NightBlogger

The Fortis speculation may be premature. The consensus among many financial analysts forecasts a US financial collapse closer to September.

BRUSSELS/AMSTERDAM - Fortis expects a complete collapse of the US financial markets within a few days to weeks. That explains, according to Fortis, the series of interventions of last Thursday to retrieve € 8 billion. “We have been saved just in time. The situation in the US is much worse than we thought”, says Fortis chairman Maurice Lippens. Fortis expects bankruptcies amongst 6000 American banks which have a small coverage currently. But also Citigroup, General Motors, there is starting a complete meltdown in the US”. More
Also See:
BIS warns of crises in global economy

DETROIT (Reuters) - After three decades at work in a GM factory, John Martinez has reached a crossroads. Martinez, 50, must choose between retiring and making a long and expensive commute across state lines to stay with General Motors Corp. Any future he can imagine is going to be costly and tough. “My whole family is under stress,” he said. The same can be said of the embattled U.S. auto industry and its recession-hardened hometown, Detroit. GM, once an emblem of U.S. post-war economic might, is being driven to the brink by dwindling sales that are expected to test cash reserves and the nerves of investors in the months ahead. Crosstown rivals Ford Motor Co and privately held Chrysler LLC face similar pressures. As the automakers weigh their options to ride out the industry’s most-trying slump in 25 years, thousands of Detroit families are doing the same. More

Hundreds of truckers staged new protests against high fuel prices across France on Monday, blocking main highways and snarling commuter traffic around Paris. About 100 trucks blocked the A1, the main motorway taking holiday drivers from the Channel and northern Europe to Paris and the south of France in both directions near Lille. Similar blockades were set up on key roads outside of Channel ports. Police said there were huge tailbacks on many roads into Paris as scores more trucks staged a go-slow on a Paris outer ring road to the east and south of the capital. Others were planned for nearly every main highway heading into Paris, the National Transport Operators Federation said.

The trucks moved at about 15 kilometers (10 miles) an hour and the federation protest organisers said the trucks would all converge on the main Paris ring road, one of the busiest in Europe. Similar jams built up around other big cities including Bordeaux on the Atlantic and Nice on the Mediterranean, where the main coastal highway was blocked. More

* Monday, June 30, 2008 at 06:17:43 UTC
Location 58.160°S, 21.894°W
Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program
Region EAST OF THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS
Distances 285 km (175 miles) ENE of Bristol Island, South Sandwich Islands
360 km (225 miles) ESE of Visokoi Island, South Sandwich Islands
3780 km (2350 miles) SE of BUENOS AIRES, Argentina
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 11 km (6.8 miles); depth fixed by location program
Parameters NST= 58, Nph= 58, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.29 sec, Gp= 50°,
Source USGS

Each major news network spends only 2 minutes per week on the Iraq war. The networks are not talking about the nearly 1 Million Iraqis killed due to the 2003 US invasion, the Millions of Iraqi widows of war, and the 5 Million displaced Iraqis. Instead, the networks (like CBS Evening News) lead off with stories about star golfers (Tiger Woods) and their injuries.

From Mediabloodhound
Statement from Rick Kaplan, Executive Producer of CBS Evening News, who, I was also informed, had a direct hand in making this decision:

“The Tiger Woods injury story was of major importance and we felt we needed to devote time to it as the lead. Tiger is arguably one of the world’s premiere athletes and his career is in some jeopardy with Tiger halting playing the sport for the year. It was certainly the most talked about story of the day, and the biggest story in most national newspapers. Our story contained implications for sports, millions of fans, and many aspects of business; which have by and large been revolutionized by the Tiger Woods phenomenon.”

CONYERS: Could the President order a suspect buried alive?

YOO: Uh, Mr. Chairman, I don’t think I’ve ever given advice that the President could order someone buried alive…

CONYERS: I didn’t ask you if you ever gave him advice. I asked you thought the President could order a suspect buried alive.

YOO: Well Chairman, my view right now is that I don’t think a President — no American President would ever have to order that or feel it necessary to order that.

CONYERS: I think we understand the games that are being played.
Source: Think Progress.org

Congress spent much of the last month debating ways to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Perhaps it should take a closer look in its garage. Half of all vehicles leased by members of Congress with taxpayer funds are gas-guzzling SUVs, a review of congressional financial records show. Twice as many lawmakers drive luxurious Lincoln Town Cars - four, at a sluggish 15 miles per gallon in the city - than hybrid Toyota Priuses - two, at 48 miles per gallon in the city. Taxpayers spend about $1 million per year to lease vehicles for 127 members of the House of Representatives, more than a quarter of the 435-member body. The government also pays for fuel for the leased vehicles. More

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices hit record high points close to 144 dollars per barrel on Monday as the dollar fell further and amid a conference and protests staged in response to soaring crude, analysts said. Brent North Sea crude reached a historic peak of 143.91 dollars a barrel and New York light sweet crude struck an all-time high of 143.67 dollars. “The market remains well supported by the broad weakness in the dollar, ever increasing investor interest in commodities, persistent supply disruptions and geopolitical tensions,” Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said on Monday. Crude futures have doubled in the past year and have risen by almost 50 percent since the start of 2008, when they breached 100 dollars for the first time, triggering fears over inflation and slower economic growth. More

The Telegraph
A leading bank is giving children as young as 11 debit cards without informing their parents, it has emerged. Lloyds TSB is sending the cards directly to children raising fears that they are being used to buy cigarettes, alcohol and pornography over the internet. Last night it was reported that one 15-year-old boy had used a card to buy Viagra on the net. Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman described it as “deeply dispiriting”.

The cards are Visa-enabled and can be used any time a Visa sign is displayed. The bank receives a fee from the retailer every time a card is used. In the past, children aged 11 to 15 with current accounts could only have debit cards that could be used only in cash machines or at bank branches. A spokesman for Lloyds TSB said: “We wrote to customers under the age of 16, who previously had a cash machine card, to let them know they could have a debit card. More

MADRID (Reuters) - The heads of some of the world’s biggest oil companies countered on Monday OPEC claims that speculators were driving high oil prices, instead blaming a dearth of new supplies. The chief executives of Royal Dutch Shell and Spain’s Repsol told the oil industry’s biggest gathering in three years that restrictions on where they can invest and high taxes meant they could not help boost supplies as much as they might.

BP’s CEO Tony Hayward said the argument that financial investors buying oil futures were behind a four-year rally that pushed oil prices to new records above $143/barrel on Monday was a “myth”. He said the problem was a failure of supply growth to match demand growth. “Supply is not responding adequately to rising demand,” he told thousands of delegates at the World Petroleum Congress. Repsol CEO Antonio Brufau agreed. “The fundamentals in the industry are the significant reasons for having these prices,” he said. More

Gabor Steingart in Washington
Humiliation for Mr. Dollar: Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Bank, faces a general investigation by the International Monetary Fund. Just one more example of the Fed losing its power. The United States Federal Reserve Bank, or Fed, seems as much a part of America as Coca-Cola or Pizza Hut. But at least one difference has become apparent in recent days. While the pizza chain and soft-drink maker are likely to expand their scope of influence in the age of globalization, the US central bank is finding that its power is shrinking.

No Fed chief in US history has been forced to submit to the kind of humiliation that Ben Bernanke is facing. This is partly down to circumstances. Inflation is going up and up, and this year’s average will likely top 4 percent. But this time Mr. Dollar is also Mr. Powerless. He can raise interest rates in the fall, or he can pray, which would probably be the better choice. At least prayer would not prevent the US economy from growing, a highly likely outcome if interest rates go up.

After years of growth, the United States is now on the brink of a recession, one that is more likely to be deepened than softened by a tight money policy. Investments will automatically become more expensive, consumer spending will be curbed and economic growth will slow down, immediately affecting unemployment figures and wages. More

FAMILIES last night claimed they watched in awe as a dozen glowing orange objects buzzed Basingstoke. In the latest UFO riddle to grip Britain, witnesses say the “alien” fleet hovered above the Hampshire town for half an hour – changing formation before their eyes. Dad-of-two David Osborne, 47 – who captured the unearthly phenomenon on video – said yesterday: “My adrenaline was pumping and I was trembling all over. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was amazing.” David, an amateur astronomer, yelled to his daughters to grab his camera after he phoned nearby RAF Odiham and was told officials could not comment “for security reasons”. More

Bob Morris @ Jun 30th 2008 05:55 - Category: Credit crisis
I was emailing a friend recently about the stock market. He thinks the markets are “totally divorced from the reality of the time” and in many ways he’s right. They exist in a bizarre other universe, seemingly not affecting the rest of us much. Except when they do, as witness the subprime debacle that has now morphed into a worldwide credit crisis.

* Former Sec. of Labor Robert Reich: “The economy is failing” and Congress needs to pass a massive stimulus package now, deficit spending be damned.
* Former Sec. of the Treasury Lawrence Summers: “In the months ahead there is the real possibility that significant financial institutions will encounter not just liquidity but solvency problems“
* Mish says forced sales of bank assets are coming soon as banks desperately try to raise money. WaMu is toast and Citigroup will be broken into pieces.
* Barclays Capital is warning clients that a major financial storm is coming and blames the Fed for not moving against inflation.
* The Royal Bank of Scotland advises all the chickens will be coming home to roost after the current excesses and that the contagion will be worldwide.

More

Remote viewing is nothing new in Tibetan monasteries. For thousands of years remote viewing in the middle of other spiritual activities have dominated Tibetan culture. What some Indian tourists came to learn from a few Tibetan monasteries under the current Chinese rule is extremely alarming and fascinating. According to these tourists remote viewers are seeing world powers in the course of self-destruction. They also see that the world will not be destroyed. Between now and 2012 the world super powers will continue to engage in regional wars. Terrorism and covert war will be the main problem. In world politics something will happen in and around 2010. At that time the world powers will threaten to destroy each other.

Between 2010 and 2012, the whole world will get polarized and prepare for the ultimate dooms day. Heavy political maneuvers and negotiations will take place with little progress. In 2012, the world will start plunging into a total destructive nuclear war. And at that time something remarkable will happen, says, Buddhist monk of Tibet. Supernatural divine powers will intervene. The destiny of the world is not to self-destruct at this time. More

LATimes
BEIRUT — The commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard said the government might shut down vital oil lanes through the Persian Gulf if the country were attacked by the United States or Israel, according to a newspaper report Saturday. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari warned that if there were any confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program, Tehran would try to damage Western economies by targeting oil. “Iran will definitely act to impose control on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz,” through which 17 million barrels of oil passes each day. “After this action, the oil price will rise very considerably and this is among the factors deterring the enemies,” he said. More

The Defense Department, the nation’s biggest polluter, is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade and two other military bases where the EPA says dumped chemicals pose “imminent and substantial” dangers to public health and the environment.

The Pentagon has also declined to sign agreements required by law that cover 12 other military sites on the Superfund list of the most polluted places in the country. The contracts would spell out a remediation plan, set schedules, and allow the EPA to oversee the work and assess penalties if milestones are missed. More

(BEIJING) — Angry villagers set fire to police and government offices and overturned vehicles in southwest China to protest how officials handled a teenage student’s death, a human rights organization and witnesses said Sunday. The violence erupted Saturday afternoon in Weng’an, a county in Guizhou province, when thousands of people — including many middle school students — converged around the buildings and began attacking them, they said.

The villagers clashed with paramilitary police who were dispatched to deal with the situation. “Thick black smoke billowed everywhere,” said a man who answered the telephone at the Weng’an County People’s Hospital, where he said about a dozen injured people were taken. “The incident shows that the social order around here is not stable.” The unrest was sparked by the death of a 16-year-old student who was raped and murdered, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said. More

Los Angeles Times
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Department in southeastern Colorado has ended car patrols of its 2,000-square-mile jurisdiction. One Ohio sheriff is putting his deputies into golf carts. Stillwater, Okla., has stopped mowing the grass on nearly half of its parkland. Cleveland is remapping its trash pickup routes to cut costs. That has helped push nearly half the states into budget deficits this year; 24 are cutting services to close the gaps, Perez said. In California, lawmakers are struggling to close a $15.2-billion deficit. More

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iran has sentenced to death a man found guilty of spying for Israel, state media reported Monday. Tehran’s Revolutionary Court convicted Ali Ashtari, 45, of spying for Israel’s intelligence agency, Mossad, in exchange for money, the news agencies said. According to Ashtari’s “confession,” published by the news agency Fars, Ashtari was a salesman who obtained high-end but security-compromised electronic equipment from Mossad and sold them to military and defense centers in Iran. During the trial prosecutors displayed spying tools that Mossad had allegedly provided, Iranian Student’s News Agency said. Ashtari can appeal his verdict, the Islamic Republic News Agency said. Iran and Israel have been engaged in an escalating war of words. Iran accuses Israel of trying to destabilize the republic. Israel has not ruled out military action to halt Iran’s nuclear aspirations

Washington Post
Tomatoes carrying a rare form of salmonella that has sickened more than 800 people may still be on the market, federal officials said yesterday, two weeks after they first warned consumers about the risk. Investigators are considering the possibility that other produce may be spreading the bacteria. “We continue to see a strong association with tomatoes, but we are keeping an open mind about other ingredients,” said Patricia Griffin, a top epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More

Press TV
A senior Iranian commander says the country is digging some ‘320,000 graves’ in its bordering provinces for future slain invaders. Brigadier General Mir-Faisal Baqerzadeh, the Head of the Foundation for the Remembrance of the Holy Defense, said Sunday that the decision had been approved by Iran’s Armed Forces Headquarters. “We will dig 15,000 to 20,000 graves in each of the border provinces,” he said. More

Iran on Sunday dismissed reports that Israel had been practicing for air strikes against its nuclear drive as “psychological operations” but warned of a limitless response to any attack. The New York Times on Friday cited US officials as saying that a major Israeli military exercise over Greece earlier this month appeared to be a dry run for a potential strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. “It seems that a series of psychological operations have been taken to intimidate the Islamic republic and force it to renounce its absolute and legitimate right” to nuclear power, Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar said.

“But Iran will not be intimidated by these threats and will not renounce its right,” he added, quoted by the Fars news agency. An official with the Greek air force’s central command confirmed the substance of the report, stating that it had taken part in “joint training exercises” with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete. “Iran will not begin any conflict but will punish any aggressor with force. With determination and using all the options — without limit in time and space — we will give a destructive response to any hostile action,” Najar said. His comments came after the UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei warned on Saturday that an attack on Iran would turn the region into a “ball of fire.” More

Bank for International Settlements is one of the world’s most highly regarded economic institutions.

Telegraph.co.uk
The global economy may be heading for a far deeper crisis than is expected and a bout of deflation in the world’s biggest economies is now a possibility, according to one of the world’s most highly regarded economic institutions. The Bank for International Settlements has warned that many in the City and elsewhere may have underestimated the scale of the coming economic downturn in one of its most sombre portraits yet of the international financial system. The Swiss institution - known as the central bankers’ bank - issued the alert in its annual report, released today. The report draws stark comparisons between the current crisis and a variety of others including the Great Depression. Most sobering is the report’s warning that developed economies including the US and Britain could face deflation. More

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Central bankers issued a stern warning on Sunday against the dangers of surging inflation, saying rising energy costs risk damaging growth in rich and poor countries alike. Policymakers attending talks at the annual meeting of the Bank for International Settlements said they were on high alert to the dangers posed by rising inflation and slowing growth, but there was no one-size-fits-all solution. “We see very difficult times for the world economy moving ahead,” said Martin Redrado, Argentina’s central bank governor.

“In particular in the financial sector we are going to be witnessing the second wave of turbulence now that the slowdown is going to hit consumer credit … It is uncharted waters that we are testing at this point, and central bankers all over the world are very alert.” A mutiny in Guinea this month left two dead and several wounded in a shoot-out between an anti-riot brigade and police demanding payment of salary arrears. “We need to take concerted measures against inflation. We need to conciliate policy with social considerations … in many countries today we are seeing tensions and protests,” Bangoura said. More

Bob Morris
polizeros.com
The Pakistan stock market recently dropped off a cliff so the government banned short selling for a month then pumped $446 million into the market. They also decreed that prices could not fall more than 1% a day. This of course forced the market up. Traders there no doubt were overjoyed by this gift of free money and immediately went long too, riding that money train up. Then, when the ban on shorting is lifted, they’ll go short again. More

Patrick Martin
Leading congressional Democrats have given their approval to a vastly expanded program of US covert warfare against Iran, according to an article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, published in the New Yorker, and made available on the magazine’s web site Sunday. (See “Preparing the Battlefield—The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran”)

President Bush issued a Presidential Finding, a classified notification to top congressional leaders about the covert program against Iran, last year, after the Democrats took control of the Senate and House of Representatives in the November 2006 elections. The Finding called for a series of operations, including funding of separatist groups working among Iran’s Arab and Baluchi minorities, as well as the kidnapping of members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard for interrogation across the border in Iraq and targeting individuals within Iran for assassination.

Hersh reports that Bush carried out the legal requirement that he notify the Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate, as well as the chairman and ranking members of the intelligence committees. The four Democrats are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller, and House Intelligence Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes. More

US intervention in Latin America is rarely discussed among American intellectuals. Latin America is where—thanks to misguided men like Reagan—the so-called “War On Terror” began in the 1980’s. Latin Americans will tell you who the real terrorists are.

Compiled by Steve Kangas

1954

Guatemala - The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup. Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.

1959

Haiti - The U.S. military helps “Papa Doc” Duvalier become dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the “Tonton Macoutes,” who terrorize the population with machetes. They will kill over 100,000 during the Duvalier family reign. The U.S. does not protest their dismal human rights record.

1961

The Bay of Pigs - The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro’s Cuba. But “Operation Mongoose” fails, due to poor planning, security and backing. The planners had imagined that the invasion will spark a popular uprising against Castro — which never happens. A promised American air strike also never occurs. This is the CIA’s first public setback, causing President Kennedy to fire CIA Director Allen Dulles.

1963

Dominican Republic - The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Juan Bosch in a military coup. The CIA installs a repressive, right-wing junta.

Ecuador - A CIA-backed military coup overthrows President Arosemana, whose independent (not socialist) policies have become unacceptable to Washington. A military junta assumes command, cancels the 1964 elections, and begins abusing human rights.

1964

Brazil - A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history. General Castelo Branco will create Latin America’s first death squads, or bands of secret police who hunt down “communists” for torture, interrogation and murder. Often these “communists” are no more than Branco’s political opponents. Later it is revealed that the CIA trains the death squads. More

…the Dow crashed through its eight-year support level at 11,750. There isn’t much below now to keep it from dropping all the way back down to the 7,500-range. What that will do to American investor psychology and worse, consumer confidence, and therefore spending, and therefore the economy, is only too apparent.

The gold-attack on Monday obviously didn’t take. Gold recovered the following day and powered up by $26 the very next day to close in NY at $911. On Friday, gold confirmed its breakout, which means there will be little holding it back - just like there is now very little that’s holding the Dow up. Unsurprisingly, the US war machinery is in full swing at this time. Troop and military asset movements into the Iranian theater are nearly complete, the Israelis have flown their practice-attack of 100-plus fighter jets over the Mediterranean, and Congress has again prostrated itself before its banking-guild rulers who want total government (and therefore banking) of all economic activity.

Congress did this by passing the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to give retroactive immunity to telcoms spying for the government, and by proposing a resolution (the already infamous H. Con. Res. 362) by which Congress demands that Bush completely blockade Iran in order to force it to stop enriching uranium. This, naturally, is a perfect setup for unleashing the long-planned bombing campaign on Iran. Congressmen know that Iran will not accede to these international demands. End result: We will probably get another war because of all this, just like we got one back in 2002-03 when the Dow plunged into the chasm this recently broken support level has bridged for these past eight years (see chart above).

The problem is that this time, it is a bipartisan gang of US war mongers in our Congress who all appear hell-bent on forcing Bush to attack Iran with a preemptive strike, possibly even an unprovoked nuclear first strike - something that human history so far has not had to deal with. More

* Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 20:53:03 UTC
* Monday, June 30, 2008 at 07:53:03 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 45.147°N, 137.505°E
Depth 314.7 km (195.6 miles)
Region PRIMOR’YE, RUSSIA
Distances 330 km (205 miles) W of Wakkanai, Hokkaido, Japan
385 km (240 miles) NW of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
1065 km (660 miles) N of TOKYO, Japan
6570 km (4080 miles) NE of MOSCOW, Russia
Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.4 km (4.6 miles); depth +/- 11.8 km (7.3 miles)
Parameters NST= 50, Nph= 50, Dmin=453.4 km, Rmss=0.92 sec, Gp= 47°,
M-type=body magnitude (Mb), Version=7
Source USGS

“The fact that the mid-March, 2008 financial markets crisis, capped by the demise of Bear Stearns, was accompanied by substantial drops in Gold and Silver prices is quite significant. After examining the evidence, how can a rational observer conclude anything other than that the price of Gold, Silver, other key commodities and equities markets are manipulated?”

This July, 2008 Report is the seventh in a series of Deepcaster’s work originally entitled “Juiced Numbers” regarding Market Intervention and Data Manipulation. The primary topics of this Report are: 1) An updated Overview of the Market Intervention and Data Manipulation Regime based on, inter alia, including the recent Releases from the BIS, BLS and The U.S. Federal Reserve reflecting that Market Intervention and Manipulation; 2) Highlights of recent Interventions culminating in the mid-March 2008 financial crisis and accompanying Takedown of Gold and Silver and the Cartel’s “Validity Fog” surrounding the early June, 2008 Intervention; 3) Cartel Intervention as the key feature of the aforementioned and other Takedowns; 4) Data Massaging; and 5) The Cartel “End Game.”

IMPORTANT NOTE: Deepcaster has spent considerable time reviewing important recent data releases from the BIS (Bank of International Settlements - - The Central Bankers’ Bank), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the U.S. Federal Reserve. They are quite astounding. They reflect a considerable acceleration of Market Intervention and ongoing Data Manipulation. They also reflect dramatic increases in OTC (Over-the-Counter) Derivatives (Dark Liquidity), and in Exchange-Traded Derivatives, and an apparent intensification of Data Manipulation. The total notional value of all Derivatives Outstanding now exceeds One Quadrillion U.S. Dollars! As we demonstrate, these facts reflect dramatically increased Systemic Risk and also reflect the significance of The Cartel’s creating (and/or having available) more OTC Derivatives in order to affect market outcomes. This Report is based on publicly available sources believed to be reliable, but their reliability is not guaranteed. In sum, this Report provides even more evidence of Increased Risk of Systemic Collapse, and of the beginning of the attempted implementation of The Cartel’s Nefarious “End Game outlined below.” More

This post is not meant to alarm but to make aware of the potential risks and dangers now facing not only US markets but global markets as all these entities are linked to each other. I have pasted two thumbnails, one of the Philly Banking Sector (BKX) and 20 yr DOW. The banking index chart clearly shows the acceleration of downside movement. This index could hit 35 before it finds support, if it breaks through the support trendline (outlined) then the situation with the finanicals could even be more fragile then anticipated. Both Barclay’s and RBS have announced warning that within weeks to months we could witness a financial collapse based on inflationary influences. Very little mention of the true root cause of this debacle, which falls back to the irresponsibility’s of the banking industry related to sub-prime mortgage fiasco. Let them lay fault where fault is deserved, not with the FED releasing the inflation genie.

Bernanke’s FED truly was dealt a sucker hand from Greenspan. The wheels of destruction were already set in motion and there was no recourse, no detour available to navigate around this economic sink-hole now facing us. The US government has catered to big business and special interest groups leaving the US consumer harnessed to toiling in the field, the blood, sweat and tears of hard labor and little to show for it other then overwhelming debt. The Government is still under the belief you can suck blood out of a stone, we’ll see how that works out.

The economy is built on a house of cards, excess greed, excees debt, excess spending, excess deficits etc. All bets are laid and the dealer is asking for a show of hands. The US economy is unlikely to make the final table. Unfortunately you will find that when things go bad, they have to get much worse before it can get better. We will have to pay for all this excess, lack of responsible Government and Greed.

When the Banking Institutions start crying “fire” in their own house, one should pay extra attention and consider the source. It may turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. This slow train wreck was long in the making, but as with all events which mature, they build up momentum and start to accelerate. We may be experiencing this acceleration now. Barclay’s warning; had mentioned consumers would do well just to preserve their wealth (given the high inflationary outlook). There was no mention of vesting in precious metals but any savvy investor can read between the lines and figure this out for himself. More

Congressman Ron Paul comments on the Federal Reserve’s decision to maintain interest rates and raises concerns about inflation on June 25, 2008. “If you’re worried about $4/gallon gasoline you better worry about $8/gallon because they’re [the Fed] still inflating…we live in an age that’s very dangerous and it’s coming to an end.”

Video: Point of no return for US economy

June 26, 2008, the day we passed the point of no return for the US economy! None of the mainstream news organizations are reporting on this. Do your self a favor and listen up.

Timesonline.co.uk
Iran has moved ballistic missiles into launch positions, with Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant among the possible targets, defence sources said last week. The movement of Shahab-3B missiles, which have an estimated range of more than 1,250 miles, followed a large-scale exercise earlier this month in which the Israeli air force flew en masse over the Mediterranean in an apparent rehearsal for a threatened attack on Iran’s nuclear installations. Israel believes Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons.

The sources said Iran was preparing to retaliate for any onslaught by firing missiles at Dimona, where Israel’s own nuclear weapons are believed to be made. Major-General Mohammad Jafari, the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, told a Tehran daily: “This country [Israel] is completely within the range of the Islamic Republic’s missiles. Our missile power and capability are such that the Zionist regime – despite all its abilities – cannot confront it.” More

Hidden cameras go inside the London Scientology.
Also See:
Inside the church of Scientology

wtnh.com
Experts say Connecticut residents and other New Englanders struggling to pay summer gas prices will face even more bad news this winter. Home heating oil, which is widely used in homes and businesses throughout the region, is expected to hit record high prices. The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association says the national average cost to heat a home with oil this winter will be just under $2,600, that’s more than $600 above last year’s price. More

Jerome a Paris
The Oil Drum
As you may have heard, oil prices have reached a new high above $140. I can already hear the outcry against speculators and their out-of-control games to enrich themselves at our expense. Never mind that speculators have been caught shortselling oil (ie betting on a fall in prices) more than a few times in recent months. Never mind that spot oil prices, which require actual physical deliveries of oil at the end of each month, have behaved the same way as paper futures. Never mind that oil storage seems to not be increasing. Nope, it is just too convenient, too irresistible and, let’s say it, too comfortable an excuse that speculators are to blame. It’s not our fault, we have our scapegoat. Our price increases are temporary, we’ll soon be back to “normal” lower prices, as soon as (take your pick) speculators have been punished/oil companies are taxed for their profiteering/”fundamentals” are left to set prices. This is just denial. There are A LOT of good reasons why oil prices are going up. Let me show you just a few. More

By Bill Moyers & Michael Winship
Oh, no, they told us, Iraq isn’t a war about oil. That’s cynical and simplistic, they said. It’s about terror and al Qaeda and toppling a dictator and spreading democracy and protecting ourselves from weapons of mass destruction. But one by one, these concocted rationales went up in smoke, fire, and ashes. And now the bottom turns out to be….the bottom line. It is about oil.

Alan Greenspan said so last fall. The former chairman of the Federal Reserve, safely out of office, confessed in his memoir, “…Everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil.” He elaborated in an interview with the Washington Post’s Bob Woodward, “If Saddam Hussein had been head of Iraq and there was no oil under those sands, our response to him would not have been as strong as it was in the first gulf war.”

Remember, also, that soon after the invasion, Donald Rumsfeld’s deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, told the press that war was our only strategic choice. “…We had virtually no economic options with Iraq,” he explained, “because the country floats on a sea of oil.” More

Holistic practitioners have known this for years
The Independent
They’re in millions of mouths worldwide, but have been linked to heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Now a report concedes they may have a toxic effect on the body. Amalgam dental fillings – which contain the highly toxic metal mercury – pose a health risk, the world’s top medical regulatory agency has conceded. After years of insisting the fillings are safe, the US government’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a health warning about them. It represents a landmark victory for campaigners, who say the fillings are responsible for a range of ailments, including heart conditions and Alzheimer’s disease.

Earlier this month, in an unprecedented U-turn, the FDA dropped much of its reassuring language on the fillings from its website, substituting: “Dental amalgams contain mercury, which may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and foetuses.” It adds that when amalgam fillings are “placed in teeth or removed they release mercury vapour”, and that the same thing happens when chewing. More