Yesterday a friend of mine was added to the ranks of people murdered along the border. He was added for about an hour. Then, once authorities spoke with the person who found his body, he was promptly determined to be a suicide.
I have no idea what this person told authorities, but it must have been good, and followed up by corroberating evidence. Otherwise, how could they so easily call suicide to what at first glance looked to be murder?
Suicide or Homocide? All I know is I have one less friend in this world, and he will be missed!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Still Undecided?
First off, I'd like to wish my dad, a very happy birthday!!
Now, Are there any other people out there that are still undecided? Well, I am. See I understand how important the next 4 years are going to be. Not only for the United States, but the whole world. Today, President Bush conferred with global leaders to explain to them how we are saving our economy, and what measures we have put in place to stop the falling market. Tomorrow I see a global economy... Which extends to a one world government... Which will bring about the end of the world as we read in the Bible. Which brings about this blog... till 2012.
I understand how important this next presidency will be, and I'm afraid to make a mistake. Would it be better that I didn't vote?
I've said for years that I won't vote till I find out how one becomes a member of the electoral college. That realization was cemented when the electoral voters over-rode the popular vote in the 1990 elections with President Bush. Let me say that again so as to emphasize the point... The electoral voters over-rode the popular vote, the you and me votes, when President Bush was put in the White House!
Hence, the state of our Union today.
I've also said, "the big boys are saying, "we're right on time, boys, we're right on time." as they pat each other on the back while they stand by a round table counting their gold. If this is the plan, then no matter what each individual voter decides, we will still be left at the mercy of the electoral college!! And that fact alone, should scare the crap out of any voter out there!
Why? Because that's the BIG BOYS, my friends, that's the big boys!! And these same people who have put the United States in the position it is in now, will be doing it again in 2008, and beyond! Unless, we the people stand up and put down the electorate!! Till this is done, hanging chads and public opinion have about the same chance as the 10 Commandments in a Louisiana court house!
Now, Are there any other people out there that are still undecided? Well, I am. See I understand how important the next 4 years are going to be. Not only for the United States, but the whole world. Today, President Bush conferred with global leaders to explain to them how we are saving our economy, and what measures we have put in place to stop the falling market. Tomorrow I see a global economy... Which extends to a one world government... Which will bring about the end of the world as we read in the Bible. Which brings about this blog... till 2012.
I understand how important this next presidency will be, and I'm afraid to make a mistake. Would it be better that I didn't vote?
I've said for years that I won't vote till I find out how one becomes a member of the electoral college. That realization was cemented when the electoral voters over-rode the popular vote in the 1990 elections with President Bush. Let me say that again so as to emphasize the point... The electoral voters over-rode the popular vote, the you and me votes, when President Bush was put in the White House!
Hence, the state of our Union today.
I've also said, "the big boys are saying, "we're right on time, boys, we're right on time." as they pat each other on the back while they stand by a round table counting their gold. If this is the plan, then no matter what each individual voter decides, we will still be left at the mercy of the electoral college!! And that fact alone, should scare the crap out of any voter out there!
Why? Because that's the BIG BOYS, my friends, that's the big boys!! And these same people who have put the United States in the position it is in now, will be doing it again in 2008, and beyond! Unless, we the people stand up and put down the electorate!! Till this is done, hanging chads and public opinion have about the same chance as the 10 Commandments in a Louisiana court house!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Financial Woes Not Cured by Bailout
Oct. 7, 2008
Well, the Congress fix all of 700 + Billion did little to cure the Stock Market scare as the DOW keeps falling. Now it is a global fall as Markets all over the world decline each day. And yet, the gluttony continues even after a rescue. As I said earlier, these people have learned no lessons.
Case in point: Today AIG executives were answering to Congress about their 80 Billion loan from the US citizen. See, after the relief was granted, the executives took off on a luxury vacation at a plush resort in California, where they proceeded to party the weekend away. Incurring a million dollar bill in the end. From their spa useage to their emptied room bars, how do they explain their vagrancy! Here we save them, and they continue their hypocritical ways!
What did Congress expect? I can tell you that this is just the first of many to come! And until there is true accountability from the top people in what is left of the functioning companies, then another bailout will be looming from behind their Gucci Suits!
Well, the Congress fix all of 700 + Billion did little to cure the Stock Market scare as the DOW keeps falling. Now it is a global fall as Markets all over the world decline each day. And yet, the gluttony continues even after a rescue. As I said earlier, these people have learned no lessons.
Case in point: Today AIG executives were answering to Congress about their 80 Billion loan from the US citizen. See, after the relief was granted, the executives took off on a luxury vacation at a plush resort in California, where they proceeded to party the weekend away. Incurring a million dollar bill in the end. From their spa useage to their emptied room bars, how do they explain their vagrancy! Here we save them, and they continue their hypocritical ways!
What did Congress expect? I can tell you that this is just the first of many to come! And until there is true accountability from the top people in what is left of the functioning companies, then another bailout will be looming from behind their Gucci Suits!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Till 2012
Sept 29, 2008
Today I watched as the DOW went down 532 pt's. The lowest at 732 down. Speculators on the news relate it to Congress not passing the 700 +Billions dollar bailout package.
I am not a financial wizard, but years ago when the DOW was jumping up by the hundreds daily, I knew the numbers would have to come down...
The only difference here, is the investors who have squandered their clients money, sold off home loans like they were produce instead of people's dreams, or took the company profits as a bonus while the company files bankruptcy, are unwilling to own their actions. In the Great Depression, these same people held themselves accountable when they jumped out their high rise buildings.
I do not promote suicide, but I do promote accountability. The jumpers realized that their actions were having a drastic affect on our country! And, obviously, they were devastated, and could no longer live with themselves. Or, perhaps they were afraid of what the US citizen would do to them, when they lost their home, and livelihood. Whatever the case, they knew they had a major role in the downfall of our economy.
Do the people in the positions of power today know what they've done? Do they feel regret, guilt, or even responsible for their actions? From what I've heard, they have upset stomachs! Yet they eat fine dining, in their fine homes while they lobby Congress in their fine clothes to pass their bill!
Well, we the people of the United States know!! And we've been calling to complain about this bailout since it raised it's treacherous head!! For if it is passed, these same people, with their small tummy troubles, will be using the $700 + billion dollars in their willy-nilly ways, never having learned a lesson when using someone else's money! And now their clients are the US citizen!
How do you feel about the government bailout?
Today I received an email that relates some of my thoughts too...
Market Super-Shock #1:The NEXT New "Property Time Bomb"Nobody Dares to Talk About. . .
Unless you live under a rock, you've heard the sob stories.
Banks lent out money — a lot of money — to people who couldn't pay it back. And now they're in trouble. Last year, an average of 50,000 homes per month went into foreclosure.
That number could jump to 200,000 per month by this spring.
But even if you're SICK TO DEATH of hearing about "subprime," get ready.
Because there's an even bigger new property bust on the horizon that could be even worse for stocks...worse for banks...and worse for the U.S. economy...than the current collapse in housing prices. I'm talking, of course, about a complete crash in...
Commercial property.
See, the banks didn't just dole out billions of dopey loans to unqualified homeowners. They also shelled out big money to build strip malls, "big box" stores, fast-food shops, movie theaters, office parks, warehouses, parking garages...and the whole network of businesses that sprung up around all those new "McMansion" boomtowns.
But with the bust, those businesses are going broke.
Applications to build new homes are off by 43%. Foreclosures hitting 37-year highs. And the glut of unsold homes has left more than 17.4 million U.S. houses completely empty.
Who's left to go to the strip malls? Nobody.
Think broke homeowners will go to more movies...or less? How about eating out at all those new chain restaurants? And with no job, who needs an office complex? Shopping? Forget about it.
And no customers means no need for the commercial businesses to support them. Apartment building sales are half what they were just since June 2007. Banks are withdrawing funding. And the cost of commercial mortgages has soared, in lock step with the rise in subprime defaults.
Bloomberg says we could see the worst drop in commercial property since the 2001 recession. Morgan Stanley is calling for a 15% drop over the next two years.
Already, real estate investment trusts (REITs) that deal in commercial property have gotten slammed. But don't mistake that for a buying opportunity. Because in this case, commercial property REITs could fall even further.
In fact, many of these commercial property REITs still have yields trading way below 10-year Treasury notes. If the yield spreads rebalance to historical averages, some of these REITs could easily fall by half or more.
Even Bloomberg has started dropping hints, saying, "U.S. commercial real estate prices may fall as much as 15% over the next year." In fact, sales in commercial property may hit their steepest decline since 2001. The current owners just can't find buyers.
"There are so many deals falling apart," says David Lichtenstein, head of a New Jersey group that manages over 20,000 apartments and 30 million square feet of retail space, "People who can get out are getting out."
Here's the big, big problem: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might be able to keep people in their houses in lieu of foreclosure by renegotiating terms down, and down again (for a while, anyway).
But getting bank funding for unneeded strip malls is a whole different story.
Put another way, if Ben Bernanke thinks he has a problem now with crashing home prices, wait and see how scared he gets when commercial real estate blows apart. How likely is this? My colleagues and I think it's pretty much a done deal. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
Especially thanks to...
Market Super-Shock #2:A New $2.48 Trillion "Black Hole" That'sAbout to Swallow up American Borrowers
Fortune calls it the "bomb" in American wallets. It's the secret shame of millions of Americans. It's also another massive, looming market threat that's at least as big as the recent gut-wrenching housing bust...and many times bigger than the write-offs we've seen with banks.
What's this second enormous shock?
A mind blowing $2.48 TRILLION in looming consumer credit debt.
See, while houses went bust, millions of Americans could no longer draw off home equity to pay for all those flat-screen TVs, SUVs, and other toys essential to the good life. So they turned to their old friend the credit card.
Credit card debt alone has hit a record $915 billion. That's already bigger than the estimated $900 billion locked up tight in subprime loans. And remember, on credit card debt, you're talking interest rates three-five times higher.
And that's just the start.
Because after plastic, piles of other consumer installment debt have piled up. We're talking life on the layaway plan. Just how much? Total consumer debt stands at a mind-blowing $2.48 TRILLION. That's more than China makes in a year. It's more than the entire United Kingdom's GDP. And more than the GDPs of Italy, France, Canada, Spain, Brazil, or Russia.
Only they're making that money. We just owe it. And in huge numbers, millions more house-broke or unemployed Americans have stopped paying off their credit balances. Just like defaults on mortgages, defaults on other consumer credit are expected to soar.
Card issuers like American Express, Citigroup, Capital One, Bank of America and Washington Mutual are already bracing for a 20% explosion in credit card defaults over the months ahead.
Can you guess what happens next?
Explosive Credit Card Debt:Sliced and Diced for Disaster
Consumer buying drives 70% of the U.S. economy. Without it, we're toast.
Yet that's exactly where we're now headed.
In just the last five years, household debt is up 24%. Nearly half of all American households spend more than they make each year. And 60% don't even have more than three months of savings stored up. Not even fact-fakers in Washington can pretend that's good news.
No matter how you slice it, "no shopping" is a big economic problem.
But here's the thing: "Slicing" is exactly what banks and other investors have been doing.
See, just as they did with mortgage debt, banks and other credit card issuers have "sliced" up all those credit loans and sold them back to Wall Street. And then Wall Street sliced them all up again, packaging them as "safe" debt and selling them to the very people who run your retirement funds.
I'm sure you see how far and fast this can spread...
The Shell Game You Cannot Win
As more credit card carriers default, those securities plunge in value...compounding already deep bank losses...and even more losses for investors in hedge and pension funds and anybody else who happens to be elbow deep in this muck.
Yet millions of Americans will stay on the treadmill, desperately trying to keep up.
Even as dollars get weaker. Even as jobs disappear to Asia. Even as housing values reverse and Wall Street threatens to explode in fireworks unlike anything we've ever seen.
"Across the nation," says one report from The Associated Press, "Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars...as they juggle higher rent, food, and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families."
Paychecks are lasting half as long. Some families skip meals. Wal-Mart reports empty aisles before regular paydays. Supermarkets say more and more customers come in to buy only the bare essentials.
Sixty-five percent of Americans say a recession is likely next year, says a Bloomberg poll. Fifty-one percent say the economy is doing "poorly."
Yet on Fox, they say, "No worries." In Washington, they say, "We can fix this," and then try to buy us off with tax rebate checks that barely cover the cost of a new iPod. Everybody wants you to turn a blind eye. Everybody wants you to pretend it will all go away. But don't you believe it.
I Urge You to Not Be Fooled
In the old Soviet Union, the comrades used to say, "Nothing is ever more certain than when it has been officially denied." But you can only fool some of the people for so long.
Mall traffic is down. Last year's holiday sales were flat. Car sales are still off. Ford and GM, once the most important companies in the world, are actually flirting with bankruptcy. Even Chrysler just laid off 23,000. Meanwhile, foreign investors are running from the U.S. dollar.
How "fine" does that sound to you?
You don't need to look far for the real truth. As recently as 2000, you paid only $273 for an ounce of gold. Today, you're paying more than $900. Back then, you also paid only a little over $1 for a gallon of gas. Today, get used to paying more than $3. Back then, even a barrel of oil cost only $22. Now we pay well over $90 per barrel.
Meanwhile, in downtown Oakland, Calif., half-finished condo projects dot city streets. Builders couldn't afford to finish them. Not far away, foreclosure rates have tripled. And the number of bank-owned properties in other areas is up 10-fold. How "healthy" is that?
I'm disgusted. And you should be too. But don't let government statistics lie to you any longer. Gold, oil, and the collapsing worldwide faith in the U.S. make it plain: We are a nation in financial trouble. And we're only heading deeper.
Think the politicians can help? Don't bank on it. Brace yourself for roaring tax hikes. And forget bottom-fishing for bargains. To save us, the Fed is killing the dollar. Now everything will cost more than it ever did.
How bad could this get? Pretty bad.
Oil at $125. Gold at $1,250. Could you be paying as much as $5 per gallon for gas by the end of summer? Absolutely. We're in for rough economic seas and crushing market conditions for as far as the eye can see.
That's why I URGE you to take steps right now to protect yourself. You'll find a complete set of those must-take steps in the Strategic Financial Survival Library I want to send you, free.
You just have to give me your permission.
Just don't wait too long...
Market Super-Shock #3: The Boneheaded "Bailouts" ThatCould Soon Cost You Everything
Remember Katrina? How about the war on drugs? The war on AIDS? The war on terror and the war in Iraq? Bureaucrats love to "fix" problems they can't fix and make promises they can't keep.
The latest are a string of "bailouts," tax rebates, and foreclosure "forgiveness" programs that are supposed to save America from going into a tailspin. But it's all too little, too late, and just too plain stupid to work.
These are multitrillion-dollar problems.
Families are flat broke. Jobs are gone. Stocks have tanked. Giving everyone a $600 advance on their tax rebates...or 30 extra days to come up with the mortgage money they don't have...won't do squat. Worse, the fix could even compound the problem.
Take the Fed.
Central banking is, for the most part, a fraud.
At best, it's a guessing game.
Instead of wiping out bad decisions, the Fed's radical policy of slashing rates and printing more dollars has only redistributed the losses to the most innocent bystanders — namely, the savers and dollar-earners.
Look, the Soviet Union was all about central planning. And that didn't work. Are we supposed to believe somehow that central planning will work differently here, just because it's Washington this time that's mismanaging our national wealth?
We're told we shouldn't worry. Meanwhile, total credit in the U.S. has grown from 150% percent of GDP to an eye-popping 340%! Americans carry so much debt now that if Bernanke were to raise interest rates even to 10% — which he should — people would flay him alive.
Meanwhile, the White House wants to blow $3 trillion this year. No wonder China is dumping our dollars. Even as it lures away our factories. Even as it makes new deals with Europe, leaving America in the dust.
Geez...remember when people used to take responsibility for their mistakes?
How Banks and Bureaucrats WillTry to Skip out on the Blame
When Paul Volcker stepped up to the plate in the late '70s, he had guts.
Oil prices were high then, too. So was gold. And the dollar was in deep trouble. Inflation ran as high as 13.5%. Volker, as the new chief of the Fed, roped in the money supply and cranked up interest rates, blowing a decade of monetary mismanagement out America's tailpipe.
Don't hold your breath for a hero today.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is looking out for his banking buddies. Ben Bernanke is looking out for his buddies on Wall Street. Politicians on the campaign trail and Congress are just looking to buy the election.
The Fed has injected a combined $207 billion in bailout cash so far. With more on the docket. That's four times the pile of cash unleashed just after Sept. 11, 2001. And guess what. It hasn't helped.
The big banks keep on revealing even bigger losses. Remember the knockout punch delivered by the S&L crisis in the 1980s? This is bigger. More than 2,500 banks, thrifts, credit unions and mortgage companies wrote a combined $1.5 trillion in subprime loans during the peak of the boom.
When George W. Bush's dad threw $150 billion at the S&Ls, it helped spark a three-year recession. What happens when Washington tries to defuse a multitrillion dollar time bomb?
I urge you not to count on anyone else to save you. You need your own sort of private, personal protection. Which is why I hope you'll let me rush you the free Strategic Financial Survivial Library we've talked about.
And once you do, there's something else I hope you'll let me do for you...
I Should Introduce Myself
My name is Addison Wiggin.
For nearly 15 years, I've studied markets, economies, and opportunities just like the ones we're talking about right now. I take today's debt crisis so seriously, I've co-written a book about it — Empire of Debt, which became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller.
Today I watched as the DOW went down 532 pt's. The lowest at 732 down. Speculators on the news relate it to Congress not passing the 700 +Billions dollar bailout package.
I am not a financial wizard, but years ago when the DOW was jumping up by the hundreds daily, I knew the numbers would have to come down...
The only difference here, is the investors who have squandered their clients money, sold off home loans like they were produce instead of people's dreams, or took the company profits as a bonus while the company files bankruptcy, are unwilling to own their actions. In the Great Depression, these same people held themselves accountable when they jumped out their high rise buildings.
I do not promote suicide, but I do promote accountability. The jumpers realized that their actions were having a drastic affect on our country! And, obviously, they were devastated, and could no longer live with themselves. Or, perhaps they were afraid of what the US citizen would do to them, when they lost their home, and livelihood. Whatever the case, they knew they had a major role in the downfall of our economy.
Do the people in the positions of power today know what they've done? Do they feel regret, guilt, or even responsible for their actions? From what I've heard, they have upset stomachs! Yet they eat fine dining, in their fine homes while they lobby Congress in their fine clothes to pass their bill!
Well, we the people of the United States know!! And we've been calling to complain about this bailout since it raised it's treacherous head!! For if it is passed, these same people, with their small tummy troubles, will be using the $700 + billion dollars in their willy-nilly ways, never having learned a lesson when using someone else's money! And now their clients are the US citizen!
How do you feel about the government bailout?
Today I received an email that relates some of my thoughts too...
Market Super-Shock #1:The NEXT New "Property Time Bomb"Nobody Dares to Talk About. . .
Unless you live under a rock, you've heard the sob stories.
Banks lent out money — a lot of money — to people who couldn't pay it back. And now they're in trouble. Last year, an average of 50,000 homes per month went into foreclosure.
That number could jump to 200,000 per month by this spring.
But even if you're SICK TO DEATH of hearing about "subprime," get ready.
Because there's an even bigger new property bust on the horizon that could be even worse for stocks...worse for banks...and worse for the U.S. economy...than the current collapse in housing prices. I'm talking, of course, about a complete crash in...
Commercial property.
See, the banks didn't just dole out billions of dopey loans to unqualified homeowners. They also shelled out big money to build strip malls, "big box" stores, fast-food shops, movie theaters, office parks, warehouses, parking garages...and the whole network of businesses that sprung up around all those new "McMansion" boomtowns.
But with the bust, those businesses are going broke.
Applications to build new homes are off by 43%. Foreclosures hitting 37-year highs. And the glut of unsold homes has left more than 17.4 million U.S. houses completely empty.
Who's left to go to the strip malls? Nobody.
Think broke homeowners will go to more movies...or less? How about eating out at all those new chain restaurants? And with no job, who needs an office complex? Shopping? Forget about it.
And no customers means no need for the commercial businesses to support them. Apartment building sales are half what they were just since June 2007. Banks are withdrawing funding. And the cost of commercial mortgages has soared, in lock step with the rise in subprime defaults.
Bloomberg says we could see the worst drop in commercial property since the 2001 recession. Morgan Stanley is calling for a 15% drop over the next two years.
Already, real estate investment trusts (REITs) that deal in commercial property have gotten slammed. But don't mistake that for a buying opportunity. Because in this case, commercial property REITs could fall even further.
In fact, many of these commercial property REITs still have yields trading way below 10-year Treasury notes. If the yield spreads rebalance to historical averages, some of these REITs could easily fall by half or more.
Even Bloomberg has started dropping hints, saying, "U.S. commercial real estate prices may fall as much as 15% over the next year." In fact, sales in commercial property may hit their steepest decline since 2001. The current owners just can't find buyers.
"There are so many deals falling apart," says David Lichtenstein, head of a New Jersey group that manages over 20,000 apartments and 30 million square feet of retail space, "People who can get out are getting out."
Here's the big, big problem: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might be able to keep people in their houses in lieu of foreclosure by renegotiating terms down, and down again (for a while, anyway).
But getting bank funding for unneeded strip malls is a whole different story.
Put another way, if Ben Bernanke thinks he has a problem now with crashing home prices, wait and see how scared he gets when commercial real estate blows apart. How likely is this? My colleagues and I think it's pretty much a done deal. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
Especially thanks to...
Market Super-Shock #2:A New $2.48 Trillion "Black Hole" That'sAbout to Swallow up American Borrowers
Fortune calls it the "bomb" in American wallets. It's the secret shame of millions of Americans. It's also another massive, looming market threat that's at least as big as the recent gut-wrenching housing bust...and many times bigger than the write-offs we've seen with banks.
What's this second enormous shock?
A mind blowing $2.48 TRILLION in looming consumer credit debt.
See, while houses went bust, millions of Americans could no longer draw off home equity to pay for all those flat-screen TVs, SUVs, and other toys essential to the good life. So they turned to their old friend the credit card.
Credit card debt alone has hit a record $915 billion. That's already bigger than the estimated $900 billion locked up tight in subprime loans. And remember, on credit card debt, you're talking interest rates three-five times higher.
And that's just the start.
Because after plastic, piles of other consumer installment debt have piled up. We're talking life on the layaway plan. Just how much? Total consumer debt stands at a mind-blowing $2.48 TRILLION. That's more than China makes in a year. It's more than the entire United Kingdom's GDP. And more than the GDPs of Italy, France, Canada, Spain, Brazil, or Russia.
Only they're making that money. We just owe it. And in huge numbers, millions more house-broke or unemployed Americans have stopped paying off their credit balances. Just like defaults on mortgages, defaults on other consumer credit are expected to soar.
Card issuers like American Express, Citigroup, Capital One, Bank of America and Washington Mutual are already bracing for a 20% explosion in credit card defaults over the months ahead.
Can you guess what happens next?
Explosive Credit Card Debt:Sliced and Diced for Disaster
Consumer buying drives 70% of the U.S. economy. Without it, we're toast.
Yet that's exactly where we're now headed.
In just the last five years, household debt is up 24%. Nearly half of all American households spend more than they make each year. And 60% don't even have more than three months of savings stored up. Not even fact-fakers in Washington can pretend that's good news.
No matter how you slice it, "no shopping" is a big economic problem.
But here's the thing: "Slicing" is exactly what banks and other investors have been doing.
See, just as they did with mortgage debt, banks and other credit card issuers have "sliced" up all those credit loans and sold them back to Wall Street. And then Wall Street sliced them all up again, packaging them as "safe" debt and selling them to the very people who run your retirement funds.
I'm sure you see how far and fast this can spread...
The Shell Game You Cannot Win
As more credit card carriers default, those securities plunge in value...compounding already deep bank losses...and even more losses for investors in hedge and pension funds and anybody else who happens to be elbow deep in this muck.
Yet millions of Americans will stay on the treadmill, desperately trying to keep up.
Even as dollars get weaker. Even as jobs disappear to Asia. Even as housing values reverse and Wall Street threatens to explode in fireworks unlike anything we've ever seen.
"Across the nation," says one report from The Associated Press, "Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars...as they juggle higher rent, food, and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families."
Paychecks are lasting half as long. Some families skip meals. Wal-Mart reports empty aisles before regular paydays. Supermarkets say more and more customers come in to buy only the bare essentials.
Sixty-five percent of Americans say a recession is likely next year, says a Bloomberg poll. Fifty-one percent say the economy is doing "poorly."
Yet on Fox, they say, "No worries." In Washington, they say, "We can fix this," and then try to buy us off with tax rebate checks that barely cover the cost of a new iPod. Everybody wants you to turn a blind eye. Everybody wants you to pretend it will all go away. But don't you believe it.
I Urge You to Not Be Fooled
In the old Soviet Union, the comrades used to say, "Nothing is ever more certain than when it has been officially denied." But you can only fool some of the people for so long.
Mall traffic is down. Last year's holiday sales were flat. Car sales are still off. Ford and GM, once the most important companies in the world, are actually flirting with bankruptcy. Even Chrysler just laid off 23,000. Meanwhile, foreign investors are running from the U.S. dollar.
How "fine" does that sound to you?
You don't need to look far for the real truth. As recently as 2000, you paid only $273 for an ounce of gold. Today, you're paying more than $900. Back then, you also paid only a little over $1 for a gallon of gas. Today, get used to paying more than $3. Back then, even a barrel of oil cost only $22. Now we pay well over $90 per barrel.
Meanwhile, in downtown Oakland, Calif., half-finished condo projects dot city streets. Builders couldn't afford to finish them. Not far away, foreclosure rates have tripled. And the number of bank-owned properties in other areas is up 10-fold. How "healthy" is that?
I'm disgusted. And you should be too. But don't let government statistics lie to you any longer. Gold, oil, and the collapsing worldwide faith in the U.S. make it plain: We are a nation in financial trouble. And we're only heading deeper.
Think the politicians can help? Don't bank on it. Brace yourself for roaring tax hikes. And forget bottom-fishing for bargains. To save us, the Fed is killing the dollar. Now everything will cost more than it ever did.
How bad could this get? Pretty bad.
Oil at $125. Gold at $1,250. Could you be paying as much as $5 per gallon for gas by the end of summer? Absolutely. We're in for rough economic seas and crushing market conditions for as far as the eye can see.
That's why I URGE you to take steps right now to protect yourself. You'll find a complete set of those must-take steps in the Strategic Financial Survival Library I want to send you, free.
You just have to give me your permission.
Just don't wait too long...
Market Super-Shock #3: The Boneheaded "Bailouts" ThatCould Soon Cost You Everything
Remember Katrina? How about the war on drugs? The war on AIDS? The war on terror and the war in Iraq? Bureaucrats love to "fix" problems they can't fix and make promises they can't keep.
The latest are a string of "bailouts," tax rebates, and foreclosure "forgiveness" programs that are supposed to save America from going into a tailspin. But it's all too little, too late, and just too plain stupid to work.
These are multitrillion-dollar problems.
Families are flat broke. Jobs are gone. Stocks have tanked. Giving everyone a $600 advance on their tax rebates...or 30 extra days to come up with the mortgage money they don't have...won't do squat. Worse, the fix could even compound the problem.
Take the Fed.
Central banking is, for the most part, a fraud.
At best, it's a guessing game.
Instead of wiping out bad decisions, the Fed's radical policy of slashing rates and printing more dollars has only redistributed the losses to the most innocent bystanders — namely, the savers and dollar-earners.
Look, the Soviet Union was all about central planning. And that didn't work. Are we supposed to believe somehow that central planning will work differently here, just because it's Washington this time that's mismanaging our national wealth?
We're told we shouldn't worry. Meanwhile, total credit in the U.S. has grown from 150% percent of GDP to an eye-popping 340%! Americans carry so much debt now that if Bernanke were to raise interest rates even to 10% — which he should — people would flay him alive.
Meanwhile, the White House wants to blow $3 trillion this year. No wonder China is dumping our dollars. Even as it lures away our factories. Even as it makes new deals with Europe, leaving America in the dust.
Geez...remember when people used to take responsibility for their mistakes?
How Banks and Bureaucrats WillTry to Skip out on the Blame
When Paul Volcker stepped up to the plate in the late '70s, he had guts.
Oil prices were high then, too. So was gold. And the dollar was in deep trouble. Inflation ran as high as 13.5%. Volker, as the new chief of the Fed, roped in the money supply and cranked up interest rates, blowing a decade of monetary mismanagement out America's tailpipe.
Don't hold your breath for a hero today.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is looking out for his banking buddies. Ben Bernanke is looking out for his buddies on Wall Street. Politicians on the campaign trail and Congress are just looking to buy the election.
The Fed has injected a combined $207 billion in bailout cash so far. With more on the docket. That's four times the pile of cash unleashed just after Sept. 11, 2001. And guess what. It hasn't helped.
The big banks keep on revealing even bigger losses. Remember the knockout punch delivered by the S&L crisis in the 1980s? This is bigger. More than 2,500 banks, thrifts, credit unions and mortgage companies wrote a combined $1.5 trillion in subprime loans during the peak of the boom.
When George W. Bush's dad threw $150 billion at the S&Ls, it helped spark a three-year recession. What happens when Washington tries to defuse a multitrillion dollar time bomb?
I urge you not to count on anyone else to save you. You need your own sort of private, personal protection. Which is why I hope you'll let me rush you the free Strategic Financial Survivial Library we've talked about.
And once you do, there's something else I hope you'll let me do for you...
I Should Introduce Myself
My name is Addison Wiggin.
For nearly 15 years, I've studied markets, economies, and opportunities just like the ones we're talking about right now. I take today's debt crisis so seriously, I've co-written a book about it — Empire of Debt, which became a No. 1 New York Times best-seller.
If you are interested in the above offer, click here
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