Essays

Paul Craig Roberts: As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap

"Influenced by neoconservative warmongers who advocated America using its 'sole superpower' status to establish hegemony over the world, Washington let hubris and arrogance run away with it. The consequence was that Washington destroyed its soft power with lies and war crimes, only to find that its military power was insufficient to support its occupation of Iraq, its conquest of Afghanistan, and its financial imperialism. Now seen universally as a lawless warmonger and a nuisance, Washington’s soft power has been squandered. With its influence on the wane, Washington has become more of a bully. In response, the rest of the world is isolating Washington." Continue reading →

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Their Propaganda….Our Propaganda

"The Guardian was able to get a hold of some paintings that were made by a North Korean propaganda artist, for the North Korean people. The paintings depict their 'glorious neighbor' China. Keep in mind, when you see these, that most North Koreans have never been to China. What a glorious place...a Heaven on Earth mixed with The Land of Oz. Fortunately, here in the United States, we have freedom of the press, and it takes hard effort for that press to pull the wool over our eyes! Americans are not so easily fooled..." Continue reading →

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U.S. Dollar on the brink of 13-month lows: the long-term consequences

"While the stock market has been rising, the U.S. dollar has been sinking. It’s on the verge of breaking major 13-month lows. It’s not far from reversing everything it gained against a sinking euro during the recent European debt crisis. And once those barriers are breached, it could crash to its lowest level in history. But Washington doesn’t care, and few investors seem to give a damn. They celebrate the fact that, in the near term, a falling dollar helps make U.S. exports more competitive overseas. Plus, they like the fact that a dollar decline temporarily drives global investors away from safety and into risky investments, including U.S. stocks." Continue reading →

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Kirby Cundiff: Why Do Banks Keep Going Bankrupt?

"During the recent crises in Cyprus, proposals were seriously considered to ignore the 100,000 EUR deposit insurance and seize a fraction of even small depositors’ money. Most depositors lost access to their accounts for over a week and large depositors are still likely to lose a large fraction of their assets. Most depositors still believe that deposit insurance will cover any possible losses. If banks are to become more stable, the amount of equity relative to debt in the banking system must be drastically increased to something resembling what it would be without government deposit insurance, central bank subsidies, and treasury bailouts." Continue reading →

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The Bitcoin revolution could change government

"All governments, including ours, and especially the US’s, use the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 as an excuse for reversing gains in human liberty achieved over many decades of struggle. In the name of fighting terrorism and other 'organised crime', jurisdictions, banks and companies that used to respect privacy must now reveal all. Under what the Constitutional Court called 'draconian' powers, anyone’s assets can be seized by unbridled bureaucrats. Bitcoin enables ordinary people to fight back, to avoid and evade snooping governments, which enact, use and abuse laws that allow them, without due process, to investigate, tax, control and seize privately owned assets." Continue reading →

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Attempts To Eliminate Cash Are More Than A Privacy Disaster

"Politicians are suggesting that cash should be gradually replaced by credit card transactions and direct bank transactions, making every single movement of money trackable, seizable, and reversable. This is not just a privacy disaster, it’s also a resilience disaster. I had the privilege of having a long conversation with the Chief Security Officer of one of the larger European banks, and he told me the outcome was a given – there will always be some kind of cash. Whether it’s issued by a central bank is completely beside the point; if central-bank cash isn’t readily available, people will create a way to trade between them without involving a third party." Continue reading →

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Federal Reserve Policy Failures Are Mounting

"One possible reason why the Fed have consistently erred on the high side in their growth forecasts is that they assume higher stock prices will lead to higher spending via the so-called wealth effect. The Fed's ad hoc analysis on this subject has been wrong and is in conflict with econometric studies. The studies suggest that when wealth rises or falls, consumer spending does not generally respond, or if it does respond, it does so feebly. During the run-up of stock and home prices over the past three years, the year-over-year growth in consumer spending has actually slowed sharply from over 5% in early 2011 to just 2.9% in the four quarters ending Q2." Continue reading →

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Barack Obama’s Nixonian Fed Pick

"As a result of the Fed’s Quantitative Easing programs, banks are now sitting on more than $2.2 trillion in excess reserves. How the Fed eliminates these excess reserves before they produce an explosive growth in the money supply and surging inflation should be more of a concern to the next Fed Chair than an unemployment rate that is more the product of uncertainties associated with deficit spending and business fears about Obamacare than any lack of liquidity caused by the Fed. Yellen’s defenders say there’s nothing to worry about. As Georgetown University professor Henry Holzer put it, Yellen is fully aware of inflation and not a 'mindless stimulator.' Others aren’t so sure." Continue reading →

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War in Washington: Two Shocking Forecasts

"The bond investor rebellion we’re forecasting is not unprecedented. It has happened before — in 1980, under the Carter administration. Back then, the federal budget deficit was huge, although not nearly as large as today’s. Consumer inflation was taking off due to years of aggressive easy money by the Fed, although not nearly as aggressive as the Fed’s massive money printing and bond buying of the past five years. There was fear of a hotter cold war, although not nearly as intense as today’s fears. In response, bond buyers went on strike. It was virtually impossible for the United States government to sell its bonds at virtually any price. My forecast was — and is — that this will happen again." Continue reading →

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Catherine Austin Fitts: Moral Investing and the Coming Equity ‘Crash-Up’

"Take a look at different predictions that gold is going to increase significantly in value. All those predictions assume that the monetary inflation is going to spill into commodities. And what you're watching instead is the G-7 have been essentially building a corral that forces the horses to run out through the stock market. That's why I call it a crash-up. I think one scenario we're looking at is the possibility of a crash-up scenario where that monetary increase is funneled into the equity markets. One of the most important questions there is, can you get the global population interested in investing in equities? Because the long bond market bull is coming to a close." Continue reading →

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