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Most news networks cut away when Paul came on to make this opening statement and house.gov failed to archive it. Ron Paul opening statement to Bernanke at FSC 2-27-2008

Ron Paul is the smartest Man in the room and gets Helicopter Ben to admit he is right.

After Bear Stearns Cos. said Friday it will have to borrow money through JPMorgan Chase & Co., backed by the New York Federal Reserve, investors are curious: What does this mean for other banks, and who might be next? Q: Is this going to happen to other investment banks? A: Nobody knows for sure, but it could. Until proven otherwise, the market will probably act as if there are more near-collapses to come -- just as it did on Friday, when investors sold off their bank holdings and sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 200 points.

State and local governments tighten belts as tax revenues fall, a ripple effect of the housing slump. Go watch "America: Freedom to Fascism" under the videos folder.

Shares took a dive on Friday after an emergency bailout for Bear Stearns, the investment bank, rocked Wall Street’s confidence in the fragile credit market. Although speculation that Bear was in trouble had swirled for days, the announcement that JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Reserve would step in to prop up the bank seemed to catch investors by surprise.

WASHINGTON — Driven by a sour economy and skittish consumers, U.S. business bankruptcies had their sharpest quarterly rise in two years, jumping 17 percent in the second quarter of 2008, according to an analysis by McClatchy Newspapers. Commercial filings for the first half of 2008 are up 45 percent from last year, as the national business climate continues to deteriorate amid rising energy and food costs, mounting job losses, tighter credit and a reluctance among consumers to part with discretionary income.

The Federal Reserve and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM PRH) (NYSE:JPM PRX) (NYSE:JPM PRK) (NYSE:JPM PRJ) (NYSE:JPT) (NYSE:JPM) jpm agreed Friday to rescue Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) bsc after its cash position "significantly deteriorated," sparking concerns of a global financial crisis and sending the brokerage's stock crashing 47% to a 91/2-year low. JPMorgan will provide Bear Stearns with an undisclosed amount of secured funding for up to 28 days. But it's really just a conduit for the New York Fed, which will assume the credit risk.

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Bear Stearns Cos.' (BSC) liquidity crisis is dragging down the entire stock market, with the financial sector one of the hardest hit.

OMAHA — Billionaire Warren Buffett says the U.S. economy is essentially in a recession, even if it hasn't met the technical definition yet. Buffett said Monday on CNBC-TV that reports he gets from the retail businesses owned by his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA)(BRKB), show a significant slowdown in purchases.

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

The first look at next year's city budget is not pretty. Expect planned increases in road paving, police officers and firefighters and parks improvements to be put on hold for a year to forestall a multimillion-dollar shortfall. Those services are the foundation of the city's 10-year "budget sustainability plan." While the city will not cut any improvements already added in the first two years of the plan, it won't be adding new resources next fiscal year, under a proposal the council will start considering Tuesday.

Get ready for the price of gold to soar after this type of story in mainstream! John Williams discusses a coming financial depression. Explore these articles: FDIC Girds For Bank Failures & The FDIC Will Seek to Rehire 25 of It's Own Retired Members, Many of Whom Specialized in Bank Closings. http://www.thestreet.com/print/story/10405078.html http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/... Wall Street Bank Run http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008... US Properties Plunge Into Negative Equity Than At Any Time Since The Great Depression Of The 30's Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/24/useconomy.... U.S. Credit Markets Collapsing! http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/ECONOMY?SITE=RIPAW... I think now you get the point. The good times are over.

Homeless people living in cars and motorhomes across the US are being joined by a new breed: the middle class. As mortgage foreclosures continue to rise, growing numbers of middle-class professionals are losing their homes and downsizing from four bedrooms to four wheels.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The cascading fallout from the subprime loan crisis, barely a cloud on the horizon a year ago, is now viewed by experts as the economy's gravest threat. In a survey being released Monday, 34 percent of the members of the National Association for Business Economics ranked the financial market turmoil from those loan defaults as the No. 1 threat to the economy over the next two years.

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil may rise to $120 a barrel within six months due to the dollar weakness and global political tensions, the chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi National Energy Co. said. ``I think a trading range between $80 and $120 a barrel this year is about right,'' Peter Barker-Homek, the head of the United Arab Emirates state-controlled company, which is also known as Taqa, said in an interview in Dubai today. ``But with the softness of the dollar, and the occasional interruptions that you have because of politics, I think we could see $120 oil.''

Wow, the entire economy is tanking with the exception that you're working on new ways to screw with somebody. ----- Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems overcame industry labor shortages and grew by almost 12 percent last year, solidifying its rank as Southern Arizona's largest employer. In this year's Star 200 survey, the world's largest missile maker reported it grew to 12,515 full-time-equivalent positions by the end of 2007, up from 11,184 at the end of 2006. That growth came as the company's net sales increased by 11 percent from 2006 to 2007. The job increase in 2007 was Raytheon Missile Systems' largest since 2000, Star 200 data show.

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar declined to a three-year low against the yen on speculation banks will report more losses from the collapse of the U.S. subprime-mortgage market. The currency fell for a fifth day, dropping below 103 yen for the first time since January 2005, and was within 1 cent of its weakest ever against the euro as stocks dropped and the cost of protecting corporate debt from default rose to record highs. The dollar slipped before an industry report forecast to show manufacturing in the U.S. dropped to the lowest level since April 2004.

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell below $1.51 per euro for the first time after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled he's ready to lower interest rates again to support the weakening U.S. economy.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was lower against a basket of currencies for the sixth day on Tuesday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a grim assessment of the U.S. housing sector, adding to mounting fears of recession.

The euro broke new records above $1.50 against the dollar on Wednesday, pushing oil and precious metals to fresh peaks, while weighing on equity markets. The dramatic moves followed weak US data and comments from the Federal Reserve which reinforced expectations of further aggressive US rate cuts.

Wall Street suffered heavily amid the global sell-off as the Dow fell by as much 503 points at one point and pre-trading in all three major markets was temporarily suspended on the 79th anniversary of the 1929 Wall Street Crash.

The good-time capital of the US has hit a losing streak. Guy Adams reports on an epidemic of bankruptcies, foreclosures and mass lay-offs. Since the day Las Vegas was created in the shimmering Nevada desert, visitors have been drawn by one simple promise: "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". The motto adorns the city's road signs, and has inspired everything from its souvenir T-shirts to the local tourist board's seductive advertising campaigns. These days, that motto is imbued with a worrying sense of irony. Because America's most outrageous city is facing a growing multitude of problems, and they all boil down to a single, unavoidable point: right now, far too little happens in Vegas, because not enough people are actually staying there.

Growing numbers of middle-class Americans say they aren't better off than they were five years ago, reflecting economic pressures amid growing debt, a study released Wednesday shows. Their short-term assessment of personal progress, according to the study, is the worst it's been in nearly half a century.

The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed late Friday. CARSON CITY, NEV. (AP) -- The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank N.A., operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed late Friday by federal regulators.

In deploying its most powerful weapon on Friday, the Federal Reserve made clear that some banks are simply too big to fail. While Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) ' near-death experience is sending shudders through the financial world, it also provided a reminder that banking giants have the ultimate insurance policy -- a government rescue. Previous bailouts, notably the 1998 effort to smoothly wind down hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, have generated cries that the government, by creating moral hazard, is sowing the seeds of the next financial collapse. Such criticism may be more muted now because market turmoil has already exacted a high toll -- with hedge funds collapsing and all of Wall Street recoiling.

With the fiscal year already two-thirds finished, there was finally some movement last week to address the state’s impending $1.2 billion budget shortfall. On Thursday (Feb. 21), Gov Janet Napolitano ordered a freeze on hiring for all open state jobs except those in health, safety and ***REVENUE COLLECTIONS***. Napolitano had been arguing against an emergency bill passed by the House earlier in the week to improse a hiring freeze saying state agency directors had the situation under control.

The foreclosure crisis is deepening in Arizona and across the country. The mortgage research firm RealtyTrac Inc. Tuesday reported that the foreclosure rate jumped 57 percent nationally in January. Nevada led the nation in filings, followed in the top 10 by California, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Georgia, Connecticut, Ohio and Michigan. Nationwide last month, 233,000 homes got at least one notice from the lender related to overdue payments from the homeowner. Nearly half involved first-time default notices. In Arizona, there were more than 9,000 filings last month -- more than double the number from the same month last year.

LONDON (Reuters) - Even as it recorded record lows against the euro on Wednesday, the out-of-favor dollar could turn out to be an unlikely beneficiary of the economic misery afflicting the United States.

Abu Dhabi Floating the Gulf currencies is the best means to relieving the region's rising inflationary pressures, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in Abu Dhabi on Monday. The dollar peg forces the Gulf states to follow US monetary policy at a time when the Fed is cutting rates to ward off recession and Gulf economies are experiencing an unprecedented boom from oil revenues.

NEW YORK, Aug. 29 -- Integrity Bank of Alpharetta, Ga., on Friday became the 10th U.S. bank to fail this year, done in by the very business it was built on -- real estate lending.

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Gold climbed to a record above $980 an ounce and silver advanced to a 27-year high above $20 an ounce in Asia as a weakening dollar boosted the appeal of the precious metals as alternative investment and rising raw material costs boosted demand for a hedge against inflation. The dollar dropped to a record against a basket of six major currencies today. Crude oil traded close to $102 a barrel, while soybeans, corn and vegetable oils rose to records. Bullion, seen by some investors as a store of value, may top $1,000 an ounce on quickening consumer prices, according to a Bloomberg survey.

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Gold surged to a record high on Wednesday, nearing $1,000 an ounce as investors were spurred by a plummeting dollar, oil's initial rally and speculation there will be further U.S. rate cuts.

In order to generate revenue, they're going to come after us in the form of traffic tickets and taxes. Such as what Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano is doing.

If history repeats itself, we will soon be recipients of the biggest windfall of the new millennia. Not since the Bank of England sold 400 tons of its gold in 1999 at the very bottom of the market have gold investors been presented with such good fortune. Ladies and gentlemen, get your pens and checkbooks ready.

Currency traders were given a green light to continue selling the US dollar on Wednesday, as the International Monetary Fund said the greenback “remains overvalued” and rejected claims the euro had risen too far.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday warned authorities worldwide to "think the unthinkable" in planning to cope with a mounting crisis in the global financial system. John Lipsky, IMF first deputy managing director, called for "decisive policy action" amid a credit crunch that stems from the US real estate meltdown and is spreading throughout the financial markets. The coordinated actions by the US Federal Reserve and other global central banks on Tuesday to further pump billions of dollars of liquidity into financial markets were "helpful" but stronger measures may be necessary.

Greenville's newest Starbucks store on Fire Tower Road will be one of more than 600 shops nationwide slated to close by the first half of 2009, according to a list of store closures on the company's Web site. The Seattle-based coffee shop chain on July 1 announced plans to shut down 600 under-performing domestic cafes this year in an effort to offset some of its financial difficulties. The company said 70 percent of the shops to be closed have been open for less than three years.

When will people realize that the system is setup for all of us to fail? ----- Until Thursday, when the federal minimum wage rose from $5.85 to $6.55, he was earning $6.15 hourly for 35 to 40 hours a week at a Wendy's restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. He said each paycheck, coming every other week, amounted to about $380 after taxes. The month's first paycheck went exclusively to bills, food and his $551 rent. Nearly all of the second went to the same.

Statement at Hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, February 15, 2007 Transparency in monetary policy is a goal we should all support. I've often wondered why Congress so willingly has given up its prerogative over monetary policy. Astonishingly, Congress in essence has ceded total control over the value of our money to a secretive central bank. Congress created the Federal Reserve, yet it had no constitutional authority to do so. We forget that those powers not explicitly granted to Congress by the Constitution are inherently denied to Congress – and thus the authority to establish a central bank never was given. Of course Jefferson and Hamilton had that debate early on, a debate seemingly settled in 1913.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Desperate to aid an economy in crisis, the Federal Reserve is ready to deliver yet another big interest rate cut. How big? One-half of a percentage point, some economists say. Investors and others hope for even more, a three-quarters cut or perhaps a full point, given the turmoil on Wall Street. It will be a close call, Fed watchers say. The speculation ends Tuesday afternoon after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and central bank policymakers have met. Whatever the decision, for a growing number of analysts, one more rate reduction will not be the lifeline that pulls the country back from the brink of the first recession since 2001. Experts in this camp believe the economy is shrinking now because of the fallout from the housing and credit debacles. Businesses are shedding jobs, Wall Street is convulsing, energy prices are skyrocketing and people are reluctant to spend. Yet these economists say lower interest rates should help cushion the blows of a recession.

Oil prices reached a new record as OPEC refused to increase its production, blaming speculators and mismanagement of the U.S. economy for high prices.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The surging price of oil reached another milestone Monday, jumping to an inflation adjusted record high of $103.95. The weaker dollar that has propelled oil and other commodities prices higher sent light, sweet crude for April delivery past $103.76 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That's the level many analysts consider to be the true record high for oil, after its $38 barrel price from 1980 is translated into 2008 dollars.

Crude oil has surged for a fourth day as the feeble dollar and lacklustre stock markets increased the appeal of commodities for investors. Oil and gold prices surged to record highs yesterday as the dollar fell to close to its lowest level ever against the euro.

Oil Spikes Above $102, Then Pulls Back but Stays High As Weakening Dollar Entices Investors NEW YORK (AP) -- Crude prices spiked above $102 a barrel for the first time Wednesday, then retreated after the government reported the nation is greased with more oil and gasoline than expected.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As anyone who's been to the gas station or supermarket lately knows, the prices of fuel and food are on the rise. And you haven't seen anything yet, some experts say.

Under Bush, the U.S. trade deficit has doubled. Three million manufacturing jobs have vanished. And America has begun to run a trade deficit in advanced technology goods of more than $50 billion.

Once again the champion of the Constitution, Ron Paul, takes on the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as the Feds prepare to drop rates once again. You could set off a fire with a match in the room. On one side of the room the Federal Reserve's Chairman and on the other, the defender of the Constitution and the people. Tensions were high as Ben Bernanke braced himself for the expected dose of common sense once again coming from Congressman and Dr. Ron Paul.

This morning on Fox News Sunday, former White House adviser Karl Rove claimed that redeployment from Iraq would cause oil prices to shoot to $200 a barrel: If we were to give up Iraq with the third largest oil reserves in the world to the control of an Al Qaida regime or to the control of Iran, don’t you think $200 a barrel oil would have a cost to the American economy?

When William Lapp, of US-based consultancy Advanced Economic Solutions, took the podium at the annual US Department of Agriculture conference, the sentiment was already bullish for agricultural commodities boosted by demand from the biofuels industry and emerging countries. He added a twist – that rising agricultural raw material prices would translate this year into sharply higher food inflation.

Soaring Food Prices Putting U.S. Emergency Aid in Peril Supplies and Recipients Likely to Be Reduced The U.S. government's humanitarian relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the world's poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials at the agency said.

Share prices on major exchanges in Asia and Europe fell sharply Monday, after Friday's deep decline on Wall Street increased fears that a recession may hit the United States.

The verdict is in. The Fed's emergency rate cuts in January have failed to halt the downward spiral towards a full-blown debt deflation. Much more drastic action will be needed.

The US Income distribution does not look like a "Bell Curve". It is an "L-Curve": a gradual ramp for 99% of the population forming "horizontal branch" and steep spike at top reaching into stratosphere. disparity so great difficult to represent on single graph. Instead we have produced series pictures that can be "zoomed" over five orders magnitude.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. truckers caused minor traffic snags in parts of the country on Tuesday to protest soaring costs for diesel, according to members of a major trucking association and law enforcement officials. The mild disruptions from New Jersey to Chicago came in the midst of a week-long effort by independent truckers to get federal help easing the strain of high fuel prices through public protests or work stoppages. "Our fuel costs have doubled over the past five years and the cost of doing business has doubled," said one Florida-based driver. "Our industry is in ruins and the rest of the economy is going into a huge tailspin."

March 14 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks plunged for the third day this week after Bear Stearns Cos. required a bailout from the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to avoid collapse.

The US Treasury is running out of time before foreign patience snaps, writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Merrill Lynch has warned that the United States could face a foreign "financing crisis" within months as the full consequences of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage debacle spread through the world. The country depends on Asian, Russian and Middle Eastern investors to fund much of its $700bn (£350bn) current account deficit, leaving it far more vulnerable to a collapse of confidence than Japan in the early 1990s after the Nikkei bubble burst. Britain and other Anglo-Saxon deficit states could face a similar retreat by foreign investors.

NEW YORK - For months, Americans have been subjected to a sort of economic water torture — a maddening drip of bad news about jobs, gas prices, sagging home values, creeping inflation, the slouching dollar and a stock market in bumpy descent. Then came Bear Stearns. One of the five largest U.S. investment banks nearly collapsed in a single day before the government propped it up by backing emergency loans and a rival stepped in to buy it for a paltry $2 per share.

As skyrocketing food and gasoline prices strain budgets, utilities are disconnecting many more customers who fall behind on their bills, and even moderate-income households are getting zapped. Electricity and natural gas shutoffs are up at least 15% in several states compared with last year. Totals for some utilities have more than doubled.

Consumer confidence is at the lowest level in more than 14 years according to the Conference Board, a business and research organization that publishes the index. One of the biggest fears for Americans: a weak job market.

Federal funding for local job training is about to hit its lowest level in eight years, even as usage of the local job bank has doubled. State and local work-force training leaders are criticizing the federal government's cut in job training funds and its timing. "It seems severely debilitating to be taking money from the system that helps people get jobs when we're smack in the middle of a recession and people are losing their jobs," said Pat Harrington, assistant director for Employment and Rehabilitation Services at the Arizona Department of Economic Security.