Believe nothing

Wednesday, 08 June 2011 07:24

‘Employees of American taxpayers (government officials) have once again been exposed for abusing their perceived authority by harassing and terrorizing innocent people in the name of security. At a recent stop in Los Angeles, Calif., a cruise ship carrying roughly 2,000 elderly British travelers was held for over seven hours while immigration officials needlessly summoned them to what some claimed could be likened to Guantanamo Bay-style terrorist treatment.

The several-month-long world cruise had already stopped in the US on numerous occasions prior to its recent stint, and on all prior stops, each passenger had been officially cleared as being safe and terrorist-free. But things changed in LA when disgruntled workers, who were allegedly irritated by passenger inquiries and complaints about excess security, decided to needlessly prolong and intensify the security checks even further, and subject passengers to harsh and inhumane treatment in the process.’

Read more: US Immigration Officials Treat Innocent Cruise Ship Passengers Like Terrorists in Seven-Hour Guantanamo Bay-style Security Check

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/

Tuesday, 07 June 2011 07:43

‘A prominent member of Switzerland’s largest political party has called upon federal authorities to arrest Henry Kissinger as a war criminal if he attends the 2011 Bilderberg conference of global power brokers which is set to begin on Thursday at the Hotel Suvretta House in St. Moritz.’

Read more: Prominent Swiss Politician Calls For Arrest of Kissinger at Bilderberg

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines

Sunday, 05 June 2011 10:55

‘If ever we needed more proof that our political leaders serve the Rothschilds, and our democracy is a charade, this is it.

Despite the fact that the majority of Canadians want less “defense” spending, Canada is embarked on a military-spending spree “unlike anything experienced since the Second World War. In just 10 years, our annual defense spending has more than doubled — from $10 billion in 2000 to $21.8 billion today — and is just getting into its stride.”

Canadians are being asked to cough up $30 billion for F-35 fighter jets that won’t be ready until 2016 and another $40 billion to replace navy ships over two decades.’

Read more: Canada Set to Become Globalist Bully

Terence P. Jeffrey of CNSNews.com reports today, June 3, 2011:

China has dropped 97 percent of its holdings in U.S. Treasury bills, decreasing its ownership of the short-term U.S. government securities from a peak of $210.4 billion in May 2009 to $5.69 billion in March 2011, the most recent month reported by the U.S. Treasury.

Treasury bills are securities that mature in one year or less that are sold by the U.S. Treasury Department to fund the nation’s debt.

Mainland Chinese holdings of U.S. Treasury bills are reported in column 9 of
the Treasury report linked here.

Until October, the Chinese were generally making up for their decreasing holdings in Treasury bills by increasing their holdings of longer-term U.S.
Treasury securities. Thus, until October, China’s overall holdings of U.S. debt
continued to increase.

Since October, however, China has also started to divest from longer-term U.S. Treasury securities. Thus, as reported by the Treasury Department, China’s ownership of the U.S. national debt has decreased in each of the last five months on record, including November, December, January, February and March….

As of March 2011, overall Chinese holdings of U.S. debt had decreased to 1.1449 trillion.

Most of the U.S. national debt is made up of publicly marketable securities sold by the Treasury Department and I.O.U.s called “intragovernmental” bonds that the Treasury has given to so-called government trust funds—such as the Social Security trust funds—when it has spent the trust funds’ money on other government expenses.

The publicly marketable segment of the national debt includes Treasury bills, which (as defined by the Treasury) mature in terms of one-year or less; Treasury notes, which mature in terms of 2 to 10 years; Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which mature in terms of 5, 10 and 30 years; and Treasury bonds, which mature in terms of 30 years.

At the end of August 2008, before the financial bailout and the stimulus, the publicly marketable segment of the U.S. national debt was 4.88 trillion. Of that, $2.56 trillion was in the intermediate-term Treasury notes, $1.22 trillion was in short-term Treasury bills, $582.8 billion was in long-term Treasury bonds, and $521.3 billion was in TIPS.

At the end of March 2011, by which time the Chinese had dropped their Treasury bill holdings 97 percent from their peak, the publicly marketable segment of the U.S. national debt had almost doubled from August 2008, hitting $9.11 trillion. Of that $9.11 trillion, $5.8 trillion was in intermediate-term Treasury notes, $1.7 trillion was in short-term Treasury bills; $931.5 billion was in long-term Treasury bonds, and $640.7 billion was in TIPS.

Before the end of March 2012, the Treasury must redeem all of the $1.7 trillion in Treasury bills that were extant as of March 2011 and find new or old buyers who will continue to invest in U.S. debt. But, for now, the Chinese at least do not appear to be bullish customers of short-term U.S. debt.

Treasury bills carry lower interest rates than longer-term Treasury notes and bonds, but the longer term notes and bonds are exposed to a greater risk of losing their value to inflation. To the degree that the $1.7 trillion in short-term U.S. Treasury bills extant as of March must be converted into longer-term U.S. Treasury securities, the U.S. government will be forced to pay a higher annual interest rate on the national debt.

As of the close of business on Thursday, the total U.S. debt was $14.34 trillion, according to the Daily Treasury Statement. Of that, approximately $9.74 trillion was debt held by the public and approximately $4.61 trillion was “intragovernmental” debt.

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/687/908/Red_Alert_China_Dumps_97_of_Its_U.S._Treasury_Hold ings.html

‘A Canadian politician has described the visiting duke and duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, as “parasites” on sort of a “circus tour” to the North American country. The newly wed royals are to tour Canada on their first official visit abroad between June 30 and July 8.

Amir Khadir, a left wing member of the National Assembly of Quebec from Solidaire party, described the British monarchy as a “parasitic system that was inherited from ancient times.” “A nation worthy of the 21st Century has no need for a monarchy or people with a bloodline,” he stressed.’

Read more: Canada: Royals, Parasites on Circus Tour

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/

‘Trading, of course, is supposed to be a risky business: You win some, you lose some. That’s how traders justify their gargantuan bonuses–their jobs are so risky that they deserve to be paid millions for protecting their firms’ precious capital. (Of course, the only thing that happens if traders fail to protect that capital is that taxpayers bail out the bank and the traders are paid huge “retention” bonuses to prevent them from leaving to trade somewhere else, but that’s a different story).

But these days, trading isn’t risky at all. In fact, it’s safer than walking down the street. Why?

Because the US government is lending money to the big banks at near-zero interest rates. And the banks are then turning around and lending that money back to the US government at 3%-4% interest rates, making 3%+ on the spread. What’s more, the banks are leveraging this trade, borrowing at least $10 for every $1 of equity capital they have, to increase the size of their bets. Which means the banks can turn relatively small amounts of equity into huge profits–by borrowing from the taxpayer and then lending back to the taxpayer.’

Read more: Congressional Research Service Confirms Big Banks Borrowed Cash For Next To Nothing, Then Lent It Back to the Federal Government at Much Higher Rates

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/

Friday, 03 June 2011 09:14

‘In the United States today, our public schools are not very good at educating our students, but they sure are great training grounds for learning how to live in a Big Brother police state control grid.  Sadly, life in many U.S. public schools is now essentially equivalent to life in U.S. prisons.  Most parents don’t realize this, but our students have very few rights when they are in school.  Our public school students are being watched, tracked, recorded, searched and controlled like never before. 

Back when I was in high school, it was unheard of for a police officer to come to school, but today our public school students are being handcuffed and arrested in staggering numbers.  When I was young we would joke that going to school was like going to prison, but today that is actually true.’

Read more: 18 Signs That Life In U.S. Public Schools Is Now Essentially Equivalent To Life In U.S. Prisons