2009 Apr

ALERT: They rush to control organic and backyard farming


April 1, 2009

A serious wake-up call for all Americans

A bill to outlaw organic farming next week?

US House and Senate are about (in a week) to vote on bill that will OUTLAW ORGANIC FARMING (bill HR 875). There is an enormous rush to get this into law within the next 2 weeks before people realize what is happening.

Main backer and lobbyist is (guess who) Monsanto (aspartame maker) - chemical and genetic engineering giant corporation. This bill will require organic farms to use specific fertilizers and poisonous insect sprays dictated by the newly formed agency to "make sure there is no danger to the public food supply". This will include backyard gardens that grow food only for a family and not for sales.

If this passes then NO more heirloom clean seeds but only Monsanto genetically altered seeds that are now showing up with unexpected diseases in humans.



Фрукти і ягоди їстимемо "їхні"

1 квітня 2009

■ Квітневі приморозки знищили до 70 відсотків кісточкових

"Вони завдали шкоди садів¬ництву і виноградарству, осо¬бливо в Херсонській, Одесь¬кій, Миколаївській областях", — повідомив перший зам-міністра аграрної політики Юрій Лузан, прогнозуючи вро¬жай кісточкових. — Ми, мож¬ливо, втратимо 60, навіть 70 відсотків того, на що споді¬валися".

Невже не куштуватимемо цього року абрикосів, пер¬сиків, черешень, суниць та винограду? І чи доведеться призабути смак слив, аличі та ранніх яблук? Слово — екс¬перту.

— Первоцвіт не витримав хвилі арктичного повітря. У квітні нічні морози місцями сягали шести градусів, — роз¬повіла "Експресу" Марія Ко¬лесник, директор аналітичного відділу консалтингового агент¬ства "AAA". — На квіти дерев вплинули перепади температу¬ри, а на суниці та виноград — приморозки на грунті. Ситуація складна.

-1 чим вона загрожує?

— Високими цінами. Але за¬вдяки тому, що ми стали краї¬ною — членом COT, їх форму¬ватимуть з урахуванням імпор¬ту. Якщо раніше в нас було пе¬вне загороджувальне ввізне мито, яке в літній період під¬вищували незалежно від вро¬жаю, то тепер влада цього не може робити.

Отож ціна на продукти фор¬муватиметься, виходячи з кількості товару на ринку. В нас буде більше імпортованої продукції, зокрема ягід та фруктів. Але дорожчою вона буде насамперед в разі зне¬цінення гривні.

— Як орієнтовно зміниться ціна?

— Якщо прогноз міністер¬ства щодо врожаю кісточкових підтвердиться, то ціна справді буде високою. Але не переви¬щуватиме торішньої навіть удвічі. Через кризу ринок біль¬ше зважає на платоспромож¬ність споживача, оскільки фрукти і ягоди не є товаром першої необхідності.



An Antarctic ice shelf has disappeared - Reuters

April 4, 2009

One Antarctic ice shelf has quickly vanished, another is disappearing and glaciers are melting faster than anyone thought due to climate change, U.S. and British government researchers reported on Friday.

They said the Wordie Ice Shelf, which had been disintegrating since the 1960s, is gone and the northern part of the Larsen Ice Shelf no longer exists. More than 3,200 square miles (8,300 square km) have broken off from the Larsen shelf since 1986.

Climate change is to blame, according to the report from the U.S. Geological Survey and the British Antarctic Survey, available at pubs.usgs.gov/imap/2600/B.

"The rapid retreat of glaciers there demonstrates once again the profound effects our planet is already experiencing -- more rapidly than previously known -- as a consequence of climate change," U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.

"This continued and often significant glacier retreat is a wakeup call that change is happening ... and we need to be prepared," USGS glaciologist Jane Ferrigno, who led the Antarctica study, said in a statement.

"Antarctica is of special interest because it holds an estimated 91 percent of the Earth's glacier volume, and change anywhere in the ice sheet poses significant hazards to society," she said.

In another report published in the journal Geophysical Letters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that ice is melting much more rapidly than expected in the Arctic as well, based on new computer analyses and recent ice measurements.

The U.N. Climate Panel projects that world atmospheric temperature will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius because of emissions of greenhouse gases that could bring floods, droughts, heat waves and more powerful storms.

As glaciers and ice sheets melt, they can raise overall ocean levels and swamp low-lying areas.



Economic collapse Cover-Up

April 4, 2009

[link to www.washingtonsblog.com]

Senior S&L Regulator Says Government Engaging in Massive Cover-Up of Economic Crisis: “The Entire Strategy Is to Keep People from Getting the Facts”

William K. Black was the senior regulator during the S&L crisis, and an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri (bio).

Black says that massive fraud is what caused the economic crisis. As one example, he explains that everyone involved knew that the CDOs which packaged subprime loans were not AAA credit-worthy (which means that they are completely risk-free). He also said that the exotic instruments (CDOs, CDS, etc.) which spun the mortgages into more and more abstract investments were intentionally created to defraud investors.

Moreover, Black says that the government's entire strategy in dealing with the economic crisis is a massive cover-up:

[They] don't want to change the bankers, because if we do, if we put honest people in, who didn't cause the problem, their first job would be to find the scope of the problem. And that would destroy the cover up....

Geithner is ... covering up. Just like Paulson did before him....

These are all people who have failed. Paulson failed, Geithner failed. They were all promoted because they failed....

Until you get the facts, it's harder to blow all this up. And, of course, the entire strategy is to keep people from getting the facts....

[Question] Are you saying that Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and others in the administration, with the banks, are engaged in a cover up to keep us from knowing what went wrong?

[Black] Absolutely....

They're deliberately leaving in place the people that caused the problem, because they don't want the facts. And this is not new. The Reagan Administration's central priority, at all times, during the Savings and Loan crisis, was covering up the losses.

[Question] So, you're saying that people in power, political power, and financial power, act in concert when their own behinds are in the ringer, right?

That's right. And it's particularly a crisis that brings this out, because then the class of the banker says, "You've got to keep the information away from the public or everything will collapse."



Economist: US collapse driven by 'fraud'; Geithner covering up bank insolvency

April 6, 2009

In an explosive interview on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal, William K. Black, a professor of economics and law with the University of Missouri, alleged that American banks and credit agencies conspired to create a system in which so-called "liars loans" could receive AAA ratings and zero oversight, amounting to a massive "fraud" at the epicenter of US finance.

But worse still, said Black, Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama's Secretary of the Treasury, is currently engaged in a cover-up to keep the truth of America's financial insolvency from its citizens.

The interview, which aired Friday night, is carried on the Bill Moyers Journal Web site.

Black's most recent published work, "The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One," released in 2005, was hailed by Nobel-winning economist George A. Akerlof as "extraordinary."

"There is no one else in the whole world who understands so well exactly how these lootings occurred in all their details and how the changes in government regulations and in statutes in the early 1980s caused this spate of looting," he wrote. "This book will be a classic."

But that book only covers the fallout from the 1980s Savings & Loan crisis; Black's later first-hand involvement in that scandal being the ensuing liquidation of bad banks.

"A single bank, IndyMac, lost more money than the entire Savings and Loan Crisis," reported PBS. "The difference between now and then, explains Black, is a drastic reduction in regulation and oversight, 'We now know what happens when you destroy regulation. You get the biggest financial calamity of anybody under the age of 80.'"

That financial calamity, he explained, was brought about not by mishap or accident, but only after a concerted effort to undermine and remove all regulations, allowing a creditor free-for-all that hinged on fraudulent risk ratings for bad loans.

"[T]he way that you do it is to make really bad loans, because they pay better," he told Moyers. "Then you grow extremely rapidly, in other words, you're a Ponzi-like scheme. And the third thing you do is we call it leverage. That just means borrowing a lot of money, and the combination creates a situation where you have guaranteed record profits in the early years. That makes you rich, through the bonuses that modern executive compensation has produced. It also makes it inevitable that there's going to be a disaster down the road.

"...This stuff, the exotic stuff that you're talking about was created out of things like liars' loans, that were known to be extraordinarily bad," he continued. "And now it was getting triple-A ratings. Now a triple-A rating is supposed to mean there is zero credit risk. So you take something that not only has significant, it has crushing risk. That's why it's toxic. And you create this fiction that it has zero risk. That itself, of course, is a fraudulent exercise. And again, there was nobody looking, during the Bush years. So finally, only a year ago, we started to have a Congressional investigation of some of these rating agencies, and it's scandalous what came out. What we know now is that the rating agencies never looked at a single loan file. When they finally did look, after the markets had completely collapsed, they found, and I'm quoting Fitch, the smallest of the rating agencies, "the results were disconcerting, in that there was the appearance of fraud in nearly every file we examined."

He equated the entire US financial system to a giant "ponzi scheme" and charged Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, like Secretary Henry Paulson before him, of "covering up" the truth.

"Are you saying that Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and others in the administration, with the banks, are engaged in a cover up to keep us from knowing what went wrong?" asked Moyers.

"Absolutely, because they are scared to death," he said. "All right? They're scared to death of a collapse. They're afraid that if they admit the truth, that many of the large banks are insolvent. They think Americans are a bunch of cowards, and that we'll run screaming to the exits. And we won't rely on deposit insurance. And, by the way, you can rely on deposit insurance. And it's foolishness. All right? Now, it may be worse than that. You can impute more cynical motives. But I think they are sincerely just panicked about, 'We just can't let the big banks fail.' That's wrong."

Ultimately, said Black, the financial downfall of the United States in the wake of the Bush years is due to "the most elite institutions in America engaging in or facilitating fraud."

"When will Americans wake up and hold the real criminals - Banksters - accountable for their actions, and pressure the government to enact systemic changes to prevent future abuses?" asked Huffington Post blogger Mike Garibaldi-Frick.

The full interview can be viewed on-line.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch.html



Жах, який переживає Італія

9-16 квітня 2009

■ "Ще й досі перед очима стоїть картина, коли все навколо валиться. Такого й у страшному кіно не побачиш!"

Звістка про землетрус в Італії схвилювала українців, адже в цій країні лише офіційно пере¬буває нині понад 140 тисяч наших земляків.

... Коли я довідалась про трагедію, одразу почала набирати номер рідної сестри, яка теж уже понад п'ять років живе на Апен¬нінах. Одразу додзвонити¬ся не змогла, бо був пере-вантажений напря¬мок. А коли почула у слу¬хавці рідний голос, від¬лягло від серця.

"Я цілу ніч не спала, — каже Руслана. — Десь о пів на третю прокинулась від того, шо одна за одною почали надходити есеме-ски від знайомих, які жи¬вуть у різних куточках Італії. Знайомі питали, чи ми з чоловіком... живі".

В Італії оголосили над¬звичайний стан. Сейсмо¬логи одразу попередили людей про можливість повторних поштовхів. І фахівці не помилилися. У ніч з понеділка на вів¬торок знову затрясло. Цього разу підземні по¬штовхи були слабші — 3,9 бала.

"Ми не могли повірити в те, шо сталося, — каже моя сестра. — Це було схоже на якийсь страш¬ний сон. По телебаченню в прямому ефірі показу¬вали, як з-під уламків бу¬динків рятівники, присвічуючи ліхтарями, витя¬гають людей. Найбільше запам'яталася сцена, ко¬ли з-під руїн дістали мо¬лодого чоловіка. Коли його поклали на ноші, натовп зааплодував рятів¬никам. У всіх жителів Абруццо були сльози на очах. Усі плакали — одні від горя, інші від радості, шо залишились живі..."

За словами сестри, її найбільше здивувало те.

шо, коли вся країна в жа¬лобі, журналісти акцен¬тують увагу на тих, хто врятувався. Розказують, наприклад, про чоловіка зі селища Кастельнуово, який з чотирма дітьми лише кілька днів тому пе¬реїхав у новий будинок. А старий дім землетрус зрів¬няв із землею...

А 28-річна Анналіза Ангеліні чудом врятувала себе і своє немовля. Жінка народила того дня, коли почався землетрус. Після кесаревого розти¬ну, ше зі "свіжими" шва¬ми та дитиною на руках, босоніж бігла з пологово¬го будинку — услід за ме¬диками, які рятувались із лікарні, що в місті Л'Ак-віла. Також з-під уламків житлового будинку,який завалився в Сан-Грего-ріо, врятували 2-річну дівчинку. Мати накрила її своїм тілом, а сама заги¬нула.

"Я спав надворі, — роз¬повідає Валеріо, студент університету в Л'Аквілі.— 1 це мене врятувало. Ще й досі перед очима стоїть картина, коли все навко¬ло валиться. Такого й у страшному кіно не поба¬чиш! Я зі сльозами дивився, як рятівники розтяга¬ють блоки чотириповер-хівки. У ній, на другому поверсі, жили п'ятеро моїх найближчих друзів. І лише один залишився жи¬вий..."

"А ця історія сталася із друзями мого знайомого, — розповідає Руслана. — Після землетрусу сестра, яка опинилась під завала¬ми, змогла видобути з ки¬шені телефон і подзвони¬ла до брата. Він врятував її, давши координати ря¬тівникам. А ше мені роз¬повідали сусіди, шо їхню родичку вберегла від смер¬ті... новонароджена онуч¬ка. Дідусь із бабусею за день до землетрусу поїха¬ли до Німеччини — там живе їхня донька, яка кілька днів тому народи¬ла дівчинку... Коли вони повернулись в Італію, їхній будинок лежав у ру¬їнах".

Відомо, шо понад 17 тисяч людей залишилися без житла і понад 200 — загинули. На жаль, серед жертв і дві українки— восьмирічна дівчинка та доросла жінка.



Рятуйте сади від приморозків

23-30 квітня 2009

■ Через різке похолодання в Україні фахівці прогнозують значні втрати врожаю

23 — 25 квітня в Україні очікується різке похолодання. За інформацією гідро-метеоцєнтру, причи¬ною таких погодних змін буде вторгнення нової хвилі арктичного повітря.

Уночі температура повітря знизиться до 0 — мінус 7 градусів, а на поверхні фунту становити¬ме мінус 4 — 9. У деяких облас¬тях фунт промерзне до 10 гра¬дусів. Вдень же температура повіфя буде 7—12 фадусів теп¬ла.

Як це позначиться на май¬бутніх врожаях? Запи¬туємо про це Миколу Гаврилюка, академі-ка-секретаря відді¬лення рослинництва Української академії афарних наук.

— Два роки тому від таких весняних примо¬розків загинули геть усі бруньки персиків, аличі та інших кісточкових. Чи можна передбачити шкоду від теперішнього похолодання?

— Приморозки в цей час можуть за¬шкодити не лише садам, — від¬повідає Микола Гаврилюк. — Щоправда, для озимої групи культур (пшениця, жито) така

зміна погодних умов не несе се¬рйозної загрози. Чого не ска¬жеш про ярову фупу (цукровий буряк, соя, овочі). Зниження температури може негативно вплинути на ріст рослин та їх розвиток.

Більше того, приморозки можуть призвести до їх заги¬белі. Для таких невтішних на¬слідків може вистачити лише однієї ночі, якщо температура на фунті становитиме мінус 2 — З градуси! Якшо таке ста¬неться, доведеться пересівати. Що ж стосується садів, то вони також у небезпеці. Адже вже почали цвісти дерева (у Криму абрикоси відцвітають). Морози пошкодять плодову за¬в'язь. А отже, можемо залишитись цьогоріч без персиків, яблук, абрикосів.

— А чи можна якось зарадити у такій ситу¬ації?

— У давні часи наші діди в морозні ночі роз¬палювали великі багат¬тя зі старої соломи.

Дим розносився по са¬дах та полях, і це ряту¬вало майбутній врожай. Адже саме дим нейт¬ралізує надходження холоду, призводить до підвищення температури. Ово¬чеві культури можна врятувати завдяки агроволокну.



Америка голодує. І це не жарт

квітень 2009

Більш як трьом мільйо¬нам американських дітей загрожує голод.

Таку інформацію оприлюднила неурядова організація "Feeding America", яка проаналізувала дані міністерства сільського господар¬ства.

Згідно з ними від голоду потер¬пає кожна п'ята дитина в країні. А в штатах Луїзіана, Північна Кароліна та Огайо голодує кожна четверта дитина віком до п'яти років. Неспри¬ятлива ситуація склалася також у штатах Кентуккі, Техас, Нью-Мек¬сико, Канзас, Південна Кароліна, Теннессі, Айдахо, Арканзас, Західна

Вірджинія і Міссурі.

Як повідомляють експерти, зага¬лом по США голодують і недоїда¬ють 12 мільйонів дітей віком до 18 років. А в період економічної кризи ця кількість різко зростає. Лише за недавній період сімей, у котрих го¬лодують, побільшало на 11%.



Криза по-іспанськи

квітень 2009

Рівень безробіття в Іспанії сягнув 22%.

Ще недавно країна запрошува¬ла на роботу іноземців, а тепер не може забезпечити навіть своїх громадян. Сьогодні Іспанія є одним зі світових лідерів за кількістю без¬робітних. Число шукачів роботи тут сягнуло 4 мільйонів. Це найвищий показник за останні 32 роки.

Однак і ці цифри неповні, адже тут не враховано підприємців, які вна¬слідок кризи втратили бізнес (а отже, й місце праці), і нелегальних іммі¬грантів.

За даними Національного інсти¬туту статистики, рівень безробіття становить понад 17%. Однак не¬урядові організації стверджують: якщо врахувати всі фактори, по¬казник може сягнути й 22%.

Притому світла в кінці тунелю урядовці наразі не бачать. "Ми не чекаємо, що найближчим часом бу¬дуть позитивні зрушення, оскільки фінансова криза супроводжується кризою у будівництві, де задіяно дуже багато наших громадян, — заявив держсекретар з економічних питань Давід Вегара. — Це, без сумніву, найгірша криза у сфері зайнятості". Нагадаємо, недавно глава уряду Іспанії Хосе Сапатеро попросив ви¬бачення за "соціальну драму", яку спровокував його кабінет міністрів.



Масштаби кризи — секрет

30 КВІТНЯ — 7 ТРАВНЯ 2009 РОКУ

Президент змушений займатися економічною розвідкою в уряді своєї ж країни

"Сьогодні складно мати всебічне уявлення про ситуацію в економіці через рішення уряду не публікувати статистики щодо економічного розвитку", — заявив днями заступник голови президентського Секретаріату Олександр Шлапак.

Істотно рідше стали готува¬ти й оприлюднювати відпо¬відну інформацію. При цьому уряд припинив щоденне інформування навіть глави держави про два останні показ¬ники.

Більше про те, як і чому уряд "шифрує" свою економічну діяльність, — у розмові "Експре¬су" з керівником політичних

програм УНЦПД Світланою Конончук і директором програм політичного аналізу та безпеки МЦПД Віктором Чумаком.

— Чи зобов'язаний Кабінет Міністрів оприлюднювати по¬точні економічні показники?

■ В. ЧУМАК:

— Доповідати про еконо¬мічну ситуацію у державі пре-

м'єр формально не зобов'яза¬ний. Однак це загальна практи¬ка в будь-якій країні! Така інформація не є ні таємною, ні закритою, її повинні знати і посадові особи, і пересічні гро¬мадяни. Якщо відповідних да¬них не оприлюднюють або по¬дають пізніше чи у викривленій формі, то це дуже погано. Бо тоді неможливо вчасно аналі¬зувати і прогнозувати розвиток економічної ситуації у країні. А може, цей уряд геть неадек¬ватний і веде країну до прірви? Як це знати вчасно?

■ С КОНОНЧУК:

— Так, уряд повинен інфор-

мувати главу держави про еко¬номічну ситуацію, тому що є органом виконавчої влади і у своїй діяльності керується усіма документами, які вихо¬дять з-під Його пера. Якщо Пре¬зидент має запит на таку ін¬формацію, Кабмін зобов'яза¬ний її надати.

Загалом же справді 2 квітня Кабінет Міністрів затвердив новий план статистичних спо¬стережень на поточний рік. У документі також вказано, що Державний комітет статистики отримує право вносити зміни до цього плану за погодженням із Кабміном. Тобто сам вирішити про оприлюднення чогось ра-

ніше Держкомстат не має пра¬ва.

— Чим вмотивована практика уряду приховувати економічні показники?

■ В. ЧУМАК:

— Тут усе просто. Нинішні показники свідчать про знижен¬ня виробництва і погіршення економічної ситуації загалом у країні. А це, без сумніву, не до¬даватиме політичних та електо¬ральних балів керівникові Каб¬міну перед президентськими ви¬борами, тож треба бодай міні¬мізувати частоту появи негатив¬них повідомлень.



Blame the Sun

Sounds like the trailer from the newly released movie, The Knowing, where a mega Sun flare destroys the Earth.

Space Storm Alert: 90 Seconds from Catastrophe

March 23, 2009

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127001.300-space-storm-alert

It is midnight on 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan are filled with a flickering curtain of colourful light. Few New Yorkers have seen the aurora this far south but their fascination is short-lived. Within a few seconds, electric bulbs dim and flicker, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment. Then all the lights in the state go out. Within 90 seconds, the entire eastern half of the US is without power. A year later and millions of Americans are dead and the nation's infrastructure lies in tatters. The World Bank declares America a developing nation. Europe, Scandinavia, China and Japan are also struggling to recover from the same fateful event - a violent storm, 150 million kilometres away on the surface of the sun. It sounds ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn't create so profound a disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that.

But this article is warning of the effects of electrical outages, something the charged tail of Planet X is expected to bring to the Earth during the hour of the pole shift, and increasingly as we approach the pole shift.

Space Storm Alert: 90 Seconds from Catastrophe

March 23, 2009

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127001.300-space-storm-alert

The grids were not built to handle this sort of direct current electricity. The greatest danger is at the step-up and step-down transformers used to convert power from its transport voltage to domestically useful voltage. The increased DC current creates strong magnetic fields that saturate a transformer's magnetic core. The result is runaway current in the transformer's copper wiring, which rapidly heats up and melts. This is exactly what happened in the Canadian province of Quebec in March 1989, and six million people spent 9 hours without electricity. But things could get much, much worse than that. The most serious space weather event in history happened in 1859. It is known as the Carrington event, after the British amateur astronomer Richard Carrington, who was the first to note its cause: "two patches of intensely bright and white light" emanating from a large group of sunspots. The Carrington event comprised eight days of severe space weather. There were eyewitness accounts of stunning auroras, even at equatorial latitudes. The world's telegraph networks experienced severe disruptions, and Victorian magnetometers were driven off the scale.

Right on cue, showing that NASA intends to have the electromagnetic bombardment from the tail of Planet X blamed on the Sun, is this article relating this effect to 2012, the end of the Mayan Calendar.

2012 May Bring the "Perfect Storm" - Solar Flares, Systems Collapse

April 2, 2009

http://www.examiner.com/x-2912-Seattle-Exopolitics-Examiner

Long scorned as "mysticism" and "parascience," concern about the year 2012 has now surfaced in a mainstream NASA report on the potential impacts on human society of solar flares anticipated to peak in 2012.

Per the Zetas, it has long been the plan of the establishment to blame the Sun, but electrical disturbances going into the pole shift will not be caused by the Sun, they will be caused by the charged tail of Planet X.



Tent Cities Return

Déjà vu to the days of the Great Depression, tent cities have returns in force. Foreclosures, job losses, and overwhelmed social services are all factors.

Schwarzenegger Opens California Fairgrounds to Homeless Camp

March 25, 2009

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKqkjyYkFN8w&refer=worldwide

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said a make-shift tent city for the homeless that sprang up in the capital city of Sacramento will be shut down and its residents allowed to stay at the state fairgrounds. Schwarzenegger said he ordered the state facility known as Cal-Expo to be used for three months to serve the 125 tent city residents, some of them displaced by the economic recession. California, home to one of every eight Americans, has been particularly hard hit by the housing market collapse after many residents turned to exotic mortgages to afford homes. The tent city, which has long existed along the banks of the America River, gained national attention last month when some of its recently homeless residents were featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The state has one of the highest rates of foreclosure. California home prices dropped 41 percent last month from a year earlier, more than double the US decline.

Hardest hit are the children, who go to school (if they go at all) malnourished and poorly clothed, subject to ridicule from other children.

One in 50 US Kids is Homeless

March 10, 2009

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/One_in_50_US_kids_is_homeless_repor_03102009.html

One in 50 American children is homeless and the economic crisis hitting the United States will make the problem worse. The child homelessness crisis is the worst since the Great Depression, says the report, which looked at the years 2005-06 -- or before the economic slump had fully hit the United States. Children without homes are twice as likely to go hungry, more than twice as likely as middle class children to have health problems, and run twice the risk of other children of repeating a grade at school, being expelled or suspended, or not finishing high school. The report looked only at homeless families with children under the age of 18. Runaways were not included in the statistics, even if some are minors.

Homelessness is widespread during this, our second Great Depression. Tent cities are springing north and south and coast to coast.

Cities Deal With a Surge in Shanty Towns

March 25, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26tents.html?_r=1&hp

While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root - or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing - in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.

A sign of the times, perhaps to become an increasing trend, are defensive measures. "If you ain't from here, don't camp here", seems to be the message in Orange County, California.

'Ontario Residents Only' at Tent City

March 18, 2009

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-tents18mar18,0,1589130.story

Tent City residents gather as the city of Ontario starts the process of sorting out who may stay and who must leave. The city issued wristbands - blue for Ontario residents, who may stay, orange for people who need to provide more documentation, and white for those who must leave. The aim is to reduce the number of people living there from over 400 to 170. Officials begin thinning out the encampment, saying the city can provide space only for those who once lived there and can prove it.

Per the Zetas, this type of lifestyle will be common after the pole shift - migration looking for a place that might be better off, and tent or shanty cities everywhere.



G20 Discussions

The G20 was established on August 20, 2003. Nineteen countries and the European Union meet to discuss the world's financial health. This year, they had a lot to discuss.

G-20 Major Economies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G20_industrial_nations

The G-20 is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies: 19 of the world's largest national economies, plus the European Union. It also met twice at heads-of-government level, in November 2008 and again in April 2009. Collectively, the G-20 economies comprise 85% of global gross national product, 80% of world trade and two-thirds of the world population.

On the surface, the G20 addressed attempts to restart the world's struggling economies and shore up the world's struggling banking systems. They also announced that they discussed greater regulation of the financial sector, to avoid disasters like the recent sub-prime housing disaster.

G-20 Pumps $1 Trillion into Beating Recession

April 2, 2009

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/04/02/g20/index.html

Leaders of the world's largest economies agreed on Thursday to a package worth more than $1 trillion to tackle the global economic crisis. The deal agreed by the leaders of the world's largest economies included reform of the international banking system and the injection of more than $1 trillion into the world financial system. There had been concerns that a rift was opening up between the approach being championed by the U.S. and Britain - more economic stimulus - and that favored by France and Germany - more banking regulations. The six-point plan includes banking reform measures and more than $1 trillion to be spent on restoring credit, growth and jobs, as well as measures clamping down on tax havens and a commitment to build a green and sustainable economy.

Much of the G-20 communique issued at the end of the London summit restated promises and goals that international leaders had made earlier. Brown said: "I think a new world order is emerging and with it the foundations of a new and progressive era of international cooperation." Along with existing national stimulus measures, Brown said efforts to bolster economies amounted to more than $5 trillion. The G-20 members will also establish a new Financial Stability Board to provide "early warning of macroeconomic and financial risks."

The G20 is also rumored to have discussed a one world currency, a matter covered by our March 29, 2009 newsletter. Beyond a one world currency, they apparently also discussed a "new world order", per Prime Minister Brown's comments above. Conspiracy theorists are no doubt shuttering at the thought that the G20 is getting huggy with the concept of a new world order, long viewed to include the enslavement of humanity by the elite. Per the Zetas, the banking industry is the party who would be most interested in such a control structure, as world control would eliminate any chance the common man could escape the grasp of their creditors.

ZetaTalk Prediction 7/15/1995: Who are those attempting to establish the New World Order? The banking industry, first and foremost, as finances are such a fragile thing. Finances are built only upon faith. In fact, they have no substance whatsoever. All those high paid salaries - poof! All that chatter about the value of this stock or that, the carefully monitored stock and bond listings, it is all just so much hot air. They are talking about nothing. They fear the populace will wake up to that. One must realize that bankers and stock brokers and bond dealers do not have alternative professions. There are only so many accountants employable, and most work for little pay and under pressure to be exacting. Who needs overpaid hot air bags? What would happen to their world if people stopped thinking that their hard earned savings were safe and secure in their hands? The crash of 1929, for one. Bankers jumping out of windows, as the thought of having to do an honest days work was just to much to bear.

Given that heads of state were in attendance, and given that the Earth changes caused by Planet X are on the increase, inquiring minds want to know if any other topics were discussed at the G20 meeting.

Question: Did the heads of state talk about Planet X and the cover-up during the G20 summit? Did they share any new information?

ZetaTalk Comment 4/4/2009: We have mentioned previously that the touchy subject of the presence of Planet X in the inner solar system and pending passage are most often discussed during face-to-face meetings. This is because phone conversations, however secure, or written message, however secure, can be intercepted and broadcast to the populace at large. This is the fear. Thus, a meeting such as the G20 is an ideal opportunity for those face-to-face meetings.

We have previously mentioned that only the major countries were in the know decades ago, but that this changed during the Bush administration. After invading Iraq, Bush met with many heads of state ostensibly to mend fences over the war. This was not the whole agenda, obviously. The stunned look on many faces during photo ops showed that something stunning was discussed. Many countries were informed, had to be because the Second Sun was showing dramatic second sunrise or sunsets around the world. These countries were told that Planet X would pass uneventfully, except perhaps for high tides or a few quakes, and that the real danger was from panic in the public.

Since that time, not much has changed. The degree to which the Earth changes have picked up are hidden from all but the most technological country's heads of state. The USGS lies about the number of quakes and the magnitude. The US and Russia collude to lie about a satellite crash over Siberia and problems with the ISS. NASA and JPL lie about what their probes are finding. But the heads of state do understand that the economies of the world will not improve as long as drought and deluge and imploding buildings continue. Food shortages are acute. All economies are struggling.

So regardless of whether this is posited as Earth changes due to the presence of Planet X or posited as problems with the economy, the issues are the same. Thus, these were the issues discussed during the G20, not Planet X specifically. To the extent that Planet X was discussed, it was to confirm that things were the same as the last time discussed, no changes.



Mark-to-Market

Much discussed in the financial sectors since the crash on Wall Street last fall is the mark-to-market rule, which had been forcing banks to declare the current market worth of their assets on their books. With the value of real estate plunging, the value of mortgages on the bankers' books was diminished. How to make those bankers loosen up and feel rich once again, so they would lend money and stimulate the economy? Allow those mortages they were holding to be worth more. Thus, the mark-to-market rule was relaxed, so banks can declare the value of homes at a higher price, and feel rich again.

Mark-to-Market Accounting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark-to-market

The debate arises because this accounting rule requires companies to adjust the value of marketable securities (such as the mortgage-backed securities at the center of the crisis) to their market value. The intent of the standard is to help investors understand the value of these assets at a point in time, rather than just their historical purchase price. Because the market for these assets is distressed, it is difficult to sell many mortgage-backed securities. As initially interpreted by companies and their auditors, the typically lower sale value was used as the market value rather than the cash flow value. Many large financial institutions recognized significant losses during 2007 and 2008 as a result of marking-down mortgage-backed securities asset prices to market value.

FASB Approves More Mark-to-Market Flexibility

April 2, 2009

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/fasb-approves-more-mark-to-market-flexibility/

Responding to pressure applied by lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Financial Accounting Standards Board on Thursday voted unanimously to give auditors more flexibility in valuing illiquid mortgage assets that may have long-term value. The new guidance, which is expected to boost bank operating profits when they report first quarter results later this month, alters so called mark-to-market rules, which have required banks and other corporations to assign a value to an asset, such as mortgage securities, credit-card debt or student-loan investments, based on the current market price for either the security or a similar asset. Banks have complained that they have viable assets with strong cash flows that can't be sold because there is no market for them.

Per the Zetas, this is all an illusion. So if you start hearing that the picture is brighter, consider the artists who are painting this picture.

ZetaTalk Comment 4/4/2009: This accounting switch allows banks to loan out more than formerly, as their debts are viewed differently. The weight of bad debts, such as subprime mortgages, thus are less of a drag. The overall picture still remains the same, but the illusion of health is smeared over all.

Per the Zetas, the monetary system is fragile, a virtual confidence game, slowly on its way to becoming the barter system where the real value of an item is presented during an exchange.

ZetaTalk Prediction 12/15/1996: The world banks are justified in their constant fretting about the health of their industry during the panic that will occur going into the cataclysms. The worth of paper money is a fragile thing, based more on confidence than anything, paper money can plunge in value overnight, and often does in unstable countries where printing more paper money is seen as the solution to underfunding of government ambitions. History has shown that banks and the value of the dollar fall during economic depressions, and the years preceding the coming cataclysms will see crop failures in the face of atypical weather and intractable droughts, insurance company failure due to weather and earthquake severity, and a general lack of confidence. In the face of lack of faith in the paper money system the world banking community has come to rely upon, there will be a return to the simple method of barter - you give me a bushel of apples and I'll give you two gallons of milk. People long reliant upon credit and shopping will begin to lower their debt and begin to rely upon themselves, leaving the banking industry without customers. This will of course create a panic of sorts within the banking industry, which like organized religions are seeing their economic base shrinking.



Migration Surge

The Zetas predicted, in 1999, that migration would start to increase, and it has!

ZetaTalk Prediction 4/15/1999: You will find human populations beginning to migrate. These migration not only happens in cases of severe starvation, such as in northern Africa south of the Sudan, where people just stumble like sticks in any direction, looking for food, but also occurs when things get bad enough, when crop shortages are bad, and people begin to wander. They're looking for something better. So you will have migrations and you will have guards against migrations. Rifles at the border, pointed and saying don't come a step further and shooting people for little reason. This is already starting to raise its head in the anxiety that the United States expresses about the people south of their borders.



Indeed, the US began to struggle with increased migration from south of its borders. By 2006, this was declared a tsunami.

Flood of Illegals Turns into a Tsunami

Mar 29, 2006, 04:34

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/

Sen. Lindsey Graham hears about illegal immigration whenever he travels his home state of South Carolina. And for good reason. South Carolina, a state with historically few illegal immigrants, saw a 1,000 percent increase in their numbers from 1990 to 2004. With 55,000 undocumented residents, South Carolina ranks far behind the nation's leader, California. But the issue is boiling throughout the country as illegal immigrants make their way to more cities and states than ever.

But migration has become a problem around the world, most recently hitting the press when a ship carrying hundreds of illegal immigrants from Libya to Italy went down.

Ship Carrying 257 Migrants Sinks off Libya Coast

March 30, 2009

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Ship_carrying_257_migrants_sinks_of_03302009.html

A ship carrying more than 250 illegal migrants headed for Europe has sunk near the Libyan coast with dozens of people feared to have drowned. Italy announced that it will soon launch joint sea patrols with Libya aimed at stopping the heavy influx of illegal immigrants using Libya as a transit point. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the patrols will begin on May 15, a day he expects to "mark the end" of illegal migration from North Africa. His comments came a day after more than 460 illegal immigrants were found off the coasts of Sicily and Lampedusa and another 166 around the Sicilian city of Catania. Italy and Libya signed a deal in August 2008 under which Tripoli committed itself to reinforce the fight against illegal immigration by taking part in joint sea patrols. Nearly 37,000 illegal immigrants landed on Italian coasts last year, a 75-percent rise from 2007, according to the interior ministry in Rome.

Increasingly, sympathy for the migrants is being replaced by slamming doors. Per the Zetas, this trend will continue as the time of the pole shift approaches. And travel restrictions even for the citizenry within a country may be imposed, suddenly.