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Exclusive Interview with Future Prediction Expert Gerald Celente
It’s the end of the world as the Greater Depression hits after 2010’s failed “W-recovery”
Human Events had the opportunity to interview forecaster extraordinaire Gerald Celente, President of Trends Research Institute, several days ago -- and the future he predicts looks bleak indeed. In fact, as Mr. Celente sees it, the Great Depression will seem like a mild recession as what waits for us in 2011 hits with the force of a Katrina financial hurricane.
In case you’re wondering who Mr. Celente is (if this is still possible), he’s appeared -- along with his predictions -- on Oprah, CNBC, Reuters, NBC, PBS, BBC, the Glenn Beck Show -- the list goes on an on. His Trends Report has been successfully predicting the major future trends impacting our lives for 3 decades, including calling the dot com crash back in the 1990's.
Mr. Celente's forecast on our impending future is based on his study of history. He says we are bent on destroying our currency, bankrupting our government, and unleashing a violent citizen-against-citizen eruption as the economy collapses into chaos and martial law fascism.
Quite a claim. And God help us if he is right -- again.
“We’re sounding the alarm about the ongoing downward economic cycle”, Gerald told Human Events. “In 2002, we predicted that the collapse of the American empire would fall like the World Trade Center in a thunderous crash -- in slow motion before our eyes. And now it’s happening.”
Mr. Celente follows over 300 trends: family, crime, war, education, consumer & business patterns which TRI synthesizes to predict the future.
“The US is becoming a shadow of what it used to be. Take education for example. The OECD group of developed countries ranks quality of life, education, health care of its member nations. The US is now falling down the table as one piece of data after another shows America is in decline. We’re no longer Win, Place or Show in quality of life, education, longevity… all the essentials where we used to be #1. And our economic underpinnings are failing.”
Mr. Celente puts part of the blame squarely on the federal government, and especially FED Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Geithner, and warns us not to believe a word they say “They’re the same people who didn't see it coming - are now telling us the worst is over, that ‘green shoots are spouting upwards’. But they were wrong before. They’re wrong on this too”.
“When you pump out tons of money manure into this system based on nothing – printing press paper, it’s like giving a patient with a chronic disease a pain killer -- it won’t cure the patient.”
“But let’s go beyond the economics. Our whole Constitution has been abrogated. The president simply writes an Executive Order to do whatever he wants. Nationalize the banks, take over the insurance industry, automobile industry, health care industry…
None of it is constitutional.”
When did the problem begin?
“After Dwight Eisenhower -- our last great president -- the Allied Supreme Commander in WWII – who warned us of the dangers of the military-industrial complex. We've become completely corrupted.”
“We became enmeshed in foreign entanglements. We forgot the lesson of England - and how their global imperial overreach destroyed their empire.”
Of course, the average American doesn’t think that we’re an empire. We’re not like the classical empires of old - raping, pillaging and stealing the wealth of invaded peoples. What does Mr. Celente have to say about this?
“What we’re doing is squandering our wealth, our resources, the genius of our scientists and the future of our children. We’re over-consuming in every way -- but under consuming our education and focusing on the quantity, not the quality, of what we’ve built. So much of today’s culture is counter-productive to what American built it’s foundation on -- a high-quality producing nation building things, not pushing paper.
"And we’ve become not only a consumer society but a low-quality consumer, as well as the most obese society in the world, eating low-quality high-carb, high-fat processed foods.”
“We’re now focused on the lowest cost, the lowest common denominator. Not the best and highest quality. We advertise buying cheapest as the most important thing.”
Mr. Celente argues that we’ve socially destroyed our productivity and have abandoned it to other countries.
“And we have fallen into a moral vacuum. Look at how people used to dress. Smartly. Not like the cheap hoods of today. Fashion now copies the lowest common denominator. Our children wear clothes without belts, and shoes without shoelaces, to copy the styles of the violent criminals -- who have these items removed by the police in prison so they can’t be used as weapons. That’s become the fashion statement of today’s youth. Like rap music from the ghetto. We’ve become an underdeveloped nation.”
Mr. Celente observes that "people used to think of America as that shining beacon on the hill with 'liberty and justice for all…' ." So what happened?
"Morality is missing from our American public consciousness. Start with Wall Street. It’s run by a criminal gang. The only question is ‘how much can you make, how much can you steal?’ At the bottom, the welfare recipient says ‘how much can I take?’ And the government is in on the take."
“Morality is absolutely the issue. We had a government where we were taught all our lives that we are a free enterprise system -- so we depend on our own strength, our entrepreneurial ideas. The world used to look to us for our innovative spirit.”
“This is being destroyed before our eyes. And our government has become more interventionist than any of the old empires could imagine.”
"Our society is now based on consumption -- 70% of the GDP. This is more than we produce. So to pay our bills, we use funny money invented in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve and the fiat dollar based on credit (debt) -- the fractional reserve system. In 1930's you bought what you could afford. You saved up to buy your home. The easy credit of the 90's has destroyed the country. Now you borrow what you can’t afford - and the nation’s done the same."
Mr. Celente predicts the use of printing press money will cause the "greater depression".
"I predict continuing deflation of real estate, followed by extreme currency inflation -- ultimately becoming worthless. This is why gold is the only honest money -- the government can't counterfeit it. Look for it to top at least $2000 an ounce"
"Our unemployment numbers are also bogus. For example, the construction industry is really above 20% , and the government is creating low-level jobs, not real jobs. The US total real unemployment is more like 16%. Before the crisis is over, it will reach 25% - great depression numbers."
"When people have lost everything they have nothing to lose. Violence and crime will explode. Look at the OECD figures. The number of people not graduating from high school is exploding -- they're wacked out on drugs. New York City will look like Mexico City in a few years. The collapse of morality from top down -- and especially in the government -- makes it inevitable."
"What can we expect in the coming future", we asked.
"Washington has declared 'Economic Martial Law'. Wall Street is putting Main Street out of business. The key to watch is Christmas sales. They’ll fail. Christmas will be when reality sets in."
"Another trend we wrote about over 2 years ago was the tax revolt. What’s happened? Tax revenues have collapsed by 33%. And the wealthy people are leaving."
"We predict state secessionist movements will rival the breakup of the Soviet Union."
"The only way we can ever recover is to return to individual community, personal responsibility, local government. Next, average will disappear, Quality will return. Look at GM. Junk cars financed by junk bonds. Now owned by a junk government. As a consumer, don’t consume quantity -- consume quality."
"How will it all end?", we queried. Will the dollar survive?
"The dot com bubble should have burst and gone away in a short sharp recession. But the boys at the Fed re-inflated the economy by lowering interest rates to a 46 year low -- and in turn created the real estate bubble -- much bigger than the dot com bubble. "
"Now they’re creating the bailout bubble -- which will ultimately dwarf the real estate bubble. It will cause the implosion of the global economy world wide -- which will not be able to be repaired by creating yet another bubble. Every time the government fails, it tells a bigger lie and then a still bigger lie."
"These previous bubbles were not allowed to pop -- but they didn’t destroy the infrastructure of the country. This bailout bubble will."
"But this bubble will be the last one. After the final blowout of the bailout bubble, we are concerned that the government will take the nation into war. This is a historical precedent that’s been done over and over again."
"So, it’s not that the dollar that will survive. We may not even survive. Look at the German mess after WWI. It gave rise to Fascism and WWII. The next war will be fought with weapons of mass destruction."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32152

Report points to prison security failures
WASHINGTON — A government inquiry into the most recent fatal assault of a federal correctional officer details multiple security breakdowns and underscores a fear among federal officials who say inmates have grown increasingly violent in their dealings with prison staff.
Jose Rivera's June 20 killing, captured by surveillance cameras inside the high security U.S. Penitentiary Atwater in California, provides a chilling view into the U.S. prison system where weapons are plentiful and some violent inmates are allowed to "sleep off" bouts of drunkenness fueled by homemade cocktails, according to a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) report obtained by USA TODAY.
During the attack, Rivera, a 22-year-old Iraq war veteran, struggled for his life while a locked door blocked several of his colleagues from responding.
"It was like Rivera was caught in a bear trap," said Mark Peacock, the officer's attorney. "If the staff was able to respond with adequate force, Rivera might have survived the attack."
Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley, who declined to comment on the Rivera report, says there is "a sense that assaults (on staff) are more severe." Following the Rivera killing, authorities recovered 175 weapons in the facility, the report states.
Bryan Lowry, president of the federal prison employees association, says overcrowding is endangering prison officers and staffers. According to BOP records, the system is 36% over capacity and 48% over capacity in high security units.
In the federal system, which manages 204,327 inmates, serious assaults to staffers increased slightly in 2008, from 72 to 82, according to BOP records. Less serious attacks (pushing, shoving) increased, from 1,281 in 2007 to 1,522 in 2008. Inmate slayings were up, from 12 in 2007 to 15 in 2008.
At the time of the Rivera attack, according to the report, he was assigned to lockdown a high security unit for the afternoon inmate count when he was allegedly slashed in the torso by convicted murderer Jose Sablan. The officer was wounded before he could secure Sablan and James Guerrero, a convicted armed robber, in their cell. Both inmates, according to the report, appeared to be intoxicated.
As surveillance cameras rolled, Rivera attempted to escape and activated his electronic body alarm to summon help. He was allegedly tackled by Guerrero, who pinned the officer down while Sablan continued to stab Rivera with a makeshift ice pick. Rivera was stabbed at least 17 times before an officer arrived with a key to the door.
"This delay to get responding staff into the unit could have been reduced," the report concluded.
The day before the attack, one prison guard raised questions about whether Guerrero, known as a "disruptive," could be housed safely in the same unit with Sablan, according to the FBI's report of its interview with the guard.
"Going to put him (Guerrero) with another killer," the guard told a colleague. "Okay if that's what you are going to do. We'll be lucky if he doesn't kill somebody before the night is out."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-07-prisonmurder_N.htm

Gender test spurs abortion fears
4:00AM Monday Jun 08, 2009 By Briony Sowden and Martin Johnston
The gender test is expected to sell for about $125. A new test to reveal the gender of a fetus in early pregnancy has sparked a row over whether it will lead to sex-selection abortions.
The American-designed IntelliGender test kit, which can be used from eight weeks after conception, went on sale in Australia last month. Its Australian distributor hopes to launch it in New Zealand within a fortnight.
David Portnoy, managing director of Melbourne-based Early Image, said yesterday that he was negotiating with health products companies Douglas Pharmaceuticals and API to supply the kits to New Zealand pharmacies.
He expected they would sell for about $125.
They do not test pregnancy, so do not require state approval under the Medicines Act, unlike pregnancy tests. To use the new test, a pregnant woman mixes her urine with the kit's chemicals in the supplied container. If it turns green or black, the fetus is a boy; orange or yellow indicate a girl.
The kits are claimed to be 90 per cent accurate, but because patents have not yet been issued, the maker will not reveal the supporting data or the science of how they work.
"The concern we would have is that people would then terminate pregnancies on the grounds of sex selection," said college president Dr Ted Weaver.
Anti-abortion group Voice for Life echoes this concern. Spokesman Bernard Moran said abortions for sex selection were a problem overseas and the test would facilitate this in New Zealand. "Certain ethnic minorities here might be more prone to use it."
Mr Moran was concerned to learn that the approval of the Health Ministry's Medsafe unit was not required. He said that although abortions were not permitted for sex selection, they were permitted on grounds of the mental health of the woman, and the Abortion Supervisory Committee had acknowledged that the way this was applied meant New Zealand, in effect, had abortion on demand.
Mr Portnoy, responding to the concerns about sex-selection abortions based on the test, said, "I would be amazed if anybody was to do anything so drastic based on a urine test that has a 90 per cent accuracy rate."
If a woman was intent on that course, she could, for a few hundred dollars, have a much more accurate test, such as amniocentesis.
Women can also have a state-funded ultrasound scan at 18 to 20 weeks after conception, or earlier in some cases, and these can mostly determine the sex of the fetus.
Medsafe group manager Stewart Jessamine said that until the maker of IntelliGender stated how it worked, "none of us know much about it as to whether it's anything better than a guess".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10577091

Trapped?? Victim??
Americans trapped in terror cell
June 9, 2009 - 7:25am
WASHINGTON - Six months ago, a startling development shook the Minneapolis-St. Paul area to the core.
It was the story of Burhan Hassan.
The 17-year-old slipped out of his house one night and flew to Somalia to fight alongside the al-Qaida-linked terrorist group al Shababb in their war against the Somali government.
He survived the war, and in recent days, realized he made a mistake and wanted to come home.
He almost made it.
"Friday at noon, a phone call was received from Mogadishu City, from one of the Somali kids who left Minneapolis with Hassan," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in Minneapolis.
Jamal said Hassan's mother was told her that her son "had been shot [in the head] at point-blank range and killed and he had been buried."
Hassan's killing came just days before he was about to make his escape.
"He called his mother a week and a half ago from Mogadishu City. At the time, he was sick and suffering from malaria. His voice was weak and that was the last time we heard from him," Jamal said during a telephone conversation with WTOP.
Hassan, a straight-A student at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, had been convinced to leave the al Shababb organization, Jamal said.
"He was a victim. He was misled, indoctrinated, and a very vulnerable kid. He was put in harm's way, and when he made a choice to go back home, they killed him."
Hassan was going to leave for Kenya on Monday morning, June 8, to meet his mother at this U.S. Consulate in Nairobi "so that he could come back to Minnesota," Jamal said.
Hassan's bizarre story was a wake-up call for U.S. authorities.
"The FBI has had reports that some young men have left America to travel back to Somalia to fight in a cause that they've have chosen to fight in," FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said.
On election night in November 2008, while the world watched one man with African roots make history and headlines in the United States, Hassan and several of his friends were about to make news as well.
He and a few other boys sneaked away from their homes that night and boarded an airplane bound for Kenya. Their final destination was Somalia. Their plan was to fight alongside al-Qaida-inspired militants against what is left of the Somali government.
Aside from the threat these young radicals pose to U.S. national security, another is lurking right here in American communities - terrorist recruiters.
A Minneapolis journalist who spoke to WTOP on the condition of anonymity because of concerns for his safety made a very bold statement.
"The mosque brainwashed those kids," he said, suggesting the recruiters are working inside mosques in Minneapolis and other locations throughout the U.S.
Jamal believes recruiters in Hassan's hometown may be the ones who orchestrated his murder.
"There is this idea, that since he was coming back, individuals connected to al Shababb killed him for fear that if he came back, he might have some potential information that might endanger individuals living in the United States," Jamal said.
"It sends a very loud and clear message," Jamal said. "If you join al Shababb, you join at your own risk. It's like joining the mafia. You cannot disjoin. You cannot cancel the membership. If you join, you're in for good, otherwise they will kill you."
The FBI is working with the Somali-American community to help them reach out to the boys that may be vulnerable to the recruiters, Kolko said.
"The FBI is aware of this issue and we are certainly concerned about it and we know that the Somali-American community is equally concerned."
Kolko reiterated that going back to fight is "not a good cause of action," and trouble awaits them in the U.S. should they try to return.
"If someone comes back from anywhere in the world that has had terrorism training, the FBI would do the things that are necessary to help protect America."
Now, a mother is grieving for her murdered son.
Hassan's death also points out grave concerns for the other young recruits who left with Hassan to fight for their new-found ideals and now realize they've been duped and are trapped.
Minneapolis FBI Field Office spokesman Special Agent E.K. Wilson said the FBI is aware of the information, but could not comment because of an ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding how Hassan and the other boys' left the U.S.
http://wtop.com/?nid=778&sid=1692072