Alfred Woody's Kewl Blog [ 椼森 ]: Sep 25, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

US May Face 'Armageddon' If China, Japan Don't Buy Debt

The US is too dependent on Japan and China buying up the country's debt and could face severe economic problems if that stops, Tiger Management founder and chairman Julian Robertson told CNBC.

CNBC.com

Julian Robertson, founder of Tiger Management

"It's almost Armageddon if the Japanese and Chinese don't buy our debt,” Robertson said in an interview. "I don't know where we could get the money. I think we've let ourselves get in a terrible situation and I think we ought to try and get out of it."

Robertson said inflation is a big risk if foreign countries were to stop buying bonds.

“If the Chinese and Japanese stop buying our bonds, we could easily see [inflation] go to 15 to 20 percent,” he said. “It's not a question of the economy. It's a question of who will lend us the money if they don't. Imagine us getting ourselves in a situation where we're totally dependent on those two countries. It's crazy.”

Robertson said while he doesn’t think the Chinese will stop buying US bonds, the Japanese may eventually be forced to sell some of their long-term bonds.

“That's much worse than not buying,” he said. “The other thing is, they're buying almost exclusively short-term debt. And that's what we are offering, because we can't sell the long-term debt. And you know, the history has been that people who borrow short term really get burned.”

The only way to avoid the problem, he said, is to "grow and save our way out of it."

"The U.S. has to quit spending, cut back, start saving, and scale backward," Robertson said. "Until that happens, I don't think we're anywhere near out of the woods.”

Robertson is not very optimistic about the short-term.

“We're in for some real rough sledding,” he said. “ I really do think the recession is at least temporarily over. But we haven't addressed so many of our problems and we are borrowing so much money that we can't possibly pay it back, unless the Chinese and Japanese buy our bonds.”

By: JeeYeon Park

© 2009 CNBC.com

Fed Lawyer: Audits Called for by Ron Paul Could Hurt Monetary Policy

Legislation giving U.S. government investigators broader authority to audit the Federal Reserve could erode confidence in the central bank’s independence and ability to conduct monetary policy, a top Fed official will tell lawmakers Friday.

Fed General Counsel Scott Alvarez, in testimony prepared for a Friday hearing, said legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives giving the Government Accountability Office greater leeway to examine the central bank could have a detrimental effect.

“These concerns likely would increase inflation fears and market interest rates and, ultimately, damage economic stability and job creation,” Alvarez said in the prepared remarks for the House Financial Services Committee hearing.

In addition to potentially undermining public and investor confidence in the Fed’s setting of monetary policy, Alvarez said the legislation could hurt the U.S. government’s relationships with other countries.

“Foreign central banks and governments likely would be less willing to engage in financial transactions with the Federal Reserve if these transactions were subject to policy review by the GAO,” he said.

The comments are in response to the growing support in the House of Representatives for legislation authored by Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas), granting the GAO greater audit authority over the central bank. The legislation currently has 294 cosponors in the House from both sides of the aisle, as lawmakers are increasingly wary of the Fed’s actions during the financial crisis.

By Michael Crittenden

The St. Petersburg Times: Bankruptcy on the Horizon?

The St. Petersburg Times is a major newspaper circulated throughout the Tampa Bay area and it touts itself as being, “Florida’s Best Selling Newspaper”. Like most newspapers of today it’s failing because it doesn’t know how to be profitable in a rapidly deteriorating business climate.

The paper is privately owned and doesn’t release financial statements like its chief rival the Tampa Tribune. Despite keeping a lid on their business reports, the state of the paper’s financial condition can be seen by its dramatic drop in classified and display advertising over the last two years.

During the same two year period Craigslist.com which is a FREE classified ad site has seen an explosion in use which has propelled it to being one of the most highly trafficked sites on the net.

According to alexa.com the St. Petersburg Times site, which goes by the URL tampabay.com, ranks 5,352nd place. Craigslist.com ranks 26th place. It’s almost a certainty that as the economy deteriorates further Craigslist will move up a few more spots whereas tampabay.com will drop many spots right along with their print edition’s rapidly decreasing circulation.

Like hundreds of newspapers across the country, the St. Petersburg Times will continue to have financial problems until it’s put out of its misery and files for Chapter 7. A few years from now people will look back and say the 5% pay cut will have marked the beginning of the paper’s end.

by John Ubele

It is the Federal Reserve Board that is bankrupt, not the USA

米連銀は倒産しているが、米国は倒産していない

米国民の多くは米連銀という悪質な団体の本質を見抜いているが、米軍や各政府機関がまだ状態を十分に理解していない。彼らはもし米連銀が倒産をしたら米国民の生活水準が急落すると勘違いをしている。ちゃんとした手続きを取れば米国民の生活は円満に続く。

アメリカの対外赤字（すなわち、アメリカ人がクレジットカードを使って外国から購入したものの総額）は最悪のときで、GDPの７％だった。だからもしこれ以上クレジットカードを使い世界から物を買えなくなれば、買えるものの量は７％下がる。その下落は既に起きた。

また米連銀やワシントンD.C.は米連邦国と関係のない株式会社である。だからもし彼らが倒産をしても彼らの借金は米連邦国の借金ではない。また新しい金融システムを作ろうとしている人達は、いったん金の現物を使い全ての米国民の対外借金をチャラにするつもりだ。新しい金融システムは信頼できる銀行マンやかなりの富裕層や官僚によって管理されている。彼らはこれから世界から貧困や環境破壊をなくす新しいマーシャルプランを支持している。それを実現するためには米軍や各政府機関の協力が不可欠だ。だから当然これからも米軍などの給料を支払い続けるし、場合によっては引き上げるだろう。

問題は米連銀組の持ち主だ。彼らは権力を失いたくないので暴力や偽テロ事件で世界を脅している。そのために米国が混乱に陥っている。彼らは数百年をかけて自分達の借金を米国民に払わせるつもりだ。フランス国民がつい最近になりやっとナポレオン時代の借金を返し終えた。

米軍などに務めている人達は「奴隷飼い」か「愛国者」であるかのどちらを選択しなければならない。

It is the Federal Reserve Board that is bankrupt, not the USA

The American people are finally waking up to the evil nature of the Federal Reserve Board. However, the Pentagon and alphabet soup agency types have not quite figured everything out yet. They think that if the Fed goes down, Americans will suffer a catastrophic drop in living standards but it does not have to be so. With a smooth transition to a new financial system, the American people will be able to get on just fine. The US annual current account deficit, that is to say the amount of stuff Americans buy from the rest of the world with their credit card, was, at its peak, 7% of GDP. Now that their credit card is being cancelled Americans will have to pay with cash, that means they will have to buy 7% less than before. That 7% drop has already happened.

Since the Federal Reserve Board and Washington D.C. are corporations that have nothing to do with the constitutional United States of America, if they go bankrupt, the constitutional government of the US would not owe that money. Furthermore, the new financial system will pay off accumulated overseas debts of the American people (this is a one-off deal folks) with gold. The new financial system is run by a group of honest bankers, plutocrats and regulators who support a new Marshall plan to end poverty and stop environmental destruction. To accomplish this they would like the full cooperation of the Pentagon and the various agencies. That means they will keep paying them their salaries and probably will also give them a pay rise.

It is the Feds, with their threats of violence and plots of terror in a desperate attempt to keep power, who are dragging the US into chaos. Their solution is to force the American people to pay off the Fed debts over a period of hundreds of years. The French people finally payed-off the last of the Napoleonic debt only a few years ago.

So folk in the military and other agencies need to ask themselves if they are patriots or enforcers of debt slavery.

中國‧10月10日舉行‧中日韓領袖北京會談

（中國‧北京）中國外交部宣佈，中國、日本及韓國領袖，將於10月10日在北京舉行3邊峰會，會談料將聚焦朝鮮核問題及區域課題。

外交部發言人姜瑜在例行新聞發佈會上說，總理溫家寶將與日本新首相鳩山由紀夫，以及韓國總統李明博舉行會談。這將是鳩山上任首相後首次訪華。

此外，3國外長定於下週在上海會晤，為10月的領袖峰會進行籌備。

正在紐約出席聯大會議的鳩山由紀夫，週三（9月23日）與李明博會談時，矢言會正視日本侵略史。

日本政府官員說，鳩山告訴李明博：“新政府有勇氣正視歷史。以此為基礎，我們希望聯合發展面向未來的關係。”

新加坡‧媒體揭穿‧世姐盜刷卡緩刑監視

（新加坡）新加坡世姐被媒體揭穿，曾因盜用信用卡被判24個月的緩刑監視，目前仍在被監視期間。

新出爐世姐、19歲大學生劉依敏的風波不斷，繼被炮轟英文爛後，又被揭出去年至少4度盜刷病人的信用卡達2400元，包括購買首飾、手機和到高級餐館用餐等。

新出爐世姐19歲劉依敏風波不斷。

她是在今年5月，在5項濫用、用盜取的信用卡行騙，以及假冒他人身份的罪名下被判刑。

另有60項控狀

初庭發言人表示，另60項控狀交由法官下判時一並考慮。

法庭資料顯示，劉依敏在去年4月和5月間，利用至少3張不同的信用卡，在至少4次不同場合刷卡。

她買了總值近1000元的兩條金鏈，一台698元的手機，及在一間高檔餐廳用餐。

據媒體瞭解，她之前的雇主——一家健康護理公司，曾在去年4月報警，懷疑當時工作5個月的病人服務助理劉依敏，利用病人的信用卡消費。公司在報警一個月後，要劉依敏離職。

據瞭解，劉依敏離職前曾歸還部份款項。

劉依敏原本將於今年12月，代表新加坡到南非參加“2009年世界小姐”。目前，還不知當局是否會讓她離開新加坡參賽。

新加坡旅遊局及主辦選美活動的ERM Marketing受詢時都表示，不願對此事置評。

對自己感到失望
劉依敏：不放棄后冠

劉依敏受訪時表示，對自己感到很失望，但她說；“我不會放棄我的后冠，我的夢想！”

劉依敏盜用信用卡事件曝光後，首次開口回應，坦言切身感受。

以下是記者與劉依敏的電訪內容︰

●記者
◎劉依敏

●︰有關你盜用病人信用卡而被判緩刑監視的消息是否屬實？
◎︰都是事實。

●︰你會覺得你令新加坡人失望嗎？
◎︰這倒不會，不過我對自己很失望，如果能夠重來，我絕不再犯下同樣的錯誤。

不想放棄自己夢想

●︰你會不會放棄桂冠，退出比賽？
◎︰我當然不願意，我不想放棄自己的夢想。不過如果主辦當局要求，我也會遵從，畢竟這是公平的做法。

●︰主辦新加坡世界小姐選美比賽的ERM Marketing知道你的情況嗎？
◎︰開始時不知道，不過我簽約時有告訴經理，他們當時表示如果這個消息不傳出去，會給我機會繼續比賽，沒想到還是有人泄漏出去，現在事情鬧大了就不知道了。

●︰會不會因為選美賽成為矚目焦點，以致過去罪行曝光而很後悔參賽？
◎︰不會，有多少人在明知自己有那麼多缺點還敢站出追求夢想？在面對這麼多壓力下也不退縮？如果說有後悔，那只怪自己過去為甚麼要這麼做。

表示誠心誠意悔改

●︰會不會擔心這一連串的負面新聞影響你的未來？
◎︰事業方面當然擔心，不過愛情方面倒不會。我相信愛我的男人能包容我的過去，特別是我很誠心誠意的悔改。

●︰對於整個風波有甚麼感言？
◎︰誰沒有過去？誰沒有犯錯呢？其實被判緩刑監視在法律上並不是等於犯罪記錄，但我的錯誤涉及法律，所以變得很嚴重。這件事讓我感受到周圍的人對我的支持和愛護。

意淫照片放上網
新加坡環姐被網民抨擊

一年內，兩美姐被揭醜聞！

除了劉依敏，今年5月間奪得新加坡環球小姐的瑞哲，也因網上出現意淫照片，成為媒體焦點。

她被網民抨擊有損美姐形象，要求取消她的美姐資格。

她被放上網的照片中，有一張顯示她作狀要吃一個以男性性器官為造型的生日蛋糕。

這些照片過後在網上流傳，吸引將近2萬人點擊追看，多數表示無法接受美姐拍這樣的照片，有些網友甚至要求抵制瑞哲，取消她代表新加坡到外國參賽的資格。

但選美賽主辦單位發言人力保美姐，並透露這些照片都是瑞哲奪得新加坡環球小姐之前，在一些私人場合上所拍的，不屬於色情照。

英語受訪發音不準劉依敏成網友笑柄

劉依敏早前接受《海峽時報》Razor TV訪問時，把比基尼念成“bigini”（正確為bikini）、把prints念成“preens”，把紅衣“red”念成“rad”。

她還因一時找不到詞形容“眼前一亮的裝扮”，而自造“boomz”（正確為booms）。

訪問在7月8日被上網後兩個月內吸引了1萬6000人追看。同時，短片也在影像網站、社交網站和網絡論壇流傳，成為笑柄。

還有有心網友將3分半Razor TV訪問改編成至少4個惡搞片段上載Youtube網站，共吸引超過10萬次點擊。

美國‧擴大亞洲話語權‧G20取代G8商全球經濟

（美國‧匹茲堡）聚集在美國匹茲堡的20國集團領袖今日（週五，9月25日）同意擴大亞洲在世界經濟的話語權，與此同時，美國表示，包括中國等發展中國家在內的G20集團，將永久取代G8集團，作為商討全球經濟合作的主要平台。

中國國家主席胡錦濤週四抵達20國集團峰會晚宴時，受到盛裝的東道主奧巴馬及夫人米歇爾熱情迎接。（圖：美聯社）

轉移IMF5%投票權

週四（9月24日）開始召開峰會的20國集團（G20），將國際貨幣基金組織（IMF）的5%投票權，由發達國家轉移給發展中國家。

此舉承認了中國、韓國和印度等對全球經濟影響的日益擴大。

預計這個計劃將由美國總統奧巴馬在週五的峰會上具體提出來。

美國財政部長蓋特納週四表示，雖然歐盟有所保留，但美國支持中國爭取在諸如IMF等國際組織上的投票權。

G20亦將被賦予一個新的角色，成為協調世界經濟合作的一個永久性機構，而不再由美、日、英、德、法、意、加及俄組成的八國集團（G8）主導。

但G8還將繼續就有關發達國家的重要問題舉行會議，如國際安全問題等。

奧巴馬提出想法

美國《華爾街日報》週四引述一名美國高級官員指出，這項決定反映了當今的全球狀況。這將把國際合作帶入21世紀。

報導指出，這個想法是由奧巴馬提出的，滿足了巴西，中國，印度和其他發展中大國的需求。

G20峰會主辦國美國尚未證實這項報導，但白宮卻出乎意料地在奧巴馬週五的行程中加插了一項新聞發佈會。

中日支持韓申辦峰會

連同今次在內的3次G20峰會，全都是在美英兩國舉行，韓國政府正申請舉辦下屆G20峰會，“有望成為首個舉辦G20峰會的亞洲國家”。

據韓日傳媒透露，中國國家主席胡錦濤和日本首相鳩山由紀夫，都已表態支持。《朝鮮日報》稱，日本曾力爭主辦第2、3次峰會都告失敗，日韓其後取得默契，由韓方主持，希望牽制日本的中國，也寧願由韓國代表亞洲主辦。

限制銀行家獎金達共識

而地位將被削弱的歐洲並未在今次峰會空手而歸，他們限制銀行家獎金的要求將獲得積極回應。

歐盟各國領導人呼吁G20領導人，確立一套延期發放銀行家獎金的體系。如果銀行的業績開始變差，這些獎金也能夠被取消。

美國財政部部長蓋特納指出，G20首腦已就在2009年底限制金融機構高管工資和獎金發放達成一個“基本共識”。

他說，各國將自行制定執行標準，但有關標准將受到由各中央銀行和監管機構人員組成的G20金融穩定理事會的監管。

關於氣候變化議題，奧巴馬將號召各國政府終止對石油、煤炭、天然氣等化石燃料的補貼措施，並將提議各國逐步減用這些助長溫室氣體排放的燃料。這項主張可能招致中國、印度與俄羅斯等溫室氣體排放大國的反對。

胡錦濤高舉反保護主義大旗

美方對中國輸美車胎徵收懲罰性關稅，令貿易保護主義成了今次G20峰會焦點之一。中國國家主席胡錦濤在峰會上除了闡明中方對推動世界經濟復蘇、改革國際金融體系的看法，以及介紹中國應對危機的舉措所取得的成效外，亦將高舉反保護主義大旗。

正當世界經濟走出谷底之際，保護主義卻成了復蘇的威脅。

儘管各國分別在去年11月和今年4月的G20峰會，都承諾不會採取保護主義，但根據獨立監測機構“全球貿易警報”上週發表的一份報告，自去年G20華盛頓峰會以來，僅是G20成員國就實施了121項貿易保護主義措施，另有134項在醞釀中，當中主要都是發生在美國以及其主要貿易伙伴之間。

報告指出，各國實施保護主義的速度沒放緩跡象，“雖然復蘇可能在望，但失業率將繼續上升一段時間。（政府面對要求）保護本土職位的壓力將上升，各國政府將發現這些壓力難以應付”。

G20承諾大檢閱

1.1萬億美元抗危機（部份兌現）

4月G20倫敦峰會承諾把IMF貸款基金增至7500億美元，此目標月初實現；但助世銀推動貿易的撥款大部份未兌現。

5萬億美元刺激經濟開支（部份兌現）

英國首相布朗估計5萬億美元裡逾半未兌現，但匹茲堡峰會焦點已由入市轉為退市。

改革IMF投票權（兌現）

新興經濟體爭取增加投票權的努力在今次峰會爭取成功。

約束避稅天堂（兌現）

自倫敦峰會以來，13個被視作避稅天堂的國家或地區，實施了國際接納的稅務標準。

規管銀行花紅（部份兌現）

歐美均同意採取措施阻止銀行濫發花紅，匹茲堡峰會有機會達成協議。

金融穩定委員會（兌現）

倫敦峰會成立後，提供平台讓各地財金官員商討銀行薪酬、會計標準及銀行資本等金融問題，已就規管花紅提出建議。

美國‧G20峰會場外示威騷亂‧警方鎮壓捕15人

（美國‧匹茲堡）示威者週四（9月24日）在20國集團（G20）峰會場外舉行反資本主義遊行，期間發生騷亂，鎮暴警察使用催淚瓦斯和警棍驅散人群；示威者則砸毀商店窗戶、向警方投擲石頭。官員說，有15人被捕。

傍晚繁忙時段在美國匹茲堡市的布盧姆菲爾德區，示威人群從原本的2000人減少至約300人。

人群在距離峰會場所1.6公里外的地區鬧事，砸毀商店窗戶，遭殃商店包括連鎖餐廳、寶馬汽車經銷處及一間銀行。

全副武裝的警察投擲催淚瓦斯及發射內置彈丸的豆袋以驅散示威者。

在入夜前，只剩下少數示威者仍在鬧區街道留連，但示威者計劃於今日（週五，9月25日）早上在多個地點展開系列行動，地點包括星巴克、麥當勞及銀行。

Leading GPS Software Suggests Superior Augmented GPS Service At WTC During 9/11 Attacks

As the aircraft attacks of September 11, 2001 unfolded at the World Trade Center, virtually maximum augmented GPS positioning quality for the entire daylight period was provided to the geographic coordinates for the World Trade Center.

GPS position quality is strongly affected by the number of GPS satellites visible to a GPS receiver and the orbital geometry of GPS satellites with respect to a GPS receiver. Augmented GPS signal receivers and Flight Management Systems that utilize augmented GPS signals for navigation and positioning purposes were scheduled to be contained by American and United airlines Boeing 757s and 767s by 2000.

"Factors that can degrade the GPS signal and thus affect accuracy include the following: Number of satellites visible - The more satellites a GPS receiver can "see," the better the accuracy; Satellite geometry/shading - This refers to the relative position of the satellites at any given time. Ideal satellite geometry exists when the satellites are located at wide angles relative to each other. Poor geometry results when the satellites are located in a line or in a tight grouping."[1]

The period of fourteen-fifteen visible GPS/WAAS satellites from the coordinates of the WTC (40° 42′ 42″ N, 74° 0′ 45″ W) occupied only 14.5% of the hours between sunrise and sunset on September 11, 2001. It was during this brief period of virtually maximum GPS/WAAS satellite visibility from the WTC that the aircraft attacks at the WTC unfolded.

"Dilution of precision (DOP) or geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) is a GPS term used in geomatics engineering to describe the geometric strength of satellite configuration on GPS accuracy. DOP Value Rating Description:1: Ideal This is the highest possible confidence level to be used for applications demanding the highest possible precision at all times. 1-2: Excellent At this confidence level, positional measurements are considered accurate enough to meet all but the most sensitive applications. 2-5: Good Represents a level that marks the minimum appropriate for making business decisions. Positional measurements could be used to make reliable in-route navigation suggestions to the user. 5-10: Moderate Positional measurements could be used for calculations, but the fix quality could still be improved. A more open view of the sky is recommended. 10-20: Fair Represents a low confidence level. Positional measurements should be discarded or used only to indicate a very rough estimate of the current location. >20: Poor At this level, measurements are inaccurate by as much as 300 meters with a 6 meter accurate device (50 DOP × 6 meters) and should be discarded."[2]

The position component (green band) for measured dilution of precision for WTC coordinates during the impacts of American Airlines flight 11 and United Airlines flight 175 is valued at approximately 2.5.

Trimble's Planning Software

Source: Trimble's Planning Software [3]

Coordinates for the World Trade Center: 40° 42′ 42″ N, 74° 0′ 45″ W

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center

Enhanced GPS service (WAAS) now in use by the U.S. commercial aviation industry and activated 13 months prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, provided virtual aerial navigation corridors only 243 wide and a 95% confidence that an aircraft's true position will fall within such a corridor. Such corridors can be navigated entirely by autopilot and flight management systems scheduled in 1996 and 1998 to be contained by United and American airlines Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft like those used during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

RNP .02 / Boeing 767-200 / World Trade Center Tower

WAAS also supports required navigation performance (RNP) operations, says Raytheon, providing a precision navigation capability down to RNP 0.02 (an accuracy of 0.02nm).

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2003/01/07/159964/ups-wins-faa-cert...

"Accuracy and integrity are expressed in terms of nautical miles and represent a containment radius of a circle centered around the computed FMC position where there is a defined containment probability level of the actual aircraft being inside the containment radius. For accuracy the containment probability level is 95%."[19]

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/caft/reference/documents/RNP757767.pdf

1 nautical mile = 6,076 feet

RNP 0.02 = RNP (0.02 nautical mile radius) x 2 = RNP (121.5 foot radius) x 2 = a 243 foot wide corridor.

Boeing Example http://clacsec.lima.icao.int/Reuniones/2008/CE73/NE/BoeingPresentacionFT...

AMENDED VERSION: Wide Area Augmentation System Signal Now Available

August 24, 2000

WASHINGTON, DC — After a successful 21-day stability test of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) signal in space, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) declared that it is now available.

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=5249

According to Raytheon’s director-satellite navigation systems, the newly activated WAAS signal was used by rescuers at New York City's Ground Zero site following September 11, 2001 in order to precisely survey the site:

And, at the World Trade Center, rescue teams used WAAS to survey the site during the recovery program.

http://www.aviationtoday.com/av/categories/commercial/12571.html

By 1996 and 1998, United and American airlines Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft, like those used during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were scheduled to contain flight management systems and signal receivers capable of utilizing the new GPS service.

HONEYWELL ANNOUNCES ORDERS FOR NEW-GENERATION "PEGASUS" FLIGHT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

FARNBOROUGH, ENGLAND, SEPT. 7, 1998 - The Honeywell "Pegasus" flight management system earned its first FAA certifications March on the Boeing 757, 767 and MD-90 aircraft types ... Airlines get FANS-1/FANS-A capability ... FANS-1 ... allows operators to obtain more economical routings and to utilize satellite navigation.

http://www.aviationnow.com/shownews/farnday1/pressr15.htm

Key elements of Future Air Navigation System (FANS): RNP – Required Navigation Performance

http://www51.honeywell.com/aero/common/documents/Go_Direct_Downloads_for...

Using WAAS, a satellite-based system ... has allowed the FAA to move toward a performance-based NAS, exploiting the concept of “required navigation performance,” or RNP.

http://satjournal.tcom.ohiou.edu/issue9/aviation_navigation.html

Rockwell's Collins Landing System Picked for Both Airbus and Boeing Planes

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, Sept. 6, 1996 /PRNewswire/ -- Rockwell's Collins Commercial Avionics, based in Cedar Rapids, has made major announcements of the selection of its Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR) landing system by two of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing ... Subsequent certifications are planned for Boeing's ... 757 and 767 ... The Multi-Mode Receiver ... expands capabilities required by the air transport industry as the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is phased into operation.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-18652301.html

GNSS-1 is the first generation system and is the combination of existing satellite navigation systems ... In the United States, the satellite based component is the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_navigation_satellite_system

The WAAS signal also made possible under autopilot control, the 370 degree decending right turn from an altitude of 7,000 feet, performed by American Airlines flight 77 prior to its reported impact with the Pentagon building in Arlington, VA on September 11, 2001.

Stanford University, 1998:

The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) ... allows pilots to fly ... approaches that cannot necessarily be flown with current instrumentation ... Complex curved approaches, including approaches turning to a short (less than one mile) final ... Pathways were constructed from ... climbing, or descending constant radius arcs ... Autopilots could use WAAS position and velocity to fly curved trajectories.

http://waas.stanford.edu/~wwu/jennings/publications/ION98/iongps98.pdf

90 Degree RNP Radius-To-Fix (RF) Turn

Boeing 757s and 767s containing such Flight Management Computers and Multi-mode Receivers, can precisely self-navigate entirely under augmented GPS-guided autopilot control, to destinations still out of sight and along routes that reportedly never vary more than 18 meters.

"Guided entirely by autopilot, an Air China Boeing 757 jet last month snaked along a narrow river valley between towering Himalayan peaks ... the airplane automatically followed the twists of the valley, descending on a precisely plotted highway in the sky toward a runway still out of sight ... Using global-positioning satellites and on-board instruments, Naverus' navigation technology pinpoints the location of a fast-moving jet to within yards ... "You're watching the whole thing unfold. The airplane is turning, going where it's supposed to go ... it's all automatic.""[4]

"For this RNP approach in Tibet, an Air China Boeing 757 was relying on dual GPS receivers, flight path computers and inertial reference systems ... the aircraft we are on is equipped with Honeywell Pegasus flight management systems and Rockwell Collins multi-mode receivers."[5]

The capability to remotely transmit altered aircraft flight plan data via remote data link transmissions directly into Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft Flight Management Computers (FMCs) for use by aircraft auto-pilot functions, was technologically available circa 2001.

Developed in 1999 and technologically supported by the FANS-capable (Future Air Navigation System) Honeywell Pegasus Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 757s and 767s by 2000, Dynamic Airborne Reroute Procedure (DARP) technology enables aircraft course changes via modified flight plan waypoints remotely transmitted and installed into aircraft FMCs by VHF or SATCOM (satellite communications) transmission uplinks.

"Dynamic Rerouting, meaning the ability of controllers ... to change a filed routing once the flight is in progress ... "The new flight plan with all new waypoints goes into the data link to the comm satellite and is then downlinked into the FMSes of the individual aircraft," ... "And 'Wow,' say all the old pilots, 'Untouched by human hands!'" ... Our [dispatch] computer uplinks a route into the FMS that is identified as 'Route 2.' [You're already flying 'Route 1.']" [6]

A January, 2002 description of the capabilities of the Pegasus Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 757s and 767s:

""AOC (airline operations center) data link is an optional feature of the Pegasus FMC. This feature provides data link communication of ... route modifications ... directly into the FMC (flight management computer)."[7]

A May, 2000, explanation of the capabilities of the Pegasus Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 757s and 767s:

"A route request may either be a route modified by the crew, or a route which has been sent to the airplane from the Airline Data System."[8]

"The route can be sent by airline operations directly to the ATC Facility via AIDC, for example, for review and uplink to the aircraft."[9]

"At the time of the airworthiness approval of the 757/767 (Pegasus ‘00) FANS 1 FMC, the operational requirements ... for providing ... Dynamic Airborne Route Planning (DARP) based on FANS 1 communication capability were not determined."[10]

June, 2001:

"Dynamic rerouting (DARP) is not fully operational - Technology is available."[11]

The May, 2000, description of the capabilities of the Pegasus Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 757s and 767s continues:

"Three independent VHF systems (radios and antennas) are installed on the airplane to provide line of sight voice and data communication."[12]

"Satellite communications (SATCOM) may be provided for remote communications where terrestrial contact is unavailable, or by airline policy regardless of the state of other communication capabilities."[13]

The May, 2000, description of the capabilities of the Pegasus Flight Management System (FMS) for Boeing 757s and 767s continues:

"The FMC has the capability to store 2 routes, designated as route 1 and route 2. The route which defines the flight plan along which the airplane is to be flown is the active route."[14]

A Federal Aviation Administration publication description of the capability to remotely modify active flight plans already being executed by certain aircraft Flight Management Systems:

"Planned Airborne Re-route Procedure – DARP (Data link Aircraft): AOC (airline operations center) will plan the re-route and uplink the route to the aircraft, commencing from the waypoint on the current route, ahead of the Aircraft and finishing at destination. Note: Some Flight Management Systems allow AOC uplinks to the Active Route. It is recommended that all AOC route uplinks are directed to the Inactive Route."[15]

"Trimble is a leading provider of advanced positioning solutions that maximize productivity and enhance profitability. Trimble products are used in over 100 countries around the world. For over 30 years, Trimble has created unique positioning products that help customers grow their business. Our portfolio includes over 850 patents and serves as the basis for the broadest positioning offerings in the industry."[16]

References:

[1] Sources of GPS signal errors
http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/
[2] Dilution of precision (GPS)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilution_of_precision_(GPS)
[3] Trimble's Planning Software
http://www.trimble.com/abouttrimble.shtml
[4] Kent company bringing a navigation revolution
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003316294_nave...
[5] Air China's First RNP Approach Into Linzhi Airport, Tibet
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=comm&id...
[6] FANS: Where Is It for Business Aviation?
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=bca&id=...
[7] 767 Flight Deck and Avionics - January 2002, Page 123
http://www.smartcockpit.com/pdf/plane/boeing/B767/misc/0001/
[8] 757/767: Air Traffic Services Systems Requirements and Objectives - Generation 2, Page 41 (Boeing, May 12, 2000)
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/caft/cwg/ats_dl/757-767_ATS_SRO.pdf
[9] 757/767: Air Traffic Services Systems Requirements and Objectives - Generation 2, Page 41 (Boeing, May 12, 2000)
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/caft/cwg/ats_dl/757-767_ATS_SRO.pdf
[10] 757/767: Air Traffic Services Systems Requirements and Objectives - Generation 2, Page 3 (Boeing, May 12, 2000)
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/caft/cwg/ats_dl/757-767_ATS_SRO.pdf
[11] FANS Implementation in South Pacific (June, 2001)
www.cena.fr/pages/1actu/atmrd/6lun18_06.pdf
[12] 757/767: Air Traffic Services Systems Requirements and Objectives - Generation 2, Page 49 (Boeing, May 12, 2000)
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/caft/cwg/ats_dl/757-767_ATS_SRO.pdf
[13] 757/767: Air Traffic Services Systems Requirements and Objectives - Generation 2, Page 50 (Boeing, May 12, 2000)
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/caft/cwg/ats_dl/757-767_ATS_SRO.pdf
[14] 757/767: Air Traffic Services Systems Requirements and Objectives - Generation 2, Page 50 (Boeing, May 12, 2000)
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/caft/cwg/ats_dl/757-767_ATS_SRO.pdf
[15] THE TWENTY-SEVENTH MEETING OF THE INFORMAL PACIFIC ATC COORDINATING GROUP (November 2007)
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/.../documents/IPACG/IPACG27/WP11_DAR...
[16] Trimble

Why the U.S. economy CAN'T “recover”

The U.S. propaganda-machine now reports on a daily basis that a “U.S. economic recovery” is underway – despite not one piece of evidence to support this “bold assertion” (shameless lie?).

Let's start with a definition of “recovery” suitable to the current, economic context: economic “recovery” means the economy is returning to (or “recovering”) a previous level of economic activity. In other words, with an economy which has shrunk by more than 10%, a “recovery” could only be occurring if the economy is already growing.

There is still absolutely no evidence that the U.S. economy is growing. Granted, the propagandists already know that the Treasury Department will report “economic growth” this quarter – regardless of what is actually happening in the real world. However, contrast this with the extremely cautious attitude of the same “experts” and “economists” when the U.S. economy started its collapse. Despite enormous volumes of evidence showing that the U.S. economy had started a serious collapse, these shameless shills refused to declare a “recession” had started for many months after that fact was obvious to the entire world.

When asked to justify their reluctance to apply the label of “recession” to this economic collapse (which is, in reality, a Greater Depression), the reply was the same: formally declaring a “recession” was something which was done in hindsight – after enough data had accumulated to justify that backward-looking prognosis.

What a surprising coincidence that these same U.S. market-pumpers see absolutely no reason to exercise any caution at all when declaring a “recovery” has begun!

One of the chief propaganda tools of these shills is the index of economic “leading indicators”. Even if I were to concede these “indicators” were a persuasive tool for predicting future economic activity (which I don't), this particular statistic only has relevance if the economy is operating within something close to normal parameters – which it isn't.

We have just spent a year watching the same buffoons who couldn't see this collapse coming telling us about all the “unprecedented” and “unconventional” measures that have been taken to attempt to resuscitate the global economy, in general, and the U.S. economy, in particular.

Why have they had to engage in so many “unconventional” measures (like 0%-1% interest rates around the world) to try to breathe life into the economy? Because the economy did not respond to traditional stimulus – as it always has in the past. If the economy isn't responding to stimulus in a predictable manner, how can these “experts” and “economists” know that the “leading indicators” they crow about are actually predictive of a “recovery”? Obviously they can't.

This becomes even more obvious when we look at some of these “indicators” individually. Rising stock prices are one of them. Gee, if stock prices are going up, that must mean that a “recovery” has started. After all, “bear-market rally” is a phrase which I just invented, this moment. Who cares that insiders have been dumping their own holdings at an accelerating rate for the last six months?

Another “indicator” is “consumer confidence”, or as I labeled it in a previous commentary (see “Time to rename U.S. Consumer Confidence index”) the “consumer gullibility” index. For the first six months of this year, the propaganda-machine deluged the world with report after report that “a U.S. economic recovery” was on the way. For the last three months, all we have heard is that the economy is “about to recover” and more recently “the recovery has already started”.

These propagandists couldn't justify continuing to take their pay-cheques if they hadn't managed to brainwash a large chunk of the population. Of more relevance, as I pointed out previously, it doesn't matter how “confident” Americans are if they have no jobs and no access to credit – to fuel this consumer economy. Currently, consumer credit is collapsing at the fastest rate in history (see “Record Plunge in U.S. Consumer Credit in July”). Is this something which would/could/should happen in a “recovering” economy?

“Housing starts” are another leading indicator. However, as I have repeated again and again, there is something seriously wrong with this number – as for nearly two years, “housing starts” have exceeded “new home sales” by anywhere from 50% to 100% every month. There are only two possibilities here: either this number has been grossly inflated (and thus is meaningless) or U.S. home-builders are simply accumulating more and more unsold inventory. Either way, this “leading indicator” has no merit.

However, the most persuasive means of showing that the U.S. economy is not recovering is to show that it cannot recover. For this, I will offer thanks to Steve Keen (and his “Debtwatch”blog) for two, extremely effective metaphors (not to mention the analysis behind it). These effectively point out that the Obama regime has not only failed to acknowledge the real problem with the U.S. economy, but also chose the least-effective form of “stimulus” available.

With respect to the latter point, Mr. Keen observes that there were several choices about which location in the “economic pipeline” Obama could choose to inject his stimulus. Under normal conditions (i.e. the “borrow-and-spend” paradigm, where “deficits don't matter”), stuffing money into the vaults of the banksters was the most-effective option – since these reckless gamblers have always lent-out at least $10 for every $1 they actually hold.

The problem is that this economic collapse was caused by providing the banksters with too much “easy money” and then allowing them to leverage that debt by an average of 30:1. Even the greedy banksters, themselves, know they have no choice but to de-leverage. Thus, when the Obama regime stuffed trillions into the vaults of the same banksters who caused all the problems – all the banksters did was “sit on” most of that money to reduce their leverage. Last I heard, the banksters had over $600 billion sitting in a “savings account” with the Federal Reserve – collecting 1% interest. Wow! That will sure “stimulate” the economy.

As Keen puts it, the Obama regime is using the wrong “pipe” in the economy. Because it was inevitable that the banksters would use any hand-outs to de-leverage, the “pipe” which pumps money from the banking system into the broader economy has effectively shrunk. This means no matter how much or how fast money is funneled to the banksters, the amount of “stimulus” which actually reaches the economy is now severely constrained. “Stimulus” dollars, says Keen, would have achieved a much greater effect by being provided to the debtors rather than the lenders, because those “pipes” in the economy had not “shrunk” by nearly as much (since neither U.S. businesses nor U.S. consumers were greedy and/or reckless enough to leverage themselves by 30:1).

Put another way, it was always completely obvious that any and every “stimulus dollar” given to the banksters would help only the banksters.

However, as both Keen and myself continue to reiterate regularly, the main problem with measures to fix the U.S. economy is that only the symptoms are being treated – not the “disease”. Keen equates the humungous U.S. debt-load with a “malignant tumor” - a perfect metaphor. It is something which is rapidly growing in size, and guaranteed to kill the patient unless removed.

Yet, instead of removing the tumor, the “cure” being pursued by the Obama regime is the equivalent of “tumor implants” - it is adding more tumors (i.e. more debt) to the (dying) patient, to try to improve the cosmetic appearance of the patient.

Just as transplanting tumors into a patient whom is already dying from a malignant tumor is obviously harmful, rather than beneficial, massive debt-injections into an economy literally drowning in debt can only increase problems rather than reduce them.

In response to this, the Obama regime, the Federal Reserve, and the propaganda-machine are all reading off of the same script: at some point in the distant future, the U.S. will actually start repaying all this new debt – so it's not a problem.

This is utter nonsense! The U.S. economy currently has a “structural deficit” in excess of $1 trillion per year – meaning that is the minimum amount of new debt the U.S. will incur with the economy operating at full capacity. This is about double the level of debt which officially constitutes a “debt crisis” - in an economy with real GDP of less than $11 trillion/year.

If the U.S. was actually serious about achieving a “balanced budget” the time to start is today, and not after trillions more in debt is piled on top of the existing $57 trillion in total public/private debt (not including $70 trillion, or so, in “unfunded liabilities”). The Obama regime, itself, claims it will add on another $9 trillion in debt – before it will (supposedly) achieve a balanced budget.

An economy which could not balance its budget during the peak of the recent bubble-based “economic boom” will supposedly be able to do so – after doubling the national debt. As if that proposition isn't ludicrous enough already, we have the historic pattern of the U.S. government only reporting half of the actual increase in the “national debt” when it reports its “official deficit” (see “Obama continues peddling fantasy-deficit numbers”). Thus, when Obama tells Americans he plans on heaping another $9 trillion of debt onto the shoulders of their children, what he really means is that another $18 trillion (or more) is on the way.

Forget about economics, this is all about arithmetic. Every additional dollar of debt heaped on top of the largest mountains of debt in the history of our species, permanently removes several pennies from the U.S. economy. It doesn't sound that bad – until you multiply that by a trillion. If an economy with a measly $11 trillion per year in GDP is permanently squandering over $2 trillion per year just paying interest on $57 trillion of debt, the best-case scenario is to simply “tread water” (i.e. just try to avoid any further shrinkage in the economy).

It is mathematically impossible for this debt-saturated economy to generate real economic growth through new debt. The propaganda-machine can churn out any fantasy-numbers it wants. In the real world, all we will see are more job-losses, more foreclosures, and more bankruptcies. Not much of a “recovery”.

g20 protests pittsburgh 24 september 2009

Check this link ....... http://bit.ly/4l82Of

US credit shrinks at Great Depression rate prompting fears of double-dip recession

Both bank credit and the M3 money supply in the United States have been contracting at rates comparable to the onset of the Great Depression since early summer, raising fears of a double-dip recession in 2010 and a slide into debt-deflation.

US Federal Reserve on February 12, 2009 in Washington

FedRes: Ben Bernanke has been appointed to a second-term at the helm of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve Photo: AFP

Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said US bank loans have fallen at an annual pace of almost 14pc in the three months to August (from $7,147bn to $6,886bn).

"There has been nothing like this in the USA since the 1930s," he said. "The rapid destruction of money balances is madness."

The M3 "broad" money supply, watched as an early warning signal for the economy a year or so later, has been falling at a 5pc annual rate.

Similar concerns have been raised by David Rosenberg, chief strategist at Gluskin Sheff, who said that over the four weeks up to August 24, bank credit shrank at an "epic" 9pc annual pace, the M2 money supply shrank at 12.2pc and M1 shrank at 6.5pc.

"For the first time in the post-WW2 [Second World War] era, we have deflation in credit, wages and rents and, from our lens, this is a toxic brew," he said.

It is unclear why the US Federal Reserve has allowed this to occur.

Chairman Ben Bernanke is an expert on the "credit channel" causes of depressions and has given eloquent speeches about the risks of deflation in the past.

He is not a monetary economist, however, and there are indications that the Fed has had to pare back its policy of quantitative easing (buying bonds) in order to reassure China and other foreign creditors that the US is not trying to devalue its debts by stealth monetisation.

Mr Congdon said a key reason for credit contraction is pressure on banks to raise their capital ratios. While this is well-advised in boom times, it makes matters worse in a downturn.

"The current drive to make banks less leveraged and safer is having the perverse consequence of destroying money balances," he said. "It strengthens the deflationary forces in the world economy. That increases the risks of a double-dip recession in 2010."

Referring to the debt-purge policy of US Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon in the early 1930s, he added: "The pressure on banks to de-risk and to de-leverage is the modern version of liquidationism: it is potentially just as dangerous."

US banks are cutting lending by around 1pc a month. A similar process is occurring in the eurozone, where private sector credit has been contracting and M3 has been flat for almost a year.

Mr Congdon said IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is wrong to argue that the history of financial crises shows that "speedy recovery" depends on "cleansing banks' balance sheets of toxic assets". "The message of all financial crises is that policy-makers' priority must be to stop the quantity of money falling and, ideally, to get it rising again," he said.

He predicted that the Federal Reserve and other central banks will be forced to engage in outright monetisation of government debt by next year, whatever they say now.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, International Business Editor

The Economy is a Lie, Too

Americans cannot get any truth out of their government about anything, the economy included. Americans are being driven into the ground economically, with one million school children now homeless, while Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke announces that the recession is over.

The spin that masquerades as news is becoming more delusional. Consumer spending is 70% of the US economy. It is the driving force, and it has been shut down. Except for the super rich, there has been no growth in consumer incomes in the 21st century. Statistician John Williams of shadowstats.com reports that real household income has never recovered its pre-2001 peak.

The US economy has been kept going by substituting growth in consumer debt for growth in consumer income. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan encouraged consumer debt with low interest rates. The low interest rates pushed up home prices, enabling Americans to refinance their homes and spend the equity. Credit cards were maxed out in expectations of rising real estate and equity values to pay the accumulated debt. The binge was halted when the real estate and equity bubbles burst.

As consumers no longer can expand their indebtedness and their incomes are not rising, there is no basis for a growing consumer economy. Indeed, statistics indicate that consumers are paying down debt in their efforts to survive financially. In an economy in which the consumer is the driving force, that is bad news.

The banks, now investment banks thanks to greed-driven deregulation that repealed the learned lessons of the past, were even more reckless than consumers and took speculative leverage to new heights. At the urging of Larry Summers and Goldman Sachs’ CEO Henry Paulson, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bush administration went along with removing restrictions on debt leverage.

When the bubble burst, the extraordinary leverage threatened the financial system with collapse. The US Treasury and the Federal Reserve stepped forward with no one knows how many trillions of dollars to “save the financial system,” which, of course, meant to save the greed-driven financial institutions that had caused the economic crisis that dispossessed ordinary Americans of half of their life savings.

The consumer has been chastened, but not the banks. Refreshed with the TARP $700 billion and the Federal Reserve’s expanded balance sheet, banks are again behaving like hedge funds. Leveraged speculation is producing another bubble with the current stock market rally, which is not a sign of economic recovery but is the final savaging of Americans’ wealth by a few investment banks and their Washington friends. Goldman Sachs, rolling in profits, announced six figure bonuses to employees.

The rest of America is suffering terribly.

The unemployment rate, as reported, is a fiction and has been since the Clinton administration. The unemployment rate does not include jobless Americans who have been unemployed for more than a year and have given up on finding work. The reported 10% unemployment rate is understated by the millions of Americans who are suffering long-term unemployment and are no longer counted as unemployed. As each month passes, unemployed Americans drop off the unemployment role due to nothing except the passing of time.

The inflation rate, especially “core inflation,” is another fiction. “Core inflation” does not include food and energy, two of Americans’ biggest budget items. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) assumes, ever since the Boskin Commission during the Clinton administration, that if prices of items go up consumers substitute cheaper items. This is certainly the case, but this way of measuring inflation means that the CPI is no longer comparable to past years, because the basket of goods in the index is variable.

The Boskin Commission’s CPI, by lowering the measured rate of inflation, raises the real GDP growth rate. The result of the statistical manipulation is an understated inflation rate, thus eroding the real value of Social Security income, and an overstated growth rate. Statistical manipulation cloaks a declining standard of living.

In bygone days of American prosperity, American incomes rose with productivity. It was the real growth in American incomes that propelled the US economy.

In today’s America, the only incomes that rise are in the financial sector that risks the country’s future on excessive leverage and in the corporate world that substitutes foreign for American labor. Under the compensation rules and emphasis on shareholder earnings that hold sway in the US today, corporate executives maximize earnings and their compensation by minimizing the employment of Americans.

Try to find some acknowledgement of this in the “mainstream media,”
or among economists, who suck up to the offshoring corporations for grants.

The worst part of the decline is yet to come. Bank failures and home foreclosures are yet to peak. The commercial real estate bust is yet to hit. The dollar crisis is building.
When it hits, interest rates will rise dramatically as the US struggles to finance its massive budget and trade deficits while the rest of the world tries to escape a depreciating dollar.

Since the spring of this year, the value of the US dollar has collapsed against every currency except those pegged to it. The Swiss franc has risen 14% against the dollar. Every hard currency from the Canadian dollar to the Euro and UK pound has risen at least 13 % against the US dollar since April 2009. The Japanese yen is not far behind, and the Brazilian real has risen 25% against the almighty US dollar. Even the Russian ruble has risen 13% against the US dollar.

What sort of recovery is it when the safest investment is to bet against the US dollar?

The American household of my day, in which the husband worked and the wife provided household services and raised the children, scarcely exists today. Most, if not all, members of a household have to work in order to pay the bills. However, the jobs are disappearing, even the part-time ones.

If measured according to the methodology used when I was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, the unemployment rate today in the US is above 20%. Moreover, there is no obvious way of reducing it. There are no factories, with work forces temporarily laid off by high interest rates, waiting for a lower interest rate policy to call their workforces back into production.

The work has been moved abroad. In the bygone days of American prosperity, CEOs were inculcated with the view that they had equal responsibilities to customers, employees, and shareholders. This view has been exterminated. Pushed by Wall Street and the threat of takeovers promising “enhanced shareholder value,” and incentivized by “performance pay,” CEOs use every means to substitute cheaper foreign employees for Americans. Despite 20% unemployment and cum laude engineering graduates who cannot find jobs or even job interviews, Congress continues to support 65,000 annual H-1B work visas for foreigners.

In the midst of the highest unemployment since the Great Depression what kind of a fool do you need to be to think that there is a shortage of qualified US workers?

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. This fall CounterPunch/AK Press will publish Robert's War of the Worlds: How the Economy Was Lost. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

Special Report: OUTFOXING THE 9/11 COVERUP

WITH THE 9/11 COMMISSION RESCINDING THEIR OWN REPORT

9/11 DEBUNKING MACHINE IS NOW OUR "SMOKING GUN"

When 9/11 Commission Chief Counsel, John Farmer, released his book, The Ground Truth, debunking his own 9/11 commission report and was supported by Chairman Thomas Kean and commission member Senator Bob Kerrey with no dissent, the cover story of 9/11 died.

This leaves us with these inescapable facts:

We no longer have an official answer to questions about 9/11.
Perjured testimony and falsified information given to the original commission is a criminal act and demands a Grand Jury investigation and Special Prosecutor
Hundreds of respected leaders of the military, law enforcement, intelligence and scientific communities question the credibility of an investigation now proven beyond a doubt a conspiracy in itself
The institutions of government, including all 3 branches, Executive, Judicial and Legislative have combined in an unexplainable way in their failure to respond to circumstances that legally require action.
The press has continued a pattern of distortion of facts, suppression of news and has engaged in a systematic campaign of deception.

Years have passed and soon 10,000 Americans will have died. Taking into account the epidemic of veterans suicides, we may have already passed that figure now. The cascade of events, financial collapse, government spying, oil price fixing, massive military corruption and a dozen more issues as serious have been able to move beyond our ability of everyday citizens to influence.

In fact, the most corrupt and debased groups involved in the 9/11 coverup are being actively recruited by the press as a patriotic resistance.

The tone for the coverup is being set by Australian media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, who controls much of the press in the US and United Kingdom. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see Murdoch's role in covering up 9/11. His networks created the "9/12ers" who are continuing the coverup and Murdoch employees like Fox funnyman, Glenn Beck, are still a major part of the effort to protect those in government who lied to the commission and may have aided the conspirators.

Murdoch's media has held to "party line" on 9/11 and the Iraq/Afghanistan war since day one, suppressing facts any time they threatened an agenda of broad regional war. Murdoch acted, every step of the way, in concert with groups hiding facts on 9/11 while promoting continual phony terrorism alerts whenever political allies became subject to scrutiny.

Conspiracy theorists, largely proven correct thus far, refer to Murdoch's position as leader of the Israeli ultra-right wing Zionist movement as a rationale for his continued involvement in the cover up. No proof of Isreali involvement in the planning and execution of 9/11 has been offered except for Murdoch's relentless disinformation campaign.

Geopolitical theorists accuse Murdoch of orchestrating a plan for Israel to draw America into a wide set of conflicts in the Middle East, tying down forces for many years, while Israel extends broad economic influence into Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The massive oil and gas reserves of the area, formerly the Jewish Kazhak empire, represent one of the greatest economic prizes in the world.

Only Iran threatens Israel's goals in this area.

Over 40 years ago, the US and Israel engaged in a false flag operation against an American warship called the USS Liberty. The plan was for Israel to attack and sink an American ship, kill the crew and the US would blame Egypt, invade and oust Soviets from the Middle East and control the worlds oil supply.

A Russian spy ship observed and filmed the attack. The Israeli pilots went public. American naval officers reported White House involvement in the plot and it failed.

We only know that 9/11 was not what we were told it was and that it is being covered up by propagandists tied to Israeli extremists. Can we make assumptions from this? I say no but we can and should ask questions.

However, anyone asking a question or advocating an investigation is subjected to vicious personal attacks not limited to attempts to influence violence. The 400% increase in threats against the current president can easily be traced to their source in the media industry.

Was the Bush administration trying to repeat the Middle Eastern takeover tried by Lyndon Johnson long ago? Exposure of their plans to invade Iraq, made long before 9/11 need to be added into the equation.

9/11 could be a massive American intelligence failure with NORAD and the DOD melting down for lack of leadership. The lies told afterward could have been the result of embarassment at total incompetence.

Nothing points to solid proof that 9/11 was staged by the US, with or without Israel. A long string of odd coincidences and a few violations of the laws of physics don't prove a massive conspiracy, not in themselves. They only raise a need for impartial investigation.

One thing can't be explained. Why are lies, known lies, still being broadcast daily, lies orchestrated from one source, meant to suppress an honest accounting of what may have been a series of mistakes?

Why go so far to cover up mistakes if they were only mistakes? With no 9/11 Commission standing behind the report that was meant to clear the Bush administration of responsibility, why is the Murdoch propaganda machine, the Wall Street Journal, Fox, Hannity, Beck and gang so busy burying something that doesn't exist?

Outfoxing the 9/11 Coverup

With the 9/11 Commission rescinding their own report, 9/11 debunking machine is now our "smoking gun".

(CINCINNATTI, Ohio) - When 9/11 Commission Chief Counsel, John Farmer, released his book, The Ground Truth, debunking his own 9/11 commission report and was supported by Chairman Thomas Kean and commission member Senator Bob Kerrey with no dissent, the cover story of 9/11 died.

This leaves us with these inescapable facts:

* We no longer have an official answer to questions about 9/11.

* Perjured testimony and falsified information given to the original commission is a criminal act and demands a Grand Jury investigation and Special Prosecutor.

* Hundreds of respected leaders of the military, law enforcement, intelligence and scientific communities question the credibility of an investigation now proven beyond a doubt a conspiracy in itself.

* The institutions of government, including all 3 branches, Executive, Judicial and Legislative have combined in an unexplainable way in their failure to respond to circumstances that legally require action.

* The press has continued a pattern of distortion of facts, suppression of news and has engaged in a systematic campaign of deception.

In fact, the most corrupt and debased groups involved in the 9/11 coverup are being actively recruited by the press as a patriotic resistance.

Murdoch's media has held to "party line" on 9/11 and the Iraq/Afghanistan war since day one, suppressing facts any time they threatened an agenda of broad regional war or supported limiting government power to operate above the law.

Conspiracy theorists, largely proven correct thus far, refer to Murdoch's position as leader of the Israeli ultra-right wing Zionist movement as a rationale for his continued involvement in the cover up. No proof of Israeli involvement in the planning and execution of 9/11 has been offered except for Murdoch's relentless disinformation campaign.

Only Iran threatens Israel's goals in this area.

A Russian spy ship observed and filmed the attack. The Israeli pilots went public. American naval officers reported White House involvement in the plot and it failed.

9/11 could be a massive American intelligence failure with NORAD and the DOD melting down for lack of leadership. The lies told afterward could have been the result of embarrassment at total incompetence.

by Gordon Duff
Gordon Duff is a Marine combat veteran and a regular contributor to Veterans Today. He specializes in political and social issues. You can see a large collection of Gordon's published articles at this link: VeteransToday.com.

He is an outspoken advocate for veterans and his powerful words have brought about change. Gordon is a lifelong PTSD sufferer from his war experiences and he is empathetic to the plight of today's veterans also suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to feature Gordon's timely and critical reports on Salem-News.com, a news organization staffed by a number of veterans, particularly former U.S. Marines.

New details on Obama’s CIA front employer

(WMR) -- WMR has obtained additional details on Business International Corporation (BIC), the CIA front company where President Obama spent a year working after graduating from Columbia University in 1983.

BIC used journalists as non-official cover (NOC) agents around the world. The firm published weekly and fortnightly newsletters for business executives, including Business International, Business Europe, Business Latin America, and Business Asia.

On February 24, 2009, WMR reported: “For one year, Obama worked as a researcher in BIC’s financial services division where he wrote for two BIC publications, Financing Foreign Operations and Business International Money Report, a weekly newsletter.

“An informed source has told WMR that Obama’s tuition debt at Columbia was paid off by BIC. In addition, WMR has learned that when Obama lived in Indonesia with his mother and his adoptive father Lolo Soetoro, the 20-year-old Obama, who was known as ‘Barry Soetoro,’ traveled to Pakistan in 1981 and was hosted by the family of Muhammadmian Soomro, a Pakistani Sindhi who became acting president of Pakistan after the resignation of General Pervez Musharraf on August 18, 2008.

“WMR was told that the Obama/Soetoro trip to Pakistan, ostensibly to go ‘partridge hunting’ with the Soomros, related to unknown CIA business. The covert CIA program to assist the Afghan mujaheddin was already well underway at the time and Pakistan was the major base of operations for the CIA’s support . . . BIC had long been associated with CIA activities since being founded by Eldridge Haynes, a self-professed liberal Democrat. The BIC headquarters was located at the prestigious address of 1 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in Manhattan.”

Through its contacts with leading liberals around the world, BIC sought to recruit those on the left as CIA agents and assets. BIC documents obtained by WMR describe a series of top level “round tables” between U.S. business and intelligence chiefs and government leaders around the world, including Emperor Haile Selassie and 83 ministers and officials of 33 multinational organizations in Addis Ababa in 1969, Colombian President Carlos Lleras Restrepo and business and labor leaders of six Andean Bloc countries in 1968 and 1972, Argentine President General Juan Carlos Ongania and his junta in 1966, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and his cabinet in 1962 and 1967, Brazilian President Emilio Medici in 1970, and Indonesian dictator Suharto and his cabinet in 1968 and 1972.

Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, and his father, Barack Obama, Sr., met at the University of Hawaii in 1960 in a Russian-language class. At the time, the CIA and Britain’s MI-6 were concerned about Soviet penetration of Kenya’s independence movement. Kenya became independent of Britain in 1963.

After marrying Indonesian national Lolo Soetoro, Dunham moved with Barack Obama, Jr., to Indonesia in 1966, just as the Suharto dictatorship was consolidating its hold on power, which included the massacre of some 1 million Indonesian Communists. Dunham left Indonesia in 1972, returning to Hawaii with her son. Dunham periodically made trips back to Indonesia, as well as to Pakistan, while working for the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the latter commonly used by the CIA for official cover agents.

Dunham Soetoro was in Indonesia when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. Barack Obama visited Lahore, Pakistan, where his mother worked as a “consultant,” in 1981. According to a declassified Top Secret CIA document titled “Worldwide Reaction to the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, dated February 1980, Indonesia became a hotbed of anti-Soviet students’ demonstrations after Moscow’s invasion of Afghanistan. The report states, “Indonesian students have staged several peaceful demonstrations in Jakarta and three other major cities. They have also demanded the recall of the Soviet Ambassador because of remarks he made to a student delegation on 4 January and have called for a severance of Soviet-Indonesian relations.”

CIA files also contain a report on the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (1971-1973), which is possibly pertinent to the agency’s involvement in Indonesia. One of the participants in the Chicago CFR’s 1971 conference in Oak Brook was Zbigniew Brzezinski, who would later become President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, the chief architect of the U.S. support for the Afghan mujaheddin, and one of Obama’s professors at Columbia University.

On April 27, 1973, the Chicago CFR sponsored a seminar titled “Indonesia Today,” according to the CFR Chicago report maintained in CIA files. Present were “four representatives of Center for Strategic International Studies in Jakarta” who discussed in presented papers Indonesia’s role in Southeast Asia. One of the participants was Soetaryo Sigit, Indonesia’s minister of mines.

The CFR report also states that the Atlantic Conference series that attracted the same high-level participants as BIC, was started in 1965 under the auspices of CFR Chicago by Joseph Slater of the Ford Foundation. The Ford Foundation employed Dunham in Indonesia.

CIA files also contain a single page from the “Chicago Buyers” Guide.” Listed on the page is the address and phone number for Business International Corporation in Chicago: One IBM Plaza, Suite 1420, 60611. 321-0300.

Obama gave scant reference to his employment with BIC in his 2006 book, “Dreams From My Father.”

Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).