Current Events and Links

Biden, McConnell continue ‘cliff’ talks as clock winds down

Dec. 31, 2012 - Within hours of the deadline for avoiding the "fiscal cliff," Congress is still at a stalemate. Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) are still holding urgent talks today to try to reach some solution to the problem. At this point the Senate needs to find agreement on what tax levels should be and what cuts, if any, will be made in government spending. If they do pass a bill it will still have to be sent to the House of Representatives for approval.

By Monday morning, McConnell’s office reported that talks continued between the Republican leader and Biden and expressed some hope of reaching a deal.

Source: Washington Post

Significance of the Economy in Prophecy

US 'heading over fiscal cliff'

Dec. 27, 2012 - While the nation heads for the "fiscal cliff," lawmakers are absent.

The president and Senate are back at work, with the House called back for Sunday - one day before the deadline.
Analysts say heading over the "cliff" could tip the US into recession.

The "fiscal cliff" is shorthand for the combination of almost $600 billion in automatic tax raises and the unwillingness of congress to deal with necessary spending cuts before the Jan. 1 deadline.

Source: BBC

Geithner: U.S. to hit $16.394 trillion debt ceiling on Monday - CNN

Sandy Damage Could Top $30 B as Focus Turns to Recovery

Oct. 31, 2012 - Superstorm Sandy has resulted in at least 55 deaths and had destroyed beachfront homes and boardwalks from the mid-Atlantic states to southern New England.

At the height of the disaster, more than 8.2 million lost electricity — some as far away as Michigan. Nearly a quarter of those without power were in New York, where lower Manhattan's usually bright lights remained dark for a second night.

IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm, predicted that the storm will cause about $20 billion in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business.

Source: Fox

Quantitative Easing Did Not Work For The Weimar Republic Either

Sept, 2012 - The U.S. may be on the same course as the Germans, printing money in the 1920's and causing inflation that could eventually lead to financial collapse.

Source: The Economic Collapse Blog

Study: American Households Hit 43-Year Low In Net Worth - CBS DC

Google ups the ante in wallet wars

Sept. 3, 2012 - Users of smart phones will now be able cut up their credit cards and leave their leather wallet at home. Google Wallet is a new application that will provide the convenience of a "single tap" on one's phone to buy products and services. The product will also provide I.D. verification so people can check in for a flight, download virtual boarding passes, and keep their driver’s license and their credit cards on their mobile phone.

Just like the Apple’s AAPL+0.21% forthcoming Passbook app, which is due for release with the iPhone 5 next month, Google Wallet will allow consumers to download loyalty cards, money-off coupons and movie and concert e-tickets directly to the phone.

Security is still an issue. a U.K survey found that only 17% of respondents would use mobile wallets now.

Source: Market Watch

US middle class in 'lost decade' as income falls

Aug. 22, 2012 -

Data from the US Census and the Federal Reserve showed that both median household income and net worth for the middle class were down from 2000, with earnings for a family of three falling from $72,956 to $69,487.

Source: BBC

McCain, Graham to Newsmax: Sequestration Will Cause 'Inability to Defend Nation'

Aug. 3, 2012 - The so-called "sequestration mechanism" are spending cuts approved The spending cuts were approved by both Republicans and Democrats as part of the last-minute 2011 agreement to raise the U.S. debt limit. If Congress does not do something to change the situation, they will take effect in January, 2013, causing devastating damage to our nation's military capabilities.

Half of the nearly $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the next decade under sequestration would strike the Defense Department, resulting in the smallest Air Force in the history of the United States, the smallest Navy since 1940, and the smallest Army since 1915.

Source: NewsMax

Bernanke offers downbeat view of economy, but no action

July 17, 2012 - Today Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee that the country's economy continues. to weaken. He said...

... that the economy could suffer a shallow recession next year if Congress is unable to reach a budget deal that would avert steep tax hikes and across-the-board spending cuts.

Source: USA Today

America's coming civil war -- makers vs. takers

July 12, 2012 - A recent speech by President Obama illustrated what some are calling America’s coming civil war between the Makers and the Takers. This year's election will be the focal point of Class Warfare: a battle of words between the wealth-creating private sector of the country and the growing network of the government's public sector.

Over the past century America’s private sector has been the source of productivity, innovation, creativity, and growth–and gave us the iPhone and iPad. The public sector has been the engine of entitlement, stagnation, and decline -- and gave us Detroit and the South Bronx.

Source: Arthur Herman - Fox

More workers went on disability than got jobs in June - Standard Examiner

Conservative Christians Warn American Families at Risk After 'Obamacare' Is Upheld

June 28, 2012 - Many leaders of conservative Christian organizations are speaking out about the Supreme Court decision allowing the controversial health care law to stand. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins claimed that the individual mandate of the law is an attack on our liberties. He said,

It is only one section among hundreds of provisions in the law that will force taxpayers to fund abortions, violate their conscience rights, and impose a massive tax and debt burden on American families."

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), said that the court's decision was "incredibly disappointing." She said that it offends the conscience of taxpayers because it makes them complicit in the deaths of countless unborn children.

Source: Christian Post

Supreme Court upholds Obama health care law as a tax

June 28, 2012 -

Basically. the justices said that the individual mandate -- the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a fine -- is constitutional as a tax.

Source: USA Today

Breaking news on what the Supreme Court decision about health care means

June 28, 2012 - Analysts trying to understand and explain the courts' decisions.

Source: Washington Post

A Global Recession: The Warning Signs Are Everywhere

June 14, 2012 - Larry Kudlow sounds a warning that most of the economic information points to a very weak U.S. economic recovery and a growing threat of global recession. The one good sign is the current strength of the dollar against the euro, but if the government increases taxes as they say they will, we could easily slip into greater financial problems.

Source: Money News

Jim Rogers: Economic Bankruptcy Isn't End of the World - Newsmax

Americans saw wealth plummet 40 percent from 2007 to 2010, Federal Reserve says

June 12, 2012 - According to a Federal Reserve report, the median net worth of U.S. families plunged by 39 percent in just three years, from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. The losses represent progress that took almost a generation to accumulate.

The promise of retirement built on the inevitable rise of the stock market proved illusory for most. Homeownership, once heralded as a pathway to wealth, became an albatross.

Source: Washington Post

"The End Game: 2012 And 2013 Will Usher In The End" - The Scariest Presentation Ever?

June 3, 2012 - Tyler Durden comments on the latest forecast of Raoul Pal, economic expert and founder of Global Macro Investor. He calls it "he most disturbing and scary forecast of the future of the world we have ever seen."

He predicts that government bailouts will lead to the collapse of the whole European banking system, and then to the bankruptcy of the governments themselves.

The problem is not Government debt per se. The real problem is that the $70 trillion in G10 debt is the collateral for $700 trillion in derivatives…

He fears that this will lead to the end of fractional reserve banking system and of fiat money. He says that at that point we must "hide until the new system emerges." When will this happen? He says, "I think 2012 and 2013 will usher in the end."

Source: Zero Hedge

Former Hedge Funder Presents A Terrifying Vision Of THE END GAME - Business Insider

How The Super Rich Avoid Taxes Even As They Demand That The Rest Of Us Pay More

June 1, 2012 - Disturbing article about the loopholes that allow the wealthiest people to pay less than their fair share.

Source: The Economic Collapse

Bilderberg group meeting near Washington D.C.

May 30, 2012 - For the next five days about 150 of the world's richest and most powerful people will participate in an annual super-secret event known as the Bilderberg Group. This powerful cabal usually meets in Europe, but four years ago it met in the U.S. and apparently decided, among other important but never-announced decisions, that Barak Obama should run for the Presidency. George H.W. Bush was elected three years after he attended one of their meetings. Bill Clinton became president one year after attending. Tony Blair was chosen as England's Prime Minister four years after attending, and Romano Prody became president of the European Union Commission less than a year after he attended their meetings.

The brain-trust will convene at the Westfield Marriott in Virginia, just a few miles from Washington D.C., but they will not pass resolutions or record minutes or issue official statements after the event. The hotel will be closed to outsiders for the duration of the meetings.

Daniel Estulin, author of “The True Story of the Bilderberg Group,” told WND, “Bilderberg is not a bogeyman. But it is a powerful organization. It’s a medium for bringing together financial institutions – the largest, predatory institutions in the world – which acts in ways that are now the worst enemy of society.”

How is it an enemy? Estulin believes the destruction of the economy, and particularly the assault on capitalist economics, is something that has been done on purpose, a meltdown orchestrated from behind the scenes to keep the masses dependent on the elite.

Source: WND

May 27, 2012 -

49.1%: Percent of the population that lives in a household where at least one member received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2011.

Source: WND

Economics, elections pushing NATO power center
Troubles for dollar, euro could make 1st Islamic member new leader

May 25, 2012 - At a recent two-day summit in Chicago the heads of the 28 NATO member countries and other invited partner countries met for future planning. They acknowledged the dire financial condition of Europe and the declining economic situation in the United States. These trends will reduce funds available to the defense alliance and will also have a negative effect on availability of troops from the U.S. and Europe.

Meanwhile, Turkey, the first Islamic member of NATO has been enjoying a 8.5 percent increase in its economy and it plans to add 500,000 career soldiers to its military.

The plans could see the Turkish army replace the U.S. Army as the largest active duty land force in NATO. Currently Turkey has the second fastest economic growth rate of a country in the G20; the People’s Republic of China is ranked first

Source: WND

Mark this date for potential disaster

May 15, 2012 - Jonathan Cahn's book “The Harbinger” shows that warnings to the Israelites before their Assyrian capture are a good example of the mistakes the USA is making after the "warning" of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The author, a Jewish Rabbi, points out that the two greatest financial collapses in the 9/11 tragedy both came on, or very near the date on a seven-year cycle that marks the Sabbath Year, when debts are to be forgiven and the land given a rest. If this is not just a coincidence, the next such Sabbath Year will begin on Sept. 13, 2015. The author does not speculate about the events of that day, but just mentions that it is a date to watch.

Source: WND

World stocks dive after Europe elections

May 7, 2012 - European stock markets have had a strong negative response to the the upset elections in France and Greece, and the economic malaise is spreading to other markets worldwide.

Renewed uncertainty over Europe's ability to deal with its spawning debt crisis following elections in Greece and France hammered stock markets Monday, with the main exchange in Athens down a massive 8%.

Observers say the elections were caused by voter backlash against austerity and unemployment.

Source: USA Today

Yale’s Shiller: World in a 'Late Great Depression'

Apr. 30, 2012 - Yale economist and author Robert Shiller says that the world economy is experiencing a "late Great Depression," and is nin a “new age of austerity.” He says that the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England have propped up their respective economies by injecting new money printed out of thin air.

Writing in the Christian Science Monitor, Shilling said more and more people are looking to rent as homeownership becomes increasingly rare.

Source: Newsmax

Obama Economy Driving Youth Vote to Romney - Newsmax

Is Obamacare heading for a ‘train wreck’ at U.S. Supreme Court?

Mar. 28, 2012 - As the Supreme Court begins a last full day of hearings on the "Obamacare" Health Plan issue, many pundits are predicting that the court will overturn the legislation as unconstitutional. At issue is the "individual mandate" that would require all Americans to buy healthcare coverage by 2014. The decision will not be announced until June.

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin felt that the arguments were leading toward rejection of the plan that was enacted two years ago.

“This was a train wreck for the Obama administration. This law looks like it's going to be struck down. I'm telling you, all of the predictions, including mine, that the justices would not have a problem with this law, were wrong."

Source: Globe and Mail Update

Supreme Court sets up doubleheader finale on ObamaCare hearing - Fox

U.S. is 1 storm away from energy crisis

Jan. 11, 2012 - According to a new study from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the nation's energy supply and its economy could suffer a severe impact if Louisiana Highway LA-1 had to be closed for 90 days because of a storm or any other reason. The highway leads to Lousiana's Port Fourchon.

The port has become a hub for the United States’ critical energy infrastructure. It is a primary supply base for oil rigs and production platforms in the central Gulf of Mexico with approximately 270 large supply ships moving through the port each day.

Such a closure could cause the loss of $7.8 billion in the American gross domestic product, and mmight impede domestic oil and gas production for at least a decade.

Source: WND The national debt: It's worse than suspected

The national debt: It's worse than suspected

Jan. 10, 2011 - The current figure for the national debt of $15.2 billion is terrible, but when you extend our current course out a few years, and add the difference between income and obligations to such things as Social Security and government retirements, the figure will skyrocket.

Add in estimates for those payments, and the actual debt is $51 trillion, Bruce Bartlett wrote this month in the New York Times. He’s a former senior economics adviser to presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Source: Times-News

Older article from August 6, 2011: A National Debt Of $14 Trillion? Try $211 Trillion - NPR