Category Archives: Corruption & Finance

Corruption concentrates wealth in the hands of a few at the expense of the 99% below, and this trend has accelerated the past decades. Corrupt leaders and industries are less likely to ration food and oil as it declines, accelerating collapse. I predict that the higher the level of corruption (see corruption perceptions index at transparency.org) will make collapse faster and harsher than in less corrupt nations.  I hope future historians look at this as a factor in how nations fell during the energy crisis. Though I expect that smaller towns everywhere will do better than large cities, and where local governments are uncorrupted

Homer-Dixon predicts 20 to 30% chance of Trump causing financial crisis, war, civil violence, and authoritarianism over next 5 years

[ Homer-Dixon wrote an article over a year ago for the Toronto Globe and Mail titled “Crisis analysis, how much damage can Trump do? (A lot). How’d his prediction turn out? Within this article is a link showing 4 major … Continue reading

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Nobel prize economist Robert Shiller: market risk keeps him awake worrying

[ According to this article: “Shiller’s latest analysis shouldn’t be taken lightly. His forecasting skills were recognized in 2013 when he won the Nobel Prize in Economics. He’s known for predicting both the dot-com bubble and the housing bubble in … Continue reading

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One of the biggest risks to the world’s financial system is the $3 trillion of debt owed by oil and gas firms

[ Yet another “crash coming soon” post, if it hasn’t happened already (I scheduled this article and others to appear a year or more later, since crashes always take longer to happen than you expect. Alice Friedemann   www.energyskeptic.com  author of … Continue reading

Posted in Bond Market, Crash Coming Soon, Debt, Oil & Gas Fracked | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Steve St. Angelo: Prepare for asset price declines of 50 to 75%

Steve St. Angelo. July 4, 2017. Prepare for asset price declines of 50 to 75%. SRSRocco report. What we have is a totally propped-up market based upon debt. Energy isn’t producing positive growth. So instead of having real economic growth, … Continue reading

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The growth of incarceration in the U.S. Causes and consequences. National Research Council 2014

Preface. This National Research Council 465-page report may be the most comprehensive study of the U.S. prison system there is.  It will make you cry. I’ve excerpted about one-sixth of it below.  It is shocking that the “U.S. penal population … Continue reading

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Wells Fargo created bogus bank accounts and credit cards without customer knowledge, billed them millions

[ I know this is “old news” from 2016, but the drawback of newspapers is that stories aren’t repeated.  What an insane level of corruption we’ve reached! Just look at the financial book list I haven’t yet posted at the … Continue reading

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Not only are telecom companies screwing us on net neutrality, they refuse to get rid of robocalls

Preface. It’s four years after the 2013 Senate hearing below and the telecomm industry has still refused and congress and/or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have not demanded robocalls be blocked despite over 10 years of complaints.  In fact, unwanted … Continue reading

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The war on drugs. A book review of “Chasing the scream”

Preface. The founder of the War on Drugs in the U.S., Harry Anslinger, wanted to build as large a bureaucracy as possible. But a war on narcotics alone—cocaine and heroin, outlawed in 1914—wasn’t enough. They were used only by a … Continue reading

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Why didn’t any white collar corporate criminals go to jail after the crash?

[ This is a book review with excerpts of “The Chickenshit club: Why the justice department fails to prosecute executives”.  Here is how the author Eisinger summarizes the problem and consequences: “Businesses now have privileges not seen since the Gilded … Continue reading

Posted in Corruption, Mortgages, No Jail for Bankers & Wall St execs | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Bonds – a hidden risk to the economy

Condon, B. August 24, 2016. The hidden risk to the economy in corporate balance sheets. AP. America has a debt problem, but it’s not what you think. Yes, the federal government owes trillions of dollars more than it did a … Continue reading

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