I’d like to share a few questions we directed to Joel Skousen in 1999. Our questions pertained to the topics of money, new bills and relocation. Joel's responses are also included below.
Question from May 1999: I read an article at Jeff Rense’s web site about turning in old 100, 50, 20-dollar bills. This article said that the government plans to make everyone turn in old 100, 50, and 20 dollar bills by summer 1999 and that the public would have only a week to do it. Do you know if this is really on the agenda for summer 1999?
Skousen response: “I haven't heard that. Would be very surprised if they could do that. The implication would be that anyone finding a stash of cash in Grandpa's mattress later on wouldn't be able to redeem it in new currency--that would be very unpopular. The only reason the government would have to cause a large turn-in of cash would be to track where the cash is, but this could only be done at the beginning of a new issue, not in midstream.”
Question from December 1999: When it all hits the fan as you predict it probably will around 2004 and later, what happens afterward to 401Ks, money in mutual funds (digital cash) where statements and records were in computers in cities like Kansas City, San Diego, Colorado Springs? Assuming that survivors in safe places see society, the power grid, the business world eventually resume some degree of normalcy a few months or years after the crisis, are assets like mutual fund accounts which were in places like Kansas City simply gone forever?
Skousen response: “Yes--accounts in major target areas are gone forever.”
Same question, Part 2 (from Dec. 1999): Is it safer to have mutual funds/digital cash computer records in places like Milwaukee, WI or Valley Forge, PA so when power returns during recovery at least their computers and records are more likely to be still intact instead of being ones stored at ground zero?
Skousen response: “Yes, there will be a recovery in these smaller areas first, but I suspect that your ability to participate in the economy after the NWO locks down control over all transactions will depend on your willingness to take an oath of allegiance to world government.”
Joel Skousen also stressed in his responses to our questions about war and the future that people should remove their need for money in the future by lots of stockpiling of all our essential needs, and becoming self-sufficient. He wrote, “Establish a network of like-minded support people in an area likely to survive. This is the tough part because most people can't or won't move to safety until it's too late.”
On relocation, jobs and money. The #1 reason why smart people who sense they need to move don't is insecurity over jobs. A bird in the hand is better than one that might be lurking in the bush, they think. Or what if there isn’t even a single decent bird (job) near the bush (new town)?
Remember a few years ago when Joel warned that we’d enter a depression soon and Bush would go down in history as another Herbert Hoover? From March 7, 2003: "The U.S. economy last month suffered its worst jobs drop since the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, as worries about a war with Iraq led to widespread caution about hiring. The Labor Department said on Friday payrolls outside the farm sector plunged 308,000 in February -- the biggest decline since a 327,000 drop in November 2001, just after the deadly airplane strikes on the World Trade Center…The unemployment rate rose to 5.8 percent in February from 5.7 percent in January…February's job losses were widely distributed across industries. Job losses in the retail sector were especially steep, falling 92,000. Manufacturing jobs dropped 53,000 and construction jobs tumbled 48,000. In an unusual development at odds with signs of weakness elsewhere in the jobs report, average hourly earnings rose by 0.7 percent to $15.08 after a 0.1 percent drop in January. However, the average workweek shrank to 34.1 hours from 34.3 hours in January.” (from “Jobs Plunge 308,000 Amid War Worries,” Reuters, March 7, 2003).
It’s easy to see now why several years ago Joel recommended turning to self-employment or a carefully chosen home-based business. In “Outsourced Economy” by Paul Craig Roberts (The Washington Times, March 7, 2003) the author said, “In a recent cover story, Business Week magazine observed that economists haven't begun to fathom the implications of outsourcing for the U.S. economy. Economists don't understand globalism because they don't think about it. They simply assume globalism to be the beneficial workings of free trade.”
You can read Paul Craig Roberts’ entire commentary here: http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20030307-88178816.htm
On the topic of money--specifically, electronic financial transactions with PayPal--read Joel's warning to World Affairs Brief subscribers as well as other PayPal horror stories here:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/paypal.html
Financial Calculators
Mortgage Calculator - Use this calculator to determine the maximum loan amount for which you qualify, based on standard lender rules.
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/usr/qualcalcform.html?type=to
Rent vs. Buy - Determine which option is a better financial decision for your current lifestyle.
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/usr/rentbuyform.html?type=to
Mortgage Payment Calculator - Find out how much a mortgage might cost.
http://www.homestore.com/HomeFinance/Calculators/mortgagepayment.asp?type=to
New $20 Bill Causes Problems in Machines
As colorful new $20 bills circulate around the nation, more consumers are finding out that the notes do not work on automated payment machines like those found in self-service checkout counters at grocery stores . . . A sign on the automated checkouts at Dillon grocery stores now advises customers to trade their new $20 bills for older bills before using the machines. A similar sign is posted at payment machines at the 600 Sprint stores nationwide . . .
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,101545,00.html
Cooking The Books: US Banks Are Giant Casinos
By Michael Edward
While media financial reporters keep the current focus of the public eye on Martha Stewart, the insolvency of U.S. banks due to their derivative holdings is being swept under the carpet.
Because banks have not been making a profit from traditional lending, derivatives became a fantastic way for them to net huge gains by trying to guess (gamble on) future prices of commodities or stocks. They were able to take these gambling risks because the Fed is supposed to back them from losses that would make them insolvent (more liabilities than assets). The worst part is that derivative transactions stay off the books and away from the prying eyes of investors and analysts.
U.S. interest rates being kept low by the Federal Reserve System (which is neither Federal nor does it have any intrinsic reserves) is to simply hide the nearly hundred $billion ($100 Billion U.S. Dollars = $100,000,000,000) of derivative losses and the true insolvency of U.S. banks. The moment interest rates start to run up, U.S. banks will be left holding little paper value assets to offset their vast derivative gambling losses.
U.S. stock markets are being manipulated to show overall value gains and "profits" is to keep U.S. banks "paper solvent". In reality, the public is being conned into thinking that U.S. banks are still solvent because they show "gains" in their stock "paper" value. If the U.S. markets were not manipulated, U.S. banks would collapse overnight along with the entire U.S. economy.
U.S. banks are merging with each other to hide their derivative losses with "paper asset" bookkeeping that incorrectly shows they are solvent with enough "assets" to overcome their losses. In reality, this is smoke and mirror accounting, a scam worth $Trillions.
U.S. banks - with the privately owned Federal Reserve System at the helm - have turned into giant casinos by running a Casino Economy that is splintering into vast piles of insolvent firewood. The kindling was lit in the early 1990's, but now a bonfire is raging with great plumes of red-ink smoke. Can the Fed and the Fed-controlled media keep the public from seeing that red smoke with their manipulative mirrors? If the public would just open their eyes and wake up, they would see what's really going on, so here's something to focus your eyes on:
The top 25 U.S. banks with the largest derivatives holdings (estimate based on OCC Q3-2003 report and updated from news releases since 10/03). Remember, $1 Billion U.S. Dollars = $1,000,000,000.
RANK - BANK NAME - DERIVATIVES (in $US BILLIONS)
1 - JPMORGAN CHASE BANK - 33,700 ($33 Trillion, 700 Billion)
2 - BANK OF AMERICA - 13,800
3 - CITIGROUP - 11,000
4 - WACHOVIA CORPORATION - 2,457
5 - BANK ONE CORPORATION - 1,133
6 - HSBC - 1,043
7 - WELLS FARGO BANK NA - 911 ($911 Billion)
8 - FLEET BOSTON - 494
9 - BANK OF NEW YORK - 496
10 - COUNTRY WIDE FINANCIAL - 410
11 - STATE STREET - 320
12 - TAUNUS - 307
13 - NATIONAL CITY - 203
14 - ABN AMRO - 188
15 - MELLON - 153
16 - KEYCORP - 98 ($98 Billion)
17 - SUNTRUST - 82
18 - FIRST TENNESSEE BANK NA - 58
19 - U S BAN CORP - 54
20 - PNC BANK NATIONAL ASSN - 45
21 - DORAL - 31
22 - NORTHERN TRUST - 25
23 - CIBC DELAWARE - 25
24 - METLIFE - 22
25 - UTRECHT-AMERICA - 20
If you want to get a hint at how much red ink your U.S. bank casino is swimming in, look at their latest financial report and keep an eye out for an entry such as, "adjustment of derivative financial instruments" or "adjustment of non-interest instruments". If they list such an "adjustment" (most do not), this means they have written off the losses incurred from their derivative gambling.
If you bank with one of the 25 banks listed above, you can expect worse than the 1986-1990 Savings & Loan bank collapses when people were unable to remove all or most of their money from their accounts until years later. This time, you can expect to loose whatever they claim to "hold" for you because the FDIC and the "Fed" have no means to replace the losses with any intrinsic value.
If you choose to keep accounts with these U.S. banks, you have just become a high-stakes gambler, and the odds are stacked against you.
http://worldvisionportal.org/WVPforum/viewtopic.php?t=160
How Big A House Should You Really Buy?
By Liz Pulliam Weston
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/P73317.asp
Building On The Bubble
In late February, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan — to the befuddlement of many financial analysts — floated the suggestion that homeowners should consider switching from fixed-rate mortgages to adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs).
Benjamin Wallace-Wells pointed out in the April Washington Monthly, "Quite simply, Greenspan is trying to keep a wobbly and fragile economy alive — and using mortgage refinancing to do it . . . Americans have been using their homes as ATM machines, refinancing their mortgages in order to fund their spending." Read the rest of the story at http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/2004/05-03-2004/insider/economy.htm
Benjamin Wallace-Wells’ comments above agree with what Joel has been warning us about for months:
The unpalatable truth, Wallace-Wells notes, is that "we’re in the midst of a huge housing bubble, on a scale only seen once before since the Depression. Worse, the inflated housing market is now in an historically unique position, as the motor of the rest of the economy. Within the next year or two, that bubble is likely to burst, and when it does, it very well may take the American economy down with it."
What The Good Life Costs
A nice house, a good education for the kids, a summer place. Forbes looks at the American Dream in the Northeast. Cost? From $215,000 a year to more than twice that…
Forbes’ totals ranged from about $215,000 (for Portland, Maine) to a whopping half-million dollars (for, not surprisingly, New York City). And that's the net after local, state and federal taxes, and includes very little savings. Less-urban upper New England tended to be the least expensive place to live well, while medium-sized cities such as Baltimore and Philadelphia ranked in the middle, and the big metropolises and surrounding areas, such as New York, Boston and Greenwich, Conn., were tops when it came to costs...
Full article at
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/forbes/P121206.asp?GT1=6584