Blogs

[Note: This is a recent Martenson Insider post which I am making public. A couple of members thought this topic deservbed wider attention and conversation and I agreed.  Thanks go to MikeP for the title change idea.] 

The NYT had an editorial this past weekend (Feb 6, 2010) that trotted out some dangerous mistruths about the deficit and framed the issue as a left vs. right political game.

I hardly know where to start, but I will note that we've had massive accumulations of new debts under every single administration since the early 1980s, and that it hasn't seemed to matter which party has controlled which branches of government.  One could be forgiven for suspecting that, when it comes to deficit spending, there aren't two parties, but only one.

The real truth is that we have a culture of reckless spending in DC that transcends either or both parties, and I always lose a bit of trust in those who attempt to paint it otherwise.  This is simply not a partisan issue.  read more »

• FSN News Hour
• Catherine Austin Fits with Max Keiser
• G7 Finance Ministers Dine Near Arctic Circle
• The Scariest Jobs Chart Ever
• U.S. Wage Growth: The Downward Spiral
• ‘Don’t Be Evil,’ Meet ‘Spy on Everyone’: How the NSA Deal Could Kill Google
• Contagion
• Greek Ouzo Crisis Escalates Into Global Margin Call As Confidence Ebbs
• Wyoming Governor Talks Energy In D.C.
• Rawlins WY Endorses Uranium Facility
• Cost An Obstacle To Building Nuclear Reactors
• Mining The Grid's Middle Mile
• Junin 6 Oil Field To Become a Russian–Venezuelan Joint Venture
• PetroChina To Particiate In Developing Halfaya Oil Field In Iraq
• Selection Trials Loom For $1.4bn Solar Flagships Program
• Palmer Secures Australia's "Biggest" Export Deal With China

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• Geithner Says U.S. Will 'Never' Lose Its Aaa Debt Rating
• Testy Conflict With Goldman Helped Push A.I.G. to Edge
• Charting Europe's Crisis - Part 1
• In Japan, Crisis Looms As Economy Slips
• Germany Turns Up The Heat On Tax Evaders
• G7: Europe must rescue Greece
• Australian firm strikes $60B coal deal with China
• Dealing With Peak Oil

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• G-7 Bankers Collude To Influence and Set Regulations
• Italian Prosecutor Calls Hand on Merrill Lynch/Bank of America Fraud 
• The Last Days of Lehman
• Evidence of criminal wrongdoing in Treasury’s handling of AIG?

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• The Ticking U.S. Fiscal Bomb
• Gold’s Pick Pockets Continue To Prosper
• Fears of 'Lehman-style' tsunami as crisis hits Spain and Portugal
• World Oil Capacity to Peak in 2010 Says Petrobras CEO

 read more »

A new Martenson Report is ready for enrolled members.

Link On The Other Hand...

Executive Summary

• Recent economic news comes in three flavors: good, bad, and ugly.
• GDP, retail sales, and manufacturing surveys point up.
• Petroleum use has dropped to the same level it was at in the late 1990s, pointing down.
• State sales tax receipts, unemployment, and the federal budget deficit are ugly.
• The current expansionary track of monetary printing and deficit spending will continue until something external forces a contraction.

Today we are experiencing many confusing and conflicting signals in the economy.  Perhaps conflicting signals are normal at a major turning point, and therefore we might be tempted to believe that we are about to embark on another vigorous leg of economic expansion.

Here we'll explore these conflicting signals and see what we can make of them.  read more »

• Debt Time Bomb Ready to Go Ka-Boom
• Ron Paul Warns Of Coming Social And Political Chaos
• No Help in Sight, More Homeowners Walk Away
• Next In Line For A Bailout: Social Security
• Could Greece Be Expelled From The Eurozone?
• More Borrowers Pay Credit Cards Before Mortgages
• Bloomberg Joins The Direct Bidder Inquiry, Even As DB Identities And Rationales Continue To Evade
• Eliot Spitzer on the Colbert Report
• Saudi Oil Flows East: China's Ever Increasing Appetite for Oil
• High-Tech Aerogels Wrap Homes With Insulation
• Toronto Junior Khan Resources Focus Of China-Russia Fight for Mongolian Uranium
• Why Big Ag Won't Feed the World
• Britain Facing Food Crisis As World's Soil 'Vanishes In 60 Years'

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• Unemployment Rises in 82% of Metro Areas As Jobs Remain Scarce During Recovery
• Debt Study Finds Little Room for North Carolina to Borrow
• Record White House Budget Deficit Omits Trillions in Fannie and Freddie Liabilities
• No Aid or Rebound in Sight, More Homeowners Just Walk Away
• Housing Crisis Getting Uglier in 2010
• Michigan Continues Turning Paved Roads To Gravel
• New York's Hungry Children
• Study: Thousands of Utahns Must Choose Between Food Or Paying Rent
• More People Struggling To Stay Warm, Taxing Agencies (Detroit)
• U.S. Can't Make Quick, Deep, Budget Cuts: Geithner
• Moody's: US Rating Could Be Pressured by Deficit
• Schools Chancellor: State Budget Cuts Would Force 8,500 Layoffs
• Mass Layoffs By Year From 1996 Through 2009
• Phoenix OKs 2% Sales Tax On Food Items
• The Chickens Come Home To Roost
• Rare Earth Demand Rises, No Supply Increase Seen Outside China

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• Summers: ‘Statistical Recovery and Human Recession’
• The Population Crash
• U.S. Housing Bubble v2.0
• Miami Leaders Fear A Financial Meltdown
• Hedge Funds Speculate on Greek Debt
• The Treasury Is Soliciting Your Feedback Regarding The Proposed Annuitization Of 401(k)
• PBS Frontline - Wizards of Consumer Lending
• How Trillion-Dollar Deficits Were Created
• A Majority Of States Are Now Insolvent: Quantifying The Disastrous Unemployment Situation
• Double Dip Risk Rises After Inventory Blowout
• Wealthy Face Tax Increase
• U.S.-China Relationship Sours Over $6.4 Billion Weapons Sales To Taiwan
• U.S. Bank Bailout Encourages Risky Behavior
• Analysts' View: 2010 Budget Deficit To Hit Record
• CIA Officers Moonlighting on Wall Street
• Is Nuclear Power The Future? Obama Calls For More Plants
• The Great Uranium Stampede
• Scientists Set For Nuclear Fusion Fuel Switch-On
• The Next Big Thing
• Lithium Batteries Tapped For Community Storage
• 'Growth Fetishism' Talk by Clive Hamilton
• In Portland, Growing Vertical
• Investing in Natural Gas: The Most Important Source in the World

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• Davos 2010: Leaders Admit Drop in Trust
• Should Germany Bail Out Club Med Or Leave The Euro Altogether?
• Eight Centuries of Financial Folly
• Swiss Warn UBS Bank Could Collapse
• Why Transition?

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