Bankrupt Detroit—America In A Microcosm

Report by emergency manager says Detroit’s finances are crumbling, future is bleak

Associated Press

Detroit is broke and faces a bleak future given the precarious financial path it’s on, according to a new report out by the city’s state-appointed emergency manager.

The report was released late Sunday by bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr and is his first on Detroit’s finances since officially taking the job in March.

Under state law, the report was due within 45 days of Michigan’s newest emergency manager law taking effect. Orr’s spokesman Bill Nowling had warned last week that the report was an early look at Detroit’s fiscal condition and would not be glowing.

The summation is the latest blow to the city which came under state oversight in March when Gov. Rick Snyder selected Orr to handle Detroit’s finances. Then, the city estimated its budget deficit to be about $327 million. Detroit also has struggled over the past year with cash flow, relying on bond money held by the state to pay some of its bills.

But Orr reports that Detroit’s net cash position was negative $162 million as of April 26 and that the projected budget deficit is expected to reach $386 million in less than two months.

He also warns that the city’s financial health might change as more data is collected and analyzed.

“What is clear, however, is that continuing along the current path is an ill-advised and unacceptable course of action if the city is to be put on the path to a sustainable future.”

Detroit is the largest city in the country under state control and the city’s wallet is now Orr’s to command. He dictates how Detroit spends its money, something that had been the responsibility of first-term Mayor Dave Bing and the nine-member City Council.

In a statement Monday morning, Bing said his office plans a “comprehensive evaluation” of the report over the next day.

“A comprehensive review of the emergency manager’s financial and operating plan has yet to be conducted,” Bing said. “However, my initial review is that the assessment by Mr. Orr of the city’s financial condition is consistent with my administration’s findings.”

The city’s problems preceded Bing, a former steel supply company owner and professional basketball Hall-of-Famer.

“This has been a moving target. The historical numbers that have been reported were unreliable,” bankruptcy expert Doug Bernstein said. “Certainly, nobody was going to expect the numbers were to be better than were reported.”

Orr described the city’s operations as “dysfunctional and wasteful after years of budgetary restrictions, mismanagement, crippling operational practices and, in some cases, indifference or corruption.”

“Outdated policies, work practices, procedures and systems must be improved consistent with best practices of 21st century government,” he said in the report. “A well run city will promote cost savings and better customer service and will encourage private investment and a return of residents.”

The report also looked at attempts officials have made to fix problems.

“Recently, tens of millions of dollars of pension funding and other payments have been deferred to manage a severe liquidity crisis at the City,” Orr wrote in the report. “Even with these deferrals, the City has operated at a significant and increasing deficit. It is expected that the City will end this fiscal year with approximately $125 million in accumulated deferred obligations and a precariously low cash position.”

The city also owes more than $400 million in outstanding obligations, including $124 million used to provide funds for public improvement projects.

Orr’s report identifies areas of concern and those needing immediate attention.

It’s highly likely he will seek concessions from the city’s labor unions. At least five unions representing police and firefighters are seeking arbitration in collective bargaining with the city.

Detroit lacks, but is developing a “comprehensive labor strategy for managing” its relationships with its unions, according to Orr.

The emergency manager law gives Orr the authority to “reject, modify or terminate” collective bargaining agreements and concessions will be sought, he wrote in the report.

“This power will be exercised, if necessary or desirable, with the knowledge and understanding that many city employees already have absorbed wage and benefit reductions,” he wrote.

When taking the job, Orr said he hoped to avoid a municipal bankruptcy filing, but didn’t rule one out if Detroit can’t reach agreements with its many creditors and bond holders.

“If he already hasn’t, he should continue negotiating for savings necessary in collective bargain,” said Bernstein, a managing partner of the Banking, Bankruptcy and Creditors’ Rights Practice Group for the Michigan-based Plunkett Cooney law firm. “He has to negotiate reductions with bond holders and get as many concessions as he can. It’s an across-the-board savings.

“If he can’t get everything completed by consent, then there is no option but bankruptcy. It should be a last resort. It should be used sparingly. It is an option. When all else fails, that’s the last tool in the tool box.”

The report also notes the instability in leadership atop the city’s police department. Detroit has had five different police chiefs over the past five years with varying plans on how to best handle the city’s high crime rate.

“As a result, (the department’s) efficiency, effectiveness and employee morale are extremely low,” Orr wrote. “Based on recent reviews … and input from the Michigan State Police and other law enforcement agencies, it is clear that improvements in DPD’s operations and performance could be achieved through the strategic redeployment of resources, civilianization of administrative functions, other labor efficiencies and revenue enhancements.”

The department also could benefit from more and better technology, equipment, police cars and personnel.

THATCHER (AND REAGAN) GOT IT ALL WRONG

[SEE: The Supply-Side Fraud: Republican Economics Don’t Work ]

THATCHER GOT IT ALL WRONG

AANGIRFAN

Bill Roache (left) has been arrested on suspicion of raping a young girl in 1967. Thatcher, on the right, always seemed to be surrounded by alleged child abusers.

In May 2013, Margaret Thatcher’s party, the Conservatives, performed rather badly in local elections.

The Thatcher funeral, in April 2013, reminded lots of voters that Thatcher got it all wrong, especially on the economy.

Thatcher with Conservative Member of Parliament Nigel Evans who has just been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two teenage males. Deputy Speaker Arrested On Suspicion Of Rape

Oxford historian David Priestland recently wrote about Thatcher:

History Magazine

“Since 2008, it has become increasingly evident that she did not lay the foundations for a prosperous Britain…

“It was only in 2008 that the true economic state of affairs became evident : the model built by Thatcher was being sustained by debt.”

Thatcher. (Geoffrey White / Daily Mail / Rex Features)

David Priestland, referring to the economic problems of the 1970s, writes:

“Some governments – like the Germans and the Swedish – sought to create a social consensus behind a programme of gradual restructuring…

“But Thatcher, like her fellow militant Ronald Reagan, … accelerated … the ‘deindustrial revolution’.”

Thatcher and Reagan.

Britain’s growth rate in the 1960s, before Thatcher, averaged well over 3%, in spite of strikes.

The average growth rate between 1979 and 1990, under Thatcher, was well below 3%, and, according to Priestland: “would probably have been lower without the North Sea oil windfall.”

Thatcher

Because of high unemployment under Thatcher, productivity rose temporarily.

But, in Germany, productivity rose more than twice as much, and they didn’t have the high unemployment!

Child abuser Savile was invited to stay with Thatcher many Christmases in a row. 

Historian Dominic Sandbrook writes of Thatcher:

History Magazine

“She promised to restore law and order, yet she presided over the worst riots Britain has ever seen.

Thatcher’s gay friend DEREK LAUD

“She talked of bringing back Victorian values, yet her decade in office saw divorce, abortion and illegitimacy reach unprecedented heights…

“She unleashed casino capitalism…”

“Public spending actually rose in all but two of her years in office.”

Austerity is not necessarily the answer when an economy is in touble.

Howe and Thatcher

“In late 1979, Thatcher’s economic minister Sir Geoffrey Howe told Thatcher that inflation was unlikely to fall below about 15 per cent.

“What actually happened in 1979-1981 was that the monetary targets were always overshot and inflation raced away regardless.

“The most obvious effect of the high interest rates that were supposed to tame M3 was, instead, to push up the sterling exchange rate, pricing British manufacturing exports out of world markets.”

Sir Geoffrey Howe then introduced a policy of severe austerity.

http://www.ft.com/

Alleged child abuser Sir Peter Morrison (left) was Thatcher’s closest aide.

Economists Paul de Grauwe and Yuemei Ji have pointed out that Eurozone countries that have introduced the most severe austerity since 2010 have experienced the largest falls in GDP and hence the greatest increases in debt to GDP ratios.

Panic-driven austerity in the Eurozone and its implications | vox

THATCHER’S FATHER LIKE JIMMY SAVILE?…

The Thatcher government pocketed “one-off gains from the sale of public assets as current income.

“Together with the tax receipts from North Sea oil (again a temporary bonanza), this pushed the budget briefly into surplus at the peak of the boom under chancellor Nigel Lawson in the late 1980s.

“After the resignation of Lawson in 1989, and of Thatcher a year later, later chancellors were left to repair their financial legacy.”

Bulk Gold Sales Halted As Price Drops Drastically

[All of the following reports from the last 7-14 days deal with different purchases of TONS OF GOLD----China Buys Physical Gold By Tons ; Pakistan buys nearly 3 tons of Gold ;  Azerbaijan's SOFAZ buys 1 more ton of Gold ; Indians are about to buy a lot of gold—but it won’t make any difference to global prices ;  Russia and Turkey lead another gold-buying charge ]

COMEX Hurtling Towards Default And People Will Be “Settled” With Dollars, No More Metal Will Be Delivered!

InvestmentWatch

Comex Physical Drain Accelerates—With Over $7.8B In Gold Disappearing From All Depositories

As the headline battle between paper sellers and physical buyers of gold escalates, something eerily strange is continuing behind the scenes.

As first reported here on April 9th, Comex gold inventories have been plummeting, demonstrating the highest levels of physical removal ever during a single quarter in Q1, 2013.

Most shocking however, is that Comex warehouse inventories are accelerating their downward plunge, with dropping inventories now spreading to the world’s largest fund depositories.

Over the last four weeks alone, total reported inventories of ETFs, funds, and depositories collapsed by over 5.5 million ounces, or in dollar terms, by over $7,000,000,000 dollars.

http://bullmarketthinking.com/comex-physical-drain-accelerates-with-over-7-8b-disappearing-from-all-depositories/

This brings to mind important questions, such as…

-Why is there such a panic going on to remove physical gold from Comex registered warehouses and other depositories?

-Why did it begin before the collapse, and why does it now appear to be accelerating?

-Why is the multi-trillion dollar fund management industry denouncing gold, while it quickly moves inventory out of registered warehouses?

-Where is the gold moving, and what is it telling us?

-Is this wholesale migration signaling an imminent geopolitical or major market event?

SILVER DOCTORS:

The COMEX will default in the next week or several weeks and people will be “settled” with Dollars, no more metal will be delivered! So, knowing that “game over” has arrived, they are dumping a massive volume of paper contracts with impunity to push the metals prices as low as possible before the “default”. This way the “shorts” do not have to and will not be “covered” when “supply” cannot be obtained because of “an act of God”. They will be settled in cash (at a profit no less) because these “unforeseen” disruptions in supply. “Who could have seen it coming?” will be the mantra. I would suspect that banking stress and “bail ins” will also become prevalent globally. The pricing structure” will now push any and all physical sellers away from the markets and the “door” to safety is effectively being shut. Either you own metal or you don’t.

After the closure of the COMEX and LBMA doors there will be no availability and “price” will be meaningless. Your ability to protect yourself is right now for all intents and purposes being eliminated.

Thatcher/Reagan Destroyed the World Economy for Elitists’ Profit, But Germany Is Still Thriving

Few countries embraced Thatcher’s capitalism

From Mr Marc McDonald.

Sir, In “Right about Britain, Europe and nearly everything” (Comment, April 9), Niall Ferguson writes that Margaret Thatcher was “right about most things”. If this is true, why is Thatcher not fondly remembered today by most British people?

Thatcher’s central economic policy was to deregulate virtually everything, slash social services to the bone and embrace hardcore, dog-eat-dog capitalism. But today who advocates this sort of thing, outside of perhaps a dwindling number of Tea Party extremists in the US?

Prof Ferguson attacks “left-leaning Brits” for being supposedly wrong about Thatcher. But as I recall, Thatcher’s foes predicted that her policies would decimate the middle class. They have been vindicated.

A great deal of the economic prosperity of the Thatcher years was really more because of the North Sea oil bonanza, rather than the Iron Lady’s policies.

Outside of the US, few nations have ever embraced Thatcher’s slash-and-burn methods. In continental Europe today, for example, few people want anything to do with “Anglo-American” capitalism. The same is true of much of today’s Latin America.

As far as Thatcher’s crushing of the unions and deregulating the economy, I would challenge Prof Ferguson as to whether even this was necessarily a good thing.

Germany, for example, still has some of the most powerful unions in the world, as well as a heavily regulated economy. And yet Germany today still has a strong middle class and a world-beating high-technology manufacturing base. Germany is one of the world’s leading capital surplus nations, while Britain runs massive current account deficits. And yet Germany accomplished its enviable economic success by rejecting the Thatcher/Reagan economic model.

Marc McDonald, Fort Worth, TX, US

Homelessness, poverty are greater national threats than terrorism

  Crissy Canganelli

“I fundamentally reject the notion that terrorism is the greatest threat to our national security. A far greater threat that has a far more profound implication for our economy and indeed our society for generations to come, for the future of this nation, is the fact that an ever increasing number of our nation’s children will have known homelessness and poverty.

More and more of those who we turn to in the next generation to take this country, our country, into the future will have grown up with compromised health, their education has been fractured, they have known hunger and food insecurity, they have known homelessness with all the disruptions and anxieties that come with it.”

Crissy Canganelli is the executive director of Shelter House. For information, visit www.shelterhouseiowa.org.

• 44:15 America’s Broken Dreams – Documentary – The new American poor: The Middle Class
• 28:23 The End Of The American Dream – USA
• 3:04 ‘Car Sleepers’ US Middle Class Hit By Crisis

“This is a third world war through the economy. The Italians will be next, and they know it,”

[Check-out the local comments

43 comments]

‘We will not become Germany’s slaves’

By Stefanos Evripidou

A protester clashes with police last evening

HUNDREDS OF Laiki (Popular) Bank employees gathered outside parliament last night after word got out that the government had prepared a bill for the second largest bank on the island to undergo restructuring.
As the sun set, news trickled out in the media of a plan to split the bank into a ‘good’ bank retaining healthy loans and a ‘bad’ bank which would take on ‘bad’ loans and work towards recovering as much money as possible.
Around 500 Laiki employees and their families gathered in an impromptu demonstration outside parliament, where the newly-prepared bills were expected to be taken for discussion in the plenum.
Some protesters managed to break through the police barricades and make their way to the parliament doors which were locked by police.
Greek journalists covering the demonstration mocked the Cypriot media’s depiction of tussles outside parliament, suggesting they were more like polite handshakes compared to what they’ve seen in Athens.
Protesters were furious about the lack of information about whether they would have a job tomorrow, and berated the absence of employees at the demo from other Cypriot banks.
Demonstrators held banners saying, “Who’s next?” and “We will not become Germany’s slaves” while shouting slogans like, “Today it’s us, tomorrow it will be your turn”.
Head of the banking union ETYK, Loizos Hadjicostis, called on all bank employees to go to parliament today ahead of an expected vote on the bill for the resolution and recovery of Laiki Bank.
He described yesterday’s developments as “unacceptable”.
One Laiki employee, Demetra Veresies, 47, asked: “Who is responsible for this? The bankers? The golden boys? The MPs who vote bills without knowing what they are? The German government that wants to punish Cyprus for reasons unknown? Who?”
Elena Constantinou, a Russian lawyer who’s been living 23 years in Cyprus, said she and her Russian friends from Limassol came to Nicosia to protest, without being employees of Laiki.
“What Europe is doing is not at all an act of friendship. With friends like that, who needs enemies? Once we sign the memorandum, our children and grandchildren will live as slaves,” she said.
“This is a third world war through the economy. The Italians will be next, and they know it,” added Constantinou.
She called on President Nicos Anastasiades to go himself to Moscow to speak with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to seek a way out of the crisis instead of sending his finance minister.
Asked about money laundering in Cyprus, she said, “There is no money laundering here. Money laundering takes place in England, Germany and Switzerland.”

The Road to World War 3

U.S. Economic Collapse Warning (Government Preparing)

Tuesday Morning Bank Run Predicted, After Weekend EU “Haircut” (Skimming) of Cyprus Bank Accounts

Our View: The ‘rescue package’ designed to destroy the economy

EVEN though the haircut of bank deposits had been on the agenda of the EU for more than a month now, featuring in Commission memos and being openly discussed by European politicians, most of whom, refused to rule it out, few people thought the Eurogroup would go ahead with it. It was an idle threat, to force Cyprus privatise SGOs and increase the corporate tax, was the prevailing view.

And after all, President Anastasiades had emphatically declared in his inauguration speech that “absolutely no reference to a haircut on public debt or deposits will be tolerated,” adding that “such an issue isn’t even up for discussion.” Finance Minister Michalis Sarris made similarly reassuring statements, arguing that it would be lunacy for the EU to impose such a measure because it would threaten the euro system.

Germany and the leaders of the Eurogroup opted for this lunacy, calculating that Cyprus is too small and inconsequential for the haircut on its bank deposits to cause contagion in the eurozone. Of course, the markets could view the decision differently, perhaps not when they open on Monday, but a few weeks later as it becomes apparent that not even deposits in European banks are safe from raids by the Eurogroup.

It is obvious from the statements made that Anastasiades was blackmailed into accepting this euphemistically called ‘solidarity levy’. If he did not accept it, the European Central Bank would not provide Emergency Liquidity Assistance to the Cypriot banks, after the March 21 deadline (it had been extended by two months in January) and the banks would have collapsed on the same day, with people losing much bigger parts of their deposits than the seven to 10 per cent that would be taken now.

Was there an alternative for Anastasiades? It is difficult to say, given the pressure for a political agreement by last Friday. All indications are that our EU partners had taken their decision before then and this was why they scheduled the Eurogroup meeting that would discuss the bailout on a Friday night. The Cypriot banks would be closed for three days during which all the steps for bailing in deposits could be taken, and the banks could re-open normally on Tuesday.

If only things were so simple. It is highly unlikely it will be business as usual at the banks on Tuesday as thousands of people will likely turn up to withdraw their money. Big depositors would give instructions for the transfer of money abroad and never again place it in a Cypriot bank. What would be the capital needs of the banks faced with a mass exodus of deposits, brought on by the Eurogroup decision? Would the EU order another ‘solidarity levy’ in such a case or would it declare Cyprus bankrupt, having dealt a fatal blow to its financial services sector that is by far the biggest contributor to GDP, and kick it out of the eurozone?

Yesterday’s decision still needs to be approved by the House of Representatives, which will meet today or tomorrow to approve the haircut bill. Judging by the statements made by the political parties yesterday the approval of the relevant bills is far from certain. Anastasiades was to meet the party leaders last night in an effort to persuade them to support the bills, but there are already many dissenting voices, not to mention the public outcry, which is bound to affect the stand of the parties.

One deputy yesterday wondered whether it would be better to allow the two banks that required liquidity assistance from the ECB to go under instead of accepting the haircut. But the problem would not be confined to these two banks as there is inter-dependence among the banks and a bank run on two would spread to all. This will be Anastasiades’ main argument in explaining why he agreed to the bail in of deposits. The alternative would have been the collapse of the banks, state bankruptcy and exit from the euro.

Under the circumstances the president opted for the lesser of two evils, even though we doubt there would be many people who would give him credit for that. In effect, the EU offered a ‘rescue package’ that is designed to destroy rather than rescue what is left of the Cyprus economy.

Washington Co-Conspirators Build “Al-Qaeda” Myth with Wild Claims About Their “Economic Warfare” Capabilities

Terrifying! “Economic Jihad” and Cyber Surveillance

by Bea Edwards ( The Whistleblogger)

This week, the House of Representatives will consider the “Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act,” a piece of legislation that would allow America’s intelligence agencies to share and protect the voluminous data they collect about America’s citizens with the keepers of America’s financial infrastructure, among others. An identical bill passed the House last year but died in the Senate, despite a powerful push from a curious coalition of spies, lawyers, financiers and politicians.

As an American citizen about to be shared and protected, when you see that kind of lineup behind a power play, you may fear trouble. For many months now, the bill’s campaign has been building. It began last summer with a briefing for about 50 Washington think tankers convened by former Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

That day, July 9, 2012, was a scorcher, with afternoon temperatures over 100 degrees when the audience convened in a third floor briefing room at the Senate’s Russell Office Building on Capitol Hill. Kyl had invited the American Center for Democracy (ACD) and the Economic Warfare Institute (EWI) to hold a “Super-Panel” and an open discussion on the topic of “Economic Warfare Subversions: Anticipating the Threat.”

The make up of the panel was a little peculiar; it featured a number of heavy hitters from the intelligence community, including General Michael Hayden (former director of both the CIA and the National Security Agency), James Woolsey (former CIA director), and Michael Mukasey (former Attorney General for George W. Bush). But there were others. First among them was the facilitator and director of the Economic Warfare Institute itself, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, who aggressively used her academic title at every opportunity, an unusual practice in this company. Among the remaining panelists, one suggested that jihadists were setting wildfires in Colorado that summer. Another, a former Alternate Director for the U.S at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), also produced a memorable presentation by envisioning complex terror scenarios not even Hollywood could produce.

In total, the panel included Dr. Ehrenfeld and eight white men. To kick off the festivities, she approached the podium. Dr. Ehrenfeld opened her remarks with the announcement that the United States was target-rich for economic jihad, apparently a new concept for only a few of us in the audience. We the uninitiated exchanged nervous glances as Dr. Rachel went on to explain the “Cutting Edge Threats” that keep her up at night. She pointed out that both Sept. 11, 2001 and Sept. 15, 2008 were potentially devastating to the United States. One attack was the work of al-Qaeda, a foreign enemy, and the other was self-inflicted by the management of our own financial institutions. However, Dr. Ehrenfeld said, we could not rule out the possibility that economic terrorists were: a) responsible for, or b) learning from the economic collapse that precipitated the Great Recession. She also referenced the “flash crash” of May 6, 2010 when the Dow lost over 1000 points in a few minutes, only to regain 600 of them minutes later:

Still, two years later, the joint report by the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Committee (CFTC) did not rule out “terrorism” as a possible cause for the May 2010 “flash crash,” and the entire financial industry still has no uniform explanation of why or how this event occurred.

Quite simply, Dr. Ehrenfeld was terrifying.

EWI [Economic Warfare Institute] is of the strong opinion that threats to the U.S. economy are the next great field of battle. Indeed, we are already at economic war with such state actors as China and Iran and such non-state actors as al-Qaeda and its affiliates. The future battlefield is vast: it not only includes the realms of cyber and space but also of banking and finance, market and currency manipulation, energy, and drug trafficking. The list could go on and on.

So, EWI believes that the US faces mass terror-induced economic calamity. The fact that this has not yet occurred, she cautioned us, does not mean it isn’t going to.

Shortly thereafter, General Michael Hayden, now a principal at the Chertoff Group, a lucrative security consulting firm run by former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff took the floor. General Hayden stood to speak about “The Most Dangerous Tools in the Most Dangerous Hands. How much should we fear hacktivists achieving state-like capabilities?” The answer to this rhetorical question was “a lot.” Speaking as the former director of the NSA, he told us, “You want us to go to the cyber domain to defend you. But in that domain, every advantage goes to the attacker because the environment is both insecure and indispensible.” In other words, we can’t defend you without the proper weapons.

But what would those be?

By this time, some of us were alarmed. Apparently, we are completely unprotected from flash crashing at the hands of terrorist hacktivists waging economic jihad. And the next speaker was no relief. Daniel Heath, the former US Alternate Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and currently a Managing Director at Maxwell Stamp, broke the ice by suggesting that we imagine the following scenario:

A foreign country holding about a trillion dollars in US debt demands an arrangement to swap it for the agricultural production of California. Capital begins to flee the US. It’s Christmas, and a heavy snow storm hits the northeast, knocking out the power grid. An act of sabotage hits the Washington, D.C. metro, and a couple of assassinations occur, both high-value targets and random ones. Finally, a biochem incident or two occurs, like anthrax or something in the water supply.

Heath just kept on coming. Shadowy parties might manipulate the price of oil and a real economic crisis would occur – like the one of Sept. 15, 2008. He suggested that episode was actually a jihadist plot. Probably. Well, possibly.

What if terrorists aim to engineer a renewed financial meltdown? Is it possible? How would the financial system handle a massive attack on New York City? Is enough being done to buttress financial resilience—to limit the contagion of cascading failures throughout the economy? In what ways could different kinds of terrorist attacks succeed in destabilizing our financial sector and impair the real economy?

And just when we thought it couldn’t get worse, David Aufhauser, former General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer of the Department of the Treasury, took the floor. After his presentation – “Transnational Crime – Unholy Allies to Disorder, Terror and Proliferation” – there wasn’t a dry seat in the house (to quote Alfred Hitchcock). This guy speculated about an alliance between Iran, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and Hugo Chavez. Among them, they’ll create nuclear weapons for Venezuela. Terror, psycho crime and jihad will come together for the politically purposeful annihilation of our banks. We must identify nodes in the corruption network and break the circuitry, Aufhauser claimed. If not, we’ll have WMD at our ATMs.

After a few more interventions, Mukasey wrapped it all up as the final speaker. He was talking about “legal perspectives” on economic terror. The Law needs to stay out of the way, he said. “The rules won’t work and the law is inadequate. Criminal law, he said, punishes after the act. We need to take action before the bad guys act. And the only way we can do that is to know what the bad guys are up to by “monitoring” them. Unfortunately, since we don’t know exactly who the bad guys are, we’re going to have to monitor everyone, it seems. And we’re going to ask our “Too Big to Fail” banks to help. So, the NSA, the CIA, Bank of America and Citigroup will work together to protect you and your data.

Why isn’t this a comforting prospect? Perhaps because we are still recovering from the loss of our homes, jobs and pensions that occurred as a consequence of the banks’ last exercise in risk management.

The bullet point from Mukasey was this:

In dealing with new economic threats and circumstances, the law has a strong tendency to get in the way. This is not to disparage the law but, rather, to recognize that new circumstances beg some jettisoning of old principles and the creation of new ones.

Yes, the law does have a tendency to get in the way. Which brings us back to the “Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.” This smart new law will clear those cumbersome old ones out of the road. It will jettison old principles and create some new ones.

And this prospect is the truly terrifying one. At GAP, where we represent whistleblowers from the NSA, the CIA and the major US banks, we’ve learned that none of these institutions can be allowed to operate with the secrecy, privileged information and latitude they already have. Using their current powers, intelligence agencies are conducting wholesale, illegal surveillance of American citizens while wasting billions in taxpayers’ money on unconstitutional boondoggle projects. For their part, private banks have been leveraging loans to a point where they’re secretly insolvent.

Whistleblowers have shown us, with convincing clarity, that all of these institutions have abused the trust and authority they already have. They’re warning us that we may not want to jettison our constitutional rights in exchange for protection from economic jihad – whatever that is.

 

Bea Edwards is the Executive Director for the Government Accountability Project, the nation’s leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.

Queen Attends Brit. Cabinet Meeting–A First Since WWII

[She is taking notes on the preparations for WWIII, coming soon to a neighborhood near you.]

Queen attends cabinet meeting in Downing Street

The Queen sat between David Cameron and William Hague at cabinet

The Queen is in Downing Street for the first cabinet meeting of her 60 year reign.

Prime Minister David Cameron greeted the Queen at the door of Number 10, and ushered her inside after posing briefly for photographs.

It is understood that ministers will present her with a gift to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee year.

She sat between the PM and the foreign secretary for part of the regular meeting of top ministers.

It is believed to be the first time a monarch has attended peace-time cabinet since George III in 1781. George I ceased to chair cabinet in 1717.

The Queen’s father, King George VI, attended war cabinet during the Second World War.

Jokes

Her car, accompanied by motorcycle outriders, arrived shortly after 10:05 GMT.

Members of the cabinet had already arrived, while a man with a broom had swept the red carpet, laid in front of the door of Number 10 for the occasion.

Once inside, the Queen was introduced to each of the government’s senior ministers in turn, as they bowed or curtseyed.

The Queen met members of the cabinet before the meeting began

She shared jokes with Chancellor George Osborne, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

After the Queen and the cabinet had taken their seats, Mr Cameron formally welcomed her to the meeting and outlined the items of business on the agenda.

It began with leader of the House of Commons Andrew Lansley outlining forthcoming parliamentary business, before Ken Clarke spoke about prospective justice measures.

There was a much larger than usual press pack opposite No 10, although no questions were shouted at the Queen as she arrived.

While the Queen is head of state, her involvement in day-to-day political decisions is largely formal.

The prime minister visits her regularly for an audience where he updates her on events, while she is also expected to rubber-stamp ministerial decisions at meetings of the Privy Council.

The Queen plays a central ceremonial role in the state opening of Parliament, when she travels by ornate horse-drawn coach to the House of Lords to read out a speech prepared by ministers unveiling details of their legislative plans.

She also retains the power to appoint the prime minister.

‘Constitutional landmark’

The prime minister’s spokesman said the Queen would spend about 30 minutes at the meeting.

The spokesman said he imagined she would speak, despite being described as an observer.

Rodney Barker, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the plan was “daft”, because “it will mean potentially the Queen will know things she is not supposed to know and hear things she is not supposed to hear”.

But Professor Jane Ridley, biographer of Edward VII, disagreed, telling BBC Radio 4′s Today it was “testimony of the Queen’s ability to elevate the monarchy above politics” that she could attend cabinet.

It was a “constitutional landmark”, she added.

Former Cabinet Secretary Lord O’Donnell told BBC Radio 4 that he thought the visit was the “right thing to do” – the Queen was above politics, “for the whole country, for everyone”.

“I’m sure cabinet want to do this because they want to say thank you. I mean, I’ve always viewed the Queen as kind-of the ultimate public servant. You think what she’s done during her jubilee period and they just want to say thank you,” he added.

He said that there had been other people attending cabinet in the past – such as business bosses during regional cabinet meetings, and someone like Lord Coe for presentations on specific events, in his case the Olympics.

“Fiscal Cliff” Not Really A Cliff, More of A Steep Slope

Fear not the fiscal cliff!

BRANDYWINE TO BROAD

Jan Ting
brandywinetobroad@whyy.org

 

The so-called “fiscal cliff” is the confluence of three separate legal events on January 1, 2013: expiration of a temporary payroll tax cut, expiration of the so-called “Bush” income and estate tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, and mandatory spending cuts also known as “sequestration”.

Many commentators are expressing concern that unless Congress intervenes by January 1, the economy will suffer a serious setback. But I don’t think that’s the worst thing that could happen.

First, the expiration of the payroll tax cut is going to happen in any event. The payroll tax was lowered in 2011 and 2012 as a temporary economic stimulus. But there is bi-partisan agreement that the payroll tax should be restored to pre-2011 levels to adequately fund Social Security. No controversy here. Payroll taxes will increase in 2013.

The so-called “Bush tax cuts” of 2001 and 2003 were enacted as temporary responses to the economic recession triggered first by the collapse of the internet bubble and then the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Republican sponsors of those tax cuts agreed that they would expire at the end of 2010. As that deadline approached, and President Obama and congressional Republicans continued to argue over whose taxes should be allowed to go up, the President and his political adversaries agreed to extend the tax cuts for two more years, until the end of 2012.

President Obama campaigned on allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for households earning $250,000 or more, but extending the tax cuts for households earning less than that amount. Republicans advocate making the tax cuts permanent for all taxpayers regardless of income, and also making permanent the elimination of the federal estate tax on decedent millionaires, which they call the “death tax”. Unless Congress acts, all the Bush tax cuts will expire on December 31, and both income and estate tax rates will be restored to the levels that applied before 2001.

As part of the 2011 agreement to increase the debt ceiling, Congress pledged to cut federal spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years, with specific cuts to be determined by a joint select deficit-reduction “super committee”. To insure that the cuts would happen, Congress specified that if by the super committee failed to designate sufficient spending cuts, and Congress failed to take any superseding action by December 31, 2012, those $1.2 trillion cuts would happen automatically, spread equally between defense and non-defense spending. These automatic, across-the-board spending cuts have been labeled “sequestration”.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke coined the worrisome phrase “fiscal cliff” to describe the consequences if Congress fails to act by December 31, and the Bush tax cuts all expire, and sequestration spending cuts begin. But that’s not the worst scenario.

The worst scenario would be for Congress to extend all the Bush tax cuts and repeal its commitment to cut federal spending by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. That worst case scenario would mean growth of the federal government’s $1 trillion annual budget deficit would continue to accelerate, and the now $16 trillion national debt would continue to expand in excess of gross domestic product, the total value of all goods and services produced in the U.S.

The political reality is that it’s very difficult for elected officials who want to be re-elected to either cut spending or raise taxes. But cutting spending and raising taxes are both needed to reduce the deficit and slow the growth of the national debt. It is both irresponsible and dangerous for us to burden future generations of Americans with the obligation to pay for our accelerating current spending.

It would be nice if Democrats and Republicans could get together and reach agreement on exactly how to reduce spending and raise taxes. But in the current gridlocked political environment, that seems to be a fantasy.

Anyone who recognizes that should understand that the so-called fiscal cliff is not so bad. Allowing all the Bush tax cuts to expire will raise everyone’s taxes, but only to the levels that applied during President Clinton’s administration when the economy was strong and expanding. Sequestration is a blunt instrument to reduce federal spending, but there does not appear to be a better way. Does anyone seriously doubt that there is tremendous unnecessary spending and waste which can and should be cut from the federal budget?

There’s nothing irrevocable about the fiscal cliff. Congress could act any time before or after January 1, 2013, to fine tune the already mandated spending cuts and tax increases.

Republicans deserve both the credit and the blame for making the Bush tax cuts expire and requiring spending cuts as a condition for increasing the debt ceiling. President Obama should be willing to allow those events to happen if that’s the only way to address our growing deficit and national debt. He will be in a stronger position after January 1, to make a better and fairer deal than he could negotiate this year.

And if he can’t? Bring on the fiscal cliff!

European Anti-Austerity Protesters Learning To Coordinate Across EU Borders

Strikes, protests hit much of European Union

AP

Workers around the European Union sought to unite in a string of strikes and demonstrations on Wednesday. (AP Photo)

BRUSSELS: With rampant unemploymentspreading misery in southern Europe and companies shutting factories across the continent, workers around the European Unionsought to unite in a string of strikes and demonstrations on Wednesday.

Most European governments have in recent years had to cut spending, pensions and benefits and raise taxes aggressively to bring public debt under control. That includes not only the most financially troubled governments, like Greece, but also the traditionally more stable ones, like France and Britain.

The result has been a dramatic drop in living standards in many nations that leaders have accepted as collateral for policies they claim are unavoidable. With no end in sight to the economic misery, workers were trying to take a stand on Wednesday.

“Of course it’s a political strike, against the policies of a suicidal and anti-social government,” said Igancio Fernandez Toxo, a CCOO Spanish union leader, as the general strike spread through Spain where a 25 percent unemployment rate has put the country at the heart of theEU social unrest.

A Spanish Interior Ministry official says 32 people have been arrested and 15 people treated for minor injuries in disturbances.

Spain’s General Workers’ Union said the nationwide stoppage, the second this year, was being observed by nearly all workers in the automobile, energy, shipbuilding and constructions industries. The government downplayed the impact.

A north-south divide emerged in the participation to the strikes, with unions in wealthier states like the Netherlands and the Nordic nations, where the crisis has not hit that hard, not in the mood for closing down their countries.

Belgium straddles that divide but a 24-hour rail stoppage and scattered strikes through the south of the nation disrupted daily life. Both the Thalys and Eurostar high-speed rail services that connect Brussels with London and Paris were severely disrupted.

“Austerity means cuts in the public services and public companies and also cuts in the buying power for the working class,” said Belgian socialist union leader Filip Peers. “Austerity means recession and it deepens the crisis.”

From his headquarters nearby, the chief of the EU employers’ federation took a different view.

“If you start striking at national level and in companies you only will harm the economy,” said Eurobussiness leader Philippe de Buck in an interview. “And it is not the right thing to do today.”

“It costs billions” of euros, he said, adding that Europe’s reputation as a hotbed of trade union action would not attract global investors.

Europe has been a global trailblazer for union action and workers’ rights over the past half century have been one of the cornerstones of the continent’s vaunted welfare state, with its guaranteed medical care, unemployment benefits and often generous pensions.

Where this was not directly under threat on Wednesday, labor action was more muted.

“So far, there are only symbolic demonstrations here in Germany, because we were able to avoid the crisis,” said Michael Sommer, the head of Germany’s main labor union federation.

In Denmark, too, there were no strikes, since cooperation between workers and employers have largely survived the crisis so far.

“The employers speak the same language as we do and we understand each other’s’ needs and demands,” said Joergen Frederiksen, a 69-year-old retired worker and a former shop steward. “There are good vibes between us and that means a lot.”

Is Obama Using “Fiscal Cliff” Imagery To Shakedown Republicans Over Bush Tax Cuts?

Romney camp slams Obama over ‘fiscal cliff’ veto threat, lack of contact with Boehner

FoxNews.com

The White House confirmed Thursday that President Obama is prepared to veto legislation that would skirt the so-called “fiscal cliff” — a battery of tax hikes and spending cuts — unless Republicans consent to raise taxes on top earners.

The move drew renewed accusations from rival Mitt Romney that the president has chosen to “simply ignore” Republicans on the Hill instead of dealing with the problem. According to one account, Obama hasn’t so much as spoken with House Speaker John Boehner since July.

The fresh reports have suddenly woven the “fiscal cliff” emergency back into the campaign debate in the closing weeks of the race. Congress is preparing to take up the issue in the post-election, lame-duck session, but with lawmakers on recess and the president on the campaign trail little is expected to be accomplished until then.

Romney’s campaign on Thursday blamed the president for the inaction.

“His approach would let our economy sink into recession for the sake of pursuing job-killing tax increases. Rather than work in a bipartisan manner as the ‘fiscal cliff’ approaches, President Obama prefers to issue veto threats and simply ignore the other party. We can’t afford four more years of this failed leadership,” Romney spokesman Ryan Williams said in a statement. “When Mitt Romney is president, he [will] work with members of both parties to cut spending, restore our AAA credit rating and get our economy growing again.”

The double-blow of tax hikes and spending cuts is scheduled to hit starting in January. It includes the expiration of the Bush-era tax rates, along with defense and other cuts set into place by lawmakers’ failure to reach a deficit-reduction deal in the wake of the 2011 fight over raising the debt ceiling.

The White House on Thursday confirmed an earlier Washington Post story that Obama is prepared to turn down any bill that would avoid the “cliff” without raising tax rates on top earners. Press Secretary Jay Carney described that threat as nothing new.

“The president has long made clear that he will veto an extension of tax cuts for the top 2 percent of wealthiest Americans,” Carney said. “That has been his position, as you know, for a very long time. If there is concern about what we can do right now to address the so-called fiscal cliff, the House ought to follow the Senate and pass the extension of tax cuts for 98 percent of the American people.”

Carney went on to put the onus on Congress to bridge the differences in Washington, particularly when asked about a Politico report that Boehner has not spoken with Obama in four months.

“The president has put forward very clear plans on how to address our fiscal challenges,” Carney said. “That approach enjoys a broad consensus in Washington and the country. The one obstacle is the adamant refusal of Republicans in the House to accept the principle that there should be balance.”

Asked Thursday whether Obama would veto legislation that excludes those higher taxes win or lose, Carney did not say — though he voiced confidence in the president’s chances: “First of all, he’s not going to lose the election.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have voiced frustration, though, with the lack of progress on avoiding the fiscal emergency that by some accounts could plunge the country back into recession.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., speaking at the Bipartisan Policy Center on Thursday, said “this shouldn’t be this hard.”

“It’s almost un-American to think that we couldn’t get this done,” he said, adding that he remains “very optimistic.”

The heads of the nation’s largest banks and financial firms on Thursday also renewed their call for Congress and the president to strike a deal.

“At a time when economic growth is less than 2 percent, and with nearly 25 million Americans either out of work or underemployed, the still-fragile U.S. economy cannot sustain — and the American people do not deserve — the impact of more gridlock in Washington,” the members of the Financial Services Forum wrote. “We urge (policymakers) to negotiate a bipartisan agreement as quickly as possible to prevent us from going over the fiscal cliff so that we can avoid the damage to the economy and the markets that inaction will cause.”

 

Unresolved EU/US Fiscal Crisis Is Major Impediment To Forging Closer Ties with Asia

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao reviews an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at Wattay airport before the 9th Asia-Europe summit in Vientiane, Laos on Nov. 4, 2012

European Crisis Seen Hindering Closer Trade Ties With Asia

By Daniel Ten Kate

European and Asian leaders will this week discuss a stalled trade agenda between the world’s fastest and slowest-growing regions, as the debt crisis undermines expansion of commercial ties.

Europe’s economic woes may exacerbate protectionist tendencies that make it harder to expand trade with its biggest commerce partner at a time when the U.S. and Australia are forging new agreements, according to Fredrik Erixon, head of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels. Apart from a trade deal with South Korea, the 27-member European Union has seen talks lag with China, Japan, India and Southeast Asian countries since 2007.

“Europe needs to improve its policy toward the entire Asian region in order to take up a greater part of Asia’s economic expansion, but we’re not really seeing it,” he said by phone. “The train is about to leave the station and Europe certainly isn’t on it.”

Europe’s leaders face pressure to boost ties with Asia after U.S. President Barack Obama declared a pivot to the region and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard unveiled a strategy last week to make her country “a winner in the Asian century.” At stake is safeguarding links that European economies are increasingly counting on, with the 19 Asian nations participating in a summit starting in Laos today accounting for 38 percent of the EU’s total trade last year, up from 30 percent a decade ago.

Euro-Area Slowdown

The International Monetary Fund expects the euro area’s economy to contract 0.4 percent this year, while China is forecast to grow 7.8 percent and the U.S. may expand 2.2 percent. Trade growth between the EU and Asian countries attending this week’s meetings slowed to 6 percent through the first six months of 2012 from a pace of 8 percent last year, according to the bloc’s data.

Asia’s exports to the EU will drop “quite significantly” in the near term as countries deleverage, Changyong Rhee, the Asian Development Bank’s chief economist, said by phone. Closer policy coordination is needed between leaders from the two regions to ensure a global recovery, he said.

“The U.S., Canada and Australia are more aggressive in Asia than Europe,” Rhee said. “The EU may be slow because you have to harmonize all countries together to have a free trade agreement, but once you have one FTA between the EU and another country it’s actually 27 FTAs.”

Trade Talks Stall

The EU suspended trade talks in 2009 with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a bloc with about 600 million people, and is now negotiating separate agreements with individual countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. Similar talks with India that kicked off in 2007 are stalled.

During a visit to Brussels two months ago, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged the EU to “exercise restraint in resorting to trade-remedy measures.” The EU was the biggest market for Chinese exports last year, according to Chinese data, while China is the bloc’s No. 2 commercial partner, after the U.S.

Earlier in September, the EU started a probe into whether Chinese makers of solar panels sell them below cost, the largest European trade dispute of its kind covering 21 billion euros ($27 billion) of imports. China faces more EU anti-dumping duties than any other country, covering about 1 percent of its exports to the bloc.

China’s official news agency Xinhua published an editorial two weeks ago that criticized protectionist rhetoric in Europe. It singled out French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg, who has urged consumers to spurn cheaper imports and buy goods “Made in France.”

‘Contemptible Trick’

“Amid an irreversible momentum towards globalization, trade protectionism is nothing but a contemptible trick and cannot help France revive its sluggish economy,” Xinhua said.

Wen is scheduled to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting in Laos along with about 30 other heads of government and state, including Gillard, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Japanese Prime MinisterYoshihiko Noda. Germany, Spain and the U.K. are sending foreign ministers, while Greece will be represented by its ambassador in Vientiane.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund has invested $80 billion in Asian equities and bonds, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told leaders at the summit today.

“Our ships are built in this region and more and more business is in Asia,” he said. “Today this region is a driving force in the global economy.”

Japan is ready to start free-trade negotiations with the EU if it can get a mandate from member states, a Japanese official told reporters last week on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. Noda will meet with EU President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in Laos.

‘Staggering’ Rise

Noda also wants to improve ties with China and South Korea after territorial spats increased tensions in recent months, Kyodo reported, citing comments he gave before leaving Tokyo. No formal talks are scheduled between the leaders, it said.

Gillard last week called for Australia to do more to take advantage of Asia’s economic boom. She aims to boost trade with the region to at least a third of gross domestic product by 2025, compared with a quarter today.

“The scale and pace of Asia’s rise is staggering,” Gillard said in a report. “There are significant opportunities and challenges for all Australians.”

Yuan Use Increases

Obama’s top trade priority has been the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement involving nine Asia-Pacific countries that will undergo its 15th negotiation round next month. Canada and Mexico are preparing to join, while Japan may also sign up.

The slowdown in developed economies has prompted China in recent years to increase trade ties with Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Lim Cheng Teck, who heads China operations for London-based Standard Chartered Plc, said in Bangkok last week. The bank expects use of theyuan in international trade settlement to triple within three years to $1.03 trillion, he said.

“For Europe we believe it’s kind of a structural challenge that will not be so quickly solved,” Lim said. “China is kind of saying ‘OK, let’s turn to other markets.’”

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Phang at sphang@bloomberg.net

 

Nearing the Fiscal Cliff: How Election-Year Inaction Could Affect the U.S. Economy

[SEE: Significant recession imminent if Congress doesn’t act on fiscal cliff: CBO report] Brian Low Financial Group In February, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke coined the phrase “fiscal cliff” to warn Congress about the potentially harmful combination of nearly $600 billion in federal tax increases and spending cuts that are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2013, unless lawmakers address the deficit, taxes, and government spending. Economists and government officials have expressed concern that failing to prevent such severe fiscal tightening at the start of the year could cause a recession.1 The Congressional Budget Office projected that if no action is taken, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth could fall 0.5% (year-over-year) by the fourth quarter of 2013, and unemployment could rise to 9.1%.2 With the national election looming, politicians have largely avoided controversial decisions related to taxes, government spending, and the national debt. However, legislative deadlines may prompt the president and Congress to address a number of important financial issues soon after the election and possibly before the end of 2012. A Bigger Tax Burden Many of the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 — including rates on regular income, capital gains, dividends, and estates — are scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012, and revert to their previously higher levels. The 2% payroll tax reduction for workers, enacted as a temporary stimulus, is also set to expire at the end of the year. The expiring tax provisions could cause the federal tax bill of the average middle-income household (earning $50,000 annually) to rise by about $1,750, and higher-earning families could owe thousands more in total federal taxes.3 Federal Budget Cuts The Budget Control Act of 2011 mandated $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction spread over nine years (2013–2021), divided evenly between defense and nondefense programs. About $109 billion in automatic budget cuts are scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2013 ($54.7 billion a year from U.S. defense spending). Pay for military service members and Social Security and Medicare benefits are exempt.4 The blunt cuts were meant to be indiscriminate and painful for both political parties in order to motivate lawmakers to replace them with a more targeted deficit-reduction package. To date, there has been much discussion but little agreement on how to accomplish such a feat.5 Debt Disputes The national debt is also projected to reach its legal limit (the “debt ceiling”) sometime around the end of 2012. Congress must pass legislation to raise the limit, which initiated heated negotiations in the summer of 2011. Standard & Poor’s was the first ratings agency to downgrade the U.S. credit rating after a debt-ceiling standoff that threatened the U.S. Treasury’s ability to make payments to debt holders.6 Moody’s Investors Service, which changed its outlook on U.S. government debt to “negative” last year after Congress and the White House finally agreed to an increase in the debt ceiling, has warned that it could lower the U.S. AAA credit rating next year if lawmakers fail to craft a long-term debt-reduction plan.7 Deadline-Driven Decisions? After the November election, sitting lawmakers may have only six or seven weeks to work through a number of complicated tax issues and funding initiatives. Of course, it’s possible that Congress may temporarily extend the current tax provisions and/or delay planned spending cuts until more comprehensive legislation can be enacted. Even so, the resulting uncertainty may make it difficult for individuals and businesses to move forward on major purchases or investments. Leaving critical issues unresolved for too long could also weaken the U.S. economy, especially if political gridlock continues well into next year. Because the balance of power in Washington, D.C., could have a major influence on fiscal policies that affect Americans for years to come, the stakes are high for the November election. Contentious disputes or headline surprises may cause an increase in market volatility. As an investor and taxpayer, you may want to monitor how the U.S. political situation and fiscal decisions unfold in the coming months. Maintaining a steady course could help you weather market changes. Keep in mind that it is important to make investment decisions based on your time horizon, risk tolerance, long-term goals, and personal circumstances. 1) Reuters, September 19, 2012 2) Congressional Budget Office, 2012 3) The New York Times, April 13, 2012 4–5) The Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2012 6–7) CNNMoney, September 12, 2012 The information in this article is not intended as tax or legal advice, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek tax or legal advice from an independent professional advisor. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate. Neither the information presented nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. This material was written and prepared by Emerald. Copyright © 2012 Emerald Connect, Inc.

Brian Low Financial

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January 1, 2013, the Debt Bomb Explodes In Our Faces–Mandatory Massive Budget Cuts and Tax Increases

source

U.S. fiscal cliff, Europe’s debt woes worry G20

 

By Krista Hughes and Julien Toyer

MEXICO CITY

(Reuters) – Leading world economies pressed the United States on Sunday to act decisively to avert a rush of spending cuts and tax hikes, warning that the so-called fiscal cliff is the biggest short-term threat to global growth.

Unless a fractious Congress can move swiftly to reach a deal after the U.S. elections on Tuesday, about $600 billion in government spending cuts and higher taxes are set to kick in from January 1 and could push the U.S. economy back into recession.

“If the United States fails to resolve the fiscal cliff it would hit the U.S. economy hard as well as the world and the Japanese economy, so each G20 country will urge the United States to firmly deal with it,” Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said before a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers.

With a close U.S. presidential vote looming on Tuesday, as well as Congressional elections, there has been a delay in action to avert the fiscal cliff and there is uncertainty about whether Congress can reach a deal.

European delegates at the G20 meeting in Mexico City were particularly keen for details on the U.S. plan, according to those present at preparatory talks.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said that in terms of short-term risks to the global economic outlook, the U.S. fiscal cliff outweighed Europe’s debt crisis.

“They may not deal with it until the 11th hour and the 55th minute but I expect that they’ll do it just as they dealt with their banks in 2008,” he told reporters.

South Korean Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan forecast the global economy could suffer during the first quarter of 2013 because of uncertainty about the fiscal cliff.

Nonetheless, he too was counting on Congress being able to find some kind of fix, telling Reuters: “I think compared to the euro zone crisis the fiscal cliff issue is much easier to solve.”

The euro crisis, which erupted more than two years ago, has eased after the European Central Bank said in September it was ready to buy more government debt. But investors are edgy about when or whether Spain will request an international bailout and how Greece’s deep financial problems can be fixed.

A draft communique being readied for the G20 policymakers said there were elevated risks facing the global economy, including Europe’s crisis and potential problems in Japan.

“Global growth remains modest and risks remain elevated, including due to possible delays in the complex implementation of recent policy announcements in Europe, a potential sharp fiscal tightening in the United States and Japan, weaker growth in some emerging markets and additional supply shocks in some commodity markets,” the draft said, according to a G20 source.

The final communique will be published once talks end on Monday.

G20 officials said t he word ing on Europe referred to differences a mong E uropea n governments over how to build a banking union, considered an important way to bolster the bl oc’s shaky f inancial system, during 2013. France, Spain and Italy have been frustrated with German demands for the new scheme.

Few expect major agreements in Mexico with heavyweights such as U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner – expected to stand down after the U.S. elections – European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and top Chinese officials skipping the meeting.

GERMANY PRESSES ON DEBTS, DEFICITS

In a move that could revive tensions with the United States, Germany was pressing other countries on Sunday for new commitments on deficit and debt reduction targets beyond 2016.

Germany, the euro zone’s biggest economy which has faced criticism for its insistence on belt-tightening to restore confidence in the world economy, came to the meeting saying the United States and Japan shared as much responsibility as Europe for ensuring global economic stability.

“I think the focus is now increasingly balanced, on both the U.S. and EU,” a euro zone official said. “The difference being that there is recognition of and support for the EU efforts, while it is less clear how exactly the U.S. should address its issue.”

Most of the pressure on the United States to explain how the fiscal cliff can be avoided came from the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, and from Germany, a senior G20 official said.

Policymakers are scrambling to stem a new slowdown in a global economy still limping after the 2008-09 financial crisis.

The G20′s consensus of four years ago, which helped stave off the risk of a new depression, has given way to deep differences over issues such as spending to boost growth and the right pace of belt-tightening to tackle high debt levels.

“It won’t be a straight choice between growth or fiscal rebuilding, such a debate has dangerous aspects,” an official from one G20 country said.

Another official said the G20 would resolve the differences by focusing more on structural reforms and on fixed targets for cutting deficits in heavily indebted countries, independently of the pace of economic growth. That would allow countries such as Spain or Greece to meet their targets this year and next despite deeper than expected recessions.

The International Monetary Fund last month cut its forecast for global growth to 3.6 percent for 2013, citing “familiar” forces dragging on advanced economies: fiscal consolidation and a weak financial system.

Officials are concerned about Japan’s own version of the fiscal cliff, a potentially crippling funding shortfall just as it risks sliding into recession.

U.S. and European officials are likely to come under pressure from G20 peers for dragging their feet on implementing the so-called Basel III accords. They would require banks to set aside more capital – potentially hurting profits – which is one of the key global responses to the financial crisis.

Countries which fail to introduce the rules could be punished, a Mexican finance official said

(Additional reporting G20 team in Mexico City; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Kieran Murray and Chizu Nomiyama)

Racketeering and Money Laundering Lawsuit, Seeking Return of $43 Trillion to the United States Treasury

Major Banks, Governmental Officials and Their Comrade Capitalists Targets of Spire Law Group, LLP’s

NEW YORK, Oct. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Spire Law Group, LLP’s national home owners’ lawsuit, pending in the venue where the “Banksters” control their $43 trillion racketeering scheme (New York) – known as the largest money laundering and racketeering lawsuit in United States History and identifying $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000,000.00) of laundered money by the “Banksters” and their U.S. racketeering partners and joint venturers – now pinpoints the identities of the key racketeering partners of the “Banksters” located in the highest offices of government and acting for their own self-interests.

In connection with the federal lawsuit now impending in the United States District Court in Brooklyn, New York (Case No. 12-cv-04269-JBW-RML) – involving, among other things, a request that the District Court enjoin all mortgage foreclosures by the Banksters nationwide, unless and until the entire $43 trillion is repaid to a court-appointed receiver – Plaintiffs  now establish the location of the $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000,000.00) of laundered money in a racketeering enterprise participated in by the following individuals (without limitation):  Attorney General Holder acting in his individual capacity, Assistant Attorney General Tony West, the brother in law of Defendant California Attorney General Kamala Harris (both acting in their individual capacities), Jon Corzine (former New Jersey Governor), Robert Rubin (former Treasury Secretary and Bankster), Timothy Geitner, Treasury Secretary (acting in his individual capacity), Vikram Pandit (recently resigned and disgraced Chairman of the Board of Citigroup), Valerie Jarrett (a Senior White House Advisor), Anita Dunn (a former “communications director” for the Obama Administration), Robert Bauer (husband of Anita Dunn and Chief Legal Counsel for the Obama Re-election Campaign), as well as the “Banksters” themselves, and their affiliates and conduits.  The lawsuit alleges serial violations of the United States Patriot Act, the Policy of Embargo Against Iran and Countries Hostile to the Foreign Policy of the United States, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (commonly known as the RICO statute) and other State and Federal laws.

In the District Court lawsuit, Spire Law Group, LLP — on behalf of home owner across the Country and New York taxpayers, as well as under other taxpayer recompense laws — has expanded its mass tort action into federal court inBrooklyn, New York, seeking to halt all foreclosures nationwide pending the return of the $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000.00) by the “Banksters” and their co-conspirators, seeking an audit of the Fed and audits of all the “bailout programs” by an independent receiver such as Neil Barofsky, former Inspector General of the TARP program who has stated that none of the TARP money and other “bailout money” advanced from the Treasury has ever been repaid despite protestations to the contrary by the Defendants as well as similar protestations by President Obama and the Obama Administration both publicly on national television and more privately to the United States Congress.   Because the Obama Administration has failed to pursue any of the “Banksters” criminally, and indeed is actively borrowing monies for Mr. Obama’s campaign from these same “Banksters” to finance its political aspirations, the national group of plaintiff home owners has been forced to now expand its lawsuit to include racketeering, money laundering and intentional violations of the Iranian Nations Sanctions and Embargo Act by the national banks included among the “Bankster” Defendants.

The complaint – which has now been fully served on thousands of the “Banksters and their Co-Conspirators” – makes it irrefutable that the epicenter of this laundering and racketeering enterprise has been and continues to be Wall Street and continues to involve the very “Banksters” located there who have repeatedly asked in the past to be “bailed out” and to be “bailed out” in the future.

The Havens for the money laundering schemes – and certain of the names and places of these entities – are located in such venues as Switzerland, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Cypress and entities controlled by governments adverse to the interests of the United States Sanctions and Embargo Act against Iran, and are also identified in both the United Nations and the U.S. Senate’s recent reports on international money laundering.  Many of these entities have already been personally served with summons and process of the complaint during the last six months.   It is now beyond dispute that, while the Obama Administration was publicly encouraging loan modifications for home owners by “Banksters”, it was privately ratifying the formation of these shell companies in violation of the United States Patriot Act, and State and Federal law. The case further alleges that through these obscure foreign companies, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, Citigroup, One West Bank, and numerous other federally chartered banks stole trillions of dollars of home owners’ and taxpayers’ money during the last decade and then laundered it through offshore companies.

This District Court Complaint – maintained by Spire Law Group, LLP — is the only lawsuit in the world listing as Defendants the Banksters, let alone serving all of such Banksters with legal process and therefore forcing them to finally answer the charges in court.  Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission, nor the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, nor the Office of the Attorney General, nor any State Attorney General has sued the Banksters and thereby legally chased them worldwide to recover-back the $43 trillion ($43,000,000,000,000.00) and other lawful damages, injunctive relief and other legal remedies.

James N. Fiedler, Managing Partner of Spire Law Group, LLP, stated:  “It is hard for me to believe as a 47-year lawyer that our nation’s guardians have been unwilling to stop this theft.  Spire Law Group, LLP stands for the elimination of corruption and implementation of lawful strategies, and that is what we’re doing here.  Spire Law Group, LLP’s charter is to not allow such corruption to go unanswered.”

Comments were requested from the Attorney Generals’ offices in NY, CA, NV, NH , OH, MA and the White House, but no comment was provided.

About Spire Law Group

 

Spire Law Group, LLP is a national law firm whose motto is “the public should be protected — at all costs — from corruption in whatever form it presents itself.” The Firm is comprised of lawyers nationally with more than 250-years of experience in a span of matters ranging from representing large corporations and wealthy individuals, to also representing the masses. The Firm is at the front lines litigating against government officials, banks, defunct loan pools, and now the very offshore entities where the corruption was enabled and perpetrated.

Contact:
James N. Fiedler
877-438-8766
http://spire-law.com

SOURCE Spire Law Group, LLP

RELATED LINKS
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How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It–(334 pages of help when there is none)

How_To_Survive_The_World_As_We_Know_It

Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times
James Wesley, Rawles
a  p lu m e  b o o k

Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction ix
Publisher’s Note xv
1 The Survival Mind-set for Living in Uncertain
Times 3
2 Priorities: Your List of Lists 21
3 The Survival Retreat 38
4 Water: The Key Resource 65
5 The Deep Larder: Your Family’s Food Storage 78
6 Fuel and Home Power 108
7 Gardens and Livestock 128
8 Medical Supplies and Training 148

9 Communications and Monitoring 190
10 Home Security and Self-Defense 202
11 Firearms for Self-Sufficiency and Self-Defense 223
12 G.O.O.D. Vehicles and the Dreaded Trip Outta
Dodge 247
13 Investing, Barter, and Home-Based Businesses 261
14 It Comes Down to You 287
Appendix A: Glossary 291
Appendix B: Books and Online Resources 299
Appendix C: Protecting Your Family from an
Influenza Pandemic 300
Index 309

Survivalist Wisdom–Voices from the Hurricane Sandy Aftermath

[Prepare for the worst, pray that you never need it.  Pray even harder if you do need it, for protection from those whose only survival plan has been to take what they needed.]

Six Letters Re: Hurricane Sandy After Action Reports

SurvivalBlog.com

James,
I’m located in central New Jersey not far from the Delaware River. In the days prior to the hurricane hitting, everyone packed the supermarkets, warehouse clubs and home improvement stores to stock up.

At the home improvement stores, the people who had best luck getting generators were those who purchased them online and selected in-store pickup. There were lines of people 100+ deep from the front of the store to the back waiting for new shipments of generators to arrive. The only people who were guaranteed anything were those who had already purchased and paid online.

For those lucky enough to get a generator, they’d have a hard time fueling it if they didn’t already have gas cans and gas stored at home. The shelves were cleared of gas cans days before the storm hit.

The warehouse club that we are members of sold out of water the day before the storm hit. They normally have pallets of water on shelves up to the ceiling along the length of an entire aisle. That aisle was completely bare. They also sold out of most fruits/and vegetables that could store for a little without power. The displays that normally hold bananas and apples were bare.

Flashlights and D batteries were gone days before the storm too. The only ones that were left were plug-in rechargeable flashlights that would be of little use after the first discharge in a power outage.

My sister had luck finding a huge display of batteries at a big chain baby store. Most people went straight to the supermarkets and home improvement stores, not thinking that many other types of stores also kept basic supplies.

The winds really started to pick up Monday afternoon. There wasn’t much rain, even at the height of the storm, but the winds were very strong. Our house, which is only 4 years old, shuddered a couple of times in the highest gusts. We didn’t sustain any physical damage to the house, but a couple of small trees tilted over but didn’t uproot or break. Some sections of vinyl fencing in our neighborhood blew out and shattered from the force of the wind.

Sections of our neighborhood started to lose power around 6 PM not long after the hurricane made landfall. Street lights were out and the power to houses across the street were out. From our upstairs windows, we watched the sky glow blue and pink in all directions as transformers blew. Every minute or so another one would blow.

Finally, around 8:30 PM, we watched a transformer light the sky up for about 30 seconds. When it finally darkened, we and the rest of our neighborhood were out of power.

I had filled our spare refrigerator in our garage with cases of water and the spare freezer with bags of ice. I also took every empty plastic jug and bottle out of our recycling bins and filled them 3/4 of the way with water and froze them in our main/spare freezers. Every inch of freezer space that wasn’t packed with food was packed with an ice bottle.

I knew our refrigerator wouldn’t keep food cold long, so we immediately transferred our most critical food (milk for the kids, etc.) into ice filled coolers. The main freezer with most of our frozen food and frozen water bottles was never opened. It stayed perfectly cold until the power came back on, and most of the ice bottles had barely started to thaw. The food in our ice-filled coolers also was fine. We did sacrifice non-critical food that we didn’t have space for in the coolers to the garbage bin.

We lit the house with long-lasting led lanterns that definitely did the trick. We hunkered around an old battery power radio to keep up with storm news, and gave our two-year old son a spare lantern to play with, which kept him happy. With no power and little news expected until morning, we turned in early (for us) at around 10 PM.

Our furnace was out and we don’t have a fireplace, so the temperature dropped to the low 60s in our house overnight. It was a little chilly, but we were comfortable enough. We were definitely lucky it wasn’t colder outside.

By the morning the storm had passed and a family that we are very close friends with down the street had their generator running. We and several of our friends congregated there for the day. They had enough power for their refrigerator, several lights, a tv and cable box, and a power strip for charging phones.

Although the power was out, the cable stayed on until around noon so we were able to see the first images of storm damage. After the cable went out, most of us switched to our web-enabled smartphones and social media to stay informed and reach out to friends.

We grilled outside for lunch and dinner, with everyone pitching in food that would go bad if unused. Everyone with spare gas stored was prepared to pitch in whatever they had until the power came back on to keep the generator running. We brought over 10 gallons that wasn’t needed.

Cell phone service was spotty. People who were subscribers of one the two major cell providers in our area had no problem making/receiving calls and surfing the web. Subscribers of the other major service had a signal, but couldn’t make calls and their data service only worked intermittently.

The day after the storm, most traffic lights remained out. All gas stations and most stores were closed. One home improvement store opened under emergency power. They only let a limited number of people into the front part of the store where they had set up displays with their remaining emergency supplies (flashlights, batteries, power cords, and a new supply of gas cans). They surprisingly even accepted credit cards. Some other stores we checked out only accepted cash if they were open at all.

24 hours after the power went out, it came back on for most of our neighborhood. We’re definitely lucky since of the 2/3 of our state that was without power, only about 15-20% of homes had been restored when we were reconnected.

It was an interesting experience for a day, but something that none of us would have been happy to have continue. We all realized, individually and as a group, what things we were missing that could have made us more comfortable.

Although we were lucky that our part of the state suffered little more than downed trees and power lines, New Jersey is very small so we all have friends in the hardest hit parts of the Jersey Shore and we are very familiar with the popular vacation spots that have been destroyed.

I’ve been in contact with friends who live just blocks from the beach who have raised homes and still have standing water lapping at their front doors. A few other friends live in beach neighborhoods that have essentially become islands with bridges, highways and other access roads out of service and surrounded by water. Others left some of the very hardest hit communities before the storm hit and don’t know if their homes are still standing.

Some neighborhoods devastated by storm surge and flooding are now burning. Along some of the barrier islands, emergency services from the mainland are cut off and fires will likely be left to burn themselves out. Some entire towns are expected to burn.

There are a lot of people who have lost everything and many who are still in harm’s way. Keep them in your prayers. Thanks, – Brad S.

 

James,
I have family from Pennsylvania to Maine.  I tried to encourage my family and cousins who I knew would be affected by Sandy to visit me in the mountains of New England, but they were all so sure that they could survive the storm.

Only one family had a generator.  It wasn’t wired into the house, so plenty of extension cords are in use there.  The others had nothing at all setup.  So I briefed them on filling the tub, freezing extra containers for ice, etc.  And all were briefed on staying put during and after the storm.

Of course, some don’t listen so well.  While all survived in some fashion, here is the latest and worse from my cousin on Long Island:

“Pumping out water all day.
We had absolutely not a drop of [drinking] water. Storm surge at 830 p.m. and we were seeing it force its way in at the rate of a foot a minute!! I have never witnessed anything like that in my life!
Scary stuff!!!

We tried to hold it back just no way hydraulic pressure was just too much.
Total 10 feet of water. We jumped ship when it got to 6 feet. Then couldn’t get to [deleted for OPSEC]‘s house… Every path home and on every road trees were down, we didn’t plan for that. We slept at a friend’s aunt’s house. She welcomed us (dog and all) with open arms and we are total strangers. The walls all cracked assuming will be a total loss.

We are going to call it quits soon will be back at it again tomorrow. No [phone] service so can’t call our insurance company. Friends are coming from all over to help. No big deal–It is just a material asset. Insurance hopefully covers hurricanes. We are fortunate, as it could’ve been much worse.”

He was right.  They were fortunate.  They could have drowned leaving during the night.  They could have been injured trying to leave that location to their ‘safe’ house.

I suspect that the next time they will evacuate in a timely fashion.  I doubt that they will ever disparage a prepared mindset again.

We can’t save folks from themselves.

I will head into New York and New Jersey when possible to reach them with support.  I expect to have to wait until after this coming Tuesday.

Thank you for your SurvivalBlog site! Regards, – Mike A.

 

Good Morning to You!
Our area of the East coast was spared the worst brunt of the storm.  Massive snowfalls to our west, and massive flooding to the east.  We were very fortunate.

We live on top of a hill, and by Monday morning, we had water filling our basement.  I went outside with middle son, and we found a deep hole filled with water next to the foundation of our house.  We dug a ditch from the edge of the hole far, far away from the edge of the hole and down the hill well past the fall line.  I would estimate we dug at least 30 feet of mud.  While I dug, my son took the shovels of dirt that I pulled out of the ground and put it back into the hole by the foundation.  Once we were finished, we moved the drainage pipe from the gutters so that it, too, fed into the ditch we had dug away from the house.  10 more inches of rain fell over the next 24 hours, but no more of it ran into our basement.

I understand now what you mean when you say you need to be physically fit!  I’m a 40 something mother of three, and my 17 year old son and I put in a good two hours worth of physical work in the driving rain, diverting water away from the house.  Maybe insurance would have covered the damage if we hadn’t done the work, but I prefer the effort of digging a ditch in the rain to the effort of clearing a basement of water and carpets and furniture.  Best two hours worth of work I’ve ever done, and our house is still in one piece!

Besides the obvious water and wind damage around here, there is one thing that stuck out more and more:  The number of people killed by falling trees.  Tall trees close to the house really do need to be trimmed back so that damage is lessened if a tree or limb falls on a house.  One gentleman told the story of how he and his father had a conversation on Saturday about how they needed to trim or cut down the tree next to the house.  Then on Monday, his father was killed instantly when the tree fell on the house during high winds.

Peace to you all. – B.L.W.

 

James,
The report from Delaware. With the exception of flood prone and some beach front areas we dodged the bullet.

It was an excellent exercise for our small family. The preparation for with this sort of an event turns on do you stay or leave. Different priorities for equipment supplies and staging following from each of those two choices. However what this storm brought home to us (since we have a shelter in place default ) is that within the shelter in place paradigm is,”suppose that tree falls on your house and you must leave in a hurry anyway’ sub-plan. Since for us in our location Sandy was forecast to be a wind event, this latter sub-plan rose up from the back burner rather forcefully.

Now, we had to pull out and check the go bags (not seen since last year’s windy scare) marshal water, food rations, range bags (did I restock those mags after the last week) , document case, comms and other take-with items by the door while preparing to deal with prolonged electrical outage (potentially weeks) therefore check generator, water reserves, fuel, etc etc..

I found that while our shelter in place preps and SOP were fairly well in hand, the “Yikes, we got-a-go now” end was pretty confused. Part of the reason for this is that we really need to have more duplicate gear stashed in the “Go now” configuration, and it was clear from this go round that we ain’t there yet. I also know as I write this that I have all sorts of essential items stowed carefully labeled clearly that I will want to toss in the vehicle, but it will take me days to think through the inventory. Not something to be doing as water is cascading through a rent in the building.

So I tell you to tell me, “build the list now while it is still fresh.”

One side note: We were “powerless” for only 8 hours, but as a result I am looking to replace my noisy old Generac (such a headache! The thing just roars. I must be getting old) with newer quieter Yamaha or Honda digital. While researching I found this very useful worksheet for calculating loads on the Yamaha web site.

Blessings… Pray for the folks in New York City, Connecticut and New Jersey…. They have a long way to come back. – Dollardog

 

JWR:
As per your request for info out of the New York City area: Having grown up in Florida, I kind of knew what to expect. Needless to say, I was well provisioned and my powder, so to speak, was high and dry and at the ready well in advance of Sandy’s final approach…

My wife and I rode out the storm in our “Brooklyn Bunker,” a fourth-floor apartment in a solid pre-war building. We spent a long night watching for the flashes of transformers exploding in the wind, and darkness encroaching as lights went out in the homes all around us. Luckily, the lights managed to stay on in our neighborhood, and we didn’t lose power once. After the storm passed, we emerged to discover no major damage, some trees down on cars and roofs, limited cell phone service, but that’s about it…

The same can’t be said for lower Manhattan and parts of Staten Island, though. The six-foot security fence around some rental property I own there came down, right into my truck. A violent storm surge turned most of the coastal communities on the island into what looks like a war zone, with the National Guard deployed to keep order. No working street lights, no stores open, no gas. People are attempting to drive into northern New Jersey to find gas stations that have power, with little luck. Con Edison now says power will be out to 60% of the island for more than a week. My tenants are in the dark with no heat…

Looking across the East River into Lower Manhattan at night, I am reminded of my time as a journalist in New Orleans during Katrina, where I witnessed another entire American city abandoned, darkened, and brought to its knees by Mother Nature (combined with a healthy dose of human stupidity). The entire subway system here is paralyzed, and along with it commerce, and most of the city’s inhabitants. There are already some rumblings on blogs and other social media platforms about the “lack of government response,” like this one here, but for the most part, people have remained unusually calm and accommodating to each other, at least for New Yorkers.

As with Katrina, Sandy reminded me of just how fragile the veneer of civilization that most most city-dwellers often take for granted truly is. During the final 24 hours leading up to Sandy’s arrival, lines at every major grocery store in Brooklyn and Manhattan were several blocks long, with hours-long wait times just to enter the stores and clerks taking small groups of people in to shop, just a few at a time.

Given the mentality of the average city-dweller, the run on grocery stores was to be expected. Perhaps more importantly for the SurvivalBlog readership at large, what’s transpired here over the past 48 hours is nothing short of an amazing exercise in the efficacy of state control circa 2012 (much better execution than what I witnessed during Katrina). I am at once somewhat pleasantly surprised yet shockingly dismayed by just how quickly the authorities were able to shut down and subdue the country’s biggest metropolis. Within a few hours, they were able to – successfully – deploy several thousand National Guard troops, shut down the country’s biggest subway system, 15 major bridges and tunnels, three major airports, and cut power to eight square miles of a world-class city…all with nary a whimper nor major objection from the populace.

New Yorkers in three major boroughs were – and in the case of Lower Manhattan, still are – effectively cut off from the outside world. Moving forward, most SurvivalBlog readers like myself who either choose or are forced to reside in cities should perhaps (re)consider their long term plans and preparations given the recent tactics on display here in NYC.

Thanks and best, – KTC in NYC

 

Dear Jim:
Sheeple no more here. Sandy came and went. Our area is Bucks County about an hour north of Philadelphia. We border the Delaware River. Power here went out early and and only came on today.

I think we weathered it well. I was one of the last minute “run to the store” folks. Bought a gallon of milk. Everything else was in place. As soon as the power went out, I fired up our generator and hunkered down for the 70 MPH winds.

We did lose a couple of shingles and some aluminum trim on the house. Those unprepared suffered flooded basements, many areas will not have power for a week or more. Lots of trees down, snapped telephone poles, sink holes in the road. The emergency services were running 24 hours for two days. Constant sirens all over the place.

Where did I come up short? I never got around to getting my ham radio license or programming my Baofeng UV-5R. It would have come in handy to keep in touch with the others in my group. I have some Uniden walkies and they proved worthless.

At the end of the storm my wife she thanked me for being prepared. Up until this happened she kind of went alone with my “hobby”. Always a little smile on her face. It’s different now.

What I need to do:

• Get my ham license.
• Run a dedicated electrical line to the crucial items in the house. Pumps, freezer, frig, security lights.
• Replace my burned out chainsaw.
• Read “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” for the 12th time and update my (your) lists of lists.

Take care and God Bless, – M.

Elitists Use Personal Positions of Power To Bring About the “Culling” of the Human Herd

Saving Humanity

Dave Hodges

The Common Sense Show

Do you remember when your mother asked you if you would jump off a cliff if everyone else was doing it? It turns out that all of us would have been wise to heed the advice from our mothers as the globalists aren’t just encouraging us to jump off a cliff, they are, in fact, pushing us off of the proverbial cliff in a deliberate attempt to fulfill the their mandate which is to eliminate a substantial portion of humanity. Meanwhile, the globalists will be safely tucked away in some underground structure free from the harm that they are perpetrating upon humanity. Sadly, many of our friends and family members are willingly going to their demise without so much as a whimper.

Heretofore, the topic of intentional depopulation was the perceived product of paranoid delusional conspiracy theorists who had too much time on their hands. The most frequent refrain from the unaware is that “they” would never do that. However, the globalists have left an unmistakable paper trail in which their true agenda is exposed.

I have collected a sample of quotes from the global elite, both past and present. And even people who cannot find the courage to abandon their normalcy bias, will have a difficult time denying the disturbing quotes which follow. .

Officials in the United Nations Want You Dead

Surely, the peace loving United Nations, complete with its expressed desire to save the world from any and all evil would stand in line to thwart any expressed threat to inhabitants of this planet, right?  Well, not exactly. The United Nations is permeated with individuals who are Satanically inspired and have repeatedly, on many fronts, have expressed their intent to reduce the world’s population by dramatic means, if necessary. Please consider the following quotes:

“No one will enter the New World Order unless he or she will make a pledge to worship Lucifer. No one will enter the New Age unless he will take a Luciferian Initiation.”
David Spangler, Director of Planetary Initiative, United Nations

The present vast overpopulation, now far beyond the world carrying capacity, cannot be answered by future reductions in the birth rate due to contraception, sterilization and abortion, but must be met in the present by the reduction of numbers presently existing. This must be done by whatever means necessary.”

Initiative for the United Nations ECO-92 EARTH CHARTER

 

“One America burdens the earth much more than twenty Bangladeshes. This is a terrible thing to say in order to stabilize world population, we must eliminate 350,000 people per day. It is a horrible thing to say, but it’s just as bad not to say it.         

 Jacques Cousteau, UNESCO Courier

“A reasonable estimate for an industrialized world society at the present North American material standard of living would be 1 billion. At the more frugal European standard of living, 2 to 3 billion would be possible”.

United Nations, Global Biodiversity Assessment

                     “A total population of 250-300 million people, a 95% decline would  be ideal”                                                                                      

Ted Turner, founder of CNN and major United Nations contributor

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that this pack of Eugenicists are overseeing our elections?  Perhaps the officials at the United Nations stand alone among elite leaders on the planet.

 

 What About Our Educated Elite?

Although it is painfully obvious that the United Nations elite have a high level of contempt for the average person, surely those people responsible for educating our children will teach the time honored virtues of the United States Constitution. Surely, they will teach their students to develop a healthy respect for American sovereignty so that the genocidal lunatics running the United Nations are unable to put their genocidal schemes into motion. Upon further review, this is not the case as I bring to you the words of those who educate and mold the minds of our young people.

War and famine would not do. Instead, disease offered the most efficient and fastest way to kill the billions that must soon die if the population crisis is to be solved. AIDS is not an efficient killer because it is too slow. My favorite candidate for eliminating 90 percent of the world’s population is airborne Ebola (Ebola Reston), because it is both highly lethal and it kills in days, instead of years. “We’ve got airborne diseases with 90 percent mortality in humans. Killing humans. Think about that. “You know, the bird flu’s good, too. For everyone who survives, he will have to bury nine”

Dr. Eric Pianka University of Texas speaking on the topic of reducing the world’s population to an audience on population control.

“A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells, the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people. We must shift our efforts from the treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer. The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions”.                                                                            

  Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb

“We have to take away from humans in the long run their reproductive autonomy as the only way to guarantee the advancement of mankind.”

Francis Crick, The discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA

It strongly appears that the Eugenicists patrolling corridors of educational institutions possess the same disdain for mankind as do the lunatic officials from the United Nations.

 

What About the Environmental Elites?

It is apparent that humanity cannot look to the sociopathic leaders of the United Nations and America’s top academic leaders for salvation.  But certainly the eco-friendly environmentalists, with their penchant for saving the whales and the spotted owl will ride to the rescue of mankind.  Regrettably, this is also not the case. It seems that the humanitarian spirit of the environmentalists does not apply to any species which possess a collapsible thumb, the power of speech and has a well-developed cerebral cortex. Again, the words of the elite exposes their depopulation agenda.

“If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.”

 Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Leader of the World Wildlife Fund

“Malthus has been vindicated; reality is finally catching up with Malthus. The Third World is overpopulated, it’s an economic mess, and there’s no way they could get out of it with this fast-growing population. Our philosophy is: back to the village.”                  

 Dr. Arne Schiotz, World Wildlife Fund Director of Conservation

 

What About Our Government Leaders?

Historically, many Americans believe that they can look to the government to protect them from the evils of the world.  It is clear that our blind trust in our public officials misplaced. Our leaders are not our friends, and have not been for a very long time as evidenced by the following quotes:

“Society has no business to permit degenerates to reproduce their kind”
Theodore Roosevelt

“There is a single theme behind all our work–we must reduce population levels. Either governments do it our way, through nice clean methods, or they will get the kinds of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control, it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it….” “Our program in El Salvador didn’t work. The infrastructure was not there to support it. There were just too goddamned many people…. To really reduce population, quickly, you have to pull all the males into the fighting and you have to kill significant numbers of fertile age females….” The quickest way to reduce population is through famine, like in Africa, or through disease like the Black Death….
Thomas Ferguson, State Department Office of Population Affairs

“Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world, because the US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries”.
Dr. Henry Kissinger

“The world’s population needs to be reduced by 50%,” and “The elderly are useless eaters”
Dr. Henry Kissinger

“The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes.”
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

“Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of.”
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries’ shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits.”
Obama’s science czar John P. Holdren: From Ecoscience

One percent of the population is sociopathic. Here are two clear markers for Sociopaths, discoverable in their behavior patterns: 1) Sociopaths have no conscience. Hence, 2) Sociopaths cannot feel guilt nor remorse, like  ordinary people can.

These are evil people, very evil people. Superficially charming, they are selfish, greedy, unemphathetic, manipulative, and prone to violence and abuse. They steal, cheat, vandalize others property, swindle, and they are pathological liars. They are unconcerned with the feelings of other humans, who are mere objects to be used, and have little or no conscience

A recent book, authored by Martha Stout, in which the material came from released government documents CEO’s are three times more likely to be a sociopath than the general population. Politicians are four times more likely to be sociopathic than you and I.  These are the people who seek power and once they obtain that power, the see absolute power, much to detriment of the soon-to-be extinct members of human race.

 

What Is Humanity To Do?

If humanity is to preserve itself in its present form, it will be necessary to educate the masses as to the planned perils which lie ahead. The pro-human preservation movement needs bodies, billions and billions of bodies. Yet, the very victims of the coming planned genocide are dumbed down by the schools and propagandized into a false sense of security by the mainstream media which is owned by six global elite corporations who also want you gone.

For humanity to survive, we need to collectively rise from our knees and seize control of the planet’s institutions and permanently banish these dangerous sociopaths from their self-anointed positions of planetary leadership. The first step in gathering the numbers of people which we will need to accomplish this goal, is to educate the human race in as great as numbers as possible. My suggestion would be to forward these quotes to everyone you know and then follow up with one question. Do you think that your status in life is so significant that you and your family will be spared the coming holocaust?  If not, then you better roll up your sleeves and convince as many people as possible that we are in a great deal of danger.

A Brilliant Pentagon Plan for Spreading Perpetual “Persistent War” Looks Just Like A “Failed” Terror War

[This is an excellent explanation of the mess that we find ourselves in today, due to the miserable, evil policies of the past two American Administrations, but the author from TomDispatch misses the most important point, as always.  That singular, vital to understand point is this--the American war on terror HAS NOT FAILED, it has succeeded brilliantly in its primary mission--to spread conflict over the entire planet.  The war on terror was NEVER intended to be won, it was just a means to an end, prepositioning military forces in every nation, before unleashing global nuclear war.  All of these little "piss ant" wars that we have been fighting, the various Partnership-for-Peace programs, Special Forces training missions, drug-interdiction and border control operations, along with the overall rubric of "fighting terrorism," have all provided the means to preposition American "Special Operators" and their weapons within other national militaries and police forces.  Their original mission has been to "win the hearts and minds" of foreign military men, before the real war begins, the war against all enemies at once.  

The Pentagon would prefer to be known as a bumbling,"inept giant," rather than as the monstrous, devouring beast that it really is.  The Joint Chiefs have been faithfully carrying-out the desires of their corporate masters and their puppets in the White House, by spreading the Pentagon's tentacles into every corner of the planet, even to the depths of the oceans and the heights of sub-orbital space.  The Pentagon is a monster, that is set upon devouring all of the little peasant villagers who will besiege the fortified fortresses of their dark overlords.  The Pentagon is firmly committed to a policy that is best defined as "Malthusian," the calculated thinning-out of the human herd.  The Pentagon has been setting itself up as the ultimate protectors of a small group of racist elitists, who consider the rest of us as cattle, fit only to be bought and sold, improved in limited numbers through selective crossbreeding and genetic experimentation, with the remainder of the herd to be  eventually slaughtered, probably to be processed into "Soylent Green" for them.  

The day is nearly upon us when open-air thermonuclear detonations will become a regular occurrence.  The day after that day comes and goes, will be the only time when Bush's war could be judged either a resounding success, or a total failure.  Until then, only the spread of death and terminal madness will spread across the face of the Earth.]  

A failed formula for worldwide war

How the empire changed its face, but not its nature.

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey has been holding “strategic seminars” over a giant map of the world larger than a basketball court [EPA]

They looked like a gang of geriatric giants. Clad in smart casual attire – dress shirts, sweaters, and jeans – and incongruous blue hospital booties, they strode around “the world”, stopping to stroke their chins and ponder this or that potential crisis. Among them was General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a button-down shirt and jeans, without a medal or a ribbon in sight, his arms crossed, his gaze fixed. He had one foot plantedfirmly in Russia, the other partly in Kazakhstan, and yet the general hadn’t left the friendly confines of Virginia.Several times this year, Dempsey, the other joint chiefs, and regional war-fighting commanders have assembled at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico to conduct a futuristic war-game-meets-academic-seminar about the needs of the military in 2017. There, a giant map of the world, larger than a basketball court, was laid out so the Pentagon’s top brass could shuffle around the planet – provided they wore those scuff-preventing shoe covers – as they thought about “potential US national military vulnerabilities in future conflicts” (so one participant told the New York Times). The sight of those generals with the world underfoot was a fitting image for Washington’s military ambitions, its penchant for foreign interventions, and its contempt for (non-US) borders and national sovereignty.A world so much larger than a basketball court In recent weeks, some of the possible fruits of Dempsey’s “strategic seminars”, military missions far from the confines of Quantico, have repeatedly popped up in the news. Sometimes buried in a story, sometimes as the headline, the reports attest to the Pentagon’s penchant for globetrotting. In September, for example, Lieutenant General Robert L Caslen, Jr, revealed that, just months after the US military withdrew from Iraq, a unit of Special Operations Forces had already been redeployed there in an advisory role and that negotiations were underway to arrange for larger numbers of troops to train Iraqi forces in the future. That same month, the Obama administration won congressional approval to divert funds earmarked for counterterrorism aid for Pakistan to a new proxy project in Libya. According to the New York Times, US Special Operations Forces will likely bedeployed to create and train a 500-man Libyan commando unit to battle Islamic militant groups which have become increasingly powerful as a result of the 2011 US-aided revolution there. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that the US military had secretly sent a new task force to Jordan to assist local troops in responding to the civil war in neighbouring Syria. Only days later, that paper revealed that recent US efforts to train and assist surrogate forces for Honduras’s drug war were already crumbling amid a spiral of questions about the deaths of innocents, violations of international law, and suspected human rights abuses by Honduran allies. Shortly after that, the Times reported the bleak, if hardly surprising, news that the proxy army the US has spent more than a decade building in Afghanistan is, according to officials, “so plagued with desertions and low re-enlistment rates that it has to replace a third of its entire force every year”. Rumors now regularly bubble up about a possible US-funded proxy war on the horizon in Northern Mali where al-Qaeda-linked Islamists have taken over vast stretches of territory – yet another direct result of last year’s intervention in Libya.  Empire – The decline of the American empire And these were just the offshore efforts that made it into the news. Many other US military actions abroad remain largely below the radar. Several weeks ago, for instance, US personnel were quietly deployed to Burundi to carry out training efforts in that small, landlocked, desperately poor East African nation. Another contingent of US Army and Air Force trainers headed to the similarly landlocked and poor West African nation of Burkina Faso to instruct indigenous forces. At Camp Arifjan, an American base in Kuwait, US and local troops donned gas masks and protective suits to conduct joint chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear training. In Guatemala, 200 Marines from Detachment Martillo completed a months-long deployment to assist indigenous naval forces and law enforcement agencies in drug interdiction efforts. Across the globe, in the forbidding tropical forests of the Philippines, Marines joined elite Filipino troops to train for combat operations in jungle environments and to help enhance their skills as snipers. Marines from both nations also leapt from airplanes, 10,000 feet above the island archipelago, in an effort to further the “interoperability” of their forces. Meanwhile, in the Southeast Asian nation of Timor-Leste, Marines trained embassy guards and military police in crippling “compliance techniques” like pain holds and pressure point manipulation, as well as soldiers in jungle warfare as part of Exercise Crocodilo 2012. The idea behind Dempsey’s “strategic seminars” was to plan for the future, to figure out how to properly respond to developments in far-flung corners of the globe. And in the real world, US forces are regularly putting preemptive pins in that giant map – from Africa to Asia, Latin America to the Middle East. On the surface, global engagement, training missions, and joint operations appear rational enough. And Dempsey’s big picture planning seems like a sensible way to think through solutions to future national security threats. But when you consider how the Pentagon really operates, such war-gaming undoubtedly has an absurdist quality to it. After all, global threats turn out to come in every size imaginable, from fringe Islamic movements in Africa to Mexican drug gangs. How exactly they truly threaten US “national security” is often unclear – beyond some White House adviser’s or general’s say-so. And whatever alternatives come up in such Quantico seminars, the “sensible” response invariably turns out to be sending in the Marines, or the SEALs, or the drones, or some local proxies. In truth, there is no need to spend a day shuffling around a giant map in blue booties to figure it all out. In one way or another, the US military is now involvedwith most of the nations on Earth. Its soldiers, commandos, trainers, base builders, drone jockeys, spies, and arms dealers, as well as associated hired guns and corporate contractors, can now be found just about everywhere on the planet. The sun never sets on American troops conducting operations, training allies, arming surrogates, schooling its own personnel, purchasing new weapons and equipment, developing fresh doctrine, implementing novel tactics, and refining their martial arts. The US has submarines trolling the briny deep and aircraft carrier task forces traversing the oceans and seas, robotic drones flying constant missions and manned aircraft patrolling the skies, while above them, spy satellites circle, peering down on friend and foe alike. “The US military should have the planet on lockdown… yet after more than a decade of war, it has failed to eliminate a rag-tag Afghan insurgency with limited popular support.” Since 2001, the US military has thrown everything in its arsenal, short of nuclear weapons, including untold billions of dollars in weaponry, technology, bribes, you name it, at a remarkably weak set of enemies – relatively small groups of poorly-armed fighters in impoverished nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen – while decisively defeating none of them. With its deep pockets and long reach, its technology and training acumen, as well as the devastatingly destructive power at its command, the US military should have the planet on lockdown. It should, by all rights, dominate the world just as the neoconservative dreamers of the early Bush years assumed it would. Yet after more than a decade of war, it has failed to eliminate a rag-tag Afghan insurgency with limited popular support. It trained an indigenous Afghan force that was long known for its poor performance – before it became better known for killing its American trainers. It has spent years and untold tens of millions of tax dollars chasing down assorted firebrand clerics, various terrorist “lieutenants”, and a host of no-name militants belonging to al-Qaeda, mostly in the backlands of the planet. Instead of wiping out that organisation and its wannabes, however, it seems mainly to have facilitated its franchising around the world. At the same time, it has managed to paint weak regional forces like Somalia’s al-Shabaab as transnational threats, then focus its resources on eradicating them, only to fail at the task. It has thrown millions of dollars in personnel, equipment, aid, and recently even troops into the task of eradicating low-level drug runners (as well as the major drug cartels), without putting a dent in the northward flow of narcotics to America’s cities and suburbs. It spends billions on intelligence only to routinely find itself in the dark. It destroyed the regime of an Iraqi dictator and occupied his country, only to be fought to a standstill by ill-armed, ill-organised insurgencies there, then out-manoeuvered by the allies it had helped put in power, and unceremoniously bounced from the country (even if it is now beginning to claw its way back in). It spends untold millions of dollars to train and equip elite Navy SEALs to take on poor, untrained, lightly-armed adversaries, like gun-toting Somali pirates. How not to change in a changing world And that isn’t the half of it. The US military devours money and yet delivers little in the way of victories. Its personnel may be among the most talented and well-trained on the planet, its weapons and technology the most sophisticated and advanced around. And when it comes to defence budgets, it far outspends the next nine largest nations combined (most of which are allies in any case), let alone its enemies like the Taliban, al-Shabaab, or al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but in the real world of warfare this turns out to add up to remarkably little. In a government filled with agencies routinely derided for profligacy, inefficiency, and producing poor outcomes, itsrecord may be unmatched in terms of waste and abject failure, though that seems to faze almost no one in Washington. For more than a decade, the US military has bounced from one failed doctrine to the next. There was Donald Rumsfeld’s “military lite”, followed by what could have been called military heavy (though it never got a name), which was superseded by General David Petraeus’s “counterinsurgency operations” (also known by its acronym COIN). This, in turn, has been succeeded by the Obama administration’s bid for future military triumph: a “light footprint” combination of special ops, drones, spies, civilian soldiers, cyberwarfare, and proxy fighters. Yet whatever the method employed, one thing has been constant: Successes have been fleeting, setbacks many, frustrations the name of the game, and victory MIA. Convinced nonetheless that finding just the right formulafor applying force globally is the key to success, the US military is presently banking on that new six-point plan. Tomorrow, it may turn to a different war-lite mix. Somewhere down the road, it will undoubtedly again experiment with something heavier. And if history is any guide, counterinsurgency, a concept that failed the US in Vietnam and was resuscitated only to fail again in Afghanistan, will one day be back in vogue. “The more time, effort and treasure the US invests in its military and its military adventures, the weaker the payback.” In all of this, it should be obvious, a learning curve is lacking. Any solution to America’s war-fighting problems will undoubtedly require the sort of fundamental reevaluation of warfare and military might that no one in Washington is open to at the moment. It’s going to take more than a few days spent shuffling around a big map in plastic shoe covers. American politicians never tire of extolling the virtues of the US military, which is now commonly hailed as “the finest fighting force in the history of the world”. This claim appears grotesquely at odds with reality. Aside from triumphs over such non-powers as the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada and the small Central American nation of Panama, the US military’s record since World War II has been a litany of disappointments: Stalemate in Korea, outright defeat in Vietnam, failures in Laos and Cambodia, debacles in Lebanon and Somalia, two wars against Iraq (both ending without victory), more than a decade of wheel-spinning in Afghanistan, and so on. Something akin to the law of diminishing returns may be at work. The more time, effort and treasure the US invests in its military and its military adventures, the weaker the payback. In this context, the impressive destructive power of that military may not matter a bit, if it is tasked with doing things that military might, as it has been traditionally conceived, can perhaps no longer do. Success may not be possible, whatever the circumstances, in the twenty-first-century world, and victory not even an option. Instead of trying yet again to find exactly the right formula or even reinventing warfare, perhaps the US military needs to reinvent itself and its raison d’être if it’s ever to break out of its long cycle of failure. But don’t count on it. Instead, expect the politicians to continue to heap on the praise, Congress to continue insuring funding at levels that stagger the imagination, presidents to continue applying blunt force to complex geopolitical problems (even if in slightly different ways), arms dealers to continue churning out wonder weapons that prove less than wondrous, and the Pentagon continuing to fail to win. Coming off the latest series of failures, the US military has leapt headlong into yet another transitional period – call it the changing face of empire – but don’t expect a change in weapons, tactics, strategy, or even doctrine to yield a change in results. As the adage goes: The more things change, the more they stay the same. Nick Turse is the managing editor of TomDispatch.com and a fellow at the Nation Institute. He is the author/editor of several books, including the just published The Changing Face of Empire: Special Ops, Drones, Spies, Proxy Fighters, Secret Bases, and Cyberwarfare  (Haymarket Books). This piece is the final article in his series on the changing face of American empire, which is being underwritten by Lannan Foundation. A version of this article first appeared on TomDispatch. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Source: Tomdispatch

The Road to World War 3

Published on Sep 11, 2012 by StormCloudsGathering

We are on a road that leads straight to the World War 3, but in order to see that and to fully understand what is at stake you have to look at the big picture and connect the dots. This video examines the history of the dollar, its relation to oil, and the real motives behind the wars of the past two decades.

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Credits:
Music is original composition by StormCloudsGathering
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Scenes from Grey State trailer used with permission fromhttp://www.graystatemovie.com

The GRAY STATE Project–the American People Under Seige

The GRAY STATE Project

The world reels with the turmoil of war, geological disaster, and economic collapse, while Americans continue to submerge themselves in illusions of safety and immunity. While rights are sold for security, the federal government, swollen with power, begins a systematic takeover of liberty in order to bring about a New World Order.

Americans, quarantined to militarized districts, become a population ripe for tyrannical control.
Fearmongering, terrorism, police state, martial law, war, arrest, internment, hunger, oppression, violence, resistance – these are the terms by which Americans define their existence. Neighbor is turned against neighbor as the value of the dollar plunges to zero, food supplies are depleted, and everyone becomes a terror suspect. There are arrests. Disappearances. Bio attacks. Public executions of those even suspected of dissent. Even rumors of concentration camps on American soil.

This is the backdrop to an unfolding story of resistance. American militias prepare for guerilla warfare. There are mass defections from the military as true Patriots attempt to rally around the Constitution and defend liberty, preparing a national insurgency against federal forces, knowing full well this will be the last time in history the oppressed will be capable of organized resistance.

It is a time of transition, of shifting alliance, of mass awakening and mass execution. It is an impending storm, an iron-gray morning that puts into effect decades of over-comfort and complacency, and Americans wake up to an occupied homeland. It is a time of lists. Black list, white list, and those still caught in the middle, those who risk physical death for their free will and those who sell their souls to maintain their idle thoughts and easy comforts. It is in this Gray State that the perpetuation of human freedom will be contested, or crushed.

Is it the near future, or is it the present? The Gray State is coming – by consent or conquest. This is battlefield USA.

Encompassing the world of conspiracy theory, economic collapse, global disaster, end-time prophecies, martial law, and growing civil unrest, GRAY STATE is a piercing look into the immediate future in which the withered remains of freedom are traded for an impression of security.

GRAY STATE is the reality that can no longer be ignored. It is coming – by consent or conquest.

Watch the first official Gray State concept trailer here.

What is the Gray State?

The GRAY STATE is here. It always was.

A Leninist critique of Western humanitarian imperialism

By Nicolas Bonnal

We are living dangerous yet moral times, for a few hundreds of arrogant and powerful men (call them Bilderbergs, Illuminati, Trilateralists) have decided to rule the World together in the name of “the commerce and the imaginative”, as put Cecil Rhodes, the founder of the first version of the NWO which opened first modern concentration camps for the Boers’ families 111 years ago.

We are thus ruled by humanitarian oligarchs, by imaginative and moral rascals who mix oil with principles and raw materials with innumerable moral commandments which oblige us to intervene everywhere. Warmongers adore justifying their wars. It is like in the time of Hitler, when he was compelled to invade Czechoslovakia to protect his fellow Germans, then Poland to protect the citizens of Danzig, then soviet Russia to protect the West against the evils of communism (the Nazis, while massacring anyone, often boasted of protecting western heritage)!

And today when the West attacks and bombs Libya, Syria or Lebanon, waiting for poor Iran, massacring civilians, we are used to understand that it is for the promotion of good and to fight evil. Thanks to their own bad faith and disinformation, western mainstream media, politicians, military and adventurers are auto-convinced that they castigate the bad to celebrate the good, may they be the sinister Mujahedin in Syria or elsewhere. Such limited handling of reality explicates in Europe or in America our debt, our uncontrolled immigration, our social unrest, our unemployment, our weakness. Yet it has to be understood. Why are we so wrong?

I was for that reason reading again Lenin’s masterwork about imperialism (Imperialism highest stage of capitalism). Some things have changed, fortunately for some countries (they are no more starved and whipped by democratic colonial powers), some others have not. The imperial and barbaric movement is still the same, except that it is now uneasy to assail India or China for a new break up, and that Russia is too strong and efficiently protects some of her allies. Of course now the hidden companions who rule the world have decided to ruin western people delocalizing all production and developing immigration… but I won’t complaint since at Lenin’s times these enlightened elites had decided to butcher Europe as a whole to defend some local mines or overseas interests… Anyway Lenin shrewdly denounces in his book decaying capitalism, economic parasitism and the oligarchic conduct of the 300, as put Rathenau, who then ruled their gloomy West.

Yet I must recognize that the most interesting parts of Vladimir Lenin’s book come from his quote of an unknown and remarkable British writer named Hobson (John A. Hobson, Imperialism, a study). Contrarily to Lenin, Hobson is not a Marxist, and that perhaps gives him more intuition and finesse when it comes to understand the motives of our humanitarian elites. A capitalist may be a ruthless businessman full of greed, but he can be a real idealist too, and of the worst kind. Writes Hobson on the matter:

In view of the part which the non-economic factors of patriotism, adventure, military enterprise, political ambition, and philanthropy play in imperial expansion, it may appear that to impute to financiers so much power is to take a too narrowly economic view of history.

Hobson then reproaches the sinister role of adventurers, writers (Kipling, Verne, Haggard, etc.), missionaries, travellers, sportsmen, scientists, who promote the imperialist ideals. He writes and it’s always the case that the western imperialist consider that they must have such a divine right of force that they even can lead “to the point of complete subjugation or extermination the physical struggle between races and types of civilisation.” The lower race must disappear not because it is black or yellow, but because it is less moral! This is what happens nowadays with the Arabs, may they be Palestinians, Iraqis, Syrians or Libyans.

Of course in 1900 nobody in the European populations is convinced of the imperialistic benefits. Life is hard in Europe, inequalities fantastic, and many people must emigrate… in free countries, not in our colonies. Also, the expenses for colonial wars are enormous. This is why, for Hobson, the imperialist bankers, traders and their affiliates emphasize humanitarian motives, buy the press, print travel books and celebrate heroism and exotic action. They adore the generous missionaries, travellers (Dr Livingstone, I presume?) and all the Allan Quatermain and Phileas Fogg of the creation… These feelings are fed by a flood of the literature of travel and of imaginative writing… Today we have terrorist novels or books, manipulated reportages, false flag attacks, painted terrorism, faked digital pictures, and so on to justify for instance the “three trillion dollars” (Jo Stieglitz) war of Iraq or of Afghanistan. We all remember famous Randolph Hearst’s expression, pronounced on the verge of infamous American-Spanish war: I’ll produce the war! There was too a false flag attack to unclench war process.

Hobson has got a master point: like every capitalistic operation, imperialism is awfully interested in money yet it is often driven by a foolish agenda based on crossed morality, biased ethics and anarchic interventionism. We have today the human rights agenda, run by non-governmental-organisations, secret services and philanthropist billionaires. Already in 1900, there exists in a considerable though not a large proportion of the British nation a genuine desire to spread Christianity among the heathen, to diminish the cruelty and other sufferings… Hell is often paved with good intentions… western oligarchs want to be good even if, like said Oscar Wilde, “our conscience is always cowardice.”

Since the West is no more Christian, it has become a criminal with a conscience! Western madness, this mix of hubris and nemesis, had of course softened after WW2 and decolonization, but it violently stroke back since the end of USSR; and the American agenda in Balkans and Middle-East was coldly applied by Clinton, Bush or Obama. And the same state of mind has remained: our elites and the so-called public opinion forged by media, polls, and bad consciousness (“we must destroy any new Hitler”, especially if he lives in a small modernist Arab country!) have accustomed themselves to self-deception and fake ideals. Of course we know the strategic role of Afghanistan or Syria, the importance of oilfields, pipelines and minerals. But they’re not alone, and we don’t know how far the limits of Western bad faith can lead. I let humanist and pessimistic Hobson conclude:

The gravest peril of Imperialism lies in the state of mind of a nation which has become habituated to this deception and which has rendered itself incapable of self-criticism.

Nicolas Bonnal

Toward Barbarism: US Imperialism Unleashed

by Ben Schreiner

The triumph of imperialism leads to the annihilation of civilization.

Rosa Luxemburg, The Junius Pamphlet

With signs of a global economic downturn mounting, US aggression across the Middle East and North Africa ratchets up.  And once again, US imperialism stands poised to swing open the gates of Hell.

The choice presently confronting humanity, then, is one between imperialism on the one hand, and the struggle against imperialism on the other.  It’s a choice of socialism or barbarism.

Global Capitalism Imperiled

 

According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report released last week, the “risks for a serious global slowdown are alarmingly high.”  The report projects the world economy to expand just 3.3 percent this year and 3.6 percent in 2013—both projections down from the IMF’s July forecast.   As Joseph Davis, chief economist at the Vanguard Group, cautioned to the Wall Street Journal, “The odds of a global recession are not fully appreciated.”

Indeed, for as the Financial Times reports, the Tracking Indices for the Global Economic Recovery, the Brookings Institution-Financial Times index of the world economy, finds severe problems “in both advanced and emerging markets.”

“The global economic recovery,” Brookings’ senior fellow and index creator Eswar Prasad warned, “is on the ropes.”

And though in its latest report the IMF continued to peddle the harsh elixir of austerity for the depressed economies of the euro zone periphery, the Fund also came to tacitly acknowledge the limits of austerity.

“The IMF now says global efforts to slash deficits and debt may have hurt growth because they occurred too quickly and too widely,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

But with the limits of austerity as a means of resolving the present crisis apparent, the last remaining card for the capitalist elite to play in their attempt to regenerate global capitalism appears to be in unleashing the forces of “creative destruction” wrought by military aggression.  As Henryk Grossman warned in his Law of Accumulation, “The destructions and devaluations of war are a means of warding off the immanent collapse [of capitalism], of creating a breathing space for the accumulation of capital.”

It is thus out of the need to renew the impetus for capital accumulation that the iron fist of US imperialism gains free rein once more across the full spectrum of what American neo-conservatives deem the “arc of instability.”

US Imperialism on the March

 

According to the New York Times, the Pentagon is readying military strikes in Libya in retaliation for the September attack on the US compound in Benghazi.  As the paper reports, “The top-secret Joint Special Operations Command is compiling so-called target packages of detailed information about the suspects.”

“Potential military options could include drone strikes, Special Operations raids like the one that killed Osama bin Laden and joint missions with Libyan authorities.”

The Times goes on to report that the Pentagon is also rushing to train and equip a 500 member Libyan commando force to be used to combat “Islamic extremists” within the country.

At the same time, the Pentagon has reportedly dispatched a task force of 150 military “planners” and “specialists” (i.e., special operations troops) to a Jordanian military base along the Jordan-Syria border.  Speaking at a NATO conference in Brussels last week, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta claimed that the task force was sent to help Jordan “monitor chemical and biological weapons sites in Syria.”

The specter of chemical weapons has been increasingly used as a pretext by the Atlantic powers to threaten military intervention into Syria.  As President Obama declared in August, the use of chemical weapons by Syrian forces would be a “red line,” which would force him to change his “calculus” on intervention.

“Once again, Western powers are digging deep for excuses to intervene militarily in another conflict-torn Middle East country,” an editorial in the state-run Xinhua news agency of China read in response to Obama’s threat.

Sure enough, as the New York Times reported, discussions have already taken place over using the Jordanian-stationed US task force to help establish a buffer zone within Syrian territory.

(In addition to the deployment of troops along the Jordan-Syria border,  CIA operatives are presently active along the Syria-Turkey border, facilitating the flow of arms to rebel forces.  Meanwhile, a recent report in the Los Angeles Timesnoted that the US military is currently using aerial surveillance drones to monitor Syrian chemical weapon stockpiles.)

Of course, the stepped up targeting of Syria cannot be decoupled from the joint Israel-US campaign against Iran.  After all, as hawks Michael Doran and Max Boot argue in a New York Times op-ed, the first reason American intervention in Syria is now merited is because it “would diminish Iran’s influence in the Arab world.”

The road to Tehran, we see, may very well lead through Damascus; although, the urge to fly non-stop to Tehran may just prove too strong to resist.

Marching Toward Tehran

 

With Iran clearly in mind, the US and Israel are set to begin a massive three-week joint missile and air defense exercise later this month.  The exercise, Business Week reports, will include 3,500 US personnel and 1,000 members of the Israel Defense Forces, making it the largest joint military exercise held between the two nations.  The planned war game also occurs amid mounting speculation of a looming strike against Iran.

According to a report in Foreign Policy by David Rothkopf, the US and Israel are actively planning a joint “surgical strike targeting Iranian enrichment facilities.”  Rothkopf, a former Clinton administration official and Editor-at-Large ofForeign Policy, cites his source as stating that “the strike might take only ‘a couple of hours’ in the best case and only would involve a ‘day or two’ overall.”

The strike, Rothkopf quotes an “advocate” of an attack as stating, would have a “transformative outcome: saving Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, reanimating the peace process, securing the Gulf, sending an unequivocal message to Russia and China, and assuring American ascendancy in the region for a decade to come.”  This, of course, being the essence of the proverbial neo-con wet dream.

Remarkably, Rothkopf even goes as far as to triumph the idea of a “surgical strike” as a potential October Surprise Obama could use to propel himself back to the White House.

It appears now, however, that Rothkopf’s “report” may have been little more than a plant by the Israeli embassy in Washington.  A move, perhaps, intended to further coerce Obama into adopting a more hawkish stance on Iran, while simultaneously serving to downplay the risks of an attack.

Of course, peddling the notion of a so-called “surgical strike” on Iran is nothing particularly new.  In March, Jeffrey Goldberg reported for Bloomberg that Israeli talk of striking Iran had assumed a rather optimistic tenor.

“One conclusion key [Israeli] officials have reached,” Goldberg wrote after a trip to Israel, “is that a strike on six or eight Iranian facilities will not lead, as is generally assumed, to all-out war.”

(One cannot help wonder if the Rothkopf and Goldberg share the same source.)

Such assessments, though, are rather dubious, given that they directly contradict numerous assessments determining that any strike against Iran would quickly spiral into a regional conflict.  A report earlier this year in the New York Times, for instance, noted a war game simulation run by the Pentagon forecast that an Israeli strike “would lead to a wider regional war, which could draw in the United States and leave hundreds of Americans dead.”

Likewise, a September war game organized by Kenneth Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, resulted in a dangerous escalation from both sides.  As the Washington Post’s David Ignatius reported, “The game showed how easy it was for each side to misread the other’s signals.”

“Misjudgment was the essence of this game,” Ignatius continued.  “Each side thought it was choosing limited options, but their moves were interpreted as crossing red lines. Attacks proved more deadly than expected; signals were not understood; attempts to open channels of communication were ignored; the desire to look tough compelled actions that produced results neither side wanted.”

“War,” as Clausewitz wrote, “is the province of danger.”

Toward Barbarism

 

US imperial dreams, however, are hardly confined to setting the Middle East ablaze.  Imperial ambitions—rooted in the capitalist logic of endless expansion—are inherently limitless.  Thus, we see the US today readying to propel the greater Middle East into the abyss, while simultaneously “pivoting” to the Asia-Pacific in order to “contain” a rising China.

US imperialism, however, is destined for defeat (and sooner rather than later).  The US, after all, can only use its immense military power to keep potential competitors in check for so long.  The universal law of change cannot be held at bay by the barrel of a gun in perpetuity.  As Lenin asked and answered in his pamphlet Imperialism: “Is it ‘conceivable’ that in ten or twenty years’ time the relative strength of the imperialist powers will have remained unchanged? Absolutely inconceivable.”

But imperial powers are always dangerously deluded by the strength of their power—impervious to its ultimate limits.  As a George W. Bush administration official once remarked to the journalist Ron Suskind: “’We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

(One would be mistaken to believe that such hubris is not as present in the Obama White House as it was in the Bush administration.)

Such arrogance from the power elite—indicative of imperial rot—is but a byproduct of the imperialist imperative of endless expansion and conquest.  And it is this very imperative that today compels US imperialism towards igniting a military conflagration in the Middle East threatening to ensnare the global powers. “A great cemetery,” as Luxemburg warned nearly a century ago, awaits such a triumph of barbarism.

The only means with which to elude such a miserable fate is found in the revolutionary power of working people to resist. As Luxemburg argued, escape from barbarism is only possible once the working class comes to seize “its own destiny and escape the role of the lackey to the ruling classes.”

The only genuine and enduring hope for humanity, then, lies is in the struggle for socialism.

United Front Against Austerity Public Assembly–October 27, 2012

UFAA Public Assembly

Saturday, October 27, 2012
INN World Report
56 Walker St, New York, NY 10013 | Map

Update 10/9: Please RSVP if you plan to attend the October 27 Public Assembly. This will be a great help to us in planning for the event.

UFAA Public Assembly

October 27, 2012
12-6pm

INN World Report
56 Walker Street, NYC | Map

About UFAA and the Public Assembly

Austerity – the imminent, existential threat to the American people. No matter the outcome of the November elections in the US, working families will be thrown over the proverbial “fiscal cliff” in the name of debt and deficits. Cutting Social Security, Medicare and other threads in our fragile social fabric is not only grossly unjust – it won’t work! The so-called “Grand Bargain” threatens to unleash a death spiral of unemployment and poverty which our nation is not certain to survive.

Organizing to defend our economic rights. It is for this reason that we must organize now to mobilize effective opposition to the impending austerity offensive; agitate to shift the burden of the economic depression onto Wall Street oligarchs; and to build momentum toward a genuine political revolution of, by and for the people.

Not a conference – an assembly! The UFAA Public Assembly on October 27 will not be “just another conference” that ends when the doors close. Participants will hear proposals from distinguished speakers, engage in floor debate, and vote on vital strategic matters. The UFAA intends to build on Wisconsin and Occupy – with decisions, demands and action.

ASSEMBLY FORMAT Addresses (90+ minutes) A series of brief addresses, both live and recorded, from distinguished representatives. Proposals and Debate (4+ hours) A moderated presentation of proposals, live debate and votes. For example, “what is the more effective demand – a 1% Wall Street sales tax, or a more progressive income tax?” All persons representing proposals acceptable to the American public are invited to attend and debate. Disruptive behavior and tactics will not be tolerated.

KEY ISSUES WILL INCLUDE Program Concrete demands for political & economic reform. Organization An organic coalition with organized centers of leadership. Strategy Identifying our immediate strategic needs, and a roadmap for success. Leadership Developing and attracting political leaders to our coalition.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD We want to hear from: Labor unions Political organizations Journalists & media Academics and public advocates Groups representing blacks, hispanics and other disadvantaged minorities Professional organizations, especially those in industry, agriculture, science and engineering

General Motors Wants Out of Govt. Bailout That Enabled GM Sell-Out of Workers and Retirees

Obama’s wistful GM exit strategy

 

By MarketWatch

— Jim Jelter 

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) – The Wall Street Journal took a fresh look Monday at General Motors Co.’s efforts to end its awkward relationship with the U.S. Treasury.

The article, citing “people familiar with the government’s thinking,” states the government is reluctant to sell its 26.5% holding in GM because it would mean booking a loss on the bailout. That’s understandable. While it’s great to be able to point to all the jobs saved by the $50 billion bailout, any political currency gained by the White House would be a lot sweeter if it also made a profit on the deal.

That’s not happening. Not yet, anyway. GM GM +1.92%   is currently trading at just under $24 a share, well below its $33 post-bankruptcy public offering in November 2010. The share price needs to reach $53 for the government to extract itself from GM without a loss.

Reuters

General Motors assembly plant in Hamtramck, Mich.

What’s the likelihood of that happening? Much hinges on the success of GM’s heavily revamped lineup here at home, its ability to stem losses in Europe, and whether it can continue to grow sales in Asia. But with less than two months to go before the presidential election, investors won’t have enough information by then to judge whether GM’s performance on these three critical fronts has a realistic shot at lifting the share price past $53.

Does Wall Street think it can happen? The charts are not reassuring. Analysts surveyed by FactSet currently have an average $30.19 price target on the stock, slipping from a 2012 high of $34.35 in April. And while no one has a sell rating on GM, 4.3% of analysts following the company now have underweight ratings on it, ending a nine-month run free of underweight ratings, a reflection more of tougher macroeconomic conditions than specific shortcomings at GM.

So, given the political stakes, there’s little reason to bet the Treasury Department will bail out of its GM holdings any time soon. Unless, of course, Mitt Romney wins the election. If he does, and he keeps his word, he’ll end this uncomfortable alliance right away, incurring a loss to taxpayers that he can pin on his predecessor.

That scenario might be good for GM shareholders. If company executives are to be believed, shedding government oversight would free GM to conduct business the way it sees fit, not the Treasury.

But campaign rhetoric rarely delivers what it promises. As with most things, it’s easier to rush in than to get out. (Think Iraq, Afghanistan.) In this case, exiting GM without a loss would be spun into exiting with honor. Achieving anything close to that is going to take a while, especially in this economy.

Does General Motors (GM) Control US Uzbek Policy?

[If not for Obama/Bush policies to ship US manufacturing jobs overseas, GM would be downsizing under federal bankruptcy jurisdiction right now, over its failure to honor contractual commitments made to United Auto Workers and other union workers in exchange for multiple contract concessions.  In other words, if General Motors had been forced to honor the contracts that it had entered into with its workforce, then it would have been bankrupt.  They had gotten too big for their britches when their famed product reputation for excellence could not sell enough Chevrolets, Pontiacs and Buicks to produce a profit over their expenses.  Time and time again, workers gave the corporation huge contract concessions to maintain shareholder profits.  Over and over, GM management refused to produce the clean, small economy cars (like those made today in Uzbekistan) that the cash-strapped, environmentally conscious American people demanded, until it was too late.  Now, there are very few cars really made in the USA.   Because Obama allows GM corporation to continue operating as an American company, even though nearly every component of every car and truck they sell is manufactured outside the US, they can maintain the illusion that GM still makes "American-made" automobiles.  Many of "Chevy's" vehicles are still assembled here, but unlike the miniature Uzbek  Chevrolet "Spark," they are not "made locally."

No one can honestly claim today that the Uzbek workers "took our jobs," but the jobs were handed to them, thanks to our beloved President and Congressmen.]

In Uzbekistan, a Chevy on every corner

ALMATY (Reuters) – When a Tashkent resident flags down a private car for a $2 ride, chances are it will be a Chevrolet. Ninety-four percent of new cars sold in Uzbekistan last year were made by General Motors – the biggest share of any market served by the U.S. auto giant.That General Motors should have a foothold in the reclusive former Soviet republic owes much to the technology and capital it brings to a country which, under veteran President Islam Karimov, has been the graveyard of many foreign ventures.

Landlocked Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim country of 29 million in the heart of Central Asia, is ranked by rights bodies among the world’s most repressive states. Hundreds died in 2005 during a bloody crackdown on an uprising in the Ferghana valley city of Andizhan.

The same, densely populated valley, where poverty fuels simmering discontent with Karimov’s rule, is home to the GM plant where South Korean-trained workers file through electronic turnstiles to sparkling production lines beyond.

Robots tease metal sheets into shiny new Chevys and workers are trained to calmly respond to musical signals, in contrast to the noisy bustle, embroidered skull caps and brightly colored gowns on display in Asaka, the town outside the factory gates.

A former Communist party apparatchik, Karimov, now 74, has gambled heavily on building high-tech industries to try to cut dependence on the export of cotton, gold and other raw materials that were the backbone of Uzbek production in Soviet times.

“The Uzbek government’s economic development model is essentially one of import substitution,” said Lilit Gevorgyan, analyst at IHS Global Insight. “Uzbekistan lacks the capital and the new technologies. The joint venture with GM is a good example of how they can achieve this goal.”

The compact Matiz and the Nexia sedan so ubiquitous in Tashkent, the country’s capital, are a throwback to the 1990s, when South Korea’s Daewoo Motor Co was Uzbekistan’s joint venture partner at the plant.

Daewoo Motor Co split from its parent, Daewoo Group, in 2001 and later became part of General Motors. In its current incarnation, GM Uzbekistan is owned 25 percent by GM and 75 percent by state company UzAvtosanoat.

“We appreciate the great support of the Uzbek government, which clearly recognizes the fundamental role car manufacturing can make to a nation’s economy,” a GM spokesman wrote in an emailed reply to questions.

GM sold 121,584 vehicles in Uzbekistan last year, making the country the eighth-largest market for its Chevrolet brand. The joint venture produced more than 225,000 cars last year and will raise output to 250,000 units this year.

On Wednesday, the company rolled out a new model, the Chevrolet Cobalt, a family-size sedan aimed both at the local Uzbek market and other former Soviet states.

Reuters text correspondents are not accredited to report in Uzbekistan and permission was not granted to attend the launch. But an accredited TV cameraman was admitted and also visited GM’s Asaka plant and engine plant in Tashkent with a photographer.

Marimjon Jumabayev, manager of the production line at the Asaka plant which rolls out the Chevrolet Spark, described the launch as a “great achievement”.

“I am happy to glorify my nation, Uzbekistan,” he said. A Foreign Ministry official accompanied Reuters on the visit.

‘RISKY ENVIRONMENT’

Not every foreign investor has met with success in Uzbekistan. Russia’s top mobile phone operator, MTS, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange, has written off $1.1 billion after its Uzbek license was permanently revoked on August 13.

Uzbekistan’s State Inspectorate for Communications cited “repeated and systematic” violations when it first suspended the MTS license in July.

But the company says it is facing a “classic shakedown” of the type that has forced out London-listed miner Oxus Gold, U.S. company Newmont Mining Corp and Russia’s Wimm-Bill-Dann, now part of PepsiCo.

The dispute prompted the GSMA, an organization uniting nearly 800 mobile operators worldwide, to write an open letter on Wednesday asking Karimov to intervene directly in a case that has seen four local MTS managers imprisoned.

“The mobile communications industry is a lucrative source of potential foreign investment to Uzbekistan, and other providers may be hesitant to make investments after seeing what has happened to MTS-Uzbekistan,” GSMA Director-General Anne Bouverot wrote.

A U.S. State Department official raised the matter on a visit to Tashkent last month, while the Helsinki Commission, an independent U.S. government agency that monitors human rights, has also written to Karimov to express its concern.

Ties between the West and Uzbekistan that soured after the Andizhan massacre are warming again, however, in anticipation of the drawdown of NATO troops from Afghanistan in 2014.

Neighboring Uzbekistan has been a vital cog in the transit route to supply NATO-led forces fighting the Taliban. U.S. influence also acts as a counter-balance to Russia’s strategic designs on its former Soviet hinterland.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last year toured the GM Powertrain-Uzbekistan plant in Tashkent, a separate joint venture between GM and its Uzbek partner to make fuel-efficient engines for its light vehicles.

“The U.S. hopes that having its businesses operating in Uzbekistan will only help to cement their strategic relations,” said Gevorgyan.

And GM is not alone. Case New Holland, for example, has been manufacturing agricultural equipment in Tashkent for 15 years, Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said during a recent visit by a U.S. business delegation.

“I hear a consistent message that Uzbekistan has great potential as an investment destination. However, to reach its full economic potential, it should address persistent challenges in the business and investment climate,” Blake said in a speech in Tashkent on August 17.

“Delays in currency conversion prevent manufacturers from importing the supplies they need to produce their finished goods, and the problem can be compounded by complex and uncertain customs procedures.”

YEAR-LONG QUEUES

For GM, the launch of the Cobalt reinforces its presence in the emerging markets now driving the growth of the world’s top auto makers. The car, which has optional six-speed transmission, will also be built in Brazil for the South American market.

The Chevrolet Spark, the Captiva sport utility vehicle and the glitzy Malibu sedan vastly outnumber the Russian-made Lada, a relic of the Soviet era, on the dusty alleys of the ancient Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara.

In a country where the economy is tightly regulated and monthly wages average $300 in Tashkent and less in rural areas, many would-be Chevy owners wait as long as a year to buy their car, after making a deposit of up to 85 percent of its price.

The overwhelming popularity of the Chevrolet in Uzbekistan can also be explained, in part, by prohibitive customs duties and other taxes on imported cars.

A local journalist with knowledge of the car market, who asked not to be identified, said by telephone that the myriad costs incurred when importing a car could add up to 150 percent of the actual purchase price.

Umid, a 21-year-old university graduate who, like many Tashkent residents, makes a living driving his private car as a taxi, said he had once tried to buy a second-hand Mercedes in Dubai to replace his old Nexia.

“I called home and my friends made me drop the idea. The old Mercedes would have cost me nearly as much as a brand new limo in Uzbekistan,” he said.

Humming a melody to himself as he weaved his tiny Matiz through a leafy Tashkent suburb, Bahauddin, a 50-year-old former shop assistant, is happy enough with his Chevy.

After quitting his job to undergo cancer surgery, the income he earns ferrying passengers around the capital is just enough to get by.

“I had no money to buy food,” he said. “Now I have this car. It’s a real life-saver.”

(Reporting by Almaty newsroom; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Significant recession imminent if Congress doesn’t act on fiscal cliff: CBO report

[If American Congressmen cannot immediately stop themselves from passing simultaneous tax hikes and budget cuts, then the American economy will take a nosedive in the first half of next year.  It is that extreme and that certain, Congress is arriving at a very ugly "moment of truth," which none of us should be ignoring.  The American economy, and by extension, the entire world economy, is about to plunge into another deep dark economic chasm which can only be avoided if all Congressmen and Congresswomen change their own natures overnight.  But that will never happen, Congress will NOT CHANGE until we force it to change.  If we cannot immediately reign-in Congress, then America will enter into an economic downturn far worse than those in the  recent past, which have been described as "worse than the Great Depression."  In the first half of 2013, we will be in the same boat as the European Union.  Mandated tax increases on the Middle Class and the wealthy will only exacerbate a bad conundrum.   We can no longer afford Congress the luxury of following its own customary, contradictory budget policies.  There has to be some sort of citizen enforcement of Constitutional Law, in order to bind the hands of Congress, so that they can no longer simultaneously add to the budget and cut it at the same time.  The American Congress behaves as if all of them were "Lords," or other "aristocrats," who did not have to answer to the people they represent, administering laws arbitrarily, deciding which of their friends and relatives would receive their fortunes from government largess.  Obama's policies and stop-gap measures have only amplified the existing contradictions in American govt. policies and accelerated the conflict.  The closer we get to the American police state, the more our society of alleged "free choice" comes to resemble a classic totalitarian dictatorship, much like that of the former CIS states dictatorships.  Downtown Portsmouth, Ohio will come to look more and more like downtown Khorog, Tajikistan, where the military now rules in a most brutal manner.  As the clock ticks down to zero, notice just how much Obama clings to the pattern of continually making things more painful by constantly avoiding the appearance of pain.  He is a typical consensus-building politician, who will never try to make things a little better by offering a painful cure.

Can the world be saved or won by belt-tightening alone, even in conjunction with incentives to wealthy investors?  Perhaps during less dire times than the era we are entering it might have worked.  More money is now needed to set the world aright than all of the gold that is now hoarded away.  To set the course of humanity upon a path of progress, one which is far different than the destructive track we have been on, will require massive infrastructure investments, especially in those areas where there has been almost no infrastructure to speak of.  We have run out of road and must therefore, build new roads.   We haven't the luxury to wait to make these infrastructure improvements until we have saved enough to finance the work; we need that money now--but we will NOT HAVE that money now.  We will instead, blissfully sail the American ship of state off the edge of the cliff.  It is going to be a very rough ride.]

Significant recession imminent if Congress doesn’t act on fiscal cliff: CBO report

By Lori Montgomery

The nation would be plunged into a deep recession during the first half of next year if Congress fails to avert nearly $500 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts set to hit in January, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday.

The massive round of New Year’s belt-tightening – variously known as the fiscal cliff or Taxmageddon – would disrupt recent economic progress, push the unemployment rate back up to 9.1 percent by the end of 2013 and cause economic conditions “that will probably be considered a recession,” the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said.

The outlook is considerably darker than the forecast the agency released in January, when CBO predicted that the fiscal cliff would trigger a modest recession in the first half of 2013, followed by a quick recovery.

Since that forecast was issued, Congress has steepened the fiscal cliff by extending a temporary payroll tax break and emergency unemployment benefits, which are now also set to expire in January.

In addition, CBO analysts concluded that the underlying economy is weaker than previously predicted. In its latest budget outlook, the CBO predicts the federal deficit will be $1.1 trillion in the fiscal year that ends in September, marking the fourth straight year of deficits in excess of $1 trillion.