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China is recognized as having as much as $1.2 trillion in dollars, perhaps 70% of their entire reserve. If the Chinese decide to unload, the dollar would drop markedly. This “nuclear option” of openly divesting greenbacks has been unanimously disregarded as mere posturing. It’s claimed that the subsequent dollar devaluation would be too harmful to Chinese reserves.

What is missing from that analysis is the fact that reserves are “extra”. Suppose China moved to divest itself of dollars and the dollar deflates to the value of a quarter. How bad is that for China really? So what if their cash reserve shrinks in value to only $300 billion? China can afford the loss. It was surplus money anyway, and probably, to the Chinese, the political gain would be worth the loss. In comparison the U.S. doesn’t have any cash reserves.

Compare the situation to those bankers who receive million dollar bonuses and the average working Joe. If a dollar deflates to a quarter, the banker’s bonus is now worth only $250,000 while Joe’s entire net worth is decimated. Joe becomes homeless while the banker just has to put off buying his Bugatti Veyron for a while.

China has been quietly buying up vast amounts of resource assets such as mining and energy companies. This seems to telegraph a future willingness to abandon the dollar. When China moves, it’s ruthless. Just ask a Tibetan. Now, I’m no economic or political wizard, so please tell me where I’m wrong…

Posted: August 13, 2009 at 5:59 pm

With the economy in shambles, thanks to what appears to be the accelerating wealth shifting strategy of the criminal class, the rest of us will be searching hard for that promised “Change We Can Believe In.” The Fed, printing greenbacks as if they are going out of style (which they are), is fully aware that U.S. currency is thus devalued. That’s why their cronies are receiving it in exponentially larger amounts. Budgets, not long ago tallied in the millions, are now routinely in the billions, tens of billions and even hundreds of billions. Bank bailouts and executive payouts are at formerly unimaginable levels. It’s a Weimar Republic style hyperinflated cash wheelbarrow making it’s reappearance from the top down. By the time it hits ground level, and the smoke clears, U.S. paper currency may be utterly worthless.

Don’t expect big media to clue you in on this. Media provides the smoke. Don’t expect “big” anything to help. Big gets big, feeds and maintains itself, by taking advantage of little. Expect big to obfuscate reality and steer you in the opposite direction. In spite of the cheery “less negative than expected” depression era news you may have heard to the contrary, a clear, logically oriented mind sees an ugly future looming. There is no manufacturing base, no new jobs are coming to replace those lost, no new boom on the horizon to usurp the bust. We have record breaking (and rising) public and private debt with no foreseeable repayment plans. Collusion and cooption of government with corporate giants is not likely to be thawing soon.

There is however, change you can believe in, and by that I mean silver coins. When paper money no longer has discernable value, Morgan and Peace dollars, Liberty and Franklin halves, Washington quarters, Roosevelt and Mercury dimes and other silver will be in high demand. Gold is certainly good too, but it’s simply not as convenient as silver for smaller purchases such as groceries. As I write this, these coins are worth a bit more than 10x their face value. In 1964 a cup of coffee cost a dime. That same silver dime (now valued about $1.07) will still get you a cup in some places. If hyperinflation drives coffee to $5.00 a cup, that silver dime may well continue to suffice. Silver coin is the change I believe in.

Posted: August 13, 2009 at 2:08 pm

“I am not a crook.” He was. “I did not have relations with that woman.” He did. “The air is safe.” It wasn’t. “Sadaam’s got stockpiles of WMDs.” Nary a one. “We have found absolutely no link between vaccines and autism.” They had. “Insert quote here.” Insert truth here. The past eight years provided too many lies to list. (I won’t go near some of Rumsfeld’s bizarre contortions.) If our current President ran into the doppelgänger who campaigned in his stead they’d probably annihilate each other like matter and antimatter. Don’t try to tell me it’s all for national security! (more…)

Posted: August 4, 2009 at 4:01 am

According to the UK’s Food Standards Agency, and as gleefully reported today by the BBC, ‘Organic has no health benefits’, so we can all breath a sigh of relief and return to eating pesticide and chemical filled garbage. There’s probably no health benefits to unleaded paint then, eh? Any benefits left in quitting smoking? Do we even need to debunk this utter foolishness?

Personally, I wouldn’t expect an organic pepper to have significantly more nutrients than any other pepper, since they are usually not genetically engineered, though nutrient levels were the only factor in the study’s determinations. Turns out organic peppers do indeed have elevated nutrient levels, but not significantly elevated, according to the FSA. The health benefits of not ingesting a host of ingredients far too dangerous to be included in a child’s chemistry set is a glaring omission. (more…)

Posted: July 29, 2009 at 1:30 pm

Here at PPP we don’t just cry over spilled milk, we’ll also try mopping it up. Towards that end we offer to the U.S. and the world at large, the concepts of the “Unassailable Agenda” (UA) and “The Irrepressible Protest” (TIP). Used together these concepts can have the effect of uniting populations and forcing the hand of the state.

The UA would be a gigantic citizen’s movement with virtually no sane opposition, and TIP is a protest strategy presenting no targetable qualities, thus circumventing the possibility of the state’s use of repressive tactics. Government would have virtually no choice but to adopt the Unassailable Agenda, or to be nakedly exposed as a repressive oligarchy with little interest in actually serving the people.

The Irrepressible Protest takes place in situ (no change in your normal schedule required), by visible sign, one that may or may not signify participation. It could be as simple as wearing a hat, any kind of hat, on the chosen day of protest. The magnetic and galvanizing force created by both showing your support for, and seeing everyone else in support of the same issues would be astounding. The authorities would have nowhere to aim their microwave crowd dispersal devices, their teargas canisters and whatnot, and yet everywhere one looked protesters would be evident as they go about their normal business. On questioning, any particular individual could claim they always wear a hat, or just happened to choose to wear one on that day. The consolidated “request for change” would be overwhelming. Our Representatives would be forced to either follow through or enact draconian policies to maintain control thereafter.

Here’s how it works:

1. Devise a list of demands (the UA) that irrefutably benefit all people equally, possibly certain standards of air and water quality, the fair distribution/use of natural resources, fairer access to and use of man’s collective knowledge, freedom to learn how to think constructively and independently rather than to be force fed an institutionalized mode of thought, sovereignty over one’s own body, lowered influence of corporations with a corresponding increase in citizens’ influence, full transparency of government, and access to quality health care. Carefully craft this list to be as detailed and extensive as possible, yet so self-evident that to deny any part of it would be tantamount to being “anti-humanity”. This will not be easy, as people will debate just about anything, but avoid obviously contentious issues. They need to be addressed in another manner.
2. Include in the distribution of the UA a chosen date on which citizens will show their support of the UA, via Irrepressible Protest, explaining the rationale and method for doing so.
3. Distribute the UA, and allow time for awareness to spread sufficiently to cover the population.
4. On the selected date, when over 95% of the population can be seen and can see their neighbors united, Irrepressibly Protesting for adoption of the Unassailable Agenda, a galvanizing effect will take place.
5. Government will be forced to adopt the Unassailable Agenda, as the citizens will now feel massively empowered, stronger and unified, and there could be no justification offered for not obeying them.

Posted: July 17, 2009 at 11:29 am

Namebase is a terrific resource used by investigative journalists (real ones), which provides relationship maps between important individuals and corporations that may otherwise go unnoticed. Plug in a high profile name and see the cloud of co-conspirators (or innocent associates) appear before your very eyes. PIR hand built their database by painstakingly scouring books and public documents, and it’s truly a unique tool. Don’t be misled by the lack of fancy graphic design, this is one powerful site. You’ll find a wealth of informed articles there and other search types to use and peruse as well.

Posted: July 17, 2009 at 9:46 am

Not very long ago Representative Alan Grayson had the opportunity to question Elizabeth Coleman, the Fed’s Inspector General for the Board of Governors, the office responsible for audits and investigations. Liz claims to have no clue as to where the Fed put $9 trillion over the past 8 months. Seems to me a simple enough question. Seems to me $9 trill is no “mere bag of shells”. Its not exactly like misplacing the car keys. It kinda makes you wonder what they’re doing over there at the Office of Inspector General, since they obviously aren’t watching the money flow.

Liz claims her office has a “review” underway, so she doesn’t know anything yet. How come my tiny local bank can immediately account for every penny, and yet the Fed doesn’t seem to have a database to query? Plausible to you? Seems to me there wouldn’t be any materials to review at the Fed that wouldn’t include numbers and names. How could you even start a review at the Fed without there being dollar amounts listed on the very first document you look at? And hey, if those folks sitting behind her know what she should be saying, why doesn’t Grayson just question them? (By the way, I’m pretty sure that smart looking woman sitting back there said “Don’t mention Goldman Sachs”, as I’m a pretty fair lip reader.) And anyway, just how good an accountant do you need to be to get Coleman’s job? ‘Cause I know some really good accountants.

In case you don’t understand the complicated machinations of the Fed and Capitol Hill, here’s a similar line of discourse that may help:

Papa: Now Johnny, you’re the eldest, can you tell Papa what happened to that really big bag of candy I saw you guys holding earlier?
Johnny: Well, me and Bobby and Mary, we’re starting a review, so we don’t really know.
Papa: Mama saw empty candy wrappers scattered about your room. Any idea where those came from?
Johnny: I didn’t talk to Mama yet about any candy bags.
Papa: That’s not what I asked you. What did you guys do with the candy?
Mary: (whispers something to Johnny)
Johnny: Ah, we’re looking into that, so we can’t say. (Holds back a smirk.)
Papa: (remaining amazingly composed) Well, you better eat all your dinner.

Posted: July 17, 2009 at 12:40 am

I realize it’s been a while since anyone’s heard from the Crazed Lone Killers (CLK’s) out there, but I want you all to know, once and for all, that a simple look at the numbers proves the official CLK stories hold no water. No need to analyze the Zapruder film again or to inspect any shells, just follow along:

Consider that a certain sector of the general population fits the CLK profile, let’s say maybe there’s 10,000 of them. Yeah, I know, there probably aren’t that many, but roll with it. Now what percentage of this subset do you suppose is so wacko, so out on the edge of crazyness that they would want to off a John Lennon, a Martin Luther King or a President Kennedy – the kind of inspirational leaders that mankind loves and needs most? How many are so out there that they’ll plug the kind of leaders that hold quality values and attempt to raise the consciousness and living conditions of the poor and downtrodden? How many are that crazed? Obviously it’s not going to be the majority. Probably just a few percent at the outer limits of CLK mental disorder. Well, I ask you then, how come it’s only these extreme guys that successfully kill? Where’s all the “regular” crazed lone killers, the majority of them, the ones crazy enough to actually go through with it, but not so off the wall nuts as to shoot an exemplary leader?

You see where I’m going here don’t you? (And no, I’m not advocating violence of any sort.) Common sense tells us that the majority of crazed lone killers, being only moderately crazed (relatively speaking), would go after the unpopular leaders. You’d think at least 9 out of every 10 assassinations would be directed at them, no? Unless you believe the U.S. produces only one certain type of way-out wacko, completely out of touch extremist CLK, and not a bell-curve spread of varying CLK types, the Crazed Lone Killer story is hereby shot to hell. So come on now, give us an explanation we can believe in!

Posted: July 15, 2009 at 10:03 am

Those Blogroll and Research links in the sidebar have been carefully selected so you can get to the meat of the absolute truth in the various subjects they represent.

Deep Capture (PDF file) is the result of Patrick Byrne’s (CEO of Overstock.com) investigation into unrestrained naked short selling/insider trading/securities manipulation pervading the U.S. stock market. An amazing story, all in all, and at this point I’d recommend investing in just about anything but U.S. stocks. Definitely read Byrne’s expose into the widespread fraud supported with media involvement while the SEC looks the other way. Whew!

I can’t say enough about about Catherine Austin Fitts. A powerhouse of of woman who’s held high positions in several administrations and is unafraid to reveal the ugliness found therein. And yet, she remains optimistic, or at least hopeful. If you want to know what’s going on, and blast through all that “conspiracy theory” nonsense, do not miss Catherine’s most gripping tales; Dillon, Read & Co. Inc. and the Aristocracy of Stock Profits, The Myth of the Rule of Law (PDF file) and The Story of Edgewood Technology Services. You’ll be a fan forever.

Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt was Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration. As such she found herself at ground zero of U.S. Education policy headquarters. Literally, her desk was surrounded by the entire written record of federal education policy development. Charlotte may be the first to have actually read through the contents of that office, and she was blown away. I’m blown away too, because she took her new found understanding and wrote a whistleblowing #1 best seller, and then made it available as a free e-book (PDF file) on her site. The book is almost devoid of editorializing, instead you get the written word from the sources in chronological order, so you can see what’s happening for yourself. Gotta love her!

What Really Happened may not be 100% fact filled, as the blog provides links from a diverse range of sources, but there’s enough there to make it one of the top rated news sources for folks who want to know what’s really going on (or just might be). Get yourself grounded in reality, then peruse WRH for the best of Michael Rivero’s links. I check it a few times, daily. The antidote for MSM disorder!

I’ll post more about our links soon. Meanwhile, get reading!

Posted: July 14, 2009 at 9:46 am

Economy not so hot? Not to worry, we’ve got geniuses in the government working on it overtime. Well, maybe not overtime. Their gigantic brains are thinking stimulus and bailout, stimulate and bail. And bail. And stimulate. You stimulated yet? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

That first package they came up with was a doozy – $700 billion. For those of you who can’t easily picture that much money (and who can?), that’s more than a million dollars a day since the birth of Christ. Get a hold of yourself, that’s just the first bailout package. The total currently earmarked for stimulus and bailout purposes is now about $12.2 TRILLION! Sheer genius, really. By the way, your Representatives in Washington were besieged with calls and emails from concerned citizens overwhelmingly against passing TARP. Problem is that the big banks and investment houses had already besieged those same Reps with large campaign donations.

Now that’s an awful lot of loot by anyone’s standards. So how’s the economy doing? Oh, still not so hot? Hmmm. $12,200,000,000,000. And hey, they’re not finished yet.

The results thus far: Banks continue hoarding, credit is tighter then ever, mortgage defaults skyrocketing, unemployment is rising, jobs are still going overseas and no end in sight for the economic disaster brought on by its wealthy engineers and bailout recipients (who are one and the same). You know where all that money is going don’t you? As much as 87% of bailout funds have been given out as executive bonuses.

I wonder, did anyone in Washington consider that they could have simply given a tax-free $40,000 to every U.S. citizen, every man, woman and child? That kind of distribution would certainly stimulate the economy. It would be a lot fairer too. Business would be booming. Jobs would be created. Mortgages would get paid. And there would be $37.6 billion left over.

Posted: July 13, 2009 at 10:30 pm