Graphic: Government Executive Cuts 1 Trillion Over Ten Years – Still Borrows a Trillion a Year

Budgets & Funding, Government
Click on Image to Enlarge

Source

Marcus Aurelius

Phi Beta Iota:  This  is the idiot's solution.  It assumes that we can continue to borrow $1 trillion a year during the ten years over which this $1 trillion will be cut.  The ignorance and hypocrisy of the entire Washington world, including all the NGOs and niche publications, cannot be under-stated.

MELTDOWN: Al Jazeera Four Part Video Special

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 10 Transnational Crime, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Law Enforcement, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests

MELTDOWN

Part I:  The men who crashed the world

The first of a four-part investigation into a world of greed and recklessness that led to financial collapse.

In the first episode of Meltdown, we hear about four men who brought down the global economy: a billionaire mortgage-seller who fooled millions; a high-rolling banker with a fatal weakness; a ferocious Wall Street predator; and the power behind the thron

Part II:  A global financial tsunami

Meltdown examines how an epidemic of fear caused banks to stop lending, triggered protests and led to industrial action.

In the second episode of Meltdown, we look at how the financial tsunami swept the world. We hear about a renegade executive who nearly destroyed the global financial system and the US treasury secretary who bailed out his friends.

Part III: Paying the price

As the toll of the financial crisis continues to mount, many are looking for its true causes – and finding a crime.

The third episode of Meltdown looks at how the victims of the 2008 financial crash fight back. A protesting singer in Iceland brings down the government; in France a union leader oversees the kidnapping of his bosses; and thousands of families are made homeless in California.

Part IV: After the Fall

Some responded with denial, others by re-thinking capitalism, but who is preparing for the next crisis?

In the final episode of Meltdown, we hear about the sheikh who says the crash never happened; a Wall Street king charged with fraud; a congresswoman who wants to jail the bankers; and the world leaders who want a re-think of capitalism.

Phi Beta Iota:  This is a world-class series that misses just two things:

A.  Goldman Sachs has owned the US Treasury–providing the Secretary of the Treasurer (and today also the National Security Advisor to the President–for three critical administrations, each of which willfully eradicated safeguards.

B.  Senator Phil Graham (R-TX) and the other Senators who had and still have zero integrity, passing 200 pages of lobbyist written deregulation inserted into the bill five minutes before the vote.

Penguin adds:

C.  The perfidy of Clinton in his Glass-Steagall sellout and his CONTINUED malignant hyping of its ethic through obfuscation and the pimping of what “reputable” analysts who want access to his solon. For him America was built on deal making and networking.

DefDog: Chinese Pledge to Buy Europe…#OWS

01 Brazil, 02 China, 03 Economy, 03 India, 04 Indonesia, 06 Russia, Government
DefDog

China makes ‘secret eurozone commitment'

AFP, 16 October 2011

LONDON — China has made a “secret commitment” to prop up the crisis-hit eurozone in return for budget reforms and public sector cuts, the Sunday Times reported, amid ongoing turmoil over the region's debt crisis.

The paper said Chinese representatives at the Paris G20 finance gathering on Saturday had indicated that Beijing was willing to pump tens of billions into the eurozone to purchase infrastructure assets from debt-plagued nations.

The Sunday Times, which quoted a source close to the talks, added that Chinese banks could also increase their purchases of eurozone sovereign debt.

“China wants to be sure that Europe knows the size of the hole and that it won't get any bigger before they agree to fill it in,” the paper quoted the source as saying.

Europe had vowed to its G20 partners Saturday that it would take swift and decisive action to resolve a debt crisis that is threatening to drag the world economy back into recession.

French Finance Minister Francois Baroin, speaking after the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bankers, said the eurozone would present answers as soon as next weekend, at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on October 23.

Phi Beta Iota:  Predatory capitalism and inverted democracy are now “bracketed” by the emerging new financial order on the one hand (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa + 50 other countries behind the scenes), and OccupyWallStreet in over 900 locations around the world.  The world is at a design opportunity point.  China will err on the side of institutions (doing the wrong thing wronger) and OWS will err on the side of populism in place of insttutions.  We need a blend of both–a hybrid system whose signal characteristic must be transparency for truth producing trust.

Anthony J. Thorne: 9/11 Revelations 10 Years After

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War, Law Enforcement, Military, Officers Call

Phi Beta Iota:  Responding at Amazon to Review of Extreme Prejudice.

Interesting review Robert. I haven't read the book yet but I'm hopeful there are some new details of worth in it. I appreciate your regular mention of 9/11 issues in your book reviews. Don't know if you've read it yet but Kevin Fenton's DISCONNECTING THE DOTS is worth a look as it brings out new details in the (dubious) activities of the CIA and their Alex Station team prior to 9/11 – Peter Dale Scott recently praised this one highly in interviews. Additionally, if you Google ‘Who is Rich Blee?', the first link that comes up (SecrecyKills) offers a lengthy podcast from the same team that made 9/11 PRESS FOR TRUTH that fruitfully accompanies that DISCONNECTING book mentioned above with new interviews with Richard Clarke and statements from a very defensive George Tenet. They have a full transcript of the podcast on the site which is valuable reading, and author Kevin Fenton is again featured on that site and thanked in the podcast.

There's a lengthy 500 page book on 9/11 by a possibly pseudonymous author called E.P.Heidner, titled ‘The September Eleventh Commission Report' (a poor title for a valuable work) that a number of researchers have been discussing recently – David Ray Griffin mentioned to me in an email a month ago that he makes note of the book in his latest 9/11 TEN YEARS LATER volume. Heidner has done a massive amount of new research into who the likely background figures are (many linked to Iran Contra) and brings a lot of new information to the table. The book is currently unpublished but is available online for free as a PDF, at Scribd and elsewhere. If you Google the phrase ‘A remarkable new book on 9/11', the first link that comes up is a post by me at the Deep Politics forum where I and some others discuss the book in detail and post a number of links where any reader can get the book for free.

Researcher and journalist Jonathan Elinoff uploaded a fine documentary on 9/11 online a couple of years back called CORE OF CORRUPTION-FROM THE SHADOWS, which goes into a lot of depth about events prior to 9/11. (The currently available version has a minor sound issue where for the first 10 minutes or so, the background music is a little louder than it should be, but the film is still worth sticking with and is easily locatable online). I mention this as two(!) new follow up films to that documentary, the next of the series entitled CORE OF CORRUPTION-ECHOES OF TREASON, are reportedly being finished right now and will be released online for full viewing in March 2012. Elinoff reportedly has close to five years of research and relevant interviews and various revelations prepared for release with the new film, including new information from whistleblowers, fresh details about the participants in the rogue 9/11 stock trades, and a lot of juicy new info. The proof will be in the pudding but I expect it to be a formidable piece of work.

As a final note, if you haven't yet watched the recent feature length documentary 9/11 EXPLOSIVE EVIDENCE-EXPERTS SPEAK OUT, and its accompanying shorter featurette ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS-SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF WTC7 (hosted by Ed Asner) please go to Youtube and view them immediately. Both are superior works from Richard Gage's group of professionals and contain a lot of formidable evidence and testimony.

Chuck Spinney: Iranian Plot a Sting, False Flag, or Both?

02 Diplomacy, 05 Iran, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, DHS, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, IO Deeds of War
Chuck Spinney

US Attorney General Eric Holder held a press conference on 11 Oct where he claimed Federal authorities had foiled a plot by men linked to the Iranian government to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States and to bomb the embassies of Saudi Arabia and Israel in Washington (NYT).

The vagueness and innuendo in the language of the complaint filed with the federal court reek of a half-baked sting operation.

For example, attacking the embassy of Saudi Arabia is mentioned as merely a  “possibility” of bombing foreign government facilities of Saudi Arabia and “another country”  located “within and outside of the United States.”

Phi Beta Iota:  Brother Chuck's entire commentary and all three attachments are fully repeated in this post (below the line).  The Iranian “plot” is significant because it could serve as a precipitant of revolution in the USA.  Combined with OWS and a soccer mom torching herself on the front steps of Capitol Hill, the USA is close to “the perfect storm.”

See Also:

2011 Thinking About Revolution in the USA and Elsewhere (Full Text Online for Google Translate)

Below the line full comment by Chuck Spinney and all three attachments in full text online.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Iranian Plot a Sting, False Flag, or Both?”

Mini-Me: Army of Unemployed Persistent Structural Issue

01 Poverty, 03 Economy, 04 Education, 06 Family, 07 Other Atrocities, 11 Society, Budgets & Funding, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, DoD, Ethics, Government, Legislation, Methods & Process, Military, Policy, Reform
Who? Mini-Me?

Army of unemployed is now entrenched in U.S.

Commentary: Structural woes in economy creating ‘permanent underclass’

Howard Gold

Wall Street Journal, 14 October 2011

The public knew this much earlier than economists or pundits did, and as for politicians — don’t ask!

. . . . .

Listen to Charles Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, in a speech a couple of weeks ago.

“These numbers are troubling, especially when more than 40% of the unemployed, or some six million people, have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer,” he said.

“Millions of unemployed workers may take longer to find jobs because their skills have depreciated or they may need to seek employment in other sectors. These structural issues will take time to resolve. Jobs and workers will need to be reallocated across the economy, which is a long and slow process.”

Read full article.

Phi Beta Iota:  The US Government is in grid-lock, with 1950's mind-sets, 1970's technologies, and 1990's spendthrift ways–in other words, it is completely out of touch with reality and has no idea how to cope with the need to retrain a quarter of the population across all age groups in a year or two.  Hint:  bail out the public, not the banks and certainly not the multiple complexes of corruption.  Start by using military to ingest the entire unemployed population into receiving and retraining centers with full salary for each individual committing to retraining.

See Also:

Read Howard Gold’s analysis “White-Collar Recession, Blue-Collar Depression” on MoneyShow.com

Dolphin: Documentary to Show Evidence of Alien Contact in Mexico and Guatemala

02 Diplomacy, 08 Wild Cards, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Government

Missed this when it first came out.  Multiple countries appear to be declassifying modern extraterrestrial contact information, should be interesting.  Note the non-apocalyptic view of 12 December 2012.

Mayan documentary to show ‘evidence' of alien contact in ancient Mexico

Guatemala and Mexico release secret documents and artefacts for forthcoming film Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond

Ben Child

Guardian, 29 September 2011

The ancient Mayans had contact with alien visitors who left behind evidence of their existence, according to a new Mexican documentary.

Sundance winner Juan Carlos Rulfo's Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond is currently in production for release next year to coincide with the end of the Mayan calendar, reports the Wrap.

Producer Raul Julia-Levy said the documentary-makers were working in cooperation with the Mexican government for what he said was “the good of mankind”. He said the order to collaborate had come directly from the country's president, Álvaro Colom Caballeros.

Mexico will release codices, artefacts and significant documents with evidence of Mayan and extraterrestrial contact, and all of their information will be corroborated by archaeologists,” he said. “The Mexican government is not making this statement on their own – everything we say, we're going to back it up.”

Read full story.

noble gold