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MONEY MADNESS -- AUG/SEP 2009 ...
12 Points Regarding the Financial Crisis
We're all hearing a lot of media happy talk about green shoots and corners having been turned and the worst of the financial downturn being over. Sorry, it's nothing but hot air. Below we offer 12 points regarding the financial crisis—thoughts about where things really stand.
Then we feature two important videos about the financial crisis:
Video 1 - Elizabeth Warren, head of the Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts, states that the world would NOT have ended if congress had balked at the $700 billion bank bailout (9 min)
Video 2 - William K. Black, former liquidation director for the 1980s' S&L disaster, explains just how wrong the solutions have been to the financial meltdown (1 hr 40 min).
The second video is quite long, but wow, it really nails down just how bad our leaders have been on the current banking mess and all the stuff that led up to it.
But first, the Tranya ... um ... I mean "12 Points"!
12 Points Regarding the Financial Crisis
- In the history of the world, all fiat currencies have eventually failed. The US dollar is well beyond previous records for the life span of a paper currency not backed by a hard asset.
- The US federal budget deficit for 2009 is projected to be $1.6 trillion, more than three times the previous record.
- The Federal Reserve is now openly buying US government debt—$1.5 trillion (that we know of) by the end of the year—an open sign of the intention to monetize debt.
- China has begun deploying its large dollar holdings to buy contracts for future resources (i.e. things of tangible value).
- China and some other countries are beginning to do transactions in their own currencies rather than dollars.
- There have been $24 trillion worth of direct cash infusions and loan commitments extended to Wall Street and the banking industry in less than one year—an amount that is twice the annual GDP of the entire US. Yet banks are still awash in toxic (worthless) derivates. Some (un-bailed-out) small- and medium-sized banks are now starting to default on derivatives-associated obligations.
- The total amount of derivatives is estimated to be between $700 and $1500 trillion—many, many times the planetary GDP.
- The ratio of "investment return to new debt" has been falling for decades. Extrapolating the data says that the ratio will reach 1:1 in (at most) 3-4 years. This means the current debt-based money system is about to end—or, at a minimum, about to undergo a radical transformation.
- A large number of banks have failed in the last year, almost draining the FDIC's failed-bank insurance pool. This is despite the fact that some of the larger failures were handled with funds other than FDIC funds.
- US manufacturing is still shrinking. US unemployment continues to increase, with the real unemployment rate already at 20%.
- The overall trend in real estate values continues to be down. The coming wave of resets in Alt-A and Option-ARM mortgages will ensure that trend continues.
- There has been no move on the part of those in power to address the real problems in the financial system, or to even talk about them honestly. The mainstream media seems incapable of intelligent reporting, leaving most people unaware of how deep the problem really is. The longer real solutions are delayed, the more likelihood (and severity) of an eventual crash.
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A SUBVERSIVE PLOT
This short presentation explains the great reasons to grow more of your own food—from peak oil to avoiding GMOs to redistributing power back to the people, away from the corp-gov axis of weasels. Watch reasons to garden video.
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HERR HOPPE AND THE NUCLEAR WASTE
Metaphorically, nuclear waste is the energy elephant in the global livingroom. Cartoon character Herr Hoppe, however, finds himself with actual radioactive waste in his livingroom. Watch his humorous—and strikingly unsuccessful—attempts to get rid of it. Watch funny nuclear waste videos.
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THE CHOCOLATE CHROMOSOME
Rumor has it that many women luuuuuuv chocolate. This Target Women bit exposes the dark, smooth, delicious underbelly of the cocoa-nuttiness. Watch funny video on women and chocolate.
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YOU ARE HERE — THE OIL JOURNEY PRESENTATION
Though we have all become hooked on the technological and societal benefits of the cheap-energy age, that age is unavoidably about to end. In this good presentation on the peak-oil problem, we first see the proof, then we get a few thoughts on how we might navigate the transition.
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THE STORY OF ELECTRONICS
The high-tech revolution's collateral damage includes 25 million tons of e-waste (and counting), plus poisoned workers and a public left holding the bill. This good electronic-waste video uses funny/clever graphics to accent its points.
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BRUNCHABLES
If you live in the bizarro world of insane food marketers, you might come up with some of these conveniently packaged kids' meals. Watch funny school lunch video.
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SUPER-COOL SUSTAINABLE/RESILIENT HOME VIRTUAL TOUR
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