The Secret Of Soft Kill: We AreInsects To Them

Alex JonesInfowars.comMarch 25, 2012

No one would have believed in the firstyears of twenty first century that thisworld was being watched keenly andclosely by intelligences more twisted thanman’s and yet as mortal as his own.

The Secret Of Soft Kill: We AreInsects To Them! VIDEO BELOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12Jka_4YIAE

The Secret Of Soft Kill: Part 2 VIDEO BELOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPQqp0GPlq8

What Is This Mystery Flower? VIDEO BELOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfj9sT14rxU

Dead Man Walking Economy Doug CaseyCasey ResearchMarch 25, 2012

In an interview with Louis James, theinimitable Doug Casey throws cold water onthose celebrating the economic recovery.

[Skype rings: It's Doug Casey, calling fromCafayate, Argentina. He sounds tired, butpleased with himself.]

Doug: Lobo, get out your mower; it's time to cutdown some green shoots again, and debunk a bit ofthe so-called recovery.

Louis: Ah. I have to say, Doug, the so-called recoveryis looking more than "so-called" to a lot of smartfolks. Even our own Terry Coxon says the recovery isreal, albeit weak.

Doug: Terry's probably looking at it by the numbers,some of which are reported to be improving. But let'scome back to the numbers later and start withfundamentals. The first order of business, as usual, is adefinition: a depression is a period of time in which theaverage standard of living declines significantly. Ibelieve that's what we're seeing now, whatever thenumbers produced by the politicians may seem to tellus.

L: I was just shopping for food and noticed that the bargain bread was on sale at two for $5. Mygas costs almost as much per gallon. That's got to hurt a lot of people, especially on the lowerincome rungs. I don't need to ask; a member of my family just got a job that pays $12 per hour –about three times what I made working for the university food service back when I was in college– and it's not enough to cover his rent and basic bills. If his wife gets similar work, they'll makeends meet, but woe unto them if anyone in their family crashes a car or requires serious medicaltreatment.

Doug: That's just what I mean. Actually, the trend towards both partners in a marriage having towork really started in the early '70s – after Nixon cut all links between the dollar and gold inAugust of 1971. Before then, in the "Leave It to Beaver" era, the average family got by quite wellwith only the husband working. If he got sick or lost his job, the wife was a financial backupsystem. Now, if something happens to either one, the family is screwed.

I think, from a very long-term perspective, historians will one day see the '60s as the peak ofAmerican prosperity – certainly relative to the rest of the world… but perhaps even in absoluteterms, even taking continued advances in technology into account. Maybe the '59 Cadillac was thebell ringing at the top of that civilizationalmarket.

My friend Frank Trotter, president ofEverBank, was just telling me that the networth of the median US citizen is only $6,000.That's the median, meaning that half of thepeople have less than that. Most people don'teven have enough stashed away to buy thecheapest new car without going into debt. Itused to be that people bought cars out of

savings, with cash. Now theyhave to finance them over atleast five years… or leasethem – which means theynever ever have even thattrivial asset, but a liability inthe form of a lease.

The bulk of the 49 percentbelow this guy don't evenhave that – with theconcentration of wealthamong the top one percent,most of those below average

have seriously negative net worth, at least compared to their earning capacity. In other words, theUS, Europe, and other so-called First-World countries are in a wealth-liquidation cycle that willbe as profound as it will be protracted.

By that I mean that people are on average consuming more than they produce. That can only bedone by living out of capital – consuming savings – or accumulating debt. For a time, this maydrive corporate earnings up, and give this dead-man-walking economy the appearance ofreturning health, but it's essentially, necessarily, and absolutely unsustainable. This is an illusion ofrecovery we're seeing – the result of our Wrong-Way Corrigan politicians continuing toencourage people to do the exact opposite of what they should do.

L: Which is?

Doug: Save. People shouldn't be getting new cars, new TVs, and new clothes. They should becutting expenses to the bone.

The Obama administration, just like the Baby Bush administration before it – there really is nogreat difference between the Evil Party and the Stupid Party – and its minions in the US and itscronies around the world, stubbornly stick to the bankrupt idea that economic growth is driven byconsumption. This is confusing cause and effect. Healthy consumption follows profitableproduction in excess of consumption, resulting in savings – accumulated capital – that can eitherbe spent without harm or invested in future growth.

Consumption doesn't cause an economy to growat all. To paraphrase: "It's productivity thatcreates wealth, stupid!"

L: Policies aimed at encouraging consumption,instead of increasing production, are what turnedthe savings rate negative in the US and resulted inthe huge sovereign debt issues we're seeing insupposedly rich countries…

Doug: Well, the governments themselves have

spent way more than they had or ever will have, andthat's par for the course when you believe spending isa virtue. However, it's the false signals governmentinterference sends to the market that caused the hugemalinvestments that only began to go into liquidationin 2008. That has to do with another definition of adepression: It's a period of time when distortions andmalinvestments in the economy are liquidated.

Unfortunately, that process has barely even started. Infact, since the bailouts started in 2008, these thingshave gotten much worse. If the government had gonecold turkey back then, cut its spending by at least 50%for openers, and encouraged the public to do the same,the depression would already be over, and we'd be on

our way to real prosperity. But they did just the opposite. So we haven't yet entered the real meatgrinder…

L: Those false signals the government sends to the market being artificially low interest rates?

Doug: Yes, and Helicopter Ben's foolish leadership in the wholesale printing of trillions ofcurrency units all around the world – I don't really want to call dollars, euros, yen, and so forthmoney anymore. When individuals and corporations get those currency units, they think they'rewealthier than they really are and consume accordingly. Worse, those currency units flow first tothe state – which feeds it power – and favored corporations, which get to spend it at old values.It's very corrupting. There is also an ongoing regulatory onslaught – the government has to showit's "doing something" – which makes it much harder for entrepreneurs to produce.

In addition, keeping interest rates low encourages borrowing and discourages saving – just theopposite of what's needed. I don't believe in any state intervention in the economy whatsoever,but in the crisis of the early 1980s, then-Fed Chairman Paul Volcker headed off a depression andset the stage for a strong recovery by keeping rates very high – on the order of 15-18%. Theycan't do that now, of course, because with the acknowledged government debt at $16 trillion,those kind of rates would mean $2.5 trillion in annual interest alone – more than the governmenttakes in taxes.

At this point, there's no way out. And there's muchmore tinkering with the system ahead, at the handsof fools who remain convinced they know whatthey're doing, regardless of how abject their pastfailures have been.

L: And yet, the interventions seem to be working.The "orderly default" in Greece seems to havesaved the Eurozone for now, and criticallyimportant employment figures in the US showdefinite signs of improvement.

Doug: Perhaps, but let's take a closerlook. I advocate the Greekgovernment defaulting, overtly andimmediately, on 100% of its debt, forseveral reasons. First, it wouldpunish those who lent it money to doall the stupid and destructive thingsit's done. Second, it would ensurethat the Greek government wouldn'tbe able to borrow again for a verylong time. Third, it would liberateyoung and yet unborn Greeks, whoare being turned into serfs by all thatdebt. It would also mean that mostEuropean banks would fail. Tough

luck for those who relied on them. When new banks are established, it will serve as a lesson topeople to be more careful about where they put their capital.

Anyway, it would be much less of a catastrophe than the way we're currently heading.

Here in the US, the twelve-month fiscal deficit is still over $1.2 trillion, an extreme situation thatis gutting the value of the dollar, because it's mostly financed by the Fed buying US debt. It'stemporarily expanded the eye of the storm we're in, but it's done nothing to dissipate the stormitself. Their easy-money policies may have bought them a little more time, but they will only makeit worse when we do exit the eye of the storm.

There's a third definition of a depression that I use: a depression is the end phenomenon of aninflation-caused business cycle. Inflation is the sole cause of business cycles, and inflation iscaused by governments and their central banks printing money. The government – the state – is100% responsible for society's economic problems. But it arrogantly represents itself as the cure.And people believe it. There's no hope until the psychology of the average person changes.

L: As Bob LeFevre used to say: "Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure." Wantto update us on when you think theeconomy will return to panic mode?

Doug: Earlier this year, I was expectingit sooner than I do now. Unless someblack-swan event upsets the apple cartsuddenly, I would not expect us to exitthe eye of the storm at least until afterthe US presidential elections this fall.Maybe not until early 2013, as thereality of what's in store sinks in. I pitythe poor fool who's elected president.

In a way, I hope it's Obama who wins,

mainly because the worthless – contemptible,actually – Republican candidates yap on aboutbelieving in the free market, which means if oneof them is somehow elected, the free market willbe blamed for the catastrophe. Too bad Ron Paulwill be too old to run in 2016, assuming that weactually have an election then…

L: So, what about those numbers, then?Employment is up, and the oxymoronic notion ofa "jobless recovery" was one of our criticismsbefore…

Doug: Yes, but look at the jobs that have beenspawned; they are mostly service sector. Suchjobs can create wealth for certain individuals – itlooks like we've put more lawyers to work again, as well as waiters and paper-pushers – but theydon't amount to increased production for the whole economy. They just reshuffle the bits aroundwithin the economy.

L: Unlike my favorite – mining – which reported 7,000 new jobs in the latest report, if I recallcorrectly.

Doug: Yes, unlike mining, which was more of an exception than the rule in those numbers. Butthat's making the mistake of taking the government at its word on employment figures. As we'vediscussed before, if you look at John Williams' Shadow Stats, which show various economicfigures as the US government itself used to calculate them, unemployment has actually reachedGreat Depression levels.

The US government is dishonestly fudging the figures as badly as the Argentine government –which is, justifiably, viewed as an economic laughingstock in most parts of the world. One reasonthings are going to get much worse in the US is that many of those with economic decision-

making power think Cristina FernandezKirchner is a genius. A little while ago,there was an editorial in the New YorkTimes – the mouthpiece for theestablishment – written by someonenamed Ian Mount. Get a load of this. I'vegot it in front of me.

If you can believe it, the author actuallysays: "Argentina has regained prosperitythanks to smart economic measures."The Argentine government "intervenedto keep the value of its currency low,which boosts local industry by makingArgentina's exports cheaper abroad while

keeping foreign imports expensive. Argentinaoffers valuable lessons … government spendingto promote local industry, pro-job infrastructureprograms and unemployment benefits does notturn a country into a kind of Soviet parody."

Well, no, I guess it turns it into something theUS can ape. He goes on: "Argentina is hardly aperfect parallel for the United States. But thestark difference between its austere policies andlow growth of the late 1990s and the pro-government, high-growth 2000s offers a testcase for how to get an economy moving again.Washington would do well to pay attention."

The guy has obviously never been here, thoughhe admits that "Argentina is far from perfect."His modest concession is that the taxes toimports and exports have "scared away someforeign investment, while high spending haspushed inflation well over 20 percent. And itwould be laughable to suggest that the United States follow its lead and default on its debt."

When I first read the article, I thought I was reading a parody in The Onion. I love Argentina andspend a lot of time down here. It's a fantastic place to live – but not because of the government'seconomic policies. Its only competition in state stupidity is Brazil, which regularly destroys itscurrency.

Fortunately, though, the Argentine government is quite incompetent at people control, unlike theUS. It leaves you alone. And there's a reasonable chance the next president down here won't beactively stupid, which isn't asking much. But it's amazing that the NYT can advocate Argentine

government policy as something the US shouldfollow. A collapse of the US economy would bevastly worse than that of the Argentine economy –the US dollar is the world's currency.

Here in Argentina they're used to it and preparedfor it to a good degree. Very unlike in the US.

L: In the US, the welfare state has bloated beyondimagination. The damage already done is less visiblebecause where there used to be private charity soupkitchens, there are now "food stamps" that look likeordinary credit cards, making the destitute amongus look like everyone else at the supermarket. Thereare 50 million recipients, and that number isgrowing, not declining.

By the way, John Williams is a speaker at theCasey Research Recovery Reality Summitwe have coming up, April 27-29 in Weston,Florida. Perhaps this would be a good timeto invite our readers down to hear John'stake on what the numbers really are – and tomeet us. We'll both be there.

L: What are the investment implications ifthe Crash of 2012 gets put off until the endof the year, or even becomes the Crash of2013?

Doug: There are potentially many, butgenerally, the appearance of economicactivity picking up is bullish for commodities,especially energy and raw materials likeindustrial metals and lumber. That's not truefor gold and silver, so we might see more weakness in the precious metals in the months ahead. Iwouldn't count on that, however, because government policy is obviously inflationary to anyonewith any grasp of sound economics. That will keep many investors on the buy side.

Plus, the central banks of the developing world – China, India, Russia, and many others – areconstantly trading their dollars for gold. There are perhaps seven trillion dollars outside the US,and about $600 billion more are sent out each year via the US trade deficit.

L: I know I bought some gold and silver in the recent dip and would love to have a chance to doso at even lower prices ahead.

Doug: That's the logical thing to do, given the fundamental realities we started this conversationwith, but a lot of peoplewill be scared into sellingif gold does retreat. Agood number will selllow, after buying high –happens every time, andis a big part of whycommodities have such atricky reputation.

Most investors just don'thave the strength ofconviction to be goodspeculators. Instead oflooking at the world tounderstand what's goingon and placing intelligent

bets on the logical consequences of thetrends, regardless of what anyone elsesays or does, they go with the herd,buying when everyone else is buying andselling when everyone else is selling. Thisinverts the "buy low and sell high"formula. They let their thoughts beinfluenced by newspapers and the wordsof government officials.

L: In other words, everything you seecalls for gold continuing upward for sometime – years – making any big retreatsalong the way great buying opportunitiesfor those with the guts to act on them.Same for silver, and doubly so for theprecious-metals mining stocks, and triplyso for the junior stocks.

Doug: Just so. I look forward to the daywhen I can sell my gold for quality growth stocks – but we're nowhere near that point. But silvermight correct less than gold if gold corrects due to the appearance of economic recovery – silveris, after all, an industrial metal as well as a monetary one.

L: Agreed. And I can see the positive implications for energy as well, but Marin – CaseyResearch's chief energy investment strategist – was just saying that natural gas has dropped below$2. That's apparently starting to force oil and gas companies to remove reserves from their books– because reserves need to be economic, not just exist – which the market isn't going to like. Hesees some great bargains on solid companies ahead, and not just "gas" companies as many oilcompanies, including the major ones, produce both. Marin said one major company gets half its

top line from gas sales. This is ahuge shift.

Doug: The devil is always in thedetails – it's dangerous tooversimplify things, painting with abroad brush, as in, "A recoveringeconomy will be bad for gold" or "Arecovering economy will be goodfor energy." You have to understandthese markets well enough to reallysee how different forces and factorswill affect them.

Marin is unquestionably one of thesharpest analysts I've met in my life.He's actually something of a genius,

both academically smart andvery street smart, in addition tobeing a workaholic. He runs alot of my money. He's donespectacularly well, and I expecthim to do even better, becausehe constantly learns. Not muchgets by him.

L: Good reminder. So, if we'relooking at signs of economicrecovery for a time, would youbuy into copper, nickel, or otherbase-metal plays?

Doug: Well, just because wemight see signs of a temporaryeconomic recovery, that doesn't mean we will – and even if we do, they could easily be sweptaside by any number of events, such as Europe taking another turn for the worse, or Japan orChina starting to come apart at the seams. But, as a hedge, some near-term bets on industrialmetals might not be a bad thing.

L: How about agriculture?

Doug: That's one thing for which demand can never go down. Economic upturns or downturnsmay affect the mix of what people eat, but they won't stop people from eating – or, if they do,we'll have more pressing concerns than which way to play the markets. I remain especially bullishon cattle.

L: Anything else?

Doug: [Laughs] Many things. The right technology companies should do well; finding ways to dothings faster-better-cheaper always adds value. Select mainstream equities in currently profitablesectors might do well as well – but I'd be very careful there. I can't stress enough how close to theedge of collapse the global economic house of cards is – it could take another year or more to

topple, or it could be starting today.

L: Which leads to the other reasonfor owning precious metals – not asa speculation on skyrocketingprices, nor as an investment forgood yield, but for prudence.

Doug: Yes. Gold remains the onlyfinancial asset that is notsimultaneously someone else'sliability. Anyone who thinks theyhave any measure of financial

security without owning any gold– especially in the post-2008world – is either ignorant, naïve,foolish, or all three.

Look, we saw it coming, buteveryone in the world could seeHumpty Dumpty fall off the wallin 2008. Now we're just waitingfor the crash at the bottom, andno amount of wishful thinkingotherwise is going to change that.It's a truly dangerous world outthere, and blue chips are no longerthe safe investments they onceseemed to be. You don't have tobe a gold bug to see the wisdom of allocating some capital – and not just a token amount – tocover the possibility that I'm right about what's coming.

There's some opportunity cost associated with taking out this kind of insurance, but it's notcatastrophic if I'm wrong, and the cost of failing to do so if I'm right is catastrophic. That really isthe bottom line.

L: Financially. If you're right about the coming Greater Depression, people also need to take stepsto batten down the hatches on their physical life arrangements.

Doug: Right. As we've said many times now, your government is the greatest threat to your well-being these days. If at all possible, you should be taking steps to diversify your political risk.

Foreign bank accounts are not illegal for mostpeople in most countries, though they need tobe reported. Getting one is a good start.Buying real estate I like in various countries isone of my favorite ways to diversify risk in mylife. That's partly because I like speculating inreal estate, but much more so becausewhichever government thinks you're its taxslave can't force you to repatriate real estateyou own abroad. Most of all, it's because it'sgood to have places to go if things get uglywherever you happen to be.

L: Very well. Any particular triggers youthink we should watch out for – warning signs

that we really are about to exit the eye of the storm?

Doug: In the US, the Fed being forced to raise interest rates would be one, or inflation getting

visibly out of control – which would force achange in interest rates – would be another. Whoknows – Obama getting reelected could tipthe scales. War in the Middle East could doit, or, as we already mentioned, China orJapan going off the deep end. The ways arecountless. Black swans the size ofpteranodons are circling in squadronstrength. A lot of them are coming in for alanding. People will just have to stay sharp –sorry, there's no easy way to survive adepression. As my friend Richard Russellsays, "In a depression, everybody loses. Thewinner is the guy who loses the least." Itwill take work and diligent attention towhat's going on in the world and around us.We at Casey Research will do our best tohelp, but each of us is and must beresponsible for ourselves.

L: Okay then, thanks for the guru update. No offense, but in spite of the investments I've madebetting that you're right, I hope you're wrong, because the Greater Depression is going to destroymany lives, and the famines and wars it spawns even more – millions, I'm sure. Maybe more. Themind balks.

Doug: Oh, I agree. I only wish I could believe otherwise, because I'm sure it's going to be evenworse than I think it will be… although I hope to be watching it in comfort and safety on mywidescreen TV, not out my front window.

L: I think we need to find something more upbeat to talk about next time.

Doug: [Chuckles] Maybe. If there's something important in the news, we should cover it. It's sureto be fodder for comedy – at least black comedy.

L: As you say. 'Til next week then.

[Do you think the economic recovery is real – and how do you protect yourself from the potentialfallout? Meet 31 financial superstars in person and hear what they have to say: David Stockman,former director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Reagan… JamesRickards, Tangent Capital Partners, author of Currency Wars… Lacy Hunt, Hoisington

Investment Management… JohnWilliams, Shadow GovernmentStatistics… Porter Stansberry,investment advisor… John Mauldin,renowned financial expert… and manymore.

Schools Just Became Even More DangerousAttack Dogs Waiting For Dissenters

Activist PostMarch 25, 2012

There are many reasons toget your kids out ofgovernment schools rangingfrom physical violence toforced vaccinations. Theviolence done to childrenwithin the school system isnow reaching into the areasof mental trauma, as well asforced ideology and politics.

The Washington Post reportsthat an honor roll studentand 3 others at NorthwesternHigh School in Maryland were recently suspended for their political activism. The public schoolsystem is now becoming a horrible microcosm of a wider society that is ready to stifle all forms ofdissent and challenges to authority. This is nothing short of slave training to accept the policestate waiting upon graduation.

Thom Hartmann spoke with two students involved in this challenge to fundamental free speech, aswell as their right to demand a better quality of life and education through grassroots activism.

These two students also demonstrate theresolve needed in the face of tyrannicalactions.

Attack dogs used against High Schoolersfor planned protest and thought crimesVIDEO BELOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHYXZ8zWQbA