News & Commentary

Here are the particulars of the Presidential appointments being removed from Senate approval.

Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011

Bill Summary & Status

From a Solari Report Subscriber

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program is the most expensive weapons program in US Defense Department history, costing almost 1.5 trillion dollars for around 25…

[CAF Note: Actually, if you estimate for the full financial coup d’etat following the GATT adoption of the Uruguay Round and the creation of the WTO combined with the “strong dollar policy,” the numbe…

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground. The topography of the rim is very mountainous due to erosion. The ground seen in the middle sho…

Source: qrc.depaul.edu

Think back a few years.  How much did a gallon of gasoline cost then? A loaf of bread? A 10 inch sausage pizza?  A movie ticket? Almost undoubtedly these items  now cost m…

By The Thinking Moms’ Revolution

They say high-pitched screams, fevers and swelling at the injection site are all common, harmless, insignificant side-effects of responsible, preventative medical c…

By Mat Honan

Meet Mat Honan. He just had his digital life dissolved by hackers.

In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted…

By Catherine Austin Fitts

One of the most important things we can each do is to support excellent leaders.

I have made a campaign contribution to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s (D-Ohio) campaign thi…

By The CNN Wire Staff

The July heat wave that wilted crops, shriveled rivers and fueled wildfires officially went into the books Wednesday as the hottest single month on record for the continental …

[Note from CAF: What are the private contractors who manage information and payments systems for the SEC and NYSE? It is not clear to me that any agreement between the two will solve the leakage, espe…

By Kevin J. O’Brien

Ocado, an online grocery store in England, prides itself on its delivery of refrigerated foods: When the company says the goods will arrive at a certain temperature, they mean i…

By Scott Gold

Curiosity, the largest and most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet, stuck its extraordinary landing Sunday night in triumphant and flawless fashion, and is poised to begi…

By Phyllis D. James of Synthetic Thinking

James Eagen Holmes’ interest in synthetic thinking, more commonly known as artificial intelligence, was handed down to him by his father, Robert Milton Holme…

By an American Traveler

So my family and I recently traveled to Germany and Switzerland during the last five weeks. It gave me a really different perspective, as I expected, but not in the directio…

By Lesta Frank

When: Saturday, August 11 , 10:00- 4:00 and Sunday, August 13, 11:00-5:00
Sign up for one or both days.
Where: Lesta’s studio, 135 Evans Ave, San Antonio, TX

Bring:
1. Your own photo…

YouTube
July 26, 2012

Related reading:

youvebeentrumped.com

[CAF Note: I originally published this is April 2003. I am republishing as we explore ideas to rebuild income and employment.]

“Arise, shine: for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is ris…

By Josh Lederman

Washington – The Internal Revenue Service may have delivered more than $5 billion in refund checks to identity thieves who filed fraudulent tax returns for 2011, Treasury Departmen…

By Willie Jones

How secure do you feel about the wireless router you use at home? Maybe more than you should. Researchers at AppSec Consulting Inc., in San Jose, Calif., reported new vulnerabilitie…

By Carl Herman

For five weeks I journalistically hammered that California’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) reveals $600 billion in surplus taxpayer assets, and the various local gov…

By Catherine Austin Fitts

A “control file” is a private record that contains secret information or pictures that are the basis of threatening and blackmailing a person. Perhaps the most famous histor…

Among the 21 categories of items shipped by rail, none have a tighter correlation to GDP than waste.

According to a 2010 piece on Bloomberg, economists Michael McDonough and Carl Riccadonna note th…

Reuters 26 July 2012

By Barbara Lewis

Manipulating international commodity benchmarks such as Brent crude oil would be a criminal offence, punishable by jail, under a set of reforms the EU Commissi…

THE GREATER GOOD looks behind the fear, hype and politics that have polarized the vaccine debate in America today. The film re-frames the emotionally charged issue and offers, for the first time, …

Dear Catherine,

You have been very much in my thoughts and prayer as I anticipate writing to celebrate your birthday.

I am deeply aware that this is your first birthday since Georgie’s death. This…

“I beg young people to travel. If you don’t have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown. Eat interesti…

[Note from Catherine Austin Fitts: I disagree with the conclusion of this new documentary. IMO, Bill Colby was most certainly assassinated. Whatever, the truth of his death, this new documentary …

       ~originally published in 2006~
By Catherine Austin Fitts
I resisted learning real history for many years. Instead I satisfied my curiosity about the past with the socially acceptable versio…

By Stephen Church

Stockton, one of a growing number of California cities in financial collapse, said it asked bondholders and other lenders owed more than $300 million to take less than full repaym…

Travelers Today 20 July 2012

By John Bolton, July 18th

Gun-control advocates and the Obama administration are rushing to complete negotiations in New York on a proposed international agreement call…

By a Reader

Even though he may not be a very good lawyer.  I assumed (incorrectly, it appears) from news accounts that Dann was corrupt and that the case against him had a modicum of legitimacy.  T…

By Tim O’Reilly

When we hear the term “cyberwarfare” we think of government-backed hackers stealing data, or releasing viruses or other software exploits to disrupt another country’s capabiliti…

Source: tax justice network

Revealed: global super-rich has at least $21 trillion hidden in secret tax havens.

At least $21 trillion of unreported private wealth was owned by wealthy individuals v…

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is meeting with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras to discuss foreign investment in Greece.

Clinton is in Greece to promote the “Hellenic Initiative,” an initia…

By Joseph P. Farrell

Both alchemy and transhumanism aim for the transformation of mankind. There, perhaps, all resemblance ends (though, as my co-author Scott D. de Hart and I point out in the fort…

[Note from Catherine Austin Fitts: Keep an eye out for fire sale leasing and transfer of valuable state assets to insiders at below market prices on the pretext of budget woes. Some smart folks in Cal…

Nazih is a 55-year-old married man and father of four children. He has more than 35 years of unique experience in agriculture with a deep knowledge in the growing of various products and plant root…

By Michael Hoven

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), an office of the US Department of Defense, will soon be producing jet fuel made from algae at a price comparable to that of p…

The Largest Stand Ever Against Chemtrails

August 17th – 19th , 2012Live Conference in LA & Global WebcastEbell Theatre743 S Lucerne BlvdLos Angeles, CA 90010323-931-1277

15 Experts in Chemt…

By Rob Kirby

GATA was born in the late 1990’s – primarily on the back of fundamental research by Frank Veneroso regarding Central Bank Gold Leasing. Veneroso’s intellectual curiosity was arouse…

The Seattle Times 17 July 2012

By Jim Suhr and Steve Karnowski
The Associated Press

The nation’s widest drought in decades is spreading, with more than half of the continental United States in some…

Our favorite substitute for the euro while we ride out the storm in the Eurozone is the Singapore dollar. While commodity currencies might be prime beneficiaries of the increased trigger friendline…

Ingo Swan

“It’s unkind to point out the Obvious
To those who don’t want to see it.
But it’s worse to point out the Invisible
To those convinced it doesn’t exist.”

“What, When, and Who are important…

Watch “A Day Made of Glass” and take a look at Corning’s vision for the future with specialty glass at the heart of it.

[ CAF Note: I have asked Fleurette to allow me to publish her letters to me for subscribers.Fleurette is a dear friend, subscribe and force of nature from Vancouver, British Columbia.]

Dear Catheri…

By Dr. Mercola

When I first read that genetically modified humans have already been born, I could hardly believe it. However, further research into this story featured in the UK’s Daily Mail1 prove…

Source: Yahoo Finance

click on the image for a larger version

Continue reading the article . . .

By Peter Morici

No issue is more misunderstood, or been more purposefully confused by the Romney and Obama campaigns, than outsourcing.
Outsourcing is merely the importing side of international tra…

By Staff Writers

The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) is considering launching its own bank to better manage its accounts, the new chief of subsidiary Airbus said in an intervie…

By John Melloy

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York suggests that the bulk of equity returns for more than a decade are due to actions by the US central bank.

Theoretically, the S&P …

By Barry Ritholtz

by JLMC. Browse more data visualizations.

Continue reading the article . . .

By Graham Ruddick

Speaking at the Farnborough Airshow, Sir Richard said Virgin Galactic wants to “revolutionise the way we get to space” and that he and his children will be the first passenger…

The story of seed has become one of loss, control, dependence and debt. It’s been written by those who want to make vast profit from our food system, no matter what the true cost.  It’s time to c…

Wal-Mart now sells to the citizens of the United States more than one-fifth of their food, which is more than the combined sales of its three largest competitors.

Related reading:

Walmart
From Wikip…

(CAF Note: Is the LIBOR scandal sufficiently frustrating that the UK Defense establishment thought we needed some light reading for the weekend?)

By Ed Krayewski

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of…

Lloyds Banking Group could have to pay out more than £1bn over claims it was involved in the manipulation of Libor, according to City analysts.

By Harry Wilson, Banking Correspondent

Lloyds Bank…

“Catherine Austin Fitts has perspective on the housing and mortgage meltdown like no other. Under President George Herbert Walker Bush, she was Assistant Secretary of Housing and Federal Housing Com…

[click on the image for a larger version]

By Conor Sen

Robots have come to destroy our way of life, just as we saw in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, though not as we expected. They’re taking our jobs,…

Published by Harvard University

Whatever the future, the analysis reported in this paper reveals some important points: 

• Oil is not in short supply. From a purely physical point of view, ther…

U.S. Federal Judge Stanley Sporkin talk about the JOBS Act

Judge Stanley Sporkin

Stanley Sporkin (born February 7, 1932) is a former judge of the United States District Court for the District of Col…

How do healthcare costs compare around the world? Photograph: Alamy

By Simon Rogers

The US spends more than any other country in the world on healthcare – but how does it really compare? Every count…

By Sarah Horowitz

For the First Time, USPTO Will Expand Operations Outside Washington, DC, to Dallas, Denver, and Silicon Valley, in Addition to Detroit, Which Opens July 13

“Intellectual proper…

Andy Griffith, who made homespun Southern wisdom his trademark as the wise sheriff in “The Andy Griffith Show” and the rumpled defense lawyer in “Matlock,” died Tuesday. He was 86.

Continue reading t…

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Source: The Economics

A scandal over key interest rates is about to go global.

THE most memorable incidents in earth-changing events are sometimes the mos…

[ CAF Note: We created a mortgage bubble by fraudulent means. When the bubble burst, we solved the banks problem with fraudulent means at taxpayers expense. Now the question is if and how will we …

Farmers from Miyagi prefecture raise their fists along with other farmers from across Japan during a rally against Japan participating in rule-making negotiations for the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partne…

By John Acher and Ole Mikkelsen

* Central bank cuts main policy rate by 25 bps to 0.20 pct
* Cuts CD rate by 25 bps to negative 0.20 pct
* Keeps current account rate unchanged at 0.0 pct
* Lifts cu…

By Soren Dreier

Scientists at Cern, the Geneva-based European laboratory for particle physics, are revealing their latest findings in their search for the Higgs boson.

Video
the guardian…

A social and economic system driven by network technologies that enable the sharing and exchange of all kinds of assets from spaces to skills to cars in ways and on a scale never possible before
Abou…

Stand Up For Your Right To Know

The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act of 2012

We All Have a Right to Know What’s in Our Food

Consumers have a right to know what’s …

The home of the Large Hadron Collider is hot with excitement about what two teams of physicists will report this week

By Ian Sample

The teams have been searching for the Higgs boson using the giant…

By Robert Lee Hotz

The biggest and best-equipped robotic rover ever launched to another planet is hurtling toward a rendezvous with Mars, in a $2.5 billion mission that tests the engineering limits…

Anyone notice a pattern?

By Ben Deighton

A Belgian court convicted a subsidiary of commodities trader Glencore (GLEN.L) and others on Wednesday of bribing a European Union official in retur…

By Peggy Noonan

It is a big victory for the White House.

ObamaCare, including the insurance mandate, was upheld. What would have been a political disaster for President Obama has been averted. He …

[CAF Note: When John Gotti, Jr. was asked by the press whether or not the Gotti crime family was trafficking in narcotics, he denied the allegation saying “who can compete with the government?” My r…

Source: Flixxy.com

What happens when you point the Hubble Space Telescope to a seemingly blank patch of sky? A view that takes you to the edge of the universe!  

Continue reading the article . ….

[CAF Note: I don’t love Obamacare!]

By Greg Stohr

The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the core of President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul in an opinion that held two surprises: Chief Justice J…

[CAF Note: I’m a skeptic. Get ready for this to be seriously misused]

A federal court decision on Tuesday upholding the Environmental Protection Agency’s landmark rulings to control greenhouse ga…

Image: Stuart Niles / freedigitalphotos.net *

By John Butler

In what might be the most underreported financial story of the year, US banking regulators recently circulated a memorandum for comment,…

[Note from CAF: Here it comes again. A new effort to push pandemics and vaccines. If ever there is a sign of real weakness in the global economy, medical terrorism is it. For more on swine flu, che…

Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Source: TED

In pictures, quotes and more.

As the world becomes interconnected, the ways we relate and learn about one another (and the rules about what we share…

By Dave Gonigam

Hooray for Iceland. The nation has effectively purged an entire class of zombies.

Late on Friday, the Icelandic government repaid $483.7 million in loans to the International Moneta…

[click on the image for a larger version

By Steven Aftergood

The Department of Defense has identified 110 sites in the United States that could serve as bases for military unmanned aerial systems …

by Catherine Austin Fitts

In April, I dropped into the Verizon Store in Corte Madera, California. I was headed to Portugal. My iPhone did not work globally. On my last few trips to Europe, Verizon ha…

From Wikipedia

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), also known as the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement, is a multilateral free trade agreement that aims to further liberalize…

[CAF Note: Like Curtis Mayfield sang, “It’s like one way in and no way out.”]

By Spatial Information Design Labs

The United States currently has more than 2 million people locked up in jails and p…

By Adam Curtis

All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace is a series about how humans have been colonised by the machines they have built — “Although we don’t realise it, the way we see ev…

By Jed Graham

Nearly four years after a borrowing binge gave way to financial crisis, have households slashed enough debt to take on new credit and start spending again?

Continue reading the artic…

Genetically modified (GM) crops are promoted on the basis of a range of far-reaching claims from the GM crop industry and its supporters. They say that GM crops:

Are an extension of natural bree…

By Charles Riley

The average American family’s net worth dropped almost 40% between 2007 and 2010, according to a triennial study released Monday by the Federal Reserve.

[click on the image for a l…

By David Jolly

Paris — Washington gained another victory on Thursday in its push to extend surveillance over Americans’ financial dealings when Switzerland joined the list of countries that hav…

By Charles Hugh Smith of two minds.com

The Master Narrative Nobody Dares Admit

All centralized systems, open and shadow alike, act as heavy taxes on the society and economy. This is why they canno…

By Dakin Campbell and Michael J. Moore

Moody’s Investors Service suffered a downgrade of its own as markets responded to the company’s rating cuts yesterday of 15 of the world’s largest bank…