Bankers, governments and investors are preparing for Greece to stop using the euro as its currency, a move that could spread turmoil throughout the global financial system.
Category Archives: Preppers
ZOMBIE OUTBREAK – Woman Tries To Eat Cop
Zombies aren’t real, (or are they) 
of course, unless you live in the world of “The Walking Dead”, and even then they’re not called zombies. But “Walker Apocalypse” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Of course, with all the stories pouring in from around the nation involving bath salts and their pesky, flesh-eating affect on the human brain–9, at last count–it might be prudent to call this the “Bath Salt Apocalypse”, as The Village Voice suggests.
Whatever you call it, it’s pretty damn scary. And, I hate to do this to you, but here’s one more story to add to the growing pile.
A Utica, New York police officer responded to a call about a disturbed person at a bar on Saturday night. When he arrived, he found a 41-year old woman sitting in a stairwell with a blank look on her face. When he tried to engage her in conversation, she became agitated and violent and tried to bite him repeatedly, yelling that she wanted to “eat and kill someone”. She was later taken to the hospital, where it was determined that bath salts were indeed the culprit for her insane behavior.
According to their official Facebook page, Utica officers also responded to two different bath salts calls in one day on June 21st; one regarding a man who claimed to be having bath salt withdrawals and chest pains, and the other involving a woman who was taken to the hospital after experiencing “hallucinogenic effects” from the drug. And while most agree that the synthetic drug causes more of a psychosis than hallucinations, it can lead the user to have very realistic visions that are compared to those that come with taking LSD.
With all the stories coming in about the drug’s effects, it’s sort of surprising that people are continuing to use it. Every drug has its share of dangerous side effects, and some can be fatal, but face-eating? Murderous intent? That’s a side effect I believe I’d want to stay away from, even if I enjoyed partaking.
GLOBAL ECONOMIC COLLAPSE – STARTING WITH GREECE
How shock waves will reach the US if Greece drops the euro
Greeks will have to wrestle with a crucial dilemma when they go to the polls for the second time in as many months on June 17 to elect a new government.
Greeks will have to wrestle with a crucial dilemma when they go to the polls for the second time in as many months on June 17 to elect a new government.
A Greek election on Sunday will determine whether it happens. Syriza, a party opposed to the restrictions placed on Greece in exchange for a bailout from European neighbors, could do well.
If Syriza gains power and rejects the terms of the bailout, Greece could lose its lifeline, default on its debt and decide that it must print its own currency, the drachma, to stay afloat.
No one is sure how that would work because there is no mechanism in the European Union charter for a country leaving the euro. In the meantime, banks and investors have sketched out the ripple effects.
They think the path of a full-blown crisis would start in Greece, quickly move to the rest of Europe and then hit the U.S. Stocks and oil would plunge, the euro would sink against the U.S. dollar, and big banks would suffer losses on complex trades.
ACT I
What would Greece’s exit look like? In the worst case, it starts off messy.
The government resurrects the drachma, the currency Greece used before the euro, and says each drachma equals one euro. But currency markets would treat it differently. Banks’ foreign-exchange experts expect the drachma would plunge to half the value of the euro soon after its debut.
For Greeks, that would likely mean surging inflation — 35 percent in the first year, according to some estimates. The country is a net importer and would have to pay more for oil, medical equipment and anything else it imports.
Greece’s government and banks currently survive on international loans, and if it dropped the euro, the country would probably be locked out of lending markets, says Athanasios Vamvakidis, foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch in London. So the Greek central bank would need to print more drachmas to make up for what it could no longer borrow from abroad.
That’s one reason analysts say the switch to a drachma would lead the country to default on its government debt, possibly triggering losses for the European Central Bank and other international lenders.
Most assume foreign banks would have to write off loans to Greek businesses, too. Why would Greeks pay off foreign debts that effectively double when the drachma drops by half?
Say a small shop owner in Athens has a €50,000 business loan from a French bank. She also has €50,000 in savings in a Greek bank. The Greek government turns her savings into 50,000 drachma.
If the new currency fell by 50 percent to the euro as expected, her savings would suddenly be worth €25,000. But she would still owe €50,000 to the French bank.
European banks would take a direct blow. They’ve managed to shed much of their Greek debt but still held $65 billion, mainly in loans to Greek corporations, at the end of last year, according to an analysis by Nomura, a financial services company. French banks have the most to lose.
MAINE’s OFFICIAL ZOMBIE EMERGENCY DRILL
The undead are wreaking havoc in Maine — in a unique emergency preparedness drill, at least.
About 100 first emergency responders from eight counties in Maine were summoned to Bangor to contain a “zombie apocalypse” Thursday in an exercise intended to train them to react to a mass casualty event, the Bangor Daily News reported.
The participants: Bangor residents outfitted with makeup and fake blood to look as “undead” as possible.
In the exercise, the emergency personnel were tasked with treating the zombie-infected participants to prevent them from becoming zombies.
“If they don’t receive the anti-zombie drug, they progress to stage two and then on to the ‘undead’ stage,” Kathy Knight, director of the exercise’s organizer Northeastern Maine Regional Resource Center, explained.
The whole point of the exercise, according to Knight, was to get first responders to “think outside the box” in dealing with a potential pandemic scenario.
“This gives us the opportunity to do something a little bit different, but it still has the same principles that would apply in a real situation,” Knight told the Bangor Daily News.
“The entire thing is very similar to any regular pandemic influenza planning,” she told the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. “So we can use what we learn here in the planning for that type of event.”
Global Economic Collapse – Why Hasn’t Obabma Prepped the U.S For Economic Doomsday
Why hasn’t Obama doomsday prepped the U.S. economy?
OK, here’s where we are right now, and it isn’t good:
1. Europe is in recession, and its financial crisis is growing worse. The bailout of Spain was a bust. Yields on Spanish bonds are now at their highest point of the crisis. Here’s looking at you Italy.
2. The sputtering U.S. economy may well be heading into another recession, and the approaching fiscal cliff is hardly helping confidence. It sure looks like nothing will be done on that front before the election.
3. Three-fourths of the BRICs—China, India, and Brazil—are all slowing. There go the emerging-market growth engines.
How to avoid a worsening of this already dire scenario? AEI economist John Makin thinks four steps are urgently needed:
1. Europe’s banking system must be stabilized to end runs from depositors withdrawing funds;
2. Europe must articulate clearly a framework for rapid evolution toward fiscal union;
3. The policy mix that includes additional fiscal stringency in return for rich loans to Europe’s periphery must be softened.
4. The ECB can help calm markets and reduce uncertainty by signaling its support of more accommodation, including a system of deposit insurance for European banks and could cut interest rates by fifty basis points and undertake another round of extra lending to ensure ample liquidity to banks.
I would add that Europe should be cutting taxes, not raising them.
But here’s the problem: As Makin notes, the odds of all that stuff happening are low, maybe a 50% chance depending on “Greece electing a coalition government willing to cooperate with Europe’s core countries to move toward a true monetary and fiscal union.”
So we have a) a 50% probability of a cooperative outcome from the Greek election on June 17, and b) conditional on that, a 50% probability that Europe will be able to quickly move forward to enact a more credible monetary and fiscal union.
Do the math. The joint probability of these events is 25% at best, “meaning there is only a one in four chance that the euro system will survive through the summer. Should the more likely outcome—an acute European financial crisis—emerge, the United States will be forced to act to prevent serious damage to its financial system and economy.”
So we have a 75% chance of a nightmare summer and autumn heading smack into the U.S. elections in November. The only question is how bad it will be. We don’t know what’s beyond the veil formed by the EU financial crisis, so any predictions about Obama vs. Romney are pretty much worthless.
But it’s hard to see how a financial shock would help the Obama campaign. He is the incumbent, after all. While the president cannot be blamed for the financial crisis, the Romney campaign could charge him with not doing everything possible to doomsday prep the U.S. economy for another global economic shock. It’s not like the EU debt crisis popped up in the past few weeks.
Why do we still have the highest corporate tax rate in the world?
Why did Obama nix the Keystone pipeline?
Why is the president still talking about raising taxes?
Why has the White House offered no long-term debt plan to reassure global markets?
Already, Romney has been hitting Obama for becoming obsessed with passing healthcare reform in 2009 and 2010 rather than boosting economic growth and job creation. Expect more of that.
And if the economy slows further—and if Obamacare is tossed by the Supreme Court—it’s a message that may powerfully resonate with voters.
EUROPE TRYING TO TURN AMERICA INTO A ZOMBIE WASTELAND
Victim … blinded Ronald Poppo is led by doctors after his face was chewed off in horrific attack
A WAVE of gruesome cannibal attacks that have left Americans fearing a “zombie apocalypse” is being fuelled by a drug imported from the UK, The Sun can reveal.
The mind-bending narcotics that make users eat living human flesh are bought off the internet — labelled as BATH SALTS.
Cops have been shocked by a surge in frenzied attacks by people, which includes:
HOMELESS Ronald Poppo, 65, had three-quarters of his FACE chewed off by Rudy Eugene, 31, who was high on the drug when cops shot him dead last month in Miami. The officers had repeatedly ordered him to stop but he just growled at them like a wild animal. Poppo is now partially blind.
MUM Pamela McCarthy, 35, who was tasered by cops as she attacked her three-year-old son this month. She had a cardiac arrest and died in hospital in New York.
CRAZED Carl Jacquneaux, 43, bit a chunk out of the face of his ex-wife’s new lover Todd Credeur, 48, when he turned up at her home in Lafayette, Louisiana, this month.
ON the same day, Brandon de Leon, 21, was restrained in a Hannibal Lecter-style face mask when he tried to bite off the hands of cops who arrested him in Miami. He screamed at them: “I’m going to eat you.”
Another user said the “bath salts” made him feel “evil” — and convinced him he was possessed by Jason Voorhees, the psycho in the Friday the 13th movies.
Ronald Poppo … had three-quarters of his face chewed off in attack
Freddy Sharp, 27, from Tennessee, said: “It felt like the darkest, evilest thing imaginable. I was hallucinating about being in an insane asylum and being possessed by Jason Voorhees. I couldn’t stop whatever was in me.”
TV reporter Cenk Uygur watched footage of Freddy being restrained by medics and said: “He looks like a zombie. People are talking about a zombie apocalypse and all these people eating each other. I cannot fathom why you would do bath salts that make you want to eat someone’s face off.”
Zombie … Rudy Eugene was shot dead by cops last month after attack on Ronald Poppo
US authorities fear the cannibalistic attacks could become a pandemic. They have discovered that many shipments are coming from the UK.
In an investigation by network NBC, a girl of 16 ordered a batch from a firm which, despite saying it did not sell to under-18s, soon delivered. A reporter said: “Just days later, the drugs arrived from England to the NBC studios. Even more alarming is cops that say they cannot stop the sale of the drugs as they are not illegal.”
The Sun knows of several British “bath salts” sites which boast delivery to the US in five-to-eight working days — but we will not print the addresses.
Zombie … Carl Jacquneaux bit face of his ex-wife’s new lover
One mockingly suggests users put them in their bathtub to help “erase fatigue and invigorate the body”. It says the products are offered “for scientific research purposes only” and are “not designed for human consumption”.
But it also advises buyers to use the drug “sparingly” and predicts the effects will last for several hours. No mention is made, however, of the risk that users will turn into the crazed, flesh-eating monsters horrifying America.
Earlier this month, a naked man was arrested ranting and screaming outside the Los Angeles home of British actor Orlando Bloom, 35. He was said to be manic and sweaty as he prowled the estate.
Zombie … Pamela McCarthy attacked her three-year-old son
Users of the drug have reported feeling incredibly hot, which is why many strip off. They can also develop superhuman strength — meaning it can take five or six men to restrain them.
They become so manic and delusional that the term “excited delirium” is being used to describe their mental state. The shocking wave of attacks has sparked fears of a real-life zombie outbreak as seen in movies such as Dawn Of The Dead.
The dangers of so-called legal highs has hit the headlines in the UK in recent weeks with two incidents linked to a new “bath salts” drug called Benzo Fury.
Zombie … Brandon de Leon tried to bite off the hands of cops who arrested him
Alex Herriet, 19, died after taking the £10 high at the Rockness festival in Scotland.
And Katie Wilson, 19, paraded naked in a Tesco in Bourne, Lincs, after taking the drug.
The “bath salts” are actually a cocktail of amphetamine-like chemicals, mainly mephedrone, MDPV and methylone. Authorities in the US and UK have tried to close loopholes allowing the drugs to be sold.
Crazed … ‘possessed’ drug user Freddy Sharp is restrained
Last year America’s Drug Enforcement Administration imposed a 12- month emergency ban on the three chemicals. MDPV is illegal in the UK.
But experts have warned the current rules are ineffective.
David Shurtleff, of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in the States, explained drug makers are constantly “tweaking” the molecular structure of the substance to get round regulations while maintaining the effects.
Dr Shurtleff said: “The problem is that chemists are very clever.”
Bath salts … US authorities have discovered that many shipments are coming from the UK
The number of calls America’s Poison Control Centers receive about the drug rose from 304 in 2010 to 6,138 in 2011. Addiction expert Dr Deborah Mash of University of Miami says the problem should chill people to the bone. She said: “This is almost like a science fiction episode where someone creates a dangerous molecule and it is released into the public. The results are terrifying in the extreme.”
Cannibal rap … Luka Magnotta
Things have got so out of hand in America that many people feared a mutant virus was to blame.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention had to release a statement saying it is not aware of any virus that can cause zombie-like behaviour.
Addiction expert Dr Karen Hylen believes the cannibals were already disturbed — and that eating human flesh can become addictive. Dr Hylen said: “It takes a very disordered psyche to become interested in cannibalism. But once a person entertains such fantasies and acts on them, eating flesh will release brain chemicals that can make the process addictive.”
Luka Magnotta, 29, is the most infamous recent “flesh eater” after he was held on suspicion of killing and eating a lover.
But the Canadian oddball, who lived in London for a while, is not known to have used “bath salts”.
The Home Office said it is trying to root out the “bath salts” menace. A spokesman said: “MDPV is an illegal and harmful drug and stiff penalties are in place for people who possess or supply it. Drugs ruin lives which is why we are taking tough action against dealers and criminal gangs and helping people to free themselves from the cycle of dependency.”