tagged w/ Finance
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If the global economy is not heading for a recession, then why is global shipping slowing down so dramatically? Many economists believe that measures of global shipping such as the Baltic Dry Index are leading economic indicators. In other words, they change before the overall economic picture changes. For example, back in early 2008 the Baltic Dry Index began falling dramatically. There were those that warned that such a rapid decline in the Baltic Dry Index meant that a significant recession was coming, and it turned out that they were right. Well, the Baltic Dry Index is falling very rapidly once again. In fact, on February 3rd the Baltic Dry Index reached a low that had not been seen since August 1986. Some economists say that there are unique reasons for this (there are too many ships, etc.), but when you add this to all of the other indicators that Europe is heading into a recession, a very frightening picture emerges. We appear to be staring a global economic slowdown right in the face, and we all need to start getting prepared for that.If the global economy is not heading for a recession, then why is global shipping... more
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This is a great essay. It's a bit older, but worth revisiting as we are in the presidential campaign season and I've not heard any candidate, not even Ron Paul speak about possibly the greatest heist in world history. And the media is more than happy to keep waving abortion, race, religions (insert your favorite wedge issue here) in our faces day after day.
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I wrote Arrogance Of A Banker. I thought that would stir someone up enough to do something, but it didn’t.
This is how my friends and I stole 2.2 trillion dollars of your money in the 1990s and more since. The Treasury sells bonds to pay the deficit using the New York branch of the Federal Reserve and what are called Primary Dealers. What we did was really simple. We just sold 2.2 trillion dollars in Treasury bonds over and above what the deficit required in the 1990s. All you had to do to arrest everyone in Wall Street was to examine the books at Cantor Fitzgerald’s offices at One World Trade Center on the 101st to 105th floors. Too bad all the evidence went up in smoke on 9-11-2001.
There were no repercussions for taking down the World Trade Center with nanothermite and controlled demolitions. Well timed and placed explosions turned 440,000 cubic yards of concrete (336,404 cubic meters) into dust in less than 3 seconds but most people believed that jet fuel alone did that. What a laugh.
That was so funny and made so much money for us that we decided to do it again. We sold 1.5 trillion more in bonds than the deficits required over a period of 45 months. So far nothing has happened. I know we can’t cover it up by blowing up the World Trade Center again. But we can always launch World War III. We were planning another war anyway.
I need to make something perfectly clear that people do not seem to understand. Catherine Austin Fitts has been telling people about the billions of dollars that goes missing every week from government spending. She was at Housing and Urban Development and said 59.3 billion dollars went missing from HUD in just two years. Most of you know that Donald Rumsfeld and rabbi Dov Zakheim, the Comptroller of the Pentagon, admitted on 9-10–2001 that 2.3 trillion dollars went missing from the Department of Defense. Fortunately, neither Rumsfeld nor Zakheim were looking for that missing money on 9-11-2001 because Flight 77 just happened to crash into the Pentagon auditing section and killed the auditors who were hot on the trail of the missing trillions.
The money Catherine said has been stolen from federal spending – you as a mere peasant are not allowed to audit – is in my estimate about 4 billion dollars a week. But that is completely separate from the money we pocket from selling phony Treasury bonds.
Let me give a clear example so even the dumbest Christian Zionist can understand. In June of last year approximately 17.3 billion dollars (at a rate of 4 billion dollars a week for 4.3 weeks) was stolen from unaudited government spending. But for the sake of believability I will cut that estimate by 3 billion down to 14.3 billion dollars. This helped run the deficit up from 53.7 billion dollars to 68 billion. So the Treasury in June of last year had to raise a total of 68 billion including the 14.3 billion Catherine was speaking about. The New York FED and the primary dealers sold a total of 211 billion dollars. If you subtract the 68 billion actually needed from the 211, you get a total of 143 billion dollars we pocketed from the sale of phony Treasury bonds. Now go back and add in the 14.3 billion to the 143 billion and you get a total of 157.3 billion dollars we stole in just one month from you.
Like I said, “What are you going to do about it?”
Cont...This is a great essay. It's a bit older, but worth revisiting as we are in the... more
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Have you ever watched a football game or a basketball game where one team dominates the other team so badly that calling it a "blowout" would be a huge understatement? Well, that is what China is doing to the United States. China is absolutely destroying America on the global economic stage. Once upon a time, the Chinese economy was a joke and the U.S. economy was the most powerful the world had ever seen. But over the past couple of decades the U.S. economy has decayed and declined while the Chinese economy has skyrocketed. Today, China makes more steel, more automobiles, more beer, more cotton, more coal and more solar panels than we do. China has the fastest train in the world, the fastest computer in the world and they export twice as much high-tech equipment as we do. In 2011, our trade deficit with China was the largest trade deficit that one nation has had with another nation in the history of the world, and China has now accumulated more than 3 trillion dollars in foreign currency reserves. Every single day, we lose more jobs, more businesses and more of our national wealth to China. In technical economic terms, China has "taken us out behind the woodshed" and has beaten the living daylights out of us. Unfortunately, most Americans are so addicted to entertainment that they don't even realize what is happening.Have you ever watched a football game or a basketball game where one team dominates... more
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Interesting data. Click the link for interactive map.
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MapLight has conducted an analysis of campaign contributions from companies and organizations to the sitting members of Congress from each state.
In collaboration with Tableau Public, MapLight has presented this research data in a visualization, displaying logos of each state’s “owner,” making it possible to see which groups are seeking to influence members of Congress across the country.
Clicking the logo on a state will show the top five contributing organizations to all members of Congress from that state.
Companies Listed as a Top 5 Contributing Organization in the Most Individual States
EMILY's - $2,735,595
Goldman Sachs - $744,650
Honeywell - $1,110,623
Club for Growth - $2,550,430
National Beer Wholesalers Association - $823,700
JP Morgan Chase- $380,477
National Association of Realtors - $883,000
AT&T - $1,027,593
Northrop Grumman - $351,100
A link to a spreadsheet of this data can be found at link
A link to this Tableau data visualization can be found at link
A link to this press release can be found at linkInteresting data. Click the link for interactive map.
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MapLight has conducted... more
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"Quantitative easing (QE) is an unconventional monetary policy used by central banks to stimulate the national economy when conventional monetary policy has become ineffective. A central bank buys financial assets to inject a pre-determined quantity of money into the economy"
In other words, the Private Central Federal Reserve Cartel is implementing the same policy from the past few yearsthat has changed nothing. Oh and Obama runs nothing.
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The central bank of the United States believes that America is still a ways from economic recovery, which could soon prompt the Federal Reserve to announce a new round of quantitative easing, or QE3.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke addressed the economic status of the US on Wednesday and experts predict that the grim statement he offered suggest that QE3 is just around the corner.
"The framework makes very clear that we need to be thinking about ways to provide further stimulus if we don't get improvement in the pace of recovery and a normalization of inflation,” Chairman Bernanke said at a conference Wednesday. He added that unless the US sees a major economic recovery anytime soon, the Fed would be needed to step up to the plate.
According to the chairman, the purchasing of bonds to boost the economy is “an option that is certainly on the table”
Speaking Wednesday, Bernanke said that the Fed would keep interest rates low until at least 2014 and said that hopes of the American economy finally seeing a recovery were faltering. “If there’s a need to let inflation” return “a little more slowly to target in order to get a better result on employment, then that’s something that we would be willing to do,” Bernanke said."Quantitative easing (QE) is an unconventional monetary policy used by central... more
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) may have violated his state’s campaign finance law over 1,000 times in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign by failing to properly report contributions, according to a new report.
Wisconsin law requires gubernatorial campaigns to disclose information about contributors who give more than $100. Again and again, Walker appears to have skirted that requirement.
One Wisconsin Now examined the Walker for Governor’s finance records and found 1,115 instances where the campaign received contributions of more than $100 but did not properly disclose who gave the money. In total, “Walker has improperly reported well over $500,000 in contributions from inside and outside of Wisconsin,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. According to the group, which has filed a complaint with the state Government Accountability Board, Walker’s violations could result in a fine of $557,500:
The reporting statutes were enacted to give the public a full and timely picture of who is contributing to political candidates and the interests they may be representing. Lawmakers felt this was particularly important in the days preceding a general or primary election. According to the statutes, each violation of the reporting laws can result in a fine of up to $500, which in Walker’s case could top nearly $557,500.
ThinkProgress reached out to the Walker campaign for comment, but had not heard back by publication time. We will provide an update if they respond to the charge. http://thkpr.gs/zrX4egWisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) may have violated his state’s campaign finance... more
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LOrion
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30 days ago
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A new independent analysis of 2012 presidential candidates’ campaign contributions confirms that Mitt Romney is the bankers’ choice for the GOP nominee, and indeed for President.
Records of campaign contributions based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically this past weekend, reveal that Romney’s top 20 donors are made up almost exclusively of the biggest private banks on the planet.
Among Romney’s top twenty donors are Credit Suisse Group, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Wells Fargo and Citigroup Inc.
By far and away Romney’s largest campaign contributions have emanated from employees and officials at Goldman Sachs, with a total of $354,700 donated.
In stark contrast to Romney, and every other candidate for that matter, the top three organizations that employ Congressman Ron Paul’s supporters are the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Navy.
Indeed, the latest figures once again show that the Ron Paul 2012 Campaign has raised more donations from active military than all other presidential candidates—Republican or Democrat.
Unlike the majority of the rest of the field, Ron Paul’s donations have come solely from individuals and not from the use of PACs, bundling, subsidiaries and the like – indicating that the Congressman is the only candidate with purely grassroots support.A new independent analysis of 2012 presidential candidates’ campaign... more
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This may be what many have been predicting since 2008. FHA has filed a lawsuite against 17 banks. Bank of America is up to its diamond studded tie pins in lawsuits, fines, and repercussions for its criminal activities. Between the Eurozone imploding and the big banks collapsing under their own weight.....This may be what many have been predicting since 2008. FHA has filed a lawsuite... more
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This, pretty much, tells it like it is with regard to what capitalism is all about and why we need to end it.This, pretty much, tells it like it is with regard to what capitalism is all about and... more
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We live in a time of finance capitalism, when trading money, risk and associated products is more profitable and outpaces trading goods and services for capital accumulation. That is in short what people refer to often as “financialisation” of the economy. This has huge implications for where capital is invested and the everyday exposure of people to capital markets, as more and more aspects of everyday life – from home ownership to pensions and schooling – are mediated through financial markets rather than just markets.We live in a time of finance capitalism, when trading money, risk and associated... more
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While it is reported that intercepting unencrypted drone communication data streams had first been known to US military since the mid-1990's, this exploitation continued on into 2009 where militant laptops were found with drone data and unencrypted video feeds from Predator drones...
https://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/18778-How-the-RQ-170-Was-Hijacked.htmlWhile it is reported that intercepting unencrypted drone communication data streams... more
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Kmart store manager Ted Straub talks Thursday Dec 15, 2011 in his Omaha, Neb store. Dozens of Kmart customers across the country have had their layaways paid off by strangers. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.
He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn't be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.
"She told him, 'No, I'm paying for it,'" recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. "He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn't, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears."
At Kmart stores across the country, Santa seems to be getting some help: Anonymous donors are paying off strangers' layaway accounts, buying the Christmas gifts other families couldn't afford, especially toys and children's clothes set aside by impoverished parents.
Before she left the store Tuesday evening, the Indianapolis woman in her mid-40s had paid the layaway orders for as many as 50 people. On the way out, she handed out $50 bills and paid for two carts of toys for a woman in line at the cash register.
"She was doing it in the memory of her husband who had just died, and she said she wasn't going to be able to spend it and wanted to make people happy with it," Deppe said. The woman did not identify herself and only asked people to "remember Ben," an apparent reference to her husband.
Deppe, who said she's worked in retail for 40 years, had never seen anything like it.
"It was like an angel fell out of the sky and appeared in our store," she said.
Most of the donors have done their giving secretly.
Dona Bremser, an Omaha nurse, was at work when a Kmart employee called to tell her that someone had paid off the $70 balance of her layaway account, which held nearly $200 in toys for her 4-year-old son.
"I was speechless," Bremser said. "It made me believe in Christmas again."
Dozens of other customers have received similar calls in Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana and Montana.
The benefactors generally ask to help families who are squirreling away items for young children. They often pay a portion of the balance, usually all but a few dollars or cents so the layaway order stays in the store's system.
The phenomenon seems to have begun in Michigan before spreading, Kmart executives said.
"It is honestly being driven by people wanting to do a good deed at this time of the year," said Salima Yala, Kmart's division vice president for layaway.
The good Samaritans seem to be visiting mainly Kmart stores, though a Wal-Mart spokesman said a few of his stores in Joplin, Mo., and Chicago have also seen some layaway accounts paid off.
Kmart representatives say they did nothing to instigate the secret Santas or spread word of the generosity. But it's happening as the company struggles to compete with chains such as Wal-Mart and Target.
Kmart may be the focus of layaway generosity, Yala said, because it is one of the few large discount stores that has offered layaway year-round for about four decades. Under the program, customers can make purchases but let the store hold onto their merchandise as they pay it off slowly over several weeks.
The sad memories of layaways lost prompted at least one good Samaritan to pay off the accounts of five people at an Omaha Kmart, said Karl Graff, the store's assistant manager.
"She told me that when she was younger, her mom used to set up things on layaway at Kmart, but they rarely were able to pay them off because they just didn't have the money for it," Graff said.
He called a woman who had been helped, "and she broke down in tears on the phone with me. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to pay off their layaway and was afraid their kids weren't going to have anything for Christmas."
"You know, 50 bucks may not sound like a lot, but I tell you what, at the right time, it may as well be a million dollars for some people," Graff said.
Graff's store alone has seen about a dozen layaway accounts paid off in the last 10 days, with the donors paying $50 to $250 on each account.
"To be honest, in retail, it's easy to get cynical about the holidays, because you're kind of grinding it out when everybody else is having family time," Graff said. "It's really encouraging to see this side of Christmas again."
Lori Stearnes of Omaha also benefited from the generosity of a stranger who paid all but $58 of her $250 layaway bill for toys for her four youngest grandchildren.
Stearnes said she and her husband live paycheck to paycheck, but she plans to use the money she was saving for the toys to help pay for someone else's layaway.
In Missoula, Mont., a man spent more than $1,200 to pay down the balances of six customers whose layaway orders were about to be returned to a Kmart store's inventory because of late payments.
Store employees reached one beneficiary on her cellphone at Seattle Children's Hospital, where her son was being treated for an undisclosed illness.
"She was yelling at the nurses, 'We're going to have Christmas after all!'" store manager Josine Murrin said.
A Kmart in Plainfield Township, Mich., called Roberta Carter last week to let her know a man had paid all but 40 cents of her $60 layaway.
Carter, a mother of eight from Grand Rapids, Mich., said she cried upon hearing the news. She and her family have been struggling as she seeks a full-time job.
"My kids will have clothes for Christmas," she said.
Angie Torres, a stay-at-home mother of four children under the age of 8, was in the Indianapolis Kmart on Tuesday to make a payment on her layaway bill when she learned the woman next to her was paying off her account.
"I started to cry. I couldn't believe it," said Torres, who doubted she would have been able to pay off the balance. "I was in disbelief. I hugged her and gave her a kiss."
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Associated Press writers Michael J. Crumb in Des Moines, Iowa; Matt Volz, in Helena, Mont.; and Jeff Karoub in Detroit contributed to this report.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/anonymous-donors-pay-off-kmart-222535611.htmlKmart store manager Ted Straub talks Thursday Dec 15, 2011 in his Omaha, Neb store.... more
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If we we consider the Occupy movements across the globe, demonstrating and protesting against income inequality and inequitable policies around commerce and taxation, the persistent cart vulnerability could become a seemingly benign form of occupation that could develop into a serious threat...
https://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/18630-OWWWS-The-Other-Form-of-Occupy.htmlIf we we consider the Occupy movements across the globe, demonstrating and protesting... more
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The fascist cabal known as the Bilderbergers, CFR, committee of 300 etc., is desperately and without hope trying to start WW3 and install a fascist world government in an attempt to pre-empt criminal investigations closing in on them from all sides. Their efforts will fail because the Pentagon and the agencies in the US (with the exception of homeland Gestapo) are preparing to remove them from power, according to CIA and other sources. For example, multiple investigations are closing in on alleged President Obama, including one for illegally declaring war on Libya. A count among US representatives show the votes necessary to impeach him are there, US law enforcement officials say. In addition, evidence of bribery and other forms of illegally tampering with government is being compiled against George Soros, among others. There is also a lot going on under and on the surface in Europe, Japan and the Middle East. I highly recommend you watch this first, as it will draw you directly into the mystery -- which flickered for the briefest moment in mainstream media, only to disappear into shuddering silence: http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/bizzareweird/43041-the-trillion-dollar-lawsuit-that-could-end-financial-tyrannyThe fascist cabal known as the Bilderbergers, CFR, committee of 300 etc., is... more
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worrg
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1 month ago
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