Richard Martin’s Wakeup Call
Episodes
Friday Jul 31, 2015
Go Easy On The Optimism! – 07.31.15
Friday Jul 31, 2015
Friday Jul 31, 2015
The American propensity for only seeing the bright side gives rise to much vulnerability when things aren’t exactly hunky dory. Studies have shown that in comparative situations where one group of participants had optimistic tendencies and others ‘realistic’ ones, the realists invariably succeeded where the optimists did not. What insignificant act might break the system comparable to an unknown 19-year-old youth setting off World War 1? Are wealthy people happier than the rest of us? Another look at the question. The advantages of standing up and being counted (if any). Spain’s latest outrageous crack-down on innocent citizens. (A police state all-over-again?) The last Greek finance minister risks being prosecuted for treason! The perils of Social Security. Ways in which the economy has NOT improved since the Great Recession. You can now have your passport taken away from you with no trial or even criminal charges levied against you. The dangers of ‘shadow work’ depriving people of their jobs.
Monday Jul 27, 2015
More Info About Destination Penang (8/23-28/15) – 07.27.15
Monday Jul 27, 2015
Monday Jul 27, 2015
A few words on the upcoming seminar and its importance and relevance to life in America. Vacationing and the optimal way of ‘doing’ this. Surveys indicating the ideal way of spending vacation time. What to do and what not to do… The Fed caught lying again. The BLS misrepresenting health insurance costs. Stress and its effect on physical health and the immune system. How to handle stress. Michigan’s auto insurance policies. The looming crisis of pension shortfalls in America. The absurd valuation of Amazon.
Friday Jul 24, 2015
The TPP, As Seen By Honest, Main-Stream Reporting – 07.24.15
Friday Jul 24, 2015
Friday Jul 24, 2015
A brief economic overview exposing in graphic detail the deceitful nature of the “recovery”. An article from The Sun, a Malaysian, main-stream newspaper with high circulation throughout the country, outlining the scandalous nature of the TPP for all concerned. The Malaysian government is openly criticized for its pandering to the powerful corporations at the expense of the citizenry. The myth of the concept that “anybody in America can make it in business”. The absurdity of Netflix having “negative earnings” and yet its stock price is up over 100% this year. Similarly, the share price of Amazon, a company with NO EARNINGS EVER for over 20 years, has gone from $5 to over $400. Comments invited over Seattle’s $14/hour minimum wage. The Chinese stock market and the importance of bubbles to the economy. The problem with making these gargantuan loans to weak countries and how this renders economic growth impossible..
Monday Jul 20, 2015
How Goldman Sachs Tricked Greece. Fee: $793 Million – 07.20.15
Monday Jul 20, 2015
Monday Jul 20, 2015
The previously untold story of how Goldman secretly arranged a transaction allowing a vast sum of Greek money to disappear magically from its national accounts, thus allowing Greece illicit entry into the Eurozone. The current CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, engineered the hiding of the true extent of Greece’s debt – and doubled it! Then Goldman got bailed out from its absurd deals by the American taxpayer! A quick look at the current state of the economy. A few stocks with no earnings soar into the stratosphere… China’s crazed stock market. The fall of commodity prices due to China’s slowdown. The hypothetical case of a world which had never adopted the euro. The ECB is bankrupt. Greek banks set to open today.
Friday Jul 17, 2015
The Relative (In)significance Of the Human Condition – 07.17.15
Friday Jul 17, 2015
Friday Jul 17, 2015
Comparing humans to apes. Some interesting conclusions. Our constructs are all fictions. We just don’t see them as such. The Greek resolution. Singapore’s 2nd quarter GDP fell unexpectedly. Is this a harbinger of things to come globally? Greece has, in effect, surrendered its national sovereignty to foreign politicians. This spells the coming end of the euro and European Union. No country, as victim, will accept this state-of-affairs for very long. More on gold. The general decline in base metal prices (iron ore). This is the unfailing barometer of China’s economic decline. The decline of authentic capitalism versus the rise of crony, finance capitalism. A quick plug for ‘Destination Penang’!
Monday Jul 13, 2015
Sell-Out And Abject Capitulation! – 07.13.15
Monday Jul 13, 2015
Monday Jul 13, 2015
Politicians at their worst. Tsipras of Greece should fear for his life. A complete and utter betrayal of what brought him to power and what his own referendum voted for. Captured by his lords-and-masters in Brussels. The consequences of over-indebtedness. The horrific consequences of America’s ongoing bombing campaigns. Anger and frustration are growing in the United States. Median net worth has dropped by more than a third in ten years. The further down the economic chain you go, the greater the debt percentages. The invasiveness of FATCA. H. Clinton scandals. Caught lying again. Obesity rankings.
Friday Jul 10, 2015
The European Skids – ‘Greeced’ – 06.10.15
Friday Jul 10, 2015
Friday Jul 10, 2015
A full account of how the ECB and others ruined Greece and then demanded that it take the consequences. Why did Goldman Sachs descend like a vulture on this poor little country that was quite happy exporting olives, sipping ouzo and giving foreign tourists a good time… with no particular pretensions on the good life… and try to turn it into Germany on steroids? The global stock market shenanigans. The China meltdown. An assessment of why people screw up. Don’t get sucked in to the economic horror that lies ahead. The structural imbalances in the Eurozone and the fundamental asymmetries in trade. The absurdity of a single currency enveloping 16 disparate nations, many with nothing in common. Finally, remember that nobody – including governments – can spend more than they take in… without consequences.
Monday Jul 06, 2015
A Close Look At How They Falsify The Unemployment Figures – 07.06.15
Monday Jul 06, 2015
Monday Jul 06, 2015
The results of the Greek referendum and the immediate consequences. The recent 5.3% unemployment rate is a sham. However, it is really quite easy to see how they achieve this. The BLS is quite safe, though, because the media can be relied upon not to draw attention to the shortcomings of its published data. The release of the 2015 National Military Strategy, which shows an unmistakable intent to continue extreme violence in the pursuit of ‘U.S. interests’. Continued projections of anemic GDP growth. More details of the weak recovery. Big Brother now decides for parents what is appropriate protective behavior and what constitutes ‘inadequate’ protection.
Friday Jul 03, 2015
Greece: Victim Of An Experiment Gone Horribly Awry – 07.03.15
Friday Jul 03, 2015
Friday Jul 03, 2015
The word ‘crisis’ originates from Ancient Greece. It’s actually a medical term. Greece leads an unparalleled crisis throughout the whole of Europe. The European Union – and the Euro – are the dumbest inventions of this age. I shudder to think what future generations will say about all this. We examine how things would have turned out if the Federal Reserve had never been invented. The ‘No Plan ‘B’’ nature of this crisis reminds one of France on the eve of the German invasion in 1940. The corporate coup d’état. Millennials are smart as a group but this hasn’t helped them. They are still financially and economically trapped. The horrendous state of California’s aquifers and the thousands of miles of land in the Central Valley and elsewhere which are sinking. The subsidence problem is worsening, playing havoc with the infrastructure.