Alternative Visions – Brexit—What are the Consequences of the June 23 Vote – 06.17.16

Jack reviews in detail the upcoming UK vote to leave the European Union. Cameron’s ‘faustian’ bargain is coming. What will the ‘devil’ demand? The origins of the vote and likely consequences of a Brexit are considered, for the UK, for the EU and for the US and rest of the global economy. The likely effects on the real economy, as well as more volatility for global currencies, more central bank money injections, more negative interest rates, slowing real investment and declining productivity. Brexit as a proxy for discontent over the conditions in the UK economy, immigration effects, cultural and sovereignty issues. Brexit as a reflection of discontent with supra-national free trade agreements and cross-nation capitalist integration efforts by global financial and economic elites. Jack compares Greece efforts to reform the EU to current UK efforts to do the same and predicts UK will also fail. An alternative scenario post-Brexit: nothing happens for another two years under Article 50 of the EU treaty.

Trends This Week – Obama, Trump, Clinton, terrorism, lies and fear mongering – 06.15.16

Global forecaster Gerald Celente provides a trend-tracking lesson by separating rhetoric, distortions and propaganda from fact in speeches made in response to the recent massacre in Orlando. His analysis shows how and why this type of violence self-perpetuates. Elsewhere in this program, Celente breaks down what the coming Brexit vote in the UK could – or could not – mean for the global economy. He forecasts continued global economic deterioration and high equity-market volatility

Alternative Visions – US Jobs Growth Plummets & Global Economy Slows – 06.03.16

Jack reviews today’s just released jobs numbers confirming his prior prediction jobs growth would slow in wake of US GDP slowdown last quarter. Plus an overview of US economy and a prediction of recession in early 2017. In the second half of the show, a review of latest developments in global economy–with commentary on how the IMF outmaneuvered the Syriza government in Greece again, the likelihood of UK ‘Brexit’ from the EU, $10 trillion in negative interest rates and more than $10 trillion in global non-performing bank loans, the recent G7 meeting in Japan and prime minister Abe’s warning of another ‘Lehman event’ on the horizon, the European Central Bank’s recent decision to now buy corporation bonds, like Japan, China’s rotating financial asset bubbles, eventual currency devaluation, capital flight, corporate bankruptcies, and out of control private sector debt acceleration. (see jackrasmus.com blog for recent articles, ‘Is US Economy Heading for Another Recession?’ and ‘How the IMF outmaneuvered Syriza—Again’)

Trends This Week – What the gold & diamond jewelry slump really means – 06.01.16

From Burberry to Hugo Boss, from Cartier to Tiffany, foot traffic is down, profits are slumping, stores are closing and markets are shrinking. Across the luxury spectrum, beyond jewelry, watches and valuable gifts that are among the worst performers… even sales of luxury apartments are falling some 20 percent in prime real-estate markets around the world.
At the top of the retail top, gold and diamond jewelry sales, two key trend indicators that signal both a weakening global economy and ensuing economic turmoil, continue to worsen. While the luxury-retail sector blames soft sales primarily on a decline in tourism, unstated in corporate fiscal reports is that the reason tourism is down is a direct consequence of the worsening global recession we forecast as a Top Trend of 2016.

Trends This Week – The ticking time bomb that is the global economy – 05.18.16

The Spring edition of the Trends Journal (available at Trendsresearch.com) was just released, featuring an in-depth analysis of how central banks have created a ticking time bomb. In this Trends This Week program, Trends Journal publisher Gerald Celente breaks down the indicators that suggest that time bomb is about to go off. From slowing market trade activity to rising gold prices, from the real story behind rising oil prices to what a threat of even moderate interest rate hikes means, Celente slices through the media hype and propaganda to tell the fact-based story of a global economy heading off a cliff.

Trends This Week – The Presidential Reality Show in full swing as America in decline – 04.27.16

Global master forecaster Gerald Celente analyzes the state of the presidential race as he reflects on the state of America’s decline in the 21st Century and the reasons behind. America, once the world’s undisputed global heavyweight, has down-trended into an economic, political, social, cultural and lifestyle bantamweight. He also makes some predictions on the campaign ahead and also breaks down recent economic activity and the ticking time bomb that is the global economy.

Progressive Commentary Hour – 04.26.16

Today on the “Progressive Commentary Hour” Gary continues his great series, Conversations With Remarkable Minds.

Tonight from Australia we have John Pilger discussing “The rise of the world’s new ruling elite and the misery left in the wake of their climb to the top.”

First we played this You Tube clip of John from 2009 and then spoke to John for about 30 minutes: Here is John’s bio and a link to the video. Enjoy.

VIDEO: John Pilger – Obama & Empire

BIO:

John Pilger is one of the world’s most renowned investigative journalists and documentary filmmakers. Originally from Australia, John started his career with Reuters and the London Daily Mail, becoming its chief foreign correspondent and reporting from all over the world, notably Vietnam. He is the youngest journalist to receive the UK’s highest Journalist of the Year Award. He has reported on the civil rights movement in the US, marched to Washington following the assassination of Martin Luther King, reported from many war zones including Indonesia, Cambodia and the Middle East and conducted a 4 year investigation into the damage caused by the drug Thalidomide. John’s documentary films include coverage about the catastrophe in Cambodia, the genocide in East Timor, and several about the history of Australia and human rights abuses against Australia’s original Aboriginal population. His books have covered Iraq, Kosovo, and critiques of liberal media. Recently, one of John’s most important books — “The New Rulers of the World” — that exposes the underpinnings and motives of modern imperialism and the global economy has been updated and released. It is regarded by many as one of the most important investigations about postmodern power. John’s website is JohnPilger.com

Alternative Visions – Verizon Workers’ Strike and How Corporations Are Destroying US Jobs – 04.15.16

Jack Rasmus discusses the strike of 36,000 communication workers that began this week at Verizon Communications and how it reflects the radical destruction by corporations of decent jobs in the US that has been occurring since the 1990s. Jack calculates 52 million of the total 157 million jobs in the US labor force today are some form of ‘contingent’ or so-called ‘alternative work’ arrangements, paying substandard wages and few if any benefits. The Verizon strike represents worker-union efforts to stop corporate conversion of full time regular jobs to ‘contingent,’ outsourced, contract work. Jack discusses a recent Princeton Univ. study that shows temp and independent contract jobs have risen by 9.4 million just since 2005—i.e. more than the total increase in new jobs (9.1m) over the same period. Full time contingent jobs now total 23.6m, according to the Princeton study. Add to that 26 m more in part time contingent employment, plus another 8.2m unemployed and more than 60 million US workers now earn less than full time wages and virtually no benefits. And more if the ‘Uberization’ of work underway is considered. Median earnings for the 50m barely exceed $30k a year. Jack explains this is at the core of the growing working class discontent in the US that is fueling both the Trump and the Sanders candidacies. Jack speculates on the possibility of a 4-way race for the presidency in this year’s elections. The show concludes with a review of the global economy, including the IMF’s recent lowered forecast, China’s recent GDP stats, and Jack revisiting his prior forecast the US economy would again stagnant and approach zero GDP growth for the first quarter 2016 in stats out in a couple of weeks.

Alternative Visions – Krugman and Neoliberal Economist Attacks on Sanders’ Programs – 03.25.16

Dr. Jack Rasmus explains how his version of a Financial Transaction Tax on stocks, bonds, derivatives, and currencies could raise far more than sufficient revenues to pay for a single payer-national health care program and still leave hundreds of billions to expand social security Medicare and other programs. In the second half of the show, Rasmus shows how a single payer system would save $1.2 trillion a year out of the current health care cost of $3 trillion today. Based on a tax study done in Europe in 2013, Rasmus shows a US financial tax of 5% on stocks & bond trades, a 1% tax on derivatives sold in the US, and 1% on non-government US currency sales raises $3.89 trillion a year, or about twice the revenues needed for a comparative single payer system. Rasmus then reviews and debunks the debates by neoliberal economists like Paul Krugman, and Clinton’s ‘gang of four’ economists, who have been attacking Sanders’ proposals for a financial tax and single payer health care. In the first half of the show, reviewing recent events in the global economy Rasmus addresses the fallout from the European Central Bank’s recent decision to expand its quantitative easing and negative interest rate programs and why they will fail; the growing default risk in the US energy junk bond markets; the preliminary agreements by Russia, Saudi Arabia and others to freeze oil prices; China’s continuing desperate moves to deal with the massive bad corporate debt problem; French retreats on introducing labor market reforms in response to mass demonstrations: the doubling in average prescription drug prices in the US: and why millennials (age 25-34) in the US now earn take home pay today in 2016 less than they did in 1984.

Alternative Visions – Is the Global Economy Recovering or Slowing? – 07.25.15

To read the public and business press, it appears the US economy is about to accelerate, the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates, unemployment is at pre-recession lows, wages are about to rise, housing is recovering. Meanwhile, Europe is growing again now that the Greek crisis is resolved; China has stabilized its stock marke;, and the rest of the world is on a recovery path. But this public spin to the current US and global economic scene does not conform to reality. Jack Rasmus takes listeners on an ‘economic tour’ of the realities in the US and global real economy, where the US continues on a sub-par ‘stop go’ recovery, where China is really growing at 4-5% GDP, not the announced 7%, where China’s stock market collapse, begun in June, has only paused before another turn lower, where Europe QE is failing to generate a sustainable recovery and the ‘Greek Crisis’ is far from over, where Japan’s real economy has stalled (again for the fifth time since 2008), and where emerging markets from Indonesia to Brazil to Turkey are slowing and slipping into recessions. The global oil deflation is entering another decline, global commodities prices and sales are falling further, currency instability is rising, and money capital is flowing back to the US from everywhere, raising rates in the US and slowing economies elsewhere as the US dollar rises. (Next week: ‘Is the Global Economy Heading for Another Financial Crisis?