Wednesday, June 30, 2010
AMAZING SPEECH BY WAR VETERAN
If you're a "stay the courser" clear your mind and open your heart. Our imperialistic arrogance is out of control, we have lost more service men and women to suicide over the past seven years than both our illegal occupations combined. Sixty plus years of occupation, manipulation, theft and murder are enough to hate any nation regardless of the their past accomplishments. We have lost our way.
Why Schools Don't Educate by John Taylor Gatto
We live in a time of great school crisis. Our children rank at the bottom of nineteen industrial nations in reading, writing and arithmetic. At the very bottom. The world's narcotic economy is based upon our own consumption of the commodity, if we didn't buy so many powdered dreams the business would collapse – and schools are an important sales outlet. Our teenage suicide rate is the highest in the world and suicidal kids are rich kids for the most part, not the poor. In Manhattan fifty per cent of all new marriages last less than five years. So something is wrong for sure.
Read Entire Article HERE
Read Entire Article HERE
Hayek's Plan for Private Money - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Daily
Hayek's Proposal
Hayek argues that, if only government obstacles were removed, the free market would provide the optimal quantity (and variety!) of monetary products. Just as the forces of competition lead to low prices and superior quality in every other line, so too would competition in the "fiat money industry" lead to monies that were infinitely better than their government-produced counterparts. For example, the private monies would be far more stable in their purchasing power, would be harder to counterfeit, and would be available in more convenient denominations.
Although one can imagine an equilibrium situation given that the public is already holding vast quantities of such private currencies, it is difficult to conceive of how they would "get off the ground" in the first place. Here is the most ingenious part of Hayek's proposal (which naturally I am adapting for a modern exposition):
Read Entire Article HERE
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
"Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem
Some people need a different teacher in order to understand the lesson. Rap is not my cup tea, but the lesson is clear, economically.
Rubio, Crist and Meek better watch out for Alexander Snitker
We could use more candidates like Mr. Snitker...
OUT with the establishment, party line incumbents.
Paul Craig Roberts: Is Petraeus McChrystal's Replacement or Obama's?
Our petulant president’s ego can’t handle a general letting off steam. Neither can any of the spoiled children who comprise “our” government in DC, the capital of the “superpower.”
Generals have to fight wars that civilians start, either from the incompetence of their diplomacy or the arrogance of their hubris. Generals have to get young troops killed because of the stupidity or ambition or corruption of civilian government officials.
All McChrystal did was to let off steam. A real president would have realized that and let it go.
Don’t get me wrong. McChrystal is a militarist, and I am pleased to see him gone.
However, McChrystal didn’t restart America’s aggression against Afghanistan. Obama did.
People elected Obama, because they were tired of Bush’s wars based on lies. So Obama gave us a new war in Pakistan and reignited the Afghan war. No one knows what these wars are about or why the bankrupt US government is wasting vast sums of money, which it has to borrow from foreigners, in order to murder the citizenry in two countries that have never done anything to us.
Read Entire Article HERE
Tinfoil Hat News: THE COMING JEWISH LOCK-DOWN OF THE INTERNET
A JEWISH-LED SENATE COMMITTEE approved legislation that would “fundamentally reshape” the way the government ‘protects’ public AND private sector cyber networks.
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led by Chairman Joe Lieberman, a freedom-hating, Talmudic Jew, is the sponsor of this bill which would create a Cyberspace Policy Office within the White House.
The bill, Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, maliciously crafted by Lieberman, would also create a new center within Homeland Security, (Talmudic Jew Lieberman at the head), which would implement cyber-security policies.
This new agency within the Department of Homeland Security will be named, The National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC).
Read Entire Article HERE
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, led by Chairman Joe Lieberman, a freedom-hating, Talmudic Jew, is the sponsor of this bill which would create a Cyberspace Policy Office within the White House.
The bill, Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, maliciously crafted by Lieberman, would also create a new center within Homeland Security, (Talmudic Jew Lieberman at the head), which would implement cyber-security policies.
This new agency within the Department of Homeland Security will be named, The National Center for Cybersecurity and Communications (NCCC).
Read Entire Article HERE
Airport body scanners deliver radiation dose 20 times higher than first thought | Mail Online
The controversial use of full body scanners in airports could lead to an increase in skin cancers, according to leading scientists.
They say that the low level beam does deliver a small dose of radiation to the body but because the beam concentrates on the skin - one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body - that dose may be up to 20 times higher than first estimated.
Read Entire Article HERE
Obama's PROMISE To End The Iraq War - Oct. 27, 2007 - "You Can Take That...
Why is it that Americans are fined and/or jailed for lying to state or federal agencies/officials, yet all levels of our government a.k.a. our representatives lie to us, unscathed, ready and armed to lie another day???
7 Potential Economic Effects Of A War With Iran | Benzinga.com
As each day passes, war in the Middle East seems increasingly likely. The truth is that Israel will never allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons, and Iran is absolutely determined to continue developing a nuclear program. So right now Israel and Iran are engaged in a really bizarre game of "nuclear chicken" and neither side is showing any sign of blinking. In fact, even prominent world leaders are now openly stating that it is basically inevitable that Israel is going to strike Iran. For example, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi recently made the stunning admission that the G8 nations that Israel will attack Iran. But a conflict between Israel and Iran would not just affect the Middle East - it would have staggering implications for the rest of the globe.
So just what would a war between Israel and Iran mean for the world economy?
Read Entire Article HERE
Ellen Brown: Who Will Pay: Wall Street or Main Street , The Tobin Tax or the VAT?
Wall Street banks have been saved from bankruptcy by governments that are now going bankrupt themselves; but the banks are not returning the favor. Instead, they are engaged in a class war, insisting that the squeezed middle class be even further squeezed to balance over-stressed government budgets. All the perks are going to Wall Street, while Main Street slips into debt slavery. Wall Street needs to be made to pay its fair share, but how?
Read Entire Article HERE
Read Entire Article HERE
A ‘Kill Switch’ for the State by Butler Shaffer
LewRockwell.com
A bill quickly being whisked through Congress – while the mainstream media distracts our attentions with updates on the death of a girl on Aruba, or "remembering Michael Jackson" – would give to the president a "kill switch" that would allow him to shut down the Internet on his whim. The supporters of this measure gurgle assurances that its purpose is only to protect the nation’s "security" in the face of a "terrorist" attack. Since 9/11, Boobus has been conditioned to accept any and every intrusion in the name of resisting "terrorism," not wanting to know that it is the American government that is the major promoter of terrorism in the world. As the late George Carlin might well have expressed it, our government must fight the terrorist activities of other groups as a way of keeping its monopoly on the use of violence. Terrorism "is our job," I could almost hear him declare.
A bill quickly being whisked through Congress – while the mainstream media distracts our attentions with updates on the death of a girl on Aruba, or "remembering Michael Jackson" – would give to the president a "kill switch" that would allow him to shut down the Internet on his whim. The supporters of this measure gurgle assurances that its purpose is only to protect the nation’s "security" in the face of a "terrorist" attack. Since 9/11, Boobus has been conditioned to accept any and every intrusion in the name of resisting "terrorism," not wanting to know that it is the American government that is the major promoter of terrorism in the world. As the late George Carlin might well have expressed it, our government must fight the terrorist activities of other groups as a way of keeping its monopoly on the use of violence. Terrorism "is our job," I could almost hear him declare.
The Internet is a destabilizing force to established interests in the world. It is premised on the free exchange of information which, in turn, is an expression of the liberty of individuals to act in furtherance of their particular interests. Government schools, the mainstream media, and other institutional voices, relentlessly work to condition the minds of people to think and to act within limits that are consistent with institutional purposes. Ideas or actions that do not challenge established interests may be welcomed (if supportive of such ends) or tolerated (perhaps as entertainment). But as the institutional order continues its decentralizing collapse into alternative social systems and practices, its domination of humanity continues to weaken. The struggle confronting mankind comes down to the question of whether human beings are to be the masters of their own lives, or whether they are to remain as resources to be exploited for institutional ends.
Read Entire Article HERE
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Pat Tillman - "A Letter For My Brother" by Kevin Tillman
It is Pat’s birthday on November 6, and elections are the day after. It gets me thinking about a conversation I had with Pat before we joined the military. He spoke about the risks with signing the papers. How once we committed, we were at the mercy of the American leadership and the American people. How we could be thrown in a direction not of our volition. How fighting as a soldier would leave us without a voice… until we got out.
Much has happened since we handed over our voice:
Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.
| Somehow |
Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.
Somehow back at home, support for the soldiers meant having a five-year-old kindergartener scribble a picture with crayons and send it overseas, or slapping stickers on cars, or lobbying Congress for an extra pad in a helmet. It’s interesting that a soldier on his third or fourth tour should care about a drawing from a five-year-old; or a faded sticker on a car as his friends die around him; or an extra pad in a helmet, as if it will protect him when an IED throws his vehicle 50 feet into the air as his body comes apart and his skin melts to the seat.
Somehow the more soldiers that die, the more legitimate the illegal invasion becomes.
Somehow American leadership, whose only credit is lying to its people and illegally invading a nation, has been allowed to steal the courage, virtue and honor of its soldiers on the ground.
Somehow those afraid to fight an illegal invasion decades ago are allowed to send soldiers to die for an illegal invasion they started.
Somehow faking character, virtue and strength is tolerated.
Somehow profiting from tragedy and horror is tolerated.
Somehow the death of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of people is tolerated.
Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.
Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.
Somehow torture is tolerated.
Somehow lying is tolerated.
Somehow reason is being discarded for faith, dogma, and nonsense.
Somehow American leadership managed to create a more dangerous world.
Somehow a narrative is more important than reality.
Somehow
Somehow the most reasonable, trusted and respected country in the world has become one of the most irrational, belligerent, feared, and distrusted countries in the world.
Somehow being politically informed, diligent, and skeptical has been replaced by apathy through active ignorance.
Somehow the same incompetent, narcissistic, virtueless, vacuous, malicious criminals are still in charge of this country.
Somehow this is tolerated.
Somehow nobody is accountable for this.
In a democracy, the policy of the leaders is the policy of the people. So don’t be shocked when our grandkids bury much of this generation as traitors to the nation, to the world and to humanity. Most likely, they will come to know that “somehow” was nurtured by fear, insecurity and indifference, leaving the country vulnerable to unchecked, unchallenged parasites.
Luckily this country is still a democracy. People still have a voice. People still can take action. It can start after Pat’s birthday.
Brother and Friend of Pat Tillman,
Kevin Tillman
Alan Watt Discusses The "Psychological Warfare" Being Waged Against Amer...
Insightful and informative psychoanalysis on why we are where we are, today in America and where we are going if we continue down the path those in charge have chosen for us.
GASLAND Trailer 2010
With the current Gulf crisis fresh in everyone's mind, people are searching for a cleaner, safer solutions without the environmental or health risks. One solution is Natural Gas, or is it? The hydraulic fracturing "fracking" process used to capture and refine Natural Gas may prove to be equally as dangerous, if not more so...
Fluoride
What Is Fluoride?
Fluoride is any combination of elements containing the fluoride ion. In its elemental form, fluorine is a pale yellow, highly toxic and corrosive gas. In nature, fluorine is found combined with minerals as fluorides. It is the most chemically active nonmetallic element of any element and also is the most reactive electro-negative ion. Because of this extreme reactivity, fluorine isn't found in nature as an uncombined element. Fluorine is a member of group VIIa of the periodic table. It readily displaces other halogens—such as chlorine, bromine and iodine—from their mineral salts. With hydrogen it forms hydrogen fluoride gas which, in a water solution, becomes hydrofluoric acid.
Fluorine compounds or fluorides are listed by the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) as among the top 20 of 275 substances posing the most significant threat to human health. Fluorides, hydrogen fluoride and fluorine have been found in at least 130, 19, and 28 sites, respectively, of 1,334 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Consequently, under the provisions of the Superfund Act (1986), a compilation of information about fluorides, hydrogen fluoride and fluorine and their effects on health was required. This publication appeared in 1993.
Click HERE
87 Senators Tell Obama: Stand Behind Israel! - Politics & Gov't - Israel News - Israel National News
An overwhelming majority of the United States Senate has signed a letter to President Obama encouraging him to stand strongly behind Israel in the face of "challenges" to its international standing.
The letter, written in the midst of a continuing international onslaught against Israel in the wake of the flotilla-Gaza blockade situation, emphasizes that it is in “our national interest to support Israel at a moment when Israel faces multiple threats from Hamas in Gaza, Hizbullah in Lebanon, and the current regime in Iran.”
The missive has been signed by 87 senators, and was spearheaded by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv) and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky).
“Israel’s opponents have developed clever diplomatic and tactical ploys to challenge its international standing,” the letter states, including “the effort to isolate Israel at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference [and] the recent effort to breach the naval blockade around Gaza… Israel’s naval blockade, which is legal under international law, allows Israel to keep dangerous goods from entering Gaza by sea.”
Read Entire Article HERE
Current State of the American Housing Market
4 Million Foreclosures by Years End?
Trying to get honest data from the banking industry regarding the current state of housing is a monumental task. We are left using multiple data sources to get an accurate picture of the current state of the American housing market. Even then, we are left trying to piece together data that is largely incomplete. For example, we now know that banks are delaying foreclosure filings so these don’t show up in monthly reports. Next, we have another group of home owners that have stopped paying their mortgages as a strategy. These points are important but are buried deep in reports. Yet we can still try to garner information from other sources that will provide a better perspective on the U.S. housing market.
Read Entire Article HERE
A Brief History of Aspartame
Aspartame is a very addictive drug, methanol is classified as a narcotic. You may go through withdrawal symptoms when getting off it. Dr. Russell Blaylock, neurosurgeon wrote Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills and says in it that magnesium protects the brain and the heart from excitotoxins. This may help a bit.
The phenylalanine in aspartame lowers the seizure threshold and depletes serotonin. Lowered serotonin triggers manic depression, panic attacks, anxiety, mood swings, insomnia, rage, etc. You have no control over it and unfortunately, because of the lies from industry and FDA, physicians do not correlate the problems with aspartame. Instead try to medicate the symptoms as usual but aspartame interacts with antidepressants and many other drugs. Dr. H. J. Roberts has written a new medical text on the world plague titled Aspartame Disease: The Ignored Epidemic, available at www.sunsentpress.com or by calling 1-800-814-9800. Not only will every physician should have a copy and read it but so should every pharmacy because of drug interaction.
Read Entire Article HERE
The Great Recession Saved My Generation by Shaun Rein
LewRockwell.com
Read Full Article HERE
LewRockwell.com
I used to laugh at the aluminum foil my grandmother had squirreled away when we visited her at one of those golf retirement communities along the Florida coast. "Reusing aluminum foil!" I used to exclaim, rolling my eyes while slurping Coca-Cola and munching on McDonald's. My father would rebuke me: "Young man, Grandma invests those pennies she saves so you can go to college." I would giggle and scurry off to jack up the air conditioner and play Nintendo in the den, leaving behind my half-eaten Big Mac.
As I reached high school and started looking for my own identity, as my friends experimented with grunge, I began to envy my grandmother. Not because I understood her habits, why she was so intent on saving when it seemed so easy to make money, but because she seemed to share them with her whole generation, the Greatest Generation, united and defined through its shared experience of overcoming the Great Depression and beating Hitler. It was as if people in her generation had all attended the same schools and read the same books and listened to the same music. Whether in California, New York or Oklahoma, they had what looked like a shared identity and common values.Read Full Article HERE
The Despised State of Israel Cannot Survive for Long: Christopher Bollyn | FPJ
Christopher Bollyn is an American journalist and researcher. He is widely known for his extensive research on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that cost the lives of 2,976 victims and left more than 6,000 injured. The U.S. government under former President George W. Bush blamed the terrorist group Al-Qaida as the main culprit of the attacks and adopted an aggressive policy towards Muslim nations. It also enacted the USA PATRIOT Act and issued an illegal order to search and investigate the telephone and email communications of the U.S. citizens under the pretext of discovering and mapping out possible threats to U.S. national security. Bollyn has written on U.S.–Israel relations comprehensively and believes that a powerful corporate cartel of Zionists control and mastermind large-scale U.S. foreign policy.
Read Entire Article HERE
The End of The Great Bailouts is Approaching - The International Forecaster
Broke central banks, UK must monetize or collapse, 20 major countries on the edge of insolvency, No way but down for the Stock markets, defaulting on bailout payments, Fed audit going through Senate, shrinkage of high-end properties, VAT coming.
The devastating results of Keynesianism didn’t take hold of the western world until after WWII. Cycles were created for the accumulation of wealth. A boom occurs and you get wealthy from investments on the way up and even wealthier on the way down, because the elitists are controlling the supply of money and credit and interest rates. That is the real underlying mission of the Fed, which is owned by banking and Wall Street. All the power to control markets and create inflation and deflation lies with the Federal Reserve. Politicians do not create monetary policy, the Fed does. The politicians do as they are told. They know from time to time there will be economic pain, but the payoffs are so good they learn to live with it.
Read Entire Article HERE
Profit Alongside Warren Buffett
Buffett and Gates Could be
Staging a Takeover of This Stock
Buffett and Gates Could be
Staging a Takeover of This Stock
| Combined, these super investors now have $1.9 billion in this little-known company. Investors who claim their own stake in this stock today could make a lot of money in a hurry... |
Two of the world's richest men have been quietly gobbling up what amounts to $1.9 billion worth of one company's shares... and for some reason, Wall Street hasn't caught wind of it yet.
Find Stock Tip HERE
While the Economy Fizzles - Gold Sizzles!
Those that could not see the disaster coming, and grossly underestimated its magnitude once underway, have been loudly proclaiming an economic rebound is underway. Such proclamations, spewing from establishment channels, are so blatantly short on truth that it reveals a disturbing level of desperation to raise confidence. Furthermore, the straight-faced dissemination of such transparently amateurish "official analysis" being served as a substitute for tangible economic growth clearly shows that the damage to the national economic infrastructure is so great that past practices employed by the Fed and Government to goose the economy to revival are now futile at best and most likely counterproductive.
Read Entire Article HERE
Those that could not see the disaster coming, and grossly underestimated its magnitude once underway, have been loudly proclaiming an economic rebound is underway. Such proclamations, spewing from establishment channels, are so blatantly short on truth that it reveals a disturbing level of desperation to raise confidence. Furthermore, the straight-faced dissemination of such transparently amateurish "official analysis" being served as a substitute for tangible economic growth clearly shows that the damage to the national economic infrastructure is so great that past practices employed by the Fed and Government to goose the economy to revival are now futile at best and most likely counterproductive.
Read Entire Article HERE
Ben Bernanke needs fresh monetary blitz as US recovery falters - Telegraph
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is waging an epochal battle behind the scenes for control of US monetary policy, struggling to overcome resistance from regional Fed hawks for further possible stimulus to prevent a deflationary spiral.
Fed watchers say Mr Bernanke and his close allies at the Board in Washington are worried by signs that the US recovery is running out of steam. The ECRI leading indicator published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute has collapsed to a 45-week low of -5.7 in the most precipitous slide for half a century. Such a reading typically portends contraction within three months or so.
Key members of the five-man Board are quietly mulling a fresh burst of asset purchases, if necessary by pushing the Fed's balance sheet from $2.4 trillion (£1.6 trillion) to uncharted levels of $5 trillion. But they are certain to face intense scepticism from regional hardliners. The dispute has echoes of the early 1930s when the Chicago Fed stymied rescue efforts.
Read Entire Article HERE
Friday, June 25, 2010
The Dollar MeltDown
Radio host and author Charles Goyette has no doubt about the future of the U.S. dollar. The question isn’t whether the U.S. currency will become virtually worthless but when it will happen. Goyette wrote The Dollar Meltdown: Surviving the Impending Currency Crisis with Gold, Oil and Other Unconventional Investments for the express purpose of giving people an opportunity to protect themselves and their families in the face of what he contends is an inevitable collapse of the U.S. dollar, owing to the federal government’s outrageous inflationary spending.
There are numerous other books out there offering financial advice, proclaiming to help the reader get rich quick. Unlike those, this book instead attempts to help the readers preserve whatever they can of their existing savings in the face of the ongoing destruction of the U.S. fiat currency by the “wizards in Washington.” The book is broken up into sections that introduce a completely uninitiated reader to the detailed background of our current predicament before getting into the financial advice.
Read Entire Article HERE
Learned Helplessness: In Dire Straits, Americans Whimper Instead | The Smirking Chimp
In 1967 animal researchers conducted an interesting experiment. Two sets of dogs were strapped into harnesses and subjected to a series of shocks. The dogs were placed in the same room.
The first set of dogs was allowed to perform a task--pushing a panel with their snouts--in order to avoid the shocks. As soon as one dog mastered the shock-avoidance technique, his comrades followed suit.
The second group, on the other hand, was placed out of reach from the panel. They couldn't stop the pain. But they watched the actions of the first set.
Then both groups of dogs were subjected to a second experiment. If they jumped over a barrier, the dogs quickly learned, the shocks would stop. The dogs belonging to the first set all did it.
Read Entire Article HERE
Methane and Martial Law in the Gulf of Mexico
Read Entire Article HERE
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars.com
June 24, 2010
Earlier this week Reuters reported on a massive amount of methane discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler said methane gas levels in some areas are “astonishingly high.” Kessler recently returned from a 10-day research expedition near the BP oil gusher. Kessler’s team measured both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP’s destroyed wellhead. “There is an incredible amount of methane in there,” Kessler told reporters. He said the level may be as much as one million times the normal level.
In late May BP said methane makes up about 40 percent of the leaking crude by mass. In addition to methane, large mounts of toxic hydrogen sulfide, benzene and methylene chloride are leaking into the Gulf according to the EPA and others.Read Entire Article HERE
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Why analysts see Gold at $10,000
By Lorimer Wilson
My first reaction when I read an article on this site by Arnold Bock - articulating why gold would go to $10,000 – by 2012 no less - was amazement. Who in their right mind would suggest that gold would eventually reach $2,500, let alone $5,000 or even $10,000? Well, I did some investigation and, believe it or not, Bock is in lofty company. Many respected individuals, such as David Rosenberg, Peter Schiff, Harry Schultz, Rob McEwen and many others, have come to the same conclusion. Below is a partial list of such individuals with sound reasons to substantiate their views.
Read Full Article HERE
By Lorimer Wilson
My first reaction when I read an article on this site by Arnold Bock - articulating why gold would go to $10,000 – by 2012 no less - was amazement. Who in their right mind would suggest that gold would eventually reach $2,500, let alone $5,000 or even $10,000? Well, I did some investigation and, believe it or not, Bock is in lofty company. Many respected individuals, such as David Rosenberg, Peter Schiff, Harry Schultz, Rob McEwen and many others, have come to the same conclusion. Below is a partial list of such individuals with sound reasons to substantiate their views.
Read Full Article HERE
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The New World Order Government Take-Over is Well Underway
2) Initiate free trade agreements to bleed out the industrial might of the United States to third world countries. Trilateral Commission sponsored GATT, NAFTA and World Trade Organization.
Read entire article at:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/forum/71609
By kdtroxel
The New World Order Banker Cartel takeover starts with the destruction of the economic might of the United States. To accomplish this task as follows:
1) Creation of the private Federal Reserve Bank in 1913. He who prints the money controls the government. Prior to this period, whenever congress over spent, it lead to inflation or devaluation of the currency. The people reacted by voting out big spending congressmen. The Federal Reserve Bank allowed congress to spend while shielding them from voter retaliation by the people.2) Initiate free trade agreements to bleed out the industrial might of the United States to third world countries. Trilateral Commission sponsored GATT, NAFTA and World Trade Organization.
Read entire article at:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/forum/71609
Failed Banks May Get Pension-Fund Backing as FDIC Seeks Cash - Bloomberg
March 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to encourage public retirement funds that control more than $2 trillion to buy all or part of failed lenders, taking a more direct role in propping up the banking system, said people briefed on the matter.
Direct investments may allow funds such as those in Oregon, New Jersey and California to cut fees for private-equity managers, and the agency to get better prices for distressed assets, the people said. They declined to be identified because talks with regulators are confidential.
Oregon’s retirement fund may contribute $100 million as regulators seek “the support of state pension funds to solve the crisis surrounding ongoing bank failures,” Jay Fewel, a senior investment officer at the Oregon State Treasury, said in a presentation at the fund’s Feb. 24 meeting. New Jersey’s fund may also participate, said Orin Kramer, chairman of New Jersey’s State Investment Council.
The FDIC shuttered 140 lenders last year and expects the tally may be higher in 2010. Regulators have avoided signing up private-equity firms as rescuers on concern that they might take too much risk. Pension funds, whose 100 largest members manage $2.4 trillion, could provide capital to acquire deposits and outstanding loans from collapsed banks, according to the people.
Continued at
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aDuLDy3OUFmg
Heartburn, Indigestion, Genetically Modified Foods and Your Microwave - 12160.org
I wrote this in response to the blog regarding big pharma drugs Nexium and Prilosec. I realized that this is an important issue and would benefit from as many responses as possible. Most of us have familes and would never want to see harm come to them. But the truth is they are being harmed without our knowledge or consent. Seed producers, like Monsanto, are ruining the agriculture industry , forcing smaller farms to buy their genetically modified seed out of fear of being sued should some of Monsanto's seed be blown into or carried by birds from one field to another. We as Americans should be able to buy vegetables and products which will keep us healthy and help our children to grow (at normal rates). We do not want or need antibiotics in our milk , cheese, chicken, beef. To keep food safer, the ways in which these big companies do business needs to change.
Continued at
http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/heartburn-indigestion
I wrote this in response to the blog regarding big pharma drugs Nexium and Prilosec. I realized that this is an important issue and would benefit from as many responses as possible. Most of us have familes and would never want to see harm come to them. But the truth is they are being harmed without our knowledge or consent. Seed producers, like Monsanto, are ruining the agriculture industry , forcing smaller farms to buy their genetically modified seed out of fear of being sued should some of Monsanto's seed be blown into or carried by birds from one field to another. We as Americans should be able to buy vegetables and products which will keep us healthy and help our children to grow (at normal rates). We do not want or need antibiotics in our milk , cheese, chicken, beef. To keep food safer, the ways in which these big companies do business needs to change.
Continued at
http://snardfarker.ning.com/profiles/blogs/heartburn-indigestion
Amid crises, Obama declares war -- on Arizona | Washington Examiner
By: Byron York
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Amid-crises_-Obama-declares-war----on-Arizona-96839529.html#ixzz0rdz2kECn
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
June 22, 2010
 |
| (AP) |
| |
The Obama administration has a lot of fights on its hands. Putting aside real wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there's the battle against leaking oil in the Gulf, the struggle against 9.7 percent unemployment across the country, and clashes over the president's agenda on Capitol Hill. Despite all that, the White House has found time to issue a new declaration of war, this time against an unlikely enemy: the state of Arizona.
The Justice Department is preparing to sue Arizona over its new immigration law. The president has stiffed Gov. Jan Brewer's call for meaningful assistance in efforts to secure the border. And the White House has accused Arizona's junior senator, Republican Jon Kyl, of lying about an Oval Office discussion with the president over comprehensive immigration reform. Put them all together, and you have an ugly state of affairs that's getting uglier by the day.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Amid-crises_-Obama-declares-war----on-Arizona-96839529.html#ixzz0rdz2kECn
Hidden Danger in Your Drinking Water and Toothpaste / Fluoride and Fluoridated Water's Link to Thyroid Disease
This common additive to your water supply, and ingredient in the toothpaste you and your children use may be contributing to the increased rates of hypothyroidism -- and other health concerns -- in the U.S. . . without improving dental health
What is Fluoride?
Fluoride is an element from the halogen group, as are iodide and chloride. It is commonly added to the water supply as hydrofluosilicic acid, silicofluoride or sodium fluoride. Fluoride is also found as an additive in toothpastes and some mouthwashes, as a tooth decay preventive ingredient.
Why is Fluoride Used?
Fluoride is used to fight tooth decay in children. The key initial studies purporting to demonstrate its effectiveness as an anti-cavity fighting compound were performed back in the 1940s. Those studies, conducted in Grand Rapids, MI in 1945, in Newburgh, NY in 1945, in Brantford, Ontario in 1945, and in Evanston, IL in 1947, are now being called into question. According to Dr. Philip Sutton, author of "The Greatest Fraud: Fluoridation" *A Factual Book, Lorne, Australia, 1996), these studies are actually of dubious scientific quality.
Continued at
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/flouride.htm
This common additive to your water supply, and ingredient in the toothpaste you and your children use may be contributing to the increased rates of hypothyroidism -- and other health concerns -- in the U.S. . . without improving dental health
What is Fluoride?
Fluoride is an element from the halogen group, as are iodide and chloride. It is commonly added to the water supply as hydrofluosilicic acid, silicofluoride or sodium fluoride. Fluoride is also found as an additive in toothpastes and some mouthwashes, as a tooth decay preventive ingredient.
Why is Fluoride Used?
Fluoride is used to fight tooth decay in children. The key initial studies purporting to demonstrate its effectiveness as an anti-cavity fighting compound were performed back in the 1940s. Those studies, conducted in Grand Rapids, MI in 1945, in Newburgh, NY in 1945, in Brantford, Ontario in 1945, and in Evanston, IL in 1947, are now being called into question. According to Dr. Philip Sutton, author of "The Greatest Fraud: Fluoridation" *A Factual Book, Lorne, Australia, 1996), these studies are actually of dubious scientific quality.
Continued at
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/toxicchemicalsan/a/flouride.htm
The Philosophy of Liberty
How much liberty is good for the individual?
How much government do we need?
One perspective is that individual well-being, prosperity, and social harmony are fostered by "as much liberty as possible" and "as little government as necessary."
Monday, June 21, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld: Does Iran Harbor Osama bin Laden?
Osama Bin Laden is in Iran, asserts Alan Howell Parrot, the director of The Union for the Conservation of Raptors (UCR), who for many years served as a Falconer for the rulers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and members of Saudi Royal family. In that capacity he was a regular guest in the seasonal Falconry-hunting camps and had access to all participants. Parrot has been offering evidence of Bin Laden's sighting in Iran since November 2004 to a great number of U.S. government officials at the Department of Defense, the FBI, Senators and even to the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Gen. Michael V. Hayden. Government officials who asked to remain nameless confirmed Parrot's contact with the government. Still, no one responded.
Parrot's passion to save the falcons led him and his expert team to bin Laden.
Since no one seems to know where bin Laden is located, why not explore Mr. Perrot's claims?
Could the answer to that question be that Bin Laden is dead, Bin Laden has often been reported to be in poor health. Some accounts claim that he is or was suffering from Hepatitis C. He was reportedly on dialysis the months leading up to 9/11 and Bin Laden's voice was detected regularly until [December 14, 2001] by intelligence operatives monitoring radio transmissions in Tora Bora, according to the Pentagon [details]. Since then, nothing has been heard from the al-Qa'eda leader and President Bush has hinted in private that bin Laden's silence could mean he has been killed. [Telegraph, 12/28/2001]
Are we purposefully sacrificing our blood and treasure in our most desperate hour over a dead boggy man?
Osama Bin Laden is in Iran, asserts Alan Howell Parrot, the director of The Union for the Conservation of Raptors (UCR), who for many years served as a Falconer for the rulers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and members of Saudi Royal family. In that capacity he was a regular guest in the seasonal Falconry-hunting camps and had access to all participants. Parrot has been offering evidence of Bin Laden's sighting in Iran since November 2004 to a great number of U.S. government officials at the Department of Defense, the FBI, Senators and even to the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Gen. Michael V. Hayden. Government officials who asked to remain nameless confirmed Parrot's contact with the government. Still, no one responded.
Parrot's passion to save the falcons led him and his expert team to bin Laden.
Since no one seems to know where bin Laden is located, why not explore Mr. Perrot's claims?
Could the answer to that question be that Bin Laden is dead, Bin Laden has often been reported to be in poor health. Some accounts claim that he is or was suffering from Hepatitis C. He was reportedly on dialysis the months leading up to 9/11 and Bin Laden's voice was detected regularly until [December 14, 2001] by intelligence operatives monitoring radio transmissions in Tora Bora, according to the Pentagon [details]. Since then, nothing has been heard from the al-Qa'eda leader and President Bush has hinted in private that bin Laden's silence could mean he has been killed. [Telegraph, 12/28/2001]
Are we purposefully sacrificing our blood and treasure in our most desperate hour over a dead boggy man?
RISE OF THE NEW RIGHT - Chris Matthews - Part 1
If you hold your Constitution, Bill of Rights, Property Rights, Freedom to keep and bear Arms, & so on, close to your heart, then you better take a look at the tactics used to demonize good, freedom loving Americans and make them look dangerous.
whatreallyhappened.com: Iran vs Israel: What The Media Wants You To Forget
The corporate media have been given their orders to throw the focus back on to Iran.
The corporate media have been given their orders to throw the focus back on to Iran.
Here is a recap of what they are trying to make you forget.
1. Last Spring, Rose Gottemoeller, an assistant secretary of state and Washington's chief nuclear arms negotiator, asked Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel refused.
2. The United Nations passed a resolution calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to submit to inspections. Israel refused.
3. The IAEA asked Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to submit to inspections. Israel refused.
4. Iran's formal notification to the IAEA of the planned construction of the backup fuel-rod facility underscores that Iran is playing by the rules of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which Iran has signed.
5. Iran allows IAEA inspections of all its facilities.
6. Contrary to face-saving claims, it appears that the US and Israel were both caught off guard by Iran's announcement. The reasoning is simple. Had the US or Israel announced the existence of he new facility before Iran's notified the IAEA, it would have put Iran on the defensive. As it is now, the US and Israel seem to be playing catch up, casting doubt on the veracity of Israel's claims to "know" that Iran is a nuclear threat.
7. The IAEA and all 16 United States Intelligence Agencies are unanimous in agreement that Iran is not building and does not possess nuclear weapons.
8. In 1986, Mordachai Vanunu blew the whistle and provided photographs showing Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons factory underneath the reactor at Dimona.
9. Israel made the same accusations against Iraq that it is making against Iran, leading up to Israel's bombing of the power station at Osirik. Following the invasion of 2003, international experts examined the ruins of the power station at Osirik and found no evidence of a clandestine weapons factory in the rubble.
10. The United Nations has just released the Goldstone Report, a scathing report which accuses Israel of 37 specific war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza earlier this year. Israel has denounced the report as "Anti-Semitic (even though Judge Goldstone is himself Jewish), and the United States will block the report from being referred to the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, thereby making the US Government an accessory after-the-fact.
We all need to be Joe Wilson right now. We need to stand up and scream, "LIAR!" at every politician and every talking media moron that is pushing this war in Iran. And we need to keep dong it until they get the message that we will not be deceived any more.
Israel wants to send your kids off to die in Iran, and YOU are the only one that can stop them.
Please forward this comment to your social networks.
Is It Unconstitutional for a Lawyer to Serve in Congress?
The missing, original 13th Amendment to the Constitution was removed or concealed.
In the winter of 1983, archival research expert David Dodge, and former Baltimore police investigator Tom Dunn, were searching for evidence of government corruption in public records stored in the Belfast Library on the coast of Maine. By chance, they discovered the library's oldest authentic copy of the Constitution of the United States (printed in 1825). Both men were stunned to see this document included a 13th Amendment that no longer appears on current copies of the Constitution. Moreover, after studying the Amendment's language and historical context, they realized the principle intent of this "missing" 13th Amendment was to prohibit lawyers from serving in government.
So began a seven-year, nationwide search for the truth surrounding the most bizarre Constitutional puzzle in American history -- the unlawful removal of a ratified Amendment from the Constitution of the United States. Since 1983, Dodge and Dunn have uncovered additional copies of the Constitution with the "missing" 13th Amendment printed in at least eighteen separate publications by ten different states and territories over four decades from 1822 to 1860.
In June of this year, Dodge uncovered the evidence that this missing 13th Amendment had indeed been lawfully ratified by the state of Virginia and was therefore an authentic Amendment to the American Constitution. If the evidence is correct and no logical errors have been made, a 13th Amendment restricting lawyers from serving in government was ratified in 1819 and removed from our Constitution during the tumult of the Civil War.
Since the Amendment was never lawfully repealed, it is still the Law today. The implications are enormous.
The Original Thirteenth Amendment
Ratified March 12, 1819
The Founders held an intense disdain and distrust of "Nobility" as a result of a long history, during Colonial times, of abuses and excesses against the Rights of Man and the established Common Law and Constitutions by the "Nobility", and therefore placed in the new Constitution two injunctions against acceptance of Titles of Nobility or Honor or emoluments from external sources. The Revolutionary War for Independence was primarily waged to eliminate these abuses and excesses of the "Nobility" and the "Monied Classes" from the life of the Nation, recognizing the Equality of all men.
The following states and/or territories have published the Titles of Nobility 13th Amendment in their official publications as a ratified amendment to the Constitution of the United States in the following years:
Colorado ------- 1861, 1862, 1864, 1865, 1866, 1967, 1868
Connecticut --- 1821, 1824, 1835, 1839
Dakota ---------- 1862, 1863, 1867
Florida ---------- 1823, 1825, 1838
Georgia --------- 1819, 1822, 1837, 1846
Illinois ------------ 1823, 1825, 1827, 1833, 1839, dis. 1845
Indiana ----------- 1824, 1831, 1838
Iowa --------------- 1839, 1842, 1843
Kansas ----------- 1855, 1861, 1862, 1868
Kentucky -------- 1822
Louisiana -------- 1825, 1838/1838 [two separate publications]
Maine ------------- 1825, 1831
Massachusetts -1823
Michigan -------- 1827, 1833
Mississippi ------ 1823, 1824, 1839
Missouri ---------- 1825, 1835, 1840, 1841, 1845*
Nebraska --------- 1855, 1856, 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, 1862, 1873
North Carolina - 1819, 1828
Northwestern Territories --- 1833
Ohio --------------- 1819, 1824, 1831, 1833, 1835, 1848
Pennsylvania --- 1818, 1824, 1831
Rhode Island ---- 1822
Virginia ---------- 1819 (ratification by 13th State)
Wyoming -------- 1869, 1876
Totals: 24 States in 78 separate official government publications.
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/13th.htm
Friday, June 18, 2010
Radiation risks from the US Transportation Security Administration’s full-body imaging screen
TSA is rapidly rolling out hundreds of new full-body imaging scanners to our nation’s airports.
A number of individuals and US and international agencies are calling for limitations on their use due to health concerns, specifically radiation risks.
Travelers that have been identified as at risk are:
• travelers over 65 years of age,
• children and adolescents,
• pregnant women,
• females at risk of breast cancer due to defects in DNA repair mechanisms &
• immunocompromised individuals such as HIV and cancer patients.
One group of concerned scientists from the University of California San Francisco, including dermatologists and cancer experts, state “there is good reason to believe that these scanners will increase the risk of cancer to children and other vulnerable populations.”
Inverted Body Scanner Image Shows Naked Body In Full Living Color
Paul Joseph WatsonThe full body scanners that President Obama last night authorized to be rolled out in airports across the country at a cost of over $1 billion dollars not only produce detailed pictures of your genitals, but once inverted some of those images also display your naked body in full living color.
And you don’t need to be a graphics wizard using a $600 software suite like Photoshop to pull off the trick – inverting a photo is a simple process that takes one click and is an option available even in the most basic image editing software.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Derivatives & How They Work...Simplified
The key to understanding derivatives is the notion of a premium. Some derivatives are compared to insurance. Just as you pay an insurance company a premium in order to obtain some protection against a specific event, there are derivative products that have a payoff contingent upon the occurrence of some event for which you must pay a premium in advance.
When one buys a cash instrument, for example 100 shares of ABC Inc., the payoff is linear (disregarding the impact of dividends). If we buy the shares at $50 and the price appreciates to $75, we have made $2500 on a mark-to-market basis. If we buy the shares at $50 and the price depreciates to $25, we have lost $2500 on a mark-to-market basis.
Instead of buying the shares in the cash market, we could have bought a 1 month call option on ABC stock with a strike price of $50, giving us the right but not the obligation to purchase ABC stock at $50 in 1 month's time. Instead of immediately paying $5000 and receiving the stock, we might pay $700 today for this right. If ABC goes to $75 in 1 month's time, we can exercise the option, buy the stock at the strike price and sell the stock in the open market, locking in a net profit of $1800.
If the ABC stock price goes to $25, we have only lost the premium of $700. If ABC trades as high as $100 after we have bought the option but before it expires, we can sell the option in the market for a price of $5300. The option in this case gives us a great deal of positional flexibility with a different risk/reward profile.
Article by Chand Sooran, Principal, Victory Risk Management Consulting Inc.
Fractional Reserve Banking & Their "Bouncing" Baby Derivative...
A derivative is an agreement or contract that is not based on a real, or true, exchange, i.e.: There is nothing tangible like money, or a product, that is being exchanged. For example, a person goes to the grocery store, exchanges a currency (money) for a commodity (say, an apple). The exchange is complete, both parties have something tangible. If the purchaser had called the store and asked for the apple to be held for one hour while the purchaser drives to the store, and the seller agrees, then a derivative has been created. The agreement (derivative) is derived from a proposed exchange (trade money for apple in one hour, not now).
In financial terms, a derivative is a financial instrument - or more simply, an agreement between two people or two parties - that has a value determined by the price of something else (called the underlying).[1] It is a financial contract with a value linked to the expected future price movements of the asset it is linked to - such as a share or a currency. There are many kinds of derivatives, with the most notable being swaps, futures, and options. However, since a derivative can be placed on any sort of security, the scope of all derivatives possible is nearly endless. Thus, the real definition of a derivative is an agreement between two parties that is contingent on a future outcome of the underlying.
Source: Wikipedia (Derivative)
Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, Repealed 1999...Beginning of the End of our Economy?
In 1933, in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and during a nationwide commercial bank failure and the Great Depression, two members of Congress put their names on what is known today as the Glass-Steagall Act (GSA). This act separated investment and activities. At the time, "improper banking activity", or what was considered overzealous commercial bank involvement in , was deemed the main culprit of the financial crash. According to that reasoning, commercial banks took on too much risk with depositors' money. Additional and sometimes non-related explanations for the Great Depression evolved over the years, and many questioned whether the GSA hindered the establishment of financial services firms that can equally compete against each other.
Reasoning behind the Act - Commercial Speculation
Commercial banks were accused of being too speculative in the pre-Depression era, not only because they were investing their assets but also because they were buying new issues for resale to the public. Thus, banks became greedy, taking on huge risks in the hope of even bigger rewards. Banking itself became sloppy and objectives became blurred. Unsound loans were issued to companies in which the bank had invested, and clients would be encouraged to invest in those same stocks.
Effects of the Act - Creating Barriers
Senator Carter Glass, a former Treasury secretary and the founder of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, was the primary force behind the GSA. Henry Bascom Steagall was a House of Representatives member and chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee. Steagall agreed to support the act with Glass after an amendment was added permitting bank deposit insurance (this was the first time it was allowed).
As a collective reaction to one of the worst financial crises at the time, the GSA set up a regulatory firewall between commercial and investment bank activities, both of which were curbed and controlled. Banks were given a year to decide on whether they would specialize in commercial or in investment banking. Only 10% of commercial banks' total income could stem from securities; however, an exception allowed commercial banks to underwrite government-issued bonds. Financial giants at the time such as JP Morgan and Company, which were seen as part of the problem, were directly targeted and forced to cut their services and, hence, a main source of their income. By creating this barrier, the GSA was aiming to prevent the banks' use of deposits in the case of a failed underwriting job.
The GSA, however, was considered harsh by most in the financial community, and it was reported that even Glass himself moved to repeal the GSA shortly after it was passed, claiming it was an overreaction to the crisis.
Building More Walls
Despite the lax implementation of the GSA by the Federal Reserve Board, which is the regulator of U.S. banks, in 1956, Congress made another decision to regulate the banking sector. In an effort to prevent financial conglomerates from amassing too much power, the new act focused on banks involved in the insurance sector. Congress agreed that bearing the high risks undertaken in underwriting insurance is not good banking practice. Thus, as an extension of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Bank Holding Company Act further separated financial activities by creating a wall between insurance and banking. Even though banks could, and can still can, sell insurance and insurance products, underwriting insurance was forbidden.
Were the Walls Necessary? - The New Rules of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
The limitations of the GSA on the banking sector sparked a debate over how much restriction is healthy for the industry. Many argued that allowing banks to diversify in moderation offers the banking industry the potential to reduce risk, so the restrictions of the GSA could have actually had an adverse effect, making the banking industry riskier rather than safer. Furthermore, big banks of the post-Enron market are likely to be more transparent, lessening the possibility of assuming too much risk or masking unsound investment decisions. As such, reputation has come to mean everything in today's market, and that could be enough to motivate banks to regulate themselves.
Consequently, to the delight of many in the banking industry (not everyone, however, was happy), in November of 1999 Congress repealed the GSA with the establishment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which eliminated the GSA restrictions against affiliations between commercial and investment banks. Furthermore, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act allows banking institutions to provide a broader range of services, including underwriting and other dealing activities.
Conclusion
Although the barrier between commercial and investment banking aimed to prevent a loss of deposits in the event of investment failures, the reasons for the repeal of the GSA and the establishment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act show that even regulatory attempts for safety can have adverse effects.
by Reem Heakal (Contact Author | Biography)
In 1933, in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash and during a nationwide commercial bank failure and the Great Depression, two members of Congress put their names on what is known today as the Glass-Steagall Act (GSA). This act separated investment and activities. At the time, "improper banking activity", or what was considered overzealous commercial bank involvement in , was deemed the main culprit of the financial crash. According to that reasoning, commercial banks took on too much risk with depositors' money. Additional and sometimes non-related explanations for the Great Depression evolved over the years, and many questioned whether the GSA hindered the establishment of financial services firms that can equally compete against each other.
Reasoning behind the Act - Commercial Speculation
Commercial banks were accused of being too speculative in the pre-Depression era, not only because they were investing their assets but also because they were buying new issues for resale to the public. Thus, banks became greedy, taking on huge risks in the hope of even bigger rewards. Banking itself became sloppy and objectives became blurred. Unsound loans were issued to companies in which the bank had invested, and clients would be encouraged to invest in those same stocks.
Effects of the Act - Creating Barriers
Senator Carter Glass, a former Treasury secretary and the founder of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, was the primary force behind the GSA. Henry Bascom Steagall was a House of Representatives member and chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee. Steagall agreed to support the act with Glass after an amendment was added permitting bank deposit insurance (this was the first time it was allowed).
As a collective reaction to one of the worst financial crises at the time, the GSA set up a regulatory firewall between commercial and investment bank activities, both of which were curbed and controlled. Banks were given a year to decide on whether they would specialize in commercial or in investment banking. Only 10% of commercial banks' total income could stem from securities; however, an exception allowed commercial banks to underwrite government-issued bonds. Financial giants at the time such as JP Morgan and Company, which were seen as part of the problem, were directly targeted and forced to cut their services and, hence, a main source of their income. By creating this barrier, the GSA was aiming to prevent the banks' use of deposits in the case of a failed underwriting job.
The GSA, however, was considered harsh by most in the financial community, and it was reported that even Glass himself moved to repeal the GSA shortly after it was passed, claiming it was an overreaction to the crisis.
Building More Walls
Despite the lax implementation of the GSA by the Federal Reserve Board, which is the regulator of U.S. banks, in 1956, Congress made another decision to regulate the banking sector. In an effort to prevent financial conglomerates from amassing too much power, the new act focused on banks involved in the insurance sector. Congress agreed that bearing the high risks undertaken in underwriting insurance is not good banking practice. Thus, as an extension of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Bank Holding Company Act further separated financial activities by creating a wall between insurance and banking. Even though banks could, and can still can, sell insurance and insurance products, underwriting insurance was forbidden.
Were the Walls Necessary? - The New Rules of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act
The limitations of the GSA on the banking sector sparked a debate over how much restriction is healthy for the industry. Many argued that allowing banks to diversify in moderation offers the banking industry the potential to reduce risk, so the restrictions of the GSA could have actually had an adverse effect, making the banking industry riskier rather than safer. Furthermore, big banks of the post-Enron market are likely to be more transparent, lessening the possibility of assuming too much risk or masking unsound investment decisions. As such, reputation has come to mean everything in today's market, and that could be enough to motivate banks to regulate themselves.
Consequently, to the delight of many in the banking industry (not everyone, however, was happy), in November of 1999 Congress repealed the GSA with the establishment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which eliminated the GSA restrictions against affiliations between commercial and investment banks. Furthermore, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act allows banking institutions to provide a broader range of services, including underwriting and other dealing activities.
Conclusion
Although the barrier between commercial and investment banking aimed to prevent a loss of deposits in the event of investment failures, the reasons for the repeal of the GSA and the establishment of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act show that even regulatory attempts for safety can have adverse effects.
by Reem Heakal (Contact Author | Biography)
What is really happening at the Arizona border....written by local rancher near the Krentz ranch. - Patriotic Resistance
Ed Ashurst, long-time, reputable rancher who lives near the Krentz ranch wrote this--thought I'd share it with you:
Dear Friends, People have been asking me since Rob Krentz's murder about the
latest happenings here on the border. Things have been a little quieter
here. although we have had several encounters with tired and bedraggled
wetbbacks trying to go north. One was crippled and severely dehydrated,
and the other was literally crying and begging for help. We fed and
cared for them both.
Ed Ashurst, long-time, reputable rancher who lives near the Krentz ranch wrote this--thought I'd share it with you:
Dear Friends, People have been asking me since Rob Krentz's murder about the
latest happenings here on the border. Things have been a little quieter
here. although we have had several encounters with tired and bedraggled
wetbbacks trying to go north. One was crippled and severely dehydrated,
and the other was literally crying and begging for help. We fed and
cared for them both.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
AZ "Proposition 100", A Penny For Your Thoughts
Since today, June 1st , is the first day we will have to start charging our customers an extra 1% (over & above the normal sales tax) on goods & services because of the passage of prop 100, I feel it would be more than appropriate to state a few items.
Two thirds of the AZ voters once again fell for the rhetoric or, dare I say fear mongering, presented by the “yes” camp that our streets won’t be as safe, our firemen will be ill-equipped to fight fires, and our children will again, be deprived of an education.
As long as I have been of age to vote that’s been the "Tri"- tactic used to pass propositions of any monetary significance. It's always "Law enforcement, Fire & the Children". Did you know that the “yes” camp had over $2,000,000.00 in their purse while the main organized “no” camp spent less than $1500.00? Money wins again!
Why so much money & from who? Is it really going where they say it’s going? "But it’s only for 3 years, really", they say. Many of the taxes we still pay today were proposed under the premise of a “temporary tax”! I will gladly eat those words in three years if it times out on May 31, 2013, but on the other hand I won’t let you forget if it doesn’t.
Solutions in times like these are difficult, sacrifices in many areas are essential. Very little was cut and some couldn’t be cut simply because the Legislature can’t cut past year(s) voter approved propositions. Yes, that’s right, past referendums which were approved by using that confounded "Tri"-tactic approach which are more likely than not, frivolous slush funds going everywhere but to "Law enforcement, Fire & the Children".
So, our politicians too afraid to cut any social programs for fear of losing votes, belly up to the "tax payer" bar once again. See the pattern of our elected so-called “officials”, the M.O. of how the game is played? It’s about bleeding us dry, don't they realize that we are at our tipping point, there are more people working for tax payer dollars than people paying taxes.
Money has to be there for these services, with that comes accountability & responsibility, starting, but not ending with, our elected "representatives".
We have to change our thinking instead of letting our elected “representatives” capture our thought process via FEAR.
We've been bamboozled again!
And, along came a proposition!
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