One of my favorite newsletters comes from a Canadian writer, Jim Willie. His projections about the North American economy have been right far more often than they have been wrong. He is seldom wrong, in fact. He says America’s story as the leader of the world is over.

In his recent newsletter titled “The Golden Jackass“, Willie had this to say:
“It is my contention that the US financial structures broke without any remote potential for repair and revival in the summer of 2007… The system has broken, but the syndicate in control wishes to keep the music going, keep the machinery turning, keep the money flowing, so that they can continue the racket, bury the bond frauds, process the bad paper into USGovt coffers, continue to corner the printing press operations, and continue to con the USCongress into granting more funds. Nobody seeks justice and prosecution for over $1 trillion in mortgage bond fraud. Nobody seeks to remove key Wall Street firms from their command posts within USGovt finance ministries.”

ITEM: Compact fluorescent light bulbs, mandated to replace the century-old reliable incandescent bulb (at four times the cost) contain poisonous liquid mercury over 300 times the EPA’s standard accepted safety level. In addition, days after a bulb has been broken, vacuuming or simply crawling across the carpeted floor where the bulb was broken can cause mercury vapor levels to shoot back upwards of 100 times the accepted level of safety.

These figures are according to a report by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) after a woman was quoted $2000 for cleanup of a broken compact fluorescent bulb in her house.