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A Plan for Action: Managing Global Insecurity 42-page pdf at Brookings.edu (November 21, 2008) - The Managing Global Insecurity (MGI) Project seeks to build international support for global institutions and partnerships that can foster international peace and security—and the prosperity they enable—for the next 50 years. MGI is a joint initiative among the Brookings Institution, the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, and the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.

Since its launch in the spring of 2007, MGI has sought to develop its recommendations and conduct its work in a manner best suited to address today’s most urgent global challenges—namely, by fostering a global dialogue. In a world where 21st century transnational threats—from climate change to nuclear proliferation and terrorism—require joint solutions, discussions on these solutions must take place both inside and outside American borders. As MGI launched this ambitious but urgent agenda, the Project convened two advisory groups—one American and bipartisan, and one international. MGI’s advisors are experienced leaders with diverse visions for how the international security system must be transformed. They are also skilled politicians who understand the political momentum that must power substantive recommendations.

MGI brought these groups together for meetings in Washington D.C., New York, Ditchley Park (UK), Singapore, and Berlin. With their assistance, MGI also conducted consultations with government officials, policymakers and non-governmental organizations across Europe and in Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo, Doha, and Mexico City. MGI held meetings at the United Nations, and with African and Latin American officials in Washington D.C. and New York. On the domestic front, MGI met with Congressional and Administration officials as well as foreign policy advisors to the U.S. Presidential campaigns. Ideas generated in international consultations were tested on U.S. constituencies; ideas generated among U.S. policymakers were sounded out for their resonance internationally. American and international leaders were brought together to consider draft proposals. Through this global dialogue, the Project sought a shared path forward.

MGI’s findings also derive from extensive research and analysis of current global security threats and the performance of international institutions. MGI solicited case studies from leading regional and subject experts that evaluated the successes and failures of international responses to the “hard cases”—from the North Korean nuclear threat to instability in Pakistan and state collapse in Iraq. Both in the United States and internationally, MGI convened experts to review the Project’s threat-specific analyses and proposals.

Financial support for the MGI project has also been robustly international. In addition to the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ditchley Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and UN Foundation, MGI has received funding and in-kind support from the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. A number of think tanks and other institutions in Japan, China and India hosted workshops to debate the Project’s findings. MGI is indebted to its diverse supporters.

MGI’s research and consultations provide the foundation for the following Plan for Action, a series of policy briefs, and MGI’s book, Power and Responsibility: International Order in an Era of Transnational Threats (forthcoming, Brookings Press 2009). The authors are solely responsible for the following analysis and recommendations. Based on MGI’s consultations, however, they are confident this is a historic opportunity for the United States to forge new partnerships to tackle the most pressing problems of this century. more detail at the link...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

“The aim of the MGI [Managing Global Insecurity] project is ambitious and urgent: to launch a new reform effort for the global security system in 2009 … for the global system is in serious trouble. It is simply not capable of solving the challenges of today. You all know the list: terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change, pandemics, failing states … None can be solved by a single government alone.” | Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, European Union; MGI Advisory Group Member

I think it is worthwhile to note that the snowball is already rolling down the hill and there are many things that can happen to advance or delay plans in the global arena. If there were a threat large enough to further the cause of the globalists, then much like the ready-fire-fire-fire-aim approach to the global financial crisis, fear could be used to get people to take immediate action not yet fully defined in the timelines already determined. Of course I believe there are some using the fear with a definite plan of action for a common goal whether they realize what they are doing or not. I believe the mystery of iniquity is well at work in the world today.

I'm brought back to the Lisbon Treaty, the new European Constitution, and the powers that will be given to the foreign minister even before it is enacted. And now polling is showing that Ireland, who previously rejected the Lisbon Treaty in their referendum, is now having second thoughts on the matter. Could these often discussed "global tests" of leadership help the birth pangs to the new global order along? Keep watching!

A Plan For Action: Renewed American Leadership And International Cooperation for the 21st Century Brookings Institute (November 20, 2008) - MR. PASCUAL: -- in his personal capacity has given us tremendous support, along with the support of the U.N. Foundation, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Norway, who have been great supporters throughout, the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and in kind support that we’ve been able to get from the Bertelsmann and Ditchley Foundations, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and think tanks and partners in the United States and around the world.

A big thanks to so many members of the diplomatic community who are here today and participating in this session and have provided constant feedback and advice on some of this work.

I need to give great thanks to both the domestic and international advisory group that we have had as part of this project. And you’ll see them on the left hand side of the column, as well as on the Action Plan, on the inside cover that you have of the Action Plan, a tremendously distinguished group of individuals who are some of the best practitioners in the world on foreign policy, international security policy, and global governance, and we are quite honored that they are willing to give their time to advise us on this project. And among those members of the advisory group are the panelists that we have today. And it’s a pleasure to be able to introduce them in the order that they’re going to speak today.

First is Former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, someone who has given tremendous advice directly herself in a book called The Memo to the President, How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership.

And then Javier Solana, the European Union’s High Representative for Common, Foreign, and Security Policy. Javier is I think a personal incarnation of the world’s most effective institution of global governance, namely himself.

And then Kemal Dervis, who is the Administrator of the U.N. Development Program. Many of you also know him from his role as Minister of Economy and Treasury in Turkey and his long career at the
World Bank. And Kemal is also an author of a tremendous book called Better Globalization, Legitimacy, Governance and Reform. I should say he had the wisdom of having that published by the Brookings Institution Press, as well.

And then Tom Pickering, Former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs. And Tom really is sort of the icon of the American Foreign Service, having been an Ambassador in more places than anyone can imagine and carrying that knowledge around with him on a constant basis.

And finally Strobe Talbott, the President of the Brookings Institution, my boss, former Deputy Secretary of State, and author of another tremendous book called The Great Experiment, the Story of Ancient Empire, Modern States, and the Quest for a Global Nation. And he also happens to be my friend and has given us tremendous advice throughout this process, and all of them have just been amazing colleagues.

We are going to have a short presentation of some of the key themes in the Action Plan to create that as a foundation for the discussion. We’ll then have the part that you really want, which is a discussion with our panelists, and have a session to interact among themselves, and then a Q and A session for the audience. It’ll be I think a fairly full two hour program, but one that will be I think extremely interesting for everybody.

This project was a joint venture among Stanford and Brookings and NYU, in part because of its complexity and the nature of the goal that we set. We begin by looking at what kinds of recommendations are necessary to create and international order in the institutions that are going to bring about prosperity and security for the world over the next 50 years...

...MS. ALBRIGHT: I’d kind of like to step back a little bit, because in listening, and also in some of my meetings over the weekend, it is clear to me that venue shopping is one of the problems here. And the question is, which of these various organizations really are the right ones?

And some of you know this, but I’ll repeat it; when I first became Secretary, I kept looking for various European Ministers and they were always in some meeting with some kind of alphabet that I didn’t know. So I asked the Intelligence and Research part of the State Department to create a chart for me of the European Organizations, and it looked like some kind of astrological or astronomical chart, and everything was on top of everything else, and I nicknamed it the Euro Mess.

The bottom line is that we can’t keep creating organizations on top of others in terms of who does what with whom. And I think this is the real challenge in terms of which of the ones that really will work, and where do you have the right players, and not so much, if I may be so bold as to say, I like this organization because I dominate it, and I don’t want to be in that one because there are too many people in it, and I do think that that is one of the challenges that we have.

The other part goes back to something, Carlos, that you were talking about. As a professor I say this, the fight between sovereignty and international action is not dead, and when you say responsible sovereignty, different people – countries will take it a different way.

I think that President Bashir thinks he’s practicing responsible sovereignty. And so the question is, how these two concepts deal with what are very real crises that are out there. So venue shopping and the struggle between sovereignty and international multi-lateral action, I think no matter how great the good will is towards President Obama, and it’s stunning, I think it’s going to continue to be an issue of how we prioritize and deal with it...

...[Regarding global governance] MR. SOLANA: I think we have discussed one of the most fascinating topics of the times. I think the European Union has something to say about this, because a group of countries that have already, in a voluntary manner, chose to live together and to share sovereignty. It’s probably the only example and going as far as taking to the connectivity – currency, which is a very, very fundamental decision.

But I think we cannot understand that without talking at the same time about legitimacy. Legitimacy is absolutely fundamental, you want to govern a complicated structure, and that remains, the legitimacy remains at the level where proximity – exist. I don’t want to enter more into that – but it’s very, very crucial, it comes from legitimacy. Now, we may agree on many, many things even within the European Union that have to do, but you may sometimes need the legitimacy – very clear, the national – to do it. And that is a reality will be very difficult to overcome.

Now, you can put into the global – into federal entity as much things as you want to transfer from the – will be always – to run into legitimacy, it will be very difficult. The problems are global, the solutions are global, the resources and the legitimacy still is global... Read Q&A excerpt...

MS. McNAMARA: I'm Sally McNamara from the Heritage Foundation. However, I'm also British and I used to work in the European Union, so I'm very interested in these comments that the E.U. is a perfect model of global governance, and I would like to tell you that the E.U. lacks any sort of legitimacy or credibility, and any time the publics are asked whether they want more Europe and whether they want a common foreign insecurity policy, they actually turn around and say no. We have had several public referenda on things like the Nice Treaty, the Maastricht Treaty, and, most recently, the Lisbon Treaty. Ireland has said no, and under the E.U.'s own rules of success, this whole thing should go away now. However, the E.U. doesn't let something like democracy get in the way of the European project. It seems to me that the Americans are far more enthusiastic for a common foreign policy than the Europeans actually are, because they want Henry Kissinger's one line to Europe. So, I encourage you to rethink your enthusiasm for the European project, considering the fact that most European peoples don't want it, that the E.U. isn't even particular popular at the moment. They have the lowest ratings that they've ever had.

MR. TALBOTT: Well, picking from the menu of the questions asked, the one -- they're all terrific questions. The one that most provokes me to answer was really directed more at Javier, but you asked me to speak first.

I disagree with our colleague from the Heritage Foundation. I didn't hear anybody of any nationality up here use the word "perfect" to describe the European Union. But I would use the following adjectives with great confidence. The European Union is the most impressive, accomplished, and promising experiment in transnational governance on the planet today, and that has been immensely good for the half billion or so people of Europe. It has taken a huge swatch of real estate, which is as bloodied as any on the planet historically, a region of the world where there was a major war every generation from the 17th century on up to the E-day, and turned it into a zone of peace. No mean accomplishment. And it has done that through what Madeleine and I jokingly called the Euro-mess. But we did not use that term contemptuously. We saw a certain beauty and wisdom in the Euro-mess, and Madeleine's predecessors once upon a time trying to call her colleagues or their colleagues and counterparts in Europe wouldn't have found them at those meetings; they would have found them on battlefields or either planning to be on battlefields.

And as for the famous Kissinger question of all those years ago when Madeleine and Tom Pickering and I were in government, we had Javier's home phone, office phone, and cell phone, and we knew who to call...

...MR. DERVIS: Well, the trouble with being on the same panel with Strobe is that I usually agree so strongly with him and he says everything I could say much better. But I do want to also touch on the Europe issue and again agree. I do believe for the main points that Strobe made in terms of the peace in Europe, the cooperation, it is a huge, human achievement which has few precedents -- I think has no precedent in fact in (inaudible), but also, more specifically, the fact that there is (inaudible) Euro, the common currency, not in all of the E.U. but in a large part of it, that you can actually -- you know, it's a tremendous achievement, countries having given up the kind of sovereignty symbol of their currency, Germany particularly, you know, which was so fond of the Deutsche Mark, and I see signs in today's financial crisis that some who are outside the Euro zone are now rethinking that maybe it's not such a bad idea to be in part of the Euro zone, given the tremendous instability of exchange rates and particularly the problem for small countries and small currencies. The issue, of course, travel -- the fact that now you can travel freely from Lisbon up to Stockholm and, you know, that there is now the beginnings of a labor market that functions on the European scale I think is a tremendous achievement. And of course coming from Turkey right across the border, being kind of in and kind of out, it makes it particularly interesting.

But I do believe nonetheless that there is a political dimension to this and that if one wants the full support of citizens, then these processes of cooperation -- and this is another example. I think the challenge -- Europe also presents this challenge, and there -- you know, there is the truth that citizens don't feel part of it enough and therefore one has to deepen and widen politics, because politics -- democratic politics is the source of legitimacy. Technocrats meeting in Brussels don't generate legitimacy, and there we -- a lot of work still remains to be done in Europe, but one thing that I want to add here -- and maybe that's part of the problem, that global mechanisms are becoming increasingly more important than regional mechanisms. To some degree -- I mean, regional cooperation is still very important, but many of the issues we are discussing, whether it's nuclear nonproliferation, clean energy, climate disease, financial crises, they're all global issues, and the fact that President-elect Obama, who was then still Senator Obama, went to Berlin and had hundreds of thousands of people in the street, that was a political event, and it was not a European, it was not a German, it was an American. And we need more of that. We need European politicians who could come to an American city and attract hundreds of thousands of citizens or Chinese, Indians. We need to create -- it will take time. It will probably take decades. But in order to make global governance and cooperation truly legitimate and effective, we will need to add the democratic politics that I mentioned to the technocratic and kind of government networks that we've built.

MR. SOLANA: I'm not going to be very long, because Strobe and Kemal have defended the case which to my mind doesn't need too much to be defended. But let me not look to the past. The success of the European Union, vis-à-vis the tragic history of our continent, is (inaudible). What has been said by Kemal, the success also (inaudible) question about (inaudible) to the economy, like the construction of the (inaudible), which is very important in this critical moment and will continue to be. But we have been talking today for two hours already about something which is very difficult to match -- how global problems require global solutions -- have a contradiction and the contradiction is there, the contradiction with the legitimacy, as Kemal has said many times and I repeat once again. It is not in the global system. It is still local. It is more local, more (inaudible), and also resources. Now, I think the European Union is the best example today of how you can begin to resolve that contradiction, that you can have global problems, to be global on the scale of the European Union and (inaudible) globally on the scale of the European Union and at the same time not being perfect, as has been said, with all the (inaudible) legitimacy, but it's still distance in years light or farther mechanisms of legitimacy in other constructions of the international community. Therefore, the model is a model which is good for us, and I think it will be good for others, and that's why other parts of the world are beginning to rescind the European Union as a model. I don't have to go very far, but I remember when the ASEAN was trying to run the first "constitution". I don't know how many hours, days, and months they stayed with us, trying to understand and trying to see how they could move on in that direction. The same can be said about the regions of the world. I think that this kind of molecular structure -- you allowed me to use that terminology for my (inaudible) -- is better than the structure which is genetomic and not molecular. A molecular world it will be better to handle than the opposite. And I think we are very bottom molecular, political molecular structure. Every atom of the molecule is distinguished -- U.K., Spain, Italy, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen -- we share elections that give the power. And that is what I think is a way in which the E.U. has to move on, and I'm very happy to belong to that molecule (inaudible). more...

| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

There are many people who hold that the center of power for the kingdom of the man of sin as prophesied in scripture will various entities other than Europe. I believe Solana's statement above highlights one of the reasons I believe Europe is the revived Roman Empire and the fourth kingdom prophesied by Daniel and John. In a world that is going global, Europe is the example of how to cede sovereignty to a unified body, including the consolidation of currency into one.

Recession fears hit stock markets BBC News (November 20, 2008) - Wall Street shares have fallen steeply for the second day in a row, amid investors' growing fears of a protracted economic downturn. The Dow Jones average tumbled 5.5% after politicians said they could not agree on an immediate $25bn bail-out for the troubled US carmakers. Concerns over a sharp slowdown in US factory activity also added to worries about the strength of the economy. Earlier, European markets all closed sharply lower on recession worries.

US carmakers Ford, General Motors and Chrysler have now been told to come up with their own viable recovery plan by 2 December if they want a $25bn (£17bn) government rescue. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that without such a plan there would be no bail-out. She said there was currently no plan in circulation that could pass both Houses of Congress and win President George W Bush's approval.

Unemployment claims

At the close the Dow was down 449.99 at 7,552.29. The Nasdaq was down 5%, or 70 points, at 1,316.12. Adding to the gloom, a business survey from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showed that factory activity covering the key areas of eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware fell by more than forecast in November. The index, which is seen as a key gauge of the future state of US manufacturing, slipped to minus 39.3 from minus 37.5 in October.

And new claims for unemployment benefits leapt last week to their highest in 16 years, according to the US labour department. "The unemployment data was yet another ugly data point in a seemingly never-ending stream of poor economic numbers," said Michael Wittner, global head of oil research at Societe Generale.

The White House indicated on Thursday that Mr Bush would approve legislation to increase unemployment benefits.

Meanwhile, shares in Citigroup tumbled to their lowest level in more than 15 years, despite news that Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a long-time investor in the bank, was increasing his stake from less than 4% to 5%.

Mounting problems

The deepening global recession is being felt in a number of ways:

• Mining shares have been hit hard on fears that demand for steel and other raw materials will drop as the economy slows. Steel giant Arcelor-Mittal lost 8% and Vedanta Resources lost 8.5%
• Oil shares were among the main fallers with BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total all at least 5% lower as sweet crude oil fell below $50 a barrel
• Japan's exports to Asia dropped in October for the first time in six years
• Job losses are mounting worldwide, with aerospace firm Rolls Royce, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and French carmaker Peugeot Citroen announcing a total of 6,100 cuts
• China has warned its employment outlook is "grim", amid worries that economic problems could lead to social unrest
• Switzerland has cut its key interest rate to 1% in a surprise move
• The IMF has approved a $2.1bn (£1.4bn) loan for Iceland. Turkey is set to agree to a precautionary stand-by deal with the IMF soon
• Retail sales fell and public sector borrowing rose in the UK.

In Europe, the London, Paris and Frankfurt markets were all down by more than 3%. In Asia on Thursday, Japan's Nikkei index ended 6.8% lower and Hong Kong's main index fell more than 4%.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Bush Hands Over Reins of U.S. Economy to EU Newsmax (November 19, 2008) - The results of the G-20 economic summit amount to nothing less than the seamless integration of the United States into the European economy. In one month of legislation and one diplomatic meeting, the United States has unilaterally abdicated all the gains for the concept of free markets won by the Reagan administration and surrendered, in total, to the Western European model of socialism, stagnation, and excessive government regulation. Sovereignty is out the window. Without a vote, we are suddenly members of the European Union. Given the dismal record of those nations at creating jobs and sustaining growth, merging with the Europeans is like a partnership with death.

At the G-20 meeting, Bush agreed to subject the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and our other regulatory agencies to the supervision of a global entity that would critique its regulatory standards and demand changes if it felt they were necessary. Bush agreed to create a College of Supervisors. According to The Washington Post, it would "examine the books of major financial institutions that operate across national borders so regulators could begin to have a more complete picture of banks' operations." Their scrutiny would extend to hedge funds and to various "exotic" financial instruments. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), a European-dominated operation, would conduct "regular vigorous reviews" of American financial institutions and practices. The European-dominated College of Supervisors would also weigh in on issues like executive compensation and investment practices.

There is nothing wrong with the substance of this regulation. Experience is showing it is needed. But it is very wrong to delegate these powers to unelected, international institutions with no political accountability. We have a Securities and Exchange Commission appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, both of whom are elected by the American people. It is with the SEC, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve that financial accountability must take place.

The European Union achieved this massive subrogation of American sovereignty the way it usually does, by negotiation, gradual bureaucratic encroachment, and without asking the voters if they approve. What's more, Bush appears to have gone down without a fight, saving his debating time for arguing against the protectionism that France's Nicolas Sarkozy was pushing. By giving Bush a seeming victory on a moratorium against protectionism for one year, Sarkozy was able to slip over his massive scheme for taking over the supervision of the U.S. economy.

All kinds of political agendas are advancing under the cover of responding to the global financial crisis. Where Franklin Roosevelt saved capitalism by regulating it, Bush, to say nothing of Obama, has given the government control over our major financial and insurance institutions. And it isn't even our government! The power has now been transferred to the international community, led by the socialists in the European Union.

Will Obama govern from the left? He doesn't have to. George W. Bush has done all the heavy lifting for him. It was under Bush that the government basically took over as the chief stockholder of our financial institutions and under Bush that we ceded our financial controls to the European Union. In doing so, he has done nothing to preserve what differentiates the vibrant American economy from those dying economies in Europe.

Why have 80 percent of the jobs that have been created since 1980 in the industrialized world been created in the United States? How has America managed to retain its leading 24 percent share of global manufacturing even in the face of the Chinese surge? How has the U.S. GDP risen so high that it essentially equals that of the European Union, whose population is 50 percent greater? It has done so by an absence of stifling regulation, a liberation of capital to flow to innovative businesses, low taxes, and by a low level of unionization that has given business the flexibility to grow and prosper.

Europe, stagnated by taxation and regulation, has grown by a pittance while we have roared ahead. But now Bush — not Obama — Bush has given that all up and caved in to European socialists. The Bush legacy? European socialism. Who needs enemies with friends like Bush?
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Japanese economy now in recession BBC (November 17, 2008) - Japan's economy has entered its first recession since 2001 after shrinking by 0.1% in the third quarter. The world's second-biggest economy had previous shrunk by 0.9% in the April to June quarter. "The downtrend in the economy will continue for the time being as global growth slows," said Japanese Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano.

The eurozone officially slipped into recession last week, and the US is expected to follow. "We need to bear in mind that economic conditions could worsen further as the US and European financial crisis deepens, worries of economic downturn heighten and stock and foreign exchange markets make big swings," Mr Yosano added. The benchmark Nikkei share index fell on opening after the growth data was released, but it later rebounded and closed up 0.7%. The Nikkei has lost a quarter of its value since the beginning of October.

Growth in Japan has been hit by the global economic slowdown which has curbed demand for Japanese exports. "The risk of Japan posting a third or fourth straight quarterly contraction is growing, given the fact that we can no longer rely on exports," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute. Japan's economy had experienced its longest period of economic growth since World War II until the sub-prime crisis started a year ago.
| Economic Crisis |

Eurozone officially in recession BBC (November 14, 2008) - The eurozone has officially slipped into recession after EU figures showed that the economy shrank by 0.2% in the third quarter. This follows a 0.2% contraction in the 15-nation area in the previous quarter from April to June. Two quarters of negative growth define a technical recession. The news was widely anticipated and follows data showing that Germany and Italy, two of the biggest eurozone economies, are already in recession.

BBC Berlin correspondent Steve Rosenberg said the figures were not a surprise. "The Germans had their gloomy economic news [on Thursday] and as Germany is the dynamo of the European economy, when there are problems there, it drags the rest of the region down with it," he said. It is the first recession the region has seen since the euro's creation in 1999.

But analysts forecast worse to come for the countries that use the euro. "Looking ahead, we can expect further quarters of negative GDP growth, until the third quarter of 2009, simply because so far we have not had in the GDP figures the full impact of the credit market crisis," said Gilles Moec, senior economist, Bank of America. "We also haven't yet seen the full impact of unemployment on consumer spending," he added, forecasting that the eurozone region will shrink by 1% next year.

European blues

The gloomy forecasts are being fuelled by the uncertainty relating to the financial panic and slowing exports exacerbated by the strengthening euro against the dollar and pound. Carmakers - major European employers - are suffering particularly badly with data from the European carmakers' association, Acea, showing car sales down 14.5% in October for the sixth month in a row.

The sharp decline in exports has winded Germany - one of the world's largest economies - with data out on Thursday showing it had shrunk 0.5% in the third quarter, following a 0.4% drop in the second quarter. The Italian and Spanish economies followed suit, also shrinking in the third quarter. For Spain, it was the first such drop since 1993. Analysts are now convinced that a slump in household spending and a property crisis are likely to push the Spanish economy into recession as well, in the next quarter.

Much to the surprise of most analysts, France's economy bucked the trend and expanded in the third quarter, supported by consumer spending and company investment. Official data showed that the French economy grew by 0.1% in the June to September period.

More interest rate cuts?

The European Central Bank this month lowered its key interest rate to 3.25% to kick-start the eurozone's flagging economy and more cuts are expected as it becomes clearer that inflation risks are now retreating. The Eurostat statistics agency said that annual inflation had come down to 3.2% in October from 3.6% in September, as oil prices have more than halved since reaching a peak above $147 a barrel in July. Some analysts are predicting they could go as low as 2% - the same level they stood when the eurozone was formed in 1999.

Meanwhile, the wider European Union (EU), made up of 27 countries, is also in danger of slipping into a recession with the region's output shrinking by 0.2% in the third quarter, after flat growth in the previous three months. The UK is expected to join the roll-call of European countries in recession with a bleak Bank of England forecast earlier this week suggesting that Britain is already there.

Despite a week's worth of grim data, European stock markets rose. The UK's FTSE 100 climbed as much as 3.6% before paring earlier gains to close up 1.5% at 4,233 while the German Dax and the French Cac also posted modest gains.

The member states of the eurozone are France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, the Irish Republic, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia, Malta, Greece, Austria, Finland and Cyprus.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Economic Crisis |

German economy falls into recession Associated Press (November 13, 2008) - The German economy, Europe's biggest, tipped into recession in the third quarter as weakening exports fueled a bigger-than-expected fall in national output, government figures showed Thursday. Gross domestic product contracted by 0.5 percent in the July-September period compared with the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office said — a much sharper fall than the roughly 0.2 percent decline economists had expected. That followed a 0.4 percent fall in GDP in the second quarter, which was the first decline since late 2004, and a 1.4 percent growth rate in the first quarter.

A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. The statistical office said a slight increase in consumer and government spending in the third quarter, during which the global financial crisis gathered pace, was offset by falling exports and a large increase in imports. Exports are a mainstay of the German economy and largely powered its stronger performance over recent years.

Holger Schmieding, chief European economist at Bank of America, said the third-quarter economic decline may be "just the beginning." "Late 2008 and early 2009 could well be worse," he said. "Germany — and the euro zone — have to get ready for a serious recession."

Economists said the bigger-than-expected fall was partly explained by upward revisions to the first- and second-quarter figures — previously reported as a 1.3 percent rise and 0.5 percent decline. In addition, the euro reached record levels against the U.S. dollar during the quarter and oil prices hit all-time highs. Both have since retreated. Still, Thursday's figures pointed to more trouble ahead. Schmieding forecast that the German economy would shrink by 0.6 percent in both the current quarter and next year's first quarter.

Timo Klein, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Frankfurt, said that "net exports will stay on a weakening trend for most of 2009, due to faltering euro zone and indeed global demand." The euro's decline against the dollar "will offset this only partially, as the pace of growth in foreign countries is a much more important variable for German exports than the exchange rate," he added.

Klein said declining oil prices and inflation could support private consumption, but fears over jobs could hold back consumer spending. The government is predicting growth of 1.7 percent for the whole of 2008, but forecasts the economy will slow to 0.2 percent next year. On Wednesday, its independent panel of economic advisers offered a gloomier outlook, forecasting zero growth in 2009.

In an effort to reduce the impact of the economic crisis, the government is pushing through a stimulus package ranging from tax breaks on new cars to credit assistance for companies. It is aimed at triggering investments of up to 50 billion euros ($63 billion).
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

An Interview With Dr. Ron Paul McAlvany Weekly Commentary (November 12, 2008) - Congressman Ron Paul of Texas enjoys a national reputation as the premier advocate for liberty in politics today. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman in Washington for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He is known among both his colleagues in Congress and his constituents for his consistent voting record in the House of Representatives: Dr. Paul never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the Constitution. In the words of former Treasury Secretary William Simon, Dr. Paul is the “one exception to the Gang of 535″ on Capitol Hill.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Gordon Brown calls for new world order to beat recession Telegraph UK (November 10, 2008) - Mr Brown will call on fellow world leaders to use the current worldwide economic downturn as an opportunity to thoroughly reform international financial institutions and create a new "truly global society" with Britain, the US and Europe providing leadership. His call comes ahead of an emergency summit of world leaders and finance ministers from 20 major countries, the G20, in Washington next weekend. Mr Brown will say that the Washington meeting must establish a consensus on a new Bretton Woods-style framework for the international financial system, featuring a reformed International Monetary Fund which will act as a global early-warning system for financial problems.

The original Bretton Woods agreements, signed in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in 1944, established post-war international monetary protocols governing trade, banking and other financial relations among nations, including fixed exchange rates and the IMF.

Mr Brown's plan for strengthening the global economy 60 years later involves recapitalisation of banks to permit the resumption of normal lending to households and businesses, better international co-ordination of fiscal and monetary policy and a new IMF fund to help struggling economies and stop financial problems spreading between nations. He also wants agreement on a world trade deal and reform of the international financial system based on principles of "transparency, integrity, responsibility, sound banking practice and global governance with co-ordination across borders".

As Britain moves into a painful recession Mr Brown has staked his own leadership on helping to find a way out of the global crisis. In a speech to City financiers at the annual Lord Mayor's banquet in London he will say: "The British Government will begin to begin a new Bretton Woods with a new IMF that offers, by its surveillance of every economy, an early warning system and a crisis prevention mechanism for the whole world. "The alliance between Britain and the US, and more broadly between Europe and the US, can and must provide leadership, not in order to make the rules ourselves, but to lead the global effort to build a stronger and more just international order. "My message is that we must be internationalist not protectionist, interventionist not neutral, progressive not reactive and forward-looking not frozen by events. We can seize the moment and in doing so build a truly global society."

Mr Brown has already discussed IMF reforms with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and has called on countries including China and the oil-rich Gulf states to fund the bulk of an increase in the IMF's bailout pot. The Prime Minister wants the markets to be subjected to morality and ordinary people's interests are put first. He believes that in electing Barack Obama, US voters have showed their belief in a "progressive" agenda of government intervention to help families and businesses through the current crisis. He will say: "Uniquely in this global age, it is now in our power to come together so that 2008 is remembered not just for the failure of a financial crash that engulfed the world but for the resilience and optimism with which we faced the storm, endured it and prevailed."

However, the head of the IMF played down expectations of a new Bretton Woods system ahead of the G20 summit. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF's managing director, said: "Expectations should not be oversold. Things are not going to change overnight. Bretton Woods took two years to prepare. A lot of people are talking about Bretton Woods II. The words sound nice but we are not going to create a new international treaty."

The European Union has called for an overhaul of the IMF with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, saying: "We want to change the rules of the game". The US, however, has been more lukewarm on the possibility of radical change.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Who are the Architects of Economic Collapse? Will an Obama Administration Reverse the Tide? Global Research (November 9, 2008) - Most Serious Economic Crisis in Modern History

The October 2008 financial meltdown is not the result of a cyclical economic phenomenon. It is the deliberate result of US government policy instrumented through the Treasury and the US Federal Reserve Board. This is the most serious economic crisis in World history. 

The "bailout" proposed by the US Treasury does not constitute a "solution" to the crisis. In fact quite the opposite: it is the cause of further collapse. It triggers an unprecedented concentration of wealth, which in turn contributes to widening economic and social inequalities both within and between nations. 

The levels of indebtedness have skyrocketed. Industrial corporations are driven into bankruptcy, taken over by the global financial institutions. Credit, namely the supply of loanable funds, which constitutes the lifeline of production and investment, is controlled by a handful of financial conglomerates. 

With the "bailout", the public debt has spiraled. America is the most indebted country on earth. Prior to the "bailout", the US public debt was of the order of 10 trillion dollars. This US dollar denominated debt is composed of outstanding treasury bills and government bonds held by individuals, foreign governments, corporations and financial institutions. 

"The Bailout": The US Administration is Financing its Own Indebtedness

Ironically, the Wall Street banks --which are the recipients of the bailout money-- are also the brokers and underwriters of the US public debt. Although the banks hold only a portion of the public debt, they transact and trade in US dollar denominated public debt instruments Worldwide. 

In a bitter twist, the banks are the recipients of  a 700+ billion dollar handout and at the same time they act as creditors of the US government. We are dealing with an absurd circular relationship: To finance the bailout, Washington must borrow from the banks, which are the recipients of the bailout.

The US administration is financing its own indebtedness. Federal, State and municipal governments are increasingly in a straightjacket, under the tight control of the global financial conglomerates. Increasingly, the creditors call the shots on government reform. The bailout is conducive to the consolidation and centralization of banking power, which in turn backlashes on real economic activity, leading to a string of bankruptcies and mass unemployment.

Will an Obama Administration Reverse the Tide?

The financial crisis is the outcome of a deregulated financial architecture. Obama has stated unequivocally his resolve to address the policy failures of the Bush administration and "democratize" the US financial system. President-Elect Barack Obama says that he is committed to reversing the tide: 

"Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people." (President-elect Barack Obama, November 4, 2008, emphasis added)

The Democrats casually blame the Bush administration for the October financial meltdown. Obama says that he will be introducing an entirely different policy agenda which responds to the interests of Main Street:

"Tomorrow, you can turn the page on policies that put the greed and irresponsibility of Wall Street before the hard work and sacrifice of men and women all across Main Street. Tomorrow you can choose policies that invest in our middle class and create new jobs and grow this economy so that everybody has a chance to succeed, from the CEO to the secretary and the janitor, from the factory owner to the men and women who work on the factory floor.( Barack Obama, election campaign, November 3, 2008, emphasis added)

Is Obama committed to "taming Wall Street" and "disarming financial markets"? Ironically, it was under the Clinton administration that these policies of "greed and irresponsibility" were adopted.

The 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) was conducive to the the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. A pillar of President Roosevelt’s "New Deal", the Glass-Steagall Act was put in place in response to the climate of corruption, financial manipulation and "insider trading" which resulted in more than 5,000 bank failures in the years following the 1929 Wall Street crash.

Bill Clinton signs into law the  Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, November 12, 1999. Under the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act, effective control over the entire US financial services industry (including insurance companies, pension funds, securities companies, etc.) had been transferred to a handful of financial conglomerates and their associated hedge funds. Read full story...

| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

World has 100 days to fix crisis: EU leaders Economic Times (November 8, 2008) - European Union leaders backed a 100-day deadline by which the world's leading economies should decide urgent global finance reforms, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday. Sarkozy, who chaired a special meeting of EU nations, said the financial crisis and economic downturn required a quick deal on an overhaul at a Nov 15 summit in Washington bringing together leaders of the world's 20 largest industrialized nations and emerging economies. "We are in an economic crisis. We have to take this into account," Sarkozy said. "We have to react and we have no time to lose." "I'm not going to take part in a summit where there is just talk for talk's sake," Sarkozy told reporters after talks between the heads of the EU's 27 nations.

The EU is calling for a second global summit next spring to flesh out changes to the way the world economy is governed. They want to see far more supervision of big financial companies and are urging governments to jointly monitor them. They want to prevent a repeat of the Wall Street excesses that caused havoc in markets worldwide, and are bringing emerging economies China, India and Brazil on board for talks on shaping a new world economic order.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Washington talks should be a "decisive moment for the world economy." A text agreed by EU leaders says they want an early warning system that would watch for financial bubbles and prevent "world imbalances'', such as the swelling US trade deficit. They also suggest making the International Monetary Fund the world's financial watchdog, suggesting it be given more power to curb financial crises and give more money to aid countries in trouble.

The Europeans also want to close loopholes that allow some financial institutions to evade regulation, and ensure supervision for all major financial players, including ratings agencies or funds carrying high amounts of debt. The leaders in a declaration called for greater transparency in markets that would no longer omit "vast swathes of financial activity from auditable, certifiable accounts." It also said "excessive risk-taking must be overhauled," a reference to the sale of high-risk debt securities and executive pay that may reward risk-taking.

EU leaders will call on the Nov 15 summit to agree immediately on five principles: submit ratings agencies to more surveillance; align accounting standards; close loopholes; set banking codes of conduct to reduce excessive risk-taking; and ask the International Monetary Fund to suggest ways of calming the turmoil. To date, European governments alone have committed some 2 trillion euros ($2.6 trillion) in cash injections, bank deposit guarantees, interbank loan coverage and partial or full nationalization to prop up consumer and business confidence.

The damage done worldwide is fueling a search for a "new Bretton Woods", a reference to the post-World War II conference that shaped the international financial system. In Washington, there is little desire in the waning days of the Bush administration for a major overhaul of financial regulations. But the United States and European nations are no longer the only players. China and Brazil and India are jumping at the chance to join a major international effort.

G-20 finance officials nations will meet this weekend in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to prepare next week's summit. This may pave the way for emerging economies to play a larger role in global finance talks. France is suggesting bring them on board as members of the exclusive world club of G-8 industrialized nations which regularly meets to discuss the global economy.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Europe unveils its vision for global financial reform EU Observer (November 7, 2008) - EU leaders have agreed on a set of principles that should guide future talks on the reform of the global financial architecture, urging for more regulation and transparency in the sector that has delivered the world's biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. "No financial institution, no market segmentation and no jurisdiction must escape proportionate and adequate regulation or at least oversight," states the document adopted at an extraordinary summit on Friday (7 November).

The list of desired measures will be presented at the G20 summit of industrialised and emerging economies on 15 November in Washington. The measures includes a call for transparency of financial transactions through revised accounting standards, an early warning system to tackle risks and a central role for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "in a more efficient financial architecture."

"We don't want to move from the total lack of regulation to too much regulation," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy whose country currently holds the six-month presidency of the 27-strong Union.

He admitted that the three-hour debate with his EU counterparts was "pretty intense" but it did amount to a "united message" that they will send to other world powers next week.

"We will be defending a common position, a vision for restructuring our financial system," said the French leader.

Both Sweden and Britain reportedly expressed some unease about too much pro-regulation activism on France's part. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the EU agreed there would be no place for protectionism in the global talks next week.

The EU's scenario also included a chapter about the need to overhaul pay policy for company executives. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the issue of executive remuneration is "important and should be linked to long-term performance," although he did not endorse Belgian plans to limit executive pay-outs to a maximum of 12 months' salary.

"We are not for interventionism, we are for a good performance of the markets, we are for a social economy of the markets," commented European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Great expectations

Mr Sarkozy said that he had spoken to both outgoing US President George W Bush and his successor, Barack Obama, about next week's meeting in Washington. The document endorsed by all EU leaders states that within 100 days of the top-level global talks, measures to implement the principles desired by Europe should be drawn up. "It has to be a real historic meeting," said Mr Barroso.

The French leader argued that additional countries, such as Spain and the Netherlands, should be invited to the G20 meeting, adding that Paris, which as both a G7 member and current chair of the six-month rotating EU presidency temporarily has two seats at such meetings, will offer one of its two places to Madrid.

Meanwhile, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's premier and finance minister as well as president of the Eurogroup, said he requested on Friday a single seat for the eurozone countries within the international financial institutions, with non-euro countries represented separately.

But he admitted that his idea was "too difficult for prime ministers to cope with", yet maintained confidence that this would happen eventually, as most of the EU countries, including the UK, will be part of the eurozone in 10 years.

He said he was "not offended" for not having been invited to the G20 meeting on 15 November - a day he would instead spend "between his bedsheets." Still, he criticised the fact that the EU has the tendency to be "over-represented" in the financial institutions, noting that the European Commission was not a G20 member, but will still take part in the global talks.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

3 'Superbanks' Now Dominate Industry MSNBC (November 6, 2008) - The financial crisis that has been sweeping the globe has reshaped nearly every corner of the economy, but no industry has been altered more radically than banking. Several of the nation's biggest banks have failed or been absorbed by healthier institutions, leaving three giant "superbanks" with an unprecedented concentration of market power: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. While that may be good news for emerging giants and the failing companies they helped rescue, the new oligopoly raises troubling questions about regulation and competition, analysts and consumer advocates say.

"Bank fees are going up, up, up, and that’s the danger to consumers as more of these banks consolidate,” says Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumer League. “It’s difficult for the average person to get a bank account that doesn’t involve fees, and if you get into financial distress you’re cooked, and you’ll be ‘fee-ed’ to death.” According to a recently released banking fee study from Bankrate.com, ATM surcharges rose 11 percent this year to an average of $1.97, and the fee for a bounced checks rose 2.5 percent to an average $28.95. "Consumers are going to be victims of higher and more punitive fees,” Greenberg predicts.

Moreover, many analysts worry about how federal and state authorities, who were unable to prevent the current financial industry meltdown, will be able to monitor the new giant banks that combine a wide range of operations from investment banking to consumer lending. “Large institutions are impossible to manage prudently, let alone regulate,” says Amar Bhide, a professor at the Columbia Business School. In fact, existing federal banking laws say that no bank can have more than 10 percent of the domestic deposit market — a threshold recently surpassed by all three superbanks.

When asked whether the government would take any action, a Justice Department official was noncommittal. “It’s always something we’ve looked at and will continue to look at," said spokeswoman Gina Talamona. "It’s something we’ve looked at as part of our general antitrust review.”

The reason limits on market share were put in place were so banks didn’t get so big they’d become monopolies that could risk the whole economy, explains Atul Gupta, finance department chair for Bentley University in Boston. But now the government appears to be pushing banks in the direction of more consolidation. The Treasury is pouring some $250 billion of taxpayer money into healthy financial institutions, and some of that is being used by stronger banks to snap up weaker rivals. “The government is convinced that allowing any of these firms to fail would have catastrophic implications,” says Gupta. “So the government is saying, ‘This bank is in trouble, so I want this bank to buy that one.’ And everyone holds their noses and hopes things work out.”

In the current environment, such rapid consolidation is a “no brainer," says Gregory F. Udell, Chase Chair of Banking and Finance at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. The risk of creating monopolies, he says, “is a lot less than the risk of having a lot of zombie institutions out there.” He also points out that consolidation in the banking sector, though recently at a fever pitch, is nothing new. Indeed, the number of commercial banks and savings & loans in the United States has fallen in the past 20 years to 8,451 as of June, compared to 16,574 in 1988, according to FDIC data.

Espen Eckbo, finance professor at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, believes economies of scale will only help the troubled financial sector. He maintains the banking sector got into trouble because of out-of-control risk taking — not because banks got too big. His answer: “We need to educate the boards of these banks that ultimately are supposed to be a stopgap for these things. They need to have a bird’s-eye view of the organization and understand if the left arm is taking on debt while the right arm is taking on debt. They have to oversee that.” But some analysts are arguing that the current wave of consolidation could be followed by a move to break up the biggest banks. Read full story...

In a recent congressional hearing, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the consolidation of the banking industry is "a very serious problem." I think it’s part of a general failure to enforce antitrust laws in the last few years. So one of the things I think is part of your exit strategy is that we have to think about breaking up some of the big banks.” Even American Banker, which covers the industry, predicts in a story titled “Pressure Builds to Corral the Giant Firms” that “the financial services companies considered ‘too big to fail’ may face a political backlash next year.”

Another major issue will be how successfully these merged banks will be able to integrate their operations, from staffing to technology. Even in the best of circumstances where companies have months to plan for a merger things can go awry, says Carol M. Beaumier, executive vice president of global industry programs at Protiviti, a business consulting and internal audit firm. “The level of due diligence and planning doesn’t exist,” says Beaumier of the rapid consolidations that have resulted from the financial meltdown. “We are creating a daunting task for companies that have to carry out these mergers. It creates uncertainty among employees (and) customers, and the government will be looking over its shoulder.”

Good employees at some of these institutions may be lost in the shuffle because, she says, “You don’t have time to prepare and identify those key performers.” As they grow, the megabanks could end up shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to service, says Standard & Poor’s analyst Stuart Plesser. “When they get really big they may lose some relationships in the end because there’s certainly some impersonal banking going on when they get that big,” he says.

The National Consumer League’s Greenberg believes government should move quickly to keep banking fees down for consumers, just as Congress capped executive compensation as part of the bailout bill. “The system isn’t working now, and all this consolidation means less competition,” she says. “It is incumbent on regulators and Congress to step in and say, ‘Wait a second. You don’t get to impose exorbitant fees.'” “These banks have to get away from a business plan that’s based on fines and penalties, she adds, “and get back to providing consumers, farmers and small businesses credit at a reasonable rate that serves both the lender and the borrower.”

Until a new administration takes action, consumers and small businesses can always vote with their feet and use a smaller, community bank. “Many consumers (are) turning to local banks, saying, 'I’m much more comfortable having my money with you,’” says Nancy Atkinson, senior analyst with Aite Group, a research firm that covers the financial services industry. “And small businesses say, 'I know my local banker, and I trust that person.’”

| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Obama and EU to reinvent global politics, pundit says EU Observer (November 6, 2008) - The Obama administration will play a big role in "reinventing" the international system, especially on the financial side, in strong partnership with the EU, US foreign policy expert David J. Rothkopf said on Wednesday.

A former trade offical in the Clinton administration and a consultant on foreign affairs and emerging markets, Mr Rothkopf was talking from Washington during a video-conference organized by the Brussels branch of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an international think-tank associated with the US State Department. "President Obama will play a bigger role in re-inventing the international system than any other president before in past decades," Mr Rothkopf argued, with a number of organisations and treaties badly needing an "update" or to be replaced altogether – ranging from the stalled Doha round of trade talks known to the non-proliferation treaty, as well as outdated bodies such as the G7 or the International Monetary Fund that don't include the emerging economies such as China.

US-EU relations will "clearly" improve, with a second trip to Europe probably taking place in the first months of his mandate, Mr Rothkopf said. The tendency of the Democratic Party to be "more comfortable" with multi-lateralism and listening to its European partners will also contribute to improving relations, he said. But there was also a "necessity" for this partnership to improve, Mr Rothkopf argued. "We can't do things alone, we need partnerships and burden sharing. I would expect a debate within NATO about a broader role and sense of burden sharing," he said, mentioning Afghanistan as an example where European help is needed. "Problems within Europe are going to have an impact on this as much as US obligations are, to the extent that the EU is divided on some of the big issues of the time and on the nature of the common foreign policy and common defence policy," Mr Rothkopf added.

New global financial regulator and IMF reform

Mr Rothkopf emphasised the need for a global financial regulator – something the G20 meeting in Washington on 15 November is still unlikely to agree upon, with the outgoing Bush administration opposing this idea and the Obama team yet not in charge. But G20 leaders would probably agree to meet again in the first months of 2009, when both the creation of such a body, as well as the reform of the IMF could take a more concrete shape.

He spoke of a "regulatory renaissance" and of of "fusion capitalism", by which he means seeing European and Asian visions of capitalism and how markets are to be regulated take greater prominance on the international stage, and not just the so-called Washington Consensus. Yet on the down side, Mr Rothkopf warned against "blazing new trails on protectionism" that would isolate economies and only aggravate problems.

In terms of what a global financial regulator would look like, Mr Rothkopf mentioned the EU as an example of "creating super-national structures," while also noting the problem of enforcement. "Getting everybody in a room and agreeing on principles is easy – this is what we are probably going to get on 15 November – but next year we'll see whether we'll get institutions that have the ability to enforce new global standards on the international financial markets. That's going to be the challenge," he said.

Any financial agreement would also foresee a leadership role for the US, in coalition with the EU and other countries, Mr Rothkopf projected.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

I'm brought back to what Glenn Beck spoke of regarding Biden's comments on a coming test by the world and global financial decisions that Obama would need their support on (October 20, 2008), even though it may seem like the wrong decision at the time. Be careful what you ask for America... you'll get it. Further global cooperation in these matters means America will essentially be under the same thumb as the rest of the world financially and part of building and implementing that system.

Ron Paul Warns Of Great Shift Toward Global Government Under Obama Infowars (November 5, 2008) - Texas Congressman and 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul has warned that the euphoria surrounding the election of Barack Obama combined with the overwhelming fear of major international crises could facilitate a cataclysmic shift toward a new world order.

Appearing live on the Alex Jones show earlier today, the Congressman spoke of a feeling of dread surrounding the change of guard both in the White House and on Capitol Hill: "I do feel it but I don't think it's brand new, I didn't wake up with it, I've had it for a while, I don't think the election was a surprise, but the rhetoric is getting pretty strong and they are getting very bold." he commented.

Speaking on the stage management of the election, and calling it a "huge distraction" from real issues, the Congressman outlined how both candidates were pre-positioned by the elite interests with the knowledge that either would satisfactorily serve their agenda: "I think McCain was obviously a back up candidate in case something happened where Obama didn't win, they'd have been satisfied with McCain, but they have been positioning Obama for a long long time." "This started even before he announced he was running. Anybody who would have gotten that much favorable coverage for so long, you know that the plans are laid for him to be the individual that's going to be taking care of the corporate elite." the Congressman continued.

Paul also warned that Democrats gains within the House and the Senate make for a particularly worrying situation of absolute power, similar to that held by the Republican party eight years ago. "Just as a Republican Congress wouldn't say boo to a Republican Congress, you know that the Democratic Congress is NEVER going to stand up." "I think it is very dangerous and the first year is going to be the most dangerous year." Paul stated. "Just think of Bush's first year, he also had the 9/11 thing that he could use to scare everybody to death. And Obama will use the financial crisis, which will get worse, and there will be more military skirmishes around the world." Paul asserted. The Congressman also warned that many Republican representatives may go along with Obama just to win favor with the electorate and be seen to follow popular opinion.

Commenting on the much touted "International crisis" that luminaries such as Colin Powell, Joe Biden and Zbigniew Brzezinski have all guaranteed will occur within weeks of Obama entering the White House, the Congressman stated that he believes it may be a catalyst for a shift toward world government: "I think it's going to be an announcement of a new monetary order, and they'll probably make it sound very limited, they're not going to say this is world government, even though it is if you control the world's money and you control the military, which they do indirectly." "A world central bank, worldwide regulation and world control of the whole system, of all the commodities and all the natural resources, what else can you call it other than world government?"

"Obama wouldn't be there if he didn't toe the line, and when the meeting starts on November 15th for the new monetary system, this could be the beginning of the end of what's left of our national sovereignty." Paul said, also warning that the global media are already hailing Obama as the world's leader.

With Obama having previously announced that he will shift military attention to Pakistan, the Congressman also warned that the president elect will, thanks to the previous administration, have the necessary precedent to escalate the war on terror: "It's the philosophy of the Bush doctrine, which was that we have the right to preemptively strike anybody and then he even expanded that recently by saying we don't have to invade and conquer, but we have the right to go in and bomb anybody without their permission, and that's why we go into Pakistan and Syria, which are acts of war. So they have the tools to do it and the sentiment and most Americans are oblivious to what is happening."

Paul also suggested that any escalation could be facilitated by false flag events such as Gulf of Tonkin style incidents. Urging listeners not to lose faith in the campaign for liberty and the quest to restore and the Republic, Ron Paul spoke of reason to look ahead: "We have to look for sources of optimism... ultimately though all that happens to us is a result of philosophy and beliefs and convictions and that is where I think we have made some inroads. We have drawn attention to the importance of monetary policy, the importance of the central bank, the importance of how government causes so much problems, it's just that we're in the minority." Paul said.

"We have to continue to do what we are doing, you are in the business of passing on and spreading information, that, to me, is most crucial, getting more people engaged, more people understanding what the issues are, nothing else is more important than that. Then when you see an opportunity we have to turn this into political action." the Congressman concluded.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

U.S. Treasury teaches 'Islamic Finance 101' WorldNet Daily (November 5, 2008) - The Treasury Department has announced it will teach "Islamic finance" to U.S. banking regulatory agencies, Congress and other parts of the executive branch today in Washington, D.C. – but critics say it is opening a door to American funding of Islamic extremism.

'Islamic Finance 101'

According to its announcement, the "Islamic Finance 101" forum is "designed to help inform the policy community about Islamic financial services, which are an increasingly important part of the global financial industry." The Treasury Department has collaborated with Harvard University's Islamic Finance Project to coordinate the event. The department says it expects about 100 people will attend the seminar. Some speakers include Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Neel Kashkari, senior adviser to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr.; Harvard Business School professor Samuel Hayes; Mahmoud El-Gamal, chair of Islamic economics, finance and management at Rice University and Islamic finance adviser to the Treasury Department; Sarah Bell of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, Shariah adviser and Islamic scholar; Michael McMillan, chair of the Islamic Legal Forum at the American Bar Association and professor of Islamic finance; and Rushdi Siddiqui, global director for the Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes and vigorous advocate for Islamic finance.

Islamic finance is a system of banking consistent with the principles of Shariah, or Islamic law. It is becoming increasingly popular, having reached $800 billion by mid-2007 and growing at more than 15 percent each year. Wall Street now features an Islamic mutual fund and an Islamic index. However, critics claim anti-American terrorists are often financially supported through U.S. investments – creating a system by which the nation funds its own enemy.

Aiding the enemy

In his essay, "Financial Jihad: What Americans Need to Know," Vice President Christopher Holton of the Center for Security Policy writes, "America is losing the financial war on terror because Wall Street is embracing a subversive enemy ideology on one hand and providing corporate life support to state sponsors of terrorism on the other hand."

Holton refers to Islamic finance, or "Shariah-Compliant Finance" as a "modern-day Trojan horse" infiltrating the U.S. He said it poses a threat to the U.S. because it seeks to legitimize Shariah – a man-made medieval doctrine that regulates every aspect of life for Muslims – and could ultimately change American life and laws.

Shariah-compliant finance is becoming a major movement, because American banks and investors are seeking wealth from oil profits in the Middle East. Some advocates claim Islamic finance is socially responsible because it bans investors from funding companies that sell or promote products such as alcohol, tobacco, pornography, gambling and even pork.

However, Islamic financial institutions also require all industry participants to adhere to tenets of Shariah law. According to Nasser Suleiman's "Corporate Governance in Islamic Banking, "First and foremost, an Islamic organization must serve God. It must develop a distinctive corporate culture, the main purpose of which is to create a collective morality and spirituality which, when combined with the production of goods and services, sustains growth and the advancement of the Islamic way of life." Three nations that rule 100 percent by Shariah law – Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan – hold some of the most horrific human rights records in the world, Holton said. "This strongly suggests that Americans should strenuously resist anything associated with Shariah."

Tenets of Shariah

In his essay, "Islamic Finance or Financing Islamism," Alex Alexiev outlined the following tenets of Shariah taken from "The Reliance of the Traveler: The Classic Manual of Sacred Law":

• A woman is eligible for only half of the inheritance of a man
• A virgin may be married against her will by her father or grandfather
• A woman may not leave the house without her husband's permission
• A Muslim man may marry four women, including Christians and Jews; a Muslim woman can only marry a Muslim
• Beating an insubordinate wife is permissible
• Female sexual mutilation is obligatory
• Adultery [or the perception of adultery] is punished by death by stoning
• Offensive, military jihad against non-Muslims is a religious obligation
• Apostasy from Islam is punishable by death without trial
• Lying to infidels in time of jihad is permissible

'Useful idiots'

Alexiev writes that many Islamic financial institutions claim Shariah-Compliant Finance "derives its Islamic character from the strict observance of the ostensible Quranic prohibition of lending at interest, the imperative of almsgiving (zakat), avoidance of excessive uncertainty (gharar) and certain practices and products considered unlawful (haram) to Muslims …" However, he said, "[E]ven a casual examination of the reality of Islamic finance today reveals it to be a bogus concept practiced by deceptive ploys and disingenuous means by practitioners that are or should be aware of that, but remain predictably silent."

Shariah finance institutions that have funded militant Islamism for more than 30 years. Alexiev cites Islamic Development Bank's hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Hamas in support of suicide bombing. Bank Al-Taqwa and other banks and charities run by Saudi billionaires have funded al-Qaida activities.

Additionally, Shariah law mandates that Muslims donate 2.5 percent of their annual incomes to charities – including jihadists. When 400 banks regularly contribute to such charities, potential financial sums can be virtually limitless.

If Western banks endorse Shariah, they will "end up becoming what Lenin called useful idiots or worse to the Islamists," Alexiev writes. "And it is a very thin line between that and outright complicity in the Islamist agenda."
| Islam | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts Carolina Journal Online (November 4, 2008) - Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration. Triggered by the financial crisis the past two months, the hearings reportedly were meant to stem losses incurred by many workers and retirees whose 401(k) and IRA balances have been shrinking rapidly.

The testimony of Teresa Ghilarducci, professor of economic policy analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York, in hearings Oct. 7 drew the most attention and criticism. Testifying for the House Committee on Education and Labor, Ghilarducci proposed that the government eliminate tax breaks for 401(k) and similar retirement accounts, such as IRAs, and confiscate workers’ retirement plan accounts and convert them to universal Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs) managed by the Social Security Administration.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, in prepared remarks for the hearing on “The Impact of the Financial Crisis on Workers’ Retirement Security,” blamed Wall Street for the financial crisis and said his committee will “strengthen and protect Americans’ 401(k)s, pensions, and other retirement plans” and the “Democratic Congress will continue to conduct this much-needed oversight on behalf of the American people.”

Currently, 401(k) plans allow Americans to invest pretax money and their employers match up to a defined percentage, which not only increases workers’ retirement savings but also reduces their annual income tax. The balances are fully inheritable, subject to income tax, meaning workers pass on their wealth to their heirs, unlike Social Security. Even when they leave an employer and go to one that doesn’t offer a 401(k) or pension, workers can transfer their balances to a qualified IRA.

Mandating Equality

Ghilarducci’s plan first appeared in a paper for the Economic Policy Institute: Agenda for Shared Prosperity on Nov. 20, 2007, in which she said GRAs will rescue the flawed American retirement income system (www.sharedprosperity.org/bp204/bp204.pdf).

The current retirement system, Ghilarducci said, “exacerbates income and wealth inequalities” because tax breaks for voluntary retirement accounts are “skewed to the wealthy because it is easier for them to save, and because they receive bigger tax breaks when they do.”

Lauding GRAs as a way to effectively increase retirement savings, Ghilarducci wrote that savings incentives are unequal for rich and poor families because tax deferrals “provide a much larger ‘carrot’ to wealthy families than to middle-class families — and none whatsoever for families too poor to owe taxes.”

GRAs would guarantee a fixed 3 percent annual rate of return, although later in her article Ghilarducci explained that participants would not “earn a 3% real return in perpetuity.” In place of tax breaks workers now receive for contributions and thus a lower tax rate, workers would receive $600 annually from the government, inflation-adjusted. For low-income workers whose annual contributions are less than $600, the government would deposit whatever amount it would take to equal the minimum $600 for all participants.

In a radio interview with Kirby Wilbur in Seattle on Oct. 27, 2008, Ghilarducci explained that her proposal doesn’t eliminate the tax breaks, rather, “I’m just rearranging the tax breaks that are available now for 401(k)s and spreading — spreading the wealth.”

All workers would have 5 percent of their annual pay deducted from their paychecks and deposited to the GRA. They would still be paying Social Security and Medicare taxes, as would the employers. The GRA contribution would be shared equally by the worker and the employee. Employers no longer would be able to write off their contributions. Any capital gains would be taxable year-on-year.

Analysts point to another disturbing part of the plan. With a GRA, workers could bequeath only half of their account balances to their heirs, unlike full balances from existing 401(k) and IRA accounts. For workers who die after retiring, they could bequeath just their own contributions plus the interest but minus any benefits received and minus the employer contributions.

Another justification for Ghilarducci’s plan is to eliminate investment risk. In her testimony, Ghilarducci said, “humans often lack the foresight, discipline, and investing skills required to sustain a savings plan.” She cited the 2004 HSBC global survey on the Future of Retirement, in which she claimed that “a third of Americans wanted the government to force them to save more for retirement.”

What the survey actually reported was that 33 percent of Americans wanted the government to “enforce additional private savings,” a vastly different meaning than mandatory government-run savings. Of the four potential sources of retirement support, which were government, employer, family, and self, the majority of Americans said “self” was the most important contributor, followed by “government.” When broken out by family income, low-income U.S. households said the “government” was the most important retirement support, whereas high-income families ranked “government” last and “self” first (www.hsbc.com/retirement).

On Oct. 22, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Argentinean government had seized all private pension and retirement accounts to fund government programs and to address a ballooning deficit. Fearing an economic collapse, foreign investors quickly pulled out, forcing the Argentinean stock market to shut down several times. More than 10 years ago, nationalization of private savings sent Argentina’s economy into a long-term downward spiral.

Income and Wealth Redistribution

The majority of witness testimony during recent hearings before the House Committee on Education and Labor showed that congressional Democrats intend to address income and wealth inequality through redistribution.

On July 31, 2008, Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, testified before the subcommittee on workforce protections that “from the standpoint of equal treatment of people with different incomes, there is a fundamental flaw” in tax code incentives because they are “provided in the form of deductions, exemptions, and exclusions rather than in the form of refundable tax credits.”

Even people who don’t pay taxes should get money from the government, paid for by higher-income Americans, he said. “There is no obvious reason why lower-income taxpayers or people who do not file income taxes should get smaller incentives (or no tax incentives at all),” Greenstein said.

“Moving to refundable tax credits for promoting socially worthwhile activities would be an important step toward enhancing progressivity in the tax code in a way that would improve economic efficiency and performance at the same time,” Greenstein said, and “reducing barriers to labor organizing, preserving the real value of the minimum wage, and the other workforce security concerns . . . would contribute to an economy with less glaring and sharply widening inequality.”

When asked whether committee members seriously were considering Ghilarducci’s proposal for GSAs, Aaron Albright, press secretary for the Committee on Education and Labor, said Miller and other members were listening to all ideas.

Miller’s biggest priority has been on legislation aimed at greater transparency in 401(k)s and other retirement plan administration, specifically regarding fees, Albright said, and he sent a link to a Fox News interview of Miller on Oct. 24, 2008, to show that the congressman had not made a decision.

After repeated questions asked by Neil Cavuto of Fox News, Miller said he would not be in favor of “killing the 401(k)” or of “killing the tax advantages for 401(k)s.”

Arguing against liberal prescriptions, William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, testified on Oct. 24 that the “roots of the current crisis are firmly planted in public policy mistakes” by the Federal Reserve and Congress. He cautioned Congress against raising taxes, increasing burdensome regulations, or withdrawing from international product or capital markets. “Congress can ill afford to repeat the awesome errors of its predecessor in the early days of the Great Depression,” Beach said.

Instead, Beach said, Congress could best address the financial crisis by making the tax reductions of 2001 and 2003 permanent, stopping dependence on demand-side stimulus, lowering the corporate profits tax, and reducing or eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends.

Testifying before the same committee in early October, Jerry Bramlett, president and CEO of BenefitStreet, Inc., an independent 401(k) plan administrator, said one of the best ways to ensure retirement security would be to have the U.S. Department of Labor develop educational materials for workers so they could make better investment decisions, not exchange equity investments in retirement accounts for Treasury bills, as proposed in the GSAs.

Should Sen. Barack Obama win the presidency, congressional Democrats might have stronger support for their “spreading the wealth” agenda. On Oct. 27, the American Thinker posted a video of an interview with Obama on public radio station WBEZ-FM from 2001.

In the interview, Obama said, “The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society.” The Constitution says only what “the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you,” and Obama added that the Warren Court wasn’t that radical.

Although in 2001 Obama said he was not “optimistic about bringing major redistributive change through the courts,” as president, he would likely have the opportunity to appoint one or more Supreme Court justices.

“The real tragedy of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court focused that I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change,” Obama said.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis: Prepare for the Coming of Messiah Israel National News (October 27, 2008) - Internationally renowned Jewish inspirational speaker Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis warns that we are feeling the "birth pangs of the Mashiach," with limited time to save ourselves from dark prophecies surrounding his arrival.

In an exclusive interview on Israel National Radio's popular new show Mah Nishma with host Gavriel Sanders, Rebbetzin Jungreis, who is the founder of the successful 'Hineni' Jewish outreach organization and author of many books including the recently published 'Life is a Test: How to Handle Life's Challenges Successfully', addressed the fear that people feel as turbulent global events begin to make their mark on Jews and their allies around the world.

The birthpangs of the Messiah

"Anyone who has been just looking around and has his or her eyes open must be frightened. Things are happening that just don't make sense. Overnight, our cherished institutions, our icons, have collapsed. We don't understand it. People blame this one and that one. It's not just in the United States, it's all over the world, and we have so many natural disasters, and so much illness. What is happening?"

Rebbetzin Jungreis says G-d is bringing the world closer to redemption in a process called "chevlei Mashiach" – the labor pains of the arrival of the Messiah. "Now labor pains, you know, could be very, very painful…as the birth becomes more imminent, the pain becomes more intense, to the point where the mother can not bear it anymore, and just when she thinks she can not bear it, it's 'Mazal Tov!', and the baby is born."

'The generation of the dog'

Based on the writings of ancient Jewish sages, Jungreis concludes that this generation is replete with the signs that are prophesied to hail the coming of the Messiah, including endemic impudence, followership, idol worship, disasters, and war. "All our [sages] agree…they do not want to be present for the chevlei Mashiach, the birth pangs, because the birth pangs are going to be very painful… It's going to be a generation that will abound in chutzpah [audacity]. Chutzpah will be colossal. Families will be fragmented. Children will turn against parents, parents against children. The elderly will not be respected. Youth will be worshipped.

"… The generation will be like the generation of the dog.  What does that mean? The dog runs ahead but always looks back to see if the master is behind him. Similarly, people don't have their own opinions today. What is the media saying? The media is controlling the world…"

According to Rebbetzin Jungreis, the greatest idol worship of this generation is money, an obsession which causes the Western world to ignore the lurking danger posed by Islamist terror against Israel and the United States. "We have been very blessed, perhaps there was never in history such a wealthy Jewish generation as ours was. But there was no Hakaras HaTov, no credit to Hashem. "My strength did all this". We became arrogant, we became chutzpahdik, we forgot Hashem… Imach shemam [their names be obliterated], the sons of Ishmael, every minute it's "Allah". The sons of Esav, "the Lord," every minute. Their leadership is always speaking the name of G-d. Am Yisrael … they heard the word of Hashem panim el panim, face to face - has forgotten its G-d."

The propensity of the world to worship money is so great, says Rebbetzin Jungreis, that the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust, Iran's effort to attain a nuclear weapon, and the rise of fascist and anti-Western powers can be attributed to it. "[Following the US stock market crash in 1929] America was so absorbed, Hitler had the playground of the world at his disposal, and no one stopped him," she says. "Too late did America and the world wake up. Early thirties – no one intervened with Hitler. They were all absorbed in a financial crisis.

"Fast forward. We have a financial crisis now. Ahmadinejad has the entire world at his disposal, came to New York, made the most toxic, poisonous accusations… if you had made those accusations against Muslims they would have burned down New York City, everyone would have been apologizing. Jews? No problem. He says it, and nobody even looks up, no one looks up. And in addition to him, all the rogue nations, all the demagogues, all the new Hitlers got into the act. Russia woke up again, back to its old tricks, making treaties with Chavez of Venezuela, right here in our own hemisphere. And of course, there is always North Korea. And America is worried about the stock market."

Ahmadinejad, Islamist terror - all part of prophecy

Islamist terror, says Rebbetzin Jungreis, is also predicted in the 9th century (Gregorian calendar) Jewish work, ' Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer,' which prophesied that before the coming of Messiah in the end of days, Ishmael – who is described as a brutal, wild man – will rule the world. Rebbetzin Jungreis attributes Arab terror in Israel, the Islamization of Europe, and the welcoming of Iranian President and vocal anti-Zionist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in New York to the ancient prophetic writing.

"Ahmadinejad comes to New York, and he has the audacity, the chutzpah to proclaim … in public, at the UN, that it's Zionist Jews who are responsible for the financial crisis in the world, that they are manipulating the world, they're controlling the world… And guess what: The entire world is silent, no outcry, no outrage, no one says anything, and he – just for good measure – he adds that Israel is this cesspool that has to be destroyed, annihilated. No outcry, not a word."

Ahmadinejad himself has a role in the unfolding arrival of the Messiah, says Jungreis, and was also predicted to wield lethal power during the end of days. "You know it says in Yalkut Shimoni that right before Mashiach will come, during Chevlei Mashiach, the king of Persia, now what is Persia? Persia is today's Iran. The king of Persia is going to have a weapon that is going to terrorize the entire world."

'Hashem is hiding'

The current low spiritual state of the Jewish People has caused G-d to hide His face from them, says Rebbetzin Jungreis, who says this concealment is meant to provoke the Jewish People to search for Him.

"In parshas Vayelech… Hashem tells Moshe Rabbeinu that in the future, there will come a generation who will forget Hashem, and terrible sufferings will come upon them. And finally they will say 'you know why this is happening? Ein Eloka, G-d is not with us. G-d is not in our midst.' And then it says … " I will continue to hide My face." Dichotomous. If we admit that G-d is not with us, then why is G-d hiding? … That puts the onus of responsibility upon G-d – it's Your fault. You are not with us. We have to say 'We are not with Hashem! We are not with our Torah! We are not with our Mitzvot! We are responsible."'

Rebbetzin Jungreis says G-d's concealment is a crucial element in developing the proper relationship with Him, with the key to understanding it being found in the biblical story of Adam and Chava [Eve].

"What was the first sin of Adam and Chava?. We say that we ate from a fruit that was forbidden? No! Hashem was ready to negotiate that. The first sin was scapegoating!. 'The woman who You gave to be with me, it's her fault, she made me do it.' Not only was Adam scapegoating, he was an ingrate. And Chava, what did she say? 'It was the serpent.' And that's when Hashem said 'That's it. That's it. Out! Gan Eden is over.' And that is what we are doing. But listen to the chesed [kindness] Hashem said. 'I will hide My face.'

"When a mother goes with her toddler to the supermarket, let's say, and the toddler has a temper tantrum, and he doesn't want to go out unless he gets candy, what does the mother do? She says 'Okay, I'm leaving, you will have to stay here by yourself," and she goes away. Is she really going away? Of course not. She is keeping an eye on her baby, but she pretends to go away so the child should seek her out and run after her. So Hashem says 'I'm hiding' but if you're hiding, you want somebody to find you. There's a beautiful mashal [parable] from a Rebbe who was walking on the street and he sees a little boy crying, and he says 'why are you crying my little child?' 'I'm crying because I'm playing hide-and-seek and nobody's looking for me.'… Hashem is hiding, but He wants us to find Him. And we are not looking for Him, so what are we doing? Whose fault was it?" For part two of the article, click here.
| Iran | Israel | Islam | Gog/Magog | America | Economic Crisis |

Solana’s speech to Institute for Security Studies Consilium Europa (October 30, 2008) - Dear friends, Let me start our "tour d'horizon" with the financial crisis. It has been the emblematic event of 2008, putting all else into the background. It is worth analysing, especially for its consequences for foreign policy. Allow me to make some observations:

First, the diagnosis. This crisis has confirmed that globalisation remains the dominant force shaping our world. This really is a global crisis. It has spread at incredible speed. Functionally, from sub-prime mortgages to credit markets to the real economy. And geographically from the US to Europe to emerging markets. Not everyone is affected equally; but no one is immune.

In its wake, the balance between markets, states and individuals will have to be adjusted. But globalisation itself - that is the global spread of goods, people, ideas and technology - will not stop. The crisis has highlighted globalisation's central dilemma. Today's big problems are global in nature. But the main resources and legitimacy are located at the national level. In a way, European integration is an attempt to resolve this core dilemma.

Regarding, the policy response, the crisis has demonstrated - once more - the need for stronger global institutions. With goodwill and creativity a lot can and has been achieved. Through ad-hoc crisis management among political leaders, central bankers and others. But if we are honest we must admit that the existing architecture is not up to the task - neither in Europe, nor globally.

I have been convinced, for some time, and I have underlined that in different fora, that the current international system is inadequate. Now the case for deep reform has become overwhelming. This must start with the international financial institutions. But we need to go further.

From the UN and the G8 to the regimes and institutions dealing with the big issues of our time: nonproliferation, energy and climate change, migration. Hopefully, the obvious need to deepen cooperation in the area of finance will act as a catalyst for these necessary wider reforms.

In any case, this effort cannot be handed by the US plus Europe alone. Even the talk of us "leading" is misleading. Apart from changing formats, the mindset needs changing too. We better not see this as the Western powers inviting the others for coffee after our discussions. We need all relevant players "present at the creation" of the new system, to use Acheson's famous phrase. And we need to be ready to engage them seriously. Read the full story...

| Iran | Israel | Islam | Gog/Magog | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | 1^st Seal | America | Economic Crisis |

Sharia banking 'strengthening' Gulf Daily News (October 26, 2008) - The global financial crisis is an opportunity for Sharia-compliant Islamic banking to further its position internationally, bankers said at a forum in Saudi Arabia yesterday. Islamic banks have been barely bruised by the global credit crisis so far, although falling property and commodity prices and slowing economies are starting to affect the sector. But bankers at the forum, on how the world finance crisis could affect Islamic banking, saw the sector strengthening. "It is a must for Islamic finance to seize the opportunity that came with this global financial crisis," Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank's (IDB) president Ahmad Ali said at the discussion organised by IDB. "Global investment banks should be set up that realise the Islamic economy and offer the world a new vision and different way to manage assets, invest wealth and create products."

Islamic financing deals are backed by assets, commonly real estate and commodities, due to the Sharia requirement that transactions must involve real economic activity. There are more than 300 Islamic financial institutions worldwide and the sector is valued at about $1 trillion, just a fraction of the conventional global banking industry. The growth of Sharia banking has been fuelled by an increasing focus on Islamic values and cash from Middle East oil exporters hungry for assets that comply with Islamic principles. The falling oil price could affect that.

Saudi entrepreneur Saleh Kamel, who heads the General Council of Islamic Banks, said the global crisis suggested Islam was the "third way" after the failure of great ideologies. "Perhaps through this crisis, that is a great evil for the world, God will lead us to the school of moderation," he said. "Communism has failed and capitalism failed, and only now are they starting to admit this failure," he said.
| Islam | Economic Crisis |

Uses for $700B Bailout Money Keep Changing Fox News (October 26, 2008) - First, the $700 billion rescue for the economy was about buying devalued mortgage-backed securities from tottering banks to unclog frozen credit markets. Then it was about using $250 billion of it to buy stakes in banks. The idea was that banks would use the money to start making loans again.

But reports surfaced that bankers might instead use the money to buy other banks, pay dividends, give employees a raise and executives a bonus, or just sit on it. Insurance companies now want a piece; maybe automakers, too, even though Congress has approved $25 billion in low-interest loans for them. Three weeks after becoming law, and with the first dollar of the $700 billion yet to go out, officials are just beginning to talk about helping a few strapped homeowners keep the foreclosure wolf from the door.

As the crisis worsens, the government's reaction keeps changing. Lawmakers in both parties are starting to gripe that the bailout is turning out to be far different from what the Bush administration sold to Congress. In buying equity stakes in banks, the Treasury has "deviated significantly from its original course," says Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. "We need to examine closely the reason for this change," said Shelby, who opposed the bailout.

The centerpiece of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act is the "troubled asset relief program," or TARP for short. Critics note that tarps are used to cover things up. The money was to be devoted to buying "toxic" mortgage-backed securities whose value has fallen in lockstep with home prices. But once European governments said they were going into the banking business, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson followed suit and diverted $250 billion to buy stock in healthy banks to spur lending. Bank executives hinted they might instead use it for acquisitions. Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, said this development was "beyond troubling."

Sure enough, a day after Dodd, D-Conn., made the comment, the government confirmed that PNC Financial Services Group Inc. was approved to receive $7.7 billion in return for company stock. At the same time, PNC said it was acquiring National City Corp. for $5.58 billion. "Although there will be some consolidation, that's not the driver behind this program," Paulson recently told PBS talk show host Charlie Rose. "The driver is to have our healthy banks be well-capitalized so that they can play the role they need to play for our country right now."

Other planned uses of the bailout money have lawmakers protesting, although it is only fair to note there is nothing in the law that they just wrote to prevent those uses. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. questioned allowing banks that accept bailout bucks to continue paying dividends on their common stock. "There are far better uses of taxpayer dollars than continuing dividend payments to shareholders," he said. Schumer, whose constituents include Wall Street bankers, said he also fears that they might stuff the money "under the proverbial mattress" rather than make loans.

Neel Kashkari, head of the Treasury's financial stability program, told Dodd's committee this past week that there are few strings attached to the capital-infusion program because too many rules would discourage financial institutions from participating.

As the bank plan has become a priority, the effort to buy troubled assets has receded from the headlines. Potential conflicts of interest pose all kinds of problems in finding qualified companies to manage that program. "Firms with the relevant financial expertise may also hold assets that become eligible for sale into the TARP or represent clients who hold troubled assets," Kashkari said.

The challenge was made plain when the Treasury hired the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. as "custodian" of the troubled assets purchase program. The bank will conduct "reverse auctions" to buy the toxic securities on behalf of the Treasury. The lower the price they set, the better chance sellers have of getting rid of the devalued securities.

On the same day it hired Mellon, the Treasury also picked the company to receive a $3 billion investment as part of the capital-infusion program. The same bank hired to help manage part of the economic rescue plan became a beneficiary of it.

With the Nov. 4 election nearing, lawmakers decided it was important to remind the government officials running the bailout program about parts of the law aimed at helping distressed homeowners by offering federal guarantees to mortgages renegotiated down to lower monthly payments. "The key to our nation's economic recovery is the recovery of the housing market," Dodd said. "And the key to recovery of the housing market is reducing foreclosures." Sheila Bair, who heads the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., responded that her agency is working "closely and creatively" with Treasury officials to "realize the potential benefits of this authority."
| America | Economic Crisis |

Political alarms ring as panicked markets dive Reuters (October 25, 2008) - Asian and European leaders closed ranks on Saturday to try to bolster confidence among investors who fear that a global credit crunch has ushered in a deep and damaging world recession. The worst financial crisis in 80 years has forced countries to work together to find ways to help shore up a financial system crippled by banks fearful of lending to each other.

But with evidence mounting that Europe is already in recession, analysts fear that cooperation in shoring up banking systems could be threatened as governments begin to turn their attention to reviving domestic demand. "We must use every means to prevent the financial crisis impacting growth of the real economy," Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said at the end of a two-day summit of 43 Asian and European leaders in Beijing.

Governments have pledged around $4 trillion to support banks and restart money markets to try to stem the crisis and are considering tougher financial rules to guard against any repeat. Wen said countries needed to strike a balance between innovation and regulation and between savings and consumption. "We need financial innovation, but we need financial oversight even more," he said, adding that China's priority was to spur domestic demand to ensure the country maintained fairly fast, steady growth.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who will host a global summit on the financial crisis next month, said in a radio address on Saturday: "While the specific solutions pursued by every country may not be the same, agreeing on a common set of principles will be an essential step toward preventing similar crises in the future."

In the Gulf, finance ministers and central bank governors said at a meeting on coordinating policy that they would look at directing more government funds into banks and regional stock markets, Al-Arabiya television reported. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and four other Gulf states have so far adopted separate responses to ease the pressures of the liquidity crunch on their banking sectors. Qatar's finance minister, Youssef Kamal, said the crisis would give impetus to create regional monetary union and he was sure the measures taken to protect the economies were sufficient.

Any significant redirection of Gulf investment to domestic markets could be a concern for banks and other firms in the West which have eyed the huge sums in the region's state-run sovereign wealth funds as a potential source of capital while European and U.S. credit and share markets are seized up. But the scarcity of private sector capital is being felt in the Gulf. Officials were set to discuss the risk of investments from countries hit by the crisis being "liquidated." Saudi Arabian stocks plummeted 8.7 percent on fears of an oil price fall and recession. more...
| Islam | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Closer global integration needed: Blair Canada.com (October 22, 2008) - Any impulse to retreat from a globalized economic system would be exactly the wrong response to the current worldwide financial crisis, warns former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair. Blair - whose successor, Gordon Brown, is being hailed as the architect of a financial rescue plan largely copied in the U.S. and other industrial nations - told the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal that the crisis demonstrates the need for closer global integration, not less.

Those who would pull back from global trade and financial flows are taking the wrong lesson from the banking and credit tumult, Blair said, because globalization is "a fact, not driven by governments, but by people." The challenge facing governments is to make it work better, he said. Blair asked a rhetorical question: "Why is it that irresponsible lending in one area suddenly produces a convulsion in the world economy?" Because, he answered, all countries are now so closely linked that it isn't realistic to imagine withdrawing from the risks and benefits of globalization.

However, unlike some commentators who focus on the need for internationally co-ordinated regulatory constraints on business, Blair also pointed to the dangers of too much regulation. There must clearly be globally synchronized financial regulation "where there is systemic risk," Blair said, referring to the kinds of risks that can go beyond one bank or institution to endanger the whole financial system. A recent example was the collapse of Lehman Bros., a leading U.S. investment bank, which triggered a collapse in confidence that bank obligations would be honoured and greatly worsened stresses on financial institutions. However, Blair insisted that such new regulation must not be so heavy-handed that it stifles the entrepreneurship that he described as the heart of any successful economy.

Blair's comments about the financial crisis were part of a broader perspective on a more closely knit world in which, he warned, no serious challenge, from climate change to terrorism, can be dealt with successfully without close international co-operation. Partnered with the theme of global interdependence was one of power shifting inevitably toward Asia, leaving the big Western powers with a limited window of opportunity to help define the nature of a new world order. "Power is shifting East, and shifting East fast," Blair said.

He noted that in meetings with Chinese leaders during this summer's Olympic Games, he learned that China is now building more power stations than have been created in Europe since the Second World War and planning to open no fewer than 70 new international airports. India will soon be in a position to achieve similar spectacular growth, he said. The lesson of this gigantic power shift, Blair said, is that the West can no longer dominate the world through sheer economic and military strength. Instead of dictating, it must seek to persuade through the power of universal values: freedom, democracy and justice. And to be persuasive in enshrining such values in global institutions, it must be true to them - working harder, for instance, to solve the problems of disease, hunger and poverty in the poorest nations.

Brown, who is now the official envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a group including the United Nations, the U.S, the U.K. and Russia, offered another example from his current work. If there were to be a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said, this would be the most powerful influence imaginable in creating healthier relations between the West and the Islamic world. Brown was speaking at Montreal's Palais des congres, at an event sponsored by the TD Bank Financial Group.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Coordinated European action needed to tackle financial crisis says the European Parliament European Parliament (October 22, 2008) - MEPs say the EU needs a coordinated response on a range of fronts in order to tackle the financial crisis and limit its impact on economic growth, jobs and small businesses. In a resolution on last week's EU summit, they also call for measures to improve financial supervision and look at issues from climate change to the Caucasus. The resolution was adopted with 499 votes in favour, 130 against and 67 abstentions.

Parliament stresses the importance of a coordinated macroeconomic response to resuscitate global growth, without undermining the principles of the stability and growth pact. MEPs also want to see coordinated action to restore confidence in the financial markets.

Financial market crisis and the real economy

The crisis, says the resolution, has implications beyond financial markets: for business viability, jobs, personal finance and SMEs. Parliament stresses the paramount importance of ongoing access to credit for citizens and SMEs and of investments in EU infrastructure to avoid a dramatic downturn in growth and employment.

It therefore supports measure to return liquidity to the markets, and the rapid reaction of the Commission in applying state aid rules on measures taken to rescue financial institutions. When public money is spent in this way, say MEPs, it must be accompanied by public oversight, improvements in governance, limitations on remuneration, strong accountability to public authorities and investment strategies for the real economy.

MEPs welcome the setting up by the Commission of a high-level group to consider the future supervisory architecture for EU financial services, but they criticise the lack of Parliamentary involvement in the Commission's "financial crisis cell".

Better supervisory structure for the future

Looking beyond the immediate crisis, MEPs reiterate their calls on the Commission to propose measures to strengthen the EU regulatory and supervisory framework and EU-level crisis management, including on banks, credit rating agencies, securitisation, hedge funds, leverage, transparency, winding-up rules, clearing for over-the-counter markets and crisis prevention.

The Lamfalussy process should be strengthened, including colleges of supervisors for cross-border institutions and a clearer role and legal status for the Level 3 committees (which bring together all the Member States' banking, securities and insurance supervisors). Parliament also wants to see proposals drawn up for effective cross-border crisis management.

Lisbon, climate change, energy, Caucasus conflicts

The resolution also considers other issues arising from the European Council meeting last week. Among other points:

• Parliament reiterates its respect for the result of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon treaty, and for the results of other countries' ratification procedures, and hopes a solution can be found which is acceptable to all before the European elections in June 2009;
• MEPs say the financial crisis should not call into question the EU's post-2012 climate targets, though measures taken to meet them should be evaluated with competitiveness in mind;
• Parliament calls for Commission and Council to pursue the establishment of a common European external policy on energy, and for a stronger political commitment to a low carbon economy;
• MEPs stress that there cannot be a military solution to the conflicts in the Caucasus, condemn all those who resorted to force to change the situation in the Georgian breakaway territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and recall Russia's "disproportionate military action." They call on Russia to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.

| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Economic Crisis |

MEPs debate EU response to world crises with French president Sarkozy European Parliament (October 21, 2008) - At a debate with MEPs on the EU summit of 15-16 October, EU President-in-Office Sarkozy said the Russo-Georgian war and the financial crisis had strengthened the case for a united European response to major world problems. He rejected any idea that the EU should backtrack on its climate change commitments because of the crisis. While the main EP political groups broadly supported him, some felt the roots of the financial crisis went back a long way and queried the role of unbridled free markets.

Introducing the debate, the President of Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, said that in the recent crises, Europe under the leadership of President Sarkozy had shown its ability to take coordinated, collective action. Without such action - and without the existence of the euro - "we would have been in a disastrous situation".

Georgia

The first subject considered by President Sarkozy, speaking on behalf of the European Council, was the Russo-Georgian war. While regarding the Russian reaction as "disproportionate", he also stressed it was a "reaction" to a previous "inappropriate" action. He then described the peace-making efforts carried out by himself on behalf of the EU. The Americans had thought "dialogue with the Russians is pointless" but in his view this was folly, since "Europe does not want another Cold War". He emphasised "it is Europe that has brought about peace", adding "it is a long time since Europe has played this sort of role in this kind of conflict".

World financial crisis: how to prevent a recurrence

Turning next to the world financial situation, Mr Sarkozy said "what was a serious crisis became a systemic crisis" with the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Moreover, the solutions now being found - in which Europe had taken the lead - simply amounted to "crisis management".

A key point was "how can we prevent a recurrence?". He had proposed to the UN General Assembly the creation of a "new global financial system" or "new Bretton Woods". The aim must be to "overhaul capitalism", not "by questioning the idea of a market economy" but observing certain principles: no bank working with state money must work with tax havens, all financial institutions must be subject to financial regulation, traders' bonus structures must not push them to take undue risks and the monetary system must be rethought. The USA and the EU had proposed a series of "summits on global governance", starting in November, involving first the G8 and then adding the G5, at which, he stressed, "Europe must speak with one voice".

Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Sarkozy returned to the financial crisis, saying it was undoubtedly now leading to an economic crisis and this too would require a "united European response". Among ideas he floated were measures to ensure that "European companies are not bought up by non-European capital while their stock exchange values are low" and the creation of sovereign wealth funds by each EU country. At a later point in the debate he pointed the finger at hedge funds and questioned the competence and independence of ratings agencies, pointing out that the latter were mainly US-based and perhaps Europe needed its own ratings agencies.

He also believed that "the eurozone cannot continue without clear economic governance". The European Central Bank must be independent but must be able to hold discussions with "an economic government" at head of state/government level.

No backsliding on energy/climate change

Mr Sarkozy's next topic was the future of the EU's energy and climate package. He rejected any idea "that the world should do less to combat climate change because of the financial crisis", saying "Europe must set an example" to the world. He recognised the difficulty some European countries were facing, especially those that are 95% dependent on coal, but some flexible solution must be found. Referring to the 20/20/20 targets, he described "respect for the climate change objectives" and "respect for the timetable" as essential.

Turning to the EU Immigration Pact, the French president said this was "a great example of European democracy" as, despite initial differences, the EU had agreed on a joint policy.

Lisbon Treaty

Lastly, the president argued that the recent crises with Georgia and the financial markets showed that "it would be a major mistake not to proceed with institutional reform" since Europe often needs "a powerful, rapid and united response", something which was difficult, for example, with the EU's six-month rotating presidency. The French presidency was thus looking to a roadmap to find a solution by December to the question of Irish ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Concluding, he said "the world needs a Europe that speaks with a strong voice" and expressed appreciation to the EP for its "solidarity" in helping to create this sense of unity.

Commission President Barroso

President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso said Mr Sarkozy's handling of the crisis had shown him as "dynamic as only he can be" and welcomed the fact that Europe was now working hand in hand with the US. He said "the EU should mould a global response with it values and interests".

He outlined a number of practical steps. He said the Commission would be looking at executive pay and derivatives. The feasibility of pan-Europe financial regulation would also be under review. He also signalled his forthcoming visit to China for talks saying: "The goal should be to devise a system of global financial governance adapted to the challenges of the 21st century – in terms of efficiency, transparency and representation."

Turning to the so called "real economy" he said that Europe faced a "serious economic slowdown" with jobs, incomes and order books affected. He went on to say: "There is no national road out of this crisis...we will swim or sink together. We must not give in to siren calls for protection. We must not turn our backs on globalisation or put our single market at risk."

He said that "European citizens need support - especially the vulnerable". To deal with the slowdown he called for "smart support" that would hit two targets at once. For example: "Helping the construction industry...but doing this by promoting an energy-efficient housing stock....Helping key industries like cars...but preparing them for tomorrow's markets of clean cars."

He told MEPs that there is "no national route out of this crisis" and that in Europe "we swim or sink together". He said that: "Europe shows its true colours in a crisis - in Georgia we stopped a war whilst with the financial crisis we are dealing with it."

He went on to say that: "There is no magic bullet to turn around the EU economy. What we have to do is take every option, explore every potential way in which EU policy can help Member States to seize every opportunity to put Europe on the road to growth. That is our task in the coming weeks. And it is a task I want to tackle together with the European Parliament." He finished by saying that it was: "The kind of occasion where the crisis calls into question old certainties and minds are more open to change."

Later, speaking after the main group speakers Mr Barroso said that analysis compiled by the Commission showed the crisis was triggered "by sectors that were not regulated in US". On climate change he said that with the financial crisis it would be "dramatically bad" if the EU backtracked on the 20/20/20 emission formula agreed last. He said that "the world - not just Europeans, are looking to us". Read full story...

Political group speakers

For the EPP-ED group, Joseph DAUL (FR) believed that Europe working together had twice over the summer helped show the way through major crises: Georgia and the financial markets. President Sarkozy had worked tirelessly and shown the value of the EU Presidency and the role for Europe on the world stage.

Parliament had already done key work on the financial situation with recommendations on regulation and surveillance, reform and an end to golden parachutes. He said "It is in economic crises that we develop rules for the future. Free markets have to be accompanied by rules and regulations If they existed previously they were not properly applied"

Mr Daul did not want to see the efforts of the little people in Europe wiped out. SMEs need support and we need to guarantee the social market and solidarity. He asked for all to ratify the Lisbon Treaty as soon as possible so that Europe could run more smoothly. He concluded that ahead we face many major issues together: climate, energy, defence. For the sake of future generations he stressed that we need to work on the basis of a Social Market economy model to solve them.

For the Socialist group, Martin SCHULZ (DE) was impressed by the recent resolute action of both President Sarkozy and Barroso. However, he felt we need to make full use of the current crisis to make sure we never again suffer such a disaster in the financial markets which has triggered a disaster in the real economy. We need new rules by the end of the year for banks, private equity.

Mr Schulz noted that in this debate Messrs Sarkozy, Daul, Barroso all spoke the language of true European Social Democracy." I am glad you have finally arrived, however late" he said. Mr Schulz was concerned about the situation of the ordinary citizen, the taxpayer, the small business in this crisis. We need to boost purchasing power to revive the Single Market and we need to cover the risks for the ordinary citizen not just the big fish.

He was delighted everyone was now singing from the same hymn sheet of social democracy but warned this was the time also to remember the long-term issue of climate change which would remain after the credit crunch had subsided. We should all be working towards sustainability. Finally, in this crisis he emphasised that we must not forget rights and keep the question of fundamental values on the agenda.

Thank you for these warm and encouraging words about working hand in hand", said Graham Watson (UK), for the ALDE group, "but why do the Council conclusions refer only to the Commission and the Council? Why, for example, under climate change, is there no reference to the Parliament?" "You will need the EP", he predicted, pointing to some Member States' behind-the-scenes attempts to "unpick" agreements on CO2 emission targets for new cars (2012) and emission sharing (2013).

"Since the Berlin wall fell, 50 million people have been lifted out of poverty, but today we are seeing what happens when markets lack transparency", said Mr Watson, welcoming the fact that co-ordinated measures had alleviated the immediate pressures. He stressed that the EU must play a leading role in applying such remedies internationally - working with the US if possible, and without it if necessary.

Mr Watson nonetheless regretted that the summit had failed to produce plans for an effective supervisory regime, such as a European financial services authority. "Supervision is still the missing piece of the jigsaw", he said. Finally, Mr Watson acknowledged that Mr Sarkozy's role as a "man of action" in managing the crises underlined the EU's need for a permanent President.

"Energy and willpower are required in politics, and are good for Europe", agreed Daniel Cohn-Bendit (Greens/EFA, DE), for his group. He stressed that all the crises - financial, environmental and hunger worldwide - are interdependent, and must be tackled together.

"These crises did not start in July or August, but years ago", he said in a reference to Mr Sarkozy's speech. "It was calls for unbridled growth and the rejection of financial market regulation a year ago that led us into these crises", he said, urging Europe's leaders to be "more self-critical". What Europe needs is a "social and environmental market", which entails "rethinking the way we manufacture, and the way we live".

"The German car industry already has money in tax havens, and does not need more", said Mr Cohn-Bendit, in a reference to car industry "climate change waivers" (which, he said, had been backed by both right and left wingers). He urged Mr Sarkozy to press for tax havens to be obliged to declare the country of origin of these funds. Finally, subjecting climate change proposals to unanimity in the Council "will put you at the mercy of countries that are backsliders" in December, he warned Mr Sarkozy.

For the UEN group, Cristiana MUSCARDINI (IT) said she agreed 100% with the statements and proposals made by French President Nicholas Sarkozy and thanked the Council for the immigration pact and the asylum pact, "common sectors which are important to us all". However, she called on certain "Commissioners, including competition Commissioners "to do the right thing". The statement on heating oil has not reassured the markets. "We need more on financial derivatives, which have laid low some European States.

Mrs Muscardini said a united, if not equal, Europe, would help to pinpoint strategies to solve the crisis, which she called "systemic" and "in order to combat a systemic crisis we need a new system". She called on Nicholas Sarkozy to recast global capitalism and maybe even go further to make sure that "market freedom is not untrammelled liberalism". She added that the European Central Bank "could have done more" to help banks that have and are "failing".

Francis WURTZ (FR), on behalf of the GUE/NGL group, warned that the "worst is still to come" of this "multidimensional crisis of such scale and seriousness". The dimensions may be "unfathomable", but the crisis still needs to be debated. The "shock" of this crisis is being felt everywhere and "we have a drop in public expenditure and plans for privatising public services are ahead," he said.

Mr Wurtz continued "We need to be held accountable to our citizens", adding that this cannot be avoided, by introducing regulation or "doing away with golden handshakes". He pointed to the fact that 2% of monetary transactions were for services and production, while the remaining 98% went on finance. "We must attack the roots of this evil" and we need a "new Bretton Woods".

According to Nigel FARAGE (UK) of the Independence and Democracy group, when President Sarkozy went to Georgia he was "not acting for the EU" as "there had been no meeting". "You did it as the President of France". As regards the financial crisis, "I'm glad the Irish and the Greeks did their own thing", he said, before adding "I haven't heard anyone say that this crisis is a failure of regulation. We haven't had a lack of regulation, we have a blizzard of regulation and this has not protected a single investor. We need to rethink what we have been doing. We need to act in our national interest. The Swiss can and they have the adaptability, to weather the financial crisis better than EU states"

The speaker from the non-aligned MEPs, Bruno GOLLNISCH (FR), said "We are looking at part of things here but we are quiet on the causes. No one saw this coming …. apart from a few economists and Jean Marie Le Pen's voice crying in the wilderness." In his view, "We need unfettered freeing up and decoupling of the financial side of things and the real economy, which is now declining." Turning to foreign affairs, he said "You don't see that Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence paved the way to South Ossetia." His final comment was "You have to have a radical break with the global system and the movement of goods has to be rethought."

British and Irish speakers

Linda McAVAN (PES, UK) said it was not time to abandon climate change ambitions, adding that the socialists want "a credible agreement that balances environment, jobs and competitiveness" by Christmas and in time for international talks. "Let's have the political courage," she said.

Avril DOYLE (EPP-ED, IE) said that Europe's leaders had "committed themselves to reducing greenhouse gases by 20%". Now, in order to secure an agreement at Copenhagen "we will have to make a clear and unambiguous statement", she added. "There should be no delay and we cannot pay the higher price in the future" or, as President Sarkozy said, we will miss our date with history.

Giles CHICHESTER (EPP-ED, UK) told the House "It would not be far fetched to liken the crisis to a hurricane. Once the wind abates there is an illusion of calm but the devastation takes years to clear up." He continued "Tackling change is a long-term matter and there is no silver bullet". Moreover, "Over-regulation could precipitate something much worse, a re-run of the 1930's slump". "Let us not kill off the goose that lays the golden egg", he concluded.

John BOWIS (EPP-ED, UK) agreed with President Sarkozy that the climate change package "is so important that we cannot simply lose it under the pretext of a financial crisis". However, he went on "we will need reassurances for the countries which have real problems, as Poland does with coal" and "we must also be very clear that our support for biofuels in transport is dependent on the development of fuels from sustainable sources".

| Gog/Magog | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder | 1^st Seal | America | Economic Crisis |

Biden to Supporters: "Gird Your Loins", For the Next President "It's Like Cleaning Augean Stables" ABC News Political Radar Blog (October 20, 2008) - ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions. "Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

Not only will the next administration have to deal with foreign affairs issues, Biden warned, but also with the current economic crisis. "Gird your loins," Biden told the crowd. "We're gonna win with your help, God willing, we're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy."

The Delaware lawmaker managed to rake in an estimated $1 million total from his two money hauls at the downtown Sheraton, the same hotel where four years ago Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., clinched the Democratic nomination. Despite warning about the difficulties the next administration will face, Biden said the Democratic ticket is equipped to meet the challenges head on. "I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I'm not being falsely humble with you. I think I can be value added, but this guy has it," the Senate Foreign Relations chairman said of Obama. "This guy has it. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us."

"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'," Biden continued. "Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

Biden emphasized that the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border is of particular concern, with Osama bin Laden "alive and well" and Pakistan "bristling with nuclear weapons." "You literally can see what these kids are up against, our kids in that region," Biden said in recalling when his helicopter was forced down due to a snowstorm there. "The place is crawling with al Qaeda. And it's real." "We do not have the military capacity, nor have we ever, quite frankly, in the last 20 years, to dictate outcomes," he cautioned. "It's so much more important than that. It's so much more complicated than that. And Barack gets it."

After speaking for just over a quarter of an hour, Biden noticed the media presence in the back of the small ballroom. "I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here," he joked. "All kidding aside, these guys have left us in a God-awful place," he then said of the Bush regime, promptly wrapping up his remarks. "We have the ability to straighten it out. It's gonna take a little bit of time, so I ask you to stay with us. Stay with us."
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Please listen to Glenn Beck's commentary on this story and the possible implications in the audio files here. I think this could be what Glenn pondered on his show and possibly related to Middle East tensions that I think may be starting in the near future. Glenn touches on some other significant topics as well in the audio clip such as the October money printing spree.

Bush backs EU plan on global financial reform EU Observer (October 20, 2008) - US President George W. Bush has backed the European idea of a series of global talks on reform of the world's financial system, with the first summit set to be held shortly after the US presidential elections in November.

The outgoing American leader agreed there needs to be further co-ordinated effort to tackle the "challenges facing the global economy" after a three-hour meeting at Camp David on Saturday (18 October) with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country currently chairs the 27-strong EU, and with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The three politicians said they would approach other world powers - both from the richest nations and the newly emerging economies such as China and India - and try to reach "agreement on principles of reform needed to avoid a repetition and assure global prosperity in the future."

Later summits will be "designed to implement agreement on specific steps to be taken to meet those principles," the trio said in a joint statement. The top-level talks are due to tackle controversial elements of the current financial order which are seen by some as having contributed or failed to prevent the credit crunch, which originated in the US and spread across the globe.

At the EU level, several such issues have been highlighted as the possible targets of stricter regulation - rating agencies, tax havens, hedge funds, executive pay but also the very role of key global institutions, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. "We believe in the capacity and the ability of the American people to come up with the answers the world is waiting for, is expecting. Because this sort of capitalism is a betrayal of the capitalism we believe in," Mr Sarkozy said, newswires report.

"The meeting should be held rapidly, perhaps before the end of November. Since the crisis started in New York, maybe we can find the solution in New York," he added. However, US president Bush stressed that "as we make the regulatory and institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism - the commitment to free markets, free enterprise and free trade." "We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and held millions of people escape poverty around the world." Read full story...

More European banks in the red

Meanwhile, Dutch ING and French Caisse d'Epargne have joined the list of banks affected by the financial crisis. The Dutch government agreed on Sunday (19 October) to pump €10 billion into financial group ING, with the bank's management agreeing to scrap executive bonuses and its year-end dividend to shareholders. The move followed a round of tense negotiations over the weekend sparked by recent share falls by over a 25 percent of value, Reuters reported. The financial injection by the Dutch government is part of €20 billion package the Hague had put aside for possible bank bail-outs, in a move agreed in principle by all other European member states last week in a bid to prevent a bankruptcy of any financial situation essential for a country's whole economy.

In Germany, Bavaria's public sector bank BayernLB will be the first to use the German government's €500 billion rescue package. The bank's supervisory board is due to meet on Tuesday (21 October) to discuss the package, Bavarian state Finance Minister Erwin Huber said in an interview for Bild newspaper.

In France, the chairman of Groupe Caisse d'Epargne and two other top managers resigned on Sunday, following a €600 million trading scandal where a small team of traders had placed illicit bets on stock markets. The French government reacted by suggesting a special audit of all banks in the country.

| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Europeans signal clash with US over global capitalism Telegraph UK (October 19, 2008) - World leaders will meet in the United Sates next month to find a fix for the international financial crisis after President George W. Bush bowed to European calls for a global economic summit. Mr Bush bowed to demands from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency and José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, at his Camp David presidential retreat.

The emboldened Europeans signalled that the bloc was ready to ambush Mr Bush and his successor, who is expected to attend the meeting, to impose a European vision for new financial market regulation. "The EU must take over the leadership of change because that is what it has long been calling for while the US was not favourable," said José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister. "There has to be regulation and limits to everything to do with incentives and rewards."

The French leader reiterated his attacks on the American-led sytem of capitalism. "We cannot continue along the same lines because the same problems will trigger the same disasters," said Mr Sarkozy. "This is no longer acceptable. This is no longer possible. This sort of capitalism is a betrayal of the sort of capitalism we believe in."

The summit, expected to take place just days or weeks after US presidential elections in November, will start a political tussle over The US President has backed the steps European nations have taken in recent weeks to stabilise financial markets but has signalled American uneasiness with some EU calls for a root and branch overhaul of capitalism.

But remarks after the Camp David meeting has already exposed deep trans-Atlanic differences. "We will work to strengthen and modernise our nations' financial systems so we can help ensure that this crisis doesn't happen again," said Mr Bush. "As we make the regulatory and institutional changes necessary to avoid a repeat of this crisis, it is essential that we preserve the foundations of democratic capitalism a commitment to free markets, free enterprise, and free trade," he said. "We must resist the dangerous temptation of economic isolationism and continue the policies of open markets that have lifted standards of living and helped millions of people escape poverty around the world."

In contrast, President Sarkozy and other EU leaders have floated radical ideas of reforming rating agencies, the creation of new international financial supervisors and tough regulation of hedge funds and tax havens. Even the venue of the global economic conference could be a source of discord after President Sarkozy called for it to be held under the auspices of the United Nations in New York, near America's Wall Street financial district, the source, the EU claims, of the present economic crisis. "Insofar as the crisis began in New York, then the global solution must be found to this crisis in New York," Mr Sarkozy said.

A weakened President Bush, who will be seeing out his last months in office after US presidential elections on Nov 4. The US leader is expected to try and wrest back control by holding the summit in Washington. European diplomats are hoping that a new US President-elect might be more receptive to European style "social market" reforms, especially if the elections sweep Democrat candidate Barack Obama into power. As Mr Bush nears the end of his second term and prepares to hand over the White House in January next year, any future American financial reforms will fall to his successor.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

In light of the Glenn Beck show regarding Biden's comments, what I've been feeling about an Obama win would fit quite well into the further integration of America into the global economy as a step to a new global financial system not run on paper currency, but electronically tracked data based on a unique ID system to label individuals in a global database. Crazy? You bet, and every day it seems a step closer in this climate of fear and uncertainty. My guess is that much of the world will accept this solution as an only way out. Time will tell - keep watching.

New Home Construction at Lowest Level Since World War II Fox News (October 18, 2008) - The nation is on track to build fewer homes this year than at any time since the end of World War II, adding to the woes of an economy that analysts said Friday has almost certainly entered a recession.

While the economic outlook darkened even further with bad reports on layoffs and consumer confidence, it was one of the quietest days since the financial meltdown began a month ago. Wall Street's tumultuous week turned out to be its best in five years. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 127 points Friday but turned in the strong week because of two huge days of gains — a record 936-point jump on Monday and an increase of 401 points Thursday.

Friday was still marked by the huge swings that have become typical lately. At various points the Dow was up nearly 300 points and down nearly 250, and it finished with a triple-digit move for the 22nd time in 25 trading sessions.

A monthly survey by the National Association of Home Builders showed sentiment among home builders hit a record low in early October. David Seiders, chief economist for the group, said builders are being hit by a double whammy from the financial turmoil: It's harder for them to get loans to pursue new houses, and more difficult to sell those they do build. He forecast that builders will keep slashing production in coming months, with construction starts for new homes and apartments totaling just 936,000 this year, the lowest level since 1945. "The builders are telling us that the financial crisis is really hurting because people justifiably have no idea where things are going," Seiders said.

Before the markets opened, President Bush went to the headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to say that the $700 billion financial rescue package was "big enough and bold enough to work." But he cautioned that it would take time to unlock credit markets.

Adam Levitin, an associate professor at Georgetown University Law School, said that even with the government's injection of billions into the banks, the high debt loads carried by consumers and shortage of creditworthy borrowers could continue to chill lending. "Who's going to lend to GM right now?" Levitin said at a conference organized by the American Bar Association. He also asked what banks would lend money to homeowners with troubled mortgages.

Analysts said new data released Friday showed it's probably too late for the economy to avoid a recession. Many of them said they now had recessions in their forecasts, believing that the overall economy, as measured by total domestic production, probably shrank in the July-to-September quarter, dragged lower in part by the continued plunge in housing. "I don't think there is any ambiguity with respect to whether we are in a recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "I think it actually started at the end of last year, and because of the financial panic we are going through now, it is likely to last another year."

Other economists said they were looking for at least three consecutive quarters of contraction, reflecting in part the fact that consumers, who account for two-thirds of total economic activity, are showing the strains of the biggest upheaval in the financial sector in 70 years.

A new University of Michigan/Reuters survey showed consumer confidence plunged in early October to its second-lowest level in the past 28 years. "Concerns about falling employment, incomes and wealth have overshadowed relief from lower energy prices," said Sara Johnson, an economist at Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass., forecasting firm.

The Commerce Department said Friday that construction of new homes and apartments dropped by a bigger-than-expected 6.3 percent in September to an annual rate of 817,000 units, the second weakest performance in government statistics dating back to 1959. The only weaker monthly showing occurred in January 1991, when the U.S. was in a recession and going through a similar painful housing correction.

In a bleak sign of future construction, applications for new building permits fell a sharp 8.2 percent to an annual rate of 786,000 units, the weakest level in more than 25 years. The government also sharply revised lower its construction data for July and August. That was after dismal news earlier this week that retail sales fell by 1.2 percent in September.

Influential billionaire investor Warren Buffett said in opinion piece in The New York Times that he sees opportunity in the Wall Street chaos. He's been moving his personal investments from safe Treasuries into U.S. stocks. "To be sure, investors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions," Buffett wrote. "But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation's many sound companies make no sense." The market eventually will turn around. "So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over," he said.

On the housing front, while the sharp cutbacks in production will help reduce huge inventories of unsold homes, the problem is that rising levels of foreclosures are dumping more homes on the already glutted market. Zandi said he believed that home prices, which have already fallen by 20 percent, will fall by another 10 percent and will not stabilize until the middle of next year.

Kim Shelpman, the chief executive of Holiday Builders, which operates in Texas, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina, said that her company was competing against a rising tide of foreclosures, but that she believed the excess inventory of homes was being "eaten up at a much quicker pace."

Jesse Barrington, a sale consultant with Sotherby Homes, said the sales slowdown nationwide had been less pronounced in the upscale suburbs of north of Dallas where about 20 homes in a new subdivision had recently sold. "In a normal economy, this is a good year. In this economy, it's phenomenal," he said. In the South, sales managed a small 0.5 percent gain in September. They rose by 5.6 percent in the Midwest, where a boost in apartment building offset a slide in single-family homes to a record low.

The weakness last month was led by a 21 percent drop in the Northeast, where construction of single-family units fell to the lowest level on record, and the West, where building slipped by almost 17 percent with single-family construction also hitting a record-low in that region.

On Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced it would inject up to $250 billion in U.S. banks in return for partial ownership stakes, in a program similar to one launched in 1932 by President Herbert Hoover. The government hopes banks will use the capital infusions to rebuild their reserves and bolster lending to customers.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Gordon Brown expects news on global regulation plans in the 'next few days' Citywire (October 15, 2008) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he expects progress towards a cocoordinated approach to cross order regulation of the financial markets in 'the next few days.' Taking time out from his meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, he told journalists that leaders needed to work together to create a new ‘financial vision’ to ensure that the current crisis in financial markets does is not repeated.

He said it was time to move to stage two of the recovery process and establish appropriate regulation and an early warning process to ‘root out irresponsibilities and excesses’. ‘We need supervision and regulation where it has been lacking and where it is necessary, and international co-operation. We need an early warning system and proper co-ordination,’ he said.

José Manuel Barroso paid tribute to Brown’s role in driving forward the EU response to the financial crisis and said he agreed it was time to take action ‘to the next level’. The two leaders will attend the EU Council in Brussels over the next two days. Gordon Brown said that US president George Bush shared his sense of urgency. He said that although the new US president elected at the end of November will have to sign up to any eventual plan, he said there is no need to wait.

On Monday, Gordon Brown said the world needs an effective global early warning system to alert people across continents to economic and financial risks. He also called for globally accepted standards of supervision that apply equally in all countries, stronger arrangements for cross-border supervision of global firms, and much stronger institutions for co-operation and concerted action in a crisis. Brown is understood to have recommended the creation of a series of colleges of supervisors to oversee cross-border financial institutions.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

The O Jesse Knows New York Post (October 14, 2008) - PREPARE for a new America: That's the message that the Rev. Jesse Jackson conveyed to participants in the first World Policy Forum, held at this French lakeside resort last week. He promised "fundamental changes" in US foreign policy - saying America must "heal wounds" it has caused to other nations, revive its alliances and apologize for the "arrogance of the Bush administration."

The most important change would occur in the Middle East, where "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would end. Jackson believes that, although "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" remain strong, they'll lose a great deal of their clout when Barack Obama enters the White House.

"Obama is about change," Jackson told me in a wide-ranging conversation. "And the change that Obama promises is not limited to what we do in America itself. It is a change of the way America looks at the world and its place in it." Jackson warns that he isn't an Obama confidant or adviser, "just a supporter." But he adds that Obama has been "a neighbor or, better still, a member of the family." Jackson's son has been a close friend of Obama for years, and Jackson's daughter went to school with Obama's wife Michelle.

"We helped him start his career," says Jackson. "And then we were always there to help him move ahead. He is the continuation of our struggle for justice not only for the black people but also for all those who have been wronged." Read full story...

Will Obama's election close the chapter of black grievances linked to memories of slavery? The reverend takes a deep breath and waits a long time before responding. "No, that chapter won't be closed," he says. "However, Obama's victory will be a huge step in the direction we have wanted America to take for decades." Jackson rejects any suggestion that Obama was influenced by Marxist ideas in his youth. "I see no evidence of that," he says. "Obama's thirst for justice and equality is rooted in his black culture."

But is Obama - who's not a descendant of slaves - truly a typical American black? Jackson emphatically answers yes: "You don't need to be a descendant of slaves to experience the oppression, the suffocating injustice and the ugly racism that exists in our society," he says. "Obama experienced the same environment as all American blacks did. It was nonsense to suggest that he was somehow not black enough to feel the pain."

Is Jackson worried about the "Bradley effect" - that people may be telling pollsters they favor the black candidate, but won't end up voting for him? "I don't think this is how things will turn out," he says. "We have a collapsing economy and a war that we have lost in Iraq. In Afghanistan, we face a resurgent Taliban. New threats are looming in Pakistan. Our liberties have been trampled under feet . . . Today, most Americans want change, and know that only Barack can deliver what they want. Young Americans are especially determined to make sure that Obama wins."

He sees a broad public loss of confidence in the nation's institutions: "We have lost confidence in our president, our Congress, our banking system, our Wall Street and our legal system to protect our individual freedoms. . . I don't see how we could regain confidence in all those institutions without a radical change of direction."

Jackson declines to be more concrete about possible policy changes. After all, he insists, he isn't part of Obama's policy team. Yet he clearly hopes that his views, reflecting the position of many Democrats, would be reflected in the policies of an Obama administration. On the economic front, he hopes for "major changes in our trading policy."

"We cannot continue with the open-door policy," he says. "We need to protect our manufacturing industry against unfair competition that destroys American jobs and creates ill-paid jobs abroad." Would that mean an abrogation of the NAFTA treaty with Canada and Mexico? Jackson dismisses the question as "premature": "We could do a great deal without such dramatic action."

His most surprising position concerns Iraq. He passionately denounces the toppling of Saddam Hussein as "an illegal and unjust act." But he's now sure that the United States "will have to remain in Iraq for a very long time." What of Obama's promise to withdraw by 2010? Jackson believes that position will have to evolve, reflecting "realities on the ground." "We should work with our allies in Iraq to consolidate democratic institutions there," he says. "We must help the people of Iraq decide and shape their future in accordance with their own culture and faith."

On Iran, he strongly supports Obama's idea of opening a direct dialogue with the leadership in Tehran. "We've got to talk to tell them what we want and hear what they want," Jackson says. "Nothing is gained by not talking to others." Would that mean ignoring the four UN Security Council resolutions that demand an end to Iran's uranium-enrichment program? Jackson says direct talks wouldn't start without preparations. "Barack wants an aggressive and dynamic diplomacy," he says. "He also wants adequate preparatory work. We must enter the talks after the ground has been prepared," he says.

Jackson is especially critical of President Bush's approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict. "Bush was so afraid of a snafu and of upsetting Israel that he gave the whole thing a miss," Jackson says. "Barack will change that," because, as long as the Palestinians haven't seen justice, the Middle East will "remain a source of danger to us all."

"Barack is determined to repair our relations with the world of Islam and Muslims," Jackson says. "Thanks to his background and ecumenical approach, he knows how Muslims feel while remaining committed to his own faith."

| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Glenn Beck: What happened? Glenn Beck (October 7, 2008) - Yes, another email letter from your crazy brother. You raised a lot of questions in your last email and I am going to try to answer all of them. I think all of your questions fall into three areas: (1) how did we get here; (2) what's coming; and (3) what can I do to prepare myself and my family.

Consider this email as my answer to your first question, "how did we get here?". I'll be sending you 2 more emails answering your other two questions. Since there's a lot of misinformation out there I will document each of the facts in my emails so you know where I pulled the information from and where you can go to read and learn more.

What you shouldn't do is panic. We'll get through this--don't pull all of your money out of the bank but have enough cash on-hand to meet any possible emergencies.

First, you've got to get the stock market's ups-and-downs out of your mind. The recent drops and upticks are short-term. Our economic problems are much bigger and deeper. Too many people believe that if the stock market goes up our problems are behind us and that's simply not true.

Last week the market had big drops and big upswings. In the end, the market ended down more than 800 points and lots of 'experts' were shouting it was a time to buy. I don't see it that way.

Did you know that just two days after the stock market crashed in October 1929 the market actually gained ground the next two days? The New York Times reported that "the market quickly regained its poise and stability...." Today, Wall Street 'pros' are telling us it's a good time to invest because Warren Buffet is investing. A lot of people were probably using the same argument when the Rockefeller family was buying stocks right after the 1929 crash, what they didn't know was that it would take Wall Street ten more years to see those prices again.

Our current economic crisis was caused by politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, who perverted the American Dream by treating home ownership as an undeniable right rather than what it really is, a privilege. President Bush aggressively promoted the benefits of home ownership through various policy positions, including a reckless zero down-payment initiative for some homebuyers and praised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac even after concerns about their accounting standards began to surface. Read full letter...

Home ownership has always been part of the American Dream. It allows individuals and families to build wealth by having them pay themselves instead of a landlord or rental company and vests people in their communities by grounding them in local schools, stores and government.

The concept that owning a home was a privilege and not a right began to change in 1992 following a flawed Boston Federal Reserve Board study which allegedly found subtle discrimination in loan and mortgage lending by banks and mortgage lenders.

Politicians didn't care that the study was full of errors. The study found discrimination took place when five minority applicants were rejected for special low-income loans even though the applicants were rejected because they made too much money to qualify for a low-income loan, not because of their race. The report also classified as 'rejected' the applications of eight minority borrowers even though these borrowers voluntarily withdrew their mortgage applications. The study's sloppiness also went the other way.

The study reported that a white applicant was approved for a $3,115,000 loan in order to purchase a home valued at $445,000. It was later demonstrated that the actual loan was approved for $311,500, far less than $3 million reported and more importantly, less than the home's purchase price. When these and other errors were corrected no evidence of discrimination existed.

But politicians didn't care. They used this report as the basis to fix a problem which didn't exist. Leading the charge for change was President Clinton who immediately set-out to rework the Community Reinvestment Act to give federal officials the power to pressure banks to make loans they otherwise considered too risky or uneconomical.

Traditional lending requirements were labeled 'outdated' and discriminatory. What 'traditional lending requirements' were viewed as 'outdated' and 'discriminatory'? (1) banks were told that a "lack of credit history should not be seen as a negative factor" and that "past credit problems" should be viewed and considered in light of any "extenuating circumstances" so loans could be extended when they otherwise would have been denied; (2) banks were encouraged to let borrowers without enough money for a down-payment make-up any deficiency with "gifts, grants, or loans from relatives, nonprofit organizations, or municipal agencies" even though banks considered this risky as the home buyer would have little or no equity in the house; (3) banks were also instructed that borrowers who received child support, welfare payments or unemployment benefits could count that as 'income' for borrowing purposes.

Call me crazy but if you need to count child support money that's intended for your child, or are in such bad economic shape that you're relying on welfare payments to make ends meet or are unemployed, maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't be buying a house. Too bad our politicians and the 'best and brightest' on Wall Street couldn't figure that out!

Community groups like ACORN, threatened to cry racism if banks didn't increase their loans to subprime borrowers. Banks typically avoided subprime loans as they carried a greater risk of default, but with law on its side, ACORN and other groups intimidated lending institutions into making such loans.

Banks soon learned, however, that making subprime loans actually could increase their profits without increasing their risk. Once the banks extended a loan to a subprime borrower that loan could then be sold by the bank to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, two government sponsored entities charged with making home ownership affordable to all Americans.

Banks, Wall Street, and mortgage lenders were soon eager to extend mortgages to subprime borrowers because they could make lots of money without carrying any risk. Fannie and Freddie carried all the risk once the original lending agency sold the loan to them. And once Fannie and Freddie bought the loan this freed up the banks to make even more subprime loans.

So everyone was a winner. The subprime borrower got the money to buy a house. The banks generated mortgages and made a nice profit and Fannie and Freddie executives made tens-of-millions of dollars in salaries and bonuses by hitting their annual goals.

The problem was that in order to keep all of this going lending standards were continually lowered to help the next level of subprime borrowers qualify for mortgages and no one had an incentive to make sure that the new subprime borrowers would actually be capable of making regular mortgage payments. The banks which extended the loans really didn't care because they were just going to sell the loan off to Fannie or Freddie. Fannie and Freddie weren't too concerned because it wasn't their money-they knew that they were insured by the 'full faith and credit' of the federal government (that's government lingo for "you and me").

So when federal regulators began to warn the executives at Fannie and Freddie about the increasing risks of non-payment by subprime borrowers the companies did nothing and when the regulators took their concerns to congress their warnings were met with scorn and contempt. The politicians who received the most political contributions from Fannie and Freddie, by pure coincidence, just happened to be their biggest defenders: Chris Dodd (D-$133,900), John Kerry (D-$111,000) and Barack Obama (D-$105,189).

Representative Barney Frank, who has been a fierce defender of Fannie and Freddie, actually said, while arguing against more regulation, "I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing.... " It's nice to know that he doesn't mind gambling with our money. Senator Chris Dodd, in praising Fannie and Freddie said, "I, just briefly will say, Mr. Chairman, obviously, like most of us here, this is one of the great success stories of all time. "While Senator Charles Schumer said, "And my worry is that we're using the recent safety and soundness concerns, particularly with Freddie, and with a poor regulator, as a straw man to curtail Fannie and Freddie's mission."

Barack Obama has received more money from Fannie and Freddie than any other senator, with the exception of Senator Dodd, in the last four years. Before entering the senate, Obama filed a class-action lawsuit against Citibank, alleging that the bank was red-lining, or not doing enough lending in certain areas. That lawsuit was eventually settled. Arguably, Barack Obama helped cause the problem he now wants to fix.

The Federal Reserve Board was doing its part by throwing huge piles of cash at would-be home buyers by keeping interest rates too low. With low interest rates speculators began to look at houses as business opportunities, while others began to look at their homes as a giant piggy bank rather than a place where you actually lived and raised a family. Alan Greenspan encouraged this type of behavior and proudly said, "American consumers might benefit if lenders provided greater mortgage product alternatives to the traditional fixed-rate mortgages..." President Bush, responding to September 11th unwisely encouraged us to "go shopping" rather than hunker down financially and contribute to the War on Terror in other ways (can you say home equity loans?).

The SEC also shares in the blame. It failed to do its job (failed to adequately regulate mortgage brokers, the credit rating companies, and naked short-sellers), acted only after the markets froze-up (finally addressed mark-to-market rules) and refused to examine how the credit-default-swap market could grow from $919 billion in 2001 to over $54 trillion by 2008 (which allowed companies to make wild financial bets with the false confidence that 'insurance' would be there if the deal went south).

So what happened? Home-ownership rates which had been relatively constant for 25 years began a 10 year upward climb beginning in 1995, around the same time that government began its push and pressure for banks to make more subprime loans. The politicians, banks, lenders and Wall Streeters were thrilled because they were all making gobs of money.

Today we are all paying the price for the decisions made long ago. I have spoken to people involved at the highest levels and they now are all saying the same thing, "it is worse than anyone knows" and "worse than I even thought." Political and business leaders who I respect have told me that the economy is on the edge of an abyss.

The bailout is an outrage and is designed only to buy time for the politicians. It will delay the real hard times from hitting until after the November elections. Not one politician has said that this bailout legislation will put us on a better financial footing or that our economic problems will be put behind us. In fact, we'll be worse off because our politicians, even in this crisis, can't stop themselves from spending. This bill includes an extension of the rum tax benefits for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands ($192 million), tax benefits for companies which manufacture wooden arrows for kids ($6 million), car racing tracks ($128 million), a provision which forces insurance companies to treat mental health problems like physical problems ($3.8 billion) and many, many more.

International markets don't offer any better alternative. Germany, England, the Netherlands, and Russia have all come out with their own government backed bailout plans. There are now calls for more international regulation (presumably led by the United Nations) and China has taken this opportunity to call for "a diversified currency and financial system and fair and just financial order that is not dependent on the United States." Meanwhile, there is increasing international indications that the dollar will lose its place as the reserve currency of the world.

The politicians from both political parties continue to lie to us. They promise us better healthcare and more government programs. The only thing either party will be able to deliver is higher, much higher, taxes as the debt swells and government revenues fall. The same politicians remain silent, while capitalism, which brought us the highest standard of living in the world, is increasingly attacked and discredited by its enemies.

But it's not capitalism which has been discredited by our current crisis, it's greed that has been shown to be at the root of our present economic uncertainty, and greed is unfortunately a universal human trait and has demonstrated its reach in socialism, fascism, communism and capitalism. The greed of Wall Street is nothing compared to the greed of our politicians who have continued to expand their power and influence at the expense of their country.

Our children and grandchildren will ultimately pay the price for their failure to act prudently and in the best interest of our country because they will be the ones saddled with mountains of debt and diminished standard of living.

I hope that this summary gives you a better idea of how the people who caused this fire are the same ones who are now telling us that they know best how to put it out and a reason not to believe their current promises.

We have faced tough times before. We fought the Nazis in World War II, defeated communism in the Cold War and Americans fought each other to keep our country together in our own Civil War. These tough times require us to educate ourselves and help others understand what has brought us to this point and the grave consequences of what will happen if we let this continue-that is our fight.

In my next email letter I will answer the other question you asked, "what's coming?"

Sis, I know you will always consider me your crazy brother but please pass this message on to all of your friends.  There are too many rumors circulating and I want to put the facts out there. This isn't about slamming the Democrats or Republicans--this is about getting the truth out to as many people as possible.  The more people we can wake-up the more people we will have restoring the hope, promise and opportunity of our great country.  Please pass this on.  Glenn

| Islam | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

You can also listen to the October 8 show.

U.S. confirms bank buy-ins Chicago Tribune (October 11, 2008) - The government will buy an ownership stake in a broad array of American banks for the first time since the Great Depression, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said late Friday. "This is a period like none of us has ever seen before," Paulson declared. He said the government program to purchase stock in private U.S. financial firms will be open to a broad array of institutions, including banks, in an effort to help them raise desperately needed money.

The administration received the authority to take such direct action in the $700 billion economic rescue bill that Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed last week. Paulson announced the administration's new effort to prop up banks at the conclusion of discussions among finance officials of the Group of Seven major industrialized countries. That group endorsed the outlines of a sweeping program to combat the worst global credit crisis in decades.

Paulson said the U.S. program would be designed to complement banks' own efforts to raise fresh capital from private sources. The government's stock purchases will be of non-voting shares so it will not have power to run the companies. Few details of the plan were available.

The purchase of stakes in companies would be in addition to the main thrust of the $700 billion rescue effort, which is to purchase distressed assets from financial institutions as a way of unthawing frozen credit, getting banks to resume normal lending operations and staving off severe problems for businesses and everyday Americans alike. It would mark the first time the government has taken equity ownership in banks in this manner since a similar program was employed during the Depression.

The Treasury, under the equity purchase program, would not be involved in bank management, Paulson said. "Such a program would be designed to encourage the raising of new private capital to complement public capital," he said.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

China stiffing America for $100 billion in debt WorldNet Daily (October 11, 2008) - While Chinese companies are in line to benefit directly from U.S. taxpayers' $700 billion-plus bailout of Wall Street, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other financial institutions, Beijing is stiffing the U.S. for $100 billion or more in unpaid debt.

The status of the Chinese economy, including its repudiated debt, has prompted one analyst to warn of an "ominous threat" involving China's finances and suggest the possibility of "a dramatic reversal" for the "so-called Chinese Miracle." "One of the greatest problems facing China is the government's failure to acknowledge and effectively address the true extent of state institutions' bad debt," Kevin O'Brien writes in an article titled, "Reassessing China's Sovereign Risk: Emerging Global and Domestic Trends Threaten the 'Chinese Miracle."

O'Brien's report was published at a website for the Global Association of Risk Professionals, a not-for-profit independent trade association of risk management practitioners around the world. It has 77,000 members from fields such as banking, investment management and academics. One problem that should be addressed, he writes, is the $260 billion in sovereign debt owed U.S. and other investors which China has said it simply won't repay. "The repayment obligation was inherited by the People's Republic of China, when the communists took control in 1949. The successor government doctrine of settled international law affirms continuity of obligations among international recognized successive governments," O'Brien said.

"The PRC is the internationally recognized successor government … which contracted the credit sovereign debt … and which had a loan agreement that states that such debt is intended to be 'a binding engagement upon the Republic of China and its successors.'" The bonds, however, were excluded from a 1979 settlement of Chinese debts and in 1987, China even "concluded a discriminatory settlement accord with bondholders in Great Britain – an agreement that excluded from settlement any bonds held by non-UK citizens."

Then in 2006, the Chinese Ministry of Finance issued an official communiqué addressed to "the Embassy of the United States of America in China," in which the Chinese government formally repudiated China's defaulted full faith and credit sovereign debt and announced that it would not repay any debt held by American citizens, O'Brien said. The repudiation still stands, even though the China Economic Review confirmed that major Chinese banks own $8 billion in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities that are the targets of bailout provisions.

"Bank of China said last month it owned $7.5 billion in Fannie and Freddie bonds," the report continued. "The bank also held $5.2 billion in mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the two agencies." Those owners will be among the beneficiaries of the overall bailout plan assembled by the government and funded by taxpayers to "rescue" bad debt created by an agenda of loaning money to "subprime" recipients who may not have had the wherewithal to repay the loans. Recipients of the U.S. taxpayers' generosity also may include various private Chinese interests with investments in American real estate and mortgage. Read full story...

Iceland turns to Russia for bailout RIA Novosti (October 10, 2008) - Russia has agreed to bail out Iceland by granting this small island state a huge stabilization loan at an unbelievably low interest rate. Is it an act of wanton generosity, or a far-sighted geopolitical step? And in general, four billion euros, is it a lot or a little? The fate of Iceland has until recently not concerned Russia one bit. Now only a lazy person is not discussing the incredible sum the "island of stability" is going to inject into the economy of a sinking island of geysers.

Europe has meanwhile been discussing Iceland for a long time. Hedge-fund country, an example of liberal economic regulation and a model of a rapidly developing economy, Iceland was the first in the world to feel the impact of a full-bodied economic crisis. This happened at the end of 2007. Since this year began, Iceland's currency - the krona - has lost one-third of its value against the euro. Iceland's leading banks - Kaupthing, Glitnir and Landsbanki - have been marauded by international financial sharks. At the end of September, the country's authorities bought out (read, nationalized) Glitnir bank, and on October 7 Landsbanki, while on the same day Kaupthing bank received a 500 million euro loan from Iceland's National Bank. By the autumn of 2008 it had become clear Iceland might become the world's first country to suffer a default.

Why is the bubble of Iceland's economy bursting so loudly? It ballooned too rapidly, the IMF believes. In 2003-2007, the country's GDP had risen by 25%, with this robust growth fed mainly by outside borrowing. To attract foreign investments, the authorities strengthened the currency and ratcheted up interest rates (by the beginning of 2008, they were the highest in Europe - 15.5% per annum). The result was a monstrous misbalance: a modest GDP, on the one hand, and immense financial assets and tremendous liabilities, on the other. According to 2007 figures, Iceland's GDP was $16 billion, while its financial assets stood at 1,000% of GDP and an external debt of 550% of GDP.

With Iceland teetering on the brink of default, Russia's stabilization loan of four billion euros is a lifebelt, and a very sizeable one (on the evening of October 7, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin acknowledged Russia's readiness to pay, although previously he had denied such claims by Iceland's National Bank). Judge for yourself: when, in May 2008, Iceland was drowning, the central banks of three Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Denmark and Norway - set up a special $2.3 billion rescue fund for Iceland. Now Russia alone is ready to fork over two and a half times as much for the same purpose. In other words, four billion euros by Iceland's standards is substantial.

In Russian eyes, it is a vast sum, too. And one pledged at a very fair rate. To judge from a release issued by Iceland's National Bank, Russia promised it at LIBOR+(0.3-0.5)%. This compares with LIBOR+1% at which the Russian Central Bank wants to offer loans to Russia's Vnesheconombank. At a time when Russian authorities hold crisis emergency meetings almost daily, this looks strange, to say the least. The man in the street would say this is no time for liberal loans when one's own existence is at stake. This man's response would not be quite right, in my opinion. Read full story...

There are several reasons why Russia should agree to issue the loan to Iceland. The first and overwhelming one is geo-economic.  Leaders in many countries are gradually beginning to understand that a world caught in the maelstrom of a financial crisis could be saved only by cooperative efforts. This was a theme running through a three-day world policy conference in Evian; it will certainly be taken up at an annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

WB chief Robert Zoellick only recently proposed that the G8 also include BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Mexico, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. World leaders more and more often speak of the need to shelve personal ambitions, put away political squabbles and do something.

To come to the aid of Iceland at such a time has been for Russia a decision prompted by stark necessity. Russia has a rich war chest of windfall oil money. By the end of September, its Central Bank had $566 billion in international reserves, and $32-plus billion in the National Welfare Fund and the Reserve Fund. Of course, Russia could sit it out on its "island of stability" and fight the crisis within its four walls. But in this case Russia risks suddenly discovering that the global financial storm whipped up even further by Iceland's hurricane has wiped out all its stockpiled reserves.

Most of Iceland's lenders are European banks. Should Iceland declare a default, the whole of Europe would go into a spin, and would drag Russia after it, which now has a chance to scrape its way out of the crisis the cheap way. It emerges that by saving Iceland, Russia is saving itself first.

Other considerations are less global and more pragmatic. Crises come and go, but allies (sometimes) remain. Iceland, a rapidly developing economy and a happy hunting ground for businessmen from many European countries, is certain to remember this gesture and take more kindly to Russian investments in the future. So far, Russia-Iceland trade has been $100 million per year. And it was only shortly before the crisis that Russian business (represented by Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska) began exploring the country's investment possibilities. Now the price for entering Iceland's economy could prove very low. Besides, it makes a good staging post for flights to Latin America.

| Iran | Gog/Magog | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Proverbs 22:7
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

This principle is how I believe the world will be forced into a global fix for the economic failures by those who are the lenders. Perhaps the servants will be offered a clean slate in exchange for participation in the new system. I wouldn't be surprised because ultimately the spirit behind this is not worried about making money, but pulling souls away from their Creator and according to scripture, those who accept the terms of the new cashless system that relies on a mark make not only an immediate decision, but one that affects their eternity.

Revelation 14:9-11
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

It seems to me the house of cards is falling and everything that they try to do in order to prop it back up fails to do anything to stop it. How close are we to being indentured servants as a nation who will be offered a new financial system as a way out? I don't know for sure, but there are already globalization talks going on for the financial system: Foreign economists urge 'global plan'

Berlusconi says leaders may close world’s markets Bloomberg (October 10, 2008) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world's financial markets while they "rewrite the rules of international finance." "The idea of suspending the markets for the time it takes to rewrite the rules is being discussed," Berlusconi said today after a Cabinet meeting in Naples, Italy. A solution to the financial crisis "can't just be for one country, or even just for Europe, but global." The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much 8.1 percent in early trading and pared most of those losses after Berlusconi's remarks. The Dow was down 0.5 percent to 8540.52 at 10:10 in New York.

Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers are meeting in Washington today, and will stay in town for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this weekend. European Union leaders may gather in Paris on Oct. 12, three days before a scheduled summit in Brussels, Berlusconi said today, while Group of Eight leaders may hold a meeting on the crisis "in coming days," he said.

Berlusconi didn't give any details about what kind of rules leaders were looking to change, except to say that leaders are "talking about a new Bretton Woods." The Bretton Woods Agreements were adopted to rebuild the international economic system after World War II in a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The aim of the agreements was to establish a monetary management system, initially by pegging currencies to gold. The IMF was set up later to help manage the international financial system.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Potential Economic Seizure Dead Ahead The Market Ticker (October 9, 2008) - Ok folks, this is serious stuff.

This is now a national emergency. Seven trillion dollars of wealth has been vaporized in US Stocks in the last seven days alone, with five of it since the passage of that ill-designed and foolhardy "bailout" bill. The selloff this afternoon is the "real deal."  It was not caused by the stock market getting "mad", it was caused by the short-term credit market along with the Treasury market suddenly dislocating at a few minutes before the bond pit closed at 2:00 PM.

Worse is also the fact that institutional lending has essentially disappeared - both between banks and now it is choking off commercial short-term credit across the board. It doesn't get any more serious than this.  To repeat: short-term commercial credit is threatening to completely disappear from the American scene. Every action our government has taken thus far, including repealing mark-to-market requirements have made the situation worse by further destroying confidence.

In the overnight market the futures are imploding once again; the Osaka exchange was closed in Japan after hitting its "lock limit" within minutes prior to the Nikkei opening; the Nikkei is now down ANOTHER 10%, for a total loss of nearly 20% in just two days, with Japanese banks trading "offer only" - that is, NO BID.  There are rumors of government bond market fails in parts of Europe, and Iceland has essentially been cut off from the rest of the world Interbank marketplace. 

Japanese banks are now firewalling themselves from European and US claims; the interbank market is about to explode.  Iceland has effectively defaulted on sovereign debt and today there was a rumor that Hungary had a failed bond auction, effectively defaulting as well. 

Key: Sovereign debt (that is, Treasuries from various nations) has become infected with trash - unfortunately including ours now that Fannie and Freddie were nationalized and TARP has been passed - and may fail in a cascade-style fashion across the world.  If this occurs our ability to fund our government will be cut off as well, leading to a need to reduce government spending by $800 billion a year immediately.  This means huge and immediate cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Military budgets - by as much as half.

Over a year ago I warned in my writings that this could happen if we did not take action.  If we did not force accountability through Congress and onto our financial system.  If we did not force the thieves, liars and thugs on Wall Street to take their medicine. Instead of taking action we have sat on our collective asses and allowed Congress to pass bailout after bailout - now our stock market is down close to 40% from the top with 20% of that loss coming in just over one week! We are facing a global DEPRESSION and the cut-off of essential goods and services in this nation if we do not stop this lunacy immediately.

Please understand - the TRUCKER who has a  full load of food headed for your grocer REQUIRES commercial credit in order to fill his truck with diesel. The local GAS STATION owner REQUIRES commercial credit to fill his underground storage tank. The local CAR DEALER REQUIRES commercial credit to have cars - and parts - in his dealership.  No credit, no car - and no car repairs. The manufacturer over in China REQUIRES commercial credit (letters of credit from the buyer's bank) to be able to ship those goods to America, where you can buy them.  If the bank over there won't take the LOC from the bank over here, suddenly you have no tires, DVDs and other similar products to buy.

IF THESE MARKETS DO NOT IMMEDIATELY UNFREEZE THE CONSEQUENCE WILL BE THAT FOOD AND FUEL, ALONG WITH ALL OTHER MANNER OF CONSUMER PRODUCTS, MAY NOT FLOW TO YOUR GROCERY STORE AND GAS STATION. Read full story...

Think about that very carefully and then consider whether YOU can afford to sit on your ass for one more second, or whether you have an absolute NEED to get on the phone, fax, and whatever else RIGHT NOW to your elected and appointed representatives and, if you do not get in response that they will IMMEDIATELY resolve this matter whether you will vow to band together with every one of your associates and friends, form a group consisting of everyone in your local city or town, and call a GENERAL STRIKE, refusing to both work and permit commerce to be conducted UNTIL THE LIARS ARE FORCED INTO THE OPEN, DEALT WITH, AND THE SYSTEM IS ABLE TO CLEAR.

We are quite literally out of time.  This freeze in the markets WILL continue around the globe unless something is done NOW.  Every "intervention" and "promise" made by our government thus far - all of them - have been LIES.  Our government has done NOTHING to alleviate the problem and in fact every one of their "solutions" have made the situation worse - going back for more than a year. We have "pumped liquidity" and even bailed out firms with taxpayer money, and yet the markets have not unfrozen. 

They remain frozen because the root cause of the problem is that banks and other financial firms have been lying for more than a year, each quarter claiming to have "kitchen sinked" their losses only to report more the next quarter, and in some cases have gone on national TV to proclaim they're "well-capitalized" only days or weeks before they collapse!

The first question anyone asks when someone wishes to borrow money is whether or not they will get paid back.  If the lender does not believe they will be able to be paid back then that loan will not be made, no matter how much money someone has available to them. It really is that simple folks and yet this fundamental principle has been willfully and intentionally ignored for more than a year.

YOU MUST CHOOSE RIGHT NOW, TONIGHT, AS AN AMERICAN WHETHER YOU ARE GOING TO GO TO WORK TOMORROW AND PRETEND THAT NOTHING IS WRONG, OR WHETHER YOU ARE GOING TO ENGAGE IN PEACEFUL BUT FORCEFUL PROTEST IN DEMANDING THAT THIS CRISIS BE ADDRESSED NOT WITH "MORE OF THE SAME" BUT BY ARRESTING EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THE CROOKS, BY FORCING BALANCE SHEET TRANSPARENCY FOR EACH AND EVERY FIRM IN THE UNITED STATES, AND BY THEN FORCIBLY RECAPITALIZING VIA DEBT-TO-EQUITY "CRAMDOWNS" EACH AND EVERY INSOLVENT BANK AND OTHER FINANCIAL INSTITUTION, WITH TREASURY STEPPING IN WITH TAXPAYER MONEY ONLY AFTER THE TRUTH (OR FALSEHOOD) OF SOLVENCY IS ESTABLISHED IN PUBLIC WHERE WE CAN ALL SEE IT.

THIS IS NO LONGER JUST ABOUT YOUR RETIREMENT SAVINGS AND HOUSE (although that's important) IT NOW IS, QUITE LITERALLY, ABOUT THE ABILITY OF ORDINARY COMMERCE TO CONTINUE AND ESSENTIAL GOODS AND SERVICES - FOOD AND FUEL AMONG THEM - TO REACH OUR MARKETS. YOU LITERALLY MUST CHOOSE NOW, AS THE TIME TO DAWDLE AND THINK ABOUT IT HAS EXPIRED.

Update 7:30 AM CT 10/10 - Overnight LIBOR has come in dramatically, but 3 month dollar LIBOR has not - in fact, it went higher.  This tells you that while people do not believe the market is due to implode tomorrow - an improvement over yesterday - they also don't believe that anything will be fixed in the next few months.  Thus, as of this time, the nightmare scenario remains on the table.

8:00 AM - Trading desks (from the forum and a quick check) are reporting agencies being dumped by Chinese holders.  Don't be too quick to call this "screw those evil Americans" - this smells like have to sell as opposed to want to sell.  LOC seizures mean goods aren't moving which means you have to sell what you can, irrespective of price.  Ditto for the price dislocation in the Treasury market.  Say goodnight to what's left of the housing market - as I expected would happen - its done.

9:53 - Again, for the second day, no OMO (Open Market Operations) at The Fed. Read this report carefully.  Note that there are no Agencies and no Treasuries left on The Fed's balance sheet.  All gone.  All that is left is $80 billion of crappy MBS.  Bluntly, without printing raw money, The Fed is out of Treasuries with which to lend into the market, and thus cannot perform OMO any more; they must do "other things" (like print money.)  We are now officially into the twilight zone and Fed Solvency is an issue on the table.  President Bush spoke again but none one word about forcing transparency among financial institutions.  Raise cash now and be prepared for potential essential good and service disruptions as the supply pipelines could begin to go dry on these as soon as early next week.

| America | Economic Crisis |

New World Order: Global co-operation, nationalisation and state intervention - all in one day The Scotsman (October 9, 2008) - IT WAS a day of desperate global action, unprecedented in both scale and cost, intended to stymie the international devastation being wrought by the financial crisis. As the London stock market steeled itself to open again following days of vicious battering, Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, rose to stake the future of the country and the Cabinet on an audacious £500 billion banking bail-out.

And barely had the City begun to digest the hugely complex and unorthodox scheme when it was sent reeling again by an unscheduled interest rate cut – mirrored across the world – by the Monetary Policy Committee. It was the first such co-ordinated approach since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 – yet another indicator, had one been needed, of the gravity of the situation. The half percentage point drop was immediately passed on to millions of borrowers, with leading high-street banks cutting their mortgages.

The government's scheme, a three-part plan which takes in short, medium and long-term measures, was welcomed by business leaders and analysts. David Kern, adviser to the British Chamber of Commerce, said: "The government has taken a radical step, but it is one we welcome."

But there was concern a phenomenal amount of taxpayers' cash was being staked on a last-ditch measure that could fail. The Taxpayers' Alliance accused ministers of failing to address other options first. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a fresh warning that Britain was on the brink of recession. In its latest World Economic Outlook, it predicted the UK economy would contract by 0.1 per cent next year as growth across the developed countries slowed to almost zero.

The downturn will mean lost jobs, with unemployment forecast to rise from 5.4 per cent to 6 per cent, while public finances were said to be "considerably weaker" than in previous slowdowns. However, the IMF said it was expecting Britain to bounce back strongly in 2010.

The £500 billion plan includes the government taking shares of up to £50 billion in leading banks, increasing funds available to banks to £200 billion, and guaranteeing their debts when they lend to one another. The guarantees are likely to cost up to £250 billion. The Prime Minister called the plans "bold and far-reaching", but admitted they would offer no quick fix. Read full story...

Eight UK banks and building societies – including Royal Bank of Scotland, Halifax Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and Nationwide – have pledged to increase their capital by £25 billion but the government will pump in the funds if called upon. The Treasury also stands ready to make at least another £25 billion available, if necessary. The Bank of England – alongside its interest rate cut – is taking emergency action to help ensure banks have enough cash to run their day-to-day activities. It has increased to £200 billion the size of its special liquidity scheme that lets banks swap risky assets for Treasury bonds.

The government is also making the further £250 billion available for banks to guarantee debt, but a fee will be charged. Mr Brown moved to reassure taxpayers they would have the potential to "earn a proper return" from their investment. There would be "strings attached and conditions to be met" to protect taxpayer interests.

One key concern is whether there will be controls over the bonuses of the "fat cat" bank bosses. Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, said such issues would be dealt with case by case. Remuneration should be "based on responsibility, hard work, effort and enterprise", he said. It had been claimed that RBS bosses, chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin and chairman Sir Tom McKillop, had offered to leave under a boardroom clear-out agreed with the government, but this was denied by the bank.

The announcement provided an initial boost to the FTSE 100 index of leading shares, and in particular to banking stocks, but this fell away later in the day. The FTSE closed at a loss of 5 per cent – its lowest close since 2004 – while banks failed to hold on to the huge gains of up to 60 per cent made earlier in the day.

When Mr Brown stood to address the House of Commons on the package, which could well determine how his premiership is judged, he was able to announce the interest rate cut. Central banks across Europe, the US, Canada and China also reduced interest rates in an emergency move. The banks hope to encourage nervous consumers and businesses to spend more freely again after widespread housing, credit and financial problems. The cut – which was immediately passed on to more than five million homeowners – was cautiously welcomed by analysts and business leaders.

Miles Templeman, director-general of the Institute of Directors, said: "Before today's announcement, the financial system was in the deep freeze. After today, it might be in the fridge, but there is no guarantee. Nobody should be under any illusion that the financial system is now fixed. Our concern now is for the real economy and how much it will slow. "There remains a real risk that the economic downturn under way will further undermine bank capital due to rising repossessions and bad debt."

Howard Archer, an economist, of Global Insight, said: "It's not the magic pill. We have a lot of difficult times ahead. But the first stage is stopping things getting worse, and the hope is this will help to stabilise the economy." Martin Weale, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said that, for the UK, it was important that the move came alongside the £500 billion package. He said: "The international banks concluded there is a major international banking crisis. Banks were collapsing in Europe, as well as the United States. I think they rather optimistically concluded a rate cut of this type can restore confidence." Rate cuts were "a valuable piece on the side", but he added: "The key issue is for affected countries to do what Britain has done and show governments are prepared to inject equity capital into banks that look as though they need it. "We will only be confident the worst is over when the US adopts a scheme like Britain."

And Louise Cuming, the head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, warned: "This is not a magic cure-all, and we won't see either the mortgage or the housing market bouncing back to where it was 18 months ago." Following the announcements, Mr Brown spoke by phone to the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, as well as the EC president, José Manuel Barroso. The government is expected to hold up its plan as a potential model for the rest of Europe. The EU – which is concerned about competition implications of a scheme by Ireland to safeguard its deposits – later said it saw no problem with Britain's move.

| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Is the Federal Reserve Engaged in Acts of Economic Warfare Against America? Natural News (October 8, 2008) - In 1942, German intelligence officers rounded up skilled Jewish prisoners and launched Operation Bernhardt, a clever scheme designed to counterfeit hundreds of millions of dollars worth of British Pounds and destroy the British economy by flooding it with counterfeit money. Located in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Operation Bernhardt was, even by modern standards, a runaway success that resulted in the creation of forged bank notes worth 132 million British Pounds. This "economic warfare" operation resulted in a devastating economic effect on the British economy. You can read the true history of this operation here.

It is important to note that Operation Bernhardt was an act of war, specifically pursued for the purpose of destroying Britain's economy by creating so much new money that the value of the money already in circulation would plummet. This was considered a strategic attack, just as effective as carpet-bombing tank factories or mowing down soldiers on the field with German-made MG42 machine guns.

What does all this have to do with the Federal Reserve?

Today, the Federal Reserve is engaged in an eerily similar operation, counterfeiting trillions of dollars in U.S. bank notes and flooding the U.S. money supply with money created from nothing. The result, of course, is the same as was intended by Operation Bernhardt in 1942: The economic destruction of the target nation. Only this time, the target is the United States of America.

Hilariously, the Fed claims it's doing this to save the economy. Yet the laws of economics tell us that flooding the money supply with trillions of dollars in new money actually harms the economy. And the Fed has been hard at work causing this harm: $250+ billion two weeks ago, $600+ billion last week and $900 billion earlier this week! It's beginning to crank up the printing presses to the tune of a trillion dollars a week, and by doing so, it's contributing to the destruction of the U.S. economy at a pace the Third Reich could have barely imagined. Read full story...

Has the Fed declared war on the working class?

If the actions pursued by the Federal Reserve were being masterminded by Al-Qaeda, they would be denounced as acts of war. In World War II, such actions were deliberate acts of war. Targeting the economy for destruction by flooding the money supply with counterfeit currency is, by any measure, a threat to any nation.

So why is the Federal Reserve engaged in actions that, if committed by other nations, would warrant a military response? This is not an idle question. I'm not asking this in a satirical way. I'm quite serious about this: Why is the Fed committing acts of economic warfare against the United States of America? (The Fed, by the way, is a private company. It is not, as you've been led to believe, part of the U.S. government.) [Some videos presenting the facts on that here, here, here and here]

The answer is obvious. You've probably already figured it out: The Federal Reserve is at war with America. It's an economic war, of course, not a bombs-and-bullets war. The casualties, though, are just as real: Savings accounts, retirement funds, bank accounts, jobs, businesses, pensions and much more.

By counterfeiting trillions of dollars like a Sachsenhausen operation on steroids, the Fed is carpet-bombing the U.S. economy with an unprecedented flood of fiat currency, causing the exact same economic destruction intended by the Nazis in World War II (but on a much more devastating scale). And it's doing this as part of a new economic war.

Class warfare has begun

What war? The war between the wealthy elite and the working class. The Fed is working hard, of course, to protect the wealthy elite. Over a trillion dollars of taxpayer money has already been earmarked to bail out the rich, elite bankers who lost other people's money in a series of idiotic bets on fictitious financial instruments.

And what are these bankers doing with this taxpayer money? According to an Associated Press report published yesterday, executives of the failed insurance company AIG were sent on a $440,000 retreat "to a posh California resort" less than one week after the U.S. government bailed them out. At the spa, AIG executives enjoyed spa treatments, massages, organic food buffets and bodywork therapy, all while the American taxpayers footing the bill were slaving away in real jobs, doing real work. Want to see the invoice for yourself? View it here.

That's how this new class warfare is taking shape: YOU (the working class) get all the debt, all the losses, and all the financial burden. THEY (the wealthy elite) get all the profits, all the luxury spa treatments, all the tax breaks and billions of dollars in free money from the Federal Reserve.

In the 1942 Operation Bernhardt, the Germans literally planned to load hundreds of millions of dollars in British Pound bank notes and air-drop them over London. The resulting chaos, it was believed, would shut down the British economy, halting the flow of money needed by Britain to fund its war effort. In the United States today, the Fed is taking a different approach: Air-dropping trillions of dollars into the laps and bank accounts of wealthy bankers and financial institution CEOs, concentrating the massive creation of fiat currency into the hands of less than 1% of the population.

And just to make sure the economic carpet-bombing is a complete success, the Federal Reserve and U.S. government are conspiring to create more than a trillion dollars in new money each week, then flood those funds into banks, businesses and insurance companies. This will, of course, devastate the value of the dollars being saved, held or earned by the wage slaves who labor their lives away under this economic regime. (That would be you and me.)

It's a brilliant plan... if you're interested in destroying a nation. This kind of attack would bring almost any nation to its knees. It's an act of war that requires no violence, no bombs and no destruction of real infrastructure. And yet it achieves what every war in history has ever sought to achieve: The transfer of power from the hands of the many to the hands of the few. The Federal Reserve, in effect, has become a modern-day economic Third Reich, and it has set its sights on the U.S. economy.

Acts of economic terrorism?

The Federal Reserve is now doing to the U.S. what the terrorists could never have accomplished: The destruction of a large portion of its economy, its currency and the savings of its people. The economic losses of 9/11 pale in comparison to the financial destruction that has been unleashed onto America by the Federal Reserve.

Yet, amazingly, it wasn't "terrorists" who put this plan into place. Who was it, exactly? Your Congressional representatives played an important role in allowing this to happen. In a grand, historical betrayal of the American people, members of your own U.S. House of Representatives and Senate voted to initiate a massive economic coup in America, violating the wishes of 99% of the American people (who are aligned against bailing out the rich on the backs of the poor).

Of course, to hear them explain it, their actions are meant to save the taxpayers. Yep, that's their plan: To save YOU, the taxpayer, by confiscating your money and handing it over to the wealthy elite. And whatever money can't be stolen from the taxpayers will be counterfeited by the Fed's money-creation machine.

The Real Agenda: A Massive Transfer of Wealth

We are not watching an economic rescue, friends. We are watching an economic coup. Creating and dumping trillions of dollars into the money supply is an act of war. But it's a war with a specific purpose.

What's happening right now is that the United States is being taken over by King Henry and his accomplices. More than fifty percent of the housing and nearly twenty percent of the entire U.S. economy is now controlled by one person -- Henry Paulson -- and that person answers to no one. He isn't elected, he can't be removed from office, and he's subject to no law.

King Henry controls unlimited funds. He can print any amount of money, or confiscate any amount from the taxpayers (by spending taxpayer dollars to bail out his rich friends). If the Federal Reserve is the new Third Reich, King Henry is its Hitler.

The economic war has already been lost by the People. It was lost on September 30, 2008, when Congress surrendered the U.S. economy to King Henry. The People now own nothing but paper money and ephemeral digital account numbers, all of which could be turned into worthless digits overnight by a single decision from King Henry.

In this economic bailout and the Fed's unlimited creation of new money, America has suffered the greatest act of economic warfare in our nation's history. Note carefully that it wasn't conducted by the Nazis, Saddam Hussein or Al Qaeda. It was, in fact, put into place by 172 Democrats and 91 Republicans in the House, and a similar majority in the U.S. Senate. (See the complete list at the original article source linked above.) more...

| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

AIG Hits Up Fed for More Money CNN Money (October 8, 2008) - The New York Federal Reserve is lending up to $37.8 billion to American International Group to give the troubled insurer access to much-needed cash. In exchange, AIG is giving the New York Fed investment-grade, fixed-income securities that it had previously lent out to other institutions for a fee. Those institutions are now returning these securities and want their money back.

The new program, announced Wednesday, is on top of the $85 billion the federal government agreed to lend to AIG last month to prevent the global company from collapsing. AIG said last Friday it had drawn down $61 billion. The lending program is a way for AIG to get funding for its businesses, said a New York Fed spokesman. The system is similar to lending facilities the Fed provides to banks, which can also exchange collateral for cash.

The latest announcement does not jeopardize the government's ability to recoup its loan to AIG, experts said. "AIG will repay the loan," said Stewart Johnson, portfolio manager at Philo Smith, an investment bank specializing in insurance. "It's just a matter of how much of themselves they will have to sell."

Paying back a big debt

On Sept. 16, the Federal Reserve Board agreed to lend AIG $85 billion, using the company's assets as collateral. The loan is expected to be repaid from the proceeds of the asset sales. Interest on the line of credit is steep, and the government took a 79.9% stake in the company. Last week, AIG said it planned to hold onto its property-and-casualty insurance businesses, while selling off the rest of the company to pay the massive debt. Those other business lines include its aircraft leasing unit; asset-management division; retirement services; and U.S. life insurance operations.

AIG chief executive Edward Liddy, who was installed by the Federal Reserve last month after the bailout, on a conference call last Friday was optimistic about the potential for the asset sales. "We fully expect to emerge from this with a capital structure that's fit to fight," he said. "Our insurance businesses...are strong and well-capitalized." But some analysts are more skeptical. "The current disruption in the credit markets could make it difficult to sell businesses at attractive valuations," ratings agency Standard and Poor's said.

CreditSights valued the units AIG planned to sell at $32.9 billion and the divisions it will keep at $86 billion. These figures do not include the sale of a minority stake in its foreign life insurance operations, valued at $133.1 billion. First to hit the market will likely be units tied to airline leasing and consumer lending, both of which require funding from the debt markets, which is hard to come by these days. International Lease Finance Corp. could command more than $7 billion and American General Finance Corp. will likely bring in about $2 billion, according to CreditSights. Once AIG sells its assets, it faces many hurdles in stabilizing its property and casualty insurance divisions, experts said.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Federal Reserve, ECB and Bank of England make emergency interest rate cuts Telegraph UK (October 8, 2008) - The Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England have all cut interest rates in an emergency move to restore confidence in the global financial system. The Fed cut its benchmark rate by a half point to 1.5 pc, the central bank said in a statement. The ECB and central banks of the U.K., Canada, Sweden and Switzerland are also reducing rates, the Fed added. "The recent intensification of the financial crisis has augmented the downside risks to growth and thus has diminished further the upside risks to price stability," according to a joint statement by the central banks. "Some easing of global monetary conditions is therefore warranted." The move comes as the turmoil in financial markets deepens and the UK today unveiled a £500bn rescue package for the country's banking sector.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

George Bush to summon leaders to emergency finance summit Telegraph UK (October 7, 2008) - The prospect of a high-level global meeting came as the US central bank launched a new bid to unfreeze credit markets by effectively lending billions of dollars to US companies. The Federal Reserve moved after lending in the commercial paper market - where companies raise money from the open money markets - all but ceased, raising a serious threat to many American businesses' operations. "This facility should encourage investors to once again engage in term lending in the commercial paper market," the Fed said.

The Fed's move -- which puts billions of dollars of US taxpayers' money at risk -- was the latest sign of how desperate American leaders are to unblock the global financial system and avert a severe recession. Mr Bush underlined that message personally on Tuesday in conversations with other world leaders. The Prime Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, spoke with the United States President by telephone. Mr Bush urged his European counterparts to coordinate efforts to solve financial crisis spreading around the globe. All are expected to agree to attend a meeting if the details can be thrashed out.

Downing Street said it was "a good idea" and welcomed the President's close attention to events in Europe. The idea was floated by Mr Sarkozy, who holds the presidency of the European Union. Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said: "The president obviously talked to President Sarkozy about his idea to have a meeting. The president's open to that." The venue for the meeting would still have to be decided, although Washington is the likely destination.

Mr Brown squeezed in a last-minute meeting with Mr Bush when he was in America two weeks ago, prior to Congress agreeing the £700 billion rescue plan that had been proposed by Hank Paulsen, the United States Treasury Secretary. At that stage the problems of Europe seemed to relatively minor compared to the crisis unfolding on Wall Street, but events in Europe and elsewhere in the last week have highlighted the need for concerted and co-ordinated action.

In Luxembourg EU finance ministers on Tuesday said that they will talk daily in future and "ensure a comprehensive and coordinated response to the current situation." They agreed to guarantee private savings of up to Euro 50,000 (£38,900) for one year after failing to agree on a higher limit of Euro 100,000 (£77,800). The new limit is below the protection already offered by many EU countries, including the UK.

EU governments have been trying to restore confidence after a series of bank bailouts last week and a "beggar-my-neighbour" scramble by individual countries to increase deposit guarantees, started by Ireland's promise to underwrite 100 percent of deposits. Disparities in EU states' treatment of banks is unnerving investors and prompting savers to shift billions across borders.

In another unilateral European move, Spain on Tuesday announced it was setting up a £30 billion fund to help the financial sector. Taro Aso, the Japanese Prime Minister, said he was concerned that the EU leaders' failure to agree a seamless response to the banking crisis will cause continued turmoil in world markets. Mr Aso said: "European leaders have met, but it didn't go well, and European financial markets have fluctuated rapidly and substantially, so I'm worried about the impact on Japan."
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

European Crisis Deepens; Officials Vow to Save Banks Bloomberg (October 6, 2008) - The credit crunch deepened in Europe as government leaders pledged to bail out troubled banks and protect depositors. BNP Paribas SA will take control of Fortis's units in Belgium and Luxembourg after government efforts to ensure the company's stability failed, while Germany's government and financial institutions agreed on a 50 billion euro ($68 billion) rescue package for Hypo Real Estate Holding AG. U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said Britain is "ready to do whatever it takes" to help its banks.

The developments yesterday came a day after a summit in Paris where leaders of Europe's four biggest economies stopped short of a plan mirroring the $700 billion rescue in the U.S. to counter the worst financial crisis since World War II. Instead, they agreed to work together to limit the economic fallout, ease accounting rules, and seek tougher financial regulations. "Until now the solutions have appeared to be uncoordinated, so perhaps it's time for a more coordinated approach globally," said Torsten Slok, an economist at Deutsche Bank AG in New York. "It's not just the U.S. and Europe, it's banks in every part of the world."

The euro slid to a 13-month low against the dollar and Treasuries rose as the credit crisis spread outside the U.S., prompting investors to opt for less risky investments. Asian stocks fell for a third day, led by financial companies.

`New World'

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who convened the Oct. 4 meeting, called for a global summit "as soon as possible" to implement "a real and complete reform of the international financial system." He said "all actors" must be supervised, including credit-rating firms and hedge funds. Executive-pay systems must also be reviewed, he said. "We want a new world to come out of this," Sarkozy said. "We want to set up the basis for a capitalism of entrepreneurs, not speculators." Finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations meet in Washington later this week.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's opposition to collective action underscored the hurdles to a European front. "Each country must take its responsibilities at a national level," she told a joint press conference after the summit. Germany will guarantee the savings of private account holders, Merkel said, in a bid by Europe's biggest economy to prevent a rush of withdrawals. Denmark said today commercial lenders will provide as much as 35 billion kroner ($6.4 billion) over the next two years to a fund to insure depositors against losses. Read full story...

Deposit Guarantees

Until now, German savings accounts, including those of small, privately held companies, have been guaranteed by 180 banks in Germany, the BDB private banks group said on Oct. 2. The guarantees of the banks covered 90 percent of an account's balance to a maximum of 20,000 euros, the group said. The German and Danish governments' commitments follow similar verbal pledges by Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, both of whom have promised to prevent losses for depositors in their countries. Ireland is guaranteeing banks' deposits and debts for two years, to restore confidence in the country's financial industry. Amid the race to shore up Europe's faltering financial institutions, BNP Paribas, France's biggest lender, agreed to pay 14.5 billion euros for control of Fortis's units in Belgium and Luxembourg.

BNP Paribas

The sale comes after a Sept. 28 bailout failed to stabilize what was Belgium's biggest financial-services provider, as clients withdrew money and the company had trouble obtaining loans. Fortis received an 11.2 billion euro capital injection from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The Belgian government will have an 11.6 percent stake in BNP Paribas, and Luxembourg a 1.1 percent holding, after the purchases are completed, BNP Paribas said in a statement today.

On Oct. 3, the Dutch government took control of Fortis's units in the Netherlands for 16.8 billion euros after deciding the initial rescue didn't go far enough. Meanwhile, Hypo Real Estate won a reprieve after Germany's finance ministry said the country's banks and insurers agreed to double a credit line for the company to 30 billion euros. The federal government's guarantee for the credit line remains unchanged, Torsten Albig, a spokesman for Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, said late yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

Too Big to Fail

Munich-based Hypo Real Estate had earlier announced that a government-backed 35 billion-euro bailout plan collapsed after commercial banks withdrew their support. The government and the Bundesbank have said that the nation's second-biggest property lender is too big to fail. The Hypo reprieve comes after Dexia SA, the world's biggest lender to local governments, got a 6.4 billion euro state-backed rescue on Sept. 30. Belgium's federal and regional governments, France and the company's largest shareholders will supply the funds for Brussels- and Paris-based Dexia.

Meanwhile, UniCredit SpA, Italy's biggest bank by assets, said it planned to boost capital by as much as 6.6 billion euros in an effort to calm investors' concerns about the strength of the lender's finances. The capital-raising project approved late yesterday by the bank's directors includes replacing the lender's cash dividend for 2008 earnings with 3.6 billion euros of new shares, and selling 3 billion euros of convertible securities.

Helping Banks

In the U.K., Darling said the government, which took over Bradford & Bingley Plc last week, is ready to offer further support to banks that may get into financial difficulty. He did not rule out a further injection of capital for failing institutions. "We are ready to do whatever it takes, and that is, we've put money in to help banks generally," Darling told the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Sunday AM program. "There are other measures we will be taking too, and I will announce them when we are ready to do that."

Darling's boss, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, was among the leaders gathered in Paris, along with Berlusconi, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet.

Severe Crisis

"The good news out of the Paris meeting is that the European heads of state now recognize the severity of this crisis," Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists Natacha Valla and Erik Nielsen said in a note to investors. "A pan-European approach would be much preferred, but given the urgency and complexities of organizing such measures between different fiscal regimes, national measures -- coordinated to the extent possible -- might still be good enough."

The leaders agreed on policy recommendations touching on regulation and accounting and said they'd press for looser enforcement of budget and competition rules at the EU level. They said they would seek to harmonize guarantees of deposit levels. The U.K. bank regulator increased its insurance ceiling to 50,000 pounds ($88,300) per account from 35,000 pounds to stem a flow of funds to Ireland after officials in Dublin guaranteed all debts and deposits of its banks.

Policy Recommendations

Anticipating increased spending, declining tax revenue, and government bank takeovers, European leaders called for "greater flexibility" in the application of the EU budget ceiling. European finance ministers last month pledged to keep their budget deficits below 3 percent of gross domestic product even as the economic slowdown dents tax receipts and boosts welfare payments. The leaders said they want to allow banks to keep some assets valued as if they'd be held until maturity, instead of having to review their value each quarter.

They also said they want to change accounting rules that require banks to review their holdings each quarter and report losses when the values decline, the so-called mark-to-market standard. Banks worldwide have written down more than $580 billion since last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Panic engulfs global stock markets AFP (October 6, 2008) - World markets suffered massive losses Monday, striking four-year lows, as panic-stricken investors doubted whether a Wall Street bailout package would stem the global financial crisis. London, Frankfurt and Paris all tumbled more than six percent approaching the half-way mark while a 15-percent dive in Moscow forced a halt to Russian trading. "We have a seriously weak and fear driven market at our hands," said Tom Hougaard, chief market strategist at City Index. "It is anyone's guess where we will end the day."

Investors dumped shares after US stock markets had fallen sharply on Friday, despite US congressional approval of a 700-billion-dollar bank bailout. On Monday, Tokyo ended down 4.25 percent as Hong Kong's stock market shed 5.0 percent, Seoul tumbled 4.3 percent and Sydney lost 3.3 percent. Shanghai dived 5.23 percent and Mumbai was down 5.58 percent in late afternoon trade. European stocks plummeted after Germany's fourth biggest bank had to be rescued over the weekend -- news that pushed the euro to a 13-month low against the dollar on Monday.

Crude oil futures tumbled to eight-month lows below 90 dollars a barrel in London and New York as worsening financial turmoil triggered fears about slowing demand for energy. "The market is not convinced that the US bailout package can protect the economy from the financial crisis," said Toyo Securities strategist Ryuta Otsuka. The Saudi stock market, the largest in the Arab world, shed 9.6 percent at the opening on Monday after a week-long holiday, and shares in other energy-rich Gulf states also slumped. "The Fed's bailout plan may have been passed on Friday but so far there's been no real reaction in credit markets and because of this the natural assumption is going to be that the measures won't work, even if such a call is rather premature," CMC Markets dealer Matt Buckland added.

Underscoring the worsening conditions in the United States, the world's largest economy, 159,000 US jobs were lost in September, according to government figures published Friday. "The approval of the financial rescue plan failed to bolster market confidence. Pessimism towards the global economy is running deeper," said Young Wang, an analyst at Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting in Taipei, where stocks ended down 4.1 percent, also at a four-year low.

As the US-born financial crisis takes a stronger grip in Europe, the German government agreed an emergency rescue package of 50 billion euros, or 68 billion dollars, for Hypo Real Estate, late Sunday before markets opened in Asia. It also announced an unlimited guarantee for personal savings deposits. France's BNP Paribas meanwhile announced Sunday that it was taking control of the operations of ailing financial group Fortis in Belgium and Luxembourg. The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Britain vowed over the weekend to protect fragile banks but did not discuss a European financial rescue package. "Financial stocks are certainly going to be under pressure again with German mortgage lender Hypo Real Estate being the latest to receive state aid but the overall impact is going to cross all sectors with the prospect of slowing demand weighing on all the (company) heavyweights," added Buckland.

In an effort to keep credit flowing, global central banks pumped billions of extra dollars into short-term lending markets in what has become a daily effort to keep cash moving in a critical network. Markets were looking ahead to a meeting Friday of finance chiefs from the Group of Seven rich nations, waiting for any announcements on coordinated action such as liquidity injections or interest rate cuts, dealers said. A speech Tuesday by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would also be closely watched for any clues on the possibility of a US interest rate cut. The Bank of England was expected to cut British borrowing costs by at least a quarter of a percentage point when it meets on Thursday.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Four European nations call for new EU body to supervise banks Breitbart.com (October 4, 2008) - Four major European nations agreed Saturday to set up within the European Union a body to supervise banks as part of their efforts to stem the spread of the financial turmoil, triggered by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, in Europe. In a statement released after an emergency summit in Paris to deal with the financial crisis, leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy said mechanisms should be established within the European Union to oversee cross-border European financial institutions and enhance international cooperation.

The four nations also agreed that should public support be necessary for ailing financial institutions, it should take place in "a framework which recognizes adequate protection of taxpayers' money, the responsibility of managers, and shareholders to bear their share of the burden." They welcome the decision of the European Investment Bank to mobilize 30 billion euros of support for small and medium size European enterprises and urge the bank to frontload this effort, the statement said.

The four European Group of Eight member nations also agreed that the application of the Stability and Growth Pact, which governs fiscal policies of EU member states, should "reflect the current exceptional circumstances." The pact requires EU member states to limit the size of their budget deficit to less than 3 percent of gross domestic product. But the agreement by Britain, France, Germany and Italy suggests they will tolerate the deficit of an EU member state breaching the 3 percent of GDP threshold if it occurs as a result of the nationalization of failed financial institutions.

The four nations also expressed strong support for the recent actions taken by the European Central Bank and other European central banks to respond to the financial crisis and pledged to "take all the necessary measures" to ensure the soundness and stability of the European banking and financial system. French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a press conference after the summit that an emergency G-8 summit should be convened to discuss and come up with global countermeasures for the crisis. In addition to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, other European leaders, including ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet attended the summit.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Evangelicals see moral decline in Wall St. woes Reuters (October 1, 2008) - Conservative U.S. Christians say the culture has gone to hell and it has taken the economy and Wall Street down with it. It is a view which outsiders may find puzzling but has wide resonance in the U.S. heartland: the notion that moral decay and a lost sense of responsibility has brought on the worst banking and credit crisis since the Great Depression. Such a view helps explain the unpopularity in conservative Christian circles -- which have a big influence on the Republican Party -- of a $700 billion bailout plan which the U.S. House of Representatives rejected on Monday, rocking financial markets. Mounting consumer and household debt as housing prices fall is one of the main reasons behind the current crisis -- a crisis that religious conservatives say has moral roots.

The narrative goes roughly like this: the "collapse" of the traditional family, widespread divorce and a "permissive" culture have led to a disregard for personal responsibility. A culture focused on instant gratification -- through the overuse of credit cards to buy consumer goods, for example -- has also lost other "traditional values" such as thrift and hard work. "You can't have a strong, vibrant society when you don't have strong, vibrant families. It's a crisis of commitment, it's a crisis of responsibility," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative lobby group with strong evangelical ties. "If you don't live up to your responsibility you are going to see that in the broader culture. You see this on Wall Street," he told Reuters.

It is a view that has been echoed by other conservative commentators, on Christian radio stations and on popular "Talk Radio" programs. "To spend more than you've got is not the way we brought up our kids ... You have a whole credit industry that grew up around people wanting what their parents had without working 20 years to get it," said Gary Ledbetter, spokesman for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

Conservative Christians and evangelical Protestants in particular are a key base of support for the Republican Party which has rallied to John McCain's White House bid since he picked Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. Tying "values" to economic problems is one way that religious conservatives can keep some focus on the "culture" issues they have long fought over as public attention is riveted on Wall Street, job security and house prices. Upholding "traditional" values which they say have been under assault since the 1960s informs much of their outlook, ranging from their opposition to abortion and gay rights to a professed aversion to heavy debt loads.

"Although debt is not a sin, it also is not a normal way of life, according to Scripture ... debt is a dangerous tool that must be used, if at all, with extreme caution and much prayer," says the conservative evangelical advocacy group "Focus on the Family" on its web site. But some commentators have noted that the "Religious Right" has long been among the staunchest supporters of the free-market ideology and the deregulation of financial markets preached by the Republican Party. "Essentially the Christian Right did not do serious biblical reflection on economics, it just borrowed its model from the Republicans," said David Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University in Atlanta. "Conservative Christians who accepted the unregulated free market ethos must bear some of the responsibility for its consequences," said Gushee.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Foreign economists urge 'global plan' The Washington Times (October 1, 2008) - Leaders and economists from Western Europe to East Asia Tuesday urged the United States to go beyond reviving a failed domestic bailout and start working on a new global financial system.  Associated Press Traders at MICEX, the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, watch and wait during a tense session in Moscow on Tuesday when stock indexes sank despite a two-hour trading halt. "The Americans don't have a choice — they must absolutely have a global plan," Christian Noyer, head of the French central bank, said in Paris.

David Smick, a global strategist and author of "The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers of the Global Economy," said the next U.S. president should immediately call for a second "Bretton Woods" conference to devise a new doctrine of international finance. The tiny New Hampshire town hosted a conference shortly after World War II that established rules for economic interchange among the world's industrial powers and created the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. "I am convinced that the sickness runs deep and that we need to rethink the entire financial and monetary system, as we did in Bretton Woods ... to create the tools for worldwide regulation made necessary by the globalization of trade," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in the French city of Toulon on Monday.

He said that officials from France, Britain, Germany and Italy will meet next week in Paris with the Continent's top financial officials to prepare for a proposed global summit on the economic crisis. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet will participate. The 27-nation European Union said Tuesday that the crisis "has become a global problem" and Washington has a "special responsibility" to resolve it. German Chancellor Angela Merkel took aim at the House failure to pass the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout proposal, which sparked a global stock market plunge. She called the package a "precondition for creating new confidence in the markets." Kaoru Yosano, the Japanese minister of economic and fiscal policy, agreed. "The outcome has caused a major impact on not only the U.S. economy but also the world economy," he said.

Until a few weeks ago, foreign governments were blase and even gloated about U.S. financial woes, Mr. Smick said. "The decoupled theory has taken a crash landing," demand is plummeting worldwide and foreign financial institutions have been forced to come to terms with their own "toxic waste," he said.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

France's Sarkozy battles fallout from financial crisis AFP (September 29, 2008) - President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday battled to contain fallout from the global financial crisis, moving ahead with plans for a world summit and calling a meeting of French banking and insurance chiefs. France will host a meeting of European officials to prepare a summit "in the coming weeks to establish the basis of a new international financial system," said Sarkozy, whose country holds the presidency of the European Union. Officials from Britain, France, Germany and Italy -- the EU members of the G8 -- will meet in Paris in the coming days to lay the groundwork, he said on the sidelines of an EU-India summit in the southern city of Marseille.

On Tuesday, the president is to meet at the Elysee presidential palace with banking and insurance company chiefs to take a close look at the health of French banks and review the credit level of French households and businesses. The announcements came as the Franco-Belgian bank Dexia announced an emergency board meeting after liquidity concerns sent its shares into freefall. Dexia's shares closed Monday down 30 percent on the Paris exchange, at seven euros worth less than a third of their value this time last year.

Belgium's federal government announced late Monday that it had tentatively agreed, along with its three main regions and shareholders, to help prop up the embattled bank -- less than 24 hours after stepping in to rescue Belgian-Netherlands banking and insurance giant Fortis. "During consultations between the federal government and the three regional governments (Wallonia, Flanders and Brussels) this afternoon, they confirmed their in-principle agreement to take part in a joint effort to boost Dexia group's funds," a statement said. The statement, distributed by the office of Prime Minister Yves Leterme, made no mention of financial details but Belgian media said the support could amount to seven billion euros (10 billion dollars). Read full story...

On Sunday, the Benelux countries stepped in to partially nationalise Fortis, increasing fears the crisis that has wiped out several US and British banks was spreading across Europe. Sarkozy warned in a major address last week that France would not be spared from the turmoil unleashed by the US banking crisis. In Paris, the CAC 40 index plunged 5.04 percent to 3,953.48 points Monday in line with other European stock markets.

A further sign of economic trouble came with the release Monday of jobless figures showing that 41,300 people joined the ranks of France's unemployed in August, the biggest monthly spike since 1993, bringing the figure to 1,949,600. The government convened a crisis meeting of job sector officials late Monday to discuss the figures, which have compounded worries about the financial storm. Critics accused the government of deceit, saying that for months it had touted progress in economic reforms when the jobless situation was less than rosy even before the financial storm struck.

Last week Sarkozy insisted the government would "guarantee the security" of the French banking system and warned he would "not accept that a single customer loses a single euro" to collapsing banks. The right-wing president won election in May 2007 on a promise to rev up the economy and bring unemployment -- long the nation's number one concern -- down to five percent. The government unveiled a draft budget on Friday that scrapped a pledge to stamp out the deficit by 2012 and as Paris struggled to rein in public spending amid sluggish growth. "We are in a quasi-recession," said presidential adviser Henri Guaino.

France is headed into a "difficult period" and the government will "do everything that is necessary" to prevent the economy from taking a nosedive, Guaino said. Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said she nevertheless expected 2009 to end with a jobless rate of 7.1 percent, down from 7.2 percent in the second quarter of 2008. That figure was the lowest rate in 25 years, capping a steady decline in the unemployment rate that had even allowed the problem to slide off the national radar over the past year. Opinion polls show purchasing power has replaced unemployment as the number one concern of the average French voter.

Lagarde also Monday unveiled a plan to help French households from falling into a credit trap after the Bank of France said 88,000 people had filed for personal bankruptcy over the past four years, an increase of 70 percent.

| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

They're working to "establish the basis of a new international financial system" huh? Where is this leading do you think? What is the cheapest way to implement a new international financial system in a short period of time? Technology... and the technology is here now.

Dow drops 777 after house rejects bailout bill East Bay Business Times (September 29, 2008) - The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped a record 777 points Monday after the House of Representatives rejected a proposed $700 billion rescue plan for the nation’s struggling financial firms. The Dow closed the day at 10,365.45 as the S& P 500 plunged 106.85 to 106.42 and the Nasdaq dropped 199.61 to 1,983.73.

The House vote, 205 in favor and 228 against, came as a surprise, despite being an unpopular proposal among many American voters. The loss is seen as a blow to leaders of both parties who couldn't keep enough of their members in line to pass the measure. Two-thirds of Republicans voted against it, as well as 95 Democrats. The bill had been modified to satisfy its Congressional opponents, and included language that curbed executive pay and would have created an oversight committee to review the Treasury Department’s actions. With no other alternative plan immediately in the works, the rejection triggered a slide in financial stocks.

The House rejection comes on a day full of signs the financial crisis is accelerating. European regulators moved to bail out four major banks. Citigroup agreed to acquire Wachovia’s banking operations in a stock deal valuing Wachovia at about $1 per share, 90 percent less than its market capitalization Friday. Mitsubishi UFJ said it would take a 21 percent stake in Morgan Stanley for $9 billion. Lehman Brothers agreed to sell its Neuberger Berman mutual fund operations to Bain Capital LLC and Hellman & Friedman LLC for $2.15 billion, part of Lehman’s bankruptcy liquidation. Citigroup (NYSE:C) closed the day at $17.75, down 12 percent. Wachovia (NYSE:WB) closed the day at $1.84, down 82 percent. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) closed the day at $30.25, down 18 percent. Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) closed the day at $33.25, down 11 percent.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Geno, one of the readers, shared this and some other stories with me referencing a passage in scripture I think is appropriate considering where this could very well be headed and where our hearts should be in the midst of it all.

Proverbs 22:1-7
A GOOD name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Senate Sends $634 Billion Spending Bill to Bush Fox News (September 27, 2008) - Automakers gained $25 billion in taxpayer-subsidized loans and oil companies won elimination of a long-standing ban on drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as the Senate passed a sprawling spending bill Saturday. The 78-12 vote sent the $634 billion measure to President Bush, who was expected to sign it even though it spends more money and contains more pet projects than he would have liked.

The measure is needed to keep the government operating beyond the current budget year, which ends Tuesday. As a result, the legislation is one of the few bills this election year that simply must pass. Bush's signature would mean Congress could avoid a lame-duck session after the Nov. 4 election.

The Pentagon is in line for a record budget. In addition to $70 billion approved this summer for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Defense Department would receive $488 billion, a 6 percent increase. The spending bill also offers aid to victims of flooding in the Midwest and recent hurricanes across the Gulf Coast. Such a huge bill usually would dominate the end-of-session agenda on Capitol Hill. But it went below the radar screen because attention focused on the congressional bailout of Wall Street.

The measure settles dozens of battles that have brewed for months between the Democrats who run Congress and the White House and its GOP allies. The administration won approval of the defense budget. Democrats wrested concessions from the White House on $23 billion for disaster-ravaged states, a doubling of low-income heating subsidies, and smaller spending items such as $24 million more for food shipments to the elderly.

The loan package for automakers would reward them with $25 billion in below-market loans, costing taxpayers $7.5 billion to subsidize the retooling of plants and development of technologies to help U.S. carmakers to build cleaner, more fuel efficient cars. Companies would not have to begin repaying the loans for five years, drawing objections from Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who predicted they would return for more help when the money is due.

Republicans made ending the coastal drilling ban a central campaign issue this summer as $4-plus per gallon gasoline stoked voter anger and turned public opinion in favor of more exploration. The action does not mean drilling is imminent and still leaves the oil-rich eastern Gulf of Mexico off limits. But it could set the stage for the government to offer leases in some Atlantic federal waters as early as 2011.

Also in the bill is money to avert a shortfall in Pell college aid grants and solve problems in the Women, Infants and Children program delivering healthy foods to the poor. In addition to the Pentagon's budget, there is $40 billion for the Homeland Security Department and $73 billion for veterans' programs and military base construction projects. Combined with the Defense Department's spending, that amounts to about 60 percent of the budget work Congress must pass each year.

Democrats came under criticism from the GOP for short-circuiting the normal process for a spending bill after it became clear that Republicans would force difficult votes on the drilling ban. Democrats also wanted to avoid an election-year clash with Bush that would have played in his favor. They are willing to take their chances that Democrat Barack Obama will be elected president in November and permit increases for scores of programs squeezed by Bush each year. Bush had threatened to veto bills that did not cut the number and cost of pet projects in half or cause agency operating budgets to exceed his request. Democrats ignored the edict as they drafted the plan and the White House has apparently backed down.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, discovered 2,322 pet projects totaling $6.6 billion. That included 2,025 in the defense portion alone that cost a total of $4.9 billion. Critics of such "earmarks" promise to scrutinize them in coming weeks and months for links to lobbyists and campaign contributions.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Isn't it great to have such money to throw around at a time like this?!

U.S. losing financial superpower status: Steinbrueck Market Watch (September 25, 2008) - Germany's finance minister on Thursday laid the blame for the global banking crisis on the Anglo-American free-market model's quest for ever-higher near-term profits, predicting the United States would soon lose its role as the world's dominant financial power.

"The U.S. will lose its status as the superpower of the global financial system, not abruptly but it will erode," Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told the lower house of Germany's parliament in Berlin, according to published reports. "The global financial system will become more multi-polar."

Steinbrueck criticized the United States for failing to adequately regulate investment banks and said free-market policies embraced by the United States and Great Britain that emphasized a short-term "insane drive for higher and higher profits" were partly to blame for the crisis. "Wall Street will never be what it was," he said.
 
The finance minister said he would push for a global ban on speculative short selling and would use next month's meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers in Washington to press for new rules that would prevent banks from fully securitizing loans and selling them to third parties.

Steinbrueck said U.S. authorities were late in undertaking rescue efforts, but said he welcomed the decision to attempt to bail out only organizations whose collapse would threaten the world financial system.

He repeated that he felt there was no need for Germany or Europe to echo the U.S. Treasury's proposal to spend around $700 billion to buy up toxic assets from distressed banks' balance sheets, saying the financial crisis is largely an "American problem." The minister warned, however, that the fallout from the crisis would make for lower growth in the near future and eventually impact the labor market.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Something to consider regarding the "multi-polar" global financial system, it is still all run by central banks with the power to create currency, or perhaps do away with currency as we know it all-together in favor of a replacement system with global control. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is a conspiracy in the works by the mystery of iniquity, 2 Thessalonians 2, to bring about consolidation of power to hand to the man of sin.

Wall Street rescue deal blocked BBC (September 26, 2008) - Talks to agree a huge $700bn (£380bn) bail-out of the US financial industry have ended in a "shouting match". After several hours of discussions with President George W Bush, a group of Republican members of Congress blocked the government plan. The proposal would have seen the government buy bad debts from US banks to prevent more of them collapsing. President Bush is due to make a statement about the negotiations at 0935 in Washington (1435 BST).

Both sides have agreed to resume talks later on Friday. The leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, told ABC News that she "hoped" a bailout plan could be agreed within 24 hours, because "it has to happen". Financial markets are gummed up because banks do not know exactly how much bad debt they hold and are therefore reluctant to lend to businesses, consumers and each other. The fall-out of this credit crunch continues to make a huge impact: The United States suffered its largest bank failure yet, when regulators moved in to close down Washington Mutual and then sold it to US rival JP Morgan Chase for $1.9bn

In a co-ordinated move the European Central Bank, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank announced new short-term loans to the banking sector worth tens of billions of dollars. Banks continued to cut costs, with UK banking giant HSBC saying it would axe 1,100 jobs Shares in UK bank Bradford & Bingley fell another 20% to 17 pence before recovering slightly. Read full story...

'Full throated discussion'

On Thursday, Democratic and Republican legislators appeared to have struck a deal. A group of Democrats and Republicans even made a public statement, with Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, announcing that they had reached "fundamental agreement" on the principles of a bail-out plan.

But after the White House meeting, the top Republican on the committee, Richard Shelby, told reporters: "I don't believe we have an agreement." The intense discussions reportedly saw US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson literally down on one knee, begging Ms Pelosi to help push through the bail-out package. However, the agreement unravelled when a group of Republican legislators objected to the principle of the plan. The talks at the White House, led by Mr Paulson and US President George W Bush, then descended into what one participant described as "a full-throated discussion". Officials with the campaign team of Republican presidential candidate John McCain spoke of "a contentious shouting match".

The Republican critics of the bail-out plan worry about both its cost and how it would involve the government in the financial sector. Instead, they want a government-backed insurance policy for the huge amounts of bad debt built up by US banks. This proposal, however, was described as "unworkable" both by Democratic politicians and some US government officials.

Doubts over presidential debate

Some Democrats were scathing about the lack of support for the Paulson plan. "For House Republicans to take a walk is just appalling," said Democrat Barney Frank. He later added that the passage of the bill depended on the Republicans. "It depends on the House Republicans dropping this revolt against the president and cooperating in trying to amend the plan," he said.

The breakdown of talks has put a huge question mark over the first debate in the presidential election campaign in the US. Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Mr McCain were supposed to meet in Oxford, Mississippi. But Mr McCain said he wanted to pull out and focus on getting a bailout plan agreed instead. Democrats accused him of posturing and avoiding telling voters how he would solve the crisis.

Bank failure

As the credit crunch continues to bite, regulators moved in and shut down Washington Mutual (WaMu), one of the largest savings and loan institutions in the US. Depositors had withdrawn $16.7bn from the bank during the past 10 days alone. They immediately sold on the bank to banking giant JPMorgan Chase for $1.9bn. "With insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations, WaMu was in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business," said the Office of Thrift Supervision.

WaMu had seen its share price drop by more than 80% this year, after suffering considerable losses due to failed mortgages. Earlier this year JPMorgan Chase also bought investment bank Bear Stearns when it faced collapse.

| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

We're seeing further consolidation of financial power while the government is taking greater control and the Federal Reserve (neither federal nor reserve), along with global central banks, are pumping money into the system and devaluing currency. I believe we may be seeing the destruction of global economies to make way for a consolidation of power and control leading to the eventual fulfillment of the mark of the beast, the implementation of a global cashless monetary system enabled by technology.

WaMu is largest U.S. bank failure Reuters (September 25, 2008) - Washington Mutual Inc was closed by the U.S. government in by far the largest failure of a U.S. bank, and its banking assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.9 billion. Thursday's seizure and sale is the latest historic step in U.S. government attempts to clean up a banking industry littered with toxic mortgage debt. Negotiations over a $700 billion bailout of the entire financial system stalled in Washington on Thursday.

Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. savings and loan, has been one of the lenders hardest hit by the nation's housing bust and credit crisis, and had already suffered from soaring mortgage losses. Washington Mutual was shut by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp was named receiver. This followed $16.7 billion of deposit outflows at the Seattle-based thrift since Sept 15, the OTS said. "With insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations, WaMu was in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business," the OTS said. Customers should expect business as usual on Friday, and all depositors are fully protected, the FDIC said.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said the bailout happened on Thursday night because of media leaks, and to calm customers. Usually, the FDIC takes control of failed institutions on Friday nights, giving it the weekend to go through the books and enable them to reopen smoothly the following Monday. Washington Mutual has about $307 billion of assets and $188 billion of deposits, regulators said. The largest previous U.S. banking failure was Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust, which had $40 billion of assets when it collapsed in 1984.

JPMorgan said the transaction means it will now have 5,410 branches in 23 U.S. states from coast to coast, as well as the largest U.S. credit card business. It vaults JPMorgan past Bank of America Corp to become the nation's second-largest bank, with $2.04 trillion of assets, just behind Citigroup Inc. Bank of America will go to No. 1 once it completes its planned purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. The bailout also fulfills JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon's long-held goal of becoming a retail bank force in the western United States. It comes four months after JPMorgan acquired the failing investment bank Bear Stearns Cos at a fire-sale price through a government-financed transaction. On a conference call, Dimon said the "risk here obviously is the asset values." He added: "That's what created this opportunity." Read full story...

JPMorgan expects to incur $1.5 billion of pre-tax costs, but realize an equal amount of annual savings, mostly by the end of 2010. It expects the transaction to add to earnings immediately, and increase earnings 70 cents per share by 2011. It also plans to sell $8 billion of stock, and take a $31 billion write-down for the loans it bought, representing estimated future credit losses. The FDIC said the acquisition does not cover claims of Washington Mutual equity, senior debt and subordinated debt holders. It also said the transaction will not affect its roughly $45.2 billion deposit insurance fund. "Jamie Dimon is clearly feeling that he has an opportunity to grab market share, and get it at fire-sale prices," said Matt McCormick, a portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor Investment Counsel in Cincinnati. "He's becoming an acquisition machine."

BAILOUT UNCERTAINTY

The transaction came as Washington wrangles over the fate of a $700 billion bailout of the financial services industry, which has been battered by mortgage defaults and tight credit conditions, and evaporating investor confidence. "It removes an uncertainty from the market," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital in Sydney. "The problem is that markets are in a jittery stage. Washington Mutual provides another reminder how tenuous things are."

Washington Mutual's collapse is the latest of a series of takeovers and outright failures that have transformed the American financial landscape and wiped out hundreds of billions of dollars of shareholder wealth. These include the disappearance of Bear, government takeovers of mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the insurer American International Group Inc, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, and Bank of America's purchase of Merrill.

JPMorgan, based in New York, ended June with $1.78 trillion of assets, $722.9 billion of deposits and 3,157 branches. Washington Mutual then had 2,239 branches and 43,198 employees. It is unclear how many people will lose their jobs. Shares of Washington Mutual plunged $1.24 to 45 cents in after-hours trading after news of a JPMorgan transaction surfaced. JPMorgan shares rose $1.04 to $44.50 after hours, but before the stock offering was announced.

119-YEAR HISTORY

The transaction ends exactly 119 years of independence for Washington Mutual, whose predecessor was incorporated on September 25, 1889, "to offer its stockholders a safe and profitable vehicle for investing and lending," according to the thrift's website. This helped Seattle residents rebuild after a fire torched the city's downtown.

It also follows more than a week of sale talks in which Washington Mutual attracted interest from several suitors. These included Banco Santander SA, Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Toronto-Dominion Bank and Wells Fargo & Co, as well as private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Carlyle Group, people familiar with the situation said.

Less than three weeks ago, Washington Mutual ousted Chief Executive Kerry Killinger, who drove the thrift's growth as well as its expansion in subprime and other risky mortgages. It replaced him with Alan Fishman, the former chief executive of Brooklyn, New York's Independence Community Bank Corp. WaMu's board was surprised at the seizure, and had been working on alternatives, people familiar with the matter said. More than half of Washington Mutual's roughly $227 billion book of real estate loans was in home equity loans, and in adjustable-rate mortgages and subprime mortgages that are now considered risky. The transaction wipes out a $1.35 billion investment by David Bonderman's private equity firm TPG Inc, the lead investor in a $7 billion capital raising by the thrift in April. A TPG spokesman said the firm is "dissatisfied with the loss," but that the investment "represented a very small portion of our assets."

DIMON POUNCES

The deal is the latest ambitious move by Dimon. Once a golden child at Citigroup before his mentor Sanford "Sandy" Weill engineered his ouster in 1998, Dimon has carved for himself something of a role as a Wall Street savior. Dimon joined JPMorgan in 2004 after selling his Bank One Corp to the bank for $56.9 billion, and became chief executive at the end of 2005.

Some historians see parallels between him and the legendary financier John Pierpont Morgan, who ran J.P. Morgan & Co and was credited with intervening to end a banking panic in 1907. JPMorgan has suffered less than many rivals from the credit crisis, but has been hurt. It said on Thursday it has already taken $3 billion to $3.5 billion of write-downs this quarter on mortgages and leveraged loans.

Washington Mutual has a major presence in California and Florida, two of the states hardest hit by the housing crisis. It also has a big presence in the New York City area. The thrift lost $6.3 billion in the nine months ended June 30. "It is surprising that it has hung on for as long as it has," said Nancy Bush, an analyst at NAB Research LLC.

| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

UN chief calls for 'global leadership' Breitbart.com (September 23, 2008) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday stressed the need for "global leadership" as he pressed world leaders not to pursue narrow national interests in the face of hard economic times. "I see a danger of nations looking more inward, rather than toward a shared future," he said at the opening of the UN General Assembly's annual debate. He spoke of a "challenge of global leadership" to tackle the world's worsening financial, energy and food crises.

"We see new centers of power and leadership -- in Asia, Latin America and across the newly developed world," Ban told more than 120 heads of state or government, including Presidents George W. Bush of the United States and Nicolas Sarkozy of France. "In this new world, our challenges are increasingly those of collaboration rather than confrontation," he added. "Nations can no longer protect their interests, or advance the well-being of their people, without the partnership of the rest."

On the world's current financial crisis, the UN secretary general stressed the need to "restore order to the international financial markets". "We need a new understanding on business ethics and governance, with more compassion and less uncritical faith in the 'magic' of markets," the UN boss said.

Ban, who has chosen implementation of key poverty reduction goals as a major theme of this year's debate, said he saw "a danger of retreating from the progress we have made, particularly in the realm of development and more equitably sharing the fruits of global growth." "Global growth has raised billions of people out of poverty. However, if you are among the world's poor, you have never felt poverty so sharply."

On Thursday, he will host a summit meeting on implementation of the poverty reduction Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on the margins of the General Assembly session. Ban said he would use Thursday's summit to press world leaders, the private sector, foundations, and civil society to make "ambitious and concrete" proposals to ensure that these goals are implemented by a 2015 deadline.

Monday, a summit meeting on Africa's development needs adopted a political declaration urging rich countries to honor their pledge to double their annual aid to the continent, which is struggling to meet the MDGs. And returning to the theme of global leadership, Ban told the assembly: "It takes leadership to honor our pledges and our promises in the face of fiscal constraints and political opposition. "It takes leadership to commit our soldiers to a cause of peace in faraway places. It takes leadership to speak out for justice. To act on climate change despite wonderful voices against you."
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

US banks make shock status switch BBC News (September 22, 2008) - The last two major investment banks in the US have changed their status to become bank holding companies, allowing them to take deposits from investors. The changes should enable Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to raise more funds by opening commercial banks. The move - part of a huge restructuring effort on Wall Street - will also give them access to Federal Reserve support.

The US government has announced a $700bn (£382bn) package to tackle the worst financial crisis for decades. Congress is considering the plan, drawn up by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, which would set up a fund to buy up much of the bad debt held by financial institutions, which had triggered the credit crisis.

The BBC's business editor Robert Peston said transforming these investment giants into licensed, deposit-taking banks marked the end of an era for Wall Street. "Now that the US taxpayer is in a formal sense underwriting Goldman and Morgan Stanley, their days of buckling the swash on the worldwide high seas of finance are over, possibly for good."

'Greater safety'

There had been fears, given the recent turbulence in the financial markets, that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs would not be able to survive as independent players, and both their share prices have come under pressure. Both banks had filed requests with the Federal Reserve to change their status, and late on Sunday, the Fed announced it had granted the requests.

The last few weeks have seen dramatic and unexpected changes among banks, with Merrill Lynch being bought by Bank of America and Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection. Earlier this year, Bear Stearns was acquired by JP Morgan Chase. Read full story...

Flexibility and stability

Goldman Sachs said it already had two existing deposit businesses, Goldman Sachs Bank USA and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe, into which it is transferring assets from other parts of the business. "With over $150bn in assets, GS Bank USA will be one of the 10 largest banks in the US," the bank said. "We intend to grow our deposit base through acquisitions and organically," it added.

Commenting on the change for Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, Chip MacDonald, mergers partner at law firm Jones Day, said: "It creates a perception of greater safety and supervision. It really rationalises the regulatory system". "It should be good for both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley." Goldman Sachs said it decided to be regulated by the Federal because it "provides its members with full prudential supervision and access to permanent liquidity and funding".

John Mack, chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, said: "This new bank holding structure will ensure that Morgan Stanley is in the strongest possible position - with the stability and flexibility to seize opportunities in the rapidly changing financial marketplace." "It also offers the marketplace certainty about the strength of our financial position and our access to funding."

Solution sought

Mr Paulson has urged other countries to follow the American example in dealing with the international financial crisis. Both presidential candidates have been having their say about the financial crisis. Republican John McCain said President George W Bush should take the blame for the crisis along with both parties in Congress. Mr McCain said he was enraged by the greed of Wall Street speculators and said the rescue plan should be funded by cutting government waste, rather than through taxation.

Meanwhile Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama suggested Mr Paulson could be asked to play a role in his administration should he win the presidency. But Mr Obama criticised the bail-out proposal, calling for independent supervision of its implementation.

| America | Economic Crisis |

The coming 1-world currency WorldNet Daily (September 21, 2008) - On Wednesday, finance chiefs of five of the six-member, oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council approved a proposal to create a monetary union as a move toward adopting a single currency, according to the AFP. The six Islamic states constituting the Gulf Cooperation Council are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Oman pulled out of the agreement last year. Five states in the compact have agreed to set 2010 as the target date for the creation of a monetary union and the adoption of common currency.

The emergence of an Islamic single currency among these oil-rich Middle Eastern countries marks a significant step in the emerging worldwide movement to abandon national currencies in favor of regional currencies, along the model where the EU states have abandoned their national currencies in favor of the European Central Bank and the euro.

In 2002, the finance ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council states sought out the assistance of the European Central Bank, as the model for their single currency, according to BBC reports. The council was created in 1981 to promote the development of the member countries. The monetary union will entail the creation of a central bank to issue the single currency.

At the Wednesday meeting in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah, the finance and economy ministers reviewed the European Union's response to the council's view on eliminating obstacles that have blocked a long-stalled free trade agreement with the EU. Progress was also made on key convergence factors required to underpin the common currency, including setting the ratio of budget deficit and public debt to the gross domestic product, target interest rates and reserve requirements. Progress yet remains in reaching a consensus on inflation, the last remaining stumbling block to creating the common currency.

International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who met with the Gulf Cooperation Council finance ministers in Jeddah, hailed the move by the Gulf states toward economic integration, though he continued to express doubts the single currency would be adopted within two years.

"Achieving monetary union by 2010 will be a major challenge, as much remains to be done to enable the creation of a single currency within two years," Straus-Kahn. "Overcoming the current inflationary pressures, developing a clear vision of the powers of the future common central bank, choosing an exchange regime of the common currency, and harmonizing financial regulations and structures will be critical in this process." One factor easing the transition toward a single currency is that the six Gulf Cooperation Council member states all currently peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar.

For more on how globalists are pushing regional currencies toward a one-world currency, read Jerome Corsi's Red Alert, the premium, online intelligence news source by  the WND staff writer, columnist and author of the New York Times No. 1 best-seller, "The Obama Nation."
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Government rushing to finish huge financial rescue plan Associated Press (September 19, 2008) - The Bush administration sketched out a multi-faceted effort on Friday to confront the worst U.S. financial crisis in decades, outlining a program that could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars to buy up bad mortgages and other toxic debt. Relief washed over Wall Street with a surge of buying.

President Bush, flanked by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, acknowledged that the program will put a "significant amount of taxpayers' money on the line."

Markets unhinged by anxiety in recent months greeted the plan enthusiastically. The Dow Jones industrials shot up over 400 points and stayed in that territory into the afternoon. Global stock markets soared, too.

The administration is asking Congress to give it sweeping new powers to execute the plan. Paulson said it "needs to be big enough to make a real difference and get to the heart of the problem."

Paulson gave few details but said he would work through the weekend with leaders of Congress from both parties to flesh out the program, the biggest proposed government intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression. Members of the Senate Banking Committee said they had yet to receive details of the proposal, but were ready to move quickly when they do. Read full story...

Before the markets opened Friday, the government announced plans to temporarily insure money-market deposits and to block short-selling in financial securities. Short selling is a trading method that bets the stocks will go down.

Speaking to reporters at the Treasury Department, Paulson said that the new troubled-asset relief program that he wants Congress to enact must be large enough to have the necessary impact while protecting taxpayers as much as possible.

"I am convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative — a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion," Paulson said in a prepared statement. "The financial security of all Americans ... depends on our ability to restore our financial institutions to a sound footing," he said.

Paulson said mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will step up their purchases of mortgage-backed securities to help provide support to the crippled housing market. He also said the Treasury Department will expand a program, announced earlier this month, to buy mortgage-backed securities, which have been badly hurt by the housing and credit crises. "As we all know, lax lending practices earlier this decade led to irresponsible lending and irresponsible borrowing. This simply put too many families into mortgages they could not afford," Paulson said.

At a news conference in which he only took three questions, Paulson was asked the approximate dollar size of the government intervention. "We're talking hundreds of billions," he said. Paulson did not address specifics about the plan to buy back bad debt or whether the government would take a direct stake in troubled banks in exchange for its help. "These illiquid assets are clogging up our financial system, and undermining the strength of our otherwise sound financial institutions. As a result, Americans' personal savings are threatened, and the ability of consumers and businesses to borrow and finance spending, investment, and job creation has been disrupted," Paulson said.

He said that the administration would present Congress with a proposed legislative package and then work with lawmakers "to flesh out the details through the weekend. And we're going to be asking them to take action on legislation next week." "This is what we need to do. Because for some time we've been saying that the root cause of the problems in our economy and our financial system is housing, and until we get stability in the housing market we are not going to get stability in our financial markets," he said.

Earlier, Bush authorized Treasury to tap up to $50 billion from a Depression-era fund to insure the holdings of eligible money market mutual funds. And the Federal Reserve announced it will expand its emergency lending program to help support the $2 trillion in assets of the funds. Both moves are designed to bolster the huge money market mutual fund industry, which has come under stress in recent days.

The Fed said it is expanding its emergency lending efforts to allow commercial banks to finance purchases of asset-backed paper from money market funds, which should help the funds meet demands for redemptions.

The Securities and Exchange Commission early Friday imposed a temporary emergency ban on short-selling, which had been contributing to the collapse of stock values of investment and commercial banks.

Congressional leaders said they expected to get the rescue plan Friday and act on it before Congress recesses for the election. The government's actions could help alleviate the uncertainty that has been sending the markets into tumult over the past week. Lending has come to a virtual standstill in the wake of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank and Bank of England also offered up more cash Friday. The three banks put a combined $90 billion into money markets in a lockstep move.

The chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Chris Dodd, D-Conn., warned on ABC's "Good Morning America" Friday that the United States could be "days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system" and said Congress would work quickly to prevent that.

Later Dodd told reporters that the government's rescue plan will be costly, and demanded more details. "We're anxious to hear the specifics. None of us have any idea what the details are. We understand the gravity of the moment," he said. predicted the new bailout plan would cost at least half a trillion dollars.

Paulson said he wanted action next week by Congress. "Time is of the essence," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday night after being briefed by Paulson and Bernanke. Rep. Roy Blunt, the No. 2 GOP leader in the House, suggested the rescue can be handled without a tax increase. "It doesn't necessarily have to be something that impacts taxpayers in a negative way," said Blunt, R-Mo. "It all depends on how you put that structure together."

GOP presidential candidate John McCain said any action should "be designed to keep people in their homes and safeguard the life savings of all Americans." Democratic rival Barack Obama said it is critical that leaders in both parties work in concert. "Truly we are all in this together," he said. The federal government already has pledged more than $600 billion in the past year to bail out, or help bail out, some of the biggest names in American finance.

| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

The words "government," "rush," "financial" and "sweeping new powers" are not key words I want to hear, but from the response in the stock market and from several commentators I've heard, its the "best thing" for right now. In other words the alternative is worse, so we're ok with the lesser of two evils. And where are we getting all this money as we are so deep in debt? Get some more historical background on our current financial system here, here, here and here. I have a feeling that these increase governmental controls and "sweeping new powers" are going to lead to the end scripture speaks of such that we will be beholden to the government who in turn will be beholden to the financial rescue of the central banks who ultimately are working to bring about the New World Order and hand over their power to the man of sin. One thing to remember, you can't serve God and mammon (money) and in the end, those who rely on the temporal escape by man's government via the mark of the beast will lose eternal life in God's presence. Revelation 14:9-12 Perhaps you don't think this will happen in your lifetime... perhaps you're right, maybe you're wrong. Either way, keep watching!

Darkest day for Scottish banking as the Bank of Scotland faces its end The Scotsman (September 18, 2008) - FOR Scotland's oldest bank, it was the suddenness of its rout that stunned. That and the silence at the top. That and the invisibility of leadership. That and the short-selling frenzy that descended on HBOS shares yesterday, like vultures on a corpse. This was the blackest day in Scottish banking. An appalling day of shock, confusion and disbelief.

Many this morning will still be aghast at the speed of the bank's share collapse. Anger and a reckoning will come later. Today, the fate of HBOS, the savings of its 22 million customers, the prospects for its 72,000 staff and the final reckoning for its 1.2 million hapless investors – whose shares have been savaged – rest on the merger with rival Lloyds TSB.

Yesterday, in conditions of near pandemonium, shares in HBOS had by far their worst day since the onset of the credit crisis. Monday and Tuesday were train-wreck enough – the value of HBOS had plunged by £7 billion by Tuesday night. So there was a surge of relief when the shares opened firmer at the start of trading yesterday. It did not last long. The shares opened at 200p, rose to 214p, then plunged to only 88p – an astonishing collapse of 56 per cent in less than an hour. Then came reports of "advanced" merger talks with Lloyds TSB, at a price of 300p a share. The shares rallied – only to fall back again. Amid ever-growing confusion in the market, the mooted bid terms were now corrected – to 200p a share.

By the close, shares in HBOS were still being traded – astonishing for a company said to be in "advanced merger talks". They finished at 147.10p, down almost 20 per cent – a further loss of value of £1.9 billion. That suggests an ominous lack of confidence. The price-tag on HBOS, Britain's biggest mortgage lender, has now sunk to only £9.6 billion, 83 per cent down on the level a year ago. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | Economic Crisis |

China Paper Urges New Currency Order After "Financial Tsunami" Reuters (September 17, 2008) - Threatened by a "financial tsunami," the world must consider building a financial order no longer dependent on the United States, a leading Chinese state newspaper said on Wednesday. The commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily said the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc "may augur an even larger impending global 'financial tsunami'."

The People's Daily is the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party, and the overseas edition is a smaller circulation offshoot of the main paper. Its pronouncements do not necessarily directly reflect leadership views, but this commentary by a professor at Shanghai's Tongji University suggested considerable official alarm at the strains buckling world financial markets.

China's central bank earlier this week cut its lending rate for the first time in six years, a move analysts said was aimed at bolstering the economy and the battered stock market. "The eruption of the U.S. sub-prime crisis has exposed massive loopholes in the United States' financial oversight and supervision," writes the commentator, Shi Jianxun. "The world urgently needs to create a diversified currency and financial system and fair and just financial order that is not dependent on the United States."

But Vice Premier Wang Qishan, on a visit to the United States, told U.S. trade officials in a meeting on Tuesday that China and the United States needed to maintain close economic ties with global markets going through such turbulence. "The Chinese government is well aware of the fact that the United States, which is the world's largest developed country, and China, which is the world's largest developing country, should have constructive and cooperative economic and trade relations," he said.

China is a major buyer of U.S. Treasury bonds, and through its sovereign wealth fund it has taken stakes in two large U.S. financial institutions. In July 2005, China revalued the yuan and freed it from a dollar peg to float within managed bands. But the yuan and China's trade remains tightly linked to the fortunes of the dollar.

The commentary suggested China must brace for grave economic fallout and look to alternatives, saying the crisis brings to mind the Great Depression of the 1930s. "Lehman Brothers announced bankruptcy will not only have a domino effect on the global financial world, it will bring a shock to the world economy," the front-page comment stated.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

US government rescues insurer AIG BBC (September 17, 2008) - The US Federal Reserve has announced an $85bn (£48bn) rescue package for AIG, the country's biggest insurance company, to save it from bankruptcy. AIG will get an $85bn loan, in return for an 80% public stake in the firm. The rescue follows the collapse of US investment giant Lehman Brothers, which caused share prices to plummet across the world's financial markets. Authorities are hoping the bail-out will avert the threat of a global financial meltdown. The Fed's move is viewed by some as the most radical intervention in private business in its history and has helped fuel a tentative rally on global stock markets. The past few days have seen dramatic events unfold in the financial world:

• The UK's top mortgage lender HBOS is in merger talks with Lloyds TSB after a steep fall in HBOS shares
• The Fed and the US Treasury say AIG's bailout will protect the interests of US taxpayers
• US interest rates have been kept on hold despite widespread calls for a cut
• Barclays says it is buying some of the core assets of US investment bank Lehman Brothers for $1.75bn (£1bn)

'Challenging times'

The Federal Reserve made its decision about AIG "with the full support of the Treasury Department", it said in a statement, adding that the secured loan included conditions designed to protect "the interests of the US government and taxpayers". The US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson refused to bail out America's fourth-largest investment bank Lehman Brothers after it filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday. But he supported the rescue of AIG and said the move would protect taxpayers. "These are challenging times for our financial markets," he said.

The rescue of AIG - which has a trillion dollars in assets and insures bank loans around the world - helped world stock markets rally. Wednesday trading saw gains in Tokyo, Taiwan, Singapore and Seoul, though prices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Australia fell. European markets were higher, but trading was volatile. The dollar also rose against major currencies. Read full story

AIG's 'tentacles'

Analysts said the demise of AIG - which has policy holders in more than 100 countries and insures deals and investments across the globe - would have had a far greater impact on financial markets than Lehman's collapse. Were the company to fail, many banks and investment funds around the world would lose their insurance cover at a time when defaults on payments are likely to rise.

The Governor of New York, David Paterson, said AIG had so many business interests it would be hard to predict how widespread its bankruptcy would have been felt.

"Its tentacles go further in to the avenues of business, as in mortgages, as in credit, as in hedge funds, as in countless ways that affect consumers, that affect drivers, that affect homeowners, affect passengers," he said.

AIG had posted losses in each of the last nine months. It was badly affected by the collapse of the US housing market, says the BBC's business reporter Rob Young, owing to the underwriting payments it was forced to make when customers defaulted on their loans.

Market slump

The AIG plan calls for the government to seize up to 80% of the company and remove its management, in a similar fashion to the way it took control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which were crippled by the US housing crisis. The White House welcomed the package, saying the deal was made "in the interest of promoting stability in financial markets and limiting damage to the broader economy". Meanwhile, the Fed has left interest rates unchanged at 2% despite calls for a cut. The BBC's Matthew Price in New York said the bank had decided an interest rate cut would not help to alleviate the short-term financial crisis.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rallied on Tuesday, closing 141 points higher having on Monday suffered its worst day's trading since the September 2001 attacks on the US.

Central banks around the world responded by carrying out emergency measures to keep markets liquid. The extra funding came as the interest rates at which banks lend to each other rocketed - as they did at the start of the credit crunch.

| America | Economic Crisis |

More... AIG bailed out, more havoc likely, experts say Newsday (September 17, 2008)

Glenn Beck: Congrats! Glenn Beck (September 17, 2008)

Panic as Russian market suspended News.au (September 17, 2008) - RUSSIA'S main stock market suspended trading today after plummeting more than 11 per cent, having lost more than half its value since May, as failing Wall Street banks caused panic on global markets.

The benchmark RTS index halted trade after a fall of 11.47 left it 54 per cent below its record close on May 19. The ruble-denominated Micex was also suspended for an hour after dropping 16.6 per cent. "Panic has gripped the Russian stock market," read a headline on the Interfax news agency. Those hardest hit on the RTS were energy companies, with state-controlled gas giant Gazprom falling 17.2 per cent and oil firm Rosneft losing 19.12 per cent.

"The turmoil on Wall Street and worries about fall in the oil price are keeping buyers away despite the cheap prices," said analyst Chris Weafer in a note from Moscow-based investment bank Uralsib.  "The only feeling is one of numbness, shock," he said. "The hope is that this is the final clear-out, that this week we will find a floor." Read full story...

The fall came after repeated attempts by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to calm market fears. Yesterday he told a meeting of top businessmen that "we do not have a crisis", and ordered the government to pump money into the markets. Before the latest wave of turmoil on Wall Street, investors were selling Russian stocks on falling commodity prices, turmoil in international markets and political uncertainty, analysts said.

Increasing tensions with the West stoked by Moscow's military intervention in Georgia last month have also hit prices - the RTS has fallen more than a third since the conflict began. President Medvedev estimated last week that a quarter of the market's losses were due to the war, in part due to fears a stand-off with the West would hurt business. The market collapse has so far had little impact on tens of millions of Russians whose lives have been transformed by a five-year economic boom. The fall has revived uncomfortable memories of the August 1998 financial crisis, which cut short an earlier boom exactly 10 years ago.

But Mr Weafer said the market turmoil appeared unlikely to spread into the wider economy. "There is a risk that if this persists, it could spread into consumer confidence, but so far it is being seen as a market event." But traders on the Internet site quote.ru, many of whom have seen their investments fall in value by half, found it hard to see the bright side. "This isn't Black Tuesday. This is worse," said one forum contributor. "There's only one kind of paper that can be sold now. Toilet paper," wrote another.

More... Russian Markets Halted as Emergency Funding Fails to Halt Rout Bloomberg (September 17, 2008)

New Wall Street crisis will create a new financial world order, says RCM CIO City Wire UK (September 16, 2008) - As the sell-off in global markets continues, RCM's CIO for Europe Neil Dwane believes the aftermath of Monday's events will lead to the formation of a 'new world order', in which the remaining financial giants will flourish.

'Merrills rushed into the arms of Bank of America (BoA) who last night shut down its investment banking operations admitting failure. Surely BoA will not indulge Merrills' investment banking operations anywhere near to the extent that the old Merrills' management had done?' Dwane asks. Dwane believes the key implication of the Fed's decision not to facilitate the sale of Lehmans Brothers is that it shows that capacity is being removed from the markets, alongside the clear message that 'policy will not bail out all investors and losers'.

'Moral hazard is back and negligent Boards will find there to be no willing supplier of capital except on very onerous terms. The key messages of this weekend remain that capital remains scarce, leverage and accounting for the leveraged assets remains incomplete and inconsistent and a New World order is being born where financial behemoths are best placed,' he says.

One of the key features of this 'New World order' will be increased regulation, transparency and risk control, according to Dwane. However, the CIO of the equity specialist of Allianz Global Investors is anxious that 'investors remain complacent over the changes to come and the lower returns and earnings power of the sector in the future'.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Draghi: Deeper Crisis Would Call for Global Solution Doug McIntosh (September 16, 2008) - National solutions have been enough to stem the financial-sector crisis so far, ECB Governing Council member Mario Draghi said in a Berlin speech Thursday, but they may not be enough if things get worse. “Policies are taking a variety of shapes that can be grouped within two broad categories: emergency and structural responses,” said Mr. Draghi, who also heads Italy’s central bank. “Until now, the first remained typically national since each crisis was unique to the financial structure of the country and so were the remedies. However, if the crisis were to become systemic - and the past weekend has shown just how sudden and dramatic the turn of events can be — I believe that an internationally coordinated effort will be necessary.”

Mr. Draghi’s words have international heft, since he chairs the Financial Stability Forum — a group of global regulators and central bankers working on solutions for preventing the next blowup. He indicated the framework of the global financial system is undergoing a gut check: “A resilient infrastructure is one that is capable of withstanding the effects of the failure of a large financial institution. As we speak, this objective is being tested by reality.”

Overall, he said, the global banking system has enough capital to meet its needs “under reasonable scenarios.” He offered no prediction about whether market conditions would continue to be “reasonable” but did say banks will need to raise “at least once again the amount of capital raised since the crisis began.” Mr. Draghi’s estimate of that amount, according to a person familiar with the matter, is $350 billion. Some banks will have an easier time of it than others - namely those “that ran the debt-financed, highly leveraged and maturity mismatched business model that provided steady fee income over the last several years.” –Joellen Perry
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

A Trillion Here; A Trillion There Doug McIntosh (September 16, 2008) - It was Everett Dirksen, a politician from Illinois a few decades back who once said of government spending, " A billion here and a billion there, pretty soon you are really talking some money." This was in the 1970's, when a billion still meant something. It was in 1969 I think when the entire US government spending was $100 billion dollars and we were howling about an inflation rate of 3%. The good ole days to be sure.

Now we are dealing with nothing less than systemic collapse. I have been watching the news media coverage of the "situation on Wall Street." We do not have a situation here: we have the phased collapse of the American economy. When you find out Jeb Bush is a "consultant" for Lehman Brothers; when you hear McCain call for a "9-11 type commission to investigate Wall Street" you know the fix is in. It was the Bushes who destroyed the Savings and Loan industry, along with the Democrat St. Germaine, who raised the insurance coverage to $100,000. For me, there is a very clear trail of cookie crumbs in this so called "crisis." It is a planned crisis.

While watching PBS and its "Nightly Business Report" last night I was struck by how clueless these people really are. They simply don't have the capacity to understand what is going on. It is like my old 386 computer with its 4 Megabytes of RAM trying to run too many software programs at the same time: overload city. The mainstream simply doesn't have the mental ability to deal with what is happening right now in the economic sphere. The reason for that is simple: it isn't in their script. Of course, for someone of my impeccable doom and gloom credentials, I am not in the least surprised, amazed, or even stressed. After writing for over a decade on the open corruption of the "system", I may be many things, angry and appalled for instance, but not surprised or stunned. The New World Order is nothing if not consistent.

The reason for the current stock market meltdowns, the meltdowns being global and plural, is simple: the system is corrupt. It is pathetic to watch McCain call for investigations, or others for new regulations. One of the major reasons for this is because Congress repealed the Glass/Seagall? act from the Great Depression a few years back. There are specific actions taken, laws repealed for instance, that have directly resulted in the current "crisis." Specific people, regulators, politicians, economic experts and media whores have taken specific actions, and not taken specific actions, which have led to the current situation. I don't see any indication of any Congressperson or Senate person being indicted for Treason and tried for their vote repealing Glass/Seagall for instance. Nor will there ever be. This is also the way the NWO works. No accountability at all. Never has been and never will be. The insolence of the elite is well justified.

The headlines are screaming the ratings agencies just downgraded AIG, the insurance blob. I am so glad the ratings agencies decided to do their jobs. It is upon the politicians, the media, the ratings agencies the fake appraisals, the liar loans and all the other root causes of the current crisis may be laid. We do not need new government regulations; what we need is a system where corruption is punished and not rewarded. What we need is consequences and not bailouts. What we need is truth and not lies. But, it doesn't matter now. The fix is in. Read full story...

The other television show I watched last night was also PBS, "The Leher news hour." The segment had the famous Roubini, who is the closest thing to a doomer in the mainstream, as well as a former head of the IMF, the international monetary fund. The IMF being one of the biggest terror groups on this planet. The economic misery the IMF has caused is beyond description. After listening to Mr. Roubini's rather dismal views, doomer lite I call it, the knives came out. This former IMF guy gave the NWO plan right out there in plain view. Paraphrasing here, "Eventually, the US taxpayer will have to foot the bill." Yep, foot the bill for what now? All 5.5 TRILLION of Fannie and Freddie mortgages; all the rest. The NWO plan is to set up another savings and loan bailout system, resolution trust is what I think it was called, and stick it to the American taxpayer. So, because the NWO runs things; because the regulators, the courts, the politicians, the media and the court economists have been bought off and the "capitalists" have raped, looted and pillaged their way to vast wealth, we the American taxpayer get to clean up the mess. Like I said, the NWO is consistent. Trapped in a rut really. Take one greedy, insolent elite. Add a corrupt bought off system. Stir in vast amounts of money. Shake, rattle and roll until you get a frothy mixture of stupidity and excess. Then wait for the inevitable meltdown. Declare a crisis and when it gets bad enough use that crisis to advance NWO political agenda towards dictatorship and even more wealth concentration. Did I leave anything out?

Except this time the NWO has miscalculated, very, very badly. For one thing, our insolent elite hasn't factored in the chaos theory, or random events, or even the other NWO groups. Whether you think the hurricanes, Gustav, Fay and IKE were random events, or whether you think they are part of a larger weather manipulation effort intended to destroy the USA, it is clear to me the NWO didn't factor them in. And because they didn't do that, they have got a massive synergistic effect. This being the 2 plus 2 equals 16 and not four effect. As the USA heads into mid September we have not only bona fide economic crisis's in our stock markets, real estate, local and state governments and energy sectors, we have the physical destruction of a large swath of Texas.

I will make it plain for you. The damage from IKE was much more than the lying media and government has told you. At best, it will take 2 weeks to get the refineries on line. The main pipelines, like Colonial for instance, are shut down for lack of refined product. It takes 18 days to get oil pumped from Texas or the Gulf to New Jersey over these pipelines. My math tells me this is five weeks at a minimum before New Jersey starts to get heating oil deliveries. By the way, AIG, the imploding insurer, is a major insurer of oil refineries I hear. Figure it out yourself.

| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

I differ slightly from Doug's perspective in that I believe the mystery of iniquity at work today is indeed pushing the New World Order agenda, but to the end that a whole new global cashless system will have to be implemented and will be done centered in Europe. According to Bible prophecy, this will be the center of the New World Order and in order to participate in this new economic system that will bail out the current failing one, each person must pledge allegiance to the man of sin and receive his mark on the forehead or hand. (More on the mark of the beast and the current technology that could bring it here.) I believe everything is in place to support this system within a short period of time if not completely now thanks to the credit card companies and RFID tattoo ink. Who exactly is behind what is happening isn't what's most important, rather getting in right relationship with the only One who can save us from what is coming and bring us into eternal relationship with Him. Yeshua will judge what is happening now and knows exactly who it is. While we may watch and see, I prefer to leave the judging to Him and keep watching His Word come to pass.

Financial Crisis in America Threatens Israel's Stability Israel National News (September 15, 2008) - The venerated securities firm of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. announced early Monday morning on its website it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, stunning Wall Street and rattling financial markets around the world. Not least among them was the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, which opened with sharp losses as it echoed the news.

Lehman was one of the first international investment banks to open its doors in the State of Israel, and businesses across the country are going to be affected by what is taking place on Wall Street. Lehman has invested in numerous institutions in Israel, among them Bank Leumi, Psagot, the Clal group, Menorah and Harel Financial Services. All told, Lehman Brothers Inc. has invested more than NIS 850 million in Israeli institutions.

The company’s stock, which provides investment banking services to corporations, institutions, high-net worth individuals, municipalities and governments around the world, dropped by 93.88 percent since the beginning of this year, trading at $3.65 per share at the end of the day on Friday. Although one of the smallest of Wall Street’s major players, with only 25,000 employees, Lehman Brothers has been a heavy hitter in the mortgage market. The renowned investment bank began its most recent descent in the morass of the mortgage market crisis in the summer of 2007. Lehman Brothers reported in June a second-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, far greater than had been expected by analysts and the harbinger of a general malaise in the market.

In September, the US government announced its takeover of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage finance companies, and two days later, Lehman Brothers announced its next expected loss of $3.9 billion. It said it spinning off its commercial real estate holdings into a new public company.

Not far behind Monday’s morning’s blues was the gloom predicted by financial experts who eyed the next possible crash, that of major US insurance company, American International Group A.I.G. The New York Times reported Monday that the insurance giant has asked for a $40 billion loan from the Federal Reserve to pull it through the current crisis; without that crucial support, the newspaper reports, the company might not survive. A.I.G. provides insurance products – including general and life insurance as well as retirement services, financial services and asset management to individuals and businesses throughout the United States and abroad. Read full story...

As with Lehman, the government has refused to provide a financial guarantee for purchases of subsidiaries of the firm by other companies, thus making the deal much less attractive to potential bidders. Ratings agencies have threatened to downgrade the insurance giant’s credit score on Monday if it does not raise the $40 billion by the end of the day.

A.I.G. maintains a large presence in the State of Israel, offering mutual funds, retirement services and a wide array of insurance products for individuals and businesses. The company’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the stock exchanges in Ireland and Tokyo.

A.I.G. officials in Israel said its operations would not be directly affected because it operates relatively independent of the parent company. Nonetheless, the shakiness of the political situation has raised eyebrows at the Standard & Poor financial assessment firm, which is studying whether to downgrade Israel's debt rating as fears of a recession continue to mount.

Another major New York securities firm, Merrill Lynch agreed Sunday to sell itself to the Bank of America for approximately $50 billion in a last-ditch attempt to save itself from the same kind of financial crisis that just sank its competitor. Merrill Lynch, with 60,000 employees, is actually comprised of two companies, a wealth management company and a bond trading firm. It is one of the largest firms in the financial services industry, run by some 17,000 brokers who manage the portfolios of its hundreds of thousands of high-net clients.

As with Lehman Brothers, the crash of the housing market and the rise in foreclosures has taken its toll, eating away at the value in high-risk, high-return securities backed by subprime home mortgages. However, unlike Lehman, Merrill Lynch is also a household name in smaller markets across America as well, making it a more likely candidate to be tossed a lifeline by the Bank of America. Most of Lehman’s clients were major institutions. The new conglomerate formed by the marriage of Bank of America’s “wealth advisers” and Merrill Lynch’s brokers will be called Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. The deal brings the bank to the top of the brokerage houses and consumer banking franchises.

For Lehman Brothers, the end came when the government refused to absorb any of its losses on some of its trouble real estate assets, as it had in the past with other firms that went belly-up. The law firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges has been retained to manage the bankruptcy proceedings and liquidation, an ignominious end for so prestigious a firm.

| Israel | America | Economic Crisis |

See also: How the Masters of the Universe ran amok and cost us the earth The Scotsman (September 16, 2008)

Fed Adds Most Reserves Since 9/11 as Banks Hoard Cash Bloomberg (September 15, 2008) - The Federal Reserve added $70 billion in reserves to the banking system, the most since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, to reverse a surge in borrowing costs sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Fed funds traded as high as 6 percent, or 4 percentage points above the central bank's target rate for overnight loans between banks, according to ICAP Plc, the world's largest inter- dealer broker. The margin was the greatest since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 1998. The rate dropped to as low as 0.5 percent after the Fed added the temporary reserves.

The central bank uses repurchase agreements, or repos, to buy or sell Treasury, mortgage-backed and so-called agency debt for a set period, to help maintain enough money in the system to keep overnight interest rates close to the target. They don't signal a policy shift. Futures show traders boosted odds to 68 percent that the Fed will cut rates when policy makers meet tomorrow to offset financial market turmoil.

Demand for short-term funds "dramatically increased," said Michael Darda, chief economist for MKM Partners LLC in Greenwich, Connecticut. "If the Fed puts enough liquidity in the system, the funds rate will come down. It may actually trade below target for a while."

The so-called effective funds rate was 2.1 percent on Sept. 12, or 10 basis points over the target rate. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports daily, for the previous trading session, the effective funds rate. It is a weighted average rate of unsecured overnight lending transactions. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Read full story...

Expanding Collateral Options

The Fed widened the collateral it accepts yesterday for loans to securities firms in an effort to help Wall Street weather Lehman's bankruptcy.

The Fed added $50 billion in temporary reserves to the banking system when it arranged overnight repurchase agreements, or repos, at 11:50 a.m., after providing $20 billion earlier.

"It is rare that overnight operations exceed $15 billion," Tony Crescenzi, chief bond market strategist for New York-based Miller Tabak & Co., wrote in a note to clients. "There is a longstanding pattern in which the funds rate falls in the afternoon, as banks scramble to unload their excess monies onto other banks, lest they get stuck with excesses earning nothing."

SOMA Lending

When the Fed added the reserves at 9:40 a.m., federal funds, the overnight lending rate between U.S. banks, traded at 4.25 percent, above the central bank's target rate, according to ICAP. The rate was at 6 percent at the time of the second open market operation. Fed funds opened at 3.5 percent today.

A total of $5 billion in repos matures today. Wrightson, an ICAP research unit specializing in U.S. government finance, had expected the Fed to add about $15 billion in repos. Dealers submitted $270.1 billion in bids for the repurchase agreements.

Fed funds' weighted average was 2.1 percent on Sept. 12 after trading between 1.75 percent and 2.9375 percent, according to the central bank.

The Fed also accepted $25.8 billion in collateral as part of its daily System Open Market Account, or SOMA, securities lending program, the largest amount this year, according to Fed data tracked by Stone & McCarthy Research. Dealers submitted $29.8 billion in bids.

The Fed offers specific Treasury securities held by SOMA for loan to dealers against Treasury general collateral on an overnight basis. Dealers bid in a multiple-price auction held every day at noon. The securities lending program is separate from the Fed's Term Securities Lending Facility, or TSLF, one of the three liquidity measures the Fed initiated since the credit crisis ensued last year.

The TSLF offers Treasury general collateral held by SOMA for maturities longer than overnight in a single-price auctions with dealers who program-eligible collateral.

| Economic Crisis |

The Feds are Running Scared The Daily Reckoning (September 11, 2008) - The fog of war – that is, in the “war” between inflation and deflation – is lifting. We’re beginning to see more clearly which way the battle is going. “America’s giant mortgage companies nationalized,” is how Le Monde treated Monday’s big story. “The biggest bailout in history...” it went on. But what does it mean when the world’s most free-market government nationalizes its largest finance industry? It means a couple things: First, that the days of “laissez-faire”, even ersatz laissez-faire, are over. No more deregulation. No more tax cuts. No more free trade agreements. Second, that the feds are running scared. They are in retreat. The battle between a natural market correction...and an unnatural, inflationary boom...is going against them. We were right all along – or almost right; when the dot.com bubble burst it marked the beginning of the end – the end of the bull market on Wall Street...the end of the credit expansion that began in ’82...and the peak of American power and influence in the world. The decline since then has been delayed and disguised – by a flood of new liquidity from the feds. But now, there’s no stopping it. And it’s much worse than it would have been 8 years ago. Because Americans became more and more used to spending money they didn’t have; now they have more debt than ever. And because the Chinese and other foreigners became more and more used to selling things to people who couldn’t pay for them; now their new apartment buildings are empty and their new factories are quiet. And now, the downturn is global...and it will be longer, and harder, than practically anyone imagines. This just in: “Top China developer’s sales fall sharply.” Maybe it was the distraction of the Olympics, but China’s biggest listed property developer, Vanke, said sales fell 35% last month. And this too: Yesterday, gold fell more than $30 – to $757. The euro rose to $1.40. Oil is rising this morning, on fears of Hurricane Ike, but it closed yesterday at $102. Our guess is that it will sink to the $70 range. And here’s Le Monde again: “Good news, finally...almost everywhere, inflation remains under control and in retreat.” Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Inflation may be in retreat. But it’s not good news. It means the whole world is sinking into a slump – not just the US and Britain. And that’s what the feds are afraid of. Sec. Paulson justified the takeover of Mac and Mae on the grounds that the markets and the taxpayers needed “protection from a systemic risk.” What was the risk? That both Freddie and Fannie would go broke, that houses would fall to what they were really worth, and that – when the federally-chartered agencies stopped paying their debt to foreign lenders – the whole world financial system would melt down. Driven by fear...Paulson took the bold action... more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Taxation Nation: Now You Own Fannie and Freddie McAlvany Weekly Commentary (September 10, 2008) - "It seems to me in one sentence, two things. We're right in the midst of the greatest financial crisis in the history of our country - number one - and number two; we're probably already over the line to becoming socialistic state, the USSA, the United Socialist States of America." - Jim Deeds
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

After listening to this, you probably already know where I think we're headed - a global cashless society where perceived wealth and prosperity are provided by the globalist government, the New World Order. This ½ hour show goes into the socialist steps that will bring us there and how the financial instability we are currently experiencing will lead us there.

Fannie and Freddie Glenn Beck (September 8, 2008) - Now, I've been doing some I've been doing homework on Freddie and Fannie for I don't know how long and I've been waiting for this day because I knew that if I presented this three, four months ago, nobody would really pay attention to it because everyone was denying that Freddie and Fannie were going to fall apart. Still everybody is in somewhat denial, everybody is saying, oh, this is only going to cost the American taxpayers you $200 billion. That is a lie. It's going to cost you a whole lot more than that. Some say up to $1.6 trillion. To give you some idea of how much money that is, the original remember, "Oh, my gosh, all of a sudden we are having problems with our financial sector." The original panic was that the banks might have to write down as much as $200 billion. That's what we're writing a check for today for Freddie and Fannie, out of your pocket. I told you at the time when everyone said, oh, it's going to be $200 billion. No, it's not. It's going to be in the trillions, it will at least start with $1 trillion. Now we are approaching a trillion dollars in the regular financial markets and this is going to cost you a trillion dollars. This one is costing you. Now, I want to know where is the outrage. I want to know where is the outrage from the press. Where is the outrage from congress. I'm going to ask three questions and then I'm going to give you the answers, and I ask you just to pay attention here for just a second because when you know the real story behind Freddie and Fannie, blood is going to shoot out of your eyes. Here are the questions. Question one: Why aren't the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going to jail? Do you remember the name Ken Lay? Why aren't the CEOs and corporate executives required to give back, at the very minimum, give back the millions of dollars they put into their pockets while they inflated the results to meet their bonus triggers? I want to explain something here. What they did, what Freddie and Fannie did is they have these CEOs that said, oh, we're going to meet our budget. And if they met their budget, they get these big bonuses. Well, they would say that they met their budget and then they would get the bonuses but then they wouldn't meet their budget and they would come back later and say, oh, we had to readjust. No one, no one questioned them. I'm sorry. Members of the press like the Wall Street Journal questioned them. We had questioned them. But nobody else had questioned them. The question I have now is, why. Why. I'll explain in a second when I introduce you to the players. I won't even have to explain. You are going to say, oh, my gosh, you're kidding me. Question number two: Why aren't the shareholders wiped out? Why is the federal government protecting the shareholders of Fannie and Freddie today? This isn't capitalism. Question number three: Where's the end game? You know everybody always says in congress, especially the Democrats, "We want an end game. How come, you know, if you're going to go in for a war, you've got to know how to get out. Where's the strategy here? Where's the end game? What does victory look like?" I can tell you what victory looks like but nobody else is going to tell you this. They will all deny it, but it is not a coincidence today that they put a 15 month, pretty much just a 15 month Band Aid on this. What they've done is save these problems for the next congress and the next President. Why? I'll explain hopefully later on here. We'll get into a chance to do that but I'll explain in great detail on tomorrow's program and show you what congress is actually doing right now. They are setting us up right now. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

So if the government bails out Fannie and Freddie, does that mean the Government now owns the loans on the land here in the US?

Europe's major economies contract BBC News (August 14, 2008) - The 15 economies of the eurozone contracted by 0.2% between April and June, heightening fears that the euro area is sliding towards recession. The eurozone's first decline since it was created in 1999 was driven by a slowdown in exports and consumer spending. The German economy, Europe's largest, shrank by 0.5% in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter. And in both France and Italy GDP shrank by 0.3% in the second quarter. The slowdown was less pronounced in the wider European community of 27 nations including the UK, which contracted by 0.1%. However Estonia, where the economy contracted for the second consecutive quarter, is now considered to be in recession. Ireland, whose economy contracted in the first quarter of the year, has not yet released its second quarter growth figures. Compared to the second quarter of 2007, the eurozone economies grew by 1.5% and the 27 European Union countries grew by 1.7%. The news weakened the euro, which was already well down from its recent highs against the dollar. But high eurozone inflation, which was unchanged on the month, made it unlikely that the European Central Bank, which raised interest rates last month, will reverse its stance. Spain was the only one of the major eurozone economies to see its economy expand between April and June. It grew by 0.1% compared with the previous quarter. Figures also released on Thursday showed that prices across the euro area rose by 4% in July compared to a year earlier. The European Central Bank increased interest rates in July by 025% to 4.25% in a bid to combat rising prices. The July figure is the same as June's inflation rate, but although the rate of increase is not quickening, economists said rising prices were still a concern. "Although inflation has been stable at 4.0 % in July, it is still way above target," said Jörg Radeke from the Centre for Economics and Business Research. "Hence, the possibility that the European Central Bank is cutting interest rates in 2008 to support the sickening economy is remote." more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

America isn't the only economy that will be need to be replaced by a global cashless economy if it is truly global. The question is if this is the time of collapse just before the introduction. I don't know, but I'm still watching.

Japan on brink of recession as economy shrinks AFP (August 13, 2008) - Japan said Wednesday its economy contracted in the second quarter as falling exports and weak consumer spending sent Asia's largest economy hurtling toward its first recession in six years. The slump reflects the rapidly deteriorating global economic climate, with fears of a recession in the eurozone also mounting as the fallout from the US financial crisis ripples around the world. Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 0.6 percent in the three months to June from the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office said, marking the first time in a year that the world's second-biggest economy has contracted. The economy shrank by 2.4 percent on an annualised basis, matching market expectations. The slump put Japan on the cusp of outright recession, which is usually defined as two or more straight quarters of economic contraction. The last time that happened in Japan was in 2001, when the recession lasted for three quarters. Tokyo share prices slumped 2.1 percent as the weak growth figures added to jitters about problems in the US banking sector. GDP growth for the first quarter of 2008 was also revised down to 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter from 1.0 percent previously. Economic growth "will remain very weak throughout this fiscal year," said Mamoru Yamazaki, chief economist for Japan at RBS Securities. "The increase in oil and commodity prices is damaging corporate profits," while rising inflation is hurting households, he said. more...
| Economic Crisis |

Fed holds first auction for 84-day loans Yahoo Finance News (August 12, 2008) - The Federal Reserve has auctioned another $25 billion in loans to the nation's banks and given them more time to pay the money back in an effort to combat a serious credit squeeze. The Fed announced Tuesday that the money would be loaned at a rate of 2.754 percent. In the latest auction, the Fed offered the loans for an extended period of 84 days, rather than the 28-day period for the previous loans. It marked the Fed's latest attempt to be innovative in providing the nation's banking system with the cash it needs to combat a serious credit crisis stemming from mounting mortgage loan losses. The credit squeeze hit with force a year ago and the central bank has shoveled out billions of dollars in loans. From September through April it also was aggressively cutting interest rates to keep the financial turmoil from pushing the country into a deep recession. The Fed's interest-rate setting panel met again last week and for the second meeting held interest rates unchanged amid concerns that lowering rates further could stoke inflation pressures. Fed policymakers instead indicated that they are likely to hold rates steady for an extended period. That signal bolstered financial markets that had been worried higher inflation pressures might prompt the Fed to start raising rates even though the economy remains weak. The latest Fed auction was held on Monday with the results announced Tuesday. It saw 64 bidders seeking a total of $54.8 billion in funds. The Fed had announced that it would auction off $25 billion for 84 days. In two weeks the Fed will auction $75 billion in loans for 28 days. The Fed began the auction process last December in an effort to increase use of its discount window borrowing facility, believing that the auctions would help remove the stigma that banks feared was attached to their petitioning for direct loans from the Fed's discount window.
| America | Economic Crisis |

You can learn some more about the Fed's history and the magic that is our financial system here, here, here and here.

Credit crisis triggers unprecedented response The Washington Post (August 8, 2008) - Since the credit crisis erupted a year ago, the Bush administration has presided over one of the broadest expansions of the government into private lending in U.S. history, risking public money to prop up financial firms both large and small. The administration has transformed federal agencies into dominant players in such diverse realms as student lending and mortgage finance while exposing itself to trillions of dollars in loans. The scope of these commitments demonstrates the unprecedented nature of the challenge facing the nation. Not since the Great Depression have so many debt markets been in turmoil at the same time, financial historians say. During the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s, for example, the financial upheaval was largely contained to banks and thrifts, though the real estate market also felt the impact. Now, the contagion has rapidly spread from mortgages to bonds and exotic securities, student and corporate lending, credit cards and home equity loans, and residential and commercial real estate. The disruption has buffeted investment and commercial banks, mortgage finance agencies, and insurance firms of different stripes. "We have a banking crisis and an agency crisis and a mortgage crisis and a coming credit card crisis. We've never seen anything like that before. And it all seems to be coming home to roost at the same time. That's never happened either," said Charles Geisst, professor of finance at Manhattan College. He said the Great Depression was the last time financial markets were hammered by such a variety of factors. "But we did not even have credit cards in the 1930s; there were no such thing as student loans," he added. The breadth and speed of events have sent federal officials scrambling to plug leaks in the financial system. In the process, the government has bound taxpayers to the fate of a wide variety of banks and borrowers and could ultimately be responsible for losses in the tens of billions of dollars or more, according to estimates by congressional reports and interviews with regulators. But the government may also end up paying nothing at all, largely because it received collateral in return for backing much of these debts and could recoup some money if borrowers stop making their interest payments. No one knows for sure because much of the government's response involved novel programs designed to contain an unpredictable crisis. As the credit crisis worsened, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., a strong proponent of free markets and the architect of much of the administration's response, began to push initiatives that enlarged the government's involvement on Wall Street and in the housing industry. "What I've said is that I'm playing the hand that was dealt and that my responsibility is to protect the U.S. economy and the American people," Paulson said in an interview. The pace of these interventions accelerated as the credit crisis spread across the capital markets. At first, the administration avoided programs that exposed taxpayers to potentially large losses. The Federal Housing Administration, for instance, offered struggling mortgage holders a chance to refinance into low-cost loans backed by the government with any losses borne by the agency's insurance fund. Last summer, Paulson also pressed private mortgage lenders to form an alliance called Hope Now to rework mortgages. The initiative did not require public funds, except to set up a hotline, and it may have prevented lawmakers at that time from pursuing more expensive initiatives, he said. Within months, however, Paulson was directing more significant intrusions into the markets. In March, he strongly endorsed the Fed leaders' decision to put $29 billion in public money on the line to facilitate the takeover of the crippled investment firm Bear Stearns by Wall Street bank J.P. Morgan Chase. In April, Paulson helped the Department of Education set up emergency programs to ensure students could get loans as private lenders fled the business because of trouble in the credit markets. Education officials ramped up their direct lending, which some analysts say could reach $75 billion, and got new authority from Congress to buy loans outright from lenders. Then, last month, Paulson pushed for new authority to lend or invest in mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the Congressional Budget Office said could impose a wide range of costs to taxpayers, from nothing to more than $100 billion. Along the way, the Fed was injecting money into the banking system, including through several new, unusual programs. In negotiations over the Bear Stearns rescue, the Fed agreed to back $30 billion worth of risky mortgage assets but persuaded J.P. Morgan to absorb the first $1 billion of any losses. At the end of July, the portfolio was worth $29.1 billion, according to the central bank. Because the Fed can be patient and sell the assets gradually over time, officials believe taxpayers are highly unlikely to lose more than a couple billion dollars and the central bank may ultimately make some money. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

This all seems to be leading to a point where our current financial system could be most easily replaced by a global cashless system and the nations indebted to those with wealth and power would have no alternatives but to join the global banking system that offers stability and security, forgiving debts in exchange for allegiance. I don't think this will be fully implemented until after the abomination of desolation, but I also believe that we're building up to that point now. Keep watching!

IMF Contemplates System Failure. Could it be the 1.2 Quadrillion in Derivatives? McAlvany Weekly Commentary (July 30, 2008)
| America | Economic Crisis |

U.S. companies vulnerable to foreign buyers Reuters (July 29, 2008) - With a record volume of international takeovers of U.S. companies, it almost appears America itself is up for sale. The weak dollar and slumping stock prices of U.S. companies has created a window of opportunity for international buyers to snatch up American icons such as beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc and the landmark Chrysler Building in New York. "The dollar has depreciated so much that America is on the sale rack," said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of economics at California State University. "America has such an appetite for foreign goods -- Chinese imports and oil -- that U.S. dollars have gone overseas. Now, many Americans aren't happy that foreign companies are buying pieces of America with the money we gave them in the first place," Sohn said. In the second quarter, acquisitions of U.S. companies by international buyers totaled $124.3 billion, marking the highest total for any second quarter on record and jumping 23 percent over the year-earlier quarter, according to research firm Dealogic. International takeovers represented 22 percent of all U.S. merger activity in the first half of the year, up from 17 percent in the first half of 2007, according to research firm Dealogic. InBev NV's deal to acquire Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion gave Belgium the distinction of being the most active foreign buyer of U.S. assets in the first half of this year, followed by Spain and Canada, Dealogic said. The Anheuser-Busch deal ranked as the second-biggest cross-border acquisition of a U.S. company in history, following Vodafone Group Plc's  $60.3 billion acquisition of AirTouch Communications in 1999, according to Thomson Reuters. Other U.S. assets recently falling into international hands include Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc, which agreed to be acquired by Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the world's largest generic drug company, for $7.46 billion; and eye care company Alcon Inc which is being bought by Switzerland's Novartis AG for about $27.7 billion. Earlier this month, Swiss drugmaker Roche AG made a bid to acquire the shares of its U.S. partner Genentech Inc it does not already own for $43.7 billion. Even the Pennsylvania Turnpike awarded long-term leasing rights to a Spanish-led investor group for $12.8 billion. Although some investment bankers and analyst pin the spike in cross-border activity to the weak dollar, others contend that strategy and the desire to expand globally were the motivators behind many of these recent corporate deals. "Strategic buyers don't wake up in the morning and say: 'This currency is cheap. I'm going to go do a deal.' They do a deal because it's strategic and makes sense," said Herald Ritch, president and co-chief executive officer of investment bank Sagent Advisers. "There's no question that, on the margin, currency levels tend to influence decisions, but strategic deals get done because they fit a company's strategy," Ritch said. European companies have been the most active buyers of U.S. assets, with 314 deals so far this year, compared with 117 deals by Asian acquirers, and 33 by African and Middle Eastern buyers, according to Thomson Reuters. "Europe and the U.S. dominate deal activity globally, so it makes sense that deals between those areas would predominate," Ritch said. Although some investment bankers view the second quarter's record pace of U.S. takeovers as an anomaly, Sohn said the 13-percent depreciation of the dollar against major currencies over the past 18 months should fuel more acquisitions. "There are trillions of dollars overseas that have to be put to work. This is just the tip of the iceberg," Sohn said.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

How does Europe become the international power and authority Bible prophecy says it will be? Slowly and surely, bit by bit. Sung Won Sohn makes the statement that "America has such an appetite for foreign goods -- Chinese imports and oil -- that U.S. dollars have gone overseas." Have you noticed that you can't buy anything that isn't made in China today? I certainly haven't had any great desire to see manufacturing go overseas as it has, but policy has pushed it there because it's cheaper and this world, especially the business world, runs on money. America doesn't have many options when it comes to its desire for Chinese imports because business and government have created it this way. Is there an over-arching plan behind it? Given what Bible prophecy says and where we're headed, it's hard for me to deny the dots are connected. There's so much more out there relegated to "conspiracy theory" as well which all points toward the same conclusions. America is being sold out and this will help prop Europe up as the center it is prophesied to be. America is ceding power to Europe and being drained of its manufacturing ability and strength. Business and law are moving internationally, globally and what is a possible end to this? A nation in debt who will be forgiven that debt along with the rest of the world if they just take a mark and worship the man of sin who claims to be God. The technology and methodology is already present and easily implementable while the conditions that would call for its implementation are fast approaching in line with other signs of the times. Bible prophecy isn't fairy tales, it's foreknowledge dictated by God for the benefit of those who trust God's Word and to make us aware and awake as the time draws near. Keep watching!

Home prices drop by record 15.8 pct. in May Associated Press (July 29, 2008) - Home prices tumbled by the steepest rate ever in May, according to a closely watched housing index released Tuesday, as the housing slump deepened nationwide. The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index dropped by 15.8 percent in May compared with a year ago, a record decline since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index plunged 16.9 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history. No city in the Case-Shiller 20-city index saw price gains in May, the second straight month that's happened. The monthly indices have not recorded an overall home price increase in any month since August 2006. Home values have fallen 18.4 percent since the 20-city index's peak in July 2006. Nine metropolitan cities — Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Wash., Portland, Ore., and Washington, D.C. — posted record declines in May. And the value of housing in Detroit is now lower than it was in 2000. But a possible bright spot in an otherwise dismal report, seven metros — Tampa, Fla., Boston, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Dallas and Atlanta — showed smaller annual declines. Las Vegas recorded the worst drop, with prices plunging 28.4 percent in the month. Miami came in a close second, with prices down 28.3 percent. Charlotte, N.C., posted the smallest drop at 0.2 percent. Until April, the North Carolina city had been the last metro still showing price gains.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Jim Deeds: End of the World? No, Not Really. Just Time to Adjust Your Thinking McAlvany Weekly Commentary (July 23, 2008)
| America | Economic Crisis |

Dinars for Dollars: Arabs Buying Out Collapsing Western Banks Israel National News (July 16, 2008) - First it was Citibank. Now it's Barclay's and New York City's Chrysler Building skyscraper. Muslim Arabs are buying out collapsing Western banks and businesses and gaining growing international power, but some Arab investors are worried their investments may go down the drain with the American economy. The current financial crisis in the United States has spread to other countries because of a massive debt that was not backed by enough real and liquid collateral. Banks and businesses gasping for financial breath are up for sale at basement prices, but no one is certain if the basement is the bottom. "The possibility remains that more Arab white knights will be sought to rescue ailing financial institutions," wrote Dr. Mohammed Ramady, a former banker and Visiting Associate Professor at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in the Financial Adviser magazine. He said he fears that Arab investors will end up chasing their investments with more money to keep them from going under. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates kingdom of Abu Dhabi last November announced it was bailing out the mammoth Citibank financial institution, formerly headed by Bank of Israel Governor Prof. Stanley Fischer, with $7.5 billion. Next in line was Britain's Barclay's Bank, which raised $9 billion from investors in the oil-rich kingdom of Qatar and in Asian countries. The Abu Dhabi Investment Council last month forked out approximately $800 million for a 75 percent stake in New York City's 1,046-foot-tall Chrysler Building, which was the world's tallest building for a year until the Empire State Building surpassed it in the 1930's. The purchase of American banks by foreigners has been blocked in the past by security and political considerations, but the barriers have come down, wrote Dr. Ramady. "How long this lasts is only a matter of guesswork, as once again, the specter of foreign takeovers of 'national' symbols will be hard to accept," he added. In a more serious vein, The Australian editor-at-large Paul Kelly wrote earlier this month that the foreign investments, headed by Arabs, signal a major change in international power. "The energy, financial and political woes that grip the U.S. signal a decisive shift in world power, mocking the liberal delusion that Barack Obama or John McCain can return American prestige and power to its pre-Bush year 2000 nirvana," he wrote. "There is no such nirvana. There is instead a new reality: the greatest transfer of income in human history [and] the rise of a new breed of wealthy autocracies that cripple U.S. hopes of dominating the global system and demands on the U.S. to make fresh compromises in a world where power is rapidly being diversified." more...
| Islam | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Americans may be losing faith in free markets Los Angeles Times (July 16, 2008) - For a generation, most people accepted the idea that the core of what makes America tick was an economy governed by free markets. And whatever combination of goods, services and jobs the market cooked up was presumed to be fine for the nation and for its citizens -- certainly better than government meddling. No longer. Spurred by the continued housing crisis, turmoil in financial markets, spiking oil prices, disappearing jobs and shrinking retirement savings, the nation and its political leaders have begun to sour on the notion that the current market system is the key to a fair, stable and efficient society. "We're at a hinge point," said William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who helped craft President Clinton's market-friendly agenda during the 1990s. "The strong presumption in favor of markets, which has dominated public policy since the late 1970s, has been thrown very much into question." Now, to a degree not seen in years, politicians and outside experts are looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy. Of course, Americans always grouse during troubled times. And as market advocates are quick to point out, the current run of bad economic breaks has yet to result in the throwing over of free-market principles in favor of some drastically different approach -- such as a government-directed economy. "There may be a backlash against markets at the moment," acknowledged Kevin A. Hassett, economic studies director at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and an advisor to presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain. "But the backlash doesn't seem to be informed by any alternative view of how the world works." more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Euro soars to $1.60 against U.S. dollar, a new record high Associated Press (July 15, 2008) - The European single currency leapt to a record high above 1.60 dollars here on Tuesday as investor fears grew over the state of the US economy and its financial services sector, dealers said. In late morning London deals, the euro jumped to 1.6038 dollars, which beat the previous all-time peak of 1.6019 that was set on April 22.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Fannie Mae, Freddie Rescue a 'Disaster,' Rogers Says Bloomberg (July 14, 2008) - The U.S. Treasury Department's plan to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is an "unmitigated disaster" and the largest U.S. mortgage lenders are "basically insolvent," according to investor Jim Rogers. Taxpayers will be saddled with debt if Congress approves U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's request for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in and lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Rogers said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Rogers is betting that Fannie Mae shares will keep tumbling. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Daniel Zimmerman said the mortgage finance companies' shares may fall another 35 percent and lowered his share-price estimate for Fannie Mae to $7 from $18 and for Freddie Mac to $5 from $17. Freddie Mac fell 64 cents, or 8.3 percent, to $7.11 in New York Stock Exchange trading, while Fannie Mae fell 52 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $9.73. "I don't know where these guys get the audacity to take our money, taxpayer money, and buy stock in Fannie Mae," Rogers, 65, said in an interview from Singapore. "So we're going to bail out everybody else in the world. And it ruins the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and it makes the dollar more vulnerable and it increases inflation." The chairman of Rogers Holdings, who in April 2006 correctly predicted oil would reach $100 a barrel and gold $1,000 an ounce, also said the commodities bull market has a "long way to go" and advised buying agricultural commodities. Rogers, a former partner of hedge fund manager George Soros, predicted the start of the commodities rally in 1999 and started buying Chinese stocks in the same year. He traveled the world by motorcycle and car in the 1990s researching investment ideas for his books, which include "Adventure Capitalist" and "Hot Commodities." Billionaire investor Soros said today that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face a "solvency crisis," not a liquidity one, and that their troubles won't be the last financial disruption, Reuters reported. "This is a very serious financial crisis and it is the most serious financial crisis of our lifetime," Soros told Reuters in a telephone interview. "It is an idle dream to think that you could have this kind of crisis without the real economy being affected." "These companies were going to go bankrupt if they hadn't stepped in to do something, and they should've gone bankrupt with all of the mistakes they've made," Rogers said. "What's going to happen when you Band-Aid and put some Band-Aids on it for another year or two or three? What's going to happen three years from now when the situation's much, much, much worse?" Paulson's proposal, which the Treasury anticipates will be incorporated into an existing congressional bill and approved this week, signals a shift toward an explicit guarantee of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt. The Federal Reserve separately authorized the firms to borrow directly from the central bank. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Fannie and Freddie Rescued? The “Con” fidence Game Continues McAlvany Report

Analysts say more U.S. banks will fail International Herald Tribune (July 14, 2008) - As home prices continue to decline and loan defaults mount, U.S. regulators are bracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the next year. But after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed late Friday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions: Just how many banks might falter? And, more urgently, which one could be next? The nation's banks are in far less danger than they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 federally insured institutions went under during the savings-and-loan crisis. The debacle, the greatest collapse of American financial institutions since the Depression, prompted a government bailout that cost taxpayers about $125 billion. But the troubles are growing so rapidly at some small and midsize banks that as many as 150 out of the 7,500 banks nationwide could fail over the next 12 to 18 months, analysts say. Other lenders are likely to shut branches or seek mergers. "Everybody is drawing up lists, trying to figure out who the next bank is, No. 1, and No. 2, how many of them are there," said Richard Bove, the banking analyst with Ladenburg Thalmann, who released a list of troubled banks over the weekend. "And No. 3, from the standpoint of Washington, how badly is it going to affect the economy?" Many investors are on edge after federal regulators seized the California lender, IndyMac Bank, one of the nation's largest savings and loans, last week. With $32 billion in assets, IndyMac, a spinoff of the Countrywide Financial Corporation, was the biggest American lender to fail in more than two decades. Now, as the Bush administration grapples with the crisis at the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a rush of earnings reports in the coming days and weeks from some of the nation's largest financial companies are likely to provide more gloomy reminders about the sorry state of the industry. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

In 2004 that the Bush administration was pushing the zero down-payment initiative. here and here Of course back when this was being pushed there were those making it known it would increase defaults. In hindsight, this push to get people into homes that couldn't really afford it along with adjustable rate mortgages that shift as they have, probably wasn't really a good idea. The push for everyone to get a house and the multitude of offers for low interest rate adjustable mortgages to those inexperienced home-buyers is a potent mix. Here's what a poster (Craig) said regarding where the majority of problems have come from:

"The ruling by HUD only affected a small portion of the homebuying public, those getting FHA-secured homes for first-time home buyers. A zero-down-payment loan for someone with good credit and proper loan documentation probably isn't defaulting that frequently. FHA loans require income verification. All FHA loans that I know of are 30-year fixed loans. These are not the loans creating the problems. ARMs with low teaser rates, Alt-A, no-doc, negative amortization, pay option, etc. loans are the problem loans now, and I seriously doubt that any of them would have qualified for FHA insurance. Also, if the problem loans were FHA insured, then Wall Street and the banks wouldn't be in the mess that they are in, as the federal government would be on the hook to pay off the loans. The problem loans are not FHA secured, therefore the initiative mentioned is not applicable in this case.

Our current fiscal problems are due to loose money from the Fed, collusion/fraud by and between Wall Street and the ratings agencies, and greed/lack of ownership by the banks, as well as lack of oversite by the Fed, Congress and the Executive Branch. Bush has very little responsibility for any of the problems. Wall Street, the ratings agencies and the banks are to blame. The Fed shares a lot of the blame because they have oversite on the banks, (and all the CDO crap was blessed by Greenspan as a great financial innovation). Congress and the Executive Branch, (of which Bush is the head), also share some blame because they have oversite into the actions of the Fed and thus the banks. Bush is at the very end of a long line of people/institutions that are to blame."

I'm not going to try and place blame, but in the scheme of transitioning to a new global financial system via a bail-out this could really help out. Revelation 13:16-18 It seems to me that in a world run by money, being in debt is a good way to transition people to a New World Order - most maybe even unknowingly at first. Now we have the government bailing out these banks while at the same time working to harmonize international law and trade. I'm sure over the thousands of years the mystery of iniquity has been working to globalize control of the world that some well thought-out plans have been developed. Are we seeing them unfold now? It also strikes me that many don't seem to notice or want to notice. Perhaps I'm just seeing things or maybe I'm just seeing things, that's up to you to decide for yourself after researching these things. If I'm wrong, let me know! Just remember that in order to give the kingdoms to the man of sin, they must belong to the dragon. Keep watching!

Feds take over mortgage lender IndyMac. May become most expensive bank collapse ever CNN Money (July 12, 2008) - In what could turn out to be the most expensive bank failure ever, troubled mortgage lender IndyMac Bank was taken over by federal regulators on Friday. The operations of the Pasadena, Calif.-based bank - once one of the nation's largest home lenders - were shut down at 3 p.m. by the Office of Thrift Supervision and transferred to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. According to the FDIC, 10,000 IndyMac customers could lose as much as $500 million in uninsured deposits. The agency says the failure will cost the Deposit Insurance Fund between $4 billion and $8 billion, based on preliminary estimates. "It's possible this will be the most costly bank failure in history, but it's too soon to say," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said in a conference call late Friday night. The failure could also affect premiums paid by all banks for deposit insurance, she added. IndyMac, with assets of $32.01 billion and deposits of $19.06 billion, is the fifth bank to fail this year. Between 2005 and 2007, only three banks failed. And in the past 15 years, the FDIC has taken over 127 banks with combined assets of $22 billion, according to FDIC records. "There will be increased failures, but it will be within range of what we can handle," Bair said. "People should not worry." IndyMac marks the largest bank collapse since 1984, when Continental Illinois, which had $40 billion in assets, failed, according to FDIC records. The two most expensive failures were in 1988: American Savings and Loan Association in California ($5.4 billion) and involved First Republic Bank in Texas ($4 billion). more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Report: Emirates calls on GCC countries to depeg currencies from US dollar The Jerusalem Post (July 6, 2008) - A newspaper in the United Arab Emirates says the tiny Gulf state's government is lobbying neighboring countries to depeg their currencies from the US dollar to curb inflation. The National, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi ruling family, reported Sunday that the UAE is calling on all six Gulf Cooperation Council member states to "rethink" their monetary policy amid soaring inflation in the oil-rich region. It cited an internal report by Abu Dhabi's Department of Planning and Economy. The GCC members are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman. All of their currencies are pegged to the dollar except Kuwait, which depegged its currency, the dinar, from the dollar in May 2007 in favor of a basket of currencies.
| Islam | America | Economic Crisis |

Muslim Terrorists May Be Trying To Sink the Dollar Israel National News (June 27, 2008) - Mujahideen Muslim terrorists may be behind the sinking American dollar as part of a campaign to cripple the American economy, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported. The media watch group, which specializes in tracking Arabic language websites, said that postings on websites the past two years reflect a move toward waging an economic war against the United States. Mujahideen terrorist groups that operate in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries "have come to the conclusion that it is financial, rather than military, losses that will prompt the U.S. to change its policies in the Middle East and elsewhere," according to MEMRI. An article recently posted in Sada Al-Jihad (Echo of Jihad) magazine and posted on several Muslim websites, discusses the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. as having influenced the decline in the dollar. It also cited the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as draining the American economy. Another recent posting stated, "The dollar can expect two additional blows that will break its back... [namely] the announcement of the return of the [religious rule of the] Caliphate..." and the reinstatement of the gold standard in international monetary trade. It urged Mujahideen "to get rid of American dollars" before an "imminent" terrorist attack that "will put an end to the so-called United States of America and destroy its economy completely." MEMRI concluded, "Given that it is highly atypical for Al-Qaeda to give prior warning of its attacks, the message is probably an attempt to pressure Muslims to sell dollars, in order to generate pessimism in the dollar market and thus accelerate the drop in its value."
| Islam | America | Economic Crisis |

Chinese renew interest in U.S. property Reuters (June 23, 2008) - Chinese interest in U.S. commercial property is back, and this time Chinese investors may become significant players as the nation devises a vehicle to divert large amounts of funds for foreign investment, a Cushman & Wakefield executive said on Monday. Flush with dollars from a huge trade imbalance, Chinese sovereign wealth funds are beginning to test the waters in New York real estate, said Scott Latham, executive vice president, Capital Markets group for real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield. "They are coming. We've seen them in the bidding process over the past four months on a number of assets we've handled," Latham said at the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in New York. They were recently among the throng of bidders for three of seven former Equity Office properties marketed after Harry Macklowe defaulted on loans he used to buy them last year, he said. Latham is one of the most powerful commercial real estate brokers in Manhattan, the largest U.S. commercial real estate market. He has shepherded deals such as the $1.72 billon sale of the MetLife Building, the $1.8 billion sale of 666 Fifth Avenue and the $675 million sale of The Plaza Hotel. "I think that unlike the Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, they have not yet figured out an efficient way to get the money out of their country," he said. Back in the depths of the real estate depression in the early 1990s, private individuals from Hong Kong were big players in New York real estate. A group headed by Henry Cheng, for example, was able to buy a distressed loan and control of the property from Donald Trump for less than $100 million along the West Side and make a killing when they recently sold it for $1.8 billion. "Almost every one of those investments was an absolute home run," Latham said. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

RBS issues global stock and credit crash alert Telegraph UK (June 19, 2008) - The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks. "A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared," said Bob Janjuah, the bank's credit strategist. A report by the bank's research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as "all the chickens come home to roost" from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets. Such a slide on world bourses would amount to one of the worst bear markets over the last century. RBS said the iTraxx index of high-grade corporate bonds could soar to 130/150 while the "Crossover" index of lower grade corporate bonds could reach 650/700 in a renewed bout of panic on the debt markets. "I do not think I can be much blunter. If you have to be in credit, focus on quality, short durations, non-cyclical defensive names. "Cash is the key safe haven. This is about not losing your money, and not losing your job," said Mr Janjuah, who became a City star after his grim warnings last year about the credit crisis proved all too accurate. RBS expects Wall Street to rally a little further into early July before short-lived momentum from America's fiscal boost begins to fizzle out, and the delayed effects of the oil spike inflict their damage. "Globalisation was always going to risk putting G7 bankers into a dangerous corner at some point. We have got to that point," he said. US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank both face a Hobson's choice as workers start to lose their jobs in earnest and lenders cut off credit. The authorities cannot respond with easy money because oil and food costs continue to push headline inflation to levels that are unsettling the markets. "The ugly spoiler is that we may need to see much lower global growth in order to get lower inflation," he said. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

U.S. stops following foreign money trail WorldNet Daily (June 9, 2008) - Foreign investment in the United States is on the rise and key U.S. businesses and infrastructures such as roads and airports are being sold to foreign investors. Now comes word from the U.S. Department of Commerce the Bureau of Economic Affairs will stop publishing a key report tracking those foreign dollars. WND reported earlier on a decision by the Federal Reserve to quit publishing M3 data, a money-supply measure watched closely by economists. Last month, econometrician John Williams reported on his subscription website, "Shadow Government Statistics," that the M3 statistic he compiles from available government data shows the growth of M3 at historically high rates last seen in June 1971, two months before President Nixon closed the gold window and instituted wage and price controls. Charles McMillion, president and chief economist at MBG Information Services in Washington, D.C., also has expressed concern over the recent decision by the Department of Commerce to discontinue publishing foreign investment data and warned that may forecast an unprecedented surge in foreign investment anticipated by the Bush administration. In the announcement, BEA claimed funding limitations necessitated halting future reports. The most recent report, released Wednesday, showed direct foreign investment in U.S. businesses reached $276.8 billion in 2007, the second largest amount recorded and the highest since 2000, when new foreign investment outlays peaked at $335.6 billion. Of the direct foreign investments in the U.S. in 2007, only about 10 percent, approximately $21.9 billion, established new U.S. businesses, while foreign investments to acquire existing U.S. businesses totaled $255.0 billion. Nearly 37 percent of the foreign investments in 2007 involved European investors, although the BEA noted investments from Asia and the Middle East rose substantially. McMillion noted in an e-mail that the BEA decision to discontinue publishing foreign investment data comes at a time when public and congressional concerns have increased over the acquisition of U.S. assets by foreign investors McMillian referenced the recent attempt by "China's mysterious but closely state-aligned Huawei" to acquire 3Com, a key supplier of Internet security technologies to the U.S. Department of State, in conjunction with Boston-based Bain Capital, a private equity firm founded by Republican 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In March, Bain pulled out of the deal after learning that the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, organized in the U.S. Treasury Department, planned to block the deal. In May, during a four-day trip to the Middle East that included Saudi Arabia and Dubai, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson encouraged foreign investment in the United States, arguing the controversy over Dubai Ports in 2006 did not reflect an adverse U.S. attitude toward foreign investment. "I have met with many leaders from the Middle East who ask if the United States really continues to welcome investment," Paulson said in a speech to the U.S.-United Arab Emirates Business Council, according to Bloomberg.com. "As we seek to open new markets abroad, America will keep our markets open at home to investment from private firms and from sovereign wealth funds." WND previously reported that since the beginning of the year, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, two of the largest United Arab Emirate states, have been in discussions with the U.S. Treasury, offering reassurances that their investments in U.S. banks and security firms would not impose restrictions usually dictated by Islamic law, commonly known as sharia. WND also has reported sovereign wealth funds in six Persian Gulf countries, including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have now amassed $1.7 trillion, positioning them for attempts to control major banks and securities firms in the United States. In September 2007, Dubai acquired 19.9 percent of Nasdaq, the second largest stock exchange in the United States. WND also reported last month the top bid to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike on a long-term public-private-partnership, or PPP lease, for a bid of $12.8 billion was submitted by Spanish infrastructure management company Abertis Infraestructuras of Barcelona.
| Islam | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

We can reduce risk in the financial system Financial Times (June 8, 2008) - Since last summer, we have lived through a severe and complex financial crisis. Why was the financial system so fragile? What can be done to make the system more resilient in the future? The world experienced a financial boom. The boom fed demand for risk. Products were created to meet that demand, including risky, complicated mortgages. Many assets were financed with significant leverage and liquidity risk and many of the world’s largest financial institutions got themselves too exposed to the risk of a global downturn. The amount of long-term illiquid assets financed with short-term liabilities made the system vulnerable to a classic type of run. As concern about risk increased, investors pulled back, triggering a self-reinforcing cycle of forced liquidation of assets, higher margin requirements, increased volatility. What should be done to strengthen the system in the future? First, when we get through this crisis we have to increase the shock absorbers held in normal times against bad macroeconomic and financial outcomes. This will require more exacting expectations on capital, liquidity and risk management for the largest institutions that play a central role in intermediation and market functioning. They should be set high enough to offset the benefits that come from access to central bank liquidity, but not so high that they succeed only in pushing more capital to the unregulated part of the financial system. Second, we have to improve the capacity of the financial infrastructure to withstand default by a big institution. This will require taking some of the risk out of secured funding markets, increasing resources held against default in the centralised clearing house, and encouraging more standardisation, automation and central clearing in the derivatives markets. Third, the regulatory framework cannot be indifferent to the scale of leverage and risk outside the supervised institutions. I do not believe it would be desirable or feasible to extend capital requirements to leveraged institutiions such as hedge funds. But supervision has to ensure that counterparty credit risk management in the supervised institutions limits the risk of a rise in overall leverage outside the regulated institutions that could threaten the stability of the financial system. And regulatory policy has to induce higher levels of margin and collateral in normal times against derivatives and secured borrowing to cover better the risk of market illiquidity. Fourth, we need to streamline and simplify the US regulatory framework. Our system has evolved into a confusing mix of diffused accountability, regulatory competition and a complex web of rules that create perverse incentives and leave huge opportunities for arbitrage and evasion. The blueprint by Hank Paulson, Treasury secretary, outlines a sweeping consolidation and realignment of responsibilities. The institutions that play a central role in money and funding markets – including the main globally active banks and investment banks – need to operate under a unified framework that provides a stronger form of consolidated supervision, with appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity. To complement this, we need to put in place a stronger framework of oversight authority over the critical parts of the payments system – not just the established payments, clearing and settlements systems, but the infrastructure that underpins the decentralised over-the-counter markets. Because of its primary responsibility for the stability of the overall financial system, the Federal Reserve should play a central role in such a framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and in other countries. At present the Fed has broad responsibility for financial stability not matched by direct authority and the consequences of the actions we have taken in this crisis make it more important that we close that gap. The big central banks should put in place a standing network of currency swaps, collateral policies and account arrangements that would make it easier to mobilise liquidity across borders quickly in a crisis. As we reshape the incentives and constraints for risk-taking in the financial system, we have to recognise that regulation has the potential to make things worse. Regulation can distort incentives in ways that may make the system less safe. One of the strengths of our system is the speed with which we adapt to challenge. It is important that we move quickly to adapt the regulatory system to address the vulnerabilities exposed by this financial crisis. We are beginning the process of building the necessary consensus here and with the other main financial centres. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

This was authored by New York Federal Reserve president Timothy Geithner. It seems to me that international cooperation in business and finance is just another step toward a global economy with a centralized power structure like that which will be necessary to fulfill Bible prophecy such that nobody will be able to buy or sell without participation in this system. Ultimately this will involve the "security" provided through technology so that transactions can be cashless and locked to the individual. The perfect technology for this is Somark's RFID tattoo ink.

"Jim Tucker from the American Free Press speaking on the Alex Jones show today stated that one of his Bilderberg sources revealed to him that the global elite are planning to push forward their cashless society grid agenda with the use of implantable microchips. The implantable microchips would be sold as a way for people to easily move through the militarized control grid that they’ve setup via the bogus terror war. Tucker also mentioned that we would see the media hyping the phony terror war and specifically the phony “white Al-Qaeda terror threat” as a way for them to continue the justification of the enslavement grid. Assuming Tucker’s Bilderberg source is providing accurate information, this agenda that Geithner is pushing in his Financial Times article is right in line with their well documented plans to get rid of cash. The central bankers would need a global regulatory framework for the banking system so they can move closer to a global currency operating in a cashless society." Link

Gas hits national average of $4 for first time Associated Press (June 8, 2008) - The average price of regular gas crept up to $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, passing the once-unthinkable milestone just in time for the peak summer travel season. Prices at the pump are expected to keep climbing, especially after last week's furious surge in oil prices, which neared $140 a barrel in a record-shattering rally Friday. While Americans who have to drive will feel the biggest squeeze, the increased prices also translate into higher costs for consumers and businesses, who will be forced to shoulder increased costs for food and anything else that needs to be transported. "I don't think we've felt quite the full impact of $138 or $139 a barrel oil," said Jason Toews, co-founder of fuel price research site GasBuddy.com. Gas prices rolled past their latest threshold Sunday, increasing to $4.005 a gallon overnight from $3.988 the day before, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Of course, drivers in many parts of the country have already been paying well above that price for some time. California has seen some of the highest prices; a gallon there now averages $4.436 a gallon, the most in the country. Missourians are paying the least at the pump, with a gallon in the Show-Me State selling for a relatively cheap $3.802 a gallon. Prices have risen by about 20 cents in the past three weeks, according to a report by the Lundberg Survey released Sunday. Truckers and others with diesel engines under the hood have it even worse off. A gallon of diesel now sells for $4.762, up nearly a penny overnight, according to AAA and OPIS. Prices hit a record atop $4.79 at the end of May. Skyrocketing oil prices, which are trading at more than double their level last year, are largely to blame for the surge. Crude prices shot up more than 13 percent late last week in their biggest two-day price gain in history. Benchmark light, sweet crude for July delivery officially finished the week at $138.54 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but at one point jumped as high as $139.12. "This could be a real weight on the economy," James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firm Liberty Trading Group, said of oil's jump Friday. "With every nickel that gas goes up, people are driving less and less." Oil's latest surge caught some longtime petroleum industry veterans off-guard, and left analysts wondering if it represented a one-time spike or the beginning of a new wave of advances. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Investors Flee Stocks As Oil Surges Close to $140 Washington Post (June 6, 2008) - Stocks plunged Friday, with the Dow Jones industrials having their worst day in more than a year, after oil prices shot up by more than $11 a barrel and neared $140, wiping out investors' recent optimism about the economy in the process. The prospect of higher energy prices that could hobble consumers and worsen a slowing economy had investors frenetically pulling money out of stocks. The bad news about rising energy prices compounded investors' anxiety over a worrisome reading on unemployment, which for May showed its biggest monthly rise since 1986. According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 394.64, or 3.13 percent, to 12,209.81. It was the worst percentage and point drop since Feb. 27, 2007. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 43.37, or 3.09 percent, to 1,360.68, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 75.38, or 2.96 percent, to 2,474.56. Crude oil has had a huge price rebound this week after falling amid a drop in demand for gasoline. The jump continued Friday; light, sweet crude passed $139 before settling at $138.54, a gain of $10.75 in the regular session. The surge followed a Morgan Stanley analyst's prediction that crude would reach $150 a barrel by July 4; a decline in the dollar and fresh tensions in the Middle East added to crude's advance. On Wall Street, crude's soaring price intensified worries that ever-more-expensive fuel will lead consumers to curtail their spending on nonessential items. Average gasoline prices are close to $4 a gallon nationwide, and crude's surge is expected to propel prices even higher -- and make Americans more reluctant to spend. Moreover, the spike in energy prices came as the Labor Department said the nation's unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May from 5 percent in April. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Energy fears looming, new survivalists prepare Associated Press (May 24, 2008) - A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings. That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to disappear. Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore off plane travel. She began relying on a wood-burning stove. "I was panic-stricken," the 50-year-old recalled, her voice shaking. "Devastated. Depressed. Afraid. Vulnerable. Weak. Alone. Just terrible." Convinced the planet's oil supply is dwindling and the world's economies are heading for a crash, some people around the country are moving onto homesteads, learning to live off their land, conserving fuel and, in some cases, stocking up on guns they expect to use to defend themselves and their supplies from desperate crowds of people who didn't prepare. The exact number of people taking such steps is impossible to determine, but anecdotal evidence suggests that the movement has been gaining momentum in the last few years. These energy survivalists are not leading some sort of green revolution meant to save the planet. Many of them believe it is too late for that, seeing signs in soaring fuel and food prices and a faltering U.S. economy, and are largely focused on saving themselves. Some are doing it quietly, giving few details of their preparations - afraid that revealing such information as the location of their supplies will endanger themselves and their loved ones. They envision a future in which the nation's cities will be filled with hungry, desperate refugees forced to go looking for food, shelter and water. "There's going to be things that happen when people can't get things that they need for themselves and their families," said Lynn-Marie, who believes cities could see a rise in violence as early as 2012. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Surging inflation will stoke riots and conflict between nations, says report Guardian UK (May 23, 2008) - Riots, protests and political unrest could multiply in the developing world as soaring inflation widens the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots", an investment bank predicted yesterday. Economists at Merrill Lynch view inflation as an "accident waiting to happen". As prices for food and commodities surge, the bank expects global inflation to rise from 3.5% to 4.9% this year. In emerging markets, the average rate is to be 7.3%. The cost of food and fuel has already been cited as a factor leading to violence in Haiti, protests by Argentinian farmers and riots in sub-Saharan Africa, including attacks on immigrants in South African townships. Merrill's chief international economist, Alex Patelis, said this could be the tip of the iceberg, warning of more trouble "between nations and within nations" as people struggle to pay for everyday goods. "Inflation has distributional effects. If everyone's income moved by the same rate, you wouldn't care - but it doesn't," said Patelis. "You have pensioners on fixed pensions. Some people produce rice that triples in price, while others consume it." A report by Merrill urges governments to crack down on inflation, describing the phenomenon as the primary driver of macroeconomic trends. The problem has emerged from poor food harvests, sluggish supplies of energy and soaring demand in rapidly industrialising countries such as China, where wage inflation has reached 18%. Unless policymakers take action to dampen prices and wages, Merrill says sudden shortages could become more frequent. The bank cited power cuts in South Africa and a run on rice in Californian supermarkets as recent examples. "You're going to see tension between nations and within nations," said Patelis. The UN recently set up a taskforce to examine food shortages and price rises. It has expressed alarm that its world food programme is struggling to pay for food for those most at need. Last month, the World Bank's president, Robert Zoellick, suggested that 33 countries could erupt in social unrest following a rise of as much as 80% in food prices over three years. Merrill's report said the credit crunch has contributed to a global re-balancing, drawing to a close an era in which American consumers have been the primary drivers of the world's economy. In a gloomy set of forecasts, Merrill said it believes the US is in a recession - and that American house prices, which are among the root causes of the downturn, could fall by 15% over the next 18 months. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis | 2nd Seal |

Congress vs. OPEC: Flexible-fuel cars One News Now (May 22, 2008) - An engineer and energy authority says the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) led by Saudi Arabia wants to drive the world into an economic depression with the eventual goal of establishing a worldwide Islamic caliphate. Dr. Robert Zubrin has a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering and is president of Pioneer Astronautics, an aerospace engineering firm. He recently published Energy Victory: Win the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil. He believes the OPEC cartel has consciously decided to restrict the production of oil in the face of growing world demand, and that this year the U.S. is going to spend $1 trillion on oil, most of which is going into the pockets of the cartel. "They'll use part of it to fund terrorism internationally," he says, "and they're putting the rest into a giant takeover fund called sovereign wealth funds, which they will use to take over the companies that they wreck as they push us into recession. They'll take over these companies at a fraction of their value; 10 cents on the dollar," Zubrin contends. The author argues that the power of the OPEC cartel must be destroyed internationally -- and that the U.S. Congress can help. He urges Congress to make "flex-fuel" the international standard and force gasoline to compete at the pumps. "The United States Congress can effectively destroy OPEC with the stroke of a pen, simply by passing a law requiring that every new car sold in the United States gives the consumer fuel choice. That is, [to] be a fully flex-fueled car able to run not just on gasoline but on methanol and ethanol," Zubrin explains. According to Zubrin, a Senate bill cosponsored by Senators Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) and Kansas Republican Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) would do just that and crash the price of oil to $50 a barrel. Flexible-fuel vehicles, or FFVs, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, are designed to run on gasoline or a blend of up to 85% ethanol (E85), and have been produced since the 1980s. The DOE says while FFVs experience no loss in performance when operating on E85, they typically get fewer miles per gallon because an equal amount of gasoline contains more energy.
| Islam | America | Economic Crisis |

Ethiopian millions 'risk hunger' BBC News (May 20, 2008) - Six million children in Ethiopia are at risk of acute malnutrition following the failure of rains, the UN children's agency, Unicef, has warned. More than 60,000 children in two Ethiopian regions require immediate specialist feeding just to survive, Unicef says. The situation is expected to worsen in the next few months as crops fail. Aid agencies in Ethiopia say they are short of funds as donors concentrate on the emergencies in China and Burma. Paulette Jones, of the World Food Programme (WFP), said a combination of events had led to the situation. "We have drought - a really poor rainy season - and, of course, we have high food prices worldwide." The UN estimates it currently has a shortfall of 180,000 tonnes of food - and presently has no promises to meet this target. more...
| Economic Crisis |

China says quake killed 12.5 million farm animals, will hurt rice production International Herald Tribune (May 19, 2008) - China's devastating earthquake killed 12.5 million farm animals — mostly chickens — and wrecked vegetable crops and irrigation systems needed to grow rice, the government says. More than 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of vegetables and more than 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of wheat were destroyed by the May 12 quake in Sichuan province, according to the Agriculture Ministry. Damage to irrigation systems could prevent farmers from growing rice on as much as 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of rice paddies, the ministry said. But it said that land might be used for alternative crops while the damage is repaired. Most of the farm animals killed were poultry, said Wei Chao'an, a deputy agriculture minister, in comments reported by the official Xinhua News Agency. He said the losses should not affect food supplies, because they account for a small share of the 1.5 billion birds that Sichuan province was expected to produce this year. Sichuan usually supplies about 6 percent of China's grain and 5 percent of its vegetables, according to Wei.
| Economic Crisis |

High food prices forcing millions of Filipinos into poverty Inquirer.net (May 18, 2008) - Soaring food prices are forcing millions of Filipinos into poverty, the Asian Development Bank said in a study released here Sunday. "Increases in food prices have enormous impacts on poverty" in the Philippines, where poor people spend nearly 60 percent of their income on food, the Manila-based lender said. The Philippines is one of the world's biggest rice importers and the government estimates a third of the country's 90 million people live on a dollar a day or less. Inflation spiked to a three-year high of 8.3 percent last month due mainly to surging prices of rice and petroleum products, which are at all-time highs. A 10-percent rise in food and non-food prices "will lead to an additional 2.3 million and 1.7 million poor people, respectively," the ADB study said. Between January 2007 and March 2008, rice prices have risen at an annual pace of 22.9 percent, the study said, urging Manila to "direct government policies toward stabilizing food prices." "Monetary policy may not be an effective tool to combat rising inflation," it said, adding, "such policies may push the economy into recession, which will hurt the poor even more."
| Economic Crisis |

World economy on thin ice - U.N. CNN Money (May 16, 2008) - The world economy is "teetering on the brink" of a severe downturn and is expected to grow only 1.8% in 2008, the United Nations said in its mid-year economic projections Thursday. That's down from a global growth rate of 3.8% in 2007, and the downturn is expected to continue with only a slightly higher growth of 2.1% in 2009, the U.N. report said. The mid-year update of the U.N. World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008 blamed the downturn on further deterioration in the U.S. housing and financial sectors in the first quarter, which is expected to "continue to be a major drag for the world economy extending into 2009." But the U.N. said developing countries will suffer as badly: They should grow by 5% this year and 4.8% next year, compared to a robust 7.3% in 2007, the report said. The U.N. economists said the deepening credit crisis in major market economies triggered by the U.S.-led slump in housing prices, the declining value of the U.S. dollar, persistent global imbalances and soaring oil and commodity prices pose considerable risks to economic growth in both developed and developing countries. "The baseline forecast projects a pace for world economic growth of 1.8% in 2008," the U.N. report said. However, it said the final figure will largely depend on developments in the United States. Global growth this year could fall to 0.8% if the U.S. subprime mortgage market turmoil has a more serious impact on developing countries and countries in transition, the U.N. report said. But if the monetary and fiscal measures the U.S. government has taken to stimulate the economy - including tax refunds and lower interest rates - boost consumer spending and restore confidence in the business and banking sector, the world economy could only slow to 2.8% growth this year and 2.9% in 2009, it said. The report, prepared by the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, forecast that U.S. economic growth will decline from 2.2% in 2007 to -0.2% this year, with only slight recovery in 2009 to 0.2% growth. "At issue is how deep and long this contraction will be," the report said. "As the housing slump continues and the credit crisis deepens, a broad array of ... indicators are already hinting at a recession." more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Jim Deeds. Hyperinflation: Are We There Yet? McAlvany Weekly Commentary (May 14, 2008) - 65% of American Dollars are circulating outside of the United States. At the moment they trust the American Dollar. 85% of the debt in the last five years has been sold to foreigners like the Russians and the Chinese.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Global hyperinflation just around the corner? How would this affect peace in the earth? What about combined with increased food problems?

Egypt extends ration cards due to high food prices Reuters (May 8, 2008) - Egypt has opened its ration card system to an extra 17 million people and doubled the amount of rice that card holders receive in an effort to counter the effects of rising food prices. The global prices of staple foods have risen more than 40 percent in the last year causing shortages, hoarding and riots in many developing countries and prompting the United Nations to warn of malnutrition and social unrest. In Egypt, inflation has jumped to 16.4 percent and the government is trying to contain growing public discontent over rising food prices which are accentuated by low wages. Three people were killed in a Nile Delta town last month in clashes with police after textile workers tried to strike. Egypt had not added to the ration card registry since 1988 before opening it up for new registrations until June 30. "Up to now we have received about 17 million additional citizens... This means we will cover about 55 million people," Social Solidarity Minister Ali Musailhi told Reuters. Egypt's population is about 75 million. The poor spend a disproportionate amount of their income on food and in Tajikistan, an impoverished Central Asian republic, their problems have been worsened by a locust infestation which threatens maize and wheat crops. Last month, the U.N. said locusts had infested an area of 150,000 hectares -- 30 percent more than last year -- and could damage food supplies in a nation of 7 million. Many countries have responded to high food prices by imposing taxes and other restrictions on exports to try to ensure adequate supplies at home. Export bans by India and Vietnam, the world's second biggest exporter, have helped rice prices in Asia to treble this year and filled the coffers of rice exporters in Thailand. Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, is expecting to sell more than 9 million tonnes of rice overseas this year, about the same as last year, but at far higher prices. Thai rice prices eased this week from a record level above $1,000 a tonne. "Everybody turns the spotlight on Thailand and this year will be the golden year for Thai rice exports," Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan told reporters. more...
| Economic Crisis |

Mogadishu rocked by food demonstrations News Daily (May 5, 2008) - A young man was killed when thousands of Somalis protested in Mogadishu on Monday over food traders' refusal to take old currency notes blamed for stoking spiraling inflation, witnesses said. A shopkeeper shot the man dead after dozens of demonstrators wielding clubs and stones broke into his store. Locals said police wounded a teenage boy while trying to disperse hundreds of angry residents. "The shopkeeper fired a pistol at the crowd and it hit the young man's head," one witness in the Madina district in the southeast of the capital said, refusing to give his name. Despite still being a legal currency, many shopkeepers have been refusing to accept the worn out old notes, saying wholesale traders were also refusing to take them. The Somali shilling is valued at roughly 34,000 to the dollar -- more than double what it is was a year ago -- and many blame the fall in value on counterfeiters. With an interim government focused on containing islamist insurgency, there is no one to control rampant counterfeiting of currency which is often exchanged for real dollars that are then taken out of the country. The problem has been compounded by sharply rising world food prices, leaving many in the lawless Horn of Africa nation of 10 million short of money to buy food, triggering several protests or riots in the past six months. On Monday, thousands were on the streets of the bombed-out capital, clutching tattered old notes while shouting "Down with traders" and "We want to buy food." All shops remained closed and the streets empty as protestors stoned the few vehicles moving around. more...
| Islam | Economic Crisis |

Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says (Update4) Bloomberg (May 1, 2008) - Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency's decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said. "Yes, there are some'' Gulf Cooperation Council states considering dropping their pegs to the dollar, which has fallen 13 percent against the euro in the last 12 months, al-Shimali said in an interview in Kuwait late yesterday without naming the countries. ``Some countries will do what we are doing.'' Al-Shimali's comments may restoke speculation of a change in Middle East currency systems that eased after the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last month ruled out any revaluation or dropping the dollar peg in the short term. The issue will remain a key issue as long as inflation remains high. "Inflation is rising in the Gulf to a great extent because of loose monetary policy,'' said Marios Maratheftis, head of research for Standard Chartered Plc in the Middle East in a telephone interview from Dubai. "Tightening monetary policy can only happen if they drop their currency pegs or strengthen the currency, preferably both.'' The U.A.E., Bahrain and Qatar lowered their benchmark interest rates today by a quarter point, matching a cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve a day earlier. The move is needed to maintain the dollar pegs. Saudi Arabia is on its weekend while Oman moves its interest rates in line with the London Inter Bank Offered Rate. Inflation is running close to 10 percent in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., while Qatar's consumer prices rose 14 percent in the fourth quarter. The Kuwaiti dinar has appreciated 7.9 percent against the dollar since the nation in May became the only Gulf Arab state to drop its peg to the U.S. currency. Contracts to buy U.A.E. dirhams in 12 months time are trading at a 2 percent premium and Saudi riyal forwards are trading at a 1.3 percent premium to the spot price, suggesting that some traders are betting that those countries will follow Kuwait in revaluing. The link to the dollar meant that imports in euros and other currencies that have strengthened against the dollar became more expensive. The idea of dropping the peg "has been started by other Gulf countries and they are partially going this way because the dollar has been going down for some time,'' al-Shimali said yesterday. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Global Paradigm Shift: From Free Market Capitalism to State Controlled Socialism McAlvany Weekly Commentary (April 30, 2008)

While listening to this audio, keep in mind that according to Bible prophecy, there will be a global cashless economic system. One of the precursors to that, according to some interpretation of scripture, is an economic and food crisis, the third seal, which could lead to the implementation of a new financial system.

| NewWorldOrder | Economic Crisis |

Iran completely stops conducting oil transactions in US dollars USA Today (April 30, 2008) - A top Oil Ministry official says Iran, OPEC's second-largest producer, has completely stopped conducting all its oil transactions in U.S. dollars. Iran has dramatically reduced dependence on the dollar over the past year in the face of increasing U.S. pressure on its financial system and the fall in the value of the American currency. Oil is priced in U.S. dollars on the world market and the currency's depreciation has concerned producers because it has contributed to rising crude prices and eroded the value of their dollar reserves. Iran has already said it was shifting its oil sales out of the dollar into other currencies. Oil Ministry official Hojjatollah Ghanimifard said Wednesday all oil transactions are now being carried out in euros and yen.
| Iran | America | Economic Crisis |

Euro dives as wheels fly off eurozone economy Telegraph UK (April 26, 2008) - The euro has suffered its sharpest drop in four years as a blizzard of weak data from Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain spark fears that economic contagion may be spreading from the Anglo-Saxon world to Europe. Spain's business federation warned that Spanish unemployment will rise by 500,000 by the summer unless the government takes "valiant measures" to offset the housing and construction crash. "For every dwelling not built, two workers will lose their jobs," said the group's president, Gerardo Diaz Ferran. The country's credit group ASNEF said the volume of personal loans had dropped 30pc in the first quarter, the worst performance since the country's financial crisis in the early 1990s. Troubling data in Spain has been building for months, but investors have tended to focus on Germany as a proxy for the whole eurozone. A shock drop in Germany's IFO business confidence index yesterday caused an abrupt change of mood in the currency markets. The euro plunged to $1.5646 against the dollar, down from its all-time peak of $1.6018 on Tuesday. It is still 27pc above its level two years ago. The German data follows a slide in the Belgian index, which captures crucial port activity in Antwerp. The headline confidence figure fell to -7.4 in April from plus 1.2 in March, with a dramatic slump in the export order books to -14. This is flashing near-recession warnings. David Owen, an economist at Dresdner Kleinwort, said Europe would soon be engulfed by the twin effects of a "collapse in export volumes" and a slow motion credit squeeze. "The wheels are coming off the eurozone economy," he said. BNP Paribas warned clients yesterday that the "decoupling story" was no longer credible. "We see Europe in the early stage of a credit crunch, and if we are right credit supply will shut down," it said. Key governors of the European Central Bank began to back away from their hawkish stance of recent weeks, clearly disturbed by the market perception that they are mulling a rate rise to choke off price rises. Inflation has reached a post-EMU high of 3.6pc on surging oil and food costs. Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, went out of his way yesterday to brief journalists that "sharp" currency moves had "possible implications for financial and economic stability", a coded threat of co-ordinated intervention by world central banks. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | Economic Crisis |

Keep in mind that while Europe is the center of power in Bible prophecy, there is going to be a new global economic system that I believe will replace paper money with electronic money linked through technology to RFID that will require a mark to buy or sell. The world central banks seem to be the ones with the power to bail out anyone and they are some of the greatest proponents of a global governance scheme. I think its a matter of time before this comes about and if the timing I've come across is accurate it could be within a year. Is that possible? Given the events that are coming about, it just may be but I'm still watching too.

California foreclosure "surge": Up 327% from '07 levels Los Angeles Times (April 22, 2008) - The number of California homes lost to foreclosure in the first quarter surged 327% from year-ago levels -- reaching an average of more than 500 foreclosures per day -- DataQuick said in a report, warning that the widening foreclosure problem could "spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans." From DataQuick's report on California foreclosures in the first three months of 2008: "Trustees Deeds recorded, or the actual loss of a home to foreclosure, totaled 47,171 during the first quarter. ...  Last quarter's total rose 48.9 percent from 31,676 in the previous quarter, and jumped 327.6 percent from 11,032 in first quarter 2007."  That translates into 517 foreclosures every day in the first quarter of 2008. DataQuick president Marshall Prentice: "The main factor behind this foreclosure surge remains the decline in home values. Additionally, a lot of the 'loans-gone-wild' activity happened in late 2005 and 2006 and that's working its way through the system. The big 'if' right now is whether or not the economy is in recession. If it is, the foreclosure problem could spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans." From The L.A. Times' Peter Hong: "Sinking home values and the collapse of flimsy mortgages sent a record number of California homes into the foreclosure process in the first three months of this year, a real estate information service reported today." Default notices -- which mark the beginning of the foreclosure process -- increased sharply, but not as rapidly as outright foreclosures. From Bloomberg News: "California mortgage defaults more than doubled in the first quarter to the highest in 15 years as a drop in sales and prices prevented some homeowners from selling their properties to pay debt, DataQuick Information Systems said. More: "Homeowners received 113,676 default notices in the first quarter, up 143 percent from a year ago, La Jolla, California- based DataQuick said today in a statement. The level was the highest since at least 1992, when DataQuick's statistics begin." Despite well publicized federal efforts to reach out to homeowners in default, the odds that they will ultimately lose their homes appear to be increasing. DataQuick reports that, of the homeowners in default, "an estimated 32 percent emerge from the foreclosure process by bringing their payments current, refinancing, or selling the home and paying off what they owe. A year ago it was about 52 percent.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Across globe, hunger brings rising anger International Herald Tribune (April 18, 2008) - Hunger bashed in the front gate of Haiti's presidential palace. Hunger poured onto the streets, burning tires and taking on soldiers and the police. Hunger sent the country's prime minister packing. Haiti's hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian staples like beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures. Saint Louis Meriska's children ate two spoonfuls of rice apiece as their only meal recently and then went without any food the following day. His eyes downcast, his own stomach empty, the unemployed father said forlornly, "They look at me and say, 'Papa, I'm hungry,' and I have to look away. It's humiliating and it makes you angry." That anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis is not only being felt among the poor but is also eroding the gains of the working and middle classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on fragile governments. In Cairo, the military is being put to work baking bread as rising food prices threaten to become the spark that ignites wider anger at a repressive government. In Burkina Faso and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, food riots are breaking out as never before. In reasonably prosperous Malaysia, the ruling coalition was nearly ousted by voters who cited food and fuel price increases as their main concerns. "It's the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years," said Jeffrey Sachs, the economist and special adviser to the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. "It's a big deal and it's obviously threatening a lot of governments. There are a number of governments on the ropes, and I think there's more political fallout to come." Indeed, as it roils developing nations, the spike in commodity prices — the biggest since the Nixon administration — has pitted the globe's poorer south against the relatively wealthy north, adding to demands for reform of rich nations' farm and environmental policies. But experts say there are few quick fixes to a crisis tied to so many factors, from strong demand for food from emerging economies like China's to rising oil prices to the diversion of food resources to make biofuels. There are no scripts on how to handle the crisis, either. In Asia, governments are putting in place measures to limit hoarding of rice after some shoppers panicked at price increases and bought up everything they could. Even in Thailand, which produces 10 million more tons of rice than it consumes and is the world's largest rice exporter, supermarkets have placed signs limiting the amount of rice shoppers are allowed to purchase. But there is also plenty of nervousness and confusion about how best to proceed and just how bad the impact may ultimately be, particularly as already strapped governments struggle to keep up their food subsidies... "Why are these riots happening?" asked Arif Husain, senior food security analyst at the World Food Program, which has issued urgent appeals for donations. "The human instinct is to survive, and people are going to do no matter what to survive. And if you're hungry you get angry quicker." Leaders who ignore the rage do so at their own risk. President René Préval of Haiti appeared to taunt the populace as the chorus of complaints about la vie chère — the expensive life — grew. He said if Haitians could afford cellphones, which many do carry, they should be able to feed their families. "If there is a protest against the rising prices," he said, "come get me at the palace and I will demonstrate with you." When they came, filled with rage and by the thousands, he huddled inside and his presidential guards, with United Nations peacekeeping troops, rebuffed them. Within days, opposition lawmakers had voted out Préval's prime minister, Jacques-Édouard Alexis, forcing him to reconstitute his government. Fragile in even the best of times, Haiti's population and politics are now both simmering. more...
| 3rd Seal | Economic Crisis |

This increased anger and frustration could also contribute to the peace being taken from the earth described in the second seal as well, hunger is a powerful force as is self-preservation. In places with a philosophy of "every man for himself" and "look out for number one," it could easily get ugly. And in America as economic woes increase, we could see an increase in crime as well.

EU: Europe Needs More Say in World Economy Talks As Strong Euro Gains Ground Associated Press (April 11, 2008) - The European Union's top economy official has said that Europe deserved a greater say in the global economy as the strong euro gains ground as the world's second major currency. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Friday that the rest of the world now sees the euro currency zone as "a pole of stability" and the currency had the potential to become even more important. The euro is now second to the weak U.S. dollar as a reserve currency held by foreign investors and has risen sharply against the dollar in recent months, hitting a new all-time high of $1.5912 on Thursday. Almunia said the euro area is now "playing an increasingly important role in supporting the stability of the world economy and the global financial system." "Non-EU countries increasingly perceive the euro area and the EU as a whole as a pole of stability, a source of new capital, and also a source of advice and expertise on regulatory approaches," he said in a speech to the Petersen Institute in Washington D.C. His prepared remarks were distributed ahead of time by his Brussels office. The EU official called for the 15 euro nations to share a single seat when world leaders meet to discuss the economy at the International Monetary Fund or the G-7 group of top seven industrialized nations. In the G-7, this would come at the expense of euro users Germany, France and Italy which now represent themselves at these talks. The euro's greater role carried some risks, he warned, because it increased the region's exposure to shocks from other parts of the world and "disruptive portfolio shifts" between major currencies. "It is precisely such shocks that are likely to occur more frequently in a world characterized by financial and economic globalization," he said. He again signaled worry about the U.S.' huge current account deficit, saying a sudden "unwinding" could hit Europe hard, since its currency is still appreciating against the dollar. The euro now makes up 26 percent of foreign exchange reserves and is the second most actively traded currency after the U.S. dollar on global foreign exchange markets. Euro-dollar trades are the most popular foreign exchange deals, accounting for more than a quarter of global turnover.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Will Uncle Sam let the dollar collapse? Telegraph.uk (April 1, 2008) - The dollar is taking a pounding. With the US sinking deeper into recession, the greenback recently hit an all-time low against the euro and a 12-year low against the yen. Last week, America's currency fell again - dropping more than 2 per cent in euro terms, to $1.5779. On a trade-weighted basis, the dollar is now south of its late-70s low point and close to its historic nadir of the mid-1990s. The markets sense the US Federal Reserve, having already slashed interest rates by 300 basis points to 2.25 per cent since the credit crunch erupted last summer, will soon cut rates even more. The European Central Bank, in stark contrast, looks determined to keep rates at 4 per cent - where they've been since sub-prime broke. Eurozone inflation, at 3.3 per cent, is still way above target. And with ECB Chairman Jean-Claude Trichet stressing upside price pressures last week, eurozone rate cuts seem unlikely. In other words, the gap between euro and dollar rates looks set to get wider - making the US currency even less attractive. And, last week, just as fresh data showed America's housing and manufacturing sector weakening further, business confidence in Germany - the eurozone's largest economy - jumped up. That suggested an even bigger euro-dollar interest differential, piling still more pressure on the greenback. But a falling dollar is not necessarily bad news for the American economy. The underlying reason for the currency's weakness, beyond the current woes on Wall Street, is that years of over-consumption have resulted in a massive US trade deficit - which, in 2006, reached 6 per cent of GDP. The dollar's decline has lately helped address that - by making US goods more competitive. Over the last two years, American exports have risen 17 per cent in value terms, cutting the trade shortfall to 4.7 per cent of national income. In other words, as has often happened in recent decades, a falling dollar has shoved the burden of America's adjustment onto the rest of the world. And now - as the White House knows well - a further dollar slide will play a large part in rescuing the domestic economy. The US takes a dim view of other countries - such as China - allowing their currencies to remain weak against the dollar. But when it comes to old-fashioned beggar-thy-neighbour exchange rate policy, the Americans are past masters. There are limits to this process. The euro has risen some 17 per cent against the dollar over the last year, with much of that rise happening since January. This makes life tough for the eurozone's exporting economies - which, apart from Germany, are now suffering badly. That's why Trichet now expresses "concern" at the drooping dollar. French president Nicolas Sarkozy has gone further - describing America's ailing currency as "a precursor to economic war". Elsewhere, too, the complaints are getting louder. Japan's Finance Minister, Fukushiro Nukaga, says the dollar's decline is now "excessive". Such statements are preparing the ground for a meeting in two weeks' time - when finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 gather in Washington. The headlines will be about post sub-prime regulation. But the meat of the summit concerns the dollar. The big question is whether to intervene in foreign exchange markets to prop up the currency. When co-ordinated among several large central banks, such initiatives have worked quite well. The 1987 Louvre Accord helped halt a sliding dollar, as did joint intervention by the US and Japan in 1995. But, if the G7's upcoming dollar dialogue is conducted in whispered tones, another much bigger question won't be discussed at all - the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency. The cracks are now starting to show in the dollar's reserve currency status. For the first time, Saudi Arabia now refuses to cut interest rates in line with the Fed - the first step towards a break in the kingdom's dollar peg. If that break happened, it would spark a massive flight of Middle Eastern assets away from the US currency. Chinese exporters are also now shunning the dollar in non-US transactions. Again, that's a worrying sign for the States. With its $1,400bn of reserves, China is the biggest investor in dollar-denominated assets by far. With the Fed expected to cut rates by at least another 25 basis points at its next meeting on April 30, the dollar can only get weaker in the coming month. So the US may be forced into a G7 initiative to strengthen its currency. The trouble is, since the last joint-intervention, the balance of world power has changed. Today, around 75 per cent of the world's foreign exchange reserves are held not by the West, but by the likes of China, Russia and Brazil. So any initiative will have to involve them - even though they're not in the G7. And that will expose the grouping for what it is - an anachronistic hark-back to a world that no longer exists. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

I think the apparent stability in Europe may signal that being the center of a global cashless system in the event of global disaster or other emergencies. According to Bible prophecy, disaster is coming as is the center of power from the revived Roman Empire evidenced in the global governance being developed from there and affecting the Western world. Free trade and fear of terrorism is harmonizing international law and Europe is being viewed more and more as the template for success in that matter given the surface perspective of success since WWII ended. With the North American Union (video), we are seeing the same pattern eating slowly away at our control over our own laws and eventually currency just as with Europe after WWII. You'll never hear them admit it in that light though.

Bernanke: Federal Reserve caused Great Depression WorldNet Daily (March 19, 2008) - Despite the varied theories espoused by many establishment economists, it was none other than the Federal Reserve that caused the Great Depression and the horrific suffering, deprivation and dislocation America and the world experienced in its wake. At least, that's the clearly stated view of current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. The worldwide economic downturn called the Great Depression, which persisted from 1929 until about 1939, was the longest and worst depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. While originating in the U.S., it ended up causing drastic declines in output, severe unemployment, and acute deflation in virtually every country on earth. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "the Great Depression ranks second only to the Civil War as the gravest crisis in American history." What exactly caused this economic tsunami that devastated the U.S. and much of the world? In "A Monetary History of the United States," Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman along with coauthor Anna J. Schwartz lay the mega-catastrophe of the Great Depression squarely at the feet of the Federal Reserve. Here's how Friedman summed up his views on the Fed and the Depression in an Oct. 1, 2000, interview with PBS:

PBS: You've written that what really caused the Depression was mistakes by the government. Looking back now, what in your view was the actual cause?

Friedman: Well, we have to distinguish between the recession of 1929, the early stages, and the conversion of that recession into a major catastrophe. The recession was an ordinary business cycle. We had repeated recessions over hundreds of years, but what converted [this one] into a major depression was bad monetary policy. The Federal Reserve System had been established to prevent what actually happened. It was set up to avoid a situation in which you would have to close down banks, in which you would have a banking crisis. And yet, under the Federal Reserve System, you had the worst banking crisis in the history of the United States. There's no other example I can think of, of a government measure which produced so clearly the opposite of the results that were intended. And what happened is that [the Federal Reserve] followed policies which led to a decline in the quantity of money by a third. For every $100 in paper money, in deposits, in cash, in currency, in existence in 1929, by the time you got to 1933 there was only about $65, $66 left. And that extraordinary collapse in the banking system, with about a third of the banks failing from beginning to end, with millions of people having their savings essentially washed out, that decline was utterly unnecessary. At all times, the Federal Reserve had the power and the knowledge to have stopped that. And there were people at the time who were all the time urging them to do that. So it was, in my opinion, clearly a mistake of policy that led to the Great Depression.

Although economists have pontificated over the decades about this or that cause of the Great Depression, even the current Fed chairman Ben S. Bernanke, agrees with Friedman's assessment that the Fed caused the Great Depression. At a Nov. 8, 2002, conference to honor Friedman's 90th birthday, Bernanke, then a Federal Reserve governor, gave a speech at Friedman's old home base, the University of Chicago. Here's a bit of what Bernanke, the man who now runs the Fed – and thus, one of the most powerful people in the world – had to say that day:

I can think of no greater honor than being invited to speak on the occasion of Milton Friedman's ninetieth birthday. Among economic scholars, Friedman has no peer. … Today I'd like to honor Milton Friedman by talking about one of his greatest contributions to economics, made in close collaboration with his distinguished coauthor, Anna J. Schwartz. This achievement is nothing less than to provide what has become the leading and most persuasive explanation of the worst economic disaster in American history, the onset of the Great Depression – or, as Friedman and Schwartz dubbed it, the Great Contraction of 1929-33. … As everyone here knows, in their "Monetary History" Friedman and Schwartz made the case that the economic collapse of 1929-33 was the product of the nation's monetary mechanism gone wrong. Contradicting the received wisdom at the time that they wrote, which held that money was a passive player in the events of the 1930s, Friedman and Schwartz argued that "the contraction is in fact a tragic testimonial to the importance of monetary forces."

After citing how Friedman and Schwartz documented the Fed's continual contraction of the money supply during the Depression and its aftermath – and the subsequent abandonment of the gold standard by many nations in order to stop the devastating monetary contraction – Bernanke adds:

… Before the creation of the Federal Reserve, Friedman and Schwartz noted, bank panics were typically handled by banks themselves – for example, through urban consortiums of private banks called clearinghouses. If a run on one or more banks in a city began, the clearinghouse might declare a suspension of payments, meaning that, temporarily, deposits would not be convertible into cash. Larger, stronger banks would then take the lead, first, in determining that the banks under attack were in fact fundamentally solvent, and second, in lending cash to those banks that needed to meet withdrawals. Though not an entirely satisfactory solution – the suspension of payments for several weeks was a significant hardship for the public – the system of suspension of payments usually prevented local banking panics from spreading or persisting. Large, solvent banks had an incentive to participate in curing panics because they knew that an unchecked panic might ultimately threaten their own deposits.

It was in large part to improve the management of banking panics that the Federal Reserve was created in 1913. However, as Friedman and Schwartz discuss in some detail, in the early 1930s the Federal Reserve did not serve that function. The problem within the Fed was largely doctrinal: Fed officials appeared to subscribe to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon's infamous 'liquidationist' thesis, that weeding out "weak" banks was a harsh but necessary prerequisite to the recovery of the banking system. Moreover, most of the failing banks were small banks (as opposed to what we would now call money-center banks) and not members of the Federal Reserve System. Thus the Fed saw no particular need to try to stem the panics. At the same time, the large banks – which would have intervened before the founding of the Fed – felt that protecting their smaller brethren was no longer their responsibility. Indeed, since the large banks felt confident that the Fed would protect them if necessary, the weeding out of small competitors was a positive good, from their point of view.

In short, according to Friedman and Schwartz, because of institutional changes and misguided doctrines, the banking panics of the Great Contraction were much more severe and widespread than would have normally occurred during a downturn. …

Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again. Best wishes for your next ninety years.

Today, the entire Western financial world holds its breath every time the Fed chairman speaks, so influential are the central bank's decisions on markets, interest rates and the economy in general. Yet the Fed, supposedly created to smooth out business cycles and prevent disruptive economic downswings like the Great Depression, has actually done the opposite.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

What strikes me about this is that it is admitted that the Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression, and one of the results of the Great Depression was the confiscation of gold by the government in 1933 by Executive order of President Roosevelt.

Executive order: By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5(B) of The Act of Oct. 6, 1917, as amended by section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933, in which Congress declared that a serious emergency exists, I as President, do declare that the national emergency still exists; That the continued private hoarding of gold and silver by subjects of the United States poses a grave threat to the peace, equal justice, and well-being of the United States; and that appropriate measures must be taken immediately to protect the interests of our people.

"Therefore, pursuant to the above authority, I herby proclaim that such gold and silver holdings are prohibited, and that all such coin, bullion or other possessions of gold and silver be tendered within fourteen days to agents of the Government of the United States for compensation at the official price, in the legal tender of the Government. All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed, pending action in the due course of the law. All sales or purchases or movements of such gold and silver within the borders of the United States and its territories, and all foreign exchange transactions or movements of such metals across the border are herby prohibited.

"Your possession of these proscribed metals and/or your maintenance of a safe-deposit box to store them is known to the Government from bank and insurance records. Therefore, be advised
that your vault box must remain sealed, and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of The Internal Revenue Service.

"By lawful Order given this day, the President of the United States."

This forced the trade of gold by individuals for paper currency that lost 95% of its value in the following years. Watch America: Freedom to Fascism as well as Monopoly Men, Money As Debt, and Money, Banking & the Federal Reserve for more history on what our Dollar really is and how unstable it is. In a society living on credit made from thin air feeding the international bankers, the system is bound to collapse. Now one could label me a conspiracy theorist, but I don't mind because there are people with a plan that is self-serving and takes advantage of the general population. They are guided by a spirit that God says we are at war with, spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:11,12 This isn't a war of traditional weapons, but of spiritual weapons, the Word of God and the ideas of love expressed in them that we are to live by in imitation of Christ.

Could it be that a small group with a big plan could push through a system intended to milk a nation to feed the bigger plan of a New World Order as foretold in the Bible? Thinking in terms of just men, the thought is pretty crazy. However, we must remember that a spiritual force who has been around from before mankind is working for our destruction and has great influence over an ignorant mankind and he often uses generation after generation of initiates into groups keeping secrets. This is the mystery of iniquity at work today, not always defined by single men yet evident at times in their actions and the fruits of their labors. Is this another case of men being tricked and manipulated for a transfer of wealth and power toward a globalist end? Time will tell, but the more I study and watch, the more likely it seems. The way the Federal Reserve came into existence and what it caused and where we're at now because of it all seems to point in the same direction and believe it or not, there are conspiracies out there. What can be done? Nothing if the Bible is true as it foretells this global control and the man to whom Lucifer will give it. I believe the Bible is the Word of God and will come to pass exactly as foretold. What we should do is build our personal relationship with Yeshua and share the good news of our salvation with those with ears to hear. The end will come in God's timing, let us remain faithful to Him in grace and truth toward others.

Fed Offers $100 Billion More to Banks News Max (March 28, 2008) - The Federal Reserve announced Friday it will auction another $100 billion in April to cash-strapped banks as it continues to combat the effects of a credit crisis. The central bank said it would make $50 billion available at each of two auctions, on April 7 and April 21. Through the end of March, the Fed has provided $260 billion in short-term loans to commercial banks through the innovative auction process. It also has employed Depression-era provisions to provide money to investment banks. All the moves have been designed to cope with a serious financial crisis that has roiled U.S. and global markets and caused the near-collapse of Bear Stearns Cos., the nation's fifth largest investment bank. The Fed has been holding auctions every two seeks since December to provide short-term loans to commercial banks. It started with auctions of $20 billion, then pushed the level to $30 billion, and in early March raised the auction amount to $50 billion as the credit shortage grew more severe. In announcing the move to $50 billion last month, the Fed said it would continue the auctions for at least the next six months, unless credit conditions show they are no longer needed. The auctions are just one of a series of unorthodox steps the Fed has taken to battle the current crisis. The biggest of those moves was an announcement that it was allowing investment banks to borrow directly from the Fed. Previously, only commercial banks, which face tighter regulations, had that privilege. The Fed also said it would make available $30 billion in financing to support the sale of troubled Bear Stearns to JP Morgan Chase & Co., hoping to prevent a bankruptcy that could have rocked Wall Street. The Fed's auctions have drawn criticism from some that the central bank, and ultimately U.S. taxpayers, could be financing a bailout for big Wall Street firms that had engaged in risky lending practices. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will fact questions about the Fed's recent moves when he testifies on Wednesday before the congressional Joint Economic Committee.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Congress, watchdog probe passport security The Washington Times (March 27, 2008) - Three House leaders and the Government Printing Office's watchdog said yesterday that they are investigating security concerns about the production of electronic passports highlighted during an investigation by The Washington Times. Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, criticized the GPO for using foreign components in new electronic passports. "It is just plain irresponsible to jeopardize the gold standard in document security by outsourcing production when U.S. companies ought to be able to do the same work here," said Mr. Thompson, who announced that his panel is investigating the outsourcing. Rep. John D. Dingell and Rep. Bart Stupak said they also are investigating the overseas production of electronic passports. The two Michigan Democrats said they are looking into whether profits made by the GPO through selling blank passports to the State Department may have violated the law limiting the GPO's business practices. The Times reported yesterday that the GPO chose two European computer chip makers over U.S. manufacturers to make tens of millions of electronic passports. The passports are being assembled in Thailand by one company that was a victim of Chinese economic espionage. "If true, these allegations raised in today's press reports are extremely serious not only to the integrity of our e-Passport program, but also to our national security," said Mr. Dingell, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Mr. Stupak, chairman of the subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said, "Given all of the personal information contained in an e-passport, it is essential that the entire production chain be secure and free from potential tampering." Mr. Dingell and Mr. Stupak said in a letter yesterday to GPO Inspector General J. Anthony Ogden and Public Printer Robert Tapella that they are investigating the management, production and distribution of electronic passports. Mr. Thompson, commenting on a report in yesterday's editions of The Washington Times, said in a statement that the credibility of U.S. passports is "of the utmost importance to our homeland security." "Questions alone about the production and chain of custody of blank U.S. passports can send shock waves through our homeland security infrastructure," he said. "The Committee on Homeland Security will use all of the tools available to determine if American technologies are being overlooked and what implications there might be for other border security documents and technologies." Mr. Ogden earlier said his office is conducting an "end-to-end" review of the agency's production of electronic passports and will look into the outsourcing of some passport components, such as computer chips embedded in travel documents. "We do pay close attention to the issue of passport manufacturing. It is a high priority of this office," Mr. Ogden said in an interview. Mr. Ogden said his office's current work plan includes the review "to help improve the process of manufacturing passports. That's no secret." One of the companies involved in passport production in Thailand, Smartrac, charged in a court filing in the Netherlands last year that its technology was stolen by China. The company issued a statement yesterday saying its passport assembly plant was secure, CNN reported. The outsourcing has raised concerns among investigators over the security of passports. GPO and State Department officials have sought to play down security concerns and have said they conduct regular checks of overseas manufacturers. Mr. Ogden said deficiencies in passport manufacturing detailed in an Oct. 12 report cited by the paper were related to older, non-electronic passports. He declined to specify the deficiencies but said the agency has been responsive in addressing many of the problems.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | Technology | America | Economic Crisis |

I suppose I'm not really surprised that European companies using cheaper labor in Thailand would be making our e-passports since in the end the same basic system will probably be used for tracking people through the mark of the beast.

Outsourced passports netting govt. profits, risking national security The Washington Times (March 26, 2008) - The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to overseas companies — including one in Thailand that was victimized by Chinese espionage — raising concerns that cost savings are being put ahead of national security, an investigation by The Washington Times has found. The Government Printing Office's decision to export the work has proved lucrative, allowing the agency to book more than $100 million in recent profits by charging the State Department more money for blank passports than it actually costs to make them, according to interviews with federal officials and documents obtained by The Times. The profits have raised questions both inside the agency and in Congress because the law that created GPO as the federal government's official printer explicitly requires the agency to break even by charging only enough to recover its costs. Lawmakers said they were alarmed by The Times' findings and plan to investigate why U.S. companies weren't used to produce the state-of-the-art passports, one of the crown jewels of American border security. "I am not only troubled that there may be serious security concerns with the new passport production system, but also that GPO officials may have been profiting from producing them," said Rep. John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Officials at GPO, the Homeland Security Department and the State Department played down such concerns, saying they are confident that regular audits and other protections already in place will keep terrorists and foreign spies from stealing or copying the sensitive components to make fake passports. "Aside from the fact that we have fully vetted and qualified vendors, we also note that the materials are moved via a secure transportation means, including armored vehicles," GPO spokesman Gary Somerset said. But GPO Inspector General J. Anthony Ogden, the agency's internal watchdog, doesn't share that confidence. He warned in an internal Oct. 12 report that there are "significant deficiencies with the manufacturing of blank passports, security of components, and the internal controls for the process." more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | Technology | America | Economic Crisis |

Embassies pay for devalued dollar The Washington Times (March 22, 2008) - The State Department is losing millions as a result of the free-falling dollar, forcing its overseas missions to lay off local staff, reduce energy consumption, put facility repairs on hold and cancel travel, officials said. Although the dollar's weakness is affecting embassies and consulates around the world, the most drastic measures are being taken in Europe, where the euro has been trading around $1.54. "It's beginning to hurt — there is no question about it. It's tough on us," said Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. Another official said that 24 percent of the State Department's main operating account, which is $3.8 billion for 2008, is disbursed in foreign currencies. "We already have a tight budget, and the buying power of those limited resources is further affected by the decline of the dollar," the official said. He noted that the department has a "buying power maintenance account" where it puts money when the dollar's value goes up, but "there is no money in it now." "The biggest impact I have seen is our ability to program events," a Foreign Service officer in Europe said. "We have had to become very creative in finding cost-saving measures." Public diplomacy programs are among the most affected, officials said. The officers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters. "The weak dollar has made it much more expensive to do our work, limiting our ability to travel around the country to monitor events and engage contacts, limiting the number of representational events we can organize for visiting U.S. and host-country officials," said another officer in Europe. Several officials said the higher cost of maintaining existing facilities abroad reduces the funds available for renovations and new construction. "We'd like to put in new embassies in some places, but the price tag is going up every day," Mr. Hill said. A third Foreign Service officer in Europe said that at his embassy "electricity usage is being cut by reducing lighting and turning off hot water heaters." "We have turned off every other fluorescent light in our offices and hallways," he said. "We can still work, but it feels like permanent sunset." Another major expense in foreign currency are the salaries of thousands of local employees at U.S. embassies and consulates. The first officer in Europe said that her salary is now lower than that of her assistant, who is a national of the host country. Still, the officer said that what the assistant makes is "below the salary level [it] should be to be competitive on the local market." While some posts in Europe are limiting or banning overtime for local employees, others are resorting to freezing pay or even layoffs, officials there said. Layoffs add to the workload of Foreign Service officers, they said. American diplomats are protected against a sinking dollar by an allowance that goes up when the U.S. currency goes down. That allowance has just been increased in most European countries. In Paris, it jumped from 80 percent to 90 percent of "spendable income," or the amount after taxes, contributions and other payments. "Given the time it takes to make the adjustment in the salary, you do lose out a bit, but nothing major," an officer in central Europe said. Several officers said the allowance is less meaningful to junior officers, whose salaries are relatively low. It is also more difficult for those with children, because they buy locally more than others. Most officers make purchases from catalogs that are shipped to them from the United States for no additional charge. Even though many diplomats said they still live comfortably, they are cutting back on eating out, personal travel and other entertainment. The biggest challenge, they said, are events like weddings, births or other celebrations. One officer said that his upcoming wedding, with about 100 guests, will easily cost more than $50,000, while a couple of years ago the price tag would have been about $30,000. "I don't have that kind of money, and I don't make that kind of money," he said. "For this once-in-a-lifetime situation, I'm really struggling." He added that he could have saved thousands of dollars by having the wedding back home, but he is gay, and gay marriage is illegal in the United States. It is legal in the western European country where he is serving, which is also where his partner is from. While the cost-of-living allowance of American diplomats in Europe is going up, their European counterparts in Washington said theirs is being reduced. "At the last adjustment, our 'expatriation bonus' went down about 7.5 percent," one European diplomat said. "We'll lose more money in the coming months."
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Treasury Department Making Special Agreements With Islam Over Vital U.S. Investments Bill Koenig News (March 21, 2008) - The U.S. Treasury Department has rushed to secure agreements with Islamic nations over their bid to take huge ownership positions in America’s largest financial institutions. The agreements, although not yet public, seek to allay the concerns that Islamic nations would use their financial muscle to impose Sharia law over U.S. investment firms. The agreements lay down precedence for how secretive sovereign wealth funds will invest their money in U.S. companies. The agreements, which are outside the laws, call for more transparency in disclosing purpose, returns and regulatory compliance. They also seek to prevent political leverage associated with Islamic ownership of U.S. companies. The entire U.S. government is dangerously off base in handling the Islamic world. The government is operating under the concept that by legitimizing Islam through democratic principle and Western-type agreements that Islam will behave like any other entity bound by the covenant of agreement and law. For example, the U.S. has supported the establishing of a Palestinian state in Israel under the belief that by giving Islamic terrorists their own state, they will somehow change their behavior to peaceful coexistence with Israel. The Bush Administration has done the same by recognizing Kosovo and has done the same in Pakistan by allowing a safe zone area near the Afghanistan border for the Taliban and al Qaeda. By entering into agreements, as the Treasury Department has, with Islamic governments, the Treasury Department is under the false assumption that the Islamists will deal honestly according to the agreements. Did the United States expect Hitler to abide by agreements? Did the United States expect the Soviet Union to abide by agreements? If we did, we were highly disappointed. Even today, North Korea, Iran, China, Syria, Russia, and many others are not trustworthy in compliance with agreements. This is because they operate on a different set of standards than does the United States. It is folly to think that countries that do not recognize Judeo-Christian values will abide by laws and agreements based on honoring Judeo-Christian laws. And moreover, if this nation is at war with a fascist entity such as Islam, it is foolish to expect that Islam will honor any agreement with America. Oil prices are at record levels for one reason—Islam is draining the United States of its middle class and using the money to buy key United States businesses that control wealth and wealth distribution. 1st Corinthians 15:33 says, “Be not deceived: evil companionship corrupts good moral habits.” America is breaking its covenant with God by supporting and trusting Islam.
| Islam | America | Economic Crisis |

Dollar plunges to fresh record euro low Breitbart.com (February 27, 2008) - The dollar plunged to another record low against the European single currency on Wednesday as a stream of negative US data undermined the greenback, analysts said. In morning deals, the euro surged as high as 1.5088 dollars, after smashing through the 1.50 barrier for the first ever time in US trade on Tuesday. "The euro is trading above 1.50 against the dollar for the first time since the eurozone came into existence in January 1999," said Global Insight analyst Howard Archer. "This is primarily a consequence of the dollar being undermined by further weak US data heightening concerns over the US economy and reinforcing expectations of additional interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve."
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America | Economic Crisis |

Foreclosures up 57 percent in the past year MSNBC (February 26, 2008) - The number of homes facing foreclosure jumped 57 percent in January compared to a year ago, with lenders increasingly forced to take possession of homes they couldn’t unload at auctions, a mortgage research firm said Monday. Nationwide, some 233,001 homes received at least one notice from lenders last month related to overdue payments, compared with 148,425 a year earlier, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac Inc. Nearly half of the total involved first-time default notices. The worsening situation came despite ongoing efforts by lenders to help borrowers manage their payments by modifying loan terms, working out long-term repayment plans and other actions “You have more people going into default and a higher percentage of the properties going back to the banks,” said Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s vice president of marketing. The U.S. foreclosure rate last month was one filing for every 534 homes. The Cape Coral-Fort Myers area in Florida posted the highest foreclosure rate of any metro area in the nation, with one of every 86 homes in some stage of foreclosure, said RealtyTrac Inc. Stockton, Calif., was ranked second, with one of every 97 homes involved in a foreclosure filing, while the Riverside-San Bernardino metro area in Southern California had the third-highest foreclosure rate with filings for one of every 101 properties. January’s tally represented an 8 percent hike from December. RealtyTrac follows default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions. Lenders typically consider borrowers delinquent after they fall three months behind on mortgage payments. Attempts to help struggling home owners have fallen short. “The loan workout modification programs aren’t having a significant material effect on keeping properties from going back to the banks,” Sharga said. One dramatic trend last month was a 90 percent spike in the number of properties that were repossessed by banks, compared to January 2007. “It suggests that there’s little or no equity in a lot of these homes, because they’re not even being sold to investors at auctions, and it suggests a continuing weakness in a lot of markets in terms of real estate sales,” Sharga said. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

America's economy risks the mother of all meltdowns Financial Times (February 19, 2008) - "I would tell audiences that we were facing not a bubble but a froth - lots of small, local bubbles that never grew to a scale that could threaten the health of the overall economy." Alan Greenspan, The Age of Turbulence. That used to be Mr Greenspan's view of the US housing bubble. He was wrong, alas. So how bad might this downturn get? To answer this question we should ask a true bear. My favourite one is Nouriel Roubini of New York University's Stern School of Business, founder of RGE monitor. Recently, Professor Roubini's scenarios have been dire enough to make the flesh creep. But his thinking deserves to be taken seriously. He first predicted a US recession in July 2006*. At that time, his view was extremely controversial. It is so no longer. Now he states that there is "a rising probability of a 'catastrophic' financial and economic outcome"**. The characteristics of this scenario are, he argues: "A vicious circle where a deep recession makes the financial losses more severe and where, in turn, large and growing financial losses and a financial meltdown make the recession even more severe." Prof Roubini is even fonder of lists than I am. Here are his 12 - yes, 12 - steps to financial disaster. Step one is the worst housing recession in US history. House prices will, he says, fall by 20 to 30 per cent from their peak, which would wipe out between $4,000bn and $6,000bn in household wealth. Ten million households will end up with negative equity and so with a huge incentive to put the house keys in the post and depart for greener fields. Many more home-builders will be bankrupted. Step two would be further losses, beyond the $250bn-$300bn now estimated, for subprime mortgages. About 60 per cent of all mortgage origination between 2005 and 2007 had "reckless or toxic features", argues Prof Roubini. Goldman Sachs estimates mortgage losses at $400bn. But if home prices fell by more than 20 per cent, losses would be bigger. That would further impair the banks' ability to offer credit. Step three would be big losses on unsecured consumer debt: credit cards, auto loans, student loans and so forth. The "credit crunch" would then spread from mortgages to a wide range of consumer credit. Step four would be the downgrading of the monoline insurers, which do not deserve the AAA rating on which their business depends. A further $150bn writedown of asset-backed securities would then ensue. Step five would be the meltdown of the commercial property market, while step six would be bankruptcy of a large regional or national bank. Step seven would be big losses on reckless leveraged buy-outs. Hundreds of billions of dollars of such loans are now stuck on the balance sheets of financial institutions. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Banks "quietly" borrow $50 billion from Fed: report Reuters (February 19, 2008) - Banks in the United States have been quietly borrowing "massive amounts" from the U.S. Federal Reserve in recent weeks, using a new measure the Fed introduced two months ago to help ease the credit crunch, according to a report on the web site of The Financial Times. The newspaper said the use of the Fed's Term Auction Facility (TAF), which allows banks to borrow at relatively attractive rates against a wide range of their assets, saw borrowing of nearly $50 billion of one-month funds from the Fed by mid-February. The Financial Times said the move has sparked unease among some analysts about the stress developing in opaque corners of the U.S. banking system and the banks' growing reliance on indirect forms of government support.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Credit Suisse Shocks With $2.8Bn Mark-Down Financial Times (February 19, 2008) - Credit Suisse sent fresh tremors through the banking sector Tuesday when it revealed $2.85bn of mark-downs on structured credit positions caused in part by “pricing errors” by some of the Swiss investment bank’s traders. Credit Suisse has suspended a number of traders in connection with the write-down. It said they remained employees of the bank pending the outcome of a review.
| Economic Crisis |

Global Systemic Crisis / September 2008 - Phase of Collapse of US Real Economy Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin GEAP (February 16, 2008) - According to LEAP/E2020, the end of the third quarter of 2008 will be marked by a new tipping point in the unfolding of the global systemic crisis. At that time indeed, the cumulated impact of the various sequences of the crisis (see table below) will reach its maximum strength and affect decisively the very heart of the systems concerned, on the frontline of which the United States, epicentre of the current crisis. In the United States, this new tipping point will translate into a collapse of the real economy, final socio-economic stage of the serial bursting of the housing and financial bubbles (1) and of the pursuance of the US dollar fall. The collapse of US real economy means the virtual freeze of the American economic machinery: private and public bankruptcies in large numbers, companies and public services closing down massively (2),... A revealing harbinger: from March 2008 onward, the US government will stop a service publishing its economic indicators due to budget restrictions (3). Those who read the GEAB N°2 (02/2006) and included Alert certainly keep in mind our anticipation which connected the upcoming fall of the US dollar with the US Fed's decision to cease publishing the M3 indicator. This new decision is another clear sign that US leaders are now anticipating a very bleak economic outlook for their country. In this 22nd issue of the GEAB, LEAP/E2020's experts try in particular to anticipate very specifically what will come out of the collapse of the US real economy for the United States themselves and for the other regions of the world. Meanwhile our team presents five sets of strategic and operational recommendations helping to protect oneself from the upcoming deterioration of the global systemic crisis. On the occasion of the second anniversary of the publication of our famous “Global systemic crisis Alert” which toured the world in February 2006 (4), LEAP/E2020 wishes to remind that we are now resolutely stepping into an era with no historical precedent. Our researchers insisted on that many times in the last two years: any comparison with the previous crises of our modern economy would be fallacious. It is neither a “remake” of the 1929 crisis nor a repetition of the 1970s oil crises or 1987 stock market crisis. It is truly a global systemic crisis, that is to say a crisis affecting the entire planet and questioning the very foundations of the international system upon which the world was organised in the last decades. According to LEAP/E2020, it is also instructive to observe that, two years after the release of this « Alert » which at the time generated both the interest of millions of readers worldwide and the condescending irony of most « experts » and « managers » of the economic and financial spheres, everyone is now convinced that a crisis is truly happening, that it is really global, and for most people already that it could indeed be systemic. However, it is always a repeated astonishment for our team to see the degree of incapacity of these same experts and managers in understanding the specific nature of the phenomenon currently unfolding. According to them, this crisis would only be a usual crisis but bigger. As a matter of fact that's how the financial media reflect the dominant interpretations of the ongoing crisis. According to our team, this approach is not only intellectually lazy (5), it is also morally guilty, because it has for a main consequence to prevent their readers (whether they are simple citizens, private investors or public or private organisation managers) from preparing for the upcoming shocks (6). For this reason, in opposition to all what can be read in the mainstream media always eager to conceal the truth and serve the interests of those who rule them, LEAP/E2020 wishes to remind that it is first and foremost in the United States that the systemic crisis is taking an unprecedented shape (the « Very Great US Depression » as our team decided to call it in January 2007 (7)) because it is around this country, and this country alone, that the world got progressively organised after the second World War. The various issues of the GEAB extensively described this situation. In short, it appears to be useful to make clear that neither Europe nor Asia have a negative saving rate, a full-scale housing crisis throwing millions of citizens out of their homes, a free-falling currency, abysmal public and trade deficits, an economic recession and, on top of all this, a number of costly wars to finance. Neither Asia nor Europe (or more precisely ‘nor the Eurozone') will suffer the roughest, the most sustainable and the most negative impact of the ongoing crisis; but the United States will, as well as all the countries/economies strongly linked to the US (what our experts have decided to call “the American risk”) (8). A “decoupling” is indeed taking place between the US economy and the other large regions of the world. But “decoupling” does not mean “independence” and it is clear that, as anticipated by LEAP/E2020 for many months, Asia and Europe will be affected by the crisis. But « decoupling » entails that the evolution of the US economy and of the other large regions of the world are no longer synchronised, that Asia and Europe are now moving along courses no longer determined by the US economy. The global systemic crisis is in fact the beginning of an economic « decoupling » between the US and the rest of the world, knowing that the non « decoupled » economies will be dragged down the US negative spiral. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

According to Bible prophecy, Europe will be the source of power in the world during the great tribulation. Indeed things are shaping up that way and when you examine history and our current monetary system, also here and here and here, this collapse seems tailor made. If America's economic collapse negatively affects the rest of the world, could we see an emergency action to create a new global monetary system not dependent upon printing currency, but rather using current electronic international banking systems to create a cashless society that is secured through the use of tattoo RFID ink and readers? The mystery of iniquity is hard at work I think. Keep watching and praying! Luke 21:34-36

AIM Says Media Cover-Up Obama’s Socialist-Oriented Global Tax Bill Accuracy In Media (February 13, 2008) - Accuracy in Media editor Cliff Kincaid disclosed today that a hugely expensive bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic Senator Barack Obama, was quickly passed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. Kincaid said that the major media's cover-up of the bill, which makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations, demonstrates the media's desire to see Senator Obama elected to the presidency. In a column posted on the AIM web site, Kincaid noted that Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was trying to rush Obama's "Global Poverty Act" (S. 2433) through his committee without hearings. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends. It was scheduled for a Thursday vote but was moved up a day, to Wednesday, and rushed through by voice vote. Kincaid learned, however, that conservative Senators have now put a "hold" on the legislation, in order to prevent it from being rushed to the floor for a full Senate vote. The House version (H.R. 1302) was suddenly brought up on the House floor last September 25 and was passed by voice vote. House Republicans were caught off-guard, unaware that the pro-U.N. measure committed the U.S. to spending hundreds of billions of dollars. Kincaid's column notes that the official in charge of making nations comply with the U.N. Millennium Goals, which are prominently highlighted in the Obama bill, says a global tax will be necessary to force American taxpayers to provide the money.
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

More on the politics of the 2008 election.

World markets lose $5.2trillion Reuters (February 11, 2008) - Fears of a global slowdown triggered by US housing market woes wiped $5.2 trillion (£2.7 trillion) off global stock markets in January, say analysts. According to ratings firm Standard and Poor's, 50 out of 52 share indexes around the world ended the month lower. Politicians also are concerned about the spiralling US financial problems. On Sunday, finance ministers from the G7 group of industrialised nations said losses from the US mortgage crisis could reach $400bn. The US Federal Reserve has previously estimated losses of up to $150bn after a surge in the number defaults on sub-prime loans. Sub-prime loans are made to people with poor or non-existent credit histories. Over the next two weeks banks are expected to report further write-offs of bad debt as the banking reporting season kicks off. One of the major problems facing policymakers and analysts is that new losses linked to sub-prime problems keep emerging. "The only thing we know is that it is big and we keep on discovering new dimensions," Italy's central bank governor Mario Draghi said after the G7 meeting. "House prices keep falling (in the US) and subprime and mortgage sectors stay vulnerable." Uncertainty over the financial repercussions of the sub-prime crisis was reflected in stock market falls in January, according to Standard and Poor's figures. Just under half of the major markets lost more than 10% of their value. In London, the main FTSE 100 index lost almost 9% in January and 16.5% in the past three months. In Paris, the stock market fell 12.3% in January and was down 15.3% in the three months from November. The falls wiped out all of the index's gains for the previous 12 months. Emerging markets were hit even harder. China lost 21.4% in January, while Russia and India both fell 16%.
| America | Economic Crisis |

The Great Depression 2008 - It Can't Happen to Us....Can It? The Market Oracle (February 9, 2008) - Webster's defines complacency as “1.satisfaction or contentment 2. smug self-satisfaction” There is probably not a better word to describe the current state of perception with regard to economic and financial malady. I had an interesting conversation the other night about exactly this topic and the individual I was speaking with had an overriding belief that we cannot suffer economically simply because the current generation is not prepared to deal with it. While I certainly agree with the latter assertion, the former continues to baffle me. I am certainly not prepared to deal with a lengthy hospital stay as the result of a horrific car crash, but that alone doesn't cloak me in immunity from having an accident. The reasoning is so broken and flawed, yet it is often all we get in terms of a perception of what is going on. This disconnect begets a discussion of why exactly it is that society has chosen to believe itself to be immune from bad things. It is odd in itself that when you talk to individuals, they seem to be acutely aware of many of the challenges facing us, but when you put all the individuals together and create a society, we act as though the party will indeed last forever. We are certainly dealing with a situation in which the intelligence of the whole is by far less than the sum of all its parts. Here's a little bit of déjà vu for you, compliments of Wikipedia:

“In the 1920s, Americans consumers and businesses relied on cheap credit, the former to purchase consumer goods such as automobiles and furniture and the later for capital investment to increase production. This fueled strong short-term growth but created consumer and commercial debt. People and businesses who were deeply in debt when price deflation occurred or demand for their product decreased often risked default. Many drastically cut current spending to keep up time payments, thus lowering demand for new products. Businesses began to fail as construction work and factory orders plunged.”

Sound familiar anyone? See any price deflation going on? The Wilshire 5000 has only lost about 2.5 TRILLION dollars in value in the last two months or so. What about the loss in home equity? Another trillion or two? Who knows, but I think you get the point. We are seeing almost to the final utterance the same play we saw unfold in 1929. Were those folks any more prepared for the Great Depression than we are today? I'd argue that while they were perhaps a bit better equipped to provide for their own sustenance that American society in the 1920's was as complacent as we are today. When the realization of history's coup de grace hits, we will be caught as unaware as our ancestors were back in 1929. Here are some other examples of what Alan Greenspan likes to call ‘irrational exuberance' in the 1920's:

“We will not have any more crashes in our time.” | John Maynard Keynes in 1927 (The authenticity of this one is a little suspect) DOW ~ 175

“There will be no interruption of our permanent prosperity.” | Myron E. Forbes, President, Pierce Arrow Motor Car Co., January 12, 1928 – DOW ~ 200

“There may be a recession in stock prices, but not anything in the nature of a crash.” | Irving Fisher, leading U.S. economist, New York Times, Sept. 5, 1929 – DOW ~ 375

“All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed... and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the I.R.S.” | President F.D. Roosevelt, 1933 – DOW ~ 65

Tuesday morning we received news that according to the Institute of Supply Management, the service portion of our economy underwent a significant contraction during the month of December. This is alarming given the fact that December is normally one of the busiest times of the year. Even still, a trip past the local mall provides a busy scene. People are streaming in and out, carrying boxes and bags of imported trinkets to their imported cars. They will then use imported gasoline to drive to their home, the mortgage of which is likely to be owned by a foreign investor. Yet the average American citizen sees nothing wrong with this picture. Or could it be that they don't even see the picture at all? The media has certainly been playing the role of absentee informant in recent years, choosing to focus on such insipid topics as Britney Spears' latest rehab stint rather than the important business at hand. Here now, are some quotes from this generation's 1929..in 2007 and 2008:

“It is encouraging that inflation expectations appear to be contained,” | Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke – Testimony to Congress – March 28 th , 2007 – DOW ~ 12,500, Headline CPI-U ~ 2.8% Y/Y

“As I think you know, I believe very strongly that a strong dollar is in our nation's interest, and I'm a big believer in currencies being set in a competitive, open marketplace,” | Henry Paulson – Secretary of the Treasury – USDX ~ 81.50

“We are making history. What has passed the Congress in record time is a gift to the middle class and those who aspire to it in our country.” | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the $168 Billion tax ‘rebate' while the middle class is spending their Wal-Mart Christmas gift cards on food and other necessities.

They're making history all right. Too bad it will end up being the WRONG kind. How can we ever hope to focus the population on the urgency of our current predicament when our leaders are willing to make it worse by handing our freebies, bailing out those who willingly make poor investment choices and telling us everything can be ‘free' if we'll only pull their lever on election day? Or am I putting the cart in front of the horse? Perhaps a contrarian opinion might be that our leaders are giving the public exactly what it wants. In either case, I am quite certain that our state of unpreparedness will not constitute a free pass from the negative effects of a recession or a retraction of any of the financial excesses we've enjoyed over the past few decades.
| NewWorldOrder | America |

Economist: Expect Fed to lower Dow to 8,000 WorldNet Daily (February 5, 2008) - Consumers should expect a deep recession, triggered by the "stealth methodology" of the Federal Reserve to "depress" the market even while lowering interest rates in an ostensible effort to stimulate economic growth, an economic analyst is charging. "The Federal Reserve is directly involved in manipulating the stock market," said economic analyst Mike Bolser in a telephone interview with WND yesterday. The New York Stock Exchange finished the day down 108.03 points, closing at 12,635.16, much as Bolser predicted, despite recent emergency Fed rate cuts of 1.25 percentage points aimed at stimulating the economy. "Fed wants the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other financial indicators to descend in a managed way," Bolser said. "The Fed wants to drive the DJIA toward the 8,000 level, or below, in order to help create a deep recession which will have the effect of slowing consumption across the board, and dampening the otherwise harmful effects of inflation. "A falling DOW is only one element of the recession effects of the excessive Fed-created housing and credit creation, whose bubbles are now bursting," he added. "Without this recession, we would be on quick trip to hyper-inflation," Bolser, the author of an internationally followed newsletter published in conjunction with his InterventionalAnalysis.com website, said, "and the Fed wants to prevent this." In his twice-daily subscription newsletter, Bolser has devised a quantitative methodology for utilizing Federal Reserve repurchase agreements to predict upward and downward movements of the DJIA, measured on a 30-day moving average. Yesterday, Bolser noted the Fed added $18 billion to repurchase agreements, edging the pool up to a total of $153.158 billion in unexpired temporary repurchase agreements. Repurchase agreements involve a sophisticated use of government securities issued every day by the Fed, but little understood or followed, even by sophisticated investors. A repurchase agreement, as defined by the Fed, is a government security offered by the federal government to a small list of specified primary government securities dealers, for a limited period of time, usually 28 days or less, with overnight return being the most common. The government securities are "rented" by the primary dealers and they can be added to the primary dealer's portfolio or collateralized and then used in the open market to implement the Fed's open market policy. At the end of the repurchase agreement, the Fed obligates itself to take back the government securities from the primary dealers, effectively canceling the contract. Meanwhile, while holding the government securities let out by the Fed in the repo agreement, primary dealers are free to utilize the liquidity provided by the repurchase agreement to manipulate the economy in accordance with the Fed's true monetary policy, whether publicly declared or not. Primary dealers use the funds provided by the government securities they hold under the repurchase agreements to buy dollar exchange futures contracts, stock market futures, or to buy commodities contracts, including gold mining shares, all in accord with implementing Federal Reserve monetary policy to manipulate currency, commodity and stock markets up or down, depending what goals the Fed wants to accomplish at any particular time, the economist alleges. Over the past several months, however, the Fed has implemented a policy to issue smaller amounts of daily repurchase agreements, with the goal of reducing the total pool of repurchase agreements available to the Fed's short list of 20 banks that are qualified by the Fed to serve as primary government securities dealers participating in the Fed's Open Market Operations. Only the 20 banks specified in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's list of primary government securities dealers are allowed to participate in Fed repurchase agreements. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America |

Dozens of U.S. banks will fail by 2010: analyst Canada.com (February 1, 2008) - Dozens of U.S. banks will fail in the next two years as losses from soured loans mount and regulators crack down on lenders that take too much risk, especially in real estate and construction, an analyst said. The surge would follow a placid 3-1/2 year period in which just four banks collapsed, all in the last year, RBC Capital Markets analyst Gerard Cassidy said in a Friday interview. Between 50 and 150 U.S. banks -- as many as one in 57 -- could fail by early 2010, mostly those with no more than a couple of billion dollars of assets, Cassidy said. That rate of failure would be the highest in at least 15 years, or since the winding down of the savings-and-loan debacle. "The initial round of failures will come from smaller banks with limited access to capital and overexposure to commercial real estate," Cassidy said. "Could banks with $75 billion or $100 billion of assets fail? That's hard to say, but it depends on the severity of the economic downturn and the real estate decline," he added. Banks are under pressure as a slowing economy, the housing crunch, weak job growth and rising energy costs make it harder for individuals and businesses to pay their bills. Compounding the problem has been the seizing up of capital markets that has led to more than $130 billion of write-downs worldwide, including at lenders such as Citigroup Inc , Bank of America Corp and Washington Mutual Inc. On Wednesday, Standard & Poor's said financial industry losses linked to mortgages may reach more than $265 billion. Analyst Tanya Azarchs expects the pain to spread to regional banks, and especially "some of the smaller players that have yet to feel the full extent" of the credit crunch. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America |

EU blames US spending for market turbulences EU Observer (January 23, 2008) - The European Commission has pointed to unhealthy public spending in the US as the main cause of the current global market turbulences and urged Washington to cut expenditure and boost savings, while praising Europe's own "solid and sound" economy and the positive effect of the common currency. The topic dominated a regular meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels on Tuesday (22 January), shortly after the biggest plunge of global stock markets since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. While evidently concerned about the possible consequences for the region - mainly if there is a recession in the US, where most of Europe's exports are heading - both the finance chiefs and the commission were keen to avoid pessimistic statements. "This is not about a global recession, but about the risk of a recession in the US, as during the last years, big imbalances have been created in the US economy - a big current account deficit, a big fiscal deficit, a lack of savings," said EU economy commissioner Joaquin Almunia. Mr Almunia suggested that US policy-makers should tackle the current crisis with measures that would secure "reducing the external deficit and the fiscal deficit, and increasing domestic saving in the US both in the public and the private sectors." He maintained that Europe's own previous reforms and pressure for cuts in public finances have paid off, leaving the fundamentals of the bloc's economy - in contrast to the situation across the Atlantic - as "solid and sound". "So we are well prepared to weather this situation even if we cannot ignore the risk of our growth rates being affected by this turmoil," he added. A similar message was echoed by several ministers and national capitals. "The last forecast shows that economic reforms that have been implemented in the EU increase the resilience of the European economy in trying to face such shocks," said Slovenia's finance minister Andrej Bajuk on behalf of the bloc's presidency. German chancellor Angela Merkel also urged for calm, describing Europe as an "anchor of stability for the global economy." But Berlin is expected on Wednesday (23 January) to announce a downward revision of the country's economic forecast in 2008 for the third time in less than a year, down to 1.7 percent from 2.5 percent last year. A full and clear picture of the impact of the turbulences and recent development in the global economy is expected to emerge following the European Commission's quarterly preview, due to be unveiled in February. "Everybody is concerned, but more than that, everybody is uncertain. We must wait to see whether the US government interventions will prove to be effective or not," Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos commented. more...
| EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | America |

Top Economist Warns Of "Serious Breakdown" In World Financial System Prison Planet (January 22, 2008) - Father of Reaganomics and former editor of the Wall Street Journal Paul Craig Roberts today warned that the Fed's shock 75 basis points interest rate cut would only succeed in putting average families through the ringer and could even portend the collapse of the dollar as the world reserve currency. Speaking on The Alex Jones Show, Roberts said that average hard working families, and not money casino cowboy shareholders, would be the biggest victims of the latest downturn as a recession looms on the back of the surprise rate cut. "The more important thing is the hardship for the average American family - many of them have not had any real increase in their income for years and they've lost jobs to offshoring, they've lost jobs to work visas for foreigners and now they're confronted with losing jobs to recession," said Roberts. "They also are heavily indebted and have used up their home equity in consumption and many of them now have mortgages that threaten them with being homeless and so I think the worst part of this will not be felt by Wall Street and banks and shareholders but by the average American family - I think they're now going to go through the ringer," he concluded. Roberts speculated on the impact that today's rate cut would have on the dollar, further undermining its position as the world reserve currency. "It is true that in the long run the decline of the dollar could cause it to lose its reserve currency role and if another currency has a rythm to take its place, it would be very hard to conduct international trade on the basis that it is now where you have a reserve currency that one accepts in payment," said Roberts, adding that the massive interest rate cut today only signalled more inflation despite the tax rebate. Roberts said that he expected the economic decline to be slow and gradual, but that it was inevitable that the living standards of Americans would drop, similar to when the pound lost 80 per cent of its value during the two world wars and lost its status as a world reserve currency. Roberts said that the only solution to the current crisis was to cut the current defense budget in half and halt the offshoring of jobs by U.S. corporations. "If they can't do anything about that the world is going to conclude that the dollar is not going to be the reserve currency forever and they'll start getting out from under it in larger ways and then that pressure on the dollar will mount and become stronger and it will completely cancel the ability to do anything about the domestic economy - whether it's in recession or depression," said Roberts, adding that a "real serious breakdown," the likes of which have not been witnessed so far, will occur if these issues are not addressed. Roberts said that it was difficult for ordinary people to diversify and find a safe haven because if they bought gold they would become a target for government theft just as happened in 1933. Roberts added that a total breakdown of the global economy would take place, "If the destruction of the dollar's role as world reserve currency continues and there's not a clear alternative that arrives to take its place," warning that it was the biggest danger and there would be "no way to survive" its impact.
| NewWorldOrder | America |

Overseas Investors Buy Aggressively in U.S. NY Times (January 20, 2008) - Last May, a Saudi Arabian conglomerate bought a Massachusetts plastics maker. In November, a French company established a new factory in Adrian, Mich., adding 189 automotive jobs to an area accustomed to layoffs. In December, a British company bought a New Jersey maker of cough syrup. For much of the world, the United States is now on sale at discount prices. With credit tight, unemployment growing and worries mounting about a potential recession, American business and government leaders are courting foreign money to keep the economy growing. Foreign investors are buying aggressively, taking advantage of American duress and a weak dollar to snap up what many see as bargains, while making inroads to the world’s largest market. Last year, foreign investors poured a record $414 billion into securing stakes in American companies, factories and other properties through private deals and purchases of publicly traded stock, according to Thomson Financial, a research firm. That was up 90 percent from the previous year and more than double the average for the last decade. It amounted to more than one-fourth of all announced deals for the year, Thomson said. During the first two weeks of this year, foreign businesses agreed to invest another $22.6 billion for stakes in American companies — more than half the value of all announced deals. If a recession now unfolds and the dollar drops further, the pace could accelerate, economists say. The surge of foreign money has injected fresh tension into a running debate about America’s place in the global economy. It has supplied state governors with a new development strategy — attracting foreign money. And it has reinvigorated sometimes jingoistic worries about foreigners securing control of America’s fortunes, a narrative last heard in the 1980s as Americans bought up Hondas and Rockefeller Center landed in Japanese hands. With a growing share of investment coming from so-called sovereign wealth funds — vast pools of money controlled by governments from China to the Middle East — lawmakers and regulators are calling for greater scrutiny to ensure that foreign countries do not gain influence over the financial system or military-related technology. On the presidential campaign trail, the Democratic candidates have begun to focus on these foreign funds, calling for international rules that would make them more transparent. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

How long until America is not owned by Americans? The Federal Reserve (neither 'federal' nor 'reserve') owns our money and now we're so financially unstable and full of people who don't mind selling out a country for a buck or to save themselves leading us into an international debt beyond what we already have. Throw in an emergency or two (natural and man-made), and America won't have a choice but to join the New World Order's cashless banking system where a mark is required to buy or sell. The plan all along is to financially and legally integrate all nations in the name of peace and security so that at some unknown trigger point (to them - God's timing), an "emergency state" can be declared wherein the new legal framework snaps into place and military and civilian forces are legally under the control of one man. So far the selling out of America seems to have worked well to the end of America's reign as Europe takes her place. That's what the Bible has always said.

• Recognize this is the Formula happening like everything else much sooner and much bigger in its implications than anticipated.
• Gold will rise to $1650 as an almost immediate effect of what will be done to attempt to fend off a total panic starting to take place in general equities, therein threatening to be followed by all credit markets of all kinds.
• The funds and hotshot short term traders in gold shares will be killed by the upward explosion of the gold price about to occur.
• The PPT and the Fed will step out of gold’s way because gold is one of the tools used in 1930 by Roosevelt and in 2000 by Bush. It will be used again now on the upside.
• Gold is the only insurance there is against what all this means because a panic in equities will blow the financial system, already coming apart, to smithereens.
• All country funds would shut down on any further investments in "at the wall" financial institutions.
• The rollover in credit and default derivatives would exceed the entire foreign debt of the USA.
• The rest of the $450 trillion dollar mountain of derivatives would start a disintegration like nothing you have every seen in your lifetime.
• Consumer demand would slam shut.
• The auto industry might as well go into liquidation this coming Monday, avoiding the June 2008 rush.
• The US dollar would burn a hole in the floor going directly to .5200 or lower.
• As the dollar disintegrates gold would rocket to and through $1650 in days.
• The markets for general equities would all have to institute total trading halts every 100 points on the downside for 30 minutes each.
• All commercial call loans would be called.
• All debtors one day late on any payment, lacking grace period, would be liquidated. All debtors over one day of the grace period would be liquidated.
• It is clearly visible to anyone with eyes or a mind to think that the PPT has lost all semblance of control in the equity markets and will soon in all remaining markets.
• The commercial paper credit market which is almost dead will die totally.
• Should no emergency action take place soon, you will see an old fashioned panic of the 1929 variety.
• Just as emotional fools sell gold and gold shares, be assured that more emotional general equity fools will unload and bring the averages down more than ever in history in one day.
• Recognize this is the Formula happening like everything else much sooner and much bigger in its implications than anticipated.
• Emergency action will be all splash and theatrics but truthfully the cat is out of the bag. It buys some time but corrects nothing. It makes the Formula 100% correct.
• There now must be EMERGENCY ACTION because the Chairman of the Fed has BOMBED OUT PUBLICLY and a PANIC is about to occur. Expect EMERGENCY ACTION in days, not weeks.

If you have not protected yourself, you may only have days to do so now.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Foreclosures - The Untold Story Rense.com (January 17, 2008) - While we are being distracted with the theatrics of these long months of presidential canidates theatrics and hollow rehtoric, the grave issues in our nation (purposefully) are being ignored.  The latest antics has Michigan (in ecomomic free fall) ignored by the party (Democratic) that once represented the working man. This because of rules (?) that punished Michigan for holding its primary too early. Now they are told they cannot send delegates to the National Convention. That's par for the course - why would the voice of the dispossessed be represented? Both parties have been complicit over these past decades in the meltdown we're witnessing. People need to climb down off their elephants and donkeys. They need to discard their red - white - and boo attire and enter into the neutral zone. As long as people can be kept in the arena of elephant dung and donkey drippings they'll remain ignorant to the facts that will vitally affect their lives and their children. REAL ESTATE: This problem began in the early 90s. This is when the Federal Reserve began lowering the costs of funds and banks encouraged people to borrow at low rates. Mortgage rates were lowered in 1991. This is when credit lines using home equity were created by your friendly banker. That was when people began going into debt up to their eyeballs using the inflationary increases in the value of their primary residence as a personal ATM machine! People forgot that the only true value in real property is the equity. Market estimates of home values can drop 50% in one day. Why would the Federal Reserve do something so harmful to the national economy? When a bank makes a loan of $100,000, ninety per cent of that amount ( or, $90,000) creates new money out of thin air. This is called 'fractional - reserve' banking. It is a system used in most nations worldwide. Most nations have central banks - the Federal Reserve is a central bank. It is not a federal agency as most people have been led to believe. It is a cartel of privately owned bankers and other affluents - much like OPEC is owned by people in oil producing nations. When Congress are over spending like mindless idiots, when the cost of war is approximately $245 million a day, one of the best ways to create money to pay these costs is to encourage American consumers to borrow. Every time you borrow - ninety percent of that amount creates new money from thin air. That money is injected into the economy. As long as we all borrow more and more and more money from banks more money is created. No wonder borrowing was made so easy - it gave them the cash they needed for all that spending. Every good thing comes to an end. Expect an economic upheaval when Washington's cash cow quits giving milk.

"All of the perplexities, confusion, and distress in America arises, not from the defects of the Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation." | John Adams, Founding Father

"Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Banks. The Federal Board, has cheated the Government of the United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt. This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of the U.S.; has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our government. It has done this through the defects of the law under which it operates, through the maladministration of that law by the Federal Reserve Board, and through the corrupt practices of the moneyed vultures who control it." | Louis T. McFadden, Congressman and head of Congressional Banking Committee for 11 years; before Congress June 10, 1932

LEAP/E2020 Alert: Breaking phase ahead for the global financial system in 2008 Europe 2020 (December 15, 2007) - The rapid aggravation of the global systemic crisis as its phase of impact unfolds [1] has brought our researchers to estimate that the contemporary global financial system will reach a breaking phase in the course of 2008. Crisis follow-up indicators now show that we should no longer only fear the failure of some large financial institution (and of many small ones) in the US first and the in the rest of the world (cf. GEAB N°19), but that the global financial system itself is structurally hit. The network of global central banks’ repeated incapacity to control the « credit crunch » when the two historical pillars of the contemporary global financial system (a US economy in recession and a US dollar in decay), reflects the growing surge of centrifugal forces within this very system. Indeed it is no more a matter of competence or of magnitude of the corrective actions implemented by central bankers. These times are over since summer 2007 and, according to LEAP/E2020, we are now witnessing an increasing divergence in economic interests among the different components of the global financial system. The expected failure of the Fed’s most recent attempt to coordinate a joint action of the main central banks in order to feed the banks in US dollars [2] , is particularly revealing. This action meant to restore confidence in the financial system by two means:

• reinstating the now moribund inter-banking market, by proving the existence of a « joint force de frappe (strike force) » of global central banks.
• enabling large financial institutions in distress to anonymously restock in US dollars, in exchange of their assets being accepted as discount window collateral (i.e. worth their value some months ago, when they were still worth something) [3].

This story I just came across at Fulfilled Prophecy pretty well lays out my belief from studying the events and timing of Bible prophecy that the current global financial system must collapse in order to make way for what the Bible prophesies to come where a mark of loyalty to the antichrist will be required to buy or sell. I personally believe technology will supply the means through tattoo RFID ink that will supply the security that is also desired and needed in this identity theft era. I believe the shadow rulers have been building this system behind the scenes to prepare for the collapse so that when it happens, the New World Order will be able to offer a way out for the collapsed system. I don't believe America will be in any position at that time of collapse to remain separate from the New World Order and the majority of the population will be ignorant to where the Bible says this is leading us.

Revelation 13:16-18
And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name [authority]. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. (666)

Please read Herb Peters free book, Recommendation 666 regarding the emergency authority given to the Secretary-General of the WEU and the official document number 666 that gives him emergency powers over the WEU (military arm of the EU).

Inflation rate is worst in 17 years Associated Press (January 16, 2008) - Higher costs for energy and food last year pushed inflation up by the largest amount in 17 years, even though prices generally remained tame outside of those two areas. Meanwhile, industrial output was flat in December, more evidence of a significant slowdown in the economy. Consumer prices rose by 4.1 percent for all of 2007, up sharply from a 2.5 percent increase in 2006, the Labor Department said Wednesday. Consumers felt the pain when they filled up their gas tanks or shopped for groceries. Prices for both energy and food shot up by the largest amount since 1990. In a second report, the Federal Reserve said that output at the nation's factories, mines and utilities showed no growth in December, adding to a string of weak economic reports showing that the economy was slowing at the end of last year. That weakness has shown up in the biggest one-month jump in unemployment since the 2001 terrorist attacks and billions of dollars in losses at many of the country's biggest financial institutions. Citigroup Inc. reported Tuesday it had suffered a $10 billion loss for the last three months of 2007, reflecting bad bets on investments backed by subprime mortgages. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged by 277 points on Tuesday and fell even further on Wednesday as Intel reported weak earnings for the fourth quarter. The Dow was down by 26 points in late morning trading. The unchanged industrial output in December was the poorest showing since industrial output actually fell by 0.5 percent in October. Output had been up by 0.3 percent in November. The December weakness reflected flat output at U.S. factories, a tiny 0.1 percent rise in the mining industry and a 0.2 percent drop at the nation's utilities. The Consumer Price Index rose by 0.3 percent in December, slower than the 0.8 percent in November, as food costs were flat for the month and energy prices rose by 0.9 percent after an even bigger 5.7 percent jump in November. Outside of food and energy, inflation rose a more moderate 0.2 percent in December. This measure of core inflation rose by 2.4 percent for all of 2007, down slightly from a 2.6 percent increase in 2006. The Federal Reserve is closely watching to see whether the jump in food and energy becomes more widespread and starts pushing core inflation higher. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

British Pound Stumbles The Wall Street Journal (January 11, 2008) - In a sign that the U.S. economic malaise is spreading to Britain, the pound is fast becoming one of the world's most-disliked currencies. Since touching a 26-year high against the U.S. dollar in early November, the pound has lost 7% of its value against the dollar and nearly 8% versus the euro. The currency suffers because the British economy's problems look ever more similar to those of the U.S. economy -- including a deflating housing market, pressures on financial institutions and weaker consumption. more...
| Economic Crisis |

ECB, Bank of England holds rates steady Associated Press (January 10, 2008) - The European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept their benchmark interest rates on hold Thursday, both torn between the opposing challenges of higher inflation and worries about economic growth. Those two factors could put the central banks on different paths in the coming months, with the ECB striking a hawkish note in the face of strong Euro-zone inflation while the Bank of England is widely expected to deliver a cut next month to restore shaky consumer confidence. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the bank "remains prepared to act preemptively" to keep inflation in check, a statement economists interpreted as the bank retaining its holding stance while leaving the door open for a potential interest rate rise later this year. The ECB is concerned that sharp rises in food and energy prices will turn into broader and more persistent inflation if workers obtain higher wages and producers begin to transfer higher costs to consumers. "We are in the position of total alertness ... and won't tolerate this risk to materialize," Trichet said in Frankfurt after the bank announced its decision to keep its key interest unchanged at 4 percent. The bank's concerns about inflation carry intense weight given that it sets monetary policy for Germany, France and 13 other countries home to 318 million residents, which account for more than 15 percent of the world's gross domestic product. The ECB faces inflation estimated at 3.1 percent — well above its guideline of just under 2 percent — but it also must contend with sliding business and consumer confidence thanks to the global credit crisis. Rate increases to rein in inflation can also restrain economic growth and fears of an economic malaise could be enough to discourage the bank from lifting rates in the near term. "In line with the market we expect no change in ECB rates this year, with Trichet, et al, happy to let further U.S. monetary policy easing prop up global demand," said Calyon economist Stuart Bennett. While the ECB has held rates steady for seven months since it raised borrowing costs in June 2007, the U.S. Federal Reserve has cut its key rate three times over recent months to 4.25 percent and analysts there believe another half a percentage point cut is likely. British policymakers, meanwhile, are dealing with mirror image of the ECB's concerns. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Forget oil, the new global crisis is food Financial Post (January 4, 2008) - BMO strategist Donald Coxe warns credit crunch and soaring oil prices will pale in comparison to looming catastrophe. A new crisis is emerging, a global food catastrophe that will reach further and be more crippling than anything the world has ever seen. The credit crunch and the reverberations of soaring oil prices around the world will pale in comparison to what is about to transpire, Donald Coxe, global portfolio strategist at BMO Financial Group said at the Empire Club's 14th annual investment outlook in Toronto on Thursday. "It's not a matter of if, but when," he warned investors. "It's going to hit this year hard." Mr. Coxe said the sharp rise in raw food prices in the past year will intensify in the next few years amid increased demand for meat and dairy products from the growing middle classes of countries such as China and India as well as heavy demand from the biofuels industry. "The greatest challenge to the world is not US$100 oil; it's getting enough food so that the new middle class can eat the way our middle class does, and that means we've got to expand food output dramatically," he said. The impact of tighter food supply is already evident in raw food prices, which have risen 22% in the past year. Mr. Coxe said in an interview that this surge would begin to show in the prices of consumer foods in the next six months. Consumers already paid 6.5% more for food in the past year. Wheat prices alone have risen 92% in the past year, and yesterday closed at US$9.45 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. At the centre of the imminent food catastrophe is corn - the main staple of the ethanol industry. The price of corn has risen about 44% over the past 15 months, closing at US$4.66 a bushel on the CBOT yesterday - its best finish since June 1996. This not only impacts the price of food products made using grains, but also the price of meat, with feed prices for livestock also increasing. "You're going to have real problems in countries that are food short, because we're already getting embargoes on food exports from countries, who were trying desperately to sell their stuff before, but now they're embargoing exports," he said, citing Russia and India as examples. "Those who have food are going to have a big edge." With 54% of the world's corn supply grown in America's mid-west, the U.S. is one of those countries with an edge. But Mr. Coxe warned U.S. corn exports were in danger of seizing up in about three years if the country continues to subsidize ethanol production. Biofuels are expected to eat up about a third of America's grain harvest in 2007. The amount of U.S. grain currently stored for following seasons was the lowest on record, relative to consumption, he said. more...
| 3rd Seal | Economic Crisis |

SWF'S - Saviours or Harbingers of Economic Apocalypse? Financial Sense University (January 3, 2008) - Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF's) are being hailed as the saviours of the financial world, but in reality are more akin to harbingers of the economic apocalypse for countries such as the United States and United Kingdom. The SWF's have been stepping in of late with tens of billions in financing and investments into the cash starved US banking and finance sector with financial institutions such as Citicorp selling off large chunks every other week to funds such as that to the Abu Dhabi SWF at 4.9% of the company for $7.5bn on a fixed yield of 11%, the terms are far more favorable than offered to domestic investors. Most recent speculation is that Rio Tinto maybe inline for a Chinese SWF bid of as much as $150 billion. As petro and trade dollars flow into these SWF's, we will find increasingly larger and larger slices of important US and western world capital producing infrastructure flowing into the hands of asian and the middle eastern government controlled funds as part of a multi-pronged strategy. The effect of which is literally to gradually transfer sovereignty of the United States to these countries. Whilst there are many arguments as to the value of sovereignty to the average citizen given the observed quality of the democratic institutions where as little as 50% actually turn out to vote, and further diminished by suspected corruption in the voting process such as hanging shads and denial to thousands of democratic black voters in Florida during 2000. The transfer of sovereignty has consequences that could be deemed to be permanent and irreversible. The Multi-pronged strategy towards the transfer of sovereignty -

1. Transfer of manufacturing base eastwards.
2. Transfer of service sector industries eastward
3. Securing control of energy and mineral resources.
4. Theft of new technologies through state sponsored espionage
5. Investment in prime western companies in the West via SWF's.
6. Transfer of western commercial and financial expertise eastward.

Whilst trillions of dollars flowed into US government bonds to support the dollar, the US government and Fed were able to effectively manage the influence of bond holders via monetary policy i.e. to maintain the US economy and corporate infrastructure via foreign financing in the form of lower domestic taxation, corporate favorable laws and foreign policy. However the SWF's are invested in assets that are priced to fluctuate inline with profitability and the value of the underlying assets such as mineral and energy reserves, therefore are less influenced by monetary policy and the exchange rates then the bond markets. As SWF's buy up hard assets, these resource and technology corporations and banks are increasingly going to come under the influence of the sovereign wealth funds, which have their own agendas at work based on national self interest. The amount in SWF's continues to grow at an astonishing rate as the giant US deficit of $700 billions continues to feed their coffers. Current estimates put the funds at more than $ 3 trillions and growing as more of the trade surpluses flow directly into the funds...

What does this mean for the US and UK?

As part of the multi pronged strategy of the transfer US based assets and the means of production. The key to the strategy is to support the US dollar will for the time being at least, by the likes of China, Arab states and Japan , so as these countries can continue to buy US assets and transfer US and British jobs abroad through outsourcing and maintain supply of goods and services to the US consumer in exchange for more dollars to buy more US assets with. However the situation has reached a point that the amount of sovereignty and manufacturing base transferred to date may be so great that even the strategy of supporting the dollar is breaking down. The eventual inevitable outcome is for a sharp fall in the currencies of the UK and USA as a result of market forces so as to diminish the ability of these countries to be able assert themselves economically and militarily across the globe as these countries will no longer have the economic base to do so. Russia being more immature and a late comer to the game, is prematurely eager to demonstrate the impact of the trend towards transfer of sovereignty then China is, hence the increasing noises emanating from Putin's Kremlin. This should be taken as a strong warning of what the future holds as sovereignty continues to drain eastwards. If Russia is this aggressive with a $150 SWF, how will it behave once currency reserves allow it to create a $1 trillion SWF? more...
| Islam | EU/UN / 4th Kingdom | NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Deuteronomy 28:43-45
The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail. Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

The destruction of America as a power must happen for power to be ceded to Europe. As I've pointed out before, Albert Pike's plans for America have been accomplished in fomenting chaos between Islam and the West supporting the existence of Israel, being responsible for Israel's creation. Now those behind the West do not want Israel to exist either because they are opposed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and are part of the New World Order that will give their power to the antichrist and fight God at His return. The first hour of the January 1, 2008 Coast to Coast AM show focused on trend watchers in examining where America is headed. The financial crisis that has been unfolding was the main focus of the shaky year they predicted would be coming. Those that own American business and finances own America. What are you going to do when companies lay off employees, the banks close and the dollar collapses? What about the mortgages on houses? The banks own the land and the government can take it if we don't pay taxes. Can you see how quickly those who don't participate in the bail-out will be left with nothing? Be aware so you are not blindsided and trust God.

Borse Dubai to acquire stake in Nasdaq Earth Times (January 2, 2008) - The US foreign investment committee has cleared a proposal of Dubai's state-owned stock exchange Borse Dubai Limited (BDL) to acquire a stake in Nasdaq, the second largest US equities exchange, WAM news agency reported Wednesday. According to the plan, the BDL will get Nasdaq's stake in the London Stock Exchange Group and a 19.9 percent stake in the US exchange, although its voting stake will be limited to 5 percent. It will also allow Nasdaq to proceed with its plan to merge with Stockholm-based OMX exchange. After that deal closes, Nasdaq will be known as Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. Nasdaq will make an investment in Dubai International Financial Exchange and enter into certain technology and trademark licences with Borse Dubai and its subsidiary, Dubai International Financial Exchange Limited.
| Islam | America | Economic Crisis |

Dollar's Fall Is Felt Around The Globe Washington Post (December 24, 2007) - The sharp decline of the U.S. dollar since 2000 is affecting a broad swath of the world's population, with its drop on global markets being blamed at least in part for misfortunes as diverse as labor strikes in the Middle East, lost jobs in Europe and the end of an era of globe-trotting rich Americans. It marks a shift for Americans in the global economy. In times of strength, a mightier dollar allowed Americans to feed their insatiable appetite for foreign goods at cheap prices while providing Yankees abroad with virtually unrivaled economic clout. But now, as the United States struggles to fend off a recession, observers say the less lofty dollar is having both a tangible and intangible diminishing effect. "The dollar was the dominant force in world economics for 100 years -- we had no competition," said C. Fred Bergsten, an American economist and director of the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics. "There was no other economy close to the size of the United States. But all that is now changing." The dollar is down more than 40 percent against the euro over the past seven years, taking a particularly sharp drop last month. Despite a bit of a rebound in recent weeks, the dollar is still off nearly 12 percent since Jan. 11, when it hit its peak for 2007. For now, that drop is allowing the U.S. economy to reap rewards. American products have become exceedingly competitive, boosting exports ranging from Caterpillar tractors to Boeing jumbo jets that are now relative blue-light specials in the global marketplace. Using the same logic of chasing cheaper local production costs that has driven many U.S. factories to China, a few iconic European companies, including Airbus, are set to shift some manufacturing lines to the United States. But for untold millions worldwide, the weak dollar has emerged as a troubling dark spot. Take Ngengi Mungai, a Nairobi coffee exporter trapped between the weaker dollar and the rapidly appreciating Kenyan shilling -- which gained as much as 12 percent against the dollar this year amid an export-driven economic surge across much of Africa. His coffee sales overseas, as with the bulk of global commodities, are priced in weaker dollars. But he must then convert them into stronger shillings to cover his local costs for local labor, materials, even the clothes on his back. It has cut sharply into his annual income. "Basically," Mungai said, "it's bad." more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

According to Bible prophecy, the antichrist will have a global system in place so that only those with the mark of his authority can buy or sell anything. Revelation 13:16-18 A global economic crash with a bail-out by European financers could be just another way sovereignty is chipped away for global governance.

Fed: Another $20B auctioned to banks Associated Press (December 21, 2007) - The Federal Reserve, working to combat the effects of a severe credit crunch, announced Friday it had auctioned another $20 billion in funds to commercial banks at an interest rate of 4.67 percent. Fed officials pledged to continue with the auctions "for as long as necessary." The central bank said it had received bids for $57.7 billion worth of loans, nearly three times the amount being offered, indicating continued strong interest in the Fed's new approach to providing money to cash-strapped banks. It was the second of four scheduled auctions. The first auction, on Monday, of $20 billion resulted in loans being awarded at an interest rate of 4.65 percent. There were 93 bidders seeking $63.6 billion at the first auction and 73 at the second. Two more auctions will occur in early January. In a statement Friday, the central bank said it would continue with further auctions "for as long as necessary to address elevated pressures in short-term funding markets." The new auction process was announced by the Fed last week in a coordinated action with central banks around the world trying to address a global credit crunch. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues decided to try the new process because their efforts to inject funds into the banking system through the Fed's discount window, which makes direct loans to banks, had proven less successful than Fed officials had hoped. Many banks had avoided using the Fed's discount window out of concern that investors would see the move as an indication of underlying problems at their financial institutions. The auction process was developed as a second way to get money into the banking system with the hopes that it would not carry the stigma of the discount window. The Fed said Friday that it would announce on Jan. 4 the sizes of the next two auctions which will be held Jan. 14 and Jan. 28. Officials have said the Fed will evaluate the interest in the auctions after the initial four and determine whether more auctions will be scheduled. The new auction results cover short-term loans for 35 days. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Collapse of the Modern Day Banking System - Staring into the Abyss The Market Oracle (December 19, 2007) - “In past financial crises... the Fed has been able to wave its magic wand and make market turmoil disappear. But this time the magic isn't working. Why not? Because the problem with the markets isn't just a lack of liquidity — there's also a fundamental problem of solvency.” Paul Krugman Stocks fell sharply last week on news of accelerating inflation which will limit the Federal Reserves ability to continue cutting interest rates. On Tuesday the Dow Jones Industrials tumbled 294 points following the Fed's announcement of a quarter point cut to the Fed Funds rate. On Friday, the Dow dipped another 178 points when government figures showed consumer prices had risen 0.8% last month after a 0.3% gain in October. The stock market is now lurching downward into a “primary bear market”. There has been a steady deterioration in retail sales, commercial real estate, and the transports. The financial industry is going through a major retrenchment losing more than 25% in aggregate capitalization since July. The real estate market is collapsing. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced on Friday that he will declare a "fiscal emergency" in January and ask for more power to deal with the $14 billion budget shortfall from the meltdown in subprime lending. Economists are beginning to publicly acknowledge what many market analysts have suspected for months; the nation's economy is going into a tailspin which will inevitably end in a hard landing. Morgan Stanley's Asia Chairman, Stephen Roach, made this observation in a New York Times op-ed on Sunday: “This recession will be deeper than the shallow contraction earlier in this decade. The dot-com-led downturn was set off by a collapse in business capital spending, which at its peak in 2000 accounted for only 13 percent of the country's gross domestic product. The current recession is all about the coming capitulation of the American consumer — whose spending now accounts for a record 72 percent of G.D.P.” Most people have no idea how grave the present situation is or the disaster the country will face if trillions of dollars of over-leveraged bonds and equities begin to unwind. There's a widespread belief that the stewards of the system—Bernanke and Paulson—can somehow steer the economy through this “rough patch” into calm waters. But they cannot, and the presumption shows a basic misunderstanding of how markets work. The Fed has no magical powers and will it allow itself to be crushed by standing in the path of a market-avalanche. As foreclosures and bankruptcies increase; stocks will crash and the fed will step aside to safety. That much is certain. more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

My guess of what this will lead to is a transition to a global electronic financial system rising from the ashes of the collapsing one. There would be a single currency not printed on paper, but tattooed through RFID ink under the skin so that one cannot buy or sell without this mark. The fear of terrorism and the demand for peace and safety from it and the guidance of powerful people trying to guide society will eventually lead us there. A collapsing world financial situation would help that along and those who still have the money and run the financial systems already have much of the infrastructure in place today. Time will tell, keep watching!

Morgan Stanley sells stake to China fund Reuters (December 19, 2007) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N) on Wednesday posted a stunning fourth-quarter loss after recording a bigger-than-expected $9.4 billion of write-downs and said it sold a $5 billion stake to China Investment Corp to bolster its capital. The second-largest U.S. investment bank posted a net loss from continuing operations of $3.59 billion, or $3.61 a share, in the quarter ended November 30. A year earlier Morgan had income from continuing operations of $1.98 billion, or $1.87 a share. Morgan Stanley's operating results reflect the spin-off of its Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) in July. Last month Morgan warned that it would write down its exposure to U.S. subprime mortgages and related securities by $3.7 billion. But on Wednesday the bank revealed it was taking an additional $5.7 billion write-down. Combined, the losses slashed earnings by $5.80 a share. To bolster capital slashed by the write-downs, Morgan agreed to sell abut $5 billion of equity units convertible into common stock. The shares equate to a 9.9 percent stake or less of Morgan Stanley's outstanding shares. CIC, a sovereign investment fund controlled by China, will be a passive investor and have no role on the board or in the bank's management. For the quarter net revenue was a negative $450 million, compared with $7.85 billion last year. Analysts on average had expected Morgan Stanley to post a loss of 39 cents a share on $4.1 billion of revenue, according to Reuters Research. The losses are the first setback under Chief Executive John Mack, who has been widely regarded as a savior since he took the helm in 2005. Mack directed the bank to take on more risk and expand several businesses, including mortgages, as he tried to close in on archrival Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N). Earlier this year those efforts were paying off, and Morgan even reported a mortgage trading profit. Yet shares of Morgan Stanley have tumbled 29 percent during the past two months as the mortgage trade backfired and delivered losses.
| America | Economic Crisis |

Gold & Mortgage Failure Avalanche Financial Sense (December 12, 2007) - An avalanche comes in 2008. Its wreckage will hit both the USEconomy and banking world. The greatest deception in the bank sector this year has been the misrepresentation of the mortgage debacle as a subprime problem. That is akin to calling an iceberg only a problem for what one can see, when 90% of its mass lies below water. Ice is lighter than water. Most mortgage bonds are like acidic stones weighing down bank and investor balance sheets. Wall Street and the USGovt con artists, using tools are fraud and distortion, prefer the public and investment community to think of the ‘Subprime Problem’ as the source of distress. On mortgage bonds, collateralized debt obligation derivatives, structured investment vehicles, all dominant in the news, reports constantly stress how the problem is traced to subprime mortgages to all those unworthy home loan borrowers who never should have been given such loans, even at higher mortgage rates. The systemic threat, both to the US banking system and USEconomy, has entered a new stage. The remedy addressed is sure to force the USDollar lower and the gold price higher, to occur in the next gear. Breakouts are coming which will seem to lose control, like what was seen in September and October. Official policy in reaction to the USEconomic threat of recession will spill money into every corner and crevice. Gold and mining stocks will benefit. My forecast stated all summer long is that the USGovt maestros will gradually introduce increasingly broader rescue elements, since everything they try at early stages will fail. The USFed remains badly behind the curve, as yesterday they cut the official Fed Funds target rate, but did not sufficiently cut the Discount Window rate that imposes a Stigma Tax. Today, the USFed announced a much broader bank liquidity policy, focused upon more auctions at set rates and a swap line with the Euro Central Bank. They have announced more coordination with the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada, the Swiss National Bank, and the US Federal Reserve. This is part of my forecast. They must have been working all night long. By summertime 2008, the requirements for a grandiose Resolution Trust platform will be etched more clearly. The key to the gold price lies in two spots: 1) massive monetary inflation to treat the banking problems and prevent recession, 2) realized price inflation in a manner lacking disguise. John Mauldin uses the metaphor of fire trucks being called to the scene. The USFed has been amazingly shamefully slow in recognizing the problems. Stuck in their stupid “inflation versus growth” framework mindset, they miss both the interbank system seizures and home mortgage avalanche coming outside the prime mortgage corral. The threat to the banking system will be staggering. The threat to the economic system will be broad and deep. The avalanche will expose the combined system as insolvent, broken, in need to total rescue. The damage will necessitate rescue platforms to undermine the entire US$-based monetary system, certainly sufficient to lift gold well past the $1000 level. By the time 2009 approaches, the system will be recognized as totally broken. The new question will be whether that system can indeed be repaired. As measures put in place and debated for consensus approval, the urgently demanded movement should be the particulars on the new Resolution Trust Corporation. The desperation no longer hidden (like on Bernanke’s face) will lift gold well past the $1000 mark. The impetus behind the gold price will turn to inflation much more than the US$ counter-lever. All major currencies will be inflating heavily, as seen in recent central bank decisions either to cut official interest rates or to hold steady. Major currencies will begin to be compared in a manner to judge which ones are weaker as they are undermined during stimulus to discourage economic recession and credit flow interruptions. more...
| America | Economic Crisis |

Central Banks Pumping Billions into World Financial System International Herald Tribune (December 12, 2007) - Central banks in Europe and North America moved Wednesday to increase the amount of money they could lend to banks and to make it more readily available in an attempt to ease the credit squeeze. It was the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon that these central banks have coordinated their support of financial markets. Stock markets rose in Europe and the Americas after the announcement by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank. In the United States, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index made up nearly half of its losses from Tuesday, when stocks fell after the Fed cut interest rates modestly, but then dipped, closing up 8.94 points at 1,486.59. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600, a broad measure of European markets, rose 1.20 points to close at 374.75. Fed officials said the united move was an effort to improve financial markets, not a response to problems at any individual bank. "This is not about particular financial institutions with particular problems," a senior Fed official said in a background briefing for reporters. "It is about market functioning." Economists and market specialists welcomed the Fed's intervention but expressed some skepticism whether it would be enough to allay the biggest problems in the credit markets related to the sharp drop in the value of U.S. mortgage securities. "We have a Fed now that seems to understand the liquidity problem of the marketplace," said William Gross, the chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management, the bond management firm. "These measures, while limited in size and with limitations in acceptance of collateral, should certainly instill a measure of confidence to the private market." Gross added, "Now it's up to the private market to gain a little confidence and turn a little macho and start performing on its own." more...
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

National debt grows $1 million a minute Associated Press (December 3, 2007) - Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day — or nearly $1 million a minute. What's that mean to you? It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States. Even if you've escaped the recent housing and credit crunches and are coping with rising fuel prices, you may still be headed for economic misery, along with the rest of the country. That's because the government is fast straining resources needed to meet interest payments on the national debt, which stands at a mind-numbing $9.13 trillion. And like homeowners who took out adjustable-rate mortgages, the government faces the prospect of seeing this debt — now at relatively low interest rates — rolling over to higher rates, multiplying the financial pain. So long as somebody is willing to keep loaning the U.S. government money, the debt is largely out of sight, out of mind. But the interest payments keep compounding, and could in time squeeze out most other government spending — leading to sharply higher taxes or a cut in basic services like Social Security and other government benefit programs. Or all of the above. A major economic slowdown, as some economists suggest may be looming, could hasten the day of reckoning. The national debt — the total accumulation of annual budget deficits — is up from $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office in January 2001 and it will top $10 trillion sometime right before or right after he leaves in January 2009.
| NewWorldOrder | America | Economic Crisis |

Who will be there to "bail" U.S. out? We're already beholden to the international bankers. I believe many things are not truly known by us.

Solana, Zoellick and the World Bank News With Views: Constance Cumbey (May 31, 2007) - Portfolio now include Robert Zoellick and the World Bank. News with views regular readers may remember my February 21st article. In it, I covered Javier Solana's Valentine's Day speech (February 14, 2007) in New York City. He was addressing the Arthur F. Burns Foundation. He was introduced by Robert F. Zoellick. Today that same Robert F. Zoellick, “a friend for many, many years” of Javier Solana [1] was nominated by President George W. Bush to be head of the World Bank.[2] Perhaps raising their own expected opposition so that they may just as rapidly unilaterally squelch it, the Bookings Institution, another confederate, together with Zoellick for Javier Solana's Global Governance initiative, most disingenuously issued a statement that foreign countries may be unhappy at the nomination. I suspect that at least “The Face and Voice of Europe”[3] in the form of Javier Solana is not. I also suspect that the Brookings Institution itself is not unhappy! At the February 14th New York City event, “dear Javier” was introduced by German Ambassador to the USA, Klaus Scharioth as “The Face and Voice of Europe.” Five weeks later, Javier Solana would with the assistance of New York University, Stanford University and the Brookings Institution all apparently acting with the blessings of the United States State Department would launch a new global security initiative. [4] Javier Solana has evidently had a cozy relationship with both Zoellick and the Brookings Institution. On January 5th, while in the USA, his busy itinerary included a meeting with Brookings Institution representatives.[5] Gingerly, like testing the water, “global constitutionalism” a/k/a “global governance” is being advanced. This is not entirely unlike George H. W. Bush (Bush the elder) mentioning the New World Order and his intentions to advance same in a speech he auspiciously delivered on September 11, 1991. Similar speeches were given other times.[6] That Robert Zoellick is part of that scene is clear. In addition to being a friend of Javier Solana for many years, Robert Zoellick has with equal vigor been a friend and proponent of a “New World Order,” more recently and politely known as “global governance.” As early as March, 1992, Robert Zoellick was speaking of his World Economic Forum inspired epiphanies of a New World Order.[7] They are calling all of this by various names these days. Condoleezza Rice calls it “Transformational Diplomacy.” Fletcher Law School Associate Professor Daniel W. Drezner calls it “the New New World Order.”[8] It appears that although Javier Solana may have his European migraines as reluctance to hand him everything appears among the masses, he has offsetting advantages of global elitist support.
| EU /UN / 4th Kingdom | Solana | NewWorldOrder | America |