ALERT! THE GLOBAL COLLAPSE IS ACCELERATING, CHINA REACTS.

Japan National Debt Rises To New Record ¥1,057,224,000,000,000

The first half of 2015 saw Japan's national debt rise at its fastest pace in four years, hitting a new record high at ¥1.057 Quadrillion!! Have we reached Keynesian nirvana yet? Or is just a little more "what difference does it make" debt-fueled fallacy going to fix it all?

Source: Japan Times

John Kerry Warns "Dollar Will Cease To Be Reserve Currency Of The World" If Iran Deal Rejected... WHAT!!!!

As Jared Bernstein previously explained...

There are few truisms about the world economy, but for decades, one has been the role of the United States dollar as the world’s reserve currency. It’s a core principle of American economic policy. After all, who wouldn’t want their currency to be the one that foreign banks and governments want to hold in reserve?

But new research reveals that what was once a privilege is now a burden, undermining job growth, pumping up budget and trade deficits and inflating financial bubbles. To get the American economy on track, the government needs to drop its commitment to maintaining the dollar’s reserve-currency status.

The reasons are best articulated by Kenneth Austin, a Treasury Department economist, in the latest issue of The Journal of Post Keynesian Economics (needless to say, it’s his opinion, not necessarily the department’s). On the assumption that you don’t have the journal on your coffee table, allow me to summarize.

It is widely recognized that various countries, including China, Singapore and South Korea, suppress the value of their currency relative to the dollar to boost their exports to the United States and reduce its exports to them. They buy lots of dollars, which increases the dollar’s value relative to their own currencies, thus making their exports to us cheaper and our exports to them more expensive.

In 2013, America’s trade deficit was about $475 billion. Its deficit with China alone was $318 billion.

Though Mr. Austin doesn’t say it explicitly, his work shows that, far from being a victim of managed trade, the United States is a willing participant through its efforts to keep the dollar as the world’s most prominent reserve currency.

When a country wants to boost its exports by making them cheaper using the aforementioned process, its central bank accumulates currency from countries that issue reserves. To support this process, these countries suppress their consumption and boost their national savings. Since global accounts must balance, when “currency accumulators” save more and consume less than they produce, other countries — “currency issuers,” like the United States — must save less and consume more than they produce (i.e., run trade deficits).

This means that Americans alone do not determine their rates of savings and consumption. Think of an open, global economy as having one huge, aggregated amount of income that must all be consumed, saved or invested. That means individual countries must adjust to one another. If trade-surplus countries suppress their own consumption and use their excess savings to accumulate dollars, trade-deficit countries must absorb those excess savings to finance their excess consumption or investment.

Note that as long as the dollar is the reserve currency, America’s trade deficit can worsen even when we’re not directly in on the trade. Suppose South Korea runs a surplus with Brazil. By storing its surplus export revenues in Treasury bonds, South Korea nudges up the relative value of the dollar against our competitors’ currencies, and our trade deficit increases, even though the original transaction had nothing to do with the United States.

This isn’t just a matter of one academic writing one article. Mr. Austin’s analysis builds off work by the economist Michael Pettis and, notably, by the former Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke.

A result of this dance, as seen throughout the tepid recovery from the Great Recession, is insufficient domestic demand in America’s own labor market. Mr. Austin argues convincingly that the correct metric for estimating the cost in jobs is the dollar value of reserve sales to foreign buyers. By his estimation, that amounted to six million jobs in 2008, and these would tend to be the sort of high-wage manufacturing jobs that are most vulnerable to changes in exports.

Dethroning “king dollar” would be easier than people think. America could, for example, enforce rules to prevent other countries from accumulating too much of our currency. In fact, others do just that precisely to avoid exporting jobs. The most recent example is Japan’s intervention to hold down the value of the yen when central banks in Asia and Latin America started buying Japanese debt.

Of course, if fewer people demanded dollars, interest rates - i.e., what America would pay people to hold its debt - might rise, especially if stronger domestic manufacturers demanded more investment. But there’s no clear empirical, negative relationship between interest rates and trade deficits, and in the long run, as Mr. Pettis observes, “Countries with balanced trade or trade surpluses tend to enjoy lower interest rates on average than countries with large current account deficits, which are handicapped by slower growth and higher debt.”

Others worry that higher import prices would increase inflation. But consider the results when we “pay” to keep price growth so low through artificially cheap exports and large trade deficits: weakened manufacturing, wage stagnation (even with low inflation) and deficits and bubbles to offset the imbalanced trade.

But while more balanced trade might raise prices, there’s no reason it should persistently increase the inflation rate. We might settle into a norm of 2 to 3 percent inflation, versus the current 1 to 2 percent. But that’s a price worth paying for more and higher-quality jobs, more stable recoveries and a revitalized manufacturing sector. The privilege of having the world’s reserve currency is one America can no longer afford.

Credit to Zero Hedge

This Is Not A Drill: India, Russia And Thailand Prepare For Currency War

When China sneezes, the world catches a cold. Alternatively, when China devalues, the rest of the (exporting) world scrambles to not be the last (exporting) nation standing, and to do so next, before everyone else does. 

Case in point, at least three major emerging market nations announced they are bracing for currency war. 

First India, where NDTV ask rhetorically "How China's Devaluation of Renminbi Impacts India" and answers:

1) The Indian rupee slipped to a two-month low of 64.26 against the US dollar on Tuesday tracking the devaluation of the renminbi. Other currencies such as the Australian dollar and the South Korean won also lost ground.

2) The over 0.5 per cent fall in the rupee weighed on traders' sentiments, resulting in a drop in equity markets. Both the BSE Sensex and the Nifty traded with 0.4 per cent losses.

3) According to SV Prasad of Chime Consulting, renminbi's devaluation may push the Reserve Bank of India to cut interest rates in India. Lower interest rates will put off foreign investors and will further weaken the rupee, he added.

4) However, fund manager Sandip Sabharwal said India should not be too worried about the devaluation in renminbi. "Analysts are out with predictions of how a 1.5 per cent fall of Chinese currency will lead to a sharp increase in dumping etc. However the Indian rupee has also fallen nearly 0.8 per cent in sympathy and is now down 5 per cent over the last one year. It is hard to see a major impact of this on Indian stock markets or the economy unless yuan depreciation becomes a trend which seems unlikely at this stage," he said.

5) A fall in the value of the rupee is good for Indian exporters and sectors such as IT and pharma are seen gaining from the depreciation in the rupee. IT stocks were the top performers in stock markets today. However, China-focused Indian companies saw selling pressure because the devaluation of renminbi will make imports costlier in the country. As a result metal stocks saw selling pressure and underperformed broader markets. 

Then there is Thailand, where the senior executive vice president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Pakorn Peetathawatchai, said that "China is a very important market and a weaker yuan makes our exports there more expensive." He added that weaker yuan also increases travel costs for Chinese tourists. 

Well, yes, it's called "war" for a reason. 

Finally, there is Russia whose economy is already in a tailspin now that the dead cat bounce in oil has ended, and where moments ago RIA said that the Yuan devaluation puts pressure on RUB, other EM currencies.  Still, the Russian Economy Ministry sees no domestic factors for ruble devaluation, RIA adds even as it admits crude prices to stay under pressure in 2015.

We give Russia, Thailand and India (as well as the rest of the EM countries, actually make that all countries, the US included) at least a few days (hours may suffice) before they all realize that in a beggar-thy-neighbor global currency war, where the ZIRP (or NIRP) liquidity trap is already stalking at least half of the entire world, there really is no choice. 

Expect a dramatic surge in interest rate cuts over the next several weeks as the world responds and the tit-for-tat FX defection regime goes thermonuclear.

Credit to Zero Hedge

BRAZIL TO REMOVE ‘JERUSALEM, ISRAEL’ FROM ALL PASSPORTS

CITIZENS OF BRAZIL WHO WERE BORN IN JERUSALEM WILL HAVE THEIR PASSPORTS AMENDED TO ELIMINATE “ISRAEL” FROM THE LINE DENOTING PLACE OF BIRTH.

“Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.” Psalm 129:5 (KJV)

Existing passports are to be reissued with the “offending” term deleted, and passports that are not changed will be invalid at the end of the year. While the rule change would appear to have been influenced by the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this yearthat Americans born in Jerusalem could not have their birthplace listed as Jerusalem, Israel – but rather would be listed as Jerusalem alone – Brazil had apparently made the decision on dropping Israel a year ago, according to the Brazilian embassy in Tel Aviv.

Credit to Now the End Begins

http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=34629

goddess kali, Hindu god of death and destruction projected on the Empire State building

This sounds like Antichrist it's coming......The world needs his super hero!!



Goddess Kali was projected on the Empire State Building in New York.

Artist Andrew Jones designed the portrait of the goddess to make the point that Mother Nature now more than ever needs a fierce avatar to fight the dangers of pollution and extinction.

Credit to Nunez Report

Protesters Declare They Are Ready For War As America’s Impoverished Inner Cities Threaten To Erupt

Are we about to witness a new round of racially-charged protests, riots and demonstrations all across the United States?  On Sunday night, a protest that had been organized to commemorate the one year anniversary of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri took a very violent turn.  An 18-year-old named Tyrone Harris that is being described as a “real close” friend of Michael Brown opened fire on police with a stolen handgun.  Police returned fire and Harris got hit.  He is now in the hospital and his prognosis is uncertain.  Of course this just raised tensions to an entirely new level, and at this point a state of emergency has been declared in Ferguson.

So what would cause an 18-year-old young man to pick up a gun and start firing at police?

This didn’t just happen in a vacuum.  An environment of violence and racial conflict is being purposely created, and the mainstream media and our politicians are continually fueling the fire.

On July 30th, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan, delivered a speech during which he stated that he was looking for “10,000 fearless men who say death is sweeter than continued life under tyranny”.  The following is an excerpt from that speech…

“Death is sweeter than to continue to live and bury our children, while white folks give the killer hamburgers.

“Death is sweeter, than watching us slaughter each other, to the joy of a 400-year-old enemy. Yes, death is sweeter.

“The Quran teaches persecution is worse than slaughter. Then it says, ‘Retaliation is prescribed in matters of the slain.’ Retaliation is a prescription from God, to calm the breast of those whose children have been slain.

“So if the federal government will not intercede in our affairs, then we must rise up and kill those who kill us. Stalk them and kill them and let them feel the pain of death that we are feeling.”

In the social media world, the ominous hashtags #fightback and #JusticeOrElse are being heavily promoted.  The implication is that African-Americans have a right to commit violence because of the injustices that have been committed against them in the past.

And on Sunday night, the “peaceful protesters” in Ferguson were repeating the following chant over and over: “Ready for what?! We’re ready for war!”

When you understand the context, it becomes much clearer why some of these young people are doing what they are doing.

Instead of trying to cool things down on Monday, protesters continued to push the envelope.  Several very prominent activists, including Cornel West, were arrested when they crossed a barrier in front of a courthouse in St. Louis…

Cornel West, and several prominent protesters including DeRay McKesson, 30, and Johnetta Elzie, 26, were arrested Monday afternoon during a protest outside the U.S. courthouse in St. Louis. The demonstration was part of a move by several clergy members to purposefully be detained by police.

Anger and violence are not what America needs.

If we could just learn to love one another and to treat one another with respect, things could be so much different in this country.

But instead, we are being set up for a race war.

Just consider the response to a recent incident that happened in Alabama…

An Alabama police officer was pistol-whipped with his own gun during a traffic stop — and then mocked by cop critics online.

The plainclothes Birmingham detective was investigating a string of burglaries when he stopped a GMC Yukon and was attacked by the driver, authorities said.

This particular police officer has never been charged with doing anything wrong, but just because he is a cop he was mercilessly attacked online.  The following are just a couple of examples…

“Pistol pimped his face n um chillen now,” Twitter user @TriggaMane666 posted with a picture of the wounded officer.

“Pistol whipped his ass to sleep,” a Facebook user wrote before deleting a post showing the officer face down on the sidewalk.

Anger and frustration are growing to frightening levels all over the nation, and the surging poverty that we are seeing in many areas is playing a significant role in all of this.

Despite what you may be hearing from the mainstream media, the truth is that the economy is not getting better.  In fact, in a whole bunch of different ways our economy is already in worse shape than it was during the depths of the last recession.

If you live in a nice neighborhood, you may not even be aware of what is going on in much of the rest of the country.  According to the Atlantic, the number of Americans living in high poverty areas has nearly doubled since the year 2000…

The number of people living in high-poverty areas—defined as census tracts where 40 percent or more of families have income levels below the federal poverty threshold—nearly doubled between 2000 and 2013, to 13.8 million from 7.2 million, according to a new analysis of census data by Paul Jargowsky, a public-policy professor at Rutgers University-Camden and a fellow at The Century Foundation. That’s the highest number of Americans living in high-poverty neighborhoods ever recorded.

The development is worrying, especially since the number of people living in high-poverty areas fell 25 percent, to 7.2 million from 9.6 million, between 1990 and 2000. Back then, concentrated poverty was declining in part because the economy was booming.

People living in highly concentrated areas of poverty can become very desperate, and desperate people do desperate things.

Don’t let the misleading economic numbers fool you.  As Paul Craig Roberts has pointed out, if honest numbers were being used our current unemployment rate would not be too far away from the unemployment rate at the height of the Great Depression…

In 1994 the Clinton regime stopped counting long-term discouraged workers as unemployed. Clinton wanted his economy to look better than Reagan’s, so he ceased counting the long-term discouraged workers that were part of Reagan’s unemployment rate. John Williams (shadowstats.com) continues to measure the long-term discouraged with the official methodology of that time, and when these unemployed are included, the US rate of unemployment as of July 2015 is 23%, several times higher than during the recession with which Fed chairman Paul Volcker greeted the Reagan presidency.

An unemployment rate of 23% gives economic recovery a new meaning. It has been eighty-five years since the Great Depression, and the US economy is in economic recovery with an unemployment rate close to that of the Great Depression.

But instead of telling us the truth, the mainstream media continues to put out lots of happy stories.

For instance, one of my readers just sent me this one: “4 signs the Des Moines economy is surging“.

I had to smile when I saw that.  You know, even though the U.S. economy has been collapsing, it is collapsing right now and there are all sorts of signs that our collapse is about to greatly accelerate, there are still lots of people out there that mock “the collapse crowd” and insist that everything is going to be just fine.

And of course the mainstream media continues to mock anyone that is seriously trying to prepare for the coming hard times.  The following is an excerpt from a recent Toronto Star article…

Preppers anticipate various disasters by stockpiling food, honing wilderness survival skills and learning self-defence.

If a Katrina-like storm knocked out power in Toronto, you’d know the preppers by the lights in their windows, running on generators. And if things ever descend into chaos, they’ll grab their prepacked bags, loaded with essential survival equipment, and split, leaving the rest of us to fight over the last drops of gasoline and fresh water.

The mockers will continue to mock, and their jokes will continue to be very funny up until the moment when everything starts falling apart all around us.

But those that are wise understand what is happening, and they are preparing in advance.

Credit to Economic Collapse