At least it's not as bad as the other 'believe it, or not' story of the day; a 113 year-old man marrying an 11 year-old girl in an arab state. Now THAT is f*cked-up!

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate rose to 9.7 percent in August, the government said. With 216,000 jobs lost, unemployment has reached levels last seen in 1983.

From what I was able to determine ... it was implemented by the Bush Administration and Obama is looking into it further.

Wow, is Obama going to be blamed for going into Iraq without reason next?

" He stated he was NOT going to throw good money after bad. AIG had to be bailed out...bonuses HAD to be paid (or else the people owed those bonuses would have sued and won!) GM has the ball now....change, or go bust. Their choice.

Or if you don't want to lose two hours of your life you'll never get back by going to a "source" that should be clearly labeled "conspiracy info-tainment", don't.

Most feel this way? Really? Most? Considering the amount of people who went out and voted in last ellection, and acknowledging that many of the people who didn't vote did so for other reasons. The number of people who really think there is no difference between the two parties makes up a minority.
Maybe most of the people you tal;k to, but that just shows you're in an echo chamber.

It must be terrible to have supported the party that let the American economy slide into the mess it is in today,

It looks like the economy is in full recovery with the dow climbing almost 400 points today, did you predict this ?

And we can thank the wealthy for that. You want out of this mess? Here is the solution: Strip the wealthy of their wealth through progressive taxes and redistribute it.

healthcare should be free for all who live.

The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.
3) Elderly Hardest Hit
Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.
4) The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit.

Two very dissimilar things, surly you misspeak. One compromises your personal freedoms
the other a spending package.

and what about health care in this nation?, a side issue , not germain to the thread.

...Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is intentional. Daschle supported the Clinton administration’s health-care overhaul in 1994, and attributed its failure to debate and delay. A year ago, Daschle wrote that the next president should act quickly before critics mount an opposition. “If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it,” he said. “The issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”
~Betsy McCaughey

Prison Healthcare Now For Everyone
by KRusso
Much of the criticism of the $787 billion stimulus bill is focused on its cost. But what's really at issue is a matter of life and death. Buried deep in the package, there is an expensive new healthcare program that could jeopardize the health, even the lives, of millions of patients, yours included. [emphasis mine].
Healthcare in this country will mirror that of prison healthcare-----an already existing medical gulag. This program is so serious and one of the main reasons Daschle did’t want hearings on it. It was reported that he stated it would be far easier and faster to "slip and slide" this healthcare nightmare under the radar so the American public wouldn’t have a clue what was happening or than to have to go through the democratic channels in the Senate for discussion. Premeditatedly folks, Obama andCompany Dashcle et.al usurped the democratic process...
What you’re now getting force fed down your throats by Obama and Company is socialized medicine. It is the exact same healthcare system inmates in this country are being forced to endure. Prison healthcare is SOCIALIZED medicine. It does NOT work.

Obama has premeditatedly not posted anything on the Federal Register. For those of you who don’t know what the Federal Register is, go read about it: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/
Get educated! Get your head out of the sand.

Every American should be outraged about this except of course, for the 52% that voted for Obama. But for those in that 52%, unfortunately the majority of them had (have) no idea what they voted for or had a clue of the scope and ramifications their own vote was going to have on them.

The average American “the person who pays his bills, works 10-14-16 hours per day, isn't on welfare, and pays his taxes now gets to pick up the tab for those who do nothing and produce nothing. That average American now is forced to pick up the tab for the healthcare for everyone under the new program. And of course also now funds welfare recipients indefinitely...

Families & Friends of Inmates
For those of you who are families and friends of inmates you should be very, very worried about what this president has deceitfully pushed through without any oversight and transparency.
If you have been directly or indirectly involved in the mismanagement of healthcare within a prison system, know first-hand of its mismanagement and meting out of permanent disability and death, you know first hand how bad it is. You’ll also get a taste of it yourself because you’re going to be experiencing it yourself under the healthcare plan.

Said another way for those of you who still may not understand:
If you’re 60 years old or even 70 years old, and need a knee replacement the federal government is going to take the cost of that knee replacement and divide it by the number of years that it would be helpful for you. If you don’t fit into THEIR formula as to what is "medically necessary" you aren’t going to get that knee replacement. No matter what you want and no matter what your doctor says.

That goes for any medical condition, any procedure, any surgery, any prescription drug, any cancer treatment. It’s called "standardization of care." What one doctor prescribes will be the standard for everyone. Said yet another way..... If a drug works for a person in Idaho then the formula is that the same drug will work in Ohio even if your doctor doesn’t think so.

The Federal government ladies and gentlemen does not have the authority to take the place of a private decision between a doctor and his patients. Under this program as it stands, it will. Get your seatbelt on. Get your ducks in a row. And for those of you who voted for this president, accountability is everything, yours included.
About K. Russo:
~Expertise
Institute fields questions concerning consumer rights--specifically educating the public on what their rights are concerning medical care, legal representation, what their rights are concerning autopsies, what their rights are as visitors within a prison system.
~Founder and Director of The Wrongful Death Institute
Education/Credentials
www.wrongfuldeathinstitute.com

The government routinely spends billions on pork, and it didn't prevent the mess we're in. I don't understand why they think that throwing good money after bad is a good idea.

The entire natioaal debt is currently at about $10.721,993,465,915.77, which comes out to be about $35,082.21 for every man, woman, and child living in the US today. And we are going to borrow another $900,000,000,000 for a quick fix totryand stimulate the economy? Seriously? It's like continuing to pay one credit card off by using another credit card. And this is for the good of the futures of our children and grandchildren? How does guaranteeing that our children and grandchildren will have no money do any good for their future?

Wait a minute are you using pre stimulus package job losses as evidence that the stimulus package doesn't work?

1 the gov't should never be party to a ponsie scheme

The Dem's plan is proven to work the Rep's plan fails every time no matter what country/organization uses it.

This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:
Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China .
If you spend it on gasoline it will go to Arabs. If you purchase a computer it will go to India .
If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras , and Guatemala (unless you buy organic).
If you buy a car it will go to Japan .
If you purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan .

And none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America . You can keep the money in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only businesses still in the US.

"It is essential that the role of USAID and our other foreign assistance programs be strengthened, be adequately funded and be coordinated in a way that makes abundantly clear that the United States understands and supports development assistance," she said.

I have this annoying little voice that keeps telling me it's a "controlled demolition".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090126/bs_afp/financeeconomyworld_20090126143211
... The financial catastrophe claimed one of its biggest casualties yet as Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde announced the resignation of his government after months of protests over its handling of the economic crisis.

And shortly after US President Barack Obama warned of a downturn that could become "dramatically worse," several huge companies announced a fresh avalanche of cuts.
In New York, construction equipment giant Caterpillar said it planned 20,000 job cuts worldwide to cope with plunging sales and US telecom operator Sprint Nextel announced 8,000 cuts -- 14 percent of its staff.
Japan's top 12 automakers expect to cut a total of 25,000 jobs between now and the end of March to cope with an industry slump, a survey by Jiji Press concluded on Monday.
Dutch banking and insurance group ING announced 7,000 job cuts and a deal for the Dutch state to assume 80 percent of the risk on a 27.7-billion euro portfolio of troubled assets.
Dutch electronics giant Philips said it would eliminate 6,000 jobs.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted that the crisis, which has forced his government to intervene to shore up banks, should give rise to "a new global order."
"As some want, we could close our markets -- for capital, financial services, trade and for labour -- and therefore reduce the risks of globalisation," he said, according to the text of a speech issued by his office.
"Or we could view the threats and challenges we face today as the difficult birth-pangs of a new global order -- and our task now as nothing less than making the transition through a new internationalism to the benefits of an expanding global society."

So how many people actually know why there are no 3rd party candidates in the debates for the President of the USA since Ross Perot?

The REAL solution to fix TO FIX THE ECONOMY is increase productivity, and cut spending and debt.

President elect Obama has the ability to stop the slide and start us back to the road of recovery, remember we are the government we have the ability to force those we elected to act in our best interest and if they don’t we have the process to remove them from office.

How many poor people have ever employed you?

Is the piont you are trying to make "Hire people who can multitask and do not spend money tring to find a new employee if you can promote one within the company.

I am not sure how your post is about the economy. ....

December 03, 2008
“Chevron in the White House”
By Amy Goodman

President-elect Barack Obama introduced his principal national-security Cabinet selections to the world Monday and left no doubt that he intends to start his administration on a war footing. Perhaps the least well known among them is retired Marine Gen. James Jones, Obama’s pick for national security adviser. The position is crucial—think of the power that Henry Kissinger wielded in Richard Nixon’s White House. A look into who James Jones is sheds a little light on the Obama campaign’s promise of “Change We Can Believe In.”

Jones is the former supreme allied commander of NATO. He is president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for 21st Century Energy. The institute has been criticized by environmental groups for, among other things, calling for the immediate expansion of domestic oil and gas production and issuing reports that challenged the use of the Clean Air Act to combat global warming.

Recently retired from the military, Jones has parlayed his 40-year military career into several corporate directorships. Among them is Cross Match Technologies, which makes biometric identification equipment. More germane to Jones’ forthcoming role in Obama’s inner circle, though, might be Jones’ seat as a director of Boeing, a weapons manufacturer, and as a director of Chevron, an oil giant.

Chevron has already sent one of its directors to the White House: Condoleezza Rice. As a member of that California-based oil giant’s board, she actually had a Chevron oil tanker named after her, the Condoleezza Rice. The tanker’s name was changed, after some embarrassment, when Rice joined the Bush administration as national security adviser. So now Chevron has a new person at the highest level of the executive branch. With Robert Gates also keeping his job as secretary of defense, maybe Obama should change his slogan to “Continuity We Can Believe In.” ...

"Not that this has anything to do with theoriginal topic, but I wonder how much of this is the exception instead of the rule."

Please explain how the "super rich" got that way by "stealing someone else's money".

But on Dec. 12, 2008, Mr. Madoff, a consummate trader, was arrested at his Manhattan home by federal agents who accused him of running a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme — perhaps the largest in Wall Street’s history.

You tell me why things would be better if we just stole from the rich and handed it to the poor.

U.S. Chief Justice Renews Push for Pay Raise for Federal Judges
By Greg Stohr

Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts renewed his call for higher judicial pay and criticized lawmakers for giving themselves a cost-of-living adjustment this year without granting one to federal judges.

Roberts, in what has become an annual appeal to Congress, said judges are the only federal employees who won’t begin 2009 with a pay increase to cover higher living expenses. A cost-of- living adjustment for judges was included in the auto industry rescue package that Congress recently rejected.

“Judges knew what the pay was when they answered the call of public service,” Roberts said in his year-end report to lawmakers. “But they did not know that Congress would steadily erode that pay in real terms by repeatedly failing over the years to provide even cost-of-living increases.”

Federal judicial salaries in 2008 ranged from $169,300 for trial judges to $217,400 for the chief justice. Under legislation backed by Roberts, those salaries would rise by about $50,000, accounting for missed cost-of-living increases dating back to 1989.

Unlike other federal employees, who receive those adjustments automatically, judges get a cost-of-living increase only if Congress votes for one.

“I must renew the judiciary’s modest petition: Simply provide cost-of-living increases that have been unfairly denied!” Roberts wrote. “We have done our part -- it is long past time for Congress to do its.”

Fourth Year

Roberts’ appeal marked the fourth straight year he has used his year-end report to call for higher judicial pay. Two years ago, he said the issue had “reached the level of a crisis.”

Roberts, 53, gave up a lucrative partnership at the Washington law firm Hogan & Hartson in May 2003 to become an appellate judge. He was paid just over $1 million by the firm that year, according to a financial disclosure form he filed for his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. President George W. Bush appointed Roberts to the Supreme Court in 2005 ...

i'd say the so-called "pay raise" is a bit tactless. i mean, while everyone else is losing thier retirement funds, getting their hours cut etc, it's just bad taste.

There will be no US military bases left behind when the last US troops leave in three years time and the US military is banned in the interim from carrying out attacks on other countries from Iraq.

If a depression hits, there will be casualties, and businesses that thrive on people having disposable income will be the first to go, I'm almost certain.

I think as long as people are getting their nails done in salons, we aren't close to a depression yet. But I could be wrong.

http://www.rgemonitor.com/globalmacro-monitor/254687/shall_we_call_it_a_depression_now

Today's employment report, showing that employers cut 533,000 jobs in November, 320,000 in October, and 403,000 in September -- for a total of over 1.2 million over the last three months -- begs the question of whether the meltdown we're experiencing should be called a Depression.

We are falling off a cliff. To put these numbers into some perspective, the November losses alone are the worst in 34 years. A significant percentage of Americans are now jobless or underemployed -- far higher than the official rate of 6.7 percent. Simply in order to keep up with population growth, employment needs to increase by 125,000 jobs per month.

Note also that the length of the typical workweek dropped to 33.5 hours. That's the shortest number of hours since the Department of Labor began keeping records on hours worked, back in 1964. A significant number of people are working part-time who'd rather be working full time. Coupled with those who are too discouraged even to look for work, I'd estimate that the percentage of Americans who need work right now is approaching 11 percent of the workforce. And that percent is likely to raise.

When FDR took office in 1933, one out of four American workers was jobless. We're not there yet, but we're trending in that direction.

Consumers will tighten their belts even further. Even if they have a full-time job, they're witnessing these job losses or hourly declines all around them and wondering if their job could be next on the chopping block. Their indebtedness is still high, by historic standards. And many are worried as well about their mortgage payments. So consumer spending is also falling off a cliff.

Two things are needed: First, the massive Treasury bailout of the financial industry must be redirected toward Main Street -- loans to small businesses, distressed homeowners, and individuals who are still good credit risks. Second, a stimulus package must be enacted right away. It needs to be more than $600 billion -- which is 4 percent of the national product. It should be focused on job creation in the United States -- infrastructure projects as well as services. Construction jobs are critical but so are elder care, hospital, child care, welfare, and countless other services that are getting clobbered. Service businesses accounted for two-thirds of the job cuts in November, meaning that the weakness in labor markets has shifted from the goods-producing sector of the economy to the far larger services sector.

if we had a direct democracy, which is what you are advocating, we'd have a much less stable government. it would be mob rule.
as it is right now, we have the most transparent government that we have ever had in the history of our country.

first of all, the bail out was meant to stabilize the banking industry, and was not meant to be handed out to consumers per se. banks are businesses, and they lend money to other banks, corporations, et al. if there is a lack of liquidity then a business' credit line can dry up, which of course will ahve a trickle down effect.

ahhhh , who is to blame for this mess???

Fourth, so what? Nothing in the Constitution prevents the President from stationing troops within the U.S. as he and his military advisers see fit. Many thousands of them are normally here--at locations known as "military bases."

Fifth, the Posse Comitatus Act only restricts the use of troops for law enforcement--it does not apply to their normal military role.

Erosion of the Act

While the act appears to prohibit active participation in law enforcement by the military, the reality in application has become quite different. The act is a statutory creation, not a constitutional prohibition. Accordingly, the act can and has been repeatedly circumvented by subsequent legislation. Since 1980, Congress and the president have significantly eroded the prohibitions of the act in order to meet a variety of law enforcement challenges.

One of the most controversial uses of the military during the past 20 years has been to involve the Navy and Air Force in the “war on drugs.” Recognizing the inability of civilian law enforcement agencies to interdict the smuggling of drugs into the United States by air and sea, the Reagan Administration directed the Department of Defense to use naval and air assets to reach out beyond the borders of the United States to preempt drug smuggling. This use of the military in antidrug law enforcement was approved by Congress in 10 U.S.C., sections 371–381. This same legislation permitted the use of military forces in other traditionally civilian areas—immigration control and tariff enforcement.

The use of the military in opposing drug smuggling and illegal immigration was a significant step away from the act’s central tenet that there was no proper role for the military in the direct enforcement of the laws. The legislative history explains that this new policy is consistent with the Posse Comitatus Act, as the military involvement still amounted to an indirect and logistical support of civilian law enforcement and not direct enforcement.[9]

The weakness of the analysis of passive versus direct involvement in law enforcement was most graphically demonstrated in the tragic 1999 shooting of a shepherd by marines who had been assigned a mission to interdict smuggling and illegal immigration in the remote Southwest. An investigation revealed that for some inexplicable reason the 16-year-old shepherd fired his weapon in the direction of the marines. Return fire killed the boy. This tragedy demonstrates that when armed troops are placed in a position where they are being asked to counter potential criminal activity, it is a mere semantic exercise to argue that the military is being used in a passive support role. The fact that armed military troops were placed in a position with the mere possibility that they would have to use force to subdue civilian criminal activity reflects a significant policy shift by the executive branch away from the posse comitatus doctrine.

Congress has also approved the use of the military in civilian law enforcement through the Civil Disturbance Statutes: 10 U.S.C., sections 331–334. These provisions permit the president to use military personnel to enforce civilian laws where the state has requested assistance or is unable to protect civil rights and property. In case of civil disturbance, the president must first give an order for the offenders to disperse. If the order is not obeyed, the president may then authorize military forces to make arrests and restore order. The scope of the Civil Disturbance Statutes is sufficiently broad to encompass civil disturbance resulting from terrorist or other criminal activity. It was these provisions that were relied upon to restore order using active-duty Army personnel following the Los Angeles “race riots” of the early 1990s.

Federal military personnel may also be used pursuant to the Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C., section 5121, in times of natural disaster upon request from a state governor. In such an instance, the Stafford Act permits the president to declare a major disaster and send in military forces on an emergency basis for up to ten days to preserve life and property. While the Stafford Act authority is still subject to the criteria of active versus passive, it represents a significant exception to the Posse Comitatus Act’s underlying principle that the military is not a domestic police force auxiliary.

An infrequently cited constitutional power of the president provides an even broader basis for the president to use military forces in the context of homeland defense. This is the president’s inherent right and duty to preserve federal functions. In the past this has been recognized to authorize the president to preserve the freedom of navigable waterways and to put down armed insurrection. However, with the expansion of federal authority during this century into many areas formerly reserved to the states (transportation, commerce, education, civil rights) there is likewise an argument that the president’s power to preserve these “federal” functions has expanded as well. The use of federal troops in the South during the 1960s to preserve access to educational institutions for blacks was an exercise of this constitutional presidential authority.

In the past five years, the erosion of the Posse Comitatus Act has continued with the increasingly common use of military forces as security for essentially civilian events. During the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, over ten thousand U.S. troops were deployed under the partial rationale that they were present to deter terrorism. The use of active-duty military forces in a traditional police security role did not raise any serious questions under the act, even though these troops would clearly have been in the middle of a massive law enforcement emergency had a large-scale terrorist incident occurred. The only questions of propriety arose when many of these troops were then employed as bus drivers or to maintain playing fields. This led to a momentary but passing expression of displeasure from Congress.[10]
...The erosion of the Posse Comitatus Act through Congressional legislation and executive policy has left a hollow shell in place of a law that formerly was a real limitation on the military’s role in civilian law enforcement and security issues. The plethora of constitutional and statutory exceptions to the act provides the executive branch with a menu of options under which it can justify the use of military forces to combat domestic terrorism. Whether an act of terrorism is classified as a civil disturbance under 10 U.S.C., 331–334, or whether the president relies upon constitutional power to preserve federal functions, it is difficult to think of a domestic terrorism scenario of sizable scale under which the use of the military could not be lawfully justified in view of the act’s erosion. The act is no longer a realistic bar to direct military involvement in counterterrorism planning and operations. It is a low legal hurdle that can be easily cleared through invocation of the appropriate legal justification, either before or after the fact.

Major Craig Trebilcock is a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps in the U.S. Army Reserve. He is assigned as an operational law attorney with the 153d Legal Support Organization in Norristown, PA. His area of specialization includes the laws applicable to U.S. forces engaged in operations in both the United States and abroad. Major Trebilcock is a graduate of the University of Michigan (A.B. with high honors, 1982) and the University of Michigan Law School (J.D., 1985). His military education includes the Judge Advocate General Basic Course (1988) and Advanced Course (1992), U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (1997), and the U.S. Navy War College International Relations Seminar (2000). Major Trebilcock is a civilian immigration attorney with the firm of Barley, Snyder, Senft, & Cohen in York, PA.

People of Lakota Launch Private Bank for Only Silver and Gold Currencies

Hill City, Lakota - November 24, 2008 - In a stunning development, the Free & Independent People of Lakota announced today the introduction of the world's first non-reserve, non-fractional bank that accepts only silver and gold currencies for deposit.

"Today is a great day for us, a day that we begin to exercise our rights as a sovereign people with strength and pride," comments Canupa Gluha Mani, Tetuwan Council Judicial Member of the Cante Tenza "Strong Heart" Warrior Society. Mani's 2500 member warrior society has contracted to provide private security services for the Free Lakota Bank.

"We invite people of any creed, faith or heritage to unite in an effort to reclaim control of wealth. It is our hope that other tribal nations and American citizens recognize the importance of silver and gold as currency and decide to mirror our system of honest trade." Mani, also known as Duane Martin Sr, is a member of the delegation that declared Lakota independence on December 17th, 2007.

The launch of the Free Lakota Bank is also an incredible victory for StrikeForce Technologies, the access control experts providing depositor Out-of-Band Authentication. As the Free Lakota Bank does not require a name, photo identification or social security number to transact, StrikeForce's technology met the challenge of limiting fraud without requiring controversial biometric technology.

The People of Lakota invite depositors to establish accounts and invest in the Free Lakota Bank's General Investment Fund, the fund it uses to develop profitable free-market enterprise inside Lakota territory. Mani comments that the nation despises donations and charity, and instead insists instead on "earning our wealth by creating value for those that place their faith and trust in our system."

The Free Lakota Bank issues an American Open Currency Standard Approved currency, making it readily accepted for trade by over 10,000 merchants and businesses across the continent.

For more information, visit the Free Lakota Bank website at http://press.freelakotabank.com

MOSCOW, November 24 (RIA Novosti) - A leading Russian political
analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has
confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse,
and will divide into separate parts.
Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily
Izvestia published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything.
The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in
the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my
prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11
trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."
The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy,
initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years
ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more
credence by this year's events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is
already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest
and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and
two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now
what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global
financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial
regulator."

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he
said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast
reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in
Eurasia."
Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he
said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in
the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their
savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and
Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities
will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding
money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the
moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that
Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there
are no miracles."

He also cited the "vulnerable political setup", "lack of unified
national laws", and "divisions among the elite, which have become
clear in these crisis conditions."
He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific
coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its
Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the
Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the
poorer central states with their large Native American populations;
and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on
lease, after all."
On the fate of the U.S. dollar, he said: "In 2006 a secret agreement
was reached between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. on a common Amero
currency as a new monetary unit. This could signal preparations to
replace the dollar. The one-hundred dollar bills that have flooded the
world could be simply frozen. Under the pretext, let's say, that
terrorists are forging them and they need to be checked."

When asked how Russia should react to his vision of the future,
Panarin said: "Develop the ruble as a regional currency. Create a
fully functioning oil exchange, trading in rubles... We must break the
strings tying us to the financial Titanic, which in my view will soon
sink."
Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian
Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on
information warfare.

just another communist move to degrade this country