Republican’s like to say, it is not just the bank’s fault that this housing bubble has burst, but that some people spent beyond their means.

Bubble after bubble, each bailout finances the next overblown contraction. The savings and loan bailout, created by Bush Sr. and McCain’s deregulation festival, financed the dot com bubble. The 500 billion dollar hedge fund bailout, following the tech bubble bursting, financed the real estate bubble. And the prime irrational actor in spiraling home costs, little blamed by democrats or republicans, were REITs.

Real estate investment trusts are rich people funds to buy land and property. No one lives on the land, few ever see or know what a REIT holds, but half the drive in prices is attributed to their activities taking land and homes off the market for speculative purpose. In fact, the surge in available properties which drives home price drops in many regions is very much a reflection of the rich having dumped much of their REITholdings.

Here is some recent history of this profitable den of irresponsibility in the guise of savvy. Three years back-

Two years back… FED culpability and a Mickey in your drink

And one year back.

And today? Good old lessons.

“Buy when there’s blood in the streets” (Baron Rothschild in 1871)

This bailout will fund the bio-tech bubble.

And none of it is a mistake. The expansions and contractions are part and parcel of elite control and dominance techniques.

Some say buy low sell high. I say, don’t buy and aim for the chest.

(I also say, buy as much woodland as you can afford and preserve it and make a well organized militia.)

Post by: Johnny Civil has written extensively under many names for Cañamo, Hanf!, The Shadow, The East Coast Ledger and many other outlets.

By Charles Mostoller

Supreme Court case pits exploitation of the Amazon against Indigenous rights in Brazil

On August 27th, the Brazilian Supreme Court will decide a case that could have far reaching effects on the Amazon and the half-million indigenous people who live there. The case questions the legality of a process that created an Indigenous Territory in northern Brazil, and threatens to reverse decades of progress on indigenous and social rights throughout the country.

In 2005, after more than two decades of struggle for recognition, five indigenous groups in Brazil’s northern Roraima state won official recognition of their rights to their ancestral lands. Their efforts culminated in the creation of a new Indigenous Territory, Raposa Serra do Sol, covering a large swath of the Amazon Rainforest on the border with Guyana. [Read more →]

ECL Editor Desk

In a choice that one can only hope he will reverse, Presidential hopeful Barak Obama chose legendary liar Joe Biden as his Vice-Presidential running mate.  In what is being hailed as a pathetic and weak move across the board, one wonders what photos of Obama Biden must have.

Are there no other elders Obama could have chosen?  Must he pick a blowhard loser who only can claim to be effective as an insider?  Is this change anyone can believe in?

Now expect a bold pick from McCain like Condi or… well, Cheney would be a bolder choice than Joeseph Biden, a man who has already brought moore than his fair share of shame upon the Democratic Party.

Obama might as well have picked Cynthia McKinney for equal calamitous effect.  The McCain camp must be opening champagne bottles by the case.  

Loose change you can believe in… Obama is now officially a bummer.

Iraq Hussain Osama and Mr. Plagiarism 2008, who could say no to that?

TIBET: CUSTODIAN OF KAILASH

In the first article of this series, Tibet: Beyond Geopolitics, it is argued that the Chinese occupation of Tibet was a karmic message to a social and religious system that had grown weak and complacent. This view, while in line with Buddhist philosophy, nevertheless begs one fundamental question: why was this message driven home so harshly on the peaceful nation of Tibet, instead of on the belligerent and corrupt countries of the world? The answer lies in the complex interaction between a lofty, snow-covered Himalayan mountain, the collective karma of Tibet and the spiritual fate of the entire planet. Are we ready?
[Read more →]