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American Survival Newsletter:
Combining the World of Finance, Health & Politics
5/1/15

American Gold

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Edited by Alfred Adask
Friday, May 1, AD 2015
 
MARKETS
 
Between Friday, April 24, AD 2015 and 
Friday, May 1, AD 2015, the bid prices for:

Gold fell 0.2 % from $1,180.40 to $1,177.90

Silver rose 2.1 % from $15.76 to $16.10

Platinum rose 0.5 % from $1,123 to $1,129

Palladium rose 0.4 % from $768 to $771

DJIA fell 0.3 % from 18,080.14 to 18,024.06

NASDAQ fell 1.7 % from 5,092.09 to 5,005.39

NYSE fell 0.5 % from 11,192.90 to 11,140.40

US Dollar Index fell 1.7 % from 96.86 to 95.21

Crude Oil rose 1.6 % from $57.34 to $58.24

 
 

"Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold
if the market shut down for 10 years." --Warren Buffett 

"If the markets shut down for 10 years, what investment would you dare to hold-- 
other than gold"? --Alfred Adask

"Multiplied reserve banking" and a "promised-base monetary system"

 

by Alfred Adask


 

This article advances an hypothesis that's both new and unclear to me. The article is overly long (3,700 words) because I'm not only trying to explain my hypothesis to you, I'm also trying to explain it to me.

In the process, I use numbers in this article, but those numbers aren't intended to accurately reflect reality-they're only intended to illustrate principles relevant to my hypothesis.

I'm not claiming that this hypothesis is true. In fact, it might be seriously flawed or even absurd. I'm only claiming that it's interesting and perhaps roughly correct.

Most people don't understand that we live in a financial world characterized by:

1) "fractional reserve banking"; and,

2) a "debt-based monetary system".

Neither of those two concepts are well-understood by most people. The term "fractional reserve banking" might be vaguely recognized by most people, but seldom understood. The term "debt-based monetary system" hasn't even been heard of by most people and isn't understood by even one in a thousand.

Insofar as we recognize either term, we tend to regard them as two distinctly different, and unrelated concepts.

But I begin to see that those two concepts are no more unrelated than the two sides of a coin. In fact, I begin to suspect that neither characteristic could exist without the other and that, together, they comprise the backbone for the current financial system of the US, the world, and perhaps even the New World Order.

I'll try to explain my suspicions in relation to a couple of excerpts from a recent article published by The Fiscal Times ("The Liberal Solution to America's Big Spending Problem").

According to that article, Thomas Hungerford, senior economist and director for budget and tax policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, recently issued a new paper. In that paper, Hungerford argued that the U.S. government is not "broke" (as claimed by many conservatives) and can raise enough tax revenue to pay for future spending needs, including important additional investments in infrastructure and education-without going deeper into debt

In this article, I'll propose the seemingly incredible hypothesis that government doesn't want to "raise enough tax revenue" to pay all of its bills and instead prefers to fund government programs by going deeper into debt.

Soak The Rich

* According to Mr. Hungerford,

"While the federal government is projected torun deficits far into the future, the U.S. economy is projected to generate substantial amounts of income growth far into the future. This means the real fiscal challenge is simply the political problem of raising revenues that are sufficient to meet our spending needs."

Hungerford's solution is to raise taxes on the super-rich. However, he believes the super-rich won't be required to pay higher taxes so long as Republicans control the House and Senate. According to Hungerford, the problem isn't a lack of potential revenue; it's a lack of political will within the Republican-dominated Congress to soak the super-rich.

That argument makes sense, but is it true?

Maybe not.

A Need For Debt?

Maybe government doesn't need more tax revenue, but instead needs more debt to stimulate our economy. Maybe government's refusal to raise taxes isn't evidence of a lack of political will, but rather evidence of intelligent, political intent. Maybe debt is more valuable to our economy than tax revenues.

Does that notion sound irrational to you? Well, it does to me, too.

But under the correlative premises of:

1) a "debt-based monetary system"; and,

2) "fractional reserve banking,"

-it may be entirely logical for government to value debt more highly than tax revenues and therefore seek to restrict tax revenues in order to "force" government to borrow more to fund government programs and thereby maximize the debt.

* Debt-based monetary system: Before you dismiss my hypothesis as absurd, note that we already have a "debt-based monetary system" wherein debt (a mere promise to pay rather than the actual payment of a tangible asset) is deemed to be an asset. Under that premise, paper debt-instruments (like stocks, bonds, pension funds, bank accounts, mortgages, invoices, etc.) can be treated as tangible assets and therefore can be used by banks as collateral to justify more loans.

That's the critical consequence of a "debt-based monetary system": being able treat debt (mere promises to pay) as actual assets (payments).

Historically, banks demanded tangible assets (like gold, silver, land or buildings) as collateral to secure loans. Today, under our "debt-based monetary system," banks can treat paper debt instruments (mere promises to pay) as if they were tangible assets.

Given that paper debt instruments can now be treated as assets, the idea that government might value debt more than tax revenues may not be so implausible.

Fractional-Reserve Banking

Fractional-reserve banking allows banks to keep only a "fraction" of wealth deposited by depositors as "reserves" in the banks vaults.

If a man deposits $1,000 in a bank, the bank doesn't need to keep the entire $1,000 in its vault. Instead, the bank is only liable to keep $100 (a "fraction" of the deposit) on hand in the bank vault and can therefore lend the other "fraction" ($900) to consumers who will spend their borrowed currency on flat-screen TVs, automobiles and homes and thereby stimulate the economy.

Fractional reserve banking is justified by the fact that, statistically, only a relatively few people withdraw all of their deposits from a bank on any given day. I.e., it would be arguably wasteful to deposit $1,000 into a bank account if the entire $1,000 had to be held by the bank and none of it could be loaned to consumers to strengthen the economy.

Without fractional reserve banking, banking would be a drag on the economy. If 100% of every dime deposited had to be kept in the bank, every deposit would take money out of the economy, shrink the money supply, and thereby help precipitate an economic depression.

More, fractional reserve banking is the antidote to hoarding your cash or gold under your bed or buried out in the backyard. Fractional reserve banking gets 90% of the money you've earned and saved in some hidey-hole out into a bank, and then back out into the economy.

By themselves, a debt-based monetary system and fractional-reserve banking may seem a little strange, but in combination, the two concepts are powerful to the point of being sorcery.  

Fighting Waste and Taxes

"Hungerford also blames groups like Citizens Against Government Wastewhich reject tax increases based on their claim "that waste, fraud and abuse alone east up almost half of every tax dollar."

Most people would agree that excessive government waste should be stopped before government is allowed to borrow more currency. If government has some good ideas that should be implemented by legislation, they should fund those good ideas with whatever is saved by cutting waste-right?

In a rational world, excessive waste is stupid, wrong and even ungodly.

But we don't live in a rational world. We live in a world where a "debt-based monetary system" and "fractional reserve banking" are deemed normal and wise.

Under fractional-reserve banking, it's been presumed that the bank's depositors deposit wealth into banks' vaults. The banks need only keep, say, 10% of those deposits on hand to deal with usual withdrawals, and can lend out the other 90% to borrowers and profit from the interest on the bank loans.

But, what if the banks could buy debt-instruments (like US bonds) and add those purchases to their bank vault? Then, in theory, using those US bonds as collateral, the banks could lend nine times the face value of those bonds.

Why? Because under fractional reserve banking, there's a 1 to 9 ratio of assets held in "reserve" in the bank to currency loaned out to borrowers. The $1,000 deposited by a customer was divided into two fractions on a 1 to 9 basis. 10% stayed in the bank vault; 90% was loaned out to the public.

But today, the banks may still use the 1 to 9 ratio, but they don't divide deposits on the 1 to 9 ratio-they multiply those deposits. Where a bank once was allowed to loan $900,000 (90%) of a $1 million deposit, they can now lend $9 million based on a $1 million deposit.

The Profit Motive

Let's compare how much currency a bank could loan based on customer deposits.

Let's suppose that the people in a community deposited $1 million into a bank. Under fractional-reserve banking, the bank would have to keep $100,000 in "reserve" in the bank vault and could lend the other $900,000 to local borrowers.

The bank might charge 10% interest ($90,000) on the $900,000 that was loaned out to consumers. The bank might pay 5% annual interest ($50,000) to those who deposited the $1 million. Thus, the bank might net $40,000 per year on the $1 million deposit.

Note that no currency is created in this scenario. Local depositors deposited $1 million; the bank loaned out $900,000. 90% of the $1 million deposited is put to good use, but it's not multiplied.

Multiplied Reserve Banking

Now, let's suppose that the bank bought a $1 million US bond (paper debt-instrument) and the bank deposited that bond as an asset into its vault. In our brave new world of fractional-reserve banking, the bank could lend nine times the $1 million face value of that bond to the public.

Based on that $1 million bond, the bank could now lend $9 million to the public

Get that? Instead of $900,000 for loans, the $1 million deposit generates $9 million in loans.

If the public deposits $1 million into the bank, the bank can lend 90%-a fraction of that deposit to the public. The public deposits are divided into the 90% fraction hat can be loaned to the public and the 10% that must be held in the bank vault. That original form of "fractional reserve banking" might more accurately be referred to as "divided reserve banking" since every deposit was divided into 10% and 90% "fractions".

But, if the bank deposits a $1 million US bond into the bank vault, the bank can then lend $9 million to the public. The $1 million deposit is not divided (10% withheld; 90% loaned), it is multiplied ($1 million withheld; $9 million loaned).

Thanks to this multiplication, the bank will have created 9 million fiat dollars. This act of monetary multiplication and subsequent lending will both inflate the currency supply and stimulate the local economy.

* Compare the interest income received by the banks:

If the public deposits $1 million, the bank pays $50,000 per year in interest on those deposits and lends $900,000 at 10%, the bank nets about $40,000.

If the bank deposits its own $1million US bond and keeps that $1 million in the vault, it can lend $9 million at 10% annual interest and thereby net $900,000 in interest payments. In theory, that's a 90% annual return on investment.

If the public deposits $1 million cash into the bank, the bank might make $40,000. If the bank deposits a $1 million bond into the bank vault, the bank might make $900,000. Which $1 million do you suppose the bank wants more-your actual cash deposits or the government's debt instruments?

* If the bank lends 90% of the $1 million deposited by the public, no currency is created. The $1 million in deposits reflects the real wealth that has been earned by dint of hard work and industry and saved (not created/spun) by local depositors.

Because the local currency supply is not increased, the local economy isn't "stimulated". The bank merely manages the $1 million in deposits to see that they're wisely invested in the best interests of the local community.

If the bank lends $9 million based on a $1 million US bond deposited into the bank, the bank will have created and added $9 million into the local economy. The result should be economically "stimulating".

* Do you see what the banks have done?

Historically, under "traditional" fractional reserve banking, the banks had a 1 to 9 ratio that said 10% of the public's deposits had to be "reserved" in the bank's vault, and 90% of those deposits could be loaned out into the community. The $1 million in public deposits was divided into two fractions (10% withheld and 90% loaned). Thus, "fractional reserve banking" might be more accurately described as "divided reserve banking" or even "divided deposit banking".

But under the new-and-improved "multiplied reserve banking," they kept the 1 to 9 ratio, but instead of dividing deposits into 90% to 10% "fractions," banks are now allowed to lend 9 times the face value of their own deposits. These deposits are no longer divided into fractions, but are multiplied. The 1:9 ratio no longer applies as a "fraction" of deposits, but is instead a multiplier of deposits.

Instead of describing today's banking system as "fractional reserve banking," is might be more accurate to describe it as "multiplied reserve banking" since the banks can apparently multiply its deposits by a factor of nine.

Promise-Based Monetary System

The debt-based monetary system allows banks to treat debt-instruments as collateral. That capability is essential to "multiplied reserve banking". We can deposit debts (mere promises to pay; not real assets) into bank vaults and then multiply the face value of those debts to create (spin) apparent assets of fiat dollars.

Without a debt-based monetary system, the "multiplied reserve system" couldn't work. Banks couldn't create fiat dollars out of thin air unless debts were recognized as assets. But, together, these two concepts allow banks to "spin" apparent wealth out of thin air. In combination, "debt-based money" and "multiplied reserve banking" allow The Powers That Be to seemingly create wealth (or at least economic "stimulation") by going into debt.

How can this be? It's easy. Debt is nothing but a promise to pay. Promises are easily created. Today's bank vaults don't generally contain real assets (like gold, which can't be artificially created or spun out of thin air) but are instead filled with nothing but promises to pay (which can be "created" with the stroke of a pen).

Thus, our "debt-based monetary system" might more accurately be described as a "promise-based monetary system" which, in conjunction with the "multiplied reserve banking," allows bankers to "spin" apparent wealth (fiat dollars) out of the "thin air" of mere promises.

How hard would it be for me to earn $1 billion? Very.

How hard would it be for me to promise to repay $1 billion. Nothing to it. Just sign my name to a piece of paper. "I.O.U. $1 billion". Easy. If the banks could use my $1 billion I.O.U as collateral to justify lending another $9 billion to customers, they'd eagerly accept and validate my $1 billion promise as valuable, even if I had no more chance or keeping that promise than I had of living to be 200 years old.

Liar Loans

Don't forget that, prior to the Great Recession, banks happily issued "liars loans" to Americans who lied about their incomes in order to get bigger loans and bigger homes-but had no chance to repay their bigger mortgages.

It didn't matter that these "liars" couldn't repay their loans. What mattered was that the "liars" signed on the line to create a debt-instrument (note and mortgage; a promise to pay) for, say, $200,000, that could be used as collateral by US or even foreign banks to justify lending up to $1.8 million to other consumers.

Thanks to "multiplied reserve banking" and "promise-based monetary system," the banks eagerly sought promises to repay (debt-instruments) from even people who were recognized as never being able to actually keep their promise to repay. It didn't matter that the lying borrowers could never actually repay their loans. All that mattered was that the liars created a paper promise to repay that could be used as collateral to lend nine times the face value of the promise to pay.

* Today, as with the previous liar-loans, so long as we have a "promise-based monetary system" and "multiplied reserve banking," it doesn't matter if government can't ever repay its bonds. It doesn't matter if the US government can't repay its $18 trillion ($200 trillion?) national debt. It doesn't matter that Greece can't repay its $300 billion national debt.

All that matters is that no one repudiates its promises to repay. So long as Greece continues to promise (even if its promises are obvious lies) to repay its $300 billion in liar-loans . . . so long as the US gov-co continues to promise (even if its promises are obvious lies) to someday, somehow repay the national debt . . . then, those promises are presumed to be valid and all of the billions or trillions of fiat dollars and euros that were "multiplied" into existence based on those promises need not be repudiated.

* I begin to suspect that, under the twin premises of "promise-based monetary system" and "multiplied reserve banking," nobody really cares if the debts are paid. It doesn't matter if government can ever keep its promises to repay the national debt. But if either of those two premises fails, the whole racket will implode.

What matters is that government goes deeper into debt in order to create and sells its bonds (promises to pay), that those promises be used as collateral by banks under multiplied reserve banking to allow up to nine times as much fiat currency to be created and loaned to the public to stimulate the economy. Thanks to a promise-based monetary system and multiplied reserve banking, the more bonds (promises to pay; debts) government sells, the "richer" the US becomes.

Thus, we might reasonably conclude that government would rather go into debt than collect more tax revenues. The tax revenues can't be multiplied by private banks but the debt-instruments can.

On the one hand, this is a brilliant scheme that's worked for several generations.

On the other hand, this is a Ponzi scheme that will inevitably implode when the world either stops buying US promises to pay (bonds) or refuses to participate in "multiplied reserve banking".

Lower Taxes

Hungerford described the U.S. as one of the lowest-taxed developed countries in the world. 

In a world of promise-based currency and multiplied reserve banking, taxes that are too low to pay for government spending are not irrational

Low taxes + big government = big debt.

Under the bizarre hypothesis I've advanced concerning the "promise-based monetary system" and "multiplied-reserve-banking," low taxes make sense since the result is more deficits, more government debt, more debt-instruments to be used as collateral by banks to issue up to nine times the face value of the debt-instruments.

Method to the Madness

The public believes that our rising deficits are due to fiscal incompetence and mismanagement by Congress and the Federal Reserve.

But, is the government really "incompetent"? Or, is it acting logically under the combined premises of a promise-based monetary system and multiplied reserve banking to stimulate the economy by going into ever deeper debt?

To what extent are rising government deficits (debts) truly due to government mismanagement and to what extent are rising deficits the intentional act of a system that depends on creating more debt instruments that banks can use as collateral to lend nine times face value of those debt-instruments to the public?

* For example, US military programs are black holes for currency. Billions of dollars routinely "disappear". But are the military programs primarily intended to fight terrorists and foreign adversaries? Or are they primarily intended to be patriot-supported means to generate more debt instruments that banks can use to create fiat dollars to stimulate the US and even foreign economies?

If that question seems absurd, remember that President G.W. Bush not only refused to raise taxes during his administration, he also lowered them. The economy seemed "stimulated" by lower taxes.

But was the stimulation really caused by lower taxes?

Or was that stimulation due to larger government deficits, greater government debt, more government borrowing, the creation of more US bonds that (in our promise-based monetary system) could be used by banks as collateral that (in a multiplied reserve banking system) could be used to lend nine times the face value of the bonds-and thereby "stimulate" the economy?

The Money Tree

In combination, the "promise-based monetary system" and "multiplied reserve banking" are a little like having a checking account where, every time you write a check, the bank adds nine times the face value of your check to your account. I.e., if you write a check for $100, the bank adds $900 to your account. If you write a check for that $900, the bank adds another $8,100 to your account. If you write a check for $8,100, the bank adds $72,900 to your account. . . .

Pretty cool, hmm?

But how long could such a Ponzi-scheme last?

How long before the people you're paying with checks begin to realize there's something fishy about your financial premises and stop taking your checks?

How long do you suppose you could support yourself (and stimulate your local economy) by simply going deeper and deeper into debt? How long could you do so before you became bankrupt?

Similarly, how long can our big government go deeper and deeper into debt before it (like Greece) has to admit that it can't keep its promises (pay its debts), goes bankrupt, and collapses the whole Ponzi-scheme? 

U.S. Retail Stores Closing, Chains Downsizing & Retailer Bankruptcies in 2015

By Barbara Farfan
Retail Industry Expert

Even before the end of calendar year 2014, the largest U.S. retail chains  had announced hundreds of store closings that will be happening in the calendar year 2015.  The U.S. teen apparel retail chain Wet Seal then made a big splash early in the 2015 calendar year when its employees created some high profile social media revenge in response to store closures that were scheduled with little notice to its employees.

 Wet Seal had previously told its employees that it was not planning on closing stores, but would be revitalizing, and reimagining its brand instead.  Employees claimed the company's leaders lied about that so that there wouldn't be a mass employee exodus during the critical 2014 Christmas holiday shopping season.  Perhaps the Wet Seal leaders did lie.  Or perhaps a $28.8 million default notice from creditor Hudson Bay Master Fund Ltd. on January 2, 2015 just changed their minds.  Whatever the truth is, Many, if not all of Wet Seals retail stores will be closing in the U.S. in 2015, and it is likely to be just the start of some messy, complicated store closings expected from the largest U.S. retail chains in 2015.Click to Skip to All 2015 Store Closings List Arranged by Store Numbers >>Click to Skip to All 2015 Store Closings Arranged Alphabetically >>The general opinion among U.S. retail consumers and casual U.S. retail industry observers is that store closings are "bad" and a sign of weakness, while store openings are "good" and a sign of growth, expansion, and success.

 The store closings by U.S. retail chains in 2015 are not so easily categorized.  Retail store closings in the U.S. have less to do with economic implications and more to do with sociological insights.  Store closings are no longer about discretionary income as much as they are about consumer empowerment and how retail consumption is shapeshifting in response to rapidly changing consumer behaviors and preferences.  The amount of commercial retail store space in the U.S. grew 12% from 1970 to 2010.  In a consumer-driven economy where approximately 70% of the GDP is dependent on the purchase of goods and services, this seems like a positive indicator of economic expansion and strength. But during that same time period, the population of the U.S. consumers only grew 52%.  So rather than being a sign of economic stability, the number of retail stores in the U.S. is more of a sign of retail store supply exceeding retail store demand.  Does the U.S. marketplace need 50 square feet of retail space for every man, woman, and child within the country's borders?  The ongoing and steady post-recession stream of store closings since seems to indicate that the answer is "no."  It's not that consumers haven't been making money and spending it on retail goods and services since the Great Recession.  Rather, it's that consumers are losing interest in and patience for the retail store distribution model.  The tedious and time-consuming process of slogging from store to store seeking "the perfect" whatever is becoming less of an entertaining recreational hobby, and more of an avoidable annoyance.  Retail store closings in the U.S. are no longer a reflection of poor economic health, they are a reflection of an antiquated distribution system that is increasingly losing its appeal to the average consumer.
Hillary Blames the Cops

Thursday - April 30, 2015 at 11:29 pm

By Patrick J. Buchanan http://buchanan.org/blog/

Had Freddie Gray been robbed, beaten and left to die in the streets of his Baltimore neighborhood, no one would be mourning him today.

No one would be marching for Freddie. No one would be using Freddie as the new poster child of "Black Lives Matter!"

No one would care, three weeks later, but his family and friends.

It was the manner of his death, suffering a fractured spine in police custody, that makes Freddie matter. For he can now be credibly cast in the victim's role in the great new narrative against America - that ours is a society of unequal justice where racist cops routinely brutalize black men and boys and are rarely called to account.

In this narrative, the liberal is always the hero.

Hillary Clinton knows the narrative by heart and has rushed forward to cast herself as the champion of black America.

As The Washington Times reports, Hillary declared Wednesday she would help to end a "pattern" of cops killing black men.

"There is something wrong when a third of all black men face the prospect of prison during their lifetimes. And an estimated 1.5 million black men are 'missing' from their families and communities because of incarceration and premature death. ...

"My heart beaks for these young men and their families. We have to come to terms with some hard truths about race and justice in America."

We certainly do, Hillary.

She specifically mentioned Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

But Trayvon died when he was shot sitting on top of and beating senseless a neighborhood watch guy, "martial arts style," and banging his head on the sidewalk as he screamed for help.

Michael Brown died of gunshot wounds when, after knocking over a convenience store and throttling the clerk in Ferguson, Missouri, he tried to wrestle a gun from a cop, and, told to halt, charged the officer.

This latest great narrative against America - that the men in blue are a threat to us all, especially black America, rather than the last line of society's defense from its criminal class - is but another big lie, rooted in a tiny truth.

Yes, some black men and boys are killed every year in clashes with cops. And, yes, blacks are incarcerated in far greater proportions and suffer, on average, more early deaths. But who is killing them?

When black men and boys are shot to death, overwhelmingly, it is by other black men and boys.

Their premature deaths are due to the violent culture in their own communities, not rampaging white cops.

As for incarcerations, every imprisoned male has confessed to or been convicted of a crime. And many of the drug charges for which blacks are in prison were a result of their being allowed to plea bargain to a lesser offense.

Freddie Gray had a rap sheet of a dozen arrests.

Fifty years ago, Lyndon Johnson declared at Howard University, "We seek ... not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result."

In pursuit of equality of result there began one of the most massive transfers of wealth in all history. Trillions of tax dollars were plunged into programs of social uplift. The results in black America?

Where the illegitimacy rate was 23 percent in 1965, it is 72 percent now, and the gap between black and white test scores endures. In the black community, the dropout rate, crime rate, drug use rate and incarceration rate are now far higher now than in 1965.

And one notices something else in America. The lawns are being mowed, potholes filled, ditches dug, fast-food served, dishes washed and buildings cleaned increasingly by folks who are newcomers. It is they who are, in Jesse Jackson's phrase, "movin' on up."

Looking back to when LBJ's Great Society was launched, and the moral, social and cultural revolution of the 1960s began, what has liberal ideology done for black America?

Their work ethic has been eviscerated by an endless flow of social welfare benefits. Those benefits have often removed the incentive to find or hold a job, and the necessity to have a breadwinner, a father in the home.

The social and cultural revolution of the 1960s undermined the black churches and depopulated them of their young.

The expulsion of the Bible and of all religious and moral instruction from public schools left black children defenseless against the lure of the lifestyles of gang leaders and rap singers.

The conscience- and character-forming institutions that inculcated the beliefs and values that sustained black families through the Depression, the war and the 1950s have collapsed.

Result: Many black neighborhoods are unsafe for those who live there.

Hillary's answer: "It's time to end the era of incarceration in America." But how will returning scores of thousands of convicts to their home communities make them safer - not to mention ours?

Given how it all worked out, are we really ready for Hillary and another giant leap forward into Great Society liberalism?
HEALTH

Superbug diseases

 

by Herbalist Wendy Wilson

 

 

Most people have heard that the drug resistant "superbugs" became a reality upon the use of antibiotics. However, what do these mutating bugs feed on and what can magnify their destructive action? If science doesn't know it had better find out because according to the CDC we lose close to 20,000 people annually with MRSA alone. We lose nearly 250,000 annually from drug resistant gonorrhea. We lose about 10,000 from c. difficile infections. We have about six superbugs that allopathic medicine says are very challenging to treat. Bacterial infections are killing more people than influenza.  Researchers and physicians have known since the 1940's about these deadly microbes. You'd think in seventy-five years modern medicine would have developed an antidote to these superbugs.

 

DESIGNED TO WEAKEN

What medical research has revealed is that mutating superbugs weaken the human immune system. According to a 2005 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), anyone with weak immune systems is at higher risk of death by superbugs. Anyone over 65, the very young, transplant patients on immune suppressant drugs, those with HIV or autoimmune disease are at a severe risk should they encounter a superbug such as MRSA. 

 

FORCES OF EVOLUTION

The bacterial strain that have doctors biting their nails is the notorious S. aureus strain. People with healthy and strong immune systems doctors say can fall victim to this bacteria. According to Dr. Martin Blaser of New York University School of Medicine and former president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, the S. aureus can take out football players, wrestlers as well as toddlers. Dr. Blaser feels that our global transportation system has contributed to the spread of these bacterial strains. Scientists will study these microbes in climate-controlled rooms but how does that translate to the real bacterial environment? Clive Beggs, a medical technology professor at the University of Bradford England, said it is a fat chance that scientists and doctors will discover how these microbes are transitioning in a hospital environment as more bureaucratic issues creep into healthcare. There is little research on the environment the superbugs prefer. There is talk about a new era in antibiotics to fight these pathogens.

 

FEEDING THE BUG

There is a reason why superbugs thrive in hospitals. People think that hospitals are one of the cleanest places on earth but that is furthest from the truth. Caregivers transfer the bacteria from patient to patient. Rooms, beds, OR's and medical equipment transports the bacteria because they are not cleaned properly. The superbugs have become so hardy that they can resist most cleaning agents. The Smithsonian recently reported a new antibiotic in the works made from dirt. Animal tests suggest that it can kill the drug resistant bacterial strains. Once it hits the market science predicts that the drug will give mankind peace-of-mind for decades. That's what they said in the 1940's with penicillin. Most people will think the new drug is a godsend because the public has been instructed to think that they should rely on antibiotics to cure bacterial infections.   

 

BEHIND THE 8 BALL

The San Diego School of Medicine reported that if you smoke and encounter one of the drug-resistant bacteria that you will be at a high mortality risk. Apparently, the aggressive bacteria become even more aggressive from tobacco smoke. It is like the superbugs don't like second hand smoke and attack the pulmonary. Scientists took MRSA bacteria and put it in a Petri dish with cigarette smoke extract. Smokers have a very weak immune response in the pulmonary and their immune system cells (macrophages) were not as effective at engaging the bacteria to protect from infection. In the lab, the more smoke extract they used the stronger and more aggressive the bacteria became. In the people who smoked the research matched with the Staph, MRSA, pneumonia and higher mortality rates. The hypothesis is that the tobacco smoke initiates a defense in the bacteria to strengthen its walls and repel antibodies from the immune system. One would ask if smokers are more at risk of any infection such as plague or a hemorrhagic fever. A study by the Veterans Affairs stated that smoking affects immunity and infection. Their research was published in the American Society for Microbiology.

 

"We already know that smoking cigarettes harms human respiratory and immune cells, and now we've shown that, on the flipside, smoke can also stress out invasive bacteria and make them more aggressive." Dr. Laura Crotty Alexander UC San Diego Veterans Affairs Healthcare

 

WHAT BACTERIA EATS

There are some interesting things on the menu for bacteria. The bacteria called geobacter likes to chow down on nuclear waste. It sucks up the energy from the electron gradient and creates uranium in the process. A common bacterium found in California lakes snacks on arsenic. The bacterium that eats crude oil is pseudomonas and has been deployed to clean up oil slicks. Oddly enough this bacterium also likes to eat caffeine and turns it into carbon dioxide and ammonia. The bacterium that likes to consume human waste and thrives in septic tanks is brocadia. The military and space program will use this bacterium because its byproduct produces a molecule used to make thruster fuel. There is also a bacterium that dissolves rocks and is a problem for miners. Researchers at Denmark's Aarhus University found a new form of bacteria in 90 foot sediment cores. They wondered how the bacteria survived without oxygen or food. They found steel eating bacteria on the remains of the Titanic. That particular bacteria preferred steel and would not eat brass or copper which kills bacteria. This is probably why medical doctors tried to kill the flesh eating bacteria with a copper application. It worked. You'll find bacteria just about everywhere including in the underwear of the Russian astronauts. They could change their tighty whities every three days. Their underwear was infused with a bacteria cocktail to help cut down on waste and odor. It was a science experiment to explore the harnessing of methane gas to use as fuel.

 

HERBS THAT KILL BACTERIA

While mankind waits for the latest antibiotic to kill the superbugs we can always tap into the antibacterial action of herbs. Garlic kills bacteria including MRSA and Staph. Gentian Root kills hemorrhagic fevers such as Eboa. And let's not forget that there are many herbs that support and strengthen the human immune system (Astragalus & Echinacea root) and filtering organs to eradicate dangerous pathogens quickly (American Ginseng). Using these herbs in combinations will make any bacteria run. If you would like to empower yourself with powerful bacteria-fighting herbs then call Apothecary Herbs and get a free catalog 866-229-3663, International 704-885-0277 http://www.thepowerherbs.com, where your healthcare options just became endless. Mother's Day Special - save 15% on your order with coupon MOM15. Hurry! Expires 5/11/15. (Cannot be used with other discounts or promotions).

 

Sources:

http://www.livescience.com/4699-truth-deadly-superbugs.html

 http://testtube.com/dnews/why-superbugs-thrive-in-hospitals/

http://iai.asm.org/content/early/2015/03/24/IAI.00303-15

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/cigarette_smoke_makes_superbugs_more_aggressive

http://io9.com/5908318/10-surprising-things-that-bacteria-like-to-eat

 

COMING UP ON HERB TALK LIVE

Herbalist Wendy Wilson on Herb Talk Live

Saturday morning show:

7 am EST on GCN

Weekday show:

7 pm EST on AVR

Shortwave show 8 pm EST WWCR 4840

Go to http://www.thepowerherbs.com Herb Talk Live & Radio Archive area for network link access and past shows to download and share. For Android users you can download a FREE app for Herb Talk Live on GCN. See the download link under radio archives at top of page at http://www.thepowerherbs.com. **Dr. Rebecca Carley is taking a sabbatical from doing radio shows.

 

NEW HMO COUPONS at Apothecary Herbs 866-229-3663 www.thepowerherbs.com

Click on the green HMO button on top left on web site. Cut and paste coupons in your cart and save. These coupons expire the end of April 2015.

 

HMO1 FREE ground ship on order of $45 to $99

 

HMO2  10% off on orders of $100 to $299

 
HMO3  10% off & FREE ground ship on orders of $300 to $1,000

 

"NEW" from Apothecary Herbs POWER GREENS FOR PETS - Keeps you away from the vet.  Natural herbs for dogs and cats. Because we want organic pets

Power Greens is a blend of organic plants and natural herbs containing vitamins, minerals and 22 amino acids found naturally in these whole-food plants. Easy to digest with healthy digestion enzymes. You will notice the vibrant color of the greens and other ingredients in Power Greens for Pets because it is made with certified organic herbs grown to Tilth Standards (the highest organic standards in the industry). Compared to Dinovite�, Power Greens for Pets is made with superior grade ingredients and will produce much faster and better results in the health of your pet. No need for large scoops of our Power Greens for Pets to get results. Depending on the size of your pet 1/2 teaspoon to one tablespoon is all you'll need. Your pet will be healthier and you'll save money. For more info call 866-229-3663 http://www.thepowerherbs.com/herb/Natural-Pet-Food.html

 

MORE HERB SECRETS IN THE POWER HERBS e-BOOK. By popular demand The Power Herbs e-book is available with symptom/herb reference guide, information on organ cleansing and how to make your own herbal tinctures plus a whole lot more. Go to http://www.thepowerherbs.com/Books-And-Newsletters/The-Power-Herbs-e-Book-cleansing-immune-boosting.html and click on Books. You must have email to order and receive the e-book a PDF version of The Power Herb book for just $14.99. At this time, we do not offer this title in hard copy.

 

NEW DANDELION ROOT LIQUID

Try Dandelion Root Tincture for inflammation, blood purification, respiratory infections, digestion and cancer protection at http://www.thepowerherbs.com/herb/Dandelion-Inflammation-Blood-Purifier.html

 

HERB KITS EXTEND YOUR FIRST AID KITS

Do you have your Pandemic Kit yet? Here is what folks are saying about the 100% organic Pandemic Kit made by Apothecary Herbs. "I have this kit and recommend everyone have at least one on hand (or more depending on family size) for a pandemic." Rebecca Carley, MD, Hickory, NC and "I have one and glad I do; just in case. I like the long shelf life." Melody Cedarstrom, Port Matilda, PA (more customer feedback at http://www.thepowerherbs.com) or call 866-229-3663 to order your kit today.

 

PURE ZINC ENERGY

Pure energy is organic and instantly absorbed - transporting nutrition to every cell in your body. It is a super food for the body to repair, build and fortify itself. Where do you get it? It's called Body Foundation Food Mix and is at Apothecary Herbs 866-229-3663, International 704-885-0277 http://www.thepowerherbs.com. This pure energy food source is so efficient; you won't feel hungry between meals and can safely lose weight.

 

DETOX PRODUCTS

Apothecary Herbs has released a new product called Liver Detox Tea. You can layer this tea with Milk Thistle Tincture for a gentle yet effective liver cleanse. This is a nice option if you can't do the Liver/Gall Bladder Flush using olive oil. You will find this new product under Herbal Teas at http://www.thepowerherbs.com. Also new is the Liver & Gall Bladder Tincture with dandelion root for more anticancer protection. This formula is available in 1 oz, 2 oz and 4 oz sizes. You will find this item under Organ Body Cleanses at http://www.thepowerherbs.com. You can layer this tincture with the Liver Detox Tea and be well!

 

BE PREPARED

Being prepared is never a waste of time. Get your own organic garden growing and stock as much healthy foodstuffs as you can. You'll also need backup medicine but the over-the-counter and prescription medicines have a limited shelf life of two years or less. However, your organic medicines have a ten year shelf life without side effects. Call the folks at Apothecary Herbs for their Natural Medicine Starter Stock-up Package or make sure you get one of their many herb kits for boosting immune system and protecting you from viruses, bacteria and other pathogens. Call Apothecary Herbs 866-229-3663, International 704-885-0277 online http://www.thepowerherbs.com, where your healthcare options just became endless.

 

ALLERGY RELIEF

If you suffer from allergies (sneezing, itchy watery eyes, stuffy or runny nose, and sinus pressure or sinus infections) try the Echinacea Deluxe formula and Herbal Eyewash both around $20.00 from Apothecary Herbs. Call now toll free 866-229-3663 http://www.thepowerherbs.com.

 

APOTHECARY HERBS VITAMIN VAULT - STOCK UP AND SAVE!

You already know that you can save on the half and full case discounts in the Vitamin Vault area at http://www.thepowerherbs.com. Apothecary Herbs has added a new item called the Natural Medicine Starter Stock-up Package. This package is designed for those preparing for their medical future and contains immune boosting, pain & inflammation, organ cleanses, vitamin, mineral, amino acid and protein products plus a Pandemic Kit and it comes with a savings. Visit http://www.thepowerherbs.com or call toll free to order your Starter Stock-up Package 866-229-3663, International 704-885-0277.  

 

MALE & FEMALE ORGAN CLEANSES KITS - Don't give disease a foothold. You will have the power to cleanse the bowel, urinary, liver, gall bladder and blood system with this cleanse package. For added cleansing, ask about how you can upgrade your order to include the prostate cleanse for men or the Kidney/Bladder cleanse for females.  Go to http://www.thepowerherbs.com or call their 24-hour live customer service line 866-229-3663, International 704-885-0277.


 

STARTER KIT & ONE-YEAR SUPPLY OF HERBAL MEDICNE (shelf life 10 to 15 years)

See Apothecary Herbs One Year Supply of Herbal Medicine at http://www.thepowerherbs.com or call 866-229-3663, 704-885-0277. Call for a customized year supply or to set up installment payment for this package.

The information contained herein is not designed to diagnosis, treat, prevent or cure disease. Seek medical advice from a lincensed medical physician (if you dare) before using any product or therapy. 
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