THE SOOTHESAYER INTERNET

March 2009

If you think February was a “bumpy ride”, get ready for the roller coaster experience this month will bring.  Mercury is conjunct Mars, both quincunx Saturn on March 1^st, Venus goes retrograde on March 6^th, the Full Moon hits the Saturn/Uranus opposition on the 11^th, and Jupiter is quincunx Saturn on the 22^nd. 

The first configuration is on the ascendant of Pres. Obama and is a warning to be extremely cautious since this is an “accident-prone” aspect both in word and deed.  Between the 8^th and the 12^th, Mars is opposition his Uranus, bringing out responses from radicals, hate-mongers, and extremists in the country, suggesting he needs increased protection.

The retrograde motion of Venus coincides historically with currency crises, which suggests  the possibility that one or more  nation’s currency may fail.  This is frequently accompanied by a rise in the price of gold as a safety net.  In addition, our government is printing a lot of money with the purpose of saving financial institutions and stopping the economic collapse.  Inflation of currency will escalate into the month of June when Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron all conjunct in Aquarius.  We are about to wake up to our government’s using taxpayer money to buy up the toxic waste debt from the biggest American banks and keep the same guys in charge of these banks who oversaw and approved of this disastrous accumulation of bad debt.   

Cooperation will be a rare commodity this month.  Venus’ retrograde motion and the Saturn/Uranus opposition will be a battle of the Titans in our government and in the private sector.  There will be a tendency for each entity to want to do it “my way or the highway”.  The public-at-large is now seeing itself opposed to the powers-that-be and they have a point.  The financial giants financed the campaigns of the politicians and they got themselves removed from the rule of law.  The global economy was their casino and they won big by leveraging themselves and many of the least financially educated people who were most susceptible to the massive fraud being perpetrated upon them.

The Economy:

Gold may make a low the first week and, as currencies get into trouble, the second week it may start to climb upward again.  Silver is moving more in concert with gold these days so is likely to make a low and move upward as well.

I think that this is the month that the crises around derivatives trade I have been warning about on this site for some time now, will manifest.  My take is it will come in the form of losses in credit default swaps (CDS).  Recently, The Guardian Unlimited estimated the amount of notional money in these contracts to be around $50 Trillion! 

We all need to recognize that for about the past 35 years, there has been stagnant to no growth in real wages for most people in the U.S.  Manufacturing was “outsourced” as were the jobs that went with it so that large corporations could ignore anti-pollution laws and pay labor around $.50 an hour to work in horrible conditions, mainly in China.  Later, the high-tech jobs like computer programming and design were outsourced to India.  Monopoly capitalism reduced the number of decent jobs and thus the buying power of the consumer they depended upon; therefore, they had to make money another way.  That way was by expanding credit so people could buy what they could no longer afford and by “financializing” the economy, making people in the privileged upper 1% extremely rich.

The so-called “Reagan Revolution” started a process of deregulating the banking and financial systems. Huge “bubbles” and “busts” were encouraged. The stock market got hit in the Dot Com Bust, so they created huge numbers of exotic derivatives, mostly in giant hedge funds.  In 1998, the rich and powerful won again by getting Congress to eliminate the Glass-Steagall Act, which had wisely separated commercial banking from investment banking.  This act was passed during the Great Depression so that another collapse of that nature would not happen again.  Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Lawrence Summers pushed this through and Pres. Bill Clinton signed it.

In short, a gambling boom was facilitated, allowing betting on ups and downs in stocks, currencies, commodities, etc. in an atmosphere resembling on-track betting at the horse races.  Millions of subprime mortgages were also financialized in “tranches” and sold off to other banks and hedge funds.  Some “banksters” realized this was risky, so they created a derivative called credit default swaps, betting against themselves in case it all collapsed, and theoretically providing themselves some insurance.  Just think, thousands of people in your city, state and even the country own a contract that bets on the default of your mortgage and that of your neighbors!  The problem is that the other side of the bet (somebody has to bet against them) is now broke!  The trillions of dollars that will likely go down the tubes boggles the mind, as does the whole scheme.  And these are the guys that Timothy Geithner wants to save and protect with our tax money.

The only reason the American dollar is stronger right now is that the currency of most of the other nations is seriously weakened or in danger of collapse.  I believe there will be the creation of a new Middle Eastern currency between now and June, similar to the gold-backed Dinar.  Years in the distance, we may move toward a currency backed by gold.  Fiat currency has always “failed” eventually.

History has shown over and over again that when Uranus and Saturn oppose one another, economies break down and frequently, civilians take to the streets.  This aspect continues through July 26, 2010.

Other Nations:

Nations affected by Pluto in Capricorn and Mars in Aquarius are numerous and these areas will likely experience chaos and economic insolvency:  India, Pakistan, Eastern European nations, Mexico, and Afghanistan.  Israel is also impacted and the various factions in their government will be at odds, unable to form coalitions this month.

While we were sleeping, China has made two big deals for oil supplies; one with Russia (for 20 years) and another with Venezuela.  Eventually, as the world oil supplies dwindle, these deals will have great significance.  That being said, China is suffering the closing of factories and dwindling of their markets.  By November, I believe there will be great civil unrest there.

Weather and Travel:

Be careful March 1^st through 3^rd,  March 22 through 23^rd, and March 26^th through 27^th. These promote high winds, unstable weather and are not good for air travel.

Final Thoughts:

Two words come to mind in these most turbulent times: revolution and evolution.

Revolutions usually have very good reasons for happening.  The greedy and inept get into power whether in the form of monarchies, governments or monopoly capital institutions, and they crush those in less fortunate positions.  The masses revolt, bloody wars are fought, and often others gain power who are no better than those that went before.  Sometimes new concepts, like democracy, are instituted.  Most times, military dictatorships take over.  Revolution is a last resort, is highly destructive, and has a poor record of real accomplishment in the way of desperately needed changes and reforms.

Evolution implies a process of learning, a forward motion, a looking outside the box, a movement from a narrow limited viewpoint to a more elevated vision.  Those who cannot adjust to significant change in the world, simply die out or become extinct.  Those who survive realize that this requires us to reach out to each other, to look beyond, and, most important, to look within.  Symptoms that we are evolving come in the form of intense empathy and caring for those around us, the health of the earth, and all the magnificent forms of life that share this time and space with us.   Other signs come in forms that vary from “blazing insights” to the “still small voice” that calls us to loving service both to humanity and to the wisdom of the Great Creator in whom we all reside.

Once again, the choice is ours.

 Linda

 Linda Schurman