Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.

Thursday 09.30.2010

KHNC Radio station in Colorado CLOSED today;
No new radio show

Economic Collapse Update: Acceleration In Autumn
By Giordano Bruno - Neithercorp Press
Our current economy is a shell game. A grand fraud designed to siphon more and more tangible wealth (not fiat wealth) from the average person and transport it post-haste into the silk lined pockets of a corporate banking minority. The goal? To reduce the self sufficiency of American citizens to the point of total fiscal and social dependence on the top 1% richest men in the world. Conspiracy theory? Not in the slightest. Just a cold hard fact of history. "Feudalism" is, sadly, rampant in the annals of human culture. Anyone who believes that our modern era is somehow different is simply fooling themselves. Elitists seek power over others, they always have and they always will, and, the most efficient way to gain control over the lives of the masses is through engineered imbalances in economy.

Western Civilization Lies Dying
By: John Kozy - MarketOracle.co.uk
The Western commercial system exists to extract more from consumers than it supplies in products and services. Its goal is profit and has never been to improve the human condition but to exploit it. When governments institutionalize this system, they place their nations on suicidal paths, because as Jefferson recognized, "Merchants have no country." It is not terrorism that threatens the security of the Western World, it is the Western World's commercial system.
A man suffering from severe chest pains collapses. His wife calls 911. An ambulance arrives, the EMTs treat the patient, place him in the ambulance's bed, and start off to the hospital. Along the way, the engine stalls. The ambulance's staff begins arguing about how to get the motor restarted. One says more gasoline is needed, another says there's water in the tank, a third says the fuel filter is clogged. While they argue, the patient lies dying.

Forget a Recession, The American Empire is Crumbling
By: Graham Summers - MarketOracle.co.uk
I look around me and I see an Empire in Decline.
The US economy is clearly in a depressionÉ not a recession, not a recovery, but a DEPRESSION. More than 40 million Americans (12%) are on Food stamps. Nearly one in five of us are unemployed of underemployed. Folks go to Wal-Mart at 11PM waiting for their government checks to clear at midnight so they can buy baby formula, milk and other necessities.
Three out of every five Americans are overweight. One in five are obese. Indeed, there are only two areas (one state, Colorado, and Washington DC) where obesity rates are under 20%.
Nearly three in four of us don't get enough sleep. Almost one third of us report having trouble falling asleep EVERY night. And almost half of us report that day-time sleepiness interferes with normal activities including work.

US politicians threaten trade war with China
Congress to vote on punitive tariffs for Chinese imports amid frustration over 'beggar-thy-neighbour' currency policy
Andrew Clark in New York - guardian.co.uk
American frustration with Beijing's trade policy boiled over today into a congressional vote that was expected to back a threat of punitive tariffs on Chinese imports to compensate for perceived manipulation of the level of the yuan.
Exporters and politicians in the US have become increasingly frustrated with the Chinese government's interventionist tendency to keep its currency artificially weak - a practice that means exports of Chinese goods are cheap around the world, while imports of foreign goods are expensive to Chinese consumers.

U.S. Debt Options of Default or Hyperinflation
By: Graham Summers - MarketOracle.co.uk
The big financial myth-buster of the week is that the alleged deleveraging of the US consumer has in fact been a giant myth. According to the Wall Street Journal, if you account for defaults, US consumers have only pared down their debts by an annual rate of 0.8% since mid-2008.
The Journal writes:
Over the two years ending June 2010, the total value of home-mortgage debt and consumer credit outstanding has fallen by about $610 billionÉ Our own analysis of data from the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. suggests that over the two years ending June 2010, banks and other lenders charged off a total of about $588 billion in mortgage and consumer loans.

World According to Gold: Here Comes Tokyo Rose
By: Midas Letter - MarketOracle.co.uk
Now that gold is muscling its way towards $2,000 an ounce, the forces of ignorance embodied by post-secondary-accredited yet nonetheless clueless commentators are being given voice by government sponsored media outlets such as CNN. Tokyo Rose was the generic handle accorded to any of a dozen women who, during World War 2 broadcast programming designed to undermine the morale of American troops over the radio.
Coverage such as stories like today's "The Case Against Gold" on CNN Money are designed to undermine the determination of gold accumulators who are genuinely frightened about the purchasing power of their dollars as their government 'quantitatively eases' the economy back onto its feet. By continuously counterfeiting fiat currencies and flooding the markets with such ersatz lucre, the final rush towards economic collapse is momentarily cushioned.

Gold Forecast Over $1,450/oz as Implications of Competitive Currency Devaluations Assessed
By: GoldCore - MarketOracle.co.uk
Gold has remained well bid above the $1,300/oz level and silver has risen another 0.7% and looks set to challenge the $22/oz level. Participants at the LBMA conference see gold rising to over $1,450/oz over the next year due to concerns about central banks' reaction to the economic crisis. LBMA delegates forecast silver to trade at $24/oz in 12 months time which it is a conservative estimate given the very strong technical and fundamental situation.

Gold Price Blasts through $1300.00/oz Barrier
By: Bob Kirtley - MarketOracle.co.uk
Gold prices were drifting lower during the trading session on the London Stock Exchange with a breather being the order of the day. Things changed dramatically when the New York Stock Exchange opened as gold prices reversed their loses, moving into positive territory and taking out the $1300.00/oz barrier to close at $1308.60/oz. Inflation adjustment aside, this is another new all time high, which gives us great pleasure to write about.

Gold hedges rise 2% in second quarter
Smaller miners add to global hedge book; larger players unwind
By Wallace Witkowski, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Smaller gold miners are increasingly entering into contracts designed to buffer their results from falling gold prices, helping boost the total volume of gold hedges even as larger producers exit these positions, said GFMS Ltd. Wednesday.
The total amount of gold hedged rose 5 metric tons, or 2%, to 224 metric tons on a net basis in the three months ended in June from the March quarter, the first quarter of growth in at least 12 months, according to the London-based metals consultancy.

Silver Advances to Costliest Versus Gold in 11 Months
By Glenys Sim
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Silver climbed to the most expensive relative to gold in 11 months as investors sought to protect their wealth on speculation governments may add to monetary easing to help the recovery, weakening currencies.
The ratio of gold to silver dropped below 60 for the first time since October, falling as low as 59.8955. Silver has outperformed the yellow metal since June 30, advancing 17 percent against gold's 5.5 percent increase, as investors bought the commodity because of its comparative cheapness.
"Silver is trying to catch up with gold," said Ellison Chu, precious metals manager at Standard Bank Asia Ltd. "Gold is already at a record but silver is quite far from it."

John Paulson Lecture: "Bonds Are Wrong, Stocks Are Right"
by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
.... Gold - The price of gold has moved in correlation to the monetary base for as long as they have tracked the two data items. As the Fed prints more money, gold should rise. If the Fed were to increase the monetary base by 100% over the next 3 years, Gold should increase by that same amount. Additionally, as inflation accelerates, investors tend to push gold higher than its correlation, like in 1980 when it increased an additional 100% above the correlation. So if gold is at $1,200 now, it should hit $2,400 on the monetary expansion alone, then $4,000 as investors flee inflation. Additionally, he has offered his investors the ability to hold their investment in his fund in either US Dollars denominated or in gold denominated. Paulson himself has 80% of his assets gold denominated.

The US Does Not Own Or Control Its Money System
By: Graham Summers - MarketOracle.co.uk
What is money?
Most of our adult lives are devoted to making this stuff. Next to food, water, and sleep it's the #1 concern for most human beings in the US. Nearly 80% of divorced couples cite financial difficulties as a reason for the divorce. And the American Psychological Association reports that 73% of Americans cite money as a source of significant stress.
And yet, despite being the medium for every economic transaction in our financial system, few if any individuals actually understand what money is and how it works in today's Federal Reserve banking system.
So I ask again, what is money?
The common answer is: Dollar bills or coins.
The common answer is wrong.
The US monetary system is in fact entirely backed-by debt. Dollars are not actually assets, they are debt-backed instruments produced by the Federal Reserve. I realize this is difficult to swallow, but have a look at the Dollar bill itself.
Note the top of the bill does NOT read "US Dollar" or "official currency of the United States." Instead it reads "Federal Reserve Note."
So this bill is in fact, NOT produced or controlled by the US Government. . Instead, it's a note issued by the Federal Reserve.

U.S. Dollar Is 'One Step Nearer' to Crisis, Yu Says
By Shamim Adam and David Yong
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. dollar is "one step nearer" to a crisis as debt levels in the world's largest economy increase, said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China's central bank.
Any appreciation of the dollar is "really temporary" and a devaluation of the currency is inevitable as U.S. debt rises, Yu said in a speech in Singapore today.
"Such a huge amount of debt is terrible," Yu said. "The situation will be worsening day by day. I think we are one step nearer to a U.S.-dollar crisis."
Yu also said China is worried about the safety of its foreign-exchange reserves including those invested in U.S. Treasuries as the U.S. currency weakens, reiterating his earlier views on the dollar assets. The U.S. will record a $1.3 trillion budget deficit for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the Congressional Budget Office said Aug. 19.

Dollar Set for Monthly Loss Versus Euro on U.S. Slowdown Signs
By Yoshiaki Nohara and Ron Harui
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar headed for its biggest monthly loss since 2008 versus the euro as signs the U.S. economy is slowing damped demand for the nation's assets.
The dollar was set for a quarterly drop versus all of its major counterparts before data forecast to show U.S. business activity and manufacturing slowed. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is scheduled to testify in Washington today amid speculation the central bank is preparing to buy more U.S. debt. The yen traded near the strongest since the Bank of Japan intervened on Sept. 15. Japan's currency gained against the euro as Asian stocks fell, boosting demand for safer assets.

Capital controls eyed as global currency wars escalate
Stimulus leaking out of the West's stagnant economies is flooding into emerging markets, playing havoc with their currencies and economies.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Korea, Taiwan, South Africa, Russia and even Poland are either intervening directly in the exchange markets to prevent their currencies rising too far, or examining what options they have to stem disruptive inflows.
Peter Attard Montalto from Nomura said quantitative easing by the US Federal Reserve and other central banks is incubating serious conflict. "It is forcing money into emerging market bond funds, and to a lesser extent equity funds. There has truly been a wall of money entering many countries," he said.

Asian Currencies to Beat Dollar, Mann Says
By Allison Bennett and Julie Hyman
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Asian currencies are the best bets against the dollar as currency markets anticipate quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve, said David Mann, head of research, Americas at Standard Chartered Plc.
"I think there are better bets out there rather than purely going with long the euro against the dollar, such as the Korean won, Indonesian rupiah and the Indian rupee," New York- based Mann said in a Bloomberg Television interview today with Julie Hyman and Mark Crumpton.

Deep Economic and Debt Frictions Triggering Competing Currency Wars
By: Jim Willie CB - MarketOracle.co.uk
Some prefatory stories are highly revealing. Bank of America is badly on the ropes. On the same weekend at the end of July, when the Bank For Intl Settlements executed a 340 ton gold swap contract, two other events happened. The London metals exchange apparently suffered coordinated delivery raids, all legal, but painful nonetheless, stripping the embattled exchange of much gold bullion. My source from the German banking fortress shared that the BIS might have rescued the London Bullion Market Assn, and thereby prevented a near default at the exchange. Spurious stories about aiding commercial banks, even the Portuguese central bank, were floated to distract the masses.

U.S. House Unites to Push China on Yuan as Frustration Mounts
By Mark Drajem
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers joined in sending a message that China must raise the value of its currency, as years of frustration resulted in the first legislation to pass a chamber of Congress on the issue.
The House of Representatives voted 348-79 yesterday for a measure that would let domestic companies petition for duties on imports from China to compensate for the effect of a weak yuan. Democrats were joined by 99 of the 178 Republicans on the vote.

House passes bill aimed at Chinese currency
By Charles Riley
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Lawmakers say China's currency is unfairly cheap and passed a measure Wednesday that opens the door to tariffs that aim to help U.S. companies compete.
The legislation, which authorizes the Commerce Department to impose duties on imports from countries with undervalued currencies, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 348 to 79. The Senate, however, is not expected to take up the issue until later this year.
The bill got support from both sides of the aisle, a rarity in recent sessions, with Democrats framing the legislation as a jobs issue.

The hidden tax from a yuan appreciation
Yuan rise isn't the free lunch its proponents say
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Proponents of the bill trying to make it easier to impose sanctions on China over manipulating its currency say a stronger yuan is a way to bolster the economy without any cost.
After all, they reason, U.S. exports from the likes of Caterpillar, General Motors and General Electric would be more competitive in China were the yuan to have stronger purchasing power, creating an estimated 500,000 manufacturing jobs state-side without Congress having to spend a dime.

China Yuan Weakens for First Time in 13 Days After U.S. Vote
By Bloomberg News
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The yuan weakened for the first time in 13 days on speculation China won't accelerate appreciation in response to the threat of U.S. trade sanctions.
The central bank set the reference rate for daily trade weaker for the first time in three days after the House of Representatives yesterday voted 348-79 for a measure that would let domestic companies petition for duties on imports from China to compensate for the effect of a weak yuan. The yuan had gained 1.6 percent in the past 12 trading days.

Bank of England policy maker wants to debase the coinage even more
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Has Adam Posen, an external member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, gone stark raving mad? In a speech on Tuesday to the Hull and Humber Chamber of Commerce, he advocated another bout of quantitative easing, warning in terms that advanced economies are stuck in a classic liquidity trap which requires further fierce, pre-emptive policy action to get us out. It's not inflation, but unemployment which is the real challenge for public policy, he insists.
Mr Posen derives his analysis from study of the Great Depression and Japanese experience over the past twenty years, the latter being one of his acknowledged areas of expertise. Knowledge of history is all very well, but why doesn't he try the present? As yet neither of these two parallels are relevant. We are in neither a repeat of the Great Depression nor are we playing out the policy errors that have condemned Japan to its two lost decades. Instead, we are in slow recovery mode, which though it feels very much like a recession is not a depression, and is a long way from justifying further debasement of the coinage by printing another shed load of new money.

Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, expected to resign
Barack Obama's senior aide, a profane 'piledriver', looks likely to quit so he can seek to become mayor of Chicago
Chris McGreal in Washington - guardian.co.uk
Rahm Emanuel, the US president's chief of staff and the "piledriver" tasked with delivering the Obama administration's agenda, is expected to resign this week to seek to become Chicago's mayor.
The American press quoted White House sources as saying that Emanuel would quit on Friday under pressure from the president to make a decision about his future.
Obama is aware that speculation is creating instability at a time when the administration is focusing on November's midterm elections, which are expected to result in heavy losses to the Republicans.

Full text of address to Congress by Fed's Bernanke
DAYTON BUSINESS JOURNAL
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will address the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Thursday, Sept. 30.
The following is the full text of his prepared remarks as released in advance on the Fed's Web site:
Regulatory Reform Implementation
Chairman Dodd, Ranking Member Shelby, and other members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify about the Federal Reserve's implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act).

Bernanke has votes for asset purchases, analysts say
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - While discord at the Federal Reserve is on full display, Ben Bernanke has the votes he needs to buy government bonds if the Fed chairman decides that more asset purchases would help the economy avoid deflation and another recession, analysts say.
In a series of speeches over the past two days, Fed officials made clear that they disagree about whether to embark on a second round of quantitative easing.
"Will it work and how much would be needed to make a difference? In my view a consensus on these pivotal questions remains to come together," said Dennis Lockhart, the president of the Atlanta Fed, in a speech delivered Tuesday.

Yellen, Raskin Win Senate Confirmation as Fed Board Members
By Scott Lanman
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate confirmed two nominees for the Federal Reserve Board, including Janet Yellen as vice chairman, clearing the way for the new members to vote on a potential second round of unconventional monetary easing.
The chamber today approved Yellen, currently president of the San Francisco Fed, and Sarah Bloom Raskin, Maryland's commissioner of financial regulation, in a late-night voice vote ahead of Congress's adjournment for the Nov. 2 midterm elections.
Yellen, 64, and Raskin, 49, will join the Fed's Board of Governors as policy makers debate taking action to reduce borrowing costs and help lower unemployment persisting near a 26-year high. Some economists predict Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and colleagues will resume large-scale asset purchases, or quantitative easing, at the central bank's Nov. 2-3 policy meeting.

Fed Presidents Far From Unanimous on Need for Further Easing
By Scott Lanman and Craig Torres
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Regional Federal Reserve presidents showed they're far from unanimous on whether the central bank should try to boost flagging U.S. growth with a second round of unconventional monetary easing.
Policy makers have the tools to act and should respond "vigorously, creatively, thoughtfully and persistently" to a slow recovery, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said in a New York speech today. He spoke minutes after Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said in New Jersey that the central bank would put its credibility at stake by taking actions such as buying more securities that may fail to reduce unemployment.

Government shutdown looming?
Michael Tomasky - Guardian.co.uk
Jim DeMint, Republican senator of South Carolina/Tea Party fame, is threatening to shut the government down as of Sept. 30. It's all very complex procedural stuff, but it is well explained by this Daily Kos post from David Waldman.
The post starts out quoting Roll Call:

Traditionally, the Senate passes noncontroversial measures by unanimous consent at the end of most workdays, a process known as hot-lining. DeMint, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and others have fought against the practice for years and have dedicated staff members to reviewing bills that are to be hot-lined.
As a result, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have generally given DeMint, Coburn and others time to review legislation before proceeding with unanimous consent agreements.
But in a terse e-mail sent to all 100 Senate chiefs of staff Monday evening, Steering Committee Chief of Staff Bret Bernhardt warned that DeMint would place a hold on any legislation that had not been hot-lined or been cleared by his office before the close of business Tuesday.

Okay, got that? Let me provide a little context by saying that for the better part of two centuries, both parties permitted unanimous consent on noncontroversial bills. Until Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint came along.
Even so, Coburn and DeMint usually agree to let minor bills pass through. But this week, with adjournment scheduled for Thursday, DeMint has just threatened to personally hold back any legislation, no matter how minor, that isn't agreed to by close of business today.

Senate OKs stop-gap spending, ready to go home
By Jennifer Liberto and Jeanne Sahadi,
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- The Senate on Wednesday passed a measure to fund the federal government another two months, the last major legislative action before lawmakers shut down and return to the campaign trail for the Nov. 2 elections.
The Senate voted 69-30 to pass and send to the House a stop-gap effort that effectively keeps the light on at agencies and major federal programs until Dec. 3. The tab for the 64 days tops $219 billion, meaning the overall budget for the new fiscal year will be $219 billion lighter, a congressional aide explained.

If the Recession Has Ended, Why Is the Fed So Worried?
By: Claus Vogt - MarketOracle.co.uk
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is the official arbiter of U.S. economic history. It sets the officially accepted dates for the beginning and the end of U.S. recessions. And on September 20, its Business Cycle Dating Committee published an important statement É
It finally declared the end of the recession that began in December 2007. Here is an excerpt from what it had to say:
"The committee determined that a trough in business activity occurred in the U.S. economy in June 2009. The trough marks the end of the recession that began in December 2007 and the beginning of an expansion.
"The recession lasted 18 months, which makes it the longest of any recession since World War II. Previously the longest postwar recessions were those of 1973-75 and 1981-82, both of which lasted 16 months."

The Cost of Fed Incompetence
By: Richard Daughty - MarketOracle.co.uk
I have grown old yelling at my neighbors and family members to buy gold, silver and oil, to little-to-no avail, and I can see that they are getting bored with my same old million reasons why they should, and how their deliberate inaction only proves their stupidity, which I never tire of pointing out, so they can't say that they "didn't know" that they were stupid.
So, recently, I was standing in the street outside of Griswald's house, telling Old Man Griswald how he was an idiot for not buying gold, silver and oil as the only rational defense against the inflationary horror unleashed when his own stupid government (that he and his loathsome Leftist friends elected over and over again) was deficit-spending so unbelievably much money, dutifully created by the foul Federal Reserve, which is a complete failure as an institution if ever there was one, having destroyed 98% of the buying power of the US dollar since the Fed's inception in 1913 by creating too much money and credit, when their original purpose was to "keep prices stable," to which I cynically laugh in Sneering Mogambo Rebuke (SMR) "Hahahaha!"

Coming this November: Taxes tug-of-war
By Tami Luhby
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- State legislatures will be in a high-stakes tug-of-war with both voters and industry at the ballot box this November.
More than a quarter of the 155 ballot initiatives to be decided on Nov. 2 deal with state tax hikes, debt levels and other revenue issues. In total, there are 44 measures that could drastically change the way states fund themselves or make decisions on their budgets.
Anti-tax crusaders have long used ballot measures to keep lawmakers in check, but this year the two sides are wrestling with how to close monstrous budget gaps. State and local officials have had to raise taxes and slash services over the past three years in order to balance their budgets.

Dow 'Super Boom' to Send Gauge to 38,820, Hirsch Says
By Tara Lachapelle and Nikolaj Gammeltoft
Sept. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Dow Jones Industrial Average will surge to 38,820 in an eight-year "super boom" beginning in 2017, according to Jeffrey A. Hirsch, editor in chief of the "Stock Trader's Almanac."
"All previous major economic booms and secular bull markets were driven by peace, inflation from war and crisis spending, and ubiquitous enabling technologies that created major cultural paradigm shifts and sustained prosperity," he wrote in a press release sent with the 44th edition of the book.

For US Corporations the Whole of the Law Shall Be
'Do What Thou Wilt' Over There
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
The trend seems to be to extend all the rights and protections of citizens to the multinational coporations while increasingly limiting their liabilities.
I have not read a legal interpretation of this, and it could be overstated in its reach, but it does fit with a disturbing trend in the US whereby more power and wealth is being concentrated in corporations who can act with increasing advantage vis-ˆ-vis the individual. Barry Ritholz has framed it quite well in his piece:

The Left Right Paradigm is Over: Its You vs. Corporations
By Barry Ritholtz
Every generation or so, a major secular shift takes place that shakes up the existing paradigm. It happens in industry, finance, literature, sports, manufacturing, technology, entertainment, travel, communication, etc.
I would like to discuss the paradigm shift that is occurring in politics.
For a long time, American politics has been defined by a Left/Right dynamic. It was Liberals versus Conservatives on a variety of issues. Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice, Tax Cuts vs. More Spending, Pro-War vs Peaceniks, Environmental Protections vs. Economic Growth, Pro-Union vs. Union-Free, Gay Marriage vs. Family Values, School Choice vs. Public Schools, Regulation vs. Free Markets.

Financial Fraud and the Global Derivatives Casino,
Mechanisms of the Scam
By: Matthias Chang - MarketOracle.co.uk
Part 1 - The Mechanics of the Derivative Scam
The fact that common folks in the US and other developed countries have not come out in arms to lynch the central bankers and their accomplices in Wall Street and other banking centres is an indication how effective the financial elites have been able to hoodwink and confuse the masses.
$Trillions have been wiped out but hardly anyone of substance has demanded criminal prosecutions. Fraud, massive frauds have been committed by top bankers, lawyers, accountants, regulators and politicians of all hues but none had to pay for their crimes.

Ireland pushed towards brink
By HUGO DUNCAN - DailyMail.co.uk
The Irish parliament reconvenes today with protesters on the streets of Dublin, the country in crisis and the government fighting for survival.
A tidal wave of economic troubles - from a sharp drop in output over the spring to the rising cost of bailing out the banking system - has pushed Ireland to the brink.
The turmoil has drawn unwanted comparisons with Greece and triggered fears that the once-mighty Celtic Tiger will be crippled by a debt crisis of its own.
Dublin's battle to convince investors it can afford to shore up a banking system devastated by the collapse of the Republic's property bubble - and cut the biggest budget deficit in the EU - faces a key test this week.

Europe hit by wave of anti-austerity protests
Marches paralyse centre of Brussels
while Spain sees first general strike in eight years
Ian Traynor and Elena Moya - guardian.co.uk
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Europe today as strikes against austerity measures that have hit public spending and services on the continent caused widespread disruption.
The main demonstrations were in Spain, Belgium and Greece, although there was co-ordinated action in more than a dozen countries including Portugal, Ireland, Slovenia and Lithuania.
One of the largest protests converged on a park in Brussels. The demonstrations in the European capital were reinforced by Spain's first general strike in eight years, which was called to oppose the Spanish government's spending cuts and reforms of the labour market and pensions. In Portugal, unions said 50,000 protesters joined a march in Lisbon and 20,000 in Porto.

Unraveling - Things are coming apart before our eyes
Fred Cederholm - SilverBearCafe.com
I've been thinking about unraveling. Actually I've been thinking about the Obama administration, unemployment, housing, Afghanistan, our economic/ financial messes, the coming November elections, October surprises, and sand. Sunday I was gone all day. I went to church, I stayed for Sunday school, I went out to eat, and I attended a memorial service for a long time friend, Bud Elkin. I thought I looked pretty good in my khaki slacks, a white knit golf shirt, and my burgundy colored sweater over the top. I needed the sweater because it was cool - Fall was rapidly descending on us here. What I didn't realize was that I had snagged the sweater around the side of the waist band. One thread of the wool yarn had apparently broken and as the day progressed, I was coming apart at the seams - literally! The progression of the unraveling was brought to my attention by numerous people during the day. Each time I thanked them for the information, but I kept TH*NK*NG why was the public not so astute at assessing the unraveling of the Obama Administration, and the US economic situation.

MetLife Probed by Regulators as Asset Accounts Called Deceptive
By David Glovin
Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Regulators in three U.S. states have started or widened examinations of how life insurers pay beneficiaries after a federal judge described MetLife Inc.'s marketing of asset accounts as "inherently deceptive," even as he dismissed the underlying suit against the company.
The Sept. 10 statement by U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks in Reno, Nevada, may prompt regulators in that state, California and Georgia to use their broad legal powers to impose changes on insurers' marketing, disclosures and practices.

Meredith Whitney's new target: The states
by Shawn Tully - Fortune CNNMoney.com
The housing crash not yet realized its full impact on budgets in the most vulnerable states. It's the banking crisis all over again - and it's time to stop ignoring it.
Meredith Whitney, the superstar analyst who famously forecast disaster for America's big banks before the credit crisis struck, is now warning about another looming threat: The wreckage from over-stretched state budgets.
Today, Whitney is releasing a 600-page report, colorfully entitled "The Tragedy of the Commons," that rates the financial condition of America's 15 largest states, measured by their GDP. Whitney claims that the study is the most comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the states' murky patterns of spending, revenues and benefits programs ever assembled by the government, foundations, or another research firm.

States Are Poised to Be Next Credit Crisis for US: Whitney
By: Jeff Cox - CNBC.com Staff Writer
Crippling debts and deficits are about to make individual states the next casualty of the credit crisis, analyst Meredith Whitney told CNBC.
Speaking as her firm, Meredith Whitney Advisory Group, just released a lengthy report on the state of the states, the noted financial analyst compared the looming explosion to the collapse of the financial system in 2008 and 2009.

Corporate Mortgage Scams Threaten to Crash
an Already Shaky Housing Market
A foreclosure pandemic riddled by corruption may stall America's recovery - By Scott Thill - AlterNet
The Great Recession may have ended in June 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner isn't buying it. Neither are recently revealed foreclosure and eviction scams at GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and other too-big-to-fail financial firms swimming in both American taxpayer cash and the Federal Reserve Bank's divine intervention.
"I'm not an economist, and I'm not an academic," Geithner ducked when asked last week during a Financial Services Committee hearing to agree with NBER's suspicious assessment. "I would just say the following: This is still a very tough economy."

Housing Finance Needs U.S. Backstop, Executives Tell Lawmakers
By Lorraine Woellert
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Congress must preserve some form of U.S. guarantee on mortgages to attract private capital to the housing-finance system and stabilize a market recovering from the credit crisis, industry executives told lawmakers.
Private capital must play a bigger role in housing finance as policy makers replace the current system, which is dependent on guarantees from government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the executives said today in testimony prepared for a House Financial Services Committee hearing. U.S. support will still be needed to keep loans flowing to borrowers and preserve products such as 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages, they said.

D-FW foreclosures hit starter, luxury homes
DALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL - BY Kerri Panchuk WEB REPORTER
Both affluent and entry-level homebuyers are bearing the brunt of the recession's aftermath, according to new foreclosure data compiled by Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Inc.
A new report from the firm says 80 percent of the homes posted for foreclosure in a 19-county area in North Texas were priced at $200,000 or below.
George Roddy, Sr., president of Foreclosure Listing Service, said, "The largest gains in residential foreclosure posting activity were found at opposite ends of the Texas housing market among entry-level homes and ultra-luxury homes."

The Real Inequality Scandal: Rich, Poor and MSM
Gang Up On American Middle Class
Steve Sailer - SilverBearCafe.com
Economic inequality has been much in the press lately. For example, Timothy Noah wrote a ten-part series for Slate trying to explain the growth in inequality. Greatly to Noah's credit, he dared consider the role of immigration in his Part 3: Did Immigration Create the Great Divergence? (albeit inadequately, as Ed Rubenstein has pointed out).
But, generally, the discussion about inequality has been missing half of the puzzle.
On the one hand, it's safe to say that over recent decades, the very rich have gotten very much richer.
The farther up the pyramid you are, the faster the growth has been. The rise in income has been slower for the top ten percent than for the top one percent, and the top one percent has lagged behind the top 0.1 percent.

Jack in the Box closures bypass Phoenix
PHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL - BY Mike Sunnucks
Fast food chain Jack in the Box Inc. said today it will close 40 restaurants nationwide by Sunday.
None of the closed locations are in the Phoenix market, but one Arizona location outside the Valley being closed. The San Diego chain would not disclose that location.
Jack in the Box has 178 restaurants in Arizona and 2,200 locations in 18 states.
The stores on the closure list are underperforming and are all company-owned, officials said. Most of the closures will happen in Texas and the Southeast.

U.S. Unemployment Rate Could be Higher in September vs. August
By: Asha Bangalore - MarketOracle.co.uk
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index slipped to 48.5 in September from 53.2 in August. The September reading is the lowest since February 2010 (46.4). The historical low is 25.3, registered in February 2009. The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment index also declined in September (66.6 vs. 68.9 in August). The decline in consumer outlook appears to be tied to the prevailing conditions in the job market. Although the recent recession officially ended in June 2009 and real GDP has posted growth for four straight quarters, the 9.6% unemployment rate in August is an elevated level playing an important role in the pessimistic outlook of consumers.

U.S. Social Inequality Income Gap Hits Record High
By: Global Research - MarketOracle.co.uk
David Walsh writes: Figures released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau reveal sharply worsening conditions for tens of millions of Americans under the impact of the economic crisis and the accumulation of vast wealth by a relative handful.
Some of the figures, for particular states and regions, are simply staggering. Michigan residents experienced a 6.2 percent decrease in median income in the course of one year, from 2008 to 2009, while Illinois has suffered a 24 percent increase in poverty in the past decade. More than 36 percent of Detroit's population officially lives in poverty.
Overall, the 2009 American Community Survey reveals that median household income fell in the US nearly 3 percent between 2008 and 2009, from $51,726 to $50,221. This was the second consecutive year in which household incomes dropped. Median income declined in 34 states, and increased only in sparsely populated North Dakota.

Apple's final frontier: The enterprise
By David Goldman,
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Apple became the most valuable technology company by winning over the hearts and minds of consumers. But until recently, corporate customers have been an afterthought.
Not anymore.
Small businesses and large corporations alike are beginning to embrace Apple by supporting and purchasing iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers for their employees and by creating applications for their customers' Apple devices.
Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, noted on a July conference call with analysts that 50% of Fortune 100 companies are already deploying or thinking about using the iPad for corporate use and 80% were supporting the iPhone.

Barack Obama under fire for grossly underestimating Gulf oil spill
White House commission finds that administration lost public trust and may have sabotaged clean-up operations
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent - The Guardian
The Obama administration lost the public trust and may have sabotaged clean-up operations in the Gulf of Mexico by grossly underestimating the amount of oil gushing from BP's broken Macondo well, according to a White House commission appointed to investigate the spill.
In a scathing critique of the administration's handling of the disaster, the two co-chairs of the commission yesterday said government officials made a serious blunder by releasing early estimates of the spill that were about 60 times too low.
"It's a little bit like Custer underestimating the number of Indians on the other side of the hill and paying a price for that," Bob Graham, a former Democratic senator from Florida, told reporters.

New Earth-like planet discovered
Gliese 581g in 'Goldilocks zone' of space where liquid water could exist is strong contender for a habitable world
Ian Sample, science correspondent - guardian.co.uk
Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable planet of similar size to Earth in orbit around a nearby star.
A team of planet hunters spotted the alien world circling a red dwarf star called Gliese 581, 20 light years away.
The planet is in the "Goldilocks zone" of space around a star where surface temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to form.
"Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said Steven Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common."
If confirmed, the planet would be the most Earth-like that has ever been discovered in another solar system and the first strong contender for a habitable one.

ROBERT GATES WANTS YOU ... AND YOUR CHILDREN
The defense secretary warned Duke University, and anyone else who would listen, about a growing divide between the public and the military that has created a minority class of professional military workers and a detached, if vaguely supportive, civilian population.
Gates said most Americans think of fighting as "something for other people to do" and said, "There is a risk over time of developing a cadre of military leaders that politically, culturally and geographically have less and less in common with the people they have sworn to defend."
He was short on solutions, but the secretary suggested more attractive pay and benefits.

China, U.S. Turn to Maritime Agenda as Military Talks Resume
By Viola Gienger
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and China will confer on maritime issues next month as the two countries resume military talks broken off after the Obama administration announced an arms sale to Taiwan earlier this year, a Pentagon spokesman said.
That discussion will be followed by full "defense consultative talks" in Washington later this year like those held last year in Beijing, Marine Corps Colonel David Lapan said. The June 2009 sessions marked the first in 1-1/2 years after a previous China-imposed hiatus following a U.S. weapons sale to Taiwan.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Archived Page Link
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -