Towards the end of June, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced a plan to release 60 million barrels of oil to combat the high prices brought on by the Libyan crisis.  That’s about 2 million barrels a day since June 23.  It looks like prices have already hit bottom, and most think the cheap gasoline and diesel fuel will not last.  I think this could be a dress rehearsal for this time next year, just before the 2012 elections–but what do I know?  (more…)

I have consistently said since this site went on line that the only thing you can count on when it comes to the economy is inflation.  Economist John Williams of Shadowstats.com says inflation is now running at 11.2%.  To get that number, Williams computes the data the way Bureau of Labor Statistics did it in 1980 (or earlier.)  No accounting gimmicks–just a true measurement of the cost of living, not the cost of existence.  (more…)

Many people think that there is a big difference between Democrats and Republicans, but I think there’s not much difference at all.  I have long said, the left and the right are really one body with two heads–they just take turns ripping us off.  Both parties are not all bad.  There are a few good eggs on both sides of the isle but only a few. Gerald Celente, founder of Trends Research, thinks much the same way as I do.  Celente is famous for making many spot on predictions about the future based on trends of today.  He is predicting that Congressman Ron Paul could win the Presidency in 2012.  (more…)

There are those who feel some of the leadership of America has sold us down a river of ruin.  After all the bailouts, corruption and malfeasants that has brought a financial catastrophe to America, not a single financial elite has been indicted, let alone gone to jail.  Crimes have surely been committed, but it appears the U.S. Justice Department has turned its back on prosecuting anyone. (more…)

Last year, I wrote a piece called “We Don’t Have Honest Money.” It’s about how the Fed is debasing our currency.  I wrote, “It is said, when empires fall, one of the first signs of decline is a debasement of the currency.   Long before the Roman Empire fell, its leaders debased the currency.  The debasement was small at first, but over time, precious metals were watered down and coin sizes shrank.  For example, silver coins ended up having so little silver in them they became unpopular and shunned.  A debased Roman currency brought, what else, inflation.  Sound familiar?” (more…)

What is going on in the Middle East is breathtaking and frightening at the same time.  The unrest and outright middle east revolution is not going to be a pathway to peace and prosperity.   Libya is sliding into a bloody civil war.  The military is in control of Egypt.  Riots and protests are intensifying in other countries in the region.  Meanwhile, the price of oil is spiking because of fears of supply disruption. (more…)

You can write volumes on what is actually wrong with the economy.  We have record foreclosures, the FDIC closing banks every weekend, high unemployment, enormous deficits, food banks running out of money, sour mortgage-backed securities and the list goes on and on.  You could tie almost every financial problem together with one little ugly four letter word—DEBT.  Even our money is debt because, for the most part, it is loaned into existence.   (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

Goldman Sachs was charged with fraud last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission.  The investment bank says the charges are “unfounded in law and fact.”  Regulators allege “Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party,” SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami said in a statement.  In other words

(more…)

By Brian Sussman

Guest Writer for Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

I love working in talk radio; the audience is so smart it’s scary.

President Obama’s 2010 budget had just been released, when, at the conclusion of a broadcast, a passionate caller named Madeline told me about the backdoor tax increase contained in our nation’s financial plan.    (more…)

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.comI was a featured guest on the nationwide overnight radio show “Coast to Coast AM” last week.  The show airs on more than 500 radio stations. “Coast to Coast AM” has a huge audience.  So, after my appearance, I was flooded with emails.  Many people who contacted me said they were “scared” of what is happening in the economy and wanted to know what to do with their money to keep it safe.  I want to share a couple of excerpts from the emails with you: (more…)

General Privacy Policies
We respect your interest in your privacy and as a result we have created this informational disclosure.

We collect and use personal information for many purposes, including but not limited to, billing; product and service fulfillment; to better understand our customer needs; to provide a better website, products and services; to communicate with customers and potential customers regarding our products and services and third party products and services.

Generally, your private information will only be disclosed to our owners, employees, independent contractors, subsidiaries, partners, affiliates, attorneys, consultants, business associates, service providers, suppliers and agents, acting on our behalf or request. This general rule, and disclosures in specific situations, is more particularly described below.

You must be at least 18 years old to access this website. We do not direct this website to persons under 18, nor do we knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of thirteen.

Information Collected by our ISP
The hosting provider for this Internet site (as with any Internet site) has the ability to record various information, including domain name, pages accessed, date and time of access, web browser type and computer operating system, and referring information, and to disclose this information. This is most commonly done by providing access to raw server logs. For more information you should perform an Internet search on ‘server logs’ or ‘raw server logs.’ We may have access to our raw server logs and access reports prepared by our hosting provider.

Google Ads
We may display ads from Google. Google, as a third party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to this and/or other sites on the Internet. Users may opt out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy policy at http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html. We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.

Financial Information for Billing Purposes
We sell products and services. When sales are made financial information must be disclosed. This information can include any number of facts you are asked to provide, but most commonly includes your name, financial / credit card information, billing address, and email address. Generally, this purchase information will be provided by you to a third party payment processor and we do not receive your financial / credit card information.

In the event we do receive financial / credit card information, we will not disclose it to anyone unless disclosure is required by law or a court order, or unless disclosure is required to address an issue implicated by the financial transaction. If you claim that your financial information was used to make a purchase you did not authorize, details about the financial transaction may be disclosed to law enforcement and anyone else we deem necessary to address the matter.

Use of eMail Addresses and other Contact Information
An important part of our services includes being able to provide information to you. As a result, you expressly consent to receiving communications from us via email, fax, telephone, mail, text, SMS, or any other delivery method, including to your cell phone.

As a customer you are agreeing to receive information about the product or service you purchased. This may include, but is not limited to, information about product or service updates, new features, or information we believe you may find interesting.

We may also send you information about other products and services our company offers.

We will not sell, provide, or transfer you email address to others.

We may allow advertising to our customers, or engage in joint ventures, which result in your receiving advertisements from selected third parties.

Identification of Purchasers
If you purchase one of our products or services, you authorize us to use your name and identification information in advertising or promotions.

We also use personal information in an aggregate form (i.e., not individually attributable to you) for business analysis, operational, marketing and other promotional purposes.

Unless we provide access to a membership area, account, or provide an ability to have and change a username, password, email address, or other similar information, we do not have the capability to allow users to review and request changes their personal information.

Cookies and Tracking
Cookies may be used to keep track of referred affiliate commissions and to monitor access to our website. You consent to any future use of cookies for testing purposes and the use of cookies for publicly available data to gather statistics for the purpose of determining which search engines, referring sites, key words, etc., bring visitors to our website, which pages visitors are most interested in, what web browsers are used, etc. Various providers may be used for this purpose. The purpose is to obtain information that will help promote the website, make the website more interesting and useful to visitors, and to identify areas where improvement is needed.

Our website does not respond to “do not track” requests from a web browser or other device, or other similar requests or procedures.

Additionally, various third party information suppliers and other entities that provide information for this website, or for use by us, may use cookies. Examples include, but are not necessarily limited to billing providers, third party advertisers, and third party resources we promote.

We may also allow third party advertisers to display ads on our website. We are not in a position to know if they collect identifiable information about an individual consumer’s online activities over time and across different websites, so you should assume they do. In most web browsers you can choose not to accept cookies from third party sites or third-party cookies.

Disclosure by Necessity
Private information may be disclosed if required by a court order, statute, law, or regulation.

Information is subject to disclosure to address a claim that you are violating the terms of any agreement pertaining to your use of your use this website or our products or services, or rights of any third party.

Information is also subject to disclosure if we believe that disclosure is necessary to identify, contact or bring an action against someone who may be causing injury to or interfering (either intentionally or unintentionally) with our rights or property, your rights or property, other users of our website, products or services, or anyone else.

As we continue to develop our business, we or our affiliates may sell or buy other businesses or entities, or we may merge with another company, or be bought by another company. In such transactions, personal information may be one of the transferred assets.

Your information may be stored and processed in any country in which we maintain facilities or conduct operations. By using our website, products and services, you consent to any such transfer of information outside of your country.

After your account becomes inactive your information may remain in our databases, computers, and archives, and cannot reasonably be expunged.

Policy Changes
These policies may be amended by us at any time and without notice, but will be posted at this page.

You agree that your continued use of our websites, product or service after that date will constitute your consent and acceptance of the amendment.

Updated: October 11, 2014

Introduction
You may be referred to as Licensee. The terms ‘You’ or ‘Licensee’ includes you and any of your owners, employees, partners, independent contractors, subsidiaries, affiliates, attorneys, agents, heirs, and assigns.

We may be referred to as Licensor. The terms ‘Us,’ ‘We,’ or ‘Licensor’ includes our owners, employees, subsidiaries, independent contractors, agents, attorneys, and assigns.

You must be at least 18 years old to access this website or to purchase products or services from us.

We do not direct this website to minors, nor do we knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of thirteen.

Disclaimers
ALL CONTENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES ARE DISCLAIMED, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Our cumulative liability to you or anyone else for any loss or damages resulting from any claims, demands, or actions arising out of or relating to this Agreement or use of the content or website shall not exceed the amount you have paid to us for the product or service. In no event shall we be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or exemplary damages or lost profits, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages. You agree that the foregoing constitutes your sole and exclusive remedy for any breach of this Agreement. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

There is no promise or representation that you will make a certain amount of money, or any money, or not lose money, as a result of using our products and services.

Any earnings, revenue, or income statements are strictly estimates. There is no guarantee that you will make these levels for yourself.
As with any business, your results will vary and will be based on your personal abilities, experience, knowledge, capabilities, level of desire, and an infinite number of variables beyond our control, including variables we or you have not anticipated. There are no guarantees concerning the level of success you may experience. Each person’s results will vary.

There are unknown risks in any business, particularly with the Internet where advances and changes can happen quickly.

The use of our information, products and services should be based on your own due diligence and you agree that we are not liable for your success or failure.

Prohibited Uses
You will not assign, sublicense, transfer, pledge, sell, lease, rent, lend, or otherwise dispose of the content, or any part of it, or share your rights under this Agreement, to others.

You will not give others access to your username and password.

You will not violate any laws, third party rights, or this Agreement. This includes, but is not limited to, not posting any material or content that is defamatory, harassing, belongs to someone else, is obscene or pornographic

You will not provide false or misleading information to us.

Copyright Information
This website / product is copyrighted. All rights reserved.

Our information may not be copied in part or in full without our express written consent.

Notices for Copyright Violations
Our website and services may allow others to add files or content to our website or services. Links may also be added to websites that are controlled by others. This may be done automatically and without our review.

It is our policy, to suspend or terminate the accounts of users who may intentionally or repeatedly infringe the copyrights others. Whether we choose to do so is entirely within our discretion.

If you believe that your material for which you own the copyright has been infringed upon or violated, please provide our Copyright Agent, in writing, with the following information:

1. A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

2. Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site.

3. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material.

4. Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number, and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted.

5. A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

6. A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Our agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement is:
Greg Hunter
USAWatchdog LLC
P.O. Box 1027
O’Fallon, MO 63366

Consent to Use Information
When you communicate with us, send us information, or provide content to us or out website, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable right to exercise all copyright and publicity rights you have in the content, in any manner whatsoever, in any media now known or which may be created in the future, including in other works and forms not associated with this website.

No Waiver of Rights
Our failure to enforce any rights granted in this Agreement or to take action against any other party in the event of any breach shall not be deemed a waiver by us as to subsequent enforcement of rights or subsequent actions in the event of future breaches.

Miscellaneous
This Agreement in all respects shall be governed by and construed according to the laws of the State of North Carolina, to the exclusion of any other applicable body of governing law, without regard to conflicts of laws principles.

This Agreement is entered into in Guilford County, North Carolina. You consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state of North Carolina and county of Guilford County for any dispute arising from or related to this Agreement.

You consent to and agree that the exclusive forum and venue for any dispute arising from or related to this Agreement will be a court located in the state of North Carolina and county of Guilford County.

Should any term of this Agreement be declared void or unenforceable, that term shall be severed from the Agreement such declaration shall have no effect on the enforceability of the remaining terms.

This Agreement contains the complete and entire understanding and agreement between you and us and supersedes any previous communications, representations, or agreements, verbal or written, related to the subject matter of this Agreement.

This Agreement may not be modified or amended orally, impliedly, or in any manner not set forth in writing or permitted by this Agreement.

This Agreement may be amended by us at any time and without notice, but only by amending this Agreement as posted on this website, unless otherwise agreed to in a writing signed by both of us.

Any amendments will become effective 30 days after being posted on the website, unless circumstances require that a change be immediately implemented. As a condition for this Agreement you agree to periodically check this Agreement posted at this page.

You agree that your continued use of our product or service after that date will constitute your consent and acceptance of the amendment.

Date of this Agreement: October 11, 2014

Modifications: None – changed

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com 

My wife and I were out to lunch with a friend of ours and she asked me,”When is the economy going to get better?”  If you saw Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony in the Senate yesterday, the answer is 2010.  Of course that answer came with big caveats such as the 787 billion dollar stimulus package works to revive the economy.  Many say it will not work but I hope it does.  My answer to,”When is the economy going to get better?” is “It’s not going to get better; it is going to get different.”   Meaning, the economy will not return to what we have grown to consider “normal.”  There is going to be a new “normal.”  This is not a recession, a dip or a temporary very bad economic condition.  We are witnessing a “hard right turn” in a new direction on a global scale.  Many of the jobs lost in this downturn will be gone forever.  A couple of changing industries I can think of are financial services and the automotive sector.  The good news is that people are going to be forced to live within their means.  Almost everybody rich and poor will consume less and save more.  There is going to be a new age of frugality and that, as Martha Stewart says, “Is a good thing.” Thrift is the new black and this mindset is going to be in vogue for a generation or more!

Most people I come in contact with do not understand what is unfolding right in front of them.  You can’t really fault them because, after all, look at the recent conflicting message President Obama sent out.  He just signed the biggest spending bill in history and is now calling for the return of a Pay as you go Policy.  This bill was passed without budget cuts or increased taxes.  On top of that, the Treasury has a trillion dollar plan to “fix” the banking sector.  Where are we getting the money for all of this spending?  We are borrowing and printing it at the moment.  In Senate testimony yesterday, Chairman Bernanke was asked a simple question, “How much money will it take to fix the banks?” Bernanke said that the Senator would have to ask, “The Treasury or the FDIC.”  This was the answer from the man who is in charge of monetary policy for the United States.  In my opinion, he either does not know or is afraid to give a number.  My guess is the amount of money it will take to “fix” the banks will be many trillions of dollars and that is a down right scary repair.

I am not the only one who is concerned.  George Soros, renowned billionaire investor, recently said, “We witnessed the collapse of the financial system…It was placed on life support, and it’s still on life support. There’s no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom.”   I do not profess to be able to forecast the future but I do know that given the circumstances surrounding the biggest economic mess in history, one thing is for sure.  Forget about the economy you saw in the past, we are not going back there.  Everything in the future is going to change and that includes the value of our money.