Global banking to be joined by 'Google Bank' and 'Apple Bank'

Reuters / Courtesy Square / Handout

Conventional banking could soon become a thing of the past with the use of the internet and mobile devices booming. They are gradually replacing usual banking cards as a means to pay a bill, Deutsche Bank warns.

Following a technological revolution in payments the web services could take the final step by developing their own facility for allowing credits and taking deposits, says Interfax news agency referring to a research by Deutsche Bank.

A ‘Google bank’ or ‘Apple bank’ that’ll certainly emerge will swallow the greatest part of the traditional banking market. Despite falling incomes and tightened regulation, the existing banks need to invest into new technologies to remain competitive at a time when new technology is advancing, the research says.

Traditional banks are getting unexpected rivals like Google, Apple, Amazon and Paypal that are working out mechanisms to effect mobile payments. The client base of Paypal is already comparable to that of many banks.

‘US government is not protecting its citizens' civil liberties'

The White House.

The US should not lecture other countries while Washington is unable to protect the civil liberties of its own citizens, American blogger Kevin Gosztola said in an interview with RT.

The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was signed on Wednesday by President Barack Obama, has already been criticized by many within the US for allowing warrantless wiretapping of Americans and indefinite detention for suspicions of terrorism. The NDAA also allows for the notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison to remain open, despite President Obama's campaign pledge to shut down the facility years ago.

Many in the United States know very little about the secretive NDAA, Gosztola told RT.

RT: The White House earlier threatened to veto the [NDAA], but ended up rubber-stamping it anyway – why was that? And what are the implications?

Kevin Gosztola: For the most part, the reason why we are not seeing Obama veto this legislation as he could have is because he just doesn’t want to use all the political power that he might have to get his agenda accomplished. It’s just not something that he wants to take any risk on, because there are a lot of people in the Congress of the United States who do not support his commitment to closing this facility. So, the implication right now is that you have, there are 166 individuals still in the prison. Many of them are there being held indefinitely. Only nine are on trial or have been convicted, and so you’ve got a situation here where many men are possibly going to be languishing in this facility for quite some time.

Obama to pay US debt with trillion-dollar coins?

 

The U.S. Dollar coin, featuring the likeness of Indian woman Sacagawea and her infant baby. (Reuters / Ho New)

With the fiscal cliff averted for now, it'll be a few weeks until the debt ceiling debate is the next major money issue in Washington. Luckily, some economists say that crisis can be curbed as well, and all it will take is one very valuable coin.

By February, the United States will once again reach its maximum borrowing amount from foreign nations — the debt ceiling — and the House of Representatives and Senate will be stuck deciding if it’s worth raising it once again or rallying for another solution. In recent days, an alternative approach — one that is almost all too perfectly bizarre — has been tossed around. It would involve minting a few trillion dollar platinum coins, and although it’s an unlikely answer, it’s all too legit.

Exposed: What’s Inside America’s Banks?

Some four years after the 2008 financial crisis, public trust in banks is as low as ever. Sophisticated investors describe big banks as “black boxes” that may still be concealing enormous risks—the sort that could again take down the economy. A close investigation of a supposedly conservative bank’s financial records uncovers the reason for these fears—and points the way toward urgent reforms.

The financial crisis had many causes—too much borrowing, foolish investments, misguided regulation—but at its core, the panic resulted from a lack of transparency. The reason no one wanted to lend to or trade with the banks during the fall of 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed, was that no one could understand the banks’ risks. It was impossible to tell, from looking at a particular bank’s disclosures, whether it might suddenly implode.

For the past four years, the nation’s political leaders and bankers have made enormous—in some cases unprecedented—efforts to save the financial industry, clean up the banks, and reform regulation in order to restore trust and confidence in the American financial system. This hasn’t worked. Banks today are bigger and more opaque than ever, and they continue to behave in many of the same ways they did before the crash.
Consider JPMorgan’s widely scrutinized trading loss last year. Before the episode, investors considered JPMorgan one of the safest and best-managed corporations in America. Jamie Dimon, the firm’s charismatic CEO, had kept his institution upright throughout the financial crisis, and by early 2012, it appeared as stable and healthy as ever.

THE ONE PEOPLE'S PUBLIC TRUST: A Conversation With Trustee Heather Tucci-Jarraf

A conversation with Trustee Heather Tucci-Jarraf of The One People's Public Trust

by American Kabuki, Brian, and D.

Brian from the American Kabuki ground crew and D. from Removing the Shackles discuss with Heather Tucci-Jarraf how she got started investigating banking fraud and the events that led to her being invited into the TOPPT as a trustee.

To give you an overview of the concept of what this organization is doing you have to understand how our current reality has been manipulated.

Some time, long ago, humanity made the choice to experience separateness from Creator Source. In in truth separation is impossible, but Creator Source allowed an allusion of it for its many manifestations of Source.  A contract was made and sides were chosen by the participants in duality consciousness.  Whether this was a voluntary choice or whether humanity was pushed and tricked into it by outside meddlers, I don't know.

The choice to experience separateness in a state of duality consciousness drew into this environment other beings who were attracted to the lower density negative consciousness. They fed off the negative energies. An invasion of sorts ensued.  These beings set up an quantum anomaly in the etheric realms that would cut off human beings that inhabited this planet from source, their identity, and their memories of other incarnations.  Thus shielding humans from the natural energy input from Creator Source.  This allowed these beings to parasite the energy, time, and resources of human beings dwelling here, and shield themselves from higher energies they found uncomfortable. This quantum anomaly vastly shortened human life spans which facilated control because knowledge was lost when people died. They convinced the people over the ages that they had sinned, that Source had abandoned them because Source didn't love them. That they had fallen from grace. Nothing was further from the truth.

U.S. arms sales to Asia set to boom on Pacific "pivot"

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON | Tue Jan 1, 2013 10:17am EST

(Reuters) - U.S. sales of warplanes, anti-missile systems and other costly weapons to China's and North Korea's neighbors appear set for significant growth amid regional security jitters.

Strengthening treaty allies and other security partners is central to the White House's "pivot" toward a Pacific region jolted by maritime territorial disputes in China's case, and missile and nuclear programs, in North Korea's.

How US Banks And Federal Law Enforcement Worked Together Bringing Down Occupy Wall Street

Naomi Wolf, The Guardian
Jan. 1, 2013, 10:14 AM

Occupy Wall Street May Day

Lisa Du, Business Insider

It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: New documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall — so mystifying at the time — was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police.

The crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves — was coordinated with the big banks themselves.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, in a groundbreaking scoop that should once more shame major U.S. media outlets (why are nonprofits now some of the only entities in America left breaking major civil liberties news?), filed this request.

US Senate Finally Passes Deal to Avert So-Called”Fiscal Cliff” – Now What?

No mater how you may feel about current speculation of the possible release of what may or may not be paperwork regarding possible prosperity funds (yes, we all want them released… yesterday!), the fact this hugely publicised vote went down to the wire in terms of timing yet (with some manipulation) still passed with big support – could still be seen either way.

It may have staved off a complex situation for US citizens; and possibly the world – as the world’s mainstream media would want us to all believe.

But it may also have allowed some big behind-the-scenes, secret shake-downs; other ways of doing things; to also occur had it failed. Or maybe they happened ‘quietly’ anyway… Like everything, only time will tell but I still find it most interesting that all this took place within the final remaining minutes of 2012 and the first few minutes of this new year.

US Senate Passes Deal to Avert Fiscal Cliff
By Associated Press, The Telegraph, UK – January 1, 2012

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9773833/US-Senate-passes-deal-to-avert-fiscal-cliff.html

The Senate passed legislation early on New Year’s Day to neutralise a fiscal cliff combination of across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts that kicked in at midnight. The pre-dawn vote was 89-8.

Insight: Under siege: "Stop and frisk" polarizes New York

By Chris Francescani, Janet Roberts and Melanie Hicken

NEW YORK | Tue Jul 3, 2012 1:40am EDT

(Reuters) - Telly Hudgins has been stopped and frisked by the police too many times to count in the Brownsville, New York, public housing project where he lives. One occasion sticks in his memory. "I had my pajamas on and my slippers on and I'm emptying my garbage" at the trash chute. "They asked me for ID to prove I lived there. Who walks around in their pajamas with ID?" asked the black, 35-year-old counselor for the mentally handicapped. He says he complained about the search and was issued a summons for disorderly conduct.

Deborah Richardson, 60, a black postal worker, has delivered mail in east Brooklyn's Brownsville for 14 years. She takes a different view of the New York Police Department's contentious Stop, Question and Frisk policy. "I'd like to see more stops and frisks," she said, leaning out of her postal truck. "This is a dangerous neighborhood. I won't even go up in those monstrosities anymore," she said, gesturing toward one of the towering housing complexes where she once pushed a mail cart. After four years of what she says was harassment from residents, many waiting for welfare checks, she got a transfer to a parcel truck delivery route.

Debt Based Banking: It's All About to End

Sorry for the doom and gloom, but it really isn’t. When is the beginning of the end of a prison a bad thing when the good guys are on the inside and the guardsmen are bankers?

When I say ‘It’, I don’t just mean a snivvly little recession, or even a depression, I mean the whole system of fiat currency and debt financing. As a recap, fiat currency is not backed by anything, so its value is only what people trust it is worth. Now that people are realising that our money is NOT backed by gold or metals or anything, and that even making money out of thin air won’t solve the problems, our trust in the very paper money causing the problems is, well, nil. When I say ‘debt financing’, I mean that everything is based on debt. This starts with the central banks, which lend money to governments and populations at interest, which requires more money to be printed to pay off the original currency issue, and so on and so on.

The first video explains the debt financing side of things, and the second video explains the fiat currency side of things (fractional reserve banking). Take both together, and you can see that we are deliberately indebted with money that is worthless:

Now, Business Insider has four articles all at once that say ‘the game is over’!

Article 1: Why The Debt-Dependent Status Quo Is Doomed in One Chart (click to go to article)

In a nutshell, this article explains why the world can no longer pay for its debt, and thus, the system can no longer keep going. Here is a fancy-looking graph that shows that our economies are addicted to debt-financing – ie when we can no longer raise and pay for new debt, the economy suffers (ie has no actual cash reserves to carry on):

Colorado wildfire destruction 'unreal' for residents touring neighbourhoods

With Colorado Springs wildfire 55% contained, fire officials allow residents to return home briefly to check on their homes

Neighbors who evacuated their homes from the encroaching Waldo Canyon fire embrace after returning to their homes in Colorado Springs on Sunday. Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

Cars were burned to nothing but charred metal and only concrete remained of many homes in the neighborhoods most damaged by the worst wildfire in Colorado history.

But for residents allowed Sunday to temporarily return to the area for the first time since they fled encroaching flames last week, the fact that other things were left untouched was equally jarring.

"Good Lord! I've never seen anything like this," said CJ Moore upon her return to her two-story home, now reduced to ashes and one of nearly 350 houses that were damaged or destroyed in the Waldo Canyon fire that left two people dead.

While searching for her great-grandmother's cast-iron skillets, Moore marveled at the juxtaposition of what burned and what hadn't. "To find my mail in my mailbox, unscathed. It's just unreal," she told the Associated Press by phone. "Bird baths are fine. Some of the foliage is fine."

More than a week after it sparked on June 23, the Waldo Canyon fire was still being attacked by some 1,500 personnel. Crews working grueling shifts through the hot weekend made progress against the 28-square-mile fire, and authorities said they were confident they had built good fire lines in many areas to stop the spread of the flames.

Millions in mid-Atlantic still without power after devastating weekend storm

Transit officials expect grueling commutes as subway and rail are underpowered and trees still block some roads

A Pepco employee works to stabilize power lines in Bethesda, Maryland, on Sunday. Photograph: Allison Shelley/Getty Images

A weekend without electricity was already trying for millions in the sweltering, storm-swept mid-Atlantic region. But Monday morning brings another grim challenge when many embark on a difficult commute over roads with darkened stoplights and likely mass-transit delays.

To alleviate congestion around Baltimore and Washington, federal and state officials gave many workers the option of staying home Monday. Federal agencies will be open in Washington, but non-emergency employees have the option of taking leave or working from home.Maryland's governor also gave state workers wide leeway for staying out of the office.

There were more than 500 signal outages in Maryland on Sunday afternoon, including more than 400 in hard-hit Montgomery County outside the nation's capital, according to the state highway administration. There were 100 signal outages in northern Virginia late Sunday afternoon, and 65 roads were closed, although most were secondary roads.

"If you have to drive or need to drive, leave yourself a lot of extra time," Maryland state highway administration spokesman Charlie Gischlar said. "There's going to be delays."

The Banks: The Psychopathy of Wall Street

Rolling Stone, June 25, 2012

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/taibbi-joins-yves-smith-on-moyers-20120625



“Too many people hold the idea that psychopaths are essentially killers or convicts.

The general public hasn’t been educated to see beyond the social stereotypes to understand that psychopaths can be entrepreneurs, politicians, CEOs and other successful individuals who may never see the inside of a prison.”  Dr. Robert Hare

Rolling Stone editor Matt Taibbi and Yves Smith, creator of the finance and economics blog Naked Capitalism, join Bill to discuss the folly and corruption of both banks and government, and how that tag-team leaves deep wounds in our democracy. Taibbi’s latest piece is “The Scam Wall Street Learned from the Mafia.”http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-scam-wall-street-learned-from-the-mafia-20120620

Yves Smith is the author of “ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism.”

Bill Moyers: So in this particular case, what is JPMorgan’s sin? That’s the question Representative David Schweikert raised on the day of the hearing. He asked, “What sin has JPMorgan committed other than being big enough to lose billions of their own money in a quarter and still turn a $4 billion profit?” Want to take a stab at answering?

"Conflict gold" trade continues in face of U.S. law

 By Jonny Hogg and Jan Harvey

MONGBWALU, Democratic Republic of Congo | Fri Jun 29, 2012 3:02pm EDT

(Reuters) - Gold traders in the eastern Congo district of Ituri have heard of the Dodd-Frank act, or "Obama's law" as it's known here, but don't see why it's got anything to do with them.

"I struggle to understand this Obama's law," says George Lobho, one of hundreds of traders operating out of tiny wooden shacks in the muddy streets of Mongbwalu. "What does it mean?"

Ituri is one of many areas of the country to have experienced bitter ethnic conflict between rival tribes in recent years. Massacres have left tens of thousands dead.

It is this fighting that led U.S. authorities to take the unprecedented step of naming Congo in section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act, which says U.S.-listed companies that source gold, tungsten, tantalum and tin from Congo or its neighbors must assure the U.S. stock exchange regulator that their business is not helping fund conflict.

The legislation, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, puts the onus of proof on end-users. But while it has sent shockwaves through the global gold industry, the fractured and opaque nature of the gold supply chain means it has yet to have an impact where it counts - on the ground.

Barclay's LIBOR Corruption a Phony Ploy to Strengthen the Bloomberg/Qatar QIBOR?

Barclays Libor fix trail leads to senior managers ... Senior Barclays managers were worried over negative headlines during the financial crisis and contributed to a culture that fixed key funding rates artificially low, U.S. and UK regulators said in reaching a settlement with the bank. The findings based on internal emails and other communications raise questions about how high up the Barclays management chain came instructions to submit lower rates, and who knew about the rate rigging. – Reuters


Dominant Social Theme: The corruption of these Western banks is terminal!

Free-Market Analysis: So Barclay's resides at the "heart of darkness" which is LIBOR – various rates at which banks and the rest of can borrow. Something isn't quite right about this.

Bloomberg is busy setting up QIBOR in Qatar, and the putative explanation is that there is too much corruption in London. Now we have an example of corruption! Convenient? Right on time ...

QIBOR is just like LIBOR and those involved will "set" the rate at which banks borrow after conversing with banks themselves. This is a US$ 90 trillion market and thus the movement of this facility from London to Qatar is no small event.

If one were interested in moving such a large market, charges of corruption would surely be helpful. And lo and behold, we are reading about them everywhere.

What is the big deal about financial corruption? It is simply a fact that the world's modern central banking is shot through with corruption. How could it be otherwise? It begins with central banks that fix the price of money and its volume and continues from there.

Power outages from deadly US storms could last days as heat wave continues

Storms that killed 13 across eastern US have left hundreds of thousands without power amid record-breaking temperatures

A child looks at a house struck by a tree after a violent thunderstorm ripped through Falls Church, Virginia on Saturday evening. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Hundreds of thousands of residents could be left without power for days after vicious storms lashed the eastern US, bringing down electricity lines and resulting in at least 13 deaths.

Officials said it could take up to a week before outages are repaired, leading to fears over the effect that stifling heat could have on old, young and vulnerable people cut off from the relief of air-conditioning.

States of emergency have been declared in Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia and West Virginia, as forecasters predicted more thunderstorms and temperatures tipping into triple digits in the coming days.

"This is a very dangerous situation," Virginia governor Bob McDonnell said yesterday as he reflected on the largest non-hurricane caused blackouts in the state's history.

Around 3.4 million people have been affected by the power outages, many of them in Washington DC and surrounding areas where temperatures hovered in the high 90s on Saturday.

The sheer scale of the disruption caused to the power grid by the storms caught utility firms unaware, with officials saying that it will take at least a few days to restore lines to all customers.

Neil Keenan Lawsuit to be Refiled with New Info “Ten Times Worse”

Amon Christenson has sent Jean Haines information on breaking news and backgrounders related to the Neil Keenan lawsuit, that he says will spell the end of the Fed. Thanks to Janis Galbreath.

A Comment from Amon Christenson, A Guardian of the Global Accounts, concerning the Neil Keenan Lawsuit – plus BREAKING NEWS concerning this suite with which he is providing us.Many thanks, Amon. ~J

Jean Haines, 2012: What’s the Real Truth, June 29, 2012

http://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/a-comment-from-amon-christenson-plus-breaking-news-with-which-he-has-provided-us-many-thanks-amon-j/

 

BREAKING, from Amon:

Jean, I have watched your blog from time to time and I am very comfortable with what you do. What I am writing now may . . .  be published.

A couple of things you should know that will be helpful to your readers, this being a first.

I was told this morning by one of my counterparts that Keenan lawsuit has been temporarily withdrawn without prejudice. I think this was smart of Keenan as there is an entire raft of new information that has recently been discovered in Indonesia and this will change the structure of the case into something ten times worse for the Cabal.

There will be additional defendants and the impact of the case will become even far more explosive. When the withdrawal was made, Judge Furman knew it was going to be refiled and ordered that it be heard only by him. That is very unusual and very telling.  Furman has made it clear that he has replaced Judge Holwell to hear this case and only he will hear it. The case will be refiled and the information it contains will shock America.

Blessings,

Amon

Two Updates on Colorado Wildfires

UPDATE 6-Worst wildfire ever in Colorado claims first victim

Reuters, Fri Jun 29, 2012

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/29/usa-wildfires-colorado-idINL2E8HS9UF20120629

* Early damage reports say 346 homes lost in blaze

* Colorado’s Waldo Canyon fire only 15 percent contained

* Body found in rubble of burned-out home (Adds number of firefighters on Waldo Canyon blaze; edits)

By Keith Coffman

COLORADO, SPRINGS, Colo., June 28 – A wildfire that forced the evacuation of 35,000 people from the edge of Colorado’s second-largest city has killed at least one person and incinerated 346 homes, making it the most destructive blaze in state history, officials said on Thursday.

Lighter winds helped firefighters gain new ground against the inferno, which had roared unchecked on Tuesday night through communities in the northwestern corner of Colorado Springs and threatened the U.S. Air Force Academy campus in town.

Aerial photos of devastation unleashed by the so-called Waldo Canyon Fire showed large swaths of neighborhoods reduced to gray ash – one house after another obliterated while adjacent dwellings survived mostly unscathed.

Wildfire victims crowd shelters as fight continues

CBS News, June 27, 2012

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57461483/32k-ordered-to-flee-as-colorado-blaze-doubles-in-size/

(CBS/AP) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Fire crews fought to save the U.S. Air Force Academy and residents begged for information on the fate of their homes Wednesday after a night of terror sent thousands of people fleeing a raging Colorado Springs wildfire.



More than 30,000 people frantically packed up belongings Tuesday night after the Waldo Canyon Fire barreled into neighborhoods in the foothills west and north of Colorado’s second-largest city. With flames looming overhead, they clogged roads shrouded in smoke and flying embers, their fear punctuated by explosions of bright orange flame that signaled yet another house had been claimed.

“The sky was red, the wind was blowing really fast and there were embers falling from the sky,” said Simone Covey, a 26-year-old mother of three who fled an apartment near Garden of the Gods park and was staying at a shelter. “I didn’t really have time to think about it. I was just trying to keep my kids calm.”

Wilma Juachon sat under a tree at an evacuation center, wearing a mask to block the smoke. A tourist from California, she was evacuated from a fire near Rocky Mountain National Park last week and, now, from her Colorado Springs hotel.

Eric Holder held in contempt of Congress after historic vote

Attorney general first sitting cabinet member to be held in contempt as 17 Democrats join Republicans to pass resolution

• 

Eric Holder gave a statement after the vote and said the Republican leadership was engaging in 'election-year politics and gamesmanship'. Photograph: AP

The attorney general Eric Holder has become the first sitting member of a president's cabinet in US history to be held in contempt of Congress after Republicans vented their fury over a bungled gun-tracking investigation.

Seventeen Democrats, under pressure from the pro-gun lobby the NRA, joined 238 Republicans to carry a criminal contempt resolution against Holder. A currently serving attorney general has never before been censured in this way.

The criminal contempt resolution, passed by 255 to 67, with most Democrats walking out of the chamber en masse before the vote, related to Operation Fast and Furious, a federal investigation launched in Arizona designed to ensnare gun smugglers involved with the Mexican drug cartels.

Thursday's vote was of symbolic value, pointing to the almost total collapse of trust between the two main parties in Congress. Republican anger has been fueled by a conspiracy theory that Fast and Furious was deliberately set up to fail by the Obama administration to pave the way for greater federal gun controls.