A couple of days ago, I came across Catherine Austin Fitts for the first time. Fitts, a Wall Street investor and former Assistant Secretary of Housing, uncovered the methods for sucking trillions of dollars out of the US. She explains that it is a coordinated effort between the government and the big banks -- organized crime, she calls it.

She's an excellent speaker and explains it all really well so I recommend that you listen to her rather than have me write out the juicy bits.

On January 13, President Obama described the economy as "strong" and "durable".

On June 24, 1982, four bank examiners from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City walked into the rear of a small shopping mall in Oklahoma City.
This unlikely location marks the start of a series of events that nearly brought us to the brink of a global economic collapse and a second Great Depression.

Tony Blair, senior adviser to JP Morgan and former British prime minister, felt it necessary to defend his current and former employers:

It was the morning of January 22, 1932, in a quiet, middle-class neighborhood of the Bronx. A crowd was gathering in front of 2302 Olinville Avenue, near the Bronx Park.
City Marshals and Police had moved in to evict 17 tenants who were on a "rent strike". A crowd of 4,000 had gathered nearby.

Because Americans have come to prefer political echo chambers, it's important to looks at the polls in order to see what Americans truly care about.
It's just as important, after looking at the polls, to understand why.

The headline economic numbers are far better now than in 2008-2009. The unemployment rate, the GDP, the national deficit, the stock market, etc. have all improved.

Yet many of us can't shake the feeling that things are still stuck in 2008. Well, you aren't crazy.
Many areas of the economy have never recovered from the 2008, and some are even worse today.

Things are beginning to happen in the markets. People in the know can sense a change in the wind. Those people in the know are predators on Wall Street and they are prepared to pounce on their traditional prey - retail investors.