Saudi Arabia Promises to Match Iran in Nuclear Capability

WASHINGTON — When President Obama began making the case for a deal with Iran that would delay its ability to assemble an atomic weapon, his first argument was that a nuclear-armed Iran would set off a “free-for-all” of proliferation in the Arab world. “It is almost certain that other players in the region would feel it necessary to get their own nuclear weapons,” he said in 2012.

Now, as he gathered Arab leaders over dinner at the White House on Wednesday and prepared to meet with them at Camp David on Thursday, he faced a perverse consequence: Saudi Arabia and many of the smaller Arab states are now vowing to match whatever nuclear enrichment capability Iran is permitted to retain.
Continue reading the main story

“We can’t sit back and be nowhere as Iran is allowed to retain much of its capability and amass its research,” one of the Arab leaders preparing to meet Mr. Obama said on Monday, declining to be named until he made his case directly to the president. Prince Turki bin Faisal, the 70-year-old former Saudi intelligence chief, has been touring the world with the same message.

Credit to The new York Times

Russian, Chinese Warships Enter Mediterranean to Hold Joint Naval Drills

The first Russian-Chinese naval exercises in the Mediterranean will take place between May 17 and May 21.


© SPUTNIK/ VASILY BATANOV

MOSCOW (Sputnik) 

A group of Russian and Chinese warships have left the Black Sea and entered the Aegean Sea to hold their first ever joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

The first Russian-Chinese naval exercises in the Mediterranean will take place between May 17 and May 21. The exercises will involve around 10 ships from both countries.

Credit to Sputnik

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/20150515/1022178153.html#ixzz3aDNLkKcP

Martial Law Preparations Exposed

"If You Don't Own Gold, You Know Neither History Nor Economics"

Bridgewater's Ray Dalio explains in under 120 seconds why everyone should allocate some of their portfolio to gold:

"If you dont own gold...there is no sensible reason other than you dont know history or you dont know the economics of it..." 

Of course, few 'status quo' believers will pay heed to the $150 billion AUM fund manager, despite his imploring everyone that to be successful, one must "Think Independently, Stay Humble"

Credit to Zero Hedge

Jade Helm and the Impending Economic Collapse

As a country, we are so focused on the physical threat posed by Jade Helm 15, that we are all but ignoring the economic threat to our collective well-being. The truth of the matter is that the implementation of Jade Helm clearly signals that an economic collapse is imminent.

If you know that you were having a heart attack, would you go immediately to the ER? Then why would you not take the same action when it comes to the evaporation of nearly everything you own? Do you want to be David Rockefeller’s economic slave? Then you need to do something before you run out of options.

The Banks Are Preparing for Economic Collapse

As a result of looking at several data sets, I am absolutely convinced that Jade Helm primarily exists in response to the coming economic meltdown. Very soon, the dollar will collapse and the banks will steal your money.

Will the meltdown come as a net effect of the $18 trillion dollar debt, the $240 trillion unfunded liabilities debt and the $1.5 quadrillion derivatives debt? Or, will the coming collapse occur because of a false flag cyber attack upon the banks? At the end of the day, it does not matter. The collapse will come like a thief in the night and very few Americans will even know what hit them. In an instant, everything we have collectively worked for, will have been wiped out. In short, this country is about to witness the single biggest wealth redistribution in the history of the planet.

Jade Helm Is Merely the Final Step In Bankster Preparations for the Collapse

They have been preparing for your awakening for a long time.

Does anyone really believe that DHS will be deployed to Afghanistan? Of course not! Subsequently, we must conclude that DHS has been preparing to go to war with the American people as they have collected 2.2 billion rounds of ammunition and 2700 armored personnel carriers. We are now seeing very similar behavior from the banks as they are following in DHS’ steps.

The U.S. Treasury, the federal agency charged with managing the country’s debt as well as the banking system as a whole is preparing for economic Armageddon.  According to a recent release of information, the Treasury Department has ordered over $200,000 Survival Kits for as many as 3,814 employees who oversee the federal banking system. What do they know that we don’t?

An Economic Collapse Is Inevitable

America’s creditors and business allies are in the process of running from the dollar. The World now understand that the $200 trillion in unfunded obligations can never be paid. The World understands that the $1.5 quadrillion dollars in derivatives debt cannot be repaid in 10 centuries. Russia, China, the European Union, Latin America and now, the private central banking conglomerates have abandoned the dollar. The Petrodollar is breathing its last few breaths.

The net effect is going to result in a tsunami of financial and economic destruction, a meltdown of the U.S. dollar, and the American lifestyle as we have known is on the verge of collapse. And when it happens, tens of millions of Americans will be instantly impoverished and will be unable to meet their basic needs.

Most Americans Will One Day Beg for Jade Helm

I recently interviewed economic analyst, Shadow Stats founder, John Williams. Williams warned my listening audience that when the economic collapse finally does happen, we can fully expect disruptions to our food supplies . In other words, we will have food shortages and food riots. At that point, nobody will be safe and Americans will scream for relief and protection.

“We can take you to safety”.

“We have plenty of food on the other side of these bars.

The U.S. Government, the UK, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC Have Rehearsed Similar Scenarios

The theft of the peoples’money has already been rehearsed by the powers that be in the banking industry. Regulators from the United States and the United Kingdom got together in a war room to see how they will cope when the next big bank fails.

Get Your Money Out While You Still Can

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, on November 10, 2014, ran a joint exercise simulating how they would prop up a large bank (e.g. Bank of America) with operations in both countries that has landed itself in trouble. Also taking part in the “bank failure drill”, which included a cyber attack upon several banks, was Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, and the heads of a large number of other regulators, in a meeting hosted by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Your Bank Account Was Stolen by Stealth

As of November 16, 2014, your bank account has been collateralized against the derivatives debt. Hence, you had, in 2008, former CEO of Goldman Sachs and the Secretary of Treasury, Hank Paulson, telling a closed session of Congress that if they did not authorize the bailouts, there would be tanks in the streets in an ultimately, REVOLUTION! This was necessitated by the credit swap derivatives Ponzi scheme and the debacle that would follow the collapse of the dollar.

Further, the bankruptcy reform laws stemming from the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005, have given the credit swap derivatives counter-parties preference over all other creditors and customers of the bankrupt financial institution, including FDIC insured depositors. This is why the G20 effectively stole your money on the morning of November 16, 2014! On this action taken by the G20 nations, your bank account is no longer considered to be money. The bankers holding the bag on the credit swap derivatives will move to the head of the FDIC compensation line. In other words, if the banks are collapsed, your money will be used to pay down the derivatives debt. Therefore, the regulations requiring that your money be insured by the FDIC are no longer in effect! This devaluation of “money to something other than money gives what the experts call “super priority” in terms of the line of succession from which to collect bankruptcy monies.

Subsequently, on that fateful morning of November 16, 2014, the G20 fulfilled the mandates of a new investment program. This new program creates a whole new paradigm and set of rules whereby banks will no longer recognize your deposits as money. Your deposits are unsecured deposits which now belong to the bank at the very moment you deposit your money.

Russell Napier previously declared November 16, 2014 as “the day money died,” and this constitutes today’s  Zero Hedge’s headline. According to Zero Hedge, Napier says the G-20 will announce “that bank deposits are just part of commercial banks’capital structure, and also that they are far from the most senior portion of that structure.” Pay close attention America this means that following a bank failure, “a bank deposit is no longer money in the way a banknote is.”

I saw this coming over 18 months ago. This is why for the past 18 months I have been telling the nation to not deposit your paycheck into the bank. The prudent thing to do is to only put enough money in the bank to pay your basic bills and do other things with the remainder of the money, such as pay off your mortgage or pay off your car loans. If you have not been doing this, then you are almost out of time for the banksters have recently practiced how to steal your bank account.

Once the banksters pull the plug on the economy, Jade Helm will protect the banksters and their new found assets, your bank accounts and retirement accounts.

TAKE THE MAJORITY OF YOUR MONEY OUT OF THE BANK AND PREPARE TO MEET YOUR BASIC NEEDS IN THE RESPONSE TO THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE THAT IS ALMOST HERE! But do not do so unless you read my previous article on how to legally do so, because you could go to jail if you make a mistake.

Credit to Common Sense

Nowhere To Hide: Scanning eyes, ears, heart and even scent

It’s hard to think of biometric identity technology without picturing Tom Cruise on the run in the movie Minority Report. Hunted by killer robots with iris scanning equipment and hailed by animated billboards that use similar tech to personalise their adverts, Cruise is reduced to a full eye transplant to evade capture and death.

It made for a great film, but it didn’t do the biometrics industry many favours. Active in one form or another since the invention of fingerprints, the commercial use of biometric data has proceeded in fits and starts over the past 20 years. One possible delay to what was assumed to be inevitable when the movie was released in 2002 is viewers’ nervousness about technology that looked creepy and invasive.

“People in the UK have proved wary of eye-scanning systems to date,” says Steven Murdoch, principle research fellow in the department of computer science at University College London.

Iris-scanning systems designed to speed up immigration at major airports were scrapped in 2012 after an investment of £4.9 million. Introduced in 2004, the electronic gates and iris scanners were hailed as a ‘watertight’ system for cutting fraud and waiting times. The technology, however, was unreliable and passengers were forced to wait far longer than if they’d simply queued for an immigration officer.

“It may be prompted in part by sci-fi films or may even run a little deeper,” Dr Murdoch says. “In Japan, for instance, ATMs use palm scanning technology, which read the unique pattern of veins in the palm of each customer. That’s great in a culture that’s very concerned about hygiene and would prefer not to touch a machine that other people have used all day long.”

Biometrics have become about convenience rather than just security, which is speeding up acceptance

While iris-scanning is currently on hold almost everywhere apart from the Mexican city of Leon, which installed scanners for everything from cash machines to paying bus fares back in 2010, other biometric measures are already with us.

Indeed, a recent study by TechSci Research forecast annual growth rates of 14 per cent in the biometrics market, which should reach $21 billion (£13.5 billion) by 2020. “The demand for biometric systems is increasing at a much higher rate in countries such as China, India, Japan and Indonesia when compared with the United States and Canada, due to increasing focus on identity management and curbing security breaches,” says TechSci analyst Kalpana Verma. What’s changed”

“The greatest advance in biometrics is the iPhone 6,” argues Ramesh Kesanupalli, who heads up the FIDO Alliance, an industry-wide lobbying group hoping to establish Bluetooth for biometrics as an industry standard for biometric recognition software.

“Apple’s fingerprint recognition is on the home button – the button most users hit many times a day. It’s meant biometrics have become about convenience rather than just security, which is speeding up acceptance. It also significantly reduces fraud as applications can send out small challenges to the user anytime and get a confirmation that the phone hasn’t been stolen.”

Emilio Martinez, chief executive of Madrid-based biometrics company AGNITiO, says: “Biometrics always start with law enforcement. Fingerprints took 100 years to reach the private sector. Now things are speeding up.”



AGNITiO’s voice biometric technology has been in use by police forces across Europe since its launch in 2004. “When you speak to someone you’re listening to their words, to their accent, to the emotion in their voice – our systems do none of that,” Mr Martinez explains. “We measure six factors, from larynx to nose to sinuses, which contribute to creating the sound wave that can’t be hidden by raising pitch and that’s unique to each individual.”

The software is now used to identify anything from phone threat callers to your voice when you phone a call centre.

For the future, law enforcements current key target is speeding up a full DNA scan, in theory an impossible test to fake or get wrong. Operating in the field at the moment, the US FBI is testing the RapidHIT 200, which can run a DNA scan in 90 minutes. The Bureau’s rapid DNA analysis programme aims to develop “commercial instruments capable of producing a DNA profile to search unsolved crimes while an arrestee is in police custody during the booking process”.

Other systems being trialed include:
Ear scans – the curved edge around your ears is peculiar to you and researchers in New Delhi are working on an accurate and commercially affordable option
Heartbeat, breathing and movement – the US Army’s STORM has deployed in Afghanistan to identify targets at a distance

Scent – the US Department of Homeland Security is researching odour signatures to see if individuals have a unique primary smell linked to our genetic coding
Gait – the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency employed gait analysis as a cornerstone of its Total Information system, despite the ease with which gait can be changed by simple factors such as shoes and heavy backpacks.

How long will it take for these systems to reach, say, the financial services industry? “If you’re asking about a concerted industry-wide change from something like chip and PIN, then we’re looking at years – certainly more than five years,” according to UCL’s Dr Murdoch. “On the other hand, some banks are already using Apple’s fingerprint ID in their apps, so all it takes is one player to switch and that could take as little as a year.

“The main driver for success will be simplicity and ease of use – people just don’t want their security checks to get more complicated.”


Credit to ITproportal.com
Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/2015/05/11/biometrics-scanning-eyes-ears-heart-and-even-scent/#ixzz3aDJe1lSe

Sheriff's deputies team with military for special operations exercises

A joint exercise of Fort Bragg special operations troops and sheriff’s deputies in Richland County, South Carolina that’s due to wrap Friday has set the Internet on fire, with bloggers and watchdogs – already upset with the looming Jade Helm 15 military training mission set for seven states this summer – decrying what they perceive as a Posse Comitatus violation.

The Posse Comitatus Act was passed in 1878 to limit the federal government from using U.S. military forces to enforce laws against American citizens. As one blogger at D.C. Clothesline wrote, though: Many are concerned recent and upcoming military training exercises that pair the federal forces with civilian police officers are treading dangerously close to that Posse Comitatus line.

“The fact that the police and military are engaging in joint drill exercises in violation of Posse Comitatus and a long-standing American tradition of separation between domestic policing and military activity is concerning,” the blogger wrote.

The comments come in context of discussing a Fort Bragg-initiated special forces training with Richland County civilian law enforcement officials that began a week ago.

WLTX described the training this way: “Military and sheriff’s department vehicles will be traveling in the Lower Richland County community near Eastover and Hopkins … The sheriff’s department says people in those areas may also hear ordinance being set off or shots being fired. They say those will be simulations or blanks and do not pose a risk to the community.”

“Police State USA: How Orwell’s Nightmare Is Becoming Our Reality” chronicles how America has arrived at the point of being a de facto police state, and what led to an out-of-control government that increasingly ignores the Constitution. Order today!

WLTX also reported the sheriff’s department Special Response Team was tasked to partner with the 3rd Special Forces Group from Fort Bragg to stage simulated scenarios for the military. But Infowars reported a more startling scene.

In a report filed earlier this week, Infowars said: “Special forces out of Fort Bragg are training with SWAT officers in Richland County, South Carolina, this week for house-to-house raids, another unnerving sign of the militarization of domestic law enforcement. The late night and pre-dawn exercises … have been running since May 8.”

Infowars also posted a video from YouTube that claimed to be images of special forces conducting night raids in civilian spots in the county.

The Fort Bragg operation comes as social media posters are fueling fires about the upcoming Jade Helm, a special forces operation involving all four branches of the military, the FBI and DEA and various local law enforcement agencies in seven different states. Texas, Utah and portions of California have been deemed “hostile” zones for the purposes of this two-month training operation, set for this summer. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, in response to numerous citizen complaints, has alerted the state’s national guard to watch over the training and make sure nothing nefarious or unconstitutional occurs.

Some of Jade Helm’s sharpest critics say it’s a backdoor attempt to acclimate the American people for a federal declaration of martial law. Jade Helm operational authorities, meanwhile, have held several town hall and local meetings to calm the fears and inform officials: We’re just conducting necessary military training in urban areas to prepare our troops for overseas operations.

The Richland County-Fort Bragg joint training exercise was held last year, also. Then, Sheriff Leon Lott said that operation was crucial to helping deputies prepare for tragic situations that could occur in Columbia, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, another video that’s recently surfaced shows a U.S. Marine training operation in Arizona from a month ago of troops chasing citizens inside a mock internment camp.

Infowars reported the exercise took place in Yuma, and involved Marines with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.

Credit to WND
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/sheriffs-deputies-team-with-military-for-special-ops-exercises/#96ItQJqoOb3CV6D7.99

Robert Jeffress: Satan 'Delivered' Islam to Muhammad, Following Islam Will 'Lead You to Hell'

Pastor Robert Jeffress behind the pulpit at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

Dallas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress said Sunday during his "Countdown to the Apocalypse," sermon series that it was Satan who delivered the religion of Islam to the prophet Muhammad and further asserted that following that religion will "lead you to hell."

In his six-week sermon series, Jeffress, who pastors Dallas' 11,000-member First Baptist Church, explains how Jesus told of the rise of radical Islam and that increased Christian persecution around the world would "precede His return to this Earth."

In a Sunday sermon, the 59-year-old attempted to debunk the claim that Muhammad was delivered Islam by an angel and stated that the angel Muhammad saw was really the devil desguised "as an angel of light."

"It was Satan himself who delivered those delusions to those people to lead people by the millions away from God," Jeffress said. "Islam is a false religion that will lead you to hell. It is based on a false book that is based on a fraud. It was founded by a false prophet who was leading people away instead of to the one true God," he said during the May 10 sermon tited: "Christians in the Crosshairs."

Jeffress added that just as the Antichrist will seek to rid the world of Jews and Christians, religious minorities across the world are being killed and persecuted at an alarming rate by Islamic radicals who feel called by their faith to commit such acts.

Terrorist organizations like ISIS, al-Shabaab and Boko Haram are frequently attacking and killing thousands of Christians and other non-Muslims in the name of their jihad.

"Did you know that there were more martyrs in the 20th century than all the other centuries combined together? ... Jesus said, 'These things are going to be like the birth pains of a woman. They will increase in intensity and in frequency,'" Jeffress stated. "Did you know that persecution will escalate and reach its [peak] here in a future period of time that we call tribulation?

"Christians will be slaughtered by the millions for their faith in Jesus Christ. You say, 'Wait a minute, during the tribulation? I thought all Christians were going to be raptured and we were going to get out of here and that there weren't going to be any Christians," Jeffress continued. "It's true, the Church will be raptured before the final seven years of Earth's history, but during that final seven years, many people will come to faith in Christ but they will pay a terrible price to do so."

Jeffress stressed that although the persecution of Christians might be carried out by radical Muslims or governments, the "catalyst" behind it all is the Antichrist.

"The catalyst for this persecution will be the final world dictator that we call Antichrist. He will launch an attack against both the Jews and Christians," Jeffress explained. "He sees them as one, just as radical Islam sees them as one — the people of the Book. So, the Antichrist will see Jews and Christians alike and will announce an attack against them."

Jeffress argued that the Quran is filled with phony stories and includes over 35 commands to kill Christians and Jews and those who stand against the expansion of Islam.

"These terrorists are Islamic terrorists, doing what they're doing in the name of their faith," Jeffress asserted. "You cannot find one single verse in the New Testament that calls for violence against non-believers. Jesus said to love your enemies. Muhammad said to butcher your enemies."

Jeffress stated that the world is not just in danger from radical Islamic terrorist groups but also at risk from a nuclear Iran, a Shiite Muslim nation, which he claimed has ambitious goals of one day blowing Israel off the "face of the Earth."

"That is why it is absolute lunacy for our president and Congress to negotiate a deal on nuclear weapons with Iran when they are intent on destroying Israel, us, and exterminating our nations from the face of the Earth," Jeffress said.

Credit to Christianpost.com

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/megachurch-pastor-robert-jeffress-satan-delivered-islam-to-muhammad-following-islam-will-lead-you-to-hell-139026/#H6biicGYWPmefAFQ.99

Why Are Exchange-Traded Funds Preparing For A ‘Liquidity Crisis’ And A ‘Market Meltdown’?

Some really weird things are happening in the financial world right now.  If you go back to 2008, there was lots of turmoil bubbling just underneath the surface during the months leading up to the great stock market crash in the second half of that year.  When Lehman Brothers finally did collapse, it was a total shock to most of the planet, but we later learned that their problems had been growing for a long time.  I believe that we are in a similar period right now, and the second half of this year promises to be quite chaotic.  Apparently, those that run some of the largest exchange-traded funds in the entire world agree with me, because as you will see below they are quietly preparing for a “liquidity crisis” and a “market meltdown”.  About a month ago, I warned of an emerging “liquidity squeeze“, and now analysts all over the financial industry are talking about it.  Could it be possible that the next great financial crisis is right around the corner?

According to Reuters, the companies that run some of the largest exchange-traded funds in existence are deeply concerned about what a lack of liquidity would mean for them during the next financial crash.  So right now they are quietly “bolstering bank credit lines” so that they will be better positioned for “a market meltdown”…

The biggest providers of exchange-traded funds, which have been funneling billions of investor dollars into some little-traded corners of the bond market, are bolstering bank credit lines for cash to tap in the event of a market meltdown.

Vanguard Group, Guggenheim Investments and First Trust are among U.S. fund companies that have lined up new bank guarantees or expanded ones they already had, recent company filings show.

The measures come as the Federal Reserve and other U.S. regulators express concern about the ability of fund managers to withstand a wave of investor redemptions in the event of another financial crisis. They have pointed particularly to fixed-income ETFs, which tend to track less liquid markets such as high yield corporate bonds or bank loans.

So why are Vanguard Group, Guggenheim Investments and First Trust all making these kinds of preparations right now?

Do they know something that the rest of us do not?

Over recent months, I have been writing about how so many of the exact same patterns that we witnessed just prior to previous financial crashes seem to be repeating once again in 2015.

One of the things that we would expect to see happen just before a major event would be for the “smart money” to rush out of long-term bonds and into short-term bonds and other more liquid assets.  This is something that had not been happening, but during the past couple of weeks there has been a major change.  All of a sudden, long-term yields have been spiking dramatically.  The following comes from Martin Armstrong…

The amount of cash rushing around on the short-end is stunning. Yields are collapsing into negative territory and this is the same flight to quality we began to see at the peak in the crisis back in 2009. The big money is selling the 10 year or greater paper and everyone is rushing into the short-term. There is not enough paper around to satisfy the demands. Capital is unwilling to hold long-term even the 10 year maturities of governments including Germany. This is illustrating the crisis that is unfolding and there is a collapse in liquidity.

There is that word “liquidity” once again.  It is funny how that keeps popping up.

Here is a chart that shows what has been happening to the yield on 30 year U.S. Treasuries in 2015.  As you can see, there has been a big move recently…

And what this chart doesn’t show is that the yield on 30 year Treasuries shot up to about 3.08% on Wednesday.

Of course it isn’t just yields in the U.S. that are skyrocketing.  This is happening all over the globe, and many analysts are now openly wondering if the 76 trillion dollar global bond bubble is finally imploding.  For instance, just consider what Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid recently told the Telegraph…

Financial regulations introduced since the crisis have required banks to hold more bonds, as quantitative easing schemes have meant central banks hold many on their own balance sheets, reducing the number available to trade on the open market.

Simultaneously, central banks have attempted to boost so-called “high money liquidity” with quantitative easing schemes and their close to zero interest rates. “What has become increasingly clear over the last couple of years is that the combination of high money liquidity and low trading liquidity creates air pockets,” said Mr Reid.

He continued: “It’s a worry that these events are occurring in relatively upbeat markets. I can’t helping thinking that when the next downturn hits the lack of liquidity in various markets is going to be chaotic. These increasingly regular liquidity issues we’re seeing might be a mild dress rehearsal.”

Those are sobering words.

And without a doubt, we are in the midst of a massive stock market bubble as well.  The chaos that is coming is not just going to affect bonds.  In fact, I believe that the greatest stock market crash in U.S. history is coming.

So when will it happen?

Well, Phoenix Capital Research seems to think that we have reached an extremely important turning point…

This is something of a last hurrah for stocks. We are now officially in May. And historically the period from May to November has been one of the worst periods for stocks from a seasonal perspective.

Moreover, the fundamentals are worsening dramatically for the markets. By the look of things, 2014 represented the first year in which corporate sales FELL since 2009. Sales track actual economic activity much more closely than earnings: either the money comes in or it isn’t. The fact that sales are falling indicates the economy is rolling over and the “recovery” has ended.

Having cut costs to the bone and issued debt to buyback shares, we are likely at peak earnings as well. Thus far 90% of companies in the S&P 500 have reported earnings. Year over year earnings are down 11.9%. 

So sales are falling and earnings are falling… at a time when stocks are so overvalued that even the Fed admits it. This has all the makings of a serious market collapse. And smart investors are preparing now BEFORE it hits.

Personally, I have a really bad feeling about the second half of 2015.  Everything seems to be gearing up for a repeat of 2008 (or even worse).  Let’s hope that does not happen, but let’s not be willingly blind to the great storm on the horizon either.

And once the next great crisis does hit us, governments around the world will have a lot less “ammunition” to fight it than the last time around.  For example, the U.S. national debt has approximately doubled since the beginning of the last recession, and the Federal Reserve has already pushed interest rates down as far as they can.  Similar things could also be said about other governments all over the planet.  This is something that HSBC chief economist Stephen King recently pointed out in a 17 page report entitled “The world economy’s titanic problem”.  The following is a brief excerpt from that report…

“Whereas previous recoveries have enabled monetary and fiscal policymakers to replenish their ammunition, this recovery — both in the US and elsewhere — has been distinguished by a persistent munitions shortage. This is a major problem. In all recessions since the 1970s, the US Fed funds rate has fallen by a minimum of 5 percentage points. That kind of traditional stimulus is now completely ruled out.”

For a long time, I have had a practice of ending my articles by urging people to get prepared.  But now time for preparing is rapidly running out.  My new book entitled “Get Prepared Now” was just released, but honestly my co-author and I should have had it out last year.  In the very small amount of time that we have left before the financial markets crash, the amount of “prepping” that people are going to be able to do will be fairly limited.

I am not just pointing to a single event.  Once the financial markets crash this time, I believe that there is not going to be any sort of a “recovery” like we experienced after 2008.  I believe that the long-term economic collapse that we have been experiencing will accelerate very greatly, and it will usher in a horrible period of time for the United States unlike anything that we have ever seen before.

So what do you think?

Could I be wrong?

Please feel free to share your thoughts by posting a comment below…

Credit to Economic Collapse

Secret TPP Contains Global Economic Reset Blueprint

Two days ago there was some rejoicing and much surprise when the "Warren-faction" of Senate liberals turned against Obama, and failed to vote for a fast-track approval of the TPP. That surprise lasted for about 48 hours when moments ago, in a 65-33 vote, the Senate finally advanced a measure allowing Obama to expedite approval of trade agreements, a bill with bipartisan support in that chamber which however according to Bloomberg may run into strong opposition from House Democrats.

The vote followed separate votes sought by Democrats to pass proposals curbing currency manipulation and boosting imports from sub-Saharan Africa. The Senate plans to consider amendments to the fast-track trade proposal next week.

As previously reported, a rebellion Tuesday among Senate Democrats seeking the currency provision previews what may be fiercer battle ahead between Democrats and House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican.

“There’s a broad feeling we have to do something against China” on currency manipulation, New York Senator Charles Schumer, the chamber’s third-ranking Democrat, told reporters before the vote on advancing the trade bill. He called the currency measure “a shot across China’s bow that we’re not going to just sit there and do nothing.”

Bloomberg reports that the fast-track bill would allow Obama to submit trade agreements to Congress for an up-or-down vote without amendments. He hopes to complete a 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership and send it for fast-track approval.

On Tuesday, Democrats blocked Republicans from advancing the fast-track bill without also voting on the currency measure. Many Democrats remain stung by the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which is blamed by labor unions for a decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs. 

The trade bill, H.R. 1314, would give Obama and the next president fast-track powers for six years. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said Thursday the agreement to separate the two measures from the broader trade bill was a sensible plan. 

“I’d like to thank the president too,” McConnell said. “No, you’re not hearing things. President Obama has done his country a service by taking on his base and pushing back on some of the more ridiculous rhetoric we’ve heard.

And in other news, just as the TPP fast-track news hit, perpetual warmonger and neocon John McCain announced that as part of a $613.2 billion Defense Authorization Bill, approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the US just added funds for 12 more F/A-18 fighter jets. More importantly the Bill authorizes sending arms to Ukraine.

More details from Bloomberg:

Bill has $523b in base funding, $90.2b in war funds, Reed says. 

Reed says he voted against bill on “off-budget gimmick” in which Republicans transferred extra funds from base budget to overseas contingency operations to avoid budget controls. 

Amendment to eliminate war funding account rejected, cmte Chairman John McCain says. 

Bill would preserve A-10 close-air combat plane; authorizes arms to Ukraine, McCain says. 

Cmte approves more for F-35, F-18 fighters, McCain says; bill authorizes adding 6 F-35B fighters. 

Bill requires approval of Guantanamo closing plan, he says. Presidential veto of bill would be “very serious step”: McCain.

In other words, since the Fed can't print trade, either the world will trade with the US voluntarily... or it will be forced to do so. And if that fails, there is always the Ukraine war escalation option.

Credit to Zero Hedge

105 Seconds Of Economic Clarity