re: "raising living standards for the billions of people who haven't yet had the chance to enjoy the perks of the Industrial Revolution."

The "perks of the Industrial Revolution" are the very reasons why the planet is in trouble. Just what we need: Billions more people driving cars and living unsustainable American consumer-type lifestyles.

Of course, this is never going to happen. Even now, as China and India ramp up their consumption levels, oil reserves are being depleted ever-faster and oil is becoming more and more expensive. This is having the effect of putting the brakes on any economic growth in the more developed countries, much less those that were left behind.

What we will see is a continued spiral downward of the present economic system. We are all about to get royally screwed.

• Banking Solvency Crisis Has Opened First Phase of Monetary Inflation

• Hyperinflationary Depression Remains Likely As Early As 2010

The U.S. economy is in an intensifying inflationary recession that eventually will evolve into a hyperinflationary great depression. Hyperinflation could be experienced as early as 2010, if not before, and likely no more than a decade down the road. The U.S. government and Federal Reserve already have committed the system to this course through the easy politics of a bottomless pocketbook, the servicing of big-moneyed special interests, and gross mismanagement.

The U.S. has no way of avoiding a financial Armageddon. Bankrupt sovereign states most commonly use the currency printing press as a solution to not having enough money to cover their obligations. The alternative would be for the U.S. to renege on its existing debt and obligations, a solution for modern sovereign states rarely seen outside of governments overthrown in revolution, and a solution with no happier ending than simply printing the needed money. With the creation of massive amounts of new fiat (not backed by gold) dollars will come the eventual complete collapse of the value of the U.S. dollar and related dollar-denominated paper assets.

http://www.shadowstats.com/article/292

John Williams is interviewed on CNN by Greg Hunter. The record growth in M3 is discussed and its implications for future inflation.

http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/02/28/news.hunter.shadowstats.Feb28.cnnmoney

...is ZERO.

These people have made their reputation spewing out a constant stream of falsehoods, whether they be about Saddam's WMDs, or climate change science, or the data regarding the rise in terrorism incidents. The list is endless.

They have also perfected the art of manipulating government economic statistics.

For the real picture on the latter, see:

http://www.shadowstats.com/

The problem with the Bush Administration and the "dead-enders" who still support it was identified by Ron Suskind back in 2004 in his New York Times Magazine piece, wherein he enlightened us to the fact that these people are not part of what they derided as the "reality-based community". Somehow, these "upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography", as Kurt Vonnegut so aptly described them, are so drunk with their own power that they believe themselves to be God: They need merely speak and it must be so.

Unfortunately, this dismissal of objective reality for the last 7+ years has led us to the precipice -- and we're about to get shoved over:

"Conceivably we could have just had recession, hard times, sliding dollar, inflation, etc., but I'm afraid it's going to be much worse...Bernanke is printing huge amounts of money. He's out of control and the Fed is out of control. We are probably going to have one of the worst recessions we've had since the Second World War. It's not a good scene."

-Jim Rogers

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/30/news/international/okeefe_rogers.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008013103

"I do not think things are going to get any better"

-Billionaire investor Eli Broad

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aAZwgRY7yikM&refer=worldwide

Bank losses from credit crisis may run to $1,600bn, warns Bridgewater

Bridgewater Associates has issued an apocalyptic warning to clients that bank losses from the worldwide credit crisis may reach $1,600bn (£800bn), four times official estimates and enough to pose a grave risk to the financial system.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/07/08/cnbridge108.xml

"The financial shock that originated in the U.S. subprime mortgage market in August 2007 has spread quickly, and in unanticipated ways, to inflict extensive damage on markets and institutions at the core of the financial system...The global expansion is losing momentum in the face of what has become the largest financial crisis in the United States since the Great Depression."

-IMF statement

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aclg8HEIqKc4&refer=home

Inflationary Recession Is in Place

* Banking Solvency Crisis Has Opened First Phase of Monetary Inflation

* Hyperinflationary Depression Remains Likely As Early As 2010

http://www.shadowstats.com/article/292

Everyone, please join me in humming the theme to 'Titanic'.

Greetings, Master Yoda. Thought you might find this book of interest:

The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives

by Nick Turse

http://www.amazon.com/Complex-Military-Invades-Everyday-Lives/dp/0805078967/ref=wl_it_dp?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1289KF1WII2L2&colid=2FA2J8S1K2NXK

Many Democrats are wondering -- especially after yesterday's FISA vote -- why they should bother electing Democrats when all they seem to do is rubber-stamp Bush's requests, whether they be for telecom immunity or more funding for war.

I, for one, decided that Obama's vote for the FISA bill was the last straw. I'm voting for Nader, unless the Democratic convention dumps Obama and nominates Kucinich.

P.S.

A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama's glow may be fading. In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month's NEWSWEEK Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145737