01.05.08 Money Matters

ECONOMICS AND FINANCE:
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DOW'S WORST 3 DAY START SINCE 1932, (CNBC).
S&P 500 worst start since 2000.
Nasdaq has lost 5.6% in 3 days.
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PRESIDENT BUSH MEETS WITH 'WORKING GROUP ON FINANCIAL MARKETS', (Reuters). Some folks call this group the Plunge Protection Team. Some other folks have denied all along that this group even exists, and probably still will in the future. Here's another link with an article on the group.
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FED UPS AUCTION AMOUNTS TO AID BANKS, (Washington, AP). They are increasing the amount of money available to banks to 'ease the nation's severe credit squeeze.' This is in addition the billions already injected into the system. Europe's central banks also put in about $500 billion recently.
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UNEMPLOYMENT UP, STOKING RECESSION FEARS, (Washington, AP). The fewest new jobs in about 4 years were added. Also we need to take into account how the government actually calculates the data. Birth/death rate models are used to estimate jobs created, for example, along with statistical seasonal adjustments. And the unemployment figures do not account for people who have been out of work so long that they are out of benefits and just drop off the map as far as the government is concerned.
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TREASURY DEPARTMENT PLANS SOCIAL SECURITY DEBIT CARD, (Reuters). The report said the card will be targeted towards Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients who don't have a bank account, and is also aimed at providing cheaper and more secure payments by shifting away from paper checks.
..."We've been working for a while to try to understand the needs of the unbanked. Combine that with problems we've seen with financial crimes and identity theft problems with forged checks and stolen checks and so on - the debit card seemed like the right answer," said Judith Tillman, commissioner of the Treasury's Financial Management Service.
...Sounds good, but I also wonder if this is just another step toward the Mark of the Beast. More on that on my other blog End Time Events. Many people believe that the mark will be some kind of implanted chip or even a tattoo forced onto people to control them. But reading Revelation 13, it says that the mark is for financial transactions. No one could buy or sell without the mark. Why does the mark have to be an implanted chip? People already are 'marked' with unique biometric identifiers in their fingerprints and in their eyes.
...Folks familiar with the end time scenarios might choose to die rather than accept the dreaded 'mark'. But what if it came in a form that they didn't expect. What if someday when we have moved completely to a cashless society, everyone is required to log onto a central computer system in order to conduct any financial transactions, and must provide biometric identification to access that system? Would they think anything about it?
...I'm certainly not saying this debit card is the mark. I do a lot of electronic payments, have direct deposit and know many people who have to provide biometric identification to access secure locations now.
...But it is all leading to that day when the beast system will require everyone who wishes to participate in the financial system to agree with the fine print in the agreements and provide biometric identification to do so. I guess the devil will really be in the details at that point. I wonder how many people will just blithely go along, having been conditioned little by little for so many years. How many will not recognize what is happening because they have been expecting some kind of evil dictator who will forcibly try to 'mark' everyone? How many will give in because all of a sudden they can't make their house payments and buy groceries otherwise?
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