Indeed it is.

I think the 3800 have died to keep oil prices UP...

This is Greenspan's point;

Oil is how we maintain our way of life in the US. Greenspan is very pragmatic and a libertarian, but there was a frightening scenario that led him to the opinion that protecting oil is protecting our way of life.

Saddam had the funds to get a lost russian nuke. With this weapon he could hold the nearby straight hostage, effectively shutting down a huge amount of oil to the US. The US economy would absolutely COLLAPSE under this scenario, if it played out for more than a few weeks... great depression style.

Conceivably we could put pressure on other sources to make up some of the difference, but it seems more reasonable that other nations and corporations would take advantage of this situation.

I don't know there are several ways of looking at the oil factor and how Greenspan saw it and the effects that these will have in the future for the US economy.

Saddam used to either max out or dry out production in the oil market, this would destabilize oil prices, most OPEC countries and the western world would want price stability in such a commodity.

With the removal of Saddam and the promises that the Iraq war would quickly we actually made the situation worse with oil prices rising to around $80/barrel. OPEC countries don't mind this because it’s direct profit for them, nor do the oil companies.

Saddam also threatened to move away from oil trade in US dollars to oil trade in Euros. This scenario would also collapse the US economy as it relies on the printing of the US dollar to bankroll its huge foreign debts.

However with the economic instability in the subprime markets, exposure of bad loans, credit squeeze, expenditure on war, huge foreign debts coupled with high import expenditure in the US. We are seeing the US dollar slowly being put away as the currency of reserve in favor of the Euro since it promises more sustained value then the US dollar at the moment and in the coming future. The Euro has just reached the highest level against the dollar; the Canadian loonie has reached parity with the US dollar for the first time in 31 years.

Consumer expenditure is one of the largest driving forces in the US economy and it's slowly waning as well, since much of it was bank rolled on debt via credit.

Is the US headed for a recession? Well that really depends, if the current course of events prevails and there is no economic shock then a general recession can be avoided. There will be a growth recession, as these factors are the same ones that MNCs look at in projecting growth and doing capital expenditure. Will it be all that bad? Probably not, but you will see a further increase in the income gap because those on the lowest bar will be the most effected.

Let’s not forget that the myriad range of cuts in state expenditure meant that large parts of the infrastructure have depreciated, The American Society of Engineers gave an average grade of D, and the highest grade of C+. Not to mention the $59 trillion that tax payers would need to foot for future Medicare and social security. Not to mention the continuing the Iraq war is close to half a trillion so far with a realistic, if things remain the same, projected cost of 2 trillion. Tax cuts are nice and all, but they are unrealistic if they are made on infrastructure and parts of the government that have sustained the US way of life for so long, you do away with them and the system starts to depreciate.

How did the US come to be exposed so badly to these economic shocks? Poor fiscal planning by an administration that is only conservative on the surface.

So you know what you have to do American?......Create a sustainable micro-economy, centered around a small community of like-minded individuals, to sustain your quality of life, for you and yours. The future is nothing anyone can predict with any certainty, based on the current linear models rapidly deteriorating, the symbology of the current paradigm, or some fantasy of a, slow, forward progression of societies, prior to this last 100 years. The near future will break all the rules of predictability, the changes will come faster and faster-

Am continually in conversation with folks, who are bound by their aversion to change, in denial that the world they are half-assed "slowing" their children how to navigate, will look anything like the one they remember-THEY HAVE NO CLUE.....Simply look, at the predictable nature of humans, as they flounder during some contrived duress, or in an emergency situation, or when they lose their goddamn credit card fer crissakes.....

Rest assured, the assholes that give us in the US, an opportunity to cast our vote for, they know what the near future may bring, and they are preparing for it. Amidst the wonderful new advancements, there is also conversely, a breaking down of old models, and with that will come chaos. Most of us are no where near being prepared for it, but you can place double or nothing odds on the reality, that some of the more wily monkeys do....and they are preparing for their survival, to keep their empire alive....

free energy would be a great start, for the collective veil to be lifted from the eyes of the masses......to bad they won't let us have it, the sorry cocksuckers that run the show-

(future Smithsonian exhibit?? Hall of the Heads of Old World Leaders)

*waronterror

Adding video to channels (Waronterror) - requested by MarineGunrock.

*dead

This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by oritteropo.