US / World Economy in Trouble

I have complete faith in you 'Erb...complete.


I have a ton of seeds, you ever need some...let me know...everything from squash to peppers to cukes, you name it...I have been harvesting them for awhile now.


I have no livestock, mainly cuz' I am still in city limits, and that maybe isn't even a good enough reason, for all I know I could maybe raise chickens in my backyard, but I doubt it, I would have to check to be sure...space for me, however, would certainly raise an issue. My backyard isn't all that huge.


I am beginning the begin of germination of tomatoes and peppers today...got it all mapped out this a.m.


Be well, sir, and contact me if you are needing anything.


...DC...:XXsunsmile::new_scatter:

 

Great post! For the record though, I love my tomatoes...so will continue planting them for sure!


See your points, though...the first paragraph blew my mind...I had no knowledge of the hemp seed being so well-rounded for man's dietary needs. I mean I had heard you could eat them, but I didn't know the rest of the story.


I want to grow my illegal plant outdoors bad enough though that I don't want to clutter the small space with hemp for victory plants...like seeds, but not that much...


...DC...:XXsunsmile::new_scatter:

 

Just another way of saying..."where there is a will, there is a way"...


And you my friend are a fine example of that...revolution or no revolution...and I mean that!


...DC...:XXsunsmile::new_scatter:

 

Home economics: Frugal families doing own chores


Man....I know some of us are Do it yourselfers, but damn, how fucking lazy are these people that this is where they HAVE to cut back....talk about a bad economy....if these people are "struggling" because they have to cut their own fucking lawns, what chance to us poor ol` farmers have.....stupid spoiled Americans....


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090317/ap_on_bi_ge/new_frugality_do_it_yourself;_ylt=AoUtZpy2c0jiol3c1GvEeRtvzwcF

Nope. Pretty sure it isn't.

UM...really? No. I am pretty sure those can go hand in hand...Jesus...


I hate it for these poor people who have to cut their own lawns and paint their own houses......:roulette:

 

LMAO @ Lion


No shit man. If they had ANY clue as to how much work I do here both inside and out they'd shit. I was cutting lawns for $$$ when I was 10....still do to this day if need be. It's hard to feel sorry for people like this because they ARE spoiled. I recall a teacher once refer to me as "just a worker".....she had no clue I made more $$$ than she did at the time, but it shows the mentality and it shows her prejudice.

 

Uh oh....here it comes.


What the Pros Say: US Is Now 'Bankrupt'

U.N. panel says world should ditch dollar

 

U.S. Injecting Billions Into Foreign Central Banks


For more than a year, the U.S. Federal Reserve System has been increasingly acting as the world's central bank, injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign government treasuries in an effort to increase liquidity in those countries.


The foreign central banks have used the U.S. currency to bail out financial institutions within their borders. The Fed program links its balance sheet directly to the fates of foreign central banks at a time when they're on the ropes.

 

pissed off


the thing that pissed me off was that it was being kept a secret ...or at least they were trying to keep a secret...dammit...

 

That comes as a surprise? This is the government we're talking about here. :laughing1:

 

I sense...


...that the powers that be are engineering trade for stability...just a thought.


...DC...:XXsunsmile::new_scatter:

 

http://inflation.us/perfectstorm.html


March 19, 2009


The Perfect Hyperinflationary Storm


The Federal Reserve's announcement on Wednesday to expand its balance sheet by $1.15 trillion puts our country on a direct path towards hyperinflation.


By spending $300 billion on long-term U.S. Treasuries, $750 billion on worthless mortgage-backed securities, and $100 billion on other federal agency debt; the Federal Reserve will be doing nothing more than printing $1.15 trillion out of thin air, which means Americans are guaranteed to see a sharp decline in the purchasing power of their U.S. Dollars.


Wednesday's news brings total funds allocated by the Federal Reserve and United States Treasury during the financial crisis up to $11.4 trillion and although only $2.8 trillion has so far been spent, we believe the full $11.4 trillion will inevitably be spent.


If the Federal Reserve simply allowed AIG to fail, the free-market would've efficiently reorganized the company in bankruptcy. The $165 million in employee bonus contracts, that Congress has been so eager to express outrage about, would've been wiped out completely. The failure of AIG would not have brought down the U.S. financial system. However, bailing out every financial firm on Wall Street will.


Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke commented this past weekend on 60 Minutes that our country's biggest risk is we don't have the political will and commitment to solve our current financial problems. We respectfully disagree with Chairman Bernanke and believe our country's biggest risk is hyperinflation, that will come as a result of the Federal Reserve's actions.


Up until now, the United States has been successful at keeping inflation somewhat under control by borrowing the money for much of its spending from China. However, China's Premier of the State Council Wen Jiabao said last week that he is worried about the safety of the U.S. Treasuries they are holding. By China publicly acknowledging their fears, not only is it possible China will stop buying U.S. Treasuries, but they could take advantage of the Federal Reserve buying U.S. Treasuries and use it as an opportunity to sell.


The U.S. Consumer Price Index rose in February by 0.4 percent, which equals an annualized inflation rate of 4.8 percent. We believe inflation would be much higher if it wasn't for all of the temporary factors driving consumer prices down such as the forced liquidations of hedge funds, de-leveraging of banks, going out of business sales of retail stores, etc.


These temporary factors will soon be gone. They are likely to end at the same time as the Federal Reserve begins printing trillions of Dollars and China potentially becomes a net seller of U.S. Treasuries. The perfect storm is ahead for massive inflation to begin in the second half of 2009. Being that our country already has an $11 trillion national debt and $55 trillion in unfunded liabilities for social security, medicare, and other social programs; hyperinflation during the next decade is becoming less the worst case scenario and more the most likely scenario.


Our country's current financial crisis is a walk in the park compared to what is ahead. Despite rapidly rising unemployment rates, Americans today can still purchase very cheap food, clothing, and gas. We can't take this for granted and must prepare for what is ahead.


If you prepare for the worse, the best will always happen. Americans who begin preparing for hyperinflation now, not only could preserve their purchasing power in the years ahead, but could potentially become wealthy as Americans hoarding U.S. Dollars, bonds and other dollar-denominated assets lose everything. We believe there will soon be a Gold, Silver, and Agriculture boom that will make the dot-com and Real Estate booms look small in comparison.

 

I wanted to include this entire article just in case the website it resides on somehow disappears. The info in it should be heeded by all! Wake up....we're headed for disaster and only those prepared will survive somewhat in tact. :icon_confused:

​

The Collapse of ’09





by Gerald Celente




​

The "Panic of ’08" will be followed by "The Collapse of ’09." In 2008, when the world’s largest financial firms and equity markets crumbled, Wall Street’s woes preoccupied the media.


In 2009, the focus will broaden to include a range of calamities that will leave no sector unscathed. Next in line is retail, which accounts for some 70 percent of consumer spending, 26 percent of which is holiday sales.


After the numbers are tallied to reveal a dismal retail Christmas, more big chain bankruptcies will follow. Besides leaving masses unemployed, defunct retailers will leave behind thousands of empty stores. Who will rent them? Nobody!


Add to these empties commercial space vacated by defunct financial firms and an array of troubled businesses, from restaurants to architectural firms, to high-tech operations, to offset printers, etc., etc. The inescapable result (that we predicted over a year ago and is only now being discussed in the business media) is a commercial real estate bust that will be costlier, wreak greater havoc and prove more intractable than the residential market decline.


Because most people don’t live and shop on Wall Street, the "Panic of ’08" was viewed by Main Street as if from afar – even though many were losing money. But when commercial real estate crashes it will hit much closer to home. The depressive atmosphere of thinly shopped, half-vacant malls will strike emotional chords and all the senses.


In office buildings, vacant floors and empty cubicles will dampen the workday spirit of the still-employed; ever-present reminders of laid-off friends and colleagues and of the fragility of employment.


Abandoned, untended business and industrial parks will highlight the already mournful scene. In cities studded with soaring towers and new construction predicated on eternal economic growth, streets lined with "For Rent/For Sale" signs will complement stilled cranes and uncompleted buildings.


As retail and commercial real estate collapse, the credit card sector and all its interrelated processing and back office support businesses will suffer and be forced to scale back. Hordes of consumers who have been living off credit cards and racking up debt to the limit will lack the funds to service their debt… much less pay it off, and they will be forced to default. Given the nearly $3 trillion in consumer debt at risk (excluding auto and mortgage) an inevitable default snowball will add momentum to the in-progress Collapse of ’09.


While we alone predicted the "Panic of ’08" (and even took out the domain name "Panicof08.com" on 7 November 2007), we are not alone in predicting a Depression.


The "D" word is being uttered – in some cases by those who have the most to lose and whose best interests are not served by spreading gloom and doom. "The world and country are in a depression," said celebrity tycoon Donald Trump. He then later softened the blow, downgrading it to a "virtual depression."


"Virtual" to the few who will never have to worry where the next dollar will come from, it will be painfully real and hardly virtual to the multitudes who are and will be worrying. The virally proliferating Greatest Depression is the Trend of Trends for 2009.


Even so, beware! Over the course of free-falling 2009, the word from most official sources will be "recession," and from the few mainstream trophy pessimists, "deep recession."


For example, the oft-quoted naysayer, Nouriel Roubini, New York University professor of economics, forecasts a two-year recession … not Depression. On the sunnier side of Wall Street, the Federal Reserve predicts the US economy will contract only through the middle of 2009 and pledged, "In any event, the Committee agreed to take whatever steps were necessary to support the recovery."


What "steps?" The Bernanke Two-Step? Adjust interest rates or print more money? Neither stopped the credit crisis from worsening, the real estate market from tanking or the stock markets from crashing.


It was Fed finagling, Washington deregulation and Wall Street’s compulsive gambling that created the crisis. To trust or to seriously consider pronouncements, analyses and predictions made by any of these sources is an exercise in willful self-deception. Yet, with pensions, IRAs, 401ks, stocks and mutual funds evaporating, many of those most affected deny reality and take hope that forecasts made by proven incompetents will miraculously restore their losses.


Throughout the many years leading up to what we term the "Greatest Depression," The Trends Research Institute provided copious data and Globalnomic analysis to support our forecasts of economic upheaval. In the past year alone, we have provided so much hard evidence (housings starts, home sales, foreclosures, bankruptcies, bank failures, unemployment figures, stock indices, leading economic indicators, retail sales, etc.) that further elaboration should be superfluous.


Those waiting to hear the "D" word from economic experts, talking heads and TV anchors before taking action will most certainly regret their indecisiveness.


Absent from the economic scenarios ranging from second quarter recovery, deep recession and "virtual" depression are the multiplicity of social, environmental, health, political, emotional/psychological and geopolitical factors that point beyond just Depression. They point to The Decline and Fall of Empire America.


Well before Inauguration Day, Barack Obama was cast as the next Franklin Delano Roosevelt. If he follows in FDR’s footsteps he could freeze deposits by declaring a "holiday" to stop a run on the banks. While FDIC insurance may cover deposits, even after banks reopen, withdrawal amounts may be restricted. (As the Argentine government did in 2001–2002.)


Author’s Note: Suspicious of the soundness of the banking system, I requested to withdraw a substantial sum from our Key Bank account, leaving funds sufficient to cover ongoing business operations. First they tried to dissuade me, then they stonewalled me, and finally they turned openly hostile.


I was forced to sign a series of documents, including one acknowledging that since I was carrying a large sum I could be the target of a robbery. To enhance that possibility, the teller slammed down the bag of cash on the counter and publicly announced the sum.


Despite repeated requests in the days preceding my withdrawal to get the cash in hundreds, they gave it to me in twenties, making for a bag five times the size and more robber-friendly. When I complained to the bank manager who had processed the request, the response amounted to "take it or leave it."


This will not be an isolated event. If you attempt to withdraw a large chunk of money from your account, negotiate the details in advance and anticipate possible hassle and obstruction.


We’ve heard similar accounts from clients and Trends Journal subscribers who, over the past several months, tried to close out mutual funds, 401ks and assorted sinking equities. They were dissuaded, cajoled, belittled and arm-twisted by brokers desperate to keep their accounts. Many caved in under the pressure, didn’t close them and lost most of what they had.


So, we leave you with a Greatest Depression consideration: How safe is your money? How sound is your bank? At the end of November, Citigroup, once America’s largest bank, was on the rocks. Fifty-two thousand employees were laid off. In just three days its stock lost more than half its value. Rumors swirled that Citi was so desperate they were looking to sell or split up the company.


Is your money deposited in a local bank whose reputation you can bank on? Are you with a teetering giant or a poorly-managed regional? If either of the latter, it would be in your best interest to assess the risks.


Take some out if you think there is risk; take it all out if you think there’s high risk. You may consider spreading it around and even banking abroad … after all, this is the Global Age.

March 22, 2009

​

 

Here's a great article on the inner 'workings' of AIG, and does a great job of explaining just why we're so fucked and not gonna recover from this shit. It's an eight page article but VERY eye opening. :bongin:


The Big Takeover


The global economic crisis isn't about money - it's about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

 

No end in sight


Here's a general overview of where we currently stand in this mess. Good article.


No end in sight

 

A Tale of Two Depressions

 

Bailouts and manipulations save Wall Street while Main Street suffers

 

Anyone ever play Shadowrun?


Where do I sign up to get my credstick?

 

Absolutely the funniest joke ever.......ON US !!!


* Let it sink in.


* Quietly we go like sheep to slaughter.


Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ..... during the Carter Administration?


Anybody?


Bottom line .. we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency ..


the reason for which probably not one person who reads this can remember.


Ready???????


It was very simple ...


and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate...


The 'Department of Energy' was instituted on


8-04-1977


TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDANCE ON FOREIGN OIL.


Hey, pretty efficient, huh?????


AND NOW IT'S 2009,


31 YEARS LATER ...


AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT$24.2 BILLION A YEAR


IT HAS


* 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY


* 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES


AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!


THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY 'WHAT WAS I THINKING?'


Ah, yes, good ole bureaucracy..


And NOW we are going to turn the Banking System, health care & the Auto Industry over to them?


God Help Us !!!


This is a classic case of getting what you pay for. We paid billions of dollars on bureaucracy and government, we got billions of dollars worth of government and bureaucracy.


Basic economics, right?


Same with welfare, we have spent trillions of dollars paying people to be poor. What do we have to show for it? Trillions of dollars worth of poor people.