From Jenna Orkin
Headlines
America's AAA debt rate in doubt
Moody's fears social unrest as AAA states implement austerity plans - from Rice Farmer
Mike says to tell you that the fact that Moody's is advising the wealthy to bet on social unrest will end up encouraging that unrest.
Corporate Debt Coming Due May Squeeze Credit
JO comment: I've long harbored a secret belief that the reason we've been treated to specials on the Mayan predictions for 2012 as well as on the prescience of Nostradamus is that the TPTB were psyching us for the disaster they were engineering or at least, steering.
The article above, which appeared above the fold on page 1 of today's New York Times confirms that belief. Its opening paragraphs state:
"When the Mayans envisioned the world coming to an end in 2012 — at least in the Hollywood telling — they didn’t count junk bonds among the perils that would lead to worldwide disaster.
Maybe they should have, because 2012 also is the beginning of a three-year period in which more than $700 billion in risky, high-yield corporate debt begins to come due, an extraordinary surge that some analysts fear could overload the debt markets."
U.S. Jobless Rate Will Be Elevated for `Extended Period,' Obama Aides Say
You Think Housing Is Recovering? Check Out These Charts
Housing Will Surely Double Dip, And Banks Will See DRAMATIC Writedowns
Bad Weather Depresses US Housing Starts in February
14 facts about the US deficit that will blow your mind
China continued to sell US Treasurys in January
Senate bill would penalize China over yuan
Municipal Bonds at Greatest Risk of Default
States’ Rights Is Rallying Cry of Resistance for Lawmakers
World
Europe Is Hiding Pension Debt Off Balance Sheet And Soon Everyone Will Know About It
Max Keiser's Interview with Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir on "Blackmail" Referendum
Violence erupts across East Jerusalem
Thousands pay tribute to Latvia's fallen Nazi troops
Elderly forced to hoard cash
Elderly 'will be forced to hoard cash' if cheques are abolished, MPs told.
Bank customers will pay more for less
Energy
Coming Soon: Economic Growth Without Oil
Soon, we promise. Plus, if you're good, major payoff in the next life.
End of "Favoring Motor Transportation" - from Jon Noel
Shell to sell petrol stations around the world
Peter Voser will cut a further 2,000 jobs and sell franchises for its forecourts in order to save costs
Anger as petrol prices accelerate into the fast lane
Big Brother as "Friend"
Break the Law and Your New 'Friend' May Be The FBI
DOD Joint Operating Environment (JOE) 2010 report
"Future Joint Force commanders will find conflict over water endemic to their world, whether as the spark or the underlying cause of conflicts among various racial, tribal, or political groups, ...with armed groups controlling or warring over remaining water, while the specter of disease resulting from unsanitary conditions would hover in the background."
"The challenges that Chinese leadership confronts at present are enormous, and an unsuccessful China is perhaps more worrisome than a prosperous one.
U.S. puts brakes on "virtual" border fence
Opinion: 55% of Australian news articles sourced from PR firms
Environment/Science
The Green Blue Book
Advice on conservation of water by LA Times reporter Tom Kostigen
"When you toss out that cup of cold coffee in the bottom of the pot, you’re actually tossing out 590 cups; it takes that much water (37 gallons, to put it another way) to grow the coffee beans needed for just that 1 cup...
...swap a hamburger for a veggie burger just once and you will save about 750 gallons of water."
The Woman Who Just Might Save the Planet and Our Pocketbooks - from Elizabeth Miller
CO2 at New Highs Despite Economic Slowdown - from Elizabeth Miller
Fish rain down on desert village, UK starlings die in unison
This is Australia in 40 years
Apartment blocks are used to grow food, people live on floating island pods...
Blind soldier now 'sees' through tongue
Gene That Lets Snakes See Heat Helps You Taste Wasabi
And...
US survey: Pet-owners love their dogs more than partners
McCain opponent: Gay marriage could lead to human wedding horse
You calling horses gay?
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30 comments:
RE: Moody's, etc.
If there is more outstanding debt than there is wealth in the world to pay it (and this is my understanding) then the debts will never be paid. This much seems obvious. But the media is constantly regailing us with "rollover" (countries essentially taking out a second and third mortgage on their decaying assets) and transfer of private debt to public books and a game Chinas bonds being dilluted with American inflation while China tries to maintain an artificially low yuan, and a push to induce small investors to participate in the ponzi carousel of Wall Street.
It's a huge game of musical chairs, only instead of one chair going missing, all the folks in the galleries will be sitting on the floor when the music stops.
The financial wealth is notional. The real wealth -- access to clean food and water, tools and weapons, transportation and communications infrastructure, information and education, medical materials and skills and facilities, and so forth -- is being concentrated in the hands of a few, while we play these increasingly absurd games with the shadow of a reflection of a myth of notional wealth.
The constant prescription I see is "belt tightening". We owe the rich all this "money" that was borrowed to pay the same class to stabilize their banks and buy their deadly war toys and build their crass post-modern buildings. Therefore, we all need to eat less and sleep in public shelters or under bridges and die early from treatable diseases and basically have no fun for the foreseeable future. After all, we couldn't lose our AAA rating, or we would not be able to borrow yet more money from these rich people and hand it back to them for useless stuff that kills and pollutes our suffering world, and then pay back the money with interest.
The carousel moves so fast that we are all afraid to jump off, but look who's running this circus ride, and why they're doing it. These are brilliant mathematicians, not dumb guys who just forgot to carry their six and got all bolluxed up. They saw this coming, and they wired it this way. Sure, there are little competitions and winners and losers and surprises even for the best of 'em, but the class that is benefitting from all this nonsense is the one that designed it. And nobody talks about THEM paying for it.
To whatever extent we are able, we must withdraw complicity with this absurdity (A) so we do not become little villians helping the big ones to do more damage (B) so that we do not kick ourselves later for thinking that we had some common cause with the big villians, who later will certainly sell us out and (C) to refocus our energies on building some kind of real wealth that will last, outside the grasp of this dying, insane system.
When they tell you "WE owe 12 trillion dollars", nod and smile and withdraw, enjoying a private laugh when the idiots are far enough away. When they tell you that "WE will have to tighten our belts", look down at yours and decide if you need to lose weight or not. (If not, let fat politicians like Al Gore tighten their belts first.) When they tell you that "WE are in collapse" decide right then and there that, although something is definitely collapsing, YOU are not.
Britain’s electricity sector headed for a cliff edge
France declares war on oil speculators
EU in desperate search for climate strategy
China takes over from West as Iran's main economic partner
GrTz,
v
Re agape wins' 2:40 PM post on FTW's Sunday, March 14, 2010 "Hoax Attacks..." comments page:
We ALL are winners/losers in terms of how well/not well we communicate ourselves (i.e., share "our minds & feelings"/"our perspectives") with each other. RanD has on more than one occasion criticized agape wins for not writing coherently; Hotspringswizard has accused RanD of being just as incoherent as RanD has claimed that agape wins sometimes is. RanD has also been criticized for being overly verbose, for going overboard with punctuation, being unacceptably repetitious, for introducing subject matter which is not on topic, for unacceptably asserting RanD's perspectives, and for engaging unacceptable ideas -- such as that human beings are able to fully consciously link up with "GOD", and by doing so free themselves from the horse shit we've ALL been swimming in since day one and that the/OUR human condition is drowning in today.
Is it wrong to express oneself as accurately, honestly, and completely as possible, using all the writing tools at hand to do so?
Agape wins' 2:40 PM post is, from RanD's perspective, a very good piece of writing. It effectively -- i.e., "as accurately, honestly, and completely as possible" -- conveys to its readers its writer's mind & feelings. It also achieves the writer's goal "to generate thought", in that it has stimulated this writer to indeed think, carefully, and then respond to him, like this.
We too ultimately "enjoy everyone's posts", and particularly those which disturb us: our perspective tells us that that which disturbs is very important to study and try to understand, frequently as if being a paramount teacher.
How is it that you are a Ghanaian Wetlands? Ponzo The Japanese Little Mermaid is absolutely charming! "Adigato" (sp?) is my only remaining Japanese, which I got from my dear high-school days buddy Bobby Fujino.
Cheers to all!
@Jenna
"JO comment: I've long harbored a secret belief that the reason we've been treated to specials on the Mayan predictions for 2012 as well as on the prescience of Nostradamus is that the TPTB were psyching us for the disaster they were engineering or at least, steering."
Interesting idea. I wouldn't put it past them.
Here, I always thought it was just another stab at mainstream religion...i.e. go on TV and say something so ridiculous that it discredits the entire concept (kind of like what Rev. Al Sharpton does for civil rights).
Or maybe because they couldn't put stock-car racing on the Discovery channel. :-)
Here we go again:
Tehran aiding al Qaeda links, Petraeus says
GrTz,
V
Coming Soon: Economic Growth Without Oil
A little back of the envelope calculation can show how painful it's going to be to justify the points made in this article.
They look at the decline in oil consumption and attribute it to falling demand. In economics terms, 'Demand' is what people are actually purchasing.
for instance, if you go to the store to buy three oranges, and they only have one. You buy the one orange, and demand is measured at one orange. It doesn't matter that you wanted three. You didn't buy three.
Likewise, the supply of oil dropped 2% at the time of the study. You can't buy oil that isn't being supplied. So demand is measured to have dropped 2%.
If you look at the growing price of crude oil, it's clear that there is a market to buy more oil. Purchasers are bidding the price up, to keep their own supply steady or rising. This means that some purchasers are being forced to cut back, do without. Doing without, usually means bankruptcy.
This is demand destruction.
Well, back to the back of the envelope stuff...
For efficiency gains to make up for lost production, the efficiency gains must improve at an annual rate that takes into account the lack of production growth and the rate of production decline.
So we find that every year, our auto fleet must become 5% more efficient, by this article's numbers. It must make up for the 2% loss and grow at 3% above that.
So every year, the entire auto fleet must become 5% more efficient.
I've seen some credible stats that oil production is now in a 6% decline.
So our auto fleet needs to improve by 9% every single year to keep pace.
With people holding onto their cars longer than ever and new car sales in the toilet, there is no reason to believe that such dramatic yearly improvements are possible.
That article isn't credible on this basis. But it will make people feel better.
JO comment: I've long harbored a secret belief that the reason we've been treated to specials on the Mayan predictions for 2012 as well as on the prescience of Nostradamus is that the TPTB were psyching us for the disaster they were engineering or at least, steering.
Yeah, like steering the Titanic while it was taking on water.
I've had similar thoughts.
Hooray for Elinor Ostrom (woman who might save the planet)! It's wonderful to finally read about the viability of cooperation, as opposed to the "It's mine/Get what you can" models we were raised with. I hope we see much more of this, both in practice and in press coverage. (Might give new meaning to the phrase "Yes, we can!".)
Why is it that Mike Ruppert only seems to make statements when there is bad news? According to him, last year India and pakistan were going to "exchange nulcear blows" also Russia was behind the attacks on Mumbai. Now we know a Chicago man and American citizen is about to plead guilty in federal court for the same!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/03/16/chicago-man-plead-guilty-mumbai-terror-plot/
Also, according to Mr.Ruppert, stocks should have gone way down but they have been going the other way.
Thanks.
dec
re december's post:
let it not be said that this isn't a fair and balanced blog. guys, let's not waste time and blood pressure over this.
stuart
your post was passed on to appropriate parties
Thanks Jo
Excellent link list.
A few fruit loop commentators.
I have plenty of time to watch the O.E.C.D. burn - being one of the > 25% of the UK working age population without a job.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/7465199/Quarter-of-adults-out-of-work-official-figures-show.html
This seems to indicate a retreat: inequitable currency union requires capital transfers at some point.
Germany being the required donor.
Let the Greeks eat cake I say having been mauled by their aggressive obnoxious behaviour from all classes on two trips.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8572257.stm
What a total crock that article is titled, "Coming Soon: Economic Growth Without Oil". That article is a perfect example of how deceit and propaganda are smoothly woven together to lead people to false conclusions.
december...We've had plenty of discussion in here about how stock market values are being manipulated. If this manipulation hadn't been going on from behind the scenes, the value of the stock market would be much lower than it is right now.
If you missed this video clip on the subject you may want to check it out:
Click Here for the Video
eyeballs: a great piece of advice!
We need to own our part of this mess, but no more. False guilt must be rejected. Changing our minds, which will lead to changing our actions is the only way to change the world {system}. Mercy triumphes over Judgement.
http://www.gods-kingdom-ministries.org/COLDFUSION/booklet.cfm?PID=101
notice chapter three...
stuart
mike says if you'd like to have him speak please send an email to mcrfinaid@gmail.com. He's getting filled up pretty quickly but he'll be happy to take a look and respond.
december said... Also, according to Mr.Ruppert, stocks should have gone way down but they have been going the other way.
They should have.
Instead the taxpayer is funding the bubble through backdoor banking bailouts.
The US Deficit is growing to keep the markets up. It will have to keep growing and growing to make up for profit taking by the banks that are being paid to prop it up.
Coming Soon: Economic Growth Without Oil
Weasel Dog did a good job of laying out why the basis of the article has no credibility.
It's no surpise why people think there's no "oil crisis" when supposed experts expouse comments like ... "The trend in the biggest oil consumer, the United States, is relatively easy to assess. Mary Novak, director of energy services at Global Insight, which provides the EIA estimates for oil demand growth, says jobs and income are the key indicators.
"We have based our model on jobs ... Oil is a transport fuel (in the United States). It is not used for much more," she said.
"It is not used for much more"????? Hummm, seems we're a civilization totally based on hydrocarbons. Without petroleum based feed stock there would be no food production, water, waste disposal, lighting, utensils to eat from, lip stick to put on, chairs to sit on, tires for our "transport" fuel guzazling toys, etc. etc. etc.
Unbelievable!? From Reuter's no less!
With that - namaste
JO comment: I've long harbored a secret belief that the reason we've been treated to specials on the Mayan predictions for 2012 as well as on the prescience of Nostradamus is that the TPTB were psyching us for the disaster they were engineering or at least, steering.
I think these represent a collective despair and fear over the dieing of the old ways. This encourages the feeling that current events are unavoidable, that we are powerless to control future or current events. The reverse is the case. Instead current events should be viewed as the old and unsustainable way collapsing. But collapsing into what? We decide.
I desire a new sustainable existence. I want to convince others that they should desire a new and sustainable existence as well. Then together and with courage we can start questioning, figuring out how to create such a new existence.
Of course I try to make my individual self sustainable. but we're all on the same boat, and it's a pretty small boat. The less people rocking that boat out of fear, the better.
Businessman,
Thanks for that vid. The guy just reinforces a growing feeling that what is really going on is inscrutible, even for those who are paying attention. By the time we have effects we can identify and map, there is huge momentum behind the trends.
At least we're paying attention, eh?
3,17,10; 7:15pm.
Read this before the market crashes
48 hrs left -- A market crash is the least of our worries
40% - 50% chance stocks will crash to a new low? - 24 hours left
These are the Email headlines for the last 3 days from "The Motley Fool", A subscription Investment newsletter, Brokers make a commission when you buy and when you sell, nothing otherwise!
MCR makes Nada, calls what his gut tells him. Do you want him to
post that it is not going to rain, leave your Umbrella at home, or things are looking up, the Sun is shining?
The times they are a changing, if you want someone to think for you, decide what to wear, join the military, they post the Uniform of the day, and even tell you when you are not sick!
Jenna,
This blog is fair and balanced, unlike Fox network, it's not about time/blood pressure.
Businessman, & Weaseldog both had comments which show they have been paying attention, good readers of "Sign", possibly December was looking for just such a
response!
Elmo has evolved rapidly, or he was just "Checking the water" also, the more interaction
the better, I think, we each of us value words differently, & sometimes the meaning does not
come across clearly.
Case in point; RanD's "Ghanaian Wetlands", went right over my head.
One website says, "Ensuite available; Service with a smile.", it seems something was left
out/off.
Do you have enough firepower, your gunfire will just draw out the big guns/MONEY!
The 2010 Northern Rockies Machinegun and Cannon Shoot
http://www.wyomingnfa.com
By the Buy; the link is just an ad for more of the same, Wind power to use up more of
what we do not have. Thanks Businessman!
Click Here to See the Slides
Amanzuri.
In our lifetime ocean resources went from being unlimited to endangered....so what makes the experts so sure oil is too not in the same situation. M. Ruppert is interesting because he starts outside the box starting where people generally fear. Many authors suggest similar ideas... See John Ralston Saul The Unconscious Civilization, or Dark Age Ahead by Jane Jacobs, or A Short History of Progress Ronald Wright, or Chalmers Johnson Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic, there are just so many signs that modernity is past it's prime and we are really the causes of our own demise....sadly.
@sunrnr
"It's no surpise why people think there's no "oil crisis" when supposed experts expouse comments like ... "The trend in the biggest oil consumer, the United States, is relatively easy to assess....... Oil is a transport fuel (in the United States). It is not used for much more,"
"Most" people don't even pay that much attention.
For all of the people in my immediate family --none of whom believe there is any sort of an oil or economic crisis-- the proof that their observations are correct is that the lights are still on at Wal-Mart. They do not pay attention to news because it's "a bummer". Their philosophy about life is: "I'll deal with it when it happens". If anyone is to save these people, it will be to drag them out of Sodom kicking and screaming!
googled Amanzuri and all we got was Ghanaian wetlands associated. wikipedia has nothing.
Hey y'all, we're lucky. Of course the media is full of bs about green shoots and substitutes for oil just around the corner. It's an intelligence test, and so far, you're passing. Those who are not will not fare as well, unless they're lucky (and that might happen, but certainly might not).
What about the next level of the game, though? We passed the first hurdles, and rose above the mainstream news. But the really tricky navigation may yet be to come. Gotta stay keen and keep passing that ball back and forth, keep waking each other up.
This might even be fun, in a way. God the 20th century was fun, but really too comfortable, with sanitized adventures instead o' the real thing, more often than not. The times offer Real Life to ride like the surfer on the tidal wave. But we gotta keep alert. Thank you so much Jenna, Mike, Rice Farmer and all who provide great links and comments to help us see where we might be going.
regarding Jo's comment:I've long harbored a secret belief that the reason we've been treated to specials on the Mayan predictions for 2012 as well as on the prescience of Nostradamus is that the TPTB were psyching us for the disaster they were engineering or at least, steering.
Yes, I've benn thinking that, too, for more than two decades. Being an ex-christian, I've often said that if people like Reagan believe a prophecy, they can make it happen. TPTB have the power to. That's why I've kept up on the current prophesies over the years, not because I'm superstitious, just aware.
eyeball: Thanks so much for all your comments this round, especially we are not collapsing. I, too, am actually psychologically ready for the adventure to start, even tho I might not last long. I've conserved my whole life (born 1951) just because it is the right thing to do. I've always been prepared for emergencies. I've always thought ahead, but I didn't become really knowledgable about how the world works (esp. the financial part) until after the Battle for Seattle. Having two years of learning, 9/11 did't surprise me. I was taken aback in early 2004 when I found out that was an inside job. I shouldn't have been---same MO as Seattle, Waco, OK CIty, etc....
Thanks again, Eyeballs...I for one really need that type of feedback.
MCR and Jenna are doing a great job in correcting the rosy picture most folks have deluded themselves with. These are indeed interesting times.
@rosebeader
"I've often said that if people like Reagan believe a prophecy, they can make it happen."
I don't think the problem is, so much, that they believe in a prophecy, as it is they feel it is their job as Christians to make it happen". And, as the saying goes: "Anything can happen".
if true, the information on this page completely explains probably THE strongest motive for JFK's assassination.
http://www.john-f-kennedy.net/executiveorder11110.htm
@redrose: even if TPTB aren't steering/engineering (and they are) they are at least full aware of trends and the future.
they know what the future is just as we do, just not the specifics and exact timing
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