Filed under: bernanke, common currency, Credit Crisis, DEBT, deflation, Dictatorship, Dollar, dollar collapse, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, Federal Reserve, fiat currency, global bankers, global central bank, global currency, global economy, global elite, global government, global treasury, Globalism, globalist elite, Great Depression, Greenback, hyperinflation, imf, IMF bonds, Inflation, internationalist, internationalists, jimmy carter, main street, New World Order, NWO, Oil, One World Government, OPEC, private bank, SDR, SDRs, single currency, socialism, sovereignty, Stock Market, super currency, Tim Geithner, U.S. treasury, UN, united nations, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, world currency, world government
Confidential Memos Indicate Oil SDR Pricing Shift Would Be “Most Damaging” To United States
Zero Hedge
October 12, 2009
A recently declassified, formerly Confidential, 30 year old memo prepared by Henry Owen for President Jimmy Carter’s eyes only, highlights the perils facing the United States if oil were to be priced in SDRs instead of dollars, a topic which is all the rage today as rumors are swirling that this is an imminent transition to be “put” upon the United States.
In response to your request, we have considered, and discussed with other agencies, whether the US should favor use of SDRs instead of dollars, to pay for crude oil… I have concluded that dollar pricing should be maintained — a view that is shared by State, Treasury and CEA.
The reasons:
1. An announcement that dollars were no longer being used as the unit of account in paying for oil would trigger selling of dollars on the foreign exchange markets. So we would suffer.
2. I don’t see any offsetting gain, since OPEC would probably raise prices in SDR terms, as necessary to recover revenue losses if the SDR appreciated relative to the dollar.
And the conclusion:
We might be able to persuade the OPEC countries to make the shift if the dollar weakened but that’s precisely when the move would be most damaging to us.
Poor Mr. Owen- little did he realize that a mere 3 decades after this memo was penned, the administration would be consumed by a bunch of Wall Street pandering, middle class extortionists, who seek nothing else than to inflate the trillions of toxic “asset” loans that make up the broken backbone of the American financial system. It would come as no surprise if the move is now in fact spearheaded by the same administration which has no other purpose in life than to destroy what little savings Americans have and to throw all their cash to prop up artificially inflated equity prices so that insiders can sell their stock at agreeable levels, and so the toxic companies can use the run up to issue follow on offerings, moderating their untenable debt holdings.
Even more troubling, in another declassified memo, former Undersecretary of the Treasury and President of the New York Fed, Anthony Solomon, reaches this damning conclusion:
The choice of the unit of account for oil pricing is basically under the producing countries’ control. There is no particular economic reason why a shift from the dollar would be contrary to U.S. interest — unless the dollar were to depreciate significant in relation to the currencies in the pricing basket. But there could be major psychological effects. Given the unsettled conditions in the foreign exchange market [TD: so true today, 30 years later], such a step at this time could be interpreted as a lack of confidence in the dollar and as presaging a shift in OPEC investment policy away from the dollar. It could precipitate a serious market reaction.
Alas, even President Carter, seen by many as one of the worst American president in American history was smart enough to not bury his own middle class at the expense of landed Wall Street interests. It is a pity that his current
incarnation, advised by the Bernanke-Summers-Geithner think tank, has such diametrically opposing motivations.
Filed under: 2008 Election, Alex Jones, Amero, asia, Australia, BP, Britain, Canada, China, Control Grid, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, dubai, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, european union, exxon mobil, Federal Reserve, gas prices, global economy, global elite, global government, Globalism, Great Depression, Greenback, hyperinflation, Inflation, internationalist, internationalists, Iran, Japan, John McCain, kuwait, Lindsey Williams, london, manipulated economy, manipulated oil prices, manipulated prices, market manipulation, Mexico, middle east, muslims, neocons, New World Order, North American Union, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, price fixing, Saudi Arabia, single currency, Stock Market, United Kingdom, US Economy, Wall Street | Tags: global currency, global currency system, globalization, Mohammad Ali Khatibi, oil bourse, oil cut, one world currency, shell, Stanley Monteith, t-bills, the energy non crisis
Lindsey Williams Predicted Oil Will Be $50 a Barrel
Insider of the Global Elite was told: “Price of crude oil is going down to $50 a barrel. . . gas will be $2 to $2.50 a gallon” (1st video @ 7:11). “The entire Arab world will be bankrupt” (2nd video @ 7:34) “. . . you are going to shout and dance on the street at $2 a gallon and mark my words within 3-4 weeks time you are going to shutter in your boots because the dollar is going to go to zero, they’ll have an excuse to bring in the North American Union, they will be able to issue a new currency . . .” (3rd video)
Lindsey Williams on Alex Jones Show, October 26, 2008
Oil falls to $63, OPEC plans on cutting supply of oil
AP
October 26, 2008
Oil prices fell to 17-month lows at $63 a barrel Monday in Asia as investors weighed Friday’s OPEC output cut against growing evidence of a severe global economic slowdown that would undermine crude demand.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 32 cents to $63.83 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.
Investors brushed off a 1.5 million barrel-a-day cut announced by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on Friday, focusing instead on falling crude demand as economies across the globe reel from the impact of a credit crisis.
On Friday, oil fell $3.69 to settle at $64.15. Prices have plunged 57 percent from a record $147.27 on July 11.
“The mood is fairly negative reflecting worry about the international economic outlook,” said David Moore, a commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. “If there is further weak economic data in the U.S. or Europe, prices could come under more downward pressure.”
Iran’s OPEC governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said Sunday a reduction in production “will be considered” at the group’s next meeting in Algiers in December — a meeting that might even be held early if necessary.
“I thought the OPEC cut was a fairly decisive act, but concerns of recession in the major economies remain dominant,” Moore said. “OPEC’s cut does take a step toward tightening the market.”
http://www.reuter..dName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Oil Can Fall to $50-$60 if Credit Stays Tight
http://www.cnbc.com/id/27160853
Oil down 50pc from July high
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/finance..-July-high.html
Filed under: 2008 Election, Ahmadinejad, Alex Jones, Amero, Canada, central bank, Congress, Control Grid, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, exxon mobil, Federal Reserve, gas prices, George Bush, global economy, global elite, global government, Globalism, Great Depression, Greenback, indonesia, Inflation, Iran, John McCain, Lindsey Williams, manipulated economy, manipulated oil prices, manipulated prices, Mexico, middle east, neocons, New World Order, North American Union, offshoring, Oil, OPEC, petro, Petrol, price fixing, Ron Paul, Russia, single currency, SPP, Stock Market, Tehran, US Economy | Tags: oil bourse, oilstorm, shell, Stanley Monteith, t-bills
Lindsey Williams: ’Price of crude oil is going down to $50 a barrel’ ’the dollar is going to zero’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9q9hYDmBeQ
Ahmadinejad: Oil Prices Are Fixed
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080617/ts_nm/iran_oil_ahmadinejad_dc
Traders manipulated oil prices – U.S.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/24/markets/cftc/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories
’Oil price may hit $500 a barrel’
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=64986§ionid=3510213
Pickens sees $300 oil unless U.S. cuts imports
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/stor..f-a4325ad8691c
Filed under: airstrikes, Arctic, belarus, Britain, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dmitry Medvedev, Dollar, Europe, european union, Greenback, Hugo Chavez, Medvedev, Military, military strike, missile defense, moscow, NATO, New World Order, norway, Nuke, ocean, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, putin, ruble, Russia, South America, Soviet Union, sudan, ukraine, United Kingdom, Venezuela, war games, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Northern Eagle 2008, Tu-160 Blackjack, Tu-95MS Bear
Russia and Venezuela in deal to counter ‘US aggression’
Adrian Blomfield
London Telegraph
July 23, 2008
With a long shopping list for state-of-the-art defence equipment under his arm, Mr Chavez did his best to ingratiate himself with his hosts.
He first signed off on a deal giving Russia’s state-owned energy companies – often accused of doubling as private piggy banks for powerful Kremlin forces – exclusive rights to develop new deposits Venezuela’s Orinoco Oil Belt.
Then he switched smoothly to flattery, with a call for the Russian ruble to replace the US dollar as the world’s global currency.
“We in OPEC have proposed to put an end to the dollar,” Mr Chavez said, speaking in his role as self-appointed spokesman for the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Mr Chavez was given correspondingly warm welcome as he met with one old friend, prime minister Vladimir Putin, and one new one in the form of president Dmitry Medvedev.
Mr Medvedev was particularly effusive, describing Venezuela as Russia’s “most important partner”.
Ignoring accusations of electoral fraud and authoritarianism that have been directed at both countries, Mr Medvedev told his guest: “We have one common task; to make the surrounding world more democratic, fair and secure.”
Russia needs bombers in Cuba due to NATO expansion – ex-commander
RIA Novosti
July 21, 2008
The possible deployment of Russian strategic bombers in Cuba may be an effective response to the placement of NATO bases near Russia’s borders, a former Air Force commander said on Monday.
Russian daily Izvestia earlier on Monday cited a senior Russian military source as saying that Russian strategic bombers could be stationed again in Cuba, only 90 miles from the U.S. coast, in response to the U.S. missile shield in Europe.
“If these plans are being considered, it would be a good response to the attempts to place NATO bases near the Russian borders,” Gen. of the Army Pyotr Deinekin told RIA Novosti.
“I do not see anything wrong with it because nobody listens to our objections when they place airbases and electronic monitoring and surveillance stations near our borders,” the general said.
However, Deinekin said the possibility of Russian bombers being stationed in Cuba is largely hypothetical, because Russia’s Tu-160 Blackjack and Tu-95MS Bear strategic bombers are both capable of reaching the U.S. coast, patrolling the area for about 1.5 hours, and returning to airbases in Russia with mid-air refueling.
Russia resumed strategic bomber patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans last August, following an order signed by former president Vladimir Putin. Russian bombers have since carried out over 80 strategic patrol flights and have often been escorted by NATO planes.
Deinekin suggested that Cuba could be used as a refueling stopover for Russian aircraft rather than as a permanent base, because the Russian political and military leadership would be unlikely to take such a drastic step under current global political conditions.
In October 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to the brink of nuclear war when Soviet missiles were stationed in Cuba.
The crisis was resolved after 12 days when the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, backed down and ordered the missiles removed.
Moscow had a military presence on Cuba for almost four decades after that, maintaining an electronic listening post at Lourdes, about 20 km (12.5 miles) from Havana, to monitor U.S. military moves and communications.
Russia was paying $200 million a year to lease the base, which it closed down in January 2002.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_gen..ssia_on_nuclear__07222008.html
The Medvedev proposal: Russia’s “New Order” of security relations incorporating the US, Russia and the European Union
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2008/07/910222.shtml
Belarus secretly delivers Russian warplanes to Sudan
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080721/114537636.html
Russian warship arrives in Norway for Northern Eagle 2008 exercise
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/l..08/russia-080717-rianovosti01.htm
Putin Wants Closer Military Ties With Venezuela
http://www.globalsecurity.org/militar..8/07/mil-080722-rianovosti02.htm
Russian missile cruiser begins patrols around Spitsbergen
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080722/114639422.html
Russia concerned over U.S.-Ukraine Black Sea military exercises
http://en.rian.ru/world/20080718/114389691.html
Filed under: central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, Euro, european central bank, Federal Reserve, gas prices, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, rate cut, Saudi Arabia, spain, Stock Market, US Economy, Venezuela | Tags: Jean-Claude Trichet, Rafael Ramirez
OPEC Leader Says Dollar Will Drive Oil to $170
Bloomberg
June 28, 2008
OPEC President Chakib Khelil predicted that the price of oil will climb to $170 a barrel before the end of the year, citing the dollar’s decline and political conflicts.
“Oil prices are expected to reach $170 as demand for fuel is growing in the U.S. during the summer period and the dollar continues to weaken against the euro,’’ Khelil said today in a telephone interview. The leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries also serves as Algeria’s oil minister.
Political pressure on Iran and the depreciation of the U.S. currency have caused a surge in oil prices, Khelil said. New York- traded crude has more than doubled in a year and touched a record $142.99 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
OPEC ministers generally say that oil output is sufficient, even as Saudi Arabia, the biggest producer, pledged to pump an extra 200,000 barrels a day next month to calm the market. “The market is completely supplied,’’ Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said yesterday. Libya announced possible production cuts, calling the market oversupplied.
The rising cost of crude is not linked to supply, Khelil said today. “There is more than enough oil in the market to meet the international demand,’’ added the OPEC president, who will take part June 30 in an international energy forum in Madrid.
Prices, which are up 38 percent this quarter, are heading for the biggest quarterly gain since the first three months of 1999, when oil traded between $11 and $17.
Declining Dollar
“The decisions made by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank helped the devaluation of the dollar, which pushed up oil prices,’’ Khelil said.
Oil may extend gains if the ECB boosts rates on July 3, further weakening the U.S. currency. The dollar has declined 15 percent against the euro in 12 months.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet reiterated June 25 that policy makers may increase the main refinancing rate by a quarter-percentage point next month to contain inflation. The Federal Reserve left the benchmark U.S. rate at 2 percent on June 25. On Sept. 18 the Fed began cutting rates to bolster an economy already reeling from the credit crisis.
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Dow, dow jones, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, gas prices, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, interest rate cuts, middle class, New York, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, rate cut, silver, Stock Market, US Economy
Oil Near $143
AP
June 27, 2008
Oil futures climbed to a new record near $143 a barrel Friday as the dollar weakened against the euro, confirming expectations that the falling greenback, a major factor in crude’s stratospheric rise, will extend its decline and add to oil’s appeal.
Retail gas prices inched lower overnight, but are likely to resume their own trek into record territory now that oil futures have broken out of the trading range where they had been for nearly 3 weeks.
Light, sweet crude for August delivery rose as high as $142.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange before pulling back sharply in a spate of late-day profit-taking to settle up 57 cents at a record $140.21. On Thursday, the contract shot past $140 and rose more than $5 to a new settlement record.
The latest record came as the dollar fell against the euro in afternoon trading, having traded roughly unchanged for much of the day.
“The dollar was slightly stronger, and when it gave up its gains, that gave oil the green light,” said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com.
The market now believes the Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates in the near future; since higher rates tend to strengthen the dollar, traders are anticipating that it will continue to fall and, consequently, that investors will keep turning to commodities including oil as a hedge against inflation.
“Oil’s back in favor, especially with people bailing out of the stock market,” said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.
The stock market’s recent swoon is also sending investors in search of higher-yielding investments. On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 360 points, and in afternoon trading Friday was down more than 100 points.
OPEC chief sees oil at $150-170 in coming months
Reuters
June 27, 2008
Crude oil prices could rise to as high as $170 per barrel in the coming months but are unlikely to hit $200 and should ease towards the end of the year, OPEC President Chakib Khelil said in an interview on Thursday.
“I forecast prices probably between $150-170 during this summer. That will perhaps ease towards the end of the year,” he told France 24 television, according to a text of the interview released by the station.
Gold Futures Rise as Oil Surges, Dollar Falls
IBT Times
June 27, 2008
Gold futures rose above $930 an ounce on Friday to the highest price in a month as crude oil hit a record high and the U.S. dollar continued to weaken, boosting the investment appeal of the precious metal as a hedge against inflation.
Gold for August delivery rallied $16.20 to end at $931.30 an ounce on the Comex division on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal hit an intra-day high of $933 an ounce, the highest for a most-active contract since May 27.
The precious metal posted a weekly gain of $27.60, or 3.1 percent from last Friday’s closing level of $903.70.
Gold is likely to regain $1,000 an ounce by the end of 2008 and work higher through 2009-2010, said John Hill, an analyst at Citigroup, in a research note.
Also on the Nymex, Silver futures for September delivery rose 49 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $17.71 an ounce. The metal climbed 1.8 percent this week and is up 19 percent this year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/25/usa.subprimecrisis
Stocks Mostly Lower Again
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080627/wall_street.html?printer=1
The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,562291,00.html
Money being pulled out of NYC banks: High demand for wire transfers
http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/articles/20080624
Dow Tumbles 360 Points
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200..p7tkyjYvSV08ZQAF3YkzSNv24cA
Filed under: Ahmadinejad, airstrikes, Alan Greenspan, Big Banks, Britain, California, central bank, Coup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, energy, Euro, Europe, european union, euros, False Flag, Federal Reserve, florida, gas prices, Great Depression, Greenback, imf, Inflation, Iran, Iraq, kuwait, LA, london, Los Angeles, Media, Media Fear, military strike, nation building, national debt, New York, Nuke, occupation, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Saddam Hussein, Saudi Arabia, Senate, Shock and Awe, Stock Market, Tehran, United Kingdom, US Economy, War Crimes, War On Terror, Washington D.C., White House, WMD, World Bank, WW3, ww4
OPEC dumping the dollar could be the real reason for a war with Iran
Recent News:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/motorin..NOA62976920080626
Federal Reserve leaves key interest rate at 2%
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld..un26,0,7851841.story
Kuwait Buying Up U.S. Infrastructure
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080624/kuwait_fund_us_banks.html?.v=1
U.S. Senate To Pass Bank Bailout Bill
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080625/D91H2TT80.html
Bad economy cancels central Florida city’s 4th of July fireworks display
http://www.local6.com/money/16709180/detail.html
Utilities Cutting Off More Customers
http://www.usatoday.com/money/indu..ff-disconnect_N.htm
Suburbia Life Tougher Because Of Gas Prices
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/24/business/exurbs.php
Oil prices ’will not come down’ says OPEC boss
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/mone..06/24/bcnoil124.xml
LA Seeing More People Living In Cars
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D91FV1E80&show_article=1
Economy on brink of recession, Greenspan says
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNew..s&rpc=23&sp=true
OPEC talks: Saudi Arabia to boost oil output
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/m..oost-oil-output.html
IMF sees zero US growth in 2008
http://www.gulf-news.com/business/Economy/10222823.html
Few people are conscious of how the United States can use food as a political weapon
Big Shots Jump at Bilderberg’s Oil Orders
Paulson & Co. Says Writedowns May Reach $1.3 Trillion
Japan Offers Helping Hand To World Banks
Bush administration wants to give Federal Reserve more power
Filed under: Ahmadinejad, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, gas prices, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, Iran, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, price fixing, Stock Market, Tehran, US Economy
Ahmadinejad: Oil Prices Are Fixed
Reuters
June 19, 2008
The market is full of oil and the rising price trend is “fake and imposed,” Iran’s president said on Tuesday, partly blaming a weak U.S. dollar which he said was being pushed lower on purpose.
“At a time when the growth of consumption is lower than the growth of production and the market is full of oil, prices are rising and this trend is completely fake and imposed,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech.
“It is very clear that visible and invisible hands are controlling prices in a fake way with political and economic aims,” he said when opening a meeting of the OPEC Fund for International Development in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
Iran, the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter, has repeatedly said the market is well-supplied with crude and blames rising prices on speculation, a weak U.S. currency and geopolitical factors.
“As you know the decrease in the dollar’s value and the increase in energy prices are two sides of the same coin which are being introduced as factors behind the recent instability,” Ahmadinejad said.
Filed under: brazil, Britain, Britian, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, european union, Federal Reserve, gas prices, George Bush, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, kuwait, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Saudi Arabia, Stock Market, United Kingdom, US Economy
Oil Breaks Record of $140 a Barrel
Reuters
June 16, 2008
Oil surged to a new record high on Monday of nearly $140 a barrel, propelled by weakness in the U.S. dollar which offset the bearish impact of plans by Saudi Arabia to boost output.
U.S. light, sweet crude for July delivery was up $3.74 at $138.60 a barrel by 1317 GMT, after falling as much as $1.40 a barrel, or about 1 percent, earlier in the session.
U.S. crude set a record high of $139.89 a barrel.
London Brent crude was up $3.05 at $138.16.
Prices leapt as the dollar fell after publication of data from the New York Federal Reserve that showed manufacturing in the state of New York contracted in June for the fourth time in five months.
“Prices rose sharply in three minutes. U.S. manufacturing data was weak, so it is pressuring the dollar down,” said Mike Wittner, energy analyst at Societe General.
British TV Report On Europe Fuel Protests
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSWAT00968520080618
Brazil’s oil giant says more oil found
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008.._8366841.htm
Deals with Iraq are set to bring oil giants back
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/19/africa/19iraq.php
Kuwait Says Oil Over $100 Is Too High; Support Saudis
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news..mkZ9.AU&refer=home
OPEC sees no need to pump more after price surge
http://www.reuters.com/article/business..&feedName=businessNews
Stocks Fall Sharply As Oil Surges
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080..LSuA9bao4W7_UfPnF9v24cA
Filed under: Ahmadinejad, airstrikes, Big Banks, Britain, Congress, Coup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dick Cheney, dollar peg, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, european union, False Flag, food crisis, food prices, France, gas prices, George Bush, gold, gordon brown, Great Depression, Greenback, Hugo Chavez, Inflation, Iran, Israel, military strike, north korea, Nuke, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Russia, Sanctions, Saudi Arabia, Shock and Awe, Tehran, UN, United Kingdom, US Economy, Venezuela, War On Terror, wheat, WMD, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Mohsen Talaie, OFID
Britain To Freeze Iranian Bank Assets
AP
June 16, 2008
Britain will freeze assets of Iran’s largest bank in a further move to discourage the country from developing nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday.
Brown, speaking at a news conference with President Bush, said Britain will work to persuade Europe to follow suit.
The British leader said that assets of Iran’s Bank Melli would be frozen. Last year, the United States accused the bank of providing services to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
“Action will start today in new phase of sanctions on oil and gas,” Brown said. “We will take any necessary action so that Iran is aware of the choice it needs to make.”
The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies that, saying its atomic program is aimed at using nuclear reactors to generate electricity.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of limited sanctions against Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can both produce nuclear fuel and turn out the material needed for nuclear warheads.
The third round of U.N. sanctions passed in March introduced financial monitoring of Bank Melli and another bank with purported links to suspect Iranian nuclear activities, Bank Saderat.
Brown said his government wanted to do all it could to maintain a dialogue with Tehran.
“But we are also clear that if Iran continues to ignore (United Nations) resolutions, to ignore our offers of partnership, we have no choice but to intensify sanctions,” the prime minister said.
“I will repeat that we will take any necessary action so that Iran is aware of the choice it has to make — to start to play its part as a full and respected member of the international community, or face further isolation.”
Bush urged Tehran to accept a new package of incentives and said it should accept a Russian proposal to enrich uranium on Iran’s behalf.
“When the Iranians say we have a sovereign right to have one, the answer is ’You bet you have a sovereign right, absolutely’,” Bush said, referring to a civilian nuclear program.
“But you don’t have the trust of those of us who have watched you carefully when it comes to enriching uranium, because you have declared that you want to destroy democracies in the neighborhood.”
Brown said he will press European colleagues at a summit in Brussels, Belgium later this week to agree a tougher package of European Union sanctions against Iran, including the freezing of Bank Melli’s assets.
The EU imposes its own set of measures against Iran, in addition to U.N.- backed sanctions, which include a total arms embargo and travel bans against a number of named individuals and organizations.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has previously called for the EU to target more companies — particularly in the banking sector — and other individuals who do not now face visa bans under current EU penalties.
Iran Withdraws $75B From Europe
Reuters
June 16, 2008
Iran has withdrawn around $75 billion from Europe to prevent the assets from being blocked under threatened new sanctions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear ambitions, an Iranian weekly said.
Western powers are warning the Islamic Republic of more punitive measures if it rejects an incentives offer and presses on with sensitive nuclear work, but the world’s fourth-largest oil exporter is showing no sign of backing down.
“Part of Iran’s assets in European banks have been converted to gold and shares and another part has been transferred to Asian banks,” Mohsen Talaie, deputy foreign minister in charge of economic affairs, was quoted as saying.
Iranian officials were not immediately available to comment on the report in Shahrvand-e Emrouz, a moderate weekly, which did not specify the time period for the withdrawals which it said were ordered by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“About $75 billion of Iran’s foreign assets which were under threat of being blocked were wired back to Iran based on Ahmadinejad’s order,” the weekly said.
Iran’s Etemad-e Melli newspaper, also quoting Talai, last week also reported the country was withdrawing assets from European banks but did not give any figures.
Iran Urges OPEC To Dump Dollar
Press TV
June 17, 2008
Iran urges the OPEC member states again to convert their cash reserves into a basket of currencies rather than the tumbling US dollar.
Speaking at a ceremony to open the 29th ministerial meeting of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his proposal made about six months ago in a rare summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’s heads of states.
“The fall in the value of US dollar is one of the pressing problems of the world today,” warned the Iranian president at the conference in Isfahan on Tuesday.
He further expressed concern over the adverse effect of the dollar depreciation on the international community, especially energy exporting countries through increasing the price of commodities like wheat, rice and oilseeds.
Ahmadinejad said he warned six months ago in the summit conference in Riyadh that there were many indications pointing to continued fall in the value of the greenback.
“And we see that this continues to happen and the resources and wealth of OPEC member countries have been hugely damaged.
“I again repeat my previous proposal; we should have a basket of different international hard currencies as the basis or the member countries should come up and produce a new hard currency for petroleum contracts,” he stressed.
“They get our oil and give us a worthless piece of paper,” Ahmadinejad said earlier after the close of the summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
The comments by the Iranian president gained backing from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as he said at the same event, “The empire of the dollar has to end.”
On the soaring oil prices, the Iranian president said, “At a time when the growth of consumption is lower than the growth of production and the market is full of oil, prices are rising and this trend is completely fake and imposed.”
“As you know the decrease in the dollar’s value and the increase in energy prices are two sides of the same coin which are being introduced as factors behind the recent instability,” Ahmadinejad added.
http://www.niacouncil.org/index.ph..&task=view&id=1141&Itemid=2
Israeli Ministers Mull Plans for Military Strike against Iran
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,559925,00.html
Iran: No decision for new sanctions
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=60394§ionid=351020101
EU To Issue Stronger Iran Sanctions
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20..yoz_9cR3Dd4WvnVDpQUewgF
Bush threatens Iran with military action, again
http://www.independent.co.uk/news..an-with-military-action-848488.html
Alert?! Cheney Winning the Inside Battles Again
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/06/alert_cheney_wi/
Iran and North Korea may have bought nuclear missile blueprints
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new.._and_americas/article4144317.ece
Iran Nuke Laptop Data Came from Terror Group
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41416
Coup on Iran & False Flag News Archive
Filed under: Ahmadinejad, AIPAC, Air Force, airstrikes, Azerbaijan, Barack Obama, Britain, Congress, Coup, Europe, european union, False Flag, France, gas prices, George Bush, Gulf of Tonkin, H. Con. Res 362, hans blix, Iran, Iran war resolution, Iraq, Israel, John McCain, military bases, military strike, moscow, navy, neocons, Nuke, Oil, OPEC, Pakistan, paris, Petrol, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, Propaganda, Russia, Saber Rattling, Sanctions, Sarkozy, Shock and Awe, Tehran, Troops, Turkey, UN, United Kingdom, War On Terror, WTO, WW3, ww4 | Tags: Gholamhossein Elham, Manouchehr Mottaki, sam gardiner
A virtual declaration of war against Iran
War Without End
June 12, 2008
The following is from retired USAF Colonel Sam Gardiner today:
It is amazing how far Members of the Congress will go in support of Israel . Hidden within a resolution now being considered on the Hill is what amounts to a suggested declaration of war against Iran .
Representative Mark Kirk from Illinois is circulating a Sense of the Congress Resolution (H. Con. Res 362). The resolution now has 47 co-sponsors and “demands that the President initiate an international effort to immediately and dramatically increase the economic, political, and diplomatic pressure on Iran to verifiably suspend its nuclear enrichment activities by, inter alia, prohibiting the export to Iran of all refined petroleum products; imposing stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran…”
This option in the resolution is being pushed by the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee. At the AIPAC meeting in Washington last week both Senators McCain and Obama mentioned an embargo of refined products without any details.
I don’t how the United States inspects aircraft flying from Moscow to Tehran . I don’t know how the United States inspects trucks going from Azerbaijan and Pakistan into Iran . The ships part, however, produces a fairly clear image. The United States Navy operating inside and outside the Gulf stops and searches all ships entering Iranian ports. If the ships are carrying refined products, they are ordered to leave the area. If they refuse, warning shots will be fired. If they continue to refuse, lethal action will be initiated.
Since destination is not always clear, on occasion the United States Navy will have to enter Iranian territorial waters. The United States Navy will be stopping Russian ships and searching them. The United States Navy will be stopping Chinese ships.
To their credit, the McCain campaign must have begun to understand the implications. A spokesman issued a statement yesterday that the Senator was talking about, “a voluntary withdrawal from the Iranian markets of the companies providing gasoline is one option.”
One hopes there can be equal wisdom in the “Sense of the Congress.”
Sam Gardiner
Colonel, USAF (retired)
Bush attacks Iran over rejection of nuclear offer
Sydney Morning Herald
June 16, 2008
“I am disappointed that the leaders rejected this generous offer out of hand,” Mr Bush said during a news conference in Paris on Saturday with the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. “It is an indication to the Iranian people that their leadership is willing to isolate them further. Our view is we want the Iranian people to flourish and to benefit.”
Tehran did not formally reject the offer, meaning that it may be able, as Western officials fear, to play for time, saying that it is in a continuing dialogue with the West while continuing to enrich uranium to secure the amounts necessary for a nuclear bomb.
But the response was far from warm. The package was handed to the Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, by the European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana. Mr Mottaki said Iran’s response would depend on how the West responded to Iran’s May 13 proposal calling for international talks on all issues and improved international inspection of Iran’s nuclear facilities. But Iran’s proposal does not mention the key Western demand – that Iran stop enriching uranium.
Before Mr Bush spoke, an Iranian Government spokesman, Gholamhossein Elham, made it clear in Tehran that stopping enrichment was unacceptable.
Blix slams US for threatening Iran
Press TV
June 12, 2008
Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has criticized the US for keeping open the possibility of a military action against Iran.
Blix was in Rome on Friday to take part in an international gathering of experts on nuclear proliferation that was held, coincidentally, during US President George W. Bush’s three-day stop in the city.
“The military threat may well be counterproductive,’’ Blix said in a news conference.
“The rewards are more important, the carrots rather than the sticks,’’ the AP quoted the veteran Swedish diplomat as saying.
Blix tried to avert the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq because no weapons of mass destruction had been found by UN inspectors.
He said the US and Europe should offer incentives including support for Iran joining the World Trade Organization, improved economic relations and guarantees against outside attacks.
’Iraq not central to US attack on Iran’
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=60169§ionid=351020201
In Debate Over Permanent Bases In Iraq, U.S. Seeks Authorization For War In Iran
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/11/iran-war-iraq-sofa/
Israeli hawks pushing for strikes on Iran
http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_9561128?source=rss
Bombing Iran? It’s Not So Bad, Really
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/329613
Turkey admits coordination with Iran
http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JF13Ak02.html
Coup on Iran & False Flag News Archive
Filed under: alaska, BP, brazil, central bank, CFR, chevron, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, exxon mobil, famine, food market, food prices, food shortage, gas prices, GDP, george soros, global elite, global government, Global Warming, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, Hoax, Inflation, Iraq, Kurdish, lindsay williams, Lindsey Williams, Mexico, middle east, MSNBC, nation building, New World Order, occupation, Oil, OPEC, peak oil, Petrol, Stock Market, US Economy, War On Terror, Warren Buffett | Tags: robert hirsch
Experts Push “Peak Oil” Scam to Predict $15 a Gallon Gas Prices
Infowars
May 26, 2008
Editor’s Note: The following video is a prime example of hysterical “Peak Oil” scaremongering. In fact, there is no shortage of oil — the reserves are increasing, not decreasing. Consider the following examples: In 2006, Chevron announced a huge oil discovery in the the Lower Tertiary zone of the Gulf of Mexico, described as “one of the nation’s biggest oil discoveries in decades,” and Brazil discovered giant new offshore oil fields in 2005 (expected to produce 773 million barrels of oil by 2025). Add to this BP’s discovery of new oil fields near the Shetland Islands, recent discoveries in the Timor Sea, Yemen, Tunisia, Libya, offshore Trinidad, in Pakistan, Angola, in the Ordovician Red River Strata of southeastern Saskatchewan, and elsewhere. Earlier this month, the Kurds of northern Iraq announced a major oil find, estimated at about 2 billion barrels. In the last 20 years, known reserves have doubled. Currently there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 680 billion barrels of Middle East reserve oil alone.
Add to this an “intriguing theory now permeating oil company research staffs suggests that crude oil may actually be a natural inorganic product, not a stepchild of unfathomable time and organic degradation. The theory suggests there may be huge, yet-to-be-discovered reserves of oil at depths that dwarf current world estimates,” writes Chris Bennett (see Lindsey Williams interview below). “Deeply entrenched in our culture is the belief that at some point in the relatively near future we will see the last working pump on the last functioning oil well screech and rattle, and that will be that. The end of the Age of Oil. And unless we find another source of cheap energy, the world will rapidly become a much darker and dangerous place.” It is a meticulously nurtured myth.
Peak Oil takes a page from publicly available CFR and Club of Rome strategy manuals that say global government needs to control the world population through neo-feudalism by creating artificial scarcity that will result in massive social unrest, widespread famine, and endless war. $15 a gallon gas will most certainly help this agenda along.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7IJEEIBwrE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80XMKbnHuEs
From David Edwards and Raw Story, May 24:
Robert Hirsch, senior advisor for Science Applications International Corporation, sat down with MSNBC’s Alex Witt to discuss the possibility of an upcoming oil crisis. Hirsch says that gas could reach $15/gallon within a few years because it is “essentially certain” the world has reached the maximum levels of oil production.
“The problem is that there’s not that much oil left in the ground,” Hirsch says. “What we’ve done is been very fortunate to have oil production increase as our economies have developed over the past decades. And now we’re reaching a point where we’re about to get, or we may be, at the maximum world oil production. After that, oil production will then decline and prices, of course, will continue to do what they’ve been doing recently. So what we’ve got today may be the ‘good old days.’”
Hirsch addressed the timeframe in which the US could see $15/gallon gas: “It could happen within a matter of months. It could happen within a matter of a few years. But it’s essentially certain that we are at the maximum of world oil production. And after that, we’ll go into decline, and when there’s much less oil available, then, of course, the price of oil is going to increase dramatically.”
Fuels, heating oil, and consumer products that rely on petroleum will all be impacted by the decline in world oil production. Hirsch estimates the world GDP declining at the same rate as oil production.
Oil Expert: By Summer, Oil To Hit $200 Per Barrel
This is reality, energy is in the hands of profiteers and has lost touch with the real expenses. There is no logic here, says Davor Stern.
Javno
May 23, 2008
Oil prices have once again crashed through the ceiling with a record price of 135 dollars per barrel because of the concerning fall in American reserves of crude oil with 5.32 million barrels. The fact is that this is only a continuation of the crisis; food is getting more and more expensive, petrol and diesel are rising in price every other week in Croatia (as well as in many countries around the world), and there is no end in sight to the price hikes.
This is reality, energy is in the hands of profiteers and has lost touch with the real expenses. There is no logic here – Davor Stern told us in a telephone conversation. Davor is the former director of Croatia’s largest oil company INA, as well as an oil expert.
Record earnings by oil companies
He added that oil companies earn a lot. Igor Dekanic from the faculty of mining, geology and oil, said that European oil companies are breaking the borders of profitability.
– The largest companies like IBP, Shell, Exxon, the French Total and the Italian Enia have the largest profits in history. That is a general trend with privatized companies in the world – says professor Dekanic.
Stern stresses that the market itself has some sort of logic, however, the current situation is in a state of psychosis.
– By summer we can expect oil prices of 200 dollars per barrel, and that is not the opinion of the trade, but my own prediction. It is impossible to give any projections of the prices, but one thing is certain, the sky is the limit – says Stern.
Recent News:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/busi..y/23/oil.commodities1
Gold Hits Over $930, Oil $135, Euro $1.57
http://www.reuters.com/article..er=2&virtualBrandChannel=10005
OPEC: Oil market is going ’crazy’
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=56937§ionid=3510213
Buffett blames banks for credit crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSL2561340920080525
It’s Not An Oil Crisis It’s A Dollar Crisis
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/schiff/schiff052308.html
Alaska Drilling Would Only Save 75 Cents Per Barrel
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/38223.html
Buffett Sees Deep U.S. Recession
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200805..oENIM35QA3Eqb.HQA
Food prices high for foreseeable future, says UN
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/23/unitednations.food
George Soros: rocketing oil price is a bubble
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ma..2008/05/26/cnsoros126.xml
Global Warming Bill Could Spike Gas $1.50 to $5 a Gallon
http://www.businessandmedia…/20080515172437.aspx
Economist Challenges Government Data
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/25/BU6K10JTEF.DTL
Gas Prices Could Top $5 A Gallon In Bad Economy
http://cbs2chicago.com/consumer/gas.prices.oil.2.719683.html
Gas Could Go To $10
http://www2.nysun.com/article/75363
Euro, Franc, Krona to Benefit From Oil Price, Barclays Says
Economy Slows To A Crawl
Government Green Lights Gulf Dollar Abandonment
Federal Reserve May Want Inflation
Fed Cuts Key Interest Rate By A Quarter Point
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: army, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, gas prices, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, Iraq, Military, new jersey, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Protest, Stock Market, Troops, US Economy
Crude Oil Prices Rise Over $109 A Barrel
AHN
April 7, 2008
Crude oil surged by $2 per barrel on Monday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries official indicated the cartel will not decide to increase production.
The prices rallied after OPEC Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri indicated that the cartel is producing enough oil for the market.
OPEC’s production of oil fell down by 0.3 percent to an average 32.35 million barrels a day last month, according to a Bloomberg News survey of oil companies, producers and analysts.
“Comments from OPEC saying the market is well supplied seemed to provide support,” MF Global analyst Michael Fitzpatrick, referring to crude, told MarketWatch news report.
Crude oil for May delivery gained as much as $2.35, or 2.2 percent to $108.58 a barrel around noon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
While, the futures hovered above $109 a barrel mark and reaching to $109.20, which is the largest surge in the prices since March 18.
“OPEC is doing its best to contribute to stability,” Mohammed al-Sada told reporters on Monday in Doha, where he is attending an oil and gas conference, according to Bloomberg news report. “Speculation and geopolitics are causing high prices.”
Survey: Gas Prices Rise to New Record
AHN
April 7, 2008
Gas prices leapt more than 5 cents in the past two weeks, reaching an all-time record of $3.32 per gallon, the latest nationwide gas price poll reveals.
The Lundberg Survey, released April 4, compared prices at about 7,000 gas stations for the past two weeks. Publisher Trilby Lundberg said the average price surpassed the $3.26 per gallon record set in the March 21 survey.
Poll figures pegged the average price of self-serve regular gasoline at $3.32 a gallon, mid-grade was $3.44 and premium was $3.55 for this period.
The survey also found the cheapest gasoline price in Newark, N.J., where a gallon of regular cost $3.03 on average. The most expensive was in San Francisco at $3.72 per gallon.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7217186.stm
Military Feels Fuel Cost Gouge In Iraq
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VPUU5G0&show_article=1
Truckers Clog NJ Turnpike To Protest Gas Prices
http://www.wnbc.com/news/15762598/detail.html
Iran To OPEC: Stop Sales In U.S. Dollars
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2008..t=AipFvP25_oCpHO.Vzk_y1xJv24cA
OPEC: Market Has Enough Oil
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080405/iran_opec.html?.v=2&printer=1
Gas prices affecting farmers too
http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=8068292&nav=menu495_1
Filed under: bear sterns, bernanke, Big Banks, Britain, central bank, China, Credit Crisis, DEBT, dollar peg, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, gas tax, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, job market, Lehman Brothers, Oil, OPEC, Paulson, Petrol, rate cut, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, tax, tax rebates, United Kingdom, US Economy, Venezuela, yuan | Tags: John Lipsky, Nigel Gault
America is ALREADY in recession, say top economic global experts – and that spells trouble for the UK
Daily Mail
March 21, 2008
Experts have accused the International Monetary Fund of “driving the car using the rear view mirror” after the global body warned the U.S. was on the verge of a recession.
The world’s biggest economy is already in a recession, they claim, as a draft version of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook declared the U.S. economy is “very weak”. Nigel Gault, chief US economist at Global Insight, a worldwide economic forecasting and consultancy firm, said he believed the US was in recession already – and that spelt problems for other countries, including the UK.
He said: “The US has, for years, been the primary motor for growth in the global economy. However, now consumer spending in the US has seen a downturn, the tables are turned, and the US is looking to the rest of the world for support, through strong export growth, and cutting imports.
“This is happening, US exports are doing extremely well, but it’s not enough to keep the economy out of recession.
“We do not expect to see the problems in the housing market in the US bottoming out before 2009, and while spending will be helped by tax rebates to be given this summer, that may give only temporary relief, and in the first quarter next year growth may dip back close to zero.
“The longer either the recession or period of weak growth goes on, the longer the US market is going to be weak, and very difficult for anybody trying to sell goods to it.”
Jeremy Batstone, head of research at stockbrokers Charles Stanley, said the IMF “has a history of driving the car using the rear view mirror”.
He added: “For the whole of 2007, it was not looking through the windscreen, it was merely reporting what the prevailing economic data releases were telling it.
“This report suggests nothing has changed, the IMF using backward-looking data is taking the view that the US economy might be in recession.
“Recent economic releases make it entirely clear that the US economy is already in recession, it’s confirmed by diverse economic statistics, including retail sales, sharply falling house prices, rising unemployment, deteriorating industrial production and manufacturing output.
“The 64,000-dollar question, indeed the 64-trillion dollar question, is not what happened in the first quarter, but what might happen in the second quarter, and beyond that.
“The hope among economists is that radical action by the US Federal Reserve might be enough to nip this crisis in the bud, and maybe there can be gradual recovery in the second quarter of the year, but at the moment we just don’t know.
“I do find myself becoming a little more hopeful, as the hour is darkest before the dawn. Just maybe radical action will prove that in the second quarter – or the third quarter if we are unlucky – that the storm abates.”
The draft version of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook concluded the US economy “remains very weak, certainly close to a possible recession”.
The report is due to be published ahead of a meeting next month, and was leaked to Italian news agency Ansa.
The verdict comes after the cash crisis and cut-price rescue of troubled US investment bank Bear Stearns sent markets plummeting at the beginning of the week.
The Federal Reserve, the US central bank, dropped its main interest rate by three quarter-points on Wednesday – the latest in a series of cuts which have seen the rate trimmed by 2 per cent in the first three months of this year – and 3 per cent since the credit crunch first erupted in global markets last August.
The moves come as the Fed attempts to rescue the world’s biggest economy from the brink of recession and ease the pressure on the banking system.
IMF: Think The Unthinkable
CNBC
March 19, 2008
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) today warned authorities worldwide to “think the unthinkable” in planning to cope with a mounting crisis in the global financial system.
John Lipsky, IMF first deputy managing director, called for “decisive policy action” amid a credit crunch that stems from the US real estate meltdown and is spreading throughout the financial markets.
The coordinated actions by the US Federal Reserve and other global central banks on Tuesday to further pump billions of dollars of liquidity into financial markets were “helpful” but stronger measures may be necessary.
Policy actions worldwide to date “may not prove to be adequate” to deal with the “low-probability but high-impact events” that may materialize and undermine global financial stability, Lipsky said in an address at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank.
“Policy makers as a matter of course need to ’think the unthinkable,’ and to consider how they would plan to react if contingencies arise. The need to prepare more systematically for potential risks has been demonstrated amply during the past few months,” he said.
“By now, there is little doubt that risks of further escalation of this crisis are rising and decisive policy action will be required to put the global financial system and economy on a firmer footing.” He said the first priority was to reverse the spreading strains in global financial markets and to restore the normal functioning of the financial system in advanced economies.
If contingent risks materialize, the central banks together with financial supervisors and regulators will be the first line of defence. The second line of defence lies with fiscal authorities. Finally, public intervention will be considered as a third line of defence, Lipsky said. The IMF “stands ready to use its record liquidity if needed to help cushion the global economy,” Lipsky said, adding, “we must keep all options on the table.”
Recent News:
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArtic..h591.xml§ion=business
Banks Plot Public Bailout
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a233faa2-f789…html?nclick_check=1
Federal Reserve, commodities could lift dollar next week
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/..-MKT-US-Dollar-Rally.php
Yuan sets new record against dollar
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-03/20/content_6553269.htm
Inflation Is Americans Top Concern
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/18/news/economy/cnn_poll_inflation/index.htm
50 Cent Tax Hike On Each Gallon Of Gas?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,339589,00.html
Cheese, flour prices soar
http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/793144.html
Paulson Admits U.S. Economy In Sharp Decline
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080318/usa_economy_paulson.html?printer=1
Dow fell nearly 300 points after rising 420
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080319/wall_street.html
Investment banks are borrowing from Fed
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1954536520080319
Here Comes Worldwide Currency Debasement
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/mo..money/2008/03/17/ccview117.xml
Three Gulf states cut rates to defend dollar peg
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayA..March591.xml§ion=business
Fed Cuts Rates By 3/4 Percentage Point
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080318/fed_credit_crisis.html?printer=1
Commodity Prices Head for Biggest Weekly Decline Since 1956
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/new..HC5TmVaEq8&refer=home
Jobless Claims Jump Up 22,000
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5..V6WhHKQD8VHA9I00
Oil Falls on Concern Potential U.S. Recession May Limit Demand
Venezuela’s state-run oil company begins demanding payment in euros as US dollar weakens
Gold Plunges, Leads Commodity Slump on Outlook for Fed, Dollar
A financial crisis unmatched since the Great Depression, say analysts
Dollar Falls on Speculation Fed’s Rate Cuts Won’t Stem Losses
Bernanke’s Home Has Lost $260K In Value
Numerous Countries Have Recently Dropped The Dollar as Their Reserve Currency
Paulson’s Gift to His Bankster Buddies: Winding Up Bear
Trade-weighted pound at 11-year low
The looming global food shortage
Is Britain heading for a Great Depression?
Cairo grappling with bread crisis
Retailers Accept Foreign Currency as Dollar Withers
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, bear sterns, bernanke, Big Banks, Bill Clinton, catastrophic event, China, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, George Bush, global elite, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, Hillary Clinton, House, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, Japan, new zealand, Northern Rock, Oil, OPEC, peter schiff, Petrol, rate cut, real estate, robert reich, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senate, Stock Market, tax, US Economy, wheat, WW2 | Tags: Larry Elliott
The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America
Lee Rogers
Funny Money Report
March 17, 2008
It is incredible to see the rampant devaluation of the U.S. Dollar. The Federal Reserve just hours ago made a rare cut of 25 basis points during the weekend which will cause even more inflation. Gold immediately moved up $20 an ounce and the U.S. Dollar Index plunged under 71 in international trading. If this type of market activity continues the U.S. Dollar will have no value in a few months. While it is probably unlikely that we will see a hyper-inflationary collapse of the U.S. Dollar within the next few months, these policies are entirely unsustainable. If the Federal Reserve does not move to defend the value of the U.S. Dollar we will eventually see a hyper-inflationary collapse and worldwide financial turmoil. This view is also shared by other well respected financial analysts. Peter Schiff recently raised concerns about a hyper-inflationary collapse of the U.S. Dollar, Robert Reich a former Clinton cabinet member believes we are facing a depression and Alan Greenspan the man who caused this whole mess wrote in the Financial Times stating that we are facing the worst financial crisis since World War II. What’s amazing is that the Federal Reserve isn’t even trying to protect the U.S. Dollar because all they care about is saving the power of their private banking cartel. They don’t care about the U.S. Dollar nor do they care about the country itself. They are destroying this country through their actions and there needs to be an investigation into the controllers of this bank.
A Time For Caution
321 Gold
March 16, 2008
I wrote a piece 10 days ago suggesting caution on the part of my readers. Gold and silver are at bullish extremes; the dollar is at a bearish extreme. In any normal time, we would expect to see a correction, probably violent. I still believe we will have a correction shortly but we may no longer control anything. While the metals and the dollar are showing extremes of emotion, the shares of mining companies still seem to be very bullish based on my read of the XAU over gold.
My readers are smart enough to realize we are not in normal times. We are in a Domino Depression where we can expect two or three hedge funds to collapse every day, banks to go under on a regular basis. Northern Rock collapsed last fall, I for one, cannot understand how the rest of the banking system has not failed.
It’s starting again; we are in uncharted waters where no one quite understands where we are; we’ve never been here before. Bear Sterns crashed on Friday last. On Monday March 17th, President Bush meets with the infamous Plunge Protection Team. The alternatives are everything from a Bank Holiday to a nuclear attack on Iran to Bush declaring a “National Emergency” and naming himself Fuhrer.
One of the very real alternatives is Weimar style inflation. That’s what the government would like to do; it’s a question of if the rest of the world will go along with it. All it would take for a total and immediate failure would be for China or Russia or Japan or Saudi Arabia to dump the dollar.
It’s a time for caution. We SHOULD have a violent correction in gold and silver and the dollar based on emotion and government intervention but we could see $3,000 gold in a week or the start of a living nightmare brought to you by the Gang of Fools in Washington. No one knows.
I’m tempted to say the government’s ability to deceive is far greater than I ever imagined and the stupidity of Americans equally unimagined. We may well coast into Armageddon at a nice measured rate or we could see a freeze-up next week. The time will come when there is a total freeze-up in the banking system and all the banks will close. I just don’t know if it’s next week or not.
It’s a time to be cautious. We are not entering a recession; it’s a full-blown Domino Depression. It’s not a time to be in CDs or Real Estate or speculating in the stock market. You need to own real things of some real value. Our world is changing at an ever-increasing rate. Own some physical gold and pay attention to what is going on.
Leading Economic Writer: Financial Meltdown A “Gigantic Fraud”
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
March 17, 2008
A leading economic journalist has described the current financial crisis as a “gigantic fraud”, the fallout of a deliberate and preconceived profit agenda to enslave the middle classes in a debt bubble.
The economics editor of the London Guardian, Larry Elliott, has hit out at the global financial elite in a refreshing piece that marks a rare shift away from the establishment hackery we are used to from the corporate media.
In an article titled America was conned – who will pay? Elliot writes:
Indeed, it is somewhat surprising that there is not already rioting in the streets, given the gigantic fraud perpetrated by the financial elite at the expense of ordinary Americans.
[…]
Business, of course, needs consumers to carry on spending in order to make money, so a way had to be found to persuade households to do their patriotic duty. The method chosen was simple. Whip up a colossal housing bubble, convince consumers that it makes sense to borrow money against the rising value of their homes to supplement their meagre real wage growth and watch the profits roll in.
As they did – for a while. Now it’s payback time and the mood could get very ugly. Americans, to put it bluntly, have been conned. They have been duped by a bunch of serpent-tongued hucksters who packed up the wagon and made it across the county line before a lynch mob could be formed.
Elliot also states that the debate is now not about whether the US faces a recession, but is about how deep it will be and how long it will last, comparing the downturn to the South Sea Bubble crisis in 1720, and declaring that the “Ponzi securitisation scam has been exposed.”
A Ponzi scheme, named after Charles Ponzi, is one that offers abnormally high short-term returns in order to entice new investors. The high returns that a Ponzi scheme advertises and pays require an ever-increasing flow of money from investors in order to keep the scheme going, meaning it is inevitable that it will eventually collapse.
http://www.bloomberg.com..p;sid=aMVeMY2hvYUI&refer=home
Not Just Recession, Clinton Appointee Talking ‘Depression’
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20080314131851.aspx
Oil plummets on economy worries
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080317/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
Bernanke May Run Low on `Ammunition’ for Loans, Rates
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news..amp;refer=exclusive
Who Is Responsible for the World Food Shortage?
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/1995/2249_food_intro.html
NZ market hit by US meltdown
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=134130
House, Senate endorse tax hikes
http://www.rawstory.com/new..enate_endorse_tax_hikes_03132008.html
Dollars Tough To Sell On Amsterdam
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSL1758265520080317
Gulf States Creep Away From Plunging Dollar
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/march2008/031708_creep_away.htm
IMF, OECD hit alarm buttons for crisis-hit global financial system
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/200803..Aj6Sk0_nk7A4Wj6bi0U.nq7.ucsA
Goldman Sees $175 Oil & Explosive Commodities
http://www.bloomberg.com/app..newsarchive&sid=aUmQ3MBOkx_0
Filed under: Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, food prices, gas prices, George Bush, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Stock Market, US Economy, Venezuela | Tags: Elio Ohep, Rafael Ramirez
Venezuela Opts For Euros In Oil Contracts
AFP
March 16, 2008
Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA has decided to sign some oil contracts in euros in the face of a plummeting dollar, local media reported, citing officials.
“There are some contracts in euros, contracts for crude, products and spot markets in euros. This is a subject which we are working on,” said energy minister and Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) chief, Rafael Ramirez, in an interview with the journal El Universal published Friday.
It remained unclear which oil sales would require payment in euros.
Venezuela, Latin America’s leading petroleum producer, has previously backed Iran’s proposals for OPEC to abandon the dollar and use the euro for oil pricing. But the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has rejected the idea, at least in the short-term.
The head of the journal Petroleum World, Elio Ohep, said the shift to euros was “good business” for Venezuela.
“PDVSA always had an interest to negotiate in dollars because the company had refineries in the United States and needed cash but currently with the euro rising, it is taking in more dollars and (Venezuelan) bolivars,” he said.
The dollar hit new lows this week against the euro and yen, with the euro at 1.5669 dollars at 21000 GMT on Friday.
Venezuela produces 3.3 million barrels of oil a day, according to official figures, and 2.4 million according to the International Energy Agency. Half of its production is sold to the United States market.
Chavez: Bush is genocidal terrorist
Press TV
March 17, 2008
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has criticized US President George W. Bush for his latest remarks and called him a genocidal terrorist.
Chavez made the remarks on Sunday after President Bush accused him of supporting ’terrorists’ in neighboring Colombia and fueling an anti-American campaign last week.
“The president of the United States himself has come out and attacked us and attacked me personally, calling me a demagogue. Well, I am calling him a terrorist and genocidal,” AFP quoted Chavez as saying.
“And now Bush says I have Venezuelans here going hungry,” he added, insisting Bush should take a look at the economic conditions in the United States.
“Venezuelan people today are better fed than ever,” Chavez said. “The people taking hits from their own government are in the United States, which has an economic crisis. “
Last week, the US president said that Venezuela ’has squandered its oil wealth to promote its hostile anti-American vision, and it has left its own citizens to face food shortages while it threatens its neighbors’.
http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSL168473720080316
Chavez: I dare Bush to call us terrorist
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=47638§ionid=351020704
Filed under: al-qaeda, bin laden, Censorship, Coup, Euro, False Flag, Iraq, Media, media blackout, Military, nation building, neocons, occupation, OPEC, Pentagon, Saddam Hussein, Troops
Pentagon Attempts To Memory Hole New Report That Dismisses Al Qaeda-Saddam link
Cancels plan for broad public release of report that debunks Neocon lie
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
March 13, 2008
Related: Neocon Lie Finally Debunked: Osama Not in Cahoots with Saddam
The Pentagon has blocked the scheduled release of a definitive report that found no pre-Iraq war link between late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda.
The report, which is based on 600,000 official Iraqi documents seized by US forces, was due to be posted on the Joint Forces Command website late yesterday, and was to be followed up by a background briefing with the authors. However, the report will now only be made available to those in the media who request it.
Of course, given that the mainstream media is more concerned with the myspace page of the Spitzer hooker than iron clad proof that the Bush administration lied its way into a still ongoing war, we are unlikely to hear much more about this report.
Asked why the report, which was produced by a federally-funded think tank, the Institute for Defense Analyses, would not be posted online and could not be emailed, the spokesman for Joint Forces Command said: “We’re making the report available to anyone who wishes to have it, and we’ll send it out via CD in the mail.”
Another Pentagon official said initial press reports on the study made it “too politically sensitive.”, reported ABC.
Translation: With the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war approaching on March 19, and the White House attempting to hold support for a continued large U.S. troop presence there, those who have not yet realized they were monumentally deceived by their own government on this issue may finally wake up to the truth.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/rapidr..08/03/pentagon-report.html
Exhaustive review finds no link between Saddam, al Qaida
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080310/wl_mcclatchy/2875005
Saddam switched to selling oil in Euros, when normally all OPEC nations sold their oil in US Dollars. Why?
http://dontfearthetruth.com/200..administration/
Review of 600,000 documents finds no link between Saddam, al Qaeda
http://www.statesman.com/news/cont..world/03/11/0311saddam.html
Filed under: Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, IEA, Inflation, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Stock Market, US Economy
Oil price hits new high of $110 a barrel with no sign of a fall
Telegraph
March 12, 2008
The oil price hit a new record for the fifth consecutive trading session, coming within a whisker of $110 a barrel, as the International Energy Agency warned there was little prospect of energy costs falling far.
The developed countries’ energy watchdog said that the buoyant economies of China and the Middle East would offset weaker demand in the US to keep prices close to today’s record levels.
The April contract for widely traded West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil hit a new peak of $109.72 as speculators continued to pile into commodities as a hedge against a falling dollar and rising inflationary pressures.
Later, the price eased back as the dollar perked up in response to a fresh $200bn (£100bn) cash injection into financial markets by the US Federal Reserve.
The price of Brent North Sea oil came close to $106.
The IEA has warned in its latest monthly oil market report: “We are in an era of higher oil prices.
“If we look at $100 a barrel oil, we have to do so with an understanding that prices are unlikely to return to levels seen in the early part of this decade.”
The oil price has risen five-fold in the past six years and traded under $70 a barrel as recently as last August.
Gas Prices Rise to New National Record
AP
March 11, 2008
Gas prices at the pump rose overnight to a record national average of $3.2272 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That’s a tad higher than the previous record of $3.2265, set last May.
Soaring gas prices worsen the financial plight of consumers already suffering through a downturn in the housing market that has sharply reduced home prices in many markets and limited Americans’ ability to tap home equity for spending. Food prices are also on the rise, partly due to rising fuel costs.
“I used to think three bucks a gallon was all I’d pay, but I keep filling up,” said Joe Gowans while gassing his Acura SUV in San Francisco one recent afternoon. “You have to use it.”
A year ago, rising demand and a string of refinery outages had raised concerns about supplies. Now, the record price of crude oil is the culprit, propelling gas higher although supplies are at 15-year highs.
http://custom.marketwatch.com/cust..1F8-45F0-A133-630F12F2C764}
OPEC: Oil Spike To Last Through 2008
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080310/opec_khelil.html?.v=1&printer=1
Filed under: Big Banks, Britain, carlyle group, central bank, citigroup, CNN, Credit Crisis, DEBT, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Europe, european central bank, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, job market, JP Morgan, New York, Oil, OPEC, peter schiff, Petrol, rate cut, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, trilateral commission, United Kingdom, US Economy
Golds Hit Record $992, Current Price is $979
Goldseek
March 6, 2008
THE PRICE OF PHYSICAL gold bullion moved in a tight 0.8% range early Thursday, re-touching yesterday’s new all-time high above $992 per ounce as the US Dollar sank once again.
As the opening drew near in New York – where a small bomb damaged an army recruitment center in Times Square overnight – crude oil jumped to a new record above $105 per barrel.
European stock markets meantime ticked 0.3% lower as the Euro single currency leapt to a new all-time high of $1.5345 after the central bank in Frankfurt kept its interest rates on hold at 4.0%.
“We could see Gold Prices spike this year and hit $1,500 per ounce,” reckons Jay Taylor, editor of the Gold & Technology Stocks newsletter.
Peter Spina of Goldseek.com, also speaking to Reuters, agrees that $1,500 or even $2,000 gold is “definitely possible” in the next year, while Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital says “gold has a shot at $1,200 or even $1,500 this year.
“It is a measure of the value of currencies and will go up as long as central banks continue to devalue currencies.”
Euro Breaks $1.54 Mark, Drops back to $1.53
AP
March 7, 2008
The euro on Friday exceeded US$1.54 for the first time, after the European Central Bank left its benchmark rate unchanged a day earlier and signaled that rate cuts are not expected in the near term.
That sentiment pushed the euro to a new high in European morning trading; it reached US$1.5429 before dropping back slightly to US$1.5395, above the US$1.5370 it bought in New York late Thursday. It was the latest in a string of records for the 15-nation euro this week.
“The euro-dollar has taken another significant level this morning, having breached US$1.5400, and although this may be initiating a degree of profit-taking in the short term, many will remain mindful of Trichet’s hawkish stance and tacit acceptance of a stronger euro at yesterday’s ECB rate-setting meeting,” said James Hughes of CMC Markets, referring to ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet.
European Union businesses said they were starting to feel the pinch, notably from U.S.-based buyers who assert that the high euro makes European goods more expensive.
Meanwhile, the British pound stayed above the US$2 mark for a second day, buying US$2.0132 in European trading, above the US$2.0092 it bought in late New York trading the night before. Like the euro, it jumped higher after the Bank of England kept its own interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent.
The dollar drifted lower to 101.96 Japanese yen from 103.09 yen on Wednesday.
Oil Prices Hit Record Near $106, Steadies at $105
AP
March 7, 2008
Oil prices were steady Friday after jumping to a trading record near $106 a barrel in the previous session as the dollar’s slide to new lows prompted investors to pump more money into commodities.
Analysts believe the steadily weakening dollar is the reason oil prices have jumped to a number of new inflation-adjusted record highs this week. Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling.
“There are expectations that the dollar will go lower, and that’s driving money into commodities,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. “Traders now have this mantra: sell the dollar and buy oil, or buy commodities.”
Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 3 cents to $105.44 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midafternoon in Singapore.
The contract rose 95 cents Thursday to settle at a record $105.47 a barrel after earlier spiking to a trading record of $105.97.
CNN: A New Depression Might Be Coming
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR7h8NBQU3E
Recent News:
http://www.forex-markets.com/quotes.htm
http://quotes.ino.com/chart/?s=NYBOT_DX&v=s
http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news../ousiv/idUSN0551565020080305
Fed Plans to Cut Rates on March 18th
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080305/ap_on..omy&printer=1
New Recession Worry: Bank Failures
http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/03/new..dex.htm?postversion=2008030316
Rice Rises To 20 Year Highs
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f40ad5ca-e975-11dc-8365-0000779fd2ac.html
The Fed’s doing more damage than good
http://www.marketwatch.com/n..-4a3c-b756-6fa6fc3c39b1%7D&siteid=rss
Carlyle Group, JPMorgan, and IMF plot strategy to protect wealth funds
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8813.html
Citigroup To Cut 30,000 Jobs
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23454681
Housing In Deepest Decline Since Depression
http://custom.marketwatch.com..E-D0D3-4AA8-917C-95F7F154AA08}
OPEC Blames Poor U.S. Economy For Oil Prices
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/06/business/06oil.php
Gold Edges Closer to $1,000
Mortgage Foreclosures Rise
Private Sector Sheds 23,000 Jobs
Fed Chief: Mortage Crisis To Continue
Experts Forsee Collapse Of U.S. Economy
Why The Dollar Is So Cheap
Treasury secretary wants to dump pennies
Gold hit record of $989 an ounce, falls back $981
Buffett: US Economy In Recession
Wheat 80% Higher Than A Year Ago
The Federal Reserve’s rescue has failed
The Fed Releases Crisis Preparedness Video
IMF Chief Says Euro Is Overvalued
Platinum Rises To Record – Palladium Rallies
OPEC Expected To Maintain Output
Karl Rove: Redeployment Would Cause Oil Prices to Skyrocket to $200 a Barrel
World Stocks Tumble On U.S. Recession Fears
Soaring Food Prices Imperil U.S. Aid
Asian Markets Tumble On Wall Street Drop
Most Americans Using Credit To Stay Afloat
Stocks fall sharply on economic worries
U.S. Economy: Spending Eroded By Inflation
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: credit cards, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, imf, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, Karl Rove, Oil, OPEC, palladium, Petrol, platinum, rate cut, silver, Stock Market, US Economy, Wall Street, Warren Buffett, wheat
Gold hit record of $989 an ounce, falls back $981
Bloomberg
March 4, 2008
Gold declined from a record today in Asia as some investors judged the recent rally overdone. Silver also fell.
Gold has gained 19 percent this year to a record $989.54 yesterday, as the U.S. dollar tumbled to record low against the euro at $1.5274 while the crude oil rose to record $103.95. Dollar gained to $1.5187 at 1:41 p.m. Singapore time and crude oil declined to $102.25.
“There’s been some short-term profit-taking going on this afternoon,” Charles Dowsett, head of structuring and trading of precious metals at ABN Amro Holding NV., said by telephone from Sydney today. “But we are seeing support at $980 level.”
Gold for immediate delivery fell $2.36, or 0.2 percent, to $981.34 at 1:42 p.m. Singapore time, after reaching as low as $979.00.
Buffett: US Economy In Recession
Economists and business heads agree US is in recession, Federal Reserve is doing nothing to counter
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
March 3, 2008
American investor, businessman and philanthropist Warren Buffett is the latest in a string of notable figures to concede that the US economy is now in recession.
Buffett, the largest shareholder and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, and the third-richest person in the world, made the comments in an interview with cable network CNBC.
“I would say, by any commonsense definition, we are in a recession,” Buffett said.
His comments come on the back of an annual letter to shareholders (PDF), which he released Friday along with Berkshire’s 2007 financial report, in which he made similar warnings.
“It’s a certainty that insurance-industry profit margins, including ours, will fall significantly in 2008,” he said. “Prices are down, and exposures inexorably rise. Even if the U.S. has its third consecutive catastrophe-light year, industry profit margins will probably shrink by 4 percentage points or so.
“If the winds roar or the earth trembles, results could be far worse.”
Buffett is one of the most successful investors in the history and an economic expert.
He has previously warned of the expanding trade deficit’s slow devaluation of the dollar and other U.S. assets.
Buffett is not the only notable figure waving the red flag. A survey released last week by the National Association for Business Economics showed that 45 percent of economists are predicting a recession in 2008.
Indeed, economists everywhere are sounding the alarm and asking why the Federal Reserve continues to do little or nothing to counter the rapid downturn as stocks around the world continue to tumble, inflation spirals and the dollar falls to new lows.
“We are becoming increasingly concerned that the authorities in the world do not get it,” said Bernard Connolly, global strategist at Banque AIG. “The extent of de-leveraging involves a wholesale destruction of credit. The risk is that the ‘shadow banking system’ completely collapses,” he said.
“I never thought I would see anything like this in my life,” said James Steele, an HSBC economist in New York.
“The verdict is in. The Fed’s emergency rate cuts in January have failed to halt the downward spiral towards a full-blown debt deflation. Much more drastic action will be needed. As the once unthinkable unfolds, the leaders of global finance dither. For the first time since this Greek tragedy began, I am now really frightened.” writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor for the London Telegraph.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03..slogin&pagewanted=print
The Federal Reserve’s rescue has failed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money..008/03/03/ccview103.xml
The Fed Releases Crisis Preparedness Video
http://www.roguegovernment.com/news.php?id=7064
IMF Chief Says Euro Is Overvalued
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0ce1520-e918-11dc-8365-0000779fd2ac.html
Platinum Rises To Record – Palladium Rallies
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..GE0YUOiK3xk&refer=commodities
OPEC Expected To Maintain Output
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/03/business/EU-FIN-OPEC-Meeting.php
Karl Rove: Redeployment Would Cause Oil Prices to Skyrocket to $200 a Barrel
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/02/rove-oil-iraq/
World Stocks Tumble On U.S. Recession Fears
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/2008..80303123807&printer=1
Soaring Food Prices Imperil U.S. Aid
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23418142
Asian Markets Tumble On Wall Street Drop
http://money.aol.com/news/articles..et-drop/n20080302230409990004
Most Americans Using Credit To Stay Afloat
http://www.usatoday.com/money/p..28-credit-cards_N.htm
Stocks fall sharply on economic worries
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street
U.S. Economy: Spending Eroded By Inflation
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/new..arFDNXdz_IKY&refer=home
Filed under: Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, gas prices, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Stock Market, US Economy
Oil Could Reach $300 A Barrel in 5 Years
Arabian Business
February 28, 2008
Oil prices could top $300 per barrel within the next five years, according to one industry expert.
Matthew Simmons, chairman and founder of specialised energy investment banking firm, Simmons & Company International, said the current highs of $100 per barrel are “cheap”.
“I think the supply is showing some very troubling signs that we might well have already peaked and started [to slow] down. If we haven’t, we are very close to it,” he told Arabian Business. “Demand on the other hand shows absolutely no sign of slowing down because we are now at $100 a barrel, which I still think is a preposterously cheap price. It works out at just $0.15 a cup.
“A cup of gas will get a car with six passengers in, with the air conditioning on and go two miles. It’s a bargain,” he added.
Simmons also told Arabian Business he is more concerned about energy shortages than the rising price of oil. “What I am worried about most is not high prices but shortages because then people worry.”
He noted that in the UK’s capital, London, where typically the price per gallon can reach as much as $9, it hasn’t deterred motorists from continuing to use their cars.
“[That price] doesn’t seem to have slowed anyone down. It works out as much as $378 a barrel. Yes [I can see it reaching that high],” he said.
“We’ll never run out. What we will run out of is light sweet oil because it is the easiest to get out of the ground. So all we will be left with are massive amounts of oil in places but it is going to tend to be stains on rocks or oil sands,” he continued.
Simmons is a leading expert in his field and author of the controversial book, Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. In the book Simmons argued that Saudi Arabia will, in the coming decades, be unable to maintain its current level of oil production, with huge economic repercussions. Simmons said that the peak oil issue is poorly understood and the world’s data on production, demand and inventories is inaccurate.
Last week oil reached a new record of $102, closing in on its inflation-adjusted peak, as a slumping dollar on lacklustre US economic data triggered a surge across commodities markets. Opec’s president said members would agree not to raise production in part because of fears of a demand slowdown.
Filed under: Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, gas prices, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, Nigeria, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, Stock Market, Texas, US Economy, Venezuela
Oil Jumps Above $100 For The First Time In History
AP
February 19, 2008
Oil futures shot higher Tuesday, closing above $100 for the first time as investors bet that crude prices will keep climbing despite evidence of plentiful supplies and falling demand. At the pump, gas prices rose further above $3 a gallon.
There was no single driver behind oil’s sharp price jump; investors seized on an explosion at a 67,000 barrel per day refinery in Texas, the falling dollar, the possibility that OPEC may cut production next month, the threat of new violence in Nigeria and continuing tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela.
The fact that there was no overriding reason for such a price spike could be a bad omen for consumers already bearing the burdens of high heating costs and falling real estate values. Many recent forecasts have said oil demand growth this year will be less than initially expected, yet prices continue to rise. That suggests they may continue rising as the weakening dollar attracts new investors to the futures market.
And rising oil prices mean higher gas prices.
“As the economy weakens, it’s going to be met with $3.50 and $3.60 gasoline,” said James Cordier, founder of OptionSellers.com, a Tampa, Fla., trading firm. “And that really spells trouble for the consumer.”
Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose $4.51 to settle at a record $100.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising to $100.10, a new trading record. It was the first time since Jan. 3 that oil had been above $100.
Oil prices are still within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on how the adjustment is calculated, $38 a barrel then would be worth $96 to $103 or more today.
Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the greenback is falling.
“I really think … crude oil’s going to soar through $100,” Cordier said.
http://news.google.com/new..20/oil.html&cid=1134682784
Huge explosion shatters Texas oil refinery
http://www.latimes.com/news..finery19feb19,1,6514841.story
Filed under: Big Banks, credit cards, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, exxon mobil, FDIC, Federal Reserve, gas prices, general motors, George Bush, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, imf, Inflation, interest rate cuts, michigan, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, rate cut, south africa, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, Venezuela
Another Fed Cut May Spur Gold Rally
Dilip Kumar Jha
Business Standard
February 17, 2008
More interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve to protect its slowing economy are likely to strengthen gold prices further with the metal being a safe haven for investors having offered handsome returns in the last year-and-a-half.
Additionally, closure of mines in the wake of power shortage in South Africa have affected supplies badly. As a consequence, the metal has enjoyed great support from retail and institutional investors which will continue to boost it in the future.
Thus, gold is set to touch $915 an ounce this week. However, after breaching this level, the metal may take another two to three months to hit the $950 an ounce-mark.
In India, however, standard gold may see good support at the present level of Rs 11,630 per 10 grams and is likely to rally beyond Rs 11,800 per 10 grams this week. The breach of the Rs 12,000-mark is on the cards, too.
The US Federal Reserve cut the key lending rate twice (75 and 50 basis points) last month to 3 per cent, providing fresh funds for the US and world economy.
However, experts believe the rate cuts haven–t help revive the economy. Hence, prospects of a further 50 bps cut looms large.
High prices have dampened demand in India severely as total imports in January were a meagre 4 tonnes from 62.5 tonnes in January 2007.
India, the world–s largest gold consumer, is a market sensitive to price fluctuations. The nominal imports in January were a result of the knee-jerk reaction to volatile and high prices.
–Even if the price moves in the higher range, consumers will get used to it and demand will resume,– said Jayant Manglik, head (commodities) at Religare Enterprises. Manglik believes that both gold demand and prices will continue to go up.
In the last year-and-a-half, gold offered 32 per cent returns which other asset classes failed to achieve. Reportedly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is unlikely to offload gold in the physical market before two to three months as it may wait for prices to rise further.
Meanwhile, investors from other classes are gradually shifting their funds towards gold which is evident from the record gold trading in London during January.
Trading volumes in London rose to a 19-month high in January at an estimated average of 25.3 million ounces. Trading volumes in January 2007 stood at 17.1 million ounces.
Gold remained volatile last week in Jhaveri Bazar, a major spot market in Mumbai, with prices touching high of Rs 11,895 per 10 grams on Monday.
However, weak sentiment continued to prevail throughout the week with fresh orders for weddings drying up. The metal ended the week at Rs 11,630 per 10 grams.
Oil surges above $96 to one-month high
Randy Fabi
Reuters
February 15, 2008
Oil rose above $96 a barrel on Friday, surging to a one-month high as investors fixated on the possibility — however slim — of OPEC member Venezuela halting supplies to top consumer the United States.
The South American country, one of the largest crude exporters to the United States, cut shipments to Exxon Mobil (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) earlier this week after the U.S. oil major won court orders to freeze over $12 billion of Venezuela’s assets.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a critic of U.S. President George W. Bush, imposed the embargo on Exxon after threatening to cut off all shipments to the United States in the row over nationalization of Exxon assets in Venezuela.
U.S. crude CLc1 was up 45 cents at $95.91 by 1015 GMT, after earlier hitting $96.05. London Brent crude LCOc1 rose 25 cents to $95.41.
“I can’t believe the Venezuelans will actually go ahead and do that, but as long as there is this uncertainty it’s going to continue to have a bullish impact,” said Tony Machacek at Bache Commodities.
U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said on Thursday he did not expect Exxon to have trouble replacing oil supplies from Venezuela, but said the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve would be available if needed. nN13311576
“Venezuela will not affect the crude supply fundamentally. There will be some risk premium but there will not be any natural shortfall in crude,” said Gerard Burg of National Australia Bank in Sydney.
Major oil producers in the Middle East have already assured the United States they could compensate for a supply disruption if Venezuela slows exports.
FDIC Chairperson Bair: “Housing Crisis Has Just Begun”
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22933893
Federal Reserve gives away Billions to banks!
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com..gives-away-billions-to.html
OPEC considers dumping US dollar
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=43221§i..3510213
Recession to be longer than usual: University of Michigan
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0826726720080208
Imploding Credit Bubble to Hit $1 Trillion
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/part-two-the-united
Banks Begging For Government Bail Out
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1440273120080214
Global Inflation Climbs To Historic Levels
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/12/business/inflate.php?page=1
Credit Card Rates Continue To Rise
http://www.washingtonpost.com/..0/AR2008021002537_pf.html
Chavez ‘may cut oil supplies to US’
http://www.spacewar.com/2006/080210153450.k8y2za8p.html
A $43 Trillion Dollar Market That Most People Have Never Heard Of
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jac..ar_b_86199.html
World bourses lost 5.2 trillion dlrs in January
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gFCytl_9hgGZdhCYPN01fbFqosHg
G.M. Loss Worst Ever for U.S. Carmaker
http://www.wsmv.com/automotive/15278246/detail.html?rss=nash&psp=news
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, Federal Reserve, food prices, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, Nigeria, nymex, Oil, OPEC, Pakistan, Petrol, Saudi Arabia, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, Venezuela, Wall Street, Yen
January 3, 2008
TRADITIONALLY, the beginning of the year is a time for bargain-hunters to snap up excess stock on the cheap. Not, this year, on the commodity markets. On Tuesday January 2nd, the first business day of the new year, oil breached $100 a barrel for the first time. Gold, at the same time, reached a record price of over $861 an ounce. The immediate catalysts for the rising prices were ongoing turmoil in places like Nigeria and Pakistan and the continuing slump of the dollar. To those holding euros or yen, the weakening dollar makes oil and gold look cheaper; they can bid up prices in dollar terms without spending any more of their own currency. Moreover, gold, and nowadays oil too, is seen as a haven when the dollar is weak—so the latter’s drop may be accelerating the former’s rise.Gold is also seen as a haven more broadly, from political turmoil, inflation and all-round economic malaise. Gloomy news from America, where house prices are falling and manufacturing is contracting, have prompted fears of a full-blown recession. The economies of emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East are still chugging along, but analysts are cutting growth forecasts for them too. Normally, the worsening outlook for the world economy would prompt commodity prices to fall, on the assumption that demand for most goods will soon be slowing. But demand for oil continues to rise quickly in booming spots such as China and the Gulf states. These countries make matters worse by artificially inflating demand for petrol through subsidies or price caps, which leave consumers with little incentive to drive less even as the oil price surges.
Western oil companies, saddled with rising prices for everything from engineers to truck tyres—and in some cases, outright shortages—are struggling to pump more oil. They have also been excluded from the most promising terrain for exploration by nationalist regimes, which are increasingly reluctant to share their wealth with outsiders. Those same regimes seem in no hurry to increase their output, partly because they realise that their sluggishness is helping to keep prices high. But publicly, at least, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries argues that oil at $100 is the result not of a shortage of supply but of financial speculation.
There might be some truth in that: in recent years, the volume of oil traded on markets such as New York’s Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) has risen out of all proportion to the amount consumed. Hedge and pension funds and even individual investors have been piling into commodities of late. This influx of money could be exaggerating the market’s gyrations. Indeed, oil only topped $100 in a single transaction before falling back.
Politics is not helping either. A surge in violence in the oil-rich but restive Niger Delta in Nigeria over the New Year’s holiday helped to propel the oil price to three figures. Since the world has few idle oil wells, and relatively low stocks, even minor disturbances in producing countries prompt sharp jumps in the price. The traders at NYMEX, for example, pore over every diplomatic statement concerning Iran’s disputed nuclear programme to see if they can detect a heightening of tensions.
All this makes life particularly difficult for the world’s central bankers. High oil prices, after all, further blight the economic outlook by reducing consumers’ spending power. Yet they also stoke inflation, making it harder to cut interest rates. It is proving a gloomy new year for them too.
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessN…ws&rpc=23&sp=true
No End In Sight For Dollar Decline
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?…NmeaC6FGP8&refer=home
U.S. Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes for December 11, Says Economic Outlook Is “Unusually Uncertain”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..=aiQpBq6FpVCE&refer=home
Citigroup May Write Down $12 Billion, Bernstein Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/..d=aNjYH4i1I8Y8&refer=finance
U.S. Manufacturing Fails To Grow
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/n…=anLEam9Tw4Ik&refer=home
Era Of Cheap Food Is Over
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1231/p13s01-wogi.html
Chinese currency hits new high against U.S. dollar
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/02/content_7352499.htm
From the sub-prime to the ridiculous: how $100bn vanished
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/dec/31/subprimecrisis.creditcrunch
Wall Street Start To Year Worst In 25 Years
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/222d091…2ac,s01=1.html?nclick_check=1
New Year 2008 may destroy USA’s struggling economy
http://english.pravda.ru/world/americas/103144-0/
City of debt shows US housing woe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7164898.stm
Mortgage Defaults Rise 35%
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/n…i7SbPeUP3Q&refer=us
Top economist says America could plunge into recession
http://business.timesonline.co.uk…mics/article3111659.ece
Venezuela Introduces New Currency
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14582431
Filed under: central bank, Hugo Chavez, Inflation, Oil, OPEC, petrodollar, petroeuro, Petrol, Simon Bolivar, single currency
Venezuela Introduces New Currency
AP
January 1, 2008
Venezuela launched a new currency with the new year, lopping off three zeros from denominations in a bid to simplify finances and boost confidence in a money that has been losing value due to high inflation.
President Hugo Chavez’s government says the new currency — dubbed the “strong bolivar” — will make daily transactions easier and cure some accounting headaches. Officials also say it is part of a broader effort to contain rising prices and strengthen the economy.
“We’re ending a historical cycle of … instability in prices,” Finance Minister Rodrigo Cabezas said Monday, adding that the change aims to “recover a bolivar that has significant buying capacity.”
Prices have risen as Chavez has pumped increased amounts of the country’s oil income into social programs, reinforcing his support among the poor and helping to drive 8.4 percent economic growth in 2007.
The Central Bank is promoting the new monetary unit with an ad campaign and the slogan: “A strong economy, a strong bolivar, a strong country.” Officials, however, have yet to clearly spell out their anti-inflationary measures.
Some Venezuelan critics, meanwhile, have dubbed the new currency the “weak bolivar,” noting its predecessor, the bolivar, has seen its purchasing power suffer in an economy where inflation ran roughly 20 percent in 2007 — the highest in Latin America.
Venezuelan economist and pollster Luis Vicente Leon said that while the new currency may provide “the perception of stability” for some, it is largely a “cosmetic change.”
Government officials say the change is overdue to bring Venezuelan denominations into line with those of other countries in the region. Instead of denominations in the thousands, the largest new Venezuelan note will be 100 strong bolivars.
“It was necessary to leave behind the consequences of a history of high inflation,” Central Bank president Gaston Parra said in a televised year-end speech. He said officials aim “to reinforce confidence in the monetary symbol.”
The new money was distributed to banks and automated teller machines nationwide ahead of Tuesday’s launch and will be phased in during the next six months. Venezuelans will be able to use both old and new bolivars during the transition.
Venezuela has had a fixed exchange rate since February 2003, when Chavez imposed currency and price controls. The government has said it is not considering a devaluation any time soon.
But while the strong bolivar’s official exchange rate will be fixed as 2.15 to $1, the black market rate has hovered around the equivalent of 5.60 to $1 recently.
Venezuela’s currency has long been named after independence hero Simon Bolivar, who is pictured on the new 100 strong bolivar bill.
The new money is the latest in a series of changes to national symbols during Chavez’s presidency. He also redesigned the national seal and flag, and renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
With the new currency, the government is also resurrecting a 12.5-cent coin, called the “locha,” which existed during Chavez’s childhood but has not been used since the 1970s.
Filed under: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bank of England, California, Canada, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, despotism, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, european central bank, Federal Reserve, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Iran, Northern Rock, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, rate cut, Russia, Stock Market, United Kingdom, US Economy, Venezuela
World stocks plummet after global banks take action in bid to avoid recession
Daily Mail
December 13, 2007
Stocks worldwide have plummeted in the wake of yesterday’s unprecedented decision by leading central banks to pump billions into money markets in a bid to avoid a worldwide recession.
The Bank of England has joined the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and their counterparts in Canada and Switzerland to pump at least £55billion into money markets.
However this morning the FTSE 100 fell more than 70 points to 6458.7 and the markets in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan all suffered nervous starts to the day’s trading.
Investors are worried that the shock decision by the world’s banks could mean that the credit crisis is likely to get worse.
It is hoped that the loans – £ 22.7billion of which will go to the UK – will help make lending between banks easier, avoiding any repeat of the Northern Rock crisis.
The Rock ran into trouble because the current economic climate has encouraged banks to hoard their cash, rather than lend it to each other.
Russia to dump waning dollar
Press TV
December 14, 2007
Russian oil firm Rosneft will follow the lead of Gazprom and LUKOIL to sell crude in rubles amid the ongoing depreciation of the dollar.
“Our specialists are looking at all possibilities that could be beneficial for the company,” Rosneft Spokesman Nikolai Manvelov said. “Everything depends on economic viability.”
Russia’s largest independent oil producer, LUKOIL earlier announced that the company will switch to the ruble in its gas and crude deals within two years.
“Selling for rubles is much more attractive,” Deputy Chief Executive Officer Leonid Fedun said on December 12. “Gazprom is considering introducing ruble-denominated contracts and I think that technically Russian companies can do it by 2009 if the banks are ready.”
“We consider the idea of selling our resources for rubles to be quite possible,” Gazprom’s Vice President Alexander Medvedev said at a recent conference in New York.
Last month, Iran and Venezuela proposed to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to switch to a basket of currencies in its oil deals.
Iran, the world’s fourth most prolific oil exporter, has already abandoned the dollar, Iran’s Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said on December 9, describing the currency as unreliable.
U.S. Stocks Decline as Fed Fails to Assuage Recession Concern
http://www.bloomberg.com/a…yi2xynL0&refer=us
Report Says That the Rich Are Getting Richer Faster, Much Faster
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/…ThcWg&oref=slogin
LA Times Says Gold For Conspiracy Theorists
http://www.latimes.com/wireless/avantgo/la-fi-gold16dec16,0,465745.story
Fed To Announce New Mortgage Rules
http://www.washingtonpost.co…007121401875.html
‘A financial tsunami is upon us’: Schultz sees an apocalypse now
http://www.marketwatch.com/new.34-A49..dist=TNMostRead
Mortgage Crisis Inflicts Collateral Damage
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22246203
Schwarzenegger To Declare Fiscal Emergency
http://www.nbc11.com/news/14858065/detail.html
Russia may dump weakening US dollar in its energy deals
http://www.dailyti…2007%5C12%5C15%5Cstory_15-12-2007_pg5_43
Money-Market Rates Fail to Respond to Bank Measures
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?…d=a9anSVhH.NOQ&refer=home
November Consumer Prices Rise More than Forecast
http://www.bloomberg.com…4BNlo&refer=home
Greenspan: Odds of recession ‘clearly rising’
http://noworldsystem.com/2007/…ession-clearly-rising/
Central Banks to Pump Billions into World Financial System
http://www.nytimes.com/200..8-8QuVU5oMlm5w8E6dIl7JlQ
GAO: “USA is living beyond its means”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjZBOCAgR64
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, gas prices, Great Depression, Iran, Nuke, Oil, OPEC, petro, Tehran, US Economy
Iran drops dollar from oil deals: report
Raw Story
December 8, 2007
Major crude producer Iran has completely stopped carrying out its oil transactions in dollars, Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari said on Saturday, labelling the greenback an “unreliable” currency.
“At the moment selling oil in dollars has been completely halted, in line with the policy of selling crude in non-dollar currencies,” Nozari was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
“The dollar is an unreliable currency, considering its devaluation and the oil exporters’ losses,” he added.
The world’s fourth largest oil exporter, Iran has massively reduced its dependence on the dollar over the past year in the face of US pressures on its financial system.
The United States has successfully encouraged major European and Asian banks to cut their dealings with Iran in a bid to make the Islamic republic give way on its controversial nuclear programme.
Washington has also blacklisted major Iranian banks for alleged support of terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons, charges denied by Tehran.
Iran has reduced its assets in dollars held in foreign banks and urged OPEC to take collective action to price oil in other currencies such as the euro, instead of the US currency which is used across the world at present.
The fall of the dollar, which has weakened considerably against the euro and other currencies in the past 12 months, has affected the revenues of OPEC members because most of them price and sell their oil exports in the US currency.
Iran stops selling oil in U.S. dollars -report
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20071208/tpl-uk-iran-oil-dollar-02bfc7e_1.html
Ahmadinejad: The Dollar is a “worthless piece of paper”
http://noworldsystem.com/20…ted-in-non-dollar-currency/
noworldsystem.com 