Go and compare it to what happened in the Great Depression; the 1930's will seem like a big joke.

What will you do to survive?...

Central Banks And Organized Crime

Let me give you a little secret about the underground and hidden structure of the Federal Reserve:

The Federal Reserve is a private corporation that was created in 1913. 

*The Federal Reserve Act, by the way, was drafted in 1910, in a supersecret conference at Jekyll Island... 

What can the Federal Reserve do?

This Central Bank has the power to print and create money, control interests rates, create a recession, and produce inflation at will. It creates its own policies and its not controlled by the government at all. The Federal Income Tax was also passed in 1913.

This Central Bank was sneaked into existence by some very powerful families in the 1900's:

The Morgans, The Rothchilds, The Rockefellers, The Warburgs...

*Even in the 1800's, some attempts were made to push a central bank... Andrew Jackson vetoed the second attempt for a central bank in 1836.        

Panic Of 1907

J.P. Morgan, along with other International Bankers, decided later on to create The Panic of 1907. Creating an economic crisis in order to pass the Federal Reserve Act as a "solution".

What is so insane (literally) about having a Central Bank in America?

Well... The Central Bank creates money and creates the value of the dollar (by increasing or decreasing money supply). Now get this part: It loans it to the government every time the government needs it, At Interests!!! 

*This means that for every dollar printed at the Central Bank, it will also carry a percentage amount of increased debt.

So the more money supply, the more debt increases.  The dollar is actually loosing its value (totally!!!)  because the Federal Reserve keeps printing money out of thin air (out of nothing)... Excessive amounts of paper-money devalues the dollar because it is not backed up by anything at all (I'll explain this in a moment, hold on). The high interest rates and the rapidly decreasing value of the dollar are basically two things that will destroy any economy (wich is based on worthless credit, by the way). Now that's a scary though... 

ok, let's back down a little... Before the Federal Reserve was created, money was backed by pure gold. Money was gold. The paper that they used to give at the bank, was a receipt (the receipt is just an evidence of exchange) indicating the amount of money that you earned. Makes sense?... So the printing of paper representing the value of gold was very limited. Only the government had the power to create money (Not a private federal bank!!!). If you look at a dollar that was printed before 1933, you will see a note  that says: "Redeemable in gold."

In the Great Depression, the gold standard was completely abolished (look for the 1933 gold seizure; President Roosevelt); this was no coincidence. You were threatened with imprisonment if you didn't turn up the gold you had to the treasury.

*Today the economy is based on credit, look at how this scam works:

If you go to a bank for a loan of let's say: 300,000... where do you think that money came from?

Well, actually it came from the digits of a computer... A person sits in the computer and starts creating digits out of nothing, and like a magick trick, it suddenly appears on your account, at interests. They have the power to jokingly create any numbers they wish, but you have to work to pay them, while the value of the dollar crumbles because of the nature of the system, and the debt dramatically increases. Also note that the proof of the bookkeeping entries that marked the original transfer are non-existent!!! So they can manipulate whatever they want.

*What you really need to be aware of is the fact that the value of money depends on how much money is in circulation.

*He who controls the flow of money, controls the laws and the government (This is not explained in this article, perhaps I'll leave this for another one). 

 Isn't that interesting?

Back To More History:

The Federal Reserve was approved by Congress during Christmas time, a time were most of the senators were at home celebrating with their families...

*If you read Karl Marx's book, you will also realize that a central bank is one of the major planks for a communists manifesto.

Movies to Watch

America: From Freedom To Fascism by Aaron Russo (watch it now!!! It's on the internet for free!!!)

In 1980, the Sherman Act was instated to protect both businesses and consumers. This economic legislation ensures fair pricing while still allowing for open competition through the restriction of price fixing. Price fixing is defined as “an agreement among competitors to raise, fix, or otherwise maintain the price at which their goods or services are sold” (Price Fixing, Bid Rigging, and Market Allocation Schemes 2). Some examples of price fixing include the holding of prices, eliminating discounts, adopting a standard formula for computing prices, and not advertising prices.

Price fixing can also be used to discriminate against other small businesses. Setting a price only within a certain area in order to eliminate competition or create a monopoly is illegal. Many states have also adopted a “Below Sales Cost” law. This law states that they may not sell goods below their cost with an anti-competitive intent. Price fixing is harmful to individuals, small businesses, and corporations (Price Fixing: What is it? 2).

I agree with the current laws that are in effect against price fixing. If price fixing were allowed to take place in the marketplace, there would be a dramatic rise in prices in various products. Gas stations would collaborate, causing the price per gallon to rise overnight. If the local market was flooded with price fixing in products such as gas and food, there would be no choice but to purchase products at an inflated price. If large companies sold products at a price lower than cost, smaller family owned businesses would fail within weeks. Thanks to the Sherman Act, there is still fair competition in the marketplace, but it is not so fierce that newly developing businesses crumble under the pressure.

The Sherman Act is strictly enforced today under the Federal Antitrust Enforcement Department. In 2000, a settlement was made with three of the United States' largest music retailers. These retailers followed a practice known as “minimum-advertised pricing” (or MAP). Through MAP, these retailers subsidized ads by retailers. In return for this, the stores agreed to sell CD's at or above a certain price, providing them with an unfair advantage over consumers. The companies agreed to pay $67.4 million and distribute $75.7 million in CD's to public and non-profit groups to settle the lawsuit (USAToday.com 2).

Ensuring fair competition is essential to maintaining low prices in the marketplace. Although competition itself is not unethical, it is unethical when companies work together to intentionally and unnecessarily increase profits at the expense of the consumer. Without the Sherman Act, prices would skyrocket in every industry. Thanks to the Sherman Act, we can be sure that we are being charged fair prices in our local market.

However, if we compare the different stock markets, we find that the countries which are commodity exporters are better than those economies which are net commodity importers. For example, the stock markets of Taiwan, China, India, Turkey, Thailand, Philippines, and Korea are not doing well in comparison with Russia, Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Africa. Though both the groups are more or less equally under inflationary pressure and affected heavily by inordinate hike of crude price hike. The only difference between them is the first group is net importer of commodity and the other is commodity exporter.

Countries like India and Turkey, share more or less same position in global stock market ranking are suffering in the same way. Both the countries are big oil importers, their import bills are running around 5% of GDP. Neither of them exports any major commodity to absorb the oil import shock. Where as Russia and Nigeria, though under tremendous inflationary pressure, being commodity exporters are still holding up. However, history suggests whenever a single factor is ruling market behavior is not sustainable. So long the oil continues to move high it may, at last , after all what goes up that comes down too!

 

When buying a stock, you should think about how the stock contributes to society. Is the stock in an emerging market like fiber optics or telecommunications? Are the business' products in high demand? A good category to think about is oil drilling. With gas prices rising, the oil business will be very busy. Look at businesses that do oil drilling or distribute the gas across the country.

Another category is high definition televisions. I happen to own a stock that makes the liquid crystals for LCD(liquid crystal displays) televisions. This is in demand right now because everyone wants HDTV right now. This is a very expensive business so it can make you a lot of money.

One category I do not recommend is pharmaceuticals. I know that there are a lot of decent pharmaceutical companies out there, but to put it simply, they just aren't as good as everything else. It is a very risky business with very little reward. One company, Pfizer, has tanked over the last few months and recently dropped even more because people found out that one of their products made people want to kill themselves and feel depressed. Pharmaceutical companies can tank at any moment.

The best category to invest in is definitely energy. Whether is Natural resources or wind turbines, energy is in very high demand right now. Many companies have started investing in future energy because we need energy desperately right now to power the world. Look at companies that try to clean the air and stop air pollution. These companies will be needed in the future because China is not slowing down with their pollution of the air.

The main thing I want to get across is that companies that do things that don't benefit the rest of the country, like video game producers and beverage companies, are not good stocks to buy. You want to buy stocks that are trying to innovate. It doesn't matter if it is the cure for gas prices or the cure for the common cold, innovation is the key to success.

While this is true, it does not explain in itself why confidence should suddenly decline, assuming again that this is not itself a purely random phenomenon. The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, has recently intoned that the changed economic conditions currently applying result from the End of the Nice Decade. "Nice," in this context has nothing to do with pleasantness or congeniality but is an acronym for Non Inflationary Constant Expansion. The decade in question is generally thought to have ranged between 1992-2002, although estimates vary. However, since changes in the underlying economy take some time before they start to have visible effects for real-life people, it is only comparatively recently that effects such as the housing crisis, collapse of earnings for banks and emergent inflation have become visible. The Nice decade was unusual in that growth has nearly always been accompanied by inflation and, consequently, the benefits are not passed on to people because their earnings have not kept pace with increased costs. In truth, this continued throughout the Nice decade (most people are no better off in real terms now than they were at the end of the 1980s despite the enormous increases in income inequality).

What has changed and does appear to have been influential is the enormous increase in consumer borrowing - debt, that is. A cultural change appears to have swept over western and developing countries such that it is no longer considered imprudent to borrow now to obtain goods immediately. Instead, millions have allowed themselves to be encouraged to incur debt on high-cost instruments such as credit cards in order to obtain instant gratification. The borrowing has enabled money to continue circulating around the financial system and this, the circulation, is the critical factor. However, clearly there must be a limit to the amount of consumer debt that is possible for a stable system. And that stability is threatened by inflation, which erodes the value of those assets on whose behalf the money has been borrowed in the first place.

A Marxist perspective of the current situation would, presumably, be consistent with ongoing analysis of the nature of capitalism - that is contains the seeds of its own destruction, that the emergent contradictions within the system will alert people to the imminent revolution and that it is the falling profits and over-production that are the main symptoms by which the crisis can be identified. This does not seem to be the case here - rising food and oil prices are not the result of over-production, indeed quite the opposite as demand is increasing internationally. Profits may or may not fall in the case of individuals but even a cursory examination of the enormous bonuses and salaries paid to bankers, financiers and corporate executives suggests that the level of excess profit is at least remaining constant and probably increasing. Nevertheless, it is certainly true that untrammeled capitalism - that is, capitalism without proper regulation of markets - leads to a series of boom-and-bust crises. As ever, it is the vulnerable who suffer from such a system. Entrepreneurs encouraged to ignore the effects of bankruptcy and start new ventures represent one of the more buoyant aspects of capitalism; ill-educated workers who lose their jobs and face starvation or entry into unsafe activities as a result represent quite another. Economic downturns always indicate the need for effective, coherent government action, particularly with respect to protecting the vulnerable from forces beyond their control.

As competitive markets in world economy gradually become fiercer, finding all possible means of destroying their respective competitors, you'll find that your pockets are gradually tightening up, not breathing freely anymore. There isn't any more time for abundance on frivolity, luxurious items or simply buying what you want to for no reason at all. You may have to hold out on that beige Victorian bath or the hovering paper-shredder with in-built mp3 player.

Current inflation rates at 2.5%, job-cuts and food prices sky rocketing on a daily basis greatly contribute to our everyday juggling, to a more financially restrictive lifestyle in respect to previous years; as Mervyn King (governor of the Bank of England) has said in his recent speech “Serious thinking and a willingness to contemplate radical changes are necessary”. He also said other things of a similar nature. Therefore, either adapting to or changing with the current economy becomes crucial in order to survive.

Plants need water, oxygen and light; Machines need electricity in order to function; the modern human being needs a reclining hydraulics-chair, motorized, with embedded dvd-player, internet access and optional Dictaphone. Some even spot the signs of a recession early, ready to retire to their underground bunkers where SPAM and other canned goods are plenty stocked. It won't be long before we'll be eating our dog's food, or dog food or indeed our dog. It may well make for grim times ahead.

Thankfully enough, due to extensive research and the powers of investigative journalism, there are ways which allow us to escape the rigid and cold reality of having to work all our lives for little money, like the slippery weasels that we are. No longer working to repay a mortgage which we will certainly not benefit from (i.e. death) or writing a cheque signed “You see what I did there”. We will work together on things you could do to drastically improve your net income without having to work hard at it, and generating much more money than if you were.

The first thing is having rich parentage. This of course ensures that some of the wealth is distributed accordingly. This guarantees you money without having to move very much. Failing that, you could try applying for Government funding for a project which is based on "Ethnic Integration in modern society" or similarly entitled, this almost always guarantees funding from local Governments; should Government employees enquire about said project simply reply "The previous occupant has moved, I am just a tenant". Use some adequate apparel, such as a blonde wig or a colourful apron, should the authorities ever make a visit.

Another sure way to get large amounts of cash is sponsorship. Of course, with the advent of the internet this could also involve very little work, especially when instructing children to copy and paste text. For instance, post your proposal of a sponsored event in forums or newsgroups, widely frequented websites are also hugely profitable. An example of a good sponsored event is "Non-broadcastable and undocumented walking race": it will draw enough attention because it sounds interesting, yet people will not demand to see it.

These are some simple and fun ideas on how to make money fast without hard-work. Remember: Keep it fun-tastic! Some may work for you; some will simply be as futile as just sitting down reading this article. But one thing is certain: you will have had bundles of fun in the process, almost as much as I have had in making a profit from you reading this article.

Tricked you: now go and work so I can earn some money.

Defining Inflation

To sum it up, inflation is the cost of items going up over time. There is no real way to know how much these items will go up, but generally, they go up by about three percent per year. There are times when inflation can easily surpass three percent, but usually it is just three percent annually.

Examples

You want examples? How about a candy bar? In the year 1900, a candy bar cost around a nickel. However, these days that same candy bar can cost you between fifty cents to a dollar(or more in some cases). You'll occasionally find a candy bar on sale for twenty five cents or so, but usually it's a bit higher.

How about a house? We'll just say the year is 1900 again. Back in those days, a house would probably cost around ten thousand dollars(more or less). Today that same house would probably cost between a hundred thousand dollars to a few million dollars.

It just depends on where you're located. California, Florida, and New York are more likely to have houses that sell for a few million dollars. But Wisconsin, Kansas, and Arkansas are more likely to have cheaper homes.

Another example of inflation would be a car. Back in the sixties, you could buy a new car for only a few thousand dollars. And gas was only around thirty cents per gallon! It's a pity that it isn't the same today, huh? But don't feel too bad. There's a catch to all of this. People made less money in the past, which is why things were cheaper back then.

However, if inflation becomes too high then it will outpace the current cost of living and you would no longer be as wealthy as you were before inflation got out of control. This would make many of us poor, or at least make us feel like we were poor.

Why You Should Care

Again, if inflation does become too high then your money will not have as much buying power. So if you want that fancy flat-screen tv then you better hope inflation stays within the norm, or else you may just have to stick with your old bulky tv. Also, do you want to be able to retire? That's right, inflation can ruin your retirement plans if it gets out of hand.

And even if inflation doesn't skyrocket, you still should be aware of it. Remember, on average, inflation increases by three percent per year. This means that if you have thirty or forty years until you plan to retire then you better have a lot more than a million dollars stashed away.

You'll probably need around three or four million dollars in a tax free account in order to retire comfortably. And that money may have to last ten, twenty, thirty, or more years. Who knows how modern medicine will change our lifespans in the future. Inflation will never take a vacation so be sure to plan ahead.

Inflation can be a nightmare if it gets out of control or even if it stays within the norm. However, we all have to live with it and deal with it. Now, you should at least have an idea of what inflation is and why you should care. How you decide to combat it is up to you.