Originally published April 19 2008
Crying at the Helm: On Board the American Financial Titanic
by Mark Sircus Ac., OMD
(NaturalNews) The banks are getting creamed or blindsided by a cascading cross-fire of defaults and bankruptcies. The best image I can come up with to describe the current situation is this -- we are all aboard the Titanic and she has already hit the iceberg and had her bottom ripped out. Yes we are feeling the shudders in our lives but so far, they are mild and we really do not know that we have been struck below the water line and are doomed. Coming over the intercom are calming messages from the mass media, which are diminishing the dangers at every step of the way so as to avoid any kind of panic that will bring things down quicker.
No one wants to be stuck with vaults full of rapidly depreciating dollars as the American economy hurtles towards the basement.
So we continue with our lives though many are beginning to make important adjustments in terms of spending. The financial system has had its guts ripped out and the bleeding is turning into a hemorrhage. But again we are led to believe worry is not necessary, certainly there is no reason to panic; the cavalry is coming in terms of checks from the government that we can spend on anything we want. Time to lust after the latest iPod! Short term interest rates are heading downward and with them everything else including the dollar. Well not everything, food and energy prices have headed for the sky leaving us with even less money to pay all our debts and certainly with less money to spend on everything else.
The captain of the actual Titanic was intelligent enough to shut down the engines, if he didn't the ship would have gone down much more quickly. The American government has no intention of shutting down anything and is instead opening up the throttles to flank speed. Injecting hundreds of billions into the banking system, 150 billion dollar gifts to consumers, hundreds of billions given to other financial institutions, more spending, and probably another war (as if two were not enough) just to keep the population distracted are all on the drawing board of government planners.
The Fed is bailing out banks to prevent withdrawals in case people lose confidence in their entire fraudulent system.
But this is old news. Each emergency measure is forgotten because a new one is put in place like shark bait for the financial markets but the dollar goes down anyway, sinking like a stone, like the titanic. Many of us knew this was going to happen but there was nothing we could do about it. In fact, seems like thousands of years ago they knew what was going to happen and wrote books of prophecies about it. Unless you're living under a rock these days it's impossible not to have noticed that something serious is wrong and threatening the very heart and soul of modern capitalism.
Now after the Bear Stearns fiasco, investors are comforted 'for the moment' that the awake and concerned Federal Reserve will jump into action to prevent the current crisis from sinking the entire financial system. The smart money though sees the Fed as a tough strongman standing at the waters edge at low tide defying the tide from coming in. Yes they might be able to quickly come in with a few bulldozers and create a sand wall, but we all know what happens to them when the tide eventually comes in. When it comes to Bear Stearns too much leverage in a time when credit is tight and investors are jittery, the investment bank saw a run and in a matter of a week, had lost over 90 percent of its initial market value. Can you imagine something like that happening simultaneously around the world over a period of just months?
Anyway, don't be surprised when there is so much money around it will cost a fortune for a loaf of bread and yet many will not have enough for that loaf. Perhaps before that happens they will simply issue a new currency with a resultant collapse in asset values and a default on trillions of dollars in debt and future obligations to Social Security and Medicare.
The contradictions and lies of modern life have ripped the hulls of our collective ship of civilization and it's going to come apart. Yes, the news is bad and going to get a whole lot worse; just project your heart out to those on the decks of the Titanic when they knew she was going to go down. This is the time to feel those feelings but remember, not everyone died that night. Some of the survivors actually made it into the 21st century.
"Each fund is trying to raise capital by selling off their bank stocks at the same time to raise capital to offset other losses or to meet other financial obligations, and this is creating a positive feedback loop creating further losses." - Jason Hommel
A new five-year analysis of the nation's death rates recently released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the suicide rate among 45 to 54 year-olds increased nearly 20 percent from 1999 to 2004, the latest year studied, far outpacing changes in nearly every other age group. For women 45 to 54, the rate leapt 31 percent. We are living in crazy and desperate times and that comes crashing down on individuals and their families in a most agonizing way.
Society does not really want to measure the pain of people but we are hearing the strangest stories of a woman throwing her kids and herself off an overpass. Can you imagine what would drive a mother to do such a thing? Last week, I read of a woman who lived in her bathroom for years until finally her husband got worried about her enough to call the police. She was stuck to the toilet seat and doctors had to be brought in. Actually more and more people are afraid to leave their homes. And more and more people are finding themselves on the streets, or in camps far away from their homes. Millions of new people are getting a crash course in what billions around the world already know.
And now we find out that at least 40 million Americans don't even have to go to the doctor to get their medications, it comes for free in the tap water which is polluted with all kinds of nasty pharmaceutical drugs. Life just doesn't get any better! Now we have the financial universe melting around us and our environment kicking back. It's not our genes that are crumbling, it's our entire cellular physiology as exponentially more of us fall to chronic illness or cancer. Our cells are starving because we have been ignorant of nutritional realities while we have been lined up against the wall to be shot up with all kinds of chemical and radiological poisons.
I do not even want to get into the sufferings of the people in Iraq and Afghanistan because then I would really lose control and start frothing at the mouth uttering obscene profanities. And I would not dare to include pictures I have seen of children whose deformities come from the "completely safe" depleted uranium weapons because that would make all my readers sick.
"The United States may be a senescent dinosaur, and it is, but it is also a violent, heavily armed, very angry senescent dinosaur. In the end, it will do what all aged dinosaurs do: perish. But not before it first does a great deal of wild roaring and violent lashing and thrashing about." - Richard Sauder, PhD
There is no way the American government or the corporations that stand behind it are going to go out quietly. No way is the powerful and greedy going to come to their senses and back down from the world scene. "The bleakest way to look at American capitalism is as an instrument of war and death and gluttony that serves only the most cretinous corporate masters at the expense of, well, everyone else. This is the capitalism of the hard right, a particularly ruthless type that happily sacrifices quite literally everything -- the environment, health, human life, God, national identity, the stability of future generations -- for the sake of immediate and unchecked profit," wrote Mark Morford.
"Every debt crisis in history since Solon of Athens has ended in inflation, bankruptcy or war." - J.W. Smith
I do not think any of us have any idea how dramatically things can change, how much trouble we are in for. It is a sad time really as we find out that in reality, democracy has only been a smokescreen for continuing elite rule. Nothing has changed in this regard -- in not hundreds or even thousands of years. Yes we have been given more rein, more freedom to move and be. But most of that has been an illusion as vaccination programs illustrate. Yes we have been free and freely we have allowed our collective perceptions to be shaped by corporate capitalism, which is controlled by the elite ruling class that has always held the power.
The world-wide market for vaccines will quadruple from about $4.3 billion in 2006 to more than $16 billion in 2016, with the biggest boost coming from kids in the U.S.
Kings are gone but their authority and control not only has lived on but has grown to stupendous levels of power. There are more than several elites and they do not always get along and this will lead to unexpected outcomes. The pharmaceutical people are the richest but then again, at the top they interlock. In reality it's the military-oil-pharmaceutical-chemical-medical complex and they work quite well together to make life on earth more dangerous and painful.
"Capitalism instills the ideology of selfishness and exploitation. We need to extend caring beyond the self, beyond the immediate family and small sphere of friends. We need to replace capitalism with a system that is not based upon profits, but upon public service and respect for the earth. There will be no easy way out. This will be a painful process, and it must be accomplished in the midst of an emerging Gestapo state. If martial law is declared, dissidents will likely be rounded up and imprisoned or worse," writes Charles Sullivan.
"A society whose citizens refuse to see and investigate the facts, who refuse to believe that their government and their media will routinely lie to them and fabricate a reality contrary to verifiable facts, is a society that chooses and deserves the Police State Dictatorship it's going to get." - Ian Williams Goddard.
Economist Ludwig von Mises said: "There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought on by credit expansion. The question is only whether the crisis should come sooner as a result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved." The whole financial Tower of Babel is cracking at the foundation as the cost of capital is skyrocketing.
The dollar tumbled 6 percent in the past month against a basket of six major trading partners. Ben S. Bernanke's interest-rate cuts have touched off a vicious circle of doom for the dollar.
President Andrew Jackson, the only one of our presidents whose administration totally abolished the National Debt, condemned the international bankers as a "den of vipers" which he was determined to "rout out" of the fabric of American life. Jackson claimed that if only the American people understood how these vipers operated on the American scene "there would be a revolution before morning." James Madison said, "History records that the moneychangers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance."
"The system is working just exactly as those in control of the nation right now wish it to be working, with the most dominant, ruthless corporations in the world (Exxon joined by Shell, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhilips et al) still making the most money in the most destabilizing and environmentally devastating manner possible." - Mark Morford
Americans did not heed the warnings and today they are worse than ever with their heads stuck in the sands for it seems that no warning, about anything, issued by anyone, can awaken them to the true state of the catastrophic dangers they are facing. Just about everyone whose pockets are not lined with gold are feeling anxious and have been for years for you got to be quite an idiot to not feel the wrongness. But the lengths to which the United States government and the elites who control it have gone to hide (perhaps the better word here is "bury") what America is really all about is truly breathtaking so we should have compassion.
"It's a very delicate moment. The Fed can't handle the situation at this point." - Ken Rogoff,
Professor at Harvard University and former economist with the International Monetary Fund.
Chris Whalen, of the Wall Street consultancy Institutional Risk Analytics, said that should the U.S. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission not devise a broad rescue plan to address the credit turmoil on Wall Street this weekend, "I would not be surprised to see an emergency bank holiday announced. That hasn't happened since Roosevelt."
Vipers are a good way to describe a whole class of people and even industries who have to quit their sinful abominations that target the domestic public as well as foreigners taking in insane wars. A hard system crash though will take the good people out as well and that is sad. What is happening on the financial front is hugely important and will have a great impact �- hopefully -� in bringing down the medical industrial complex, not just the bankers and Wall Street barracudas. Certainly the point is that the days are numbered when America can afford a three trillion dollar medical complex and a three trillion dollar government.
For some of the latest detailed financial analysis, see (http://counterpunch.org/whitney03132008.html) .
"In the United States, a new tipping point will translate into a collapse of the real economy, final socio-economic stage of the serial bursting of the housing and financial bubbles and of the pursuance of the U.S. dollar fall. The collapse of U.S. real economy means the virtual freeze of the American economic machinery: private and public bankruptcies in large numbers, companies and public services closing down massively." - Statement from The Global Europe Anticipation Bulletin (GEAB)
Ken Goldstein, labor economist at the Conference Board, said in a statement accompanying another bad overall economic index report that economic signals "are flashing yellow." He said the numbers indicate "the economy may be grinding to a halt" and that "a small contraction in economic activity cannot be ruled out."
Now go back and take a good look at what Goldstein said. Look at his exact choice of words and the canyon between his contradictions. Grinding halt casts an image of a train coming to a complete stop and is a powerful image that many feel accurately reflects current reality. A small contraction is something very different and this represents the side of the press that continues to reassure the public that perhaps a recession is at hand and sure some tough moments are coming.
It is hard to get an exact gauge of the descent into financial chaos the news is offering because the news itself and all government statistics are slanted. You know it's the corporate owned media that manipulate information as its profession. Fortunately we are finding that there are limits to lies, deception and slight of hands, meaning not everything can be hidden. A cow walking into the dining room at Thanksgiving dinner is hard to ignore.
It's like a fire in the engine room, a little hard to judge its intensity from the bridge of each of our individual lives. But from the helm we can hear the screaming if we listen to the many who are already drowning below. For those who can identify, it is time to get strong and centered in our hearts as things get worse. Every official who counts for anything in the world today is promising us an unpleasant near future. No large scale panic has yet occurred but it should weigh on any soul to think of what such a probable eventual likelihood would look and feel like.
It is not easy to beware and start imagining worst case scenarios for it would be a good bet to assume that it's going to be much worse then the worst that most people are presently imagining. I am without question not telling anyone to panic but saying to go into cold reasoning and planning based on worst case scenarios. I always find it's a good psychological exercise to look at and accept the worst possibility in every situation because then it is easier to make sure the worst does not happen �- easier to make things better.
The collapse of the dollar will reduce America to third world status, and its people to a chaos they are woefully unprepared to face. It will be a period of tremendous hardship and economic deprivation. As with the fall of the Roman Empire, America will eventually be forced out of economic necessity to close its military bases around the world. There would be no money for government services, education, pensions, health care, security, etc. Society could easily slip into lawless anarchy.
California is on the brink of what may be the biggest public education crisis in state history. In the past week, over 20,000 preliminary pink slips were sent by school districts to teachers and administrators state wide.
The Homeland Security people will have their hands full but American security forces are ready for worst case scenarios for this is how they are trained. It will be highly ironic if it's the first black president in our history becomes the one to have to declare martial law and suspend the constitution. He will be harder to hate then if Bush did the nasty deed. It does feel sometimes like a film and the script already written. Since 9/11 it has felt this way �- and a certain way of life seems headed for a deep burial in the dark depths of the sea.
We are apparently now in the final countdown towards the greatest economic meltdown in history. Yet few appear to be aware of what lies ahead. We are about to witness the end of the America that we were blessed with, and enter a worldwide age that no one has experienced in living memory. The mainstream press is saying in plain language that the fear is increasing that, "those severe problems in housing and the nation's bedrock financial system could cripple the economy and wallop many millions of Americans." All attention is on America and what happens to her will have a great effect around the world.
Approximately 400,000 Americans are losing their jobs this week, that's around a million and a half a month and by year's end could be fifteen million Americans newly without income to pay their debts.
References:
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/opinion/13...)
(http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_paul...)
About the author
Mark A. Sircus Ac., OMD, is director of the International Medical Veritas Association (IMVA)http://www.imva.info/. Dr. Sircus was trained in acupuncture and oriental medicine at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Sante Fe, N.M., and in the School of Traditional Medicine of New England in Boston. He served at the Central Public Hospital of Pochutla, in M�xico, and was awarded the title of doctor of oriental medicine for his work. He was one of the first nationally certified acupuncturists in the United States. Dr. Sircus's IMVA is dedicated to unifying the various disciplines in medicine with the goal of creating a new dawn in healthcare.
He is particularly concerned about the effect vaccinations have on vulnerable infants and is identifying the common thread of many toxic agents that are dramatically threatening present and future generations of children. His book The Terror of Pediatric Medicine is a free e-book one can read. Dr. Sircus is a most prolific and courageous writer and one can read through hundreds of pages on his various web sites.
He has most recently released his Survival Medicine for the 21st Century compendium (2,200 page ebook) and just released the Winning the War Against Cancer book. Dr. Sircus is a pioneer in the area of natural detoxification and chelation of toxic chemicals and heavy metals. He is also a champion of the medicinal value of minerals and is fathering in a new medical approach that uses sea water and different concentrates taken from it for health and healing. Transdermal Magnesium Therapy, his first published work, offers a stunning breakthrough in medicine, an entirely new way to supplement magnesium that naturally increases DHEA levels, brings cellular magnesium levels up quickly, relieves pain, brings down blood pressure and pushes cell physiology in a positive direction. Magnesium chloride delivered transdermally brings a quick release from a broad range of conditions.
International Medical Veritas Association: http://www.imva.info/
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