What happens when the solution is worse than the problem? Since oil eruption in the Gulf of Mexico began over a month ago, I've heard ideas ranging from cool to crazy. The plan to blow the hole up with a nuclear bomb strikes me as being closer to the latter. Not only has BP's latest attempts to seal the leak have failed, but it looks like their actions may have increased the rate of oil flow by 20%.
Now some people have said that this crisis is not worse than the Mexico's Ixtoc 1 disaster three decades ago. Forgive me, but I don't share that point of view.
Big surprise! BP's efforts to stop the oil erruption has failed....again. Meanwhile oil expert Matt Simmons appeared on "The Dylan Ratigan Show" to explain just how dire the crisis has become and why BP has failed to solve it. Simmons is convinced that the leak that we are watching on the video feed isn't even the biggest problems. It turns out that a bigger leak maybe 5 miles away. James Carville (Democratic political strategist) is not happy with the Obama administration's lackluster response to the disaster. His frustration boiled over on ABC's "Good Morning America."
"It just looks like he's not involved in this... Man, you got to get down here and take control of this, put somebody in charge of this thing and get this moving. We're about to die down here."
Four teens murdered a pizza man in a robbery on the north side of Flint. The three boys and the girl made an appearance in court. The detective shelled out all of the info. These kids called Little Ceasar's Pizza to lower a deliveryman into an ambush. They killed this poor man over a very small sum of money.
I'll said it once and I'll say it again: Humans are vicious and cruel animals.
If these animals will do this now, imagine what will happen if there is a crisis?
This has to be one of the funniest and informative three minutes on youtube. Treat yourself to this wonderful video where two Aussies explain the financial collapse in speedy fashion.
Even the mainstream media is turning up the heat on the Obama administration. It's been a month since the BP oil disaster began and we still haven't seen a solution. Admiral Thad Allen, the man in charge of federal government's response basically said that the government is clueless. He said that the government didn't have the equipment to do the job.
So why doesn't the Obama administration play quarterback? It sure didn't mind taking over GM.
Here's what I would do:
1. Create a massive steel funnel structure with multi-pipe openings. 2. Sever the oil pipe from the drill. 3. Place the funnel over the eruption area. 4. Let the oil leak into the funnel and go through the funneling system and filter the oil from the water.
I'm not scientist, but you tell me what you think.
The FDIC's list of 'problem' banks is at 775. So far this year, 72 banks have failed. Now only is the rate of failures increased compared to last year, but the pace has quicken in the last two months. Remember, we had 702 'problem' banks at the end of last year and that number is growing. The fact of the matter is that the system has not changed. The problems that plagued the banking system still exist and there has been no meaningful attempt to correct them. The derivatives mess is still a problem. The toxic assets aren't any healthier. The system is collapsing.
A new report by the National Workgroup for Safe Markets claims that there maybe a dangerous level of BPA (Bisphenol A) in food cans. Muir Glen (General Mills subsidiary) is rushing to remove BPA from its products, but I think people are over reacting.
Isn't there always a fear-raden medical report claiming that a common household item could be dangerous? And the cans uses for storing food isn't much different than the ones that have been used for decades, so why the sudden fear mongering?
My advice to you is to keep storing canned foods and don't worry about BPA. If I were you, I would be more concerned about starving.
Youtube viewer “theeastwatch” asked one of the most intriguing and challenging questions I’ve ever heard. He wrote,"If you have $1000 saved up, and figure the shit is going to hit the fan in the very near future, how should you spend that money?"
Well, there are three components that you’ll have to cover immediately: Food, Water and Protection. Actually, you’ll have to cover more, but let's start here.
WATER • Go to Walmart and buy 6 water containers. $7 bucks a piece ($42) • Buy water purifiers ($18) • First Aid Kit ($10) • Waterproof Matches ($10) • BIC Lighters ($6) • Survival Knife (Becker) ($50) • Compass ($7) • Toilet paper and kitty litter (when the water runs out, you can use the bucket and kitty litter to deal with your waste.) ($40) • Soap and disinfectant ($30) (Disease will be a problem)
Total: $876
The last purchase would be a used mountain bike. Go to the local thrift stores, check Ebay, check craiglists and shop at the yard sales.
I would also consider antibiotics, a water filter, a backpack and several other items. Did I miss anything that you would buy?
Don’t forget that I’m going to cover this and more on my radio show “The DEMCAD Show” Sunday 6pm ET on the Freedomizer Radio. Topic: Preparing for the Collapse Call in: (347) 324-3704
More than 700,000 Oregon residents are now living on food stamps. The situation is also worsening national wide as more than 40 million Americans enroll in the anti-hunger program. The USDA is forecasting food stamp enrollment to reach 43 million people next fiscal year.
Many people say that this is a lagging indicator, but they say the same thing about unemployment and I'm still waiting on those full-time permanent jobs to materialize.
A new national program is turning meter-maids into spies. Yes, meter-maid spies. These 00s are learning how to detect suspicious behavior. But what exactly is suspicious behavior? Are they going to be looking for bombs or listening to conservations? If only Orwell was still alive?
It looks like this oil disaster is worse than we originally realized. Scientists are discovering massive oil plumes beneath the oceans surface. As you know, the oil spill began when a deep water rig exploded and sank earlier this month. One of the underwater bodies of oil is 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick. That means that there maybe much more oil in the Gulf of Mexico than scientist originally thought. Truth is...nobody knows how much oil is spilling into the ocean. But I have a feeling that we're going to endure the consequences for years to come.
Nonetheless, Reuters is reporting that BP has successfully used a system to siphon oil and gas from the spill site. Could this be the breakthrough we've been looking for?
Spain's El Pais newspaper is reporting that President Nicolas Sarkozy freaked out during a recent meeting and threatened to pull France out of the euro. This comes days after rumors surfaced about Germany secretly planning to exit the Euro this weekend. Meanwhile, the euro is sinking like a rock. Could this be the end of the euro?
Good news! Well, it's only good news if you ignore the context. The number of foreclosures in April dropped by 9%. But that's because March was a record high. In April we had 333,837 foreclosed properties nationwide. And the job situation isn't getting any better.
In the links below, you'll find a number of stories about recent layoffs. I wonder how American business owners will react to the EU bailout. I'm hearing a lot of RUMORS about Germany exiting the EU this weekend. Frankly, I don't take these kinds of rumors seriously, but the mere presence of rumors can scare others. So I how this doesn't lead to a panic.
Check out my video commentary on the economic crisis in Europe. I talk about the Euro Bailout (of Greece, Spain and Portugal), the BP gulf oil spill operations, Fannie Mae's request for another bailout and Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill.
If you would to support my economic update video, you can go to digg.com and DIGG IT.
Quick Update! The European Union has agree to form a $670 Billion bailout to solve its solvency problem in several European nations. Am I the only one who realizes that most of these euro countries are flat broke. The Euro hit a 14 month low and people were wondering if the currency is on its way out. I suspect that this bailout will blow up sooner than people realize.
Why?
Europe is broker!
Here's what I think. All of these fiat currencies will go down in flames. The UK has a massive debt problem and the Germans have a ridiculously high unemployment rate. Europe is in big trouble!
Unemployment rose in April as discouraged workers wondered back into the work force. The mainstream media's continuous hyping of an economic recovery lured many unemployed workers back into the workforce, only to not find jobs. The official unemployment rate rose to 9.9% while the U6 unemployment rate rose to 17.1% (even higher than last year.) Unlike the official unemployment rate, the government's U6 number includes discourage workers and part-time workers want need to work full-time.
If you look at the industrial production chart, you can see that bump of late 2008 has quickly faded.
But you'll also see retail sales rising. So what does this mean?
It means that the stimulus package has does nothing but postpone and worsen the inevitable. Many Americans will spend every penny they have on junk until the moment of total collapse. Don't be one of them. Store food, water and ammo. Things are going to get rough.
The stock market crashed 1,000 points before recovering to a loss of 347 points. This is one of the scariest days in market history. What made it so shocking was the 600 point decline in a matter of 20 minutes. This was finished by an instant rally of over 400 points in least than 10 minutes. This has to be some sort of record.
This volatility can not be a good sign!
Greece is toasted. Economist Nouriel Roubini (Dr. Doom) believes that Greece is only the beginning. He believes that the Greece situation is 'Lehman Brothers'-like event will lead us into the second wave of this worldwide economic collapse.
What's happening is that countries are trying to bail other countries out, but no body has any real money.
I understand the need to make money, but how can we have political leaders betting against the market during an economic crisis. In October 2008, Sen. Isakson shorted the market by investing more than $30,000 in ProShares UltraShort 7-10 Year Treasury and UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury. And he's not the only one who's doing it. a Wall Street Journal analysis of congressional disclosures shows that many more Congress members engaged in this sort of behavior.
Can you say, "Conflict of interest!"
I can, and I just did.
Now let's focus on the jobs situation. The long-term unemployment situation is this country has not improved. At least not by much. Last August, Rutgers University researchers asked a thousand unemployed people about their unemployment status. Since then, about 80% of them have failed to find jobs. And out of the small percentage of people who managed to find a job, only 13 percent found full-time jobs. 61% of the job finders are stuck in crappy jobs.
So has the employment picture changed in your neck of the woods?
Alan Parrot, one of the worlds foremost falconers, claims to have a source that has met Osama Bin Laden several times in Iran. His source is a warlord from north Iran who claims that he has met Bin Laden on several occasions since 2003. Parrot, President of the Union for the Conservation of Raptors, claims that Bin Laden has been involved in the underground falcon trade.
According to Parrot, the source met the source claims that Bin Laden was in good health and still living in Iran. The last meeting between the two took place in 2008.
Here's a question: Why didn't this guy step forward sooner?
Keep in mind that this information was posted by Fox News. The American mainstream media has a long history of omitting the truth and reporting lies. Remain the stories about weapons of mass destruction? Remember that bogus story about Iraq trying to acquire nuclear materials? And what about the non-existent tie between Al-Qeada and Iraq?
This maybe one of the stories used to create a war in Iraq.
Is this false information planted by the U.S. (or Israeli government) or is Iran hiding a mass murderer?
Personally, I think Bin Laden is dead. He knew too for the CIA to bring him to trial.
As far as oil spills go, this may be the worst-case scenario. This spill is producing a leakage of about 5,000 barrels of oil per day. This is creating a proverbial dark cloud of the Gulf of Mexico. How can we even begin to clean this disaster up? What type of impact will this have on the oil market? If the price of oil spikes up, the economy is going to hit a wall. This is not the time for us to have 4 dollar a gallon gas.
And the environment threat is almost unimaginable. The oil slick is at least 130 by 70 miles.
