The Uselessness Premium

SUBHEAD: Without four more Saudi Arabias ready to dump fuel on the market the price is set to rise.By Steve Ludlum on 2 March 2011 in Economic Undertow -(http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2011/03/other-shoes-and-uselessness-premium.html)Image above: Egyptians hold shoes in the air in defiance of dictator Hosni Mubarek a month ago. From (http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/01/5969373

Demise of the Dollar

SUBHEAD: The Great Recession never left us and collapse of the industrial economy is already under way.By Guy McPherson on 22 February 2011 in Nature Bats Last -(http://guymcpherson.com/2011/02/demise-of-the-dollar)Image above: Illustration of hyperinflation by David Dees. From (http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/deesA2.htm).The U.S. dollar continues its journey from Brobdingnagian to Lilliputian

Fed tests banks for more recession

SUBHEAD: The Federal Reserve tells U.S. banks to test their capital for a continued recession with 11% unemployment.By Craig Torres & Hugh Son on 17 February 2011 for Bloomberg News - (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/fed-tells-banks-to-stress-test-capital-for-recession-with-11-unemployment.html)Image above: On the way through the Great Recession. From (http://nwgasbdc.blogspot.com/2010/

The Great Global Debt Prison

SUBHEAD: The banking elites haven’t just erected a prison, they’ve tossed us in Alcatraz!By Giordano Bruno on 4 February 2011 in Neithercorp Press - (http://neithercorp.us/npress/2011/02/the-great-global-debt-prison/)Image above: Sign at historic debtors prison in Accomack County, Virginia. From (http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/06/amnesty-for-banksters-debtors-prison.html).Tense and

Revenge of the Real Economy

SUBHEAD:The markets are completely distorted, both by purchaser preference and risk - but also blatant manipulation.By Steve Ludlum on 3 January 2011 in Economic Undertow - (http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2011/01/revenge-of-real-economy.html)Image above: Detail of "The Tornado Man" by Mark Bryan, 2004. From (http://www.artofmarkbryan.com/the%20tornado%20man.html).Happy New Year everyone!

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

SUBHEAD: Our policy makers first created a crisis of confidence, and then resolved it by legalizing a global Ponzi scheme.By Steve Ludlum on 26 December 2010 in Economic Undertow -(http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2010/12/waiting-for-other-shoe-to-drop.html)Image above: Monopoly board for Banksters to play Wall Street Kleptocracy. From (http://ilene.typepad.com/). Merry Christmas! Here

James Howard Kunstler profile

SUBHEAD: "We are unable to construct a coherent consensus about what is happening to us and what we ought to do about it." - JHKBy Lindsay Curren on 1 December 2010 in Transition Voice -(http://transitionvoice.com/2010/12/interview-james-howard-kunstler)Image above: "Gas" by Edward Hopper, 1941, Whitney Museum. Click to enlarge. In the peak oil community, converts to the predicament tend to

A New Era???

SUBHEAD: Decline is the new normal. The only remaining US growth industries are food-stamps and poverty.By Steve Ludlum on 4 December 2010 in Economic Undertow -(http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2010/12/new-era.html)Image above: Seven-Eleven signals policy on Slurpee purchase payments. From (http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2010/08/so-there-are-li.html). "Buy some silver and put JP

Inter-Galactic Bailout

SUBHEAD: The Fed extends the hand of debt beyond borders. Alien wealth will be required to bail them out.By Bill Bonner on 2 December 2010 in The Daily Reckoning(http://dailyreckoning.com/inter-galactic-bailout-the-fed-extends-the-hand-of-debt-beyond-borders)Image above: Batman and Robin face intergalactic aliens. From (http://comicsmakenosense.blogspot.com/2010/08/

"QE Explained" Analysis

SUBHEAD: Viral video "Quantitative Easing Explained" has been criticized and defended.Image above: Still frame from "Quantitative Easing Explained." See below.By Richard Alford on 29 November 2010 for Naked Capitalism - (http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/11/richard-alford-%E2%80%9Cquantitative-easing-explained%E2%80%9D-and-its-critics.html)The YouTube video “Quantitative Easing Explained” has

Real Status of Bank Industry

SUBHEAD: Former Federal Reserve analyst Chris Whalen reveals the real status of the banks.Image above: Empty bank vault in Detroit. Michigan. From (http://becomingfearless.typepad.com/notesonbecomingfearless/2010/02/the-ruins-of-detroit.html).By Peter Gorenstein on 17 November 2010 for Yahoo Finance - (See video at: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/535619/%22A-Lot-of-Losses-...-

Plutocracy Now!

SUBHEAD: What's left standing is the perniciously powerful, highly secretive and entirely unaccountable Federal Reserve.Image above: The Federal Reserve in the center of a storm. From (http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/01/guest-post-front-running-the-fed.html).By Ashvin Pandurangi on 6 November 2010 in Simple Planet - (http://peakcomplexity.blogspot.com/2010/11/plutocracy-now.html)Every so

White Knight of Zombieland

SUBHEAD: The Fed's effort now suggests that the harsh effects of Peak Oil are to be felt imminently. Our waste-based economy is a zombie.Image above: Bust of zombie version of superhero Colonel America. From (http://www.gametrailers.com/users/bobafett300/gamepad/?action=viewblog&id=99236).By Steve Ludlum on 5 November 2010 in Economic Undertow -(http://economic-undertow.blogspot.com/2010/11/

Empire of Lies

\SUBHEAD: The only question of economic significance at this point is which event puts the stake in the heart of the industrial economy.Image above: Famous capitalist and banker J. P. Morgan in top hat on Wall Street. From (http://irrationalgeographic.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/the-giant-and-the-midget).By Guy McPherson on 31 October 2010 in Nature Bats Last -(http://guymcpherson.com/2010/10/

Defribulating the Economy

SUBHEAD: The US Federal Reserve will decide our economic fate beginning tomorrow. Let us pray.Image above: Jumpstarting the dollar. By Juan WilsonBy Neil Irwin on 1 November 2010 for Washington Post - (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/31/AR2010103103818.html)The Federal Reserve is preparing to put its credibility on the line as it rarely has before by taking dramatic

Gold Will Outlive Dollar

SUBHEAD: The Fed is organizing an attack on the dollar’s value, believing that this is the most expedient way to defuse deflationary market forces.Image above: Face of a 1922 ten dollar U.S. gold note, when our money was backed by the gold in Fort Knox. From (http://www.getmoneyenergy.com/2009/11/reasons-why-price-of-gold-going-up). By John Hathaway ON 28 October 2010 in Bloomberg -(http://