Signs the American Sheeple are Beginning to Wake Up, Hopefully...

By Mike Stathis

 As the U.S. economy continues reveal its true colors now that the economic stimulus package has been exhausted, Americans are increasingly becoming more aware of their bleak future. For those who are unaware of the realities of this future, have a look at the recent past here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

As each person tries to decipher fact from fiction, there is a critical need to scrutinize everything you read because the profiteers have added to this dark sentiment. These snake oil salesmen continue to make gross exaggerations and ridiculous statements, such as imminent hyperinflation and the complete collapse of the dollar to 0, all as a means by which to take more of your money.

I want to tell you right now that anyone who makes such claims is either a bold-faced liar seeking to make money from manipulating public sentiment, or else is a complete idiot.

For those who are unclear why it is impossible for the U.S. to experience hyperinflation and thus the dollar to become worthless, read here, here and here.

Want the truth about gold? Read here, here and here.

I can’t count the number of times I have been passed over for an interview because I planned to explain why hyperinflation in the U.S. is not possible, or because I had intended to explain the truth about gold. Keep in mind that back when I wrote America’s Financial Apocalypse in 2006, I forecast gold to soar to at least $1400, suggesting that it could reach $2000 to $2200. However, the picture has changed much since then due to all of the manipulation by the gold hacks.

...As more Americans begin to wake up to the realities facing their nation, it will be critical for each individual to stay clear of the media. But they must also learn to spot front groups and those with hidden agendas. This can be a very difficult feat to accomplish, so you must never trust anyone 100% or you will stop questioning things.

And if you stop questioning things, you are likely to get sucked into the illusions that so many have worked so hard to create.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/08/26/signs-the-american-sheeple-...

Read More Here... Fraud Caused the 1930s Depression and the Current Financial Crisis

Robert Shiller - one of the top housing experts in the United States - says that the mortgage fraud is a lot like the fraud which occurred during the Great Depression. As Fortune notes:

Shiller said the danger of foreclosuregate -- the scandal in which it has come to light that the biggest banks have routinely mishandled homeownership documents, putting the legality of foreclosures and related sales in doubt -- is a replay of the 1930s, when Americans lost faith that institutions such as business and government were dealing fairly.

The former chief accountant of the S.E.C., Lynn Turner, told the New York Times that fraud helped cause the Great Depression:

The amount of gimmickry and outright fraud dwarfs any period since the early 1970's, when major accounting scams like Equity Funding surfaced, and the 1920's, when rampant fraud helped cause the crash of 1929 and led to the creation of the S.E.C.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/10/fraud-caused-great-depressio...

Even More Here...

Top Economists: Trust is Necessary for a Stable Economy ... But Tru...

Most policy makers still don't understand the urgent need to restore trust in our financial system, or the need to prosecute Wall Street executives for fraud and other criminal wrongdoing.

But top economists have been saying for well over a decade that trust is necessary for a stable economy, and that prosecuting the criminals Is necessary to restore trust.

Trust is Necessary for a Stable Economy

In his influential 1993 book Making Democracy Work, Robert Putnam showed how civic attitudes and trust could account for differences in the economic and government performance between northern and southern Italy.

Political economist Francis Fukiyama wrote a book called Trust in 1995, arguing that the most pervasive cultural characteristic influencing a nation's prosperity and ability to compete is the level of trust or cooperative behavior based upon shared norms. He stated that the United States, like Japan and Germany, has been a high-trust society historically but that this status has eroded in recent years.

In 1998, Paul Zak (Professor of Economics and Department Chair, as well as the founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, Professor of Neurology at Loma Linda University Medical Center, and a senior researcher at UCLA) and Stephen Knack (a Lead Economist in the World Bank's Research Department and Public Sector Governance Department) wrote a paper called Trust and Growth, arguing:

Adam Smith ... observed notable differences across nations in the 'probity' and 'punctuality' of their populations. For example, the Dutch 'are the most faithful to their word.'John Stuart Mill wrote: 'There are countries in Europe . . . where the most serious impediment to conducting business concerns on a large scale, is the rarity of persons who are supposed fit to be trusted with the receipt and expenditure of large sums of money' (Mill, 1848, p. 132).

Enormous differences across countries in the propensity to trust others survive
today.

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Trust is higher in 'fair' societies.

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High trust societies produce more output than low trust societies. A fortiori, a sufficient amount of trust may be crucial to successful development. Douglass North (1990, p. 54) writes,

The inability of societies to develop effective, lowcost enforcement of contracts is the most important source of both historical stagnation and contemporary underdevelopment in the Third World.

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If trust is too low in a society, savings will be insufficient to sustain
positive output growth. Such a poverty trap is more likely when institutions -
both formal and informal - which punish cheaters are weak.

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