Free Republic

In just the last twelve months Congressional members and top level administrators at the Department of Homeland Security have warned of threats to the national power grid so serious that should they occur life in America as we have come to know it would change almost instantly. Former DHS head Janet Napolitano, in a letter to her successor, advised that “a massive and serious cyber attack” on the US Homeland is imminent and that a “natural disaster — the likes of which the nation has never seen — is also likely on its way.” This was followed up by a...

Seven people seriously hurt after part of Shaftesbury Avenue theatre collapsed during The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time .

Numbers of public sector unions in Wisconsin collapsed in the wake of an historic vote that ended on Thursday. The unions are acutely feeling the impact of Act 10, Governor Scott Walker’s controversy-generating collective bargaining reforms of 2011. The reforms require public sector unions to hold annual recertification votes. In order to be certified as unions by the state, the labor groups must get the approval of over 50% of their members. For several weeks now the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission has been holding an open and ongoing vote for over 400 unions, mostly made up of public school teachers...

Broke on Fox News within the last hour. The Apollo theater was showing a family show “The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime.” Injuries have been reported.

A week from now, the Federal Reserve System will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding. Resulting from secret negotiations between bankers and politicians at Jekyll Island, the Fed's creation established a banking cartel and a board of government overseers that has grown ever stronger through the years. One would think this anniversary would elicit some sort of public recognition of the Fed's growth from a quasi-agent of the Treasury Department intended to provide an elastic currency, to a de facto independent institution that has taken complete control of the economy through its central monetary planning. But just like the...

Some of the most respected prognosticators in the financial world are warning that what is coming in 2014 and beyond is going to shake America to the core. Many of the quotes that you are about to read are from individuals that actually predicted the subprime mortgage meltdown and the financial crisis of 2008 ahead of time. So they have a track record of being right. Does that guarantee that they will be right about what is coming in 2014? Of course not. In fact, as you will see below, not all of them agree about exactly what is coming...

A paper currency system contains the seeds of its own destruction. The temptation for the monopolist money producer to increase the money supply is almost irresistible. In such a system with a constantly increasing money supply and, as a consequence, constantly increasing prices, it does not make much sense to save in cash to purchase assets later. A better strategy, given this scenario, is to go into debt to purchase assets and pay back the debts later with a devalued currency. Moreover, it makes sense to purchase assets that can later be pledged as collateral to obtain further bank loans....

MARK LEVIN: They've got this massive debt reduction bill that cuts $23 billion over ten years and no future Congress will change its mind. Ever, never. He promises this. This would be the same Johnny Boehner who just two years ago -- really almost two and a half years ago -- signed off on the debt ceiling deal. Remember that one that had the sequestered cuts in it? And they're not going to back off of that, until they back off of it. No, ladies and gentlemen I will repeat what I told Paul Ryan yesterday. And you've heard it...

"We already live in a financial economy in which the debt and capital markets exceed the value of the real economy by far," Marc Faber explains to Germany's Finanzen100, "and that's before the current formation of bubbles." His most ominous warning, and one that fits perfectly with the seeming insanity of Federal Reserve (and all developed market central banks) is that "the next time a bubble bursts, then the capitalist economic system as we know will falter."

Socialism: As the U.S. fixates on ObamaCare, south of our border another "free and universal" health care system is collapsing, according to a report from the Associated Press. It's an uneasy portent. The idea of free, universal health care has always seemed like a perfect solution. At least that was the thinking behind Venezuela's constitutionally enshrined "right" to free health care since 1999, winning the late President Hugo Chavez a lot of elections and seeming to be the logic behind ObamaCare. But post-Chavez, Venezuela's health care system is a shambles. Massive shortages of basic supplies plague both public and private...

Moments ago BitCoin hit $395, and will likely cross $400 in the immediate future (the chart looks a little less scary in log scale). So as more and more pile into the electronic currency, some due to ideological reasons, some simply to chase momentum, some out of disappointment with the manipulated gold price looking to park their savings in an alternative, non-fiat based currency, which a year ago traded 40 times lower, the attention of the government is finally starting to shift to what has been the best performing asset class in the past year, outperforming even the infamous Caracas...

An essay comparing the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 73 years ago today, to the near future collapse of the American civil society, from a blogger with the FR Seal of Approval. -- I. TACOMA NARROWS 73 years ago today, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington State collapsed. The way in which it collapsed was brought on by a positive-feedback situation, where the destructive force was only bounded by the structural integrity of the bridge itself. There are some serious lessons in this collapse for the future of American society. First, let's get a basic understanding of why the...

In the first three parts (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) of this disheartening look back at a century of central banking, income taxing, military warring, energy depleting and political corrupting, I made a case for why we are in the midst of a financial, commercial, political, social and cultural collapse. In this final installment I’ll give my best estimate as to what happens next and it has a 100% probability of being wrong. There are so many variables involved that it is impossible to predict the exact path to our world’s end. Many people don’t want to hear about...

Washington state legislator Rep. Matt Shea (R) says preparation is crucial to get ready for what he calls "the inevitable collapse" of the US economy. The Self-Reliance Rally event at an Idaho State Park had several speakers encouraging attendees to prepare by gathering arms and ammunition and considering forming militias. "When it happens, we need to look at this as a opportunity, not a crisis," Shea said. "Who's job is liberty? That's our job." Shea told the crowd to stock up on ammunition, stay in shape, practice shooting, learn self defense and special tactics. He related a story from when...

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage point to 7.4% in July and a broader measure of unemployment fell to 14% from 14.3%, but there was good news and bad news behind the declines. The drop in the main unemployment rate was driven by both positive and negative factors. Most of the drop was due to more people finding work. Some 227,000 more people said they were employed in July compared with June. But at the same time the overall labor force dropped by 37,000, a possible sign of discouraged long-term jobless dropping out. [] While the number of people...

Most astute observers and analysts understand that the world is on the brink of a widespread economic collapse. Our debt, the expansion of the U.S. police state, the militarization of governments, and geo-political posturing are all pointing to an end to life as we have come to know it in the modern world. We know it’s coming. The question is when? What signs should we be looking for? What will be the catalyst? The following micro documentary from Storm Clouds Gathering examines the complexity of the variables involved, the intentions of those making the decisions, and the various possibilities –...

Bix Weir is a tireless advocate for manipulation-free gold and silver markets. Weir says, “They are printing money, and the reason to control the price of gold is to control the perception the U.S. dollar is a sound currency.” The manipulation game is not going to go on much longer. Weir proclaims, “We’re at a point in our system and in the manipulation where people within the Fed and within our government are ready to pull the plug on the game and basically crash the system.” Weir goes on to say, “You’re looking at a complete wipeout of all debt...

Something peculiar has been going on the treasury market during the latest round of quantitative easing (QE). If we study the chart provided below we find that treasury rates increased as soon as a QE-program was enacted, and fell immediately after its termination. Take the TSY 10 year for example; as soon as QE1 was implemented rates rose rapidly from a low of 2.08 per cent to a high of 4.01 per cent. What is striking about this is the fact that the low was set three days into the program, while the high was set three days after the...

Economic blogger and author, Charles Hugh Smith, joins Rick for an in-depth discussion on cycles and why he foresees a banking crisis in 2015. Other cycles covered are cycles of war, and climate.

For over a month, JPMorgan managed to mysteriously avoid matching up the gold held in its (world's largest) vault with the Comex delivery notice update. However, as of today, that particular can will be kicked no more. Starting yesterday, JPM reported that just under 12,000 ounces of Eligible gold (the same Registered gold that two days earlier saw its warrants detached and convert to eligible) were withdrawn from its warehouse 100 feet below CMP 1. But it was today's move that was the kicker, as a whopping 90,311 ounces of eligible gold were withdrawn, accounting for a massive 66% of...