3 THINGS I THINK I THINK…OR 2…

There’s a lot going on again this week, but my fried brain couldn’t think of 3 things I think I think. So here’s 2 things I think I think:

1) The math in Europe still doesn’t work…

I’ve gotten quite a bit of backlash from some readers because of my negative stance on Europe. Last year I highlighted several reports on the potential for peripheral countries to grow their way out of their debt problems. And the math was simple. It would take a miracle for austerity to result in the peripheral nations growing their way out of the debt crisis and reaching a sustainable trend. But the LTRO appears to be working so that means Europe is fixed, right?! Not in my opinion. The story remains simple. It’s a currency crisis and until the currency problem is solved the problems will continue to fester.

The recent economic data across much of Europe only confirms this thinking. We see a new bout of weakness coming and Europeans are finally beginning to realize that austerity doesn’t work. So we’re once again seeing bond yields creep higher as private investors stop thinking about the LTRO arbitrage and once again focus on the issue that trumps everything – national solvency. And even more frightening are the persistent rumors of default and defection by some nations. This has the potential to set off a frightening chain of events very similar to Lehman. Europe needs to move towards greater unity, but they must stop kicking the can. Eurobonds should be moving to the forefront shortly….The only other option is potential disaster.

Revolution Trailer: “It’s Gonna Turn Off, and It Will Never, Ever Turn Back On”

A new series this Fall from NBC looks like an exciting must watch for preppers (and we think some non-preppers may just be swayed into at least putting something away for an emergency).

While we can’t speak for the quality of the show, it looks quite interesting, especially the collapse of the power grid, which is something we’ve detailed in numerous posts and videos over the years.

Like Jericho, this one may prove to be pure Doomer entertainment at its best.

Revolution – coming this Fall:

Greeks Rush the Banks; Lines Form at ATMs; Nearly $1 Billion Withdrawn in Past Week

Without a government for the last eleven days, and amid mainstream discussion of a Euro Zone exit, the Greek people are realizing that the economic and political system as they know it is rapidly descending into chaos.

With massive jobless rates that have forced many into bartering to survive, and facing credit destruction across the entirety of the country that has led to shortages of critical supplies like life saving medicines, those with any money left at national banks are taking the desperate step of withdrawing as much of their savings as they can from a banking system on its last leg.

This is what it looks like when a populace plagued with uncertainty finally loses trust in the credibility of their country’s leadership and financial system.

Anxious Greeks have withdrawn as much as 700 million euros ($893 million) from the nation’s banks since the inconclusive May 6 election, President Karolos Papoulias told party leaders yesterday, according to a transcript of the meeting posted on the presidency’s website today. Papoulias said he got the information from the head of the Bank of Greece, the central bank, George Provopoulos, according to the transcript.

Greeks line up at ATM’s across the country to withdraw cash:

As has been said before, Greece is the canary in the coal mine.

The debt has piled up across Europe and the United States. Like the Greeks, Americans will soon hit a breaking point from which there will be no return. When it does finally happen you can be assured that your local ATM’s and banks will be inundated with panicked depositors attempting to take possession of as much of their money as possible.

But once the lines start forming it will be too late. Banks will have no choice but to limit withdrawals and close their doors (even to safe deposit box owners), because they will not have enough cash on hand to meet demand.

The choice is simple: Either prepare now and have physical assets in your possession, or join the crowds and hope the government will come up with a solution to the massive outflows that will ensue when the bank run begins.

Considering the madness we’ve seen when people can’t get their hands on a Black Friday discounted Xbox or flat screen TV, our guess is that any solution the government puts forth to deal with the anger and frustration of people who can’t access their money will involve something like this:

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Collapse Investing: Money and Wealth Preservation During Times of Uncertainty and Instability

We could spend a significant portion of our time outlining the various reasons for why the world’s economic, financial and political systems sit on the brink of an unprecedented paradigm shift that promises to change the landscape of the entire system as it exists today.

I could try to convince you that it’s a good idea to prepare for what’s coming, but the fact that you are reading this article via Tess’ Ready Nutrition newsletter means that you’re already in action planning and execution mode. If you’ve been following the 52 Weeks to Preparedness from the beginning, then you’ve spent the last 44 weeks establishing an emergency and disaster response plan that would probably make FEMA jealous.

Like Tess and I, you’ve probably done your research and spent months or years gathering as much information as you can about the many possibilities that could significantly impact your life and the lives of your family members and close friends, and you’ve actively involved yourself in making sure that you’re as insulated as possible from whatever may befall us.

A Crazy Idea That Might Just Work: Greece’s New Currency, the U.S. Dollar

Before you dismiss my crazy idea out of hand, hear me out. It might not be as crazy as it seems on first blush.

I have a straightforward three-point plan to set Greece on a sustainable, positive pathway. But before we can understand how the plan resolves Greece’s no-win situation (yet another Kobayashi Maru scenario), we first need to understand very clearly why the euro currency failed.

If we had to distill the dynamic down to a single paragraph, it would be this: By accepting the “strong currency” euro that was supported by promises of fiscal prudence, Greece and the other weaker economies of Europe artificially raised market willingness to lend them money and lowered the interest rate they would pay. At the same time, the euro also lowered the cost of goods from Germany by eliminating the market arbitrage of currencies.

I know this may sound complicated, but we can grasp the core dynamics using household analogies.

The willingness of lenders to lend and the rate of interest they charge is based on economic fundamentals: the balance sheet of assets and liabilities, and cash flow: how much income goes to pay liabilities and how much is left over as surplus to spend or invest.

Celente Warns of 2012: Economy Will Crash, Banks Will Close, Chaos Will Ensue, Military Will Take Over

If you’ve followed trend forecaster Gerald Celente for any period of time you’ve probably realized he knows what he’s talking about. For the better part of two decades Celente and his Trends Journal have been forecasting political, financial, economic and social trends with an uncanny ability for accuracy.

In his latest interview Celente discusses a variety of different topics – from Iran and Europe to domestic militarization and the economy – and warns that our worst fears will soon be realized.

Bottom line? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet:

This passed (National Defense Authorization Act) the Senate by 93-7. I’m mentioning this because all the pieces are in place now.
The economy is going to crash. There is going to be chaos. Economic martial law will be called. Banks will close. And, chaos will ensure.
The law is now in place for the military to come in and take over. Fascism has come to America.
And if anyone thinks that I’m over blowing this, you may recall, for those of you who have been listening to Jeff Rense for the years that I’ve been on, that when Obama got elected I said there was a high probability, in 2009, of a bank holiday because of the disastrous economic conditions.
I came across a video that’s on Youtube… June of 2009… Corzine is running for re-election for Governor of New Jersey… and there’s Joe Biden… he’s campaigning for Corzine… He’s telling the audience, you know, ‘the day that we were sworn into office, the top of our agenda, the top of our list, was whether or not to call a bank holiday.’
…The point that I want to make is, and I want to drive this home, it should be headline news – the Obama administration was prepared to call a bank holiday in 2009. Economic conditions are much worse now.

Martial Red Zone In America: Heavily Armed Security Teams To Patrol Chicago, Feds Prepare for Mass Detentions, Evacuation Planning Underway

If Transportation Security pat downs at public venues, thousands of drones over the skies of America, and the National Security Agency’s new Echelon-like listening center in Utah weren’t enough to convince you that we’re living in a police state, then perhaps the latest news out of Chicago will change your mind.

As world leaders prepare to meet in the windy city for their annual NATO summit, U.S. federal officials are working feverishly to implement a security net so broad that it encompasses the entirety of Cook County, Illinois. While international summits are traditionally met with a larger police presence and preparations for the possibility of protests or rioting, what’s taking place on American soil in anticipation of the May 20 meeting in downtown Chicago can be interpreted in only one way – the implementation of regionalized martial law.

Last week Red Cross officials reported that the City of Chicago, Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service had instructed them to prepare for a mass evacuation of the city in the event of an emergency during the NATO summit. The Red Cross was to prepare to shelter and feed residents in the event of such an evacuation.



On the heels of that announcement, more details have emerged and they suggest the Federal security apparatus has completely lost its marbles.

How Horrific Will It Be For The Non-Prepper?

I have become personally so disenchanted with the way people fail to prep. People still don’t understand how important it is to put away. I have gotten into arguments over this and had cretins call me a fool because I put away food, water, and supplies. I thought about this and the frustration that other preppers have with this laid back idiotic attitude that there is no need for preparation. There are good people that just can’t/won’t start preparing. They have the money to do so, but just don’t want to. Many have only seen what happens to non-preppers on TV, but it still doesn’t make an impact.

In this article I detail some hard core realities to show just how awful it will be for those that don’t prep. Every one of these scenarios is something that has occurred to the non-prepper throughout history. While strong images come to mind, the purpose is to jar some people out of their inaction and into action before it is too late.

EDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS IMPLEMENTING THE DRACONIAN PLAN TO FORCE PEOPLE TO LIVE ONLY IN CERTAIN AREAS USING A FALSE "CRISIS" OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION AS THE CATALYST

fore the actual implementation of the New World Order, their "orators will expound such great problems which have turned humanity upside down in order to bring it, at the end, under our beneficent rule". Now, what "great problems", which are turning our world upside down, have we been hearing about for the past 20 years? We have been hearing about how man-- the highest of all the animals in the Evolutionary ladder -has been irretrievably damaging the Earth's environment, in all the following ways:

* Polluted waterways, lakes, ground water, and streams

* Polluted air

* Ozone layer holes

* Smog in all the cities, with all the damage created worldwide

* Polluted landfills

* Carcinogens in the air

* Global warming - or is it cooling now?- caused by man's activities

* Mining operations that are damaging the environment, and the "ecological diversity' of the Earth

* Cutting of forests, especially rain forests

* Human overconsumption that constitutes tremendous waste of Mother Earth's limited resources.

Romney Supporter Caught Handing Out Fake Ballots in Nevada Wearing a Ron Paul Shirt

As Ron Paul continues to rack up delegates leading up to the national convention in Tampa, several mainstream media outlets have finally begun to pay attention, but most articles and news casts stress that Congressman Paul still has no chance at winning the nomination.

If Ron Paul doesn't have a shot, then why is the Romney campaign and the establishment GOP freaking out?

Last week, GOP Chairman Michael McDonald threatened Nevada that if Ron Paul delegates take over national convention slots, they won't be invited to Tampa. If these mafia tactics weren't enough, the Romney campaign resorted to the lowest form of dirty tricks at the Nevada convention.

The video below shows a provocateur, presumably working for the Romney campaign but wearing a Ron Paul shirt, being caught red handed distributing fake ballots to Ron Paul supporters.



Despite these despicable efforts by a seemingly desperate Romney campaign, Paul supporters delivered a dominant 22 Nevada delegates to Ron Paul, leaving Romney with only 3.

US fears Israeli attack on Iran at 'any moment'

The State of Israel may launch a military strike on the Islamic Republic of Iran any time now, reports Israeli television network Channel 10 News.

Channel 10, a decade-old broadcasting network with international distribution, reports that authorities in the United States are rushing this week to discuss an impending Israeli attack on Iran. The reports have developed in recent days following news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has formed an alliance with Shaul Mofaz, the leader of the nation’s largest opposition party.

Speaking of the deal between the two, PM Netanyahu has said the newfangled alliance will stabilize the country’s government. Reporting from Jerusalem, the UK’s Independent adds that the relationship installs “a commanding mandate” for Netanhau, “should he choose to strike against Iran.”

In the United States, many have feared that it would only be a matter of time before such a strike occurred. Only now, however, are top US officials reportedly trying to find a way to prevent an immediate attack.

Israel National News reports that the strike could be carried out at "any given moment.”

This Now Poses Huge Dangers to the Continent

One of the lone voices of reason in the European Union Parliament, the UK’s Nigel Farage, outlines the dangerous consequences facing the whole of the European continent as unemployment and tempers rage, debts pile up, and lack of access to basic necessities in some afflicted regions takes its toll.

In his impassioned plea to EU leaders Farage warns of the rise of extreme political environments on the right and left of the spectrum, and urges Parliament members to take the necessary step of breaking up the union by releasing debt-ridden nations instead of further impoverishing them. A failure to act, cautions Farage, leaves Europe facing the prospect of mass civil unrest and nationalistic revolution.

JP Morgan Suffers ‘Massive’ Losses: $4.2 Billion Probable; May Spread to Entire Sector

If you’ve wondered what investment banks have been doing with those hard earned bail-out tax dollars lent to them by the Federal Reserve and US government at nearly zero percent interest, here’s your answer and a demonstration in how to vaporize the GDP of a small nation in just a few weeks’ time.

In an unexpected after hours call with investors CEO Jamie Dimon said JPMorgan was facing massive losses – legal losses of $4.2 billion were reasonably possible, he said — with trading losses totaling $800 million in the second quarter.

And Dimon said it could take until the end of the year to restructure the portfolio.

Although information was still coming together at the time of writing, the Fast Money traders say developments look like they’re a game changer.

It Can't Happen America? It Already Did!

Tim Case writes: "Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

If there are two things that can be said with all confidence they are that throughout American history the American public has had and continues to have an enduring commitment to owning firearms. Second is the government’s unerring ability to be the sole cause of economic calamities, regardless of how vibrant the markets.

War and the market place are strange bedfellows. A case in point is the Spencer Repeating Rifle.

On March 6, 1860 the Spencer Repeating Rifle was patented in the United States. This rifle was developed for the sole purpose of brother using it against brother during the War Between the States. In the words of Warren Fisher, Jr. treasurer of the Spencer Repeating Rifle company:

"…In the hands of scouts or sharpshooters, or regular troops – taking into consideration all the elements of range, rapidity of firing, and facility of reloading, the Spencer Rifle is so effective as to render one man with it fully equal to half a dozen men armed with single-loading muskets…"

'It will lead to war' - Ron Paul fights to end military aid for Israel

Presidential hopeful Ron Paul has condemned a plan being considered in the United States House of Representatives that would allow for the US to continue aiding in the defense of Israel by equipping the Jewish state’s military with added weaponry.

From Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) attacked the contents of an act currently up for discussion that, if passed, would reestablish America’s major role in Israeli affairs. Rep Paul fears, however, that it would do more harm than good for all nations involved.

To House Speak John Boehner, Paul said that H.R. 4133, the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012, “is another piece of one-sided and counter-productive foreign policy legislation.”

“This bill's real intent seems to be more saber-rattling against Iran and Syria,” insisted Paul, “and it undermines US diplomatic efforts by making clear that the US is not an honest broker seeking peace for the Middle East.”

Anti-Gold Propaganda Push, Gold Cover Clause for Enabling Competing New Currencies

If today's landscape was a war setting, it would feature collapsed buildings, rubble on the streets, empty warehouses, smoke spewing upward from numerous city heaps, and fire hoses sending water in every conceivable direction throughout the entire city. And sadly, also dead bodies littered everywhere. They serve as the economic damage. The city ruins are marred by additional water damage, rubber boots a necessity. The buildings can be seen as the crumbled sovereign bonds. The street rubble is the home equity destroyed, some still underwater. The shattered warehouses are businesses either wrecked or in fast retreat. The smoke is the painful emotions based in despair, loss, and absent opportunity. In stark display, the fire houses are the central banks printing and dispensing money from tainted sources, not from factory income but rather the vacuous Weimar press. Of key significance is the compounded damage inflicted by the water itself. ZIRP and QE are tandem weapons of mass destruction that have been at work toward business destruction and capital ruin of the USEconomy for three full years. The zero interest rate policy assures the wrong pricing of money, the capital fuel, thus distorting all markets. The quantitative easing is based in extreme desperation, as the USGovt has lost the majority (80%) of its foreign creditor support.

Caught on Tape: Rampant Vote Fraud By Government Officials On House Floor

As voter registration and identity fraud becomes a hot button issue across State legislatures you’d think that at least one group of voters – our elected officials – would understand the importance of laws and procedures designed to maintain the integrity of our legislative process.

According to the rules of the Texas State House of Representatives, for example:

Any member found guilty by the House of knowingly voting for another member on the voting machine shall be subject to discipline deemed appropriate by the house.

Given how clearly this rule is defined, and the fact that it’s common sense for each House member to be allowed only a single vote as is generally the case in all democratic voting proceedings, you’ll be astonished to see legislators not only voting for laws on their colleague’s voting machines when they’re not present, but actually racing to beat each other to the punch.

Expert Warns: 100% Certainty of Total Catastrophic Failure of the Entire Power Infrastructure Within 3 Years

As smart grid metering systems expand across the developed world, many are starting to ask whether the threats posed by the new devices, which officials promise will save energy and reduce end user utility costs, outweigh their benefits. In addition to documented health concerns resulting from radiation emissions and no cost savings being apparent, opponents of the technology argue that smart meters are violative of basic privacy rights and give the government yet another digital node of unfettered access to monitor and control personal electricity consumption.

Now, an alarming new documentary suggests that security problems with the inter-connected and seemingly convenient smart grid may be so serious that they could lead to a catastrophic failure of our nation’s entire power infrastructure.

In an interview for the upcoming documentary titled Take Back Your Power, Cyber defense expert David Chalk warns that our nation is in crisis. Not only are our smart power grids susceptible to hacking, but they may very well already be infected with Trojan viruses and back doors that will ultimately lead to disastrous consequences:

The One Investment Strategy You Need to Know to Protect Yourself Against the Coming Inflation Monster

Let’s just take a quick review of the situation as we know it. The real inflation rate is over 10% and the real u6 unemployment rate is over 22% according to Shadowstats.com. General Mills recently reported that their input costs rose from 10% to 11% year over year. This is no shock to anyone that goes to the grocery store every week. The Baltic dry index, the measure of shipping rates worldwide , dropped over 65% between Nov 2011 and Mar 2012. This means a lot of cargo ships are sitting around with nothing to do. The housing sector is still in shambles and will take at least a decade to work off the Millions of foreclosures on the books and the millions about to be added in the next few years. This means the price of houses will continue to fall for the foreseeable future so if you decide to buy please do some research and go into it with both eyes open.

Recently the BRICS countries held a meeting and agreed to conduct more commerce in their own currencies instead of U.S. dollars. Iran is selling oil for anything but dollars. Saudi Arabia is building a huge new refinery in cooperation with China on the Red Sea. It is estimated that there are about $700 Trillion in derivatives in the world banking system. This is over 10 times the World GDP. This is insane.

The Big Easy’s School Revolution

…the levees broke and the city was devastated, and out of that destruction came the need to build a new system, one that today is accompanied by buoyant optimism. Since 2006, New Orleans students have halved the achievement gap with their state counterparts. They are on track to, in the next five years, make this the first urban city in the country to exceed its state’s average test scores. The share of students proficient on state tests rose from 35 percent in 2005 to 56 percent in 2011; 40 percent of students attended schools identified by the state as “academically unacceptable” in 2011, down from 78 percent in 2005.

….Most of the buzz about the city’s reforms focuses on the banishment of organized labor and the proliferation of charter schools, which enroll nearly 80 percent of public school students, up from 1.5 percent pre-Katrina. But what really distinguishes New Orleans is how government has re­defined its role in education: stepping back from directly running schools and empowering educators to make the decisions about hours, curriculum and school culture that best drive student learning. Now, state and school-district officials mostly regulate and monitor — setting standards, ensuring equity and closing failing schools. Instead of a traditional school system, there is a system of schools in what officials liken to a fenced-in free market. Families have more choice about where their children can best succeed, they say, and educators have more opportunity to choose a school that best aligns with their approach.