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Why Is the U.S. Bankrolling IMF’s Bailouts in Europe?
humanevents
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund held their spring meeting April 14 to 18 in Washington, D.C. Both financial titans were created after World War II to foster economic cooperation and development around the globe. With 16.2% of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) shares, the United States is the largest shareholder among the 187 nations who belong to the fund—even though its managing director has always been a European.
Remote to most Americans, the IMF has been in the headlines recently because of its role as one of the financial rescuers of three European nations whose economies collapsed last year. Under Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn (the former French finance minister, who is considered the leading Socialist candidate for president of France in 2012), the IMF has joined with the European Union to sculpt bailout packages for Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. Coupled with loans from the EU, the price tags on the bailout packages come to $157 billion for Greece, $122 billion for Ireland, and most recently, $116 billion for Portugal.
Obviously, these are quite substantial packages for the three economically devastated countries. They will become very relevant to U.S. taxpayers when they realize that, because we are the largest single contributor to the organization, and with Spain and Italy now Read more…
Cleric: Jihad coming to ‘heart of America
The death of Osama bin Laden will bring a “new era of jihad,” predicted British extremist cleric Anjem Choudary.
Warning there are motivated jihadists “in the heart of America,” Choudary said al-Qaida will likely carry out revenge operations with “meticulous accuracy” and “devastating affect” comparable to that of the 9/11 attacks.
Choudary is the founder and former chief of two Islamic groups disbanded by the British authorities under anti-terror legislation.
Speaking today in an interview with “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” of New York’s WABC Radio, Choudary said that while bin Laden was a “lion of Islam … there are many lions waiting to take his place.”
“I do believe that the death of Sheikh Osama will bring in a new era of jihad,” Choudary told Klein.
“Post-Osama bin Laden, I believe the mujahedeen around the world will have something to prove, that the jihad is not about an individual.”
Choudary said instability for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan “will be a complete nightmare Read more…
Alex Jones Exposes Bin Laden Death Hoax (Video)
The Strange World of NSA Mind Control
SARTRE, Contributing Writer
“The National Security Agency (NSA) is a combat support agency within the Department of Defense (DOD) established by presidential directive in 1952. NSA has two separate missions: signals intelligence and communications security. For signals intelligence, NSA manages all U.S. signal collection and processing and produces signals intelligence in accordance with DOD and DCI priorities. For communications security, NSA provides leadership, products, and services to U.S. agencies that need to protect their information and communication systems from foreign exploitation. NSA is headed by a three-star flag officer, who reports to the Secretary of Defense. About 80 percent of the NSA workforce is civilian.”
Should You Buy A Home In 2011? Check Out These 29 Absolutely Crazy Statistics About The Housing Crisis
Has the U.S. housing market reached a “bottom” yet? Are home prices going to start recovering? Is the housing crisis going to end at some point? Today there are millions of American families that would like to buy homes but they are not sure what to do. After all, nobody wants to end up like all the suckers that bought at the top of the market and now owe far more on their mortgages then their homes are worth. A lot of people are really afraid to take out home loans right now. So should you buy a home in 2011? That is a very good question. The reality is that there are a lot of reasons why home prices could continue to fall. Unemployment is still rampant, and American families simply cannot afford to buy homes without good jobs. Also, lending institutions have really, really tightened lending standards. That is really restricting the number of buyers in the marketplace. The number of foreclosures Read more…
US, China to hold economy meeting in May
WASHINGTON — Top officials from the United States and China will meet in Washington early next month, the Treasury Department said Monday, as tensions between the two economic superpowers simmer.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will host Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, amid continued tensions over debt, exports and the value of China’s currency.
The Treasury Department has delayed the publication of a report that could lead to sanctions against Beijing until after the meeting, despite US lawmakers complaining that China is still manipulating its currency for trade advantage.
The semi-annual report, which was due on April 15, has become a focal point for critics who accuse Beijing of unfairly keeping the yuan weak against the dollar to boost Chinese exports.
The US government said it would wait until a meeting of the Group of 20 finance chiefs, the IMF’s annual spring Read more…
State Dept. wants to make it harder to get a passport
If you don’t want it to get even harder for a U.S. citizen to get a passport — now required for travel even to Canada or Mexico — you only have until Monday to let the State Department know.
The U.S. Department of State is proposing a new Biographical Questionnaire for some passport applicants: The proposed new Form DS-5513 asks for all addresses since birth; lifetime employment history including employers’ and supervisors names, addresses, and telephone numbers; personal details of all siblings; mother’s address one year prior to your birth; any “religious ceremony” around the time of birth; and a variety of other information. According to the proposed form, “failure to provide the information requested may result in … the denial Read more…
Man Arrested For Not Giving Cops His Cell Phone (Video)
IMF bombshell: Age of America nears end: China’s economy will surpass the U.S. in 2016
For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the “Age of America” will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China.
The Obama deficit tour
The Wall Street Journal editorial page’s Steve Moore critiques the president’s speeches attacking Republican budget plans.
And it’s a lot closer than you may think.
According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China’s economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now.
Put that in your calendar.
It provides a painful context for the budget wrangling taking place in Washington, D.C., right now. It raises enormous questions about what the international security system is going to look like in just a handful of years. And it casts a deepening cloud over both the U.S. dollar and the giant Treasury market, which have been propped up for decades by their privileged status as the liabilities of the world’s hegemonic power.
According to the IMF forecast, whomever is elected U.S. president next year — Obama? Mitt Romney? Donald Trump? — will be the last to preside over the world’s largest economy.
Most people aren’t prepared for this. They aren’t even aware it’s that close. Listen to experts of various stripes, and they will tell you Read more…
Massive Severe Outbreak Coming Next Week
It appears the onslaught of tornadoes and severe thunderstorms that have claimed dozens of lives and left communities in ruins from the Plains into the East over the past few weeks is going to continue right into next week.
Next up is another severe outbreak set to hit areas from Oklahoma to Ohio Friday afternoon and night.
After that, AccuWeather.com severe weather experts are already greatly concerned about the tornado potential with a series of storm systems set to track across the hard-hit Plains, Midwest and Southeast throughout next week.
“This could be more widespread than anything we’ve seen this season,” said AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski.
“We’re going to see multiple outbreaks of severe weather Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week from the Ohio Valley to the southern Plains and into the southeastern U.S.,” Kottlowski explained. “The orientation of upper-level winds with this setup look to favor a high risk of tornado development.”
“People should review tornado safety guidelines and take any [severe thunderstorm or tornado] watches and warnings very seriously,” Kottlowski stressed.
While severe thunderstorms with this outbreak could get under way as early as late Sunday, the main threat will evolve Monday Read more…
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