Recession Ending

[rickoff]

The slide of the dollar is an extremely serious threat to everyone's life savings, and people are rightfully worried and wondering if there is anything they can do to protect their savings from further devaluation. On Thursday, November 5th, at 12:00 noon Eastern time, Steve Forbes is holding an Emergency Dollar Summit live and free on the Internet to offer advice as to what steps people can take. This may be well worth tuning in to. More info here: Steve Forbes and Christopher Ruddy Host the Emergency Dollar Summit

[Vortex]

The slide of the dollar is an extremely serious threat to everyone's life savings, and people are rightfully worried and wondering if there is anything they can do to protect their savings from further devaluation. On Thursday, November 5th, at 12:00 noon Eastern time, Steve Forbes is holding an Emergency Dollar Summit live and free on the Internet to offer advice as to what steps people can take. This may be well worth tuning in to. More info here: Steve Forbes and Christopher Ruddy Host the Emergency Dollar Summit

Yes, I agree Rick ..
But calling it an emergency starts off as a falsehood ..
Incorrect actions and avoidance of known fixes has placed the current system into an "emergency" ..
but it never had to happen this way.
For centuries it has been known this always happens, without
exception, to this kind of money system.
To call it an emergency, at this point, is like saying that getting wet is an emergency if it is raining.

The "slide" or value is a reflection of the amount of debt. No debt in the
money system means no money .. (but in reality there is already no money)
A removal of all debt would revalue the money.

There is a PROVEN method that has worked for centuries to fix the problem.

Michael Hudson reminds us that it has been known that mathematically debt
will always over-run / out-pace the economy ...
That's why through out historical time debt was always forgiven.
Debt has always been written off, forgotten and everyone got a do-over.
Foreclosed land, etc was RETURNED ...

"forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors"

3000 YEARS OF DEBT HANDLED, works every time .. No SWEAT
Michael references Biblical law about debt
Six Minutes with the Renegade Economist - Michael Hudson Special...

Comments and questions?
randy

[rickoff]

The worst is not over

From a news article today by Gene J. Koprowski: Many American investors may think the worst of the economic downturn is over, but they are completely wrong, writes Clinton administration economist and NYU professor Nouriel Roubini.

“Conditions in the U.S. labor markets are awful and worsening,” writes Roubini in The New York Daily News. “While the official unemployment rate is already 10.2 percent and another 200,000 jobs were lost in October, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5 percent.” Though losing 200,000 jobs per month is a bit better than the 700,000 jobs lost in January, job losses still average more than the per month rate of 150,000 during the last recession. Job losses will last until the end of 2010, until well after the next general election, Roubini says.

[Nadda]

jobs are a major factor reguarding the housing industry as well. There are still just as many bank foreclosures in my city now, as there has ever been. The banking industry can secure a number of future foreclosures by restricting high risk loans, however, every month that the unemployment rate continues it will only increase the amount of foreclosures.

Upside down loans are very dangerous and waves of foreclosures are expected when unemployment continues to increase, it is an effect that will grow upon itself. Foreclosures will bring the price of neighboring real estate down and continue to make home buyers less motivated to purchase a property which is worth less every month.

[rickoff]

Nearly 11 million US homeowners "underwater"

Some experts say the housing market has bottomed, but one statistic indicates otherwise. The portion of U.S. homeowners who are “underwater” on their loans — that is, they owe more on the mortgage than the home is worth — surged to 23 percent in the third quarter, or almost 10.7 million households, according to First American CoreLogic, a real estate research firm. Many of the underwater homes will end up in foreclosure or on the already bulging market of homes for sale. Of the 10.7 million homes underwater, nearly half have a mortgage that is at least 20 percent higher than the home’s value, according to First American. More than 520,000 of these homeowners are in default on their mortgages.

[rickoff]

California and New York are nearly bankrupt

“Unless we act, New York will run out of money, even after we delay payments to schools and local governments,” New York's Governor David Patterson said in a web cast Tuesday. “This is an unprecedented fiscal emergency.”

New York has a 3.2 billion dollar budget deficit. Ironically, New York is hoping that withholding tax revenue that is expected from hefty Wall Street bonuses, to be paid in January, will help to delay bankruptcy.

California is in even worse shape, with a budget deficit that will soar to 20.7 billion over the next 18 months. That's nearly triple the estimate of just 4 months ago, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Recession ending? I don't think so.

Rick

[rickoff]

US Racing Toward Debt Shock

A page one, top-of-the-fold New York Times report Monday warns that U.S. debt is rising so fast that the federal government is careening toward a "payment shock" in the not-too-distant future.

The national debt now stands at over $12 trillion and the White House estimates that the cost of servicing the debt will rise to more than $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year. The Times suggests that $700 billion annual payment cost may be conservative. The additional $500 billion a year in interest payments would surpass the combined budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security, plus the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Times observes.

Note: For those who don't understand what "debt servicing" is, please be advised that is simply the amount required to pay the annual interest fee on the national debt, and does not pay off even one penny of the actual debt owed. With ever increasing and irresponsible government spending, the national debt is growing at an alarming rate, and the resulting debt servicing is no longer manageable. Even now we cannot afford the current debt servicing cost of $202 billion, so how does Congress expect that we will somehow be able to afford $700 billion ten years from now? The answer is, of course, that they don't expect to be able to cover that expense without more than tripling taxes. Such a tax increase is unaffordable, and therefore unsustainable. It is the surest path to complete and utter financial ruin of our country in the shortest possible time. So why would Congress pursue that course when they know where it will lead? Because that is the near term goal they aspire to achieve, and it will pave the way for a one-world government, and one world currency. Welcome to the New World Order.

[Mad Scientist]

Even at a local level things are screwed up, NY and California are not the only ones having money problems my little village is also having a problem. We have a very large shopping mall that has for years has been providing through sales taxes all the operating revenue needed. However with fewer people buying and those that are buying are buying less the sales tax revenue has dropped dramatically. As a result our leaders (?) are discovering that the village is running out of money.

But they have a solution. Seeing as how people are saving money by not shopping at the mall now is the perfect time to institute a real estate tax. Naturally heaven forbid they should consider cutting some services and spending less as that might not make their leadership qualities look so good.

But this tax won’t be so bad they say because the village will now pay for our garbage pickup plus they will drop the cost of out vehicle stickers, so it should be revenue neutral for most citizens. Of course if it is revenue neutral then what is the point of doing it?

Anyway they are going to have a public hearing on the matter in a couple weeks, think I’m going to have to attend that one.

[Mad Scientist]

So why would Congress pursue that course when they know where it will lead? Because that is the near term goal they aspire to achieve, and it will pave the way for a one-world government, and one world currency. Welcome to the New World Order.

Of course but we sheple are not suppose to know that! We are just suppose to keep arguing who is to blame and who will be able to fix it, a democrat or a republican? No other choices are allowed.

[rickoff]

Even at a local level things are screwed up, NY and California are not the only ones having money problems my little village is also having a problem. But they have a solution. Seeing as how people are saving money by not shopping at the mall now is the perfect time to institute a real estate tax. But this tax won’t be so bad they say because the village will now pay for our garbage pickup plus they will drop the cost of our vehicle stickers, so it should be revenue neutral for most citizens. Of course if it is revenue neutral then what is the point of doing it?

Anyway they are going to have a public hearing on the matter in a couple weeks, think I’m going to have to attend that one.

Good luck on that MS. Let them know you see through their baloney.

I know that communities are hurting everywhere, and I only chose to elaborate on the huge problems of New York and California states because they would seem to certainly fit in with the government's monetary policy as being "too big to fail." So will they receive taxpayer bail-outs? And how many states can we bail out before everyone is bankrupt?

[Nadda]

So will they receive taxpayer bail-outs? And how many states can we bail out before everyone is bankrupt?

No kidding, do things make sense to anyone else? They plan to raise taxes on everybody to pay for a bill that wont help anybody for another 4 years. All in the middle of a recession with entire states going bankrupt...

States are scraping by to pay for schooling and to keep theyre prisoners behind bars and some how the taxpayers are supposed to pay hundreds of billions for an insurance which will only cut the uninsured by 50%. A bill that majority of americans dont even want..

I swear to god if ive ever seen a plan to push a nation into complete bankruptcy, we are executing it flawlessly.

[rickoff]

Amen to that, Nadda. All is going according to plan.

[Mad Scientist]

What I see going on here is a repeat of the process that gave us the FRB. First we have a real problem; our health care system is broke and needs fixing. But a real fix could cost the insurance companies and others some real money. So I have to wonder how many of those 2000 plus pages of the health care bill were actually written by the very people it is suppose to control. Now even though the insurance companies say they don’t like the bill could that be nothing more then reverse physiology? That was how the bankers in the 1900’s got the FRB started by claiming they didn’t like it thus the average person then assumed that it must be a good deal.

Plus they were sold on the idea that it would control inflation and the up and down swings of the market. Of course they are still claiming that they working to control inflation we just need to give them a little more time, why there is only so much that one could expect them to do in a hundred years.

I pretty much see history repeating itself with the health care bill. Why would a bill need 2000 plus pages unless one is trying to hid something?

[rickoff]

What I see going on here is a repeat of the process that gave us the FRB. First we have a real problem; our health care system is broke and needs fixing. But a real fix could cost the insurance companies and others some real money. So I have to wonder how many of those 2000 plus pages of the health care bill were actually written by the very people it is suppose to control. Now even though the insurance companies say they don’t like the bill could that be nothing more then reverse physiology? That was how the bankers in the 1900’s got the FRB started by claiming they didn’t like it thus the average person then assumed that it must be a good deal.

I pretty much see history repeating itself with the health care bill. Why would a bill need 2000 plus pages unless one is trying to hid something?

I see that you are seeing things clearly, MS, and I hope that others are too. Once again, it is just another scam by big money interests to grab an even larger slice of the pie. We all know that when a proposal is 2,000 pages long then no legislator will have time to read through it, and that most won't even crack the cover open to see what's inside. Anything can be hidden inside, and much of it can have absolutely nothing to do with healthcare reform, being pure political pork-barrel stuff - just like what was in the "Economic Stimulus" deal. You can safely bet there is plenty of that junk in this bill that will make a lot of fat cats even fatter. It's like a huge turkey that should have had its head chopped off and been devoured by Thanksgiving, but many on Capitol Hill are intent on giving this fat turkey a reprieve. If they succeed, that turkey is going to gobble up a huge and ever increasing amount of our nation's financial resources, significantly raising taxes and speeding the spiral of debt that is destroying this nation. It's not that they don't realize this, of course, when they vote to pass it. They know the end result has been the aim of the plan all along. Later on, when the people finally begin to see how much they are adversely affected by this plan, and start complaining about it, the legislators will say, "Don't blame us. We were only acting on behalf of the majority of our constituents, who demanded that we pass this Healthcare Reform legislation."

[rickoff]

Recession ending! (for this poor chap, at least)