From The Ramparts

Teetering On The Brink of Collapse

The House of Cards Is Teetering On The Brink of Collapse

“There is a famous moment in Looney Tunes cartoons after Wile E. runs off a cliff, but before he looks down, when he starts to suspect that something might be wrong. The American economy had one of those moments yesterday. The news was something only an economics junky could truly appreciate. On Wall Street, Bear Stearns Cos., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., are as good as junk.
f you don't know what this means, let me try to explain in the simplest way possible: Wall Street professionals consider the odds of the three largest investment banks in the world to pay off their debts equal to the odds of a subprime, house-flipper staying out of bankruptcy. The credit rating of these huge investment banks are now several levels below investment grade, just like Ford and GM. If that doesn't sound scary enough to you then I would like to refer you to some economic history, when large financial houses went bankrupt - Panic of 1893, Panic of 1873, Panic of 1907, and of course, the 1929 Stock Market Panic.” Economy Heading For The Cliff
Wednesday, 01 August 2007 Written by Garrett Johnson http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5914/

Most Black folks don’t pay too much attention to the economic news because we have been told it’s too complicated and we feel for the okey-doke. Plus it’s only been in the last generation that people of African descent were allowed to participate in the broader economic sphere to become aware of the marketplace. If per chance you have been paying attention the stock market, the last few days, Wall Street has been highly to use their jargon “volatile”. That means things have been poppin’, in downward a state of flux. Things have been so volatile there are ripples of economic disaster spreading throughout the global economy the result of the implosion of the US Housing/credit bubbles. The US economy is in deep trouble. Only the actions of the not so secret Plunge Protection Team have temporarily “stabilized” the inevitable unraveling of the US economy. “Since the appointment of Henry Paulson to the helm at the US Treasury, the US stock market has always found a way to defy the law of gravity. During Paulson's short reign, the Dow Jones Industrials (DJI-30) broke an 80-year old record for the longest streak of gains with only three declining days in between. During the first seven months of his tenure, the S&P 500 did not decline by 2%, the second longest-period without a 2% correction since 1964. The market savvy Treasury chief, who built a $730 million fortune at Goldman Sachs, is also the chairman of the Working Group on Financial Markets, commonly known as the Plunge Protection Team (PPT), created by Ronald Reagan to prevent a repeat of the Wall Street meltdown in October 1987. The PPT is empowered to intervene in stock index futures and the foreign currency markets in the event of a crash. Paulson and his Plunge Protection Team are dealing with another tough challenge, trying to extend the S&P 500's all-time record for avoiding a 10% correction. It's been 52-months since the S&P 500's last slide of 10% or more, which took place from January 14 to March 11, 2003, when it lost 14 percent. Since then, the benchmark index has more than doubled without a similar drop.” The “Plunge Protection Team” Working Overtime to Save US Stock Market By: Gary_Dorsch http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article1771.html
AmeriKKKa is in deep financial doo doo. The banking elites have done what they do best, manipulate the markets to their benefit and orchestrated a bust scenario that in many ways is worse then the crash of 1929. “From the Panic of 1837 up to today, every economic recession/depression in this country's history has been triggered by either a banking crisis or an energy crisis. For the first time since 1974, we are set up to be hit by both at the exact same time. On top of that, we have the very real chance of also getting hit by a currency crisis, the first this country has experienced since the Continental Congress was issuing promissory notes it couldn't cash during the revolution.” Economy Heading For The Cliff Wednesday, 01 August 2007 Written by Garrett Johnson http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5914/ If in a worse case scenario the Plunge Protection Team is unable to forestall a major financial collapse, we will all go down with the ship. The Depression of 1929 will look like a tea party.
However if they are able to stave off eminent short term collapse we will have a brief amount of time to get our act together because sooner or later all of AmeriKKKa and particularly Black AmeriKKKa will experience what our peeps in New Orleans experienced two years ago in the devastating wake of a physical hurricane named Katrina. Only this time the hurricane/tsunami will be a financial one. This is not a gloom and doom or woe is me forecast. It is a warning, an opportunity for us to prepare so we don’t get caught up in the drama and catastrophe of an impending economic collapse. The banking elites' house of cards is teetering on the brink of collapse, and it’s having global implications. “But a rash of defaults by hard-pressed American families have left funds sitting on losses that could add up to £50billion, leading some analysts to liken the situation to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Economist Neville Hill of financial services company Credit Suisse said: ‘Everyone is very worried in the markets - it looks like a loss of confidence.’ The U.S. markets have been the centre of the storm, but the contagion in money markets has spread to London. ‘If this carries on, it could deter the Bank of England from raising rates again - at least for the time being until things settle down.’ Howard Archer, of economic analysts Global Insight, said: ‘This increases the risk that the UK housing market could see a sharp slowdown.’ Smaller bonuses in the City could also have some dampening impact on consumer spending and the housing market in London in particular.’” £63bn wiped off UK shares as fears of a recession grow http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23407895-details/Global%20stock%20markets%20crash%20in%20response%20to%20US%20mortgage%20crisis/article.do German, French, EU and Asian central banks have also moved to shore up liquidity to prevent runs on their banks, and hedge funds. Of course the US mind control apparatus is downplaying and trivializing all this. No need to get the yahoo even more upset at Bu$h and Co. than they already are.
As Africans in AmeriKKKa we have always been subject to the vicissitudes of Euro-American policy and animus, most of which were antithetical to our best interests. True self-determination means discerning the times but more importantly creating a vision for ourselves, actualizing it and making it real. The good thing about AmeriKKKa’s financial woes is it may force us to get our act together. If this doesn’t move us to serious and purposeful action (as opposed to posturing and trying to secure favors and crumbs from Mr. Charlie) nothing will. In anticipation of a crash or at the very least “adjustments” we need to begin to plan and prepare for how we will survive, thrive and excel during volatile times. First and foremost we will have to adopt and adapt a “do for self” mentality. A proactive, ethnocentric orientation is our best bet as opposed to an exocentric, passive (being totally dependent upon the largess and charity of our enemies) approach to the situation. We will have to rethink our positions on economic development, starting from scratch. We’ll have to start with the basics, start thinking about ways we can provide food for ourselves, like having our own gardens, starting community gardens, working with the Black farmers to buy their products direct and distribute the food by starting co-op or retail markets. We will have to think of way we can take any surpluses we have to exchange, barter or sell to others in exchange for their goods and services. The coming economic collapse could be viewed as an excellent opportunity for us to redeem ourselves, get into the economic game and at least not be totally dependent upon all the other tribes and groups for our survival!
We may want to rethink putting so much value and priority on individualism, flash, the bling-bling and predatory lifestyle. We cannot outdo the devil. In order for the largest number Black people to survive we must return to a basic collectivist (the greatest good for the greatest number of people) mentality and focus on the most important things, nutritious foods, local regional and ultimately an international exchange of goods and services. And certainly we must come up with ways to protect our community from many of our own who will become desperate because they may not have access to their prescribed or illicit drugs nor money to buy them, their junk food fixes or their normal “lifestyles” in a worst case scenario. I certainly don’t have the answers. What I do know is the sooner we take our heads out of the proverbial sand see what is going on and we begin to get ourselves together, the better off we will be.

-30-

posted by Junious Ricardo Stanton @ 8:29 PM