Is this 1931 all over Again? Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini, Niall Ferguson and More think so...

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The September 21, 1931 edition of the Mail and Empire reports Britain's exit from the gold standard.

Is the world about to repeat the economic catastrophe of 1931?

A growing chorus of economists of all stripes thinks so.

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Sound familiar? asks economist Paul Krugman.

“Suddenly normally calm economists are talking about 1931, the year everything fell apart,” writes Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times.

“The parallels between Europe in the 1930s and Europe today are stark, striking, and increasingly frightening, write Bradford DeLong and Barry Eichengreen in the new preface to Charles Kindleberger, The World in Depression 1929-1939.

“We see unemployment, youth unemployment especially, soaring to unprecedented heights. Financial instability and distress are widespread. There is growing political support for extremist parties of the far left and right.”

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In May 1931, Austrian bank Creditanstalt, founded in Vienna by the Rothschild banking dynasty, suffered a run. Its collapse after a merger with an insolvent rival sparked a crisis that left Germany and central Europe strewn with failed banks, caused defaults in Europe and Latin America, knocked the pound off the gold standard, and forced the New York Federal Reserve by October to raise its discount rate by 2 percentage points.

“Austria’s troubles shouldn’t have been big enough to have large effects on the world economy, but in practice they created a panic that spread around the world. Sound familiar?” wrote Krugman.

The ominous clouds on the horizon are uniting economic pundits who normally find little common ground.

Nouriel Roubini@Nouriel

Krugman's new oped bit.ly/KXh0mn Like Niall Ferguson & me in our FT oped he relates today to 1931. For once Paul and Niall agree!

25 Jun 12

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In their piece for the Financial Times entitled Berlin Is Ignoring the Lessons of the 1930s, historian Niall Ferguson and economist Nouriel Roubini argue that a silent run on the banks in the eurozone periphery has been going on for two years now. Greeks have withdrawn more than €700m from their banks in the past month.

Bloomberg

Nouriel Roubini argues that a silent run on the banks in the eurozone periphery has been going on for two years now.

Bloomberg

Historian Niall Ferguson calls for an EU-wide system of deposit insurance.

Their solution to the crisis would be a program of bank recapitalization in the periphery and the core funded by the European Financial Stability Facility and its successor, the European Stability Mechanism.

As well, an EU-wide system of deposit insurance needs to be created to avoid a run on eurozone banks – which the pair see as a certainty if Greece exits the euro.

“The EU was created to avoid repeating the disasters of the 1930s. It is time Europe’s leaders – and especially Germany’s – understood how perilously close they are to doing just that,” they wrote.

By Pamela Heaven

http://business.financialpost.com/2012/06/25/is-this-1931-all-over-again-paul-krugman-nouriel-roubini-niall-ferguson-and-more-think-so/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NP_Top_Stories+%28National+Post+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content

9 Things that Will Disappear in our Lifetime.....

1. The Post Office - Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills. 

2. The Cheque - Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with cheque by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of pounds a year to process cheques. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the cheque. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business. 

3. The Newspaper - The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. 

As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services. 

4. The Book - You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. 

The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book. 

5. The Land Line Telephone - Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes 

6. Music - This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalogue items", meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with; older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."

7. Television Revenues - To the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. The "Things" That You Own - Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

9. Privacy - If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/2301/607/9_Things_That_Will_Disappear_In_Our_Lifetime.html

Girl Kidnapped and Murdered for 'Vatican Sex Parties'..... Revelations from Vatican's OWN Chief Exorcist

Satanic Ritual Abuse... 'Evidence the Devil is still at work in the Vatican'


Missing girl 'buried in murdered mobster's tomb was kidnapped for Vatican sex parties', claims Catholic Church's leading exorcist priest

• Father Gabriel Amorth, 85, has carried out more than 70,000 exorcisms

• Previously said yoga and Harry Potter are 'the work of the Devil'

• Emanuela Orlandi, 15, went missing in Rome in 1983

• Gangster Enrico De Pedis's tomb opened last week after TV show tip-off

Outspoken: Father Gabriel Amorth said the 15-year-old was kidnapped for Vatican sex parties

The Catholic Church's leading exorcist priest has sensationally claimed a missing schoolgirl thought to be buried in a murdered gangster's tomb was kidnapped for Vatican sex parties.

Father Gabriel Amorth, 85, who has carried out 70,000 exorcisms, spoke out as investigators continued to examine mobster Enrico De Pedis's tomb in their hunt for Emanuela Orlandi.

Last week police and forensic experts broke into the grave after an anonymous phone call to a TV show said the truth about Emanuela's 1983 disappearance would be 'found there'.

And although bones not belonging to the mobster were recovered they have not yet been positively identified as hers.

However Father Amorth, in an interview with La Stampa newspaper, said: 'This was a crime with a sexual motive.

'It has already previously been stated by (deceased) monsignor Simeone Duca, an archivist at the Vatican, who was asked to recruit girls for parties with the help of the Vatican gendarmes.

'I believe Emanuela ended up in this circle. I have never believed in the international theory (overseas kidnappers). I have motives to believe that this was just a case of sexual exploitation.

'It led to the murder and then the hiding of her body. Also involved are diplomatic staff from a foreign embassy to the Holy See.' 

Today there was no immediate response from the Vatican to Father Amorth's claims.

But Vatican officials insisted they had always co-operated with the investigation into Orlandi's disappearance - a claim that her brother has often disputed.

Mobster: De Pedis (left) is believed to have been linked to the kidnapping and murder of Emanuela Orlandi (right), who disappeared aged 15 in 1983

Father Amorth is a colourful figure who in the past has also denounced yoga and Harry Potter as the 'work of the Devil'. He was appointed by the late Pope John Paul II as the Vatican's chief exorcist.

It is not the first time Father Amorth has raised eyebrows with his forthright views - two years ago he said sex scandals rocking the Catholic Church were evidence 'the Devil was at work in the Vatican.'

In 2006, Father Amorth, who was ordained a priest in 1954, gave an interview to Vatican Radio in which he said Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Russian dictator Josef Stalin were possessed by the Devil.

According to secret Vatican documents recently released the then wartime Pope Pius XII attempted a 'long distance exorcism' of Hitler but it failed to have any effect.

Claims: The 15-year-old was kidnapped for Vatican sex parties, it has been claimed

Charismatic mobster De Pedis, leader of a murderous gang known as the Banda della Magliana, was gunned down aged just 38, by members of his outfit after they fell out.

Detectives investigating the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, 15, in 1983, believe De Pedis is linked to her kidnap and the body of the Vatican employee's daughter has never been found.

Last month the diocese of Rome, on orders from the Vatican, granted investigators permission to open up the tomb in the Sant'Apollinare basilica close to Piazza Navona in the centre of Rome.

At the time of his funeral there were raised eyebrows when despite his criminal past church chiefs allowed De Pedis to be buried in the crypt of Sant'Apollinare.

At the time it was said the burial was given the go ahead because prison chaplain Father Vergari told bishops that De Pedis had 'repented while in jail and also done a lot of work for charity,' including large donations to the Catholic Church.

A burial service truck enters the courtyard of Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, before the tomb of mobster Enrico De Pedis was opened

Police officers stand outside Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome, as a priest leaves

De Pedis, whose name on the £12,000 tomb is spelt in diamonds, was buried in Sant'Apollinare church after he was gunned down in 1990 in the city's famous Campo De Fiori.

He and his gang controlled the lucrative drug market in Rome and were also rumoured to have a 'free hand' because of their links with police and Italian secret service agents.

The disappearance of Orlandi reads like the roller coaster plot of a Dan Brown Da Vinci Code thriller with a touch of The Godfather thrown in for good measure.

Twelve years ago a skull was found in the confessional box of a Rome church and tests were carried out on it to see if it was Orlandi after a mystery tip off but they proved negative.

In 2008 Sabrina Minardi, De Pedis girlfriend at the time of Orlandi's disappearance, sensationally claimed that now dead American monsignor Paul Marcinkus, the controversial chief of the Vatican bank, was behind the kidnap.

Forensic police unload equipment in the courtyard of Sant' Apollinare Basilica, in Rome

Monsignor Marcinkus used his status to avoid being questioned by police in the early 1980's probing the collapse of a Banco Ambrosiano which the Vatican had invested heavily in.

The collapse was linked to the murder of Roberto Calvi dubbed God's Banker because of the Vatican links and his body was found hanging under Blackfriars Bridge in London in June 1982.

His pockets filled with cash and stones and it was originally recorded as a suicide but police believe he was murdered by the Mafia after a bungled money laundering operation.

At the same time as Minardi made her claim a mystery caller to a missing person’s programme on Italian TV said the riddle of Orlandi’s kidnap would be solved 'if De Pedis tomb was opened'.

Following Minardi claims the Vatican took the unusual step of speaking publicly and dismissed her claims about American Monsignor Marcinkus, who died in Arizona four years ago.

Missing person: Pietro Orlandi, Emanuela's brother said it was time for the Vatican to come clean about what it knows of Emanuela's disappearance

By NICK PISA

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2148071/Missing-girl-15-buried-murdered-mobsters-tomb-kidnapped-Vatican-sex-parties-claims-Catholic-Churchs-leading-exorcist-priest.html#ixzz1vd79j5hb

Top Obama Aide Warns Russia “End Of World” Near

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A new report prepared by the Foreign Intelligence Servicecirculating in the Kremlin today says that the United States top National Security Advisor to President Obama, Thomas Donilon, was granted a “rushed meeting” with President Putin this past Friday wherein he warned the Russian leader that the world as we know it may be about to end.

According to this report, the Obama regime became alarmed last week after Russia’s top military official, Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov, threatened to carry out a pre-emptive strike if Washington goes ahead with its plan to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, after which Donilon was dispatched to Moscow by a frightened Obama.

From the very outset of this meeting, this report says, a “highly agitated” Donilon proceeded to denounce Russia’s threats and “non-cooperation” with the US over a number of international issues, including Syria, warning that Moscow’s actions could very well lead to Obama losing his upcoming election and putting into office Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney who during a recent CNN interview stated that: “Russia, this is, without question, our number one geopolitical foe.”

In responding to Donilon, this report continues, Putin stated that it didn’t matter to Russia who the US president was as the record clearly shows that Obama has done nothing since being in office other than continue Bush’s agenda of strict totalitarian domestic rule meant to aid America’s global hegemony. Putin further added Russia’s “extreme displeasure” that Obama has continued to protect the Wall Street “gangsters” who collapsed the global economy in 2008.

As this meeting neared its end, this report states, Donilon became “decidedly dejected” and voiced his concern to Putin that everything they were talking about may, in fact, be pointless and cryptically stated, “what’s the difference in any of this anyway; Nostradamus is the one in charge, none of us may even have a world to live in before this year’s out.”

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This report ends by stating that Putin was “stunned” by Donilon’s strange remark after which the meeting ended with no further comments or appendages by the Kremlin or other Russian ministries, or officials.

To why a high-ranking Obama national security official like Donilon would make such a cryptic remark referring to the 16th century prophet Michel de Nostredame [1503-1566] (Latinised to Nostradamus) is an apparent reference to two of the French seers Quatrains which seemingly warn that our world could be facing massive upheaval this month. These two Quatrains listed in “The Prophecies, by M. Michel Nostradamus” published in 1566 are:

Quatrain X:67

A very mighty trembling in the month of May, Saturn in Capricorn, Jupiter and Mercury in Taurus: Venus also, Cancer, Mars in Virgo, Hail will fall larger than an egg.

-and-

Quatrain IX:83

Sun twentieth of Taurus the earth will tremble very mightily, It will ruin the great theater filled: To darken and trouble air, sky and land, Then the infidel will call upon God and saints.

Equally interesting to note are that the Americans this past weekend, spurred on by their mainstream propaganda media, seemed to go into some kind of “Moon worship mode” to begin the month of “Nostradamus’s May” over a supposed “Supermoon” event, which in actuality did see the Moon reach its perigee for 2012 (the closest point it comes towards the Earth in its orbit), but only by a distance of less than 1,400 km from April’s Full Moon.

Most important to note, however, is that May, indeed, does have some very intriguing and historical astrological signs of note, including a currently ongoing rare alignment of the planets exactly matching those given in Nostradamus’s 1566 prediction, and an equally significant Solar Eclipse due to occur on 20 May that will cross the entire Ring of Fire zone from Asia to North America.

Most ominous to note about all of these events are their occurring immediately prior to the return from retrograde orbit of the planet Venus, which on 8 June 2004 crossed the surface of the Sun for the first time in 120 years, and on 6 June 2012 will do so again ending its 8 year journey that will not be seen again in any of our lifetimes, but which the ancient Mayans warned would signal the beginning of the end of our present age set to expire of 21 December of this year.

Curiously, and as if on some “cosmic cue” the Sun this week entered into this complex matrix when one of the largest sunspots ever recorded (AR1476 sprawls more than 100,000 km from end to end) began firing M-Class flares towards Earth, and matching an ominous warning given to the world last week by solar expert Mike Hapgood, a space weather scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, England, that our world is nearer to a catastrophic solar event than anyone realizes.

Though many have warned that all of these “signs of sky” point towards a possible cataclysmic event occurring this month (14 May and 20 May are named as possible dates), or at the latest sometime in early June, the significance of how (or even why) the prophecies of Nostradamus were injected into a meeting between a top US official and Russia’s president does, indeed, cause one to take notice.

Posted by EU Times

http://www.eutimes.net/2012/05/top-obama-aide-warns-russia-end-of-world-near/