(FinancialTimes) – US senator warns of ‘financial meltdown’ risk
The US is heading for a debt-driven “financial meltdown” within five to seven years, according to Judd Gregg, the outgoing Republican senator for New Hampshire. Read More Here
(SteveWatson) – Prominent Investor: Pound Could Collapse Within Weeks
Billionaire financier Jim Rogers has predicted that the British Pound could completely collapse within weeks, sending shockwaves throughout the global economy and heralding the beginning of a downturn that would make the recent economic crisis look tame in comparison. Read More Here
(WSJ) – The Euro’s Next Battleground: Spain
Greece set off the crisis rattling the euro zone. Spain could determine whether the 16-nation currency stands or falls. Read More Here
(DailyReckoning) – A Real Economic Phenomenon
The depression is alive and well, thank you. Read More Here
(CNN) – The secret lives of America’s debtors
Americans are loaded up with credit card debt. What’s worse is that some husbands, wives and even children hide those money woes from their families. The results are often devastating. Read More Here
(DetroitNews) – Detroit Mayor Bing emphasizes need to shrink city
Mayor says it’s not ‘an easy conversation,’ but people, services must be focused to save city Read More Here
(WashingtonTimes) – Bernanke delivers blunt warning on U.S. debt
(Bloomberg) – Junk Debt ‘Wall’ to Trigger U.S. Defaults, Bank of America Says
A “wall” of junk debt maturing in the next four years will increase the risk of corporate defaults in the U.S., according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Read More Here
(HuffingtonPost) – Freddie Mac 4Q Results: Freddie Mac Posts $7.8 Billion Loss
Freddie Mac lost almost $26 billion last year, ominous news for taxpayers who are footing the bill to rescue the mortgage finance company and its sibling Fannie Mae. Read More Here
(DigitalJournal) – Jim Rogers: British Pound could collapse within weeks
Jim Rogers, Chairman of Rogers Holdings, has once again made a bold prediction and that is the British Pound could quite possibly collapse within the coming weeks. Read More Here
(DailyMail) – Man who broke the Bank of England George Soros ‘at centre of hedge funds betting against crisis-hit euro’
The man who broke the Bank of England in 1992 is said to be at the centre of a plot to cash in on the demise of the euro. Read More Here
(HuffingtonPost) – Jim Bunning Repeatedly Blocks Unemployment Benefits Extension, Tells Dem ‘Tough Shit’
Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky, is single-handedly blocking Senate action needed to prevent an estimated 1.2 million American workers from prematurely losing their unemployment benefits next month. Read More Here
(SeekingAlpha) – Recent Stats Indicate U.S. Economic Recovery Was an Illusion
A number of economic reports in the last few days indicate that the U.S. economy has not only not failed to recover from the recession, but continues to fall deeper into a hole. Read More Here
(Truthout) – Documents Reveal Anthem Blue Cross Manipulated Data to Justify Massive Rate Hike
Internal documents show one of the country’s largest for-profit health insurers, in an effort to maintain profits, manipulated data to justify a rate increase on individual premiums in California this year by as much as 39 percent. Read More Here
(ConnexionFrance) – Seniors march in pensions protest
THOUSANDS of retired people have taken to the streets to call for changes to the way the state pension is calculated. Read More Here
(Cryptogon) – Banks Bet Greece Defaults on Debt They Helped Hide
But first, a quick walk down memory lane: Banks Bundled Bad Debt, Bet Against It and Won: Read More Here
(MotherJones) – Does John Kerry have good reason to be so optimistic about a climate bill? The Washington Post reports that he’s getting strong signals that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants a bill ASAP, indicating that senators might be closer to a deal on climate and energy than many people around Washington have assumed. Read the rest of this entry »
(KurtNimmo) – On February 24, Rep. Ron Paul asked Fed mob boss Ben Bernanke about $12 billion in cash. Paul said “a lot of cash was passed through — and a lot of people suppose it was passed through the Federal Reserve — when there was a provisional government [in Iraq] after the 2003 invasion. That money was not appropriated by the Congress as required by law.” Read the rest of this entry »
(Guardian) – Ban Ki-moon urges environment ministers to reject attempts by sceptics to undermine negotiations by exaggerating shortcomings in Himalayan glaciers report Read the rest of this entry »
(PaulWatson) – Courageous British MEP Nigel Farage savaged Bilderberg member and global governance proponent Herman van Rompuy during a speech in front of the EU parliament, labeling the EU President “the quiet assassin of European nation states,” while van Rompuy sat and squirmed. Read the rest of this entry »
The Washington Times is a newspaper that looks with favor upon the Bush/Cheney/Obama/neocon wars of aggression in the Middle East and favors making terrorists pay for 9/11. Therefore, I was surprised to learn on February 24 that the most popular story on the paper’s website for the past three days was the “Inside the Beltway” report, “Explosive News,” about the 31 press conferences in cities in the US and abroad on February 19 held by Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, an organization of professionals which now has 1,000 members. Read the rest of this entry »
The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday. Read More Here
(HuffingtonPost) – The IMF Destroys Iceland and Latvia
The International Monetary Fund operates primarily as a banker bailout machine. They cajole and tempt and confuse and threaten the leaders of governments worldwide to pay off the failed bets of the big bankers using the taxpayer funds of their countries. This has been going on a long time, at least since the early 1980s. Read More Here
(Fox) – New Jobless Claims Jumped to 496,000 as Heavy Snow Caused Rise in Layoffs
In addition, many state agencies in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions that process the claims were closed due to the storms and are now clearing out backlogs, a Labor Department analyst said. Read More Here
(SeekingAlpha) – Something Very Strange Is Happening With Treasuries
There are times in life when one witnesses something so outside the scope of normal experience, that at first you don’t see it. Read More Here
(SydneyMorningHerald) – British lender RBS plans huge bonuses despite losses
Losses at Royal Bank of Scotland narrowed sharply last year, the state-rescued lender said Thursday as it prepared to dish out bonuses reportedly totalling 1.6 billion pounds (1.8 billion euros, 2.4 billion US dollars). Read More Here
(Reuters) – EMU could collapse if one member defaults -Germany
A debt default by one euro zone member could end the single currency union but this is unlikely, the head of the German debt management agency said on Thursday. Read More Here
(Reuters) – Tax officials caught over unpaid fines
There were some embarrassed faces at Bulgaria’s tax office on Thursday after an investigation found more than 400 tax inspectors had failed to pay their traffic fines. Read More Here
(Reuters) – Medvedev objects to “endless” NATO expansion
Russia’s new military doctrine does not identify NATO as its major threat but Moscow is disturbed by the alliance’s “endless enlargement”, President Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview published on Thursday. Read More Here
(Xinhuanet) – Russia threatens to react to NATO expansion
Russia will have to respond as it is concerned by NATO’s active eastward expansion and the U.S. plans to deploy elements of a missile defense system in Europe, Russia’s top military officer said on Wednesday. Read More Here
(RiaNov) – China could build up nuclear capability to counter U.S. missile shield
China could strengthen its nuclear capability in response to U.S. global missile defense plans, a Russian military expert said on Wednesday.
“At present, China has a very limited nuclear potential, but my recent contacts with Chinese military representatives indicate that if the United States deploys a global missile defense system, in particular in the Far East, China will build up its offensive capability,” said Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Buzhinsky, former department deputy head in the Russian Defense Ministry. Read More Here
(Reuters) – North Korea, as usual, threatens South, U.S. over drill
North Korea threatened to attack South Korean and U.S. forces for scheduled joint military drills in March even as nuclear envoys picked up the pace of work to get stalled disarmament talks back on track. Read More Here
(Reuters) – China’s military warns Washington, denies hacking
China’s military warned the United States on Thursday to “speak and act cautiously” to avoid reigniting tensions between the two powers, denying the People’s Liberation Army played a part in Internet hacking. Read More Here
(Reuters) – U.S. raps Europe for underfunding defense
Europe has demilitarized too much since the end of the Cold War and its underfunded defense budgets are undermining shared security goals, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday. Read More Here
The Iranian military has introduced a new squadron of domestically-manufactured Saeqeh fighter-bombers to the country’s Air Force to strengthen its deterrence power. Read More Here
(YNet) – IDF practices 2-front war
Senior officers complete drill involving war against Hezbollah in north, Hamas in south Read More Here
(PressTV) – US offered Rigi ‘extensive aid’ for Iran attacks
The captured ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group, Abdolmalek Rigi, has confessed that the US administration had assured him of unlimited military aid and funding for waging an insurgency against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Read More Here
(RawStory) – A Code Pink protester claimed a high-ranking Blackwater official threatened his life during a break of a Senate Armed Services hearing focused on the military contractor’s actions in Afghanistan.
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin reported that the threat was made by Johnny Walker, a program manager with one of Blackwater’s subsidiaries. Walker testified at the hearing about the role his company, Paravant, played during its mercenary deployments to the Middle East. Read More Here
(BoingBoing) – John Young and Deborah Natsios’ whistleblower archive Cryptome has long been a thorn in the flesh of US government agencies. But if my memory serves correctly, none of them ever managed to do what Microsoft did today: shut the site down. Read the rest of this entry »
(WashingtonsBlog) – Today, Ron Paul accused the Federal Reserve of having a hand in nefarious plots such as Watergate and arming Saddam Hussein. House Financial Services Committee Chair Barney Frank said that the Committee should look into it. Read the rest of this entry »
(WashingtonTimes) – Weaselzippers.net caught this bizarre governmental coincidence. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Defense, went from using the first logo below to using a logo looking strangely similar to the Obama 2008 campaign along with the original agency logo. The new logo was created by the logo design company TMP Government. It appears the logo below still exists on the site and coexists with the new logo on letterhead, but the Web site shows it in a less prominent smaller area than the newer one.: Read the rest of this entry »
(MainJustice) – The Senate endorsed by voice vote Wednesday night legislation that would temporarily extend three Patriot Act provisions set to expire at the end of this month. Read the rest of this entry »
(WebMD) – Everybody, not just those at risk of complications, should get a yearly flu shot, the CDC’s immunization advisory panel says. Read the rest of this entry »
(ProjectCensored) – Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB). These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq rivals the mass killings of the last century—the human toll exceeds the 800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and is approaching the number (1.7 million) who died in Cambodia’s infamous “Killing Fields” during the Khmer Rouge era of the 1970s. Read the rest of this entry »
(Infowars) – Citibank’s recent announcement that it may require seven days notice prior to honoring withdrawals is just the latest small brushstroke on a much larger canvas being painted by the banking system and the US government. The broader picture is shocking for those watching as it comes into view. Americans must heed Martin Luther King’s warning, “today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake.” Read the rest of this entry »
(PaulWatson) – The recent controversy surrounding Citibank’s advisory to its customers reserving the right to impose a 7 day restriction on withdrawals from their accounts is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of the fractional reserve banking system and the FDIC’s shaky guarantee that it can insure deposits in the event of a bank run. Read the rest of this entry »
(WashingtonsBlog) – As reporter Sebastian Jones points out (see this and this), former Congressman Richard Gephardt runs a lobbying firm representing giant insurance and pharmaceutical companies. Read the rest of this entry »
In this edition of the Reality Report former IRS Special Agent Joseph Banister joins Gary to weigh in on Joseph Stack’s attack on the IRS building in Austin. Franchi also presents stories on Citigroup’s recent bank run prevention plan and Ron Paul’s recent straw poll victory at CPAC. We also unspin ABC’s attempts at demonizing patriots, expose CNN’s simulation, present Utah’s recent legislative action against the Federal Government and spot light on Glenn Beck’s ratings drop. Gary brands a new “Enemy of the State” and reads from the mailbag. Read the rest of this entry »
(NaturalNews) – Even as Toyota now finds itself the target of an increasingly hyped-up inquisition about “public safety,” skeptical consumers are asking the commonsense question: If public safety is so important, then why isn’t Congress asking about the dangers of Big Pharma’s deadly drugs? Read the rest of this entry »
(SteveWatson) – EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson engaged in doublespeak of the highest degree today as she told reporters that no statistically significant increase in global temperatures since 1995 does not mean that there has not been human induced global warming. Read More Here
(Infowars) – Our knee-jerk, tunnel-visioned, democratic and republican voters must develop some peripheral vision, or they will be taught some lessons of life that could more more easily be learned by viewing outside of the central areas of corporate media focus. And perhaps, the best place to begin seeing on the edges of one’s usual visual field is the corporate media itself. Read the rest of this entry »
(Infowars) – A bill recently introduced to the U.S. Senate, the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010 (S. 3002), by Senators John McCain and Byron Dorgan is possibly the most direct assault on natural health freedom we have seen for some time. If passed into law, this bill would require all dietary supplement manufacturers, distributors, and holders all the way down to the retail store level to be comprehensively registered. It would also allow for the arbitrary banning of nutritional supplements by the FDA and the introduction of deceitful reporting of adverse events related to them. Read the rest of this entry »
(WashingtonsBlog) – Greenspan just said that the current credit crunch is “by far the greatest financial crisis, globally, ever” — including the 1930s Great Depression.
Greenspan said that while the economy was in worse shape in the Great Depression, the recent financial crisis was potentially more harmful than that in the 1930s because “never had short-term credit literally withdrawn.”
Alex starts off the 1st hour with big brother news, and the latest on the attacks by gov. disinfo agents, cointelpro trying to paint alex jones as being like “Timothy McVeigh”.Alex also covers the biggest news stories of today, and tells us who the guest will be on today’s show. Read the rest of this entry »
(PressTV) – ‘Russia not working on Iran sanctions’
A senior Russian diplomat says his country will not support what he called crippling sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. Read More Here
(PressTV) – China puts off military exchanges with US: Pentagon
The Pentagon says that Beijing has put off several high-profile military exchanges with Washington over the US military’s 6.4-billion-dollar arms deal with Taiwan. Read More Here
(PressTV) – Ahmadinejad blasts duplicity in fighting terror
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad censure what he describes as self-proclaimed anti-terror fighters for their double standards in countering terrorists. Read More Here
(Reuters) – Russia warns West against “crippling” Iran sanctions
A senior Russian diplomat warned the West on Wednesday against trying to paralyze Iran by targeting the Islamic Republic’s energy and banking sectors with crippling sanctions. Read More Here
(StopNato) – South Atlantic: Britain May Provoke New Conflict With Argentina
On February 22 two major developments occurred in the Americas south of the Rio Grande. The two-day Rio Group summit opened in Mexico and Great Britain started drilling for oil 60 miles north of the Falklands Islands, known as Las Malvinas to Argentina. Read More Here
(InformationClearingHouse) – A Report From The Afghanistan Resistance – Marjah Operations are an Exemplary Lesson for the Invaders – Read More Here
(ChinaDaily) – China Circled by Chain of US Anti-Missile Systems
Washington appears determined to surround China with US-built anti-missile systems, military scholars have observed. Read More Here
(Reuters) – U.S. Patriot Missiles in Poland Early April: Report
WARSAW – Poland is set to host a battery of U.S. Patriot missiles and the American troops to man it from the start of April, PAP news agency said Sunday. Read More Here
CNN Poll: Seven in 10 Americans Believe Iran has Nuclear Weapons – Read More Here
(RussiaToday) – Video: Russian Chief of Staff – US Plans to Strike Iran
(GlobalResearch) – After the Battle of Hastings in 1066, William the Conqueror’s army buried its fallen comrades, but left the corpses of the English defenders to rot in the fields where they lay.
Such is the brutal nature of war: the victor inflicts all manner of suffering and humiliation on the vanquished. Read the rest of this entry »
(Reuters) – Nearly 20% of US Workers Underemployed in Jan
Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. workforce lacked adequate employment in January and struggled to make ends meet with reduced resources and bleak job prospects, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. Read More Here
(Reuters) – Regulators report 27 percent jump in problem banks
The number of “problem” U.S. banks jumped 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009 to 702, the highest level since 1993 and a sign the industry’s recovery is still shaky, regulators reported on Tuesday. Read More Here
(Reuters) – US Jan mass layoffs edge up on weak manufacturing
The number of mass layoffs by U.S. employers edged up in January as manufacturers stepped up job cuts, data showed on Tuesday, but probably not enough to alter views that the economy is on the brink of creating jobs. Read More Here
(AP) – Report: States’ tax collections fall again
States again saw sharp declines in tax collections in the last quarter of 2009 — a record fifth straight quarterly drop, according to a new report that predicts more looming spending cuts or tax increases. Read More Here
(TheComingDepression) – Mainstreet in the gutter while wallstreet post 17% bonuses in 2009
Bonuses on Wall Street rose 17 percent last year to $20.3 billion even as the industry faced a public backlash over pay practices. Read More Here
(Telegraph) – Concerns grow over China’s sale of US bonds
Evidence is mounting that Chinese sales of US Treasury bonds over recent months are intended as a warning shot to Washington over escalating political disputes rather than being part of a routine portfolio shift as thought at first. Read More Here
When a congressional panel convened a hearing on the government rescue of American International Group Inc. in January, the public scolding of Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner got the most attention. Read More Here
(Aljazeera) – Spain engulfed by pension protests
Spain’s debt-laden Socialist government has witnessed the first mass protests by unions in its six years in power as anger over a plan to raise the retirement age spilled onto the streets. Read More Here
(247WallSt) – Underwater Mortgages Hit 11.3 Million
There is a reason that 702 American banks, nearly one in ten, were on the FDIC “problem list” as of the end of 2009. A large number of small and mid-sized banks are burdened with home and commercial mortgages that are in default and may even go into foreclosure. Read More Here
(VancouverSun) – U.S. economy is a shambles, with no improvement in sight
President Obama’s claim that a second depression isn’t possible doesn’t square with the relevant numbers Read More Here
(ZeroHedge) – FDIC Hits Record “Default” Level As Deposit Insurance Fund Plunges By $12.7 Billion To NEGATIVE 20.9 Billion
The U.S. banking industry continued to struggle in the fourth quarter, as the number of banks on the brink of failure continued to rise and the government’s fund to protect deposits fell sharply into the red. Read More Here
(EconomicPolicyJournal) – Where Did the Links Go That Point to the Government Forcing Your 401k and IRA Money into Treasury Securities?
Forget about hedging inside your 401k and IRA against inflation. Sooner than you think, you will not be allowed to own gold ETF’s, gold mining stocks or gold related mutual funds in your 401k or IRA. Read More Here
(Bloomberg) – Greek Police, Protesters Clash in Nationwide Strike (Update2)
Greek police fired tear-gas and clashed with demonstrators in central Athens after a march organized by unions to oppose Prime Minister George Papandreou’s drive to cut the European Union’s biggest budget deficit. Read More Here
(ChimpPlanet) – Trillions for War And None For The American People
In 2001, George W. Bush attempted to destroy Social Security by turning the people’s money over to Wall Street. Then, 9/11 happened and Social Security was saved for the time being. Read More Here
(WashingtonsBlog) – Foundation for the Study of Cycles: Gold to $2,000 By Late 2011, While Dollar and Stocks will Sink
I’m agnostic about different cycle systems, but – for what it’s worth – the Foundation for the Study of Cycles is predicting: Read More Here
(ZeroHedge) – The $100 Trillion Problem: Can America Learn From Chile Before It’s Too Late?
Jose Pinera provides an Entitlement State 101 lecture, in which Chile’s former Labor and Social Security Minister demystifies the U.S.’s $100 trillion unfunded benefits problem. Since Pinera is the man who many years ago privatized Chile’s entitlement system, America, and the entire Western system, which for the past century has been relying on unfunded liabilities to provide benefits to the population in the hopes that funding day will never come, may do well to listen to what he has to say. Read More Here
(RawStory) – The senior Justice Department legal adviser to President Bush who made the legal case for the Bush Administration’s use of torture tactics on terror suspects defended comments that the president could unilaterally “massacre” civilians in wartime in a newly released interview. Read the rest of this entry »
(Politico) – Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is comparing climate change skeptics to those who disregarded the Nazi threat to America in the 1930s, adding a strident rhetorical shot to the already volatile debate over climate change. Read the rest of this entry »
(Guardian) – Public conviction about the threat of climate change has declined sharply after months of questions over the science and growing disillusionment with government action, a leading British poll has found. Read the rest of this entry »
(AfterDawn) – After the lawsuit over Harriton High School’s alleged webcam surveillance triggered an FBI investigation, you would hope school officials would come clean about what they characterize as completely legitimate security activities. Yet Lower Merion School District’s response to parents seems to raise more questions than it answers. Read the rest of this entry »
(PaulWatson) – While Fox News host Glenn Beck propagandizes almost on a daily basis about how 9/11 truthers represent a dangerous extremist fringe who are planning on killing the President, it turns out that the only violence being espoused is coming from Beck’s own viewers. Read the rest of this entry »
(Fox) – Neocon Billy Kristol dismissed the straw poll as student silliness. Good thing is, when Kristol will be playing shuffleboard at the old folks home the students will (hopefully) be running the country and the neocons will be a but a bad memory. – Video Link Here
(WashingtonTimes) - A lingering technical question about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks still haunts some, and it has political implications: How did 200,000 tons of steel disintegrate and drop in 11 seconds? A thousand architects and engineers want to know, and are calling on Congress to order a new investigation into the destruction of the Twin Towers and Building 7 at the World Trade Center. Read the rest of this entry »
(PressTV) – Iran says it has irrefutable evidence confirming that terrorist ringleader Abdolmalek Rigi had been aided and abetted by the US government before his arrest. Read the rest of this entry »
(Pupaganda) – A flow of information is constantly streaming from the television set; a bombardment of words and pictures. The speed at which this information is communicated makes it easy for the signal to take control, switching the viewer’s brain to stand-by as information is absorbed without analysis or question. Today the television’s constant signal shapes the conclusions of the masses and produces the collective norm. Read the rest of this entry »
(ABCNews) – The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says fluoride from Alcoa’s aluminium smelter at Portland is making kangaroos sick.
The EPA’s Bruce Dawson says the fluoride is being absorbed by the nearby vegetation which is then being eaten by the kangaroos. Read the rest of this entry »
(Aljazeera) – More than a week into the Nato-Afghan military offensive against the Taliban in the southern Helmand province town of Marjah, warnings of a humanitarian crisis are growing.
Members of a fleeing family tell Al Jazeera they fled the fighting because they could stop neither the Taliban nor US soldiers from entering their homes. Read the rest of this entry »
(KurtNimmo) – Organized theft knows no bounds. Both Democrats and Republicans are seriously addicted to stealing your money. Democrats are out in the open about it while Republicans attempt to hide their penchant for organized thievery behind a facade of “fairness.” Read the rest of this entry »
(AaronDykes) – Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner made an appearance alongside IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman at the Joe Stack crash site in Austin, Texas. Their purpose was straightforward– to grandstand over an attack on a government agency and to set the scene for demonizing “anti-government beliefs.” Read the rest of this entry »
(BusinessWeek) – Research in mice suggests the avian flu virus and the ordinary seasonal flu virus could combine to create a new deadly kind of flu, researchers say. Read the rest of this entry »
(IPS) – Campaigning by environmental groups and the general public has weakened the determination of the Bulgarian government to allow the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops in this country. Read the rest of this entry »
