WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TODAY 9-29-08 By Michael Ruppert

Sept. 29, 2008

Act II From The Wilderness' Peak Oil Blog


by Michael C. Ruppert



For years I have told you exactly what was going to happen and it has. Today's economic meltdown, with the Dow dropping 777 points and $1.2 trillion in equity lost is no exception. In our second FTW Economic Alert back in 2002 I predicted a market crash that saw $1 trillion in shareholder equity lost in the following three months. -- $1.2 trillion was destroyed just today. That and much more.


In FTW's fourth and last Economic Alert(http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/061406_abyss_awaits.shtml)-- just 11 days before our offices were burglarized on June 25, 2006-- I specifically warned that this day (metaphorically speaking) would come. What prompted that alert was an unprecedented move by President George W. Bush to give the National Director of Intelligence, John Negroponte, the authority to exempt "certain" Wall Street firms and banking giants from reporting their financial records to the Securities and Exchange Commission. It was this move which permitted everything that has happened over the last month. That move allowed smaller banks and investors to continue buying pigs (without lipstick) in a poke while average Americans were led to believe that everything was OK. If you don't believe me, go read the Economic Alert for yourself. It's all right there -- everything.


And if you had followed every piece of advice I gave in that warning-- two years ago -- today's events would have made you money. They would have strengthened your family. They would have made you immune to the panic that today touched American public consciousness.


Gold is likely to explode in price in short order. $2,000 an ounce is possible within six months.


Since 2003 I have told my readers that the destruction of the U.S.economy was planned, essential and a foregone conclusion. It has to do with Peak Oil. There is no economy without energy. The world is running out of oil faster than almost anyone had predicted. Even previously optimistic opponents of Peak Oil have acknowledged that global decline is now between 5.8% and 9% per year. That means that if the world produces 85 million barrels per day this year, it will possibly produce less than 80 Mbpd next year. Demand destruction is conserving a resource for which there is no replacement and this is what has always been intended. An $8 drop in price today has done nothing to reignite demand. The United States, with 5% of the world's population using a quarter of the world's oil, was/is the ONLY point of demand destruction available that will save human industrialized civilization. I have said that consistently for many years. I told you that the real Powers That Be had gotten or would get their money out and safe before they crashed everything. They did... It was your money. It was our money.


Those who read FTW for years know that time after time, and year after year my predictions have been proven correct. The United States economy is being deliberately destroyed. The fact that it was Republican House members who blocked the bailout today confirms that they are helping the Bush Administration complete its last mission before leaving office: the complete destruction of the American economy and the financial crippling of the American people. I believe the intent is, and has been, to leave a newcomer African-American president with an economy on life support which will expire early in his watch. Every Obama campaign ad that now promises to "turn the economy around" only tightens the noose around his neck. The subconscious "Jerome Corsi" message is, "Blame the blacks" next year when you get it that the Great Depression was a picnic compared to what is coming.


This is now the fast crash scenario. It is further complicated by two things.


First; today's failure coincidentally occurred at the beginning of Rash Hashana. I am not suggesting that Jewish members of congress had any part of this. It would not be, however, the first time that great crimes have been committed and subsequently blamed on Jews. The subconscious "Jerome Corsi" message is "Blame the Jews". Congress will now not reconvene until Thursday, October 7. Seeing the meltdown and collapse of the U.S. financial system, and the failure of the U.S. government, a two-day congressional stand down will give other nations time to realign and adjust their finances before it is possible to see another House vote. In my opinion foreign economies will been energetically disengaging from the U.S. economy and the dollar in tranches as big as possible without totally destroying the value of their holdings. During that time, with the markets open, giants like Citigroup (not the only one) will be exposed. They have been counting on the bailout. Citigroup may survive but others will not. The ones who do survive will ultimately be corporations that have been in on this plan. Goldman Sachs will most certainly survive. Berkshire Hathaway will undoubtedly survive.


Just a few days ago China ordered its banks to stop lending to U.S. banks.


Second; Venezuela, North Korea, Russia, rebels in Nigeria, and pirates off Somalia are becoming increasingly more aggressive. They do this not with the intent of physically attacking the United States itself, but with breaking its credibility and economic back. The U.S. has been humiliated in Georgia and North Korea is firing up its nuclear plants again. I have predicted this for years also and it is totally understandable given the belligerent, hostile and bullying foreign policy of the United States over the last eight years. I predict tha ton the geopolitical scene we are going to see (or not) some very serious realignments beginning over the next two weeks. They will be irreversible. The world is fragmenting along purely geographical lines. Yes, I predicted that too.


I AM IN PERSONAL DANGER NOW


But it doesn't matter. I have broken an unspoken deal with the government to remain retired and not speak out. The legal harassments against me continue and I have just now crossed my own Rubicon. I am now preparing for physical attacks in the hopes that they do no toccur. You who know how right I have been can help protect me by speaking my name in public, by writing to media outlets, to Congress and telling them about "Crossing the Rubicon" and our incredible record at FTW.


Given that we predicted all of this, is it not reasonable to expect that someone might look to us and our work forsolutions? Isn't it reasonable to point others to the map we made? Isn't that the right thing to do? Given that everything I have predicted is coming true; given that we are witnessing the planned destruction of the U.S. economy; given that it was Republican members of congress who delayed the bailout bill...is it still so impossible to believe that Dick Cheney orchestrated and executed 9-11? They have almost handed off the carcass and evidence to a doomed Obama presidency. Oh yes, he'll win in a landslide... while the Bushes and their "base" will be laughing all the way to the bank. Please help protect me. Speak my name. Please help others. Point them to "Rubicon" and the FTW archives and teach them the map so they canfind their own paths through this.


It is a good day to die.


Michael C. Ruppert



"Fascism ought more properly be called corporatism because it is theperfect merger of power between the corporation and the state." --Benito Mussolini



Here is another piece of anecdotal evidence that the US government has no money, and the crash is here.


Medical professionals across the country have always had difficulty getting paid by Medicare for their services. Medicare is famous for creatively denying medical claims.


This year, Medicare has pulled a new one. Claiming that they are updating their computer systems (which they are---they are trying to electronically centralize medical information from across the country), they have forced medical practices to "re-register". Pending the processing of these new registrations, Medicare has frozen all payments. Medicare has offered no promises on how long "processing" takes.


Some practices have received NO PAYMENTS for almost one year, and 1. have not heard back from Medicare 2. have had their applications denied for no reason, or returned to them for new rounds of "processing", or 3. Medicare has "lost" the paperwork altogether.


Larry Chin (from Online Journal)

Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil Part 2:

City Wolves, short-selling and the Church of England

Some readers may be excited by the fact that Tory donors have sold some equities short during the recent financial crisis. That may seem like a gift to Labour during these perilous times.

But this is a time for cool heads. Bear in mind that the last high-minded group to attack short-sellers - the Church of England - was revealed as hypocritical last week when it emerged that its own investment arm uses similar practices.

Not only does the church lend stocks to short-sellers but…I quote…

“As well as aiding shorting by lending stock, the church commissioners had £13m invested in Man Group, the biggest listed hedge fund manager, at the end of last year. The commissioners also sold a £135m mortgage portfolio last year, says their annual report, despite Dr Williams’ criticism of trading debts for profit.

“Through the Church of England pensions board, which manages another £847m, the church invested this year in a fund from Auriel Capital, a London hedge fund, which aims to make money from currency trading - including short selling currencies.”

***

Church Of England Admits Profiting From Short Selling

The Church of England has admitted it may have profited from the controversial practice of short selling on the stock market just a day after it was condemned by The Archbishop of York.

By Richard Fletcher and Rowena Mason
Last Updated: 9:06AM BST 26 Sep 2008

Managers of the Church's £5 billion investment portfolio have lent shares for a fee. It is possible they were used by traders to make profits by betting that the value of the stocks will fall.

Such trading in the shares of financial companies has been temporarily banned by the Financial Services Authority after it was blamed for driving down the share price of Halifax Bank of Scotland, which came close to collapse before it was taken over by Lloyds TSB last week.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, described short sellers as "bank robbers and asset strippers" earlier this week, while the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, condemned the "basic unreality" of the global trade in debts.

***

WAMU Seized By The Feds!

We Are In The Midnight Hour In The Garden Of Good And Evil

There's only a few things that interest me...work...and those
trappings of aristocracy that I find worthwhile.
The very things they're forced to sell when the money runs out.
And it always runs out.
And then all they're left with...is their lovely manners. -
Kevin Spacey as Jim Williams from the movie
"Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil"

U.S. Government Seizes Washington Mutual

Friday, September 26, 2008

The U.S. government on Thursday made the largest bank seizure in American history, taking over Washington Mutual, the severely troubled savings and loan, and selling pieces of it to JPMorgan Chase in an emergency deal intended to avoid sticking the taxpayer with a bill for another bank, according to people briefed on the plan.

For weeks, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department had been nervous about the fate of WaMu, among the worst-hit by the housing crisis, and had pressed hard for the bank to sell itself. As panic gripped financial markets last week after the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, U.S. regulators stepped up their efforts, working behind the scenes, and at times going behind WaMu's back to work privately with potential bidders.

Too Catholic! For Me Says Chief Rabbi Of Rome

Senior Rabbi Pulls Out Of 140-Hour Bible Reading Session

The Chief Rabbi of Rome claims the televised event, which begins with the Pope reading Genesis, will be "too Catholic"

The chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, has pulled out of a planned marathon reading of the entire Bible on Italian television with Pope Benedict XVI next month on the grounds that the event is "too Catholic".

The reading, which will last 140 hours, will be broadcast on RAI, Italian state television, over six days and nights starting on October 5. It will open with the Pope reading from Genesis. The pontiff will be followed by 1,300 readers drawn not only from Christian ranks - including Protestant and Orthodox churches - but also from Rome's Muslim community.

However, Rabbi di Segni said "The Bible is not the same thing for Jews and for Christians. For us, it is the Old Testament, but not the New Testament". He said he also objected to the choice of venue, the Basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme - one of the seven pilgrim churches of Rome - because it was where St Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, brought Christian relics such as fragments of the True Cross back from the Holy Land to underline the fact that the centre of the new religion - Christianity - was not Jerusalem but Rome.

There goes our Judeo-Christian roots. It's really not the same. I'm glad the Rabbi is being truthful, kind of - Johnny

Actually, this guy from Savannah USA comments with a little more honesty from the Times article Pope Benedict XVI Selects Rabbi To speak To Roman Catholic Synod

"Actually the most sacred book to us Jews is the Talmud which provides guidance in reading the Torah" (emphasis on the Oral Traditions, not Moses' Written Law)

Joe Applebaum, Savannah, USA

Thanks Michael Hoffman for this lead, enjoying your book! - Johnny

Cynthia McKinney Ready To Step In For McCain At Friday’s Debate

Let's Get It On, I'm Ready To Debate Obama This Friday.

Go Cynthia!

September 24th, 2008 · 3 Comments

WASHINGTON, DC — Green Party presidential nominee Cynthia McKinney has offered to debate Barack Obama if John McCain’s opts out at this Friday’s presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi, following the Republican nominee’s announcement that he is seeking a delay of the event.

“If John McCain wants to bow out, I’m willing to step in and take his podium on Friday,” said Cynthia McKinney.

“The financial meltdown won’t come any closer to a resolution because a presidential debate is postponed. Now is the best time for Americans to see how prepared their leaders are to handle emergencies, how they introduce fresh ideas and solutions for national problems, and whether they’re willing to stand up for the American people instead of Wall Street moguls and corporate interests,” Ms. McKinney added.

Click here for Independent Political Report article

Benedict Defends Wartime Pope

Pope Benedict XVI defended Pope Pius XII last week against critics who say the Vatican turned a blind eye to the Holocaust.
(Reuters/Tony Gentile)

Benedict Defends Wartime Pope

September 22, 2008 | From theTrumpet.com

Pope Benedict xvi defended his World War ii-era predecessor last Thursday against critics who say the Vatican turned a blind eye to the Holocaust. Moreover, Benedict praised Pope Pius xii for being “courageous” in trying to save Jews.

“Wherever possible he spared no effort in intervening in their favor either directly or through instructions given to other individuals or to institutions of the Catholic Church,” Benedict said.

During the mid-1990s, author John Cornwell also set out to defend Pius’s reputation, believing if the full story were told, his “pontificate would be vindicated.” Accordingly, Cornwell applied for and was granted exclusive access to the Vatican’s archives. He concluded his research in 1997 in a state of what he called “moral shock.” The material he gathered about Pius, from the Vatican’s own library, “amounted not to an exoneration but to a wider indictment,” he wrote in his 1999 book, Hitler’s Pope.

Hitler Gets A Margin Call