Peter Schiff and Greg Hunter on the economic collapse

Pope Francis Visit USA On "Blood Moon"

George W. Bush calls Bill Clinton ‘brother from another mother’

I would say they are from the same mother ....

Now you see how all of them are wolves from the same hill....

An unlikely bromance

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton broadcast their unlikely bromance on social media Tuesday when Clinton posted a picture of himself reading Bush’s new book.

Clinton’s #HowAreYouStillNotOnTwitter hashtag is a reference to his President’s Day tweet this year, which ribbed the younger Bush for not having an account. This time, Bush responded. He posted Clinton’s tweet on Instagram with the caption, “Thanks, 42! Hope you like the book about your pal, #41. #HowAreYouSTILLNotOnInstagram #PresidentialGrammers #BrotherFromAnotherMother”.

This is not the first public display of affection between the two former presidents. Clinton often refers to himself as the “black sheep son” of the Bush family, and Bush challenged Clinton to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge earlier this year. Their bipartisan friendship is all the more remarkable given that Clinton beat Bush’s father, President George H. W. Bush, in the 1992 election, ousting Bush Sr. after only one term in office.

Credit to TIME and Infowars

Obamacare = A Death Panel For The U.S. Economy

Did you know that some Americans are being hit with health insurance rate increases of more than 500 percent?  Taking advantage of "the stupidity of the American voter", the Democrats succeeded in ramming through one of the worst pieces of legislation that has ever come before Congress.  The full implementation of Obamacare has been repeatedly delayed, but now we are finally starting to see the true horror of this terrible law.  Thanks to Obamacare, millions of American families are losing health plans that they were very happy with, health insurance rates are skyrocketing, millions of workers are having their full-time hours cut back to part-time hours, rural hospitals all over the country are dying, and thousands of doctors are being driven out of the industry thus intensifying the greatest doctor shortage in U.S. history.  Obamacare is a slow-motion train wreck of epic proportions, and the full effect of this law is only beginning to be felt.  In the end, the economic impact of this law will likely be measured in the trillions of dollars.

One of the primary reasons why Democrats experienced so much pain during the recent elections was because millions of Americans are receiving some very disturbing letters from their health insurance providers.  At a time when U.S. incomes are stagnating, health insurance rates are rising to absolutely ridiculous levels.

As the New York Times recently reported, even the Obama administration is admitting that "substantial price increases" are on the way...

The Obama administration on Friday unveiled data showing that many Americans with health insurance bought under the Affordable Care Act could face substantial price increases next year — in some cases as much as 20 percent — unless they switch plans.

The data became available just hours before the health insurance marketplace was to open to buyers seeking insurance for 2015.

An analysis of the data by The New York Times suggests that although consumers will often be able to find new health plans with prices comparable to those they now pay, the situation varies greatly from state to state and even among counties in the same state.

Originally, Barack Obama promised that if we liked our current health plans that we could keep them.  Well, it turns out that was not true at all.  Instead, the vast majority of us will eventually have to move to new plans if we have not done so already.  This is particularly true for those that purchase health insurance individually.  The following is an excerpt from an NBC News investigation...

Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC News that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”

This is something that actually happened to me.  I received a letter in the mail informing me that my new health insurance policy which meets the requirements of Obamacare will cost me nearly twice as much as my old one.

Needless to say, I was not too thrilled about that.

Other Americans are being hit even harder.  For instance, one family down in Texas got hammered with a 539 percent rate increase...

Obamacare is named the "Affordable Care Act," after all, and the President promised the rates would be "as low as a phone bill." But I just received a confirmed letter from a friend in Texas showing a 539% rate increase on an existing policy that's been in good standing for years.

As the letter reveals (see below), the cost for this couple's policy under Humana is increasing from $212.10 per month to $1,356.60 per month. This is for a couple in good health whose combined income is less than $70K -- a middle-class family, in other words.

These rate increases are coming at a time when the middle class in the U.S. is already steadily shrinking.  A lot of families that are already stretched to the breaking point are making the very painful decision to give up health insurance entirely.  At this point, there are millions of families that simply cannot afford it.

But Obama is not about to let those people off the hook.  In fact, huge tax penalties are on the way for those that do not participate in the new system...

Penalties for failing to secure a health-insurance plan will rise steeply next year, which could take a big bite out of some families’ pocketbooks.

“The penalty is meant to incentivize people to get coverage,” said senior analyst Laura Adams of InsuranceQuotes.com. “This year, I think a lot of people are going to be in for a shock.”

In 2014, Obamacare’s first year, individuals are facing a penalty of $95 per person, or 1 percent of their income, depending on which is higher. If an American failed to get coverage this year, that penalty will be taken out of their tax refund in early 2015, Adams noted.

While that might be painful to some uninsured Americans who are counting on their tax refunds in early 2015, the penalty for going uninsured next year is even harsher. The financial penalty for skipping out on health coverage will more than triple to $325 per person in 2015, or 2 percent of income, depending on whichever is higher.

Children will be fined at half the adult rate, or $162.50 for those under 18 years old.

No wonder so many people are so angry with the Democrats.

And as Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Jonathan Gruber has so infamously observed, Obamacare never would have become law if the American people had been told the truth about what it would do to them.

It has been documented that Gruber has visited the White House about a dozen times since 2009, and he has been one of the leading intellectual proponents of Obamacare.  A video in which he states that "the stupidity of the American voter" was "really critical" to the passage of Obamacare has gone viral over the past week.  I have posted a copy of this video below...

What he is essentially saying is that the Democrats purposely deceived the American people because it was the only way that Obamacare was going to become law.

And this is a man that has become very wealthy advising government on healthcare matters.  According to an article in the Washington Post, he has made millions of dollars from "consulting" in recent years...

Not all of the contracts could be found on public Web sites, but here is a sampling. In some cases, Gruber worked with other consultants, so the fees were shared. These figures also might not represent the final payout, and of course these are gross figures, before expenses. But it’s safe to say that about $400,000 appears to be the standard rate for gaining access to the Gruber Microsimulation Model.

Michigan: $481,050

Minnesota: $329,000

Vermont: $400,000

Wisconsin: $400,000

Gruber has also earned more than $2 million over the last seven years for an ongoing contract with HHS to assess choices made by the elderly in Medicare’s prescription-drug plan.

If you are Gruber, life is quite good.

But for most of the rest of America, the economic pain continues.

For example, one recent study found that almost half of all Floridians cannot even afford "to pay for basic necessities"...

Nearly half of Florida households do not earn enough to pay for basic necessities, according to a report released Tuesday by the United Way that seeks to cast a light on the large group of state residents who struggle financially but do not meet the official criteria for being in poverty.

While 15 percent of Florida households are below the poverty level, another 30 percent are financially insecure — a figure that also applies to Sarasota and Manatee counties — based on a new measurement developed by the United Way.

If all those people cannot even afford the basics, how are they going to pay for Obamacare?

This law is going to financially cripple millions of American families.  It truly is a death panel for the U.S. economy.  And because Barack Obama can veto anything that the Republicans in Congress do, we are stuck with it for at least another two years (and probably longer).

So what about you?

Have your health insurance premiums gone up yet?

Please feel free to add to the discussion by posting a comment below...

Credit to economic Collopase

OBAMA IS CURRENTLY PLACING THE U.S. IN A CORPORATE CONTROLLED POLICE STATE DICTATORSHIP

While the United States is fully preoccupied with global crises ranging from the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, the spread of Ebola and the conflict in Ukraine, there is another development on the world stage which threatens the economic health of every single American and American based business. Specifically, I am referencing the Trans Pacific Partnership. The protocols of the TPP establishes a free-trade zone/bloc stretching from Vietnam to Chile and Japan. The most draconian free trade agreement in history includes nearly a billion people which encompass almost 40% of the world’s economy. Since Obama failed to fast-track the TPP into law last year, he has made amazing progress and America is nearing its fate with destiny. 

Transferring the American Economy to a Corporate Dictatorship 

As America races toward her date with destiny, there is yet another “fundamentally transforming” event coming her way and that event is known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Many of us in the media believe that some of the effects of the TPP will be felt before the coming war and martial law crackdown. However, after careful analysis, I am convinced that the brunt of the TPP will be felt after the America we know has been totally taken over in a post-war and post-economic collapse scenario. At the end of the day, it does not matter when the implementation of the TPP comes, because when it does, America will no longer be recognizable to anyone who has grown up in this once great country.

The Implementation of the TPP Is Progressing By Stealth

Some of you are reading these words have no idea what the Trans-Pacific Partnership consists of. Most of you have never heard of it. Some of you have heard or read the term, but fail to realize the extreme danger that the implementation of this so-called trade agreement will mean to America and our way of life. A scant few are coming to realize just how dangerous the TPP truly is. For the record, the TPP is masquerading as a free trade agreement involving the US, Australia, Japan, Canada,Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, Chile,  Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and Singapore. The TPP is much, much more than a free trade agreement. 

With regard to the TPP, ignorance of the organization is understandable. We in the truthful media have not fulfilled our duty to fully explore the ramifications of the TPP because so little is publicly known, Obama has taken full advantage of the cloudy environment and is preparing to even bypass the constitutionally required approval of the Congress before implementing the TPP through a process called “fast-tracking.”

Obama Is Bypassing Congressional Approval

Under the TPP, GMO labels for US food would not be allowed. Also not allowed is Congressional oversight. 

President Obama is indeed seeking Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority for the TPP as he is feverishly attempting to get the deal done by the end of the year. If Obama does manage to sign the agreement without Congressional approval, this would effectively neuter Congress in the final approval process. Under such an agreement, this would permit Obama to sign the trade agreement “without Congressional approval.”

When something is secret and kept from you, it is usually very bad for you!

After “Fast-Tracking,” Obama would send the finalized agreement to Congress and this would subsequently force a vote within 90 days. Congressional debate would be very limited and no amendments would be permitted. Even if Congress wanted to protect the American worker and the American economy from devastation, they cannot if Obama obtains the power to fast-track the TPP.

Let’s be clear, Obama is violating the separation of powers principle of the US Constitution by leaving Congress in the dark and by limiting their ability to use their Congressional powers as they would with any other legislation. The rumors of the TPP policies are so horrific that even the Kool-Aid drinkers from the Democratic party are calling on Obama to allow more transparency. Congress is asking Obama to allow for more transparency? I did not know that we passed a Constitutional amendment which states that Congress works for Obama.

The TPP Represents the Total Loss of US Sovereignty

The TPP is the brain child of the corporations. The TPP places all member nations directly under the control of the TPP instead of their respective national governments. Congress has been denied access to review any of the documents. Alan Grayson (D-FL) was granted a special exemption to view a small part of the TPP and he was told by TPP officials to keep his mouth shut as Grayson recalls that “They maintain that the text is classified information. I’m a member of Congress, but now they tell me that they don’t want me to talk to anybody about it because if I did, I’d be releasing classified information.”  Do you realize what this means? The corporate controlled TPP has granted themselves the authority to exercise the governmental power of classifying documents and Congress is included in the exclusion. Do you understand that this means we are living in a corporate dictatorship? It gets even worse.

Meet Your New Government: Monsanto and Walmart

As if it is not egregious enough that Congress is not allowed to view TPP documents, the 600 corporate officials, who form the TPP panel (e.g. corporate officials from corporations such as Monsanto and Walmart, have complete control of the developmental process of the TPP. Obama can view any part of the process, Congress and the American public cannot.

Further, a leaked chapter of the TPP speaks to the creation of a TPP Tribunal Council which will have the authority to force member nations to transform its laws, its civil procedures, its criminal procedures, even its electoral process, in order to abide by the TPP Tribunal dictates. The bottom line is that we are witnessing the destruction of the Constitution and the entire legal code of the United States, because once the tribunal makes a ruling with regard to a national law, there is no appeal. The Tribunal consists of unelected bureaucrats who are appointed by the creators of the TPP. The term of office for Tribunal officials is unlimited.

The most disturbing aspect of this agreement is that the TPP totally eviscerates the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution. If, for example, the State of Arizona wanted to outlaw fracking, the TPP could overrule the local legislation if it so desired. To illustrate how far this unconstitutional corporate power extends, the TPP could declare cocaine trafficking to be legal and this could not be challenged by any level of government, nor is it subject to review by the Supreme Court. Obama and his TPP cronies are writing the obituary for the U.S. Constitution.

The TPP represents the total obliteration of American sovereignty. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention another small set of details. How long do you think it will take until the TPP imposes a draconian version of cap and trade upon the American people and small businesses? The cap and trade version of what Obama tried to get passed in the Senate, when he first took office, consisted of reducing everyone’s energy consumption by 80% and utility rates “would necessarily skyrocket.”

Please pause for just one moment and ask yourself if you like would like an 80% reduction of individual and business energy use and what that dramatic reduction of energy use would look like? The rank and file in this country would effectively be living in 1890.

This is Agenda 21 on steroids and it is being fully implemented through the backdoor. That is why the TPP is being kept from Congress and the American people.

These facts lead me to state that this President needs to be arrested and tried for treason.

Conclusion

 Even the Chinese get it, while the Americans comfortably sit on the couch while their nation is being carved up piece by piece.

Obama’s fast tracking of the TPP is designed to be completed by the end of the year which would coincide with the commencement of many of Obama’s health care reforms which are in the process of being implemented (e.g. the tripling Obamacare fines and the full exposure of the “death panels” which deny many kinds of heathcare treatments at age 70 and above).

I wish I could accurately state that the loss of sovereignty is the only threat that the TPP poses to the American people. However, to say so, would constitute a grossly inaccurate statement. Under the TPP, the alternative media will be destroyed, guns will be confiscated and the face of American employment will be forever changed in ways that you will not believe. If anything, this article has understated the threat posed to America by the TPP. The TPP is not a free trade agreement, it is a document which introduces a new era into American government. If the TPP passes, we will be living in an absolute corporate dictatorship. This constitutes a form of economic martial law. And while this article is passing out one nightmare after another, please consider the fact that China and Russia are being purposely left out of the TPP.  From an economic standpoint, that makes no sense unless one realizes that we are on a collision course with World War III and the BRIC nations, headed by China and Russia who will be our opponent in the upcoming conflict.

In his recent trip to Asia, Obama said the TPP, is in a deadlock largely due to disagreement between the United States and Japan over how widely Japan will open its doors to farm exports, had the potential to be an “historic achievement”. JAPANESE FARMERS ARE THE ONLY OBSTACLE REMAINING THAT WHEN RESOLVED, WILL RESULT IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A TOTAL CORPORATE CONTROLLED POLICE STATE DICTATORSHIP OVER THE UNITED STATES. 

Credit to Common Sense 

THE UNITED HOLOGRAPHIC STATES OF AMERICA

There is a convergence of unprecedented events coming to America and the world that will go into a kind of hyper-drive in 2015 or soon after. It is difficult to set exact dates because there are various forces which can change the dynamic. The important point is that none of these geopolitical, economic, scientific, technological, or sociological forces are due to random chance or accidents. The primary drivers are globally and socially engineered forces planned by a scientific elite. This elite manipulates economies, food prices, social structures, and what could be called the mass or collective consciousness of the American people through science and technology that most people have no idea exists.

What we now call America is simply a kind of holographic projection of consciousness and interdimensional forces by this elite along with the mass mind or “hive mind” of the collective… the collective consciousness. To use a term coined by the Canadian MKULTRA psychiatrist, Dr. Cameron, the national “hive mind” and the global “hive mind” have been produced by processes such as “depatterning.” Dr. Cameron conducted experiments on “patients” in a psychiatric hospital where he would literally wipe their minds clean through powerful psychiatric drugs, electroshock therapy, and playing endless hours of hypnotic audio tapes that essentially erased people’s minds so that he could program them the way he wanted to.

Prior to 1950, America was primarily a nation which held to some form of Christian values, patriotism, traditional family values, capitalism, and a belief in right or wrong. However, after World War II, America brought into our nation Nazi mind control scientists under what was called Operation Paperclip, and in the early 1960s the Tavistock Institute launched a campaign from Great Britain to completely transform America through sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, and the mysticism of a tsunami of British rock bands like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and many others.

Simultaneously, in San Francisco the Stanford Research Institute began distributing LSD through people like author Ken Kesey, who traveled across the country and gave out free LSD in what was called “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.” These experiments led to the explosion of a West Coast counter-culture of acid-driven rock’n’roll bands like the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix and culminated at the Woodstock rock’n’roll festival in New York. What this was on a mass scale was a kind of depatterning from traditional American values.

The point is that none of this happened by accident! All of this was the product of strategic social engineering, and many of the leaders of the counter culture were sponsored by government agencies or worked for them, like Ken Kesey, who was turned on to LSD by the CIA at Stanford Research Institute; Dr. Timothy Leary, the Harvard psychiatrist who promoted the use of LSD; and many others. This was accomplished with a continual “shock and awe” campaign of always pushing the envelope, breaking taboos, and reframing the American mind through music, film, and television. The movie The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman, broke taboos on American ideas on traditional marriage and introduced the “anti-hero” in film. Prior to the rise of the “anti-hero,” American films promoted the image of the American male as a hero and a champion of traditional American values. The audiences vicariously identified with the hero or heroine and followed their moral leadership.

The “anti-hero” became a cinematic device for deconstructing America and American values. Again, the combined effect of educational institutions, books, films, television, radio, and music along with the use of legal and illegal drugs created the psychological environment for depatterning and deprogramming.

The agenda behind all this was to condition people for the acceptance of a Socialist World State, a world government and a one world economic system. As we look all around us we see the final phases of this agenda taking place as the wealth of the American middle class is being drained. Our freedoms have been lost and we are about to endure the final phases of transformation.

In order for this transformation to be successful the elites had to properly condition millions of Americans to be unaware of what had happened, where this is going, or to see the big picture. This has been done through the strategic suppression of the right brain which has the capacity to question, see the big picture, and enter much higher levels of consciousness. Stripping art, good literature, and classical music from education along with the robotic teaching to the test has shut down the right brain in countless millions of people. Added to this is the distribution of legal drugs, and chemical additives in the food and water, which all shut down the right brain.

This creates a caste system and what Aldous Huxley called the Scientific Dictatorship. Zibiginew Brzezinski, co-founder of the Trilateral Commission with Rockefeller, also called openly for global mind control through psychotronic weapons and other technologies. The reality that people are experiencing is a kind of holographic projection from a scientific elite, which they have agreed on a subconscious level to accept as reality.

The only way an individual can find freedom from the holographic prison is to go outside the prison.This requires knowledge that is becoming increasingly censored. If any individual chooses to accept this present consensual holographic reality as being the final truth, they are locked in hopelessly. People who have managed to activate their right brain are able to enter the higher levels of thinking which can open the door and enable them to transcend what is termed the Matrix.

The Scientific Elite are fully aware that our world and consciousness are infinitely bigger than the holographic reality the masses live in. They are aware of multi-dimensional realities and multi-dimensional entities. When a person transcends the holographic reality, he receives a tremendous bandwidth of data and learns the truth, which is different than the holographic illusion.

Unfortunately, most of what is called religion, even most of what passes for Christianity, is often an instrument of control being used by those who create the holographic reality. But true spirituality involves a supernatural relationship with the Personal Living God of the Universe. The idea of a Personal Living God of the Universe is mocked and laughed at, not because it is not true, but precisely because it is true. We are not talking about organized religion. Jesus Christ said “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9

If you think about those words in completely non-traditional religious terms, Jesus is saying that He is the door into a completely different dimension of reality. The dimension of reality that Jesus is speaking of is outside of the holographic prison. It is interesting to note that the “door” out of the holographic prison is personal; it is not just an abstract energy force or portal.

People are now indoctrinated from birth to ridicule any idea of a personal door into a higher dimension. They are taught that the universe is non-personal and we are here by random chance. Thus, there is no purpose for our lives, except for the purpose that has been programmed into us by those who wish to give us a “cradle to grave” slave assignment. The indoctrination is based on the lie that each person’s life is completely meaningless, except for how they may serve the “hive brain,” run by an elite.

There is another lie that is part of this indoctrination, and that is “learned helplessness” or the illusion that you are powerless. When you go through the door into a higher dimension, you will discover that there are tremendous sources of power and energy. This is what the Bible calls receiving “power from on high.” The exact word for power comes from the word “dynamis,” which means an explosive force like dynamite. The holographic reality we live in is artificial and it is based on lies and illusions,but when you access power from on high you have the ability to use that power to reconfigure reality. In other words when you are connected via a network to a higher dimension, that higher dimension of reality can transform the holographic reality we now call America. I deal with this in my new book, Mass Event.

Credit to Paul McGuire

Secret EU Document Reveals Israel Sanctions Policy

EU has distributed document to member-states outlining punishments against Israel for 'red lines' - like Jerusalem construction.

The European Union (EU) has sent a secret document to its 28 member states detailing sanctions to be taken against Israel, if it takes moves the EU feels compromises the creation of an Arab state of 'Palestine' inside Israel.

The paper, drafted by the European External Action Service (EEAS), was distributed to European diplomats who were told not to show it to Israel yet, according to Haaretz. Israeli diplomats in Europe became aware of the document and reported on it to the Foreign Ministry.

Some of the "red lines" which the EU would react to by punishing Israel with the sanctions include construction in the E1 area between Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adumim, as well as in Jerusalem neighborhoods over the 1949 Armistice line. According to the EU, such moves would prevent a division of Jerusalem by which it would be the capital of both Israel and "Palestine."

Sanctions under discussion in the document reportedly include marking products from Judea and Samaria in EU supermarkets to facilitate boycotts, limiting cooperation with Israel, and even limiting the free-trade agreement with Israel.

"There is big frustration in Europe and zero tolerance for settlement activity. This paper is part of the internal brainstorming being done in Brussels these days, about what can be done to keep the two-state solution alive," a European diplomat revealed.

According to the diplomat and his colleagues, the document contains "sticks and carrots" to foist Europe's political vision on Israel - they acknowledged it mostly contains "sticks."

EU policy up to this point has put the development of ties with Israel as contingent upon the "peace process." The caveat of the new document is that the EU will now take negative steps such as sanctions and restrictions in ties in response to actions it views as being against that process.

"This paper is an uncooked dish and the process is only beginning, but it is slowly continuing," warned a senior European diplomat.

Officials speaking to Haaretz revealed the document was drafted by Christian Berger of Austria, the director for Middle East of the EEAS. Berger was behind EU sanctions last July as well.

The talk of EU sanctions comes two weeks after human rights groups and political parties in Europe demanded that the EU threaten to suspend the Association Agreement with Israel, which is the central treaty between the two sides. They called for the threat so as to force Israel to give a report on its actions fighting the Hamas terror group in Operation Protective Edge.

At the time Federica Mogherini, the EU's new foreign affairs chief, was in Israel where she called to divide the Israeli capital of Jerusalem.

European officials last month revealed they are weighing various punitive actions against Israel, such as a travel ban on Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria with any criminal record, as well as moves to subvert the trade agreement.

The various moves against Israel come as anti-Semitism has been shown to be skyrocketing in Europe, with research revealing exponential increases in anti-Semitic acts and speech particularly around the recent Gaza operation.




Credit to Israelnationalnews.com

SIS now 'world's richest terrorists' on oil of war

A Global House Of Cards

Paul Craig Roberts

As most Americans, if not the financial media, are aware, Quantitative Easing (a euphemism for printing money) has failed to bring back the US economy.

So why has Japan adopted the policy? Since the heavy duty money printing began in 2013, the Japanese yen has fallen 35% against the US dollar, a big cost for a country dependent on energy imports. Moreover, the Japanese economy has shown no growth in response to the QE stimulus to justify the rising price of imports.

Despite the economy’s lack of response to the stimulus, last month the Bank of Japan announced a 60% increase in quantitative easing–from 50 to 80 trillion yen annually. Albert Edwards, a strategist at Societe Generale, predicts that the Japanese printing press will drive the yen down from 115 yen to the dollar to 145.

This is a prediction, but why risk the reality? What does Japan have to gain from currency depreciation? What is the thinking behind the policy?

An easy explanation is that Japan is being ordered to destroy its currency in order to protect the over-printed US dollar. As a vassal state, Japan suffers under US political and financial hegemony and is powerless to resist Washington’s pressure.

The official explanation is that, like the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan professes to believe in the Phillips Curve, which associates economic growth with inflation. The supply-side economic policy implemented by the Reagan administration disproved the Phillips Curve belief that economic growth was inconsistent with a declining or a stable rate of inflation. However, establishment economists refuse to take note and continue with the dogmas with which they are comfortable.

In the US QE caused inflation in stock and bond prices as most of the liquidity provided went into financial markets instead of into consumers’ pockets. There is more consumer price inflation than the official inflation measures report, as the measures are designed to under-report inflation, thereby saving money on COLA adjustments, but the main effect of QE has been unrealistic stock and bond prices.

The Bank of Japan’s hopes are that raw material and energy import prices will rise as the exchange value of yen falls, and that these higher costs will be passed along in consumer prices, pushing up inflation and stimulating economic growth. Japan is betting its economy on a discredited theory.

The interesting question is why financial strategists expect the yen to collapse under QE, but did not expect the dollar to collapse under QE. Japan is the world’s third largest economy, and until about a decade ago was going gangbusters despite the yen rising in value. Why should QE affect the yen differently from the dollar?

Perhaps the answer lies in the very powerful alliance between the US government and the banking/financial sector and on the obligation that Washington imposes on its vassal states to support the dollar as world reserve currency. Japan lacks the capability to neutralize normal economic forces. Washington’s ability to rig markets has allowed Washington to keep its economic house of cards standing.

The Federal Reserve’s announcement that QE is terminated has improved the outlook for the US dollar. However, as Nomi Prins makes clear, QE has not ended, merely morphed.http://www.nomiprins.com/thoughts/2014/11/10/qe-isnt-dying-its-morphing.html

The Fed’s bond purchases have left the big banks with $2.6 trillion in excess cash reserves on deposit with the Fed. The banks will now use this money to buy bonds in place of the Fed’s purchases. When this money runs out, the Fed will find a reason to restart QE. Moreover, the Fed has announced that it intends to reinvest the interest and returning principle from its $4.5 trillion in holdings of mortgage backed instruments and Treasuries to continue purchasing bonds. Possibly also, interest rate swaps can be manipulated to keep rates down. So, despite the announced end of QE, purchases will continue to support high bond prices, and the high bond prices will continue to encourage purchases of stocks, thus perpetuating the house of cards.

As Dave Kranzler and I (and no doubt others) have pointed out, a stable or rising dollar exchange value is the necessary foundation to the house of cards. Until three years ago, the dollar was losing ground rapidly with respect to gold. Since that time massive sales of uncovered shorts in the gold futures market have been used to drive down the gold price.

That gold and silver bullion prices are rigged is obvious. Demand is high, and supply is constrained; yet prices are falling. The US mint cannot keep up with the demand for silver eagles and has suspended sales. The Canadian mint is rationing the supply of silver maple leafs. Asian demand for gold, especially from China, is at record levels.

The third quarter, 2014, was the 15th consecutive quarter of net purchases of gold by central banks. Dave Kranzler reports that in the past eight months, 101 tonnes have been drained from GLD, an indication that there is a gold shortage for delivery to physical purchasers. The declining futures price, which is established in a paper market where contracts are settled in cash, not in gold, is inconsistent with rising demand and constrained supply and is a clear indication of price rigging by US authorities.

The extent of financial corruption involving collusion between the mega-banks and the financial authorities is unfathomable. The Western financial system is a house of cards resting on corruption.

The house of cards has stood longer than I thought possible. Can it stand forever or are there so many rotted joints that some simultaneous collection of failures overwhelms the manipulation and brings on a massive crash? Time will tell.

Credit to Pau Graig Roberts