Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Mon 01.11.2010
Jobs or Tent Cities? Congressman Lamborn delivered a One Minute on the U.S. House of Representative Floor regarding a sign that appeared outside a homeless campground in the 5th District of Colorado.
First U.S. bank failure of 2010. . . Horizon Bank fails; bought by Washington Federal State regulators seized Horizon Bank on Friday evening, making it Washington’s first bank failure of 2010 and the fourth community bank to be seized in the state in the last 13 months. Washington Federal Inc., of Seattle, quickly snapped up the failed Bellingham bank from regulators, including all of its bank branches and deposits, except for brokered deposits, state and federal banking regulators said. The purchase price was not disclosed.
America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels December was the worst month for US unemployment since the Great Recession began. The labour force contracted by 661,000. This did not show up in the headline jobless rate because so many Americans dropped out of the system. The broad U6 category of unemployment rose to 17.3pc. That is the one that matters. Wall Street rallied. Bulls hope that weak jobs data will postpone monetary tightening: a silver lining in every catastrophe, or perhaps a further exhibit of market infantilism.
Banks Prepare for Bigger Bonuses, and Public’s Wrath Everyone on Wall Street is fixated on The Number. The bank bonus season, that annual rite of big money and bigger egos, begins in earnest this week, and it looks as if it will be one of the largest and most controversial blowouts the industry has ever seen. Bill Gross Say FED Will Exit Easy Monetary Policy, Quantitative Easing in March 2010 The latest PIMCO newsletter suggests that 2010 will be year of caution and change. And yet he gives ample suggestions to the coming holocaust in financial markets if things do not go as planned. The latest US and UK deficit is graph straight for the records. It is almost eclipsing the vertical rise of equity markets in 2009.
The Big Picture for U.S. Housing Market 2010 The typical essay I write on these pages is 700-1,500 words or so. Today’s essay will be setting an all time record for Gains, Pains, & Capital because my first 1,000 words are the following: [picture of chart - Monthly Mortgage Rate Resets 2007-2016] . . . . In plain terms, the primary difference between 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 is that this time around, the Fed has already thrown everything including the kitchen sink at the financial system. There are virtually NO weapons left in the Fed’s arsenal (save for just leaving a paper weight on the “print” button).
Why You Should Care About DJIA Priced in Gold Of the many forward looking market indicators we at EWI employ, one of the most interesting tools (and least discussed in the financial media) is the DJIA priced in gold -- "the real money," as EWI's president Robert Prechter calls it.
Could the Fed Be Manufacturing Another Stock Market Crash? . . . . US Treasury is now facing a debt spiral: a situation where it needs to issue roughly $150 billion of new debt per month WHILE rolling over TRILLIONS in existing debt at a time when investors are willing to lend to it for shorter and shorter periods of time. Indeed, in the next two months alone, the US must roll over $133 billion in debt. And this is coming at the precise time that the US will begin issuing roughly $150-300 billion in new debt to finance our $1.5 trillion deficit. The big question now is… WHO’S going to be buying this stuff?
Who is Jim Rogers and why does he say America's next economic crisis is 1-3 years away?
Bubble warning Markets are too dependent on unsustainable government stimulus. Something’s got to give THE effect of free money is remarkable. A year ago investors were panicking and there was talk of another Depression. Now the MSCI world index of global share prices is more than 70% higher than its low in March 2009. That’s largely thanks to interest rates of 1% or less in America, Japan, Britain and the euro zone, which have persuaded investors to take their money out of cash and to buy risky assets.
Surge in U.S. Personal Bankruptcies, Foreclosures and Job Losses The number of Americans filing for personal bankruptcy rose by nearly a third in 2009, a surge largely driven by foreclosures and job losses. And more people are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which liquidates assets to pay off some debts and absolves the filers of others. That is significant because a 2005 overhaul of federal bankruptcy laws aimed to encourage Chapter 13 filings, which force consumers to sign onto debt-repayment plans in exchange for keeping certain assets.
Dubai’s First Foreclosure May Open Floodgates in Worst Market Dubai’s housing rout sent prices down 52 percent in the past year, prompting some homeowners to abandon their cars and mortgage payments and flee the country. Not one received a foreclosure notice. Until now.
Two Fed officials say jobs key to exit strategy HARTFORD, Connecticut (Reuters) - Two Federal Reserve officials said on Friday they would like to see the U.S. jobs picture improve before the central bank withdraws its extraordinary support for the economy and markets.
Gold to hit $1375 this spring: Roger Wiegand The USA government bailouts including TARP and other specious global bank and corporate welfare programs placed a quick band aid on a strategic economic gaping wound. This post Lehman fix was only temporary repairing about 10% of all these problems. Now that big American business and her banks are partially fixed, these banker-idiots are back to their old games with derivatives trading, not making badly needed business loans, and stashing cash inside the guaranteed return nest of Treasury Department bills, notes and bonds. No loans for you or business but plenty for them.
Gold Bounces Off Long-term Critical Suppport Trend Line to Target $1575 2010 The first full week of trading in three weeks has been kind of positive but not all that bullish. Speculators are slowly dragging themselves away from their vacation spots and greater trading activity is expected over the next few weeks.
Gold to ride boom wave, not gloom, in 2010 With the New Year is just into its second week, bullion analysts are on high hopes that the metal will perform better in 2010 as the world is yet to come out of the recession blues. In a way analysts are all banking on the bad news so that gold can make a killing. So, the doomsayers are always backing gold as a safe haven and urging people to invest in the yellow metal.
Gold, silver prices to show continued strength Commodities prices are expected to show strength in the first few months of this year. The strength will not be one-way, however. Periods of profit taking should be expected at times.
U.S. Slaps Tariff on China; Gold Price Jumps . . . . Gold started the year marching higher, and on Tuesday, January 5th the U.S. announced additional duties on those Chinese steel products. In this game of tit-for-tat, it is difficult to say which of the two parties is instigating these actions and which is “retaliating”.
Gold rush continues Stock market declines while gold is up 286 percent - will it hold? Have the hucksters and gold bugs got it right this time? . . . . . . . . Over the last 10 years the blue chip Standard & Poors 500 Index is off 23 percent while gold is up 286 percent. But it is not just the hucksters who see value in this ancient, precious metal.
Gold jumps, Dollar falls on US job losses The wholesale price of gold bullion jumped after falling sharply in Asian trade on Friday, hitting US$1,137.70 an ounce after the United States reported much-worse-than-expected job losses for December. Falling by 85,000 against forecasts of a possible rise, non-farm payrolls shrank for the 23rd month running, taking the total number of jobs lost since January 2008 to 6.4 million.
Bullion: What is gold conspiracy? GATA is the Gold Anti-Trust Action committee. GATA alleges that the gold market is subject to systematic rigging by a series of US and global institutions, in contravention of the USA’s Anti-Trust laws and the Constitution of the USA. The goal of GATA is to bring a case to trial.
Gold Price Suppression and Management to End Is the Gold Price really Managed or Suppressed? We have absolutely no doubt that the gold price has been and may well be, being either suppressed or managed. Just look at the record of gold sales in the 70’s, 80’s 90’s and in this century so far. Gold was sold during these periods, first by the United States. It was done to discredit gold as money and to support the U.S. $ as the prime global reserve currency.
Gold to rise 30% in 2010, silver to reach $21.50 Gold prices surged 24% in 2009 and is set to rise 30% in 2010 in a volatile market, according to Ross Norman of BullionDesk.com. In a prediction released on Friday, Norman said that spot gold prices will average $1236 with possibility of prices touching $1425 and reaching a low of $1080.
Gerald Celente with Brannon Howse 05 January 2010
The ‘barbarous relic’ is back, and it may stay a while Reading the pronouncements of a number of analysts, this year is already mapped out. The US dollar will enjoy a return to stability, the global economy will begin to grow steadily again and there will be no further need for quantitative easing.
Still here, Still Bullish on Gold and Gold Stocks Still all in on Gold and the Gold sector. My Gold is not for sale or trading, it is my cash and cash is king in a secular bear market. My Gold stocks are speculative vehicles with significant inherent risk that I largely trade in and out of, for better or for worse. I remain rabidly bullish on Gold and Gold stocks at current levels.
One More Nail in the Coffin of the Gold Bears “The State is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” ….. Frederic Bastiat. The bullish case for gold continues to build. The old adage ‘more dollars chasing fewer goods’ is particularly apt for gold.
LBMA paints rosy picture for precious metals Gold should clock up further price gains this year to just under $1,200 an ounce, according to the London Bullion Market latest annual survey of price forecasts for precious metals.
Gold Moves Higher, Start of a New Upleg? . . . . We are now poised at the beginning of a new year and a new decade. We can hope that the bad things that happened in the first decade were a coda to the previous century, and not an overture of what’s to come. Today the US is cleaning up the mess from the largest financial collapse in history. There is no doubt, as we have written before, that the US will remain vulnerable to misgivings about its sovereign creditworthiness. This is especially so when you consider the high proportion of US debt held overseas.
'Pension, hedge funds can push gold to $5000' Gold prices are set to steadily rise in 2010 if pension and hedge fund managers move even 5% of their assets into gold, according to Nick Barisheff, President and CEO of Bullion Management Group.
Still Bullish on Gold and Gold Stocks 2010 Still all in on Gold and the Gold sector. My Gold is not for sale or trading, it is my cash and cash is king in a secular bear market. My Gold stocks are speculative vehicles with significant inherent risk that I largely trade in and out of, for better or for worse. I remain rabidly bullish on Gold and Gold stocks at current levels.
Gold derivatives zoom by nearly 2300 tonnes On November 12, 2009, the Bank for International Settlements released its regular semi-annual report on the over-the-counter derivatives of major banks and dealers in the G-10 countries and Switzerland for the six months ending June 30, 2009. The total notional value of all gold derivatives rose to $425 billion from $332 billion at year-end 2008, corrected from the previously reported figure of $395 billion. Although gold prices more than recovered their decline over the prior six months to close at $935 (London PM), gross market values fell from a corrected $55 billion to $43 billion.
Get Your Gold the Hell Outta Here! That’s the directive that came down from HSBC USA in late November. It seems that everyone these days wants gold. Real, physical gold coins that they can hold in their hands, or bars that they’re assured are resting safely in a well-guarded vault. HSBC’s New York vault, for example, buried deep below its 5th Avenue tower, where it has stored people’s gold since it inherited the facility from Republic Bank a decade ago. But no more.
2010: Year of Silver When did you last heard about gold’s country cousin silver? Maybe, a small article on the last page of your business newspaper or somewhere at the end of the bullion reports on your favourite website. In that just forget your previous mistakes and sit up and think about silver as a better investment than gold in 2010. Even though gold hogged all the limelight in 2009 because of its safe haven demand, silver has been doing extremely well in 2009 also. But, 2010 will be the year of silver if the present trend continues. And, silver is certain to hog headlines in the New Year with the prices and demand set to scale new heights.
Not all plain sailing in emerging markets ...issues are from Asian countries. Mr Booth believes buying local currency debt through a fund is “safer than treasuries and gold.” He sees local currency as a good investment for making returns over the period ahead of global rebalancing and also as...
U.S. Dollar to be Hit Hard In 2010 The feast of cheap and limitless liquidity could not avoid interfering with the international currency market. While in the first six months of the year the crisis was beneficial for the US dollar, in the second half of the year speculators took it out on the dollar over and above. This year is expected to continue weakening of the American currency that dropped to the level of $1.6 for one Euro in 2009.
Dollar Falls Most Since November on Surprise Payrolls Drop The dollar posted its biggest weekly loss since November versus the currencies of major U.S. trading partners as an unexpected drop in jobs boosted speculation that the Federal Reserve may extend stimulus measures.
Doug Casey on Currency Regime Change . . . . My first reaction is to say, "Monkey see, monkey do." In imitation of the European Union, these people are monkeying around with what should be money. That's gold, of course. But you know, I've been surprised that the first of these Esperanto currencies, the euro, has lasted as long as it has.
Why Deflation is Not Ahead There is a debate going on within pro-gold circles: inflation or deflation. The deflationists predict that price deflation is inevitable and imminent. The inflationists insist that mass inflation is inevitable, but maybe not imminent. Deflationists rarely speak of mass deflation, let alone hyperdeflation. Just deflation. They do not say by what percent prices will fall each year or for how many years.
The 401(k) sucker punch DANIEL SOLIN If I were tasked with the responsibility of creating a really terrible 401(k) plan, here's how I would do it. The first critical decision would be to retain a broker as an adviser to the plan. An insurance company could do the job as well, but brokers have a lot more experience acting against the best interest of their clients.
Hank Greenberg Tells WSJ Goldman Sachs Behind AIG’s Collapse Hank Greenberg, former chief executive officer at American International Group Inc., said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is responsible for the collapse of the insurer during the economic crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. “It certainly wouldn’t be difficult to come to that conclusion,” Greenberg is quoted as telling the newspaper.
***Excellent explanation about why we don't know where OUR money went; thank Paulson.
Elizabeth Warren: "Just Take It," Said Hank Paulson to the Banks
FDIC considers plan to penalize banks whose pay practices encourage risky moves The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is considering financial penalties for banks whose pay practices encourage reckless behavior, potentially opening a new front in the federal government's effort to reshape the way bankers are paid, according to people familiar with the matter.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Behind the big number of Canceled Foreclosure Auctions? $745 Billion Bailout to Erase Negative Equity for Every Underwater Homeowner. Fannie and Freddie Uncapped. Prelude to new Bailouts? Over the last two months we’ve noticed an interesting pattern in notice of trustee sale auction cancelations. This is the last step before the home is either sold at auction or taken back by the bank as a bank owned property. As we have highlighted, this process can take 18 months from the last payment made on the home given the slow pace banks are moving at.
U.S. Sells Off $1 Billion in Troubled Loans Investment vehicles managed by Colony Capital LLC, including Colony Financial Inc., bought about $1.02 billion in loans from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Colony said in a statement.
Fannie and Freddie, another American taxpayer nightmare It’s official. Fannie and Freddie are now full wards of the state, departments of the U.S. government. And their obligations are now the obligations of the American taxpayer. . . . . . . . . Now, Fannie and Freddie’s obligations are explicitly guaranteed, without limit by the U.S. Treasury for 3 years, and as needed thereafter.
Lawmakers Press For Geithner AIG Testimony U.S. lawmakers on Friday pressed for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to testify on whether the New York Federal Reserve Bank improperly pressured AIG to withhold information on payments it made to banks after its government bailout. The requests came even as the Obama administration and the New York Fed rushed to say that Geithner, who headed the reserve bank at the time of the AIG rescue, was unaware of any emailed advice by Fed lawyers to limit disclosures.
Issa: If Senate Knew of Geithner's AIG Coverup, No Way He'd Be Treasury Secretary
Issa Visits Campbell Brown to Discuss Geithner-AIG-NY Fed Bailout Triangle
Michael Moore was first to suggest moving your money; Huffington jumped on bandwagon 2-1/2 months later. The trend is caching on.
Michael Moore on Morning Joe: 'Withdraw Your Money from Bailed Out Banks' "They shouldn't be handing out bonuses. They should he handing out warrants for arrests. ... If you have money in any of these banks that took TARP money, take the money out. Take the money out of those banks. Don't reward them. Don't ever trust your money with these people again. Put it in a bank that didn't take TARP money. Put it in a credit union. Just refuse to participate in this." -- Michael Moore on Morning Joe, Thursday, October 15th, 2009
Ordinary Americans lack the power to hurt the big banks Arianna Huffington is mad as hell and not going to take it anymore -- or doesn't think you should. The woman behind the Huffington Post recently exhorted Americans to yank their money out of big banks and open accounts at community banks instead. She called out the Big Four -- Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo -- by name for their "slap in the face to taxpayers." The crusade includes a link to a new Web site called Move Your Money (http://www.moveyourmoney.info), which includes clips from "It's a Wonderful Life" and a tool for finding a new bank courtesy of Institutional Risk Analytics.
MOVE YOUR MONEY
Move Your Money: Tell Us About Your Local Bank As national banks soak up bailout dollars, cut lending, and exploit overdraft fees, a number of Americans have decided to move their money to local banks. . . . . Below is a list of the four mega-banks that took the most government bailout money:
Partners Near Default on Stuyvesant Town The owners of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, the sprawling sister complexes overlooking the East River in Manhattan, will miss a $16 million loan payment on Friday, which would put them in technical default on their mortgages, and the 20,000 residents in limbo.
Delinquencies jump for home equity loans, lines of credit The third-quarter increases to record levels contrast with an improvement seen with other consumer loans, the American Bankers Assn. says. Delinquencies on home equity loans and lines of credit jumped to record levels in the third quarter, a banking trade group said Thursday.
CIA bomber video calls for attacks on U.S The suicide bomber who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan had made a video calling on militants to avenge the death of the Pakistani Taliban leader by carrying out attacks in and outside the United States, al Jazeera said.
Mehsud's death sparked CIA attack - 09 Jan 10
Rising gas prices could be a drag on economic recovery Just what Americans need as they try to dig out from the Great Recession: gas prices headed back toward $3 per gallon. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline hit $2.70 on Thursday, according to the auto club AAA. That's up 67 percent from this time last year, and it's the highest price since October 2008 -- a fact not lost on drivers. Sayed Bilal, a cabdriver in Rockville, estimated that he's spending $200 more a month on gas than he's used to.
Ford’s Bet: It’s a Small World After All HE blew into the Ford Motor Company in 2006 as an outsider from a different industry, and he was hailed as the latest in a long line of purported saviors of a faltering, century-old automotive icon. . . . . the new Ford Focus, is arguably as important to Mr. Mulally as the Model T was to Henry Ford, the founder.
U.S. Job Losses in December Dim Hopes for Quick Upswing The nation lost 85,000 jobs from the economy in December, the Labor Department reported Friday, as hopes for a vigorous recovery ran headlong into the prospect that paychecks could remain painfully scarce into next year.
Massive 43% Jump in U.S. Emergency Unemployment Benefits, Government Manipulating Data? I was intrigued by a post by Zero Hedge asking Is The Government Misrepresenting Unemployment By 32%? "...government spent a record $14.7 billion on Unemployment Insurance Benefits as of December 30, a 24% jump sequentially from the $11.8 billion in November. Yet the DOL has disclosed a mere 1.7% increase in those to whom insurance benefits are paid: from 9.4 million to just under 9.6 million. To put the $14.7 billion number in perspective, in December the Federal Government paid a total of $14 billion ($700 million less) in Federal Salaries!
Shrinking U.S. Labor Force Keeps Unemployment Rate From Rising An exodus of discouraged workers from the job market kept the U.S. unemployment rate from climbing above 10 percent in December, economists said. Had the labor force not decreased by 661,000 last month, the jobless rate would have been 10.4 percent, according to economists including David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff & Associates in Toronto and Harm Bandholz at UniCredit Research in New York.
Obama's Green Jobs Program: $135,294 Per Job The White House announced Friday the awarding of $2.3 billion in tax credits — the money comes from last year’s stimulus bill — to companies to create “green jobs.”
Census Jobs May Jump-Start U.S. Employment Rebound in 2010 The 2010 census couldn’t have come at a better time for the U.S. economy. The government will hire about 1.2 million temporary workers in the first half of the year to administer the decennial population count, possibly providing a bridge to gains in private employment later in the year.
Making Sense of the Mixed-Up Unemployment Report DAN BURROWS This will be of no comfort to the combined 3,000 workers set to be laid off from UPS (UPS) and Lockheed Martin (LMT), or the 85,000 folks who lost their jobs in December, or the record 40% of Americans out of work for more than 27 weeks, but Friday's unemployment report wasn't all bad.
UPS Job Cuts: 1,800 U.S. Administrative Positions To Be Eliminated Shipping giant UPS Inc. will cut 1,800 management and administrative jobs, less than 1 percent of its global work force, as it repositions itself for a gradual economic recovery with improved technology and fewer employees. About 1,100 employees will be offered a voluntary separation package as part of the work force reduction, which is meant to streamline the company's U.S. small package segment.
Recession proves a perfect time to open a shoe repair business LAKE OSWEGO -- With so many people pounding the pavement for work these days, local cobblers have a new spring in their step. John Dunlop, a native Australian who once owned a shoe repair shop just down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, figured the recession was a perfect time to build a business in Oregon. "I've always wanted to get back into this type of work," said Dunlop, who came to Oregon in 2000 and has done repair work in several Portland shops -- some of which had waiting lists stretching to several weeks.
In Europe and U.S., Data Shows Murky Job Outlook The euro area has joined the United States in reaching a 10 percent unemployment rate as the American economy lost more jobs than expected in December, according to statistics released Friday. The latest data tempered hopes in Europe and the United States for a rapid recovery that did not depend on large doses of government support.
Government health insurance option appears doomed Senior House Democrats have largely abandoned hopes of including a government-run insurance option in the final compromise health care bill taking shape, according to several officials, and are pushing for other measures to rein in private insurers.
Nelson Says He Wants Medicaid Deal for All States Sen. Ben Nelson said Thursday he has asked Democratic leadership to extend to all states the extra Medicaid funding promised to Nebraska in the health care reform bill. The Democrat wouldn't say who he has spoken to regarding the so-called "Cornhusker Kickback" but that he would see to it that Nebraska doesn't get a special deal.
America’s Healthcare Fraud, Confessions of a Drug Rep If America ever expects to fix its broken healthcare system, all of the problems must first be identified. Only then can a solution be engineered. While Obama's plan certainly provides no real solution, the current system is clearly broken and needs a radical overhaul.
Webster Tarpley on RT 12/29/09 The recent failed attack on a US passenger jet traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit was a set-up provocation controlled by US intelligence, author and journalist Webster Tarpley stated to RT.
Fourth church attacked in Malaysia as Allah row deepens KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Arsonists in Malaysia struck a fourth church on Saturday as the government tried to soothe tensions arising from a row over the use of the word "Allah" to refer to the Christian God. The unprecedented attacks risk dividing the mainly Muslim nation of 28 million people, which has significant religious minorities, and complicating Prime Minister Najib Razak's plan to win back support from the non-Muslims before the next elections by 2013.
Cook: Dems Could Lose The House Veteran political analyst Charlie Cook says retirements are creating a “vicious circle” for Democratic politicians. For the first time, he sees a significant risk that Democrats could lose the House this year if trends continue. (Somebody alert RNC Chairman Michael Steele).
Chávez Devalues Currency Amid Oil Fall CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez announced a sharp devaluation of Venezuela’s currency on Friday night, a move that reflects the financial stress faced by his government since the price of oil, the country’s top export commodity, fell from its peak as a result of the global financial crisis.
Chavez Devalues Bolivar 50%, First Time Since 2005 Venezuela devalued its currency by half yesterday, the first such action since March 2005, as President Hugo Chavez seeks to pull the economy from recession amid falling oil revenue.
Chavez says Venezuela jets intercepted U.S. plane President Hugo Chavez said he ordered two F-16 jets to intercept a U.S. military plane that twice entered Venezuelan skies on Friday, but Washington said none of its planes flew over the South American country's airspace.
Russia-Brazil Foreign Policy: Perspectives for 2010 Reflections on Russian foreign policy in 2009 and prospects for the development of relations with Brazil in 2010 The year 2009 was particularly symbolic for Russian foreign policy in terms of bilateral relations between Russia and the U.S., with the new recent American foreign policy of antagonism with the question of Iran's nuclear program and the establishment of the missile shield in Poland and Czech Republic regressed considerably.
U.S. Has Few Resources to Face Threats in Yemen As the Obama administration confronts the latest terrorism threat in Yemen, its diplomatic and development efforts are being constrained by a shortage of resources, a lack of in-house expertise and a fraught history with a Yemeni leader deeply ambivalent about American help. Administration officials said they focused on Yemen as a hothouse for Islamic terrorism from the day President Obama took office. The United States has tripled its foreign assistance to the country from 2008 levels and plans to spend up to $63 million on Yemen this year.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Archived Page Link
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
RSS
![[Most Recent Quotes from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/images/quotes_7a.gif)