quarterly reports to the SEC, which typically means their stock price will rise as well, giving them even more capital to gamble on derivatives.

Now, think of yourself again.  What interest rate does your bank pay on certificate of deposits? or savings accounts? Somewhere around 1%?.  Banks will take your money and pay you next to nothing. If LIBOR was not manipulated, it is certain that interest rates would float upwards towards 5-7%.  But that would decrease the value of the assets on the banks books and they would have to pay you a higher rate for your money on deposit.

How about money to buy a car or a small business loan?  Here they probably charge anywhere from 5% - 15% for these loans they provide to the public.  The money they lend, comes from everyone else's deposits, for which they pay 1% interest, and from the money they get from the Federal Reserve, for which they pay 0.25%.  So they are making an AWESOME spread.

So how about those US treasuries? Remember that is how the Federal government pays for its deficit, and you've probably heard the annual deficit is well over $1 trillion dollars, annually, and future prospects do not look very good.  This means that as the Federal government is giving aid to foreign nations in the billions, it is borrowing money at around 2% interest from buyers of the treasuries.  Put another way, if the Federal government could not find buyers for the treasuries, it would not be able to make good on all its debts and it would default on its existing obligations, just like Greece.

Fortunately for the US federal government, the rest of the world is undergoing massive turmoil and downturn, making the US dollar a safe haven, so OPEC exporters, Japan, China, and the Federal Reserve is buying our treasury bonds, keeping our government afloat.

But what if there were fewer and fewer buyers of these treasuries? What if banks like JP Morgan Chase, and national governments and central banks around the world stop buying treasuries?  Would we go broke.  You bet.  So it is in the best interest of the Federal government to keep interest rates low so the cost of debt service is low and so that the deficit can continue to be funded.  The USA is now the largest debtor nation with a national debt of over $15 trillion dollars.  Eventually, we will go bankrupt.  It's just a matter of time.

Back to the LIBOR scandal.  So the banks are colluding to keep interest rates low, screwing savers from any kind of decent return, urging people into riskier investments like the stock market, all the while they are getting money for nothing from central banks, buying treasuries, keeping the government afloat.  If the banks crash, the government crashes.  So now you have a perpetual cycle where no matter what crimes and fraud and wrongdoings occur at large banks, they are allowed to continue operating to keep the country from defaulting on it's financial obligations.  It's really a stall tactic because eventually the house of cards must fall, but perhaps we will wait until after the next election so the next president can take the blunt of the blowback.

Enough of my ranting, watch these financial reports and decide for yourself.





Now watch this video which elaborates on the breadth of the sectors impacted by LIBOR and interest rate manipulation.



The DOJ will most likely investigate only foreign banking institutions because it wants to present the illusion of justice, while working to protect US banks, particularly JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Citibank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America.  This allows the currency war to drag on and force the Euro down against the US dollar, which is under attack as the global reserve currency by Iran, China, Japan, Russia, India, South Africa, Venezuela, and Brazil.  The scales are tipping.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Steve Keen on the Minsky Singularity and the Debt Black Hole



LIBOR Scandal Affects Millions of Americans, And They Don't Even Know It.

The manipulation is obvious to all and yet nothing is done to stop it because politicians, bureaucrats, and CEOs are afraid it will affect their financial fortunes.  Meanwhile, we are destroying that of our children.




Banks' Defenses to Potential Trillions in Libor Claims Fail

George Washington's picture




The big banks have been manipulating the world’s central economic indicator – Libor – for decades, harming homeowners, students, credit card holders, small businesses, cities and many others.
The sums involved were huge. As the Economist notes:
The sums involved might have been huge. Barclays was a leading trader of these sorts of derivatives, and even relatively small moves in the final value of LIBOR could have resulted in daily profits or losses worth millions of dollars. In 2007, for instance, the loss (or gain) that Barclays stood to make from normal moves in interest rates over any given day was £20m ($40m at the time). In settlements with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in Britain and America’s Department of Justice, Barclays accepted that its traders had manipulated rates on hundreds of occasions.
The Independent notes that potential liability from the Libor suits could wipe out Barclays, RBS and other banks … and that the big banks have taken inadequate reserves against litigation risks.
David Kotok - Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Cumberland Advisors, with $2 billion dollars under management - writes:

The LIBOR rigging is systemic.

***

This scandal is going to take down many more than just Barclay’s leaders.  The claims are likely to be in the trillions.
But the banks say that they are judgment-proof because their manipulation didn’t cause any damage.
Specifically, the banks claim:
(1) Sometimes they nudges rates up and sometimes down …. so it’s a wash;
(2) Some people won and others lost … so it’s a wash; and
(3) It would be impossible for anyone who sued to quantify the amount of damages they suffered due to rate manipulation.
But the first argument is easily debunked. As Yves Smith notes:
The idea that one party’s loss from the manipulation was another’s gain is irrelevant to those on the losing side [quoting the Economist]:
….banks will be sued only by those who have lost, and will be unable to claim back the unjust gains made by some of their other customers. Lawyers acting for corporations or other banks say their clients are also considering whether they can walk away from contracts with banks such as long-term derivatives priced off LIBOR.
The second argument is also easily dispatched. For example, it is clear that for many years up until 2007, every time the banks nudged Libor rates higher, homeowners, students, credit card holders, small businesses and other borrowers were damaged by artificially inflated interest rates.
The case would be especially easy for people who borrowed money and finished paying off their loan during this period. For example, someone who bought a house in 2005 and sold it in 2007 could have a strong case.
Similarly, it is clear that Barclays and other big banks manipulated rates downward after the financial crisis hit in 2007, to make themselves look stronger than they really were. Because of the way their interest rate swaps were structured, local governments got creamed by lower Libor rates.
So governments which bought interest rate swaps during the relevant period based upon the assumption that rates would keep rising - especially if they were misled as to the likely direction of rates by one of the banks that participated in rigging Libor (Citi, Chase,, UBS, RBS, etc.) - could have a solid case.
Finally, I can assure you that derivatives experts, mortgage experts, statisticians, and alot of other people are crunching numbers right now to start quantifying damages.

12.7 Million Americans Unemployed!?

From Zerohedge


For a picture of the trend, this is also from Econoday:
As you can see, the first quarter job situation has been collapsing. There are still 12. 7 million Americans unemployed, 41.9% of the unemployed have been so for more than 27 weeks, and the broadest measure of unemployment (U-6) was 14.9% (+0.1%). For those of you wishing to see the so-called "U" data, please go here.

Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America

He forgets to mention that he supports Ron Paul and silver is just as important as gold!



Steve Forbes: How To Bring Back America

Bank of England Ben Bernanke Ben Bernanke Deficit Spending Fail Federal Reserve fixed Global Economy Great Depression Housing Bubble Insurance Companies Market Conditions Money Supply None Post Office Precious MetalsRecession recovery Sovereign Debt Unemployment Volatility
Steve Forbes has a message for a nation dominated by increasingly short-term decisions made on Wall Street and in Washington D.C., and by ever greater economic, financial and currency instability.  As long as America continues moving away from sound money; away from sound financial and economic policies; and, ultimately, away from freedom, its future grows more dim.  The dot-com and housing bubbles followed by the 2008 financial crisis and the most severe economic decline since the Great Depression serve as powerful lessons.  A future of bigger government, higher taxes, more burdensome regulations, less consumer choice and more unrealistic government promises requires more and more Federal Reserve play money. Steve Forbes has a quintessentially American policy prescription rooted in American history.  The answer to America’s economic problems is—and has always been—new wealth creation.  New wealth creation doesn’t come from the government or from the Federal Reserve’s printing press.  New wealth creation is what happens naturally with stable money based on the gold standard, lower taxes on individuals, a simplified tax code, reduced bureaucracy and free markets.

Surprise, Central Banks Are Printing Money to Bail Out Their Owners

Remember that central banks are private institutions owned by dynasties and institutions that manipulate the money supply to benefit themselves, not the rest of us.  Just ask your savings account how much it has returned to you lately.  Interest rates are purposely pushed to the bottom purportedly to keep the economy stimulated by motivating people to borrow and spend, just what the growing poor and middle class need to do when their houses just tanked in value or they lost them altogether.  Their 401ks took a dive as well, probably still hasn't recovered from the 2008 dip.  And now there is a threat of another?  Boom bust cycles are purposefully created and controlled.  Don't be a fool.




Central Bankers Are Not Omnipotent

Bank of England Ben Bernanke Ben Bernanke Bond Borrowing Costs Central Banks European Central Bank Federal Reservefixed headlines Japan Monetary Policy Money Supply New Zealand Real estate Risk Premium Switzerland United KingdomYield Curve
A generation of market participants has grown up knowing only the era of central bankers and the 'Great Moderation' of (most of) the last two decades elevated their status significantly. While central bankers are generally very well aware of the limits of their own power, financial markets seem inclined to overstress the direct scope of monetary policy in the real world.
If markets fall, investors need only to run to central bankers, and Ben Bernanke and his ilk will put on a sticking plaster and offer a liquidity lollipop to the investment community for being such brave little soldiers in the face of adversity
Monetary policy impacts the real economy because it is transmitted to the real economy through the money transmission mechanism. This has become particularly important in the current environment, where, as UBS' Paul Donovan notes, some aspects of that transmission mechanism have become damaged in some economies. Simplifying the monetary transmission mechanism into four very broad categories: the cost of capital; the willingness to lend; the willingness to save; and the foreign exchange rate; UBS finds strains in each that negate some or all of a central bank's stimulus efforts. In the current climate, it may well be that the state of the monetary transmission mechanism is even more important than monetary policy decisions themselves. Some monetary policy makers may be at the limits of their influence.

Why I Want To Build & Own a #WikispeedC3 #100mpg #efficiency #agile

If you have seen and learned what I have then you would most likely be a twisted zombie just working away making a little money, struggling in this un-stimulating economy, frustrated by how much it costs to do anything, go anywhere, then you might begin to understand why I want to build a Wikispeed C3. Don't get me wrong, I have an awesome job with an excellent company with an awesome future.  But someday, I would liket o be able to say that I contributed to the new economy that values energy efficiency, assuming that ever comes.

Meanwhile, let me tell you about about the Wikispeed C3.

wikispeedc3
The Wikispeed C3 gets 100 mpg and can achieve
zero to 60 in less than 5 seconds.  Efficient and Awesome!
It's not only ultra efficient, already achieving over 100 miles per gallon with a combustion engine, its fast, economical (less than $25,000), made locally in the Peninsula with regionally sourced  materials where possible! and did I mention it gets 100 miles per gallon?  yes, that's right, gasoline is over $4 a gallon here in California and I would like to use as little as possible to save money and reduce the demand for the energy wars.

Right now this car is in its early testing and modeling stages.  Right now we are using Agile Scrum software development methodologies to iterate on the car and make it better and less expensive, without compromising quality and safety.  

Our goal is to continue achieving over 100 miles per gallon through each revision of the car and go to market with a whole new car company, similar to Tesla, which recently went public on  one of the exchanges in New York City.  (I'd like to see us start an exchange here in the Peninsula that competes with NYC or Chicago.  )  Anyway, this looks really fun.  I may even make something out of this business and pass it on to my kids.  Better than leaving them nothing.  

What Is a Transition Town? Why Do People Think We Need One?

If you ever end up reading this book, I sure would like to know what you think.  I am just a regular guy and reading this, along with other related books you see in the TwistedPolitix Reading List, doesn't look so bad.  The idea here is to finally get out of the boom bust cycle twisted economix and war presented by our world power hungry.  That just means making your local economy more resilient to outside forces, like bribery, corruption, racketeering, fear, uncertainty and doubt.  It would resemble life in the past in the sense that we were more locally involved, but that technology would be more advanced in some areas and behind in others.  Forget Obama, Romney, or Ron Paul for now.  Just think about how this economy and life in general could improve.  This is where you go think, not disengage behind a screen.

Transition Handbook

The first of these was the Transition Handbook, by Rob Hopkins.Transition Handbook cover
Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, describes it well:
“The Transition concept is one of the big ideas of our time. Peak oil and climate change can so often leave one feeling depressed and disempowered. What I love about the Transition approach is that it is inspirational, harnessing hope instead of guilt, and optimism instead of fear. The Transition Handbook will come to be seen as one of the seminal books which emerged at the end of the Oil Age and which offered a gentle helping hand in the transition to a more local, more human and ultimately more nourishing future.”

The Truth Behind NATO's Intervention in Libya And Gaddafi's Assassination


Some investigative reporters have reported that Gaddafi my have been ousted in 2011 by NATO forces not because there was a local uprising against his tyrannical rule, but because he was making progress on his ideas for a gold backed dinar that would be used to trade Libyan oil.  It would also be the single currency of a United States of Africa that Gaddafi had proposed starting in 2000, and brought up again in 2007 and 2009 at regional conferences.  Here are some of the articles that suggest there is a lot more behind the USA and NATO involvement.

The United States of Africa 

The United States of Africa is a proposed name for the concept of a federation of some or all of the 55 sovereign states of Africa.  Former Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, who was the 2009 Chairperson of the African Union (AU), advanced the idea of a United States of Africa at two regional African summits: in June 2007 in Conakry, Guinea,[4] and again in February 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[5] Gaddafi had previously pushed for the creation of the African Union at a summit in Lomé, Togo, in 2000.[6] Having described the AU as a failure on a number of occasions, Gaddafi asserted that only a true pan-African state can provide stability and wealth to Africa.
The Gold Dinar



Muammar Gadhafi's decision to pursue gold standard and reject dollars for oil payments may have sealed his fate (June 7, 2011)
Attacking Col. Gadhafi can be understood in the context of America and Europe fighting for their survival, which an independent Africa jeopardizes.  The war raging in Libya since February is getting progressively worse as NATO forces engage in regime change and worse, an objective to kill Muammar Gadhafi to eradicate his vision of a United Africa with a single currency backed by gold.  Observers say implementing that vision would change the world power equation and threaten Western hegemony. In response, the United States and its NATO partners have determined “Gadhafi must go,” and assumed the role of judge, jury and executioner.
“That man has invested in Africa more than any other leader in the recent history of Africa's coming into political independence,” he continued. The Muslim leader said America needs access to the mineral resources in Africa to be a viable power in the 21st century.
Pre-existing Condition

During the Libyan escalation, General Wesley Clark wrote an article for the Washington Post suggesting to the world that Libya did not meet the US criteria for intervention (which is quite unusual considering that we have invaded sovereign nations over 200 times since 1800).  However what is certainly more concerning is that in 2007 on an interview on DemocracyNow, General Wesley Clark revealed plans exposed to him in the Pentagon right after 911 that suggested the US was planning to invade Libya as far back as 1998.

There are extensive reports supporting these claims.  including this RT report on YouTube. The articles and video all made the following startling and disturbing claims:

  1. Just prior to the air strikes, Gaddafi had planned to introduce a new currency, the “Gold Dinar”.
  2. The currency was to be supported by Libya’s massive gold reserves of 144 tonnes.
  3. The gold coin was to be accepted throughout Africa and the Middle East and would have been the only currency accepted for purchases of oil.
  4. This strategy would likely crush both the Dollar and the Euro, making the Dinar the dominant international currency.
  5. The NATO military action is the result of a US-led plan to crush Gaddafi’s currency plans and to protect Western financial interests. The military action is supported by US oil interests, who are seeking to obtain access to Libya’s massive oil reserves.



Grounds for Impeachment

President Obama argued that the War Powers Act did not apply to the Libyan intervention because the United Nations and NATO provided him with sufficient authority to be involved.  Understand that what Obama is saying is that the President of the United States, Chief of the US Military can direct US military intervention in another sovereign nation because the UN and NATO authorize such actions.  That is very likely unconstitutional and grounds for impeachment as many have suggested.  Unfortunately for those in favor of restricting the Presidential powers, the Democratic Party and Republican Party are too "motivated" to see money being spent on a US projection of power that distracts the public from the turmoil at home.







Friday, July 6, 2012

Should Congress ReenAct The Coinage Act of 1792?

Shouldn't we seriously consider doing something like this again? Or is our economy so bad that nothing can be done.  That's what they would like you to believe!



Coinage Act of 1792

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Coinage Act or the Mint Act, passed by the United States Congress on April 2, 1792, established the
 United States Mint and regulated the coinage of the United States.[1]The long title of the legislation is An
 act establishing a mint, and regulating the Coins of the United States. This act established the silver
 dollar as the unit of money in the United States, declared it to be lawful tender, and created a decimal
system for U.S. currency.[2]

¿Porque los EE.UU. tiene tanto deuda? Y Porque Chinga a Todo El Mundo?

Estoy usando Google translate y por eso se ve raro.  Me entienden? EE.UU ha tenido un golpe de estado y los que manejan el gobierno manejan a todo el mundo.


Lecciones económicas # 1 - ¿Cómo funcionan los EE.UU. como una enorme deuda?


Esta es una pregunta tan obvia. Sin embargo, ¿cuántas personas en la CNBC, MSNBC, he contestado para usted? Le dejan suponer que los EE.UU. es un país tan increíblemente eficiente y trabajadora, que todo el mundo confía en nosotros para pagar esa deuda en algún punto en el futuro .... , ¿No? ¿Alguien? Bueller? (Día de Ferris Beuhler de descuento de referencia para nuestros lectores de fuera de Estados Unidos).

Es una historia larga y aburrida de la forma en que se convirtió en el mayor deudor del planeta. Yo haré todo lo posible para que sea comprensible y, posiblemente, incluso emocionante. Debido a la comprensión de este tema es el primer paso para su despertar, una vez que comprendes, la respuesta a la pregunta que hice anteriormente, que cambiará para siempre la forma de ver los Estados Unidos y la forma en que manejamos nuestras relaciones exteriores.

Recuerde que esta es una historia de alto nivel / lección de economía y no debe ser visto como una pieza académica. Tendré que el glaseado sobre algunas partes de la historia y hacer algunas analogías imperfectas. Pero al final, si usted tiene una mente inquisitiva, este artículo debe despertar el interés de investigar un poco más y seguir aprendiendo.

La historia de los Estados Unidos como la conocemos hoy comienza no es sorprendente que antes de la Gran Depresión. Se nos enseña que la Gran Depresión se inició el Lunes Negro de 28 de octubre 1929. También se nos enseñó que la Gran Depresión fue causada por la exuberancia irracional de los años 20 y el sistema se bloqueó como todo el mundo empezó a vender todo lo que, al mismo tiempo.

Esto es cierto hasta cierto punto. Pero es como decir que el avión se estrelló porque el aire dejó de fluir en la parte superior de las alas. Bueno, no la mierda el avión se estrelló porque no había corriente de aire. ¿POR QUÉ LA PARADA DEL AIRE CORRIENTE es la pregunta que usted realmente necesita saber la respuesta a, y es aquí donde vamos a comenzar nuestra lección sobre por qué Estados Unidos puede funcionar como una enorme deuda.

Voy a salvar a la Gran Depresión y el gran colapso deflacionario para otra lección. Me limitaré a dar algunos puntos de alto nivel que deben ser entendidos acerca de la década de 1920 y 1930. La cosa más importante a comprender acerca de pre-1920 de la economía mundial es que Gran Bretaña era el perro grande en el mundo. La libra esterlina británica era el mundo lo que el dólar de EE.UU. es en la actualidad. Gran Bretaña tuvo influencia en los mercados del mundo entero, su flota naval, y estaba en el centro de un sistema mundial que se extrae la riqueza del mundo, luego el tercero y se lo trajo a la isla su hogar. Sin embargo, hubo un problema de elaboración de la cerveza en Gran Bretaña como la década de 1920 comenzó. El Reino Unido se fue extendiendo demasiado en casi cada turno. Llevaban una enorme deuda que en el pasado nunca fue un problema.

En el pasado, Gran Bretaña sólo tenía que tirar de las naciones del mundo más terceros bajo su "protección" y que podrían extraer más riqueza para mantener su deuda bajo control. El juego que estaban jugando empezó a terminar en la década de 1920 como la gente empezó a cuestionar el sistema libra esterlina británica que estaba en el corazón del comercio internacional durante ese tiempo.

Una vez más, voy a saltar un poco de historia muy importante aquí para mantener la historia en movimiento. Sólo entiende que es el colapso del sistema Libra esterlina, lo que condujo directamente a la Gran Depresión y en última instancia, la Primera Guerra Mundial 2.

En el decenio de 1930 casi toda Europa se vio envuelto en una depresión masiva y hacia el final de la década, la guerra abierta. En los Estados Unidos, la década de 1930 vio a una depresión económica masiva de la talla de los que nuestro país nunca había visto. Nuestras lecciones de la historia del estado que Roosevelt salvó al país a través de sus programas milagrosos en el gasto público y su intervención non-stop en la economía de EE.UU.. La realidad era (como ahora) que casi todos los programas iniciados en la década de 1930 fracasó estrepitosamente. No fue hasta el 07 de diciembre 1941 que las cosas empezaron a cambiar para los Estados Unidos.

Volveré a este período de tiempo durante otra lección, ya que es merecedor de artículos probablemente varios. Sé que Franklin Delano Roosevelt es considerado por muchos como una figura más allá del reproche. Y en algunos niveles que estaba. Yo no quiero ir en detrimento de la lección aquí por empantanarse con los debates en torno a Franklin Delano Roosevelt, la depresión y la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Vamos a parpadear adelante hacia el final de la guerra y 1944. Se hace evidente a los vencedores finales de la guerra (Francia, EE.UU. e Inglaterra) que si no se hace nada para evitarlo, y otra la depresión va a agarrar a medida que millones de hombres regresar a sus hogares a las fábricas que ya no son productores de tanques y aviones . Los aliados victoriosos en última instancia, se reunieron en un lugar llamado Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, donde se forjó el marco de un sistema monetario internacional para reemplazar el sistema fallido Inglés.

Desde que Estados Unidos era la economía más grande en este momento y tenía una base económica fuerte y profunda, se decidió que el dólar de EE.UU. podría actuar como moneda de reserva del mundo. Esto es más que importante a entender, ya que es este hecho crucial en que se basa toda nuestra existencia a este día.

¿Qué es una moneda de reserva?



Para poner esto en términos más fáciles de entender, vamos a utilizar tarjetas de comercio como un ejemplo. Digamos que tenemos a 10 personas diferentes que desean para el comercio. Tiene Pro Bowling cromos Tour, uno de los otros chicos tiene Pro cromos golfista y otro tipo tiene Pro cromos de hockey. Ahora nada en contra de las personas que comercian con este tipo de tarjetas, pero no son las cartas coleccionables más populares del mundo. Yo, en cambio otros tienen tarjetas de béisbol! Todo el mundo en el planeta si realmente gusta el béisbol o no, entender el valor de las tarjetas de béisbol de valor. Así que en este mundo en el que decide que mis tarjetas de béisbol será en el centro de nuestro sistema de comercio.

Todo es "denominado" (es decir, el precio se fija en esta moneda) en tarjetas de Bob COMERCIO DE BÉISBOL. Así que si usted quiere comprar gasolina para su coche, sus Pro Bowling cromos turísticos no son buenos. Usted tiene que cambiar por cromos de Bob en primer lugar. Con Bob cartas en la mano, entonces usted puede ir y comprar su gasolina.

El tipo de venta de la gasolina continuación, puede utilizar las tarjetas para comprar otras cosas, como tarjetas de béisbol de Bob son muy valiosos. O se puede simplemente sentarse en ellos y espero que seguir ganando en valor, lo que hacen desde hace décadas.

Así que sobre esto de nuevo al mundo real, ¿qué significa esto? Bueno, después de 1945 y el final de la guerra, los vencedores decide colocar el dólar de EE.UU. como moneda de reserva del mundo. Esto significa que todos los productos básicos como el petróleo y el trigo y la gasolina y el oro y la plata y todo lo demás se expresan principalmente en dólares estadounidenses.

Así que si usted es un país sin petróleo o gasolina, y usted está en necesidad de estas cosas, usted debe negociar. Llegados a este punto en el tiempo, los Estados Unidos fue de lejos el mayor productor de petróleo en el planeta. Los EE.UU. controla el precio internacional del petróleo. Sin importar si usted compró el aceite de los EE.UU. o el productor de petróleo en ciernes en el Oriente Medio, que ha adquirido de que el petróleo en dólares americanos. Así que si usted es francés y que está comprando petróleo de Arabia Saudita, la transacción debe hacerse en dólares estadounidenses. Esto significa que debes cambiar de francos (unidad monetaria de Francia ante el euro) de dólares estadounidenses.

Había mucho que entró en la determinación del valor relativo de una unidad monetaria los países y no voy a aburrir con los detalles de hoy. Baste decir que había un mercado que determina lo que vale la pena el Franco fue, en comparación con el dólar de EE.UU.. Así como una empresa francesa en la necesidad de petróleo, que intercambiaron francos para el USD (dólares estadounidenses) y ha adquirido su petróleo de Arabia Saudita. Ahora Arabia Saudita está sentado sobre un montón de dólares y que tienen necesidades muy pequeños, ya que somos un país un tanto simple. Tienen dos opciones. Ellos pueden gastar en lujosos palacios o la construcción de un militar o se puede guardar para un día lluvioso. Arabia Saudita, en esos días hicieron ambas cosas. Se compró equipo militar de EE.UU. para protegerse de sus vecinos y enviado de vuelta al dólar de los Estados Unidos y compraron bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos.

De cualquier manera, ese dinero terminó de vuelta en los Estados Unidos. El primer método ayudó a apuntalar a los traficantes de armas y los fabricantes en los Estados Unidos y cientos de miles de empleados de American en bien remunerados puestos de trabajo de contratos militares. El segundo método ayudó a Estados Unidos asumir una carga de la deuda casi permanente. Recuerde que los bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos no son más que la deuda de EE.UU. que se vende en el mercado. Los titulares de los bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos se les promete un modesto retorno de su dinero durante un período de años 1,3,5, 10 o 30. Los EE.UU. requebraja de hasta 1 mil millones de dólares en deuda y vende bonos del Tesoro en el mercado para ayudar a cubrir esa deuda. Sólo tiene que pago cuando el Tesoro madura. Arabia Saudita era conocido para comprar la deuda a largo plazo de EE.UU. en el rango de 30 años.

Esto significa que siempre que tenía confianza en la economía de EE.UU., que seguirá haciendo más dinero cuanto más tiempo mantenga su dinero en bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos. Y este fue el mismo para cualquier otra persona que celebró dólares estadounidenses. Recuerda que desde 1946 hasta finales de 1960, los Estados Unidos fue de lejos el mayor exportador de todo, desde automóviles y televisores, a los productos de granos y el petróleo.

Durante este periodo de tiempo, que era un beneficio neto de tener dólares estadounidenses en forma de bonos del Tesoro, ya que nuestra moneda era de lejos el más estable y pagado los mejores rendimientos. Y nuestras necesidades se convirtió en insaciable como la Guerra Fría batido una y otra vez. Desde el final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, que tuvo el conflicto de Corea y la Guerra de Vietnam, que eran enorme déficit creación de eventos, pero también tuvimos innumerables conflictos más pequeños y las operaciones encubiertas que cuestan decenas de Estados Unidos miles de millones de dólares. TODO ESTO fue financiado por el sistema de reciclaje EE.UU. DÓLAR.

Podríamos incurrir en déficits enormes, ya que nuestra moneda se puede crear a voluntad mediante la creación de la deuda en forma de bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos. Estos tesoros fueron por lo general en la demanda como el dólar estadounidense se apilan en los bancos extranjeros, con nada más que hacer con ellos. Si ellos no estaban comprando bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos, que estaban comprando el hardware militar de EE.UU. o el número cada vez mayor de bienes de consumo como refrigeradores y lavadoras. El mundo entero la banca occidental (y todos sus subordinados en todo el mundo) se centró en la creación de deuda de EE.UU.. Es la lubricación que mantiene el consumo de rodadura y sigue.

Este sistema funcionó de maravilla a lo largo de las décadas de los años 1950 y 1960. No fue sino hasta la última parte de los años 60 y principios de los 70 que las grietas comenzaron a aparecer en la superficie de este "maravilloso" sistema. Al igual que el sistema de Inglés en la década de 1920, la gente comenzó a cuestionar la carga de la deuda de los Estados Unidos y la disminución de la destreza de nuestra base manufacturera. Fue en este momento que los EE.UU. también dejó de ser un exportador neto de petróleo.

La combinación de estos dos eventos (EE.UU. convertirse en una nación acreedora importar más de lo que exporta, y el hecho de que consumimos más petróleo del que produce) que llevó a un colapso del sistema de Bretton Woods en 1971. Fue provocada por Francia, y su renuencia a comprar bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos con sus repuestos dólares estadounidenses. Por el contrario, exigió el equivalente de oro de los dólares estadounidenses. Esto habría sido catastrófico si se hubiera permitido que ocurra. Debido a que no había forma dólares americanos demasiados a cabo en el sistema para ser todo lo convierte en oro. Y se temía que si Francia se le permitió cobrar de USD para el oro, que habría una avalancha de otros países hagan lo mismo.

En reacción a este pánico, el presidente Nixon cerró la ventana del oro llamada, lo que significa que los EE.UU. ya no es convertir a dólares por el oro en los mercados internacionales. Esto llevó a una crisis financiera que muchos temían que la cabeza del mundo en 1929 y la depresión en todo el mundo. Los líderes del mundo financiero se reunieron de nuevo en Bretton Woods, NH y elaboraron un nuevo acuerdo.

Este acuerdo es el que ha llevado a los Estados Unidos de algas de hasta un asombroso 16 billón de dólares de la deuda nacional (cerca de 70000 mil millones si se cuentan los pasivos no financiados, como el Seguro Social y las guerras sin fondos). Este acuerdo se denomina Los Acuerdos de Bretton Woods y se firmó el de casi todos los grandes (y pequeños) potencias económicas del mundo.

Es un sistema que ya no se basa en el oro como soporte para monedas internacionales. Es estrictamente un sistema de trabajo que enfrenta a una divisa contra otra, sobre la base de valor relativo según lo determinado por los mercados abiertos.

Pero hay algo que el mundo se olvidó. O, más probable es que no podía encontrar la manera de librarse de el agujero que se encontraban in Se olvidaron de que el dólar de EE.UU. sigue siendo denominados cada cosa de la pena en el planeta. El más grande de lo que era (y sigue siendo) de petróleo. En la década de 1970 fue la OPEP, que fue la determinación de los precios del petróleo en todo el mundo, y los Estados Unidos tuvo que llegar a una forma de mantener a estos pequeños países ricos en petróleo se hunda a los EE.UU. a otra Gran Depresión.

La respuesta fue RECICLAJE DE PETRO DÓLAR. Este es un término que yo estoy seguro que todos ustedes han oído hablar, pero tal vez no aprecian lo que significa. Si usted está familiarizado con el trabajo del Sr. Ruppert sobre estupefacientes, estoy seguro de que han oído el término de reciclaje Narco Dólar. Es el mismo concepto. A partir de mediados a finales de 1970 es los Estados Unidos hicieron acuerdos difíciles con Arabia Saudí y en esencia de acuerdo en que un ataque sobre el Oriente Medio era lo mismo que un ataque a los propios Estados Unidos. Conocido en última instancia, como la Doctrina Carter (anunciado oficialmente en 1980), se entendió que cualquier país que metido con Arabia Saudita o en cualquiera de los otros productores de petróleo importantes en el Golfo, se corría el riesgo de estar en el extremo receptor de los Estados Unidos el poderío militar.

A día de hoy, es lo que mantiene el acuerdo de Bretton Woods en el afecto. Desde la década de 1970 hasta el día de hoy, toda nuestra existencia está determinada por este acuerdo. Lo que esto significa partir de ese día, DÉFICIT EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS NO IMPORTA.

Le tomó casi la mitad de una década para que este acuerdo propio cemento y para las economías del mundo para comenzar a estabilizarse y, al final, tuvo la genialidad económica (la locura) de un grupo de hombres que rodeaba a un nuevo presidente en 1981 para aprovechar al máximo el poder del mundo se había dado a los Estados Unidos. Llegó a ser conocido como "la mañana en los Estados Unidos" o "economía vudú". Se dio cuenta por los responsables en los Estados Unidos que tenían las riendas de un dinero que nunca terminó de impresión de la máquina que, literalmente, podría continuar para siempre.

Si nos fijamos en cada carta única en relación con la deuda y el gasto en los Estados Unidos, que se vería una aceleración constante e interminable de la deuda y el gasto a partir de finales de 1970 y continúa hasta el momento en que escribió esta frase. El mundo dio a Estados Unidos carta blanca para gastar a su antojo ... ¿POR QUÉ? Porque no hay otra opción.

Si usted es Grecia y desea comprar petróleo de Kuwait, que aún debe hacerlo en dólares estadounidenses. Usted debe cambiar euros por dólares de Estados Unidos en primer lugar, comprar el petróleo de Kuwait y Kuwait tiene más o menos una de las dos opciones sobre qué hacer con esos dólares. O bien comprar hardware militar de EE.UU., o que compran los bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos.

Por lo tanto el apetito insaciable de petróleo en todo el mundo sólo fortalece los Estados Unidos con cada nueva transacción. Nos permite pasar más de un billón de dólares más que tomamos en cada año. Las cantidades son absolutamente irrelevantes sin embargo. Podríamos mover la barra a dos billones y el sistema todavía podría mantener el bombeo de distancia.

¿POR QUÉ? Debido a que en su corazón es la fuerza militar. Es por eso que invadió Irak después de 9/11, es por eso que amenazan con invadir a Irán. Es por eso que Islandia fue sancionado por dar la espalda en el sistema hace varios años, y es por eso que Grecia se ve obligada a comer austeridad en vez de hacer lo que está en su mejor interés y lanzar el euro por la borda y eludir su "responsabilidad".

Sin el mundo acepta dólares americanos como intermediario para el pago en el sistema económico mundial, los EE.UU. y por poder todo el mundo conectados EE.UU. caería en una depresión global completa y devastadora de la talla de los cuales nunca se han visto.

Esa es la apuesta que están jugando en contra y es por eso que está aquí. Es por eso que debe ser religiosamente trabajando para encontrar soluciones locales a los problemas que enfrentan usted y su comunidad. Porque al igual que el sistema británico de la década de 1920, el Sistema de EE.UU. va a fallar y cuando lo hace, hará que la Gran Depresión mirar manso. Y el desafortunado final para la mayoría de los sistemas monetarios globales es la guerra y la hambruna.

Si nos fijamos en la historia a través de la lente de la economía y los sistemas monetarios, verá que lo que estamos viviendo en estos momentos ha sucedido en innumerables ocasiones. Pero nunca en la escala mundial, estamos en peligro de ahora. Casi a la una, no es una guerra que se reúne al final de la desaparición de cualquier sistema monetario global o regional.

Se puede volver a ocurrir. Sólo que está en juego son mucho más altos ahora que incluso durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Ojalá esta lección podría terminar con una nota más feliz, pero la realidad es la realidad. Por otra parte, haciendo caso omiso de la historia puede ser fatal para la familia y los amigos (y de uno mismo), la mejor manera de comprender los desafíos y los peligros y seguir adelante con un plan que puede aislarse de lo peor de lo que puede venir a nuestra manera.

Perdón por la longitud de este post y si usted ha llegado hasta aquí, por favor, mándenme una nota de abajo y dime lo que piensas. Esta información me ayudará a construir mejores lecciones en el futuro.

The original article appeared in English on Collapsenet.

Barclays on the Edge of Collapsing?

As you read this, remember that Lehman Brothers failed in 2008 because they were unable to get short term financing in the repo market.  This is where the banks borrow money every 24 hours to go gambling.  They are not only vampire squids, they gambling addicts.  We should define Harmful Gambling and make it punishable by life in prison.

So if they weren't on the verge of collapsing, then they were just being corrupt.  Thieves.  Swindlers.  Vampires sucking the life out of economies.


BREAKING: Barclays Revealed Libor Scandal Four Years Ago

How's this for prescient?
Check out the first couple of paragraphs of a Bloomberg News article from May 29, 2008, underthe headline, "Libor Banks Misstated Rates, Bond at Barclays Says." (Yes, the article ran more than four years before Barclays's $453 million settlement last month with U.S. and U.K. authorities for manipulating Libor.) The story begins:

About Jonathan Weil

Jonathan Weil joined Bloomberg News as a columnist in 2007, and his columns on finance and accounting won Best in the Business awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in 2009 and 2010.
More about Jonathan Weil
Banks routinely misstated borrowing costs to the British Bankers' Association to avoid the perception they faced difficulty raising funds as credit markets seized up, said Tim Bond, a strategist at Barclays Capital.
"The rates the banks were posting to the BBA became a little bit divorced from reality," Bond, head of asset-allocation research in London, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. "We had one week in September where our treasurer, who takes his responsibilities pretty seriously, said: 'right, I've had enough of this, I'm going to quote the right rates.' All we got for our pains was a series of media articles saying that we were having difficulty financing."