California city becomes America’s largest, latest to enter bankruptcy
End the Lie – Independent News
April 1, 2013
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / AFP
A federal judge has ruled that Stockton, California will be allowed to enter bankruptcy. The city, located near San Francisco and home to 300,000, is the largest yet in the US to file for bankruptcy, marking a new low point in a trend sweeping California.
US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein ruled Monday that Stockton would be allowed to begin reorganizing its debt in order to continue carrying out “its obligations to its citizens on fundamental public safety as well as other basic government services.”
Next, city officials must win the judge’s approval for a specific adjustment plan that allows them to adjust financial debts held by Wall Street creditors who have fought Stockton’s bankruptcy claim and, in the opinion of Judge Klein, acted in bad faith.
“The creditors got a big black eye today,” attorney Karol Denniston, who helped draft bankruptcy legislation for city officials, told the Los Angeles Times. “Now the stage is set for the real dogfight.”
Legal experts have kept a close watch on the case, because when it comes to massive pension bills combined with housing market debt, Stockton is far from alone and could set legal precedents. Last year Moody’s Investors Service warned of a domino effect on American cities crippled by poor financial planning.
In the early 2000s Stockton’s financial planners forecast city salaries, benefits, pensions and borrowing on long-term developer fees and slowly-rising tax revenue. That plan fell apart in the mid-2000s as tax revenues plummeted amid the national economic recession.
“There’s nothing to celebrate about bankruptcy,” said Stockton city manager Bob Deis. “But it is a vindication of what we’ve been saying for nine months.”
Financial gurus from California Common Sense, a state legislative think tank, pointed the blame squarely on Stockton politicians who, they say, staked the area’s financial future on booming home property values that were unlikely to last. The biggest piece of debt is a $900 million bill to the California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS) that the city has, so far, been able to continue paying while ignoring other fees.
Since Stockton filed for Chapter 9 in June of 2012, fellow California cities San Bernardino and Mammoth Lakes have followed suit.
“To summarize, we expect…more bankruptcy filings and bond defaults among California cities reflecting the increased risk to bondholders as investors are asked to contribute to plans for closing budget gaps,” read an August 2012 report by California Common Sense.
“In the current environment, as more municipalities approach the economic or political limit to raising taxes or adjusting spending, we expect an increase in defaults and bankruptcies over the next few years.”
While California has carried the heaviest debt, areas including Jefferson County, Alabama and the City of Central Falls, Rhode Island have also filed for bankruptcy.
“Every city in the state is looking on with some concern,” said Dave Vossbrink, a spokesman for the city of San Jose, California in an interview with CBS. “Governments of all kinds borrow money, usually to build infrastructure that lasts a long time. It’s like getting a mortgage to build roads, a sewage plant, whatever it might be. If the investment community perceives greater risk, you may not be able to borrow as much for public purposes.”
Source: RT
5 of 10 Top Economies in the World Drop the Dollar [video included]
Activist Post
April 1, 2013
The U.S Dollar is quickly losing its status as the world reserve currency. Five of the top ten economies in the world, plus a few others, no longer use the dollar as an intermediary currency for trade. This trend poses a huge risk to the dollar and the United States along with it.
ZeroHedge points out today that Australia, the world’s 12th-ranked economy, has now joined a growing list of nations that have agreed to bypass the dollar in bilateral trade with China. China, ranked 2nd behind the U.S., also has similar agreements with Japan (3rd), Brazil (6th), India (9th), and Russia (10th).
Although unilateral agreements have been in place for some time between China and the countries listed above, last week the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) agreed to set up a development bank to compete with the IMF, indicating it’s gearing up to compete in a post-dollar world.
Additionally, Brazil, who agreed in principle to drop the dollar with bilateral trade with China some time ago, just made it official with $30 billion in annual currency swaps which will facilitate around 50% of all trade between them.
VIDEO: http://www.bizu.tv/economies-china-and-brazil-ink-bilateral-trade-deal-45549
Besides those agreements with China, some of these nations have made other similar agreements with each other. India and Japan began swapping $15 billion in each other’s currency in 2011 to handle their bilateral trade. And the sanctions against Iran haven’t stopped them from trading oil with China, Russia, and India in anything but the dollar.
Here’s how the current reign of the US dollar compares to previous world reserve currency:
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| Source |
It appears that the dollar is certainly nearing the end of its reign, which could lead to severe economic hardship for the United States.
Dave Hodges writes:
The United States’ good economic fortune is due solely to the fact that world must use the dollar, the Petrodollar if you will, in order to make their nation’s individual oil purchases; this provides the only source of backing for the U.S. dollar that the Federal Reserve requires in order to somewhat sustain our back-breaking debt that the banker-occupied United States government has passed along to the American taxpayer in the form of bailouts.
And Marin Katusa of Casey Research writes:
If the US dollar loses its position as the global reserve currency, the consequences for America are dire. A major portion of the dollar’s valuation stems from its lock on the oil industry – if that monopoly fades, so too will the value of the dollar. Such a major transition in global fiat currency relationships will bode well for some currencies and not so well for others, and the outcomes will be challenging to predict. But there is one outcome that we foresee with certainty: Gold will rise. Uncertainty around paper money always bodes well for gold, and these are uncertain days indeed.
America’s imperialism, combined with its ultra-fiat status of unending debt creation, appears to have created a final downward spiral that has caused many of the top economies to abandon a sinking ship. It might not be too much longer before the rest follow suit. Now might be a great time to consider diversifying into other currencies, and even digital currencies, to mitigate growing losses in the U.S. dollar.
Read other articles by Activist Post Here
Cyprus Day 1: Fear and Loathing in Nicosia
21stCenturyWire
March 29, 2013
“We’re treating this like a crime scene”
Patrick Henningsen
21st Century Wire
NICOSIA – In approximately three weeks time, the island of Cyprus will begin receiving its annual cash injection – from holiday tourism. That’s what’s known as a ‘good injection’.
After only a day here, it’s become very clear that the people of Cyprus are concerned, some even scared – about a financial contagion and shock treatment which threatens their future prosperity.
Soon, they will get another ‘bad’ injection, which we are told will be deadly. So we are treating this like a crime scene. The next injection will be administered by ‘Dr Troika’. Just utter his name in public here and you will see wrinkles in people’s faces.
Dr Troika’s injection is the equivalent, in economic terms, to an experimental vaccine – designed to treat a financial contagion which originated in Greece, and Wall Street before that. It is certain to provoke an auto-immune reaction.
The people of Cyprus did not ask for this, yet, they are being forced to take it by the mad economic doctors in Brussels, Berlin and the IMF. It’s the sort of bad medicine that the banking syndicates and corrupt officials have been administering for a while now, in order to take down governments and economies all over the globe with devastating effect.
I arrived in Cyprus on Wed night, and was joined by UK-based writer and talk show host Jason Liosatos from Global Peace Radio at 5am Thursday morning, as we headed in to the capital city of Nicosia to document what many were expecting to be a run on the island’s banks at 12pm after 15 days of closed doors to hundreds of thousands of residents whose savings has been locked inside the banks during the extended “bank holiday”. This particular ‘holiday’ will go down in history as one of the worse on record.
The lines began forming around 11am, but to everyone’s surprise – except the Cypriots’ of course, the lines were not as long as many expected, and not as long as the corporate mainstream media expected either, most of whom were hoping for a fight in front of both the old town’s Bank of Cyprus (good bank) and Laiki Banks (bad bank) branches.
The majority of those queuing were older people, but these included many of the top depositors whose life saving have been clipped by the Troika.
Listen to Audio interview here:
Fear_and_Loathing in Nicosia – Day One
We asked around and quickly learned why the Cypriots did not all rush the bank on Thurs at high noon. Many residents told us that there was a community feeling that islanders did not want to stress the Bank of Cyprus by storming its branches. Strict capital controls have been put into place to slow the cash hemorrhaging this week, with most residents restricted to 300 euros per day, for four days, followed by an official assessment of the situation.
There’s a lot of talk of Cyprus’s potential riches from untapped gas and oil, and many residents believe the bankers have taken down the economy here in order to exchange the island’s future riches for a series of expensive (if not utterly debilitating) ECB and IMF loans. But that’s still a ways off, and more pressing matters are salary cuts, pension cuts, a flight of wealth off of the island, and of course – that fact that people’s money is being literally stolen from their accounts.
When elites go to war, and fight their financial battles, it seems that the only victims are the average mom and pop. After meeting 5 or six local residents and business owners, it came abundantly clear that even the street sweepers knew that a criminal banking syndicate had held a gun to their heads and then stolen their money in broad daylight.
PHOTO: We sit down with the neighborhood guys who really know what’s going on with Cyprus bank collapse, and do foreign exchange over coffee.
A retired resident, Mr Andreas, explained also, “We Cypriots have dignity. I have only 3 euros in my pocket for the last week – enough only to buy a cup of coffee, but I will not line up today and beg the Troika for my daily withdraw of 300 euros.”
He adds, “Our friends in Europe have treated us like gangsters and criminals. Our government leaders have made mistakes, yes. But why are we being forced to pay? It’s blackmail. This is stealing from the people, that’s all.”
Not surprisingly, there were no Russian Oligarchs waiting to get inside any of the island’s branches on Thursday, many of them apparently withdrew their money from still open Russian branches of Laiki and Cyprus banks – at the same time that the banks in Cyprus were shut.
Mr Kiriakos, a local bar owner lamented over a beer with us before closing shop, explaining the reality of this latest banker-led heist in Cyprus. “I’ve been working all my life – 30 years, so I can send my daughters to university and give them a better life than I had, and they can just come and take that money? They are running a big casino, when they win they put the money in their pockets, but if they lose they take the money out of our pockets.”
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SEE ALSO:
Cyprus Day 2: As the Dust Settles, Talk of Reciprocity and Whispers of Retribution
Cyprus Day 3: The Sword of Damocles Still Hangs Over the Island
….
Watch the UK Column Live TV program on Tues at 1pm GMT, and visit the UK Column website for more reports from Cyprus.
Also, you can listen to daily reports this week from Cyprus at The Pete Santilli Show, M-F 12pm PST/7pm GMT.
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‘Hegemonic corporations scared as BRICS plan bank to rival IMF’ [video]
21stCenturyWire
March 28, 2013
A new global bank is being born in South Africa – where the world’s top emerging economies are meeting. The new financial powerhouse would be a direct challenger to the World Bank and the IMF – both dominated by the US. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also green-lighted a new, mammoth crisis fund – and hinted they would ditch the dollar.
Assad asks BRICS ‘to intervene’ in Syria crisis – aide
End the Lie – Independent News
March 16, 2013
Brazilian President Dilma Roussef(L to R), Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chinese President Hu Jintao and South African President Jacob Zuma pose during a BRICS’s Presidents meeting in Los Cabos, Baja California, Mexico on June 18, 2012 before the opening of the G20 leaders Summit (AFP Photo / HO)
Syria’s President Bashar Assad has pleaded for BRICS countries to mediate the on-going conflict in the country, according to a close adviser.
“Today I passed a message from President Bashar al-Assad to President Jacob Zuma, who will preside over the March 26 BRICS summit, on the subject of the situation in Syria,” senior adviser Bouthaina Shaaban told AFP.
“In this message, President Bashar al-Assad asks for intervention by the BRICS to stop the violence in his country and encourage the opening of a dialogue, which he wishes to start.”
BRICS is a bloc of up-and-coming economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Shaaban has been conducting a tour of the five countries ahead of the summit in Durban.
While the five countries vary in their sympathies for the Assad regime, all of them have repeatedly professed a neutral stance on the conflict, and have regularly voted against stricter resolutions against the current Syrian government.
The rebellion against President Assad began two years ago, and the death toll may have exceeded 60,000 according to the UN.
Source: RT
A Ton of BRICS; The Good the Bad and the Ugly in Globalization
nsnbc international
March 27, 2013
Christof Lehmann (nsnbc),- The BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa is being concluded with the successful establishment of a BRICS Development Bank, a BRICS Rating Agency to oppose the moody (criminally blackmailing and corrupt) Moodys or Standards & Poor rating agencies, the probable inclusion of the ailing but still potent north African powerhouse Egypt, and other developments, which will be coming down like “A Ton of BRICS” on the (f)ailing US and EU economies.
Also other nations, who are not part of “The Club” have reasons for concern. In Asia it would be nations like Laos, the DPRK, Nepal and Vietnam and a similar quartet can be found in Latin America and Africa. Forgetting that there is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly side to globalization, regardless which nations are driving it, would be extremely naive.
That the BRICS is a brick which is so brittle that it is about to fall apart or experience a premature death, as Ruchir Sharma, the head of Morgan Stanley´s emerging markets investment department sees it is most likely based more on wishful thinking than on a sound assessment of reality. Ironically, Ruchir Sharma´s downgrading of the BRICS chances for success, can be seen as a eulogy for Wall Streets moody rating of the BRICS.
The move to create a BRICS rating agency is a refreshing and much needed renewal in an international environment where rating agencies are best known for being moody and for having a poor standard with regard to ethical integrity.
It is too early to say whether the BRICS rating agency will be better, or if it will be(come) as moody and poor in its standards as the ones that have dominated (tyrannized) global markets so far. It remains to be seen. I am sure that some Wall Street brokers who are worst hit by the all too prevalent ludo-mania will already buying options (betting) on the issue, and who can blame them, with an administration in Washington that reimburses the gambler´s losses with tax-payer´s money.
Under any circumstances, a BRICS rating agency will bring a fresh breeze into a stagnant pond and maybe revitalize the business of rating. If one medical practitioner gives a diagnosis about a malign systemic disorder, as true as it may be, it is always good to have the possibility of consulting a second opinion before one goes shopping for a good burial site.
The creation of a BRICS Development Bank is a real step forward and the decision to endow it with a start capital of USD 50 billion should turn it into a moderately powerful developmental powerhouse among global banks. Infrastructure projects, developmental projects can be facilitated with far greater independence from traditional global banking houses and more independent from the (f)ailing US and EU economies.
Neither the USA nor the EU will have a say in this bank, which has the potential to facilitate the development toward a viable alternative to the Bretton Woods system. The BRICS Development Bank could ideally become an alternative to disaster capitalism and casino capitalism driven development and create viable, feasible, beneficial infrastructure where it is most needed.
In some regards BRICS members have been stepping on one another´s feet rather than conquering protected new markets and it may very well be, that the increased economical and political cooperation will result in a less infighting and more aggressively expanding cartel. An improved trade balance between BRICS members is most likely one of the results which will transpire, as the final outcome of Durban is being analyzed.
The trouble with the creation of cartels, in which members protect each other from harming each other´s economies by swamping them with cheap products without at least a due compensation, is that such cartels predominantly will have to seek their expansion on the cost of national economies beyond the cartel´s borders. Swamping other, weaker national economies with cheap products.
Both the USA and the European Union have their trade barriers well in place. Likely targets are countries like Nepal, to be increasingly targeted by India, Laos, to be increasingly targeted by China, and so forth. As good as the development may be for a nation like India, a country with an immense need and potential for the development of infrastructure, as bad or ugly may such a development become for weak neighbors.
The visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia was a crucial world-political signal. The first official visit abroad as President of China resulted in stronger political, economical and military ties between Russia and China.
The fact that China has agreed to buy large quantities of Russian oil is not merely based on the fact that China has an immense hunger for oil. The deal was a clear signal to Russia. As it can be read in a 2012 interview by Iranian journalist Kourosh Ziabari with the scribe, it was a reward and long expected compensation for Russian losses, resulting from the European Union´s Third Energy Packet, Russia´s role with regard to the Syria crisis and more. (1
Both Russia, China and India experience energy security problems, and the potential “new kid on the brick, Egypt, is also being targeted.
Russia, as already mentioned, faces a literal war about Syria and the PARS gas pipeline project already.(2 NATO is planning the establishment of the Kurdish Corridor which has absolutely vital consequences with regard to Caspian oil and gas pipeline projects.
China withdrew from the Iran Pakistan pipeline project. (3 The move was among other based on price-risk assessments. Construction on the Iran – Pakistan pipeline was begun in 2013 and the pipeline will, according to current plans end in Pakistan´s norther Baluchistan province, where the USA is fanning the flames of a low-intensity conflict. (4 China may at a later time decide whether it will finance a prolongation of the pipeline, but finds the project within the current geo-political situation too risky.
Both India and China have serious energy security concerns related to western and Bangladeshi attempts to destabilize Myanmar, and in particular Myanmar´s Rakhine State. The building of the pipeline from Myanmar to India, through Bangladeshi territory has been delayed multiple times because of a lack of convergence in the energy requirements of India and Bangladesh. As a response to known security risk factors related to previous and current attempts by Bangladesh to fight a proxy war in Myanmar´s Rakhine State, Myanmar decided to diversify the risk by building a double, oil – gas pipeline to China. Also this pipeline could be threatened if Myanmar or Myanmar´s Rakhine State are further destabilized. (5a,b,c
China will over the coming years experience increased pressure with regard to the South – East China Sea, the South China Sea, Japan, and there are indications for that the USA is planning a careful return to Vietnam. The ongoing low-intensity conflict in Malaysia over the “Kingdom of Sabah” seems to be tied to western attempts to limit Chinese access to resources. (6
Laos, Luan Prabang daily vegetable market.Photo Zaphod Beeblebrox
The new kid on the block, Egypt, which owns part of the considerable gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean Levantine Basin, and which already has experience one “Arab Spring Regime Change” is most likely seeking closer ties to China and Russia for the very same reason. The BRICS powers openness toward Egypt could indicate that especially Russia is attempting to reassert its traditionally much stronger influence in the Middle East and over Egypt.
The downside of the closer cooperation within the BRICS is that the cartel may be tempted to secure the growth of the BRICS members economies by overpowering small, vulnerable economies which are struggling already. This, potentially ugly side of globalism can best be demonstrated by looking at Laos.
Laos is already struggling with adapting to the opening of the inner market of ASEAN in 2014. Even though the government of Laos is working hard at fulfilling the conditions for entering the open market, the country may have to ask, probably will ask for dispensations and more time. Laos has a rich cultural life. Especially rural families maintain a rich, traditional life based on small family farms, small productions. (7
Whether BRICS (+E ? ) should be counted to The Good, The Bad, or The Ugly Globalist Cartels will ultimately be determined by how “the ton of bricks” that is about to come down on the worlds economies will handle mechanisms to encourage the development of the weakest economies, alleviate poverty, raise social development and more, without destroying the national economies and cultures around it. A rotting plastic bag in a natural habitat does not become a lesser threat because it does not have Coka Cola printed on it, and self-hating western anti-imperialism is naive if it is uncritical toward globalism because is is driven by nations which oppose US/NATO imperialism and hegemony.
Christof Lehmann
Related article: The World Bank: Rejecting “The Rule of Law”
Notes:
1) China will force peaceful solution to Syrian crisis on West: German pundit. Koursh Ziabai interviews Christof Lehmann.
2) The Dynamics of the Crisis in Syria; Conflict versus Conflict-Resolution (6/6) —– ( 1/6 – 2/6 –3/6 –4/6 – 5/6)
3) Pakistan´s Parliament approves I-P Pipeline; Iran´s Tadbir Energy to build Pakistan Section.
4) The Baluchistan Belt. US-Saudi Funded Terrorists Sowing Chaos in Pakistan.
5 a) Myanmar, Gas and the Soros-Funded Explosion of A Nation State.
5 b) U.N.´s Ambiguous Role in Plight of Myanmar´s Rohingya.
5 c) The Rohingya, Myanmar and Suu Kyi´s difficult Dance with Double Standards. It takes Two to Tango.
6) Malaysia faces uncertain war over Sabah
7) Laos and the Opening of ASEAN´s Inner Market. Between Development and Disaster Capitalism
About the Author
“Got Milk” campaign a fraud – 10 better sources of calcium
by Lance Johnson
Natural News
March 23, 2013
(NaturalNews) The dairy industry advertises pasteurized milk as the giver of strong bones and teeth. This can be observed by watching the numerous “Got Milk” commercials on the television. As celebrities show off their white mustaches, parents and their children are led to believe that pasteurized milk makes them strong and athletic. They are taught that milk will prevent bone decay, but the opposite is true. Behind the white smiles and strong promises is a pasteurized milk product that is void of enzymes, lacking real calcium that can be utilized by the human body. In fact, calves that are fed pasteurized milk die before maturity. What then, is pasteurized milk capable of doing to the human body?
Government commodity boards promote pasteurized milk
Governments set up Commodity Promotions Boards that tax specific product purchases. These boards use the revenue from these purchases to promote those same products. The “Got Milk?” campaign is one of those advertisements.
In essence, the government taxes milk producers to pay for milk advertisements. The milk producers don’t necessarily pay this tax: this tax is passed on to the consumers. A vicious circle of government taxation ensues. Taxes are used to pay for advertisements. Those advertisements are used to coerce the masses to pay for the very products that are taxing them, and destroying their health simultaneously.
The truth about pasteurized milk
The truth is: the human body has a hard time digesting pasteurized milk. When milk is pasteurized, its protein molecules – the casein – are changed. This strains the pancreas, forcing it to produce its own digestive enzymes to break the molecules down. This helps explain why many people develop milk allergies.
Like any enzyme-void food, pasteurized milk puts an enormous strain on the body’s digestive function. Those with milk intolerance, a leaky gut, or poor digestion, pass the casein through the intestinal walls and into the blood stream. This excites many allergies, including autoimmune disorders.
The lost enzymes in milk, heated and destroyed through the pasteurization process, were designed to help the body break down nutrients like calcium. Without essential enzymes, calcium cannot be utilized; thus, the calcium passes out the body, unused.
10 better sources of calcium
99 percent of calcium is stored in the bones and teeth, supporting structure and function. The other one percent of calcium is used for vascular contraction, vasodilation, muscle function, nerve transmission, intracellular signaling, and hormonal secretion. When the body lacks calcium, it robs stored calcium from the bone reserves. The following list contains 10 calcium sources that can be utilized by the human body.
Almonds – Dry roasted, made into butter, or made into milk, almonds are an excellent source of calcium, providing 27 percent of the daily value (DV) of calcium from every 22 almonds.
Herring – High in vitamin D, it aids in the absorption of calcium. Herring provides 11 percent DV per fillet.
Sesame seeds – Roasted or dried, sesame seeds provide calcium at nine percent of DV per tablespoon.
Raw turnip greens – Contain 10 percent DV in a cupful of chopped greens.
Brazil nuts – Provide 21 percent DV per cup.
Yogurt – Full of beneficial bacteria, yogurt provides 42 percent DV of calcium per eight ounces.
Flax seeds – Full of omega-3 fats, flax seeds provide calcium at 43 percent DV per cup.
Dandelion greens – Provide 10 percent DV per cup.
Kale – Provide nine percent DV per cup.
Mustard Greens – Provide six percent DV per cup.
Sources for this article include:
http://heritageaction.com
http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Calcium-HealthProfessional/
http://www.healthaliciousness.com
http://ezinearticles.com
About the author:
Lance Johnson, along with his wonderful wife Kender, are creating a natural products movement from the ground up: Free Spirit All Natural Products. As more hearts are pulling toward natural solutions in a world of toxins and propaganda, Lance wants to help others see the real health opportunities all around us. www.allnaturalfreespirit.com
He’s also a passionate writer who has self published two works of poetic writing that relate to the people, unmask the hiding, and challenge the status quo. He has more writing ideas within him, as health and freedom has become a major topic of interest within him.
PN 