"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalms 91:1)
Under the Shadow
Dear Friends,
Greetings! We want to give you some verses from the Bible as we begin this weeks editorial. "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:13) " I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:20) "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
This week we are once again going to highlight the worlds economy. As you read the articles below try to keep in mind the aforementioned scriptures so that you are not tempted to fear. "Almost the Devil's total power is in fear. Fear is the exact opposite of faith. Just as 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom' (Proverbs 9:10), fear of Satan is really the beginning of death. The Hebrew word translated as 'fear' in this verse is yirah, which means 'reverence.' So to fear God is to give Him the respect He deserves. It's a form of worshipping God. Therefore, to fear Satan and his devices is to give him just the kind of worship that he wants." (David Berg)
As we have said before, the economic crash that is happening around the world has been planned years in advance. You have a situation: stable economy, the economy becomes destabilized, the masses cry out for a solution, a solution is offered and accepted. (This is actually a process developed by a German philosopher named Georg Hegel. He developed what is known as Hegelian logic based on thesis, antithesis, synthesis.)
The solution that will eventually be offered will of course be the rise of the antichrist, his one world government, and his new economic system. " He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." (Revelation 13:16-17)
How soon this is going to happen is uncertain, but there are many signs to alert us to where we are, in the "End Time" scenario. (If you are interested in knowing what to look for, see our "Studies" section on this web site.) There is also the "God factor". God could slow down events if they suited His purpose, or He could speed things up if that suited His purpose. Anyway, we are definitely moving further towards the "end".
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guardian.co.uk
GM says it will go bust in days without new US bail-out
David Gow March 5 2009
General Motors today warned it would go bust within 30 days unless the US treasury gives it a further multibillion dollar loan.
The dramatic warning from America's biggest car group came after its auditor, Deloitte, raised substantial doubts about its ability to continue operations as a going concern.
These alarm signals were contained in GM's 480-page annual report for 2008 to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, America's financial regulator. They further underline the parlous state of the global car industry.
But the report added: "However, there can be no assurance that these actions, such as further reductions in productive capacity, hourly and salaried headcount, employee compensation and benefits or capital expenditure and engineering spending would be sufficient to prevent the need for us to potentially seek relief through a filing under the bankruptcy laws in the US and other jurisdictions."
GM cautioned that if the treasury did not approve its viability plan and lend it more money "we would be unable to repay amounts outstanding under the treasury loan facility or other indebtedness as they become due which would cause us to default".
It could then breach its banking covenants and declare itself bankrupt – with no guarantee even then it could secure financing to continue operations under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection laws.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
CNN
Citigroup breaks the buck
Shares of the embattled financial firm dip below $1 a share, as investors continue to have a dire outlook for the bank.
By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
March 5, 2009:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Citigroup logged another dismal milestone Thursday, as shares of the beleaguered bank slipped below $1 a share.
The move, which may have seemed unthinkable just months ago, came as the broader market fell once again toward new 12-year lows due to worries about the health of the banking sector and the broader economy.
After falling as low as 97 cents a share during midday trading, Citigroup pared some losses and were trading at about $1.01, down 11% from Wednesday's close. It marks the lowest level for the bank's stock since Citicorp and Travelers Group merged in 1998 to create Citigroup.
At its height, Citigroup stock traded around $57 a share. That was in late 2006, just months before subprime mortgages began to become problems and the credit market unraveled.
But fears about Citigroup's exposure to soured mortgages and other consumer loans have sent shares plummeting this year, wiping out billions of dollars in shareholder value as a result.
The bank reported losses of nearly $28 billion last year and investors remain worried that the bank will continue to lose money as the economy weakens.
The stock lost more than half its value last month alone as speculation grew that the government would have to step in and effectively nationalize the company.
Citigroup, which ranks as the nation's second-largest bank based on assets, employs more than 300,000 workers in over 100 countries. The bank, which one had the largest market capitalization of any financial firm, is now valued at just $5.5 billion.
Daily Express UK
Army Prepared For Economic Riots On UK Streets
Posted By admin On March 2, 2009 @ 10:25 am In Featured Stories |
Paul Joseph Watson - - Monday, March 2, 2009
The Army is on standby to deal with rioting on UK streets as a result of the economic crisis according to a newspaper report, which states that MI5 is targeting political activists who could help create a "summer of discontent".
"The "double-whammy" of the worst economic crisis in living memory and a motley crew of political extremists determined to stir up civil disorder has led to the extraordinary step of the Army being put on standby," reports the Daily Express.
"MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers."
One of the prime concerns is not that anarchists will escalate the riots, but that the disenfranchised middle class will become involved, a precedent that will no doubt make it harder for riot police and the Army to crack heads without stoking anger amongst a significant number of the usually docile British population.
Another contributing factor that may lead more of the middle class to become involved is rising resentment over uncontrolled immigration and British jobs being given to foreign immigrants.
The prospect of soldiers being drafted onto the streets is a "last resort" according to the report, but with major police departments publicly complaining that they will not have the resources to deal with widespread unrest on the scale of the 1980's poll tax riots, a contingency plan to deploy troops is in place.
A senior source told the Express, "This is a very real, and very serious, problem....I can tell you there have been crisis talks in Whitehall about this".
The prospect of widespread rioting at some stage this year is a scenario feared by many.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., urban warfare training drills are taking place across the country as numerous public figures, including Senator Christopher Dodd, leading economist Nouriel Roubini, top trend researcher Gerald Celente, the head of the International Monetary Fund, the head of the World Trade Organization, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former national security director Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair have all warned of coming civil unrest and global instability.
The U.S. Army War College in November released a white paper called Known Unknowns: Unconventional 'Strategic shocks' in Defense Strategy Development. The report warned that the military must be prepared for a "violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States," which could be provoked by "unforeseen economic collapse," "purposeful domestic resistance," "pervasive public health emergencies" or "loss of functioning political and legal order." The "widespread civil violence," the document said, "would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security."
Times.UK
East Europe Social Collapse Threatens Rest of Europe
David Charter - Times Online March 1, 2009 -
Eastern European countries gave an apocalyptic warning yesterday of hordes of unemployed workers heading west as a new Iron Curtain divides rich from poor inside Europe.
Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Western leaders were told yesterday that five million jobs could be lost in the "new" European Union countries of the East unless radical action were taken to bail them out.
guardian.co.uk
Morgan Stanley predicts downturn will be worse than the Depression.
Some bleak predictions from Morgan Stanley this morning including the forecast that UK profits could fall by 60% in the current downturn - a worse performance than the great depression of the 1930s.
UK equity strategist Graham Secker said this 60% decline assumes a £20bn loss from the banks.
"We now forecast UK profits [will] fall by 60% across 2008 and 2009. While this sounds a rather draconian and hyperbolic downgrade, we believe it is realistic and incorporates the big losses that have come to light in the banking sector as well as a sharp drop in commodity prices (oil was $100 last September).
"If our expectation of a 60% peak-to-trough decline in UK profits is correct, this would mark an even worse outcome than that seen in the early 1930s when our data suggests profits fell by around 57%. However we do not consider this forecast unreasonable prior to this downturn, we saw the biggest 5-year increase in corporate profits in the history of our data and hence it is not unreasonable to also expect the biggest bust.
Wikipedia
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services provider headquartered in New York City, New York, United States. It serves a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 33 countries around the world with 600 offices, with an approximate employee workforce of 45,000. The company reports US$779 billion as assets under its management.
The corporation came into existence on September 16, 1935. In its first year the company operated with a 24% market share (US$1.1 billion) in public offerings and private placements. The main areas of business for the firm today are Global Wealth Management, Institutional Securities and Investment Management.
The Market Ticker
March 5, 2009
What's Dead (Short Answer: All of It)
Just so you have a short list of what's at stake if Washington DC doesn't change policy here and now (which means before the collapse in equities comes, which could start as soon as today, if the indicators I watch have any validity at all. For what its worth, those indicators are painting a picture of the Apocalypse that I simply can't believe, and they're showing it as an imminent event.)
*All pension funds, private and public, are done. If you are receiving one, you won't be. If you think you will in the future, you won't be. PBGC will fail as well. Pension funds will be forced to start eating their "seed corn" within the next 12 months and once that begins there is no way to recover.
*All annuities will be defaulted to the state insurance protection (if any) on them. The state insurance funds will be bankrupted and unable to be replenished. Essentially, all annuities are toast. Expect zero, be ecstatic if you do better. All insurance companies with material exposure to these obligations will go bankrupt, without exception. Some of these firms are dangerously close to this happening right here and now; the rest will die within the next 6-12 months. If you have other insured interests with these firms, be prepared to pay a LOT more with a new company that can't earn anything off investments, and if you have a claim in process at the time it happens, it won't get paid. The probability of you getting "boned" on any transaction with an insurance company is extremely high - I rate this risk in excess of 90%.
*The FDIC will be unable to cover bank failure obligations. They will attempt to do more of what they're doing now (raising insurance rates and doing special assessments) but will fail; the current path has no chance of success. Congress will backstop them (because they must lest shotguns come out) with disastrous results. In short, FDIC backstops will take precedence even over Social Security and Medicare.
*Government debt costs will ramp. This warning has already been issued and is being ignored by President Obama. When (not if) it happens debt-based Federal Funding will disappear. This leads to....
*Tax receipts are cratering and will continue to. I expect total tax receipts to fall to under $1 trillion within the next 12 months. Combined with the impossibility of continued debt issue (rollover will only remain possible at the short duration Treasury has committed to over the last ten years if they cease new issue) a 66% cut in the Federal Budget will become necessary. This will require a complete repudiation of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, a 50% cut in the military budget and a 50% across-the-board cut in all other federal programs. That will likely get close.
*Tax-deferred accounts will be seized to fund rollovers of Treasury debt at essentially zero coupon (interest). If you have a 401k, or what's left of it, or an IRA, consider it locked up in Treasuries; it's not yours any more. Count on this happening - it is essentially a certainty.
*Any firm with debt outstanding is currently presumed dead as the street presumption is that they have lied in some way. Expect at least 20% of the S&P 500 to fail within 12 months as a consequence of the complete and total lockup of all credit markets which The Fed will be unable to unlock or backstop. This will in turn lead to....
*The unemployed will have 5-10 million in direct layoffs added within the next 12 months. Collateral damage (suppliers, customers, etc) will add at least another 5-10 million workers to that, perhaps double that many. U-3 (official unemployment rate) will go beyond 15%, U-6 (broad form) will reach 30%.
*Civil unrest will break out before the end of the year. The Military and Guard will be called up to try to stop it. They won't be able to. Big cities are at risk of becoming a free-fire death zone. If you live in one, figure out how you can get out and live somewhere else if you detect signs that yours is starting to go "feral"; witness New Orleans after Katrina for how fast, and how bad, it can get.
The good news is that this process will clear The Bezzle out of the system.
The bad news is that you won't have a job, pension, annuity, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and, quite possibly, your life.
It really is that bleak folks, and it all goes back to Washington DC being unwilling to lock up the crooks, putting the market in the role it has always played - that of truth-finder, no matter how destructive that process is.
Only immediate action from Washington DC, taking the market's place, can stop this, and as I get ready to hit "send" I see the market rolling over again, now down more than 3% and flashing "crash imminent" warnings.
WND
'We're not headed down road to socialism; we are there'
March 02, 2009
By Patrick J. Buchanan
In his campaign and inaugural address, Barack Obama cast himself as a moderate man seeking common ground with conservatives.
Yet, his budget calls for the radical restructuring of the U.S. economy, a sweeping redistribution of power and wealth to government and Democratic constituencies. It is a declaration of war on the right.
The real Obama has stood up, and lived up to his ranking as the most leftwing member of the United States Senate.
Barack has no mandate for this. He was even behind McCain when the decisive event that gave him the presidency occurred – the September collapse of Lehman Brothers and the market crash.
Republicans are under no obligation to render bipartisan support to this statist coup d'état. For what is going down is a leftist power grab that is anathema to their principles and philosophy.
Where the U.S. government usually consumes 21 percent of gross domestic product, this Obama budget spends 28 percent in 2009 and runs a deficit of $1.75 trillion, or 12.7 percent of GDP. That is four times the largest deficit of George W. Bush and twice as large a share of the economy as any deficit run since World War II.
Add that 28 percent of GDP spent by the U.S. government to the 12 percent spent by states, counties and cities, and government will consume 40 percent of the economy in 2009.
We are not "headed down the road to socialism." We are there.
Putin: Obama "Idiot" For Adopting Socialism
February 23, 2009 by PA Pundits
MOSCOW (SR) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned the Obama administration against adopting further socialism, saying Russian history clearly proves it is a recipe for failure.
"Any fourth grade history student knows socialism has failed in every country, at every time in history," said Putin. "President Obama and his fellow Democrats are either idiots or deliberately trying to destroy their own economy."
Economists say Putin's comments serve to illustrate how worldwide markets have made even economic adversaries dependent on each other's financial stability.
Wikipedia
Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal opportunities for all individuals, with a fair or egalitarian method of compensation. Modern socialism originated in the late 19th-century intellectual and working class political movement that criticized the effects of industrialization and private ownership on society. Karl Marx posited that socialism would be achieved via class struggle and a proletarian revolution, and would represent a transitional stage between the capitalist and communist modes of production.
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We thought it might be interesting to show you some points David Berg brought out in a couple of his letters written several years ago.
"Because America is the head and leader of world capitalism, once she falls, the whole World Capitalistic System is bound to fall with her! And as she is the greatest and strongest enemy of World Socialism, her fall could result in the ultimate triumphant succession of the socialist Antichrist One-World government, as predicted in the Bible!
Such a crash would surely result in chaos and great confusion, which the Antichrist could take advantage of and even solve with his new credit system and World government." (More Thoughts on the Atom War and the Great Confusion! August 1983)
"On American television in 1957, Nikita Khrushchev, former Russian Prime Minister, 'forecast his devices' to the U.S. public by saying, 'Whether you like it or not, History is on our side. We will bury you! I can prophesy that your grandchildren in America will live under Socialism!' " (Red Menace!, The November 1986)
Below is a prophecy we published a few months ago but we felt it was worth publishing again.
Warning!
Received 1965
"Turn your eyes toward Memphis (Egypt), for out of it shall come the great confusion!
The author of Confusion is even now marshalling his forces for this Great Confusion!
He is gathering his forces from a great nation and Eastern nations, friends that will join with him.
So sudden will be the Great Confusion, that it will cause a mighty widening of the eyes of those who have not discerned the signs of the times. But be ye not deceived! Be prepared! And be not deceived by the Great Society, for it will come to travail and then bring forth the Great Confusion!
Be prepared! Even now, the skies are red, red with warning, and black, black with clouds gathering for the Great Confusion which is almost upon you!"
Are you ready to journey further into the "End". If you have not already done so, your first step of preparation is to make sure you have received Jesus into you heart and life, so that no matter what happens you know you will be safe with Him. To receive Him all that is necessary is to pray a simple prayer. "Dear Jesus, I know I have done wrong things in my life, I ask you to please forgive my sins, come into my heart and give me eternal life, in Jesus name I pray."
If you would like any additional information on what "receiving Jesus" means we do invite you to write to us via the web site. Also, if you would like to have one of our Christian mystics help channel God's answer to a particular problem or question you may have, again, we invite you to contact us via the web site.
We would also like to remind you that everyone involved with "People of the Keys" web site is a volunteer worker and if you are able to help with a donation it would be greatly appreciated.
God bless and keep you in the week ahead!
Almondtree Productions
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalms 23:1)