Economic pressures

[Danny B]

James Jaeger

James Jaeger is an independent film producer who has worked tirelessly to wake people up. This is the most recent interview with him at the Daily Bell.
The Daily Bell - James Jaeger: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Hollywood Economics – and More
Here is a link to just one of his vids; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sjg9VfVWAw
Here is an earlier interview where he confirms all the worst about Hollywood; The Daily Bell - James Jaeger on Hollywood's Leveling Agenda, His Own Blackballing and How to Survive as a Libertarian Rebel in an Unfree Industry
In the first link, he talks about the lack of response that he is receiving.

History repeats itself because we don't learn.
Martin Armstrong ; Sovereign Debt Big Bang Scheduled for 2015.75
Martin Armstrong: War Cycle to Begin by 2016

[wayne.ct]

The Trust Factor

If "they" want to be trusted, "they" need to be trustworthy. I find that I am very slow to trust people and I get more paranoid as time goes on. The bankers and other groups are going to say and do everything they can to keep the trust of as many people as possible. When trust becomes the subject of the conversation, then you can be sure some people are going to have a negative reaction. At the very least they will ask themselves whether to continue to trust the people who say, "Trust me, I will treat you right!". That may be the warning sign that they should not be trusted. Still, something inside WANTS to trust people, and so we will be tricked, deceived and conned into situations that cause endless pain and inconvenience. I wonder how the Ukrainian cease fire is going.

[Danny B]

Trust

The vast majority of the top level bankers deserve NO trust. On the runup to this crisis, about 300 of them resigned or quit or retired early. Since then scores of them have been murdered. They were too trusting. One of them who committed suicide managed to shoot himself several times in the head with a nail gun. The quitters didn't trust the PTB and , got out in time.

Every penny that is spent is deposited in a bank. The banks report that they "sweep" accounts every day to vacuum up money that is just resting. The banks are insolvent. The newest law from the G-20 conference declares that your deposit in a bank is an investment. If the bank goes broke, you lose your investment. The debt is about $ 18 trillion. The money is gone. The bankers also got a new law that their derivatives have super-seniority over depositors, stockholders and bondholders.

All the paper wealth originated in America is a promise of future generations to pay it back. It isn't going to be paid back. We've enjoyed a good standard of living on our promise to pay it all back. Then, we lost our job. GOV spends about 44% of the GDP. They count this one time when it is printed and once again when it is spent. Our actual productive GDP is what we have to diminish to pay back our debts. GOV is trying to inflate away these debts but, it isn't working yet.
There is a school of thought that we will have great deflation and then, great inflation. Whatever happens, there will be no reason to trust anybody in finance or GOV. The trust horizon will continue to shrink as wealth continues to shrink.

[Danny B]

Peak debt and volatility

The Bretton Woods Agreement indirectly tied most currencies to gold. This was done to stop currency wars AND volatility. When a currency is volatile, an investor avoids investing. He can't project R.O.I. Investment and employment both diminish. As investment stops, banks resort to dirty dealing to keep the money rolling in. Just because of the mentality of bankers, the whole deal just gets ever-more dirty. Shoot Bank Of America Now—-The Case For Super Glass-Steagall Is Overwhelming | David Stockman's Contra Corner
Just how long can the parasite banks keep sucking capital out of the producing economy?
"David Stockman is now loudly warning that events have entered the crack-up phase, which he predicts will be defined by the following 4 developments:

Increasingly desperate moves by the world's central banks
Increased market volatility and losses
Deflation in industrial and commodity prices
Decreasing demand due to Peak Debt"

The Central banks are now pushing negative interest rates. That certainly qualifies as desperation. The other 3 criteria have been met also.

"We’re in the crack-up phase. I think there are four big characteristics of that which are going to shape the way the economy and the markets unfold as we go forward.

"You’re going to see increasing desperation and extreme central bank financial repression because they have gotten themselves painted so deep into the corner that they're lost and desperate. The central bank of China can’t sit still much longer when the reminbi has appreciated something like 30% against the Japanese yet because of the massive bubble of monetary expansion that’s being created there. So that’s the first thing going on. Central banks out of control in a race to the bottom, sliding by the seat of their pants, making up really incoherent theories as they go."

" Look at the Baltic Dry Index. That is a measure, one, of faltering demand for shipments and, two, massive overbuilding of bulk carrier capacity as a result of this central bank driven boom that we’ve had in the last 10 to 20 years."
The CBs printed tons of money but, restricted it to the upper loop of the economy. The lower loop of the economy is where the actual consumption is done. The big money players got all the bucks. The real hangup was that low-wage competitors took out the wage base for the traditional consumers. There was no trickle down because there was no wage-price spiral. Credit terms were extended out to keep us spending. Once that heavy debt service ended credit expansion, we reached peak debt. The bankers are trying to maintain credit expansion when there is a wage contraction.

China; "Their debt at the time of the crisis was $7 Trillion, now it’s $28. So the debt is up more than $20 Trillion while the GDP is up just $5 Trillion. "
David Stockman: The Global Economy Has Entered The Crack-Up Phase | Zero Hedge
The uber parasite does NOT want to go hungry. Log In - The New York Times

[Danny B]

Going cashless

Well, it is pretty obvious that a big crash is in the near future. The crash in the Euro was purposely caused by the founders of the Eurozone. They admit it. It's a pretty good bet that the crash in America was caused on purpose also. So, why?

Martin Armstrong says that the bond market will crash in October of 2015. The U.S. bond market is worth over $ 38 trillion. If you include the derivatives, it is $ 191 trillion. This is just for the U.S. Globally the bond bubble is north of $100 trillion. And this $100 trillion has been used as collateral for a derivative market that is well north of $555 TRILLION.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...tem-approaches

Presumably, any big bond crash will take out most of the world market. So, what happens next? With the bond markets crashed, the banks will close. Without credit, you will have to have cash.
"There was approximately $1.34 trillion in circulation as of January 7, 2015, of which $1.29 trillion was in Federal Reserve notes." " 89.8 percent of the money in the United States is not in the form of cash.". About 2/3 of U.S. dollars circulate outside the country. OK, so the banks are closed. Martin Armstrong reports that 27% of American households are hoarding cash at home. There really isn't all that much cash in the country. What happens if / when the cash runs out before the banks re-open?

.
The 2008 Crisis was not THE Crisis. The 2008 Crisis was largely a banking crisis focused on securities. The REAL Crisis will hit when the bond bubble collapses.

If the bond market crashes, the currency will crash too. Adrian Salbuchi and Jim Willie have said that America will print a "new dollar". This has been done hundreds of times before so, it's not a big surprise. The new dollar would be severely devalued,, standard operating procedure. What if that is NOT the plan?

Jim Rickards worked with 16 of our spook agencies, war-gaming what a collapse of the U.S. dollar would look like. Now, he is EVERYWHERE on the net pushing the Special Drawing Rights, a creation of the IMF. The SDR is just one more tool that could be expanded to infinity by the monetary PTB. Jim says that we will have a transition to the SDR.
Jim Rickards On The Reserve Currency Transition From Dollars To SDRs, Gold, And Much More | Zero Hedge
Jim Rickards, who recently seems to have a quota of one media appearance minimum per day, is back on King World News today, discussing his sense of a shift in sentiment within the G-20 that the dollar may be approaching its "exhaustion" limit, and that as concerns that Russia,

Jim and Adrian say, a new currency. Rickards says, a new digital reserve currency. I suspect that plan "A" from the monetary PTB is a CASHLESS economy.
"Jim Rickards: All Roads Lead to the IMF; SDRs to Replace Dollar as New World Currency" He also says that China wants to change to the SDR.

Kenya is moving to a cashless marketplace as fast as it can. Cashless Africa:
Cashless Africa: Kenya?s smash success with mobile money

Originally conceived as an efficient method to make payments on microloans, Kenyans now send money from urban centers back to rural hometowns.


"Spain Bans Cash Transactions Over 2,500 Euros"

Nigeria wants a smart Mastercard for everybody,
The Cashless Society Arrives in Africa. The ?Multipurpose? Biometric National Identity Smart Card | Global Research

It was recently announced at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa that MasterCard and the Nigerian National Identity Management Commission

GOV thinks that cashless is a great idea, Establishment Pushing “Cashless Society” to Control Humanity

Establishment Pushing ?Cashless Society? to Control Humanity
Looking at rules and regulations regarding the environment, computers, space, energy, and more, and determining how they affect individuals and businesses

The Nordic countries are working towards cashless;

Nordic countries point the way to cashless societies
STOCKHOLM/OSLO (Reuters) - Nordic countries are leading a shift by rich nations towards cashless societies, providing a test case for whether the lower cost and con...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0KI1AA20150109

What about the downside?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101266173
The idea of a cashless society could be one of the greatest threats to freedom in human history, said Signature Bank chairman Scott Shay.


America is behind many countries at adopting cashless transactions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101171922
The U.S. is synonymous with technical innovation but is way behind other countries in using smartphones for payment.

The great lament of obamacare is that it would work if everybody were signed up.

The great lament of socialism is that it would work if nobody could escape it.

FED GOV absolutely hates the underground economy. A cashless society would be a marvellous improvement for the tax collector. The income tax originally started as a VERY small percentage,,, it grew.

Just imagine if all your money were out of reach of YOU but, very much in reach of GOV. You have a smart water and electric meter that can be shut off from a distance.

When the banks close and everybody is desperate for a means of transaction, the universal card will be ready and waiting. Every transaction recorded. Your car has a tracker. Roadside monitors record the passage of your smart card. Welcome to paradise.

[Danny B]

The importance of Greece

Just a few headlines about Greece;
Greece to run out of cash in under one week
Andrew Hoffman: Greece will default - chaos will follow
The Catastrophic Costs Of Extend-And-Pretend Are About To Crush Europe | Zero Hedge
Axel Merk: Greece will default, but does it matter?
The Germans came up with an offer for the Greeks that was acceptable. A short time later, they re-worded it and offered it for signature. Yanis Varoufakis is FAR too smart to fall for that kind of BS.
Europe's Political Great Rift Valley - The Automatic Earth

Greece spent 50% of their modern history in default. French and German banks loaned them money. They couldn't pay and, defaulted. The French and German GOVs payed off the banks and then,,, demanded the money from Greece. Plan "A" was to just steal everything of value in Greece for compensation. Yanis was elected on the promise of ending the robbery. He could very well blow up the whole system. I certainly wouldn't get on the same plane as him.
Germany gave Greece an ultimatum of 10 days to accept the bailout terms. Yanis yawned. The deadline passed. Germany has given Yanis another deadline of 10 days. The FED is desperate to keep Greece in thrall and in the EU AND NATO. Since the banker's campaign in the Ukraine is failing, they are even more desperate to hold on to power in Greece.
To make matters even worse for the bankers, Yanis has promised to nationalize the Greek banks AND kick out NATO. He has also promised to re-organize the shipping industry. The sacred cows are going to be made into sacred cow-burger.

Updates; 20/2/2015
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...l-exploitation

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...folding-greece

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...ject-our-offer
The ECB has suddenly discovered that E49 billion in bonds will vanish with a Greek exit.
The Greek banks will be nationalized which will create a very dangerous precedent. NATO will get kicked out and Russian or Chinese bases could very well appear. Yanis was told to comply or Greece would be bankrupt. He replied; "Greece is already bankrupt".
There are various articles appearing claiming that America should bail out Greece. SCREW NATO.
2012; "The Reuters Global Gold Forum confirms that in the small print of the Greek “bailout” is a provision for the creditors to seize Greek national gold reserves." http://www.zerohedge.com/news/greece...-gold-reserves

[Danny B]

Your upcoming poverty

This seems to be the right thread for a very interesting article that I found written by Charles Hugh Smith.
Neocolonialism benefits both the core's financial Aristocracy and national oligarchies/ kleptocracies. This is ably demonstrated in the recent essay Misrule of the Few: How the Oligarchs Ruined Greece.

With the bankruptcy of Greece now undeniable, we've finally reached the endgame of the Neocolonial-Financialization Model. There are no more markets to exploit with financialization, and the fact that the mountains of debt are unpayable can no longer be masked.
Now that the financialization scheme of the euro has run its course, the periphery's neocolonial standing is starkly revealed: the assets and income of the periphery are flowing to the core as interest on the private and sovereign debts that are owed to the core's central bank and its money-center private banks.
Greece And The Endgame Of The Neocolonial Model Of Exploitation | Zero Hedge

The reason that I believe it is so important to understand the "model" at work here is that; it's failure will make socialism attractive to the losers.
The neo-feudalism model is unworkable in the face of automation and mechanization. While this might not be obvious right now, it will become increasingly painful. "Assets flow to the core". Germany is at the highest level of poverty it has seen since reunification. Assets are flowing to the core. PressTV-Poverty in Germany highest since unity
This is internal to Germany. While capitalism is a good idea, there are limits to everything. Internecine warfare is a bad idea. If internal German poverty is rising, what does that say about the future of Spain?

Our future poverty is entirely dependent on the availability of cheap energy.
Sucking Beer Out Of The Carpet: Nicole Foss At The Great Debate in Melbourne - The Automatic Earth
We already have cheap carbon energy. GOV and bankers are sucking us dry with taxes and speculation that drive the price WAY up. Exxon makes 5.5 cents a gallon.
A gasoline tax map that explains a lot | ExxonMobil's Perspectives Blog
Y'all better get work on free energy REAL soon.

[Danny B]

Deceased economy

I have to post this. The language is so colorful.
"Indeed, the collapse in the U.S. retail sector has accelerated throughout this plunge in oil/gasoline prices. This should not be possible."
"Back in the real world; evidence of the U.S.’s zombie economy is both overwhelming and abundant. It begins with 0% interest rates. As has frequently been noted in the past; 0% interest rates are the economic equivalent of a defibrillator. As with a defibrillator; it is the most-extreme form of stimulus known to us."
"Equally, as with a defibrillator; if it doesn’t “work” right away, it will never work (has anyone ever heard of a nation called “Japan”?). When a doctor attempts to resuscitate a patient with a defibrillator, and fails after a couple of minutes; does he continue to jolt the patient, again and again and again and again – year after year? Of course not. He quickly gives up, because it has become evident that he is no longer “treating a patient”, but merely charring a corpse."
"As we see; the U.S. “heartbeat” (i.e. the flow of money) has nearly stopped, having fallen further/lower than at any time in recorded history."
"It began with an equally large/ugly collapse in December retail sales. When adjusted for inflation, and expressed as an annualized number; the “0.9%” drop reported by the statistical liars of the U.S. government translates into a 25% plunge in December retail sales "
That is why we have 1 billion sq.ft. of empty retail space.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...s-economy-dead

"the assets and income of the periphery are flowing to the core "
The core at the moment is the insatiable GOV.
"The IRS and FATCA are hunting people everywhere. This is part of the Decline & Fall of the United States. Whenever a government turns against its own people for taxes to sustain its life, the end is never far behind. "
How FATCA is Destroying the World Economy & Americans | Armstrong Economics
"The other side of 2032 should see China displace the USA on all levels economically. This what you get when you have lawyers as politicians. They know how to write laws and enforce them. They do not comprehend the impact. They are destroying the world economy at the most rapid speed I have ever seen. Liquidity has remain down 50% from 2007 levels. Stopping Americans from investing globally will only make the markets extremely vulnerable during this decline. This is part of the reason Europe is imploding. This hunt for taxes is destroying everything. People just hoard and stop investing."
U.S. GOV is enforcing de-facto capital controls trying to keep all money from fleeing the country. This crashes other States and the resulting problems come back here.
The oil glut in America is supposed to get even bigger;
The Chilling Thing Devon Energy Just Said About the US Oil Glut | Wolf Street
This should crash even more energy related derivatives.

[Danny B]

the curse of big banks

The defeat of the Glass-Stegal act allowed the banks to take all of our money and speculate with it. Consequently, they left behind traditional banking and started buying politicians and manipulating markets.
"Too Big To Fails" Have Stopped Being Banks Washington's Blog
This can only go on so long until the distortions unbalance the system.

"The BIS has released an important paper, embedded at the end of this post, which has created quite a stir, even leading the orthodoxy-touting Economist to take note. Titled, Why does financial sector growth crowd out real economic growth?, its analysis of why too much finance is a bad thing is robust and compelling. This article is a follow up to a 2012 paper by the same authors, Stephen Cecchetti and Enisse Kharroubi, which found that when finance sectors exceeded a certain size, specifically when private sector debt topped 100% of GDP or when financial services industry professions were more than 3.9% of the work force, it became a drag on growth."
Economists: A Large Financial Sector HURTS the Economy Washington's Blog
The banks aren't actually producers. When the non-producers lock up all the liquidity into speculation, the productive economy doesn't have enough liquidity.

IN Greece, Yanis has agreed to a 4 month extension of the bailout and Germany is celebrating victory. Yanis has until monday to come up with a list of reforms. The troika has given Yanis a set of parameters as guidelines for him to comply. Everybody has to agree on the reforms. The ECB is certain that Yanis will come up with a plan that they will approve. I AM NOT.
The neocons are going out of their minds at the prospect of NATO getting kicked out of Greece. Yanis has a PHD and has written books on game theory.
He already said that he would nationalize the banks and kick out NATO.
I can't wait to see the list.

[Danny B]

bill H.R. 1491 Executive Order 6102

"U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt did it in 1933 using gold confiscation to accomplish a bank bail-in of the Federal Reserve."
"Even taking the extremely low estimate of only 37.5% of the Federal Reserve Notes remaining, that would still be over 20,000 metric tons of gold. With US gold reserves at 6,000 tons, this would be a shortfall of 14,000 tons. But those 6,000 tons were needed to cover the US Treasury Gold Certificates. So at the very minimum, Federal Reserve Notes to the tune of 20,000 metric tons of gold were “circulating naked” in 1933."
"About a week after the gold collection was completed, the U.S. Government changed the value of gold from $20.67 per ounce to $35.00 per ounce. This represents almost 70% devaluation of the dollar."
https://goldbits.com/news/first-u-s-...fiscation.html

[Danny B]

Gold and wages

"More importantly, and what is certainly not known, is that between 1930 and 1970, it was only the "bottom 90%" that saw their incomes rise, as can be seen on the next chart."
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/defau...uality%201.jpg
The end of the gold standard brought the ascent of the 1%
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-0...-gold-standard
Warren Buffett's father stresses the relation between money and freedom and contends that without a redeemable currency, an individual's freedom and one's access to property is dependent on goodwill of politicians.
Howard Buffett Said "Human Freedom Rests On Gold Redeemable Money"
Howard Buffett Said "Human Freedom Rests On Gold Redeemable Money", Called For Return To Gold Standard | Zero Hedge
"But when you recall that one of the first moves by Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler was to outlaw individual ownership of gold, you begin to sense that there may be some connection between money, redeemable in gold, and the rare prize known as human liberty."

[Danny B]

World wide bankruptcy

GOV is not a producer. Shadowstats reports that inflation is running about 9--10%.
John Hussman, of Hussman funds, in an article titled ‘Extreme Overvaluation and the Inventory Problem’ says: “Our estimate of prospective 10-year S&P 500 annual nominal total returns has declined to just 1.4%
OK, 10% inflation and 1.4% return on stock investments.
"Profits are the largest driver of stock prices. S&P profits are, in this authors opinion, going to collapse. " That was true in the old world. Profits are almost non-existent in today's markets. GOV is forcing $ trillions into the markets,,, money devoid of wealth.
Ahead of The Herd - Duck Quacks and Golden Echo’s
SO, negative returns on stocks,, negative returns on saving and money-market accounts. Negative returns on GOV bonds. Negative returns on junk bonds. TOO much negativity What is the result of this ongoing negativity? "Over half of Americans have good reason to feel poor. Between 2007 and 2013 median wealth dropped a shocking 40 percent"
At Least Half of Americans are Broke | Soren Dreier

A rise in interest rates would wipe out just about everything that is "upheld" by cheap money. They are starting to rise a bit. Central Planners About To Unleash Economic Hell On Earth | King World News

"The governments of the world need to declare bankruptcy"
"While a global bankruptcy is the only path to a sustainable resolution, the social disruption will be immense as a vast number of people are taken off of the dole and forced back into the real economy"
World About To Enter A Period Of Immense Financial Destruction And Social Disorder | King World News
"taken off of the dole" Yep, that sounds disruptive.

OK, so GOV prints bonds and sells them to the primary dealers. The primary dealers sell them to investors at auction. The investors are aware of inflation and can refuse to bid at low interest rates. So, the FED buys them. The FED, ESF and PPT are pumping in money but, not wealth. They would very much like to inflate away the value of the debt.
The crash in wages, savings and consumption is so deflationary that it offsets the inflationary actions of the PTB. The dollar keeps going up because it is the least-ugly sister. The PTB want it to go down in value but, it isn't yet cooperating.

[Danny B]

Greek monday

Not sure but, the rumor is that NO DEAL.
"There Is No Deal…Riots & Chaos In Athens And Markets On Monday"
There Is No Deal…Riots & Chaos In Athens And Markets On Monday | King World News
A billion Euros were pulled out of Greek banks on friday. This will continue if there is no deal.

[wayne.ct]

The secret get-together of the elite

On one of the posted pages was the well known (to some) quote attributed to George Orwell, "In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Juxtapose, Greek Finance Minister who shocked the media by saying the truth, "Greece is already bankrupt."

Analysis, Greece does not have the money and will not pay. Also, they admit that whether of not they sign a piece of paper (agreeing to more debt), it would be a meaningless act. Germany and the EU declare that they will forebear for four months, or whatever. The time period is immaterial. The bookkeeping entries and phony loans to unknown parties (in Bulgaria ) will fool the credulous but not the bankers or PTB that know and understand what is going on. The bankers and PTB that DON'T know what is going on are "on their own" (metaphorically speaking, of course.)

So, they secretly get together and put together a "third" option. What difference does it make? No difference, really it makes no difference. A few people will rearrange their affairs because they UNDERSTAND. And, the majority will NOT make changes because the don't understand. Does anyone remember playing musical chairs? I think that child's classic is a good metaphor. From time to time there is a clash between individuals, each with his or her own particular combination of experience, skill and luck. The results of each succeeding event have elements that are both predictable and unpredictable. And again, it all unfolds as a sequence of sudden, momentary events that happen over time. It is up to the individual to be prepared for what is coming.

[Danny B]

The crash and depopulation

"It is up to the individual to be prepared for what is coming. "
You got that right !! I must add the proviso that ALL must understand that this economic crash is a big part of the depopulation agenda. The puppet masters are NOT trying to save anything,,, maybe the planet. Even that is doubtful considering how much DU was spread around by the masters of war. The leaky reactors are a "maybe" but, the DU could have been prevented by the highest levels of power. Maybe, they are reptilians