Paul Craig Roberts - Financial Collapse At Hand: When is "Sooner or Later"?

Ever since the beginning of the financial crisis and Quantitative Easing, the question has been before us:  How can the Federal Reserve maintain zero interest rates for banks and negative real interest rates for savers and bond holders when the US government is adding $1.5 trillion to the national debt every year via its budget deficits?  Not long ago the Fed announced that it was going to continue this policy for another 2 or 3 years. Indeed, the Fed is locked into the policy. Without the artificially low interest rates, the debt service on the national debt would be so large that it would raise questions about the US Treasury’s credit rating and the viability of the dollar, and the trillions of dollars in Interest Rate Swaps and other derivatives would come unglued. 

In other words, financial deregulation leading to Wall Street’s gambles, the US government’s decision to bail out the banks and to keep them afloat, and the Federal Reserve’s zero interest rate policy have put the economic future of the US and its currency in an untenable and dangerous position.  It will not be possible to continue to flood the bond markets with $1.5 trillion in new issues each year when the interest rate on the bonds is less than the rate of inflation. Everyone who purchases a Treasury bond is purchasing a depreciating asset. Moreover, the capital risk of investing in Treasuries is very high. The low interest rate means that the price paid for the bond is very high. A rise in interest rates, which must come sooner or later, will collapse the price of the bonds and inflict capital losses on bond holders, both domestic and foreign.

Read More:

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=31272

Ethan A. Huff - How to fight water fluoridation in your city

Water fluoridation has become quite the hot-button political issue in America today, especially as the pro-fluoride establishment is increasingly being forced to address the myriad of emerging scientific evidence highlighting the dangers of fluoride. But many city officials and legislators continue to remain largely unaware of, and in some cases willfully defiant against, the truth about fluoride.

Still entrenched in the political framework of public health today is the idea that artificially fluoridating public water supplies prevents tooth decay and lessens the overall costs associated with dental treatments. This flawed ideology dates back to about the 1930s when the aluminum mining and smelting industries concocted a way to dispose of their unwanted fluoride chemical byproducts by pushing them on the unsuspecting masses as a remedy for tooth decay.

Though science has never backed up this and many other claims made by the pro-fluoride lobby, fluoridation remains a blindly-accepted public health measure throughout America today. And yet at the same time, things are also starting to change as citizens, health officials, and former fluoride advocates learn the facts about fluoride and begin spreading the truth (http://www.esterrepublic.com/Archives/dyates2.html).

Hundreds of North American communities have axed fluoride from their water supplies in recent decades (http://www.fluoridealert.org/communities.aspx), and many more are in a position to follow suit if science can ultimately break the political stronghold that is holding on for dear life to the fluoride myth.

Read More:

http://www.naturalnews.com/036084_water_fluoridation_protests_activism.html

America In Decline: The Soul Crushing Despair Of Lowered Expectations

All over America tonight there are people that believe that their lives are over.  When you do everything that you know how to do to get a job and you still can't get one it can be absolutely soul crushing.  If you have ever been unemployed for an extended period of time you know exactly what I am talking about.  When you have been unemployed for month after month it can be very tempting to totally cut yourself off from society.  Those that are kind will look at you with pity and those that are cruel will treat you as though you are a total loser.  It doesn't matter that America is in decline and that our economy is not producing nearly enough jobs for everyone anymore.  In our society, one of the primary things that defines our lives is what we do for a living.  Just think about it.  When you are out in a social situation, what is one of the very first things that people ask?  They want to know what you "do".  Well, if you don't "do" anything, then you are not part of the club.  But the worst part of being unemployed for many Americans is the relentless pressure from family and friends.  Often they have no idea how hard it is to find a job in this economy - especially if they still have jobs.  Sometimes the pressure becomes too great.  Sadly, we are seeing unemployment break up a lot of marriages in America today.  Things are really hard out there right now.  A very large number of highly educated Americans have taken very low paying service jobs in recent years just so that they can have some money coming in even as they "look for something else".  Unfortunately, in many cases that "something else" never materializes.  In the past, America was "the land of opportunity" where anything was possible.  But today America has become "the land of lowered expectations" and the worst is yet to come.

We live during a time when "the American Dream" is literally being redefined.  In the old days, just about anyone could get a good job that would pay enough to make it possible to buy a house, buy a nice car and raise a family.

Read More:

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/america-in-decline-the-soul-crushing-despair-of-lowered-expectations

Mike Whitney - The short and uninspiring "one term" career of Barack Obama

Be sure to jot-down June 1, 2012 on your calender. That's the day that Barack Obama's reelection chances went up in smoke. Friday's report from the Labor Department showed the US economy added just 69,000 jobs in May which pushed the unemployment rate back up to 8.2 percent, the first rise since June 2011. Unfortunately for Obama, there's not much he can do to turn things around before the November balloting. GOP deficit hawks are dead-set against more stimulus, so he won't be getting any money from congress. He'll just have to muddle-through as best as he can hoping that the economy picks up in the meantime. But the slowdown in China and the deteriorating debt crisis in the eurozone make that unlikely, which means that Obama's approval ratings will continue to slide until election-time, when high unemployment and flagging growth put corporate raider, Mitt Romney, in the winner's circle.

Let's face it, Obama hasn't lifted a finger to help the economy since he passed his $800 billion fiscal stimulus bill in 2009. For the last 3 years we've heard nothing but endless blabber about the phantom "recovery" and "green shoots". Blah, blah, blah. It's sickening! Meanwhile 20 million people waste their time in unemployment lines or shredding beef at Arby's for $7.50 an hour. What has Obama done to help them?

Nothing. Nada. Zippo.

Have you been following the news since the job's report came out? Obama's trying to pass the blame off on Congress. Here's what he said on Friday:

"My message to Congress is now is not time to play politics. Now is not the time to sit on your hands."

Read More:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/mike-whitney/43554/the-short-and-uninspiring-one-term-career-of-barack-obama

International "Crime Against Humanity" Filed At The Hague Portuguese and U.S. Children - Victims of a Mercury Dental Filling Experiment Funded by U.S. Government says DAMS

Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions (DAMS), a U.S.-based consumer organization, has co-filed a "Crime against Humanity" complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague against those involved in an $11 million experiment conducted on approximately 1,000 children. The study of health harm from amalgam/mercury dental fillings, known as the "Children's Amalgam Trial" (CAT), was funded by the U.S. government's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR).

International advocate Anita Tibau and documentary filmmaker Kelly Gallagher recently traveled to Lisbon to raise public awareness about the unethical research associated with silver/amalgam fillings, which contain 50% toxic mercury. The two Americans provided critical documents and film footage that became part of a shocking expose aired on Portuguese television last week, which prompted former victims of the CAT experiments to question the indignities and harm they incurred. The report by journalist Rita Maraffa Carvalho revealed many of the atrocities of CAT included in the complaint made to the ICC, which was co-signed by Tibau and Gallagher on behalf of the organization Mouth of Hope.

The CAT mercury experiments were conducted on children aged 8-10 from low-income families in New England and the Casa Pia orphanage in Lisbon between 1997-2005.

The research was authorized by NIDCR's project administrator Norman Braveman, and the Portuguese segment was managed by Timothy DeRouen, PhD, at the University of Washington.

The entire CAT study was funded by U.S. taxpayers' dollars, and even when personnel at Casa Pia were convicted of running a pedophile ring abusing the children in 2002, the study continued. Also during the course of the CAT experiments, concerns were never addressed about misleading consent forms and previously published scientific studies indicating that exposure from mercury fillings was a well-known threat to human health.

The late Sandra Duffy, an Oregon attorney, noted in 2004 that the U.S. consent forms did "not disclose how much mercury exposure or absorption occurs from the fillings," and the Portuguese consent forms, one hundred of which were signed by the same doctor for the orphans, did not even disclose that the fillings contained mercury.

Read More:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/47670745/International_Crime_Against_Humanity_Filed_At_The_Hague_Portuguese_and_U_S_Children_Victims_of_a_Mercury_Dental_Filling_Experiment_Funded_by_U_S_Government_says_DAMS

GMOs and Glyphosate Linked to Infertility, Botulism and SIDS

Introduction and Background Information

I have heard much confusion and doubt about a man I admire much… Dr. Huber. When I first met Dr. Huber over four years ago, listened to his presentation, then reviewed his work in my hotel room, I began to realize what this meant for mankind. I wept, I cried some more, realizing how much evil was behind this; my tears are still on my notes of his work, I did not sleep, realizing how much work needed to be done. I have seen countless friends and family affected by the evil stemming from this crony capitalism network. Huber’s work is sound, his character strong, and he needs help spreading truth and clearing confusion. I am now asking for help from you, any of my friends, to equip yourselves with knowledge, as knowledge is power. This may bore many of you; too difficult for others, but it is the #2 thing to understand in your life other than God. If we can stop this, Dr. Huber is deserving of any earthly honor we can give him. I urge anyone who comprehends any of what I write to share this with as many as you can. It is a matter of utmost importance right now to ALL life on this planet. 

Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Read More:

http://farmwars.info/?p=8543

Joseph Stiglitz - The Price of Inequality and the Myth of Opportunity

America likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity, and others view it in much the same light. But, while we can all think of examples of Americans who rose to the top on their own, what really matters are the statistics: to what extent do an individual’s life chances depend on the income and education of his or her parents?

Nowadays, these numbers show that the American dream is a myth. There is less equality of opportunity in the United States today than there is in Europe – or, indeed, in any advanced industrial country for which there are data.

This is one of the reasons that America has the highest level of inequality of any of the advanced countries – and its gap with the rest has been widening. In the “recovery” of 2009-2010, the top 1% of US income earners captured 93% of the income growth. Other inequality indicators – like wealth, health, and life expectancy – are as bad or even worse. The clear trend is one of concentration of income and wealth at the top, the hollowing out of the middle, and increasing poverty at the bottom.

It would be one thing if the high incomes of those at the top were the result of greater contributions to society, but the Great Recession showed otherwise: even bankers who had led the global economy, as well as their own firms, to the brink of ruin, received outsize bonuses.

Read More:

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-price-of-inequality

David Bromwich - The Strange Bipartisanship of 2009, 2011, and 2013

On June 1, in Minneapolis, the president spoke some words to supporters that ought to have left them slack-jawed. As Devin Dwyer wrote at Jake Tapper's excellent blog, Political Punch, President Obama said last Friday that "if he wins a second term the GOP 'fever' of opposition to tax hikes for deficit reduction may break." Why would the fever break? Fever is the Republican condition. Look at what they did to President Carter over the Iran hostage crisis, and what they did to President Clinton over the assault weapons ban. Has no visitor who entered the Oval Office listened to Fox Radio for half an hour in the last four years?

Obama in the same speech referred back to the better days of a Republican Party that dwelt (with whatever admixture of opportunism) somewhere in the precincts of reality: "John McCain believed in climate change. John believed in campaign finance reform. He believed in immigration reform. I mean, there were some areas where you saw some overlap." Well, but what has been the record of John McCain on all of these issues since 2009? The example proves too much.

"In this election," Obama conceded, "the Republican Party has moved in a fundamentally different direction. The center of gravity for their party has shifted." Why not say that their center of gravity has become the far right, and that the far right now controls the party with no scope for disagreement? What ought to follow from that perception is that 2012 feels like a fight because it is a fight. Obama, however, drew the opposite conclusion: "I believe that if we're successful in this election," he told his followers, "that the fever may break, because there's a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that." What evidence can he show of any continuity with a Republican tradition of common sense?

Read More:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/bipartisanship-in-2009-20_b_1571727.html

Survey: Latin American and Asian cities lead way in planning for global warming

Quito, Ecuador, is not considered a global leader by most measures. But there is one way in which Quito is at the forefront of metropolises worldwide: in planning for climate change. For more than a decade, officials in Ecuador's mountainous capital have been studying the effects of global warming on nearby melting glaciers, developing ways of dealing with potential water shortages and even organizing conferences on climate change for leaders of other Latin American cities.

In so doing, Quito officials represent a global trend: The cities that are most active in preparing for climate change are not necessarily the biggest or wealthiest. Instead, they are often places buffeted by natural disasters and increasing changes in temperature or rainfall. In places where the climate seems to be a growing threat to human lives, resources and urban infrastructure, local officials have been working with scientists, conducting assessments and examining which new measures may best prepare them for the future.

Indeed, as an MIT survey released today shows, 95 percent of major cities in Latin America are planning for climate change, compared to only 59 percent of such cities in the United States.

Read More:

http://phys.org/news/2012-06-survey-latin-american-asian-cities.html

BP is an Enemy of Academic Freedom: Scientists

Oceanographers Richard Camilli and Christopher Reddy, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, have accused oil giant BP of stifling academic freedom and attempting to skew scientific research from the Gulf of Mexico after the massive BP oil spill in 2010.

  This week, the two expressed concern after BP successfully subpoenaed thousands of confidential emails between the two regarding their research on the effects of the spill.

"BP claimed that it needed to better understand our findings because billions of dollars in fines are potentially at stake. So we produced more than 50,000 pages of documents, raw data, reports, and algorithms used in our research — everything BP would need to analyze and confirm our findings. But BP still demanded access to our private communications. Our concern is not simply invasion of privacy, but the erosion of the scientific deliberative process," the two wrote in an article for the Boston Globe.

They fear that the email exchanges, written during the process of research, could be used for deliberate misinterpretation in reports released by BP, the Guardian reports.

"Incomplete thoughts and half-finished documents attached to emails can be taken out of context and impugned by people who have a motive for discrediting the findings. In addition to obscuring true scientific findings, this situation casts a chill over the scientific process. In future crises, scientists may censor or avoid deliberations, and more importantly, be reluctant to volunteer valuable expertise and technology that emergency responders don't possess," the scientists stated.

Read More:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/06/05-4