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The Logic of Interventionism, or How to Wake up in a Prison
The Logic of Interventionism, or How to Wake up in a Prison
Archaic Financial Freedom
The mainstream press is still full of articles about the alleged evils of cash, which we regard as a typical “trial balloon” launched by the powers-that-be. The way this works is that they get a repressive measure they indent to implement out there, not only to propagandize in its favor, but also to gauge the reaction of the serfs. Is there an outcry? Does anyone care? If not, they quietly go forward with putting the measure into practice. If there is a great deal of pushback, they will simply wait for a better opportunity. A useful emergency always comes along after all. The Charlie Hebdo attack in France is a pertinent recent example: Under the false pretext that this is needed to “fight terrorism”, all cash transaction exceeding €1,000 have been banned in France.
German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has recently published an article about the “hoarding of cash” by citizens of Switzerland and the euro zone. With interest rates either at zero or negative, the cash currency component of the money supply has increased significantly, as more and more citizens prefer to hoard money under the proverbial mattress. The new European “bail-in” regime, so vividly demonstrated in Cyprus, is a major motive as well. Most recently, Greek citizens have resorted to withdrawing their deposits, with mainly small savers withdrawing cash (large depositors are more likely to simply transfer money to other parts of the euro area that seem safer).
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Europe Warns Of “State Of Emergency” As Greek Stalemate Drags On
Europe Warns Of “State Of Emergency” As Greek Stalemate Drags On
Talks between Greece and creditors collapsed on Sunday after Athens once again refused to compromise on a the pension cuts and VAT hike the troika insists are necessary if the country is to receive the final tranche of aid from its second bailout program.
We noted yesterday that the charade is hardly over as Greek PM Alexis Tsipras knows he can continue to bluff for a few more weeks. Even in the event Greece misses its June 30 payment to the IMF, Christine Lagarde would need to muster the political will to send a failure to pay notice to the IMF board, at which point Athens would be formally in default and cross acceleration rights for the country’s other creditors would trigger. But Lagarde has considerable discretion on the default notice and can delay it for at least 30 days. Between this and the fact that a critical payment to the ECB is still more than a month away, we suggested that the brinksmanship was far from over and that the new ‘deadline’ would be Thursday’s meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg.
On Monday the usual back-and-forth between the IMF, Greece, and EU officials continued with IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard insisting that Greece must implement changes to pensions and the VAT in order to hit (reduced) budget surplus targets while EU creditors should reshuffle Greece’s payment schedule, reduce interest rates on the country’s debt, and, if push comes to shove, writedown Greek bonds:
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Sanitation in the City: What To Do When the Toilet Won’t Flush
Sanitation in the City: What To Do When the Toilet Won’t Flush
It’s one of those things we in modern society take for granted. We use the restroom, then we flush, wash our hands, and forget it.
But during extreme scenarios, this isn’t always so easy. When researching my book,The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide, I spent a lot of time reading about water, sanitation, and waterborne illness. These issues are all closely linked, and it’s vital to find solutions.
If you’re on a septic system, you have a safe place for your waste to go during most types of disasters, assuming you have additional water on hand for flushing.
But, in the city, on a public sewer system, there exists the possibility that a situation could arise during which flushing is not an option. Do you remember during the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy when residents of high-rise apartment buildings couldn’t flush because the city water system was down? There were numerous reports that people were so desperate that they were defecating in the hallways. They quoted a resident of a senior apartment complex, Anna Hay, who said, “They can’t go upstairs to go to the bathrooms. Where are they going to go? They’re walking all around for a place to go. There’s nowhere to go in this area.” (source)
With some very small and inexpensive preparations, it doesn’t have to come down to that. Just having a portable toilet is not enough for good hygiene and safety. If you live in an urban area, going outside to do your business may not an option. You have to figure out a way to take care of this, indoors, while maintaining the health of your environment.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
With ten billion coming, sustainable is not enough
With ten billion coming, sustainable is not enough
Stephen Emmott is a chief techno-wizard at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England. His brilliant young scientists are doing research in complex natural systems. Their objective is to invent miracles. They want to program ordinary cells to perform photosynthesis, so we can produce food from sunlight, without plows and seeds. Agriculture can’t feed ten billion. The goal is to delay the onrushing planetary emergency, and push aside annoying obstacles to perpetual growth.
Much of the public seems to be paying little attention to the emergency, if they are aware of it at all. Biking around the university town where I live, I don’t sense a crisis of overpopulation. I don’t sense that global carbon emissions have increased 400 percent in my lifetime. The squirrels, opossums, ducks, and blue jays have not gone extinct. Life seems normal. Everything is OK. Right?
A wealth of information can be found online, but many internet factoids are generated by slippery gangsters who accumulate riches by accelerating the planetary emergency. You see their work hundreds of times every day. Among their favorite tools are magical rubber stamps that imprint [SUSTAINABLE] with subliminal green ink — [SUSTAINABLE] soil mining, [SUSTAINABLE] forest mining, [SUSTAINABLE] fish mining, [SUSTAINABLE] growth, [SUSTAINABLE] development, and on and on.
Emmott’s clan of brilliant scientists is an oddity. They do not have the rubber stamp. They are not wearing choke chains that will be jerked if they express ideas that offend the mighty. They will not lose their jobs if they conclude that we are in the midst of a planetary emergency. When thinkers are free to learn without blinders and hobbles, they come to perceive reality as an intense whirlwind of out-of-control juju. This can be a head-snapping experience.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Tried-and-True Blueprint for Raising Taxes
The Tried-and-True Blueprint for Raising Taxes
As the global economy slides into recession and the U.S. economy catches a cold, the blueprint for raising taxes will be dusted off in every state.
The blueprint for raising taxes in the modern era was first established in 1913 when the federal government instituted permanent income taxes. Prior to 1913, income taxes were viewed as wartime emergency measures to raise money for the immensely costly prosecution of war.
Here’s the blueprint for raising taxes:
1. Declare the tax is an emergency measure.
2. Start the tax out at a low rate to minimize resistance.
3. Levy the tax only on the wealthy to play the “it’s only fair” card.
4. During some late-night session when the public isn’t looking, make the tax permanent by burying the provision deep inside some popular and/or complicated legislation.
5. Raise the tax rate in response to deficits, i.e. “we need more money.”
6. Gradually expand the base by reducing the qualification level from “wealthy” to “well-off” and eventually to everyone.
7. Gradually reduce deductions and exemptions to pittances.
8. Auction off exemptions for the super-wealthy via campaign contributions.
You can watch the blueprint in action in any number of locales–for example, Rhode Island, where the governor is proposing a first-ever statewide property tax on second-homes worth more than $1 million. The proposed levy has been dubbed the Taylor Swift Tax in honor of Swift’s $17 million mansion on the Rhode Island coast.
According to the data presented in these links, Rhode Island property taxes are in the top 20% of the nation. Depending on how the tax is reckoned (as a percentage of median home value, for example), Rhode Island scores in the top 10 of the 50 states.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Earth shelters: Building an eco-friendly bunker
Earth shelters: Building an eco-friendly bunker
Most of us have a proverbial “plan-B,” or at least a rough idea of how we would protect ourselves and our families in the event of an emergency. Having a temporary safe haven is at the top of the list. However, before you start, it’s important that you know how the project is impacting the environment, as construction can leave a heavy carbon footprint if you don’t take the necessary measures to minimize it.
Fortunately, there are green and eco-friendly options available to you. In three phases, you can construct a sturdy, safe and environmentally-sound backyard shelter to protect you and your loved ones in case of an unexpected crisis.
Phase 1: The hole
This is the easy part. To build a shelter, the first step is digging a hole that is at least 10 feet deep—20 feet if you’re one to err on the side of extreme caution. Though it is possible to dig your own hole the old fashioned way (i.e. with a shovel and manpower), a more efficient means of moving that much soil would be to rent machinery like a backhoe or excavator. Doing so will turn days of digging into a Saturday afternoon project.
Phase 2: The walls
After clearing the space for your bunker, you have to reinforce it. Normally, this is where the construction of your shelter would negatively impact Mother Nature: the most common material used to line and seal structures is concrete, but traditional concrete is mixed with cement, making it an environmentally unsound material. Why? Three reasons: production wastes energy, it is fossil fuel-intensive, and its manufacturing is one of the top offenders of carbon dioxide emissions (aka greenhouse gas). Additionally, making cement requires aggregate materials like stone and sand from quarries, further depleting natural resources.
– See more at: http://transitionvoice.com/2015/03/earth-shelters-building-an-eco-friendly-bunker/#sthash.jJErto5w.dpuf
14 Signs That Most Americans Are Flat Broke And Totally Unprepared For The Coming Economic Crisis
14 Signs That Most Americans Are Flat Broke And Totally Unprepared For The Coming Economic Crisis
When the coming economic crisis strikes, more than half the country is going to be financially wiped out within weeks. At this point, more than 60 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, and a whopping 24 percent of the country has more credit card debt than emergency savings. One of the primary principles that any of these “financial experts” that you see on television will teach you is to have a cushion to fall back on. At the very least, you never know when unexpected expenses like major car repairs or medical bills will come along. And in the event of a major economic collapse, if you do not have any financial cushion at all you will be a sitting duck. Yes, I know that there are millions upon millions of families out there that are just trying to scrape by from month to month at this point. I hear from people that are deeply struggling in this economy all the time. So I don’t blame them for not being able to save lots of money. But if you are in a position to build up an emergency fund, you need to do so. We have been experiencing an extended period of relative economic stability, but it will not last. In fact, the time for getting prepared for the next great economic downturn is rapidly running out, and most Americans are not ready for it at all. The following are 14 signs that most Americans are flat broke and totally unprepared for the coming economic crisis…
#1 According to a survey that was just released, 24 percent of all Americans have more credit card debt than emergency savings.
#2 That same survey discovered that an additional 13 percent of all Americans do not have any credit card debt, but they do not have a single penny of emergency savings either.
#3 At this point, approximately 62 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
U.S. blizzard: New York braces for heavy snow as storms slam East Coast
‘This could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before,’ says NYC mayor
Residents of the U.S. Northeast are girding for a “crippling and potentially historic” storm that could bury communities from northern New Jersey to southern Maine in about 60 centimetres of snow.
The National Weather Service said the nor’easter would bring heavy snow, powerful winds and widespread coastal flooding starting Monday and through Tuesday. A blizzard warning was issued for a 400-kilometre stretch of the Northeast, including New York and Boston.
Government officials began to activate emergency centres on Sunday as professional sports teams, schools and utilities hastily revised their schedules and made preparations.
- Weather warnings blanket Maritimes ahead of Tuesday storm
- Wicked winds rock Newfoundland, blizzard hits Labrador
- Toronto under extreme cold weather alert again
“This could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference in a Manhattan sanitation garage where workers were preparing plows and salt for the massive cleanup on about 9,600 kilometres of city roadways.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker warned residents to prepare for roads that are “very hard, if not impossible, to navigate,” power outages and possibly even a lack of public transportation.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
