What frightened the USS Donald Cook so much in the Black Sea?

The State Department acknowledged that the crew of the destroyer USS Donald Cook has been gravely demoralized ever since their vessel was flown over in the Black Sea by a Russian Sukhoi-24 (Su-24) fighter jet which carried neither bombs nor missiles but only an electronic warfare device.

This video shows the USS Donald Cook sailing into the Black Sea to position itself near Russia’s territorial waters.

On 10 April 2014, the USS Donald Cook entered the waters of the Black Sea and on 12 April a Russian Su-24tactical bomber flew over the vessel triggering an incident that, according to several media reports, completely demoralized its crew, so much so that the Pentagon issued a protest [1].

The USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) is a 4th generation guided missile destroyer whose key weapons are Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, and capable of carrying nuclear explosives. This ship carries 56 Tomahawk missiles in standard mode, and 96 missiles in attack mode.

The US destroyer is equipped with the most recent Aegis Combat System. It is an integrated naval weapons systems which can link together the missile defense systems of all vessels embedded within the same network, so as to ensure the detection, tracking and destruction of hundreds of targets at the same time. In addition, the USS Donald Cook is equipped with 4 large radars, whose power is comparable to that of several stations. For protection, it carries more than fifty anti-aircraft missiles of various types.

Meanwhile, the Russian Su-24 that buzzed the USS Donald Cook carried neither bombs nor missiles but only a basket mounted under the fuselage, which, according to the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta [2], contained a Russian electronic warfare device called Khibiny.

As the Russian jet approached the US vessel, the electronic device disabled all radars, control circuits, systems, information transmission, etc. on board the US destroyer. In other words, the all-powerful Aegis system, now hooked up - or about to be - with the defense systems installed on NATO’s most modern ships was shut down, as turning off the TV set with the remote control.

The Russian Su-24 then simulated a missile attack against the USS Donald Cook, which was left literally deaf and blind. As if carrying out a training exercise, the Russian aircraft - unarmed - repeated the same maneuver 12 times before flying away.

After that, the 4th generation destroyer immediately set sail towards a port in Romania.

Since that incident, which the Atlanticist media have carefully covered up despite the widespread reactions sparked among defense industry experts, no US ship has ever approached Russian territorial waters again.

According to some specialized media, 27 sailors from the USS Donald Cook requested to be relieved from active service.

Vladimir Balybine - director of the research center on electronic warfare and the evaluation of so-called "visibility reduction" techniques attached to the Russian Air Force Academy - made the following comment:

"The more a radio-electronic system is complex, the easier it is to disable it through the use of electronic warfare."

A video presentation of the US Aegis system. Currently installed on the most sophisticated US Navy warships and in the process of being set up throughout the entire range of NATO naval forces, this missile defense system was completely knocked out in the Black Sea by a Russian electronic warfare device.

Visual display of the incident.

Credit to Voltairenet.org

Washington National Cathedral "Host Muslim Friday Prayers

War Is Coming, Central Bankers Create Plans To Remove Assad

Rick Warren, Buddhist, Hindus, Muslims Join Vatican In Conference

The Decimation of Military Leadership

Since even before Obama assumed the Presidency, his mere presence in the 2008 election was an affront to every member of Congress that has Presidential aspirations. The foreign born and disbarred Barack Obama, who never held a real job in his life, and did not even serve one full term as a senator, was a slap in the face of our political system and all of those with much more experience were passed over for a “community activist”.

Obama Worse Than Woodrow Wilson

Obama and Wilson separated by a century but not by a desire to dismantle America.

As I have pointed out in Part Three of this series, Obama was not even vetted as a Presidential candidate by the FBI as required by law. Not since J. Edgar Hoover was complicit in the assassination of JFK, have we seen the FBI so manipulated and compromised in terms of validating Obama’s candidacy.

The day that Barack Hussein Obama took the oath of office, in January of 2009, was the day that the sun set on America. I never thought the country would ever see a President as corrupt, immoral and incompetent as Woodrow Wilson. After all,  in 1913, Wilson worked towards eliminating tariffs, the American government’s mainstay of economic support since the country’s inception.Wilson, on behalf the globalists, replaced tariffs with the corrupt and unconstitutional income tax and of course the Federal Reserve which has eroded the dollar to a net value of 3 cents of worth today. Wilson lied us into World War I, he jailed legitimate protesters and he helped make it possible to usher in the direct election of senators which handed over the Senate to the globalists. Wilson even tried to sacrifice the nation’s sovereignty by handing over our nation’s political authority to the League of Nations which was the globalist’s first attempt at world governance and he would have succeeded had it not been for the Ron Paul of his day, Henry Cabot Lodge. I never thought that there could be anybody worse for the country than Woodrow Wilson, until now. Obama is the most treasonous and destructive force to ever occupy the White House.

Just how destructive is Obama? Is he just incompetent? I have said it before and I will say it again, Obama, like Wilson, he  is following a systematic plan. Wilson’s agenda was relatively tame compared to Obama’s. It was Wilson’s mission to hand off the control America to the banksters and economically enslave the nation in debt. Obama’s mission is much more nefarious as his objective is clearly based upon the goal of the total destruction of the United States as we have known it. The following paragraphs will provide a mere snapshot of complete Obama’s destruction of America has been and make no mistake about it, Obama is not done with the American people. Before we move on to Obama’s blueprint to destroy America, please allow me to ask all of the Obama apologists who are defending this despot one question:

CAN YOU NAME JUST ONE THING THAT THIS PRESIDENT HAS DONE TO HELP THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?

   Because the scope of Obama’s attack upon America is complete and far-reaching, this part of this series is limited to Obama’s destruction of the American military as a prelude to invasion by Russia and possibly China.

The Destruction of the American Military

Obama is the Commander-in-Chief over a global military power that had no equal when he came into office. For Obama to destroy America, he must significantly weaken America.  Our main adversary, Russia, is merely a regional military power. If America is ever going to be conquered, the American military must be significantly weakened and this is precisely what Obama has done.

Destruction of Military Leadership

Obama has fired more commanders in a theater of war than any other president in American history.

If a foreign power were to assassinate 300 senior command officers, we would collectively recognize that we were in a state of war and the effectiveness of our military had been gravely diminished.    This is exactly what  Obama has done to the military as he has fired nearly 300 senior officers since moving  into the White House. The major reason that an officer gets fired in today’s military, is for the failure to enthusiastically embrace the subjugation of both the military and the country by the globalists. The military has fought back and Benghazi is an excellent case in point.

Benghazi

The late Ambassador Stevens

Most of the country does not know how close the country came to experiencing a military coup over the Benghazi affair in which Obama allowed, at minimum, Ambassador Chris Stevens to be murdered by the very al-Qaeda forces that he was supplying arms to on behalf of the CIA in Libya and Syria. Coincidentally, Stevens murder took place just two months before the election when word on his arms deals were being rumored. Of course, this is just a coincidence.

   There is now proof that Obama was warned in advance of the coming attack in which Stevens begged for more protection and his impassioned plea was denied by Clinton on behalf of Obama.

The former commander of AFRICOM who tried to rescue Chris Stevens.

Two of the top four military commanders in the Middle East, AFRICOM commander, General Hamm and Carrier Strike Force Three Commander, Admiral Gaouette tried to launch a mission to rescue Stevens. This was a coup attempt in response to the reign of terror being perpetrated by Obama against the viability of our military.

Admiral Gaouette provided surveillance for General Hamm’s attempted rescue of the ambassador.

   The American people have failed to recognize the sacrifice made by these two leaders.  As Stevens was begging for help after the attack had begun, General Hamm had activated a special forces team within minutes of learning that the embassy, which was really a CIA safe house, was under attack. When General Hamm received his “stand down” orders from Obama, he made plans to go ahead with the rescue and was arrested within minutes of contravening the order by his second in command, General Rodriquez. Admiral Gaouette, the commander of Carrier Strike Group Three, was preparing to provide intelligence and  air cover for General Hamm’s rescue team in violation of his standing orders and he was promptly relieved of command for allegations of inappropriate leadership judgment.” Stevens and his security team were subsequently murdered.

   Do not make the mistake in minimizing the fall of Hamm and Gaouette. The positions held by Hamm and Gaouette are so powerful and so sensitive, that their replacements required approval from the Senate. Make no mistake about it, this was a military coup being conducted at the highest level of our combat forces.

   Can we only imagine the headlines if Hamm and Gayoutte were successful in saving Stevens?  Can you imagine the reaction of America had it been revealed that an ambassador, on behalf of the administration, was running guns to terrorists and was financing the operation with child sex trafficking  and the selling of guns and drugs? Would you have liked to have had a front row seat at the press conference when Stevens told all under an agreement of immunity? One of two things would have happened: (1) A military coup would have taken over the White House; or (2) The House of Representatives would  have brought articles of impeachment against Obama and a trial would have been held in the Senate. The globalists, seeking to destroy America, through the destruction of the military, would have suffered a tremendous setback.

   Oh, and by the way, let’s not forget about the hacking of reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s computer:It’s not clear who hacked the CBS reporter’s computer as she investigated the Benghazi scandal, but the Obama administration has been very successful in covering its tracks on a number of scandalous fronts.

   Ultimately, why did Hamm and Gaoutte stand up to Obama?  They were acting in self-preservation mode. The entire military leadership in this country knows that it is under attack from this administration.

Following this watershed event, Obama stepped up his reign of terror against our military.

The Dismantling of our Nuclear Weapons Leadership

   In a series of unprecedented moves, the Obama administration fired several military commanders of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons system. The Air Force is reporting the firing is due to the current administrations “loss of trust”.  Yet, these officers have some of the highest clearances one can get, and have been in charge of the nation’s most sensitive nuclear arsenals and now they are being taken down on bogus allegations of using “fake” poker chips. We are sacrificing our most important command structure in the military over poker chips. In the context of Obama’s other actions against the military it is difficult to conclude that Obama is not deliberately weakening our ability to respond to a Russian nuclear attack. Intentional or not, that is precisely the net effect of these reckless actions against these leaders.

Russian Troops Training On Our Soil

Obama’s great giveaway

   In the ultimate act of betrayal, Obama gave away seven strategic Islands to Russia without explanation.

   I have previously and extensively covered the presence of Russian soldiers training on American soil.  When one considers the fact that Putin has twice threatened to nuke the United States in the past two years, one has to wonder about Obama’s motives with regard to Russian soldiers on American soil.

The Deliberate Scuttling of Military Discipline

   Women have served valiantl, but not in combat. Women are ill-equipped to be fighters because they lack the physical characteristics that provide for masculine strength. The presence of  homosexuals, who undermine 200 years of military discipline in this area, subvert unit cohesion at the squad and platoon level. We are not talking about IBM or your corner drug store, where one can argue preferences don’t matter. They matter greatly in the military. Is it not interesting that a soldier who happens to be a Christian runs the risk of being persecuted while a homosexual soldier is honored?  Also, far too many people who join the military for government benefits do not make for a quality fighting force. A weak military is a useless military, and Obama is keenly aware of this fact.

      The net effect of this attack upon the military has served to weaken it to the point to where we are vulnerable to attack from Russia and possibly China.

   In the next part of this series, I will summarize how Obama has attacked the American people through the deliberate degradation of our economy.

Credit to Common Sense

Obama’s Secret Treaty Would Be The Most Important Step Toward A One World Economic System

Barack Obama is secretly negotiating the largest international trade agreement in history, and the mainstream media in the United States is almost completely ignoring it.  If this treaty is adopted, it will be the most important step toward a one world economic system that we have ever seen.  The name of this treaty is "the Trans-Pacific Partnership", and the text of the treaty is so closely guarded that not even members of Congress know what is in it.  Right now, there are 12 countries that are part of the negotiations: the United States, Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.  These nations have a combined population of 792 million people and account for an astounding 40 percent of the global economy.  And it is hoped that the EU, China and India will eventually join as well.  This is potentially the most dangerous economic treaty of our lifetimes, and yet there is very little political debate about it in this country.

Even though Congress is not being allowed to see what is in the treaty, Barack Obama wants Congress to give him fast track negotiating authority.  What that means is that Congress would essentially trust Obama to negotiate a good treaty for us.  Congress could vote the treaty up or down, but would not be able to amend or filibuster it.

Of course now the Republicans control both houses of Congress.  If they are foolish enough to blindly give Barack Obama so much power, they should all immediately resign.

And it is critical that people understand that this is not just an economic treaty.  It is basically a gigantic end run around Congress.  Thanks to leaks, we have learned that so many of the things that Obama has deeply wanted for years are in this treaty.  If adopted, this treaty will fundamentally change our laws regarding Internet freedom, healthcare, copyright and patent protection, food safety, environmental standards, civil liberties and so much more.  This treaty includes many of the rules that alarmed Internet activists so much when SOPA was being debated, it would essentially ban all "Buy American" laws, it would give Wall Street banks much more freedom to trade risky derivatives and it would force even more domestic manufacturing offshore.

In other words, it is the treaty from hell.

In addition to imposing Obama's vision for the world on 40 percent of the global population, it is also being described as a "Christmas wish-list for major corporations".  Of the 29 chapters in the treaty, only five of them actually deal with economic issues.  The rest of the treaty deals with a whole host of other issues of great importance to the global elite.

The following list of issues addressed by this treaty is from a Malaysian news source...

• domestic court decisions and international legal standards (e.g., overriding domestic laws on both trade and nontrade matters, foreign investors’ right to sue governments in international tribunals that would overrule the national sovereignty)

• environmental regulations (e.g., nuclear energy, pollution, sustainability)

• financial deregulation (e.g., more power and privileges to the bankers and financiers)

• food safety (e.g., lowering food self-sufficiency, prohibition of mandatory labeling of genetically modified products, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease)

• Government procurement (e.g., no more buy locally produced/grown)

• Internet freedom (e.g., monitoring and policing user activity)

• labour (e.g., welfare regulation, workplace safety, relocating domestic jobs abroad)

• patent protection, copyrights (e.g., decrease access to affordable medicine)

• public access to essential services may be restricted due to investment rules (e.g., water, electricity, and gas)

Why can't we get this type of reporting in the United States?

And if this treaty is ultimately approved by Congress, we will essentially be stuck with it forever.

This treaty is written in such a way that the United States will be permanently bound by all of the provisions and will never be able to alter them unless all of the other countries agree.

Are you starting to understand why this treaty is so dangerous?

This treaty is the key to Obama's "legacy".  He wants to impose his will upon 40 percent of the global population in a way that will never be able to be overturned.

Of course Obama is touting this treaty as the path to economic recovery.  He promises that it will greatly increase global trade, decrease tariffs and create more jobs for American workers.

But instead, it would be a major step toward destroying what is left of the U.S. economy.

Over the past several decades, every time a major trade agreement has been signed we have seen even more good jobs leave the United States.

And it doesn't take a genius to figure out why this is happening.  If corporations can move jobs to the other side of the planet to nations where it is legal to pay slave labor wages, they will make larger profits.

Just think about it.  If you were running a corporation and you had the choice of paying workers ten dollars an hour or one dollar an hour, which would you choose?

Plus there are so many other costs, taxes and paperwork hassles when you deal with American workers.  For example, big corporations will not have to provide Obamacare for their foreign workers.  That alone will represent a huge savings.

Any basic course in economics will teach you that labor flows from markets where labor costs are high to markets where labor costs are lower.  And at this point it costs less to make almost everything overseas.  As a result, we have already lost millions upon millions of good jobs, and countless small and mid-size U.S. companies have been forced to shut down because they cannot compete with foreign manufacturers.

Later this month, consumers will flock to retail stores for "Black Friday" deals.  But if you look carefully at those products, you will find that almost all of them are made overseas.  We buy far, far more from the rest of the world than they buy from us, and that is a recipe fornational economic suicide.

We consume far more wealth that we produce, and anyone with half a brain can see that is not sustainable in the long run.  The only way that we have been able to maintain our high standard of living is by going into insane amounts of debt.  We are currently living in the largest debt bubble in the history of the planet, and at some point the party is going to end.

Please share this article with as many people as you can.  We need to inform people about what Obama is trying to do.

If Obama is successful in ramming this secret treaty through, it is going to do incalculable damage to what is left of the once great U.S. economy.

Credit to Economic Collpase

The Cycle Of War Turns Up Next Week

We have to be concerned that the Cycle of War turns back up next week.

NATO has reported that Russian troops have now invaded Eastern Ukraine. In the Cycles of War Report we wrote that target will be November 19/20, 2014 (2014.8871) where we should see some escalation in activity. It appears this may be correct and on point. Caution should be advised next week.





Meanwhile, Russia’s long-range bombers will conduct regular patrol missions from the Arctic Ocean to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Putin has been demonstrating Russia has the capability to invade Europe and America with aircraft. This is a military a show of muscle reflecting tensions with the West over Ukraine. It is increasingly beginning to look like Obama has laid the seeds for World War III and a confrontation with Russia. His ability to wipe out both the Constitution and all the efforts to create world peace since Nixon are amazing. He will clearly go down as perhaps the worst American President in all recorded history.

Between Pakistan and India things are also not heating up. Taking a closer look at the region, we see cross-border firing between India and Pakistan is affecting ordinary people on both sides of the Kashmiri frontline. The two nuclear powers have been considered arch-rivals since they became independent from the British Empire in 1947, and have fought four wars since then. This is the divide distinguished by religion.



In Mexico, demonstrators have set fire to the door of the main entrance of the Mexican National Palace in Mexico City on November 8, 2014. The crowd was furious at the presumed massacre of 43 students. They stormed and torched the ruling party’s Guerrero state headquarters and briefly took a police commander prisoner as growing protests rocked President Enrique Pena Nieto’s government.

In the United States, tensions are building in Ferguson Missouri with the Police Department and Gov. Jay Nixon still failing to grasp that this is brewing into a national problem with police simply always just shooting people to kill. The Governor said that 1,000 officers from multiple agencies went through 5,000 hours of additional training in preparation for possible reactions to the upcoming grand jury announcement.However, on the side of people, gun sales have risen and on the government side, the police are also arming. If the confrontation turns violent again, the police will use their military full force they claim is riot gear. 

Though the grand jury has until January to make a decision, the prosecutor’s office has said that an announcement on whether it will indict Ferguson officer Darren Wilson could come as early as mid-November. If this comes out with no indictment on November 19th/20th, it could prove to be a rather important event long-term.

Credit to Zero Hedge

24 Reasons Why Millennials Are Screaming Mad About Our Unfair Economy

Do you want to know why Millennials seem so angry?  We promised them that if they worked hard, stayed out of trouble and got good grades that they would be able to achieve the "American Dream".  We told them not to worry about accumulating very high levels of student loan debt because there would be good jobs waiting for them at the end of the rainbow once they graduated.  Well, it turns out that we lied to them.  Nearly half of all Millennials are spending at least half of their paychecks to pay off debt, more than 30 percent of them are living with their parents because they can't find decent jobs, and this year the homeownership rate for Millennials sunk to a brand new all-time low.  When you break U.S. adults down by age, our long-term economic decline has hit the Millennials the hardest by far.  And yet somehow we expect them to bear the burden of providing Medicare, Social Security and other social welfare benefits to the rest of us as we get older.  No wonder there is so much anger and frustration among our young people.  The following are 24 reasons why Millennials are screaming mad about our unfair economy...

#1 The current savings rate for Millennials is negative 2 percent.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Not only aren't Millennials saving any money, they are actually spending a good bit more than they are earning every month.

#2 A survey conducted earlier this year found that 47 percent of all Millennials are using at least half of their paychecks to pay off debt.

#3 For U.S. households that are headed up by someone under the age of 40, average wealth is still about 30 percent below where it was back in 2007.

#4 In 2005, the homeownership rate for U.S. households headed up by someone under the age of 35 was approximately 43 percent.  Today, it is sitting at about 36 percent.

#5 One recent survey discovered that an astounding 31.1 percent of all U.S. adults in the 18 to 34-year-old age bracket are currently living with their parents.

#6 At this point, the top 0.1 percent of all Americans have about as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent of all Americans combined.  Needless to say, there aren't very many Millennials in that top 0.1 percent.

#7 Since Barack Obama has been in the White House, close to 40 percent of all 27-year-olds have spent at least some time unemployed.

#8 Only about one out of every five 27-year-olds owns a home at this point, and an astounding 80 percent of all 27-year-olds are paying off debt.

#9 In 2013, the ratio of what men in the 18 to 29-year-old age bracket were earning compared to what the general population was earning reached an all-time low.

#10 Back in the year 2000, 80 percent of all men in their late twenties had a full-time job.  Today, only 65 percent do.

#11 In 2012, one study found that U.S. families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

#12 Another study released back in 2011 discovered that U.S. households led by someone 65 years of age or older are 47 timeswealthier than U.S. households led by someone 35 years of age or younger.

#13 Half of all college graduates in America are still financially dependent on their parents when they are two years out of college.

#14 In 1994, less than half of all college graduates left school with student loan debt.  Today, it is over 70 percent.

#15 At this point, student loan debt has hit a grand total of 1.2 trillion dollars in the United States.  That number has grown by about 84 percent just since 2008.

#16 According to the Pew Research Center, nearly four out of every ten U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 40 are currently paying off student loan debt.

#17 In 2008, approximately 29 million Americans were paying off student loan debt.  Today, that number has ballooned to 40 million.

#18 Since 2005, student loan debt burdens have absolutely exploded while salaries for young college graduates have actually declined…

The problem developing is that earnings and debt aren’t moving in the same direction. From 2005 to 2012, average student loan debt has jumped 35%, adjusting for inflation, while the median salary has actually dropped by 2.2%.

#19 According to CNN, 260,000 Americans with a college or professional degree made at or below the federal minimum wage last year.

#20 Even after accounting for inflation, the cost of college tuition increased by 275 percent between 1970 and 2013.

#21 In the years to come, much of the burden of paying for Medicare for our aging population will fall on Millennials.  It is being projected that the number of Americans on Medicare will grow from 50.7 million in 2012 to 73.2 million in 2025.  In addition, it has been estimated that Medicare is facing unfunded liabilities of more than 38 trillion dollars over the next 75 years.  That comes to approximately $328,404 for every single household in the United States.

#22 In the years to come, much of the burden of paying for our exploding Medicaid system will fall on Millennials.  Today, more than 70 million Americans are on Medicaid, and it is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.

#23 In the years to come, much of the burden of paying for our massive Ponzi scheme known as Social Security will fall on Millennials.  Right now, there are more than 63 million Americans collecting Social Security benefits.  By 2035, that number is projected to soar to an astounding 91 million.  In 1945, there were 42 workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits.  Today, that number has fallen to 2.5 workers, and if you eliminate all government workers, that leaves only 1.6 private sector workers for every retiree receiving Social Security benefits.

#24 Our national debt is currently sitting at a grand total of $17,937,617,036,693.09.  It is on pace to roughly double during the Obama years, and Millennials are expected to service that debt for the rest of their lives.

Yes, there are certainly some Millennials that are flat broke because they are lazy and irresponsible.

But there are many others that have tried to do everything right and still find that they can't get any breaks.  For example, Bloomberg recently shared the story of a young couple named Jason and Jessica Alinen...

The damage inflicted on U.S. households by the collapse of the housing market and recession wasn’t evenly distributed. Just ask Jason and Jessica Alinen.

The couple, who live near Seattle, declared bankruptcy in 2011 when the value of the house they then owned plunged to less than $200,000 from the $349,000 they paid for it four years earlier, just as the economic slump was about to start. Jason even stopped getting haircuts to save money.

“We thought we’d have a white picket fence, two kids, two dogs, and we’d have $100,000 in equity,” said Jason, 33, who does have two children. “It’s just really frustrating.”

Can you identify with them?

Most young Americans just want to work hard, buy a home and start a family.

But for millions of them, that dream might as well be a million miles away right now.

Unfortunately, most of them have absolutely no idea why this has happened.

Many of them end up blaming themselves.  Many of them think that they are not talented enough or that they didn't work hard enough or that they don't know the right people.

What they don't know is that the truth is that decades of incredibly foolish decisions are starting to catch up with us in a major way, and they just happen to be caught in the crossfire.

Sadly, instead of becoming informed about what is happening to our country, a very large percentage of our young people are absolutely addicted to entertainment instead.

Below, I want to share with you a video that I recently came across.  You can find it on YouTube right here.  A student at Texas Tech University recently asked some of her classmates a series of questions.  When they were asked about Brad Pitt or Jersey Shore they knew the answers right away.  But when they were asked who won the Civil War or who the current Vice-President of the United States is, they deeply struggled.  I think that this video says a lot about where we are as a society today...

Credit to Economic Collapse

Warrior Police Force

"World’s Richest Restaurateur" Sees An Imminent Crash In America's "Crazy" Real-Estate Market 6

When it comes to the fair value of assets, especially cash-flow generating real estate, few are as qualified to opine as the man dubbed “World’s Richest Restaurateur”, billionaire Tilman Fertitta, chairman of Landry's Restaurants which counts among its properties such brand names as Morton’s, Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., McCormick & Schmick’s, Saltgrass Steak House, Claim Jumper, Chart House, The Oceanaire, Mastro’s Restaurants, Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse and many more.

Which is why his dire warning about the state of the "crazy" US real estate market, which he believes set for an imminent crash, are likely worth keeping in mind as all the panglossian permabulls see nothing but a 4th dead housing cat rebound ahead. That, and his take on inflation: "There is huge inflation going on right now."


From his interview on Bloomberg TV yesterday:

Fertitta: You are seeing crazy numbers from real estate. You are seeing it New York probably more than anywhere else; you are seeing it in Texas; you are seeing it in California. History always repeats itself, but I think it's going to repeat a little sooner this time. You see it coming.

Q. You smell a crash in the real estate market?

Fertitta: Absolutely I do. I can see it in Houston right now.

Q. It's going to be 1986 all over again?

Fertitta: Absolutely. It didn't come back in Texas until 1996, it took 10 years for it to happen in Texas.

For all those who see nothing but blue skies from falling crude prices, here is Fertitta's contrarian view: "Oil needs to hit $50/barrell for it to cause a total crash."

Oops.

Finally, for the deflation truthers, here is what Fertitta had to say about inflation:

Ben Bernanke was at Rich Handler's house and he says "there' no inflation." Well go buy something, whether at the grocery store, the drug store, the broom and mop store, and there is inflation everywhere. I have so many types of businesses so I buy everything from labor, to mops, to food, to shrimp, to stake and everything is more expensive. We are raising prices: that's why right now you pay more for an airline ticket, you pay more for a hotel room, you pay more for a pot of coffee. There is huge inflation going on right now.

Credit to Zero Hedge

EU wants to rebuke Russia on Ukraine but can't refuse Mistral cash