tagged w/ Banking
-
Glass-Steagall was a Depression-era, federal regulation (fully repealed under the Clinton administration after years of chipping away by banking industry lobbyists) that erected a barrier between traditional banking, such as commercial and residential loans, depositor savings and checking accounts, etc., and the more complex and risky world of investment banking. Securities firms could not have depositor accounts, and the banks could not engage in most forms of proprietary trading on their own accounts (government bonds were an exception).
There are at least two big ways that bringing back the old law would have decreased the likelihood of the most recent financial crisis, and would do much to protect the financial system (and the broader U.S. economy) going forward.Glass-Steagall was a Depression-era, federal regulation (fully repealed under the... more
-
-
15 multiple choice questions to test your knowledge of the basic fuctions of the Federal Reserve.15 multiple choice questions to test your knowledge of the basic fuctions of the... more
-
-
-
President Obama can cut gasoline prices by one third. On any Sunday night while the markets are closed he can announce the following:
"I have decided to tone down the confrontation with Iran as it does not accomplish anything for America but does indeed harm American consumers by gouging them 2.5 billion dollars a week in higher gasoline prices. And these rising prices come at a time when the world is consuming less and producing more oil. Someone is clearly violating the laws of supply and demand and probably many of our anti-trust legal codes as well.
There is no Iranian nuclear weapons program. Iran has 20% grade nuclear fuel which is not sufficient to sustain a nuclear reaction to make an atomic bomb. All Iran has is a nuclear power plant and a medical isotopes program. Bombing it would be a violation of international law and would kill tens of millions of America’s friends in Azerbaijan, Pakistan, India, China, Burma and elsewhere
The President of Iran never said he was going to wipe Israel off the map. That was a deliberate mistranslation which is to say a lie. We were lied to about the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction to get us into the Iraq war and about the Gulf of Tonkin incident to trick us into the Vietnam war. We can no longer afford as a nation to spend trillions of dollars on lies. Therefore I am announcing tonight a reduction of forces in the Persian Gulf and nearby states,
To save consumers 2.5 billion dollars a week by lowering the price of oil $35 a barrel I will take the following steps to properly regulate excessive speculation:
I will ban Commodity Index Swaps and Synthetic Exchange Traded Funds. Additionally, I will order Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commissions, to double the margin requirement on oil futures. If that does not work, I will double the margin requirements again. I will also order Chairman Gensler to limit the share of the speculative oil futures market that can be owned by any one firm. Neither Goldman Sachs nor Morgan Stanley nor JP Morgan has any real need to own more than 5% of the market in any given commodity. Professionals call this position limits.
Of course the above speech will cost Obama his presidency. You would think that the independents and Republicans who are opposed to war without limit and do not trust Romney with his ties to Israel and to Hedge Funds will line up to vote for Obama. They will never have a chance to vote for anyone who is opposed to the excesses of Wall Street and Israel."
The Israel Lobby will go into 24 hour attack mode on the President. Out will come the Obama is a Muslim and Obama is gay campaigns. These attacks will give cover and justification to the birther issue which they would use at the state level to knock Obama off the ballot.President Obama can cut gasoline prices by one third. On any Sunday night while the... more
-
-
"Well, just as in the case of conventional energy project, good renewable energy projects will be bankable, given certain markets," Murley said. "So if you’ve got a good sponsor, good equipment, a good equity owner, an operating history in the resource, and it's going to work, then you should have every expectation of finding your way to funding.
"The issue now is the stability of the regulatory regime," he continued. "Italy at the moment is probably of limits for new deals. Greece is... forget it. The US, I think, will have a decent year, but absent an extension of the regulatory stiff in the US, it is going to taper off.
"But the long and short of it is decent projects do get done," Murley said."Well, just as in the case of conventional energy project, good renewable energy... more
-
-
http://bit.ly/H0fUzT
Why should energy-intensive corporations invest in green power plays like wind and solar farms?
According to Fintan Whelan, corporate finance director and co-founder of Mainstream Renewable Power, because they're uniquely situated to benefit from such an investments many potential ripple effects.http://bit.ly/H0fUzT
Why should energy-intensive corporations invest in green power... more
-
-
Do these groups ever do anything else but complain?
I mean, not one but two student groups invited Louis Farakahn to speak, the school approved the invitation and Farrakahn accepted the invitation.
I don't know what these complainers have anything to do with Farakahn speaking here. If they don't like what Farrakahn says, then they don't have to attend the presentation.
End of story.
***
Farrakhan is scheduled to address students at Elmore Gymnasium on April 10th. A coalition of student groups asked the long time Nation of Islam head to come earlier this month, saying Farrakhan brings a message of “hope and positive energy.” But Jewish groups in north Alabama scoffed at that assessment, calling it outrageous and insulting. The 78 year-old leader has a long history of anti-Semitic statements, along with other disparaging racial remarks.
“All I can say is shame on A&M for allowing him [Farrakhan] to come,” said Etz Chayim synagogue member Max Rosenthal. “We [Jews] are related to Satan according to Mr. Farrakhan…Mr. Farrakhan is a rabid hate-monger, a rabid anti-Semite, and I think all he’s going to do is try to poison the minds of the A&M students. It’s a real disaster to the community, and I believe it’s going to be very divisive.”
The Alabama A&M Poetry Club and Alabama A&M Democrats were two of the student groups that invited Mr. Farrakhan to campus. Poetry club president Kris Taylor says A&M administrators gave the go-ahead for Farrakhan to come, and called criticism of his past remarks overblown.
“There’s going to be positive energy coming from this,” said Taylor. “I don’t believe he’s going to come here and bash the Jews…There should be no division when you’re trying to uplift and bring positive energy to something.”Do these groups ever do anything else but complain?
I mean, not one but two... more
-
-
Earlier today...This hearing of the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee examines the Federal Reserve's assistance to the Eurozone and the impact of that assistance on the U.S. monetary system and the dollar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ripsfc1H-TcEarlier today...This hearing of the Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology... more
-
-
What service does the Federal Reserve provide to the US to be more profitable than Apple or even more profitable than the Vampire Squid investment institution Goldman Sachs?
***
11 Iconic Companies Less Profitable Than The Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve now is one of the most profitable institutions in the country, and it is giving away most of that profit to taxpayers.
The central bank announced on Tuesday that it earned $77.4 billion in profit in 2011, far more than big-name companies like Apple, Google, and Goldman Sachs, the last of which, for example, took home just $4.44 billion in 2011. Google earned $9.74 billion.What service does the Federal Reserve provide to the US to be more profitable than... more
-
-
That elite sliver reaped 93 percent of the post-recession income gains. Is extreme inequality America's new normal?
There was a brief debate focused on the following question: Would the gains of the economy continue to accrue to the top 1 percent once the recovery started, or would they have a weak post-recession showing in terms of raw income growth as well as income share of the economy? The top 1 percent had a rough Great Recession. They absorbed 50 percent of the income losses, and their share of income dropped from 23.5 percent to 18.1 percent. Was this a new state of affairs, or would the 1 percent bounce back in 2010?
We finally have the estimated data for 2010 by income percentile, and it turns out that the top 1 percent had a fantastic year. The data is in the World Top Income Database, as well as Emmanuel Saez’s updated “Striking it Richer: The Evolution of Top Incomes in the United States” (as well as the excel spreadsheet on his webpage). Timothy Noah has a first set of responses here. The takeaway quote from Saez is, “the top 1 percent captured 93 percent of the income gains in the first year of recovery.”
The bottom 90 percent of Americans lost $127, the bottom 99 percent of Americans gained $80, and the top 1 percent gained $105,637. The bottom 99 percent is net positive for the year due to around $125 in average capital gains. They can take comfort in efforts by the right to set the capital gains tax to 0 percent, which would have netted them an additional couple dozen bucks.
(Also, just to show “the top 1 percent captured 93 percent of the income gains in the first year of recovery” isn’t some sort of stats juke, you can take $105,637 and divide it by the the number you get when you add $80 times 99 to $105,637 times 1. That number is 93 percent, which is the share of income gains the 1 percent took home.)
And if this wasn’t obvious, you can see the gains become quite high the farther you walk up the inequality ladder. When we discuss things like the Buffett Rule or taxing capital gains as ordinary income, it is important to see how top-heavy that capital gains distribution actually is.
This should also be put in the historical frame of looking at 2002 onward. I’m going to normalize some percentiles by their average income in 2002 and show how they have moved going into and out of the recession. This takes the income distribution in 2002 as granted — and any movements from there on out reflect changes from that income. I’m going to exclude capital gains for this chart to show it’s a deeper phenomenon than the stock market, though the effects are the same in either case (click through for larger image): http://rortybomb.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/saez_chart.png?w=640&h=368
The Great Recession dropped income for the bottom 99 percent by 11.6 percent, completely wiping out the meager gains of the Bush years. And crucially, while 2010 was a year of continued stagnation for the economy as a whole, the 1 percent began to show strong gains even when capital gains are excluded.
As you can imagine, this has increased the percentage of the economic pie that the top 1 percent takes home. As Saez notes, “excluding realized capital gains, the top decile share in 2010 is equal to 46.3 percent, higher than in 2007.”
There are two things worth mentioning. There’s an interesting debate within left-liberal circles about whether or not elite economic interests benefit from a weak recovery, benefit more from a strong recovery, are vaguely indifferent to the United States economy, are impotent during the recession, or are more interested in pursuing other agendas during the instability caused by mass unemployment. These numbers are certainly a point for the argument that the rich are doing just fine, and to whatever extent they’d be doing better with more robust growth and employment, it isn’t putting a damper on their earnings.
It’s also worth mentioning that, pre-recession, inequality hadn’t been that high since the Great Depression, and we are quickly returning to that state. It’s important to remember that a series of choices were made during the New Deal to react to runaway inequality, including changes to progressive taxation, financial regulation, monetary policy, labor unionization, and the provisioning of public goods and guaranteed social insurance. A battle will be fought over the next decade — it’s already been fought for the past three years — on all these fronts. The subsequent resolution will determine how broadly shared prosperity is going forward and whether our economy will continue to be as unstable as it has been.
http://www.salon.com/2012/03/05/welcome_to_the_1_percent_recovery/singleton/That elite sliver reaped 93 percent of the post-recession income gains. Is extreme... more
-
-
America is #1...in all kinds of things that the rest of the world would be embarrased about.
#1 America has the highest incarceration rate and the largest total prison population in the entire world by a good margin.
#2 There are more car thefts in the United States than anywhere else in the world by far.
#3 Of all the major industrialized nations, America is the most obese. Mexico is #2.
#4 The average American drinks more than 600 sodas a year – the most in the world.
#5 U.S. corporations sell more fast food and more soda than anyone else in the world by a wide margin.
#6 Nobody watches more television per week (28 hours) than Americans do. Although to be honest, people living in the UK are tied with us.
#7 The United States leads the world in credit card fraud.
#8 The United States has the highest percentage of one person households on the entire planet.
#9 The United States has the highest divorce rate in the world by a good margin.
#10 The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the world by far.
#11 There are more school shootings in America than anywhere else in the world.
#12 The United States has the highest child abuse death rate in the world.
#13 There are more “deaths by reptile” in America than anywhere else in the world.
#14 The United States has the most lawyers per capita in the entire world.
#15 The United States produces more pornography than any other nation in the world.
#16 Americans take more prescription drugs than anyone else in the world.
#17 More is spent on prescription drug advertising in America than anywhere else in the world.
#18 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.
#19 More people have been diagnosed with mental disorders in America than anywhere else on earth.
#20 The United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire globe.
#21 There is more credit card debt in America than anywhere else in the world.
#22 There is more mortgage debt in America than anywhere else in the world.
#23 There is more student loan debt in America than anywhere else in the world.
#24 The United States spends more money on government schools than any other nation on earth does.
#25 U.S. citizens spend more time in school than anyone else in the world. So why are so many of us dumb as a rock?
#26 Nobody in the world gets more plastic surgery done than Americans do.
#27 The United States leads the world in eating disorder deaths.
#28 According to nationmaster.com, the United States has the most total reported crimes in the world by far.
#29 Nobody has more airport security thugs groping women and children than America does.
#30 The United States spends much more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other nation on the face of the earth.
#31 The United States has the most complicated tax system on the entire planet.
#32 The United States has the most laws on the entire planet.
#33 The United States spends more on the military than the next 12 nations combined, and yet the Obama administration is considering plans to unilaterally slash the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal by up to 80 percent.
#34 The United States has the most foreign military bases in the world by far.
#35 The United States exports more arms to other countries than anyone else in the world.
#36 Americans spend more time sitting in traffic than anyone else in the world.
#37 Americans spend more money on elections than anyone else does in the world by a very wide margin.
#38 Every single year, the United States has the largest trade deficit in the world by far.
#39 The U.S. government wastes more money than any other government on earth does.
#40 The United States has accumulated the biggest mountain of government debt in the history of the world.America is #1...in all kinds of things that the rest of the world would be embarrased... more
-
-
What this article doesn't mention is the connection between the monetary policy of the Private Central Banking Cartel, basically flooding the market with dollars to prop up the economy, which causes the value of the dollar to fall.
***
During the 1970s, the toxic combination of a weak dollar, high tax rates, and onerous regulations introduced a new word into America’s economic vocabulary: stagflation. Reaganomics banished this word to the history books. Now, President Obama and Fed Chairman Bernanke are teaming up to give stagflation another try. It is not likely that Americans will like it any more this time around than they did 40 years ago.
Panic is in the air as gasoline prices move above $4.00 per gallon. Politicians and pundits are rounding up the usual suspects, looking for someone or something to blame for this latest outrage to middle class family budgets. In a rare display of bipartisanship, President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner are both wringing their hands over the prospect of seeing their newly extended Social Security tax cut gobbled up by rising gasoline costs.
Unfortunately, the talking heads that are trying to explain the reasons for high oil prices are missing one tiny detail. Oil prices aren’t high right now. In fact, they are unusually low. Gasoline prices would have to rise by another $0.65 to $0.75 per gallon from where they are now just to be “normal”. And, because gasoline prices are low right now, it is very likely that they are going to go up more—perhaps a lot more.What this article doesn't mention is the connection between the monetary policy... more
-
-
Love the Economics dislike the foreign policy? Oxymoron my friend
by Ryan Dawson
See Also:
(Rys2Sense) – No Change I told you so (this was from 2008)
Called it on Obama. If you didn’t listen to me last time please listen this time and Vote Ron Paul. Replace McBama with Obamney and it’s the same story.Love the Economics dislike the foreign policy? Oxymoron my friend
by Ryan Dawson... more
-
-
Washington, DC -- Say goodbye to the almighty dollar. In a unanimous decision, the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors has voted to abolish the use of money in the United States, effective immediately.
“The world’s economic system is broken beyond repair and none of the band-aids that we’ve applied are working,” the governors said in a joint statement. “It’s time to start fresh, so it’s out with the old and in with the very old.”
In place of cash transactions, the Federal Reserve suggests use of the barter system. “It worked in the Middle Ages and it could work even better now,” one Fed Governor explained.
“You could walk into the store and barter your hat, let’s say, for a bag of Doritos and a Diet Coke. How do you like that trade, Wall Street?”
There was no official comment from the Wall Street “investment” firms, which apparently have all gone out of business since their sole purpose of grabbing every dollar they could get their hands on has become completely pointless.
“Could you describe that Doritos deal again?” a former trader asked. “I think I want a taste of that.”
On the home front, the banking industry is being forced to suspend all foreclosures, since a ban on money means no one owes anything. Savings accounts, credit cards, car loans and checking accounts also have become obsolete.
“We’re thinking about getting into the prison business because we’re good at locking things up,” one banking executive said. “Does anyone have the governor’s number?”
But the nation’s politicians have lapsed into a stunned silence, since the political action committees (PACs) that fed them dollars and directed their every move have all gone under.
“I used to get my opinions from the most generous donors,” said one senator who wished to remain anonymous. “But they’ve stopped the bucks from stopping here. So I’ve got nothing to say.”Washington, DC -- Say goodbye to the almighty dollar. In a unanimous decision, the... more
-
-
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozemL3Oq21w
http://www.archive.org/details/LesVisibles-TheBigTicketItem
Heretic Productions presents "How Can so Many People be so Incredibly Blind? (The Big Ticket Item)
Download mp3 of this essay on politics and free speech
http://www.archive.org/download/LesVisibles-TheBigTicketItem/LesVisiblesBigTicketItem..mp3
You ask yourself, just how twisted, indifferent and malevolent can some people get before the universe begins to construct an international gallows franchise everywhere there needs to be one. Each day we see unknown wannabees and the usual suspects, vying and competing to see which of them can be registered and remembered as one of the greatest assholes of our time.
You’ve got Olympics scale competitors, like Janet Nazipolitano and Skull Chertoff. Even their own criminal associates have passed an inflexible law that these two are not allowed to breed. Of course, if you know more about them, you would realize that restriction is unnecessary. There are all kinds of rich people like Jane Harman, Jay Rockefeller, John Kerry, John McCain and others who weren’t satisfied to just spend their spouses or parent’s money and live high on the cannibal hog. They needed, through some terrible compulsion, to also be able to fuck with the lives of others for personal amusement. Why else would you go into public service if you already possessed the payoff for which people go into public service?
Of course there is the vanity of public exposure and personal importance and when you look and act like the serial killer version of Lyle Lovett or a poor man’s Hannibal Lector in Depends, then I guess Nature is telling you, you gotta do what you were designed to do, badly, or worse. There are a few who go into it just for the celebration of pure evil, like Joe Lieberman or Chuckie Schumer but they got those Satan does vaudeville genes.
Sometimes, I sit back and ask myself; where are and who are the good guys? Maybe Ron Paul is a good guy, maybe. We are damn well going to see whether he is now or not because he is in the catbird seat for where his caterwauling has led him. I guess I’d like him better if he didn’t sound like a perpetual member of the Vienna Boy’s Choir, which leads me to Dennis Kucinich, as a logical progression, I think. I begin to think the testosterone shortage is ubiquitous until I get a load of Jessie Ventura. He could be the real deal if he doesn’t turn into a TV personality to the extent he forgets what he came here for.
Alex Jones is not a good guy and neither is Noam Chomsky. I used to think that Chicago prosecutor might be good guy but apparently not. Back in the day, I thought Bill Clinton was a good guy, just to show you what a Holden Caulfield sort of callow youth I was. When he got chummy with George, (Hail Satan!), Bush Senior, I got the message. I mostly think Jimmy Carter is a good guy but everyone stops short of telling it like it is and most of you who read here and at the other fine emporiums of what’s actually going on, know what it’s all short of. I’m not obliquely referring to Kucinich here so, don’t think that. Get it? Never mind, cue Randy Newman.
Contwww.youtube.com/watch?v=ozemL3Oq21w... more
-
-
The campaign just released a list of its top money bundlers, showing they’ve raised at least 75 million dollars – and the most prominent money bundlers are in California. It is also a state with one of the highest rates of unemployment, foreclosures and homelessness.
Don’t expect the Obama’s to stop by any of the neighborhoods suffering from those issues, though.
“If they were to come to places like this in South Central Los Angeles, or to Downtown LA to Skid Rows, they would be surprised at the reality,” said Carlos Marroquin, a homeowners advocate and Occupy LA activist, ahead of another visit from the Obamas.
There are many stark realities in Los Angeles that the President and first lady do not get to see, and many voices they do not hear.
“All you have to do is look at the people that are homeless. All you have to do s look at all the people being laid off,” said Osiris, a Los Angeles resident.
“We’re on our way down and it may be down the drain maybe for good," said Gary Boatright, a homeless man living on the streets of Skid Row. He is one of the city’s 50 thousand homeless.
“I don’t think much of them coming to LA or anywhere else. It’s what they do, not what they say,” said Boatright.
He along with community activists, argue the White House hasn’t done enough to address our nation’s increasing wealth gap.
“The issue of homelessness and poverty in America is obviously not a priority of the Obama administration. Basically poor people are being kept invisible,” he added.
Poverty has risen in California every year since President Obama came into office. Today 6 million live below the poverty line and 1-in-5 Californians lack health coverage.
“Unfortunately President Obama has been a huge disappointment to a lot of us,” Boatright said.
The campaign just released a list of its top money bundlers, showing they’ve raised at least 75 million dollars – and the most prominent money bundlers are in California. It is also a state with one of the highest rates of unemployment, foreclosures and homelessness. Don’t expect the Obama’s to stop by any of the neighborhoods suffering from those issues, though.
“If they were to come to places like this in South Central Los Angeles, or to Downtown LA to Skid Rows, they would be surprised at the reality,” said Carlos Marroquin, a homeowners advocate and Occupy LA activist, ahead of another visit from the Obamas.
There are many stark realities in Los Angeles that the President and first lady do not get to see, and many voices they do not hear.
“All you have to do is look at the people that are homeless. All you have to do s look at all the people being laid off,” said Osiris, a Los Angeles resident.
“We’re on our way down and it may be down the drain maybe for good," said Gary Boatright, a homeless man living on the streets of Skid Row. He is one of the city’s 50 thousand homeless.
“I don’t think much of them coming to LA or anywhere else. It’s what they do, not what they say,” said Boatright.
He along with community activists, argue the White House hasn’t done enough to address our nation’s increasing wealth gap.
“The issue of homelessness and poverty in America is obviously not a priority of the Obama administration. Basically poor people are being kept invisible,” he added.
Poverty has risen in California every year since President Obama came into office. Today 6 million live below the poverty line and 1-in-5 Californians lack health coverage.
“Unfortunately President Obama has been a huge disappointment to a lot of us,” Boatright said.The campaign just released a list of its top money bundlers, showing... more
-
-
"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.
***
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
-
-
Financial Dictator of America and head of the Federal Reserve Private Banking Cartel statement following January meeting.Financial Dictator of America and head of the Federal Reserve Private Banking Cartel... more
-
-
In other words the Federal Reserve Private Banking Cartel is out of bullets to "help" the economy, but we've suspected that they were going to be worthless for like four years now.
***
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it will likely not raise interest rates until at least late 2014, much later than it had said previously, as it nurses a still-sluggish economic recovery.
The Fed, after a two-day policy meeting, repeated its view that the economy faces "significant downside risks" but it offered little to suggest it was close to launching another round of bond-buying to prop up growth.
Many investors had expected the Fed to push its expectations for the first rate hike into 2014, but few had thought it would be late in the year. After every previous policy meeting dating back to August, the Fed had said rates were not likely to rise until mid-2013.In other words the Federal Reserve Private Banking Cartel is out of bullets to... more
-
-
Fortune-teller or engineer of the collapse?
***
Billionaire investor George Soros has a new prediction for America. While it might be as dire as it gets for the financial wiz, this bet concerns more than just the value of the buck. According to Soros, there's about to be an all-out class war.
Soros, 81, previously bet against the British pound in the early 90s and made $1 billion off its collapse. In the years since, he’s remained active in investing, but also in advocacy. He’s helped keep Wikipedia afloat thanks to impressive contributions and through donations to the Tides Center, has indirectly funded Adbusters, the Canadian anti-capitalist magazine that put Occupy Wall Street on the map.
Speaking to Newsweek recently, Soros neglected to acknowledge his past successes, but instead offered a word of warning: a period of “evil” is coming to the western world.
“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros tells Newsweek. “We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”
Soros goes on to compare the current state of the western world with what the Soviet Union was facing as communism crumbled. Although he would think that history would have taught the globe a thing or two about noticing trends, Soros says that, despite past events providing a perfect example of what is to come, the end of an empire seems imminent.
“The collapse of the Soviet system was a pretty extraordinary event, and we are currently experiencing something similar in the developed world, without fully realizing what’s happening,” adds Soros.
Soros goes on to say that as the crisis in the Eurozone only worsens, the American financial system will continue to be hit hard. On the way to a full-blown collapse, he cautions, Americans should expect society to alter accordingly. Riots will hit the streets, says Soros, and as a result, “It will be an excuse for cracking down and using strong-arm tactics to maintain law and order, which, carried to an extreme, could bring about a repressive political system, a society where individual liberty is much more constrained, which would be a break with the tradition of the United States.”Fortune-teller or engineer of the collapse?
***
Billionaire investor George... more
-
