should be obvious...this is Bush's private army...his brown shirts...
apparently they fear no one because they are protected from the
upper levels of the government...

these are the same guys that went into new orleans to collect
guns & keep the peace....yeah right...

they should all be reported to the minister of silly walks..

we're on the same page in that regard...
I'm eating a lot less these days...

If you listen carefully you can hear the hum of the printing presses at the Federal Reserve..printing money to flood the market...print print print...all they need is paper to print it on...for those that dont realize..the Fed is a private corporation that prints money for us..and charges us interest on that money...of course they dont have to tell us how much they are doing...and we definitely have no right to see their books...
tick tick tick...hear the clock?....get ready for $10 loaves of bread....

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Japan and China lead flight from the dollar
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor
Last Updated: 12:26am BST 18/10/2007


Japan and China led a record withdrawl of foreign funds from the United States in August, heightening fears of a fresh slide in the dollar and a spike in US bond yields.

The US requires $70bn a month in capital inflows to cover its current account deficit

Data from the US Treasury showed outflows of $163bn (£80bn) from all forms of US investments. "These numbers are absolutely stunning," said Marc Ostwald, an economist at Insinger de Beaufort.

Asian investors dumped $52bn worth of US Treasury bonds alone, led by Japan ($23bn), China ($14.2bn) and Taiwan ($5bn). It is the first time since 1998 that foreigners have, on balance, sold Treasuries.

Mr Ostwald warned that US bond yields could start to rise again unless the outflows reverse quickly. "Woe betide US Treasuries if inflation does not remain benign," he said.

The release comes a day after the IMF warned that the dollar was still overvalued and likely to face "some depreciation in the medium term".

The dollar's short-lived rally over recent days stopped abruptly on the data, increasing pressure on US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to shore up Washington's "strong dollar" rhetoric at the G7 summit this week.

The Greenback has already fallen below parity against the Canadian Loonie for the first time since 1976 and has touched record lows against a global basket. It closed at $2.032 against the pound.

David Woo, an analyst at Barclays Capital, said Washington was happy to see the dollar slide. "They don't care so long as the fall is not disorderly. They see it as a way of correcting the deficit. " he said.

Mr Woo said a chunk of the August outflows may have come from foreigners borrowing in the US during the liquidity crunch to meet needs in euros. "We think it may be a one-off," he said.

The US requires $70bn a month in capital inflows to cover its current account deficit, but the key sources of finance are drying up one by one.

BNP Paribas said America has relied on "hot money" from abroad to cover 25pc to 30pc of the US short-term credit and commercial paper market over the last two years.

This flow is now in danger after the seizure in parts of the market over the summer and after the Federal Reserve's half point rate cut, which has shaved the US yield advantage over other countries.

Ian Stannard, a Paribas currency analyst, said the data was "extremely negative" for the dollar. "It exceeds the worst fears. It is not just foreigners who are selling US assets. Americans are turning their back as well," he said.

Central banks in Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam have all begun to cut purchases of US bonds, or signalled an intent to do so. In effect, they are giving up trying to hold down their currencies because the policy is starting to set off inflation.

The Treasury data would have been even worse if it had not been for $60bn of inflows from hedge funds based in Britain and the Caymans, which needed to cover US positions at the height of the credit crunch.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/10/16/bcnchina116.xml

all the hormones in milk are catching up with us....too young....

better christian than most of the war mongers that post here... that's for sure...

Former CO Gov Describes
'Crime Of Century'
By Frosty Wooldridge
10-17 -7

Last month, I participated in the annual gathering of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR ­ www.fairus.org) in Washington, DC. Former Colorado Governor Lamm was a keynote speaker giving us a STARTLING speech.

His national leadership in the immigration debate illustrates his far-reaching understanding of our greatest dilemma in the early years of the 21st century. Every social ill emanates from too many poorly educated, low-income people flooding into the United States beyond our capacity to sustain them or ourselves.

U.S. National Bankruptcy Possible?

Few Americans understand the Faustian dilemma awaiting their children with the federal deficit now at $8.7 trillion. Although Bill Clinton left office with a balanced budget, and precious little national debt Mr. Bush raised the federal debt level to nearly $10 trillion in seven short years.

On an individual level, if you earned $50,000.00 a year, but ran up your credit card debt to $500,000.00 a year, how would you pay for your financial liability? Answer: you couldn't. Bankruptcy becomes your only option. However, what happens when an entire country bankrupts?

The dollar's value falls world-wide. Our annual trade deficit exceeds $700 billion. Our manufacturing base vanishes with millions of U.S. jobs outsourced overseas. Our government must borrow $2 billion each and every day to keep our economy afloat. Unbeknownst to most Americans, their tax dollars pay in excess of $400 million daily to pay the interest on the federal debt.

The greatest embezzlement in all of history

Governor Lamm said, "I have participated in the greatest embezzlement in all of history. In my seventy plus years, I have never seen such a perfect crime.

"Like most other master criminals, I am heady with success and feel a need to brag. I kid you not never before has one group appropriated as much money that belonged to another group in the history of crime.

"The victims, while they are increasingly suspicious, still do not know they have been had. It was literally and figuratively as easy as taking candy out of the mouths of babies."

To pull off a giant embezzlement, you need a naive patsy

Lamm continued, "Here is how we did it. The first rule of embezzlement is to find some naive patsy. We sensed forty years ago the younger generation was not paying enough attention to public policy, so we quietly found ways to maintain our lifestyle and charge it to the next generation and their children.

"While those of you under 45 were preoccupied with other things, my generation dumped the largest load of debt on you that history has ever seen and found ways to maintain our lifestyles on your credit cards.

"A good scam needs a compassionate come-on. In our case, we developed a new phrase: "poor elderly." To this day, most Americans do not understand that this is actually two words, and that "poor" no longer adequately describes the elderly as a class.

Ponzi scheme to benefit the oldsters!

"Next, we devised a number of systems that allowed us to charge our retirement to the next generation of Americans, who will wake up to find they are on the losing side of a Ponzi scheme," Lamm said. "Like all good con artists, we relied on "trust."

Trust fund; to benefit both Medicare and Social Security!

"We told them there was a "trust" fund for both Social Security and Medicare," Lamm said. "Of course, this was a lie. There is no "trust" fund, in the normal sense of the word, because we take this month's Social Security taxes from today's workers and pay them to today's elderly. Then, we tell today's workers not to worry the money is being held "in trust."

But, there is no trust fund!

"In actual fact, they would be no better off if the fund was invested in confederate war bonds," Lamm said. "The trust fund is a sham because it only contains IOU's that tomorrow's generation of workers will have to pay off themselves.

"They will have to pay for both our retirement and a good part their own. We succeeded in taking money from poor workers in St. Paul and sent it to wealthy retirees in St. Petersburg, FL and no one was the wiser."

The perfect embezzlement maximizes its take.

"We soon found there was money left over after paying the Social Security funds to today's elderly, and we did not want to stop half way," Lamm said. "What self-respecting crook would leave money lying in the bank vault after a robbery?"

Clever scheme; consolidated budget.

"We completed the job by something called the "consolidated budget," Lamm said. "This allowed us to quietly take the Social Security funds left over -- to reduce our taxes by spending the money on current government services. Under the "consolidated budget," we could legally "borrow" the money in the "trust fund" left over every year, and spend it on current government services; thereby, reducing our yearly taxes. Virtually every year for the last 40 years, we understated the yearly deficit and understated the total federal debt.

U.S. $50,000,000,000,000 National Debt today, including interest

"Even though the official federal debt is approximately $9.5 trillion, the amount actually passed on to the next generation is closer to $50 trillion."

My generation master embezzlers!

"The entire scheme was done with clever accounting gimmicks, which allowed us to minimize our taxes and maximize our spending while we passed the bill on to the next generation," Lamm said. "Like many victims of a crime, by the time they figure it out I (older generation) will be long gone. I have completely and totally spent the Social Security Trust Fund and left nothing in trust, absolutely nothing, for today's workers to pay future obligations.

"They will have to either raise their taxes substantially, or dramatically reduce their benefits under the system. They have no other practical alternatives.

The true perfect crime only works once.

"Every dime spent on the war in Iraq we put on our kid's credit cards," Lamm said. "Every dime of Katrina and Rita hurricane recovery we put "off-budget" and thus left it to our children to pay.

"Then we voted ourselves a substantial tax-cut, the only tax cut during a war in our national history. If anyone quoted Milton Friedman, "If you cut taxes without cutting spending, you are not cutting taxes, you are deferring them to your children," we would quickly say we were 'stimulating the economy' and change the subject."

Eventually, the next generation will wake up to the magnitude of the fraud.

"They will recognize they are working long hours (or two jobs) and make less working than I make in retirement," Lamm said. "Yet, every month they transfer money to me to pay for my health benefits. I have plans for that also. When they start to blow the whistle, I will say with shock and horror, 'You can't start an intergenerational war.' I will tell them about how hard I fought for this country.

"I will shame them by accusing them of breaking the "generational compact," neatly covering the fact that it was my generation who "broke" the compact by leaving them an unsustainable and insolvent system."

Like any successful crook, I cover all my bases.

"When health care costs became a larger factor in our budgets, we found a system to subsidize our health care costs at the expense of following generations. We called it Medicare," Lamm said. "The average senior who turned 65 in year-2000 got back $4 from today's workers for every $1 that he/she paid into the system. Seven short years later, today's retiree receives on the average a $100,000 subsidy toward his health care costs from a system that is slated to go broke not far into this 21 st century."

The story does not end there.

"My generation screwed up the savings and loan industry," Lamm said. "What did we do to get out of it? We issued thirty-year bonds! Why should I pay for my mistakes when there is a gullible generation right behind me? Will I be here in 30 years? No. Will you? I leave it to my kids to pay off. My wife and I bought our first house in 1963 for $11,900. Our first mortgage payments were $49 a month because we had a V.A. loan subsidized by the federal government."

Everyone in my generation could buy his or her own home.

"It is estimated that thirty percent of the current workers below age thirty will never be able to own their own houses," Lamm said. "I get more money in housing allowance every year from the federal government than the poorest American. I get to deduct my mortgage interest and real estate taxes, which is worth to someone in my income bracket more than the cash equivalent that any poor person in this state receives for housing. Ditto health benefits.

"By not taxing my health insurance paid for by my employer, I also receive more health benefits from the federal government than most poor children on Medicaid. I have recently passed Medicare Part-D to help pay for my prescriptions."

The Crime of the Century

As Lamm explained, "It's the crime of the century."

Richard D. Lamm is co-director of the Institute for Public Policy Studies at the University of Denver, and the former three-term governor of Colorado, from 1975 to 1987. His latest book: "Brave New World of Health Care."

© 2007 Frosty Wooldridge - All Rights Reserved

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there are actually people speaking truth out there...not too many listening...or reading...

bravo hiker....

can someone tell me why I have five fingers?....seriously.....

you dont have to go to interpol to find these monsters...they are thriving
in the US....especially for those in power...

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/franklincoverupexcerpt.shtml

nothing worse than sheeple wearing blinders...ugh...you're right Jess...

using my crystal ball I see television ads in the future for Blackwater..
much like the recruiting ads for the military....and you will probably see
a Blackwater video game soon also...

and let me see if I have this right...Blackwater is under contract with the
US government for 100's of thousands of $$ per employee...and in their
spare time they supply protection for other dignitaries from other countries
as they visit world hot spots...so in effect the american tax payer is paying
security costs for Polish politicians as they visit war zones....Did anyone ask
us if we want to spend our money that way?...

are we talking about the federal reserve here?...piles of money from thin air?...

Here is the success model for you own corporation....
Get seed money to start your business thru tax breaks
from communities eager to have new businesses in their
neighborhood...If earnings are not happening fast enough
then declare your headquarters off shore so you can avoid
american taxes...when profits allow move your business off shore
to take advantage of low wages .....
When an american refuses to pay their taxes we declare them
a criminal and put them in jail...when corporations refuse to
pay their taxes thru loopholes...and take their business to other
countries to avoid paying wages here we declare them intelligent
CEO's ....we fight wars for these industries but they have no allegiance
to us whatsoever....thanks for your blood, sweat & tears america....

there is now a rumor online that IBM...a great american business
success story is now quietly planning a major move off shore that will
result in thousands (many thousands) of americans losing their jobs..

many will say the housing mess is because people didnt read the contracts
or wanted a house they couldnt afford...their own fault....give me a break...
the mortgage industry became predatory....and those that bought into it
were victims of a massive shellgame...

I am very comfortable with my insistence that the war end NOW....that to truly support
our troops means bring them home NOW....Surely most here are intelligent enough to
realize that this will not be over after a new president (puppet) is elected...there is only
ONE candidate calling for immediate withdrawl from this mess..the rest are only hacks for
Aipac or the international bankers...that want this war to go on & on to postpone the
economic collapse that is long overdue...We are building permanent bases there...WHAT
DOES THAT TELL YOU?....duh.....

...Gore... another CFR hack .....beware false prophets

interesting when people say that they would vote for Ron Paul but he doesnt stand a chance to win...THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE ELITE WANT YOU TO SAY....so we will get the same old crap...but I will vote my conscience....& write in if I have to...go Ron Paul

would recommend a conspiracy forum mike...

got that right knox....

Blackwater Is Soaked
An arrogant attitude only adds fuel to the criticism.

Oct. 15, 2007 issue - The colonel was furious. "Can you believe it? They actually drew their weapons on U.S. soldiers." He was describing a 2006 car accident, in which an SUV full of Blackwater operatives had crashed into a U.S. Army Humvee on a street in Baghdad's Green Zone. The colonel, who was involved in a follow-up investigation and spoke on the condition he not be named, said the Blackwater guards disarmed the U.S. Army soldiers and made them lie on the ground at gunpoint until they could disentangle the SUV. His account was confirmed by the head of another private security company. Asked to address this and other allegations in this story, Blackwater spokesperson Anne Tyrrell said, "This type of gossip has led to many soap operas in the press."
Whatever else Blackwater is or isn't guilty of—a topic of intense interest in Washington—it has a well-earned reputation in Iraq for arrogance and high-handedness. Iraqis naturally have the most serious complaints; dozens have been killed by Blackwater operatives since the beginning of the war. But many American civilian and military officials in Iraq also have little sympathy for the private security company and its highly paid employees. With an uproar growing in Congress over Blackwater's alleged excesses, the North Carolina-based company is finding few supporters.

Responsible for guarding top U.S. officials in Iraq, Blackwater operatives are often accused of playing by their own rules. Unlike nearly everyone else who enters the Green Zone, said an American soldier who guards a gate, Blackwater gunmen refuse to stop and clear their weapons of live ammunition once inside. One military contractor, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution in his industry, recounted the story of a Blackwater operative who answered a Marine officer's order to put his pistol on safety when entering a base post office by saying, "This is my safety," and wiggling his trigger finger in the air. "Their attitude was, 'We're f---ing security; we don't have to answer to anybody'."

Congress disagrees. Until now, private security contractors working for the State Department, as Blackwater does, have effectively not been covered by either U.S. or Iraqi law, or military regulations. A bill that overwhelmingly passed the House last week would close that loophole. But the law would also require the FBI to establish a large-scale presence in Iraq in order to investigate accusations against private contractors. Law-enforcement officials worry that this would draw valuable resources away from FBI efforts to combat terrorism in the United States. Also, whenever FBI agents venture into Iraq now they are guarded by ... Blackwater operatives. The bureau has sent a team to Baghdad to investigate the Sept. 16 shooting in Nasoor Square, in which Blackwater guards are accused of killing as many as 17 Iraqi civilians. In order to avoid "even the appearance of any conflict [of interest]," according to an FBI spokesman, the agents will be defended by U.S. government personnel.

It is not an idle concern. Blackwater's staunchest defenders tend to be found among those whom they guard. U.S. officials prefer Blackwater and other private security bodyguards because they regard them as more highly trained than military guards, who are often reservists from MP units. A U.S. Embassy staffer, who did not have permission to speak on the record, said, "It's a few bad eggs that seem to be spoiling the bunch." Late last week the State Department announced that it would increase oversight of Blackwater in particular, installing cameras in its vehicles and having a Diplomatic Security Service officer ride along on every convoy. But another State Department official, also speaking anonymously, says that DSS agents in Baghdad have not been eager to rein in the contractors in the past: "These guys tend to close ranks. It's like the blue wall."

Testifying before Congress last week, 38-year-old Blackwater chief Erik Prince vigorously defended his company's "dedicated security professionals" who "risk their lives to protect Americans in harm's way overseas." Prince probably had no reason to be as smug as he seemed to many observers. In deflecting questions about a drunken Blackwater operative who allegedly shot and killed a bodyguard for Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi in the Green Zone on Christmas Eve last year, Prince said that the employee, later identified as Andrew Moonen, had been fined and fired. But on Friday House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman released a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recounting evidence that Moonen was able to return to Iraq and worked there for another company. Moonen's attorney, Stewart Riley, told NEWSWEEK his client denies wrongdoing and is not facing criminal charges. Blackwater is no doubt in for further fire fights.

With Larry Kaplow in Baghdad and Michael Hastings in Washington

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21163806/site/newsweek/

______
If true that these mercenaries have disarmed our own troops is completely outrageous dont you think?...What a freaking mess this war is...on many levels...Imagine Blackwater being used in America....oops...maybe that already happened in New Orleans...the criminals are in charge people...