Oil At $225 /Barrel.....Coming Soon To An Army Near You

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is pricing oil at $225 per barrel in the not-too-distant future. “No less an oil-burning institution than the Department of Defense,” says our oilman Byron King, “is planning for a future of $225, and higher, oil.
“The U.S. Navy, for example, is currently designing future ships using $225 per barrel as a baseline for the price of fossil fuel. In fact, the Navy, under the direction of Congress, is also planning to use nuclear power for all future large surface combatants. And the Air Force is designing engines and fuel systems to work on synthetic jet fuels derived from coal and natural gas.
“There is an astonishingly complex engineering process for qualifying synthetic fuels to work in military-grade engines, at high altitudes, high G-forces and supersonic speeds. But all of that is happening even now. The Air Force knows that it cannot lose any time in getting this done. And the Army and Marine Corps are looking hard at the fuel-efficiency of ground combat vehicles.
“Post-Iraq, the Army and Marines will be re-equipping their forces with much new gear. So the planners are hard at work figuring out how to design and procure ‘mobility systems’ that have the best possible fuel-efficiency. This is all because the DOD planners are forecasting oil prices of $225 per barrel and more.”

Wise And Worrisome Words

“I felt a never-before numbing chill, when I read about the Chinese establishing manufacturing plants in the U.S. by buying up land and buildings and hiring local workers. The word that leaped to mind wasn't “slavery.” It was “serfdom.”
“We are becoming a nation of serfs beholden to foreign powers in the Mideast and Far East. The America I knew when growing up is changing forever as the dissembling Chinese take all those dollars they've accumulated by unfair trade policies, i.e., yuan valuation, and use them to dump junk in our country, build up their military and buy our country out from under us in a pincer movement.
“Next in line to buy up America are the Islamic oil sultans. Add to this unholy mix NAFTA and the Mexico-U.S.-Canada superhighway and you no longer have a country. Nationalism is being replaced by mercantilism, and those dumb *&$#tards in Washington and the greedy bankers in New York who have given us a worthless dollar and our subprime moment in history have brought it about.
“Can the amero currency be far behind? Or a one-world government to manage the global economy? I fear for our future. This is not what our forefathers fought the British for back in the 1700s, or our grandfathers fought for in the 1940s to stop the Germany-Japan axis. Where are today's Samuel Adams, George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower? Doesn't anybody see what's happening to us? Doesn't anyone care enough to pull us back from the abyss?”

Oil Ain't Coming Out Of the Ground Any Faster

"It may be blasphemous to ponder in a region that produces a good deal of the world's hydrocarbon-based energy," we began earlier this week, "but what if Peak Oil has already occurred?"
According to the following graph prepared by Bud Conrad of the Casey Energy Speculator, this may not be such a preposterous proposition...

"My opinion is that it's increasingly likely that we actually set an all-time record in May 2005 of 74,252,000 barrels per day," states Matt Simmons, founder and chairman of the world's largest energy investment banking company, Simmons & Co. International.

Beware Democrats Claiming Aid

Based on using the actual tax tables (see link below), here are some examples on what the taxes were/are on various amounts of income for both singles and married couples. so let's see if the Bush tax cuts only helped the rich. http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html

Taxes under Clinton 1999 Taxes under Bush 2008

Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 30K - tax $4,500

Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 50K - tax $12,500

Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Single making 75K - tax $18,750

Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 60K- tax $9,000

Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750

Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250

If you want to know just how effective the mainstream media is, it is amazing how many people that fall into the categories above think Bush is screwing them and Bill Clinton was the greatest President ever. If any democrat is elected, ALL of them say they will repeal the Bush tax cuts and a good portion of the people that fall into the categories above can't wait for it to happen. This is like the movie The Sting with Paul Newman; you scam somebody out of some money and they don't even know what happened.

Crops On the Knife's Edge

{Here At SOC, we've been grain bulls for awhile. Position your portfolio towards the "agri-business" stocks and you'll do well in the medium-term.}

“If you had any major upset,” warns William Doyle, CEO of Potash -- the world’s largest maker of crop nutrients -- “where you didn't have a crop in a major growing agricultural region this year, I believe you'd see famine.''
Global grain supplies briefly touched all-time lows late last year, and have barely recovered since.
“We keep going to the cupboard without replacing,'' Doyle explained to Bloomberg this week, “and so there is enormous pressure on agriculture to have a record crop every year. We need to have a record crop in 2008 just to stay even with this very low inventory situation.''
“There’s no room for error,” laments our resource trader Kevin Kerr. “Feels a lot like the energy refining situation in the U.S. One bad weather scenario and suddenly we have a whole different pricing matrix. If we get a drought here like they suffered in Australia last year and it impacts soybeans during the critical pod stage, or if it were to roast 50% of the corn prior to harvest, imagine where that would (will) send prices.
“My advice, stock up on those cheap soybeans at 13.50 and $5 corn.”

Like A Rock, I'm Gonna Roll Over You.............

When The Rock Began To Roll

By Bill Bonner
The genius of capitalism was described by Adam Smith more than 200 years ago: Let a man seek his own advantage; sometimes he will flourish. Sometimes he will flounder. But always, the process of innovation and failure will reward the 'common good.'
"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest," is how he put it.
The genius of Reagan and Thatcher was that they allowed capitalism, more or less, to show its stuff. Arthur Laffer doodled the essential insight on a napkin: let people keep more of what they earn...and they'll earn more. Lowering marginal tax rates would increase gross tax receipts, he prophesied. Ronald Reagan simplified: just "get big guv'mint out of the way," and everything else will take care of itself.
The result was a boom the likes of which the world had never seen.
Barclays Equity Gilt study, which the bank has been publishing for the last 53 years, takes a long view of the performance of British stocks and finds that for nearly 100 years – from 1899 to 1985 – U.K. stocks actually lost investors money. Compared to retail prices, the real return on equities over that entire period was negative. But in the 20 years following, share prices – in real terms – more than doubled.
In America, the capitalists' stock rose even more. The Dow index went up more than 1,000% from '82 to 2000.
Nor was this boom confined to the Anglo-Saxon economies. The Russians wised up fast, knocked down the wall, renounced communism and cut tax rates down to a third of the level in Britain. The Chinese kept their government but changed their creed: 'To get rich is glorious,' said Deng Shao Ping. The Indians dropped the "license raj" and got down to business. The whole world bustled and boomed.
But into this Eden slithered a serpent. And the snake teased and tempted all who would listen. "Spend... leverage... speculate," he hissed. To the marginal householder he said: don't be a fool; borrow...buy a bigger house...it will only go up in value. To the marginal lender, he said: don't bother verifying income or checking financial statements; you can sell the debt to Wall Street. To the speculators, the financial engineers, and the genius banks, hedge funds and investment houses he whispered: make some dodgy loans...go for risky, high yield investments; if you get in trouble, there's always the government to bail you out.
Capitalism was just doing what it was supposed to do. Success leads to excess...and then to failure. But the juice in the credit system quickly dried up. The British bank, Northern Rock, for example, was worth 5.3 billion pounds last year. At the moment it was nationalized on Sunday, it was worth only 375 million – a loss of 93%. The market in complex derivatives worldwide seized up...in 2008 new issues declined 97% from the year before. Wall Street bonuses fell. Country house prices slipped.
So, it came to pass that investors, bankers, and homeowners had eaten of the forbidden fruit. And suddenly, they looked at each other and realized that they were buck-naked. They should have been ashamed of themselves. Instead, they looked around for a chump.
Then, of course, the financial titans who had showed no interest in sharing their profits and bonuses...became exceptionally generous with their losses. And the captains of their government, too, saw their opportunity when the rock began to roll. Saving Northern Rock would have staggered Sisyphus. But the U.K. government rushed in boldly where angels Richard Branson and the bank's own management had trod so cautiously.
"It is the right thing to do," said the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Darling, putting principle ahead of personal safety. "We are acting on behalf of the public," he went on, hinting that taxpayers might even come out ahead, as if the government hacks had outsmarted the speculators and bankers, and would sell Northern Rock back to investors at a profit.
'Capitalism doesn't work,' said the sore losers and whiners. 'It favors the rich,' said the envious. "It needs to be controlled," said those who wanted their own fat fingers on the knobs and levers.
Only one candidate for America's highest office is a friend to capitalism - Dr. Ron Paul. Many people have never heard of him. To the voters, he is incomprehensible. To the press he is invisible. Winning candidates do not favor capitalism for a simple reason. Who benefits from the rough and tumble of real capitalism? Nobody in particular.
Whose company will win the race for better technology? Which hedge fund will bet right on the direction of bond prices? Who will win the contest to make more money? Nobody knows. Particular groups vote for their particular interests now, while the real beneficiaries of capitalism - the unborn, the untested, and the unimagined - don't vote at all.
The baker, for example, wants his own costs controlled and the bakery across the street put out of business. The factory owner wants the borders sealed against foreign imports. And the working man thinks he should have his job as a matter of right. What they all want is protection from capitalism...from the future...and from the unknown. Everyone wants a softer cushion under his derriere and he'll vote for the politician who offers it to him most convincingly. And almost every voter wants to stop free markets from doing what they do best: separating fools from their money. Now, at least in the case of Northern Rock, the government will have to do it.

Nicely Said..........................

The Federal Reserve System virtually controls the nation's monetary system, yet is accountable to no one. It has no budget, it is subject to no audit, and no Congressional Committee knows of, or can truly supervise, its operations. - Murray N. Rothbard

Big Withdrawals In Retirement Funds

Two of the nation’s largest 401(k) stewards saw frightening retirement withdrawals and loans in the fourth quarter. Fidelity Investments, the U.S.’s largest mutual fund provider, said yesterday that 401(k) withdrawals jumped 17% in December, the biggest decrease in the company’s history.
Great-West, which manages 3.5 million retirement accounts, also recently reported a 14% yearly increase in 401(k) withdrawals in 2007.

Jim Rogers Says..................

“The U.S. is in recession," Jim Rogers told reporters on a visit to Dublin yesterday. "It is going to get worse. They [the U.S. central bank] are printing money and are trying to prevent the recession -- they are putting on Band-Aids,” he said.
“The Japanese did it and the Japanese still have not recovered 18 years later. As long as the [U.S.] central bank and the federal government keep making the mistakes, you will have a longer period of slowdown and it will be perhaps one of the worst recessions we have had in a long time in America.”
“History shows,” Rogers wrote, “people who save and invest grow and prosper, and the others deteriorate and collapse.
“Artificially low interest rates and rapid credit creation policies set by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve caused the bubble in U.S. stocks of the late 1990s… Now policies being pursued at the Fed are making the bubble worse. They are changing it from a stock market bubble to a consumption and housing bubble.
“When those bubbles burst, it’s going to be worse than the stock market bubble. No one, of course, wants to hear it. They want the quick fix. They want to buy the stock and watch it go up 25%… because that’s what they say on TV.”

Bank Crisis Looming

Another banking crisis could kill thousands, warns the Financial Times this morning.
Literally.
According to a University of Cambridge study, the average “systemwide” financial crisis over the last 40 years has increased deaths from cardiac distress by over 6% in wealthy nations… and even more in developing countries.
In a case study examining the contemporary banking crisis, Cambridge researchers estimated up to 5,130 souls would leave this world should “a significant proportion of banks” suffer a crisis similar to that of Northern Rock’s last fall.
The researchers interviewed folks in what appeared to be a rather tame “bank run” at the Rock last year. As is turns out, some of those in line were experiencing intense stress… similar to the unease experienced in natural disasters or terrorist incidents.
So… when the s&^% hits the fan in 2008… take it easy… have a glass of wine. Chill out.

Prices Up, Inflation Too...............

Inflation, too, is hitting the headlines… Producer prices inflated at a breakneck rate of 1% in January, says the Labor Department this morning. Year over year, producer inflation is up 7.4% -- the worst rate of inflation since 1981. Core PPI rose 0.4%, also beating Wall Street estimates.
“None of this comes as any real shock,” says Kevin Kerr. “After all, we've all felt our wallets shrink a little more each week as gas and food prices take a bigger and bigger bite out of our incomes. Many ‘experts’ say that these high prices can't last -- I disagree.
“Commodities across the board are hitting all-time record prices. Everything from coffee to crude, gold to wheat is making new highs. In fact, wheat has been in such a record rally that the exchange had to officially expand the limits on the futures contract, and it's still trading limit up.
“Consumers are faced with starting to have to make tough choices and also foregoing certain things that in the past would not have been an issue. While this may begin to dampen demand for certain commodities, we're not seeing it yet.”

Just Because You're Electable, Don't Mean You Is Smart

Dumb Governors
By Alan Caruba

Being a governor has always been a steppingstone to the presidency. It’s just a thought, but perhaps people are less and less confident in their governors these days because so many seem to be part of a succession of governors who have left their states ever deeper in debt?One notes that neither former Governor Mitt Romney, nor Mike Huckabee, fared all that well in the Republican primaries and that two former governors who made it to the White House in recent times left it under a shadow. Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was and is a moron, while former Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, though elected and re-elected, is now best remembered for turning the Oval Office into the Oral Office. Of the modern era of presidents, only Ronald Reagan, a former governor of California, restored any luster to the White House.Governors are on my mind because the National Governors Association just finished their winter meeting in Washington, D.C. and managed to ignore the crisis most common to their states, budgets that are so over-extended that some wrenching news awaits citizens from California to New Jersey. Indeed, the exodus of people from both California and New Jersey is turning into a stampede as they stream into Nevada and Arizona in the West and head toward the Carolinas in the East.California faces a $14 billion deficit this year while New Jersey has a $3 billion deficit. Both can boast of having some of the highest tax burdens in the nation.So what did the National Governors Association devote their meeting to? “Reinforcing the role of states in advancing a clean energy future for America.” Clean energy is code for throwing money, subsidies and tax credits, at the least efficient forms of energy, wind and solar, while ignoring the need to encourage the improvement and expansion of the nation’s electrical grid that enables everything to function or encouraging the building of new refineries to insure a supply of gasoline and other petroleum fuels. There’s a need, too, for more nuclear plants and more coal or gas-fired plants to generate electricity.Instead the states keep mandating that a portion of all electrical power must come from wind and solar sources that would not exist if they were not subsidized with tax and rate-payers dollars. Both require backup reserves of power providers that rely on coal, gas, or nuclear because the wind does not blow all the time and the sun does not shine at night.“From the discussions we’ve had these past three days, it’s clear that governors are leading the way to ‘Americanize’ this country’s energy future,” said NGA Chair, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Someone better explain to Gov. Pawlenty and the other 49 governors that America runs on imported oil and will for the foreseeable future. We buy it from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and anywhere else that will sell it to us. The same holds true for natural gas.The most American form of power available is coal. We have about two or three hundred years of estimated reserves, but in states like Texas and Kansas, the building of much needed coal-fired plants to provide electricity was thwarted. Meanwhile, China is building a new coal-fired plant every week. Some plants are gas-fired and, when a major energy company recently announced it wanted to build a billion-dollar storage facility for liquefied gas way off the coast of New Jersey, the first response was to tell them to go away.“We’re on the verge of an energy revolution in this country,” said NGA Vice Chair Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell. “And it’s clear that charting our own energy future will require every available resource at America’s disposal, from clean coal and nuclear to biofuels and renewables.”Biofuels are a pipedream, as are so-called renewables (wind and solar). If we start building nuclear plants to generate electricity right now, we may avoid a future of brownouts and blackouts. Clean coal is a joke. Coal is dirty, but coal is cheap, plentiful and a powerful source of energy. Coal-fired plants that currently provide 52% of America's electricity would keep the lights on for the next few centuries. Because of clean-air regulations, America actually imports some forms of coal rather than being able to use its own.None of the goals the governors have in mind will generate any kind of national "energy security" because no nation on earth can be energy independent. Even Iran has to import gasoline. Brazil that is always touted for its ethanol production actually earns much of its wealth from its abundant sources of oil. All ethanol does is reduce the amount of actual mileage a tank of this additive provides. It amounts to burning a valuable source of food for fuel that, in turn, just drives up the cost of food.If I know this, why don’t our nation’s governors? It’s not like it’s a secret or that any of the experts in their state universities couldn’t tell them this.With some exceptions, we have governors who apparently don’t have a clue about the realities of energy these days and for the future. Instead, they invite speakers to tell them of the wonders of ethanol made from wood chips, electricity from hundreds of huge wind turbines no one wants to live near or some comparable fantasy.None of this bodes well for the future of America. We expect our elected leaders to have some understanding of the true dynamics of how energy is produced and where the millions of gallons of gas and diesel we use for transportation comes from.Meanwhile, as the governor’s meeting concluded, the U.S. National Climatic Data Center announced that snow cover over North America is greater now than any time since 1966. The average temperature in January “was –0.3 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average.”

Nicely Said.........................

"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws." -Mayer Amschel Rothschild

Bats And Bees Are In Trouble.....That Means We Are Too

A bizarre malady known as Colony Collapse Disorder has killed billions of bees in the U.S during the last two years. Since scientists have not yet identified the cause of this scourge, the folks over at the USDA worry that the dwindling bee population may cause multi-billion losses throughout the U.S. agricultural industry. Honeybees pollinate more than 130 crops in the United States, including foods like almonds, apples, oranges and blueberries. Therefore, the USDA warns, if colonies continue to collapse, the crop losses could cause as much as $75 billion of economic damage.
Even though bees pollinate about 30% of the food we eat, they may not seem terribly important to most of us (and who likes bee stings anyway). But no less a mind than Albert Einstein once postulated that if honeybees were to become extinct, the world would starve in less than four years. We are inclined to trust his judgment.
Meanwhile, America's bat population is also in peril. "Thousands of bats are dying from an unknown illness in the northeastern U.S. at a rate that could cause extinction," Bloomberg News reports. "Most bats hibernate in the same cave every winter, keeping annual counts consistent. A cave that had 1,300 bats in January 2006 had 470 bats last year. It recently sheltered just 38. At another cave, more than 90 percent of about 15,500 bats have died since 2005."
"We've never seen anything like it, and we're all scared,'' frets Alan Hicks, the leader of the investigation for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. "You have a strong parallel with the bees in that we just don't know what's going on."
Bats tend to inspire more fear than fondness. But these flying rodents fulfill essential takes within the ecosystem. When they're not hibernating, healthy bats eat about half their weight in bugs every night, including mosquitoes, grasshoppers, locusts and moths that can spread disease among humans and devastate crops. If a bat does not flap its wings, therefore, plan on canceling those summertime picnics. More importantly, as our colleague, Kevin Kerr, reminded us yesterday, the supply-constrained grain markets are in no condition to tolerate additional stresses like grasshoppers and locusts.

Even The FDIC Must Be Reading Sound Of Cannons! We Called This Awhile Back!

FDIC Girds For Bank Failures
Debra Borchardt
02/26/08 - 04:16 PM EST
Shaky loan portfolios continue to darken the landscape for the nation's banks, as federal regulators prepare for the possibility of an uptick in failures of financial institutions, according to recent government reports.
A record-high $31.3 billion set aside by banks for loan losses, record trading losses and goodwill expenses dragged down fourth-quarter net incomes of insured banks to a 16-year low, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s quarterly banking profile released Tuesday. The cumulative increase to loan-loss provisions was the largest increase in 20 years.
The FDIC report comes on the heels of study from the Government Accountability Office made public last week, which found the FDIC recorded an estimated liability of $124 million at the end of 2007 for the anticipated failure of some insured institutions and also identified potential losses of $1.7 billion should vulnerable insured institutions also fail.
All of this is happening as the FDIC, established during the Great Depression to provide a backstop to depositors during a rash of bank failures, solicits banks' input on ways to accomplish as orderly a wind-down as possible in the event of a major bank's demise. The FDIC sent a notice out to banks requesting their ideas last month.
"The notion that a bank is too big to fail shouldn't be out there," says Jim Marino, of the FDIC's Division of Resolutions and Receiverships.
The grim picture for banks was reiterated by FDIC's report Tuesday. It noted that non-current loans exceeded reserves for first time since 1993. Loans that are 90 days past due, jumped 32.5% to $26.9 billion, the single-largest increase in a quarter in 24 years. The only loan category with an improving picture was farm loans, no doubt aided by soaring commodity prices.
The fourth quarter was notable for several other firsts and record-breaking numbers. Trading losses came to $10.6 billion, making this the first quarter the industry has ever reported a net trading loss. Less than half of the insured banks reported improved earnings for 2007, making this the first time in 23 years that a majority of the banks have not posted earnings increases. It's also the first time since the mid-1970s that non-interest income has declined. On a positive note, domestic deposits rose to $170.6 billion, the largest quarterly increase. But the bad news is that the industry's ratio of deposits to total assets hit an all-time low.
While no major banks have yet failed in the current crisis, some big names have experienced significant troubles. Washington MutualWM is one national bank that has been particularly hard hit by poor mortgage and other loans. WaMu cut its dividend and set aside $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter to cushion against greater delinquencies on subprime mortgages and home-equity loans. A number of regional banks, like National CityNCC and KeyCorpKEY also recently increased loan-loss provisions.
"The problems are in all categories, and given the thin coverage of the banking system for such losses, rising charge-offs and loan loss reserves are likely to bite deeply into earnings," wrote John Hussman in a September market comment for Hussman Funds.
FDIC spokesman David Barr pointed out that even as assets increase, the agency is restricted in its ability to get more income for the Depository Insurance Fund (DIF). The DIF is administered by the FDIC and is funded through investments and payments by insured banks. The payment is calculated both on the balance of deposits as well as on the degree of risk posed to the insurance fund. However, Congress sets the ratio level and even though it was raised last year to 1.25, the current level of reserves to insured deposits is only at 1.22. In 2006, it was 1.32.
"Ninety percent of the banks haven't been paying in because the reserve ratio isn't low enough," he said. "Congress increased the number last year, but exempted older banks. We're restricted to income on Treasuries."
So the FDIC is going to be hitting up banks for more money at a time when many can least afford it. The goal for the DIF ratio is to be at 1.25 by 2009. "The number of problem banks is increasing, but still historically low," Barr said. "However, the assets are increasing."
A rise in bank failures exemplifies the burgeoning problem. Douglas National Bank in Missouri failed in January and the three banks that failed in 2007. The FDIC's Marino said that typically three to six banks fail each year, but there were no bank failures during 2005 and 2006, when banks were raking in fees for loans.
Last month, the FDIC issued a two-part Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, seeking comments related to the potential failure of large insured depository institutions. Marino has been working on this project for two years.
When a bank fails, the FDIC has to be able to look at all the accounts of a depositor and figure out how much is insured. "Banks do not know the insurance status of their customers, nor do they really care," Marino said. "What we're saying to larger institutions is that you're going to have to help us out."
Marino said banks with regulatory problems typically used to fail on a Friday, allowing the FDIC to step in and sort But with liquidity issues, failures can come at any time. Moreover, electronic banking leads to a lot of nightly processing, so it's usually not until 4 a.m. in the morning that the FDIC gets a glimpse of the balances.
The proposed rule the FDIC is considering would require the largest institutions to modify their deposit systems so that the FDIC could calculate deposit insurance coverage quickly in the event of failure.
Today's trouble in the banking sector has a long way to go before it rivals the Depression, when 4,000 banks failed. But the symptoms then were similar: banks were bogged down with foreclosures and left with unsalable assets. The banks struggled with liquidity issues, which the Federal Reserve did little to help.
Today's Fed is bending over backwards to create liquidity. Just last month when the Fed's own reports noted that banking reserves had gone into negative territory, the Fed stressed that by making short-term liquidity available through its term auction facility, the banks would have plenty of money. But that money is achieved through loans and not real capital.
Hussmann in September observed that reserves had fallen to their lowest level relative to non-current loans since the third quarter of 2002 and non-current loans experienced the largest uptick since the fourth quarter of 1990 -- representing the last two notable economic downturns.
"Recall that 1990 and 2002 were periods when recessions were already well underway," he wrote. "If we're already seeing these signs of credit stress at the peak of an economic expansion, the figures we observe in a recession are likely to be a lot worse."

They're Always After The Wealth Of The Middle Class

The Latest War Against Wealth & Freedom
You may not recognize his name immediately. Honestly, his name sounds like he might be a life insurance salesman from Peoria. But the last time I heard about Larry Summers, he had just been fired as president of Harvard. Larry was dismissed with cause because his ultra-liberal colleagues in the Harvard faculty suspected he was a "sexist pig." Unfortunately for him, this former Harvard president had the audacity to observe there are differences between men and women! Before that, Larry made a questionable name for himself as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the first Clinton epoch (1993-2001). At the time, Larry called Americans who give up their U.S. citizenship allegedly to avoid taxes, "traitors." Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and Larry had to apologize publicly for his reckless expansion of the word "treason." Indeed, the framers of the U.S. Constitution were themselves in full revolt against British taxation. The framers cited high taxes as a justification for their treason against the Crown. But then Democrats tend to be selective about American history before FDR and the New Deal.
Larry Summers Rides Again
Nowadays, Larry has turned up on the left-wing brie and chablis speech circuit. No doubt he's pulling down multi-thousand dollar fees, and repeating the discredited radical tax ideas that he and the Left have been chanting for years. He spoke recently at the Tax Council Policy Institute conference in Washington, D.C. In his speech, Larry said the tax system needs to be made "more progressive," (aka "soak the rich") and "fairer" (meaning "repeal the Bush tax cuts"). He said he wants to tackle the rising federal budget deficit. As a conservative, I agree with this new found concern about the budget deficit, but note: He said nothing about cutting spending.
Sorry, Larry But I'm Afraid You're Mistaken...Once More
And how would Mr. Summers, late of Harvard, improve the U.S. tax system? "By focusing on transparency and tax avoidance through increased enforcement." Apparently the traditional IRS gestapo mentality is insufficient to Larry's liking. He says tax reform is important, but what the IRS needs to do is go after U.S. persons and companies who avail themselves of legal tax avoidance by doing business in foreign countries - where taxes are lower or don't exist at all. The "sexist pig" from Harvard claimed, without offering any proof, that individuals and corporations currently "shelter about US$3 trillion." Note that Larry said "shelter." That's a bold implication that this impressive amount may be involved in tax evasion. And it's absolutely false. In fact, the great majority of this sum, (or any other sum you wish to pull put of thin air without a shred of proof), is involved in legal investments, banking and prudent asset protection plans such as trusts, annuities and insurance. It's called "globalism" Larry!
Remember: Old Larry Already Had to Apologize Once
So the man who called law-abiding Americans "traitors" suggested that major tax hungry welfare state nations need to create international tax laws to "cut back on tax havens and corporate income being shipped overseas."Not content with his expansive implications of worldwide tax evasion, he went on to blame offshore tax havens for poverty and "high levels of inequality" of income. His socialist solution? Redistribution of wealth through taxation! Why am I not surprised? Give that man the Huey P. Long Award for fiscal demagoguery. Dan Mitchell, senior fellow at the Cato Institute and co-founder of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, also disagreed with Summers. He rightfully pointed out that efforts in Europe to "harmonize" tax rates really has meant ever higher taxes, while unilateral tax cuts in Europe, and in Ireland in particular, have had positive economic effects creating thousands of new jobs and boosting GDPs.Perhaps Larry should remember that next time he starts ranting falsely about areas he doesn't understand.

Here's Where To Avoid In 2008

False Flag Prospects, 2008 -- Top Three US Target Cities
Captain Eric H. MayGlobal ResearchMonday, February 25, 2008
The easiest way to carry out a false flag attack is by setting up a military exercise that simulates the very attack you want to carry out. As I'll detail below, this is exactly how government perpetrators in the US and UK handled the 9/11 and 7/7 "terror" attacks, which were in reality government attacks blamed on "terrorists."Although ill health keeps me from working as hard in the area of false flag analysis as I used to, the urging of independent editors and brother intelligence officers has prompted me to write this essay. I'll keep it short for readers with limited time, but I will include invaluable links for those who want to delve deeper and understand better.My aim, as a former military intelligence officer who spent five years with the U.S. Army 75th Division conducting military war games, is to convince the American people that the "next 9/11" -- constantly promised by officials and the media -- is likely to be carried out under the guise of future military exercises. If the American people are aware of pending exercises and the danger they represent, then the exercises cannot "go live" and effect the very terror events that they are supposed to be rehearsing against.
Military ExercisesThe 9/11, 2001 attacks in the United States and the 7/7, 2005 attacks in the United Kingdom both have smoking guns proving that the mass murderers were not foreign terrorists but domestic tyrants. Each country's government was conducting military exercises that simulated the exact events that were to occur.The US 9/11 Commission stumbled across strong evidence of treason by Dick Cheney when it interviewed Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, who was present in Cheney's famous command bunker as Flight 77 sped toward Washington, DC. Cheney was at the center of national military exercises simulating terrorist hijackings of US aircraft -- at the very time that those hijackings were occurring in real life. On May 23, 2003, Secretary Mineta testified:"During the time that the airplane was coming in to the Pentagon, there was a young man who would come in and say to the Vice President, "The plane is 50 miles out." "The plane is 30 miles out." And when it got down to "the plane is 10 miles out," the young man also said to the Vice President, "Do the orders still stand?" And the Vice President turned and whipped his neck around and said, "Of course the orders still stand. Have you heard anything to the contrary?"9/11 Commission co-chairman Lee Hamilton failed to follow up on the bombshell revelation, and quickly switched the topic. Thanks to YouTube, Mineta's astounding revelation and Hamilton's amazing reaction are both viewable on a three minute clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDfdOwt2v3YIn the case of the 7/7 London railway bombings, there is same-day evidence in a BBC interview with former Scotland Yard anti-terrorism agent, Peter Power, who was a contract employee working in government exercises: POWER: "At half past nine this morning we were actually running an exercise for a company of over a thousand people in London based on simultaneous bombs going off precisely at the railway stations where it happened this morning, so I still have the hairs on the back of my neck standing up right now."BBC HOST: "To get this quite straight, you were running an exercise to see how you would cope with this and it happened while you were running the exercise?"POWER: "Precisely."For a one minute excerpt containing the statements above, refer to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKvkhe3rqtcMainstream MediaIt goes without saying that serious media inquiry would quickly ferret out the facts demonstrating high treason in the cases of 9/11 and 7/7. It also goes without saying, unfortunately, that the traitors behind the two false flag attacks understood this very well, and would not have done what they did without a green light from a collaborative media.Three World Trade Center buildings collapsed in New York City on September 11, 2001: WTC 1 and WTC 2 (the Twin Towers) in the morning, and WTC 7 (the Salomon Building) at 5:20 p.m. EST. Given that all three buildings were said to be unexpected collapses by all official sources, there is no good reason -- except for complicity -- to explain how it is that the BBC reported the collapse of WTC 7 twenty minutes before it happened:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7SwOT29gbc&feature=relatedFox news damned itself by announcing that WTC 7 had collapsed -- even as it showed a live shot of downtown New York with WTC 7 still standing. A few seconds later the building collapsed, understandably confusing the newscasters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwUJ9MhzgKThe owner of all three buildings was Larry Silverstein, who had recently doubled the insurance value of the Twin Towers. Amazingly, "Lucky Larry," later stated in a PBS interview that he and the New York Fire Department agreed to a controlled demolition of WTC 7. Since skyscrapers are not wired for demolition -- unless someone intends to demolish them -- Silverstein's statement is an admission that 9/11 was an inside job: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WYdAJQV100"The Noble Lie"I believe that on the strength of the five YouTube links above an objective investigation would have more than enough evidence to warrant impeachment of Bush and Cheney on a charge of high treason, and to summon a grand jury that would indict many others on charges of high treason against Larry Silverstein and other apparent 9/11 collaborators. I believe that the American people, if presented with a single news story containing the five YouTube links above, would demand that the case of high treason be carried to its logical conclusion.Congress, though, won't impeach the president. The mainstream media, for which I used to write, will not investigate and report the story. The military that was used as a tool to mass murder American citizens will not take action against traitors in uniform who knew exactly what they were doing on 9/11, or the many more uniformed dupes who thought they were conducting military exercises until the events of 9/11 occurred. To this day there have been no adverse actions -- which would require investigation and evaluation -- against any military person involved in what even official apologists call the greatest defense failure in American history. All of this shows that the fix is in, and that we are in a fix.The high officials, media executives and military officers who are bound by law and ethics to serve the American people have become a textbook example of a grand conspiracy. To look at it from their point of view, they are historic actors who are beyond good and evil, who must stimulate the American people to a necessary geostrategic adventure by any means necessary. To them, the official account of the 9/11 "terror" attacks is what Plato once described as the "noble lie," a necessary falsehood told to a childlike public in order to direct it maturely. The simple fact is that 9/11 has justified an attempt to seize and control the ultimate geostrategic resource: oil. He who controls Middle East oil controls the world.Top Three US Target CitiesLast year I published "Next 9/11, Summer 2007?" in response to the same kind of requests that have led me to publish this essay as a 2008 update. My 2007 three most likely cities for the next 9/11 were Houston, Chicago and Portland. This year the same three cities are still most endangered, in light of the fact that the US military has designated Texas, Indiana and Oregon as three of its four target states in the 2008 version of its Noble Resolve military exercises. Granted, Chicago is in Illinois, not Indiana, but Indiana is quite close, and has been used to stage forces for terror exercises conducted in Chicago in recent years.It may come as a surprise to people not acquainted with military preparations that the same cities remain on the list even though analysts like me have publicized them widely. There are considerable difficulties in setting up the political, police, military and media players necessary to support a false flag attack. While many in the 911 truth movement believes that national military forces can simply hit any city at any time, it's not so easy -- thank God. Fortunately, this means that those of us who study false flag prospects and focus on most likely targets; regrettably, this means that target cities can't breathe easy just because they have detected, exposed and preempted a single false flag attempt.Here is a brief target analysis of the top three cities:Primary Target: Houston. Over the past four years military and police veterans like me have been alerting the public to government exercises aiming at the nuclear destruction of Houston petro-suburbs. Five times in those four years we were able to predict to within a day major petrochemical explosions in those petro-suburbs. The odds against this kind of accuracy are astronomical. As the center of Big Oil and the Bush Family, Houston remains the most endangered city in America. Any patriotic group, like mine, trying to alert its home city to the dangers of a false flag attack should read my recent article, "The 1/31 Nuke: Proof for Ron Paul" about the successful interdiction of a 2006 attempt against Texas City: http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/08/01/28/may.htmSecondary Target: Chicago. While Houston is the most endangered city, the most endangered building -- the best candidate to be the next World Trade Center -- is the Sears Tower. Official sources have pronounced it just that ever since the original 9/11 attack, when they said it was on the Al Qaeda hit list. Larry Silverstein, who bought the Twin Towers two months before 9/11, led a group that purchased the Sears Tower on 3/11, 2004, the day of the Madrid bombings. Federal officials have been pointing to Chicago and its Sears Tower as Al Qaeda targets since the original 9/11 attacks, and have repeated the threat ever since. In May 2006,, the government scheduled secret 9/11-type exercises in Chicago, while Chicago Mayor Daley was docked conveniently away in Israel for his first visit there. I sent a widely read communiqué to Illinois Governor Blagojevich as part of a successful Internet attempt to shut down the pending false flag attack: http://tekgnosis.typepad.com/tekgnosis/2006/05/ghost_troop_com.htmlTertiary Target: Portland. Portland, called "Little Beirut" by Bush cronies because of its enmity to Bush 41 and Bush 43, only made my top three list last summer, when it was designated as a target for a nuclear attack by successive exercises Noble Resolve and TOPOFF. The language in an official press release stated the case plainly enough: "Noble Resolve will coordinate with officials in Oregon to model a nuclear attack on Portland." In the course of researching Portland for a series of articles I wrote about the city and its exercises. I discovered that Stanford and Harvard had prepared a detailed nuclear fallout map for it, that national military commanders and state National Guard commanders were telling different stories about what the exercises were trying to accomplish, and that Portland's The Oregonian newspaper was doing everything it could to avoid investigating the frightening anomalies. I wasn't at all surprised that the last day of the exercises found the Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff in downtown Portland, which was largely closed down by an "unexpected" bomb threat. For another professional perspective on how great the danger was -- and may be again -- I refer the reader to the analysis of my colleague, Major William B. Fox (USMC): http://www.lonestaricon.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=2006&z=186Postscript"Good morning. At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country. Their goal is to bring destruction to our shores that will make September the 11th pale by comparison." -- George W. Bush, Feb. 13, 2008I can't think of a more important question than the one of where the next 9/11 will be attempted. Common sense dictates to all of us who understand the truth about 9/11 that its perpetrators must strike again. Indeed, every directive, act and decision of our post-9/11 unitary executive, cowards Congress and Judas judiciary has increased the power of the federal government to wage the Global War and impose the Homeland State.Why on earth would those already guilty of high treason, mass murder and war crimes fail to follow up on their earlier efforts? They understand quite well that the Global War is going badly and the Homeland State is becoming onerous, and that only a reapplication of false flag terror will force the American people to proceed with our post-9/11 national insanity.Still, for every one person who republishes or constructively comments on this essay, there will be another who employs division, abuse and ridicule against me or anyone else who asserts the common sense point that false flaggers will continue to false flag, just as murderers will continue to murder and robbers will continue to rob. It's Newtonian in its simplicity: things continue to drift the way they are drifting until they are stopped.We can only stop the deadly drift of America by understanding 9/11 and anticipating the next 9/11. Many of the vociferous voices impeding our understanding and anticipation are performing a vital service for treason. The federal government once used counterintelligence programs (COINTELPRO) against the Vietnam era antiwar and civil rights movement, and common sense would suggest that they are using it again in the post-9/11 era, this time against the antiwar and 911 truth movement. The most dangerous voices of all our those from false friends who have infiltrated us to confuse us until the traitors who carried out 9/11 can repeat their performance.Captain May is a former Army military intelligence and public affairs officer, as well as a former NBC editorial writer. His political and military analyses have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Houston Chronicle and Military Intelligence Magazine.

Club Of Rome Calls Out Humanity

Interdependence is Totalitarian Mankind at the Turning Point Part 1
Brent Jessop - Knowledge Driven Revolution.com February 11, 2008

"The World Has Cancer And The Cancer Is Man" - A. Gregg as quoted in Mankind at the Turning Point (1974)
In 1974 the book Mankind at the Turning Point: The Second Report to The Club of Rome [1] was published. This report states the need to create an "organic" or a truly interdependent society as the only way to save the world from the almost overwhelming world problematique. According to The Club of Rome, the world problematique is the set of interlocking world problems, such as, over population, food shortages, non-renewable resource depletion, environmental degradation, etc. With the use of absurd, exponentially based computer models, the complete unravelling of society and perhaps the biosphere was predicted. Not surprisingly the only solution capable of adverting global catastrophe is the development of an organic society. As I will show, a global organic society is only a euphemism for totalitarian world government. The Club of Rome is a premiere think tank composed of approximately 100 members including leading scientists, philosophers, political advisors and many other characters who lurk in the shadows of power. Organic Growth From Mankind at the Turning Point:
"In Nature organic growth proceeds according to a "master plan," a "blueprint." According to this master plan diversification among cells is determined by the requirements of the various organs; the size and shape of the organs and, therefore, their growth processes are determined by their function, which in turn depends on the needs of the whole organism. Such a "master plan" is missing from the process of growth and development of the world system." - 7 "The concept of the "organic growth" of mankind, as we have proposed in this report, is intended as a contribution toward achieving that end. Were mankind to embark on a path of organic growth, the world would emerge as a system of interdependent and harmonious parts, each making its own unique contributions, be it in economics, resources, or culture. ...Such an approach must start from and preserve the world's regional diversity. Paths of development, region-specific rather than based on narrow national interests, must be designed to lead to a sustainable balance between the interdependent world-regions and to global harmony - that is, to mankind's growth as an "organic entity" from its present barely embryonic state." [emphasis mine] - VIII "Apparently, the emerging world system requires a "holistic" view to be taken of the future world development: everything seems to depend on everything else." - 21
Interdependence is the End of Independence Though rarely stated and frequently denied, the concept of interdependent nations implies the end of national independence or sovereignty.
"And cooperation, finally, requires that the people of all nations face up to an admission that may not come easy. Cooperation by definition connotes interdependence. Increasing interdependence between nations and regions must then translate as a decrease in independence. Nations cannot be interdependent without each of them giving up some of, or at least acknowledging limits to, its own independence." - 111 "...the statement acknowledged, even if unintentionally, the dawn of an era of limits to independence - even for the strongest and biggest nations of the world." - 114
Interdependence is Totalitarian Bertrand Russell, a strong proponent of world government and all around elitist, wrote in his 1952 book The Impact of Science on Society [2] that the inevitable result of a society based on an organic philosophy can only result in totalitarianism. For more on this book please read this. From The Impact of Science on Society:
"The most obvious and inescapable effect of scientific technique is that it makes society more organic, in the sense of increasing the interdependence of its various parts..." - 42 "Totalitarianism has a theory as well as a practice. As a practice, it means that a certain group, having by one means or another seized the apparatus of power, especially armaments and police, proceed to exploit their advantageous position to the utmost, by regulating everything in the way that gives them the maximum of control over others. But as a theory it is something different: it is the doctrine that the State, or the nation, or the community is capable of a good different from that of individual and not consisting of anything that individuals think or feel. This doctrine was especially advocated by Hegal, who glorified the State, and thought that a community should be as organic as possible. In an organic community, he thought, excellence would reside in the whole. An individual is an organism, and we do not think that his separate parts have separate goods: if he has a pain in his great toe it is he that suffers, not specially the great toe. So, in an organic society, good and evil will belong to the whole rather than the parts. This is the theoretical form of totalitarianism. ...In concrete fact, when it is pretended that the State has a good different from that of the citizens, what is really meant is that the good of the government or of the ruling class is more important than that of other people. Such a view can have no basis except in arbitrary power. More important than these metaphysical speculations is the question whether a scientific dictatorship, such as we have been considering, can be stable, or is more likely to be stable than a democracy... ... I do not believe that dictatorship Is a lasting form of scientific society - unless (but this proviso is important) it can become world-wide." [emphasis mine] - 64
A worldwide organic society is exactly what The Club of Rome is proposing. Selling Totalitarianism It is interesting to note the pleasant soothing words used to sell the concept of totalitarianism: "organic", "holistic", "differentiated", "harmonious", "interdependent", "balanced" and "sustainable". The very same "sustainable development" is all the rage these days. Sustainable development was codified into international law during the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (popularly known as the Rio Earth Summit) in 1992. The Secretary General and main organizer of the conference was Maurice Strong. According to his own book, Where on Earth Are We Going? [3] he is a "Member of the Executive Committee of the Club of Rome". Creating A New Man and Total Material Interdependence How do you make the transition to an organic society? Part 2 of this series will examine the desires of The Club of Rome to change the value system of modern man.
"An analysis of problems and crises as reported in subsequent chapters indicate that (1) a "horizontal" restructuring of the world system is needed, i.e., a change in relationships among nations and regions and (2) as far as the "vertical" structure of the world system is concerned, drastic changes in the norm stratum - that is, in the value system and the goals of man - are necessary in order to solve energy, food, and other crises, i.e., social changes and changes in individual attitudes are needed if the transition to organic growth is to take place." [emphasis mine] - 54
The final part of this series will discuss the need for total control of all resources by a world authority.
"Now is the time to draw up a master plan for organic sustainable growth and world development based on global allocation of all finite resources and a new global economic system. Ten or twenty years form today it will probably be too late..." [emphasis mine] - 69

Creating A One World Consciousness Mankind at the Turning Point Part 2
Brent Jessop - Knowledge Driven Revolution.com February 18, 2008

"The modern crises are, in fact, man-made, and differ from many of their predecessors in that they can be dealt with." [emphasis in original] - Mankind at the Turning Point, 1974 (p15)
Mankind at the Turning Point: The Second Report to the Club of Rome [1] (1974) states their desire to create a unified organic (or interdependent) world system. This system is by definition totalitarian, as was discussed in part one of this series. Now that we know were we are headed, the next question is what will the transition look like? The Club of Rome is a premiere think tank composed of approximately 100 members including leading scientists, philosophers, political advisors and many other characters who lurk in the shadows of power. Machines of Doom and the End of Humanity The focus of Mankind at the Turning Point is a computer model that supposedly replicates the major features of the world problematique. According to The Club of Rome, the world problematique is the set of interlocking world problems, such as, over population, food shortages, non-renewable resource depletion, environmental degradation, etc. Not surprisingly, their self serving model, based on exponential inputs, predicts the complete unravelling of society and perhaps the biosphere. Naturally, failure to implement The Club of Rome's solution of a totalitarian world government will result in the potential end of humanity. From Mankind at the Turning Point:
"Therefore we have concentrated out efforts in this report on a number of vital worldwide issues whose mastery we consider essential for man's survival and for an eventual transition into sustainable material and spiritual development of humanity." [emphasis mine] - XII "Whether or not to embark on the path of organic growth is a question of mankind's very survival..." [emphasis mine] - 70
The Transition - Creating A New Mankind The transition to this totalitarian world government will be made by changing the value systems of the entire planet, creating a one world consciousness.
"Today it seems that the basic values, which are ingrained in human societies of all ideologies and religious persuasions, are ultimately responsible for many of our troubles. But if future crises are to be avoided, how then should these values be readjusted?" [emphasis mine] - 11 "An analysis of problems and crises as reported in subsequent chapters indicate that (1) a "horizontal" restructuring of the world system is needed, i.e., a change in relationships among nations and regions and (2) as far as the "vertical" structure of the world system is concerned, drastic changes in the norm stratum - that is, in the value system and the goals of man - are necessary in order to solve energy, food, and other crises, i.e., social changes and changes in individual attitudes are needed if the transition to organic growth is to take place." [emphasis mine] - 54 "The changes in social and individual attitudes which we are recommending require a new kind of education..." - 148 "Development of a practical international framework in which the cooperation essential for the emergence of a new mankind on an organic growth path will become a matter of necessity rather than being left to good will and preference..." [emphasis mine] - 145 "The transition from the present undifferentiated and unbalanced world growth to organic growth will lead to the creation of a new mankind [emphasis mine]. Such a transition would represent a dawn, not a doom, a beginning not the end. Will mankind have the wisdom and will power to evolve a sound strategy to achieve that transition? In view of historical precedents, one might, legitimately, have serious doubts - unless the transition evolves out of necessity. And this is where the current and future crises - in energy, food, materials, and the rest - can become error-detectors, catalysts for change, and as such blessings in disguise. The solutions of these crises will determine on which of the two paths mankind has chosen to travel." [emphasis in original] - 9
The Transition - One World Consciousness
"Regarding individual values and attitudes the following lessons seem to be outstanding for the new global ethic implicit in the preceding requirements: 1) A world consciousness must be developed through which every individual realizes his role as a member of the world community... It must become part of the consciousness of every individual that "the basic unit of human cooperation and hence survival is moving from the national to the global level." 2) A new ethic in the use of material resources must be developed which will result in a style of life compatible with the oncoming age of scarcity... One should be proud of saving and conserving rather than of spending and discarding. 3) An attitude toward nature must be developed based on harmony rather than conquest. Only in this way can man apply in practice what is already accepted in theory - that is, that man is an integral part of nature. 4) If the human species is to survive, man must develop a sense of identification with future generations and be ready to trade benefits to the next generations for the benefits to himself. If each generation aims at maximum good for itself, Homo Sapiens is as good as doomed." [emphasis mine] - 147 "In order to achieve balance between regions in global development a more coherent regional outlook must be developed in various parts of the world so that the "preferable solutions" will be arrived at out of necessity rather than out of good will... we are talking about a regional sense of common destiny that will find its expression through appropriate societal, economic concepts and objectives... Such a regional outlook will create a "critical mass" necessary for the practical implementation of new and innovative ways of functioning in cultural, economic, and agricultural areas, especially on the rural level." [emphasis mine] - 154
The Transition - Global Warming and the New Mankind This methodology of doom prediction based on complex, "expert" generated, unverifiable computer models was later taken in full stride by the global warming propagandists. Both had the exact same intent, scare people into believing that the world was on the verge of complete collapse and that the only solution is world government. In reality, the global warming myth is an extension of The Club of Rome's activities From Mankind at the Turning Point:
"Governments and international organizations are currently too preoccupied with military alliances and bloc politics. But this problem is becoming of secondary importance... Therefore, barring suicide, mankind will face the most awesome test in its history: the necessity of a change in the man-nature relationship and the emergence of a new perception of mankind as a living global system." [emphasis mine] - 146 "Precisely because the symptoms of these global crises might become fully visible only toward the end of the century, the time to act is now; when the symptoms become clear the remedy will no longer be possible, as has been shown repeatedly in this report. Future history will not focus on personality and social classes, as has been characteristic of history in the past, but on the use of resources and survival of the human species. The time to affect that history is now." [emphasis mine] - 146
The quote above cannot be emphasized enough. The fear that has been used to unify our national societies is being moved from the Hitler/Saddam Hussein type personalities and the Communist/Capitalist class struggles to global unity based on resource depletion and the survival of the human species. Furthermore, in 1991, in a book entitled The First Global Revolution: A Report by the Council of The Club of Rome [2] and coauthored by one of the founders of The Club of Rome, Alexander King, they admitted choosing global warming and other threats to unify humanity under a world government.
"In searching for a new enemy to unite us [all of humanity], we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. In their totality and in their interactions, these phenomena constitute a common threat which as the enemy, we fall into the trap about which we have already warned, namely mistaking symptoms for causes. All these dangers are caused by human intervention and it is only through changed attitudes and behaviour that they can be overcome. The real enemy then is humanity itself." [emphasis mine]

A Planned World Economy Mankind at the Turning Point Part 3
Brent Jessop - Knowledge Driven Revolution.com February 25, 2008

"The human race is getting to be too much for itself and too much for the world." - William Saroyan as quoted in Mankind at the Turning Point (1974)
The Club of Rome is a premiere think tank composed of approximately 100 members including leading scientists, philosophers, political advisors and many other characters who lurk in the shadows of power. This series of articles described the major conclusions of the 1974 book Mankind at the Turning Point: The Second Report to The Club of Rome [1]. Part 1 described their desire for the development of a totalitarian world system presented under the euphemism of an "organic society". Part 2 described the need to create a new value system to ensure the acceptance of the upcoming world government. This new value system will be based on a "world consciousness." Mankind at the Turning Point used an absurd, exponentially based computer model of the world system in an attempt to hide their predetermined conclusions behind the vale of science. One of the main scenarios developed by the model was an analysis of the price of oil. This was an obvious choice due to the importance of oil to the world economy and the Middle East oil crisis which began the previous year (1973). The conclusion of this analysis was that an optimal price exists for oil. A price too high, would encourage development of alternatives and result in long-term losses to the exporting nations. A price too low, would encourage over use and resource depletion which would result in long-term losses of the importing nations who would not have sufficient time to develop alternatives. Therefore, there existed an "optimal" price for oil and that the only way to obtain this price was through cooperation. Naturally, an optimal price would exist for all commodities and the only way to obtain these prices was a planned world economy. After all, a planned economy was working so well in the Soviet Union, why not extend it to the rest of the world? From Mankind at the Turning Point:
"The conclusion applies not just to oil, but to all of the finite resources - food, fertilizer, copper and so forth. The "most beneficial" price range and the proper rate of increase differ for each commodity, but the optimal level exists for all and should be determined and then on a global basis maintained by all participants in the world system - if recurrence of the world economic crises due to resource-constraints is to be prevented." [emphasis mine] - 100 "Indeed, nothing short of a complete integration of all strata, from individual values to ecology and mineral resources - and on a global scale - will suffice for the solution of the world food crises..." [emphasis mine] - 87
Redistribution of Industry Not satisfied with the control of resource prices the report also stresses the need for a planned redistribution of industry throughout the world, especially to South Asia.
"Scenario five - the only way to avert unprecedented disaster in South Asia - requires the emergence of a new global economic order. Industrial diversification will have to be worldwide and carefully planned with special regard for regional specificity. The most effective use of labour and capital, and the availability of resources, will have to be assessed on a global, long-term basis. Such a system cannot be left to the mercy of narrow national interests, but must rely on long-range world economic arrangements... But the strain on the global food production capacity would be lessened if the eating habits in the affluent part of the world would change, becoming less wasteful." [emphasis mine] - 127
Global Resource Allocation System A planned economy would entail a powerful central government with the authority to allocate resources to areas it decrees most deserving.
"Now is the time to draw up a master plan for organic sustainable growth and world development based on global allocation of all finite resources and a new global economic system. Ten or twenty years form today it will probably be too late..." [emphasis mine] - 69 "The solution of these crises can be developed only in a global context with full and explicit recognition of the emerging world system and on a long-term basis. This would necessitate, among other changes, a new world economic order and a global resources allocation system." [emphasis mine] - 143
The horrors of this proposed system should be obvious to anyone, but for those without any imagination I will provide a quote from The Impact of Science on Society [2] by Bertrand Russell who was also a proponent of world government. The quote below highlights one of the benefits - in Russell's view - of such a world allocation system.
"To deal with this problem [increasing population and decreasing food supplies] it will be necessary to find ways of preventing an increase in world population. If this is to be done otherwise than by wars, pestilence, and famines, it will demand a powerful international authority. This authority should deal out the world's food to the various nations in proportion to their population at the time of the establishment of the authority. If any nation subsequently increased its population it should not on that account receive any more food. The motive for not increasing population would therefore be very compelling. What method of preventing an increase might be preferred should be left to each state to decide." - 124

Boy, Those UN Guys Sure Can Waste Money

Another Black Eye for the UN
Ann Shibler JBSTuesday, February 26, 2008
Several internal audits by one of its own agencies reveal that the UN has wasted tens of millions of dollars in its "peacekeeping operations" in Sudan over the past three years.
Follow this link to the original source: "Audit of U.N.’s Sudan Mission Finds Tens of Millions in Waste"
The UN Security Council established its mission in Sudan in March 2005, under the guise of helping to settle a 22-year-old civil war that has left 2 million dead, leaving tens of thousands, if not millions, homeless and hungry.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post obtained a copy of a confidential audit from October 2006 where "a number of potential fraud indicators and cases of mismanagement and waste," were noted by the UN Office for International Oversight Services, the UN agency conducting the audits.
Irregularities that have been identified so far include:
• Thousands of food rations being lost to theft and spoilage.

• Millions of dollars being wasted by renting warehouses that were never used.

• The unnecessary expenditure of $1.2 million used for booking blocks of luxurious hotel rooms for UN staffers that were never used.

• A UN agent is accused of steering a $589,000 contract to Radiola Aerospace for solar airport runway lights when the company helped his wife obtain a student visa.

• Two senior procurement officials, one U.S. citizen and one from New Zealand, are charged with misconduct for not complying with rules designed to prevent corruption.

• A $200 million contract with Eurest Support Services, a British catering company, is being examined, as the company has already been charged with rigging bids in three different African countries.• One contract to supply gravel for peacekeeping barracks was described in the audit as "exorbitant."

• Over $9 million in unnecessary fees went to a Canadian company, Skylink Aviation, by releasing it from its obligation to fulfill a contract.

• Another $9 million was wasted by hiring a company to clear UN goods through customs instead of UN staffers doing the job.
Now, for the excuses:
• UN peacekeeping officials, while acknowledging problems in Sudan contend that procurement officials were "perhaps in over their heads, but not corrupt."

• Understaffing and changes in troop deployment schedules upended UN plans and led to higher costs.

• UN officials agree costs are high, but it is the government of Sudan that has prohibited the UN from doing the job.

• The UN procurement division "did not have the necessary capacity and expertise to handle the large magnitude of procurement actions" in Sudan.

• "This is seen as a witch hunt that is not warranted given the fluidity and complexity of that mission," said one UN official not authorized to speak publicly about the investigations.

• Skylink Aviation said the terms of its initial contract with the UN were unfair because the slow deployment of troops reduced the amount of fuel needed. "We were losing money big time," said Jan Ottens, senior executive at Skylink.

• Radiola’s managing director Brent Albiston admits it violated UN rules when it sponsored the visa for the UN official’s wife in exchange for the contract, "but absolutely no money passed hands," he said.
Keep in mind these are the admitted activities of just one UN mission — the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Faith McDonnell is director of the Institute on Religion and Democracy’s Church Alliance for a New Sudan. She added these comments:
The greatest tragedy here is that a little money can go a long way in helping those Sudanese who are in need. While nonprofit aid organizations and churches can do wonders with just a few hundred or thousand dollars, the UN wastes millions. The lost opportunities are staggering.
There are reports in Juba of UN workers served luxurious brunches by five-star chefs while southern Sudanese outside scramble to piece together paltry school tuition fees. It is nothing short of a travesty.
Southern Sudan is really the best hope for peace in the entire country. Marginalized people/groups are coming together with Southern Sudanese as never before. All Sudanese who want just peace, secular democracy, and religious freedom are counting on the UN and African Union forces to assist them in stabilizing and developing their country, not taking control from indigenous leaders and replaying the same corruption we’ve seen in many other countries.
How corrupt does an organization have to be, with examples abounding of every kind of immorality, criminal behavior, abuse and corruption committed by UN individuals and agencies as a whole, before people wake up to the reality of its workings and agenda?

North American Army created without OK by Congress

U.S., Canada military ink deal to fight domestic emergencies
Posted: February 24, 20081:45 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi© 2008 WorldNetDaily
In a ceremony that received virtually no attention in the American media, the United States and Canada signed a military agreement Feb. 14 allowing the armed forces from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a domestic civil emergency, even one that does not involve a cross-border crisis.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of USNORTHCOM, signs agreement Feb. 14, 2008, with Canadian Air Force Lt. Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command
The agreement, defined as a Civil Assistance Plan, was not submitted to Congress for approval, nor did Congress pass any law or treaty specifically authorizing this military agreement to combine the operations of the armed forces of the United States and Canada in the event of a wide range of domestic civil disturbances ranging from violent storms, to health epidemics, to civil riots or terrorist attacks.In Canada, the agreement paving the way for the militaries of the U.S. and Canada to cross each other's borders to fight domestic emergencies was not announced either by the Harper government or the Canadian military, prompting sharp protest."It's kind of a trend when it comes to issues of Canada-U.S. relations and contentious issues like military integration," Stuart Trew, a researcher with the Council of Canadians told the Canwest News Service. "We see that this government is reluctant to disclose information to Canadians that is readily available on American and Mexican websites."The military Civil Assistance Plan can be seen as a further incremental step being taken toward creating a North American armed forces available to be deployed in domestic North American emergency situations.The agreement was signed at U.S. Army North headquarters, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, by U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, or USNORTHCOM, and by Canadian Air Force Lt. Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command."This document is a unique, bilateral military plan to align our respective national military plans to respond quickly to the other nation's requests for military support of civil authorities," Renuart said in a statement published on the USNORTHCOM website."In discussing the new bilateral Civil Assistance Plan established by USNORTHCOM and Canada Command, Renuart stressed, "Unity of effort during bilateral support for civil support operations such as floods, forest fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and effects of a terrorist attack, in order to save lives, prevent human suffering an mitigate damage to property, is of the highest importance, and we need to be able to have forces that are flexible and adaptive to support rapid decision-making in a collaborative environment."Lt. Gen. Dumais seconded Renuart's sentiments, stating, "The signing of this plan is an important symbol of the already strong working relationship between Canada Command and U.S. Northern Command.""Our commands were created by our respective governments to respond to the defense and security challenges of the twenty-first century," he stressed, "and we both realize that these and other challenges are best met through cooperation between friends."

The statement on the USNORTHCOM website emphasized the plan recognizes the role of each nation's lead federal agency for emergency preparedness, which in the United States is the Department of Homeland Security and in Canada is Public Safety Canada.The statement then noted the newly signed plan was designed to facilitate the military-to-military support of civil authorities once government authorities have agreed on an appropriate response.As WND has previously reported, U.S. Northern Command was established on Oct. 1, 2002, as a military command tasked with anticipating and conducting homeland defense and civil support operations where U.S. armed forces are used in domestic emergencies.Similarly, Canada Command was established on Feb. 1, 2006, to focus on domestic operations and offer a single point of contact for all domestic and continental defense and securities partners.In Nov. 2007, WND published a six-part exclusive series, detailing WND's on-site presence during the NORAD-USNORTHCOM Vigilant Shield 2008, an exercise which involved Canada Command as a participant.In an exclusive interview with WND during Vigilant Shield 2008, Gen. Renuart affirmed USNORTHCOM would deploy U.S. troops on U.S. soil should the president declare a domestic emergency in which the Department of Defense ordered USNORTHCOM involvement. In May 2007, WND reported President Bush, on his own authority, signed National Security Presidential Directive 51, also known as Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20, authorizing the president to declare a national emergency and take over all functions of federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments, without necessarily obtaining the approval of Congress to do so.

Texans Protest NAU

Texans protest against planned NAFTA superhighway
Nick Langewis and David EdwardsRaw StoryFriday, February 22, 2008
As Senators Clinton and Obama prepared to debate in their state, Texans were marching in protest over the NAFTA superhighway known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, or I-69, the primary purpose of which is to speed the delivery of goods coming in from Mexico to proposed inland ports.
The TTC is planned to span the state of Texas from Laredo, on the Mexican border, to Texarkana, on the border with Arkansas, to continue north to Canada. The projected cost is $183 billion over fifty years, with no American companies expressing interest in financing it.
With no public approval required to begin construction, repeated calls against the TTC at public meetings, with seldom a word of support, may easily go unheeded.
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"This is about international--global companies that are coming in and having their way with our politicians," says Terri Hall of TexasTURF. "It doesn't matter what does to the people in the path," she continues, "it doesn't matter what it does to our way of life..."
"Citizens here," says an unidentified man at a public hearing, "are not going to bear the burden so Wal-Mart can get their cargo into the U.S. cheaper and faster."
Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) is among opponents of the TTC, doubting the intentions of those planning its construction. He cites millions of acres subject to eminent domain, which the state promises to use against landowners who protest, and also notes that he has yet to encounter a person that supports the TTC.
"Frankly," says Texas Department of Transportation's Phil Russell, "we're in a different day and age right now, and the way we built our roadways fifty years ago simply isn't keeping up with the congestion that we're seeing here in Texas now."
"This is really messing with Texas," quips an incredulous Lou Dobbs to anchor Bill Tucker. "You can't tell me that Governor Rick Perry and the head of the Department of Transportation down there--that they're dumb enough to say that, because all of this traffic's coming out of Mexico, that Texas citizens should be funding the highway that is needed as a result of that traffic. That's absolutely idiotic."
"If people are putting up with this nonsense from their state government, and Governor Rick Perry, and their Department of Transportation," Dobbs continues, "these aren't the Texans that I know, and who I respect mightily."