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Let's look ahead
First 2014 election. Due to Obamacare fiasco republicans can look forward to gains in both houses. They may not take control of the senate and I don't think they will actually. The divide between the tea party and mainstream repubs will not heal anytime soon. Would tea party followers vote for mainstream candidates and vice versa? It could even go so far as the formation of a third party. Unlikely IMHO but possible. However it plays out I do believe we can look forward to further gridlock after the election.
Next 2016 election. I have referred to it in the past and will continue to do so. I believe it is the 2000 ton elephant in the room crowding the republicans. It is Romney's 47%. Due to gerrymandering it may not affect individual congressional districts, but taken as a whole nationally it will affect control of the white house, IMHO. The 47% firmly believe, with support of the democratic party, that the republicans want to take away all the free stuff they are getting.OMG they might even have to go out and support themselves! Again IMHO Hilary will be the democratic candidate unless the republicans can firmly paint Bengazi all over her. She firmly supports all these welfare like programs and would keep them intact if not expanded. Notice the lack of her presence in all the Obamacare mess. Don't think for one minute that is not calculated. Easy to say during campaign- "it wasn't mine". If the democrats can turn out the 47% to vote for their candidate, probably Hilary, she would be a shoo in. Republicans campaign on decreased spending and balancing the budget. The 47% see that as cutting and/or eliminating benefits ie their free stuff. The republican message definately does not appeal to the 47%ers.
All this is only my opinion based on what I read, see and hear. I may be way off the mark. I am an independent and do try to look at things dispassionately seeing where the facts and spin take the most logical path without any biases. Facts are really just facts. They are neutral. What makes them positive or negative is the individual's interpretation.
.........al
You are right on on the impeachment talk. Even if the house does impeach, do you think Reid would allow a trial? Not going to happen. The best we can do IMHO is gridlock. Gridlocked gov't gets little done. The politicians are too bust posturing and railing about the other side's outrageous positions, playing to the media for coverage for the folks back home to get anything done. The less they do the better off we are. Do you think we would have Obamacare if one of the houses of congress at the time was under control of the republicans? From what I read more and more Americans are coming to that same conclusion. Gridlock is good. It doesn't matter which party is in charge. If they have total control they are going to take care of their big donors and friends at the expense of the American taxpayer. Bush and the republicans did it in the early 2000's. Thanks to the warmongering, Dems came into power later on giving us the hope and change of things like Obamacare, Solandra(sp), no bid contracts to friends of Michele, and probably much more we are unaware of. I ride the gridlock wagon and it's getting more crowded by the day.
..........al
How China Can Cause The Death Of The Dollar And The Entire U.S. Financial System
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
The death of the dollar is coming, and it will probably be China that pulls the trigger. What you are about to read is understood by only a very small fraction of all Americans. Right now, the U.S. dollar is the de facto reserve currency of the planet. Most global trade is conducted in U.S. dollars, and almost all oil is sold for U.S. dollars. More than 60 percent of all global foreign exchange reserves are held in U.S. dollars, and far more U.S. dollars are actually used outside of the United States than inside of it. As will be described below, this has given the United States some tremendous economic advantages, and most Americans have no idea how much their current standard of living depends on the dollar remaining the reserve currency of the world.
Unfortunately, thanks to reckless money printing by the Federal Reserve and the reckless accumulation of debt by the federal government, the status of the dollar as the reserve currency of the world is now in great jeopardy.
As I mentioned above, nations all over the globe use U.S. dollars to trade with one another. This has created tremendous demand for U.S. dollars and has kept the value of the dollar up. It also means that Americans can import things that they need much more inexpensively than they otherwise would be able to.
The largest exporting nations such as Saudi Arabia (oil) and China (cheap plastic trinkets at Wal-Mart) end up with massive piles of U.S. dollars...
Are You Ready For The Death Of The Petrodollar - Photo By Revisorweb
Instead of just sitting on all of that cash, these exporting nations often reinvest much of that cash into low risk securities that can be rapidly turned back into dollars if necessary. For a very long time, U.S. Treasury bonds have been considered to be the perfect way to do this. This has created tremendous demand for U.S. government debt and has helped keep interest rates super low. So every year, massive amounts of money that gets sent out of the country ends up being loaned back to the U.S. Treasury at super low interest rates...
United States Treasury Building - Photo by Rchuon24
And it has been a very good thing for the U.S. economy that the federal government has been able to borrow money so cheaply, because the interest rate on 10 year U.S. Treasuries affects thousands upon thousands of other interest rates throughout our financial system. For example, as the rate on 10 year U.S. Treasuries has risen in recent months, so have the rates on U.S. home mortgages.
Our entire way of life in the United States depends upon this game continuing. We must have the rest of the world use our currency and loan it back to us at ultra low interest rates. At this point we have painted ourselves into a corner by accumulating so much debt. We simply cannot afford to have rates rise significantly.
For example, if the average rate of interest on U.S. government debt rose to just 6 percent (and it has been much higher than that at various times in the past), we would be paying more than a trillion dollars a year just in interest on the national debt.
But it wouldn't be just the federal government that would suffer. Just consider what higher rates would do to the real estate market.
About a year ago, the rate on 30 year mortgages was sitting at 3.31 percent. The monthly payment on a 30 year, $300,000 mortgage at that rate is $1315.52.
If the 30 year rate rises to 8 percent, the monthly payment on a 30 year, $300,000 mortgage would be $2201.29.
Does 8 percent sound crazy to you?
It shouldn't. 8 percent was considered to be normal back in the year 2000.
Are you starting to get the picture?
We need other countries to use our dollars and buy our debt so that we can have super low interest rates and so that we can afford to buy lots of cheap stuff from them.
Unfortunately, the truly bizarre behavior of the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government over the past several years is causing the rest of the world to lose faith in our currency. In particular, China is leading the call for a "de-Americanized" world. The following is from a recent article posted on the website of France 24...
For decades the US has benefited to the tune of trillions of dollars-worth of free credit from the greenback's role as the default global reserve unit.
But as the global economy trembled before the prospect of a US default last month, only averted when Washington reached a deal to raise its debt ceiling, China's official Xinhua news agency called for a "de-Americanised" world.
It also urged the creation of a "new international reserve currency... to replace the dominant US dollar".
So why should the rest of the planet listen to China?
Well, China now accounts for more global trade than anyone else does, including the United States.
China is also now the number one importer of oil in the world.
At this point, China is even importing more oil from Saudi Arabia than the United States is.
China now has an enormous amount of economic power globally, and the Chinese want the rest of the planet to start using less U.S. dollars and to start using more of their own currency. The following is from a recent article in the Vancouver Sun...
Three years after China allowed the yuan to start trading in Hong Kong’s offshore market, banks and investors around the world are positioning themselves to get involved in what Nomura Holdings Inc. calls the biggest revolution in the $5.3 trillion currency market since the creation of the euro in 1999.
And over the past few years we have seen the global use of the yuan rise dramatically...
International use of the yuan is increasing as the world’s second-largest economy opens up its capital markets. In the first nine months of this year, about 17 percent of China’s global trade was settled in the currency, compared with less than one percent in 2009, according to Deutsche Bank AG.
Of course the U.S. dollar is still king for now, but thanks to a whole host of recent international currency agreements this status is slipping. For example, China just recently signed a major currency agreement with the European Central Bank...
The swap deal will allow more trade and investment between the regions to be conducted in euros and yuan, without having to convert into another currency such as the U.S. dollar first, said Kathleen Brooks, a research director at FOREX.com.
"It's a way of promoting European and Chinese trade, but not doing it with the U.S. dollar," said Brooks. "It's a bit like cutting out the middleman, all of a sudden there's potentially no U.S. dollar risk."
And as I have written about previously, we have seen a bunch of other similar agreements being signed all over the planet in recent years...
1. China and Germany (See Here)
2. China and Russia (See Here)
3. China and Brazil (See Here)
4. China and Australia (See Here)
5. China and Japan (See Here)
6. India and Japan (See Here)
7. Iran and Russia (See Here)
8. China and Chile (See Here)
9. China and the United Arab Emirates (See Here)
10. China, Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa (See Here)
But do you hear about any of this on the mainstream news?
Of course not.
They would rather focus on the latest celebrity scandal.
Right now, the global move away from the U.S. dollar is slow but steady.
At some point, some trigger event will likely cause it to become a stampede.
When that happens, demand for U.S. dollars and U.S. debt will disintegrate and interest rates will absolutely skyrocket.
And if interest rates skyrocket that will throw the entire U.S. financial system into chaos. At the moment, there are about 441 trillion dollars worth of interest rate derivatives sitting out there. It is a financial time bomb unlike anything the world has ever seen before.
There are four "too big to fail" banks in the United States that each have more than 40 trillion dollars worth of total exposure to derivatives. The largest chunk of those derivatives is made up of interest rate derivatives. In case you were wondering , those four banks are JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
A huge upward surge in interest rates would absolutely devastate those banks and cause a financial crisis that would make 2008 look like a Sunday picnic.
Right now, the leader in global trade seems content to use U.S. dollars for most of their international transactions. China also seems content to hold more than a trillion dollars of U.S. government debt.
If that suddenly changes someday, the consequences for the U.S. economy will be absolutely catastrophic and every single American will feel the pain.
The standard of living that all of us are enjoying today depends largely upon China. They can bring down the hammer at any moment and they know it.
Average:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-08/guest-post-how-china-can-cause-death-dollar-and-entire-us-financial-system
Close at HOD again. eom
Closed HOD, a good thing eom.
Anyone here still remember the eyeglasses store days in Ithaca? LOL
Close at HOD good for DOJI watchers eom.
addendum to my $.50 opinion
That would give a market cap of $58 million give or take a few $$. Over the years I have witnessed several larger market caps of small companies that had no sales or revenues coming in. Just an idea or juicy pr sent the stock soaring. Add some positive news on a settlement finalization with a good Q and it could start from there.
..al
For an almost closed day the ask is getting hit pretty nice. If the float stays constant, $.50 is not out of the question. JMHO
...........al
Obamacare Might Not Let You Keep Your Doctor
How many times have we heard, over the last three and a half years, that one of the primary and most popular features of Obamacare is that no one could be denied coverage for a preexisting condition?
Edie Littlefield Sundby
The Affordable Care Act does indeed specify, in Section 1201, that “a health insurance issuer offering group or individual health insurance coverage may not impose any preexisting condition exclusion with respect to such plan or coverage.” In other words, a health plan cannot deny enrollment, or the plan’s benefits, to someone based on that person’s preexisting condition.
However, that is not the same as saying that a plan has to enable a patient to continue the same course of treatment that they started before obtaining coverage in an exchange plan on January 1, 2014.
Key to understanding this distinction is that having “health coverage” is not the same as actually obtaining “health care.” The insurance plan has to take anyone who wants to enroll, regardless of their health status or health history – but they don’t have to provide the same treatments, the same doctors, or the same medications that a patient has been receiving.
For someone in the middle of a cancer treatment, or someone with a chronic condition, this can be extraordinarily distressing, and perhaps dangerous to their health.
Edie Littlefield Sundby writes in the Wall Street Journal that she is on the verge of losing her treatment program for stage-4 gallbladder cancer. Why? Her existing plan doesn’t meet the ACA standards, so it has to be canceled. Her treatment program involves doctors at both the Stanford and UC San Diego medical centers, and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas – but there is no plan in the California exchange that includes both Stanford and UCSD centers in it network, much less M.D. Anderson. In fact, UCSD has joined only one provider network, and it’s a heretofore almost unknown type called an “Exclusive Provider Organization” (EPO). The “exclusive” means that in an EPO, coverage is provided exclusively within the network – there is no out-of-network coverage at, except what uninsured people get at the emergency room.
Despite the President’s repeated promises, there is no way Ms. Sundby can keep all of her current doctors, or her health plan, in the new system. Her preexisting condition doesn’t prevent her from enrolling in any of the new Obamacare exchange plans – but none of those plans actually cover the same treatment she was receiving for her preexisting condition.
Ms. Sundby’s predicament is probably not an isolated case. Abby Goodnough of the New York Times reports that many people are having extreme difficulty finding out whether the plans they are shopping on the exchanges will cover the current doctors or hospitals they go to, or the drugs they take.
The problem will probably turn out to be most severe in New York. New York has set up its own exchange, and all of its plans are EPOs. That means no out-of-network coverage – yet the exchange web site doesn’t provide a list of in-network providers, or a search tool to determine whether particular doctors or hospitals are included. In fact, of the 14 states (plus DC) that run their own exchanges, only four states even claim to have provider search tools. The federal exchange just links to the provider directories of the insurers selling plans on it.
Nancy Pelosi famously said that we had to pass the health care bill to find out what’s in it – now you have to sign up for a health plan before you find out what’s covered.
This is not just a “glitch” – it’s a real problem that will affect actual care for millions of Americans with preexisting conditions. Ms. Sundby has been fighting stage-4 gallbladder cancer for seven years, against horrible odds – the five-year survival rate is 2%. Now, she is fighting to avoid becoming the first Obamacare fatality. She is not likely to get much help from the Obama Administration; as Secretary Sebelius said concerning a different patient, “someone lives and someone dies,” and she seems to regard her job as to remain neutral when the choice is between life and death.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:j-hdt_uk8_IJ:www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/11/05/no-obamacare-might-not-cover-your-preexisting-condition/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
I haven't read the Obama care law. Has it repealed the law that says hospitals must provide care regardless of ability to pay? If not nothing has changed in that department. No insurance? O well.
......al
I think the republicans also realize this. They need to paint her with Bengazi. I think it is Lee in the senate that is now blocking all Obama nominations until the Bengazi survivors are all made available for testimony. Hilary is very popular with the Romney's 47%. Can revelations on her role in Bengazigate keep them away from the voting booth? Or will the free goodies triumph.
.........al
In addition, if you don't want insurance and don't want to pay the penalty, adjust your W4 at work to where you get no tax refund at year end. The IRS can only get the penalty from your refund if you do not voluntarily pay it. That's the way the law is written. With all the arguments between dems and repubs I don't think Obama will be able to get the law changed to give the IRS broader powers to collect it.
..........al
Sad indeed. I think Bart Chilton was the only friend we had on the CFTC. At least he tried.
........al
ksquared- great article, reminds me of many I know and respect. I'll be passing it along .
.......al
The whole fabric of our society is dependent on one thing. It's not money or jobs or commerce. It is cheap energy. Think of what life would be like if Gas were $10/gal and electricity $1/KWH. A very large majority of Americans would have to choose between food or energy each week or month. Worse think of the consequences to the social fabric with no energy at all, or even rationed energy (remember the gas lines of the 70s?). I live on the NY PA border in PA. There are a dozen gas wells within 5 miles of me, all fracked. Most are capped right now and won't open until NG prices go much farther north or the pipeline to NJ is built to export the gas to Europe. Just north of me in NY there are many activists pushing for anti fracking laws. People here in my area are non plussed about the whole affair. In NY it seems it's a battle of large land owners who could be millionaires overnight vs everyone than stands to gain nothing from drilling. I have very little fears for my water well being contaminated as the doomsayers scream loudly. Many articles point to the small town in PA named Dimmock(sp) where some residents can set fire to the water coming from the tap. What they don't say is the gas is methane not NG and that gas was there before any drilling was done. What is not told is there are hundreds of thousands of fracked wells in this country and problems exist in way less than 1% of them.
On batteries probably not related to your post, I read an article last month that the Germans have developed a car battery for electric cars that will go 300 miles on a charge. Be ready for commercial production in 2 years or less.
All just fyi for anyone interested.
........al
I just checked CNN website and surprise, no mention or video of Obama's speech last night.
......al
I think Americans deserve a change in an acronym-
Currently POTUS change to LOTUS
Liar of the United States
and probably the best (or worst) one we've seen in our lifetimes
........al
basserdan- targeting by the IRS for scrutiny? I guess they must be tea party hospitals.
......al
I've been saying that for years. The 9/11 WTC attack accomplished far more than Bin Laden and cronies could have possibly imagined. Setting aside the sad and needless loss of life, look at what the gov't has been doing to Americans' civil liberties guaranteed by the constitution since that day all in the name of fighting terrorism. Patriot Act- what a BS name, as true patriots to America are now classified as quasi terrorists. The NDAA. NSA spying on everyone's personal business. The Bill Of Rights seeming to be targeted almost daily by congress and the president through new laws and orders. DHS and TSA- have they really stopped anything? They must be planning on stopping something with billions of rounds of ammunition and armored war machines. Are we expecting an invasion by a foreign power?
Apologies for the rants, just struck a nerve.
.........al
I just sent JNS a request thru their website. They have no investor relations portion on the site. I thought it might be a good idea. Been accumulating, was very happy to get a lot more in the .011 area.
.......al
We will need a lot more of the good guys before things will change. I'll be 65 this month and have little hope to see it in my lifetime. I truly sympathize with the youth of today.
.......al
Just a heads up-
If you guys are trading this to make a few $$ best of luck to you. If you are looking long term, better do some thorough DD on Mr Miller before doing so. Check out how he screwed investors on IVAY. Does a leopard change his spots? Only time will tell. GL2 all here.
.........al
Ayock-
I have to agree with you totally. As long as money controls the political system, the economy will never recover. Many complain (myself included) about the fraud waste and abuse of the individual welfare system. Yet few realize the corporate welfare system has just as much if not more abuse. Yet the payoffs to politicians both democrat and republican make the abuse perfectly legal. Campaign finance reform is a must, yet the only ones that can change it are the ones that benefit the most from it.
..........al
Have we had an endrun around the 2nd amendment
Posted by National Liberty Federation 310pc on October 30, 2013 · Flag · Add your reaction
(Gulagbound.com) There are numerous alarming reasons why the US government and the military have been buying up all the ammo. Here’s one of them. Obama and the EPA just shut down the last lead smelting plant in the US. They raised the EPA regulations by 10 fold and it would have cost the plant $100 million to comply. You can own all the guns you want, but if you can’t get ammo, you are out of luck.
Remember when Obama promised his minions that he was working on gun control behind the scenes? Welcome to it. Now, all domestic mined lead ore will have to be shipped overseas, refined and then shipped back to the US. Not only will ammo now be even harder to come by, the demand and the process of supply will cause the price to skyrocket even more. And ponder this… there is an excellent chance that Obama will rig the market to where all ammo has to be purchased from a government entity instituting de facto ammo registration. So much for the Second Amendment. There has not been a peep about this in the major news outlets and it is done. With the US no longer producing lead, all supplies will now have to come from China, Australia or Peru, with the overwhelming emphasis on China. More redistribution of wealth; more economic and liberty crippling of the US on tap.
The asshats at the EPA (evil protection agency) had this to say:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the company “made a business decision” to shut down the smelter instead of installing pollution control technologies needed to reduce sulfur dioxide and lead emissions as required by the Clean Air Act.
The Doe Run Co. announced last year that it had dropped plans to build a new lead processing facility in Herculaneum that would have used a new, cleaner lead production technology. The company cited the $100 million project as too financially risky.
The EPA is playing Mafioso I guess — we didn’t make them shut down, they made a business decision. In other words, they couldn’t pay the extortion, so the thugs shut them down. I’m pretty sure that Americans are getting ready to make their own business decision regarding the Marxists and I don’t think it will be pleasant. But Marxists will do or die and are doubling down on the destruction of energy in America, our way of life and the Constitution.
The smelting plant has known since 2010 this was coming. They couldn’t stop it and no one else rose up to stop it either. The business had been in production for 120 years and now goes the way of our auto industry.
The military’s obsession with ammo was related to security and supply. They knew this was coming too, so they bought up all they could get before the plug was pulled. Screw the average American. It’s as Chris Muir said, he’s not as worried about where the bullets will come from, as much as how the government will deliver them and I’m right there with him on that one.
So, back door gun control is moving forward and while we are all distracted with shiny stuff, our Second Amendment rights are just about gone. Obama is one Marxist dictator who is savvy at political chess. He has flanked the Second Amendment. Now it’s our move.
http://www.libertyfederation.com/have_we_had_an_endrun_around_the_2nd_amendment
Police conduct armed raid on home of U.S. journalist and seize documents revealing her sources
Friday, November 01, 2013 by: J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) It's getting so that it is downright hazardous to be a journalist in America these days. Or is it "Amerika"?
In a country where there is a specific provision of our founding document that acknowledges and guarantees freedom of the press, our federal law enforcement agencies are beginning to act more like the Gestapo of Hitler's Nazi Germany than protectors and defenders of the Constitution.
The most recent example of jack-booted treatment of a journalist was reported by The Daily Caller:
A veteran Washington D.C. investigative journalist says the Department of Homeland Security confiscated a stack of her confidential files during a raid of her home in August - leading her to fear that a number of her sources inside the federal government have now been exposed.
In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter.
Agents stole - yes, stole - her reporter's notes
A search warrant that was obtained by the news website indicated that the raid in August permitted law enforcement personnel to search for guns inside Hudson's home.
The document says that her husband, Paul Flanagan, was convicted in 1986 of resisting arrest in Prince George's County, a region of Maryland that borders the District of Columbia. The search warrant permitted cops to search the couple's residence and seize all weapons and ammunition, because of his prior conviction, under the law, Flanagan is prohibited from exercising his Second Amendment rights.
The DC reported, "But without Hudson's knowledge, the agents also confiscated a batch of documents that contained information about sources inside the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, she said."
Understandably angry about the seizure, Hudson is now speaking out about it. She has said that no subpoena for her reporter's notes was presented to her during the predawn raid. And as such, she says the confiscation was well outside the scope of the search warrant.
"They took my notes without my knowledge and without legal authority to do so," Hudson said. "The search warrant they presented said nothing about walking out of here with a single sheet of paper."
She provided The DC with a picture showing the stack of file folders in a bag marked "evidence/property."
Recently, a spokesman for the Maryland State Police would not provide any specifics about the search.
"Due to the ongoing criminal investigation and the potential for pending criminal charges at the state and/or federal level, the Maryland State Police will not discuss specific information about this investigation at this time," spokesman Greg Shipley said in a statement.
Protect us, please, from the potato gun
So - not only do cops and the Feds get to steal a reporter's notes, they don't feel they have to answer for it, either.
Here's more of what happened, as reported by The DC:
At about 4:30 a.m. on Aug. 6, Hudson said officers dressed in full body armor presented a search warrant to enter the home she shares on the bay with her husband. She estimates that at least seven officers took part in the raid.
After the search began, Hudson said she was asked by an investigator with the Coast Guard Investigative Service if she was the same Audrey Hudson who had written a series of critical stories about air marshals for The Washington Times over the last decade. The Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security.
Sounds an awful lot like political retribution now, doesn't it?
As for the part in the search warrant about the guns, Fox News and The DC reported that agents were looking for a "potato gun."
This would be comical if it weren't so serious.
http://www.naturalnews.com/042739_police_raid_journalist_illegal_seizure.html#ixzz2jWBKtykU
NJ College Students Lose Low Cost Coverage Thanks To ObamaCare Regs
y Dan Riehl 1 Nov 2013
Along with documenting the many technical failures of Obama's so called signature website Healthcare.gov, this CBS New York item reports the Obama sticker shock many Garden State college students now face thanks to the increasingly misleadingly named Affordable Care Act.
New Jersey built up a relatively extensive network of junior colleges in the 1970's and 80's. Now, ObamaCare is forcing them to drop cost effective insurance programs they had previously provided to students.
Many students have found themselves in health care limbo this semester. Community colleges in New Jersey used to offer cheap health insurance for hundreds of dollars a year but they had to drop the practice because Federal Law prohibits the sale of bare bones policies.
Under the Affordable Care Act it would have cost more to run the program and the cost would have been passed on to students.
Chalk this up as one more of a growing number of reports demonstrating that Barack Obama's now infamous promise of being able to keep your health insurance if you liked it was a flat-out lie.
It was a health care shocker for college students in New Jersey who found out that they can’t buy low-cost health insurance at their schools because of the Affordable Care Act.
http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/11/01/NJ-College-Students-Lose-Low-Cost-Coverage-Thanks-To-ObamaCare-Regs
Monsanto, McDs, Coke and Friends Mis-Educate Registered Dieticians About the “Benefits” of Processed Food - See more at: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/monsanto-mcds-coke-and-friends-mis-educate-registered-dieticians-about-the-benefits-of-processed-food-11012013#sthash.yZyhnkjc.dpuf
Posted by: Daisy Luther | on November 1, 2013
In the most mind-boggling conflict of interest you may have seen in quite a while, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) has put out a “fact” sheet on the “benefits” of processed foods for the members of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
First, here’s a little background on the cast of characters in this little propaganda drama.
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) is “the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals” and is made up of registered dieticians and dietetic technicians. Their mission states, “The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a multidimensional organization that strives to improve the nation’s health and advance the profession of dietetics through research, education, and advocacy.” The group claims to be “ the public’s and news media’s best source for the most accurate, credible and timely food and nutrition information” and they are committed to the ongoing education of their members and the general public.
The International Food Information Council
The IFIC is “your nutrition and food safety resource”, allegedly committed to helping out both consumers and professionals. According to their website, ”The International Food Information Council Foundation provides food safety, nutrition, and healthful eating information to help you make good and safe food choices.”
The IFIC sounds absolutely awesome until you learn who their sponsors are: ”IFIC receives funding from the usual suspects — including, but not limited to, Cargill, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, General Mills, Mars, McDonald’s, Monsanto, PepsiCo, Red Bull, and Yum! Brands (this last being the parent company of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, and WingStreet).”
The Dietitians for Professional Integrity
Finally, we have our heroes, a group of rebel dietetic professionals. Dietitians for Professional Integrity stand for everything that is right about the field of nutrition and dietetics. They promote real food for real health. Their mission:
We are a group of concerned dietetics professionals advocating for greater financial transparency, as well as ethical, socially responsible, and relevant corporate sponsorships within the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
This website was created to let you know more about who we are and why we do not think Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kellogg’s, and other Big Food giants should sponsor the country’s largest nutrition organization.
Our efforts are guided by professional integrity. We believe the American public deserves nutrition information that is not tainted by food industry interests. Those of us who co-founded Dietitians for Professional Integrity are nutrition experts first and foremost; we went to school to help people achieve better health through food, not to help multinational food companies sell more unhealthy products. (source)
Hey – The “Experts” Say that Processed Food is Not That Bad!!!!
The IFIC has put together a propaganda handout “fact” sheet, “What Is A Processed Food? You Might Be Surprised!” for the benefit of the members of the AND. (Read it and weep RIGHT HERE.)
The professional watchdog group, Dietitians for Professional Integrity, points out the blatant dishonesty of the flyer.
[The "fact" sheet] … perfectly demonstrates how food industry front groups spin science in an attempt to assuage public concerns about their clients’ products.
Titled “What Is A Processed Food? You Might Be Surprised!”, this ‘fact sheet’ mentions that breakfast cereals, like frozen vegetables and roasted nuts, are processed. They conveniently fail to mention that, unlike most breakfast cereals, the freezing of vegetables and roasting of nuts does not obliterate nutrients. Nor do frozen vegetables and roasted nuts contribute artificial dyes, artificial flavors, chemical additives, or partially hydrogenated oils to people’s diets.
IFIC also relies on a familiar food industry tactic — absurdly tying modern-day processing techniques to traditional ones. “Food processing began about 2 million years ago, when our ancestors put flame to food”. Of course, heating food has nothing in common with partially hydrogenating oils, making aspartame, or turning corn into high fructose corn syrup. The food industry is aware that people are increasingly concerned with hyper-processed products, and trying to link the term “processed food” to chopping a carrot or cooking a piece of fish is one way of perpetuating deception. (source)
The flyer is also quick to laud the many wonders of corn (one of the major sources of toxic GMOs in the North American food supply) and to patronizingly try to convince us that we completely misunderstand the noble purposes of the food industry. They are trying to actually serve up food that is fresher by processing it until it is chemically unrecognizable as food.
Back in January, the AND received harsh criticism from another industry watchdog, Eat Drink Politics, because of corporate conflicts of interest.
Public health attorney and author Michele Simon asks: Are America’s nutrition professionals in the pocket of Big Food? While the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ 74,000-member trade group partners with the likes of Coke and Hershey’s, the nation’s health continues to suffer from poor diet.
The largest trade group of nutrition professionals—the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics—has a serious credibility problem. In a damning report released today, industry watchdog Eat Drink Politics examines the various forms of corporate sponsorship by Big Food that are undermining the integrity of those professionals most responsible for educating Americans about healthy eating.
The report details, for example, how registered dietitians can earn continuing education units from Coca-Cola, in which they learn that sugar is not a problem for children and how Nestlé, the world’s largest food company can pay $50,000 to host a two-hour “nutrition symposium” at the Academy’s annual meeting. (source)
This is a clearcut case of the foxes telling the chickens how to best build their henhouses. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics can maintain no credibility whatsoever when they are being “educated” by Big Food, who is not at all interested in consumer health, but only in health of their bottom line. AND likely started out as a positive organization dedicated to good health, but they were sidetracked along the way by all of the money that Big Food threw in their path.
If you wonder why the public is so confused about what constitutes good nutrition you need look no further than the propaganda being spouted by these so-called “experts” and beacons of ”continuing education.” There is a real problem when the people sponsoring the nutrition lessons are the very purveyors of GMO crops, potato chips, soda pop, and fast food.
Many people are out there trying valiantly to make the best possible choices for their families on limited budgets, but they must combat the constant disinformation on product labels that herald phrases “all-natural”, “heart-healthy”, and “low-fat”. These folks are being deliberately deceived by food manufacturers, but even worse, by professional societies like the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, all so the rich can get richer while the poor get sicker.
- See more at: http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/monsanto-mcds-coke-and-friends-mis-educate-registered-dieticians-about-the-benefits-of-processed-food-11012013#sthash.y93EKmMV.dpuf
The Entire Fiat Money System is Bankrupt: Demise of the Global US Fiat Dollar Reserve Currency
By Matthias Chang
Global Research, November 01, 2013
It’s been a while since I last wrote an article on the on-going financial crisis. I don’t write for the sake of writing, as others do because they have to do so, on account of their subscribers who pay hefty subscription fees and demand their money’s worth.
Major issues or trends do not change on a daily or even monthly basis. A trend may take a few years to run its course and unless there is a major factor that may affect the trend, there is hardly any need to comment any further on the trend or outcomes.
The events unraveling post Bernanke’s decision not to taper QE is most significant because it confirms our analysis that the banking crisis has not been resolved in any significant way after five years of money printing and massive asset inflation. The fiat money system has but one outcome – total collapse. It will also mean the demise of the global US dollar reserve currency.
There are no solutions at hand.
Bernanke is totally discredited and his continued tenure as Chair of the FED would only accelerate the realisation that the FED and all central banks have failed. Hence, the need to change the “leadership” at the FED, but the same policies would be followed with some cosmetic changes to hoodwink the ignorant masses. It is analogous to the transition from the second Bush presidency to that of Obama and all the theatrics of “change” propaganda. In fact, Obama is Bush 2 on steroids! Yellen will be Bernanke on steroids. Why are we so certain of this outcome at Future Fast-Forward?
Our reasons are as follows:
Prior to the Global Financial Tsunami of 2008, I had written several articles exposing the global Too Big To Fail (TBTF) banks as financial rapists and predators and they would cause untold havoc to the financial system.
Post the crisis, I had also warned that these global TBTF banks are all insolvent and the toxic assets on their balance sheets would exceed US$20 trillion at the minimum. The entire fiat money system is bankrupt. Printing toilet paper money by the trillions does not make the system solvent. It is a clear admission that the system is totally broken.
The banking Humpty-Dumpty has fallen from the wall and shattered into a thousand pieces! The confirmation for this is the fact that all central banks led by the FED have only one aim – to create massive asset inflation. How can a stock market of a bankrupt nation be at an all-time high?
The FED and central banks the world over are not interested in resolving the unemployment problem because record unemployment would not collapse the fiat money system. It may trigger massive social unrest but that can be put down by a militarised police force, supported by a battle-hardened military as is happening in the US.
In the circumstances, we need to ask the US$ Trillion question – Why are all the central banks focusing on asset inflation via creation of money out of thin air?
The answer: THE FIAT MONEY SYSTEM IS THE ECONOMY, STUPID!
It used to be that the Petro-dollar was the linchpin of the global economy. However, when the derivatives market took off and became a US$800 Trillion global casino, the US$ toilet paper became the currency in global financial trading and speculation.
All the TBTF banks were leveraged to their eyeballs and the collaterals were hypothecated and re-hypothecated so many times over, it became an inverted pyramid joke.
The collaterals were bundled up into CDOs etc. rated AAA by corrupt rating agencies and traded. We need not repeat this old story. The point we are making here is that not only are the collaterals junks but they are supporting a mountain of debts in the trillions. Therefore, when collaterals are impaired the TBTF banks are in a hole from which they cannot get out. The FED and other central banks have no choice but to bail out the TBTF banks if a systemic failure is to be avoided. If all the junk collaterals were to be off-loaded at once in the full glare of public scrutiny, there would be a run on all the banks. So, what was required was a stealth rescue effort. The TBTF banks were allowed to unload the junk collaterals bit by bit by the various schemes of the FED culminating in the US$85 billion a month purchases of treasury bonds and mortgages by the FED.
Additionally, newly “minted” collaterals were used to replace the junks so as to clean up the balance sheets of the TBTF banks. I have stated earlier that the minimum amount of toxic assets needed to be mopped up is US$20 trillion. After five years, the FED has just scratched the surface. It is debatable how many US$ Trillions the FED has actually pumped into the system directly and indirectly. How much and how long more can the FED continue to pump US$ toilet paper into the system without creating a massive loss of confidence in the dollar? When the balance sheet of the FED reaches US$7 Trillion or maybe US$10 Trillion? It is anybody’s guess.
For sure, there will be a point when another US$100 Billion is created on top of the stash of US$ toilet papers which will tip the scale and collapse the entire system. It is a catch-22 for the FED. If it stops creating fiat money out of thin air, the fiat money system would collapse immediately. If it continues with more money creation, it merely postpones the inevitable and more devastating end-game. This is the price we all have to pay for allowing the fiat money system to hold sway for so long.
The world was conned into accepting the biggest Ponzi scheme in the history of banking and finance – the US$ Global Reserve Currency Ponzi Scheme.
This scheme was created on a sand castle of debt, specifically US Treasury Bonds. The world does not need a Global Reserve Currency. Global trade can be conducted in any currency in accordance to the needs and resources of a country.
Why should there be a special privilege given to only one country to have its currency as the sole reserve currency for purposes of trade? It makes no sense as it is the result of US imperialist policies under the pretext of the Cold War. The con was based on the propaganda that the US$ should be the preferred currency and the US Treasury Bond is the “safest asset” to have in the event of an outbreak of war between the Western Imperialist camp and the Soviet bloc. We were told this arrangement was necessary if we are to enjoy the protection of the mighty US superpower!
Yet, when the Soviet bloc collapsed no one questioned the need to perpetuate the system.
Another spin was propagated. The US was the linchpin in the new era of globalisation as the US market was the biggest consumer / export market. Everyone was caught in this web of deceit. The US market was a market built on a mountain of debt. Adding insult to injury, the US consumers paid for the goods produced by millions breaking their backs with US$ toilet paper money!
Some so-called currency experts have asserted that no other currency can replace the US$ toilet paper as the global reserve currency because no other country has a bond market like the US bond market, dominated by the US treasury bonds. What an idiotic statement!
If a country is not in debt, there is no need for any bonds to be issued. A bond is an I.O.U. A bond is a mere paper pledge to repay a debt.
And anyone who says and continues to perpetuate the myth that a US debt is a better debt and is more secure is ignorant and misinformed!
Why would anyone want to work and produce goods which are sold and paid in US$ toilet paper and then use the surplus US$ toilet paper to lend to the US government who repays the debt by merely printing more US$ toilet paper?
So, do you still think the world needs a US$ toilet paper money as a reserve currency?
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-entire-fiat-money-system-is-bankrupt-demise-of-the-global-us-fiat-dollar-reserve-currency/5356491
Top Obama Donor Gets Paid To Fix Obamacare Website After Blowing It Up
The ironically-named Quality Software Services Inc (QSSI) allegedly responsible for the SNAFU that is the Obamacare website's data hub has, incredibly, been named the new general contractor in charge off repairing the glitch-plagued HealthCare.gov. As The NY Post reports, as if the $150 million so far paid to this UnitedHealth subsidiary for its farcically bad implementation was not enough, the executive vice president of the firm (Anthony Welters) and his wife were among Obama's largest personal campaign contributors during the 2008 election cycle (and the firm has spent millions "lobbying" for Obamacare). The cronyism runs deep as the Post also points out that visitor logs show at least a dozen visits between the two by the end of 2012, the most recent information available.
ia NY Post,
A tech firm linked to a campaign-donor crony of President Obama not only got the job to help build the federal health-insurance Web site — but also is getting paid to fix it.
Anthony Welters, a top campaign bundler for Obama and frequent White House guest, is the executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, which owns the software company now at the center of the ObamaCare Web-site fiasco.
UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Quality Software Services Inc. (QSSI), which built the data hub for the ObamaCare system, has been named the new general contractor in charge of repairing the glitch-plagued HealthCare.gov.
Welters and his wife, Beatrice, have shoveled piles of cash into Obama’s campaign coffers and apparently reaped the rewards.
...
The couple have been frequent guests at the White House.
Visitors logs show at least a dozen visits between the two by the end of 2012, the most recent information available.
The entire Welters family has gotten into the donation game.
The Welters, along with their sons, Andrew and Bryant, have contributed more than $258,000 to mostly Democratic candidates and committees since 2007.
What’s more, UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest health-insurance companies in the country and spent millions lobbying for ObamaCare.
...
The insurance giant’s purchase of QSSI in 2012 raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill, but the tech firm nevertheless kept the job of building the data hub for the ObamaCare Web site where consumers buy the new mandatory health-insurance plans.
QSSI has been paid an estimated $150 million so far, but officials couldn’t say how much more the company might collect on the repair contract.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-02/top-obama-donor-gets-paid-fix-obamacare-website-after-blowing-it
China's Gold Hoarding Continues: Over 2,200 Tons Imported In Two Years
Paper gold in the developed world may trade based on the whims of marginal momentum chasers, and of course, the daytrading mood of the BIS gold and FX trading desk, but when it comes to physical gold and China's appetite for it, one word explains it best: unstoppable.
After rising to a gross 131 tons imported from Hong Kong alone in August, which was the second highest ever monthly import tally, September saw a modest decline to "only" 116 tons: "only" because it is still 67% more than the amount imported a year earlier.
The total gross imports since September 2011 is now a whopping 2232 tons. Why September? Because that is when we posted: "Wikileaks Discloses The Reason(s) Behind China's Shadow Gold Buying Spree." The chart below confirms precisely said reason.
The gross imports year to date are now over 1,113 tons, 91.3% more than the amount of gold imported through September of 2012.
Netting out exports to Hong Kong, September was virtually unchanged from August, at 109 metric tons vs 110 a month earlier. In other words, September was tied for the third highest net import month in Chinese history.
And yes, we realize that to western thinking buying more when the price is dropping in explicable: ironically even the vast majority of gold bugs are merely interested in a momentum conversion in and out of fiat, thus treating gold as an investable, fiat-denominated asset and not as a currency. China, on the other hand, continues to show that when one's only intention is to purchase as much gold as possible to preserve wealth and purchasing power and/or unleash the gold standard back on the world (either alone or jointly with Russia and/or Germany), dropping or plunging gold prices are merely the icing on the cake.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-02/chinas-gold-hoarding-continues-over-2200-tons-imported-two-years
Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers keep dropping
my add- As Obamacare keeps crumbling waking Americans to the boondoggle it is, the republicans must keep Bengazi and her role in it in the spotlight up to the 2016 election if they expect to beat her for the presidency. Deny it if you will but Romney was right on with his 47% remark. Tie her to Obamacare and Bengazi Notice too she has been silent on Obamacare, which I firmly believe she is doing her best to distance herself from it. Anyway the article follows-
By Aaron Blake
October 31 at 1:56 pm
As Hillary Clinton looks toward a potential 2016 presidential campaign, her personal image is eroding.
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows the number of people who have a positive view of Clinton has dropped from a high of 58 percent in December to 46 percent today.
The 22 percent who have a "very positive" view of Clinton is lower than any time since the 2008 presidential campaign, and the 21 percent who have a "very negative" view of her is higher than at any point since then.
Clinton is still viewed more favorably than unfavorably. Just 31 percent have a negative view of her.
The poll is not the first to show Clinton's image falling after stepping down as secretary of state. While in that job, polls showed as many as two-thirds of Americans approved of the once-polarizing first lady and former New York senator -- well more than at any point in her time in public life.
The NBC/WSJ poll also showed President Obama's approval rating hitting a new low of 42 percent.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/10/31/hillary-clintons-poll-numbers-keep-dropping/?wpsrc=AG0002957
Don’t Worry – The Government Says That The Inflation You See Is Just Your Imagination
Redd Fox Hypnotized
If you believe that there is high inflation in the United States, you are just imagining things. That is the message that the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve would have us to believe. You might have noticed that the government announced on Wednesday that the cost of living increase for Social Security beneficiaries will only be 1.5 percent next year. This is one of the smallest cost of living increases that we have ever seen. The federal government is able to get away with this because the official numbers say that there is hardly any inflation in the U.S. right now. Of course anyone that shops for groceries or that pays bills regularly knows what a load of nonsense the official inflation rate is. The U.S. government has changed the way that inflation is calculated numerous times since 1978, and each time it has been changed the goal has been to make inflation appear to be even lower. According to John Williams of shadowstats.com, if the inflation rate was still calculated the same way that it was back when Jimmy Carter was president, the official rate of inflation would be somewhere between 8 and 10 percent today. But if the mainstream news actually reported such a number, everyone would be screaming and yelling about getting inflation under control. Instead, the super low number that gets put out to the public makes it look like the Federal Reserve has plenty of room to do even more reckless money printing. It is a giant scam, but most Americans are falling for it.
Meanwhile, the prices of the things that most Americans buy on a regular basis just keep going up. The following are just a few examples of price inflation that we have seen lately…
-McDonald’s has killed the dollar menu because it is becoming impossible to “make any money selling burgers for $1“.
But don’t worry – the government says that the inflation you see is just your imagination.
-Amazon.com has raised the minimum order size required for free shipping from $25 to $35.
But don’t worry – you can afford to order more stuff thanks to the great new job that you got during this “economic recovery”.
-It is being projected that those using natural gas to heat their homes will see their heating costs rise by 13 percent this winter.
But don’t worry – “global warming” should kick in to high gear any day now.
-The price of chocolate has gone up by 45 percent since 2007, and it is being projected that it will now be increasing at an even faster pace.
But don’t worry – eating chocolate is bad for you anyway.
-Thanks to Obamacare, the health insurance premiums of many American families are absolutely skyrocketing. As I wrote about the other day, one family down in Texas just got a letter informing them that their health insurance premiums are going up by 539 percent.
But don’t worry – this is just “health care reform” in action.
Meanwhile, things just continue to get tougher for middle class American families. Household incomes have actually been declining for five years in a row and total consumer credit has risen by a whopping 22 percentover the past three years.
The quality of our jobs continues to go down and our paychecks are not keeping up with inflation. In fact, 40 percent of all U.S. workers are now making less than what a full-time minimum wage worker made back in 1968 after you account for inflation.
So what do the “authorities” say that the solution to our problems is?
They want even more inflation of course. According to CNBC, many Federal Reserve officials (including Janet Yellen) believe that what the U.S. economy really needs is a lot more inflation…
Inflation is widely reviled as a kind of tax on modern life, but as Federal Reserve policy makers prepare to meet this week, there is growing concern inside and outside the Fed that inflation is not rising fast enough.
Some economists say more inflation is just what the American economy needs to escape from a half-decade of sluggish growth and high unemployment.
The Fed has worked for decades to suppress inflation, but economists, including Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Fed starting next year, have long argued that a little inflation is particularly valuable when the economy is weak. Rising prices help companies increase profits; rising wages help borrowers repay debts. Inflation also encourages people and businesses to borrow money and spend it more quickly.
The rest of that article goes on and on about how wonderful inflation is for an economy and about how the U.S. economy desperately needs some more of it.
Well, if that was actually true, then the Weimar Republic should have had one of the best economies in the history of mankind.
But this inevitably happens when a nation starts producing fiat currency that is backed by absolutely nothing. There is always a temptation to just print a little bit more.
In the end, we are going to be destroyed by our own foolishness. We have the de facto reserve currency of the planet, and the rest of the world has trusted it for decades. But now we are systematically destroying our currency, and the rest of the globe is looking on in horror.
If you want to see a very good example of the impact that inflation has had on our economy in recent years, just check out this amazing chartwhich shows what the Federal Reserve’s reckless policies have done to the prices of commodities.
Ultimately, the U.S. dollar will be destroyed, and we will have done it to ourselves.
Many people are attempting to protect themselves against this inevitability by putting a lot of their money into hard assets such as gold and silver, but before you do that you might want to make sure that you don’t have a vengeful spouse that will toss it all into a dumpster someday. The following is from a recent New York Post article…
A Colorado man was so angry at his ex-wife for divorcing him that he had the couple’s life savings of $500,000 converted to gold — then tossed it in a dumpster so she couldn’t have any of it, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
In June, Earl Ray Jones, 52, of Divide, Colorado, was ordered by a judge to pay $3,000 a month to the woman he’d been married to for 25 years, so he pillaged the couple’s retirement account and had it converted into 22 pounds worth of gold and silver bars, the paper reports.
Jones claims he then tossed the modern-day treasure into a dumpster behind a motel, where he had been living temporarily, later telling the judge he had no money to give his ex-wife, according to the paper.
Did that story make you smile? It sure did the trick for me.
But that story is also a picture of what the Federal Reserve is doing with our dollar.
Our currency has been used for decades by almost everyone else around the planet. In fact, more U.S. dollars are used outside of our country than inside of it.
But now the Federal Reserve is systematically trashing the dollar and the rest of the globe is starting to lose faith in it.
Instead of realizing their mistakes, Fed officials say that we need to create even more inflation and they just keep on wildly printing more money.
In the end, we will all pay a great price for their foolishness.
http://www.fedupusa.org/2013/10/dont-worry-the-government-says-that-the-inflation-you-see-is-just-your-imagination/
re: Obamacare tax penalty-
Last week I read a very long pdf written by a tax attorney on the IRS and the collection of the penalties for not signing up for Obamacare. Apologies I can't link it as I didn't bookmark it and can't find it again. If I do I will post it here. Anyway according to this very long read, which gave much insight into IRS collection policies, according to the way the law (Obamacare) is written, the only way the IRS can collect the penalty if you don't voluntarily submit it is to grab it from your income tax refund if you have one coming. They can send you letters of demand all year long but cannot freeze your bank accounts and take it, nor can they attach your paycheck or attach any property you may own. Bottom line is if you don't sign up for Obamacare and don't want to pay the penalty you need to adjust your W4 form with your employer so that at income tax filing time you are at break even or owe a minimal amount. Any refund you would have coming will be confiscated by the IRS to pay your penalty. Seek tax advice from a tax accountant if possible.
...........al
b2b, nice historical background, not many remember those days of outrageous price spikes in gas along with hours spent in the lines at the pump. Add in the cozy relationship between Henry Kissinger, the Shah of Iran at the time, Nixon, and the US military industrial complex. Complete that part of the story to see how we, meaning the good ole USA, financed modern terror cells. The "domino theory" so feared in SE Asia worked well in the middle east.
..........al
The Growing Rift With Saudi Arabia Threatens To Severely Damage The Petrodollar
The number one American export is U.S. dollars. It is paper currency that is backed up by absolutely nothing, but the rest of the world has been using it to trade with one another and so there is tremendous global demand for our dollars. The linchpin of this system is the petrodollar. For decades, if you have wanted to buy oil virtually anywhere in the world you have had to do so with U.S. dollars. But if one of the biggest oil exporters on the planet, such as Saudi Arabia, decided to start accepting other currencies as payment for oil, the petrodollar monopoly would disintegrate very rapidly. For years, everyone assumed that nothing like that would happen any time soon, but now Saudi officials are warning of a "major shift" in relations with the United States. In fact, the Saudis are so upset at the Obama administration that "all options" are reportedly "on the table". If it gets to the point where the Saudis decide to make a major move away from the petrodollar monopoly, it will be absolutely catastrophic for the U.S. economy.
The biggest reason why having good relations with Saudi Arabia is so important to the United States is because the petrodollar monopoly will not work without them. For decades, Washington D.C. has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the Saudis happy. But now the Saudis are becoming increasingly frustrated that the U.S. military is not being used to fight their wars for them. The following is from a recent Daily Mail report...
Upset at President Barack Obama's policies on Iran and Syria, members of Saudi Arabia's ruling family are threatening a rift with the United States that could take the alliance between Washington and the kingdom to its lowest point in years.
Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief is vowing that the kingdom will make a 'major shift' in relations with the United States to protest perceived American inaction over Syria's civil war as well as recent U.S. overtures to Iran, a source close to Saudi policy said on Tuesday.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan told European diplomats that the United States had failed to act effectively against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was growing closer to Tehran, and had failed to back Saudi support for Bahrain when it crushed an anti-government revolt in 2011, the source said.
Saudi Arabia desperately wants the U.S. military to intervene in the Syrian civil war on the side of the "rebels". This has not happened yet, and the Saudis are very upset about that.
Of course the Saudis could always go and fight their own war, but that is not the way that the Saudis do things.
So since the Saudis are not getting their way, they are threatening to punish the U.S. for their inaction. According to Reuters, the Saudis are saying that "all options are on the table now"...
Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, ploughs much of its earnings back into U.S. assets. Most of the Saudi central bank's net foreign assets of $690 billion are thought to be denominated in dollars, much of them in U.S. Treasury bonds.
"All options are on the table now, and for sure there will be some impact," the Saudi source said.
Sadly, most Americans have absolutely no idea how important all of this is. If the Saudis break the petrodollar monopoly, it would severely damage the U.S. economy. For those that do not fully understand the importance of the petrodollar, the following is a good summary of how the petrodollar works from an article by Christopher Doran...
In a nutshell, any country that wants to purchase oil from an oil producing country has to do so in U.S. dollars. This is a long standing agreement within all oil exporting nations, aka OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The UK for example, cannot simply buy oil from Saudi Arabia by exchanging British pounds. Instead, the UK must exchange its pounds for U.S. dollars. The major exception at present is, of course, Iran.
This means that every country in the world that imports oil—which is the vast majority of the world's nations—has to have immense quantities of dollars in reserve. These dollars of course are not hidden under the proverbial national mattress. They are invested. And because they are U.S. dollars, they are invested in U.S. Treasury bills and other interest bearing securities that can be easily converted to purchase dollar-priced commodities like oil. This is what has allowed the U.S. to run up trillions of dollars of debt: the rest of the world simply buys up that debt in the form of U.S. interest bearing securities.
This arrangement works out very well for the United States because we can wildly print money and run up gigantic amounts of debt and the rest of the world gobbles it all up.
In 2012, the United States ran a trade deficit of about $540,000,000,000 with the rest of the planet. In other words, about half a trillion more dollars left the country than came into the country. These dollars represent the number one "product" that the U.S. exports. We make dollars and exchange them for the things that we need. Major exporting countries (such as Saudi Arabia) take many of those dollars and "invest" them in our debt at ultra-low interest rates. It is this system that makes our massively inflated standard of living possible.
When this system ends, the era of cheap imports and super low interest rates will be over and the "adjustment" to our standard of living will be excruciatingly painful.
And without a doubt, the day is rapidly approaching when the petrodollar monopoly will end.
Today, Russia is the number one exporter of oil in the world.
China is now the number one importer of oil in the world, and at this point they are actually importing more oil from Saudi Arabia than the United States is.
So why should Russia, China and virtually everyone else continue to be forced to use U.S. dollars to trade oil?
That is a very good question.
In fact, China has been making a whole lot of noise recently about the fact that it is time to start becoming less dependent on the U.S. dollar. The following comes from a recent CNBC article authored by Michael Pento...
Our addictions to debt and cheap money have finally caused our major international creditors to call for an end to dollar hegemony and to push for a "de-Americanized" world.
China, the largest U.S. creditor with $1.28 trillion in Treasury bonds, recently put out a commentary through the state-run Xinhua news agency stating that, "Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated."
For much more on all of this, please see my previous article entitled "9 Signs That China Is Making A Move Against The U.S. Dollar".
But you very rarely hear anything about this on the evening news, and most Americans do not understand these things at all. The fact that the U.S. produces the de facto reserve currency of the planet is an absolutely massive advantage for us. According to John Mauldin, this advantage allows us to consume far more wealth than we actually produce...
What that means in practical terms is that the United States can purchase more with its currency than it produces and sells. In theory those accounts should balance. But the world's reserve currency, for all intent and purposes, becomes a product. The world needs dollars in order to conduct its trade. Today, if someone in Peru wants to buy something from Thailand, they first convert their local currency into US dollars and then purchase the product with those dollars. Those dollars eventually wind up at the Central Bank of Thailand, which includes them in its reserve balance. When someone in Thailand wants to purchase an imported product, their bank accesses those dollars, which may go anywhere in the world that will take the US dollar, which is to say pretty much anywhere.
And as Mauldin went on to explain in that same article, a significant amount of the money that we ship out to the rest of the globe ends up getting reinvested in U.S. government debt...
That privilege allows US citizens to purchase goods and services at prices somewhat lower than those people in the rest of the world must pay. We can produce electronic fiat dollars, and the rest of the world accepts them because they need them to in order to trade with each other. And they do so because they trust the dollar more than they do any other currency that is readily available. You can take those dollars and come to the United States and purchase all manner of goods, including real estate and stocks. Just this week a Chinese company spent $600 million to buy a building in New York City. Such transactions happen all the time.
And there is one other item those dollars are used to pay for: US Treasury bonds. We buy oil and all manner of goods with our electronic dollars, and those dollars typically end up on the reserve balance sheets of other central banks, which buy our government bonds. It's hard to quantify the exact amount, but these transactions significantly lower the cost of borrowing for the US government. On a $16 trillion debt, every basis point (1/10 of 1%) means a saving of $16 billion annually. So 5 basis points would be $80 billion a year. There are credible estimates that the savings are well in excess of $100 billion a year. Thus, as the debt grows, the savings also grow! That also means the total debt compounds at a lower rate.
Unfortunately, this system only works if the rest of the planet has faith in it, and right now the United States is systematically destroying the faith that the rest of the world has in our financial system.
One way that this is being done is by our reckless accumulation of debt. The U.S. national debt is now 37 times larger than it was 40 years ago, and we are on pace to accumulate more new debt under the 8 years of the Obama administration than we did under all of the other presidents in U.S. history combined. The rest of the world is watching this and they are beginning to wonder if we are going to be able to pay them back the money that we owe them.
Quantitative easing is another factor that is severely damaging worldwide faith in the U.S. financial system. The rest of the globe is watching as the Federal Reserve wildly prints up money and monetizes our debt. They are beginning to wonder why they should continue to loan us gobs of money at super low interest rates when we are beginning to resemble the Weimar Republic.
The long-term damage that we are doing to the "U.S. brand" far, far outweighs any short-term benefits of quantitative easing.
And as Richard Koo has brilliantly demonstrated, quantitative easing is going to cause long-term interest rates to eventually rise much higher than they normally should have.
What all of this means is that the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve are systematically destroying the financial system that has enabled us to enjoy such a high standard of living for the past several decades.
Yes, the U.S. economy is not doing well at the moment, but we haven't seen anything yet. When the monopoly of the petrodollar is broken, it is going to be absolutely devastating.
And as I wrote about the other day, when the next great economic crisis strikes it is going to pull back the curtain and reveal the rot and decay that have been eating away at the social fabric of America for a very long time.
Just check out what happened in Detroit recently. The new police chief was almost carjacked while he was sitting in a clearly marked police vehicle...
Just four months on the job, Detroit’s new police chief got an early taste of the city’s hardscrabble streets.
While in his patrol car at an intersection on Jefferson two weeks ago, Police Chief James Craig was nearly carjacked, police spokeswoman Kelly Miner confirmed today.
Craig said he was in a marked police car with mounted lights when a man quickly tried to approach the side of his car. Craig, who became police chief in June, retold the story Monday during a program designed to crack down on carjackings.
Isn't that crazy?
These days, the criminals are not even afraid to go after the police while they are sitting in their own vehicles.
And this is just the beginning. Things are going to get much, much worse than this.
So let us hope that this period of relative stability that we are enjoying right now will last for as long as possible.
The times ahead are going to be extremely challenging, and I hope that you are getting ready for them.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-growing-rift-with-saudi-arabia-threatens-to-severely-damage-the-petrodollar