ANOTHER MONEY SWINDLER TRIES TO HIDE FROM WORLD'S REPROACH "Sir" Allen Stanford nowhere to be found after stealing $8b+ [news story & video]

Article: "Stanford charges spark run on banks"
Source: Guardian.co.uk
Excerpt(s): The criminal investigation into the business empire of the cricket tycoon Sir Allen Stanford sowed panic in the Caribbean and Latin America yesterday as governments and investors scrambled to uncover the extent of the alleged $8bn fraud. The prime minister of Antigua warned of "catastrophe" for the nation, depositors rushed to withdraw funds in bank branches around the region, and authorities in Colombia, Panama, Peru and Venezuela began their own investigations into the Texas billionaire's financial dealings... On Tuesday the US securities and exchange commission accused Stanford of fraudulently selling $8bn (£5.6bn) in high-yield certificates of deposit. It sought to freeze assets and appoint a receiver. But the tycoon himself was nowhere to be found and US marshals were reportedly unable to serve him with court orders. Sources at the SEC confirmed they were searching for the billionaire, who has not been seen in public since news of alleged fraud broke. Stanford International Bank has 30,000 clients in 131 countries, as well as advisers in 30 US offices. Antigua, a sleepy island with a population of 70,000, forming half of a Caribbean nation with Barbuda, risks being the worst hit. It was here that Stanford set up his headquarters in a 30,000 sq ft Georgian-style hilltop building...
Link to Full Story (and video): http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/feb/18/allen-stanford-banks-caribbean

WORLD ECONOMIC CASCADE-FAILURE CONTINUES... More Venezuelans and Mexicans added to list of pan-American fraud victims [news story & video]

Article: "Latin Americans fret as Stanford crisis spreads"
Source: Reuters
Excerpt(s): CARACAS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Well-off Mexican pensioners joined middle-class Venezuelans in a frantic quest on Wednesday to track down their savings as the fraud scandal enveloping U.S. broker Stanford Group Co spread to Latin America. Crowds flocked to Stanford offices in Caracas and Mexico City and telephone lines buzzed as harried Stanford staff fielded calls round-the-clock about frozen accounts. Regulatory authorities moved on the bank's assets in Ecuador and Panama and its Colombian brokerage unit halted stock trading. "I heard the news and came straight down," said Caracas resident Josefina Moreno, who said her son had about $10,000 invested. "We've had money here for 2 years, and I want it back." The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused billionaire Allen Stanford, a high profile cricket promoter, and two Stanford executives of fraudulently selling $8 billion in high-yield certificates of deposit in a scheme that stretched around the world from Texas and Antigua. Venezuelan investors alone could have more than $2 billion invested in the scheme.
Link to Full Story: http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1845098120090218
Picture of "Sir" Allen Stanford from Guardian.co.uk

Related (brief) video from Reuters:

Our 400th post: Human beings ARE free: NEW FEATURE (very original) Quote Of The Day!

"All of our neo-liberal economies made the same exact bet, we put all our economic eggs in one collateralized debt basket. That we could just trade debt forever and nobody would ever have to produce or work another day in their lives. And now we are all having to unwind this one way bet at the same time by electronically injecting trillions of fresh fiat credit into the global financial corpse. Got gold?"
~ Max Keiser, money guru & funny man extraordinaire, 24 Nov 2008

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-keiser/who-could-have-predicted_b_145920.html

The Oracle with Max Keiser - 06 February 2009 - 4 parts [video]

NEW WORLD ORDER INVENTIONS--SERIOUSLY, THINK WHAT YOUR BANK KNOWS ABOUT YOU: Wiretaps Combined w/ Credit Card Records of U.S. Citizens [news story]

Article: "NSA Whistleblower: Wiretaps Were Combined with Credit Card Records of U.S. Citizens"
Source: Blog.Wired.com/27bstroke6/
Excerpt(s): NSA whistleblower Russell Tice was back on Keith Olbermann's MSNBC program Thursday evening to expand on his Wednesday revelations that the National Security Agency spied on individual U.S. journalists, entire U.S. news agencies as well as "tens of thousands" of other Americans. Tice said on Wednesday that the NSA had vacuumed in all domestic communications of Americans, including, faxes, phone calls and network traffic. Today Tice said that the spy agency also combined information from phone wiretaps with data that was mined from credit card and other financial records. He said information of tens of thousands of U.S. citizens is now in digital databases warehoused at the NSA. "This [information] could sit there for ten years and then potentially it marries up with something else and ten years from now they get put on a no-fly list and they, of course, won't have a clue why," Tice said. In most cases, the person would have no discernible link to terrorist organizations that would justify the initial data mining or their inclusion in the database...
Link to Full Story: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/01/nsa-whistlebl-1.html

AMERICA! WATCH ICELAND... THIS IS WHAT ECONOMIC *COLLAPSE* LOOKS LIKE Prime Minister Steps Down amid Violent Protests [news story]

Article: "Prime Minister Steps Down amid Violent Protests"
Source: Spiegel.de
Excerpt(s): Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde on Friday called early elections following violent protests on the streets of Reykjavik. Meanwhile, Europe's top politicians are on edge following clashes in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Greece.
Link to Full Story: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,603244,00.html
Picture from Spiegel.de, originally captioned: There has been a wave of anti-government protests across Europe in recent weeks as the impact of the financial crisis begins to be felt. Here, a demonstrator bangs a pot in Reykjavik.

AMERICA! WATCH ICELAND... THIS IS WHAT ECONOMIC *COLLAPSE* LOOKS LIKE Icelandic gov't becomes 1st to be brought down by credit crunch [news story]

Article: "Icelandic government becomes first to be brought down by the credit crunch"
Source: DailyMail.co.uk
Excerpt(s): The government of Iceland today became the first to be effectively brought down by the credit crunch. After several nights of rioting over the financial crisis, Prime Minister Geir Haarde, surrendered to increasing pressure and called a general election for May. A poll would not normally be held until 2011. Haarde also revealed that he had been diagnosed with a malignant tumour of the oesophagus and would not seek re-election. 'I have decided not to seek re-election as leader of the Independence Party at its upcoming national congress,' he told a news conference. The global financial crisis hit Iceland, which has a population 320,000, in October, triggering a collapse in its currency and financial system under the weight of billions of dollars of foreign debts incurred by its banks. The economy is set to shrink 10 percent this year and unemployment is surging.
Link to Full Story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1126682/Icelandic-government-brought-credit-crunch.html
Picture from Reuters, originally captioned: Quit: Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde called a general election for May. He also revealed he has cancer and will not be standing for re-election.

EVEN "GREEN" COMPANIES WANT MONOPOLY Whole Foods, Lanny Davis, and the Attack on the FTC [news story]

Article: "Whole Foods, Lanny Davis, and the Attack on the FTC"
Source: CorporateCrimeReporter.com
Excerpt(s): Whole Foods CEO John Mackey telling his board of directors: "By buying them we will ... avoid nasty price wars in Portland (both Oregon and Maine), Boulder, Nashville, and several other cities which will harm our gross margins and profitability. OATS may not be able to defeat us but they can still hurt us. Furthermore, we eliminate forever the possibility of Kroger, Super Value, or Safeway using their brand equity to launch a competing national natural/organic food chain to rival us .... [Wild Oats] is the only existing company that has the brand and number of stores to be a meaningful springboard for another player to get into this space. Eliminating them means eliminating that threat forever, or almost forever."
Link to Full Story: http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/wholefoods012109.htm

CONTINUING REVOLUTIONARY MOVES IN S. AMERICA Bolivia: After Rallies for New Constitution, Morales Nationalizes Oil Company [news story]

Article: "Bolivia: After Rallies for New Constitution, Morales Nationalizes Oil Company"
Source: MRZine.MonthlyReview.org
Excerpt(s): On Thursday, January 22, the last day of campaigning for the new constitution before the document is set to a vote on Sunday, January 25th, representatives from Bolivia's diverse social movements convened in downtown La Paz. The rally, located in the Plaza Murillo, marked the end of over two years of meetings, conflicts and mobilizations to, as President Evo Morales often says in speeches, "constitutionalize" much-needed changes. The following day, Morales nationalized the Chaco oil company. All of the previous weeks' marches for the constitution seemed to gather in the plaza, culminating in fireworks, cheers, and music. At a central stage, acts alternated between speeches of representatives of the various social movements present and musical performances by groups from around the country, including Afro-Bolivian dances and political hip-hop from La Paz. Members of the Bartolina Sisa women's organization spoke, along with miners, neighborhood council members, retirees, students, and campesino and indigenous leaders. The presence of such diverse groups underscored the importance of Bolivian social movements' participation in the process of change carried out in collaboration with the government. As Sacha Llorenti, the Vice Minister of the Coordination of Bolivian Social Movements told TeleSUR, "The structural transformations that the country is going through cannot be understood without recognizing [the role of] the social movements, the popular organizations of this country."
Link to Full Story: http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/dangl240109.html

"STERLING ON THE RUN, BANKERS ON THE RUN" Max Keiser 's BBC show THE ORACLE January 23rd, 3rd episode [video]

Max Keiser 's BBC show THE ORACLE January 23rd 2009 part 1of2 (~11 min.):


YouTube description: guests are : Sameh El Shahat, Stacy Herbert, Matthew Curtin; sujects are : banks problems of citigroup, bank of America, barclays, royal bank of Scotland, northern rock, Gordon Brown blames the foreigners; Jim Rogers says uk pound is doomed; greek riots; Marcus Schrenker captured faked his own death; SPAM sales are up big time; president Barack Obama; run on the british pound by April 2009 and the euro by December 2009


Max Keiser 's BBC show THE ORACLE January 23rd 2009 part 2of2 (~10 min.):


YouTube description: guests are : Sameh El Shahat, Stacy Herbert; sujects are : the Baltic Dry Index; importance of letters of credit in the shipping industry; empty shelves in "big box" stores of Los Angeles; Hank Paulson becomes an icon to university students and anti-capitalist activists around the world; crude oil price and Saudi Arabia; OPEC = organization of potentially explosive countries!; contango explained

Third/final prediction was cut . . . not by Stacy or Max . . . exclusive for you from MaxKeiser.com! The Oracle's missing (third) prediction (~1 min.):

UNDERSTAND WHY GAS PRICES DROPPED AND WHY THEY WILL SKYROCKET AGAIN... Max Keiser on the oil price manipulation in Wall Street [video]

Max Keiser on the oil price manipulation in Wall Street (~10 min.):

THIS IS WORLDWIDE ECONOMIC CONSOLIDATION Spanish industrial output plunges 15.1% [news story]

Article: "Spanish industrial output plunges"
Source: BBC News
Excerpt(s): Spanish industrial output fell by 15.1% in November, compared with the same month one year ago, the biggest fall on record and a sign of a deep recession. Analysts had expected output in factories and mines to drop by 11%. On Thursday, figures revealed that the country's unemployment rate hit a 12-year high in 2008 of 3 million. Retail sales across the 15 nations that share the euro rose unexpectedly in November, defying the gloom that pervades the eurozone economy.
Link to Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7819569.stm
Picture from BBC News, originally captioned: Employment in Spain's construction industry has been hard hit

THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Irish home prices may fall 80% [news story]

Article: "Warning that house prices may fall by 80%"
Source: Irish Times
Excerpt(s): HOUSING MARKET: IRELAND WILL see more demolition than construction of houses over the next decade, as the economy struggles to recover from the collapse of the housing market and the emergence of “zombie” banks, UCD economist Morgan Kelly told the conference. In a presentation that drew several collective intakes of breath, Mr Kelly predicted that house prices would fall by 80 per cent from peak to trough in real terms. “Construction, but not demolition, of residential and commercial property will fall to zero for the foreseeable future,” he said.
Link to Full Story: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0113/1231738220759.html

SIGNS OF OUR TIME Investment demand for physical gold surges 121% in 3rd quarter 08 [news story]

Article: "Gold Rush: Buying the Real Thing"
Source: Barron's
Excerpt(s): INVESTORS ARE TAKING A CUE FROM THE RAPPERS and adding more bling to their lives -- not to hang around their necks, but to stash away in safes. Physical gold is hot. Not gold stocks or ETFs, but the glittering stuff itself. You'll read about it in our write-up of the latest Barron's Roundtable, and the numbers are irrefutable. London-based World Gold Council said investment demand for gold, mainly bars and coins, surged 121% in the third quarter as investors rushed to safety.
Link to Full Story: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123154459401969559.html
Picture from Barron's

THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Greece sovereign debt downgraded, Portugal, Ireland and Spain put on negative watch [news story]

Article: "S&P cuts Greece's credit rating: Euro-zone bond spreads widening on credit worries"
Source: Market Watch
Excerpt(s): LONDON (MarketWatch) - Greece saw its key sovereign credit rating cut by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday, downgrading the debt to A- from A... The ratings agency had placed Greece on negative credit watch last week, along with Ireland. S&P also put Portugal on negative credit watch Tuesday due to high government debt levels, while Spain received a similar warning Monday... "While the ratings on the sovereign continue to be based on our opinion of [Greece's] relatively high economic prosperity and [European economic and monetary union] membership, the ongoing global financial and economic crisis has, in our opinion, exacerbated an underlying loss of competitiveness in the Greek economy," Standard & Poor's credit analyst Marko Mrsnik said in a news release.
Link to Full Story: http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/sp-cuts-greeces-credit-rating/story.aspx?guid=%7B426527F7-AE23-44FB-AC59-A078A8C23974%7D

THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Shipping rates hit zero as trade sinks [news story]

Article: "Shipping rates hit zero as trade sinks"
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
Excerpt(s): Freight rates for containers shipped from Asia to Europe have fallen to zero for the first time since records began, underscoring the dramatic collapse in trade since the world economy buckled in October. "They have already hit zero," said Charles de Trenck, a broker at Transport Trackers in Hong Kong. "We have seen trade activity fall off a cliff. Asia-Europe is an unmit­igated disaster." Shipping journal Lloyd's List said brokers in Singapore are now waiving fees for containers travelling from South China, charging only for the minimal "bunker" costs. Container fees from North Asia have dropped $200, taking them below operating cost. Industry sources said they have never seen rates fall so low. "This is a whole new ball game," said one trader.
Link to Full Story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4229198/Shipping-rates-hit-zero-as-trade-sinks.html
Picture from Telegraph.co.uk, originally captioned: The cost of shipping goods from Asia to Europe has tumbled

THIS IS BEYOND THE GREAT DEPRESSION Bank of England Cuts Rate to Lowest Since Bank’s Creation in 1694 [news story]

Article: "BOE Cuts Rate to Lowest Since Bank’s Creation in 1694 (Update3)"
Source: Bloomberg
Excerpt(s): The Bank of England cut the benchmark interest rate to the lowest since the central bank was founded in 1694 as policy makers tried to prevent the credit squeeze from deepening Britain’s recession. The bank rate was reduced a half-point to 1.5 percent, bringing policy makers closer to the point at which they will run out of options to fight the financial crisis with conventional tools. The pound rose against the euro and the dollar because some investors had bet on a larger reduction... The European Central Bank has cut its key interest rate by 1.75 percentage points to 2.5 percent since early October, and may reduce it again next week. President Jean-Claude Trichet may provide clues on his thinking when he gives a speech in Bratislava at 8 p.m. local time today.
Link to Full Story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avTXAfm9.vhM&refer=home

ECONOMIC CRASH The Oracle with Max Keiser - Episode One (as broadcast) [video]

Now I'm not exactly on the same page with Mr. Keiser with regards to what he thinks will happen in 2009, but I am a big fan of his, and think he's largely right on in his attitudes and ideas about the banking system. In this video I also highly recommend noting Jacques Attali's broadly-informed (both pessimistic and strangely optimistic) perspective about the future of mankind...

The Oracle with Max Keiser - Episode One (~22 min.):

EDITORIAL Martial Law, the Financial Bailout, and War [news story]

Article: "Martial Law, the Financial Bailout, and War"
Source: GlobalResearch.ca / Peter Dale Scott
Excerpt: It is becoming clear that the bailout measures of late 2008 may have consequences at least as grave for an open society as the response to 9/11 in 2001. Many members of Congress felt coerced into voting against their inclinations, and the normal procedures for orderly consideration of a bill were dispensed with. The excuse for bypassing normal legislative procedures was the existence of an emergency. But one of the most reprehensible features of the legislation, that it allowed Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to permit bailed-out institutions to use public money for exorbitant salaries and bonuses, was inserted by Paulson after the immediate crisis had passed... Even more reprehensible is the fact that since the bailouts, Paulson and the Treasury Department have refused to provide details of the Troubled Assets Relief Program spending of hundreds of billions of dollars, while the New York Federal Reserve has refused to provide information about its own bail-out (using government-backed loans) that amounts to trillions...
Link to Full Story: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11681

Gulf states agree on monetary union [news story]

Excerpt: Gulf Arab states will maintain their 2010 deadline for a single currency, the secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has said. Leaders of GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain) approved a final draft of an accord on a monetary union agreement in their annual summit in Muscat, the capital of Oman, on Tuesday. The agreement would pave the way for a single currency, which all GCC states but Oman are working towards launching.
Article: "Gulf states agree on monetary union"
Source: Al Jazeera English
Link to Full Story: http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2008/12/20081230153346616980.html