Its getting really weird out there...

America has lost its mind. The whole thing has turned into some kind of nonstop Kardashian tranny monster truck shit-show of manufactured melodrama and lost causes, inducing a kind of global nausea that may ultimately prove more fatal than the rising surface temperature and melting icecaps. Russia, to its credit, and whatever else you think about it, has some regard for its own survival. Our country prefers the excitement of self-destruction.

Sunset near Copper Mountain

Wow
Amazing experience tonight//this morning.
By the way ... Merry Christmas
justI wanted to let you know about my Denver Metro Santa Clause "sleigh ride"
I started out with 16 "presents"...(all of them containing a card with a "personal note that Jesus loves you and cares for you)
Each stop was amazing. I went to Morrison to 104th/Wadsworth to Federal, south to colfax, to downtown, then colfax/Colorado, then to Potomac/Arapaho (Arapaho county jail - VERY hard for me to do!).
Best moments:  at federal and 45th I stopped at a convenience store where a (homeless) woman was sitting on the curb, staring at the ground, wrapped in a blanket .... 29 degrees out! I took a gift inside, gave it to the clerk, went back to my pickup, grabbed another gift with a $25 gift certificate, gave it to her and said "Merry Christmas".  You should have seen the look on her face. Best described as "I have nothing, I am freezing, it's Christmas Eve...thank you".  I left the gas station with tears in my eyes.

2nd Best Moment...downtown at Colfax and Broadway...I stopped my pickup next to a homeless VA man in a wheelchair, wrapped in blankets, dirty ... can't hardly move... I got out of my truck - traffic honking at me - and gave him a food basket and gift certificate of $25... he looked at me and said merry Christmas...I drove away and just cried...but it was a happy cry.
Made a bunch more stops and then off to the Arapaho County Jail.  Very hard for me. I parked in the front entry, walked up to the main entry point, entered and rang the "buzzer", spoke into the intercom and said, " I have a present for the officers here". She said,"why?"...I said "I appreciate all that the police officers do for the community.  She said " I will be right there"...ha ha.  I left not crying but very happy, relieved, tired...but very fortunate for all that I have.
Started at 8:30 and just got home 12:45, drove 100 miles, and absolutely loved every second of and...
I will do it next year!
Love,
Bret

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things...and no good thing ever dies."

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

WTSHTF: ISIS...Kiss my Ass!

WTSHTF: ISIS...Kiss my Ass!

ISIS...Kiss my Ass!

Today’s terror attack on Charlie Hedbo, the irreverent French satirical magazine that was one of the few media outlets in France to publish the original “Mohammed cartoons,” is an attempt by Islamic fundamentalists to enforce shari’aworldwide, even on non-Muslims.

We must not let them succeed.

Self-censoring out of fear means self-imposition of shari’a (Islamic law).

Self-censoring out of “respect” (actually just a euphemism for fear) means you are submitting to the terrorists’ worldview.

The way to overcome them in this instance is to overwhelm them with disrespect and mockery.

They can silence one magazine, but they can’t silence the entire Internet.

Every blogger, of every political stripe, be it left, right, and everywhere in between, needs to realize that freedom of speech and freedom of the press are the two keystones of your ideology, whatever it may be. You need to make a stand. You need to make these terrorists lose the ideological battle.

And the way to do that is to republish the Mohammed cartoons yourselves. Today. Right now.

Fill the world with images of Mohammed so that the terrorists realize they can never expunge them all.

But where to get the pictures? Easy.

The Mohammed Image Archive, which I have hosted at zombietime since the day of the original “Mohammed cartoon crisis” back in May of 2006, has not only a full collection of the original cartoons, but more importantly the largest collection of Mohammed imagery ever assembled in the history of the world.

I hereby grant permission, and even encourage, anyone reading this to repost any images found anywhere on the Mohammed Image Archive. No limits. Repost them all, if you want to.

Go to any of these pages, download whatever images you choose, repost, and help to win the most important cultural war humanity has faced in a long time:

The Mohammed Image Archive (main index page)

Islamic Depictions of Mohammed in Full

Islamic Depictions of Mohammed with Face Hidden

European Medieval and Renaissance Images

Miscellaneous Mohammed Images

Dante’s Inferno

Book Illustrations 

Book Covers

Satirical Modern Cartoons

The Jyllands-Posten Cartoons

Recent Responses to the Controversy

Extreme Mohammed

---

Here’s a selection of Mohammed images to get the ball rolling:

http://pjmedia.com/zombie/2015/01/07/do-not-submit-republish-the-mohammed-cartoons-everywhere/

Life is good!

Living every day like it's my last...make each one count and have a positive impact on someone.

Jefferson knew better....

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered." - Thomas Jefferson

I am an AMERICAN

I am a sovereign man, responsible for my own actions and their consequences. I am the supreme authority of my life, and I may do with it as I please. I hold this to be an inalienable right of my humanity, and I will not suffer it to be infringed upon.

I wish to assume the calculated risk, to wager my livelihood and well-being upon the decisions I make; I desire to test my skill and intelligence against all form and fashion of challenges. Danger is the spice and variety of life: all danger is simply risk, and I weigh the risks and pursue those that offer the highest return; whether that return be material gain, spiritual enlightenment, temporal pleasure or simply the euphoria of success.

I will neither ask for nor receive unearned handouts; I will trade value for value. I will work for what I own, and I will own what I work for. I abhor debt, considering it as merely a front for economic slavery. I do believe in the principles of capitalism, where one is rewarded according to his ability and productivity. I make money, not just gather it: producing products and services of value, squaring off against my competitors in an effort to win.

I am fiercely competitive, and proud of my country and myself. I strive to be the best I can be, not by pulling other people down and restraining them, but by striving to outdo them, to better them at every opportunity. I will not apologize for my ability, nor will I cower before any foe; I resolutely embrace my skills and intelligence, and use them to my best profit. It is my right to be uncommon, to walk the path less traveled by. I hold that if everyone were to work for their best interests while refraining from infringing upon others, then the competition would drive quality up and price down: that we would raise each other up, instead of pull each other down.

I choose my friends and company from among my betters, constantly seeking to improve myself. I maintain an inviolate sense of honor, my word is my bond: I deal with people in a straightforward way, expressing the truth, with tact, in all I do and say. I communicate precisely and simply, speaking and writing what I mean to convey exactly.

I neither impose my will upon others, nor do I forcefully oppose their will; if I choose to attempt to convert someone to my point of view, I use logos, swaying them through reason and immovable logic. I will readily yield to another point of view, maintaining an open mind, provided I am convinced through the use of persuasion that the other party is correct. I refuse to coerce or be coerced.

As the logical result of my economic and moral conscience, I believe in living under my means and preparing for a rainy day. I fix things myself. I become the master of my possessions, learning their inner workings and using them to best effect, not to be held in their thrall. I buy things of superlative quality, both for the item’s intrinsic value and because something made to such a high standard shows a mind and mentality such as mine.

I am always a student. I enjoy studying the literary works of great acclaim, apprenticing under the tutelage of a master in his trade, and exposing myself to fresh experiences. This does not mean I accept everything I come to understand, I apply myself to think critically and skeptically of all new material: keeping the grain and letting the wind blow the chaff away. I do not limit myself to any particular trade or subject, but seek out and delve into diverse topics.

Being responsible for my own fate, I do not deign to leave it in other people’s hands. I take it upon myself to acquire skills and knowledge that I can use to defend myself and those I love, and to give myself as much of an advantage in any situation as I can. I maintain a high level of awareness, both of my surroundings and myself. I respond decisively and with no apology to defend myself, my possessions or the lives of others.

I dress immaculately. I present myself with composed confidence, sure in myself, certain in my choices. I am tactful and good company, not to curry favor with others, but because anything less would be disgraceful and below the level at which I hold myself. When the time to work comes, I wear clothes whose form is expressed in flawless function.

I do not dwell on that which is outside my control. I accept it and adjust accordingly: I am permanently flexible and perpetually stoic. I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.

I consider religion a personal matter. Whatever I believe, I separate it from my politics and my judgment of others.

I voluntarily surrender a measure of my authority over myself to my government, which I hold to exist for the sole purpose of removing coercion as a viable means to achieve an end. I participate actively in the politics of my land, not as a method to raise myself above my peers or achieve a position of power, but to serve. I consider political service a necessary duty, not a career; I regard a large, intrusive government to be the greatest of all evils, because all that is required for it to succeed is for good men to do nothing. For this reason, I am a proponent of citizens being free to arm themselves, as they ought: the point of arming the populace is not pleasurable pastimes nor is it individual protection, the point is to empower the people. If the people have less force available to them than the government, then the government is free to coerce them. At that point, they are no longer citizens, they are now subjects.

I am an American. I own my life, the product of my labor and my mind. With these, I will contend with fate. I will not trade my freedom for a guaranteed existence. I am, therefore I think.

On global economic collapse .... Wtshtf

When is the economic collapse going to happen?  Just open up your eyes and take a look around the globe.  The next wave of the economic collapse may not have reached Wall Street yet, but it is already deeply affecting billions of lives all over the planet.  Much of Europe has already descended into a deep economic depression, very disturbing economic data is coming out of the second and third largest economies on the globe (China and Japan), and in most of the world economic inequality is growing even though 80 percent of the global population already lives on less than $10 a day.  Just because the Dow has been setting brand new all-time records lately does not mean that everything is okay.  Remember, a bubble is always the biggest right before it bursts.  The next major wave of the economic collapse is already sweeping across Europe and Asia and it is going to devastate the United States as well.  I hope that you are ready.

Freedom and thinking WTSHTF

"

The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”-Frank Zappa

We need austerity

Austerity is the equivalent of cutting cancerous cells from the body so that they don't consume precious resources, and eventually you

Austerity is the equivalent of taking the credit cards of your daughters away and explaining them that you won't finance a new bag, dress and pair of shoes every day forever. And that they might have to contemplate work or finding a husband or both

Austerity is about giving breathing space to those parts of the economy that really produce,even if consumption in total goes down

Austerity is about conservation of resources on what is essential, because times are though

Good Austerity would be paired with some help to the truly poor, and cuts in the help to those who won't suffer by that

If I really had any trust in governments spending wisely, then I'd be all in favour of gov spending during recessions/depressions

Predictions from Peter Schiff

In 2006, when he faced off with many well known Titans of investing and warned of an impending financial disaster and economic collapse, Peter Schiff was laughed at by his colleagues. He urged Americans to exit financial markets and take steps to protect themselves before the wealth held in their savings accounts, retirement investments and real estate was wiped out.

Few listened.

We know what happened next.

Now, those same financial experts who publicly vilified Schiff for his predictions six years ago are at it again. Many, including our politicians, central bankers and leading economists, have unequivocally stated that the worst is behind us, and that a global recovery is on the horizon.

Once again, Peter Schiff disagrees:

“I think we are heading for a worse economic crisis than we had in 2007,” Schiff said.  “You’re going to have a collapse in the dollar…a huge spike in interest rates… and our whole economy, which is built on the foundation of cheap money, is going to topple when you pull the rug out from under it.”

Schiff says that, despite “phony” signs of an economic recovery, the cancer destroying America stems from a lethal concoction of our $16 trillion federal debt and the Fed’s never ending money printing.

…

According to Schiff, these numbers are unsustainable. And the Fed has no credible “exit strategy.”

Eventually interest rates will rise… and when they do, Schiff says, stocks will tank and bonds dip to nothing. Massive new tax hikes will be imposed and programs and entitlements will be cut to the bone.

…

“The crisis is imminent,” Schiff said.  ”I don’t think Obama is going to finish his second term without the bottom dropping out. And stock market investors are oblivious to the problems.”

“We’re broke, Schiff added.  ”We owe trillions. Look at our budget deficit; look at the debt to GDP ratio, the unfunded liabilities. If we were in the Eurozone, they would kick us out.”

…

“The Fed knows that the U.S. economy is not recovering,” he noted. “It simply is being kept from collapse by artificially low interest rates and quantitative easing. As that support goes, the economy will implode.”

A noted economist, Schiff has been a fierce critic of the Fed and its policies for years. And his warnings have proven to be prophetic.

…

His recent warnings, however, have been even more alarming.  Will they also prove to be true?

In his most recent book, “The Real Crash” How to Save Yourself and Your Country“, Schiff writes that

when the “real crash” comes,” it will be worse than the Great Depression.

Unemployment will skyrocket, credit will dry up, and worse, the dollar will collapse completely, “wiping out all savings and sending consumer prices into the stratosphere.”

…

“All we can do now is prepare for the crash,” Schiff said. “If we brace ourselves properly and control the impact, we will survive it.”

Indeed.

We must understand that none of the fundamental problems leading up to the 2007/2008 financial crisis have been resolved.

If anything, it’s gotten worse.

Our politicians will not change, and therefore, will change nothing in Washington. Wall Street is as corrupt as ever. Our central bank continues to devalue our currency. There is no end in sight for these people. They will continue on this unsustainable path until we as a country finally hit the proverbial brick wall.

As Peter Schiff notes, the destruction to life as we know it in America and the world is imminent. It’s going to be severe.

So much so that the government has been simulating the collapse of our financial system, the collapse of our society and the potential for widespread violence.

A collapse happened in 2008, but THE collapse is still ahead.

The economy is in the tank!

U. S. policymakers’ efforts to manage the economic cycle have actually made things far more volatile. Their repeated interventions have, much to their surprise, blown up in their faces a few years later. The current round of QE will be no different. We have written previously, quoting Marc Faber, that “The Fed Will Destroy the World” through their money printing. Rapid inflation surely beckons. But that will not occur without firstly a Japanese-style loss of confidence in policymakers as we dive back into recession and produce dislocative market moves.

Bit coins down and crashing 50%

“History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance.”
President James Madison
Truth is most people don’t realise that the issuing of money is essentially a private business, and that the privilege of issuing money has been a major bone of contention throughout history

Wars have been fought and depressions have been caused in the battle over who issues the money; however the majority of us are not aware of this, and this is largely due to the fact that the winning side became and increasingly continues to be a vital and respected member of our global society, having an influence over large aspects of our lives including our education, our media and our governments.

While we might feel powerless in trying to stop the manipulation of money for private profit at our expense, it is easy to forget that we collectively give money its value. We have been taught to believe printed pieces of paper have special value, and because we know others believe this too, we are willing to work all our lives to get what we are convinced others will want.

Prepare, be aware, learn to share

“It is said that FDR’s New Deal didn’t get us out of the Great Depression, but World War II did,” Raimondo continues. “The truth is that, in wartime, when people are expected to sacrifice for the duration of the ‘emergency,’ economic problems are anesthetized out of existence by liberal doses of nationalist chest-beating and moral righteousness. Shortages and plunging living standards were masked by a wartime rationing system and greatly lowered expectations. And just as World War II inured us to the economic ravages wrought by our thieving elites, so World War III will provide plenty of cover for a virtual takeover of all industry by the government and the demonization of all political opposition as ‘terrorist.’”

Go offshore young man...

The world has become a gigantic financial nudist colony, full of government agents who pry ever more deeper into our nether regions looking for loose change betwixt the sofa cushions. Yet people are all too willing to comply. And anyone who shows up with a bath towel is branded a criminal or financial terrorist.

Clearly there are people who use offshore jurisdictions to hide graft or fraudulent activities. But this is not unique to the offshore world.

The number 1 tax

 haven in the world, in fact, is none other than the United States of America. More ill-gotten wealth is hidden in Wall Street banks through Delaware corporations than any other place on the planet.

Yet the attention is always focused on places like the British Virgin Islands, Channel Islands, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Cook Islands, Panama, Seychelles, Hong Kong, etc.

Just yesterday, the farcically named Center for Public Integrity released a fifteen month study based on 'leaked' documents from various international financial centers. The data shined a spotlight on the financial dealings of nearly 130,000 individuals in jurisdictions around the world.

The group's assessment is anything but flattering: "This investigation lifts the curtain on the offshore system and provides a transparent look into the secret world of tax havens and the individuals and companies that use and benefit from them."

Euro problems

In 43 years, 147 banking crises around the world, and even including ridiculous banana republics and tinpot dictatorships, it seems it is only in Cyprus that they actively stole depositor money.*

In some cases (as in Iceland) depositors did lose money on bigger, uninsured deposits because banks went bust and were liquidated ... but that seems quite different from actively stealing the depositor money to re-support the bad banks or to pay off some big creditors - like the European Central Bank - which yet continue to grab Cypriot funds.

Why did the EU-ECB-IMF steal the depositor money, when even internal troika memos said this could set off disastrous euro contagion?

Several theories are out there:

(1) It is a scheme to frighten depositors around the world into spending or investing their uninsured deposits. This is supported by the sudden near-simultaneous 'leaks' of possible deposit confiscations in New Zealand, Canada, Switzerland, the US and UK.

(2) It is a desperate last-ditch scheme to prop up the petro-dollar, i.e., the US dollar as reserve currency, which is at death's door as the BRICS and half the world join bi-lateral trade agreements by-passing the dollar. As IMF chief Lagarde (worked for big American law firm) and Angela Merkel (husband works for US Pentagon companies) are both American agents, they pushed this scheme onto the EU, not caring about damage to Europe. France was so angry at this they sent police to raid Lagarde's apartment.

(3) The EU 'project' of a grand united Europe is collapsing, so the final EU 'Hail Mary' play is to catastrophically destroy the EU banking system by creating pan-European bank runs, such a huge 'crisis' they hope this will finally lead to the 'United States of Europe' against all popular wishes.

(4) The Germans, Dutch and other North Europeans are so anally-obsessive about limiting their own taxpayer losses they idiotically blind themselves to the destruction of Europe they are causing.

(5) It is a test of how much theft people will submit to, like the theft of billions of customer funds in the US in the MF Global, Peregrine Financial and Sentinel cases ... with all legal avenues blocked, and America's owners of 300 million guns remaining passive.

(6) It is part of the general ramping toward global cataclysm, World War III, etc.

More debt

How can Americans ever be expected to reverse the slide into debt-slavery if real wages are stagnating? Even when using the official government inflation numbers which understate the real level of price inflation (CPI-W until 2009 and CPI-U from 2010) real wages in America have been flat at best since 2008.

Did you notice the mysterious vertical jump in the data series between December 2009 and January 2010? It was here when the government changed the inflation index it uses to calculate real wages from the CPI-W to the CPI-U. This change from one bogus number to a different bogus number resulted in an instant jump in real wages - further distancing the illusion from reality. Why are no mainstream economists telling us about this?

This arbitrary change in the inflation formula used to compute real wages is a great example of how government numbers do not reflect real economic activity. In reality, these numbers are completely meaningless in the real world. These numbers only have value in the illusionary matrix created by the Intellectual Idiots and the central planners for us to live in. It is smoke and mirrors to hide the ongoing failures of the central planners and the Intellectual Idiots advising them.

So you think Cypress is bad

In the US, depositors have actually been put in a worse position than Cyprus deposit-holders, at least if they are at the big banks that play in the derivatives casino. The regulators have turned a blind eye as banks use their depositaries to fund derivatives exposures. And as bad as that is, the depositors, unlike their Cypriot confreres, aren’t even senior creditors. Remember Lehman? When the investment bank failed, unsecured creditors (and remember,depositors are unsecured creditors) got eight cents on the dollar. One big reason was that derivatives counterparties require collateral for any exposures, meaning they are secured creditors. The 2005 bankruptcy reforms made derivatives counterparties senior to unsecured lenders.

H

As of Dec 2012, FDIC and BOE have agreed the way forward is to take bonholder and depositor money to protect TBTF banks who are sitting on Trillions in derivatives. TBTF banks are first in line and depositors are thrown under the bus and will be completely wiped out. Any FDIC protection is henceforth nonexistent and, in fact, any FDIC money will probably go to the derivatives holders as well. 

The focus on derivatives is what is scaring the shit out of them... finally! Looks like they have finally figured out that there really is going to be daisy chain of failures leading to economic Doomsday if just one of them goes down.

If the SHTF and B of A goes down you can bet Federal government will also do something and try to make everybody else pay their 'fair share" with a new tax on everybody.

The money machine

The earth is falling into a liquidity trap.  printing money to pay the "elite" interest, but the money is not getting to those who produce something  of real value.  The financialization of everything.  Remind me, what does the financial sector actually produce of real value again?  All I see are financial "products" of mass destruction.  The capital and resource mis-allocation and malinvestment continues...

I also believe...

"I believe..."

• S&P is at highs but the real econ­o­my has not recov­ered
• Rates at 0% is indica­tive of a reces­sion or maybe a depres­sion
• mid­dle class jobs have not returned sig­nals an econ­o­my in trou­ble
• and that these the three put togeth­er is a major prob­lem

"I believe..."

• it is impos­si­ble to bor­row your way out of debt...
• or spend your way to pros­per­i­ty
• our rep­re­sen­ta­tives in Wash­ing­ton do not think the rules of math­e­mat­ics do not apply to them
• very few peo­ple under­stand the power of the expo­nen­tial curve
• and rec­og­niz­ing it when its right in front of you (nation­al debt)
• that this sys­tem puts our kids in jeop­ardy (owing $350,000 at the age of 4)
• most peo­ple think these prob­lems are so far off in the future that it is sense­less to worry about them now
• they are wrong

"I believe..."

• See Some­thing, Say Some­thing should be applied to our gov­ern­ment - we should tell our neigh­bors what our gov­ern­ment is doing

"I believe..."

• Niki­ta Kruschev had at least one thing right, politi­cians are the same all over, "they promise to build a bridge even where there is no river."

"I believe..."

• Lead­er­ship starts at the top (and drops off fast from there) - and you gotta call them on their bull­shit (Bush aban­don­ing free-markets to save free mar­kets & Obama 'stop­ping these ridicu­lous wars' and still fight­ing them 5 years late)

"I believe..."

• It is wrong that the Attor­ney Gen­er­al open­ly admits that large banks are 'too big to jail'

"I believe.."

• It's wrong when guys in suits and ties get off easy (Cas­sano, Corzine, Mozi­lo), yet organ­ic farm­ers and young entre­pre­neurs have their busi­ness closed down and lives ruined - so the Jus­tice Depart­ment can send a mes­sage that noone is above the law.

"I believe..."

• The great­est trick the world's cen­tral bankers ever pulled was con­vic­ing you they were on your side.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

I believe...

"I believe..."

• That Cyprus will not be able to live up to the terms of the lat­est bailout, and
• It won't be long before the ECB comes back for round 2

"I believe..."

• Once the con­fi­dence in fiat cur­ren­cy is gone, its over...

"I believe..."

• It's still a beau­ti­ful world, and that
• Most peo­ple want the same things in life, to be left alone to make their own deci­sions and live life the way they see fit

and one last thing

"I believe..."

• It is bet­ter to deserve hon­ors and not have them, than to have hon­ors and not deserve them...

A world of hurt

Our official national debt stands at $16.6 trillion.  In 2008, the national debt was around $10 Trillion, meaning, we’ve added over $6 trillion in only 5 years.  (Gee, is it possible that this has pissed Americans off more than Obama’s ethnicity?)
Real national debt including entitlement programs and future obligations is estimated between $60 Trillion and $120 Trillion.
Our official debt to GDP ratio (the amount of capital our country generates versus what it owes) stands at 102%.  Historically, when a country crosses the 100% mark in its debt to GDP, there is a marked chance of economic crisis.  If you count all of the programs and entitlements that the Federal Government doesn’t include in its “official” arithmetic, our debt to GDP ratio is actually closer to 400%.  This means an economic crisis is ASSURED.
The Labor Department, using what they call “adjusted numbers” places unemployment at 7.9%.  Real unemployment including U6 measurements (those people who are underemployed, and those people who have been unemployed for so long they no longer receive benefits and are no longer counted by the government) stands at over 20%.
In 2009, 32 million Americans were enrolled in food stamps.  Today, that number has grown to 48 million.  That’s a 50% increase in only 4 years.
The number of people on standard disability has hit a record of 9 million, and has grown every month for the past 192 months.

Today, China has announced a full blown transition into a consumer based economy and has established bilateral trade agreements with enough developing nations to easily replace the U.S. as an export market.
This past month, China announced a massive “urbanization project” in which they will sell over $6 trillion in Yuan denominated bonds worldwide.  China has also surpassed the U.S. for the first time ever as the world’s largest trade market, meaning, the Yuan will now be more sought after than the Dollar as a global trade mechanism.  The Chinese are nearly ready to dump the dollar, causing an international chain reaction that will brutally devalue our currency.
I think our economic worries are clearly reasonable…

3)  Because We Are
In the calm before any great war, there is always an escalation of arms on both sides of the conflict.  Anyone who has carefully studied the history of modern warfare KNOWS an escalation when they see one.  At the same time, anyone who has studied the history of citizen disarmament knows that government restriction and confiscation of personal firearms almost always leads to genocide.  Over the past decade, we have seen blatant indications that domestic agencies of the Federal Government are in the midst of arms stockpiling, and, in the past two months, they are pushing harder than ever before to reduce the defensive capabilities of the American public.
The Department Of Homeland Security has in only a few years placed orders for ammunition totaling at least 1.6 billion rounds, and new orders indicate they may be accumulating over 2 billion rounds.  The DHS has initiated a disinformation campaign through the mainstream media claiming that this ammunition stockpile, which is to be delivered over the course of five years, is for “training purposes only”.  Here is the reality…
First, by the department’s own numbers, training and qualification exercises taking place in three facilities nationwide use a total of 15 – 20 million rounds of ammo yearly.  This means that if the DHS claims are true, they have ordered enough ammo to last a minimum of 75 years!  No government agency plans this far ahead.
Second, the DHS and most federal and state law enforcement agencies DO NOT use hollow point pistol ammo and expensive Sierra Match King hollow point sniper rounds for “training”.  Anyone who knows anything about combat simulation training knows that you use the cheapest plinking ammo you can find, and this includes the government.  The ammo purchased by the DHS is used for one thing only; killing people.

Quote of the day

Dark Ages occur because man occasionally breeds himself into a state of idiocracy.

Expect more of the same...

(Great for home defense)

 Central Planners are trying with all their might to force people into behaviors and financial assets that are in direct contrast to their logic as well as long term financial well being.

The system is broken beyond repair.  The elite don't want to let it go, so we live in this middle ground of horribly high unemployment (not gov't reported number), embarrassingly huge food stamp usage, and terribly dishonest capital management.  The economy, productivity, GDP, and overall happiness are gone.  That's what happens when a 'money manager' gets control of your life - they ruin it.

                                                  Prepare Prepare Prepare

WTSHTF - 2013

The average American in the year 2013 lives a fragile existence, in a struggle for survival that can be ended by missing a few paychecks. The carrot at the end of the stick which was formerly known as "the American dream" has been replaced by a whip that can best be described as the American nightmare of homelessness, and slow, early death. You no longer work to achieve a better life for yourselves and your children. You work to keep a roof over your head, and you pray that you don't lose it. You became a slave when fear replaced incentive as your motivation to work, but I still suggest that you work while you can, because if the company you work for can't send your job overseas, the U.S. government is allowing 2000 people per day to enter this country illegally, because they're willing to do your job for less.

 

It doesn't matter if you're a "white collar" or "blue collar" employee. If you're an American, you're too highly paid. There are billions of people who want your job, and your government is doing all they can to see that you lose it to them. You see, we're not really Americans anymore. Now we're just anonymous faces in the "global village," because our government has sold our nation to foreigners and international bankers, and the new bankruptcy law has doomed the American citizen to a life of debt slavery. They'll insist that illegal immigrants are only doing jobs that Americans refuse to do, and you'll probably believe it, because if you're watching the TV that shovels that crap, you probably still have your job. The illegal immigrants are doing jobs that Americans always did, and every unemployed American I talk to can't find a job anywhere. And just like the European immigrants that flooded this country before the economic depression of the 1930's, today's illegal immigrants also have no gripe with a government that has allowed them work for high wages in America, and send billions back to their homeland. Nor do they care very much about our constitution, bill of rights, or way of life. They're only here for what they can grab, and our government has welcomed them with open arms, because they're grabbing it from you.

 

You're already working much longer, and much harder, to achieve a much lower standard of living than the previous generation, and 25 percent of working Americans no longer even get a vacation. The Social Security retirement age has been raised to match the life expectancy of American males, so apparently, you're also expected to work until you're dead. When you do finally get a vacation, they only trip you'll be taking will be in a pine box, and that's only if you're one of the lucky ones. Most of us will only get the state-issued canvas bag that gets tossed into the pit with all the others. If you don't mind the fact that you'll be working until you're dead, you might also want to consider the fact that you'll get nothing for your labor, because this nation's economy is about to crash like a freight train, and when it does, everything you've worked for will vanish. After the depression gets ugly, and your family has made the adjustment from three meals per day to three meals per week, the newspapers will blame your hunger on "the economy," as if it were some magical force that uncontrollably ruined a couple hundred million lives. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Politicians and international bankers can manipulate national economies at will, much in the way the media manipulates your mind, and a decision has been made to impoverish Americans, because global government requires that everyone in the world have an equally low standard of living. Simply put, we're being robbed of all we've worked for, because our government wants us to be poor, hungry, and docile, dependant upon them for our existence, and in fear of them for our lives. The government of the United States is intentionally destroying the economy of the United States, because the politicians and the international bankers they work for have decided that the American way of life, and catering to the demands of the American constitution, is simply too expensive.

 

Regardless of how wealthy you think you are, you actually have no real money at all. The "federal reserve notes" that are in your wallet, and your bank account, aren't really money, but are actually only paper on a debt that can never be paid, not even by combining all the assets and labor of every American alive today. Any loan-shark with a third grade education will tell you "the paper's no good," and naturally, the foreign investors who allow us to float this debt, have come to the same conclusion.

 

What is commonly known as the "U.S. dollar," represents a debt that is owed by the U.S. federal government, to the federal reserve bank. The federal reserve bank happens to be the privately owned entity that lent the money that's represented by the paper in your wallet. The federal reserve act signed away everything you own, and the fruit of your labor as collateral on this debt, and as foreign investors are becoming increasingly unwilling to invest the $2 billion per day needed to cover the interest, our creditors will want to collect it.

 

About 90 percent of all Americans are mortgaged to the hilt, and would have little or no assets left if all debts and liabilities were to be paid.* Most Americans have taken advantage of low interest rates, and are now paying a mortgage on their homes. The booming real estate market has made every purchase profitable, because the price of a home always rises. The problem is that the price of a home today is incredibly over-inflated, and the real estate boom that's been keeping the American economy afloat, is about to bust. Interest rates are going to rise, and the price of your home is going to drop drastically, which will leave you stuck paying for a house that probably wouldn't pay the interest on your debt if you sold it. If you're lucky enough to remain employed, inflation will shred your paycheck until you can no longer make mortgage payments. This is when you need to remember that when a nation's economy collapses, the wealth of the nation doesn't disappear, it only changes hands.

 

Millions of Americans are about to be tossed into the street, and because we're a kinder and gentler America, from the street they'll be tossed into shelters. Once in the shelter, they'll be wards of the social service system, which will make sure they all have food, and a bed to sleep in. In exchange for that food and shelter, the "welfare reform" act will put them to work at jobs where they will collect no additional salary. I guess the idea of "welfare reform" is a lot more acceptable to Americans than "forced labor" but regardless of what you call it, many Americans will soon experience slavery once again, and the slaves are not just sweeping public streets. Under the welfare reform act, many Americans are being put to work for private companies for no wages other than the cost of their food and shelter, both of which constitute the bare minimum requirements of survival. By causing the economy to collapse, and then "saving" the poor, our government can legally force millions of Americans into slavery. The new slavery will be blamed on "the economy," and it will employ a much larger percentage of the population than it did before the civil war.

 

To understand how they're accomplishing this, we need to turn our thoughts back to our monetary system, because due to the fact that it is no longer based on the gold standard, our government is in control of the money supply, and that gives them the ability to cause rampant unemployment, which is exactly what they're doing. The framers of the U.S. constitution protected us from this brand of tyranny, but because Americans were foolish enough to ignore and/or trust their government, they will become slaves, but most of them will blame themselves for their plight.

 

Article 1, Section 10, of the U.S. constitution clearly states that "no state shall... make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts." The constitution's prohibition of "fiat money" (what's in your wallet) guarantees that the wealth of the nation remains in the hands of the people, which leaves the government incapable of stealing the population's wealth, as they're doing today. You can collect all the dollars that you like. Our government decides what they're worth, and by keeping the presses working overtime, they're insuring that the dollar will soon be worthless.

 

The U.S. department of labor has also changed the way it collects data regarding unemployment, which allows for the fraudulent unemployment figures that are printed in the newspapers, and allows working Americans to believe that things aren't really that bad. Their new "household survey" system avoids counting most of the poor by basing unemployment figures on telephone surveys. A real estimate, based on population and payroll taxes, reveals that about 25 percent of the American workforce is presently unemployed, and that will eventually force them into the social service slavery system. Unless your mortgage and debts are completely paid off, and you can still pay your property taxes, there's a good chance you'll soon be joining them. Welcome to the third world, and to an American world, where slavery is legal once again.

 

What are you going to do when your government forces you into slavery? You can't avoid it, because if you're homeless, you'll be rounded up and brought to a "shelter", where you'll be fed, and probably medicated if you're not happy to be there. With so many people becoming homeless, it will be easy for them to find an apartment for you, and social services will pay your rent, and give you food stamps.

 

Soon after that they will find you a job, but naturally, you won't be taking home a paycheck because you're in debt to the social service system. They'll tell you that you're working your way back to independence, but since your salary will never be more than your expenses, you'll work for free until you're dead. If you refuse to work, the government "assistance" will be cut off, you'll be back out on the street, and you'll probably do your next job with a shackle around your ankle.

 

I'm not asking that you waste the time or paper required to write your congressman, because they don't care what you think anyway. What I am asking you to do is to remember something. When the economy does crash, and you're forced into the street. I want you to remember that this isn't your fault, and it's not the result of a "bad economy." Please remember that you're poor, hungry and homeless, because that's where our government wants you to be, and they intentionally destroyed the U.S. economy because they want you to suffer, and beg. And regardless of how bad things get, never sell your rifle. -- Jolly Roger

 

"Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens..... Lenin was certainly right." - John Maynard Keynes*

 

*90 percent of all Americans are mortgaged to the hilt, and would have little or no assets left if all debts and liabilities were to be paid. --- Rep. Traficant to U.S. Congress.

 

**John Maynard Keynes is the economist for whom our present monetary system is named.

Over the cliff...

One of those occasions when one picture really does speak a thousand words:

Bottom line is that we have lived beyond our means by use of debt for some time now.  Now that we are using one credit card to, not only spend with but to pay off our other credit cards, that avenue is about to vanish.  What is left is the cold hard reality of our financial position, which is not that great.  Expect about a 40 to 50% reduction in living standards all around as the debt pyramid collapses and we are forced to once again produce what we consume.  The good news is that we are relatively blessed with abundant natural resources.  So not the end of the world, but definitely an unpleasant adjustment.