'RT talks to political risk consultant Dr. John Hulsman. Comparing the EU with a push-me-pull-you beast, he predicts that the union should either go for further substantial integration and unification, or cease to exist as a geopolitical entity.' -- "I was in a meeting with senior European leaders and they asked: 'What discipline can keep us from doing this?' And I just started laughing; they looked at me and I said, 'The markets.'"

'The goal all along has been to increase the power and authority of the EU. Various manmade facilities such as central banking and the governments of nation-states themselves were enlisted in creating first tremendous debt and now the response, which surely shall be greater centralization. The top men have actually said as much. We figure that the global elite that apparently wants to rule the world has two scenarios in mind. The first one is to keep the EU together – with a good deal of pain and chaos. The second one is to collapse the EU – with a good deal of pain and chaos. Either scenario facilitates world government. The trap is sprung. The powers-that-be, after exposing us endlessly to "Merkozy," now reveal that they have plenty of firepower and are prepared to use it. Gone is the nonsense about the new German empire and the special relationship between France and Germany. Gone is any pretense that England stands back, wishing to disengage from the EU. The old men of the City of London are entirely in charge and always have been. They are hardly hiding their intentions now. They will do whatever it takes using the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. They will print as much as necessary. We have written consistently that this "global crisis" would involve the disbursement of US$ 100 trillion before it was over. We believe we are at the US$ 50 trillion mark if you throw in the US$ 15 trillion or so in "short term" loans issued out by the Fed in 2008. Let's see how much it costs these dynastic families (if that is what they are) to unearth the European Union, which already had one foot in the grave.'

"We're seeing the house being burnt down, and the Germans keep insisting that we need to get the building regulations sorted out before we douse the flames with the water supply they control." -- Pull it

'If you are going to go the devaluation route you are going to have to do it all at once. Like the big-bank weekend (maybe coinciding with a week long bank holiday) in which all core European countries get their own currency back. There is a precedent. It is not a pretty one. When the Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed there was a single currency over a huge area covering much of what is now Euroland. In this case the rather Germanic Austrians were in charge (or rather were in charge until their empire collapsed). What they did was put troops on all the borders and made it illegal to take cash (or wire cash!) across borders. Then all Austro-Marks in each country was stamped - converted to Drachma for Greece, Marks for Germany, Peseta for Spain or whatever the currencies of the day were [If someone remembers the 1918 border splits better than me they are welcome to say...] In this conception all Spanish debts become Peseta debts. All German debts become Mark debts. All Greek debts become Drachma debts. Unstamped currency goes worthless. If you are going to split the currency I see no alternative to a big bang - and if you do that I see no alternative to troops at the border... Unilateral Greek default and devaluation without planning for the periphery to do the same - well that is a true mess. Too ugly almost to think about - and it would be unilateral for less than a week. The rest of Europe falls into that abyss with maximum movement of deposits and cash in the meantime.'

'The ultimate solution for all government debt is always pay off, repudiate or hyperinflation hence the impasse in EU Land. No nation has ever paid off their national debt, the citizens generally benefit from repudiation over hyperinflation but central banks always use inflation as the solution. Due to rather recent German history the German people will never allow any government to sanction high rates of inflation. The EU was a vehicle designed to control all of Europe but the German people will not stand for the massive money creation and ultimate inflation necessary to preserve the failed European Union and inflate away the massive sovereign debts of nations in the EU. The German people will surely demand withdrawal from the Euro and a return to the currency credibility of a restored D-Mark (Deutsche Mark) backed in some way by gold. The alternative is to risk a return to the 1930's and the Germans have not forgotten that mistake. I would suggest that at the next federal election in Germany in the fall of 2013 Chancellor Merkel will likely be repudiated at the polls because of the EU problems. She and her party alliance will be forced from power as her dream for a German-led Europe through the European Union crumbles like so many grandiose plans of earlier empires. Remember, 70 years earlier in 1933 another chancellor was swept into power because of government debts, hyperinflation and outside meddling. It did not end well for Germany.'

'"I think many investors believed that as they were holding the same bond as the ECB, they should therefore be considered in the same boat as the ECB," said Michael Krautzberger, head of the Euro fixed income business at BlackRock. – Reuters' -- 'For these top financiers, hope springs eternal. They still do not understand the system in which they have chosen to work has not been created to generate "trust" but to foment world government via various destabilizing regimes. For decades, bright and numerically adept men (and women) have made (in aggregate) trillions "playing by the rules" of modern central banking systems. But the top elites are moving aggressively ahead and part of the new plans – as the world depression is apparently consolidated – includes attacking the monied classes themselves. This is part of the fundamental wrongheadedness of operations like Occupy Wall Street (probably controlled opposition). Those running OWS do not make a distinction between the monied classes and the very tip-top elites running central banks. The former are disposable. The latter DO the disposing. Revolutions eat their children. Soon, very soon, the monied classes that have considered themselves immune from blowback shall likely find out just how wrong they were. This happened in the 1930s as well. We shall see if their eventual disaffection contribute to the current disabuse that has overtaken the impoverished and middle classes.'

'Sometimes a rose is a rose and a setback is a setback. It may be what we have here. For 50 years, the elite that wants to rule the world lied and dissembled to the British people about the EU. Step by step a union was built like a gilded cage around the British Isles – and around Europe as well. It begs common sense to maintain that this was built up so painfully and with such determined malevolence with the idea of its destruction in mind. No, the preferred plan, as is obvious and evident, is to build up "unions" of countries around the world – and then to build global governance on top of it. There can be NO doubt of this. There are now "unions" – and planned currency unions – around the world. Are we to believe it is all "coincidence"? We find them in South America, Africa, Asia, even the Middle East. Lift the blanket and you will find unions scurrying about like bed bugs. It's a big project, to be sure! One of those projects that is so big it's almost impossible to wrap your mind around it. But take a step back and the parameters become achingly familiar and shockingly – brutally – simple. Build up nation-states, convert them to regions and roll them up!'

'Here is how Cameron "rules." He goes and talks to the Queen. And then the Queen calls the top powers of London's City and asks what she should do. And they tell her. And she tells Cameron. And Cameron tells other trusted individuals. And then the UK mainstream media pretends that the policies being prescribed and followed are the product of a democratic government when they are not. This is all done on a larger scale as well. All of the great banking families' enablers and associates get their marching orders from the top ... somehow. They fall in line, implementing the strategies throughout the West. The result is that somehow major governmental decisions throughout Western "democracies" end up favoring policies that inevitably extend one-world government. -- Let the system, in all its wretchedness and excess ... COLLAPSE! It is not worth saving. It is a system run by the elites and for the elites. You, dear reader, are just an afterthought. It has nothing much to do with free markets, this obscene system. It is mercantilist, administered by an unelected power elite that got its start in the City of London and has spread around the world. This is the "vampire" that is much written about. It has nothing much to do with Goldman Sachs, however. Or not at its root. It is a central banking phenomenon.'

'Sources said the EFSF had spent more than €100m buying up its own bonds to help it achieve its funding target after the banks leading the deal were only able to find about €2.7bn of outside demand for the debt. The revelation will be seen as a major failure and a worrying sign of future buyers strike after EFSF officials and their bankers had spent recent weeks travelling the world attempting to persuade key investors, including China's national wealth fund and Japanese government funds, to buy its bonds.' -- #Number 4: I know you heard this before "Never get high on your own supply." #Number 6: That goddamn credit? Dead it. You think a crackhead paying you back, shit forget it! #Number 7: This rule is so underrated. Keep your family and business completely separated. Money and blood don't mix like 2 dicks and no bitch. Find yourself in serious shit. It's the ten crack commandments, what?

'Parliamentary democracy is farce. That is one of many benefits provided to us by the unraveling of the EU. The elites who have created the promotional elements of regulatory democracy and parliaments did so with the idea that that this meme would be an effective replacement for the Divinity of Kings meme. Both are equally inadequate in our view. God did not choose Kings – not any more than people nowadays choose their democratic leaders. The mask has slipped a little. We see the iron fist beneath the velvet glove. The entire mechanism of elite control is on display in Greece. We've watched it unfold, as you have, dear reader. The mechanism is NOT being driven by an ideology or vision of a unified Europe. It's being driven by a merciless power elite that wants to keep Europe together as a region in order to use it and other regions to build world government. In the future the story will be told that forward-looking leaders created the European Union and then found it worked so well that they created a Union of the World. For this reason, among others, they don't want the Union to collapse. The intelligentsia has fallen away, and this too is a problem. Without an intelligentsia willingly proselytizing directed history, its imposition becomes more difficult to maintain and mold.'

"Portugal, Spain, Italy, and hush-hush, France – all of these countries are dysfunctionally mismanaged economies – 'managed' being the mismanaged part of the whole equation because you cannot manage an economy, only a free market can govern itself... -- I believe the Greeks will be forced into accepting whatever austerity measures or any bailout packages that are dropped into their laps via Brussels and the G20."

'It is most interesting that stock markets reacted negatively to the idea that Greeks could decide their own future in terms of EU austerity measures. This is surely a dominant social theme – that the market renders unemotional verdict and decides in favor of the more successful reality. It does no such thing. The global stock market, as created by the Anglosphere elites, is profoundly undemocratic and unfree. Having evolved amidst an ever more authoritarian order, today's markets and those who are influential in them have a vested stake in the current, wretched system. People speak of free markets – especially when it comes to equities – the bottom line is much different. How is it that markets react to government doings and government finance when many of these events reduce freedom and entrepreneurship? The only answer is that stock markets around the world are set to behave a certain way. The inputs are terrible; the outputs are often disastrous. In fact, the idea that markets – especially stock markets – are bastions of capitalist energy is increasingly a misguided one, an elite promotion. These days, stock markets are mostly a way for elites to cash out at the top of the business cycle, leaving the middle classes stuck with devaluing and even bankrupt enterprises.'

'Dominant Social Theme: We've been trying hard and look at all we've done. Don't blame us when it all goes to hell and we have to create a global currency. -- ...the conversation shall turn to the IMF's SDR currency-in-waiting and how the IMF should serve as global central bank, dishing out its incomprehensible basket-fiat currency to all and sundry. This is perhaps the REAL plan – or one of several plans, as it looks more and more as if the euro is going the way of the Dodo. It is nonetheless an emphatic defeat for the Anglosphere elites who are determined to create a one-world currency as part of a new world order. Regional agglomerations of nation-states are supposed to be stepping stones to this structure and they are in place around the world – from South America to Asia to Africa. But the main ones that count the most are (1) the European Union that is falling apart before our eyes and (2) the North American Union, which is in such bad odor that even Bilderberg Boy Rick Perry has to deny its evident and obvious reality. Blame it on the Internet Reformation that has informed residents of both Europe and America of the elite's deeply laid plans and their determination to have their global government no matter the cost. As predicted, the tribes of Europe are fighting back. And for all the false-flag protests now taking place in the US, there is a growing, stubborn antipathy to what the powers-that-be are trying so hard to accomplish.'

'In three paragraphs, Evans-Pritchard takes us to the heart-and-root of the problem. The EU's central bank cannot print the money necessary to defuse the rolling debt crisis. In the US, the Federal Reserve issued something like US$16 trillion in short-term loans when the markets were seizing up in early 2008. Most recently the Fed basically guaranteed something like US$75 trillion of Bank of America's bad derivatives debt. (Thanks, Merrill Lynch!) These are admittedly huge sums. We defy anyone to visualize how much US$75 trillion is. It's like imagining infinity in our view. That's why we often write that the dollar-reserve system is dead and that it died in 2008. One cannot issue out – or even intend to issue out – such vast sums of money. Their very incomprehensibility tells the tale. But in a sense, for the moment, such aggressive actions seem to have worked. The system, in all its chaos and ruin, staggers on. Of course, we would like to see this rotten system collapse entirely. It might have a terrible impact on many – but salvaging the system via monetary inflation and war will be just as horrible. At least if the system collapses, the horror will mean something.'

'Germany is rumored to have ordered printing plates to resume printing Marks, and is intending to walk. ...playing the bailout game is a tax exactly identical to the impact of that stronger currency, and the bailout game costs you the decision-making power you retain when you are the one in control of your own destiny. The German people are tired of the crap and with good reason. There is a political limit to how far you can go with these acts before the people act in whatever manner is necessary to put a stop to it, and the Germans have a long and painful history of what popular tolerance of political stupidity leads to. Whether Germany actually goes ahead and does it likely depends on whether there is a further contagion - and I think there will be. ...I have a nasty suspicion that Europe will ultimately "resolve" this problem the way Europe has in the past - via the business end of a bunch of hot lead-chuckers.'

'It seems very clear that the powers-that-be subscribe to the idea that they have been chosen to deliver appropriate direction to the masses. This sense that one has a kind of divine right to rule was supposed to have dissipated years ago – at least last century – but the EU's top people obviously believe they are Charlemagne's second coming. The only reason they could believe this is because they have the backing of money power – endless torrents of central banking fiat paper controlled by a handful of individuals at the apex of the Anglosphere power elite. But what they may not realize is that they too are perhaps being manipulated, that those who seek to run the world via military force and political unions will betray their enablers without a backwards glance. This is an elemental understanding that even velvet thugs like Barroso seem to fail to understand.'

'The economic problems that the payments brought, and German resentment at their imposition are usually cited as one of the more significant factors that led to the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. -- #Current status: After Germany’s defeat in World War II, payment of the reparations was not resumed. There was, however, outstanding German debt that the Weimar Republic had used to pay the reparations. An international conference decided (Agreement on German External Debts, 1953) that Germany would pay some parts of the remaining debt only after the country was reunified, at that time an event thought very unlikely to happen. West Germany paid off the remainder by 1980. According to the agreement, the debt would be serviced for 20 years, leading to the last payments being due on 3 October 2010, the 20th anniversary of German reunification. About 10% of this debt, about 20 million euro, has not been claimed yet.' -- Debt repayment is a sin!

'Dr Markus Kerber, says that German taxpayers are fed up with being Europe's cash cow.' -- "There's a growing split between the German public and the political elite. Never ever before the split has been greater than today. The political elite is still united to support the Chancellor's policy of continuous bailout and the German public is more united than ever to oppose it. And sooner or later the European project is going to lose the popular support it has always had in Germany until now. So, we are really at a crossroad."'

'Pre-Internet, what's happening in the EU would have been buried under mainstream media misdirection. People might not have understood the larger forces at work. But the EU unraveling along with much else has played out under the merciless glare of the alternative press, and the European tribes are aware of the manipulations that are taking place. It is realization of these manipulations that informs ... a surprisingly good piece of reporting. It is written by Paul Mason, BBC Newsnight's Economics Editor, who is broadcasting regularly from Greece, and it seems to have concentrated his mind, at least for a while, on what's actually happening. The problems are happening to people, individual people, and it is these people, ultimately, who will formulate a response, not "Greece," not politicians, not "working groups" – not even the IMF or ECB. The EU was not an accident. The "crisis" that now affects the EU was long anticipated and was intended to build a closer political union.'

'Every time Merkel meets with Sarkozy in one of their "no, no, yes, yes" liaisons, European stock markets rise. There is some vague language about another round of bailouts. Investors rush in to buy, buy, buy. The fund managers are not rewarded to produce long-term capital gains. So, they cannot resist buying whenever Merkel and Sarkozy emerge from their tryst to tell the world that they are willing to let Germany bail out the Greek bond market one more time. This is great political theater. The funds' memos to major banks regarding the funds' refusal to roll over their short-term loans can go out at any time. No one wants to be the first fund to trigger a banking panic. But no one wants to be left holding the bag. This is why predictions regarding the day of reckoning are highly speculative. The major decisions will not be made by banks. They will be made by fund managers with large deposits at banks. The bankers are just sitting there, hoping for the best.'

'Mrs Merkel has cancelled a high-profile trip to Russia on September 7, the crucial day when the package goes to the Bundestag and the country's constitutional court rules on the legality of the EU's bail-out machinery. If the court rules that the €440bn rescue fund (EFSF) breaches Treaty law or undermines German fiscal sovereignty, it risks setting off an instant brushfire across monetary union. While the bill is likely to pass, the furious debate leaves no doubt that Germany will resist moves to boost the EFSF's firepower yet further. Most City banks say the fund needs €2 trillion to stop the crisis engulfing Spain and Italy. Mrs Merkel's aides say she is facing "war on every front". The next month will decide her future, Germany's destiny, and the fate of monetary union.' -- Implausible deniability is implausible.

'These economic crises cannot be pure happenstance. We've suggested they can spin out of control, and perhaps they will; but they are all manmade events, the direct outcome of economic constructs and policies of enormous wealth and control. Somebody set up the 100 central banks around the world that report directly to the Bank for International Settlements in Switzerland. These are quasi-private entities, many of them. Are we supposed to believe that no one takes a profit on them? That there is no way they compensate their creators? The money and power is unimaginable. The BIS controls the central banks that in turn control the big banks around the world. Constitutions mean nothing. Promises are made to be broken. Treaties are talk for children, merely incremental markers trailing in the wake of global governance. By their actions ye shall know them. As with sharks, their momentum must be never stilled. The shadow play continues.'

'...the Anglo-American power [elite's] fear-based promotions are not having the intended effect and thus it seeks to offer the impression that its strategies are unstoppable. But this has its drawbacks. When one wishes to impress upon the people the inevitability of one's designs, then not even one failure can be countenanced, nor one question can be raised. This is an almost impossible burden because the promotion retains no elasticity and sooner or later there shall be some sort of breach. The stance the EU is now adopting with its constant emergency agitation seems to us to be counterproductive. If the EU survives, then EU leaders look as if they were too pessimistic. If the crisis triggers a much larger one, then they run the risk of looking as if they have lost control. Why, we ask, are those running the EU program, purposefully placing themselves in this trap? Either they are panicking or they are in some sense inviting the crisis. These are risky games indeed.'

'To see this in print in the FT is OUR shocking moment. We think we know why a Tea Party is erupting in Europe, of course. We've explained it many times. The truth-telling of the Internet itself is interacting with the ongoing financial crisis in predictable ways. Unlike past crises, in fact, the Anglo-American power elites have not been able to aim popular anger at private enterprise. The socialism and communism that the elites encouraged in the 20th century (in order to concentrate more power into their own hands) is not working very well now. The anger instead, from what we can tell, is focused mostly where it should be – at the political and banking SYSTEM, not greedy individuals in private enterprise that make convenient, illusory scapegoats. This is surely a problem for the EU but even more of a problem for the power elite itself. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. The financial crisis – which Eurocrats foresaw for decades – was supposed to generate an ever-closer EU.'

'Dominant Social Theme: Everything's cool. Let the Greek's have "their moment." – The Anglo-American power elite has driven the Western world to ruin with its central banking scheme; it may believe that between food-scarcity and job-scarcity, Europeans will now be less apt to resist increased militarism abroad and increased global centralization. But we have always believed in the era of the Internet that such manipulations are increasingly transparent and apt to be less tolerated. The middle classes were "promoted" into the EU before the collapse, but now middle-class tax dollars are flowing into bank coffers as the Southern PIGS struggle to pay back enormous loans that again benefited a few at the expense of many. Austerity is just one more elite manipulation, neither inevitable nor fair. We would argue that in the era of the Internet, too many within Europe's fractious tribes understand only too well what has taken place.'

'...the Chinese government has "liberalized" – allowed the average Chinese to earn a living and even to become rich so long as these activities do not threaten government power. Chinese do not own their real estate but lease it from the government. And the government censors at will, using a gigantic force of employees to monitor the Internet for anti-government sentiments. ...the Chinese government controls most if not all of the larger country's larger financial and industrial institutions, often behind the scenes. The real free-market is to be found much farther down on the street for the most part where Chinese entrepreneurs compete against each other within a retail context. The ChiComs therefore retain control of the means of production, including the Chinese central bank. Only within carefully monitored parameters, is the Chinese economy a competitive one. This is actually similar in many ways to the growing EU superstate and to the way America is evolving as well...'

'...we doubted our reaction to the news, so we went trolling the ‘Net to see if anyone shared our instinctive reaction that this was overwhelmingly bad news for the euro. Here's one comment we found: "Wait... have I just slipped into a parallel universe? Is this some sort of early April's fools joke? Doesn't this defeat the entire point of a single currency and the ECB? Were the rules changed on the quiet without anyone noticing? Greece.... Greece are going to go f***ing apesh!t. They were forced to go begging to the IMF.... when the Greek people find out the [Irish] central bank is allowed to just print money, they are going to riot and demand tax cuts and benefits rising and massive spending. The Germans... well the Germans are just going to totally lose it. They've been told they should pay higher taxes to help the PIIGS, now they are being told the PIIGS can prints EUROS at will? It's impossible to overstate the importance of this... this is it... game over." The bell tolls.'

Nigel Farage: "Good morning, Mr. van Rompuy. Your fanaticism is out in the open. Just who the hell do you think you people are? You are very, very dangerous people, indeed." -- http://youtu.be/2gm9q8uabTs -- 'We'd seen a previous video by Farage that was quite impressive. He stands up in the Parliament in front of all of them – the ones who are basically building a fascist state, not to put too fine a point on it – and gives them the business, good and hard. It is as if someone stood up in the legislature in pre-war Germany. It takes a lot of nerve. He doesn't come across as forced to us but as passionate and committed. It is even more satisfactory (if you are anti-EU) to watch the expressions on the faces of those who continue to pursue the EU experiment at the behest of the Anglo-American elite that began this wretched exercise some 60 years ago. It seems the truth is sinking into the august deliberative body that they may have pushed too far and too fast.'

'Britain says it's ready to help debt-hit Ireland with billions of pounds of direct loans. At a meeting of European finance ministers, Chancellor George Osborne said it's in the UK's interest to support its closest neighbour. The meeting comes amid fresh market turmoil and fears some smaller economies like Portugal and Ireland are unable to service their massive debts. The E.U. President warned the Eurozone is actually facing a fight to survive. Trend forecaster Gerald Celente says the euro has been put to its greatest test ever.'

'Since virtually all actions in 2010 by the global central banking cartel have been geared toward stabilizing the European banking system which continues to wobble on the edge of a complete systemic collapse, perhaps the marginal withdrawal of a few billion in deposits could be just the straw that forces a reset first in Europe, and shortly thereafter in the rest of the globalized developed world. ...in just 24 hours 1,500 readers have pledge their support to the action's various Facebook support sites, and another 48,000 are on the waitlist. We hope that more alternative media (the mainstream will unlikely support such a radical venture) catches on, and more Europeans realize they have all to gain and little to lose from forcing the balance of power to shift away from the banks, and into the hands of the people. ...below are the various facebook support pages: Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Great Britain, Greece'

'Basically, the EU poured billions into the Southern PIGS, ostensibly to ensure that the PIGS state finances were bolstered and made ready for the stricter EU monetary and fiscal discipline. But in fact, the money poured from the EU into the pockets of those who led these countries—and these individuals were then motivated to ensure that their nations joined the EU. Basically it was a pay off. The pay off was further enhanced when chosen EU banks extended further questionable loans to these PIGS. The amount of money that poured through the PIGS was incredible. And now it is gone. And PIGS' citizens are told they must adopt austerity. -- The Internet is a process not an episode. Much the same sort of enlightenment is taking place in the United States as well. Britain is lagging, but we expect that to change. ...we believe that in the near future, more and more will perceive that the free-market thinking now taking hold throughout the West is not an aberration but the "new normal."'

'The EU is an increasingly, profoundly anti-democratic institution. It has launched a torrent of job-killing regulations at the nations suffering beneath it. It has achieved power by pretense, but those running it behind the scenes no show indication of slowing down. Every arrogant, anti-democratic trick has been used to turn an obscure trade treaty into an over-bearing empire. What worked before will work again, or so it was thought. From our point of view, the Internet era only made things worse. The truth-telling of the 'Net noted each phony vote and every contemptuous and condescending statement. People doubtless grew angrier. But, as in America, it took bad times to turn the Internet from a social network into a instrument of freedom. As austerity rumbled across Europe, people doubtless went online and found plenty of chat rooms and alternative news articles to confirm their fears and incite their resentment. And now they protest.'

'...neither the Tories nor Labour can afford politically simply to come out and say that the Anglo-American power elite, a handful of extraordinarily wealthy and dominant families and banking groups (among others), has decided to trade Britain in for Europe. But it has. The Brussels' based EU judiciary now has the power to try British citizens in abstentia and apparently to arrest them at will. Of course, through it all, the British political classes continue to make the right sounds about sovereignty... They've been making the same noises for 50 years, however, and one would think the British might start to see through it. The power of the Anglo-American elite remains pernicious when it comes to mainstream politics. There is only one true policy, which is increasing amounts of authoritarianism and globalization. In both Britain and America, the Left consolidates and nationalizes the economy while the Right pursues increasingly authoritarian policies at home and serial wars abroad.'

'...we would argue that what is going on now is increasingly a protest against the EU itself and the perspective that the EU elites expect middle class and working-class Europeans simply accept the radical diminishment of their lifestyles and opportunities. We see signs that these protests represent a populist statement that has as much to do with EU policies generally as any specific austerity measures. ...if the tribes were left alone, Europe would be peaceable. Trade would flourish. Even the most bloody-minded tribes prefer commerce to violence. But far be it from the sociopathic European and Anglo-American elites to leave Europe alone. The world was to be split into various ethnic areas – Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, etc. – and these areas were to be merged into one-world eventually. But something went wrong on the way to this Orwellian Nirvana; the Anglo-American elites mainly behind the one-world vision began to try to move more quickly than was prudent.'

'When Iceland borrowed money from the IMF, the news was seemingly everywhere. When angry Icelandic citizens chase their own politicians out the back door, the news seems a good bit more ... subdued. When the socialist government of Iceland attempted to sign off on a deal that would have put every Icelandic household into debt for about a century, there was a good deal of publicity. But then the media lapsed into silence. And the silence has continued, in large part because Iceland's 300,000 residents are simply refusing to allow their government to sign off on wage slavery. We don't think the Icelandic standoff is going to be resolved any time soon. We would be surprised if tensions didn't grow between Iceland's citizens and the inept government and the IMF, too. We notice the happy talk about joining the EU seems to have died down for the moment, and we are not surprised about that either. Scratch the surface and the EU is increasingly unpopular.'

'Once one accepts that the EU is an Anglo-American invention, everything else falls into place. Brussels itself is a kind of British protectorate and there is simply no way that British financial and military power would siphoned off by Brussels if the British and Americans were not firmly in charge. The Anglo-American elite is merely trading up in terms of its effective, informal control – from two countries (US and Britain) to an empire that extends across the Western world. Of course, the corollary to this is that the power grab is taking place against a backdrop of a severe financial crisis (expected) and the truth-telling of the Internet (not expected). The EU is a classic power elite, fear-based promotion; it also provides investors and interested onlookers with the kind of classic "Internet vs. elite" paradigm that the Bell suggests is shaping the 21st century from an economic and sociopolitical perspective.'

'When one regards the kind of mindset emanating from Brussels – along with renewed talk about a muscular EU military and pan-European CIA-like spying operation – one can only shake one's head in disbelief. We would have to speculate at this point that the EU does not have a lot of popular support from many of the nation-states it purports to represent. The more its leaders rush to accumulate additional anti-democratic powers, the less credibility the whole centralizing experiment has in our view. We think the anti-"austerity" movement may continue to grow, even as winter settles on Europe. It provides a centralizing focus for a wider disenchantment with the EU. Those who believe that this movement is primarily being whipped up by PIGS's public unions may be underestimating what is actually occurring. The resentment may be broader and deeper than that. For once the Economist may have gotten it right.'

'...the power elite (focused on building global governance) could find methodologies besides austerity to cure the EU of its ills. ...the loosening of the ties between EU nation states. This the EU leaders will not do because to do so would be to take a step backwards in their march towards global hegemony. The EU, an increasingly authoritarian regime, cannot afford to be seen as backing down. And so the EU will stumble forwards. It will demand austerity even though austerity without devaluation is almost proven to fail. It will allow the IMF to inflict on the PIGS what that agency has inflicted on third-world countries around the world. But Europe is not the third world. The unions, public and private, are well aware of the battles being waged and the strategies being implemented. The more this goes on, the more polarized the EU will become and the less support the union will probably derive. In our view, the elite in its arrogance and greed has miscalculated...'

'The elite conspiracy, bluntly, so far as we can tell, is focused on creating world government. The West's sociopolitical system itself is pointed in that direction. Like an onrushing locomotive, it churns down the tracks while the mainstream media reports on the activities of those on board. The actions of these passengers, VIP or not, have little or nothing to do with the larger direction and momentum of the train. It is headed to its destination regardless. But the coverage of those on board surely provides a pleasant diversion. Reporting the arguments of EU leaders may provide a human face. But it likely does nothing to ameliorate the underlying stresses. Elite promotions can fail when they are discovered or debunked. In this case, the promotion seems simply to be outrunning reality. An unraveling of the EU, or even a shrinking, would be a heavy blow to elite ambitions. Having come so far, we would argue it will do almost anything to hold the current union together.'

'Dominant Social Theme: Hm-mm, we must try harder. ...the EU austerity program is a recipe for degrading infrastructure and essential services. Since austerity does not encourage (to the best of our knowledge) the entrance of private-sector competition, the end result will be a further impoverishment of these societies. It is in fact a kind of de-facto de-industrialization of the European South. Raising taxes just makes it worse. Will judicious civil disobedience and the specter of mass civil unrest (of the non-violent kind) destabilize the massive fraud that is the EU? The EU is an excrescence of the power elite, built by subterfuge with the intention of providing further support for world government. The elite and its enablers use fear-based promotional propaganda to frighten people into giving up the little they have. It then provides authoritarian receptacles to gather up what has been shaken free.'

Golly! Even BBC Radio 4 understands the conspiracy.

'...a dominant social theme along these lines: "Europe is moving in and the French are taking over." It is a meme, a dominant social theme that the EU is anything other than an Anglo-American creation. The Americans and British bestride the world stage and even now, with all the financial miscalculations and promotional reversals, the Anglo-American axis retains its grip on Western power (an increasingly desperate one to be sure). The (promoted) perception that the French and Germans run the show in Europe is about as credible from our point of view as the conclusion that British can do nothing about the creeping authoritarianism of the EU and its impact on Britain. The idea that the Red Shield cannot guard the British City from a French and German legal and regulatory onslaught is absolutely risible. ...the EU is merely a suburb of the Anglo-American ambition to divide the world into "regions" that can be consolidated under Western authority into a one-world government.'

'Dominant Social Theme: Thanks goodness the EU continues to acquire necessary powers. The EU is an elite, fear-based promotion. A dominant social theme. "If we do not have the size and strength to confront China and the US, we will fall behind. We need a single currency and eventually a single state." But nations do not compete with each other based on size. Nations do not compete at all. People engage in trades and trading with each other as necessary, fulfilling the larger needs of the market and the Invisible Hand. In the future, the EU's inevitable rise and gathering of evermore power will be explained as a natural function of the necessity of bigness in the "modern" world. It is no such thing. It is evidently and obviously an Anglo-American power grab. The aim is world government. hose involved in themes and the push for a "one world order" are so committed to it that they see no way out at this point.'

'...the evil lurking at the heart of the EU is all the more evident in our view for its hidden nature – the iron fist in the velvet glove. Make no mistake about it; the EU was and still is an empire-in-the-making with all the features of empire, the endless, corrupt prerogatives at the top and the glib manufacture of regulations for everyone beneath. Thousands upon thousands of regulations, in fact, more than Babylon's Hammurabi code, issuing out in a torrent from the dysfunctional nation state of Brussels and ruining – literally ruining – people's livelihoods and lives. But now it may be coming to an end. The smooth-talking, silk-suited thugs of Brussels, those who dished out this horror on behalf of their elite paymasters are coming up against a wall that they cannot climb, a stumbling block they cannot intimidate, a barrier they cannot cross. It is the free-market itself, and right now it is having its way with a vengeance. There is a showdown coming.' -- Europe. No Future.

'There is the idea that Europeans are content to work a few hours a day and then live off the government and go on as many vacations as possible. This has been purveyed as a "social contract" – and Europeans as naively joining in. We would argue it is not a social contract. It is the cynicism of tough tribes. The Americans, perhaps, are the naïve ones, trusting government (in the modern era anyway) to do the right thing. In Europe, there is little trust but much rhetoric. Moist summer heat rises; memes fall. The quest to impose Western-style regulatory democracy on the Middle East is not going well. Even central banking has come under increasing fire as its anti-market/price-fixing operations are increasingly revealed. Now the survival of the EU itself is being questioned. And so to war – the final solution. In war, the elite finds the chaos necessary to realign sociopolitical systems, extend governance and promote the further health of the state. And yet ... maybe not this time.'

'Without credibility, no political structure can long survive. That's the reason the elite struggles so long and hard to manufacture consent through dominant social themes. That's the reason to control the masses via fear-based promotions rather than bullets and soldiers. Once rulers start to speak the language of violence, the context changes. Now violence is seen as part and parcel of the conversation. And there are a lot more of the ruled than the rulers. For these reasons among others, we believe the ability of those who have placed themselves in charge of the EU will find at some point that it is simply too hard to manufacture a consensus to continue on... If the EU really does succumb to entropy, we would tend to think it might fly apart entirely and countries, at least some of them, will end up with their own currencies again. We don't think that's such a terrible outcome, especially given that the alternative is a grim, forced austerity under the lash of the IMF.'

'Halligan is puzzled about why the EU wishes to impose an international bank tax – ("the EU-elite think they can instead placate the public, and win popularity, by throwing voters a bone in the form of a bank tax") – but we are not sure about that. Over and over the powers-that-be are pushing for taxing authority to be developed by any means possible. This emphasis does not seem odd if one considers the mechanisms that the power-elite has put in place and is now trying to activate. There is the IMF – the monetary arm of global governance and the UN – a government in waiting. What else is necessary is a global tax structure. (Taxes being necessary to pay the interest on the kind of fiat money that the elite has in mind issuing, ultimately.) -- The elite does not have a monopoly over communication anymore thanks to the Internet and it is our suspicion that once a serious opposition gets underway, it will not simply mimic the left-right lines of the past.'

'And now ... "austerity." The masses of Europe, having been promised a brighter and more prosperous future under the benevolent regime of the EU are faced with years, perhaps decades, of what amounts to institutionalized poverty in which all the bright promises of security, early retirements and lazy living will be stripped away. Only the wretched, mercantilist banks of Europe and America will win, if it come to this. And it was all so unnecessary – as are so many of the results of the crazed power elite agenda. Unleash the hounds of havoc; let chaos rein; do anything and everything to befuddle, bemuse and eventually bankrupt the masses in pursuit of some loony vision of global governance. Those who engineered the EU knew quite well, almost from the beginning, what they wrought. It is as dispiriting as it is predictable.'

'...the Internet is filled by now with millions of articles about the power elite and its yen for global government. Thousands of articles shout that the power elite tends to manufacture political and economic crises in order to pursue their insane vision of further globalization and centralization. So what does the power elite do? It manufactures a crisis in Europe and then begins a campaign for further globalization and centralization based on the European dysfunction that it has generated! Is this brilliant or what? With tens of millions watching and reading on the Internet, the elite's EU political go-fers jump right in with both feet anyway and do exactly what people have been predicting they'll do. After floating a couple of articles in their bought-and-paid-for-press, the elite has hastily and desperately pulled the trigger on an upgrade of the EU "happy family" promotion. Now it turns out that the EU needs psychoanalysis, a firm parent and closer, sterner, families ties.'

'The EU reminds us of a former alcoholic that doesn't take a drink for 20 years and then suddenly and deliberately goes on a huge bender. The EU and its leaders are borrowing huge amounts of money, leverage more – and what they cannot borrow or beg they are simply going to print from nothing. -- So much angst! So many problems! When history is written a long time from now (if anyone bothers) the whole of the past two centuries at least will be seen as one long quest by certain powerful people to centralize the Western world's power and wealth in their hands. To this end, they fomented unthinkable wars, created vast global, promotional networks that combined regulatory, media and academic elements and generally kept a steady stream of fear-based dominant social themes aimed at the larger populace. All that may be changing now, as we regularly note.'

'The entire European Economic Union is a house of cards, with governments all loaning money to each other in order to hide their true deficits from potential bond purchasers. Bailing out Greece with imaginary fiat currency is not a solution to a problem, but only a brief respite, designed so that those at the top of the political class can finish their looting before escaping the collapse.' -- "Statism is a balaclava for a hitman to cover up a crime."

'The elite's mad rush toward a few currencies or a single currency continues apace – whether or not current EU agreements legally permit it or not. For all those who back the increasingly authoritarian European Union, no government is ever enough, no centralization is ever sufficient. The ties between what were separate countries for centuries must be tightened until they positively creak with tension. And tension is what they will get... The EU's bureaucratic corruption and overlays of draconian regulation are gradually bringing Europe to its knees. The end result of the EU will be in large part a group of pan-European state-sponsored corporations – banks, airlines, car companies, energy companies, etc. Everyone else in the EU – those "proles" that are not privileged to work for these massive entities – will have a hard time surviving and will basically eke out a living. A Westernized version of the horrid South American economic model.'

'We have the extraordinary situation in which a European stabilisation fund is being proposed, which will see already indebted (and some already dangerously so) countries having to borrow yet more money to lend to countries that are apparently in worse condition... there is the usual talk of 'speculators', and 'bond vigilantes'. Whilst some will profit from the turmoil, the underlying driver of the turmoil is not speculation but the fear of investors for the security of their investments. Those investors will include pension funds and other aggregations of individual savings. The idea that this crisis might be the fault of 'the markets' is laughable and allows the politicians and policymakers a way of absolving them from responsibility. The cause of the crisis is clearly in the hands of the policymakers and politicians of sovereign states who have borrowed recklessly. Without such reckless borrowing, the markets would have no reason to shun the bonds of the at risk countries.'

'Simon Johnson was feted for his article, 'The Quiet Coup' – mostly because it bashed Wall Street. For Johnson, as for many authoritarian apologists, central banking itself is never to blame. He wants to tear down Wall Street (fine with us) but he wants to salvage the EU. Simon Johnson was feted by the alternative press because he appealed to a certain alternative-media viewpoint – that Wall Street was the font of all evil. This is a sort of prejudice, in our estimation, rather than reality. Now, with Greece collapsing, and with the EU itself in danger of disintegrating, there are those in the alternative media that are perhaps once again succumbing to preconceived notions. In this case that there is some sort of master plan – that the EU is basically a 50-year-old power-elite sting, a trap that has now been sprung. We suggest a simpler conclusion: Sometimes a rose is just a rose. Sometimes the power elite slips up and (in its greed) over-reaches.'

'The EU has provided Germany with advantages thus far. It has stabilized the currencies of Southern Europe and made them more dependable purchasers of German goods. But now the bill is coming due. These client states are coming undone and the money that Germany made from them seems about to vanish out the back door. The customer has gone broke. If Germany wants to retain its consumer base, then Germany will actually have to provide funding—at least if Germany stays in the EU. Does this make sense? We have long maintained that the fractious tribes of Europe would tolerate the EU for just as long as there was something in it for them. Sure, there will be social insurrection amongst the PIGS, but there may well be a good deal of social discontent—and even violence in the North if EU leaders try to insist on massive bailouts. Both the South and North could riot over bailouts, but for different reasons.'

'It all sounds so official, so complex and so ... necessary. But what is the reality? The reality is that what is being contemplated is printing money out of thin air to pay for Greek government profligacy. The Greeks have promised themselves many wonderful things that they now cannot pay for. And the EU is going to step in and buy Greek bonds with electronic money that has no intrinsic value. The EU, in our opinion, encouraged the socialist profligacy that has led to current account deficits. The leaders of the EU knew that the stability of the currency would inevitably create a temptation to leverage additional government spending, especially for Southern EU countries. This was supposed to create a crisis to lead to a more political union. But now the crisis has seemingly backfired. The patchwork currency-quilt is starting to unravel and the warm fuzzy feelings associated with being in bed with the EU along with it.'

'The Bell suggests that investors focus on the most fundamental issue of the 21st century when trying to analyze what's going on in the world from an opportunity standpoint. From our point of view this fundamental issue is the collision between the Internet and the power elite's dominant social themes. These fear-based promotions seek to frighten people into offering up power and wealth to conveniently created "globalist" authoritarian solutions. The United Nations is one such, and the IMF another. A third is very obviously the European Union. -- ...something has changed here in Europe. Another power elite meme has come acropper. We are, of course, aware of the doom and gloom surrounding the EU project from a libertarian standpoint and the union's purported inevitability. But given what's just happened with Germany, we wonder if the future of the EU is quite as bright as it's made out to be by those paid and unpaid cheerleaders in the mainstream media.'

'...the entrance of the Greeks into the EU, and the largess that flowed as a result, did not reach the pockets of the average Greek. In fact, the EU exercise was likely one of legalized bribery. Money that was given to the EU to supposedly close budget gaps went to furnish numerous unnecessary private projects. The money was wasted, in a sense, as the projects weren't completed and wouldn't have helped generate a profit if they had been. The EU leaders providing the money knew this. But they didn't care so long as Greece joined the union. Thus it was that the money cynically provided by EU's socialist leaders went into the pockets of the Greek elite that was in charge of the EU transition. And now this same elite, doubtless, is negotiating the Greek posture as regards the financial streamlining that must take place. If we can figure out what actually occurred, we don't think that it is hard for the average Greek to do so.'

'When one looks back at the decline and fall of the Anglo-American axis, one may be struck not by how precipitous it was, though it happened quickly, but by its apparent deliberateness. We would argue that there is a power elite both in the US and Europe that in fact may be seeking to undermine foundational elements of civil society in order to further merge nation-states in pursuit of world government. -- The next decade should be an especially important and interesting one. The two driving forces of the modern West, in our view, are elite programs to further centralize Western governance and the Internet, which provides a platform for those that support a decentralization of power... No one can say for sure how this titanic battle will turn out. But it has surely been joined, and never in recent history have the dividing lines been so obvious... Investors – and Western citizens in general – ignore the reality of this massive, and partially subterranean conflict at their own peril.'

"It's compounding interest that's causing the problems." -- P < P + I -- (But it's not 'money', it's debt! Each note is a ticket to stand in line and get your shit took.)

'In the 20th century, when a promotion was launched, the mainstream media reported on it like an echo chamber, each major newspaper and television station reporting the same thing in different ways, until eventually it sunk in. People began to believe it. But the power elite doesn't have that sort of power in the 21st century, thanks to the widespread debunking by the Internet. It's not just the sour economy, for there have been sour economies before. It's the information that is being spread by electronic communications. It's a kind of meme itself – or anti-meme. People are waking up, as if from a bad dream. Many elite promotions are unraveling or at least becoming less convincing. The EU has been built on lies, as those behind it never admitted the final destination was a United States of Europe. Now, thanks to the Internet and the economic crisis, such lies are unraveling and patience is running out. That's what the German leaders are seeing. That's the reason for the desperation.'

'The undoing of the EU would also have large impacts on other currency unions and, in fact, would cause people to question the dominant social theme of the past half century which has been "globalization" – the harmonization of rules, regulations and "free trade" agreements throughout the world. The stakes are high. What is at risk is the believability of the globalization meme, on which the power elite has staked so much. More than almost any other promotion, the inevitability of "globalization" is necessary if the elite is to continue to combine countries into currency regions and tear down barriers between nation states. Thanks to the economic crisis and the education about monetary issues provided by the Internet, the grand EU experiment seems as likely to founder as prosper. Sometimes empires decline without sound and fury, without thunderous crashes and great declamations. Perhaps, people simply [grow] weary of the taxes and endless, manipulative warring.'

'The crisis has been educational in so many ways. It has teased out the real power-positions of many European players. It has shown that France has a strong though not overwhelming voice in the EU experiment. Brussels has power, but not it seems the final word. Germany is a key player, yet its own citizens are ambivalent about its newfound kingdom. The EU-zone has been good to Germany, increasing the markets for its efficient industries and small- to medium-sized companies. But Germany dithers about Greece nonetheless, as it should. The German leadership may be ambitious for pan-socialism, but the German industrial sector obviously is not so hot on that failing ideology. ...the EU is a profoundly anti-democratic invention, the founding principles of which advocate that basic human rights are the bailiwick of the state—to be given and taken away at will. How anyone can support a system that advocates that basics of human survival can be disposed of this way is beyond us.'

'Future relations between Old and New Europe will depend on the Eurozone’s willingness to re-design the post-Soviet economies on more solvent lines – with more productive credit and a less rentier-biased tax system that promotes employment rather than asset-price inflation that drives labor to emigrate. In addition to currency realignments to deal with unaffordable debt, the indicated line of solution for these countries is a major shift of taxes off labor onto land... There is no just alternative. Paying in euros – for real estate and personal income streams in negative equity, where the debts exceed the current value of income flows available to pay mortgages or for that matter, personal debts – is impossible for nations that hope to maintain a modicum of civil society. IMF and EU-style “austerity plans” are nothing but technocratic jargon for the life-shortening impact of gutting income [and] social services that have long been subsidized by progressive taxation...'

'That's a 3-month yield of about 15% - an inversion that says that Greece blows to beyond the orbit of Mars within the next 90 days. If there's any validity to this they're done, probably this weekend or some time next week, when they have an auction they have to roll. Everyone who has bought their recent auctions has been trashed within days, with yields backing up almost immediately. That is, people have been railroaded into dramatically overpaying as a consequence of jawboned "confidence measures" that in point of fact are not worth a warm bucket of spit. Greece needs to pull out of the Euro now and take the hit. PPS: Bloomberg is apparently reporting news of a bailout. Just remember that the media has reported this "news" continually for the last month and yet no bailout has materialized. That's because if they do, Spain and Portugal is right behind Greece, shortly followed by Ireland and Italy. There is no capacity, irrespective of political will, to bail them all out.'

'Note that Greece's deficit this year as a percentage of GDP is about equal to ours in the United States. Washington, listen up - our debt ratios may look "better", but only barely and only because you're holding a bunch of stuff off-balance sheet (that is, you're lying.) Greece was lying too - to the EU, to themselves, to investors. When they got outed, this was the result. How long before someone bangs the drum on America?'

'If repos are being yanked from Greek banks they're finished. This is the overnight lending market and that, coupled with depositor runs (which, as soon as Greeks figure this out, will accelerate dramatically) will drive a stake through the heart of these institutions. The simple fact of the matter is that Greece, like Lehman and Bear, came out into the market and lied about both their position and ability to manage what was going on. The lies of past years become the inevitable consequences of the present time. We won't learn anything from this, will we? We won't stomp on the banks here that are right now, today, lying about THEIR asset quality and values, will we?'

'The EU was too ambitious by far. It used its paper-money facility to build an empire, but now the empire is cracking up. It is true that many within the EU have gotten a taste of what it is really all about by now. And the difficulty that the EU ran into trying to impose a constitution should have been a warning. But the elites running the EU are perhaps blinded by the glory of their destination. Certainly for them it is indeed glorious in a sense. The EU is basically an authoritarian institution, intended in our view to be a stepping stone to a world government run by a intra-generational power elite. The idea is to build currency blocks, one in Europe, one in the Americas, one in Asia and eventually, one Africa. The socialist rhetoric that has accompanied the convergence of Europe is just that – an overlay concealing the truth of the EU project. It is actually a brutal power play of the powers-that-be not a gentle convergence of communitarian impulses.'

'The EU, in our opinion – and we think it's obvious now – was never intended as an economic experiment. It has always been an intensely political exercise focused on building a powerful, authoritarian state in Europe that might form one part of a tripartite world community. The other two parts of this world community may be the Americas (America et al.) and Asia (China et al.) And while the European community was meant, inevitably, to be dominated by Germany, we are not sure that the EU is, to begin with, a German invention – as some have argued. ...the EU was as much an Anglo-American idea as it was a German or French preoccupation. It is the Anglo-American power elite, in our opinion, that is a driving force behind the kind of "globalization" that the EU supports and is part of. The EU is a lynchpin promotion, a basic building block of a one-world vision. ...those that stand behind the EU will battle as hard as they can to save it, or salvage what they can of it.'

DB's draft curriculum introduction: 'Dear British Schoolchildren: "Welcome to your course on learning to handle money. Before we get started with the basics, it is important that you understand the larger frame of reference when it comes to money. What you need to know, dear children, is that Britain is not yours. It belongs for the most part to a few very powerful individuals. These individuals do not care much for Britain even though they lead it and own it. In fact, they are trying to do away with Britain, or at least British power. They wish for Britain to be subordinate to larger powers - specifically the EU. The EU is a creature of the Anglo-American empire and like a vampire, the EU is being positioned to sink its teeth into Britain's neck and drain its commerce, energy and ambition slowly, almost imperceptibly until Britain is no more. Sorry if that image upsets you children. Now we will start to learn about the British pound which is shortly to be replaced by the euro."'

'We never understood why countries would so easily give up their own currencies to begin with, because leaders were giving away a portion of the ability to control national destiny. But of late the rationale has become clear. The countries participating in the euro were basically arbitraging the great German industrial machine. Greece, Portugal, Spain, etc., used the euro's stability and low lending rates to go on a great spending spree. Politicians had received a blank check, and were penciling in large sums to buy social peace. The restive nature of European socialism was soothed by gobs of money. Strikes became pretty much a thing of the past. Harmony reigned, as much as it ever could. But nothing is free forever.'

'Many EU countries are facing a form of bankruptcy. The EU will demand "austerity" that cannot be achieved without a quick and wrenching descent into virtual poverty. In the past, countries could have devalued, but even with IMF programs, countries in trouble cannot devalue if they are inside the EU. ...countries devalue because otherwise governments topple and people riot. Brussels Euro-crats are basically asking certain Europeans to virtually beggar themselves if there is no devaluation to be had. It is one thing to plunge into poverty over a series of years while spreading out the pain. It is another thing to have it happen in a consolidated fashion. Right now Ireland, Latvia and others are facing years of protracted poverty as a result of their EU bargains. Yes, money may still be had at a cheaper level than otherwise, but how many can afford to borrow without a job – or with several low-paying jobs that only barely keep a roof over one's head?'

'...the Democrats in Washington are literally willing to blow up their own party to pass a nationalized health care bill ...the Obama administration will doubtless try to accomplish what the previous administration could not. It will continue socializing American society with the brute force of the federal government and it will do its best to tear down the border between America and Mexico. The Fabian Society suggested in the early 2000s that the 21st century would be one of extreme "change" that people might find uncomfortable. In such an environment, [they] suggested that those who would adapt most effectively were those who would accept the changes quickly and without fuss. ...it is fairly clear the power elite operated in the 20th century under a determined veil of secrecy. But that veil of secrecy exists no more. Did the power elite plan to rip this veil away? No, no, no!'

'The EU was conceived in stealth and implemented gradually through a series of lies. ...what happens when the party comes to an end? It's one thing to accept personal and professional security as a byproduct of a regulatory state. It's quite another to accept high taxes, inflation and a hyper-regulatory democracy within the context of a decade-long great recession/depression. Sooner or later, the social compact is likely to unravel. It will become clear to the suffering masses that they have been sold a pig in a poke. They have neither freedom nor security, only the prospect of slaving away at whatever low paying employment they can scrounge up within the context of a continually more repressive police state... We don't think this sort of situation can last. ...there is the argument that the European tribes, after decades of socialism and consciousness-raising, are better and more pacified entities now, and won't mind the duping. Good luck with that.'

'Strikers and protesters banged drums and chanted slogans such as 'no sacrifice for plutocracy,' and 'real jobs, higher pay.' People draped banners from apartment buildings reading: 'No more sacrifices, war against war. The demonstrators included hundreds of black-clad ["anarchists"] in crash helmets and ski masks, who repeatedly taunted and attacked riot police with stones and petrol bombs, at one point spraying officers with brown paint.' -- Europe. No Future.

'Have you ever wondered why the eco-lobby is so pro-EU? Now you have your answer. Green pressure groups are becoming financially dependent on Brussels. Ten years ago, they received €2,337,924 from the European Commission; last year, it was €8,749,940. A study by the International Policy Network reveals the extent to which Green lobbyists look to the EU for their income: Climate Action Network, Friends of the Earth, WWF, they’re all at it. Much of this money, the paper shows, is then recycled into lobbying the EU. You see how the system works? The EU pays eco-lobbyists to tell it what it wants to hear. Its clients, naturally enough, tell it that the EU ought to increase its powers. A similar racket goes on between Brussels and the mega-charities.'

'...even when confronted with reality, [they] blame 'speculators' and the evil money men in the markets. Yes, there are some who profit from the plight of countries like Greece, but that is not to say that the problem is their fault. It is only because the politicians spent like drunks that the speculators are in a position to profit. These 'evil' investors need the foolishness of governments, or their speculation will come to nothing. What happens is that cause and effect are rearranged. It is not the strength of the speculator's position that allows them to profit, but the weakness of the government's position. In other words, it is the government that is the cause, and the speculation that is the effect. The trouble is that many analysts and commentators are apologists for this line from governments. In doing so, they distract from the real source of the problem, which is that governments have acted irresponsibly.'

'Dominant Social Theme: Technocratic management of the economy is necessary. Conclusion: Two memes, both in difficulties. The Western power elite has spent a good deal of time and energy promoting the idea that nations need to be run by a handful of efficient technocrats who can act quickly and properly utilize the awesome money-printing power of the central bank. But the trouble with central banking and fiat money is that it eventually reaches a place where more stimulation is extremely difficult to come by. The money that greases the promotional wheels begins to dry up. And the promotional mechanisms themselves begin to buckle and seize – especially in the Internet era. The dominant social promotions that were the Chinese Miracle and the European Union are both foundering. They may be salvageable. What if they are not?'

'Whatever Greece ends up doing, many other similarly profligate countries may follow. Of course it is possible that the EU stages a miraculous economic recovery and the current disastrous budgetary numbers are reversed. But we doubt that will happen. This economic crisis is going to be a long, hard one. The Greeks, the Portuguese, the Spanish - these are tribal countries as we have pointed out in the past. The EU had considerable success bribing the tribes. Tribes in fact are happy to accept tribute. But tribes are less happy to pay it. Will the Greeks be wiling to suffer for the euro and for the EU itself? Does their first loyalty lie with the EU, then with Greece and finally with friends and family? We would suggest not. The Greeks will likely not internalize their nation's shame. Why should they? They will merely resent that they are being individually held responsible for the logical outcome of a larger EU system of bribes and calculated kickbacks.'

'There is no deep reservoir of good will. Bribes and threats only go so far. -- In Europe one is faced with the massed power of the bureaucracy and generational wealth on one side and common-sense observation on the other. Practical observation tells us that the EU is an absurd and ludicrous invention that cannot possibly stand, especially without a strong political union to accompany the economic one. Now there is agitation for such, but one gets the feeling it may be too late. The antipathy to the EU is internalized and the European street itself has had enough of these power grabs. Are the Greeks really going to go along with turning their country over to Germany and, by definition, Brussels? -- Where does all the bailout money come from? -- Are you an investor? What are you going to do in this modern era? Where are you going to turn?'