Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Thursday 12.30.2010
Happy NEW YEAR, 2011!
No new "Patriot News Hour" radio show or News articles will be posted on Friday, January 31st - New Year's Eve. We'll be back on Monday, January 3, 2011.
What Ever Happened to the Constitution?
Andrew Napolitano Aug 29, 2010
Taking Liberty How Private Property is being Abolished in America
The "Black Swan" most are NOT expecting ...
When this scenario unfolds, the world's current problems will pale in comparison. 8-part interview with Tom Horn, L.A. Marzulli and Gary Stearman:
A Far From Happy New Year
By William Pfaff - Truthdig.com
The United States will begin 2011 waging one major war that is now 10 years old and showing serious signs of being lost. Another of its wars, Iraq, has already been lost by the objective standards of who now controls the country and who can be expected to continue controlling it-certainly not the U.S., but Iran, America and Israel's main enemy in the region. The U.S. has engaged itself in a similar role of combatant in a half-dozen smaller conflicts against self-proclaimed enemy bands in Yemen, the Horn of Africa and western North Africa.
It also possesses by far the largest armed forces on Earth, which demand from a profoundly indebted nation still more sophisticated equipment and better recruits, since the Americans they are now enlisting, by standard U.S. military criteria of IQ and level of education, come from the bottom of the barrel of eligible men and women, so that it has become increasingly necessary to recruit from immigrant and foreign populations.
In the Rearview, a Year That Fizzled
By DAVID LEONHARDT - NYTimes.com
It was the year that the economy started to recover and then slid back into a slump - only to offer reason for renewed hope in the final weeks.
When 2010 began, hiring and consumer spending were finally picking up. But then something changed in the spring - a combination of the debt troubles in Europe, the fading of stimulus spending and the usual caution by businesses and consumers after a financial crisis. By the summer, the unemployment rate was rising again, and Americans' attitudes about the future were again souring.
The Lull Before The Storm: What's Coming in 2011
By Gonzalo Lira
This week - what with Christmas on one end and the new year's celebration on the other, and everything in between covered in snow - nothing much is gonna happen: It's a week that's about as dead as Dillinger. So I figured I should take stock of where we are - and more importantly, where we're going.
To me, the biggest macro-economic story of 2010 was Europe: It's falling apart, and there doesn't seem to be anything that's going to stop this collapse.
The second biggest macro-economic story of the year - though not by much - was the successful monetization of 75% of the U.S. Federal government deficit by Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve. I use the word "successful" in a morality-free, completely pragmatic sense: Bernanke achieved monetization with minimal market disruption. In fact, a lot of people would argue that QE-lite and QE-2 were not policies of debt monetization - that is how successful Bernanke has been.
Salbuchi - Forecast 2011:
An End Run Towards World Government - Part 1 of 2
Salbuchi - Forecast 2011:
An End Run Towards World Government - Part 2 of 2
North American Integration Back on the Front Burner
By Dana Gabriel - TheIntelHub.com
In the last year, the bilateral process has been the primary means used to advance North American integration, which has drawn little attention. With the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) seemingly stalled after being exposed and discredited, the U.S. channelled trilateral negotiations to parallel bilateral discussions with both Canada and Mexico. Recent reports of a tentative Canada-U.S. security and trade agreement has once again highlighted the whole process of deep continental integration. The U.S. is formulating a strategy with the aim of implementing a North American security perimeter.
NAFTA has allowed the U.S. to further extend its political and economic influence over the continent. Through the SPP, it has evolved to include more security issues. Based on the war on drugs and the war on terrorism, the U.S. is developing a North American security strategy with the goal being to push out its security perimeter. The Merida Initiative conceived in 2007 and launched the following year by the Bush administration, signalled a new era of U.S.-Mexico security collaboration.
In Money-Changers We Trust
By Robert Scheer - Truthdig.com
Two years into the Obama presidency and the economic data is still looking grim. Don't be fooled by the gyrations of the stock market, where optimism is mostly a reflection of the ability of financial corporations-thanks to massive government largesse - to survive the mess they created. The basics are dismal: Unemployment is unacceptably high, the December consumer confidence index is down and housing prices have fallen for four months in a row. The number of Americans living in poverty has never been higher, and a majority in a Washington Post poll said they were worried about making their next mortgage or rent payment.
In a parallel universe lives Peter Orszag, President Barack Obama's former budget director and key adviser, who even faster than his mentor, Robert Rubin, has passed through that revolving platinum door linking the White House with Wall Street. The goal is to use your government position to advance the interests of your future employer, and Orszag and Rubin's actions in the government and then at Citigroup provide stunning examples of the synergy between big government and high finance.
*****
Skipping Down the Road to Serfdom
by Duane Colyar - StirkeTheRoot.com
As noted by the author in a previous column, over 2,000 years ago the Greek philosopher and historian, Thucydides, wrote in the History of the Peloponnesian War that power, once granted, will always expand to control what it can. Recognizing the wisdom of Thucydides and other political philosophers, and knowing that concentrated power always leads to tyranny, our founders attempted to create a federation of states where the power of the central, federal government would be severely limited to a handful of legislative and executive duties, all specifically enumerated in a constitution. The individual states or the people would retain those powers not specifically granted. Yet, in spite of the brilliant efforts of James Madison and company, the power granted to this entity called the United States almost immediately began to expand, slowly transferring prerogatives that once belonged to the states and people to the federal government, an erosion of power that continues to this very day. The Founders did not succeed in their attempt to circumvent Thucydides' principle.
2011 Is 1984
by Paul Craig Roberts - LewRockwell.com
"Dissent is what rescues democracy from a quiet death behind closed doors." ~ Lewis H. Lapham
The year 2011 will bring Americans a larger and more intrusive police state, more unemployment and home foreclosures, no economic recovery, more disregard by the US government of US law, international law, the Constitution, and truth, more suspicion and distrust from allies, more hostility from the rest of the world, and new heights of media sycophancy.
2011 is shaping up as the terminal year for American democracy. The Republican Party has degenerated into a party of Brownshirts, and voter frustrations with the worsening economic crisis and military occupations gone awry are likely to bring Republicans to power in 2012. With them would come their doctrines of executive primacy over Congress, the judiciary, law, and the Constitution and America's rightful hegemony over the world.
Thomas Woods:
States Can Nullify Unconstitutional Federal Laws!
Know Your States' Rights
(from the left)
by Jeff Taylor - LewRockwell.com
What happens when the referee in a ballgame is a member of one of the competing teams? What if this ref is imbued with overweening confidence in his side's natural superiority, and he's so sure of his own sense of fair play that any questioning of his calls is deemed illegitimate? Meet the United States federal judiciary.
Self-righteousness and concentrated power are a dangerous combination. Their conjunction in American politics can be traced to the rulings of Chief Justice John Marshall, an arch-Federalist who shared Alexander Hamilton's belief in political centralization. The federalist cause from which their party took its name was a distinct move away from the decentralism of the Articles of Confederation, but its advocates insisted that federalism did not mean a consolidated, unitary government of the sort favored by kings and despots. The U.S. Constitution and federal legislation would be the highest law of the land, according to the Supremacy Clause. But traditional rights and responsibilities would be reserved to the state governments and to the people themselves. This principle was enshrined in the Tenth Amendment.
Nullification! | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
Promises and Riots
Thomas Sowell - Townhall.com
Economists are the real "party of No." They keep saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch-- and politicians keep on getting elected by promising free lunches.
Such promises may seem to be kept, for a while. There are ways the government can juggle money around to make everything look OK, but it is only a matter of time before that money runs out and the ultimate reality hits, that there is no free lunch.
We are currently seeing what happens, in fierce riots raging in various countries in Europe, when the money runs out and the brutal truth is finally revealed, that there is no free lunch.
Unbelievable! ... take this one seriously. Almost Everything Is A Crime In America Now: 14 Of The Most Ridiculous Things That Americans Are Being Arrested For
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Doesn't it seem like almost everything is becoming a crime in America now? Americans are being arrested and charged with crimes for doing things like leaving dog poop on the ground, opening up Christmas presents early, not recycling properly, farting in class and having brown lawns. But is it healthy for our society for the police to be involved in such silly things? Every single day the United States inches closer to becoming a totalitarian society. While there are some that would welcome this shift, the truth is that throughout history the societies that have experienced the greatest economic prosperity have all had at least a certain level of freedom. Business thrives when people feel free to live and work. When a government tightens the grip too much many people just start shutting down. Just look at places like North Korea. Even though the rest of the world is sending them huge amounts of food starvation is still quite common in that totalitarian regime. That is why it is so disturbing that it seems like almost everything has become a crime in America now. As we continue to criminalize relatively normal behavior our slide toward becoming a totalitarian state will only accelerate.
Free or Fair?
Walter E. Williams - Townhall.com
At first blush, the mercantilists' call for "free trade but fair trade" sounds reasonable. After all, who can be against fairness? Giving the idea just a bit of thought suggests that fairness as a guide for public policy lays the groundwork for tyranny. You say, "Williams, I've never heard anything so farfetched! Explain yourself."
Think about the First Amendment to our Constitution that reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
In 2011 The Baby Boomers Start To Turn 65: 16 Statistics About The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Drop Your Jaw
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Do you hear that rumble in the distance? That is the Baby Boomers - they are getting ready to retire. On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turn 65. Millions upon millions of them are rushing towards retirement age and they have been promised that the rest of us are going to take care of them. Only there is a huge problem. We don't have the money. It simply isn't there. But the millions of Baby Boomers getting ready to retire are counting on that money to be there. This all comes at a really bad time for a federal government that is already flat broke and for a national economy that is already teetering on the brink of disaster.
So just who are the Baby Boomers? Well, they are the most famous generation in American history. The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Baby Boomers as those born between January 1st, 1946 and December 31st, 1964. You see, after U.S. troops returned from World War II, they quickly settled down and everyone started having lots and lots of babies. This gigantic generations has transformed America as they have passed through every stage of life. Now they are getting ready to retire.
Oil Juggernaut Unleashed
By Giordano Bruno - Neithercorp Press - 12/29/2010
The prevalence of crude is undeniable. You might dabble in green-think cultism or you might drive an obnoxious monolith of a Hummer (what I like to call an "overcompensation-mobile"), but neither philosophy of consumption dares to contradict that this world runs on oil. Petroleum is used in the manufacture or shipping of almost every industrial product on the planet, and even many agricultural goods. Therefore, it behooves the public to seriously consider the ramifications of oil price and its underlying effect on the entirety of our economy. Even minor increases holding over an extended period of time cause economic reverberations that can be felt for years afterwards. Financial and social adjustments to commodity inflation can sometimes take decades if the event is historically unprecedented. Petroleum is a foundation ingredient, it is energy itself; the higher its cost, the greater the cost of every other product we use, and the worse off our financial structure is. Period. There is no scenario yet experienced by any nation in which oil inflation actually benefited the masses or the overall economy, even in countries that sell oil!
Gold is the most manipulated market on Earth
By Anthony J. Stills - CommodityOnline.com
I have been watching recent developments around the world with considerable interest. There are renewed riots in Greece, new demonstrations in Italy, a growing divide between citizens and government in Ireland while tensions in Spain and Portugal increase daily. Also there are new developments in Belgium, Hungary and Poland as the debt disease spreads its own deadly version of the famous "green shuts" that have yet to materialize in the United States.
When the debt crisis first broke out, and that's what it is, a debt crisis, people generally didn't pay much attention to it. They assumed that it would be "handled" just like the Mexican, Asian, Russian and 9/11 crises that came before. That's no longer the case. With each passing bailout, now called quantitative easing, it becomes more apparent that this is the crisis that will not go away. Massive injections of capital are not reaching the man on the street and he has become irritated. That irritation is now manifesting itself as civil disobedience, and you'd better get used to it because you're going to see a lot more of it.
Gold Bears Predicting The Price Of Gold
By: Darryl R Schoon - MarketOracle.co.uk
Bears are by nature cautious and while caution can be an ally, it can also be fatal where bold action is required.
It is understandable that investors who believe in paper money and paper-denominated assets do not understand gold. Gold, after all, is the natural refuge of disbelievers in the current financial paradigm; and, as today's credit and debt-based paper markets come under increasing pressure and gold moves increasingly higher, most "paper bulls" remain increasingly perplexed.
In October 2009, when gold had again breached the $1,000 level, investment advisor Chad Brand warned investors not to jump onto "the gold bandwagon". Unfortunately, for Mr. Brand's clients, it was the time to jump - and still is today.
Why Is Gold the Ultimate and Timeless Money?
by Richard Russell - 321Gold.com
I have posted below the year-end price of gold starting with the year 2000, the first up-year of one of the greatest and least appreciated bull markets in history. Take in this series, you may never see its like again.
I've been around a long time, and I've studied many primary bull markets. And now I want to venture a few of my observations.
Investors gorge on gold, silver
Reuters - New Brunswich Business Journal
NEW YORK - Gold prices jumped more than 1.5 per cent and silver streaked toward a 30-year high Tuesday, as thin volume and bullish hopes for next year drove bullion above $1,400 an ounce for the first time in two weeks.
Precious metals held their gains to trade at the day's highs even after the U.S. dollar reversed deep early losses. Data showing an unexpected deterioration in U.S. consumer confidence and a sharp fall in U.S. single-family home sales fed gold's rise as the dollar gyrated.
"There's a little year-end rush to see if we can post some high numbers to mark the books against," said Fred Schoenstein, a trader at Heraeus Precious Metals Management in New York. "Volumes are very low so it doesn't take a lot to push it."
Instability to keep pushing gold price up Precious metal set to mark longest winning streak in nine decades
By ALLAN SECCOMBE - BueinsssDay ZA
THE price of gold, a key mineral export, is set to build on a strong performance this year, as it eyes a 10th consecutive annual gain.
Gold reached a record $1432,50/oz on December 7. The average price for the year is heading for a 10th gain in a row, the longest winning streak in nine decades, Bloomberg reports.
Much of this gain in the dollar price of gold has been offset by a stronger rand this year, which has meant the rand price has been less stellar than the dollar price performance.
Ron Paul: Competing Currencies Can End the Fed Softly!
WSJ has become the biggest Silver advocate
By Dr Jeffrey Lewis - CommodityOnline.com
While it has become a bit of a meme that "the revolution (in currency) will not be televised," at least one mainstream news outlet is starting to focus some attention on the improving metals market. All across the world, the headlines from the Wall Street Journal read "Price of Silver Soaring," as two journalists document the explosion in investment interest in the metals markets.
Dissecting the WSJ Article
Though largely positive, especially for such a mainstream release, there were a few shortcomings in the WSJ article. For one, the article focused mostly on the growing "investment" interest for silver bullion, noting that there was no real growth in industrial demand for the economy, and that in fact, the markets had expected a surplus of the shiny metal in 2010.
Hiding A Depression: How The US Government Does It
By Daniel R. Amerman, CFA - GoldSeek.com
Overview
The real US unemployment rate is not 9.8% but between 25% and 30%. That is a depression level of job losses - so why doesn't it look like a depression for many people? How can so large of a statistical discrepancy exist, and how is it that holiday shopping malls are so crowded in a depression?
The true devastation is hidden by essentially placing the job losses inside three different "boxes": the official unemployment box, the true full unemployment box, and most importantly, the staggering and persistent private sector job loss box that has been temporarily covered over by a fantastic level of governmental deficit spending. The "recovering and out of the recession" cover story is only plausible when nobody connects the dots and adds all the boxes together.
Italy's debt costs approach red zone Italy's borrowing costs have jumped to the highest level since the financial crisis over two years ago, raising concerns that Europe's biggest debtor may slip from the eurozone's stable core into the high-risk group on the periphery.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Yields on 10-year bonds rose 10 basis points to 4.86pc after a poor auction of short-term debt in Rome. The Italian treasury had to pay 1.7pc to sell €8.5bn (£7.2bn) of six-month bills in a thin post-Christmas market, up from 1.48pc a month ago.
The spike in rates came as money supply data released by the European Central Bank showed that real M1 deposits have collapsed at a rate of 2.8pc over the last six months in the EMU bloc of Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, even though they are rising in northern Europe.
Economic Nationalism Is a Philosophy of War
Mises Daily: by Ludwig von Mises
[This article is excerpted from "The Conflicts of Our Age" in chapter 24 of Human Action: The Scholar's Edition (1949)]
Popular opinion sees the source of the conflicts which bring about the civil wars and international wars of our age in the collision of "economic" interests inherent in the market economy. Civil war is the rebellion of the "exploited" masses against the "exploiting" classes. Foreign war is the revolt of the "have-not" nations against those nations who have appropriated to themselves an unfair share of the earth's natural resources and, with insatiable greed, want to snatch even more of this wealth destined for the use of all. He who in face of these facts speaks of the harmony of the rightly understood interests is either a moron or an infamous apologist of a manifestly unjust social order. No intelligent and honest man could fail to realize that there prevail today irreconcilable conflicts of material interests which can be settled only by recourse to arms.
Wall Street Cry Babies Vs. Obama - A Rant
Are Small Businesses Going to Be Saviors or Victims?
By JAY GOLTZ - NYTimes.com
Over the last two years, it has been widely reported that small businesses create more jobs than big businesses and thus are critical to the recovery. It has also been widely reported that small businesses are getting squeezed - by the credit freeze, by skyrocketing costs like health and unemployment insurance, and by cheap imports, to name a few examples.
So, if you own a small business, is the deck stacked against you? Can you overcome all of the obstacles? Is it harder than it used to be to start a business? Is it going to continue to get harder? Are the banks going to loosen up? Is the "recovery" ever going to reach small businesses the way it has big businesses? Which is it: Are small businesses going to be saviors or victims?
Ultimate Cost of 0% Money
By: Jim Willie CB - GoldSeek.com
Since the early 1990 decade, the nation's maestros have promulgated the notion that cheap money is a beneficial factor for the sustenance of wealth, for economic development, for the standard of living, for the robust industries, in general for the American society. Nothing could be further from the truth, but even today the reckless US economists from the Keynesian Camp and their controllers from Wall Street have convinced the multitudes that cheap money is a good thing. Cheap money comes with a deadly ultimate cost. The inept professor occupying the US Federal Reserve Chairman post has gone on record claiming the US banking sector has a secret weapon in the Printing Pre$$ that it can use with zero cost, in its electronic form. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Clinton & Rubin team began the distortion of the Consumer Price Index, ostensibly to reduce Social Security and USGovt pension benefits in cost of living raises. They wanted to cause a massive USTreasury Bond bull market, and succeeded in doing so. They wished also to bring down the USTreasury Bond yields. The infamous Fed Valuation Model dictated that as rates rose, stocks fell. So the scheme to manipulate the bond market began with the venerable craftsmen of rigged markets, ruined engines, and mega-fraud schemes. They taught from their high priest pulpits that cheap money was good for the financial markets. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Chinese and Indian Entrepreneurs Are Eating America's Lunch Watch out, Silicon Valley: China and India aren't just graduating bad engineers and stealing intellectual property anymore. They're fostering innovations that will shake the world.
BY VIVEK WADHWA - ForeignPolicy.com
Earlier this month, Americans woke up to the bad news that their education system was just "average" in the developed world. Worse news, however, was that Shanghai, China took the top spot. For a country already in a declinist mood, this was a blow. Perhaps not even U.S. President Barack Obama thought the future would arrive so quickly: As he told a group of educators at the White House earlier this year, the "nation that out-educates us today is going to out-compete us tomorrow."
America is rightfully worried about its sinking competitiveness, and does indeed need to improve its education system. But it could win the battle and lose the war, because India's and China's successes aren't due to their education systems, but despite them. You've probably heard of Indian outsourcing hotspots like Bangalore and Chennai, but it's not just call centers and software sweatshops Americans now need to worry about: Technology entrepreneurship is booming all over in China and India, and is beginning to innovate; these startups will soon start competing with Silicon Valley. The next Google could well be cooked up in a garage in Guangzhou or Ahmedabad.
Severe Debt Scarcity Coming to US
By Ron Robins
If US consumers believe it difficult to borrow now, just wait! In the next few years credit conditions are likely to go back seventy years when private debt was difficult to obtain. Most Americans intuitively believe there is too much debt at every level of society. But the economic and political vested interests do not want them worried about that. They want to give them credit to infinity to keep this economic mess from imploding. The US Federal Reserve's new round of quantitative easing (QE2) is clear evidence of that. However, Americans are right about their inordinate debt load, and future economic conditions are likely to create a severe debt scarcity.
The principal reasons for the coming debt scarcity are that 'debt saturation' - where total income cannot support total debt - has arrived, say some analysts; also, the growing understanding that adding new debt may not increase GDP - it could decrease it; and that the banks and financial system are a train wreck in waiting, eventually being forced to mark their assets to market, thus creating for them massive asset write-downs and strangling their lending ability.
Becoming a Squatter Nation
America's drive down Big Spender Boulevard is leading from Squanderville to Debt City to Squattertown.
By Robert Morley - theTrumpet.com
You live in Squanderville. Big house. Sparkly car. Lots of gizmos and gadgets. Life could hardly be better.
But what if Squanderville's richest man told you that your finances were actually a shambles, you were going bankrupt, and that you would soon be homeless? To keep doing what you were doing would be financial self-destruction-a road to economic destitution.
Yet on a national scale, that is exactly what America is doing.
Way back in 2003, Warren Buffet, one of the world's richest men, began calling America "Squanderville" for its proclivity for big spending. On a national level, he said that because the country was spending far more money importing foreign goods than it earned from exporting, the country's wealth was being squandered for toys and trinkets. That year, America's trade deficit was a record $489.4 billion.
Garrett: U.S. support for housing market to be withdrawn slowly
(Reuters) - Government support for the housing market should be cautiously withdrawn and not be rushed, Scott Garrett, the incoming chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services subcommittee, told the Wall Street Journal.
"We recognize that some things can be done overnight and other things cannot be," Garrett, a Republican representative for New Jersey's 5th Congressional district told the Journal.
Garrett, who would oversee housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac upon assuming charge, told the Journal that he has "not established a specific time frame for winding them down."
"You have to recognize what the impact would be on the fragile housing market as it stands right now," Garrett told the Journal.
Faces of the Home-Foreclosure Crisis The Tidal Wave of Defaults and Delinquencies That Began Four Years Ago Has Hit Individuals at All Levels of Society
By Nick Timiraos - WSJ.com
The foreclosure crisis that erupted four years ago has claimed more than five million American homes - about 10% of all homes with a mortgage. It began in lower-income neighborhoods and has spread to some of the most exclusive addresses in the U.S.
The seeds of the crisis were planted a decade ago when banks, discovering the high returns from selling bundles of securitized mortgages, relaxed lending standards and originated millions of adjustable-rate subprime mortgages. Such loans were designed to allow just about anyone to get a home loan.
When interest rates on the adjustable-rate mortgages finally climbed, many borrowers began falling behind on their payments, leading to the first wave of delinquencies and defaults.
Will 2011 Be A Nightmarish Year For The U.S. Housing Market?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
As we come to the end of 2010, there seems to be very few reasons to be optimistic about the U.S. housing market as we enter 2011. Home prices have fallen for several months in a row, mortgage rates are going up, mortgage delinquencies are increasing again, the mortgage industry is mired in horrific legal problems and the underlying economy is still extremely sluggish. During 2009 and throughout the first half of 2010 the U.S. housing market experienced a time of stabilization and it looked like the housing industry might recover, but when the tax breaks expired things started to get bad once again. Now many analysts are publicly using the term "double-dip" when speaking about prospects for the U.S. housing market in 2011.
Shiller: Expect Home Prices to Decline in 2011
Government Foreclosure Prevention Shifts to Reducing Principal
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Earlier this year, it became clear that the government's HAMP mortgage modification program wasn't preventing nearly as many foreclosures as it was aiming for. That was probably one of the reasons Treasury official decided to try a different approach. Rather than focus on just cutting interest rates and lengthening loan terms, it decided that reducing mortgage principal should also be a part of the equation. After all, with so many mortgages underwater, a large portion of borrowers may prefer to walk away instead of modifying their mortgage if their principal is left intact. A report released today indicates that the new initiative might be making progress.
State Budget Crisis:
Deadbeat States Need to Stop Spending, Start Mending
BY KERRI SHANNON, Associate Editor, Money Morning
State governments are broke, and things are going to get worse before they get better - a whole lot worse.
Look at California. It's facing a $19 billion budget deficit next year and had to raise tuition in the state university system by 32% to try and collect revenue.
Arizona sold off its state capitol, state Supreme Court building and legislative chambers to a group of investors that is now leasing them back.
And take Illinois, which spends twice as much as it collects in taxes and is six months behind on a stack of bills totaling $5 billion. Illinois state employees - including state troopers needing to gas up their patrol cars - are finding some places won't honor their state credit cards. And legislators are getting evicted from offices because the Illinois government failed to pay the rent.
Market: Illinois Is in Worse Shape Than California
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
While there are a number of states in fiscal hot water these days, it seems like California is generally assumed to be in the most trouble. But that view is incorrect, according to the market. Credit-default swaps, derivatives that act as insurance on a bond default, indicate that investors are even more worried about Illinois. Its credit-default swap prices have soared to $330,000 this month. Darrell Preston at Bloomberg reports:
Insuring Illinois against default now costs more than that for California, the lowest-rated U.S. state according to Standard & Poor's. Covering the most-populous state's general- obligation debt averaged $291,000 in December, Bloomberg data show. S&P ranks California at A-, its fourth-lowest investment grade, and Illinois at A+, two levels higher.
U.S. changes how it measures long-term unemployment
By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
So many Americans have been jobless for so long that the government is changing how it records long-term unemployment.
Citing what it calls "an unprecedented rise" in long-term unemployment, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), beginning Saturday, will raise from two years to five years the upper limit on how long someone can be listed as having been jobless.
The move could help economists better measure the severity of the nation's prolonged economic downturn.
Who Benefits from Long-Term Unemployment?
By DAVID LEONHARDT - NYTimes.com
The share of the labor force that has been out of work for at least six months remains near an all-time high. Long-term unemployment is clearly terrible for the millions of people who find themselves in that situation. But it does have a flip side for the rest of the labor force: unemployment in this downturn has been concentrated among a surprisingly small number of people.
The most recent data, shown above, goes through only 2009, but other data suggests the pattern has continued in 2010: A significantly smaller share of workers experienced any spell of unemployment in the last few years than in the other deep recessions of the past 50 years. That's why the peaks above are higher for the mid-1970s recession and the early-1980s recession than for our recent recession.
Please Stop 'Helping' Us
By John Stossel - Townhall.com
Last year, Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act. It was supposed to really end the alleged abuses perpetrated by the credit card companies. The law forbids some penalties and interest-rate increases on existing balances.
It is one of President Obama's proudest achievements.
"Enough's enough," he said. "It's time for strong, reliable protection for our consumers."
Reform, he said, would not come at the expense of honest businesses. "Unless your business model depends on cutting corners or bilking your customers, you've got nothing to fear."
Finally! Protection! A new bureaucracy will stop greedy credit card companies from unfairly penalizing you. And it won't threaten the credit business. Yippie!
How has it worked out?
The Death Tax and Barney Frank
by Stephen Cox - LewRockwell.com
.... In a Dec. 17 interview with CNBC, Frank, who is the outgoing chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, went into a tirade about the moral justification of the death tax - the tax that people pay for the wealth they receive in the estates of friends and family members. Looking and speaking like Elmer Fudd in a fit of hysterical anger, Frank shrieked the following: "Heirs, who now inherit, they haven't done this on their own, they haven't worked hard; that's a pure gift to someone who is lucky enough to be related to someone or very friendly with someone, who's [inaudible, perhaps lending] them the money."
Frank has enjoyed great political power. He is famous for his intelligence. He is, perhaps, a person who deserves to be taken seriously. So I did take him seriously. I didn't just think, "Here's a politician who's trying to extract more money, even if he has to get it by robbing the dead." I started thinking about this idea of working hard for things and earning them, and thereby coming to deserve them.
61% of Voters Believe Obamacare Will Raise Health Care Costs, Survey Shows -- By Michael W. Chapman - CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) -- A new poll shows that 61 percent of voters think the new health care changes signed into law by President Barack Obama will cause health care costs to go up. Also, 55 percent of voters say the law will be bad for the country.
In its poll of 1,000 "likely voters" on Dec. 26, Rasmussen Reports found that 61 percent of "voters nationwide believe the [health care] law will cause health care costs to go up, which ties the highest level measured on the question since the bill was passed" back in March. Only 17 percent of voters think Obamacare will lower health care costs and another 17 percent said that costs "will stay about the same."
Reader's Digest gambles on new products The venerable company is rolling out several mobile products next month, as well as a new brand, Best You, which will target women over 35 with e-mails, magazines and books.
By Matthew Flamm - Crain's New York Business
It's show time for Reader's Digest.
The 88-year-old brand, which previewed a coming overhaul in September, will debut a slew of new online and print products next month. First up is Best You, a brand launching Jan. 6, the New York City-based Reader's Digest Association Inc. announced on Tuesday.
Best You, which will target women 35 and older, will include a free daily e-newsletter, a series of newsstand-only magazines and a new book imprint, all focused on health and wellness subjects. The imprint's first title will be Le Personal Coach, by French trainer Valerie Orsoni.
Julian Assange "Does United States Still Obey The Rule Of Law?"
Europeans Are Starting To Wonder
Beck: WikiLeaks, Al Qaeda, Obama, Soros Connections
Gates' Visit to China Comes As Beijing Tries to Limit U.S. Military Access to the Region
By Patrick Goodenough - CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) - The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China has invited Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Beijing in early January. His visit will come a year after China froze military contacts with the U.S. to protest arms sales to Taiwan, and it follows months of tensions over ship movements in northeast Asian waters.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said Gates' trip is intended to "sustain a dialogue aimed at improving our mutual understanding and reducing the risk of miscalculation."
Beijing's National Defense Ministry said in a statement this week that China hoped the visit would help the two militaries improve understanding and trust, properly handle conflicts and divergence, and expand common interests and cooperation.
China's Navy Gets Bigger, but Why?
By Austin Bay - PatriotPost.us
Conditions -- and human intentions -- can change quickly, but creating capabilities takes time.
This applies in virtually every realm of human endeavor. The global recession has required painful economic adjustment that in the case of a nation like Greece may take decades to repair. An epidemic can strike, but a vaccine or cure may take years to develop.
It takes years to develop military capabilities, to include weapons technology and training people to use them. In the mid-1930s, Winston Churchill saw Germany expanding its military capabilities. Churchill warned that Adolf Hitler intended to start another European war, but he was ignored. All too often, one man's prescience is another man's paranoid fantasy. Great Britain entered World War II with a small air force, despite the documented expansion of Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. The British just managed to win the Battle of Britain, but it was a near thing.
Iran Spreading 'Like a Cancer'
From theTrumpet.com Iran is trying to "dominate the Middle East" from Kabul to Casablanca. Egypt views Iran as its number one strategic threat according to a recently leaked cable dated April 28, 2009.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says that he sees "Iranian influence spreading like a cancer from the gcc [Gulf Cooperation Council countries] to Morocco," according to the cable.
"President Mubarak has made it clear that he sees Iran as Egypt's - and the region's - primary strategic threat," the cable said. "His already dangerous neighborhood, he has stressed, has only become more so since the fall of Saddam, who, as nasty as he was, nevertheless stood as a wall against Iran, according to Mubarak. He now sees Tehran's hand moving with ease throughout the region, 'from the Gulf to Morocco,' as he told a recent congressional delegation."
Mitch McConnell, the START treaty and Obama's politically motivated timetables
The Dear Leader Calls for Holy War
War Among the Koreans
by Eric Margolis - Lew Rockwell
Christmas or no Christmas, the Korean Peninsula is boiling once again, with threats flying thicker than the winter snow along North Korea's icy Yalu River.
Last week, North Korea threatened a nuclear "holy war" against South Korea. The North Korean "Dear Leader," Kim Jong-il, has repeatedly vowed to "liberate" South Korea, which he calls an American colony.
Korean tempers are as hot as their beloved national pickled cabbage dish, kimchi.
In South Korea, there is open talk of "liberating" the North.
While a majority of South Koreans favor negotiations and patience in dealing with their difficult northern brothers, many conservatives in South Korea, and particularly so Evangelical Christians, advocate military action against the North.
Hired by Customs, but Working for Mexican Cartels
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD - NYTimes.com
SAN DIEGO - At first, Luis F. Alarid seemed well on his way to becoming a customs agency success story. He had risen from a childhood of poverty and foster homes, some of them abusive, earned praise and commendations while serving in the Army and the Marines, including two tours in Iraq, and returned to Southern California to fulfill a goal of serving in law enforcement.
But, early last year, after just a few months as a customs inspector, he was waving in trucks from Mexico carrying loads of marijuana and illegal immigrants. He pocketed some $200,000 in cash that paid for, as far as the government could tell, a $15,000 motorcycle, flat-screen televisions, a laptop computer and more.
Off to Kosovo: NM Guard units will deploy
Las Cruces Sun-News
Soon after the holidays are over, about 180 soldiers of the New Mexico National Guard's 200th Infantry Battalion, based in Las Cruces, will be deployed overseas.
No, not to Iraq. Not to Afghanistan. The Guard members - about 450 from all over New Mexico - will be going to Kosovo.
Kosovo is largely a forgotten name these days. But that region suffered through devastating fighting in 1998 and 1999. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervened and there has been a NATO peacekeeping presence there ever since.
New Mexico Guard members will spend a year in Kosovo.
Lt. Col. Jamison Herrera, spokesman for the New Mexico National Guard, said, "It's safe to say that a pretty good swag of it will be soldiers from Las Cruces.
"Right now, the soldiers are completing all pre-mobilization requirements and completing certification courses for the duties they'll have while on deployment."
Political End Runs
By Thomas Sowell - Townhall.com
The Constitution of the United States begins with the words "We the people." But neither the Constitution nor "we the people" will mean anything if politicians and judges can continue to do end runs around both.
Bills passed too fast for anyone to read them are blatant examples of these end runs. But last week, another of these end runs appeared in a different institution when the medical "end of life consultations" rejected by Congress were quietly enacted through bureaucratic fiat by administrators of Medicare.
Who Owns the Future?
By Patrick J. Buchanan
"That speaks about who is going to be leading tomorrow."
So said Angel Gurria, secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Every three years, the Paris-based OECD holds its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests of the reading, math and science skills of 15-year-olds in developing and developed countries. Gurria was talking of the results of the 2009 tests.
Sixty-five nations competed. The Chinese swept the board.
The schools of Shanghai-China finished first in math, reading and science. Hong Kong-China was third in math and science. Singapore, a city-state dominated by overseas Chinese, was second in math, fourth in science.
Only Korea, Japan and Finland were in the hunt. And the U.S.A.? America ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math, producing the familiar quack-quack.
Brave New Year
Vox Day - SilverBearCafe.com
There are times when nothing very interesting seems to happen, when the years fly by like one of the uneventful periods in the history book that connect one war to another. Of course, as Americans learned on Sept. 11, 2001, it is those uneventful and uninteresting periods of history that provide a superior quality of life for those actually living through it. It may be tedious for future historians to read of people living peacefully for year after year in prosperity, but no sane individual would prefer the excitement of famine, chaos and war to comfortable boredom.
Even in the shadow of Sept. 11, Americans have been fortunate to enjoy their fat and peaceful lives. Gate rape may be irksome and ominous in what it suggests for the future, but the minor molestations of TSA perverts aren't exactly the Red Army's entry into Berlin, either.
But we are living, quite literally, on borrowed time. While the economy has not entirely collapsed into a second Great Depression, neither has it recovered. The problem is not that unemployment remains high or that immigration has rendered the wages of millions of jobs too low to be appealing to Americans living off the largesse of the state. The problem is that the Federal Reserve and the federal government have papered over the bankruptcy of many banks, states and corporations in a foolish attempt to create an illusion of recovery where none exists.
One author - 2 views for the coming year:
Here Come the Jobs!
The Case for Economic Optimism in 2011
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
Today's unemployment report is the best news we've heard from the labor market in half a year. After months of flat job growth, this is equivalent of calling it the warmest ice cube in the fridge. The private sector added 159,000 jobs, but the unemployment rate stayed frozen at 9.6 percent.
Today, the jobs picture is a tug-of-war between the private and public sector. Private companies are tugging toward growth, adding an average of 111,000 jobs each month this year, nearly enough to keep up with population growth. But federal, state and local governments are contracting by 24,000 jobs a month.
But underneath the top-line numbers, there is good news stirring. It has to do with you -- yes you -- and your falling productivity.
Doomsday Prophesy:
2011 Will Be Even Worse Than 2010
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
In the first few months of the 2011, the federal government will run out of cash. We will max out the federal credit card, and Congress will refuse to open another line of credit. Treasury won't have enough money to both run the government and pay back our lenders.
The implications will be dramatic, and possibly cataclysmic. We will stop funding up to 40 percent of all federal government activities. While the Treasury will feel required to pay back international investors to calm fears of a historic default, we won't have enough money to pay for Social Security, Medicare, homeland security, and the keep the federal government running. Workers will lose jobs. Companies would lose contracts. Businesses will lose confidence. Both inside and outside the United States, panic will proliferate. Global markets will roil and the US economy will tip from slow growth back into negative growth, double dipping into recession.
Second Global Financial Crisis Shoe 2011
By: Brian Bloom - MarketOracle.co.uk
Summary: The probability of second down leg in the Global Financial Crisis is rising. Three charts tell the story on a world-wide basis.
1. Standard and Poor Industrial Index - 85 Year Chart
2. Volatility Index Chart (of Standard and Poor)
3. Shanghai Index Chart Analysis:
The 86 year stock market chart is back in overbought territory
The only alternatives available to authorities are:
1. Allow market to breathe out
2. Rampant inflation
Q: Are our authorities stupid?
A: No. They understand as well as you and I that rampant inflation will rupture the entire system Interim Conclusion: The market is edging closer to a second down leg
2011 Will Bring More de Facto Decriminalization of Elite Financial Fraud
William K. Black - HuffingtonPost.com
The role of the criminal justice system with regard to financial fraud by elite bankers in 2011 is likely to reprise its role last decade -- de facto decriminalization. The Galleon investigation of insider trading at hedge funds will take much of the FBI's and the Department of Justice's (DOJ) focus.
The state attorneys general investigations of foreclosure fraud do focus on the major players such as the Bank of America (BoA), but they are unlikely to lead to criminal liability for any senior bank officials. It is most likely that they will lead to financial settlements that include new funding for loan modifications.
Lessons From the Recession: 10 Things We Learned in 2010
By Ann Brenoff - WalletPop.com
Times are hard but, as they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. The WalletPop team collectively learned these lessons from the recession:
Our Houses Are Homes, Not Piggy Banks or Retirement Funds
Public Libraries Are a Good and Free Thing
Only Fools Go Shopping Without First Googling for Coupons
Ask for Discounts Everywhere
Savings Accounts Are a Good Thing
The Friendly Credit Card Company Is Not Our Friend
Car Loans Are for Wusses
There Is No Such Thing as Job Security
Vacations Are a State of Mind
Share What You Have
10 Reasons to be Cautious for the 2011 Market Outlook
David Rosenberg - Gluskin Sheff - SiloverBearCafe.com
Time for reflection. Whether you're stuck at JFK or Charles de Gaulle, smugly snowed in with friends and loved ones, freezing in the dark because your bills ain't getting paid, surfing in the Pacific or scraping for food in the tropical heat , whether you're Julian Assange or Michail Khodorkovsky, we can all use some time to think about how we got here, wherever here is. Why do we do what we do, why do we let others do to us what they do?
As our world is increasingly being gutted from within, morally, economically and politically, as we have handed control over our essential needs to a few handfuls of semi-psychopaths who have never had to think about what is essential and what is not, we might do well to ponder why, throughout history, we have always gladly and willingly surrendered control over our fates and lives, as soon as someone, anyone, held up a picture that was so rosy it was clearly too good to be true.
America's Political Class Struggle
Jeffrey D. Sachs - ProjectSyndicate.org
NEW YORK - America is on a collision course with itself. This month's deal between President Barack Obama and the Republicans in Congress to extend the tax cuts initiated a decade ago by President George W. Bush is being hailed as the start of a new bipartisan consensus. I believe, instead, that it is a false truce in what will become a pitched battle for the soul of American politics.
As in many countries, conflicts over public morality and national strategy come down to questions of money. In the United States, this is truer than ever. The US is running an annual budget deficit of around $1 trillion, which may widen further as a result of the new tax agreement. This level of annual borrowing is far too high for comfort. It must be cut, but how?
America's cracked political system US politics, often decried for its 'partisanship', is all too bipartisan Ð in its deeply dysfunctional consensus on tax and wealth
By Jeffrey Sachs - guardian.co.uk
America is on a collision course with itself. This month's deal between President Barack Obama and the Republicans in Congress to extend the tax cuts initiated a decade ago by President George W Bush is being hailed as the start of a new bipartisan consensus. I believe, instead, that it is a false truce in what will become a pitched battle for the soul of American politics.
As in many countries, conflicts over public morality and national strategy come down to questions of money. In the United States, this is truer than ever. The US is running an annual budget deficit of around $1tn, which may widen further as a result of the new tax agreement. This level of annual borrowing is far too high for comfort. It must be cut, but how?
Investing in Gold Ahead of the Chinese
By The Mogambo Guru - TheDailyReckoning.com
12/28/10 Tampa, Florida - There are a lot of things in this world that I do not understand, and perhaps it is because of this persistent befuddlement that, for some mysterious reason, I think it is Highly, Highly Significant (HHS) that the Chinese Gold & Silver Exchange is planning "a first"; an international gold contract denominated in renminbi.
Agora Financial's 5-Minute Forecast notes that "Right now, the Hong Kong-based exchange settles all its trades in Hong Kong dollars," which should be enough to get the job done, you would think.
So why a new international gold contract denominated in Chinese renminbi? I don't know, which is not unusual because I actually know so little about anything, but The 5 says, "Adding renminbi to the mix could boost the exchange's trading volume by 20%, to a daily total of $6 billion," which I assume means that commissions, fees and money made by middlemen would increase, for one thing! Hahaha!
Dollar Is Near 6-Week Low on Signs U.S. Recovery Will Take Time
By Yoshiaki Nohara and Ron Harui
Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar traded near a six-week low against the yen as U.S. data signaled an uneven recovery in the world's largest economy.
The U.S. currency was close to a seven-week low against the Australian dollar before data forecast to show U.S. businesses expanded at a slower pace. The euro fell against 15 of its 16 major counterparts after the European Central Bank said it failed to fully neutralize the extra liquidity created by its bond purchases for a second time since the program began in May.
"Sentiment about the U.S. economy won't improve much," said Naoto Minatogawa, a currency analyst at Himawari Securities Inc. in Tokyo. "U.S. economic data are showing mixed results and have yet to show a clear direction. People don't see reasons to buy the dollar aggressively."
Hyperinflation, Never Say Never
By: Captain Hook
In reviewing the charts from the Chart Room over the weekend I came to the conclusion that in terms of timing the markets you don't want to think in terms of price right now, but in terms of time, where again, we are not looking for a blow-off top in the present intermediate move until sometime in the first quarter next year, with early February the favored target from both historical and cyclical perspectives. How did I come to this conclusion? Answer: As you will see in the charts below, several breakouts and trend blow-offs are in the process of tracing out, meaning more time is needed for this to occur no matter how overbought technical conditions in the market are at this time. And while it's true that everything from stocks to commodities are intermediate degree overbought, what this means is conditions will become even more overbought, and as a result, it's possible hyperinflationary conditions in the US could at a minimum be tested.
Inflation Update: TMS (True Money) Status
BY STEVE SAVILLE
We do our own calculation of US money supply (TMS), which is almost identical to the TMS2 calculation at the above-linked blog. There are some differences between the year-over-year TMS growth rates that we come up with and those determined by Mike Pollaro, but the differences are immaterial (our calculation is undoubtedly less accurate, but the discrepancy is almost always limited to a few tenths of a percentage point).
Despite what Bernanke claims, the US money supply continues to grow at a rapid rate. As evidence we present the following chart, which shows that TMS's year-over-year growth rate is above 10% and has been in double digits for almost two years.
Europe's Economic Pain Awakens Old Arguments
By LANDON THOMAS Jr. - NYTimes.com
LONDON - "We told you so."
When the treaty establishing Europe's common currency was approved in the early 1990s, Europe's political and business elite had high hopes that it would bind the Continent's disparate economies and often bickering nations as never before.
And as the euro made its debut in the early 2000s, there was an outpouring of support from many citizens pleased that they would no longer have to change Spanish pesetas to French francs or Dutch guilders to German marks as they crossed borders from one country to another.
China CEOs Temper Support for Stronger Yuan With Dollar Concern
By Bloomberg News
Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese executives are reducing support for a stronger yuan as they criticize U.S. monetary easing for weakening the dollar and fueling asset bubbles in emerging-market economies.
Shen Wenrong, chairman of Jiangsu Shagang Group Co., the nation's biggest private steelmaker, said China should only allow a "token" appreciation while the U.S. is "printing money to stoke inflation." Ma Weihua, chief executive officer of China Merchants Bank Co., said the yuan shouldn't climb "too fast" and the Federal Reserve must show more restraint after announcing plans to buy $600 billion of Treasuries. Xia Jingjiang, general manager at Topshow Outdoor Products Co., which makes baseball caps with corporate logos, said the government won't risk growth with more rapid currency gains.
Why China Should Raise Its Currency Instead of Interest Rates
By CHARLES WALLACE - DailyFinance.com
China's decision to raise interest rates to contain food and housing price increases is a missed opportunity to move the country toward a more domestic-oriented economy. All Beijing had to do was boost the value of the yuan, its national currency, to reduce the emphasis on its export sector, but there's no evidence that such a major change is likely.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged on Sunday that China's inflation rate -- up 5.1% in November compared with a year ago -- "made life more difficult" for lower-income Chinese, the bulk of the nation's population. But he vowed that the government is "completely able to control the overall level of prices."
Inflation, the new civil war in China
By George Chen - Reuters.com
Mao Zedong led his Communist comrades to defeat the Chinese Nationalists in a civil war, founding a "new" China in 1949. Today, the Hu Jintao administration is fighting a new civil war and the enemy is inflation.
Beijing announced the latest interest rate rise - the second of 2010 - on Christmas Day, effective on Dec. 26, also the birthday of Chairman Mao. I suspect, central bankers in Beijing didn't really want to celebrate the Western holiday, they just wanted to give the market a surprise Christmas gift.
I asked some friends in the financial industry if the rate increase was a surprise. The responses were very mixed. The 0.25 basis point increase for the benchmark deposit and lending rates was a sort of uniform move. If the central bank had gone for a 50 basis point rise, that would have been a very big surprise. The timing of the increase was a surprise, especially after Beijing raised bank required reserve ratios about a week earlier.
Theft by Mercantilism, China and the Keynesian Trap
By: Gary North - MarketOracle.co.uk "Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote."
~ The Gospel According to Keynes, Chapter 1, verse 1.
Keynesianism is an economic philosophy based on the idea that the free market required intervention from the civil government in order to maintain justice and efficiency. The free market is both inefficient and unfair to the common man, Keynesianism teaches.
So does mercantilism.
Keynesianism is almost universally believed today. Therefore, mercantilism is almost universally believed. This connection is not intuitive, but it is nonetheless true. What the economics textbooks do not say, because they are written mostly by Keynesians, is that Keynesianism is mercantilism with equations.
Re-evaluating Free Trade With China
Phyllis Schlafly - Townhall.com
The voters who elected the new Congress expect it to cast off unconstitutional and discredited policies such as Keynesian big-spending and judicial grabbing of legislative prerogatives. We also hope Congress will shake itself loose from the dishonest, anti-American trade policies of other countries, especially communist China.
Although China is called a major trading partner, it treats U.S. companies like suckers, cheating them coming and going. China even intimidates U.S. businessmen so they don't dare to criticize China's unfair trade tactics.
U.S.-China Current Account Imbalance Could Disappear
By Jeffrey Sparshott - WSJ.com
Current account imbalances in the U.S. and China will shrink and maybe even disappear in the next few years, eliminating a threat to international economic stability, a former chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers posits in remarks set for delivery next month.
"Although natural market forces should resolve such imbalances without the need for specific government policies, the government actions in both countries have actually contributed to their persistence and prevented market forces from correcting the problem. That may be about to change," Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University economics professor, said in an advance copy of remarks set for delivery at the Allied Social Science Associations annual conference.
China Says No More Cars,
Down Goes the Auto Industry During 2011
By: Dian L Chu - MarketOracle.co.uk
While the world is still unwrapping the surprise Christmas gift from China in the form of a interest rate hike of 25 basis points, this other piece of news with ample implication to the auto industry seems to have gone largely under the radar--The City of Beijing will limit the number of new license plates issued in 2011 to 240,000 to help control traffic congestion. Xinhua reported that car buyers in Beijing will have to draw lots before obtaining a vehicle license plate.
Bailouts Inflated Biggest US and Foreign Banks,
Let Community Banks Rot
By: David Dayen -
I have so many problems with the narrative that TARP and the bank bailouts in general were an unqualified success that I don't know where to begin sometimes, but a few articles out today should provide a good place.
First, it's clear that the Federal Reserve nursed banks back to health far more effectively and with far more resources than anything from TARP. TARP was the way that Congress could get implicated in the bailouts, so they wouldn't have the ability to press the Federal Reserve over their trillions of lending. But the Fed didn't just bestow this gift on banks that received TARP money; they became the central banker to the world by lending to multiple non-US banks. This wasn't just a token amount of lending - more than HALF of the term auction facility, or TAF, the largest Fed emergency lending fund, went to foreign banks. And it went to healthy foreign banks with triple-A credit ratings, in addition to the sick ones. There was a procedure in TARP that everyone takes the money blind so the market cannot tell which banks are in trouble, but lending to banks with solid-gold credit ratings at ultra-cheap rates and accepting junk collateral in return? You might as well give the banks a machine to print money.
Treasuries decline
By David Goldman
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After a one-day respite, Treasury prices fell Tuesday.
Investors sent bond prices higher on Monday, following a successful $35 billion auction of two-year notes. But Treasuries dipped back into the red as investors weighed a continued drop in home prices, slipping consumer confidence and another bond auction on Tuesday.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year note rose to 3.48%. The 30-year bond yield was up to 4.55%.
Meanwhile, the yield on the 2-year note edged up to 0.68%. The 5-year note bounded to 2.15%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Hard Call for FDIC: When to Shut Bank
By JEAN EAGLESHAM - WSJ.com
More than 300 U.S. banks and savings institutions failed in the past four years. But there are huge differences in how sick they were when regulators seized them.
About a dozen of the dead financial institutions had a tangible common equity ratio, a widely used measurement of a bank's cushion to absorb losses, of more than 8% when they failed, according to an analysis by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. That isn't much worse than the median ratio of 9% among the 50 companies in the investment bank's regional-bank stock index.
In contrast, a total of 50 failed banks had negative capital by the time regulators swooped in, meaning their capital was depleted by losses. And those shutdowns came as long as two years after government officials issued their first warning about financial inadequacies, analysts at the KBW Inc. unit found.
2010 worst year for bank failures since 1992
By David S. Hilzenrath - Washington Post
More banks failed in the United States this year than in any year since 1992, during the savings-and-loan crisis, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Amid high unemployment, a struggling economy, and a still devastated real estate market, the nation is closing out the year with 157 bank failures, up from 140 in 2009. As recently as 2006, before the bubble burst, there were none.
Now, there are more on the horizon.
The FDIC's list of "problem" banks - those whose weaknesses "threaten their continued financial viability"- stood at 860 as of Sept. 30, the highest since 1993. Historically, about a fifth of banks on the watch list end up failing.
Get Ready for More Failures of Bailed-Out Banks
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
ver since the banking industry began to heal after the financial crisis, the bank bailout appeared to be working. By now, most very big banks have paid back what they owed the government. Even AIG -- one of the most troubled bailout recipients of them all -- is on track to leave taxpayers with little or no loss. But most of these news stories focus on the large institutions that most Americans have heard of, like Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Bank of America. Many smaller banks that took government aid aren't faring as well.
In fact, Michael Rapoport of the Wall Street Journal reports that nearly 100 U.S. banks that took bailout (aka "TARP") cash are in danger of failing:
Obama administration steps up monitoring of banks that miss TARP payments -- By Zachary A. Goldfarb - Washington Post
The Obama administration has begun monitoring the high-level board meetings of nearly 20 banks that received emergency taxpayer assistance but repeatedly failed to pay the required dividends, according to Treasury Department officials and documents. And it may soon install new directors on some of their boards.
The moves come as the number of banks that failed to make at least one dividend payment to the government rose to 132 in the last quarter. These "deadbeats," as they are sometimes called, are virtually all community lenders and collectively received billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance.
Out of Lehman's Ashes Wall Street Gets Most of What It Wants
By Christine Harper
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street's biggest banks, whose missteps caused a global financial crisis and economic slowdown two years ago, were more agile when it came to countering the political and regulatory response.
The U.S. government, promising to make the system safer, buckled under many of the financial industry's protests. Lawmakers spurned changes that would wall off deposit-taking banks from riskier trading. They declined to limit the size of lenders or ban any form of derivatives. Higher capital and liquidity requirements agreed to by regulators worldwide have been delayed for years to aid economic recovery.
Draconian moves a must for local budgets
Governments lay off workers, postpone projects
By Sean Lengell - The Washington Times
While the national economy shows signs of improvement, city and county governments nationwide still are feeling the strain, as 2010 was among their worst years financially in decades.
As a result, local governments have slashed budgets, scaled back or postponed infrastructure projects, and laid off significant chunks of their work force.
And with the real estate market - and therefore property tax revenue - still stagnant, local officials don't expect the situation to improve much in the new year.
Illinois Default Insurance Cost at Five-Month High: Muni Credit
By Darrell Preston
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The cost of insuring Illinois's bonds against default rose to the highest level in five months as the state headed for the new year without a plan to finance a $3.7 billion pension-fund contribution.
The cost of credit-default swap insurance on the lowest- rated state after California has risen 16 percent to $330,000 to protect $10 million of debt, from $285,000 on Dec. 3, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's the most expensive since July 12, when it reached $335,000.
"They're punishing all the states but they're punishing the worst states more," said Alan Schankel, director of fixed-income research for Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, a money- management firm based in Philadelphia. "Illinois has been worse for a while."
'Doubling Up' in Recession-Strained Quarters
By MICHAEL LUO - NYTimes.com
FORT PIERCE, Fla. - For the three generations of the Maggi family crowded into a recession-beaten three-bedroom ranch house here, the tension from living on top of one another for the last 10 months sometimes erupts at unexpected moments.
A nudge from Kathy Maggi for her 26-year-old daughter, Holly, to clean her room sparks a blow-up; an offhand comment by Jim Maggi about the way bills come in "month after month" to his daughter's fiancé, James Wilson, causes days of smoldering; a bite of a chocolate bar from Grandma to 21-month-old Madison leads to frustrated chatter behind closed doors about "Nana" and "Pawpaw" spoiling her.
Housing Recovery Stalls Fresh Fall in Home Prices Is Headwind for Economy;
Other Signs Still Strong
By S. MITRA KALITA And SUDEEP REDDY- WSJ.com
A new bout of declining home prices is threatening to hamper the U.S. recovery, just as consumers and the overall economy have been showing signs of healing.
Home prices across 20 major metropolitan areas fell 1.3% in October from September, the third straight month-over-month drop, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index released Tuesday. Many economists expect the declines to continue into at least next spring, erasing most of the gains made since prices bottomed out in early 2009.
The housing market, which appeared poised for a recovery earlier in the year, now could be heading for a second downward drift.
Home price plunge is widespread
By Les Christie
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Home prices took a shockingly steep plunge on a monthly basis, an indication that the housing market could be on the verge of -- if it's not already in -- a double-dip slump.
Prices in 20 key cities fell 1.3% in October from a month earlier, an annualized decline of 15%, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Prices were down 0.8% from 12 months earlier.
Month-over-month prices dropped in all 20 metro areas covered by the index. Six markets reached their lowest levels since the housing bust first began in 2006 and 2007. They were Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Miami, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tampa, Fla.
Home-price dip casts pall on better economic outlook
By Patrice Hill - The Washington Times
The slumping housing market struck a sour note Tuesday, somewhat dampening optimism that the economy is getting a big sugar rush from the best Christmas selling season in three years.
Splurging consumers bent on celebrating the holidays in style so far have been largely undeterred by continuing doubts about the state of the housing and jobs markets, retailers report. Consumer spending is the biggest engine of growth, accounting for about 70 percent of economic activity.
But a report from Standard & Poor's Corp. on Tuesday showed the housing market continues to cast a shadow over the consumer parade. A renewed drop of 1.3 percent in home prices in 20 major U.S. cities in October showed clearly that housing fell into a double-dip recession last fall.
Federal Home Loan Bank Proposals Aim to Reinforce Housing Finance System -- by Jann Swanson - MortgageNewsDaily.com
Last week the Federal Home Finance Administration issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) which outlines proposed changes in membership requirements for Federal Home Loan Banks (Banks). The 12 Banks, regionally dispersed throughout the United States, were originally organized in 1932 under the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to provide a reserve banking system for thrift institutions to support their residential mortgage lending activities.
The Banks are established as cooperatives. Membership allows institutions access to secured loans or advances to fund mortgage lending. Community Financial Institutions (CFI, defined below) and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) can use advances for loans to small businesses, farms, and agribusiness and for community development activities.
U.S. home prices drop 1.3% from September to October
By Dina ElBoghdady - Washington Post
Home prices fell in the nation's major metropolitan areas from September to October, with six regions hitting new lows, and they're not expected to rebound anytime soon.
The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index, long considered a reliable gauge of the housing market's health, reported Tuesday that prices of single-family homes dropped 1.3 percent in all 20 regions it tracks.
The housing market's collapse crippled the economy, and a recovery in home prices is considered critical to getting the market back on track. But many economists predict that home prices will continue to fall into the new year and possibly beyond.
Consumer Confidence Shaken by Continued Job Concerns
By JOSEPH LAZZARO - DailyFinance.com
Consumer confidence unexpectedly fell to 52.5 in December from a revised 54.3 in November, as a sluggish U.S. job market prevented consumers from changing their cautious stance toward the economic recovery.
A Bloomberg survey had expected the index to rise to 57.4 in December. The index was at 50.2 in October, 58.6 in September, and 53.5 in August. It hit a record low of 25.3 in April 2009.
Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said although consumer confidence unexpectedly dipped in December, the longer-term trend offers a more encouraging picture.
Should December's Dip in Consumer Confidence Worry Us?
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Despite the strongest holiday sales since 2005, consumers were feeling less confident about the U.S. economy in December than they were in November. The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index declined to 52.5 from 54.3 in November. This is a pretty disappointing result, considering it had risen for two-straight months leading up to December. Should this news worry us about how the recovery will fare in 2011?
First, here's the chart for the Consumer Confidence Index since mid-2009:
It's sort of hard to compare December's value to other months, since there's so much up-and-down movement. But we can at least say that confidence is still significantly higher than it was in September or October. It's also only slightly below where it was a year ago, which means that confidence didn't improve much throughout 2010, but it also didn't get much worse.
White House attempts to quiet revived talk of 'death panels'
By Jason Millma - TheHill.com
The Obama administration is trying to quiet talk about so-called Òdeath panelsÓ after The New York Times reported Sunday that a new Medicare regulation includes incentives for end-of-life-care planning.
The Medicare policy will pay doctors for holding end-of-life-care discussions with patients, according to the Times. A similar provision was dropped from the new healthcare reform law after Republicans accused the administration of withholding care from the sick, elderly and disabled.
However, an administration spokesman said the regulation, which is less specific than the reform law's draft language, is actually a continuation of a policy enacted under former President George W. Bush.
So Young and So Many Pills More than 25% of Kids and Teens in the U.S. Take Prescriptions on a Regular Basis -- By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS - WSJ.com
Gage Martindale, who is 8 years old, has been taking a blood-pressure drug since he was a toddler. "I want to be healthy, and I don't want things in my heart to go wrong," he says.
And, of course, his mom is always there to check Gage's blood pressure regularly with a home monitor, and to make sure the second-grader doesn't skip a dose of his once-a-day enalapril.
These days, the medicine cabinet is truly a family affair. More than a quarter of U.S. kids and teens are taking a medication on a chronic basis, according to Medco Health Solutions Inc., the biggest U.S. pharmacy-benefit manager with around 65 million members. Nearly 7% are on two or more such drugs, based on the company's database figures for 2009.
All first-class stamps to be 'forever' from now on Another era is coming to an end:
Denominated first-class postage stamps
USAToday.com.
Starting next month, all new stamps will be labeled "forever," a U.S. Postal Service official tells the Associated Press. Forevers eliminate the need to add 1- and 2-cent stamps when rates change, which apparently has been a challenge for snail-mailers, said the official, who asked not be named because Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe isn't scheduled to officially announce the new policy until Jan. 14.
The first forever stamp was issued in April 2007.
A first-class stamp is now 44 cents (for the first ounce), but the financially challenged Postal Service is looking to raise it next year.
And Now, for Something Entirely Different... An Era Ends For Film Photography
Karl Denninger - SilverBeaqrCafe.com
On December 30th, the last place where you can get Kodachrome color slide film developed will run out of processing chemicals and cease operations.
And on that day, an icon - arguably the best color film ever made - will pass into never-never land.
Kodachrome was a film that I grew up with. It was more expensive and finicky to shoot than Ektachrome, and unlike the latter, you cannot process it yourself in your own darkroom - the chemicals and processing were beyond reasonable amateur use.
But Kodachrome had richer, more natural colors than other slide and print films, a better depth of exposure, and most-importantly, the dyes used in it had a durability that nothing has bettered when stored "dark" (in a box) - before or since.
Silicon stars: 2010's boldface tech startups
From Groupon to Gilt Groupe, several tech startups had banner years that altered our perception of technology and its role in society. Here are a few that captured Fortune's imagination.
Few industries transform more swiftly than technology. Where startup companies in other sectors might need years before they find success, some tech startups can become successful, by some measures, in just four days. (That's how long it took personal profile startup About.Me to be bought by AOL (AOL) earlier this month.)
Nowhere but online can a company stumble upon such rapid user growth or jaw-dropping investment or buyout offers. Because while the Apples, Googles, and Oracles of the world might rule, at least as far as the bottom line is concerned, arguably much of technology's cutting-edge innovation occurs within the tiny confines of a startup's HQ. And tech giant CEOs often rely on these startups to innovate in their way large companies can't, only to snap up their products and personnel with mountains of cash.
Ceiling Lights In Minn. Send Coded Internet Data The New Wireless:
Flickering Lights In Minnesota Used To Send Coded Signals For Internet
(AP) CBSNews.com ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP) - Flickering ceiling lights are usually a nuisance, but in city offices in St. Cloud, they will actually be a pathway to the Internet.
The lights will transmit data to specially equipped computers on desks below by flickering faster than the eye can see. Ultimately, the technique could ease wireless congestion by opening up new expressways for short-range communications.
The first few light fixtures built by LVX System, a local startup, will be installed Wednesday in six municipal buildings in this city of 66,000 in the snowy farm fields of central Minnesota.
Net Neutrality Rules Not So Popular
By Peter Suderman - Reason.com
The FCC passed a net neutrality order last week. It didn't give liberals every item on their net-regulation wishlist, but it fulfilled one of Obama's campaign promises. But as we've seen before, it doesn't appear to be very popular:
Fifty-four percent of likely voters oppose such regulation, while just 21 percent support it, according to the survey of likely voters taken just after the FCC last week approved Chairman Julius Genachowski's plan to prevent discrimination by Internet service providers against certain websites or applications.
Obama's Liberty Problem
Bill Quigley and Vince Warren - SilverBearCafe.com Why Indefinite Detention By Executive Order Should Scare the Hell Out of People
The right to liberty is one of the foundation rights of a free people. The idea that any US President can bypass Congress and bypass the Courts by issuing an Executive Order setting up a new legal system for indefinite detention of people should rightfully scare the hell out of the American people. Advisors in the Obama administration have floated the idea of creating a special new legal system to indefinitely detain people by Executive Order.
Why? To do something with the people wrongfully imprisoned in Guantanamo. Why not follow the law and try them? The government knows it will not be able to win prosecutions against them because they were tortured by the US.
Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers Everyone knows that Daniel Ellsberg leaked top-secret government documents about the Vietnam War. How many remember the ones he kept secret, or why?
By FLOYD ABRAMS - NYTimes.com
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg decided to make available to the New York Times (and then to other newspapers) 43 volumes of the Pentagon Papers, the top- secret study prepared for the Department of Defense examining how and why the United States had become embroiled in the Vietnam conflict. But he made another critical decision as well. That was to keep confidential the remaining four volumes of the study describing the diplomatic efforts of the United States to resolve the war.
Not at all coincidentally, those were the volumes that the government most feared would be disclosed. In a secret brief filed with the Supreme Court, the U.S. government described the diplomatic volumes as including information about negotiations secretly conducted on its behalf by foreign nations including Canada, Poland, Italy and Norway. Included as well, according to the government, were "derogatory comments about the perfidiousness of specific persons involved, and statements which might be offensive to nations or governments."
Putting the Record Straight on the Lamo-Manning Chat Logs
By Evan Hansen and Kevin Poulsen - Wired.com
The Case for Privacy
Six months ago, Wired.com senior editor Kevin Poulsen came to me with a whiff of a story. A source he'd known for years claimed he was talking to the FBI about an enlisted soldier in Iraq who had bragged to him in an internet chat of passing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the secret-spilling site Wikileaks.
It's probably nothing, Poulsen said. The source in question, an ex-hacker named Adrian Lamo, often sees himself as at the center of important events crying out for public attention. But sometimes, Poulsen added, he's right.
Acknowledging the long shot, Poulsen wanted to drive up to Sacramento, California, to meet Lamo in person and try to get a copy of the alleged chats. I agreed.
PetroChina Sells Gas Pipeline Stake to Kunlun for $2.9 Billion
By Bloomberg News
Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- PetroChina Co. agreed to sell its stake in a gas pipeline operator to subsidiary Kunlun Energy Co. for 18.9 billion ($2.9 billion) to help make fuel distribution the main business of the Hong Kong-listed oil producer.
Kunlun Energy will buy the 60 percent stake in PetroChina Beijing Natural Gas Pipeline Co., according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. Beijing Gas Group Co., a unit of Beijing Enterprises Holdings Ltd., owns 40 percent.
Shares of Kunlun Energy rose as much as 3.2 percent today on speculation the company will benefit from rising demand for gas in Beijing, where the city government forecasts consumption will increase 17 percent this year. The oil producer's stock has more than quadrupled since PetroChina agreed to buy a majority stake in August 2008 and turn Kunlun into a gas distributor.
The US-China Dialogue of the Deaf
George Soros - ProjectSyndicate.org
NEW YORK - In 2010, economic conflict between the United States and China became one of the most worrying global developments. The US pressed China to revalue the renminbi, while China blamed the US Federal Reserve policy of "quantitative easing" for currency-market turmoil. The two sides are talking past each other, though both are making valid points.
The global imbalances that were at the root at the Crash of 2008 have not been corrected - indeed, some have grown larger. The US still consumes more than it produces, running a chronic trade deficit. Consumption remains too high, at nearly 70% of GDP, compared to an unsustainably low 35.6% of GDP in China. Households are over-indebted and must save more.
South Korea Declares North Korean Regime Its Enemy
By Seonjin Cha
Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea declared North Korea's regime and military its enemy after the communist country's deadly shelling of a border island last month that killed four people, including two civilians.
South Korea stopped short of calling North Korea its "main enemy" in a defense white paper to be published tomorrow, the defense ministry said in a statement on its website. The term main enemy was dropped in 2004 under South Korea's "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with North Korea.
President Lee Myung Bak has taken a tougher approach to North Korea since coming to power in 2008 and in the wake of the deadly Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island. Lee named Kim Kwan Jin as his new defense minister just three days after the artillery barrage and has pledged to strengthen the military.
A New Democratic Agenda for Russia
Mikhail Gorbachev - ProjectSyndicate.org
MOSCOW - When Russian President Dmitri Medvedev delivered his annual address to the Federal Assembly I was struck by the fact that his speech seemed to be meant for an advanced, prosperous country, not the real Russia of today.
Russia will hold a presidential election in 2012. What happens in 2011 will, in my opinion, be even more important than the election itself. Indeed, the evolution of Russian society could transform Russian politics, despite those domestic opponents who deny change or those who unqualifiedly classify Russia as "incorrigibly authoritarian." But, in order for that to happen, a new agenda for Russia must be developed this year.
2011: Year of Recovery, Year of Reckoning
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
This is what the case for optimism really looks like: Goldman Sachs' most famous analyst Jim O'Neill has proclaimed 2011 the Year of the United States. He sees stock market gains of up to 20 percent and job growth accelerating on the back of strong earnings and even better spending.
Sounds great! But how do we square this with the fact that states and cities are facing record deficits next year? How can we really expect an export comeback when our trading partners from Europe to Japan all seem on the cusp of a debt crisis?
The story of 2011 is a face-off between two forces: The Recovery and The Reckoning. In the U.S., incomes and hiring prospects are going up, while private debt and tax rates are staying down. That's the recovery. But public debt at the state, federal and international level hovers ominously over our economy. That's the reckoning.
Judge Napolitano on The Plain Truth of the Federal Reserve
Government Spending, GDP and Nonsense In Between Them
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
12/27/10 Los Perros, Nicaragua - No market news. Every market in Christendom was closed for the 25th.
Still, the crackpot theorists and muddled meddlers never seem to take a holiday. Robert Shiller should have been embarrassed to write the following words. The New York Times should have been embarrassed to print them.
But today's economic intelligentsia knows neither shame nor common sense. You be the judge:
It has long been known that Keynesian economic stimulus does not require deficit spending. Under certain idealized assumptions, a concept known as the "balanced-budget multiplier theorem" states that national income is raised, dollar for dollar, with any increase in government expenditure on goods and services that is matched by a tax increase.
Burns Diary Exposes the Myth of Fed Independence
Mises Daily: by Doug French
[Inside the Nixon Administration: The Secret Diary of Arthur Burns, 1969-1974 • By Arthur Burns • University Press of Kansas, 2010 • 144 pages]
The notion of central-bank independence is one of the great myths of the modern age. The perception is constantly floated and the words mouthed. Every president and potential presidential candidate swears the Fed's independence is sacrosanct. Even before becoming president, Barack Obama spoke in reverence of Ben Bernanke's operation. "Senator Obama made clear his respect for the independence of the Federal Reserve System and the special importance of its role during periods of economic uncertainty," Obama's Senate spokesman Michael Ortiz told Reuters in July of 2008.
In May the current Fed chair told a conference in Tokyo that he and other central bankers must be left alone to expertly guide their respective economies; otherwise, Bernanke said, "political interference in monetary policy can generate undesirable boom-bust cycles that ultimately lead to both a less stable economy and higher inflation."
China Raises Interest Rates to Combat Inflation
By Chuck Butler - DailyReckoning.com
12/27/10 St. Louis, Missouri - Chris did a great job last week, keeping me up to date on what was going on I thought he described it quite well, with the trading desks cut down to junior traders, and no one wanting to go far out on the limb with positions this close to end-of-the-year position squaring I truly suspect that will be the case but only magnified to even slower movements and smaller volumes. But that doesn't mean I won't have anything to talk about!
The Eurozone periphery country debt crisis still hangs over the euro like the Sword of Damocles, which also means that the other non-euro countries of Europe, get some of the hangover from the Eurozone Countries like Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and even Switzerland, aren't allowed to freely trade on their own fundamentals during times like this But, in the end, these countries and their currencies will outperform the euro, because fundamentals eventually win out...
The China Syndrome: A Building Bubble This Way Bloweth
By James West - GoldSeek.com
The investment world has become obsessed with phenomena that cause catastrophic loss Ð so much so that a new language has evolved, subjugating old words to new meanings. Melt-downs, for example. Collapse. Bubbles.
Bubble, in fact, is now the word that classifies any asset class believed to be overpriced as a result of investment hysteria. Right now, we have the gold bubble, the silver bubble, more generally, the commodities bubble. The real estate bubble, now burst, precipitated the world financial crisis of 2008, which, according to most financial press, is now over. Strange, that, since unemployment remains rampant, home prices are still at rock bottom, and earnings for any corporation who didn't get stimulus cash to superficially improve their balance sheet optics, are non-existent.
As Ireland Flails, Europe Lurches Across the Rubicon
By CHARLES FORELLE, DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS, BRIAN BLACKSTONE And DAVID ENRICH - WSJ.com
DEAUVILLE, France - On Oct. 18, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy took a sunset stroll on the beach of this chic casino resort. Five months earlier, Europe had committed more than $100 billion to rescue Greece. Now the Continent's debt crisis was moving on to Ireland, and the German leader worried Berlin would have to foot the bill for this and future bailouts.
"Angela, I'm going to help you," the French president said, before they set out for the boardwalk. The air chilled, so Mr. Sarkozy ordered an aide to fetch Ms. Merkel's coat. The lights of the palatial casino flickered in the distance.
The two leaders had a risky plan: The Deauville pact, sealed that evening, called for investors holding bonds in insolvent euro-zone nations to shoulder losses on them, starting in 2013. That would instill discipline in profligate countries, but also implied that a Western European nation might default on its debts. That hadn't happened in half a century, and the mere suggestion would shake markets, Mr. Sarkozy's own advisers had warned.
Black Says Euro May Be 'Undone" in 3-4 Years
Governments lie. They cheat. They steal. How to Defend the Free Market Gold Coin Standard: Stop Defending the Government Counterfeits
by Gary North - LewRockwell.com
This was posted on one of my site's discussion forums on the night before Christmas:
Gold based economies more volatile than central bank fiat based money economies??
Roubini: On a return to the Gold standard
"When you had a traditional gold standard, boom and bust with severe swings in economic activity were the norm - really big ones. It was only once we moved to fiat money that central banks were able to smooth the business cycle, and make it less volatile, as we did during the financial economic crisis." ~ Nov 2010
Where do they get these ideas? Or rather where did I get the idea the boom and busts would be smaller in a gold based society? I know I have heard this multiple times.
Yoshikami Says Commodities Becoming Alternative Currency:Video
Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Michael Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors, and Matt Shapiro, president of MWS Capital, talk about the outlook for commodities and the U.S. stock market.
GATA's lawsuit for Fed's gold documents slogs on
By: Chris Powell, Secretary/Treasurer, GATA - GoldSeek.com
GATA's lawsuit against the Federal Reserve in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia slogs on amid the Fed's desperate obstructionism. Last week, through its lawyers, William J. Olson and Jon S. Miles of the Vienna, Virginia, firm of William J. Olson P.C. (http://www.lawandfreedom.com), GATA filed a long brief replying to the Fed's objection to a couple of GATA's requests. We have asked the court to review privately the gold-related documents the Fed doesn't want to disclose and to permit GATA to pose a limited number of questions to the Fed.
Our lawyers' mastery of freedom-of-information law and precedent is amazing even as their reply brief may make any layman's eyes glaze over after reading just a few of its 25 pages. The brief has been posted at GATA's Internet site so our supporters and gold's friends can see just how much effort is going into the lawsuit:
Gold recovers on bargain buying
SINGAPORE (Commodity Online): Gold advanced in Asian trade Monday after bargain buying by some investors lifted prices.
Earlier, reports of China increased interest rate for the second time in two months eased gold prices and that prompted some investors to buy the precious metal in a big way to affect its price.
Spot gold was seen trading at $1384.31 an ounce at 1.00 p.m Singapore time while Gold for February delivery on the Comex in New York was 0.3 percent higher at $1,384.10 an ounce.
No Signs of a Gold Bubble Despite Record Advances in 2010
SeekingAlpha.com
History has been peppered with financial bubbles -- but is gold in a bubble?
So far it's been the amazing, runaway investment of the past decade. If you'd put your money into gold at the lows of about 10 years ago, you'd have made approximately a 400% return. That's left pretty much everything else - stocks, China, housing - in the dust (and we donÕt mean gold dust).
We would be willing to bet that if you asked for a show of hands of how many people own gold in an audience of 100 seasoned investors, probably less than 10 might raise their hands. If you asked the same question in a room of average, random people, probably one or two hands at the most might go up.
Gold is clearly not in the bubble stage yet.
Record prices for China's antique gold
BEIJING (Commodity Online): China's gold dealings are always on the news. China recently auctioned off precious gold antiques worth millions.
Gold materials including a $9.3 million gold chair dating back at least 400 years to the Ming Dynasty were auctioned off in Beijing earlier this month for that amount.
The chair was not alone. An antique bed made of the same yellow rosewood sold for a record 43 million yuan at another auction.
China Central Bank absorbing substantial amounts of gold without disrupting market China's official gold reserves are seen to be being effectively held at whatever level the country's government thinks is of political and financial advantage.
Author:Lawrence Williams - MineWeb.com
LONDON - Is China increasing its gold reserves but without reporting it, yet again? Or is this pure market speculation? The odds would favour the former, but the markets just won't know until the Chinese announce the fact at a point in time of their choice. Such an announcement is politically very sensitive, and if several hundred tonnes of gold have indeed quietly and surreptitiously been moved into the Asian giant's coffers, which this writer feels is more likely than not, then news of this could have a very sharp upwards price impact for the precious metal.
New Rules: You and the IRS this January
Bears all set to return in 2011
By Toby Connor - CommodityOnline.com
It's almost impossible to find anyone who is long term bearish on the stock market or economy at this time. In the recent Barron's poll every single analyst expected a rise in stock prices next year and continued economic expansion.
I think they are all going to be wrong, horribly wrong. I believe next year the stock market will begin the third leg down in the secular bear market. And the global economy will tip over into the next recession that will be much worse than the last one.
I've gone over the 3-year cycle in the dollar index many times. The dip down into the next 3-year cycle low this spring should drive the final leg up in gold's massive C-wave. What I haven't talked much about is what happens after the dollar bottoms.
David Rosenberg's Bearish Outlook for 2011
Prieur du Plessis - SeekingAlpha.com
The 2011 series of lists would not be complete with the views of David Rosenberg, Chief Economist and Strategist of Gluskin Sheff & Associates. As you might have guessed, it is a bearish scenario. Here goes:
1. In Barron's look-ahead piece, not one strategist sees the prospect for a market decline. This is called group-think. Moreover, the percentage of brokerage house analysts and economists to raise their 2011 GDP forecasts has risen substantially. Out of 49 economists surveyed, 35 say the U.S. economy will outperform the already upwardly revised GDP forecasts, only 14 say we will underperform. This is capitulation of historical proportions.
2. The weekly fund flow data from the ICI showed not only massive outflows, but in aggregate, retail investors withdrew a RECORD net $8.6 billion from bond funds during the week ended December 15 (on top of the $1.7 billion of outflows in the prior week). Maybe now all the bond bears will shut their traps over this "bond-bubble" nonsense.
Following the Fund Flows
Charles Biderman CNBC December 23, 2010
Bailed-Out Banks Remain in Danger of Failing: 98 Banks at Risk
By DANNY KING - DailyFinance
More U.S. banks are in danger of failing, even after receiving aid from the federal government, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The economy has done little to improve the financial conditions of many struggling institutions, leaving 98 bailed-out banks without the capital to lift themselves out of the at-risk category, according to the Journal.
That's a 15% increase from the second quarter, when 86 of the banks that had received funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, were considered at risk.
Taxpayers have spent more than $2.7 billion in TARP funds on seven banks that nonetheless already have failed, while the 98 at-risk banks have together received more than $4.2 billion, the Journal reported. A Government Accountability Office report in October said that many of the failed banks should have been red flagged for their already precarious financial position during the application process.
Balance the Budget Now
By Ken Blackwell - The American Spectator.org
In August of this year, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, advised Congress that "The National debt is the biggest threat to our national security." In November, voter sentiment against the debt and deficit led to an historic rebuke of Congressional incumbents. In December, the President's Debt Commission laid out in stark terms the imminent economic impact of continued deficit spending. Apparently rejecting these clarion calls, the President and Congress acted in the lame-duck session to cut not one dime of federal spending, while increasing the national debt by nearly $1 trillion. They are ignoring a glaring problem that, if not addressed soon, will cause a panoply of other problems.
The Day the Dollar Died
Fictitious 12 hours of a US dollar collapse
111th Congress Added More Debt Than First 100 Congresses Combined: $10,429 Per Person in U.S.
By Terence P. Jeffrey
(CNSNews.com) - The federal government has accumulated more new debt--$3.22 trillion ($3,220,103,625,307.29) - during the tenure of the 111th Congress than it did during the first 100 Congresses combined, according to official debt figures published by the U.S. Treasury.
That equals $10,429.64 in new debt for each and every one of the 308,745,538 people counted in the United States by the 2010 Census.
The total national debt of $13,858,529,371,601.09 (or $13.859 trillion), as recorded by the U.S. Treasury at the close of business on Dec. 22, now equals $44,886.57 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
How the Mortgage Market Will Look in 2011
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
This was kind of a bizarre year for the mortgage market. In the first half of the year, you had a decent number of home sales keeping mortgages for purchases stable, thanks to the home buyer credit. In the second half of the year, that changed as demand crumbled when the credit was withdrawn. At the same time, you had very low mortgage interest rates throughout much of the year cause a mini-refinancing boom. 2011 will look very different, as the housing demand continues to struggle and mortgage interest rates have begun rising.
Michele Lerner has a pretty good list of seven mortgage trends we can expect to see in 2011, over at Investopedia. A few are relatively trivial if you assume her first trend, rising mortgage interest rates, will hold. That will predictably continue to lower the demand for mortgages and refinancing, while increasing the portion of purchase applications. Lerner's last three predictions are a little more interesting, however.
D.C. & Mortgages
Bruce Krasting - businessinsider.com
Two seemingly unrelated developments in the nations mortgage mess this past week. They both point to how difficult it will be to bring some stability back to the system. I am wondering if they are connected.
The first came as a surprise to me. Mr. Joseph Smith was supposed to be confirmed as the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Authority. Smith was a state banking commissioner from North Carolina. He was a White House pick. Up until last week I thought he was a shoe-in for the job. Kaboom.
Peter Schiff on The Kudlow Report CNBC 12_23_10
Muni bond train wreck ahead
Ex-Shell president sees $5 gas in 2012
By Laurie Segall
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The former president of Shell Oil, John Hofmeister, says Americans could be paying $5 for a gallon of gasoline by 2012.
In an interview with Platt's Energy Week television, Hofmeister predicted gasoline prices will spike as the global demand for oil increases.
"I'm predicting actually the worst outcome over the next two years which takes us to 2012 with higher gasoline prices," he said.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with Oil Price Information Service says Americans will see gasoline prices hit the $5 a gallon mark in the next decade, but not by 2012.
9 Signs That The Price Of Oil In 2011 Will Soar
Well Beyond 100 Dollars A Barrel
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Will we see the price of oil rise significantly in 2011? Unfortunately, that appears to be precisely where we are headed. Despite stubbornly high unemployment and a very sluggish economy in the United States, the price of oil continues to creep upward. Part of it can be attributed to the fact that the U.S. dollar and other major currencies are continuing to lose value relative to all commodities, and part of it can be attributed to the continuing rise in the global demand for oil. But those factors alone do not explain what we are seeing. Expectations are a very powerful thing, especially for financial markets, and right now there is an overwhelming consensus that oil prices are going to rise in 2011. The big oil companies, the big oil exporting nations and the big investment banks are nearly all in agreement that a higher price for oil is coming and the speculators smell money and are starting to jump on to the bandwagon.
Giant oil pipeline in the works from Alberta to the Gulf
By Steve Hargreaves
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In the coming weeks, the Obama administration will decide if it wants to significantly increase the amount of oil the country imports from Canada's controversial Alberta oil sands.
The State Department is set to issue what could be a final ruling to allow a massive new pipeline expansion from central Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. A decision is expected early in the new year.
Known as Keystone, the project is an expansion of an existing pipeline that now terminates in Oklahoma. Stretching over 1,600 miles -- twice the length of the Trans-Alaska system -- the new pipeline would be one of the biggest in the country.
The Working Poor
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
As the middle class in America continues to be slowly wiped out, the number of working poor continues to increase. Today, nearly one out of every three families in the United States is considered to be "low income". Millions of American families are finding that they can barely make it from month to month even with both parents working as hard as they possibly can. Blue collar American workers from coast to coast are having their wages decreased at a time when it seems like the cost of virtually every monthly bill is going up. Unfortunately, there is every indication that things are only going to get worse and that average American families are going to be financially squeezed even more in the months and years to come.
Job Creation and Other Economic Myths
Mises Daily: by Fred Buzzeo
Job creation has become the central theme of the current recession. The focus on job growth is widespread among both conservative (if I may use this term liberally) and left-leaning economists. Furthermore, if you ask the man on the street what the pressing economic problem of the time is, he will certainly respond, "Jobs."
In a Gallup poll taken in March of 2010, unemployment was listed as the most important problem facing the country. This finding was reinforced in a poll conducted by the Washington Post in October of 2010. In fact, the lack of job creation was one of the major reasons that the GOP achieved such widespread electoral victory in the 2010 midterm elections.
Methods altered in jobless statistics
By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
So many Americans have been jobless for so long that the government is changing how it records long-term unemployment.
Citing what it calls "an unprecedented rise" in long-term unemployment, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), beginning Saturday, will raise from two years to five years the upper limit on how long someone can be listed as having been jobless.
The move could help economists better measure the severity of the nation's prolonged economic downturn.
Medicare Regulation Revives End-of-Life Planning As Part of Obamacare
By Staff, Associated Press
Washington (AP) - A new health regulation issued this month offers Medicare recipients voluntary end-of-life planning, which Democrats dropped -- under pressure -- from their health care overhaul last year.
The provision allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death.
But the practice was heavily criticized by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and some other Republicans who have likened the counseling to "death panels."
Fixing Social Security and Medicare Via Self-Imposed Means Testing
By Roger Nusbaum - SeekingAlpha.com
Over the weekend, I had an epiphany about Social Security and Medicare that I think can be part of the solution to their current situation. The idea has a couple of building blocks of understanding that, if agreed upon, make the idea more plausible.
The first building block is that, financially, the country has a lot of problems that must be addressed and no solution can be "fair" to everyone or can give everyone everything they want. An equitable solution should involve everyone giving up something.
You may not like that, but it is my starting point.
Why are there caps on how much money we can put into IRAs, 401(k)s and the like? I know the answer on a day-to-day level, but conceptually, should there be caps on how much we can put into qualified retirement plans?
Slashing $100 billion: What's first to go?
By Charles Riley
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Incoming House Speaker John Boehner has made it very clear: When he takes control of the House, slashing the federal budget by $100 billion will be priority number one.
The stakes are high.
Republicans view their midterm electoral victory as a mandate to cut spending, and cutting $100 billion from a $3 trillion federal budget sounds like a reasonable goal.
But GOP leaders say they will focus only on non-security discretionary spending, and won't slash funding for defense, Social Security or Medicare.
Meredith Whitney: States at Risk, Mortgage Fraud, Housing & Banking Crises, Lawsuits
Another blow to state budgets: Build America Bonds end
By Tami Luhby
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- States and localities are about to kiss a vital source of funds goodbye.
The Build America Bonds program, a hugely popular Recovery Act initiative that allowed many state and municipal agencies to support infrastructure projects, is coming to an end on Dec. 31.
State and local officials had hoped Congress would extend the program by a year or two, but federal lawmakers have not been feeling very generous to states recently. They did not include the bonds in the $858 billion tax-deal, as some had hoped.
How Bell hit bottom
In 1993, 39-year-old Robert Rizzo arrived in town trailing the vague whiff of scandal. For a time he seemed like the man the working-class city needed - until he became an 'unelected and unaccountable czar.'
By Christopher Goffard, Los Angeles Times
The new boss kept his office spartan and impersonal, the walls stripped of photos, the desk conveying no hint of his life beyond the red-brick walls of City Hall.
It was 1993, a bleak, recession-bit year, and Robert Rizzo arrived in Bell trailing the vague whiff of scandal. His last city administrator job, in the high desert city of Hesperia, had ended badly, with accusations that he'd steered city improvement funds toward salaries.
Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy
By DAVE CARPENTER - DailyFinance.com
CHICAGO -Through a combination of procrastination and bad timing, many baby boomers are facing a personal finance disaster just as they're hoping to retire. Starting in January, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years.
The boomers, who in their youth revolutionized everything from music to race relations, are set to redefine retirement. But a generation that made its mark in the tumultuous 1960s now faces a crisis as it hits its own mid-60s.
"The situation is extremely serious because baby boomers have not saved very effectively for retirement and are still retiring too early," says Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania.
WikiLeaks and the Fight for Privacy
by Nat Parry - LewRockwell.com
Everyone should enjoy a basic right to privacy, according to one of the more compelling arguments against WikiLeaks' "megaleak" of over 250,000 diplomatic cables.
In this view, a diplomatic communication should be protected so U.S. diplomats can communicate candidly to Washington, without fear their words will be made public and used against them.
Yet, regardless of this argument's merits, it is curious that many of those making it were comparatively silent over the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program that was exposed back in 2005, when it was the Bush administration deciding, without judicial oversight, to pry into the private communications of American citizens and others.
Iran, WikiLeaks and the Pentagon Papers
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi - Asia Times
The WikiLeaks disclosures and their global ramifications, particularly on the sensitive subject of the Iran nuclear standoff, warrant limited comparison with the modern age's first leaks scandal - the New York Times' publication of a massive cache of United States government documents and self-analysis on the Vietnam War in 1971, otherwise known as the Pentagon Papers.
As Tehran and the "Iran Six" nations gear up for follow-up talks in Istanbul after an initial meeting in Geneva in early December, news of US intentions to impose a new round of both unilateral and multilateral sanctions on Iran ahead of Istanbul has hit Iran as yet another sign of America's "bad faith". This acts as a brake on a spurt of optimism in Iran post-Geneva that saw Saeed Jalili, Iran's negotiator, state that Istanbul could be the scene of a major breakthrough.
Use It or Lose It
By W. James Antle, III - The American Spectator.org
Soon the three-fifths Democratic majorities will be gone and Nancy Pelosi will surrender her gavel. The triumvirate of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid will be compelled to share power with newly elected Republicans. Before we bid Pelosi's vanquished minions a fond farewell, however, let us pause to reflect on their handiwork even if we can't admire it.
Theirs is a legacy of bigger government and deeper debt, an inexorable march toward a health care system and an economy that more closely resembles the social democracies of Europe than the American constitutional republic, of deem and pass tactics despite near-one-party rule.
The New Mumia
By Jed Babbin - The American Spectator.org
The left has found a new face for the "injustice" committed in America's name: Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army private alleged to have provided WikiLeaks with hundreds of thousands of State and Defense Department classified e-mails. Manning is now the focus of a campaign that accuses his jailers of torture.
Liberal core values -- to the extent that liberals have any values at all -- proceed from two assumptions. First, that American criminal law must be unjust because people are not prosecuted -- or protected -- on the basis of their political beliefs. Second only to that, is that America -- and by derivation, its secrets -- are not worthy of defense.
Interesting analogy (below) from the left; but no solutions. However, we DISAGREE that all corporations are 'evil'.
2011: A Brave New Dystopia
By Chris Hedges - Truthdig.com
The two greatest visions of a future dystopia were George Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." The debate, between those who watched our descent towards corporate totalitarianism, was who was right. Would we be, as Orwell wrote, dominated by a repressive surveillance and security state that used crude and violent forms of control? Or would we be, as Huxley envisioned, entranced by entertainment and spectacle, captivated by technology and seduced by profligate consumption to embrace our own oppression? It turns out Orwell and Huxley were both right. Huxley saw the first stage of our enslavement. Orwell saw the second.
We have been gradually disempowered by a corporate state that, as Huxley foresaw, seduced and manipulated us through sensual gratification, cheap mass-produced goods, boundless credit, political theater and amusement. While we were entertained, the regulations that once kept predatory corporate power in check were dismantled, the laws that once protected us were rewritten and we were impoverished. Now that credit is drying up, good jobs for the working class are gone forever and mass-produced goods are unaffordable, we find ourselves transported from "Brave New World" to "1984." The state, crippled by massive deficits, endless war and corporate malfeasance, is sliding toward bankruptcy. It is time for Big Brother to take over from Huxley's feelies, the orgy-porgy and the centrifugal bumble-puppy. We are moving from a society where we are skillfully manipulated by lies and illusions to one where we are overtly controlled.
Iraq Wants the U.S. Out Prime Minister, in Interview, Says Troops Must Leave Next Year as Planned -- By SAM DAGHER - WSJ.com
BAGHDAD - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ruled out the presence of any U.S. troops in Iraq after the end of 2011, saying his new government and the country's security forces were capable of confronting any remaining threats to Iraq's security, sovereignty and unity.
Mr. Maliki spoke with The Wall Street Journal in a two-hour interview, his first since Iraq ended nine months of stalemate and seated a new government after an inconclusive election, allowing Mr. Maliki to begin a second term as premier.
A majority of Iraqis - and some Iraqi and U.S. officials - have assumed the U.S. troop presence would eventually be extended, especially after the long government limbo. But Mr. Maliki was eager to draw a line in his most definitive remarks on the subject. "The last American soldier will leave Iraq" as agreed, he said, speaking at his office in a leafy section of Baghdad's protected Green Zone. "This agreement is not subject to extension, not subject to alteration. It is sealed."
NATO weaves South Asian web
By M K Bhadrakumar - Asia Times
What the summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at Lisbon last month brought to mind almost instinctively was that the persistent rumors about the alliance's death were indeed greatly exaggerated. The striking thing was the degree of internal unity and outward determination among the alliance's 28 members.
In recent years, derisive dismissals have featured galore in international discourse about the "dysfunctional irrelevance" of NATO and an alliance characterized as a "Cold War relic". In South Asia - Indian, in particular - this almost resulted in an intellectual ellipsis while dwelling on the overall United States regional strategies in the overlapping Afghanistan-Pakistan conflicts. In fact, NATO hardly figured in the Indian discourses on Afghanistan as an issue of consequence.
The Symbols Bang in Asia
By Peter Hannaford - The American Spectator.org
What threat is causing China to build its first aircraft carrier (with a battle group of ships to go with it)? Answer: None. Its motives are two. First, it wants to erase the bad taste of a century of "humiliations" at the hands of various European powers and, by doing so, achieve universal respect as a powerful nation. Second, it wants to send a specific message to us, the Japanese and Taiwan: We're in charge in East Asia, so don't mess with us.
Not surprisingly, the recipients of the message see it as more than a move by China to build its self-esteem. Despite the Obama Administration's discomfort with projecting American power, it is doing so in several places out of recognition of the reality that we live in a dangerous world. The U.S. will not easily or readily withdraw from its position as the major naval force and protector of the peace in the Western Pacific. Furthermore it has treaties with Japan and Taiwan that, in one way or another, bind us to the defense of both.
The ghost towns of China: Amazing satellite images show cities meant to be home to millions lying deserted
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
These amazing satellite images show sprawling cities built in remote parts of China that have been left completely abandoned, sometimes years after their construction.
Elaborate public buildings and open spaces are completely unused, with the exception of a few government vehicles near communist authority offices.
Some estimates put the number of empty homes at as many as 64 million, with up to 20 new cities being built every year in the country's vast swathes of free land.
The photographs have emerged as a Chinese government think tank warns that the country's real estate bubble is getting worse, with property prices in major cities overvalued by as much as 70 per cent.
China has carrier-killer missile, U.S. admiral says
By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times
China's military is deploying a new anti-ship ballistic missile that can sink U.S. aircraft carriers, a weapon that specialists say gives Beijing new power-projection capabilities that will affect U.S. support for its Pacific allies.
Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, disclosed to a Japanese newspaper on Sunday that the new anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is now in the early stages of deployment after having undergone extensive testing.
"An analogy using a Western term would be 'initial operational capability (IOC),' whereby I think China would perceive that it has an operational capability now, but they continue to develop it," Adm. Willard told the Asahi Shimbun. "I would gauge it as about the equivalent of a U.S. system that has achieved IOC."
'We the people' to open next Congress House to read Constitution
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
The Constitution frequently gets lip service in Congress, but House Republicans next year will make sure it gets a lot more than that - the new rules the incoming majority party proposed this week call for a full reading of the country's founding document on the floor of the House on Jan. 6.
The goal, backers said, is to underscore the limited-government rules the Founders imposed on Congress - and to try to bring some of those principles back into everyday legislating.
"It stems from the debate that we've had for the last two years about things like the exercise of authority in a whole host of different areas by the EPA, we've had this debate in relation to the health care bill, the cap-and-trade legislation," said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, who proposed the reading. "This Congress has been very aggressive in expanding the power of the federal government, and there's been a big backlash to that."
***** Important! *****
Lindsey Williams' The Elite Speak HD Full Length 58 Minutes
The Derivatives Monster That's 9X Bigger than the Global Economy
By: Richard Daughty - MarketOracle.co.uk
I assume that you, as an intelligent person who understands that the treacherous, greedy, vampire banks creating so much excess money means We're Freaking Doomed (WFD), are Up To Your Freaking Ears (UTYFE) in gold, silver and oil, and you have had it UTYFE with your family always complaining about how you spend all the family's income on gold, silver and oil instead of luxuries, family vacations, adequate food, clothing, medical care, dental care, blah blah blah, the list goes on and on.
Vermont C. Royster: A Light On the Road to Damascus
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
Most people confuse freedom with power.
Freedom is not the ability to do whatever we wish when we wish however we wish, to serve our passions as ends unto themselves, to be rude and demeaning to those who we think are weaker at the moment. This self indulgence is the act of small and mean spirited souls when they yearn to show that they have a little power.
True freedom is to know what is good, what is the right thing to do, and to have the will to do it, even when it goes against our selfish inclinations. It is to free ourselves from fear and all those things that hold us down, which prevent us from finding and fulfilling our part in the great renewal of creation and the triumph of life over death, of being over nothingness.
The 2011 Economic Outlook - and What It Means to You
By ALAN MURRAY
Santa Claus arrived just in time this year, his bag filled to the brim with bipartisan goodies from the politicians in Washington. There was a new payroll tax cut for the employed, extended benefits for the unemployed, an estate-tax cut for the rich and an extension of the Bush tax cuts for all.
But anyone expecting those gifts from Washington to lift the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the U.S. economy will be disappointed. If anything, the outlook is hazier than ever.
Here's what the financial future may hold:
The Most Important Financial Development of 2010
By: DailyWealth - MarketOracle.co.uk
Dan Ferris writes: Since November 1, long-term U.S. Treasury bonds have fallen 7% in value. That's not supposed to happen. But it's happening.
Since November 1, the municipal bond market has fallen 6%. That, too, isn't supposed to happen. But it's happening.
For most of the last century, the whole world has believed the obligations of the U.S. government - and the obligations of thousands of states, cities, towns, and other municipalities in the U.S. - were the safest investments in the world. These "safe" investments aren't supposed to crash.
Top 10 political moments of 2010
By ANDY BARR - Politico.com
Even in an election year marked by stunning upsets and a historic Republican wave, certain moments stand out - some simply for their shock value, others as key political mileposts on the way to November.
From the momentous to the mind-boggling, here's POLITICO's list of the top 10 most pivotal moments of 2010.
Jan. 9 - Scott Brown takes the lead
March 25- Congress passes the Health Care and Education
Reconciliation Act of 2010
April 23 - Brewer signs S.B. 1070
May 8 - Utah GOP dumps Bennett
June 8 - Primary palooza
July 2 - Steele faces resignation calls over Afghanistan flap
Aug. 28 - Beck and Palin hit the Mall
Aug. 30 - GOP takes 10-point generic ballot lead
Sept. 14 - O'Donnell and Paladino win primaries
Oct. 11 - Manchin shoots cap-and-trade bill
Coburn: Unadresssed debt, spending will bring 'apocalyptic pain'
By Joseph Weber - The Washington Times
Sen. Tom Coburn repeated his warning Sunday that the United States will experience "apocalyptic pain" if the country fails to immediately address its economic problems, and he called upon President Obama to lead the way.
"If we don't experience some pain now, we're going to experience some apocalyptic pain," Mr. Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, said on "Fox News Sunday."
He said the upcoming debates - including ones on federal spending cuts and the U.S. debt level - should not be a "standoff" between Democrats and the incoming wave of GOP conservatives in Congress.
America's Second Great Depression 2010 Year-end Update (Part 2)
By: Mike Stathis - AVAResearch.com
Ever since the summer of 2009, economists from both Washington and Wall Street have told us that an economic recovery was in progress, but the data reveals a strikingly different picture. Some even insisted that a recovery began in late spring. You should note the source of these claims, as well as their agendas, so as to determine the underlying motives for disseminating this propaganda.
Regardless whether we point to the spring, summer or fall of 2009 or even 2010, the facts remain the same. There has been no real progress made in the economy. In fact, the actions taken by Washington, the U.S. Treasury and the criminal Federal Reserve Bank have assured the effects of this depression will persist for decades.
New Rules of Finance: 'Thrift Is the New Black'
By DAVE KANSAS
After a few brutal years, promises of easy wealth ring hollow. That won't stop some people from trying to guarantee an easy path to riches, but I'll let you in on a secret:
"Slow and steady wins the race" has never been truer than it is today.
The "New Rules of Personal Finance" start with the foundation of eliminating debt and saving money.
It may not sound new or glamorous, but getting this first piece of your financial life right will help make everything else fall into place. And though slashing debt and saving money sounds familiar, a huge number of people have aggressively ignored this wisdom. Much financial ruin over the past 20 years stems from people borrowing heavily against their future, rather than saving for it.
On Underwriting an Evil
Mises Daily: by Frank Chodorov [Chapter 4, Out of Step (1962)]
I voted for Teddy Roosevelt in 1912. I haven't voted in a presidential election since.
At first it was sheer instinct that dissuaded me from casting my ballot. I listened to the performance promises of the various candidates and the more I listened the more confused I became. They seemed to me to be so contradictory, so vague, so devoid of principle, that I could not bring myself in favor of one or the other.
Particularly was I impressed by the candidates' evaluations of one another. Neither one had a good word to say of his opponent, and each was of the opinion that the other fellow was not the kind of man to whom the affairs of state could be safely entrusted. Now, I reasoned, these fellows were politicians, and as such should be better acquainted with their respective qualifications for office than I could be; it was their business to know such things. Therefore, I had to believe candidate A when he said that candidate B was untrustworthy, as I had to believe candidate B when he said the same of candidate A. In the circumstances, how could I vote for either? Judging by their respective evaluations of each other's qualifications I was bound to make the wrong decision whichever way I voted.
Has The Financial Collapse Of Europe Now Become Inevitable?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
What in the world is happening over in Europe? Well, it is actually quite simple. We are witnessing the slow motion collapse of the euro and of the European financial system. At this point, many analysts are convinced that a full-blown financial implosion in Europe has become inevitable. Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Belgium are all drowning in an ocean of unsustainable debt. Meanwhile, Germany and the few other "healthy" members of the EU continue to try to keep all of the balls in the air by bailing everyone out. But can Germany keep bailing the rest of the EU out indefinitely? Are the German people going to continue to be willing to hand out gigantic sacks of cash to fix the problems of other EU nations? The Irish were just bailed out, but their problems are far from over. There are rumors that Greece will soon need another bailout. Spain, Portugal, Italy and France have all entered crisis territory. At the same time, there are a whole host of nations in eastern Europe that are also on the verge of financial collapse. So is there any hope that a major sovereign debt crisis can be averted at this point?
World Bank reaffirms gold as "reference point"
to monetary system reform
PeoplesDaily Online
World Bank President Robert Zoellick reaffirmed his proposal to use gold as a "reference point" to reform the current international monetary system on Wednesday in Paris.
"What I suggested is that gold serves as a key reference point to allow people to assess the relations between different currencies," Zoellick told the press here at the end of his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in the Elysee Palace.
"It's an approach that we can take, others also estimate that we can establish a benchmark against prices of principal commodities," the World Bank president said in response to a journalist's question.
Own gold in 2011:
by Nick Barisheff
TORONTO (Commodity Online): Noted global bullion expert Nick Barisheff says that gold bullion is not in a bubble and gold price has lot of catching up to do in 2011. Batting for gold as the safest investment, Barisheff says the biggest risk these days is "not owning gold."
Barisheff is president and CEO of Bullion Management Group Inc., a precious metals bullion investment company which provides investors with a cost-effective, convenient way to purchase and store physical gold ,silver and platinum bullion. Widely recognized as a North American bullion expert, Barisheff is an author, speaker and financial commentator who is a regular contributor to several investment newsletters and magazines and regularly appears in the media to provide his view on precious metals, economics, and the markets.
Gold is Money, What About Silver? Can Gold be Debt?
by Mike Shedlock
FOFOA expressed a number of controversial viewpoints regarding money in his recent article Focal Point: Gold. Specifically, he makes the case gold is money but not silver. He makes some other claims that are highly debatable to say the least. Here are a few snips (emphasis mine) ....
Gold and only gold will fill the monetary store of value role. Not gold and silver. Not precious metals. Just gold.
Money's most vital function in our modern world is lubricating commerce, or more specifically, keeping the essential supply lines flowing - supply lines that bring goods and services to where they are needed. Without it we would be reduced to a barter economy, eternally facing the intractable "double coincidence of wants." This is the problem whereby you must coincidentally find someone that not only wants what you have to trade, but also, coincidentally, has what you want in return. And in the modern world of near-infinite division of labor, this would be a disaster.
John Embry: "Gold, Silver Could Go Ballistic By Year End"
by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Sprott's John Embry is in fine form today: in a just released oped in the Investor's Digest of Canada, the Chief Investment Strategist of Sprott Asset Management LP, and one of the biggest fans of shiny metals in history, makes the following bold prediction, which also explains how he views the concerted attempts by the LBMA to keep gold below the $1,420 all time high: "I am not in the least bit concerned about these shenanigans because I believe considerable additional quantitative easing is inevitable, irrespective of what the Fed says or does in the short term. Goldman Sachs's chief U.S. economist Jan Hatzius clearly shares my view as he has suggested that ultimately as much as $4 trillion maybe required although he anticipates that it will be staged. In my opinion this will act as catnip for gold and silver prices, which could go ballistic by year-end." Presumably, he means 2011. So forget all you have heard about interest rate (real or otherwise) correlations: they don't exist. All that does exist is the willingness of the Fed to 'print.' And with China increasingly starting to tighten, the Fed will need to do double duty if it wishes to keep global liquidity well-offered with near-free fiat paper. While we don't quite share Embry's enthusiasm for gold's imminent escape velocity, we are confident that as long as loose monetary policy is the only means to extend and pretend the ponzi, gold will, in turn, be well-bid.
Can silver become modern global currency?
LONDON (Commodity Online): Silver is often touted as the poor man's gold. But these days, investors are piling money into silver, just like gold, driven by the growing appetite for silver as an investment product and industrial commodity.
Do you know that till 1930, silver used to be the official currency in China? Do you know that since time immemorial, silver has been acting as the official currency of several countries and kingdoms?
Now that silver price is booming - it is around $30 these days - it is best to learn the history of how silver has turned out to be a common man's investment.
Price of Silver Soaring Investor-Fueled 74% Gains Dwarf Gold; Race to Open Mines
By CAROLYN CUI And ROBERT GUY MATTHEWS
BIG CREEK, Idaho - An unexpected surge in investor demand is sending silver prices soaring - and speculators and mining companies are digging in.
In the past four months, the metal has upended forecasts, rising 51% to a series of 30-year highs, before inflation. Silver closed Thursday at $29.31 a troy ounce, up from $16.822 at the beginning of 2010.
Among the four major precious metals - the others being gold, platinum and palladiumÑsilver is up 74% this year, on track to be the second-best performing commodity after palladium, which is up 86%. Gold, by contrast, is up 26% and copper just under 28%.
Why Fed Money Creation Hurts the Poor Population
By The Mogambo Guru - The DailyReckoning.com
12/24/10 Tampa, Florida - If you are like me, then you don't quite understand what the hell is going on with this economic stuff, but you are pretty sure that it starts with the foul Federal Reserve creating so much excess money and that a lot of people ought to be in prison Right Freaking Now (RFN).
Knowing that, you then think to yourself that your Whole Freaking Life (WFL) is one long, dreary testament to the fact that all great mistakes start with having the money to finance them.
And knowing that, you then remember that the Federal Reserve is actually only a private bank (owned by sinister, shadowy people, unnamed foreign powers, various shell corporations and probably invaders from outer space, each with a secret agenda of their own) that has literally been given the power to counterfeit money.
China Outlook 2011 and the Next Decade, Is the Smart Money Right?
By: Dian L Chu - MarketOracle.co.uk
China has been ranked as the top growing country among the G20 since 2001 and is expected to retain that title for at least another five years (See Growth Chart). However, the news coming out of China for the past three months has not been good. It is looking more and more that it is not a question of if China is a bubble and going to burst, but when.
The country has major infrastructure issues, troubling population dynamics, poorly aligned employment outcomes, inflation problems, a real estate bubble, an opaque and potentially insolvent banking system (had mark-to-market accounting been applied), geo-political problems with North Korea and Taiwan, and an underperforming stock market in 2010 (see stock comparison chart).
98 TARP Recipients Close To Failure; Citigroup's Chairman Gives Reasons Citigroup Should Be Broken Up -- by Mike Shedlock
The Wall Street Journal reports 98 shaky TARP recipients are on the verge of failure as bad loans pile up. Please consider Bailed-Out Banks Slip Toward Failure
Nearly 100 U.S. banks that got bailout funds from the federal government show signs they are in jeopardy of failing.
The troubled banks identified by the Journal all have either a Tier 1 capital ratio under the "well-capitalized" 6% level; both a total risk-based capital ratio of under the "well-capitalized" 10% threshold and nonperforming loans of over 10% of their portfolio; or a regulatory order requiring the bank to monitor or boost its capital.
The Economic Lessons of Bethlehem
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
At the heart of the Christmas story rests some important lessons concerning free enterprise, government, and the role of wealth in society.
Let's begin with one of the most famous phrases: "There's no room at the inn." This phrase is often invoked as if it were a cruel and heartless dismissal of the tired travelers Joseph and Mary. Many renditions of the story conjure up images of the couple going from inn to inn only to have the owner barking at them to go away and slamming the door.
In fact, the inns were full to overflowing in the entire Holy Land because of the Roman emperor's decree that everyone be counted and taxed. Inns are private businesses, and customers are their lifeblood. There would have been no reason to turn away this man of aristocratic lineage and his beautiful, expecting bride.
Risky banks, U.S. inaction fed meltdown The Fed could have blocked smaller banks from dangerous financial moves that resulted in their teetering and collapse, according to a McClatchy investigation.
BY GREG GORDON AND KEVIN G. HALL - MCCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE - MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Reserve Board, chastised for regulatory inaction that contributed to the subprime mortgage meltdown, also missed a chance to prevent much of the financial chaos ravaging hundreds of small- and mid-sized banks, according to a McClatchy investigation and confirmed this week by a federal report.
In early 2005, at a time when the housing market was overheated and economic danger signs were in the air, the Fed had an opportunity to put a damper on risk-taking among banks, especially those that had long been bedrocks of smaller cities and towns across the nation.
Tax lien sales shock, dismay
By M.B. Pell - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Robin Gordon didn't know about the tax lien Fulton County placed against her apartment until the county sold the lien to a private company, foreclosed and sold the property at a sheriff's auction.
Now, to keep her property, she must pay $8,200 to satisfy the $291 she initially owed in delinquent taxes and penalties. "It's just seems too ludicrous to be true," Gordon said.
That's a profit of 2,700 percent for Vesta Holdings and KOR Holdings, the sister companies that purchased Gordon's lien, ordered the sheriff's office to auction her apartment and then bought her property at the auction.
Bank of America Loses Key Battle In Mortgage Fraud Fight
By: John Carney - CNBC.com
A New York court ruled yesterday that a bond insurer claiming Bank of America's Countrywide unit fraudulently induced it to insure $21 billion of mortgage-backed securities can use statistical sampling to prove its case.
Judge Eileen Bransten granted a motion to allow the insurer, MBIA, to use statistical sampling, turning down the objections by Bank of America.
Bank of America had told investors that it intended to fight repurchase requests - also known as put-backs - on a "loan-by-loan basis." That process would have required MBIA and others seeking to force Bank of America to buy back loans it pooled into mortgage securities to proceed one loan at a time, a costly and time-consuming process.
Fannie and Freddie Hired Foreclosure Mills Too
HousingDoom.com
Remember all those bad lenders that hired those "robo-signing" law firms? Fannie and Freddie were not above hiring these firms and according to the Washington Post, they were at the forefront of the "fast and easy" foreclosure:
Fannie and Freddie, the largest mortgage companies, shaped the practices being challenged in courtrooms around the country. They picked law firms that could foreclose fast and paid them based on how many foreclosures they could process. Speed was essential because delays cost the companies money - and, after they were taken over by the government two years ago, meant losses for taxpayers, too.
The Foreclosure Mess: Florida Judges Can Do Better
By ABIGAIL FIELD - DailyFinance.com
In the face of banks' rampant disregard for the law in pursuing foreclosures with false paperwork, the judiciary has started to emerge as the great defender of due process and the rule of law.
For example, in October, New York put an end to the fraudulent document problem in its courts. Some Ohio courts started making similar efforts. And on Monday, New Jersey put in place rules to end document fraud in its system. New Jersey also called out major banks and demanded they affirmatively demonstrate that their foreclosure procedures are sound. This list of judges standing up for the system is hardly exhaustive.
In each case, the judges made clear they weren't picking sides. They were merely enforcing the rules, making sure the banks didn't get special exceptions unavailable to anyone else.
Atlanta property taxes: Sales of foreclosures will help home values recover
By Christopher Quinn - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lenders foreclosed on nearly 99,000 properties in eight metro Atlanta counties through November of this year, a toxic tidal wave swamping home values in a region that went from ceaseless boom to endless gloom in a few years.
A crash in housing led the nation into the Great Recession, and a recovery in housing will help to lead it back out. But is the market recovering? The numbers and the experts say: Not yet. And perhaps not soon.
D.C.'s foreclosure investigation freezes home sales for months
By: Liz Farmer - Washington Examiner
Sales of foreclosed houses in the District ground to a halt for months as the city's investigation into the foreclosure process scared away title insurers who didn't want the risk associated with the property.
And although the D.C. Office of the Attorney General is now sorting out the confusion, the stalemate has left some prospective homebuyers embittered and frustrated.
"For lack of better words I'm in limbo until this gets straightened out," said Kevin, who declined to give his last name because he is still trying to buy the home.
Strapped Cities Hit Nonprofits With Fees
By IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN
Facing budget gaps and an aversion to new debt and taxes, states and local governments are slapping residents with an array of new fees - and some are applying them to nonprofits.
That marks a sharp departure from long-standing tax exemptions mandated by state law or adopted on the theory that churches, schools and charitable organizations work alongside governments to provide services to the community.
The issue is on display in Houston, where some flood-prone roads are in such disrepair that signs warn drivers, "Turn around, don't drown."
FCC's Net Neutrality Plan Disappoints Comcast Corp., Netflix Inc.
BY KERRI SHANNON, Associate Editor, Money Morning
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved its net neutrality proposal, aiming to protect the free flow of information over the Internet and limit the power of Internet service providers (ISPs) to act as Web gatekeepers.
Net neutrality means providers like Comcast Corp. must treat all Internet content equally and cannot interfere with legal Web traffic. It also prohibits "unreasonable discrimination," meaning ISPs can't deliver Amazon.com Inc. faster than eBay Inc., or block bandwidth-straining Netflix Inc..
Apple files 'iMac touch' patent Apple has filed a patent for a touch-screen iMac desktop computer with swivelling display
By Claudine Beaumont - Telegraph.co.uk
The patent, which was filed in January, shows plans for an iMac desktop computer with a touch-screen display. The stand can be moved up and down, and the screen can be swivelled to lie flat.
Patently Apple, a website that tracks Apple's patent applications, said that the patent clearly outlined how the device would switch between OS X for desktop computing tasks and its mobile equivalent, iOS, for more iPad-style uses.
"Imagine having an iMac on your desktop one minute and a gigantic iPad the next," reads the site. "Imagine playing iGames on this dream machine. Imagine reading a double-page book on this. Apple takes the mystery out of how OS X could finally co-exist with iOS on a Mac, and you've got to see this one to believe it."
Apple patent reveals plans for holographic display
Television and cinema screens that produce holographic images without the need for special glasses are being developed by computer giant Apple.
By Richard Gray - Telegraph.co.uk
A recently granted patent reveals that Apple, the company behind the iPod and iPhone, has been working on a new type of display screen that produces three dimensional and even holographic images without the need for glasses.
The technology could be used to produce a new generation of televisions, computer monitors and cinema screens that would provide viewers with a more realistic experience.
The system relies upon a special screen that is dotted with tiny pixel-sized domes that deflect images taken from slightly different angles into the right and left eye of the viewer.
Oldest postal retirees get most costly of payouts Reform of the rolls needed, says senator
By Jim McElhatton - The Washington Times
More than 100 U.S. Postal Service employees over 90 years old are collecting workers compensation - a fact one U.S. senator calls troubling, arguing that workers ought to be moved to retirement rolls from which payouts would be less expensive.
Under the federal workers compensation system, employees get up to 75 percent of their salaries tax free, compared with under 60 percent they would receive under the retirement system.
At a committee hearing earlier this month, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said there were dozens of examples of people over 90 in the Postal Service still collecting workers compensation.
Insurance rates weigh heavily on homeowners
By Paige St. John - Sarasota HeraldTribune.com
Even before recent rate increases, parts of Florida had become the most expensive places in the world to insure a home.
And now, with the state still locked in an economic downturn, the burden is growing heavier.
In Monroe County, Florida regulators have approved private insurance rates as high as $13,000 a year on a $150,000 house -- more than a standard mortgage.
Premiums elsewhere on the coast, including in Sarasota County, have doubled and tripled in the last five years.
"How much longer will I be able to afford to live here?" asked Scott Snyder, a Sarasota homeowner who since 2003 has bounced between four insurers, including one that failed, while his premium climbed from $1,350 to $2,644.
Ron Paul's Texas Straight Talk 12/27/10:
Hey Tea Party, Privatize Social Security!
The Hidden Costs of Caregiving
by Catey Hill - SmartMoney.com
Mike Clement and his wife Kaki thought their days of caregiving were coming to an end when their teenage son headed to college. But then Clement's mother suffered a fall and had to be rescued by the local fire department. Within weeks, the Clements moved the 76-year-old woman into their Charlotte, N.C. home. As her health declined, taking care of her "involved a 24/7 focus from the family, friends and a hired caregiver," says Clement, now 51.
The demand for informal caregivers--like family members, friends or neighbors--is expected to increase by more than 20% in the next 15 years--and by 85% in the next 40 years--as baby boomers age, data from the Dept. Health and Human Services show. Nearly 62 million Americans already care for another adult at least part-time, an expensive and time-consuming undertaking.
Obama Returns to End-of-Life Plan That Caused Stir
By ROBERT PEAR - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - When a proposal to encourage end-of-life planning touched off a political storm over "death panels," Democrats dropped it from legislation to overhaul the health care system. But the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation, starting Jan. 1.
Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.
Medicare regulation revives end-of-life planning
APNews - Townhall.com
A new health regulation issued this month offers Medicare recipients voluntary end-of-life planning, which Democrats dropped from the monumental health care overhaul last year.
The provision allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death.
But the practice was heavily criticized by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and some other Republicans who have likened the counseling to "death panels."
The "voluntary advance care planning" is included in a Medicare regulation issued Dec. 3 that covers annual checkups, known as wellness visits. It goes into effect Jan. 1.
Obama to bring "end of life" planning in through the back door
By Rick Moran - AmericanThinker.com
The idea that "end of life planning" paid for once every 5 years by Medicare will morph into euthanasia counseling was one of the more bizarre arguments against Obamacare when it was proposed two years ago. People have to make informed decisions about how they want their doctor to treat them if they sicken and are unable to make choices about resuscitation and other important end of life issues.
Everyone should have a Living Will that spells out for their family where to draw the line about extraordinary measures that could keep one alive. If you wish to remain in a vegetative state, that should be your choice and should be reflected in the body of the Living Will. With the force of law, no one - not family or government - can alter that decision. As long as it is clear you were of sound mind when you made that decision, your wishes must be respected.
U.S. focusing more on rail, hotel security
Air travel safer, says Napolitano - WashingtonTimes.com
By Joseph Weber - The Washington Times
The U.S. has made air travel safer over the past year for Americans and is sharpening its focus on potential terrorists attacks on trains, subways and "soft targets" such as hotels, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday.
"The overall message is everything is objectively better than it was two years ago, particularly in the aviation environment," Ms. Napolitano said one year after a Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day. "But we're also looking at threats in other areas."
Obama's Failure to Reform:
A Bipartisan Crisis And A General Failure of Ethics and Stewardship
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
I hope everyone has the opportunity to see "Inside Job" in the months ahead.
The issue is not settled. As someone who watches the markets closely every day, often tick by tick, and speaks to market participants around the world, I see an accident waiting to happen in the US financial system. And it is surprising, almost shocking, that it receives so little attention while there is so much focus on the relatively trivial.
We have just witnessed one of the greatest financial frauds in modern history. Where are the indictments? Where is the reform?
Biden says gay marriage 'inevitable'
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Friday that the country is evolving on the issue of gay marriage and he thinks it's inevitable there will be national consensus.
He said on ABC's "Good Morning America" the same thing is happening with the issue of marriage that happened with gays' service in the military.
Changes in attitudes by military leaders, those in the service and the public allowed the repeal by Congress of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that will eventually allow gays to serve openly in the military.
Biden said there is "an inevitability for a national consensus on gay marriage."
How E-Books Are Changing the Economics of Writing
By KAREN DIONNE - DailyFinance.com
In November, The New York Times reported that approximately 9 million electronic reading devices are in use in the U.S. When holiday purchases are tallied, that number will most certainly go up. While there are many different kinds of e-readers, they share one thing in common: They need to be filled with books.
Two years ago, e-books constituted 1% of total book sales, a figure that's now closer to 10%. As electronic media accounts for a larger and larger portion of the book business, consumers are benefiting from lower prices for books, and manufacturers are enjoying massive sales. But how is the e-book revolution affecting authors?
Mobile Prison Guard Towers Coming to a Walmart near You! Unbelievable.
China Matches U.S. Space Launches for First Time
By David Axe - Wired.com
Outwardly, it looked like just another big space launch - and those happen about once a week, from spaceports all around the world. But Friday's blast-off of a rocket, carrying a Chinese GPS-style navigation satellite, from the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center was different. It set a record for successful Chinese launches in one year: 15.
The launch represented another important milestone. For the first time since the chilliest days of the Cold War, another country has matched the United States in sheer number of rocket launches.
To some observers, the rapid acceleration of the Chinese space program is perfectly reasonable, even expected. With nearly 20 percent of the world's population and the planet's second-biggest economy by some measures, it stands to reason that China would join other advanced, spacefaring nations - and on a grander scale.
WikiLeaks: Now a Household Term
By Josh Ogden - Neithercorp Press
A couple of months ago, if I had stood up at a dinner party and proudly declared that I had to take a "Wikileak," nobody would have gotten the joke. I would have made a fool of myself! What changed? Well, I may still be a fool, but now everybody and their grandmother knows what WikiLeaks is.
Did WikiLeaks do something different? The November 28 release of US diplomatic cables (dubbed 'Cablegate') may have been larger in file size than previous data dumps, but has it yet revealed anything as visceral or intense as the 17-minute video (released in April of 2010) in which 12 people, including two Reuters journalists, are gunned down by an AH-64 Apache helicopter?
DHS Implementing No Work List:
Citizens Must Get Government Approval to Work in Private Sector
Tennessee Fusion Center Puts ACLU On Terror List
Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
On Thursday, we reported on a Florida fusion center snooping on Ron Paul and Campaign for Liberty. Now we discover that a fusion center in Tennessee has put the ACLU on a terror list.
On Wednesday, the Chattanooga Free Press reported that Tennessee antiterrorism officials placed the legislative lobbying organization on an internet map detailing "terrorism events and other suspicious activity" after the group warned schools to ensure holiday celebrations "are inclusive."
Regardless of what you may think of the ACLU's agenda, the inclusion of the organization on a map of supposed terrorist threats is disturbing. It demonstrates that the government considers political activism on both sides of the false right-left paradigm a threat to its monopoly on power.
Rape victim arrested for refusing TSA pat down
Eric W. Dolan - Raw Story
A 56-year-old woman who says she is a rape victim was arrested and banned from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Wednesday after refusing to receive a pat down from a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) officer.
Claire Hirschkind could not receive a body scan because of a pacemaker-type device in her chest and was escorted to a female TSA officer to receive an enhanced pat down.
"I told them, 'No, I'm not going to have my breasts felt,' and she said, 'Yes, you are,'" Hirschkind told KVUE.
After refusing to receive the enhanced pat down, she was arrested.
"The police actually pushed me to the floor, and handcuffed me," she said. "I was crying by then. They drug me 25 yards across the floor in front of the whole security."
Hirschkind said her constitutional rights were violated.
TSA: Disabled Woman Thrown to Floor
Arrested for Refusing Breast Pat Down Search
FCC internet takeover faces potential roadblock
by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer - NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) Just days after the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to essentially take over the internet, FOX News is reporting that a procedural delay could bring any new FCC rules to a grinding halt. Several Congressmen plan to take advantage of the 60-day waiting period required before any new rules can come into effect, and effectively block the new regulations.
Sens. John Ensign (R-NV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) together are planning to introduce legislation to overturn the FCC's takeover before it can take effect two months after being published in the Federal Register. And according to FOX News, the FCC is set to publicly release the new rules in early January.
The Gulf of Mexico is Dying
A Special Report on the BP Gulf Oil Spill
by Dr. Tom Termotto - GlobalResearch.ca
The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) does not exist in isolation and is, in fact, connected to the Seven Seas. Hence, we publish these findings in order that the world community will come together to further contemplate this dire and demanding predicament. We also do so with the hope that an appropriate global response will be formulated, and acted upon, for the sake of future generations. It is the most basic responsibility for every civilization to leave their world in a better condition than that which they inherited from their forbears.
Israel's foreign minister says peace deal with Palestine is 'impossible'
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
A peace deal with the Palestinians is 'impossible' under current conditions and Israel should not even try to pursue one, the country's foreign minister declared yesterday.
The comments came as both sides exchanged fire over the Gaza border.
Palestinians in Gaza fired two rockets into Israel yesterday morning, hours after Israeli aircraft killed two militants in the territory.
The Israeli army said the militants had been trying to plant explosives.
Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Leiberman said that a 'comprehensive agreement can't be reached' and that Israel should instead seek an interim agreement on security and economic matters.
Why is the West Sacrificing Lives in Afghanistan to Protect Chinese Investments?
By: Global Research - MarketOracle.co.uk
Michael Skinner writes: Many of the Canadian military, police, and civilian personnel who risk their lives in Afghanistan truly believe they are fighting a just war of good against evil. But America's and Britain's claims that the unsanctioned unilateral invasion of Afghanistan, which began the Global War on Terror, was justified by the terrorist attacks of 9/11 are as credible as claims the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian terrorist justified Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia to begin WWI.
It is time to look beyond faith in baseless beliefs to investigate facts. What interests are at stake in Afghanistan?
Pentagon Put on the Spot over Manas Fuel Supply Deception
Written by Deirdre Tynan - OilPrice.com
A scheme to deceive Russia about the purpose of jet fuel purchases, carried out by Mina Corp and Red Star Enterprises, the two main fuel suppliers to the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, undermined US diplomatic interests and jeopardized American and NATO military operations in Afghanistan, a US congressional report released December 21 asserts. The report also criticizes a Pentagon agency for turning "a bind eye" to its oversight responsibilities.
The elaborate scheme, which involved the alleged assistance of former Kyrgyz officials, was at the center of Red Star/Mina's business, the report contends. The chief aspect of deception involved the falsification of export certificates that indicated the fuel was intended for "domestic end use" in Kyrgyzstan, and not meant for military purposes. Titled Mystery at Manas, the report is based on an investigation by the US congressional Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs that was launched in April. Manas is a key logistics hub serving US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
North Korea Threatens to Use Nuclear Deterrent Against South
AllAmericanGold News content
As South Korea attempts to display its might with military exercises, North Korea threatens to use its nuclear deterrent.
This is by no means the first time North Korea has brought the two sides to the brink of war and threatened to use its nuclear capabilities against the South, and the situation should be viewed in that light, and with the knowledge that it is unlikely that Pyongyang actually has the capability to launch a nuclear war at this point.
North Korea Holy War Threat
Written by RFE/RL staff - OilPrice.com
South Korea completed a major show of its military strength amid high tensions with rival neighbor North Korea.
North Korea has said it is ready to wage a "holy war" against the South using its nuclear deterrent.
The threat, by North Korea's minister of armed forces, Kim Yong-chun, came just hours after South Korea completed military land exercises near their shared border.
South Korean officials had said that country's live-fire land drill in the Pocheon region, between the South Korean capital and the heavily armed Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas, would involve hundreds of troops as well as tanks, helicopters, and fighter jets.
Holiday Greetings to ALL of our friends
None of the cards offered for sale these days offered greetings that all of our friends and listeners would find acceptable and non-offensive, so we had to come up with a compromise. This should work for just about everyone ...
To All of our Liberal Readers and Listeners:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all ...
And a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "AMERICA" in the Western Hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform, or sexual preference of the wishee.
(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)
To Our Conservative Readers and Listeners: Merry Christmas in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2010.
In Hoc Anno Domini
[In this year of our Lord.] So the light came into the world.
WSJ.com - $$ (copy & paste title into Google for free access)
The late Vermont Royster's classic 1949 Christmas editorial.
The Wall Street Journal has published this wonderful editorial each Christmas since 1949
When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.
Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.
But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression - for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?
Amazing grace - André Rieu
Washington's Wise Men? Oikophobia and the Democrats' religion problem.
By JAMES TARANTO - WSJ.com
"How Democrats gave up on religious voters" is an answer to a question somebody is asking, and that somebody is Tiffany Stanley, a reporter-researcher at The New Republic. In an essay published just in time for Christmas, Stanley ponders the unmet promise of the man who promised hope:
When Barack Obama burst onto the national scene at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he represented--among many things--the shining hope for the religious left. Here was a liberal politician who was not afraid of the language of faith, who just might reclaim territory that the Democratic Party had, willingly or not, ceded to Republicans. Red America did not own religion, Obama declared: "We worship an awesome God in the blue states."
Do Christians Overemphasize Christmas? Some theologians claim that Easter is more important. That's wrong. When we celebrate one, we celebrate the other.
By JOHN WILSON - WSJ.com
One of the hallowed Christmas traditions is the Anti-Christmas Rant. It takes many forms, and anyone reading this newspaper will be familiar with most of them. But unless you routinely hang out with people who argue about theology the way many Americans argue about politics or football, you may not have encountered one variant of the Rant that has been gaining momentum in recent years.
It goes like this: Christmas isn't simply bad for all the usual reasons - the grotesque materialism that its celebration encourages, the assault of sentimentality and kitsch that somehow seems to grow worse every year, and the smarmy wrapping of it all in the most inflated spiritual rhetoric.
On top of all that, says the Ranter, there is a grievous theological error. In placing so much emphasis on Christmas, Christians fail to grasp the meaning of their own story - in which Easter clearly should take pride of place.
Christmas Carols - We Three Kings
Once upon a Professor: the Christmas Debate Story
AdWatchers.com
Once upon a time, four Professors met to agree upon a Christmas Gift Policy. 'Twas fortunate for the world that they met thus, for they were the world's foremost Gift Experts. Professor A said he already knew what everybody wanted, and wanted to massively increase financing for the International Fund for Christmas and Development, which will come up with a comprehensive plan for all the complementary technical inputs to deliver the correct gifts to all individuals. Professor B was worried about the lack of child security inside homes, and wanted a G8 rapid response force to intervene and take custody of the children, after which their needs for Christmas gifts will be identified and met. Professor C called for a randomized trial of the leading 3 types of Christmas gifts, relative to a control group who received no gifts. The results will not be available in time for December 25, so Christmas should be postponed until the results are published in a peer-reviewed journal. Professor D said that Christmas gifts never gave people what they really wanted, money spent on Christmas gifts was always one hundred percent wasted, and each person should just buy their own Christmas gift for themselves.
The Professors' fierce debate went on and on, deep into the wintry night, whilst the fire burned low.
Meanwhile, unaware of the debate, individuals around the world went ahead and bought gifts for their loved ones based on nothing other than emotions and guesswork.
And everyone was happy, except perhaps the four Professors. Merry Christmas!
THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY
A Holiday Card From Google
By KATHERINE ROSMAN - Mountain View, Calif. - WSJ.com
Five Artists, 250 Hours, Six Months to Create the Search Engine's 'Doodle'
For Micheal Lopez, creating this year's holiday card came down to the wire. The design took five artists about 250 hours. It will be opened by hundreds of millions of people. You're on the list.
Mr. Lopez is in charge of what Google Inc. calls its "doodles," the illustrations that occasionally adorn the search engine's logo in the U.S. and abroad. Doodles appear throughout the year to commemorate holidays, pop-culture touchstones, civic milestones and scientific achievements. The holiday doodle -its most ambitious one yet - will go up on its home page Thursday morning at 9 a.m. eastern time. It will remain on the site for 2-1/2 days.
Merry Christmas: Gas prices top $3 a gallon; crude tops $91
NEW YORK (AP) - The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline topped $3 a gallon on Thursday, just in time for the holiday driving trips millions of Americans will take this week.
The average pump price rose about a cent and a half a gallon overnight, to $3.01, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That's 14 cents more than a month ago and 43 cents higher than a year ago. It's the first time the average retail price has been above $3 a gallon at Christmas.
Millions of holiday travelers expected
By Larry Copeland and Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Holiday travelers can expect clogged roads, high gas prices and some bad weather this weekend.
As millions of people get on the road to visit friends and family, average gas prices on Christmas Day could hit $3 a gallon for regular unleaded - 40 cents more than last year and up $1.35 over 2008, said Tom Kloza of the Oil Price Information Service.
That would be a record. "We've never had a Christmas with $3 a gallon gas," Kloza said.
Despite the high cost of car travel, auto club AAA still expects huge numbers of drivers on the road.
Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!
Kings - Real and Virtual - Rule "The Social Network," "The King's Speech' and "Toy Story 3" lead the pack in a modest movie year.
By JOE MORGENSTERN - WSJ.com
For better and worse, this is one of those movie years when there's widespread agreement among the early awards-givers and, presumably, among critics putting together their ritual 10-best lists. It's better because the movies winning consistent favor are really good, and worse because they're so few in number. While the pickings haven't been slim, they haven't been bountiful either.
The Curious Evolution of Holiday Lights
By Dave Mosher - Wired.com
In 1882, the look of the holiday season changed forever.
Instead of decorating a Christmas tree with candles, Edward H. Johnson, inventor and vice president of Thomas Edison's booming electric company, strung 80 red, white and blue light bulbs on his scrawny evergreen. The whole thing rotated six times per minute on an electric crank.
"I need not tell you that the scintillating evergreen was a pretty sight - one can hardly imagine anything prettier," wrote a reporter for the Detroit Post and Tribune.
More than a century later, those 80 bulbs have multiplied into hundreds of millions of tiny electric lights - perhaps billions - decorating American homes and roughly 40 million live trees each year.
From those first simple strings of bulbs to computer-controlled LED light displays, we retrace the curious evolution of the holiday light bulb.
My Favorite Quotes
by Doug Casey - LewRockwell.com
When I first got into the habit of ending every edition of The International Speculator (and later The Casey Report) with a quote - starting about ten years ago - I almost always referred to at least one of my four favorite modern philosophers - Mikhail Bakunin, Peter Kropotkin, Edward Gibbon, and H.L. Mencken. I used all of these quotes from them so long ago now that many current subscribers either haven't seen them or have let them fade into the further reaches of their consciousness.
We've put some of them together, and I've appended a current observation on many. Take a few of the quotes you like best and tape them on your computer or your fridge. They'll provide a continuing measure of solace and amusement.
Let's set the tone with Einstein. I don't quote him often, but two of my all-time favorite observations are courtesy of him: "Two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the former."
"After hydrogen, the most common thing in the universe is stupidity."
Silent Monks Singing Halleluia
Last-Minute Geeky Christmas Gifts
By Dylan F. Tweney - Wired.com
Is it too late for holiday shopping? Not at all. If you act fast, you can still get some cool gifts for the geeks on your list. Some are available online and some require a trip to a local store - but all of the items on this list are likely to be well-received by any Wired reader.
This is a partial list, of course. Got any great last-minute nerd gift suggestions? Hit us in the comments!
In Snowy Syracuse, a December That's Whiter Than Usual
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS - NYTimes.com
SYRACUSE - In some places, as the first days of winter pass, the prospect of a white Christmas is just that: a possibility, sometimes realized, sometimes not.
But in this city, hard by the Snow Belt beneath Lake Ontario, there is no need for any caveat. By this time, every year, it has snowed so heavily and so often that any more would be incomprehensible.
Syracuse has met the incomprehensible. As of Tuesday, even before winter had officially begun - at 6:38 p.m. Eastern time - 71.9 inches of snow had fallen this month, making it the city's snowiest December on record.
Icy roads hamper Christmas getaway Motorists face freezing weather conditions across the UK as AA warns of another problematic day on the roads
Haroon Siddique - guardian.co.uk
Travellers planning a last-minute Christmas getaway should be facing better conditions tomorrow, with Heathrow airport and Eurostar both saying they will operate near normal services. The AA expects that the roads will be relatively quiet, but there are warnings that freezing conditions will continue to make roads treacherous.
On the trains, Network Rail expects around 90% of services to run, a similar level of cancellations to today, although there will be some delays, particularly in the north of Scotland, where six feet of snow and fallen trees remain on some lines, and parts of northern England and the west Midlands. First Capital Connect, Chiltern and Merseyrail cut up to 25% of services yesterday and were likely to run the same reduced schedule today.
Twas the Night Before Christmas... in Orlando
How a freak diversion of the jet stream is paralysing the globe with freezing conditions
By NIALL FIRTH - DailyMail.co.uk
It's snowing in Australia and California yet 'warm' in Greenland
The freezing conditions that have blasted Britain are being blamed on a series of weather patterns that are bringing Arctic temperatures to much of western Europe, California and even Australia.
One of the main factors is a change in the position of the jet stream - the fast-moving current of air that moves from west to east, high in the atmosphere.
Changes in the jet stream's path can cause massive changes in weather conditions across the globe and may be why Australians are now shivering their way through summer and the current freezing conditions in California.
Avalanche Danger Could Be Worst In Colo. History
LOVELAND PASS, Colo. (CBS4/AP) - A storm system that's been socking parts of Colorado's mountains with snow isn't over yet.
There was a lull in the system Wednesday, but snow was expected to intensify again later in the day into Thursday.
The National Weather Service says the heaviest snow is expected from the top of the Grand Mesa to the Elk and West Elk Mountains, including the area near Crested Butte.
An avalanche warning for those areas as well as for the mountains around Steamboat Springs remains in effect. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) said 1 to 2 feet fell in the warning area between Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.
Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
The Claim: Humming Can Ease Sinus Problems
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR - NYTimes.com
Dealing with a cold is bad enough, but when it leads to a sinus infection, the misery can double. Some researchers have proposed a surprising remedy: channeling your inner Sinatra.
Sinus infections - which afflict more than 37 million Americans every year - generally occur when the lining of the sinuses becomes inflamed, trapping air and pus and other secretions, and leading to pain, headaches and congestion. Because the inflammation is often caused by upper-respiratory infections, people with asthma and allergies are more vulnerable than others to chronic sinusitis.
Keeping the sinuses healthy and infection-free requires ventilation - keeping air flowing smoothly between the sinus and nasal cavities. And what better way to keep air moving through the sinuses and nasal cavity than by humming a tune?
Chase orders Southlake bank to remove Christmas tree
BY TERRY EVANS - Star-telegram.com
SOUTHLAKE -- Chase Bank told a Texas businessman to remove the Christmas tree he donated to a local branch because it could offend people.
Antonio Morales, owner of Bellagio Day Spa in Southlake northeast of Fort Worth had assembled and decorated a 9-foot-tall tree in the lobby of the Chase Bank branch at 1700 E. Southlake Boulevard as a favor to the branch manager, who is one of his clients.
The tree remained in the lobby from the Monday before Thanksgiving until Tuesday. Morales said his friend called him Wednesday to tell him the tree had to go. She later showed him an e-mail from JPMorgan Chase saying that the tree had to be removed because some people were offended by it.
The bank referred questions to corporate offices.
Greg Hassell, a JPMorgan Chase spokesman, said that the company's policy isn't anti-Christmas. "People wish their customers merry Christmas when it's appropriate," he said.
Iraqi Christians Make Plans for a Silent Night
By SAM DAGHER - WSJ.com
MOSUL, Iraq - The leader of Iraq's largest remaining Christian communities is preparing for a subdued Christmas, marked by a renewed exodus of Iraqi Christians from their historic Middle Eastern home.
Christmas festivities in Mosul, an ancient center for Christianity in Iraq's north, as well as in Baghdad are being shunned in favor of prayers and masses to protest the targeting of Christians, especially in Mosul, one of the most volatile cities in Iraq. Chief on worshipers' minds will be victims of a church siege in Baghdad at the end of October that killed nearly 60 people.
Operation Soldier Assist Welcome To OSA!
Here at OSA, we often get letters requesting adoption and support because the government hired contractors are charging way to much at the bases stores, sometimes just because of a poor stock of supplies. Some just wish to have someone to write to and visit with. Most need some sort of help with the following items: personal hygiene items, books, magazines, CD's, DVD's, new boots, and new uniforms items. I know some may feel that boots and new uniform items are over the top, there NOT. Remember a gift is not a gift if it costs you nothing, and being deployed is costing our troops allot! and this is truly about helping those who defend our country and need support.
Alabama Town's Failed Pension Is a Warning
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH - NYTimes.com
PRICHARD, Ala. - This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry
Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.
Since then, Nettie Banks, 68, a retired Prichard police and fire dispatcher, has filed for bankruptcy. Alfred Arnold, a 66-year-old retired fire captain, has gone back to work as a shopping mall security guard to try to keep his house. Eddie Ragland, 59, a retired police captain, accepted help from colleagues, bake sales and collection jars after he was shot by a robber, leaving him badly wounded and unable to get to his new job as a police officer at the regional airport.
Pensions Push Taxes Higher Cities Tap Homeowners for Revenue as Workers' Retirement, Health Costs Rise
By JEANNETTE NEUMANN - WSJ.com
Cities across the nation are raising property taxes, largely citing rising pension and health-care costs for their employees and retirees.
In Pennsylvania, the township of Upper Moreland is bumping up property taxes for residents by 13.6% in 2011. Next door the city of Philadelphia this year increased the tax 9.9%. In New York, Saratoga Springs will collect 4.4% more in property taxes in 2011; Troy will increase taxes by 1.9%.
Property-tax increases aren't unusual, in part because the taxes are among the main sources of local revenue. But officials say more and larger increases are taking hold. "This year we have seen a dramatic increase in our cities and towns having to increase property taxes" for pensions and other expenses, said Jack Garner, executive director of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities.
Tea Partiers and the Spirit of Giving Charitable gifts are a cheerful protest vote against the growing state. -- By ARTHUR C. BROOKS - WSJ.com
By now everyone knows that the dramatic November election was not an endorsement of Republicanism, but rather a rebellion against expansionist government and an attempt to re-establish America's culture of free enterprise.
The tea party activists behind the wave - and more importantly, the nearly one-third of Americans who classify themselves as "supporters" of the movement, according to Gallup - endure endless abuse from the politicians they have dethroned and the pundits they have challenged. One particular line of attack focuses on their supposed selfishness.
The Faults of Fractional-Reserve Banking
Mises Daily: Thursday, December 23, 2010 by Thorsten Polleit
In a November 1, 2010, blog post titled "Could the World Go Back to the Gold Standard?," Martin Wolf, the Financial Times chief economics commentator, comes to the conclusion that "we cannot and will not go back to the gold standard."
Among a number of mainstream-economics arguments leveled against the desirability and feasibility of the gold standard, Mr. Wolf puts forth a line of reasoning that can serve particularly well as a starting point for debating his position. Mr. Wolf writes,
Economists of the Austrian school wish to abolish fractional reserve banking. But we know that this is a natural consequence of market forces. It is wasteful to hold a 100 per cent reserve in a bank, if depositors do not need their money almost all of the time. Banks have a strong incentive to lend some of the money deposited with them, so expanding the aggregate supply of money and credit.
INSIDE JOB: New Documentary Exposes How 'Banksters'
Continue To Steal Our Money
Inside Job- Movie Website for the Documentary Film
The rich are much richer than you and me
By Chris Isidore
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The gap between the rich and the middle class is larger than it has ever been due to the bursting of the housing bubble.
The richest 1% of U.S. households had a net worth 225 times greater than that of the average American household in 2009, according to analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. That's up from the previous record of 190 times greater, which was set in 2004.
The widening gap came even as wealthy households' average net worth tumbled 27% -- to about $14 million -- between 2007 to 2009. That's the first time that they suffered a decline since the three-year period of 1992 to 1995.
New Year's resolution: I quit!
By Jessica Dickler,
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Employers watch out: Your workers can't wait to quit.
According to a recent survey by job-placement firm Manpower, 84% of employees plan to look for a new position in 2011. That's up from just 60% last year.
Most employees have sat tight through the recession, not even considering other jobs because so few firms were hiring. For the past few years, the Labor Department's quits rate, which serves as a barometer of workers' ability to change jobs, has hovered near an all-time low.
But after years of increased work and frozen compensation, "a lot of people will be looking because they're disappointed with their current jobs," said Paul Bernard, a veteran executive coach and career management advisor who runs his own firm.
Maria Bartiromo interviews Charles Schwab on his outlook
USAToday.com
On the eve of a new year, one of the most respected voices in investing is betting on a good period for the stock market in 2011, and he says the new tax compromise could be a game changer for the slow economy. Charles Schwab, founder and CEO of the investment firm that bears his name, (SCHW) tells me the tax plan will reach out to every working person in the country and will most affect small businesses, which will see the plan as a reason to add jobs. My interview follows, edited for clarity and length. Q: What is the tone of the retail investor today? We saw the flash crash in May that scared people, and we're coming off of the financial crisis two years later. How would you characterize sentiment today? A: Investors are baffled. They're bewildered. They've been whipsawed. They've lost confidence. A few are creeping out of that psychological malaise. But they're still trying to build up their confidence to come back. We clearly have lost people who've been struggling for at least 10 years, who've seen very little success and are throwing in the towel. They may be saving but are very close to their money, meaning it's in savings accounts, CDs, money market funds, without taking any risk. But today I am so optimistic after seeing what is possible with the Obama-Republican compromise, it just gives me all kinds of encouragement that maybe we can see a significant turn for the better.
Well now, ... after that 'take' by Charles Schwab, how about this viewpoint?
Doomsday Fear Mongers Get It Right Again: 'The Credit Card is Maxed Out. It's Over. It's Over.'
by Mac Slavo - LewRockwell.com
By now, you've likely come across the recent 60 Minutes segment titled State Budgets: Day of Reckoning. If you have yet to view it, you can do so below.
Millions of Americans who have been told that our economy is now in a period of recovery may be surprised to learn that most states are so broke that they are left with no other choice but to cut spending on literally everything. Governor Christie of New Jersey is, according to 60 Minutes, the canary in the mine:
We spent too much on everything. We spent money just crazily. The credit card's maxed out. It's over. It's over.
For readers of this web site and other alternative news and contrarian outlets this report was to be expected. We've been reporting on, and our readers have been contributing their insights via comments for quite some time - at least a couple of years now - about the fundamental problems facing our country. For those who have questioned their own sanity, or have had their sanity questioned by friends and family when trying to spread the message of preparing for the Greatest Depression, Governor Christie just proved that you've been right all along:
Record spike in EMU default risk on Portugal downgrade and Greek restructuring scare The cost of default insurance on eurozone bonds has surged to an all-time high on reports that Greece is preparing the way for a sovereign debt restructuring after 2013, with tacit support from the EU authorities.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The disputed claim came as Fitch Ratings downgraded both Portugal and Hungary and placed five Greek banks on negative review.
Fitch cut Portugal's rating one notch to A+, warning that the economy is caught in a low-growth trap.
Plans to cut the structural budget deficit by 4pc of GDP next year "will be extremely challenging especially if, as Fitch expects, the economy falls into recession next year".
Euro to Overcome Current Crisis, China Ambassador Says
By Bloomberg News
Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The euro will overcome the region's deficit crisis and support the stability of the international monetary system, said Song Zhe, China's ambassador to the European Union.
The strengthening of the euro's status will help "promote the building of a diversified global currency system," Song said in a statement on the Foreign Ministry's website yesterday.
Vice Premier Wang Qishan said on Dec. 21 his nation has taken "concrete action" to help the EU address its debt crisis. China is willing to invest 4 billion euros ($5.3 billion) to 5 billion euros in Portuguese government debt in the first quarter of next year, Jornal de Negocios reported on Dec. 16, without saying where it got the information.
'Clinging to the Euro Will Only Prolong the Agony'
Spiegel.de Part 1:
Leading German economists Peter Bofinger and Stefan Homburg are split over the euro's chances of survival. In a discussion moderated by SPIEGEL, they talked about the wisdom of introducing a euro bond and what would happen if Germany left the common currency. SPIEGEL: Mr. Bofinger, Mr. Homburg, can the euro be saved? Stefan Homburg: In 1995, the great thinker and European policy expert Ralf Dahrendorf predicted that the euro would divide rather than unite the continent. At the moment, we are experiencing the beginning of this process. Political tensions are growing in Europe, and the Germans are being viewed as taskmasters. For these reasons, it would be better to bring down the curtain on the euro and return to the deutsche mark. Peter Bofinger: That would be irresponsible. The euro has been a model of success. It is essential that we preserve it. The only problem is that the steps taken so far haven't sufficed. What we need now is a bold step toward more economic integration.
Part 2: 'We'll Wake Up One Morning to Hear We Have a New Currency' SPIEGEL: In other words, you are proposing that Germany should withdraw from the euro zone. The only question is whether we can handle the economic consequences. Homburg: Technically speaking, getting out of the euro is just as easy as getting into it was a few years back. But there will hardly be any forewarning about such a withdrawal. Instead, we'll just wake up one morning to hear on the radio that we have a new currency. Bofinger: The way you want to help the Germans get their beloved deutsche mark back overnight sounds downright idyllic. But, the fact is, it would not be dreamy at all; it would be a nightmare. If the Germans withdraw from the euro, the value of their assets in other EU countries would suddenly decline. This could lead some institutions to the brink of collapse, particularly banks and insurance companies. What's more, we would see a flight of capital into the new deutsche mark that would eclipse anything we have experienced so far.
Economists: Fed won't raise rates until 2012
By Chris Isidore,
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Economists are evenly split on whether the Federal Reserve's current policies are helping the economy. But they're in agreement on one point -- the Fed won't be raising interest rates anytime soon.
A CNNMoney.com exclusive survey showed that economists expect the Fed funds rate -- the central bank's key overnight interest rate used as a benchmark for a wide range of loans -- to remain near 0% for at least another year.
Only seven out of 25 participants are forecasting a rate hike in the next twelve months, and most of those expect it to come in the final three months of 2011. Another nine expect the next rate increase to come in the first quarter of 2012, while eight more are expecting a hike later that year.
A Show Stopper
Ted Butler Commentary - InvestmentRarities.com
For all those who watched the historic CFTC meeting December 16th on position limits, no, your eyes didn't deceive you - the meeting ended strangely and abruptly. No vote was taken on the staff's proposal and you should be scratching your head at what actually transpired. As strange as the sudden adjournment to the most important meeting in CFTC history might be, there was a wealth of knowledge and confirmation to be drawn from it. This meeting was perhaps the most significant and positive development towards ending the long-term silver manipulation that I have witnessed in my 25 year involvement. Silver investors should come away from this meeting with a strong conviction of how things will turn out.
I know there are deep differences between the five commissioners on the matter of position limits, even though such limits are now mandated by law. I know that the CME Group (COMEX and NYMEX) is pulling out all stops to prevent, delay and water down any position limits that may be enacted. But I also know that there is one glaring truth that accounts for the dissention and turmoil revealed at the meeting. This is all about silver and its manipulation. If it weren't for silver, this meeting and the issue of position limits would be a non-event. There is no current concentration problem in any other commodity.
No Criticism of Bernanke Is Allowed
by Gary North - LewRockwell.com
Ben Bernanke has an overwhelming majority on the Federal Reserve System's Open Market Committee (FOMC), which meets every six weeks to set Federal Reserve policy. There is only one dissenter, Thomas Hoenig, who consistently votes against any expansion of the FOMC's asset purchases, meaning any expansion of the FED's balance sheet: the monetary base. The vote is consistently 10 to 1.
From mid-November 2009 until late November 2010, the adjusted monetary base remained flat. There were increases in early 2010, but these were reversed by subsequent sales of assets. It was with this as background that Bernanke announced the policy of quantitative easing, meaning the purchase of an additional $600 billion of Treasury assets, mainly mid-maturity bonds.
Not such a lame-duck session: What Congress passed, Obama signed in week
CNN.com
So about that lame-duck Congress.
After midterm elections, predictions abounded that the next few months were going to be brutal in the halls of Congress - with fighting between the GOP and Democrats, fillibusters aplenty and all around disagreement, meaning nothing was going to get done - despite a massive agenda for the Obama administration.
But now, shortly before the holidays, in what many might have said in November would only happen if there were a Christmas miracle, key pieces of legislation have been signed into law, practically back-to-back. Some, such as the DREAM Act, failed a procedural vote in the Senate. The bill would have offered a path to citizenship to some illegal immigrants who entered the U.S. as children. President Barack Obama called the defeat his "biggest disappointment."
Taxpayers who itemize have to wait until February to file
By Sandra Block, USA TODAY
Taxpayers who itemize on their federal tax returns will have to wait until at least mid-February to file, the IRS said Thursday.
The delay is necessary because the IRS needs time to program its systems to accommodate tax breaks included in a compromise tax bill President Obama signed last week.
The delay means millions of taxpayers will have to wait longer to get their refunds next year. Taxpayers who will have to wait until mid- to late February to file include:
Tax Cuts Boosting Economy? Not Everyone Thinks So
By: Albert Bozzo - CNBC.com
Though many in Washington and Wall Street have applauded the bipartisan tax-cut package as a key economic stimulant, there are more than a few skeptics about its potential impact.
The eleventh-hour package - which extends the Bush tax cuts into 2011 and 2012, trims two percentage points off the payroll tax and adds another round of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed - has even prompted some prominent financial firms to increase their forecasts for economic growth in 2011.
US confidence prompts questions over need for QE US consumer confidence jumped to a six-month high in December, the latest in a slew of stronger data that has prompted a senior Federal Reserve official to question whether the latest round of printing money is needed.
By Richard Blackden - Telegraph.co.uk
An index of consumer sentiment climbed to 74.5 in December from 71.6 in November, according to the survey from Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan, which also showed more Americans expect to be feeling better in six months.
After a lacklustre recovery the Federal Reserve and, more recently, Congress has sought to supercharge the economy with a fresh mix of $600bn (£390bn) in monetary and $858bn in fiscal stimulus.
Charles Plosser, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, who will vote on interest rates next year, said that the Fed may need to reduce the scale of its quantitative easing (QE). "If the growth rate continues to strengthen and looks sustainable, I am going to be looking for the Fed to react," Mr Plosser told Bloomberg.
5 most inventive states
These states are innovating up a storm, generating the most independent inventor patents per capita, according to research from the Kauffman Foundation.
Utah
Oregon
California
Massachusetts
Connecticut
Urban farming 2.0: No soil, no sun
By Jennifer Alsever
(CNNMoney.com) -- Forget the conventional wisdom that says veggies must be grown on vast farms in the Midwest. What if commercial-scale crops took root inside cavernous city warehouses, without sunlight or soil?
Call it urban farming 2.0. Over the past decade, city agriculture has largely been the province of non-profit organizations, school groups, renegade gardeners and restaurants sowing seeds on rooftops. But the newest breed of city farmers are businessfolk. In their hands, urban agriculture is scaling up to meet a rising demand in city centers for safe, organic and locally grown food.
Wikimania and the First Amendment
by Ralph Nader - LewRockwell.com
Thomas Blanton, the esteemed director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University described Washington's hyper-reaction to WikiLeaks' transmission of information to some major media in various countries as "Wikimania."
n testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last Thursday, Blanton urged the Justice Department to cool it. WikiLeaks and newspapers like The New York Times and London's Guardian, he said, are publishers protected by the First Amendment. The disclosures are the first small installment of a predicted much larger forthcoming trove of non-public information from both governments and global corporations.
The leakers inside these organizations come under different legal restrictions than those who use their freedom of speech rights to publish the leaked information.
Congress's Monstrous Legal Legacy Put together like Frankenstein, ObamaCare risks coming apart at the seams. -- By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL - WSJ.com
The historians will long be fighting over the legislative legacy of the 111th Congress. As to its legal legacy, the only real question is whether this just-finished Democratic Congress was the most unserious in decades, or the most unserious in history.
That much is clear from the recent ObamaCare court proceedings. Federal Judge Henry Hudson, responding to a lawsuit by the state of Virginia, last week struck down the core of the law, the individual mandate. His decision came the same week that a coalition of 20 states presented oral arguments against the health law in front of Florida federal Judge Roger Vinson. In October, Judge Vinson ruled against the Obama Justice Department's motion to dismiss the states' lawsuit.
North Korea threatens nuclear 'holy war' with South
Jonathan Watts in Beijing - guardian.co.uk
Tensions on the Korean pensinsula were at their most dangerous level since the 1950-53 war today when North Korea threatened to use nuclear weapons in a "holy war" against its neighbour after South Korean tanks, jets and artillery carried out one of the largest live-fire drills in history close to the border.
The military exercise at Pocheon, just south of the demilitarized zone, was the third such show of force this week by South Korea. Multiple rocket-launchers, dozens of tanks and hundreds of troops joined the drills, which the South Korean president, Lee Myung-bak, insisted was necessary for self-defence, following two deadly attacks this year. Last month, two civilians and two marines were killed by a North Korean barrage on Yeonpyeong island following a live-fire drill in disputed territory. In March, 46 sailors died when the South Korean naval ship, Cheonan, was sunk, apparently by an enemy torpedo.
China's North Korea Shift Helps U.S. Relations
By MARK LANDLER - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - Few debates have strained relations between the United States and China more this year than how to handle an unruly North Korea. But after a tense week, when the threat of war hung over the Korean Peninsula, the Obama administration and Beijing seem finally to be on the same page.
Administration officials said the Chinese government had embraced an American plan to press the North to reconcile with the South after its deadly attacks on a South Korean island and a warship. The United States believes the Chinese also worked successfully to curb North Korea's belligerent behavior.
School sends home permission slips for Pledge of Allegiance
BROOKLINE (FOX 25 / MyFoxBoston.com) - A Brookline school is now saying permission slips won't be necessary for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Edward Devotion School, which has not recited the Pledge of Allegiance in seven years, will say the Pledge over the school's intercom once a week beginning next month.
Gerardo Martinez, the school's principal, initially said the permission slips were sent to encourage parents to have a discussion with their kids about the Pledge.
The principal also says he sent this note out to parents just to let them know it was okay if they do not want their kids to participate.
The Philosophy of Liberty
Vice Admiral: Obama was outmaneuvered by Russians on START
U.S. Naval Institute - December 23, 2010
President Barack Obama was outmaneuvered by the Russians and should have abandoned the New START negotiations instead of seeking a political victory, says former nuclear plans monitor Vice Admiral Jerry Miller, USN (Ret).
"The Obama administration is continuing a dated policy in which we cannot even unilaterally reduce our own inventory of weapons and delivery systems without being on parity with the Russians," Miller told the U.S. Naval Institute in Annapolis, Md. "We could give up plenty of deployed delivery systems and not adversely affect our national security one bit, but New START prohibits such action - so we are now stuck with some outmoded and useless elements in our nuke force."
America's Ruling Class -- And the Perils of Revolution
By Angelo M. Codevilla from the July 2010 - August 2010 issue The American Spectator.org
As over-leveraged investment houses began to fail in September 2008, the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties, of major corporations, and opinion leaders stretching from the National Review magazine (and the Wall Street Journal) on the right to the Nation magazine on the left, agreed that spending some $700 billion to buy the investors' "toxic assets" was the only alternative to the U.S. economy's "systemic collapse." In this, President George W. Bush and his would-be Republican successor John McCain agreed with the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. Many, if not most, people around them also agreed upon the eventual commitment of some 10 trillion nonexistent dollars in ways unprecedented in America. They explained neither the difference between the assets' nominal and real values, nor precisely why letting the market find the latter would collapse America. The public objected immediately, by margins of three or four to one.
Some, worthy repeats ...
Fall of the Republic HQ full length version
EndGame HQ full length version
Invisible Empire A New World Order Defined
"Keep technology on a very short leash, lest it be used to enslave us... We love technology, but it's people who matter."
We Are Now Paying for the Destruction
of the US Dollar and Economy... Literally
Submitted by Phoenix Capital Research - ZeroHedge.com
We just hit another milestone in insanity.
I've written before that thanks to its QE lite and QE 2 programs, the Fed is now officially the single, largest owner of US debt. However, even that nonsense pales in comparison to the Fed's latest accomplishment, that of owning over $1 TRILLION in US debt.
That's right, as of yesterday afternoon the Fed now owns over $1 trillion in US debt. This amounts of over 7% of the US's total debt, own by our central bank.
Now, many commentators have pointed out the various ways in which this policy has endangered the US's balance sheet, economic clout, and currency. However, there's one element that NO ONE seems to have picked up on. That is...
Has The Financial Collapse Of Europe Now Become Inevitable?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
What in the world is happening over in Europe? Well, it is actually quite simple. We are witnessing the slow motion collapse of the euro and of the European financial system. At this point, many analysts are convinced that a full-blown financial implosion in Europe has become inevitable. Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Belgium are all drowning in an ocean of unsustainable debt. Meanwhile, Germany and the few other "healthy" members of the EU continue to try to keep all of the balls in the air by bailing everyone out. But can Germany keep bailing the rest of the EU out indefinitely? Are the German people going to continue to be willing to hand out gigantic sacks of cash to fix the problems of other EU nations? The Irish were just bailed out, but their problems are far from over. There are rumors that Greece will soon need another bailout. Spain, Portugal, Italy and France have all entered crisis territory. At the same time, there are a whole host of nations in eastern Europe that are also on the verge of financial collapse. So is there any hope that a major sovereign debt crisis can be averted at this point?
Bye Bye American Pie: 10 Reasons Why America's Economic Pie Is Rapidly Shrinking
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
All over the mainstream media today, the wealthy are being pitted against the poor. Those advocating for the wealthy claim that if we could just cut the taxes for the rich and make things easier for them that they will create lots of jobs for the rest of us. Those advocating for the poor claim that the gap between the rich and the poor is now larger than ever and that if we could just get the workers to fight for their rights that we could get things back to how they used to be. It is a very interesting debate, but it totally ignores a reality that is even more important. America's economic pie is rapidly shrinking. As part of the new globalist economy, every single month massive amounts of U.S. wealth is being transferred out of the United States and into foreign hands in exchange for oil and cheap plastic trinkets. In addition, every single month our national government goes into more debt, our state governments go into more debt and our local governments go into more debt. The interest on all of this debt represents a tremendous transfer of wealth. What most Americans fail to grasp is that our collective wealth is getting smaller. There is now less of an "economic pie" for all of us to divide up.
Headlines Confirming Troubled Times Are Here
Greg Hunter - SilverBearCafe.com
Some people see the Internet as an electronic world of wires and computers run at speeds measured in nanoseconds. I tend to see the Internet as an electronic extension of human biology. Sample enough of the Internet in the right places and you can get a snapshot of what people are generally feeling. One of my own readers, Alyce, commented recently, "It's easy for people to become lulled into a false sense of security. The term normalcy bias keeps popping up in articles I read lately. It is when people interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible. Happens all the time...human nature to believe that since a disaster has never occurred in one's lifetime, that it just never will. Trust your instincts." Bravo Alyce! What are some of the headlines flashing warning signs?
Fascism and Economic Collapse Down Argentine Way
by Ron Holland - LewRockwell.com
There are many ominous parallels between Argentina and the U.S. and the question often asked is can America avoid the economic consequences that Argentina suffered from a fascist government combined with government debt and currency collapse? I believe the answer is likely NO! "There are a lot of ways to ruin an economy. Argentina has experimented with most of them. It has devalued its currency, and revalued it. It has pegged it, and then knocked down the peg. It has regulated, controlled, inspected, taxed and confiscated. Following the 2001 crisis, earnings fell by 30% - with half the nation slipping below the official poverty line. What is remarkable is that the Argentine economy has survived at all." ~ Bill Bonner
Chapter 9 Weighed in Pension Woes
By MICHAEL CORKERY - WSJ.com
For cities and towns facing unsustainable pension costs, the end game may look something like Prichard, Ala.
The financially troubled suburb of Mobile turned to bankruptcy court in October 2009 when it "simply ran of money to pay its pension obligations," says the city's lawyer R. Scott Williams.
Prichard proposed capping benefits to current retirees at about $200 a month, down from monthly payments of as much as $3,000. "That's not a hair cut, that's a scalping," said Larry Voit, who represented a group of 40 retired city workers in Prichard, population 27,500.
Alabama Town's Failed Pension Is a Warning
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH - NYTimes.com
PRICHARD, Ala. - This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry.
Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending monthly pension checks to its 150 retired workers, breaking a state law requiring it to pay its promised retirement benefits in full.
Since then, Nettie Banks, 68, a retired Prichard police and fire dispatcher, has filed for bankruptcy. Alfred Arnold, a 66-year-old retired fire captain, has gone back to work as a shopping mall security guard to try to keep his house. Eddie Ragland, 59, a retired police captain, accepted help from colleagues, bake sales and collection jars after he was shot by a robber, leaving him badly wounded and unable to get to his new job as a police officer at the regional airport.
Wave of Muni Defaults to Spur Layoffs, Social Unrest: Whitney
By: CNBC.com
A wave of defaults by state and local governments in the coming months will spark a selloff in the municipal bond market, hurting US economic growth and stocks and causing social unrest as governments are forced to lay off workers and cut back on services, well known financial analyst Meredith Whitney told CNBC Tuesday.
Responding to the uproar over her "60 Minutes" interview broadcast on CBS Sunday night, Whitney defended her prediction that at least 50 to 100 cities and towns could default on their debt as states and the federal government cut back on financial support.
In Christie We Trust House Republicans are ready for war against public sector unions.
By David Weigel - Slate Magazine
In two weeks, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina will become the first chairman of the new House oversight subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services, and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs. In the meantime, he is thinking about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was on 60 Minutes this Sunday talking about the need to cut state spending and trim state employees and their pensions.
"You look at his stuff - and, granted, he puts his good stuff on YouTube - but he is so blunt about what the state's facing," says McHenry. "There's one video I've seen where he's talking to a teacher. And the teacher's like, 'We work so hard.' " McHenry does his best imitation of the pathos in the teacher's voice. "Christie says, 'You know what? You don't have to do it.' "
McHenry sits back, holding out his hands in a "can you believe this?" gesture. "You watch that, and you think - that's a governor. And that's a teacher. The teacher always wins, man!"
Irrational exuberance , Krugman the Zombie, Gold non-bubble
Is This Our America Anymore?
By Patrick J. Buchanan
Buried in the Oct. 30 Washington Post was a bland headline: "Report Points to Faster Recovery in Jobs for Immigrants."
The story, however, contained social dynamite that explains the rage of Americans who are smeared as nativists and xenophobes for demanding a timeout on immigration.
In the April-May-June quarter, foreign-born workers in the U.S. gained 656,000 jobs. And native-born Americans lost 1.2 million.
From July 1, 2009, to June 30, 2010, foreign-born Hispanics gained 98,000 construction jobs. Native-born Hispanics lost 133,000. Black and white U.S. construction workers lost 511,000 jobs.
2 Berkshire-based banks to merge
By: The Associated Press - WashingtonExaminer.com
Berkshire County's two most dominant banks are becoming one.
Officials announced Tuesday that Berkshire Bank has reached an agreement to acquire Legacy Banks for $108 million.
The merger, expected to be finalized in June, will create an institution under the Berkshire Bank name with approximately $4 billion in assets and 66 branches in Massachusetts, Vermont and New York.
The Berkshire Eagle reports that Berkshire Bank President and CEO Michael Daly will head the new entity, while Legacy President and CEO Patrick Sullivan will join Berkshire Bank's executive team.
How rating agencies set stage for community bank failures
By KEVIN G. HALL AND GREG GORDON - KansasCity.com
Billions of dollars in top-rated bonds backed by community banks have gone bust, debunking the defense offered by credit-rating agencies that wildly inaccurate ratings were limited to risky mortgage bonds that imploded and then triggered the U.S. financial crisis.
Government regulators and lawyers across the United States are examining how credit-rating agencies came to bless as "investment grade" the now-toxic bonds made up of special securities issued by community bank holding companies.
Monetary Watch December 2010: The Money Supply, a Triple From Here?
by Michael Pollaro - LewRockwell.com
Our monthly Monetary Watch, an Austrian take on where we are on the monetary inflation front and what's next
Headline Monetary Aggregates in November
The U.S. money supply aggregates based on the Austrian definition of the money supply, what Austrians call the True Money Supply or TMS, were mixed in November, with our shorter-term one and three-month rate of change metrics continuing their recent surge while our longer-term twelve-month rate of change metrics showing some moderation. Focusing on TMS2, THE CONTRARIAN TAKE's preferred money supply measure, we find that it increased at an annualized rate of 15.6% in November, bringing the three-month rate of change to an annualized 15.2%. That's up from October's 14.5% rate and 13.3% rate, respectively. In contrast, the twelve-month rate of change metric on TMS2, the measure we watch most closely, went the other way, ending November at a rate of 9.8%, down from October's 10.5% rate, and marking the end, albeit barley, of 22 consecutive months of double digit increases.
U.S. Says China Fund Breaks Rules
By SEWELL CHAN - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration filed a case against China with the World Trade Organization on Wednesday, siding with an American labor union, the United Steelworkers, in accusing Beijing of illegally subsidizing the production of wind power equipment.
The decision is the second time in less than four months that the United States has accused China of violating world trade rules.
It represents an escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China over clean energy, viewed by the Obama administration as a frontier in which American companies are struggling to remain competitive.
IMF's gold sale over, prices gain
LONDON (Commodity Online): Finally, International Monetary Fund's (IMF) gold sale plan has been completed after it offloaded the targeted 4.3.3 tonnes of gold in a phased manner.
The IMF has announced that it has finished its target and the gold sale plan is over for now. The news was well received by the bullion market with an immediate rise in gold prices.
Spot gold advanced as much as 0.4% to $1,391.02 an ounce and traded at $1,389.45 in Singapore on Wednesday. London market also witnessed a surge in prices. In late trading in London, bullion traded at $1,385 a troy ounce, up 0.1 per cent from Monday's last quote. The contract for February delivery on the Comex in New York was little changed at $1,390.10 an ounce.
Barclays: Gold price to average $1,445/oz in 2011
By Debbie Carlson - CommodityOnline.com
(Kitco News) - Barclays Capital Markets sees higher prices for precious metals and some base metals going into 2011 and the bank said in the short term it is "most positive" on gold but longer term favors platinum group metals, according to a research note released Wednesday.
Barclays estimates the average spot prices for precious metals in 2011 as follows: gold at $1,445 an ounce, silver at $28.10 an ounce, platinum at $1,780 an ounce and palladium at $675 an ounce.
Why China failed to buy IMF gold reserves
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): 2010 bullion headlines have been dominated by one major news items, often: the gold reserves sale by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And 2010 is going to end with the news now that IMF has fully sold the 403.3 tons of gold.
Now that the gold sale by IMF is all over, it is interesting to look at who all got the gold reserves that were on sale by the global organization.
On Tuesday, IMF said that is has concluded the sale of 403.3 tons of gold, which was around 13 percent of its gold reserves to central banks and bullion market participants ever since the IMF executive board approved the gold sale in September 2009.
Is JP Morgan Shifting Its Silver And Gold Shorts To Non-US Domiciled, And Thus Unregulatable, Banks?
by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Going through recent bullion bank shorting information, Adrian Douglas has stumbled across a nugget that may explain the sudden willingness of JPM to admit to the FT, via proxies as obviously the bank would never expose itself to even remote market manipulation claims, that it has collapsed its silver short. The reason: even as US bank silver (and gold) shorts by US banks have been gradually declining, those positions established by non-US bank, and thus entities not under the CFTC's control, have seen their silver shorts surge, increasing by orders of magnitude over the past several months. Is there a stealthy transfer of precious metals market manipulation taking place, one that exonerates the domestic, and therefore regulatable, suspects, while making foreign banks carry the burden of suppressing silver and gold prices? The reason: hand over the silver shorts to entities that would not be subject to the CFTC's upcoming size limit rules. Per Douglas: "The sudden and massive increase in their short positions in both metals is conspicuous when compared with historical trading patterns. The fact that it occurs at a time when the US banks that are mega-short appear to be covering makes it doubly intriguing. It looks like a strategy to shift suppression and manipulation of the market to banks that are not under the direct supervision of the CFTC. Will these non-US banks be expecting to receive an exemption to position limits where US banks might not be successful?"
Citigroup fears fresh wave of sovereign defaults and bank failures in eurozone Citigroup has warned of a fresh wave of bank failures and a string of sovereign defaults in Europe unless EU leaders come up with a credible response to the crisis.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Professor Willem Buiter, the bank's chief economist and a former UK rate-setter, said the eurozone is paralysed by a "game of chicken" between the European Central Bank and EMU governments in charge of fiscal policy.
Both sides are trying to shift responsibility onto the other for shoring up Southern Europe and Ireland, raising the risk of widening contagion. "The market is not going to wait until March for the EU authorities to get their act together. We could have several sovereign states and banks going under. They are being far too casual." he said.
Has American Military Spending Really Been a Form of Keynesian Stimulus?
By Gonzalo Lira
In my recent post, Falling Forward, I discussed the failure of the American economy to de-militarize once the Cold War ended in 1991.
This is a major issue - major like a hole in the head: The United States spends over 6% of its GDP on the military - more, if you add the money spent on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. (And by the way: The self-delusion that keeps those two wars "off the books"? Astonishing - but that's for another time.)
Since the U.S. is the largest economy in the world, that +6% means that America spends more on the military than the rest of the world combined - with room to spare.
Right there, you know something's gone horribly wrong.
Computers That Trade on the News
By GRAHAM BOWLEY - NYTimes.com The number-crunchers on Wall Street are starting to crunch something else: the news.
Math-loving traders are using powerful computers to speed-read news reports, editorials, company Web sites, blog posts and even Twitter messages - and then letting the machines decide what it all means for the markets.
The development goes far beyond standard digital fare like most-read and e-mailed lists. In some cases, the computers are actually parsing writers' words, sentence structure, even the odd emoticon. A wink and a smile - ;) - for instance, just might mean things are looking up for the markets. Then, often without human intervention, the programs are interpreting that news and trading on it.
UK economy could contract in 2011,
warns Bank of England's Paul Fisher A senior Bank of England official has warned that the economy may suffer another period of contraction in 2011, more than a year after the recession officially ended.
By Philip Aldrick - Telegraph.co.uk
Paul Fisher, executive director of markets and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), warned: "It's not impossible that we would see a quarter of negative growth. The ... UK tends not to be that volatile quarter to quarter but in this sort of situation when you are recovering from a deep recession it is not impossible."
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, he said the recovery is on track but cautioned that "at this stage of recovery in a cycle it's always going to be bumpy". He added: "If you think back to ... a year ago, we would have grabbed this as an outcome of 2010."
Jailed counterfeiters aren't a patch on the Bank of England The British and US governments are printing money to create inflation - to reduce their debts
By Jeff Randall - Telegraph.co.uk
With Wills and Kate dominating the news pages, some of you may have missed an intriguing case at Leeds Crown Court last week. It ended with four men being jailed for a remarkable counterfeiting operation. The gang's plan was to print more than £5 million and flood the country with fake currency. Sentencing them, the judge acknowledged that their sophisticated scheme had produced high-quality notes on a commercial scale. He explained that long custodial terms were appropriate because the offences undermined confidence in the economic system and could have "caused a lot of people to lose their money" (forged £20 notes were trading for just £2).
The problem with counterfeit paper is that it's not backed by gold or any other store of value. Whereas proper money, printed by the Bank of England, is, of course, er... also not backed by gold or any other store of value.
Economists: Reform the tax code
By Chris Isidore
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- April 15 could be a lot easier for most American taxpayers if economists get their way.
Nearly half of economists surveyed by CNNMoney.com think overhauling the current system would be the best tax policy going forward. Reform would mean lower tax rates but an end to many of the deductions and special treatment enjoyed by certain taxpayers.
"Significantly lower ... tax rates in exchange for reducing tax [deductions and breaks] makes the most sense in terms of increasing growth," said David Berson, chief economist of the PMI Group.
The Shape of the World in 2020
Written by Gregory R. Copley - OilPrice.com
None can foretell the future, and yet the shape of what we face can be shrewdly estimated with enough attention to historical trends; with broad contextual understanding; and with sufficient insight into the character of leaders, their societies, and the structures which define their basis.
These estimates will be tempered by the sudden acts of nature, the sudden emergence of true leadership from unexpected quarters, or key breakthroughs in science. Still, we can hazard reliable views on the shape of the world in, say, a decade - in 2020 - if present trends and characters remain, and on a knowledge of certain baseline levels of wealth and capability which presently exist.
Unintended Consequences
Texas firm is buying Union Station in L.A. ProLogis will sell the property to TPG Capital as part of a $505-million deal that also includes four shopping centers, two office buildings and 11 mixed-use projects.
Bloomberg News - LATimes.com
Union Station in Los Angeles is being sold to a Texas investment firm as part of a $505-million agreement announced Tuesday to purchase real estate assets from ProLogis, the world's largest warehouse company.
The properties are being sold to TPG Capital, formerly known as Texas Pacific Group, a global private investment firm headquartered in Fort Worth, with more than $47 billion in assets under management.
In a Sign of Foreclosure Flaws, Suits Claim Break-Ins by Banks
By ANDREW MARTIN - NYTimes.com
TRUCKEE, Calif. - When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend ski trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks.
When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son's ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words "Together Forever," that contained the ashes of her late husband, Robert.
The culprit, Ms. Ash soon learned, was not a burglar but her bank. According to a federal lawsuit filed in October by Ms. Ash, Bank of America had wrongfully foreclosed on her house and thrown out her belongings, without alerting Ms. Ash beforehand.
Rush to foreclose by Fannie, Freddie helped feed problems with legal paperwork
By Zachary A. Goldfarb and Ariana Eunjung Cha - Washington Post
As the housing market came crashing down in 2008, the giant mortgage company Fannie Mae took an unprecedented step to help tackle the rising tide of foreclosures. It named an exclusive group of law firms that would help rapidly carry out the unsavory task of filing legal paperwork to remove homeowners from their homes.
Today, problems with documents handled by firms on Fannie's list - and a similar one created by its smaller rival Freddie Mac - are at the heart of federal and state probes over faulty foreclosure practices that now threaten the housing market.
Columbia Law's Metzger Assesses Health Care Law Clash
The Hidden Costs of Caregiving
ELDER CARE by Catey Hill - SmartMoney.com
Mike Clement and his wife Kaki thought their days of caregiving were coming to an end when their teenage son headed to college. But then Clement's mother suffered a fall and had to be rescued by the local fire department. Within weeks, the Clements moved the 76-year-old woman into their Charlotte, N.C. home. As her health declined, taking care of her "involved a 24/7 focus from the family, friends and a hired caregiver," says Clement, now 51.
The demand for informal caregivers--like family members, friends or neighbors--is expected to increase by more than 20% in the next 15 years--and by 85% in the next 40 years--as baby boomers age, data from the Dept. Health and Human Services show. Nearly 62 million Americans already care for another adult at least part-time, an expensive and time-consuming undertaking.
Unemployment rate rises in 21 states, falls in 15
WASHINGTON (AP) - Unemployment rates rose in 21 states last month, the highest number to report an increase since August. The report is a reminder of the job market's struggle to rebound even as the economy is improving.
The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates fell in 15 states in November and remained the same in 14 states. That's the fewest to see a drop in unemployment since August.
Georgia and Idaho endured the largest increases in unemployment. Georgia's rate rose to 10.1 percent from 9.8 percent. Idaho's jumped to 9.4 percent from 9.1 percent.
Michigan and Pennsylvania saw the biggest declines in unemployment last month. Michigan's rate fell to 12.4 percent from 12.8 percent. Pennsylvania's declined to 8.6 percent from 8.8 percent.
2010 Census Shows Folks Flocking to Free Market States
by Rich Trzupek - FrontPageMag.com
Data released by the census bureau yesterday indicates that Republican-leaning seats will have a stronger voice in the House and increased pull in the electoral college over the next decade. Yet, there is a deeper, more important message contained within the heaps of figures as well. States that embrace conservative principles of governance are growing, while those states that stubbornly cling to progressive policies are bleeding citizens, jobs and influence. People are flocking to states in the South and West that offer low taxes and reject mandatory collective bargaining. The population increase in states governed by conservative principles has two components: internal migration and immigration. In the first case, American citizens continue to relocate into states where government exerts a light hand. In the latter, new immigrants naturally flock to the states where economic opportunities are the brightest. Either way, the 2010 census provides a ringing endorsement for the kind of free market, limited government principles that the electorate so strongly supported in the last election.
Jet-Leasing Firms Go on Buying Spree
By DANIEL MICHAELS - WSJ.com
Airbus and Boeing Co. are on track for a sales rebound in 2010, far outpacing expectations this time last year.
Higher airline traffic has been the main engine. But a less obvious factor is resurgent airplane-leasing companies, signaling new life in a corner of the aviation business that was gasping during the 2008 market meltdown.
Lessors account for more than 35% of orders at Airbus this year, up from 5% last year. At Boeing, lessors have placed 21%, up from 12%. The two companies next month are expected to report a combined rise of about 50% in all orders for this year, net of cancellations.
Gas prices near $3 a gallon
By Charles Riley
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Gas prices were poised Wednesday to top the milestone $3 mark for the first time since Oct. 17, 2008, as the national average compiled by motorist group AAA reached $2.997 a gallon.
Gas prices have risen more than 4% from $2.872 a month ago and are nearly 16% higher than the $2.585 average a year ago, according to the AAA figures.
Prices have been climbing steadily since bottoming out at $1.616 in December 2008.
"We've never had Christmas Day with gasoline at three dollars or higher," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst with Oil Price Information Service, an energy trade publication based in Wall, N.J.
Michael Savage Sues Talk Syndicator
NewsMax.com
Conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage has filed a lawsuit against his syndicator Talk Radio Network, claiming TRN is attempting to force him into "indentured servitude."
Savage's contract with TRN expires at the end of the year, and he has received an offer to move his show to Courtside Radio, which is headed by Norman Pattiz, founder of industry giant Westwood One.
According to court papers, the proposed Savage network would have links to the RightNetwork, an on-demand video service backed by actor Kelsey Grammer and sports and media mogul Ed Snider. Savage's contract with Pattiz offers him 1 percent of the equity in the fledgling network.
WikiLeaks Founder:
We Have Enough Information To Make An Exec At A Major Bank Resign
The Huffington Post |Ryan McCarth
An upcoming data dump by WikiLeaks will be damaging enough that an executive at a major American bank will resign, the organization's founder Julian Assange told the U.K.'s Times in a recent interview.
Speculation has swirled that WikiLeaks may be targeting Bank of America in its next leak, which Assange said in a Forbes interview will target at least one major bank. In a 2009 Computer World interview, Assange said that he had a 5 GB hard drive from a Bank of America executive. The bank recently stopped processing WikiLeaks payments.
In an interview with the Times, Assange said: "We don't want the bank to suffer unless it's called for. But if its management is operating in a responsive way there will be resignations."
The Headlines Are Wrong:
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Has Not Been Repealed
Military item by Cliff Kincaid - Dec 21, 2010
The headlines said that the Pentagon's homosexual exclusion policy had been repealed. "Don't ask, don't tell" is repealed by Senate; bill awaits Obama's signing," was the headline over the front page article in The Washington Post by Ed O'Keefe. But the article went on to note, in the 22nd paragraph, that top military leaders must find or certify that changes to the current policy "must not affect troop readiness, cohesion or military recruitment and retention." How is this possible when Marine Commandant General Jim Amos has already said that the changes would cost lives?
Calling repeal a major distraction, Amos said, "I don't want to lose any Marines to the distraction. I don't want to have any Marines that I'm visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center, in Maryland] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction."
Obama Executive Order Targets Fourth Amendment
Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
Remember when Barry Obama said he would close Gitmo because it wasn't right to hold people without formal charges and trials? He made the pledge soon after assuming the ceremonial throne. He said he would get it done within 12 months.
Barry didn't really mean it.
Now comes word that Obama will sign an executive order that will formalize indefinite detention without trial of detainees kidnapped on the battlefields of undeclared and illegal wars.
The supposed plan to close Guantanamo is on hold, according to the Washington Post. It could be crippled if Congress bans the transfer of detainees to the United States for trial and sets up steep hurdles to the repatriation or resettlement in third countries of other detainees.
Obama Prepares Executive Order For Indefinite Detention
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
First president Obama becomes Bush in all but name with respect to his predecessor's economic policies, and now he follows by espousing Bush's interpretation of "civil rights" as well. According to Pro Publica, the White House is preparing an Executive Order for indefinite detention. And while the premise behind a comparable draft has been circulating around for 18 months, the uptake was seen as problematic. The "humanitarian" premise behind the order is that it will "provide for the periodic reviews of evidence against dozens of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay... and allow for the possibility that detainees from countries like Yemen might be released if circumstances change." That's the theory. The "practice" is that the Order will, as the name implies, afford the administration the option of "indefinite detention as a long-term Obama administration policy and makes clear that the White House alone will manage a review process for those it chooses to hold without charge or trial." In other words all those, and we assume that the Order is not merely targeting those involved in September 11, and is wider in its scope, who are perceived by the administration as "high value detainees" will be denied due process, and will be held in captivity essentially indefinitely with no legal recourse, for as long as the "review process" so deems fit. As for the "theory" aspect, Politico summarizes just how much of a bold lie Obama's promise two years ago to close Guantanamo has become: "Nearly two years after Obama's pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo, more inmates there are formally facing the prospect of lifelong detention and fewer are facing charges than the day Obama was elected." In other words, Obama has one upped Dubya not only when it comes to Republican economic policy, but has in fact surpassed his abrogation of basic human rights.
Espionage Act Rears Its Ugly Head
And Threatens American Tradition Of Freedom
BeforeItsNews.com
Is the Espionage Act a good law? As various prominent members of our government and media add their voices to those calling for charging Julian Assange and The New York Times under the Espionage Act, it's important to remember and not repeat the Act's ugly past.
Bestselling author, Naomi Wolf, recounts the damage done by the Espionage Act over at the Huffington Post:
The Espionage Act was crafted in 1917 -- because President Woodrow Wilson wanted a war and, faced with the troublesome First Amendment, wished to criminalize speech critical of his war. In the run-up to World War One, there were many ordinary citizens -- educators, journalists, publishers, civil rights leaders, union activists -- who were speaking out against US involvement in the war. The Espionage Act was used to round these citizens by the thousands for the newly minted 'crime' of their exercising their First Amendment Rights.
Whose Internet Is It, Anyway?
The FCC's new "net neutrality" rules only muddle the picture.
By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine
The Federal Communications Commission has reinvigorated the "net neutrality" debate with its approval today of new rules governing Internet access. (The actual rules have yet to be released to the public.) Reportedly, the broadband companies that drop wires into your home to provide Internet service - like Comcast and Charter, for example - will be prohibited from blocking services and applications and from engaging in the "unreasonable discrimination" of data delivery. Wireless Internet providers will face less stringent rules.
The Internet as We Know it Is Still at Risk
Al Franken U.S. Senator, Minnesota - HuffingtonPost.com
n today's net neutrality action by the Federal Communications Commission there's good news and bad news. The good news is that, thanks to Commissioners Copps and Clyburn -- not to mention a nationwide network of net neutrality activists -- the proposal approved today is better than the original circulated by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. For instance, the FCC has now stated that it does not condone discriminatory behavior by wireless companies like Verizon and AT&T -- an important piece that was missing from the first draft.
The bad news is that, while it's no longer worse than nothing, the rule approved today is not nearly strong enough to protect consumers or preserve the free and open Internet. And with so much at stake, I cannot support it.
Internet access is not a "civil right"
By Michelle Malkin
When bureaucrats talk about increasing your "access" to X, Y, or Z, what they're really talking about is increasing their control over your lives exponentially. As it is with the government health care takeover, so it is with the newly-approved government plan to "increase" Internet "access." Call it Webcare.
By a vote of 3-2, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday adopted a controversial scheme to ensure "net neutrality" by turning unaccountable Democrat appointees into meddling online traffic cops. The panel will devise convoluted rules governing Internet service providers, bandwidth use, content, prices, and even disclosure details on Internet speeds. The "neutrality" is brazenly undermined by preferential treatment toward wireless broadband networks. Moreover, the FCC's scheme is widely opposed by Congress - and has already been rejected once in the courts. Demonized industry critics have warned that the regulations will stifle innovation and result in less access, not more.
Nothing neutral about this unholy scheme
By Wesley Pruden - The Washington Times
Hugo Chavez, the rowdy left-wing president of Venezuela, doesn't have to nibble at freedom of speech via the Internet. Unlike government officials here and elsewhere, Mr. Chavez runs an "efficient" government. He just scarfs down everything in his way.
The fixers here are pursuing something called "net neutrality," which will change the way certain Internet providers pay for privileged rights to the Web and charge their customers accordingly. "Net neutrality" sounds good to anyone not paying attention, but it must be accomplished by a seizure of authority to do so, a seizure not by Congress (which would be scary enough), but by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The Brainy Learning Algorithms of Numenta How the inventor of the PalmPilot studied the workings of the human brain to help companies turn a deluge of data into business intelligence.
BY TOM SIMONITE - TechnologyReview.com
Jeff Hawkins has a track record at predicting the future. The founder of Palm and inventor of the PalmPilot, he spent the 1990s talking of a coming world in which we would all carry powerful computers in our pockets. "No one believed in it back then - people thought I was crazy," he says. "Of course, I'm thrilled about how successful mobile computing is today."
At his current firm, Numenta, Hawkins is working on another idea that seems to out of left field: copying the workings of our own brains to build software that makes accurate snap decisions for today's data-deluged businesses. He and his team have been working on their algorithms since 2005 and are finally preparing to release a version that is ready to be used in products. Numenta's technology is aimed at variety of applications, such as judging whether a credit card transaction is fraudulent, anticipating what a Web user will click next, or predicting the likelihood that a particular hospital patient will suffer a relapse.
The Oil BP Tried To Hide Has Been Discovered In Thick Layers On the Sea Floor Over An Area of Several Thousand Square Miles
George Washington's blog
BP and the government famously declared that most of the oil had disappeared.
But as I've noted, as much as 98% of the oil is still in the ocean.
I have repeatedly pointed out that BP and the government applied massive amounts of dispersant to the Gulf Oil Spill in an effort to sink and hide the oil. Many others said the same thing.
BP and the government denied this, of course.
But the oil is not remaining hidden.
Indeed, as the Wall Street Journal noted on December 9th:
A university scientist and the federal government say they have found persuasive evidence that oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill is settling on the ocean floor.
How Islamic Supremacism Is Overwhelming Democracy
by Robert Spencer - FrontPageMag.com
After 9/11, you may recall, the United States was going to bring democracy to the Islamic world. Nine years later, we have Sharia Constitutions in both Iraq and Afghanistan. A Shi'ite client of the Iranian mullahs rules shakily in Iraq, while in Afghanistan the U.S.-backed president is increasingly hostile to America and even threatens to join the Taliban that he was supposed to be fighting against.
But that isn't even the worst of it. Paradoxically, instead of bringing democracy to the Islamic world, the years since 9/11 have seen only success after success in Islamic supremacist efforts to undermine democracy in the West. Bending over backwards not to appear "anti-Muslim" in their anti-terror efforts, the U.S. and Western Europe have allowed in large numbers of Muslim immigrants who hold to a radically undemocratic political ideology, one that is rooted in Islamic texts and teachings and thus is not susceptible to negotiation, compromise, or the gentle pressure of "assimilation."
New military drills by South Korea raise tensions
Four days of war games on land and in the sea, a few kilometres from the intra-Korean border, are raising tensions between the two Koreas.
Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Tensions are rising again on the Korean Peninsula after a few days of apparent calm. A statement by South Korean Navy has confirmed that it was starting a four-day drill off its eastern coast, in the Sea of Japan, as a "show of force".
The war games will take about a 100 kilometres from the border with North Korea and will involve six warships and helicopters. The goal is test South Korea's war readiness in case of action by North Korean ships and subs inside southern territorial waters.
Chinese president to make a state visit on January 19
By the CNN Wire Staff
Washington (CNN) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao will make a state visit to the White House on January 19, including a state dinner that night, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced Wednesday.
It will be the third state visit that President Barack Obama has hosted since taking office in January 2009.
NATO weaves South Asian web
By M K Bhadrakumar
What the summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at Lisbon last month brought to mind almost instinctively was that the persistent rumors about the alliance's death were indeed greatly exaggerated. The striking thing was the degree of internal unity and outward determination among the alliance's 28 members.
In recent years, derisive dismissals have featured galore in international discourse about the "dysfunctional irrelevance" of NATO and an alliance characterized as a "Cold War relic". In South Asia - Indian, in particular - this almost resulted in an intellectual ellipsis while dwelling on the overall United States regional strategies in the overlapping Afghanistan-Pakistan conflicts. In fact, NATO hardly figured in the Indian discourses on Afghanistan as an issue of consequence.
Attorney General's Blunt Warning on Terror Attacks
AG Eric Holder Says 'Terrorists Only Have to Be Successful Once'
By JACK CLOHERTY and PIERRE THOMAS
Attorney General Eric Holder has an urgent message for Americans: While he is confident that the United States will continue to thwart attacks, "the terrorists only have to be successful once."
And while it is not certain we will be hit, the American people, he told ABC News, "have to be prepared for potentially bad news."
"What I am trying to do in this interview is to make people aware of the fact that the threat is real, the threat is different, the threat is constant," he said.
Eric Holder Says American Citizens Are The Terrorists
Standing on Shaky Ground:
Americans' Experiences with Economic Insecurity Recession took an economic toll on 93 percent of US households, according to new report
RockefellerFoundation.corg
Ninety-three percent of American households suffered at least one "substantial economic shock" in the 18-month period from March 2008 to September 2009, according to a new report from the Rockefeller Foundation and Yale University.
The study, "Standing on Shaky Ground: Americans' Experiences With Economic Insecurity," was designed in 2009 by an interdisciplinary team of scholars to provide a more complete picture of the ways in which economic instability were affecting the lives of the average American.
After the Storm
Nouriel Roubini - ProjectSyndicate.org
Has the global economic crisis bottomed out, or will conditions grow worse due to inadequate government responses? Does anyone know just how big the global mountain of toxic assets really is? Are financial derivatives a thing of the past?
As the global credit crunch grinds on, more than businesses and economies have been ruined. So, too, have many a once-glowing reputation. Lauded for decades as a virtual magician of the world's long boom, Alan Greenspan, for example, now speaks of his lifelong beliefs being as shattered as his legacy. Indeed, few economists have emerged from the current global crisis with their reputations and professional standing intact, much less enhanced.
A Warning to Portugal as Spain Sells Bonds
By REUTERS - NYTimes.com
MADRID (Reuters) - Yields at Spain's final debt auction of the year were higher than the rates at an equivalent sale a month ago, and analysts warned of tough times ahead in 2011 even as the country slashed its state deficit.
Tuesday's auctions came shortly after Moody's, the ratings agency, put Portugal on review for a possible downgrade, almost a week after doing the same to Spain, and having cut Ireland by five notches last week.
Will France Be the Next Euro Nation to Fail?
By Richard Lee - dailyreckoning.com
12/21/10 New York, New York - Europe is falling apart and economies both small and large aren't immune to fears of a meltdown. While Spain and Italy are getting the most attention, you also need to pay attention to France. With the country's negative economic numbers and wide exposure to both Greece and Spain, the future doesn't look good for Les Bleus, which is even worse news for the euro (EUR).
Not surprisingly, the markets are in agreement with this bleak picture. The cost for insuring French debt soared to a record on December 20 - rising above insurance costs for the Czech Republic and double that of Europe's largest economy, Germany.
Europe Turns against Germany Germany's controversial approach to fighting the euro crisis has split the European Union. Some countries are complaining about Berlin's rigid course, while others accuse Chancellor Merkel of betraying the European project. The only thing they can agree on is that the EU needs Germany as a motor if it is to survive.
By SPIEGEL Staff
Cooking is an art. François Vatel, a famous chef at the court of Louis XIV, was so distraught over his inability to serve a sufficiently delicious meal to the king that he committed suicide. At last week's European Union summit in Brussels, the European leaders in attendance ruled out such risks from the start, by choosing in advance from a list of top chefs who had bid for the contract.
Spain Sells 3.9 Billion Euros of Bills as Yields Jump
By Emma Ross-Thomas
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Spain sold 3.88 billion euros ($5.1 billion) of three- and six-month Treasury bills, near the maximum target, as borrowing costs rose amid lingering concern the nation will struggle to fund its deficit.
The Treasury auctioned 3 billion euros of 84-day bills at an average yield of 1.804 percent, the Bank of Spain said today in Madrid. That compares with 1.743 percent when the securities were last issued on Nov. 23. The government sold 876.7 million euros of 175-day debt at 2.597 percent, up from 2.111 percent last month. It aimed to sell a maximum of 4 billion euros from the two sales.
EU to Sell as Many as Eight Bonds for Ireland in 2011
By James G. Neuger and Jonathan Stearns
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Europe's financial aid funds for distressed governments will sell bonds to raise as much as 34.1 billion euros ($45 billion) for Ireland in 2011 and 14.9 billion euros in 2012, the European Commission said.
The two funds -- the European Financial Stabilization Mechanism and European Financial Stability Facility -- will sell a total of seven to eight benchmark bonds each worth 3 billion euros to 5 billion euros in 2011, the commission said in a statement in Brussels today.
Citigroup warns of fresh wave of bank failures in Europe Citigroup has warned of a fresh wave of bank failures and sovereign defaults in Europe unless EU leaders come up with a credible response to the crisis.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Prof Willem Buiter, the bank's chief economist, said the eurozone was paralysed by a "game of chicken" between the European Central Bank and EMU governments.
Both sides are trying to shift responsibility on to the other for shoring up southern Europe and Ireland, raising the risk of contagion spreading. "The market is not going to wait until March for the EU authorities to get their act together. We could have several sovereign states and banks going under. They are being far too casual," he said.
China Weighs-In on the European Debt Crisis
By Chris Gaffney - dailyreckoning.com
12/21/10 St. Louis, Missouri - We had a busy day on the desk yesterday, but not because of volatility in the markets. The dollar traded in a very tight range versus all of the major currencies yesterday, and is still in that same range as I flip the screens on, this morning. There aren't any meaningful data releases in the US this morning, and the trading desks are starting to get squared up for the holidays; so I would expect today's markets to be more of the same.
The debt crisis in Europe is still dominating the news wires with questions continuing about the health of the Irish banking system as Moody's Investors Service cut its ratings on several major Irish banks. The cut for the banks' ratings comes just days after Moody's dramatically reduced Ireland's overall rating. Ironically, the rating agency referred to its own dramatic cut as one of the main reasons it was downgrading its ratings on Ireland's largest banks. Neither Chuck nor I are big fans of these ratings agencies, and I wonder if anyone really trusts them after the MBS ratings fiasco that helped spark the US financial crisis. I have found that the ratings agencies are typically late to the game and simply "pile on" after the fact, seldom uncovering any new facts or findings. I appreciate the fact the Irish banks are probably going to need some extra liquidity, as the debt crisis has caused an outflow of funds. But this was apparent months ago, and the Irish government has already agreed to accept support from both the EU and IMF.
Fed Extends Swap Lines With ECB, Other Central Banks
By Caroline Salas
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve authorized the extension through Aug. 1 of its temporary dollar liquidity swap arrangements with the European Central Bank and the central banks of Japan, Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
The arrangements had been authorized through January, the Fed said today in a statement. Fed officials voted in May to restart the emergency currency-swap tool to keep Europe's sovereign-debt crisis from spreading to U.S. markets.
Fed Increases Its Treasury Security Purchase Limit to 70%
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
When the Federal Reserve decided to execute a new course of monetary policy in November, it had a problem. It wanted to buy more longer-term Treasury securities, but it was already nearing its concentration limit for the amount of each specific Treasury security it could hold. But since the rule was self-imposed, it lifted the limit, effectively doubling the amount it can purchase of any given Treasury security issue. This is a pretty big change.
Liz Capo McCormick of Bloomberg reports:
The central bank had temporarily relaxed its 35 percent limit in November when announcing additional purchases of $600 billion of Treasuries through June. The New York Fed in a statement today gave allowable purchase percentages for three brackets in its system open market account, or SOMA, consisting of securities it holds, from more than 30 percent to 70 percent.
Is Regulation Really for Sale?
Howard Davies - ProjectSyndicate.org
LONDON Ð Relationships between London banks and their regulators are not especially warm just now. The latest bonus rules issued by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (soon to morph into the European Banking Authority), have left those sensitive souls on the trading floors feeling rather bruised and unloved. In the future, 70% of their bonuses will have to be deferred. Imagine living on only $3 million a year, with the other $7 million paid only if the profits you earned turn out to be real? It is a shocking turn of events.
Yet, in narratives of the financial crisis, regulatory capture is often an important part of the story. Will Hutton, a prominent British commentator, has described the Financial Services Authority, which I chaired from 1997-2003 (the date things began to go wrong!) as a trade association for the financial sector. Even more aggressive criticism has been advanced about American regulators - and, indeed, about Congress - alleging that they were in the pockets of investment banks, hedge funds, and anyone else with lots of money to spend on Capitol Hill.
The Beginning of the End of Dollar Hegemony
With nascent use of other currencies for finance, will redbacks replace greenbacks?
By RANDALL W. FORSYTH - Barrons.com
When the monetary history of the year coming to an end is written decades from now, the headlines of European debt crisis and Federal Reserve's adoption of QE2 may turn out to be mere footnotes to the bigger story: 2010 could be a watershed marking the beginning of the end of the dollar-based, Western-centric monetary system.
To be sure, suggestions that the system dubbed Bretton Woods II should be supplanted by a new regime began in 2009. China proposed the creation of a new, multinational currency for international transactions and as a reserve asset.
Niall Ferguson on the Tea Party, budget cuts and the economy
PBS
Finance in the 21st Century
Howard Davies and Robert J. Shiller - ProjectSyndicate.org
Is the dollar doomed? Can increased regulation and financial innovation co-exist? What makes housing markets suddenly turn "hot" or "cold"? Why should long-term bond prices shoot up and down in a single year? Can financial globalization be effectively regulated without stifling growth?
In the go-go decades of international finance that just ended, one man presciently warned of the dangers of "irrational exuberance": Yale Professor Robert Shiller. In the years before America's sub-prime mortgage market collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis, one man was calling for deep structural revision of how financial markets around the world are regulated: the founding Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, Britain's financial regulator, and a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Howard Davies. Both got it right before anyone else, but almost everyone - from central bankers to ordinary investors - failed to listen.
The United States of Disintegration
TheAutomaticEarth.com
.... Only the Federal Government can go over budget -seemingly- as much as it wants; lower levels of government need to balance their budgets. And they can't. They live on money they themselves borrow from Washington, and/or that their creditors borrow from financial institutions, just to stay afloat while waiting for what the states owe them. As illustrated by the fact that, as per Kroft, the state of Illinois spends twice as much as it collects in taxes. And even then can't pay either its employees or its creditors.
A strong indication of how hard it will be to even begin to solve these issues comes from Meredith Whitney. When Kroft asks her: "How accurate is the financial information that's public on the states? And municipalities?", Whitney says: "The lack of transparency with the state disclosure is the worst I have ever seen." "Ultimately we have to use what's publicly available data and a lot of it is as old as June 2008. So that's before the financial collapse in the fall of 2008."
Debt at Every Turn: New Governors Attack the Debt Crisis
By Bill Bonner - The DailyReckoning.com
12/21/10 Liberia, Costa Rica - "The Day of Reckoning has come!"
So said New Jersey's new governor-elect.
New Jersey is hardly unique. Practically every government in the developed world faces the same problem. National. State. Local. Expenses grew during the boom years. We all know why. Politicians prefer to spend then to save. They buy votes with other people's money. That's why they like programs for poor people. They come cheap. But the votes they buy on credit are even cheaper. Give a job a handout free drugs housing subsidies - and send the bill to the next generation. With declining interest rates and an expanding economy, governments could get away with it. Low interest rates made deficits easy to finance and reduced the cost of refinancing existing debt too.
Municipal Bond Market Crash 2011: Are Dozens Of State And Local Governments
About To Default On Their Debts?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
n the United States, it is not just the federal government that has a horrific debt problem. Today, state and local governments across America are collectively deeper in debt than they ever have been before. In fact, state and local government debt is now sitting at an all-time high of 22 percent of U.S. GDP. Once upon a time, municipal bonds (used to fund such things as roads, sewer systems and government buildings) were viewed as incredibly safe investments. They were considered to have virtually no risk. But now all of that has changed. Many analysts are now openly speaking of the possibility of a municipal bond market crash in 2011. The truth is that dozens upon dozens of city and county governments are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Even the debt of some of our biggest state governments, such as Illinois and California, is essentially considered to be "junk" at this point. There are literally hundreds of governmental financial implosions happening in slow motion from coast to coast, and up to this point not a lot of people in the mainstream media have been talking about it.
Did the Federal Reserve's Stimulus Plan Fail, Already?
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
With the recovery slowing over the summer, the Federal Reserve announced that it would inject a fresh bit of stimulus into the economy. Dubbed QE2 -- or quantitative easing, part two -- the plan was to buy Treasury bonds from banks in exchange for newly minted money. Ben Bernanke and other advocates of the plan hoped it would lower medium and long term interest rates, making it easier for banks to lend cash, easier for businesses to get credit, and easier for families to buy homes.
But now that QE2 is underway, interest rates are going up, not down. The yield on 10-year and 5-year U.S. government notes both jumped a full percentage point in December, making it more expensive for government to borrow. Does that mean that the Federal Reserve plan failed and made investors afraid of our debt.
Dennis Kucinich: Delete The Fed
by Karl Denninger - Market-Ticker.org
I'm stunned.
Really.
Dennis Kucinich, which many people have (properly) labeled as one step removed from a communist in the past, and who has a reputation as having a hard-core left slant in his politics, has just written up and introduced a bill that will fundamentally restore the free market - for real - to banking and credit.
It will also **** a lot of people off.
His bill would end the process of money issuance by The US Federal Government as a debt instrument. It would thus restore actual "lawful money" as Ron Paul claims to want, but in a form he has never, ever elucidated. It does, however, exactly match up with the base position I have propounded upon, along with Bill Still and a few others.
Instead, Treasury would issue and spend into circulation United States Notes. The existing "FOMC" would be replicated in Treasury with a mandate identical to The Fed's, with one important addition - a requirement that their operations be neither inflationary or deflationary.
That is, the precise mandate that is required - that United States Money maintain its purchasing power.
Ron Paul: Allow Gold and Silver to Compete As Money, Fed Will Eliminate Itself
By Brian Doherty - Reason.com
He's now chair of the House subcommittee responsible for domestic monetary policy--but that doesn't mean Ron Paul now has the power to abolish the Federal Reserve. Anyway, he tells NPR that he thinks positive action in that direction might not be necessary:
"What I'm really asking for is competition, to get rid of the monopoly power of the Fed, because they don't have legitimate power to do what they do."
Paul says he wants to abolish the current legal tender laws and allow Americans to use gold and silver as currency....
"You can't have inflation without somebody artificially creating money and credit out of thin air." He blames the Fed for creating inflation by adding too much paper money to the economy....
Paul adds that he may not have to do anything himself to bring the Fed down. "I believe that the Fed will eventually end itself, because they're working on a monetary system that is not viable."
Would Ron Paul Really Try To End The Fed?
by NPR STAFF
Texas congressman Ron Paul has long been a fierce critic of the Federal Reserve. In fact, last year he published a book called End the Fed, calling for an end to the central bank and a return to the gold standard.
Now, Paul has been appointed head of the House subcommittee on domestic monetary policy, which, among other things, oversees the Federal Reserve.
So, does Paul see this as his chance to try to end the Fed? "In a partial sense, but not directly," he tells NPR's Guy Raz. "What I'm really asking for is competition, to get rid of the monopoly power of the Fed, because they don't have legitimate power to do what they do."
First, money then gold & gold standard
By Ian Hannaford
Croesus, King of Lydians (Asia Minor), has been the symbol of wealth and power since ancient times. 650 BC he implemented his idea of making money from gold by having coins minted which then became official currency.
A new "era" had begun. The new small and handy exchange objects soon spread throughout the cultural area of the then Greek world and the adjoining regions.
Money represents the joint measure of all economic transactions. On the one hand, it is the (interim) means of exchange, which simplifies the exchange of goods (trade) amongst one another and, on the other hand, it embodies the function of the maintaining of value as well as a calculation unit.
Gold 2011 Forecast at $1500, $1600 or "Outrageous" $1800 on Euro Crisis, US-China Currency War
By: Adrian Ash - MarketOracle.co.uk
THE PRICE OF GOLD in professional wholesale dealing touched a 4-session high early Tuesday at $1390 per ounce, rising for Euro and UK investors as world stock markets hit new two-year highs.
Platinum prices rose to $1715 the ounce at today's London Fix, gaining some 14.6% higher from New Year 2010.
Slipping back from $29.50 an ounce on Tuesday, the silver price stood more than 74% higher from the start of the year.
"Trading has been very thin so far," says a London dealer in a note, likening Tuesday's volumes to "the late days of summer."
Gold price to cross $2,000 by 2012
LONDON (Commodity Online): Fed Reserve's move to further pump in more dollars into the market and the looming European crisis will ensure that gold prices cross $2,000 mark in 2012, said Capital Economics.
As inflation fears mount, the price of the precious metal will be pushed to £1,600 in 2011 and reach $2,000 by the end of 2012, it has been forecast, as investors clamour to buy safe haven assets.
Capital Economics, a late converter to the pro-gold camp, says that fears of a China-US trade war and some sort of break-up of the European Monetary Union are likely to spook investors, nudging them towards the commodity as a store of value.
Strong December sales for Silver Coins: US Mint
By Cecylia Tulikowski-Denison of Kitco News - CommodityOnline.com
(Kitco News) - Demand for silver coins is extremely strong, according to figures released by the U.S. Mint.
November silver sales figures showed sales at 4.260 million ounces sold; December silver coin sales have already hit 1.747 million ounces. Cumulative silver sales totals for the year end of 2010 were calculated at 34.637 million ounces for silver coins.
By comparison, gold coin sales for the same time period lagged behind, yearly totals for gold coin sales accounted for 1.212 million ounces sold.
Keiser Report: JP Morgue
Monetary Watch December 2010: The Money Supply, a triple from here?
By Michael Pollaro - Forbes.com
Our monthly Monetary Watch, an Austrian take on where we are on the monetary inflation front and what's next
Headline Monetary Aggregates in November
The U.S. money supply aggregates based on the Austrian definition of the money supply, what Austrians call the True Money Supply or TMS, were mixed in November, with our shorter-term one and three-month rate of change metrics continuing their recent surge while our longer-term twelve-month rate of change metrics showing some moderation. Focusing on TMS2, THE CONTRARIAN TAK's preferred money supply measure, we find that it increased at an annualized rate of 15.6% in November, bringing the three-month rate of change to an annualized 15.2%. That's up from October's 14.5% rate and 13.3% rate, respectively. In contrast, the twelve-month rate of change metric on TMS2, the measure we watch most closely, went the other way, ending November at a rate of 9.8%, down from October's 10.5% rate, and marking the end, albeit barley, of 22 consecutive months of double digit increases.
Treasuries Drop as Reports May Show Home Sales, GDP Quickening
By Wes Goodman
Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries fell, extending their biggest monthly loss in a year, before U.S. reports today that economists said will show existing-home sales and gross domestic product increased.
Yields indicate investors added to bets the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in 2011. Two-year yields, among the most sensitive to Fed expectations, climbed to 36 basis points more than the central bank's rate target from this year's low of 8 basis points in November. The five-year average is 4 basis points.
Estate Tax Will Return Next Year, but Few Will Pay It
By PAUL SULLIVAN - NYTimes.com
Almost no one will have to worry about paying the estate tax under the tax legislation just approved by Congress. By one estimate, from Alan Rothschild, the chairman of the American Bar Association's real property, trust and estate law section, less than one-half of 1 percent of people who die in 2011 will be hit by the estate tax. In contrast, 10.5 percent paid the estate tax in 1977.
And even for the very few who will be subject to the tax, the increase in the gift tax exemption will allow them to give their heirs tens of millions of dollars before the estate tax even comes into play. "I think people will be seizing the opportunity for next year," said Carol Kroch, head of wealth and financial planning at Wilmington Trust.
Reaganomics
By: Paul Craig Roberts - MarketOracle.co.uk
I admire Robert Reich, because he has a social conscience. However, if I were writing about the current Republican/Obama tax cut, I would not help the Republicans put Ronald Reagan's name on it. Outside of progressive circles, which reflexively blame Reagan, the 40th president is still popular, because the 1980s were the last of the good times. Who prefers 21st century America to the Reagan 1980s?
In his recent article "Reaganomics Redux" in Reader Supported News (17 December), Reich writes that "Ronald Reagan came to Washington intent on reducing taxes on the wealthy and shrinking every aspect of government except defense." As Reagan's first Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, often labeled both in praise and derision "the father of Reaganomics," I would like to offer a different perspective.
Here Comes The Judge! (NJ)
by Karl Denninger - Market-Ticker.org
Well well well....
Six of the biggest banks in the nation have been told by New Jersey's Supreme Court Chief Justice that unless they can prove otherwise, they will have to stop tens of thousands of foreclosures in the Garden State.
But but but.... the banks have sputtered - this is just a "small paperwork problem."
Uh huh.
The NJ Supreme Court is not convinced.
Neither am I, incidentally.
If this is just a "minor paperwork snafu" then can someone explain why we continue to be unable to find properly-endorsed notes that allegedly are in these MBS "trusts"?
This is in fact the key issue behind all of this mess.
As I've reported repeatedly there is lots of evidence that essentially none of the "private-label" securities were actually properly conveyed. ASF has repeated asserted (without evidence) that the procedures followed "were good enough", but when one looks at the facts you can't seem to find actual, black-letter compliance with the PSAs - that is, the documents that control whether or not the trusts were properly constituted.
"She had bought the house with her husband in 1999 and completely renovated it, adding hardwood floors, faux-painted walls, a swimming pool in the back surrounded by palms and ficus trees. When the couple divorced in 2001, she kept the house and paid it off.
Then, in 2006, she did something that she now knows was a mistake. A loan officer encouraged her to put more than $530,000 into a high-return investment. He sent her to a mortgage firm next door to help her borrow money to close the deal. She took out a loan, most of her home's equity, and invested it in a Canadian mining company.
By 2008, the mining firm had filed for bankruptcy. Christensen hadn't recouped any of her investment.
She hadn't had a full-time job since she stopped renovating rental properties with her husband. She had a small monthly income, but the monthly payment on her adjustable-rate loan was $1,600."
Christensen received a Notice of Trustee's sale in January 2009. According to the Arizona Republic, this surprised her because she had been working with the bank:
Mortgage Debt in the U.S. Continues its Descent
NationalMortgageNews.com
The dollar amount of outstanding residential loans in the U.S. continued to fall in the third quarter as more Americans engaged in "cash-in" refinancings while others lost their homes due to foreclosure.
According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report, Americans owed $9.807 trillion on their home loans at Sept. 30, down slightly from $9.894 trillion at mid-year.
Housing debt peaked at $10.138 trillion at the end of 2009, according to NMN/QDR.
Some housing analysts, including Laurie Goodman of Amherst Securities, anticipate that another 11 million homes could be lost to foreclosure over the next few years unless the government improves its loan modification efforts.
Foreclosures Poised to Take Down the U.S. Banking System.... and even entire economy, says Whalen.
By Martin Andelman
Chris Whalen of Institutional Risk Analytic's presentation at a conference in early October of 2010, showed those in attendance a terrifying picture of where our too-big-to-fail banks are headed in 2011 they're headed towards failing, in case you didn't realize as a result of nothing being done to stop the foreclosure crisis from spreading and threatening "the financial foundations of the entire U.S. political economy."
The presentation is technical and not easy for the average person to understand, but I thought in addition to providing a link at the end of this article, I'd also provide a few key snippets that anyone can understand:
FHA: Tighter FHA Underwriting Standards Spell Trouble For Market Recovery
FreeRateUpdate.com
As we near the end of 2010, many economists are wary that more restrictive mortgage underwriting standards will further decelerate the housing market recovery.
Earlier this year, economists were encouraged by the home-buyer tax incentives, low mortgage rates, flexible qualification criteria, the surge in home-buying activity, and an increase in mortgage loan applications. Attitudes have changed, however, as new FHA underwriting standards stifle prospective homeowners and hinder market recovery.
During the mild spring months of 2010, economists had a rather positive outlook regarding the housing market and its road to recovery. Home-buyer tax credits caused an impressive increase in new home sales by 42 percent and an overall increase in home sales by 6 percent. Such a revival in the housing market typically translates into job creation and a positive domino effect on the entire economy. However, following the expiration of those tax incentives at the end of the first quarter, the sales of new and existing homes plunged by more than 25 percent, causing a screeching halt to employment opportunities and imaginings of market recovery.
The Kings and Queens Loan Mod Scammers:
Arizona & Nevada Sue Bank of America Over Loan Modification Program
by Karen Gullo
I remember a couple of years back now, when Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard was watching his state go down the foreclosure rat hole, and he was being greeted most days by a parade of banking types who were telling him that it was they who had the answer, and certainly not the law firms and other professionals who were offering to help homeowners get their loans modified for the dreaded up front fee.
Back then, if you recall, President Obama was new in his office, and he had told us all that loan modifications were free. He had recently given a speech, in Arizona by the way, announcing his new Making Home Affordable plan that he said would save 3-4 million homes from foreclosure, and the cheering in response was louder than at any speech I could remember.
Where Are Jobs Going Now? Peru, Bulgaria, Bangladesh...
By DANNY KING - DailyFinance.com
Take heart, America. Yours isn't the only country to lose jobs to developing nations.
Australia, Canada and Israel, among others, have dropped off the list of best places for information-technology and business-processing services, according to a report that research firm Gartner released Monday.
As more developing countries have created workforces that can handle those tasks at lower cost, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain are also no longer on Gartner's list of the 30 best countries for outsourcing, which considers both costs and skill sets.
States try to counter Supreme Court's minimum-price ruling
By Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - When a Supreme Court majority let manufacturers require retailers to charge minimum prices for their products, dissenting justices warned that the ruling would hit American households hard and could cost some families $1,000 more a year in retail bills.
The 5-to-4 decision provoked an outcry from groups such as the Consumers Union and set off a rush of hearings and concern in Congress and the states. The dispute, Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS, involved the maker of Brighton brand silver-studded belts and other accessories, which had cut off a Texas boutique for discounting its items.
Seven states to boost minimum wage
By Blake Ellis - CNN.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- About 647,000 minimum wage workers will see their paychecks bump up slightly beginning next year, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Employment Law Project.
Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington are the seven states planning to modestly raise minimum wages on Jan. 1, labor advocacy group NELP said.
The minimum wage hikes -- which are automatic adjustments made each year to reflect regional and national inflation rate changes -- will boost payrolls by between nine and 12 cents.
1 in 7 Americans rely on food stamps
By Aaron Smith
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The use of food stamps has increased dramatically in the U.S., as the federal government ramps up basic assistance to meet the demands of an increasingly desperate population.
The number of food stamp recipients increased 16% over last year. This means that 14% of the population is now living on food stamps. That's about 43 million people, or about one out of every seven Americans.
In some states, like Tennessee, Mississippi, New Mexico and Oregon, one in five people are receiving food stamps. Washington, D.C. leads the nation, with 21.5% of the population on food stamps.
Mayors' group reports rising need for food assistance
By Oren Dorell, USA TODAY
The number of Americans needing help to put food on the table is growing, according to city officials and the federal government.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors reported Tuesday that trips to food banks are up 24% this year in all 27 cities it surveyed. Food stamp use is at record levels. And the number of working Americans barely getting by has jumped.
"Although we've heard the recession is over, cities across the country have experienced an increase in hunger and homelessness," said Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Suit Claims Use of Credit History in Hiring Hurt Black Applicants
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE - NYTimes.com
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the Kaplan Higher Education Corporation on Tuesday, accusing it of discriminating against black job applicants through the way it uses credit histories in its hiring process.
Since at least January 2008, the commission asserted in the lawsuit, Kaplan has rejected job applicants based on their credit history, with a "significant disparate impact" on blacks.
"This practice has an unlawful discriminatory impact because of race and is neither job-related nor justified by business necessity," the commission said. Kaplan, which is owned by the Washington Post Company, operates a chain of for-profit colleges and training schools.
Antitrust Suit in Michigan Tests Health Law
By REED ABELSON - NYTimes.com
DETROIT - When the Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in October, the unusual action was widely seen as a warning shot to dominant health insurance carriers in many other states.
The case is viewed as a test for the Obama administration's introduction of the federal health care law, which is aimed at spurring competition and driving down costs.
Feds Propose To Scrutinize Health Insurers' Big Rate Hikes
by JULIE ROVNER - NPR.org
Remember last year's eye-popping premium increases proposed by health insurance giant WellPoint? The February brouhaha over the nearly 40 percent boosts WellPoint asked for in California helped push the health law over the finish line.
Under the pressure and after conceding there were errors in its filing with state regulators, WellPoint finally got the go-ahead with a scaled-back increase.
Now, 10 months later, the same federal officials who were outraged are pushing ahead with new powers made possible by health overhaul to prevent a repeat. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius unveiled proposed rules that would let the federal government help decide when and if an insurance company's proposed premium increases are "reasonable."
House Passes Food Safety Bill That Broadens Power of F.D.A.
By WILLIAM NEUMAN - NYTimes.com
This time it is for real. After running a tortured and zig-zag course through Congress, a long-awaited food safety bill passed a final, clinching vote on Tuesday in the House of Representatives.
President Obama had backed the legislation and was expected to sign it into law.
Supporters, including Democrats and Republicans, hailed the measure as a landmark modernization of the nation's food safety system, one that gives the Food and Drug Administration greater authority over food products, whether they come from this country or are imported from abroad.
Gimmie YouTube! What Net neutrality means for you
By David Goldman
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- You won't be paying a surcharge to watch YouTube. Your favorite news website won't run any slower than a competitor's. And you don't have to worry about Netflix getting blocked.
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted three-to-two to adopt so-called "Net neutrality" rules, giving the agency regulatory power to protect the free flow of information over the Internet.
Broadly speaking, Net neutrality means that all content on the Internet must be treated equally. That means that Internet providers like Comcast and Time Warner Cable can't deliver Amazon.com faster than eBay, and can't simply block access to sites like Netflix and Hulu.
In other words: Net neutrality means maintaining the status quo of how people use the Internet today.
Net neutrality rules a blow to free markets
By James Pethokoukis - Reuters
Milton Friedman had it right. Business is no friend of free markets. The Federal Communication Commission's "net neutrality" ruling is more evidence of this. What the FCC should have done is called it a year, went on holiday and left the Internet alone.
Instead, it found a solution in search of a problem. And that solution was more or less supplied by Verizon and Google last August. To a great extent, the new rules codify that blueprint, which - at least as those companies see things - acknowledged both the inevitability of some government rule-making and the need to better divvy up future costs and revenues between telecoms and content providers.
Net Neutrality - Forced Errors Create Bad Bedfellows
by Karl Denninger - Market-Ticker.org
If we're going to have "net neutrality" - true neutrality - then the device I use doesn't matter. Further, wireless carriers already impose limits in terms of transport bandwidth consumed in a billing period after which they either bill overage or cut your throughput dramatically with rate-limiting. Therefore, if such is going to stand, then the carriers who are inspecting traffic and act based on (for example) one's browser identification (one of the ways they "catch" tethering) must be barred from doing so. Note that nobody is demanding that. Why not?
More to the point the issue here is the ability of companies to poach. As I have repeatedly argued that's exactly the business model that many of these "new media" companies like Netflix and Hulu have - they pay for transport to a point but their flow generation is asymmetrical at ridiculous rates and by doing so they force buildouts by carriers (cable companies and similar) for which the firm that has the buildout forced on it receives no additional subscriber revenue.
F.C.C. Approves Net Rules and Braces for Fight
By BRIAN STELTER - NYTimes.com
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved a new set of rules that are intended to preserve open access to the Internet.
There was disagreement Tuesday about whether the F.C.C. had the legal authority to adopt the network neutrality rules, and that authority was certain to face legal challenges in the months ahead. Nonetheless, the approval represented a significant progress toward fulfilling a campaign promise by President Obama to preserve a level playing field for Web developers.
Mr. Obama congratulated the F.C.C. on Tuesday's vote and said in a statement that the government would "remain vigilant and see to it that innovation is allowed to flourish, that consumers are protected from abuse, and that the democratic spirit of the Internet remains intact."
Korea Steps Back From The Brink
By: Mike Whitney - MarketOracle.co.uk
Realizing that its plan to intimidate North Korea has backfired and brought the peninsula to the brink of war, the Obama administration is now looking for ways to ease tensions. But South Korea's tough-talking President Lee Myung-bak has decided to go ahead with the controversial artillery tests on Yeonpyeong Island and risk a resumption of hostilities. The North has warned that if the drills proceed, they will respond with a "counterattack... that would be deadlier than the strike on Nov. 23."
On Monday, live-fire drills began on Yeonpyeong near the disputed border on the West Sea. An unknown number of South Korean citizens have been evacuated from the island and fighter jets have been scrambled.
START Treaty Clears Major Senate Hurdle
DONNA CASSATA - HuffingtonPost.com
WASHINGTON - The Senate cleared a major hurdle Tuesday to approval of a new arms control treaty with Russia, pushing the accord to the brink of ratification and edging closer to delivering a foreign policy victory to President Barack Obama.
The Senate voted 67-28 to cut off debate on the treaty that would cap nuclear warheads for both countries and resume on-site weapons inspections that expired a year ago. Senate Democrats secured the support of 11 Republicans as Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a rare visit to the Capitol to lobby lawmakers.
Senate Advances Arms Treaty, 67-28
By PETER BAKER - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - The Senate voted 67 to 28 on Tuesday to advance a new arms control treaty that would pare back American and Russian nuclear arsenals, reaching the two-thirds margin needed for approval despite a concerted Republican effort to block ratification.
Eleven Republicans joined every Democrat present to support the treaty, known as New Start, which now heads to a seemingly certain final vote of approval on Wednesday, as the Senate wraps up business before heading out of town. Voting against the treaty were 28 Republicans who argued that it could hurt national security.
US-Russia nuclear treaty on the cards after Senate vote US Senate votes to end debate on ratification of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, paving way for ratification itself
By Ewen MacAskill in Washington - guardian.co.uk
Barack Obama is on the verge of securing his biggest foreign policy achievement so far after the US Senate voted today in favour of a US-Russian treaty to reduce nuclear arsenals.
The Senate vote by 67 to 28 was to limit debate on ratification of the treaty. It is expected to vote as early as today on ratification itself, which requires the support of two-thirds, or 67, of the members.
The scale of today's vote means passage is all but certain.
***** Important update *****
Lindsey Williams Returns:
Confessions of an Elitist - Alex Jones Tv 1/4
Lindsey Williams Returns:
Confessions of an Elitist - Alex Jones Tv 2/4
Lindsey Williams Returns:
Confessions of an Elitist - Alex Jones Tv 3/4
Lindsey Williams Returns:
Confessions of an Elitist - Alex Jones Tv 4/4
We Are Already Hyper Inflating
By Gary Tanashian - GoldSeek.com
ForEx jocks make or lose coin by guessing the direction of EUR/USD. Stock pick aces ride the wave and look good while trends remain in place. Commodity bulls can't miss until the next miss is eventually driven home with a loud crash. It seems as if everybody is clinging to a conventional way of doing things, as if the world was not radically changed in and around 2001, and as if the old rules of the previous secular bull market still apply. They do not; it is the age of inflate-or-die, booms and busts.
As for deflation believers, while they may be diametrically opposed to the vast bullish apparatus that depends on ever increasing debt levels and currency depreciation, they are right there with their bull counterparts, generally playing to convention and playing by rules they think they know; following breadcrumbs laid out for them to follow as they issue dire projections about credit contraction and violent asset markdowns.
The First Stage of Inflation Has Already Hit, Next Up Is the Currency Collapse
By Graham Summers - SeekingAlpha.com
One of the biggest misconceptions about inflation is that the US Dollar needs to collapse in order for inflation to occur. While a currency collapse often accompanies periods of heightened inflation, this is not necessarily true.
Case in point, the US Dollar actually rallied this year despite commodity prices exploding higher: [see chart]
As you can see, we've had an inflationary spike in commodity prices in 2010 despite the US Dollar rallying 2% during that time. Indeed, the inflation the US is experiencing today is rather unusual as it has been accompanied by deflation at the same time. As I write this, the US is experiencing deflation in housing prices and incomes combined with inflation in the cost of living (energy, food, commodity prices).
$2tn debt crisis threatens to bring down 100 US cities Overdrawn American cities could face financial collapse in 2011, defaulting on hundreds of billions of dollars of borrowings and derailing the US economic recovery. Nor are European cities safe - Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, Venice: all are in trouble
By Elena Moya - guardian.co.uk
More than 100 American cities could go bust next year as the debt crisis that has taken down banks and countries threatens next to spark a municipal meltdown, a leading analyst has warned.
Meredith Whitney, the US research analyst who correctly predicted the global credit crunch, described local and state debt as the biggest problem facing the US economy, and one that could derail its recovery.
"Next to housing this is the single most important issue in the US and certainly the biggest threat to the US economy," Whitney told the CBS 60 Minutes programme on Sunday night.
10 Trends for 2011
Gerald Celente - SilverBearCafe.com
After the tumultuous years of the Great Recession, a battered people may wish that 2011 will bring a return to kinder, gentler times. But that is not what we are predicting. Instead, the fruits of government and institutional action - and inaction - on many fronts will ripen in unplanned-for fashions.
Trends we have previously identified, and that have been brewing for some time, will reach maturity in 2011, impacting just about everyone in the world.
1. Wake-Up Call
In 2011, the people of all nations will fully recognize how grave economic conditions have become, how ineffectual and self-serving the so-called solutions have been, and how dire the consequences will be. Having become convinced of the inability of leaders and know-it-all "arbiters of everything" to fulfill their promises, the people will do more than just question authority, they will defy authority. The seeds of revolution will be sown....
Pimco says 'untenable' policies will lead to eurozone break-up Pimco, the world's largest bond fund, has called on Greece, Ireland and Portugal to step outside the eurozone temporarily and restructure their debts unless the currency bloc agrees to a radical change of course.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Andrew Bosomworth, head of Pimco's portfolio management in Europe, said current policies are untenable in the absence of fiscal union and will lead to a break-up of the euro.
"Greece, Ireland and Portugal cannot get back on their feet without either their own currency or large transfer payments," he told German newspaper Die Welt.
He said these countries could rejoin EMU "after an appropriate debt restructuring", adding that devaluation would let them export their way back to health.
The German Plan to Take Over the Euro
BY RICHARD PALMER - theTrumpet.com
Phase one of Germany's redesign of the euro is complete. Now for phase two.
Before European leaders agreed to German demands to change the Lisbon Treaty, U.S. think tank Stratfor wrote that amending the treaty would "complete Berlin's first phase of redesigning the European Union" (December 15).
December 16: Phase one complete.
December 17: Start phase two: a group of nations with a common taxation and spending policy - essentially a common government.
Now that phase one is virtually finished, Germany has got straight to work on phase 2. On December 17, French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed to work with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a more unified Europe in 2011.
Phase One: A Europe Dependent on Germany
European leaders agreed to amend the Lisbon Treaty to create a permanent eurozone rescue fund on the first day of a two-day summit in Brussels, December 16. The fund will succeed the European Financial Stability Facility (efsf), the current mechanism for bailing out euro nations, when it expires in 2013.
Yuan Forwards Signal Drop Before Hu Meets Obama: China Credit
By Bloomberg News
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The yuan will weaken ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Washington next month, trading in currency forwards shows, antagonizing U.S. senators who say they may back trade sanctions unless there's appreciation.
The currency fell 0.39 percent to 6.6745 per dollar since Dec. 6, when 30 senators sent a letter to Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan calling for the yuan to "appreciate meaningfully" before Hu's trip. Forwards traders are betting on a further 0.05 percent decline in the coming month. U.S. President Barack Obama has met for talks with Chinese leaders twice since a two-year currency peg was relaxed in June. Yuan gains of 0.6 percent or more were recorded in the prior month each time.
The Tax-Payers' Tab: a Cool $9 Trillion and Then Some
By PAM MARTENS - CounterPunch.org
On December 1, the Fed was forced to release details of 21,000 funding transactions it made during the financial crisis, naming names and dollar amounts. Disclosure was due to a provision sparked by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The voluminous data dump from the notoriously secret Fed shows just how deeply the Federal Reserve stepped into the shoes of Wall Street and, as the crisis grew and the normal channels of lending froze, the Fed effectively replaced Wall Street and money centers banks in terms of financing.
The Fed has thus far reported, without even disclosing specifics of its lending from its discount window, which it continues to draw a dark curtain around, that it supplied, in total, more than $9 trillion to Wall Street firms, commercial banks, foreign banks, corporations and some highly questionable off balance sheet entities. (Much smaller amounts were outstanding at any one time.)
US tax deal, budget feud set stage for 2011 cuts
By James Pethokoukis - Reuters
To nations suffering austerity, it must seem as if Washington has gone mad. First, the U.S. Congress fails to agree on a 2011 budget. Then lawmakers overwhelmingly pass another giant stimulus. But both events actually hint at some chance of more disciplined fiscal action next year.
President Barack Obama will quickly sign the $858 billion stimulus/tax cut bill that funds unemployment benefits for 13 months and extends Bush-era tax cuts for two years. Of course, the bulk of the headline cost - $500 billion - comes simply from keeping tax rates as they have been, so it's not traditional stimulus. It's just keeping bad stuff from happening. And government bean counters would not score the renewal of a temporary welfare program as a spending increase. Still, the bill does delay any effort at deficit reduction since it does not pay for funding jobless benefits.
Bernanke Denies Printing Money. Mogambo Not Convinced.
By: Richard Daughty - GoldSeek.com
No matter how much I try to calm down, I can't stop being angry about the unbelievable, towering arrogance of the horrid Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, when he actually said, "One myth that's out there is that what we're doing is printing money. We're not printing money. The amount of currency in circulation is not changing"!!
Astute Junior Mogambo Rangers (JMRs) immediately noticed my editorial use of two exclamation points to punctuate Mr. Bernanke's words, which I deliberately use to bring your attention to a focused, laser beam-like intensity so as to fully appreciate the single, uncontested fact that Ben Bernanke is, being as polite as I can, a lying, stinking piece of worthless, dangerous, corrupt crap.
The Benny that Stole Christmas
James Quinn - SilverBearCafe.com
Ben Bernanke is a highly educated PhD from Princeton who has never worked a day in the real world since he graduated from college in 1975. His entire life has been spent in the ivory tower of academia surrounded by models and theories that work perfectly in the comfort of his office. After building his reputation as an "expert" on the Great Depression by studying it and reaching the wrong conclusions, he came down from his ivory tower in 2002 to join an organization that has systematically destroyed the value of the US currency, thereby undermining the well being of the once vibrant middle class.
Central Banking 101: What the Fed Can Do as 'Lender of Last Resort'
By Ellen Brown - SeekingAlpha.com
We've seen behind the curtain, as the Fed waved its magic liquidity wand over Wall Street. Now it's time to enlist this tool in the service of the people.
The Fed's invisible hand first really became visible with the bailout of AIG (AIG). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in June 2009:
Many of us were, shall we say, if not surprised, taken aback when the Fed had $80 billion to invest - to put into AIG just out of the blue. All of a sudden we wake up one morning and AIG has received $80 billion from the Fed. . . . So of course we're saying, Where's this money come from? 'Oh, we have it. And not only that, we have more.'
How much more - $800 billion? $8 trillion?
The stage magician smiles coyly and rolls up his sleeves to show that there is nothing in them. "Try $12.3 trillion," he says.
Why Gold is About To Power Higher to Complete a Big Rally
By: David Banister - SafeHaven.com
The gold bull has been moving in very reliable Elliott Wave and Fibonacci patterns for many years now, but once in awhile the waters get a little murky for sure. Recently we have seen a fair amount of volatility near year end as position squaring and year end machinations take hold. With that said, it does appear that Gold should be poised to power higher near term, and I'm looking for a completion to a 5 wave rally that began from about $1,040 per ounce in February of this year.
Gold Advances for Third Day as European Debt Concerns Persist
By Wendy Pugh
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Gold advanced for a third day as European sovereign-debt concerns increased demand for the precious metal as an investment haven, with holdings in exchange-traded products climbing to an all-time high.
Immediate-delivery bullion rose 0.2 percent to $1,387.28 an ounce at 1:12 p.m. in Melbourne. The price gained as much as 0.9 percent yesterday after dropping 0.8 percent last week. The February-delivery contract was little changed at $1,388 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
Gold rises as past gains lure buyers
By Laura Mandaro and Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Gold and other metals rallied Monday, likely helped by money managers' demand for investments that have already posted steep gains, and could be poised for a new break higher.
"During this period of window-dressing we will see more support from the investment side, not only from new investors but also from ones that have been involved," said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Gold up on renewed Korea, Euro zone worry
SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Gold extended gains from last week, boosted by renewed Korea tensions while concerns over euro zone debt and Ireland's bailout package also aided the yellow metal.
The precious yellow metal rose more than half a percent with investors chasing the precious metal as the euro weakened against the dollar.
Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1,383.10 an ounce at 12.30 p m Singapore time while gold futures for February rose $3.4 an ounce to at $1,383.6 an ounce.
Why Gold Is Up 420%: Investors Swallowed the SPDR Gold Trust
By PETER COHAN - DailyFinance.com
During the last eight years, gold has had a record bull run, rising from $328 in 2002 to $1,375 an ounce today -- its longest climb in 90 years. Of course, gold has some intrinsic value, but it generates no cash flow of its own.
So what caused this steep price rise? The key hasn't been any inherent increase in gold's value to society. Instead, gold rose because a South African mine owner -- with help from consulting firm Bain & Co. -- invented a way to sell it to the masses without the hassle of physically delivering the shiny metal, explains a Bloomberg BusinessWeek article published Sunday. The question now is: How will the masses react when the parabolic price rise facilitated by this marketing coup ends up collapsing?
Inflation, Here Is Thy Sting
By Cam Hui - SeekingAlpha.com
Last Thurday, David Rosenberg wrote an article entitled, "Inflation, Where is Thy Sting?" (subscription required). He outlined his bull case for bonds by showing the chart below of core CPI and went on to comment that there are many disinflationary and deflationary forces at work in the economy.
The mistake that economists like Rosie and central bankers make, IMHO, is to look at core CPI, or the Consumer Price Index ex-food and energy. Inflation is happening in hard assets, i.e. commodity prices. QE2 is blowing a hard asset bubble and it is precisely this blinkered view of measuring inflation as inflation ex-inflation that created the conditions for the last financial crisis.
Risk On...Risk Off...
By David Coffin & Eric Coffin - GoldSeek.com
.... Fear has been a major contributor to rising metal prices. Fear for the US economy and its Dollar has been most important. The reactive gains for metals, and gold in particular, when the US Dollar weakens is a market standard. It's a simple equation that also has a comfortable normalcy in abnormal times. The problem is it isn't just the US that is grappling with debt.
The Euro world became a scarier place again in the past while. Ireland, the former Celtic Tiger, finally gave up trying to deal with its debt hangover alone. The EU has fronted it a €90 billion loan package under the emergency program it had hoped to never to actually use. In return, Ireland is promising some serious budget cuts, though it will continue to be a tax haven of sorts. Many Continental types are none too pleased about that. The fact they granted the funding anyway is a measure of how serious the problem was getting. Among other things this will mean consolidating Ireland's overextended bank sector.
The Silver Shock
Ryan Jordan - SilverBearCafe.com
2010 may go down in history as the most important year in the history of silver since 1973, when it was revealed that Nelson Bunker and William Herbert Hunt were leading a silver pool to corner the market in the white metal. From the start of that corner in 1973 to 1980, the silver price went from roughly 2 dollars to (briefly) 50 dollars, and small cap mining stocks made even larger moves. While the nominal high in silver of 50 dollars (reached for not much more than a day) was not breached in 2010, silver has now spent far more time above 20 dollars than it did in 1980. For this reason, I would argue that we have a "breakout" in the price of silver, and anyone who knows their market history will understand that certain market participants wait for precisely this kind of momentum to begin to storm the gates of those on the short side of the trade.
Silver output, consumption to soar in China
BEIJING (Commodity Online): Silver is shining in China as the country is all set to maintain the No. 1 status as the top global silver producer and consumer. Silver output from China is going to surge in China for 2011, driven by the boom in the industrial metal from across the world.
According to a new research report from China Research Intelligence (CRI), an important feature of China's silver market is that the domestic price is higher than international market price.
"Domestic price of silver in China is not completely synchronized with the international price and it lags behind with too large fluctuation, resulting in increasing risk of downstream silver consuming enterprises," says the report.
SLV and the Great Silver Shortage at COMEX
Ananthan Thangavel - SilverBearCafe.com
Because of silver's recent run, much attention has been given to the rumored JP Morgan short silver story, which we have covered (link). However, the shortage of silver in COMEX inventories is potentially as conducive to the long silver story, and is also thoroughly verified.
As of December 10, the COMEX holds only 106mm ounces of silver, or roughly enough to cover 21,000 contracts (Go to: CME Group Link and click on "Silver Stocks"). From the most recent Commitment of Traders report from the CFTC, there are more than 137,000 silver contracts outstanding. That means if only 15% of silver long holders decide to take delivery of physical silver, a short squeeze unlike any other ever seen may result.
As Silver season ends, things to watch out for
By Dr Jeffrey Lewis - CommodityOnline.com
Silver season is coming quickly to a close after one of the best five month rallies in silver history. From mid-August to early December, silver managed to rise more than 66% from top to bottom, a sign of silver's strength against what is normally a positive, but not nearly as pronounced, rise in silver prices. In moving forward, there are three main events on which silver investors need to focus.
Senators Plan Debt-Reduction Bill
By DAMIAN PALETTA - WSJ.com
Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Mark Warner said Monday they would introduce legislation early next year that mirrors the recent report by the White House's debt-reduction panel, in an effort to promote a conversation on the country's fiscal problems.
The senators said they would push for an ambitious time frame for tackling the problems and want an agreement in place by the end of next year. They believe if an agreement can be reached in 2011, it won't be overshadowed in the 2012 presidential-election cycle.
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Peter D Schiff - SilverBearCafe.com
There is an old adage on Wall Street: no one rings a bell to signal a market top or bottom. Yet, I have found that bells do ring; it's just that few people know exactly what sound to listen for.
Perhaps the biggest and most liquid of all markets is for US government bonds. That market has been rallying for almost thirty years. The bull can be traced back to 1981, when Treasury bond yields peaked at about 15%. At that time, high inflation and a weakening dollar had justifiably squelched demand for Treasuries. Even the ultra-high interest rates were not enough to attract buyers.
Federal Reserve is the primary tool of the new financial oligarchy The ultimate banking clearing house with zero oversight from the people still holds over $2 trillion on its balance sheet.
MyBudget360.com
The Federal Reserve system (the Fed for short) is the US central banking system. The Fed was created in 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act. In the beginning the Fed had limited powers and its mission was limited. According to the Fed its mission today is to conduct monetary policy, supervise and regulate banking institutions, and maintain stability in the financial system. If this is the mission of the Fed, it has radically failed and the American people should audit the Fed to see what went wrong. The problem with the Fed is that it is independent within the government since it does not need to seek legislation for actions. Yet the authority of the Federal Reserve is derived from the US Congress. Yet we have recently seen when a push to audit the Fed was issued in Congress a major backlash hit from the Fed and we have yet to conduct a full audit of the Federal Reserve. The Fed has conducted and put at risk the US currency to protect the banking interests of its member banks. The unstated mission of the Fed is to protect its banking allies even if it means destroying the economic structure of its host nation so long as wealth is stabilized in the new financial oligarchy.
Paul says he won't subpoena Fed, immediately Longtime critic takes over watchdog role saying he's interested in transparency
By Tabassum Zakaria - Reuters - MSNBC.com
WASHINGTON - Republican Congressman Ron Paul, the new head of the subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve, said on Sunday he will seek greater transparency but will not be sending subpoenas to the central bank chairman from Day One.
Paul, a longtime critic of the Fed, will be the new chairman of the domestic monetary policy subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee when the new Congress is seated in January.
Stimulus price tag: $2.8 trillion
By Chris Isidore - CNN.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Since the recession began three years ago, Congress has poured a total of $2.8 trillion into the economy in an effort to spur hiring, get people spending again and prop up industries struggling to stay afloat.
While the $858 billion package of tax cuts passed last week was the biggest slice of stimulus yet, it accounts for less than a third of all the money spent since the start of 2008, according to multiple cost estimates prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office over the last three years.
Treasuries Fail to Recoup Loss as Commodities Signal Inflation
By Wes Goodman
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries failed to climb back from a loss yesterday after commodities rose to a 26-month high, feeding speculation that Federal Reserve efforts to spur inflation will work.
Demand for the relative safety of U.S. government securities ebbed after Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said the nation had taken "concrete action" to help the European Union with its debt problems. Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said yesterday he is concerned about the influence of central bank actions on commodity prices, speaking on CNBC.
Short Treasuries: America's Debt Default Will Happen Sooner Than Anyone Thinks
Eric Falkenstein - SilverBearCafe.com
I'm pretty bearish on the US over the long run. Timing is everything, however, so selling US Treasuries may not be a good idea, as 'wrong' and 'too early' are the same thing, in spite of what historians think (TBT is an etf short US Treasuries).
I know, many people have thought things would peter out before, and we are wealthier than ever, so the optimists have historically been correct, but things change. In the 1970's people were sour on capitalism and were wrong. I remember talking to my old Northwestern professor Robert Eisner, a famous Keynesian, and he noted that in the 1980's there was basically a huge re-education, that Marxism/Socialism was not going to overtake capitalism, and capitalism by itself works just fine. This was not a minor shift in opinion, but a major one. It is easy to forget that back in 1975, 1980, the Marxists thought it was the endgame for capitalism. Ten years later when the Wall fell, they basically retreated to Scandinavian-style welfare states as their objective, quite a change over ten years.
Downgrade U.S. Treasuries to Junk
By Peter Morici - SeekingAlpha.com
With the new tax cuts, rating agencies should downgrade U.S. government debt to junk.
Economists, pundits and politicians had little choice but to endorse the tax deal between President Obama and Congressional Republicans, because snapping back to pre-Bush tax rates would crush the economic recovery. But Washington exhibited not even the shadow of self-restraint and cut taxes far beyond what is needed or smart.
Newly emboldened Republicans demanded all the Bush tax cuts be extended. President Obama argued the country couldn't afford those for families in the highest tax brackets, but failed to apply such reasoning to temporary benefits bestowed on Democratic constituencies by his 2009 stimulus program.
It's The Banksters Or Us
Alex Jones & Aaron Dykes - SilverBearCafe.com
The Austerity Hammer Starts to Fall on United States as Debt Consumes Europe
Problem, Reaction, Solution: Derivatives, Crash, Too Big To Fail, Bailout, Nationalization, Budget Crisis, Privatization, Debt Slavery, Austerity, Evaporating Pensions, Central Banks, Big Government, World Government. It's been quite a saga, but this economic crisis has been planned sabotage by design. The age of the Offshore Global Cartel is the age of economic warfare with the wealthy Western world. The 3rd World has largely already been brought to its knees. The remaining vestiges of national sovereignty must be eliminated and the middle class consumer society must be swept back to the feudal age by way of a tidal wave looting of living standards, cut wages & pensions, and the bread and circuses of cheap plastic goods and entertainment. The upper middle classes, the array of independent businesses, remaining lone giants and other true competition to the New World Order mafia economy system must be consolidated or dominated.
Government Waste: 20 Of The Craziest Things
That The U.S. Government Is Spending Money On
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
You are not going to believe some of the things that the U.S. government is spending money on. According to a shocking new report, U.S. taxpayer money is being spent to study World of Warcraft, to study how Americans find love on the Internet, and to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam. Not only that, but money from the federal government is also being used to renovate a pizzeria in Iowa and to help a library in Tennessee host video game parties. These are just some of the examples in a new report on government waste from Senator Tom Coburn entitled "Wastebook 2010". Even as tens of millions of American families find themselves suffering through the worst economic downturn in modern history, the U.S. government continues to spend money on some of the craziest and most frivolous things imaginable. Every single year articles are written and news stories are done about the horrific government waste that is taking place and yet every single year it just keeps getting worse. So just what in the world is going on here?
How the Housing Bubble Explains the Small Business Mess
By Derek Thompson - The Atlantic.com
One of the places where some economists see bright spots for the US economy next year is the return of small business investment. For the last two years, small businesses have been starved for credit for a few reasons. The weak economy has hurt demand for their goods and services, so businesses see no reason to expand. The recession's impact on profit means small business have worse credit and qualify for fewer loans. And the economic climate, combined with tighter regulations, have made banks reluctant to lend to riskier small firms.
Homes at Risk, and No Help From Lawyers
By DAVID STREITFELD - NYTimes.com
In California, where foreclosures are more abundant than in any other state, homeowners trying to win a loan modification have always had a tough time.
Now they face yet another obstacle: hiring a lawyer.
Sharon Bell, a retiree who lives in Laguna Niguel, southeast of Los Angeles, needs a modification to keep her home. She says she is scared of her bank and its plentiful resources, so much so that she cannot even open its certified letters inquiring where her mortgage payments may be. Yet the half-dozen lawyers she has called have refused to represent her.
"They said they couldn't help," said Ms. Bell, 63. "But I've got to find help, because I'm dying every day."
Homeowners use 'show me the note' to fight foreclosure
By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY
Steven and Tamara Gewecke are three years behind on their mortgage payments, but they've fought off foreclosure.
The Minnesota couple refinanced in 2006 to start a business. It failed. Debts mounted. The Geweckes went bankrupt and failed to win a loan modification. But they bought time.
In 2009, the Geweckes filed a lawsuit to block their foreclosure. At the heart of their case is this question: Who owns their mortgage?
2 More Reasons Housing Prices Are Going Down 63%+ This Year
By Bo Peng - SeekingAlpha.com
Zillow.com just came out with a heart-warming holiday's greeting: Home prices are projected to lose $1.7T in 2011, or 63% more than this year. It's a good analysis, but I feel they left out two important factors.
1. With mortgage rates rapidly rising, refinancing becomes even more difficult, price pressure goes up, and buyers have an even harder time to get financing.
2. The legal wrangling on foreclosure documentation and fraud mess seems far from over. If foreclosures and/or some other forms of resolving the bad debt keep flowing, it lessens the problem- even though it may cause the price to show larger declines. But such is not the case, as the average loan in foreclosure hasn't made any payment for 16 months (Yeah, free house!) and foreclosure inventory keeps rising. To the extent delinquencies remain in the pipeline without resolution, they'll continue weighing down the housing market, the economy, and to some degree being the tail wagging the unemployment dog.
16 Shocking Facts About The Student Loan Debt Bubble
And The Great College Education Scam
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
As you read this, there are over 18 million students enrolled at the nearly 5,000 colleges and universities currently in operation across the United States. Many of these institutions of higher learning are now charging $20,000, $30,000 or even $40,000 a year for tuition and fees. That does not even count living expenses. Today it is 400% more expensive to go to college in the United States than it was just 30 years ago. Most of these 18 million students have been told over and over that a "higher education" is the key to getting a good job and living the American Dream. They have been told not to worry about how much it costs and that there is plenty of financial aid (mostly made up of loans) available. Now our economy is facing the biggest student loan debt bubble in the history of the world, and when our new college graduates enter the "real world" they are finding out that the good jobs they were promised are very few and far between. As millions of Americans wake up and start realizing that the tens of thousands of dollars that they have poured into their college educations was mostly a waste, will the great college education scam finally be exposed?
It's a Bummer to Be a Boomer
By Mary Pilon - WSJ.com
The oldest of the 79 million baby boomers, a group born between 1946 to 1964, will hit their 65th birthday in 2011. And they're more depressed than any other age group, according to new research out today from Pew Research Center.
Some 80% of baby boomers say they are dissatisfied with how things are going in the country today, according to Pew's survey. Meanwhile, 60% of those ages 18 to 29 said they were dissatisfied, compared with 69% of 30- to 45-year-olds and 76% of those 65 and older.
Digital Lists Clarify End-of-Life Choices
By SARA MURRAY
Oregon is making it easier for the seriously ill to voluntarily make their wishes known about end-of-life care by creating an electronic database that first responders can quickly check during a medical emergency.
At least two other states - West Virginia and New York - are developing similar systems, which are an outgrowth of signed paper forms. Known as physician orders for life-sustaining treatment, or Polst, the forms are supposed to direct all health-care providers about the type of care a patient wants to receive.
Paper-based systems are in use or in development in 33 states. Many people put the papers on their refrigerators or some other prominent location in their homes.
Social Security Disability Benefits Unsustainable As is typical with government programs, eligibility and benefits were greatly expanded over the subsequent decades.
By TAD DEHAVEN - WSJ.com From The Cato Institute
The disability insurance component of Social Security was created in 1956 to provide income support to individuals aged 50 to 64 who were permanently disabled. As is typical with government programs, eligibility and benefits were greatly expanded over the subsequent decades.
SSDI, which is funded through a 1.8 percent payroll tax on all workers, was recently described by the Congressional Budget Office as "not financially sustainable." The nearby chart shows that SSDI benefit payments have soared 119 percent since 1995 in real or inflation-adjusted terms:
Food prices rise sharply - and there's more to come
Stacy Finz - SilverBearCafe.com
For the first time since 2008, inflation is hitting consumers in the stomach.
Grocery prices grew by more than 1 1/2 times the overall rate of inflation this year, outpaced only by costs of transportation and medical care, according to numbers released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Economists predict that this is only the beginning. Fueled by the higher costs of wheat, sugar, corn, soybeans and energy, shoppers could see as much as a 4 percent increase at the supermarket checkout next year.
Bribery and Graft abound as Reid attaches S.510 to clunkers
By Marti Oakley - PJJ Gazette
And the Republicans joined right in!
I can only imagine that the halls of the Senate were virtually awash in "funding" from lobbyists as Republicans joined Democrats in the greatest assault on agriculture ever launched by our own government.
It seems there is no stopping the nefarious Harry Reid (D) NV. With the country screaming no to the ill conceived S.510 Fake Food safety bill, Reid was successful in attaching the agricultural police state bill to a non-related bill and rammed this piece of garbage through the senate once again.
And where were those Republicans who got the message from voters that things needed to change? Well - they were right in there voting yes along with the Democrats. Even Senator Tom Coburn (R) OK., jumped on the band wagon and voted to pass this attack on food production and supply into law. Its just amazing what bags of corporate lobbying money can do to politicians.
Food Safety Sneak Attack! Passed by Unanimous Consent
by Barbara Peterson - PJJ Gazette
How many times does Congress have to stick it to us before we realize that this body politic has no other function than to obey its corporate masters? If you think that you are being represented by these crooks, liars and thieves, then think again. The "Food Safety" bill is alive and has taken so many twists and turns to end up on the verge of becoming law of the land that nobody in his or her right mind could possibly believe that they are not going to cram this garbage down our collective throat no matter what.
And if you thought that good old Sen. Tom Coburn, who had been blocking the legislation would ultimately hold onto what little integrity he could muster and save the day by rescuing us from impending Food Safety doom, think no more. "He lifted his objection at the final moment" (Alexander Bolton), and this travesty of justice was passed in the Senate by unanimous consent.
Ultimate electric car challenge: Dead batteries
By Peter Valdes-Dapena - CNN.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- We've all had to get rid of spent lithium-ion batteries from laptops and cell phones so it's natural to worry about the ones in electric cars.
Won't those eventually have to be disposed of, too? Are they just going to sit rotting in land fills fouling the environment?
Probably not. First, the lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars are less dangerous to the environment than most other batteries to begin with. That's because they don't contain large amounts of toxic rare earth metals. Second, all kinds of batteries, large and small, are routinely recycled and electric car batteries can be, too.
General Motors launches new electric hybrid car in US
Chevrolet Volt is first extended-range electric vehicle to be made for the mass market by one of the big US carmakers
By Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk
The Opec oil crisis of the early 1970s, Jeffrey Kaffee, a former commercial pilot, remembers, led to huge frustration at long petrol queues. Lesson learnt, years later Kaffee became a Prius owner. Then, last week, he moved on to General Motors' new plug-in electric hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt.
Kaffee was on holiday in Florida when the car came in to his local dealership, in Denville, New Jersey. The sellers flew him back for the day to take the silver-coloured five-door saloon for a spin.
Wikileaks and the Free Press
By SAUL LANDAU - CounterPunch.org
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." 1st Amendment, US Constitution
US officials routinely declare commitment to a free press - except when someone uses it to reveal unflattering information. Ironically, members of the media critical of Wikileaks also think the government should protect us by not sharing "classified information." Those two words often alert us to some bureaucrat is covering his ass by barring the public from knowing of a possibly illegal act.
In school, Americans routinely hear "we are a government of law." Teachers should add "when convenient."
Indeed, Julian Assange formed Wikileaks because the US government had acted in a wildly illegal fashion and then used "classification of documents" to cover crimes -- and because mainstream media abdicated its responsibility decades ago.
Prospect of WikiLeaks Dump Poses Problems for Regulators
BY ANDREW ROSS SORKIN - NYTimes.com
"Tens of thousands of its internal documents will be exposed on Wikileaks.org with no polite requests for executives' response or other forewarnings."
That was according to Forbes magazine, which interviewed Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, last month. The excerpt sparked a global cacophony of speculation that a bank - perhaps Bank of America - may be the next target of the inscrutable "high-tech terrorist." (Such was Vice President Joseph R. Biden's description of Mr. Assange over the weekend.)
F.C.C. Is Set to Regulate Net Access
By BRIAN STELTER - NYTimes.com
The Federal Communications Commission appears poised to pass a controversial set of rules that broadly create two classes of Internet access, one for fixed-line providers and the other for the wireless Net.
The proposed rules of the online road would prevent fixed-line broadband providers like Comcast and Qwest from blocking access to sites and applications. The rules, however, would allow wireless companies more latitude in putting limits on access to services and applications.
Before a vote set for Tuesday, two Democratic commissioners said Monday that they would back the rules proposed by the F.C.C. chairman, Julius Genachowski, which try to satisfy both sides in the protracted debate over so-called network neutrality. But analysts said the debate would soon resume in the courts, as challenges to the rules are expected in the months to come.
'Net Neutrality' Rules Set to Pass
By AMY SCHATZ - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - The top communications regulator won support to pass contentious new rules for Internet traffic, a move likely to face legal challenges and create uncertainty about Internet regulation.
The Federal Communications Commission is set to approve on Tuesday Chairman Julius Genachowski's proposed rules governing net neutrality - a concept aimed at preventing Internet providers from interfering with web traffic.
The rules are expected to bar providers from discriminating against legal Internet traffic and require more transparency. They also would let broadband providers for the first time charge more to companies that want faster service for delivery of games, videos or other services.
FCC Net Neutrality Rules Slammed from All Sides
By Ryan Singel - Wired.com
The federal government's new internet fairness rules - aimed at preventing the nation's cable and DSL internet service providers from meddling with the open, free-wheeling nature of the internet - were met with loud criticism Monday night from all sides of the political spectrum.
Many Republicans, including FCC commissioner Robert McDowell, blasted the new rules as an interventionist over-reach by an activist federal regulator intent on asserting control over the internet. Meanwhile, Democrats, including Sen. Al Franken from Minnesota, along with public interest and free speech groups, slammed the rules as woefully inadquate to protect the public from the predations of an industry keen on turning the internet into a cyber-version of cable TV, with tiers and premium packages affordable by the wealthy.
URGENT - BRITAIN TO FREEZE DUE TO DEATH OF THE GULF STREAM
Dubai Aerospace Said to Weigh More Airbus, Boeing Cancelations
By Stefania Bianchi and Andrea Rothman
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd., the state-owned aviation services and leasing company, may cancel more aircraft orders with Airbus SAS and Boeing Co. next year as the emirate battles the impact of the global credit crisis, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
DAE plans to make adjustments to its order book with the manufacturers and the number of cancelations may be similar to those made this year, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
North Korea Backs Down, Holds Its Fire As South Proceeds With Island Drill, Pyongyang Sees No 'Need to Retaliate' - By EVAN RAMSTAD - WSJ.com
SEOUL - North Korea stood pat as South Korea conducted an artillery drill Monday and said it wasn't going to strike back, significantly easing concerns of armed conflict and suggesting Pyongyang may again be using provocations to seek economic inducements.
However, U.S. military officials said the U.S. is still closely watching the situation. "The situation is still more tense than in a long time. I haven't seen that tension ease," said one official.
South Korea's military went on high alert during the 94-minute drill on Yeonpyeong, a South Korean island in disputed waters that was the target of a North Korean artillery attack last month that killed four. Fighter jets patrolled the air and destroyers sailed in nearby waters ready to counter another North Korean attack.
North Korea Agrees to New Uranium Inspections, Richardson Says
By Peter S. Green and Flavia Krause-Jackson
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea agreed to let inspectors visit its uranium enrichment facilities and may sell South Korea surplus fuel rods that had been the focus of proliferation fears, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said yesterday during an unofficial visit to the Communist country.
Word that the North would agree to longstanding international demands for access to its nuclear facilities followed a tense 48 hours of uncertainty over how Pyongyang's totalitarian regime would react to South Korea's military exercises in disputed waters off North Korea's coast.
South Korea pledges to go ahead with live-fire drills The North has condemned the planned exercises, and threatens shelling if they proceed. The U.N. Security Council meets to urge both sides to scale back on belligerence.
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times - Reporting from Seoul
Rifle-toting South Korean troops conducted patrols Sunday on a South Korean island at the center of recent tensions on the Korean peninsula as the international community nervously anticipated the start of the South's planned live-fire drills that have been condemned by the North Korean military.
South Korean military officials pledged to follow through with the exercises on tiny Yeonpyeong Island, despite warnings from the North that any provocation would lead to a repeat of its shelling barrage that killed four people on the island last month. The exercises were due to begin Monday and Yeonpyeong residents were moved to bomb shelters in anticipation of possible renewed shelling from North Korea.
Firing Drill Increases Tensions in Korea
By EVAN RAMSTAD
SEOUL - South Korea on Monday morning prepared to test artillery from an island North Korea attacked last month, and ordered residents into bomb shelters in case the North carried out on threats to open fire at the drill.
The test on Yeonpyeong Island is a pivotal moment in the two Koreas' fractious relationship, which has been drawn to the brink of open fighting by North Korea's apparent effort to redraw the maritime boundary in the Yellow Sea off the countries' west coast.
9 Reasons Why The START Treaty Must Be Stopped
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
As the U.S. military continues to waste an enormous amount of energy and resources patrolling the streets of Iraqi cities and digging goat herders out of the caves of Afghanistan, a very real threat to the national security of the United States is developing and very few people even seem concerned about it. It is called the START Treaty, and Barack Obama is desperately trying to ramrod it through the lame duck session of Congress. Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to the terms of the treaty back in April, and two-thirds of the U.S. Senate must vote for it in order for the treaty to become law. So what is so bad about the treaty? Well, for starters, it almost totally defangs the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal that has protected us for the past six decades, it puts serious restrictions on the ability of the United States to develop any kind of missile defense and it puts the U.S. military at a very significant strategic disadvantage.
State Budgets: Day of Reckoning
Christie Says 'Day of Reckoning' Has Arrived for State Budgets
By Terrence Dopp
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said U.S. states face a "day of reckoning" as they contend with looming budget deficits in the wake of the longest recession since the 1930s.
Christie, who cut $1.3 billion in aid to schools and municipalities this year to close a $10.7 billion deficit, said states' pension and debt costs have grown to be "unsustainable." Benefits, education and health care will be reduced in many states, he said.
Meredith Whitney Says U.S. May Face Bailout for State
Secret GOP plan: Push states to declare bankruptcy and smash unions
By James Pethokoukis - Reuters
Congressional Republicans appear to be quietly but methodically executing a plan that would a) avoid a federal bailout of spendthrift states and b) cripple public employee unions by pushing cash-strapped states such as California and Illinois to declare bankruptcy. This may be the biggest political battle in Washington, my Capitol Hill sources tell me, of 2011.
That's why the most intriguing aspect of President Barack Obama's tax deal with Republicans is what the compromise fails to include - a provision to continue the Build America Bonds program. BABs now account for more than 20 percent of new debt sold by states and local governments thanks to a federal rebate equal to 35 percent of interest costs on the bonds. The subsidy program ends on Dec. 31. And my Reuters colleagues report that a GOP congressional aide said Republicans "have a very firm line on BABS - we are not going to allow them to be included."
Underfunded pensions dwarf deficit
By Ted Mann - TheDay.com
Lack of political will, stock market crashes leave state's obligations in precarious shape
Hartford - It's one of the simpler guidelines in politics: Be careful what you promise; someone might ask you to pay up.
As the state of Connecticut prepares to face a gaping deficit in its budget for the next two fiscal years, lawmakers and Gov.-elect Dan Malloy also will be forced to reckon with an equally challenging and even bigger problem: the long-term cost of the pensions and health care the state has promised its retirees.
The challenge is one inherited from past legislators and governors, who despite occasional periods of reform and investment have repeatedly failed to set aside money for pension accounts - accounts that will owe tens of billions of dollars to retired workers over the next 30 years.
States Continue to Feel Recession's Impact
By Elizabeth McNichol, Phil Oliff and Nicholas Johnson -
Center on Budgetand Policy Prioroities
The worst recession since the 1930s has caused the steepest decline in state tax receipts on record. State tax collections, adjusted for inflation, are now 12 percent below pre-recession levels[1], while the need for state-funded services has not declined. As a result, even after making very deep spending cuts over the last two years, states continue to face large budget gaps. At least 46 states struggled to close shortfalls when adopting budgets for the current fiscal year (FY 2011, which began July 1 in most states). These came on top of the large shortfalls that 48 states faced in fiscal years 2009 and 2010. States will continue to struggle to find the revenue needed to support critical public services for a number of years, threatening hundreds of thousands of jobs. States face:
While Families Lose Homes to Foreclosure,
State Agency Delays Federal Aid
By AARON GLANTZ - NYTimes.com
Benjamin Chavarria, an unemployed construction worker, has fallen $20,000 behind on his mortgage. If he does not pay the full amount by Jan. 6, his lender, the California Housing Finance Agency, said it will seize his four-bedroom home in Richmond, which is fast becoming the epicenter of the region's foreclosure crisis.
Since February, the state-run finance agency has received nearly $2 billion from the federal government to help people like Mr. Chavarria avoid losing their homes. But nearly a year after President Obama announced the delivery of the first $700 million installment for the Keep Your Home California initiative, the Housing Finance Agency, which administers the program, has not taken applications or compiled a waiting list for qualified borrowers.
Korean Won, Stocks, Bonds Drop on Bank Levy, Risk of Conflict
By Andrea Wong and Saeromi Shin
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea's won and stocks dropped the most in more than three weeks and bonds fell after the government proposed tighter curbs on capital flows and military tensions with the North damped demand for the nation's assets.
A levy is planned for foreign-currency borrowing by banks, the government said yesterday. South Korea said today it will proceed with a live-firing drill on Yeonpyeong Island, a month after North Korea shelled the island close to the disputed sea border off the peninsula's west coast, killing four people.
Did The Price Of Oil Help Cause The Financial Crisis Of 2008? Will Surging Oil Prices Soon Spark Another Financial Crisis?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Oil prices are starting to spin out of control once again. In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in February hit 91.89 dollars a barrel on Friday. New York crude moved above 88 dollars a barrel on Friday. Many analysts believe that 100 dollar oil is a virtual certainty now. In fact, many economists are convinced that oil is going to start moving well beyond the 100 dollar mark. So what happened the last time oil went well above 100 dollars a barrel? Oh, that's right, we had a major financial crisis. Not that subprime mortgages, rampant corruption on Wall Street and out of control debt didn't play major roles in precipitating the financial crisis as well, but the truth is that most economists have not given the price of oil the proper credit for the role that it played in almost crashing the world economy. In July 2008, the price of oil hit a record high of over $147 a barrel. A couple months later all hell broke loose on world financial markets. The truth is that having the price of oil that high created horrific imbalances in the global economy. Fortunately the price of oil took a huge nosedive after hitting that record high, and it can be argued that lower oil prices helped stabilize the world economy. So now that oil prices are on a relentless march upward again, what can we expect this time?
Why You've Never Heard of the Great Depression of 1920|
Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
Gold Advances as Physical Demand Boosts Prices; Silver Climbs
By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Gold climbed as two weeks of price declines attracted buying from jewelers and other physical users. Silver, palladium and platinum also increased.
Immediate-delivery bullion gained 0.7 percent to $1,384.55 an ounce at 9:35 a.m. in Singapore. The price lost 0.8 percent last week following a 2 percent drop the week before. The February-delivery contract rose 0.4 percent to $1,385.20 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
"Physical demand has put a floor" under prices, Chen Xin Yi, an analyst at Barclays Capital in Singapore, said by phone today. "Buyers realized that prices are not going to correct very much. InvestorsÕ demand is also stable."
Gold, silver could go ballistic by year-end
By John Embry - Inivestor's Digers of Canada
The gold price experienced a virtually uninterrupted rise of more than $US200 in a 2 1/2 month period from the end of July through mid-October. This came on the heels of an orchestrated $100 price takedown following an all-time price high in mid-June as the authorities took great pains at
that time to ensure that the gold price wasn't flying as the necessity for further quantitative easing (QE) became obvious.
Gold price to boom in 2011 on multiple investment options
(Kitco News) - The 2011 gold outlook from most analysts, simply put, is higher.
But for new investors wanting to join the gold rush, there is still some homework to do. They might want to familiarize themselves with the many ways in which they can invest--from coins to exchange-traded funds to mining stocks--to decide which are most suited for them.
Gold has been in a decade-long bull market, rising from roughly $250 an ounce to a recent record of $1,431. Many look for still more gains. BNP Paribas has forecast an average of $1,500 in 2011, while Goldman Sachs has a 12-month target of $1,690 (but also cautioned that gold could peak in 2012).
$2000 should be gold price now: Rogers
LONDON (Commodity Online): Even as gold prices are showing signs of a continued bull run, some experts are feeling that the yellow metal is yet to reach its real value.
According to world renowned investor Jim Rogers, gold prices should be around $2000 in this decade.
In an interview with the TheStreet.com, Rogers noted that if you adjust the gold price's previous all-time high of $850 in 1980 for inflation, the price of gold should be over $2,000 now.
The Effects of Central Banking on Gold and Paper Currencies
By Eric Fry - TheDailyReckoning.com
12/17/10 Laguna Beach, California - "When will the gold bubble burst?"CNBC's Larry Kudlow wondered aloud this morning.
A question to which your California editor would reply, "We know what gold is and we know what a financial bubble is, but we don't see any gold bubbles."
Perhaps Kudlow is referring to the fact that the gold price is rising... in response to the Central Banking Bubble. On its face, the idea is ludicrous that one man can steer an entire economy, simply by adjusting one little interest rate. The idea is a doubly ludicrous that one institution can nurture economic growth, simply by printing money. And yet, a nation of investors places its faith in the Cult of Central Banking, as folks like Larry Kudlow pay homage to Ben Bernanke every business day.
Keep an eye on gold, bonds in 2011
By Bill Fleckenstein - CommodityOnline.com
In this, my final column for 2010, I wanted to compare and contrast two important markets that I think give us some indication about what to expect in 2011. As longtime readers may be able to guess, I am talking about gold and bonds.
A demanding answer
First, on Dec. 13, Dennis Gartman shared some gold data that I think tells an important story.
Back in the early days of the gold bull market, I remember arguing with people that, in my view, gold prices would be driven by demand for the metal as an investment, not by interest in using it for jewelry.
Gold Short-term Bearish but Medium and Long-term Bullish
By: Merv Burak - MarketOracle.co.uk
GOLD LONG TERM - On the long term once a trend is set in motion it continues for a long time. So it is this week, the bullish trend continues even though the shorter term action may be on the verge of changing. Gold remains comfortably above its positive sloping long term moving average line. The long term momentum indicator remains in the positive zone although it is moving lower and has moved below its negative sloping trigger line. The long term volume indicator is mow in a lateral trend but remains above its long term trigger line. All in all the long term rating remains BULLISH.
First gold vending machine in U.S. opens for business at Town Center mall in Boca Raton
By Diane C. Lade, Sun Sentinel
What's being billed as the first gold-dispensing ATM in the nation opened for business Friday at the Town Center in Boca Raton, spitting out an after-dinner-mint-sized gold bullion into the palm of its first customer.
The "Gold to go" gold bullion vending machine, developed by the German company Ex Oriente Lux AG, was brought to the states by PMX Gold LLC, a South Florida business that buys and sells lease purchase options on gold mines. Twenty "Gold to go" ATMs already are operating in malls, hotels and airports in Europe and the United Arab Emirates.
Silver to spur precious metals rally in 2011
CommodityOnline.com
(Kitco News) - After hiding in gold's shadow for years, silver is finally getting its chance to shine.
Concerns about the outlook for the global economy, worries about future U.S. inflation because of two quantitative easing programs by the Federal Reserve, and uneasiness with the size of the debt in Western nations has caused many investors to seek comfort in an old friend, precious metals.
The inflationary macroeconomic stimulus
By Dr Jeffrey Lewis
It is becoming increasingly difficult to divide the politics from the policy, but the new tax deal being negotiated between Congress and the White House will set the stage for serious economic stimulus (and inflation) in 2011 and beyond.
While the largest piece of the puzzle, which is the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts, changes very little, some minor elements have the ability to become a very big player. One of the smallest pieces of the puzzle is the 2% reduction in FICA taxes from 6.2% of a worker's pay to 4.2%. These smaller pieces of the puzzle, however, are really the biggest part of the picture.
Dollar Rises 2nd Day Versus Euro on U.S. Outlook; Korea Concern
By Candice Zachariahs and Ron Harui
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar strengthened for a second day against the euro before reports this week that economists say will show the U.S. gross domestic product expanded more than previously estimated and personal spending climbed.
The U.S. currency rose against most of its major peers after South Korea said it will proceed with a live-firing drill, risking retaliation from North Korea and boosting demand for safer assets. South Korea's won also weakened after the authorities announced a levy on banks' foreign-exchange borrowings. The euro fell to a two-week low versus the yen on concern the region's debt problems will worsen, curbing demand for Europe's assets.
Sunshine: at the IMF, of all places
by Alex Harrowell - FistFullOfEuros.net
So, here we are, after a 2010 of economic horrors. There is extensive debate as to whether the standard tools of economics are even valid - as Daniel Davies points out, even Paul Krugman now self-identifies as a heterodox economist - while on the other side, the discipline is coping with the financial crisis experience by clapping louder and imposing ideological censorship. But is anyone at least trying to do something original with the standard toolkit? The DSGE model may be one of John Quiggin's zombies (buy now for Christmas and support Australian professors' lifestyles - what's not to love?), but zombies are notoriously resilient. (Head shots! as a well-known advocate of conservative austerity once said.)
Self-righteous Germany must accept a euro-debt union or leave EMU If Germany and its hard-money allies genuinely wish to save the euro - which is open to doubt - they should stop posturing, face up to the grim imperative of a Transferunion, and desist immediately from imposing their ruinous and reactionary policies of debt deflation on southern Europe and Ireland.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
One can sympathise with the German people. Their leaders in the 1990s told them "famine in Bavaria" was more likely than the preposterous suggestion that Germany might have to bail out countries as a result of EMU.
But events have moved on and, rather than striking tones of Calvinist righteousness, the Teutonic bloc might do well to acknowledge equal responsibility for the capital flows, trade imbalances, and cumulative errors that caused the EMU debacle, and therefore accept that the honourable course is to meet the struggling south halfway.
U.S. Economy Muddling Through, More Crises, More Global Risk Aversion Ahead
By: Bryan Rich - MarketOracle.co.uk
For the better part of 2009 and for the second half of 2010, the world's focus has been on how dreadful things look in the U.S. and how great the opportunities are said to be everywhere else.
But despite all of the anti-dollar and anti-U.S. policy sentiment that has proliferated around the world, apparently the financial markets haven't felt the same way!
In fact, heading into the final two weeks of the 2010, U.S. assets have been a harbinger of investment performance.
When Money Dies: The Nightmare of the Weimar Collapse
By Adam Fergusson - JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
A Capital Paradox
By John Butler - The DailyReckoning.com
12/17/10 London, England - What, exactly, is economic capital? It is the productive potential of the economy, the ability to make things that people need and want to consume. But unlike paper, capital does not grow on trees. Capital itself must first be produced, in the form of capital goods. Let's start from the beginning: We all need to consume food. Few of us produce our own. So we need to purchase food with our earnings. When we go to the supermarket and purchase a trolley of food, we are purchasing the output of a mind-bogglingly complex productive process. To highlight just a few aspects of this, consider:
The Federal Reserve Bans A Local Oklahoma Bank From DisplayingCrosses, Bible Verses And Christmas Buttons
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
What in the world are they thinking over at the Federal Reserve? The privately-owned central bank that runs the U.S. economy is now forcing local banks to remove every shred of Christian faith from their establishments. When Federal Reserve examiners recently visited a local bank in Perkins, Oklahoma they demanded that the bank take down a "Bible verse of the day" and crosses that were displayed on the teller's counter. In addition, the agents from the Federal Reserve forced all bank personnel to remove buttons that said "Merry Christmas, God With Us". The bank was also ordered to remove a "Bible verse of the day" from the bank's website. According to Federal Reserve officials, all visible expressions of Christian faith by bank officials are now banned in all banks across the United States.
Will The Obama Tax Cut Deal Save The Economy? NO!!
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
All over Washington D.C., top Republicans and Obama administration officials are running around declaring that the tax cut deal that was just passed will save the U.S. economy. But is this even partially true? Of course not! Mostly, what the "tax cut deal" does is keep tax rates exactly where they already are. Now, many of us are extremely thankful that we will not be paying higher taxes, but the truth is that if these tax cuts were going to "save the economy" they would already be saving it. Yes, this tax cut deal will provide a minor short-term stimulus to the economy, but it will also add $858 billion (some say closer to $1 trillion) to the projected federal budget deficits over the next two years. You see, this tax cut deal contained "all candy and no spinach". In other words, the tax cuts were not accompanied by corresponding spending cuts, and that is going to lead to big trouble in the long run.
Obama signs massive tax-cut bill, hails compromise with Republicans
By Kara Rowland - The Washington Times
Capping a giant end-of-year victory, President Obama on Friday signed into law a bill preventing the largest tax increase in history by extending the bush-era income tax cuts across the board for another two years.
At a signing ceremony with Democrats and Republicans alike, the president called the package a "victory" for the American people.
"The legislation I'm about to sign is a substantial victory for middle-class families across the country," said Mr. Obama, flanked on a stage by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and a bipartisan group of lawmakers. "They're the ones who need relief right now, and that's what's at the heart of this bill."
Biden: Obama tax deal 'morally troubling' Vice president says pledge to middle class couldn't be kept
By Joseph Weber - The Washington Times
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Sunday defended what he acknowledged as a "morally troubling" decision by President Obama to extend tax rates for all Americans as part of wide-ranging interview on key national and international issues.
Mr. Biden said the president still thinks extending the George W. Bush-era rates for the country's highest wage-earners, along with everyone else, is "morally troubling." He said the president broke his 2008 campaign promise on the issue to help only the middle class.
Ron Paul on C-SPAN's Newsmakers (Pt. 1) 12/19/10
Ron Paul on C-SPAN's Newsmakers (Pt. 2) 12/19/10
Does the Constitution Mean Anything?
By Doug Bandow - The American Spectator.org
Obamacare unconstitutional? The denizens of Washington and their many friends who favor expansive and expensive government are worried. At least one judge has actually read the Constitution. Moreover, Tea Party activists are calling themselves constitutional conservatives and insisting that the Constitution is relevant to the operation of the federal government. It is a frightening concept to those constantly seeking to expand Leviathan.
It has been years since the Constitution has had any meaningful impact on what is done in Washington. True, no one challenges the structural provisions -- there are a hundred senators, presidential elections are held every four years, etc. And there are lots of court battles over application of the Bill of Rights, largely because it protects some liberties favored by the Left.
Insanity on the Potomac, U.S. Treasury Bond Investors Recoiling in Horror!
By: Martin D Weiss - MraketOracle.co.uk
Given the insanity on the Potomac last week, I cannot imagine a time when a clear vision of the future would be more crucial.
At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, President Obama signed a new fiscal package, which ...
is virtually designed to add $858 billion to the federal deficit
is likely to cost much MORE if events do not pan out as planned, and worst of all ...
is not tied with any plan for long-term fiscal restraint.
Simply put, our leaders figure they can deal with the deficit "later."
Sound familiar? It should. Because it's the same exact rationale we heard after passage of the $800-billion TARP bill to save the banks in 2008 ... and still again after passage of another $820-billion law to stimulate the economy in 2009.
3 Ways to Pacify the Bond Vigilantes
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
After remaining very low for the better part of 2010, interest rates have begun rising. Treasuries yields and mortgage interest rates are both popping. While there are likely several reasons why this is happening, one could be that investors are worried about the U.S.'s unsustainable deficit path. The gigantic new tax cut package might be worrying so-called "bond vigilantes," investors who demand a higher default premium as the U.S. debt grows uncontrollably. If they're really driving the increase in interest rates, how can we pacify them so that rates don't continue to climb?
Chase Hit With SEC Whistleblower Complaint Over Credit Card Practices
By ABIGAIL FIELD - DailyFinance.com
Linda Almonte, a former employee of JPMorgan Chase (JPM) who is suing the bank for wrongful termination, has just upped the ante: She has now also filed a whistleblower complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The core allegations add context to her lawsuit, and they charge Chase with grotesque and illegal practices involving its credit card debt processes, including robo-signing. Chase denies her claims.
Nevada AG sues Bank of America for home loan, foreclosure practices Lawsuit says Bank of America misled and deceived consumers
By Steve Kanigher - LasVegasSun.com
The Nevada Attorney General's office sued Bank of America Friday morning for allegedly deceiving homeowners through its residential loan modification and foreclosure practices.
The lawsuit, filed in Clark County District Court and triggered by consumer complaints, named as defendants the bank's parent company as well as BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, Recon Trust Co.
"We are holding Bank of America accountable for misleading and deceiving consumers," Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said. "Nevadans who were trying desperately to save their homes were unable to get truthful information in order to make critical life decisions."
Higher interest rates loom for the US and UK The reason the Bank of Enland is turning a blind eye to its own mistakes is that it knows the economy is not yet ready for higher rates.
Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Last week, Ron Paul, the outspoken Texas Congressman who penned the best-selling book End the Fed and is sometimes referred to as "the intellectual godfather of the Tea Party movement", was appointed by his fellow Republicans to head the House financial services subcommittee that scrutinises US monetary policy.
I've been trying to think of what the UK equivalent of this appointment might be, and the best I can come up with would be the spectacle of Danny Blanchflower, the disaffected former Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member who has repeatedly called for Mervyn King's resignation, being nominated as chairman of the Commons Treasury Select Committee.
The Case Against Floating Currencies Monetary fragmentation is inconsistent with the globalization of business. -- By MANUEL HINDS - WSJ.com
It is ironic that the international monetary system of floating currencies is based on a theory called the "Optimal Currency Area" that celebrates the freedom of central banks to print money at will. The idea is that total freedom to create money would promote global progress and employment, smooth out business cycles, and prevent bubbles and their associated crises.
The irony is that the system is obviously suboptimal. It goes against the grain of globalization, the process that is defining our economic times. To accommodate the central bankers' wishes to control their own currencies, the floating system requires splitting the world's monetary markets into as many currency areas as there are countries.
Ron Paul on Glenn Beck with Judge Napolitano 12/16/10
Bankruptcy: Doomsday? No, but ...
By Gail MarksJarvis - ChicagoTribune.com
The cruelest recession since the Depression has pushed people who never would have dreamed of bankruptcy to ask themselves whether they dare file now.
Fear holds many back, as they worry their financial options would be ruined for life. But that's hardly the case, said Tara Twomey, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center. Although bankruptcy does carry a stigma and can remain on a person's credit report for up to 10 years, "people drowning in debt can get a fresh start and go forward keeping their important assets," she said.
HUMOR Julian Assange to Launch Social Network for Diplomats:TwoFaceBook
Fake news by Andy Borowitz - Truthdig.com
LONDON (The Borowitz Report) - Moments after being released on bail, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was already making plans for his next venture, a social network for diplomats called Twofacebook.
Assange said he came up with the idea for the new site while combing through hundreds of thousands of pages of WikiLeaks documents: "I realized that diplomats didn't have a way to reconnect with old colleagues so they could lie to them." Explaining that he hopes to build the site into a "portal of deceit," Assange said, "This will be a must-visit destination on the Internet for sworn enemies to friend each other."
WikiLeaks: Careful When Shooting the Messenger
By ERIC PFANNER - NYTimes.com
PARIS - In May 2009, The Daily Telegraph set off a political storm in Britain when it detailed widespread expense-account abuse by members of Parliament. Among the claims: £1,645, or $2,547, for a floating duck house in one lawmaker's garden.
The reports were based on a leak, in the form of a stolen computer disk that The Telegraph obtained from a disgruntled public-sector employee, reportedly in exchange for a fee.
At first, the British political establishment was nearly unanimous in its condemnation of the newspaper. There was talk of prosecuting The Telegraph, and government lawyers boned up on the Official Secrets Act.
Property Taxes Keep Rising as Home Values Keep Falling
By CHARLES HUGH SMITH - DailyFinance.com
Common sense suggests that as home prices decline, the property taxes based on their valuations ought to as well. But even as house prices continue to slip, property taxes nationally are clicking higher.
Why is this occurring? There are several factors at work.
The first is that many local governments are responding to sharp declines in real estate values by raising property tax rates. In one southern Washington state county this year, the rate jumped from $10.06 to $11.60 per $1,000 of assessed value -- a more than 15% increase. Throughout Washington, even as assessed values slumped by more than 13%, property tax revenues rose 2.1% to $8.8 billion -- a $181 million increase. Though the state has limits on property tax hikes, local governments' property tax rates don't rise or fall based on assessed values -- they're set by budget requirements. So falling prices don't necessarily translate into lower property taxes.
Tax Dispute Squeezes Detroit's Neighbor
By KATE LINEBAUGH - WSJ.com
HAMTRAMCK, Mich. - Auto-plant tax revenue has helped power this working-class city of 22,000 for years, but a halt to this stream of cash amid a dispute with neighboring Detroit is driving Hamtramck to the brink.
Detroit used the send Hamtramck about $2 million a year in tax revenue from a General Motors Co. factory that is now building the Chevrolet Volt electric car. The plant straddles the two cities, but since January Detroit has stopped giving Hamtramck any shared tax revenue, saying it has overpaid $7 million through the years.
Here Are The 11 U.S. States Most Likely To Default
And Need A Government Bailout
By Gregory White - BusinessInsider.com
States are at the center of the unemployment crisis, and that's because many have serious debt problems, impeding their ability to keep workers employed.
But just how bad are those debt problems? It could drive some states to default if conditions get worse or force a federal government bailout.
Illinois
California
Michigan
New Jersey
Nevada
New York
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Ohio
Florida
Pennsylvania
Las Vegas: Boom-bust era leaves architectural scars across valley Architects say the furious rush to build - and profit - has forever altered Vegas environs
By J. Patrick Coolican - LasVegasSun.com
Robert Fielden, who moved to Las Vegas to be an architect in 1964, isn't bitter about what has happened to his city. For the most part, when he passes the half-finished eyesores and fully finished absurdities that dot the landscape, he points and gives a hearty laugh that comes from his West Texas belly.
Fielden spent years, decades really, as a Cassandra and an iconoclast, warning that the boom was not sustainable and would end in disaster. He was largely correct. And yet, he still loves his city. "I wouldn't trade it for anyplace in the world," he says.
Senate passes food safety bill and sends to House after fixing constitutional snafu
By Mary Clare Jalonick - LATimes.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate on Sunday passed a sweeping bill to make food safer, sending it to the House in the waning days of Congress.
It was the second time the Senate passed the bill, which would give the government broad new powers to increase inspections of food processing facilities and force companies to recall tainted food. The chamber passed the bill for the first time three weeks ago, but it was caught in a constitutional snag when senators mistakenly included tax provisions that are by law supposed to originate in the House.
The FCC's Threat to Internet Freedom 'Net neutrality' sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation and create a billable-hours bonanza for lawyers.
By ROBERT M. MCDOWELL - WSJ.com
Tomorrow morning the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will mark the winter solstice by taking an unprecedented step to expand government's reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling.
How did the FCC get here?
For years, proponents of so-called "net neutrality" have been calling for strong regulation of broadband "on-ramps" to the Internet, like those provided by your local cable or phone companies. Rules are needed, the argument goes, to ensure that the Internet remains open and free, and to discourage broadband providers from thwarting consumer demand. That sounds good if you say it fast.
US readies new sanctions ahead of talks
By Barbara Slavin - Asia Times
WASHINGTON - The Barack Obama administration is preparing a new batch of sanctions against Iran to be announced next week in advance of nuclear talks in Turkey.
Two Iran experts in Washington who are usually well briefed about US Iran policy said more Iranian officials would be designated as abusers of human rights on top of eight sanctioned earlier this year. That would deny them the right to travel to the US and freeze any assets they might hold in this country.
The value of a nuclear Iran
By Chan Akya - Asia Times
Ever since the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran last week after the country refused to stop enriching uranium, concerns have mounted over the possibility of a nuclear-type conflict in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel, Iran and perhaps a host of Arab countries including Saudi Arabia.
Whilst the descent towards war may well prove inevitable over the course of 2011, this article explores the strategic necessities of the other side of the equation; namely the question of just how bad a nuclear-armed Iran would be in what is considered the most volatile neighborhood in the world.
South Korea edges closer to live-fire drills as U.N. council holds emergency meeting
By Chico Harlan - Washington Post
SEOUL - South Korea plans to conduct its live-fire drills on Yeonpyeong Island on Monday, despite North Korean threats of retaliation and mounting international efforts to prevent an intra-peninsular showdown.
South Korean military officials on Sunday reiterated their intention to hold the drills, setting up a potential crisis that the U.N. Security Council was unable to resolve during a closed-door emergency meeting that lasted more than eight hours Sunday evening. North Korea has said that if Seoul goes ahead with the artillery drills on Yeonpyeong Island - seven miles from the North Korean coast - it will lead to "catastrophe."
South Korea to Push Ahead With Drills as UN Wrangles
By Seonjin Cha and Peter S. Green
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea said it will proceed with a live-firing drill that has prompted North Korean threats of retaliation as the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on steps to ease tension on the peninsula.
Artillery positions on Yeonpyeong Island, which was shelled by the North last month, will begin a two-hour exercise this afternoon once fog clears, said a defense ministry official who declined to be named, citing government policy. South Korean stocks and the won fell the most in three weeks.
A three-handed approach to Pyongyang
By Sung-Yoon Lee - Asia Times
The United States has called on its two allies in Northeast Asia for a trilateral response to North Korea's November 23 shelling of South Korea. Last week, top diplomats of the US, South Korea and Japan huddled together in Washington and pronounced "solidarity" among themselves and promised "consequences" for North Korea in the event of further provocations.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, on a visit to Seoul and Tokyo, even called for "trilateral action", meaning combined military exercises among the three nations.
Congress Passes Tax Deal Divided Legislature Adopts Sweeping Measure to Avert Increases,
Add New Breaks
By JANET HOOK and JOHN MCKINNON - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - Congress passed the most far-reaching tax bill in a decade late Thursday, averting across-the-board tax increases, enacting new breaks for individuals and businesses and laying a marker for how Washington might work in an era of divided government.
The bill goes to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature after the House overcame persistent liberal opposition and passed it with an unexpectedly large bipartisan majority of 277-148. The measure passed the Senate earlier in the week also with an overwhelming majority.
The bill reaches deeply into the life and economy of the U.S., more so than might have been expected when Congress first started tackling the matter. Wage-earners will get a new payroll tax break; wealthy heirs get a lower estate-tax rate; and businesses gain an unexpected plum - a big tax write-off for new equipment purchases.
DHS Implementing No Work List: Citizens Must Get Government Approval to Work in Private Sector Jobs
Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
You've heard of no fly and no buy lists - get ready for no work lists. Millions of workers now must apply to the DHS and prove they are not terrorists in order to be granted permission by the government to work.
On the Alex Jones Show today, a caller pointed to information posted on a union website for ironworkers spelling out details on the Department of Homeland Security's TWIC and SWAC programs.
TWIC is short for Transportation Worker Identification Credential and SWAC stands for Secure Worker Access Consortium.
TWIC "is a biometric credential that ensures only vetted workers are eligible to enter a secure construction site, unescorted," Ironworkers Local 361 in Ozone Park, New York, explains. "Before issuing a TWIC, TSA must conduct a security threat assessment on the TWIC applicant. An applicant who, as a result of the assessment, is determined to not pose a security threat, will be issued a TWIC card.
U.S. Economic Austerity May Result in Unrest on America's Streets
By: Danny Schechter - MarketOracle.co.uk
William Shakespeare put a key question this way; "To Be Or Not To Be?" Today's economists and policy makers pose a different choice: to spend or not to spend.
Governments throughout the west are in a panic as debt mounts and economies contract.
Their solution is cut, cut, cut, in the name of a doctrine called austerity. They are slashing budgets, trimming public payrolls and arguing fatalistically in the spirit of Margaret Thatcher's philosophy, "There Is No alternative." (TINA.)
Austerity is the other name for it, Confronting massive deficits fearful of losing investor confidence. European governments are pulverizing budgets and shutting down public services. The plan by England's new Tory government is considered among the most painful, if not draconian. It is justified as absolutely necessary.
Tipping Point: 25 Signs That The Coming Financial Collapse Is Now Closer Then Ever
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The financial collapse that so many of us have been anticipating is seemingly closer then ever. Over the past several weeks, there have been a host of ominous signs for the U.S. economy. Yields on U.S. Treasuries have moved up rapidly and Moody's is publicly warning that it may have to cut the rating on U.S. government debt soon. Mortgage rates are also moving up aggressively. The euro and the U.S. dollar both look incredibly shaky. Jobs continue to be shipped out of the United States at a blistering pace as our politicians stand by and do nothing. Confidence in U.S. government debt around the globe continues to decline. State and local governments that are drowning in debt across the United States are savagely cutting back on even essential social services and are coming up with increasingly "creative" ways of getting more money out of all of us. Meanwhile, tremor after tremor continues to strike the world financial system. So does this mean that we have almost reached a tipping point? Is the world on the verge of a major financial collapse?
Changing America
By Walter E. Williams - TownHall.com
Dr. Thomas Sowell, in "Dismantling America," said in reference to President Obama, "That such an administration could be elected in the first place, headed by a man whose only qualifications to be president of the United States at a dangerous time in the history of the world were rhetoric, style and symbolism -- and whose animus against the values and institutions of America had been demonstrated repeatedly over a period of decades beforehand -- speaks volumes about the inadequacies of our educational system and the degeneration of our culture." Obama is by no means unique; his characteristics are shared by other Americans, but what is unique is that no other time in our history would such a person been elected president. That says a lot about the degeneration of our culture, values, thinking abilities and acceptance of what's no less than tyranny. As Sowell says, "Barack Obama is unlike any other President of the United States in having come from a background of decades of associations and alliances with people who resent this country and its people." In 2008, Americans voted for Obama's change. Let's look at some of it.
Tolerating Deception for the Sake of Economic Growth
By Eric Fry - The DailyReckoning.com
12/16/10 Laguna Beach, California - During the height of the credit crisis of 2008-9, the Federal Reserve and Treasury launched so many different lending programs and bailout facilities that it was hard to keep track of them all.
Each program or facility used a distinct acronym to represent its particular portion of Bernanke's Bailout Buffet. Thus, for example, the Commercial Paper Funding Facility became simply the "CPFF." But the Fed also served up bailout facilities known as the TARP, TOP, TAF, TSLF, TALF, PDCF, AMBSPP, etc.
At the end of the day, this "alphabet soup" of lending programs contained distinctions without a difference. On the receiving side of every acronym you would find a Wall Street banker with a hat in his hand. For ease of accounting, the Fed could have simply merged all the programs together into one giant WSBBF (Wall Street Banker Bailout Facility). But politics prevented that option.
Angry Reid pulls $1.1T omnibus spending bill Senate Republicans claim win
By Stephen Dinan and Kara Rowland - The Washington Times
Senate Democrats conceded defeat Thursday and pulled their $1.1 trillion spending bill loaded with earmarks from the chamber floor, stymied by Republicans who unified to block the massive bill in the final days of a contentious session of Congress.
Angered at what happened, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said nine Republicans, who had earlier promised to vote for the bill, had withdrawn their support in the last 24 hours. And he berated fellow lawmakers for ceding spending authority to the executive branch.
Oink, oink Hasn't Congress done enough damage already?
by Nolan Finley - DetroitNews
Never has the disconnect between Congress and the American people been more apparent than during the current lame-duck session.
The Democratic leadership, whose fiscal recklessness was repudiated by voters on Election Day, is attempting to use the final days of this session to force through the remains of their big spending agenda.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, who had to spend more than $100 million of special interest money to fight off a challenge from a weak opponent, is behaving as if he has a mandate to keep on spending.
At the moment, he's trying to get passed a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that is larded up with pork from senators of both parties.
What part of the message sent on Nov. 2 did these folks not get?
The 111th Congress's Final Insult Bluto Blutarsky must have been an Appropriator.
Opinion - WSJ.com
The 111th Congress began with an $814 billion stimulus that blew out the federal balance sheet, so we suppose it's only fitting that the Members want to exit by passing a 1,924-page, $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill. The worst Congress in modern history is true to its essence to the bitter end.
Think of this as a political version of the final scene in "Animal House," when the boys from the Delta frat react to their expulsion by busting up the local town parade for the sheer mayhem of it. Bluto Blutarsky (John Belushi) did go on to be a U.S. Senator in the film, and a man of his vision must have earned a seat on Appropriations.
The Unwavering and Inimitable Ron Paul
By Bill Bonner - TheDailyReckoning.com
12/16/10 Baltimore, Maryland - Hey, our old friend Ron Paul is in the news. The New York Times carried an article about him. Astonishingly, it wasn't negative. Yes, it mentioned that Ron was regarded as a "crank." But in context, that didn't seem so bad.
"I was with Ron just last week," said colleague Addison Wiggin. "He was just coming up for the chairmanship of the House subcommittee that oversees the Fed. He said he thought he had a 'snowball's chance in Hell'of getting the post.
"The last time he was in line for it, the Republican hierarchy blocked him. But that was then. This is now."
A few years ago, everyone hated Ron. The left hated him because he wanted to withdraw funding for its pet projects. The right hated him because he wanted to rein in the US military.
Bankers Secret Meeting to Control the World?
By: PhilStockWorld - MarketOracle.co.uk
Revisiting the massive global oil scam... Last year, Phil calculated that this $2.5 Trillion dollar operation was 50 times the size of the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme. "It's a number so large that, to put it in perspective, we will now begin measuring the damage done to the global economy in "Madoff Units" ($50Bn rip-offs). That's right - $2.5Tn is 50 TIMES the amount of money that Bernie Madoff scammed from investors in his lifetime, yet it is also LESS than the MONTHLY EXCESS price the global population has to pay for a barrel of oil..."
WikiLeaks will increase government transparency
By VALENTINA POP
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The WikiLeaks disclosure of US diplomatic cables highlights the need to secure networks and individuals from hackers, EU digital agenda commissioner Neelie Kroes has said.
At the same time, the phenomenon stresses the need for governments to be "as transparent and open as possible," which entails the "practical advantage" of reducing the amount of information that needs to be secured, she declared.
Speaking out almost three weeks after the whistleblower started publishing the leaked US cables, Ms Kroes on Thursday (16 December) during a joint US-EU cybersecurity event in Washington drew the first lessons for the EU from the Wikileaks phenomenon.
***** CENSORED *****
Air Force Blocks New York Times, 25 Other News Sites from Computers
By Noel Brinkerhoff - AllGov.com
Unlike other branches of the military, the U.S. Air Force has decided to block all of its personnel from accessing media websites that published classified documents exposed by WikiLeaks. The Air Force says it is preventing computer users from viewing more than 25 websites, including The New York Times, Britain's Guardian, Spain's El Pais, France's Le Monde and the German magazine Der Spiegel.
Hill wrestles with response to WikiLeaks Data dump is 'offensive,' but is it criminal?
By Joseph Weber - The Washington Times
On the day a London judge released WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on bail in his extradition battle, a top U.S. lawmaker warned against hasty moves to prosecute those who leak and publish classified documents in the wake of the group's mass release of sensitive U.S. government files.
"Many feel that the WikiLeaks publication was offensive," House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat, said Thursday. "But being unpopular is not a crime, and publishing offensive information is not either."
Congress Hears WikiLeaks Is 'Fundamentally Different' From Media
By Kim Zetter - Wired.com
The Justice Department would have no problem distinguishing WikiLeaks from traditional media outlets, if it decides to charge WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with violating the Espionage Act, a former federal prosecutor told lawmakers Thursday.
"By clearly showing how WikiLeaks is fundamentally different, the government should be able to demonstrate that any prosecution here is the exception and is not the sign of a more aggressive prosecution effort against the press," said Kenneth Wainstein (pictured at right), former assistant attorney general on national security, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing about WikiLeaks and the Espionage Act on Thursday.
WikiLeaks copycat site targets EU institutions
By ANDREW RETTMAN
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A self-funded group of former EU officials and NGO, media and PR-sector workers based in Belgium has set up an EU version of WikiLeaks, in what is just one of several copycat sites springing up since Cablegate began.
Brusselsleaks.com, which set up shop on Thursday (9 December), has a homepage on the WordPress blog-hosting service and has invited people to anonymously send in sensitive EU-related documents using an encrypted contact form.
Unlike WikiLeaks, Brussels Leaks will not publishing anything itself but will instead check the documents' authenticity and pass them on to selected media.
Lawmakers and Legal Experts Call For Restraint in Wikileaks Hearing
by Marcia Hofmann - EFF.org
The House Judiciary Committee held a surprisingly subdued hearing this morning on the legal and constitutional issues surrounding Wikileaks' publication activities. Committee members repeatedly emphasized the importance of protecting First Amendment rights and cautioned against overreaction to Wikileaks. The seven legal experts called to testify agreed, almost all of them noting that:
Excessive government secrecy is a serious problem that needs to be fixed,
It's critically important to protect freedom of expression and the press, and
The government should be extremely cautious about pursuing any prosecutions under the Espionage Act or any legislation that would expand that law, which is already poorly written and could easily be applied in ways that would be unconstitutional.
Can Free Speech Be Protected on a Private Internet?
A commentary by Konrad Lischka - Spiegel.de
Does the US constitution protect WikiLeaks? Only courts can decide how far the whistleblowing platform can go. Yet Amazon and others have simply blocked the site, rather than waiting for legal clarification. The companies' cowardice is now threatening Internet freedom.
The disappointment was huge -- the fury even greater.
Why have companies like Amazon and PayPal decided that they didn't want WikiLeaks as a customer? Angry citizens have called for boycotts on online forums, Facebook and Twitter. Many accuse the companies of censorship.
This term is misleading. There is no state censorship at play here. For that a court would have to decide in a concrete case against the freedom of the press. And that has not occurred here -- mainly because the Internet companies did not even take their chances with the legal route.
SPIEGEL WikiLeaks Quiz The Whistleblowers Versus the World
Der Spiegel.de
Over the past few weeks the world was watching as online platform WikiLeaks released a slew of damaging and sensitive US diplomatic cables. The only question now is: Were you? Test your newfound knowledge from behind the diplomatic scenes with this special SPIEGEL ONLINE quiz.
Germany defiant as Europe suffers Germany has refused to give any ground on Europe's rescue machinery despite the escalating political and economic crisis across much of the eurozone periphery, guaranteeing a bitter clash with EU partners at a crucial summit in Brussels on Thursday.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged that no euro member would be "left on their own", but dug in her heels against the creation of eurobonds and demands to boost the EU's €440bn (£372bn) bail-out fund. "We must not make the mistake of thinking that collectivising risk is the answer," she told a stormy session of the Bundestag.
The defiant stand came as Moody's issued a downgrade warning on Spain owing to "high refinancing needs in 2011" and the risk of further bank bail-outs. It said central and regional governments must finance €200bn next year. Spanish lenders have to roll over a further €90bn.
Chinese ambassador: EU servility is 'pathetic'
By ANDREW WILLIS
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Europe's willingness to take directions from other world powers is "pitiful" and "pathetic" China's top man in Brussels has said.
The remarks by Chinese ambassador Song Zhe come as a leaked US diplomatic cable revealed that Washington quickly swung into action earlier this year when the Spanish EU presidency suggested the Union should lift its arms embargo with China.
"This is an action request for all [US] Embassies in EU countries to reiterate our position that the EU should retain its arms embargo on China," said the cable, dated 17 February 2010 and signed "Clinton" referring to secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Ending the Fed From the Bottom Up
William Greene - SilverBearCafe.com
Since its inception, the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policies have led to a decline of over 95% in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. As a result, there have been several attempts to curtail or eliminate the Federal Reserve's powers (for example, the efforts of Rep. Louis T. McFadden in the 1930s; the efforts of Rep. Wright Patman in the 1970s; the efforts of Rep. Henry Gonzalez in the 1990s; and the efforts of Rep. Ron Paul since the 1990s); however, none have proven successful to date, due mainly to the constraints of strong political opposition at the national level.
Buying Gold: Why Are The Chinese Gobbling Up Gold Like There Is No Tomorrow?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Why are the Chinese buying so much gold? In 2010 it has been demand out of China that has been one of the primary factors for the dramatic rise in the price of gold. Gold is up approximately 26 percent this year, and most analysts expect it to go even higher in 2011. So is China buying gold at a breathtaking pace because they view it as a good investment, or are there other factors at work here? Do the Chinese view gold as a hedge against inflation? Is China seeking to get out of U.S. Treasuries? Has gold simply become much more attractive than paper currencies such as the euro and the U.S. dollar? Or could China be preparing for the coming financial collapse that so many economists see coming? It is always difficult to tell exactly what China is up to, but one thing is for sure - they are buying gold like there is no tomorrow.
#1 Reason to Buy Gold: The Politicians
By Robert Hamburger
George Bernard Shaw said, "You have to choose between trusting to the natural stability of gold and the natural stability of the honesty and intelligence of the members of the Government. And, with due respect for these gentlemen, I advise you, as long as the Capitalist system lasts, to vote for gold."
I first started accumulating gold in 1993. The price was $330 an ounce. By 2001, when George Bush took office, the price had dipped to $280. Just as his father and Ronald Reagan had presided over ever larger deficits while championing smaller government and reducing deficits, I sensed more Republican recklessness coming and I began to voice my pro-gold opinion even louder. During the Bush years our budget-signer-in-chief nearly doubled the national debt by spending $4.9 trillion more than we took in.
Gold edges up on weak dollar, bargain buying
SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Gold advanced Friday ending three days weak finish as the dollar dropped against a basket of currencies.
Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1376.38 an ounce at 12.00 noon Singapore time while Futures for February delivery rose 0.5 percent to $1,377.01 an ounce on the Comex in New York.
Bargain buying by investors also helped the precious metal along with uncertainties in Europe's fiscal health, analysts said.
The dollar lost nearly half a percent against a basket of currencies after oversold U.S. Treasuries gained a bit of ground, while the euro showed some resilience after bouncing off trading-range support.
Are the central banks running a fractional gold system?
FinanceAndEconomics.org
This thought is prompted by a forensic study of the Bank for International Settlements' records and accounting procedures with respect to its dealings in gold, which was presented by Robert Lambourne to the Gold Symposium in Sydney on 9th November. The link to his report is here. Lambourne points out that the BIS was founded in 1930, when settlements between central banks routinely involved gold, and the primary function of the BIS was to facilitate these settlements without the physical transfer of bullion. This involved gold accounts being maintained at the BIS for gold owned by central banks, with other central banks at the main depository centres. Lambourne cites the example of the pre-war German Reichsbank, which held gold through the BIS in Amsterdam, Berne, Brussels, London and Paris.
No end to gold bull run in 2011
LONDON (Commodity Online): Even as 2010 coming to an end, investors across the globe are worried over what is in store for gold in the coming year.
According to reports, neo rich Chinese families and Indian rural folk helped gold set new records in 2010.
The uncertainty prevalent in global economies also helped gold gain safe haven status. However, analysts predict that in the coming year, gold will continue its bull run in the first half.
But, the second half of the year is harder to predict, with one potential setback coming in the form of surging interest rates in Europe and the US. Much higher interest rates would push investors away from gold, which bears no interest, pays no dividend and thus carries an opportunity cost.
Jim Rogers: Silver to hit $50
LONDON (Commodity Online): Global commodities guru Jim Rogers, who has predicted that gold price will eventually shoot up to surpass the $2,000 per ton mark, says silver price is also set to go to a record of $50 or higher.
In an interview to Alex Steel of TheStreet.com, Rogers, who is an authority on investment in global commodities market, said that silver prices, like gold, are certainly going up, driven by the boom in almost all commodities across the world.
Rogers, who is a well known commodities bull, and who wrote the famous books like Hot Commodities and A Bull in China, said that "gold will be $2,000 certainly in the decade, it'll probably be much higher than $2,000 in the decade but maybe even sooner I don't know."
Gold investment thrives in Chinese households
BEIJING (Commodity Online): The lure for the yellow metal continues to grip Chinese households. The number of households that are buying gold across China is steadily going up.
China's craze for gold is surprising many people these days. Some years back, people in China were not allowed to own much gold, thanks to the strict economic rules that the communist China had stipulated. China still remains a one-part communist country; but these days, the Chinese government allows its citizens to buy and possess as much gold as they like.
John Williams - Massive Selling of US Currency Lies Ahead
KingWorldNews.com
Despite November 9th's historic high gold price of $1,421.00 per troy ounce (London afternoon fix) and the multi-decade high silver price of $30.50 per troy ounce (London fix) on December 7th, gold and silver prices have yet to approach their historic high levels, adjusted for inflation.
The earlier all-time high of $850.00 of January 21, 1980 would be $2,391 per troy ounce, based on November 2010 CPI-U-adjusted dollars, and would be $7,840 per troy ounce in terms of SGS-Alternate-CPI-adjusted dollars.
Reality of the great silver squeeze
Keerthik Sasidharan - SilverBearCafe.com
Commodity price manipulation is one of the oldest tricks in the financial markets to enrich oneself.
Honore de Balzac, the French novelist of the 19th century, supposedly said, "behind every great fortune is a crime".
Whether it is a crime or not, commodity price manipulation is one of the oldest tricks in the financial markets to enrich oneself. In the past, it was an act of information arbitrage. Prior to a demand spike, due to whatever structural or transitory influence, one enters into contracts that guarantee delivery of an underlying commodity. As the demand increase manifests, the rest of the economy pays a premium to purchase the commodity. Today, things are murkier.
Safe sales soar as worried bank customers keep money at home
By Michael Brennan Deputy Political Editor - [UK] Independent.ie
SAFE sales are soaring as more and more worried bank customers stash their cash at home.
AIB said last month that the amount of money on deposit at the bank has fallen by €13bn since the start of the year -- although it blamed most of the reduction on withdrawals by companies and financial institutions.
Another reason for the increased use of home security safes is a growing fear of burglaries because of the recession.
The AllSafes.ie company, one of the largest suppliers in the country, said its sales of home safes had increased by 80pc over the past three months compared with the same period last year.
Peter Schiff: Rising Rates Do Not Signal US Recovery
By: Lee Brodie - CNBC.com
Few traders have such a strong point of view on the markets as Peter Schiff of Euro Pacific Capital. How's he positioning for 2011?
We know that Schiff is a tad dramatic - some would say alarmist - but his forecasts are not without merit.
In late 2006, Schiff predicted the housing bubble and resulting subprime mortgage crisis and in late 2008, he predicted the automotive industry crisis and the crisis in the banking and financial markets.
And whether you find his calls prescient or fear-mongering, there's always value in learning what bears like Schiff expect and how they're positioning.
Here are three themes Schiff tells us should be on your radar.
Higher interest rates loom for the US and UK
The reason the Bank of Enland is turning a blind eye to its own mistakes is that it knows the economy is not yet ready for higher rates.
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Last week, Ron Paul, the outspoken Texas Congressman who penned the best-selling book End the Fed and is sometimes referred to as "the intellectual godfather of the Tea Party movement", was appointed by his fellow Republicans to head the House financial services subcommittee that scrutinises US monetary policy.
I've been trying to think of what the UK equivalent of this appointment might be, and the best I can come up with would be the spectacle of Danny Blanchflower, the disaffected former Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member who has repeatedly called for Mervyn King's resignation, being nominated as chairman of the Commons Treasury Select Committee.
Wells Fargo becomes biggest U.S. bank
Bloomberg News - LATimes.com
Wells Fargo & Co., the San Francisco lender that doubled its size by buying Wachovia Corp. during the credit crisis, passed JPMorgan Chase & Co. to become the largest U.S. bank by stock market value.
Wells Fargo's market capitalization rose to $157.6 billion at Thursday's close of New York trading, surpassing JPMorgan's $156.4 billion. Wells Fargo is ranked fourth by assets and deposits, while JPMorgan is second behind Bank of America Corp., and New York-based Citigroup Inc. is third.
Get your act together or risk losing US ally, EU foreign policy chief tells leaders US will turn its back on transatlantic relationship unless EU develops coherent foreign policy, Catherine Ashton warns
Ian Traynor in Brussels - guardian.co.uk
European leaders are to be warned tomorrow morning that America will turn its back on the transatlantic relationship and look elsewhere for key allies unless the EU gets its act together and develops a coherent foreign policy.
Addressing EU leaders at a Brussels summit tomorrow on the EU's "strategic partnership" with the US, Catherine Ashton, the EU foreign policy representative, will also stress that the EU has to enhance its attractiveness to the Americans by building stronger relationships with Russia, China, Japan, Brazil and Africa.
Banks Push Fed to Curb Borrowers' Right to Rescind Mortgages
By Carter Dougherty
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Mortgage firms are pressing the Federal Reserve to curb homeowners' right to invalidate loans based on flawed documents -- a right consumer groups say is one of the few weapons borrowers have to battle unfair lending.
Consumer groups and industry lawyers say a rule under consideration by the central bank would make it harder for borrowers to exercise their right of "rescission," which forces a lender to relinquish a lien on a mortgaged property. They said the number of rescissions has grown in recent years as a result of the foreclosure crisis and allegations that mortgage documents were fabricated or processed improperly.
GOP omits 'derivatives' from crisis report
Republicans say Fannie contributed to crisis by encouraging risky loans
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Republicans omitted the words "derivatives" and "deregulation" from their report released Wednesday on the cause of the financial crisis that shook the economy to the brink in 2008.
Instead, the report, released by GOP members of a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, concentrates much of its 13 pages on how mortgage refinance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as public companies, contributed to the crisis by investing in and guaranteeing mortgages of "increasingly lower quality and higher risk to the taxpayer." It also argues that mortgage-related losses at big banks that were undercapitalized all led to a financial panic. Read the report.
U.S. Companies Hoarding $1.93 Trillion in Cash
By: Money Morning - MarketOracle.co.uk
Don Miller writes: U.S. corporations are piling up cash at the fastest rate in half a century. But instead of signaling a new wave of spending, that cash pile may mean tough times ahead.
Non-financial companies in the United States had stacked up $1.93 trillion in cash and other liquid assets at the end of September, up from $1.8 trillion at the end of June, the U.S. Federal Reserve said Thursday. Cash made up 7.4% of the companies' total assets -the largest chunk since 1959.
But capital spending and plans to hire new workers remain subdued, showing the deep concern companies harbor about a painfully slow economic recovery that has failed to put a dent in high unemployment and reignite consumer spending.
The Inverse U.S. Dollar Relationship, SPX and Fear
By: Chris Vermeulen
So far this week we have been seeing fear creep in the equities market. This Wednesday we started to see fear (green indicator) reach a level which tells me to start looking for the market to bottoming. I do follow a few other charts and indicators which warn me of a possible trend reversal (high probability setup) before it takes place but the US Dollar and selling volume are key.
As we all know, when the market is trying to top and roll over it tends to be more of a process than a couple day event. It's this lengthy topping process which has a lot of choppy price action which sucks traders into a position much to early or shakes you out of the position before the market does what you anticipated.
Congress passes extension of Bush-era tax cuts
By Lori Montgomery and Shailagh Murray - WashingtonPost.com
Congress approved the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade late Thursday, overcoming liberal resistance to continue for two more years tax breaks enacted under President George W. Bush and to provide a fresh boost of federal support to the tepid economic recovery.
The package, brokered by President Obama and Republican leaders in the wake of the November elections, angered many Democrats, who have long argued that the Bush tax cuts were skewed to benefit the wealthy. But their last-minute campaign to scale back the bill's benefits for taxpayers at the highest income levels failed, and the House passed the measure 277 to 148, with 112 Democrats and 36 Republicans voting "no."
The Reality of the Tax Deal
Mises Daily: by Robert P. Murphy
Economists and other pundits have been discussing the deal struck between Obama and the Republicans. It is an interesting topic because it showcases the enormous gulf between what makes good political sense and what policies are economically beneficial. Paging Orwell: Baseline Budgeting
Perhaps the single biggest oddity in this affair has been the popular reference to it as a "tax cut deal." Now it's true, under this proposal the federal payroll tax rate on workers' incomes (to fund Social Security "contributions") will be lower in January than it was in December.
The Economic Reality of the Obama Republican Tax Deal
By: Robert Murphy - MarketOracle.co.uk
Economists and other pundits have been discussing the deal struck between Obama and the Republicans. It is an interesting topic because it showcases the enormous gulf between what makes good political sense and what policies are economically beneficial.
Paging Orwell: Baseline Budgeting
Perhaps the single biggest oddity in this affair has been the popular reference to it as a "tax cut deal." Now it's true, under this proposal the federal payroll tax rate on workers' incomes (to fund Social Security "contributions") will be lower in January than it was in December.
Income Inequality on Course to Hit Record Levels Thanks to Tax Compromise -- By PETER COHAN - DailyFinance.com
With a tax bill tilted to benefit the wealthiest Americans poised to pass Congress this week, U.S. income inequality will exceed the records set in the months preceding the crash of 1929 and the financial crisis of 2007. One key to that shift -- a tax code modification that will enable people with larges estates pass them on to their heirs at the lowest tax rates in decades.
Income inequality is already extreme even within the highest level of incomes. According to The American Interest, in 2004, the top 25 hedge fund managers combined to earn more than all of the CEOs from the entire S&P 500. In short, America is becoming a country where a handful of people get extremely wealthy, while the other 99% tread water at best.
Government Arguing That Health Insurance Premiums Are Really Taxes?
By Megan McArdle - TheAtlantic.com
he arguments on the health care mandate in Florida went forward today, with the government trying to clarify how the mandate is a tax, (though not in a way that would mean Barack Obama lied about raising taxes on people with incomes below $250,000 a year), and not an attempt to grossly exceed the enumerated powers of the legislature. This led to a rather novel formulation of what, exactly, the mandate is for, as chronicled by the Official Asymmetrical Information Spouse:
Judge Leery of Health Mandate
By JANET ADAMY - WSJ.com
PENSACOLA, Fla. - A federal judge in a 20-state lawsuit against the Obama administration's health overhaul signaled Thursday he is sympathetic to the plaintiffs' argument that requiring Americans to carry health insurance violates the Constitution.
But Judge Roger Vinson seemed skeptical of the second plank of the states' suit: that the law forces states into a costly expansion of their Medicaid insurance programs for the poor.
The hearing in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida came three days after a Virginia federal judge in a similar case struck down the law's requirement that most Americans carry insurance or pay a fee. Judge Vinson gave little indication that ruling would play into his decision.
Will National Health Care Improve Our Economic Health?
By Megan McArdle - TheAtlantic.com
During the latter half of the debate over the health care bill, you started to hear an intriguing argument about the effects of the bill. Where conservatives claimed that it would stifle the economy, liberals countered that in fact, it would unleash the entrepreneurial power of people "locked into" their jobs by fear of losing their health coverage. David Leonhardt rehearses this argument in his most recent column:
It's easy to look at the current debate and see an unavoidable trade-off between this country's two economic traditions -- risk-taking and security. But I don't think that's quite right. I think it is ultimately as misplaced as those worries about Social Security and Medicare equaling Bolshevism.
Guaranteeing people a decent retirement and decent health care does more than smooth out the rough edges of capitalism. Those guarantees give people the freedom to take risks.
Second City Showdown Over Pensions
By ALLYSIA FINLEY - WSJ.com
A political civil war may soon break out in Illinois, pitting Democrats against their labor supporters and Chicago politicians against state lawmakers.
At the heart of the feud is a bill supported by Democratic Governor Pat Quinn and the state legislature that would force municipalities to increase their contributions toward police and firefighter pensions. If municipalities refuse, the bill would allow the state to withhold sales and income tax revenues from them.
Desperation Sets In: More Than 100,000 People Apply For Low Paying Flight Attendant Positions With Delta Air Lines
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
All across America, job seekers are becoming increasingly desperate. Today, unemployed Americans often find themselves competing against hundreds or even thousands of other job applicants for the same position. An absolutely stunning example of this happened recently when more than 100,000 people applied for just 1,000 open flight attendant positions with Delta Air Lines. The starting salary for these positions is only "in the upper $20,000s", and serving peanuts and sodas to cranky passengers can get really old really fast. But this just shows how desperate people are becoming. For many unemployed Americans, any job is a good job at this point. Right now there are approximately 5 unemployed Americans for every single job opening, and 6 million Americans have been out of work for 6 months or longer. When you get that many unemployed people fighting over so few positions the desperation in the air becomes almost palpable.
Cap and Trade - A Future Train Wreck
Written by Bruce Krasting - OilPrice.com
What to do with carbon based emissions? I have no clue. I'm not sure Congress does either. They will be more confused than ever after reading a recent CBO report on the topic.
In theory, the Cap&Trade approach is simple. A market will be formed. There are two classes of participants. Those that produce carbon based emissions, and those that don't. The government will intervene and provide a floor price (a cost to produce carbon based energy). The government will also provide a ceiling (to insure that the cost of this is not too expensive). Finally, the government will provide "allowances" to certain green participants. Those allowances can be sold for cash in the 'market'.
Lindsey Williams: Crude Oil Price Targeted for $150-200 per Barrel
By Ron Larsen - Infowars.com
During his hour-long radio interview on the Alex Jones show today, broadcast over GCNLive.com, longtime Alaska oil reserves expert Lindsey Williams told Alex that he'd learned recently from two of this longtime friends, both retired top executives of major oil producers, that the price of crude oil, now rising again, is slated to move to $150-200 per barrel soon. According to Williams, the equivalent price of gasoline at the pump should range then between $4-5 per gallon. In fact, the price for drivers in California is about four dollars already, he said.
Fake-Out Thursday - Oil Scam Continues Unabated
Phil Davis - SilverBearCafe.com What a joke the oil market is!
First of all, the NYMEX contracts for January delivery close on Tuesday and there are still 132,168 open contracts or 1,000 barrels each (132M) scheduled for delivery to Cushing, Okla., a facility that can handle at most 45Mb of crude and is, at the moment, full. The price of those barrels surged from $86.82 all the way back to our shorting target of $89 yesterday, where we once again had a nice ride down. Now, in pre markets, it is back over $89 again and we'll short it again so I'm not complaining about the action, but I am upset that this blatant rip-off of the American consumer can go on right under our "leadership's" noses.
Lifetime Job Guarantees Make a Comeback in Germany: Could U.S. Firms Follow Suit?
By DAWN KAWAMOTO - DailyFinance.com
With unemployment in the U.S. at a steep 9.8%, the notion of lifetime job security may be alluring enough to make some folks want to pull up stakes and head overseas. Germany is currently facing a resurgence in companies offering employment for life, and in Japan, companies are still offering job guarantees to roughly 20% of workers.
But don't dust off your passport just yet: Some U.S. companies are offering shades of that guaranteed lifetime employment philosophy. For example, early this year, business analytics software company SAS trumpeted its promise to avoid layoffs in 2010 -- similar to one it made to workers in 2009, despite the recession.
Unemployment Extension Won't Help 99ers
By Phil Izzo - WSJ.com
The extension for unemployment benefits that is part of the compromise tax deal is good news for many of the unemployed, but it won't provide aid to anyone who's been out of a job over 99 weeks.
As we've explained previously, the extension worked out by President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans only lets unemployed workers continue to draw benefits for up to 99 weeks, it doesn't extend the duration of the program beyond that point. Those who have exhausted all currently available benefits - so-called 99ers - won't be granted an extension.
That's a concern because the number of 99ers may be increasing.
Commerce report calls for online privacy bill of rights
By Joelle Tessler - Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Commerce Department is calling for the creation of a "privacy bill of rights" for Internet users. It would set rules of the road for companies that collect consumer data online and use that information for marketing and other purposes.
The proposal, outlined in a Commerce Department report Thursday, is intended to address growing unease about the vast amounts of personal information that companies are scooping up on the Net - from Web browsing habits to smart phone locations to Facebook preferences. That data is often mined to target advertising.
TSA Lies Again Over Capture, Storage Of Body Scanner Images
Steve Watson - Infowars.com
The TSA has once again denied that the crisp naked images produced by x-ray imaging machines can be captured and stored, a claim already shown to be false by documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.
In response to reports that former "Baywatch" star Donna D'Errico's body scan image may be leaked into the public domain, a TSA spokesman told AOL News that it would be impossible:
"The scanners that we use are not equipped to save the images," Nico Melendez insisted.
"There are similar scanners used by the U.S. Marshals' office, but not the TSA." Melendez added.
This claim has been repeated several times by TSA officials, as well as by Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano.
Breaking News on EFF Victory: Appeals Court Holds that Email Privacy Protected by Fourth Amendment -- by Kevin Bankston - EFF.org
In a landmark decision issued today in the criminal appeal of U.S. v. Warshak, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the government must have a search warrant before it can secretly seize and search emails stored by email service providers. Closely tracking arguments made by EFF in its amicus brief, the court found that email users have the same reasonable expectation of privacy in their stored email as they do in their phone calls and postal mail.
EFF filed a similar amicus brief with the 6th Circuit in 2006 in a civil suit brought by criminal defendant Warshak against the government for its warrantless seizure of his emails. There, the 6th Circuit agreed with EFF that email users have a Fourth Amendment-protected expectation of privacy in the email they store with their email providers, though that decision was later vacated on procedural grounds. Warshak's appeal of his criminal conviction has brought the issue back to the Sixth Circuit, and once again the court has agreed with EFF and held that email users have a Fourth Amendment-protected reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of their email accounts.
U.S. Court Rules Warrants Needed to Spy on Emails
By Noel Brinkerhoff - AllGov.com
If the government wants to see your emails stored by an Internet service provider, they first will have to get a warrant. The government used to skip getting a warrant, based on a 1986 law, the Stored Communications Act, granting such power. But a ruling on December 14 by a federal appeals court has nullified the 1986 statute and federal attorneys now will have to seek out a judge and demonstrate probable cause before obtaining a warrant for email searches.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walks free from prison Julian Assange walks free from the High Court and tells media he will "continue my work and continue to protest my innocence."
Telegraph.co.uk
Speaking on the steps of the High Court to dozens of journalists, Mr Assange said: "It's great to feel the fresh air of London again."
He went on to thank "all the people around the world who had faith" in him, his lawyers for putting up a "brave and ultimately successful fight", members of the press and the British justice system.
"If justice is not always an outcome, at least it is not dead yet," he added.
Mr Assange had spent the past eight nights in prison. He told the press he had been kept in solitary confinement in the depths of a Victorian prison.
US lawyers explore extradition routes for Julian Assange US justice department has still not approached British government as lawyers struggle to mount prosecution
Ewen MacAskill in Washington - guardian.co.uk
A US congressional committee took evidence from a variety of lawyers about the possibility of bringing a prosecution against Julian Assange under the Espionage Act, as well as the legal and constitutional issues raised by the Wiki-Leaks revelations. The hearing was in front of the house judiciary committee.
There is a consensus growing among US constitutional lawyers and others, while rehearsing all the problems attached to bringing a prosecution, that Assange will be indicted. But they doubt the chances of obtaining his extradition from Britain, and they think it will be harder still should he be sent to Sweden.
Wikileaks and America's Damaged Diplomatic Machinery Historian's viewpoint and perspective
Written by Ken Weisbrode - OilPrice.com
.... It is too early to know, of course. What do know is that political theft and leakage are not new. The scale of the WikiLeaks is the largest in recent memory, but the act is a familiar one. Anyone who writes an official memorandum has this in the back of the mind, while historians know that the significance of any document is inseparable - indeed, almost always wholly derivative of - the context in which it was written.
In previous cases of mass leakage - such as the Bolsheviks' exposure of the secret World War I treaties and the Pentagon Papers - the agenda of the leakers figured prominently in the foreground. The purveyors of WikiLeaks have stated theirs to be the cause of truth and transparency. That is diplomatic, to put it mildly. The full truth shall be known only when the identities of the leakers and the custody chain of the leaks are uncovered for all to see. That day, alas, may never come.
Hell hath no fury like an empire mocked
By Pepe Escobar - Asia Times.com
.... Realists already expect fresh imperial, "anti-terrorist" legislation. It doesn't matter that former Central Intelligence Agency analyst Ray McGovern has stressed a key point to CNN: Pentagon head Robert Gates said the WikiLeaks cables do not put American lives in danger (these reports are "greatly overwrought", said Gates). The North Atlantic Treaty Organization also said: "no sources have been compromised". Even AfPak supremo General David "I'm always positioning myself to 2012" Petraeus said the same thing. But that should not be enough to appease the power elite establishment, with its slimy coterie of sycophants, ideological gangsters and assorted parasites, all frothing at the mouth and eager to take out Assange.
They lost control, again
Make no mistake on what the real "new world order" is all about: the battlefield reads like a resistance movement to the appropriation of information technology by the power elites. The eagerness to silence if not take out Assange by all means necessary reveals the true face of the emperor: I shall have undisputed, indivisible control over any technology.
Tehran downplays Arab Wiki-dness
By Amin Mehrpour - AsiaTimes
TEHRAN - WikiLeaks documents indicating that Arab leaders urged the United States to launch a pre-emptive military strike on Iran have drawn a distinctly muted reaction from Tehran.
Mindful of the importance of relations with their Arab neighbors, officials including President Mahmud Ahmadinejad have avoided public recriminations. Instead, they have deflected attention away from the awkward subjects raised in the WikiLeaks documents by suggesting their release was a deliberate attempt to sow misinformation.
Obama adopts U.N. manifesto on rights of indigenous peoples
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times
President Obama announced Thursday that the U.S. would reverse the position of the Bush administration and become the last nation to drop its opposition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Mr. Obama made the announcement to enthusiastic applause at the second White House Tribal Nations Conference, a gathering attended by representatives of the nation's 565 recognized American Indian tribes.
Mexico and the Cartel Wars
By: STRATFOR - MarketOracle.co.uk
In our 2010 annual report on Mexico's drug cartels, we assess the most significant developments of the past year and provide an updated description of the dynamics among the country's powerful drug-trafficking organizations, along with an account of the government's effort to combat the cartels and a forecast of the battle in 2011. The annual cartel report is a product of the coverage STRATFOR maintains on a weekly basis through our Mexico Security Memo as well as other analyses we produce throughout the year. In response to customer requests for more and deeper coverage of Mexico, STRATFOR will also introduce a new product in 2011 designed to provide an enhanced level of reporting and analysis.
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline Looks Set to go Ahead -- by Deirdre Tynan - OilPrice.com
Insurgency? What insurgency? Setting aside concerns about Islamic militants, the presidents of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, along with India's petroleum minister, Murli Deora, have signed an inter-governmental agreement pledging to construct a 1,735-kilometer natural gas pipeline connecting all four states.
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline would supply 33 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas a year from the Dauletabad gas fields to Pakistan and India via Afghanistan's volatile southern provinces, according to the semi-official Turkmenistan.ru website. In doing so, Kabul could reap billions of dollars in transit fees.
New START waits as senators bicker over time Democrats insist treaty is urgent
By Sean Lengell - The Washington Times
START has stalled in the Senate.
While senators spent Thursday debating a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia called New START, a tiff over how much more discussion time should be scheduled temporarily froze action on the measure.
Democrats want to act now, saying that ratifying the treaty immediately is a matter of national security. Republicans say not so fast, and are pushing for several days to review and possibly amend the treaty.
Republicans accused Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, of trying to jam the ratification vote through the chamber before the Christmas break while juggling a loaded legislative calendar.
Obama's urgent treaty push called 'contempt of Congress' Analysts fear START doc holds something prez wants concealed
By Joseph Farah - WND.com
Concern is mounting among experts in the arena of international treaties that the Obama administration is forcing U.S. senators to ram through a new strategic arms reduction document with the Russians without fully understanding the implications or its provisions Ð described by critics as unverifiable, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
"(President Barack Obama's) demand that senators approve this defective accord during the few days remaining in the lame-duck session amounts to contempt of Congress," said Frank Gaffney who is president of the Center for Security Policy. "It must not be tolerated, let alone rewarded."
Constitutional Judo
By Giordano Bruno - Neithercorp Press
In all things, there exists a 'point of balance'; a line that, if crossed, results in the sudden and expedient loss of our self-determinism and makes us subservient to the fickle whims of social, political, and physical gravity. We are "thrown" into the air, as it were, and the landing is rarely ever pleasant. The U.S. Constitution and the civil liberties it outlines is itself one of these historic points of balance. Its original purpose was to temper the most epic of grappling matches ever ignited; between the relentless constructs of government, and the individual freedoms of the common man. The ultimate problem inherent in this struggle is one of consistency, vigilance, and labor...
While the concept of the Democratic Republic and the Constitution was meant to remove suffocating class warfare from our political life and free us from the numerous dangers of elitism, invariably, those men who thirst for power over others find a way to insinuate themselves into any system, regardless of checks and balances, especially when the populace does not fulfill its necessary role as watchdog and tireless sentinel. Many Americans often assume that 'the people' derive their power from the Constitution, but the reality is actually reverse; the Constitution, in fact, derives its power from the people.Our duty (which some have forgotten) has always been to protect the rights and liberties inscribed on those pages of parchment. Not just to know those rights, or recite them, but to implement and defend them in our day-to-day existence. Without the constant nurturing cultural pulse of sound minds and courageous hearts, the Constitution dies.
The Reversal of the Trend toward Freedom
Mises Daily: by Ludwig von Mises
From the 17th century on, philosophers in dealing with the essential content of history began to stress the problems of liberty and bondage. Their concepts of both were rather vague, borrowed from the political philosophy of ancient Greece and influenced by the prevailing interpretation of the conditions of the Germanic tribes whose invasions had destroyed Rome's Western empire. As these thinkers saw it, freedom was the original state of mankind and the rule of kings emerged only in the course of later history. In the scriptural relation of the inauguration of the kingship of Saul they found confirmation of their doctrine as well as a rather unsympathetic description of the characteristic marks of royal government.[1] Historical evolution, they concluded, had deprived man of his inalienable right of freedom.
Ron Paul On WikiLeaks
"This Is A Deliberate Attempt To Close Down The Internet"
U.S. Tries to Build Case for Conspiracy by WikiLeaks
By CHARLIE SAVAGE - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors, seeking to build a case against the WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange for his role in a huge dissemination of classified government documents, are looking for evidence of any collusion in his early contacts with an Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking the information.
Justice Department officials are trying to find out whether Mr. Assange encouraged or even helped the analyst, Pfc. Bradley Manning, to extract classified military and State Department files from a government computer system. If he did so, they believe they could charge him as a conspirator in the leak, not just as a passive recipient of the documents who then published them.
"The Attacks On Julian Assange
Are A Direct Contridiction Of American Values & American Law!"
The Great Centralizer: Lincoln and the Growth of Statism in America
Mises Daily: by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
In his 1962 book, Patriotic Gore, Edmund Wilson wrote that "if we would grasp the significance of the Civil War in relation to the history of our time" it is important to realize that the "impulse" for centralized governmental power was very strong in the 19th century, all around the world. Wilson wrote that it was Lincoln, Lenin, and Bismarck who were more responsible than anyone in their respective countries for introducing the plague of centralized governmental bureaucracy. Lincoln became "an uncompromising dictator," and expanded and centralized governmental power in such a way that "all the bad potentialities of the policies he had initiated were realized ... in the most undesirable ways."
Why Central Bank Secrecy is Detrimental to Free-Market Capitalism
By Eric Fry - The DailyReckoning.com
12/15/10 Laguna Beach, California - WikiLeaks is grabbing the headlines, but your California editor considers the "Icky-Leaks" issuing from the Federal Reserve to be much more intriguing - like the icky leak that the Fed doled out trillions of dollars in clandestine bailouts and guarantees during the crisis of 2008 and early 2009.
Thanks to a nifty little provision in the Dodd-Frank reform bill, the Fed was forced to come clean with these embarrassing details. On December 1, the Fed published an exhaustive and detailed list of bailout recipients, along with the sums each received.
"The document dump confirms," The Nation reports, "that the $700 billion Treasury Department bank bailoutÉsigned into law under President George W. Bush in 2008 was a small down payment on an secretive 'backdoor bailout' that saw the Fed provide roughly $3.3 trillion in liquidity and more than $9 trillion in short-term loans and other financial arrangements."
The Feds Final Days
Darryl Robert Schoon - SilverBearCafe.com
THE TEMPLE OF PAPER MONEY IS UNDER SEIGE
In 2008, America suffered a massive economic heart attack. Its doctors, thought to be the world's best, believed the US to be in good health, having recovered from a similar though smaller crisis in 2000.
But America hadn't recovered. In fact, the Fed's palliative for the 2000 crisis, i.e. lower interest rates, soon created an even larger crisis, i.e. the 2002-2006 US housing bubble whose collapse caused global credit markets to contract and investment banks to fall, necessitating government intervention on such a massive scale it led to today's sovereign debt crisis as private losses were absorbed onto public balance sheets; and, now, in 2010, the crisis continues to fester and spread.
Ron Paul: End the Fed by Allowing Competing Currencies
Federal Reserve vows to stick with stimulus program The central bank says it will continue to buy bonds to spur growth and to hold short-term interest rates near zero for the foreseeable future.
By Don Lee and Tom Petruno, Los Angeles Times
The Federal Reserve, saying that the economic recovery was not strong enough to bring down unemployment, has vowed to stick with its controversial bond-buying program to spur growth and to hold short-term interest rates at near zero for the foreseeable future.
In their last scheduled meeting of the year Tuesday, Fed monetary policy makers gave a cautious assessment of the recovery even as more private economists raised their growth projections after a strong retail sales report.
The U.S. Dollar: Too Big to Fail?
By: Jerry Western and Lorimer Wilson - GoldSeek.com
Those in the U.S. power structure know what the plan is should the U.S. dollar fail. They are not admitting publicly that there is even the remotest chance that it could happen but, rest assured, there is a plan. There is always a plan. To paraphrase Franklin Roosevelt, nothing happens by chance in government, so don't be caught up in such a 'surprise even't - whatever it may be and whenever it occurs. The U.S. Dollar: Too Much of a Good Thing?
The U.S. dollar really is everyone's problem. There are more dollars in circulation worldwide than any other currency - perhaps more than all other currencies combined as a full two-thirds of the rest of the world's foreign reserves are denominated in U.S. dollars. It's also true that two-thirds of all dollars circulate outside of the United States. They have long been the choice of exchange on the world's black markets. The reason is because they are so recognizable and accepted everywhere else; in other words, liquid and fungible. They have also tended to keep their purchasing power value relatively constant until recently. That's why many nations peg their currency to the dollar. It also helps that it is still the world reserve currency.
Is the Fed Robbing Us Blind?
The Fed's Abject Failure
Dan Norcini - SilverBearCafe.com
We have been alerting you to the breakdown in the US long bond over the last several weeks and have noted that its collapse in price has serious implications for all of us.
Judging solely by the price action in both the Ten year and the long bond, the Fed's QE program, which was designed to hold down long term interest rates and thus spur lending particularly in an attempt to generate activity in the real estate sector, has proven to be an abject failure. Rates have gone up, not down.
Combine that with a surfeit of houses due to the wave of foreclosures and it is difficult to see this distressed sector turning around any time soon.
The Dire Collapse Taking Place
By: Jim Sinclair
My Dear Friends,
There is a dire collapse taking place below the radar screens of the public. The financial condition of the fellow states of a currency union is the most critical component of a common union currencyÕs value today. It is the challenged financial integrity of member states and their constituents, the cities, towns and villages that make up the state where risk is most prevalent.
The municipal bond market is today in a second freefall as such entities now are failing in paying their obligations to suppliers and services. In many instances the overdue payments are 6 to 9 months in arrears.
Simple common sense tells you that if suppliers and servicers cannot be paid, you cannot meet your interest due obligation to the bond funding upon which these constituents of the state depend.
Senate Passes Tax Deal
By Staff, Associated Press - CNSNews.com
Washington (AP) - The Senate Wednesday overwhelmingly passed a sweeping tax package that would save millions of Americans thousands of dollars in higher taxes while also reducing their Social Security taxes and extending jobless benefits.
The $858 billion package now goes to the House, where many Democrats are unhappy with a provision that allows estates as large as $10 million to pass to heirs tax-free. Democratic leaders, however, say they expect the bill to ultimately pass and become law.
A wide array of tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush is scheduled to expire on Jan. 1 - just two weeks away - affecting taxpayers at every income level. The bill passed by the Senate, 81-19, would extend them for two years.
Survey: Most Americans Favor Senate-Passed Tax Package
By DANNY KING - DailyFinance.com
A new survey says six in 10 Americans approve of a tax package passed by the Senate on Wednesday, that would extend George W. Bush-era tax breaks for the wealthy and unemployment benefits, as well as cutting payroll taxes.
According to the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, nearly 70% of Republicans and 54% of Democrats are in favor of what's widely viewed as a compromise between President Barack Obama and Republican Party members. The package, valued at about $858 billion, was passed by the Senate with a more than a 4-to-1 margin. It still needs to be ratified by the House of Representatives.
Dylan Ratigan MSNBC David Stockman on U.S. Debt & Impending Economic Collapse dire warning
Rep. Bachmann: Tax Bill Violates Article 1, Section 7 of U.S. Constitution
By Nicholas Ballasy
(CNSNews.com) -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told CNSNews.com that the tax bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday violates the U.S. Constitution.
"Article 1, section 7 says that all revenue bills originate in the House and that is our province and, of course, this originated in the Senate," she told CNSNews.com in an interview Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the tax deal passed by the Senate on Thursday or Friday. The bill was the result of a deal cut between President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders.
How JP Morgan, Bear Stearns hammered silver prices
NEW JERSEY (Commodity Online): The role of JP Morgan in manipulating silver prices through their massive naked short positions have now being confirmed as it has quietly reduced their large position in the US silver futures market, according to National Inflation Association (NIA).
NIA points out that JP Morgan inherited the silver short position which they inherited from Bear Stearns and held it for a long time manipulating the silver prices down. Financial Times has reported that JP Morgan has reduced their long positions which had been at the centre of the controversy while JP Morgan denied reports that Nymex, CFTC or any regualtor instructed them to do so.
Inflationary Pressures Are Persistent
By: Guy Lerner - SafeHaven.com
On November 8, 2010, our composite indicator that looks at the trends in gold, crude oil and yields on the 10 year Treasury registered an extreme value. At that time, I wrote: "A strategy that combines this "fundamental" filter with the 40 week moving average has given a sell signal." With rising Treasury yields and persistence in the trends in gold and crude oil, the composite indicator remains in the extreme zone. This is not the time to buy equities. For those keeping a scorecard at home and for those who are buying the bullish nonsense, the S&P500 has gained about 1% over the last 5 weeks.
Inflation and the "Commodity Supercycle"
BY STEVE SAVILLE
Our view is, and has always been, that the rapid economic growth occurring in countries such as China and India is NOT the primary driver of the long-term bull market in commodities that is often referred to as the "commodity supercycle". Instead, we see the bull market as mostly an effect of inflation, where inflation is defined as an expansion of the money supply. One of the consequences of inflation is a reduction in the value of money relative to some of the things that money can buy.
We'll endeavour to support our view using some inflation-adjusted charts, but before doing so we should explain the method we've used to adjust for the EFFECTS of inflation. We emphasised "effects" in the preceding sentence because what we want to adjust for is the loss of purchasing power (PP) that eventually results from monetary inflation, not the monetary inflation itself.
John Williams:
Hyperinflation Will Start in the Next Couple Months
Why Gold-Silver ratio continues to fall
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Gold-Silver ratio is the most important barometer for commodities traders and futures market dealers. Even though bullion prices have been on a bullish run all these months, the gold-silver ration continues to fall.
According to a Bloomberg report, the gold-silver ratio slipped to 46.6, the lowest amount in nearly four years, when one ounce of gold purchased 46.6 ounces of silver in London. By serving as a relatively safe haven for wealth preservation, precious metals are having a strong year.
Moody's 'Threat' Sends Gold, Silver Reeling
By: Rick Ackerman - GoldSeek.com
Bullion prices seem likely to remain under pressure for the rest of the year now that Moody's has trained its water hose on... Spain! Yesterday, the ratings firm dithered its way into the headlines with a threat to downgrade Iberian debt. Presumably, this was done at the behest of Geithner, Bernanke & Friends. Regardless of who ordered the hit, it sufficed to touch off yet another headless-chicken scramble into the alleged "safety" of the U.S. dollar. The timing of this conspiratorial boost to the buck suggests that the Plunge Protection Team is getting better at its job with each passing month. By our runes, the dollar was poised for a breakdown. Lo, just as the selloff begun on Monday was starting to snowball, the dollar whipped around and began a steepÊrally that was still in force at yesterday's close. If we'd stage-managed the turn ourselves using Hidden Pivots to time the announcement, we could not have picked a more opportune spot for Moody's and its masters to spring a trap on dollar shorts.
Treasury Rates Rising Steeply
By: Richard Shaw - SafeHaven.com
Contrary to Bernanke's goal of lowering interest rates by the QE II intervention, rates have been rising. In fact, they have begun to rise steeply as of late, with corresponding decline in bond prices. The following two charts for the 10-year Treasury bond illustrate the situation (top chart yield, bottom chart price). Better cash than bonds right now - or high quality, high yield growth US equities.
EU Faces 'Gridlock' on Debt Crisis, Nears Deal on Post-2013 Tool
By James G. Neuger
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- European Union divisions widened over how to contain the debt contagion that threatens the euro, limiting a summit starting today to agreeing on a crisis- management mechanism that takes effect in 2013.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel balked at boosting or making more flexible use of the EU's 750 billion-euro ($1 trillion) emergency fund, as EU leaders neared an accord on the tool to contain future debt shocks.
Strife among Merkel, the European Central Bank, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, and the German domestic opposition intensified on the eve of the Brussels summit, marring confidence in Europe's handling of the fiscal woes that forced Greece and Ireland to fall back on financial handouts.
Commodities, dollar, interest rates, Chinese inflation, U.S. deficits
Chinese Take-Out (of US Economy)
By: Jim Willie CB - GoldSeek.com
The Chinese really must think the American strategy and behavior to be braindead and self-destructive. The US helped them assemble a manufacturing industry, replaced US income with debt, and finally faces the Grim Reaper in a national episode of systemic failure. The US leadership is as stupid and mindless as the population is driven by compulsive consumption over the cliff, as the nation faces ruin. The Jackass warning has been for five years that the Chinese experiment would end in tragedy, and that when a preponderance of USTreasury debt is owned by foreigners, especially a single foreign nation, the Untied States will lose its sovereignty. It is worse. It lost its vitality entirely. With its financial engineering backfire, the nation is broken from a sequence of repeated asset bubbles & busts. With its wartime economy, the nation seeks new enemies and prefers exports of weapons to productive goods. The nation is like a Sherman Tank sinking in a sea of quicksand with credit cards as banners flown, all overdrawn and canceled. The globe has come full circle from a century ago. The export of opium by Britain to China back then, the US monopoly on narcotics nowadays. Uncle Sam prefers selling contraband to legitimate industry.
Inflation hits China's most popular instant noodles
LATimes.com
Master Kong instant noodle soup hits all the right notes on the Chinese palette: sublimely salty, excessively oily and spiked with dried chilies. It's the go-to meal for those short of time or money.
But the country's most popular packaged noodle soup has become another symbol of China's worsening inflation.
News reports earlier this week say Kangshifu, as the noodles are known here, were no longer available at Carrefour, the French mega-mart chain and the world's second-largest retailer, which operates 169 stores in China.
The reason? The Taiwanese noodle brand wanted to raise prices about 3 cents to 33 cents to cover the rising cost of raw materials such as edible oils.
Keiser Report No.103: Markets, Finance FUBAR!
International Forecaster December 2010 (#5)
Gold, Silver, Economy + More
By: Bob Chapman, The International Forecaster - GoldSeek.com
The expertsÕ keep telling us how great shopping is this Christmas Season when only 17% of shoppers are using credit cards. That is a drop of 50% from last year, and the lowest usage in 27 years. We guess buyers have unloaded the cookie jar and pulled their savings from under the mattress. The consumer sentiment index has risen 2.6, but we will wait to see if attitudes turn into sales. Home buying intentions continue to fall as interest rates hit 4.66% for a 30-year fixed mortgage this past week, putting a further damper on future sales.
Global Demand for U.S. Assets Slowed in October
By Vincent Del Giudice
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Global demand for U.S. stocks, bonds and other financial assets slowed in October from a month earlier, the Treasury Department reported, as the pace of economic recovery weighed on demand.
Net buying of long-term equities, notes and bonds totaled $27.6 billion during the month compared with net buying of $77.2 billion in September, according to statistics issued today in Washington. Including short-term securities such as stock swaps, foreigners purchased a net $7.5 billion compared with net buying of $80.1 billion the previous month.
American Debt: Is the U.S. Too Big to Fail?
BY GLEN ALLEN - OyeTimes.com
In November, the United States recorded a budget deficit of $150.394 billion, up just over $20 billion for the same month a year earlier and up $10 billion from the month of October 2010. Here, from the Treasury Department, is a chart from theMonthly Treasury Statement for the month of November 2010 showing the monthly deficit situation for the past 14 months:
Note that the total deficit for the first two months of fiscal 2010 is $290.826 billion, down $5.79 billion or 1.9 percent from $296.65 billion for the first two months of fiscal 2009. A statistical blip perhaps?
Why You Shouldn't Trust the Core CPI Numbers
By Addison Wiggin - The DailyReckoning.com
12/15/10 Baltimore, Maryland - Consumer prices rose 0.1% in November... and less than a percent over the past year. If you strip out food and energy - which government number crunchers do, because those prices are allegedly "volatile" - you still get a 0.1% increase.
That's the "core" CPI, and that's what the monetary mandarins at the Federal Reserve care about when drafting plans to buy Treasuries, control interest rates, goose employment numbers, order pizza, drink wine, play Xbox 360 or any of the myriad other things they do during their FOMC meetings.
As a group, they can't be pleased with the number. Over the last year, despite trillions of dollars in government stimulus and quantitative easing, core CPI has risen a scant 0.8% - far below the Fed's "sweet spot" of 1.6-2.0%.
Ron Paul: Ben Bernanke Gets an 'F'
Outing Ben Bernanke
By Eric Fry - The DailyReckoning.com
12/15/10 Laguna Beach, California - Deception in the financial markets is not always costly, but it is rarely remunerative. Investors cannot afford to ignore this tendency.
Recent disclosures from the Federal Reserve reveal that honesty was one of the earliest casualties of the 2008 financial crisis. These disclosures contain a number of juicy tidbits, like the fact that Goldman Sachs received tens of billions of dollars in direct and indirect succor from the Fed.
Thanks to these spectacularly large taxpayer-funded bailouts, Goldman was able to continue "doing God's Work"- as CEO Lloyd Blankfein infamously remarked - like the work of producing billion-dollar trading profits without ever suffering a single day of losses.
Goldman Officers to Reap $111 Million Payout From 2007, 2009
By Michael J. Moore and Christine Harper
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s top executives will get about $111.3 million in stock next month in a delayed payout from last year and their record-setting 2007 awards, even as Wall Street prepares for lower bonuses.
Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein, 56, is poised to receive about $24.3 million in January, based on the closing share price on Dec. 14, while President Gary D. Cohn, 50, will get about $24 million, company filings show. The payouts, just a portion of the $67.9 million bonus awarded to Blankfein for 2007 and the $66.9 million paid to Cohn, reflect a 24 percent decline in the stock's value since it was granted at $218.86.
Is the Next Economic Boom Another Tech Revolution?
By Derek Thompson - The Atlantic
In the 1990s, one of the greatest economic expansions in human history hitched a ride on a tech wave. The spread of computers and Internet software created a rare productivity burst that lifted incomes at almost every level and thrust the government into surplus. In the early 2000s, a tech bubble and a terrorist attack muted economic growth for a few years, before the United States discovered another engine in the housing market. Skyrocketing home prices increased wealth, encouraged middle-class Americans to borrow against the value of their abodes, and elevated the financial industry.
The tech bubble burst and the housing bubble detonated. Do we need something to replace them, and if so where will the next boom come from?
BofA Says Investors Extend Deadline in Mortgage Putback Dispute
By Hugh Son, Jody Shenn and Laurel Brubaker Calkins
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., facing demands from institutional investors that it buy back billions of dollars in soured mortgages, said some bondholders will delay action as it conducts "constructive" talks.
Owners of some bonds linked to home loans created by Bank of America's Countrywide Financial Corp. agreed to extend deadlines set in an Oct. 18 letter, the lender said yesterday in a statement, without identifying the holders. Pacific Investment Management Co., BlackRock Inc. and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York were among investors demanding that the bank repurchase loans packaged into $47 billion of bonds, people familiar with the letter said in October.
Armed Confrontation Caught On Tape: Homeowner and Burglar Draw Guns
By Marc Slavo - SHTFPlan.com
A Pacific, Missouri man was surprised to find two burglars in his garage. He noticed them on a security camera he had installed inside the garage, grabbed his firearm, and went to confront them.
On suspect made a run for it immediately, while the other one drew a weapon as the homeowner entered the garage with his gun drawn as well:
While we fully support this homeowners right to defend his property, we suggest that he may have been a little too pumped up to consider his safety and the safety of his family inside of the home.
If you find someone trespassing on your property, especially if they intend to rob you or do you harm, by all means grab your weapon and confront them.
The Albatross that Happens Upon Hapless Homeowners
By The Mogambo Guru - The DailyReckoning.com
12/15/10 Tampa, Florida - There are lots of sad stories about how so many people have mortgages larger than their houses are worth, now that their houses have gone down in value with the general decline in housing prices, and more and more people are finding themselves increasingly in this same, sad situation of having to pay a lot of money for something that is not worth it.
The question these sad-sack people must answer is, "Continue this madness, or flee?"
Homeowner Perks Under Fire
By S. MITRA KALITA And NICK TIMIRAOS - WSJ.com
The U.S. government has long subsidized homeownership through tax deductions and loan guarantees. Now, it is re-examining whether it can afford to underwrite the American Dream.
Earlier this month, a presidential deficit commission proposed reducing the mortgage-interest deduction, the largest government subsidy for housing. Next month, the White House will propose an overhaul of mortgage titans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac amid a broader debate over how widely the U.S. should guarantee mortgages. Today, it backs nearly nine in 10 new loans.
Deflating the Economy
The Next Housing Bubble - Is This the Perfect Storm?
BY GLEN ASHER - OyeTimes.com
In surfing the tubes that make up the internet (my apologies to the late Senator from Alaska), I happened upon this article from the Journal of the American Planning Association. The article is entitled "Aging Baby Boomers and the Generational Housing Bubble". It is a fascinating analysis of what could bring a fatal blow to the idea that our houses will form the bulk of our assets as those of us that are baby boomers enter our retirement years. Unlike the short-term "temporary" meltdown in house prices created by the subprime mortgage issue of the past two years, this long-term demographic price correction could have a permanent impact on the housing market.
Need A Job? Too Bad! The Good Jobs Are Being Shipped Out Of America
As Part Of The New One World Economy
TheEconomicCollapse.com
I hope that you enjoy the cheap foreign-made plastic trinkets that you will be exchanging with your family and friends this holiday season, because they are literally destroying the U.S. economy. As part of the new "one world economy" that both Democrats and Republicans insist is so good for us, millions of good paying middle class jobs have been shipped out of America. Do you need a job? Are you wondering where all the good jobs went? Well, the next time you are out just walk into a store and start looking at the product labels. Most of the things that are sold in our stores are now made out of the country. So if you need a good paying job to support your family that is just too bad - you have been merged into a global labor pool where you must compete for jobs with people on the other side of the globe willing to work for less than a tenth of what you usually make. Welcome to the "one world economy" where big global corporations make a fortune exploiting slave labor on the other side of the world while "overly expensive American workers" get dumped out on the street.
Boeing 'In Massive Safety Cover-Up': Report Boeing safety claims investigated
TheDailyBail.com
For more than a year Al Jazeera has been investigating allegations - made in US Federal Court proceedings - that between 1996 and 2004 ill-fitting, illegal and dangerous parts were assembled on to many of the most commonly-used passenger planes in the world today.
The allegations concern the Boeing Company - the most respected name in international aviation and the world's second-largest commercial aircraft manufacturer. The claims were made by then employees of Boeing in Wichita, Kansas who were working on a radically new passenger plane - the 737 Next Generation (NG).
On a wing and a prayer
Air travel is a question of trust, but a People & Power investigation asks what happens when that trust is shaken.
.... Gigi Prewitt was Boeing through and through. Her family had worked for Boeing in Wichita for three generations and she was excited when she was asked to look after buying key parts for the 737NG. But within a short space of time, she noticed something was wrong.
"The minute that I took the desk of buying 737NG parts I had shop personnel coming to me talking to me about the problems and the issues they were having with the parts not being manufactured accurately. [They reported] Shy-edge margins and were, out of contour, parts not fitting correctly ..." Prewitt says.
'Catastrophic failure'
Lawyer Bill Skepnek has become intimately acquainted with almost every nook and cranny of the 737NG
The parts in question were some of the most crucial elements of an aircraft fuselage - parts known as "chords" and "bear-straps".
United States sues BP over Gulf oil disaster The action, filed in a New Orleans court, accuses them of violating safety regulations
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent - The Guardian
The Obama administration has sued BP and several of its partners in the oil well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, potentially exposing them to billions in legal costs.
The action, filed in a New Orleans court yesterday, accuses them of violating safety regulations, and seeks unlimited damages to cover the costs of cleaning up the oil, the losses suffered by local businesses, and the damage done to the environment. "I've seen the devastation that this oil spill caused throughout the region, to individuals and to families, to communities and to businesses, to coastlines, to wetlands, as well as to wildlife," the attorney general, Eric Holder, told reporters.
WikiLeaks cables: BP suffered blowout on Azerbaijan gas platform Embassy cables reveal energy firm 'fortunate' to have evacuated workers safely after blast similar to Deepwater Horizon disaster
Tim Webb - The Guardian
Striking resemblances between BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster and a little-reported giant gas leak in Azerbaijan experienced by the UK firm 18 months beforehand have emerged from leaked US embassy cables.
The cables reveal that some of BP's partners in the gas field were upset that the company was so secretive about the incident that it even allegedly withheld information from them. They also say that BP was lucky that it was able to evacuate its 212 workers safely after the incident, which resulted in two fields being shut and output being cut by at least 500,000 barrels a day with production disrupted for months.
U.S. Sues Companies for Spill Damages
By JOHN SCHWARTZ - NYTimes.com
he Department of Justice filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday in New Orleans against the oil giant BP and eight other companies over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Although the complaint does not specify the damages that the administration is seeking, the fines and penalties under the laws that are cited in the complaint could reach into the tens of billions of dollars.
"We will not hesitate to take whatever steps are necessary to hold accountable those who are responsible for this spill," Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said at a news conference.
Mr. Holder said the department was "making progress" on a criminal investigation of the companies involved in the spill.
Not Really 'Made in China' The iPhone's Complex Supply Chain Highlights Problems With Trade Statistics
By ANDREW BATSON
BEIJING - One widely touted solution for current U.S. economic woes is for America to come up with more of the high-tech gadgets that the rest of the world craves.
Yet two academic researchers estimate that Apple Inc.'s iPhone - one of the best-selling U.S. technology products - actually added $1.9 billion to the U.S. trade deficit with China last year.
How is this possible? The researchers say traditional ways of measuring global trade produce the number but fail to reflect the complexities of global commerce where the design, manufacturing and assembly of products often involve several countries.
"A distorted picture" is the result, they say, one that exaggerates trade imbalances between nations.
Emergency Call to Congress: Stop the Destruction of Social Security by Wall Street Puppet Obama! - By Webster G. Tarpley - TARPLEY.net
American voters are shocked and outraged by Obama's latest betrayal of the FDR New Deal heritage. Most alarming in his dirty deal with the Republicans is the proposed sabotage of Social Security. We will work hard to defeat any politician of any party who loots or drains the Social Security trust fund, including Obama's diabolical trick of a payroll tax holiday. Tell Obama HANDS OFF OUR SOCIAL SECURITY! Any problems with Social Security can be easily solved by removing the cap on the FICA payroll tax and making rich parasites and economic royalists pay their fair share - not rewarding them with tax bonanzas. We can already see the GOP vultures led by Ryan, DeMint, & Co. getting ready to destroy Social Security if this measure goes through.
Opposition to Health Law Is Steeped in Tradition
By DAVID LEONHARDT - NYTimes.com
"We are against forcing all citizens, regardless of need, into a compulsory government program," said one prominent critic of the new health care law. It is socialized medicine, he argued. If it stands, he said, "one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free."
The health care law in question was Medicare, and the critic was Ronald Reagan. He made the leap from actor to political activist, almost 50 years ago, in part by opposing government-run health insurance for the elderly.
VA Attorney General: If We Lose, Government 'Will Be Able To Order' People To Buy Anything -- By Nicholas Ballasy
(CNSNews.com) - Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told CNSNews.com that the federal government will be able to "order" individuals to purchase any product or service if the individual mandate in health care law is determined to be constitutional by the Supreme Court.
Federal judge Henry Hudson for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the individual mandate was unconstitutional on Monday. Cuccinelli predicts that the case will ultimately lie in the hands in the Supreme Court.
"Unfortunately, it could affect an awful lot of different areas because then Congress has an incredibly broad power. They can try to affect and direct the economy just by ordering people to buy particular products," Cuccinelli told CNSNews.com in Richmond after the ruling in his case was announced.
Health freedom attorney Jonathan Emord speaks out about Obama health care, the US Constitution, and the Supreme Court
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) Following the recent court decision of U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson, who ruled that a key provision of Obama's health care plan is unconstitutional, I spoke with health freedom attorney Jonathan Emord about the implications of this important ruling.
Jonathan Emord is currently representing clients in a related court case in Ohio where he is also arguing to protect the rights of private citizens against overreaching government requirements that interfere with individual choice.
Democracy: Made in China Residents fill out their ballots before voting in local legislature elections in Beijing in 2006.
By Steven Hill - TruthDig.com
George W. Bush, it turns out, was not only a challenged president but also a lousy advertisement for the importance of democracy. It's 2008, the Beijing Olympics have just ended, and I'm sitting across a cafe table from professor Pan Wei, a rising academic and ideological star in China who teaches at Beijing University. We are debating the merits of representative democracy, with the U.S. presidential election only two months away. Students take up the surrounding tables-the lucky ones in China who get to go to university at all, since for the average Chinese family it is impossibly expensive. If wide access to education is considered an underpinning of a democracy, China has a long way to go. But Pan Wei, who obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1996, dismisses such talk, ranting in favor of a Confucian-values meritocracy over a democracy.
CENTRAL ASIA: WikiLeaks dispatches reveal a Great Game for the 21st century
By Borzou Daragahi in Kabul and Alexandra Sandels in Beirut - LATimes.com
The Americans were confounded. Maksat Idenov (pictured), the Harvard Business School-educated head of Kazakhstan's state-owned oil company, had abruptly booted Guy Hollingsworth, a Chevron Corp. executive, from a meeting and from talks over a potentially lucrative deal.
A month went by before they finally figured out what had gone wrong. The executive of the California-based energy giant had been spotted playing golf in the Kazakh capital, Astana, and sunning in Spain with Idenov's predecessor and rival, according to a Feb. 14, 2008, dispatch from the U.S. Embassy in Astana released by WikiLeaks.
"Idenov amplified his anger with Hollingsworth by explaining that Hollingsworth does not understand how we are doing business now," said the dispatch.
pt 1/3 Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones Show 14 Dec 2010
pt 2/3 Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones Show 14 Dec 2010
pt 3/3 Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones Show 14 Dec 2010
The Great Recession vs. The Great Depression
By ALLEN AND RICHARD AUXIER - TheAtlantic.com
Americans are in a foul mood. They're unhappy with their economic prospects, convinced the country is headed in the wrong direction, upset with the federal government, and equally annoyed at Congress.
Their attitudes are understandable. After the worst economic downturn since the Depression, who wouldn't be this gloomy?
Folks from the Great Depression, apparently. According to a trove of early Gallup surveys compiled by the Roper Center, Americans in the 1930s were not nearly as down on government as we are today. They wanted more, not less, from Washington in the way of services and protection from the private market. Incredibly, despite their much deeper recession, Americans were more optimistic than we are today.
10 Signs That Confidence In U.S. Treasuries Is Dying
And That Financial Armageddon May Be Approaching
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Selling government debt is a gigantic confidence game. For decades, investors all over the globe have gobbled up massive amounts of U.S. debt at incredibly low interest rates because they believed that it was a certainly that they would be paid back and be able to make a little bit of profit on top of it. Unfortunately, things have changed. Confidence is U.S. Treasuries is dying, and if confidence in U.S. government debt completely collapses at some point we could literally be looking at financial Armageddon. Why is that so? Well, when the world totally loses faith in U.S. Treasuries, interest rates on U.S. Treasuries will have to keep going up until enough investors are found to buy them. But much higher interest rates will mean much higher interest on the national debt and thus much higher federal budget deficits. That will erode confidence in U.S. Treasuries even further. In the end, a vicious cycle of eroding confidence and higher interest rates could ultimately lead to hyperinflation as the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve flood the system with endless amounts of paper money to try to keep the system solvent.
What the State Fears Most: Information
Mises Daily: by Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan History tells a cyclical story of man versus state: man persistently creating new ideas and the state tirelessly laboring to destroy them. Bureaucracy has never been a friend to the ideas that undermine its artificial legitimacy.
All too often, history provides us with examples of state-enforced book burnings and other forms of extreme censorship. Many of us today take our so-called freedom of speech for granted, and few realize just how pervasive government censorship remains. It is true that not many of us living today in the industrially advanced world have experienced the worst kinds of censorship[1] - few have memories, for example, of the Nazi book burnings that took place throughout the 1930s, which claimed over 18,000 works.
Michael Moore Says He Made $20K Available for Julian Assange's Bail
FOXNews.com
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore said he has made available $20,000 to help jailed Wikileaks founder Julian Assange make bail in Sweden.
"Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that I have put up $20,000 of my own money to help bail Mr. Assange out of jail," Moore said in a statement posted online.
Filmmakers Ken Loach and John Pilger and writer Jemima Kahn joined Moore in the contributing to Assange's bail fund, Moore said.
Visa and MasterCard Deny Service to Assange Supporters
Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
It looks like the financial elite and government are working hand-in-hand to make sure Julian Assange remains in custody as he awaits extradition to Sweden and the United States to stand trial.
After and earlier decision was overturned to deny Assange bail the British court ruled he should be released from Wandsworth Prison under strict conditions and that his numerous supporters, including Bianca Jagger and Lord Evans, pay the court 200,000 pounds.
Air Force Blocks Access to Websites for Posting WikiLeaks Docs
FOXNews.com
The U.S. Air Force has blocked access on its network to more than 25 media websites, including the New York Times, that have posted the secret U.S. diplomatic cables obtained and released by the site WikiLeaks.
The Air Force started blocking the sites in August to avoid having "classified incidents on our unclassified systems," Maj. Toni Tones, a spokeswoman for the Air Force Space Command, told FoxNews.com.
Other sites that have been blocked include Germany's Der Spiegel, France's Le Monde, Britain's Guardian and Spain's El Pais, Tones said.
FoxNews.com is not one of the blocked sites, she said.
Julian Assange remains in jail as Sweden appeals against bail decision Appeal will be heard in the high court this week against decision to free WikiLeaks founder on bail, on grounds that he may flee
By Vikram Dodd and Sam Jones - guardian.co.uk
Sweden tonight decided to fight a British judge's decision to grant bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent more than a week in prison over sexual assault allegations involving two Swedish women.
A dramatic day in and around City of Westminster magistrates court saw Assange win bail, but then be forced to return to what his lawyer Mark Stephens described as "Dickensian conditions" at Wandsworth prison while the international legal battle played out.
WikiLeaks founder's bail issued, revoked
Assange back in jail for Swedish appeal
By Shaun Waterman - The Washington Times
WikiLeaks founder Julian P. Assange is to remain in a London jail until at least Thursday since Swedish authorities said they would appeal a British judge's decision to grant him bail with strict conditions.
The news topped a tumultuous day of legal back-and-forth at the central London court, and came as a poll revealed that nearly 60 percent of Americans want Mr. Assange prosecuted by U.S. authorities after WikiLeaks last month began publishing a trove of secret U.S. diplomatic communications - despite a coterie of high-profile supporters he has assembled in Europe.
Assange Not Out on Bail; Wikiprosecutions Threat to Free Press
Brian Doherty - Reason.com
.... Of course, of course, this prosecution is all about sexcrime, not leakcrime. But Glenn Greenwald talks of possible Obama administration legal attacks on WikiLeaks and explains why they are dangerous:
if current reports are correct -- that the Obama DOJ has now convened a Grand Jury to indict WikiLeaks and Julian Assange -- this will constitute a far greater assault on press freedom than anything George W. Bush managed, or even attempted. Put simply, there is no intellectually coherent way to distinguish what WikiLeaks has done with these diplomatic cables with what newspapers around the world did in this case and what they do constantly: namely, receive and then publish classified information without authorization. And as much justifiable outrage as the Bush DOJ's prosecution of the AIPAC officials provoked, at least the actions there resembled "espionage" far more than anything Assange has done, as those AIPAC officials actually passed U.S. secrets to a foreign government, not published them as WikiLeaks has done.
Assange Lawyer: Secret Grand Jury Meeting Outside Washington on Leak
VOANews.com
A lawyer for the founder of the WikiLeaks website says a secret grand jury is meeting outside Washington to consider charges in the release of thousands of sensitive U.S. documents.
The lawyer, Mark Stephens, told David Frost on Al-Jazeera television that they have heard from Swedish authorities that there has been a "secretly empaneled" grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia.
16 Nightmarish Economic Trends To Watch Carefully In 2011
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
If you only watch the "economic pundits" on television, it can be very confusing to figure out exactly what is happening with the U.S. economy. One pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little bit better over the past month and claim that we have entered a time of solid recovery. Another pundit will pull out a couple statistics that got a little worse over the past month and claim that we are headed for trouble. So what is the truth? Well, if you really want to get a clear idea of what is really going on you have to look at the long-term trends. There are some economic trends which just keep getting worse year after year after year, and it is those trends that tell the real story of the decline of our economic system.
Eurozone debt crisis spreads to Belgium on rising political risk Europe's debt woes have moved closer to the core of monetary union after Standard & Poor's threatened to downgrade Belgium over the failure of Flemings and Walloons to form a government
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The warning comes a day after the International Monetary Fund said Belgium "urgently needed" to control spending as public debt pushes above 100pc of GDP. "A clear plan is needed to contain contagion from abroad," it said.
The yield spread on Belgian 10-year bonds has ballooned to 102 basis points over German Bunds, raising fears of a funding squeeze next year. S&P said the country needs to refinance debt equal to 11pc of GDP next year, leaving it "exposed to rising real interest rates".
Easter Egg Out Of The BIS: US Banks Are On The Hook To The PIIGS By Over $350 Billion
by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Last night, the BIS released its latest quarterly review, as always chock full of useful information. The one major item that caught our eye was the updated exposure toward the PIIGS countries by various foreign banks. And specifically the brand new category that had never been disclosed before by the BIS, namely the "other exposures" category, which per a rather closeted footnote is defined as: "other exposures consist of the positive market value of derivative contracts, guarantees extended and credit commitments." This is exposure that appears for the first time in an official BIS document. And it is sizable: while total foreign claims stood at $2,281 billion, the newly disclosed category accounts for a whopping two thirds of a trillion: $668 billion. How generous of the BIS to share this data which as recently as 2 years ago may have been considered as material, and these days is merely dismissed with a laugh. After all who cares unless the potential loss has at least 12 zeroes in it. Yet what is most significant for the US taxpayer, who is now dead set on proving that St Sebastian was an amateur when it comes to (in)voluntary martyrdom, is that US exposure to the P(I)IGS (Italy excluded, for the time being - give it a few months), has just tripled as a result of this revelation. While before it was "common knowledge" that US banks have nothing to lose should Europe go down the drain, it has now been revealed that US banks actually have $353 billion in exposure, of which $233 billion is of this newly revealed "other category."
Comex Gold higher, back above $1,400.00/oz
By Jim Wyckoff of Kitco News
(Kitco News) - Comex gold futures prices are trading higher Tuesday morning and have moved back above what was psychological resistance at $1,400.00 an ounce. The yellow metal is supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and an overall bullish technical posture of the gold market. Traders are awaiting the outcome of Tuesday's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. February Comex gold last traded up $8.10 at $1,406.10 an ounce. Spot gold last traded up $10.30 at $1,405.50.
The one-day FOMC meeting Tuesday will conclude with the usual early-afternoon statement from the Fed. Any wording in the statement that suggests more stimulative measures are possible would be gold-market bullish. Any hints in the statement that the U.S. economy is picking up would likely be U.S. dollar-bullish and gold-market bearish.
U.S. Tax Policy Will Push Gold and Silver Much Higher
By James West - GoldSeek.com
The Obama administration's inability to obtain an improved tax revenue for federal coffers is the latest farce in the comic American tragedy unfolding before our very eyes. This government appears incapable of understanding that printing increasing amounts of currency while realizing deteriorating tax revenues and generally lethargic economic conditions is the direct path toward default.
It would be excellent entertainment for the rest of us were it not for the fact that this bumbling government is likely to precipitate an even broader economic meltdown than that of 2008 with its arrogant insistence on unilateral financial dis-incentives. Future generations are now further encumbered by a debt and deficit load that is growing exponentially.
How Asian Buyers Are Setting Up the Metals Shorts "When That Happens, The Game is Over"
KingWorldNews.com
The contact out of London has updated King World News on the massive Asian buyers which have been accumulating both gold and silver. The London source stated, "Last week Asian buyers let the price come in to them. They were buying all day long, hitting all of the offers and they were not sending the price higher. As much as the orchestrators were hitting the bids, there were some smart buyers hitting the offers. The thinking was, I can pick up tonnage here, literally I can pick up tonnage here."
J.P. Morgan Flees Silver Market
By Jack Farchy and Gregory Meyer - Financial Times via MidasLetter
JPMorgan has quietly reduced a large position in the US silver futures market which had been at the centre of a controversy about its impact on global prices for the precious metal.
The decision by JPMorgan was an attempt to deflect public criticism of the bank's dealings in silver, a person familiar with the matter said. The person added that the bank's position in silver would from now on be "materially smaller" than in the past.
Water, Meet Blood -
JP Morgan Admits To, Reduces Massive Silver Short Position Proves Millions Of Conspiracy Theorists Correct
by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
In the latest example that virtually every conspiracy theory is almost always inevitably proven to be fact, the Financial Times reports that JP Morgan, the firm targeted by thousands of "tin foil hat" wearing, conspiratorially-oriented "gold bugs", has cut back on its US silver futures. "JPMorgan has quietly reduced a large position in the US silver futures market which had been at the centre of a controversy about its impact on global prices for the precious metal." And in what can only be considered an unprecedented victory for all those who have over the past year agitated to putting JP Morgan out of business, most recently spearheded by the likes of Mike Krieger and Max Keiser, by forcing a massive short squeeze on its commodities trading desk, we learn that "the decision by JPMorgan was an attempt to deflect public criticism of the bank's dealings in silver, a person familiar with the matter said. The person added that the bank's position in silver would from now on be "materially smaller" than in the past." Of course, the latter is pure and total bullshit: as Bart Chilton indicated over the weekend, it is JP Morgan who at one point or another (and possibly very recently) controlled as much as 40% of the silver market, via a massive short.
Gold bars, coins lure investors in Middle East
DUBAI (Commodity Online): What is the best presentation that you would gift to your dear and near ones during festivals? If you are in Dubai, or any other city in the United Arab Emirates, it will be the latest designed gold coins or bars that would have to be gifted.
Gold coins and bars are not just for giving as gifts alone. In fact, across the Middle East, sales of gold coins and bars are booming thanks to an unprecedented appetite for investment in the precious, yellow metal.
Says Kiran Desai, a gold bullion dealer based in Dubai: "Sales of gold coins and bars are shooting up across the UAE as people are buying these precious metals products, despite the high prices of the yellow metal."
Commodities Detach From Dollar, Rise on Their Own
By Jordan Roy-Byrne - SeekingAlpha.com
In the first phase of its bull market in the earlier portion of the last decade commodities began a bull market on the back of a falling US dollar. The greenback declined while commodities, stocks, foreign currencies and even bonds rallied. The universal bull market could be better termed a dollar bear market. The movement of risk assets and especially commodities were, in most cases, hostage to the trends in the buck.
In 2010, a very important change in this relationship has gone unnoticed in financial circles. Commodities have risen on their own and largely without the help of a weak US dollar. Year-to-date, the CCI (continuous commodity index) is higher by 19% while the US dollar is higher by 3%.
Dollar Strengthens on U.S. Economic Outlook; Asian Stocks Fall
By Shiyin Chen and Kana Nishizawa
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose, supported by the highest 10-year Treasury yield since May, after the Federal Reserve said it won't slow record stimulus spending. Copper traded near a record high, while the benchmark Asian stock index retreated from its best level in 2 1/2 years.
The U.S. currency gained against 15 of its 16 most-active counterparts as of 11:35 a.m. in Tokyo, advancing 0.3 percent versus both the euro and the yen. The yield on the benchmark Treasury note due 2020 rose as high as 3.50 percent. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares fell 0.5 percent as Japan's Tankan report showed sinking confidence among manufacturers. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures slid 0.2 percent.
Gold Sleeper Trend You Must Know About
by Louis James, GoldSeek.com
In the midst of any long-term trend, like the secular bull market for metals we're in now, there will be trends within the trends. You could think of them as being like eddies, whorls, and side-channels in a great torrent. We see one such developing that could benefit junior gold stock investors in the near- to mid-term.
Here's the basic idea: metals prices, especially precious metals prices, have been increasing at a faster rate than mining costs. Gold and silver are up 75.9% and 61.7% respectively over the last three years, while the cost of things like power, equipment, and wages have not risen as much (-1.0% for oil, and 5.1% for wages, as examples). Obviously, this is good for producing companies, and we have seen the market's reaction in their share prices.
Big rise in gold investments in 2011
LONDON (Commodity Online): In the past three years gold investments have ensured a return of 113 per cent as the prices of the yellow metal soared every month following the uncertainty in the global markets.
Moreover, many new investors have jumped into the fray as they lost faith in other investment options like equity. World over equity market had suffered a huge setback following the economic crisis.
There has been a huge 113 per cent increase worldwide in investments in gold from 2007 till November 2010. Investment in gold stood at 353 tons as against 168 tons in 2007 globally in spite of ups and downs in production and volatality of price.
U.S. Called Vulnerable to Rare Earth Shortages
By KEITH BRADSHER - NYTimes.com
HONG KONG - The United States is too reliant on China for minerals crucial to new clean energy technologies, making the American economy vulnerable to shortages of materials needed for a range of green products - from compact fluorescent light bulbs to electric cars to giant wind turbines.
So warns a detailed report to be released on Wednesday morning by the United States Energy Department. The report, which predicts that it could take 15 years to break American dependence on Chinese supplies, calls for the nation to increase research and expand diplomatic contacts to find alternative sources, and to develop ways to recycle the minerals or replace them with other materials.
Federal Reserve Statement for December 14
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
The first paragraph is the only thing that has changed and that from slow to insufficient. The Fed is dour on the jobless recovery and its self-sustainability.
"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in September confirms that the pace of recovery in output and employment continues to be slow. Household spending is increasing gradually, but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software is rising, though less rapidly than earlier in the year, while investment in nonresidential structures continues to be weak. Employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. Housing starts continue to be depressed. Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, but measures of underlying inflation have trended lower in recent quarters."
Federal Open Market Committee Dec. 14 Statement: Full Text
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The following is a reformatted version of the full text of the statement released today by the Federal Reserve in Washington:
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November confirms that the economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring down unemployment. Household spending is increasing at a moderate pace, but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit. Business spending on equipment and software is rising, though less rapidly than earlier in the year, while investment in nonresidential structures continues to be weak. Employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. The housing sector continues to be depressed. Longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable, but measures of underlying inflation have continued to trend downward.
Want To Ruin Your Own Country? Assume Your Banks' Liabilities
By Gonzalo Lira
Recently, I read up on how Iceland is doing - surprisingly well, actually. Unemployment is down, the Krona is going back up. Good balance of trade, good fiscal balance sheet. Quite the turnaround, after its troubles over the last couple of years-
- so then if Iceland is doing OK, why then are we in the hole that we're in?
Why is the American economy slogging along? Why is Europe circling the drain? Why are the bond markets queasy as a patient with a low-grade malarial fever? Why is Ben Bernanke's chin quivering and his voice quaking on 60 Minutes? (And by the way: Was that a terrifying spectacle or what?) Why has the conversation turned from bond market risk to sovereign debt risk? Why are commodities rising, equities moving jagged and irrational, and all of a sudden silver is now the new darling of the retail investor?
GOP Set to Issue Own Fiscal Report
By JOHN D. MCKINNON
WASHINGTON - Republican members of a commission investigating the financial crisis will issue their own report Wednesday that could undermine the body's formal conclusions, the latest sign of partisan discord on the troubled panel.
In an interview Tuesday, the panel's Republican vice chairman charged his Democratic counterparts with turning their official report into a "hit piece" to foster political attacks on the financial sector and the GOP.
Fed Goes Ahead With Bond Plan
By SEWELL CHAN - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve, batting away unusually fierce criticisms, forged ahead on Tuesday with its effort to prop up the economic recovery by buying $600 billion in Treasury bonds.
But interest rates on government bonds continued to march upward, appearing to defy one of the Fed's goals for the bond-buying program: lowering long-term interest rates. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note surged to 3.47 percent, up from 3.27 percent late Monday, and the highest level since May.
In their last scheduled meeting of the year, Fed policy makers stuck with the bond-buying plan they announced on Nov. 3, finding that the recovery was "continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring down unemployment."
Will the Tax Deal Give the Fed a Helping Hand?
By CHARLES WALLACE - DailyFinance.com
When the Federal Reserve's interest rate-setting committee announced last month that the Fed would buy $600 billion of bonds, the idea was to force down interest rates as a way of stimulating the economy. But a funny thing happened: Long-term rates have instead gone up sharply. Does the Fed need to retool its policy?
The Federal Open Market Committee meets today to discuss monetary policy and is widely expected to make no changes to interest rates or its bond-buying program, which has been dubbed quantitative easing (with the latest $600 billion program dubbed QE2).
US will lose AAA credit rating, says M&G's Jim Leaviss A leading fund manager has warned that the world's largest economy will be downgraded within two years because of its high levels of debt.
By Philip Aldrick - Telegraph.co.uk
Jim Leaviss, head of retail fixed interest at M&G, the fund management arm of the Prudential, said France remains "the AAA economy closest to a downgrade" and that the US "will lose its AAA rating Ð but not in 2011" as the two countries grapple with debt.
Although the UK is under pressure, he believes, he did not state whether it would also lose its rating.
Fed Maintains Loose Monetary Policy, Calls GDP Growth 'Insufficient'
By JOSEPH LAZZARO - DailyFinance.com
The Federal Reserve Tuesday kept its current accommodative monetary policy going steadily and continued its program of quantitative easing, saying the economic recovery is continuing, but the growth rate "has been insufficient to bring down unemployment."
"Household spending is increasing at a moderate pace, but remains constrained by high unemployment, modest income growth, lower housing wealth, and tight credit," the Fed said in its statement. "Business spending on equipment and software is rising, though less rapidly than earlier in the year, while investment in nonresidential structures continues to be weak. Employers remain reluctant to add to payrolls. The housing sector continues to be depressed."
Derivatives: The Quadrillion Dollar Financial Casino Completely Dominated By The Big International Banks
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
If you took an opinion poll and asked Americans what they considered the biggest threat to the world economy to be, how many of them do you think would give "derivatives" as an answer? But the truth is that derivatives were at the heart of the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, and whenever the next financial crisis happens derivatives will undoubtedly play a huge role once again. So exactly what are "derivatives"? Well, derivatives are basically financial instruments whose value depends upon or is derived from the price of something else. A derivative has no underlying value of its own. It is essentially a side bet. Today, the world financial system has been turned into a giant casino where bets are made on just about anything you can possibly imagine, and the major Wall Street banks make a ton of money from it. The system is largely unregulated (the new "Wall Street reform" law will only change this slightly) and it is totally dominated by the big international banks.
Economic Recovery Nonsense Continues
By: Moses Kim - GoldSeek.com
For the duration of what I estimate to be a 10 year economic slowdown (we are entering year 4), you will hear countless experts proclaim that the economy has recovered. Economic recovery evangelists were temporarily silenced earlier in the year, but they have now come out in force. In today's FOMC statement, the Fed actually had the chutzpah to say: "The economic recovery is continuing, though at a rate that has been insufficient to bring down unemployment". That the Fed can continually get away with saying such asinine comments this far into the recession is very surprising.
The Economy is Still on Shaky Foundation
By Rosanne Lim - GoldSeek.com
In an innovative TV commercial for Barclays Bank, a man walks down on Wall Street but discovers that nearly everything is a fake movie set. The huge investment houses and international banks are all made of paintings on cloth or Styrofoam while the people are mannequins. The nightmare ended with the man finding one real bank which is Barclays Bank.
While the institution claims to bit more substantial, the truth is that all banks have one commonality: they are built upon illusory paper wealth with an unstable foundation.
The financial crisis has made people aware of the vulnerabilities in institutions they trust with their life savings. There are a lot of developments that make these vulnerabilities even more apparent including the following:
Suit: Chase Bank ransacked home of man on his death bed
By Denise Whitaker - Seattle KOMONews.com
SEATTLE -- J.D. Butler was on his death bed when JP Morgan Chase invaded his home, according to his daughter, who said the intrusion left the waterfront home in shambles.
Celeste Butler says she couldn't get any answers from Chase, so her only option was to sue.
"I'm praying and hoping that this never happens to anyone else again," she said.
Butler says she took home video to document what happened to her father's waterfront home, which was ransacked while he fought for his life in the hospital. Drawers were turned upside down, and a locked china cabinet was broken into.
Goldman: We Didn't Topple Bear Stearns
By LIZ RAPPAPORT
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told a U.S. panel examining the financial crisis that the company wasn't responsible for toppling two Bear Stearns & Co. hedge funds in early 2007.
In dozens of pages of documents submitted to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Goldman detailed its valuation of mortgage securities underwritten by the New York company, some of which were held in two Bear hedge funds managed by Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin.
'Shadow' Lenders' Emergency Fed Loans Benefited Biggest Banks
By James Sterngold, Donal Griffin and Jody Shenn
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve gave more support to the worldÕs biggest financial companies, including Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, than the direct loans it disclosed this month in response to congressional mandates.
That's because about $140 billion, or 20 percent of the Fed's Commercial Paper Funding Facility, went to affiliates of four firms that provided financing to banks and other companies: Hudson Castle, BSN Holdings, Liberty Hampshire Co. and Northcross, central bank data show.
U.S. Tax Policy Will Push Gold and Silver Much Higher
By James West - GoldSeek.com
The Obama administration's inability to obtain an improved tax revenue for federal coffers is the latest farce in the comic American tragedy unfolding before our very eyes. This government appears incapable of understanding that printing increasing amounts of currency while realizing deteriorating tax revenues and generally lethargic economic conditions is the direct path toward default.
It would be excellent entertainment for the rest of us were it not for the fact that this bumbling government is likely to precipitate an even broader economic meltdown than that of 2008 with its arrogant insistence on unilateral financial dis-incentives. Future generations are now further encumbered by a debt and deficit load that is growing exponentially.
Tax Legislation: Senate Votes on Wednesday
by CalculatedRisk
The Senate will "convene and resume consideration" of the tax legislation tomorrow at 10 AM ET. There will be some posturing debate, followed by the vote. The bill is expected to pass the House within a few days.
Tax Deal Is Shaping 2012 GOP Campaign
By NEIL KING JR. - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - The tax deal now before Congress has kicked off the first real debate of the 2012 Republican presidential campaign, with several prospective candidates heralding the package as a victory for taxpayers and others criticizing it as a costly stimulus bill in disguise.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have both come out sharply against the measure, which President Barack Obama hammered out last week with Senate Republican leaders. Both cite the deal's price tag, with Mr. Romney saying it will heap billions more onto the nation's debt load.
Moody's Threatens To Cut Us Aaa Rating On Tax Package
DailyBail.com
Very little mention of this story in the financial press, but this is how sovereign bond routs begin. We already borrow 43 cents of every Federal dollar to make our bloated budget, and apparently Congress thinks that's not enough. They're aiming for 50 cents this time, suckers.
Deficit Giveaways Turn Obama GOP Tax Cut Bill Into 'Christmas Tree' - CBO Estimates $858 Billion Cost For JUST Two Years
And Moody's thankfully, is throwing up a roadblock, though Congress won't see it of course, until it's far too late.
Democrats' Opposition Fades as Tax Vote Nears
By JANET HOOK And MARTIN VAUGHAN - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - The final obstacle to President Barack Obama's tax deal - the opposition of House Democrats - appeared to be melting away Tuesday as strong Senate support for the legislation turned up pressure on liberal critics to concede.
"It's a fast-moving train," said Rep. Peter Welch (D., Vt.), who has led opposition to the legislation to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for all income groups. "The momentum is all in its favor, that's for sure."
Rep. Jim McDermott (D., Wash.) called the bill "just awful." He said the bill includes elements he supports, but that it remains a bitter pill to swallow.
Social Security payroll tax cut is no way to give workers a break
The 'temporary' tax cut skips over millions of Americans, including some of the poorest laborers. And it potentially undermines Social Security. Why not simply reduce withholding, as was done for Making Work Pay?
By Michael Hiltzik - LATimes.com
There are reasons to like the tax-cut deal President Obama reached with Republican congressional leaders this month, and reasons to dislike it. Here's the part to hate: The "temporary" one-year reduction in the Social Security payroll tax.
We can debate whether the wealthy need or deserve an extension of their income tax breaks President Bush gave them starting in 2001. We can debate whether people who inherit fortunes need a cut in the estate tax. Or whether the overall package will have as much stimulative effect as a tax cut aimed squarely at the middle class and working class.
Bernanke Options Seen Curbed Amid Republican Scrutiny
By Caroline Salas
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may find his options for reducing unemployment near a 26-year high are constrained after Republicans take control of the House of Representatives next month.
Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who has advocated abolishing the Fed, will head the committee that oversees it. Representative Darrell Issa of California, who will chair the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has said he wants the central bank to be more accountable to the public.
Republicans are gaining clout over the Fed months before policy makers start weighing whether to expand $600 billion of asset purchases to boost the economy -- a program that has aroused the harshest political backlash in three decades. Fed officials meeting today in Washington for the last time this year are likely to make no change to the stimulus, according to 38 of 39 analysts in a Bloomberg survey Dec. 7-8.
Vatican Bank mired in laundering scandal
VATICAN CITY (AP) - This is no ordinary bank: The ATMs are in Latin. Priests use a private entrance. A life-size portrait of Pope Benedict XVI hangs on the wall.
Nevertheless, the Institute for Religious Works is a bank, and it is under harsh new scrutiny in a case involving money-laundering allegations that led police to seize $30 million in Vatican assets in September. Critics say the case shows that the "Vatican Bank" has never shed its penchant for secrecy and scandal.
Maybe the Fed Should Buy More Mortgage Bonds?
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Mortgage interest rates are rising. If they continue to do so, then the Federal Reserve will probably become pretty frustrated. Today it reaffirmed its latest round of quantitative easing, explicitly designed to keep down longer-term interest rates, like those for mortgages. So what's going wrong? Apparently mortgage bonds aren't selling so well right now. Less demand is leading to higher yields. Perhaps the Fed should consider buying some of these securities too. Here's the problem, via Jody Shenn at Bloomberg:
Yields on Fannie Mae-guaranteed securities that most affect loan rates jumped to 4.22 percent as of 11:28 a.m. in New York, an increase of more than 1 percentage point from an all-time low in October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Senate spending bill contains thousands of earmarks
By Philip Rucker and Paul Kane - Washington Post Staff Writers
Weeks after swearing off earmarks, many senators stand to gain tens of millions of dollars for pet projects in a massive spending bill that could be their last chance at the money before a more conservative Congress begins next month.
The $1.2 trillion bill, released on Tuesday, includes more than 6,000 earmarks totaling $8 billion, an amount that many lawmakers decried as an irresponsible binge following a midterm election in which many voters demanded that the government cut spending.
Congress: HAMP will only prevent 700k foreclosures
TheTruthAboutMortgage.com
Only about 700,000 foreclosures will be prevented by the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), according to a Congressional Oversight Panel report released today.
The report, titled, "A Review of Treasury's Foreclosure Prevention Programs," said that number is far fewer than the three to four million foreclosures the program originally aimed to prevent.
And it's just a drop in the bucket if you consider the eight to 13 million foreclosures expected by 2012.
"It is too late for Treasury to revamp its foreclosure prevention strategy, but Treasury can still take steps to wring every possible benefit from its programs," the report said.
U.S. Foreclosure Prevention Falling Short, Watchdog Panel Finds
By Lorraine Woellert
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. Treasury program aimed at preventing 3 million foreclosures is likely to fulfill less than a third of its goal, a congressional watchdog reported.
The TreasuryÕs homeowner aid effort is "ineffective" and has failed to hold mortgage companies accountable, the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said in a report released today.
"The program has turned out to be a lot smaller and have a lot less impact on the housing market than we expected," said former U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman, the chairman of the panel.
CalPERS home loan program suspended
TheTruthAboutMortgage.com
CalPERS, the largest public employee pension fund in the nation, has suspended its home loan program, according to a company press release.
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) board cited limited member usage and increasing costs.
"Over the past few years, there has been limited interest among our members in the Member Home Loan Program," said George Diehr, Chair of the CalPERS Investment Committee, in a statement.
"This change allows us to redirect our resources and reduce the risk to the Fund."
A Teachable Moment How the Obamacare lawsuits can raise consciousness about the Constitution.
By W. James Antle, III The American Spectator.org
For conservatives, Christmas came early on Monday. For liberals, the happy holiday was stolen by a black-robed Grinch. U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson ruled that a new federal policy compelling the purchase of health insurance "exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power."
In other words, Hudson determined that the individual mandate -- the centerpiece of the national health care law that is in turn the centerpiece of Barack Obama's domestic agenda -- is unconstitutional. Congress had no power to enact it. The president and his czars have no authority to enforce it. No amount of hiding behind the interstate commerce clause, the necessary and proper clause, or the ability to levy taxes can justify it.
Liberals Worry the Health Care Decision Will Kill the New Deal
Damon W. Root - Reason.com
As Nick Gillespie noted earlier, Mother Jones writer Nick Baumann was made so nervous by yesterday's health care decision that he raised the specter of America falling down "the slippery slope to the libertarian paradise."
Writing at the blog of the liberal American Constitution Society, Steven D. Schwinn of the John Marshall Law School strikes a similarly apocalyptic note, worrying that federal Judge Henry Hudson's ruling will send us back to those dark days before the New Deal transformed the Supreme Court:
The ruling isn't just a repudiation of the individual mandate; it's a proclamation on federal authority and federalism that would take us back to the early twentieth century, the days of an activist and obstructionist judiciary that frustrated the political branches at every turn. This kind of judicial activism will take policy decisions out of the hands of democratically elected representatives and put them in the hands of judges.
Mandatory health insurance now law's central villain
By Amy Goldstein - Washington Post Staff Writer
With a court ruling in Virginia this week that the government cannot require Americans to buy health insurance, President Obama has landed in the position of defender-in-chief of an idea he once opposed.
As a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama insisted that the health-care reform plans of his rivals were misguided, because they envisioned forcing Americans to buy health insurance or risk a fine. Over and over, he said on the campaign trail that such a mandate was unnecessary.
Yahoo confirms plans to lay off 4% of workers Job cuts will be fewer than previous rumors suggested
By John Letzing, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Yahoo Inc. on Tuesday confirmed that it is cutting 4% of its roughly 14,000 employees, as the Internet giant forges ahead with a broad restructuring under Chief Executive Carol Bartz.
In a statement, Yahoo said the cuts are being made to position the company "for revenue growth and margin expansion and to support our strategy to deliver differentiated products to the marketplace."
GM offers buyouts to skilled workers
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - General Motors Co. said Tuesday it is offering $60,000 buyout packages to entice thousands of skilled trade workers across 14 factories to either retire or quit altogether by March.
This is the first time GM has resorted to buyouts since it emerged from bankruptcy last year.
Employees, many of which work at plants slated to be closed or already shuttered, have until Dec. 23 to take the deal. GM currently employees about 10,000 skilled trade workers in the United States.
Why Is the Recovery Ignoring Men?
Bhy DANIEL INDIVIGLIO - TheAtlantic.com
You've probably heard the catchy term "Mancession" by now, which represents the idea that the recession has been harder on men than women. And as my colleague Derek Thompson noted last year, we are actually in a "she-covery," a term that similarly indicates that women have been doing better at getting jobs than men since the economy began to improve. But why are women faring so much better than men? It's due in large part to a few key industries dominated by one or the other of the sexes doing well or poorly.
November's 0.8% Producer Price Rise Aids the Deflation Fight
By JOSEPH LAZZARO - DailyFinance.com
Led by a significant increase in energy costs, producer prices rose 0.8% in November -- a gain that suggests policymakers may be winning their battle to avoid deflation. It marked the fifth consecutive monthly producer price rise and the highest since March, and it may be just what the U.S. Federal Reserve wants.
Why is a little inflation at the wholesale level beneficial? It means deflation hasn't taken hold in the U.S., despite the substantially smaller workforce and globalization's cost-cutting impact.
Vallejo's Bankruptcy 'Failure' Scares Cities Into Cutting Costs
By Alison Vekshin and Martin Z. Braun
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- When Vallejo, California, filed for bankruptcy in 2008 after failing to win union pay cuts, Councilwoman Stephanie Gomes said officials around the U.S. would have their eyes trained on the city of 120,000.
She was right. The lesson they've taken from the two-year- old case, which has cost Vallejo $9.5 million in legal fees and made it a nationwide symbol for distressed municipal finances, is that out-of-court negotiations yield better results.
"They spent a lot of money with very little outcome," said Jay Goldstone, San Diego's chief operating officer. Faced with an $82 million deficit in his city's 2010 budget, Goldstone negotiated pay cuts and higher benefit contributions from unions in 2009 that will save as much as $40 million annually, he said.
In pushing Obama health care, Nancy Pelosi dismisses authority of US Constitution
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
(NaturalNews) Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson ruled that a key provision in Obama's health care plan violates the US Constitution. The "minimum essential coverage provision," Judge Hudson ruled, would force American consumers to buy a government-mandated insurance product whether they wish to buy it or not. There is no provision in the US Constitution that grants Congress the power to force consumers to buy into such a monopoly -- the very idea seems ludicrous.
But not to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She believes that her power to force Americans to purchase whatever products and services the government wants them to buy is somehow granted by the Constitution.
Best Buy cuts forecast for year as profit falls 4% The retailer lost sales of lower-priced TVs and laptop computers to rivals in its third quarter while more expensive 3-D and Web-connected TVs failed to catch on
Associated Press - LATimes.com
Best Buy Co.'s third-quarter net income fell more than expected as it lost sales of lower-priced TVs and laptop computers to competitors, and as more expensive 3-D and Internet-connected TVs failed to catch on.
Best Buy's net income for the quarter that ended Nov. 27 fell 4% to $217 million, or 54 cents a share, from $227 million, or 53 cents, a year earlier, the electronics chain reported Tuesday. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected 61 cents a share.
Bruce Levine: The Rebel Yell Pacifying the population by listing anti-authoritarianism as a mental illness -- Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet.tv
Clinical psychologist Bruce Levine is the author of Common Sense Rebellion and Surviving America's Depression Epidemic. He regularly deals with "anti-authoritarian" clients who would be diagnosed by the health care authorities as suffering from "oppositional defiant disorder" or ADHD, and helps them to deal with adjusting to their societal, work or school environment without rebelling in a self-destructive manner.
In a psychiatric context, Levine explains how successful political movements like the American Revolution and the more recent populist uprising are historically led by people who have individual self-respect, something very much lacking in today's society, as well as collective confidence and trust in one another. "When you're living in a society that breaks people's self-respect and breaks their bonds of trust with one another, it makes it very difficult to have any kind of democratic revolutionary movement," remarks Levine.
Copyright Extortionist Righthaven Sues Drudge Backed by CFR, Rockefeller, and Monsanto Money
By Eric Blair - AP via PPJ Gazette
Shady Las Vegas copyright infringement company, Righthaven LLC, seems to be a small-time legal firm using a canned lawsuit to slap down bloggers for copyright infringement for meager settlements. But now they are going after alternative news kingpin and globalist critic Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report.
Righthaven claims that Drudge knowingly misused a Denver Post copyrighted photo of a TSA agent groping the crotch of a male traveler, along with a link to a story about airport security on the Las Vegas Review-Journal website. Righthaven is seeking copyright infringement damages of $150,000 and forfeiture of his domain name.
Comcast Tests Combo Internet-Cable Device
By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO And SAM SCHECHNER - WSJ.com
Comcast Corp. is testing a new service that knits together television and the Internet, as the U.S. cable giant goes after rivals that threaten to undermine its business.
Under the new system, which is being tested in Augusta, Ga., content flows through a set-top box that combines features of the Web with those of a digital-video recorder, according to people familiar with the matter.
Users can watch and search a smattering of Web video through their televisions and search across live, on-demand and recorded programming.
Remote 'kill switch' added to Intel's newest processor We are giving up control of our computers and putting that control in another's hands.
Jason Douglass - Infowars.com
Lauded as a security feature, Intel's new Sandy Bridge processor can be remotely disabled by a hardware/software combination known at Anti-Theft 3.0. Systems can be disabled over 3G networks, even while the OS is not running. Even when the hard drive is replaced, the critical systems will still be terminated.
At first this sounds great: if an owner loses a laptop it can be remotely disabled to ensure no sensitive data is compromised. But essentially we are giving up control of our computers and putting that control in another's hands.
Aging Oil Rigs, Pipelines Expose Gulf to Accidents
By BEN CASSELMAN - WSJ.com
GALLIANO, Louisiana - On June 10, 1947, Stanolind Oil & Gas Co. won an auction for the right to drill for oil on a plot seven miles off the Louisiana coast. The company built a spindly steel platform and drilled a well in shallow waters. It struck oil, and in 1950, Stanolind sold its first Louisiana sweet crude for $2.67 a barrel.
More than 60 years later, the West Cameron 45-A platform is, according to government records, the oldest functioning platform in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. One of more than 100 structures built in the 1940s and 1950s still in operation, the platform has survived seven Category 2 hurricanes and a major fire.
Finger may point to solution in Amelia Earhart disappearance riddle Bone to undergo DNA tests after being found alongside 1930s artefacts on Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro
Chris McGreal in Washington - guardian.co.uk
The riddle of Amelia Earhart's disappearance has only grown more complex in the 73 years since the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic went missing attempting to fly around the equator.
One theory had it that she crashed into the sea after running out of fuel during her expedition over the Pacific Ocean. Others claimed that Earhart was executed by the Japanese for spying, was pressed into making propaganda broadcasts from Tokyo during the war, or that she secretly returned to the US under an assumed identity.
But now an array of artefacts from the 1930s and bones found on the uninhabited Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro suggest that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, endured lingering deaths as castaways on a desert island and were eventually eaten by crabs.
START treaty debate looms 'As soon as we can,' Reid tells senators
By Eli Lake - The Washington Times
The Senate may start debate this week on a key arms-control treaty the Obama administration has made the centerpiece of its "reset" of relations with Russia.
"We're going to move as soon as we can to the START treaty," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat.
The decision to bring up the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) in the closing days of the 111th Congress is in some ways a gamble for Democrats if they do not have enough Republicans to ratify the treaty with 67 votes, as required by the Constitution.
U.S. Armored Cadillacs are Iraq Bomb Bait
By Spencer Ackerman - Wirted.com
In preparation for the day when U.S. diplomats can't call on the military to get them out of danger in Iraq, the State Department has sent over 900 armored cars to Baghdad. Only one of State's top watchdogs suggests that those cars are still easy targets for insurgent bombs.
A report released yesterday by Deputy Inspector Howard Geisel into State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security found that the 3,000 armored "sedans, vans, sport utility vehicles and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles" used by U.S. diplomats around the world are only protected "to a degree" against homemade insurgent bombs (.pdf). Giesel's report doesn't specifically look at State's Iraq operations, even though nearly a third of the department's armored vehicles are in Iraq. It also didn't detail the "classified design standards" of the armored cars to protect them from harm, but no matter how armored they are, sedans and SUVs aren't built to withstand the blasts of insurgents' roadside bombs.
Smart phones in combat: Army may issue iPhones and Android phones
LATimes.com
The Army wants to issue an Apple iPhone or Google Android smart phone to every soldier.
Previously the weapon of choice for hipsters looking up the hottest indie concert or Wall Street types checking stock prices, the devices could be used by troops in war zones to share intelligence and scout out the enemy as soon as next year.
Army Doc:
Deployment Orders Illegal Without Pres. Obama's Birth Records Court Hears Greeley Army Doc's Deployment Refusal Case
Deb Stanley, 7NEWS Producer - TheDenverChannel.com
FORT MEADE, Md. -- A military court was set to hear the case Tuesday of an Army doctor charged with refusing to deploy to Afghanistan because he says he doubts whether President Barack Obama was born in the U.S. and therefore questions his eligibility to be commander in chief.
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, an 18-year Army veteran from Greeley, disobeyed orders to report earlier this year to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to prepare for deployment, saying he believed the orders were illegal.
Air Force Is Through With Predator Drones
By Spencer Ackerman - Wired.com
Wave a tear-stained handkerchief for the drone that changed the face of air war: The Air Force won't buy any more Predators. The Reaper drone is about to be in full effect.
This year, the Air Force completed its scheduled purchase of 268 Predators from manufacturer General Atomics, somewhat behind a schedule the service announced in 2008. By "early 2011," says Lt. Col. Richard Johnson, an Air Force spokesman, "we're taking delivery of our last Predator."
February, to be exact, according to Kimberly Kasitz, a General Atomics spokeswoman. "We've actually had a couple of internal celebrations," she says.
Lockheed Cross-Breeding Raptors, Joint Strike Fighters
By David Axe - Wired.com
It's the beginning of the end for one of the most controversial weapons in decades. Nine years after the F-22 Raptor entered production at a complex of factories stretching from Georgia to Washington State, the major components for the 195th and last copy of the radar-evading, Mach-2 jet are winding their way to Lockheed Martin's final assembly facility in Marietta, Georgia. Raptor 4195, as the last example is known, is slated for handover to the U.S. Air Force in February 2012. The total bill so far: $65 billion, for a per-copy cost of more than $300 million.
U.S. Concludes N. Korea Has More Nuclear Sites
By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration has concluded that North Korea's new plant to enrich nuclear fuel uses technology that is "significantly more advanced" than what Iran has struggled over two decades to assemble, according to senior administration and intelligence officials.
In carefully worded public comments in recent days, senior American and South Korean officials have also argued that the new plant could not have been constructed so rapidly unless there was a sophisticated network of other, secret sites - and perhaps a fully operating uranium enrichment plant - elsewhere in the country.
Israel Seeks Security Guarantees Before Border Pact, Oren Says
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Israel will insist on security guarantees before agreeing on borders of a future Palestinian state or halting Jewish settlements, Israeli Ambassador to Washington Michael Oren told Bloomberg News.
With the U.S. reviving shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, "the deeper our sense of security, the more flexibility we can show," Oren said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. "Keep in mind that we are looking at a Palestinian state that is going to be right opposite our major cities, right opposite Tel Aviv, right opposite our major airport. We're taking some immense risks here."
Fighter Jets to Buzz Seoul as South Korea Simulates Attack
By Bomi Lim and Shinhye Kang
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Fighter jets will buzz Seoul today to simulate an attack by North Korea as the South conducts its biggest emergency drill in response to the deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.
Sirens will sound across the country at 2 p.m. local time, when workers from the National Emergency Management Agency will help guide people to more than 25,000 shelters, the group, known as NEMA, said in a statement yesterday. Traffic will stop for 15 minutes and drivers and pedestrians will be asked to take cover in nearby office basements and subway stations, the agency said.
Craving comfort food in uncomfortable times Familiar fare smacks of better times as 'Great Recession' lingers
By Drew Gannon, MarketWatch
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) - The perfect combination of turkey, potatoes and gravy. The smell of pumpkin pie. The warmth of apple cider. And the sweetness of Christmas cookies. This time of year, comfort food can be even more comforting than usual.
And as the Great Recession drags on for many - with unemployment stubbornly near 10%, home foreclosures continuing and food banks reporting more formerly middle-class families lining up for assistance - what we are putting on our tables this holiday season is taking on extra meaning.
The New American Dream: Sprawling Tent Cities Filled With Tents Made In China
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
What would you do if you had your job suddenly ripped away from you and you ended up losing your home? Well, that is exactly what hundreds of thousands of families across America have found themselves facing during this economic downturn. So what would you do? Would you move in with relatives? Would you join the ranks of those living in the tent cities that are popping up all over the nation? Would you live in a van down by the river? The truth is that with each passing month even more Americans find themselves pushed to the brink of absolute desperation. For many of our fellow citizens, the American Dream has been reduced to finding some way to keep the rain off of them each night and finding someone who will be kind enough to give them some food during the day.
Ron Paul, Audit the Fed in 2011
By: Dr Ron Paul - MarketOracle.co.uk
Since the announcement last week that I will chair the congressional subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve, the media response has been overwhelming. The groundswell of opposition to Fed actions among ordinary citizens is reflected not only in the rhetoric coming out of Capitol Hill, but also in the tremendous interest shown by the financial press. The demand for transparency is growing, whether the political and financial establishment likes it or not. The Fed is losing its vaunted status as an institution that somehow is above politics and public scrutiny. Fed transparency will be the cornerstone of my efforts as subcommittee chairman.
Rep. Ron Paul, G.O.P. Loner, Comes In From Cold
By KATE ZERNIKE - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - As virtually all of Washington was declaring WikiLeaks's disclosures of secret diplomatic cables an act of treason, Representative Ron Paul was applauding the organization for exposing the United States' "delusional foreign policy."
For this, the conservative blog RedState dubbed him "Al Qaeda's favorite member of Congress."
It was hardly the first time that Mr. Paul had marched to his own beat. During his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, he was best remembered for declaring in a debate that the 9/11 attacks were the Muslim world's response to American military intervention around the globe. A fellow candidate, former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York, interrupted and demanded that he take back the words - a request that Mr. Paul refused.
Fed's Contrarian Has a Wary Eye on the Past
By SEWELL CHAN - NYTimes.com
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - All year, Thomas M. Hoenig has been saying no.
As the lone dissenter on the Federal Reserve committee that sets interest rates, Mr. Hoenig, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, has been a persistent skeptic of just about everything the FedÕs chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, has done to try to stimulate the flagging recovery.
Mr. Hoenig's latest, loudest objections, aimed at the Fed's risky $600 billion infusion into the markets to reinvigorate the economy, have made him a champion of the Fed's critics in Congress, on Wall Street and among business leaders, who, like Mr. Hoenig, fear that the central bank is risking runaway inflation, asset bubbles and a weakened dollar.
The Fed: The Chicago School's Achilles Heel
Mises Daily: by Robert P. Murphy
In a recent post "Triumph of the Austrian Economists," David Frum laments the displacement of the respectable Chicago School as the economists of choice among the political Right. Frum fails to see that conservative Republicans are justified in switching their allegiance to the Austrian economists, because supply-side monetarists have a glaring blind spot when it comes to the Federal Reserve.
Frum Is Flummoxed
Frum is dismayed at the resurgent interest in Austrian analysis and policy recommendations:
An important subtheme of Noah Green's survey of Fed critics is the triumph of Austrian over Chicago economics within the modern political right.
Triumph of the AustrianEconomists
By David Frum
An important subtheme of Noah Green's survey of Fed critics is the triumph of Austrian over Chicago economics within the modern political right.
Thirty years ago, right of center economists did not accept recessions as necessary and indeed healthful responses to speculative bubbles. They still winced at the memory of Hoover era officials who welcomed the Great Depression as a means to "purge the rottenness" from the market system.
Thirty years ago, right-of-center economists did not celebrate high interest rates as a safeguard of the currency. Thirty years ago, they measured inflation by the dollar's ability to buy goods and services - not its value relative to gold or some other commodity.
"Washington's Role Is To Serve The Banks" Says Spencer Bachus, Incoming House Banking Committee Chairman
The DailyBail.com
A reporter is doing an interview and is obviously recording. Do these guys even think before they begin speaking.
Bachus supported TARP, though begrudgingly, and only after he was removed by Republicans from his role as lead TARP negotiator with Democrats. He also showed some intelligence last week when, against certain Wall Street Congressional interests, he appointed Ron Paul as Chairman of the House Monetary Policy sub-committee with oversight over the Fed.
But he's still a hypocritical TARP scallywag
The Fed Vastly Expands Moral Hazard
by Michael S. Rozeff - LewRockwell.com
"Moral Hazard occurs when a party insulated from risk behaves differently than it would behave if it were fully exposed to the risk.
"Moral hazard arises because an individual or institution does not take the full consequences and responsibilities of its actions, and therefore has a tendency to act less carefully than it otherwise would, leaving another party to hold some responsibility for the consequences of those actions. For example, a person with insurance against automobile theft may be less cautious about locking his or her car, because the negative consequences of vehicle theft are (partially) the responsibility of the insurance company."
Gold Makes Record Run
by Global Intelligence Report - AllAmericanGold.com INCIDENT: On 7 December, gold hit an all-time high above US$1,425 per ounce (London morning fix), after having risen from under $300 per ounce at the beginning of the millennium and from just over $700 per ounce only a little over two years ago (all figures in current dollars). SIGNIFICANCE: While the recent spike in the price of gold has already been somewhat redressed, new drivers in the market suggest increasing demand for the precious metal.
Gold and Silver Rise on Higher Chinese Inflation
By: Adrian Ash - MarketOracle.co.uk
WHOLESALE PHYSICAL GOLD hit a 3-session Dollar high in London on Monday morning, rising together with equity and commodity prices on what one trader called "relief" that Beijing did not hike Chinese interest rates as expected at the weekend.
The Euro also rose to its best level since Thursday vs. the Dollar, capping the gold price in Euros at Friday's finish beneath €33,750 per kilo - its second-highest ever weekly finish.
Western government bonds extended their fall, driving yields higher across the board.
"The physical market is very good," says Hong Kong head of dealing Peter Fung at Wing Fund Precious Metals.
Gold Prices and Panic
By: Douglas French - MarketOracle.co.uk
With gold selling for around $1,400 per ounce, it seems like everyone has jumped on the yellow-metal bandwagon. Resource-investment guru Rick Rule said about gold investing recently, "we're no longer lonely in the gold trade. You couldn't describe this as a contrarian activity, and you couldn't describe this as a low-risk activity."
But while Rule and the likes of David Einhorn aren't alone keeping some, or a lot of, money in gold, the Wall Street Journal ran a profile of a more typical investment guide who claims, "There's no utility of gold." Investment advisor Tim Medley says people only trade their dollars for gold when they're afraid, and they won't be afraid much longer.
Canadian Central Banker Warns of 'Death Grip' on U.S. Dollar
By Nirmala Menon
Canada's central bank governor, Mark Carney, warned that the "death grip" on the U.S. dollar is "reducing the prospects for rebalancing global demand."
In the text of a speech Monday to the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto, Carney said the international monetary system is "sliding towards a massive dollar block." He noted that over a dozen countries are accumulating reserves at double-digit annual rates, and countries representing more than 40% of the U.S. dollar trade weight are now managing their currencies.
But, he said, excessive reserve accumulation will prove futile. He said structural changes in the global economy will "yield important adjustments in real exchange rates."
Inflation, Deflation and the U.S. Economy Year Ahead
By: Clif Droke - MarketOracle.co.uk
The inflation versus deflation debate has raged for years but since the credit crisis the debate has become highly politicized. If the credit crisis taught us anything it is that the risk of deflation far outweighs that of inflation. Yet there is an entrenched view emerging in political circles that is actively opposed to the government's attempts at re-inflating the economy following the deflationary collapse of 2008.
One of the most popular icons to emerge from the credit crisis is a long-time Congressman from Texas, Ron Paul. Perhaps more than any other figure, Rep. Paul has done more to capture the imagination of the voting public which has concerns about big government. His loyal followers ("Paulites" as they're called) share his view that government has become too big and cumbersome to be an efficient servant of the people (indeed, they charge that government is no longer a servant but has become a rather harsh master). The "Ron Paul Revolution" as it has been called is aimed at shrinking government, restoring the Constitution and, significantly, reducing or eliminating the role of the Federal Reserve in the nation's monetary affairs.
A Two-Wheeled Hedge Against Inflation
By Eric Peters - The American Spectator.org
Ho ho ho. Your Christmas present from Ben Bernanke -- $3 per gallon gas -- is coming a couple of weeks early. "Qualitative Easing" -- printing money, lots and lots of it -- is beginning to show itself in the form of less buying power for the money you've got right now. Gas hasn't really gotten more expensive; your dollahs have simply been discounted.
But there's something you can do, for once. And it's something good, too.
If you've ever wanted to get a motorcycle, here's your excuse.
Motorcycles -- even the big/fast ones -- get as good or even better mileage than a hybrid car. Some of the smaller ones can deliver 60-70 MPGs. They also cost much less to buy (and maintain) than a hybrid -- or can, at any rate.
U.S. Stocks Reach a Pivotal Point as Goldman Sachs Predicts a 2011 Rally - BY JON D. MARKMAN, Contributing Writer, Money Morning
Stocks clicked around the flat line much of the past week until the tumblers of the lock finally fell into place and prices were freed to go higher on Thursday and Friday.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index quietly gained 1.2% over the week to close at a new two-year high, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.7% to a three-year high and the Russell 2000 small-caps rose 2.7%.
Wall Street Gives Uncle Sam Too Much Credit
By: Michael Pento - MarketOracle.co.uk
Despite the fact that the S&P is up over 80% in the last 21 months, US financial firms are currently tripping over each other in their zeal to raise their S&P 500 and GDP targets for 2011. JPMorgan's chief US equities strategist, Thomas Lee, came out on December 3rd with a target of 1425 on the S&P for 2011, which would be a 15 percent gain. Barclays Capital last Thursday released a 1420 estimate. Not to be outdone, Goldman Sachs also recently released its forecast, and it sees a more-than-20 percent increase next year, to 1450. Meanwhile, PIMCO's idea of a "new normal" has translated into a 2011 GDP forecast raised from 2-2.5% to 3-3.5% due to "massive" government stimulus.
Goldman: We Didn't Topple Bear Stearns
By LIZ RAPPAPORT - WSJ.com
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. told a U.S. panel examining the financial crisis that the company wasn't responsible for toppling two Bear Stearns & Co. hedge funds in early 2007.
In dozens of pages of documents submitted to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Goldman detailed its valuation of mortgage securities underwritten by the New York company, some of which were held in two Bear hedge funds managed by Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin.
The collapse of the two Bear hedge funds, which invested primarily in subprime mortgage securities and derivatives, was an early victim of the crisis and a harbinger of the pummeling suffered by financial institutions and investors during the next 18 months.
The IMF and the ECB on Perfecting Stupidity
By The Mogambo Guru - The DailyReckoning.com
12/13/10 Tampa, Florida - This week's winner of the coveted Mogambo Bluster And Incompetence Award (MBAIA) goes to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
I will skip the part where I heap disdain on the IMF and say rude things like how I think that the IMF is a worthless bunch of incompetent, self-serving, socialist scumbags.
And I will skip the part where I tried in vain to get in touch with this IMF moron so that I could inform him of his winning the prize, and invite him to fly here, at his expense, to pick it up.
U.S. free-traders sour on China
Action urged to slash imbalance
By Patrice Hill - The Washington Times
Long-simmering trade tensions between the United States and China have broken out into open verbal warfare, with some highly respected and influential voices on trade now advocating an all-out economic war with the Asian giant.
At the center of the dispute is the gigantic U.S. trade deficit with China, which, at $226.8 billion in the first 10 months of the year and growing, is the largest such imbalance in the world. The bilateral imbalance came back with a vengeance in 2010 after retreating during the recession from all-time highs of around $260 billion.
Higher Long-Term U.S. Treasury Yields Ahead
By: Mike Paulenoff - MarketOracle.co.uk
The eventuality of higher longer-term Treasury yields in the weeks and months ahead appears to be relentlessly marching towards us now. Time to start monitoring the UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury ETF (TBT) for the next entry window on the long side.
Purely from a technical perspective, last week's upmove in the 10-year yield from 2.94% to 3.33% exhibited the power required to propel yield through an initial resistance zone (3.10-3.30%). This is a warning sign that despite the Fed's objectives and efforts to the contrary, Mr. Market has the ability to control its own destiny -- if such a feat was questionable during the past 18 months of intense government "interference."
Senate Advances Tax Cut Package
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN - NYTimes.com
The Senate on Monday advanced the tax-cut package agreed to between President Obama and congressional Republicans, virtually assuring that the Senate will approve the bill on Tuesday and send it to the House, where Democrats are threatening to make changes to a provision granting a generous tax exemption to wealthy estates.
The vote in the Senate was not finished, but shortly after 4 p.m. the tally showed more than 60 senators agreeing to end debate, cut off any filibuster and move to a vote on passage.
The majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, had agreed to keep the vote open far longer than usual to allow lawmakers returning to Washington from the West Coast to make it back to the Capitol.
'Temporary' Tax Code Puts Nation in a Lasting Bind
By JOHN D. MCKINNON, GARY FIELDS And LAURA SAUNDERS - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - Welcome to the world of the temporary tax code.
In the late 1990s, there were typically fewer than a dozen tax provisions that had just a limited lease on life and needed to be renewed every year or so.
Today there are 141.
Now Congress, taking up a deal worked out between the Obama administration and Republican leaders, is poised to turn the whole personal income-tax system into something of a temporary structure. The plan embraces a broad range of provisions - an extension of Bush-era rates, a new estate-tax formula - but for only two years. A payroll-tax cut in the bill is for a single year.
Tea Party ramps up efforts against tax deal
By Michael O'Brien - TheHill.com
Conservatives aligned with the Tea Party ramped up pressure Monday on Republicans to vote down the tax deal before Congress.
A Tea Party umbrella group circulated a petition in opposition to President Obama's tax deal with Republicans, while another high-profile GOP lawmaker aligned with the grassroots movement said he's inclined to vote against it.
"The idea that this massive tax and spend bill has not yet even been written but may be voted on by the Senate this weekend is appalling, and has rightfully drawn the anger of the TeaPartyPatriots.org and other Tea Party activists, an anger that will not diminish," said a petition crafted by the Tea Party Patriots.
"Tax the Rich to Cut the Deficit... Just Don't Tax Me"
By Bill Bonner - The DailyReckoning.com
12/13/10 Baltimore, Maryland - What new thoughts for a Monday morning?
Corruption is not only at the top. Like a Christmas pudding steeped in rum, the whole economy - from top to bottom - reeks of it. Here's the latest proof from Bloomberg:
Americans want Congress to bring down a federal budget deficit that many believe is "dangerously out of control," only under two conditions: minimize the pain and make the rich pay.
The public wants Congress to keep its hands off entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, a Bloomberg National Poll shows. They oppose cuts in most other major domestic programs and defense. They want to maintain subsidies for farmers and tax breaks like the mortgage-interest deduction. And they're against an increase in the gasoline tax.
Boeing raises aircraft prices more than 5%
Bloomberg News - LATimes.com
Boeing Co. is raising aircraft prices by about 5.2%, the first increase in two years, and dropping the short-haul version of the 787 Dreamliner.
Higher costs for wages, goods and services are driving the boost, said Jim Proulx, a spokesman at Boeing's commercial headquarters in Seattle. He confirmed the changes made to the price list on Chicago-based Boeing's website Monday as well as the withdrawal of the 787-3 variant.
Luxury home prices are still heading down While Southland housing values overall have rebounded from recent lows, those in the upper end of the market may not yet have hit bottom. Some experts don't see a turnaround for at least another year.
By Lauren Beale, Los Angeles Times
On its glittering surface, the Southern California luxury housing market still has plenty of pizzazz.
A 48,000-square-foot Versailles-style estate in Bel-Air that sold for $50 million is believed to be the highest-priced sale in the nation this year. Actor Sacha Baron Cohen spent $18.9 million on a Mediterranean villa in the Hollywood Hills, a record for that area.
Debate on Reverse-Mortgage Risks Heats Up
By MAYA JACKSON RANDALL - WSJ.com
A report by Consumers Union and other advocacy groups has ignited a debate about whether reverse mortgages are too risky for house-rich seniors in need of extra cash, just as the nation's new consumer agency is starting to examine the issue.
The groups are urging the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to boost oversight of the complex loans and to move to fight scams and deceptive marketing. Other groups, however, defend reverse mortgages.
The call for increased oversight comes as the market for reverse mortgages is poised for expansion as the baby-boom generation retires. Meanwhile, lenders are aggressively marketing reverse mortgages, tapping celebrities such as actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson as spokesmen and holding seminars at senior centers to sell the loans.
More Foreclosures Means Fewer Underwater Borrowers
HousingDoom.com
NEW YORK - The number of homeowners who owe more than their houses are worth fell for the third straight quarter this summer.
About 10.8 million households, or 22.5 percent of all mortgaged homes, were underwater in the July-September quarter, housing data firm CoreLogic said Monday. That's down from 23 percent, or 11 million households, in the second quarter.
Number of underwater homeowners declining About 10.8 million, or 22.5%, of U.S. homes with mortgages were worth less than what was owed at the end of the third quarter, according to CoreLogic. That's down from 11 million, or 23%, in the second quarter.
By Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times
The number of homeowners in the U.S. who owe more on their properties than what those homes are worth has declined steadily for most of 2010, according to statistics released Monday.
But the drop in properties with negative equity has more to do with troubled borrowers losing their homes to foreclosure than an increase in prices.
About 10.8 million, or 22.5%, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity positions at the end of the third quarter, according to Santa Ana research firm CoreLogic. That is down from 11 million, or 23%, in the second quarter.
The Human Toll of America's New Ghost Towns
By BRUCE WATSON - DailyFinance.com
When pundits discuss homeownership, they often frame the issue in terms of purchases, lending rates, housing starts and other economic data. For the DailyFinance series "Ghost Towns of the Recession," we took a different tack: rather than rely on the numbers, we looked at some neighborhoods where the dream of owning a home has become a nightmare of foreclosures, underwater mortgages and abandoned houses.
Indeed, real estate agents, builders and banks sell homeownership as a key part of the American dream. This certainly fits into the mythos of Las Vegas, heart of the most foreclosed state in the nation and the subject of one of our articles.
Only 28% of Middle Class Americans Will Retire On-Time
By Daniel Indiviglio - The Atlantic
Most middle class Americans won't be enjoying retirement anytime soon. Working past retirement age will be the norm, with 39% doing so due to financial need and another 33% continuing to work out of desire. That means a mere 28% will retire on-time. A survey by Wells Fargo provides these statistics and reveals the disturbing reality of how little savings Americans have put aside for retirement:
While many Americans express worry about their retirement prospects, judging from their finances they probably aren't worried enough. Respondents predict they will need a nest egg of $300,000, but have saved just $20,000 of that amount for retirement (figures throughout are medians, the midpoint of responses). They expect to live on retirement savings for nearly two decades (19 years), while planning to spend 10% of their nest egg every year. The industry recommendation is to withdraw no more than 4% annually.
General Motors Offers Buyouts to Skilled Workers at 14 Plants
By DAVID SCHEPP - DailyFinance.com
In a bid to reduce its numbers of skilled workers, General Motors (GM) is reportedly offering skilled-trades workers a $60,000 buyout to leave the automaker's payroll by March. The Detroit-based company has "a couple thousand" more trade workers than it needs to run its U.S. factories, GM spokesman Chris Lee told the Reuters news agency.
Workers in skilled trades, such as electricians, represented by the United Auto Workers make higher wages than workers on the assembly line because of their special training, Reuters noted.
The Health Care Employment Bubble
By Derek Thompson - The Atlantic
The Great Recession took down the US economy, but its effect was mild in the medical industry. Health care jobs continued to expand through 2009 and 2010 faster than almost any sector. Some of the most resilient cities in the country -- from San Antonio to Poughkeepsie -- stayed afloat on the stable currents of health spending.
This isn't a new trend: in the 2000s, the health and education sectors added more than 5.2 million jobs while the private sector grew by barely a million. It's not a dying trend either. In the next decade, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the White House expect health care jobs to grow nearly twice as fast as any other category. Six of the top eight jobs with the fastest projected growth are in the health care or medical science industries. Three of the top five jobs with the largest projected growth are in health care.
Federal judge rules against health-care law
By Jerry Seper - The Washington Times
The Obama administration's health care law was ruled unconstitutional Monday by a federal judge in Virginia, who said it "exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power" and violated a person's right to choose by forcing all Americans to buy health insurance.
"At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance - of crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage - it's about an individual's right to choose to participate," U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Alexandria said in a 42-page opinion.
Virginia health-care ruling strikes down key provision of Obama's plan
By Rosalind S. Helderman - Washington Post
RICHMOND - A federal judge in Virginia ruled Monday that a key provision of the nation's sweeping health-care overhaul is unconstitutional, the most significant legal setback so far for President Obama's signature domestic initiative.
U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson found that Congress could not order individuals to buy health insurance.
In a 42-page opinion, Hudson said the provision of the law that requires most individuals to get insurance or pay a fine by 2014 is an unprecedented expansion of federal power that cannot be supported by Congress's power to regulate interstate trade.
Understanding Congressional Trickery
by John Markley - DownsizeDC.com
Corruption of congress continues:S.510/HR2749 loaded into a dead bill
Quotes of the Day: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -- attributed to Edmund Burke
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do the wrong thing." -- Michael Cloud
The so-called food safety bill passed. It took corrupt procedural tricks to do it.
We told you last week that the Senate made a mistake when they passed their version of the Food Safety Bill (S.510). Under the Constitution only the House can introduce revenue measures. The Senate trampled on this prerogative, and the House leadership wouldn't stand for it.
Government Unions vs. Taxpayers
The moral case for unions - protecting working families from exploitation - does not apply to public employment.
By TIM PAWLENTY - WSJ.com
When Americans think of organized labor, they might think of images like I saw growing up in a blue-collar meatpacking town: hard hats, work boots, tough conditions and gritty jobs. While I didn't work in the slaughterhouses, I did become a union member when I worked at a grocery store to help put myself through school. I was grateful for the paycheck and proud of the work I did.
The rise of the labor movement in the early 20th century was a triumph for America's working class. In an era of deep economic anxiety, unions stood up for hard-working but vulnerable families, protecting them from physical and economic exploitation.
Larry Summers bids good riddance
By Dana Milbank - Washington Post Staff Writer
It was the final question from the audience following Larry Summers's final speech as President Obama's chief economic adviser. "What," asked Caren Bohan of Reuters, "will you miss most about being in the White House?"
Summers could have taken the chance to wax eloquent about the virtues of government service, but instead he glared at the questioner. "Reporters like you," he said. Awkward laughter followed. Bohan's eyes widened, and Summers chuckled at his little joke.
Diplomat Richard Holbrooke dies at 69 President Obama's emissary to Afghanistan and Pakistan began his career as a junior Foreign Service officer during the Vietnam War. -- By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times - LATimes.com
Reporting from Washington - Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's emissary to Afghanistan and Pakistan and one of the most celebrated American diplomats of the last half-century, died Monday. He was 69.
Holbrooke died at George Washington University Hospital, where he had undergone surgery after doctors discovered a tear in his aorta on Friday.
U.S. Politicians Engaged in Grand Compromise or Great Conspiracy?
By: Martin D Weiss - MarketOracle.co.uk
When Americans went to the polls last month, many thought they were voting for a return of fiscal sanity in Washington. And with fiscal sanity, we'd have far better assurance of bond-market stability.
Instead, three houses of ill repute - two on Capitol Hill and one on Pennsylvania Avenue - are joining to deliver one of the most wanton, deficit-busting, bond-wrecking bills of all time.
What most people seem to overlook is that there are actually two bills in the works. There's the bill Congress will pass this year. And there's the bill you and I will have to pay next year, the year after, and perhaps till the day we die.
A Spine Transplant for the GOP
By G. Tracy Mehan, III - The American Spectator.org
Governor Sarah Palin just hit a home run with her cogent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal endorsing Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) Roadmap for America's Future, a tax-cutting, budget-balancing, entitlement-reforming proposal which House Republicans still refrain from embracing wholeheartedly.
In putting her political capital behind the Ryan plan, she may be giving a needed spine transplant to the Republican Party and saving it in spite of itself.
Governor Palin nicely highlights the relative merits of the Ryan plan over the recent recommendations of the president's Nation Commission on Fiscal Responsibility which, while certainly calling for some necessary and painful cost-cutting proposals, "makes only a limited effort to cut spending below the current trend set by the Obama administration."
Web Focus Helps Revitalize The Atlantic
By JEREMY W. PETERS - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON - How did a 153-year-old magazine - one that first published the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and gave voice to the abolitionist and transcendentalist movements - reinvent itself for the 21st century?
By pretending it was a Silicon Valley start-up that needed to kill itself to survive.
The Atlantic, the intellectual's monthly that always seemed more comfortable as an academic exercise than a business, is on track to turn a tidy profit of $1.8 million this year. That would be the first time in at least a decade that it had not lost money.
Moscow clashes put authorities in a quandary
By Will Englund - Washington Post Foreign Service
MOSCOW - Street melees here over the past few days, sparked by the killing of a soccer fan and fueled by nationalists' hatred of immigrants from the Caucasus, have caught the police and other authorities unprepared for an upsurge of rage that appears to reflect a larger sense of anger in Russian society.
The riots by right-wing nationalists and extremists have put political leaders on the spot: How should they go about cracking down on a movement that up until now has typically been a useful right flank for those in power?
Deck the Halls With Sugar and Flour: 26 Holiday Cookie Recipes
The Atlantic
Whether you're making Christmas cookies for your annual cookie swap or to leave out for Santa, these healthy Christmas cookies are sure to become family favorites. We've got lighter versions of classic holiday thumbprint cookies and gingerbread cookies, plus EatingWell's Annual Cookie Contest winners, such as Nana's Creole Pecan Cake Bars and Double Nut and Date Tassies. Your friends and family will love baking and eating our healthy Christmas cookie recipes all season long!
Two bank failures bring year's tally to 151
By Wallace Witkowski
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- One bank failure in Pennsylvania and one in Michigan brought the year's tally of failures to 151, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Friday. Regulators closed Paramount Bank of Farmington Hills, Mich., and Earthstar Bank of Southampton, Pa.
Derivatives: The Quadrillion Dollar Financial Casino Completely Dominated By The Big International Banks
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
If you took an opinion poll and asked Americans what they considered the biggest threat to the world economy to be, how many of them do you think would give "derivatives" as an answer? But the truth is that derivatives were at the heart of the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, and whenever the next financial crisis happens derivatives will undoubtedly play a huge role once again. So exactly what are "derivatives"? Well, derivatives are basically financial instruments whose value depends upon or is derived from the price of something else. A derivative has no underlying value of its own. It is essentially a side bet. Today, the world financial system has been turned into a giant casino where bets are made on just about anything you can possibly imagine, and the major Wall Street banks make a ton of money from it. The system is largely unregulated (the new "Wall Street reform" law will only change this slightly) and it is totally dominated by the big international banks.
The Fed? Ron Paul's Not a Fan.
By SEWELL CHAN - NYTimes.com
Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has been attacked for failing to foresee the financial crisis, for bailing out Wall Street, and, most recently, for injecting an additional $600 billion into the banking system to give the slow recovery a boost.
But Mr. Bernanke will face even more scrutiny in the months to come. On Thursday, House Republican leaders announced that Representative Ron Paul of Texas, the outspoken Republican libertarian who ran for president in 2008, will become the chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the Fed. His position on the central bank is captured in the title of his 2009 book, "End the Fed" (Grand Central Publishing).
Here's some of what he wrote:
The eurozone is in bad need of an undertaker The EU's Franco-German "Directoire" and the European Central Bank have between them ruled out all plausible solutions to the eurozone's debt crisis.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
There will be no Eurobond, no increases in the EU's €440bn (£368bn) rescue fund, and no mass purchases of Spanish and Italian bonds by the ECB. Nothing. The system is political and constitutionally paralysed. Spain and Portugal will be left nakedly exposed before their funding crunch in January.
It is entirely predictable that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy would move so quickly to shoot down last week's Eurobond proposal, issuing pre-emptive warning before this week's EU summit that they will not accept "a bundling together of all Europe's debts".
NY Fed to Buy $105 Billion in Treasurys Over Next Month
By Michael S. Derby - WSJ.com
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Friday it will buy $105 billion in Treasury debt over the coming month.
The bank said in a press release the purchases will include $75 billion done under the new program to buy $600 billion in longer term government bonds by the middle of next year. The remaining $30 billion will be purchases related to reinvestment of the proceeds of the Fed's mortgage holdings.
The Fed operations will comprise 18 auctions occuring between Dec. 13 and Jan. 11, and will target a range of conventional and inflation indexed government bonds. The next auction schedule is expected to be made public on Jan. 12, 2011.
Euro will not fail, say Wolfgang Schaeuble and John Major Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has warned those who bet against the euro that they "will not succeed".
Telegraph.co.uk
The single currency won't fail, and the region's nations are determined to defend it, Mr Schaeuble told German newspaper the Bild am Sonntag in an interview published on Sunday.
"All those responsible in Europe agree: the euro is to all our advantage. And that's why we will successfully defend it," Mr Schaeuble was cited as saying.
"Those who bet their money against the euro will have no success," he added. "The euro won't fail."
Banks Cut Exposure to Europe's Debt Woes
By JACK EWING - NYTimes.com
FRANKFURT - Banks around the world have substantially cut their exposure to Greece, Ireland and other troubled countries, according to a report released Sunday, which could ease fears that sovereign debt woes in Europe will provoke another banking crisis.
But the data, from the Bank for International Settlements, which acts as the clearinghouse for central banks around the world, could also raise questions about how much of the damaged assets have simply been soaked up by the European Central Bank.
Jim Rogers: Britain is Bankrupt!
Market alarm as US fails to control biggest debt in history US Treasuries last week suffered their biggest two-day sell-off since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008. The borrowing costs of the government of the world's largest economy have now risen by a quarter over the past four weeks.
By Liam Halligan - Telegraph.co.uk
Such a sharp rise in US benchmark market interest rates matters a lot - and it matters way beyond America. The US government is now servicing $13.8 trillion (£8.7 trilion) in declared liabilities - making it, by a long way, the world's largest debtor. Around $414bn of US taxpayers' money went on sovereign interest payments last year - around 4.5 times the budget of America's Department of Education.
Debt service costs have reached such astronomical levels even though, over the past year and more, yields have been kept historically and artificially low by "quantitative easing (QE)" - in other words, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's virtual printing press. Now borrowing costs are 28pc higher than a month ago, with the 10-year Treasury yield reaching 3.33pc last week, an already eye-watering debt service burden can only go up.
Why We're Headed For A Collapse
By Karl Denninger - SeekingAlpha.com
Americans want Congress to bring down a federal budget deficit that many believe is dangerously out of control, only under two conditions: minimize the pain and make the rich pay.
The public wants Congress to keep its hands off entitlements such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, a Bloomberg National Poll shows. They oppose cuts in most other major domestic programs and defense. They want to maintain subsidies for farmers and tax breaks like the mortgage-interest deduction. And they're against an increase in the gasoline tax.
Meanwhile, over in Britain, an attempt to play a game called "reality" has led to violence:
U.S. Military Prepares for Economic Collapse
Raven Clabough - SilverBearCafe.com
Skeptics who continue to assert that the economic plight of the United States has been overstated need not look further than the Pentagon to find out just how wrong they are. CNBC has learned that the Pentagon is currently playing out "war games" pertinent to an American economic meltdown.
According to CNBC, "The Pentagon is planning for real economic threats to America."
CNBC's Business News analyst Eamon Javers explains:
Ever since the crash of 2008, the Defense Intelligence establishment has really been paying a lot of attention to global markets and how they could serve as a threat to U.S. National security interests. At one upcoming seminar that we're going to see here next month, they're going to be taking a look at a lot of the issues [including] the use of sovereign wealth funds to manipulate markets, currencies; nation state economic collapse, sovereign default, nation state instability; U.S. AlliesÕ budgets, deficits, national security infrastructures.
Bernanke's Short-Term Plans Are a Long-Term Disaster
By Kevin McElroy - SeekingAlpha.com
I know I talked about Bernanke's 60 Minutes interview earlier this week, but it's such an important issue, that I think it needs a little closer inspection. If you have no stomach for deceit, I can't recommend watching the video. But if you're a George Orwell fan, I'm sure you'll enjoy the many double-speak references and outright distortions.
So we know that Bernanke is a liar, but what's worse is the actual things he's being truthful about. Taken on face value, Bernanke's plans simply aren't working.
In short, Bernanke's latest announcement of $600 billion of Treasury purchases is intended to lower short term interest rates, which (in theory) should spur investment and growth.
China Risks 'Rush' to Tighten in 2011 as Prices Climb
By Bloomberg News
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- China risks a more abrupt tightening in monetary policy next year after refraining from raising interest rates since October even as inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in more than two years.
Consumer prices jumped 5.1 percent in November, a statistics bureau report showed Dec. 11. A measure of wholesale costs climbed 6.1 percent, exceeding all 28 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Even so, the central bank held off over the weekend on the rate move predicted by firms including UBS AG and Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd.
Bonds Signal No End to Deflation for Eight Years: Japan Credit
By Masaki Kondo and Yoshiaki Nohara
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Japan's forecast for an end to deflation in 2011 and 35 trillion yen ($416.9 billion) of spending have done little to change the thinking in the bond market, where investors see eight more years of falling prices.
Bonds designed to protect investors against inflation show that money managers in Japan anticipate prices will decline at an average 0.6 percent pace over the next five years and 0.4 percent annually through 2018. Japan is the only country where bonds linked to price changes show entrenched deflation expectations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Consequences of Excessive Money and Debt
By Bob Chapman - TheInternationalForecaster.com
Euro zone close to the edge, Germany resists, Europe struggles with bailouts, quantitative easing must end, a deflationary depression must be accepted, more questions than answers at the Fed, fragile housing market
Believe it or not the euro zone and European Union crisis is still in the formative stages. The bailout packages arranged for Greece and Ireland are not to bail out those two countries, but to bail out the European banks that lent to them and bought their bonds when it was imprudent to do so. They knew, because they control the governments that the public of the solvent governments would bail them out. Thus, the governments of Ireland and Greece with Portugal and Spain to follow will be showered with an Anglo-American style bailout. As you know $1 trillion won't be enough to make the banks happy, so $3 trillion will be needed. Germany says no we are not going to do that. Well, we'll see just who the real masters of Germany are. Such policy flies in the face of German culture. It shows you though how close to the edge Europe and its euro zone really is. Germany understands, but the rest of Europe, particularly the PIIGS are in denial. The IMF has its nose under the blanket. It will lend and participate, so that it can serve its masters by keeping these wayward states completely in austerity and bondage for the next 50 years and in that process relieve them of their sovereignty. As all of Europe belatedly understands, one interest rate can never fit all.
On the Edge with Max Kaiser-Latest on Global Financial Crisis
On the Edge with Max Kaiser-Latest on Global Financial Crisis
12-10-2010-(Part2)
On the Edge with Max Kaiser-Latest on Global Financial Crisis
12-10-2010-(Part3)
Gold May Outperform Silver, Lifting Ratio
By Nicholas Larkin
Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Gold may outperform silver, lifting the ratio between the two metals by as much as 20 percent, according to technical analysis by Societe Generale SA.
The attached chart shows the ratio of gold to silver steadied after dropping as low as 46.6 last week, near a two- year channel support line and the lows of 2008 and 1999. The second chart shows the ratio may climb to between about 56 and 58, which are retracement levels of the decline from June that are singled out in so-called Fibonacci analysis.
Gold, Silver transfers rise: LBMA
By Allen Sykora - CommodityOnline.com
(Kitco News) - The London Bullion Market Association said Friday that clearing statistics for both gold and silver rose during November, with the silver data hitting its strongest level of 2010.
Silver ounces transferred between LBMA members as a result of trading rose 17.8% for the month to a daily average of 108.6 million troy ounces, the highest volume this year, the LBMA said. The number of transfers rose 27.2% to 560 per day.
What To Look For In The Gold/Silver Ratio
Mike Stall - SilverBearCafe.com
The gold/silver ratio is perhaps one of the first indicators traders looked at to comprehend the state of the precious metals market and accordingly acquire positions. Indeed, it has been out of favor among modern investors who believe that this is one ratio even his barber is tuned in to and a simple sinusoidal movement does not often work. Anything that goes up comes down - while the cliché cannot be disregarded, if an uncomplicated philosophy like that really worked as simply, it would have earned several investors guaranteed profits over time. It is essential to understand that the game in the markets is all about being in the side who are doing things that the majority are not, given that the majority loses. In order to outsmart the majority, we need to look at the gold silver ratio in a way the majority is not.
Wall Street's Pentagon Papers:
Biggest Financial Scam In World History
$12.3 TRILLION in taxpayers' money.
by David DeGraw - GlobalResearch.com
What if the greatest scam ever perpetrated was blatantly exposed, and the US media didn't cover it? Does that mean the scam could keep going? That's what we are about to find out.
I understand the importance of the new WikiLeaks documents. However, we must not let them distract us from the new information the Federal Reserve was forced to release. Even if WikiLeaks reveals documents from inside a large American bank, as huge as that could be, it will most likely pale in comparison to what we just found out from the one-time peek we got into the inner-workings of the Federal Reserve. This is the Wall Street equivalent of the Pentagon Papers.
A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives
By LOUISE STORY - NYTimes.com
On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.
The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable - and controversial - fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.
Drawn from giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the bankers form a powerful committee that helps oversee trading in derivatives, instruments which, like insurance, are used to hedge risk.
Risky Borrowers Find Credit Available Again, at a Price
By ERIC DASH - NYTimes.com
Credit card offers are surging again after a three-year slowdown, as banks seek to revive a business that brought them huge profits before the financial crisis wrecked the credit scores of so many Americans.
The rise is striking because it includes offers to riskier borrowers who were shunned as recently as six months ago. But this time, in contrast to the boom years, when banks "preapproved" seemingly everyone, lenders are choosing their prospects more carefully and setting stricter terms to guard against another wave of losses.
Quantitative Easing: The Real Reason the Fed May Go For QE3
BY SHAH GILANI, Contributing Editor, Money Morning
Ben Bernanke has a secret.
And it's a secret that very likely terrifies him and his policymaking brethren at the U.S. Federal Reserve.
That secret has to do with his latest round of "quantitative easing," a liquidity-push known as "QE2."
What Bernanke & Co. don't want Americans to know is that painfully slow growth - or even a double-dip recession - isn't their greatest fear. Bernanke's greatest fear is that without this liquidity, one or more of the massive, already-bailed-out U.S. banks could stumble and once again undermine the global financial system.
And this time around, the outcome would be much, much uglier.
Quantitative Easing Financial Markets Train Smash Coming
By: Brian Bloom - MarketOracle.co.uk
In this analyst's view, it is only a matter of time before the folly of Quantitative Easing becomes transparent to everyone. That time may be closer than most people think.
Here is a quote from an article entitled "Investors Hold Biggest Commodity Positions On Record; Viral Nonsense About Silver" written by Mike Shedlock.
"Hedge funds, pension funds and mutual funds dramatically ramped up their holdings in everything from oil and natural gas to silver, corn and wheat this year. In many cases, the number of contracts held for individual commodities now far exceeds the amount outstanding in mid-2008, the last time commodity markets were soaring to records and debate raged about whether excessive speculation was driving up prices"
In context of the three charts below, the commodities markets themselves - and the derivatives markets which hang off them; and the financial markets which will certainly be impacted by rising counterparty risk - may well be headed for a train smash
Tax Deal Set to Pass Senate Supporters Hope Expected Easy Victory Monday Will Build Momentum in House
By JOHN D. MCKINNON And JANET HOOK - WSJ.com
Democrats are predicting that a much-debated tax agreement will clear a crucial hurdle comfortably in the Senate on Monday, with a margin that they hope will add momentum to the deal in the House.
But even with President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and a growing number of Senate Democrats backing the deal, House Democrats remained eager to test whether they could push Republicans to raise the proposed tax rate on estates.
$860 billion tax-cut deal: Cost breakdown
By Jeanne Sahadi
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Senate version of the tax-cut deal brokered by the White House and Republicans earlier this week is estimated to cost roughly $860 billion.
The Senate will take its first vote on the bill on Monday.
But even if the Senate passes the bill, House passage is far from guaranteed given many House Democrats' bitter opposition to the compromise framework in its current form. Unless they're allowed to make key changes, they have said they will not bring the bill to the House floor.
The White House, meanwhile, has said if any major changes are made, the whole deal could unravel.
Tax reform -- not just cuts -- needed
By Chris Isidore
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Want to lower your tax rates, help the economy and make April 15 less of a chore? Tax reform is probably the way to go.
Tax reform is suddenly getting a lot more attention as a way to fix the ailing U.S. economy, as well as address the problems with government deficits. That's because even with the lower tax rates, your tax bill might rise due to closing loopholes and the removal of deductions and credits.
"The tax code is very inefficient," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in an interview with "60 Minutes" this week. "Both the personal tax code and the corporate tax code. By closing loopholes and lowering rates, you could increase the efficiency of the tax code and create more incentives for people to invest."
Gerald Celente on Jeff Rense 09 Dec 2010
Pimco Total Return Among Biggest Losers as Bond Rally Fizzles
By Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam and Charles Stein
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gross's Pimco Total Return Fund, the world's largest mutual fund, was the second-biggest decliner among the largest U.S. bond managers in the past month as clients pulled money for the first time in two years amid a selloff in Treasuries.
The $250 billion Pimco Total Return fell 3 percent in the 30 days through Dec. 8, trailing all but one of the 10 largest bond mutual funds, which lost an average of 2 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Only the $33 billion Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities Fund declined more, falling 3.9 percent in the period.
Firms Feel Pain From Health Law
By DANA MATTIOLI - WSJ.com
Big employers faced with incorporating the first round of health-care changes next month are grappling with how to comply with the long list of new rules.
Many companies are hiring consultants to help sort though the mountain of new mandates, which include extending dependent coverage to children up to age 26, and may eventually result in covering more employees. Some are also considering changes to their plans -including pushing costs to workers.
Filing bankruptcy in retirement may not be such a bad idea
By Cindy Perman, CNBC.com
The number of people filing for bankruptcy protection in retirement has soared in recent years - even before the recession.
In fact, people 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the population seeking bankruptcy protection, according to a recent study from the University of Michigan Law School.
The problem is simple math, said Johanna Sweaney Salt, a CPA with Kaufman, Schmid, Gray & Salt in Claremont, Calif. Their medical expenses, taxes and other costs keep going up, while their income is going down. Social Security hasn't had a cost-of-living adjustment in a long time and pensions and retirement accounts took a huge hit during the recession. Reverse mortgages and other alternatives presented to them as "solutions" often just dig them further in the hole.
Foreclosures a buyer's market
BY GRETA GUEST - FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Last spring in the waning days of the first-time homebuyer tax credit, Stephen Ploski, 24, made an offer on a foreclosed home in Farmington Hills.
He said the 1,400-square-foot home was livable, but needed serious updates. He was willing to do the work, and take the risk.
In exchange, he got a deal. The three-bedroom, one-bathroom home was his for $49,000. He lives in the home with his wife, Ashley, 22, and their daughter Lana, 2. And they are expecting their second baby.
Not having a mortgage won't free you from foreclosure mess
By Michelle Conlin, AP Real Estate Writer
Christopher Marconi was in the shower when he heard a loud banging on his door. By the time he grabbed a towel and hustled to his front step, a U.S. marshal's sedan was peeling out of his driveway. Nailed to Marconi's front door was a foreclosure summons from Wells Fargo, naming him as a defendant. But the notice was for a house Marconi had never seen - on a mortgage he never had.
Tom Williams was in his kitchen thumbing through the mail when he opened a letter from GMAC. It informed him that the bank would confiscate his house unless he immediately paid off his mortgage balance of $276,000. But Williams had never missed a mortgage payment. And his loan wasn't due to mature until 2032.
Housing Shaky as Lenders Tighten
By NICK TIMIRAOS - WSJ.com
Economists are worried that the housing sector may be heading into another downdraft as mortgage lenders continue to tighten already restrictive lending standards.
Such a scenario seemed less likely earlier this year, when home-buyer tax credits fueled a surge in sales. But sales have plunged in the second half of the year after those credits expired. New and existing home sales were down by more than 25% in October from a year ago.
Meanwhile, applications for mortgages have hovered near their lowest levels in more than a decade since May, even though mortgage rates have tumbled to their lowest levels in 60 years, with average 30-year, fixed-rate loans bottoming at 4.21% in October.
A Quaint Town in Georgia Struggles With the Real Estate Crisis
By KRISTEN BERRY - DailyFinance.com
I fell in love with a newly-built neighborhood called Vickery the first time I saw it in 2004. Located just north of Atlanta in Cumming, Georgia, Vickery's turn-of-the-century architecture and tree-lined sidewalks feels like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. The narrow streets and village storefronts suggest an ideal version of the American dream, one that I embraced fully when I moved in. Not surprisingly, the neighborhood was voted one of the best in Atlanta in 2006.
Colorado's foreclosure rules challenged Borrowers say they don't get a fair hearing from public trustees and limited court hearings.
By Aldo Svaldi - The Denver Post
Denver attorney John Prater sued the state of Colorado in federal court Friday, alleging that it is allowing lenders to seize properties without the due process required under the U.S. Constitution.
"Colorado's foreclosure process and law are unconstitutional," said Andrew O'Connor with the Prater Legal Offices.
He said borrowers aren't getting a fair hearing under the state's current system of public trustees and limited "Rule 120" court hearings.
Prater is fighting a foreclosure on his Douglas County home and filed a federal lawsuit after failing to get the hearing he wanted in state courts.
A Florida Housing Development Stalls, and the Cows Move In
By LITA EPSTEIN - DailyFinance:
Jerilee Wei never expected to be living next to a cow pasture when she bought her home in Lakeland, Fla., in 2007. In her upscale community, newly constructed houses were selling for between $300,000 and $425,000. Then one morning she woke up and found some cattle had moved in.
It turns out that the developer had changed the legal status of the land, taking advantage of a "greenbelt classification" law that lowers taxes for farmers. The land once set aside for lakefront homes was now a pasture.
Federal Reserve Reveals $2.3 Billion Was Secretly Loaned to Harley Davidson
By Basem Wasef
Recently divulged information reveals that the Federal Reserve secretly loaned trillions of dollars to major corporations between 2008 and 2009, and that Harley-Davidson received a total of $2.3 billion to help cover operating expenses during the economic crisis.
Harley wasn't alone. The Fed's Commercial Paper Funding Facility also disbursed $26.8 billion to Ford, Toyota, and BMW. Large corporations including General Electric, McDonald's, and Verizon also received assistance, as well as financial institutions like Citigroup, Barclays, and Goldman Sachs. The total amount loaned? $3.3 trillion.
Oil And U.S. Hyperinflation
Jeff Nielson - SilverBearCafe.com
As precious metals investors, it can often seem to us that the U.S. government (and the banking cabal which pulls its strings) is exclusively focused on suppressing gold and silver prices - given the historic role of precious metals as a "barometer" of economic conditions, especially inflation. However, there is a different commodity that this group obsesses about to a far greater degree than precious metals: oil.
The United State's enormous dependency on imported oil translates directly to enormous economic vulnerability. Indeed, U.S. paranoia about "securing" oil supplies for itself has been the driving force behind most (if not all) of the wars it has instigated in the Middle East.
The 99ers
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
How much have things changed in America when we have to invent a new word to describe the hordes of Americans that have exhausted two years of unemployment benefits and yet still have not been able to find a new job? In America today, there are at least 1.5 million "99ers" - American workers that have completely exhausted all of their long-term unemployment benefits and that still do not have jobs. Some say that the true number of 99ers is actually much higher than that. In any event, almost everyone agrees that we have a huge problem on our hands. Unfortunately for the 99ers, the tax cut deal that Barack Obama has reached with the Republicans only extends the existing structure of long-term unemployment benefits. It does not include additional weeks of benefits for the 99ers.
No Jobs? Young Graduates Make Their Own
By HANNAH SELIGSON - NYTimes.com
FIVE years ago, after graduating from New York University with a film degree and thousands of dollars in student loans, Scott Gerber moved back in with his parents on Staten Island. He then took out more loans to start a new-media and technology company, but he didn't have a clear market in mind; the company went belly up in 2006.
"It made me feel demoralized and humiliated," he says. "I wondered if this was really what post-collegiate life was supposed to be like. Did I do something wrong? The answers weren't apparent to me."
Start A Business? In The United States? Are You Kidding Me?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Many of you have decided that you are going to attempt to start a business in the United States today. Many of you are still convinced that this is "the land of opportunity" and that starting a business is fairly easy. Are you sure about that? Are you certain that you have considered all of the headaches involved? Are you sure that you are ready to handle the thousands of regulations that apply to your business and the mountains of paperwork mandated by various levels of government? Are you prepared to deal with entrenched unions, predatory lawyers and rabid environmentalists? The truth is that the business environment has never been this toxic in all of U.S. history. So even if you are able to start a viable business that can compete with the monolithic global corporations that dominate our economy, you still might not be able to make it. In the end, thousands upon thousands of businesses across America have been doomed to failure by ridiculous regulations, mountains of paperwork, health insurance costs, predatory lawsuits or corrupt government officials. So do you really think that you can beat the odds?
Madoff ruined thousands, including his son
By Aaron Smith
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Two years after the arrest of Bernard Madoff, the fallout from his sweeping Ponzi scheme continues to wreak havoc on thousands of victims, whose lives were destroyed by the gargantuan scam.
Bernard's son Mark is the latest casualty. On Saturday -- the second anniversary of the Bernard Madoff's arrest -- his son Mark was found dead in an apparent suicide in his Manhattan apartment. Mark Madoff's father-in-law found him hanging from a ceiling pipe while his two-year-old son slept alone in another room, according to the NYPD.
Lawmakers Upset With FDNY's 'Crash Tax'
NEW YORK (CBS 2) Ð After the Fire Department of New York revealed its plan to charge drivers who cause car accidents with a so-called "crash tax," two Brooklyn lawmakers are furious.
State Sen. Eric Adams and Councilman Jumaane Williams are sponsoring companion bills against FDNY's proposal. They said they want any tax to receive state and local approval before taking effect.
"We cannot balance the budget on the backs of the unfortunate number of middle class New Yorkers merely because of a vehicle accident," Adams said.
Lying is Not Patriotic
Feel Free to Read This Later, on Your Phone
By DAMON DARLIN - NYTimes.com
OUR evolutionary roots are showing when we sit down at the computer.
With our hands constantly traversing the keyboard, we forage for information. We ceaselessly search for the next task. In that heightened state of awareness and anxiety, it is very hard to just sit back, relax and read.
When we do read for fun, it is in nuggets. We are attracted by articles that are short and quickly consumed. If the headlines mention Kim Kardashian or promise a list like "Six Creepy Ways to Mourn a Dead Pet," online readers react like a Cro-Magnon finding a patch of ripe red raspberries after a day of digging for tubers.
U.S. to press China on counterfeiting
By Tom Barkley
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. will press China next week to ensure that its recent crackdown on counterfeiters will produce meaningful and long-lasting results, a trade official said Friday.
The six-month campaign China launched in October to beef up enforcement of intellectual property rights has won guarded praise of the U.S. government and business community. But frustrated that past pledges to curtail rampant piracy have fallen short, U.S. business groups and lawmakers plan to push for China to agree to benchmarks to demonstrate real progress, at annual high-level trade talks held in Washington next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Mukasey: Prosecute Assange because it's "easier" than prosecuting New York Times
By David Edwards and Daniel Tencer - RawStory.com
It's come to the attention of some observers that there isn't much the US can charge Julian Assange with that it can't charge the New York Times with as well.
After all, the founder of WikiLeaks and the US's pre-eminent major daily both basically did the same thing: They published confidential State Department cables allegedly stolen by Pfc. Bradley Manning.
But for Michael Mukasey, President George W. Bush's last attorney general, the matter is clear cut: The US should prosecute Assange because it's "easier" than prosecuting a major news outlet.
WikiLeaks backlash:
The first global cyber war has begun, claim hackers As Julian Assange is held in solitary confinement at Wandsworth prison, the anonymous community of hacktivists takes to the cyber battlefields
By Mark Townsend, Paul Harris in New York, Alex Duval Smith in Johannesburg, Dan Sabbagh, Josh Halliday - guardian.co.uk
He is one of the newest recruits to Operation Payback. In a London bedroom, the 24-year-old computer hacker is preparing his weaponry for this week's battles in an evolving cyberwar. He is a self-styled defender of free speech, his weapon a laptop and his enemy the US corporations responsible for attacking the website WikiLeaks.
He had seen the flyers that began springing up on the web in mid-September. In chatrooms, on discussion boards and inboxes from Manchester to New York to Sydney the grinning face of a Guy Fawkes mask had appeared with a call to arms. Across the world a battalion of hackers was being summoned.
'The Fourth Estate is dead,' former CIA analyst declares
By Nathan Diebenow - RawStory.com
Traditional lines of communication between the people and the press have fallen into such disrepair in America that a whole new approach is necessary to challenge the military-industrial-governmental complex, according to a former CIA analyst sympathetic to WikiLeaks.
"The Fourth Estate is dead," Ray McGovern, of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, told Raw Story in an exclusive interview. "The Fourth Estate in his country has been captured by government and corporations, the military-industrial complex, the intelligence apparatus. Captive! So, there is no Fourth Estate."
U.S. Military Spending Is Out Of Control: 12 Facts That Show That We Cannot Afford
To Be The Police Of The World
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Today, the United States has become the police of the world. The U.S. military has a total of over 700 military bases in 130 countries around the world. Total military spending by the U.S. government is nearly equal to the combined military spending of the rest of the globe. Meanwhile, the federal government is literally drowning in debt. So if we make some significant cuts to military spending will we fix the national debt problem? Of course not. In fact, it would only put a small dent in it. But at least it would help. The truth is that we cannot afford to be the police of the world and the Pentagon wastes so much money that it is almost incomprehensible. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once publicly admitted that the Pentagon lost track of 2.3 trillion dollars and cannot tell us how it was spent. Just imagine how your boss would react if you lost track of just 2.3 thousand dollars. So why wasn't there more of an uproar about losing track of 2.3 trillion dollars? Have we become so accustomed to military waste that we don't even care anymore?
America's Message To The Rest Of The World: You Send Us Oil And Cheap Plastic Gadgets And We'll Send You Our Wealth And Prosperity
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Have you ever seen pictures of extravagant wealth from places such as Dubai or Abu Dhabi and wondered where in the world they got all that money from? Have you ever read news stories that talk about China lending us hundreds of billions of dollars and wondered how they could possibly have so much wealth? Well, it is actually quite simple. They got much of it from us. Every month, the United States buys much more from the rest of the world then they buy from us. It is called a "trade deficit" and the United States has been running one for decades. In essence, what is happening each month is that we are transferring somewhere between 40 to 50 billion dollars of our national wealth to the rest of the globe and they are sending us oil and cheap plastic gadgets that Americans greedily consume. By the end of the year we have usually transferred somewhere around a half trillion dollars of our national wealth out of the country for good.
Bernanke's newest headache looms Ron Paul to chair monetary policy subcommittee overseeing Fed
By Felicia Sonmez - WashingtonPost.com
Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul is poised to chair the House Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee, putting the gavel of the panel overseeing the Federal Reserve into the hands of one of the central bank's most outspoken critics.
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced Thursday that Paul will head the subcommittee when Republicans assume the majority in the 112th Congress.
"This is the leadership team that crafted the first comprehensive financial reform bill to put an end to the bailouts, wind down the taxpayer funding of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and enforce a strong audit of the Federal Reserve," Bachus said in a statement, adding that the committee's "first priority is to end the taxpayer funded bailout of Fannie and Freddie."
Will Ron Paul Be Able To End The Fed?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Is Ron Paul finally in position to really do something about the Federal Reserve? U.S. Representative Spencer Bachus, the chairman-elect of the House Financial Services Committee, has announced that Ron Paul will chair the domestic monetary policy subcommittee starting next month. This puts Ron Paul in tremendous position to be able to put significant pressure on the Federal Reserve. In previous years Ron Paul has introduced legislation to end the Federal Reserve but it never got any traction. During this most recent session of Congress an effort by Ron Paul to have a full audit of the Federal Reserve conducted gathered quite a bit of momentum for a while, but in the end it did not get passed. However, a very limited examination of Fed activities during the recent financial crisis was passed, and that examination has revealed some really shocking things. With so many Tea Party members entering Congress this upcoming session there may be more momentum than ever to hold the Federal Reserve more accountable. Ron Paul is already talking about how he is planning for a full slate of hearings on U.S. monetary policy and he has indicated that he plans to restart a push to have the Fed audited.
NIA Discusses WikiLeaks, Bernanke, and Hyperinflation
National Inflation Association
NIA is deeply disturbed by how U.S. politicians and the mainstream media have been calling for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be charged with treason. Some people in Washington are even calling for the assassination of Assange like he is some kind of a terrorist, all because he helped spread the truth about our country's foreign policy and other sensitive topics. The U.S. is in very serious trouble if it has now become a crime to speak the truth.
In recent years with the help of the Internet, there has been a rise in alternative media sites that speak the truth, while the mainstream media has simultaneously experienced collapsing television ratings and newspaper circulation levels. CNBC's average television show now only has 47,000 U.S. viewers in the 25-54 demographic, down 36% from one year ago. NIA's latest inflationary depression update video has already surpassed 47,000 views, and we don't have the advantage of being on cable television in 95 million American homes.
Treasury Blocks Legal Aid for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure
Katrina vanden Heuvel - TheNation.com
With the media's laser-like focus on the Obama-Republican tax deal, here's a story that's underreported: the Obama Administration's coddling of the Big Banks and simultaneous neglect of homeowners facing foreclosure.
Consider this: the recent Fed audit revealed over $3.3 trillion in emergency assistance to the banks and other corporate behemoths during the financial crisis--no strings attached. Two trillion dollars to Morgan Stanley here, $600 billion to Goldman there, throw in a little chump change for McDonald's, GE, others--no demands to increase lending to small businesses, or modify mortgages for unemployed homeowners, for example.
Then consider the 19 states which are recipients of the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF)--a portion of TARP money set aside to help homeowners in states struggling with the highest unemployment rates and steepest declines in the housing market.
We approach a defining moment for Europe Germany will not abandon the no bail-out clause - a big decision looms for the EU - By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Amid the mounting confusion and acrimony of the eurozone crisis, one thing has this week come across loud and clear. "Un-European" though it might be - that's what Luxembourg's prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, called it - Germany is not about to yield on the "no bail-out" clause.
This is the bit of the Stability and Growth Pact that forbids fiscal transfers between members of Europe's monetary union. For Germany, it was an essential founding principle of the euro that would stop weaker nations free-riding on the back of stronger ones.
China's Trade Surplus Tops Estimates at $22.9 Billion
By Bloomberg News
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- China reported a more-than-estimated November trade surplus of $22.9 billion amid tensions with the U.S. because of slower gains by the yuan against the dollar.
Exports and imports surged to record values, with gains that topped analysts' forecasts. Overseas shipments rose 35 percent from a year earlier and imports climbed 38 percent, the customs bureau said today.
House Democrats defy Obama on tax cut bill
By: CNN's Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh
(CNN) - Defying President Obama, House Democrats voted Thursday not to bring up the tax package that he negotiated with Republicans in its current form.
"This message today is very simple: That in the form that it was negotiated, it is not acceptable to the House Democratic caucus. It's as simple as that," said Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen.
Obama and the Democratic Revolt
The White House must convince Dems-50 in the House and about 15 in the Senate.
By KARL ROVE - WSJ.com
For agreeing to a temporary extension of all the Bush tax cuts, President Obama is now facing a full-fledged revolt within his party. The responses from congressional Democrats have ranged from chilly to angry to threatening.
One asked, "Could we have a little fight before we cave? Why go right to surrender?" Another accused Mr. Obama of saying, "let 'em eat cake." Another called the compromise "an absolute disaster" and "an insult." Another complained, "we got screwed."
Liberals outside Congress are even more bitter. MoveOn.org demanded Democrats not "capitulate to the GOP on this terrible deal." Some have talked of primary challenges to Mr. Obama.
Tax Squabble Puts America At A Crossroads
Taxes item by Christopher G. Adamo - CapitolHillCoffeeHouse.com
The unprecedented power of this year's conservative groundswell has placed Washington liberals completely on the defensive, which is a fate they never expected. It was barely two years ago that the future was seemingly in their hands. Now they must navigate an incredibly difficult course in order to maintain any political viability whatsoever. And if Republicans remain firm and on message, the left may be steered inexorably towards a no win situation.
Consider their unenviable position. Disturbing though the notion may be, America is already in the early phases of the 2012 presidential campaign, and everything that happens inside the Beltway must be analyzed from that perspective. At such an inauspicious time, the entire liberal/Democrat house of cards is collapsing around them.
Some banks unwilling to hand over client-held physical gold and silver?
Anecdotal evidence, so far, suggests some banks may be having trouble laying their hands on client-owned bullion in their own vaults.
Author: Lawrence Williams - MineWeb.com
For some time some of the more outspoken gold commentators, like GATA, have been suggesting that title is held to far more gold and silver supposedly stored in bank's vaults, than is actually there - indeed they even have been questioning Central Banks' holdings of physical bullion - even in Fort Knox. Now there is some anecdotal evidence emerging on the internet and news programmes that may serve to back up some of these claims, at least as far as some commercial banks are concerned.
2011 to be another stellar year for gold - Nichols Yet another bullish assessment of the likely progress of the gold price medium and long term by precious metals specialist, Jeff Nichols. Author: Lawrence Williams - MineWeb.com
Specialist gold commentator Jeff Nichols remains perhaps even more bullish on gold than he has been in the past, despite the recent price surges and pullbacks which have been the features of the past few weeks. He describes the recent market movements over the past month as "base building" in a release put out yesterday by Rosland Capital, for which he is their Senior Economic Advisor.
Gold, Silver, Oil: Volatility is the New Stability
By James West - GoldSeek.com
In the last 30 day period, the price of gold has swung up and down like a yo-yo between $1,340 and ounce, and $1,420 an ounce, giving it a volatility ratio of 5.6%. Silver, in the same period traded between $25.38 and 30.50, which gives it a 16% volatility ratio. Oil's volatility range over thirty days lies between $80.28 and $90.87, or 11.65%.
For a 30 day period, those trading ranges are extremely high. For example, the volatility ratio in the price of gold in the same thirty day window 10 years ago was between $264 and $272, or 2.9%.
Gold May Gain, Paring Weekly Decline, on European Debt Concern
By Sungwoo Park
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Gold, trading little changed, may climb for a second day, paring this week's decline, as mounting concerns about the European sovereign-debt woes spur investor demand for a protection of wealth. Silver and platinum rose.
Gold for immediate delivery was at $1,388.55 an ounce at 10:01 a.m. in Seoul. The metal is down 1.8 percent this week, set for the first weekly drop in three, as traders book profits before the end of the year. The February-delivery contract was 0.3 percent lower at $1,388.80 an ounce on the Comex in New York, bringing this week's loss to 1.2 percent.
Bullion Coins: Will US Congress repeal 1099 rules?
By Allen Sykora CommodityOnline.com
(Kitco News) - Coin dealers are watching to see if a lame-duck U.S. Congress repeals rules on new Form 1099 reporting requirements before lawmakers adjourn later this month.
If not, the topic will be one of the most closely watched legislative issues for those in the coin and precious-metals business when a new Congress convenes in 2011.
Business advocates are hopeful that the rules will be scrapped before they go into effect in 2012, especially since Republicans and Democrats seemingly have bridged the gap on getting rid of them. Senators in both parties tried to push through amendments for a full repeal last month, although they failed to garner the needed 67-vote super majority.
DON'T BE FOOLED: INFLATION HAS THE UPPER HAND
by Chris Martenson PhD - FinancialSense.com
It's a murky period for investors, but clarity is emerging
Here at Martenson Central, we are endlessly keeping a close eye out for the emergence of deflation, defined here as the purchasing power of the dollar going up.
Technically, inflation and deflation are terms that indicate a particular combination of money surplus or deficit (respectively), demand for money (of which velocity is but one measure), and demand for various goods and services (which themselves may be in abundance or short supply).
The reason that the inflation vs. deflation debate has been so noisy, yet simultaneously so murky, is that all of these intersecting variables impact the final equation. It is like the difference between trying to balance a single broomstick on your outstretched hand vs. trying to balance a broomstick with three well-greased hinges at points along its length. The former is tricky enough to balance; the latter would be impossible for nearly everyone.
Euro Set for Weekly Loss Amid Debt Concerns, Ireland Downgrade
By Yoshiaki Nohara and Monami Yui
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The euro was set for a weekly loss against 10 of its 16 major counterparts as concerns Europe's debt crisis will linger damped demand for the region's assets.
Europe's currency traded near the lowest in more than a week against the dollar after Fitch Ratings downgraded Ireland. European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and ECB Governing Council member Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez will speak to reporters in Madrid today. The dollar headed for a weekly gain versus most major counterparts before a report forecast to show U.S. consumer confidence improved this month.
WHY IS ANYONE SURPRISED?
Submitted by Lee Adler - FinancialSense.com
A number of pundits noted that in the Fed's recent data dump about its emergency operations during the 2008 "episode", the Fed took stocks as collateral. The only thing that surprises me is that people are surprised by the fact that the Fed backstops stock prices. Bernanke even announced on November 3 that a key goal of QE2 was to push stock prices higher in his Washington Post Oped the night of the QE2 announcement. In my work tracking the Fed over the past 8 years in the Professional Edition Fed Report, the correlation between TOMO and POMO and the direction of stock prices was very strong. The linked chart is a little dated, but you get the idea.
Obama's a Sell-Out on Taxes? Not So Fast
Michael Meeropol - TheNation.com
Now that President Obama reached a deal with Republicans to extend all of the Bush tax cuts for two years and significantly lower the estate tax, I'm finding myself in a strange position for a progressive economist. I'm pleasantly surprised at how much he (and therefore the people of this country) has gained in exchange for what many were calling an abject surrender. After all, he got Republicans to agree to an extension of unemployment insurance, a payroll tax holiday and (amazingly) an expansion of the earned income tax credit (EITC). Remember what that program does: if you are a low-income worker and you don't make enough to pay income tax, you actually get a check from the government. The right wing has consistently attacked the EITC as a welfare entitlement and yet there they were, agreeing to its expansion.
Senate Unveils Tax Bill's Price Tag
By JANET HOOK And JOHN D. MCKINNON - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - The Senate unveiled final details of a broad tax bill and its 10-year price tag of $858 billion - and began debate Thursday night on the package, a significant step after two years of gridlock over how to treat expiring tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush. Without action, income taxes on nearly every American are due to rise on Jan. 1.
The Senate has moved quickly after Mr. Obama and Republican leaders unveiled the package Monday, with a key test vote now scheduled for Monday. The bill is expected to pass with support from most Senate Republicans and a substantial number of Democrats, after lawmakers agreed to extend expiring subsidies for ethanol and other alternative-energy sources. Backers now include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who had been withholding support over the bill's tax cuts for upper-income taxpayers.
QE2 Pushing Interest Rates Up and Not Down
By: Peter Cooper - GoldSeek.com
US mortgage rates have risen by 0.85 per cent since the Federal Reserve first signaled its intension to go for a second round of quantitative easing three months ago. And this week the yield on 10-year US treasuries is up 0.35 per cent to 3.3 per cent in a widespread global sell-off of T-bonds.
This is not supposed to be how QE2 works. The whole point of this $600 billion exercise is to squeeze interest rates down, and keep them down to give the US economy breathing space to recover.
Mortgage Rates, at Six-Month High, Threaten Refis and Fed
By MARK GONGLOFF - WSJ.com
Rising government borrowing costs have driven mortgage rates to their highest level in six months, challenging the still-shaky housing market and the Federal Reserve's efforts to boost the U.S. economy.
The rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.61% this week, according to the weekly survey from government-backed mortgage firm Freddie Mac, up from 4.46% a week ago and the highest level since June 24.
The higher rates have likely snuffed out a refinancing boomlet that began earlier this year and put billions of dollars into homeowners' pockets.
RISING INTEREST RATES MARK MAJOR CHANGES ON HORIZON
by Christopher Laird - FinancialSense.com
Since March 2009, the US Fed and other central banks have tried to reflate markets. One of the key ways was to us central bank money to purchase mortgage bonds to help keep home mortgage rates low. This also encourages money to flow into the stock market as interest rates are not as attractive.
Now US and world interest rates are rising again. The US Ten year yield rose from 2.6 pct to 3.1 pct in two months since October. European yields are also up, and China is going to be raising interest rates again. The EU credit problems are the reason for their higher rates.
China is experiencing inflation, and will be raising interest rates.
Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh Scores Important Early Victory in Pennsylvania Lawsuit -- The SubPrime Shakeout
A Legal Perspective on the Subprime and Broader Credit Crisis
In the first substantive decision handed down in any of the five major lawsuits by the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB) over RMBS losses, the Hon. Stanton Wettick, Jr. of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania dealt a blow to JPMorgan Chase, Countrywide and other securitizers of subprime and Alt-A mortgage loans, while letting the ratings agencies largely off the hook. In the Order on Defendant's Motion to Dismiss, Judge Wettick found that the FHLB's claims for fraud, negligent misrepresentation and Securities Act violations could proceed against J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc., the entity that actually offered the mortgage backed securities for sale to investors and put together the securities' offering documents.
BofA Restarts Some Foreclosures
By DAN FITZPATRICK - WSJ.com
Bank of America Corp. said it restarted about 16,000 foreclosure cases across the U.S. on Monday, but it may be weeks before it is known whether the bank's submission of new documents will pass muster with local judges.
The bank instructed its foreclosure attorneys this week to prepare new affidavits in 7,800 cases where court approval is required to foreclose on a home, out of a total of 102,000 frozen by the bank amid documentation concerns. In states where no court approval is required, attorneys were asked to lift the hold on 8,000 delayed foreclosure sales out of 30,000.
Housing agencies clash over mortgage-relief program
By Dina ElBoghdady and Zachary A. Goldfarb - Washington Post
The top federal agencies responsible for setting housing policy are clashing over a new program designed to help borrowers whose homes are worth less than they owe on their mortgages, according to industry and government sources.
The Federal Housing Administration says the program could avert foreclosures, but the Federal Housing Finance Agency has concerns that the program, if expanded to include the government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could be a logistical nightmare that would cost taxpayers too much, the sources said.
Treasuries Gain on Concern Over China Inflation, Europe Crisis
By Ron Harui
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries gained for a second day on speculation China will raise interest rates to slow economic growth and on concerns Europe's sovereign-debt crisis will spread, spurring demand for the safety of U.S. government debt.
Benchmark 10-year yields fell from near a six-month high before a China report tomorrow that economists said will show inflation quickened. Thirty-year yields retreated from near a seven-month high after Fitch Ratings yesterday downgraded Ireland's credit rating, adding to concern that Europe's fiscal woes will worsen.
China Credit 'Bubble' Headed for Bust, Blackhorse's Duncan Says
By Jason Clenfield and Ron Harui
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- China's economy is history's biggest bubble and may be headed for collapse, according to Richard Duncan, chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Management Pte. who predicted a credit boom would trigger a global recession.
A more than 50 percent surge in China's money supply since 2008 helped fuel economic growth in excess of 9 percent per year, even as trading partners sank into recession. The expansion also saddled the country with factories that produce three times more goods than can be bought by China's workers, 80 percent of whom make less than $5 a day, said Duncan.
High Long Bond Yield Good News for Gold Holders
By: Richard Daughty - GoldSeek.com
The Financial Times brought up the interesting point that because bond prices are so insanely high (making bond yields so preposterously low), a one-percent change in yields would negatively impact the prices of bonds much more than a one-percent change if bond yields were higher, which I assume means in the normal 3-6% range.
Of course, this is just the simple arithmetic of relative percentage moves, and as such is of absolutely no interest to those of us who are not looking for easy math problems to solve, but only looking for the Easy Road To Riches (ERTR), which turned out to be to buy gold, silver and oil as a defense against the disastrous inflation in prices, and a Fabulous Money-Making Opportunity (FMMO) when thus capitalizing on it, when the evil Federal Reserve was massively and consistently increasing the money supply, and especially so when the evil Federal Reserve is creating more enormous amounts of new money to buy government bonds from someplace after a lot of banks, bankers and assorted middlemen get their cut, and "doubly especially so" when the purpose of the whole stinking, corrupt exercise is to finance monstrous amounts of government deficit-spending!
Markets Defy Fed's Bond-Buying Push
By JON HILSENRATH And MARK WHITEHOUSE - WSJ.com
The Federal Reserve's decision to spur the economy with a $600 billion round of bond buying was among the most controversial in its history.
Fed officials quarreled over whether to proceed. At worst, some members argued, such a move risked whipping inflation to dangerous levels.
Six weeks later, the bond program looks more like a water pistol than a cannon - and the reasons explain the immense and strange challenges of steering monetary policy in the aftermath of a financial crisis when short-term interest rates are already near zero.
Senate Tax-Cut Extension Plan Would Add $857 Billion to Debt
By Ryan J. Donmoyer and Richard Rubin
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Senate leaders released an agreement crafted by the White House and Republicans to sustain Bush-era tax rates through 2012, set the estate tax at the lowest rate in 80 years, extend jobless aid and cut payroll taxes by 2 percentage points.
The bill would add $857 billion to the federal debt over 10 years, government analysts said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced the legislation today after three days of lobbying by Democrats to include measures excluded from the framework announced Dec. 6 by President Barack Obama. The measure includes some provisions favored by Democrats including renewed ethanol and commuter subsidies. Others, such as an extension of the Build America Bonds program, didn't make the cut.
Tax Appeals Swamp U.S. Towns as Property Prices Dive
By Jeff Green and Tim Jones
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- A fiscal flood that threatens to swamp local government budgets across the U.S. overflows from file cabinets in the office of Patty Halm, chair of the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
The backlog of cases from taxpayers seeking to lower property-tax bills of more than $100,000 shot up to 14,236 this year from an annual average of about 6,000 during the past decade. The backlog of smaller claims was at 28,558 at the end of September, eight times higher than a decade ago, according to records at the tribunal, a Lansing-based administrative court.
You don't want to be unemployed in Vermont
By Tami Luhby
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Jobless Americans everywhere are running out of federal unemployment benefits as Congress debates whether to extend the safety net as part of a Bush tax cut compromise.
But even if lawmakers approve an extension, residents in seven states won't be eligible for the same number of weeks as their peers nationwide.
That's because the unemployment rate in those states is improving so, according to federal law, the jobless there can't receive checks as long as those in harder-hit states.
Beware $90 oil
Posted by Nin-Hai Tseng - Fortune.com
With high unemployment, weak consumer spending and falling home prices, what else could possibly slow America's economic recovery? Oil prices.
Though prices have retreated a bit since, crude oil climbed above $90 a barrel on Tuesday - its highest level in two years. Futures rose by 1.5% to trade as high as $90.76 in New York, according to Bloomberg.
Why should we care? The development alone certainly won't pull the economy back into a recession, but it's an indicator to start watching closely, says James Hamilton, economist with the University of California in San Diego. Hamilton, who has done extensive research on oil shocks and business cycles, says the rise could put another damper on consumer spending and add to factors slowing the economic recovery.
TRIPLE-DIGIT OIL PRICES BACK WITHIN A QUARTER
by Jeff Rubin - FinancialSense.com
The strongest manufacturing numbers coming out of the Chinese economy in a seven-month period, coupled with plunging oil inventories in the world's largest energy consuming economy, have sent oil prices to a 25-month high. With no let-up in China's fuel demand, the world should be looking at triple-digit oil prices again within a quarter.
That may come as a shock to those who thought the bloated oil inventories that came in the wake of the last recession would provide a buffer against future oil price spikes. Suddenly that buffer has literally gone up in smoke.
Refined oil stocks held by China's two largest oil companies have fallen for eight consecutive months, while diesel stocks in the country fell 14 per cent in October. And the tightening oil market won't just be felt in China. The 140 million gallons of international oil inventories sloshing around in floating storage on the high seas is also all but gone.
Gas prices on track for unseasonable spike
By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
Motorists, brace yourselves for a lump of coal this holiday season: higher-priced gasoline.
Nationwide, a gallon of regular unleaded gas averaged $2.975 on Thursday and more than $3 a gallon in 20 states. That's up nearly 10 cents the past week and 34 cents higher than December 2009, AAA spokesman Troy Green says.
Benchmark crude oil opens today at $88.37 a barrel. If crude crosses $90 for the first time since 2008 and continues to rise, as many industry experts forecast, the average price of regular unleaded could hit $3.15 or higher by year's end.
Ford to hire 1,800 workers at Louisville plant
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) - Ford (F) is the latest U.S. automaker to announce it is hiring again.
Ford said Thursday that it will add 1,800 workers at a plant in Louisville to build the Escape, the second best-selling small SUV in the U.S. after the Honda CR-V. The automaker is investing $600 million in the plant, which will be shut for a year while equipment is installed so that Ford can build the Escape on a more fuel efficient car platform.
The plant currently employs 1,100 people on one shift and has been building the Ford Explorer midsize SUV since 1989. Production of the Explorer is being moved to a plant in Chicago.
During the renovation, about 800 of the plant's 1,064 active UAW members will be laid off. About 200 skilled tradespeople and 81 white collar staff will stay on the job at Louisville, or within Ford elsewhere. All, including 265 workers that were laid off in mid-2009 when a second shift ended at Louisville Assembly, expect to be called back for the reopening, scheduled for early to late fall of next year.
Americans Say: We're Worse Off Since Obama Came to Town
By DAWN KAWAMOTO - DailyFinance.com
President Obama sailed into the White House on the wings of hope, but now a majority of Americans say they're doing worse now than before he arrived two years ago, according to Bloomberg National Poll results released Thursday.
According to the survey, 51% of respondents say their life has taken a turn for the worse (like Californian Michelle Litoff, pictured at right), versus the 35% who say things have improved. Those results dovetail into into the overall decline Obama has seen in his approval rating since he took office, which, according to the Daily Gallup poll, has fallen to the mid-40% range.
From Audacity to Animosity No president has alienated his base the way Obama has.
By Peggy Noonan - WSJ.com
We have not in our lifetimes seen a president in this position. He spent his first year losing the center, which elected him, and his second losing his base, which is supposed to provide his troops. There isn't much left to lose! Which may explain Tuesday's press conference.
President Obama was supposed to be announcing an important compromise, as he put it, on tax policy. Normally a president, having agreed with the opposition on something big, would go through certain expected motions. He would laud the specific virtues of the plan, show graciousness toward the negotiators on the other side - graciousness implies that you won - and refer respectfully to potential critics as people who'll surely come around once they are fully exposed to the deep merits of the plan.
Betrayed again: S.510 fake food safety loaded into government funding resolution -- By Marti Oakley - PPJGazette.com
We knew something else was afoot. The vote on S.510 too easy and too pat. The bill, which was sent to the House desk prior to the vote in the Senate, contained section 107, the re-insertion of taxation in the fake food safety bill by the Senate. The House waited til after the vote, then announced this staged faux paux and declared that the bill was 'blue-slipped' due to violations of Constitutional provisions stating that all taxes must orginate in the House. Does anyone out there really believe for one minute this was a mistake on the part of Harry Reid?
What was an amended streamlined form of HR 2749, S.510 was quickly identified as one of the greatest weaponless assaults on the security of our country.
Liberalization of Airport Frisking: Federal versus Private Security Screeners
Mises Daily: by Cristian Gherasim
It may seem odd to associate an invasive, property-denying measure like frisking with the principles of the free market. There's little room for individual sovereignty when it comes to national security - at least that's how the government thinks and acts: we are guilty until proven innocent; individuals aren't rational enough to make decisions about their well-being, so government officials have to step in. This is how the United States has acted since the 9/11 attacks.
Is there an alternative to this Big Brother approach to managing homeland security? I think there is: private defense agencies offering competitive services on an open market.
What Next for Liberals? Friendly Fascism
By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. - TheAmerican Spectator.org
WASHINGTON -- The Great Denial continues. The Liberals continue to labor under the assumption that nothing very bad happened in early November. They are still supreme. The columnists go on as though nothing is amiss. This week E.J. Dionne consulted with three defeated congresspersons whose advice he passed on to President Barack Obama on how to succeed during the next two years. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi continues as though she is Speaker for Life, though she is probably the last Democrat to hold the post for a generation. Mental illness can be amusing.
The fact is that the Democrats lost badly in the midterms and they are probably going to lose again in 2012. The Republicans picked up 6 seats in the Senate and over 60 in the House. They won 682 legislative seats nationwide and gained 6 governorships. That will give them a powerful say in redistricting. Moreover, in 2012 the Democrats have to defend 23 seats in the Senate and they will probably lose the presidency, unless the Republicans run a platypus.
A world with no one in charge
By Robert D. Kaplan - WashingtonPost.com
Currency wars. Terrorist attacks. Military conflicts. Rogue regimes pursuing nuclear weapons. Collapsing states. And now, massive leaks of secret documents. What is the cause of such turbulence? The absence of empire. During the Cold War, the world was divided between the Soviet and U.S. imperial systems. The Soviet imperium - heir to Kievan Rus, medieval Muscovy and the Romanov dynasty - covered Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and propped up regimes in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The American imperium - heir to maritime Venice and Great Britain - also propped up allies, particularly in Western Europe and East Asia. True to the garrison tradition of imperial Rome, Washington kept bases in West Germany, Turkey, South Korea and Japan, virtually surrounding the Soviet Union.
WikiLeaks cables: Kosovo sliding towards partition, Washington told
US diplomats warn that European 'vacillation and weakness' could entrench Serbian control over northern part of territory
Ian Traynor - guardian.co.uk
The US fears that Europe will cave in to Serb pressure for Kosovo to be partitioned in a move which diplomats warn could trigger ethnic violence.
US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks show that senior Serbian officials have privately told Washington and the EU that the government of Kosovo will never gain full control of the contested territory - and indirectly pushed for partition.
Senior US officials are fiercely opposed to what they see as Serbian president Boris Tadi's concerted and patient campaign to partition Kosovo, which, if successful, would defeat a decade of American foreign policy. The officials condemn European "vacillation and weakness" on the contest.
Pentagon Papers Whistleblowers Call for a New 9/11 Investigation
Washington's Blog
The main players in releasing the Pentagon Papers were Daniel Ellsberg and Senator Mike Gravel.
Ellsberg is, of course, the former military analyst and famed whistleblower who smuggled the Pentagon Papers out of the Rand Corporation.
Senator Gravel is the person who read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record. This act made the papers public record, so that they could not be censored by the government.
Ellsberg and Gravel are receiving a lot of media attention right now for their support of Wikileaks.
But little attention has been paid to Ellsberg and Gravel's support for a new 9/11 investigation.
9/11 responders bill defeated by Senate GOP filibuster
By the CNN Wire Staff
Washington (CNN) -- Senate Democrats failed Thursday to win a procedural vote to open debate on a bill that would provide medical benefits and compensation for emergency workers who were first on the scene of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The motion for cloture, or to begin debate, needed 60 votes to pass due to a Republican filibuster, but fell short at 57-42 in favor.
While supporters said they would try to bring the bill up again, either on its own or as part of other legislation to be considered, the vote Thursday jeopardized the measure's chances for approval in the final weeks of the current congressional session.
Clinton Meets Mideast Negotiators as Region Awaits U.S. Move
By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Peter. S. Green
Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a series of talks with Palestinian and Israeli negotiators as she tries to shape a fresh approach to meet to a one-year deadline for a Middle East peace agreement.
In advance of a policy speech scheduled for this evening, Clinton met yesterday morning with the chief Israeli negotiator, Yitzhak Molho, for more than an hour. Her Middle East team consulted in the evening with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who is due to meet with Clinton this morning.
Religious Persecution in North Korea
By Doug Bandow - TheAmerican Spectator.org
North Korea again has demonstrated its recklessness to the world. Pyongyang recently unveiled its uranium enrichment program and bombarded a South Korean island. For a time war clouds circled the Korean peninsula.
But the Kim dynasty in the so-called Democratic People's Republic of Korea is more than confrontational. The regime is brutally repressive. The North's prison camps are full of political dissidents, would-be refugees, and religious believers.
Why China Refuses to Deal With North Korea
By Brad MacDonald - theTrumpet.com
For China, Kim Jong Il is another tool through whom it can challenge the United States.
When Kim Jong Il began shelling the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong last month, most of the world, especially regional counterparts such as Japan and Taiwan, roared with disapproval.
Amid the fracas, however, China remained relatively quiet.
China has a lot at stake on the Korean Peninsula. If Kim Jong Il's regime collapsed, or if North Korea was thrust into a prolonged crisis, a massive humanitarian disaster would be set off, and China would be invaded by tens of thousands of fleeing North Koreans. Beyond being a potential social burden on China, North Korea is also a military threat. North Korea's nuclear launch sites are closer to Beijing than to Tokyo. Hundreds of millions of Chinese live well within range of Pyongyang''s short-range missiles; China's entire population is in striking distance of North Korea's long-range Taepodong-2 missile.
The Inevitability of a Spanish Property Crash
By Tom Harris - InvestmentAndBusinessNews.co.uk
Despite the best efforts of the European Financial Stability Facility it was evident that even before the ink had dried on the Irish bail-out agreement that the contagion could not be contained.
Immediately nervous investors began looking to other Eurozone countries, such as Belgium, Italy, Portugal and especially Spain fearing the same issues that dragged Ireland down will resurface elsewhere. After all it was not the state's inability to borrow (Ireland is well funded until well into 2011) but the inability of Irish banks to refinance their borrowing in the wholesale markets that triggered the bail out.
Why Ireland's Austerity Budget Isn't Likely to Prevent a Default
By Charles Hugh Smith - DailyFinance.com
Despite the widely expected approval of an austerity budget by the Irish government, the long-term solvency of Ireland is still in doubt.
Simply put, the losses that must be covered by Irish taxpayers are larger than the nation's economy can support. The current government deficit is a staggering 32% of the nation's GDP, a post-war European record. The Irish government collected 31 billion euros in tax receipts while spending 50 billion euros on its normal services, then exacerbated its debt burden with a 45 billion euro bailout of Irish banks.
Death of M3: The Fifth Anniversary
Mises Daily: by Jire Sekar
Five years ago, in November 2005, the Federal Reserve announced that it would no longer be tracking the aggregate money supply. It issued a terse, cryptic 143-word press release entitled the "Discontinuance of M3." M3 was the broadest member of the big 4 of monetary aggregates published by the Fed - M0, M1, M2, and M3 that the Fed had compiled monthly since 1959.
John Williams of Shadowstats noted the oddity of the announcement, opining that M3 was probably the most important statistic produced by the Fed and the best leading indicator of economic activity and inflation. The Fed's lack of interest in the components of M3 can be directly linked to its inability to foresee the 2008 collapse of the financial system.
Fed Up: Ron Paul on America's Rotten Banks
Global bond rout deepens on US fiscal worries Agreement in Washington on a fresh fiscal package has set off dramatic rise in yields of US Treasuries and bonds across the world, threatening to short-circuit any benefits of stimulus. The bond rout raises concerns that the US authorities may be losing control over events.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The yield on 10-year Treasuries - the benchmark price of money worldwide and the key driver of US mortgages rates - has rocketed to 3.3pc, up 35 basis points since President Barack Obama agreed on Monday to compromise with Senate Republicans on tax cuts.
The Treasury sell-off has ricocheted through the global system, triggering bond sell-offs in Asia, Europe and Latin America. Japan's finance ministry braced as borrowing costs on seven-year debt jumped by a sixth in one trading session, while German Bunds punched through 3pc.
Treasury Bonds: From Ultra-Safe to Battered and Bruised
By VISHESH KUMAR - DailyFinance.com
Billed as risk-free, U.S. Treasury bonds are generally regarded as safe-haven assets. After all, the bonds have the full backing of the U.S. government. But investors this week may be waking up to an entirely different risk: the alarming drop in bond values and rising yields that brightening economic prospects can bring.
As recently as early November, the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury bill was scraping along at 2.48%, but now it's jumped back up to nearly 3.3%, with much of that rise coming in a few short days, especially since President Obama announced his tax cut compromise with Republican lawmakers.
The Fed's Commercial Paper Buying Knew No National Boundaries
By DAWN KAWAMOTO - DailyFinance.com
During the heat of the financial crisis, Ben Bernanke's Federal Reserve doled out a mountain of money to keep the damage from getting any worse. But if you think American companies were the biggest beneficiaries of this largess, you'd be wrong. Foreign companies landed a whopping 68% of the billions of dollars the Fed spent as part of its lender-of-last-resort Commercial Paper Funding Facility (CPFF), according to a DailyFinance review of data the Fed has recently released.
During the nearly 15-month program that began in late October 2008, the Fed purchased $395.9 billion in commercial paper from U.S. companies and from foreign companies that had U.S. issuers. Those foreign companies scored $267.9 billion, or nearly 68% of the program, while U.S. companies received $128.1 billion, or 32%.
Dead Cat Bounce - Bernanke Dumber Than Gold
Gold likely to hit $1,600 in 2011 - Credit Suisse Many of the drivers that have been pushing prices higher throughout 2010 are expected to persist and demand from China will be a major factor
Author: Geoff Candy - Mineweb.com
Many of the factors that have pushed gold higher over the course of 2010 are expected to continue into 2011, which should see gold prices trading as high as $1,600 before year-end.
This is the view of Tom Kendall, Vice President for commodities research at Credit Suisse. Speaking on Mineweb.com's Gold Weekly podcast, Kendall said the bank remains rather bullish about gold's prospects for 2011 but, he wouldn't be surprised if things quieten down in the run-up to the new year.
Betting on Gold a Bet Against Currency Management
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
12/08/10 Melbourne, Australia - While stocks have been going nowhere, guess what's been going up. You know. Gold! That's right, gold has been in a bull market for the last 10 years. And this year, gold is up 28%.
That's a trend we like. Because it is long. Solid. And it shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
Why?
Because the world monetary system has a rendezvous ahead of it too... a rendezvous with destruction. Until that's behind us, it's still ahead of us.
"Wait a minute, Bill How do you know the monetary system is going to crack up? You admit that you don't get to read tomorrow's headlines before everyone else."
Good point.
Commodities: How Gold beat Crude Oil
LONDON (Commodity Online): Which is the most investor-friendly commodity in the world today? Gold, crude oil, silver or base metals? Everyone would simply put his or her hand up to vote for gold as the hottest and most investment attractive commodity these days.
Few years ago, it was crude oil that was the toast of the investment community across the world. But why has the charm for investing in crude oil suddenly declined and gold has taken the place of crude oil? Several countries and governments across the globe treat gold as money and gold as currency of great value.
Why gold to silver ratio is falling
CommodityOnline.com
Gold and silver prices reached new record highs of $1,430.95/oz and 30 year highs of $30.68/oz respectively yesterday. It is important to remember that these are nominal highs of more than 30 years ago. Adjusted for inflation, the record highs are $2,300/oz and $130/oz (see silver charts below). Gold also reached new record nominal highs in sterling, euros and most major currencies yesterday on growing concerns about currency debasement.
Fake Gold is now more authentic than ever
By Dr Jeffrey Lewis
Gone are the days of gold coated tungsten bars, shaved or skimped ounce rounds, or completely faked gold painted coins sold as replicas. Today's gold fakers are using alloys - not coatings - to produce some of the best fakes the physical gold market has ever seen.
More Authentic Than Ever Before
The Financial Times, a financial news source that was one of the few to bring the CTFC silver manipulation to light, has broken this new gem. Researching heavily inside Chinese gold shops, the Financial Times reports that a new alloy of bullion mixed with seven other metals provides an end product that looks, feels, and weighs just like gold. The alloy includes such metals as osmium, iridium ruthenium, copper, nickel, iron, and rhodium, and as much as 51% gold.
Gold dealer Superior Gold is seized, assets frozen Judge turns the company's operations over to a receiver after L.A. County and Santa Monica sue the company and owner Bruce Sands, alleging fraudulent business practices.
By Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times
After numerous consumer complaints, a Santa Monica gold dealer's assets were frozen and its operations turned over to a court-appointed receiver, officials said Tuesday.
A judge froze the assets of Superior Gold Group on Monday after it was accused of fraudulent business practices in a civil lawsuit against the company and owner Bruce Sands filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney and the Santa Monica city attorney.
Investors to Silver: "Let's Get Physical"
By Frank Holmes - The DailyReckoning.com
12/08/10 San Antonio, Texas - The scramble for physical gold and silver is intensifying. People increasingly want to own the real thing, and not some paper substitute, all of which comes with counterparty risk. This conclusion is apparent from the fact that the futures prices for gold and silver have moved into "backwardation." Allow me to explain
Because gold is money, gold almost always trades in "contango," meaning that the future prices - i.e., forward prices - are higher than the spot price. The percentage difference between gold's spot and forward price is gold's "interest rate." So in this regard, gold is not different from other moneys, except gold's interest rate is lower than those of national currencies.
Keiser Report: Centurion Nails Bankster's Coffin
Is There a Short Squeeze in the Silver Market?
By: Daniel Duval - Jim Sinclair's MineSet
As mentioned in my post yesterday, I have been monitoring the silver market for any signs of a short squeeze in relation to the ongoing campaign to push out Morgan. I was curious whether or not we would see any signs of distress among some of the shorts yesterday as silver first pushed past the $30 mark. The open interest numbers that were released earlier this AM show that if Morgan was indeed being squeezed, some fresh shorts were there to take their place. As a matter of fact, the last previous three sessions prior to today's, have seen fresh shorts coming into the market rather than shorts as a whole being squeezed out.
Turk - Swiss Bank Client Battles Over 2 Months For His Silver
KingWorldNews.com
Since King World News broke the news with Jim Rickards that a Swiss bank client was refused his $40 million of gold and had to threaten the bank to get it, the story has been going viral. KWN interviewed James Turk out of London today to get his comments on the situation. Turk responded by citing another example, "I found that Jim Rickards comments about the individual who had difficulty getting $40 million of gold out of the Swiss bank where he had it stored very interesting. I could tell you several stories of similar experiences."
Emerging Markets and Commodities: Where Stimulus is REALLY Going
Bill Bonner - SilverBearCafe.com
Imagine going from England to Australia on a sailing ship, shackled 'tween the decks. The convicts must have been happy to finally get here.
Imagine getting sent to Australia for failing to pay a debt (even one that was never intended by the creditor)! That would discourage you from spending money that is not your own!
It was a tougher world back in 1855. The "laws were more harshly administered" then.
Now, the laws aren't administered at all. The culprits are in so tight with the feds you'd need some WD40 to get them loose. The banks seem to have taxpayer money on tap. As much as they want. 24/7. On/Off. And the feds spend money that is not their own...and promise to replace it. That replacement money will never come to hand. And an examination of the feds' accounts exposes immense deficits - about 20 times the entire annual output of America's private sector.
U.S. fiscal health worse than Europe's-China c.bank adviser
BEIJING, Dec 8 (Reuters) - - The U.S. dollar will be a safe investment for the next six to 12 months because global markets are focused on the euro zone's troubles but the U.S.'s fiscal health is worse than Europe's, an adviser to the Chinese central bank said on Wednesday.
Li Daokui, an academic member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said that U.S. bond prices and the dollar would fall when the European economic situation stabilised.
Jim Rogers: 'US government's inflation data is a sham' Leading investor Jim Rogers has attacked the US government's inflation data as a "sham" that is causing the central bank to massively understate price pressures.
By Andrew Trotman - Telegraph.co.uk
Mr Rogers, who shot to fame after co-founding Quantum Fund with George Soros, argued the Federal Reserve uses information that relies too heavily on housing prices.
"I expect interest rates in the US to go much, much, much higher over the next few years," he said, adding that he is betting against US Treasuries.
The core personal consumption expenditure index, which strips out food and energy costs, is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation. This was flat in October for the second straight month.
Bernanke Ignores 4,500 Years of Failed Monetary Policy
By The Mogambo Guru - DailyReckoning.com
12/08/10 Tampa, Florida - I naturally wanted to get my two-cents in about Ben Bernanke's interview on 60 Minutes where he answered softball questions by explaining that everything will be fine and there is no cause for alarm because he and the Federal Reserve were "on the job," although things will probably get worse for a long time, while he is "100 percent" certain that he could prevent inflation in prices by (get a load of this!) raising interest rates!
This is the same guy who has pounded interest rates to historic lows, near zero, less than the rate of inflation that is perking along at more than 2%, according to the GDP Deflator, and yet he would raise rates! Hahahaha!
Banks in Europe Fail Stress Tests With No Authority
By Simon Clark and Gavin Finch
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- In the five months after the U.S. published results of its 2009 bank stress tests, the Standard & Poor's 500 Financials Index rose 25 percent. Five months after the European Union released its version, the Bloomberg Europe Banks and Financial Services Index is down 4 percent.
The failure of the EU tests to restore confidence in the region's banks was underscored last month when Ireland directed its two biggest lenders, both of which passed the exams, to raise additional capital. Since the results were disclosed on July 23, the cost of insuring the senior debt of 110 European banks against default rose 113 basis points, or 1.13 percentage points, while credit-default swaps on 34 of the largest U.S. banks are unchanged, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Bank of America Deal in Muni Case May Be 'Tip of the Iceberg'
By Martin Z. Braun and Jeff Bliss
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp.'s agreement to pay $137 million in restitution for taking part in a nationwide bid-rigging conspiracy for municipal-investment contracts may soon be followed by more settlements to repay the scheme's victims, the Justice Department's Antitrust Division head said.
"Stay tuned to this channel -- I think you will see a lot more activity in the coming weeks and months," Christine Varney, the antitrust chief, told reporters yesterday. "We are committed to getting restitution, full restitution, to all the municipalities that were victims of this scheme."
Bank Rossii Says Rates May Rise as Focus Shifts to Inflation
By Paul Abelsky and Maria Levitov
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Russia's central bank said it may increase interest rates in the first quarter, signaling that policy makers are shifting their focus to inflation even as the recovery from last year's slump slows.
"Inflation is beginning to worry us," Chairman Sergey Ignatiev told reporters yesterday in Moscow. The central bank will "primarily" use its interest-rate policy to control rising prices, he said.
Keiser Report No.101: Markets! Finance! Scandal!
Tax Appeals Swamp U.S. Towns as Property Prices Dive
By Jeff Green and Tim Jones
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- A fiscal flood that threatens to swamp local government budgets across the U.S. overflows from file cabinets in the office of Patty Halm, chair of the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
The backlog of cases from taxpayers seeking to lower property-tax bills of more than $100,000 shot up to 14,236 this year from an annual average of about 6,000 during the past decade. The backlog of smaller claims was at 28,558 at the end of September, eight times higher than a decade ago, according to records at the tribunal, a Lansing-based administrative court.
Tax Plan Spurs Deal Making
By JANET HOOK And JOHN D. MCKINNON - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - The sweeping tax package negotiated by President Barack Obama and Republican lawmakers gained new momentum toward passage in the Senate, setting off a scramble by lawmakers and industry lobbyists to get favored provisions into the bill.
Senate leaders worked to finish drafting the details of the tax bill and prepared for a floor debate as early as Friday, only days after the framework for the deal was unveiled. Administration officials hoped that development would increase their leverage among balking Democrats in the House.
Estate Tax Draws Fire but Appears Set to Stand
By JOHN D. MCKINNON And LAURA SAUNDERS
The estate tax has emerged as a focus of Democrats' anguish over the tax deal hashed out between President Barack Obama and Republicans. But the protests appear unlikely to derail the compromise in Congress.
Notably, Democratic support for the estate-tax provision appeared stronger in the Senate, particularly among incumbents facing re-election in 2012, than in the House.
The plan put forward by Republicans and accepted by Mr. Obama would reinstate the estate tax at 35% for two years starting next year, with the first $5 million of a person's estate exempted. If Congress doesn't act on the expiring Bush-era tax breaks before the end of the year, the estate tax, which lapsed for 2010, would spring back at a 55% rate, with just a $1 million exemption.
Congress Rejects $250 Payment for Seniors
By COREY BOLES - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON - House and Senate lawmakers defeated a Democratic attempt to provide a one-off $250 payment to seniors, veterans and disabled people, after Republicans united to block the legislation.
The bill would have provided the payment in lieu of a cost-of-living increase for 2010.
Democratic lawmakers brought the bill forward after the Social Security Administration determined there would be no automatic cost-of-living adjustment because the inflation measure it uses recorded no increase in 2010.
The White House strongly urged its passage, saying it would provide much-needed financial assistance to 58 million people.
Private Property
Mises Daily: by Ludwig von Mises This article is excerpted from chapter 24 of Human Action: The Scholar's Edition (1949)
Private ownership of the means of production is the fundamental institution of the market economy. It is the institution the presence of which characterizes the market economy as such. Where it is absent, there is no question of a market economy.
Ownership means full control of the services that can be derived from a good. This catallactic notion of ownership and property rights is not to be confused with the legal definition of ownership and property rights as stated in the laws of various countries. It was the idea of legislators and courts to define the legal concept of property in such a way as to give to the proprietor full protection by the governmental apparatus of coercion and compulsion, and to prevent anybody from encroaching upon his rights. As far as this purpose was adequately realized, the legal concept of property rights corresponded to the catallactic concept.
New Survey Reveals 58 Percent of Americans Expect Housing Market to Recover After 2012, According to Trulia and RealtyTrac Semiannual Foreclosure Survey Reveals Concerns That Robo-Signing Scandal Will Delay Recovery
By: Marketwire - Sys-Con Media
Trulia.com (www.trulia.com), a top site for homebuyers, sellers and renters, and RealtyTrac (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released the latest results of an ongoing survey tracking homebuyers' attitudes toward foreclosed homes. Results of the survey conducted online from November 2-4, 2010 by Harris Interactive¨ on behalf of Trulia and RealtyTrac showed that Americans continue to grapple with uncertainty about the housing market, with 58 percent of U.S. adults expecting recovery to take at least another two years.
22 mortgage providers accused of unfair lending practices The government is investigating lenders that require credit scores higher than the FHA minimum. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition alleges the practice disproportionately harms blacks and Latinos.
By Alejandro Lazo, Los Angeles Times
The federal government said it was investigating 22 mortgage providers after a national housing group accused them of engaging in unfair lending practices toward borrowers with poor credit scores.
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition said Wednesday that the lenders had implemented policies that require borrowers to have scores higher than the minimum established for certain loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the FHA, said it would investigate the allegations.
Bank Foreclosure Fiasco: Holiday Respite, Reasons, And Thoughts
By Donald Griffith - AmericaNewsOnline.com
At the end of November, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - the government-sponsored enterprises which underwrite the bulk of mortgages in the United States - told real estate agents to resume with sales of foreclosed properties. That was a significant announcement as Fannie and Freddie had about 240,000 properties set for foreclosure at the end of September.
North Carolina: Unemployed Homeowners To Receive Zero Interest Loans To Pay Mortgages
HousingDoom.com
No job, no mortgage payment- no problem. In North Carolina there is now a program that allows unemployed homeowners to receive zero percent loans to make the payments:
Both economists and lending institutions maintain that keeping people struggling to pay mortgages in their homes is preferable to eviction.
A new federally funded initiative targeting five states hard-hit by the recession, including North Carolina, is designed to do just that.
The program, which comes under the North Carolina Foreclosure Prevention Fund, allows eligible homeowners to receive up to $36,000 in zero-interest loans over 10 years. Residents of counties with the highest unemployment will qualify for the largest loans.
Consumer Debt Takes a Surprise Jump in October, But Credit Card Use Falls
By JOSEPH LAZZARO - DailyFinance.com
U.S. consumers appear to be shedding their frugal habits a bit: The amount of consumer credit in use unexpectedly rose in October, with total consumer debt rising by $3.4 billion or at 1.7% annualized rate to $2.399 trillion, the Federal Reserve announced Tuesday. It was the second straight monthly increase in total consumer debt.
The consensus of economists surveyed by Bloomberg had been that total consumer debt would fall by $2 billion in October, after a revised $1.3 billion rise in September, less than the initially estimated $2.1 billion rise. Total consumer debt fell by $4.9 billion in August.
Hackers Give Web Companies a Test of Free Speech
By ASHLEE VANCE and MIGUEL HELFT - NYTimes.com
A hacking free-for-all has exploded on the Web, and Facebook and Twitter are stuck in the middle.
On Wednesday, anonymous hackers took aim at companies perceived to have harmed WikiLeaks after its release of a flood of confidential diplomatic documents. MasterCard, Visa and PayPal, which had cut off people's ability to donate money to WikiLeaks, were hit by attacks that tried to block access to the companies' Web sites and services.
The Case of Wikileaks, Part I - The Hacker's Treehouse This is the first of a two-part examination of Wikileaks. Part II, "The New McCarthyism" will be posted on Thursday morning.
By Gonzalo Lira
It's only when you poke the beast that you get a sense of its true nature.
The American government, media, and corporate establishment are all in a tizzy over the latest poke from Wikileaks:
The "whistleblowing" site (it really isn't, but I'll get to that in a minute) is releasing excerpts from a cache of some 250,000 diplomatic cables and other documents. These cables were sent from various American embassies back to the State Department between 1966 and 2010. The leaks have been dripping out since November 28, revealing a whole host of tawdry but so far trivial tidbits of American diplomatic behavior.
WikiLeaks Founders Prosecution:
A Brazen Effort to Kill Alternative Media & The Internet
Hackers Rise for WikiLeaks Cyber Attackers Seek Revenge Against Organizations That Have Tangled With Document-Leaking Site
By CASSELL BRYAN-LOW in London And SVEN GRUNDBERG in Stockholm - WSJ.com
A growing list of organizations and individuals that have tangled with WikiLeaks and its detained founder, Julian Assange, have suffered online attacks, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website.
The attacks stepped up Wednesday, a day after Mr. Assange was arrested and denied bail in London in connection with sexual-misconduct accusations in Sweden. A range of organizations, including MasterCard Inc., Visa Inc., and the Swedish prosecutor's office, reported technical difficulties with their websites that appear to stem from so-called denial of service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page.
Wikileaks, the US secret bunker, the Gulf of Aden Vortex: Contact made?
Where is this story in the international media? The combined naval might of twenty-seven countries is concentrated off the Somali coast allegedly to fight the poorly armed pirates who continue to act with apparent impunity. Or is there something far, far more serious?
Once again the Wikileaks cables come into play. And what is revealed is terrifying. According to a report allegedly prepared by Admiral Maksimov of Russia's Northern Fleet, in late 2000, a magnetic vortex was discovered in the area of the Gulf of Aden. Russia, the PR China and the USA joined efforts to study what it was but discovered that it defied logic and the laws of physics.
In wake of WikiLeaks scandal, Arab leaders are cautious on Iran censure - LATimes.com
Arabian peninsula states have adopted a conciliatory tone on Iran a little over a week after U.S. diplomatic cables released by the watchdog site WikiLeaks appeared to show serious anxiety among Arab leaders over Tehran's growing power, and even enthusiasm in some corners (and at certain points) for a military attack on its controversial nuclear program.
Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Abdul Rahman Atiyyah stopped short of an outright repudiation, but he described the content of the leaked cables as "guesses or analyses that can hit or miss" and that "generated misunderstandings," according to the Abu Dhabi-based National newspaper.
UPS mandate: Show ID for retail shipping
New Mexico Business Weekly
In the wake of recent attempted terrorist attacks on cargo planes, United Parcel Service Inc. is tightening its security. Atlanta-based UPS will now require customers who ship packages from retail shipping locations to present a government-issued photo ID for verification of identification. The policy is in place in The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations, and at authorized shipping outlets worldwide.
Unemployment benefits to run out Saturday for 185,000 Californians They are among 410,695 Californians and about 2 million people nationwide whose benefits will expire throughout this month without the reauthorization of federal money for emergency unemployment aid.
By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington - Many people want Congress to approve a deal to extend tax cuts by Dec. 31 to avoid a financial hit next year. But for 185,000 jobless Californians, the crucial deadline for passing the agreement is Saturday.
That's when their special extended unemployment benefits will run out.
They are among 410,695 Californians and about 2 million people nationwide whose benefits will expire throughout this month without the reauthorization of federal money for emergency unemployment aid, which is included in the deal to extend the Bush-era tax cuts.
Over 55 and unemployed? Finally a bit of good news
By Anne Fisher - Fortune.com
The November unemployment rate for people 55 and older is lower than for any younger age group, welcome news for a group that often worries about being shut out of jobs by age bias.
Scratch the surface of November's disappointing unemployment statistics, and you find yet more evidence that, while joblessness plagues almost every stratum of society, not everyone is affected in quite the same way.
With unemployment hovering around 5% for people with college degrees, about half the rate for the population as a whole, education is clearly a big factor.
GOP blocks bill giving Social Security recipients a $250 payment
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press - USAToday.com
WASHINGTON - House and Senate Republicans on Wednesday thwarted Democratic efforts to award $250 checks to Social Security recipients facing a second consecutive year without a cost-of-living increase.
President Obama and Democrats have urged approval of the one-time payment, saying seniors barely getting by on their Social Security checks face undue hardships without the COLA increase.
But most Republicans contended that the nation couldn't afford the estimated $14 billion cost of the payment, and that the COLA freezes in 2010 and 2011 come after seniors received a significant boost in 2009.
Retirees: Get ready to live on $190 a month
By Blake Ellis
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Are you prepared to live on $190 a month when you retire?
For most Americans in their 50s, that's all the personal savings they'll have to look forward to during retirement, according to Wells Fargo's annual retirement survey.
The survey, which polled nearly 2,000 middle-class Americans ranging from 20 to 60 years old, found that Americans aren't saving enough, they are underestimating the amount of money they will need in retirement, and they are more likely to end up working through retirement.
While most Americans predict they will need a nest egg of $300,000 to live on for 19 years in retirement, the average savings of 50-somethings is only $29,000, which comes out to an income of $190 a month over 20 years assuming a 5% rate of return.
Food Stamp Rolls Continue to Rise
By Sara Murray - WSJ.com
More people tapped food stamps to pay for groceries in September as the recession and lackluster recovery have prompted more Americans to turn to government safety net programs to make ends meet.
Some 42.9 million people collected food stamps last month, up 1.2% from the prior month and 16.2% higher than the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Nationwide 14% of the population relied on food stamps as of September but in some states the percentage was much higher. In Washington, D.C., Mississippi and Tennessee - the states with the largest share of citizens receiving benefits - more than a fifth of the population in each was collecting food stamps.
Can Arizona Punish Employers for Hiring Illegal Immigrants?
By ABIGAIL FIELD - DailyFinance.com
Earlier this year, the words "controversial Arizona law" and "illegal immigrant" conjured up images of police stopping people to check their papers. While that statute -- which requires Arizona police to demand ID papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally -- is likely to get to the U.S. Supreme Court in a year or two, on Wednesday the court is hearing arguments about a different, potentially much more effective Arizona law aimed at ending illegal immigration.
Altered Corn Slowly Takes Root in Mexico
By JEAN GUERRERO - WSJ.com
MEXICO CITY - Mexico, the birthplace of corn, is edging toward the use of genetically modified varieties to lower its dependence on imports, but strong opposition among some growers and environmentalists, who see altered corn as a threat to native strains, has kept the wheels turning slowly.
Monsanto Co., DuPont Co.'s Pioneer Hi-Bred unit and Dow Chemical Co,'s Dow AgroSciences recently completed small, controlled experiments in northern Mexico with genetically modified corn, and are seeking government authorization to enter a "pre-commercial" phase, expanding the growing area to nearly 500 acres from 35 acres.
WEST BANK: Palestinian reaction to U.S. reversal on settlement freeze
LATimes.com
Palestinian politicians and analysts said Wednesday that they were not surprised that the U.S. government had failed to get Israel to agree to a temporary settlement freeze as a precondition for resuming Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. To them, It had only been a matter of time before U.S. officials acknowledged failure.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official, strongly criticized Washington, saying the Palestinian Authority was surprised that the U.S. did not openly hold Israel responsible for the failure of the peace talks when it announced that it could not get Israel to stop settlement construction in the Palestinian territories.
North Korea May Have Fired Artillery Into Its Water, South Says
By Bomi Lim
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea may have fired artillery shells into its water near the disputed western border with South Korea today, a government official in Seoul said.
None of the shells fell crossed the border into South Korean waters and the government is examining the incident, an official at President Lee Myung Bak's office said by telephone from Seoul, confirming reports by Yonhap News and YTN television broadcaster. The official declined to be named because of government policy.
New Rules: You And The IRS This January
David Nguyen - ActivistPost.com
The new ObamaCare1099 rule for reporting of all cash, credit and check business transactions of $600 or more is scheduled to begin January of 2012. This is really an extension of the 2008 Housing and Recovery Act IRS rules that start this January when merchant banks and PayPal will report business sales directly to the IRS (the reporting threshold is $20,000 and 200 transactions a year).
These new IRS rules will affect every American:
Income tax collection could rise as much as $345 billion a year
Small businesses will be crushed and unemployment will rise
A cashless economy is further set in motion
IRS snooping and audits will increase
Gold can be tracked
Identity theft is a risk
Government surveillance will increase
How the Oligarchs Took Over America Creating a country of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich.
By Andy Kroll | AlterNet.org
There is a war underway. I'm not talking about Washington's bloody misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq, but a war within our own borders. It's a war fought on the airwaves, on television and radio and over the Internet, a war of words and images, of half-truth, innuendo, and raging lies. I'm talking about a political war, pitting liberals against conservatives, Democrats against Republicans. I'm talking about a spending war, fueled by stealthy front groups and deep-pocketed anonymous donors. It's a war that's poised to topple what's left of American democracy.
24 Signs That All Of America Is Becoming Just Like Detroit - A Rotting, Post-Industrial, Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
For years, people have been laughing at the horrific economic decline of Detroit. Well, guess what? The same thing that happened to Detroit is now happening to dozens of other communities across the United States. From coast to coast there are formerly great manufacturing cities that have turned into rotting, post-industrial war zones. In particular, in America's "rust belt" you can drive through town after town after town that resemble little more than post-apocalyptic wastelands. In many U.S. cities, the "real" rate of unemployment is over 30 percent. There are some communities that will start depressing you almost the moment you drive into them. It is almost as if all of the hope has been sucked right out of those communities.
From Bad To Worse: The Economy Today, And Tomorrow
By Giordano Bruno - Neithercorp Press Ð 12/07/2010
At first, we were told the American economy was a freight train; invincible. After the derivatives and mortgage crisis began in 2007-2008, we were told the problem was a mere blip in our financial timeline; nothing to be concerned about. In 2009, we were told that the recession was over, and that "green shoots" were on the way. Later, they said we were "turning the corner", whatever that means. In 2010, we were told it was time to get used to the "new normal", which of course has yet to be clearly defined. Now, at the cusp of 2011, the year which many establishment economists originally claimed would bring a bright new era in U.S. employment and finance, it has become clear to much of the public that we are being deliberately herded with empty words and false promises towards a very dangerous and uncertain future.
We have discovered that there is no "new normal". The word "normal" denotes a certain consistency, a set of rules to the system which are generally understood, yet we have seen nothing consistent except the continued downward freefall of our fiscal infrastructure and the end of anything remotely resembling stability.
Max Keiser on UN's 'grim outlook' for world economy 2011
Why Chinese Companies Buying US Companies Matters Chinese companies serve Chinese state, exploit Chinese people
By Frank Xie - EpochTimes.com
A recent article in the Economist, "China Buys Up the World," takes an optimistic view of the Chinese regime's going-global economic policy. That optimism is based on abstractions about how markets work, abstractions that mislead because they fail to take into account the reality of China's economy.
The article does point out that some countries believe investment by Chinese enterprises may pose a threat to national security. The author believes, however, that Chinese firms "can bring new energy and capital to flagging companies around the world," and that "China's advance may bring benefits beyond the narrowly commercial." The author urges that "the world should stay open for business."
Chinese government money is buying one of U.S.A.'s biggest mines
By Debbie Coffey - PPJGazette
It seems like there's not much hope for Mt. Hope in Nevada. A brave group of American farmers and ranchers (and so far, Eureka County, NV) are all that is standing between our valuable American resources and water rights, and a Chinese company that has taken a $745 million loan from a bank fully owned by the Chinese Government.
Mt. Hope is about 23 miles northwest of Eureka, NV, and contains the world's largest and highest grade undeveloped molybdenum project, the Mt. Hope Project.
China #1, United States #2? 25 Facts That Prove The Transition Is Really Happening
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
On a recent episode of The Office, Michael Scott spent much of the show bemoaning the fact that China could soon become the number one economic superpower. Of course by the end of the episode everyone had concluded that the United States would continue to be number one indefinitely, but in the real world things are not so simple. Sadly, the cold, hard facts reveal that China is on the rise and the United States is experiencing a dramatic economic decline. The world is changing and China is projected to become the largest economy in the world at some point during the next decade. Americans have been taught from birth that "the U.S. is number one", but the transition is really happening. China is passing the United States even in quite a few high tech industries and in many areas of scientific research. The numbers that you are going to read below are absolutely staggering. It is getting really hard to deny that the Chinese are wiping the floor with us economically. In fact, they are beating us so badly that it is hard to put into words.
Obamanomics Takes a Holiday
WSJ.com
A two-year tax reprieve is better than current law but far from ideal.
Does President Obama like or loathe the two-year tax deal he has struck with Republicans? It was hard to tell from his grudging, testy remarks Monday and yesterday, but perhaps that's because he realizes he is repudiating the heart and soul of Obamanomics as the price of giving himself a chance at a second term.
In accepting the deal to cut payroll and business taxes and extend all of the Bush-era tax rates through 2012, Mr. Obama has implicitly admitted that his economic strategy has flopped. He is acknowledging that tax rates matter to growth, that treating business like robber barons has hurt investment and hiring, and that tax cuts are superior to spending as stimulus. It took 9.8% unemployment and a loss of 63 House seats for this education to sink in, but the country will benefit.
How The Deal Affects Taxpayers
By LAURA SAUNDERS - WSJ.com
President Barack Obama called the bipartisan tax agreement announced on Monday a "framework." As yet there is no legislative language or even a comprehensive outline of the proposals, and its passage by Congress isn't assured.
But its broad parameters do address a range of tax issues that have been in question for months or years. Here's how the various provisions could affect taxpayers.
Why Democrats And Republicans Are Both Wrong About The Bush Tax Cuts - TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
All over the Internet, Republican pundits are declaring that extending the Bush tax cuts will save the economy and Democrat pundits are declaring that ending the Bush tax cuts will save the economy. Well, you know what? Nothing will save the U.S. economy. The U.S. government is going to continue to drown in a sea of debt no matter what happens with these tax cuts. State and local governments are also going to continue to drown in a sea of debt. Thousands of factories and millions of jobs are going to continue to be shipped overseas every single year. America is going to continue to transfer tens of billions of dollars of its national wealth to foreign nations every single month. Nothing that the Republicans and Democrats are debating right now is going to do a thing to alter the fundamental problems that the U.S. economy is facing.
Will the Tax Freeze Create Jobs?
By Robert Frank - WSJ.com
One of the core arguments for extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich was that the wealthy create jobs. Extending their low rates, conservatives argued, would encourage them to hire.
"I think that extending all of the current tax rates, and making them permanent, will reduce the uncertainty in America, and help small businesses to create jobs again " said U.S. House Republican leader John Boehner.
We'll now get to see whether the theory works. With President Obama making a deal with Republicans to extend the cuts for everyone for two years, the wealthy will keep their marginal tax rate at 36%. Just as important, rates on dividends and capital gains will remain unchanged and the estate tax threshold got pushed to $5 million.
For Obama, Tax Deal Is a Back-Door Stimulus Plan
By DAVID LEONHARDT - NYTimes.com
A year ago, President Obama and the Democrats made the mistake of assuming that an economic recovery was under way. This week's deal to extend the Bush tax cuts shows that the White House's top priority is avoiding the same mistake again - even if it has to upset many fellow Democrats in the process.
Mr. Obama effectively traded tax cuts for the affluent, which Republicans were demanding, for a second stimulus bill that seemed improbable a few weeks ago. Mr. Obama yielded to Republicans on extending the high-end Bush tax cuts and on cutting the estate tax below its scheduled level. In exchange, Republicans agreed to extend unemployment benefits, cut payroll taxes and business taxes, and extend a grab bag of tax credits for college tuition and other items.
Debt-hit Irish publish harshest budget in history
SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press - DenverPost.com
DUBLIN (AP) - Finance Minister Brian Lenihan says Ireland must endure the toughest cuts and tax hikes in its history as an unavoidable price for saving the debt-burdened nation from bankruptcy.
Lenihan's emergency 2011 budget unveiled Tuesday contains euro4.5 billion ($6 billion) in spending cuts and euro1.5 billion ($2 billion) in tax rises.
Lenihan told lawmakers he believes Ireland's economy can grow despite the fact that almost all 4.5 million residents face "a traumatic and worrying time." Hundreds outside parliament protested the cuts in icy weather.
The perils of bailouts
By Martin Hutchinson - Asia Times
The European Union bailout of Ireland and its previous bailout for Greece, when examined closely, bore a distressing resemblance to the 2008 US bailouts of Bear Stearns, AIG and Citigroup. The authorities poured more resources into assets that had been shown to be defective, without sufficiently enforcing the painful purging and liquidation that was necessary. By doing so, they reduced wealth, prolonged recession, and made the eventual collapse of the global financial system more likely.
The parallels between the European Union financial crisis and the US housing finance crisis are closer than they seem at first glance. In the Austrian economic terminology, both involved "mal-investment" - caused by excessively low interest rates or often artificial government subsidies - in assets and activities that later turned out to be worthless, or nearly so.
Peter Schiff vs. Gary Shilling Dec 7th, 2010
Gold enters one-year rally
LONDON (Commodity Online): Are gold prices headed for a one-year-long rally? It seems so if the opinion of market analysts are anything to go by.
According to analysts, gold prices will continue to gain in the coming year due to the uncertainties in global economies and the unpredictable dollar.
Gold has posted substantial gains in 2010 and the trend will continue in the next year also. Gold is the beneficiary of all that instability in the markets right now.
Gold breakout in real terms means good times are ahead for gold bulls
By Jordan Roy-Byrne - CommodityOnline.com
In past commentaries, I've written about my favorite form of technical analysis. That is intermarket analysis. Intermarket analysis takes traditional technical analysis much further. Normally, we'd look at a market by itself. We'd look at its price action, potential patterns and its momentum.
Intermarket analysis takes this a step further by comparing the market at hand to various other markets. It gives us an idea of what is really going on and where market leadership is.
Why investors always look for gold-dollar link
By Sam Kirtley - CommodityOnline.com
Gold investors tend to focus overwhelmingly on the relationship between the US dollar and gold, citing that a lower dollar leads to higher gold prices in US dollars. Whilst this may be generally true, there is another relationship that does not get as much attention as we believe it deserves, and that is the relationship gold has with US real interest rates.
For the first few years of this gold bull market, it was sufficient simply to acknowledge the USD down, therefore gold up dynamic, but now things have changed. Over the past couple of years gold has rallied when the greenback has been making gains, as well as when it was weakening, therefore investors must now take note of the inverse relationship between US real interest rates and gold, which has been observed consistently over the last couple of years.
Is gold in a perfect (bullish) storm? Alarming economic news combines with Chinese import demand
By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - A good week for gold - especially because China finally seems to be chiming in.
On Friday, gold for February delivery Gold 100 Oz (Comex) Commodities Exchange Centre -finished at $1,406.20, only $3.10 below the November 9th record close, having risen $42.20 or 2.94% on the week. The gold shares responded with enthusiasm, with ARCA GOLD BUGS leaping nearly 8%. In recent years, gold shares have not always conformed bullion's action. When it happens, it's generally regarded as bullish.
Significantly, this was not just a move in U.S. dollars. In fact, gold in sterling, euros, and yen hit record highs during the week.
Max Keiser: The Buy Silver Campaign Round 2 - Alex Jones Tv
Silver About To Begin New Sustained Uptrend
by Robert Lenzner Forbes.com
Silver prices reached the $30 price level yesterday, leading my main silver guru, Anathan Thangavel, Managing Director of Lakshmi Capital, to flatly predict "a new sustained uptrend."
Thangavel flatly warns the big short interest in silver; its time to get out of the way or be slaughtered.
He reckons "managed money" accounts which keep recasting their long positions, will gain confidence at the $30 mark and load up.
MODERN DAY HUNT BROTHERS:
Crash JP Morgan, Buy Physical Silver!
China's Bubble and Commodities
BY STEVE SAVILLE
The most vociferous commodity bulls tend to be China bulls, and rightly so given that the price gains achieved across the industrial commodity complex over the past 12 months can only be justified by making the assumption that China will continue its rapid growth. China's importance to the commodity world stems from the fact that the bulk of its growth involves fixed-asset investment, which means that the growth is commodity-intensive. The risk to the bullish case is that a substantial chunk of this growth in fixed-asset investment is linked to a building boom that, to put it mildly, does not appear to be sustainable. To put it more bluntly, China's current building boom ranks with the construction of Qin Shi Huang's tomb* as one of history's all-time great examples of mal-investment.
Dollar Rises for Third Day as Commodities Drop on Korea, China
By Shiyin Chen and Shani Raja
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar rose for a third day, the won tumbled and commodities dropped amid speculation tensions in the Korean peninsula will worsen and that China will raise interest rates. Asia's benchmark stock index fell while Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose to a six-month high.
The Dollar Index climbed 0.3 percent at 2 p.m. in Tokyo as the currency traded at $1.3231 per euro from $1.3261. The won dropped 1.1 percent. Crude oil and copper retreated more than 1 percent each. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 0.8 percent, snapping a five-day rally, and the Nikkei 225 jumped 1 percent, set for its highest level since June 21. Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures slid 0.3 percent.
Cost-Push Inflation? This article originally appeared as "Cost-Push Inflation?"
in Newsweek July 22, 1957
Mises Daily: by Henry Hazlitt
Within the last few months there has broken out in several places the theory that we are now confronted with a "new" kind of inflation. As described by Robert C. Tyson, chairman of the finance committee of US Steel,
Our new kind of inflation appears to be cost inflation pushing prices up, rather than price inflation pulling up costs through competition bidding for materials and manpower. We might think of it as a new cost-push type as distinguished from the conventional demand-pull type of inflation.
Cantona's bank run set to flop in France
By Dan Hyde - ThisIsMoney.com
Today's mass bank run plot that was launched off the back of an Eric Cantona interview on YouTube looks set to flop.
'Bankrun 2010' was created by two filmmakers in response to Eric Cantona's call for millions of people to 'cripple the banks' by all withdrawing their cash at once.
A date was set for Tuesday 7 December, but the plan looks to have fizzled out with just a handful of activists turning out across France.
WILL YOU PULL YOUR MONEY OUT OF BANK OF AMERICA? THIS NEW WORLD FINANCIAL DISASTER IS WHAT THE ILLUMINATI ORDERED -- by Leonard G. Horowitz and Sherri Kane
A plot to cause Bank of America to fail has been hatched involving WikiLeaks and its CEO, alleged "activist," suspected CIA operative, Julian Assange.
This article presents related evidence and commentary in advance of a threatened run on Bank of America by depositors frightened by what appears to be an organized conspiracy to crash the US economy.
Many years ago, the wizards behind Wall Street invested in the emerging New World Order, and set you up, along with the economy and everyone else, to go down.
The Rockefellers, Bushes, and Rothschild League of Bankers, manipulated governments, economies, BigPharma, the energy industries, terrorist groups, weapons makers, and media manipulators. Their successes hinged on controlling every side of every major debate, political faction, and economic opportunity. Their ultimate success depends on controlling you too.
Jim Rogers on CNBC 12_07_10
With European Deal, Russia Closer to Joining W.T.O.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - NYTimes.com
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union and Russia have reached a deal settling outstanding trade issues that should smooth the way for Russia to become a member of the World Trade Organization next year.
The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, met with President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia on Tuesday and said that the agreement marked a "milestone" in relations.
Russia is the only major trading power that is not part of the W.T.O. and over the last few years, it has been working to settle bilateral trade issues ranging from export duties to meat import restrictions.
Bank of America Unit Settles Municipal Bond Inquiry
By REUTERS - NYTimes.com
The Bank of America Corporation will pay $137 million to settle complaints from state and federal securities regulators that it defrauded buyers of municipal bond derivatives, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Tuesday.
The bank's Banc of America Securities division was accused by the S.E.C. of bid rigging and other anti-competitive practices in selling municipal bond derivatives to various state agencies, municipalities, school districts and nonprofit corporations.
U.S. States Face 'Cliff' as Stimulus End Opens $38 Billion Hole
By William Selway
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. states are preparing for more budget cuts next year as tax revenue isn't likely to rebound enough to replace almost $38 billion in aid that will be gone as federal economic stimulus ends, according to a report.
At least 31 states and Puerto Rico are forecasting deficits of $82.1 billion in the next fiscal year even as tax receipts are picking up, the National Conference of State Legislatures said today. Under a temporary mandate since 2009, the U.S. has provided economic aid to states, helping to pay government workers and shoulder the cost of the Medicaid program to provide health care for the poor. That aid will be gone, the group said.
Texas Borrows for Jobless Benefits as Cost Falls: Muni Credit
By Darrell Preston
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Texas, the second most-populous U.S. state, avoided paying higher interest rates on federal obligations with the sale of $854.7 million in debt to cover unemployment benefits.
The so-called spread on a similar borrowing Nov. 18 narrowed even as rates in the broader municipal market rose to their highest since Nov. 19 along with U.S. Treasury yields yesterday. President Barack Obama's accord with Republican leaders to extend tax cuts led investors to dump bonds, said John Bonnell, who helps oversee $6.9 billion including munis at USAA Investment Management Co. in San Antonio.
Angry Progressives Shut Down WH Phone Lines
With Calls Protesting Tax Cut Cave
By Sarah Seltzer - Alternet.org
Bernie Sanders isn't the only one who is in a fighting spirit after the recent "compromise" on the Bush Tax cuts.
Some progressives got so ticked off when they learned the Obama administration was going to cave on extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest Americans that they got organized, picked up their phone, and proceeded to tangle up and shut down not one, but two White House phone lines.
Liz Goodwin at Yahoo's Lookout blog spoke to Erica Payne, a Demoratic strategist who helped organize the group of millionaires who asked Obama to raise their taxes:
The Federal Estate Tax Survives a Near-Death Experience
By JONATHAN BERR - DailyFinance.com
It looks like the estate tax will survive its near-death experience.
For months, the tax has been public enemy No. 1 for fiscal conservatives, who have given it the ominous-sounding nickname of "the death tax." Under the Bush-era tax cuts, the levy was suspended for 2010, yielding a bonanza for families of the super-wealthy who went to the great country club in the sky this year, such as New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. His heirs saved a reported $500 million on their tax bill.
Peter Schiff on CNBC 12/06/10
Should housing prices go down to help economy?
Fannie, Freddie Pressed on Mortgages
By NICK TIMIRAOS And ALAN ZIBEL - WSJ.com
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in talks with Obama administration officials to join fledgling government programs aimed at reducing loan balances of mortgages where borrowers owe more than their homes are worth, according to people familiar with the situation.
An agreement with the two government-owned mortgage giants to write down so-called underwater loans could reduce the threat to the U.S. housing market from the glut of homeowners believed at risk of default should their personal finances or home prices worsen. A deal would deepen losses at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which already have cost taxpayers about $134 billion.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Edging Toward Extinction
By Heide B. Malhotra - EpochTimes.com
U.S. mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two symbols of the recent mortgage crisis, may be nearing their end.
Those firms may be shut down or sold off in 2011 or 2012 if the Republican-controlled House of Representatives gets its way, predicted Larry McDonald, former Lehman executive, during a visit to Australia, according to media reports.
A number of Republicans, including Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., fear that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would cost the U.S. taxpayer at least another $73 billion to prop up, bringing their total bailout funding to $215 billion.
Big Sis Invasion of Walmart Start of Obama's Civilian Security Force
Paul Joseph Watson - InfoWars.com
Americans have reacted with outrage to Big Sis Janet Napolitano's announcement that Homeland Security messages encouraging shoppers to spy on each other will play at Wal-Mart checkouts, but the announcement is part of a wider takeover of America that will see the DHS invade virtually every aspect of public life in the United States as the country sinks into a decrepit banana republic.
Wal-Mart Invasion Part of Larger DHS Takeover of America
***** Important Rant *****
Alex Jones Rant: DHS & TSA Invading America
Colorado forecast to gain 10,100 jobs in 2011
By Aldo Svaldi - The Denver Post
Slow and steady economic growth should allow Colorado to gain 10,100 jobs next year, predicts an annual economic forecast from the University of Colorado at Boulder Leeds School of Business.
The increase, however, will make only a small dent in reversing the nearly 140,000 jobs lost in the past two years. And it won't be enough to match state population growth of 79,100 predicted in 2011.
"We would all like a more rapid recovery, especially in terms of jobs, but we're just not going to see that yet," said economist Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the school's Business Research Division.
For Older Workers, the 21st Century Job Hunt Doesn't Come Easy
By HUGH COLLINS - DailyFinance.com
Lynn Gorham wasn't scared when she started looking for a job after 13 years as a homemaker. She had worked office jobs before she got married, and she was ready to go back to full-time work. Plus, she needed the money: Her husband, a contractor, was struggling to find work, and their savings were running low.
Previous experience told the 53-year-old Gorham (pictured) that the key factor in finding a job was the employment agency. If you were connected with the right recruiter, they'd take care of you.
Working past 65: Boomers face job challenges in senior years
By John Waggoner, USA TODAY
For many Baby Boomers and the generations that follow, 65 won't be retirement age. It will just be another year of work for those who have a job, and a diminished lifestyle for many of those who don't.
Even now, the oldest members of the Boomer generation (those born in the 19-year span of 1946-64) can't collect their full Social Security benefit until they're 66; the cutoff for full benefits was bumped up from 65 as a result of the last attempt to fix Social Security, in 1999. Proposals to cut the federal deficit eventually could push the age for full benefits to 69.
GAO: Lost natural gas costs gov't $23M per year
By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press via DenverPost.com
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- The government is losing tens of millions of dollars in potential royalties from energy companies that let immense volumes of natural gas escape into the atmosphere, congressional investigators said in a new report.
The Government Accountability Office report says about 50 billion cubic feet of natural gas has been needlessly lost every year during production on federal lands. That translates into $23 million annually in lost revenues.
Cold Weather Drives Oil to Highest Price Since 2008
By HUGH COLLINS - DailyFinance.com
Oil rose to the highest price in more than two years as cold weather in the U.S. and Europe stoked demand.
U.S crude prices for January rose as high as $90.46 a barrel, the highest since Oct. 2008, Reuters reported.
Temperatures in northwest Europe are expected to stay below seasonal norms for the next 10 days, raising demand for heating oil and prompting utilities to use their oil-fired power plants.
FCC push to regulate news draws fire
By Sara Jerome - TheHill.com
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) pushed back on Monday against a contention by a Democratic FCC commissioner that the government should create new regulations to promote diversity in news programming.
Barton was reacting to a proposal made last week by FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who in a speech suggested that broadcasters be subject to a new "public values test" every four years.
"I hope that you do not mean to suggest that it is the job of the federal government, through the [FCC], to determine the content that is available for Americans to consume," Barton wrote Monday in a letter to Copps.
Wayne Madsen Report: Assange Set Up By CIA Operative?
Alex Jones Tv
Wikileaks: State Secrets or Clever Tactics
Written by Claude Salhani - by OilPrice.com
Is the US Government Machiavellian enough to orchestrate the recent brouhaha over the so-called website WikiLeaks, is this a real embarrassment, or will it indeed be damaging as some U.S. diplomats claim?
I am not one to support conspiracy theories but when you stop to analyze the content of the information that was leaked it seem that two things emerge: first, the content of the cables were not so earth shattering as to damage national security, or harm Washington's relations with other countries.
Second, upon further analysis, it would appear that the information revealed instead sends a strong message to America's foes.
Senate bill would stave off rate cut for Medicare docs
By Tami Luhby
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Senate on Tuesday introduced a bipartisan bill that would prevent a 25% cut in doctors' Medicare reimbursement rates in 2011.
The bill, which would cost $19.3 billion over 10 years, would be paid for by changing a provision of the health reform act that provides tax credits for people who buy coverage. The credit is scaled to a person's income. The legislation would increase the amount people would have to repay if they underestimate their earnings.
Service Members Face New Threat: Identity Theft
By MATT RICHTEL - NYTimes.com
The government warns Americans to closely guard their Social Security numbers. But it has done a poor job of protecting those same numbers for millions of people: the nation's soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.
At bases and outposts at home and around the world, military personnel continue to use their Social Security numbers as personal identifiers in dozens of everyday settings, from filling out health forms to checking out basketballs at the gym. Thousands of soldiers in Iraq even stencil the last four digits onto their laundry bags.
All of this is putting members of the military at heightened risk for identity theft.
If you remember Dick Tracey comic books, see this ...
An iPod Watch Project Explodes Online
By NICK BILTON - NYTimes.com
A project that began with an iPod Nano and an experimental wristwatch design has quickly exploded online, receiving over $540,000 in funding through Kickstarter, a Web site that helps people find support for projects.
The project was created by the Chicago-based design firm Minimal, which wants to take the iPod Nano, Apple's latest tiny multitouch iPod, and incorporate it into a wristwatch. Those who pledge $25 to the project will receive a Nano-holding watch kit when it is produced.
Scott Wilson, founder of Minimal, said his company had been astonished by the response to the idea.
TikTok+LunaTik Multi-Touch Watch Kits
Project by Scott Wilson - Kickstarter.com
TikTok and LunaTik simply transform the iPod Nano into the world's coolest multi-touch watches. The idea to use the Nano as a watch was an obvious one ever since the product was announced. But we wanted to create a collection that was well designed, engineered and manufactured from premium materials and that complemented the impeccable quality of Apple products. Not just clipped on a cheap strap as an afterthought. We wanted to create a product that your friends and strangers would stop you and ask "WTF is that??? And where can I get one?!"
Sharpton wants FCC to shut down Limbaugh's 'racist talk'
By David Edwards - RawStory.com
It's no secret that Rev. Al Sharpton isn't a fan of Rush Limbaugh. Now Sharpton is hoping the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will finally do something about the conservative radio host.
Sharpton told MSNBC's Ed Schultz Monday that he conducting a series of meetings with the FCC to see if anything can be done to put a stop to what Schultz called Limbaugh's "racist-type talk."
"We have a series of meetings going on, and we're going to see the FCC next week," Sharpton said. "We're not going to stand by and allow publicly regulated radio and television just go for marketing and promoting this kind of racism."
Nigeria Files Charges Against Former U.S. Vice President Cheney
By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian prosecutors filed charges against former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and companies including Halliburton Co., where he was chief executive officer until 2000, for alleged bribery, according to court documents.
Charged along with Cheney yesterday were Albert "Jack" Stanley, ex-chairman of KBR Inc., a former unit of Halliburton, current CEO William Utt and Halliburton CEO David Lesar. Companies charged include Technip SA of France, Snamprogetti SpA, a unit of Eni SpA, KBR and JGC Corp. of Japan.
Showdown: John Bolton Vs. Judge Napolitano On Wikileaks
Guantanamo Bay transfers return to terrorism Count is 150 and still rising
By Bill Gertz - The Washington Times
Nearly one in four terrorists released from the detention facility at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, resumed terrorist activities against the United States and the number is expected to rise, according to a report to Congress by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).
The report, made public Tuesday, stated that out of a total of 598 detainees released as of October, 150 were confirmed or suspected of "reengaging in terrorist or insurgent activities after transfer," the two-page unclassified summary said.
China labels Nobel committee 'clowns'
AFP via AlterNet.org
China heaped fresh scorn Tuesday on the Nobel committee ahead of a ceremony honouring 2010 peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, calling its members "clowns" and saying most of the world backed Beijing.
"Those at the Nobel committee are orchestrating an anti-China fuss by themselves," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.
"We are against anybody making an issue out of Liu Xiaobo and interfering in China's judicial affairs."
She added: "We will not change because of interference by a few clowns."
Taking down America
By Alfred W McCoy - Asia Times
A soft landing for America 40 years from now? Don't bet on it. The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends suggests that in 2025, just 15 years from now, it could all be over except for the shouting.
Despite the aura of omnipotence most empires project, a look at their history should remind us that they are fragile organisms. So delicate is their ecology of power that, when things start to go truly bad, empires regularly unravel with unholy speed: just a year for Portugal, two years for the Soviet Union, eight years for France, 11 years for the Ottomans, 17 years for Great Britain, and, in all likelihood, 22 years for the United States, counting from the crucial year 2003.
The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
by Tom Engelhardt and Alfred W. McCoy - LewRockwell.com
Trying to play down the significance of an ongoing WikiLeaks dump of more than 250,000 State Department documents, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently offered the following bit of Washington wisdom: "The fact is, governments deal with the United States because it's in their interest, not because they like us, not because they trust us, and not because they believe we can keep secrets... [S]ome governments deal with us because they fear us, some because they respect us, most because they need us. We are still essentially, as has been said before, the indispensable nation."
Now, wisdom like that certainly sounds sober; it's definitely what passes for hardheaded geopolitical realism in our nation's capital; and it's true, Gates is not the first top American official to call the U.S. "the indispensable nation"; nor do I doubt that he and many other inside-the-Beltway players are convinced of our global indispensability. The problem is that the news has almost weekly been undermining his version of realism, making it look ever more phantasmagorical. The ability of WikiLeaks, a tiny organization of activists, to thumb its cyber-nose at the global superpower, repeatedly shining a blaze of illumination on the penumbra of secrecy under which its political and military elite like to conduct their affairs, hasn't helped one bit either. If our indispensability is, as yet, hardly questioned in Washington, elsewhere on the planet it's another matter.
The Federal Reserve's Secret Set of Books Hiding $9 Trillion Off Balance Sheet Transactions
By: Richard Daughty - MarketOracle.co.uk
I have been grudgingly getting to work every day and on-time since, unfortunately, it looks like my incompetence, stupidity and sheer lazy worthlessness is going to produce another losing quarter, and the rumor is that the Board of Directors is looking for heads to roll.
This prompted me to suggest to my boss that instead of firing me, the company should bail out the business segment that is losing money (mine) by loaning money to it, which everyone knows will never be paid back, so that the consolidated company books could show a huge tax-deductible loss by virtue of loss reserves on the eventual default, and my little division could also help the bottom line by booking a tax-deductible interest expense on the loan that we never pay back!
Say What? 30 Ben Bernanke Quotes That Are So Stupid That You Won't Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Did you see Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on 60 Minutes the other night? Bernanke portrayed the Federal Reserve as the great protector of the U.S. economy, he claimed that unemployment would be 15 percent higher if the Federal Reserve had sat back and done nothing during the financial crisis and he even started laying the groundwork for a third round of quantitative easing. Unfortunately, 60 Minutes did not ask Bernanke any hard questions and did not challenge him on his past record. It was almost as if they considered Bernanke to be above criticism. But someone in the mainstream media should be taking a closer look at this guy and his record. The truth is that the incompetence that Bernanke has displayed over the past few years makes the Cincinnati Bengals look like a model of excellence. Bernanke kept insisting that the housing market was stable even while it was falling apart, he had absolutely no idea the financial crisis was coming, he declared that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in no danger of failing just before they failed, his policies have created asset bubble after asset bubble and the world financial system is now inherently unstable. But even with such horrific job performance, Barack Obama and leaders of both political parties continue to publicly praise Bernanke at every opportunity. What in the world is going on here?
Ben Bernanke's Money Pump to Create New Market Bubbles
By: Michael Swanson - MarketOracle.co.uk
This morning global markets are mixed and US futures are down a few ticks before the open. Overnight US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that he was ready to buy up more bonds and he will undoubtedly formally announce such a decision at the next FOMC meeting next week on December 14th. As soon as he said this Asian markets ticked up a few points in hope that some of the hot money he creates will flow overseas to emerging markets. It probably will.
The Monetization of U.S. Government Debt We're Watching and It's Bigger Than You Think
by Michael Pollaro - LewRockwell.com
Didn't Chairman Bernanke say, "The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt."
Yes he did, as clear as day to the House Budget Committee back on June 3, 2009. And yet 17 months later Bernanke gave us QE II, which not only means the Federal Reserve will be purchasing about $75 billion a month in assets for the next 8 months, but as it so happens, some $110 billion in Treasury Notes and Bonds too. That's enough to finance the U.S. government's projected fiscal deficit right up through June 2011, in full.
Did Bernanke Pull a Fast One Last Night?
By Tim Iacono - SeekingAlpha.com
Of all the memorable moments in last night's 60 Minutes interview with Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, two have remained with me over the last 12 hours - his claim that what the central bank is doing is not printing money and his 100 percent confidence that, should whatever it is they're doing lead to sharply rising prices, they will be able to nip it in the bud, that bud being right at about two percent.
For the full interview, refer to this YouTube clip posted here last night (and you can avoid the minute-long commercial that the CBS website makes you suffer to view it there) and skip directly to about the six minute mark.
Why What The Fed's Doing is Inflationary
by Aaron Krowne - Implode-O-Meter-Blog
With the Fed ramping up the"Quantitative Easing," and now talking about potentially not limiting "round 2" or "QE 2.0" to $600 (or $900 billion if you include mortgage security run-off replacement purchases the Fed has promised), Bernanke is apparently doing a full-court press to convince the public that the Fed's actions are not inflationary. He made an appearance on "60 Minutes" for December 5th, 2010, and made extensive comments to that effect.
This was covered in a good article just put out by my friend Tim Iacono, who makes apt points about the folly of the Fed's rigged inflation metrics as any sort of guide. The crux of his article in my opinion is in this segment:
Danger of Deflation Depends on Your Definition of Deflation
By The Mogambo Guru - The DailyReckoning.com
12/06/10 Tampa, Florida - John Mauldin of Frontlinethoughts.com reports that "the number of people on food stamps continues to rise. As of the end of August, a total of 42,389,619 people were receiving food stamps under the SNAP program. This was an increase of 553,379 people over July's number, or an increase month-over-month of 1.32%." Most horrifically, "The year-over-year increase was 6,147,762 people or 17%."
By this time, my heart is breaking from the sheer misery inherent in those numbers, and I am screaming in Loud Mogambo Outrage (LMO) at the damage caused by the Federal Reserve creating so much money for the last few decades that it created bubbles in stock markets, bubbles in bond markets, bubbles in the sizes of government, gargantuan derivatives markets and housing bubbles, all of which are in various stages of panic and loss, all made worse by more people not working and who can't buy food!
Tax-cut deal reached between Obama, Republicans Obama, Republicans reach deal to extend tax cuts, unemployment benefits
By Shailagh Murray - Washington Post
President Obama and congressional Republicans have agreed to a tentative deal that would extend for two years all the tax breaks set to expire on Dec. 31, continue unemployment benefits for an additional 13 months and cut payroll taxes for workers to encourage employers to start hiring.
The deal has been in the works for more than a week and represents a concession by Obama to political reality: Democrats don't have the votes in Congress to extend only the expiring tax breaks that benefit the middle class. The White House estimates that the proposed agreement would prevent typical families from facing annual tax increases of about $3,000, starting Jan. 1.
No Economic Recovery in Sight, Reasons Why Global Capitalism Can't Recover Anytime Soon
By: Shamus Cooke - MarketOracle.co.uk
As the recession grinds on, politicians in most industrial countries have an incentive to make exaggerated claims about the supposed coming economic recovery. Some say the recession is over. Obama is in the group that claims we're on "the road to recovery," while other nations can only spot recovery "on the horizon." Below are seven important social phenomena that point to a more realistic economic and political outlook.
Elitists Leading On An Odyssey Of Economic Ruin
Bob Chapman - TheInternationalForecaster.com
The price of commodities, particularly food and petroleum products, will be higher in the coming year, which will strain budgets more than ever for those who still have jobs. Unemployment will not get appreciably better and government debt will rise. Government is talking about raising the Social Security retirement age by three years, freezing payments and offering government guaranteed annuities in exchange for those of you that do have retirement plans. Two-thirds of those in and about to retire have only Social Security for 50% of their income. The money collected since 1935 is all gone, having been spent by past politicians. In fact, if you put all present and future commitments together you have a debt of $105 trillion.
U.S. Facing Federal Debt Cataclysm, The Establishment Is in Despair
By: Gary North - MarketOracle.co.uk
Austrian School economists and analysts who have warned that we are facing a Federal debt cataclysm have now received grudging confirmation from a most unlikely source: the Council on Foreign Relations.
The Council on Foreign Relations is the single most influential discussion forum in the United States. Its quarterly journal, Foreign Affairs, is therefore the most influential publication in the country and therefore the world.
Gold, Keynesian Economics and Wall Street Journal Deflation Idiocy
By: Howard Katz - MarketOracle.co.uk
Friday's Wall Street Journal was full of "optimistic" news for the U.S. economy. It reported:
"Retailers" reports of robust November sales offered more evidence that the lackluster U.S. economy may finally be gaining momentum, despite stubbornly high unemployment.
"According to 27 retailers tracked by Thomson Reuters, sales at stores open a year or more rose 6% last month, sharply exceeding a year-earlier gain of just 0.5%. Online retailing also showed sizable gains."
Deciphering The Inflation Scorecard: Why Gold?
By Brad Zigler - Seekingalpha.com
Each Friday, the Desktop is given over to an Inflation Scorecard - a checklist of indicators that track the strength of the U.S. dollar.
This compendium often leaves readers scratching their heads, some wondering how these indicators are derived, while others question their importance.
An oft-asked question is, "Why the emphasis on gold?" Well, what better yardstick of dollar purchasing power than this age-old monetary standard? In fact, gold is at the heart of the Monetary Inflation Index that's monitored at the top of each day's Desktop column (more about this later). We offer details on gold that, while not directly influencing inflation, give some context for the week's trading.
Speculators return to buying Gold, Silver
By Debbie Carlson of Kitco News
(Kitco News) - Speculators have returned to buying gold and silver futures and options, according to government data released late Friday.
In both legacy and disaggregated weekly commitment of traders reports issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the speculative non-commercial and managed-money accounts halted slides in net-long positions witnessed earlier in November. The most recent data is for the trade date ended Nov. 30. The data encompasses both the futures and options activity at the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Start Hoarding Gold and Silver Right Now
By: Investment U - MarketOracle.co.uk
Carl Delfeld writes: Over the past decade, gold has trounced stocks across the board.
No big secret there, of course.
But the margin of the beating might surprise you...
S&P 500: The index kicked off the 21st century at 1,469 points. But it ended the decade at 1,115 points on December 31, 2009 Ð a drop of 24%.
Gold: The contrast in fortunes couldn't be more marked, with the yellow metal sweeping to a total gain of 275% over the same 10-year period - an annualized return of 14.1%. And if you shorten the time period to gold's performance since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in early 2008, the price has soared by 76%.
Let's get one thing straight, though: Despite the fact that gold prices recently broke through the $1,400 per ounce barrier and the mainstream media keeps referring to "all-time highs," this is off the mark. Adjusted for inflation, the real gold price record was set 30 years ago at $2,318 per ounce.
Fresh Gold rally may target $1,500/ounce
LONDON (Commodity Online): Last week itself there were enough signals that gold is in a new rally targeting $1,500 per ounce. And, this week began on a positive note with gold prices jumping substantially following the November US unemployment report disappointed the market.
Investors sought the safety of the precious metal as the Labor Department reported that non-farm jobs increased 39,000 while the private sector added 50,000 jobs. The unemployment rate rose to 9.8%, the highest level since April. All the results were significantly below expectations.
Gold Prices Should Stay High for Years to Come
Equedia Network Corporation - SeekingAlpha.com
It's about time the contrarians realize that the world has changed.
Gold continues to climb, closing at over $1400/oz this past Friday. And the word on the street is that this run is far from over.
Gold imports into China have soared this year, turning the country, already the largest bullion miner, into a major overseas buyer for the first time in recent history. China's hunger for gold (see Where the Billionaires Invest) shot gold prices to new levels this past week when the Shanghai Gold Exchange said that China's gold imports jumped almost fivefold in the first 10 months from the entire amount shipped in last year.
Gold & Silver Bull Markets "Can Withstand Liquidation", "Prolonged" by Euro Crisis, US Inflationary Policy
By: Adrian Ash - GoldSeek.com
THE PRICE OF GOLD touched a near-record $1419 per ounce in Asian trade early on Monday, easing back as the Euro slipped vs. the Dollar and world stock markets stalled after last week's sharp gains.
Government bond prices rose, nudging yields lower. Crude oil slipped from new two-year highs above $89 per barrel.
"The metals ran out of steam fairly quickly as profit-takers from the Far East emerged in number," says one dealer in a note.
But "Latest data confirms [that] gold is best positioned to withstand any substantial long liquidation," says commodity analyst Walter de Wet at Standard Bank, noting that - as a proportion of all gold futures contracts now open on the US Comex exchange - the net balance of speculative bets is below its two-year average at 30.4%, with silver's net speculative position at just 20% of open interest.
Gold and Silver Looking Great Both Technically and Fundamentally
By: Clive Maund - MarketOracle.co.uk
Things really couldn't look better for gold and silver both fundamentally and technically - and this is said in the knowledge that there are still a lot of naysayers around - if there weren't we really would have cause to be worried. Fundamentally, the major development of recent days that caused markets to soar is the realization that the addled leaders of Europe are set to put aside any principles or laws that stand in the way and backstop the European bond markets, before following the glorious example set by the US and wholeheartedly embracing the instant solution to all problems large and small (apart from insignificant matters like high unemployment) - QE heavy. They are going to step in and support the markets and print as much money as it takes. This is of course great news for the markets - the interests of the elites and of speculators are to be protected at all costs - and the costs will be pushed onto the ordinary guy in the street in the form of roaring inflation.
Silver No Sign of an End to Accelerating Advance
By: Clive Maund - MarketOracle.co.uk
Although silver's uptrend which began in August has been steep, and it is still substantially overbought after its "running correction" of recent weeks, there doesn't appear to be any sign of it ending in the near future. On the contrary, silver looks set to continue to rise steeply and the rate of advance may even accelerate.
On its long-term chart we can see how, having broken above the strong resistance near to its 2008 highs, silver has embarked on a steep uptrend that looks likely to at least rival the powerful uptrend of late 2005 and early 2006 - and if it rivals it in percentage terms, we are looking at a target in the $36 area for this move, which is certainly suggested by the upper trendline drawn on the chart. Given that silver is a much more volatile market than gold, and that gold itself is expected to accelerate away to the upside, it is clear that a spectacular advance may be in store for silver which takes it considerably higher than our provisional $36 target.
Silver emerges as precious metals star
By Dan Norcini - CommodityOnline.com
Silver was the star of the precious metals complex on Monday globally as it shot higher in the face of a stronger Dollar and a mixed performance by the overall commodity sector. Its strength helped to pull gold higher particularly when it cleared $30 for the first time since many moons ago.
I have been receiving emails from some detailing the efforts to squeeze Morgan. If you track the daily open interest figures without looking at the larger picture, it can be oftentimes a bit unclear as to what is going on, mainly because the actions of spreaders can cloud the short term picture. It is revealing, however, when you look at the weekly silver chart and compare that to the COT chart over the same timeframe.
Precious metals outshine stocks
By Julianne Pepitone - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Precious metals like gold and silver took center stage Monday as few investors showed a willingness to jump into the stock market fray on a day with no major economic news on tap.
Stock trading volume was lower than average, and major indexes ended mixed after drifting around breakeven for most of the day. Stocks were reacting to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's pessimistic outlook about the nation's economy.
Flawed new $100 bill, $110 billion Fed headache
By Charles Riley
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- More than 1.1 billion new $100 bills have been put into quarantine while officials search for a solution to a printing problem that has rendered some of the bills unusable, an official familiar with the situation said Monday.
Originally scheduled for a February 2011 release date, the bills were the first run of a high-tech note designed to combat counterfeiting by including a 3-D security ribbon.
The Federal Reserve first acknowledged an issue with the bills in October, but did not specify the scope of the problem.
Irish Bailout Not the End of the Story
Global Intelligence Report - AllAmericanGold.com
Information Operations for Private Clients INCIDENT: With the collapse of a housing bubble in Ireland having called into question the solvency of the country's banks, Dublin has been obliged to call out to international financial institutions. In reply, they have drawn a plan for €85 billion, including not just bank bailouts but also sovereign debt relief. SIGNIFICANCE: This is not a sudden development but rather the extension of unrest that had, earlier in the year, touched only the so-called Greece and now threatens Portugal and Spain.
What the Bowles-Simpson plan left out
By Robert J. Samuelson - WashingtonPost
People who wonder what America's budget problem is ultimately about should look to Europe. In the streets of Dublin, Athens and London, angry citizens are protesting government plans to cut programs and raise taxes. The social contract is being broken. People are furious; they feel betrayed.
Modern democracies have created a new morality. Government benefits, once conferred, cannot be revoked. People expect them and consider them property rights. Just as government cannot randomly confiscate property, it cannot withdraw benefits without violating a moral code. The old-fashioned idea that government policies should serve the "national interest" has given way to inertia and squatters' rights.
IMF urges EU to boost €500bn bail-out fund to stem crisis The International Monetary Fund has called on the EU authorities to boost their rescue fund and step up bond purchases to insure against a fresh financial crisis in the eurozone periphery.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
"The recovery could still stay the course, but this scenario could now easily be derailed by the renewed financial market turmoil," the IMF says in a report for eurozone finance ministers today, according to Reuters. "The sovereign and financial market storm affecting the periphery constitutes a severe downside risk."
The IMF said the EU's €500bn bail-out machinery was not enough to cope with the magnitude of the threat as Spain and even Italy start to come under pressure.
Europe's financial contagion
By Neil Irwin - WashingtonPost.com
Greece sneezed, and now most of Europe has a cold. The European debt crisis has already spread like a virus from Greece to Ireland, and other countries are now at risk: Portugal, Spain, and Italy are the most probable candidates for financial problems. Economists call this the "contagion effect," a term popularized during the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s. But how does financial crisis spread? Some of it has to do with confidence. When investors see one country encounter financial problems, they may doubt the health of other countries that seem to share economic or even political characteristics.
Trillions In Secret Fed Bailouts For Global Corporations And Foreign Banks - Has The Federal Reserve Become A Completely Unaccountable Global Bailout Machine?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Has the Federal Reserve become the Central Bank of the World? That is what some members of Congress are asking after the Federal Reserve revealed the details of 21,000 transactions stretching from December 2007 to July 2010 that totaled more than $3 trillion on Wednesday. Most of these transactions involved giant loans that were nearly interest-free from the Federal Reserve to some of the largest banks, financial institutions and corporations all over the world. In fact, it turns out that foreign banks and foreign corporations received a very large share of these bailouts. So has the Federal Reserve now become a completely unaccountable global bailout machine? Sadly, the truth is that we would have never learned the details of these bailouts if Congress had not forced this information out of the Fed. So what other kinds of jaw-dropping details would be revealed by a full audit of the Federal Reserve?
Euro collapse 'possible' amid deepening divisions over bail-out There is a slim chance that the euro will not survive the current sovereign debt crisis sweeping Europe, one of the Treasury's leading independent forecasters has said.
By Philip Aldrick - Telegraph.co.uk
Under questioning from MPs on the Treasury Select Committee, Stephen Nickell, a member of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) and a former Bank of England rate-setter, said a collapse of the single currency was "a possibility".
Asked more broadly about the sustainability of currency unions, he added: "The general consensus is that sooner or later they fail for one reason or another - but that doesn't mean to say it always happens."
His comments came as deep divisions in the eurozone threatened to drive Spain, Portugal and Ireland into more difficulty.
Greece seeks longer to repay €110bn IMF bailout loan as austerity bites
IMF team flies in to Athens amid fears over economic recovery and reforms as EU predicts public debt at 160% of GDP by 2013
By Helena Smith in Athens - Guardian.co.uk
Like some visiting potentate, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, will be given a red carpet welcome when he visits Greece tomorrow but the pomp and circumstance will not be able to hide lingering fears over the debt-choked country's economic future.
Nearly a year after Athens emerged on the frontline of Europe's worst-ever fiscal crisis, George Papandreou, the prime minister, faces one of the biggest tests of his political leadership as he uses the visit to negotiate an extension of the repayment period Greece has been given for the €110bn (£95bn) EU and IMF-sponsored rescue package it received in May.
Big Banks Are Stifling Economic Growth & Taxing Consumers
By: Dian L Chu - MarketOracle.co.uk
Have you noticed the price of oil lately? It's $90 a barrel in a dismal economy with unemployment hovering around 10%. The problem with Fed chairman Bernanke's latest QE 2 initiative is that he has just given more access of cheap money to the big banks.
Non-Productive Use of QE Money
And what are they doing with all this cheap money? Nothing productive from an economic standpoint. Instead of lending the money to entrepreneurs, business projects, and venture capital initiatives which actually create jobs and foster much needed economic growth, the big banks are just taking this cheap money and pouring it into commodities like crude oil, copper and grains.
Fed Report Reveals Great Bank Heist of 2008-2009
By: Barry Grey - MarketOracle.co.uk
The US Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday released documents on emergency measures it took between 2007 and 2010, using taxpayer funds, to bail out major financial firms in the US and around the world. The sums involved are staggering.
Fed bailout loans outstanding reached a high of $3.3 trillion, but the cumulative amount of cash funneled by the US central bank to banks, hedge funds and major industrial corporations reached the tens of trillions of dollars.
Philadelphia law firm used nonlawyers to file foreclosures, suit alleges
by KERRY CURRY - HousingWire.com
A Philadelphia law firm has been accused of the "unauthorized practice of law" by using nonlawyers to file hundreds of foreclosure cases and collect attorneys' fees, according to a lawsuit.
In a further indictment of the mortgage industry, it also contends that banks, loan servicers and other creditors knew of the practice.
Patrick Loughren, a Pittsburgh, Pa., trial lawyer with Loughren, Loughren & Loughren, sued the law firm of Goldbeck, McCafferty & McKeever, along with 35 employees of the firm, according to the case, filed in Allegheny County, Pa. Messages seeking comment were left with the Goldbeck firm and Loughren. They could not be immediately reached for comment.
Jobless Recovery?: 25 Unemployment Statistics That Are Almost Too Depressing To Read -- TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Guess what? Unemployment is up again! That's right - even though Wall Street is swimming in cash and the Obama administration is declaring that "the recession is over", the U.S. unemployment rate has gone even higher. So are you enjoying the jobless recovery? The truth is that there should not be any talk of a "recovery" as long as the "official" unemployment rate remains at around 10 percent and the "real" unemployment continues to hover around 17 percent. There are millions and millions of American families that are living every day in deep pain because of the lack of jobs. Meanwhile, there are all of these economic pundits that are declaring that we are just going to have to realize that chronic unemployment is the "new normal" and that if other nations can handle high rates of unemployment then so can we. The most optimistic economists are projecting that we can perhaps get the unemployment rate down to around 8 percent by 2012. On the other hand, there are many economists that are convinced that things are going to get even worse.
Federal pay freeze plan wouldn't stop raises
By STEPHEN LOSEY - FederalTimes.com
President Obama spoke of the need for sacrifice last week when he announced a two-year pay freeze for federal employees.
But feds won't be too terribly deprived in 2011 and 2012. Despite the freeze, some 1.1 million employees will receive more than $2.5 billion in raises during that period.
Congress is expected to approve Obama's proposal, which cancels only cost-of-living adjustments for two years. Regularly scheduled step increases for the 1.4 million General Schedule employees - who make up two-thirds of the civilian work force - will continue. The size of those increases ranges from 2.6 percent to 3.3 percent and by law kick in every one, two or three years, depending on an employee's time in grade.
Unemployment rate for college grads is highest since 1970
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Last month's increase in unemployment was especially discouraging for the well-educated.
The jobless rate for Americans with at least a bachelor's degree rose to 5.1%, the highest since 1970 when records were first kept, reports the Bureau of Labor Statistics. October's 4.7% rate was up from 4.4% in September. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate last month rose to 9.8% from 9.6%.
Joblessness among those with advanced educations probably drove the overall rate higher, as that group makes up 30% of the labor force, the single biggest sector, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. The government's figures show there were 2.4 million unemployed people last month with bachelor's degrees and higher.
Average gas prices near $3 a gallon at the pump
By Sandy Shore, AP Business Writer
Americans are getting a sour holiday surprise at the gas pump, where prices are the highest they've been in more than two years. They may even hit a national average of $3 a gallon soon.
Although supplies remain plentiful and gasoline demand has diminished since September, retail gas prices are rising
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