TylerMC/finance

Ironically I got in an argument last night about this with my sister who was insisting all countries willingly adopted the US Dollar to which I said. No they did not. That was part of the Bretton Woods Agreement of 1944: ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1944/440722a.html [ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1944/440722a.html] . A primary reason we invaded Iraq was because Saddam was attempting to ditch the dollar in favor of other currencies. We didn't like that. Our money has zero value other than what we believe it has. It is backed by nothing and we're so far in debt, we're still paying for the Spanish American War of the nineteenth century. If China calls are loans, which they are increasingly frustrated with us, the US will spiral out of control. The rest of the world has had it with us. We start wars, take resources, tell them what to do...this always catches up with people. It's a historical certainty.

11-minute video: Trends Research Institute with Gerald Celente on the state of our economy.
Occassionally in my research I run into a piece of information that affects everyone. This is one such case.

Part of this book I'm working on (Laid Off Now What) deals with economic factors. I tend to follow the Von Mises approach, the Austrian Theory, (focusing on saving and limited credit accumulation, returning to a gold or asset standard in currency). Obama is using the Keynesianism approach, which is what the 'New Deal' was based upon, create work for the sake of work, just to keep people busy and borrow more to keep the dollars flowing and print more which causes inflation. That's the end of Econ 101 :)

Celente like Peter Schiff (Ron Paul's economic advisor) tends to be dead on in calling what is really going on. He sounds emotional in this appeal, but everything I'm seeing in my research and running the numbers is showing this is a strong possibility. The video is 11-minutes long, worth your time and you won't see this in the US Media. This was done for a Russian Program, Russia Today, out of New York.

I am having just too much fun with this. State of Texas put this together to help High School students figure out how much they need to make to afford the lifestyle they want. I discovered it while doing research on the re-release of Laid Off Now What, (due out in March). It takes you through a reality check, though I'd love to get that 3bdrm/2bth house in Dallas for under $900 a month. Here in LA, my little one bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood is running $2000/month!
This is a lot of fun. Great tool Texas.

Love Chalmers Johnson. If you haven't read any of his books, you should. He tags it dead on. My favorite is Nemesis which came out about 2 years ago. Very sobering article on the State of the Nation.

I just posted a similar story of a similar occurrence in France. Americans...this is why the Patriot Act was really passed. Not to protect the American people from 'terrorists'; to protect the US Government and corporations from homeless, jobless Americans who tend to get a bit upset when they can't feed their families.

Schiff is an Austrian theorist like myself when it comes to economics. Personally, he's one of the few I've heard who admits what is going on and continues to accurately predict what will happen. This is one man you should listen to. He goes for the root cause rather than hacking away at the branches...which always, since pruned, grow back stronger.

This is the reading by Dr. Paul I reference in the below citation on Peter Schiff. If you want to understand what is going on in the economy, this is one of the best synops I've read. Take the time to read it. You'll be glad you did.

The meltdown continues.

I am just now starting to hear back from friends who are the victims of this financial theft and it's hideous. Many, quite wealthy, have lost everything and in Los Angeles, this is especially evident. We have the 2nd largest Jewish population in the United States, second only to New York and Madoff preyed on the Jewish community. Investments are always risky, but this is the first time I've ever heard of a single person stealing 10's of billions of dollars and the effect on us here, just in Los Angeles, will be legion. Many of these people donate to worthy causes. The hospitals, various animal and human rights groups, children's charities and more. Some do not, and therein lies the only positive I can see: funds going to support apartheid in the Middle East will be severely curtailed.

However this is not the way I wanted that to happen. I'd rather have people choose to end that support on moral grounds through education and a change of heart, not be forced to by circumstances or theft. Nobody deserves that.

CounterPunch Diary
"It's Kristallnacht Two!" An Ethnic Cleansing in America

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Call any Jewish friend across the few days and the degrees of separation from someone financially devastated by Bernie Madoff are often only one or two. One rich Jewish friend in New York volunteers that because of some intricate family dispute his own money hadn't been parked at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. On the other hand his uncle had woken up the morning after Madoff's arrest to discover that the $40 million he'd entrusted to Bernie was gone forever, along with the multi-million pension fund of his workforce, which he'd also entrusted to Madoff.

It's not just ruined heiresses in the Palm Beach Country Club now faced with the prospect of dividing the contents of the Whiskas can into two equal portions for mistress and cat, it's academics on Ivy League campuses, doctors in Santa Monica, rich people from Boston to San Francisco to the West Side of Los Angeles finding their retirement nest eggs or charitable trusts wiped out overnight.

In terms of financial and psychological impact, Bernard Madoff's $50 billion heist certainly ranks as a major ethnic cleansing here in America, a hugely traumatic event for American Jewry. Of course Madoff had clients of every creed and nation, but he made a specialty of trolling for Jewish money. I asked a Jewish woman I know here in California if any in her circle had taken a hit. She looked at me tremulously, shaking her head, on the edge of tears. Though no one was in immediate earshot, she whispered, "They kept telling me to put my money with Madoff. At that time the entry level was $250,000. I dodged the bullet. Some of my friends didn't. They've lost everything. This is Kristallnacht Two." Her fear and horror would scarcely have been diminished if she'd heard what a perfectly nice young person had remarked to me earlier, apropos the Madoff affair: "Now the rich people will know what it's like." Continued on the link