By Mike Whitney

-Why is Bank of America moving derivatives from Merrill Lynch to an insured subsidiary? Is it because the derivatives could blow up at any time leaving Merrill with gigantic, unsustainable losses? If that’s the case, then it would make perfect sense to shift them into a depository institution that’s covered by the FDIC. That way, the taxpayers would wind up paying for the damage and no one would be the wiser. It’s like a stealth bailout, right?

(NOTICE THIS IS THE LAST ARTICLE THAT WILL BE POSTED ON THIS SITE, AS OF MONDAY WE WILL BE SHUTTING THE NEWS HEADLINES DOWN. THERE IS TOO MUCH APATHY FROM THE LEFT TOO MUCH HYPOCRISY FROM THE RIGHT -- WE THOUGHT BRINGING ALTERNATIVE NEWS TO THE WORLD, AND NEVER ASKING FOR A PENNY WOULD FILL A NEED, BUT THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE VISITING VERSUS THE NUMBER OF HOURS IT TAKES TO PRODUCE THIS INFORMATION DAILY IS NO LONGER WORTH THE TROUBLE. ACCESS TO 30,000+ ARTICLES SHOWING THE HISTORY OF HOW THE WORLD GOT TO BE IN THIS CHAOTIC, INCOMPETENT, AND RUTHLESS MODE FROM 2001 TO NOW WILL BE GONE.

FOR OUR LOYAL PATRONS WE THANK YOU AND WISH YOU THE BEST)

7 Things About The Monolithic Predator Corporations That Dominate Our Economy That Every American Should Know

Right now, there is a lot of talk about the evils of "capitalism". But it is not really accurate to say that we live in a capitalist system. Rather, what we have in the United States today, and what most of the world is living under, is much more accurately described as "corporatism". Under corporatism, most wealth and power is concentrated in the hands of giant corporations and big government is used as a tool by these corporations to consolidate wealth and power even further.

US Nukes Underground Texas Base After ‘False Flag’ Terrorists Captured

By: Sorcha Faal

The Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff (GRU) is reporting today that the battle for control between the various factions vying for power in the United States heated up yesterday after another of their top-secret underground bases was destroyed by the detonation of an atomic device.

Today, millions of smart, hard working Americans are flipping burgers, waiting tables or working dead end retail jobs not because they want to, but because they have no other options. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 14 million Americans are currently unemployed and another 9.3 million Americans are currently "underemployed". During this economic downturn, a lot of Americans have been forced to take part-time jobs because they have been unable to find full-time jobs.

For many, this can be a soul-crushing experience. It can be easy to become very bitter when you have worked very hard all your life and yet you find yourself having to take a job that only pays you a fraction of what you used to make.

By Rob Waugh

-A University of Zurich study 'proves' that a small group of companies - mainly banks - wields huge power over the global economy.

The study is the first to look at all 43,060 transnational corporations and the web of ownership between them - and created a 'map' of 1,318 companies at the heart of the global economy.

From Cheyenne:

The only thing surprising about this ruling is that it took so long to be made. This is black letter law, folks, the logical extension of the Court's Ibanez decision.

Without a promissory note, a foreclosing plaintiff cannot show a legal injury, i.e., does not have standing to sue. Without standing, the action before the court does not qualify as a "case or controversy" under Article III of the constitution. Courts can only make rulings on "cases or controversies;" advisory opinions are a legal nullity.

The whole world was shocked by the tragedy of a little girl from China. The two-year-old girl was run over by a van and then by a truck. The shocking video footage showed the drivers leaving from the site of the incident. Passers-by did not pay any attention to the bleeding child either. In China, rescuing a child will cost its savior big money - he or she will have to pay 50% of medical costs.

America's Number One Source of Calories

Anthony Gucciardi

High-fructose corn syrup is the primary source of calories in the United States. In addition to containing mercury, a known carcinogen, cancer cells actually feed on high-fructose corn syrup after it is metabolized by the liver. A new study, published in the Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets, examined the link between refined sugar and cancer.

Ian O'Neill

During our solar system's "Late Heavy Bombardment" (LHB) some four billion years ago, the inner planets were constantly peppered with massive comets impacting their surfaces. Earth would have been unrecognizable -- the planet's surface was a burning, molten mess; young atmosphere constantly punctuated by incoming cometary fragments.

Andy Coghlan and Debora MacKenzie

As protests against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

Dylan Ratigan MSNBC

"We Put The U.S. Treasury Up For Auction And Goldman Sachs Was The Highest Bidder!"

Watch, listen, take notes, memorize. Whatever it takes. This is the truth.

Bill Black and Amy Goodman in Kansas City - Oct. 19, 2011

I caught a part of this interview on the radio today. It's outstanding as Black has time to make his case without interrruption.

Complete transcript is below.

By William Bowles

Four years ago in a Ministry of Defence Review, the Whitehall Mandarins, more astutely than any so-called Lefty, determined the following:

“The Middle Class Proletariat — The middle classes could become a revolutionary class, taking the role envisaged for the proletariat by Marx. The globalization of labour markets and reducing levels of national welfare provision and employment could reduce peoples’ attachment to particular states. The growing gap between themselves and a small number of highly visible super-rich individuals might fuel disillusion with meritocracy, while the growing urban under-classes are likely to pose an increasing threat to social order and stability, as the burden of acquired debt and the failure of pension provision begins to bite. Faced by these twin challenges, the world’s middle-classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest.” — ‘UK Ministry of Defence report, The DCDC Global Strategic Trends Programme 2007-2036’ (Third Edition) p.96, March 2007

By Carmen Yarrusso

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
--John F. Kennedy

The vast social injustice rife throughout the world has finally reached a tipping point. The smell of revolution is ripe in the air. We the people of planet earth have finally had enough. The immense human suffering caused by collaborating, corrupt governments throughout the world is about to awaken all humanity to a common cause.

By Scott Cruickshank

Right from the very beginning there was only one possible outcome if free trade ever took hold in America. Industrial and economic collapse. Ross Perot knew it and tried to warn everybody. Very few listened. What is going on in America today, the factory closures, the unemployment, the debt, the experiment with globalism could not have come out any other way. Economic ruin was predestined right from day one when America signed on to NAFTA, GATT, the WTO and a raft of other free trade deals that have been signed in the last 20 to 25 years.

By Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges: "What happens is in all of these movements ... the foot soldiers of the elite -- the blue uniformed police, the mechanisms of control -- finally don't want to impede the movement and at that point the power elite is left defenseless ... the only thing I can say having been in the middle of similar movements is that this one is real, and this one could take them all down ... I can guarantee you that huge segments of those blue uniformed police sympathize with everything that you're doing." -- Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges brings his 20 years of experience as a war correspondent, having covered movements and revolutions throughout the the world, to the discussion.

Pathbreaking scholars Norman Finkelstein and John Mearsheimer speak out about the precarious future of the Jewish state.

By Norman Finkelstein and John Mearsheimer

Shortly before Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in New York to seek United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state, TAC’s Scott McConnell sat down with Norman Finkelstein and John Mearsheimer to discuss the deeper currents shaping the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

by Rydell Johnson

Fighting cancer – and saving beautiful ta-tas – one t-shirt at a time.
Susan and I have an admitted affinity for cleverly provocative and clearly funny t-shirts. Ask our friends and they’ll tell you about Susan’s cotton top with the image of two birds perched side by side on a branch and the word swallows printed in script underneath (get it?).

Most people have no idea that Wall Street has become a gigantic financial casino. The big Wall Street banks are making tens of billions of dollars a year in the derivatives market, and nobody in the financial community wants the party to end. The word "derivatives" sounds complicated and technical, but understanding them is really not that hard. A derivative is essentially a fancy way of saying that a bet has been made.

Originally, these bets were designed to hedge risk, but today the derivatives market has mushroomed into a mountain of speculation unlike anything the world has ever seen before. Estimates of the notional value of the worldwide derivatives market go from $600 trillion all the way up to $1.5 quadrillion.

If you were asked to guess, what area of the United States would you say has the highest average income? New York City? Los Angeles? Silicon Valley? Well, would you believe that it is actually the Washington D.C. area? Median household income in the region is $84,523, which is the highest in the nation. One of the biggest reasons for this are the huge salaries being pulled down by federal employees in the Washington D.C. area.

According to the latest numbers, the average federal employee in the D.C. area brings in total compensation worth more than $126,000 a year. Of course members of Congress are even doing far better than that.

by Mary Bottari

Putting aside a laundry list of potential dates, calculations and concerns, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin announced last week that they will be joining with community groups to launch a campaign to recall the state's governor, Scott Walker. With a corruption scandal brewing behind the scenes, political activists decided there was no better time than now.

Hurdles for those wishing to recall Walker are high.

Some people have started realizing that there are large financial groups that dominate the world. Forget the political intrigues, conflicts, revolutions and wars. It is not pure chance. Everything has been planned for a long time.

Some call it "conspiracy theories" or New World Order. Anyway, the key to understanding the current political and economic events is a restricted core of families who have accumulated more wealth and power.

Another Robinson was found on an uninhabited island in the White Sea, not far from the Solovetsky Islands. When flying above the island, rescuers noticed a man, who jumped out of nowhere and started waving his hands. The young man said that he had been living on the island alone for more than two weeks.

If you want to know what the early stages of an economic collapse look like, just walk around some of the downtown areas of our major cities. Today, nearly all large U.S. cities are either flat broke or they are on the way to being flat broke. Yes, New York City and Washington D.C. (and a few others) are still doing fairly well, but for most U.S. cities economic reality is catching up with them very quickly.

Right now, there are a number of major cities that are so broke that they cannot keep the street lights operating. Down in St. Louis, parents in some areas are carrying golf clubs with them as they walk their kids to school in order to fend off roving packs of wild dogs.

Randy Dotinga

A small, preliminary study finds that ginger root supplements seem to reduce inflammation in the intestines - a potential sign that the pills might reduce the risk of colon cancer.

However, more study needs to be done, and the researchers aren't yet recommending that people head to the supplements' aisle or start gobbling up more ginger at meal times.

Don’t Be Suckered Into Buying a House Now

By Mike Whitney

Don’t even think about buying a house for the next year or so. Not unless you can afford to flush tens of thousands of dollars down the toilet, because that’s what you’ll be doing.

Here’s what’s happening. As everyone knows, housing is driven by the same supply-demand dynamics as every other market. The problem is, the banksters have gamed the system so it looks like there’s less inventory then there really is, so prices are higher than they should be. By keeping millions of homes off the market the banks are protecting themselves from bigger losses. Unfortunately, it’s the buyer who ends up being the victim in this market-rigging scam.

by David Michael Green

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day about Occupy Wall Street. She said to me “This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life”. I told her I feel exactly the same way.

The only difference is that she’s in her early twenties, and I’m in my early fifties.

I’m not sure which is better. She’s had an entire lifetime full of nothing but the downsizing of her country, and the theft of her future. The only two presidents a person her age could have had any mature appreciation of were George W. Bush, the thief and liar, and Barack Obama, another thief and liar.

When thousands of Occupy Wall Street protesters marched north to Times Square on Saturday, the New York Police Department was quick to respond with barricades, horses, and arrests.

Ryan Devereaux, a reporter with Democracy Now! who accompanied the march, described the police deployment of barricades and kettling nets and the subsequent escalation of tensions in a series of tweets. At 6:21 pm, he tweeted, apparently with reference to a police officer, “He then says, ‘It’s gonna get ugly,’ as he announces they will now be pushing the line back.”

We are never going to restore legitimacy to our political system until we get the money out of politics. Typically, in federal elections the candidate that raises the most money wins about 90 percent of the time. In 2008, Barack Obama raised almost twice as much money as John McCain did. 3 of the top 7 donors to Obama's campaign were big Wall Street banks (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup).

Now Wall Street is doing it again.

by Veronica Monet

Womb isn't a particularly sexy word. A term for the uterus, womb also refers to a place where something is generated or an encompassing, protective space. Womb is where things originate and for the purposes of this column, womb is where orgasm and love can find their deepest expression.

Federal Reserve Now Backstopping $75 Trillion Of Bank Of America's Derivatives Trades This story from Bloomberg just hit the wires this morning.

Bank of America is shifting derivatives in its Merrill investment banking unit to its depository arm, which has access to the Fed discount window and is protected by the FDIC.

Goldman Sachs Downgraded from AA to AA-

By Carolina Abranches

The power of the pepper is not only to make foods spicy . According to an article published in the journal Cancer Research, a substance contained in its formula, capsaicin, can be a weapon against prostate cancer.

Chili peppers are the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae.

The U.S. Treasury announced the completion of another financial year. The budget deficit in 2011 reached record high, amounting to nearly $1.3 trillion. Experts consider it the worst result in history as a larger budget deficit was only in 2009. At the moment the U.S. economy is still struggling with the effects of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

According to the Ministry of Finance, fiscal year 2011 that ended on September 30 was one of the worst in history: the budget deficit was $1.299 trillion, or 8.7% of GDP. According to Vzglyad, a year earlier this number was $1.294 trillion, or 8.9% of GDP.??

Scientists have sequenced the DNA of a woman who lived to be 115 years. A study suggests that the elderly woman had protective genes against dementia and diseases associated with old age

The oldest woman in the world was found to have rare variations in DNA that can protect against the diseases of aging. Billed as the oldest in the world at the time of her death, she had the mental agility of someone decades younger and no sign of dementia.

The entire financial system of the western world is designed to be a debt spiral. The total amount of money and and the total amount of debt are supposed to continually expand. Today, we are in debt up to our eyeballs and it seems like nearly everyone is talking about "deleveraging" and reducing government debt.

But in a world where the entire financial system is based on debt, is there any way for massive deleveraging to take place without plunging us all into a horrific worldwide depression?

By Agence France-Presse

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin defended Monday his controversial plan to seek a third mandate as president, saying Russia needed stability and was still at risk of a Soviet-style collapse.

Speaking in televised remarks in a rare acknowledgement of public discontent, Putin said his political opponents claimed that “everything is so bad, that it could not get worse”.

By Stephen C. Webster

About 40 police officers were needed to arrest a single woman who sat down and opened an umbrella in a Seattle park this morning, according to local media.

Amid the ongoing “Occupy Seattle” protest, city officials decided to ban sitting down with umbrellas in public spaces, ostensibly because they become “makeshift structures,” which are forbidden.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reacted Sunday to the release by the U.S. government that accused Tehran of sponsoring a terrorist plot in the United States and used the occasion to blame Washington for the frequent bilateral crises.

"The Iranian nation does not need educated articulate plans of murder. Murder is your thing," said Ahmadinejad, speaking at the Iranian Parliament, The Iranian President's remarks were reported by the official news agency, IRNA.

Deference to religion masquerading as politics must end.

By Frank Schaeffer

As the Occupy Wall street movement spreads across the country and the world, we must bring attention to the enablers of the top 1 percent exploiting the 99. Fundamentalist religion made this exploitation possible.

Evangelical fundamentalism helped empower the top 1 percent. Note I didn't say religion per se, but religious fundamentalism.

Are We Witnessing The Birth Of A New Far Left Political Party In The United States?

Are we witnessing the birth of another new political party in the United States? The election of Barack Obama was the spark which fueled the rise of the Tea Party back in 2009, and since that time the Tea Party has become a major league force inside the Republican Party.

Now the Occupy Wall Street movement is rapidly becoming more organized and many believe that "The People's Party" is going to be to the Democrats what the Tea Party is to the Republicans.

Is The Herman Cain Tax Plan A Good Idea?

As he continues to heavily tout his "9-9-9 plan", Herman Cain has seen his popularity soar. But is the Herman Cain tax plan a good idea for America? Without a doubt, the "9-9-9 plan" is simple and it is easy to remember. To most Americans, it sounds like a low tax plan. But is that the truth? As you will see below,

Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan will actually raise federal taxes on some middle income Americans to as high as 37 percent. If the other Republican candidates understood this, they would be jumping all over Cain.

The itty bitty city in Texas called Coffee City (even though there is no coffee shop, or coffee store) is considering a PILE of crap ordinances for this fair city of 130 voters. A non-resident and NOT a citizen is proposing this pile of crap, and all they did was copy a bunch of ordinances from another town.. The danger in this is that it will not show those that were amended, thrown out, ruled illegal, ruled unconstitutional, or repealed. Additional legal danger is that the city being copied from is a different form of city than Podunk is, under State law.

One is to raise the age of majority to 21.. Why do they think Podunk has greater authority than the state?

One citizen said his dog would be dead, before he was able to read the doggie ordinances..

We decided to add to the pile for the city to consider..

By John Lennon
 

I'm sick and tired of hearing things
From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocrites
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth

by Tinamarie Bernard

If you were to distribute a tablespoon of testosterone to a lecture hall full of young men, you’d have yourself a gang of lunatics chasing and humping everything that moves, my professor said. From that day forward, sex hormones had my full appreciation.

You Make The Call

Has anyone else noticed that there seems to be a substantial increase in the number of really unusual crimes around the United States lately? As the economy continues to go downhill, it seems like crooks and thieves are becoming bolder and bolder. Previously, I have written about how thieves are taking off with anything that is not bolted down these days.

Well, now they are ripping up entire bridges and pulling entire ATMs out of the ground.

Kudlow says it's a done deal that Greece will fail and predicts massive QE from the Fed and the ECB.

Rogers calls Bernanke a liar.

By: Sorcha Faal

A scathing report authored by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the United States President’s role in protecting the Afghanistan drug trade essentially labels Barack Obama as the most powerful drug cartel leader our world has ever known.

By: Sorcha Faal

A frightening Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today warns that the Obama regime may be about to launch an Operation Northwoods type “false flag” bio-terror attack as a pretext for bombing and then invading Iran.