Unspeakable grief and horror
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Know them by their fruit:
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Unspeakable grief and horror
Know them by their fruit: |
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BBC — Sunday, 15 June 2008
Eyewitness: Swamped by Iowa flood
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One of the areas worst affected is Cedar Rapids city, where nearly 4,000 homes have been evacuated.
David Howell is a video editor living in the city.
He sent the BBC mobile phone footage of the flooding near him and here he tells how he has been affected:
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Hunger, children, animals dying AIDS killing |
Death injury of children The Real Crimes of the UN in Iraq — Looking the Other Way |
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Sometimes there is too much dirt
Too much filth
You read it
You cannot absorb it
Then the shock hits
It's all too much — the filth
You know the truth will seep through
It will take turmoil that the West has not seen in our lifetime
But the truth will seep through
And then everything in life is changed
If you and some of your family are still alive
You can never go back
It is that big folks.
It has stunned me.
But the truth is seeping out.
It is coming.
Time to tune in
You know it
Time to prepare
You know that
Kewe |
June 3, 2008
The Withering Economy
The Remorseless Algebra of a Deflationary Death Spiral
By MIKE WHITNEY
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L ook around.
The evidence of a withering economy is everywhere.
In "good times" consumers shun the canned meat aisle altogether, but no more.
Today, Spam sales are soaring; grocery stores can't keep it on the shelves.
Everyone is looking for cheaper ways to feed themselves and their families.
The Labor Department. assures us that core-inflation is only 4 per cent, but everybody knows that’s a load of malarkey.
Food prices are shooting up.
Inflation is rampant and there's no end in sight.
The dollar is closing in on the peso and working people are struggling just to get by.
In Santa Barbara parking lots are being converted into hostels so that families that lost their homes in the subprime fiasco can sleep in their cars and not be hassled by the cops.
The same is true in LA where tent cities have sprung up around the railroad yards to accommodate the growing number of people who've lost their jobs or can't afford to rent a room on service-industry wages.
This is the great triumph of Reagan's free trade "trickle down" Voodoo economics; whole families living out of their cars waiting for the pawn shop to open.
The pundits on the business channel are telling us that the "worst is over"; that the Force 5 hurricane in the financial markets has weakened to a squall.
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Don't believe it.
The corporate bond market is still frozen, housing is in free fall, and the banking system is buckling from the overload of bad investments.
The FDIC is even trying to lure former employees out of retirement to deal with the tsunami of bank failures set to touch down later in 2008.
Corporate defaults are on the rise and and commercial real estate is crashing.
Commercial property sharpest decline since records began 15 years ago
"Commercial property prices in the US in February saw their sharpest decline since records began nearly 15 years ago as sources of finance for deals has dried up, according to data from Standard & Poor’s out yesterday.
Sales of commercial properties were down 71 per cent in the first quarter compared with a year earlier." (Financial Times)
Commercial real estate is following the same downward trajectory as residential housing.
They're both headed for the bottom of the fish-tank.
Any slump in commercial real estate will send unemployment skyrocketing while adding to the solvency problems facing the banks.
Last week, Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney announced that:
"The real harrowing days of the credit crisis are still ahead of us and will prove more widespread in effect than anything yet seen.
Just as strained liquidity pushed so many small and mid-sized specialty finance companies to the brink, we believe it will do the same to the US consumer.
We believe losses will only accelerate further and far worse than the most draconian estimates."
Whitney has been one of the few consistently accurate analysts of the current market meltdown.
The fate of the larger investment banks is just as uncertain as the smaller "depository" banks.
Carlyle Group Chairman David Rubenstein summed it up like this last week, "US and European banks and financial institutions have enormous losses from bad loans they haven't yet recognized and may have a harder time wooing sovereign fund rescuers.
Based on information I see, it will take at least a year before all losses are realized, and some financial institutions may fail.
Many financial institutions aren't going to be able to survive as independent institutions."
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Central Banks of all Western Governments loaning out money hand-over-fist in attempt to prevent total collapse — TheWE.biz
The banks and financial institutions have never been in worse shape.
They've already written down $344 billion since the credit crisis began last August and they'll write down another $200 billion next year.
By the time the crisis is over, they will have racked up an estimated $1 trillion in losses.
That represents a $3 trillion contraction in loans to consumers and businesses.
Also, these estimates don't take into account the losses of revenue from the slowdown in consumer spending, shrinking GDP, and business failures; all of which will wreak further havoc on the financial sector.
The amount of stress on the banking system is unprecedented.
The Fed is loaning out money hand-over-fist just to keep the scaffolding in place.
Take a look at what is going on at the Fed's so-called "auction facilities" where the Fed is providing loans and US Treasuries for "unsellable" mortgage-backed junk and other toxic bonds.
The numbers are staggering.
According to the Seattle Times:
"The Federal Reserve's emergency loans to banks climbed to the highest level on record even as Wall Street investment companies scaled back their borrowing....
Banks stepped up their borrowing, according to the Fed report.
They averaged $15.95 billion in daily borrowing for the week ending May 28, compared with $13.5 billion for the previous week, and the total was a record.
The previous high of $14.4 billion came in the week ending May 14...
In the broadest use of the central bank's lending power since the 1930s, the Fed in March scrambled to avert a market meltdown by giving investment houses a place to go for emergency overnight loans....
The Fed also announced Thursday it will make a fresh batch of short-term cash loans available to banks as part of an effort to ease stressed credit markets...
The Fed said it will conduct three auctions in June; each will offer $75 billion in short-term cash loans.
It would mark the latest round in a program that the Fed launched in December to help banks overcome credit problems so they will keep lending to customers."
Another $225 billion! |
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| Truth is just a game A game for children A game for conspiracy theorists |
The Withering Economy
The Remorseless Algebra of a Deflationary Death Spiral
By MIKE WHITNEY
The ongoing scandal surrounding Libor (the interest rate that banks charge each other and which determines the rates on $3 trillion of financial products including mortgages) strongly suggests that the banks are lying about the true rate they are paying so the public doesn't find out how battered they really are.
Bloomberg News:
"Banks routinely misstated borrowing costs to the British Bankers' Association to avoid the perception they faced difficulty raising funds as credit markets seized up."
Subprime problems have migrated from Wall Street to Main Street as credit trends appear to be getting worse.
Consumers are maxed-out on their credit cards, student loans, mortgages and car loans.
The lack of personal savings is not the result of a profligate lifestyle (as the right wing media claim) but 30 years of stagnant wages and class warfare waged via big business and the federal tax code.
An article is this week's The Economist summarizes the disaster in housing in apocalyptic terms:
"America's house prices are falling even faster than during the Great Depression.
As house prices in America continue their rapid descent, market-watchers are having to cast back ever further for gloomy comparisons.
The latest S&P/Case-Shiller national house-price index, published this week, showed a slump of 14.1 per cent in the year to the first quarter, the worst since the index began 20 years ago.
Now Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale University and co-inventor of the index, has compiled a version that stretches back over a century.
This shows that the latest fall in nominal prices is already much bigger than the 10.5 per cent drop in 1932, the worst point of the Depression.
And things are even worse than they look.
In the deflationary 1930s house prices declined less in real terms.
Today inflation is running at a brisk pace, so property prices have fallen by a staggering 18 per cent in real terms over the past year." ("The Economist")
The country is undergoing a collapsing real estate market that surpasses the slide in the the Great Depression and former Fed-chief Alan Greenspan's book is still on the New York Times Best Seller list.
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How's that for irony?
Regrettably, there's no sign of a bottom yet in housing.
Some markets have already dropped by 30 per cent, costing the states (like California and Florida) billions in tax revenue and triggering a steep increase in foreclosures.
In California, sales are not only down by roughly 50 per cent, but 40 per cent of new sales are sales of foreclosed homes.
The pool of potential buyers has dried up.
Now the vultures are circling and picking up homes for 50 cents on the dollar.
The losses are enormous.
If the downward trend continues, (as many now expect) and housing prices drop 30 per cent nationwide; the market will shed $6.5 trillion in aggregate value and lower household spending by $300 billion.
That means GDP will shrink at least another full percentage point.
The crisis in the financial markets won't be resolved until housing prices stabilize.
That's why the Fed and Congress are scrambling to put together a plan (Hope Now) that will slow the rate of foreclosures.
Trillions of dollars in complex bonds and mortgage-backed securities will continue to be downgraded until investors see that it is safe to "dip their toes in the water" again and reinvest in a (currently) moribund market.
So far, Congress has made little headway in keeping homeowners from defaulting on their mortgages.
Credit Suisse predicts that foreclosures will be somewhere north of 6.5 million homeowners over the next few years.
It is the equivalent of Hurricane Katrina sweeping from one side of the country to the other.
The next administration — whether it's McCain or Obama — will be forced to restore the Resolution Trust Corp., which was created in 1989 to dispose of assets of insolvent savings and loan banks.
The RTC would create a government-owned management company that would buy distressed mortgage- backed securities from banks and liquidate them via auction.
The state would pay less than full-value for the bonds (The Fed currently pays 85 per cent face-value on MBS) and then take a loss on their liquidation.
According to Joseph Stiglitz in his book, Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics:
“The real reason behind the need of this company was to allow the US government to subsidize the banking sector in a way that wasn't very transparent and therefore avoid the possible resistance."
There it is; a taxpayer-funded bailout looming on the horizon, possibly as soon as 2009.
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Ultimately, it is the only sure-fire way to stabilize the crumbling banking system and put a floor under housing prices.
The effects on the dollar, however, will be very bad.
Don't expect the greenback to survive as the world's "reserve currency".
Those days are about over.
The troubles in the financial markets will be with us for some time.
The massive expansion of credit has created numerous equity bubbles that are unwinding at an unpredictable pace.
Author James Howard Kunstler calls the present process "the remorseless algebra of a deflationary death spiral".
That's about as close to a perfect description as imaginable.
There's bound to be considerable disagreement about the origins of the bubble and who is to blame.
Was it the Fed's "low interest " policy following the dot.com bust in 2000, or the lack of government regulation in the securitzation process, or was it just the natural corollary of a political system which invariably bows and scrapes to Wall Street?
The real origin of the problem is rooted in the prevailing "trickle down" orthodoxy which opposes any increases in wages or benefits for working people.
Henry Ford realized what today's captains of industry and finance refuse to accept; that if workers aren't adequately paid for their labor and wages do not keep pace with production then the economy cannot grow because consumers do not have the money to buy the things they make.
It's just that simple. Greenspan and his ilk believed that they could prosecute the class war and make up the difference by relaxing lending standards, changing bankruptcy laws, and by creating a nearly endless array of exotic financial products that expanded credit.
But shifting wealth from one class to another has its costs.
By crushing the worker the Friedmanites have killed the golden goose.
The world's most prosperous consumer society is in deep, deep distress. |
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Do not rely on Supermarkets always having foodWhen riots begin, trucks cannot deliverTruck drivers cannot get to their places of employmentGovernment military and police are given priority for foodMuch of the available food is requisitioned for politicians and controlling agencies of these politiciansDried food, freeze-dried food, cans of food well stored from damp and hidden are necessary for your family, for your friends, for that person and family who comes begging at your door
Take them in for they will tell others!
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Wall Street Says -2 + -2 = 4 as Liabilities Get New Bond Math
By Bradley Keoun June 2 (Bloomberg) Leave it to Wall Street to profit from its own distress.
Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Inc. and four other U.S. financial companies have used an accounting rule adopted last year to book almost $12 billion of revenue after a decline in prices of their own bonds.
The rule, intended to expand the “mark-to- market” accounting that banks use to record profits or losses on trading assets, allows them to report gains when market prices for their liabilities fall.
The new math, while legal, defies common sense. Merrill, the third-biggest U.S. securities firm, added $4 billion of revenue during the past three quarters as the market value of its debt fell.
That was the result of higher yields demanded by investors spooked by the New York-based company's $37 billion of writedowns from assets hurt by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.
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“They can post substantial gains as a result of a decline in their own creditworthiness,” said James Cataldo, a former director of treasury risk management for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston and now an assistant professor of accounting at Suffolk University in Boston.
“It's completely legitimate, but it doesn't make sense by any way we currently have of thinking of net income.”
The paper profits have helped offset more than $160 billion of writedowns taken by U.S. financial-services companies during the past year.
Now some investors and analysts say the winnings are illusory and may have to be reversed.
“The piper will have to paid eventually,” said Robert Willens, a former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. accounting analyst who left the New York-based firm earlier this year to become an independent consultant.
Statement 159
The debate over what is known as Statement 159 adds to the number of accounting techniques called into question as the U.S. debt market unravels.
Investors have criticized banks for booking some writedowns in an accounting category called “other comprehensive income” that bypasses their income statements.
Accounting rulemakers are now proposing changes to standards that let banks use off-balance-sheet vehicles to juice earnings without tying up precious capital.
Statement 159, formally known as the “Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities,” was issued in February 2007 by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, which sets U.S. accounting rules.
It was adopted by most large Wall Street firms in the first quarter of last year and becomes mandatory for all U.S. companies this year, although they have wide latitude in how to apply it, if at all.
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Lobbying Effort
The rule was enacted after lobbying by New York-based companies, led by Merrill, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup, which wrote letters to FASB arguing that it wasn't fair to make them mark their assets to market value if they couldn't also mark their liabilities.
“We do not believe it would be appropriate” to let investors consider creditworthiness when valuing bonds if the issuing company couldn't do the same, wrote Matthew Schroeder, managing director of accounting policy at Goldman, the largest U.S. securities firm by market value, in an April 2006 letter.
Companies are allowed to decide for themselves which of their outstanding bonds, loans and other liabilities will get mark-to- market treatment.
That's an unprecedented degree of leeway, said Willens, who is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York.
“It's kind of a dumb rule,” Willens said.
“In the entire panoply of accounting, this is the most flexible and elective and optional rule that we have.”
The Fed Objects
Here's how it works, according to Richard Bove, an analyst at New York-based Ladenburg Thalmann & Co.
A company decides to designate $100 million of its subordinated bonds as subject to mark-to-market accounting.
The price of the bonds drops to 80 cents on the dollar from 100 cents.
So the firm books $20 million on the “presumed savings that you have on your liabilities,” Bove said.
“In the real world you didn't save a dime,” he said.
“You still owe the $100 million. It's another one of these accounting rules that basically takes you further and further away from reality.”
The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Office of Thrift Supervision objected to the rule before its passage, saying in a joint 2006 letter to the FASB that it would “have the contrary effect” of increasing a bank's net worth at the same time its “financial condition is deteriorating.”
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Split at FASB
The regulators remain so skeptical that they refuse to let banks apply the phantom revenue toward minimum capital requirements, according to reporting rules posted on the Web site of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.
Deborah Lagomarsino, a Washington-based spokeswoman for the Federal Reserve, declined to comment.
Not even the FASB was united on the new standard.
Two of its seven board members — Thomas Linsmeier and Donald Young — voted against it, according to the February 2007 statement.
Linsmeier said the rule “will provide an opportunity for entities to report significantly less earnings volatility than they are exposed to,” according to the statement.
The FASB tried to limit abuses by forcing companies to designate their “fair value” liabilities when they adopt the new standard.
Subsequently, they can't change their minds.
Liabilities added after adoption can only be designated at inception.
“The statement was thoroughly discussed with users and preparers” in advance of its publication, said Neal McGarity, a spokesman for Norwalk, Connecticut-based FASB.
A March survey by the CFA Institute, a Charlottesville, Virginia-based group that administers a financial-analyst designation program, showed that 74 percent of investors believe the standard “has improved market integrity,” he said.
Merrill's Liabilities
Merrill designated about $166 billion of liabilities, or 17 percent of its total, as fair-value instruments subject to mark- to-market accounting at the end of 2007, according to its annual report.
Included in the amount were $76.3 billion of long-term borrowings and $89.7 billion of payables under securities- financing transactions.
Prices for the firm's bonds tumbled over the past year: Its floating-rate notes due in January 2015 are trading at about 87 cents on the dollar, compared with about 100 cents last June.
Merrill has said its gains from the liabilities don't add to true earnings power.
In a spreadsheet posted on its Web site, Merrill says that investors who want a “more meaningful period- to-period comparison” should exclude the $2.1 billion of revenue recorded in the first quarter.
Merrill spokeswoman Jessica Oppenheim declined to comment.
The company owns a passive 20 percent stake in Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.
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Lehman to Goldman
Lehman, the fourth-biggest securities firm, has reported $1.9 billion of gains related to a widening of its own bond spreads.
Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by assets, has booked $1.7 billion; Morgan Stanley $1.7 billion; JPMorgan Chase & Co., the third-biggest bank, $1.7 billion; and Goldman Sachs $550 million.
There may be more to come, JPMorgan analyst Kenneth Worthington wrote in a May 28 report.
Lehman may book $325 million for the second fiscal quarter ended in May, and Morgan Stanley, the second-biggest U.S. securities firm, may report $470 million, Worthington estimates.
Spokesmen for Lehman, Morgan Stanley, Goldman, Citigroup and JPMorgan in New York declined to comment.
‘Shell Game’
So far, most banks' writedowns are “unrealized,” meaning they've been unwilling or unable to liquidate distressed assets.
If prices reversed, the banks would record mark-to-market profits.
The same is true for the liabilities.
Companies can't ``realize'' the mark-to-market gains on their debt unless they buy it back at the discounted price.
They're unlikely to do so, because the deterioration in creditworthiness means they'd have to replace the debt with higher-cost borrowings, Willens said.
“No one's going out in the market and actually retiring this debt,” Willens said.
“It's a shell game.”
David Moser, Merrill's managing director for accounting policy, acknowledged that concern in an April 10, 2006, letter to the FASB.
“It seems counterintuitive that when a company's credit spreads are widening, it would recognize a gain in earnings,” Moser wrote.
“The amounts are typically not realizable and therefore less relevant.”
He nevertheless supported the new accounting standard because it “mitigates some of the uneconomic volatility in earnings” that results from marking assets to market without doing the same for liabilities.
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Market Reversal
Bear Stearns Cos., which adopted the new standard this year, reported a $305 million windfall in the fiscal first quarter, which ended in February, as bond spreads widened on concerns the company might face a funding shortage.
Then in March, after the New York-based securities firm was forced to sell itself to JPMorgan, Bear Stearns's bond spreads tightened, resulting in a $372 million loss, according to a regulatory filing in April.
Worthington estimates that similar tightening of bond spreads at Merrill, Morgan Stanley, Lehman and Goldman Sachs may cause them to reverse $5.96 billion of revenue by the end of the year.
“It could very well hurt earnings,” said Jeffery Harte, an analyst at Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP in Chicago, in an interview.
On the flip side, a recovery may result in asset write- ups, he said.
Standard & Poor's, which relies on banks' financial statements to issue credit ratings, said in April 2006 that the new rule might lead to “diminished analytical transparency.”
“Equity may be overstated as a result of these illusory gains that may never be realized, hindering the analysis of the equity cushion to absorb losses,” S&P Chief Accountant Neri Bukspan wrote in a letter to the FASB.
If and when the “illusory” revenue is reversed as losses, the banks and brokers may have to work harder to convince investors to ignore them, Willens said. |
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The Derivatives Market is Unwinding!
June 4, 2008
A couple of months ago, a financial analyst who sells derivatives told me that fears about a meltdown in the derivatives market were unfounded.
Yesterday, he told me — with a very worried look — "THE DERIVATIVES MARKET IS UNWINDING!"
What does this mean?
What are derivatives and why should you care if the market is unwinding?
Well, it turns out that the reason that Bear Stearns was about to go belly-up before JP Morgan bought it is that it had held trillions of dollars in derivatives, which were about to go south.
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(The reason that JP Morgan was so eager to buy Bear Stearns is that it was on the other side of these derivative contracts — if Bear Stearns had gone under, JP Morgan would have taken a huge hit.
But the way the derivative agreements were drafted, a purchase by JP Morgan canceled the derivative contracts, so that JP Morgan didn't experience huge losses.
That is probably why the Fed was so eager to broker — and fund — the shotgun marriage.
JP Morgan is a much larger player, and if Bear's failure had caused the derivatives hit to JP Morgan, it probably would have rippled out to the whole financial system and potentially caused an instant depression.)
In addition, the subprime prime loan crisis is intimately connected to the unwinding of the derivatives market.
Specifically, loans were repackaged into derivatives called collateralized debt obligations (or "CDO's") and sold to both big and regional banks and investment companies worldwide.
The CDO's were highly-leveraged — many times the amount of the actual loans.
When the subprime loan crisis hit, the high leverage magnified the fallout, and huge sums of CDO derivatives became essentially worthless.
Do you remember when wealthy Orange County, California, went bankrupt in 1994?
Yup, that was because it had invested in bad derivatives.
And, according to a recent article by one of the world's top derivative insiders, the market for credit default swap ("CDS") derivatives is also unraveling.
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And reported just today, Lehman Brothers is now on the edge, due to exposure to derivatives.
Derivatives are the Elephant in the Living Room
The subprime mortgage crisis is bad, and is hurting many people, and slowing the economy.
High oil and food prices are bad, and are hurting many people, and bringing down the economy.
But — according to top insiders — derivatives are the elephant in the room . . . the single largest threat to the U.S. and world economy.
One reason is that, according to Paul Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, the entire modern financial system is based upon derivatives, and the financial system today is entirely different from the traditional American or global financial system because derivatives — a relatively new concept — now underly the entire fabric of the financial system.
In short, many of the people who know the most about derivatives say that the current system is a house of cards built upon derivatives.
Moreover, as mentioned above, the subprime and derivatives crises are closely linked.
Similarly, Britian's New Statesman newspaper links derivatives and rising food and commodity prices:
"This food emergency has developed in an incredibly short space of time — essentially over the past 18 months.
The reason for food "shortages" is speculation in commodity futures following the collapse of the financial derivatives markets.
Desperate for quick returns, dealers are taking trillions of dollars out of equities and mortgage bonds and ploughing them into food and raw materials.
It's called the "commodities super-cycle" on Wall Street, and it is likely to cause starvation on an epic scale.
The rocketing price of wheat, soybeans, sugar, coffee — you name it — is a direct result of debt defaults that have caused financial panic in the west and encouraged investors to seek "stores of value".
These range from gold and oil at one end to corn, cocoa and cattle at the other; speculators are even placing bets on water prices."
Hiding the Ball
And yet banks and financial houses have hidden their derivatives exposure off the balance sheets.
No wonder almost no one understands derivatives:
"Not only [world's richest man] Warren Buffett, but Bond King Bill Gross, our Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the rest of America's leaders can't 'figure out'" the derivatives market.
Indeed, the government may have actively helped to hide the the derivatives mess since at least 2006.
For example, according to Business Week:
"President George W. Bush has bestowed on his intelligence czar, John Negroponte, broad authority, in the name of national security, to excuse publicly traded companies from their usual accounting and securities-disclosure obligations."
Former fed chairman Alan Greenspan has been a huge booster for and defender of derivatives since 1999 or before (and see this).
Did you know that the same guy that pushed subprime loans has also aggressively pushed derivatives for many years?
And the other regulatory agencies and Congress have taken a totally hands-off approach towards derivatives.
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How Big a Problem?
How big is the derivatives market?
Worldwide, it is $596 TRILLION dollars *.
* This is the "notional value".
The actual amount of potential losses from a meltdown in the derivatives market is smaller, although still very large.
The derivatives market dwarfs the real market for goods and services, and acts likes an unregulated black market.
As one writer put it:
"It’s all smoke and
mirrors.
"The financial system has decoupled from the productive elements of the economy and is now beginning to show disturbing signs of instability."
And its not just the U.S. Derivatives salesmen have sold these babies all over the world.
Because banks, financial institutions and governments world-wide have bought significant derivatives, the fall out will not be limited solely to the U.S.
See this and this.
If the derivatives market is truly unwinding, as my investment advisor friend and some of the top industry insiders say, we could be in for a very bumpy ride.
For further information on derivatives, see these articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_%28finance%29
http://www.prudentbear.com/index.php/BearsLairHome
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4419.html
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article1038.html
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article4378.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8634
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/
business/23how.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=business&pagewanted=print
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/business/
23regulate.html?pagewanted=2&th&emc=th
http://www.occ.treas.gov/ftp/release/2008-36a.pdf
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?
feed=OBR&date=20080519&id=8667647
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/04/17/cnlibor117.xml
I am using the pen name George Washington with the approval of the publisher, because I have received death threats
due to my 9/11 research and writing.
I am using a pen name to protect myself and my family.
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The trading frenzy that sent prices soaring
Iain Macwhirter
Published 17 April 2008
Iain Macwhirter on why the price of basic foodstuffs rocketed, from London to Haiti
Four people were killed in food riots in Haiti.
From Bolivia to Uzbekistan there have been violent protests against the doubling of food prices.
In Italy, mothers are marching against the price of pasta.
The World Food Programme has seized up and the World Bank on 13 April forecast that 100 million people face starvation.
It should not have come as a surprise.
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Conventional explanations for the food crisis range from climate change to dietary change in China, from global overpopulation to the switch of agricultural production to biofuels.
These long-term factors are important but they are not the real reasons why food prices have doubled or why India is rationing rice or why British farmers are killing pigs for which they can't afford feedstocks.
It's the credit crisis
It's the credit crisis.
This food emergency has developed in an incredibly short space of time — essentially over the past 18 months.
The reason for food "shortages" is speculation in commodity futures following the collapse of the financial derivatives markets.
Desperate for quick returns, dealers are taking trillions of dollars out of equities and mortgage bonds and ploughing them into food and raw materials.
Commodities super-cycle
It's called the "commodities super-cycle" on Wall Street, and it is likely to cause starvation on an epic scale.
The rocketing price of wheat, soybeans, sugar, coffee — you name it — is a direct result of debt defaults that have caused financial panic in the west and encouraged investors to seek "stores of value".
These range from gold and oil at one end to corn, cocoa and cattle at the other; speculators are even placing bets on water prices.
Commodity price inflation feeds on itself
Just like the boom in house prices, commodity price inflation feeds on itself.
The more prices rise, and big profits are made, the more others invest, hoping for big returns.
Look at the financial websites: everyone and their mother is piling into commodities.
It is the great bull market of the Noughties.
The trouble is that if you are one of the 2.8 billion people, almost half the world's population, who live on less than $2 a day, you may pay for these profits with your life.
This speculation doesn't happen on its own, however.
Hedges against falling currencies
Commodities such as gold and oil are favourite "hedges" against falling currencies.
But this time all manner of other commodities, such as wheat and rice, have been swept along in the inflationary slipstream.
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Investment houses, pension funds, private equity groups and banks are driven by profit not morality, and they invest wherever they can see the biggest return.
It is not a conspiracy, but it is a conscious strategy, backed by the central bankers of the west as they try to help Wall Street back on its feet.
Western banks exporting debt to developing world
Put another way, the banks are exporting our debts to the developing world.
The collapse of the dollar means that most international commodities are more expensive for poor people to buy.
The dollar's decline is a direct result of the low interest rate policy of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, which shockingly cut interest rates on 10 April even as inflation spiralled.
When interest rates are below the rate of inflation, investors have to keep moving their funds from sector to sector in search of higher returns.
In the 1990s they piled into internet stocks.
When that bubble burst in the 2000 stock-market crash, they shifted into property and complex collateralised debt dealing based on US "sub-prime" mortgages.
Now, with the collapse of the property bubble — not just in the US but across the world — investors are on the move again, and the only place left is commodities.
Commodities now one more bubble
It's the third bubble and it's hitting the developing world hard.
There are other reasons for food shortages: the diversion to biofuels because of the depletion of oil reserves, the increasing population, changing eating habits in south-east Asia — all these are putting long-term pressure on agricultural resources.
But the efforts of institutions such as the US Federal Reserve to revive the economy on the back of a commodities boom have dramatically speeded up global inflation.
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Will it work?
Will the new "asset bubble" restore the profits of the banks and revive the US economy?
In the short term, possibly yes — but at terrible human cost.
In the end, the US may be cutting its own throat.
Once speculative prices get out of control, there is no knowing when they will stop.
Oil is now more than $100 a barrel.
Resource-rich countries such as Russia are suddenly world powers again.
Hungry people are desperate people.
This might be the bubble to end all bubbles.
© New Statesman 1913–2008 |
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Hunger, children, animals dying AIDS killing |
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Friday, 30 May 2008
Europe fuel protests spread wider |
Fuel protests triggered by rising oil prices have spread to more countries across Europe, with thousands of fishermen on strike.
Union leaders said Portugal's entire coastal fleet stayed in port on Friday, while in Spain, 7,000 fishermen held protests at the agriculture ministry.
French fishermen have been protesting for weeks, with Belgian and Italian colleagues also involved.
UK and Dutch lorry drivers held similar protests earlier this week.
The strike reflects anger at the rising cost of fuel, with oil prices above $130 (83.40 euros; £65.80) a barrel.
Trade unions say the cost of diesel has become prohibitively high, after rising 300% over the past five years.
Wholesale fish prices, meanwhile, have been static for 20 years. |
 | France: Many returning to work after several weeks of action after government offers 100m euro aid package | |
| Spain: Thousands taking part in Madrid protest | |
| Italy: 5,000 expected to strike, emergency aid refused | |
| Portugal: Indefinite strike from midnight (2300 GMT on Thursday | |
| Belgium: Dozens demonstrating in the capital Brussels | |
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Fishermen's leaders from France, Spain and Italy have been meeting in Paris to co-ordinate strikes and protests over the next three weeks in the run-up to a European Union fisheries ministers' meeting.
The protesters are calling for direct immediate aid for the fisheries industry, coupled with increased subsidies.
The European Commission said in a statement it was willing to show flexibility towards the industry but it has ruled out subsidies to offset rising fuel costs.
Short-term aid packages were acceptable as long as they were used to address structural deficiencies in the fleets, it said.
'Ruin for fishermen'
Several thousand fishermen marched on the agriculture ministry in Madrid, where they handed out 20 tonnes of fresh fish to members of the public in an attempt to draw attention to their ailing industry.
Many blew whistles and klaxons, and let off firecrackers producing red smoke.
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The BBC's Steve Kingstone at the protest said he could see flags from Catalonia, the Basque country and Galicia.
One banner read: "Soaring diesel plus cheap fish equals ruin for fishermen." Another chided Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero: "You are sending us to the cemetery."
One union leader in Barcelona said the country's fishing fleet was at a standstill.
"Compliance is total. The entire Spanish coast is at a halt," Jose Caparros told AFP news agency.
The unions also say they could blockade ports, a day after French police forcibly removed fishermen blocking oil depots.
"We must mobilise like the French and if we have to block ports, we'll block them," Xavier Aboy, a union leader in Galicia, told AFP.
In France the authorities have offered 100m euros in aid, prompting some fishermen to return to work. | |||||||
Fishermen gather in Spain's capital Madrid |
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Oil price is pure speculation
The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand.
It’s controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major Anglo-American oil companies.
As much as 60% of today’s crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds.
It has nothing to do with the convenient myths of Peak Oil.
It has to do with control of oil and its price.
How?
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by F. William Engdahl
Global Research, May 2, 2008
Crucial role of international oil exchanges in London and New York
First, the crucial role of the international oil exchanges in London and New York is crucial to the game.
Nymex in New York and the ICE Futures in London today control global benchmark oil prices which in turn set most of the freely traded oil cargo.
They do so via oil futures contracts on two grades of crude oil—West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent.
A third rather new oil exchange, the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME), trading Dubai crude, is more or less a daughter of Nymex, with Nymex President, James Newsome, sitting on the board of DME and most key personnel British or American citizens.
Brent is used in spot and long-term contracts to value as much of crude oil produced in global oil markets each day.
The Brent price is published by a private oil industry publication, Platt’s.
Major oil producers including Russia and Nigeria use Brent as a benchmark for pricing the crude they produce.
Brent is a key crude blend for the European market and, to some extent, for Asia.
WTI has historically been more of a US crude oil basket.
Not only is it used as the basis for US-traded oil futures, but it's also a key benchmark for US production.
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Large amount of speculation in current market has significantly increased prices
All this is well and official.
But how today’s oil prices are really determined is done by a process so opaque only a handful of major oil trading banks such as Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley have any idea who is buying and who selling oil futures or derivative contracts that set physical oil prices in this strange new world of “paper oil.”
With the development of unregulated international derivatives trading in oil futures over the past decade or more, the way has opened for the present speculative bubble in oil prices.
Since the advent of oil futures trading and the two major London and New York oil futures contracts, control of oil prices has left OPEC and gone to Wall Street.
It is a classic case of the “tail that wags the dog.”
A June 2006 US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report on “The Role of Market Speculation in rising oil and gas prices,” noted, “…there is substantial evidence supporting the conclusion that the large amount of speculation in the current market has significantly increased prices.”
What the Senate committee staff documented in the report was a gaping loophole in US Government regulation of oil derivatives trading so huge a herd of elephants could walk through it.
That seems precisely what they have been doing in ramping oil prices through the roof in recent months.
The Senate report was ignored in the media and in the Congress.
The report pointed out that the Commodity Futures Trading Trading Commission, a financial futures regulator, had been mandated by Congress to ensure that prices on the futures market reflect the laws of supply and demand rather than manipulative practices or excessive speculation.
The US Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) states:
“Excessive speculation in any commodity under contracts of sale of such commodity for future delivery . . . causing sudden or unreasonable fluctuations or unwarranted changes in the price of such commodity, is an undue and unnecessary burden on interstate commerce in such commodity.”
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Further, the CEA directs the CFTC to establish such trading limits “as the Commission finds are necessary to diminish, eliminate, or prevent such burden.” Where is the CFTC now that we need such limits?
They seem to have deliberately walked away from their mandated oversight responsibilities in the world’s most important traded commodity, oil.
Enron has the last laugh…
As that US Senate report noted:
“Until recently, US energy futures were traded exclusively on regulated exchanges within the United States, like the NYMEX, which are subject to extensive oversight by the CFTC, including ongoing monitoring to detect and prevent price manipulation or fraud.
In recent years, however, there has been a tremendous growth in the trading of contracts that look and are structured just like futures contracts, but which are traded on unregulated OTC electronic markets.
Because of their similarity to futures contracts they are often called “futures look-alikes.”
The only practical difference between futures look-alike contracts and futures contracts is that the look-alikes are traded in unregulated markets whereas futures are traded on regulated exchanges.
The trading of energy commodities by large firms on OTC electronic exchanges was exempted from CFTC oversight by a provision inserted at the behest of Enron and other large energy traders into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 in the waning hours of the 106th Congress.
The impact on market oversight has been substantial.
NYMEX traders, for example, are required to keep records of all trades and report large trades to the CFTC.
These Large Trader Reports, together with daily trading data providing price and volume information, are the CFTC’s primary tools to gauge the extent of speculation in the markets and to detect, prevent, and prosecute price manipulation.
CFTC Chairman Reuben Jeffrey recently stated: “The Commission’s Large Trader information system is one of the cornerstones of our surveillance program and enables detection of concentrated and coordinated positions that might be used by one or more traders to attempt manipulation.”
In contrast to trades conducted on the NYMEX, traders on unregulated OTC electronic exchanges are not required to keep records or file Large Trader Reports with the CFTC, and these trades are exempt from routine CFTC oversight.
In contrast to trades conducted on regulated futures exchanges, there is no limit on the number of contracts a speculator may hold on an unregulated OTC electronic exchange, no monitoring of trading by the exchange itself, and no reporting of the amount of outstanding contracts (“open interest”) at the end of each day.” 1 |
Image: www.globalresearch.ca |
Image: www.globalresearch.ca |
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Oil price is pure speculation “ICE Futures” Then, apparently to make sure the way was opened really wide to potential market oil price manipulation, in January 2006, the Bush Administration’s CFTC permitted the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the leading operator of electronic energy exchanges, to use its trading terminals in the United States for the trading of US crude oil futures on the ICE futures exchange in London — called “ICE Futures.” |
by F. William Engdahl
Global Research, May 2, 2008
Then in January 2006 ICE Futures in London began trading a futures contract
Previously, the ICE Futures exchange in London had traded only in European energy commodities — Brent crude oil and United Kingdom natural gas.
As a United Kingdom futures market, the ICE Futures exchange is regulated solely by the UK Financial Services Authority.
In 1999, the London exchange obtained the CFTC’s permission to install computer terminals in the United States to permit traders in New York and other US cities to trade European energy commodities through the ICE exchange.
The CFTC opens the door
Then, in January 2006, ICE Futures in London began trading a futures contract for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, a type of crude oil that is produced and delivered in the United States.
ICE Futures also notified the CFTC that it would be permitting traders in the United States to use ICE terminals in the United States to trade its new WTI contract on the ICE Futures London exchange.
ICE Futures as well allowed traders in the United States to trade US gasoline and heating oil futures on the ICE Futures exchange in London.
Despite the use by US traders of trading terminals within the United States to trade US oil, gasoline, and heating oil futures contracts, the CFTC has until today refused to assert any jurisdiction over the trading of these contracts.
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Keep in mind that ICE Futures in London is owned and controlled by a USA company based in Atlanta Georgia
Persons within the United States seeking to trade key US energy commodities — US crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil futures — are able to avoid all US market oversight or reporting requirements by routing their trades through the ICE Futures exchange in London instead of the NYMEX in New York.
Is that not elegant?
The US Government energy futures regulator, CFTC opened the way to the present unregulated and highly opaque oil futures speculation.
It may just be coincidence that the present CEO of NYMEX, James Newsome, who also sits on the Dubai Exchange, is a former chairman of the US CFTC.
In Washington doors revolve quite smoothly between private and public posts.
A glance at the price for Brent and WTI futures prices since January 2006 indicates the remarkable correlation between skyrocketing oil prices and the unregulated trade in ICE oil futures in US markets.
Keep in mind that ICE Futures in London is owned and controlled by a USA company based in Atlanta Georgia.
In January 2006 when the CFTC allowed the ICE Futures the gaping exception, oil prices were trading in the range of $59-60 a barrel.
Today some two years later we see prices tapping $120 and trend upwards.
This is not an OPEC problem, it is a US Government regulatory problem of malign neglect.
By not requiring the ICE to file daily reports of large trades of energy commodities, it is not able to detect and deter price manipulation.
As the Senate report noted:
“The CFTC's ability to detect and deter energy price manipulation is suffering from critical information gaps, because traders on OTC electronic exchanges and the London ICE Futures are currently exempt from CFTC reporting requirements.
Large trader reporting is also essential to analyze the effect of speculation on energy prices.”
The report added:
“ICE's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other evidence indicate that its over-the-counter electronic exchange performs a price discovery function — and thereby affects US energy prices — in the cash market for the energy commodities traded on that exchange.”
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Hedge Funds and Banks driving oil prices
In the most recent sustained run-up in energy prices, large financial institutions, hedge funds, pension funds, and other investors have been pouring billions of dollars into the energy commodities markets to try to take advantage of price changes or hedge against them.
Most of this additional investment has not come from producers or consumers of these commodities, but from speculators seeking to take advantage of these price changes.
The CFTC defines a speculator as a person who “does not produce or use the commodity, but risks his or her own capital trading futures in that commodity in hopes of making a profit on price changes.”
The large purchases of crude oil futures contracts by speculators have, in effect, created an additional demand for oil, driving up the price of oil for future delivery in the same manner that additional demand for contracts for the delivery of a physical barrel today drives up the price for oil on the spot market.
As far as the market is concerned, the demand for a barrel of oil that results from the purchase of a futures contract by a speculator is just as real as the demand for a barrel that results from the purchase of a futures contract by a refiner or other user of petroleum.
US Senate investigation estimated $25 of that due to pure financial speculation
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley today are the two leading energy trading firms in the United States.
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Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase are major players and fund numerous hedge funds as well who speculate.
In June 2006, oil traded in futures markets at some $60 a barrel and the Senate investigation estimated that some $25 of that was due to pure financial speculation.
One analyst estimated in August 2005 that US oil inventory levels suggested WTI crude prices should be around $25 a barrel, and not $60.
That would mean today that at least $50 to $60 or more of today’s $115 a barrel price is due to pure hedge fund and financial institution speculation.
However, given the unchanged equilibrium in global oil supply and demand over recent months amid the explosive rise in oil futures prices traded on Nymex and ICE exchanges in New York and London it is more likely that as much as 60% of the today oil price is pure speculation.
No one knows officially except the tiny handful of energy trading banks in New York and London and they certainly aren’t talking.
By purchasing large numbers of futures contracts, and thereby pushing up futures prices to even higher levels than current prices, speculators have provided a financial incentive for oil companies to buy even more oil and place it in storage.
A refiner will purchase extra oil today, even if it costs $115 per barrel, if the futures price is even higher.
As a result, over the past two years crude oil inventories have been steadily growing, resulting in US crude oil inventories that are now higher than at any time in the previous eight years.
The large influx of speculative investment into oil futures has led to a situation where we have both high supplies of crude oil and high crude oil prices.
Compelling evidence also suggests that the oft-cited geopolitical, economic, and natural factors do not explain the recent rise in energy prices can be seen in the actual data on crude oil supply and demand.
Although demand has significantly increased over the past few years, so have supplies.
Over the past couple of years global crude oil production has increased along with the increases in demand; in fact, during this period global supplies have exceeded demand, according to the US Department of Energy.
The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently forecast that in the next few years global surplus production capacity will continue to grow to between 3 and 5 million barrels per day by 2010, thereby “substantially thickening the surplus capacity cushion.”
Dollar and oil link
A common speculation strategy amid a declining USA economy and a falling US dollar is for speculators and ordinary investment funds desperate for more profitable investments amid the US securitization disaster, to take futures positions selling the dollar “short” and oil “long.”
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For huge US or EU pension funds or banks desperate to get profits following the collapse in earnings since August 2007 and the US real estate crisis, oil is one of the best ways to get huge speculative gains.
The backdrop that supports the current oil price bubble is continued unrest in the Middle East, in Sudan, in Venezuela and Pakistan and firm oil demand in China and most of the world outside the US.
Speculators trade on rumor, not fact.
In turn, once major oil companies and refiners in North America and EU countries begin to hoard oil, supplies appear even tighter lending background support to present prices.
Because the over-the-counter (OTC) and London ICE Futures energy markets are unregulated, there are no precise or reliable figures as to the total dollar value of recent spending on investments in energy commodities, but the estimates are consistently in the range of tens of billions of dollars.
The increased speculative interest in commodities is also seen in the increasing popularity of commodity index funds, which are funds whose price is tied to the price of a basket of various commodity futures.
Goldman Sachs estimates that pension funds and mutual funds have invested a total of approximately $85 billion in commodity index funds, and that investments in its own index, the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (GSCI), has tripled over the past few years.
Notable is the fact that the US Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, is former Chairman of Goldman Sachs. |
Image: www.globalresearch.ca |
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This skillfully researched book focuses on how a small socio-political American elite seeks to establish control over the very basis of human survival: the provision of our daily bread.
"Control the food and you control the people."
This is no ordinary book about the perils of GMO.
Engdahl takes the reader inside the corridors of power, into the backrooms of the science labs, behind closed doors in the corporate boardrooms.
The author cogently reveals a diabolical World of profit-driven political intrigue, government corruption and coercion, where genetic manipulation and the patenting of life forms are used to gain worldwide control over food production.
If the book often reads as a crime story, that should come as no surprise.
For that is what it is.
Engdahl's carefully argued critique goes far beyond the familiar controversies surrounding the practice of genetic modification as a scientific technique.
The book is an eye-opener, a must-read for all those committed to the causes of social justice and World peace.
To order this book click here
[TheWE.biz receives no monies from the sale of this book Neither the author nor www.globalresearch.ca have asked TheWE.biz to reproduce this book cover] |
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Friday, 23 May 2008
Vast cracks appear in Arctic ice By David Shukman
Environment correspondent, BBC News
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A Canadian expedition found the new cracks |
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Awful decision to allow brain-killing mercury to be injected into young children Children — Thimerosal, Autism, Mercury |
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BBC — Sunday, 18 May 2008
Burma's rice harvest under threat
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By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Bangkok, Thailand
Farmers in the areas most affected by Cyclone Nargis need rice seed by the end of June, or Burma's rice harvest will fail, the United Nations says.
The UN has warned that the harvest could fail this year and next, making the country - currently a net rice exporter — a net importer of rice.
It says that to prevent this, farmers in the worst affected areas must be given all the help they need.
The cyclone devastated the fragile ecosystem in five coastal areas.
The UN says that, in places, the damage caused by the huge wave that hit the Irrawaddy Delta two weeks ago was worse than that wreaked by the tsunami in 2004.
Deforestation meant the wave swept further inland. Food stocks and rice seed were lost — livestock, tools and equipment, too.
Farming is the most important means of livelihood for more than 70% of Burma's population.
Usually, farmers in the Irrawaddy Delta provide two-thirds of the country's rice harvest.
The high cost of imported fertilisers and low crop prices were already making life hard for them, even before the cyclone, and for many families life was already very harsh and insecure.
Now it has got much worse.
Time running out
Diderik de Vleeschauwer from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says while the emergency relief operation continues for those in the worst affected areas, efforts need to be made now to get the region's farmers back on their feet.
"Time is running out," he says.
"We are running against the clock.
If rice seeds are not received within the next 40 to 50 days, planting will not happen in time, and people will not be able to harvest rice by the end of this year."
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The UN is trying to source strains of rice seed that will grow better in salty soil.
In most places the paddy fields can be repaired, but the damage caused by the seawater is harder to reverse.
The heavy rains that have fallen in the area over the last few days have helped by diluting the brackish water a little, but it is still a problem.
"In situations like this, the World Food Programme can provide rations for people so that they won't be tempted to eat any rice they've been given for seed," says the World Food Programme's Marcus Prior.
New equipment
But if a new crop of rice cannot be planted in time, it will not just be the families in the delta that suffer.
People across Burma will go hungry.
The UN's experts believe the paddy fields in the Irrawaddy Delta are not that badly damaged.
They could be repaired with quite basic technology, but new equipment will be needed to replace what was lost, including tractors and land tills, and livestock for ploughing — like buffaloes — will be needed.
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The greatest challenge, of course, will be getting the rice seed and fertiliser to the farmers.
Many of the roads in the delta are in a bad state.
The largest trucks cannot use them. Bridges have been damaged.
Few vehicles are available.
The fishing industry will also need support.
It is estimated that around 100,000 households who relied on fishing for their livelihood have been affected.
Fishing gear
The destructive wave of saltwater will have washed away or smashed a lot of boats in the coastal areas, which bore the brunt of the wall of water, but those inland could have been sunk too.
Much fishing equipment will have been lost.
The UN says the distribution of simple fishing gear with the early deliveries of emergency food aid could help people to start helping themselves early on.
It may not be possible to replant crops in flooded areas straight away, but they can be fished.
Dr Simon Funge-Smith, Aquaculture Officer with the FAO in Bangkok, says that where you have people who fish as part of their livelihood, "it's a coping strategy in times of crisis. People will fall back on their natural resources."
Malnourishment
Humanitarian organisations like the World Food Programme were operating in Burma before the cyclone struck, providing food aid to half a million people across the country.
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UN figures showed that one in three children was chronically malnourished.
The fear now is that as a result of this damage to the area known as the country's "rice bowl", a bad situation will get a lot worse.
The bill for providing rice seeds, fertiliser and equipment is estimated by the UN to be around $243m (£122m).
To rebuild the fishing industry, "very substantial" further sums are needed.
The officials are warning, though, that if they cannot raise the money and — just as challenging — get access to the areas in need to deliver aid in time, the costs in terms of lives lost, an increase in poverty and overall economic damage to the Burmese economy will be far greater.
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EndGame — Alex Jones, you have done the world a great favor
It has taken me until now to view this great masterpiece that chronicles the planet's true history
But I am glad for this delay as my awareness of reality, and the events that seemingly must unfold to educate humankind, have come from sentience off planet — now with this movie the circles merge
A movie par excellence, it will likely be considered the most significant in the downfall of the rich and powerful who control the world and rising politicians already in their pocket — the imprisonment of all those who seek to bring forth this horror, this enslavement of 'New World Order'
Kewe
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| The aim of TheWE.biz is to make us all aware that the most murderous violence and terror by far, committed by anyone, is done by The West
Violence and terror is the footprint and modus operandi of Western Government and the shadow power that operates from behind these 'elected officials'
This film helps us to focus on that reality
Indonesia's 9/11 — Exposing US government operations in the Bali Bombing
Kewe |
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 Archives only for We The People Radio Network |
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Questioning War, Organizing Resistance — Carol Brouillet Glen Clancy, from Victoria, Australia, created "Fool Me Twice" described as 'A documentary about the Australian government's lies about the East Timor massacres, the cover-up of the Bali Bombings and subsequent anti-terror laws.' The 25 year old, Clancy is Australia's Dylan Avery (of Loose Change fame). The work was originally created to be viewed online, but Clancy is working on improving the resolution for larger screen and theatrical viewing. Glen wrote (at the Fool Me Twice Blog on December 4, 2008)
To all,
After discovering 911 was an inside job, through such movies as Loose Change, Terrorstorm and Zeitgeist, I decided to investigate the Bali bombings. The evidence was overwhelming. There had been a cover-up.
As shocking as the truth may be, please keep an open mind while viewing this documentary. FOOL ME TWICE is 100% sourced. Please see reference list below. I tried to produce a documentary as true to the genre as possible, limiting opinion and simply documenting the facts.
I believe that 911 Truth is one of the most important movements of our time and exposing the cover-up of the 2002 Bali bombings can help destroy the "911/War on terror/Al-CIAda" myth.
Please help spread this information.
Kind regards,
Glen
To listen to the March 10, 2008 interview of Glen Clancy by Carol Brouillet broadcast on:We The People Radio Network — Right Click Here (Save Target As, Link As, File) MP3 1 hour
Americans are politically paralyzed by both cognitive dissonance and by what psychologists call “learned helplessness,” the result of years of having one outrage after another foisted upon them, without there ever being any real accountability.
So, as many truthers have discovered, the most common reactions of average Americans, when presented with the facts of 9/11, are either, “My government would never do that,” or, “Okay . . . but what can anybody do about it?”
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Before that he was with the City of Sacramento as a Firefighter Paramedic.
He first began working in Emergency Services in 1988 in the Sacramento area with a 911 private paramedic ambulance company.
He has 20 years experience in Emergency Services.
He earned my pilot's license in 1987, and have been recreationally flying since.
He graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics from the University of California at Davis in 1993, with 2 years of elective Engineering courses, and a Minor in Psychology.
Erik wrote a moving account of his own shift in consciousness regarding 9/11 which prompted him to start Fire Fighters For 9/11 Truth entitled: MAYDAY...MAYDAY...MAYDAY.
Here's an excerpt:
I, like most Americans, remember exactly where I was when I saw the attacks and had the overwhelming urge to take action.
I was shocked, outraged, scared and confused.
I called my Battalion Chief and asked if Seattle would be sending any teams to help.
I was a member of the MMST, and figured we would be needed and I wanted to know where to report.
Due to the nature of the incident we were not called up, and instead USAR teams, including Seattle's, were sent.
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I first visited Ground Zero in October of 2001 with several firefighters from Seattle.
We went to pay our respect and show support.
We raised money for our brother firehouses and attended the funerals of our fallen Brothers.
I was deeply moved and humbled by the community support, the sheer enormity of the tragedy along with the courage and compassion of the FDNY "Brotherhood."
I vividly remember the anger, the intense desire for vengeance,the feelings of helplessness
Even though I listened to their stories for days, I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and tragedy they suffered on that day and the years to come.
I vividly remember the anger I felt, the intense desire for vengeance, and the feelings of helplessness.
I was relieved when the government identified the terrorists and satisfied that we were going to have a swift deliverance of "justice."
I've been a conservative my entire life; a registered Republican since I could vote.
I am a self proclaimed Patriot with George Washington as one of my all time heroes.
So when conspiracy theories quickly surfaced, and "Liberals" cried foul on the erosion of civil liberties, I chalked it up to their political beliefs and bitterness towards the Republican President.
I read many debunking articles — including Popular Mechanics — and watched many debunking videos including, Farenhype 9/11.
I was convinced that these "Liberals" were misinformed and were grasping at straws to discredit the "official" story.
Don't confuse me with the facts, I have my mind made up!
Like most people with strong opinions, instead of looking at all the facts, I was specifically looking for anything that supported my own beliefs.
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As soon as I discovered any inaccuracy in a conspiracy claim, I wrote it off.
My father, a big city cop and Korean War veteran, loved to say, "don't confuse me with the facts, I have my mind made up!"
Well, I had my mind made up.
I told conspiracy theorists like my own Truck Officer, Lt. Earl Emerson, that they were insane if they thought anyone other than the terrorists did this.
Bin Laden confession tapes — how much clearer did they need it
Heck, we have ID cards, security camera videos, Bin Laden confession tapes — how much clearer did they need it?
The years went on and I was satisfied in my beliefs.
I even believed these "Wackos" that doubted the "official" story were distracting our country from focusing on the real threat of terrorism...
Fast forward to March of 2008.
A great friend of mine with a Business degree from West Point, as conservative and non-conspiratorial as they get, came over one night to talk about what he saw happening in the economy.
Began researching such things as economies, who is in control of currencies
He provided some disconcerting evidence that we as a nation are at risk of entering into another depression; he pointed out historical parallels where other countries, such as Germany, suffered economic collapse.
THAT was my eye opener.
I became obsessed researching things such as economies, who is in control of currencies, what causes depressions, who profits during war, etc.
So many things kept pointing to 9/11.
Another one of my dad's favorite quotes was, "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear."
So, I looked at both sides and quickly noticed a pattern.
On one side, the general media ignores some of the most compelling evidence that contradicts the "official" story...
When I voiced my new opinion and concerns most of my friends listened.
Shocked that a staunch Conservative could have such a major shift
I think because they were shocked that a staunch Conservative could have such a major shift, or because they thought I had lost my mind and wanted to diagnose the cause.
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Curiously, some became angry at my new questions and actually thought I was supporting Terrorists with my concerns.
Being a part of that same mindset myself only a few weeks ago, and then having a major shift in consciousness, really shook me to the core.
What has happened to our collective consciousness that we believe anyone who doubts the "official" story or what the government tells us is an enemy?
What has happened to us — are we not founded on Freedom of Speech and taught to check our Government?
Anyone who asks for the Truth is labeled a "Wacko" or "Terrorist Sympathizer?"
What has happened to us?
Are we not founded on Freedom of Speech and taught to check our Government?...
To be honest, I was asleep at the wheel, and relied on what I was being told by mainstream media.
The same media whose parent corporations, are some of the largest suppliers of weapons in this war.
Before this "awakening" I had no idea the extent of our civil liberties that had been eroded in the name of Terrorism.
I had never really wrapped my brain around what legalized torture means.
I had always claimed America was noble.
Just look at how we treated POW's during WWII and Vietnam compared to our enemies.
[Ever check out the real story of John McCain as a POW, keep investigating! — TheWE.biz]
That separated us.
We were setting the example of Human Rights to the rest of the world.
[Check out the real facts of US instigations in Central and South America! — TheWE.biz]
Sure, you'll always have individuals that will take things too far, but Government sponsored torture?
[Let's mention CIA activity across the planet since its inception, including inside the US, and other black budget US government special operations agencies! — TheWE.biz]
What has happened to our country?
What kind of example are we setting for our children, and the world?
You would be interested to learn how many of our own rights have been stripped away recently.
Look up the Military Commissions Act of 2006, John Warner Defense Authorization Act, Homegrown Terrorism Act, Presidential Directive 51.
Amazing the rights we have all lost
It is amazing the rights we have all lost in the past couple of years and very little is covered by the U.S. media.
After discovering this, I applied the "common sense" test that my Grandfather always said wasn't so common.
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Why would a government so aggressively suppress truth and blatantly destroy evidence if there was nothing to hide?
Why has every testimony from sworn government and military officials that points to "prior knowledge" been stricken from the 9/11 Commission Report?
How did paper business cards, cloth bandanas, and plastic ID's that implicate the terrorists survive so neatly through jet fueled fireballs hot enough to destroy titanium and steel?
I've seen bodies burned beyond recognition, yet I have never found one that was wearing unburned clothing.
These questions alone are enough to make me risk everything for a real investigation and accounting...
When I truly realized the enormity of the effect 9/11 has had on our Rights, our Economy, our Beliefs, our Fears, our Intolerances and our Government — I felt fear, then anger, then the need to take action.
Bill Chickering said it best:
“Anger is a very appropriate and necessary response to an injustice.
“But stand back now; the truth, clearly spoken, is always your best weapon.
“Calmly spoken, it can burn a hole through the hardest heart.”
When I realized the extent of the force and attitudes working to silence those who peacefully ask questions, demand answers, and seek truth, it became clear to me that our Country is in serious trouble and I must now stand alongside those Patriots who seek Truth and Constitutional Restoration.
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Richard Gage, AIA is the founding member of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth ae911Truth.org.
He has been a practicing Architect for 20 years and has worked on most types of building construction including numerous fire-proofed steel-framed buildings.
He is employed with a San Francisco Bay Area architecture firm and has most recently performed Construction Administration services for a new $120M High School campus including a $10M steel-framed Gymnasium.
Currently he is working on the Design Development for a very large mixed use urban project with 1.2M sq.ft. of retail and 320K sq.ft. of mid-rise office space — altogether about 1,200 tons of steel framing.
He has been one of the most tireless speakers on the issue of 9/11 truth, and more specifically on challenging the official narrative of the disintegration of the 3 major skyscrapers in the World Trade Center complex that took place on September 11th.
He has been lecturing widely across the US and in Canada.
Those who see his presentation rarely walk away still thinking that fires alone could have brought down the buildings.
When NIST came out with a report recently that fires were responsible for the destruction of WTC7, Richard and Architects and Engineers were quick to challenge that report.
See NY Times quotes Richard Gage on WTC7 "collapse"
Aside from the NYT's reporter and a media request from Bulgaria, the press has tried to ignore the serious criticisms that Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth has raised about their reports.
Richard Gage gives an insightful interview on major points that scientifically do not agree with the official story of 9/11.
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9/11
By all accounts, the unprecedented events of September 11th, 2001 changed the way our country functions, and in turn, the world.
It is therefore critical that conscientious Americans, as well as people around the globe, understand these events in detail.
Unfortunately the official reports, including The 9/11 Commission Report and the NIST WTC Report, written by those working under the direction of the Bush Administration, have been proven to be elaborate cover-ups.
Film: 9/11 Revisited
September 11th Revisited is perhaps the most riveting film ever made about the destruction of the World Trade Center.
This is a powerful documentary which features eyewitness accounts and archived news footage that was shot on September 11, 2001 but never replayed on television.
Featuring interviews with eyewitnesses & firefighters, along with expert analysis by Professor Steven E. Jones, Professor David Ray Griffin, MIT Engineer Jeffrey King, and Professor James H. Fetzer.
This film provides stunning evidence that explosives were used in the complete demolition of the WTC Twin Towers and WTC Building 7.
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For Film: 9/11 Revisited
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
An excellent documentary about the families of the victims of 9/11 and their fight to uncover and expose the truth about what happened that day.
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For Film: 9/11 Press for Truth
— Click Here
Film: 9/11 Mysteries
90 minutes of pure demolition evidence and analysis, laced with staggering witness testimonials.
Moving from “the myth” through “the analysis” and into “the players,” careful deconstruction of the official story set right alongside clean, clear science.
The 9/11 picture is not one of politics or nationalism or loyalty, but one of strict and simple physics. How do you get a 10-second 110-story pancake collapse?
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'Oh! You don't believe the 9-11 official version,' they say.
'You mean where they want you to accept the buildings were not blown up from below.
'Plane fuel! Substance never burns higher then a gas stove! That it caused the inner core steel to melt!
'Steel melting!
'Concrete vaporizing!
'
'No! I don't believe that conspiracy theory.
'Cheney! Bush! Rudy Giuliani! HA! HA!
'Tower 7 that never had a plane hit — just came tumbling down!
'You believe that, eh!
'Ever think it had to be blown up because the plane scheduled to fly into it was off getting shot down.
'Thermite in Tower 7's walls, you see — incriminating evidence — impossible to get out without people watching!
Had to be blown up!
'Next you'll be saying Obama is not a Wall Street Illuminati banker stooge?
'Take your pick: The partner in a comedy team who feeds lines to the other comedians.
'Him who allows himself to be used.
'Oh! I can't really blame you, Television it turns minds to pulp.
'Turn off the television. It's the only way.'
'Turn off the television?'
'Get rid of it really. I mean what else is there to do!'
'Get rid of the television?'
'Don't forget all radio garbage is propaganda, even the songs.
'Then those five minute propaganda hits they send you every hour!
'The ones they refer to as News
'Get rid of all the propaganda from your brain, the only way to do it.'
'Stop being hooked on those Hollywood movies — even those that make you think they are making you think'
'All paid performers to make your brain dead.
'You turn the brainwashing off, you'll begin to become yourself.
'It really is the only way!'
'Oh!'
Kewe — TheWE.biz
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Humankind as we know it at the 'End Point'
Don't forget:
Behind it all is the desire for depopulation — by those rich enough to have their islands for temporary residence while depopulation takes place.
Doesn't matter if it is killing in the fight for food when the trucks no longer arrive at your local supermarket.
Doesn't matter if it is tribe against tribe.
Or thermobaric bombs — environmentally friendly compared to nuclear. Bombs that send ultra-sonic shock waves and searing fireballs to destroy everything in their dropping wake.
Or those special bombs that do not destroy the infrastructure — kill only you and those you love.
You are in the way, folks!
There are too many of you!
This is the plan.
Kewe |
Twenty Questions Radio/TV interviewers avoid asking about Israel Which parts of the Declaration of Human Rights and Geneva Conventions don't Israelis understand? Why is Israel still stealing Palestinian land for more illegal construction? |
Israel, chemical weapons and phosphorous bombs New and unknown deadly weapons used by Israeli forces Undetectable poison-needle gun for 'clean' assassinations |
The Negative Return Economy — a discourse on America’s black budget Fascinating and lucrative Black Budget? What Black Budget? |
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Unspeakable grief and horror
...and the circus of deception killing continues... | |||
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We've had heavy rain here now for three weeks.
We must mobilise like the French and if we have to block ports, we'll block them 
