Monthly Archives: July 2013

Bill Bonner: The End of the World As We Know It

"People become 'educators' and never teach a single student. They go on 'disability.' They turn whole industries – defense, health, finance – into vast wealth transfer schemes that produce little or no net benefit for the people they are supposed to serve. In short, zombies consume more than they produce; they are a net negative for society. But Hadas is right about the effects of lower birthrates. They also lower 'growth.' And without substantial growth, life as we have known it will come to an end. Stocks will fall, creditors (bondholders, for example) won't be paid, and governments must cut back on their expenses... or go broke." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: The End of the World As We Know It

The astonishing collapse of work in America

"Both demand and supply factors are at play in this disheartening dynamic. On the demand side, it seems fairly clear that our contemporary economy is just not generating jobs and work as robustly as it did in the past---even the relatively recent past. This can be seen as a 'structural' problem. For on the supply side, it is apparent that there has been a major behavioral change in America, wherein a growing proportion of working-age Americans are checking out of paid labor altogether. Suffice it to say that not working at all is neither unthinkable nor unaffordable these days, even for adults in the prime of life." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe astonishing collapse of work in America

The situation on the ground in Athens

"The total number of unemployed is roughly 57% of the entire Greek work force. And as you probably know, the situation for young people is even worse. Only 1 in 3 people aged 25 and under has a job. This phenomenon, sustained for several years now, has cut deeply into the psyche of an entire generation that is growing up without productive work experience or the prospect of improving their lives. The middle class here has been completely gutted. Aside from a few pockets of wealth, the country is either unemployed or working poor, hamstrung by debilitating debt. The suicide rate here has skyrocketed, crime is noticeably higher, and prostitution is rampant." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe situation on the ground in Athens

Car bomb rocks Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon

"Syria's civil war is increasingly being fought along sectarian lines, with Sunnis dominating the rebel ranks fighting Assad's regime, which is composed mostly of Alawites, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. At least one Syria-based Islamist brigade claimed responsibility for the attack on its Facebook page, but its authenticity could not be verified. The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group denounced 'in the strongest terms the terrorist explosion.' Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Ammar blamed 'Israel and its tools in the region' for the attack. Hezbollah, like the Syrian regime, refers to those fighting to topple Assad as agents of Israel and the U.S." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCar bomb rocks Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon

Deep Divides Threaten Egypt’s Path Forward

"It is a good 15-minute drive from Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo to Raba'a al-Adaweya Square in the Nasr City quarter of the capital. Yet worlds divide the Egyptians who have been gathering at the two sites in recent days. In Tahrir Square on Tuesday, people were selling posters of the country's new strongman, General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who toppled then-President Mohammed Morsi last week. On Raba'a al-Adaweya Square, however, demonstrators held images of Morsi aloft. They are the followers of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement -- and they have vowed not to vacate their tent city until Morsi is back in office."Deep Divides Threaten Egypt's Path Forward Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDeep Divides Threaten Egypt’s Path Forward

Reality of Egypt – Not What You Think?

"The Muslim Brotherhood was the first choice of Western powers, from what we can tell, and was only discarded when its leadership declined to go along with a US$4 billion International Monetary Fund plan. The military, meanwhile, has been portrayed as being of one piece, but as we have pointed out previously, it may be a mistake to believe that the military is cohesively pro-Western and at the service of the Pentagon. It may be at the top, but who can speak for the rank-and-file? The social chaos and bloody destruction now being predicted for Egypt may not simply be the result of a scripted clash between the military and Islamic factions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingReality of Egypt – Not What You Think?

Egypt orders arrest of ousted Brotherhood leaders after army kills 53 protesters

"Washington, treading a careful line, has neither welcomed Mursi's removal nor denounced it as a 'coup', which would require it to halt aid, including the $1.3 billion it gives the army each year. The Brotherhood's downfall has, however, been warmly welcomed by three of the rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf. Kuwait promised Egypt $4 billion in cash, loans and fuel on Wednesday, a day after Saudi Arabia pledged $5 billion and the United Arab Emirates offered $3 billion. Mohamed ElBaradei, a former U.N. agency chief, has been named vice president and supports a stalled $4.8 billion loan deal with the International Monetary Fund." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEgypt orders arrest of ousted Brotherhood leaders after army kills 53 protesters

UN: Iraq violence could lead to civil war

"The level of violence reached its lowest level in 2011, with 2,771 people killed, according to UN figures. But it is once again on the rise, fuelled by widespread Sunni discontent with the Shiite-led government, and fanned by the civil war in neighbouring Syria. 'A lot of the radical groups are getting oxygen from what is going on there,' Motta said of Syria. 'The more people die (in Iraq), the greater the chance of counter-reaction and the greater chance it has to spiral out of control,' he said. 'If the casualties keep going at this rate it will be well over 5,000 at the end of the year, so we’re looking back at figures of 2008,' he said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUN: Iraq violence could lead to civil war

Accelerate a Complete Withdrawal From Afghanistan

"Isn’t it shocking that Obama has threatened to change American policy just because Karzai is being difficult? Should a policy that allegedly has fulfilled US vital security interests be drastically altered because of mere personal animosity? Yet we have been down this erratic policy road before. The Obama administration argued that keeping a residual postwar US military force in Iraq was vitally necessary, only to nix a settlement when the Iraqi government refused to exempt US soldiers from Iraqi law in the event they committed crimes—a rather imperial request to say the least. We can thus surmise that perhaps such residual occupation forces were never very vital to US security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAccelerate a Complete Withdrawal From Afghanistan

A brand-new $34 million U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. And nobody to use it.

"The U.S. military has erected a 64,000-square-foot headquarters building on the dusty moonscape of southwestern Afghanistan that comes with all the tools to wage a modern war. A vast operations center with tiered seating. A briefing theater. Spacious offices. Fancy chairs. Powerful air conditioning. Everything, that is, except troops. The windowless, two-story structure, which is larger than a football field, was completed this year at a cost of $34 million. As American troops pack up to return home, U.S.-funded contractors are placing the finishing touches on projects that are no longer required or pulling the plug after investing millions of dollars." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA brand-new $34 million U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan. And nobody to use it.