18 Sept 2012

"QE to Infinity and Beyond," says Mike Shedlock!

Today we talk about "foot-in-mouth" disease, given Mitt Romney's recently exposed comments stating that 47 percent of voters "believe they are victims" and are dependent on the government. It seems the "foot-in-mouth" indicator is as important as the economy in this Presidential election. Even though this appears to be a bearish indicator for Mitt Romney, we ask our guest, Mike Shedlock, if there is a bullish case for the economy when it comes to either the Republican or Democratic Presidential candidate. And what is the true state of the economy? We talk to Mike Shedlock, Investment Advisor for Sitka Pacific Capital, about indications that the US is in recession. Also, Mike Shedlock, author of the blog Mish's Global Economic Analysis, tells us about his top ten list of the most dangerous politicians in Europe.

Hilmar Von Campe: America's Nazi Future

Former Hitler Youth member and World War Two veteran Hilmar Von Campe warns that America's collective turn away from God is greasing the skids for the state to take over as the ultimate authority, threatening a repeat of the rise of National Socialism, as he warns that the Obama White House and the United States government in general now more closely embrace the political doctrines of the Nazis than they do those of the founding fathers.

Von Campe explains how when he returned from the war he was determined to find out how the Germans, a relatively cultured and civil people before the rise of the Nazis, could have allowed a monster like Hitler to implement the Third Reich. Von Campe attributes the fall of Germany to the Nazis partly to "Godlessness," a collapse in moral standards, and the German people acting contrary to God's desires. Based on this revelation, he has created a formula to try and prevent countries from succumbing to tyranny in future.

Depression, Debt & Doublespeak - Max Keiser with Chris Cook

Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss that after five years of depressing depressed savers, the government and Central Bank reaps the rewards while Americans have given up hope and now concede to being 'lower class.' In the second half of the show, Max Keiser talks to Chris Cook about the price of chickens in Tehran and petrol in the United Kingdom and the role of ETFs in destroying markets. Source

HACKGATE DAY 616: Murder trail cover-up leads back to Newscorp - The Slog

It’s murder being Murdoch these days
Theresa May between a rock and a hard place as Indie scoops murder and blackmail connection to Murdoch
In what Met Chief Inspector John Yates once described as “the most disgraceful episode of corrupt investigation in the history of the Metropolitan Police”, the murder of private detective Daniel Morgan has remained unsolved since 1987. But this morning it takes a dramatic new turn as The Independent reveals what many have suspected for years: that the cover-up involves a link to Hackgate.
The now defunct News of the World hired Daniel Morgan’s company Southern Investigations to spy on a former Metropolitan police commissioner: Lord Stevens, who led Scotland Yard between 2000 and 2005. But as it happens, Scotland Yard had an undercover officer – Derek Haslam – inside Southern Investigations….who warned police that the firm was also trying to obtain other embarrassing information on the former Commissioner. As well as selling the story to the News of the World, Haslam claims Southern Investigations also wanted to use the sensitive information to “control” Lord Stevens.
During his nine years as a police “mole”, Haslam claims he told the Yard the firm was committing a vast array of crimes – often on behalf of the News of the World.
Given the widespread criminality he was reporting back to his handlers, Haslam was astonished and confused when no-one was arrested. However, his suspicions were raised last July when the relationship between the Murdoch media empire, Scotland Yard and senior politicians came under intense scrutiny – after it emerged that the News of the World hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, 13.
Indeed, one of Southern Investigations main clients was former News of the World executive editor Alex Marunchak whose name was “constantly mentioned” inside the firm, Haslam claims in a report leaked to the Indie. But the paper’s revelations about motive represent a potential political earthquake at Westminster – and possibly the end of the road for Newscorp:

No DNA link to Assange in condom central to sex assault case

A ripped condom given to Swedish police by one of Julian Assange’s accusers does not contain the WikiLeaks founder’s DNA, forensic scientists have reportedly found.
In a 100-page document shown to Assange’s lawyers, it was revealed that the torn prophylactic, having been examined by staff at two forensic laboratories, did not bear conclusive evidence that Assange had ever worn it, the Daily Mail reported on Sunday.
Assange’s lawyers said the lack of DNA evidence on the condom, which was allegedly used during a supposed August 2010 sexual assault, indicates that a fake one could have been submitted.
The woman in question, now aged 33, claims to have been molested by Assange at her flat in Stockholm. She says that at one point he deliberately broke a condom in order to have unprotected sex with her.
Assange claims he had consensual sex with the woman, but denies intentionally tearing the condom. He had previously told police that he continued to stay at her residence for the week following the alleged incident, saying his accuser never made any mention of the ripped condom.
But DNA purportedly belonging to Assange was present on a condom submitted by a second woman, who has accused him of rape, prompting Swedish authorities to push ahead with their bid to have him extradited from the UK.
However, his second accuser, now 29, who claimed to have been raped in her sleep by Assange, apparently told police she had not been opposed to having unprotected sex with him despite previous statements to the contrary, the daily reported.
Assange denies the allegation of rape, maintaining he had consensual sex with the second woman as well. The Swedish prosecutor’s office refused to comment on the report, saying that the investigation was ongoing.
"The condom DNA evidence was supposed to be the killer evidence… Now, when we have found that there is no DNA on one of these condoms for one of the alleged victims, it rather calls into question substantial evidence against him,” human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell told RT.

Bill Still and gold - SilverFuturist

Ultimate QE3 Meltdown - Max Keiser with Alex Jones

Max discuss collateral transformation desk feeding the multitude of banksters with five quadrillion in infinitely leveraged toxic derivatives and two Treasury bills of a bankrupt nation. Source

Webster Tarpley: Depression, Dictatorship & WW3

Alex talks with historian and author Webster Tarpley about the situation in the Middle East. Source

How China's Rehypothecated "Ghost" Steel Just Vaporized, And What This Means For The World Economy


One of the key stories of 2011 was the revelation, courtesy of MF Global, that no asset in the financial system is "as is", and instead is merely a copy of a copy of a copy- rehypothecated up to an infinite number of times (if domiciled in the UK) for one simple reason: there are not enough money-good, credible assets in existence, even if there are more than enough 'secured' liabilities that claim said assets as collateral. And while the status quo is marching on, the Ponzi is rising, and new liabilities are created, all is well; however, the second the system experiences a violent deleveraging and the liabilities have to be matched to their respective assets as they are unwound, all hell breaks loose once the reality sets in that each asset has been diluted exponentially.
Naturally, among such assets are not only paper representations of securities, mostly stock and bond certificates held by the DTC's Cede & Co., but physical assets, such as bars of gold held by paper ETFs such as GLD and SLV. In fact, the speculation that the physical precious metals in circulation have been massively diluted has been a major topic of debate among the precious metal communities, and is the reason for the success of such physical-based gold and silver investment vehicles as those of Eric Sprott. Of course, the "other side" has been quite adamant that this is in no way realistic and every ounce of precious metals is accounted for. While that remains to be disproven in the next, and final, central-planner driven market crash, we now know that it is not only precious metals that are on the vaporization chopping block: when it comes to China, such simple assets as simple steel held in inventories, apparently do not exist.
From Reuters:
Chinese banks and companies looking to seize steel pledged as collateral by firms that have defaulted on loans are making an uncomfortable discovery: the metal was never in the warehouses in the first place.

Dagan vs Netanyahu - Azizonomics

Aziz: Binyamin Netanyahu recently slammed critics of a pre-emptive strike on Iran as “having set a new standard for human stupidity”.
Yet Netanyahu’s view is not shared by all Israelis. In fact, there are some very prominent Israeli critics of Netanyahu’s view. Meir Dagan, the former head of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, says that an attack on Iran would be the “stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.”
Speaking to ’60 Minutes’ Dagan noted: “An attack on Iran now before exploring all other approaches is not the right way to do it.”
Dagan should be congratulated for his rationality. It is my belief that the greater threat to Israel and the West is not the potential for an Iranian nuclear weapon — the truth remains that mutually assured destruction remains the most potent peacemaking force in history, even for supposedly irrational regimes like Pakistan, North Korea and Soviet Russia — but the dangers of blowback from a unilateral strike on Iran.
Oil and resource supplies through the Persian Gulf could be interrupted, sending energy prices soaring, and damaging the already-fragile global economy.
A regional war in the Middle East could result, potentially sucking in the United States and Eurasian powers like China, Pakistan and Russia. China and Pakistan have both hinted that they could defend Iran if Iran were attacked — and for good reason, as Iran supplies significant quantities of energy.
And with the American government deep in debt to foreign powers like China who are broadly supportive of Iran’s regime, America’s ability to get involved in a war on Israel’s behalf is highly questionable. And even without a war, further hostility and tension between America and her creditors would surely result in an even faster rush toward more bilateral and multilateral agreements to ditch the dollar for trade, something that America will almost certainly seek to avoid. So even with a President in the White House significantly more sympathetic to Netanyahu than Obama, America may find herself constrained by the realities of global economics, and unable to assist Israel.

Mysterious bird-like drone may have popped up in both Iraq and Pakistan, origin still unknown

by Madison Ruppert: The quite strange unarmed bird-like drone which was recovered by Pakistani forces in August of 2011 apparently did not just fly over Pakistan, but was also apparently spotted by Iraqi insurgents at least two years before making its way to Pakistan.
One might jump to the conclusion that the drone belongs to the United States since the U.S. is involved a great deal of drone operations in Pakistan – which the Pakistani parliament has unanimously declared must end. It also appears to be similar to some of the drone projects which are leaning towards designs influenced by birds and insects.
A reader of The Aviationist tipped them off to a video posted on May 28, 2009 showing the drone captured by the Iraqi Hezbollah in Iraq which is eerily similar to the drone which was captured in Pakistan.
The providence of the drone is shrouded in a thick veil of mystery since no nation would take responsibility for the device which has, according to Danger Room, “silver wings and a span about the size of a grown man’s outstretched arms, the drone was clearly more than a hobbyist’s toy: the remains of a camera were near the crash site, a camera that fit into the robotic bird’s belly, ostensibly for spying on insurgents.”
Danger Room points out that the drone is quite similar to, but definitely not exactly the same as, Festo’s “SmartBird” drone.
The dimensions of the two drones are similar and the designs obviously look alike as well although, “It’s clearly not the same drone, as the wings are obviously different: the mystery drone’s wings are straighter and more sharply angled than the SmartBird’s sleeker, more rounded wings, which mimic those of the gull,” according to Danger Room.

Defining Libertarianism and Austrian Economics with Walter Block

The US Treasury declined GM's offer to buy back 200 million of the 500 million shares the US currently holds, according to the Wall Street Journal. In 2009 GM received a $50 billion dollar bailout from taxpayers. Now, GM executives upset over pay restrictions and the stigma of "Government Motors," want to buy back shares at a price that would cause taxpayers to lose billions of dollars in the deal. Can anyone argue we still live in a capitalist society?