1 Jul 2013

Our Legacy Systems: Dysfunctional, Unreformable

Charles Hugh Smith: America's legacy systems are like stars about to go super-nova. 

There are two problems with the vast, sprawling legacy systems we've inherited from the past: they're dysfunctional and cannot be fixed/reformed. The list of dysfunctional legacy systems that cannot be truly reformed is long: Social Security, with its illusory Trust Funds and unsustainable one-to-two ratio of beneficiaries to full-time workers; Medicare, 40% fraud and ineffective/needless care; the healthcare system (if you dare even call the mess a system), 40% paper shuffling and 25% defensive medicine and profiteering; weapons procurement--the system works great if you like cost overruns and programs that take decades to actually produce a weapon; higher education--costs have skyrocketed 700% while studies (Academically Adrift) have found that fully a third of all college graduates learned little of value in their four years; the financial system--now that we've given the Federal Reserve oversight over Too Big To Fail Bank practices, do you really think we'll ever get rid of TBTF banks?

Gold And Silver – Purely A Mental Game Right Now. Do Not Blink

Dennis Miller: “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”
There is a similar situation with regard to fiat paper everywhere, but not a gold delivery to be made.  The delirium cast by central bankers issuing unlimited fiat has kept so many people in a fiat-induced fog, unable to see clearly.  The fog has lifted.  It is all a game.

See the fraudulent scheme for what it is and then fear no more.  It is just a matter of time before everything unravels, as it surely is.

The price of gold and silver are closer to a bottom than a top.  The QE-Infinity is closer to a top and will collapse under its own “goldless” weight.  The PM holders are on the correct side of history.  Understand that it has been one of the bigger world scams played by the central bankers, the illuminati who believed themselves untouchable, beyond the scope of comprehension by the non-banking world.

Stop buying into the scheme of the moneychangers.  Their time has come, and it is but a matter of time.  They are playing with everyone’s mind, doing everything possible to destroy the gold/silver markets, committing self-destruction in the process.  They are making every attempt to discredit the barbaric metal that cannot be eaten, that pays no dividends, but somehow survives as the most reliable measure of accepted value.

RUSSIA Suggests that WAR May Be Necessary To Stop MONSANTO

Political Blind Spot: While I was listening to a recent interview with Graham Hancock about his new novel and his TED lecture, the startling claim was made that Russian President Vladimir Putin commented that war might be a necessary result of the Monsanto Protection Act. I was skeptical, but did a little digging around, and it turns out the story checks out…
22-930x350_0000036The shocking minutes relating to President Putin’s meeting last month with US Secretary of State John Kerry reveal the Russian leaders “extreme outrage” over the Obama regimes continued protection of global seed and plant bio-genetic giants Syngenta and Monsanto in the face of a growing “bee apocalypse” that the Kremlin warns “will most certainly” lead to world war.
According to these minutes, released in the Kremlin today by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation (MNRE), Putin was so incensed over the Obama regimes refusal to discuss this grave matter that he refused for three hours to even meet with Kerry, who had traveled to Moscow on a scheduled diplomatic mission, but then relented so as to not cause an even greater rift between these two nations.

36 Hard Questions About The U.S. Economy That The Lame-Stream Media Should Be Asking

By Michael Snyder: If the economy is improving, then why aren't things getting better for most average Americans? 
They tell us that the unemployment rate is going down, but the percentage of Americans that are actually working is exactly the same it was three years ago.  They tell us that American families are in better financial shape now, but real disposable income is falling rapidly.  They tell us that inflation is low, but every time we go shopping at the grocery store the prices just seem to keep going up.  They tell us that the economic crisis is over, and yet poverty and government dependence continue to explode to unprecedented heights.  There seems to be a disconnect between what the government and the media are telling us and what is actually true.  With each passing day the debt of the federal government grows larger, the financial world become even more unstable and more American families fall out of the middle class.  The same long-term economic trends that have been eating away at our economy like cancer for decades continue to ruthlessly attack the foundations of our economic system.  We are rapidly speeding toward an economic cataclysm, and yet the government and most of the media make it sound like happy days are here again.  The American people deserve better than this.  The American people deserve the truth.

Britain's preplan to attack Syria

Press TV: Roland Dumas says Britain had been planning a war against Syria some two years before to the unrest broke out in the Arab country; The similarities between Britain's Iraq invasion and planning to invade Syria.

Monarchy: As part of her 'Birthday Honours List,' the British Queen will recognize Professor David Newman of Ben-Gurion University for advocating academic partnership between countries and opposing the UK academic boycott of Israel!!

Local Democracy a la Gove: the fanaticism of the Education Secretary

goveglareThe real reason why Michael Gove foisted a Sikh free school on a Buckinghamshire village
Gove…on his way to Downing Street – at our expense
The Slog: The residents of Stoke Poges are up in arms about the DfE’s high-handed bullying tactics, and they have every right to be. But further sleuthing by The Slog reveals why Michael Gove has ignored localism, democracy and Green Belt laws to further his plans for a Sikh Free School in the village: he knows there wouldn’t be a cat in Hell’s chance of getting it through in Slough. Set out in this piece is a sorry, sick case history of how political ambition and a clash of outdated philosophies are perverting the very foundations of our culture.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said on BBC News on 22nd May last that “Free Schools are a brilliant example of local democracy”. But the former Newscorp hack didn’t really mean it. Stand too close to Rupert Murdoch for more than a month or two, and the serial mendacity sort of rubs off: names like Piers Morgan, Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks and Tony Blair spring to mind. Oh, and, um, David Cameron.

Millions of Egyptians rally against President Morsi - 22,000,000 people sign petition

Press TV: Millions of Egyptians have taken to the streets across the country to voice their dismay with the Egyptian president on the first anniversary of his inauguration. Marches and rallies took place in several places in the capital Cairo heading to both Liberation Square and the presidential palace.

Jim Willie - Next Financial Crisis Will Be10 Times Larger than Lehman


Greg Hunter: Dr. Jim Willie says a big upward move is coming in gold. What could be the trigger? Dr. Willie says, "It might be a default for gold delivery . . . at the same time that a big bank fails. I am hearing every single night there are three big banks that are running the risk of failure." Dr Willie predicts, "If we have another repeat of Lehman, it's going to be 10 times larger. It's not going to be containable."

The American P.I.G.: Government by Terror, Torture and Tyranny

By Stephen Lendman: America governs lawlessly. Out-of-control rogues run things. Conditions go from bad to worse. Tyranny threatens everyone. So does possible global war.
Fear-mongering, saber rattling, hot wars, proxy ones, drone ones, geopolitical ones, financial ones, anti-populist ones, mass incarceration, censorship, lawless sanctions, subversion, sabotage, targeted assassinations, mass murder, cyber-war, and horrific draconian harshness reflect out-of control governance gone mad.
Lying is official policy. So is state terror. Independent governments aren’t tolerated. They’re targeted. Regime change is prioritized. World peace is threatened. Humanity’s menaced. Survival’s uncertain.
Daily revelations explain more. War is called peace. State-sponsored assassins are called freedom fighters. Real ones are called terrorists.
Capital has divine rights. Monied interests run things. Plundering the earth for profit is prioritized. Popular needs go begging. Social America’s dying. Poverty, unemployment, hunger, homelessness and human misery go unaddressed. Corporate rights alone matter.
Democracy’s a four-letter word. Out-of-control power is unaccountable. Rule of law principles are mocked. Tyranny’s the law of the land. Advancing America’s imperium matters most.

The Paradox of the Creditor Debtor Relationship - Germany the Creditor Nation

TheRealNews: Dr. Heiner Flassbeck: Germany is asking debtor countries to repay their debts but at the same time preventing them from doing it

Mutti Merkel

askangelaAsk Angela – Europe’s most prolific agony Aunt
The Slog: An occasional series in which the good Frau Doktor allays the fears of the Ünterleute
Dear Angela
Can you give me any tips please on how I can grow some balance sheets on my allotment here in Sverdlosk? Vladimir.
Well Vladimir, there’s nothing like a lot of oil on your food to make things taste better, and turn you into a lardarse. What I tend to do with my balance sheets is plant them as deeply as possible in the soil so that they only ever surface after a long time. Then I cook them vigorously to make them vaguely palateable.
Dear Angela
Do you think Europe is headed for a double-dip recession? Chrissie x
Chrissie, I sincerely hope not, as I never ever start a meal without a double portion of dips. Luckily, I still have custody of my 1968 Moskva fridge which can hold up to 360 dips.
I’m not sure I entirely understand your definition of recession, as here in the Fatherland things are going gangbusters, which is much better than the Dam Busters hohoho just my little joke.