MoneyNews.com
Tuesday, 24 Aug 2010 11:02 AM
By: David Frazier
The supposedly brilliant economists on Wall Street are finally wakening up to the fact that economic growth both here in the United States and in numerous other countries around the world will likely slow considerably during the remainder of the year.
For example, on Aug. 21, JPMorgan’s chief economist reduced his third-quarter 2010 GDP for the United States from 2.5 percent to 1.5 percent, and he cut his fourth-quarter growth forecast from 3.0 percent to 2.0 percent.
A day earlier, JPMorgan cut its 2010 GDP forecast for China to 9.8 percent growth from 10 percent growth because the United States and international economic recoveries appear to be suffering from a "loss of momentum."
ALERT: Frazier: Stocks Rolling Over. Get Out Now.
The firm also reduced its 2011 GDP forecast for China to 8.6 percent from 8.8 percent. (China’s economy expanded 10.3 percent during the second quarter of this year).
Although Goldman Sachs has maintained its second-half 2010 GDP forecast at 1.5 percent, the company recently lowered its 2011 forecast from 2.5 percent to 1.9 percent.
Those announcements follow a report issued last month from the Institute of International Finance (IIF) whereby the IIF stated that it expects global growth to decline to 2.7 percent during 2011 from 3.4 percent this year.
Meanwhile, economists surveyed by Bloomberg recently stated, on average, that their research indicates that the U.S. economy likely grew at a much slower pace during the second quarter of this year than they had initially estimated.
Specifically, those economists said that instead of growing at a 2.4 percent annualized pace during the second quarter, their most-recent research indicates that inflation-adjusted GDP likely grew at only a 1.3 percent annual rate during the quarter ended June 30, 2010.
With the National Association of Realtors reporting this morning that sales of previously-owned homes in the United States declined 27 percent during July, as compared to the same month a year ago, and that inventories of homes (in relation to sales) rose to their highest level on record, I expect Wall Street economists to lower their growth forecasts further within the next few weeks.
I also expect so-called Wall Street securities analysts to soon begin to lower their third-quarter forecasts of corporate profits. That would be a very negative development for stock prices because stocks tend to move in the same direction as corporate profits.
Meanwhile, my research indicates that neither the Federal Reserve nor the U.S. government will be able to stimulate the economy during the months ahead. That’s because the Fed has essentially run out of monetary tools that had been used, historically, to stimulate the economy and because the federal budget deficit is currently at levels that won’t allow the Congress to pass any desired government-spending proposals.
Note from Moneynews:
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About the Author: David Frazier
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The Struggling Class – The emergence of consistent poverty. How the other half live financially. 40 million Americans on food assistance and large unbanked population. Family Dollar up over 80 percent through the recession.
MyBudget360.com
It is disturbing to see many articles published in foreign newspapers and magazines highlighting the plight of the middle class in America. You would think that our own media would want to cover this issue which should be at the top of the list for everyone. Instead, our mainstream media systematically attempts to keep everyone financially in the dark and shell shocked into spending money (assuming they still have disposable income). They do this by pumping out inane show after inane show to keep people numb to the deeper problems of the day. The middle class is giving way to a new struggling class. This is a class that is defined by a constant struggle merely to chase the middle class carrot on the stick while the large banking sector becomes ever more powerful and the resource pie shrinks. The recovery never even appeared for millions of Americans.
Read the entire report
It is disturbing to see many articles published in foreign newspapers and magazines highlighting the plight of the middle class in America. You would think that our own media would want to cover this issue which should be at the top of the list for everyone. Instead, our mainstream media systematically attempts to keep everyone financially in the dark and shell shocked into spending money (assuming they still have disposable income). They do this by pumping out inane show after inane show to keep people numb to the deeper problems of the day. The middle class is giving way to a new struggling class. This is a class that is defined by a constant struggle merely to chase the middle class carrot on the stick while the large banking sector becomes ever more powerful and the resource pie shrinks. The recovery never even appeared for millions of Americans.
Read the entire report
Collapse Survival Will Be Tribal: Begin Recruiting Now
Activist Post
August 27, 2010
Everyone on earth knows how fragile the economy is. It has pushed first-world countries to the brink of revolution. The pushing can’t withstand much more before the pillars of civilization begin to fall. And once they begin falling, there may be no stopping them from collapsing society altogether. Unfortunately, the signs of further economic erosion are disturbingly obvious to the onlookers, and the remaining pillars are hanging on by a thread.
What’s more, the controllers are orchestrating the collapse of the American economy and society right now, albeit in slow motion, but it is already crumbling. The economy and the environment have surpassed their critical tipping points, where dollars will inevitably be worthless and resources will be out-of-reach expensive for most of humanity. We are likely to see astronomically-high gas prices ultimately causing food and medicine to be quickly wiped out of the box stores — first by nesters, then by desperate looters. One only has to witness the panic buying before predicted snow storms to imagine what a sustained blizzard would do. It’s well past the 11th hour and survival and real solutions must rule the day.
The collapse will surely be a desperate time for many, especially those who live in major cities. Even some suburbs will not be immune for those who didn’t see it coming and plan accordingly. Jobs will be far scarcer, money will not go nearly as far for essentials like food and energy, and what will be left of the cities will be roving gangs desperate for resources. The poor helpless citizens will most likely be taken to FEMA “dormitories” as is already being proposed.
Read the entire article
Continue to Oppose Food Safety Legislation
It happened just in time, the salmonella egg outbreak and recall, that is. Remarkably so, in fact, to help boost the chances of Senate Bill 510's passing. The Food Safety Modernization Act, whose companion bill H.R. 2749 already passed in the House, was facing quite the uphill battle. But not any more; a vote is now highly likely with approval possible if not probable.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said there could be as many as 1,300 salmonella related illnesses linked to the eggs. And that there could be 30 or more unreported cases for every reported case. So far there have actually been 1,953 illnesses reported from May 1 to July 31 of this year with the CDC admitting “some of these cases may not be related to this outbreak.” CNN has an interesting state-by-state listing of reported, suspected, and confirmed cases. It seems then, that labeling 1,953 food-borne illnesses in a three month period in a nation of over 300 million an “outbreak” is a bit of an over-reaction
Nonetheless, the hue and cry from the food agency regulators of the Obama Administration is deafening. Most call for an expansion of federal authority in order to prevent any more food-related illnesses, something that is quite impossible, given our imperfect planetary conditions.
Senate Bill 510 has already passed committee and is on the Senate calendar. It calls for enhanced expansion of FDA authority over small farms, ranches, and other food producers, establishes burdensome administrative requirements for large and small operations, and arbitrary legal authority to recall “unsafe medications,” the definition of which is not clearly established; if in line with the global standard set by Codex Alimentarius, “unsafe medications” could extend to dietary supplements and herbal products. There is language that currently exempts from heavy regulation dietary supplement manufacturers and packagers. However, the FDA and its agents are notorious for interpreting and enforcing these regulations in their own way.
A Manager’s Amendment has been proposed that would make technical changes in the definition for “adulterated food,” and the creation of a small entity compliance policy guide that would exempt small businesses from some of the bill’s requirements -- for now. Sen. Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) restriction on the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in plastic containers may also be offered as an amendment, while another is the foreign country prescription drug re-importation amendment.
The inclusion of BPA restrictive legislation and the prescription drug re-importation is not enough to offset the unconstitutional directives contained in the bill. Having the federal government assume entire control over this country’s food supply won’t solve anything and won’t prevent all food-borne illnesses, but it is a usurpation of the states’ right to set and oversee standards for food safety.
The citizens of this country who are already financially overburdened with the government's wild spending policies resulting in a ridiculous deficit and gargantuan national debt cannot afford this increase in monetary costs and bureacuracy, and loss of freedom, by the federal government expanding its reach further into the country's food supply and personal buying and eating choices.
If you believe food safety is best achieved at the local level, contact your senators and continue to express your opposition to such plans. Have them do everything in their power to defeat S. 510.
Thanks,
Your friends at The John Birch Society
Key Karzai aide in Afghan corruption inquiry on CIA payroll
The New York Times
By DEXTER FILKINS and MARK MAZZETTI
updated 8/25/2010 11:58:54 PM ET
KABUL, Afghanistan — The aide to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the center of a politically sensitive corruption investigation is being paid by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Afghan and American officials.
Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Salehi does in exchange for his money, whether providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace, or both.
Mr. Salehi’s relationship with the C.I.A. underscores deep contradictions at the heart of the Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, with American officials simultaneously demanding that Mr. Karzai root out the corruption that pervades his government while sometimes subsidizing the very people suspected of perpetrating it.
Mr. Salehi was arrested in July and released after Mr. Karzai intervened. There has been no suggestion that Mr. Salehi’s ties to the C.I.A. played a role in his release; rather, officials say, it is the fear that Mr. Salehi knows about corrupt dealings inside the Karzai administration.
Read the entire article
By DEXTER FILKINS and MARK MAZZETTI
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| Case points up apparent contradictions in U.S. policy (Photo:Hamid Karzai) |
KABUL, Afghanistan — The aide to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at the center of a politically sensitive corruption investigation is being paid by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to Afghan and American officials.
Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Salehi does in exchange for his money, whether providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace, or both.
Mr. Salehi’s relationship with the C.I.A. underscores deep contradictions at the heart of the Obama administration’s policy in Afghanistan, with American officials simultaneously demanding that Mr. Karzai root out the corruption that pervades his government while sometimes subsidizing the very people suspected of perpetrating it.
Mr. Salehi was arrested in July and released after Mr. Karzai intervened. There has been no suggestion that Mr. Salehi’s ties to the C.I.A. played a role in his release; rather, officials say, it is the fear that Mr. Salehi knows about corrupt dealings inside the Karzai administration.
Read the entire article
PM Report: Existing Home Sales Plunge 27%
online.wsj.com
8/24/2010 4:38:41 PM
Nick Timiraos and Steve Kerch discuss the latest housing data showing sales of existing homes plunged in July and what it means for housing market, including prices, going forward. Plus, microbes may be speeding up oil cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rasmussen: 62% in Ohio Support Bush Tax Cuts
Newsmax.com
Sunday, 22 Aug 2010 01:51 PM
Sixty-two percent of likely voters in Ohio are in favor of extending the so-called Bush tax cuts that are scheduled to end Dec. 31, according to a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey.
The level of support in Ohio is 8 points above the finding on the national level. Thirty percent of voters in the Buckeye State believe the tax cuts should expire at the end of the year.
Overall, 51 percent in Ohio believe letting the tax cuts expire at the end of the year would hurt the economy, which mirrors voter sentiment on the national level. And 27n percent believe allowing expiration would help the economy.
Given the choice, 52 percent of Ohio voters would prefer the government extend the tax cuts for all Americans, rather than excluding the wealthy. Almost 40 percent would rather the government extend the cuts for everyone except the wealthy. Nationally, voters are a bit more evenly divided on this question.
Strong majorities of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major political party in Ohio favor extending the tax cuts. Just over half of Democrats (54 percent) would prefer the cuts expire at the end of 2010.
While 66 percent of white voters in the state favor an extension of the tax cuts, 64 percent of black voters favor their expiration.
The statewide survey of 750 likely voters in Ohio was conducted on Aug. 16.
© All Rights Reserved.
Sunday, 22 Aug 2010 01:51 PM
Sixty-two percent of likely voters in Ohio are in favor of extending the so-called Bush tax cuts that are scheduled to end Dec. 31, according to a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey.
The level of support in Ohio is 8 points above the finding on the national level. Thirty percent of voters in the Buckeye State believe the tax cuts should expire at the end of the year.
Overall, 51 percent in Ohio believe letting the tax cuts expire at the end of the year would hurt the economy, which mirrors voter sentiment on the national level. And 27n percent believe allowing expiration would help the economy.
Given the choice, 52 percent of Ohio voters would prefer the government extend the tax cuts for all Americans, rather than excluding the wealthy. Almost 40 percent would rather the government extend the cuts for everyone except the wealthy. Nationally, voters are a bit more evenly divided on this question.
Strong majorities of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either major political party in Ohio favor extending the tax cuts. Just over half of Democrats (54 percent) would prefer the cuts expire at the end of 2010.
While 66 percent of white voters in the state favor an extension of the tax cuts, 64 percent of black voters favor their expiration.
The statewide survey of 750 likely voters in Ohio was conducted on Aug. 16.
© All Rights Reserved.
"We Are America Radio"Talk Show Host Craig Shaull discusses issue of Ground Zero Mosque with Mark Matheny
SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!
Mark Matheny
Mark Matheny discusses issues regarding the "Ground Zero Mosque" on BlogtalkRadio with Talk show host Craig Shaull of "We Are America Radio" on August 24, 2010. Mark comes on the show at around the 22 minute mark.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weareamerica
Mark Matheny
Mark Matheny discusses issues regarding the "Ground Zero Mosque" on BlogtalkRadio with Talk show host Craig Shaull of "We Are America Radio" on August 24, 2010. Mark comes on the show at around the 22 minute mark.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weareamerica
Listen to internet radio with Craig Shaull on Blog Talk Radio
Ron Paul Backs "Ground Zero Mosque," Splitting with Son Rand
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| Ron Paul (Credit: Carlos Osorio) |
Libertarian Congressman Ron Paul is breaking with many of his fellow Republicans - among them his son Rand - to support the creation of the planned Islamic cultural center near the former site of the World Trade Center that has come to be known as the "ground zero mosque."
In a statement decrying "demagogy" around the issue, the former Republican presidential candidate wrote late last week that "the debate should have provided the conservative defenders of property rights with a perfect example of how the right to own property also protects the 1st Amendment rights of assembly and religion by supporting the building of the mosque."
"Instead, we hear lip service given to the property rights position while demanding that the need to be 'sensitive' requires an all-out assault on the building of a mosque, several blocks from 'ground zero,'" Paul continues.
He goes on to argue that "the neo-conservatives who demand continual war in the Middle East and Central Asia...never miss a chance to use hatred toward Muslims to rally support for the ill conceived preventative wars."
Read the entire article
Ahmadinejad promises 'global' response if Iran is attacked
DOHA, Aug 21, 2010 (AFP) - Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has promised a global response if his country is attacked, in an interview with Qatari daily Al-Sharq published on Saturday.
"Our options will have no limits... They will touch the entire planet," he said in reply to a question about Tehran's reaction in the event of such an attack.
Iran's arch-foes the United States and Israel have never ruled out military strikes against Tehran to halt its nuclear programme which they and other Western powers suspect is aimed at making weapons.
Tehran denies the charge, saying its atomic programme has purely peaceful goals.
"I believe that some think about attacking Iran, especially those within the Zionist entity (Israel). But they know that Iran is an indestructible bulwark and I do not think their American masters will let them do it," Ahmadinejad said.
"They also know that the Iranian response will be hard and painful," he added.
The UN Security Council in June slapped its fourth set of sanctions on Iran over its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment work.
str/mh/sma/hkb
© Copyright AFP 2010.
1992 John Holdren Publication Reaffirms Devotion to Population Control through “Global Effort”
Jurriaan Maessen
Infowars.com
Yet another writing has surfaced authored by current science czar John P. Holdren, detailing his enduring vision of a depopulated planet and the global efforts that should be made to accomplish it. Although described in detail in Ecoscience and other publications from the 70s, this new find proves once again and beyond a shadow of a doubt that the fox has far from lost his eugenic tricks.
In a 1992 Cambridge Press Publication Energy Efficiency and Human Activity: Past Trends, Future Prospects, cosponsored by the Stockholm Environment Institute, John P. Holdren wrote a 52 page prologue called “The Transition to Costlier Energy”. In it, he repeats his long-cherished vision of a planetary regime under which population control would be implemented more effectively. From page 36 onward:
“(…) the population can’t be frozen. Indeed, short of a catastrophe, it can hardly be levelled off below 9 billion. Indeed, without a global effort at population limitation far exceeding anything that has materialized so far, the population of the planet could soar to 14 billion or more by the year 2100.”
Read the entire article
Infowars.com
John P. Holdren.
August 23, 2010Yet another writing has surfaced authored by current science czar John P. Holdren, detailing his enduring vision of a depopulated planet and the global efforts that should be made to accomplish it. Although described in detail in Ecoscience and other publications from the 70s, this new find proves once again and beyond a shadow of a doubt that the fox has far from lost his eugenic tricks.
In a 1992 Cambridge Press Publication Energy Efficiency and Human Activity: Past Trends, Future Prospects, cosponsored by the Stockholm Environment Institute, John P. Holdren wrote a 52 page prologue called “The Transition to Costlier Energy”. In it, he repeats his long-cherished vision of a planetary regime under which population control would be implemented more effectively. From page 36 onward:
“(…) the population can’t be frozen. Indeed, short of a catastrophe, it can hardly be levelled off below 9 billion. Indeed, without a global effort at population limitation far exceeding anything that has materialized so far, the population of the planet could soar to 14 billion or more by the year 2100.”
Read the entire article
Real estate fading as a means to build wealth
'People shouldn't look at a home as a way to make money because it won't'
The New York Times
By David Streitfeld
updated 8/23/2010 5:18:56 AM ET
Housing will eventually recover from its great swoon. But many real estate experts now believe that home ownership will never again yield rewards like those enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century, when houses not only provided shelter but also a plump nest egg.
The wealth generated by housing in those decades, particularly on the coasts, did more than assure the owners a comfortable retirement. It powered the economy, paying for the education of children and grandchildren, keeping the cruise ships and golf courses full and the restaurants humming.
More than likely, that era is gone for good.
“There is no iron law that real estate must appreciate,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for the real estate site Zillow. “All those theories advanced during the boom about why housing is special — that more people are choosing to spend more on housing, that more people are moving to the coasts, that we were running out of usable land — didn’t hold up.”
Instead, Mr. Humphries and other economists say, housing values will only keep up with inflation. A home will return the money an owner puts in each month, but will not multiply the investment.
Read the entire story
The New York Times
By David Streitfeld
updated 8/23/2010 5:18:56 AM ET
Housing will eventually recover from its great swoon. But many real estate experts now believe that home ownership will never again yield rewards like those enjoyed in the second half of the 20th century, when houses not only provided shelter but also a plump nest egg. More than likely, that era is gone for good.
“There is no iron law that real estate must appreciate,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for the real estate site Zillow. “All those theories advanced during the boom about why housing is special — that more people are choosing to spend more on housing, that more people are moving to the coasts, that we were running out of usable land — didn’t hold up.”
Instead, Mr. Humphries and other economists say, housing values will only keep up with inflation. A home will return the money an owner puts in each month, but will not multiply the investment.
Read the entire story
Obama now blames poor job numbers on congressional inaction. Wait! His party runs Congress
LA Times.com
August 20, 2010
Just a few minor things to catch up on for the weekend now that the Fundraiser-in-Chief has gone on another vacation (Don't worry though. White House chef Sam Kass went along, so the first family need not eat ordinary human food.)
-- The Congressional Budget Office says the 2010 federal deficit will be in excess of $1.3 trillion, as in $1,000,000,000,000+. (BTW, the next level we'll be talking about out of Washington is quadrillion, which has fifteen 0's.)
-- Despite Vice President Joe Biden's April boast that administration stimulus spending would spur the economy to add a half-million jobs a month by now, initial unemployment claims jumped a half-million last week, the worst since last November, as national unemployment remains at 9.5% and the economy sheds 131,000 more jobs.
-- But the economy's going great at the Democratic National Committee, which reports collecting $11.5 million from donors in July on top of the $53.8 million already taken in from various sources this year. The president just devoted three workdays across five states to rake in several more millions for his party.
-- But before leaving for his ninth presidential vacation, 10 days at a....
...secluded estate on Martha's Vineyard, Obama devoted four minutes in the White House driveway to a special statement on the latest disappointing jobs numbers. (Full text, as usual, can be read on the jump, along with a brief reaction from the Republican National Committee chairman.)
Read the entire article
Just a few minor things to catch up on for the weekend now that the Fundraiser-in-Chief has gone on another vacation (Don't worry though. White House chef Sam Kass went along, so the first family need not eat ordinary human food.)
-- The Congressional Budget Office says the 2010 federal deficit will be in excess of $1.3 trillion, as in $1,000,000,000,000+. (BTW, the next level we'll be talking about out of Washington is quadrillion, which has fifteen 0's.)
-- Despite Vice President Joe Biden's April boast that administration stimulus spending would spur the economy to add a half-million jobs a month by now, initial unemployment claims jumped a half-million last week, the worst since last November, as national unemployment remains at 9.5% and the economy sheds 131,000 more jobs.
-- But the economy's going great at the Democratic National Committee, which reports collecting $11.5 million from donors in July on top of the $53.8 million already taken in from various sources this year. The president just devoted three workdays across five states to rake in several more millions for his party.
-- But before leaving for his ninth presidential vacation, 10 days at a....
...secluded estate on Martha's Vineyard, Obama devoted four minutes in the White House driveway to a special statement on the latest disappointing jobs numbers. (Full text, as usual, can be read on the jump, along with a brief reaction from the Republican National Committee chairman.)
Read the entire article
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SSTNews Mark Matheny Every Year the World Economic Forum releases what is called a "Global Risks Report" What is interesting is ... -
Mercola.com Posted by: Dr. Mercola December 05 2009 22,565 views Jordan McFarland, a 14-year-old boy from Virginia, is weak and s...
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SSTNews Mark Matheny Every Year the World Economic Forum releases what is called a "Global Risks Report" What is interesting is...