­by Richard Clark

The illustration shows the faces of the men who dominate the lives of the Americans by means of the creation of the currency dollar.

As economist Michael Hudson points out, the European debt crisis is really the product of financial warfare instigated by big banks. Yes, these banks are engaged in warfare against the rest of society. What’s going on in Greece is exactly what’s going to happen in America very shortly. Why? Because in every industrialized country, the big banks are in the process of offloading their bad debts onto governments. They are then forcing these governments to sell off national assets so that the bankers can be paid what they consider to be their due. (For more about this, see the linked video at this web site, about Greece being a dress rehearsal for the US.)

In a nutshell, what it says is that the world is being prepared for the kind of “neo-feudalism” that these banksters (intent on ever more completely becoming our masters and lords) intend to implement. And so it is that America is in the early stages of being subjected to the same type of plundering as Greece and Ireland.

As Hudson explained in 2008, what these banksters and their cohorts are really trying to do is to roll back the Enlightenment, roll back the moral philosophy and social values of classical political economy and its culmination in Progressive Era legislation, as well as the New Deal institutions that embody such legislation. They’re not trying to make the economy more equal, and they’re not trying to share power — just  the opposite: Their aim is to implement a kind of preindustrial and even feudal socioeconomic system. What this means is that our economy is being pushed back and put on the road to debt peonage. Hence forth, most manufacturing will be done in Asia and Europe.

What we have here, therefore, is indeed a “Road to Serfdom.” It is just the opposite of the government sponsorship of economic progress and rising living standards that we had until Reagan took the White House. Rather, it’s the dismantling of democratic government and the dissolution of regulatory agencies, for the purpose of creating this new kind of neo-feudal system. (Don’t miss Max Keiser’s discussion of this neofeudalism on the Keiser Report. Just scroll down until you see a picture of economist Michael Hudson on the linked video screen.)

If all this sounds far fetched, consider that Foreign Policy magazine recently ran an article entitled “The Next Big Thing: Neomedievalism,” arguing that the power of nations is declining, and is being replaced by big banks and other corporations, wealthy individuals, the sovereign wealth funds of monarchs, and city-regions.

Also consider that many progressive economists are now telling us that the true purpose of the bank rescue plans is “a massive redistribution of wealth (concentrating ever more of it into the hands of) the bank shareholders and their top executives.”

Finally, as the wholly non-partisan Australian economist Steve Keen observed:

“This is the biggest transfer of wealth in history,” as the giant banks have handed off their toxic  debts (stemming from fraudulent activities) to tax payers in their respective countries. These big banks created bubbles — using fraud — because that’s the only way they could make the obscene profits they feel they now deserve. ( See this for details ). And be sure to not miss Max Keiser’s interview of Steve Keen here.

Indeed, this isn’t the “Great Recession”, it’s the Great Bank Robbery . In simple language, the big banks have pillaged and looted the rest of the world, and now they are beginning to pillage and loot the USA. It is not only Greece that is losing its sovereignty; the big banks are in the process of turning America into a banana republic as well. Remember, the trillions in bailouts went to banks, not to Main Street, , and a large percentage of the bailouts went to foreign banks (and see this ). And so did most of the money from the second round of quantitative easing .

In short, warfare initiated by the big banks has now gone global. As Warren Buffet, one of America’s most successful capitalists and defenders of capitalism, has pointed out, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making that war.” And winning it. Let’s not forget that it was inequality that to a large extent caused the Great Depression and that has also caused the current economic crisis .

Finally, let’s not forget, either, that the father of modern economics, Adam Smith , didn’t believe that inequality should be a taboo subject, and that even some conservatives, in addition to most liberals of  course, are against rampant inequality . In spite of this, however, polls show that the vast majority of Americans continue to greatly underestimate the amount of inequality that has, in our country, over the past 30 years, been generated. Most remainlargely unaware of the colossal crime that has been committed against them.

That lack of awareness we must bring to an end. (about the author) ­http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Ultimate-Goalof-the-B-by-Richard-Clark-110714-667.html.

by Katie Moisse

Scientists have discovered a new strain of gonorrhea- causing bacteria in Japan that is resistant to available treatments.

Since the 1940s, the sexually transmitted disease known as “the clap” has been easily treated with antibiotics.

But the new strain of Neisseria gonorrhoeae has genetically mutated to evade cephalosporins — the only antibiotics still effective against the infection.

“This is both an alarming and a predictable discovery,” lead researcher Magnus Unemo, professor at the Swedish Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria in Örebro, Sweden, said in a statement. “Since antibiotics became the standard treatment for gonorrhea in the 1940s, this bacterium has shown a remarkable capacity to develop resistance mechanisms to all drugs introduced to control it.”

The discovery, announced by Unemo at the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Disease Research meeting in Quebec City, Canada, could hail gonorrhea’s transition from treatable STD to global public health threat.

“While it is still too early to assess if this new strain has become widespread, the history of newly emergent resistance in the bacterium suggests that it may spread rapidly unless new drugs and effective treatment programs are developed,” Unemo said in a statement.

Cephalosporin-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae joins methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin- resistant enterococci in a sinister class of bacteria known as superbugs. But unlike hospital acquired MRSA and VRE, which spread where antibiotic use runs high and immune defenses run low, super gonorrhea could spread anywhere.

“This report points out that antibiotic resistance is occurring not only in hospitals, but out in the community,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. And while the strain was disovered in Kyoto, Japan, antibiotic-resistant bacteria “don’t need a passport.”

Antibiotic resistance is not a new phenomenon — even for Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which developed resistance to several other antibiotics used before cephalosporins.

“We were concerned about this 20 years ago and combated that very effectively,” said Schaffner, explaining how gonorrhea treatments have evolved alongside the bacteria.

“But if you have a strain that’s completely resistant to antibiotics, you have to very quickly develop strategies to recognize the resistant strain and alternative treatment regimens.”

Such tests and new treatments could be developed, Schaffner said, but they would likely be more expensive. Amid cutbacks across all facets of research, pharmaceutical companies are investing less in the quest for new antibiotics, he said.

With an estimated 700,000 new cases each year in the U.S. alone, gonorrhea is one of the most common STDs. It spreads through direct contact with   the penis, vagina, mouth or anus, and can also be transmitted from mom to baby during delivery.

But only 50 percent of infected women and less than fi ve percent of infected men develop symptoms, such as a burning sensation and discharge. Left untreated, the infection can spread to the skin, blood and other organs causing pain, infertility and even death.

A July 8, 2011, report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged doctors to be on the lookout for gonorrhea resistant to cephalosporins, and to report cases promptly.

The new superbug serves as a reminder that antibiotic resistance is a problem that spreads beyond hospital and nursing home walls.

­“We need to implement a program so that pharmaceutical companies are motivated fi nancially to pursue research in developing antibiotics,” Schaffner said. “And both the public and professional have to be much more rigorous in their expectations and use of antibiotics.”

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Arturo Valenzuela

Today, June 15, is Arturo Valenzuela’s last day as the US’s chief policymaker for Latin America. President Barack Obama has yet to indicate who might succeed Valenzuela, who has, in Latin American eyes at least, been a success.

He has been a much steadier policymaker than many of his predecessors, refusing to rise to taunts from anti-Americans such as President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela or President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. Valenzuela’s biggest success is to have changed Latin American perceptions about ‘Los Gringos’.

This was built on a Valenzuela’s clear-sighted choices about where US interests lay over issues such as the coup in Honduras; whether former president Alvaro Uribe of Colombia should be encouraged to flout the constitution and run for re-election; and preventing the WikiLeaks scandal from poisoning relations with the region.

Peculiar f a mily piles pressure on Peru’s president-elect

When Ollanta Humala won election on June 5 what tipped the balance was a frank acknowledgement that while there might be “doubts” about him, there was “proof” that his rival Keiko Fujimori was a danger. Humala said it was not necessary to look beyond the rampant corruption of her father, Alberto Fujimori’s authoritarian government in the 1990s.

Three weeks before he takes office on July 28 Humala has been caught up in a media storm over a trip to Russia by his brother Alexis to discuss business contracts. Alexis might have travelled in a personal capacity, as he claims, but his visit was sufficiently opaque for the largely hostile domestic media to raise the fear that the “doubts” about Humala were legitimate; that the nepotism and corruption he promised to root out might in fact thrive under him.

­The link between Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala

All three countries are dealing with political problems caused by the constrictions imposed by their constitutions.

In this edition of the Caribbean & Central America Report we analyse what has happened (see p2 to7) and here we attempt to draw some conclusions. We argue that the coup in Honduras was the consequence of brinkmanship and miscalculations on both sides. El Salvador and Guatemala, and perhaps, the international community as well, have learned from what went wrong in Honduras and so a repeat of the coup there in either of its neighbors is unlikely.

by U.S. Desk

In light of the recent popular protests in various parts of the world — particularly in Egypt — some conspiracy theorist have hinted at the possibility of the U.S. government using FEMA camps to hold potential protesters.

Some of these theories suggest that the government is prepared to turn FEMA camps into “concentration camps” holding “civilians” deemed a potential threat to the US government.

Such claims prompted Press TV to take a closer look at FEMA and its activities:

FEMA

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by a Presidential Order on 1 April 1979. Fas.org.

FEMA had one original concept when it was created,  to assure the survivability of the United States government in the event of a nuclear attack on the nation.

It was also provided with the task of being a federal coordinating body during times of domestic disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and hurricanes.

Some people have referred to it as the “secret government” of the United States. It is not an elected body, it does not involve itself in public disclosures, and it even has a quasi-secret budget in the billions of dollars. The National Governor’s Association asked President Carter to streamline the nation’s disaster response mechanism. Endrtimes.blogspot.com.

Like the George W. Bush effort to bring agencies under the umbrella of Homeland Security, Carter created FEMA to combine the efforts of dozens of agencies. But just as Homeland Security has done with Katrina, the new FEMA bungled its first tests with the Washington Post reporting, “The new anti-disaster agency is on the verge of becoming a disaster itself.”

Prior to 1950, the federal government stayed out of local disasters for the most part, with only an occasional congressional appropriation when absolutely necessary. But in that year, Congress gave the president the power to declare disasters and dispense monetary aid. Newsmax.com.

Controversy surrounding FEMA

Not surprisingly, with the advent of FEMA, the number of national disasters began to balloon. However, it was not until Hurricane Andrew in August of 1992 that FEMA began to morph into what it now is. A lot of money went to the victims of Andrew, but politicians were beginning to see the potential in natural disasters. A community college got a new parking lot. Miami Beach got new art deco lifeguard stands. The then-governor of Florida, Lawton Chiles, obtained $25 million for a new prison that had nothing to do with the hurricane. Newsmax.com.

FEMA was not created under Constitutional law by the Congress. It was a product of a Presidential Executive Order.

FEMA has the power to suspend laws, move entire populations, arrest and detain citizens without a warrant and hold them without trial, it canseize property, food supplies, transportation systems, and can suspend the Constitution. Endrtimes.blogspot.com.

In 2004, the federal government used hurricane aid money to pay funeral expenses for at least 203 Floridians whose deaths were not caused by last year’s storms, the state’s coroners have concluded. Sun-sentinel.com.

As of 2008, FEMA had only spent about 6 percent of its budget on national emergencies; the bulk of their funding had been used for the construction of secret underground facilities to assure the continuity of the government in case of a major emergency, foreign or domestic.

Executive Orders associated with FEMA

Here are just a few Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990 allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995 allows the government to seize and control the communication media.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997 allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000 allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001 allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002 designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004 allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with publicfunds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049 assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a 15-year period. Endrtimes.blogspot.com.

* EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921 allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. ­It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months. Dmc.members.sonic.net.