Austerity Fails in Euroland: Time for Some "Deficit Easing"

Friday 24 December 2010

by: Ellen Brown, t r u t h o u t | News Analysis

"Doubtful it stood, as two spent swimmers that do cling together, and choke their art." -Shakespeare, "Macbeth"

The Greek bailout was supposed to be an isolated case, a test of the European Union's (EU) ability to quarantine an infected member, preventing it from spreading "debt contagion."

But that was before Ireland failed. Ireland was the poster child for how to conduct a successful austerity program. Unlike the Greeks, who were considered profligate spendthrifts, the Irish did everything their creditors asked. The people sacrificed to pay for the excesses of their banks, but still the effort failed. Ireland was the second domino to fall to an International Monetary Fund (IMF)/EU bailout.

On December 17, Moody's Investors Service rewarded it for voting to accept the "rescue" package with a five-notch credit downgrade, from AA2 to BAA1, with warnings that further downgrades could follow.

Spain is rumored to be the next domino poised to fall. If it falls, it could bring down the EU.

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Surprise, Broke States Must Make Cuts: ‘The Credit Card is Maxed Out. It’s Over. It’s Over.’

Mac Slavo
SHTF Plan
December 24, 2010
Millions of Americans who have been told that our economy is now in a period of recovery may be surprised to learn that most states are so broke that they are left with no other choice but to cut spending on literally everything. Governor Christie of New Jersey is, according to 60 Minutes, the canary in the mine:

We spent too much on everything. We spent money just crazily. The credit card’s maxed out. It’s over. It’s over.

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Munibond Meltdown Coming to a State Near You!

SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS!!!
Mark Matheny
December 24, 2010

Municipal Bonds are in meltdown mode, and Warren Buffet warned last June that as long as the Government is willing to step in and buy Muni Bonds, they will be considered AAA - otherwise it is uncertain what will become of them. Many States are in financial trouble as we see the U.S., like the Titanic in icy waters with its bowel scraping the proverbial Iceberg of debt.


Peter Schiff  of Euro Pacific Capital Inc. has stated that soon it looks like the Federal Reserve will be buying Muni Bonds as well, increasing the amount of money printing they have already started, which will lead to a further devaluing of the U.S. Dollar, and more National Debt., higher commodity and food prices,etc.

Soon, as the States go into deep deficits without the ability to pay their bills, the Federal government will follow, and the Federal Reserve will then be forced to purchase Muni Bonds to keep the ship afloat.

The life preservers needed right now by Americans, are the ones they provide for themselves - eliminating any debt they have, and the purchasing of gold and silver to save their wealth.

The time to put on the lifejacket is now.

Vice Admiral: Obama was outmaneuvered by Russians on START

U.S. Naval Institute - December 23, 2010
 
President Barack Obama was outmaneuvered by the Russians and should have abandoned the New START negotiations instead of seeking a political victory, says former nuclear plans monitor Vice Admiral Jerry Miller, USN (Ret).
“The Obama administration is continuing a dated policy in which we cannot even unilaterally reduce our own inventory of weapons and delivery systems without being on parity with the Russians,” Miller told the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis, Md. “We could give up plenty of deployed delivery systems and not adversely affect our national security one bit, but New START prohibits such action - so we are now stuck with some outmoded and useless elements in our nuke force.”
After meeting resistance from several Republicans, the U.S. Senate ratified the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia by a vote of 71-26 on Wednesday.
“The Soviets/Russians were done in by Reagan and our missile defense program because they cannot afford to build such a system,” said Miller. “They instead try to counter our program with rhetoric at the bargaining table. And they won by outmaneuvering Obama.  START plays right into their hands.”
Former President Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) is often credited with bankrupting the U.S.S.R. because the Soviets were unable to keep pace with the technology being developed by the United States.
 “We have always been superior in quality of our nuclear force, so we did not have to negotiate with a party we do not trust,” said Miller. “If Obama wanted to save some money and improve national defense, he should have gotten out of the nuke negations and acted unilaterally. START is simply a political victory for Obama.”
Miller, who helped prepare the National Strategic Target List and Single Integrated Operational Plan for waging nuclear war and later participated in arms control meetings with the Soviet government, expressed concern that START could leave the United States vulnerable to other emerging threats.
“The treaty prohibits the conversion of an existing ballistic missile system into a missile defense system,” said Miller. “We might want to do that with a Trident or an ICBM sometime in the future, particularly if the Chinese alleged threat materializes.”

Miller’s book “Stockpile: The Story Behind 10,000 Strategic Nuclear Weapons” details the buildup of nuclear arms and the policies to keep the stockpile under control.

 

Contact: media@usni.org

NKorea threatens 'sacred' nuclear war if attacked

FOX News.com

Published December 22, 2010

Associated Press

POCHEON, South Korea –  North and South Korea beat the drums of war Thursday, with each threatening the other with immediate retaliation if attacked.

Seoul has staged days of military drills in a show of force meant to deter North Korea, including live-fire exercises earlier this week on a front-line island shelled by the North last month. Angered by the exercises, North Korea threatened Thursday it would launch a "sacred" nuclear war if Seoul hit it and warned that even the smallest intrusion on its territory would bring a devastating response.

The two sides are still technically at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce not a peace treaty, and a U.S. governor who recently made an unofficial diplomatic mission to the North has said the situation on the peninsula is a "tinderbox" and the worst he had ever seen it.

Still, the latest rhetoric seemed likely to be just that, words aimed at stirring pride at home and keeping the rival at bay.

Defense chief Kim Yong Chun said North Korea is "fully prepared to launch a sacred war" and would use its nuclear capabilities, calling Monday's drills a "grave military provocation" that indicated South Korea and the U.S. are plotting to invade the North.

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U.S. Senate approves nuclear arms treaty with Russia

Beforeitsnews.com
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 5:30

Windsor Genova - AHN News News Writer

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) - The U.S. Senate ratified Wednesday a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with the Russian Federation.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced the ratification as the Senate's presiding officer after 71 senators voted in favor of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on April 8.

A total 26 Republicans voted against the treaty limiting each country's nuclear warheads to 1,550 each and allowing for 18 verifications of 1,500 weapons per year by each side.

The ratification of the new START came after 11 Republicans crossed party lines on Tuesday and joined 56 Democrats in voting for cloture on the treaty.

The Republicans repeated their opposition to the measure in the last minute with Sen. John Cornyn of Texas arguing that the treaty excludes limits on tactical weapons intended for battlefields. Cornyn argued that Russia has more tactical nuclear weapons than the U.S.

Espionage Act Rears Its Ugly Head And Threatens American Tradition Of Freedom

Beforeitsnews.com
Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Is the Espionage Act a good law? As various prominent members of our government and media add their voices to those calling for charging Julian Assange and The New York Times under the Espionage Act, it's important to remember and not repeat the Act's ugly past.
Bestselling author, Naomi Wolf, recounts the damage done by the Espionage Act over at the Huffington Post:

The Espionage Act was crafted in 1917 -- because President Woodrow Wilson wanted a war and, faced with the troublesome First Amendment, wished to criminalize speech critical of his war. In the run-up to World War One, there were many ordinary citizens -- educators, journalists, publishers, civil rights leaders, union activists -- who were speaking out against US involvement in the war. The Espionage Act was used to round these citizens by the thousands for the newly minted 'crime' of their exercising their First Amendment Rights.

A movie producer who showed British cruelty in a film about the Revolutionary War (since the British were our allies in World War I) got a ten-year sentence under the Espionage act in 1917, and the film was seized; poet E.E. Cummings spent three and a half months in a military detention camp under the Espionage Act for the 'crime' of saying that he did not hate Germans.

Esteemed Judge Learned Hand wrote that the wording of the Espionage Act was so vague that it would threaten the American tradition of freedom itself. Many were held in prison for weeks in brutal conditions without due process; some, in Connecticut -- Joe Lieberman's home state -- were severely beaten while they were held in prison. The arrests and beatings were widely publicized and had a profound effect, terrorizing those who would otherwise speak out.

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