The Past Week: August 2-8, 2009 (Detroit’s Middle Class Faces Hunger; Accelerating Bank Failures; Eustace Mullins/FOEM’s Site)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

I’ve been bogged down all week. And yesterday I spent 3 hours online for a seminar involving financial cycles.  Plus, I’ve been working a on meandering piece that will go up next week and have a few more things I’m working on.

But, here are a couple of tidbits that I ran across this week:

First, the middle class is starting to feel the pangs of hunge. CNN coughed up the story:

Hunger hits Detroit’s middle class

snip

In this recession-racked town, the lack of food is a serious problem. It’s a theme that comes up again and again in conversations in Detroit. There isn’t a single major chain supermarket in the city, forcing residents to buy food from corner stores. Often less healthy and more expensive food.

As the area’s economy worsens –unemployment was over 16% in July — food stamp applications and pantry visits have surged.

I know there’s been talk about reclaiming blighted urban lands in places like Flint, MI and turning it back to a natural state and for food production. Apparently, the good citizens of Detroit aren’t waiting around for that as urban gardens are springing up on abandoned property.

Detroiters have responded to this crisis. Huge amounts of vacant land has led to a resurgence in urban farming. Volunteers at local food pantries have also increased.

But the food crunch is intensifying, and spreading to people not used to dealing with hunger. As middle class workers lose their jobs, the same folks that used to donate to soup kitchens and pantries have become their fastest growing set of recipients.

more

What will they do in the winter when the gardens die?

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Wonder how the banks are really doing?  Here’s a view of reality from Jeff Nielson’s Instablog:

Accelerating U.S. bank-failures refute “recovery” hype

With 69 failed banks already this year, bank failures are already on course to exceed the number of failures in 2008 by 400%. However, if they continue accelerating, that increase could easily rise to 500% or 600%.

Meanwhile, despite raising the size of its bribes to take over these failed companies, the FDIC is seeing less bidders step up to bid on these companies. It’s “insurance fund” will be nearly completely exhausted when the pending failure of Texas-based Guaranty Bank takes place – forcing it to tap into a $200 billion “line of credit” from the insolvent U.S. Treasury. Does this sound like an economy which is “recovering”?

He continues with a good overview of housing, consumer credit, business credit, and the bailout as a whole.  It won’t make you happy…

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I’ve added a new link to the Financial blog roll–a wealth of information here!!

DollarDaze

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Finally, a while back American Lassie wrote a post on Eustace Mullins titled Eustace Mullins’ “Secrets of the Federal Reserve”: Read About what Ezra Pound Called “The Great Betrayal”. We had a comment this week that led us back to FOEM’S Site (Friends of Eustace Mullins Society). There are recent pictures of the man himself; he’s alive and kicking!

THE PAST WEEK

Forget the Mainstream Media “Business Analysts”: Economics Prof Explains Obamanomics and Conducts Experiment That Proves His Point

The Past Week: July 26-August 1, 2009 (Inflation vs. Deflation; CNBC Ratings Plunging; Wind Turbines; Perpetuum Jazzile and Simulated Rain)

The Scanner-Politics: March 25, 2009 (G-20; Glenn Beck’s “The One Thing” Segment on the Dollar [Video]; “The Big Takeover”; Al Gore Releasing New Book on Election Day 11/3/2009; Augie the Dog Sends a Deposit to the U.S. Treasury)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

We looked at the upcoming G-20 meeting in yesterday’s post (See: The Scanner–International Edition, March 24, 2009: Say Goodbye to the Dollar? China, Russia Proposing a New World Currency for “Non-Credit” Based Economies, Echo G-20 Agenda of Expanding IMF; China Will “Consider” Buying IMF Bonds; 10th China Develpment Forum Underway), and lo and behold, a few times during the day, I began picking up some items on the TV discussing the meeting, which will be held in London April 1-2.

I caught a few moments of Shepherd Smith on FOX during the afternoon, interviewing a woman who ticked off all the reasons why the dollar wouldn’t be replaced as the world’s reserve currency at the meeting. The discussion was in the context of how it would affect the U.S. economy and how complicated it was, and that’s why it wouldn’t happen. China’s worries about its investments in U.S. Treasury bonds was mentioned and their desire for the dollar to be dropped as the reserve, but the EU was supporting the U.S. There was absolutely no mention of Russia and its release suggesting what China suggested.

Apparently, Glenn Beck wasn’t so circumspect during his morning radio show or his FOX TV show later in the afternoon.  I didn’t hear either but my mother said he sounded EXACTLY like what we had written in our post yesterday.  Since I had printed it out for her to read, she knew what was in it.

Well, what he opined wasn’t EXACTLY what we wrote about, but he touched a whole bunch of bases in giving a general “history” of how we have gotten to where we are today.  It’s like “From Biggest Lender to Biggest Borrower 101.”  Apparently Glenn Beck and IA are on the same page, at least on this one topic.  That’s a bit weird for us, since I think Beck is pretty insufferable, to say the least, but I think the “The One Thing” segment he did yesterday evening was pretty darned clear. This is a very short segment, so do watch it all! (Note: I had trouble inserting the video from the FOX site, so I found it on YouTube. The “title” comes from FOX, however.)

The One Thing

— By Glenn Beck

The incredible shrinking dollar: Where’s the outrage?

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A big hat tip to Uppity Woman who posted about the story by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone which actually comes out and talks about the “revolution” that is underway courtesy the big insiders.  Go to Uppity Woman to catch some of the excerpts of note.

And here’s the direct link to the piece:

The Big Takeover

The global economic crisis isn’t about money – it’s about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution

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Well,  just in time for the 2009 election is…Al Gore, who issued a press release yesterday about a follow-up book to An Inconvenient Truth.  I loved the film and got a copy of the book as “payment” for my efforts in the not-so-long-distant past at a certain Chicago-based website that went crazy last May.

From the blog, Al Gore:

Our Choice March 24, 2009 : 1:07 PM

From the Press Release:

Today Vice President Gore announced that his next book, Our Choice, will be published by Rodale in the US and by other publishers internationally on November 3, 2009. Picking up where An Inconvenient Truth left off, Our Choice utilizes Mr. Gore’s forty years of experience as a student, policymaker, author, filmmaker, entrepreneur and activist to comprehensively describe the real solutions to global warming. A co-recipient of the Nobel Peace prize in 2007 for his environmental work, Mr. Gore continues to make sense of the pressing issues we face and Our Choice will unquestionably inspire and rally those ready to fight for solutions that were deemed impossible only a short time ago.

I was really ticked when the guy who delivered those stirring speeches about the press and the Constitution during the Bush years turned around and chose to endorse Obama instead of remaining a statesman for the world by staying neutral–the same Obama who took all that money from Exelon and rewrote a nuclear safety bill to please his donors and the Republicans.

So now, Gore will inject himself into the 2009 elections as all the PR push for his book in the period leading up to its Election Day release.  He’s been pretty quiet since the Inauguration and hasn’t talked about energy policy at all, although he’s supposed to be some sort of adviser to the Obama Administraiton.  Elections for governor will be held in Virginia (where Terry MacAuliffe is currently running for the Democratic nomination) and New Jersey (where Democrat Jon Corzine may be facing re-election troubles).  Frankly, I view this “book business” as manipulative and cheesy. And so damned obvious…

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Finally, on a lighter note…

Augie the Dog and his owner make a statement of sorts about money.  I think it’s appropriate that the bag displayed near the end of the video will be going to the Treasury…Follow this  link and enjoy!

Eustace Mullins’ “Secrets of the Federal Reserve”: Read About what Ezra Pound Called “The Great Betrayal”

~~By American Lassie

(Editor’s Note: American Lassie has a background in tax accounting.)

(Please also note this disclaimer: Eustace Mullins has long been admired by the right; he has also been labeled as being  a “conspiracy historian” and “anti-Semitic.”  I’ve noted below various sites that offer his writings and comment, both positive and critical, about Mullins.  These days, we need to read and learn all we can…but with critical minds. The reader must make his own judgment on the ideas of Eustace Mullins. This site takes no position on Eustace Mullins at this point, nor the work of David Allen Rivera which is also mentioned.  Some readers might find some of the material interesting and links are provided for further exploration–InsightAnalytical-GRL)

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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to rescue the U.S. financial system, all $2.5 trillion of it,  has sent markets tumbling. See Geithner’s  biography at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York site, where Geithner served as President from 2003 until his confirmation.  The bio also details his prior activities in international banking at Treasury, the International Monetary Fund, and his stint at the Bank for International Settlements.)

This leads me into the matter of The Federal Reserve.   In my opinion, the chairmen of The Federal Reserve, both past and present, have an unhealthy influence on this country.  While Geithner comes to Treasury from serving as President of the Federal Reserve in New York, Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve,  is head of Obama’s economic advisory panel of people from outside the Administration (although there are rumblings that Lawrence (Larry) Summers, Obama’s National Economic Council Director is slowing down the organization of this panel).  Seeing the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke on Capitol Hill with Henry Paulson in September 2008 brings to mind the stealthy way the Federal Reserve was established. (Editor’s Note: Reuters reported on September 21, 2008: Paulson: Foreign Banks Can Use U.S. Rescue Plan …”foreign banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion U.S. proposal….”  I don’t know if this provision is in any of the bailout/stimulus bills that have since passed.–IA-GRL)

An author by the name of Eustace Mullins has been writing about the formation of the Federal Reserve and international bankers for years.

Here’s a little background on Eustace Mullins and how he came to spend so many years of his life researching and trying to get published his works on the Federal Reserve System. (Some of this material is from the “Secrets of the Federal Reserve” site linked below.)  Mr. Mullins is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, a native Virginian, educated at Washington and Lee University; New York University; Ohio University; University of North Dakota;  the Escuelas des Bellas Artes, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Washington, D.C.  While researching his book, Mr. Mullins was on the staff of the Library of Congress.

His book, “Mullins on The Federal Reserve,” was commissioned by the poet Ezra Pound in 1950 and published in 1952 by Kaspar and Horton, New York.  This was the first nationally-circulated revelation of the secret meetings of international bankers at Jekyll Island, Georgia, from 1907-1910.  Dr. Ezra Pound was a political prisoner at St. Elizabeth’s hospital, held without trial.  Franklin Roosevelt had personally ordered him indicted on the demand of his three personal assistants, Harry Dexter White, Lauchlin Currie and Alger Hiss, all of whom were later identified as being connected with communist espionage.

Mr. Mullin’s research was aided by George Stimpson, founder of the National Press Club, who was known as “our walking Library of Congress” by Washington newspapermen.  Mullins was turned down by 18 publishers before one finally told him he would never get his book published.  After 2 years, the book was published in a small edition in 1952 by John Kaspar and David Horton using the title “Mullins on The Federal Reserve.”  In  1954 a second edition was published in New Jersey as “The Federal Reserve Conspiracy.”

In 1955 Guido Roeder brought out a German edition in Oberammergau, Germany.  The entire edition of 10,000 books was seized and burned. The burning of the book was upheld on April 21, 1961 by Judge Izrael Katz of the Bavarian Supreme Court.  The U.S. Government refused to intervene because James B. Conanat, the U.S. High Commissioner to Germany, had approved the initial book burning order.  In 1980 a new German edition appeared.  The identical book that was burned in 1955 now circulates freely.  The U.S. government no longer dictates the internal affairs of Germany.

The conspirators that caused Ezra Pound to spend thirteen and one half years in prison dropped charges in 1958. Ruthless international financiers had used their influence to imprison a man to keep his mouth shut.

“Here are the simple facts of the great betrayal.  Wilson and House knew that they were doing something momentous.  One cannot fathom men’s motives and this pair probably believed in what they were up to.  What they did not believe in was representative government.  They believed in government by an uncontrolled oligarchy whose acts would only become apparent after an interval so long that the electorate would be forever incapable of doing efficient to remedy depredations.” —-Dr. Ezra Pound (St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Washington, D.C., 1950

[By “House,” he means Edward Mandell House (1858-1938) the son of British financier Thomas W. House, who made his fortune by supplying the South with supplies from France and England during the Civil War.
By “Wilson,” he means U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.  Wilson wrote about House, “Mr. House is my second personalty.  His thoughts and mine are one.”]

An international banking group had secretly planned the writing of the “Federal Reserve Act” and Congress’ enactment of the plan into law.  International bankers held secret meetings at Jekyll Island, Georgia – 1907-1910 – where the draft of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 was written.

Mr. Mullin’s book in it’s entirety is on the internet. Read “Secrets of the Federal Reserve.”  The international bankers are named – with pictures, charts, etc.  Another book by Mullins on the subject of “The New World Order” entitled  “A Study in the Hegemony of Parasitism: The history and practices of the parasitic financial elite”  was published on the internet and is said to be “the most widely circulated book about the New World Order ever written is also still available here at the Modern History Project.

Nothing changes, it remains the same.  Taxpayer money is feeding the big banks, thanks to Henry Paulson AKA Mr. Goldman Sachs. And now, Timothy Geithner.

In the words of John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868 – January 12, 1936), was the Mayor of New York City from 1918 to 1925:

“The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like an octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation.  It seizes in its long and powerful tentacles, our executive officers, our legislative bodies our schools, our coourts, our newspapers, and every agency created for the public protection”…”The little coterie of international bankers virtually runs the United States Governmant for their own selfish purposes.”

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More on Mullins:

Secrets of the Federal Reserve (site with text of Mullins’ book, with a  full index)

A Study in the Hegemony of Parasitism: The history and practices of the parasitic financial elite“ (Modern History Project text of Mullins’ book)

An Afternooon with Eustace Mullins (transcript in which he discusses accusations re: Jews)

Final Warning:  A History of the New World Order –David Allen Rivera

Sites which debunk Mullins:

From the “New York City Activist” blog:

Please do NOT trust Eustace Mullins as an authority on the Federal Reserve System!

Some of the rhetoric against the Federal Reserve System

The SCANNER-Politics 11/7/08: Newsweek Editors on Charlie Rose in the SCARIEST Description of Obama So Far…(Video/Partially Transcripted); Sharia Hits the Treasury Department/HARVARD Alert!; Hill the Shill (UPDATE 1X)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Wanna be FREAKED? Watch this Charlie Rose interview form Wednesday (11/5) with Newsweek bigshots Jon Meacham and Evan Thomas.  Rush Limbaugh played excerpts on his show…he thought he detected fear. When I watched, Meacham seemed a bit “pained.”  I’ll say one thing: These suckers re-delivered all the Obama-myth in this interview, but went to other places…places they SHOULD HAVE BEEN before the election.

And one more thing!  The pre-election posts here at IA about Obama’s “techniques” (see GG’s post “I Demand More Than Your Vote–I Want Your Mind!!”–A Call to Boycott Obama’s Media Buy (10/29) (UPDATE 1X–Verdict: Infomercial a Flop) and my post on Obama’s handwriting (Obama–A Look at the Personality Behind the Handwriting) are right on the money!!!

Here’s the link to the Rose interview.

Listen to them discuss Alinksy right at the beginning (“no militancy involved,”  “you can’t threaten the whites…they really didn’t want race in there at all…they were very sensitive about this.”   WHAT PLANET ARE THEY ON?????

Minute 4:30— “It’s hard to get at Obama, he’s very self-contained…inclusive yet self-contained…can be unnerving if you’re in the cross-hairs…wouldn’t really telegraph where he’s going…he’s a very self-contained guy.”

Minute 6:11— Meacham starts: “…he’s very elusive, Obama…he is the chief custodian of the story of Obama, he is a stand-alone brand,  I was very struck watching the stagecraft, and this comes out again and again in the project. at Grant Park, He walks out with the family…then they go away. Biden’s back locked in the bar or something, they won’t let him out.  Have you ever seen a vitrory speech with where there was no one else on stage, no adoring the wife, no cute kid?”

Thomas says:  “There’s a slightly creepy cult of personality about this….It just  makes me a little uneasy uneasy that he’s so singular….he’s clearly managing his own spectacle…he knows how to do it, he’s a deeply manipulative guy, ..,.this can be a useful thing in a leader..I think he’s always in control, he controls events,  events don’t control him. He’s a pretty calm guy, he seems to be able to get people to do pretty much what he wants”…At Harvard, “He manages to persuade all of them  that he’s on their side. and..He realizes that people want to help him, it makes people feel good to  help and this is an important insight for him…He knows he has this gift, that people want to help him,”…I’ll let them help me…”

Minute 8:30–“He understands the character of Obama in this drama he’s constructed..I’m a screen on which people project project their visions, their hopes…he could be a redemptive figure as long as race was implicit, not explicit….he could be the center of attention, the star of this…”

He’s “like Reagan, like great charismatic leaders, who project brilliantly but who are very much in control behind the scenes”…Rose says “he ascends to look at the circumstance,…he watches us watching him.”

Minute 10:26–“He has the self-awareness to know that this CREATURE he’s designed isn’t necessarily a real person” … He has constructed something he believes America is looking for. He gets beyond the ’60’s, people are so SICK of the 60’s  and the cultural wars…  He doesn’t have a grievance, he not part of a group, doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder, he doesn’t do “identity politics” or victim politics, and he  he makes that very clear…”

HOLY SHIT!! These are REPORTERS, are they seeing what we saw and heard????????

Minute 12:35–“He seems not only like the smartest kid in the class…he seems like the responsible one”…   “Prudence,”  “knows the culture well”  (refers to street talk, etc.)

Minute 13:25–Rose says: He knew  that the  “stars were in alignment for a candidate like him, and therefore, he merged what he was with that.”

REALITY THEN SETS IN FOR A MOMENT (OR IS MEACHAM TRYING TO CONVINCE  HIMSELF??)…Meacham says progressive should be very careful in thinking that the “millenium” will come…things move slowly…”he’s very practical…a lot like Ronald Reagan…his core followers may forgive him….he may be able to govern CENTER-RIGHT.”

Minute 15:35— “His whole life is the narrative, he wants the story to end well.”  1

Minute 6:10– Talks about himself “as if he’s a character, not quite like Nixon, 3rd person, but damn close.”

Minute 18:00— Rose…”Where is he courageous, not Machavellian?”–THE TWO NEWSWEEK churnalists come up pretty empty here….”he’s RISK-AVERSE.”

Who will be the principal opposition, queries Rose.  “Gov. Palin will have a very large platform” Repeat of all the crap about the clothes, running up bills, etc. and how “frustrated” aides were… (If these assholes in conjunction with the Obama crowd don’t destroy her, the GOP insiders will.)

I have nothing else to say…it speaks for itself!!

***

Via AMERICAN LASSIE

I got a couple of early emails from AL on Thursday morning:

“Just a short note to alert you to a seminar to be held at 10am at the Treasury building. The title of the seminar is “Islamic Finance 101.” This is a seminar for the policy community, and I think it will be conducted by Neel Kashkari, Asst. Treas. Secy.

A warning about this at “Center for Security Policy” and at “Human Events.com”.

This is one of Bush’s final gifts to us women.  Introducing Sharia Law to the US and doing it with our own money. The $700 billion troubled asset relief money that Paulson & Co. has in its clutches.  Scary, and it should be disseminated to all. They creeped into Britain with this and the women have had to suffer.

…updated 2nd email

The time of the seminar has been changed to 1pm to 5pm.  They have a website now “Islamic Finance 101.”

I call it “Brainwashing 101.”  Welcome to the New World Order control of the whole world’s finances…

Shariah law, indeed.  This is still America. isn’t it?  If women, any women, in America have to be subjugated to the whims of men under the guise of religion, let the Saudi’s keep their oil and their outdated beliefs in their own country.  This is one of the things that worries me about foreign debt.

InsightAnalytical-GRL ADDS:

Islamic financing by Sharia law has been in operation around the globe for quite awhile and is not necessarily a first step toward full Sharia Law being included in our legal code.  As far back as 2006, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL was running sessions by the “Islamic Finance Group” under name “Islamic Finance 101: Introduction and Career Opportunities” under the auspices of Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

So, we’ve got HARVARD UNIVERSITY/LAW SCHOOL, BUSHCO, and OBAMACO….all doing their thing on SHARIA INVESTING .Coincidence?????  (UPDATE:  See Al-Mansour connection below)

Michelle Malkin (I can’t believe I’m citing her, but facts are facts!) put up a post on this Treasury event later yesterday/Thursday.)

I couldn’t find the story at Human Events when I tried yesterday, but I did track down it down at the Center for Security Policy. They may sound over the top, but…They were holding a press conference on all this…did you hear about this subject in the MSM?  Think not…

I’m going to add “DO MORE RESEARCH” to my already long “to-do” list….

More on Sharia in this earlier IA post….

While Hillary and Sarah Get Trashed in the U.S., Muslim Women in Britain Get Sharia Law

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HILL THE SHILL

I can’t believe Hillary is still shilling for Obama…and money!  I got an email from HillPac with this ridiculous message. I’m sorry, I’m SO OVER THIS:

Dear XXXX:

We did it! In this incredible year, we have changed our politics, our country and our nation! And I could not be more proud or more grateful to you for sharing this journey with me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for everything you have done, for me, for Barack Obama, and for all our Democratic candidates, to make these successes possible.

I know that President-Elect Barack Obama will lead our country in the new direction we need. And with the great success of our House and Senate candidates, we can make our agenda a reality.

God Forbid that this “agenda” is made into reality…nightmare time!

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UPDATE

The al-Mansour connection from GG’s post on Obama’s Connections…from October 2, 2008

Parts 1 & 2–The Lineup: A Who’s Who of The Associates of Barack Obama

Percy Sutton: This 87-year-old icon of the Civil Rights Movement recently recounted a story where he claimed he was asked to write a recommendation for Barack Obama to enter Harvard. Sutton’s quote follows:

“I was introduced to him by a friend who was raising money for him and the friend’s name was Dr Khalid al Mansour from Texas. He is the principle adviser to one of the world’s richest men. He told me about Obama. He wrote to me about him and his introduction was ‘there is a young man that has applied to Harvard and I know that you have a few friends left there because you used to go up there to speak, would you please write a letter in support of him?’ That’s before Obama decided to run. And he interjected the advice that Obama had passed the requirements, had taken, and passed, the requirements necessary to get into Harvard and become President of the Law Review. That’s before he ever ran for anything. I wrote a letter in support of him to my friends at Harvard saying to them I thought there was a genius that was going to be available and I surely hoped they would treat him kindly.”

Khalid al Mansour/Donald Warden: The mysterious man Percy Sutton referred to in his interview is somewhat difficult to identify (a very common name in several countries). The al Mansour that is also known as Donald Warden has ties to both the radical Black Panthers and has served on the board of a bank in Nigeria that may have connections to money raised for Barack Obama. For more detail, I recommend the following 2 articles, and bear in mind again the caveat “follow the money”: (photo not readily available)

More at Texas Darlin’s blog:

Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq al Mansour

Khalid al Mansour/Donald Warden: Obama Money Man in Nigeria?