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Ever since I published a recent commentary on this subject (“U.S. Economic Terrorism the New Winning Trade”), there has been a rapid growth of condemnation from various European leaders of the “speculators” in the credit-default swap (“CDS”) market. France, Germany, and Greece have been the most vocal critics of these financial predators.
(more...)In criticizing the banksters' relentless pillaging of their own corporate coffers, I have often remarked that as long as shareholders continue to allow themselves to be robbed that it was hard to feel too much sympathy for them. Now (at last), one of these former patsies is finally making some “noise”.
(more...)In several previous commentaries, I have criticized our system of income taxation as being fatally flawed. The primary flaw is that for the people at the top of the economic pyramid, income is usually only a tiny component of their increasing wealth. Generally, the vast majority of new wealth for the ultra-wealthy comes from the appreciation of assets, which are never (and can never) be taxed by an income-based system of taxation.
(more...)It was less than a year ago that the U.S.'s accounting regulator, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) caved-in to Wall Street pressure – bringing in the “mark to fantasy” accounting rules which allowed insolvent Wall Street oligarchies to pretend to be “profitable” (see “FASB strong-armed into mark-to-fantasy accounting”).
(more...)When I was a child, I used to be entertained by the antics of a television clown: “J.P. Patches”. As an adult, some things have changed, and some remain the same. While I still get entertained by clowns, these ones wear suits, and instead of going by the name “J.P. Patches”, they use the brand-name “JP Morgan”.
(more...)Regular readers will remember a recent commentary (“Treasury Department Stalls Budget Report”), where I pointed out that the Treasury Department had refused to release its annual (mandated-by-law) calculation of the U.S. budget (and budget-deficit), using GAAP accounting.
(more...)I have spent a considerable amount of time discussing how a supply-crunch is looming in the gold market. With retail investment demand soaring, and central banks switching from large, net-sellers to large net-buyers, the world's gold-shortage will continue to intensify – despite the fact that nearly every ounce of gold ever mined still exists (in some form) around the world. Of course, countless thousands of tons of this gold is incorporated into some of the world's most-revered artifacts and religious symbols – and thus (for all intents and purposes) it is gone forever.
(more...)It's easy to see why people have such extremely negative attitudes toward government – when we watch a bloated, broken behemoth like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in action. While most organizations look for ways in which they can perform their functions better, the FDIC spends its time looking for ways to perform its duties in a worse manner...and when you're already doing as lousy a job as the FDIC, it takes a lot of effort to get worse.
(more...)Two years ago, I pointed to yet another obvious economic crisis in the U.S.: the collapse of numerous, state economies. I was not alone. Several of the other commentators who were right about the U.S.'s economic collapse have made similar predictions.
(more...)Two weeks after I wrote a commentary (“The Goldman Sachs/AIG Saga”) observing that it appeared that Goldman Sachs had intentionally scammed AIG by getting it to underwrite “credit default swaps” - which it knew would blow up and provide huge profits for Goldman – it appears that some members of the U.S. government are now reaching the same conclusion.
(more...)I have been scathing in my criticism of Western governments for serving the interests of the ultra-wealthy, to the detriment of more than 75% of their citizens – who have seen their own standards of living falling steadily for the last thirty years. I have been especially critical of the U.S., and now a new article has been released which confirms my analysis, in every respect.
(more...)I (and many others) have warned that the desperate and reckless economic policies of the U.S. government (and their banker-overlords) would ultimately set off crippling inflation in the United States – and most likely hyperinflation.
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