Monday | February 25, 2008

US$

What is going to happen to US$ in not so distant future? I am not an economist, I actually get nearly instant headache when I hear too many numbers and heavy accounting terminology.
What I hear and can understand is that Americans are the only people who do not know about collapse of US$. I do not know what else to call it. What do you call loss of 40% in value within four years? What do you call loss of 60% of value since introduction of Euro?
 
After years of delay Iran finally opened new oil bourse. For now they will trade oil in Iranian currency but before long they will probably trade it in everything except US$.
 For many years US$ was backed by oil US did not own or controlled and by might of US military. Saddam announced plans to trade his oil in Euros and look what how he ended up.
 
Iran was postponing opening of oil bourse until recently when fear of US attack somewhat subsided. I would not be surprised if some reasons to attack Iran will be found anyway and very soon. Aircraft carriers and assault ships are still in the Gulf and ready to go. Iran maybe much harder target than Iraq though. Unlike Saddam who only had some very old, obsolete arms and equipment Iran has been busy buying up much more advanced equipment. Yakhont, S-300, Sckval, Tor, Kilo just a few names which may not tell average American much but they do worry American generals and admirals greatly.
 
In addition to Iran Russia is getting out of US$, even Norway of all places is talking about doing the same.
 
There is a whole other side to US$ troubles. With US economy slowing down and looming recession Fed is dropping interest rates lower and lower. Who is going to keep buying US debt at these rates? There is a limit to a good will of China, Japan and Britain.
Today one announcement (“we are not buying US debt anymore”) by some Chinese financial minister can literally pull the plug of US$ and US economy in general.
 Who need a war, shooting, fighting... all that nasty business when mighty USofA can be defeated by just a simple announcement?
 
American mindset about China has been the same for years. Very outdated “They need US more then we need them” the “Golden goose” mindset. Reality is loss of American market for Chinese goods is now very much a survivable scenario. Rapidly growing Asian market can become self-sustainable very, very soon. Add to that European market and it becomes very bad short term but very survivable in the long term scenario. In addition to that all US “allies” with come to kiss Chinese boot in the hurry. Europeans, Japanese, Koreans will be there in no time. With loss of American market they will have absolutely no choice but to try to save their investments in China.

How about another totally shocking fact that NOBODY is talking about. I am not an economist but it seems like US market in freefall too. All stocks on US markets are in US$, right? DOW itself is a combined worth of top 30 companies as far as I know and those stocks are in US$. With value of US down 40% in last four years and 60% in the last seven or so does it mean that US market lost 40% and 60% of it's value in the same time period?
Where on the news did anybody hear about US market loosing 60% of its value in the last seven-eight years?
 
Going back to my common theme of looking back at last days of USSR.
 In 1980s I often heard term “convertible currency” of Soviet media. Apparently Soviet Ruble was not “convertible currency”. Few bothered to figure out what it meant. Basically what it meant is that Soviet Ruble was totally worthless outside of USSR. It could not be converted to any other currency. Trust in Soviet Ruble inside of USSR was nearly absolute though. Average Soviet citizen never doubted worth of the Soviet Ruble for a moment.
I look around today and I see things going in the same direction. Americans look at their news and see two topics on daily bases: “US$ record low” and “Oil record high”. They look at both and can not comprehend the connection between the two. Trust in worth of US$ is so absolute that it precludes them from making simple connection between those two “dots”. Instead they go straight into complaining about ridiculously high gas prices.

News flash Americans! Gas is derived from worldwide commodity called oil! Gas is not going up, US$ is going down the drain!


Posted by Danz at 18:43:30 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Sunday | February 24, 2008

M1 Abrams made in China

M1 Abrams made in China
Well, so far only 10% of it is made in China.


Planners: U.S. industrial base not strong enough
Ability to meet military needs is questioned



TED EVANOFF
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE


American troops drive 10,000 Humvees in Iraq. But if the U.S. Army suddenly needed 10,000 more of the slab-sided trucks for the war, the Indiana factory that makes them could not soon deliver.
Tooling and machine shops that supply critical Humvee parts, such as extra-large 3.5-inch shock absorber bolts, aren't prepared to gear up output quickly.
"The industrial base just isn't there if we ever had to surge production," said Craig MacNab, spokesman at South Bend, Ind.-based AM General, whose cavernous 1,100-employee Mishawaka plant is the Humvee's sole producer.
QUOTE
"If we needed to seriously increase our capacity for military goods, it'd be a real challenge."

Bruce Braker

President of the Tooling and Manufacturing Association
It's not only army trucks the U.S. might have trouble producing in large numbers.
For the first time since America emerged as a first-rank war and industrial power in the 1890s, some U.S. military planners openly doubt the country's manufacturers can sustain the nation in a major war larger than the Iraq conflict.
"What kind of superpower are you if you can't make what you need?" asked systems engineer Sheila Ronis, a lecturer at the Pentagon's Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
The decline of the Detroit auto industry and the rise of industrial China have decimated a supporting cast of die, machine, mold and tooling shops, a metalworks industry centered in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.
For the same reason imported chairs, televisions and clothes fill American homes, imported parts appear in increasing volumes in military hardware. Imports cost less than homemade.
While no one is sure how many imported parts are used in weapons systems, a growing chorus of researchers and trade groups express concern. They warn the rise of imports and the demise of the metalworks trades threaten the nation's manufacturing base.
"If we needed to seriously increase our capacity for military goods, it'd be a real challenge," said Bruce Braker, president of the Tooling and Manufacturing Association. The trade group, in Park Ridge, Ill., represents 1,627 companies, down 25 percent in a decade.
Throughout the industrial Midwest, 1,991 metalworks plants closed and dismissed 80,000 workers in the same years, the U.S. Census Bureau's County Business Patterns reports show.
For three decades, union members have urged consumers to buy products made in the U.S., largely to save union jobs. Ronis, head of the consulting firm the University Group in Birmingham, Mich., said the stakes are larger. She links Detroit's decline with national security.
It's a controversial point. Pentagon researchers regularly assess the nation's industrial base. Each year they deem it capable of supplying the armed forces.
America has enough factories. What's inside is in short supply -experienced manufacturing engineers and talented machinists, diemakers and other highly skilled workers.
"We could ramp up production if we had to, but the problem would be finding experienced machinists. They aren't out there anymore," said Sam Reed, president of Reed Manufacturing Services, a 40-employee Franklin, Ind., machine shop that supplies diesel and appliance makers.
Ronis, a director of the foundation supporting the Pentagon's National Defense University, contends America's weapons components supply chain now runs to China, France, Germany, Japan and other nations. As a result, China supplies as much as 10 percent of the parts for the U.S. Army's M1 Abrams main battle tank, Ronis suggested.
In 2004, a third of the new U.S. metalworking machinery was imported, along with almost 46 percent of the process control instruments and nearly a quarter of the relays and industrial controls, reports the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a trade group in Washington, D.C., that studies imports and exports.
"Imports may be the thing to do, but no one has asked the question, 'To what extent is a strong U.S.-located manufacturing base still vital to U.S. national security?'" said economist Alan Tonelson of the U.S. Business and Industry Council. The conservative trade group, based in Washington, D.C., favors import restrictions.


http://www.bellinghamherald.com/app...mplate=printart
Posted by Danz at 21:12:02 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Any allies left?

Any allies left?

Looks like Australia elected Socialist who will not be much of an ally. Fluent Chinese speaker he promised closer relationship with China and withdrawal from Iraq. True “block” Howard is gone now.

Just few weeks ago Polacks elected Socialist which promised new, pro-European direction and pull out of Iraq. He also declared that he would get a lot more money from US for US bases in Poland. Kaczynski twins (premier and president) are all but out of power.
New leftist socialists of Poland are ready to milk USA for everything they can. They now demand rebuilding of Polish military at expense of US before they let US to put those ICBM interceptor missiles in.
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020101910_pf.html
 
Yeah, you “modernize” our military (how many $ billions?) and we will let you put in 10 interceptor missiles. Oh by the way Iran does not really have any ICBMs and Russia has much more then 10 of them.

Brits kept 5000 troops in Basra airport waiting to ship out and pretty much turned control over Southern Iraq over to Iran. Nominally they may still be an “ally” but they have no Navy left and not much military to speak of anyway. Long gone are the days of “Britannia rules the waves” now days you have to ask “which two of them?”
 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/05/navy05.xml


Who is left? Mighty Canada? Maybe.
  
Japan? Another “maybe” with US market collapsing under the weight of the US debt they will have to make a choice. Huge investments in China will take priority over distant and uncertain markets of US. Japanese will have no choice but to come and kiss the ring on the Chinese Communist hand.
  

So, any allies left? US is all alone and surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Posted by Danz at 21:05:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Saturday | February 23, 2008

Collapse of USSR was staged.

Hard to believe it may be but it was predicted back in 1984 and predictions turned out to be 94% accurate!


By J.R. Nyquist

Since the tragedy of 9/11 we know that America faces a grave threat. We know about bin Laden and al Qaeda. We know about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. What is not understood is that we face a much bigger enemy. A more dangerous enemy, unsuspected by most of our leaders and the experts who advise them.

Who is this enemy?

In 1984 a book was published with the title New Lies for Old. It was written by Soviet KGB defector Anatoliy Golitsyn. The book claimed that the Soviet Union had a secret long-term strategy to disarm and defeat the United States through a controlled collapse of the Soviet empire that would take place in the last decade of the twentieth century. In the book's most remarkable chapter, titled "The Final Phase," Golitsyn accurately described the future of the Soviet bloc. Communism would give up its monopoly of power in Russia, he explained, as apparent freedom and democracy would be introduced. The communist Warsaw Pact alliance would be dissolved. The Berlin Wall might be taken down and Germany united as "the key to progress toward a neutral, socialist Europe."

Controlled democratization and liberalization would be facilitated by communist agents within the dissident movements of Eastern Europe. As Golitsyn wrote, "the liberalization would be calculated and deceptive in that it would be introduced from above. It would be carried out by the party through its cells and individual members in government, the Supreme Soviet, the courts, and the electoral machinery and by the KGB through its agents among the intellectuals and scientists." (p. 339-340.)

Golitsyn's book has been dismissed as nonsense by CIA experts, pundits and journalists. "Yet of Golitsyn's falsifiable predictions, 139 out of 148 were fulfilled by the end of 1993 -- an accuracy rate of nearly 94 percent," according to Mark Riebling's history of the FBI and CIA titled Wedge.

The correctness of Golitsyn's predictions have also been shown by researchers and journalists reporting on events in Eastern Europe. These include the stunning revelations of Andrei Codrescu about the 1989 Romanian Revolution, in his book The Hole in the Flag, as well as revelations by Polish author Darius Rohnka in his book Fatalna Fikcja ("The Fatal Fiction") and the works of Czech activist Petr Cibulka.

We also have the personal analysis of two GRU defectors. The famous spy and author, Viktor Rezun (a.k.a. Viktor Suvorov), told Christopher Story of Soviet Analyst that the collapse of the Soviet Union was undoubtedly a deception. When asked how Western intelligence could fail to see this deception, Rezun answered, "Because they are stupid." At the same time, GRU defector Stanislav Lunev has also suggested that the collapse of the Soviet Union must have been part of a strategic plan, although he says the plan went awry and led to the unintended derailment of Marxism-Leninism in the former bloc countries. However, he admits, this is no obstacle to Kremlin strategy, since Moscow's communist era objectives remain unchanged with KGB officer Vladimir Putin at the helm.

Evidence of a long range Soviet strategy of controlled democratization and fake collapse for the purpose of disarming the West also appears in the writings of the high level Czech defector Jan Sejna. In his 1982 book, We Will Bury You, Sejna wrote of a plan to "convince the Capitalist countries that they had no need of military alliances." He added that, "To this end we envisaged that it might be necessary to dissolve the Warsaw Pact, in which event we had already prepared a web of bilateral defence arrangements, to be supervised by secret committees of Comecon."

The evidence for strategic deception is rich and verifiable. It is not material invented by kooks, but solidly based in reality. Americans do not realize the extent to which the Chechen wars were Kremlin-inspired provocations, openly alluded to by Russia's ranking Chechen official, Mufti Kadyrov. They do not realize the suspicious backgrounds of leading Chechen Muslims, or the fact that al Qaeda's Number Two man spent several months in Russia only to be released under mysterious circumstances. Could it be a coincidence that terrorism expert Yossef Bodansky alleges that bin Laden's acquired nuclear weapons via Chechnya, from Russian sources?

The pieces of the puzzle are in front of our eyes. But Americans will not believe their eyes. No matter how carefully the evidence is laid out, the public and American officials reject the idea of an ongoing Soviet deception strategy to bring America to its knees.

A few months before the attack on the World Trade Center, Fidel Castro visited Iran. He said that working together, they could bring down the United States. It is significant that Russia and China are now allied, and engage in regular joint military exercises. It is significant that communist dictators are emerging in Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil. It is also significant that Europe is slipping into "socialist neutrality."

The danger is very great. But Americans will not believe in this danger because we feel superior. We feel invulnerable. Why should anyone conspire to destroy America? The answer is simple. The answer is that inferior nation-states, like inferior persons, sometimes hate those who are superior.

Julien Benda once wrote: "Our age is the age of the intellectual organization of political hatreds." Now ask yourself who the organizers of political hatred are, and which nations have been targeted? Today, the central targets of organized political hatred are Israel and the United States.

First you hate, then you dehumanize, then you kill. That is the formula for mass destruction warfare. You don't begin a war by nuking enemy cities. You begin by organizing hatred against target populations. You dehumanize your target. When you have united a large enough mass behind you, and they are eager for blood, then you can unleash your weapons of mass destruction. The world will stand up and cheer, and you will be its new master.

Hatred is a powerful unifying force. In his book, "The True Believer," Eric Hoffer wrote: "hatred is not always directed against those who wronged us." In fact, it is often directed at the good, the superior and the fortunate. Seeing that someone is superior to ourselves, we sometimes think ill of our abilities and prospects. "Self contempt produces in man the most unjust and criminal passions," wrote Hoffer, who explained that hatred is often "an expression of a desperate effort to suppress an awareness of our inadequacy, worthlessness, guilt and other shortcomings of the self."

If we look at the world around us, at the Arab world, the Chinese and the Russians, we find national inferiority complexes at work. And these help to explain the war preparations of Russia and China, and their justification by officials like Gen. Chi Haotian of China's Communist Party Central Military Commission, who said in 1999: "War [with American imperialism] is inevitable. We cannot avoid it." He also explained, "We must be prepared to fight for one year, two years, or even longer."

http://www.nowpublic.com/politics/c...on-was-staged-0
Posted by Danz at 23:00:39 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

We are pass the point of no return. There is almost no way that inevitable cannot happen. Look at those clowns running for the President. They are falling over each other promising more freebies than their opponents. One who promises most freebies wins! This is while US is broke!
Is it not how first Greek democracy ended? People figured out how to vote for freebies at expense of others.
 Look at El Presidente Horhe Bush. He is flying all over Africa spreading billions of US "aid". “Aid” that kills any kind of local agriculture (nobody can compete with free food).


This is exactly what took place in the last days of USSR! Country was completely broke, Leonid Brezhnev was taking in loans as fast as he could but aid to all the Soviet puppet states never stopped for a second. Also at the same time Soviets were proud to announce that people in USSR do not have to work as much as people in USA, had long vacations, free medical care......(sounds familiar?)
 
There is only one guy who is trying to talk about the problem, the only one who is trying to sound the alarm because he does see the reality. That loony Ron Paul guy. He is getting nowhere. He would not be able to save this country anyway. His proposed solutions are way too idealistic. While they sound good and in line with founding fathers those solution simply cannot work in reality of today's world.
 
Do you know that games in Coliseum were still on even while Rome was completely surrounded by Barbarians? History repeats itself if people do not learn that history, if people only worry about free bread and entertainment.
 
Posted by Danz at 22:58:10 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

US military is being gutted. US Air Force is getting to the point that before long airplanes of mighty US “will simply rust out, age out, fallout of the sky”

 

http://dc01-cdh-afa03.tranguard.net/AFA/Features/modernization/box092107warning.htm

 

US Navy is being gutted

"We're building only five ships a year; we're on the way to a 150-ship Navy" he says. In his view, that is courting disaster. "That is not enough to cover our security requirements," he says. "Seventy-percent of the world is covered by water. We no longer have basing rights around the world. If you have combat operations going on you need air cover and support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that comes from the Navy. To fly one ton of cargo into Iraq takes 14 tons of fuel. That's not cheap. It's got to go by sea, so you have to protect it. The Iranians, for instance, have very good submarines."
The ultimate threat, he says, is China, which "is now building their 600-ship Navy, to fill the vacuum, and they're very good ships."
 

http://www.nysun.com/article/40438?page_no=1

 

and

“China has more than 60 submarines, including five Han-class nuclear attack boats. The Chinese navy is also planning to produce as many as a dozen more advanced nuclear attack submarines by the end of this decade. In addition, Russia also maintains a fleet of nearly 50 active submarines centered on a core force of 20 nuclear-powered Akula and Victor attack boats.

In comparison, the U.S. Navy maintains a force of 55 nuclear attack submarines but has no conventional submarines. The heavy expense of this all-nuclear fleet has forced the U.S Navy to cut back submarine production while increasing deployment.”

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/4/27/163716.shtml

 
 

US Army is spread thin all over the world.

 

Decline of US power was not going fast enough so war in Iraq was started to hasten the process. Biggest obstacle to one world order is strong and independent countries. US have to be destroyed, leveled to the ground to pave way for the new order. Road to the NWO will be paved with crashed remains of the USofA.

 

US$ is being imploded, US economy, wealth producing sectors of it are outsourced. How much longer will China finance this unsustainable, decadent life style of America? Do Chicoms finance it in order to bring US down without firing the shot. Why are they so happy to finance the whole Iraqi war? It is paid for with nothing but money borrowed from Chicoms. Looks like they are more than happy to pay for the war which keeps US busy and weak. Iraqi war is consuming the very resources that should be spend on developing and purchasing new weapons and equipment for the military.

 
 
Posted by Danz at 14:03:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

I am worried about future of this nation more than anybody can imagine. Some brain deads call me traitor and tell me to go back to Russian and all....

Stupid, short sited minds fail to understand that USofA is the only country I am citizen of. USofA is the country I would love to live long and prosper for my children. I have seen collapse and following misery of one super power nation and the very last thing I want to live through is collapse of another. I would love to live in great and prosperous nation that will offer secure and reliable future for my children. With great pain that wakes me up at night I see signs of doom in this nation’s future. Same signs that I have seen before. Signs of unsustainable lifestyle leading to inevitable outcome.

Sometimes I wish that I could just walk into the middle of the street and scream “WTF are you doing people?!” This whole nation is heading into collapse and all you care about is your “celebrities” and latest game score. (I know, I will be new patient in local mental institution in no time if I do that).

Today US is a giant on glass legs. Fat, bloated, overconfident giant. Ruled by bunch of corrupt to the core, soulless, amoral leaders. Maybe I am just going insane but I do start to really believe in existence of some kind of conspiracy group that wants to destroy US from within. Nobody can do what is done today to this country by mistake, it can only be a deliberate effort. New World Order will happen and soon. One world Government will be a reality and it cannot happen with strong independent nation like US in existence. USA as we know it must be destroyed to pave way to the new world order. Bible says that new world order will happen and US is not mentioned in that time period at all.
I know, I am just a loony nut. I should just go join Alex Jones crowd.

NW is not a good place to live in in the coming collapse time. Nobody is going to need anything high tech for basic survival. Cannot eat Microsoft product and nobody will need Boeing airplanes and lumber for new houses. Shipping through ports will go down to absolutely minimal amounts. I would say best place is Texas and southern central states. Fuel and food - bare essentials will be the beginning of new economy. With those regions barely surviving on their own it is unlikely that they will be willing to share with regions that produce nothing of “bare essentials” value. This is when the whole country may fall apart.
It may not happen though. Falling apart that is. US will, most likely, be turned into military dictatorship of some sort. New, internal only, monetary system will be established. Call me crazy but I heard rumors that new, internal use only, “Red Buck” is already distributed to central banks. Mortgage industry will be nationalized since 95%+ of people live in houses they do not own and nobody can evict that many people. Overnight you will end up living in Government owned housing.

American people will be like dazed rabbits, running around asking, “What happened”? What happened to the great and mighty nation we were so used to? Than anger will set in, somebody will have to be found to be blamed. Somebody, anybody. People like me, AKA “The f***n foreigners” will be on the very top of short list of people to blame.

With law and order breakdown local law enforcement will cease to exist. Cops will simply go home to protect their own families. US military will have to be re-called from most oversea bases back to US to maintain some kind of order. Busy with internal problems US influence in the world will go down to nil. China will fill the vacuum. Russia will round up former Soviet Republics again.

Ah... What is the point of writing all this gibberish... Enjoy it while it lasts. Let the good times roll. Lights are on and music is playing on Titanic of America.
Posted by Danz at 12:30:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

I feel like I live in 1980s USSR. Everybody is fat and happy. People seem to do well on average but below the surface troubles are coming.

Unsustainable economy. Everything is in deficit and all sectors of economy are “in the red”. Just like Brezhnev Bush is borrowing as fast as he can and as much as possible.
All three wealth producing sectors of economy are “in the red”. Even agriculture went into deficit since 2005. manufacturing and mining are in severe deficit for a long time now.

Rampant corruption. US politicians of any level are for sale to highest bidder like whores not matter who is paying. Boy, that reminds me USSR rulers!

Iraq looks more and more like American Afghanistan. Pull out of Iraq in nearly imminent and “victory” of any kind is not likely. For now with “surge” things seem to improve but quick look at big picture looks about the same as before. Iraq no longer exists. Northern Iraq AKA Kurdisan is not under control of US in any way. Since Brits left southern Iran who is in control there? Most likely Iranian backed militias and some units of “Iraqi Army” which Iran has good control over. It is too far from “Green Zone” so that part of the country does not even exist as far as Western Press is concerned.
 Afghanistan is not much better. Looks like US and NATO do not have much control over half of it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/22/wtaliban122.xml


Democracy and two party system seems to be just a game put on for consumption of masses. Behind the scenes American equivalent of KPCC aka American Oligarchy party rules both Republicrats and Demicans. You can vote for “R” or “D” all you want but you get same apparatchick hell bent on bleeding US dry ether way.

Posted by Danz at 12:18:30 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |