30 Dec 2011

International Dateline Has Now Moved - Sun Rises 2 Days Early in Greenland +

samoa changes the international dateline: (or was it done at scientists request?!): Source 
I raise the question because of the OTHER events that happened this year...
greenland sun rises two days early: Source
Compasses thrown off: first the google search: Source
then watch the videos: Source
mass animal deaths: Source
new sign in the zodiac due to change in earths orientation: Source
Changing runways to meet the new north is rare: Source
several new comets and meteor showers: Source
earthquake uptick and weather changes: Source

UK Government reveals 'alarming' pension shortfall

Ministers yesterday said they were "alarmed" by the figures and warned that millions of British workers facing a "poorer future" when they retire.

Fewer than four in 10 Britons are saving into a private pension, the lowest level for a decade, according to official figures.

The new analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions found that the number of working-age people saving into a private pension fell from 46 per cent in 2000 to 38 per cent last year.
The fall was most dramatic in people under the age of 40, while men are less likely to have saved for their retirement than women.
An estimated 11.6 million people currently have private pensions, meaning that millions fewer people are saving for one than a decade ago.
Steve Webb, the Pensions minister, said: “With fewer people saving into a pension, lower annuity rates and an average of 23 years in retirement, many people could face a poorer future in their later lives.” He said that the “alarming” figures underscore why the Government’s pension reforms will be "vital”. From next year, companies will be forced to start automatically enrolling their staff in workplace pension schemes. This will give millions of people access to a pension for the first time.
The proportion of men saving for their retirement has fallen from 52 per cent to 39 per cent over the last decade. Among people aged between 20 and 39, pension provision fell from 43 per cent to 31 per cent. Mr Webb said: “We simply must put a stop this trend and get people saving. Automatic enrolment, beginning for the largest employers later this year, will get millions of people saving, many for the first time.” The Department for Work and Pensions found that the highest pension provision in the UK is in the South East, where 43 per cent of people are saving into a private retirement fund, and Scotland, where 42 per cent are.
The lowest pension participation is in Northern Ireland, London and West Midlands, where around a third of people save into a pension. Experts have warned that the “golden age” of pensions is over, and that millions of Britons will be left with measly retirement pots.
Joanne Segars, chief executive of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), which represents the UK’s pensions industry, said earlier this month that the UK “simply isn’t salting enough away for its old age”.
Mark Hyde Harrison, the NAPF’s chairman, recently said that the pension industry has declined markedly. He argued that defined contribution pension schemes, into which about five million Britons save, were structured in an "inefficient and wasteful" way. Mr Hyde Harrison said: “The collective view is that our golden age of pensions is gone, and we are on course for potential failure.
The Government recently announced changes to the pensions system to make it easier for people who have moved house or job to be “re-united” with small workplace pension pots that they might have lost trace of. Mr Webb said that around £3 billion of unclaimed pensions are sitting in UK pension schemes. Source
Angelo: We would like to believe that these statistics also reflect a percentage of those who have got the message of the completely corrupt nature of the financial markets and therefore the precarious nature of "pensions" which we have often heard misappropriated and as described above, mismanaged. We accept that the the obvious reasons for the main shift... For similar reasons, it's the putrid state of the economy stupid!

Empire - The decline of the American empire

As the world is undergoing a profound transformation, what role will the US play in a post-American century? Source

2012 to be year of "global reset"

After a year marked by upheaval on the streets and uncertainty in the markets, Oxford Analytica CEO Nader Mousavizadeh predicts 2012 will see a 'global reset' while Monocle Editor-In-Chief Tyler Brûlé says business must go on a charm offensive Source

New Asian Union Means The Fall Of The Dollar

Tyler Durden's pictureSubmitted by Tyler Durden Submitted by Brandon Smith from Alt Market
New Asian Union Means The Fall Of The Dollar
One of the most frustrating issues to haunt the halls of alternative economic analysis is the threat of misrepresentative terminology. For instance, when the U.S. government decided to back the private Federal Reserve in lowering the interest rates on lending windows to European banks last month, they did not call this a bailout, even though that’s exactly what it was. They did not call it quantitative easing, or fiat printing, or a hyperinflationary landmine; rarely does bureaucracy ever apply honest terminology to their subversive activities. False terminology is the bane of every honest analyst, because in order for them to educate and awaken those who are unaware of the truth, they must first battle through the daunting muck of the general public’s horrifically improper perceptions and vocabulary.
The chain of financial events taking place over the past decade in Asia have been correspondingly mislabeled and misunderstood. What some economists see as total collapse is actually a new and decidedly prophetic (or engineered) transition. What some naively see as the “natural” progression of globalism, is actually a distinctly deliberate program of centralization meant to further the goals of world economic and political totalitarianism. Asia, and most especially China, is a Petri dish for elitist psychopaths. What we see as suffocating collectivism in this region of the world today is the exact social schematic intended for the West tomorrow. Call it whatever you will, but on the other side of the Pacific, like the eerie smile of a sinister clown, sits fabricated fate.
The genius of globalization is not in how it “works”, but in how it DOESN’T work. Globalization chains mismatched cultures together through circumstance and throws us into the deep end of the pool. If one sinks, we all sink, enslaving us with interdependency. The question one must ask, then, is if all sovereign economies are currently tied together in the same way? The answer is no, not anymore. Certain countries have moved to insulate themselves from the domino effect of debt implosion, one of the primary examples being China. Source/full story

Payback for paid revolution? Egyptian police raid US NGOs

Police in Cairo have today raided 17 civil society organizations as the country’s military rulers seek to find out exactly who has been funding the Egyptian revolution. As several of the pro-democracy and human rights groups were at the forefront of the revolution that swept through the country last January, Egyptian authorities have become increasingly interested in the foreign funding many of these groups receive. At least three of the human rights groups targeted in Thursday’s operation, the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House, and the International Republican Institute (IRI), are based in the US.

"Security forces who said they were from the public prosecutor are raiding our offices as we speak. They are grabbing all the papers and laptops as well," said one person working at NDI, who gave her name as Rawda, told Reuters.

The Washington-based IRI, which has served as an election monitor in Egypt’s ongoing parliamentary elections, reacted harshly to the raids.

“IRI has been working with Egyptians since 2005; it is ironic that even during the Mubarak era IRI was not subjected to such aggressive action,” a statement by the group read, Al Arabiya reports. Source/full story

Paul Wants to Check Fort Knox for Gold


POLITICO's James Hohmann reports from Atlantic, Iowa:
Ron Paul said Thursday that he’s eager to find out how much gold the United States really owns.
A supporter at a town hall meeting asked about Fort Knox:Would you reveal as president whether there’s actually gold there?”
Here is Paul’s full response: “Yes, and if I couldn’t accomplish that then there’s big trouble in this country. I may need to get some help for you. I tried for years to do this…I never went to Fort Knox. I made a request when the gold commission came up in the early 1980s. We had a study of the role of gold in the monetary system. There were 17 members, and I couldn’t get one other person to endorse the principle that we ought to go to Fort Knox and find out if there’s gold.”

“Gold is in more places than Fort Knox. There’s some in New York City, as well as at West Point. And there’s already admission by our government: ‘Well, that gold in New York City, we haven’t been able to verify that for a long time.’ And we all know, and that’s why the audit of the Fed is important, because there’s a lot of shenanigans that go on. They’ll loan the gold, and they’ll use it as collateral on these international transactions. So there’s so much that we have to know about. But that should be on high priority. So I will continue to do that. I think I’ll have a little more clout as president, and I thank you for the question.”
Many in the crowd of about 150 at the community center applauded energetically.
Crusading for the gold standard helped boost the Texas congressman politically, but of late he’s been trying to broaden his message to appeal to more traditional Republican voters ahead of the Jan. 3 caucuses. So the answer took him a little off message and reminded voters of his unorthodox views on issues other than Iran. Source

Iran spots US Navy near drill, 'ready for confrontation'

The threats are being ramped up over a vital oil shipping route which Iran's threatening to block. Tehran is holding large-scale wargames in neutral waters near the Hormuz Strait. The U.S. has its own contingent in the region, mainly to ensure passage remains free. Gayane Chichakyan is in Washington for RT.
Also, Shirin Shafaie joins RT - a researcher at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and also a representative of the Campaign against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran. Source

Ron Paul & Alex Jones Attacked On Iranian Saudi Assassination Story

I know the media is the mouth piece for government but come on, people can do their own research on things now.You like tying in ufo's and big foot with the dirty deeds of government, it use to work but people see through that now. Look no further than Fast and furious.Secretly selling arms to Mexican drug gangs that have killed many and still do today, which have included Americans as well as officials. Yes this is a crime developed among a group with in the government, this is the definition of conspiracy. It is rather entertaining watching the death of the corporate dinosaur media and at times frustrating. Source

The Depth Of Despair In The Gold Community

Today was the first day that we got some good action in the gold price. It will be very interesting to see if sellers appear as they have been during Asian hours. Just because the manipulators use the illiquid Asian hours to paint gold do not assume it reveals the nationality of the selling. The gold market as we all know on a day to day basis is totally rigged. In fact, find a market anywhere that is not bullied by some young buck who considers himself the Master of the Universe.
Gold is coming up on a tight group of four very major support areas that will hold the price from which the next advance is to take place. We have reached a point in terms of the depth of despair in the gold community that was never reached in the 1968 to 1980 reactions.
That is all this is. Just another reaction in a Gold price headed for Alf’s $4500.
I imagine when gold reacts off $2100 the stampede to the bath tub with their razor blades will be on again. Gold has in no way topped. The gold reaction per day in terms of percentage was nothing whatsoever. We have in no way reached the level called “thrilling with bullish bliss” common of a top. Every dollar we have won has been paid for in blood. All the short of gold wunderkin Masters of the Universe will have to be destroyed before gold is fully priced. The community, if you can still call it that, is in a psychotic episode that is soon to end. Source

CFR - What Have We Learned about Macroeconomics from the Crisis?

Experts discuss the lessons learned during the financial crisis and the importance of federal economic oversight in addition to regulatory reform. This meeting was part of the McKinsey Executive Roundtable series in International Economics.

SPEAKERS:
Olivier Blanchard, Economic Counselor and Director of the Research Department, International Monetary Fund
Richard H. Clarida, C. Lowell Harriss Professor of Economics and International Affairs, Columbia University; Global Strategic Adviser, PIMCO; Former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody's Analytics Source