The Wake Up Call

And, yes, John Kerry really did utter the quote above. Michio Kaku discusses education in America. An in-depth look into why and how Americans are stupid. Willful ignorance, arrogant cluelessness, self-satisfied obliviousness… all represent the state of unawareness with which Americans lead their lives. Studied indifference to the world outside is the only explanation for why Congress gets away with so much fraud and intellectual sloth. And the media are entirely complicit. The horrendous ignorance surrounding social security has allowed politicians – especially presidents – to ride roughshod over the finances, stealing money and pretending there was a surplus, using the false accounts and then declaring that there was room for tax cuts! Americans never said a word… More on the U.S. ‘pivot’ towards Asia. The case of Germany, seemingly so prosperous but careening towards serious trouble with aging demographics will hurt more and more over the next two decades

Britain began its slow descent into oblivion in the late 19thcentury. Britain believed in the innate goodness of man which was its undoing. We examine the stages and mistakes culminating in the ultimate disappearance of the empire in 20 years from 1947 to 1967. Remarkable similarities accompany America’s own decline although, of course, it has never had an empire. Stock market comment du jour. Wal-Mart is feeling the pinch of reduced spending as are cut-price stores like Family Dollar and 99-cent Stores. How can they still talk up a ‘recovery’ with a straight face? More on the ‘real’ unemployment figures. The fate of incomes in this depression. The meaning of retirement in America. More and more people will be depending on social security to fund it

Lessons from America’s entry into the First World War. Wilson’s about-turn. Like Obama, yet another war president awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Who was it that said, “The world must be made safe for democracy”? Idealism, rich in the U.S.A., never misses a beat. Bernanke’s last day in office. We look at some comparisons between the way the Fed was at the beginning of his tenure and how it is today. Very sobering. Bernanke should be hanging his head in shame. The absurdity of the American mortgage system, courtesy of the Fed. No other country does things the American way. It is totally antithetical to good business practice. And it all started, like so much else which is rotten in the system, with FDR. Corruption in crime labs nationwide, motivating them to turn out results that will be favorable to prosecutors! A big round of thanks to all of you who wrote/called in to stop the Trans Pacific Partnership. It seems we succeeded. The bill will not be presented for fast-track status. You did it! Well done. The nanny state is a powerful reason for you to leave the country. The rules and regulations are becoming intolerable and arbitrary. China’s economy is falling to pieces with a credit market well over 300% of GDP. It’s a bubble. Fundamental statistics are deteriorating every month now. Don’t listen to the polyannas. China’s situation is terminal

Don’t confuse a country’s economic prospects with those of its currency. The dollar remains the principal currency of world trade and will remain that way for some time to come. The U.S. has plenty of trade to support a viable dollar. Other currencies do not have the volume of the U.S. dollar. The next-in-line, China’s remnimbi (yuan) is in crisis right now and it will be many years before the yuan is in a satisfactory position to assume world leadership. China has announced a three-day suspension of domestic money transfers and a nine-day suspension of foreign transfers. We are not clear why. More on the bursting of the global currency bubble. Quick stock market comment. The total failure of Keynesian economics. The grim way Americans view each other. More police outrages against innocent citizens

Quantitative Easing (money-printing) was designed to save the big banks and insurance companies. It has simply exacerbated the problems. It has led to vast amounts of newly-created derivatives. Derivatives now stand at 450 times the size of the mortgage security derivatives that brought the financial system to death’s door in 2008. There is no saving the system this time round. The horror of what is about to hit the system is too monumental to describe. Even 99-cent stores are struggling as poor people cannot even afford their wares. Stories of struggling economies around the world. U.S retailers are truly on the ropes. Housing gives the lie to reports of U.S. recovery. America’s swagger in the eastern Pacific region portends deep trouble ahead. China is ramping up to deal with this threat. All this in keeping with my theme-of-the-year: War with China

Plenty of statistics here proving incontestably that there is not and has not been any economic recovery. The heist executed by Bernanke and Hank Paulson in 2008 was the greatest theft ever carried out by humanity. It is impossible to fathom the stupidity of Congress in falling for the scam. They actually rejected the first bill that was presented to them but succumbed a few days later when it was represented with a few mild alterations. The laughable jobs recovery touted by Obama and his sycophantic minions, paid-off economist shills and the discredited corporate media can easily be viewed in graphic form as the false story-line it is. Stock market update. Falsely contived earnings, artificially-inspired future projections, Fed-manipulated inflated asset prices, debts piling on again. What a rotten system! The virtues of deflation.

America didn’t have to go bankrupt and it wouldn't have done so if the American people had risen up and demanded serious action. But most Americans are too willfully ignorant and/or intimidated by the size and scope of the problem to demand major changes to the irresponsible way the government does business. Without the American people insisting that Congress move, it remains so intent on increasing spending that it wouldn't be behaving any other way if their goal had been to create a debt-driven economic collapse. And if the country’s not bankrupt, how do you justify the concept of injecting more of the disease (i.e. debt) to the already-existing disease itself (yes, debt) hoping to cure the disease. Where’s the non-bankruptcy in all that? The U.S. is facing a serious shortage of scientists (science, technology, engineering and math: STEM, for short). Rome also increased taxes and drove the people to poverty and desperation. Didn’t work too well for them, did it? 7 democrats are trying to pressure the media into giving more airtime to global warming. Global temperatures have been cooling for 17 years and, according to a Russian scientist we could be looking at a new cooling period staring this year. Ben Bernanke indulges in a final orgy of self-congratulation to “demolish the skeptics”. Poor, misguided fool. You can go home now, Benny-boy! Drunk judge in Florida faces no legal consequences

The Global Warming Hoax Laid BareThe quixotic expedition of a bunch of global warming “scientists” out to prove the reality of global warming get stuck in the Arctic mid-summer ice! As did their rescue vessel. The believers will never give up. Temperatures have not increased by one degree since 1996 but that only seems to goad them on! Gore, of course, is a loon of the first order but I guess he’s just dismissed as an embarrassment. The U.S. national debt is unserviceable. There simply isn’t enough money in the system to pay it off. Stock market update. Unemployment figures are down but only as countless unemployed people have given up looking for work… so they’re not counted by the BLS! An ice-cream plant in Maryland received 1,600 applications for 36 jobs. Bonus: a priceless clip of George Carlin talking about ‘the planet’

The situation is much worse than you are led to believe. Denial reigns supreme. Teens are simply not interested in driving anymore. They prefer technological gadgetry which is almost free and allows them to stay at home. The transformations offered by cars are now passé. People are returning to live in the cities from the suburbs. Gas is expensive. Bicycling is becoming all-the-rage in the big cities. Europe is in terrible shape. Huge and growing unemployment, massively rising taxes, a double-dip recession (whatever that means), burgeoning debt… More on the specter of war with China. The recklessness of Fed policy. Pentagon working hand-in-hand with France to spy on the UAE. Government and Fed policies seem like magic tricks – until people begin to believe them. Then they are considered as magic! Economic growth is not achieved through the issuance of debt

A medley of statistics showing the inability of the economy to gather much strength. Obamacare insurance premiums add an unexpected obstacle to economic recovery, along with rising taxes and interest rates. Government welfare programs are being cut. Monthly statistics are beginning to reflect the onset of a renewed downturn. Capitalism has taken a wrong turn in America. Americans have not yet understood this. Fascism has virtually completed its takeover of the United States. The Fed’s ignorance of what QE can (and can’t) do. A Fed governor’s admission of this. 24 per cent of respondents in a multi-national poll believes that America is the greatest threat to world peace today. A corrupt prosecutor to spend ten days in jail for withholding evidence in a trial that wrongfully put a man in prison for 25 years. Flute virtuoso loses 13 flutes to the trash courtesy a customs official at JFK who thought they were illegal imported bamboo (an ‘agricultural item’). Vehicle sales took a severe beating last month.

My theme for 2014. I describe the historical underpinnings and the inevitable war as a resentful United States attacks China in a futile attempt to contain it, precisely mirroring Britain's attack on Germany twice in the twentieth century. It is not a matter of 'whether'. It is a question of 'when'. Current policies are and have been based on a total suspension of consequences for making the wrong decisions. We are about to face those consequences. They cover the entire spectrum of social demographics: from the government through to the population-at -large: from the richest of the very rich to the poorest beggar on the streets. The consequences will be felt by all.

Taken sector-by-sector, this is an in-depth review of the important events of 2013 touching on the economy, the markets and the social issues.

HELOCs from before the financial crisis are about to reset to fully amortizing loans. The figures are astronomical and many – if not most – of those with HELOCs are probably unaware of the huge hikes in monthly payments which await them. The real estate nightmare takes on a new lease of life on January 1. Many will simply stop paying and continue to pay the first mortgage. These loans cannot be written down, they must be written off. What’s so terrible about deflation? Why do governments in a time of crisis always seem to want you to payhigherprices? Not to worry, though. They can never win that game. Some choice words on the Federal Reserve, 100 years old last Monday. End-of-year spending continues to drop. Young Americans are certain to enjoy lower living standards than their parents. America has lost its moral compass and with it its credibility. More on Las Vegas real estate

An ex-assistant DA tries to get arrested so as to witness the seamier side of American Justice. He finds it impossible to get himself arrested and finally has to turn himself in. Then we see what life is like in prison. (Grim beyond measure). We also hear about the absurd goings-on by the morons in the court room. How the middle class has been dismantled in ten years. The non-recovery recovery. Is the U.S. bankrupt? You decide. The stock market report. The CIA is withholding a 6,000-page report on its foul acts that we have come to know about in recent years. The Obama administration has bowed to pressure to keep it secret. Few citizens believe their children’s lives will be better than their own. We do not need a banking sector in the traditional sense anymore. Automation has amply replaced most clerical functions but the banking parasites benefit immensely from the banks’ skimming machine

The police seem to be an integral part of everyone’s life in the U.S. today. Even involving social problems. Errant school behavior has become a police issue. Driving without a seat belt can easily escalate into an arrest. Air travel pat downs. Suspicion (justified or not) of drug use. Even staying at home can be hazardous. Anyone who “looks Latino” is at high risk of being stopped as being potentially ‘undocumented’. The outrage of incarceration in the U.S. It is said the average American commits three felonies a day without being aware of it. Poverty and deprivation in the U.K. How future generations unborn are being robbed today. U.S. households’ net worth at a record high. Yes but… GDP grow misrepresented as usual