Another Day in the Unfolding Crisis

Tuesday, October 7 was designated as a significant day by the forecasters at HalfPastHuman. I've recently become aware of their work through George Ure's UrbanSurvival website, and his subscriber newsletter, Peoplenomics. For over a year they have designated this date as the beginning of a "release" as significant as the events of 9/11, but with about a 6-month duration instead of 10-days. So while I was making coffee I turned on the TV.

The first thing I saw was an excited talking head announcing that for the first time (ever?), the Federal Reserve would start lending money directly to corporations! Wow!! Pretty good start for a day that marks a turning point. The Fed also plans on helping small businesses.

Ure says what we may be seeing is a 6-month "crashcade" financial events that could easily be punctuated by political and military surprises. So let's see what else happened or was noticed today that might be noteworthy.

• The Pope says the world financial system is built on sand. We know what happens to houses sitting on this foundation.


• The Department of Health and Human Services entered into the Federal Register emergency powers to be enacted in an "anthrax emergency." The Secretary says these powers are necessary at this time because he has "determined there is a credible risk that the threat of exposure of B. anthracis and the resulting disease constitutes a public health emergency." Hmm. Thankfully, if you need antibiotics, the US Postal Service will deliver them to your home!


• Mainly of note in Oklahoma, Judge David Russell again supports the Demopublican monopoly by denying injunctive relief from the state's draconian ballot laws to allow Libertarian Bob Barr ballot access. Russell has consistently made decisions in favor of restrictive ballot laws. Why confuse Okie's with bothersome choices?


• The Dow Jones dropped over 5%, making the 29% drop in 2008 the worst plunge in 71 years. This is apparently a trend that can't be stopped by bailouts or other stopgap measures. One Elliot Wave theorist says that investors have reached a "recognition point" of a downtrend that hasn't reached anywhere near its bottom.


• Retirement funds have reportedly lost $2 Trillion in the last 18 months, about 20% of their value. (18 months ago gold was just under $700 an ounce. Did you think it was "too expensive" then?)


• October is the traditional month of financial crashes, and we haven't seen anything approaching panic yet. Hope you're not still holding on. Mad man Jim Cramer publicly advised investors to sell their stocks! Watch out for those MainStreamMedia alarmists.


• AIG executives spent almost $500,000 on a retreat at an exclusive resort a week after their bailout by the taxpayers. I'm sure they needed a rest after all they've suffered.


• Banks are failing/being bailed out all over Europe putting the European Monetary Union in jeopardy. Iceland and Pakistan face bankruptcy.


• The LIBOR spread tells us the worst is yet to come.


• Britain's largest banks will be partly nationalized October 8.


• Britain and many other European countries had their worst stock market drops in history.


• Even Brazil and Russia are getting caught in the tsunami.
• Jim Sinclair continues to urge everyone to protect their investments in metals and commodities by taking physical possession of their stock certificates or putting them into the name of the transmaking sure they're in a real custodial account, and not street name at the brokerage.
• The US Mint has stopped production of some gold American Eagles, while the rest are on strict allocation. There's a "shortage" in gold blanks, you see. You understand, don't you? The price of paper (derivative) "gold" has separated significantly from the price of physical (real) gold. The banksters can, and do, easily manipulate the price of paper "gold." [If you don't have any gold or silver yet, you'd better get some as a longer term store of value, along with several months' supply of cash, food, batteries, prescription drugs, seeds, etc. that you might need in a time of turbulence. There's a good reason Bush has brought an entire brigade back from Iraq for stateside domestic patrols. We might even see the introduction of the Amero and the North American Union as the doomed dollar continues to plummet and lose its reserve status.]

As we get a little more distance on last Friday's bailout vote, more evidence accumulates that not only will it not help, but that it may be the biggest heist ever pulled in broad daylight. Millionaires and billionaires are getting their fortunes saved, while the taxpayers are getting the shaft. Did you realize that the large banks, investment banks and brokerages are huge contributors to McCain and Obama? You can be sure that they have also paid well for their access to the Senators and Congressmen who sold us out last week.

One observer said America is like an elephant that's been shot between the eyes. The hunters have made off with the tusks, and the rest of the jungle is fighting over the remains. A sampling of the analysis: BAILOUT: America's Financial Ruin, All Fall Down, Pigs at the Trough and Republicide. Please vote against ANY Congress Critter or Senator who voted for the bailout in November.

What's ahead? Thursday is "D-Day," as Lehman Brothers Credit Default Swaps are auctioned off. Might be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Then, again, it might not. I keep seeing phrases being used about various aspects of our financial crisis like "looking into the abyss," "approaching the brink," "crash," "collapse," "bank failures," and the like. Using another metaphor, how many bullets can we dodge?