NO LIES RADIO » Disaster Capitalism

The Greatest Bank Robbery Ever _ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:55:44 +0000

This show was broadcast May 21, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
The Greatest Bank Robbery Ever — William K. Black
Banks, intensifying financial crises; money manager capitalism; sovereign currency; crony capitalism; theoclassical economists; control fraud, Commodities Future Modernization Act of 2000; S&L Liars’ Loan Crisis of 1990-91; Reinventing Government Movement; deregulation, desupervision and defacto decriminalization; fraud incentives; looting; subprime; Enron; Parmalat; BofA; Citigroup; Ameriquest; Washington Mutual; systemically dangerous institutions; Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB); faux stress tests; European austerity crisis; Mario Draghi, President of the ECB.

FINANCIAL IMPLOSION: Global Derivatives Market at $1,200 Trillion Dollars … 20 Times the World Economy

noliesradio — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:35:42 +0000

by Washington’s Blog

Global Research, May 20, 2012
Washington’s Blog

Top Derivatives Expert Estimates Size of the Global Derivatives Market at $1,200 Trillion Dollars … 20 Times Larger than the Global Economy

How Large Is the Derivatives Market?

Everyone paying attention knows that the size of the derivatives market dwarfs the global economy. But how big is it really?

For years, there have been rumors that there is over a quadrillion – one thousand trillion – dollars in notional value of outstanding derivatives. But no one really knew.

Even though the Bank of International Settlements regularly publishes tables showing the amounts of different types of derivatives, some of the categories are ambiguous, and so it has been hard to get a good handle on what’s really out there.

For example, one blogger wrote last year:

Estimates of the notional value of the worldwide derivatives market go from $600 trillion all the way up to $1.5 quadrillion.

Smart guys like bond trader Jeffrey Gundlach said last year that we’ve got a quadrillion dollar derivative overhang, the government hasn’t done anything to fix the basic problems in our economy, and so we’ll have another crash.

But I’ve now found an estimate from a top derivatives expert who confirms the claim.

Specifically, Paul Wilmott – who has written numerous books on the subject – estimated the number last year at $1.2 quadrillion:

The… derivatives market … is 20 times the size of the world economy.

According to one of the world’s leading derivatives experts, Paul Wilmott, who holds a doctorate in applied mathematics from Oxford University (and whose speaking voice sounds eerily like John Lennon’s), $1.2 quadrillion is the so-called notional value of the worldwide derivatives market. To put that in perspective, the world’s annual gross domestic product is between $50 trillion and $60 trillion.

A Clear and Present Danger to the World Economy

The size of the derivatives market is a huge threat to the world economy:

One of the biggest risks to the world’s financial health is the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives market. It’s complex, it’s unregulated, and it ought to be of concern to world leaders ….

***

How big is the risk to the world economy from these derivatives? According to Wilmott, it’s impossible to know unless you understand the details of the derivatives contracts. But since they’re unregulated and likely to remain so, it is hard to gauge the risk.

But Wilmott gives an example of an over-the-counter “customized” derivative that could be very risky indeed, and could also put its practitioners in a position of what he called “moral hazard.”

***

Another kind of market conduct that makes markets volatile is what Wilmott calls positive and negative feedback loops. These relatively bland-sounding terms mask some really scary behavior for investors who are not clued into it. Wilmott argues that a positive feedback loop contributed to the 22.6% crash in the Dow back in October 1987.

As we noted last year:

Bloomberg reported in May:

Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management’s emerging markets group, said another financial crisis is inevitable because the causes of the previous one haven’t been resolved.

“There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis,” Mobius said …“Are the derivatives regulated? No. Are you still getting growth in derivatives? Yes.”

***

The global financial crisis three years ago was caused in part by the proliferation of derivative products tied to U.S. home loans that ceased performing, triggering hundreds of billions of dollars in writedowns and leading to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September 2008.

Credit default swaps were largely responsible for bringing down Bear Stearns, AIG (and see this), WaMu and other mammoth corporations.

And unexpected changes in interest rates could cause a major bloodbath in interest rate derivatives.

And, no, there have not been any reforms or attempts to rein in derivatives, and the Dodd-Frank financial legislation was really just a p.r. stunt which didn’t really change anything.

But the big banks and their minions claim that the huge amounts of derivatives themselves is unimportant because these are only “notional” values, and – after netting – the notional values are deflated to much more modest numbers.

But as [Tyler] Durden – who has a solid background in derivatives – notes:

At this point the economist PhD readers will scream: “this is total BS – after all you have bilateral netting which eliminates net bank exposure almost entirely.” True: that is precisely what the OCC will say too. As the chart below shows, according to the chief regulator of the derivative space in Q2 netting benefits amounted to an almost record 90.8% of gross exposure, so while seemingly massive, those XXX trillion numbers are really quite, quite small… Right?

…Wrong. The problem with bilateral netting is that it is based on one massively flawed assumption, namely that in an orderly collapse all derivative contracts will be honored by the issuing bank (in this case the company that has sold the protection, and which the buyer of protection hopes will offset the protection it in turn has sold). The best example of how the flaw behind bilateral netting almost destroyed the system is AIG: the insurance company was hours away from making trillions of derivative contracts worthless if it were to implode, leaving all those who had bought protection from the firm worthless, a contingency only Goldman hedged by buying protection on AIG. And while the argument can further be extended that in bankruptcy a perfectly netted bankrupt entity would make someone else whole on claims they have written, this is not true, as the bankrupt estate will pursue 100 cent recovery on its claims even under Chapter 11, while claims the estate had written end up as General Unsecured Claims which as Lehman has demonstrated will collect 20 cents on the dollar if they are lucky.

The point of this detour being that if any of these four banks fails, the repercussions would be disastrous. And no, Frank Dodd’s bank “resolution” provision would do absolutely nothing to prevent an epic systemic collapse.

Washington’s Blog is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Washington’s Blog

READ FULL STORY HERE

BITTER “ECONOMIC MEDICINE”: The First Domino Falls in Greece

noliesradio — Mon, 21 May 2012 04:25:37 +0000

by Shamus Cooke

Global Research, May 20, 2012

After the last Greek elections rejected austerity and caused a global uproar, early polling indicates that the next Greek elections — scheduled for June 17 — will do the same, albeit with more fury.

Greece’s situation is not an isolated event, but a bellwether for the industrial world and beyond. The fallout from the 2008 global crisis hasn’t reached bottom yet, and the depths will be dug deeper as the Euro crisis spreads — political crisis will create economic crisis and vice versa, as periods of calm and stability are replaced by international turmoil and panic.

The media and politicians have portrayed the Greeks as indolent and stupid, refusing to swallow the economic medicine needed for a healthy recovery. But the austerity medicine of the bankers — slashing and privatizing the public sector, cutting wages and benefits, mass layoffs, etc. — is a cure that threatens to kill.

What will happen in Greece? Its future was hinted at in the last elections. The centrist parties were devastated by the reality of economic extremes; the “middle ground” simply fell out from under them, since society had been torn asunder by the inequality of the very rich versus everybody else.

In consequence, the radical left party SYRIZA is polled to come in first in the next elections, based on its firm stance against austerity and its uncompromising attitude against the bankers of Greece and beyond. The corporate politicians wanted SYRIZA to take part in a “unity government” that would magically rebuild the country’s lost middle ground and continue the pro-banker austerity policies.

But unity in an economically polarized country like Greece is impossible, especially when the continued existence of the bankers and wealthy rests on the continued suffering of everybody else.

Since unity failed during the last elections, Greek “technocrats” are now overseeing the government until the next elections. What is a technocrat? Someone who supposedly lacks any class bias; the professional strata of professors, lawyers, or doctors that attempt to sit astride an uneven society perfectly balanced, blind to special interests, while keeping their sights set on the “national interest.” But the Greek technocrats are continuing the wealthy’s austerity program, exposing their fake objectivity.

Europe has a long history of unity governments, technocratic governments, and “national salvation governments” (a fancy, more alarmist term for a unity government). In every case the status quo attempts to consolidate itself yet again, trying to muddle through the crisis by putting forth new politicians that have yet to expose themselves as corporate puppets.

What will SYRIZA do if it places first in the next election? A left government could be created — only if the Greek Communist Party agrees — with a plan to get Greece’s working people out of its current abyss.

But the Greek bankers and EU bank-bought politicians will keep a gun to the head of a left government, striving to either tame or crush it. Threats will be made to withdraw European bailout funds if an anti-austerity path is taken; the wealthy who invest in Greek debt will run for a safe haven (those who haven’t already).

Therefore, the Greek lefts must go “all out;” drastic action is needed. The Greek banks should be nationalized, which SYRIZA has already promised to do; the wealth of the rich must be redistributed through progressive taxation and, where necessary, confiscated (such “extreme” measures are necessary when there is no wealth to be found elsewhere).

These extreme solutions are the only answers to the extremity of austerity. Most importantly, if the Greeks took drastic action against the corporate class, it would set an example for the world to follow. People everywhere would be inspired to fix the crisis on the backs of the wealthy versus working people.

If a left government fails to take drastic action or submits to the bankers, its popularity will plummet, and the right wing will be empowered by using the demagoguery of anti-immigration rhetoric. The Greek Golden Dawn Party (neo-Nazi) used this tactic effectively in the last election to propel itself into parliament for the first time, though it is greatly outnumbered by the forces on the left at this time.

The balance of power lies on the side of the left in Greece: the working class has been radicalized and will not submit; mass demonstrations and general strikes have become common place. But power can fluctuate quickly in times of crisis. Unless the left takes drastic action in Greece, a long period of political instability is likely, with the left and right taking turns at power, attempting to solve the country’s economic and political problems by different methods that favor different social classes. The right wing will seek to “tame” the trade unions and implement austerity, the workers will seek to tame the bankers and the corporations and tax their wealth.

But in a polarized, crisis-plagued country like Greece, a showdown is inevitable. Stability can only be found when one class is forced to submit to the other, since there now exist two powers in the country — corporate power and people power.

It’s possible that, after a long period of instability that weakens the left, the right wing will attempt to impose “stability” through dictatorship, for the “national interest.” But the army is too weak at this time and the workers too strong; a premature military move would likely spark an even harsher response from the workers.

Greek austerity has accelerated the Greek economic crisis, but austerity is a global problem. It is the bank and corporate answer to an economic crisis which resulted from their passing their private debts onto the public purse, while pushing down wages low enough for these same corporations and banks to regain growth through “profitability.”

The global crisis is structural in nature — the industrial world has huge debt with little or no growth. The rich insist growth (profits) must be made on the backs of the workers, who are being made to work harder for lower wages, fewer benefits, and fewer social programs.

Therefore, all over the world the media reports that worker’s wages are too high, their benefits too lush; social programs are suddenly too expensive and must be slashed alongside education, transportation, and other essentials of a civilized society. Unions and immigrants are made to be enemies of the public. Yet more and more working people are coming to the realization that the blame for the crisis must be placed on those who caused it — the banks and corporations — and they must be made to pay for it.
Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action (www.workerscompass.org)
Shamus Cooke is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Shamus Cooke

READ FULL STORY HERE

Government Bailouts, Corporate Take-overs and Unemployment _on Economic Update

noliesradio — Mon, 21 May 2012 03:04:22 +0000

This show was broadcast May 21, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

Government Bailouts, Corporate Take-overs and Unemployment
_on ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

Updates on impact of subprime mortgage abuses and economic crisis on racial and ethnic minorities; on Japan’s nationalization of the Tepco Corp., and mixed results of bailouts of GM and Chrysler. Major discussions of (1) why government take-overs of private enterprise are rarely “socialistic” and mostly pro-capitalist, and (2) the basic causes and cures for unemployment in capitalist economies. Responses to comments on decision-making in workers’ self-directed enterprises and about “recovery” in the housing market.

On Economic Update with Professor Richard Wolff, Wolff and guests discuss the current state of the economy, both locally and globally in relation to the economic crisis. We will focus on wages, jobs, taxes, and debts – and on interest rates, prices, and profits. We aim to explain why certain economic changes are happening and other changes get postponed or blocked and we will explore alternative ways to organize enterprises, markets, and government policies. Each show wraps up with Professor Wolff answering some questions that he receives through his website or on Facebook. Economic Update is in partnership with Truthout.org.

LIVE STREAMS FROM NATO PROTESTS IN CHICAGO_MAY 19-21ST

noliesradio — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:22:41 +0000

Video streaming by Ustream

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VIDEO: Live stream of NATO protests

Watch events as they happen
NBC 5 has a 24/7 live stream of their newscasts, breaking coverage and downtown Chicago for the NATO summit and protests.
READ FULL STORY HERE

Watch live streaming video from natofreefuture at livestream.com

Counter-Summit for Peace & Economic Justice

We will be broadcasting live from each of the four plenary sessions during the Counter-Summit for Peace & Economic Justice. The recorded videos will be posted as they are available. See the times below:
Friday, May 18, 2012
10:15am – 12:00pm Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)
Laying the Foundations: NATO, Economic Globalization, and Economic Justice

Vijay Prashad – Trinity College
Tobias Pflüger – Tübingen Militarization Information Association (IMI); Party of the European Left
Sarita Gupta – Jobs with Justice
William McNary – Citizen Action/Illinois; Emergency Network to Save Cook County Health Services

Friday, May 18, 2012
5:15 – 6:15pm Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)
Campaigning for Peace and Justice

Suraia Sahar – Afghans for Peace
Tom Hayden – Chicago 8; Peace and Justice Resource Center
John Nichols – The Nation, Free Press

Saturday, May 19, 2012
10:00 – 11:00am
Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)
Vision and Campaigning for the Future

Kathy Kelly – Voices for Creative Nonviolence
Afghanistan Veterans Against the War Speaker TBA
Tania Unzueta – Immigrant Youth Justice League

Saturday, May 19, 2012
3:30 – 4:30pm
Central Daylight Time (GMT -5)
Discussion – Where Do We Go from Here?
READ FULL STORY HERE

Streaming video by Ustream

NATOreallyhatesus

Live Streaming the NATO summit Protests Sat. May 19th – Mon. May 21st.
READ FULL STORY HERE

Live streams brought to you by No Lies Radio News as a public service.

Robert Scheer on JP Morgan Chase and the state of the society _on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:13:22 +0000

This show was broadcast May 19, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Don’t Miss our Saturday – Economic Collapse Truth Teach-in Marathon
11am Pacific – 2pm Eastern – 19:00 GMT – Saturday
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

Coming up Saturday –
ONE KEY ECONOMIC COLLAPSE TRUTH Revelation
Key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Robert Scheer on JP Morgan Chase and the state of the society

Robert Scheer discusses JP Morgan Chase’s head Jamie Dimon and his relationship to D.C. politics and politicians; and a look back at Robert Scheer’s speech to the congregation of All Saints Church in Pasadena. A KPFK-Truthdig Radio Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Our Alternative Vision: A World of Equality, Peace and Justice _ on Anti-War Progressive Teach-inti

noliesradio — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:50:24 +0000

This show was broadcast May 19, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

Peoples Summit: Our Alternative Vision
—- A World of Equality, Peace and Justice

Reiner Braun
A long time activist in the European Peace Movement, working as Executive Director for Scientists for Peace and Sustainability and the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility. He is a steering committee member of the International Peace Bureau and one of the leading speakers of the German peace movement.

Joe Lombardo
The Co-Coordinator of the United National Antiwar Coalition. He is also a founding member of Bethlehem Neighbors for Peace, the CSEA, and the Troy Area Labor Council.

Mumia Abu-Jamal
A renowned journalist from Philadelphia who has been in prison since 1981 and was on death row since 1983 for allegedly shooting Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. After decades of appeals, he left death row in 2012. He is the author of many books, including Live From Death Row, Death Blossoms, All Things Censored, and We Want Freedom.

Suraia Sahar
A founding member of Afghans for Peace (AFP), an alliance of Afghans from various ethnic, religious, socio-economic, cultural, and political backgrounds with a united vision for a democratic, all-inclusive, just, and peaceful Afghanistan. Based in Toronto, she has spoken at antiwar events across North America.

Producer: Peoples Summit CANG8.org; Occupy Chicago. Recorded at the Peoples Summit- Chicago- May 13, 2012

The Anti-war Progressive Teach-in broaches upon some of the most highly charged subjects of our day—War & Peace, national healthcare, women’s rights, human rights, civil rights, torture, vets against the war, freedom, democracy, protest, demonstrations, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Evidence of Insider Trading Before 9/11 — Paul Zarembka _on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:57:36 +0000

This show was broadcast May 14, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
Evidence of Insider Trading Before 9/11 — Paul Zarembka
Informed Trading; Insider Trading; Put Options; The Journal of Business; The 9/11 Commission Report; three scientific studies on insider trading; Professor Potasman Study from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Open Interest; Exercising Put Options; Quintile; Hedging; University of Wisconsin, Madison Study; Chesney Study; Conclusion.

Respondng to Listener’s Questions _ on Economic Update

noliesradio — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:03:42 +0000

This show was broadcast May 14, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

Respondng to Listener’s Questions
_on ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

Updates on NY Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of bill raising minimum wage, the economics of single-payer medical insurance, and major insurance companies’ withholding of death benefit payments. Major part of program devoted to responding to listeners’ questions and comments on (1) property tax exemptions for rich universities, (2) how to get economic system change, (3) causes of rise of financialization in modern capitalism, and (4) how economic conditions shape people’s political activity.

Occupy the Economy Book Launch–Richard Wolff_on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 12 May 2012 06:50:08 +0000

This show was broadcast May 12, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Occupy the Economy Book Launch–Richard Wolff

Book launch at the Brecht Forum in New York City on May 8, 2012 for Professor Richard Wolff’s most recent publication, Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism. Today’s economic crisis is capitalism’s worst since the Great Depression. Millions have lost their jobs, homes and healthcare while those who work watch their pensions, benefits and job security decline. As more and more are impacted by the crisis, the system continues to make the very wealthy even richer. While others blame corrupt bankers and unregulated speculators or the government or even the poor who borrowed, the authors show that the causes of the crisis run much deeper. They reach back to the 1970s when the capitalist system itself shifted, ending the century-old pattern of rising wages for U.S. workers and thereby enabling the top 1% to become ultra-rich at the expense of the 99%. Since then, economic injustice has become chronic and further corrupted politics. The Occupy movement, by articulating deep indignation with the whole system, mobilizes huge numbers who seek basic change. Occupying the Economy not only clarifies and analyzes the crisis in U.S. capitalism today, it also points toward solutions that can shape a far better future for all.

Richard D. Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at U. Mass, and Visiting Professor at the New School University. Author of Capitalism Hits the Fan, he’s been a guest on NPR, Glenn Beck Show, and Democracy Now! From A Pacifica Radio Presentation. Recorded and edited by Dred-Scott Keyes.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Is It Too Late for Environmentalism? _ on Ecoshock

noliesradio — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:08:56 +0000

This show was broadcast May 11, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — Is It Too Late for Environmentalism?

Alternative energy expert Robert Rapier explains the oil crisis, & why climate will hit us like a hurricane. Seth Moser-Katz and Justin Ritchie, podcasters from “The Extraenvironmentalist” – interview law Professor and Greenpeace icon Professor Michael M’Gonigle on his rethink called “exit environmentalism”. Are we leaving Green, or leaving the system?

Give up hope and exit out of environmentalism? In the UK, deep greener Paul Kingsnorth says he’s leaving the climate movement, which is lost anyway. Who else is on the way out the door?

This week we’ll hear a challenging interview with one of the co-founders of Greenpeace International. Michael M’Gonigle has been battling since the late 1960′s. He’s teaches environmental law at the University of Victoria in Canada. Two hosts from the podcast “The Extra Environmentalist” interview Michael for Radio Ecoshock – about his new strategy which he calls “Exit Environmentalism”. Just in case, we’ll top that off with a shot at techno-optimism.

But first, I’ll talk with chemical engineer and biofuels specialist Robert Rapier. We go at the fundamentals of the energy crisis – peak oil, Asian demand, speculation and all that. Rapier compares greenhouse gas emissions from Asia to an unstoppable hurricane.

I don’t agree with everything all our guests say, but Robert takes me closer to “exit environmentalism” with his clear cold logic about the real world we live in. Visit Radio Ecoshock here.

911 Truth Update_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:59:24 +0000

This show was broadcast May 11, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up LIVE every Friday at 9 am Pacific * 12 Noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast LIVE From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

911 Truth Update

Welcome to the Morning Mix, this is the Project Censored Show on Pacifica Radio, I’m Mickey Huff in studio with Peter Phillips. Today’s show: We turn our focus to an Update on 9/11 research and activism. Richard Gage, AIA, founder of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth will be talking about the final version of their film, Explosive Evidence: The Experts Speak Out. Dr. Paul Rea will deconstruct the so-called War on Terror and discuss his recent book Mounting Evidence: Why We Need A New Investigation into 9/11; and we’ll hear from longtime peace activist Carol Brouillet throughout the hour talking about her decade of seeking justice and truth surrounding the events of September the 11th. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots.

Broadcast from Berkeley–Hard hitting News and Public Affairs with hosts Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips of Project Censored on KPFA’s morning show. The mission of Project Censored is to teach students and the public about the role of a free press in a free society – and to tell the News That Didn’t Make the News and Why. Originally broadcast on KPFA-Pacifica Radio on May 11, 2012.

The New Junk Economics — Dr. Michael Hudson

noliesradio — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:00:29 +0000

This show was broadcast May 7, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
The New Junk Economics — Dr. Michael Hudson
Interview with economist Michael Hudson on the Federal Reserve; money as debt; Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s misconception of the causes of the great depression of the 1930′s; classical political economy versus anti-classical, so-called “neoclassical”, economics; the labor theory of value; the dollar carry trade; government deficit spending; Greece. See his website here. Recorded in 2008, but still highly relevant today.

Keynesian vs. Marxian Economics _ on Economic Update

noliesradio — Mon, 07 May 2012 04:19:06 +0000

This show was broadcast May 7, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

Keynesian vs. Marxian Economics
_on ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

Slightly different format divides today’s program into two parts. Part 1 deals with how and why government take-over of private corporations need not be and often is not “socialism” and why it is often done to strengthen private capitalists. Part 2 deals with Keynesian economics as a theory that clashes with both the mainstream economics (“neoclassical”) that celebrates private capitalism and with critical theories such as Marxian economics that are opposed to capitalism.

A Debate On How To Get Out of the Euro _ on Economic Collapse Teach-inon

noliesradio — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:53:25 +0000

This show was broadcast May 5, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

A Debate On How To Get Out of the Euro

What withdrawal from the Euro system would mean for households and businesses in Italy; how to manage savings; what would likely happen in a return to sovereign currency; how the government and National Bank of Italy could manage the change; monetary and fiscal policy; interest rates; bond markets; loss of national power due to the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact and the inability to set employment policy. Speakers: Marshall Auerback, Michael Hudson, William K. Black, Stephanie Kelton. From A Guns & Butter Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

2012 Presidential Alternative Candidates Debate

noliesradio — Sat, 05 May 2012 05:34:58 +0000

This show was broadcast May 5, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

2012 Presidential Alternative Candidates Debate
Panel debate with the 2012 Presidential candidates of Socialists and Justice Parties –This is a debate among four 2012 U.S. presidential candidates from different socialist parties and the Justice Party. Speakers: Stewart Alexander, Rocky Anderson, Stephan Durham, and Peta Lindsay. A Pacifica Radio Network Broadcast. See video below for more footage from the debate.

Published on Apr 22, 2012 by jeff4justice
A Jeff 4 Justice Exclusive.
The Alternative Party Debate hosted by Maggie Phair Institute.
Featuring:
Rocky Anderson
Justice Party nominee

http://www.voterocky.org/

Roseanne Barr
Green Party candidate

http://roseanneforpresident.com/

Stephen Durham
Freedom Socialist Party nominee

http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/

Peta Lindsay
Party for Socialism and Liberation nominee

http://pslweb.org/votepsl/2012/candidates/lindsay.html

Dr. Kent Mesplay
Green Party candidate

http://mesplay.org/

Dr. Jill Stein
Green Party candidate

http://www.jillstein.org/

A Debate On How To Get Out of the Euro _ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:30:30 +0000

This show was broadcast April 30, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner

A Debate On How To Get Out of the Euro
What withdrawal from the Euro system would mean for households and businesses in Italy; how to manage savings; what would likely happen in a return to sovereign currency; how the government and National Bank of Italy could manage the change; monetary and fiscal policy; interest rates; bond markets; loss of national power due to the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact and the inability to set employment policy. Speakers: Marshall Auerback, Michael Hudson, William K. Black, Stephanie Kelton.

Economic Update: with guest speaker Sarah Jaffe

noliesradio — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:04:29 +0000

This show was broadcast April 30, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

With guest speaker Sarah Jaffe – Updates on major US banks invading the payday loan, small loan loan and prepaid credit card businesses for big profits; French presidential election results undermining European austerity regimes; and US growth rate declining to anemic 2.2%. Interview Sarah Jaffee, labor editor for AlterNet.org on Occupy Wall Street, Mayday demonstrations, and student debt crisis. Response to listener on alternative transitions from capitalist to worker self-directed enterprises.

The Beginning of the End _ on Ecoshock

noliesradio — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:38:49 +0000

This show was broadcast April 27, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — The Beginning of the End

Economic collapse will come before peak oil or climate disruption, says investment guru Chris Martenson, author of “Crash Course”. Matthew Stein, author of “When Technology Fails” explains how a solar flare could cripple society and set off 400 Chernobyls – and how we could fix it. Alex rants against 2012 mythology.

Both our guests think we are in trouble, and explain why, with some suggestions of how we can prepare ourselves for both energy descent and a lower standard of living.

The problems should unwind over the next decade UNLESS a big solar flare hits us.

We could protect the electricity grid needed to keep nuclear power plants cooled (instead of melting down like Fukushima) – for less than 2 billion dollars in the U.S. Why don’t we do it?

A big solar flare will come some day, as it did in 1921 and 1859, but we don’t know when.

Our fragile civilization, in a fragile ecosystem, is in trouble for rational reasons (more or less). We know what the problems are, and some of the solutions.

I challenge all those who threaten us with the Mayan calendar ending, or alien plots to destroy us. Sony Motion Pictures is promoting those fears for profit.

Why do so many people long to see “the end times”? Those of us with kids and grandkids are in less of a rush to see money wiped out, or species go extinct.

Let’s end the crazy distractions and deal with real problems – while we still can.
Speakers: Chris Martenson, Matthew Stein. Visit Radio Ecoshock here.

MARKET DISTORTIONS AND PROFIT DRIVEN FINANCIAL INSTABILITY: 84% of All Stock Trades are by High-Frequency Computer Algorithms

noliesradio — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:14:08 +0000

by Washington’s Blog

Global Research, April 26, 2012
Washington’s Blog

Given The Dominance of The Machines, Do Flesh-and-Blood Traders Have a Chance?

As of 2010, 50-70% of all stock trades were done by high frequency trading computer algorithms.

And many other asset classes are dominated by high frequency trading as well.

High-frequency trading distorts the markets. And see this, this and this. And it lets the big banks peek at what the real traders are buying and selling, and then trade on the insider information. See this, this, this, and this.

Morgan Stanley has just shown (via the Financial Times) that the percentage of high frequency trading in the stock market has skyrocketed to 84%:

Trading by “real” investors is taking up the smallest share of US stock market volumes [since Morgan Stanley started keeping track 10 years ago.]

The findings highlight how US trading activity is increasingly being fuelled by fast turnover of shares by independent firms and the market-making desks of brokerages, many using high-frequency trading engines. [actually all of the market-making desks are using it.]

***

The proportion of US trading activity represented by buy and sell orders from mutual funds, hedge funds, pensions and brokerages, referred to as “real money” or institutional investors, accounted for just 16 per cent of total market volume in the form of buying, and 13 per cent via selling in the final quarter of last year, according to analysis by Morgan Stanley’s Quantitative and Derivative Strategies group.

It’s not just the U.S. High frequency trading dominates in the U.K. as well.

Given the dominance of the machines, do flesh-and-blood traders have a chance?
Washington’s Blog is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Washington’s Blog

READ FULL STORY HERE

Live Video-Cast from Philadelphia_Public Banking In America Conference

noliesradio — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 05:02:32 +0000

Coming up All Day Fri & Sat April 27-28 6 am Pacific * 9 am Eastern * 13:00 GMT
Simulcast: Live Radio & Video-cast from Philly
–Will be archived here within the week after the Broadcast.

Be Sure to Turn OFF Your Radio if you intend to Watch. See LOOK ARROW upper right.
Simulcast: Live Radio & Video-Cast from Philadelphia

Public Banking In America Conference

Forty-eight states currently have budget shortfalls. The common strategy being dictated in many of these states and in Washington is to call for budget cuts, eliminating important safety nets for the middle-class and those below the poverty line, as well as to repeal legislation guaranteeing collective bargain rights for unions. It’s as if the states and the federal government were corporations with no responsibility to their real stockholders, the citizens of the U.S.

However, 17 states have decided enough is enough; they have introduced legislation for publicly owned banks or derivations, or for studies or task forces to determine how a publicly owned bank would operate in their jurisdiction. Three of these states have bills that were submitted in 2012 — eleven states had bills submitted in 2011

The Public Banking Institute is hosting the inaugural Public Banking in America Conference in Philadelphia, April 27–28, 2012 in response to the growing demand for monetary and banking reform in the public interest.

The conference will focus on: the role of public banking throughout the world, with special emphasis on: the Bank of North Dakota; the current banking crisis, its causes and solutions; and direction and guidance to those who wish to further public banking in their cities, counties, and states.

Presenters and attendees include state policymakers, legislators, banking professionals, economists, independent business persons, community organizers, and others interested in these critical and timely issues.

9:00 am Eastern to 6:15 pm Eastern both Saturday and Sunday
Presentations will cover:

• Revisiting the success of public banking in colonial America and throughout the world, including a session on Canada’s successful history of public banking and how it has been suppressed.
• The benefits of city-owned banks, county-owned banks, state-owned banks, university-owned banks, and public land banks.
• The hidden costs of interest, and how this lost revenue can be returned to the public through publicly-owned banks.
• Why a banking system designed to prop up Wall Street’s too-big-to-fail banks doesn’t work, not only for people who have lost their jobs and their homes but for those who still have jobs, homes, and money to invest—and why public banking is the solution.
• The history, structure, and governance of the Bank of North Dakota.
• The current movement to establish publicly-owned banks—progress, obstacles, and reports from the field.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SPEAKER SCHEDULE

Visit the Conference Website Here

This is a No Lies Radio News Live Radio & Video-Cast from Philadelphia, PA. Many Thanks to Bright Path Video and the Public Banking in America Conference for providing this live broadcast feed.

LIBYA: US Corporate Predators Arrive in Tripoli

teri — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 15:41:36 +0000

Global Research April 25, 2012
by Alexandra Valiente

A US-Libya Business Association (USLBA) delegation headed by US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Jose Fernandez arrived in Libya yesterday at the start of a five-day visit focusing on trade and investment.

The delegation includes 37 representatives from 20 US companies and organizations which represent a range of sectors including healthcare, education administration, training, energy, construction, logistics, infrastructure, construction support, vehicles and equipment, transportation, public safety, agriculture, public relations and telecommunications.

While in Libya, the delegation will travel to Tripoli and Benghazi to meet with senior Libyan national and local government officials, including Prime Minister Abdurrahim Al-Kib. The delegation will participate in events with private business groups from Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi to discuss national priorities in the rebuilding of the country.

They will also participate in two major trade shows for the oil and gas and infrastructure industries, which are taking place in Tripoli.

The delegation is joined by US Ambassador to Libya Gene Cretz.

“We are very grateful to US Ambassador Gene Cretz and the entire US embassy team in Libya,” said USLBA Executive Director Chuck Dittrich.

“Ambassador Cretz has been a driving force in involving the US private sector in the rebuilding of Libya. Without his leadership and the dedication of his team, this delegation visit would not have been possible. We are excited to be here and look forward to a very productive week.”

American business sees Libya as an important potential economic partner. “In the short term, in addition to the energy sector, the country offers opportunities for companies in the vocational training, healthcare and infrastructure sectors, and in the long term, opportunities in tourism development, financial services and banking, construction, agriculture and the digital economy,” said Dittrich in a press statement.

“Among all of those with whom we’ve had an opportunity to meet here in Libya, we’ve found that American technology, entrepreneurship and creativity are met with a warm welcome. Long-term partnerships and collaborative new ventures, especially among emerging young business leaders in Libya are being formed, and we see vast opportunities to strengthen US-Libya economic ties now and in the future.”

Dittrich was upbeat about Libyan progress.

“While much press coverage about Libya is focused on the historic political transition to representative government now underway, it ignores the underlying fact that Libya is already in the process of building a new economy focused on the nation’s private sector,” he said.

“Among the keys to generating and sustaining private sector growth, job creation and diversifying the economy is putting in place institutions and policies focused on governance, transparency, accountability, rule of law, property rights and access to finance.”

There is, he said “an energy and a true sense of optimism that day by day, things are moving forward”.

The challenge, he believed, would be “to create government institutions that allow an independent business community to keep growing to create the jobs necessary to move from an economy that is still reliant on public subsidies”.

Read entire article here

Modern Money Theory Explained _ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:44:46 +0000

This show was broadcast April 23, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner

Modern Money Theory Explained — Stephanie Kelton
Myths about taxation and government revenues in a sovereign currency situation; debts and deficits; full social security and price stability; the use of sectoral balances to analyze the financial position of the different sectors of the macro economy; the three sectors of the macro economy; the two rules governing the three sectors; the financial balance model.

Economic Update for week ending April 27, 2012

noliesradio — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:38:32 +0000

This show was broadcast April 23, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

Updates on huge fines for major pharmaceutical firms, long-standing huge wealth redistribution from richer to poorer states by Washington, and crisis in public higher education funding. Major interview with Dr Harriet Fraad regarding profound psychological costs of capitalism’s instability. Response to questions on transition to mass transit from private cars.

Modern Money Theory Explained _ on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:09:36 +0000

This show was broadcast April 21, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Modern Money Theory Explained — Stephanie Kelton

Myths about taxation and government revenues in a sovereign currency situation; debts and deficits; full social security and price stability; the use of sectoral balances to analyze the financial position of the different sectors of the macro economy; the three sectors of the macro economy; the two rules governing the three sectors; the financial balance model. From A Guns & Butter Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

The Time Out for Peace Plan–John M. O’Connell _ on Anti-War Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:51:59 +0000

This show was broadcast April 21, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

The Time Out for Peace Plan–John M. O’Connell
John M. O’Connell first developed the concept of a “Time Out for Peace” in 1986. John had been facilitating strategy sessions for corporations and trainings for ‘New Games’ play events with thousands of players of all ages, bringing communities together. While working with the Institute for Conscious Evolution on a project to bring R. Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller to San Francisco for a series of programs he conceived of calling a global ‘time-out for peace,’ as a way to change the win/lose ‘War Game’ the world was playing.

Over the past twenty-five years, the Time Out for Peace Plan has evolved along with changing world conditions and input from colleagues. In 2010 John decided that our global situation was so dire that it was time to take the Time Out for Peace Project public, through the World Peace Campaign, a non-profit 501c3 organization. For more information visit Time Out for Peace Here.This is a No Lies News Radio Presentation recorded 4-9-2012 in Walnut Creek, California at a Friendly Favors Event.

Fire! In A Crowded World _ on Ecoshock

noliesradio — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:56:35 +0000

This show was broadcast April 20, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — Fire! In A Crowded World

Wild fires from climate change cause still more warming. Three experts from American Academy for the Advancment of Science meeting February 19th recorded in Vancouver by Alex Smith. Michael Flannigan, U of Alberta on fire and climate, from UBC medical unit, Dr. Michael Brauer on health impacts and personal protection during smoke events. Tasmania’s Fay Johnston’ estimation of global annual deaths from landscape fire smoke.

Forget about normal. Wildfire season started ridiculously early this year in North America, in the first week of April.

It’s time for the Radio Ecoshock special, my recordings of a special session on fire and climate. The fire experts gathered at the February conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver 2012.

You’ll hear how fires make a hotter climate which feeds more fires, the cycle of positive feedback. An internationally recognized wildfire expert, Dr. Michael Flannigan reports on the latest science and experience in the field. Flannigan also describes a new risk that could tip the climate of the world.

You may have a personal stake in this. Anyone with lungs does. From the University of British Columbia School of medicine, Dr. Mike Brauer explains new ways of tracking dangerous smoke, which can travel thousands of miles, across international boundaries. I like Brauer’s talk, because he also tells us how citizens can protect themselves during a smoke event.

Finally we’ll hear from Dr. Fay Johnston from the University of Tasmania. She was part of a team asking the big question: how many people die from fire smoke every year? The answer, and the places most at risk, may surprise you.

Speakers: Dr. Michael Flannigan, Dr. Michael Brauer, Dr. Fay Johnston. Visit Radio Ecoshock here.

Continuing Crisis in Higher Education_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:25:12 +0000

This show was broadcast April 20, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up LIVE every Friday at 9 am Pacific * 12 Noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast LIVE From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

Continuing Crisis in Higher Education.

This is the Project Censored Show on Pacifica Radio, I’m Mickey Huff here in studio with Peter Phillips. Today’s show: Will address the continuing crisis in higher education. First, we will interview Harrison Wills President of the Associated Students at Santa Monica College, where students just successfully resisted an attempt by the College trustees to establish a two-tiered fee system. And We will hear from Robert Wilkins CEO of the East Bay YMCA on National Healthy Kids Day. At the bottom of the hour, it’s Steve Zeltzer with Work Week Radio; we’ll conclude the show with an inteview with Jennifer Eagan President of the California Faculty Association chapter at CSU East Bay specifically dealing with the Strike Vote now being held at the CSU campuses statewide. But first, the KPFA News Headlines. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots.

The dangers of global war and social costs of the US Military budget_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:01:25 +0000

This show was broadcast April 19, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Thursday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

The dangers of global war and social costs of the US Military budget.

Today on the Project Censored Show on Pacifica Radio, join Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips as they discuss “The dangers of global war and social costs of the US Military budget.” Guests include political scientist Dr. Jeremy Cloward (for the hour), author most recently of the article The State, Class, and False Consciousness within the American Working Class; also, in the first segment Project Censored Award winner Bruce Gagnon joins in, who serves as Secretary/Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. At the bottom of the hour, Steve Zeltzer and Work Week Radio. The program concludes with Jo Comerford, Executive Director at the National Priorities Project, looking at the opportunity costs of US global war. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots.

David Macaray: “They want to privatize the world!” _ on The Kevin Barrett Show

noliesradio — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:00:07 +0000

This show was broadcast April 17, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”
EXCLUSIVE –Tuesday on KB Show:
David Macaray: “They want to privatize the world!”

Guest: David Macaray, author of “They Want to Privatize the World.” David is a playwright, labor columnist and author (It’s Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor), whose labor and entertainment articles have appeared in such periodicals as the LA Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, NY Press, Beckett Monthly, Utne Reader, as well CounterPunch and CommonDreams.

David’s anti-privatization rant resonates with me. I ran for Congress as a Libertarian, but I don’t agree with the Libertarians who want to privatize everything. To me, “libertarian” means making freedom the basis, i.e. the most deeply-held value, of society. And I think people are far more free when there is lots of public land where they can hike and bike, than where all the land is privatized and fenced off; when roads and paths are toll-free; when they can drink public water rather than bottled water; when they can use bridges and parks and libraries and educational and basic medical care facilities gratis rather than having to pay user fees. In other words, having some form of taxation (or better yet, more-or-less-universal voluntary charity) that covers these things, and putting limits on the domain of homo economicus, is the way to maximize freedom. To me, a world in which everything is privatized – including the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the land we walk on – would be just another Orwellian dystopia. Take THAT, Ayn Rand cultists!

And as a fanatical enemy of bottled water – the perfect symbol of privatization making everything worse – I was glad to see David’s evidence that it’s actually less healthy than tap water.

Check out Kevin’s new book: Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters.

The Kevin Barrett Show is independently produced and hosted by Kevin Barrett and these shows are externally produced content. All externally produced content broadcast on No Lies Radio is the sole responsibility of the program-content producer and is not the responsibility of NoLiesRadio.org. Any questions or concerns should be directed to the content producer.

Summit of the Americas Wrap-Up, New World Bank President, Google’s Wi-Spy Scandal _on Flashpoints Best

noliesradio — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:40:23 +0000

This show was broadcast April 17, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

FLASHPOINTS BEST
Summit of the Americas Wrap-Up, New World Bank President, Google’s Wi-Spy Scandal.
Today on Flashpoints: we’ll feature a report on this weekend’s Summit of the Americas in Colombia; also Consumer Watchdog demands the FCC to release, uncensored, its Google Wi-Spy decision; and the World Bank chooses a new president that may actually be senstive to the needs of the global South. Speakers: Sanho Tree, Institute for Policy Studies; Adrienne Pine, American University; Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic & Policy Research; John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog. Visit Flashpoints here.

Economic Update for week ending April 20, 2012

noliesradio — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:35:27 +0000

This show was broadcast April 16, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

Earthquake, Fusion and New Energy Research — Dr. Steven Jones _ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 14:18:00 +0000

This show was broadcast April 16, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 02:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
Earthquake, Fusion and New Energy Research — Dr. Steven Jones
Scientific research into instances of man-made earthquakes; HAARP; muon-catalyzed fusion; metal catalyzed fusion; a new kind of dynamic energy.

Who’s Counting – Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics _on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:50:30 +0000

This show was broadcast April 14, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Who’s Counting – Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics

Marilyn Waring is the author of a book on women in the world economy entitled: “If Women Counted” to this day a persuasive and vivid argument against endless economic growth. At age 22 Waring became the youngest member of the New Zealand Parliament. She chaired the prestigious Public Expenditures Committee and became familiar with the Gross Domestic Product system and decided to disclose its pathologies in a film, her teachings at AUT University in Auckland and really her life as a feminist economist. The film traces her quest to explore how the fate of women and of the earth are irrevocably tied up with the deadly pursuit of economic growth.

Marilyn Waring was only 22 when she was first elected to the New Zealand Parliament. She was shocked and dismayed when she learned that all countries that are members of the UN are forced to keep their books and design their budgets under the system of National Income Accounting. This GDP system counts only cash transactions in the market and recognizes no value other than money. This means there is no value to peace and to the preservation of the environment. This segment opens with war. Under the GDP accounting system war is the biggest growth industry of all. A segment recorded in the Philippines shows that the labor of women feeding their children with subsistence agriculture is of no value, while sexual slavery that brings tourists to the country is counted as valuable in the GDP. Waring ends by proposing a time based accounting system and recommends that women take over the political process by demanding gender parity.

This radio program is based on the audio of a documentary film with on location voices from Africa, North America, the Philippines, including subsistence farmers, arms merchants, sex traders and an interview with the late economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

Former New Zealand member of Parliament, author, feminist economist, professor and goat farmer Marilyn Waring gives a one hour critique of the concept of economic growth. Since powerful forces in banking and public policy are driving attempts to restore growth to solve the 2009 financial crisis it is so important to listen to the critics of growth.

Marilyn Waring said that the GDP system counts only cash transactions in the market. This means there is no value to peace, to the preservation of the environment, and no value to unpaid work. The GDP system leaves out half the population of the planet and the planet itself.

Marilyn Waring’s work and intriguing life is described in this 1996 documentary film by Terre Nash. I’m bringing back the audio of this film to support a debate on changing the current United Nations’ National Income Accounting system using the GDP.

In 2 Parts. Part 2 immediately follows Part 1. One hour total. From A TUC Radio Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Michael Parenti: The Face of Imperialism_on Anti-War Progressive Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:23:45 +0000

This show was broadcast April 14, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

Michael Parenti: The Face of Imperialism
“The Face of Imperialism will be hated by those who run the Empire, and it will be loved by people around the world – many of them indigenous peoples – who are defending themselves against the Empire.” That’s what the author Andre Vltchek wrote for the jacket of Dr. Michael Parenti’s most recent book.

Dr. Michael Parenti has written about empire, history, the media, theology, and socialism in his decades as an activist and teacher. However one topic has intrigued him more than others. He once wrote that “Imperialism has been the most powerful force in world history over the last five centuries, carving up whole continents, oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating entire civilizations. Yet, it is seldom accorded any serious attention by our academics, media, and political leaders.”

Parenti is one of the nation’s leading progressive political analysts. After receiving his Ph.D. in political science from Yale, Parenti has taught at colleges and universities, in the United States and abroad. He wrote 23 books, among them: Democracy for the Few, Superpatriotism, History as Mystery, Against Empire and God and His Demons. He risked and ended his promising academic career when he openly opposed the war on Vietnam.

In 2 parts–part 2 immediately follows part 1–one hour total.
Recorded in Fall of 2011. From A TUC Radio Presentation.

John Perkins, An Economic Hit Man_on Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox

noliesradio — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:00:44 +0000

This show was broadcast April 14, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 20:00 GMT
Cindy interviews John Perkins, An Economic Hit Man who spills the beans.

Cindy welcomes John Perkins, who wrote Confessions of an Economic Hit Man as well as The Secret History of the American Empire.

According to wikipedia.org, Perkins, began writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in the 1980s, but “threats or bribes always convinced me to stop.”

“Covertly recruited by the United States National Security Agency and on the payroll of an international consulting firm, he traveled the world—to Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other strategically important countries…Perkins reveals the hidden mechanics of imperial control behind some of the most dramatic events in recent history, such as the fall of the Shah of Iran, the death of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos, and the U.S. invasions of Panama and Iraq.”

According to his book, Perkins’ function was to convince the political and financial leadership of underdeveloped countries to accept enormous development loans from institutions like the World Bank and USAID. Saddled with debts they could not hope to pay, those countries were forced to acquiesce to political pressure from the United States on a variety of issues. Perkins argues in his book that developing nations were effectively neutralized politically, had their wealth gaps driven wider and economies crippled in the long run. In this capacity Perkins recounts his meetings with some prominent individuals, including Graham Greene and Omar Torrijos. Perkins describes the role of an EHM as follows:

Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly-paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

This interview as conducted on April 26, 2009.
Cindy’s website is here.

The Worst Problems In The World _ on Ecoshock

noliesradio — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 14:07:48 +0000

This show was broadcast April 13, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — The Worst Problems In The World

Could the collapse of the fuel pool at Fukushima Reactor #4 endanger the Northern Hemisphere? Nuclear industry executive Arnie Gundersen explains. Then a top Canadian scientist exposes a scandalous government cover-up of poisons moving from the Tar Sands to dying aboriginal people. David Schindler speech excerpts. Plus a climate rant by comedian Lee Camp. Speakers: Arnie Gundersen, David Schindler, Mike Mercredi, Lee Camp. Visit Radio Ecoshock here.

We are the Media Revolution – Rebellious Truths

noliesradio — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 05:15:41 +0000

Published on Apr 10, 2012 by rebellioustruths

CHECK OUT THE REBELLIOUS TRUTHS WEBSITE! This interview was conducted with Mickey Huff. He is the Director of Project Censored (www.projectcensored.org) and the Media Freedom Foundation (http://www.mediafreedominternational.org), professor of social science and history at Diablo Valley College (http://www.dvc.edu/org/bios/MHuff/), and co-host of the weekly Project Censored Show with Dr. Peter Phillips on Pacifica Radio KPFA out of Berkeley, CA., among other honorable accolades. Professor Huff is well-known for his experience and knowledge in the field of fair and balanced truth telling, media freedom , the history of media and propoganda, his distaste of partisan labels, and his commitment to empowering the youth to discover the undisguised truth. We thus catered our questions towards his expertise and to try and elicit vital information we feel the American public and the youth especially need to hear.

Economic Update for week ending April 13, 2012

noliesradio — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:13:54 +0000

This show was broadcast April 9, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

US govt report of sharply reduced hiring, national protest against mass transit cutbacks, Dallas Fed admits failure and nationalization of major US banks, high European unemployment, and North Dakota’s 100-year support for a public bank and a public grain storage and mill company. Major analysis criticizes claims that government budget deficits and debts are caused by workers’ pensions, Medicaid and Medicare costs; actual causes shown to be the post-2007 crisis and deep cuts in taxes on corporations and the richest individuals. Response to comment on struggle between conservative UK government cutting their National Health Service and mass organizations including most doctors fighting back.

How to become a billionaire-Formula For Fraud _ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 03:58:02 +0000

This show was broadcast April 9, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner

How to become a billionaire-Formula For Fraud

William K. Black
How to become a billionaire – the four necessary ingredients in the recipe for fraud; the three sure consequences of banking control fraud; gutting of the underwriting process; Gresham’s Law; The Business Roundtable; hyperinflation of a bubble.

How to become a billionaire — Formula For Fraud _on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 06:41:18 +0000

This show was broadcast April 7, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

How to become a billionaire–Formula For Fraud — William K. Black

How to become a billionaire – the four necessary ingredients in the recipe for fraud; the three sure consequences of banking control fraud; gutting of the underwriting process; Gresham’s Law; The Business Roundtable; hyperinflation of a bubble. From A Guns & Butter Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Labor in Global Perspective_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:42:03 +0000

This show was broadcast April 5, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Thursday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

Labor in Global Perspective.

Welcome to the Morning Mix, this is the Project Censored Show on Pacifica Radio, I’m Peter Phillips, here in studio with guest co-host Dr. Andy Roth. Today’s show: Labor in Global Perspective. We’ll hear first from Dr. Nicki Cole, a sociologist whose research on the production, marketing, and consumption of coffee raises deep questions about ethical consumerism in a global age. In our second segment, Steve Zeltzer of Work Week Radio will interview molecular biologist and injured Phizer scientist Becky McClain and David Bell, an injured worker at Agragquest where pesticides were being genetically engineered. We’ll focus on the risks of synthetic biology and the corporate interests behind it. We’ll conclude the show with a living legend: For seven decades, Selma James has been a champion for women’s rights and a critic of racism and capitalism. Her latest book is titled Sex, Race and Class—The Perspective of Winning. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots.

A Ron Paul presidency: What’s in it for you?_on The Kevin Barrett Shows

noliesradio — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:43:03 +0000

This show was broadcast April 3, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”
EXCLUSIVE –Tuesday on KB Show:
A Ron Paul presidency: What’s in it for you?

Guest: Debbie Lewis, filmmaker, The Ron Paul Uprising. Debbie asks: A Ron Paul presidency: What’s in it for you? A Ron Paul presidency would put a huge, perhaps insurmountable roadblock in the path of the neocons and neolibs bum-rushing us towards an Orwellian dystopia. It would allow the American empire to end peacefully, rather than in a nuclear World War III – the most likely outcome of our current trajectory. And whatever you think about Dr. Paul’s libertarian economics, there’s no question that the massive cuts in military spending he advocates would unleash a wave of prosperity unlike anything ever seen before. (Why? Details here.)

Can Ron Paul actually win, despite all-out opposition from big media, big finance, the military-industrial complex, and the Zionists who now dominate all three interlocking, parasitic crime rings? Debbie Lewis writes: “Fresh off an incredible victory in many local first phase caucuses in Missouri’s process and his ignored win in the Virgin Islands, Ron Paul and supporters gear up for the big one in Missouri, and elsewhere…Don’t be fooled; the GOP race is far from over! If this thing goes to a brokered national convention, all delegates will be up for grabs.”

Don’t forget that many delegates pledged to other candidates are stealth Ron Paul supporters!

I was at the amazing record-setting Ron Paul event in Madison last Thursday – a monumental, mind-boggling gathering of many thousands that was predictably blacked out by big media. And I will be voting for Ron Paul in Wisconsin’s Republican primary today.

Check out Kevin’s new book: Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters.

Economic Update for week ending April 6, 2012

noliesradio — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:19:02 +0000

This show was broadcast April 2, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 10am Pacific – 1pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT

ECONOMIC UPDATE with Richard D. Wolff

Updates discussed — pay for Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally compared to Ford hourly wages as low as $15; US Treasury’s ongoing subsidies to 350 banks; Brazilian President criticizes US monetary policy; and why mass transit is best response to high gas prices. Major analyses of (1) “market solutions” versus other ways of dealing with situations where supplies are less than demand such as college courses, food, and housing, and (2) the extreme austerity policies of Greece and Spain arriving here in the Republican’s proposed budget plan. Listener’s question today concerned whether and why dollar’s role as world reserve currency is declining.

Modern Money Theory and Private Banks_ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:54:08 +0000

This show was broadcast April 2, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner

Modern Money Theory and Private Banks

— Stephanie Kelton and Michael Hudson
Functional finance; business cycle; real costs of unemployment; sovereign currency versus fixed exchange rates and the gold standard; macroeconomic policy; fiscal policy; vulture banks; Latvia as the standard for Europe under neoliberalism.

Left Forum 2012–The Left in Crisis_on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:19:40 +0000

This show was broadcast March 31, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Left Forum 2012–The Left in Crisis

From the panel discussion at the Left Forum Saturday, March 17, 2012 at Pace University in New York City: “After twenty years of almost unchallenged capitalist hegemony, ideologically characterized by the mantra that there can be no alternative to Neoliberal policies, the world financial crisis has opened new spaces for the anti-capitalist Left. In Europe, trade unions and social movements, although weaker now, are beginning to fight back against austerity policies that seek to surmount the crisis on the backs of the working class. In Asia, capitalist development is generating dramatic inequalities, while in Latin America new levels of social and democratic participation, whatever their contradictions, have revived hope for the Left throughout the world. This roundtable, featuring scholars and journal-editors from five different countries, will explore the controversies surrounding anti-capitalist movements and organizations today.” Speakers: Luciana Castellina, Bill Fletcher Jr., Richard Wolff. From A Pacifica Radio Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Left Forum 2012: Michael Moore, with Richard Wolff_on Anti-War Progressive Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 14:05:11 +0000

This show was broadcast March 31, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

Left Forum 2012: Michael Moore, with Richard Wolff
Michael Moore’s 2012 Left Forum speech, delivered Saturday, March 17, 2012 at Pace University in New York City. Features introduction by Marxist economist Richard Wolff. Of note, Moore rallies attendees at the end to march to and reoccupy Zuccotti Park. From A Pacifica Radio Presentation.

Vigilante Murder of Trayvon Martin & more!_on Flashpoints Best

noliesradio — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 06:30:51 +0000

This show was broadcast March 27, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

FLASHPOINTS BEST
Vigilante Murder of Trayvon Martin, also Obama Flip flops on the Tar sands pipeline, and C.J. Holmes fighting Forclosure.
Today on Flashpoints: An update and deep analysis on Vigilante Murder of Trayvon Martin:Also Obama flip-flops on his opposition to the Tar Sands Pipeline: We’ll get an indigenous perspective on the president’s latest betrayal of the environmental movement:Also we continue our weekly reports on the foreclosure pandemic with C.J. Holmes: And Normon Solomon speaks out about the president’s continuing collaboration to slash and burn medicare….I’m Dennis Bernstein, all this straight ahead on Flashpoints, Stay Tuned. Visit Flashpoints here.

European Integration: The ECB Laid Bare_on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:01:01 +0000

This show was broadcast March 26, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner

European Integration: The ECB Laid Bare

— Marshall Auerback
A history of European unification; problems today in the European monetary union; the three Germanys; the fallacy of composition; three possible solutions; Aesop’s Fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper as it applies to the European Union today.

On Backstage: Rapper, activist and artist Immortal Technique

noliesradio — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:14:06 +0000

This show was broadcast March 24, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up Saturday & Sunday at 3pm Pacific – 6pm Eastern – 23:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcasts.
On BackStage:
Rapper, activist and independent artist Immortal Technique

Immortal Technique has the hits Crimes Of The Heart, Harlem Renaissance, Mistakes, Open Your Eyes, Parole, Reverse Pimpology and The Third World now playing on No Lies Radio. Alyona Minkovski of The Alyona Show on Russia Today interviews Immortal Technique about the Occupy Wall Street movement, President Obama and his new CD, The Martyr, which can be downloaded for free. See his website here: www.viperrecords.com

The Birth of the European Central Bank: Its Real Agenda_on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:42:37 +0000

This show was broadcast March 19, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
The Birth of the European Central Bank: Its Real Agenda — Alain Parquez
GUNS AND BUTTER — “Real wages will collapse. And what we have in mind is a total collapse of the share of labour income in the French society and how to get that by the Treaty of Maastricht and the creation of the euro system.” — Dr. Alain Parquez

“I’m Bonnie Faulkner. Today on Guns and Butter: Alain Parquez. Today’s show: The Birth of the European Central Bank: Its Real Agenda. Alain Parquez is Emeritus Professor of Economics, Ist Class, Université de Franche-Comte at Besancon, France; Faculty of Law, Economics and Political Science. He has written extensively on monetary policy, crisis theory, and economic policy, including articles and books on the impact of austerity measures, which he believes are the cause of the world crisis. He is currently writing a book on the general theory of the monetary circuit and its economic policy implications.

“Today’s show features introductory remarks by Alain Parquez at the first Italian grassroots economic Summit on Modern Money Theory in Rimini, Italy, February 2012, produced by Italian journalist Paolo Barnard. The five speakers were Stephanie Kelton, William Black, Alain Parquez, Michael Hudson, and Marshall Auerback.”

Dr. Alain Parquez (c. 2:00): “Yes, when I look at this audience, I am ashamed to be French because such an event would be impossible in my own country for two reasons. The government would have tried to forbid it. And the economy and society is in such a state of total disaster that people, even young people, are completely despaired. So, again, Italians are the sole hope of Europe. [Applause]

“Contrary to what happens in France, you try to fight the total coup d’état which has been planned a very long time ago, and enshrined into the European monetary union. I shall try to explain that the so-called ‘sovereign crisis’ of sovereign debt is a lie. [Applause] But it has been carefully planned by those who build the European system. What they had in mind was the creation of a new totalitarian social order destroying democracy, all kind of social legislation. And now the new treaty imposed by our French president, who makes Berlusconi a saint, deprived the states of any kind of sovereignty, imposed permanent deflation. So, yes, my colleague was right. You are what the European ruling-class is afraid of—mobilisation of the people. They want to rule by fear and ignorance. And, at least, thanks to Paolo and thanks to you, there is hope that fear and ignorance will defeat what should be deemed techno-fascism, which is the existing tradition of the European monetary union. So, thank you and hail Italy. [Applause] See rest of the transcript here.

Why The Huge Spike in Oil Prices? “Peak Oil” or Wall Street Speculation?

noliesradio — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 06:46:25 +0000

by F. William Engdahl

Global Research, March 16, 2012
engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net

Since around October last year, the price of crude oil on world futures markets has exploded. Different people have different explanations. The most common one is the belief in financial markets that a war between either Israel and Iran or the USA and Iran or all three is imminent. Another camp argues that the price is rising unavoidably because the world has passed what they call “Peak Oil”—the point on an imaginary Gaussian Bell Curve (see graph above) at which half of all world known oil reserves have been depleted and the remaining oil will decline in quantity at an accelerating pace with rising price.

Both the war danger and peak oil explanations are off base. As in the astronomic price run-up in the Summer of 2008 when oil in futures markets briefly hit $147 a barrel, oil today is rising because of the speculative pressure on oil futures markets from hedge funds and major banks such as Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and most notably, Goldman Sachs, the bank always present when there are big bucks to be won for little effort betting on a sure thing. They’re getting a generous assist from the US Government agency entrusted with regulating financial derivatives, the Commodity Futures Trading Corporation (CFTC).

Source: oilnergy.com

Since the beginning of October 2011, some six months ago, the price of Brent Crude Oil Futures on the ICE Futures exchange has risen from just below $100 a barrel to over $126 per barrel, a rise of more than 25%. Back in 2009 oil was $30.

Yet demand for crude oil worldwide is not rising, but rather is declining in the same period. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports that the world oil supply rose by 1.3 million barrels a day in the last three months of 2011 while world demand increased by just over half that during that same time period.Gasoline usage is down in the US by 8%, Europe by 22% and even in China. Recession across much of the European Union, a deepening recession/depression in the United States and slowdown in Japan have reduced global oil demand while new discoveries are coming online daily and countries like Iraq are increasing supply after years of war. A brief spike in China’s oil purchases in January and February had to do with a decision last December to build their Strategic Petroleum Reserve and is expected to return to more normal import levels by the end of this month.

Why then the huge spike in oil prices?

Playing with ‘paper oil’

A brief look at how today’s “paper oil” markets function is useful. Since Goldman Sachs bought J. Aron & Co., a savvy commodities trader in the 1980’s, trading in crude oil has gone from a domain of buyers and sellers of spot or physical oil to a market where unregulated speculation in oil futures, bets on a price of a given crude on a specific future date, usually in 30 or 60 or 90 days, and not actual supply-demand of physical oil determine daily oil prices.

In recent years, a Wall Street-friendly (and Wall Street financed) US Congress has passed several laws to help the banks that were interested in trading oil futures, among them one that allowed the bankrupt Enron to get away with a financial ponzi scheme worth billions in 2001 before it went bankrupt.

The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA) was drafted by the man who today is President Obama’s Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner. The CFMA in effect gave over-the-counter (between financial institutions) derivatives trading in energy futures free reign, absent any US Government supervision, as a result of the financially influential lobbying pressure of the Wall Street banks. Oil and other energy products were exempt under what came to be called the “Enron Loophole.”

In 2008 during a popular outrage against Wall Street banks for causing the financial crisis, Congress finally passed a law over the veto of President George Bush to “close the Enron Loophole.” And as of January 2011, under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform act, the CFTC was given authority to impose position caps on oil traders beginning in January 2011.

Curiously, these limits have not yet been implemented by the CFTC. In a recent interview Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont stated that the CFTC doesn’t “have the will” to enact these limits and “needs to obey the law.” He adds, “What we need to do is…limit the amount of oil any one company can control on the oil futures market. The function of these speculators is not to use oil but to make profits from speculation, drive prices up and sell.”1 While he has made noises of trying to close the loopholes, CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler has yet to do so. Notably,Gensler is a former executive of, you guessed, Goldman Sachs. The enforcement by the CFTC remains non-existent.

The role of key banks along with oil majors such as BP in manipulating a new oil price bubble since last Autumn, one detached from the physical reality of supply-demand calculations of real oil barrels, is being noted by a number of sources.

A ‘gambling casino…’

Current estimates are that speculators, that is futures traders such as banks and hedge funds who have no intent of taking physical delivery but only of turning a paper profit, today control some 80 percent of the energy futures market, up from 30 percent a decade ago. CFTC Chair Gary Gensler, perhaps to maintain a patina of credibility while his agency ignored the legal mandate of Congress, declared last year in reference to oil markets that “huge inflows of speculative money create a self-fulfilling prophecy that drives up commodity prices.” 2 In early March, Kuwaiti Oil Minister Minister Hani Hussein said in an interview broadcast on state television, “Under the supply and demand theory, oil prices today are not justified.”3

Michael Greenberger, professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and a former CFTC regulator who has tried to draw public attention to the consequences of the US Government’s decisions to allow unbridled speculation and manipulation of energy prices by big banks and funds, recently noted, “There are 50 studies showing that speculation adds an incredible premium to the price of oil, but somehow that hasn’t seeped into the conventional wisdom,” Greenberger said. “Once you have the market dominated by speculators, what you really have is a gambling casino.” 4

The result of a permissive US Government regulation of oil markets has created the ideal conditions whereby a handful of strategic banks and financial institutions, interestingly the same ones dominating world trade in oil derivatives and the same ones who own the shares of the major oil trading exchange in London, ICE Futures, are able to manipulate huge short-term swings in the price we pay for oil or gasoline or countless other petroleum-based products.

We are in the midst of one of those swings now, one made worse by the Israeli saber-rattling rhetoric over Iran’s nuclear program. Let me go on record stating categorically my firm conviction that Israel will not engage in a direct war against Iran nor will Washington. But the effect of the war rhetoric is to create the ideal backdrop for a massive speculative spike in oil. Some analysts speak of oil at $150 by summer.

Hillary Clinton just insured that the oil price will continue to ride high for months on fears of a war with Iran by delivering a new ultimatum to Iran on the nuclear issue in talks with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, “by year’s end or else…” 5

Curiously, one of the real drivers of the current oil price bubble is the Obama Administration’s economic sanctions recently imposed on oil transactions of the Central Bank of Iran. By pressuring Japan, South Korea and the EU not to import Iranian oil or face punitive actions, Washington has reportedly forced a huge drop in oil supply from Iran to the world market in recent weeks, giving a turbo boost to the Wall Street derivatives play on oil. In a recent OpEd in the London Financial Times, Ian Bremmer and David Gordon of the Eurasia Group wrote, “… removing too much Iranian oil from the world’s energy supply could cause an oil price spike that would halt the recovery even as it does some financial damage to Iran. For perhaps the first time, sanctions have the potential to be ‘too successful,’ hurting the sanctioners as much as the sanctioned.”

Iran is shipping 300,000 to 400,000 a barrels a day less than its usual 2.5 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg. Last week, the US Energy Information Administration said in a report that much of that Iranian oil isn’t being exported because insurers won’t issue policies for the shipments.6

The issue of unbridled and unregulated oil derivatives speculation by a handful of big banks is not a new issue. A June 2006 US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report on “The Role of Market Speculation in rising oil and gas prices,” noted, “…there is substantial evidence supporting the conclusion that the large amount of speculation in the current market has significantly increased prices.”

The report pointed out that the Commodity Futures Trading Trading Commission had been mandated by Congress to ensure that prices on the futures market reflect the laws of supply and demand rather than manipulative practices or excessive speculation. The US Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) states, “Excessive speculation in any commodity under contracts of sale of such commodity for future delivery . . . causing sudden or unreasonable fluctuations or unwarranted changes in the price of such commodity, is an undue and unnecessary burden on interstate commerce in such commodity.” Further, the CEA directs the CFTC to establish such trading limits “as the Commission finds are necessary to diminish, eliminate, or prevent such burden.”7

Where is the CFTC now that we need such limits? As Senator Sanders correctly noted, the CFTC appears to ignore the law to the benefit of Goldman Sachs and Wall Street friends who dominate the trade in oil futures.

The moment that it becomes clear that the Obama Administration has acted to prevent any war with Iran by opening various diplomatic back-channels and that Netanyahu is merely trying to use the war threats to enhance his tactical position to horse trade with an Obama Administration he despises, the price of oil is poised to drop like a stone within days. Until then, the key oil derivatives insiders are laughing all the way to the bank. The effect of the soaring oil prices on fragile world economic growth, especially in countries like China is very negative as well.

Notes:

1 Morgan Korn, Oil Speculators Must Be Stopped and the CFTC “Needs to Obey the Law”: Sen. Bernie Sanders, Daily Ticker, March 7, 2012, accessed in
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/oil-speculators-must-stopped-ctfc-needs-obey-law-182903332.html

2 Ibid.

3 UpstreamOnline, Kuwait’s oil minister believes current world oil prices are not justified, adding that the Gulf state’s current production rate will not affect its level of strategic reserves, 12 March 2012, accessed in
http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article1236944.ece

4 Peter S. Goodman, Behind Gas Price Increases, Obama’s Failure To Crack Down On Speculators, The Huffington Post, March 15, 2012, accessed in
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-s-goodman/gas-price-increase_b_1346035.html

5 Tom Parfitt, US ‘tells Russia to warn Iran of last chance’ , The Telegraph, 14 March 2012, accessed in

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9142688/US-tells-Russia-to-warn-Iran-of-last-chance.html

6 Steve Levine, Obama administration brushes off oil price impact of Iran sanctions, Foreign Policy, March 8, 2012, accessed in
http://oilandglory.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/03/08/obama_administration_brushes_off_oil_price_impact_of_iran_sanctions

7 F. William Engdahl, ‘Perhaps 60% of today’s oil price is pure speculation’, Global Research, May 2, 2008, accessed in
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8878.
F. William Engdahl is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by F. William Engdahl

READ FULL STORY HERE

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

noliesradio — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:43:44 +0000

Op-Ed Contributor

March 14, 2012 nytimes.com

By GREG SMITH

TODAY is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm — first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London — I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.

To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world’s largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.

It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for 143 years. It wasn’t just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.

But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.

I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.

When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm’s culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm’s moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.

Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia. My clients have a total asset base of more than a trillion dollars. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my clients to do what I believe is right for them, even if it means less money for the firm. This view is becoming increasingly unpopular at Goldman Sachs. Another sign that it was time to leave.

How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.

What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients — some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t — to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.

Today, many of these leaders display a Goldman Sachs culture quotient of exactly zero percent. I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It’s purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client’s success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.

It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as “muppets,” sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God’s work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don’t know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client’s goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
………………………………………………….

Greg Smith is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm’s United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Cynthia’s Soapbox!–Rocky Anderson_ on Soapbox

noliesradio — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 16:20:43 +0000

This show was broadcast March 17, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 21:00 GMT

Cynthia’s Soapbox! — Rocky Anderson

Cindy was in Ireland, invited there by the Irish Committee to Free the (Cuban) 5. She welcomes our wonderful guest-host, Cynthia McKinney. Cynthia is a long-time and dear Soapbox friend (and a Soapbox hero), who presents Presidential Candidate of the Justice Party (a NEW 3rd party!) Rocky Anderson. Rocky was formerly the mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah between 2000 and 2008. A serious peace activist and opponent of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and their related human rights abuses, our very own and well-beloved peacemom has a great respect for him. (So does Cynthia.) Rocky presents his informed and intelligent analysis of our nation’s swift erosion of all our proud legacy of proud support for American Constitutional rights during our persistent post 9-11 slide towards even the worst behaviors by totalitarian states in the past.

This interview is from March 11, 2012.
Cindy’s website is here.

Geithner Turfed Out by EU Bankers_on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:23:18 +0000

This show was broadcast March 17, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Geithner Turfed Out by EU Bankers — Michael Hudson

Prof Hudson appears on the Renegade Economists radio show to discuss the economic growth trap, compound interest, Sumeria, the corruption of economics and how US interests are flexing in the debate over what constitutes a CDO default in the EU. From A Renegade Economists Radio Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

3-Hour Military Test Secretly Administered in Thousands of High Schools _on Anti-War Progressive Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:02:15 +0000

This show was broadcast March 17, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

3-Hour Military Test Secretly Administered in Thousands of High Schools
Pat Elder of the National Coalition to Protect Student Privacy (StudentPrivacy.org) explains how the U.S. military gets away with requiring students in thousands of U.S. high schools to take a 3-hour career inventory test with the results going straight to recruiters without students’ or parents’ knowledge. From A Talk Nation Radio Presentation.

Live Video-Cast from California_Project Censored 2012

noliesradio — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 16:15:29 +0000

Coming up Thur March 15th 7pm Pacific * 10pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT (Fri)
This show was broadcast LIVE on March 15, 2012. See video archive below.

Live Video-Cast from California

_Project Censored 2012

Join us for reports and dialogue on this part year’s top censored stories and media analysis by Media Freedom Foundation President Peter Phillips, Project Censored Director Mickey Huff, Associate Director Andy Roth, Abby Martin of Media Roots, Michale Levitin of the Occupy Wall Street Journal, Dennis Bernstein (poet and KPFA Flashpoint producer), Doug Heckler filmmaker of a new Project Censored Documentary, Evelina Molina of KBBF Radio, Mary Lia of Fair Share of the Common Heritage, activist Carol Brouillet, author Dr. Paul Rea, Amy Ortiz student contributor to Censored 2012, and Kenn Burrows SFSU contributor to Censored 2012, and many more.

Celebrate Project Censored’s latest book
Censored 2012: Sourcebook for the Media Revolution

Censored 2012 involved over 100 professors and 250 students from 19 colleges and universities all over the world. Books can be purchased online at www.projectcensored.org or by coming to the event March 15th. The mission of Project Censored is to teach students and the public about the role of a free press in a free society – and to tell the News That Didn’t Make the News and Why.

Special thanks to the board of directors at the Media Freedom Foundation (MFF), Dr. Carl Jensen, Dorothy Andersen, No Lies Radio, KPFA/Pacifica Radio, KBBF, The Progressive Radio Network, Michael David Winery, Peet’s Coffee and Tea, and independent journalists, truth-tellers, and Occupy movement everywhere! Viva la 99%!

If you are in the North San Francisco Bay Area, please attend in person to support:
March 15, 2012
Wine and Cheese Reception 6:00-7:00 PM Pacific: Event 7:00-9:00 PM Pacific
Arlene Francis Center for Spirit Art and Politics
99 6th St. Santa Rosa, California
Donation $10.00 at the Door
Click here for map and directions.

This is a No Lies Radio News Live Video-Cast from Santa Rosa, California.

Fukushima Disaster One Year Later, and A U.S. Marine Goes On a Killing Spree in Afghanistan _ Flashpoints Best

noliesradio — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 04:10:17 +0000

This show was broadcast March 13, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

FLASHPOINTS BEST
Fukushima Disaster One Year Later, and A U.S. Marine Goes On a Killing Spree in Afghanistan
Today on Flashpoints: Remembering the nuclear disaster at Fukushima: we’ll be joined by legendary anti-nuclear activist Dr. Helen Caldicott: Marine slaughters women and children in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Speakers: Helen Caldicott, Afghan for Peace, Stephanie Tang.

There IS An Alternative To European Austerity: Modern Money Theory (MMT) _on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 04:37:25 +0000

This show was broadcast March 12, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
There IS An Alternative To European Austerity: Modern Money Theory (MMT) — Stephanie Kelton and Michael Hudson
Difference between sovereign and non-sovereign money; what is money; fiat money; gold standard; fixed exchange rates; the Euro; difference between central banks and commercial banks; deflation and inflation; financial war against the economy; credit supply and asset prices; bank lending and capital investment; debt deflation stage and austerity stage of finance capitalism.

Economics of Happiness _ on Soapbox

noliesradio — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 16:02:17 +0000

This show was broadcast March 10, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 21:00 GMT

Economics of Happiness!

Today, Cindy writes: – Dear Friend, We, once again, and as usual, have a FABULOUS Soapbox for you this Sunday (2pm pacific time). I will once again be speaking to Helena Norberg-Hodge, the producer of one of my all-time favorite documentaries: The Economics of Happiness. The interview that we previously did with Helena can be heard at this link. The Economics of Happiness is hosting a conference in Berkeley the weekend of March 22, click this link for more info.

This interview is from March 4, 2012.
Cindy’s website is here.

There IS An Alternative To European Austerity: Modern Money Theory (MMT) _ on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 14:44:32 +0000

This show was broadcast March 10, 2012.
It is archived here — Use Player

There IS An Alternative To European Austerity: Modern Money Theory (MMT) — Stephanie Kelton and Michael Hudson

Difference between sovereign and non-sovereign money; what is money; fiat money; gold standard; fixed exchange rates; the Euro; difference between central banks and commercial banks; deflation and inflation; financial war against the economy; credit supply and asset prices; bank lending and capital investment; debt deflation stage and austerity stage of finance capitalism. From A Guns & Butter Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Occupy Education and the Season for Nonviolence_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:14:21 +0000

This show was broadcast March 8, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Thursday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

Occupy Education and the Season for Nonviolence

We begin this morning talking about the ongoing Occupy Education events and the upcoming March in March for this Monday March 5 in Sacramento (see occupyeducationca.org for details)- our first guests include Kristy Morrison of Galileo High School in SF (K-12); Marc Lispi, an instructor at BCC (community colleges); and Eden Foley of UCB (UC) which include some of the folks from AgainstCuts.org. At the bottom of the hour we hear from Steve Zeltzer of Work Week Radio with the labor calendar. In the second half of the program we’ll be joined by Kenn Burrows of the Holistic Health Learning Center at San Francisco State University and hear about a series going on there right now called Season for Nonviolence. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots.

Author-journalist Greg Felton returns_on The Kevin Barrett Show

noliesradio — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:59:21 +0000

This show was broadcast March 6, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 17:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”
EXCLUSIVE –Tuesday on KB Show:
Author-journalist Greg Felton returns

Greg Felton is the author of The Host and the Parasite, Exploding Middle East Myths, and more. A disillusioned former mainstream journalist, Greg is now an acerbic media critic among other things. Greg seems to agree with yesterday’s guest Gordon Duff that Netanyahu is losing his hold over Obama and American policy; he cites Jewish Times editor Andrew Adler’s pathetic call to assassinate Obama for Israel as a sign of the “declining influence of a parasitic hegemon.” Maybe the Zionist creeps buying oil futures, on the assumption that US war for Israel is a done deal, are in for a rude surprise!

Check out Kevin’s new book: Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters.

Roseanne returns!_on Soapbox

noliesradio — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:09:50 +0000

This show was broadcast March 3, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 21:00 GMT

Roseanne returns!

Today, Cindy is unavailable for comment (due to issues related to her”Surprise: Cindy. You’re being sued!” post, linked here) and our website editor is also under the weather, so all we have is a maximally excellent appearance of comedian Rosanne Barr – once more running for President of the United States. (Only this time she has the endorsement of NORML – which is most important in the State of California!) Cindy also brings us musician David Rovics, author of the 2005 tune our webmaster always thinks of as Casey’s song, but which David actually recorded under the title “Song for Cindy Sheehan.”

This interview is from February 19, 2012.
Cindy’s website is here.

The Greatest Bank Robbery Ever _ on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 04:28:41 +0000

This show was broadcast March 3, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

The Greatest Bank Robbery Ever — William K. Black

Banks, intensifying financial crises; money manager capitalism; sovereign currency; crony capitalism; theoclassical economists; control fraud, Commodities Future Modernization Act of 2000; S&L Liars’ Loan Crisis of 1990-91; Reinventing Government Movement; deregulation, desupervision and defacto decriminalization; fraud incentives; looting; subprime; Enron; Parmalat; BofA; Citigroup; Ameriquest; Washington Mutual; systemically dangerous institutions; Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB); faux stress tests; European austerity crisis; Mario Draghi, President of the ECB. From A Guns & Butter Presentation.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Arctic Emergency – Global Threat _ on Ecoshock

noliesradio — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:40:55 +0000

This show was broadcast March 2, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — Arctic Emergency – Global Threat

Will sea ice melt & methane cause climate runaway? – Is the Arctic tipping into a global climate emergency? Three interviews with 3 top climate scientists: Carlos Duarte, award-winning oceanographer; Peter Wadhams, arctic sea ice specialist at Cambridge; David Archer, University of Chicago, carbon & methane expert, co-editor at RealClimate.org. Each evaluates the possibility of a sudden methane burst raising global temperatures, and other Arctic risks.

This is a transition show from Earthbeat to Radio Ecoshock. It explains the change to regular listeners. Earthbeat host Daphne Wysham is off the air, while she reorganizes for a possible return. By agreement, Alex Smith is providing environment news and analysis via the Radio Ecoshock show. You can help Earthbeat to return by visiting their website here.

Ditching the Commons_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:27:14 +0000

This Show was broadcast by No Lies Radio on March 1, 2012.
It is now archived — Use Player

Coming up every Thursday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

Ditching the Commons

Ditching the Commons: Water and Community– The River Project and Cotati Creek Critters are featured on listener-supported, free speech radio KPFA 94.1 Berkeley (online kpfa.org) 24 February, 8:00-9:00am, Pacific time (FINAL SHOW OF FUND DRIVE- we are offering the film Thirst and the book Water Matters).

“A vanguard of citizens, communities, farmers, and corporations are thinking about water in a new way,” water expert and author Sandra Postel writes.

Please join Project Censored’s Mickey Huff and Andy Roth (guest producer of this week’s program) for their weekly KPFA broadcast on Friday, 24 February 2012, featuring guests from two organizations on the vanguard of this new orientation to water.

Melanie Winter is founder and director of The River Project, a nonprofit organization that provides communities with the tools they need to reclaim their riverfront lands. The River Project has played an essential role in the creation of a new state park at Taylor Yard, once an abandoned and polluted rail yard on the edge of the Los Angeles River.

Jenny Blaker and Wade Belew represent the Cotati Creek Critters – literally a grassroots organization, dedicated to the restoration and stewardship of the upper reach of the Laguna de Santa Rosa — which has been designated a wetlands of international importance — in Sonoma County.

Broadcasting since 1949, KPFA 94.1 Berkeley is listener-supported, free speech radio. Please tune-in for this special broadcast and consider making a donation to support the station in its mission to provide diverse programming in service of the community. And thanks to No Lies Radio and Progressive Radio Network for their support and rebroadcasting of this public affairs program. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots. Note: today’s show has fundraising messages from KPFA.

America’s Credit and Housing Crisis: New State Bank Bills

noliesradio — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 03:46:31 +0000

by Ellen Brown

Global Research, February 27, 2012
Web of Debt – 2012-02-26

Seventeen states have now introduced bills for state-owned banks, and others are in the works. Hawaii’s innovative state bank bill addresses the foreclosure mess. County-owned banks are being proposed that would tackle the housing crisis by exercising the right of eminent domain on abandoned and foreclosed properties. Arizona has a bill that would do this for homeowners who are current in their payments but underwater, allowing them to refinance at fair market value.

The long-awaited settlement between 49 state Attorneys General and the big five robo-signing banks is proving to be a major disappointment before it has even been signed, sealed and court approved. Critics maintain that the bankers responsible for the housing crisis and the jobs crisis will again be buying their way out of jail, and the curtain will again drop on the scene of the crime.

We may not be able to beat the banks, but we don’t have to play their game. We can take our marbles and go home. The Move Your Money campaign has already prompted more than 600,000 consumers to move their funds out of Wall Street banks into local banks, and there are much larger pools that could be pulled out in the form of state revenues. States generally deposit their revenues and invest their capital with large Wall Street banks, which use those hefty sums to speculate, invest abroad, and buy up the local banks that service our communities and local economies. The states receive a modest interest, and Wall Street lends the money back at much higher interest.

Rhode Island is a case in point. In an article titled “Where Are R.I. Revenues Being Invested? Not Locally,” Kyle Hence wrote in ecoRI News on January 26^th:

According to a December Treasury report, only 10 percent of Rhode Island’s short-term investments reside in truly local in-state banks, namely Washington Trust and BankRI. Meanwhile, 40 percent of these investments were placed with foreign-owned banks, including a British-government owned bank under investigation by the European Union.

Further, millions have been invested by Rhode Island in a fund created by a global buyout firm . . . . From 2008 to mid-2010, the fund lost 10 percent of its value — more than $2 million. . . . Three of four of Rhode Island’s representatives in Washington, D.C., count [this fund] amongst their top 25 political campaign donors . . . .

Hence asks:

Are Rhode Islanders and the state economy being served well here? Is it not time for the state to more fully invest directly in Rhode Island, either through local banks more deeply rooted in the community or through the creation of a new state-owned bank?

Hence observes that state-owned banks are “[o]ne emerging solution being widely considered nationwide . . . . Since the onset of the economic collapse about five years ago, 16 states have studied or explored creating state-owned banks, according to a recent Associated Press report.”

2012 Additions to the Public Bank Movement

Make that 17 states, including three joining the list of states introducing state bank bills in 2012: Idaho (a bill for a feasibility study), New Hampshire (a bill for a bank), and Vermont (introducing THREE bills—one for a state bank study, one for a state currency, and one for a state voucher/warrant system). With North Dakota, which has had its own bank for nearly a century, that makes 18 states that have introduced bills in one form or another—36% of U.S. states. For states and text of bills, see here.

Other recent state bank developments were in Virginia, Hawaii, Washington State, and California, all of which have upgraded from bills to study the feasibility of a state-owned bank to bills to actually establish a bank. The most recent, California’s new bill, was introduced on Friday, February 24^th.

All of these bills point to the Bank of North Dakota as their model. Kyle Hence notes that North Dakota has maintained a thriving economy throughout the current recession:

One of the reasons, some say, is the Bank of North Dakota, which was formed in 1919 and is the only state-owned or public bank in the United States. All state revenues flow into the Bank of North Dakota and back out into the state in the form of loans.

Since 2008, while servicing student, agricultural and energy— including wind — sector loans within North Dakota, every dollar of profit by the bank, which has added up to tens of millions, flows back into state coffers and directly supports the needs of the state in ways private banks do not.

Publicly-owned Banks and the Housing Crisis

A novel approach is taken in the new Hawaii bill: it proposes a program to deal with the housing crisis and the widespread problem of breaks in the chain of title due to robo-signing, faulty assignments, and MERS. (For more on this problem, see here.) According to a February 10^threport on the bill from the Hawaii House Committees on Economic Revitalization and Business & Housing:

The purpose of this measure is to establish the bank of the State of Hawaii in order to develop a program to acquire residential property in situations where the mortgagor is an owner-occupant who has defaulted on a mortgage or been denied a mortgage loan modification and the mortgagee is a securitized trust that cannot adequately demonstrate that it is a holder in due course.

The bill provides that in cases of foreclosure in which the mortgagee cannot prove its right to foreclose or to collect on the mortgage, foreclosure shall be stayed and the bank of the State of Hawaii may offer to buy the property from the owner-occupant for a sum not exceeding 75% of the principal balance due on the mortgage loan. The bank of the State of Hawaii can then rent or sell the property back to the owner-occupant at a fair price on reasonable terms.

Arizona Senate Bill 1451, which just passed the Senate Banking Committee 6 to 0, would do something similar for homeowners who are current on their payments but whose mortgages are underwater (exceeding the property’s current fair market value). Martin Andelman calls the bill a “revolutionary approach to revitalizing the state’s increasingly water-logged housing market, which has left over 500,000 of Arizona’s homeowners in a hopelessly immobile state.”

The bill would establish an Arizona Housing Finance Reform Authority to refinance the mortgages of Arizona homeowners who owe more than their homes are currently worth. The existing mortgage would be replaced with a new mortgage from AHFRA in an amount up to 125% of the home’s current fair market value. The existing lender would get paid 101% of the home’s fair market value, and would get a non-interest-bearing note called a “loss recapture certificate” covering a portion of any underwater amounts, to be paid over time. The capital to refinance the mortgages would come from floating revenue bonds, and payment on the bonds would come solely from monies paid by the homeowner-borrowers. An Arizona Home Insurance Fund would create a cash reserve of up to 20 percent of the bond and would be used to insure against losses. The bill would thus cost the state nothing.

Critics of the Arizona bill maintain that it shifts losses from collapsed property values onto banks and investors, violating the law of contracts; and critics of the Hawaii bill maintain that the state bank could wind up having paid more than market value for a slew of underwater homes. An option that would avoid both of these objections is one suggested by Michael Sauvante of the Commonwealth Group, discussed earlier here: the state or county could exercise its right of eminent domain on blighted, foreclosed and abandoned properties. It could offer to pay fair market value to anyone who could prove title (something that with today’s defective title records normally can’t be done), then dispose of the property through a publicly-owned land bank as equity and fairness dictates. If a bank or trust could prove title, the claimant would get fair market value, which would be no less than it would have gotten at an auction; and if it could not prove title, it legally would have no claim to the property. Investors who could prove actual monetary damages would still have an unsecured claim in equity against the mortgagors for any sums owed.

Rhode Island Next?

As the housing crisis lingers on with little sign of relief from the Feds, innovative state and local solutions like these are gaining adherents in other states; and one of them is Rhode Island, which is in serious need of relief. According to The Pew Center on the States, “The country’s smallest state . . . was one of the first states to fall into the recession because of the housing crisis and may be one of the last to emerge.”

Rhode Islanders are proud of having been first in a number of more positive achievements, including being the first of the 13 original colonies to declare independence from British rule. A state bank presentation was made to the president of the Rhode Island Senate and other key leaders earlier this month that was reportedly well received. Proponents have ambitions of making Rhode Island the first state in this century to move its money out of Wall Street into its own state bank, one owned and operated by the people for the people.

Ellen Brown is an attorney and president of the Public Banking Institute, http://PublicBankingInstitute.org. In Web of Debt, her latest of eleven books, she shows how a private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her websites are http://WebofDebt.com and http://EllenBrown.com.
Ellen Brown is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Ellen Brown

READ FULL STORY HERE

William Engdahl: WARNING: Nuclear war coming soon (if we let it) _on The Kevin Barrett Show

noliesradio — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:49:38 +0000

Kevin is on sabbatical until March 6th, 2012. Today’s show is an encore edition from January 10, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 16:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”
EXCLUSIVE –Tuesday on KB Show:
William Engdahl: WARNING: Nuclear war coming soon (if we let it)

Guest: William Engdahl, who warns in a new article:
“Most in the civilized world are blissfully unaware that we are marching ineluctably towards an increasingly likely pre-emptive nuclear war. No, it’s not at all about Iran and Israel. It’s about the decision of Washington and the Pentagon to push Moscow up against the wall with what is euphemistically called Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD).”

William Engdahl is the author of Full Spectrum Dominance
Totalitarian Democracy in the New World Order (which covers the material discussed on today’s show) as well as Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation and A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order.

Check out Kevin’s new book: Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters.

Finance Is the New Mode of Warfare — Dr. Michael Hudson_on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:56:16 +0000

This show was broadcast February 27, 2011.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 02:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
Finance Is the New Mode of Warfare
– Dr. Michael Hudson
Interview with financial economist and historian, Dr. Michael Hudson, regarding the jobless recovery; the debt ceiling and default; China; Greece; banks, not countries, receive the bailouts; financial warfare; IMF and EU; European Central Bank; US credit default swaps; US agricultural exports create food dependency; currency devaluation devalues the price of labor; class war of banks against the rest of society. Dr. Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trend, a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of “Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire”. Visit his website here. See article on this subject here.

Cuba Sets a Global Example for the Achievements of Socialism

noliesradio — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 06:01:07 +0000

Cuba Sets a Global Example for the Achievements of Socialism by Prof. Peter Phillips

Global Research, February 25, 2012

In an all day conference, February 10, 2012, some 120 authors, professors, and journalists, from dozens of Caribbean, American and African countries, met with Fidel Castro. Those attending were invited participants for the Intellectual Encounters for Peace and the Preservation of the Environment event at the Havana Convention Center. Topics discussed in the nine-hour session were world peace, environmentalism, neo-liberal capitalism, and the continuing importance of socialism.

Fidel Castro (age 85) urged those assembled to a moral duty to prevent the extinction of humankind and challenge the expanding predations of neo-liberal global capitalism. He expressed concern for the inevitable collapse of Wall Street and the international monetary system. Paper money is worthless without backing from gold or other assets, Castro asserted. Environmental destruction is classless in that eventually all will suffer—both the rich and the poor—if neo-liberal capitalism continues on its rampart global destruction, he professed.

Castro’s main message was clear. Cuban socialism is an international example of a humanitarian economy in the world. “We have over 80,000 doctors,” he said, and “we are currently training 830 Pakistani medical students and many others from around the world.”

Fidel Castro, reverently referred to as “Commandante” by many of those present, was flanked by the Cuban Minister of Culture, Abel Prieto, and the president of the Cuban Book Institute, Zuleika Romay. The participants in the encounter were invited guests to the 2012 International Cuban Book Fair that ran from February 10 to 19 in Havana.

The nine-hour session went from 1:00 PM until after 10:00 PM, with only two short coffee breaks. Fidel gave extended responses during the event, commenting on the presentations, asking questions, and recalling the history of the Cuban revolution and Cuba’s humanitarian efforts over the past fifty plus years. Some 40 people presented briefings on their concerns. The lies and propaganda of the corporate/capitalist media were important themes for the day. One participant remarked how the global corporate media seeks to create a monoculture of the mind inside the capitalist countries.

As an invited author for the International Cuban Book Fair, I was honored to participate in the discussions held with the “Commandante.” His energy is inspiring and his command of history and contemporary issues is phenomenal. Castro had serious health issues a few years back, but remains mentally alert. He walked with assistance from his bodyguards, but remained fully participatory in the nine-hour session.

Cuba is an international example of the potentialities of socialism, and an ongoing symbolic challenge to marketplace capitalism. In the United States there is a continuing propaganda drumbeat against the Cuban revolution. Castro is often described as a military dictator repressing his people and blocking freedoms in Cuba. But this description ignores some undisputed social advances under his leadership that could serve as an example of what a society can do when it turns its resources to humanitarian purposes.

Contemporary neo-liberal capitalism undercuts wages, unions and social welfare, which results in the expansion of poverty, hunger, and extreme inequality. Cuba is a demonstration that humanitarian socialism can work for the masses. Cuba is the number one organic farming country in the world. Cuba has full employment, zero starvation, and some of the best health care in the world. Cuba’s life expectancy is equal to the United States and education up through university is paid for by the state for all students.

As a media-reform advocate, participant and observer, I watched tens of thousands of young people arrive at the International Book Fair in the old Spanish fort overlooking downtown Havana. These are multi-generations of people who have never suffered media advertisements. Three University of Havana literature majors, with whom I spent a full day, laughed hysterically when I asked them if they wanted a McDonald’s Happy Meal. They represent a people who accept the equality of socialism and collective growth of human betterment, and will strongly defend their way of life if necessary. As literature majors they have completed three years of Latin, and are starting classical Greek. They have had courses in historical and modern Latin American and European literature, and art. Their university education costs them nothing, and the government provides all textbooks and living expenses.

After the collapse of the USSR, Cuba lost most of it subsidies from the socialist block of nations. The early 1990s were a difficult transition. This was when Cuba opened it doors to those who wanted to leave. Some 30,000 people choose to move to the United States. Yet, ten million people choose to stay and build the independent socialist country that Cuba is today. Several other South American countries, notably Venezuela and Ecuador, have taken note of Cuba’s successes and are moving in a similar direction seeking socialist equality.

Some in the US believe that when the senior Cuban leadership from the 1959 revolution passes away, US corporations and displaced Cubans abroad will waltz back into Havana to return capitalism to the island. It is very clear to me, and many contemporary observers, that multiple generations of socialist Cubans will never allow this to happen.

Peter Phillips is a Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State University and President of Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored. He co-edited with Mickey Huff Censored 2011, which was published in Spanish for the International Book Fair in Cuba. Mickey Huff is the director of Project Censored and editor of the recently published Censored 2012, which was presented to Fidel Castro February 10, 2012.
Peter Phillips is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Peter Phillips

READ FULL STORY HERE

Spoiling for War on Syria

noliesradio — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:53:39 +0000

Spoiling for War on Syria by Stephen Lendman

Global Research, February 25, 2012

Image: Free Syrian Army “peace soldiers”

Nearly a year ago, Western-backed insurgent violence erupted. Heavily armed foreign fighters supplemented internal ones. Al Qaeda’s very much involved.

Russian and Chinese peace initiatives are spurned. Washington, rogue NATO partners, and pro-Western regional allies want conflict.

Reports suggest Jordan’s hosting 40,000 heavily armed insurgents along Syria’s southern border ready to intervene. Former Libyan Al Qaeda commander Abdelhakim Belhadj commands nearly half of them.

Iraqi fighters are massed to Syria’s east, ready to join them. So are so-called Free Syrian Army insurgents north in Turkey. Perhaps escalated violence is planned for Sunday, February 26, when Syrians vote up or down on Assad’s new draft constitution.

A mass supportive turnout would embarrass Washington, its allies, and insurgent leaders. Preventing it violently may be planned.

Syrian National Council and Free Syrian Army dissidents reject it out of hand. So does Washington. White House spokesman Jay Carney called it “laughable. It makes a mockery of the Syrian revolution. Promises of reforms have usually been followed by an increase in brutality and have never been delivered by the regime” since protests began.

Other US officials made similar disparaging remarks. Washington want protracted conflict to replace Assad with a pro-Western regime.

They ignore his repeated good faith reform announcements and thousands of released prisoners. At the same time, insurgent violence continues. He’s blamed for confronting it responsibly. So would other leaders to restore order.

Fundamental International Law

International law backs them. The UN Charter’s Article 51 states:
“Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.”
In addition, individual states may use defensive force against armed attacks until the Security Council acts. Other exceptions don’t apply, including armed reprisals. Calling them unlawful, the General Assembly said all states must refrain from using them.

The right of self-defense is limited solely to deterring armed attacks, preventing future ones after initial assaults, or reversing the consequences of enemy aggression, such as heavily armed Western-backed Syrian insurgents.

Not only does international law support Assad, he’s obligated to defend his people under armed attack.

However, force must conform to the principles of necessity, distinction, and proportionality.

Necessity permits only attacking military targets.

Distinction pertains to distinguishing between civilian and military ones.

Proportionality prohibits disproportionate force likely to damage nonmilitary sites and/or harm civilian lives.

A fourth consideration requires preventing unnecessary suffering, especially affecting noncombatant civilians.

If these objective aren’t possible, attacks are prohibited, but not when civilian lives are threatened by hostile elements doing most of the killing.

In addition, to a limited degree, anticipatory self-defense is permitted when compelling evidence shows likely imminent threats or further attacks after initial ones.

However, attackers bear burden of proof. For nearly a year, Syria faced Western-backed violence. Confronting it’s essential to restore order.

In contrast, under no circumstances, with no exceptions may one nation, NATO, or other combination of nations intervene against another without Security Council authorization. Doing so is illegal aggression, a lawless act of war.

The UN Charter’s Article 2(7) states:

“Nothing contained in the present charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII,” pertaining to threats to peace, its breaches, or acts of aggression.

Western-backed aggression rages in Syria. Likely escalation’s planned. Under UN Charter provisions, the Security Council’s obligated to confront it, not Assad. He and nonviolent Syrians are victims, not villains.

In Libya, responsibility to protect (R2P) humanitarian intervention was cover for aggressive war. Tens of thousands died. The country was ravaged. Out-of-control violence still rages. Perhaps similar strategy is planned for Syria.

Doing so violates the UN Charter’s Chapter VI. It calls for resolving disputes peacefully. Humanitarian intervention authority never permits military force or other hostile acts.

Doing so ignores Chapter VII authorization to impose boycotts, embargoes, blockades, and severed diplomatic ties when justified – never war, except in self-defense and only until the Security Council acts.

The General Assembly’s 2005 World Summit Outcome Document adopted R2P authority. Paragraph 138 said each nation must “protect (its) population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.”

Paragraph 139 delegates UN responsibility “to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from” these crimes.

Military force isn’t authorized. The UN Charter prohibits it for humanitarian interventions. As a result, justifying it under R2P is illegal. Doing so is lawless aggression. Western-backed insurgents violate fundamental international law. Assad’s wrongfully blamed.

Syria’s now up for grabs. Will it remain independent or be ravaged like Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya and become another exploited Western colony?

Heading for Western Intervention

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested it, saying Syrian opposition forces will become “increasingly capable” of confronting Assad aggressively.
“They will, from somewhere, somehow, find the means to defend themselves, as well as begin offensive measures.”
Directly or indirectly, America’s arming insurgent forces. Former US diplomat Walid Maalouf said Washington’s “secretly providing aid to (Syria’s) opposition.” For years, US weapons and munitions flooded the region and still do. America’s directly involved in cross-border smuggling, including from Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey near Syria’s border.

In addition, UK/CIA/MI6 operatives train insurgents and provide active support. UK and Qatari troops are involved. Heavy weapons and munitions are supplied. US Special Forces and foreign troops are positioned along Syria’s border. Perhaps they’ve already entered covertly.

Fifty Turkish officers were arrested in Syria. They were secretly organizing opposition forces. They admitted being trained by Israeli Special Forces to help destabilize Assad’s government. Others may also be caught in the act. Reports suggest Saudi Arabia and Qatar are paying anti-Gaddafi insurgents $1,000 monthly to fight Assad.

On February 23, the Mossad-connected DEBKAfile headlined, “US, France, UK, Turkey, Italy prepare for military intervention in Syria,” saying:
“Despite public denials, military preparations for intervention (against Syria) are quietly afoot….”
Obama’s poised to act, according to DEBKA’s Washington sources. Allied countries await “a White House decision before going forward.” Defying Security Council authority, perhaps acting on behalf of “Friends of Syria” is planned. With these type “friends,” who needs enemies. They replicate “Friend of Libya” responsible for NATO intervention.

London’s Telegraph reported on US/EU/Arab League/allied nations “Friends of Syria” meeting in Tunis. According to an “updated draft declaration,” they demand all civilian area violence immediately stop, and that humanitarian supplies be allowed to enter.

Blame insurgents for violence and preventing humanitarian aid access. Assad’s wrongfully condemned for confronting them.

In addition, the draft praised Syrian National Council (SNC) regime opponents. Short of full recognition, it called them “legitimate representative(s) of Syrians seeking peaceful democratic change.”

In fact, along with Free Syrian Army insurgents, they’re slaughtering civilians and state security forces. They reject peaceful resolution in contrast to internal Assad opponents who demand it. As a result, they’re entirely shut out for opposing Western plans.

The draft also pledged to “increase its engagement with and practical support for the Syrian opposition” without elaborating further.

The current draft’s a work in progress. Its final text may change, but not its message. It demands regime change, so far barely stopping short of declaring war.

According to UK Foreign Secretary William Hague:
“Governments around the world have the responsibility to act….and to redouble our efforts to stop the Assad regime’s despicable campaign of terror.”
He also barely stopped short of declaring war. Increasingly, it looks likely, and if so, expect a bloodbath like Libya.

On Thursday, a UN panel of three investigators led by Brazilian Professor Paulo Pinheiro said Assad’s government ordered “gross human rights violations, amounting to crimes against humanity.”

It also claimed “credible and consistent evidence” of Syrian forces shooting “unarmed protesters,” killing soldiers refusing to obey orders, and “arrest(ing) persons without cause,” mistreating them, and “attack(ing) civilian neighborhoods with indiscriminate tanks and machine-gun fire.”

Evidence it claimed came from people with “inside knowledge.” It’s similar to falsified Gaddafi crimes, including using rape as a weapon of war and massacring civilians to justify intervention.

Insurgents were also accused of similar abuses, but not “comparable in scale and organization to those carried out by the state.”

On February 23, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was appointed joint UN-Arab League envoy on the Syrian crisis. A reliable imperial tool, his entire tenure reflected shameless, dismal failure to fulfill the mandate he was sworn to uphold; namely:

“to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights; to establish conditions (promoting) justice….equal rights of men and women (in all nations)….(respect for) international law….promote social progress….to ensure….armed force shall not be used” and much more.

His successor, Ban Ki-moon, keeps replicating his dismal record. He brazenly accused Assad of crimes against humanity, saying he “indiscriminately” shells neighborhoods, uses hospitals “as torture centers,” and “jails” and “abuses” children young as 10.

Western leaders and major media scoundrels also use two foreign journalist deaths to further heighten tensions. France’s Nicolas Sarkozy said “enough is enough. This regime must go.” Other leaders called it the “breaking point.”

Both entered illegally. Media reports praise them. Assad’s unjustifiably blamed for their death.

A Final Comment

With Western aggression likely, the wild card is will Russia and China intervene. Both countries reject foreign interference. They call for peaceful conflict resolution. Instead, it’s escalating toward all-out war.

Each nation has vital regional interests. Will they remain spectators if diplomacy fails? Much hinges on their plans.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
Stephen Lendman is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Stephen Lendman

READ FULL STORY HERE

Economist Richard Wolff — “Capitalism Hits The Fan” _ on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 04:57:30 +0000

This Show was broadcast by No Lies Radio on February 25, 2012.
It is now archived — Use Player

Economist Richard Wolff — “Capitalism Hits The Fan”

An Evening with Richard Wolff, author of “Capitalism Hits the Fan; The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It” From A Flashpoints Presentation. Recorded at Berkeley Hillside Club 2-20-2012.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Brother Larry_on Soapbox

noliesradio — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 06:08:49 +0000

This Show was broadcast by No Lies Radio on February 25, 2012.
It is now archived — Use Player

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 21:00 GMT

Brother Larry

Cindy brings us: Obama’s Progress Report! Failure for the 99% – Wildly successful for the 1%. Dear Friend, in what has become a Soapbox tradition, this Sunday I interview Black Panther and Black Commentator columnist, Brother Larry Pinkney with his analysis of the Obama regime. Incredibly, this will be Brother Larry’s 4th appearance as Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox heads into it’s 4th year! I also chat with anti-nuke activist, MacGregor Eddy about a planned action (which I will be attending) on February 25th at Vandenburg AFB in California.

This interview is from February 19, 2012.
Cindy’s website is here.

Real cowards go to Tehran

noliesradio — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:55:03 +0000

?THE ROVING EYE
Real cowards go to Tehran
By Pepe Escobar atimes.com 2-22-2012

Imagine the classic United States neo-conservative wet dream; staring at Iran on a map and salivating about the crossroads between Europe and Asia, between the Arab world and the Indian subcontinent, between the Arabian Sea and Central Asia, with 10% of the world’s proven oil reserves (over 150 billion barrels) and 15% of proven gas reserves – an energy complex bigger than Saudi Arabia and arbiter of the energy routes from the Persian Gulf to the West and Asia via the Strait of Hormuz.

It’s like a pudgy armchair action man mesmerized by a nimble lap dancer. I’m gonna make you mine, honey. It’s regime change time, gotta snuff out the owner of this joint. Otherwise, people will

start talking; what kind of chicken global hegemon is this?

So the neo-cons got their New Year’s Eve Barack Obama administration’s Iran sanctions/embargo package, duly replicated by the European poodle parade. But it was not supposed to be like this. The lap dancer leapt from the stage and applied a neck scissors on the armchair action man; he’s suffocating, not her. The whole thing is … misfiring! Just like the latest neo-con Big Idea – the invasion, occupation and inevitable defeat in Iraq, to the tune of more than US$1 trillion.

Baby, sanction me one more time
Let’s review some of the latest evidence. Tehran has just sent two of its warships through the Suez Canal towards the Mediterranean; they docked at the Syrian port of Tartus – no less. Not so long ago, disgraced dictator and close House of Saud pal Hosni Mubarak would have probably bombed them.

Tehran cut off oil exports to the top European war poodles, Britain and France. That’s only 1% of British imports and 4% of France’s imports – but the message was clear; if the depressed Club Med countries insist on following Anglo-French warmongering, they’re next.

Brent crude is hitting $121 a barrel – an eight-month high. West Texas Intermediate, traded in New York, is hovering around $105. Brent is crucial, because it sets the consumer price for gasoline in most of the US and Western Europe. The neo-cons swore on their Bibles and Torahs there would be no oil spike. It happened – like clockwork, proving once again their knowledge of market speculation is of a two-year-old (no offense to lovely two-year-olds).

The funds Tehran is losing because of the sanctions – in terms of less exports to Europe – are being largely compensated by the oil-price spike caused by the neo-con-driven warmongering. On top of it, Tehran is bound to sell more oil to its top Asian clients – China, India, Japan and South Korea, and even Turkey, all of whom, with varying degrees of diplomacy, have told Washington to mind its own business.

As Asia Times Online had advanced, it took some time but Iran and China have just closed a new oil pricing deal. And the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline is a definitive go. And Afghanistan and Pakistan – as well as Iran – badly want to be admitted at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), accelerating regional economic integration.

The fact that the Israel lobby drafters of the sanctions package couldn’t foresee any of this proves once again they live the vegetative life of armchair “action” men.

Neo-con parrots are left to the “sanctions are biting” blah blah blah. Or to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, married to neo-con Robert Kagan, assuring pressure is being put on all these countries so they may do “what they can to increase sanctions, particularly to wean themselves from Iranian crude”. Nobody is “weaning” from anything – apart from the self-defeating European poodles.

Also exposed is the myth of Saudi spare capacity. There is none. Saudi reserves are falling at a rate of 3% a year (it’s exporting 11.8 million barrels a day, and falling). Moreover, the House of Saud does not want to pump more oil; it needs high oil prices to bribe its own population out of noxious Arab Spring ideas.

Then there’s the strawberry on the cheesecake, too delicious to pass up. Goldman Sachs has just placed Iran as one of the “Next 11″ in the developing world after the BRICS, only one among five developing nations with above average “productivity and sustainability of growth”. Perhaps a Persian Britney Spears should be singing “Baby, sanction me one more time.”

Baby, I’m coming to get ya
From the point of view of Washington, the only thing that really counts in the interminable nuclear charade is whether Iran may reach the ability to build a nuclear weapon in record time in case the leadership in Tehran is absolutely sure the US/Israel axis will attack.

That’s exactly what Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the US Senate Armed Services Committee last Thursday; Iran is “more than capable of producing enough highly-enriched uranium for a weapon if its political leaders – specifically the Supreme Leader himself – chooses to do so.”

What Clapper didn’t specify is that Tehran is enriching uranium to a paltry 3.5%; a nuclear bomb needs 95% – and that would be immediately detected by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
If that happens – and that’s a major if – there’s no way regime change from the outside may be imposed. Thus bye bye to the Big Prize in oil and gas coveted by anyone from realist Dr Zbig Brzezinski to former Darth Vader, Dick Cheney.

READ FULL STORY HERE

How Greece Could Take Down Wall Street

noliesradio — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:18:48 +0000

by Ellen Brown

Global Research, February 21, 2012
Web of Debt

In an article titled “Still No End to ‘Too Big to Fail,’” William Greider wrote in The Nation on February 15^th:

Financial market cynics have assumed all along that Dodd-Frank did not end “too big to fail” but instead created a charmed circle of protected banks labeled “systemically important” that will not be allowed to fail, no matter how badly they behave.

That may be, but there is one bit of bad behavior that Uncle Sam himself does not have the funds to underwrite: the $32 trillion market in credit default swaps (CDS). Thirty-two trillion dollars is more than twice the U.S. GDP and more than twice the national debt.

CDS are a form of derivative taken out by investors as insurance against default. According to the Comptroller of the Currency, nearly 95% of the banking industry’s total exposure to derivatives contracts is held by the nation’s five largest banks: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, HSBC, and Goldman Sachs. The CDS market is unregulated, and there is no requirement that the “insurer” actually have the funds to pay up. CDS are more like bets, and a massive loss at the casino could bring the house down.

It could, at least, unless the casino is rigged. Whether a “credit event” is a “default” triggering a payout is determined by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), and it seems that the ISDA is owned by the world’s largest banks and hedge funds. That means the house determines whether the house has to pay.

The Houses of Morgan, Goldman and the other Big Five are justifiably worried right now, because an “event of default” declared on European sovereign debt could jeopardize their $32 trillion derivatives scheme. According to Rudy Avizius in an article on The Market Oracle (UK) on February 15^th, that explains what happened at MF Global, and why the 50% Greek bond write-down was not declared an event of default.

If you paid only 50% of your mortgage every month, these same banks would quickly declare you in default. But the rules are quite different when the banks are the insurers underwriting the deal.

MF Global: Canary in the Coal Mine?

MF Global was a major global financial derivatives broker until it met its unseemly demise on October 30, 2011, when it filed the eighth-largest U.S. bankruptcy after reporting a “material shortfall” of hundreds of millions of dollars in segregated customer funds. The brokerage used a large number of complex and controversial repurchase agreements, or “repos,” for funding and for leveraging profit. Among its losing bets was something described as a wrong-way $6.3 billion trade the brokerage made on its own behalf on bonds of some of Europe’s most indebted nations.

Avizius writes:

[A]n agreement was reached in Europe that investors would have to take a write-down of 50% on Greek Bond debt. Now MF Global was leveraged anywhere from 40 to 1, to 80 to 1 depending on whose figures you believe. Let’s assume that MF Global was leveraged 40 to 1, this means that they could not even absorb a small 3% loss, so when the “haircut” of 50% was agreed to, MF Global was finished. It tried to stem its losses by criminally dipping into segregated client accounts, and we all know how that ended with clients losing their money. . . .

However, MF Global thought that they had risk-free speculation because they had bought these CDS from these big banks to protect themselves in case their bets on European Debt went bad. MF Global should have been protected by its CDS, but since the ISDA would not declare the Greek “credit event” to be a default, MF Global could not cover its losses, causing its collapse.

The house won because it was able to define what “ winning” was. But what happens when Greece or another country simply walks away and refuses to pay? That is hardly a “haircut.” It is a decapitation. The asset is in rigor mortis. By no dictionary definition could it not qualify as a “default.”

That sort of definitive Greek default is thought by some analysts to be quite likely, and to be coming soon. Dr. Irwin Stelzer, a senior fellow and director of Hudson Institute’s economic policy studies group, was quoted in Saturday’s Yorkshire Post (UK) as saying:

It’s only a matter of time before they go bankrupt. They are bankrupt now, it’s only a question of how you recognise it and what you call it.

Certainly they will default . . . maybe as early as March. If I were them I’d get out [of the euro].

The Midas Touch Gone Bad

In an article in The Observer (UK) on February 11^thtitled “The Mathematical Equation That Caused the Banks to Crash,” Ian Stewart wrote of the Black-Scholes equation that opened up the world of derivatives:

The financial sector called it the Midas Formula and saw it as a recipe for making everything turn to gold. But the markets forgot how the story of King Midas ended.

As Aristotle told this ancient Greek tale, Midas died of hunger as a result of his vain prayer for the golden touch. Today, the Greek people are going hungry to protect a rigged $32 trillion Wall Street casino. Avizius writes:

The money made by selling these derivatives is directly responsible for the huge profits and bonuses we now see on Wall Street. The money masters have reaped obscene profits from this scheme, but now they live in fear that it will all unravel and the gravy train will end. What these banks have done is to leverage the system to such an extreme, that the entire house of cards is threatened by a small country of only 11 million people. Greece could bring the entire world economy down. If a default was declared, the resulting payouts would start a chain reaction that would cause widespread worldwide bank failures, making the Lehman collapse look small by comparison.

Some observers question whether a Greek default would be that bad. According to a comment on Forbes on October 10, 2011:

[T]he gross notional value of Greek CDS contracts as of last week was €54.34 billion, according to the latest report from data repository Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). DTCC is able to undertake internal netting analysis due to having data on essentially all of the CDS market. And it reported that the net losses would be an order of magnitude lower, with the maximum amount of funds that would move from one bank to another in connection with the settlement of CDS claims in a default being just €2.68 billion, total. If DTCC’s analysis is correct, the CDS market for Greek debt would not much magnify the consequences of a Greek default—unless it stimulated contagion that affected other European countries.

It is the “contagion,” however, that seems to be the concern. Players who have hedged their bets by betting both ways cannot collect on their winning bets; and that means they cannot afford to pay their losing bets, causing other players to also default on their bets. The dominos go down in a cascade of cross-defaults that infects the whole banking industry and jeopardizes the global pyramid scheme. The potential for this sort of nuclear reaction was what prompted billionaire investor Warren Buffett to call derivatives “weapons of financial mass destruction.” It is also why the banking system cannot let a major derivatives player—such as Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers—go down. What is in jeopardy is the derivatives scheme itself. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal on January 20^th:

Hanging in the balance is the reputation of CDS as an instrument for hedgers and speculators—a $32.4 trillion market as of June last year; the value that may be assigned to sovereign debt, and $2.9 trillion of sovereign CDS, if the protection isn’t seen as reliable in eliciting payouts; as well as the impact a messy Greek default could have on the global banking system.

Players in the future may simply refuse to play. When the house is so obviously rigged, the legitimacy of the whole CDS scheme is called into question. As MF Global found out the hard way, there is no such thing as “risk-free speculation” protected with derivatives.

Ellen Brown is an attorney and president of the Public Banking Institute, http://PublicBankingInstitute.org. In Web of Debt, her latest of eleven books, she shows how a private cartel has usurped the power to create money from the people themselves, and how we the people can get it back. Her websites are http://WebofDebt.com and http://EllenBrown.com.
Ellen Brown is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by Ellen Brown

READ FULL STORY HERE

From Cold War To Class War – Dr. Michael Hudson_on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:11:59 +0000

This Show was broadcast by No Lies Radio on February 20, 2012.
It is now archived — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
From Cold War To Class War – Dr. Michael Hudson
Interview with financial economist and historian, Dr. Michael Hudson. Liquidity crisis in the banking system; wiping out of credit; demise of the dollar; stock volatility; hedge funds; sub-prime lending, real estate tax versus labor tax, etc. Dr. Hudson was appointed Chief Economic Policy Advisor for the Kucinich for President campaign, and has written a new tax policy for the United States. He is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trend, a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of “Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire”. Visit his website at www.michael-hudson.com. Recorded 8/2007 but still extremely relevant today.

Who owns America? Hint: It’s not China

noliesradio — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:06:31 +0000

A close-up look at who holds America’s debt.

globalpost.com Thomas Mucha 7-20-2011

Here’s the big idea:

Many people — politicians and pundits alike — prattle on that China and, to a lesser extent Japan, own most of America’s $14.3 trillion in government debt.

But there’s one little problem with that conventional wisdom: it’s just not true. While the Chinese, Japanese and plenty of other foreigners own substantial amounts, it’s really Americans who hold most of America’s debt.

Here’s a quick and fascinating breakdown by total amount held and percentage of total U.S. debt, according to Business Insider:

Hong Kong: $121.9 billion (0.9 percent)
Caribbean banking centers: $148.3 (1 percent)
Taiwan: $153.4 billion (1.1 percent)
Brazil: $211.4 billion (1.5 percent)
Oil exporting countries: $229.8 billion (1.6 percent)
Mutual funds: $300.5 billion (2 percent)
Commercial banks: $301.8 billion (2.1 percent)
State, local and federal retirement funds: $320.9 billion (2.2 percent)
Money market mutual funds: $337.7 billion (2.4 percent)
United Kingdom: $346.5 billion (2.4 percent)
Private pension funds: $504.7 billion (3.5 percent)
State and local governments: $506.1 billion (3.5 percent)
Japan: $912.4 billion (6.4 percent)
U.S. households: $959.4 billion (6.6 percent)
China: $1.16 trillion (8 percent)
The U.S. Treasury: $1.63 trillion (11.3 percent)
Social Security trust fund: $2.67 trillion (19 percent)

So America owes foreigners about $4.5 trillion in debt. But America owes America $9.8 trillion.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Economic Update — Richard D. Wolff _ on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 06:19:07 +0000

This show was broadcast February 18, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Don’t Miss our Saturday – Economic Collapse Truth Teach-in Marathon
11am Pacific – 2pm Eastern – 18:00 GMT – Saturday
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

Coming up Saturday –
ONE KEY ECONOMIC COLLAPSE TRUTH Revelation
Key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Economic Update — Richard D. Wolff

This program focuses on Economic Democracy as a way out of the crisis and to ensure a less fragile and volatile economy moving forward. Professor Wolff calls this Democracy at Work and writes many articles about why companies should be worker self-directed. Updates on the housing market and crisis in general. From An Economic Update Presentation 2-11-2012.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

PLANTING FOREVER_on Ecoshock

noliesradio — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:31:34 +0000

This show was broadcast February 17, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 02:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — PLANTING FOREVER

How will we grow food as oil dwindles & climate changes? Wes Jackson of the Land Institute speech at ASPO 2011 finds a way. Plus critique of soil carbon solutions and biochar by Australian scientist Dr. Michael Raupach of CSIRO.

Now Archived_Live Video-Cast from San Francisco_Project Censored 2012

noliesradio — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:28:58 +0000

Coming up Thur Feb. 16th 7pm Pacific * 10pm Eastern * 03:00 GMT (Fri)
This event was video-cast Live on February 16, 2012. It is now archived below.

Live Video-Cast from San Francisco Bay Area

_Project Censored 2012

What are you missing from your news media? Mickey Huff, Peter Phillips and Andy Roth present “Censored 2012,” the top 25 censored news stories of 2010-11. “Censored 2012″ delves into media censorship, democracy, and bias with in-depth analysis, a history of propaganda, and critical investigations of both news stories and their delivery. Mickey Huff is the current Director of Project Censored. Andy Roth is an associate director and Peter Phillips is the past director and the current President of the Media Freedom Foundation. The mission of Project Censored is to teach students and the public about the role of a free press in a free society – and to tell the News That Didn’t Make the News and Why.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, please attend in person to support:
This is a book event at the Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco and is followed by a book signing.

Thursday, February 16, 2012 7:00 PM Pacific
Modern Times Bookstore
2919 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Click here for map and directions.

This is a No Lies Radio News Live Video-Cast from San Francisco, California.

“The Forces of Privatization and the Attack on Public Education” _on Project Censored

noliesradio — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:22:36 +0000

This show was broadcast on February 16, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Thursday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 02:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

“The Forces of Privatization and the Attack on Public Education”

Welcome to the Morning Mix, this is the Project Censored Show on KPFA Free Speech Radio in the Pacifica network. I’m Mickey Huff with Abby Martin of Media Roots (Peter Phillips is in Cuba covering the International Book Fair this week, we’ll have a special show about that in the coming weeks). Today’s show in this second week of the KPFA winter fund drive we bring you “The Forces of Privatization and the Attack on Public Education” as we hear from education historian and reform critic Diane Ravitch; Steve Zeltzer of Work Week Radio joins us at the bottom of the hour; and we round out today’s show with excerpts from the recent education conference at Laney College in Oakland, CA, we will play a clip from renowned historical geographer and author Gray Brechin. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots. Note: today’s show has fundraising messages from KPFA.

Senator Mike Gravel returns to the Kevin Barrett Show

noliesradio — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:21:28 +0000

Kevin is on sabbatical until March 6th, 2012. Today’s show is an encore edition from July 26, 2011.
It is archived here — Use Player

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 16:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”
EXCLUSIVE LIVE–Senator Mike Gravel returns to the Kevin Barrett Show

Email your questions or comments now.

Mike Gravel, the former Senator from Alaska and presidential candidate, is spearheading what may be the most promising push for a real 9/11 investigation: the 9/11 Commission Campaign, http://9-11cc.org/

Senator Gravel says the road to a real 9/11 investigation doesn’t run through Washington, DC, where everyone is bought and paid for. Instead, it runs through direct democracy: Specifically, ballot initiatives in states that allow citizens to directly enact legislation.

He will be testifying at the upcoming Toronto Hearings.

Check out Kevin’s new book: Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters.

America: Host or Parasite? — Dr. Michael Hudson _ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:57:47 +0000

This Show was broadcast by No Lies Radio on February 13, 2012.
It is now archived — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
America: Host or Parasite? — Dr. Michael Hudson
Interview with financial economist and historian, Dr. Michael Hudson. Dr. Hudson is President of The Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trend, a Wall Street Financial Analyst, Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City and author of “Super-Imperialism: The Economic Strategy of American Empire”. We discuss the US balance of payments trade deficit which creates US credit to finance the US national debt and war abroad; Russian economic shock therapy as the final stage of the cold war; the real estate bubble; permanent war and the inevitable collapse of the current US dominated global economic system. Visit his website at www.michael-hudson.com. This was recorded in March 2007, but it turns out that Dr. Hudson has predicted the economic collapse very accurately. Don’t Miss this One!!!

Economic Update — Richard D. Wolff _ on Economic Collapse Teach-in

noliesradio — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:15:05 +0000

This show was broadcast on February 11, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Economic Update — Richard D. Wolff

Updates on rising US political donations by the wealthy, 1990-2010; falling unemployment and retail jobs, the crisis in Greece and European pressures for cutting wages. Major topics analyzed: (1) trickle up vs trickle down economics, (2) Obama’s export promotion strategy, (3) the constant, enormous dependence of capitalist business on state supports. Response to mail:Florida as example of federal government support of a state economy and listener’s description of horrific job conditions in Hollywood. From An Economic Update Presentation 2-4-2012.

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Cindy Sheehan HEARTS Phil Donahue: 4th Season Premiere!

noliesradio — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:08:20 +0000

This show was broadcast on February 11, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 20:00 GMT

Cindy Sheehan HEARTS Phil Donahue: 4th Season Premiere!
Cindy Sheehan’s Soapbox is pleased to kick off our 4th season with GUSTO as we present progressive and legendary TV personality, Phil Donahue. Listen only if you want to be inspired with enthusiasm and optimism that we the people can, and will, make change for the better. Click here for more information about Phil’s antiwar documentary, Body of War.

I first met Phil Donahue in September of 2005, when Camp Casey activists were on a tour from Crawford, TX to Washington DC after our initial Occupation in August of 2005. Phil came to a talk I gave in Brooklyn, NY–then, a few days later he was on Bill O’Reilly’s show defending me as, “one tough mother.”

The video of that appearance has been brought to my attention so many times recently, I asked my producer, Mikey, to get me Phil Donahue for the show.

Phil agreed to come out of retirement to help kick off the 4th Season of the Soapbox with gusto.
This interview is from February 5, 2012.
Cindy’s website is here.

Building Empire through Endless Wars_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:27:53 +0000

This show was broadcast on February 9, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Thursday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 02:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

Building Empire through Endless Wars: The US/NATO Military Industrial Media Complex

Today’s show “Building Empire through Endless Wars: The US/NATO Military Industrial Media Complex.” Our first guest is author and activist David Swanson, we’ll talk about his newest work The Military Industrial Complex at 50; at the bottom of the hour we hear from Steve Zeltzer of Work Week Radio; and we conclude the show with Prof. Michel Chossodovsky, president and director of the Center for Research on Globalization out of Quebec, Canada, about his newest film Superpower and latest book Towards a World War III Scenario- The Dangers of Nuclear War. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots. Note: today’s show has fundraising messages from KPFA.

Ellen Brown: “Don’t Settle! Robo-signed mortgages = FRAUD” _on The Kevin Barrett Show

noliesradio — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:53:18 +0000

This Show was broadcast by No Lies Radio on February 7, 2012.
It is now archived — Use Player

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 16:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”

EXCLUSIVE –Tuesday on KB Show:
Ellen Brown: “Don’t Settle! Robo-signed mortgages = FRAUD”

Email your questions or comments now.

Guest, Ellen Brown, author, Web of Debt, whose new article “Why the AGs Must Not Settle: Robo-signing Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg” calls on states’ Attorneys General not to sign the proposed settlement agreement with banks that committed mortgage fraud. Why not? Because “the evidence to date suggests that ‘robo-signing’ was not a mere technical default or sloppy business practice but was part and parcel of a much larger fraud, the fraud that brought down the whole economy in 2008.”

By the way, I hear that people who face financial difficulties due to adjustable-rate mortgages – or any mortgages they can’t pay – have had increasing success fighting the banksters in court, thanks to the fact that so many mortgages are flawed or fraudulent. See http://www.foreclosureself-defense.com/

Check out Kevin’s new book: Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters.

The View From Europe– Dr. Michael Hudson_on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:50:28 +0000

This Show was broadcast by No Lies Radio on February 6, 2012.
It is now archived — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 03:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
The View From Europe– Dr. Michael Hudson
Interview with financial economist and historian, Dr. Michael Hudson. Financial and fiscal austerity policies; the appeal of economic austerity to bankers; economic depression and war; post-WWII vs. post-cold war economic policy; government to government grants vs. commercial lending; the euro and dollar; privatization in New Zealand and elsewhere; social unrest; speculation and prices; criminalization of the economy; impoverishment of the US. Visit his website at www.michael-hudson.com.

I Can’t Take It Anymore! When Will The Government Quit Putting Out Fraudulent Employment Statistics?

noliesradio — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:09:12 +0000

theeconomiccollapseblog.com 2-4-2012

On Friday, the entire financial world celebrated when it was announced that the unemployment rate in the United States had fallen to 8.3 percent. That is the lowest it has been since February 2009, and it came as an unexpected surprise for financial markets that are hungry for some good news. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nonfarm payrolls jumped by 243,000 during the month of January. You can read the full employment report right here. Based on this news, pundits all over the world were declaring that the U.S. economy is back. Stocks continued to rise on Friday and the Dow is hovering near a 4 year high. So does this mean that our economic problems are over? Of course not. A closer look at the numbers reveals just how fraudulent these employment statistics really are. Between December 2011 and January 2012, the number of Americans “not in the labor force” increased by a whopping 1.2 million. That was the largest increase ever in that category for a single month. That is how the federal government is getting the unemployment rate to go down. The government is simply pretending that huge numbers of unemployed Americans don’t want to be part of the labor force anymore. As you will see below, the employment situation in America is not improving. Yet everyone in the mainstream media is dancing around as if the economic crisis has been cancelled. I can’t take it anymore! It is beyond ridiculous that so many intelligent people continue to buy in to such fraudulent numbers.

The truth is that the labor force participation rate declined dramatically in January. For those unfamiliar with this statistic, the labor force participation rate is the percentage of working age Americans that are either employed or that are unemployed and considered to be looking for a job.

As you can see from the chart posted below, the labor force participation rate rose steadily between 1970 and 2000. That happened because large numbers of women were entering the labor force for the first time.

The labor force participation rate peaked at a little more then 67 percent in the late 90s. Between 2000 and the start of the recent recession, it declined slightly to about 66 percent.

Since then, it has been dropping like a rock. The chart below does not even include the latest data. In January, the labor force participation rate was only 63.7 percent. That is the lowest that is has been since May 1983. So keep that in mind as you view the chart.

In reality, the percentage of men and women in the United States that would like to have jobs is almost certainly about the same as it was back in 2007 or 2008. There has been no major social change that would cause large numbers of men or women to want to give up their careers. So there is something very, very fishy with this chart….

The federal government has been pretending that millions of unemployed Americans have decided that they simply do not want jobs anymore.

This does not make sense at all.

The truth is that unemployment is not really declining at all. The percentage of Americans that are working is not increasing. The civilian employment-population ratio dropped like a rock during 2008 and 2009 and it has held very steady since that time.

In January, the civilian employment-population ratio once again held steady at 58.5 percent. This is about where it has been for most of the last two years….

Does that chart look like an “economic recovery” to you?

Of course not.

If the percentage of people that are employed is about the same as it was two years ago, does that represent an improvement?

Of course not.

If the employment situation in America was getting better, the civilian employment-population ratio would be bouncing back.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Russia: “Should Anything Happen to Iran … This Will Be a Direct Threat to Our National Security”

noliesradio — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 03:12:02 +0000

Russia and China Would Consider An Attack On Iran – Or Syria – As An Attack On Their National Security

washingtonsblog.com 1-14-2012
RT notes:

The escalating conflict around Iran should be contained by common effort, otherwise the promising Arab Spring will grow into a “scorching Arab Summer,” says Dmitry Rogozin, Russia’s deputy prime minister and former envoy to NATO.

“Iran is our close neighbor, just south of the Caucasus. Should anything happen to Iran, should Iran get drawn into any political or military hardships, this will be a direct threat to our national security,” stressed Rogozin.

Here’s what Rogozin is talking about (notice how close the Southern tip of Russia is to Northern Iran):

A Chinese general has also allegedly said that China would launch World War III if Iran is attacked. And see this.

While many Americans still believe that our government would not be crazy enough to attack Iran,economic – not national security – considerations may be driving the warmongers.

In addition, Iran and Syria have had a mutual defense pact for years. And China and Russia might also defend Syria if it is attacked. So an attack on Syria could draw Iran into the war … followed by China and Russia.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Economic collapse in the Western nations-On the Edge with Max Keiser

noliesradio — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:11:44 +0000

This show was broadcast February 4, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Economic collapse in the Western nations-On the Edge with Max Keiser

In this edition of the show Max interviews the author Michael Hudson from Michael-Hudson.com. In this episode Max talks to Michael about the economic collapse in the Western nations and how this collapse gap thesis applies to the European economies currently experiencing a huge crisis. From A PressTVGlobalNews on Jan 28, 2012 Youtube upload.

Uploaded by PressTVGlobalNews on Jan 28, 2012

The Economic Collapse Teach-in encompasses upon some of the most highly controversial an crucial subjects of our day—the collapsing economy, the Federal Reserve, the Banks, Wall Street, financial fraud, foreclosures, homelessness, unemployment, workers rights, unions, trade agreements, etc. We scour the world to find and gather debates and presentations that are extremely informative and educational. Related subjects are also discussed. It provides key information for the uninitiated and the initiated alike.

Military Industrial Complex at 50, David Swanson _ on Anti-War Progressive Teach-in

noliesradio — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:04:16 +0000

This show was broadcast February 4, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Every Saturday – Anti-War – Progressive Truth Teach-in
Coming up at 9:00am Pacific * 12 noon Eastern * 16:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Monday.

Military Industrial Complex at 50, David Swanson
As he discusses co-authoring his new book MIC50, David Swanson provides context with recent US Military and foreign policy history in wars abroad. Iran, Congress, Corporate Power, and new energy to OWS movement, with dates for general strikes and protests. From a Talk Nation Radio Presentation.

Rosanne Barr and Cindy Hickey_on Soapbox

noliesradio — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:28:51 +0000

This show was broadcast February 4, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific – 04:00 pm Eastern – 20:00 GMT

Rosanne Barr and Cindy Hickey
Cindy presents two guests: 1) up is actress, comedian and political commentator Rosanne Barr, and then on to 2) Cindy Hickey, mother of incarcerated hiker (in Iran?) Shane Bauer. Roseanne presents her own web site, roseanneworld.com, and then moves on to discusses her new book: Roseannearchy, also known as “Dispatches from the Nut Farm.” It’s really her personal Journal on leaving ‘Babylon’ (Hollywood), for a real life in Hawaii. Golly gee, she sounds like “gasp” a real person here, boyz and grrls! Awesome, indeed – especially in this day and age! What I expected was a semi-comedic tour of “Roseanne’s World,” perhaps a distant cousin to “Wayne’s World.” What I got was a carefully reasoned and well thought-out semi-comedic presentation of a serious plan to save the world we already have. She’s done a marvelous job analyzing/structuring her “Roseanearchy” here, folks! Next up is Cindy Hiickey for her son, Shane Bauer. In July 2009, Josh Fatal and Shane Bauer, along with his fiancée Sarah Shourd were detained by Iranian forces while they were were enjoying a recreational hike in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. There are conflicting news reports about whether Iranian forces entered Iraq to arrest the three young Americans or they strayed across the poorly marked border by mistake. Supposedly, these three crossed the border into Iran illegally. Even Sarah says there were absolutely no border markings anywhere. Sarah, 32, was released on September 14, 2010, on humanitarian grounds after spending 410 days in solitary confinement and immediately vowed to work for the freedom of Shane and Josh, both 28. All three were charged shortly before Sarah’s release with illegal entry and espionage at a hearing in Evin Prison in Tehran where they were finally allowed to meet their lawyer for only the first time. Shane, Sarah and Josh are innocent of any crime. You can sign the International petition to free them at Freethehikers.org.This interview is from June 5, 2011.
Cindy’s website is here.

OIL TO OCCUPY: The Restless West Coast _ on Ecoshock

noliesradio — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:58:42 +0000

This show was broadcast February 3, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Friday at 7:00pm Pacific * 10:00pm Eastern * 02:00 GMT

ECOSHOCK — OIL TO OCCUPY: The Restless West Coast

With the Keystone Pipeline denied by U.S., Canada looks to sell dirty Tar Sands oil to China. “Oil Free Coast” features 3 speakers against a new northern pipeline & making Vancouver into an oil port. Art Sterritt (Coastal First Nations), Rex Weyler (tankerfreebc.org), & MP Nathan Cullen. Then on-scene audio from Occupy Wall St West in San Francisco Jan 20th, including author Ted Nace & activist Ananda Tan (awaiting arrest). Visit Ecoshock here.

ALEC and the 1% Censoring Journalists and Occupying Student Debt_on Project Censored

noliesradio — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:58:31 +0000

This show was broadcast February 2, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up every Thursday at 7:00 pm Pacific * 10:00 pm Eastern * 02:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast.

Broadcast From Berkeley, California

PROJECT CENSORED RADIO:

ALEC and the 1% Censoring Journalists and Occupying Student Debt

Today’s show is about ALEC and the 1% Censoring Journalists and Occupying Student Debt. We’ll hear about the Against Cuts Conference happening tomorrow at Berkeley City College, student organizer Dielly Diaz joins us from UC Berkeley; Lisa Graves of the Center for Media and Democracy returns to the program to discuss the American Legislative Exchange Council- and ALEC’s recent censoring of the press in AZ; at the bottom of the hour we hear from Steve Zeltzer of Work Week Radio with the labor calendar; and we conclude the show we talk to attorney and president of the Public Banking Institute Ellen Brown about a Jubilee on Student Loan Debt, which is one of the many concerns of the Occupy Wall St. movement. Show Hosts: Mickey Huff and Peter Phillips, with Abby Martin of Media Roots.

Meet election integrity expert John Washburn! _ on The Kevin Barrett Show

noliesradio — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:50:19 +0000

This show was broadcast January 31, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up Tuesday at 9am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 16:00 GMT
Will be archived here after the broadcast by Tuesday evening.

“THE KEVIN BARRETT SHOW”

EXCLUSIVE –Tuesday on KB Show:
Meet election integrity expert John Washburn!

Email your questions or comments now.

Guest: John Washburn, Wisconsin-based software engineer and election integrity activist. (Check out his blog and website.)

Is it just a coincidence that Wisconsin is about to “upgrade” to “new, improved” voting machines just in time for the nationally-important Scott Walker recall election? Why are those machines – and just about all voting machines – “black box” systems with proprietary software, so that only the people who program the machines know how they work (and how to hack them)?

The 1% needs Walker to win so it can keep pushing the 99% into poverty. You can bet they’ll be pulling out all the stops. If the recall-Walker people allow the election to proceed on black-box machines, the result (like the results of so many stolen elections, including the Bush coups of 2000 and 2004) is easily predictable.

For more information, click on the following links to the Wisconsin election integrity groups: Fair Elections Wisconsin and Wisconsin Citizens for Election Protection.

Check out Kevin’s new book: Questioning the War on Terror: A Primer for Obama Voters.

The Bilderberg Group: Rulers of the World _ on Guns & Butter

noliesradio — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:00:08 +0000

This show was broadcast January 30, 2012.
It is now archived here — Use Player

Coming up today and every Monday at 7:00 pm Pacific – 10:00 pm Eastern – 02:00 GMT

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner
The Bilderberg Group: Rulers of the World — Daniel Estulin
Interview with investigator and author, Daniel Estulin, on his book, “The True Story of the Bilderberg Group“, which describes an annual gathering where the European and American political elite, and the wealthiest CEOs of the world, all come together to discuss the economic and political future of humanity. Highly secretive, the press has never been allowed to attend, nor have statements ever been released on the group’s conclusions or discussions, which have great ramifications for all the citizens of the world. The book also includes sections on the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.

The Original 99% Movement

noliesradio — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:19:57 +0000

January 28, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog

Top Military Man Invokes the Occupy Movement in 1933

Smedley Butler was one of the most highly-decorated military men of all time. He is also the guy who – literally – stopped a coup against FDR. See this, this and this.

General Butler addressed the Bonus Army in Washington D.C. in 1933, as they “occupied” D.C. to demand compensation for their service to the country:

Smedley Butler from Louis Proyect on Vimeo.

General Butler invoked the 99% movement, telling the veterans:
We are divided, in America, into two classes: The Tories on one side, a class of citizens who were raised to believe that the whole of this country was created for their sole benefit, and on the other side, the other 99 per cent of us, the soldier class, the class from which all of you soldiers came. That class hasn’t any privileges except to die when the Tories tell them. Every war that we have ever had was gotten, up by that class. They do all the beating of the drums. Away the rest of us go. When we leave, you know what happens. We march down the street with all the Sears-Roebuck soldiers standing on the sidewalk, all the dollar-a-year men with spurs, all the patriots who call themselves patriots, square-legged women in uniforms making Liberty Loan speeches. They promise you. You go down the street and they ring all the church bells. Promise you the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth,–anything to save them. Off you go. Then the looting commences while you are doing the fighting. This last war made over 6,000 millionaires. Today those fellows won’t help pay the bill.
Indeed, veterans today support the 99% movement. They understand … just as General Butler understood.

As Butler wrote:

WAR is a racket. It always has been.

It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives.

A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small “inside” group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes.

In the World War [i.e. WWI] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War. That many admitted their huge blood gains in their income tax returns. How many other war millionaires falsified their tax returns no one knows.

How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle? How many of them dug a trench? How many of them knew what it meant to go hungry in a rat-infested dug-out? How many of them spent sleepless, frightened nights, ducking shells and shrapnel and machine gun bullets? How many of them parried a bayonet thrust of an enemy? How many of them were wounded or killed in battle?

Out of war nations acquire additional territory, if they are victorious. They just take it. This newly acquired territory promptly is exploited by the few — the selfsame few who wrung dollars out of blood in the war. The general public shoulders the bill.
(Watch an actor read Butler’s dramatic speech.)

No wonder the 1% persecute pacifists: they threaten the world’s most profitable game.

No wonder – as Nazi leader Hermann Goering noted – the war profiteers are always trying to trick the people into supporting war:
>Why of course the people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Economic collapse in the Western nations-On the Edge with Max Keiser-01-27-2012

noliesradio — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:23:14 +0000

Uploaded by PressTVGlobalNews on Jan 28, 2012

In this edition of the show Max interviews the author Michael Hudson from Michael-Hudson.com

In this episode Max talks to Michael about the economic collapse in the Western nations and how this collapse gap thesis applies to the European economies currently experiencing a huge crisis.