Special Report: Is America the sick man of the globe?

Not long ago, if you wanted steak for lunch at the Texan Restaurant, less than two minutes drive from the Nexteer Automotive assembly plant, you had to be in the door by 11 o'clock in the morning. If you arrived any later, you joined a long line with other laggards and waited for a table to open up.

With noon fast approaching on a recent day, however, only a handful of customers sat in one of the restaurant's two sections and the other was closed.

Asked how the decline in the U.S. auto industry has affected the local economy, Tammy Maynard, a waitress here since 1988, waved a hand around at the empty tables and said: "You're looking at it, sugar."
Regulars and retirees keep the restaurant in business, while workers at the nearby auto supplier plant buy steak at the beginning of the month when they get paid -- if they come at all -- and then dine on specials over the next four weeks.

"I just keep praying every day that we've hit the bottom and that things are going to get better," Maynard said, "because it doesn't seem like it could get any worse."

The U.S. government may have bailed out General Motors, the country's largest automaker, but it hasn't begun to tackle the broader problems that led to the city's implosion. Doing so, experts say, would require the kind of political will that has not been in great evidence in the country recently.

To the few remaining auto workers left in a city half the size it was in 1960, the America they knew growing up is long gone and things can only get worse.

"We have made concession after concession on wages and benefits and there is no end in sight," said Dean Parm, a worker and union committeeman at Nexteer Automotive, whose hourly wages have been cut to around $17 an hour from $28. "It feels like we're dinosaurs. And we're on the verge of extinction."
This is the point of the story where many Americans typically glaze over because they see Michigan as a long-standing financial basket case of a state thanks to the shrinking U.S. auto industry. But the problem is that the broad decline of the manufacturing sector that has been underway in this country for decades now may threaten not just the long-term health of the economy but also the living standards of all but the wealthiest Americans.

"The whole country is now seeing the story that Michigan has been living with for a long time," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. "We have kicked the can so far down the road that now all we have is a cliff to fall off."

"The recession merely revealed a reality that has been with us for a long time. We faced a growing gap in education and skills that we tried to fill with debt and credit, which gave us the illusion of growth."
After World War Two, unskilled blue-collar jobs in manufacturing -- typified and in many ways defined by the auto sector -- became America's easy path to the middle class. As U.S. manufacturing declined, starting in the 1980s Congress and successive administrations focused instead on the financial sector and relied on debt -- its own and that of the U.S. consumer -- to foster economic growth.

At the same time, U.S. companies faced a growing competitive challenge, largely from Asia -- both in terms of manufacturing prowess and lower wages and legacy costs -- that hastened the nation's exodus from the sector.

That in turn created lop-sided trade imbalances, with the U.S. invariably in the red. The U.S. trade deficit with China, for instance -- a nation that tightly controls its imports -- hit a record of $268 billion in 2008 and could reach $270 billion this year.

At the other end of the spectrum, deregulation and a laissez-faire attitude toward financial institutions culminated in the housing "boom" that former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray (who failed to win reelection in November) has aptly described as a "Roman orgy" of debt.

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Tipping Point: 25 Signs That The Coming Financial Collapse Is Now Closer Then Ever

The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever.  Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy.  Yields on U.S. Treasuries have moved up rapidly and Moody's is publicly warning that it may have to cut the rating on U.S. government debt soon.  Mortgage rates are also moving up aggressively.  The euro and the U.S. dollar both look incredibly shaky. 

Jobs continue to be shipped out of the United States at a blistering pace as our politicians stand by and do nothing.  Confidence in U.S. government debt around the globe continues to decline.  State and local governments that are drowning in debt across the United States are savagely cutting back on even essential social services and are coming up with increasingly "creative" ways of getting more money out of all of us.  Meanwhile, tremor after tremor continues to strike the world financial system.  So does this mean that we have almost reached a tipping point?  Is the world on the verge of a major financial collapse?

Let's hope not, but with each passing week the financial news just seems to get eve worse.  Not only is U.S. government debt spinning wildly toward a breaking point, but many U.S. states (such as California) are in such horrific financial condition that they are beginning to resemble banana republics.

But it is not just the United States that is in trouble.  Nightmarish debt problems in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and several other European nations threaten to crash the euro at any time.  In fact, many economists are now openly debating which will collapse first - the euro or the U.S. dollar.

Sadly, this is the inevitable result of constructing a global financial system on debt.  All debt bubbles eventually collapse.  Currently we are living in the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world, and when this one bursts it is going to be a disaster of truly historic proportions.

So will we reach a tipping point soon?  Well, the following are 25 signs that the financial collapse is rapidly getting closer....

#1 The official U.S. unemployment rate has not been beneath 9 percent since April 2009.
#2 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently 6.3 million vacant homes in the United States that are either for sale or for rent.
#3 It is being projected that the U.S. trade deficit with China could hit 270 billion dollars for the entire year of 2010.
#4 Back in 2000, 7.2 percent of blue collar workers were either unemployed or underemployed.  Today that figure is up to 19.5 percent.
#5 The Chinese government has accumulated approximately $2.65 trillion in total foreign exchange reserves.  They have drained this wealth from the economies of other nations (such as the United States) and instead of reinvesting all of it they are just sitting on much of it.  This is creating tremendous imbalances in the global economy.
#6 Since the year 2000, we have lost 10% of our middle class jobs.  In the year 2000 there were approximately 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.
#7 The United States now employs about the same number of people in manufacturing as it did back in 1940.  Considering the fact that we had 132 million people living in this country in 1940 and that we have well over 300 million people living in this country today, that is a very sobering statistic.
#8 According to CoreLogic, U.S. housing prices have now declined for three months in a row.
#9 The average rate on a 30 year fixed rate mortgage soared 11 basis points just this past week.  As mortgage rates continue to push higher it is going to make it even more difficult for American families to afford homes.
#10 22.5 percent of all residential mortgages in the United States were in negative equity as of the end of the third quarter of 2010.
#11 The U.S. monetary base has more than doubled since the beginning of the most recent recession.
#12 U.S. Treasury yields have been rising steadily during the 4th quarter of 2010 and recently hit a six-month high.
#13 Incoming governor Jerry Brown is scrambling to find $29 billion more to cut from the California state budget.  The following quote from Brown about the desperate condition of California state finances is not going to do much to inspire confidence in California's financial situation around the globe....

"We've been living in fantasy land. It is much worse than I thought. I'm shocked."

#14 24.3 percent of the residents of El Centro, California are currently unemployed.
#15 The average home in Merced, California has declined in value by 63 percent over the past four years.
#16 Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has come up with a new way to save money.  He wants to cut 20 percent of Detroit off from essential social services such as road repairs, police patrols, functioning street lights and garbage collection.
#17 The second most dangerous city in the United States - Camden, New Jersey - is about to lay off about half its police in a desperate attempt to save money.
#18 In 2010, 55 percent of Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 were in the labor market.  Ten years ago, that number was just 47 percent.  More older Americans than ever find that they have to keep working just to survive.
#19 Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China's share had soared to 20 percent.
#20 The U.S. government budget deficit increased to a whopping $150.4 billion last month, which represented the biggest November budget deficit on record.
#21 The U.S. government is somehow going to have to roll over existing debt and finance new debt that is equivalent to 27.8 percent of GDP in 2011.
#22 The United States had been the leading consumer of energy on the globe for about 100 years, but this past summer China took over the number one spot.
#23 According to an absolutely stunning new poll, 40 percent of all U.S. doctors plan to bail out of the profession over the next three years.
#24 As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer.  Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.
#25 All over the United States, local governments have begun instituting "police response fees".  For example, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has come up with a plan under which a fee of $365 would be charged if police are called to respond to an automobile accident where no injuries are involved.  If there are injuries as a result of the crash that is going to cost extra.

Chinese rush to gold as inflation fears bite

While recent statistics show that China's gold imports have risen dramatically this year, despite China itself being the world's largest gold producer with mine production still rising to, anecdotal evidence suggests that this may just be the tip of the iceberg as Chinese people are, apparently, rushing to buy gold as an inflation hedge.

A report in the Financial Times suggests that gold purchasing by individuals is turning into such a rush - and the rising price, if anything, is - contrary to Indian experience - fuelling the intensity of gold demand there.  With the ever-rising growth in the numbers of middle-income Chinese as the country's wealth drips down to the people, this source of gold demand is becoming increasingly relevant to the global market.  China is expected to surpass India as the world's leading gold purchaser within the next few years and with the kind of surge in popularity of gold bars and coins, rather than jewellery, there this could even take place sooner rather than later.

As an indicator of the kind of demand being seen in China, FT Reporter Leslie Hook notes in a despatch from the Chinese capital: "At Beijing's largest gold shop, the queues to buy bullion mini bars have turned into scrums as customers jostle for one of the country's hottest commodities. The phone behind the bullion counter rings off the hook as a frantic sales clerk tries to answer buyers' questions. The electronic chart displayed behind him says it all: the price of gold is rising and Chinese investors, worried about inflation, want in on the trend."

For the global gold market this is very significant as momentum in the Western gold market appears to have slowed dramatically.  As Mineweb writer Rhona O'Connell noted yesterday (see: Gold ETF momentum slows above $1,300 - can silver investment be sustained?) since gold hit around $1300 an ounce ETF inflows and outflows have been broadly in parallel, and it has probably been ETF demand which has been the principal demand driver for gold over the past few years.  Gold and silver bullion sales also seem to be slowing in the west as confidence in economic recovery, however unjustified, is beginning to return and people are looking elsewhere to invest.

What is interesting about the Chinese experience is that the apparently huge demand from the public - initially stimulated by state institutions (see: China pushes silver and gold investment to the masses ) - is due to fear of inflation.  Maybe the Chinese are more sophisticated in economic theory than their Western counterparts, but the levels of new money being pushed into the Western (and Japanese) economies by government has to have severe inflationary consequences down the road.  It's just the Western general population hasn't yet understood this consequential result.  Give them time!  In China inflation is already beginning to impact as the western stimuli are beginning to raise inflation in China rather than in their home countries - so far.

Most western observers also believe that the Chinese state is absorbing all of that country's gold production and taking it into reserves - even if this is not actually being reported in official statistics, but being held in an account other than that of the Central Bank until China chooses to make the information public.  What this means is that a whole hunk of global production is not appearing on the open market, which effectively tightens supplies.  Taken together with the surge in Chinese demand this will have a serious impact on what becomes available on the open market - and with some Central banks having become buyers - and a dearth of sellers from this source - gold's fundamentals would seem to be altering in favour of continuing price rises for the metal.

China's burgeoning demand is now likely to continue to build - at least until the Chinese New Year (which begins on February 3^rd next year) - and will help to maintain the gold price at or around the current level or better.  Indeed with Western activity already beginning to wind down ahead of the Christmas and Western New Year holidays making trading thin in New York and London, there could be a positive impact on price developing by the calendar year end.

Need A Job? Too Bad! The Good Jobs Are Being Shipped Out Of America As Part Of The New One World Economy

I hope that you enjoy the cheap foreign-made plastic trinkets that you will be exchanging with your family and friends this holiday season, because they are literally destroying the U.S. economy.  As part of the new "one world economy" that both Democrats and Republicans insist is so good for us, millions of good paying middle class jobs have been shipped out of America.  Do you need a job?  Are you wondering where all the good jobs went?  Well, the next time you are out just walk into a store and start looking at the product labels.  Most of the things that are sold in our stores are now made out of the country.  So if you need a good paying job to support your family that is just too bad - you have been merged into a global labor pool where you must compete for jobs with people on the other side of the globe willing to work for less than a tenth of what you usually make.  Welcome to the "one world economy" where big global corporations make a fortune exploiting slave labor on the other side of the world while "overly expensive American workers" get dumped out on the street.

Are you in favor of a redistribution of wealth?  Most of the time when the phrase "redistribution of wealth" is brought up, conservatives and libertarians visibly cringe - as they should.  But did you know that right now the greatest redistribution of wealth in the history of the world is taking place and our politicians are doing nothing about it?

For a moment, imagine a giant map of the world.  On that giant map, put a huge pile of money on the United States, and also put a huge pile of money on China and on the OPEC nations.  Now imagine a big hand coming along once a month that takes tens of billions of dollars out of the U.S. pile and puts it into the piles of China and the OPEC nations.


As this continues month after month after month, what is eventually going to happen?

The U.S. pile of money is going to get far smaller and the other piles of money are going to get much, much larger.

And that is exactly what is happening in our world today.

Back in 1985, the U.S. trade deficit with China was 6 million dollars for the entire year - not really anything to worry about  it.

Well, let's fast forward to 2010.  For the month of August alone, the trade deficit with China was more than 28 billion (that's billion with a "b") dollars.

In other words, the U.S. trade deficit with China in August was more than 4,600 times larger than the U.S. trade deficit with China was for the entire year of 1985.

My, how the world has changed in 25 years.

Oh, but doesn't China "invest" some of that money they are getting from us back into our country?
Well yeah, our top officials regularly go over there to beg them to lend us more money.  Now we owe China close to a trillion dollars.  We also owe the major oil exporting nations of the Middle East massive amounts of money.

Is this a good idea?  Let us keep in mind the ancient principle that the borrower always ends up the servant of the lender.

Is it wise for the United States to become enslaved to China and to the oil exporters of the Middle East?
Is that any way to run an economy?  Is that any way to run a country?

All over the United States factories are closing down.  If you go to shopping centers in many areas of America you would think that the hottest new store was called "Space Available".

Since the year 2000, we have lost 10% of our middle class jobs.  In the year 2000 there were about 72 million middle class jobs in the United States but today there are only about 65 million middle class jobs.
What kind of progress is that?

"But oh", the supporters of the one world economy will declare, "the cheap goods, the cheap goods!"
Yes, I hope you enjoy paying ten percent less for your plastic trinkets.  But you will also support American workers one way or another.  Either you will provide them with good paying jobs, or you will pay for their food stamps and their unemployment checks.

One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in a federal anti-poverty program.  As 2007 began, 26 million Americans were on food stamps, but now 42 million Americans are on food stamps and that number keeps rising every single month.

Can anyone out there please explain how the "one world economy" is supposed to be good for us when 42 million Americans cannot even feed themselves?

Allowing our country to be deindustrialized just so that we can consume more cheap goods from China is like tearing down pieces of your house to keep your fire going.  In the end, you won't have much of a house left.
Whatever your opinion of Donald Trump is, this next video is worth watching.  Trump certainly should not run for president, but as a savvy businessman he definitely understands what China is doing to us....





It is time for the American people to wake up.

We are being taken advantage of. The one world economy is going to keep destroying the U.S. middle class.  There is no way that American workers can compete with slave labor on the other side of the globe.  It is impossible.

In fact, just about every kind of job imaginable is being shipped to places where labor is cheaper.  Even engineering and computer programming jobs are being offshored and outsourced.

The United States is even being slaughtered in high-tech industries.  Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high-tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China's share had soared to 20 percent.

According to one recent study, China could become the global leader in patent filings by next year.
The United States has become a bloated, slovenly nation that consumes massive amounts of wealth but that produces relatively little.

With each passing year, we make fewer things inside the United States....

*The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
*Since 2001, over 42,000 U.S. factories have closed down for good.

*As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing.  The last time that less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

*Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.
*In 2010, the number one U.S. export to China is "scrap and trash".

Oh, but won't "getting more education" solve all of our problems and get the American people back to work?
No.

The truth is that tens of millions of Americans have a "higher education" that is not doing them any good today.
In his article entitled "The Great College-Degree Scam", Richard Vedder explains that a large percentage of U.S. college graduates are working in jobs that have not historically required college degrees....

Here it is:  approximately 60 percent of the increase in the number of college graduates from 1992 to 2008 worked in jobs that the BLS considers relatively low skilled—occupations where many participants have only high school diplomas and often even less.

Ouch.
Later on in his article, Vedder notes that the number of college graduates that are waiting tables or that are working as cashiers is absolutely exploding....

In 1992 119,000 waiters and waitresses were college degree holders. By 2008, this number had more than doubled to 318,000. While the total number of waiters and waitresses grew by about 1 million during this period, 20% of all new jobs in this occupation were filled by college graduates. Take cashiers as well. While 132,000 cashiers possessed college degrees in 1992, by 2008, 365,000 cashiers were college graduates. As with waiters and waitresses, 20% of new cashiers since 1992 are college graduates.

So do you still think that the "one world economy" is a great idea?

Well, you might want to practice the following two phrases....

#1 "Would you like fries with that?"

#2 "Welcome to Wal-Mart!"

Our economy is turning into a low-wage service economy because we don't make much of anything in the United States anymore.

So if you need a good job, I am afraid that the joke is on you.

The good jobs are being shipped out of the United States as part of the new one world economy, and millions of unemployed Americans have been left to fight over the low paying service jobs that remain.

So if you are flipping burgers or stocking shelves for a big multinational retail chain, perhaps you should consider yourself to be fortunate.  At least you still have a job.  There are millions of desperate, hungry-eyed Americans that would take your job in a second.

And you know what?  Things are only going to get worse.

Lindsey Williams: Crude Oil Price Targeted for $150-200 per Barrel

During his hour-long radio interview on the Alex Jones show today, broadcast over GCNLive.com, longtime Alaska oil reserves expert Lindsey Williams told Alex that he’d learned recently from two of this longtime friends, both retired top executives of major oil producers, that the price of crude oil, now rising again, is slated to move to $150-200 per barrel soon.  According to Williams, the equivalent price of gasoline at the pump should range then between $4-5 per gallon.  In fact, the price for drivers in California is about four dollars already, he said.

According to Williams, the equivalent price of gasoline at the pump should range then between $4-5 per gallon.

Williams also told Alex that one of the execs had said him that the Euro is slated for collapse soon, although at an unspecified time.  Once this happens, the dollar will collapse within the next two to three weeks, wiping out tens of millions of Americans financially, presumably within a few days or a few weeks.
Lindsey emphasized once again, as he has done on all his interviews with Alex over the years, that he knows these executives very well and trusts their information because these predictions are always on target and on time.  For this reason he implored Alex’s listeners to get prepared now for collapse of dollar and do whatever will be necessary for to survive and then live through this debacle.

Williams became a friend and trusted confidant of these executives while he served as chaplain for them and their construction crews building the Alaska pipeline during the 1970s.  During that stay he learned that both of these executives were privy to the plans of the globalist elite to bring down nations of the world and create a new world order economy.  Because they trusted him, they allowed him to sit in on their private meeting and listen to them discuss their often-secret plans and programs.

Both executives have maintained their friendship with Williams since their days on the pipeline project with him.  They have also been willing to reveal the future plans of the globalists every so often ever since.  Furthermore, they have even let him reveal much of this information to the public during his radio interviews, through the videos he produces and through the content of his book, The Energy Non-Crisis.

How Can We Have A Healthy Economy If Virtually Everything We Eat And Drink Is Constantly Making Us All Sick?

In the United States today, we are all being constantly bombarded by chemicals, poisons and toxins.  Virtually everything that we eat or drink makes us less healthy.  The vast majority of Americans gladly consume aspartame, fluoride, BPA, genetically-modified food, pesticides, high fructose corn syrup, pharmaceutical drugs and toxic vaccines without any concern that those substances may ruin their health.  But the truth is that we are getting sicker and sicker and sicker as a nation.  According to one recent report, the United States has dropped to 49th place in the world in overall life expectancy.  Diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes are absolutely exploding.  So how in the world are we supposed to have a healthy and vibrant economy when virtually everything that we eat and drink is constantly making us sick?

Recently, my wife (who has always been extremely healthy) developed some alarming breathing problems.  She did not appear to suffer from any known medical condition, so we were completely puzzled.
Finally, we started examining what we were eating and drinking.  It turns out that she was putting some cream in her coffee that contained something known as "Polysorbate 80".  Polysorbate 80 is found in a vast array of dairy products and is even used in many vaccines.  According to Drugs.com, "difficulty breathing" is indeed one of the known side effects of Polysorbate 80.  Once my wife cut the Polysorbate 80 out of her diet, the breathing difficulties subsided.  The following is how she describes what she went through....

Prior to my recent problems, I had never been in a situation were I felt as though there was very limited air available.  When the breathing problems would flare up, I would take in deep breath after deep breath but I just couldn't get any oxygen.  My body tried to cope by constantly yawning which forced air into my lungs.  Some days it wouldn't be so bad, but on other days it was really frightening.  My breathing was extremely labored at times.  I constantly had to yawn throughout the day in order to catch a satisfying breath.  One day my breathing was really labored - I was constantly gasping for deep breaths, but I wasn't getting enough oxygen.  I was about to cry.  I felt as though I had dived to the bottom of  a deep pool and I was almost out of air.  My body was in a constant state of panic.  I felt so tired and I was worried that I may collapse at any time.  We got into the car, and I was almost ready to pass out.  We had the windows rolled down to give me the feeling of lots of oxygen, but I felt like I couldn't take any in.  Fortunately that episode eventually subsided, but there were many days when I was in agony.  You cannot imagine how horrible it is to gasp for breath and never seem to get enough.  Several incidents really scared me.  What was even more frightening was that I had no idea at the time what was causing all this.

Thankfully my wife is doing much better now, but there are thousands and thousands of others across the United States that are experiencing similar breathing problems and nobody has any answers for them.
So what are some of the other side effects of Polysorbate 80?
Well, Drugs.com says that the following are "common" side effects....

Constipation; cough; diarrhea; dizziness; headache; muscle, joint, back, or stomach pain; nausea or vomiting; pain, swelling, irritation, redness, or bruising at the injection site; unusual tiredness or weakness.

In addition, Drugs.com says that the following are severe side effects of Polysorbate 80 that an individual should seek immediate medical attention for....

Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); blurred vision or vision changes; chest pain; confusion; fainting; fast or irregular heartbeat; flu-like symptoms (fever, chills, sore throat); one-sided weakness; pale skin color; redness, tenderness, or swelling of the calf; seizures; severe diarrhea, dizziness, headache, stomach pain, or vomiting; severe or persistent tiredness or weakness; slurred speech; sudden pain or numbness of an arm or leg; sudden shortness of breath; sudden trouble walking or loss of balance; swelling of the arms or legs; vision or speech problems; weight gain.

Remember, this is in countless dairy products all across the United States. Most Americans are absolutely clueless that they are pouring Polysorbate 80 into their coffee or that it is in the ice cream that they are eating.
Another major threat to our health is something called bisphenol-A (BPA).  BPA is one of the most widely used  chemicals in the entire world.  If you eat canned food or you drink bottled water you most likely have BPA in your home and you don't even know it.

According to Natural News, BPA is not only in virtually every American home, but it has also been linked to some very serious health problems....

It is used to harden plastic in everything from infant and water bottles to mobile phone and computer casings, and also to make linings for cans of food, beverages and infant formula. Yet a growing body of research has implicated the chemical as an endocrine (hormone) disruptor that can lead to cancer, birth defects, behavioral problems and other diseases.

Shouldn't someone be doing something about this?
Of course.
But the truth is that the big corporations that are pushing these chemicals are much more powerful than those who are trying to watch out for our health.

In fact, authorities all over the United States are putting one very toxic chemical into our water on purpose.
It is called fluoride, and it is being put into our water supposedly because it is good for our teeth.  What Americans are not being told is that fluoride is actually a highly toxic sedative and is causing a whole host of very serious health problems.

So exactly how dangerous is fluoride?  Well, the Fluoride Dangers blog puts it this way....

Even small amounts of fluoride consumed from tap water can damage your bones, teeth, brain, disrupt your thyroid function, lower IQ and/or cause cancer, according to evidence revealed in a groundbreaking 2006 National Research Council (NRC) fluoride report produced by a panel of experts who reviewed hundreds of published fluoride studies.

The Natural Health and Longevity Resource Center has published a list of ten of the most significant health dangers that the scientific research has shown that fluoride causes.....

1. Fluoride exposure disrupts the synthesis of collagen and leads to the breakdown of collagen in bone, tendon, muscle, skin, cartilage, lungs, kidney and trachea.
2. Fluoride stimulates granule formation and oxygen consumption in white blood cells, but inhibits these processes when the white blood cell is challenged by a foreign agent in the blood.
3. Fluoride depletes the energy reserves and the ability of white blood cells to properly destroy foreign agents by the process of phagocytosis. As little as 0.2 ppm fluoride stimulates superoxide production in resting white blood cells, virtually abolishing phagocytosis. Even micro-molar amounts of fluoride, below 1 ppm, may seriously depress the ability of white blood cells to destroy pathogenic agents.
4. Fluoride confuses the immune system and causes it to attack the body's own tissues, and increases the tumor growth rate in cancer prone individuals.
5. Fluoride inhibits antibody formation in the blood.
6. Fluoride depresses thyroid activity.
7. Fluorides have a disruptive effect on various tissues in the body.
8. Fluoride promotes development of bone cancer.
9. Fluorides cause premature aging of the human body.
10. Fluoride ingestion from mouth rinses and dentifrices in children is extremely hazardous to biological development, life span and general health.

But perhaps even more dangerous is the sweetener known as aspartame.  Today, aspartame is an ingredient in literally thousands of different food and drink products.  In fact, it is often marketed in "health products" such as diet sodas.
According to an article on Mercola.com, aspartame is one of the most toxic substances being added to our foods....

Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious including seizures and death.  A few of the 90 different documented symptoms listed in the report as being caused by aspartame include: Headaches/migraines, dizziness, seizures, nausea, numbness, muscle spasms, weight gain, rashes, depression, fatigue, irritability, tachycardia, insomnia, vision problems, hearing loss, heart palpitations, breathing difficulties, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, loss of taste, tinnitus, vertigo, memory loss, and joint pain.
According to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame:  Brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, chronic fatigue syndrome, parkinson's disease, alzheimer's, mental retardation, lymphoma, birth defects, fibromyalgia, and diabetes.

According to Dr. Janet Hull, the following are known side effects of ingesting aspartame....

Eye
blindness in one or both eyes
decreased vision and/or other eye problems such as: blurring, bright flashes, squiggly lines, tunnel vision, decreased night vision
pain in one or both eyes
decreased tears
trouble with contact lenses
bulging eyes
Ear
tinnitus - ringing or buzzing sound
severe intolerance of noise
marked hearing impairment
Neurologic
epileptic seizures
headaches, migraines and (some severe)
dizziness, unsteadiness, both
confusion, memory loss, both
severe drowsiness and sleepiness
paresthesia or numbness of the limbs
severe slurring of speech
severe hyperactivity and restless legs
atypical facial pain
severe tremors
Psychological/Psychiatric
severe depression
irritability
aggression
anxiety
personality changes
insomnia
phobias
Chest
palpitations, tachycardia
shortness of breath
recent high blood pressure
Gastrointestinal
nausea
diarrhea, sometimes with blood in stools
abdominal pain
pain when swallowing
Skin and Allergies
itching without a rash
lip and mouth reactions
hives
aggravated respiratory allergies such as asthma
Endocrine and Metabolic
loss of control of diabetes
menstrual changes
marked thinning or loss of hair
marked weight loss
gradual weight gain
aggravated low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
severe PMS
Other
frequency of voiding and burning during urination
excessive thirst, fluid retention, leg swelling, and bloating
increased susceptibility to infection
Additional Symptoms of Aspartame Toxicity include the most critical symptoms of all
death
irreversible brain damage
birth defects, including mental retardation
peptic ulcers
aspartame addiction and increased craving for sweets
hyperactivity in children
severe depression
aggressive behavior
suicidal tendencies
Aspartame may trigger, mimic, or cause the following illnesses:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Epstein-Barr
Post-Polio Syndrome
Lyme Disease
Grave’s Disease
Meniere’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
ALS
Epilepsy
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
EMS
Hypothyroidism
Mercury sensitivity from Amalgam fillings
Fibromyalgia
Lupus
non-Hodgkins
Lymphoma
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

Sadly, there are thousands more toxins and chemicals that are being put into what we eat and what we drink.  The next time you go to the supermarket, just pick up a few products and start reading the labels.  You may find yourself incredibly shocked by what you find.

Does it seem like people all around you are constantly getting sick?  Well, the truth is that we have created an incredibly toxic environment for ourselves.  Diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes have skyrocketed in recent years.  We like to think of ourselves as being so "advanced", but the truth is that we are constantly becoming less healthy as a nation.

It is hard to imagine any prosperous economy that is full of sick and dying people.  But if we don't stop constantly poisoning ourselves by what we eat and by what we drink our national health is going to continue to fall apart.

Just like in almost every other category, America is in a deep state of decline.  We like to think that we should be telling everyone else in the world how they should be doing things, but the truth is that our own nation is a complete and total mess.

If your own health is not what it should be, you might want to take another look at what you are eating and what you are drinking.  A small change can make a big difference.

16 Nightmarish Economic Trends To Watch Carefully In 2011

If you only watch the "economic pundits" on television, it can be very confusing to figure out exactly what is happening with the U.S. economy.  One pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little bit better over the past month and claim that we have entered a time of solid recovery.  Another pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little worse over the past month and claim that we are headed for trouble.  So what is the truth?  Well, if you really want to get a clear idea of what is really going on you have to look at the long-term trends.  There are some economic trends which just keep getting worse year after year after year, and it is those trends that tell the real story of the decline of our economic system.

As you examine the long-term trends, you quickly come to realize that the U.S. is trapped in an endless spiral of debt, the middle class is being wiped out, the U.S. dollar is being destroyed and America is rapidly becoming a post-industrial wasteland.

Posted below are 16 nightmarish economic trends to watch carefully in 2011.  It is becoming exceedingly apparent that unless something is done rapidly we are heading for an economic collapse of unprecedented magnitude....

#1 Do you want to see something scary?  Just check out the chart below.  Since the beginning of the economic downturn, the U.S. monetary base has more than doubled.  But don't worry - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has promised us that this could never cause inflation.  In fact, Bernanke says that we need to inject even more dollars into the economy.  So if you are alarmed by the chart below, you are just being irrational according to Bernanke....

#2 Thousands of our factories, millions of our jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars of our national wealth continue to be shipped overseas.  In 1985, the U.S. trade deficit with China was 6 million dollars for the entire year.  In the month of August alone, the U.S. trade deficit with China was over 28 billion dollars.  Nobel economist Robert W. Fogel of the University of Chicago is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040 if current trends continue.

#3 The United States is rapidly becoming a post-industrial wasteland.  Back in 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of all U.S. economic output.  In 2008, it represented only 11.5 percent and it continues to fall.  Sadly, the truth is that America is being deindustrialized.  As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing.  The last time that less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#4 The number of Americans that have been out of work for an extended period of time has absolutely exploded over the last few years.  As 2007 began, there were just over 1 million Americans that had been unemployed for half a year or longer.  Today, there are over 6 million Americans that have been unemployed for half a year or longer.

#5 The middle class continues to be squeezed out of existence.  According to a poll taken in 2009, 61 percent of Americans "always or usually" live paycheck to paycheck.  That was up substantially from 49 percent in 2008 and 43 percent in 2007.

#6 The number of Americans living in poverty is absolutely skyrocketing.  42.9 million Americans are now on food stamps, and one out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one anti-poverty program run by the federal government.  Unfortunately, many of those that have been hardest hit by this economic downturn have been children.  According to one new study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States are living below the poverty line in 2010 - the highest rate in 20 years.

#7 Many American families have been pushed beyond the breaking point during this economic downturn.  Over 1.4 million Americans filed for personal bankruptcy in 2009, which represented a 32 percent increase over 2008.  The final number for 2010 is expected to be even higher.

#8 The U.S. real estate market continues to stagnate.  During the third quarter of 2010, 67 percent of mortgages in Nevada were "underwater", 49 percent of mortgages in Arizona were "underwater" and 46 percent of mortgages in Florida were "underwater".  So what happens if home prices go down even more?

#9 More elderly Americans than ever are being forced to put off retirement and continue working.  In 2010, 55 percent of Americans between the ages of 60 and 64 were in the labor market.  Ten years ago, that number was just 47 percent.  Unfortunately, it looks like this problem will only get worse in the years ahead.  In America today, approximately half of all workers have less than $2000 saved up for retirement.

#10 In the United States today, there are simply far too many retirees and not nearly enough workers to support them.  Back in 1950 each retiree's Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 workers.  Today, each retiree's Social Security benefit is paid for by approximately 3.3 workers.  By 2025 it is projected that there will be approximately two workers for each retiree.

#11 Financial assets continue to become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.  For example, the "big four" U.S. banks (Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo) had approximately 22 percent of all deposits in FDIC-insured institutions back in 2000.  As of the middle of 2009 that figure was up to 39 percent.

#12 The Federal Reserve has been destroying the value of the U.S. dollar for decades.  Since the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, the U.S. dollar has lost over 95 percent of its purchasing power.  An item that cost $20.00 in 1970 would cost you $112.35 today.  An item that cost $20.00 in 1913 would cost you $440.33 today.

#13 Commodity prices continue to soar into the stratosphere.  Ten years ago, the price of a barrel of oil hovered around 20 to 30 dollars most of the time.  Today, the price of oil is rapidly closing in on 100 dollars a barrel and there are now fears that it could soon go much higher than that.

#14 Federal government spending is completely and totally out of control.  The U.S. government budget deficit increased to a whopping $150.4 billion last month, which represented the biggest November deficit on record.  But our politicians can't seem to break their addiction to debt.  In fact, Democrats are trying to ram through a 1,924 page, 1.1 trillion dollar spending bill in the final days of the lame-duck session of Congress before the Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next year.

#15 The U.S. national debt is rapidly closing in on 14 trillion dollars.  It is more than 13 times larger than it was just 30 short years ago.  According to an official U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt is projected to climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015.

#16 Unfortunately, the official government numbers grossly understate the horrific nature of the crisis we are facing.  John Williams of Shadow Government Statistics has calculated that if the federal government would have used GAAP accounting standards to measure the federal budget deficit for 2009, it would have been approximately 8.8 trillion dollars.  Not only that, but John Williams now says that U.S. government debt is so wildly out of control that it is mathematically impossible for us to "grow" our way out of it....

The government’s finances not only are out of control, but the actual deficit is not containable.  Put into perspective, if the government were to raise taxes so as to seize 100% of all wages, salaries and corporate profits, it still would be showing an annual deficit using GAAP accounting on a consistent basis.  In like manner, given current revenues, if it stopped spending every penny (including defense and homeland security) other than for Social Security and Medicare obligations, the government still would be showing an annual deficit. Further, the U.S. has no potential way to grow out of this shortfall.

The more one examines the U.S. economic situation, the more depressing it becomes.  The U.S. financial system is trapped inside a horrific debt spiral  and we are headed straight for economic oblivion.
If our leaders attempt to interrupt the debt spiral it will plunge our economy into a depression.  If our leaders attempt to keep the debt spiral going for several more years it will just make the eventual crash even worse.  Either way, we are headed for a financial implosion that will be truly historic.

The debt-fueled good times that we have been enjoying for the last several decades are rapidly coming to an end.  Unfortunately for the tens of millions of Americans that are already suffering, our economic problems are only going to get worse in the years ahead.

So what do you think?  Do you agree that the U.S. economy is doomed?  Please feel free to leave a comment with your opinion....

When Americans Lose Everything, They Start To Lose It

As Gerald Celente has often warned, when Americans lose everything, they will start to lose it, and nowhere was that more apparent than in the case of Clay Duke, the 56-year-old gunman who opened fire on school board members in protest against his wife being fired and his unemployment benefits running out.

Duke spray-painted a V for Vendetta sign on the wall before brandishing a gun and telling everyone apart from the school board members to leave the room. Watch what happened next in the video below.



The response to this tragic series of events from both the establishment left and the establishment right will undoubtedly be to try and portray Duke as a nutcase conspiracy theorist whose views are an example of why free speech on the Internet needs to be curtailed, despite the fact that both on his Facebook page and another website he recommended, Duke promoted websites from across the political spectrum, including Media Matters, who are usually the first to exploit tragic events like these to sling mud at their political adversaries.
The fact that no one was injured and that Duke ultimately claimed his own life has contributed to him becoming a martyr in the Michael Douglas Falling Down mould rather than being considered a deranged lunatic, and Facebook pages in his honor are already attracting members.

Duke was stopped when shots from a security guard wounded him, before he took his own life. Despite the fact that it was a gun that stopped the rampage, Time Magazine and others are already blaming the tragedy on the Second Amendment.

In a de-facto online suicide note posted on Facebook, Duke railed against the financial terrorists that prompted him to take such a drastic course of action

• 

“I was just born poor in a country where the Wealthy manipulate, use, abuse, and economically enslave 95% of the population. Rich Republicans, Rich Democrats… same-same… rich… they take turns fleecing us… our few dollars… pyramiding the wealth for themselves,” he wrote. “The 95%… the us, in US of A, are the neo slaves of the Global South. Our Masters, the Wealthy, do, as they like to us…”

This goes far deeper than someone violently acting upon political grievances. Duke’s actions were solely guided by his economic woes, the fact that his wife had lost her job, that the unemployment benefits had run out, and that the future offered no hope whatsoever.

This is a future that millions more Americans will have to face in the coming years as the unemployment rate, which is really at around the 20 per cent level, continues to accelerate.

As we warned back in June, we are in the early stages of a new “age of rage,” which will be characterized by riots, revolutions and a widespread backlash against the economic holocaust that has been unleashed by the global elite.

Unfortunately there will be many more Clay Dukes over the coming years, there will be more Americans who lose everything and decide that the best way out is simply to lose it altogether.

Silvergoldsilver.com Runs Out Of All Precious Metals In Hours

Since Zero Hedge posted (unsolicited and uncompensated) the "Crash The JP Morgue" now-viral video late last night , it appears that among the tens of thousands of viewers who have subsequently gone to the goldsilvergold.com website, there have been quite a few conversions. So much so that as of today, the company is not taking any orders and is sold out of all products. The company goes on to say that it will not be accepting any new orders until December 6. We can only hope that the profits JPM will make in its copper market manipulation will be sufficient to offset the ever increasing pain it will experience courtesy of what is gearing up to be a massive margin call.


 

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/silvergoldsilvercom-runs-out-all-precious-metals-hours

Ford, BMW, Toyota Took Secret Government Money

n the depths of the financial collapse, the U.S. Federal Reserve pumped $3.3 trillion into keeping credit moving through the economy. It eventually lent $57.9 billion to the auto industry — including $26.8 billion to Ford, Toyota and BMW.


The Fed on Wednesday was forced to reveal the identity of the companies it aided during the crisis, after contending to Congress that keeping their identities and the details of such lending secret was essential. Much of Wall Street, and corporate giants such as General Electric, Harley Davidson and McDonald's, took advantage of the Fed's help. We've done the math on how the Fed propped up the auto industry.

While Chrysler and General Motors had to go to Congress to beg for cash in 2008, every other automaker's finance arm was having trouble as well. Typically, once they lend money to a buyer, they sell the loan, get the cash upfront, then pump the proceeds back into the business. They also take out short-term loans called commercial paper that keeps the day-to-day business afloat. The crash cut the circuit, raising the chances the automakers couldn't make loans to buyers and keep selling new vehicles.

That's where the Fed stepped in. In normal circumstances, the Fed only lends money to banks, leaving the decisions about who should get credit to them. But when the financial markets started to collapse in late 2008, the Fed set up several programs to lend money directly to corporations, a highly unusual step.

According to the data, from October 2008 through June 2009 the fed bought $45.1 billion in commercial paper from the credit arms of four automakers - Ford, BMW, Chrysler and Toyota - along with GMAC (the former General Motors credit arm). Of those, Ford sold the most, with $15.9 billion.

The Fed also lent $13 billion to investors who bought bonds backed by loans to new car buyers from automakers and banks. The Fed made clear that while investors got the loans, the move was meant to keep the lenders in business; the credit arms of Ford, Chrysler, Nissan, Volkswagen, Honda and Hyundai all benefited directly.

Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker said the two programs "addressed systemic failure in the credit markets, and that neither program was designed for a particular company, or even a particular industry." Ford Credit has disclosed through SEC filings and conference calls with media and investors that it was taking part in both programs.
BMW told Bloomberg that the Fed lending "supported our financial profile and offered us an additional funding source, especially at times when the money markets and capital markets did not function properly and efficiently."

According to the Fed, the commercial paper loans have been paid in full, while some $2 billion remains outstanding on loans for bond investors.

The secrecy surrounding the details of the loans only masked how much aid corporate America and Wall Street needed. While General Motors and Chrysler took the brunt of the blowback for relying on government handouts, the reveal of the Fed numbers show that a far bigger slice of the U.S. auto industry needed help.

Source: http://jalopnik.com/5704575/

The Confiscation Con

If you've spent enough time in the gold community, you might be under the impression that the most imminent threat to the average American isn't terrorism or unemployment, but rather gold confiscation. Starting with the fact that FDR confiscated gold during the last Great Depression, and continuing to the quite accurate forecast that we are headed into an even Greater Depression, unscrupulous coin dealers have been pushing investors to buy expensive "numismatic" or "collectible" coins that they claim would be protected from government seizure. The only problems are that the original motive for confiscation no longer applies and the "protection" offered by major coin dealers wouldn't actually help you keep your gold.
 THE TYRANT'S ORDER

In 1933, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102, prohibiting the private holding of gold and requiring US citizens to turn over their gold bullion or face a $10,000 fine ($167,700 in today's dollars) or 10 years imprisonment.

For private citizens, the order listed the following exemption: 

Gold coin and gold certificates in an amount not exceeding in the aggregate $100 [about 5 troy ounces at that time] belonging to any one person; and gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins.

Seizing on this "rare and unusual" language, many coin dealers try to convince unsuspecting customers that regular bullion coins are not safe, and that it is worthwhile to pay extra for "numismatic" or "collectible" coins that would be exempt from a Roosevelt-style confiscation.

CALL THE MYTHBUSTERS

The reality is that almost all coins sold as "numismatic" or "collectible" by our competitors are really quite ordinary coins sold at high mark-ups to make these dealers extra profits. If we were in 1933, these coins would absolutely not fall under the definition of "rare and unusual."

True numismatics are extremely rare or one-of-a-kind coins that collectors purchase for their historical and aesthetic qualities. These coins might retail for $100,000, while only containing $1,400 worth of gold. Most dealers charge a huge premium, so the coin may have to appreciate 30-50% before the buyer can even hope to make a profit. It is a speculative endeavor, and one that is likely to get even riskier as the US descends further into economic depression.

True numismatic coins, like pieces of high art, do well in good times, when people are getting richer and adding to their collections. In bad times, collectors are forced to sell because they need cash. With many collectors in the same boat, prices plunge. Even if the value of the gold in the coin rises, the gold content is only a small fraction of the coin's value. Since premiums are contracting, the value of the coin falls. So, if you are buying gold due to fear of an economic collapse, you should buy bullion, not numismatics.

WHY WAS GOLD CONFISCATED?

In 1933, when Roosevelt issued his infamous order, the United States was still on a gold standard, meaning every 20.67 paper dollars could have been "redeemed by the bearer on demand" for a troy ounce of gold. Since Roosevelt had many public works projects to finance and also may have wanted to quietly lower real wages to drive employment, he confiscated gold and then devalued the exchange rate to $35/oz (at this point, the only people who could "exchange" were foreign governments). Thus, Americans instantly saw a 40% drop in value for the dollars they held, and the government's profit was sequestered in something called the Exchange Stabilization Fund, which could be used by the President at whim without Congressional approval. Pretty nifty trick, huh?

It's important to note that confiscation was necessary to Roosevelt's plan because we were under a gold standard. Gold at that time was widely held throughout the population. If Roosevelt had devalued the dollar without confiscation, then whatever savings Americans held in gold would have been immune from this hidden tax. Furthermore, many Americans likely would have redeemed whatever paper dollars they held in fear of another devaluation. This could have wrecked the dollar's viability as a currency.

These rationales no longer apply. In the aftermath of Roosevelt and Nixon's dismantling of the gold standard, gold is no longer currency. Most Americans hold their savings in dollars and it is the only legal tender (which means it must be accepted in payment of all debts). Thus, President Obama and his buddy Bernanke don't need to confiscate gold to devalue the dollar and finance excessive spending. In fact, the Fed has more than doubled the monetary base since the financial crisis started.

WHAT, ME WORRY?

The only reason to fear confiscation is in the case that the federal government is in default and needs the gold in order to pay off its creditors. But if it comes to Washington simply stealing our assets at whim, then why would gold be the only target? At that point, real estate, stock and bond certificates, and vehicles would be much easier to seize. Gold has been prized throughout history for its high value-to-weight, making it easy to conceal and trade under tough political conditions. Consider: you could store enough gold to care for a small family for six months (approx. 9 ounces) on the inside of a belt buckle.

Remember, if Washington chooses the confiscation route, we're talking about a situation of pure pandemonium. When governments begin abrogating property rights in that fashion, the entire market mechanism ceases to function. We saw this in the Great Depression as Hoover and then Roosevelt relentlessly attacked private property and contracts.

If the situation really gets this bad, you aren't going to trust some government agent with the intelligence of your average TSA officer to judge whether your coins are "numismatic" enough to be exempt from confiscation. The best protection in this case would be to have your gold stored safely at home or off-shore (not in a safety deposit box at a bank, where it is more likely to be seized).

Even in the heat of Roosevelt's confiscation scheme, government troops did not break into people's homes. The singular (failed) prosecution under the order took place when a New York lawyer tried to withdraw 5,000 troy ounces from Chase Bank. Ironically, all the gold actually collected by the Treasury was willfully surrendered in a wave of misguided patriotism, while many "law-breakers" simply kept their gold - which is why some old coins escaped the Treasury's furnaces and are still around today.

SHOP SMART

The bottom line is that unscrupulous dealers use the threat of confiscation as a scare tactic to get you to buy gold coins at mark-ups well above the spot value of the metal they contain. While investors buy physical gold for many reasons - lack of counter-party risk, financial privacy, portability, et cetera - it is principally a store of value, a way to protect your wealth from the relentless devaluation of fiat currencies. Your goal as a buyer is to get the most gold possible for your money, from a dealer you trust. The dealer should make the process transparent and easy to understand, and deliver a genuine product at the agreed-upon price. 

As a matter of business ethics and fair dealing to our customers, I decided early on that Euro Pacific Precious Metals would not offer numismatic coins. To put it simply, I think they are a poor investment option.


Source: http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1291360020.php

12 Simple Things You Can Start Doing Right Now To Prepare For The Coming Financial Apocalypse

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the U.S. economy is heading for complete and total disaster.  State and local governments across the nation are uncontrollably bleeding red ink.  The federal government has accumulated the largest debt in world history.  Every year we buy hundreds of billions of dollars more from the rest of the world than they buy from us.  That means that we are getting hundreds of billions of dollars poorer as a nation every single year. 

Meanwhile, thousands of factories and millions of jobs continue to be sent overseas as American cities turn into post-industrial wastelands.  Incomes are down, unemployment remains at depressingly high levels and very few of our politicians seem to have any idea how to fix things.  Yes, things are really, really bad.  So what are some things that we can all be doing to prepare for the coming financial apocalypse?

Well, the truth is that we all need to start becoming less dependent on "the system".  If the economy does completely fall apart at some point, your employer is probably not going to take care of you.  Neither is the federal government - just look at what happened in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.  In the end, you are going to have to take care of yourself and your family.

So are you ready?

Now is the time to prepare.  If you wait until things totally fall apart it will be far too late.
The following are 12 simple things that you can start doing right now to prepare for the coming financial apocalypse....

#1 Become Less Dependent On Your Job
Many people define a job as the state of being "just over broke".  The truth is that it is incredibly difficult to become financially independent working for someone else.  Now, the truth is that most Americans would not be able to survive without a job, but what would you do if someday you suddenly lost your job during a financial apocalypse?  Now is the time to start investigating alternate sources of income and different ways to build wealth.  Today it takes the average unemployed American over 33 weeks to find a job.  You may not always be able to count on being able to get a good job, and the economy is only going to get worse over the long-term.  All of us should be operating under the assumption that any jobs we now have will someday be taken away.

#2 Get Out Of Debt
Some people disagree with this, but unless society degenerates into complete chaos or we experience Weimar Republic-type hyperinflation, the truth is that your debts are going to continue to hang over you wherever you go.  Getting out of debt can be completely and totally liberating.  It will give you much more freedom and will make you far less dependent on your job.  In fact, it looks like a lot of Americans are already moving in this direction.  It was recently announced that 8 million Americans have stopped using their credit cards over the past year.  Why not join them?  When things start really falling apart and it is incredibly difficult for anyone to get a job, the last thing you want is a huge amount of debt hanging over your head.

#3 Reduce Expenses
For decades, most Americans have been living far beyond their means.  In the future, times are going to be really tough and we are all going to have to learn to tighten our belts.  Do you and your family waste money right now?  If you can eliminate that, you can live on a smaller income and you will have more money to invest in the things that are really going to matter.

#4 Purchase Land
Real estate is still priced too high in most areas of the United States, but the truth is that you don't want to wait forever to get your hands on a piece of land.  If a "financial apocalypse" does happen, you don't want to be stuck in a big city with no place to go.  You always want to have somewhere that you can "bug out" to.  The U.S. real estate market is continuing to struggle right now, so hopefully prices will come down even more and there will be some really great deals available over the next couple of years.

#5 Learn To Grow Food
Another reason why you want to purchase some land is so that you will have somewhere to grow food if you need to.  100 years ago almost all Americans knew how to grow their own food, and most of them also knew how to raise farm animals.  Today, relatively few Americans have those skills.  A great way to begin is by starting your own "survival garden".  If you are not already doing this, then why not start this upcoming year?

#6 Find A Reliable Source Of Water
Water is going to become a very, very valuable resource in the years to come.  It will be absolutely key for you and your family to have a dependable source of clean drinking water.  If you do not have water you will not be able to survive for long.  In the event of an economic meltdown, basic services such as power and water may not be there.  So be certain that you and your family have an alternate source of water to depend upon.

#7 Explore Alternative Energy Sources
This point is similar to the one above.  Do you think that if a financial apocalypse happens that you will always be able to depend on the power company?  The truth is that there is a good reason why so many Americans have been trying to go "off the grid".  Without power, life gets really difficult very quickly.  But if you are generating your own power then you won't have to worry about that.

#8 Store Supplies
In the event of a major disaster or emergency, store shelves are going to empty really fast.  If supplies are disrupted on a permanent basis, you may have to get by on what you already have in your home.  So do you and your family have enough warm clothes, personal hygiene products and medical supplies to last for an extended period of time?  Hopefully your local stores will always be able to supply what you need, but we need to prepare as if that is not guaranteed.

#9 Protect Your Assets With Gold And Silver
The way that the Federal Reserve is abusing the U.S. dollar, it is only a matter of time before rampant inflation sets in.  Even now, the U.S. dollar has already been seriously declining and precious metals like gold and silver have been shooting into the stratosphere.  In the future, your paper money may not buy much for you at all, but if you have some gold or silver coins you can always exchange them for the things that you are going to need.

#10 Learn Self-Defense
Did you see what happened at stores from coast to coast this past Black Friday?  Americans were literally trampling one another just to get their hands on some cheap foreign-made plastic crap.  So what do you think is going to happen once these people have been without food for two or three days?  Now is the time to think about how you will defend your home and your family from crazed looters.  It is not a fun thing to think about, but unfortunately we are heading for times that will not always be pretty.

#11 Keep Yourself Fit
As Americans, we live such "cushy" lives.  But when times get hard things will not be so cushy.  In fact, the years ahead are likely to demand quite a bit of physical activity.  So keep yourself in good physical condition right now.  In the future you will be very glad that you did.

#12 Make Friends
It is really, really hard to "survive" by yourself.  Those who will thrive the most in the future are those who will have a community that they can depend on.  Americans are always at their best when they work together.  Don't be afraid to reach out to your family and friends.  In the times ahead the world will be a very cold place, and a little love and compassion will go a long way.

Source: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/12-simple-things-you-can-start-doing-right-now-to-prepare-for-the-coming-financial-apocalypse

“Like The Great Depression”: Hundreds Line Up In Freezing Cold For Federal Aid To Pay Heating Bills

Despite the freezing temperatures, hundreds fought for a place in line in Marietta to apply for federal aid to help pay their heat and power bills this winter.

Some needed even more help just to deal with the cold. Ambulances were cold in and took at least two people to the hospital because of the freezing temperatures .

“I never thought I would be in the line,” applicant Deandre Marshall said. “It’s almost like being in a soup line during the great depression.”

Fed Withholds Collateral Data for $885 Billion in Financial-Crisis Loans

The Federal Reserve withheld details on individual securities pledged as collateral by recipients of $885 billion in central bank loans, denying taxpayers a measure of the risks they faced from its emergency aid.
The central bank yesterday released data on 21,000 transactions from $3.3 trillion in emergency lending to stem the financial crisis. July’s Dodd-Frank law required the Fed to disclose the names of borrowers, the size and interest rates of loans, and “information identifying the types and amounts of collateral pledged or assets transferred.”

For three of the Fed’s six emergency facilities, the central bank released information on groups of collateral it accepted by asset type and rating, without specifying individual securities. Among them was the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, created in March 2008 to provide loans to brokers as Bear Stearns Cos. collapsed.
“This is a half-step,” said former Atlanta Fed research director Robert Eisenbeis, chief monetary economist at Cumberland Advisors Inc. in Sarasota, Florida. “If you were going to audit the facilities, then would this enable you to do an audit? The answer is ‘No,’ you would have to go in and look at the individual amounts of collateral and how it was broken down to do that. And that is the spirit of what the requirements were in Dodd-Frank.”

Fed spokeswoman Susan Stawick in Washington declined to comment.

Public Disclosure

The public disclosure of the lending data should have been prevented because it could spur runs on the banks listed, said Darrell Duffie, a finance professor at Stanford University.

“That’s a very destructive process,” he said. Still, with the data released, “if you’re justified in getting the information, then you’re justified to get enough information to judge the risk the Fed took,” he said.
Under its definition of the “ratings unavailable” category for collateral posted under the PDCF, the Fed said that “in some limited cases, ineligible collateral was pledged, but it was reviewed with the clearing banks for exclusion from future pledges.” The central bank didn’t elaborate.

The secrecy surrounding Fed bailouts led lawmakers to demand disclosure after the central bank approved aid dwarfing the federal government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Collateral Pledged

The loans extended to primary dealers under the PDCF by the New York Fed were recourse loans, meaning the potential liability of borrowers who defaulted was greater than the value of the collateral pledged, according to the Fed. Primary dealers are the firms authorized to deal in government securities directly with the Fed. At its peak, borrowing under the facility came to about $156 billion.

It is “specifically impossible” to know how much risk taxpayers were taking by looking at pools of collateral grouped by asset class and rating, said Sylvain Raynes, a principal at R&R Consulting in New York and co-author of “Elements of Structured Finance,” published in May by Oxford University Press.

“I need to know the individual composition because a $2 billion pool can be one asset of $2 billion, which would be very risky, or 2,000 assets of $1 million each, and that’s not risky at all,” Raynes said. “The spirit of Dodd-Frank was not respected, and they used the vagueness in the wording of the law to weasel out of fulfilling their duty to the American people.”

Corporate Debt

Over the life of the PDCF, $1.5 trillion of collateral with “ratings unavailable” was pledged, according to the Fed data. That’s larger than the $1.39 trillion of municipal debt pledged. Corporate debt posted totaled $2.35 trillion.

A total of $8.95 trillion was lent over the life of the PDCF, backed by $9.67 trillion in collateral.
The Fed released details identifying thousands of transactions including bonds bought under its mortgage purchase program and asset-backed commercial paper pledged under its Asset-Backed Commercial Paper Money-Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility.

The central bank also omitted details on individual securities pledged as collateral under its Term Auction Facility and its Term Securities Lending Facility, which was announced on March 11, 2008, as the first program under which the Fed planned to lend to non-bank dealers.

The Fed authorized its New York branch to establish the PDCF on March 16, 2008, the same day it made commitments to convince JPMorgan Chase & Co. to buy troubled dealer Bear Stearns. A run on New York-based Bear Stearns was seen as threatening the stability of global markets, and the PDCF for the first time allowed dealers to borrow on a collateralized basis from the New York Fed.

Lehman Collapse

In September that year, as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was on the brink of filing for bankruptcy, the PDCF was expanded to accept all types of collateral pledged in tri-party repo deals, including high-yield, high-risk securities and equities. The previous program only accepted investment-grade debt securities.
The first peak of PDCF lending occurred in April 2008 at nearly $40 billion, according to the New York Fed. As financial markets improved, banks reduced their balance-sheet risk and the PDCF pricing became less attractive, usage of the facility fell off and stopped in mid-July that year.

Borrowing then leapt to over $140 billion in mid-September 2008 from no activity the previous week, according to the New York Fed. The program ended Feb. 1 this year.

Under the TSLF, dealers could swap investment-grade securities, including mortgage bonds, for U.S. Treasuries for 28 days. Usage peaked at $235.5 billion in October 2008, and the program was also closed in February.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-01/taxpayer-risk-impossible-to-know-for-some-fed-financial-crisis-programs.html