Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Wed 02.24.2010
Niall Ferguson: Empires Fall Quickly and Without Warning Michael Panzner - SeekingAlpha.com In an article for the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs, "Complexity and Collapse: Empires on the Edge of Chaos," due out later this week, author and historian Niall Ferguson posits that the life cycles of great powers might not follow the long-accepted pattern of gradual rise and fall. Rather, he says, "it is possible that this whole conceptual framework is, in fact, flawed," and that empires fall quickly and without warning. With that in mind, Ferguson explores what it might mean for the geopolitical status quo.
Ferguson: We're One Downgrade Away From The End Of American Empire Gregory White - Business Insider -- Niall Ferguson is candidly calling time on the American Empire, or at least pointing to the combination of factors that will soon lead to its demise, in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. Ferguson, who has become one of the leading intellectuals of the deficit hawk camp, theorizes that empires don't decline in the slow, cyclical process long assumed. Instead it is dramatic events that push them over the edge to oblivion.
FDIC Says 702 Banks Now in Danger of Collapse By MATTHEW JAFFE - ABC News Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.: Banks 'Problem List' Most Since 1993 In the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the government agency that insures bank deposits announced today that 702 banks are on the brink of failure, the most in the last 17 years. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, in its report for the fourth quarter of 2009, said 702 banks are on their so-called "Problem List" as of the end of last year, a 27 percent increase from the end of the third quarter. Both the 702 banks and their combined $402 billion in assets are the highest since the second quarter of 1993.
Commercial Real Estate Loans Drive More Banks Onto FDIC’s “Problem List” By Rocky Vega - The Daily Reckoning Over 700 banks in the US are distressed according to the FDIC, the largest number since 1993. The latest additions to the “problem list” are largely resulting from commercial real estate loans gone sour. The FDIC anticipates bank difficulties continuing to worsen in 2010 before there’s any chance of the situation beginning to improve. According to MarketWatch: “Based on the result, roughly one in 11 of the approximately 8,000 U.S. banks are on this list, with regulators expecting a significant expansion in the number of failures throughout 2010, boosted in large part by increased losses on commercial real estate sustained by mid-sized and smaller banks. See more on analyst expectations for 2010 bank failures.
Over-Arching Sovereign Debt Crisis by Jim Willi - FinancialSense.com Neither the US financial press nor the US bank leaders take the sovereign debt crisis seriously. Even the USCongress seems totally unaware of the growing global intolerance for government debt out of control. The issue is rollover of short-term debt, size of the overall debt burden, borrowing costs to sustain the debt, annual deficits that accumulate further debt, and size of debt versus economic size. The United States projects a certain degree of arrogance that foreigner must continue to finance the USGovt debt at a time when the evidence gathers on loud suspicious activity in the USTreasury auctions. The US travels down a road to debt default also, as the mask of corrupt USTBond management is removed. The plight of Europe will strike the United States and United Kingdom, as contagion is ripe. The claim of containment incites laughter. The Euro currency has finally begun to stabilize, which will make all the more apparent a global bull market in the Gold price. The Gold price in almost every major currency is rising. In the US$ it will be last.
'Death of American Capitalism:' The 10 final scenes By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch Munger warns 2012 is our tipping point on 'road to ruin' Good news, Americans are "downbeat about today. Upbeat about tomorrow," says the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll. "Americans feel battered by hard times, record home foreclosures, stubbornly high unemployment rates and war." And yes, we are "fed up with Washington and convinced more than 3 to 1 that the nation is heading in the wrong direction," yet there's "confidence that there will be better times ahead, that the classic American dream endures and hasn't been extinguished. It's not even at its low ebb." Why? Because we're in denial!
Liquidating the Empire Patrick J. Buchanan - SilverBearCafe.com A decade ago, Oldsmobile went. Last year, Pontiac. Saturn, Saab and Hummer were discontinued. A thousand GM dealerships shut down. To those who grew up in a "GM family," where buying a Chrysler was like converting to Islam, what happened to GM was deeply saddening. Yet the amputations had to be done - or GM would die. And the same may be about to happen to the American Imperium. Its birth can be traced to World War II, when America put 16 million men in uniform and sent millions across the seas to crush Nazi Germany and Japan. After V-E and V-J Day, the boys came home.
Nearly 25% of all mortgages are underwater By Les Christi - CNN Money More bad news on the housing bust front: Nearly 25% of all mortgage borrowers were underwater, meaning they more on their loans than their homes are worth. First American CoreLogic, the research firm that monitors housing equity, reported Tuesday that 11.3 million homeowners -- or 24% of all homes with mortgages -- were underwater as of the end of 2009. That's up from 23% and 10.7 million borrowers three month earlier.
Concerns grow over China's sale of US bonds By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph Evidence is mounting that Chinese sales of US Treasury bonds over recent months are intended as a warning shot to Washington over escalating political disputes rather than being part of a routine portfolio shift as thought at first. A front-page story in the state’s China Information News said the record $34bn sale of US bonds in December was a "commendable" move. The article was republished by the National Bureau of Statistics, giving it a stronger imprimatur. It follows a piece last week in China Daily, the Politburo’s voice, citing an official from the Chinese Academy of Sciences praising the move to "slash" holdings of US debt. This was published on the same day that US President Barack Obama received the Dalai Lama at the White House, defying protests from Beijing.
Debt Dynamite Dominoes: The Coming Financial Catastrophe by Andrew Gavin Marshall - LewRockwell.com Understanding the Nature of the Global Economic Crisis The people have been lulled into a false sense of safety under the rouse of a perceived “economic recovery.” Unfortunately, what the majority of people think does not make it so, especially when the people making the key decisions think and act to the contrary. The sovereign debt crises that have been unfolding in the past couple years and more recently in Greece, are canaries in the coal mine for the rest of Western “civilization.” The crisis threatens to spread to Spain, Portugal and Ireland; like dominoes, one country after another will collapse into a debt and currency crisis, all the way to America.
Gold recovers in Asia as dollar eases SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Gold prices recovered in Asian trade Wednesday after the greenback declined, reviving demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment. Spot fold was seen trading at $1107.55 an ounce at 11.30 a.m Singapore time while US gold futures for April delivery was at $ 1107 an ounce at the same time.
Precious Metals Headed Higher: Here's How I Know Chris Marchese - SilverBearCafe.com Precious metals have been showing signs of an impending breakout to the upside. I'm not one for technical analysis or price action in equities or anything else for that matter, but the current rebound in the precious metals, notably gold, has caught my eye. While gold held its own around $1,100/oz, reaching a low around $1,080, it is currently trading above $1,125/oz. My bullish sentiment on gold in the near and medium term and especially longer term is due to the following:
The rush to invest money in gold or any gold form Ian Gordon - CommodityOnline.com Never mind that fruit trees are blossoming all over the Northern Hemisphere. It doesn't matter that Punxsutawney Phil of Pennsylvania saw his shadow on February 2. We're in for a lot more of a long, harsh Winter—a real whopper in terms of the Kondratieff cycle that the Longwave Group's Ian Gordon has become expert at analyzing and interpreting. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Ian pulls no punches about the dreadful times ahead as economies wring out decade's worth of accumulated debt. The only gleams shining through in his dreary forecast: ample opportunities in precious metals equities.
China unlikely to buy IMF gold - Milling Stanley Author: Lawrence Williams -MineWeb.com In an interview with Bloomberg, the World Gold Council's George Milling-Stanley reckoned that China was not a realistic buyer of the remaining 191.3 tonnes of IMF gold for sale. Contrary to much speculation among the pro-gold sector, the World Gold Council feels that China is actually "not a realistic candidate" to buy all, or any, of the IMF's remaining 191.3 tonnes of gold which is still up for sale. In an interview with Bloomberg, George Milling Stanley, the WGC's New York-based managing director for government affairs is quoted as saying "We're not surprised to see that China has not" taken up any of the IMF's gold for sale and is far more likely to "buy local gold production" with which to bolster and diversify its currency reserves.
'Buy Farmland and Gold,' Advises Dr. Doom by Leo Lewis - LewRockwell.com The world’s most powerful investors have been advised to buy farmland, stock up on gold and prepare for a “dirty war” by Marc Faber, the notoriously bearish market pundit, who predicted the 1987 stock market crash. The bleak warning of social and financial meltdown, delivered today in Tokyo at a gathering of 700 pension and sovereign wealth fund managers. Dr. Faber, who advised his audience to pull out of American stocks one week before the 1987 crash and was among a handful who predicted the more recent financial crisis, vies with the Nouriel Roubini, the economist, as a rival claimant for the nickname Dr. Doom.
PaperBug Fight In The Gold Jail Stewart Thomson - 321Gold.com There's a new competition underway in the gold community. The Gman worshippers and the toilet paper currency worshippers, having failed totally to make you any money in gold, or money in anything for that matter, have now decided to remake their own story of the 1929 boom and bust era, and use it to see if you're ready, willing, and able to report to the Constitution with your chainsaw, to help them carve up what's left of it. Their kindergarten analysis is that the depression was actually caused by the Gold Standard. Here's a wake-up-call for these failed traders: The boom in 1929 was caused by low interest rates, extreme leverage (90% on NYSE stock trades), and the banksters pumping the media non-stop that we were in a new era. The banksters sold massive amounts of stock to an already all-in public.
BIG PRICE BOOST DOESN'T BOOST GOLD PRODUCTION Author: Dorothy Kosich - MineWeb.com Peak gold theory gains impressive adherents In his latest Basic Points analysis, global market strategist Don Coxe suggests investors maintain a high exposure to gold and gold miners whose production comes from politically secure areas. Global market strategist Don Coxe, chairman of Coxe Advisors, said he believes in "a hitherto-undiscovered erogenous zone in gold bugs: peak gold-which could be the latest Big Thing since peak oil." In his latest Basic Points, Hard Rocks and Hard Shocks, Coxe credits "Aaron Regent, Barrick's market-savvy new CEO" for "fueling the flames of desire" through the concept of peak gold. Regent has noted "that new mined production of gold has been declining for a decade," suggesting this could prove to be the equivalent of peak oil, the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline.
Fool's Gold by Joseph Russo - FinancialSense.com Although in truth, it is valueless paper; in our collective reality, it is real and has legal purchasing powers. Despite such enslavement by government decree, it does not stop us from trading it, and hedging against its true intrinsic value. The fool's gold to which we refer is none other than the world's reserve currency, the $USD. Let us go back in time a month and share with you our thoughts on how this sorry example of a king fiat currency (world reserve no less) had been behaving.
How long can the U.S. dollar defy gravity? Steven C. Johnson, Kristina Cooke and David Lawder NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The only time the U.S. dollar ever took a serious shellacking in the marketplace, the wounds were almost entirely self-inflicted. Facing mounting inflation and the escalating cost of the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon, on August 15, 1971, took the United States off the gold standard, which had been in place since 1944 and required that the Federal Reserve back all dollars in circulation with gold. The move amounted to a made-in-America double-digit devaluation, shocking the country's foreign creditors.
Update the US Dollar Index by David Petch, FinancialSense.com It appears that we are either just entering the consolidation phase of the US dollar index for the next 6 to 8 weeks or there is one final move to the upside before entering the consolidation phase. Every market around the globe is experiencing difficulty in one form or another which is associated with high debt levels. As much as other countries would like to totally switch out of US dollars to other currencies, this is about as realistic as the US and Canadian governments pulling oil out of gas stations and replacing it with natural gas…there are mechanisms in place that slowly can be dismantled but there is a lot of infrastructure changes involved, the markets having many internal layers of infrastructure. At some point in the future, the USD is going to get clipped, but as long as most debt still is in USD, this paper game will continue.
Ron Paul - MSNBC Dylan Ratigan 02/23/10 On Tuesday, February 23, Ron Paul was interviewed on "The Dylan Ratigan Show" concerning his CPAC straw poll win, the future of the GOP, and the growth of government.
America's Greek Shield Matthew Craft - Forbes Budget woes abroad have made U.S. debt look safe, but the halo will fade. The Greek debt crisis has weighed on stock and corporate bond markets and spurred worries about the ability of other countries to cover their mounting debts. So far, to judge from U.S. Treasury bond prices, those concerns have yet to shake investors' confidence in the U.S. With the Treasury auctioning off another $126 billion in debt this week and growing confidence among bond traders that Greece will eventually be saved, Wall Street's researchers are beginning to wonder: When will the U.S. lose its halo?
Protesters blockade Greek stock exchange AP -Athens, Greece Members of a trade union on Monday blockaded the Athens Stock Market to protest government austerity measures aimed at tackling Greece's debt crisis. Protest organizers, backed by the Greek Communist Party, said they plan to maintain the blockade through Tuesday, but stock market officials said the exchange was running normally through online trading.
European banks face showdown over €1 trillion of debt By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard -Telegraph European banks need to roll over €1 trillion (£877bn) of debt over the next two years at a much higher cost and in direct competition with hungry sovereign states, according to a report by Morgan Stanley. The bank has advised clients to prepare for chillier times as monetary tightening begins in the US and China, causing major spill-over effects in Europe. Roughly €560bn of EU bank debt matures in 2010 and €540bn in 2011. The banks will have to roll over loans at a time when unprecedented bond issuance by governments worldwide risks saturating the debt markets. European states alone must raise €1.6 trillion this year.
Ifo’s Sinn Says Greece ‘Blackmailing’ Europe Neighbors Via Euro By Meera Louis Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Hans-Werner Sinn, president of Germany’s Ifo economic institute, said debt-laden Greece is “blackmailing” its European neighbors through the euro. “Greece should never have entered the euro zone because they did not qualify and they are now blackmailing the other European countries via the euro,” Sinn said today in an interview in Brussels. “More than the euro would be weakened, they argue, if Greece was not helped, but I personally don´t think this is a problem,” he said.
Greenspan Says Crisis ‘By Far’ Worst, Recovery Uneven By Joshua Zumbrun Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the financial crisis was “by far” the worst in history and called the recovery from the global recession “extremely unbalanced.” The world economy has undergone “by far the greatest financial crisis globally ever,” Greenspan said today in a speech to the Credit Union National Association’s Governmental Affairs Conference in Washington.
US CMBS Delinquency Rate Not Likely to Peak Until 2011 Research Recap Despite an improving economy, Standard &Poor’s expects delinquencies on loans backing commercial mortgage-backed securities to keep rising until job numbers meaningfully improve and employers feel confident that a recovery is firmly underway. “In 2010, we expect higher vacancies and lower rents to continue to fuel delinquencies, especially for underperforming properties,” S&P says in its latest CMBS Quarterly Insights.
Banks May Use Payday-Style Loans to Replace Lost Overdraft Fees By Jeff Plungis Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. banks may expand their short- term lending at interest rates of 120 percent or more as they seek to replace more than $15 billion in lost revenue because of regulations limiting overdraft fees. “The smarter banks are trying to resell overdraft protection to consumers as a different product,” said Elizabeth Rowe, group director of banking advisory services at Mercator Advisory Group in Maynard, Massachusetts.
No Banker Left Behind By Robert Scheer - TruthDig.com They do have a license to steal. There is no other way to read Tuesday’s report from the New York state comptroller that bonuses for Wall Street financiers rose 17 percent to $20.3 billion in 2009. Of course that is less than the $32.9 billion for bonus rewards back in 2007, when those hotshots could still pretend that they were running sound businesses. The economy is anything but sound, but you would hardly know that from looking at the balance sheets of the big investment banks. The broker-dealer firms on Wall Street made a record profit, estimated at greater than $55 billion by the comptroller, and the only thing holding back even more grotesque bonuses was concern over criticism from a public that was hardly doing as well.
Volcker fooled Obama is poised to drop prop-trading ban By JOSH KOSMAN and MARK DeCAMBRE - NY Post The Obama administration is backing off a plan to bar commercial banks from engaging in proprietary trading, favoring instead a watered-down version of a key tenet of the proposed "Volcker rule" governing how banks operate, according to people familiar with the situation. Sources told The Post that instead of issuing an outright ban on prop trading -- or trading done on behalf of only the bank itself -- the White House will propose that federally insured banks keep higher cash reserves if they want to run such trading desks. The about-face comes amid signs the administration faced an uphill battle selling lawmakers and Treasury officials on an outright ban.
Treasury to Resume the Monetization of the Fed's Balance Sheet in Support of the Financial Markets Jesse's Café Américain -- This Treasury Program is designed to provide financing for the Fed's efforts to purchase and then liquidate toxic assets and derivatives from the financial sector, effectively monetizing their losses. The Treasury creates new notes and sells them on the open market. The money obtained in these sales is deposited at an account at the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve uses this money to purchase toxic assets from the banks.
Government Stimulus, One Year Later Texas Straight Talk - Ron Paul - FincialSense.com Last week marked the one year anniversary of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, or the stimulus bill, passing into law. While the debate over its success has been focused on whether or not it is stimulating the economy and on various questionable uses of funds, in my estimation this legislation is accomplishing exactly what it was intended to accomplish – grow the government. Those of us concerned about the ever increasing level of government debt gasped at the astonishing $787 billion cost estimates for this bill. True to form it has actually cost 10 percent more at $862 billion. We heard over and over that government could not sit around and do nothing while people lost their jobs and houses. The administration claimed that unemployment would not go above 8 percent if the stimulus bill passed. Now, a year later, the government estimates that unemployment is over 10 percent. The real number is closer to 20 percent. It appears that those promises were total fabrications in order to close the deal.
Is the U.S. Hiding How it Bailed Out AIG and Goldman? By PETER COHAN - DailyFinance Bloomberg News reports that Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) subpoenaed a document that makes it clearer how the U.S. Treasury may have used struggling insurer American International Group (AIG) as the vehicle for bailing out Goldman Sachs Group (GS). This document, which had been previously hidden, details the mortgage-backed securities on which Wall Street banks bought $62.1 billion in insurance from AIG. The details in the document released are significant. They disclose how the securities performed, with losses exceeding 75% of their notional value in some cases. Compounding this, the document and Bloomberg data demonstrate that the banks that bought the swaps from AIG are mostly the same firms that underwrote the CDOs -- collateralized debt obligations -- in the first place.
Goldman Bets Against the Assets It Sold to AIG By Addison Wiggin - The Daily Reckoning 02/23/10 Baltimore, Maryland – “This is half-baked justice at best,” US District Judge Jed Rakoff wrote in an opinion yesterday afternoon. The SEC sued Bank of America for lying to their shareholders over the company having been forced to buy Merrill Lynch. In a move that smacks of some backroom deal you and I will never be privy to, the SEC sued for only $150 million. That’s 2.4% of the $3.6 billion in 11th-hour bonuses Merrill execs awarded themselves days before they merged with BofA. It’s an even smaller fraction of the $4.4 billion bonus pool Bank of America henchmen enjoyed last year.
Hedge Funds and the Global Economic Meltdown (Part 1)
Hedge Funds and the Global Economic Meltdown (Part 2)
Hedge Funds and the Global Economic Meltdown (Part 3)
Wall Street bonuses up 17%, top $20B for 2009 By Michael Gormley, AP - USA Today Wall Street bonuses rose 17% to more than $20 billion in 2009, the year after taxpayers bailed out the financial sector, the New York state comptroller says. Thomas DiNapoli says total compensation at the largest securities firms grew beyond that average increase. He says profits could surpass what he calls an unprecedented $55 billion last year. The Democrat says that's nearly three times Wall Street's record increase. The rate of growth was boosted in part by comparison with record losses in 2008 of nearly $43 billion.
* * * * * Interactive Map: The Economy Where You Live The fallout from the recession has cut deeply into the housing security, employment and income of many Americans. But some parts of the country are clearly faring better than others. Here, three interactive maps show foreclosure and jobless rates as well as household income by county.
Foreclosure Rates
Unemployment Rates
Median Household Income
Gregg, Wyden Offer Plan to Simplify U.S. Tax Code By PATRICK YOEST - WSJ WASHINGTON—Two senators Tuesday introduced a proposal to vastly simplify the nation's tax code by cutting the number of income tax brackets in half and flattening the corporate tax rate. The plan put forth by Sens. Judd Gregg (R., N.H.) and Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) would lower the number of marginal income tax rates to three: 15%, 25% and 35%. It also would eliminate the alternative minimum tax, which lawmakers scramble to "patch" each year in order to minimize its impact on middle-income taxpayers. The plan would create a single corporate income tax rate of 24%, but allow small businesses with receipts of up to $1 million to expense all of its equipment and inventory costs.
The "too big to fail" lie (as applied to US banks) Steve Saville - 321Gold.com "They are too big to fail" was the reason given for using trillions of dollars in money and guarantees to 'bail out' several large US banks during 2008-2009. Their failure, it was argued, would all but bring the entire economy to a standstill; such were the size and scope of their operations. Providing the banks whatever financial support they needed to remain in business was therefore touted as serving the "public interest". However, the "too big to fail" argument was a giant, multi-faceted lie. One part of the lie was that rescuing the banks would ensure the continued flow of credit to private individuals and businesses. It is now blatantly obvious that this was not true because bank lending has been in decline ever since the bailouts. Although, perhaps we are being unkind and it should be put down as a basic misunderstanding stemming from the popularity of fallacious Keynesian economic theories.
Keiser Report 19: Markets! Finance! Scandal! This week Max Keiser and co-host Stacy Herbert report on the scandals of George Soros and the IMF shaking out the gold market; US bank lending falling at the fastest rate in recorded history; and the trickle up unemployment pyramid. Keiser also speaks to The Market Ticker's Karl Denninger about CDOs, synthetic CDOs and hiding Greek debt.
Lehman's Ghost Haunts California By JOHN CARREYROU - WSJ SAN MATEO, Calif.—Little more than a year after the worst of the financial panic, Wall Street is bouncing back. But in this county just south of San Francisco, pain from the financial system's near-collapse is still felt every day. San Mateo, a scenic swath of peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, saw $155 million evaporate when Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September 2008. On top of deep budget cuts brought on by California's fiscal crisis, the loss on Lehman securities means San Mateo's 735,000 residents are taking a hit.
U.S. business investment continues to drop by James B. Kelleher CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. businesses continued to postpone financing new investments in their operations in January, but delinquencies among existing borrowers stabilized and outright defaults fell, according to a trade group for lenders that finance half the capital equipment investment in the United States. The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association told Reuters that the overall volume of financings used to fund equipment acquisitions fell to $3.4 billion in January, down 24.4 percent from last January and down 52 percent from the previous month.
* * * * * caveat lector: let the reader beware . . . 2010 US Census (2010 ACS Questionnaire) and the 2010 ACS Group Quarters:
[Disclaimer: PTG | AllAmericanGold.com does NOT necessarily agree with or endorse this (YouTube.com video by Jerry Day) point of view. Shown for discussion purposes only. YOU get the facts. Read the Fourth Amendment and the 2010 Census Constituent FAQs (both below) make you own informed decision regarding the 2010 US Census.]
The Census Is Getting Personal Without any apparent authority the Census Bureau has expanded it's information gathering activities. In addition to the once-in-10-years Census authorized by the Constitution, the Census Bureau conducts more in-depth "Surveys" of 250,000 Americans every month of every year. It has no Constitutional authority for that, in fact the Bureau is violating the 4th Amendment to the Bill of Rights by suggesting that Americans are "obligated" to provide any personal information whatsoever to government.
The Constitution allows the government to count people once every ten years, but does not require any American to BE COUNTED, OR TO PROVIDE ANY INFORMATION AT ALL, much less to provide personal information to the temporary worker and stranger who comes to your door with a Census Bureau badge.
Americans have been given very false impressions and presumptions of the authority of government to invade their lives. Even the Census takers themselves are sometimes misinformed of the limits of government.
Fourth Amendment Defined & Explained LectLaw.com FOURTH AMENDMENT [U.S. Constitution] 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.'
2010 Census Constituent FAQs 10. Do I have to respond to the 2010 Census? Yes, your participation in the 2010 Census is vital and required by law. Title 13 section 221 of the United States Code requires your response. Title 13 also requires that the Census Bureau keep respondents’ answers confidential and uses them only for tabulations that do not reveal any personal data about individuals or households.
11. What happens if I don’t respond? Although the law makes it a crime not to answer the decennial census, the American Community Survey and other mandatory censuses, and authorizes the courts to impose a fine of up to $5,000 for failure to respond, the Census Bureau views this approach as a last resort. Rather than emphasizing or seeking the imposition of penalties, we encourage response by explaining the importance of the questions we ask and how the information benefits the community.
Housing shaky as confidence sags on jobs worry John Parry and Wanfeng Zhou NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence sagged to a 10-month low this month on worries about jobs and fears gridlock in Washington could hinder efforts to restart employment, curbing the economic recovery. The housing market also remains rickety, data showed on Tuesday, further underscoring the economy's fragility. Confidence fell in February as consumers' short-term outlook on jobs worsened, according to a report from an industry group, stoking analysts' concerns that spending could falter and curb economic activity.
US housing market hit by ‘walkaways’ By Aline van Duy - FT Wayne B, a 62-year-old executive who works at an airport, and his wife Orapin, a dental assistant, are about to do something odd. The couple, with a pristine credit history, have decided to default on their $500,000 (£325,000, €370,000) mortgage on a townhouse in Livermore, a respectable city in California’s San Francisco Bay area. It is not that they are unable to afford the $4,600 monthly mortgage outgoings: they have never missed a payment. But the house they bought for $582,000 in May 2006 – at the peak of the US housing boom – is now not likely to be worth more than $315,000.
Home construction in metro Phoenix slowed in January by Catherine Reagor, The Arizona Republic Home construction in metro Phoenix slowed in January, but building is still ahead of a year ago. Housing values are up slightly The federal tax credit for homebuyers boosted new-home sales in metro Phoenix last year. But the expiration of the credit looms, and new-home sales and building have slowed again. In January, new-home closings in the Phoenix area fell to 479, the lowest level in decades, reports the "Phoenix Housing Market Letter." In November, Valley new-home sales surged to 1,312 as builders offered deals to rival foreclosure prices, and buyers rushed to take advantage of the tax credit. In December, there were 956 new-home sales.
Shiller concerned about housing [video] Yale economist Robert Shiller says he expects improvement in home prices by the summer, but remains concerned about the long-term outlook.
Case-Shiller Home Price Index Down 0.2% in December NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices unexpectedly slipped in December but the annual rate of decline slowed, reinforcing the housing market's rocky road to recovery, Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes showed on Tuesday. The S&P composite index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas declined 0.2% in December, matching the dip in November, for a 3.1% annual drop. A Reuters survey had forecast that prices would be unchanged for the month and down 3.2% annually following a 5.3% annual drop in November.
No Job And $50,000 In Student Debt. Now What? Deb Weinstein - Forbes I had a plan to pay off my career-changing graduate school debt. Now all I can do is defer payments. Or win the lottery. I went to graduate school with a plan. I would duck out of the workforce for a year, use student loans to pay tuition and living expenses while I earned a master's in journalism, and then I'd land a (predictably low-paid) journalism day gig, while freelancing at night as an ad copywriter to pay off my student loans.
New York City Transit to Cut More Than 1,000 Jobs Associated Press - WSJ NEW YORK—New York's cash-strapped transit agency plans to cut more than 1,000 jobs, including up to 500 station agents. Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder said the layoffs are painful but the MTA must live within its means. The MTA has about 70,000 workers. The MTA said in December it was facing a $383 million budget gap. It's due largely to a cut in state aid and lower-than-expected revenues from a payroll tax.
Jittery Shoppers Dim Stores' Hopes By MIGUEL BUSTILLO, SARA MURRAY And RACHEL DODES - WSJ -- Americans show little sign of regaining the confidence that once made them world-champion shoppers, and that caution has retailers leery about the prospects for the economy in 2010. Several top store chains this week reported stronger results and lingering doubts. On Tuesday, Target Corp., Home Depot Inc. and Macy's Inc. joined a parade of consumer-focused companies in warning that sales gains will continue to be slow, especially in the year's first half.
Casket Makers Dig In as Sales Take Hit By DANA MATTIOLI - WSJ As their sales slow, some casket makers worry their business is hitting a dead end. Sales of caskets have been declining for years as more people choose cremation. But the economic slump is compounding the industry's woes as those who do pick caskets buy cheaper, more spartan accommodations for the hereafter. In response, casket makers are diversifying, building less expensive models and expanding cremation offerings. The country's biggest casket maker, Hillenbrand Inc., parent of Batesville Casket, is going outside the funeral business altogether. Earlier this year it said it would spend $435 million to buy K-Tron International Inc., which makes factory equipment.
Consumer confidence, job programs, Greenspan
Consumer confidence falls sharply in February NEW YORK (AP) — Americans' outlook on the economy went into relapse in February. Rising job worries sent a key barometer of confidence to its lowest point in 10 months, raising concerns about the U.S. economic recovery. The Conference Board said Tuesday its Consumer Confidence Index fell almost 11 points to 46 in February, down from a revised 56.5 in January. Analysts were expecting only a slight decrease to 55. It was the lowest level since the index recorded a 40.8 reading in April 2009.
U.S. Economy: Confidence Falls to Lowest Since April By Bob Willis Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Confidence among U.S. consumers fell in February to the lowest level in 10 months, a sign that concern about job prospects may hold back the spending needed to sustain the recovery. The Conference Board’s confidence index slumped to 46, below the lowest forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, from 56.5 in January, a report from the New York- based private research group showed today. A separate report showed home prices rose for a seventh month.
One million could lose jobless benefits in March By Tami Luhby NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- More than 1 million people could lose their jobless benefits and health insurance subsidy in March if Congress doesn't act fast. When it returns from the President's Day recess on Monday, the Senate will have one week to extend the deadlines to apply for federal unemployment benefits and the COBRA health insurance subsidy. Currently, the jobless have until Feb. 28 to sign up.
Rich people still have jobs, poor people don't by BARBARA KIVIAT - Time.com Bob Herbert's column in yesterday's New York Times pointed out that the unemployment crisis is not hitting all parts of the income spectrum equally. I was pretty stunned by the numbers, which go like this: . . . . . . . . . . The data, which are for the fourth quarter, come from a new study (PDF) by Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada and Sheila Palma at Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies. The researchers conclude that "what has been missing from the public debate over the labor market crisis is an honest and detailed analysis of which American workers have been most adversely affected by the deep deterioration in labor markets."
Wealth Disparities in U.S. Approaching 1920s Levels Chart - Seekingalpha.com What a time to be an oligarch! All I wanted to do was vomit when I saw this. Folks, there is no way we can have economic prosperity in this country when the top 1% has all of the money. The middle class is basically being destroyed right in front of our very eyes. Consumption economies die when the consumers have no money to consume! I see growing signs of desperation and anger as the wealth of this nation continues to get transferred to the elite of this nation.
The Superman asset bubble Sale of first-edition comic pulls in $1 million at auction LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Forget gold, Chinese real estate or Greek debt derivatives. A new champion in the asset-bubble wars has emerged: Superman comics. A sale of the first Action Comics issue, from 1938, drew a winning bid of $1 million, according to an auction site called ComicConnect.com. That's three times what a copy of the premiere comic cost just last year. To be fair, last year's sale was of a slightly lower-quality copy, so the appreciation over the past 12 months may be somewhat less -- say, double. Still, compared with a lot of other investments over the past year, that's not too shabby. Returns over the longer term are only slightly less dramatic.
Labor Underutilization Problems of U.S. Workers Across Household Income Groups at the End of the Great Recession: A Truly Great Depression Among the Nation’s Low Income Workers Amidst Full Employment Among the Most Affluent
SBA Out of Funds to Facilitate Favorable Small Business Loans By LITA EPSTEIN - DailyFinance.com Funding ran out on Friday for a Small Business Administration program that increased loan guarantees and reduced or eliminated loan fees for its two largest small-business recovery lending programs -- a week or so earlier than had been expected. The most recent influx of funds for the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act program, $125 million, had been expected to last through February. This doesn't mean that loans will cease to be available to small businesses, but for now, those that need money will have to accept the relatively less-favorable terms of traditional SBA loans.
Why American Industry Could Become Dangerous By PETER COHAN - DailyFinance.com n January 2010, the Supreme Court gave corporations unlimited power to spend money on political campaigns, effectively swaying politicians in their favor. But by doing this, Washington could become less inclined to side with consumers and more inclined to rule in favor of the companies that they are supposed to regulate. The result could be ominous: products with safety problems could slip through. The reason: Because government, being funded by the corporations, would be more apt to look the other way instead of preventing a product from getting to market.
Data shows Wichita ranks low when it comes to wealth Wichita Business Journal Economists talk hopefully about a recovery, but the recession still holds America in its merciless grip. Key indicators tell the unhappy story. The national unemployment rate is hovering in double digits for the first time since 1983. Average wages have declined for two consecutive quarters, something that last occurred in the late 1970s. But the pain is not spread equally across the country. Many areas are being battered by the full force of the recession — Detroit and Phoenix are prime examples — yet others are remarkably comfortable.
Owner of Sears, Kmart plans to close 21 stores by spring USA Today HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP) — Sears Holdings (SHLD) said Monday that it plans to shut 21 more stores around the country. The announcement brings to 56 the number of stores that the owner of Sears and Kmart has said over the past year that it will close. About 1,000 jobs will be affected when the stores close this spring.
Gerald Celente on GoldseekRadio
Insurance Frustration: Homeowners Angry Over Fixed Place Policies By CHRIS CUOMO and GERRY WAGSCHAL - ABC News For Homeowners Who Let Insurance Lapse, Banks Force More Expensive Policies Homeowners insurance serves two purposes -- it protects both the homeowner and the mortgage bank against a disaster. In this tough economy, more Americans have let their homeowners insurance lapse, but that decision has consequences. If they don't pay for coverage, their lenders will force a policy on them, at a much higher cost.
A Calamity in the Making By Bill Boyarsky A major reason for enacting health reform is the fate of elderly and disabled patients—especially the indigent—in nursing homes and assisted-care facilities. Except for the visits of relatives and thoughtful friends, they’re out of sight, out of mind, all but ignored by politicians and media tuning up for President Barack Obama’s health care summit Feb. 25. But nobody is affected more by the confluence of the health care stalemate and the recession than these patients. Care for roughly two-thirds of the almost 2 million in these facilities is paid for by Medicaid, the federal and state government aid program for those with low or no income. The stalemated health reform bill would extend Medicaid to cover more people. Another provision would create a federal long-term health insurance for the disabled, with benefits of $50 to $100 a day.
Obama: repeal health insurers' antitrust exemption By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, AP - USA Today President Barack Obama urged Congress on Tuesday to strip health insurers of their decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws — hardening his stand against the industry as he tries to revive his stalled health care overhaul. The White House announced Obama's support for a House bill that would repeal the industry's antitrust exemption, saying that would foster a more competitive marketplace and benefit consumers. The announcement follows Obama's call for new federal rate-setting powers that would give the Health and Human Services department the power to deny excessive increases in health insurance premiums.
Repealing the First Amendment The campaign finance crowd has more ideas for limiting speech It didn't take long for Congress to try an end-run around the Supreme Court's landmark January decision in Citizens United v. FEC. With a campaign finance bill due to be introduced this week, Democrats are proposing to repeal the First Amendment, at least for some people. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland want to prevent any company with more than 20% of foreign shareholders from spending money in U.S. elections, ban TARP recipients and government contractors from campaign spending, and require CEOs to pop up at the end of television commercials to "approve this message" just like politicians.
IPad's pre-release demand seen higher than iPhone's Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal A new survey suggests that demand for Apple Inc.'s new iPad tablet device is greater than what the iPhone saw before it was released. Analyst Mike Abramsky of market research firm RBC said a study by his company and ChangeWave Research showed that 13 percent of the 3,200 people surveyed indicated they are likely to buy an iPad.
When China Rules the World A Dig led by Martin Jacques - TruthDig.com China will soon become “the most powerful and influential country in the world,” says celebrated journalist Martin Jacques. It is predicted that by 2050, China’s economy will be twice that of the United States. What will Beijing do with all that power and influence?
PART 1: A Chinese Primacy in the Making Truthdig Interview: Martin Jacques . . . . So, my first question: “When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order.” Are you some kind of agent provocateur? This is to sell books? You don’t believe this, do you? Martin Jacques: Of course China will not rule the world any more than the United States has ruled the world for the last 60 years, or Britain before. But I think China will, in time, become the most powerful and influential country in the world, and that’s what I mean by ruling the world.
Truthdig Interview: Martin Jacques - Part 2 of 5 - Pluses and Minuses of Homogeny
Truthdig Interview: Martin Jacques - Part 3 of 5 - Coping With Political Change
Truthdig Interview: Martin Jacques - Part 4 of 5 - The Issue of Individualism
Truthdig Interview: Martin Jacques - Part 5 of 5 - Militarism Not on the Horizon
U.S. Allies in Europe Begin to Pull Back By William Pfaff - TruthDig.com PARIS—Last Friday five NATO governments made it known that they want American nuclear weapons removed from their territories. They include the Benelux three, together with Germany and Norway. The five reportedly will ask that all the European NATO governments endorse their position before a meeting in New York in May. The Dutch foreign minister described this as an attempt to seize the opportunity provided by President Barack Obama’s recent call for a de-nuclearized world. The latter is not likely to happen, but redundant or irrelevant—and by some reports incompetently guarded—American nuclear munitions have no place in Europe today. The Cold War was over 20 years ago. The American administration’s attention should at least be caught by the claim that these weapons may not be properly secured. One of Washington’s obsessions is the threat of a stolen nuclear weapon in terrorist hands.
US warns Iran 'time and patience is running out' AFP - Breitbart The United States warned Iran on Tuesday that "time and patience is running out" with its nuclear program, saying Tehran had shown no interest in allaying world fears.
After Iran Gets the Bomb James M. Lindsay and Ray Takeyh - Foreign Affairs Containment and Its Complications Summary: Despite international pressure, Iran appears to be continuing its march toward getting a nuclear bomb. But Washington can contain and mitigate the consequences of Tehran's nuclear defiance, keeping an abhorrent outcome from becoming a catastrophic one. The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to become the world's tenth nuclear power. It is defying its international obligations and resisting concerted diplomatic pressure to stop it from enriching uranium. It has flouted several UN Security Council resolutions directing it to suspend enrichment and has refused to fully explain its nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Even a successful military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would delay Iran's program by only a few years, and it would almost certainly harden Tehran's determination to go nuclear. The ongoing political unrest in Iran could topple the regime, leading to fundamental changes in Tehran's foreign policy and ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons. But that is an outcome that cannot be assumed. If Iran's nuclear program continues to progress at its current rate, Tehran could have the nuclear material needed to build a bomb before U.S. President Barack Obama's current term in office expires.
Lindsey Williams - The Elite are Smarter than You Think Prepare Now
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