Wake-Up Call - 12/23/11

The Impossibility Of The U.S. Debt Situation To Be Resolved 

The U.S. simply owes more than it can ever repay. Period. Plenty of statistics for those looking for the evidence. The lenders are complicit, though. Everyone is basically ‘in on the act’. The system has spun totally out of control. The U.S. must continually offer debt onto the market to fund its growing liabilities. This is a nightmare that has no end. The only important conclusion to make is that nobody knows what to do about this. More NAR (National Association of Realtors) nonsense and lies. The lie about corporate balance sheets being “stronger than ever before in history”. The frightening buildup of nuclear forces worldwide presages the quasi-certainty of a coming nuclear exchange. Plenty of well-known people did forecast the current crisis well before it broke and were ignored. Steadily increasing violence in the streets – a precursor of much worse to come.

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Wake-Up Call - 12/19/11

Derivatives And Debt: A Fateful Combination

A brief restatement of the definition of derivatives. The difference between exchange-traded and privately held derivatives. The horror of the magnitude of private derivatives. Why they will bring down the entire financial system. Why and how empires fail. The nightmare of unfunded retirement and why America risks becoming a land of vast tracts of impoverished old people. Why the GDP figures are not to be believed – what they really represent.

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Wake-Up Call - 12/16/11

Another Grim Year Passes Into History 

More ridiculous forecasts deconstructed. Nigel Farage at his very best. NAR again hyping sales figures, finally forced to admit they were overestimating them.  Theft of livestock the latest expression of trouble in the economy. Your e-mails. A timely quote from the Old Testament. Happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to you all.

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Wake-Up Call - 12/12/11

Europe Slides Into Chaos

The irrepressible Nigel Farage gives his take, pithy as ever. My account of exactly what is happening in Europe today and why Britain opted out. The egos and rivalries of Europe are springing up again. France and Germany are trying to steamroller a newly-vamped treaty over the old one (hoping no one will notice!) Importantly, though, none of this addresses – even remotely – the problems of Europe today. Remainder of the show: your e-mails.

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Wake-Up Call - 12/9/11

Deterioration In All Departments

The European situation has no solution. The balance of trade in the U.S. is the worst in the world and getting worse. The negative current account balance is seven times worse than that of the next country (Italy). Debt continues to explode but asset values are not rising to keep pace. This is a recipe for financial disaster. For the first time ever banks own more equity in U.S. homes than homeowners themselves. America is getting poorer by the day. More info showing that we are in a full-scale depression. Why and how the U.S. is becoming a third-world country. The absurd U.S. Post Office – and a fascinating anecdote. Why the stock market may fall quite sharply over the next few weeks.

Wake-Up Call - 12/05/11

$16,000,000,000 Is Quite A Lot Of Money

You don’t have it. I don’t have it. So Bernanke creates it. The man is deranged. That is the only possible explanation. There is no possible way in which that money could have been destined to help ordinary people. And the money was only made available because the Fed never thought they would be required to divulge what they did. Indeed, it took all of two years to force their hand. The Federal Reserve is an evil institution. IT NEEDS TO GO. More on the frightful Detention Act. Crazed madmen (and women) seem to be on a fateful mission – to keep you all in line. The Germans never rose up in the early 1930s against Hitler. If the Americans follow suit, they, too, will take the consequences. When will the Second Great Depression be recognized as such? Not for many years if the 1930s are any example. People did not talk about a depression until around 1939. The frightful consequences of falling home prices. The fate of the unemployed.

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Wake-Up Call - 12/02/11

The Police State Has Arrived 

The U.S. Senate has voted overwhelmingly for the end of Posse Comitatus, granting the military unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate or even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity. The end of The Bill Of Rights. A long list of other outrageous ways in which you have lost your freedom in the United States. A discussion of the news that sent the Dow Jones up 490 points on Wednesday. More lies and misrepresentations from official bodies with fudged statistics. American Airlines CEO finds another job! His new boss was also CEO of an airline that went under (Continental). Birds of a feather? Fitch, the ratings agency, puts the U.S. on ‘negative watch’ but maintains the AAA status.

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Wake-Up Call - 11/28/11

The Global Economy In Total Contagion

  

 

A second credit crunch has begun. An institutionalized bank run has started in Europe. We simply cannot predict how it will unfold. This is uncharted territory. No-one is capable of arresting this process. We have long-since reached the point of no return. Housing prices to continue to decline. Warren Buffett’s success: fact or blind luck? Consider the case of Bill Miller. Hyping up Black Friday. Don’t get sucked in. Another warning about money market funds. The horror of 22.4% (official) unemployment for 20-24-year-old high school graduates: a generation of socially disconnected adults who will resort to violent rampaging sooner or later.

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Wake-Up Call - 11/25/11

Letting Others Walk The Talk

Wake-Up Call - 11/21/11

The Police State Has Arrived!

 

The big problem: the acquiescence of the people. Where are the people demanding justice? Why do people tolerate wiretaps? Why do voters reelect the criminals and liars? Etc. etc. Acquiescence is everywhere.  As always, people have only themselves to blame when dictators take over. The outrageous treatment of Ron Paul on Face The Nation with Bob Schiefer. Jim Kunstler on the unraveling of the financial system. The allure of credit cards. A cautionary tale.

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Wake-Up Call - 11/18/11

Despair And Anger Are Ramping Up

Listen to a couple of minutes with Nigel Farage lambasting his colleagues in the European Parliament. A recent poll shows that almost 50% of Americans have lost hope in the American Dream. Lies and distortions imply that there is no growth at all in the United States. Americans are utterly ignorant about the issues. Chaos is all but certain to follow the 2012 elections as people realize that the new faces will change nothing. The myth that companies are hoarding vast sums of cash is exploded. Debts in the last couple of years have risen faster than cash-on-hand. A credit crunch is bound to follow. A record 81% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way the country is being run. Hope is rapidly turning to disappointment. Society will soon turn on itself and crime rates will soar. Recent attacks on the Occupy movement show that police are now all but militarized. This will not end well.

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Wake-Up Call - 11/14/11

The Devil Is In The Details

The story of Greece. The ugly choices. The absence of any solution. The problem for MF Global’s clients. Why real estate prices will remain low indefinitely. The horrendous predicament of underwater mortgage holders with CNBC now claiming that fully half of all U.S. mortgages are underwater. Costs of selling and then buying a home and secondary financing are killing demand and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Inequality in America. The poison of fractional reserve banking and the associated impossibility of the math when it comes to people repaying debt. Again, the Fed needs to go. Goldman Sachs very pessimistic on the economy (projected 1% growth for 2012). Americans want everything: no spending cuts, no tax increases, no pain…

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Wake-Up Call - 11/11/11

The Europe Affair

The two resident cartoon characters explain in easy-to-understand language the essence of the European  problem. Then we discuss Italy and the origins of its troubles and why the situation there is so serious. Two book recommendations: ‘Vultures’ Picnic’, by Greg Palast (who will be on Gary’s show on Monday, 11/14). And ‘The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving The Economic Collapse’, by Fernando (‘Ferfal’) Aguirre about conditions in Argentina after its 2001 collapse.

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Wake-Up Call - 11/7/11

Poverty And Other Hazards Of The Depression

Some of the grim statistics surrounding poverty in America. An in-depth look. A discussion of the issues  involved with financial Armageddon and how it will affect ordinary people. Bill Bonner’s take on America’s crazy wars. Out-of-work hedge fund managers and vacant high-end real estate in Greenwich, CT.

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Wake-Up Call - 11/04/11

Escalating Unrest 

Taking more than you give: a recipe for economic collapse. Society will not admit to this, all the while propagating it. The elite gives the “90%” what it wants while leading them to the slaughter of default and bankruptcy. Then comes the revolution. Then the system resets. Unrest is on the rise. More on Greece. More on the foreclosure fraud settlement. Russia’s oil production ramping up hugely, putting them significantly ahead of Saudi Arabia. Where does that leave “Peak Oil”?

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Wake-Up Call - 10/31/11

The Greek Conundrum

The can of Greece has been kicked into the air, rather than down the road. The question is who will catch it as it falls? There is no “deal”, just a managed default which buys Greece a few months. The other peripheral countries are lining up inexorably to receive the same deal. The EU will shortly find itself overwhelmed. There is already a classic run taking place on the Greek banks. Portugal is next. Analysis of an article in the NYT claiming that consumer spending drives GDP. Wrong! GDP growth is a direct result of the success of a nation’s private economy.

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Wake-Up Call - 10/27/11

Society Descends Into Chaos And Oficially Sanctioned Brutality

The danger to Americans from the behavior of their own police outweighs by far any threat from terrorism. Cops are protected to the maximum against charges of brutality. Huge numbers of videos showing police brutality are available online at YouTube. Individual state debts could surpass $4 trillion. The depression is exacerbating this. Extra taxes must be levied which will cause less taxable business to be transacted. What to do? The latest developments in Europe show how impotent the politicians are to resolve the crisis. They just make things worse…

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Wake-Up Call - 10/24/11

Fraud!

Bank Of America shifts its toxic assets and derivatives into FDIC-insured accounts! This could well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, leading to financial Armageddon. Why is this legal? An account of various other illegal acts committed by the big financial organizations with impunity – no punishment, often no fines and no consequences. The latest ridiculous plans to “save” the European Union and its faltering currency. Why the various financial institutions collapsed and why this is about to happen again. The most effective “solution” to the European crisis: benign neglect.

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Wake-Up Call - 10/21/11

The Early Stages Of Economic Collapse 

An assessment of various major cities in the U.S. Theft of public property is now rampant. Municipal budgets are not up to the job. The decline is palpable. A clip from the inimitable Bill Black about fraud and what needs to be done. Unemployment getting worse, despite the official figures. Mall vacancies hitting new records. Prices everywhere must fall to reignite competitive markets. Earnings misrepresentations are back in full force with the current third quarter statements. Banks basically are moving bad assets into “shell” corporations – and onto taxpayer-supported Freddie and Fannie, where possible.

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Wake-Up Call - 10/17/11

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Seeds Of Protest Likely To Gather Momentum 

An audio clip of Nigel Farage in the European Parliament doing the job that someone should do in the U.S. Congress – humiliating the liars and deadbeats. The misrepresentation of last month’s retail sales figures, another reason to disbelieve statistics and the mainstream media. The definitive account of the European situation by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of The Telegraph. More on the Occupy Wall Street activities. Some transportation statistics, courtesy Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index.  Gallup surveys in China and the U.S. showing the Chinese are struggling less that the Americans to put food on the table.