Whether or not you've had time yet to plow your way through David Collum's excellent 2014 Year in Review, our annual podcast with Dave always brings additional color to light -- and this year's is no exception.
To me, the global economic theme is existential risk. That's a phrase I use repeatedly throughout my Year In Review. Things now seem to be coming to a head.
A metaphor that I came up with, that I just love because I know the game well, is that we're engaged in a global game of Tetris. For those unfamiliar with the game: you place these pieces methodically, and then the game starts accelerating. You start placing pieces faster and faster, until you reach some point where you simply can no longer successfully place the pieces in time.
And it feels like the authorities, the monetary authorities, the geo political authorities -- all of those people who are really calling the shots around the globe --are playing that game, and it's accelerating now.
The end of the game is called 'topping out'. And I’m wondering when that topping out is going to occur.
Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with David Collum (59m:03s)
There was a time when us African colonials were aghast that Mozambican ex- combatants would emerge from the side of the road with their AK47s and declare themselves to be traffic cops and then proceed to extort money from travelers.
It is distressing that our civilization has sunk to the same level.
Catherine Austin Fitts believes that we will experience a slow grind down. She is not a catastrophist.
"Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses," Editorial!!!
"Conquest Is for Losers," by Paul Krugman.
Comments by Ken:
1. Finally, the NYTimes is calling a spade a spade!! Cheney and the neocons MUST be stopped and be made responsible for what they did--start an
unjustified war in Iraq!! And then illegally tortured people to get a justification.
SEND THEM TO PRISON!! Call for an INDEPENDENT Criminal investigation.
PLEASE call your favorite politicians.
2. As for the neocons in Paul's article, let's be REAL. The FINANCIAL Masters of the World WANT and NEED wars to continue to rack up PROFITS. These poor little neocon bureaucratic-type lower level folks do the bidding of their bosses who PAY them, like the CIA employees who carried out their orders.
Read The Creature from Jekyll Island, by Griffin to see the real FINANCIAL history of these Masters.
I disagree with Paul about the REAL reason for this war of CHOICE. NOT to demonstrate U.S. power and to do whatever it takes (Cheney), BUT RATHER
to set up a situation where the Rothschild/Rockelfeller/Council on Foreign Relations members), use the Federal Reserve System to embellish their wallets.
Just finished listening–TRULY GREAT, great podcast. Many thanks.
A few comments:
Using the Griffin The Creature Overview/Perspective (Financial Money Class Masters):
For me it makes much sense that We take out ISIS while Saudis take out Russia and Iran. For the Saudis I see the MAJOR point is the LONG struggle over who is the RIGHT inheritor of Mohammad. The junk market-oil collapse is secondary (poor little frackers!)
The pols do not understand E,E and E? I think they do. They have their orders from the Rothschilds/Rockefellas/Council on Foreign Relations members. The WANT and NEED perpetual war to keep the profits coming in. Read Chp. 12 Sink the Lusitania in Griffin and Chp. 13 Masquerade in Moscow .Its the business contracts and take over of companies they want, in addition to having the taxpayers cover the cost of war, etc.
The Money Class wants more debt than income–quite understandable if you use the Griffin perspective, which makes eminent sense to me.
The last part was the scariest as I sure do not know what to do. Invest in stocks and gamble I can get out in time? Buy even more gold/silver and store in Zurich or Singapore? (Hard Assets Alliance, anyone?) But even there, is it safe? Maybe got to button down even more and continue to pray.meditate. And be prepared for really, really BAD things to happen
Thanks again, Chris and David–very informative and useful. Please do another one, soon.
On November 24, 2014, negotiators in Vienna announced the extension of talks aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. They now have until July 2015 to broker a deal and they're back at it this week. Predictably, a pack of Republican senators and neoconservative commentators pounced on the announcement, demanding everything from a new round of sanctions to airstrikes within Iran. Many of these folks—like Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.)—are the same cast of characters who led us into a disastrous war in Iraq in 2003.
Eager to undermine President Obama’s agenda, even at the cost of starting a war, Republicans are ramping up pressure on Senate Democrats in an effort to cobble together a veto-proof majority opposed to continued diplomatic efforts. Unfortunately, a small group of deeply misguided Democrats, like Sens. Robert Menendez (N.J.), Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), and Mark Warner (Va.), are poised to join Republicans in recklessly pushing the U.S. closer to another major Middle East war—and advancing the agenda of hard-liners in Iran.
It’s certainly tempting to direct all of our outrage at Republicans, who appear to be motivated more by a desire to deny Obama a major foreign policy victory than by an interest in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. However, if Congress prevents Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry from brokering a deal with Iran, it will be first and foremost the fault of a handful of pro-war Senate Democrats who break ranks and vote with the GOP.
BUY LMT, NOC and UTX--they are on a roll, understandingly. Then manage to get out BEFORE IT starts, or maybe jump more in--WAR is very profitable, no?
"Your money is gone because you're a patriot..." -DC
This is exactly what I expect. None of the consequences will be accepted and instead it will all happen because Putin must be stopped and war is expensive so now your money (and freedom) is gone. Or, N Korea hacked our banking system and we have to teach them a lesson so all your money (and freedom) is gone. Or, ISIS attacked NY and we must defend our country so all your money (and freedom) is gone. Or, the manufactured racial divide between police and black people has made our cities unsafe so the police need tanks so all your money (and freedom) is gone.
I could go on, but I'm just wearing out my keyboard and making myself cranky…I wonder if any of my debts will be erased in next crisis or if it will just be my assets.
showing that investors (Money Class) will overcome jobs, and play into the hands of the New World Order Members, such as Cecil Rhodes/Rockefeller plans., as outlined in The Creature.
When Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, freeing investors and CEOs to move their assets across the continent, the American people were promised 200,000 new jobs. Instead, over 800,000 jobs were lost in the United States.
In 2007, when George Bush signed the United States-Korea Free Trade Agreement, he promised that the agreement would produce 70,000 new jobs for Americans. Nearly 60,000 have been lost.
Since 1994, the U.S. trade deficit has increased by nearly 450 percent. The American government will be paying down these debts for decades to come.
Today, Barack Obama is pushing for a new free trade agreement encompassing twelve countries around the Pacific Ocean—the Trans-Pacific Partnership. And, having learned that these deals are rightfully unpopular, he is urging Congress to give him "fast-track" powers—to avoid Congressional approval for the deal.
As long as taxing powers and public services are provisioned at the level of countries, so-called "free trade" deals will continue to benefit investors (THE MONEY CLASS) over workers. If we want to slow the exodus of good jobs and American dollars abroad, we need to tell Congress not to let Obama pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
PETITION TO CONGRESS: Do not pass "fast-track" legislation allowing the President to approve of free-trade deals without your scrutiny! As the representative body of the American people, it is incumbent upon you to consider the interests of Americans who must work for their living, rather than merely those who live from investments!
Right--like WE will stop it!!! Wanna bet? Give me a break! How did it go? Workers Unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains--or something like that. What a joke!
Federal Reserve Directors: A Study of Corporate and Banking Influence ... In 1914 a few families (blood or business related) owning controlling stock in existing .
Google Who own stock in the Federal Reserve… Try the Bank of England also
Ken, I understand the point that you are driving at in your slew of recent comments and I appreciate your view point. I also notice that your contribution is outweighing many of the other commentators here and seems to be slowing the pace of conversation. I am not a moderator and it's unfair of me to ask you to change anything about your contribution which for the most part I greatly appreciate. I just wanted to share my perspective with you.
I try not to comment on an article unless I have read all of the comments up to that point so that I make sure I am contributing to the conversation and not taking it off on a tangent. I have noticed recently that due to the shear amount of text that you provide I don't have time to get through all of the comments and therefore have been less active in this community that I draw a lot of encouragement from. I wonder if anyone else is having a similar reaction?
Again, I don't want to be discouraging since I do appreciate a lot of what you write, I am simply sharing my observation.
Ken, I understand the point that you are driving at in your slew of recent comments, and in the interest of free speech…please feel free to continue. Thanks!
The article you posted about 'warhawks' has: "a small group of deeply misguided Democrats, like Sens. Robert Menendez (N.J.), "Where have I heard that name before? o yea, he had a version of the "Ukrainian freedom act of 2014" , One version pass the government gambit in one week ---- Dec 11, passed the House(~10:30 pm Thursday after a very big 1.1 trillion budget bill ), Dec 13 , passed the senate (Do they work on Saturdays? ), Dec 18 the president signed into law.
More about this nefarious economic 'warfare bill" on Russian is posted here (originally posted by sandpuppy, written by Dennis Kucinich, a former representative from Ohio).
Seeing how this is getting through the system is making me very unhappy, slithering snakes sneaking warmongering laws out under the radar. I guess this is not the first time for Sens. Menendez to be a warmonger.
(I posted about this in another tread as well, I am being heated about it, sorry if you had to read this twice)
This was featured on PBS NewsHour… The Indana Jones of collapsed cultures: Our Western civilization itself is a bubble
"On the future of the U.S., or of Western civilization in general, I tend to be quite pessimistic. Perhaps that is simply because 'collapse' is what I do. As an archaeologist, I have excavated single trenches, just a few meters deep, in which you can see stratigraphic levels of several civilizations. We find layers of artifacts and evidence indicating periods of great prosperity, but always separated by levels of burned earth, ash and artifacts that reflect the epochs of social disintegration, chaos and tragedy that seem to conclude the achievements and aspirations of every society."
"With apologies to the green movement, 'sustainability' is a myth. History and archaeology show that societies are always moving to the edge of crisis, 'falling forward' through growth, but then responding (often successfully) to the problems created."
Hi Chris,
I've heard you mention several times how the Saudi's don't compete with the frackers because they produce different products. My big question on this topic is: why do the prices tend to move in tandem if they are for different markets? It seems Brent and WTI always somewhat mirror each other. Could you better explain for me this dynamic? Why does over-pumping one grade cause the price of the other to nosedive?
By the way, I totally buy your analysis - I just want to better understand this relationship. Thanks.
Ken,
Prayer and meditation are definitely on my prep list. I am among those that, laking wealth to preserve, am hoping to preserve my life, dignity and honor. I'm somewhat reconciled to dying destitute, I still hope to die in peace, rather then by cold, starvation or violence. One can hope for slow rot, but a blood bath seems to be in the cards to me.
Not to be morbid, just practical, and with permission of the moderator, JGRITTER , I'm going to mention that the "Exit" organization provides the know how for painlessly and cleanly exiting life for people who've decided their situation is intolerable. This is a fraught area, so I'm just going to say, that paradoxically, as in my own case, this has given me extra strength to keep going, because I know I've got more options in extremis. I've personally had nasty experiences in the past with depression, and so have learnt to prepare for all contingencies. Ideally, I'll never have to deploy that option, or want to.
Also, since people have started recommending books lately, can I add " The Tower of Basel - the Secret Bank that Runs the World ". A history of the Bank of International Settlements. By Adam Lebor. Their top three people are who the CIA should moniter to know all about countries and continents darkest financial secrets. And no doubt they are.
Since conspiracy theories are the fare du jour, let me try my hand at a terrible one. I'm reading the excellent book Churchill's Bomb by Graham Farmelo. In it, Churchill, a few seperate times, when out of power,I think, said in the late 1940s, that the Americans, should contemplate pre-emptively nuking the USSR.I'm inclined to believe there are today people in the Pentagon and the US military who think America could be the winners in a first strike nuclear attack on Russia. It's a jaw-dropping proposition. But as Chris and others have said, the US influence in Ukraine doesn't seem to have any obvious game plan. Even the Russians now expect war of some kind as we've seen. As forces on the ground build up and face each, tit for tat strikes are exchanged, from time to time. And accidents can happen, or be made to happen, as maybe with the airliner shoot-down. Other " accidents " could be very probable.
Russia is a resource rich country with a declining population in the largest country on earth. And the ice in Siberia is melting. It's enough to remind settlers of the Old West! Some of natives are hostile but these are details and we live in desperate times. Has human nature improved or disimproved since our last big war? As SAS types say: " Who Dares Wins ".
There I've said it! Let's hope for everybody's sake, that we find a better way.
Crazy thought: in the non-canonical 4 esdras, there is a three-headed eagle whose leaders sound like the US presidency. I kindof wondered if others thought the same, but most of what was posted compared the three-headed eagle to the flag of the Holy Roman Empire.
But my father seems to feel that our governance is a continuation of the HRE, destined by prophecy to end in 2016…