Full story here from Mike Whitney via CounterPunch.
On Friday, The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that 3rd Quarter GDP rose by 2% meeting most analysts expectations. The real story, however, is hidden in the data. Inventories added 1.44 percentage points to the 3Q real GDP, which means that–absent the boost to existing stockpiles– GDP would be well-below 1%. If it wasn’t for Obama’s fiscal stimulus (ARRA), the economy would be sliding back into recession. (more…)
Full story here.
Full story here from ZeroHedge.
I look around me and I see an Empire in Decline.
The US economy is clearly in a depression… not a recession, not a recovery, but a DEPRESSION. More than 40 million Americans (12%) are on Food stamps. Nearly one in five of us are unemployed of underemployed. Folks go to Wal-Mart at 11PM waiting for their government checks to clear at midnight so they can buy baby formula, milk and other necessities. (more…)
Full story here from ZeroHedge.
A Merging of the “Left” and the “Right”
During my most recent interview with Max Keiser I briefly introduced a concept that I referred to as “conscious capitalism” and I promised to expound on this idea in future writings. When I look around me I see a lot of encouraging signs but I also see a political, military and industrial establishment that is fighting with all its might to squash what I think could be a very powerful merging of forces on both the motivated and moral “left” and “right” sides of the political spectrum. As I have mentioned previously I tend to be libertarian philosophically yet I find myself in agreement with many of those who the mainstream media tells me are on the “other side.” Side issues like who is “racist” and the ground zero mosque are used to emotionally separate us and we must not give into such tactics. I think the most important thing for people that really want to change things for the better and lessen the stranglehold of the current corrupt and dependency/warfare model that is the United States of America should do two things. (more…)
Full story here from Market Oracle. But you may ask: “Why are you trying to bum us out on a total rally day?” It could go Dow 36,000 but fail to address ANY of the pressing issues of crumbling infrastructure, unemployment or financial onanism that we find ourselves mired in today.
Readers of my articles will recall that I have warned as far back as December 2006, that the global banks will collapse when the Financial Tsunami hits the global economy in 2007. And as they say, the rest is history. (more…)
Full story here from Paul Craig Roberts.
It was 2017. Clans were governing America.
The first clans organized around local police forces. The conservatives’ war on crime during the late 20th century and the Bush/Obama war on terror during the first decade of the 21st century had resulted in the police becoming militarized and unaccountable. (more…)
Full story here from Jesse’s Cafe Americain.
America must decide what type of country it wishes to be, and then conform public and foreign policy to those ends, and not the other way around. Politicians have no right to subjugate the constitutional process of government to any foreign organization.
Secrecy, except in very select military matters, is repugnant to the health of a democratic government, and is almost always a means to conceal a fraud. Corporations are not people, and do not have the rights of individuals as such.
Banks are utilities for the rational allocation of capital created by savings, and as utilities deserve special protections. All else is speculation and gambling. In banking, simpler and more stable is better. Low cost rules, as excessive financialisation is a pernicious tax on the real economy. (more…)
Full story here. Here’s Bernanke’s design on a mouse trap. Bernanke taught this one to drive.
On negative views on unemployment:
Participants expected the pace of hiring to remain low for some time. Indeed, the unemployment rate was generally expected to remain noticeably above its long-run sustainable level for several years, and participants expressed concern about the extended duration of unemployment spells for a large number of workers. (more…)
A video here. A more fleshed out version here. Don’t take his word for it, you can hear more in these places: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Still not happy? Listen to this. Antidote to all the madness here.
I know, you may be thinking, these are ‘fringe’ or ‘reactionary’ viewpoints, ‘cos those inflatable broadcasters on CNBC say everything’s going great. Sadly, I’ve tracked back the predictions/forecasts, and they’ve proven diabolically accurate.
So, do you think things are better than they were back in July 2007, when the first cracks appeared? Just because it wasn’t an asteroid type of instant devastation, consider May 6th, where 1000 points were vaporized in a few minutes. This is why we Shadowtrade, rather than have ”stay & pray” equities positions. Believe me, I’d love to be able to just trade, buy my villa in Switzerland and have a good time. I may do that, but I still live on a planet where most of the inhabitants are struggling, and are being asked to cut their survivability even more. Bottom line: this party won’t last forever. Some folks are face down in the carpet, but no one else is touching them for fear they’d realize they were dead.
Another Nobel Economist Says We Have to Prosecute Fraud Or Else the Economy Won’t Recover
Thursday, November 4th, 2010Full story here from ZeroHedge.
→ Washington’s Blog
As economists such as William Black and James Galbraith have repeatedly said, we cannot solve the economic crisis unless we throw the criminals who committed fraud in jail.
And Nobel prize winning economist George Akerlof has demonstrated that failure to punish white collar criminals – and instead bailing them out- creates incentives for more economic crimes and further destruction of the economy in the future. See this, this and this. (more…)
Tags: bankruptcy, depression, fraud, Market Commentary, mortgage disaster, thankless banker jerks
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