Économie américaine: Rien ne va plus...

Économie américaine: Rien ne va plus...


Voici, chers amis, une panoplie d'articles documentant la chute libre de l'économie américaine. Notez les articles qui documentent à quel point la bulle immobilière a éclaté et le nombre ahurissant de reprises de finance, le nombre de gens qui vivent dans la pauvreté alors que pour être considéré comme "riche" aux USA signifie avoir plus d'un milliard de dollars. Notez aussi que l'argent ne disparaît donc pas, il est massivement transféré de la classe moyenne vers la classe de 0.01% la plus riche. L'écart n'a jamais été aussi grand entre les pauvres et les riches, et entre les salaires moyens de la classe moyenne et de la classe de riche.
Pendant qu'ils ferment des écoles et que les rescapés de Katrina ne sont toujours pas retournés chez eux, l'armée et le secteur militaro-industriel reçoivent des sommes d'argent astronomiques.

Beaucoup de gens très connaissants dans le domaine financier et bancaire prévoient une dépression, un solide crash de l'économie US et possiblement mondial, avec la chute totale du dollard US.
Attachez votre ceinture, route cahoteuse en avant...

The Second Great Depression

The US economy is in danger of a recession that will prove unusually long and severe. By any measure it is in far worse shape than in 2001-02 and the unraveling of the housing bubble is clearly at hand. It seems that the continuous buoyancy of the financial markets is again deluding many people about the gravity of the economic situation.”

Dr. Kurt Richebacher

“The history of all hitherto society is the history of class struggles.”

Karl Marx

Recession will be nasty and deep, economist says

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The United States is headed for a recession that will be "much nastier, deeper and more protracted" than the 2001 recession, says Nouriel Roubini, president of Roubini Global Economics.

Real U.S. shortfall: $4.6 trillion in red

Rules 'hiding' trillions in debt

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used, a USA TODAY analysis shows.


The Inevitable Collapse of the Greenback

Why is George Bush destroying the dollar?

Or is it Bush? Maybe, it is the Federal Reserve, the privately owned group of 12 central banks that prints our money and sets the policy?

A UK Telegraph article on Tuesday “Dollar Drops as great Sell-Off Looms” explains the current dilemma. The dollar is falling against the euro and the Asian currencies while gold and energy prices continue to skyrocket. “Greenback liquidation comes amid growing concerns that global central banks and Middle East oil funds are quietly paring back their holdings of US bonds.

The United States is Insolvent

Prepare to be shocked.

The US is insolvent. There is simply no way for our national bills to be paid under current levels of taxation and promised benefits. Our combined federal deficits now total more than 400% of GDP.

That is the conclusion of a recent Treasury/OMB report entitled Financial Report of the United States Government that was quietly slipped out on a Friday (12/15/06), deep in the holiday season, with little fanfare. Sometimes I wonder why the Treasury Department doesn’t just pay somebody to come in at 4:30 am Christmas morning to release the report. Additionally, I’ve yet to read a single account of this report in any of the major news media outlets but that is another matter.

U.S. trade deficit a record 6.5% of economy

US debt could trigger dollar collapse, UN warns

US central bank sounds inflation warning

The chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, said that while he's worried about the high-risk end of the US mortgage sector and that it could contribute to an economic slowdown, he regarded inflation as the greater threat to the global economy.

Actually, the two are linked. The Fed started pouring out the cash to keep the government solvent, but used the ballooning real-estate market as a "cash sink" to sweep up that surplus cash after the government spent it all. But with the collapse of housing prices, that money is now floating around the economy, and too much money chasing too few goods and services is what drives prices upward in an inflationary spiral.

US headed for "fiscal crisis," Bernanke warns

Housing Foreclosures Jumped 90% in May From Year Ago

Report: Foreclosures up 17 percent nationwide

Foreclosures May Hit 1.5 Million in U.S. Housing Bust

Foreclosures surge 42 percent in 2006

Los Angeles Foreclosures Increase Dramatically in the First Quarter Of 2006

Housing slide may deepen

US housing bust getting worse, warns Goldman

Housing construction plunges in October

Existing Home Sales Plummet in 2006

Real Estate in Certain Areas Will Go Down 40% to 50%

New Home orders plunge 29%

50-year mortgage hits the market

Foreclosures Up 35% from '05 - '06; Subprime to Blame

To Protect Sub-prime Borrowers and Nation's Housing Market, NCRC Urges Administration and Congress to Allow FHA to Refinance Loans in Default and Establish a National Rescue Fund

This is a repeat of the S&L bailout of the 80s, which was one of the greatest swindles of the American people in history. Under Presidents Reagan and Bush I, the laws were changed that made it easy for S&Ls to invest in high-risk ventures. At the same time, Bush I increased the maximum limit for insured d=savings to $100,000 per account. That set the stage for a huge rip-off of the taxpayers and here is how it worked.

Drug criminals. in many cases working for the CIA's Iran-Contra operation, mixed their drug cash in with legitimate proceeds from cash-heavy front companies such as convenience stores, office supply places, and multi-screen cinemas. That cash was deposited in S&L accounts always under the $100,000 limit.

The criminals would then form a new front company, buy some really crappy real-estate and flip it to run the price up. This is what happened with Whitewater, Castle Grande, Flowerwood, etc.

Then, either with a cooperative appraiser or possibly a compromised officer of the targeted S&L, the front company would borrow out their money using the inflated land as collateral. That money, being the proceeds of a loan, would be tax-free and clean, ready to be spent anywhere in the world.

The front company would close, the loan would default, and the S&L found itself not only with the bad debt and no place to go to collect it, but a piece of land that was not worth anywhere near what was borrowed on it.

So, the S&L collapsed. President Bush came in telling stories about widows and orphans, never mentioning that the vast majority of the involved accounts were numbered and brokered,. and the taxpayers forked over the cash to make good on the S&L's bad debts.

And here is the punchline. Those drug criminals, the CIA Iran-Contra folks? They were still on the books for their original deposits, so even though they had already borrowed out their money using the land swindle, they were written a check for their original deposit all over again.

It was a heck of a scam. Minus taxes and commissions this scam could turn 10 million in drug money into 18 million in just 6 months with no risk, and all on the backs of the US Taxpayers. Those RTC officials who looked too closely at the books for the defaulted S&Ls had a habit of falling from very tall buildings.

So, here we go again, only the financial vehicle isn't S&Ls but mortgage lenders. But the game is the same. Invest some money, mortgage land for way more than it is worth through a front company, split with that money, then when the mortgage company collapses lobby for a "National Rescue Fund" which will pay out the same money a second time, and all on the backs of the US Taxpayers.

Fool me once...

> The more-than-$2-trillion war

Two scholars, one a Nobel Prize winner, revisit their estimate of the true cost of the Iraq war – and find that $2 trillion was too low. They consider not only the current and future budgetary costs, but the economic impact of lives lost, jobs interrupted and oil prices driven higher by political uncertainty in the Middle East.

Senate approves $469 billion for Pentagon

Bush budget: billions for greedy, bones for needy

Militarism

Don Stott

As America goes down the drain economically, and the buck loses ever more value and purchasing power, there are many reasons for it. We have discussed the huge problem of overseas jobs, and how some of it comes about by tinkering with tariffs. But there are other serious things, which debilitate the dollar, causing it to shrink in value. Among them is the fact that America has become an extremely militaristic nation.

Many are now comparing us to the Roman Empire, which self bankrupted itself by means of expansionism and militarism, which the Romans could not pay for, and which caused them to fail and fall. Chalmers Johnson's book, "Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic," illustrates the situation very clearly, and he especially takes it out on the military. Economics is the thing which we all live and die by, and economics is the main thrust of "Militarism." According to the Federation of American Scientists, since the beginning of WW II, America has used military force in other nations, 201 times, and in most cases we were the instigator of the use of force. We have never succeeded in creating a single democratic institution in any of these forays. This leads the rest of the world to believe that we are an imperialist power, a new Rome, an out of control military society, fully determined to dominate the rest of the world.

40% of the military budget is "black," or secret, even from most members of Congress.

The President's New Helicopter

After decades of upgrades to a fleet of notoriously cramped Sikorsky VH-3 Sea Kings, the White House has tasked Lockheed Martin with a dramatic, $6.1-billion makeover of Marine One, the presidential helicopter, starting this summer.

I wonder how many schools could be built for that $6.1 BILLION.

Pentagon wants US battle-injured soldiers settle their debts

“Those guys in the White House really have no shame. They want to collect the money allegedly owed to the government by the soldiers who served in Iraq, by the families of those who were killed out there,” said the 25-year old U.S. Army Sergeant (Retired) Ryan Kelly who lost his leg while on a battlefield near Baghdad.

But nobody went looking for the $2.3 trillion that vanished while Dov Zacheim was comptroller of the Pentagon

U.S. economy leaving record numbers in severe poverty

The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.

60 million Americans living on less than $7 a day

Record numbers in Michigan seek food stamps, other assistance

About 1.9 million residents in economically struggling Michigan are receiving government food assistance, the highest number here in the more than 40-year history of the federal food stamp program and more than in all but five states.

The trend is being driven by massive downsizing in the state's auto industry and the disappearance of manufacturing jobs. Michigan's December unemployment rate of 7.1 percent was second-highest to Mississippi's 7.5 percent and trailed the national average of 4.5 percent.

Ohio food stamp usage increases 71%

"Food stamps" has become a misnomer, now that the aid comes in the form of a debit card that's not easily recognizable at a checkout line. The use of food stamps increased from 614,000 people in 2000 to about 1.1 million in 2006, a jump state officials also attribute to a larger population and better promotion of the program.

America's 400 Richest

A nine-figure fortune won't get you much mention these days, at least not on these pages. This year, for the first time, everyone in The Forbes 400 has at least $1 billion. The collective net worth of the nation's wealthiest climbed $120 billion, to $1.25 trillion.

Bayou US hedge funds seek bankruptcy protection

NEW YORK, May 30 (Reuters) - Bayou Management LLC, the hedge fund group that failed last year after losing hundreds of millions of investor dollars in a massive fraud, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Tuesday, according to court filings.

GM to shed quarter of workforce this year

General Motors will on Monday disclose details of one of most dramatic corporate downsizings in US history, exceeding a key target of its turnround plan and accelerating the demise of the privileged American car worker.

Rick Wagoner, chief executive, is expected to announce that about 30,000 workers – more than a quarter of GM's blue-collar US workforce – have taken up its offer of early retirement and severance packages.

Ford Raises $18 Billion in Financing

Ford to invest up to $9.2 bln in Mexico: report

Mark Fields, the executive vice president in charge of the North American restructuring effort, said in January the company was looking to build a new low-cost assembly plant in North America.

The document also indicated that Ford expects to increase its purchases of Mexican-made components by 300 percent, while suppliers could increase their investment by $3.6 billion.

Don't hold your breath on that low-cost assembly plant in North America: expect that everything (from manufacturing to engineering services) which can be offshored, will be offshored.

NO WAY OUT: A 50% DOLLAR DEVALUATION

Artificial Economics, the brainchild of the Master Planners, has focused on building an economy where debt — not income — pays for goods and services. The emphasis upon debt instead of income via hyper-inflating the money supply in stealth fashion, has destroyed the dreams of millions of Americans. Artificial Economics is a silent economic disease. A coming significant devaluation of the dollar is a likely and necessary consequence.

Gas, and imported products (which are most of what you buy) are about to double in price by US Government fiat.

Back when this nation was founded, money had a fixed value, The coins were minted in precious metal that had intrinsic value. Such coins minted in silver and gold by Rome still have value today.

Paper notes were originally a convenience for people who did not wish to carry heavy sacks of coins around. But the paper note was not the money itself, and those United States silver and gold certificates could be taken to the bank and traded for the actual silver and gold coinage at any time. Those coins retained their value no matter what the government did. The worth of your money remained under your control.

Things are different now. Paper notes are "Federal Reserve" notes and they are not tradeable for any silver or gold coinage at the banks or treasury. Indeed those notes are not even money; they are "instruments of debt". Each Federal Reserve Note represents a unit of debt borrowed from the privately-owned Federal Reserve Banks by the US Government on which interest must be paid. As this article illustrates, the US Government and the Federal Reserve can arbitrarily change the value of those notes at any time. Control of the worth of your money has passed from your hands to the government.

And unlike Rome's money, when the US Government falls, the worth of those Federal Reserve Notes will vanish.

The disappearing US dollar -

AFTER A brief rebound earlier this year, the U.S. dollar has resumed sliding against its major trading partners' currencies. America's persistent deficits, low saving and the shift of foreign reserves out of dollars and into euros seem to be driving the process.

So far, the decline has been more or less orderly. But if it were to gain speed, the consequences for the U.S. economy could be grave. Rising import prices would fuel inflation, which in turn would drive up interest rates. This could then provoke a recession, with painful effects for the world economy.

Dollar plunges on Paulson appointment

OECD warns rebalancing of US deficit may drive dollar down sharply

The 6,000 lb gorilla for the American economy is at the front door, and about to barge its way in.

Drop in capital flow to U.S. poor dollar omen

Striking the US where it hurts

A noted Chinese theorist on modern warfare, Chang Mengxiong, compared China's form of fighting to "a Chinese boxer with a keen knowledge of vital body points who can bring an opponent to his knees with a minimum of movements". It is like key acupuncture points in ancient Chinese medicine. Puncture one vital point and the whole anatomy is affected. If America ever goes to war with China, say, over Taiwan, then America should be prepared for the following "acupuncture points" in its anatomy to be "punctured". Each of the vital points can bring America to its knees with a minimum of effort.

1 in 7 Mexican workers migrates to US-- most send money home

161 Federal Tax Charges, 0 Convictions

Around noon on Monday, September 17th, a Las Vegas federal jury returned its verdict refusing to convict nine defendants of any of the 161 federal tax crimes they had been charged with. The charges included income tax evasion, willful failure to file and conspiracy to evade taxes.

The Federal Pie Chart

Current Military
$727 billion:
• Military Personnel $136 billion
• Operation & Maint. $249 billion
• Procurement $111 billion
• Research & Dev. $70 billion
• Construction $10 billion
• Family Housing $4 billion
• DoD misc. $6 billion
• Retired Pay $52 billion
• DoE nuclear weapons $17 billion
• NASA (50%) $9 billion
• International Security $10 billion
• Homeland Secur. (military) $31 billion
• Exec. Office of President $1 billion
• other military (non-DoD) $1 billion
• plus ... anticipated supplemental war spending requests of $20 billion in addition to $141 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan wars already incorporated into figures above

Past Military,
$461 billion:
• Veterans’ Benefits $85 billion
• Interest on national debt $376 billion (80% est. to be created by military spending)

Human Resources
$748 billion:
• Health/Human Services
• Soc. Sec. Administration
• Education Dept.
• Food/Nutrition programs
• Housing & Urban Dev.
• Labor Dept.
• other human resources.

General Government
$295 billion:
• Interest on debt (20%)
• Treasury • Government personnel • Justice Dept.
• State Dept.
• Homeland Security (17%)
• International Affairs
• NASA (50%)
• Judicial
• Legislative
• other general govt.

Physical Resources
$116 billion:
• Agriculture
• Interior
• Transportation
• Homeland Security (17%)
• HUD
• Commerce
• Energy (non-military)
• Environmental Protection
• Nat. Science Fdtn.
• Army Corps Engineers
• Fed. Comm. Commission
• other physical resources

Total Outlays (Federal Funds): $2,387 billion
MILITARY: 51% and $1,228 billion
NON-MILITARY: 49% and $1,159 billion