Whoa Nelliebelle II

Holy Warren Buffett, Batman. This is huge.

Re: Credit cards. A bank holiday would be "everything stops." You can't write checks if the banks aren't open. You can't use credit cards if the banks can't process them. Unless they've got some kind of magic we don't know about.

From Bloomberg

QUOTE
Berlusconi Says Leaders May Close World's Markets (Update1)
By Steve Scherer
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world's financial markets while they ``rewrite the rules of international finance.''
``The idea of suspending the markets for the time it takes to rewrite the rules is being discussed,'' Berlusconi said today after a Cabinet meeting in Naples, Italy. A solution to the financial crisis ``can't just be for one country, or even just for Europe, but global.''
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much 8.1 percent in early trading and pared most of those losses after Berlusconi's remarks. The Dow was down 0.5 percent to 8540.52 at 10:10 in New York.
Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers are meeting in Washington today, and will stay in town for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this weekend. European Union leaders may gather in Paris on Oct. 12, three days before a scheduled summit in Brussels, Berlusconi said today, while Group of Eight leaders may hold a meeting on the crisis ``in coming days,'' he said.
Berlusconi didn't give any details about what kind of rules leaders were looking to change, except to say that leaders are ``talking about a new Bretton Woods.''
The Bretton Woods Agreements were adopted to rebuild the international economic system after World War II in a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The aim of the agreements was to establish a monetary management system, initially by pegging currencies to gold. The IMF was set up later to help manage the international financial system.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Scherer in Rome at scherer@bloomberg.net Last Updated: October 10, 2008 10:15 EDT
UNQUOTE

Whoa, Nelliebelle....

The Great Depression of 1929 was quick, taking just a few weeks for the stock market to lose half of its value. And over 25 years to gain it back. What road are we travelling?

Europe Into the Abyss

From The Telegraph (UK) comes some hard core doom. Get some garden tools, seeds and hunker down, the big money boys have really f*cked up everything for everyone. Bye bye retirement funds...

QUOTE We face extreme danger. Unless there is immediate intervention on every front by all the major powers acting in concert, we risk a disintegration of global finance within days. Nobody will be spared, unless they own gold bars. UNQUOTE
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Doom & Gloom Siren

Real money

From The Telegraph

The Royal Bank of Scotland has sounded a loud and shrill alarm this week, saying that they advise:

QUOTE ...clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks. "A very nasty period is soon to be upon us - be prepared," said Bob Janjuah, the bank's credit strategist. A report by the bank's research team warns that the S&P 500 index of Wall Street equities is likely to fall by more than 300 points to around 1050 by September as "all the chickens come home to roost" from the excesses of the global boom, with contagion spreading across Europe and emerging markets. UNQUOTE

Related story: Morgan Stanley warns of 'catastrophic event' as ECB fights Federal Reserve

As a working-class American nearing retirement, I watch in dismay as the Fed pumps hundreds of billions of dollars of "liquidity" into the banking system, accepting as collateral mortgage-backed securities of absolutely NO value. The American economy is rigged with bogus statistics and unemployment and inflation are about twice as high as the official figures. Every Fiat Monetary System fails. Fiat Systems have zero sustainability due to the fact that every single "dollar" or fiat monetary unit must be "borrowed" into existence. Since the entire circulation of the currency is totally dependent upon debt for its creation and expansion there comes a time when the economy can no longer sustain the debt-servicing requirements that burdens the productivity of the economy. That's where we are now. It has happened in a similar manner time and time again yet, these facts are all but ignored by the blind Central Bankers, Media and Government Economic Wonks of the world.

Just look at how Ron Paul, Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich were treated by media during his compaign. Often when it was their turn to speak, TV shows would interrupt for comments, go to commercial etc. In the end we'll see gold and silver, platinum and sustainable agriculture regain their status as having permanent value.