Just How Does The Fed Have Trillions of Dollars & the Government Doesn't?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that in an effort to stabilize the economy The Federal Reserve is saying it will "flood the financial system with an additional $1.2 trillion."

That's TRILLION with a T.

Washington Post Staff Reporter Neil Irwin reports:

"The Federal Reserve yesterday escalated its massive campaign to stabilize the economy, saying it would flood the financial system with an additional $1.2 trillion.

The decision by the Fed to buy government bonds and mortgage-related securities is designed to lower borrowing costs for home mortgages and other types of loans, thereby stimulating economic activity. The central bank, effectively, will print more money to pay for the purchases.

Combined with the billions already deployed by the Fed, the new money dwarfs even the biggest government bailouts of financial companies."

You're not kidding that it dwarfs other bailouts. So, I just have two questions:

• Where is The Federal Reserve getting this money? and,
  

• If The Fed has access to this much money why did Bernanke and Bush state that the world as we know it would come to an end if Congress didn't rush to pass a $700 billion bill to bail out the banks?

I'm the first to admit that I'm no economic guru. I'm just a finance novice who is trying to maintain my household and make sense of the world around me. I really need someone to explain this. But be advised, momma didn't raise no fool.

Here's what I understand so far.

Wikipedia gives this description of the Federal Reserve System:

"The Federal Reserve System (also the Federal Reserve; informally The Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. Created in 1913 by the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, it is a quasi-public (government entity with private components) banking system^[1] that comprises (1) the presidentially appointed Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.; (2) the Federal Open Market Committee; (3) twelve regional privately-owned Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation acting as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury, each with its own nine-member board of directors; (4) numerous other private U.S. member banks, which subscribe to required amounts of non-transferable stock in their regional Federal Reserve Banks; and (5) various advisory councils.

The primary motivation for creating the Federal Reserve System was to address banking panics.^[13] Other purposes are stated in the Federal Reserve Act, such as "to furnish an elastic currency, to afford means of rediscounting commercial paper, to establish a more effective supervision of banking in the United States, and for other purposes."^[14]"

And according to the site FederalReserve.gov this is how the Fed is funded :

"The Federal Reserve's income is derived primarily from the interest on U.S. government securities that it has acquired through open market operations. Other sources of income are the interest on foreign currency investments held by the System; fees received for services provided to depository institutions, such as check clearing, funds transfers, and automated clearinghouse operations; and interest on loans to depository institutions (the rate on which is the so-called discount rate). After paying its expenses, the Federal Reserve turns the rest of its earnings over to the U.S. Treasury."

So if the Federal Reserve turns all of its earnings, minus operating expenses, over to the U.S Treasury, how does the Fed now have trillions of dollars to "flood the banking system"?

To recap, The Federal Reserve is a "quasi-public"/private agency that was created to address banking panics and has trillions of dollars at its disposal but couldn't prevent the current economic crisis unless Congress ponied up $700B of TARP money for the banks.

??????

Oh, I do have one last question.

Is it sheer coincidence that the Fed made this announcement while the US public is totally engrossed by the AIG bonus debacle?

Related posts:

The Narcoleptic Public Consciousness of America, 2/09

Get Over the Shock, Stop Them Now, 9/08

Why Americans Want Wall Street and the Banking Industry to Suffer, 9/08

Where Are They Getting The Money?, 03/08

Banks Will Pay Less to Borrow Money While Consumers Pay More, 2/08

Don't Just Get Mad, Ask Questions, 8/07

Other articles:

The Bush Bulldozer Strategy by Danny Schechter, 10/06

Political Voices of Women Have Their Say About President's Address to Congress

At 9pm EST, Tuesday, February 24th, US President Barack Obama will be delivering what political observers are referring to as his first State of the Union Address.

As Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times wrote:

"President Obama will use his first address to Congress on Tuesday to present a road map for “how we get to a better day,” a senior adviser says, in a speech intended to explain his economic policies and argue that legislative revisions on health care, education and energy are crucial to lifting the economy."

Viewers on Main Street, Wall Street and the Global Highway are certain to be watching and listening to President Obama's every word but no one will be listening more closely than the bloggers of The Political Voices of Women.

Starting at 8pm on Tuesday. Political Voices of Women will be hosting a live-blogging simulcast on Twitter and CoverItLive

You're invited to join panelists: Jill Zimon of Writes Like She Talks; Janet Shan of Black Political Thought; Marcia G. Yerman of The Huffington Post; Tami Winfrey Harris of What Tami Said; yours truly, Pamela Lyn of Pam's Coffee Conversation and a few of our closest friends and fellow bloggers as we discuss the President's Address and the response of the political pundits.

I promise that these ladies will tell you exactly what they think and you know that I will too. But we what to hear from you, our readers and Twitter followers.

We want to know:

• What do you want to hear from the President?
• Do you think that his plans will improve your life, or your neighbors?
• Do you think that Congress will work with him?
• Can the President rescue the economy and cut the budget?
  
• Do you think that Washington will overcome its old partisan habits?
• Can the American people really change its ways? Can Wall Street?
• and more.
  

Here's how you can participate in this event:

If you're a member of Facebook you can go to:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=52733053359&ref=mf and RSVP for the event. Don't forget to invite your friends.

If you haven't already, join the Political Voices of Women Facebook Group and share your thoughts on the group wall.

On Tuesday night

Join in the conversation on Twitter. The hashtag for the event is #pvow. You can also go to TweetChat log on with your Twitter ID and when prompted to enter a room type "#pvow"

If you don't already have a Twitter ID go to: http://www.twitter.com today and sign up. It's fun.

OR

Click Here to participate in the Live Blog on CoverItLive

To learn more about the Political Voices of Women Community and this event click here.

For more help with using Twitter check out the website Everything Twitter.

I hope that you'll join us in this event.

The Economic Ties That Bind

While the US Congress was talking about "stimulus for mice", "not accepting stimlus" and what was or wasn't going to help their constituents many were completing forgetting the big picture.

We live in a global economy.

excerpt from:

Steven Pearlstein - Asia, Europe Find Their Supply Chains Yanked.
Beware the Backlash. - washingtonpost.com:

"For the past two years, Asians and Europeans have tended to view their own financial and economic problems as largely imported from the United States. The impacts on their own economies, they reasoned smugly, would be modest and short-lived.

Turns out they were wrong.

Over the past two weeks, the bottom has fallen out of Asia's export economy while Europe has come face to face with a financial crisis that is as bad as ours and will probably become even worse without the kind of unified response that individual countries have so far resisted.

And what does that mean for us? Nothing good. It means that our downturn will be longer and deeper than many had hoped and that we can't rely as much on export growth to pull us out of the ditch."

Congresswoman Advises Homeowners Facing Foreclosure to Demand the Note

A Congresswoman, who reminds you of a beloved high school teacher, is giving hope to Ohio residents fighting off homelessness.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) urged residents facing foreclosure to demand the loan note and if necessary exercise squatter's rights before leaving their homes.

No, Rep. Kaptur is not encouraging her constituents to break the law. In fact the opposite is true. She is encouraging individuals who are attempting to pay their mortgages and who have made every attempt to renegotiate their loans to exercise their legal right to fight eviction.

During an interview on Lou Dobbs Tonight, which aired on Thursday Jan 29th, CNN Correspondent Drew Griffin reported:

"Elected officials are saying Toledo is not in a recession, it is a depression. It is this bleak backdrop that inspired Toledo Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur to take the floor of the House earlier this month to tell her constituents to stay put.

Kaptur says she has had it with government bailouts for Wall Street banks, but nothing for homeowners. She is advocating for a legal revolution, a demand that not one of her constituents leaves their home without an attorney and a fight."

The following video clip shows Rep. Kaptur explaining how Wall Street and the banks have manipulated the system during a Jan. 7th address on the House floor.

The following is an excerpt from the Lou Dobbs Tonight broadcast transcript:

" GRIFFIN (voice over): Kaptur is behind a strategy called produced the note. Mortgages have been so divvied up on Wall Street that banks are having a hard time finding that original paperwork, adding a delay to foreclosures.

She is also pushing banks to rework loans, especially those banks getting bailouts and holding mortgages of folks getting tossed out.

KAPTUR: They are vultures. They prey on our property assets. And I guess the reason I'm so adamant on this is because I know property law and its power to protect the individual home owner. And I believe that 99.9 percent of our people have not had good legal representation in this.

GRIFFIN: Without a lawyer, Andrea Guice bought a $147,000 home with nearly $40,000 down.

GUICE: I should have had an attorney. I really should have had the attorney. I did not know.

GRIFFIN: She admits she didn't read the paperwork, didn't learn, until it was too late, she had a sub-prime loan. Her payments of $883 a month jumped in a year to more than $1,500. When it did, she stopped paying.

(on camera) So they foreclosed on you?

GUICE: They have foreclosed on me, yes.

GRIFFIN (voice over): The law firm representing the bank in Guice's foreclosure declined comment to CNN. Another one of the banks Guice believes holds her notes, Wells Fargo, said it wouldn't comment on individual cases, but tries to work with homeowners.

Backed by her Congresswoman, Guice simply is not budging.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Lou, no one's saying, "don't pay your mortgage." What the Congresswoman is saying if you're being foreclosed on, don't just leave. Don't assume you have to leave your house. And you're going to have a run, I know."

In the following video Rep. Kaptur explains how, given the "loan pooling" process, in many instances the institution initiating foreclosure proceedings has now idea where to locate the original loan note.



url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgckNg2L34M


During the same broadcast, Congresswoman Kaptur further clarifies her position with the show's host, Lou Dobbs:

DOBBS: -- ... At what point does telling a person, as you have, to just exercise squatter's rights -- at what point are you bumping up against the issue of breaking the law?

KAPTUR: Well, you know, Lou, the problem is that these families haven't had proper legal representation. Most of these companies on Wall Street can't even find the loan, and they have not properly noticed the homeowner under the Truth and Lending Act and the Real Estate Practices Act.

DOBBS: Right.

KAPTUR: If you really look at the fine print, these Wall Street firms can't find the loan. They've divided it up into so many pieces, so there's a legitimate question in the law as to where that deed, where that loan actually is.

DOBBS: In point of fact, it's not -- to be clear, if there's no note, there is no debt?

KAPTUR: That's right.

And if you don't have proper legal representation -- and I mean good legal representation -- what happens to the homeowner in places like our region is, they're law abiding people. They're afraid and they leave the property.

I say your biggest right is to hold on to your property. The law is on your side.

DOBBS: Marcy Kaptur, I'm sure that millions of Americans and the folks in Ohio appreciate you being on their side

Yes, Rep. Kaptur, I'm sure that millions of Americans are grateful that the people of Ohio elected someone who really cares about them. Thank You

If you are facing foreclosure and need legal advice contact your local Bar Association and investigate your state's "squatter's rights" laws. You can also inquire about law firms that specialize in real estate and/or offer pro-bono services.

If you are a senior citizen check with your local AARP branch or similar group which might offer low cost legal services.

And finally, everyone should contact their elected State and Federal representatives and encourage them to pass legislation that will help consumers and not just Wall Street and the banks.

Support H.R. 104 - the bill to create a Commission on Presidential War Powers & Civil Liberties

updated 1/16/09

Dear Friends,

While we were all being distracted by the Rod Blagojevich / Roland Burris circus as well as yet more stories about Sarah Palin a very important piece of legislation was introduced on Capitol Hill.

On January 6th, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) introduced H.R. 104 - a bill to establish a National Commission on Presidential War Powers and Civil Liberties. The proposed commission would be comprised of experts outside of government service and have the subpoena power to investigate the actions of the Bush Administration ranging from detainee treatment to water-boarding to extraordinary rendition.

I believe that Americans and the global community deserves answers to questions about the Bush administration policies that lead to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the suspension of habeas corpus, the NSA wire-tapping program, extraordinary rendition, torture, the no-bid contracts to war contractors, and more.

When House Speak Nancy Pelosi took the impeachment option of the the table, hopefully that didn't mean that the search for truth was tabled was well. That is why I have drafted a petition asking members of Congress to support H.R. 104.

The petition, which is hosted on the People's Email Network allows you to send your comments directly to your Senator, Congressperson or local newspaper.

After reading Elana Schor's article: Sleeper Bill of the Month: Our Own Truth & Reconciliation Commission, I felt that this bill would die without a loud public outcry.

If you click on the link below you can send the following message, (or a customized version) to your Congressperson asking him/her to support the creation of a Commission on Presidential War Powers & Civil Liberties.

http://www.usalone.com/cgi-bin/petition.cgi?pnum=926

You can also send your personal comments as a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper.

As the quote by George Santayana states "Those who cannot remember their past are condemned to repeat it."

The actions, or in-actions, of the 111th Congress will decide whether Americans remember propaganda, lies and half-truths or will be condemned to blindly re-electing officials who repeat the same mistakes. I hope that you will join me in asking Congress to pass this bill.

Update:

Now, you can also show your support for this bill by:

joining the Facebook group Support H.R. 104 to Establish Commission on War Powers and Civil Liberties

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=44163743542


or track the status of the bill on OpenCongress.org
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h104/show

Related posts:

Washington's New Definition of "Non-Profit"

US General Warns Against Torture

Update on the False Arrest and Torture of Maher Arar

Fifth Anniversary of the Patriot Act

Don't Take Anything About This Election For Granted

According to the polls, Barack Obama can't lose the US Presidential Election, right?

Wrong!

As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and journalist Greg Palast provide evidence that the voter suppression techniques employed during the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections may have just been test runs for stealing the most critical election in generations.


from:
ROLLING STONE: IT'S ALREADY STOLEN

An Investigation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast released today

Don’t worry about Mickey Mouse or ACORN stealing the election. According to an investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale.

- Republican Secretaries of State of swing-state Colorado have quietly purged one in six names from their voter rolls.

Over several months, the GOP politicos in Colorado stonewalled every attempt by Rolling Stone to get an answer to the massive purge - ten times the average state's rate of removal.

- While Obama dreams of riding to the White House on a wave of new voters, more then 2.7 million have had their registrations REJECTED under new procedures signed into law by George Bush.

Kennedy, a voting rights lawyer, charges this is a resurgence of 'Jim Crow' tactics to wrongly block Black and Hispanic voters.

- A fired US prosecutor levels new charges - accusing leaders of his own party, Republicans, with criminal acts in an attempt to block legal voters as "fraudulent."

- Digging through government records, the Kennedy-Palast team discovered that, in 2004, a GOP scheme called "caging” ultimately took away the rights of 1.1 million voters. The Rolling Stone duo predict that, this November 4, it will be far worse.

There's more:

- Since the last presidential race, "States used dubious 'list management' rules to scrub at least 10 million voters from their rolls."

Among those was Paul Maez of Las Vegas, New Mexico - a victim of an unreported but devastating purge of voters in that state that left as many as one in nine Democrats without a vote. For Maez, the state's purging his registration was particularly shocking - he's the county elections supervisor.

The Kennedy-Palast revelations go far beyond the sum of questionably purged voters recently reported by the New York Times.

"Republican operatives - the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics," report Kennedy and Palast, under the cover of fighting fraudulent voting, are "systematically disenfranchis[ing] Democrats."

The investigators level a deadly serious charge:

"If Democrats are to win the 2008 election, they must not simply beat McCain at the polls - they must beat him by a margin that exceeds the level of GOP vote tampering."

Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. & Greg Palast in the current issue (#1064) of Rolling Stone. [Media enquiries - Dave Falkenstein, Sunshine Sachs & Assoc, via interviews@gregpalast.com.]

Note - Kennedy and Palast are releasing, simultaneously with the Rolling Stone investigative report what they call, the vote-theft 'antidote': a 24-page full-color comic book, Steal Back Your Vote, which can be downloaded or obtained in print from their non-partisan website, StealBackYourVote.org

Don't take anything for granted. Just registering to vote isn't enough.

You have to vote.

If you are planing on voting by absentee ballot and can afford the expense send in your ballot via registered mail.

If you didn't vote in the last election, make sure that your name hasn't been dropped from the polls.

If you are going to the polls make sure to take your photo ID and, if you have one, your voter registration card.

Make an Election Day plan for how you will handle long lines or voting machine problems.
How will you notify your employer if you have to wait for hours to vote.

If you have a camera phone or digital camera take it with you to the polls, if anything looks suspicious take a picture and/or call it in to your local election monitoring group. In Philadelphia, you can report election irregularities to the Committee of Seventy.

Some people are also making a visual record of their paper ballot or their selections on the electronic voting machine. Check out Video Your Vote.

Young people consider accompanying your older neighbors or family members to the polls. After all, you're probably the one with the iphone and/or camera.

Don't forget your local or statewide election races. In many ways, these candidates have more of an impact on your daily life.

No matter who your candidate of choice is, elections should be fair.

When the Student Becomes The Master

Capitalism

"An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market"

If the Bush Administration has faltered in its efforts to bring "democracy" to the Middle East, it has certainly succeeded in exporting its brand of capitalism to Saudi Arabia. When it comes to oil, Saudi Arabia gets an A+ in understanding "supply and demand", "market forces", and "business friendships."

excerpt from:
Los Angeles Times: New forces fraying U.S.-Saudi oil ties
by Paul Richter

For decades, Saudi Arabia worked with its dominant customer, the United States, to keep world oil markets stable and advance common political goals.

But the surging price of oil, which soared more than $10 a barrel Friday to a record-high $138.54, has made it plain that those days are over. New forces, including a weak dollar and an oil-thirsty Asia, have blunted the United States' leverage and helped sour the two countries' relationship.

As gasoline prices have risen, the White House has unsuccessfully exhorted the Saudis to step up production, and Congress has threatened retaliation. But the situation now is a far cry from the days when the U.S. economy dominated the direction of the petroleum market.

"That gave us leverage," said Greg Priddy, an oil analyst at the Eurasia Group, a New York-based risk assessment firm. "There's certainly a perception that the power equation has changed."

The weakening of the economic relationship comes when the vital U.S.-Saudi security relationship also has been fraying.

In the 1980s, the U.S.-Saudi bond that kept oil prices low was credited with helping weaken the Soviet Union during the waning days of the Cold War. And it helped keep markets stable after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

But the Saudi government has been dismayed by the consequences of the war in Iraq and by what it sees as a weak Bush administration commitment to the Palestinians.

The relationship is shaping up as a political issue for the fall campaign, certainly among congressional candidates and perhaps among presidential candidates.

With a 20-million-barrel-per-day habit, the U.S. remains the world's largest oil customer, even though its daily consumption over the years has dropped from one-third of total daily production to one-fourth.

But the U.S. can no longer guarantee on its own that producers will have the markets they need for their oil. Nor can the Saudis, alone, ramp up production in sufficient amounts to stabilize prices.

China and other Asian nations now use about 17 million barrels a day. That's up more than 20% since 2003, and booming growth is expected to continue.

With the shift in buying power, the Saudis are cultivating important Chinese customers, analysts say. Saudi Arabia recently contributed $50 million for Chinese earthquake relief, and King Abdullah has visited China.

It's Time to Get Very Serious About Water

There's an old saying that "it's too late to close the barn door when the horse is gone". And another saying that reminds us that "you don't miss the water until the well is dry".

Well the world's usable water supply is running mighty low and it's seems that, as in the gasoline and food crises, the barn door has been left wide open.

With summer (in the Northern Hemisphere) approaching and weather temperatures rising it's time for everyone to get very serious about water and water management. While Congress is busy debating approaches for addressing the impact of skyrocketing gasoline prices, meteorologists, environmentalists and farmers are already talking about how high temperatures and the lack of rainfall will impact the southeastern US.

The states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee are in an on-going dispute over water resources and land boundaries. The Michigan and Ohio State Legislatures are still trying to decide on participating in the Great Lakes Water Compact. Some states seem to have their head in the sand. Washington politicians seem to have their head stuck somewhere else. And, questions about water supply and US infrastructure were MIA during the US presidential primary debates.

I, for one, am pricing rain barrels for gathering rain water.

In the following video Mike Hightower of Sandia National Laboratories discusses the world water shortage with a reporter for KRQE in New Mexico

excerpt from:
How the World Is Realizing That Water Is "Blue Gold"
by Mark Clayton,

Public fountains are dry in Barcelona, Spain, a city so parched there's a €9,000 ($13,000) fine if you're caught watering your flowers. A tanker ship docked there this month carrying 5 million gallons of precious fresh water -- and officials are scrambling to line up more such shipments to slake public thirst.

Barcelona is not alone. Cyprus will ferry water from Greece this summer. Australian cities are buying water from that nation's farmers and building desalination plants. Thirsty China plans to divert Himalayan water. And 18 million southern Californians are bracing for their first water-rationing in years.

Water, Dow Chemical Chairman Andrew Liveris told the World Economic Forum in February, "is the oil of this century." Developed nations have taken cheap, abundant fresh water largely for granted. Now global population growth, pollution, and climate change are shaping a new view of water as "blue gold."

"We're at a transition point where fundamental decisions need to be made by societies about how this basic human need -- water -- is going to be provided," says Christopher Kilian, clean-water program director for the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation. "The profit motive and basic human need [for water] are just inherently in conflict."

Will "peak water" displace "peak oil" as the central resource question? Some see such a scenario rising.

"What's different now is that it's increasingly obvious that we're running up against limits to new [fresh water] supplies," says Peter Gleick, a water expert and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, a nonpartisan think tank in Oakland, Calif. "It's no longer cheap and easy to drill another well or dam another river."

"We have ignored demand for decades, just assuming supplies of water would be there," Dr. Gleick says. "Now we have to learn to manage water demand and -- on top of that -- deal with climate change, too."

In the following video Patrick Barta discusses how Perth, Australia is addressing its growing water shortage.

Related articles:

Michigan House Passes More of Its Water Management Plan

Ohio Agreement to Join Great Lakes Water Plan Stalls Again

Florida Lawmakers Mad About Water

Poaching Water Isn't The Solution



Related posts:

Much Talk About Oil But Little About Water

Falling Bridges and No Water

Georgia Water Crisis: Sorting Out Priorities

US Sales of Municipal Water Systems to Multinational Interests

Support HealthCare You Can Keep

While the video is funny it's message is very serious. It's time for Universal Healthcare in America.

Supported by over a dozen Senators of both parties, Senator Ron Wyden's Healthy Americans Act would guarantee everyone health care that is:

• Universal. Every American will have guaranteed health care.
• Comprehensive. A high quality plan - as good as what members of Congress get.
• Portable. It's your health care, and you can take it with you if you change jobs, are laid off, go to school, start a new business, or become too sick to work.
• Non-discriminatory. We'll ban "pre-existing conditions" and make sure that everyone pays a fair price for equal, high quality, coverage.
• Affordable. Under $40,000 income? You'll pay less than you do now. Under $150,000 income? You'll pay about $1 a day more than today for guaranteed coverage.

Once the Healthy Americans Act passes, we will have universal, affordable, comprehensive, portable, high-quality, private health coverage - within one year. There's no reason to wait. The Act even saves money through wellness and prevention - $1.48 trillion in one respected, independent study.

The Healthy Americans Act puts you in charge of your health care choices, not your employer. Every American will feel secure, knowing that your health care won't ever go away. And 46 million Americans will get the comprehensive health care they need.

Learn more about how the Healthy Americans Act would work.

Join the conversation at Stand Tall for America.




Compare Senator Wyden's plan to the 2008 Presidential Candidates:

Hillary Clinton's Universal Healthcare Plan

Barack Obama's Healthcare Plan

John McCain's Healthcare Plan

Much Talk About Oil But Little About Water

Everywhere you go in the US people are talking about gasoline prices, energy dependence on foreign oil and the need for alternative energy. However, the US is facing an even greater threat which virtually no one is discussing. Key regions in the US are running out of water - without which nothing lives.


ENN: Is Lake Mead Disappearing

The water supply crisis is not just a third world issue. Nevada's Lake Mead, the largest man-made lake and reservoir in the U.S., could go dry by 2021, according to a pair of scientists at the Scripp's Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California. If human-induced climate change and water usage continues at the present rate, or even slower, there is a 50% chance the lake will go dry in coming years — and sooner, rather than later. The Colorado River's water is being consumed far beyond a sustainable level.

Regional climate models show California and areas of the Southwest could soon face a devastating water crisis. Reduced winter run-off — due to global warming, changing weather patterns and over-consumption — are draining the area of vital water. If the region enters a serious drought, matters will worsen quickly.

The loss of a resource like Lake Mead would have a tremendous negative impact on the agriculture industry, electrical power production, and local and regional water supplies. With 1.3 million people depending on electricity from the Lake and 8 million people drinking its water, serious conservation programs and restrictions must be put in place.

Agriculture consumes 60% to 80% of water in the area and any restrictions on agricultural water use would have a serious economic downside. Coastal California desalination plants and other measures will have to be explored and the neighboring, Lake Powell, may eventually have to be drained into Lake Mead.

Related post:


Falling Bridges and No Water

Drugs More Important Than Sex & Prostitution

Now that I have your attention.

Here's a story that is far more important than another political sex scandal but did you hear about it on the evening news..

excerpt from:
Water Probe Prompts Senate Hearings
By MARTHA MENDOZA, AP National Writer

Two veteran U.S. senators said Monday they plan to hold hearings in response to an Associated Press investigation into the presence of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.

Also, U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., has asked the EPA to establish a national task force to investigate the issue and make recommendations to Congress on anylegislative actions needed. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who heads the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, chairman of the Transportation, Safety, Infrastructure Security and Water Quality Subcommittee, said the oversight hearings would likely be held in April.

Boxer, D-Calif., said she was "alarmed at the news" that pharmaceuticals are turning up in the nation's drinking water, while Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat who said he was "deeply concerned" by the AP findings, both represent states where pharmaceuticals had been detected in drinking water supplies, but not disclosed to the public.

"I call on the EPA to take whatever steps are necessary to keep our communities safe," said Boxer in a statement.

Added Lautenberg, whose subcommittee has jurisdiction over drinking water issues: "Our families deserve water that is clean and safe. Our hearing will examine these problems and help ensure the EPA and Congress take the steps necessary to protect our residents and clean up our water supply."

* * * * *

Pharmaceuticals in the water supply is not a new story. The CBC News broke this story two years ago.


Pill-Popping Society Fouling Our Water, Official Says
Published on Friday, March 24, 2006 by CBC News / Canada

Birth control pills, cancer drugs and a host of other pharmaceuticals that people flush down the drain every day are showing up in our drinking water, says Gord Miller, Ontario's environmental commissioner.

"We need to do a better job of keeping drugs out of lakes, rivers and drinking water," Miller told the Kitchener-Waterloo Record on Wednesday.

Although the drugs are not considered a threat to human health, there is evidence that they can harm wildlife.

"There is no health hazard in drinking water now that has been detected in Canada, but we have detected substances in drinking water," he said, adding that the problem is likely to get worse rather than better as the population grows.

"Our society loves to pop pills," Miller said. "If you were designing the perfect pollutant it would probably look like a pill."

Miller was sworn in as environmental commissioner six years ago to oversee the implementation of Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights. He is an independent officer of Queen's Park, where he reports on government compliance with environmental rules.

In his last annual report, Miller said contraceptives, painkillers, antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs and blood-pressure drugs are showing up in lakes and rivers, while anti-inflammatory and anti-cholesterol drugs and antidepressants are ending up in drinking water.

Experiments in northern Ontario have shown that exposure to these waste drugs has led to the feminization of male fish, delayed reproduction in female fish and damage to kidneys and livers of both sexes, the report said.

Independent studies by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States and by environmental bodies in England have turned up similar evidence.

Miller said pharmaceuticals are getting into drinking water in several ways. Unused drugs are thrown into domestic garbage, which end up in landfill sites and eventually into the groundwater.

Drugs are taken orally and flushed down toilets as human excrement. And unused drugs are washed down the sink or flushed down the toilet directly into domestic sewers.

Many drugs pass right through the sewage and water treatment plants, back into the drinking water. "Sewage treatment plants aren't designed to remove them," Miller said.

Copyright © CBC 2006
###

Related articles:

Children Sicker Now Than In Past, Harvard Report Says

Wikileaks.org under injunction

Wikileaks Press Release

WIKILEAKS.ORG DOWN AFTER EX-PARTE LEGAL ATTACK BY CAYMAN ISLANDS BANK

http://wikileaks.be/wiki/Wikileaks.org_under_injunction

Contacts: http://wikileaks.be/wiki/Contact

Mon Feb 18 00:00:00 GMT 2008

The following release has not been proofed due to time constraints.

Transparency group Wikileaks forcibly censored at ex-parte Californian hearing -- ordered to print blank pages -- 'wikileaks.org' name forcibly deleted from Californian domain registrar -- the best justice Cayman Islands money launderers can buy?

When the transparency group Wikileaks was censored in China last year, no-one was too surprised. After all, the Chinese government also censors the Paris based Reporters Sans Frontiers and New York Based Human Rights Watch. And when Wikileaks published the secret censorship lists of Thailand's military Junta, no-one was too surprised when people in that country had to go to extra lengths to read the site. But on Friday the 15th, February 2008, in the home of the free and the land of the brave, and a constitution which states "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press", the Wikileaks.org press was shutdown:

                    BANK JULIUS BAER & CO. LTD, a Swiss entity;
and JULIUS BAER BANK AND TRUST CO. LTD, a Cayman Island entity,           

ORDER GRANTING PERMANENT INJUNCTION                                           

WIKILEAKS, an entity of unknown form;                    
WIKILEAKS.ORG, an entity of unknown form;
DYNADOT, LLC, a California limited liability company;
and DOES 1 through 10, inclusive, 

[..]

                             IT IS HEREBY ORDERED: 

[..]

       Dynadot shall immediately clear and remove all DNS hosting records for the wikileaks.org
domain name and prevent the domain name from resolving to the wikileaks.org website or any
other website or server other than a blank park page,        until further order of this Court. 

The Cayman Islands is located between Cuba and Honduras. In July 2000, the United States Department of the Treasure Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an advisory states stating that there were "serious deficiencies in the counter-money laundering systems of the Cayman Islands", "Cayman Islands law makes it impossible for the supervisory and regulatory authority to obtain information held by financial institutions regarding their client's identity", "Failure of financial institutions in the Cayman Islands to report suspicious transactions is not subject to penalty" and that "These deficiencies, among others, have caused the Cayman Islands to be identified by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (The 'FATF') as non-cooperative in the fight against money laundering". As of 2006 the U.S. State Department listed the Cayman Islands in its money laundering "Countries of Primary Concern".

The Cayman's case is not the first time Wikileaks has tackled bad banks. In the second half of last year Wikileaks exposed over $4,500,000,000's worth of money laundering including by the former president of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi (see http://wikileaks.be/wiki/The_looting_of_Kenya_under_President_moi which became the Guardian's front page story in September 2007 and swung the Kenyan vote by 10% leading into the December 2007 election and http://wikileaks.be/wiki/A_Charter_House_of_horrors reported in the Nairobi paper The Standard and now the subject of a High Court Case in Kenya).

Everybody Takes Advantage Of An Opportunity, Right!

The more you try to understand the current home foreclosure and subprime mortgage crisis, the more it becomes clear that there are very few innocents. And, while there is more than a little blame that can be spread around, casting blame certainly won't help.

At the heart of these woes is the combination of the mores of consumerism and greed with an economic system based on credit and debt.

We have become a society that:

• buys depreciable things on credit;
• that we don't need;
• just because they're on "sale";
• and an ad told us that we had to have it in order to feel good;
• so we can place them on a shelf;

and tell our neighbors that we have one too.

And our leading economists tell us that this is a good thing because it keeps the economy going.

No problem there.


excerpt from

Auctioneers Bring Down Hammer on America's Broken Dreams
by Andrew Clark in Los Angeles for The Guardian

Homebuyers in California are bargain hunting after a year that saw 250,000 foreclosures

This article appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday February 12 2008 on p25 of the Financial section. It was last updated at 00:09 on February 12 2008.

Bellowing a quick-fire patter of garbled numbers, the auctioneer brings down his hammer - bang! A pianist lets rip with a jaunty snippet of easy-listening music on an electric keyboard, then another Californian home goes on the block.

In the ballroom of a tourist hotel outside the gates of Los Angeles' Disneyland resort, some 250 bank-owned properties were sold this weekend in rapid succession. The deals are noisy, no-nonsense and decisive - each takes barely three minutes.

This is the bargain basement of America's sub-prime mortgage crisis. The houses and flats offloaded by specialist auctioneer Hudson & Marshall are all properties
repossessed by lenders from people unable to keep up the payments on homeloans.

"Folks, take advantage of this opportunity - it won't be here for long," urges the auctioneer, gesturing at a picture of a two-bedroom bungalow which quickly fetches $147,500. "If it sells today, tomorrow's too late!"

California is at the very heart of America's property slump. The California Association of Realtors reported that home sales dropped by a third last year and the average house price was down by 16.5%.

Lenders filed for foreclosure on 249,513 properties in the state during 2007 and almost one in 50 households was subject to repossession proceedings according to data
specialist RealtyTrac.

The banks have no desire to hang onto thousands of houses. Initially, they place these recession-hit homes onto the books of estate agents. But in a depressed market, many of them fail to sell - so they are offloaded in mass auctions to fetch whatever price they can get.

"We're coming into areas that are very stagnant," says Dave Webb, joint head of Dallas-based Hudson & Marshall, who travels around America conducting sales for the big banks. "The houses are boarded up. People are vandalising them and that hurts the values of the communities. So we're coming in and we're getting these properties off the books and there's a lot of people that benefit."

More than 400 people turned up for Saturday's session, leaving standing room only. Auction staff in crisp white shirts patrolled every corner of the room, finding bids and communicating to the rostrum with shouts and complex hand signals.

Clued-up professional property investors scoured the listings in search of bargains to refurbish, then sell at a profit. But many of those present are simply looking for a cheap new home - families are here in force, handing out crayons to their children and refuelling on take-out pizzas during the marathon sale.

"My brother and I are looking for a duplex [maisonette] to move into," says Ricardo Lopez, an insurance adjuster. "We saw one in Silver Lake listed for $415,000 but we'd love to get one for less than that."

For as little as $200,000, bidders were able to snap up three-bedroom homes. Many of those on the block were in the so-called "inland empire"- the canyons, creeks and arid semi-desert to the east of downtown Los Angeles where the city's suburbs have crawled in search of space.

This inland sprawl was, until recently, booming. Blue-collar workers came here in
search of modest first homes, while middle-class families sought affordable
larger properties away from the city's costly beaches and skyscrapers.

John Husing, an economist based in southern California, says 80,000
people were moving east annually in the first half of the decade. Property
prices were rising by 8% annually in the Inland Empire and jobs were growing at
3.5% until, quite suddenly, the economy shuddered to a halt.

In part, he blames property speculators for the seizure. One popular book, published in
2006, was Flipping Houses for Dummies. Aimed at the "mom and pop investor", it
teaches how to make a quick buck by snapping up homes in a rising market, then
selling them almost immediately at a profit.

Lenders compounded the crisis, says Husing, by making ridiculous offers. He cites a copy of a 2006 advertisement which offered: "Buy a house - we'll give you a Maserati!"

"Folks didn't get it. The public just said 'I don't get this' and they stopped. What I call that is a buyers' strike," he says. "It was almost overnight that it stopped."

Horror stories abound about predatory lending in California, the home state of America's biggest mortgage firm, Countrywide Financial, which is under investigation by federal prosecutors.

Sub-prime lenders typically signed up clients using a "teaser rate" for the first couple of years with low repayments. They assured customers that, given the property boom, their homes would appreciate in value by as much as $100,000 annually - so by the time the "teaser" rate expired, it would be easy to refinance.

Checks on documentation were often minimal. The Hispanic community was particularly badly hit. Upwardly mobile immigrants, keen to buy homes of their own, were given loans far beyond their means. The Wall Street Journal recently found a Brazilian babysitter who was approved for a $495,000 loan and a housekeeper, married to a taxi driver, who secured a $713,000 sub-prime mortgage.

Legislators have responded by proposing laws forcing lenders to warn of rate rises at least four months in advance, using plain English. "The Wild West excesses of the mortgage frenzy of the last few years have resulted in shattered dreams and severely damaged the state and national economy," says Ted Lieu, a Democrat who chairs the banking committee in California's assembly.

In Washington, the joint economic committee of Congress has estimated that 2m homes across America will be repossessed in the sub-prime crisis, eliminating $71bn of housing wealth, including $23.6bn in California.

excerpt from:
Mortgage Crisis Spreads Past Subprime Loans
By VIKAS BAJAJ and LOUISE STORY

The credit crisis is no longer just a subprime mortgage problem.

As home prices fall and banks tighten lending standards, people with good, or prime,
credit histories are falling behind on their payments for home loans, auto loans and credit cards at a quickening pace, according to industry data and economists.

The rise in prime delinquencies, while less severe than the one in the subprime market, nonetheless poses a threat to the battered housing market and weakening economy, which some specialists say is in a recession or headed for one.

Until recently, people with good credit, who tend to pay their bills on time and manage their finances well, were viewed as a bulwark against the economic strains posed by rising defaults among borrowers with blemished, or subprime, credit.

“This collapse in housing value is sucking in all borrowers,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com.

Like subprime mortgages, many prime loans made in recent years allowed borrowers to pay less initially and face higher adjustable payments a few years later. As long as home prices were rising, these borrowers could refinance their loans or sell their properties to pay off their mortgages. But now, with prices falling and lenders clamping down, homeowners with solid credit are starting to come under the same financial stress as those with subprime credit.

“Subprime was a symptom of the problem,” said James F. Keegan, a bond portfolio manager at American Century Investments, a mutual fund company. “The problem was we had a debt or credit bubble.”

The bursting of that bubble has led to steep losses across the financial industry. American International Group said on Monday that auditors found it may have understated losses on complex financial instruments linked to mortgages and corporate loans.

The running turmoil is also stirring fears that some hedge funds may run into trouble. At the end of September, nearly 4 percent of prime mortgages were past due or in foreclosure, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

That was the highest rate since the group started tracking prime and subprime mortgages separately in 1998. The delinquency and foreclosure rate for all mortgages, 7.3 percent, is higher than at any time since the group started tracking that data in 1979, largely as a result of the surge in subprime lending during the last few years.

An example of the spreading credit crisis is seen in Don Doyle, a computer engineer at Lockheed Martin who makes a six-figure income and had a stellar credit score in 2004, when he refinanced his home in Northern California to take cash out to pay for his daughter’s college tuition.

Mr. Doyle, 52, is now worried that he will have to file for bankruptcy, because he cannot afford to make the higher variable payments on his mortgage, and he cannot sell his home for more than his $740,000 mortgage.

“The whole plan was to get out” before his rate reset, he said. “Now I am caught. I
can’t sell my house. I’m having a hard time refinancing. I’ve avoided bankruptcy
for months trying to pull this out of my savings.”

excerpt from:
What Would Happen if Non-Profit Housing Associations
Were Able to Originate Mortgage Loans.

POSTED: Monday, January 14, 2008
FROM BLOG: Seattle's Rain City Real Estate Guide - We cover the real estate, mortgage, legal, technology and neighborhood scene in Seattle!

The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.

The growth of non-profit associations within the real estate sector can be traced to 1977 and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). At that time, banks began giving money to the non-profit housing sector in order to meet their CRA requirements.

Non-profit housing agencies perform many services for the community. First time homebuyer seminars, and then later, mortgage default counseling, preforeclosure workout assistance, help negotiating short sales, all for free or for a nominal cost.

Non-profits set up special training programs for loan originators and loan officers who want to be on the “approved” list to receive consumer referrals for their government sponsored loan programs such as state bond financing loans. These loans have traditionally been considered a win-win for states as the funds are earmarked for specific neighborhoods in need of owner-occupied homeowners, as well as homeowners whose debt to income ratio might be too high for a prime loan. But what about people who live outside of the designated census tracts?

In September of 2007, Washington State Governor Gregoire commissioned a task force to report back to her with their recommendations on how to thwart any subprime meltdown from affecting the voters homebuyers and homeowners, also known as voters and campaign contributors, in Washington State. Here is how the representation on
the task force shaped up, including alternates.

Bankers: 6
Non-Profits: 11
Government Divisions: 2
Industry Trade Groups: 2
Realtors: 2
Mortgage Brokers: 1

The Task Force has completed their work, just in time for the next state legislative session. Looking at the way the voting would be split, I bet you’ll never guess what they’re recommending. If you guessed more money for the non-profit associations, you are smarter than most people originating loans in the U.S. during the calendar year
2006 based on a random sampling of comments from Moe’s insightful blog article
to which I owe a hat tip. Moe writes about the rise in power of NACA, the
Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, and how they created a mortgage
origination division following the successful predatory lending settlement between NACA and Fleet Funding, which provided NACA with 8.5 billion dollars to
start their direct-to-consumer mortgage lending operations

Related articles:

• Value of homes rigged, lawsuit says
  A lawsuit filed by two couples claims that Los Angeles builder KB Home and a unit of lender Countrywide Financial Corp. pumped up appraisals in their Sacramento-area development to sell homes at higher prices.
• Subpoena Deepens Countrywide's Woes
  Florida joined several other states, including California and Illinois, that have begun investigating Countrywide to determine whether the company's lending practices contributed to or were responsible for the rising wave of problem mortgages in the state..

Related posts:

When The Middle Class Can No Longer Cope

Do What's In Your Best Interest Not Theirs

Stocks Fall After Bush Announces Plan

The Future of "Money"

If you live in the US or the UK and watch television at all you've probably seen the VISA ads promoting the use of check cards instead of money. The ads imply that anyone who still uses currency for purchases is out-dated and a broken cog in the machinery of the economy.

In short, stop using your national currency and swear allegiance to the banking system that bestows the gift of plastic. Mull that over as you read the following article which was published almost a year ago.


Cashless Society by 2012, says Visa Chief
By Tim Webb

Sunday, 11 March 2007

Paying for goods with notes and coins could be consigned to history within five years, according to the chief executive of Visa Europe.

Peter Ayliffe said that, by 2012, using credit and debit cards should be cheaper and more convenient than cash.

Some retailers could soon start surcharging customers if they choose to buy products with cash, because of the greater cost of processing these payments, he warned.

Visa Europe briefed the British Retail Consortium last month on new "contactless" cards that can be waved in front of a scanner to make small payments.

However, the consortium dismissed this vision and claimed that card processing fees, which regulators are investigating, are still too high.

One member of the consurtium said that the estimated "interchange" fee charged to retailers amounts to some 4p for each transaction.

Nick Mourant, treasurer at Tesco, said: "There is a duopoly between Mastercard and Visa in the UK. Their setting of fees is anti-competitive."

The banking industry is moving us towards a world where there are no dollars, pounds, euros, yens, rupees, rubles, etc. and only the international currency of plastic.

And when the plastic cards are too large and inconvenient ........

Is Congress Finally Getting It?

By overriding President Bush's veto of H.R. 1495 the Water Resources Development Act, the US Congress rediscovered its spine and acted in the interest of the American people.

They finally remembered that this nation was founded on the concept of "no taxation without representation"

Can it be possible that the US Congress finally understands that the American people are not going to indefinitely tolerate trillions of dollars in war spending while our bridges are falling down, levees are breaking, children are uninsured, the borders are unsecured, consumer products are not inspected and little is being invested in alternative energy?

How White House spokesperson Dana Perino can twist her lips and form the words, "The president is standing up for the taxpayers," is unimaginable. It has become clear to most Americans that the only group for which the Bush Administration stands are his friends in the oil & natural gas industries and the war profiteers.

Yes Ms. Perino, "Budgeting is about making choices and defining priorities — it doesn't mean you can have everything." But the President isn't the final decider on what is and is not a priority. That decision is and has always been the choice of the American people. Something that this administration, the Congress and the American have forgotten for way too long.

If this Congress does not start acting on behalf of their constituents, and America as a whole, then they will be voted out. And if the next Congress thinks they can ignore the will of the people they will be booted out too.

To see how your Congressperson voted go to:
http://www.opencongress.org/roll_call/show/2109.

And if your Congressperson did not think that investing in the US infrastructure was important, why not send him/her a note with your thoughts.


excerpt from:

Congress hands Bush first veto override

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer

President Bush suffered the first veto override of his seven-year-old presidency Thursday as the Senate enacted a $23 billion water resources bill despite his protest that it was filled with unnecessary projects.

The 79-14 vote included 34 Republicans who defied the president. Enactment was a foregone conclusion, but it still marked a milestone for a president who spent his first six years with a much friendlier Congress controlled by his Republican Party.

Now he confronts a more hostile, Democratic-controlled legislature, and Thursday's vote showed that most of the Republicans will defy him on spending matters dear to their political careers.

Bush's spokeswoman portrayed the issue as a divide between a budget-conscious president and a big-spending Congress.

"The president is standing up for the taxpayers," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "No one is surprised that this veto is overridden. We understand that members of Congress are going to support the projects in their districts. Budgeting is about making choices and defining priorities — it doesn't mean you can have everything. This bill doesn't make the difficult choices; it says we can fund every idea out there. That's not a responsible way to budget."

The bill funds hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers projects, such as dams, sewage plants and beach restoration, that are important to local communities and their representatives. It also includes money for the hurricane-hit Gulf Coast and for Florida Everglades restoration efforts.

The House voted 361-54 to override the veto Tuesday. Both votes easily exceeded the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to negate a presidential veto

How The Wealthy Survive Disasters

Have you ever heard of companies like HelpJet, Sovereign Deed or Firebreak Spray Systems?

Neither had I until I read Naomi Klein's recent article for "The Nation".

In her article, "Rapture Rescue 911: Disaster Response for the Chosen", Naomi tells us of the wonderful services that these firms can provide in the case of a natural or man-made disaster.

Just think, no more waiting for FEMA to come to the rescue. There's only one caveat. You have to be able to afford their services.

You see, these private emergency response firms provide services like fire-fighting, post disaster evacuation, food and shelter to paying customers only.

Just like the elite of the Cold War era believed that a well-designed, well-stocked backyard bomb shelter would save them from a nuclear strike, today's elite believe that the new private disaster response firms will save them from everything from terrorists to global warming. In some ways, they are correct.

As Ms. Klein points out in her article:

Just look at what is happening in Southern California. Even as wildfires devoured whole swaths of the region, some homes in the heart of the inferno were left intact, as if saved by a higher power. But it wasn't the hand of God; in several cases it was the handiwork of Firebreak Spray Systems. Firebreak is a special service offered to customers of insurance giant American International Group (AIG)--but only if they happen to live in the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country. Members of the company's Private Client Group pay an average of $19,000 to have their homes sprayed with fire retardant. During the wildfires, the "mobile units"--racing around in red firetrucks--even extinguished fires for their clients.

One customer described a scene of modern-day Revelation. "Just picture it. Here you are in that raging wildfire. Smoke everywhere. Flames everywhere. Plumes of smoke coming up over the hills," he told the Los Angeles Times. "Here's a couple guys showing up in what looks like a firetruck who are experts trained in fighting wildfire and they're there specifically to protect your home."

And your home alone. "There were a few instances," one of the private firefighters told Bloomberg News, "where we were spraying and the neighbor's house went up like a candle."

Like so many private disaster companies, Sovereign Deed is selling escape from climate change and the failed state--by touting the security clearance and connections its executives amassed while working for that same state.

So Mills,( retired Brig. Gen. Richard Mills ) speaking recently in Pellston, explained, "The reality of FEMA is that it has no infrastructure, and a lot of our National Guard is elsewhere." Sovereign Deed, on the other hand, claims to have "direct access and special arrangements with several national and international information centers. These proprietary arrangements allow our Emergency Operations Center to...give our Members that critical head start in times of crisis." In this secular version of the Rapture, God's hand is unnecessary. Not when you have retired ex-CIA agents and ex-Special Forces lifting the chosen to safety--no need to pray, just pay. And who needs a celestial New Jerusalem when you can have Pellston, with its flexible local politicians and its surprisingly modern regional airport?

And according to Naomi Klein, our friends at Blackwater USA are ready to ride to the rescue in an emergency as well -- for the right price, of course.

Sovereign Deed could soon find itself competing with Blackwater USA, whose CEO, Erik Prince, wrote recently of his plans to offer "full spectrum" services, including humanitarian aid in disasters. When fires broke out in San Diego County, near the proposed site of the controversial Blackwater West base, the company immediately seized the opportunity to make its case. Blackwater could have been the "tactical operation center for East County fires," said company vice president Brian Bonfiglio. "Can you imagine how much of a benefit it would be if we were operational now?".

So here you have it, the future of national disaster emergency management. Those who can afford it will buy this "crisis insurance" from a private firm and the poor will wait for an under-funded, under-staffed, dispassionate and disorganized government agency. It's the difference between ending up in a five-star hotel or a toxic trailer.

We now understand the serious flaw in the idea that humanity could survive a full scale nuclear war. Yet that same level of understanding hasn't seem to reach those who believe that they can isolate themselves from the overall community in the event of an environmental or man-made disaster. Therefore, there is no impetus on the part of the corporate elite and their lobbyists to force improvements in government agencies like FEMA.

This is simply evidence of Darwin's theory, isn't it? So there's no sense in reading this and just getting mad about it.

Don't just get mad, get prepared.

Instead of rushing off to Walmart's post Halloween, pre Christmas holiday sale consider tucking that money away for an emergency.

Instead of financing that home theatre system with the wall length HDTV consider how much you might need to have tucked away if you have to evacuate your home and live in a hotel for a few weeks.

And before you purchase your next car, you may want to think about whether you can live in it, if you'll have to pay the equivalent of a monthly mortgage payment.

And finally, if you have a moment consider signing the petition asking Congress to hold FEMA accountable for distributing toxic trailers.