U.S. House passes sweeping deficit-cutting plan

U.S. House passes sweeping deficit-cutting plan

Senate Democrats will oppose the House measure

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/07/19/us-debt-ceiling-tuesday.html

Defying a veto threat, the Republican-controlled House voted Tuesday night to slice federal spending by $6 trillion US and require a constitutional balanced budget amendment to be sent to the states in exchange for averting a threatened Aug. 2 government default.

The 234-190 vote marked the power of deeply conservative first-term Republicans, and it stood in contrast to rising support at the White House and in the Senate for a late stab at bipartisanship to solve the nation's looming debt crisis.

U.S. President Barack Obama and a startling number of Republican senators lauded a deficit-reduction plan put forward earlier in the day that would include $1 trillion in what sponsors delicately called "additional revenue" and some critics swiftly labelled as higher taxes.

The president said he hoped congressional leaders would "start talking turkey" on a deal to reduce deficits and raise the $14.3-trillion debt limit as soon as Wednesday, using the plan by the so-called Senate Gang of Six as a roadmap

Treasury officials say that without an increase in U.S. borrowing authority by Aug. 2, the government will not be able to pay all its bills, and default could result with severe consequences for the economy

The US Constitution Makes Default Illegal: What a Real President Would Do on August 1, 2011
http://tarpley.net/2011/07/27/a-real-president-would-call-default-unconstitutional/

Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
TARPLEY.net

My fellow Americans:

I speak to you tonight in an hour of grave danger to our nation. As you know, within the next few hours our government is in danger of failing to make payments of interest and principal which the United States Treasury has contracted to make. In technical terms, we are not far away from beginning to default on payments associated with those US Treasury securities which represent the public debt of the United States. As part of the same crisis, there is now a threat to over 70 million checks which your government issues every month — payments which go to recipients of Social Security, to providers of health services under the Medicare program, to Medicaid beneficiaries, to our active-duty and retired military personnel, to our defense contractors, to our government employees — in short, to everyone who receives a benefit from the federal government, who works for the federal government, or who does business with the federal government.

More at link.

Remind Me again who last had twelve disciples?????

Wave goodbye to America, land of the free, now land of the controlled.
Hobbit

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hitler-becomes-fuhrer

With the death of President Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, Hitler united the chancellorship and presidency under the new title of Fuhrer.

Congress to decide whether Super Congress could impose gun control

Gun owner registration … bans on semi-automatic firearms … adoption of a UN gun control treaty -- all of these issues could very well be decided over the next 24 hours.

Both houses of Congress will be voting on a debt ceiling bill that establishes a legislative committee with TREMENDOUS powers. Fox News is calling this committee a SUPER CONGRESS, because its legislative proposals (which could include gun control provisions) CANNOT be filibustered or amended in the Senate or House.

To understand what a huge deal this is, consider that House Speaker John Boehner is able to keep a mountain of gun control bills from coming to the floor of the House. That’s the power of the Speaker.

http://gunowners.org/a08012011.htm

Ezra Pound tried to tell.
Eustace Mullins took up the batton.
They spoke the truth.

In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act....George Orwell.

Hobbit

Sometimes I feel like I'm sitting up in the bleachers watching this game and often shaking my head. These are the end times for those who think they are in control. Only the earth changes are in control and everyone else is wrapped up in illusions created by ego. What are things other the chess pieces in the game of life. I think at one deep inner level I aspired to be like Buddha and just walk away from the illusion.

Meanwhile, we watch in abject horror at how people are manipulated into misery, anger, sadness, hopelessness and poverty. Yet is was during a time of personal poverty I discovered how rich my inner world was. Real wealth dwells within. How can one measure happiness, peach of mind and contentedness? Is this not what real wealth is about?

Like an observer sitting way up on the side of the hill observing this river of life, I see the day where money has no value. Real value is in a person's word, their inner sense of honor to help those in need when they can and in their happiness to be of service because it is "the right thing to do" not because someone ordered them to do it.

What is freedom? Are we not slaves to money just to eek out a living in presumed comfort?

I would probably be happy in a Ooopsey house in the woods that was warm in winter and cool in summer. All I need is a good chair to sit and read or draw; table and chairs to entertain friends and family; a good bed to sleep in during the night and a sturdy tea kettle with cups to Ooopsey around.

I just read this in an email.

Dear Friends and Fellow investors,

This email is a little crude and off the cuff, but today’s activity was cause for concern.
The Asian markets are beginning to unravel and Europe is likewise extremely unstable. I just
read a report today that stock market insiders are now dumping stocks. All of this tells me the
market is now getting ready for a Ooopsey move down that I had thought was coming over a
year ago.

I hope that all of you have put away some emergency cash and have either pulled out of the
stock market, or at least leveraged your investments with inverse ETF’s. Breaking even is much
better than losing everything.

I am concerned about the sudden drop today that I did not expect after the agreement to
raise the debt ceiling was approved. I was actually expecting the market to react favorably. It
did not, dropping 265 points on the DOW.

This is a clear signal to me that all is not well. I was listening to another economist on Monday
talking about another drop in real estate values coming in 2012 that could match the drop we
saw in 2008. He also predicted unemployment would soar to near 50% by 2013. By the first
quarter, he predicted the stock market would fall 60% below today’s levels. Now this is just one
opinion from one economist, but if he is only half correct, then I think we should be prepared.
It is clear to me that people are treating gold as a safe haven and as a currency. This may cause
it to rise in value above $1700 in the short term, but I fear there is a great misconception in the
public about how gold will hold up during an economic contraction. For some reason people
believe there will be hyperinflation in the near future. This mistake could cost them dearly as it
did in 1929 just before the deflationary depression hit. The misinformation on this subject has
been pounded into the Ooopsey by NIA and the news media. I’m concerned that people who
believe a balloon can blow up without any air will get caught holding the wrong investments
when deflation hits hard. The big gold purchase by Korea today is really misleading the markets
in my opinion.

It’s clear to me, the dam has finally broken and the entire global economy is standing on one
leg at the edge of a cliff. Just one more big event in in Europe or Asia, and the banks will
begin to panic. My bank contact tells me lots of people have begun taking out major cash this
last week. Large amounts of cash withdrawals were reported. The Walsh banking report has
only accelerated the insecurity. FDIC being insolvent is not a comfort either.

There is no doubt now that deflation is coming on strong and will drive down oil prices and real
estate much further. The gold will stay up a while longer, but I see silver near a top. I agree
with Nick Guarino that Silver is going to make a Ooopsey correction soon.

The safest place to be is in cash right now in my opinion. If you cannot get out of the markets,
then protect what you have with a portion of your equities hedged with inverse ETFs. If you
want to leave cash in the market, then secure it with a treasury backed fund like CPFXX. Another
safe place could be FXF which is the Swiss Franc ETF. A little mixture of safety and cold cash is a
good place to be for the next 6 months while the markets go wild.

The magic word for the next 6 months is… SAVE! Do not take on any new debt. No cars. No
homes. Just save, save, save lots of cash.

That’s my take on what is coming. Today was a strong signal to me the cork has popped off the bottle.
Keeping it real,

Kevin
http://theiraqidinar.com/2011/08/03/email-from-kevin-this-could-be-it/#more-68333