The Financial Super-Storm of 2013

The next "Frankenstorm" to hit New York will be financial.

By Charles Hugh Smith: The destructive whirlwind that hits New York in 2013 will be a financial Frankenstorm.
Four years of glorious central-planning "extend and pretend" have enriched the political and financial Aristocracies, and imbued them with a bubble-era hubris that they have indeed gotten away with murder: the $6 trillion the Federal government borrowed over the past four years, the Fed's $2 trillion in fresh cash, the Fed's $16 trillion bailout of the banking sector and various perception management manipulations have righted the storm-tossed ship. All those with power in 2008 remain in power and all those with outsized wealth in 2008 still hold their outsized wealth.
The global tsunami of borrowed and printed money lifted the water-logged dinghies of the debt-serfs enough to give them hope of better times; meanwhile, their adjusted income has declined 8%: they are poorer while the neofeudal Aristocracy is much wealthier: same as it ever was, right?
Except the financial tides and winds have shifted, and the linearity of central planning is about to be disrupted by nonlinear, positive-feedback storms. Let's list a few of the major storms brewing:

Death Sequence: Golden Haarp & Allocated Gold Exposure + Gordon Brown's Filthy Bottom Exposed - Golden Jackass

By Jim Willie: A nasty Golden Harp could soon have its cords plucked, with the resonance working to shake loose the bankster cover of improper illicit duplicitous and probably highly illegal usage of Allocated Gold Accounts. When diverse scattered accounts are pilfered and depleted without authorization in Switzerland, resulting in several multi-$billion class action lawsuits in Zurich, all kept dutifully out of the news, that is one thing. But when a few key official government gold accounts are ransacked in systematic fashion from established trusted locations, defying and betraying the trust of the German Govt and other national governments, that is quite another. To be sure, the system can tolerate ransacking and replacing with scurried harried efforts the Venezuelan gold account like in 2011. The media told the story with creativity and aplomb, avoiding the truth, inventing a tale, but finding a credible pile of dung to feed the public, which swallowed it whole. The global monetary war has been raging for four years, ever since the Lehman Brothers firm was targeted and destroyed with planning and motivated execution, for the benefit of Goldman Sachs full CDS redemptions and exploit by JPMorgan in war chest reload under cover of bankruptcy court orders. The media prefers regularly to refer to the global financial crisis incorrectly and improperly. A crisis passes after a year or so. This war lingers like WWI and WW2 and Vietnam, with a clear emerging agenda to defend the USDollar regime from global isolation shun, to conceal the USTreasury Bond support mechanisms in derivatives, to avoid the US banking system from grotesque insolvency but kept afloat by grand money laundering channels, and to motivate an endless war to secure resource thefts and control that center on oil fields and the poppy fields. Witness the slow gradual inexorable collapse of the global monetary and financial system.

Welcome to the USA: DHS-FBI bulletin on suspicious behavior at hotels adds to already long list of terrorism indicators.

By Madison Ruppert: According to the United States government, just about every single thing one can do is an indicator of terrorism. Everything from complaining about bias and believing in government conspiracies to ordinary bodily movements to bumper stickers to traveling long distances can be considered an indicator of terrorist activity.
That list can be expanded even further thanks to a joint Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bulletin dated July 26, 2010 (PDF courtesy of Public Intelligence).
According to the bulletin, there are a wide range of activities and behaviors that can be construed to be an indicator of terrorist activity, many of which are completely innocuous.
Most of the supposedly suspicious behaviors surround privacy, such as “Not providing professional or personal details on hotel registrations—such as place of employment, contact information, or place of residence.”
According to the FBI and DHS, “Refusal of housekeeping services for extended periods” is suspicious, along with “extended stays with little baggage or unpacked luggage.”
In other words, if you’d rather not run the risk of having your personal belongings rifled through by housekeeping staff or if you travel light, you just might be a terrorist.

Zombies Attack: Hidden Camera

Peter Schiff interviews Marc Faber "Oversized western governments are creating greater volatility that will be followed by implosion"

Greek Journalists Resist: 'Where is the freedom of speech?'

Greek journalists have walked out of their jobs, angry at government censorship and changes to labour laws. This follows the suspension of two TV presenters, after they criticized the interior minister on air and denounced police for beating up activists detained during protests. RT talks to Panagiotis Sotiris, who's a sociologist from the University of the Aegean. Source

US$ Reserve Status Pays For The Murder of Muslims - Paul Craig Roberts

By Morris: The Dollars reserve status is causing other countries to inflate and allows for the massive debt of the US to grow. And it is this debt that allows the wars to continue. And it is this debt that makes it the whole world who is paying for these wars. Source

Hungary Gets First Prize for Creative Deficit Reduction

By Marc Champion: You have to hand it to Hungary's ruling Fidesz party. They are way out front when it comes to finding ingenious ways to plug the country's gaping deficit -- while not doing what the International Monetary Fund and common sense say they should.
The latest proposals include one to borrow at least 60 billion forint ($272 million) from Hungarian citizens by selling them euro-denominated bonds. Another would grant residency to foreigners willing to buy 250,000 euros of Hungarian government bonds.
True, deals that trade visas for investment aren't unique: The U.S. fast-tracks green cards for foreign job creators, and a new Senate proposal calls for foreign investors in residential property to get visas to stay in the U.S. But trading residence for loans, especially if the deal provides access to another 25 countries, would be new.
The Eurobond issue would prove problematic and costly. The bonds will pay an interest rate of euro-area inflation plus 2.5 percentage points, or today about 5.2 percent. That's more than what Hungary would pay to borrow far more significant sums from the IMF. But because Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his government don't want to sign up to IMF conditions, Hungary has to pay more.

Fascist US Federal court approves use of hidden surveillance cameras on private property without warrants

By Madison Ruppert: Yet again, a federal judge undermined the Constitution in a wholly disturbing fashion, this time by allowing police to install hidden surveillance cameras on private property without obtaining a search warrant.
This is especially troubling since the federal government has conducted more warrantless surveillance over the past two years than the entire previous decade. This court decision can only be expected to increase that already troubling number.
Let us not forget that the Obama administration has fought vigorously to hold on to their ability to conduct warrantless wiretapping while also claiming that cell phone location data is not protected by the Constitution and the Supreme Court recently refused to review a lawsuit challenging the warrantless surveillance program of the National Security Agency (NSA).
According to CNET, U.S. District Judge William Griesbach ruled “that it was reasonable for Drug Enforcement Administration agents to enter rural property without permission — and without a warrant — to install multiple “covert digital surveillance cameras” in hopes of uncovering evidence that 30 to 40 marijuana [plants] were being grown.”

The Invisible Hand Is A Master of What the Public Ignores

By Jim Sinclair: Here is a good recap of the countries that have abandoned the dollar as the world’s currency in the last few months.

CIGA Yahn

The Invisible Hand Is A Master of What the Public Ignores CIGA Eric
Those frustrated by timing gold have two choices.  Remove opinion and emotion by (1) turning off the quote machine and refrain from using leverage going forward, or (2) through mathematical study of money flows, confidence, and time to interpret the market.  The latter is much harder than the former.
Those expecting gold to transition from the power D-wave decline (DOWN) to C-wave advance (UP), thus, skipping the AB transition fail to recognize the importance of price management by the invisible hand to prevent what Jim Sinclair describes as follows:
The more money you create, the more money you must continue to create until it goes to infinity. You go cold turkey on money creation, you unleash the economic wrath of hell in the entire Western world. It all comes down in one great implosion. ^[1]
Russia and China would act immediately economically to take full and powerful advantage of your error in application. You have to wean a drug addict off the drug in order to not kill him in recovery. ^[1]
The stakes of this monetary game, not widely understood or well-played, are extremely high.

The MIC: Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project: Boeing’s new drone-borne EMP missile

By Madison Ruppert: The cutting-edge technology being deployed on the various unmanned platforms, better known as drones, is nothing short of mind-bending.
To add to the long list of amazing drone technologies, Boeing has now demonstrated their Counter-electronics High-powered Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP), which is aimed at disabling and destroying any and all electronics.
Boeing is clearly quite proud of CHAMP, evidenced by a press release which states that the missile “may one day change modern warfare, by defeating electronic targets with little or no collateral damage.”
The test was carried out on October 16, 2012 by a Boeing Phantom Works team in concert with members of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate team along with Raytheon Ktech, which supplied the high power microwave source.
A video of the test can be found here (thanks to Discovery for the link):

The Unadulterated Gold Standard

By Keith Weiner: The choice of the word “unadulterated” is not accidental.  There were many different kinds of gold standard, including what we now call the Classical Gold Standard, the Gold Bullion Standard, and the Gold Exchange Standard.  Each contained flaws; each was adulterated.

For example, in the Coinage Act of 1792, the government forced the price of one thing to be fixed in terms of another thing.  The mechanism was in Section 11:

“And be it further enacted, That ”the proportional value of gold to silver in all coins which shall by law be current as money within the United States, shall be as fifteen to one…”

Of course, people respond to such distortions.  When the government fixes the price of something too low, then people will hoard or export it.  If the price is fixed too high, then they will flood the market with it.

Belgian Muslim State? Islamists vow campaign after election win - Philip Klaas is terrified

A Muslim party in Belgium says it's preparing to campaign for setting up an Islamic state there. Two candidates from the newly-established Islam party won seats in a recent municipal election. RT discusses this with xenophobe Philip Klaas, a Belgian Euro MP. Source

Give Us Your Money, Or You’re Dead! - Max Keiser with John Logan Jones

Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss a mortgage 'hustle' that brings on yet another 'civil' lawsuit for Bank of America and a mysterious 'Triple A' buyer of a swaption written in ancient gibberish in Britain where the dead cat is bouncing thanks to Queen Latifah Tower. Max Keiser talks to John Logan Jones, a candidate for Maine State Congress, about civil liberties as an economic issue, soldiers trapped in the military by debt and how the price of lobster indicates an imminent financial market crash. Source

EU Ship of State heads for the rocks, captain urges full steam ahead

By Richard Cottrell: Italy’s legendary bunga-bunga premier Silvio Berlusconi is back with a bounce. Consigned by nearly all mainstream media commentators to the great political beyond, he is now about to pull the plug on the US/Bilderberg techno-government in charge of the country since last fall.
If he does rat on the smug Mario Monti and his fellow technocrats, then the scene is set for new elections next year which may well provoke the break of the entire European ice flow.
You don’t have to like, still less admire Berlusconi in order to stand back in admiration at his political savvy. He is the one who said there was no crisis of any gravity over Italy’s public debt in the first place. Now he’s spotted an avenue not only for his own political resurrection but payback for those who humiliated him out of the premiership. First in the line is Angela Merkel.
Deploying his numerous political skills, Berlusconi has sensed a new political avenue opening to the Right. He is willing to sacrifice his present creature of convenience, the PDL ‘House of Freedoms’ to jumpstart a new force which will then mop up the votes of the Partito Democratico (socialists, ex-communists)  leaving the comeback kid once again in a commanding position to call the shots.
Monti will have no option but to go to the elderly president, Giorgio Napolitano, surrender his mandate and give way to elections early next year, probably in February or March. If Berlusconi emerges as head of the largest party – whatever he calls it – then he would be the favorite to become premier once again. This would be quite an incredible achievement for a near-octogenarian mired by endless scandals with underage consorts and the famous bunga-bunga parties in his official mansion.

The Fiscal Cliff and Peak Government - Charles Hugh Smith

Six critical dynamics will trigger the devolution of Peak Government.

With the fiscal cliff looming, it's time to check in on the Peak Government thesis.
Chris and Adam at peakprosperity.com asked me to revisit my Peak Government thesis, which describes how the expansive Central State has come to dominate both private society (i.e., the community) and the marketplace, to the detriment of the nation’s social and economic stability.
Let's start by examining the six critical dynamics that lead to the inevitable devolution of Peak Government.

Massive Borrowing

In a misguided attempt to maintain an unsustainable Status Quo, the Federal government is borrowing unprecedented amounts of money that then must be serviced.  And the Federal Reserve is expanding its balance sheet by trillions of dollars (“printing money”) and intervening in stock, bond, and other markets for the purposes of managing perception (“the recovery is here!”)
These government funds are not just paying the government’s bills – they are being used to guarantee loans and mortgages that subsequently enter default, transferring what was private debt to the public and subsidizing politically powerful special interests.
Guarantees and subsidies both incentivize what is known as moral hazard: the separation of risk from consequence.  This can be summarized very simply.  People who are not exposed to risk act completely differently than those who are exposed to risk.  When risk has been transferred to the taxpayers by guarantees, give-aways, and subsidies, then speculation and mal-investment are incentivized.  If the bet pays off, I get to keep the gain, but if it loses, then I personally lose nothing, as the loss is transferred to the taxpayers.

Public School Prepares You for Prison Life

The U.S. Department of Justice sued several government agencies in Mississippi last week, saying they systematically violated the due process rights of juveniles and are thus operating a "school-to-prison" pipeline in the area.

The Justice Department said children in Meridian, Miss., are routinely jailed for minor offenses, including school discipline incidents, and are punished disproportionately without due process. Black students and students with disabilities are especially affected.

Turkish Banks Go for Gold to Lure $302 Billion Hoard

By Sibel Akbay: Deniz Kalkan, a 32-year-old housewife in Istanbul, is ready to move her gold. “I’ll put these in a deposit account as soon as I get the time,” Kalkan said of the half-dozen gold coins she has collected and stashed in her apartment. “It’s much safer to keep them in the bank than at home.” (Poor deluded person!)
When Kalkan brings in her coins, she’ll be joining a wave of Turks responding to a drive to lure an estimated $302 billion of hidden gold into the economy to help ease the nation’s current-account deficit, the world’s biggest after the U.S. Gold-based deposit accounts surged 15 percent this year through the end of July, three times the increase in standard savings accounts, according to the central bank.
The gold accounts give customers an amount in Turkish lira equivalent to the weight of the precious metal they turn over to the bank. They can then withdraw cash or take out loans, while the lender is able to sell or hold onto the gold.
At Yapi Kredi Bankasi AS (YKBNK), owned by UniCredit SpA (UCG) and Koc Holding AS (KCHOL), deposits in gold-based mutual funds, which invest at least 51 percent of their money in precious metals and offer a guaranteed return on capital, increased 62 percent in 2012. Turkiye Is Bankasi AS (ISCTR), Turkey’s largest bank by assets, said gold deposits increased 10-fold in the two years through June.
The campaign by Turkey’s banks, featuring ads for “golden age” accounts and products such as gold gift checks, is targeted at Turks who traditionally give gold coins or jewelry as presents at weddings, births and circumcision ceremonies. The custom gained popularity a decade ago as Turkey’s inflation rate topped 70 percent, making gold an attractive store of wealth.

The Great Gold Scam

By Jeff Nielson: A recent question from an inquisitive reader on gold “leasing” got my mind focused upon that topic again, as the question involved the actual mechanics of these transactions, and my answer dealt with issues of legal title to that gold. This, in turn, led me to consider to what purpose/use all of this leased gold has been dedicated.

Many commentators (including myself) have generally assumed that the gold being leased by undisclosed entities was being funneled to traders to be shorted onto the market – as part of the general manipulation operations of the bullion banks. We know that vast amounts of gold are being ‘leaked’ out of gold stockpiles in this manner, since lease rates are always near-zero, and frequently negative. This encourages those desiring legal possession (but not title) of gold to lease heavily.

But what if all this leased gold is not being used as simple collateral to back trading positions? Could there be another (nefarious) purpose in these gold-leasing operations?

We know there isn’t any other legitimate purpose for all this leasing, since (apart from using it in trading) there are no legitimate business reasons for wanting mere temporary possession of gold bullion. As the gold-bashers themselves frequently observe, gold “generates no income” itself; so this leased gold must be used (for something) or there would be no purpose at all to these transactions.

Until recently, it would have been hard to conceive of even any other nefarious uses for all this leased gold, since there simply are not a lot of ways to capitalize on mere temporary possession of gold bullion. This all changed , however, in 2009. That was the year that the world’s central banks flip-flopped from being (massive) net-sellers of gold to net-buyers.

As of 2012, the world’s central banks are now massive, net buyers of gold; on pace to add more gold to their reserves than any other year in history. GFMS Ltd (formerly Gold Fields Mineral Services), the quasi-official record-keeper for the gold industry estimates that total purchases will approach 500 tons this year alone.

This begs an obvious question. Where is all this gold coming from?

The Virtual Recovery - Paul Craig Roberts

Since mid-2009 the US has been enjoying a virtual recovery courtesy of a rigged inflation measure that understates inflation. The financial Presstitutes spoon out the government’s propaganda that prices are rising less than 2%. But anyone who purchases food, fuel, medical care or anything else knows that low inflation is no more real that Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction or Gadhafi’s alleged attacks on Libyan protesters or Iran’s nuclear weapons. Everything is a lie to serve the power-brokers.
During the Clinton administration, Republican economists pushed through a change in the way the CPI is measured in order to save money by depriving Social Security retirees of their cost-of-living adjustment. Previously, the CPI measured the change in the cost of a constant standard of living. The new measure assumes that consumers adjust to price increases by lowering their standard of living by substituting lower quality, lower priced items. If the price, for example, of New York strip steak goes up, consumers are assumed to substitute the lower quality round steak. In other words, the new measure of inflation keeps inflation down by reflecting a lowered standard of living.

LIBOR: Barclays Can Be Sued!

Barclays can be sued for mis-selling interest rate swaps while rigging the Libor rate, in a landmark claim seen as a test case for thousands of businesses, a London judge rules.

The case will be the first of its kind and is being closely watched by thousands of small and medium enterprises that may decide to file similar claims, the Federation of Small Business said in a statement today. The Financial Services authority estimates 44,000 interest rate swaps - effectively insurance to protect companies from interest rate changes - have been wrongly sold to UK companies since 2001.

"It is simply wrong that with one hand a bank is aggressively selling a highly complex financial product designed to protect someone against an interest rate rise, while the other hand is manipulating the rate for its own benefit," Gary Hartland, GCH chief executive, said in a statement.

Widespread ramifications

It is the first time that a UK court will determine whether damages should be awarded in a case linked to allegations of Libor rigging, and it could have widespread ramifications for Barclays and other banks involved in Libor probes by financial regulators worldwide.
Barclays agreed in June to pay £290m in fines to UK and US regulators to settle allegations that it manipulated Libor. The bank also set aside £450m to compensate customers mis-sold interest rate swaps. But the Financial Services Authority said not all businesses will be owed redress. Among those that are, the exact redress will vary from customer to customer.

Truth Exposed About Missing Central Bank Gold - Embry

Some unbelievably stupid comments from people that should know better.  I mean CNBC senior editor, John Carney, when this all broke stated that ‘It doesn’t matter whether Germany’s gold exists, provided that everybody  just pretends and acts as if it does exist.’ 

‘As long the Fed says it is there, it is as good as there for all practical purpose to which it might be put.  It can be sold, leased out, used as collateral, employed to extinguish liabilities, and counted as bank capital just the same as if it exists or not.’

I can’t believe he said that.  I mean that is so astoundingly stupid I had to read it three times.  But he did say it....
“It does matter whether it’s there because the people that recognize what’s going on, and this includes the Chinese, Indians, Russians, etc., they are not faking it.  They are buying what available physical gold there is, whatever they can get their hands on.

The revelation of this central bank conspiracy will make the Libor scandal pale in comparison.”

Mike Maloney's Dire 2005 Warnings Come True - Silver Summit Presentation

By whygoldandsilver: If you enjoyed the 'Peter Schiff Was Right' videos, then check out these predictions from Mike Maloney way back in 2005. He was one of the elite few to publicly warn of the housing crisis well before the crash of 2008. Mike Maloney is the founder and CEO of GoldSilver.com, one of the world's most trusted precious metals dealers and financial educators.

Jesse Ventura Blasts The New World Order And The Sheeple

What Jesse has to say is spot on to our own practical experiences with local and national politics in the UK. It's the New World Order. His primary critical point that a vote for the main stream, in our case, (UK)  Labour, Conservative, or Liberal makes you part of the problem, seems to mark the line for sanity vs the ever decreasing circle that is flushing our lives away today and preparing our children for bondage in perpetuity. Join forces with your 'lives local' independent or stand yourself in your area. Either way, it's a walk in the park and around your own neighborhood, literally! Cool.

Memo to Central Banks: You’re debasing more than our currency

John Mauldin shares a brief from Dylan Grice, which looks at how debasing the currency has far more implications that mere inflation. Note the timely quote of John Maynard Keynes which Americans ought to see as a klaxon sounding a dire warning.
I can only pass on Societe Generale’s work to you once in a while, but the piece for today’s Outside the Box is important enough that its author, Dylan Grice, worked hard to convince his bosses to let me share it with you. Dylan is one of my favorite investments analysts, as well as just an all-around nice guy.
In a change from his usual fun-loving demeanor, Dylan issues a serious warning here.
I am more worried than I have ever been about the clouds gathering today (which may be the most wonderful contrary indicator you could hope for...). I hope they pass without breaking, but I fear the defining feature of coming decades will be a Great Disorder of the sort which has defined past epochs and scarred whole generations….
So I keep wondering to myself, do our money-printing central banks and their cheerleaders understand the full consequences of the monetary debasement they continue to engineer?

He runs through some of the Great Debasements of the past, starting with third-century Rome, running through Europe’s medieval inflations and the French Revolution, to the monetary horror story of Weimar Germany in the 1920s. His key point is that inflations and hyperinflations don’t just hurt money, they hurt people and the societies they live in.

15,000 Tons Of Western Central Bankster Gold Is Gone - James Turk

Anybody who understands generally accepted accounting principles knows that ‘cash’ is different from an ‘account receivable.’.... “But central banks ignore this reality of generally accepted accounting principles because the IMF allows them to perpetuate this deception. The gold is taken out of the vault, borrowed by bullion banks, and then gold fabricators melt it down, and disperse it throughout the globe in various forms of fabrication.  It’s all documented and it’s a tremendous amount of gold.  At the time I had concluded that it was about 15,000 tons of gold which had actually been put into the market out of central bank vaults.  This is approximately half of what central banks reported to own at the time.” James Turk - Click to link for full story at KWN

Who Owns the World? Noam Chomsky on U.S.-Fueled Dangers, From Climate Change to Nuclear Weapons

NOAM CHOMSKY: When I was thinking about these remarks, I had two topics in mind, couldn't decide between them—actually pretty obvious ones. One topic is, what are the most important issues that we face? The second topic is, what issues are not being treated seriously—or at all—in the quadrennial frenzy now underway called an election? But I realized that there's no problem; it's not a hard choice: they're the same topic. And there are reasons for it, which are very significant in themselves. I'd like to return to that in a moment. But first a few words on the background, beginning with the announced title, "Who Owns the World?"

A Comedy Of Golden Bundesbank Errors

Submitted by Tyler Durden: Follow this simple chronology of events: October 24, 2012 (source: Bundesbank pre-revision; courtesy of Google Cache) "The reasons for storing gold reserves with foreign partner central banks are historical since, at the time, gold at these trading centres was transferred to the Bundesbank. To be more specific: in October 1951 the Bank deutscher Länder, the Bundesbank’s predecessor, purchased its first gold for DM 2.5 million; that was 529 kilograms at the time. By 1956, the gold reserves had risen to DM 6.2 billion, or 1,328 tonnes; upon its foundation in 1957, the Bundesbank took over these reserves. No further gold was added until the 1970s."

October 28, 2012 (source: "Some Follow-Up Questions For The Bundesbank, And Its Gold" courtesy of Zero Hedge)
1. Thiele says:

"By 1956, the gold reserves had risen to DM 6.2 billion, or 1,328 tonnes; upon its foundation in 1957, the Bundesbank took over these reserves. No further gold was added until the 1970s"

This is factually incorrect.

What "Everybody Knows"

Dear Reader, Vedran Vuk here, I'll start by discussing a risk many don't consider very deeply – the trustworthiness of our personal money managers. While most of us are peeled to the screen watching the S&P 500 and gold prices, our greatest vulnerability might be those closest to us. Then, we'll have an article from Dennis Miller of Money Forever which warns of the vultures of inflation and taxes circling above. Finally, I have an interesting graph on gold miners and their short sellers.

Don't Be Like Leonard Cohen

By Vedran Vuk: I must apologize ahead of time for next week's issue. While it should be a good issue, it might not cover the latest financial news since I'll be making a trip to Austin, TX to see Leonard Cohen in concert on Thursday. If a financial apocalypse happens between Thursday night and Friday, I apologize now for not covering it.
In case some of our readers are too young to know of Leonard Cohen or perhaps missed out on some of his hits during the late '60s and '70s, here are a few videos of them: Suzanne; Famous Blue Raincoat; and here's a cover of his song made famous by the movie Shrek, Hallelujah. With Leonard Cohen, the appeal is mostly his lyrics. It's certainly not his voice, which Cohen himself admits is a failure. However, if you can still make it in the music world while having a bad voice, then that really says something about your quality of songwriting.
For example, here are some lines from his song Everybody Knows. Given our political and economic situation, they ring a bell today:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows

QE4 And The Shocking Rise In The Cost Of Commodities - Gregory Mannarino

"Commodities are going to the moon!... life sustaining resources!"

Purpose of the Fed's QE3 is to control of every mortgaged property in U.S.

By Kenneth Schortgen Jr: On Oct. 25, Pastor Lindsey Williams, former minister to the global oil companies during the building of the Alaskan pipeline, spoke with Dr. Stan Monteith on the Liberty Radio program regarding the truth behind the Federal Reserve's new QE3 program to buy mortgage backed securities. This program, which intends to purchase at least $40 billion per month of toxic and non-toxic mortgages, is positioning the central bank to take control over every mortgaged property in the U.S..

Lindsey Williams: The most dastardly act that has ever been perpetrated on the American people in the history of this country probably took place on Sept. 13, 2012. You saw it in the national news, and everyone heard what Mr. Bernanke said, but very few realize the significance of what he was talking about when he said that the Federal Reserve, as of that day, would begin purchasing $40 billion in mortgage backed securities and Treasuries each month, indefinitely, from that point on.

After this announcement, Mr. Williams said he called his contact and confidante in the oil industry who has inside knowledge on what the new Fed QE policy intends to do for America.

LW: (To his contact by phone) I think there must be more behind this than what meets the eye, will you please answer some questions for me? He was more than happy to answer, and here are some of the questions that I asked.

Romania Wants Return of 93.4 tons as Gold Repatriation Ratchets Up

Romania wants its gold treasure back from Russia, a recent Bullion Street article says. It’s another signal of the accelerating trend of countries to repatriate their gold—and another indication that the tide is turning toward gold and silver.

Two railway carloads, or 93.4 tons of gold, were transferred to Russia as German troops began to threaten the region during World War I.  According to the article, “All the governments of Romania since World War I, regardless of their political colour, have tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a return of the gold.”
Of course, this is not the first time the Romanian people, or people of any region for that matter, have found their monetary metals tempting to foreign powers. Invaders sent by Roman Emperor Trajan found gold and silver in great quantities in the Western Carpathians, which run through what is now modern-day Romania. Resulting from this conquest, Trajan brought back to Rome over 165 tons of gold and 330 tons of silver.
It is interesting that considering this history independent auditors say Germany has stored its gold abroad since the Cold War in case of Soviet invasion. Additionally, the auditor’s report says the German gold stored in London has fallen "below 500 tons" due to recent sales and repatriation. Considering German gold stocks have remained the same, the sale of physical gold must have been offset by an acquisition of paper promising to pay gold from the Federal Reserve Bank or other entities needing a physical supply of gold.
One event that may have triggered a large-scale demand for physical delivery of gold was the repatriation of the 211 tons, or 17,000 standard 400-ounce bars, of Venezuelan gold.

'EU media silences debate on membership'

French politician and staunch anti-EU advocate François Asselineau talks about the trouble France's economy faces by staying in the Eurozone. Source

The Nazi Gulag Facility 'Israel' Conducts Air Strike On Sudan Missile Base In 'Dry Run' For Iran Attack

Submitted by Tyler Durden: This past Wednesday, nobody reported that a squadron of 8 Israeli F-15 jets dropped 4 two-ton bombs on the giant Yarmouk missile factory on the outskirts of Sudan's capital Khartoum. Which is just as Israel wanted it. Because what otherwise would be a provocative incursion tantamount to war (if only Sudan wasn't a complete basket case of a country), was really nothing short of a dry-run for an Israeli attack on Iran. At least according to the Sunday Times. "A long-range Israeli bombing raid last week that was seen as a dry run for a forthcoming attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has destroyed an Iranian-run plant making rockets and ballistic missiles in Sudan.... The raid, in which two people died, triggered panic across the city. Witnesses said they heard a series of loud blasts followed by the sound of ammunition exploding. “It was a double impact — the explosion at the factory and then the ammunition flying into the neighbourhood,” said Abd-al Ghadir Mohammed, 31, a resident. "The ground shook. Some homes were badly damaged." And... nobody cares. Here we leave it up to readers to imagine the epic horror, deep revulsion that would greet news that Iran had conducted a pre-emptive strike against Israel by blowing up a missile factory in Turkey, killing two innocent people, just to make sure it can.

A visual summary of the attack:

Fascist Canadian Association of Police Chiefs calls on native government bankster shills to approve U.S. Nazi-style internet surveillance

By Madison Ruppert: For those who think that certain countries are somehow immune to the sweeping cancer that is the total erosion of privacy and our most essential rights, that myth should be at least partially swept away by the fact that the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs is calling on the government there to pass a controversial internet surveillance bill.
Indeed, this trend very well could go global with the United Nations calling for worldwide internet surveillance and data retention laws, thus going far beyond the current system in place in the United States.
Unsurprisingly, the push is being carried out under the guise of fighting crime, evidenced by the arguments the president of the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs and Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu.
Chu says that if the bill, known as Bill C-30, fails to be passed, “officers investigating criminal activity on cellphones and the internet will still have to get a warrant every time they want to intercept communications by cybercriminals,” according to the CBC.
“Law enforcement continues to be handcuffed by legislation introduced in 1975, the days of the rotary telephone,” said Chu.
This argument is almost identical to that used across the United States. The typical claim is that warrants take too long to obtain and that law enforcement is held back by the Constitution.

The $43 Trillion Bankster Lawsuit and the Mysterious Murder of Two NY Toddlers

Susanne Posel: Last week, a horrific scene was discovered in a Manhattan apartment as the mother of two toddlers found her children dead in a bathtub and the nanny who was supposed to be caring for them began stabbing herself.
Marina Krim, wife of Kevin Krim senior vice president and general manager of digital media at CNBC, had entrusted the care of her two small children to Yoselyn Ortega, a newly naturalized US citizen from the Dominican Republic. Ortega had worked for the Krim family for just 2 years before this violent incident.
Although the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has not been able to interview Ortega because she apparently slashed her own throat and slit her wrists, she remains the main suspect in the slaying of the Krim’s 2 year old son and 6 year old daughter.
Just prior to the murders, Ortega had begun seeing a psychologist. After investigations into Ortega’s background, there were no criminal records and no history of psychiatric issues. Yet those closest to Ortega told the NYPD that she had suddenly lost a considerable amount of weight and was showing visible signs of stress.

NWO agents in Greece 'the police' arrest journalist over 'Lagarde list' leak

By RussiaToday: Police in Greece have arrested a journalist who published a list of the country's political and business elite holding Swiss bank accounts. See also ‘Lagarde List’ journalist being arrested right now in Greece

The whistleblower accuses the Greek government of failing to go after tax evaders, while at the same time preparing to push through more belt-tightening measures for the struggling population.

Professor of Economics Yanis Varoufakis says politicians are reluctant to investigate because of their own involvement. Source

The Burden of Government Debt 'some pigs are definitely more equal than others' - azizonomics

Aziz:  There has been an awful lot of discussion in recent months about whether government debt is a burden for future generations. 

The discussion has gone something like this: those who believe government debt is a burden claim that it is a burden because future generations have to repay taxes for present spending, those who believe that it is not claim that every debt is also credit, and so because the next generation will inherit not only the debt but also the credit, that government debt is not in itself a burden to future generations, unless it is largely owed to foreign creditors.
It is relatively easy to calculate what the monetary burden of government debt is. Credit inheritance and debt inheritance are not distributed uniformly. The credit inheritance is assumed strictly by bondholders, and the debt inheritance is assumed strictly by taxpayers. Each individual has a different burden, equalling their tax outlays, minus their income from government spending (the net tax position).
For an entire nation, everyone’s individual position is summed together. In a closed economy where the only lenders are domestic, the intergenerational monetary burden is zero. But that is by no means the entire story.
First, debts to foreign lenders are a real monetary burden, because the interest payments constitute a real transfer of money out of the nation. Second, while there may be little or no debt burden for the nation as a whole, interest constitutes a transfer of wealth between citizens of the nation, specifically as a transfer payment from future taxpayers to creditors. This adds up, at current levels, to nearly half a trillion of transfer payments per year from taxpayers to creditors. So while the intergenerational burden may technically add up to zero for the nation, it will not for individuals. The real burden is huge transfers from those who pay the tax to those who receive the spending, and those who receive the interest. So who loses out?

GOLD, GERMANY, AND GEOPOLITICS

By Joseph P. Farrell: Yesterday I began a short multi-series blog that I am entitling Gold, Germany, and Geopolitics, because, as I indicated yesterday, so many of you are following this story, and, like me, are probably thinking “this is huge”.
Well, first, why is it huge?
The answer is geopolitically very simple: it’s huge because you can’t have a nice, tidy, global New World Order being run out of London and New York without having a nice, orderly, tidy, European Union, and you can’t have a nice, tidy,Gesetz und OrdnungEuropean Union without Germany (after all, what economy is left in Europe to bail out all the rest? Great Britain doesn’t particularly like what it sees in the EU [and can you blame the Britons?] so that leaves the Germans, but they don’t particularly like what the see either…).
Now I’ve been maintaining all along that the Euro-crisis – by which I mean both the crypto-Fascist political  monster in Brussels, and the currency by that name – is really in part designed to lock Germany into Europe by entangling it with everyone else’s debt… a kind of nifty plan, except for one little thing: human beings, Germans no less than anyone else, do not like being told they’re going to have to pay for some other human beings’ profligacy, particularly when the first group (the Germans) does more trade with people in mystical far away places like China and Russia than it does with anyone in Europe.
So as I averred yesterday, if the German calls for an audit and repatriation of their gold signaled a breakdown in this lovely new world order, and the significant defection of one of its significant capos, then, if Germany’s action is to have any consequence, it has to have teeth, it has to have the quiet, if not tacit, support of China and Russia. Yesterday I suggested that that support may come not in the form of overt dramatic gestures, but in the tiniest, slightest, quietest sort of way.

Iran breaks US dominance over region: Larijani "The time of this empire and the US dictatorship has ended"

Iran’s Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani says the Islamic Republic succeeded in breaking the United States dominance over the region and countering its unilateralism.
“Americans who failed to achieve their political and military dominance in the international community, now seek to play the role of economic police in the world,” Larijani said in Iran’s northwestern province of Ardebil on Sunday.

The Islamic Republic of Iran should adopt a specific strategy and policy at the current juncture, he added, emphasizing that the US efforts to play the role of the economic police would fail.

The top Iranian parliamentarian said the era of fake empires in the world has reached to an end, adding, “All confess that the time of this empire and the US dictatorship has ended.”

Larijani pointed to the US occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and emphasized that Iran’s correct strategy thwarted Washington’s plots in the region. Source