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

Foreclosuregate

Back-Office Blues  Nov 8, 2010. James Surowiecki. The New Yorker. In the late 1960s, Wall Street was crippled by an unlikely nemesis: unfinished paperwork. Thanks to a booming stock market, trading volume had soared in the course of the decade; … Continue reading

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Why do people fall for Ponzi and other schemes?

Fooled by Ponzi (and Madoff). How Bernard Madoff Made Off with My Money  Dec 23, 2008. Stephen Greenspan. Skeptic.com There are few areas of functioning where skepticism is more important than how one invests one’s life savings. Yet intelligent and … Continue reading

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Sovereign Default predictions

Martin Weiss on why there will be a sovereign default someday: Diversification across asset classes didn’t help in the 2008 crash. Stocks fell. Most bonds fell. Real estate fell. Commodities fell. And most currencies fell, with only risk-aversion trades working. … Continue reading

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One year Moratorium on Mortgages

Ilargi Feb 2, 2009   http://www.theautomaticearth.com/ [As Dmitry Orlov points out in Dmitry Orlov: How Russians survived the collapse of the Soviet Union “In the Soviet Union, nobody owned their place of residence. What this meant is that the economy could … Continue reading

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Let banks fail, says Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz

Haidar, Suhasini. Jan 29, 2017. Trump makes sense to a grocery store owner. thehindu.com Economist-mathematician Nassim Nicholas Taleb is seen as something of an oracle, given that he saw the 2008 economic crash coming, predicted the Brexit vote, and the … Continue reading

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What derivatives are and why you’re screwed

You are the Crisis Feb 2, 2009 by Ilargi at theautomaticearth Oh no, we’re not rid of the bad bank drivel yet, are we? I started out trying to make a point about the character of the paper a bad … Continue reading

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Wall Street’s version of capitalism is a fraud wrapped inside a delusion

Demerit-Based Pay Feb 5, 2009. Eric J. Fry. Rude Awakening Russia, according to Winston Churchill, was a “riddle wrapped inside an enigma.” Wall Street’s version of capitalism, according to us, is a fraud wrapped inside a delusion. The fraud is … Continue reading

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Your Bank is NOT Safe

PublicBankingTV : Your Money Is Not Safe in the Big Banks August 25, 2013 by Ellen Brown This 13 minute video explains the situation well, a couple of points made: In 2014 the FDIC can only cover .25% of deposits and … Continue reading

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Ellen Brown’s Web of Debt blog

Brown’s Web of Debt blog and books are well researched and worthwhile reading, but she isn’t aware of the energy and resource crises, so her work isn’t fully informed.  But still, you can see that even without those larger issues, … Continue reading

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The Armageddon Looting Machine: The Looming Mass Destruction from Derivatives

The Armageddon Looting Machine: The Looming Mass Destruction from Derivatives Posted on September 17, 2013 by Ellen Brown Increased regulation and low interest rates are driving lending from the regulated commercial banking system into the unregulated shadow banking system. The shadow … Continue reading

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