I recently started to use Sovereign Silver and I can say that I have noticed a positive difference. I would call it Natures Viagra or energy supplement! I also tried using it when I was sick with a sour throat and was better with in days not weeks! So I can say with my personal experience Yes to the Good for you in a short term! I did not use the recommended dose I would use far less. I used 1/2 a tea spoon twice a day, once in the morning and once at night before bed and that would be about it!
Now for the Bad news about Sovereign Silver it can Kill you if you do not know what your doing. I would say consult your doctor before using Silver products!
Colloidal silver’s proponents will often leave-out the reason why it’s no longer in use by doctors: silver can build-up in your body, make you sick and even kill you. There is a report available online of a 71 year old man who died after taking colloidal silver orally for four months. Here is an excerpt of the report: It seems that some important facts about the 71 year old man who died were left out. My understanding was that he was on pharmaceutical medications that he had just come off of to start taking the colloidal silver. His reactions were consistent for anyone coming off those types of medicines too quickly.
“Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The authors report a case of a 71-year-old man who developed myoclonic status epilepticus and coma after daily ingestion of colloidal silver for 4 months resulting in high levels of silver in plasma, erythrocytes, and CSF. Despite plasmapheresis, he remained in a persistent vegetative state until his death 5.5 months later. Silver products can cause irreversible neurologic toxicity associated with poor outcome.”.
The Ugly is can turn Blue like a smurf?
One of the most obvious signs of silver-poisoning is that your skin turns a blueish color. Oh, by the way, this change of color is usually permanent. This condition is called Argyria.
There is a Libertarian Party politician in Montana, named Stan Jones, who took homemade colloidal silver, out of fear that theYear 2000 “problem” that had panic-stricken dupes predicting the end of the modern world as we know it, would make modern antibiotics unavailable. So, he self-medicated himself with colloidal silver and it made his skin turn a blue-gray. Here’s a picture I found of him on the Internet. I swear I didn’t doctor it:
What most of the mainstream media conveniently fail to report is that Paul Karason took homemade colloidal silver which he contaminated with salt and drank over a quart a day for years. Despite that, he was given a clean bill of health from Mount Sinai hospital after he had a checkup at the request of the Today Show he appeared on.
Likely no one has consumed more silver, even in the wrong form, than Karason and despite his cosmetic skin condition his clean bill of health stands as a stark refutation to the charges that silver causes harm.
The fact is that millions of people around the world use colloidal silver and yet there are precious few reports of any harm and the blue skin condition known as Argyria is quite rare. In virtually every instance where it is found the cause can be traced to heavy injestion of a product that is not true colloidal silver.
Properly prescribed and administered mainstream drugs, including antibiotics, kill as many as 120,000 people each year by the admission of the American Medical Association.
The main reason that silver fell out of favor was the advent of antibiotics which were patentable and thus much more highly profitable. Likewise, the main reason that colloidal silver is targeted by the trillion dollar a year world pharma empire, mainstream medicine and the media and agencies beholden to them is the threat it represents to the billions of dollars of profits they make from those antibiotics and treatment of conditions colloidal silver remedies.
Calling it a conspiracy would not be inaccurate.
Millions are estimated to use Silver products from top colloidal and ionic silver companies that I am familiar with. Still, where are all the smurfs and where is evidence of all the harm?
There are a grand total of 16 mentions of colloidal silver and argyria in all the voluminous PubMed references. When you remove the homemade ionic silver and the colloidal silver protein that is not really colloidal silver, then you end up with only a handful that might be colloidal silver.
When I tracked down rare reported incidents of Argyria due to ingestion of alleged colloidal silver I have invariably found that it turned out to be contaminated homemade ionic silver, so-called colloidal silver protein (which is particles to large to suspend without protein – and skin has an affinity for protein) or an ionic silver product with far too high ppm silver content.
Bad homemade CS is NOT ‘contaminated ionic silver suspended in protein’. (No-one makes MSP at home). Bad homemade CS is just colloidal silver made in impure water that has been ‘generated’ for too long. Put simply it causes argyria because its way too strong. Paul Karosan and Stan Jones both made that mistake. Paul Karosan continues to do so for some strange reason. (The other famous argyria victim and anti-colloidal silver campaigner, Rosemary Jacobs, actually never drank colloidal silver in her life. She took highly concentrated silver nitrate nose drops (probably around 30,000 ppm) every day for 3 or 4 years when she was about 11. Read her story and she admits this).
The reports at PubMed ranged from bluish fingernail cuticles to one report of death of a 71 year old man, which may or may not have been actual colloidal silver. Just for grins, do a search for “antibiotic side effect deaths”. That returns 675 reports.
Of course Natural News had ads for colloidal silver and colloidal silver makers – the ads are Google ads, which key in on words and phrases in each article the same way Google does with gmail accounts when you send and receive emails. If you went to an article about cancer, you would see ads for cancer treatments.
Now, if you want to say that some products which are labeled as colloidal silver might be dangerous or ineffective, I might agree. Otherwise, it is MY belief that some people make a practice of labeling anything that is not a mainstream approved drug as quackery.
i think the “conspiracy” angle is quite valid. except i’d put it another way. a large industry looking after it’s interests.
There is a general trend to have too much faith in modern medicine. people think its way more advanced then it is. Most people have adopted an attitude that science will save them, but for most people it’s really about healthy lifestyle choices.
There is not much to back up the toxic effects of silver. We use it in silverware, drinking pitchers, jewelry. sure anything can be toxic in huge does.
Iv tried it and found out for myself when I think of all the crap I’ve wasted money on over the years…$35 ain’t much. I really can’t remember the last time a doctor helped me and that wasn’t cheap. More People are killed at hospitals by bad medicine than anything natural.
The reason that deaths from approved drugs are well-known is that such incidents are documented in medical records and there are very real punishments meted-out if anyone tries to cover them up.
The so called Quacks always have an out by simply stating that their product is simply a supplement. The problem with alternative medicine is that most of the aftereffects upon its users are not documented by anyone. Their deaths or complications to their conditions resulting from foregoing standard medical treatment in favor of quacks is merely listed by the resulting condition (e.g. cancer spreads, poisoning, etc) so the effects of quackery aren’t as well-documented, beyond certain articles. Most people who sell these products sure as hell aren’t going to warn anyone about whatever side effects their product’s use might cause. That would be bad for sales and sales are all most company’s really care about.
If I’m cutting into some one’s pocketbook by publishing this, then that’s just too bad.
The bottom line is that silver does work and work very well and there really is very little evidence of harm from properly made and ingested true colloidal silver.
If it did not work, why do you suppose NASA uses it to purify the astronauts drinking water? Its a fact that CS is used to sterilize water in Mir space vehicles and the International space station. http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10942&page=324 There’s perfectly credible science behind this. We are not talking about pyramids and crystals. Or Potters for Peace uses it purify drinking water in third world countries?
Actively Charged As corroborated by several universities, Sovereign Silver contains 96% positively charged silver particles [Ag(n)+], making it at least 34 times more powerful than other brands.
Easily Absorbed Sovereign Silver’s unprecedented particle size of 0.8 nanometers (validated by Transmission Electron Microscopy) allows for easy absorption and excretion from the body.
Less Is More The smaller the particle size, the greater the surface area and the higher the efficiency. That’s why even with a low concentration of 10 ppm, Sovereign Silver is still much more effective than brands which contain up to 500 ppm!
Perfectly Safe Sovereign Silver is formulated to be safe for the whole family. Taken 7 times a day for 70 years, Sovereign Silver still falls below the EPA daily Oral Silver Reference Dose (RfD).
99.999% Pure Sovereign Silver has only two ingredients: pure silver and pharmaceutical grade purified water. It does not contain added salts or proteins that render other silver products less effective. Plus, It is packaged in non leaching glass bottles to guarantee purity throughout it’s shelf life.
For thousands of years, silver has played an essential role in safeguarding human health. In fact, until 1938, colloidal silver silver water the preferred choice of physicians for empowering the immune system and stimulating the body’s innate healing processes*
Today, as more people embrace natural ways to maintain their health and well being, silver is experiencing a resurgence in popularity. And Sovereign Silver is leading the way. By developing technologically advanced refinements in the production of silver colloids, Sovereign Silver Bio Active Silver Hydrosol delivers advantages no other manufacturer can match.
For details call 1-888-328-8840
Made In USA
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Directions
Adults: 1 teaspoon, hold under tongue for 30 seconds, then swallow.
Children 4 years & older: 1/2 teaspoon.
Guidelines:
Maintenance: Once daily.
Immune Building: 3 times daily.
Long Term Immune Support: 5 times daily
Short term immune support: 7 times daily.
*According to the EPA (CASRN7440-22-4) daily Oral Silver Reference Dose (RfD) applied to 10 ppm, one may ingest 178,850 servings safely over 70 years.
Supplement Facts
Serving Size:
1 teaspoon (5ml)
Servings Per Container:
94.5
Silver
50 mcg*
<td* Daily Value not established.
Pharmaceutical Grade Purified Water (USP-NF)
sovereign silver
For more information about the truth about colloidal silver and how mainstream medicine has suppressed alernative and natural healing, see:
I have been saying that the Global Financial Meltdown was just around the corner for years now! It finally looks like we are on the verge of this happening this year. I would not be surprised if this happens in October 2012! This is a case of history repeating itself! “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana
A bank run occurs when a large number of bank customers withdraw their deposits because they believe the bank might fail. As more people withdraw their deposits, the likelihood of default increases, and this encourages further withdrawals. This can destabilize the bank to the point where it faces bankruptcy.[1]
The stock market crash of October 1929 left the American public highly nervous and …at the time, making it the largest single bank failure in American history.
In December 1931, New York’s Bank of the United States collapsed. The bank had more than $200 million in deposits at the time, making it the largest single bank failure in American history.
The bank runs of 1930 were followed by similar banking panics in the spring and fall of 1931 and the fall of 1932. In some instances, bank runs were started simply by rumors of a bank’s inability or unwillingness to pay out funds. In December 1930, the New York Times reported that a small merchant in the Bronx went to a branch of the Bank of the United States and asked to sell his stock in the institution. When told the stock was a good investment and advised not to sell, he left the bank and began spreading rumors that the bank had refused to sell his stock. Within hours, a crowd had gathered outside the bank, and that afternoon between 2,500 and 3,500 depositors withdrew a total of $2 million in funds.
The Global Financial Meltdown has dramatically worsened as Corporations and China Jump Aboard The “Institutional” Global Bank Run As Banks Fall Apart As Their Seams.
Earlier today the world saw a global financial meltdown as investors dumped everything from stocks to commodities and literally everything in between.
Major Stock Market Indexes, Commodities, Currencies And Everything In Between Is Being Dumped By Investors Across The Globe In The Midst Of A Global Financial Meltdown.
The financial markets across the globe are facing one of the most massive sell-offs in recent memory.
The Dow Jones Industrial average has sold off over 467 points today. When and when you add that on top of 284 point drop following yesterday’s crash FED’s statement, which announced operation ‘twist’ and warned of significant downside risk and strains in global financial markets, we have a 751 point drop in the DOW since 2:45 PM est yesterday, which is the largest 2 day slump since 2008.
There are an endless parade of economic statistics many of which are the worse since the Great Depression and World War 2 era. We have also seen 111 of the s&P 500 hit fresh 52 week lows, a drop in global currencies – beside the dollar, oil dropping into the high $70 per barrel range and gold plummeting over 5% to trade in the low $1,700 per ounce range.
Business Week points out the massive crash in U.S. stocks immediately below while CNBC points out further below that this in fact a global meltdown – investors are dumping everything.
While today’s sell off was monumental and in fact is on course for the 3rd worse week on Wall Street ever, the sell-off was on the heels of the FED’s economic outlook. Today’s Global Financial Meltdown is about to become much worse as a slew of news reports out today reveal the run on the European banks has spread to include corporations and institutions pulling their money out of banks and China finally arriving at the party.
As a backdrop, the IMF warned the entire global financial systems is more vulnerable to collapse than at any other time since the 2008 financial crisis. The alarm is being sounded with the stern warning the European debt crisis could trigger the complete collapse of the entire global financial system at any minute. On the other hand, the alternative media and independent economists warn we are in fact in of a great depression style collapse. The only difference is this time around we would be facing a global depression. But as the ship their countrymen sail on continues to sink, bureaucrats continueto play politics and put their partisan interests above the interest of their constituents.
The run on European banks has already began with from the customers pulling their money from banks some time ago. While the corporate media kept the run on the Greece banks on the hush the media blackout didn’t stop the run nor did it stop the run from spreading to other nations. Simply put, the public is learning they can’t trust their governments and they can’t trust the media. Indeed the withdrawal of deposits from the banks in Greece has quietly spread across the other European nations only to spread into some of the supposedly most stable banks in the Euro-zone, the French banks.
Now we have learned the run on the banks that was originally limited to customers has now spread to include corporate and institutional clients withdrawing their money from the banks. First, we caught wind of the rumor that Siemens pulled its cash from one of the French banks. Then came theconfirmation came that Siemens pulled $500 million Euros from Societe Generale. Siemens of course is a huge conglomerate. For such a huge corporation to lose trust in one of the supposedly most stable of the French banks is clearly a very significant development. To be clear, the ramification have simply rocked the markets and the many more corporations soon will follow. In fact, some corporations and nations have followed their lead.
Consider the breaking news that The Bank of China has stopped doing business with four major European banks. To be exact thy have stopped trading swaps and foreign exchange forwards with the Societe Gnerale, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and the Swiss banking giant UBS.
Speaking of BNP Paribas, Reggie Middleton – who long predicted the collapse of Lehman’s and Bear Stearns far ahead of anyone else because of their shady banking practices – has been warning for months BNP Paribas is ripe for a Lehman style collapse. Reggie argues that BNP Paribas is engaging in the same practices and fraud that caused Lehman’s and Bear Stearn’s to collapse.
While on the subject of China, we learn today they are not immune to the bank run either. China Securities Journal reveals that 420 billion yuan have been pulled out of the big four state-owned Chinese bank during the 15 days of September. Even bank employees are pulling their deposits from the banks as it is estimated that three trillion yuan has been diverted to illegal money lenders which pay interest rates 10 times higher than the one-year Chinese bank deposit rate.
Today we also learn that Insurer Lloyd’s of London confirmed it’s withdrawing deposits from all of the European banks for fear they may collapse. The rationalization for their withdrawal is quite simple – if world is worried about the European governments themselves collapsing then on must assume the sovereign debt collapse will also cause the banks themselves to collapse.
Still that message doesn’t seem to be reaching the retail banking client and the corporate owned media is to blame for repeatedly assuring the public there bank deposits are safe because the banks are insured by their respective European government.
When we see corporations not buying the propaganda being pushed by the media and instead withdrawing their deposits that should be a clear sign to the retail client it is time to withdraw their deposits. Unfortunately, too many people believe their governments and the media would never lie to them so some of them will unfortunately need to learn the hard way.
However, anyone keeping up with the details of latest financial news that doesn’t quite make the headlines knows that banks across the world have been hit with a parade of credit rating cuts warning of their risk of collapse. Those same cuts have been coupled with recent credit rating cuts of the sovereign of nations themselves, most notably the credit downgrades of the United States and Italy.
Adding to the bleak reality a global financial collapse may be imminent is the fact that 9 Banks failed last years EU stress test and another 16 barely passed the test. Yet instead of being proactive and shoring up capital to assure the survival of financial turmoil, we have seen many banks continue to conduct business in absolute denial they were at risk. In ignorance of reality the banks have sat around for over a year knowing they are at risk of collapse while doing little to nothing the improve their situation. Why should they act? They know when shit hits the fan taxpayers will be bent over the barrel and be forced to give the banks billions in bailouts from which the executives will collect lavish bonuses.
Now we have warnings from top economists and the FED that there is significant downside risk and strains in the global financial system that threatens the entire system. The is coupled with warnings from the IMF and EU leaders to immediately recapitalize the banks or face collapse. The calls for recapitalization have persisted for weeks with no action taken to stave off the collapse. Meanwhile, the consequences of not acting immediately continue to become more severe by the day.
The EU credit markets have frozen up and the situation is now beyond the point of dire. The question is which bank will be the first to collapse.
While all eyes seem to be focused on the Euro banks across the pond, banks back in the US are not immune from the crisis and neither are the Chinese banks.
In fact, Bank of America has been hammered by the alternative media as needing capitalization but BAC has denied those allegations and the corporate media has dismissed the alternative media reports as comments from fringe blogs. Until today that is.
Pimco’s Mohamed El-Erian raised the alarm today about the health of French banks and went on to point out there is an institutional run on thosebanks.
CNBC, went on to use the metrics El-Erain used to measure the health of the French banks to measure the health of US banks and found US banks aren’t nearly as healthy as Wall Street would like to believe.
(NaturalNews) Astragalus is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb that has been around for over 4,000 years. Astragalus is an adaptogenic, nontoxic herb and plant extract that helps the body resist the damaging effects of stress while restoring normal physiological function. Astragalus aids adrenal function, digestion, metabolism, combats fatigue and increases stamina. Astragalus is very effective in helping people with AIDS and has even proven to have an anti-tumor effect and can increase the efficacy of chemotherapy.
A native plant of China, astragalus is officially known as astragalus membranaceus: AKA Milk Vetch Root and Huang Qi. Astragalus is a perennial plant that grows up to 4 feet tall. The root of the plant has a sweet taste and contains choline, flavonoids, amino acids-gamma aminobutyric acid, canavanine, beta-sitosterol, saponins (astragalosides) and oil. The primary actions of astragalus are adaptogenic and immunomodulating. The secondary actions are anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, cardiotonic, diuretic and hepatoprotective.
Medicinal Use
Astragalus is an herb that has actions in nearly all of the body systems. It is used to treat chronic colds, Epstein Barr Virus, HIV and candida by preventing infection recurrence. Astragalus stimulates bone marrow blood cells while enhancing deep immune strength. Studies show that the polysaccharides in astragalus increase phagocytosis (the engulfing of microorganism invaders by the immune system), increase production of immunoglobulins and macrophages and modulate the pituitary-adrenal cortical activity. Astragalus protects the kidneys and lungs from damage from autoantibody complexes, regulates sweating, decreases fatigue and increases tolerance to stress.
Astragalus protects against oxidative damage by increasing mitochondrial function without increasing the mitochondrial oxygen consumption. In the liver, astragalus is a mild choleretic and also increases repairs in chronic viral hepatitis while reducing inflammation and othersymptoms. Astragalus also lengthens telomeres for longevity(TA 65 is a very pricey extract made from Astragalus that is touted to reduce all the effects of aging and mimics pretty much all the benefits of the inexpensive herb form of astragalus). Astragalus even increases motility of human sperm.
Astragalus is considered to be a cardiac tonic.In the cardiovascular system, the saponins in astragalus inhibit lipid peroxidation in the myocardium and one study using patients with angina revealed that cardiac output increased after two weeks of treatment. Astragalus strengthens left ventricular function and reduces free radical damage in patients after a heart attack and increases super oxide dismutase activity in cardiac muscle.
Astragalus: the unsung cancer fighter
Studies at the University of Houston have shown that astragalus can improve immune function in cancer patients by increasing T-cell counts. Astragalus increases the ability of NK cells and T-cells to kill cancer cells while switching on the anti-tumor activity of Interleukin-2. Inchemotherapy treatmentsastragalus provides anti-neoplastic activity anddecreasesimmunosupression. Astragalus reduces the consequences with both chemo and radiation of fatigue,weight loss, anemia, nausea and loss of strength while increasing WBC production for leucopenia (a common side effect of immunosuppressive therapy), thereby decreasing life-threatening infections.
Even though this incredible herb is listed on the Botanical Herbs Board Exams and in theCompendium of Pharmacological Actions of Medicinal Plants and Their Constituents, naming the benefits of astragalus can bring a warning letter from both the FDA and FTC, as Dr. Andrew Weil found out when he listed the benefits of taking astragalus to prevent the swine flu. So don’t expect to see any of this information on a vitamin or herb label. Despite what modern medicine and the FDA says, healing did occur long before pharmaceuticals were invented. True health comes by good foods, minerals, herbs, fasting and cleansing. Astragalus is a good guy for natural health!
Sources:
Compendium of Pharmacological Actions of Medicinal Plants and Their Constituents, Compiled and copyrighted by Eric Yarnell, ND Actions of Medicinal Plants 2007 Eric Yarnell, ND
Zhang CZ, Wang SX, Zhang Y, Chen JP, Liang XM. “In vitro estrogenic activities of Chinese medicinal plants traditionally used for the management of menopausal symptoms.” J Ethnopharmacol 2005;98(3):295-300.
Nutrition 740 notes Spring 2006, Dr. Mona Morstein, SCNM
About the author:
Craig Stellpflug is a Cancer Nutrition Specialist, Lifestyle Coach and Neuro Development Consultant at Healing Pathways Medical Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ. With 17 years of clinical experience working with both brain disorders and cancer, Craig has seen first-hand the devastating effects of vaccines and pharmaceuticals on the human body and has come to the conclusion that a natural lifestyle and natural remedies are the true answers to health and vibrant living. You can find his daily health blog atwww.blog.realhealthtalk.comand his articles and radio show archives atwww.realhealthtalk.com
On Wednesday, activists and journalists across America rejoiced in a federal judge’s ruling that the National Defense Authorization Act is unconstitutional. The judge sided with the plaintiffs when it came to section 1021 of the act, which allows for the military to indefinitely detain Americans at home and abroad without due process. But now Congress is seeking to create a new NDAA. On Friday, the US House of Representatives approved the 2013 NDAA and even shot down an amendment that would cancel the indefinite detention provisions. Carl Mayer, attorney for The Mayer Law Group representing the plaintiffs, joins us for more on the NDAA.
Who is is pushing NDAA and all the police state legislation: LIEBERMAN, LEVIN, FEINSTEIN, BOXER, SCHUMER, CANTOR. ALL the head chairs of ALL the house and senate committees are kazarian JEWS Who runs the fed? kazarian JEWS, Ben SHALOM Bernanke , Alan Greenspan and most of the federal reserve governors are kazarian JEWS, 70% of the top positions at GOLDMAN Sachs are kazarian JEWS, who do you think orchestrated the financial crisis? CFTC=Garry gentler=kazarian JEW
Unfortunately for the people of the world everything is going according to the New World Order Plan. But what is this New World Order Plan? In a nutshell the Plan is this. The Dark Agenda of the secret planners of the New World Order is to reduce the world’s population to a “sustainable” level “in perpetual balance with nature” by a ruthless Population Control Agenda via Population and Reproduction Control. A Mass Culling of the People via Planned Parenthood, toxic adulteration of water and food supplies, release of weaponised man-made viruses, man-made pandemics, mass vaccination campaigns and a planned Third World War. Then, the Dark Agenda will impose upon the drastically reduced world population a global feudal-fascist state with a World Government, World Religion, World Army, World Central Bank, World Currency and a micro-chipped population. In short, to kill 90% of the world’s population and to control all aspects of the human condition and thus rule everyone, everywhere from the cradle to the grave.
Lets welcome the debut of the very first WakeUpProject radio show. All the credit goes to aspiring and dedicated WUP media team for taking the initiative and putting their talents together to create yet another outlet aiming for positive change inshallah.
Great Job Sisters susan and nemra, and brother mortal, saheel and achernahr.
Austerity Measures and Bailouts are just payments to the Illuminati Family’s by way or proxy! First the Banksters get Nations in dept by loans and bailouts that can not be paid back, like what is happening in America. Second The Nation makes governmental cuts like what is happening in EUROPE aka stealing pensions , cutting services like Parks, Police Teachers Firemen ect ect! Then the Government sells off Parks Government owned property, Roads Water ways Parks ect ect to the Illuminati Bankster Familys AKA the MOBSTERS!
This is all part of the(The Hegelian Dialectic) aka The Problem Reaction Solution method! .. the Illuminati family’s or the ruling elite create a problem, anticipating in advance the reaction that the population will have to the problem and then have the prepared Solution! Example an Global Economic Melt down. The after the people react and demand a solution to the created problems that was the desired agenda of the ruling elite. Then and only then the Pre prepared agenda of the Global Elite Banksters presented as the solution such as a one world Governmental Monetary system or Global Governmental system to fix the problem.
The bad part about this conspiracy is that along with the reaction to the problem the population becomes violent, in protesting the Austerity Measures implemented by the Governments! And once again (The Hegelian Dialectic)comes into place with FEMA CampsAKA Concentration Camps for the protesters dissidents and homeless people effected by the Illuminati s Global Agenda
The Expansionary fiscal contraction hypothesis is the economic theory that explores whether government austerity can result in economic expansion. This hypothesis indicates that expansion from austerity is very limited and occurs only during periods when consumption is not constrained.
Austerity measures are typically taken if there is a threat that a government cannot honor its debt liabilities. Such a situation may arise if a government has borrowed in foreign currencies that they have no right to issue or they have been legally forbidden from issuing their own currency. In such a situation, banks may lose trust in a government’s ability and/or willingness to pay and either refuse to roll over existing debts or demand extremely high interest rates. In such situations, inter-governmental institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may demand austerity measures in exchange for functioning as a lender of last resort. When the IMF requires such a policy, the terms are known as ‘IMF conditionalities‘.
Development projects, welfare, and other social spending are common programs that are targeted for cuts: Taxes, port and airport fees, train and bus fares are common sources of increased user fees.
In many cases, austerity measures have been associated with protest movements claiming significant decline in standard of living. A case in point is the nation of Greece. The financial crisis—particularly the austerity package put forth by the EU and the IMF— was met with great anger by the Greek public, leading to riots and social unrest. On 27 June 2011, trade union organizations commenced a forty-eight hour labor strike in advance of a parliamentary vote on the austerity package, the first such strike since 1974. Massive demonstrations were organized throughout Greece, intended to pressure parliament members into voting against the package. The second set of austerity measures was approved on 29 June 2011, with 155 out of 300 members of parliament voting in favor. However, one United Nations official warned that the second package of austerity measures in Greece could pose a violation of human rights.[5]
Austerity programs can be controversial. In the Overseas Development Institute briefing paper “The IMF and the Third World” the ODI addresses five major complaints against the IMF’s austerity ‘conditionalities’. These complaints include these measures being “anti-developmental”, “self-defeating”, and “they tend to have an adverse impact on the poorest segments of the population”. In many situations, austerity programs are implemented by countries that were previously under dictatorial regimes, leading to criticism that the citizens are forced to repay the debts of their oppressors.[6][7][8]
Economist Richard D. Wolff has stated that instead of cutting government programs and raising taxes, austerity should be attained by collecting (taxes) from non-profitmultinational corporations, churches, and private tax-exempt institutions such as universities, which currently pay no taxes at all.[9]
In 2009, 2010, and 2011, workers and students in Greece and other European countries demonstrated against cuts to pensions, public services and education spending as a result of government austerity measures.[10][11] Following the announcement of plans to introduce austerity measures in Greece, massive demonstrations were witnessed throughout the country, aimed at pressing parliamentarians to vote against the austerity package. In Athens alone 19 arrests were made while 46 civilians and 38 policemen had been injured by June 29, 2011. The third round austerity has been approved by the Greece parliament on February 12, 2012 and has met strong opposition especially in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki where the police have clashed with demonstrators.
Opponents argue that austerity measures tend to depress economic growth, which ultimately causes governments to lose more money in tax revenues. In countries with already anemic economic growth, austerity can engender deflation which inflates existing debt. This can also cause the country to fall into a liquidity trap, causing credit markets to freeze up and unemployment to increase. Opponents point to cases in Ireland and Spain in which austerity measures instituted in response to financial crises in 2009 proved ineffective in combating public debt, and placing those countries at risk of defaulting in late 2010.[12]
The term “Age of austerity” was popularized by British Conservative leader David Cameron in his keynote speech to the Conservative party forum in Cheltenham on April 26, 2009, when he committed to put an end to what he called years of excessive government spending.[13][14]
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary named the word “austerity” as its “Word of the Year” for 2010 because of the number of web searches this word generated that year. According to the president and publisher of the dictionary, “austerity had more than 250,000 searches on the dictionary’s free online [website] tool” and the spike in searches “came with more coverage of the debt crisis”.[15]
This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (June 2011)
Anti-austerity protests, chiefly taking the form of massive street protests by those affected by them and some of them also involving a greater or lesser degree of militancy, have happened regularly across various countries, especially on the European continent, since the onset of the present-day worldwide financial crisis. The phenomena are, collectively, decidedly separate, conceptually, from the austerity measures themselves, even though the enactment of the latter is a prerequisite for the former. This is because they are of the sizes they are; that they cut across age groups (e.g., both students and older workers) and other demographics; that they can incorporate many different types of actions in many different segments of a given country’s economy including educationfunding, infrastructure funding, manufacturing, aviation, social welfare, and many many others; and that the phenomenon of austerity, when explained by itself, is inadequate to properly encompass the phenomenon of widespread opposition to it, and that opposition’s nuances and fluctuations.
Anti-austerity actions are varied, ongoing, and can be either sporadic and loosely-organised or longer-term and tightly-organised. Theycontinue as of the present day. Recent upheavals in Tunisia and in Egypt in 2011 were originally largely anti-austerity and anti-unemployment before turning into wider social revolutions.
Most recently, the global and still-spreading Occupy movement has arguably been the most noticeable physical enactment of anti-austerity and populist sentiment.
Austerity is mainly noticed by a country when its aspects (usually known as ‘cuts’) are implemented unilaterally and forcibly (a “hatchet job“) rather than through a more careful strategy of creeping normalcy wherein such cuts are made to seem reasonable, or at least tolerable. Austerity is usually only referred to by that name when it is part of a sweeping package or packages of reforms that have the openly-admitted effect of great or even complete overhaul of major aspects of a society’s socioeconomic core facilities, programs and/or services. Because of this nature, austerity programs in general often are virulently opposed by the populations experiencing them, as they tend to have an impact on the poorest segments of the population. Those who are pro-austerity (who usually refer to the process as “deficit reduction”) usually counter that these poorest segments of the population would also suffer the most should a debt crisisoccur[citation needed], an argument rejected by most anti-austerity individuals.
Prior to the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis, in many situations, austerity programs were implemented by countries that were previously under dictatorial regimes (e.g., Portugal, Greece, Spain), leading to criticism that the citizens are forced to repay the debts of their oppressors.[1][2][3] In Greece, for example, the current austerity measures are popularly viewed as a combination of leftover policies of the 1967-1974 military dictatorship in that country on the one hand, and the “betrayal” of socialist principles by the current parliamentary-majority Panhellenic Socialist Movement on the other hand, due to that party’s wholesale enactment of extremely severe austerity measures in the country, which most everyday Greeks conceive of as intensely right-wing in nature, at least when compared to the party’s officially-stated core beliefs.[citation needed]
In the present-day enactments of various “austerity budgets”, however, a prior history of dictatorship is not necessarily a precondition for the implementation of such a budget by a given government. Examples of countries implementing severe austerity measures without a history of what the world’s mainstream media would typically consider a ‘dictatorship’, include the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, the latter of which witnessed its housing market completely (rather than partially as elsewhere) collapse, and the Republic eventually appealing for a massive bailout from the International Monetary Fund, “in exchange for” implementation of a very severe austerity programme. The austerity measures and the terms of the IMF bailout became major aspects of the 2008–2011 Irish financial crisis, and popular anger over these issues played a very major role in the loss of governmental power of Fianna Fáil to opposition parties in the 2011 Irish general election. The loss was so complete and so total for Fianna Fáil that many commentators remarked that the results were “historic”. Fine Gael and the Labour Party entered in to a coalition government with one another, and Fine Gael’s leaders have vowed to re-negotiate the terms of the IMF bailout so that austerity can be slowed or stopped and the Irish economy can be given a chance to grow again.[4]Sinn Féin, which for the first time also won a notable percentage in the election, has called for a nationwide referendum over whether the bailout agreement should be scrapped altogether, but this suggestion has been met with dismissal by officials.[5]
Austerity in most European countries, including Spain and Italy — where there have been massive anti-austerity protests, wildcat strikes, and union-organized industrial actions of various types at semi-regular intervals since late 2008, earning for the most part massive worldwide media attention — is by no means limited to what could be the ‘expected’ areas of the economy that might in theory experience direct penalties as a result of gross mismanagement, such as financial institutions. In fact, financial institutions rarely, if ever, truly receive such ‘punishment’ by a country’s government; austerity-like levies could perfectly well be imposed on them for causing, or helping to cause, the crisis that leads to the austerity measures in the first place, but typically are not. Instead, it is argued (chiefly by people engaging in anti-austerity protests, but also some economists as well) that rather than ‘punish’ the banks and others truly responsible for the crisis, the government is instead ‘punishing’ regular people for the ‘crimes’ of others, namely the ‘elite’ and/or greedy professional money-handlers engaging in market manipulation.
100,000 peaceful anti-austerity protesters in front of the parliament of Greece on 29 June 2011.
The May–July 2011 Greek protests, also known as the “Indignant Citizens Movement” or the “Greek indignados”, started demonstrating throughout Greece on 25 May 2011;[6] the movement’s largest demonstration was on 5 June, with 300,000 people gathering in front of the Greek Parliament,[7] while the organizers put the number to 500,000.[8] The protests lasted for over a month without any violent incidents, while on 29 June 2011, amid a violent police crackdown and accusations of police brutality by international media and Amnesty International,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] the square was evacuated but demonstrations continued the next day despite the crackdown;[16][17] they officially ended on 7 August 2011,[18] but resumed in October.
The 2011 Spanish protests, whose participants are sometimes referred to as the “indignados“, are a series of ongoing anti-austerity demonstrations in Spain that rose to prominence beginning on 15 May 2011; thus, the movement is also sometimes referred to as the May 15 or M-15 movement as well. It is a collection of several different instances of continuous demonstrations countrywide, with a common origin in internet social networks and the Democracia Real Ya web presence, along with 200 other small associations.[19]
In late March 2011 the Portuguese Prime Minister resigned a few hours after the latest austerity bill he backed was rejected by the rest of government. The government called that particular austerity round unacceptable.[20] In his resignation speech, Jose Socrates expressed concern that an IMF bailout akin to Greece and Ireland would now be unavoidable.
In mid-March 2011 the British Medical Association held an emergency meeting at which it broadly decided to emphatically oppose pending legislation in the British Parliament, the Health and Social Care Bill, that would overhaul the functioning of the National Health Service. Dr Layla Jader, a public health physician, said: “The NHS needs evolution not revolution – these reforms are very threatening to the future of the NHS. If they go through, our children will look back and say how could you allow this to happen?” And Dr Barry Miller, an anaethetist from Bolton, added: “The potential to do phenomenal damage is profound. I haven’t seen any evidence these proposals will improve healthcare in the long-term.”[21] There have also been various grassroots groups of UK citizenry virulently opposing the pending new bill, including NHS Direct Action,[22] 38 Degrees,[23] and the trade unionUnite.[24]
One of the United Kingdom‘s most severe austerity measures came into the force of law on 9 December 2010: spending for higher education and tuition subsidies and assistance in Englishuniversities — historically rather substantial in scale — was cut by an astounding total of 80%.[25] That announcement and its implications, which included a near-tripling of student tuition fees from their previous levels[26] up to a new ceiling of £9000/year, led to a huge backlash amongst students who almost immediately took to the streets over various non-sequential days against this announcement, squaring off with police on several occasions including an instance where some students angrily entered the Conservative headquarters and smashed windows and destroyed its interior.[27]On the day of the passage of the measure itself, there was an explosion of street violence by enraged students and their allies, especially in London. There is an ongoing law enforcement investigation into, and even active pursuing of,[28] the participants of the violence over the various protest days, with particular attention focusing on the moments when a number of protesters successfully attacked a royal car driving on its way to a London event,[29] although they did not injure its occupants. Shouts of “off with their heads” were reportedly heard.[30] On 25 March 2011, Charlie Gilmour, son of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, became one of the more high-profile individuals to be officially charged in relation to those events.[31] As a result of these protests, a number of groups formed to combat the austerity measures that began with the cuts to higher education. One such example is Bloomsbury Fightback!, which is a group of radical students and workers in Bloomsbury, London, centred around the Bloomsbury Colleges in theUniversity of London and focusing on organising around education and employment issues, of which many are the result of the austerity measures, .
The group UK Uncut is one outgrowth of the anger felt by average citizens at austerity, albeit the group focuses not so much on combating the cuts themselves as on demanding that the rich, rather than the poor, pay the shortfalls causing the austerity in the first place — a sort of “tax the rich” movement. UK Uncut attempts to organise flash mob protests inside the highest-profile buildings of the businesses of the rich people avoiding tax or paying less than they should.
Around the same time as the heating-up of the England protests (but before the passing of the bill), students in Italy occupied theleaning tower of Pisa in a similar protest regarding its own educational system.[32]
On 27 November 2010, a massive protest against pending austerity took place in Dublin;[33]The Irish Examiner news service also reports on a 7 December 2010 clash around the Dáil where protesters threw smoke bombs and flares at police.[34] Additionally, La Scala in Italy experienced a clash on 8 December 2010 including scuffles with police.[35]
More generally, throughout 2009 and 2010, workers and students in Greece and other European countries demonstrated against cuts to pensions, public services and education spending as a result of government austerity measures.[36] There was a brief airport strike in Spain in December 2010, and assorted brief “general strike”-like actions in France have taken place, particularly around the very controversial plan of the French government to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, a proposal which eventually successfully passed.
Further protests have since taken place in Greece and elsewhere, have continued throughout 2011 and 2012,[37] including in Nigeriawith major large street clashes against the withdrawal of fuel subsidies. There was also a major protest in London by UK groups from across that country on 26 March 2011,[38] centred around a protest call initially made by the Trades Union Congress but subsequently involving many other groups. In general, the UK’s round of austerity measures, or “cuts”, from April 2011 onward are understood by most of the population to be, as an aggregated phenomenon, the worst withdrawal of public services since those services’ foundings, in the early 20th century and the post-World War II era. The coalition government currently in power in Britain repeatedly reassures the public that these public sector cuts will be replaced by a “Big Society” underpinned by charities, start-up businesses and private enterprise. Critics counter on the one hand that such a model is effective back-door privatisation, and on the other hand that even assuming the “Big Society” is a genuine populist initiative, it still fails conceptually, since the very charities and start-up businesses touted in this model are also the ones being severely slashed or eliminated by the new austerity-fuelled economics of the government.
Participants in more militant forms of protest engaged in during the 26th March demonstration, who in total only comprised 1,500 people out of the estimated 250,000-500,000 total participants, have been relentlessly attacked by the government as “mindless thugs”[39] with the UK’s mainstream media including the BBC generally supporting this perception. This remains the case even though the fundamental seriousness of damage thus far remains debatable; much reporting seems to have focused on the smashing of a Santander bank branch’s glass entranceway doors by largely anarchist activists, who would have also been behind the simultaneous destruction of several automated teller machines and the scrawling of “class war” in graffiti on neighbouring walls — rather than destruction of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, schools or homes that would have indisputably comprised terrorismby any objective measure. There are those who would therefore argue that the activists, even if misguided in their actions, still technically only targeted the institutions (i.e., banks) perceived responsible for the cuts, and did not cross the line into more general mayhem. Nevertheless, the Home Secretary Theresa May vociferously advocates the review by authorities of UK terrorism law to determine whether the Metropolitan Police can legally extend their own powers of arrest and detention using those provisions. Talk of the approximately 1,500 people involved in the militant aspects of the anti-cuts march almost totally eclipsed the more general event of up to half a million peaceable, albeit still angry, protesters who say they have very real, very personal grievances against the government’s cuts plans.
Economist Richard D. Wolff has stated that instead of cutting government programs and raising taxes, austerity should be attained by collecting from non-profitmultinational corporations, churches, and private tax-exempt institutions such as universities, which currently pay no taxes at all.[40] Groups like UK Uncut and the campaigners for a Robin Hood tax argue for a “tax the banks” strategy that is similar, as well as to argue that the banks and corporations severely underpay the taxes they already owe, and need to stop tax-dodging.
There are also those like Nobel PrizelaureatePaul Krugman, who argue that austerity measures tend to be counterproductive when applied to the populations and programs they are usually applied to.[41] This argument holds that austerity measures tend not to revitalize economies by ‘getting people off of benefits and back to work,’ and similar, but rather that austerity simply depresses economic growth wholesale, which ultimately causes governments to lose more money in tax revenues than they would have if they had not enacted the austerity and instead created jobs and new infrastructure and industries. In countries with already anemic economic growth, austerity can engender deflation which inflates existing debt. This can also cause the country to fall into a liquidity trap, causing credit markets to freeze up and unemployment to increase. Advocates of these positions point to cases in Ireland and Spain in which austerity measures instituted in response to financial crises in 2009 proved ineffective in combating public debt and the countries got in ever more dire financial straits as 2010 and 2011 progressed.[42]
We are beginning to see the great Silent Majority begin to awaken to the Global Agenda of the New World Order! From the Tea Party to the Occupy Movement the seeds of Liberty are beginning to take root and grow a great Liberty Tree. “In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot” (Mark Twain).
As a Truth Seeker, Patriot and Political activist in this modern-day internet social networking arena, I find myself relating to the greatest of Patriots and Freedom fighters the world has ever known! Our world’s history is full of people who stood up for the Truth: “If you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth” (Gandhi), and were rejected for going against society’s norms or so-called “truths” of that time in which they lived! Even the Lord Jesus Christ, God of the Universe, was rejected by his own! “And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, “A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and in his own house” (Jesus Christ, http://bible.cc/matthew/13-57.htm).
The Battle that we fight for as Truth-Tellers or Patriots is for the Minds and Hearts of Men, for the masses, for those who are blinded by the lies, “The function of a civil resistance is to provoke response, and we will continue to provoke until they respond or change the law. They are not in control; we are” (Gandhi). “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Bible). Truth cannot be won with a sword or by a bomb, But with the Education and Knowledge comes Freedom and Liberty! There are those who will curse you and call you all kinds of names because you want to speak the Truth! “In a time of universal deceit telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act” (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, italics added).
They the uninformed masses of people ignorant and starving for the truth will call you Crazy or a Conspiracy Theorist, not really understanding that they themselves are truly under Mind Control or NLP (Nero Linguistic Programming). They will defend the lies even unto death, slaves to the lie suffering from a form of Mass-Stockholm syndromeThe Syndrome has also been explained in evolutionary terms by a phenomenon sometimes referred to as Capture-bonding.
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (King James Bible).
Even Einstein was called Crazy “Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance. (Albert Einstein). “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win” (Mahatma Gandhi). “Whenever I despair, I remember that the way of truth and love has always won. There may be tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they may seem invincible, but in the end, they always fail. Think of it: always.” (Gandhi).
I find it encouraging that others have come before me to lay the seeds of Truth that enable Justice, Liberty and Freedom for all! “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Thomas Jefferson).
I am reminded of a quote from the speech “Citizenship in a Republic” Theodore Roosevelt delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910 called,
THE MAN IN THE ARENA
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
As I learn more about the great men in our world’s history who stood against injustice and for the Truth and Justice for all men great and small, rich and poor! I find a inner strength to face those who would carry out such atrocities and to be bold even unto death!