November 12 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The GlobalEurope Anticipation Bulletin (GEAB), produced by the influential think tank LEAP/Europe 2020, predicts that the US Government will default on its debt anytime before next summer. The analysis presented in their recent issue here suggests that the default will occur due to the following five factors:

“• The recent upward trend of the US Dollar is a direct and temporary consequence of the collapse of stock markets

• Thanks to its recent «political baptism», the Euro becomes a credible «safe haven» value and therefore provides a «crisis» alternative to the US dollar

• The US public debt is now swelling uncontrollably

• The ongoing collapse of US real economy prevents from finding an alternative solution to the country’s defaulting

• «Strong inflation or hyper-inflation in the US in 2009?», that is the only question.”

The outline presented in the GEAB generally corresponds to what we have been saying for a while with regard to the future of the US (and all the implications for those countries tied to it). The ‘global financial meltdown’ that is unfolding now is far from reaching its climax, one reason being the impending derivatives bubble that must burst and destroy the false economy based on speculation in order to start re-building the global economy. Those who expect any ‘meaningful results’ from the upcoming G20 meeting in Washington this week will be disappointed. To put it simply, if the US creditors wait a bit longer they would get a better deal. The important question that GEAB raises above regarding the US should be considered in the following manner: will the impending (hyper-) inflation be dealt with through internal implosion (with all its ramifications for the social order in that country) or a World War as has occurred many times in the past?

Posted in Economic Issues, In The News, Other, Disaster Management, Security Measures, Europe, North America, Politics | No Comments »

October 17 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The movie below is written and directed by Peter Joseph. It is 123 min long and offers a lot of food-for-thought. We welcome your comments.

Posted in Identity Management, Security Measures, Health Preparedness, Economic Issues, In The News, Water Issues, Food Security, Africa, Asia, North America, South America, Environment, Politics | No Comments »

October 15 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The systemic crisis that now unfolds in the world cannot be fully understood without first understanding what role ‘money’ plays in all areas of human life. Initially introduced as a means of exchange between consenting parties, money was tied to tangible goods produced by spending physical energy (both resources and labour). In the last 400 years money has turned into an ‘independent’ player that has commodified every aspect of human life, without exception. In other words, from a marginal tool of exchange in social interactions (otherwise governed by centuries-long traditions of moral and behavioural codes) money has became the ultimate end-goal, codifier and master of all relations. Needless to say, in the present system the control over the supply side of money determines everything else. The article by Charles Eisenstein entitled ‘Money and the Crisis of Civilization’ presents a simple review of how this system was created and sheds light on why it won’t be able to survive. To date, the continuation of the system was characterized by cycles of wars and conflicts to prop it up. How many people have paused and considered what is coming next?

Posted in In The News, Economic Issues, Politics | No Comments »

October 9 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The number of articles around the world that describe people’s reactions to the mounting financial crisis is on the rise. As the number of private and corporate bankruptcies grow so will the pressure on governments and societies affected by the crisis. The situation is of particular concern in the Northern Hemisphere given the approaching winter months and possible disruptions to just in time food deliveries.

Posted in Economic Issues, Food Security, North America | No Comments »

May 12 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

Time of the Vulture, a comprehensive report by Darryl Robert Schoon, provides some interesting insights into a pending global economic catastrophe. It’s eye-opening and definitely worth checking out.

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April 11 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

This week’s Friday Fun comes from Nury Vittachi with an article published in The Island:

The real pandemic shows its face at last

The Centre for Disease Control last night issued an urgent medical alert about a dangerous virus that could have a catastrophic effect on the world economy.

“We’ve seen massive outbreaks in numerous countries,” said a spokesman. “While we’re hoping for the best, this could be the pandemic we’ve been dreading. We urge all member governments to take preventative action immediately.”

Doctors are calling the virus Generally Reductive Economically Enervating Dementia, or GREED. If left untreated, it almost inevitably leads to full-blown economic deficiency syndrome.

Overview: Extraordinarily, the GREED virus avoids children and poor people, and has hit the West far more heavily than Asia. Almost all the victims are upper-middle class or wealthy, and usually male. Scientists are investigating whether some part of the yuppie lifestyle—designer suits, sports cars or first class air tickets—is triggering the disease. Ironically, in the majority of cases it eventually causes a dramatic shrinkage of the bank account and can lead to total cashectomies, which is the reduction of the sufferer’s net worth to zero.

Early symptoms: In the incubation stage, the sufferer starts to make clearly absurd decisions, such as believing he can make money by granting massive home loans to people who cannot possible pay them off. This was first observed in New York’s Wall Street, but spread to banks all over the world, including Asian banks such as HSBC.

Advanced symptoms: As the disease takes hold, the sufferer will choose to make “safe bets” by buying property in cities which are already the most expensive in the world. In the later stages of the disease, he will put the remainder of his cash in hedge funds with names such as the High Risk Probable Asian Disaster Fund. Throughout this period, any attempt to warn him of the inherent dangers in such moves will typically result in an increase in bizarre investments.

Transmission: “Now here’s the really bad news,” said Dieter Boringly, spokesman for the World Health Organization. “We can confirm that we have numerous documented cases of human-to-human transmission.” Certain sufferers have been designated “super-spreaders”, having been observed to spread the disease to the middle classes. Intriguingly, many of these carried business cards bearing the phrase “Financial Planner”.

Contagion: Doctors warn that the condition can be spread in numerous ways. “It seems to be carried by financial newspapers, where it settles on pages with titles such as ‘Your Money’ or ‘Stock Tips,’ said Dr David Daft, a virologist.

High-risk behavior has exacerbated the spread of the condition among people of various classes who make unprotected investments. “Always use protection,” he said. “That’s our advice to everyone, including the Pope.

“Treatment: Doctors says sufferers needs to be isolated—with electric cattle-prods if necessary—from newsstands selling financial papers, screens showing stock market data, and the storefronts of real estate agents.”But prevention is the best cure,” added Mr Boringly of the WHO. “Make sure you eat several portions of fruit and vegetables a day, and above all, never, never, never come into contact with a stockbroker, investment banker or financial planner without washing your hands with powerful anti-bacterial cream.”

Meanwhile, people in “low-class” jobs such as toilet-cleaning and journalism are watching with astonishment as wealthy financial people lose everything. “My heart bleeds for them,” said columnist Nury Vittachi, expressing his deep sympathy by laughing hysterically.

*Sufferers can write to Nury via www.vittachi.com to be sneered at further”

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April 10 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

Here’s an interesting map for anyone watching the rate of home foreclosures in the U.S. The worst affected areas by the sub-prime mortgage fiasco are to date California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Nevada.

Posted in Economic Issues, North America | No Comments »

March 4 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

After having not reported on the subject for a couple of weeks, I’d like to share a number of articles worthy of a read on what now appears to be a full-blown recession in the U.S. It’s only a matter of time before this economic crisis spreads elsewhere.

Robert Farrell has published a wonderfully insightful article on the growing economic crisis in the U.S. In it, he clearly explains what led to the crisis and what might be expected down the road. 

In Nouriel Roubini’s article, “Anatomy Of A Financial Meltdown“, he delineates how what was a sub-prime mortgage fiasco is spreading rapidly to other financial sectors causing a serious recession in the U.S. market. 

The Baltimore Sun has reported that inflation is rising. As a result Americans spent more in January on less material. As David Shvartsman noted on his blog back in October:

“The dollar is no longer the world’s reserve currency…expect continued deterioration in the dollar’s purchasing power and increases in inflation over the longer term. Inflation will not be confined to the US; it has appeared and will continue to appear in countries across the globe. Every government will try their damnedest to paper over their monetary inflation with ridiculous explanations and reconfigured price indexes which purport to show “low inflation”. Still, worldwide inflation is here and it is only a question of which fiat currency will depreciate at the fastest rate against relatively hard currencies and gold.”

Finally, in his recent article, Simon Caulkin analyses the root cause of the crisis as being greed, taking the analogy put forward by a colleague “of finance as the stomach of the country from which all other organs take their tone” diagnosing the entire corpus as having a gross eating disorder that no regulations can fix.

If anyone knows of other articles worthy of sharing, please send them in!

Posted in Economic Issues, North America | No Comments »

January 24 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The Burlington Free Press has run a letter to the editor by Peter Garritano that should be applauded, it is copied in full here:

“I read with interest the letter to the editor “Must impeach Bush, Cheney without delay” (Jan. 7), where there is mention of the end of oil, and can’t help wondering what could have been.

Wars are fought for resources. Religion and ideology are excuses. Dick Cheney’s secret energy policy of early 2001 probably led to the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. I am still waiting for one politician to speak the truth someday. The war on terror is a fraud. In almost seven years and billions of dollars spent on wiretapping, homeland security, and the ultimate disgrace, Guantanamo Bay, we have charged and prosecuted two people.

If our country were a business we would have had two real customers. A real company would have gone bankrupt years ago. The war on terror is leaving our country bankrupt. If we had spent the money we wasted to apprehend these two people on solar panels and windmills we would have solved our country’s energy problems forever, we would have no need to invade other countries to steal their oil, we could sell them green technology instead of weaponry.

The war on terror is a war on our way of life and we are the terrorists. We have allowed our constitutional rights to be removed, we have blindly stuck to a doomed energy policy and we have diverted hundreds of billions of dollars of our money to prop up these failing policies. Change does not have to be catastrophic but it must start now.”

Posted in Economic Issues, Security Measures, North America | No Comments »

January 23 2008 by The Systemic Analyst.

The following article by Patricia Harper is a great illustration of what the economic future holds in store, it’s definitely worth a read:

“For all of you happy little property owners out there merrily bobbing about in the sea of home ownership heaven, the financial dreams of bricks and mortar you were sold and which you believed just like the rest of us that would never forsake us and would see us all through to retirement may not be all you had hoped and while you had banked on receiving a good return on your investment and a peaceful and sunny haven, your dreams may be under immeasurable threat. You could be about to be whisked off you feet. Not by a warm current of good fortune, but from the changing tide of a financial catastrophe.

So stark could be the changing currents of global financial instability, a sudden and shrill word of warning must be sounded out before we go any further - keep your eye firmly on the horizon and on the shore, you may have to run fast to avoid this forthcoming sea of change.” Click here for more.’

Posted in Economic Issues, North America | No Comments »