Monthly Archives: April 2014

Will the government seize your IRA after the next financial crash?

Federal government may seize part of your IRA passportira.com [I don’t think this is likely, but then again, when you look at the influence of money on politics, the corruption across all financial sectors, the largest bubble in human history … Continue reading

Posted in Sovereign Default | Comments Off on Will the government seize your IRA after the next financial crash?

Are Brokerage Accounts Safe?

James Stewart. December 9, 2011 A Risk Once Unthinkable. New York Times. Are customer accounts at brokerage firms safe? SIPC will replace up to $500,000 of securities and cash (but not futures contracts) missing from customer accounts at member firms. … Continue reading

Posted in FDIC & SIPC Insolvent | Comments Off on Are Brokerage Accounts Safe?

How will the violence play out in the USA?

There will surely be violence as America’s population descends from 400 million to 100 million or less as energy production declines. Leaders will emerge who blame some particular group for our suffering.  So far it’s been those terrorist Middle Easterners … Continue reading

Posted in Violence, Who is to Blame? | Comments Off on How will the violence play out in the USA?

Energy return on investment, peak oil, and the end of economic growth

David J. Murphy and Charles A. S. Hall. 2011. Energy return on investment, peak oil, and the end of economic growth in “Ecological Economics Reviews.” Robert Costanza, Karin Limburg & Ida Kubiszewski, Eds. Annals of the New York Academy of … Continue reading

Posted in Charles A. S. Hall, EROEI Energy Returned on Energy Invested, EROEI remaining oil too low, How Much Left, Peak Oil, Scientists | Comments Off on Energy return on investment, peak oil, and the end of economic growth

The case for Gold

Gold, Infinite Debt, and the Problem of Capital Storage: Has The Hotelling Moment Arrived? March 9, 2011 Gregor Macdonald One of the reasons that gold retains its competitiveness as a capital-storage unit is the rather slow and plodding rate at … Continue reading

Posted in Gold & Silver | Comments Off on The case for Gold

Predictions by scientists and engineers

Charles A. Hall and David J. Murphy.  Predictions for 2011 We predict (with relatively little certainty assigned to it) that there will continue to be (for a while) a mild economic recovery, which will increase the demand for oil, and … Continue reading

Posted in Scientists | Comments Off on Predictions by scientists and engineers

Why the USA can’t inflate its way out of debt.

Mar 11, 2010. Why the U.S. can’t inflate its way out of debt. Financial Times. It’s dawning on people that getting a handle on burgeoning U.S. debt will be a long and hard process. So if lawmakers can’t agree on … Continue reading

Posted in Debt | Comments Off on Why the USA can’t inflate its way out of debt.

Richard Heinberg – collapse in a few years to decades

China or the U.S.: Which Will Be the Last Nation Standing? Feb 3, 2010 by Richard Heinberg Silly me. Here I had thought that world leaders would want to keep their nations from collapsing. They must be working hard to … Continue reading

Posted in By People, Richard Heinberg | Comments Off on Richard Heinberg – collapse in a few years to decades

Paul Kingsnorth on Collapse

It’s the End of the World as We Know It . . . and He Feels Fine APRIL 17, 2014  DANIEL SMITH    New York Times [excerpts from a very long article] Kingsnorth is 41, tall, slim and energetic, with sweeping … Continue reading

Posted in By People | Comments Off on Paul Kingsnorth on Collapse

Banks still gambling on illegal Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO)

Banks Cling to Bundles Holding Risk APRIL 19, 2014 GRETCHEN MORGENSON New York Times Some $431 billion worth of C.L.O.s currently exist. The Volcker Rule doesn’t go into effect until 2015, but that hasn’t stopped big bankers and their supporters … Continue reading

Posted in Banking | Comments Off on Banks still gambling on illegal Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLO)