Somalis leaving Minn. for jihad MINNEAPOLIS — Mohamud Ali Hassan once told the Somali grandmother who raised him that he'd become a doctor and care for her. The Somali immigrant, who moved to the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" when he was 8, had good grades at the University of Minnesota and called Muslims to prayer at his mosque, where he also slept during the holy month of Ramadan.But on Nov. 1, Hassan disappeared, as have a dozen other boys and young men here — two days after another young Muslim from Minnesota blew himself up as a suicide bomber in Somalia.Hassan, 18, called his grandmother to say he was back in Somalia, where an Islamist militia is trying to take over the Horn of Africa nation. What he was doing there, he did not say.Now the FBI is asking questions, as are members of the Somali community. The Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center denies any wrongdoing, but many here suspect that the mosque and its imam are radicalizing their youth to become jihadists in an Islamic holy war overseas or perhaps even in the United States "They are very powerful, whoever got into his mind and got him to do this," says Hassan's grandmother Fadumo Elmi, 83. "We were forced out of our country one time. We don't want to be forced out of here."Details of the disappearances are few, but what little is known is cause for concern, says Abdizirak Bihi, a community activist who represents six families of young men who disappeared in early November.Among them was Bihi's nephew, Burhan Hassan, 17, a high school junior.All were good students, had no problems with the law, Bihi says. All were raised by single mothers and spent a lot of time in the Abubakar As-Saddique Islamic Center.The center is the largest mosque in the Twin Cities. Bihi worries it is preaching a radical Islamic ideology to vulnerable young men. Shirwa Ahmed, 19, who left in August with no notice to his family, was among five terrorists who blew themselves up Oct. 29 in an attack that killed 24 people in Somalia, Bihi says."We are wanting the government and politicians to investigate who is responsible for sending our kids and we are requesting the American government to help us to get us back our kids." Bihi says.Other Somali immigrants worry the disappearances may foretell dangers for their adopted nation. "That kid that blew himself up in Somalia could have done it here in Minneapolis," says Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul.Special Agent E.K. Wilson of the FBI in Minneapolis would not say whether his agency is investigating the mosque. Bihi and Elmi said the FBI has talked to them and others about the missing.Wilson said the FBI knows that Muslims here have been going overseas to fight."We're aware that a number of Somali men have traveled from around the United States including Minneapolis to potentially fight overseas," Wilson said.A lawyer for the Abubaker As-Saddique Islamic Center denied any involvement in planning or financing the men's travels or any political indoctrination."The mosque has taken a position that it would never take a stand on any political issues," says lawyer Mahir Sherif in San Diego. "We do not support terrorism or any kind of suicide bombing or act of violence."He said federal authorities last month prevented the mosque's religious leader, Sheik Abdirahman Ahmed, from flying to Mecca.Somalia has been plagued by lawlessness, terrorism and warfare since the collapse of the military government in 1991. In recent years, a radical Islamist militia that seeks to impose Islamic law captured the capital of Mogadishu, where 18 U.S. soldiers died in the infamous "Blackhawk Down" battle of 1993. Troops from Ethiopia invaded in 2006 to counter the Islamists, who have been praised by Osama bin Laden.Yusuf Shaba, who writes about Islamic ideology and radicalism for the Warsan Times, a Somali-English monthly newspaper published in Minneapolis, says he decided to speak out about what he considers Islamic indoctrination at Minneapolis mosques because he doesn't want his sons to follow the same path he did.Shaba, 34, joined Al Ittihad Al-Islami (Islamic Union) at age 16 and was wounded at age 19 in Somalia. Al Ittihad was Somalia's largest Islamic terrorist group in the 1990s.Shaba says jihadists generally recruit young men from among two groups: those shunned by their families because they've turned to drugs, gangs or alcohol; and the sons of families who forbid exposure to Western culture and allow them to socialize only at the mosque.Shaba says he and his three teenage sons attended a program two months ago at Abubaker As-Saddique Islamic Center, where a former Somali warrior sat in a circle with other young people and delivered a passionate recitation of his experiences during the Somali civil war.Some mosques also screen videos about the war in Afghanistan and about Muslim victims of perceived injustices in such places as Nigeria and the Palestinian territories. "They give them all the grievances that Osama Bin Laden has," Shaba says. "They talk about nothing but jihad and it's the best thing that can happen to a Muslim."When the brainwashing is done and the teachers are confident students will do anything asked of them, the teachers give them tazkia, or clearance, to get more specialized training in the United States or abroad, Shaba says."The people who trained us encouraged us to not get married, to sever our ties with our families, so that when the mission comes we won't worry about family."Shaba says similar activities occur at Minnesota Da'wah Institute in St. Paul, another mosque. Sheik Mahamud Hassan, the institute's imam, says nothing like that is happening as his mosque. "It's liars," he says. "I'm not missing any members."Elmi wrapped herself in her shawl and sobbed as she thought of Hassan in her one bedroom apartment in a Minneapolis public housing high rise. Outside, snow covered the parking lot and temperatures were below zero.They moved to the United States in 1996, when Hassan was 8 and after his father was killed in the civil war. Hassan was obedient, but after going to the mosque, "He was completely changed.""I thought the mosque would be a much safer place than the night clubs and bars," she said, crying. "I don't want God to curse me because I say something bad about the mosque."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/200 ... alis_N.htm
Verdict expected Monday in Fort Dix case
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Jurors in the case of five men accused of plotting an attack on New Jersey's Fort Dix say they expect to finish deliberating Monday.
The jury worked on the case for nearly seven hours on Sunday. It was the fifth day of deliberations.
There were no notes or other requests during Sunday's deliberations. The jury asked for two transcripts in the first four days.
The five defendants are all foreign-born Muslim men who lived for years in a Philadelphia suburb. They're charged with conspiring to kill military personnel and attempted murder. They would face life in prison if convicted of those charges.
None of the men testified in their trial, but their lawyers say they were not plotting anything.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-12-21-fort-dix_N.htmForecast: A Long, Cold Winter
Stephanie Pomboy, Founder and President, MacroMavens
By LAWRENCE C. STRAUSS MORE ARTICLES BY AUTHOR
AN INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE POMBOY: It will take consumers at least five years -- and probably more -- to recover from this crisis.
"LIKE THE BUBBLE IN FINANCIAL ASSETS, THE NEW REAL-ESTATE bubble has its own distinctly disturbing characteristics," Stephanie Pomboy wrote in an April 2002 note titled "The Great Bubble Transfer." The founder and president of MacroMavens was on to something, even if she was early, and she worried about the big buildup of consumer debt fueled by rising home prices. Pomboy, whose Manhattan firm analyzes macroeconomic themes and their investment implications, remains bearish, convinced that a long period of paltry U.S. economic growth is in store -- akin to what happened in Japan in the 1990s. For more of her views and forecasts, read on.
Brad Trent for Barron's
"If you want to get long socialism, one of the next market segments that will be given a guarantee will be municipal bonds." –Stephanie Pomboy
Barron's: How bad has the macro economy gotten?
Pomboy: It is certainly the toughest one any of us has lived through. My fear is that it's actually just in the early stages and that it is going to get substantially worse on the economic side, although all the government measures that have taken place so far might help to insulate some of the damage on the financial side.
What about the short-term outlook?
Having been bearish, for me the real challenge is to identify the turn. One thing at work right now is what I call the cattle prod -- essentially the Fed poking people to take risk. They are taxing cash by having negative real returns on cash. At the same time, yields on investment-grade and junk bonds are incredibly alluring. You can pick up 15 percentage points over cash buying junk bonds. Or you can pick up 8.5 percentage points on investment-grade paper. At some point, the cattle prod will get people moving, as it did in March of '03 when the market turned.
What else do you see happening in the near term?
With the government guaranteeing all manner of private-credit claims, many investors may decide to get long "socialism," for lack of a better term. Or, as some euphemistically put it, this is partnering with the government. So in the short run, we could see a rally in risky assets and a selloff in Treasuries. But the economic deleveraging has barely begun, and that's my longer-term thesis. It all revolves around the idea that U.S. consumers are actually going to do the unthinkable -- they are going to save -- and that we will be more like Japan than anyone believes is possible.
Hence, consumption declines.
Right. Wages have been silently crowded out by benefits as a share of total compensation, as companies look to offset rising health-care costs. The result is that the share of income that consumers can actually spend is at its lowest in the post-war period. It had not been a problem, because consumers would just borrow to fill that gap. But now, they don't have appreciating assets against which to borrow. So while we could get a rally in risk assets -- including high-yield debt -- it's likely to be a short-term rally within a context of a secular bear market.
Any other important longer-term trends you expect?
We are going to see a secular rotation from paper assets to hard assets like gold. The whole global competitive currency devaluation, including that of the dollar, plays right into that.
Do you see any asset classes besides junk bonds benefiting from a short-term rally?
There is a chance that equities participate in that rally as well, although I think investment-grade corporate credits look much more attractive than stocks. But when you think about pension funds that are trying to make 8% annual returns, they are not doing it by getting 1% on two-year Treasury notes. They can't use the secret sauce of leverage anymore.
If I was going to hold my nose and buy anything, I probably would buy higher-quality corporate credits. If you want to get long socialism, one of the next segments of the market that will be given a guarantee will be municipal bonds. That's because state and local governments are a huge share of total [gross domestic product] and employment, and we can't afford to have them down for the count.
One thing that caught our eye in one of your recent notes was the steep decline of Treasury-buying by foreigners. What are the ramifications of that?
We are acting as though there are no consequences to basically running the money off the printing press and handing it to the Federal government to backstop financial markets or bail out homeowners or what not. There is no consequence to doing this, unless or until the rest of the world says to us, 'We don't like this game' and 'We don't want to have all the dollar claims we are holding debased by [Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke] running his printing press.'
So if foreign investors stop buying Treasuries, or even significantly pare their buying, that means higher rates in the U.S.
That's correct. But then [Bernanke] will start buying Treasuries to arrest the rise in interest rates. I've always had a very simplistic view about this: Either we are going to pay for our policy sins via higher interest rates or a weaker dollar. And for an economy that is as levered as the one in the U.S. is, the former choice is not an option. We can't pay through higher interest rates; we barely got to 4.5%, 5% before the whole subprime crisis erupted. So a weaker dollar is the natural valve. But right now, we are enjoying some real competition in the ugly contest from the currencies of the European Union and the United Kingdom, and that will probably persist for a while because they are in pretty bad shape, and they are a little bit behind the curve relative to us.
Could you elaborate on that choice between higher rates or a weaker dollar?
If we rely on foreign creditors to lend us the money to sustain our lifestyles -- and that's what we do -- we need to compensate them for that risk of lending to us. As the economy weakens and our credit quality should theoretically be deteriorating, the only way we can really attract that same capital is by offering a higher interest rate or making our assets cheaper to them, in this case by having our currency be weaker.
How would you assess the job Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have done in responding to the financial crisis?
My preferred solution would have been to do nothing. I think it's the meddling of policy makers that got us into this situation in the first place, along with the asymmetric practice of capitalism where, as long as everyone is succeeding, it is wonderful thing -- but the moment someone fails, we need to revert to socialism. That is really how we got to this place. And [former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan] Greenspan's desire to constantly lubricate any pain by pumping money into the system really created this bubble. But since doing nothing was not a compelling option to [Bernanke and Paulson], I would have favored more aggressive action to arrest home-price deflation, which would have been tackling the disease. Instead, they've chosen to treat the symptoms. Having said all of that, Bernanke and Paulson are determined to mitigate the pain.
You were concerned about housing before it blew up. What worried you?
First, it was the incredible expansion in lending on housing. I was also focused on the share of household income that was actually spendable money, and it was puzzling how consumers could sustain consumption when their income certainly wasn't supportive of that. Clearly, the reliance on asset inflation as a substitute for income was a major source of concern for me.
It also shocked me that as a share of bank assets, exposure to real estate was at a record level. Almost 50% of total bank assets were either in first mortgages, mortgage-backed securities or investments in real estate, and that was unprecedented. And yet there seemed to be this general idea that 'Oh, no, the banks had securitized and off-loaded all of their real-estate risk.' Clearly, as we have discovered, that was not the case at all. Yes, they securitized a lot of mortgages, but then they turned around and invested it in mortgage-backed securities. Ultimately, they ended up sitting on record exposure to one of the biggest bubbles in our lifetime.
What kind of economic conditions do you see going forward?
I expect that we'll just have a prolonged period of subpar growth. I don't think it will be exactly like Japan, but it will be Japanesque. Clearly, we have been far more aggressive in the U.S., in terms of policy actions. But what will happen here is that credit is no longer the answer, because households decide they don't want to borrow. As a result, the government will really become more important as spender of last resort.
What domestic GDP growth will we get?
In terms of nominal GDP, I see it being around 1% for a long time, five years for sure. One thing to consider is that after the dot-com bubble burst, it took the corporate sector five years to get back to the 2000 peak for capital expenditures, and employment never got back to that level. And the tech bubble was nothing as a share of total assets compared to housing on household balance sheets. This is so much larger. If it took the corporate sector five years to recover from the bursting of the dot-com bubble, to suggest that it would take five years for consumers to recover from this seems like a very conservative call.
What about unemployment?
Having the standard unemployment rate at 10% is definitely a possibility, though it does depend on what is done in terms of the state and local governments, which are 13% of total employment. But they have been the only area that is growing right now in terms of employment.
Where do you see rates going?
I have been bullish on Treasuries, and I did feel silly sticking with that view, because I'm really squeezing the last couple of basis points out of a multi-decade bull market. Having said that, looking back at the charts of JGBs [Japanese government bonds] in 1989, I am certain no one back then thought JGBs would ever yield under 1%. And here in 2008, even in the dark recesses of my bear cave with all the other growling bears in there, nobody believes that could happen here. There's this sense about how horrible it is that Treasuries have been able to get to these low yields, and I totally agree.
We are really abusing the privilege of dollar hegemony by printing all this money. But if I'm right and the whole economic deleveraging is still to come, you might get a selloff in Treasuries on this short-term rally in riskier assets. Then, the next thing you know, people will say, "Oh, wait. Consumers aren't coming back to the trough, this is a problem," and the market will sell off further. So on balance, I wouldn't short Treasuries.
Where do you see opportunities?
In terms of absolute returns, it is going to be very hard to come up with really compelling ideas. I like hard assets in this environment, gold in particular, where basically the major currencies are all being debased. I also think emerging markets, on a relative basis, are going to do much better than developed markets are.
We are all hanging on the edge of our seats to find out if China can pull off keeping its economy going while the rest of the world goes down the tubes. This shock-and-awe stimulus that China is applying to its own economy certainly speaks to its urgent motivation to ensure that its GDP growth stays at 10%-plus. So with the arsenal of foreign reserves they can continue to tap to support growth, I would be looking at going long equities in emerging Asian countries, including China, as well as commodities, which move hand-in-hand with emerging markets.
Why would China want to lighten its holdings of Treasuries?
It just seems to be a no-brainer that you would rather support local consumption than buy U.S. Treasuries. The interesting thing is that, contrary to most people's impressions, foreign holdings of Treasuries are really short term. Fifty percent of foreign Treasury holdings have a maturity of three years or less, so foreign holders are constantly facing the decision of what to do with rolling over that paper. It can change very quickly.
What keeps you up at night?
I do worry about preservation of capital from the standpoint of how many more unconventional policy actions we are going to have. If I'm correct about the economic deleveraging still ahead and that it will continue for many years, that's a legitimate concern.
That's why I'm long gold. I view it as the best way to protect my capital. The other worry is unemployment and this vicious circle where as consumers spend less, companies make less money, and they cut back workers.
The unemployment rate continues to rise. It is very hard to figure out how you break out of that.
Thanks, Stephanie.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB122912505428802977.html?mod=b_hpp_9_0002_b_this_weeks_magazine_home_left&ref=
Here is a blog that covers food and cooking, it was mentioned on Survival Blog, that is where i found it. It seems to be full of great info on using storage food and recipes. Enjoy
http://www.survival-cooking.blogspot.com/
Got this article from 411man of a forum i frequent and via email form a friend.
Global systemic crisis – New tipping-point in March 2009: 'When the world becomes aware that this crisis is worse than the 1930s crisis'
Public announcement GEAB N°30 (December 16, 2008) -
LEAP/E2020 anticipates than the unfolding global systemic crisis will experience in March 2009 a new tipping point of similar magnitude to the September 2008 one. According to our team, at that period of the year, the general public will become aware of three major destabilizing processes at work in the global economy, i.e.:
• the length of the crisis
• the explosion of unemployment worldwide
• the risk of sudden collapse of all capital-based pension systems
A whole range of psychological factors will contribute to this tipping point: general awareness in Europe, America and Asia that the crisis has escaped from the control of every public authority, whether national or international; that it is severely affecting all regions of the world, even if some are more affected than others (see GEAB N°28); that it is directly hitting hundreds of millions of people in the “developed” world; and that it is only worsening as its consequences reveal throughout the real economy. National governments and international institutions only have three months left to prepare themselves to the next blow, one that could go along severe risks of social chaos. The countries which are not properly equipped to cope with a surge in unemployment and major risks on pensions will be seriously destabilized by this new public awareness.
In this 30th issue of the GEAB, the LEAP/E2020 team describes these three destabilizing processes (two of them are described in this public announcement) and gives recommendations to cope with the surge in risks. In addition, this issue also provides the opportunity to make an objective assessment of the reliability of LEAP/E2020's anticipations and specifies a number of methodological aspects of the analytical process used. In 2008, LEAP/E2020's success rate reaches 80%, and even 86% when it comes to strictly socio-econimic anticipations. In a year of major upheavals, our teal ise altogether quite proud of this result.
• the length of the crisis
• the explosion of unemployment worldwide
• the risk of sudden collapse of all capital-based pension systems
A whole range of psychological factors will contribute to this tipping point: general awareness in Europe, America and Asia that the crisis has escaped from the control of every public authority, whether national or international; that it is severely affecting all regions of the world, even if some are more affected than others (see GEAB N°28); that it is directly hitting hundreds of millions of people in the “developed” world; and that it is only worsening as its consequences reveal throughout the real economy. National governments and international institutions only have three months left to prepare themselves to the next blow, one that could go along severe risks of social chaos. The countries which are not properly equipped to cope with a surge in unemployment and major risks on pensions will be seriously destabilized by this new public awareness.
In this 30th issue of the GEAB, the LEAP/E2020 team describes these three destabilizing processes (two of them are described in this public announcement) and gives recommendations to cope with the surge in risks. In addition, this issue also provides the opportunity to make an objective assessment of the reliability of LEAP/E2020's anticipations and specifies a number of methodological aspects of the analytical process used. In 2008, LEAP/E2020's success rate reaches 80%, and even 86% when it comes to strictly socio-econimic anticipations. In a year of major upheavals, our teal ise altogether quite proud of this result.
The crisis will last at least until the end of 2010
Evolution of the US money base and indications of related major US crisis periods (1910 – 2008) - Source: Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis / Mish’s Global Economic Analysis
As we already explained in GEAB N°28, the crisis will affect in different ways the different regions of the world. However, and LEAP/E2020 wishes to be very clear on that aspect, contrary to the dominant stance today (coming from those experts who denied the fact that a crisis was coming up three years ago, who denied that it was global two years ago, and who denied the fact that it was systemic six months ago), we anticipate that the minimum duration of the decanting phase of the crisis is 3 years (1). It shall be finished neither in spring 2009, nor in summer 2009, nor at the beginning of 2010. It is only towards the end of 2010 that the situation will start stabilizing again and improving a little in some regions of the world, i.e. Asia and the Eurozone, as well as in countries producing energy, mineral and food commodities (2). Elsewhere, it will continue; in particular in the US and UK, and in all the countries depending on their economy, were the duration could approximate a decade. In fact these countries should not expect any real return to growth before 2018.
Moreover no one should imagine that the improvement at the end of 2010 will correspond to a return of high growth. The recovery will take long. For instance, stock markets will take a decade to return to levels comparable to 2007, if they ever return to that. Remember that it took twenty years before Wall Street resumed its 1920 levels. Well, according to LEAP/E2020, the present crisis is deeper and longer than in the 1930s. The general public will gradually become aware of the long-term aspect of this crisis in the coming three months and this situation will immediately trigger two tendencies carrying with them socio-economic instability: fear of the future and enhanced criticism towards leaders.
Moreover no one should imagine that the improvement at the end of 2010 will correspond to a return of high growth. The recovery will take long. For instance, stock markets will take a decade to return to levels comparable to 2007, if they ever return to that. Remember that it took twenty years before Wall Street resumed its 1920 levels. Well, according to LEAP/E2020, the present crisis is deeper and longer than in the 1930s. The general public will gradually become aware of the long-term aspect of this crisis in the coming three months and this situation will immediately trigger two tendencies carrying with them socio-economic instability: fear of the future and enhanced criticism towards leaders.
The risk of sudden collapse of all capital-based pension systems
Finally, among the various consequences of the crisis for dozens of millions of people in the US, Canada, UK, Japan, Netherlands and Denmark in particular (3), there is the fact that, from the end of the year 2008 onward, news about major losses on the part of the organizations in charge of managing the financial assets supposed to finance pensions will multiply. The OECD anticipates that pension funds will lose 4,000 billion USD in 2008 only (4). In the Netherlands (5) as well as in the United Kingdom (6), monitoring organizations recently blew the whistle asking for an emergency contribution reappraisal and a State intervention. In the United States, growing numbers of announcements call for contribution increases and benefit reductions (7), knowing that it is only in a few weeks time that most of these funds will start calculating their total losses (8). Most of them are still deluding themselves about their capacity to build up again their capital after the markets turn around. In March 2009, when pension fund managers, pensioners and governments will become simultaneously aware of the fact that the crisis is there to last, that it coincides with the « baby-boomer » generation’s age of retirement and that the markets will not resume their 2007 levels until many long years (9), chaos will flood this sector and governments will reach the moment when they will be compelled to nationalize all these funds. And Argentina, who took this decision a few months ago already, will appear a pioneer.
All the trends described above are already at work. Their combination and the public becoming aware of the consequences they could entail, will result in the great collective psychological trauma of Spring 2009, when everyone will realize that we are all trapped into a crisis worse than in the 1930s and that there is no possible way out in the short-term. The impact on the world’s collective mentalities of people and policy-makers will be decisive and modify significantly the course of the crisis in its next stage. Based on greater disillusion and fewer beliefs, social and political instability will settle down worldwide.
Finally, this GEAB N°30 presents a series of 13 questions & answers designed to enhance savers'/investors'/decision-makers' capacity to understand and anticipate the next stages of the global systemic crisis:
1. Is this crisis different from the previous crises which affected capitalism?
2. Is this crisis different from the 1930s crisis?
3. Is the crisis as serious in Europe or Asia as in the USA?
4. Are the current actions undertaken by public authorities worldwide sufficient to curb the crisis?
5. What are the major risks still weighting on the world financial system? And are all savings equal in front of the crisis?
6. Is the Eurozone a true protection shield against the worst aspects of the crisis and what should the Eurozone do to improve its protection status?
7. Is the Bretton Woods system (in its 1970s last version) currently collapsing? Should the Euro take the place of the Dollar?
8. What can be expected from the next G20 meeting in London?
9. Do you think that deflation is right now the biggest threat to economies worldwide?
10. Do you think that the Obama administration will be able to prevent the USA from sinking into what you called the ‘Very Great US Depression’?
11. In terms of currencies, beyond your anticipation of the Dollar resuming its collapse in the very next months, do you think that the UK Pound and the Swiss Franc are still currencies with an international status?
12. Do you think that the CDS market is about to implode in the coming months? And what could be the consequences of such a phenomenon?
13. Is there a ‘US Treasury Bonds Bubble” about to burst?
All the trends described above are already at work. Their combination and the public becoming aware of the consequences they could entail, will result in the great collective psychological trauma of Spring 2009, when everyone will realize that we are all trapped into a crisis worse than in the 1930s and that there is no possible way out in the short-term. The impact on the world’s collective mentalities of people and policy-makers will be decisive and modify significantly the course of the crisis in its next stage. Based on greater disillusion and fewer beliefs, social and political instability will settle down worldwide.
Finally, this GEAB N°30 presents a series of 13 questions & answers designed to enhance savers'/investors'/decision-makers' capacity to understand and anticipate the next stages of the global systemic crisis:
1. Is this crisis different from the previous crises which affected capitalism?
2. Is this crisis different from the 1930s crisis?
3. Is the crisis as serious in Europe or Asia as in the USA?
4. Are the current actions undertaken by public authorities worldwide sufficient to curb the crisis?
5. What are the major risks still weighting on the world financial system? And are all savings equal in front of the crisis?
6. Is the Eurozone a true protection shield against the worst aspects of the crisis and what should the Eurozone do to improve its protection status?
7. Is the Bretton Woods system (in its 1970s last version) currently collapsing? Should the Euro take the place of the Dollar?
8. What can be expected from the next G20 meeting in London?
9. Do you think that deflation is right now the biggest threat to economies worldwide?
10. Do you think that the Obama administration will be able to prevent the USA from sinking into what you called the ‘Very Great US Depression’?
11. In terms of currencies, beyond your anticipation of the Dollar resuming its collapse in the very next months, do you think that the UK Pound and the Swiss Franc are still currencies with an international status?
12. Do you think that the CDS market is about to implode in the coming months? And what could be the consequences of such a phenomenon?
13. Is there a ‘US Treasury Bonds Bubble” about to burst?
---------
Notes:
(1) It can be useful to read on this crisis a very interesting contribution by Robert Guttmann published in the 2nd half of 2008 on the website Revues.org, supported by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Paris-Nord.
(2) As a matter of fact, commodities have already started contributing to boost the market of international sea transport. Source: Financial Times, 12/14/2008
(3) It is in those countries that capital-based pension systems were most developed (see GEAB N°23) but is also the case of Ireland. Source: Independent, 11/30/2008
(4) Source: OECD, 11/12/2008
(5) Source: NU.NL, 12/15/2008
(6) Source: BBC, 12/09/2008
(7) Sources: WallStreetJournal, 11/17/2008; Phillyburbs, 11/25/2008; RockyMountainNews, 11/19/2008
(8) Source: CNBC, 12/05/2008
(9) Not to mention the effect of an explosion of the US T-Bond bubble on pension funds. See Q&A, GEAB N°30.
http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-30-is-available!-Global-systemic-crisis-New-tipping-point-in-March-2009-When-the-world-becomes-aware-that-this_a2567.html
Scripture baking blends spirtuality and cooking
December 19, 2008 - 9:27pm
Scripture Cake is seen in this Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008 photo. Having a Bible on hand may not be a common tool in the kitchen unless you are ready to try the recipe for this cake. The names of ingredients are turned into references in passages in the The Good Book and your Bible knowledge is tested in a fun way. - Spoons and bowls and baking pans and... a Bible?
Most modern bakers probably don't associate The Good Book with pulling together a batch of their favorite treats, but during the late 1800s some Christians began using scripture as a code for turning recipes into riddles.
"This was a cutsie way of letting people know that they knew their Bible. If you knew it off the top of your head, you felt proud of yourself," says Joan Houston Hall, chief editor of the "Dictionary of American Regional English."
Recipes for so-called scripture cake fell out of popularity by the mid-1900s, but recently have enjoyed a revival among faith-based youth groups and parents looking to use the kitchen as another conduit to faith.
"Since I teach Hebrew School one of the beauties of these recipes is that they are great way to force my students to read/translate and interpret the Hebrew Bible," says Michael Twitty, culinary historian and teacher at Temple Beth Ami religious school in Rockville, Md. "This year I'm teaching Torah to the seventh graders again, and it makes it fun for them because otherwise they would have no interest whatsoever in picking up the world's best- seller,"
Recipes can be found online on sites such as MormonChic.com and at numerous recipe sites. Some youth ministry groups even set up races between groups to see who can decipher and bake the ingredients first.
"It is very fun to do," says Evelyn Birge Vitz, author of faith-based cookbook "A Continual Feast." She enjoys not only the riddle of making the cake, but also comparing recipes to find different passages that refer to the same ingredients.
Scripture recipes call for ingredients by citing passages from the Bible; the cook has to sort out which ingredient each passage refers to. For example, 2 cups of Jeremiah 6:20 is one way of calling for 2 cups of sugar.
Not obvious? It works because the 20th verse of the sixth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah includes a reference to "the sweet cane from a far country."
Some ingredients aren't quite so clear. Amos 4:5 calls for "leaven," often interpreted as baking powder. Other passages leave even more room for interpretation.
"In the Second Book of Chronicles, it calls for spices in the general sense. So, you can use nutmeg and cinnamon, or make it more gingery," says Evelyn Birge Vitz, author of the faith-based cookbook "A Continual Feast."
Despite some claims that scripture baking dates to colonial times, most historians trace it to the late 1800s. Recipes first appeared in church cookbooks and later in mainstream publications, including a Good Housekeeping cookbook.
Recipes varied slightly _ as did the Bible passages _ but, in general, they produced a basic cake seasoned with spices and dried fruit, such as raisins and figs. Sometimes it was served with Burnt Jeremiah (Sugar) Syrup.
"In the 1880s there was this explosion of cake making. There were a lot of cakes named after historical figures or 'tipsy' cake, made with as much white wine as the cake would absorb. Scripture Cake is in that period between 1880 and 1910 when there were just loads of cake recipes," says Kathleen Fitzgerald, co-author of "America's Founding Food."
It's a concept that is easily adapted for most baked goods. The Bible has numerous references to sugar, flour, eggs, spices, milk, honey and other common ingredients, particularly in the Old Testament.
And which Bible you use generally doesn't matter, though some versions may not have your key word. Several versions of the Bible can be searched simultaneously at various Web sites.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=773&sid=1555122
Notes:
(1) It can be useful to read on this crisis a very interesting contribution by Robert Guttmann published in the 2nd half of 2008 on the website Revues.org, supported by the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Paris-Nord.
(2) As a matter of fact, commodities have already started contributing to boost the market of international sea transport. Source: Financial Times, 12/14/2008
(3) It is in those countries that capital-based pension systems were most developed (see GEAB N°23) but is also the case of Ireland. Source: Independent, 11/30/2008
(4) Source: OECD, 11/12/2008
(5) Source: NU.NL, 12/15/2008
(6) Source: BBC, 12/09/2008
(7) Sources: WallStreetJournal, 11/17/2008; Phillyburbs, 11/25/2008; RockyMountainNews, 11/19/2008
(8) Source: CNBC, 12/05/2008
(9) Not to mention the effect of an explosion of the US T-Bond bubble on pension funds. See Q&A, GEAB N°30.
http://www.leap2020.eu/GEAB-N-30-is-available!-Global-systemic-crisis-New-tipping-point-in-March-2009-When-the-world-becomes-aware-that-this_a2567.html
Scripture baking blends spirtuality and cooking
December 19, 2008 - 9:27pm
Scripture Cake is seen in this Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008 photo. Having a Bible on hand may not be a common tool in the kitchen unless you are ready to try the recipe for this cake. The names of ingredients are turned into references in passages in the The Good Book and your Bible knowledge is tested in a fun way. - Spoons and bowls and baking pans and... a Bible?
Most modern bakers probably don't associate The Good Book with pulling together a batch of their favorite treats, but during the late 1800s some Christians began using scripture as a code for turning recipes into riddles.
"This was a cutsie way of letting people know that they knew their Bible. If you knew it off the top of your head, you felt proud of yourself," says Joan Houston Hall, chief editor of the "Dictionary of American Regional English."
Recipes for so-called scripture cake fell out of popularity by the mid-1900s, but recently have enjoyed a revival among faith-based youth groups and parents looking to use the kitchen as another conduit to faith.
"Since I teach Hebrew School one of the beauties of these recipes is that they are great way to force my students to read/translate and interpret the Hebrew Bible," says Michael Twitty, culinary historian and teacher at Temple Beth Ami religious school in Rockville, Md. "This year I'm teaching Torah to the seventh graders again, and it makes it fun for them because otherwise they would have no interest whatsoever in picking up the world's best- seller,"
Recipes can be found online on sites such as MormonChic.com and at numerous recipe sites. Some youth ministry groups even set up races between groups to see who can decipher and bake the ingredients first.
"It is very fun to do," says Evelyn Birge Vitz, author of faith-based cookbook "A Continual Feast." She enjoys not only the riddle of making the cake, but also comparing recipes to find different passages that refer to the same ingredients.
Scripture recipes call for ingredients by citing passages from the Bible; the cook has to sort out which ingredient each passage refers to. For example, 2 cups of Jeremiah 6:20 is one way of calling for 2 cups of sugar.
Not obvious? It works because the 20th verse of the sixth chapter of the Book of Jeremiah includes a reference to "the sweet cane from a far country."
Some ingredients aren't quite so clear. Amos 4:5 calls for "leaven," often interpreted as baking powder. Other passages leave even more room for interpretation.
"In the Second Book of Chronicles, it calls for spices in the general sense. So, you can use nutmeg and cinnamon, or make it more gingery," says Evelyn Birge Vitz, author of the faith-based cookbook "A Continual Feast."
Despite some claims that scripture baking dates to colonial times, most historians trace it to the late 1800s. Recipes first appeared in church cookbooks and later in mainstream publications, including a Good Housekeeping cookbook.
Recipes varied slightly _ as did the Bible passages _ but, in general, they produced a basic cake seasoned with spices and dried fruit, such as raisins and figs. Sometimes it was served with Burnt Jeremiah (Sugar) Syrup.
"In the 1880s there was this explosion of cake making. There were a lot of cakes named after historical figures or 'tipsy' cake, made with as much white wine as the cake would absorb. Scripture Cake is in that period between 1880 and 1910 when there were just loads of cake recipes," says Kathleen Fitzgerald, co-author of "America's Founding Food."
It's a concept that is easily adapted for most baked goods. The Bible has numerous references to sugar, flour, eggs, spices, milk, honey and other common ingredients, particularly in the Old Testament.
And which Bible you use generally doesn't matter, though some versions may not have your key word. Several versions of the Bible can be searched simultaneously at various Web sites.
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=773&sid=1555122
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