Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Thursday 06.30.2011
Get Ready To Be Financially Conscripted
Arnold Bock - SilverBearCafe.com
A new financial policy initiative known by the label "Financial Repression" may soon become our worst nightmare. 'Repression' rhymes with 'depression' which could be what we have to look forward to as rampant price inflation and permanently lower living standards take hold. Get ready to be conscripted into a citizen army assembled for the greater cause of saving the nation from being swamped by a tsunami of debt. Let me explain.
What is Financial Repression?
Financial Repression is a policy cocktail comprised of large doses of monetary inflation, commonly known as money creation far in excess of the growth in the economy, coupled with interest rates that are below the real rate of inflation. While that may not sound particularly scary, the policy is designed to cause asset and price inflation which is reflective of, and caused by, a devaluing dollar. A much lower standard of living is the inevitable outcome.
Obama Targets Tax Breaks
By CAROL E. LEE And JANET HOOK - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama made the case Wednesday for ending certain tax breaks for "millionaires and billionaires" in a deal to keep the U.S. government from defaulting on its debt, sharpening his tone with just weeks left for Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement.
Republicans responded by repeating their opposition to any tax increases, saying they would hurt the fragile economy.
Although the two sides appeared deadlocked, their differences are smaller than the partisan rhetoric suggests.
S&P: We'll Drop U.S. Debt Rating From AAA to D in August
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency, will drop the United States' debt rating from a pristine triple-A to a pathetic D if Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on a deal by August 4. The Atlantic Wire has more:
S&P's managing director John Chambers explained, "If the U.S. government misses a payment, it goes to D. ... That would happen right after August 4, when the bills mature, because they don't have a grace period."
Three frames to understand this issue:
(1) Greece and the United States are on the verge of default. We have AAA debt rating from S&P. Greece has a CCC rating. Greece's problem is pure economics. Their government doesn't save enough money to pay back their creditors. The U.S. government's problem is pure politics. We're choosing not to meet our obligations despite extremely low borrowing rates.
S&P: We'll Drop U.S. Debt Rating From AAA to D in August
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency, will drop the United States' debt rating from a pristine triple-A to a pathetic D if Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on a deal by August 4. The Atlantic Wire has more:
S&P's managing director John Chambers explained, "If the U.S. government misses a payment, it goes to D. ... That would happen right after August 4, when the bills mature, because they don't have a grace period."
Three frames to understand this issue:
(1) Greece and the United States are on the verge of default. We have AAA debt rating from S&P. Greece has a CCC rating. Greece's problem is pure economics. Their government doesn't save enough money to pay back their creditors. The U.S. government's problem is pure politics. We're choosing not to meet our obligations despite extremely low borrowing rates.
American Tax Payers, Geithner's Victims of Last Resort
By: Gary North - MarketOracle.co.uk
You may have heard that the Federal Reserve System is the lender of last resort. This is a misleading concept. The Federal Reserve loans the U.S. government newly created fiat money. The government issues the FED an IOU. It is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. But who stands behind the United States government, wallets in hand? You do. And so do I.
We are the victims of last resort.
On May 13, Timothy Geithner wrote a letter to Colorado's Senator Michael Bennet. In his letter, he presented the case against freezing the debt ceiling. The letter is here.
GOP Senators Brush Aside Geithner's Debt Ceiling Warnings
By ANDREW ACKERMAN and JEFFREY SPARSHOTT - WSJ.com
WASHINGTON—Key Senate Republicans on Wednesday brushed aside fresh warnings from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that Congress must increase the U.S. borrowing cap before an Aug. 2 deadline.
Mr. Geithner, in two letters to lawmakers, shot down Republican claims that the U.S. can continue to meet its debt obligations after Aug. 2 even if a debt ceiling deal isn't reached. He also criticized a Republican proposal for the government to develop a contingency budget plan that could be used if the debt cap isn't raised.
Mr. Geithner said one Republican proposal is "unwise, unworkable, unacceptably risky, and unfair to the American people." A second Treasury letter labeled another plan "neither feasible nor responsible." The unusually harsh critiques were in response to earlier letters from GOP lawmakers.
Why the New IMF Chief Will Cost U.S. Taxpayers Billions
BY KERRI SHANNON, Associate Editor, Money Morning
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has made another mistake - a mistake that'll cost U.S. taxpayers a lot of money.
The organization's executive board yesterday (Tuesday) selected French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as its new leader. A U.S. pledge of support Tuesday morning secured Lagarde's approval. She already had backing from European countries and major emerging markets Brazil, Russia, and China.
But with Lagarde in the driver's seat, the IMF is likely to continue lending billions of dollars to struggling European countries that are drowning in debt.
Those billions come from member countries that hold a financial stake in the IMF - and the United States is the single-biggest stakeholder.
IMF: U.S. Doomed to Sub-3 Percent Growth for Next 5 Years
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
The United States will not return to robust 3 percent growth until after 2016, according to a June statement from the IMF. By contrast, average GDP growth in the second half of the 1900s was just above 3 percent. This is not good news.
Now, IMF reports aren't exactly bursting forth with crackerjack surprises. They're the economic equivalent of a macroeconomic lecture from a grizzled senior professor. Reasonable-sounding, long, and vermouth dry. But this list of five big risks for the U.S. economy is worth saving for reasons I've listed below the break:
Greek Relief May Be Short-Lived
By RICHARD BARLEY - WSJ.com
Global markets have dodged a bullet. Greece has voted "yes" to more austerity, paving the way for the disbursement of €12 billion ($17 billion) in bailout loans and avoiding a messy default.
The vote in the end was relatively comfortable, with 155 Greek lawmakers in favor, including some who previously had vowed to vote against, and 138 against. But investors can't breathe easy yet. Greece still is a source of risk, and the global picture is gloomy.
Greek Rollover Plan Just a Stopgap
By RICHARD BARLEY - WSJ.com
France's plan for a rollover of Greek bonds has helped restore some calm to jittery markets. Some have compared it to the Brady plan that helped end the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s. The plan has some positive aspects, particularly for the creditors. But it's not clear whether it helps Greece, and it may yet fall foul of the ratings agencies.
As outlined, banks would roll 50% of their exposure into new 30-year Greek debt and park 20% in high-quality zero-coupon European bonds that will rise in value over time, thereby providing insurance against a future Greek default. That would help plug the funding gap Greece faces and which governments are balking at covering.
IN GREECE, 'FISCAL SUICIDE' WAS NOT AN OPTION
By BF - Truthdig.com
Despite thousands of protesters’ fierce opposition to the PM’s austerity plan and with calls of “traitor” ringing in their ears, members of the Greek Parliament voted Wednesday in favor of economic solvency rather than popular opinion.
The Socialist Party passed the stringent plan with a simple majority vote along party lines, 155 to 138, opening the door to the conditionally offered $17 billion bailout by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Greece votes for five-year austerity plan MPs' decision paves way for more EU and IMF cash but protesters teargassed amid chaos in Syntagma Square
By Helena Smith in Athens - Guardian.co.uk
At 4.39pm on Wednesday the Greek parliament approved a five-year austerity plan that could sink or save the country.
Many hoped the vote might end the saga that has kept Europe – and markets across the world – on tenterhooks over the past week.
But no sooner had the MPs cast their ballots and European Unionleaders had welcomed the "landmark" vote, the real drama began outside parliament where another approach to democracy saw protesters battle with riot police. The clashes continued into the early hours as MPs return to parliament today to vote on a law that will speed the austerity measures through parliament.
Vote Calms Markets—for Now Investors Like Greek Short-Term Fix, but Worry for Future
By ALKMAN GRANITSAS, SARA SCHAEFER MUÑOZ
and MARK GONGLOFF - WSJ.com
ATHENS—Financial markets breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday after the Greek Parliament approved a five-year austerity plan demanded by international creditors, but investors remain wary that the fix fails to resolve problems facing Greece—and Europe—in the long run.
The measures, which were demanded by international creditors as a condition of a new bailout, eased fears of an imminent default, but market reaction was muted by gains over the past two days, partly on expectations the budget-cutting package would pass.
War zone - Athens Riots herald a 'dark day' in Greek history
as MPs vote through austerity cuts A young woman staggered down the steps of Syntagma Square blinded by the acrid smoke as thick clouds of tear gas billowed across the heart of the Greek capital
By Fiona Govan, Athens - Telegraph.co.uk
Bent double and choking, the thin surgical mask across her mouth failing to protect her lungs from the noxious fumes, she crumpled to the ground in front of the Parliament as an army of riot police closed ranks behind her.
Hooded youths, their faces hidden behind gas masks ripped what projectiles they could find from the streets to hurl at police chanting "cops, pigs, murderers!"
Police retaliated with baton charges accompanied by sporadic rounds of teargas and stun grenades releasing terrifying loud bangs - and the crowds fled, regrouping within minutes in other parts of the square.
Greece on fire: police and protestors clash in Athens
Greece is standing up to EU neocolonialism The usurious conditions of the Greek bailout reveals Brussels' colonial mindset – but Athens is showing citizens can resist
By Costas Douzinas and Petros Papaconstantinou - Guardian.co.uk
After months of attacks on the supposedly feckless Greeks, the western media, intellectuals such Amartya Sen and Jürgen Habermas and theUnited Nations have finally woken up to the fact that the catastrophic austerity imposed on Greece is unsustainable. It was about time. This is an unprecedented and morally odious type of collective punishment imposed on a majority of Greeks, who did not see a penny from the profligacy of their rulers and who live close to the poverty line.
The partial acknowledgment of the injustice and unworkability of the austerity measures came only after popular resistance and the peaceful revolt of the indignant scored its first major victory for the anti-austerity and pro-democracy campaign. Syntagma has placed a clear sell-by date on George Papandreou and the elites that ruled Greece for 37 years. The vote of confidence for the reshuffled government bought a limited amount of time, deferring its inevitable collapse. Offering to resign on Wednesday morning and, when his offer was turned down, offering the de facto leadership of the party and government to Evangelos Venizelos, his bitter party enemy, in the evening, Papandreou is a "dead man walking". While most commentators believe the virtually bankrupt country must default and negotiate a substantial reduction of debt, the government keeps insisting that it will repay every last penny.
Gold and Silver Rise as Greek Politicians Choose
Between Austerity or Dignity
By: Ben Traynor - MarketOracle.co.uk
THE PRICE to buy gold rose to $1510 an ounce Wednesday morning London time – a 0.5% gain on the week – while stocks and commodities also gained and US Treasury bonds fell ahead of the Greek austerity vote.
The price to buy silver climbed too, hitting $34.49 an ounce – also 0.5% up for the week.
"Activity picked up this morning" in Asian trade, according to one Hong Kong bullion dealer, who says the market is "cautiously upbeat" on account of recovering risk appetite.
"Market participants are generally positive on gold," agrees Yingxi Yu, commodities analyst at Barclays Capital. Yingxi questions, however, whether now is the right time to buy gold "given the volatility in risky assets such as equities and oil".
The new Rome is not the new Greece yet,
but the US must look to its laurels It's encouraging to see Americans acknowledge the hole they are in. Pity they can't agree how to get out of it
By Timothy Garton Ash - Guardian.co.uk
We are approaching the anniversary of America's Independence Day. As we all know, 15 years ago an alien invasion, deploying giant saucer-shaped warships hovering over earth, was repulsed by the ingenuity, true grit and heroism of US forces, leading a worldwide coalition of the willing. President Thomas J Whitmore declared that 4 July would henceforward be celebrated as Independence Day not just for the US but for the entire world. His speech was described by one reviewer as "the most jaw-droppingly pompous soliloquy ever delivered in a mainstream Hollywood movie" – which, given the competition, is saying a lot.
Unrest in the UK Public sector strike:
£500,000 pension pot of striking teachers revealed The generosity of public sector pensions has been laid bare after official calculations showed that a typical teacher can expect to retire with a taxpayer-funded scheme worth more than £500,000.
By Robert Winnett, and Andrew Porter - Telegraph.co.uk
Thousands of schools are to close today as a result of industrial action over proposals to make public sector staff work longer and contribute more for their pensions.
Unions representing the 750,000 employees involved in the strike say their members are being unfairly treated. But Treasury figures released today expose how public sector retirement funds dwarf their private sector counterparts.
The calculations show that a mid-ranking teacher on £32,000 a year will receive a final salary pension that is the equivalent of having built up a £500,000 pension pot.
French Banks Scramble to Prevent Another Global Collapse
BY KERRI SHANNON, Associate Editor, Money Morning
The threat of a Greek default has become so real that French banks, which constitute some of the top Greek debt holders, have intensified their efforts to ease the country's floundering finances.
French lenders, along with their government, have suggested a debt rollover program, the first private-sector proposal to help save Greece.
The proposal suggests reinvesting 50% of maturing Greek debt into 30-year Greek government bonds between now and 2014. The new securities would pay a coupon close to current loans' interest rates, and offer a bonus for additional Greek gross domestic product (GDP) growth.
BofA Haunted by Countrywide Deal
By DAN FITZPATRICK - WSJ.com
Just before Bank of America Corp. swooped in to buy Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2008, the bank's then-chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, told analysts why he had dropped his resistance to owning a mortgage lender.
"Arithmetic overcomes all your issues," he told analysts. "If I ever did anything in the mortgage business, I would have to eat about seven years of my words, so it would have to be pretty compelling."
The nation's largest bank by assets has been haunted by Countrywide's numbers ever since the $2.5 billion deal was completed.
SEC Pushes to Level Swaps Playing Field
By JESSICA HOLZER
WASHINGTON—U.S. securities regulators proposed rules Wednesday aimed at protecting investors in some of the complex financial instruments blamed for exacerbating the financial crisis.
The proposals, issued unanimously by the Securities and Exchange Commission, would set standards for how dealers treat customers entering into "security-based" swap transactions, including certain types of credit-default swaps. Wednesday's proposals are part of the agency's effort to begin policing the $600 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market to prevent another financial crisis.
Security-based swaps are tied to the performance of a stock, bond or a small basket of securities. Credit-default swaps allow investors to bet on the possibility a company or government will default on its debt
Keiser Report: Waterboard Bernanke Again! (E159)
Enjoy the Dollar Rally While it Lasts
Mad Hedge Fund Trader - SilverBearCafe.com
Any trader will tell you the trend is your friend, and the overwhelming direction for the US dollar for the last 220 years has been down.
Our first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, found himself constantly embroiled in sex scandals. Take a ten dollar bill out of your wallet and you're looking at a world class horn dog, a swordsman of the first order. When he wasn't fighting scandalous accusations in the press and the courts, he spent much of his six years in office orchestrating a rescue of our new currency, the US dollar.
Inside the Fed’s Vault: $1 Billion Worth of Unused Coins
By JOSH SANBURN - Time.com
In the basement of a Baltimore vault the size of a soccer field, 1 billion dollar coins are just sitting there. Thanks, Congress.
NPR’s Planet Money reporters recently investigated the $1 presidential coin program, which was a Congressional effort to get more $1 coins into circulation while also trying to be educational.
The problem is that nobody really wants them. Well, not nobody. Sixty percent of the coins make it into circulation. But that other 40 percent? They're sitting in vaults. In fact, the Fed’s even running out of space for them.
Chance Didn't Create The Current Economic Crisis
Bob Chapman - SilverBearCafe.com
What the world is experiencing today did not happen by chance, it was planned that way.
What Congressman Louis McFadden said of the "Great Depression" is as true today as it was in the 1930s. As Chairman of the House Banking Committee he said, "It was no accident; it was a carefully contrived occurrence. The international bankers sought to bring about a condition of despair here so they might emerge as rulers of us all."
What you are experiencing economically and financially today is nothing new. Just study history all the precedence is there. The bankers and their willing helpers do the same thing over and over again. As we have said often what these banks represent is corporatist fascism and monopoly. Through their great wealth they control most governments and their court systems. That is why your elected representatives do not listen to you. They have already been purchased by Wall Street and banking. These are the same people who have financed most wars on both sides for centuries. Through their banks, and the Bank for International Settlements, and the BIS, they control money laundering and the worldwide drug trade, which is the most lucrative of all enterprises. The centerpiece of all the financial powers of the Illuminists come from the control of the drug trade for centuries.
Credit Default Swaps: Why Washington Ignored Our Warning
BY MARTIN HUTCHINSON, Contributing Editor, Money Morning
Three years ago, I told you that Wall Street's newest invention - credit default swaps - would cause a major financial crash.
Now, I'll concede that credit default swaps (CDS) weren't the only cause of the financial meltdown that brought about the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings (OTC: LEHMQ) and nearly brought down American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG). But these financial derivatives were a major exacerbating factor - which is why I also warned that credit default swaps should be banned.
Just three years later, we're embroiled in yet another financial crisis. But the stakes have grown: This time around we're talking about entire countries - and not just banks - defaulting on their debt. Not surprisingly,credit default swaps are once again at center stage.
The Economy Is Bad Enough
By Eugene Robinson - Truthdig.com
There is no good reason for negotiations on the budget and the debt ceiling to be deadlocked, because the solution is obvious: First, do no harm.
The Hippocratic injunction should be something befuddled economists and warring politicians can agree on. With the nation struggling to recover from a devastating recession, unemployment stuck at crisis levels, financial markets spooked by the possibility of European defaults and consumers disinclined to consume, it makes no earthly sense to suck money out of the economy.
Democrats are right that this is a terrible moment for spending cuts. Republicans are right that this is an awful moment for tax increases. The only reasonable thing to do is kick the can down the road—but in a purposeful, intelligent way.
America for Sale:
Liquidate Assets to Avert Debt Ceiling Crisis, Republicans Say
BY DAVID ZEILER, Associate Editor, Money Morning
It would be the greatest garage sale in history.
The United States Treasury possesses 261.5 million ounces of gold, worth about $392.25 billion at current prices.
Some in Washington say the time has come for the country to sell some of its gold, along with other government assets such as land and buildings, to pay down the $14.3 trillion federal debt and give Congress more time to resolve the federal debt ceiling crisis.
"It's just sort of sitting there," Ron Utt, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, told the Washington Post. "Given the high price it is now, and the tremendous debt problem we now have, by all means, sell at the peak."
Is Higher Inflation Inevitable?
Mises Daily: by Thorsten Polleit
In view of the ongoing international financial and economic "crisis," many investors increasingly ask, Is higher inflation inevitable?[1] At first glance, this question appears to be rhetorical. Technically speaking, inflation can of course be prevented.
Inflation is, in the economic sense, an increase in the money supply, which leads (and necessarily so) to a decline in the purchasing power of money as compared to a situation in which the money supply remains unchanged.
Today, government-sponsored central banks hold a money-production monopoly. So all it takes to end (and prevent) inflation is for central banks to stop expanding the money supply.
Fast Effects of MASSIVE HYPERINFLATION!
50 U.S. Health Care Statistics That Will Absolutely Astonish You
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The U.S. health care system has become one gigantic money making scam, and you are about to see the statistics that prove it. Today, the United States spends more on health care per person than any other country in the world by far. The health insurance companies and the big pharmaceutical corporations are raking in gigantic mountains of cash and yet the quality of the health care that we receive in return is rather quite poor. People living in Puerto Rico have a greater life expectancy than we do. Residents of Cuba have a lower infant mortality rate than we do. We are the most medicated population on the planet and yet we are also one of the sickest. If the U.S. health care system was a country, it would have the 6th largest economy on the globe and yet rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes continue to increase. The U.S. health care statistics that you are about to read below are absolutely stunning. For as much money as we shell out for health care, we should have the greatest system in the entire world. But we don't. Something has gone horribly wrong.
Slay sacred cows, GOP told over debt Barack Obama tells Republicans
to take on sacred cows over borrowing talks President warns of 'significant consequences' if Congress fails to permit more borrowing and US defaults on debts
By Chris McGreal in Washington - Guardian.co.uk
Barack Obama has warned of "significant consequences" for the US economy if stalled financial negotiations lead to Congress failing to permit more government borrowing and America defaults on its debts.
The president, in a rare hour-long news conference, called onRepublicans to "take on their sacred cows" – including tax breaks for "millionaires and billionaires, oil companies and corporate jet owners" – in reaching a deal on Congress legislating an increase in government borrowing from the present $14.3tn (£8.9tn) limit, without which the US may be unable to meet its obligations within weeks.
SBA provides $10 million in 'Patriot' loans to Arizona businesses
Phoenix Business Journal
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Patriot Loan program has provided $10 million in SBA-backed loans in Arizona and more than $633 million in SBA-backed loans nationwide.
The Patriot Express Pilot Loan Guarantee Initiative is targeted at small businesses owned by veterans, reservists and their spouses. The loan can be used for most business purposes, including start-up, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business-occupied real-estate purchases.
The Free-Market Lesson of the Web
Gerard Docherty - SilverBearCafe.com
The World Wide Web was invented in 1992 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee as a simple mechanism to share scientific papers with colleagues. The key innovation of the web was the use of hypertext - the mechanism by which we click on a link, such as a chunk of highlighted text, and are able to download the target document automatically. Although this is a simple idea, the web has changed the world we live in. Its rise is also a superb example of what happens when the private sector is left alone to meet market needs.
Despite its great complexity and rapid development over the last 10 years, the web community works largely without state intervention of any sort. Web designers did not need the hand of government to develop the skills to create ever more complex websites; IT professionals did not wait to read official reports saying they had to adapt as the technology changed; and companies were quick to offer the ever-evolving range of services needed for the web to run smoothly.
Go Daddy could be sold for up to $2.5B
Phoenix Business Journal - by Patrick O'Grady
Go Daddy Group Inc.is reportedly on the block and could be sold next week.
Company officials said they would not comment on a report in The Wall Street Journal that private equity groups KKR & Co. and Silver Lake Partners were nearing a deal to buy the Scottsdale-based Web domain provider for between $2 billion and $2.5 billion.
Go Daddy, known for its risque television commercials, has become the dominant player in its field. With more than 40 million domain names registered, the company claims to have more than 50 percent of the market.
Pay attention to this one...
Massive botnet 'indestructible,' say researchers 4.5M-strong botnet 'most sophisticated threat today'
to Windows PCs
By Gregg Keizer - Computerworld
A new and improved botnet that has infected more than four million PCs is "practically indestructible," security researchers say.
"TDL-4," the name for both the bot Trojan that infects machines and the ensuing collection of compromised computers, is "the most sophisticated threat today," said Kaspersky Labs researcher Sergey Golovanov in adetailed analysis Monday.
"[TDL-4] is practically indestructible," Golovanov said.
Others agree.
Barack Obama rebuked for Libya action
by US House of Representatives In a primarily symbolic vote, Republican-led House rejects resolution authorising Libya mission – but fails in bid to cut funds
By Ewen MacAskill and Nick Hopkins - The Guardian
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives delivered a rare rebuke to Barack Obama over his involvement in the Libyan war on Friday by rejecting a resolution to authorise the US mission.
It is an embarrassment for the president to have a vote go against him in time of conflict and reflects the disenchantment in the US over yet another war. The vote is primarily symbolic but members of Congress sympathetic to Obama and the US role in Libya said the danger was that it could leave the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, with the impression that support for the war is collapsing.
Is US fighting a war in Libya?
An Obama doctrine or the Bush doctrine by another name?
Guardian.co.uk
Obama's arguments for US action in Libya draws scorn from Sarah Palin and comparisons with Bush's foreign policy
Did the world witness the birth of an "Obama doctrine" in the president's speech on Libya? Or is it just a thinly disguised version of George Bush's doctrine?
"It is stunning how similar in tone this speech is to George W Bush's Iraq speeches," was the response of former Republican congressman and TV anchor Joe Scarborough. Later, Scarborough accused Obama's supporters on the left of hypocrisy:
How can the left call for the ouster of Muammar Qadhafi for the sin of killing hundreds of Libyans when it opposed the war waged against Saddam Hussein?
South Korea braced for North Korean 'provocation' as tension mounts South Korean military preparing new rules of engagement for troops as Seoul threatens tough response to any attack
By Julian Borger in Panmunjom,
Korean Demilitarised Zone - Guardian.co.uk
Around the edge of the baseball field at Camp Bonifas, South Korean marines under the United Nations Command are busy building four bomb shelters.
The American and Korean troops at the camp are just 400 yards from the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that has divided North from South Koreasince the 1953 armistice. It has always been a tense place, ringed by razor wire and minefields, but now there is a particular urgency to the military spadework.
North Korea has carried out two major military attacks on the South in the past 15 months, and is widely believed in Seoul to be planning a third, in an attempt to extract diplomatic and economic concessions.
Riyadh will build nuclear weapons if Iran gets them,
Saudi prince warns Prospect of a nuclear conflict in the Middle East is raised by senior diplomat and member of the Saudi ruling family
By Jason Burke in Riyadh - Guardian.co.uk
A senior Saudi Arabian diplomat and member of the ruling royal family has raised the spectre of nuclear conflict in the Middle East if Iran comes close to developing a nuclear weapon.
Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi intelligence chief and ambassador to Washington, warned senior Nato military officials that the existence of such a device "would compel Saudi Arabia … to pursue policies which could lead to untold and possibly dramatic consequences".
He did not state explicitly what these policies would be, but a senior official in Riyadh who is close to the prince said yesterday his message was clear.
Is The Mainstream Media Covering Up The Truth
At Los Alamos, Ft. Calhoun And Fukushima?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
What in the world is really going on at Los Alamos, Ft. Calhoun and Fukushima? There are millions of Americans that would like the truth about what is happening at these nuclear facilities, but the mainstream media has been strangely quiet. Instead, the mainstream media is running headlines such as "10 Dirtiest U.S. Beaches Named" and "Pole Dance Stops Times Square Cold". Yes, those are actually headlines that appeared on the front pages of major mainstream news websites in the United States today. Sadly, you really have to dig to find anything about the problems that are currently happening at nuclear facilities in the United States, and the mainstream media seems to have gotten really tired of talking about Fukushima. It is almost as if the mainstream media actually prefers to talk about mindless things rather than focus on the truly important events that are happening all around us.
Ron Paul: U.S. should declare 'bankruptcy'
By Charles Riley @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- How should the United States deal with its growing debt problem? Ron Paul thinks declaring "bankruptcy" might be a good idea.
The Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate was discussing Greece's fiscal trouble with Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson on Monday when he was asked, "If bankruptcy is the cure for Greece, is it also the cure for the United States?"
"Absolutely," Paul replied.
Of course, sovereign nations can't declare bankruptcy the same way a corporation might. Instead, the government would be unable to fulfill its obligations, and would stop making payments on its debt, resulting in a default.
Senate panel OKs use of force in Libya
By Stephen Dinan-The Washington Times
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Tuesday to back President Obama’s deployment of U.S. forces to Libya in a strong bipartisan vote that delivered a critical boost to a White House that has found itself under assault from Capitol Hill.
Voting 14-5, the Senate panel approved a resolution authorizing Mr. Obama to continue limited strikes by U.S. warplanes and unmanned drones, though it specifically prohibits American ground forces from being used either now or in a postwar peacekeeping situation.
Austerity Riots - A Glimpse Of America's Future?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Are the austerity protests and riots happening in Greece right now a glimpse of America's future? The truth is that both nations are absolutely drowning in debt. It is just that the "day of reckoning" has already arrived for Greece but it has not arrived for the United States yet. Yes, there are some important differences between the situation in Greece and the situation in the U.S., but there are also some important similarities. Budget cuts and other austerity measures are being promoted by the political leaders of both countries. Greek citizens have reacted very negatively to the economic austerity programs that have been implemented in that nation. As budget cuts on the federal, state and local levels in the United States start to really become painful, will we eventually see the same kind of austerity riots in this country that we are currently seeing in Greece?
Greek Army Threatens Military Coup
Sparking Fears of Military Uprisings
And Civil Wars Breaking Out Across All Of Europe
by Alexander Higgins
Greek Army Threatens Military Coup Saying "We Will Not Be Sold To Foreign Powers" Ahead Of IMF Bailout Loan Vote Sparking Fears Of Military Uprisings And Civil Wars Spreading Across Europe. Military Officers And Police Forces Are Now Joining The Protests.
I recently wrote that the Greek Revolution has succeeded and the Government agreed to step down and create a new Government.
That announcement came amidst violent protests, and as Tyler Durden pointed out, was nothing but a bold face lie meant to placate the masses. Soon after the announcement and the subsequent calming of the masses, the Greek Prime minister announced he would not be stepping down, instead would only be reshuffling top cabinet officials and would ask for a vote of no confidence from the corrupt parliament that is looking to put over stressed tax payers on the hook for an international loan with 30% plus interest rates to bailout crooked greedy bankers.
Greece faces 'suicide' vote on austerity
By Kerin Hope and Ralph Atkins in Athens - FT.com $$
[free article pass - Google the title]
Greece will be committing "suicide" if its parliament fails to back sweeping austerity measures aimed at averting a catastrophic default, according to the head of the country’s central bank.
The stark warning by George Provopoulos, governor of the Bank of Greece, further heightened the stakes ahead of a knife-edge vote on Wednesday in the Greek parliament.
Greece protest against austerity package turns violent
BBC.co.uk Jon Sopel: "In one corner of Syntagma Square we have seen more violence erupting"
Police have fired tear gas in running battles with stone-throwing youths in Athens, where a 48-hour general strike is being held against a parliamentary vote on tough austerity measures.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside parliament in the capital where public transport ground to a halt.
PM George Papandreou has said that only his 28bn-euro (£25bn) austerity plan would get Greece back on its feet.
If the package is not approved, Greece could run out of money within weeks.
Without a new plan in place, the EU and International Monetary Fund say they will withhold 12bn euros of loans which Greece needs to repay debts due in mid-July.
European Commission chief Olli Rehn warns Greek lawmakers
'there is no Plan B to avoid default' The European Commission warned the Greek parliament that the only way to avoid an immediate default of the country's debt is to back the government's new austerity plan as angry worker launched a 48-hour general strike.
Telegraph.co.uk
"To those who speculate about other options, let me say this clearly: there is no Plan B to avoid default," said Olli Rehn, the European Economics and Monetary Affairs Commissioner.
He reiterated that if the €28bn (£25.2bn) austerity package is not endorsed by lawmakers, Greece will not receive a further €12bn of aid – the fifth tranche in the €110bn bail-out agreed last May. Without the aid Greece will run out of money in mid-July.
Greece Is a Kleptocracy
By Charles Hugh Smith
Strip away the bailouts and the bogus austerity plans, and the truth is revealed: Greece is a kleptocracy, and the banks and the ECB Eurocrats are both complicit.
Despite a veritable flood of financial and political analysis about Greece, nobody seems to have noticed the obvious: Greece is a kleptocracy. Just as a refresher, here is the definition of kleptocracy. Ask yourself is this doesn't fit Greece like a supple leather glove:
Kleptocracy, alternatively cleptocracy or kleptarchy, from the Ancient Greek for "thief" and "rule," is a term applied to a government subject to control fraud that takes advantage of governmental corruption to extend the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class (collectively, kleptocrats), via the embezzlement of state funds at the expense of the wider population, sometimes without even the pretense of honest service. The term means "rule by thieves".
France's Sarkozy strikes deal with banks to restructure Greek debt French president Nicolas Sarkozy has struck a deal with his country's banks to restructure their holdings of Greek debt.
By Louise Armitstead, and Philip Aldrick - Telegraph.co.uk
The agreement, which has yet to be accepted by either Greece or the bail-out's donors, has been greeted as a crucial step forward in resolving the crisis and was drafted at a summit of creditors in Rome ahead of the Greek parliament's crucial vote on its austerity package tomorrow.
However, Mr Sarkozy's proposal is likely to set him on a collision course with Germany because it involves using Brussels-backed funds to reduce potential losses of private bondholders.
Euro Falls, Snaps 2-Day Gain as Riots Escalate
By Yoshiaki Nohara and Kristine Aquino - Bloomberg.com
The euro fell, snapping a two-day gain against the dollar as riots escalated before Greece's parliament today votes on an austerity package needed to secure more financial aid.
The 17-nation currency was still headed for a second quarterly gain on speculation Greece's debt crisis won't prevent the European Central Bank from raising interest rates next week to cool inflation. The dollar traded near the strongest level against the yen in three weeks as Treasury yields jumped, enhancing the allure of U.S. assets.
Christine Lagarde: the key facts The US declared its support for Christine Lagarde to head the International Monetary Fund, all but assuring that she will be chosen when the board meets next Tuesday. Here are some facts about the French Finance Minister.
Reuters - Telegraph.co.uk
• Born Christine Lallouette in Paris on January 1, 1956. Her father, an English professor, died when Lagarde was in her teens and Lagarde and her siblings were raised by her mother and grandmother.
• A member of France's synchronised swimming team as a teenager, Lagarde at 25 joined US law firm Baker & McKenzie in Paris after completing a Masters in English and labour law. She rose to become the Chicago-based firm's first female chairman, earning a reputation as a sharp negotiator with endless stamina.
• A former trade minister in the conservative government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Lagarde was named economy minister in 2007 by President Nicolas Sarkozy after a decade when France had changed economy ministers more often than any major industrialised country.
Christine Lagarde wins China's backing for IMF role French finance minister Christine Lagarde is poised to take over as the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after China endorsed her candidacy.
By Philip Aldrick - Telegraph.co.uk
The battle to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, resigned earlier this year to face charges of attempted rape, has come down to just two candidates – Ms Lagarde and Mexican central bank chief Agustin Carstens.
A decision could come as early as today following a meeting of the IMF's 24-strong board last night to establish whether either has already secured a clear majority.
Ms Lagarde has been the frontrunner from the start but Mr Carstens is putting up more of a fight than expected. He is seen as the emerging market candidate who could break Europe's grip on the managing director job since the IMF's creation in 1946. He picked up endorsements from Canada and Australia on Friday.
Global Banking Is What's Really in Crisis
By IRWIN STELZER - WSJ.com
We are confronting a crisis, all right, but it is not a Greek crisis, unless uncertainty as to the date of that country's de facto default counts as a crisis.
If the insolvency of that tiny country were the world's only problem, it would be stretching the word "crisis" to apply it to the travails and insolvency of that tiny country.
What we have come to call the Greek crisis is, first, an international banking crisis. Like Lehman Brothers, Greece is definitely not too big to fail. It is too interconnected to fail, too interconnected to the international banking system, too interconnected to the political ambitions of those who have spent decades replacing the system of nation states with a united Europe.
Gold Advances for First Time in Four Sessions
as Weak Dollar Spurs Demand
By Nicholas Larkin -
Gold gained for the first time in four sessions in New York as a weaker dollar spurred demand for the metal as an alternative investment.
The dollar declined versus the euro after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said policy makers are in "strong vigilance mode," signaling they intend to raise interest rates next week.
"Today, it's definitely the U.S. dollar that helps the gold price," saidDaniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt.
Gold futures for August delivery gained $3.80, or 0.3 percent, to settle at $1,500.20 an ounce at 1:38 p.m. on the Comex in New York.
New Rules For Western Banks, Same Hypocrisy
Jeff Nielson - Implode-o-Meter Blog
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." That old cliché certainly applies to to the financial system of Western nations, and the banking cabal which pulls the strings of our puppet-governments.
Bloomberg and other U.S. propaganda outlets are trumpeting the news that Western bankers and (so-called) 'regulators' have reached a deal on new capital requirements for these fraud-factories. According to ECB-chief Jean Claude Trichet, lead banking-shill on the far side of the Atlantic, the new rules bring stability to the Western banking system and “address moral hazard”. Quite obviously these anemic new rules do neither.
First a look at the numbers. Some Western banks will be forced to raise their capital requirements by "up to 2.5%". In fact, some of these banking oligopolies will only have to raise their capital by a mere 1%, while some of these fraud-factories won’t be required to raise any additional capital at all. To understand how recklessly inadequate these new rules actually are requires some context.
Five biggest threats to the US economy
Hopes that 2011 would see the US recovery strengthen have so far been dashed as higher gasoline and food prices erode the spending power of millions of Americans. Here are the five biggest threats faced by the world's largest economy:
By Richard Blackden, US Business Editor - Telegraph.co.uk
Inflation
The petrol station is as reliable a place as any to take America's economic pulse. The sharp rise in gasoline prices in the first few months of the year knocked the confidence of consumers, who still account for about 70pc of the country's gross domestic product.
That squeeze has been all the more painful because the majority of Americans have not enjoyed pay rises since the crisis. Indeed, inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings fell 1.6pc in the past 12 months. Like Sir Mervyn King at the Bank of England, Fed chief Ben Bernanke insists that inflation will prove short-lived.
Economic stimulus measures unconventional Tapping oil reserves seen as a way for growth without spending
By Patrice Hill-The Washington Times
Stuck with a glacial pace of economic recovery and little likelihood thatCongress will approve more stimulus, the White House has been resorting to some unconventional measures to try to boost growth.
Last week’s decision to join other oil-consuming nations in releasing 60 million barrels of premium crude onto world markets to lower the price of fuel was widely viewed in economic circles as a first effort of that kind to stimulate the global economy. High fuel prices have been dragging down economic growth as well as the political prospects for incumbents from Washington to Tokyo.
5 Banks At Risk of a Commercial Real Estate Double Dip
By Shanthi Bharatwaj - TheStreet.com
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The commercial real estate apocalypse that industry analysts feared would hit banks has not yet happened. But that does not mean the problems associated with the segment have gone away, according to analysts.
Credit quality has started to improve for the commercial real estate sector and with housing market showing signs of a double-dip, there are still more renters than buyers. That augurs well for vacancy rates and cashflows in the commercial real estate segment.
Credit unions on the rocks....
St. James A.M.E. Federal Credit Union, Newark, N.J.
BankImplode.com
St. James A.M.E. Federal Credit Union, Newark, N.J. became the tenth federally insured credit union liquidation this year.
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) liquidated St. James A.M.E. Federal Credit Union of Newark, N.J., today. North Jersey Federal Credit Union of Totowa, N.J., immediately assumed St. James A.M.E. Federal Credit Union’s members.
O.U.R. Federal Credit Union of Eugene, Oregon
BankImplode.com
O.U.R. Federal Credit Union of Eugene, Oregon, became the eighth federal credit union placed into conservatorship by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) this year.
The NCUA on Friday conserved O.U.R. Federal Credit Union of Eugene, Ore. and promised to work to resolve issues that impact the financial institution's safety and soundness.
Borinquen Federal Credit Union Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
BankImplode.com
Borinquen Federal Credit Union Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the seventh federally insured credit union placed into conservatorship during 2011.
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) today assumed control of service and operations at Borinquen Federal Credit Union of
Philadelphia. While continuing normal member services, NCUA will work to resolve issues affecting the institution’s safety and soundness.
Deposits at Borinquen Federal Credit Union remain protected. Administered by NCUA, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) continues to insure individual accounts at Borinquen Federal Credit Union up to $250,000. The NCUSIF, like the FDIC’s DepositInsurance Fund, has the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.
America's unique hatred of finance reform As other nations put restrictions on banks,
our government caters to Wall Street. It will end up costing us
BY DAVID SIROTA - Salon.com
Despite the moment's anti-union/anti-government sloganeering, the American employees who are paid the highest publicly financed salaries are not state and municipal workers -- nor even our $400,000-a-year president. That distinction goes to the bank executives who are now being paid record salaries -- salaries that continue to be financed by ongoing taxpayer-sponsored bailouts (and yes, huge bailouts are still happening).
We don't hear much about this because the United States government still promotes the fallacy that our banks are not publicly subsidized institutions subject to requisite public control like, say, a utility company might be. Instead, despite all evidence to the contrary, Washington pretends that these are corporations operating in a free market, ignoring the fact that an actual free market would have destroyed many of these very same entities back in 2008. Nonetheless, the nonsensical free-market apocrypha lives on because it serves such an important a purpose for banks and the U.S. politicians they own -- namely, to successfully thwart the push not just for full-on bank nationalization, but for even minimal financial regulation.
Debt ceiling delay would be 'chaotic'
By Jeanne Sahadi @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Here's what Americans can look forward to if lawmakers fail to raise the debt ceiling in time: Treasury would not be able to pay between 40% and 45% of the 80 million payments it needs to make every month.
That's the estimate from a new analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington founded by four former Democratic and Republican Senate majority leaders.
A Tax Holiday for Repatriated Corporate Profits
The Costs Exceed the Benefits
By Mark Thoma - CBS MoneyWatch.com
As Bloomberg’s Jesse Drucker notes today, corporations are lobbying for a tax holiday on repatriated profits. According to Chief Executive Officer John T. Chambers, as much as $1 trillion dollars being held overseas to avoid US taxes would return to the US if Congress grants a tax holiday. He argues this would encourage businesses investment and create jobs.
Does this argument have any merit? To answer this, we need to weigh the potential benefits against the expected costs, and then look at the net impact.
"Dream A Little Dream": How Long Would It Take To Pay Off
The U.S. Federal Government Debt?
By Gonzalo Lira
Let's dream: Let's imagine that the American political leadership decides to get serious about U.S. Federal government debt reduction—crazy as it may sound.
Actually, that’s toocrazy. The American political leadership willnever "do the right thing" with regards the deficit. After all, last spring, the American political leadership couldn't agree on a measly $50 billion worth of cuts—a mere 1.4% of the total Federal government budget.
Okay, so in order to give our daydream a veneer of verisimilitude, let’s pretend instead that the members of Congress and the president are the victims of a cunning biological terrorist attack—they are infected with trulymassive doses of both the Responsibility Bug and the Austerity Virus.
Economic Recovery?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
If this is supposed to be an "economic recovery" it sure is pathetic. In fact, as you will read below, the numbers tell us that this is the worst economic recovery that the American economy has ever seen. If what we had experienced was a "normal" recession and a "normal" recovery, then jobs, economic growth and home values would have come roaring back by now. But they haven't. The Federal Reserve injected unprecedented amounts of new money into the system and the federal government went into unprecedented amounts of new debt, but all of that effort has not accomplished much. It did buy us a little bit of time and a period of relative economic stability, but now there are all kinds of signs that we are about to go into another recession (or something even worse). So is it really honest for Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama to be using the term "economic recovery" to describe what is happening?
Oil's Upward March
A. F. Alhajji - Project-Syndicate.org
IRVING, TEXAS – When OPEC members met in Vienna recently, the Saudis failed to control the meeting, OPEC’s production ceiling remained unchanged, and member countries are setting their own output levels. But talk of an OPEC breakup is premature. After all, it has survived major wars, numerous diplomatic disputes, and two major market collapses. In fact, the secret to OPEC’s survival is its weakness, not its strength.
Friction or no friction, OPEC has been, and will always be, irrelevant to market forces on the ground. OPEC has never had market power, but Saudi Arabia has, and Saudi market power has always been assigned, mistakenly, to OPEC.
Prepare Yourselves for The Next Oil Price Shock
Written by Dave Cohen - OilPrice.com
Looking at the oil supply & demand fundamentals, next year looks like an accident waiting to happen. If economic growth in emerging economies remains on track, and that is a big If, the next oil price shock will occur in 2012.
Dave Rosenberg recently put the odds of America going into recession in 2012 at 99%, but I doubt he had oil in mind when he said that. On the current path, oil is set to hit $150/barrel next summer. Take an economy in recession, add in oil prices well in excess of $100/barrel, and what do you get?
IEA Oil Dump A Disaster In The Making
By Brandon Smith - Alt-Market.com
It’s amazing. In the wake of the 2008 derivatives and housing bubble collapse, created by the U.S. Treasury and the private Federal Reserve with engineered low interest rates and easy money designed to artificially pump up the economy after the effects of the dot-com bust, the faltering markets of 2000-2001, and the rapidly depreciating dollar, we have now seen these same entities pour Trillions, yes, TRILLIONS in fiat injections into every conceivable corner of the markets. They have spent incredible sums on toxic equities (worthless equities, and don't let anyone tell you different) to "ease" the debt spiral, they have propped up almost every large international bank, they have propped up the Federal Government and the Dollar itself with sizable purchases of our own Treasury debt, and, they have even thrown money into the pockets of foreign institutions and corporate beggars. Keep in mind, that all the debt that these actions generate is eventually placed squarely in the lap of one group of people; the American Taxpayer!
Saudi Arabia Using Oil as an Economic Weapon Against Iran Saudi Arabia fears Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, and may flood the market with its oil reserves to bankrupt Tehran
Written by Energy Digital - OilPrice.com
Saudi Arabia and Iran have been in a bitter dispute over the last several weeks. Iran successfully blocked an effort by OPEC nations to release excess oil reserves into the market to ease high prices and stabilize the world economy. In response, Saudi Arabia decided to act against OPEC and release its own reserves. In no uncertain terms, a bitter feud is brewing between the two oil-rich nations, and Saudi Prince Turki Al-Faisal has stated that the country is in such fear of what may happen if Iran succeeds in attaining nuclear weapons capabilities, that it is considering flooding the market with oil to bankrupt Iran’s government and halt nuclear ambitions.
End-of-quarter shifts on Wall Street push stocks higher;
Treasury bonds get dumped
By Tom Petruno - LATimes.com
Risk takers were back in control on Wall Street on Tuesday: Stocks and commodities rallied while money poured out of Treasury bonds for a second day, amid hopes for a resolution of the Greek debt crisis and faint signs of life in the U.S. housing market.
With the end of the second quarter drawing near, Tuesday’s market moves also were fueled by end-of-quarter portfolio-squaring by money managers, analysts said. That can skew the markets independent of any news, as managers take profits and/or hunt for securities they believe are cheap.
Three free-trade agreements linked to aid for workers
By Kara Rowland-The Washington Times
President Obama and Senate Democrats announced a deal Tuesday to link three pending free trade agreements to enhanced aid for displaced workers, saying it paves the way for Congress to vote - but GOPleaders said the move could cost the administration the support of Republicans who will be needed to pass the deals.
The White House said the deal with the Senate Finance Committee to renew federal Trade Adjustment Assistance would provide job training and income support for displaced workers, boosting the program’s training funding from $220 million to $575 million.
Budget impasse besets Minnesota Issues mirror Capitol Hill's
By Andrea Billups-The Washington Times
Cut funding for state nursing homes or chop money for local police departments? Slice budgets for municipalities or halt key construction projects?
These are the fiscal quandaries about to hit home in Minnesota, where a deepening budget impasse between the new Democratic governor and a new Republican majority in the state Legislature is threatening a state government shutdown on Friday.
New Jersey Miracle: What About the Rest of Us?
By Cal Thomas - Townhall.com
Something astonishing happened in New Jersey last week. A majority Democratic legislature and a Republican governor agreed on a measure that will cut benefits for the state's 750,000 employees and retirees.
Like Wisconsin and other states that are being forced to deal with large budget deficits caused mostly by sweetheart deals struck in more prosperous times between politicians who need votes and labor unions who deliver them, New Jersey couldn't afford to go on like this.
Federal Withholding Tax Data Says US Already In Recession
By Lee Adler - WallStreetExaminer.com
I wanted to follow up with you on the June 17 report on Federal Withholding Tax collections, which I cover regularly in the Professional Edition Treasury Update (latest report here). I like tracking withholding taxes because they are one of the only economic barometers that we can follow virtually in real time on a daily basis. The charts below contain daily data through June 23. If you are a Professional Edition subscriber this is largely redundant data, but there are two new charts and is one new critical fact which I think tell the story better and will show you more clearly just what’s going on. I will include these charts in the regular weekly updates in the Professional Edition.
Cut Mortgage Deduction: Fed President
By Philip van Doorn - TheStreet.com
BIG SKY, Mont. (TheStreet) -- Saying that the United States tax code "encourages household leverage and bank leverage, even though both are potentially destabilizing," the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis said Monday that it is time to reconsider the residential mortgage interest tax deduction enjoyed by millions of homeowners.
Speaking at the Tri-State Bankers Summit at Big Sky, Mont. on Monday, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said that "household andfinancial institution leverage exacerbate the sensitivity of the financial system to declines in land prices and so reduce financial stability."
Latest Housing Prices 64% Below Peak
BY: PAUL SOLMAN - PBS.org
This month's Case-Shiller Home Price Index is out and, rather than paraphrase or plagiarize Phil Izzo's succinct account for The Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog, how about we reproduce it?
S&P/Case-Shiller home-price data showed a gain for most cities in April amid a boost from the start of the spring selling season began, but prices still remain below year-earlier levels.
The composite 20-city home price index, a broad gauge of U.S. home prices, posted a 0.7% increase in April from a month earlier but fell 0.9% from a year earlier.
Case Shiller: Home Prices increase in April
by CalculatedRisk
S&P/Case-Shiller released the monthly Home PriceIndices for April (actually a 3 month average of February, March and April).
This includes prices for 20 individual cities and and two composite indices (for 10 cities and 20 cities).
Note: Case-Shiller reports NSA, I use the SA data.
From S&P:April Seasonal Boost in Home Prices
Data through April 2011 ... show a monthly increase in prices for the 10- and 20-City Composites for the first time in eight months. The 10- and 20-City Composites were up 0.8% and 0.7%, respectively, in April versus March. Both indices are lower than a year ago; the 10-City Composite fell 3.1% and the 20-City Composite is down 4.0% from April 2010 levels.
Real House Prices and Price-to-Rent
by CalculatedRisk
First a comment on the Case-Shiller seasonal adjustment: A few years ago, several people (including me), noticed that the seasonal adjustments weres getting pretty "wild". This was because of all the distressed sales - distressed sales are distributed throughout the year (with no seasonal pattern), and non-distressed sales were still following the usual pattern. So there was a very large percentage of distressed sales in the winter, and this led to huge swings in the seasonal adjustment.
In response, S&P started reporting on the Not Seasonally Adjusted (NSA) data. This is OK, but it can be a little confusing. Seasonally prices usually increase in April from March - so some of the increase this morning was due to seasonal factors. In fact the Seasonally Adjusted (SA) Case-Shiller composite 20 index was at a new post-bubble low. Note: April is still a seasonally weak month (the NSA index is below the SA index), but not as weak as March.
A little house of secrets on the Great Plains
By Kelly Carr and Brian Grow | Reuters
CHEYENNE/ATLANTA (Reuters) - The secretive business havens of Cyprus and the Cayman Islands face a potent rival: Cheyenne, Wyoming.
At a single address in this sleepy city of 60,000 people, more than 2,000 companies are registered. The building, 2710 Thomes Avenue, isn't a shimmering skyscraper filled with A-list corporations. It's a 1,700-square-foot brick house with a manicured lawn, a few blocks from the State Capitol.
Neighbors say they see little activity there besides regular mail deliveries and a woman who steps outside for smoke breaks. Inside, however, the walls of the main room are covered floor to ceiling with numbered mailboxes labeled as corporate "suites." A bulky copy machine sits in the kitchen. In the living room, a woman in a headset answers calls and sorts bushels of mail.
Dodgers Get Approval for Temporary Bankruptcy Financing
By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN - WSJ.com
Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt scored a victory in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Tuesday when a judge allowed the team to receive temporary financing from a lender Mr. McCourt chose rather than from Major League Baseball.
The ruling, which provides funding for the Dodgers to continue operating, keeps Major League Baseball one step removed from full control of the franchise a day after Mr. McCourt filed the team for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware.
Mr. McCourt had set up a $150 million debtor-in-possession financing deal with hedge fund Highbridge Principal Strategies, a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Tensions mount as Southern California grocery workers
protest outside employers' offices
By P.J. Huffstutter - LATimes.com
As tensions continue to rise between labor and Southern California’s three leading grocery chains, hundreds of workers rallied outside of the local headquarters of Albertsons, Vons and Ralphs on Tuesday to protest possible cuts to their healthcare benefits.
The contract between the employers and the United Food and Commercial Workers expired in March, and members have authorized a strike. Negotiations are being conducted under the supervision of a federal mediator.
The three grocery chains are owned by larger corporations. Ralphs is owned by Kroger Co. of Cincinnati; Vons and Pavilions by Safeway Inc. of Pleasanton, Calif.; and Albertsons by SuperValu Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minn.
HOW TO REFORM MEDICAID
By John Hinderaker - PowerLineBlog.com
Every entitlement program has been a fiscal disaster. With hindsight, it is easy to see that it was folly for Congress to abandon responsibility for budgeting fixed sums for such programs as retirement benefits and seniors' health care, instead setting eligibility criteria that created open-ended liability on the part of the federal government--open-ended, that is, until the programs become patently unsustainable and must be reformed or repealed. Which is where we are today.
Of the major entitlement programs, Medicaid has gotten the least attention. Yet, in fiscal terms, it may be the most disastrous. Dan Mitchell of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity explains how Medicaid can be reformed:
Promote Federalism and Replicate the Success of Welfare Reform with Medicaid Block Grants
Saving Medicare: Free Market Reforms Are Better than Bureaucratic Rationing
Saving Social Security with Personal Retirement Accounts
How You Can Negotiate Better Prices for Medical Care
By Regina Lewis - DailyFinance.com
I'm going to go out on a limb and bet that you probably wouldn't buy a house or car without comparison shopping online. Heck, you probably wouldn't buy a $70 pair of sneakers without shopping around. Yet many of us think nothing of moving forward with a dental or medical procedure with no sense of what the average going rate is, and no true grasp of what we're ultimately paying at the end of a running stream of bills and "this is not a bill" notices.
In a month marked by the story of aman who robbed a bank for $1in an attempt to go to jail and become eligible for health care, I did a segment about more rational means negotiating medical expenses for theCBSEarly Show.Here are some related notes:
Paper Money Wears Prada
Mises Daily: by Doug French
Anyone who doubts the world's central banks' ability to send excess liquidity sloshing around the globe only has to look at the recent boom in the area of art and luxury goods.
It's always the case that cheap money flows to malinvestment.
While the monetary authorities look to create jobs on Main Street, the money inevitably flows to the latest speculative fashion, whatever it happens to be. No two Austrian business cycles are exactly the same. Like lightning, bubbles rarely strike the same sector twice.
Prada SpA, the maker of high-end accessories every girl wants to wear or carry, floated an initial public offering in Hong Kong priced at about 23 times estimated full-year earnings according to Bloomberg.
Texas TSA Bill Revived
Jacob Sullum | Reason.com
The Texas bill aimed at criminalizing TSA groping of airline passengers, which was unanimously approved by the state House last month but dropped by its chief Senate sponsor in response to federalthreats, has been revived in a special legislative session by Gov. Rick Perry. Today the House passed a revised version of the bill, which applies to a public servant who, "while acting under color of the person's office or employment, without probable cause to believe the other person committed an offense, performs a search without effective consent for the purpose of granting access to a publicly accessible building or form of transportation" and "intentionally, knowingly or recklessly touches the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of the other person, including touching through the clothing." In a press release that just arrived in my inbox, the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview), says:
Afghanistan:
Kabul's Intercontinental hotel attacked by Taliban militants Taliban militants with at least one suicide bomb attack popular Kabul hotel, with reports of at least 10 people killed
By Jon Boone in Kabul - Guardian.co.uk
A commando squad of at least five Taliban suicide bombers attacked a famous Kabul hotel where senior Afghan officials were staying, waging a battle with security forces that lasted for hours.
The assault on the old Intercontinental began when militants dressed in civilian clothes burst into the hotel while many guests were in the dining room. At least two receptions were thought to be taking place, including a wedding party.
The BBC reported that 10 people had been killed, although it was not possible to confirm that figure with Afghan authorities.
Mickey Mouse tweet by Egypt's Sawiris angers conservatives
BBC.co.uk
One of Egypt's richest men has been accused of mocking Islam after tweeting cartoons of Mickey and Minnie Mouse wearing conservative Muslim attire.
Telecoms mogul and Coptic Christian Naguib Sawiris apologised for re-posting the images on Twitter a few days ago, saying he meant no offence.
But several Islamic lawyers have filed a formal complaint and there are calls for a boycott of his businesses.
The outcry comes at a time of tension between Egypt's Christians and Muslims.
EGYPT:
Christian tycoon faces wave of Muslim anger
over bearded Mickey Mouse photo
By Amro Hassan in Cairo - LATimes.com
A picture of Mickey Mouse with long beard and Minnie with a full-face veil posted on businessmanNaguib Sawiris’ Twitter account has enraged Muslims and prompted 15 lawyers to file a lawsuit against him for blasphemy and insulting Islam.
The Christian Copt telecommunications mogul, who has emerged as a provocative voice in post-revolutionary Egypt, apologized on Twitter, saying that he meant the picture to be humorous, not an affront to the country's majority population of Muslims. "I apologize for those who don't take this as a joke. I just thought it was a funny picture no disrespect meant! I’m sorry," the magnate tweeted.
China Auditor Finds Irregularities in $1.7 Trillion
Local Government Debt
By Bloomberg News
China’s first audit of local government debt found liabilities of 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion) at the end of last year and warned of repayment risks, including a reliance on land sales.
Financing vehicles set up by regional authorities already had more than 8 billion yuan in overdue debt, while more than 5 percent of such companies used new bank borrowing to repay loans, according to the audit, posted on the National Audit Office’s website and submitted to China’s cabinet.
South Korea braced for North Korean 'provocation' as tension mounts South Korean military preparing new rules of engagement for troops as Seoul threatens tough response to any attack
By Julian Borger in Panmunjom,
Korean Demilitarised Zone - Guardian.co.uk
Around the edge of the baseball field at Camp Bonifas, South Korean marines under the United Nations Command are busy building four bomb shelters.
The American and Korean troops at the camp are just 400 yards from the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that has divided North from South Koreasince the 1953 armistice. It has always been a tense place, ringed by razor wire and minefields, but now there is a particular urgency to the military spadework.
US Middle Class nears extinction, looks for gold, silver to rescue
By Stephen Long - CommodityOnline.com
Will the middle class disappear and become the "serf" class in the United States? Many economists believe that a recovery in our economy is impossible for years, maybe even decades. Combined with inflation and a falling dollar, unemployment and lower incomes, the average American family is economically under attack.
Whether we like to think about it or not this may be the calm before the storm. Jim Sinclair, highly esteemed economist and precious metals expert, was quoted as believing that the economy is not going to have a significant recovery for more than a decade.
He believes that the middle class will cease to exist and that the price of gold per ounce could go over $12,000. With wall street "low balling" gold price forecasts at around $1700 per ounce who are we to believe?
Another Bank Failure, Tally Hits 48
By: Kalyan Nandy - Zacks.com
Last Friday, U.S. regulators shuttered Clayton, Georgia-based Mountain Heritage Bank, taking the number of failed banks thus far in 2011 to 48. This follows 157 bank failures in 2010, 140 in 2009 and 25 in 2008.
While the financials of bigger banks have been stabilizing on the back of an economic recovery, many smaller banks are still struggling to survive. Nagging issues like rock-bottom home prices along with still-high loan defaults and unemployment levels continue to trouble such institutions.
Obama Will 'Co-Invest' Tax Dollars
in Corporate-Government Partnership
By Terence P. Jeffrey - CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) - In his weekly address released Saturday, President Barack Obama called for a campaign of "nation building here at home," citing as an example of what is needed to rebuild the American economy an initiative he announed Friday to "invest" tax dollars in what he called a "partnership" between the federal government and an initial group of 11 major corporations.
The administration's corporate partners in this venture include Caterpiller, Corning, Dow Chemical, Ford, Honeywell, Intel, Johnson and Johnson, Allegheny Technologies, Stryker and Proctor and Gamble.
Obama Targets $72 Billion Business Tax Break
By Heidi Przybyla - Bloomberg.com
Barack Obama's proposal to end a business tax break worth $72 billion is among the tensions the president may confront as he meets today with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in an effort to revive bipartisan talks over reducing the debt.
Ending the so-called last-in-first-out, or LIFO, provision, a method of accounting for inventory costs, was among options offered by White House officials for raising $400 billion in revenue over 10 years during seven weeks of negotiations led by Vice President Joe Biden, three persons familiar with the issue said on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment publicly.
The U.S. Monetary System
and Descent into Fascism
An Interview with Dr. Edwin Vieira
David Galland, Managing Director - CaseyResearch.com
.... EDWIN: There are two levels to consider. First, there's the straight currency level – what is supposed to be the official monetary unit. Then there is “other,” which I distinguish as different from the official monetary unit because the Constitution doesn’t prohibit private parties from creating media of exchange for their own uses, as long as those media of exchange are non-fraudulent and they’re operated in an otherwise honest commercial fashion.
But the official unit of currency is supposed to be the dollar, and I'll tell you exactly what a dollar is – it's 371.25 grains of silver in the form of a coin. That was determined as a historical fact in 1792. Actually the dollar was adopted before the Constitution was even written. It was adopted by the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation, the so-called Spanish milled dollar, which was the actual unit that was circulating then, because there had been essentially no coinage under the various colonial regimes in colonial America. So that's the dollar unit.
Greece's Creditor Banks
Move Toward 70% Rollover of Debt to Avert Default
By Aaron Kirchfeld and Sonia Sirletti - Bloomberg.com
Greek creditors may be headed toward a rollover agreement involving 70 percent of their bonds to prevent a default and meet politicians’ calls that they contribute to Greece's second rescue in as many years.
Under the French proposal, half the Greek debt held by banks and insurers maturing in the next three years would be swapped for new 30-year Greek bonds. The redemptions from another 20 percent would be invested in a special purpose vehicle that would serve as collateral for the banks, two people familiar with the plan said.
China's Move Away from the U.S. Dollar
Means You Need to Invest in the Yuan
BY KERRI SHANNON, Associate Editor, Money Morning
China has started diversifying away from the U.S. dollar, yet another sign that it's time to invest in the yuan.
A report from Standard Chartered Bank last week showed China's foreign exchange reserves expanded by $196 billion in the first four months of this year. About 75% of that investment was in non-U.S. dollar assets.
This is the biggest gap between accumulated reserves and purchased U.S. debt by China in at least five years.
As the dollar's value weakens, China has taken steps to distance itself from the currency, and attempted to strengthen its own by investing more in gold and other assets.
Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald said China's diversification means the yuan is backed by better assets than other countries' currencies.
"That is why the yuan is likely to emerge as a new reserve currency, and yet another argument for owning the yuan as an investment," said Fitz-Gerald. "This is the full circle nobody expects and one of the reasons I frequently refer to China's yuan as the only currency on the planet with adult supervision."
Gerald Celente & Max Keiser
on The Edge- Press TV 25 June 2011
Soros Says a Euro Exit Mechanism
Is 'Probably Inevitable' Amid Debt Crisis
By Zoe Schneeweiss - Bloomberg.com
Billionaire investor George Soros said it's "probably inevitable" that a mechanism will be put in place to allow weaker economies to exit the euro.
"There's no arrangement for any countries leaving the euro, which in current circumstances is probably inevitable," Soros, 80, said at a panel discussion in Vienna yesterday on whether liberal democracy is at risk in Europe. "We are on the verge of an economic collapse which starts, let’s say, in Greece, but it could easily spread. The financial system remains extremely vulnerable."
Economist Charles Gave: The Euro Will Not Exist In One Year!
By Joe Weisenthal - BusinessInsider.com
...."The euro will not exist in a year. The whole thing was dysfunctional from the beginning."
I suggested that was a tad bearish.
"Not at all. I think it is extremely bullish. The demise of the euro and the return of national currencies will allow for proper allocation of investments and resources. It is the best thing that could happen for the markets."
I could not get him to commit to exactly how that process of dissolution would look.
"I didn't create the euro so it is not my responsibility to solve the problem for them."
George Soros: 'We are on the verge of an economic collapse'
CommodityOnline.com
Gold is mixed today after last week’s 2.4% fall. The short term trend remains negative but medium and long fundamentals remain supportive as do the very challenging and risky macro, sovereign debt and currency environment. Physical buying remains strong at the $1500 level with premiums for gold bullion bars higher in Singapore and Hong Kong.
The risk of contagion in the Eurozone and indeed a global financial contagion remains real. Peripheral European bond markets are under pressure again today with 10 year bond yields in Ireland rising to over 12.1% and to over 11.65% in Portugal.
European leaders are preparing for a default by Greece. The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said yesterday that Europe is preparing "for the worst".
Dollar Strengthens; Greece Concern Boosts Bids for Safer Assets
By Lucy Meakin and Kristine Aquino - Businessweek.com
June 27 Bloomberg) -- The dollar strengthened versus most of its major peers on demand for the world’s reserve currency before Greece’s parliament votes on austerity measures.
The greenback climbed against 10 of 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Greek lawmakers must approve a 78 billion- euro ($110 billion) austerity package to receive a loan payment and future financing. The pound gained versus most counterparts after a survey showed U.K. business owners expect activity to pick up. New Zealand’s dollar declined for a third day as data showed the nation’s trade surplus was narrower than forecast.
U.S. Money Funds Risk Losses From Europe Crisis
By Christopher Condon - Bloomberg.com
The European debt crisis would pose a threat to U.S. money-market mutual funds if a rash of sovereign defaults caused big banks to fail to meet obligations within the next three months.
"It would take a very rapid decline and not just in the smaller European countries" for the debt crisis to threaten U.S. money funds, George "Gus" Sauter, chief investment officer at Vanguard Group Inc. in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, said in an interview. "You'd probably have to seeSpain and Italy get into difficult shape."
Spending Insanely While the Economy Collapses
By Alan Caruba - CNSNews.com
America this year celebrates the 235th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence and the 223rd anniversary of its Constitution. By most indications, it is a nation in decline. Its original values and virtues are being jettisoned, a sign of internal rot. The passage of a law legalizing same-sex marriage in New York is just one example. New York becomes the sixth state to do so.
Families are regarded as the keystone to a healthy society. When they begin to disintegrate or are redefined, a range of social problems can be expected to ensue.
The Census Bureau recently announced that married couples no longer head a majority of families in the United States. They now represent only 48% of households, based on data from the 2010 census. It is the first time this has ever occurred.
The Cost of a U.S. Debt Downgrade
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
For a few months now, economists and econo-pundits have been warning that a U.S. downgrade would be very harmful. It will cost investors billions of dollars and the U.S. will face higher borrowing costs, they say. Now we've got a new report from Standard and Poor's -- the rating agency that started all the talk when it revised its U.S. debt outlook to negative in April -- that details the pain a downgrade would cause.
Debt ceiling: Just do it
By Jeanne Sahadi @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Warnings from all three credit ratings agencies didn't do it. Seven weeks of talks among lawmakers didn't do it. Maybe President Obama's talks with Capitol Hill brass will do it.
But as of now, there's still no debt-reduction deal. And many lawmakers are still demanding one in exchange for their vote to increase the debt ceiling.
Here's an idea: Even if they can't come up with a deal by Aug. 2, lawmakers should raise the debt ceiling anyway. Then they should make a pot of coffee and go back to hammering out a debt-reduction plan.
Fiscal responsibility isn't a one-off proposition; it's an ongoing process.
The Debt Ceiling Walks the Red Carpet If Congress and the president can't agree on spending cuts, they should consider ending Fannie and Freddie in exchange for a short-term increase in the debt ceiling.
By Anthony Randazzo & Satya Thallam - Reason.com
....The debt ceiling itself is paralyzed with indecision. Yet there is another option the gossip pages haven't mentioned: a sunset date for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Once a box-office superstar, these government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) are no longer on anyone's "hot list." Congress suffered through a decade-long abusive relationship with the pair, and now has little desire to address a problem which they themselves enabled. Meanwhile, Fannie and Freddie's rockstar, pre-crisis partying has left taxpayers with a $6.5 trillion liability hangover. Since the 2008 bailout, taxpayers have coughed up over $160 billion to cover losses at the two mortgage giants, with a potential tab of $400 billion.
Federal Reserve Secrets and Lies
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The Federal Reserve has been a clandestine organization since its inception. It is not really part of the federal government; it is merely a subcontractor for monetary policy. The Fed is basically a cartel of both U.S. and European banks. It has pulled the levers in the economy from behind a curtain of secrecy since 1913 and has always enjoyed a certain degree of respect and admiration. All that changed when the economy melted down in 2008. The respect and admiration of the Federal Reserve is being shredded right along with its veil of secrecy. The Fed allowed everyone to think the cost of controlling the 2008 financial crash was just a measly $3.3 trillion. This giant lie was exposed after Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont put a provision in last year’s financial reform bill that forced the Fed to come clean on $9 trillion in additional emergency loans and bailout money. The Fed funneled cash to foreign banks and companies right along with American banks and companies. It basically rewarded reckless and illegal behavior of greedy Wall Street bankers that caused the mess we are in now.
Fed Seen Purchasing $300 Billion in Treasuries After QE2
By Daniel Kruger and John Detrixhe - Bloomberg.com
The Federal Reserve will remain the biggest buyer of Treasuries, even after the second round of quantitative easing ends this week, as the central bank uses its $2.86 trillion balance sheet to keep interest rateslow.
While the $600 billion purchase program, known as QE2, winds down, the Fed said June 22 that it will continue to buy Treasuries with proceeds from the maturing debt it currently owns. That could mean purchases of as much as $300 billion of government debt over the next 12 months without adding money to the financial system.
Treasuries Gain Before Report
Forecast to Show Home Prices Fell in April
By Wes Goodman - Bloomberg.com
Treasuries rose, rebounding from yesterday’s steepest decline in two weeks, before an industry report that analysts said will show U.S. home prices fell in April and are slowing the nation’s economic recovery.
Traders are betting the Federal Reserve will postpone raising borrowing costs from record lows to support the economy. The odds of a rate increase by April dropped to 25 percent from 34 percent a month ago, futures contracts indicate. The U.S. is scheduled to sell $35 billion of five-year securities today, the second of three note auctions this week.
How Does the Eurozone Crisis Boost Gold & Silver?
BY JULIAN PHILLIPS - FinancialSense.com
Euro and Eurozone versus USD and U.S.A.
The Eurozone is a group of 32 sovereign nations, each with its own independent government, its own separate economy, its own national identity, language and character, each retaining its own sovereignty. It manages its own national revenues and politics all of which are independent of the Eurozone, while being part of it. In other words, unlike the U.S.A. there is no fiscal union. All people in the U.S.A. are Americans, speaking English. In Europe, they are first nationals and a distant second they are European. And that's why the E.C.B. doesn't have free rein to bail out Greece by itself. Each nation in the Eurozone is a stand-alone country still, despite having a common currency. Their unity is considerably weaker than that of the United States.
PIMCO Bracing For Higher Commodity Prices & More Inflation
By 24/7 Wall St.
Even though the US Federal Reserve downplays the contribution of commodity prices in the US core inflation rate, that doesn't mean that everyone agrees. In fact, most of us who pay more for a gallon of gasoline or a head of lettuce see higher prices for necessities like food and fuel eroding our purchasing power. And because we don't want to run up expensive credit card debt, we tend to keep our wallets firmly in our pockets or purses.
Now, investment management giant Pacific Investment Management Company LLC, or PIMCO (or even Pimco) as it is commonly known, has released its outlook on commodity prices and inflation, and the firm sees things more like ordinary folks than does the Fed.
Accumulate gold, invest in silver: Marc Faber
HONG KONG (Commodity Online): Legendary economist and publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom report, who recently said that the world is flooded with US dollars and grossly underweight in gold has suggested investors to keep on accumulating gold.
Gold may continue to fall in the next three months but investors are better off accumulating the yellow metal, he told a Bloomberg Television interview. He said that he still favours gold and silver.
Marc Faber said that US economy needs to go through a devastating crisis before it can make any meaningful recovery. The US debt problem hasn't gone away.
Speculators increase bullish Gold, Silver positions,
cut PGMs: CFTC
By Debbie Carlson - CommodityOnline.com
(Kitco News) - Speculators added to their bullish gold and silver U.S. futures and options positions, but cut exposure to the platinum group metals and copper, according to U.S. government data.
In the weekly Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s commitment of traders data released late Friday, fund-type traders built up their gold and silver net-long positions as noted in both the disaggregated and legacy reports. The data is current as of June 21, so it does not include the break in prices those markets suffered later in the week. The losses in the platinum group metals and copper inspired exiting of long positions, as seen in the data.
Dodd-Frank Act not to impact investor ability to own gold, silver
FLORIDA, USA (Commodity Online): The Dodd Frank legislation in USA will not impact the individual investor's ability to own gold and silver but only restrict the ability of brokerages from providing investors the abiility to trade in over the counter-the-counter fuures including gold and sivler futures, according to Gainsville Coins.
US government actions in 1933 had removed gold coins from circulation and made it illegal for US citizens to own gold but Dodd-Frank Act does not impose any such restrictions.
Peter Schiff - Interview With RealityReport.tv (May 17, 2011)
The currency of the future
At High Court, Wall Street Whips Main Street—
Not Once but Twice As the term nears its end,
the Supreme Court rules in favor of corporate powerhouses
By Andrew Cohen - TheAtlantic.com
The United States Supreme Court Monday decided two of the most anticipated decisions of its current term. Each case generated some degree of unanimity among the justices. In each instance, the Court handed an important victory to corporate interests. And, in both rulings, the majority justified its result by asserting that the law does not easily allow a plaintiff--whether a person or a state, whether for monetary damages or to save the planet--to choose the means and manner of litigation. Monday surely was not a good day for the little guy on the American legal scene.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Prepper Dad?
Even Robert Kiyosaki Is Warning
That An Economic Collapse Is Coming
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Are you familiar with Robert Kiyosaki? He is best known for the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" series of books. Over 26 million books authored by Kiyosaki have been sold and he is recognized as a financial expert by millions of people across the globe. Well, guess what? Even Robert Kiyosaki is warning that an economic collapse is coming. In fact, Kiyosaki and his team of financial experts are encouraging Americans to stock up on food, guns and precious metals. This is yet another sign of just how close we are to the total collapse of the U.S. Economy. Kiyosaki, who once co-authored a book with Donald Trump entitled "Why We Want You To Be Rich" is now a full-fledged prepper. As even more prominent Americans start warning that an "economic collapse" is coming do you think that the American people will finally wake up and start paying attention?
Banks Waiting on Filing Nearly 30,000 New Jersey Foreclosures
By Michael Kraus - TotalMortgage.com
New Jersey could soon face a multitude of foreclosures which could negatively impact housing prices throughout the Garden State.
Last Winter, the chief Justice of the New Jersey State Supreme Court announced that he would impose a moratorium on foreclosures from major lenders (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, OneWest Bank, Citigroup, and Ally Financial) unless these banks would come before the court and document their foreclosure processes and steps they had taken to ensure the accuracy of their foreclosures. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said these banks were singled out due to a “public record of questionable practice”. He commented further that:
"Today's actions are intended to provide greater confidence that the tens of thousands of residential foreclosure proceedings underway in New Jersey are based on reliable information. Nearly 95 percent of those cases are uncontested, despite evidence of flaws in the foreclosure process."
Is Your Boss Really in Business to Create Jobs?
by Richard Kirsch - NewDeal20.org
Spinmeisters for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Republican politicians like Speaker John Boehner like to call businesses "the job creators." But what every American knows, if he or she thinks about it, is that unless you work for a small business, your boss will only create a new job if there isn't a cheaper option: force you to work longer hours, hire a temp, purchase new technology. Or if you work for a big company, get the work done overseas.
I was thinking about this after reading an article in The New York Times this past Sunday ("Companies Push for Tax Break on Foreign Cash"), which described how corporate America wants to be able to slash the taxes it pays on overseas profits that it returns to the United States from 35% to 5.25%. The corporations are selling this as job creation, saying that the billions of dollars they would bring back home will be invested in jobs. Who are they kidding? These are the same companies that are already sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash, which they clearly are not investing in jobs in the United States. What will they do with the money if they get to bring it back on the cheap? Last time the corporations convinced (translation: "paid") Congress to give them a repatriation holiday, 92% of the cash was rewarded to shareholders in the forms of dividends and stock buybacks.
The New Desperation of Team Obama
By Lurita Doan - Townhall.com
Team Obama is looking more desperate these days. The signs of desperation are clearly visible—Obama playing to a half-packed house in Miami, Obama using increasingly shrill arguments that his job creation efforts are working, Geithner's threats regarding the debt ceiling and the Democrat-influenced mainstream media’s increasing criticisms of the Republican slate of presidential primary candidates. If Obama's policies are so successful and if the country is doing so well, why do Americans see this growing desperation in Team Obama?
Team Obama's desperation seems to stem from a fear of the unknown—how will it be possible for them to win congressional seats and keep the Presidency in 2012 when many Americans are seeing through the Obama Administration’s promises and the illusions of "hope and change".
Consumer Spending in U.S.
Unexpectedly Stagnated in May as Prices Climbed
By Alex Kowalski - Bloomberg.com
Consumer spending unexpectedly stagnated in May as employment prospects dimmed and rising inflation caused Americans to cut back.
Purchases were little changed, the weakest outcome since June 2010, after a revised 0.3 percent gain the prior month that was smaller than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today inWashington. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 0.1 percent gain. Prices excluding food and energy rose more than forecast.
Gone With the Papers
By Chris Hedges - Truthdig.com
I visited the Hartford Courant as a high school student. It was the first time I was in a newsroom. The Connecticut paper’s newsroom, the size of a city block, was packed with rows of metal desks, most piled high with newspapers and notebooks. Reporters banged furiously on heavy typewriters set amid tangled phone cords, overflowing ashtrays, dirty coffee mugs and stacks of paper, many of which were in sloping piles on the floor. The din and clamor, the incessantly ringing phones, the haze of cigarette and cigar smoke that lay over the feverish hive, the hoarse shouts, the bustle and movement of reporters, most in disheveled coats and ties, made it seem an exotic, living organism. I was infatuated. I dreamed of entering this fraternity, which I eventually did, for more than two decades writing for The Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor and, finally, The New York Times, where I spent most of my career as a foreign correspondent.
Newsrooms today are anemic and forlorn wastelands. I was recently in the newsroom at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and patches of the floor, also the size of a city block, were open space or given over to rows of empty desks. These institutions are going the way of the massive rotary presses that lurked like undersea monsters in the bowels of newspaper buildings, roaring to life at night. The heavily oiled behemoths, the ones that spat out sheets of newsprint at lightning speed, once empowered and enriched newspaper publishers who for a few lucrative decades held a monopoly on connecting sellers with buyers. Now that that monopoly is gone, now that the sellers no long need newsprint to reach buyers, the fortunes of newspapers are declining as fast as the page counts of daily news sheets.
Dodgers File for Bankruptcy
By KATIE THOMAS - NYTimes.com
The Los Angeles Dodgers filed for bankruptcy in a Delaware court Monday morning, the most recent development in what has been a year of tumult for the team, including the decision last week by Bud Selig, Major League Baseball’s commissioner, to reject a proposed cable deal that was worth between $2.5 billion and $3 billion.
Bankruptcy protection will shelter the team financially and allow it more time to reach a new media deal, according to a statement released by the Dodgers. The filing will give the team access to $150 million in financing that will prevent the disruption of the Dodgers’ day-to-day business, the statement said.
Mandatory evacuation of Los Alamos ordered
because of wildfire threat
By Associated Press, WashingtonPost.com
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — Thousands of residents calmly fled Monday from the mesa-top town that’s home to the Los Alamos nuclear laboratory, ahead of an approaching wildfire that sent up towering plumes of smoke, rained down ash and sparked a spot fire on lab property where scientists 50 years ago conducted underground tests of radioactive explosives.
Los Alamos National Laboratory officials said that the spot fire was soon contained and no contamination was released. They also assured that radioactive materials stored in various spots elsewhere on the sprawling lab were safe from flames.
Flood Wall Fails at Fort Calhoun Reactor
By Sam Womack - WORLD-HERALD
The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station turned to diesel-powered generators Sunday after disconnecting from the main grid because of rising floodwaters.
That move came after water surrounded several buildings when a water-filled floodwall collapsed.
The plant, about 19 miles north of Omaha, remains safe, Omaha Public Power District officials said Sunday afternoon.
Sunday's event offers even more evidence that the relentlessly rising Missouri River is testing the flood worthiness of an American nuclear power plant like never before. The now-idle plant has become an island. And unlike other plants in the past, Fort Calhoun faces months of flooding.
Dr. Webster Tarpley Reports from Tripoli:
Devastation at The Hands of NATO & Obama Continue 1/3
Dr. Webster Tarpley Reports from Tripoli:
Devastation at The Hands of NATO & Obama Continue 2/3
Dr. Webster Tarpley Reports from Tripoli:
Devastation at The Hands of NATO & Obama Continue 3/3
Court Issues Gadhafi Warrant Celebrations Rage in Rebel Territory
After Call for Arrests of Libyan Leader, His Son and Spy Chief
By JOHN W. MILLER in Brussels and SAM DAGHER in Misrata, Libya - WSJ.com
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Col. Moammar Gadhafi, his son and Libya's intelligence director for crimes against humanity, triggering jubilation in rebel territory and formally marking the Libyan leader as an outlaw.
The ICC judges charged the three men with "murder" and "persecution" after prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, ordered by the United Nations in February to investigate, presented the court with evidence that Col. Gadhafi had, with his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and Intelligence Director Abdellah al-Senussi, personally coordinated attacks on Libyan civilians.
Plan to Kill Libya's Qaddafi Carries Dire Risks What happens if NATO succeeds in targeting the Libyan leader?
By Max Fisher - TheAtlantic.com
NATO Joint Operations commander and U.S. admiral Samuel Locklear told a U.S. congressman last month that NATO is attempting to kill Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, ForeignPolicy.com reported on Friday. Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee, revealed the conversation to reporter Josh Rogin, confirming what many observers had long suspected about the U.S. and European air strikes. After all, NATO's bombs have fallen on, among others, the Bab al-Azizia military compound in Tripoli, which members of the Qaddafi family sometimes use as a home. But what happens if NATO's planes manage to kill the Libyan leader of four decades? And would his death really end the war that has now waged in Libya for four months, or would it only worsen it?
Could We Actually See A War Between Syria And Turkey?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
In recent days, there have been persistent rumors that we could potentially be on the verge of a military conflict between Syria and Turkey. As impossible as such a thing may have seemed just a few months ago, it is now a very real possibility. Over the past several months, we have seen the same kind of "pro-democracy" protests erupt in Syria that we have seen in many of the other countries in the Middle East. The Syrian government has no intention of being toppled by a bunch of protesters and has cracked down on these gatherings harshly. There are reports in the mainstream media that say that over 1,300 people have been killed and more than 10,000 people have been arrested since the protests began. Just like with Libya, the United States and the EU are strongly condemning the actions that the Syrian government has taken to break up these protests. The violence in Syria has been particularly heavy in the northern sections of the country, and thousands upon thousands of refugees have poured across the border into neighboring Turkey. Syria has sent large numbers of troops to the border area to keep more citizens from escaping. Turkey has responded by reinforcing its own troops along the border. Tension between Turkey and Syria is now at an all-time high. So could we actually see a war between Syria and Turkey?
Clinton: Obama Will Keep Twice As Many Troops in Afghanistan
as Were There Under Bush
By Edwin Mora - CNSNews.com
Washington (CNSNews.com) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week that even after President Barack Obama withdraws 33,000 soldiers from Afghanistan by September 2012, there will still be "twice as many" U.S. troops in the country as there were when he took office.
"When the president became president, there were waiting on his desk requests for additional troops," testified Clinton. "At the time president Obama was inaugurated, there were, give or take, about 30,000-plus American troops [in Afghanistan] and there was no doubt that our attention had shifted to Iraq in the preceding years and that in Iraq there had been a negotiated agreement with the Iraqi government by our government, the Bush administration, as to when our troops would come out.
Death of Nuclear Experts Steve Quayle
Coast to Coast am 06-23-2011.mov
Genetic Modification Gone Wild: 10 Signs That Our World May Be Destined
To Resemble A Really Bad Science Fiction Movie
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Did you know that today scientists are actually producing mice that tweet like birds, cats that glow in the dark, "monster salmon", "spider goats", cow/human hybrids, pig/human hybrids and even mouse/human hybrids? The very definition of life on earth is changing right before our eyes. Many scientists believe that genetic modification holds the key to feeding the entire planet and healing all of our diseases, but others are warning that genetic modification could literally transform our environment into a desolate wasteland and cause our world to resemble a really bad science fiction movie. For decades, scientists around the globe have been fooling around with DNA and have been transplanting genes from one species to another. But now technology has advanced so dramatically that just about the only thing limiting scientists are their imaginations.
Human-Animal Hybrids,
Human Cloning And Bizarre Genetically Engineered Life Forms -
Is This The Dark Future That We Are Destined For?
by Shattered Paradigm - FutureStorm.blogspot.com
Are we headed for a dark future where "Watchers technology" is fully unleashed? Will it be a future where "man-made life" and bizarre human-animal hybrid creatures are free to roam and breed and spread across the face of the earth? Such notions would have once been too bizarre for most science fiction novels, but genetic engineering technology has advanced to such a degree today that it is really hard to say what "life" will look like on earth in the coming decades. At this point there are very few restrictions remaining on fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, synthetic biology, cloning and genetic modification. All over the world, scientists are feverishly combining different kinds of animals together, adding plant genes to certain animals, and even putting human DNA into plants and animals. Life as we know it is literally changing, and it is very hard to tell what the future is going to look like if all of this continues.
The Obama administration is even endorsing this kind of activity. Anything for "scientific research" that might "cure diseases", right? Just last week the White House declared that the field of synthetic biology poses only"limited risks" and should not be restricted.
The Transhumanist Cult That Runs Our Planet -
Alex Jones Tv Sunday Edition 1/3
The Transhumanist Cult That Runs Our Planet -
Alex Jones Tv Sunday Edition 2/3
The Transhumanist Cult That Runs Our Planet -
Alex Jones Tv Sunday Edition 3/3
SOROS SOUNDS A WARNING ON THE FUTURE OF EU
By ARK - Truthdig.com
George Soros issued a dire warning to the European Union recently, stating that fundamental flaws in the design of the euro are preventing economically distressed nations like Greece from getting back on their feet and threatening the very existence of the EU.
Because EU member nations cannot print their own money, they are not able to bail themselves out of a financial crisis by simply making more cash and distributing it among their citizens, as Ben Bernanke did with U.S. banks in 2008. As a consequence, they are forced to either increase the taxes of those who can pay them or impose austerity measures on citizens who are dependent upon social services.
Break-up of the euro could usher in a welcome new dawn for Europe It seems likely that some sort of deal will be struck to provide more funds for Greece and to postpone a formal default.
By Roger Bootle - Telegraph.co.uk
Yet eventually, some sort of default by Greece seems all but inevitable. And even if it is delayed, a departure from the euro is likely. We must be ready. So this week I turn my attention to the consequences of a break-up of the euro.
Let no one underestimate the disruptive consequences. If Greece left, debts and deposits would be forcibly redenominated in the new currency, which would promptly plummet on the exchanges, thereby wiping out a fair bit of the wealth of anyone who had held assets in Greece.
Greece Update: Banks to Propose Rolling over 50% of Debt
by CalculatedRisk
From the WSJ: French Banks Submit Plan for Greek Debt Rollover
French banks will propose on Monday ... for private creditors to halve their exposure to Greece by rolling over only about 50% of the Greek government bonds they hold ... Under the proposal, financial institutions would effectively reduce their exposure but tie their hands to Greece for a long period by committing to buy up to 30-year bonds...
Since some analysts were expecting haircuts of up to 70 percent, rolling over half their debt would be a huge positive for the banks.
Banks discuss new Greek rollover plan
By Alex Chambers and Philipp Halstrick - Rueters.com
(Reuters) - European banks and insurers moved closer on Friday to a voluntary rollover of their Greek government debt holdings, hoping to get around rating agencies' reservations and avoid a Greek default.
National finance officials are discussing with banks and insurers a proposal to replace existing Greek debt with a different type of bond in a deal they hope will persuade credit rating agencies to refrain from declaring Athens in default of its obligations, two senior European banking sources told Reuters.
It's not only Greeks who've lost their marbles Taxpayers must pick up the tab for Athens –
no bank will lend money to the bankrupt Greek regime
By Jeff Randall -Telegraph.co.uk
The essence of ancient Greek tragedy is that the audience knows it will end in disaster, but feels compelled to watch the horror unfold. And so it is with the modern version, a sovereign debt crisis of Sophoclean dimensions. Themes of the great dramatist's finer works are all there: how arrogance, pride and deception result in unbearable pain; the inevitability of retribution and (not yet witnessed in Athens or Brussels) the arrival of wisdom through suffering.
Tomorrow, Greek MPs are scheduled to vote on a fresh austerity package. If it's passed, the country will receive the next 12 billion euros of a 110 billion euro bail-out. Sadly, this is little more than a financial hors d'oeuvre. Still required is an additional 100 billion euro deal if Greece is to remain solvent until 2013. In effect, the country is borrowing enormous sums to service existing debts, which it cannot afford to repay. As Sophocles reminds us, when divine and human purposes conflict, the gods will always prevail. In this case, Athena, the deity of endeavour and reason, is deeply offended by Olympian self-indulgence. The upshot will not be a miraculous economic recovery, but a spectacular flame-out. As far as Greece is concerned, there is no deus ex machina. The tragic denouement will involve its default or withdrawal from the single currency, perhaps both.
Fed Benefits from Global Fears
By: John Browne - GoldSeek.com
This week, in the second in a series of less-than-impressive press conferences, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke offered market observers little hope that any additional quantitative easing programs are on the horizon. The Chairman continues to cling to the position that the economy is improving (with the recent "soft patch" attributable to external forces) to the extent that additional Fed support will be unnecessary. Left unsaid was any guidance as to who the Chairman believes will buy the massive amounts of Treasury debt formerly swallowed up by the QE II program?
The real cost of the Greek crisis The turmoil in Greece could spark a second credit crunch, making it harder to find a mortgage, while savers will continue to suffer from rock-bottom interest rates.
By Emma Simon - Telegraph.co.uk
The prospect of Greece defaulting on its debt, triggering another European banking crisis, is dominating the news this week. Although we are not in the eurozone, British savers, investors and borrowers aren't immune from the financial problems sweeping the region.
While the economic analysis to date has concentrated on Greece's credit rating, its forthcoming austerity budget and whether it will pull out of the euro altogether, we will focus on how these events will affect British consumers.
The Credit Default Swaps That Underlie the Greek Crisis
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
This interview will help you to understand the problems surrounding the Greek crisis, the intended looting of their public resources, and the model that is being repeated by the banks around world.
Around 2000 I came to roughly the same conclusions that he does. I had the opportunity to study the European money system while it was forming in graduate business school, and it just did not make sense.
The euro was probably going to fail unless the union became a unified federal government with one set of laws and taxation policy, with the kind of revenue distribution that exists amongst states in the US, for example.
Russia, China sign deal to switch to trade in rubles, yuan
NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia - Rian.ru
Russia and China will switch to trade in rubles and yuan to boost bilateral trade and economic cooperation, following an agreement signed between the central banks of both countries, Russian Central Bank Deputy Chairman Viktor Melnikov said on Thursday.
"This agreement allows for settlements through Russian and Chinese banks not only in the freely convertible currencies but also in the yuan and the ruble," Melnikov said.
National Debt
TheEconomicCollapse.com
It really is hard to find the words to describe the true horror of the national debt. The U.S. government has been on the greatest debt binge in all of human history, and a day of reckoning is coming that is going to be so painful that it is going to shock America to the core. We have lived so far above our means for so long that none of us really has any concept of what "normal" is like anymore. The United States has enjoyed the greatest party in the history of the world, but now this decades-old party is ending and the bills are coming due. It was Dick Cheney who famously said that "deficits don't matter". Well, try telling that to the nation of Greece right about now. The horror that Greece is just beginning to experience is a preview of what is going to happen to us as well. Only when it happens to us it is going to be so much worse, because when we go down we are going to bring the entire global financial system down with us.
A Path to a Budget Pact Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the U.S. deficit,
Europe's woes and overhauling the corporate tax system
Timothy Geithner lives in a world of trouble these days. The secretary of the Treasury has a hand in everything from U.S. debt-ceiling talks and deficit-reduction plans to the European Union's effort to resolve the Greek debt crisis. Each outcome is of critical importance to investors in the U.S. and around the world. And Mr. Geithner is nothing if not optimistic—even about his desire to overhaul the U.S. corporate tax system. Here are edited excerpts from his conversation with The Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib. MR. SEIB: Can the government get its house in order, and will we spend the rest of the summer worrying about default on debt? MR. GEITHNER: Two things are going to happen this summer. One is we're going to avoid a default crisis. No doubt about that. And we're going to have a bipartisan, comprehensive, long-term deficit-reduction framework.
A lesson from the gold standard
By James Turk
Sir Isaac Newton invented the gold standard circa 1700. The gold standard undoubtedly ranks as one of his greatest achievements given that it became the backbone of the British Empire.
The pound was "as good as gold", as the saying went, and the pound banknote was accepted around the globe as a substitute for gold itself – but not always. The paper-pound was willingly accepted until there was a banking or financial crisis, which meant the quality of the currency and the reliability of banks became questioned.
Sinclair says hold gold,
Marc Faber says price to fall for three months
By Peter Cooper - GoldSeek.com
Two of the investment leaders of the current precious metals boom sharply disagree over the direction that gold and silver prices will take over the next three months. Dr Marc Faber says they will go down. Gold superbug Jim Sinclair says they will go up. Somebody is going to be proven wrong.
The warning posted on Mr Sinclair’s website is very clear:
Be prepared for a reversal of the decision to curtail QE at the end of June.
Be prepared for a snap back at a greater percentage of QE with a different name.
Be prepared for covert QE between July 1st and late August when stimulation goes wild.
Be prepared for gold to take out $1,650 on the upside as magnets at $12,544 come into play.
Be prepared for the Inflationary Depression of all time.
Stand firm on your gold positions.
Inflation Hawks Need to Be Careful What They Wish For A specific target might help to prevent high inflation
but it could also allow the Fed to intervene more aggressively
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Last week at a press conference, Bernanke conceded that the Federal Reserve is humoring the idea of adopting a specific inflation target. When inflation hawks heard this, their ears perked up. Finally, the Federal Reserve would be forced to aim for inflation within a certain range -- that would mean an end to their aggressive monetary stimulus efforts, right? Not necessarily. It might not change their policy making and could actually result in even more aggressive intervention.
The State Of The Economy
TheEconomicCollapse.com
The U.S. economy is like a rubber band that is being pulled in several different directions at the same time. Everyone knows that at some point it is going to snap, but nobody is quite sure exactly when it is going to happen. Right now, the state of the economy is not good, and it is going to get a whole lot worse. Sadly, most Americans don't even understand the economic fundamentals well enough to be able to ask the right questions to our politicians. Today, the United States consumes far more wealth than it produces every single month. That means we are continually getting poorer. U.S. debt is also rising at a far greater rate than U.S. GDP is. On an individual level, if your assets were going down every single month and if you were going into more debt every single single month it would be easy to understand what was happening. However, most Americans can't really seem to grasp what is taking place on a national level. Our politicians and the mainstream media just keep telling them that everything is going to be okay and they just keep believing it.
Obama's Oily Desperation
By Ross Kaminsky - The American Spectator.org
In a move that has everyone from oil analysts to traders to petroleum producers scratching their heads, the Obama Administration announced on Thursday morning that the U.S. along with over two dozen other nations will release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency oil stock piles. Half of the total release, or 30 million barrels, will come from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
News of the release, which will be 2 million barrels per day for 30 days beginning about a week from now, hit oil prices in futures trading. West Texas Intermediate crude oil trading in the U.S., which was already down about $1 on the day, fell more than $3 further to about $91 per barrel. Brent crude, which trades in London, fell almost $7 per barrel.
Is The Economy Improving?
TheEconomicCollapse.com
Is the U.S. economy improving? That is what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would have us believe. Bernanke declared today that the "recovery appears to be proceeding at a moderate pace" and that everything is going pretty much as planned. Sadly, the mainstream media and most of the American people still seem to have faith in the economic pronouncements of Helicopter Ben. They seem to have forgotten all of the Bernanke quotes from before the financial crisis. Bernanke pledged that there would not be a housing crash and that there would not be a recession. It is amazing that anyone still believes that Bernanke has any credibility left.
Soros and liberal groups seeking top election posts
in battleground states
By Chuck Neubauer-The Washington Times
A small tax-exempt political group with ties to wealthy liberals like billionaire financier George Soros has quietly helped elect 11 reform-minded progressive Democrats as secretaries of state to oversee the election process in battleground states and keep Republican "political operatives from deciding who can vote and how those votes are counted."
Known as the Secretary of State Project (SOSP), the organization was formed by liberal activists in 2006 to put Democrats in charge of state election offices, where key decisions often are made in close races on which ballots are counted and which are not.
The group's website said it wants to stop Republicans from "manipulating" election results.
Al Gore, Agenda 21 And Population Control
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Imagine going to sleep one night and waking up many years later in a totally different world. In this futuristic world, literally everything you do is tightly monitored and controlled by control freak bureaucrats in the name of "sustainable development" and with the goal of promoting "the green agenda". An international ruling body has centralized global control over all human activity. What you eat, what you drink, where you live, how warm or cold your home can be and how much fuel you can use is determined by them. Anyone that dissents or that tries to rebel against the system is sent off for "re-education". The human population is 90 percent lower than it is today in this futuristic society, and all remaining humans have been herded into tightly constricted cities which are run much like prisons. Does all of that sound good to you? Well, this is what Agenda 21 is all about.
Black Swans From New Normal
By: Jim Willie CB - GoldSeek.com
Mohammed El-Erian is given credit for the phrase 'The New Normal' to mean an altered state of perceived instability within the normalcy realm, as in crisis being called normal, like endless crisis. As buddy Jim Mess in Europe says, just like trying to redefine what debt default is, it sounds like high octane prevarication. El-Erian is considered one of the good guys. He managed to slip away from Harvard University without much smear, where he served on the management team of the giant multi-$billion endowment fund. If truth be told, Harvard hatched the Enron monster from its Business School as a project, funded by Citigroup, where JPMorgan created all the off-shore companies to hide their dealings. Building #7 in Lower Manhattan contained the records until it fell from structural sympathy. Harvard successfully made money all the way on the Enron runup, but also successfully shorted Enron all the way down. So El-Erian is hardly squeaky clean. He does give a good interview though, does not deal much in varnished truths, and is an avid NYMets baseball fan. At PIMCO, he worked on the team to direct the biggest bond fund in the world to turn its back on the entire USTreasury Bond complex. In fact, their Total Return Fund, its flagship bond fund, is net short on USTreasurys as a group. That means they own a raft of Credit Default Swaps for USGovt debt default and an assortment of other vehicles like the TNX and TYX that track the 10-year and 30-year bond yield. They recognize an asset bubble when they see one, and even invest in Gold.
Rense & Celente - The American Dream is Gone
Chris Hedges's Endgame Strategy Why the revolution must start in America.
By Chris Hedges
The unrest in the Middle East, the convulsions in Ivory Coast, the hunger sweeping across failed states such as Somalia, the freak weather patterns and the systematic unraveling of the American empire do not signal a lurch toward freedom and democracy but the catastrophic breakdown of globalization. The world as we know it is coming to an end. And what will follow will not be pleasant or easy.
The bankrupt corporate power elite, who continue to serve the dead ideas of unfettered corporate capitalism, globalization, profligate consumption and an economy dependent on fossil fuels, as well as endless war, have proven incapable of radically shifting course or responding to our altered reality. They react to the great unraveling by pretending it is not happening. They are desperately trying to maintain a doomed system of corporate capitalism. And the worse it gets the more they embrace, and seek to make us embrace, magical thinking. Dozens of members of Congress in the United States have announced that climate change does not exist and evolution is a hoax. They chant the mantra that the marketplace should determine human behavior, even as the unfettered and unregulated marketplace threw the global economy into a seizure and evaporated some $40 trillion in worldwide wealth. The corporate media retreats as swiftly from reality into endless mini-dramas revolving around celebrities or long discussions about the inane comments of a Donald Trump or a Sarah Palin. The real world – the one imploding in our faces – is ignored.
The 10 Best U.S. States for Growth and Innovation
Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
"The national economy" is a myth.
It's useful for Washington to talk about a continental network of people and businesses, because Washington's policies affect everyone. But to speak of the national economy, in the singular and definitive, belies the fact that the economy is not an organism, but rather a collective of organisms. Companies that make clusters. Clusters that define cities. Cities that reside in states. States that power regional economies.
The states come in all shapes and schemes. Compare Massachusetts and Alaska. Massachusetts is the educational powerhouse of the country, if not the world. Boston's matrix of research universities and hospitals makes it a core of our health care innovation sector. It's also a high-tax, high-regulation state that scores poorly in most business-friendly surveys. Now consider Alaska, a low-tax, low-regulation state that thrives mostly because of what's in the ground: oil, gas, and trees. Alaska might not invent the world's next aorta gadget, but in the last few years, it's led the country in growth.
Why Raise Taxes Now?
By G. Tracy Mehan - The American Spectator.org
Why on earth should the Republicans swallow a tax increase now? Having just walked away from the budget and debt limit negotiations, the GOP leadership simply ratified what they have been saying all along. They basically told Vice President Biden and the Democratic congressional leadership that they really mean it this time.
There are, of course, traditional supply-side arguments against raising taxes for which readers can find ample justification from the ranks of Larry Kudlow, Arthur Laffer and the books of the late, great Jack Kemp.
Battered-Homeowner Syndrome
Mises Daily: by Doug French
"I don't think people can stay stupid forever," says Richard Plaster, president of Las Vegas homebuilding company Signature Homes, and a leading advocate for people to walk away from their homes. He thinks more people will walk away as home prices continue to fall. "People who keep paying on their mortgage are going to lose."
And plenty will lose if A. Gary Shilling is right. He points out that normally the housing inventory is 2.5 million units. Currently it's 4 million, but that's not all, writes Shilling,
As foreclosures keep mounting, a "shadow" inventory of as many as 500,000 additional homes will become visible as many more Americans choose to sell rather than endure further price declines.
Trillion reasons why banks love mortgages
By Danny John - SMH.com.au
It will come as little comfort for those house hunters looking to get a foot on the property ladder, but the market has in the past five months very quietly passed a significant milestone in its history. Or, to put it more accurately, the home loan banking industry has.
Thanks to an Australian Bureau of Statistics table, released along with the monthly housing finance data a couple of weeks ago, we can now proclaim from our (owner-occupied) rooftops that the amount of money lent by banks to existing and new home-owners has topped $1 trillion.
mortgage overhaul proposed... Mortgage finance:
Congressman announces reform bill At Policy Summit Treasury official at summit says Administration
is "seriously considering" concerns on proposed mortgage rules
by NHC - RealEatateRama.com
WASHINGTON, DC - June 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) — Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) today announced plans to introduce a bill to reform the nation’s mortgage finance system during a policy summit convened by the National Housing Conference (NHC). About 200 people attended the event at the Columbus Club in Washington, D.C., where Miller offered views on the importance of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in providing access to credit for Americans.
"Fannie [Mae] lost money one year, in 1985," Miller said in the opening speech. "Freddie [Mac] lost money never. Find me one lender that did that well."
Bucking the consensus to immediately phase out the GSEs among his GOP colleagues, Miller hinted that the legislation will outline a more moderate approach to mortgage finance reform.
Why Are Food Prices Rising So Fast?
TheEconomicCollapse.com
If you do much grocery shopping, you have probably noticed that the cost of food has been rising at a very brisk pace over the past year. So why are food prices rising so fast? According to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, inflation is still very low and theeconomy is improving. So what is going on here? When I go to the grocery store these days, there are very few things that I will buy unless they are on sale. In fact, I have noticed that many of the new "sale prices" are the old regular prices. Other items have had their packages reduced in size in order to hide the price increases. But with millions of American families just barely scraping by as it is, what is going to happen if food prices keep rising this rapidly?
Earth in the Balance, Humankind on the Edge
By Nathan Myhrvold - Bloomberg.com
Complacency is baked into our species. We can't resist thinking that recent experience defines the future. Give us a run of good luck, and we are apt to turn that into an implicit expectation that our luck will continue -- even that we are entitled to it.
This kind of thinking was instrumental in the run-up to the financial crash of 2008. Too many private and public institutions assumed that an extraordinary run in prosperity, particularly in the real estate market, was just normal. It didn't occur to them that things could go so wrong. Even when token stress testing or risk assessment was done, it largely excluded the possibility of a bad shock or a protracted slump. Risk wasn’t systematically measured; it was ignored.
Another Step Closer To A One World Religion: 50 U.S. Churches To Read From The Quran On Sunday
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
The three main pillars of the "New World Order" that the global elite want to bring about are a one world economy, a one world government and a one world religion. A lot of attention gets paid to the development of the first two pillars, but the third pillar gets very little attention. But the truth is that a one world religion is getting closer than ever. "Interfaith" conferences and meetings are being held with increasing frequency all over the globe. Major global religious leaders are urging all of us to focus on our "shared" religious traditions. The belief that all religions are equally valid paths to the same destination is being taught in houses of worship and at religious institutions all over the globe. This "interfaith movement" is being promoted by NGOs, "charitable foundations" and top politicians and it is being backed by big money all over the planet.
In Zimbabwe, Chinese Investment With Hints of Colonialism The Asian power is exerting greater influence
over political and economic systems across Africa
By Max Fisher - TheAtlantic.com
China's growing investment and development in Sub-Saharan Africa, dubbed "The Next Empire" by The Atlantic's Howard French for its historic potential to reshape the continent and grow Chinese influence, is looking especially imperial these days in Zimbabwe. The impoverished pariah state, isolated by President Robert Mugabe's violent suppression of dissent, has put more and more of its economy and natural resources under Chinese control. The Asian giant, in return for its investments -- both in Zimbabwean infrastructure and in Mugabe's personal accounts -- has won near-exclusive dominance of everything from mineral rights to labor standards, as well as the apparent acquiescence of local politicians and police. Zimbabwe is far from a Chinese colony. The country is politically and militarily sovereign, but as China's economic hold tightens, the African nation's independence is becoming harder to distinguish.
Pakistan's rift with the West grows Pakistan expels British trainers of anti-Taliban soldiers US raid on bin Laden compound thought to be reaso
for expulsion of team of military advisers
By Chris Woods and Declan Walsh in Islamabad - Guardian.co.uk
Pakistan has expelled a team of British military trainers sent to help with the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida, as the fallout from the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden continues to rock relations between Islamabad and its western allies.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that at least 18 military advisers, deployed as part of a £15m programme to train the paramilitary Frontier Corps, have been withdrawn from Pakistan. Most are already back in the UK.
Iran's supreme leader accuses U.S. of terrorism Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rails against
American military force in Middle East
BY ALI AKBAR DAREINI, AP - Salon.com
Iran's supreme leader on Saturday accused the United States of supporting terrorism, pointing to American drone strikes in Pakistan and Afghanistan that he said have killed scores of civilians.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a country whose military forces are responsible for such deaths can't lecture the world about fighting terror.
Strong anti-U.S. salvos are heard regularly from Iran's leadership. Saturday's statement by Khamenei revealed the differences between Iran and the U.S. on the issue of who is a terrorist and who is a freedom fighter.
Why Does the War Go On?
By Eugene Robinson - Truthdig.com
Some heard a declaration of victory, others an admission of defeat. The many contradictions in President Obama’s speech about Afghanistan Wednesday night were perhaps intended to obscure the bottom line: Tens of thousands of American troops will remain for at least three more years, some of them will be maimed or killed, and Obama offered no good reason why.
The only debate within the administration, it appears, was whether to bring home the troops far too slowly or not at all. Obama decided on the too-slowly option.
400,000 BRAIN-INJURED VETERANS
DUE HOME FROM AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ
By ARK - Truthdig.com
Independent experts suggest that more than 400,000 American service members will return from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries that could lead to severe personality disorders, and little is being done to help them.
Afflicted veterans have every reason to expect their government to continue to treat them as expendable waste, as the Pentagon actively opposes formal diagnoses of the condition, known as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and denies the validity of treatment that its own researchers have said could help. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for a cut in the military’s $50-billion-a-year health budget, saying “health care costs are eating the Defense Department alive,” according to a Huffington Post article in January.
Libya: Nato 'trying to kill Col Gaddafi' A senior American general involved in the Libyan campaign has admitted that Nato forces are trying to kill Col Muammar Gaddafi, according to a member of the United States Congress.
By Alex Spillius, Washington and Aislinn Laing in Johannesburg - Telegraph.co.uk
In the first such admission, Adm Samuel Locklear, commander of the NATO Joint Operations Command in Naples, said that efforts had been stepped up to target the Libyan leader, despite declarations by the Obama administration that "regime change" was not the goal.
The admiral's comments were revealed by Representative Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican and member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Mr Turner has opposed the military intervention from the outset was among those who voted in the House of Representatives last week to deny President Barack Obama the authority to wage war against Libya.
DR BILL DEAGLE & CHRIS HARRIS -
U.S. FUKUSHIMA IS A POSSIBILITY (1/3
DR BILL DEAGLE & CHRIS HARRIS -
U.S. FUKUSHIMA IS A POSSIBILITY (2/3
DR BILL DEAGLE & CHRIS HARRIS -
U.S. FUKUSHIMA IS A POSSIBILITY (3/3
Greece's Budget Cuts for Austerity Package
Are Said to Be Backed by EU-IMF
By Maria Petrakis - Bloomberg.com
Measures proposed by the Greek government to complete a 78 billion-euro ($111 billion) austerity package required to win a bailout were endorsed by officials from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, said a person familiar with the matter.
Greek lawmakers must approve the measures in a vote next week, a condition for receiving a fifth loan payment under an existing EU-led bailout and for future financing. Failure to secure aid would push Greece to the brink of default, with the country needing the funds to cover 6.6 billion euros of maturing bonds in August.
Greece Seals Five-Year Austerity Deal With EU-IMF Inspectors
Reuters - HuffingtonPost.com
Greece won the consent of international lenders on Thursday for a five-year austerity plan intended to avoid looming bankruptcy and its prime minister pledged to push radical economic reforms through parliament.
After a day of wrangling in Athens, new Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos clinched a deal with EU and IMF inspectors on extra tax rises and spending cuts to plug a 3.8 billion euro funding gap due to a revenue shortfall.
Greek government spokesman Elias Mossialos, accompanying Prime Minister George Papandreou at an EU summit in Brussels, confirmed the talks had been completed and the legislation would be put to parliament next week.
Greece isn't shovel-ready either
MarketWatch.com
The United States approved more than $800 billion in stimulus spending in 2009, much of which was supposed to go for necessary "shovel-ready" projects.
But as President Barack Obama recently acknowledged, "Shovel-ready was not as … shovel-ready as we expected."
Apparently, Greece isn't shovel-ready either.
Speaking at a news conference late Thursday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso noted that billions of euros in aid already approved for Greece haven't been spent.
In fact, three-quarters of a 20 billion euro ($28 billion) aid package previously approved has yet to find its way into the struggling Greek economy.
The commission has cut the amount of matching funds Greece needs to get the money to 15% in an effort to boost expenditures.
Keiser Report: Greece Resistance Special (E158)
"Stealth QE3" Comes to Fruition – Soaring Inflation is Next
BY DAVID ZEILER, Associate Editor, Money Morning
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did what most everyone expected yesterday (Wednesday) at the culmination of the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) two-day meeting - he left average Americans vulnerable to the pangs of higher prices and soaring inflation.
Indeed, as yet another FOMC meeting drew to a close without any significant policy changes, the central bank, as many predicted, kept interest rates at 0% to 0.25%, where they've been since December 2008.
And citing weaker than expected economic growth, the FOMC vowed to remain in an "accommodative stance" by retaining its huge $2.832 trillion portfolio of securities and loans.
The Only Solution to the Budget Mess:Raising Revenue, Not Taxes
To avoid default, you need a budget deal. To get a budget deal, you need Democrats. To get Democrats, you need more revenue. To keep Republicans, you can't raise taxes. There's only one solution. -- By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
Rep. Eric Cantor's decision this morning to withdraw from negotiations to keep Washington from an historic default reinforces the fact that these negotiations will come down to taxes. But there is reason for hope. Both sides want to make a deal, and both sides know what it will take: a spoon full of taxes to make the spending cuts go down.
With one month to go before the August 2 deadline, there is an emerging consensus among halfway reasonable members of the Republican Party. "We're okay with raising revenue," they say, "but we won't raise taxes."
To some people, this might sound like deliberate Washington gobbledygook, or perhaps a mysterious koan. But it's really quite sensible. All you do is cut out the $1 trillion of deductions, exemptions, and subsidies in the tax code.
Ron Paul on The Fed and inflation CNBC 6/22/2011
Greenspan: Greek Default Would Trigger U.S. Recession
by Gigi Sukin - TopStockPortfolios.com
European finance ministers, IMF officials and a coalition of other international institutions, are in the process of developing a new bailout program for Greece, as many maintain doubts as to whether a second cash infusion will turn the country's economy around.
The outlook for Greece is not very bright. It is commonly accepted that the predicament in Greece is due to the economy's inability to grow coupled with a monstrous debt burden.
Violent demonstrations have erupted throughout the streets of Athens as the public protests government efforts to implement the demands of the country’s creditors, including spending cuts and tax hikes.
Trichet Says Risk Signals Are Flashing Red
as Debt Crisis Threatens Banks
By Jeff Black and Gabi Thesing - Bloomberg.com
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said risk signals for financial stability in the euro area are flashing "red" as the debt crisis threatens to infect banks.
"On a personal basis I would say 'yes, it is red'," Trichet said late yesterday in Frankfurt after a meeting of the European Systemic Risk Board, referring to the group's planned "dashboard" to monitor risks. "The message of the board is that" the link between debt problems and banks “is the most serious threat to financial stability in the European Union."
Trichet, who chairs the ESRB, made the remarks as European leaders meet in Brussels to discuss how to stave off a Greek default, while preparing a second bailout. The EU is trying to avoid a repeat of the financial crisis that followed the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) and resulted in European governments setting aside more than $5 trillion to support banks.
Bernanke Is Either Not Very Bright or Not Very Honest. He Admits He Doesn't Know Why We Have a Weak Economy ...
But He's the One Who Weakened It
George Washington's blog
In "Bernanke Admits He’s Clueless On Economy’s Soft Patch", Forbes blogger Agustino Fontevecchia notes:
Brutally honest, Bernanke admitted that he had no clue what was actually causing the current fragility in the U.S. economic recovery. While the FOMC statement assigned blame outside of the U.S., pointing at Japan along with rising food and oil prices, Bernanke was put on the spot by a reporter who noted the inconsistency behind that explanation and a lowering of long term forecasts. Bernanke took the hit, admitting only some of the factors were temporary and that he didn't know exactly what was causing the slowdown, but that it would persist. "Growth," said Bernanke, "will return into 2012."
Obama Tapped Oil Reserves Due To Concerns About Fragile Economy
Reuters - HuffingtonPost.com
WASHINGTON (Ayesha Rascoe, Roberta Rampton, Tom Doggett, Timothy Gardner, Jeff Mason, Tabassum Zakaria, Matt Spetalnick, and Joshua Schneyer) - Concerns about the impact of high oil prices on the fragile world economy prompted President Barack Obama to agree to release oil from U.S. emergency stockpiles, a senior administration official said on Thursday.
The 30 million-barrel release of mainly light, sweet crude U.S. oil is designed to help fill a gap in supply caused when political upheaval in Libya and Yemen disrupted global oil markets, the officials said.
The move comes as U.S. oil prices have already declined nearly 20 percent since their peak at levels above $113 a barrel.
Gas prices prompt IRS to raise mileage rates Tax agency hikes standard rate for deducting driving costs
By Andrea Coombes, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Higher gas prices prompted the IRS to make an unusual midyear hike to the standard mileage rate used to deduct the cost of business-related driving, the tax agency said Thursday.
The rate will jump to 55.5 cents per mile for travel in July through December, a 4.5 cent hike from 51 cents a mile for driving in January through June.
The rate for driving for medical purposes or for a job-required move also rose, to 23.5 cents for the second half of the year, from 19 cents in the first six months of 2011.
Is the End in Sight for OPEC?
By Chrisella Sagers - OilPrice.com
OPEC oil powers met in Vienna on Wednesday two weeks ago for their biannual meeting, but the oil-producing countries failed to come to an agreement to raise crude production, as was previously expected. Unrest in the Middle East provided a context to the meetings that prevented Saudi Arabia from being able to exert the deciding influence over the organization’s decisions that it has in the past. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi declared to the press after that it was "one of the worst meetings we ever had."
U.S. Commercial Property Prices Decline on Distressed Sales,
Moody's Says -- By Brian Louis - Bloomberg.com
U.S. commercial property prices fell in April as sales of distressed assets made up a large share of transactions, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index dropped 3.7 percent from March and 13 percent from a year earlier. It’s now 49 percent below the peak of October 2007 and at its lowest point in data going back to December 2000, the company said in a report today.
The index, which measures broad national price trends, has fallen for five straight months as sales of distressed properties undermined real estate values. Investor demand is strongest for well-leased buildings in major markets such as New York and Washington, which are viewed as less risky in a sluggish economy.
Failure of Washington First detailed in new FDIC report
Puget Sound Business Journal - by Kirsten Grind
Washington First International, a small Seattle-based bank with predominantly Asian customers, failed in 2010 after it expanded heavily into hard money and real estate lending, according to a new government report released Thursday.
The bank's subsidiary, Washington First Capital, made extensive bridge loans to real estate developers, another cause for the bank's collapse, according to the Office of Inspector General for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Both the bank and it subsidiary loaned money to borrowers who had already reached the bank's legal lending limit.
Washington First, with $500 million in assets, was tied up with Centurion Financial, a little known Bellevue firm that lost its investors hundreds of millions of dollars over the last several years. Centurion is owned by Thomas Hazelrigg III and Scott Switzer, and is entangled with Michael R. Mastro Sr., a major Seattle real estate developer whose massive bankruptcy in 2009 touched dozens of other major developments across the region.
Officials monitoring rising floodwaters at Nebraska nuclear plants
By the CNN Wire Staff
(CNN) -- U.S. nuclear regulators say two Nebraska nuclear power plants have protected critical equipment from the rising waters of the Missouri River even though flooding has reached the grounds of one of them.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is confident those safeguards will prevent a disaster at either plant even though the Missouri is expected to remain flooded for several weeks, NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said Thursday.
The Fort Calhoun plant, about 20 miles north of Omaha, was shut down for refueling in April. Parts of the grounds are already under two feet of water as the swollen Missouri overflows its banks. But the Omaha Public Power District, which owns the plant, has built flood walls around the reactor, transformers and the plant's electrical switchyard, the NRC said.
Conservatives' Pledge:
No Debt-Limit Hike Without Limits on Spending, Taxes
By Matt Cover - CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) – Conservative Americans are sounding a call to “cut, cap and balance” the federal budget.
On Wednesday, leading conservatives from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives joined a broad coalition of conservative activists to unveil a pledge that commits lawmakers to oppose any increase in the debt limit unless substantial cuts in spending are made to reduce the deficit next year, enforceable spending caps are enacted to put the federal government on a path to a balanced budget, and Congress passes a constitutional balanced budget amendment that permanently limits federal spending and requires a supermajority for enacting tax increases.
It is called the "Cut, Cap and Balance" pledge.
Congressional Budget Office warns of debt explosion
By Lori Montgomery - WashingtonPost.com
The national debt will exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy by 2021 — and balloon to nearly 200 percent of GDP within 25 years — without dramatic cuts to federal health and retirement programs or steep tax increases, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday.
The dire outlook from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office comes as the White House and congressional leaders are locked in negotiations aimed at cutting spending and stabilizing future borrowing. The CBO report highlights the enormity of that task and the immense difficulty of paying off the debt, given an aging population and soaring health-care costs.
Ron Paul's Opening Statement:
Monetary Policy Subcommittee - Gold & Fort Knox - 06/23/11
[sound is marginal]
AARP's Social Security Debt Ceiling Fears
By Arthur Delaney - HuffingtonPost.com
WASHINGTON -- For defenders of the Social Security Act's old-age retirement insurance program, news that the most powerful lobbying force for older Americans had softened its opposition to benefit cuts could not have come at a worse time.
In the midst of Vice President Joe Biden's negotiations with members of Congress about a deal to cut the federal budget in exchange for raising the debt ceiling to avoid a U.S. government default, theWall Street Journal reported Friday that AARP "is dropping its longstanding opposition to cutting Social Security benefits."
Study: $1400 Tax Hike Needed to Fund US Pensions
Reuters - CNBC.com
U.S. state and local governments will need to raise taxes by $1,398 per household every year for the next 30 years if they are to fully fund their pension systems, a study released on Wednesday said.
The study, co-authored by Joshua Rauh of Northwestern University and Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Rochester, both of whom are finance professors, argues that states will have to cut services or raise taxes to make up funding gaps if promises made to municipal employees are to be honored.
Pension funding in U.S. cities and states has deteriorated in the wake of the 2007-2009 economic recession as investment earnings dropped, and some states, such as New Jersey and Illinois, skipped or reduced required payments.
Wall Street tumbles on jobless claims report New data another sign that hiring has weakened from earlier this year -- MSNBC.com News Services
NEW YORK — An unexpected jump in claims for unemployment benefits and plummeting oil prices drove stocks lower early Thursday.
The government said the number of Amercians applying for unemployment benefits for the first time rose to 429,000 last week, much higher than economists expected and the largest rise in four weeks. Applications have stayed above 400,000 for more than two months, the latest sign that hiring has weakened from earlier this year.
Jobs Picture Grows Worse as Weekly Claims Post Jump
Reuters - CNBC.com
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed 9,000 to 429,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Economists had expected claims to come in at 415,000.
The report was the latest in a long-running series of data to underscore the lingering weakness in the U.S. recovery and came a day after the Federal Reserve gave a gloomier assessment of the economy.
The claims report covers the survey period for the government's closely watched data on nonfarm payrolls for June, which will be released July 8. Claims increased 15,000 between the May and June survey periods, implying another soft month for jobs after a modest 54,000 gain in employment in May.
Why the Old Jobs Aren't Coming Back A stimulus package that temporarily restores demand isn't the answer. -- BY MICHAEL SPENCE - WSJ.com
[for free article pass - Google the title]
Many have expressed shock at the recent U.S. employment data. But 9.1% unemployment shouldn't be a surprise. To address the jobs challenge, we must stop pretending that this is only a difficult cyclical recovery. The root of the problem is structural.
During the two decades before the crisis of 2008-09, the U.S. economy added 27 million jobs, primarily in government, health care, construction, retail and hospitality. This employment growth was almost all in the "nontradable" side of the economy—sectors generating goods and services that must be consumed where they are produced. But several factors will depress these sectors. Government budget ...
Per Household Annual Deficit Exceeds US Income Per Household
BY DANIEL R AMERMAN CFA - FinancailSense.com
The official story is that total US government debt has nearly reached the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. However, it's worth noting that this total is based upon governmental accounting, the use of which would quickly put an ordinary citizen into jail for fraud if they tried to use such a standard for private business purposes.
As we will explore in this article, a more accurate and full accounting for 2010 shows that in one year, total unfunded government obligations rose by about $54,600 per (above poverty line) US household. Given that the median US income is about $50,200 per household, this means that new debts and obligations taken on in 2010 by the US government, when allocated on a per "solvent" household basis, reached 109% of the total income of the median family.
New U.S. jobless claims up more than expected Data suggest little improvement in labor market after employment stumbled in May
MSNBC.com News Services
WASHINGTON — New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, suggesting little improvement in the labor market this month after employment stumbled in May.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits climbed 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 429,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week's figure was revised up to 420,000.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims to edge up to 415,000 from a previously reported count of 414,000.
Factory Jobs Become Election Issue Obama, Romney Square Off Over Manufacturing,
With an Eye on Potential Rust Belt Battlegrounds
By JONATHAN WEISMAN And JAMES R. HAGERTY - WSJ.com
President Barack Obama, eyeing an unexpected political opening for his re-election campaign, will travel Friday to Pittsburgh to talk up a "renaissance" in domestic manufacturing, just days after his leading rival called the president "out of touch" for suggesting young Americans seek jobs in the sector.
Obama campaign aides see this as a theme to pursue in the potential battlegrounds of the Rust Belt when Mr. Obama speaks Friday at Carnegie Mellon University. Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and the Republican frontrunner, opposed the federal bailout of the auto industry and appeared to scoff this month, first in Detroit, then in Florida, at the notion of manufacturing as a job engine for the future.
The Novel That Changed America For the first time in American literature, slaves were depicted as complex, heroic and emotionally nuanced individuals.
By FERGUS M. BORDEWICH
In April 1857, Samuel Green, a free black farmer and preacher living on Maryland's Eastern Shore, was taken from his home and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the felony of possessing a book that was, the law asserted, "calculated to create discontent among the colored population of this state." The book was called "Uncle Tom's Cabin: Or, Life Among the Lowly." The prosecution of Green was of course a travesty. But Maryland and the rest of the slave-holding South had reason to be scared.
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" was abolitionist propaganda, but it was also a brilliant novel that intertwined the stories of a host of memorable characters: the long-suffering slave Uncle Tom, the sadistic overseer Simon Legree, the defiant fugitive George Harris, the antic slave girl Topsy, the conscience-stricken slave owner Augustine St. Clare, and a teeming cast of abolitionists, Southerners and African-Americans. By presenting an array of emotive story lines—e.g., the bonding of Uncle Tom with St. Clare's saintly daughter Eva, Tom's fatal persecution at a Louisiana plantation, and the dramatic flight of the Harris family to freedom in the North—the author Harriet Beecher Stowe rendered American slavery as a soul-destroying system of grinding injustice and, for the first time in American literature, depicted slaves as complex, heroic and emotionally nuanced individuals.
A History of Spying
The Free-Market Lesson of the Web
Mises Daily: by Gerard Docherty
The World Wide Web was invented in 1992 by Sir Tim Berners-Lee as a simple mechanism to share scientific papers with colleagues. The key innovation of the web was the use of hypertext — the mechanism by which we click on a link, such as a chunk of highlighted text, and are able to download the target document automatically. Although this is a simple idea, the web has changed the world we live in. Its rise is also a superb example of what happens when the private sector is left alone to meet market needs.
Despite its great complexity and rapid development over the last 10 years, the web community works largely without state intervention of any sort. Web designers did not need the hand of government to develop the skills to create ever more complex websites; IT professionals did not wait to read official reports saying they had to adapt as the technology changed; and companies were quick to offer the ever-evolving range of services needed for the web to run smoothly.
Dole salads recalled over listeria
Dayton Business Journal
Dole Food Company Inc. has issued a voluntary recall of packaged salads over fears of listeria contamination.
Dole said random testing came back positive for listeria monocytogenes in some of the salads.
Listeria monocytogenes is a foodborne bacterium that can cause fever, muscles aches, nausea and diarrhea.
Dole (NYSE: DOLE) recalled 2,880 cases of Dole Italian Blend salad and 442 cases of Kroger Co.'s Fresh Selections Italian Style Blend salad, according to a news release. All cases had a use-by-date of June 19, 2011.
The salads were distributed in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin, as well as New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec, according to the release.
Cuccinelli goes after another federal regulation Seeks partners for FCC suit against 'net neutrality'
By Paige Winfield Cunningham-The Washington Times
Wading into another fierce ideological battle, Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II has announced plans to sue regarding new federal regulation of the Internet and has urged other states to jump on board his fight against "net neutrality."
Calling the regulations the "most egregious of all violations of federal law," Mr. Cuccinelli told The Washington Times on Thursday that he will begin in July or August to gather support from other attorneys general and private partners for a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission.
Google Unveils a Laptop With Its Brain in the Cloud
By Walter S. Mossberg - WSJ.com
Would you buy a laptop that comes with only one major program—a Web browser—and doesn't allow you to install widely used software such as Microsoft Office, Apple's iTunes, Adobe Reader, or, in fact, any other locally installed program?
Are you ready for a laptop that has almost no storage space to hold your personal files, photos and videos, and is designed around the idea that you'll keep all that precious personal stuff on remote servers?
How about a laptop that can do almost nothing unless it had an active Internet connection; for instance, one that wouldn't let you read and write email, or check your calendar, offline? Would you buy that?
Gerald Celente - Garland Robinette's Think Tank --
WWL New Orleans June 22 2011
Gun Owners of America Calls for Dissolution of ATF
Mike Riggs - Reason.com
The Second Amendment grassroots group Gun Owners of America today called for the dissolution of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, citing work done by the House Oversight Committee over the last several months to expose an ATF program that led to the killing of a Border Patrol agent.
Operation Fast and Furious (previously named Operation Gunrunner) intentionally facilitated illegal trafficking of guns from American shops, across the Mexican border, and into the hands of Mexican drug cartels in order to "track" how the guns were then used. The Oversight Committee's investigation, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), revealed that acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson and Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich knew that ATF agents were allowing guns to move illegally into Mexico. Issa has since called for Melson's resignation and for more transparency from the Department of Justice, which is conducting its own investigation of Fast and Furious, but isn't cooperating with Issa's investigation.
Obama releasing 30M barrels from US oil reserves
By MATTHEW DALY - AP - MSNBC.com
WASHINGTON — Wary of a new surge in gas prices, the Obama administration said Thursday it is releasing 30 million barrels of oil from the country's emergency reserve as part of a broader international response to lost oil supplies caused by turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly Libya.
The release from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be the largest ever, amounting to half of a 60 million-barrel international infusion of oil planned for the world market over the next month.
River Inundates North Dakota City
By JOE BARRETT And JACK NICAS - WSJ.com
MINOT, N.D.—Flooding is likely to spread farther across this city than previously expected as experts predicted Thursday an additional two to three feet of water could wash over Minot when the Souris River crests this weekend.
Hydrologists raised their forecast after the swollen river spilled out of its regular channel and cut down a valley to Lake Darling, the last flood-control point north of Minot, said National Weather Service hydrologist Allen Schlag in Bismarck, N.D.
In response, the Army Corps of Engineers is releasing more water from Lake Darling, with the rate expected to reach 26,000 cubic feet a second by early Friday. The Souris typically flows through the lake at 135 cubic feet a second this time of year, Mr. Schlag said.
Investigation of Aging U.S. Nuclear Power Plant
Reveals Some Scary Truths
Written by Energy Digital - OilPrice.com
Amidst the ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan—that third-party scientific investigators are claiming is 30 times worse than Chernobyl—some countries seem to be coming to their senses and rethinking the cost versus benefit of using nuclear power. Germany, Italy and Switzerland are all moving to end their nuclear energy programs by substituting clean, safe renewable alternatives. However, other developed nations, like the U.S., are making no such efforts. That’s unfortunate, considering that the Associated Press’ year-long investigation into U.S. nuclear power reveals some scary truths about the safety of the industry.
The report reveals the following:
"Federal regulators have been working closely with the US nuclear power industry to keep the nation's ageing reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them. Time after time, officials at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and interviews.
Missouri River Flood Waters
Threaten Nebraska Cooper Nuclear Station
Nebraska Rising River Prompts Cooper Nuclear Station
'Notification Of Unusual Event' Alert
Evolving Coverage of Missouri River Flooding,
Fort Calhoun and Cooper Nuclear Power Plant Situations
Collapsenet.com
The Collapsenet staff is monitoring the Midwest storms, Missouri River flooding and Ft. Calhoun & Cooper Nuclear Power Plant situations very closely. Please check back regularly for updates:
EVOLVING COVERAGE... LAST UPDATED 6/23/11, 1430 PST:
Though more mainstream sources are mentioning the situation, none are on site or provide new information. This obvious obstruction of the truth leaves 300 million Americans who could be affected by this situation in the dark.
In short, we know what we have known all along:
• The rising Missouri River is dangerously close to flooding the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant
• Government agencies and large corporations are highly prone to lying and obscuring the truth when it suits their purposes
Nuclear Reactor Meltdown(s) in the USA !
6-22-11 Gov's let industry slide on safety violations!
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Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012 Even a small drop in the share of black voters
would wipe out his winning margin in North Carolina.
By KARL ROVE - WSJ.com
President Barack Obama is likely to be defeated in 2012. The reason is that he faces four serious threats. The economy is very weak and unlikely to experience a robust recovery by Election Day. Key voter groups have soured on him. He's defending unpopular policies. And he's made bad strategic decisions.
Let's start with the economy. Unemployment is at 9.1%, with almost 14 million Americans out of work. Nearly half the jobless have been without work for more than six months. Mr. Obama promised much better, declaring that his February 2009 stimulus would cause unemployment to peak at 8% by the end of summer 2009 and drop to roughly 6.8% today.
Steve Quayle June 22 2011
Conspiracy Theory
Paul Craig Roberts - Infowars.com
While we were not watching, conspiracy theory has undergone Orwellian redefinition.
A "conspiracy theory" no longer means an event explained by a conspiracy. Instead, it now means any explanation, or even a fact, that is out of step with the government’s explanation and that of its media pimps.
For example, online news broadcasts of RT have been equated with conspiracy theories by the New York Times simply because RT reports news and opinions that the New York Times does not report and the US government does not endorse.
In other words, as truth becomes uncomfortable for government and its Ministry of Propaganda, truth is redefined as conspiracy theory, by which is meant an absurd and laughable explanation that we should ignore.
U.S. Military – The NWO Protectorate? Similar agreements are being made within the U.S. borders, with the Governor of Idaho making recent trips to China and opening up his state to Chinese colonization…
By Gary Jacobucci - PPJ Gazette
A recent interview with Texe Marrs added to the picture forming on the geopolitical landscape…
Keeping in mind that China has been proclaimed the U.N. model for nations…
And last year’s MSM articles on the vast mineral wealth in Afghanistan…
Afghanistan Mineral Wealth May Be Greater Than Estimated: $3 Trillion
As the New York Times put in back in 2009… China Willing to Spend Big on Afghan Commerce
"…Two years ago, the China Metallurgical Group Corporation, a Chinese state-owned conglomerate, bid $3.4 billion — $1 billion more than any of its competitors from Canada, Europe, Russia, the United States and Kazakhstan — for the rights to mine deposits near the village of Aynak. Over the next 25 years, it plans to extract about 11 million tons of copper — an amount equal to one-third of all the known copper reserves in China.
Gates Beats Out Petraeus in Fight Over Afghanistan Withdrawal President Obama sided with his outgoing Defense secretary
over his top general
By Yochi Dreazen and Marc Ambinder - TheAtlantic.com
Senior White House officials wanted all of the 33,000 U.S. "surge" troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by next spring. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Kabul, was adamant they stay until the end of 2012. The deadlock was broken by outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who sold Obama and his top civilian aides on a compromise plan that will leave most of the reinforcements in Afghanistan through next September but ensure they're back well before the November elections.
Obama's prime-time address Wednesday night offered little indication of the heated behind-the-scenes battle over Afghanistan that consumed the president and his war cabinet for much of this past month. The debates pitted White House aides wary of the war's high costs and uncertain progress against a high-profile general who brought Iraq back from the brink of defeat several years ago and was confident he could do the same in Afghanistan if given enough time. This account is based on interviews with multiple officials with direct knowledge of the internal deliberations.
Shariamerica: Islam, Obama, and the Establishment Clause
Bad News for a Country Tired of War
By Bill Boyarsky -Truthdig.com
Barack Obama's plan for a limited withdrawal from Afghanistan means tens of thousands of American troops will remain there, many of them fighting, for several years to come.
In his speech Wednesday night, the president announced he will reduce the U.S. fighting force in Afghanistan by 10,000 by the end of this year and a total of 33,000 by September 2012. After that, he said, "our troops will be coming home at a steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead. Our mission will change from combat to support. By 2014, this process of transition will be complete. …"
Nowhere did he pledge that all the personnel would be brought home by that 2014 date.
OBAMA EXPECTS THREE MORE YEARS OF WAR
By PZS - Truthdig.com
The word surge implies a certain brevity, but according to President Obama's withdrawal plans, announced Wednesday, it will end up taking two and a half years from the day the president ordered his Afghanistan surge to bring home those extra 33,000 U.S. troops sent to that country.
U.S. involvement in the war, if everything goes according to the plan, will not end until 2014—no, that isn't a typo. The longest war in our history isn't scheduled to end for another three years. That is when "this process of transition will be complete, and the Afghan people will be responsible for their own security," Obama said Wednesday.
Ron Paul on the Dylan Ratigan Show MSNBC 6/22/2011
House passes patent overhaul Under the bill, patents would be awarded to the first person to file an application, not to the original inventor. The Senate approved similar legislation in March, and the two measures must be reconciled before it goes to the White House.
By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington—
The House passed the most sweeping changes to the patent system in nearly 60 years, a rare bipartisan accomplishment pushed by major businesses bent on reducing a huge backlog of applications and aligning U.S. procedures with most of the rest of the world.
The legislation would change long-standing law to grant a patent to the first person to file an application, not to the original inventor. It has become harder to determine and easier to challenge in court who first invented a product or procedure.
The coming teacher-union offensive Education lobby gathers big money to reconquer lost ground
By Don Soifer -The Washington Times
Already, national political fundraising ma- chines are beginning to hum and s putter toward early targets in their quest to break another election cycle’s worth of spending records. The nation’s largest teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA), was the heaviest contributor to U.S. political campaigns in 2007-08, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Early indications show it is a front-runner to be so again. Along with its state affiliates, the NEA took in $1.5 billion in revenue in 2008-09, the Education Intelligence Agency notes. Nearly all of this revenue came from member dues, and most of the war chest will be spent seeking to increase spending and to block those school reforms deemed most threatening to union clout.
The stakes are high, even by contemporary standards. The nation’s annual taxpayer investment in kindergarten-through-12th-grade public education runs over half a trillion dollars and accounts for more than 4 percent of gross domestic product. Meanwhile, teachers union members are starting their summer under the dark cloud of a trillion dollars in unfunded educator pension-fund liabilities.
The rule of law is dead. Killed by the "harmonious society"
by Willy Wo-lap Lam - AsiaNews.it
Beijing (AsiaNews) - Chinese Chief Justice Wang Shengjun's advocacy of out-of-court mediation as a favored means of settling civil disputes and "enhancing social harmony" has raised concerns about the further deterioration of the country's rule of law and judicial independence. At a recent seminar for senior judges, Wang, who has been president of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) since early 2008, praised tiaojie ("mediation and reconciliation") as an "effective way to handle social conflicts and promote harmony." He asked the judges to "aim for a synthesis of mediation and adjudication, with priority being given to mediation." "Upholding the priority of mediation tallies fully with the original spirit behind China’s law-making," he indicated. "It is also a development of legal-culture traditions such as 'valuing harmony' and 'playing down litigation and ending conflict'" (Xinhua News Agency, May 30; Caing.com [Beijing], May 31).
BENJAMIN FULFORD & JEFF RENSE 23 JUNE 2011 BOMBSHELL INFO 1/4
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Harrisburg City Council
Approves Preparing for Possible Bankruptcy Filing
By Romy Varghese - Bloomberg.com
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, may prepare a bankruptcy petition even as consultants working for the state try to avoid it.
The City Council voted 4-3 yesterday to approve Councilman Brad Koplinski's recommendation that the city draw up papers. Harrisburg must protect its interests as it faces lawsuits and state legislation that would remove power from elected officials should they fail to implement a fiscal recovery plan, he argued. His measure doesn't authorize an actual filing.
The council’s meeting also included testimony from the consultants who drafted the recovery plan under Pennsylvania's distressed-cities program, called Act 47. The proposal calls for the sale of municipal assets, dismissals and changing workers' contracts.
Will they or won't they? ...
Goodbye to stimulus or ease into QE3
Fed May 'Hint' at QE3 to Cap Rates: Gross
By Liz Capo McCormick - Bloomberg.com
Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, said in a Twitter posting that the Federal Reserve may hint in August of plans for additional monetary stimulus.
"Next Jackson Hole in August will likely hint at QE3/interest rate caps," he wrote referring to the Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in a 10:24 a.m. message.
The use of yield ceilings has precedent. The Fed maintained a limit of 2.5 percent on long-term Treasury bonds in the 1940s for almost a decade. In 2002, then Fed Governor Ben S. Bernanke, in a speech to the National Economics Club in Washington entitled, "Deflation: Making Sure 'It' Doesn't Happen Here," said he preferred the tool as a means of lowering long-term rates.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Plan For QE3 –
And Why It's a Done Deal
BY KEITH FITZ-GERALD, Chief Investment Strategist, Money Morning
When U.S. central bank policymakers conclude their two-day meeting today (Wednesday), there's really only one question investors want an answer to: What's the U.S. Federal Reserve plan for QE3?
Let me answer that for you: QE3 is a done deal - although Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke & Co. might well give it another name.
Let me explain ...
$2.3 Trillion ... And Counting
Since December 2008, when a worldwide credit crisis threatened to take down the global financial system, the U.S. Federal Reserve has had a starring role. It has held the benchmark Federal Funds rate at historic lows between zero and 0.25% to keep the U.S. economy from stalling. And it's pumped more than $2.3 trillion into the American financial system, mostly by purchasing securities on the open market.
The Odd Revelation from The Fed's June Statement Its justification for ending stimulus is puzzling
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
As widely expected, the Federal Open Market Committee meeting today declared that no additional stimulus will be provided to help reboot the struggling economic recovery -- but there was one surprise. Attempting to justify its decision not to pump more monetary stimulus into the markets, the Fed statement says something awkward, at best, and absurd, at worst. Just where does the Fed consider full employment to be?
Here's the key excerpt in an otherwise unremarkable statement:
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The unemployment rate remains elevated; however, the Committee expects the pace of recovery to pick up over coming quarters and the unemployment rate to resume its gradual decline toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate.
As Economy Slowly Recovers, Fed Says It Has Done Enough
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — And at the end of June, the Federal Reservefinished its work and rested.
The nation’s central bank said Wednesday that it would complete the planned purchase of $600 billion inTreasury securities next week as scheduled, and then suspend its three-year-old economic rescue campaign, leaving in place the aid it already is providing but doing nothing more, for now, to bolster growth.
"The economic recovery is continuing at a moderate pace, though somewhat more slowly than the committee had expected," the Fed said in a statement. "The committee expects the pace of recovery to pick up over coming quarters and the unemployment rate to resume its gradual decline."
Geithner Says Agreement by Congress
on Debt Limit Would Boost Confidence
By Cheyenne Hopkins - Bloomberg.com
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said failure to raise the debt ceiling has hurt small- business lending.
"If Congress can find a way to reach a comprehensive bipartisan agreement on long-term deficits that would help and be a sign that Washington works, is able to come together to solve some problems," Geithner said today at a hearing before the House Small Business Committee. "That would improve overall confidence across the country."
Lawmakers met again today to reach a deal on the debt limit before the Aug. 2 deadline Geithner has set for legislation. The hearing largely focused on Treasury's $30 billion Small Business Lending Program that’s yet to distribute funds. Geithner recognized the program has been slow to start and said it would begin distributing funds soon. Treasury has received 869 applications for $11.6 billion in funding.
Fed Frets Over U.S. Fiscal Recklessness
By Caroline Salas Gage - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is stepping up his call for the government to rein in the federal deficit -- just not now.
The central bank chief and his lieutenants are expressing concern that Congress’s failure to close what Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher called the nation’s “fiscal sinkhole” puts the economy at risk. At the same time, they say that acting too quickly may choke off a recovery hobbled by an unemployment rate above 9 percent.
Concern that government spending cuts will inhibit economic growth may prompt the Fed to maintain record stimulus well beyond the completion of its $600 billion bond purchase program this month, saidDean Maki of Barclays Capital. Should the economy weaken further, there's little more the Fed can do to spur growth and create jobs with interest rates near zero and the balance sheet at a record $2.83 trillion.
What's Another $2.4 Trillion?
By Rand Paul - The American Spectator.org
Our national debt currently hovers at $14,352,045,270,245.76.
Yet instead of working to decrease this exorbitant sum, many of my congressional colleagues are suggesting we raise our debt limit, inevitably encouraging the accumulation of more debt and borrowing that money on the backs of our children and grandchildren. Clearly, our government's approach to spending is completely out of control, and as citizens it is our responsibility to hold it accountable. The government does not need more money -- in fact, we need to give it less, and ensure that the borrowing does not continue.
In a recent letter to Congress, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made bold statements and declared that our country would see "catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades" if we did not vote to raise the debt ceiling. This behavior is unacceptable; if we continuously raise the debt ceiling we will suffer even worse consequences, and we may never recover. Future generations of Americans don't deserve the consequences of the poor decisions being made in Washington these days.
Math to Reach $62 Trillion in Debt Requires Leaps of Logic
Bloomberg Editorial
On June 6, USA Today led the paper with bad news. "The federal government’s financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit," the newspaper wrote.
How so? Well, if you figure in the unfunded or underfunded commitments to Social Security participants, Medicare patients, pensions and health care for government retirees, plus retirement and disability payments for the military, the government's debt increased by $5.3 trillion in 2010. The future debt was $62 trillion as of Jan. 1, 2011, the newspaper calculated. That’s more than four times the official debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion that Democrats and Republicans are quarreling about. And because the government must come to us -- the citizenry -- for money, that works out to over half a million dollars owed by every household in the country.
Federal Reserve to Maintain Record Stimulus
After Ending Asset Purchases
By Craig Torres and Jeannine Aversa - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve officials said they will maintain record monetary stimulus to support a flagging economic recovery after completing a $600 billion bond-purchase program as scheduled this month.
"The Committee will complete its purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of this month and will maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings," the Federal Open Market Committee said today in a statement after a two-day meeting in Washington. "The economic recovery is continuing at a moderate pace, though somewhat more slowly than the committee had expected."
Treasury 10-Year Yields Stay Below 3%
on Outlook for Fed's Policy, Greece
By Susanne Walker - Bloomberg.com
Treasury 10-notes fell for the first time in four days as traders speculated the Federal Open Market Committee will signal plans to maintain record stimulus because of slowing economic growth.
Benchmark 10-year notes snapped the longest losing sequence since March on concern Greece may not be able to pass budget cuts to secure a loan payment after yesterday’s parliamentary vote of confidence. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is expected to address the recovery at a press conference today as the central bank winds down its $600 billion Treasury purchase plan.
Expect Bernanke, Fed to Again Downplay Threat of Inflation
BY DAVID ZEILER, Associate Editor, Money Morning
Caught between a weak economy and the threat of inflation - two problems that argue for opposite solutions - the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has little choice but to essentially stand pat at the culmination of its meeting today (Wednesday).
Faced with that challenge, it's likely that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will maintain his established course of downplaying the growing threat of inflation and making only minor policy adjustments.
Most economists expect the Fed to maintain its historically low federal-funds rate at the 0% to 0.25% level where it has been since December 2008 and end of the $600 billion bond-buying stimulus program known as quantitative easing (QE2) as planned.
Meanwhile, the prospects for a third round - QE3 - appear very dim, at least through the rest of 2011.
Economic Trouble Puzzles Fed Chief, Too
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and PAUL WISEMAN - AP - ABC News
The economy's continuing struggles aren't just confounding ordinary Americans. They've also stumped the head of the Federal Reserve.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told reporters Wednesday that the central bank had been caught off guard by recent signs of deterioration in the economy. And he said the troubles could continue into next year.
"We don't have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting," Bernanke said. He said the weak housing market and problems in the banking system might be "more persistent than we thought."
Fed: Economy has lost momentum Federal Reserve, acknowledging slowdown,
reins in forecasts for economic growth
By Neil Irwin - WashingtonPost.com
The economic recovery is slowing and the outlook for next year has gotten worse, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Wednesday, backing away from the view that the slowdown of the past few months was merely temporary.
The central bank released new economic projections that showed weaker growth in both 2011 and 2012 than had been forecast just two months ago. Despite the slowdown, the Fed said it will end a program of buying vast sums of Treasury bonds at the end of June as scheduled and gave no sign it is contemplating new action.
Bernanke Reveals a Clue About Fed Exit Timing The central bank may suddenly and aggressively begin
to shrink the money supply, once the timing is right
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Just what exactly does the Fed mean by an "extended period," and what strategies does it apply to? After the Federal Open Market Committee's statement and new economic projections were released, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke helped to clarify the Fed's language during his second post-meeting press conference on Wednesday. While the specific exit timing remains a mystery, we now have a better idea of what the Fed is thinking about the its strategy.
First, a bit of background will help here. The Federal Reserve has taken a number of extraordinary measures since the financial crisis to attempt to stabilize the market and accelerate the recovery. To simplify things, it purchased lots of assets and has kept interest rates near zero. At some point, however, it will need to sell most of those assets and raise interest rates in order to avoid inflation. But when will it do so?
Bernanke’s role in secretly approving loans
to foreign banks plus his long demonstrated incompetence
By Mark Weisbrot - CanadaFreePress.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The recent release of documents showing that the Federal Reserve loaned tens and possibly hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign banks in 2008 and 2009 has raised more questions about Ben Bernanke’s Chairmanship of the Fed.
The lending may or may not have been the right thing to do at the time, given the financial crisis. But it was done in secret, and the only reason that we have the information now is because Bloomberg News and Fox Business News won a two-year court battle, using the Freedom of Information Act, to get the documents released.
CBO: Debt could grow to double GDP
By DAVID ROGERS - Politico.com
Applying a little shock treatment to White House deficit talks, the Congressional Budget Office released new projections Wednesday showing that the U.S. debt could be nearly twice the nation’s GDP in 25 years absent real changes in spending and tax policy.
Instead of confining itself to CBO’s often rigid long-term baseline rules, the report creates an "alternative fiscal scenario" that the authors argue is more politically realistic in that it doesn't assume that Congress will let all the Bush-era tax cuts expire or that Medicare physician payments will be allowed to drop precipitously over the coming years.
Stockman: Warns on U.S. "Bond Armageddon";
First Default Could Be to IMF
By Robert Wenzel - EconomicPolicyJournal.com
David Stockman, former Budget Director under Ronald Reagan, told CNBC's Nicole Lapinthat the first default by the United States government could be a payment to the International Monetary Fund. Lapin reports:
He said that this careless “shoveling” of money could lead to a default here in the U.S.— and suggested that the first default will be on our payments to the IMF.
Overall, Stockman doesn't think much of the IMF or what the rescue attempts of the PIIGs are doing in Europe. Lapin again:
We're doomed on both sides of the pond, he told me on the set of "Worldwide Exchange," and he didn't hold back in name-calling the "lunatics" responsible for our global fiscal mess—especially the EU and the IMF.
Obama: Time for 'nation building' at home Obama to order home 10,000 troops from Afghanistan
By Scott Wilson - WashingtonPost.com
President Obama announced in his prime-time address Wednesday that he will order home 10,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year and another 23,000 by the end of September 2012, a pace more rapid than the military had wanted.
The plan, charting the U.S. military’s exit from America’s longest war, outlines the withdrawal of the 33,000 forces that Obama ordered to Afghanistan at the end of 2009, after a months-long strategy review meant to find ways of salvaging a flagging war.
"This is the beginning – but not the end – of our effort to wind down this war," Obama said.
Afghanistan withdrawal:
Obama warned over 'snatching defeat from jaws of victory' US military fears cutting troop numbers in Afghanistan too quickly could jeopardise entire mission
By Nick Hopkins, Guardian.co.uk
Unless Barack Obama has a sudden change of heart, his address to the nation will privately disappoint many of the senior commanders in Isaf – the International Security and Assistance Force – and provide them with immediate logistical problems.
The military had been expecting an initial withdrawal of between 3,000 and 5,000 troops. That can be achieved relatively easily by reducing the number of back-up staff in Afghanistan.
The Bitter Medicine for the United States
Written by Mad Hedge Fund Trader - OilPrice.com
On a map, it appears that the United States is made up of 50 states. The fiscal reality is that we have 20. Portugal’s, 15 Italy’s, 10 Irelands, 3 Greece’s, and 2 Spain’s.
In Q1, state and local GDP shrank by 3.8%, chopping growth at the national level by 0.5%, the sharpest drop since that last year from hell, 1981. States are shoveling money out of the economy nearly as fast as Obama is shoveling it in. During the bubble, the states thought incomes were higher than they really were, were richer than they really were, and bulked up on services as if the party would go on forever.
As a result, services grew faster than the economy for many years, especially when it came to building new prisons. Because of the ephemeral nature of property and stock gains, that movie now has to run in reverse, and state services have to shrink down to what they can afford.
Trojan Horse Rescue in Greece EU elites are casting Greece into the modern day equivalent
of a debtors' jail with their 'rescue package'.
by Marshall Auerback - NewDeal20.org
In spite of all of the predictions to the contrary by the European Central Bank (ECB), the IMF and a host of "theoclassical" economists (who continue to disparage the utility of discretionary fiscal policy), the Greek economy continues to contract. Things will get worse, even if the new Greek government survives its vote of no-confidence, and takes the latest poisoned chalice from the ECB.
In truth, this latest "rescue package" is nothing more than a fiscal Trojan horse, which will do nothing but further undermine the sovereignty of Greece, much as Odysseus’s wooden horse ultimately destroyed Troy. Why? Because the austerity conditionality attached to the latest bailout undermines spending and is almost certain to increase the very deficits that Greece is seeking to reduce. These are new conditions imposed on a monetary union which, at is core, is fundamentally illiberal and anti-democratic.
"This Is Not A Program to Salvage the [Greek] Economy,
It's a Program for Pillage Before Bankruptcy"
Geroge Washington's Blog
The best quote on the Greek parliament's vote of confidence for Prime Minister George Papandreou - and thus his austerity plan:
"This is not a program to salvage the economy, it's a program for pillage before bankruptcy," said Alexis Tsipras, head of the small opposition Left Coalition.
It's not just Greece.
PIMCO's El-Erian predicts Greece, others will default
TAIPEI (Reuters) – The head of PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund, predicted that Greece and other European economies would default on their debts to resolve their problems as the euro area deals with its debt crisis.
Greece's government won a vote of confidence late on Tuesday, a crucial step toward securing further short-term and longer-term financial aid from the European Union and the IMF as the country tries to avoid the euro zone's first sovereign debt default.
"For the next three years, we're going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default," Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of PIMCO, told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday via a video conference.
Global Uprisings and the Failure
of Modern Economics and Modern Politics
Written by Post Carbon - OilPrice.com
Media reports often fail to connect recurring demonstrations in Greece and Spain with those in the Middle East and North Africa (Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain). After all, the MENA demonstrations are ostensibly about democracy, while European countries already have functioning electoral systems. Protestors in Greece and Spain are instead decrying austerity programs resulting from governmental efforts to rein in deficits and debt burdens.
At the core, though, all of these uprisings are about the simultaneous failure of modern economics and modern politics—even though systems differ somewhat from country to country. People in all of the nations mentioned have one thing in common: crushed expectations. Economists and politicians have promised jobs and growth, but instead citizens are seeing spreading unemployment, rising food and energy prices, and increasing economic inequality. Nowhere are there realistic prospects for a political remedy to worsening economic conditions. Thus, while unrest seems destined to spread and intensify in the months and years ahead, it has no clear long-term strategy or goal.
Greek savers rush for gold
By Kerin Hope in Athens - FT.com
Greek citizens are emptying savings accounts and buying gold as they brace themselves for the possibility of a sovereign default and a run on the banks.
Pledges by socialist prime minister George Papandreou that his government would "save the country" have been widely discounted by the public. However, parliament gave him a vote of confidence late on Tuesday night. The socialists have a six-seat majority in the 300-member house.
Sales of gold coins have soared as savers seek a safer and fungible source of value.
Important NEW information from Lindsey Williams:
Lindsey Williams & Alex Jones:
Earth Shattering Events to Come!!
Lindsey Williams Special Report:
America Will Default on It's 14+ Trillion Dollar Debt
Lindsey Williams Special Report:
The Liberty Rig, Gull Island to be Tapped!!
Lindsey Williams:
Obama Must Destroy Middle East,
Reduce House of Saud to Desert Vagabonds 1/2
Lindsey Williams:
Obama Must Destroy Middle East,
Reduce House of Saud to Desert Vagabonds 2/2
Lindsey Williams & Alex Jones:
The Future of War, Unmanned Helicopters and Drones
Don't Get Suckered by Wall Street's Wimpy Gold Price Forecasts
BY WILLIAM PATALON III, Executive Editor, Money Morning
I was scanning the news wires in search of a particular item late last week when a story caught my eye: It seems that Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM), the world's No.2 gold producer, believes that the burgeoning demand from Asia's newly minted middle class will send the yellow metal up to $1,600 this year and even higher in 2011.
The Newmont story reminded me of another news item that I'd read just days before - a news-service poll of analysts that said that the current Wall Street consensus was for gold prices to reach $1,700 an ounce in 2015.
What a joke.
You see, just a few months back, when gold and silver prices seemed like they were jumping every day, Wall Street and the other Big Boys were blitzing us with messages explaining why we "had to" buy gold.
U.S. Postal Service to Stop Paying Into Pension Fund
By Angela Greiling Keane and John Hughes - Bloomberg.com
The U.S. Postal Service, facing insolvency without approval to delay a $5.5 billion payment for worker health benefits, will suspend contributions to an employee retirement account to save $800 million this year.
The Postal Service will stop paying employer contributions to the defined-benefit Federal Employees Retirement System, which covers about 85 percent of career postal workers, it said today in an e-mailed statement. The $115 million payment, made every other week, will stop on June 24, the statement said.
FREE TRADE DESTROYING AMERICAN WORKERS
By Frosty Wooldridge - NewsWithViews.com
You have to wonder what 535 Congress critters do all day other than "sex-texting" pictures to their constituents. Thankfully, the latest pervert of Weiner-gate resigned to give us all a breath of fresh air.
The question remains as to how so many in power can be so completely morally bankrupt—and still show their faces in public. Cheating on your wife is no different than cheating on your country. In the case of cheating on your wife, you cheat her and your family and you disillusion your entire family from your lack of integrity, character and honesty.
Corps caught in the middle
David Montgomery Rapid City Journal
SIOUX CITY -- When residents of Pierre, Dakota Dunes and other communities along the flooding Missouri River scrambled to protect their towns, many had harsh words for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency responsible for managing the river.
"The Corps of Engineers has completely and totally let us down," Gary Grittner, a Fort Pierre resident, said. "We, the people of Fort Pierre and Pierre, are paying the price for incompetence on the part of the Corps of Engineers."
Severe flooding on the upper Missouri may be a rare event, but harsh criticism of the corps isn't. For decades, stakeholders up and down the river have waged a fierce struggle over how the corps has managed water releases from the great Missouri River reservoirs -- struggles triggered equally by periods of low water as this year's high water.
Fake Talk Radio 'Scandal' Dies on Gore Network
By Jeffrey Lord - The American Spectator.org
Politico's Ken Vogel popped up the other day on the first episode of the ongoing Keith Olbermann saga, this one debuting on Al Gore's Current TV. You know, the network so hard to find even liberals can't summon it on their basic cable package.
As the Daily Caller's Jeff Poor correctly notes:
Writing a piece highly critical of conservative talk radio hosts like Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh, then taking that message to the debut of Keith Olbermann's reincarnation on former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV doesn't give yourself away as a lefty -- but it certainly doesn't help with one's perception of objectivity.
Mr. Poor has a gift for understatement, but he has certainly nailed this. Notice this is the first show Olbermann has done on Current, yet Vogel begins by saying "great to be back with you." Since it's safe to say Olbermann didn't make it a practice to have conservatives on his old MSNBC show, there is surely only one reason Vogel is sitting there: his chicken-little-the-sky-is-falling story that pretends there is -- horror! scandal! -- in the idea that the Heritage Foundation and others (Americans for Prosperity) have been advertising on the Limbaugh, Levin and Sean Hannity shows.
Bill Clinton's Legacy of Denial
By Robert Scheer - Truthdig.com
Does Bill Clinton still not grasp that the current economic crisis is in large measure his legacy? Obviously that’s the case, or he wouldn’t have had the temerity to write a 14-point memo for Newsweek on how to fix the economy that never once refers to the home mortgage collapse and other manifestations of Wall Street greed that he enabled as president.
Endorsing the Republican agenda of financial industry deregulation, reversing New Deal safeguards, President Clinton pursued policies that in the long run created more damage to the American economy than any other president since Herbert Hoover, whose tenure is linked to the Great Depression. Now, in his Newsweek piece, Clinton has the effrontery to once again revive his 1992 campaign mantra, "It's the economy, stupid," as the article’s title without any sense of irony, let alone accountability. But that has always been the man’s special gift—to rise above, and indeed benefit from, the messes he created.
Beverly Hills hedge fund manager lost investor funds
in high-stakes poker game... Tobey Maguire Sued OverMulti-Million Dollar IllegalPoker Game;
DiCaprio, Affleck & Damon Involved
By Dylan Howard - RadarOnline.com
Maguire, 35, won more than $300,000 from a Beverly Hills hedge fund manager who embezzled investor funds and orchestrated a Ponzi scheme in a desperate bid to pay off his monster debt to the star and others, it's alleged.
An FBI investigation into Brad Ruderman, the CEO of Ruderman Capital Partners, uncovered how he lost $25 million of investor money in clandestine poker games held on a twice weekly basis in suites at the luxury Beverly Hills hotel, Four Seasons, and the Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard.
F.B.I. Seizes Web Servers, Knocking Sites Offline
By VERNE G. KOPYTOFF - NYTimes.com
The F.B.I. seized Web servers in a raid on a data center early Tuesday, causing several Web sites, including those run by the New York publisher Curbed Network, to go offline.
The raid happened at 1:15 a.m. at a hosting facility in Reston, Va., used by DigitalOne, which is based in Switzerland, the company said. The F.B.I. did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the raid.
In an e-mail to one of its clients on Tuesday afternoon, DigitalOne’s chief executive, Sergej Ostroumow, said: "This problem is caused by the F.B.I., not our company. In the night F.B.I. has taken 3 enclosures with equipment plugged into them, possibly including your server — we cannot check it."
Robert Hastings: Unidentified Aerial Object Sighted
During October 2010 Nuclear Missile Incident
PRNewsWire.com
TAOS, N.M., June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On October 23, 2010, F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming temporarily lost the ability to communicate with 50 of its Minuteman III missiles. The five Missile Alert Facilities responsible for launching those ICBMs—Alpha through Echo, comprising the 319th Strategic Missile Squadron—would have been unable to do so during the period of the disruption.
This dramatic story was leaked to Mark Ambinder, a contributing editor at The Atlantic, which published it three days later. The U.S. Air Force then quickly acknowledged the problem, saying that a back-up launch system could have performed the task and claiming that the breakdown had lasted a mere 59 minutes.
Project Flood nuclear 'alert':
Obama, Red Cross declare emergencies
By Deborah Dupre - Examiner.com
Project Flood 2011 and tornados meet two nuclear stations
Two United States nuclear power plants are on alert and President Obama has declared emergencies in Nebraska's counties where the two nuclear stations are both experiencing "unusual events." The official emergency declarations apply to both counties where the nuclear facilities are threatened with flood waters. Red Cross closed its emergency shelter at Fort Calhoun, home of one of the nuclear facilities, and is now referring and transitioning evacuees to other shelters. Red Cross is due to assess Fort Calhoun when conditions permit.
"Massive flooding along the Missouri River has put Nebraska's two nuclear plants, both near Omaha, on alert," reported Amy Goodman for The Guardian on Wednesday.
A nuclear-free future for America The US's ageing stock of nuclear reactors only grows more unsafe as it gets older. Renewables offer clean, green energy
By Amy Goodman - Guardian.co.uk
New details are emerging that indicate the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is far worse than previously known, with three of the four affected reactors experiencing full meltdowns. Meanwhile, in the US, massive flooding along the Missouri River has put Nebraska's two nuclear plants, both near Omaha, on alert.
The Cooper nuclear station declared a low-level emergency and will have to close down if the river rises another 3in. The Fort Calhounnuclear power plant has been shut down since 9 April, in part due to flooding. At Prairie Island, Minnesota, extreme heat caused the nuclear plant's two emergency diesel generators to fail. Emergency generator failure was one of the key problems that led to the meltdowns at Fukushima.
SEVERAL U.S. NUKE SITES HAVE SPRUNG LEAKS
By KA - Truthdig.com
With so much focus recently on nuclear power sources in certain other parts of the world, it’s important to note that the U.S. has some considerable issues of its own in that department.
Take these results of a yearlong investigation into domestic power plants by The Associated Press, which found that three-quarters of American nuke sites have sprung tritium leaks. In other words, this is a problem that’s happening in our own backyard. —KA AP via My Way News:
Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites, according to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the AP’s yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants. Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard - sometimes at hundreds of times the limit.
Nebraska Nuclear Threat: As Predictable as Fukushima
GeorgeWashington's Blog
Nuclear accidents - like oil spills and financial meltdowns - happen because big companies push to make more money by cutting every safety measure in the books.
The accident at Fukushima was predictable.
Likewise, the potential problem at the Fort Calhoun reactor in Nebraska was predictable. (For background, see this and this.)
As Ketv reported in March:
Fort Calhoun's nuclear power plant is one of three reactors across the country that federal regulators said they are most concerned about.
Updates from Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts:
Will Washington Foment War Between China and India? 1/2
Paul Craig Roberts:
Will Washington Foment War Between China and India? 2/2
Agenda 21 Indoctrination Going Global at Warp Speed
By Jorge Mascarillo - ActivistPost.com
It is time to sound the alarm yet again on Agenda 21. Much of the focus of critical LA21 discussion has centered on its progress in the United States, but it too has been making rapid inroads into México, as to the rest of the planet.
Background - Regionalization
As we all know (or should be aware of), México is purported ground zero for the testing and total implementation of iris-scanning biometric identification technology according to Hoyos Group (formerly Global Rainmakers), which is set to eventually encompass the globe (their estimate is ten years).[1] Youth here will soon be obligated to receive national biometric ID cards with a view of moving on to the general population. This is all for our safety. Please try to ignore the fact the US agency, ATF, has been arming drug cartels with heavy weaponry.[2] Please also make an attempt to pretend you never heard drug cartels have been moving massive amounts of cocaine and heroin into the U.S. with the oversight of the DOJ, FBI, DEA and ICE.[3]
Obama warns of new US tactical spats with Israel
AFP - Breitbaart.com
President Barack Obama warned that new "tactical" disagreements loomed between Israel and Washington, but vowed to leverage his administration's "creative powers" in the cause of peace.
Obama, who has had a testy relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke at length on the stalled peace process at a fundraiser for his 2012 reelection campaign grouping Democratic friends of Israel.
He said that as a difficult, challenging time loomed in the Middle East over the next few years, one inviolable principle was that the bond between the United States and Israel "isn't breakable."
US President Obama ignored top legal advice
and continued Libya operations
By SARA GHASEMILEE - AL ARABIYA WITH AGENCIES
President Barack Obama overruled two senior government lawyers in deciding that he had the authority to continue US military operations in Libya without Congressional approval.
In reaching his conclusion Mr. Obama rejected the opinions of Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, The New York Times reported.
Citing officials familiar with the administration’s deliberations, the newspaper said the Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers argued that the US bombing runs over Libya, under NATO command, were "hostilities."
House Republicans to vote on de-funding Libya conflict
By JONATHAN ALLEN - Politico.com
House Republicans are planning to vote on a bill that would prohibit funding of the American mission in Libya, a shift from previous plans to consider a weaker rebuke of President Barack Obama’s military intervention in the north African country.
The new measure, likely to be considered Friday, would "restrict funds for the remainder of the fiscal year, but in a responsible way," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
The change is a response to a desire among House Republicans to vote on a stronger version of a resolution Boehner had prepared Tuesday night that many experts believe would be found unconstitutional in the unlikely event that both chambers approved of it. The House will also take up, as previously planned, another resolution authorizing the use of American force in Libya. That measure is designed to fail and show Obama that he does not have the support of the House for U.S. operations in Libya.
A Rebel From Libya Is Greeted in Beijing
By KEITH BRADSHER - NYTimes.com
BEIJING — The leader of Libya’s rebel opposition arrived here for talks on Tuesday as a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman for the first time described the opposition as "an important political power in Libya."
The leader, Mahmoud Jibril, was scheduled to meet with the Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, during his two-day visit, the spokesman announced at a news conference. The Foreign Ministry tends to be very conscious of protocol, and the meeting with Mr. Jibril comes after Mr. Yang met with Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s foreign minister in Beijing this month.
Greek PM survives confidence vote in parliament
By DEREK GATOPOULOS and ELENA BECATOROS - APNews
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou survived a confidence vote in parliament early Wednesday, winning a gamble on his government's survival and the danger of a devastating debt default that could spark a financial maelstrom around the world.
Papandreou had called the vote, which passed early Wednesday morning, to face down an internal party revolt and help him pass deeply disliked austerity measures that have provoked strikes, protests and a slump in his popularity.
The Financial Collapse Of Greece: The Canary In The Coal Mine For The Global Economy?
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The rest of the world needs to sit up and take notice of what is going on in Greece right now. This is what can happen when you allow government debt to spiral out of control. Once it becomes clear that you can't pay your debts, a financial collapse can happen very suddenly and you start losing your sovereignty to those that you must turn to for financial help. So is the financial collapse of Greece the "canary in the coal mine" for the global economy? EU finance ministers have given the Greek government two weeks from Monday to approve another round of brutal austerity measures. If the austerity measures are not approved, Greece will not receive the next bailout installment of 12 billion euros. If that happens, the whole globe better buckle up because it is going to get crazy.
July 3rd is the deadline. Basically the EU has put a gun to the head of the Greek government. Without this bailout money, Greece will default and economic hell will break loose all across the country.
That Stalling Feeling
Nouriel Roubini - ProjectSyndicate.com
NEW YORK – Despite the series of low-probability, high-impact events that have hit the global economy in 2011, financial markets continued to rise happily until a month or so ago. The year began with rising food, oil, and commodity prices, giving rise to the specter of high inflation. Then massive turmoil erupted in the Middle East, further ratcheting up oil prices. Then came Japan’s terrible earthquake, which severely damaged both its economy and global supply chains. And then Greece, Ireland, and Portugal lost access to credit markets, requiring bailout packages from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.
But that was not the end of it. Although Greece was bailed out a year ago, Plan A has now clearly failed. Greece will require another official bailout – or a bail-in of private creditors, an option that is fueling heated disagreement among European policymakers.
Citi says Greek debt may be contagious
By Ekaterina Golubkova and Kiryl Sukhotski | Reuters
ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - Greece's debt crisis may be contagious and poses one of the biggest risks to global financial markets alongside Middle East uprisings, Citigroup's Chief Risk Officer told Reuters.
Greece, on the verge of a debt default following Portuguese and Irish bailouts, is being pressured by European finance ministers to introduce harsh austerity measures before they agree to 12 billion euros ($17 billion) in emergency loans.
Euro Weakens After Papandreou Wins Greek Vote;
Asia Stocks Rise, Oil Drops
By Shiyin Chen and Nikolaj Gammeltoft - Bloomberg.com
The euro slid from a one-week high against the dollar on concern Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will fail to pass austerity measures even after winning a confidence vote in parliament. Asian stocks rose for a second day, while oil declined.
Europe’s shared currency weakened 0.3 percent to $1.4372 as of 9:38 a.m. in Tokyo after appreciating to $1.4434, the strongest level since June 15. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.6 percent, extending yesterday's 1.4 percent rally. S&P 500 futures expiring in September added less than 0.1 percent, following a 1.3 percent jump in the U.S. stocks gauge yesterday. Oil decreased 0.4 percent in New York.
Keiser Report: Financial No-Go Zone (E157)
Spain Gets Latest IMF Caution Flag
By Douglas A. McIntyre - 24/7 Wall Street
Economists and investors have enough to worry about in Europe. Greece is in a state of collapse. There are concerns that Portugal and Ireland could follow.
Add Spain to the list of nations that the IMF says deserve some concern. Its new "Spain—2011 Article IV Consultation Concluding Statement of the Mission" issued in Madrid says that the country is on the right track but that any departure from reform programs could push the nation’s financial fortunes off track.
The EMU as a Self-Destroying System
Mises Daily: by Philipp Bagus
[Excerpted from Tragedy of the Euro (2010)]
When property rights in money are poorly defined, negative external effects develop. The institutional setup of the euro, with its poorly defined property rights, has brought it close to collapse and can be called a tragedy of the commons.[1]
Fiat Money and External Costs
External costs and benefits are the result of ill-defined or ill-defended property rights.[2] The proprietor does not assume the full advantages or disadvantages of employing a property. As the actor is not fully responsible for the effects of his actions, he will not take into account all the consequences of his actions.
IMF Warns of 'Considerable' Risks in Spain
as Debt Crisis Threatens Growth
By Emma Ross-Thomas - Bloomberg.com
The International Monetary Fund said Spain must step up efforts to reform its economy as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis threatens to damp growth.
"The repair of the economy is incomplete and risks are considerable," the Washington-based IMF said in its annual appraisal of Spain yesterday. There must be "no let up in the reform momentum" to bolster the recovery and reduce a 21 percent unemployment rate that is "unacceptably high," the fund said.
Spain’s Socialist government is carrying out the deepest budget cuts in at least three decades while raising the retirement age and reducing firing costs. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero overhauled wage-bargaining rules on June 10 in the latest step aimed at reining in borrowing costs that surged to the highest in a decade last week on mounting expectations of a Greek default.
SYRIA: Pro-regime crowds clash with protesters
as scale of refugee crisis emerges
By Roula Hajjar - LATimes.com
A day after Syrian President Bashar Assad promised reforms, gunfire continued to sound in several of the country's cities as pro-and anti-regime forces took to the streets in demonstrations, sometimes clashing.
Meanwhile, international relief organizations on a government-organized trip through northwest Syria found entire cities and towns emptied by the regime's crackdown on the rebellious area around the town of Jisr Shughur, according to a briefing by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees [PDF].
Thousands of Syrians, many of them government employees, joined pro-Assad demonstrations in the capital, Damascus, and other cities, vowing that the leader Assad would remain in power forever. Many said that their blood was cheap if shed as a sacrifice for their president.
The Middle East’s Slow-Motion Revolution
Prince El Hassan bin Talal - ProjectSyndicate.com
AMMAN – There seem to be a thousand and one interpretations of the changes sweeping across the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. One response that is often heard is a note of cautious optimism, captured in US President Barack Obama recent speech at the State Department when he referred to the "promise of the future."
But sometimes we also hear the populist smears that have been applied to the Middle East for so long that nothing, it seems – no amount of extraordinary change – can silence them. After the successful revolts in Cairo and Tunis, the slanders abated. Soon, however, the old messages depicting the Middle East as extreme, fundamentalist, and hostile to democracy began to re-insinuate themselves in the West.
Bernanke May Try to Spur U.S. Economic Growth
by Extending Record Stimulus
By Joshua Zumbrun and Steve Matthews - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will probably delay the central bank’s exit from record stimulus, economists said in a survey, giving the flagging economy a boost without resorting to additional asset purchases.
Seventy-nine percent of 58 economists expect Bernanke to sustain the Fed balance sheet at current levels until October or later, compared with 52 percent who held that view before the Fed’s last policy meeting in April, according to a Bloomberg News survey conducted last week. Ninety percent of those surveyed predict the Fed will wait until the fourth quarter before dropping its pledge to hold interest rates low for an "extended period."
Jim Rogers Interview CNN Money 20 June 2011
Is a Secular Change in the Credit Market Afoot?
BY STEVE SAVILLE
Bank Reserves and Money Supply
The relationship between bank reserves and money supply is widely misunderstood. Some analysts believe that the Fed dictates the US money supply by controlling the reserves of the US banking system, but, as we'll explain, this is only partly correct. Other analysts believe that if commercial banks are collectively unable or unwilling to lend then the Fed won't be able to increase the economy-wide money supply, regardless of how much it increases bank reserves. As we'll explain, this view is completely wrong.
If the Dollar Goes, What Happens to Your Portfolio?
BY JEFF CLARK - FinancialSense.com
Have you considered what will happen to your portfolio―and all the other areas of your life―if the dollar fails? The ramifications will be widespread, painful, and inescapable if you're not properly diversified.
Last month, I attended the Global Currency Expo sponsored by EverBank. The overarching theme, as you might expect, was that diversification out of one's home currency is paramount. While there were plenty of traders on hand, it was the big-picture talks that had the most pressing messages.
Euro: Safer than the U.S. Dollar?
BY AXEL G MERK - FinancialSense.com
Which one is safer: the euro or the U.S. dollar? Before jumping to a conclusion one way or the other, let’s look at different sides of the respective coins. We have been warning for years that there may be no such thing anymore as a safe asset and investors may want to take a diversified approach to something as mundane as cash. We believe Greece has rather serious issues, but concerned investors may want to take a closer look at their dollar holdings for potential "contagion" risks. Let us explain...
Is Gold About to Have Its Status Upgraded?
USFunds.com
Central banks have been on a gold buying spree. In “The Rising Financial Gold Market,” I highlighted how countries, such as Mexico, Russia and Thailand, were adding to their gold reserves. And in 2010, central banks became a net buyer of gold for the first time in 21 years, according to the World Gold Council.
Central bank gold buying could soon be matched with other global banks if gold’s quality as an asset gets upgraded to Tier 1 status by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
The BCBS is an international banking supervisory committee that provides a forum for determining global standards to ensure that banks all around the world have adequate capital. The group is comprised of members from all over the world, including Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.
'Collectors' spur Beijing to step up production of gold Panda coins
By Jack Farchy in London - $$
[free article access - Google the title]
China’s central bank will produce more than double the quantity of gold Panda coins this year than it had planned, in response to a surge in buying from Chinese investors.
The increase in production is "to meet the needs of collectors", the central bank said in a statement posted on its website. Rising inflation in China and other Asian countries has inspired a surge in gold investment this year, according to bullion dealers, as investors turn to hard assets such as precious metals as a means of wealth preservation.
Bullion Blows-up Banksters
by Jeff Nielson - BullionBullsCanada.com
When precious metals commentators (including myself) talk about the pathological fear/hatred which bankers exhibit toward gold and silver, we typically focus on their aversion to higher bullion prices – as being the"canary in the coal mine" which warns us that banker money-printing has spun out of control.
There is, however, an even more fundamental antagonism which the paper-pushing "elites" feel toward precious metals: the simple act of holding bullion is effectively an involuntary "de-leveraging" of the endless $trillions in bankster Ponzi-schemes which have totally contaminated nearly all Western economies.
Gold on the Brink…of What?
BY JULIAN PHILLIPS - FinancialSense.com
Are politics more important than finance? If an electorate or a body of elected officials decides that they are not able to repay excessive debt, are they entitled to refuse to do so? Or are they entitled to dictate at what pace and volume they repay debt?
It appears to be accepted that shareholders and owners carry the risks of their investments and suffer losses if their investment fail, but should bankers have to suffer losses if they lent recklessly? If they over-lent, should they suffer losses too? They should and it is the law worldwide.
The Truth About the U.S. Economy - and Inflation
William Patalon III - SilverBearCafe.com
Here at Money Morning, we deal in facts and analysis, not empty promises and hype. We bring you the news that explains what's happening and why, and that tells you what our experts believe will occur - and then we show you how to profit from the opportunities and protect yourselves from the dangers. And - thanks to our worldwide group of experts, many of whom are Wall Street veterans themselves - we can bring you insights no one else can.
So what do we see for inflation, one of the most-complicated, most-debated and most-controversial topics before us today?
It's going to get worse - much worse.
The most-recent figures initially appeared to be benign - because oil prices fell - but if you look below the surface it's clear that inflation has really taken hold: For instance, producer prices were up 7.2% on the previous year. Another new report that came out late last week said that a key measure of consumer-price inflation posted its biggest increase in nearly three years in May.
Corruption In America
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
In the United States today, it is not just the economy that is crumbling. The entire fabric of society is coming apart as well. Literally almost wherever you look you can find rampant corruption in America. Our federal government is corrupt, our state and local governments are corrupt, our corporations are corrupt and unfortunately average Americans seem to become more corrupt all the time. As corruption becomes widespread in America, trust is breaking down. It is very difficult to know who to trust these days. But a society cannot function without trust. So what are we going to do when all the trust is gone?
The SEC announced today that JPMorgan has come to an agreement to pay out 153 million dollars to settle charges related to the sale of a controversial collateralized debt obligation back in 2007. It turns out that a hedge fund that helped pick the underlying assets for the CDO also bet very heavily that it would fail. JPMorgan marketed the CDO as a good investment when they knew that it was garbage.
Labor's Nazi Rhetoric
Unions ramp up the extremism as they protest reforms in New Jersey.
By JAMES FREEMAN - WSJ.com
It may be unfair to judge government-employee unions by their most extreme members. But at a Thursday rally at the New Jersey Statehouse, the unhinged rhetoric was coming from the podium. Chris Shelton, vice president of the Communications Workers of America, launched a verbal assault against Governor Chris Christie, State Senate President Steve Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver.
The three political leaders have struck a bipartisan agreement to enact reforms of the state's bloated pension and health-benefit systems. But the Associated Press reports that in addressing 3,500 union members protesting these changes, Mr. Shelton referred "to the governor as 'Adolf Christie' and to Democratic leaders of the legislature as Nazi generals."
The Balance Sheet of Households,
Credit Market Debt and Historical Inflation-Adjusted Charts
BY RONALD GRIESS - FinancialSense.com
The first nine charts are assembled from data published in the Federal Reserve Board's Z.1 release of Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States. The data for the first quarter of 2011 was released on June 9, 2011, so the charts reflect data through March, 2011.
The following six charts look at items form the Balance Sheet of Households and Nonprofit Organizations.
Chart 1
"Revised" Net Worth peaked in the second quarter of 2007 at $65.796 trillion. It bottomed at $49.397 trillion in the first quarter of 2009, down $16.399 trillion or 24.92%. In the last eight quarters, it has risen $8.661 trillion to $58.058 trillion. Said another way, Net Worth is still down 11.76% from its peak, but is up 17.53% from its bottom.
The Joy of Contracting: Many Employers, No Safety Net
By Regina Lewis - DailyFinance.com
In today's stuttering economic recovery, the job market remains at center stage -- from President Obama's urgent meeting with hisJobs Councilto spur private sector hiring to a slew ofcover storieson career reinvention. But while the traditional hiringremains tepid, there is a sector whose strength isn't necessarily fully counted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that does seem to be experiencing real growth:Independent consulting. At this point, going it alone may not just be a good move, it could be your only move.
Once you make the switch, you may find yourself smiling: There are indications this growing segment of the workforce may also be the happiest. According to theGallup Healthways Well Beingstudy showed the highest happiness rates among self-employed people and business owners. The self-employment trend is booming with boomers. ACharles Schwabsurvey finds as many as 9.5 million Americans are considering coming out of retirement and going back to work in some capacity, and AARP reports 79% of baby boomers say they don't plan to stop working at age 65.
One-Third of U.S. Workers Ready to Quit
By Sarah E. Needleman - WSJ.com
Employers could soon see a major slowdown in productivity, new research suggests.
Thirty-two percent of U.S. workers say they are seriously considering leaving their employers, according to a survey released Monday by Mercer LLC, a global consulting company. Mostly young workers — 40% of employees ages 25 to 34 and 44% of those 24 and younger — have one foot out the door.
The survey was conducted at the end of 2010 on Mercer's behalf by research firm Toluna, which polled more than 2,400 U.S. workers nationwide. While respondents hail from employers of various sizes – the smallest with between 100 and 199 workers and the largest with 5,000 or more — the findings could prove particularly troublesome for small-business owners. Their workforces are normally limited in size, and the weak economy has forced many in recent years to downsize to even lower levels.
How Do Fannie and Freddie Fit Into the Debt-Ceiling Picture? August isn't just the deadline for the Treasury's "extraordinary measures": it's also the month when these firms will likely request another multi-billion dollar cash infusion
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
A lot is written these days about the debt ceiling fight. Lots of articles also continue to bemoan the bailout of mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Yet these two pet topics of economic and business commentators tend not to intersect. But they could in a few months. Every quarter, Fannie and Freddie go to the Treasury with their latest need for a cash infusion. Their next scheduled request will be in August -- the same month when the Treasury's "extraordinary measures" are set to dry up. Will Fannie and Freddie make the situation even more difficult for the Treasury if the debt ceiling isn't raised by that time?
Some Background
First, it may be helpful to set the stage here. Generally, Congress routinely pushes the debt limit higherwhen U.S. borrowing grows and nears the cap it sets. But this time around, Republicans in Congress are concerned about the path of U.S. debt and are demanding spending cuts be made in conjunction with raising the limit.
US existing home sales down 15% amid weak recovery
BBC.co.uk
Sales of previously occupied US homes fell 15% in May from the previous year, an indication the economic recovery remains halting, analysts said.
Also, the median price for existing homes fell 4.6% in May from May 2010.
The National Association of Realtors put the decline down to rising petrol prices and bad weather in April that kept home shoppers away from sales.
Existing-Home Sales in U.S. Fell in May to Six-Month Low
May Be at Bottom
By Timothy R. Homan - Bloomberg.com
Sales of existing U.S. homes decreased in May to the lowest level in six months, a sign that the housing market is lagging other parts of the economy.
Purchases of existing homes fell 3.8 percent to a 4.81 million annual pace last month, in line with the 4.8 million median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, data from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington. Preliminary figures showing a jump in contract signings suggest May will prove to be the weakest sales month of the year, according to the group’s chief economist.
An unemployment rate hovering around 9 percent and tight credit standards mean it may take years to absorb the 1.8 million distressed properties on the market that are weighing down home values. Persistent weakness in the housing market is one reason why Federal Reserve policy makers are likely to maintain record stimulus when they meet this week.
Bill Gross: "College Is Worthless"
Tyler Durden - SilverBearCafe.com
A few weeks ago we pointed out what may be the most troubling (and Marxist) observation in America's labor arena, namely that the labor's share of national income has dropped to the lowest in history as a record number of Americans now focus on wealth creation through assets (i.e. owners of capital) instead of labor. In his just released latest letter (below) Bill Gross piggybacks on this observation in what is one of the most scathing notes blasting the traditional of higher education, and in essence claiming that college, as means of perpetuating a broken employment status quo whcih redirect labor to a now-expiring Wall Street labor model, is now worthless: "The past several decades have witnessed an erosion of our manufacturing base in exchange for a reliance on wealth creation via financial assets. Now, as that road approaches a dead-end cul-de-sac via interest rates that can go no lower, we are left untrained, underinvested and overindebted relative to our global competitors.
Gannett to lay off 700 newspaper workers
Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
Gannett Co. Inc., one of the nation’s largest media companies, told employees Tuesday it plans to cut 700 positions from its newspaper division, about 2 percent of the division's workforce.
Gannett owns the St. Cloud Times and has a printing plant, Gannett Offset, in Maple Grove. It was unknown Tuesday if there would be any cuts in Minnesota.
Jim Romenesko, who covers the news business for the Poynter Institute,reproduced an internal Gannett memo in which the planned layoffs were announced to employees of the company’s U.S. Community Publishing division.
"As we reach the mid-point of the year, the economic recovery is not happening as quickly or favorably as we had hoped and continues to impact our U.S. community media organizations," the memo from division chief Bob Dickey says.
Medicaid for the middle class?
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor, a twist government number crunchers say they discovered only after the complex bill was signed.
The change would affect early retirees: A married couple could have an annual income of about $64,000 and still get Medicaid, said officials who make long-range cost estimates for the Health and Human Services department.
Jim Rogers On The Ratigan Show,
Tells Viewers To Get Ready To Protect Themselves
ICANN to let thousands of domain names bloom The group that governs Internet domain names is opening up the system far beyond the 22 existing suffixes so that companies and organizations can apply to create their own versions of .com, .org or .gov. -- By David Sarno, Los Angeles Times
Move over, dot-com — get ready for dot-anything.
The group that governs Internet domain names is opening up the system so that companies and organizations can apply to create their own versions of .com, .org or .gov. Under the new rules, instead of a coke.com, Coca-Cola might control the domain .coke and assign Web addresses such as drink.coke or bottle.coke.
The Marina del Rey group known as ICANN called it "one of the biggest changes ever" to the way the Internet's naming system works. With the domain expansion, the group of 22 existing suffixes — many of which were established in the early 1980s — could quickly balloon to hundreds or thousands. ICANN said more recognizable addresses would allow Web users to find what they're looking for more quickly.
Will Small Businesses Buy New Domains?
By Sarah E. Needleman - WSJ.com
On Monday, the organization that regulates the world’s Internet domain names approved changes that could allow anyone to register any name they like in almost any language as a Web address.
An article in today’s WSJ explains that users will be able to end their addresses with the name of their company, such as dot-Ford, or their city, like dot-Berlin. The idea behind the change was to create more choice on the Internet and potentially spur innovation, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or Icann, the nonprofit Internet coordinating body that approved the measure.
Big Opportunities Ahead for Smart Energy Investors
on Internet Reform
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
Many of our readers are affluent investors seeking to better their fiscal situation.
So, below is one of the best news tips you’ll receive in 2011 for making money.
That's the good news – the downside is that the opportunity won’t come cheap.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has announced that it will accept applications for domains with new suffixes from 12 January 20212.
What does this mean?
Simple – next January, the restrictions on previous Internet high-level domain names are about to expand. That includes ones in Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and other non-Latin scripts.
Web Addresses Enter New.Era
By SAM HOLMES And CHRISTOPHER RHOADS - WSJ.com
The dot-com era is over. Welcome to the dot-anything age.
On Monday, the organization that regulates the world's Internet domain names—yes, there is central coordination—approved changes that could allow anyone to register any name they like in almost any language as a Web address.
The new rules affect what the industry calls top-level domain names, the familiar dot-coms and dot-nets that end every Web address. Now, instead of having to use one of those existing forms, users will be able to end their addresses with the name of their company, such as dot-Ford, or their city, like dot-Berlin.
Art in Aisle 5: Barcodes Enter Expressionist Period
By SARAH NASSAUER - WSJ.com
Package design has become so artful, it has come to this: Even the barcode, the style runt of product labeling, is getting gussied up.
Beer, granola, juice and olives are sporting barcodes that integrate famous buildings, blades of wheat and bubbles into the ubiquitous black and white rectangle of lines and numbers. Consumer-goods companies hope these vanity barcodes will better connect with customers.
The trend is popular with smaller companies, and even one of the world's largest food companies, Nestle SA, is trying out vanity barcodes on its smaller brands.
Dizzying New Heights of Global Criminal Enterprise
James West - SilverBearCafe.com
That the United States government, the U.S Federal Reserve, and a plethora of financial institutions, are in breach of numerous U.S. laws in regards to fraud and fiduciary duty to the American people, is held to be self-evident, by a growing minority of individuals around the world. That this breach of law and duty has resulted in the deterioration of the global marketplace, diminished opportunities for workers, and effected an acute decay in living standards for millions around the world, is without doubt.
Since the founding of the houses of Rothschild and Morgan in the 18th and 19th centuries respectively, banks and bankers have progressively adopted the role of financiers to governments, who find themselves placed in a position of obligation to their financiers. Laws and regulations are thus influenced more by the interests of bankers than by the public interest. This is the essential conflict that undermines the possibility of real democracy in our world. Its not a case of who can get the most votes - it's a case of who's got the most money.
Tritium leaks found at many nuke sites
By JEFF DONN - AP
BRACEVILLE, Ill. (AP) - Radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping, an Associated Press investigation shows.
The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, even as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation.
Tritium, which is a radioactive form of hydrogen, has leaked from at least 48 of 65 sites, according to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission records reviewed as part of the AP's yearlong examination of safety issues at aging nuclear power plants. Leaks from at least 37 of those facilities contained concentrations exceeding the federal drinking water standard - sometimes at hundreds of times the limit.
"The American Empire Must Be Stopped"
Scott Horton speaks at Nullify Now Los Angeles
Thomas Woods speaks on Nullification
at Nullify Now Los Angeles
Freedom in the 50 States An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom
Jason Sorens, William Ruge - George Mason University Executive Summary
This study comprehensively ranks the American states on their public policies that affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. It updates, expands, and improves upon our inaugural 2009 Freedom in the 50 States study. For this new edition, we have added more policy variables (such as bans on trans fats and the audio recording of police, Massachusetts’s individual health-insurance mandate, and mandated family leave), improved existing measures (such as those for fiscal policies, workers’ compensation regulations, and asset-forfeiture rules), and developed specific policy prescriptions for each of the 50 states based on our data and a survey of state policy experts. With a consistent time series, we are also able to discover for the first time which states have improved and worsened in regard to freedom recently.
Freedom in the 50 States 2011
Ranking Freedom in the 50 States
(people are moving to the freer states)
unveiling of Afghan drawdown Barack Obama to announce Afghanistan troop decision
US President Barack Obama will use a prime-time TV address to unveil plans for an initial withdrawal of thousands of US troops from Afghanistan.
Speaking on Wednesday evening, he is expected to say that 30,000 "surge" troops will begin leaving in July - with most gone by 2013, US media say.
The US currently has about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan.
Divisions remain within the Obama administration over the size and speed of the pull-out.
Barack Obama to announce withdrawal of 33,000 troops Barack Obama is to announce sufficient progress has been made against the Taliban in Afghanistan to bring home all of the 33,000 US troops dispatched over the past 18 months by the end of next year. -- By Alex Spillius, Washington - Telegraph.co.uk
In keeping with agreements reached with David Cameron, he is also likely to set out a path to ending the US combat role by the end of 2014 and withdrawing the majority of the current 100,000 US deployment.
In a national address from the White House Mr Obama will warn that it is in the long term interests of the United States to maintain a sizeable troop presence on the ground to provide training and supervision to the Afghan army.
Fort Calhoun nuclear plant new Fukushima?
US Nuclear submarine 'within metres of disaster' off British coast An American nuclear submarine came within metres of crashing into rocks off Plymouth with 'catastrophic' consequences, according to a long-awaited report.
Telegraph.co.uk
The nuclear powered submarine came close to a disaster during the incident in which two of their sailors were killed.
A Royal Navy investigation report says the USS Minneapolis-St Paul became dangerously close to grounding on rocks in the River Tamar near Plymouth, Devon, and blamed human failings.
The submarine "came within less than her own length" of hitting rocks as rescuers desperately tried to save five crew members who were swept overboard in freezing waters.
The CIA's Fake "Arab Spring" Becoming A Long, Hot Summer Of War Obama Regime Courts World Conflagration: Imperial Overstretch Threatens as US, NATO Wage Five Wars: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, and Yemen – Are Syria, Iran, Lebanon Next?
Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
Washington DC, June 20- With the previously covert US bombing of Yemen out in the open, the Obama administration is now waging illegal wars against at least five countries – Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya, and Yemen. Given Obama’s absurd and Orwellian theory that acts of war from the air in the sea do not constitute hostilities under the terms of the War Powers Act, this list may be incomplete, and stealth US attacks may be going on elsewhere as well. As spring turns into summer along the banks of the Potomac, there are signs that Obama’s next move may be a trifecta of aggression – an attack on Syria which would also embroil the US in war with Iran and with the Hezbollah forces of Lebanon. Or, the Obama rampage may strike Pakistan. The “Arab Spring” of color revolutions, military coups, and destabilizations is moving inexorably towards a possible world conflagration whose outlines are already visible.
Free Speech under Siege
Robert Skidelsky - ProjectSyndicate.com
LONDON – Recently, at a literary festival in Britain, I found myself on a panel discussing free speech. For liberals, free speech is a key index of freedom. Democracies stand for free speech; dictatorships suppress it.
When we in the West look outward, this remains our view. We condemn governments that silence, imprison, and even kill writers and journalists. Reporters Sans Frontièreskeeps a list: 24 journalists have been killed, and 148 imprisoned, just this year. Part of the promise we see in the "Arab Spring" is the liberation of the media from the dictator’s grasp.
To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing. - Denis Healey, 30-year member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group
The 'Foundations' of the Bilderberg Group
The Bilderberg Group, formed in 1954, was founded in the Netherlands as a secretive meeting held once a year, drawing roughly 130 of the political-financial-military-academic-media elites from North America and Western Europe as "an informal network of influential people who could consult each other privately and confidentially." Regular participants include the CEOs or Chairman of some of the largest corporations in the world, oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum, and Total SA, as well as various European monarchs, international bankers such as David Rockefeller, major politicians, presidents, prime ministers, and central bankers of the world. The Bilderberg Group acts as a "secretive global think-tank," with an original intent to "to link governments and economies in Europe and North America amid the Cold War."
WEBSTER TARPLEY - JUNE 18 2011 - SYRIA IS THE NEXT LIBYA (1/6)
WEBSTER TARPLEY - JUNE 18 2011 - SYRIA IS THE NEXT LIBYA (2/6)
WEBSTER TARPLEY - JUNE 18 2011 - SYRIA IS THE NEXT LIBYA (3/6)
WEBSTER TARPLEY - JUNE 18 2011 - SYRIA IS THE NEXT LIBYA (4/6)
WEBSTER TARPLEY - JUNE 18 2011 - SYRIA IS THE NEXT LIBYA (5/6)
WEBSTER TARPLEY - JUNE 18 2011 - SYRIA IS THE NEXT LIBYA (6/6)
Greenspan Says Greece Default 'Almost Certain,'
May Trigger U.S. Recession
By Vivien Lou Chen Bloomberg.com
Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman, said a default by Greece is "almost certain" and could help drive the U.S. economy into recession.
"The problem you have is that it's extremely unlikely the political system will work" in a way that solves Greece’s crisis, Greenspan, 85, said in an interview today with Charlie Rose in New York. “The chances of Greece not defaulting are very small."
Greek government bonds slumped, pushing the yield on the two-year note above 30 percent for the first time, as Prime Minister George Papandreou’s failure to win support for more austerity fueled speculation the European country will fail to meet its obligations. More than 20,000 people protested in Athens this week against wage reductions and tax increases, with police using tear gas on crowds and strikes paralyzing ports, banks, hospitals and state-run companies.
EU to Greece: New austerity package or no cash
By LEIGH PHILLIPS
EUOBSERVER / LUXEMBOURG - EU finance minsters warned Greece on Tuesday that it must achieve "national unity" on its new austerity package and push through the measures or the latest tranche of bail-out cash would not be handed over.
The economy chiefs said that the sum, €12 billion, will be disbursed mid-July pending the latest EU-IMF-ECB assessment of the country's compliance with already agreed austerity and structural adjustment and "the passing of key laws on the fiscal strategy and privatisation by the Greek parliament."
Eurozone Brinksmanship: Ministers Walk Back Greek Rollover Commitment, Demand Austerity Measures First
Author: Yves Smith - EconoMonitor.com
One of the interesting features of the seemingly unending Eurozone crisis is that the half life of rescue measures is decreasing.
The elephant in the room, which we will put aside to focus on the current state of play, is that everyone knows the Greek debts must be restructured. To have Greece pay out punitive rates on past debt will simply grind the economy into a deeper hole, worsening its debt to GDP ratio and eroding its physical and human infrastructure. All the delay of the inevitable does is allow for more extend and pretend while Western financial firms strip the economy for fun and profit. And this is terribly inefficient looting; their profits from this pilferage will be small relative to the pain inflicted on the Greek populace.
Is Internal Devaluation Enough for Europe?
Probably Not, Very Unlikely…No
Author: Rebecca Wilder - EconoMonitor.com
The IMF produced an interesting paper, "Euro Area Export Performance and Competitiveness", that could have policy implications for the effectiveness of internal devaluation on intra-Euro area export demand. As I interpret Table 1, page 13, intra-Euro area exports are less sensitive to foreign demand (like German demand for Spanish exports, for example) and more sensitive to measures of 'competitiveness' than are extra-Euro area exports.
One could argue the following: these results demonstrate that internal devaluation has a better chance of working for trade within the Euro area than it would for other countries that aren't part of a single-currency union. The policy implication is that gained relative competitiveness via fiscal austerity in Spain, Greece, and Ireland has a fighting chance to produce a positive growth outcome. (If you want to skip to the end of this article, I present another interpretation of the results.)
IMF tells EU: Stop 'unproductive debate' and integrate 'now' Lipsky: 'The euro area needs to strengthen economic governance'
By LEIGH PHILLIPS
EUOBSERVER / LUXEMBOURG - The International Monetary Fund has bluntly warned the European Union it must put an end to its "unproductive debate" over debt restructuring and, in an unprecedented outside intervention in the construction of the European Union, told the bloc it must integrate faster and more deeply in order to stop a global disaster.
Using much of the same censorious language about the EU that the EU has used about Greece, the international lender told the bloc to act "now" and that its handling of the situation "needs attention".
Greek Tragedy: A Prelude to a New Euro Zone
Author: Dan Steinbock - EconoMonitor.com
As EU leaders seek new ways to take more debt to resolve the Eurozone’s debt burden, the fragile political consensus in Greece is unraveling. In May 2010, Brussels bought time. After a year of economic failures, it is time to resolve the crisis – and that cannot be done without debt restructurings.
"I am confident that next Sunday, the Eurogroup will be able to decide on the disbursement of the fifth tranche of loans for Greece in early July. And I trust that we will be able to conclude the pending review in agreement with the IMF," said EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn. He added that he hoped Eurozone finance ministers would agree final details on the top-up package at a meeting on July 11.
Today, however, Brussels lives in a world of its own, in a world of yesterday and make-believe.
Gerald Celente - Talk Radio Europe 16 June 2011
The Next Global Credit Crisis:
Why U.S. Banks and Greek Debt Will be the Toxic Trigger
BY SHAH GILANI, Contributing Editor, Money Morning
Will a hidden link between the Greek debt situation and the U.S. banking system ignite the next global credit crisis?
The odds of the "next" global credit crisis are increasing with each new day, and with each new revelation. And escalating fears are hitting worldwide stock markets hard.
Just yesterday (Thursday), Greece's leaders revealed that the country's socialist government is on the brink of collapse. Greek protesters - angered by brutal austerity measures that will almost certainly heighten the country's record 16.2% unemployment rate - are rioting in the streets of Athens.
If Greece Defaults, What Happens to Portugal and Ireland—and Spain?
So it looks like Greece is about to go down the toilet.
By Gonzalo Lira
Last year, Greece got a bailout—so this year (wouldn't you know it), they want another.
But it’s looking like France, Germany, Holland and the UK are all balking at the reality of having to save the Greek’s hide once again. Boris Johnson, the flamboyant Mayor of London,openly called for Greece to exit the euro in an op-ed in the Telegraph. Several of the participants in the negotiations are asking for Greece to make deeper austerity cuts first, before getting more bailout money—
—and of course, the Greeks won't do that: Their population won't stand for any more austerity measures, as they believe (correctly) that the reason Greece is in the hole it's in is because rich people shirk their obligation to pay taxes. Also, the Greek people are getting handouts left and right from their government—paid for with deficits and debt.
Ireland 'impatient' at being treated like Greece
By LEIGH PHILLIPS
EUOBSERVER / LUXEMBOURG - The Irish deputy prime minister has hit out at the rest of the eurozone, saying his country is getting "impatient" that although Dublin is imposing austerity measures, it still has not been offered a reduction in the interest rate it pays on its bail-out.
"It seems strange that the one country that is actually implementing [the EU-IMF-imposed] programme, that has the best prospect of recovering, is the one that is being denied a lower rate of interest," Eamon Gilmore told reporters in Luxembourg on the sidelines of a pair of meetings of EU finance and foreign ministers.
The Collapse of Nations All By The Hand Of Corrupt Bankers
By Bob Chapman - TheInternationalForecaster.com
As far as we can discern the US Treasury thus far has spent and borrowed about $100 billion from the federal pension accounts. Unless there is a vote on the cash debt extension prior to August 2nd, government will probably have borrowed some $250 billion to $300 billion. The Treasury is paying virtually no interest on this debt. Three-month Treasury bills are currently yielding zero percent. Our question is how will the funds be generated to fulfill the Treasury’s obligation to the pension fund? What happens if on August 2nd if legislation is not passed? Does this go on forever? We will keep you apprised on new developments.
The current situation regarding the state of recovery in the US has turned from precarious to dismal and as we predicted a year ago May we will have to be treated to QE3 something no one really wants, but as we said before it is inevitable. The Fed and their controllers, the member bank owners of the Fed, know the present approach doesn't work and it is only a matter of time, as a result of their policies, when more stimulus will be needed, which in turn leads to more inflation.
Hedge fund bets against US economy
Companies Push for Tax Break on Foreign Cash
By By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI - NYTimes.com
Apple has $12 billion waiting offshore, Google has $17 billion and Microsoft, $29 billion.
Under the proposal, known as a repatriation holiday, the federal income tax owed on such profits returned to the United States would fall to 5.25 percent for one year, from 35 percent. In the short term, the measure could generate tens of billions in tax revenues as companies transfer money that would otherwise remain abroad, and it could help ease the huge budget deficit.
Tidal wave of gold demand coming: WGC
The euro has fallen on international markets as the European sovereign debt crisis is deepening and appears to be reaching a dangerous denouement. European stock markets are also weaker due to serious divisions in Greece and in the EU as to how to resolve the Eurozone debt crisis and prevent contagion.
Moody's has placed three large French banks on negative review based on their exposure to Greece. The problem looks increasingly intractable meaning that contagion appears more likely every day.
Gold investing is not risky: Marc Faber
LONDON (Commodity Online): Marc Faber, one of the world's leading investing voices, says that there is no need to fear putting your money into gold as the yellow metal is the safest bet in these trying economic times.
In an interview to US financial paper Barron's, Faber who is the acclaimed published and editor of the Gloom, Boom, Boom, Doom Report said that it is important that one owns some gold in his investing portfolio.
"Not to own gold is to trust the value of paper money and the government's integrity. No one in his right mind could trust the US government anymore," he said.
The globally renowned investor rejected claims that investing in gold is risky and he does not believe that bubble formations are coming around the yellow metal.
Lindsey Williams: U.S. Default, Gold & Silver and the NWO
Dennis Gartman: Gold To Replace Euro
Written by HardAssetsInvestor.com Hard Assets Investor (HAI): Let’s get right to the meat of it. You recently said that you were bullish on gold, but not in dollar terms; rather, euros, pounds, yen, etc. How would you actually put that trade on, since gold is generally traded in dollars? Dennis Gartman (Gartman): Well, it's not as difficult as it sounds. If you buy gold, by definition you have gone short of the U.S. dollar. If you buy a gold future or if you buy a gold ETF, that's essentially the trade you made. You've bought gold, you've gone short the dollar.
Let's say one did $100,000 worth of the gold ETF, GLD; how do you turn that into gold in euro terms? Well, you short the euro ETF, which should be easily shortable, but sometimes it's hard to borrow. If you bought $100,000 worth of the gold ETF, you would sell $100,000 worth of the euro ETF. And essentially what you have done is construct gold in euro terms.
Gartman On Gold, Etc.
Published by Ian R. Campbell - StockResearchPortalBlog.com
In the spirit of providing 'food for thought', I suggest you read an article titled ‘Dennis Gartman: Gold To Replace Euro' – reading time 5 minutes, thinking time somewhat longer. Gartman publishes The Gartman Letter, a daily subscription newsletter focused on the capital markets. A subscription to The Gartman Letter is U.S.$400 per month. You can receive the daily letter free for one month, by visitingThe Gartman Letter website.
The article reproduces the text of an interview of Gartman by a representative of the Hard Assets Investor website. In the interview Gartman discusses his view that:
if you buy physical gold, you are buying a 'short' on the U.S. dollar. I don't think that is the only thing a holder of physical gold has bought. However, since the price of physical gold is denominated in U.S. dollars, as a trader would view things at a high level I think Gartman’s view has to be correct;
Tech revolution and a possible boom in silver
By Dr Jeffrey Lewis - CommodityOnline.com
As prices at the pump move toward $4 and even $5 per gallon, there is no shortage of people calling for new regulations in finance. Frequently blamed on “speculators,” high prices at the pump are, as some politicians say, the result of lax laws.
But can it really be speculators that are driving up the price of oil? Without question, anyone can drive up the price of anything for a very temporary amount of time. Following the rise, though, one has to wonder why any single oil company wouldn’t come to the market with more oil than they were producing at lower prices.
Huge Marine Drill Confirms Ground Invasion of Libya
Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
On Sunday, CNN reportedon a huge Marine war exercise dubbed Exercise Mailed Fist.
"The exercise is designed to test the capability of every type of Marine Corps aircraft, including MV-22 Ospreys and F/A 18 Hornets, as well as some Navy ships and Air Force planes," CNN reported.
The exercise will encompass a large area on the U.S. East Coast – from Quantico Marine Base in northern Virginia to the Navy’s Pinecastle Bombing Range in Florida. Most of the exercise activity will occur above North and South Carolina.
The drill begins today and ends on Friday.
Thousands of Marines will take part. Thousands of Marines will take part. According to CNN, it will be biggest drill of its kind ever held on the East Coast.
Roberts: USA vs China in the Middle East
Warnings Of A Great Depression or Hyperinflation
By Bob Chapman - TheInternationalForecaster.com
Unemployment at 22.4% is causing a run on assets of retirement funds. That is probably why legislation is being introduced to limit how much money can be removed from these investment vehicles. About 11% of participants have taken out loans over the past year, up from 9% y-o-y. In overall total 22% have loans out and the numbers are accelerating. Almost all the loans will never be paid back. Hardship is forcing people to withdraw, as well as those who believe that government will try to commander 401K’s and IRA’s to fund a bankrupt government, that wants to replace those vehicles with bogus government guaranteed annuities.
If the extension of the short-term debt is not legislated by August 2nd, we may see legislation regarding a takeover of some retirement plans.
12 Things That The Mainstream Media
Is Being Strangely Quiet About Right Now
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
As the mainstream media continues to be obsessed with Anthony Weiner and his bizarre adventures on Twitter, much more serious events are happening around the world that are getting very little attention. In America today, if the mainstream media does not cover something it is almost as if it never happened. Right now, the worst nuclear disaster in human history continues to unfold in Japan , U.S. nuclear facilities are being threatened by flood waters, the U.S. military is bombing Yemen, gigantic cracks in the earth are appearing all over the globe and the largest wildfire in Arizona history is causing immense devastation. But Anthony Weiner, Bristol Palin and Miss USA are what the mainstream media want to tell us about and most Americans are buying it.
more perks FOR CONGRESS... Congressional Trading on Advance Info Not Illegal: SEC
By: Eamon Javers - CNBC Washington
When you buy and sell stocks based on secrets you learned at the office, it could be insider trading.
But when a United States Senator does it, it's probably perfectly legal.
That's because the SEC has largely determined that trading stocks based on advance knowledge of action in Congress is not insider trading.
If anything, it's "outsider" trading — buying and selling shares based on knowledge of an outside force that's about to hit a company's share value.
Think of it like a trader who sees a satellite image of a hurricane bearing down on an oil rig — and shorts the oil company’s stock in expectation of the damage.
Will This Week's Fed Meeting Hold Any Surprises? Central bankers may be worried about the U.S. recovery's slowing pace, but inflation is also on their minds
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Starting Tuesday, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee will hold its only meeting between May and July. Since its last meeting in late April, analysts have come to realize that the U.S. economy has hit a bump. In the meantime, the Fed's latest round of monetary stimulus is set to end at the end of this month. Does this formula add up to an exciting meeting or another snore? More Stimulus? Don't Bet On It
The big question is whether or not the Fed economists will consider trying to stimulate the slowing economy by more asset purchases. The timing here is key. As the economy has begun to slow, the Fed would end its current stimulus measure after this month.
Professor Bernanke Warning of Paralysis Meets Fed Facing Same
By Rich Miller - Bloomberg.com
As a Princeton University professor, Ben Bernanke castigated the Bank of Japan in 2000 for a "case of self-induced paralysis" that led to a decade of stagnation. Now, the Federal Reserve chairman may be allowing the U.S. central bank to fall into the same trap after its second round of quantitative easing ends this month.
By all but ruling out another cycle of bond purchases, Fed officials have left themselves with little in the way of policy options to respond to slowing growth and rising unemployment. This raises the risk that the U.S. will remain saddled with what Bernanke himself has called a "frustratingly" sluggish recovery that leaves millions of Americans out of work.
Get Ready to be Financially Conscripted
BY ARNOLD BOCK - FinancialSense.com
A new financial policy initiative known by the label "Financial Repression" may soon become our worst nightmare.'‘Repression' rhymes with 'depression' which could be what we have to look forward to as rampant price inflation and permanently lower living standards take hold. Get ready to be conscripted into a citizen army assembled for the greater cause of saving the nation from being swamped by a tsunami of debt. Let me explain.
What is Financial Repression?
Financial Repression is a policy cocktail comprised of large doses of monetary inflation, commonly known as money creation far in excess of the growth in the economy, coupled with interest rates that are below the real rate of inflation. While that may not sound particularly scary, the policy is designed to cause asset and price inflation which is reflective of, and caused by, a devaluing dollar. A much lower standard of living is the inevitable outcome.
What is the US strategic oil reserves?-
On the Edge with Max Keiser-06-17-2011-(Part1)
What is the US strategic oil reserves?-
On the Edge with Max Keiser-06-17-2011-(Part2)
California: The Greece of the US Financial Crisis
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
06/20/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Oh my, oh my…this is getting interesting…
"How zombie consumers menace the world economy," is a headline from Yale Professor Stephen Roach. Mr. Roach is misusing the word 'zombie,' but he's coming closer to understanding what is really going on.
That is, he's beginning to see things our way!
Greek 2-year debt was yielding over 30% on Friday. Everybody said the situation was dire. And everybody agreed that this time, the Greeks were not likely to get away without a default of some sort.
This is a great moment for the world’s intellectual and moral life. Suddenly, people are beginning to realize that you can't make bad debt go away by piling more debt on top of it. And yes, when you make mistakes, you have to pay for them.
Many Cities Face a Long Wait for Jobs to Return
By MOTOKO RICH - NYTimes.com
Two years into a fitful recovery, unemployed Americans are getting painfully accustomed to the notion that it will take years to bring back the jobs eviscerated by the financial crisis.
In some regions, those years are in danger of turning into a decade. According to a report to be released Monday, nearly 50 metropolitan regions — or more than one out of seven — are unlikely to bring back all the jobs lost in the recession until after 2020.
Among those areas are Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio; Detroit; Reno, Nev.; and Atlantic City, according to the report commissioned by the United States Conference of Mayors.
Detroit, which lost 323,400 jobs during the recession, and Reno, which lost 36,000 jobs, are not expected to regain all of those positions until after 2021.
Seniors’ Groups Slam AARP for Shift on Social Security
By Kristina Peterson - WSJ.com
Groups representing senior citizens lashed out Friday against AARP for dropping its opposition to cutting Social Security benefits.
A handful of groups dedicated to preserving Social Security and other benefits for senior citizens sharply criticized the AARP's shift at a time when lawmakers are on the hunt for ways to save money as they negotiate over raising the debt ceiling and over reducing the nation's debt.
"What AARP has done, in our opinion, in offering up Social Security benefit cuts in order to gain access to closed-door discussions, where let’s-make-a-deal politics has become the norm, is not the way to discuss strengthening a program that touches the lives of virtually every American family," Max Richtman, acting chief executive of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in a conference call with reporters on Friday.
AARP Switch Sparks Fresh Calls for Social Security Overhaul
By Carol E. Lee - WSJ.com
AARP’s decision to drop its opposition to cutting Social Security benefits is bringing fresh calls for lawmakers to take up the issue.
"Today marks a watershed moment in American politics," Third Way President Jonathan Cowan said in a statement. "For decades, AARP has stood against any substantial changes to Social Security. Now that they have opened the door to reform, it is time for lawmakers to walk through it."
Mr. Cowan issued the statement in response to a Wall Street Journal story disclosing the AARP’s changed stance. The longtime policy director of the seniors group, John Rother, explained in the article: "The ship was sailing. I wanted to be at the wheel when that happens."
Key Seniors Association Pivots on Benefit Cut
By LAURA MECKLER WSJ.com
WASHINGTON—AARP, the powerful lobbying group for older Americans, is dropping its longstanding opposition to cutting Social Security benefits, a move that could rock Washington's debate over how to revamp the nation's entitlement programs.
The decision, which AARP hasn't discussed publicly, came after a wrenching debate inside the organization. In 2005, the last time Social Security was debated, AARP led the effort to kill President George W. Bush's plan for partial privatization. AARP now has concluded that change is inevitable, and it wants to be at the table to try to minimize the pain.
The right way to cut Medicaid costs
By Ezra Klein - WashingtonPost.com
The White House strongly objects to the notion that they're going to sign onto a deficit deal that makes its main cuts in Medicaid. But they don’t deny, and in fact endorse the idea, that Medicaid will come in for some cuts. So I've spent much of the day asking various health-policy experts the same question: If you need to cut Medicaid, how would you do it?
One way to do it is to simply cut spending on the program. That’s the approach you see in the Republican budget. Currently, the federal government contributes to Medicaid based on need. That means spending goes up if there’s, say, a massive financial crisis that knocks millions out of work. But Republicans want the federal government to tie those contributions to a formula that’s unrelated to need, and in fact grows more slowly than health-care costs. And that would work. You can spend less by spending less. But it'd mean the program either needs to cut benefits for kids, the very poor, and the very old and disabled, or kick some of those people off Medicaid entirely. That is to say, it shifts costs rather than controlling them. And we need a better solution to Medicaid than simply "less of it."
Dems Try to Discredit Survey Showing Flaws in Obamacare
By Matt Cover
(CNSNews.com) – Top House Democrats are going on the offensive against business consulting firm McKinsey & Company over a study the company conducted that found that significant numbers of employers would stop offering health insurance due to Obamacare's mandates.
The McKinsey study found that 30 percent of employers would "definitely or probably" stop offering their employees health insurance due to Obamacare’s minimum coverage mandate for employers with 50 or more employees.
That finding is at odds with other studies conducted by the CBO, Rand Corporation, and Urban Institute that all suggested a much smaller effect on employer-provided insurance.
FBI informs family they bought stolen house in Murrieta
Rob McMillan - ABC7.com
MURRIETA, Calif. (KABC) -- A family is being told the house they thought they bought in Murrieta actually belongs to someone else. The family says they can't stop making their mortgage payments.
"Even though you've made your payments in full every month, you could get a knock at the door saying get out," said would-be homeowner Charlie Zahari. "If you look at it, we're renters in a house we can't move out of."
That was hardly the feeling last summer where there was all the euphoria of buying their first home.
They custom painted the girls' bedrooms and sodded the backyard.
They stopped making improvements when they found out they're not the legal owners of the home.
"We actually got a call from the FBI who said we just wanted to inform you that your house has been part of a deed fraud scheme," Zahari said.
The Next Crisis in Residential Mortgages – New Data Emerges
Author: Daniel Alpert - EconoMonitor.com
Back in the fall of last year, we commented to many that the so-called "foreclosure-gate," or "document-gate" (remember, the Schwarzeneggerian term "robo-signers") was going to prove to be a double edged sword for the large banks.
On the one hand, lying to judges and facing the possible voiding of mortgage collateral documents and the ability to foreclose is decidedly bad for business. On the other hand, we pointed out that there would likely be sighs of relief (we were once, injudiciously, quoted as referring to the popping of champagne corks) at the notion that the recognition of losses connected with the bubble of pending home repossessions, that was then coming towards the end of the foreclosure snake, could again be delayed.
Foreclosure Backlog Will Take Decades to Clear Out Banks' plodding pace isn't always bad news for consumers
ConsumerAffairs.com
Consumers often complain bitterly about the slow pace at which banks and other mortgage lenders process applications for mortgage modifications. But there are two sides to the story, as millions of homeowners are learning.
The simple truth is that there are so many mortgages in default that it would lenders years – many years – to process all the foreclosures that are in the pipeline, as The New York Times reported today.
In New York State, lenders will need 62 years to repossess the 213,000 homes that are now in severe default or foreclosure, longer than any other state. New Jersey's backlog is 49 years while Florida, Massachusetts and Illinois are at least a decade behind, the paper quoted LPS Applied Analytics as estimating.
House Prices May Not See Recovery Until 2014
By Phil Izzo - WSJ.com
U.S. home prices won’t rise consistently until 2014 amid continuing structural problems in the housing market, an economist argues.
In Capital Economics latest look at the housing market, economist Paul Dales says that the current double dip in the market won’t reverse course quickly. He argues that the low level of demand isn’t something that a general economic recovery can easily fix.
Backlog of Cases Gives a Reprieve on Foreclosures
By DAVID STREITFELD - NYTimes.com
Millions of homeowners in distress are getting some unexpected breathing room — lots of it in some places.
In New York State, it would take lenders 62 years at their current pace, the longest time frame in the nation, to repossess the 213,000 houses now in severe default or foreclosure, according to calculations by LPS Applied Analytics, a prominent real estate data firm.
Clearing the pipeline in New Jersey, which like New York handles foreclosures through the courts, would take 49 years. In Florida, Massachusetts and Illinois, it would take a decade.
Gerald Celente - KSFO Brian Sussman 17 June 2011
How You Can Prepare for a (Possible) Double-Dip Recession
By Sheryl Nance-Nash - DailyFinance.com
Is America headed for the Great Recession, part two? The talking heads are still in heated debate, with experts coming down on all sides of the issue. But for those of us who aren't pundits, there's a more important question: What should we be doing now, just in case economic lightning does strike twice?
The uncertainty in the air has created confusion. On one hand, many people continue to focus on saving and reducing personal debt. But on the other hand, despite the fact that 40% of Americans surveyed in the First Command Financial Behaviors Index said they expect the economy will fall into a depression, a growing number of middle-class families are taking out new loans: 43% of those surveyed said they have taken out at least one new loan in the last 11 months.
Workers reject union at Target Employees at the Valley Stream, L.I., store of the nation's second-largest retailer voted Friday not to make their location the first unionized Target in the country. The union will seek a new election.
By Daniel Massey - Crain's New York Business
Target workers in Valley Stream, L.I., voted against affiliating with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 Friday, ending—at least for the moment—a drive to make their store the first unionized Target in the nation.
The final vote was 137 to 85 against the union, with six additional ballots challenged, the National Labor Relations Board said.
"At Target, it has always been our goal to have a culture where our team members don't want or need union representation," Derek Jenkins, Target's senior vice president of stores in the northeast region said at a news conference Saturday, inside the Valley Stream store. "We believe that our team members' actions yesterday spoke louder than any words I can share with you now."
Power firm unionists launch strikes PPC protest action to cause blackouts, starting Monday
The powerful union representing workers of the Public Power Corporation, GENOP, is to start rolling 48-hour strikes on Monday morning in protest at the government’s insistence on pushing ahead with the privatization of PPC.
It is expected that the strikes will cause widespread blackouts. Unionists have called the action two weeks before the government is to submit legislation in Parliament paving the way for the state to reduce its holdings in PPC from 51 percent to 34 percent.
Airspace Over Flooded Nebraska Nuclear Power Plant Still Closed
Ricky Kreitner - businessinsider.com
A fire in Nebraska's Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant briefly knocked out the cooling process for spent nuclear fuel rods, ProPublica reports.
The fire occurred on June 7th, and knocked out cooling for approximately 90 minutes. After 88 hours, the cooling pool would boil dry and highly radioactive materials would be exposed.
On June 6th, the Federal Administration Aviation (FAA) issued a directive banning aircraft from entering the airspace within a two-mile radius of the plant.
Are Hacker Attacks False Flag Attack
to Justify a Crackdown on the Internet?
George Washington's blog
I noted in 2009:
Former Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke told a leading expert on internet free speech, Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig, that there was going to be an "i-9/11", in other words, an electronic terrorist act, and an "i-Patriot Act" to crack down on freedoms on the Internet under the guise of protecting against such threats:
There’s going to be an i-9/11 event. Which doesn't necessarily mean an Al Qaeda attack, it means an event where the instability or the insecurity of the internet becomes manifest during a malicious event which then inspires the government into a response. You’ve got to remember that after 9/11 the government drew up the Patriot Act within 20 days and it was passed.
Obama Launching World War III
Webster Tarpley & Alex Jones:
Buildup to World War III by The Lunatic Ruling Class 1/2
Webster Tarpley & Alex Jones:
Buildup to World War III by The Lunatic Ruling Class 2/2
Just another brick in the wall: UN Agenda 21 in US law
By Marti Oakley - PPJGazette
Let me lay this out for you in a simple way, so that maybe you can get the gist of what is really going on and how through incremental legislation EVERYTHING is being taken away from us. The CLEAR Act: A pre-planned and pre-written bill; one just waiting for that golden opportunity to magically appear, will seize all water rights, coastal and in-land. BINGO! We got the BP oil spill and this is one of the excuses for the CLEAR Act. This bill seizes all mineral, gas and oil rights and permits, and by extension the revenues from those permits. This bill converts state owned land to federal ownership and control. This Act which stood little chance of passing was quietly slipped over to the EPA for implementation through agency regulation and enforcement. This bill also represents the UN position that land ownership and by extension those things derived from the land including water, should be owned only by government.
H.R.3534
Latest Title: Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2010
Sponsor: Rep Rahall, Nick J., II [WV-3] (introduced 9/8/2009) Cosponsors (None)
Related Bills: H.RES.1574, H.R.6335
Latest Major Action: 8/4/2010 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 510.
House Reports: 111-575 Part 1, 111-575 Part 2
War Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs
By ELISABETH BUMILLER and THOM SHANKER - NYTimes.com
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — Two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes, military researchers are at work on another revolution in the air: shrinking unmanned drones, the kind that fire missiles into Pakistan and spy on insurgents in Afghanistan, to the size of insects and birds.
The base’s indoor flight lab is called the "microaviary," and for good reason. The drones in development here are designed to replicate the flight mechanics of moths, hawks and other inhabitants of the natural world. "We're looking at how you hide in plain sight," said Greg Parker, an aerospace engineer, as he held up a prototype of a mechanical hawk that in the future might carry out espionage or kill.
Former leaders tell US, EU to support Palestinian unity
ANDREW WILLIS
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A group of prominent former politicians has called on the United States and Europe to support the reconciliation process between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, warning that failure to do so would jeopardize the prospects for peace in the region.
"If Palestinian reconciliation is undermined, it will throw the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into an even deeper impasse," the group said in a letter addressed to US state secretary Hillary Clinton and EU high representative Catherine Ashton on Friday (10 June).
America is Becoming Nazi Germany of The 21st Century -
Alex Jones Tv 1/3
America is Becoming Nazi Germany of The 21st Century -
Alex Jones Tv 2/3
America is Becoming Nazi Germany of The 21st Century -
Alex Jones Tv 3/3
The greatest gift to the Greeks might be to let them go it alone Bail-outs and austerity measures are only making the country’s burden harder to bear, writes Boris Johnson.
By Boris Johnson - Telegraph.co.uk
There comes a moment in any decent tragedy when the penny finally drops. The light breaks. The protagonist suddenly realises what a chump he has been - that he has somehow managed accidentally to marry his mother and kill his father - and that all his assumptions about his life are upside down. And the really awful thing about the tragedy now playing on the streets of Athens is that we haven’t even reached that bit yet.
We are all still kidding ourselves that the moment of reversal can be avoided. All the other governments of Europe, including, alas, the Coalition, are pretending that Greece can remain in the euro. If only theEU finance ministers can just have a bit more lunch in Brussels; if only Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel can hammer out another plan to reschedule the Greek debt; if only UK taxpayers can stump up a bit more for the bail-out fund - then somehow the Heath Robinson contraption is supposed to limp another few miles further on down the road with the Greeks bubblegummed to the roof.
Greek Default Would Spell 'Havoc' for Banks
By Aaron Kirchfeld and Elena Logutenkova - Bloomberg.com
A year after European officials bailed out Greece, investors say the region’s banks haven’t raised sufficient capital or cut loans enough to withstand the contagion that may follow a default.
While European lenders reduced their risk tied to Greece by 30 percent to $136.3 billion last year by not renewing loans, writing down the value of debt and shifting it off their books, they still have almost $2 trillion linked to Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy, figures from the Bank for International Settlements show, leaving them vulnerable if the crisis spreads.
Bank of England set to voice fears of wider crisis if Greece defaults Financial policy committee's first risk analysis will focus on global impact of debt emergency
By Heather Stewart and Jill Treanor - Guardian.co.uk
Bank of England policymakers will spell out the risks to financial stability from the deepening crisis in Greece, as analysts warn that a default could send shockwaves through the world's financial system.
Fears are growing that Athens could be forced to renege on its debts as the government faces a confidence vote over its austerity measures tomorrow. The Bank's new financial policy committee (FPC) will make its first public pronouncements on threats to the banking system on Friday, and is expected to put the possibility of a sovereign debt crisis high on its list. Michael Cohrs, the former Deutsche Bank boss who sits on the FPC, has already made clear that the biggest threat to stability is "sovereign risk".
Boris Johnson: let Greece go bankrupt and leave the euro Britain should refuse to contribute to a second bail-out of Greece and the country should be allowed to default on its debts and leave the euro, has said.
By Robert Winnett - Telegraph.co.uk
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the Mayor of London claims that the euro's recent troubles have "exacerbated" the financial crisis and challenges George Osborne, the Chancellor, to "stop chucking good money after bad".
As Mr Osborne prepares to join European talks on agreeing a new £100 billion rescue package for Greece today, Mr Johnson says that European monetary union should be partially dismantled instead.
Ministers have promised not to underwrite the new deal, but the Government may be powerless to avoid involvement under European finance rules.
Weekly Market Drivers: It's All About the Bondholders (Not Greece), Stupid
By Cliff Wachtel - SeekingAlpha.com
The big lesson of last week (and last year’s Greek crisis): The EU situation is a financial crisis driven by political decisions.
To anticipate the coming weeks’ market movements, focus on what is likely to serve the policymakers’ priorities. It’s all about the banks, not the PIIGS. Always has been. Read on for details.
PRIOR WEEK MARKET DRIVERS
According to most financial media, events surrounding the risk of Greek default were the prime market drivers.
It’s All About Fear Of Greek Default, Right?
More specifically:
Greek Default Threat To Global Banking, Economies, Financial Markets
The only thing that really mattered last week was the threat of an imminent banking crisis posed by an imminent Greek default. All else last week was essentially irrelevant in influencing market movements.
The Vigilante WHY THE MAN WHO RUNS THE WORLD'S LARGEST MUTUAL FUND SOLD ALL HIS TREASURY BONDS
By Megan McArdle - TheAtlantic.com
IN FEBRUARY 1993, as the fledgling Clinton administration grappled with the nation's budget woes, campaign adviser James Carville groused to The Wall Street Journal: "I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everyone." If Carville were serving in the Obama administration today, he'd be seeking reincarnation as Bill Gross. The founder and co–chief investment officer of PIMCO, Gross runs his firm's Total Return Fund—the world’s largest mutual fund, with holdings entirely in bonds. And for some time, he has been an outspoken critic of U.S. economic policy.
Gross demurred when I suggested that James Carville might want to be him. "I thought the remark was striking at the time," he said, "but no, I didn't feel that they were catering to us at every turn."
IMF warns countries are 'playing with fire' over debt disputes International Monetary Fund says risks to recovery have increased as 'political phase' of credit crunch crisis begins
By Graeme Wearden - Guardian.co.uk
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are "playing with fire" by failing to resolve their debt disputes, the International Monetary Fund warned as it trimmed its forecast for world economic growth.
In its latest assessment of the global economy, the IMF said that the risks to recovery have increased in recent months. It criticised the lack of political leadership shown in recent months over the Greek crisis, and the stalemate between the US government and its opponents on whether to raise America's debt ceiling.
Greek Bailout Leaves French Unruffled While Germany Seethes
By Gregory Viscusi - Bloomberg.com
Greece's bailout, which has provoked popular anger in Germany, leaves neighboring France cold.
Europe's two largest economies, which were on opposite sides of a deadlock on enrolling investors in a second Greek rescue without triggering a default, said today in Berlin that they've found common ground. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's room for maneuver has been limited by opposition at home. French President Nicolas Sarkozyhas faced no such pressure.
Europe May Withhold Half of Greek Payment
By James G. Neuger and Jonathan Stearns - Bloomberg.com
European governments weighed withholding half of Greece’s next 12 billion-euro ($17.2 billion) aid payment, seeking to keep the country solvent while maintaining pressure on the government to slash the debt that pitched the euro area into crisis.
Euro-area finance ministers may authorize only a 6 billion- euro loan to tide Greece through bond redemptions in July, while further aid hinges on Greek budget cuts, Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders said.
Euro Declines on Greece Concerns
By Kristine Aquino and Candice Zachariahs - Bloomberg.com
The euro fell against the dollar and yen as calls for new elections inGreece dimmed prospects for austerity measures and an aid package to prevent the currency union’s first default.
The 17-nation currency declined versus 12 of its 16 most- traded peers before Greece resumes debate on a confidence motion for Prime Minister George Papandreou's government. The greenback strengthened against the currencies of Australia and New Zealand as investors bought safer assets.
Turkey demands Syria dismiss 'thug in chief'
brother of President Bashar al-Assad Turkey demanded the dismissal of President Bashar al-Assad's widely reviled brother on Sunday, in a significant escalation of pressure on the Syrian regime.
By Adrian Blomfield - Telegraph.co.uk
Signalling a further loss of patience with its former ally, the Turkish government sent an envoy to Damascus with a letter calling for the immediate removal of Maher al-Assad, dubbed Syria's "thug in chief", from his post as commander of the army's elite Fourth Division and Presidential Guards.
Mr Assad, a hardliner regarded as perhaps the most feared man in Syria, has taken charge of a number of violent operations to quell the three-month uprising against his older brother, most recently in villages and towns close to the Turkish border.
Obama overruled lawyers on Libya air war President Barack Obama overruled two senior government lawyers in deciding that he had the authority to continue US military operations in Libya without Congressional approval.
Telegraph.co.uk
In reaching his conclusion Mr Obama rejected the opinions of Jeh Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, the New York Times reported.
Johnson and Krass both told the White House they believed that US military activity in the NATO-led air war over Libya amounted to "hostilities."
Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a president has 60 days to get authorization from Congress - which under the US Constitution has the authority to declare war - for a military deployment. Failing that, the Resolution sets a further 30 days to withdraw US forces from harm's way.
Obama rejects top lawyers' legal views on Libya
BY GLENN GREENWALD - Salon.com
The growing controversy over President Obama's illegal waging of war in Libya got much bigger last night with Charlie Savage's New York Timesscoop. He reveals that top administration lawyers -- Attorney General Eric Holder, OLC Chief Caroline Krass, and DoD General Counsel Jeh Johnson -- all told Obama that his latest, widely panned excuse for waging war without Congressional approval (that it does not rise to the level of "hostilities" under the War Powers Resolution (WPR)) was invalid and that such authorization was legally required after 60 days: itself a generous intepretation of the President's war powers. But Obama rejected those views and (with the support of administration lawyers in lesser positions: his White House counsel and long-time political operative Robert Bauer and State Department "legal adviser" Harold Koh) publicly claimed that the WPR does not apply to Libya.
Critics assault Barack Obama's Libya policy
By JONATHAN ALLEN - Politico.com
An intensifying battle over the president’s power to wage war without congressional consent will come to a head this week in the House with a bipartisan contingent’s efforts to amend a defense spending bill with provisions designed to end American engagement in Libya.
Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.), a member of the intelligence committee, has drafted an amendment to prohibit the use of government funds to continue the Libya mission, unless the expenditure is aimed at withdrawing from the theater. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), one of 10 lawmakers who filed suit against President Barack Obama over his failure to seek congressional approval for U.S. military action against Libya, plans to offer one that is a straightforward cutoff of funding.
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Eying Election, Joins Secular Coalition The Brotherhood is forming a coalition with liberal parties to help unify the Islamist political party and to improve their odds in the upcoming elections
By Brian Dabbs -TheAtlantic.com
CAIRO, Egypt -- The recently legalized political arm of Egypt's most robust opposition movement for the past half-century, the Muslim Brotherhood, pledged to enter a broad coalition with the country's foremost secular parties this week in Cairo, in preparation for parliamentary elections slated for September.
Brotherhood officials appointed to lead the group's Freedom and Justice Party say the decision aims to ensure a stable and politically balanced democratic transition for a country still in flux after the ouster of strongman President Hosni Mubarak.
Israeli President Shimon Peres
urges resumption of Middle East peace talks Israeli President Shimon Peres urged a resumption of Middle East peace talks on Thursday, dismissing the Palestinians' plan to instead ask the United Nations for recognition as "an illusion" and arguing that a peace deal – despite widespread scepticism on both sides – was possible within months.
Telegraph.co.uk
"In a strange way the differences are rather psychological than material," the 87-year-old head of state and Nobel laureate said in an interview with The Associated Press.
"I don't exclude that in spite of the shortage of time we can conclude an agreement with the Palestinians" before September, Peres said, referring to the month the Palestinians, in the absence of a peace deal, plan to ask the United Nations for recognition as a state.
US-funded Afghan militias 'beat, rob and kill with impunity' American-funded Afghan militias raised to protect villages from the Taliban have begun to prey on residents and in some cases are beating, robbing and even killing with impunity it is claimed.
By Ben Farmer, Kandahar - Telegraph.co.uk
Residents and officials warn that the rush to recruit local defence forces around Kandahar following the arrival of last year's surge of American troops had given rise to poorly-controlled armed gangs.
They listed armed robberies, thefts and assaults by the militias, saying the groups had become the main worry of many residents in the province's rural districts.
Nato commanders have long sought to harness against the Taliban the Pashtun tradition of raising local defence forces, or Arbakai, in time of need.
Is the U.S. Effectively in Default Already? The Treasury will stop paying some obligations in August if the debt ceiling isn't raised, but how is that any different from the "extraordinary measures" it's already taken?
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
The concept of default should be straightforward: either you pay what you owe or you don't. But in the case of a complex entity like the U.S. government, what constitutes default becomes a little bit more complicated. As the August deadline for the debt ceiling battle approaches, this question takes on greater importance. At what point will rating agencies consider the U.S. in default -- and what exactly does that mean?
The Basics of Default
Let's start with fundamentals. Imagine that you have no debt or credit. You purchase a car by taking on your first loan. A few months later, you lose your job and can no longer afford to pay. Based on the terms of your agreement, a failure to make a monthly payment within a specified period of time will put you in default. In most cases, the lender will repossesses your vehicle.
How a $13 Trillion Cover Story was Written
By Michael Hudson
Free money creation to bail out America’s elite financial speculators, but not for Social Security or Medicare
Only the "Crazies" Get the Bank Giveaway Right
Financial crashes were well understood for a hundred years after they became a normal financial phenomenon in the mid-19th century. Much like the buildup of plaque deposits in human veins and arteries, an accumulation of debt gained momentum exponentially until the economy crashed, wiping out bad debts – along with savings on the other side of the balance sheet.
Seek Safety in Gold and Silver Before Reckoning Day
By Stephen Zhu - SeekingAlpha.com
As a value investor, looking forward to economic crises and betting against the market is a tough but unfortunate reality of working in today’s volatile economy. With the proper planning in place though, diligent investors can protect what they’ve earned and even jump into the black during a bear market. We are here to make sense of macroeconomic signs pointing toward a bond and stock market crash in the near future, and to help you choose securities that can safeguard gains.
Collapse in Bonds
There is a set of clear and dangerous factors shaping up that could wreak havoc on the prices of US Treasury bonds in the rest of 2011.Briefly, the budget of the federal government is strained after two rounds of massive stimulus packages, sending the debt and deficit burden to unprecedented levels while the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing is set to end. With interest rates still at almost zero, inflation is set to take off and force Treasury yields up with it. Such high yields on US Treasuries and greatly reduced demand for the bonds will lead to a collapse in prices in the market. Overall, the prospects for US debt securities are not appealing.
Analysis: High-frequency trade fires up commodities
By David Sheppard and Jonathan Spicer
NEW YORK | Reuters
(Reuters) - When natural gas prices dropped by 8 percent in a matter of seconds in the early hours of Asian trade last week, one New York-based hedge fund manager said he didn't have to think twice.
"The moment I heard, I ran, literally ran, to my computer and started buying," he said. "It was clear it was an HFT algo gone bad and I could profit on the rebound off the lows."
He wouldn't have been the only one.
Since the infamous "flash crash" in equity markets in May 2010, that was exacerbated by high-frequency trading (HFT), seasoned traders say that violent, often inexplicable price moves are becoming more common, and allow those who are fast enough to book a quick profit as prices bounce straight back up.
Dodd-Frank Dispatch:
Retail "Forex" Transactions Rule for National Banks
Posted on May 4th, 2011 - BqankersWeb.com
The Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) will forbid federally regulated financial institutions from engaging in certain off-exchange transactions in foreign currency with retail customers except under rules to be prescribed by the bank regulators. This retail foreign exchange (“forex”) requirement is the result of an amendment to the CEA by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act that will become effective on July 16, 2011. On April 22, 2011, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) proposed its rule to implement the CEA amendment for national banks, federal branches or agencies of foreign banks, and their operating subsidiaries.
The proposal is substantially similar to a rule adopted in September 2010 by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for entities under its jurisdiction. The other bank regulators are expected to also issue separate retail forex transaction rules, and their efforts will be coordinated with the OCC and with one another. In addition, the OCC will propose a similar retail forex transactions rule for federal savings associations once these entities come under its jurisdiction on July 21, 2011, as required by the Dodd-Frank Act.
US Seeks to Curtail OTC Highly Leveraged Retail Tradin
in Paper Commodities and Currencies
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
As part of the reform of derivatives, Dodd-Frank is seeking to prohibit Over the Counter (meaning non-exchange) trading of commodities at leverage of greater than 10:1.
The off exchange traders, particularly those trading in currencies, had expanded their markets into various commodities, offering non-product backed paper trading at very high rates of leverage.
The Congress and CFTC started taking a dim view of this sort of activity, and has tentative prohibited it as of July 15. This does not curtail any on-exchange trading, such as the CME, or any ETFs, or any other product with a leverage of less than 10:1 or actually involving substantial physical backing or intended delivery of product within 28 days.
Obama Threatens Forex; Says Goodbye to OTC Gold Trading
By James Bibbings and Nicole Kuchera - SeekingAlpha.com
On July 21, 2010, President Obama signed into law the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act" (the “Dodd-Frank Act” or "Act"). The Dodd-Frank Act most likely will bring about sweeping regulatory changes within the financial services industry. However, at over 2,300 pages in length, few people have read this legislation in its entirety. Of those individuals who have read the Act, few can comprehend the implications of such sweeping reform. As a result, I have teamed up with attorney Nicole Kuchera, from Chicago’s Henderson & Lyman, to review the content of the Dodd-Frank Act. Through this process we were able to identify some areas of the Act that are most likely to affect Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") regulated entities and National Futures Association ("NFA") member firms.
From: FOREX.com <info@forex.com>
Date: Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Subject: Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading
To: xxx
Important Account Notice Re: Metals Trading
We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011.
In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm ET....
It appears that Forex.com's interpretation of the law stems primarily from Section 742(a) of the Dodd-Frank act which "prohibits any person [which again includes companies]from entering into, or offering to enter into, a transaction in any commodity with a person that is not an eligible contract participant or an eligible commercial entity, on a leveraged or margined basis."
H.R 4173
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Enrolled Bill [Final as Passed Both House and Senate]
more fallout of H.R. 4173... Proposed 20% down payment rule
could put owning a home out of reach for many
By Michelle Singletary - WashingtonPost.com
After a disaster, people often want to figure out how to avoid the debacle again.
As we continue to deal with the fallout from the housing crisis, regulators working under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act are proposing rules to prevent folks from getting into homes they can't afford. One would require borrowers to come up with a 20 percent down payment. If they don’t meet this threshold, their loans would be considered more risky. It would not be a “qualified residential mortgage,” or QRM, and therefore the bank would charge more for it.
Dodd-Frank pay provisions raise liability questions
MARK A. HOFMANN - BusinessInsurance.com
The whistle-blower bounty provision isn't the only potential problem for corporate directors and officers contained in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, observers say.
Some provisions of the law directly affect liability and others add to administrative burdens, they say. Other than the whistle-blower provision, the biggest potential headache could be the Dodd-Frank Act's controversial executive compensation clawback provision, they say.
Time Running Out on Retail Currency Business
for SEC-Registered Broker-Dealers
By P. Georgia Bullitt, Michael A. Piracci, F. Mindy Lo,
Investment Management Practice
As things currently stand, on July 16, when the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Dodd-Frank Act)[1] becomes effective, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)-registered broker-dealers (BDs) will no longer be able to enter into many types of foreign currency transactions for their retail customers. Although the law is not entirely clear, there is even a question as to whether BDs may purchase foreign currency for retail customers in connection with foreign securities trades if the settlement date for the currency transaction extends beyond two days.[2] The reason for these changes is that the Dodd-Frank Act included a requirement that the applicable functional regulator pass rules governing conduct of a regulated entity regarding retail forex in order for an entity to be able conduct such business. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has passed rules[3] and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)[4] and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)[5] have proposed rules, but the SEC has done neither.
Q & A – Final Retail Foreign Exchange Rules - CFTC.gov What is a "retail forex transaction"?
A retail forex transaction is one between an eligible counterparty and a retail customer. Generally, retail customers are:
Individuals with less than $10 million in total assets, or less than $5 million in total assets if entering into the transaction to manage risk, and who are not registered as futures or securities professionals;
Companies, other than financial institutions and investment companies, with less than $10 million in total assets, or a net worth less than $1 million if entering into the transaction in connection with the conduct of their businesses; and
Commodity pools that have less than $5 million in total assets.
A Closer Look: The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
PWC.com
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is one of the most complex pieces of legislation ever written. Financial service firms and other impacted organizations are just beginning to understand the Act's many facets and its full impact.
H.R.87
Latest Title: To repeal the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Sponsor: Rep Bachmann, Michele [MN-6] (introduced 1/5/2011) Cosponsors (7) Related Bills: S.712, S.746 - see http://thomas.loc.gov
The Fed's "Brave New World" of Monetary Policy
Mises Daily: by Patrick Barron
On June 1, 2011, John C. Williams, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, delivered an address to the American Economic Association's National Conference on Teaching Economics and Research in Education. He titled his address "Economics Instruction and the Brave New World of Economic Policy." One wonders if Mr. Williams ever read Aldous Huxley's chilling book warning the world of the threat to individual freedom by a tyrannical one-world state. If he had I doubt that he would have included "Brave New World" in the title of his speech.
But perhaps he selected this title on purpose! For Mr. Williams's speech was an unvarnished plea to recruit academics as co-conspirators to spread as economic truth the Fed's latest make-it-up-as-we-go-along, and increasingly panicked, monetary interventions masquerading as well-thought-out policy. The speech was nothing less than an admission that the Fed's monetary theories have failed, that it is experimenting with new ones, and that it wants academia to endorse whatever its latest policy experiments happen to be and incorporate them into college curricula. Here are his very words:
Biden: Tough tradeoffs ahead in budget talks
By Andrew Taylor - AP - AOLNews.com
WASHINGTON -Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday that negotiators for a plan to cut the federal deficit have completed a thorough review of the government's budget and will turn to the difficult trade-offs needed to cut trillions of dollars over the coming decade.
Biden said that both sides have signaled what they might be willing to accept as part of a larger agreement but that they haven't tackled really tough decisions on health care or new revenues. He spoke to reporters after the eighth in a series of meetings aimed at producing an agreement on budget cuts that would accompany must-pass legislation to allow the government to keep borrowing to avoid a default on its obligations.
* * * * *
Barack Obama's White House Rural Council:
Central Economic Planning For America's Heartland
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Barack Obama has issued a brand new executive order that establishes a White House Rural Council. This Rural Council has been given the task of developing "public-private partnerships" that will seek to bring the "economic prosperity" of our big cities to rural America. In other words, the U.S. government and the big corporations are going to team up to dominate the economies of our small towns and rural communities just like they dominate the economies of all of our big cities. So should those that live in rural America be excited about this? After all, the U.S. government and the big corporations have done such a great job of bringing "economic prosperity" to places like Detroit, Michigan and Camden, New Jersey. Won't it be great to have the federal government come in and tell rural communities how they should be doing things?
Hamilton State Acquires Lender as U.S. Bank Failures Rise to 47
By Dakin Campbell - Bloomberg.com
Hamilton State Bancshares Inc., the lender that raised more than $120 million in private-equity funds last year, purchased a failed Georgia firm as this year’s tally of U.S. bank failures climbed to 47.
Hamilton State purchased McIntosh State Bank of Jackson, Georgia, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said today on its website. Stonegate Bank of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, purchased First Commercial Bank of Tampa Bay. The two failures drained $108.5 million from the FDIC deposit-insurance fund.
48 Percent Of Americans Believe Another Great Depression
Is Likely In The Next 12 Months -
19 Reasons Why They Are Not Completely Crazy
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Do you believe that the U.S. economy is steamrolling toward a depression? If so, you are not alone. According to a recent CNN poll, 48 percent of Americans believe that "another Great Depression" is likely within the next 12 months. Americans have been waiting for almost three years for a "recovery" to materialize, but instead there are all kinds of signs that the economy is about to get worse yet again. Inflation is rising but wages are not. There are millions of Americans that would do just about anything to get a decent job. The "misery index" is the highest it has been in almost 30 years. All of the recent polls show that the American people are more pessimistic about the economy than at any other time in recent memory. World financial markets are incredibly unstable right now and many analysts are expecting a repeat of 2008 (or worse). Meanwhile, our state and local governments are drowning in debt, the federal government is drowning in debt and governments all over Europe are drowning in debt. No, it is not crazy for 48 percent of Americans to believe that we are about to go into another Great Depression.
Banks Holding Record $1.45 Trillion
to Buy Treasuries
as Savings Top Loans
By Masaki Kondo, Yoshiaki Nohara and Saburo Funabiki - Bloomberg.com
Japan’s biggest bond investors see increasing parallels between the nation’s government debt market and Treasuries, indicating that historically low yields in the U.S. have room to fall.
Just as in Japan, deposits at U.S. banks exceed loans, reaching a record $1.45 trillion last month, Federal Reserve data show. As recently as 2008, there were more loans than deposits. The gap is also at an all-time high in Japan, where banks use the money to buy bonds, helping keep yields the lowest in the world even though the country has more debt outstanding than America and a lower credit rating.
The Chinese Government Is Buying Up Economic Assets
And Huge Tracts Of Land All Over The United States
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
In 2011, America is for sale and the communist Chinese are eager buyers. The Chinese government is using sovereign wealth funds and Chinese state-owned enterprises to buy up economic assets and huge tracts of land all over the United States. Many of our politicians hail all of this "foreign investment" as something that is "good for America", while many others see something much more sinister going on here. In any event, this is a trend that is rapidly accelerating and that is causing great concern among patriotic Americans.
Why China's Ghost Towns Matter for Our Economy
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
You could say it started with a little bit of food. Too little, as it turned out. Short supply and high demand for fruits and grains created historic bursts in food prices around the world. In the Middle East, where food accounts for 40% of spending, it fed political unrest. Revolution spread to Libya, whose crude crisis led to a surge in global oil prices. Expensive gas tag-teamed with expensive copper and other commodity inflation in India and Brazil. Meanwhile, debt crises restrained growth in Europe, an earthquake set back Japan, and the U.S. recovery found more walls to hit.
It's no surprise that the global recovery is facing a new round of setbacks, as the IMF reported in a new report issued today. But after high food prices, slow growth, and heavy debt, there's another potential force emerging that could block the global recovery.
OECD: Meat Prices Expected to Jump 30% in Coming Decade
ByDawn Kawamoto - DailyFinance.com
Food prices are expected to rise by double digits in the coming decade, with the cost of meat on average potentially climbing as much as 30% worldwide, according to ajoint-report released Friday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
That projection comes as consumers are already struggling with record high meat prices, fueled by rising costs for feed and low production of livestock, the report notes. And in the coming years, the OECD says it expects increasingly stringent regulations over food safety, environmental conditions and welfare requirements for livestock will contribute to a bump up prices.
Why Not Let Prices and Wages Fall? Bernanke's sophisticated surgical tools
keep making the patient worse
Tim Cavanaugh - Reason.com
Here’s a sign that you may not have to worry about inflation for a while: The Los Angeles Timesbusiness page is warning that higher prices "have seeped from the gas pump into the broader U.S. economy in May, adding new hurdles for the sluggish recovery."
This is from the lede of an article that actually presents plenty of evidence that inflation is still a minor worry—at least relative to all the major worries in the American economy. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reports that regional manufacturing is continuing a months-long slide. Unemployment is back up to 9.1 percent. Retail sales [pdf]
are down. Traditionally, when nobody is hiring and nobody is buying, you can expect inflation to be anemic.
Is it time to kill the liberal arts degree? I was a floundering humanities graduate too, but in a brutal job market, maybe we need to rethink what we teach
BY KIM BROOKS - Salon.com
Every year or two, my husband, an academic advisor at a prestigious Midwestern university, gets a call from a student's parent. Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so's son is a sophomore now and still insistent on majoring in film studies, anthropology, Southeast Asian comparative literature or, god forbid … English. These dalliances in the humanities were fine and good when little Johnny was a freshman, but isn't it time now that he wake up and start thinking seriously about what, one or two or three years down the line, he's actually going to do?
My husband, loyal first and foremost to his students' intellectual development, and also an unwavering believer in the inherent value of a liberal arts education, tells me about these conversations with an air of indignation. He wonders, "Aren't these parents aware of what they signed their kid up for when they decided to let him come get a liberal arts degree instead of going to welding school?" Also, he says, "The most aimless students are often the last ones you want to force into a career path. I do sort of hate to enable this prolonged adolescence, but I also don't want to aid and abet the miseries of years lost to a misguided professional choice."
States look to Internet taxes to close budget gaps
By Chris Tomlinson - AP - AOLNews.com
AUSTIN, Texas -State governments across the country are laying off teachers, closing public libraries and parks, and reducing health care services, but there is one place they could get $23 billion if they could only agree how to do it: Internet retailers such as Amazon.com.
That's enough to pay for the salaries of more than 46,000 teachers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In California, the amount of uncollected taxes from Amazon sales alone is roughly the same amount cut from child welfare services in the current state budget.
But collecting those taxes from major online retailers is difficult.
The Medical Marketplace, Free and Unfree
Mises Daily: by Andrew Foy, MD
The idea of consumer sovereignty was central to Mises's understanding of the market economy. According to this understanding, consumers shape the pattern of resource use and the assignment of resource rewards according to their preferences. The outputs being produced at any date, the methods of production being employed, and the rewards being given to the various owners of productivity are those dictated by consumers.
Market prices are described by Mises as reflecting an "equilibrium of demand and supply." It is on this basis that Mises views any government interference with market prices as a disturbance to the equilibrium that will, in general, produce results that are worse than the conditions the government wished to improve. Government intervention in the provision of medical goods and services is a perfect example.
NBC Apologizes For Editing Out 'Portion' Of Pledge--
But Doesn't Mention Omitted Words Were 'Under God'
By Mark Finkelstein | NewsBusters.com
As Noel Sheppard reported earlier, in the show-opening feature of its coverage of the final round of the US Open golf championship today, NBC--twice--edited out the words "under God" from its clip of school children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Clearly many Americans were offended and let NBC know about it. Because later in the broadcast, host Dan Hicks issued an apology on behalf of the network. But NBC simply compounded one omission with another. The apology spoke of "a portion of the Pledge" being edited out--but never mentioned that the omitted words were "under God."
Solar Storm Threatening Power Grids –
Yet no Action Taken to Implement Defenses
Written by 21st Century Science Tech - OilPrice.com
A known and cataclysmic threat to the U.S. electric power grid is being largely ignored by the President and Congress. Warning events in 1859, 1921, 1989, and 2003 showed the danger that solar activity can pose to electrical power and distribution systems. Now as we
move into another solar maximum, with increased vulnerabilities built into our electrical grid, the danger again looms large. In the worst case, there is the possibility of no electricity for 130 million Americans for a year or longer. The warnings have been issued, but have gone unheeded.
The greatest danger is to the more than 300 extra high-voltage transformers located at power substations along the routes of major transmission lines. An eruptive event on the Sun, known as a coronal mass ejection, sends a powerful flux of charged particles, protons and electrons, into the surrounding space. If the Earth is on a line with the eruption, the charged particles interact with the Earth's radiation belts and geomagnetic field to produce currents in the ionosphere. The power lines which make up the electrical transmission grid act as antennae, to couple these ionospheric currents to the installed transformers which step up the voltage for long-distance transmission.
Five Observations About Today's Five Supreme Court Rulings Forget about Anthony Weiner for a second to consider the day's news about the 10th Amendment, sentencing, and more
By Andrew Cohen - TheAtlantic.com
The United States Supreme Court Thursday issued five opinions that almost certainly will be under-reported here, there, and everywhere on account of the day's unfolding Weiner-rama, Weiner-drama. The justices didn't unload any blockbusters on an unsuspecting world -- those are still to come before the end of the month -- but their day's work merits a closer look. If nothing else, you can impress your friends and bar-mates this weekend when you change the subject from "What's up with those scandalous New York lawmakers?" to "What do you make of Justice Anthony's 10th Amendment opinion?"
First, the Court unanimously resolved Smith v. Bayer Corp, a case about class-action litigation. Justice Elena Kagan declared that a federal judge who had tossed out a class-action certification had no authority to bar a similar state-court class action from proceeding toward trial. "... [T]his case does not strike us as close," Justice Kagan candidly wrote. Which means it has very little at all to do with the other class-action case of the Term, the big one, Dukes v. Walmart, over which the justices still are noodling. I'd be surprised if that one isn't a 5-4 or 6-3 split one way or the other.
FEMA take over all broadcast facilities for 3 minutes
The Intel Hub: FEMA and a Special Announcement
By Shepard Ambellas - The Intel Hub
Note: The Intel Hub is making an announcement within this release based on information we have received from our sources. This announcement is not to be taken lightly, but at the same time should not dictate a panic either. Unfortunately at this time we are undergoing an investigation and are only able to provide a vague alert regarding the following statement released by FEMA dated June 9, 2011;
FEMA, FCC Announce Nationwide Test Of The Emergency Alert System Similar to local Emergency Alert System Tests, this Test is Scheduled to Take Place on November 9, 2011
Release Date: June 9, 2011
Release Number: HQ-11-099
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). The nationwide test will occur on Wednesday, November 9 at 2 p.m. eastern standard time and may last up to three and a half minutes.
Guidelines for Private Sector Industry alerting technologies to be interoperable with IPAWS can be obtained on the IPAWS website, www.fema.gov/emergency/ipaws.
NASA's Preparedness Speech
Richard C. Hoagland Reacted
Coast to Coast am 06-15-2011
The West Could Have Saved the Russian Economy The former Soviet premier on post-Cold War mistakes, the reason Russia never followed China's pragmatic route, and the importance of trust among nations
By Mikhail Gorbachev - TheAtlantic.com
Mikhail Gorbachev should never have become the Soviet premier. When he was six years old, his grandfather was taken in the middle of the night, a victim of one of Stalin's purges. And he grew up in Stavropol region of the Soviet East, which was occupied by the Nazis during World War II, when Gorbachev was eleven. Both facts should have stunted his climb through the Soviet ladder, but he clawed his way into the ruling Politburo nonetheless.
"Russians speak of 'two Gorbachevs,'" wrote Robert Kaiser, the former Moscow bureau chief for theWashington Post, in his 1991 biography: "the apparatchik and the reformer." The duality seems to remain. He maintains his penchant for long, winding speeches, honed in the Soviet days. The first time I heard him speak, he concluded by noting that his beloved daughter, Irena, who almost always travels with him, had put her hands together, a signal that he should conclude his remarks. I was certain it was a joke; I was assured it was not. His high-school girlfriend, Yulia Karagodina, recalled the bipolarity in Gorbachev even as a teen. "Once at a Komsomol meeting, in front of everyone at the local movie house," she told the Post's David Remnick, speaking about the local branch of the communist youth that Gorbachev led, "he reprimanded me in front of everyone, saying that I'd failed, that I was late. He was shouting a bit, disciplining me. Then afterward, it was as if nothing happened. He said, 'Let's go to the movies.'"
"Greece On The Verge Of A Precipice"
As A "Lehman-Like" Avalanche
Could Be Set In Motion As Soon As Sunday
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Keeping a track of all the fluid, hourly changing developments in Greece can be unbearably complex, and as a result one may be left with the impression that things are better than they really are. They aren't. As the SocGen report below summarizes, Greece may have about 72 hours before it gives itself a Pass/Fail grade on Sunday, which in turn will have massive repercussions on the Troica bailout, on the eurozone, on the EUR, and on all those "Lehman-like" consequences you have been reading about. Once again, just like 2000 years ago, the fate of the western world (we would say democracy but that has not been the case for centuries), is about to be decided by a few popularly elected parliamentarians in Athens. From SocGen: Greece: One step closer to the precipice
Greece’s sovereign crisis has reached a critical phase, and the likelihood of a disorderly outcome has risen dramatically in the last 48 hours.
Two-year Greek bond yields breached the 30% mark, while Irish and Portuguese yield spreads reached one-year highs.
Greece poses $41 billion risk to U.S. banks
By Matt Andrejczak, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — As fears stirred by Greece’s deepening debt crisis raced through global financial markets Wednesday, a quick check of U.S. banks showed they risk losses of tens of billions of dollars should the Mediterranean nation default on its payments.
U.S. banks had total exposure of $41 billion to Greece by the end of 2010, according to the latest figures, issued June 9, from the Bank for International Settlements. Most of the financial commitments appear to be indirect.
Greece, US Debt, Euro meltdown, etc.... well explained:
Dr Deagle Show 110608 1/3 - HARVEY SCHLANGER
Dr Deagle Show 110608 2/3 - HARVEY SCHLANGER
Dr Deagle Show 110608 3/3 - HARVEY SCHLANGER
European Contagion, Domestic Banks, and the S&P 500
BY JW JONES - FinancialSense.com
The price action in U.S. financial markets on Wednesday was the culmination of fear and disease. Fear was represented by a breakout in the Volatility Index (VIX) and the disease was related to the sovereign debt crisis unfolding in the Eurozone. The violent reaction by the Greek citizenry to proposed austerity measures paired with grumblings coming from multiple Eurozone nations ignited fear among traders and investors alike.
I am not an expert on debt instruments, but it seems that there is a considerable amount of systemic risk within the debt structure of the Eurozone. When the notional derivatives such as credit default swaps are factored into the equation the risk to the global financial system intensifies significantly. The real question is who is holding the counterparty risk on the other side of the Greek debt? Even if the Greek situation is resolved without default, what is going to happen to Spain and Portugal's debt?
Financial Crisis Act II: Greece vs Debt Ceiling
By Addison Wiggin - The DailyReckoning.com
06/16/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Hmm… we’re either onto something with our new financial crisis thesis… or way, way off the mark: Both Barack Obama and Ben Bernanke issued warnings of their own yesterday. Seriously.
"We could actually have a reprise of a financial crisis," the president told Ann Curry on the Today show. Mr. Bernanke warned Congress that "severe disruptions in financial markets and the payments system" are possible.
How often do we agree with these two guys? Well, rarely, would be the kind way to say it. It wrankles our contrarian bones… but we’re not ready to revoke our thesis.
Is This It? Mass Rioting,
Civil Unrest In Greece As Economists
Warn Of Global 'Armageddon Scenarios'
Steve Watson - Infowars.com
As protesters continue to run riot in the streets, economists are warning that the whole of Europe and by extension, the rest of the world could face financial armageddon should Greece default on its debt, in the absence of a second bailout.
Financial experts are warning of a 'Lehman Moment' as the European markets are beginning to show signs of unraveling in the wake of the Greek crisis.
"The markets have moved from simply pricing in a high probability of a Greek debt default to looking at a scenario of it becoming disorderly and of contagion spreading to other economies like Portugal, like Ireland, and maybe Spain, Italy and Belgium." a former UK Treasury official told Bloomberg news.
Dramatic ground shots of Athens riots, mass scuffles in Greece
Will They Muck It Up?
BY DAVID MOENNING - FinancialSense.com
I've been working under the assumption that the powers-that-be in Europe (the EU, ECB, the IMF, and the heads of the various PIGI states) would find a way to eventually "handle" the situation in Greece. Note that I did not say "fix" the situation in Greece, or Portugal, or Spain, or Ireland. No, I have merely been expecting the guys and gals in charge to find a way to avoid a "credit event" that, if not dealt with correctly, could threaten the global banking system all over again.
Given the amount of time that the leaders of the world have had to work on this issue, I've assumed that they would figure out some way to make everyone (meaning the Germans) happy enough to kick this ugly can down the road - at least far enough to give the world some breathing room. However, with riots in the streets of Greece and the politicians now getting involved, I am becoming more than a little concerned that the politicos might muck this thing up. And in short, THIS is what Wednesday's dance to the downside in the stock market was all about.
Noonan Concerned Ireland May Be Engulfed
by Fallout from Greek Debt Crisis
By Margaret Brennan and Dara Doyle - Bloomberg.com
Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan said he "fears" the country could be engulfed by the Greek debt crisis, as he sought to calm investors' concerns that the government will seek to impose losses on senior bank bondholders.
"People are nervous," Noonan said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "In Business" with Margaret Brennan in New York today. "Ireland isn’t Greece, we're structured differently. Our fear here is that there would be some knock-on effect which will impact adversely on Ireland."
Noonan called on the Greek government to resolve its political difficulties. As violence erupted in Athens, Prime Minister George Papandreou announced he would name a new government and call for a vote of confidence in parliament in an effort to pressure rebel lawmakers into backing an austerity plan that would secure a new bailout and avert a default.
Hotspots with Max Keiser - Ireland - FULL
U.S. regulators blast European banking system European banks setting own capital levels 'troubling': FDIC's Bair
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. bank regulators on Thursday criticized foreign regulators, commenting on how European financial institutions continue to set their own capital requirements, leaving prospects for future problems "unsettlingly" high.
"Just as troubling is that European banks continue to effectively set their own capital requirements using internal risk estimates, unconstrained by any objective hard limits," said outgoing Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair at a House Financial Services Committee hearing.
Euro Weakens Before Merkel, Sarkozy Meet
By Shiyin Chen - Bloomberg.com
The euro slid for a third day versus the yen and Asian stocks headed for a seventh week of losses, on concern the European crisis won’t be resolved as leaders meet today to discuss a rescue for Greece. Oil and metals advanced.
Europe’s shared currency fell 0.2 percent to 114.42 yen and weakened 0.1 percent to $1.4193 at 11:29 a.m. in Tokyo. The MSCI Asia Pacific retreated 0.2 percent, extending its weekly drop to 1.8 percent. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures climbed 0.2 percent. Oil added 0.2 percent in New York, while zinc and nickel rallied for the first time in three days.
In A Currency Tug-Of-War, The U.S. Dollar Loses…
Alt-Market.com
I imagine sometimes in my most optimistic moments that one day I will live in the midst of a true free market economy, where the tides of trade and investment, the ebb and flow of commerce, are a rather beautiful thing. A marketplace without centralized manipulation, were legitimate supply and demand are elevated instead of obscured, and toxic financial instruments, crooked corporate institutions, and even faulty currencies, are allowed to finally meet their long deserved demise because they no longer serve the needs of our nation and our culture. I imagine an economy that is not only continuously shedding off old skins and renewing itself as our society grows, but one whose primary purpose is to nurture and expedite that growth. I imagine an economy that works FOR the people, not against them. Like I said, "optimistic".
In today’s economy, we have something quite different. We are imprisoned in a labyrinthian deathtrap of a mainstream system, one that feeds endless fiat formaldehyde into the crusted veins of a long since corpsified infrastructure; a financial golem, a wraith, a thing that creeps across the dark horizon of our country’s future waiting to unleash a special kind of hell. A thing that should not exist.
Boehner Says Lawmakers May Seek to Deny Funds
for U.S. Operations in Libya
By Margaret Talev and James Rowley - Bloomberg.com
House Speaker John Boehner said President Barack Obama's explanation of why he can continue the U.S. mission in Libya without lawmakers' approval "doesn't pass a straight-face test" and that lawmakers will consider options to constrain the president, including withholding funds.
Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters at his weekly press conference today that lawmakers may use the "power of the purse" in confronting the administration. White House officials said yesterday the Libya mission is being funded from the Pentagon budget and that they didn’t expect to ask Congress for supplemental money.
"The House has options" on Libya, Boehner said. "Next week we may be prepared to move with those options."
INFOWARS EXCLUSIVE: Military Sources Reveal Ground Force Invasion of Libya
Cramer: What a Second Lehman Could Look Like
By: Drew Sandholm - CNBC.com
Should Greece default on its debt, some fear Europe will implode. It will create an Armageddon-like scenario that many suspect will be similar to the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
For his part, Cramer said Thursday he doesn't think that will happen. He thinks France and Germany will work with the International Monetary Fund to avoid another Lehman-type situation. But the "Mad Money" host wanted to use an up day to discuss just what the "Chicken Littles" are fearing. In other words, he discussed what the worst case scenario would look like, even though he doesn't think it will happen.
Roubini: QE3 Will be With us Before the End of the Year
Written by Top Stock Portfolios - OilPrice.com
According to the latest Wall Street Journal economic forecasting survey, sluggish hiring along with a lowered estimate of job creation anticipated in the next year are the leading threats to an economic rebound. News that the nation’s unemployment rate shot above nine percent last month has only intensified economists’ fears that the less-than-inspiring performance of the economy could persist for years to come.
Thus, the debate over what action to take to ignite expansion and how to create much-needed jobs endures.
Nouriel Roubini, a.k.a. "Dr. Doom," the head of Roubini Global Economics, an independent, global economic and market strategy research firm, believes that the answer will be another round of quantitative easing by the end of the year, specifically if the stock market drops to 10 percent or if economic data continues to worsen.
Art Cashin Compares This Week's Action
To The Days Before Black Friday
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Yesterday's ominous selloff (today's very temporary EURUSD, and 100% cross-asset correlation, bounce notwithstanding: after all the data just got even worse courtesy of the Philly Fed, meaning much more pain for the S&P before QE 3 comes) got you a little jittery, with Flash Crashy overtones? You are not alone. Market veteran Art Cashin recounts that yesterday's market action was not so much reminiscent of 2010, or even the 2008 uber-volatile market, but really 1987.
Some Echoes of 2008 (And One, Faint, Slightly Scarier Echo) – (For those of you who listen to me throughout the day on the UBS squawkbox this may be a little "old news" – but hang in there.)
The stock market got hammered by a one-two punch yesterday. Actually, it was more like a one-two-three punch.
Santelli's Rants on Bernanke [NBC: 6-14-2011]
Soros Says China Missed Window to Stem Inflation,
Now Risks 'Hard Landing'
By Josiane Kremer - Bloomberg.com
China has missed its opportunity to stem inflation and may now risk a hard landing, billionaire investor George Soros said.
The world’s second-largest economy is in a "bit of a bubble," Soros, 80, said today at a conference in Oslo. There are some signs that China is "losing control," he said.
China today ordered lenders to set aside more cash as reserves after inflation last month accelerated at the fastest pace in almost three years. Consumer prices rose an annual 5.5 percent in May, even after the central bank raised interest rates four times since September. Inflation has exceeded the government's 4 percent target every month this year.
Billionaire Cisneros to Team With Chinese Banks
in Latin America Oil, Gold
By Daniel Cancel - Bloomberg.com
Venezuelan billionaire Gustavo Cisneros is setting up joint ventures with Chinese banks to carry out investment in Latin American commodities industries.
The chairman of Cisneros Group of Companies, who is relinquishing operations of the firm to his youngest daughter Adriana, said he aims to push through projects delayed by state inefficiencies through partnerships in energy, agriculture and metals. Deals may take place in countries including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Panama, Cisneros said.
"You’ll probably see in the next year or two a lot of Cisneros China or China Cisneros in Latin America and it's going to be whatever comes, whether it’s oil, gold or big cattle operations," Cisneros, 66, said yesterday in an interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. "They understand they don’t have the knowledge to run these businesses. They need results now and we can provide results."
Stock collapse and $12,000 gold? Two certified doomsters are (slightly) more cautious
By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — After six down weeks and a savage slump on Tuesday, the specter of a 2008 Crash haunts Wall Street. But two certified doomsters are (slightly) more cautious.
This is the problem, as summarized by the latest Aden Forecast:
"Many respected analysts are warning that another financial crisis could be on the horizon similar to the one in 2008. They claim that since the 2008 meltdown was not allowed to end naturally, the conclusion is still coming. This is a real possibility since the fundamental, underlying factors that triggered the crisis to begin with still persist. Another possibility is just a renewed recession."
Recoverable Gold Resources to Run Out in 20 Years
Written by Energy Digital - OilPrice.com
It seems we have been so caught up in the decline of oil reserves that another commodity—one that the mining industry has thrived on for centuries—is apparently even in more scarce supply. Gold reserves are running surprisingly low, and analysts believe that recoverable resources could run out completely within 20 years.
A report written by gold mining analysts for Standard Chartered Bank cites U.S. Geological Survey estimates that at the end of 2010, global gold reserves were only 51,000 tonnes. At the rate of production seen in 2010, this would translate to only 19.2 years of production. Unfortunately, the report also shows that while exploration budgets have risen for major gold mining companies, it has failed to prevent an overall decline in the rate of new gold reserve discoveries.
Eurozone Central Banks Net Buyers of Gold In 2011
For First Time Since Inception Of Euro
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Greek, Portuguese and Spanish debt is under pressure this morning. Greek bonds are being decimated with the 2 year government note now over 30%. Irish bonds remain stable despite Ireland’s finance minister’s reasonable assertion that some senior bondholders must share the burden of losses. European equities are also under pressure on concerns of a “Lehman moment” in the Eurozone debt crisis. The increasing talk of a “Lehman moment” in Europe is due to real concerns that a sovereign default could lead to contagion and a new global credit crisis which could send shock waves through markets and see risk assets come under pressure. This time, the situation may be worse involving as it does both large sovereign and bank debtors and given the fact that it will be both a credit and solvency crisis. Talk of “financial Armageddon” is hyperbole – at the same time there are serious risks and investors and savers should prepare by owning less risky, high quality, liquid assets that will protect from these risks and the attendant risk of a currency crises. This is clearly seen in the increasing preference of central banks internationally to favour gold as a monetary and reserve asset over the major currencies such as the dollar, the euro and pound. Eurozone Central Banks Net Buyers of Gold in 2011 for First Time Since Inception of Euro – Global Central Bank Gold Demand Increases by 43% So Far in 2011
Larry Bates Has a Lot to Answer For
UnreportedWorldNews.com
Let me begin this entry by saying that what I am about to explain is very difficult for me, because I hate to do anything that would be perceived as hurting the cause of Christ or creating division within the Kingdom. The last thing the world needs to see is another scandal involving a Christian leader.
But the defense of the truth allows me to do nothing less than to reveal that Larry Bates — one of the best-known financial advisors in America – hasn’t been coming through with promised and owed deliveries of precious-metals orders to his customers.
Larry Bates (FAMC) Avoiding the Media…
Preying on Religious
UnreportedWorldNews.com
Readers of Unreported World News were the first to hear about the seamy – and un-Christian – underside of Larry Bates' financial empire and precious metals dealings.
WREG, a local CBS station in Memphis, Bates’ hometown, ran a story about the situation with Bates and his company FAMC. Investigative reporter Keli Rabon brought public scrutiny of Bates’ unscrupulous business practices to a new level. The story may be repeated on other CBS affiliates in cities where Bates has spoken, including Dallas-Fort Worth.
Bates' has not only refused to talk to many disgruntled clients but he refused repeated requests by Rabon for comments.
Gold dealer in crosshairs of Quebec tax agency
BERTRAND MAROTTE - MONTREAL— From Saturday's Globe and Mail
High-profile precious metals trader Kitco Metals Inc. vows to vigorously fight accusations that it took part in an elaborate fraud involving more than 100 companies that allegedly bilked the Quebec government of $150-million in sales taxes on close to $2-billion in transactions.
The Montreal-based trading and research company, which bills itself as one of the largest retailers of precious metals in the world, and another Montreal company, wholesaler Carmen International Inc., are among more than 100 companies and dozens of individuals named in Revenue Quebec allegations of a sophisticated false-billing operation.
Dive in Silver Price a "Setup," Says Sprott
By Damon van der Linde – Exclusive to Silver Investing News
Eric Sprott is CEO of Sprott Asset Management and a long-time proponent of owning both gold and silver. He is also a long-time proponent of the belief in the conspiracy theory whereby large financial institutions are colluding to drive silver prices down, as when prices fell from around $50 to $32 an ounce in May.
"In my heart of hearts I believe it was a manipulation," said Sprott in an exclusive interview with Silver Investing News. "There was no market, it was a setup. They’ve just pushed it down. It’s ridiculous."
The recent price correction has largely been attributed to the increased margin requirements from the CME group. Between April 25 and May 5, COMEX increased silver margins to as much as 12 percent – or $21,600 per contract – from 6 percent, before silver tumbled 25 percent.
Gold & Silver are strong on the Greek default news,
COMEX silver inventory
Inflation Jumps Past Expectations
by Kent Bernhard, Jr. - Portfolio.com
Consumers were slammed in May with the biggest jump in core inflation since July 2008, a report released this morning shows. Prices for items excluding food and energy rose 0.3 percent, above the 0.2 percent rise that economists had anticipated, Reuters reports.
But if there’s good news in the report, it’s this: consumers got a break on gas prices, which meant that the overall inflation rate (linked to the amount of money that really comes out of our wallets), actually slowed to a 0.2 percent rise from the 0.4 percent increase that occurred in April.
The Day The Dollar Died
UnreportedWorldNews.com
Before Nixon's Executive Order on August 15, 1971, it was possible to exchange $35 in American currency for one Troy ounce of gold. His decision basically killed the US gold-standard currency and replaced it with a fiat currency that has no guaranteed convertibility.
Ever since then currencies, including the dollar, have had to float in the global marketplace. The value of a country's currency is determined by the ratio of the country's debt to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The less debt and the more stable the country's economy, the more valuable the currency.
A gold standard limits government spending. The value of the dollar dives when politicians know they can print dollars to fund every pet project. They win votes by devaluing the money in your wallet.
Start-Ups on a Shoestring The tales of three entrepreneurs who launched companies—
for less than $150
By COLLEEN DEBAISE, SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN and EMILY MALTBY - WSJ.com
You don't have to break the bank to start a business.
For many would-be entrepreneurs, money is the insurmountable hurdle. They hunger to strike out on their own, but don't have a big pile of cash to invest in a start-up that might not churn a profit for years to come. And they're reluctant to stake what cash they do have while the economy is still shaky.
We decided to see if you could launch a venture for less than people think. A lot less. We set out to find bootstrapping business owners who started companies in recent years—without shelling out more than a couple of hundred dollars.
Peer-to-Peer Loans Grow Fed Up With Banks, Entrepreneurs Turn to Internet Sites
By ANGUS LOTEN - WSJ.com
Some small-business owners, rejected by banks or fed up with bad lending terms, are turning to Internet sites that match borrowers with giant pools of lenders when they need funds. That has driven growth and increased the public profile of a sector that was briefly shut down by regulators during the financial crisis.
In the past year, Prosper Marketplace Inc. and Lending Club Corp., which run the nation's two biggest peer-to-peer lending sites, have reported a sharp upturn in personal loans used to fund small businesses. The sites work like eBay-style marketplaces, matching prequalified borrowers to lenders.
Zombie consumers lead US into lost decade
Wealth Wisdom - parasadenwala.blogspot.com
The global economy is being hobbled by a new generation of zombies – the economic walking dead. American consumers are in the early stages of an unprecedented retrenchment. In the 13 quarters since the beginning of 2008, inflation-adjusted annualised growth in consumption has averaged just 0.5 per cent. Never before in the postwar era have US consumers been this weak for this long.
The zombie syndrome has an important antecedent. It was, in fact, a key symptom of theJapan disease, which led to the first of two lost decades for that country. Encouraged by the government, Japanese banks kept extending credit lines for a broad cross-section of insolvent companies – postponing restructuring and inevitable failure.
Japanese productivity growth weakened dramatically as a result of the ensuing “zombie congestion”. The lifeline of policy-driven bank lending allowed bankrupt companies to hang on to excess workers and redundant capacity. But that sapped post-bubble Japan of sorely needed vitality.
Economist Shiller sees big chance of double dip
By Bradley Davis
NEW YORK -(MarketWatch)- Noted economist Robert Shiller said Wednesday there was a "substantial" probability the U.S. could lurch again into recession.
Noting weak global data--including a stubbornly depressed U.S. housing market--were flashing warning signs, Shiller said the economy right now faced a "tipping point."
"Forecasting models would say no" on the question of whether the U.S. will face a double-dip, Shiller said. "But I'm seeing signs that encourage me to worry about that."
The Yale professor and one of the two men behind the S&P Case-Shiller home-prices index said home prices could still decline despite being lower than where they were more than five years ago.
June 2011 U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook
The Doughnut or the Hole?
By Freddie Mac - sacbee.com
MCLEAN, Va., June 15, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Freddie Mac (OTC: FMCC) released today its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for June showing that stronger home sales growth remains dampened by declining consumer confidence and economic uncertainty. Regardless, during the first four months of 2011, average monthly sales of existing homes are up approximately 5 percent from the average pace of 2010.
Housing Market Tanks Again, Say Builders
BY LEE ADLER - FinancialSense.com
Home builders said the housing market went from dead to deader in early June. The NAHB’s present conditions index fell from 15 (revised down) to 13 (on a scale of 0-100, with anything below 50 being negative). Model center prospective buyer traffic fell 2 points to 12 (on a scale of 100). These numbers are atrocious, dropping to near the lowest levels of the past 21 years. Weak traffic foreshadows weak sales, and traffic remains nearly nonexistent. The traffic index would need to rise above 18 to signal a meaningful increase in potential demand.
The NAHB home builders survey is a diffusion index on a scale of 0 to 100. The index has 3 components—current sales, model home sales traffic, and builder expectations for 6 months hence rated on the basis of good, fair, or lousy. A reading below 50 means that more builders rate conditions as poor or very poor, rather than good or very good. I consider traffic to be the most important indicator because it reflects future sales.
Foreclosures Decline Again in May as Banks Struggle to Keep Up The numbers are way down from last fall, but this doesn't indicate that delinquencies have plummeted
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
In May, foreclosure activity declined to a level not seen since November 2007. Last month, it fell by 2.0%, according to foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac. Unfortunately, this drop isn't likely tied to far fewer borrowers experiencing trouble paying their bills, but to banks failing to process foreclosures quickly enough to keep up with severe delinquencies.
Here are two charts showing foreclosure activity by type of action, first with lines and then with stacked bars:
Wells Fargo to cease originating reverse mortgages
By Joan E. Solsman - MarketWatch.com
Wells Fargo & Co. WFC +0.19% said its mortgage division would stop originating reverse mortgages because volatility in home values and restrictions on the products make it difficult to gauge whether borrowers will make good on their obligations.
The products, which the company issued under the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, allow people at least 62 years old to tap the equity in their homes for cash. The products are known for having high upfront fees, and consumer advocacy groups have warned the complex loans are fertile ground for scams and deceptive marketing.
HAMP:
California Homeowner Can't Escape
Unwanted Mortgage Modification
By Arthur Delaney - HuffingtonPost.com
WASHINGTON -- Getting a mortgage modification from the Obama administration's anti-foreclosure program can be a tricky process. One California homeowner has found it even more difficult to escape a modification he didn't want.
Stacy Wilson of Plumas Lake, Calif., said he sought reduced monthly mortgage payments from Bank of America via the government's Home Affordable Modification Program in April 2010 after his salary was reduced. People who are current on their mortgage but could face "imminent default" because of reduced income are eligible for the program, which can lower monthly payments by hundreds of dollars.
U.S. Homeowners Build Equity Faste
in Refinancing Shift to 15-Year Loans
By Prashant Gopal - Bloomberg.com
While millions of U.S. homeowners have negotiated lower monthly mortgage bills in an effort to avoid foreclosure, Cecelia Kirchman happily added $250 to her payment when she refinanced last August.
Kirchman took out the new loan to reduce her interest rate to 4.5 percent from 7 percent, and slice the term in half to 15 years. She said she has paid down more principal in the past 10 months than in the previous six years of owning her home in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Foreclosures Plunge on Processing Delays
By Dan Levy - Bloomberg.com
Foreclosure filings in the U.S. tumbled last month to the lowest in almost four years as banks weighed down by an increasing inventory of seized homes delayed processing defaults, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
A total of 214,927 properties received default, auction or repossession notices in May, the fewest since November 2007, the Irvine, California-based data company said today in a statement. Filings dropped 33 percent from a year earlier and 2 percent from April. One in 605 households got a notice.
Foreclosure filings have fallen for eight straight months on a year-over-year basis as banks rework their documentation procedures following claims they improperly repossessed homes. Weak demand from buyers is making it difficult for lenders to sell the properties that they already have on their books, known as real estate owned, or REOs, according to RealtyTrac.
Anthony Weiner Resigns: 'Distraction' Makes It Impossible to Stay
By Chris Good - TheAtlantic.com
A bizarre scandal, one that could only have happened in the social-media era, has apparently come to an end, as Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) announced on Thursday that he will resign from the House of Representatives.
"I'm here today to again apologize for the personal mistakes I have made and the embarrassment I have caused. I made this apology to my neighbors and constituents, but I make it in particular to my wife, Huma," Weiner said at senior center in Brooklyn, where he launched his political career with a run for City Council.
Keiser Report: Army of New Mubaraks (E156)
Pentagon in Search of 'Secret' Farmers for Afghanistan Why is the U.S. sending farmers with high security clearance to Afghanistan? -- By Max Fisher - TheAtlantic.com
The U.S. Department of Defense is looking to hire agriculture specialists to send to Afghanistan. That's nothing especially new -- Afghanistan's economy is heavily agricultural, the health of the country's economy is directly tied to the mission of rolling back Taliban influence, and the U.S. has been sending farming consultants there for years. But writer (and former civilian contractor in Afghanistan) Joshua Foust noticed something unusual in reading the job listing, which had been posted to recruitmilitary.com by a defense contractor. The job requires "secret" security clearance.
Then there are secret farmers. Chenega Corporation, one of the ubiquitous Native Alaskan Owned Small Businesses that gets all sorts of exemptions and set-asides from the government, is hiring cleared agricultural specialists to operate in Afghanistan.
Settlement reached in Chinese drywall lawsuit
Hundreds of Florida homeowners with tainted Chinese drywall will share a $54.5 million settlement agreed to by a Miami supplier.
BY Toluse Olorunnipa - MiamiHerald.com
A class-action lawsuit against a Chinese drywall supplier reached a tentative settlement Tuesday, with $54.5 million pledged to repair tainted Florida homes.
Banner Supply, a Miami company that sold 1.4 million sheets of Chinese drywall to builders in Florida, agreed to pay $54.5 million to homeowners whose properties are tainted with the corrosive material.
The settlement covers 2,000 to 3,000 homes in Florida, after a class-action lawsuit claimed that Banner misled consumers about the product’s safety.
Al-Qaeda Names Egypt-Born Ayman Al-Zawahiri
to Replace Bin Laden as Leader
By Chris Dolmetsch and Mariam Fam - Bloomberg.com
Al-Qaeda named Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant and the group's frequent spokesman, as its new leader to succeed the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, who was killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan last month.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon, has been al-Qaeda’s public face for years, sending video and audio messages threatening attacks against Western targets and attempting to turn Muslim populations against their governments.
"We ask God for this to be a new era for al-Qaeda under the leadership of Ayman Zawahiri, an era that will purify Muslim land of every tyrant and infidel," al-Qaeda said in a statement posted on a website frequently used by the group.
US vows to 'capture and kill' Ayman al-Zawahiri
BBC.co.uk
The US will hunt down and kill new al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as it did Osama Bin Laden, Washington's top military officer has vowed.
Adm Mike Mullen said al-Qaeda still posed a threat to the US.
"As we did both seek to capture and kill - and succeed in killing - Bin Laden, we certainly will do the same thing with Zawahiri," he said.
Zawahiri's appointment was posted on a militant website and attributed to al-Qaeda's General Command.
Possible Al-Qaida Hit List Targets Specific Americans
By Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz - NBCNewYork.com
An al-Qaida-linked website has posted a potential hit list of targets that include names and photos of several U.S. officials and business leaders, calling for terrorists to target these Americans in their own homes, NBC New York has learned.
The FBI has sent out a new intelligence bulletin to law enforcement agencies, warning that this new web-based threat, while not a specific plot, is very detailed. The bulletin said the list includes leaders "in government, industry and media."
The FBI has notified those individuals who are named.
U.S. Invasion of Libya Set for October
Aaron Dykes - Infowars.com
Infowars.com has received alarming reports from within the ranks of military stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas confirming plans to initiate a full-scale U.S.-led ground invasion in Libya and deploy troops by October.
The source stated that additional Special Forces are headed to Libya in July, with the 1st Calvary Division (heavy armor) and III Corps deploying in late October and early November. Initial numbers are estimated at 12,000 active forces and another 15,000 in support, totaling nearly 30,000 troops.
Obama to Launch Full Scale Ground War in Libya
on September/October - Alex Jones Tv 1/2
Obama to Launch Full Scale Ground War in Libya
on September/October - Alex Jones Tv 2/2
Iran Claims Launch of Second Homebrew Satellite
By Adam Rawnsley - Wired.com
Iran claims it just launched a second satellite into space. Maybe the mullahs are just bragging. If not, expect some renewed fretting over their missile capabilities.
Iran's official mouthpiece, Fars News, reported on Thursday that the country sent a homemade satellite into orbit, marking the second launch by the Islamic Republic since 2009.
The "pride-inspiring technicians of IRI Aerospace Org (IAO) successfully launched Iran's Rasad satellite into earth space Wednesday evening," according to Fars. Rasad (meaning "observation") is a small image-gathering satellite that weighs in at a relatively light 15.3 kilograms or roughly 34 lbs. It made its trip up into orbit atop a Safir rocket and is supposed to send back imagery and telemetry data.
Iran puts second satellite into orbit
Water Shortages Threatening France's Nuclear Reactor Complex
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
Nuclear energy company executives worldwide can be forgiven for wondering if Mother Nature is pursuing a vendetta against them.
The 11 March 9.0 Richter scale earthquake that rattled Japan saw its shoreline structures survive, but the 50-foot waves generated by tsunami that followed less than an hour later destroyed many Japanese coastal installations and knocked out power to Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) six nuclear reactor complex at Fukushima, instigating a crisis that has yet to be resolved.
Now, half a world away, a shortage of water is threatening France's nuclear reactor complex, as the region’s worst drought in more than a half-century drains rivers and free-flowing water to cooling reactors.
*****
Nebraska Nuclear Reactor Flooded
Submitted by George Washington - ZeroHedge.com
Fort Calhoun's nuclear power plant is one of three reactors across the country that federal regulators said they are most concerned about.
Last year, federal regulators questioned the station's flood protection protocol. NRC officials said they felt the Omaha Public Power District should do more than sandbagging in the event of major flooding along the Missouri river.
OPPD officials said they have already made amends and added new flood gates.
"We updated our flood protection strategy and have tested and re-tested our new strategy. The issue is operationally resolved, and at no time was there a threat to public safety or was public health at risk," OPPD President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Gates said.
Those upgrades are being tested right now, as the area around the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant is being flooded.
Specifically, the midwestern floods have made the power plant an island, and sandbags, berms and other measures are being deployed to prevent a Fukushima-like problem.
Facebook Seeks Bigger Role in Software for Mobile Apps
By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER And YUKARI IWATANI KANE
Facebook Inc. is angling to play a bigger role in shaping the way software gets developed for mobile devices.
The social network, which has turned its popular website into a platform for developing games and other add-on programs, so far hasn't wielded the same influence on mobile gadgets like Apple Inc.'s hit iPhone and iPad. But there are signs the company is trying to change that situation.
Facebook executives, among other things, are encouraging developers who write Facebook apps to do so for mobile devices using a relatively new technology standard called HTML5. The company has also been using HTML5 to enhance its own mobile offerings, which are used by more than 250 million people to tap into its services.
New Malware Steals Your Bitcoin
By Kevin Poulsen - Wired.com
In a sure sign that the virtual currencyBitcoin has hit the mainstream, a new Trojan horse program discovered in the wild Thursday seeks out and steals victims' Bitcoin wallets, the same way other malware goes for their banking passwords or credit card numbers.
The malware, Infostealer.Coinbit, is fairly simple: it targets Windows machines and zeroes in on the standard file location for a Bitcoin wallet. It then e-mails the wallet — a data file containing private crypto keys — to the attacker by way of a server in Poland, according to Symantec, which was first to alert on the attack.
"The dictionary is really an all-knowing special teacher whose services are always available." -- Webster's Dictionary Ad
Every year, words come into and out of the English language. Humans are endlessly inventive and as inventions and circumstances demand labeling, we affix neologisms to describe the world.
In a musty Brooklyn bookstore this past weekend, I went looking for an old dictionary for a very special secret project. Among the teetering stacks of books, I came across a gorgeous 1927 Webster's International New Dictionary, and paging through it at Karloff down the street, I found myself drawn to the NEW WORDS section. These words were not invented in 1927, but represent additions to the book since its original publication in 1909. So, what we're capturing here is change between 1909 and 1927, a fascinating historical moment of great technological and social change. Automobiles spread. Electricity becomes common. Airplanes! World War! Bolshevism! Nuclear physics! Jazz!
Greeks Strike, Clash With Police Over Austerity
By: Reuters - CNBC.com
Stone-throwing Greeks clashed with police and tens of thousands of protesters marched on parliament on Wednesday to oppose government efforts to pass new austerity measures for the debt-stricken euro zone state.
Unions representing half the five-million-strong workforce also launched a nationwide strike, shutting ports, schools and other basic services in the Mediterranean state.
Why Greece Is Not the Next Lehman
By: Patti Domm - CNBC Executive News Editor
As Europe struggles to find a fix for Greece—and Greek citizens take to the streets—traders worry that a Greek default might be like the failure of Lehman or worse.
But Byron Wien, vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Partners, dismisses the comparison and says the world is wiser.
"In retrospect, a lot of people think something should have been figured out so Lehman didn't have to go bankrupt," he said in a quick interview, as he left the set of CNBC's "Squawk Box" Wednesday. "The second thing is Lehman went under, but no bank went under."
Greece Defaults—Guess Who Pays?
BY ROBERT MORLEY - theTrumpet.com
The "too big to fail" are back, and taxpayers are on the hook again.
Yesterday, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson told Bloomberg viewers that there is no way Greece will be able to pay its debt. "It is 100 percent certain that Greece will default—the only question is what euphemism will be dreamed up to cloak the fact that it’s in default, and the race is on to find a way to say that Greece really hasn't defaulted even though it's not making good on its interest payments."
But if a debt default is inevitable, just who will be stuck with the loss when Greece stops paying? Most people have assumed that it would be the big German, French and British banks that lent Greece the money it can no longer afford to pay back.
Greece debt worries send stocks lower
Chip Cutter - AP via AOLNews.com
NEW YORK -So much for a comeback in the stock market.
Stocks fell sharply Wednesday, giving up all of their gains from the day before, as investors became increasingly concerned about the worsening debt crisis in Greece. The dollar rose against the euro and U.S. government bond prices climbed as investors sought out safer assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell below 3 percent.
A report on manufacturing in the New York area also came in far below forecasts. That reignited fears that factory production, one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy, may be weaker than many economists had believed.
The Eurozone Heads for Break Up
Author: Nouriel Roubini - FT.com via Economonitor.com
The muddle-through approach to the eurozone crisis has failed to resolve the fundamental problems of economic and competitiveness divergence within the union. If this continues the euro will move towards disorderly debt workouts, and eventually a break-up of the monetary union itself, as some of the weaker members crash out.
The Economic and Monetary Union never fully satisfied the conditions for an optimal currency area. Instead its leaders hoped that their lack of monetary, fiscal and exchange rate policies would in turn see an acceleration of structural reforms. These, it was hoped, would see productivity and growth rates converge.
US Naval and Troop Movements Toward North Africa, Middle East Reported As Syrian Destabilization Escalates
By Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
Washington DC – US Special Forces units based at Fort Hood, Texas, have been told to prepare for deployment to Libya no later than July, according to a US military source. The Special Forces would then be followed in September or October by heavy armored units of the First Cavalry Division, currently located in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with other components of the US III Corps. This report was broadcast today on the Alex Jones radio program, and comes against the backdrop of escalating US destabilization operations against Syria and sharpening US condemnation of Damascus and its ally, Tehran.
Observers point out that US Special Forces have been in Libya since February. They also note that, while the Libyan destination is highly plausible, some of these units may also find themselves on the way to Yemen, Syria, or beyond.
Gen. Hamid Gul: Israel/India Running U.S. Foreign Policy 1/2
Gen. Hamid Gul: Israel/India Running U.S. Foreign Policy 2/2
Why The Wheels Are Falling Off China's Boom The rot in China's economy is deeper than inflation and malinvestment. -- By Charles Hugh Smith
Despite their many differences, the economies of China and the U.S. share a number of key traits:both are corrupt, rigged, crony-Capitalist, rely on phony statistics and propaganda and operate with two sets of rules: one for the Elites, and another for the masses.
Given these similarities, it's no wonder that the wheels are falling off both economies.
There are some key differences, of course, which will make the crashing of China's boom all the harder. China's leadership likes to do things in a big way, and so its campaign of "extend and pretend" over the past three years has been unprecedented.
America's Dangerous Debt Ceiling Debate
Mohamed A. El-Erian - ProjectSyndicate.com
NEWPORT BEACH – It has been raised more than 70 times in the last 50 years, mostly without commotion. It must be raised again this summer if the United States government is to continue paying its bills on time. But now America’s debt ceiling has become the subject of intense political posturing and touch-and-go negotiations behind closed doors. And, obviously, the outcome has implications that go well beyond the US.
As part of America’s system of checks and balances, Congress gets to do more than just approve the annual federal budget. It also sets a limit on how much debt the US Treasury is allowed to issue. Beyond this ceiling, the government can spend only from current revenues.
A Game of Chicken
Author: James Hamilton - Economonitor.com
Making a political game out of the debt ceiling is playing with fire.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has been warning of serious repercussions if the debt ceiling is not raised, for example, in this letter written May 13 to Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO):
Failure to raise the debt limit would force the United States to default on these obligations, such as payments to our servicemembers, citizens, investors, and businesses. This would be an unprecedented event in American history. A default would inflict catastrophic, far-reaching damage on our Nation’s economy, significantly reducing growth, and increasing unemployment.
A default would call into question, for the first time, the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. As a result, investors in the United States and around the world would be less likely to lend us money in the future. And those investors who still choose to purchase Treasury securities would demand much higher interest rates, reflecting the increased risk that we might default on our obligations again.
Nearly Half of US Thinks New Recession is Coming: Poll
By: John Harwood - CNBC.com
The nation's gloom over economic conditions poses a serious threat to President Obama’s re-election chances, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
The survey shows that nearly half of all Americans, and two-thirds of Republicans, believe the country is headed back into recession. A 54 percent majority disapproves of Obama's handling of the economy.
"The public is incredibly pessimistic about the future," said Peter Hart, the Democratic pollster who conducts the NBC/WSJ poll with his Republican counterpart Bill McInturff.
Added McInturff, "The president has substantial advantages, but is still in for a difficult race."
Santelli: Bond Market Trading Indicates Little Fear Of Default
Digging Into the U.S. Budget: What We Spend, and How
By Loren Berlin - DailyFinance.com
After researching the federal budget, I've decided that I will never again complain about how hard it is to track my own spending. The frustrations of dealing with my homemade spreadsheet are nothing compared to the complexity of the government's annual budget, which not only involves gigantic numbers, but also requires aglossaryto interpret its cryptic terminology. Still, as the debate surrounding the debt ceiling continues like a scratched record, it's worth understanding how America spends all that cash.
The federal budget is comprised primarily of two types of spending. First, there is"discretionary" spending, a misleading descriptor, as it implies that the government can do without these programs. But that category includes such vital things as law enforcement, transportation, national parks, disaster relief, homeland security and scientific research.
The Other National Debt
By KEVIN D. WILLIAMSON - NationalReview.com
This article originally appeared in the June 21, 2010, issue of NR.
About that $14 trillion national debt: Get ready to tack some zeroes onto it. Taken alone, the amount of debt issued by the federal government — that $14 trillion figure that shows up on the national ledger — is a terrifying, awesome, hellacious number: Fourteen trillion seconds ago, Greenland was covered by lush and verdant forests, and the Neanderthals had not yet been outwitted and driven into extinction by Homo sapiens sapiens, because we did not yet exist. Big number, 14 trillion, and yet it doesn't even begin to cover the real indebtedness of American governments at the federal, state, and local levels, because governments don’t count up their liabilities the same way businessesdo.
A Bill To Make Soros Richer
IBD - Via LuxLibertas.com
Rules: A bill encouraging the use of natural-gas-powered vehicles will give the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases while rewarding the Democratic left’s patron saint.
We like natural gas. It’s the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, the U.S. has lots of it and, thanks to technologies such as hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”), we can get even more of it from the vast shale formations that dot the country.
Others like it, too, which is why a bill floating through Congress, the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act of 2011 (HR 1380), or Nat Gas Act, has seen a number of Republicans joining central-planning Democrats in supporting it.
But HR 1380, sponsored at last count by 105 Democrats and 83 Republicans, is another government intervention in the free market. Instead of getting government out of the way of innovators, it would give a tax credit for up to 80% of the purchase cost of a natural gas vehicle — with a cap dependent on the car's weight, $8,000 for passenger cars and up to $64,000 for heavy trucks — to get more gas-powered vehicles on the road.
Print More Money
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The second round of quantitative easing (QE2) is scheduled to end June 30, and already there are calls for more financial stimulus to keep the economy from falling off a cliff. The latest call came from Larry Summers, former head of the Obama Administration’s financial team. In an Op-Ed piece that ran on Reuters last Sunday, Summers pitched the idea of a $200 billion cut in the payroll tax. The Reuter’s story said, "Fiscal support should be continued and indeed expanded by providing the payroll tax cut to employers as well as employees,” Summers wrote. "Raising the share of the payroll tax cut from 2 percent to 3 percent would be desirable as well." . . . He also said the economy would benefit from an extra $100 billion in infrastructure spending over the next several years and recommended additional aid to states and cities." (Click here for the complete Reuters story.) The way I see it, Mr. Summers is proposing another $300 billion be added to the national debt.
The Case for Silver: Buy!
BY PRIEUR DU PLESSIS - FinancialSense.com
I am on record calling the silver market a Hunt Brothers type of market a few days before the market crashed. Well, it has happened. After soaring to a peak of $49.79 per ounce on 26 April, the silver price crashed to a low of $33.01 on 18 May.
With silver trading at a notch below $35, the question is: whereto now? In my analysis of the platinum market I compared the platinum price after the Tohoku quake in March this year to the platinum price after the Kobe quake in 1995. I did the same with the silver price, and wow, see what emerged!
"You can run on for a long time,but sooner or later God will cut you down." -Johnny Cash
We have all been a little deflated by the price suppression in the paper silver market lately,but the drop in inventory has been extremely bullish. Today we not only dropped 777,018 ounces in the all important Registered inventory. We dropped 1.2 million additional ounces in the Eligible category.
This is the first time ever have been under 100 million ounces.
You have to wonder at what point will people wake up to what is going on here?
Do we really have to wait until there is 0 ounces left?
You also have to wonder why the Elite ALWAYS try price controls either explicit or secretive like they are doing now?
Inflation Keeps On Rising but Manufacturing Gauge Slumps
By: Reuters - CNBC.com
U.S. core consumer inflation rose at the quickest pace in nearly three years in May and a regional manufacturing gauge contracted this month, underscoring the headwinds facing the economy.
The Labor Department said Wednesday its Consumer Price Index, excluding food and energy, increased 0.3 percent, the largest gain since July 2008, after rising 0.2 in April.
Core inflation was lifted by steep rises in motor vehicle and apparel prices and economists had expected the measure, which is closely watched by the Federal Reserve, to rise 0.2 percent last month.
Core Measures of Inflation increased in May
by CalculatedRisk
Earlier today the BLS reported:
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2 percent in May on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.6 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3 percent in May after increasing 0.1 percent in March and 0.2 percent in April. The shelter index rose 0.2 percent in May after increasing 0.1 percent in each of the seven previous months. Both rent and owners' equivalent rent rose 0.1 percent; the acceleration in shelter was due to the index for lodging away from home, which rose 2.9 percent in May after being unchanged in April.
Keiser Report: Economic Melt-Through (E155)
Capitol Hill's Other Dirty Laundry
By Michelle Malkin - PatriotPost.us
The same congressional panel that launched a preliminary inquiry into Weiner-gate this week has been diddling around with several other Democratic ethics scandals for years. These aren't foxes guarding the henhouse. They're sloths guarding the foxhole.
The House Ethics Committee is now reportedly probing into Twitter-holic Democratic New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's possible abuse of government resources while sending pervy messages and photos to young women across the country. The latest batch of Weiner's leaked social-media self-portraits -- more cheesecake than beefcake -- showed him in various states of undress at the congressional gym. From what other public buildings has Ick-arus tweeted his junk? And how much time on the public's dime did his government staff spend coaching Weiner girls to assist with damage control?
America's Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb
By Peter Ferrara - The American Spectator.org
My new book, America's Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, published by HarperCollins, went on sale this week. The book begins by explaining the overwhelming tidal of wave of government spending, taxes, deficits and debt swamping our economy and threatening ultimate bankruptcy for America. But this book is not just about the problems, but also about the solutions.
Defusing the ticking bankruptcy bomb that is threatening to explode American prosperity will require first creating another economic boom to restore traditional American prosperity. Only surging economic growth will produce the booming revenue base essential to avoiding national bankruptcy, and reduce dependency sufficiently to enable the necessary slashing of government spending. The book explains exactly all the specifics of how to create another generation-long, 25-year economic boom, drawing on my background working for President Reagan in the White House Office of Policy Development.
Foreigners Make Run on US Housing Market
By: Diana Olick - CNBC Real Estate Reporter
Falling home prices may be plaguing the US economy, but they are candy to foreign investors, who already have a weak dollar on their side.
Buyers from overseas spent roughly $41 billion on US residential real estate last year, a bump up from the previous year. US real estate agents report a surge this Spring especially, as foreign buyers see continued pressure on home prices and ample bargains.
"I don't think they’re so concerned about the prices dropping as they are about getting value for their money," says Rick Ambrose, a Coldwell Banker agent in Lake Mohawk, NJ.
Home Builder Sales Expectations Fall Back to Record Low
By: Diana Olick - CNBC Real Estate Reporter
The nation's home builders haven't felt this bad about their market since last September.
After six months of holding steady the National Association of Home Builder's sentiment survey fell three points in June to 13, as builders face not only competition from distressed properties, but rising costs of materials. Fifty is the line between positive and negative sentiment on the survey.
"Roofing, copper, wallboard, vinyl siding and other components have made it extremely difficult to construct a new home and sell it at a price that covers the costs," said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nev.
California foreclosure auction notices on rise
By MARILYN KALFUS - THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
More foreclosure auctions were scheduled in California in May than in April, the first month-over month increase in 2011, according to a report by ForeclosureRadar.com.
Also in May, California saw the fewest foreclosure starts -- notices of default -- since October 2008, when a state law temporarily halted the notice of default process, the report shows.
But actual foreclosure auctions in the state have sped up, with cancellations down 24.3% from April and 18% from the prior year.
States Where Unemployment Could Hurt Obama in 2012
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
At this point, it's beginning to look likely that the U.S. unemployment rate will still be around 8% when the next presidential election occurs in November 2012. That presents a serious challenge for President Obama. He'll have to convince voters that the very high rate and prolonged nature of unemployment isn't his fault. To some, complaining about the mess he was left by the previous administration after four years in office will wear thin? But the difficulty he has in battling sour economic sentiment will likely vary from state to state.
U.S. presidential elections are tabulated by electoral ballot. So it isn't how the candidates do on a national basis that matters, it's how many and which states they win. To know how big an obstacle high unemployment poses for the President Obama in 2012, you need to think about each state on a case-by-case basis.
Charlie Skelton Bilderberg Aftermath:
Lord Mandelson's Nature Walk 1/2
Charlie Skelton Bilderberg Aftermath:
Lord Mandelson's Nature Walk 1/2
Study says Philadelphia's foreclosure diversion is working
By Alan J. Heavens - Inquirer Real Estate Writer
An independent study has concluded that Philadelphia's three-year-old foreclosure-diversion program has significantly improved the chances for homeowners in default on their mortgages to remain in the properties.
Not only that, the study found, but the Common Pleas Court program also has provided help in an "equitable manner," with lower-income and minority homeowners reaching agreements with lenders at similar rates to higher-income, nonminority Philadelphians.
Results of the study were released Tuesday. It was conducted by Ira Goldstein, director of policy solutions for the Reinvestment Fund, and financed by the William Penn Foundation and the Open Society Institute.
Lifeguards' special-status pensions under scrutiny in California Most full-time lifeguards get the same 'public safety' pensions as police officers and firefighters. But a growing number of cities are demanding that lifeguards cut their benefits and pay more toward them.
By Catherine Saillant and Mike Reicher, Los Angeles Times
As lifeguards begin their busy summer season, the bronzed guardians of California's beaches find themselves at the unlikely center of the battle over costly public pensions.
The six-figure salaries of some full-time municipal lifeguards have fueled talk radio segments and blog comments in recent weeks, with some commentators expressing surprise at the pay for those who patrol the beaches.
The Extinction of Retirement
BY MICHAEL PENTO - FinancialSense.com
For the better part of a century the foundations for a semi-comfortable retirement for many Americans have rested on the financial pillars of rising real estate and equity prices, positive real interest rates on savings, the continued solvency of public and private pension plans, and the reliability of national entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicaid). But in the last few years, the economic sands have fundamentally shifted and these pillars are no longer sturdy, some have cracked completely. For many Americans, the traditional idea of a comfortable retirement, filled with golf carts, cruises, and fishing trips, is going the way of the dodo bird.
Caring for Aging Parents Will Cost Boomers $3 Trillion
By Sheryl Nance-Nash - DailyFinance.com
You would probably do anything for your mom and dad, but the cost of caring for them in their old age can be crippling.
According to the just-releasedMetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers: Double Jeopardy for Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents, the nearly 10 million Americans who are providing care for their aging parents will lose an estimated $3 trillion in wages, pension and Social Security benefits to do so. The study, produced by the MetLife(MET)Mature Market Institute in conjunction with the National Alliance for Caregiving and the Center for Long Term Care Research and Policy at New York Medical College, reports that the average lifetime losses are $324,000 for women and $283,716 for men.
May Update: 2012 Social Security Cost-Of-Living Adjustment
by CalculatedRisk
The BLS reported this morning: "The Consumer PriceIndex for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) increased 4.1 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 222.954 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index rose 0.5 percent ..."
CPI-W is the index that is used to calculate the Cost-Of-Living Adjustments (COLA). Here is an explanation ...
The calculation dates have changed over time (see Cost-of-Living Adjustments), but the current calculation uses the average CPI-W for the three months in Q3 (July, August, September) and compares to the average for the highest previous average of Q3 months. Note: this is not the headline CPI-U, and not seasonally adjusted.
National Public Internet
By The Prowler - The American Spectator.org
Over the past 18 months, the Obama Administration has been seeking to more stringently regulate Internet, broadband, and wireless broadband networks operated by such communications firms as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, as well as Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Now it is taking steps to create a taxpayer-financed, government-run broadband network that while ostensibly deployed for use by public safety officials, would compete for business against the current wireless broadband companies.
Late last week a bill co-sponsored by U.S. Senators John D. (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), that would set aside a wide swath of valuable wireless spectrum to public safety, passed by a bipartisan vote in the Senate Commerce Committee. Funding to build the network would come from the auctioning of additional spectrum to private companies, as well as taxpayer dollars.
What is the Bilderberg Group?
Pentagon in Search of 'Secret' Farmers for Afghanistan Why is the U.S. sending farmers with high security clearance to Afghanistan? -- By Max Fisher - TheAtlantic.com
The U.S. Department of Defense is looking to hire agriculture specialists to send to Afghanistan. That's nothing especially new -- Afghanistan's economy is heavily agricultural, the health of the country's economy is directly tied to the mission of rolling back Taliban influence, and the U.S. has been sending farming consultants there for years. But writer (and former civilian contractor in Afghanistan) Joshua Foust noticed something unusual in reading the job listing, which had been posted to recruitmilitary.com by a defense contractor. The job requires "secret" security clearance.
Then there are secret farmers. Chenega Corporation, one of the ubiquitous Native Alaskan Owned Small Businesses that gets all sorts of exemptions and set-asides from the government, is hiring cleared agricultural specialists to operate in Afghanistan.
Libya clash reaches tipping point
By REID J. EPSTEIN - Politico.com
The fight over presidential authority in the military conflict in Libya reached a tipping point Wednesday, morphing from an academic discussion over the War Powers Resolution to a serious challenge to President Barack Obama’s authority to keep U.S. forces involved in the NATO-led air bombings of the North African dictatorship.
A day after House Speaker John Boehner declared Obama would soon be in violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a bipartisan coalition of 10 members of Congress sued the president and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, arguing they are violating the law. The turn of events sent the White House scrambling to respond; the administration released a report justifying its actions in legal and military terms.
Ahmadinejad joins China, Russia leaders at summit
By Aleks Tapinsh (AFP) – Google.com
ASTANA — Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday joined the Chinese and Russian leaders in a rare encounter at a summit in Kazakhstan, where he launched a new attack on the "slavers and colonisers" of the West.
Host Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev urged the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a security group regarded as a NATO rival founded in 2001, to take a more active role in ensuring regional security.
Iran's president calls for post-Soviet security alliance to unite in alliance against West
By Peter Leonard, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press
ASTANA, Kazakhstan - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Wednesday for a security alliance of several former Soviet nations and China to form a united front against the West.
Ahmadinejad's address to fellow heads of state at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kazakhstan will likely deepen suspicions that the bloc is intended as a counterweight to the United States across the region.
In a summit declaration signed by all the member states, the organization also attacked missile defence programs in another apparent dig at the United States.
The Biggest Threat to America’s National Security
By Joel Hilliker - theTrumpet.com
Admiral Mullen is on to something.
Here's a statement with prophetic reverberations. It was uttered by America's top military officer, Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to students at Fort Bliss back in March:
"I actually think the biggest threat to our national security isour national debt" (emphasis mine).
Militaries cost money, and none more than America's. The U.S. has spent more on defense than any nation in history: close to a billion dollars a day, every day, for over six decades—more than the rest of the world combined.
But the times they are a changin'. America is getting crushed by debt, and such spending is simply no longer sustainable. And while this reality has hardly slowed the current U.S. administration from continuing to spend itself sick virtually everywhere else, the one area it seems eager to make cutbacks is within the military.
FREE: First 36 of 108 minutes of "Burzynski - Cancer Is Serious Business ...
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Burzynski, the Movie is the story of a medical doctor and Ph.D biochemist named Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski who won the largest, and possibly the most convoluted and intriguing legal battle against the Food & Drug Administration in American history.
His victorious battles with the United States government were centered around Dr. Burzynski's gene-targeted cancer medicines he discovered in the 1970's called Antineoplastons, which have currently completed Phase II FDA-supervised clinical trials in 2009 and could begin the final phase of FDA testing in 2011–barring the ability to raise the required $150 million to fund the final phase of FDA clinical trials.
Barack Obama: there are days when I say one term is enough President Barack Obama has said his family was "not invested" in a second term in the White House and would have been content if he had decided against running for re-election.
By Alex Spillius, Washington - Telegraph.co.uk
He said first lady Michelle Obama would be the first to encourage him to do something "a little less stressful" if she no longer believed in what his administration was doing.
"Michelle and the kids are wonderful in that if I said, 'You know what, guys, I want to do something different', they would be fine," he told NBC.
"They're not invested in daddy being president or my husband being president."
There were, he conceded, days when he thought "one term was enough", but "if the family is doing well and Michelle is putting up with me I've got enough energy to do the work I am doing".
Dear President Calderon:
As you are no doubt aware, America the Great is quickly becoming America the Gray. The so-called "boomer" generation, comprised of scores of million of Americans, will soon reach retirement age.
As they age, America's boomers yearn for a less frantic pace—-and a lifestyle that allows one to pause and smell the roses now and again.
In other words, boomers are looking for the "Good Life" which is supposed to accrue to those who work 45 years, pay ungodly amounts in taxes, raise a family, put children through college, and baby-sit the grandchildren.
Unfortunately, the United States is no longer as hospitable as it once was to graying citizens, especially now that our economy has collapsed.
As a result, boomers have decided to move to your beloved Mexico.
China's Cyberassault on America
If we discovered Chinese explosives laid throughout our national electrical system, we'd consider it an act of war. China's digital bombs pose as grave a threat.
By RICHARD CLARKE - WSJ.com
In justifying U.S. involvement in Libya, the Obama administration cited the "responsibility to protect" citizens of other countries when their governments engage in widespread violence against them. But in the realm of cyberspace, the administration is ignoring its primary responsibility to protect its own citizens when they are targeted for harm by a foreign government.
Senior U.S. officials know well that the government of China is systematically attacking the computer networks of the U.S. government and American corporations. Beijing is successfully stealing research and development, software source code, manufacturing know-how and government plans. In a global competition among knowledge-based economies, Chinese cyberoperations are eroding America's advantage.
Bilderberg Plan to Save Eurozone in Tatters Activist spotlight on globalist agenda has elite running scared
Paul Joseph Watson - Prison Planet.com
The Bilderberg Group’s plan to rescue the eurozone and preserve future plans for a global currency is in tatters, as the Greek debt crisis spirals out of control and the return of national currencies to replace the euro becomes a real possibility.
Bilderberg were successful in achieving their objective of saving the single currency from collapse following last year’s conference in Spain, but their efforts this year appear to be in vain, with economic analysts increasingly predicting the demise of the euro and a return to national monetary sovereignty.
Writing in the Financial Times, economist Nouriel Roubini predicts that the eurozone is heading for a break up, forecasting a return to national currencies and the death of the euro following a period of five years.
The Inflation Fears are Muted
as a Renewed Threat of Deflation Appears on the Horizon
By Yra - Notes From Underground
Global equity markets have been under pressure as the economic data from all regions of the world has been weaker than expected. British industrial production numbers were horrid and other areas in Europe have also experienced worse than anticipated activity. Low-money rates have been successful in pumping up many asset classes, especially since Jackson Hole Speech of August 27, 2010. The developed world’s CENTRAL BANKS have been creative in finding ways to keep REAL INTEREST low if not outright negative, making investors holding of cash a losing endeavor.
The looming possibility of a default by Greece and other European peripherals is exerting great pressure on the large European banks, pushing them to hoard capital and curtail lending to ensure having adequate reserves. The ECB is also facing the probability of large losses on their holdings of Greek debt placing restrictions on the European creation. The problem is further magnified by the fact that large U.S. banks have sold large amounts of CDS (CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS to European creditors, putting more pressure on the balance sheets of the systemic-risky lending institutions. If there is a legally declared DEFAULT, the hit to the large global financial institutions could be LEHMANESQUE.
Taxes: Upper Class Cuts Leave Middle Class Bleeding
By Bruce Watson - DailyFinance.com
On the surface, the national deficit doesn't seem all that complicated: In May, America's debt slammed against its officially set limit of $14.3 trillion, and almost everyone agrees that the federal government needs to come up with a lot more money. But when it comes to the question of how to raise that money, things get a lot more complicated -- and political.
Generally speaking, Republicans want tocut taxesand slash expenses, while Democrats want to raise taxes on the upper income brackets and preserve social programs. The Republican approach certainly has its attractions: Nobody likes paying the tax man, and there's something remarkably grown-up and responsible-sounding about phrases like "protecting future generations" and "tightening our belts." But under scrutiny, it starts to look like these lofty goals may conceal another agenda, as the proposed cuts in taxes and spending are likely to benefit the wealthy, while placing an out-sized burden on the country's poor and middle class.
Obama: If Debt Limit Not Raised, Financial Crisis Possible
By: Reuters - CNBC.com
President Barack Obama warned Tuesday there could be another global financial crisis if the U.S. Congress fails to raise the national debt ceiling.
But in an interview with NBC's "Today" show, Obama also said he took Republican leaders at their word that they want to avoid such a situation and he expects a deal to increase the debt limit "in a sensible way."
Boehner gives Obama Friday deadline on Libya
By Stephen Dinan-The Washington Times
Stepping up a simmering constitutional conflict, House Speaker John A. Boehner warned President Obama on Tuesday that unless he gets authorization from Congress for his military deployment in Libya, he will be in violation of the War Powers Resolution.
In a letter sent Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Boehner, the top Republican in the constitutional chain of succession, said Mr. Obama must provide a clear justification by Friday for committing troops to Libya.
Sunday marks the 90th day since the president notified Congress that U.S. troops had been committed to help enforce a no-fly zone overLibya, which is designed to protect the rebels fighting Col. Moammar Gadhafi's government.
Barack Obama challenged over legality of Libya campaign John Boehner, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives has warned Barack Obama that US operations in the Libya conflict risked violating US law by this weekend unless he gets congressional approval.
Telegraph.co.uk
Mr Boehner warned Mr Obama that the administration may fall afoul, come Sunday, of a 90-day deadline set by the 1973 War Powers Act aimed at curtailing US presidents' ability to deploy the military overseas.
"It would appear that in five days, the Administration will be in violation of the War Powers Resolution unless it asks for and receives authorisation from Congress or withdraws all US troops and resources from the mission," he said.
In a letter made public by his office, Mr Boehner also gave Mr Obama until Friday to share his legal justification for not seeking explicit congressional approval for a conflict that polls find overwhelmingly unpopular with the US public.
Ron Paul Libyan War Is About Commercial Business!
Egypt Debt Buoyed by Obama Guarantee for Eurobonds: Arab Credit
By Alaa Shahine and Ahmed A Namatalla - Bloomberg.com
President Barack Obama's guarantee on $1 billion of Egyptian Eurobonds is poised to reduce the country's borrowing costs, helping the transition to democracy after six decades of autocratic rule.
The support that Obama pledged last month may cut yields on the five-year debt by 200 basis points, or the equivalent of $100 million, according to the median estimate of five fund managers surveyed by Bloomberg. Yields on Egypt’s one-year bills jumped to the highest level since November 2008 following the uprising that ousted PresidentHosni Mubarak in February. The country last sold international debt in April 2010.
Syrians accuse United Nations of abandoning them Refugees fleeing the advancing forces of the Syrian army have accused the United Nations of abandoning them to their fate, saying they fear they will be massacred.
By Andrew Osborn, Khirbet el-Joz, Syria - Telegraph.co.uk
Syrian troops sweeping through the restive towns and villages around Jisr al-Shughour in the north of the country were last night spotted just two miles from the Turkish border.
Men trapped inside the country told The Telegraph which travelled along mountain paths over the frontier to interview them that they had spotted snipers taking up position.
They said they had been warned by Turkish soldiers that the Syrian troops were preparing to attack them and said they were defenceless against any assault.
Treasuries Advance on Speculation
Second Bailout for Greece to Be Delayed
By Masaki Kondo - Bloomberg.com
Treasuries advanced for the first time in three days on concern a European rescue plan for debt- saddled Greece will take longer to craft, boosting demand for the relative safety of government debt.
Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden said yesterday that an agreement on a second bailout package for Greece may be delayed until July. U.S. bonds have returned 2.5 percent to investors this year, the best performer among government debt issued by the Group-of-Seven countries, according to indexes compiled by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"The debt problem in the euro region can't be solved easily," said Hiroki Shimazu, an economist in Tokyo at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., a unit of Japan’s second-largest bank by market value. "Because it's difficult, the issue can cause unease in the market, triggering funds to flow to Treasuries in a flight to quality."
Bundesbank Sounds Warning EU Holding Fresh Talks on Greek Bailout
Spiegel.de
Euro zone finance ministers met on Tuesday for fresh talks on a new bailout for Greece, which was hit by another ratings downgrade on Monday. Meanwhile, the ECB signaled it won't sign up for any new funding for Greece, and Germany might get its way on involving private investors in a new rescue.
Euro zone finance ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss a second bailout for Greece, with Germany demanding that private bondholders should contribute to a rescue.
What "Backs" Today's Money? (Part 2)
BY STEVE SAVILLE
Our 6th June commentary included a short piece titled "What backs today's money?", in which we attempted to explain that money is not "backed" by anything and nor does it need to be. Money is what it is -- the most commonly used medium of exchange within an economy. This piece was subsequently posted as a standalone article at a few web sites and generated an unusually large amount of feedback (questions, comments and objections). Today we'll address the three most common objections.
Based on the emails we received, the most controversial part of our article related to "intrinsic value". Considering that some popular gold market analysts and newsletter writers routinely assert that "intrinsic value" is the most important difference between gold and the dollar, we aren't surprised that many gold bulls reflexively rejected our statement that gold, like the dollar, has no intrinsic value. Our point was simply that all value is subjective. To explain what we meant we said that gold would have no or very little value to someone stranded alone on a desert island, but would likely have a lot of value to someone living in a modern inflation-prone economy.
U.S. vs. Greece, Is Debt Situation Even Comparable?
By Stephen L. Bernard - WSJ.com
Though their overall economic situations are vastly different, both the U.S. and Greece could be looking at near-term defaults on their national debt.
Greece is staring down a debt restructuring to help reduce its payments over the next few months because banks and investors are no longer willing to lend the country money. Then there’s the U.S. — plenty of folks are willing to lend it money, but the country won’t be allowed to accept it come early August unless it raises its debt ceiling.
If the countries don’t make significant positive progress and they end up missing a payment or restructuring outstanding debt, ratings agencies could rule that they are in default. Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s rating Monday to CCC, the lowest rating it has on any of the 100+ countries it measures. Moody’s Investors Service is among the rating agencies to recently warn that it could review the U.S. for possible downgrade if it doesn’t race the debt ceiling.
U.S. Debt
Published by Ian R. Campbell - StockResearchPortalBlog.com
Two articles that caught my attention late last week were titled ‘Fed passes China to become largest U.S. creditor‘ (reading time 1 minute), and ‘China Agency Says US Already Defaulting on Debt‘ (reading time 3 minutes). The first article says that as a result of Quantitative Easing #2, at the end of Q1 2011 The U.S. Federal Reserve held about 14% of total outstanding federal debt, and at that point was the single-largest creditor of the U.S. Government. It further says that China ranked 2nd, holding about 12% of total outstanding federal debt. Everyone reading this must be old enough to remember one of the first of the popular computer games (early 1980's style) called Pac-Man, where a little round carnivorous ball with a < shaped mouth ran around the computer screen devouring similar looking little round balls. I was reminded of that game when I read this article. The U.S. Fed being the largest holder of U.S. Federal Debt seems circular to me. Chasing one’s tail seldom is a good expenditure of energy.
Debt Limit 'Wrong Tool' to Force Cuts: Bernanke
By Caroline Salas Gage and Joshua Zumbrun - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the U.S. debt ceiling shouldn't be used as a bargaining chip to force budget cuts, and failing to raise it could cause "severe disruptions" in financial markets.
Using the debt limit deadline to force some "necessary and difficult fiscal-policy adjustments" is "the wrong tool for that important job," he said. "We should avoid unnecessary actions or threats that risk shaking the confidence of investors in the ability and willingness of the U.S. government to pay its bills," Bernanke said today in the text of remarks in Washington.
China raises reserve ratio for banks to ward off inflation
By David Pierson - L.A.Times.com
China raised the reserve ratio for the nation's banks Tuesday for a sixth time this year, just hours after announcing the highest inflation numbers in 34 months.
The hike of 50 basis points raises to record highs the amount of deposits that Chinese banks must hold in reserve rather than lend out to consumers and businesses. The measure, which goes into effect June 20, is aimed at cooling the economy by taking about $59 billion out of China’s banking system, said Qu Hongbin, co-head of Asian Economics Research for HSBC.
"Inflation, not growth, remains the top macro risk facing policymakers," Qu said.
China's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, grew 5.5% in May from a year earlier — the fastest pace since July 2008.
Stock Prices Have Fallen For Six Weeks In A Row
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Well, it's official. U.S. stock prices have fallen for six weeks in a row. So will next week make it seven? The last time stocks declined for seven weeks in a row was back in May 2001 when the "dot-com" bubble was bursting. At this point, the Dow has declined by approximately 5 percent since the beginning of June. Things don't look good. So exactly what is going on here? Well, it is undeniable that the recent mini-bubble in stocks has been too good to be true. The S&P 500 had surged nearly 30 percent since last September. Much of this has been fueled by the Federal Reserve's latest round of quantitative easing, but now that is coming to an end in a few weeks and investors are a bit spooked. Meanwhile, wars and revolutions are sweeping the Middle East, Japan is dealing with the damage caused by the tsunami and by Fukushima, Europe is trying to figure out how to bail out Greece again and the U.S. debt crisis is continually getting worse. In addition, wave after wave of bad economic news is certainly not helping the mood on Wall Street. In many ways, a "perfect storm" is developing and many are now extremely concerned about what the rest of 2011 is going to bring for Wall Street.
Is Gold in Fort Knox Real? Ron Paul Wants to Know
By: Steve Liesman - CNBC.com
Are the gold bars in Fort Knox really made of the precious metal? Or has the U.S. government secretly sold off the nation's stockpile and replaced it with metal bars that are only painted gold?
Ron Paul wants to find out.
Giving legitimacy to an Internet conspiracy theory that the gold in Fort Knox is fake, the iconoclast Republican congressman from Texas has asked adminstration officials to audit the purity of the nation's 700,000 gold bars held in Fort Knox, according to an internal Treasury document obtained by CNBC.Paul, a presidential candidate who chairs the House's subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy, had previously called for the U.S. gold reserve to be counted and for a return to the gold standard. He now appears to be going a step further in his request that representatives from the U.S. Treasury Department and the U.S. Mint testify at a subcommittee hearing on June 23 about the authenticity of the nation's gold.
Jim Rogers on ET NOW 13 June 2011
Gold recovers on Greek worries, China inflation
SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : Gold rebounded in Asian trade Tuesday mainly on escalating debt crisis in Greece while China's higher inflation rate also supported the precious metal.
Spot gold was seen trading at $1521.47 an ounce at 1.00 p.m Singapore time while US gold for August delivery was at $1522.23 an ounce on the comex division of Nymex.
Silver prices also advanced as it was seen trading at $35.10 an ounce at the same time while palladium strengthened 0.9 percent to $801.63 an ounce and platinum added 0.5 percent to $1,807 an ounce.
Gold robust over $1500 as stagflation deepens
CommodityOnline.com
Gold is tentatively higher this morning with the British pound, yen, Swiss franc and dollar showing weakness. Greek German 10 year bond yields have surged to euro era record highs and the Greek 10 year bond has surged to a new record high of 17.146%.
The euro has remained remarkably stable, so far, but euro gold at €1,052/oz remains near (3.4%) record highs of €1,088/oz.
Gold, silver to make new highs by year end absent equity crash
By Jason Hamlin - CommodityOnline.com
Precious metals investors are getting a little antsy as many newer investors and weak hands have been scared away after witnessing the first major correction since the financial crisis of 2008. While gold has only corrected 3% from its April high of $1,565, silver is down nearly 30% in the same time period. This article will focus on how I think things will play out over the next few months and into the close of 2011, with a focus on the price action in silver.
While the long-term fundamentals remain robust and I continue to expect silver to push towards $100/ounce at some point in 2012, the short-term situation is not so clear. The dollar may be the last fiat currency standing, as the sovereign debt situation in Europe deteriorates. In turn, the Euro weakness will likely provide strength for the dollar in the short term, along with the end of QE2 and continued silence from "The Bernank" regarding QE3. Throw in weak seasonality during the Summer months and we might have a recipe for lower silver and gold prices over the next month or two.
12 More Signs That Society Is Collapsing
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
What we are now witnessing is the slow motion unraveling of America. Our economy is dying, the American people have lost faith in the government and in almost all of our other major institutions, and our society is collapsing. Most Americans don't understand why all of this is happening, but most of them do realize that something has fundamentally changed. Earlier this year, McDonald's held a "National Hiring Day" and a million Americans showed up to apply for jobs. Only 62,000 of them were hired. That means only 6.2% of the applicants got jobs. So what are we supposed to tell the 93.8% that didn't get hired? Are they supposed to have any hope for the future when they can't even get a minimum wage job at McDonald's? When I was a teenager, I went over to McDonald's one day, filled out an application and was instantly hired. My, how things have changed. Now we have millions upon millions of young people that are staring directly into a very bleak future. The level of frustration in this country is rising to frightening levels and large numbers of people are already showing that they will stoop to anything in order to survive.
Life in the So-Called Recovery
By Eric Fry - The DailyReckoning.com
06/14/11 Laguna Beach, California – "What Recovery?" Time Magazine finally got around to asking in its latest issue.
Better late than never, we suppose. The Daily Reckoning has been asking that question for months already...
"America's recent economic 'recovery is just a dismal version of 'Mother May I,'" quipped Dan Amoss, editor of the Strategic Short Report in his essay "Inflation 1; Economy 0" in early March. "Almost every 'one step forward' will succumb to 'two steps backward.'"
Two weeks later, we reiterated, "America’s economic recovery contains more cracks than Humpty Dumpty... after suffering his 'great fall.' Somehow, all of Bernanke's horses and men managed to slather enough monetary glue onto the fractured pieces of our economy to hold them all together. But the reconstructed economy does not look very much like the original one. Humpty Dumpty is now a Picasso.
Wisconsin Supreme Court rules in favor of Walker's budget repair bill
The Business Journal
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled late Tuesday afternoon that a Dane County Circuit Court judge overstepped her authority in delaying and voiding Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill that would sharply limit collective bargaining rights for state unionized employees.
The high court ruled on a 4-3 vote that the judicial department has no jurisdiction to interfere with legislation. Justices also ruled that legislators did not violate state Open Meetings law when it gave less than 24 hours notice before a conference committee hearing that allowed a state Senate, absent Democrats who had left the state to prevent a quorum, to vote and approve the budget repair bill.
U.S. State & Municipal Job Cuts
Published by Ian R. Campbell - StockResearchPortalBlog.com
A recent article titled 'State, local governments set to see record job cuts, layoffs' –reading time 2 minutes – addresses what it says is likely to be a "record-breaking lay-off binge' of up to 110,000 employees by U.S. State and Local Governments during the first quarter of their new fiscal year that begins July 1. The article says that this employment sector has lost 510,000 jobs from August 2008 to date. It also reports that States (I think a generalization) facemulti-billion dollar budget gaps that up to the end of this month have subsidized by U.S. Federal Government stimulus. Apparently States are planning to reduce education, social service and local government funds, as well as downsize their own payrolls further in the next twelve months.
Boeing defense unit cuts 225 jobs in Wichita
St. Louis Business Journal
Boeing Co. announced plans Tuesday to cut about 225 jobs at its defense facility in Wichita, Kan., through layoffs, attrition and transfers.
Boeing, whose Defense, Space & Security unit is based in Hazelwood, Mo., said the cuts will be made at the unit’s Maintenance, Modifications & Upgrades (MM&U) facility in Wichita as a result of the end of some programs there and adjustments in aircraft maintenance cycles.
The Dividing Influence in the US Job Market
By Bill Bonner - The DailyReckoning.com
06/14/11 Baltimore, Maryland – For 6 weeks, the Dow has been going down. It should be ready to bounce.
But stock market investors didn't get a bounce yesterday. They didn't take a loss either. It was a draw. The Dow closed 1 point higher than on Friday.
As for oil, it was down to $97. And gold lost $13.
Business profits have been near record highs. This is not a good reason to buy stocks. Profits are famously "mean reverting." That is, they go back to normal pretty fast. Which should mean lower profits in the future.
When profits are high it is usually because labor costs are relatively low. That is the case now. But that's not good news. In the US, labor's share of national income is the lowest it has been for almost 100 years. People who own and run corporations enjoy higher earnings. The rich get richer.
Gerald Celente on RT America 14 june 2011
US Housing Crisis Is Now Worse Than Great Depression
By: Jeff Cox - CNBC.com
It's official: The housing crisis that began in 2006 and has recently entered a double dip is now worse than the Great Depression.
Prices have fallen some 33 percent since the market began its collapse, greater than the 31 percent fall that began in the late 1920s and culminated in the early 1930s, according to Case-Shiller data.
The news comes as the Federal Reserve considers whether the economy has regained enough strength to stand on its own and as unemployment remains at a still-elevated 9.1 percent, throwing into question whether the recovery is real.
Why ObamaCare Is Losing in the Courts The government's lawyers keep changing their arguments as each one is exposed as constitutionally suspect.
By DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. AND LEE A. CASEY - WSJ.com
When we first articulated ObamaCare's fundamental constitutional flaws in these pages nearly two years ago, our objections were met with derision by the law's defenders. Those who have been following the unfolding litigation are no longer laughing.
Three U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals are poised to render decisions on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the coming months. Despite hundreds of briefing pages and numerous oral arguments, government lawyers have yet to address the law's most basic constitutional infirmity. Only a "general police power"—the right to enact laws alleged to be in the public interest without regard to interstate commerce or some other federal legislative authority—can support the law's centerpiece, the "individual mandate" that all Americans purchase health insurance. The Constitution denies that power to the federal government, reserving it to the states alone.
GOP governors pushback against Obama on federal Medicaid rules
By Michael A. Fletcher - WashingtonPost.com
Faced with severe budget problems, Republican governors are escalating their fight against federal rules requiring states to maintain current levels of health-care coverage for the poor and disabled.
The growing resistance to the federal government over the hugely expensive Medicaid program poses a critical test for President Obama, who has the power to relax the rules for states.
If he allows states to tighten eligibility requirements, it would outrage many of his core supporters while undermining the central goal of his signature health-care law: expanding health insurance coverage. But if the president turns his back on governors struggling to gain control of their finances by trimming their most costly program, he risks intense criticism just as his administration is locked in a battle with Republicans over the nation’s soaring debt.
KinectShop: The Next Generation Of Shopping [Exclusive Video]
BY GREGORY FERENSTEIN - FastCompany.com
A new augmented reality shopping platform for Xbox Kinect will allow users to try on clothes in true 3-D, share photos with friends, and store wish-listed items on smartphones for shopping on-the-go.
Virtual reality shopping just got a lot more real--and could soon become a lot more mainstream. "KinectShop" (working title), an augmented reality shopping platform for theXbox Kinect, exploits the system's new finger-recognition technology to allow shoppers to grab items from an unlimited shelf of clothes, see how accessories look at multiple angles, and share the photos with friends on Twitter and Facebook for a quick thumbs-up or down.
Facebook Is Now Using Facial Recognition Technology –
Have You Checked Your Privacy Settings Lately?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
The days when you could be "anonymous" on the Internet are long gone. Social media networks like Facebook are a lot of fun, but you should expect to have absolutely zero privacy while using them. If you still believe that anything you say or do on Facebook is private than you are being delusional. Now, Facebook has even enabled facial recognition technology across its entire site. Facebook can now instantly identify your face out of its half a billion users worldwide. Facebook is using this technology for its new "Tag Suggestions" feature. The idea is that facial recognition technology will speed up the process of tagging friends and family in photos that have been posted on Facebook.
Why Kevin Systrom Turned Down Zuckerberg,
Left Twitter To Start Instagram
BY AUSTIN CARRMon - FastCompany.com
Kevin Systrom launched popular photo-sharing app Instagram in October--and already it boasts around 5 million users. By comparison, it took years for startups such as Facebookand Twitter to reach that growth. And Instagram, which lets users apply one-click professional filters to photographs, did so in roughly just seven months.
What most might not know is that Systrom's pre-Instagram achievments foreshadowed his eventual success. He crossed paths with Mark Zuckerberg and Adam D'Angelo when they were getting Facebook going; he interned at Twitter before Twitter was Twitter. But he left it all behind to start Instagram.
Forget China,
Americans Have Had All Their Communications Bugged For 20 Years
Paul Joseph Watson - Infowars.com
Outrage over the revelation that Chinese authorities have been installing spying devices on all dual-plate Chinese-Hong Kong vehicles is nothing compared to the fact that Americans and European have had all their communications tracked for at least two decades.
"For years now Chinese authorities have been installing spying devices on all dual-plate Chinese-Hong Kong vehicles, enabling a vast network of eavesdropping across the archipelago," reports the Epoch Times.
However, the modern era of high-tech surveillance really began with the Echelon program in the early 90's.
Daniel Ellsberg:
All the crimes Richard Nixon committed against me are now legal
Jay Kernis - CNN.com
He is the subject of a documentary about his life, "The Most Dangerous Man in America," nominated for a 2010 Academy Award, which took its title from the words former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger used to describe Ellsberg in 1971.
In the 1960s, Ellsberg was a high-level Pentagon official, a former Marine commander who believed the American government was always on the right side. But while working for the administration of Lyndon Johnson, Ellsberg had access to a top-secret document that revealed senior American leaders, including several presidents, knew that the Vietnam War was an unwinnable, tragic quagmire.
David and Goliath:
Vietnam Confronts China Over South China Sea Energy Riches
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
An increasingly fractious maritime confrontation is developing in the South China Sea, with enormous implications for international companies interested in developing East Asia’s offshore hydrocarbon resources. Far from the radars of city of London and Wall Street investors, the clash has seen Vietnam emerge as spear carrier for its fellow ASEAN members on the dispute.
Offshore drilling is the most capital-intensive form of exploiting hydrocarbons, but its expense and scarcity has also allowed technically advanced Western companies to drive hard bargains with third world countries over their offshore waters, as they don't have indigenous advanced technical resources nor finances to exploit their maritime wealth.
Dr Deagle Show 110610 1/3 - EARTH CHANGES & PREPAREDNESS with John Moore
Dr Deagle Show 110610 2/3 - EARTH CHANGES & PREPAREDNESS with John Moore
Dr Deagle Show 110610 3/3 - EARTH CHANGES & PREPAREDNESS with John Moore
'Too Big to Fail' Anxiety Grows Among Big Financial Firms A new psychosis is striking Wall Street giant
that want to avoid aggressive regulatory oversight
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Something important was discovered during the financial crisis: some firms are so large and so interconnected that their collapse would set off a chain reaction that would bring down the entire economy. The "too big to fail" problem was born. But since then it has evolved. With new financial regulation imposed on the industry, a psychosis has arisen, which we might call "systemiphobia" (the fear of being deemed systemically relevant and regulated accordingly). Symptoms of the disorder include firms proclaiming they aren't too big to fail, desperately trying to avoid proving that they can, and secretly hoping that they would be rescued. "Who? Little Old Me, Too Big to Fail? No Way!"
On Sunday, Eric Dash and Julie Creswell from the New York Times reported on a really amusing phenomenon that's becoming very common. The heads of large financial firms are heading down to Washington to proclaim their insignificance:
Tax Cut Talk Shows Obama Desperation
By John Ransom - Townhall.com
Six weeks of stock market losses, poor jobs data, high prices in food and energy have the Obama administration casting about for policy methods by which they can get the economy going again.
As I predicted, on June 2nd in Obama's Nuclear Option on Economy, they’ve become so desperate that they are even considering tax cuts on evil corporations.
Since previous methods to gin up the economy are off the table, such as more stimulus spending and another round of monetary easing by the Federal Reserve Bank, the administration has nowhere else to go but cutting taxes.
Greece Receives Lowest Credit Rating by S&P
By Jennifer Ryan and Gabi Thesing - Bloomberg.com
Greece was branded with the world’s lowest credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, which said the nation is "increasingly likely" to face a debt restructuring and the first sovereign default in the euro area's history.
The move to CCC from B reflects "our view that there is a significantly higher likelihood of one or more defaults," S&P said in a statement yesterday. "Risks for the implementation of Greece's EU/IMF borrowing program are rising, given Greece's increased financing needs and ongoing internal political disagreements surrounding the policy conditions required."
Greece's government, which plans to sell 1.25 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of 26-week Treasury bills today, said that the downgrade overlooked "intense" talks between European officials to address the nation's financing needs. Credit- default swaps on Greece, Ireland andPortugal surged to records yesterday on concern governments' struggles to resolve the turmoil will threaten their ability to pay their debts.
US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross
By: Jeff Cox - CNBC.com Staff Writer
When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco's Bill Gross told CNBC Monday.
Much of the public focus is on the nation's public debt, which is $14.3 trillion. But that doesn't include money guaranteed for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which comes to close to $50 trillion, according to government figures.
Roubini Says 'Perfect Storm' May Threaten Global Economy
By Shamim Adam - Bloomberg.com
A "perfect storm" of fiscal woe in the U.S., a slowdown in China, European debt restructuring and stagnation in Japan may converge on the global economy, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.
There’s a one-in-three chance the factors will combine to stunt growth from 2013, Roubini said in a June 11 interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are "anemic but OK" global growth or an "optimistic" scenario in which the expansion improves.
"There are already elements of fragility," he said. "Everybody's kicking the can down the road of too much public and private debt. The can is becoming heavier and heavier, and bigger on debt, and all these problems may come to a head by 2013 at the latest."
"Meaningful probability" of a China hard landing: Roubini
By Kevin Lim
(Reuters) - China faces a "meaningful probability" of a hard economic landing and the euro zone is storing up problems for the future by not tackling the debt crisis head on, said Nouriel Roubini, the economist who predicted the global financial crisis.
He said U.S. Treasury prices, which have risen sharply as investors sought a safe haven from the euro area debt crisis and worries about a slowdown in the global economy, were fairly valued although he was cautious about U.S. equities.
New York-based Roubini is closely followed by Wall Street because he predicted the U.S. housing meltdown that precipitated the global downturn.
Small Banks, Big Banks, Giant Differences:
By Robert G. Wilmers - Bloomberg.com
There are reasons for bankers like me to view these as good times. Bank profits are up and failures have ebbed. Nonetheless, I remain troubled about the state of the financial-services industry.
Here's why: community banks have given way to big banks and excessive industry concentration; profits are increasingly driven by risky trading; leverage is taking precedence over prudent lending; compensation is out of control. This toxic combination leads to continued taxpayer risk and threatens long- term U.S. prosperity.
To understand the change, first consider history. Banking once was a community-basedenterprise, relying on local knowledge to guide the process of gathering customer deposits and extending credit. Done well, this arrangement ensures that deposits are deployed into a diversified pool of investments, while providing depositors with liquidity and a return on their savings.
Fed must tighten policy or risk inflation: Fisher
By Laurie Fox
(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve must reverse its super-easy monetary policy or risk fueling runaway prices, a top Fed official known for his hawkish views on inflation said on Monday.
"There's enormous liquidity in the system," said Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher, a voting member this year of the Fed's policy-setting panel. "We need to tighten policy or give rise to inflationary forces."
The Fed has kept interest rates near zero for two and a half years, and has bought more than $2 trillion in long-term securities to push borrowing costs still lower and help pull the U.S. economy from its worst recession since the Great Depression.
Central Bankruptcy - Why QE3 is Inevitable
BY MICHAEL PENTO - FinancialSense.com
As the U.S. economy seemingly limps out of the Great Recession most analysts now assume that the Federal Reserve will soon join the tide of other central banks and bring an end to the current era of unprecedented monetary expansion. Markets expect that Fed will begin withdrawing liquidity this summer, not too long after this latest round of the quantitative easing comes to an end. But this is simply a delusion.
There are many political and economic reasons why the Fed will find it extremely difficult to absorb the liquidity that it has relentlessly pumped into the economy since the beginning of the financial crisis. But its biggest problem may be that the ammunition it carries on its balance sheet is insufficient to the task.
Anonymous Demands on the Federal Reserve
By Addison Wiggin - DailyReckoning.com
06/13/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Well, Ben Bernanke can't say he wasn't warned. You may recall, the hacker group known as Anonymous issued a demand on March 11 that Bernanke step down as Fed chairman.
"We aim to break up the global banking cartel centered at the Federal Reserve, International Monetary Fund, Bank of International Settlements [sic] and World Bank," their video manifesto declares.
The outfit managed to briefly shut down the websites of Amazon, PayPal, Visa and MasterCard in retaliation for those firms’ cutting business ties to WikiLeaks, so we assume the original threat was more than just an idle one.
The Gold Standard: Myths and Lies
Mises Daily: by Robert P. Murphy
With various states debating measures to elevate the monetary status of gold, the gold standard is more politically relevant now than it has been in decades. When the LA Times (to pick just one example) runs an article stating matter-of-factly that "economists" uniformly oppose gold, you know the defenders of the current system are getting nervous.
Precisely because a gold standard is such a hot topic lately, it's important for people to understand its rationale. In the present article I'll try to clear up a few misconceptions.
Do All Economists Oppose the Gold Standard?
I realize I am betraying my naïvete by admitting this, but I was very surprised at the depth of falsehood in the LA Times article mentioned above. Here is the blurb below the title, "Pushing for a Return to the Gold Standard":
The idea to make the precious metal legal tender has gained currency in more than a dozen state capitals, aided by Tea Party support and other efforts to rein in federal power. Economists say the plan would be disastrous.
A Dark Shadow Lights Up the Gold Market
By Byron King - DailyReckoning.com
06/13/11 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – There is a dark shadow hovering over the US dollar and the ability (or, rather, inability) of the US federal government to pay its way in the future.
Below is a chart that shows the percentage of US government income that goes to pay interest on the national debt. It also shows the historical price of gold in real terms.
Before 2010, the chart uses historical data for both gold and the percentage of revenues going to pay interest. In the years ahead, the interest payments are an estimate based on known outstanding US debt and the anticipated rates. It's just following the math.
Invest in silver to be on the safer side
By Kelly Hunter - CommodityOnline.com
Silver among other precious metals has seen very few fluctuations in its price. Over the last few years, there has been an increase in silver prices and today it is being considered as one of the precious metals from the point of view of investment.
Now the big question is why silver prices are important.
The silver prices along with gold have seen a steady increase in the last decade and this is good news because these precious metals offer a lot of security in unstable economy and markets. As you have seen in the recent past, markets have been really unstable and the recession has not done any great favors. The question is: should you invest in silver? The answer is yes.
Silver bonding wire set to replace gold wire in semiconductors, LEDs
CommodityOnline.com
TOKYO (Commodity Online): Silver bonding wire may replace gold wire in semi-conductors thereby reducing noble metal bullion costs by approximately 80 percent and providing the same level of productivity.
There is a growing movement among semiconductor manufacturers to replace gold wire, which is currently the most widely used bonding wire for connecting lead frames and IC chips, with copper wire, which enables the cost of noble metal bullion to be reduced by approximately 90 percent, according to Tanaka Denshi Kogyo K.K, world's leading bonding wire manufacturer. The compnay will begin sales of SEA silver bonding wire on June 14.
Is There a Comex Silver Shortage?
BY RYAN JORDAN - FinancialSense.com
Earlier this week, several websites and blogs that I follow announced that the “registered” silver at the COMEX exchange dropped below 29 million ounces (“registered” means the amount of silver available for investors to buy at the exchange.) This was touted as an "all-time low." While I could not find a complete data set on COMEX silver inventories, this 29 million ounce number is definitely the lowest since 1988, and is lower than the number of ounces available in 1980 (roughly 55 million), when the COMEX changed the rules on the Hunts to help bring the price down. I should point out that when you add in the “eligible” category you get another 73-odd million ounces of silver, which is still higher than when Warren Buffet was involved in the metal, though even then the “registered” category never dropped below 32 million ounces. So it is important to note that the total inventories at the COMEX are NOT at all-time lows.
Inflation Is Coming!
By Chuck Butler - DailyReckoning.com
06/13/11 St. Louis, Missouri – Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! It’s not a Marvelous Monday for the currencies, stocks, commodities, the Miami Heat, or my beloved Cardinals… Of course, those two teams will get through their rough patches… But the risk assets… Talk about getting slammed on Friday… Whoa! That was one nasty move, and so, here we are on this Marvelous Monday sifting through the ashes of risk assets that got burned on Friday.
So… Is it over? The selling that came fast and furious on Friday? I guess the only thing that stopped the selling on Friday was simply time ran out on the trading day, and with it being a Friday, there was no Asian market to pick up where the US left off… So… Saturday and Sunday brought out the calmer heads in Asia, and the risk assets of currencies and metals found a bid… Not a strong bid, but enough to wrap a tourniquet around the bleeding…
BofA May Post $27 Billion Further Housing Losses,
Bernstein Analysts Say
By Ambereen Choudhury and Hugh Son - Bloomberg.com
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), the largest U.S. lender, may face a further $27 billion of housing-related losses between now and 2013 amid increasing regulation as the economic recovery slows, analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein said.
The losses would be in addition to the $46 billion the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender has booked so far, analysts led by John E. McDonald wrote in a note today.
"The process of addressing legacy mortgage issues will be long and arduous," the analysts said. "Recent declines in home prices and an uptick in employment trends create an upward bias to our loss estimates" for the lender. Bernstein has an "outperform" recommendation on the stock.
Foreclosure Crisis Spawns Still More Scrutiny of Banks
By Nathan Koppel - WSJ.com
Banks continue to face close legal scrutiny over the meltdown of the subprime real estate market.
The board of Regions Financial Corp., the nation’s 12th largest bank, is investigating whether bank executives delayed public disclosure of loans that were going sour during the financial crisis, WSJ reports.
Also, the bank is expected to pay about $200 million to the SEC to settle charges that Regions’ investment-bank unit defrauded investors in subprime securities by inflating the value of the risky securities, according to WSJ.
A Regions spokesman declined to comment.
The Uneven, but Immense, State Budget Problems
Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
So much time is spent worrying, debating, complaining about, and trying to devise solutions to the federal government's deficit problems that you can almost forget that some states' budgets are in disastrous shape as well. Luckily, the Associated Press has stepped in to provide an analysis detailing that all lawmakers -- whether working at the federal or state level -- have a very high aptitude for budget bumbling. Here are a couple of highlights from its findings:
12 states started the year with deficits that were equal to 15 percent or more of their general fund, a state's main checkbook for paying day-to-day operations.
States with the highest per capita number of Medicaid recipients were among those with the largest budget deficits, as a percentage of general fund revenue.
All 50 states have a combined $689.5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and $418 billion in retiree health care obligations. Five states have unfunded public employee pension liabilities of $50 billion or more.
States face long slog after recession AP analysis: Many states face a long slo
in trying to climb out of the Great Recession
At statehouses around the country, the Great Recession is far from over: It could take years for many states to climb out of the hole and return to pre-downturn spending levels.
An Associated Press examination of 50 balance sheets shows state budgets and bank accounts still ravaged by a drop in tax revenue. Many states are also facing enormous long-term pension and health care obligations. At the same time, the payout of stimulus money from Washington that helped many states in their darkest hours has come to an end.
While some states saw a modest jump in tax collections this spring, the combined revenue projected by the 50 states in the coming fiscal year -- $734 billion -- is still down by about $34 billion, or 5 percent, from the 2007-08 fiscal year, when the recession began.
Surging college costs price out middle class
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- What do you get when college costs skyrocket but incomes barely budge? Yet another blow to the middle class.
"As the out-of-pocket costs of a college education go up faster than incomes, it's pricing low and medium income families out of a college education," said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of financial aid sites FinAid.org and FastWeb.com.
The numbers confirm what most middle class families already know -- college is becoming so expensive, it's starting to hold them back.
Arizona Legislature punts on unemployment insurance extension
Phoenix Business Journal - by Mike Sunnucks
The Arizona Legislature again failed to act on Gov. Jan Brewer’s request to change the state unemployment insurance formula to allow some long-term jobless workers to continue receiving benefits.
Republican legislators ended a special session called by Brewer on Monday without taking action on the unemployment benefits extension.
The Terrifying Truth About New Technology Do robots and Twitter make you nervous?
Growing old is what you're really afraid of
By DANIEL H. WILSON - WSJ.com
In movies, on television, and in books, robots are stalking the land, scanning for human victims. The technology we depend on is going awry. Our civilization is going up in flames.
As we consider the umpteenth round of cutting-edge cellphone upgrades, we feel a creeping unease settle over our shoulders. Dread drips from every new device that dances into our lives: newer, shinier, faster. This time in white.
At some point, you probably stopped to wonder where all the pay phones had gone. You've been heard to say, "May I speak to a human, please?" Perhaps you've even contemplated the deeper questions, like just what in the hell does Twitter do?
Steve Quayle on E.Coli GMO Bio-Warfare
Coast To Coast AM - 06.07.2011
Staying out of hospital is cheaper and safer
Business Courier - by James Ritchie
No matter how nice the hospital, no one wants to be there unless absolutely necessary.
In fact, Dr. Elliott Fisher, director of population health and policy at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon, N.H., would like to see Americans spending less time as inpatients. He believes Greater Cincinnati could do with about 20 percent fewer hospital beds than the 5,000 or so beds it has, as the Business Courier reported Friday.
And it's not just because of the inconvenience of wearing a hospital gown and being in a strange bed. Hospitals are far from the safest places to be.
Government Jobs Untouched by the Great Recession Private sector down 300k jobs
as public employment remains stable
By Don Carrington - Carolina Journal
RALEIGH — Gov. Bev Perdue and her Democratic allies have claimed that the budget passed by the General Assembly would decimate public employment in North Carolina. And yet during the current recession, government agencies have been spared the massive job losses that have afflicted private companies.
Public sector employment levels in North Carolina have been stable since the start of the recession in December 2007. It would take a loss of 63,000 government jobs to match the nearly 9 percent net loss that has occurred in the private sector during that time.
White House to cut access to half of federal websites
By Dave Boyer-The Washington Times
As part of the Obama administration’s campaign to promote transparency, the White House announced today it intends to eliminate the public’s access to half of the federal government’s websites within the next year.
The White House said there are nearly 2,000 websites operated by the federal government, which it said confuses people.
"With so many separate sites, Americans often do not know where to turn for information," the office of Vice President Joseph Biden Jr. said in a statement. "The administration will immediately put a halt to the creation of new websites. The administration will also shut down or consolidate 25% of the 2,000 sites over the next few months and set a goal of cutting the number of separate, standalone sites in half over the next year.
Liberal law group warns of Hill pressure in Boeing-labor fight
By Tim Devaney-The Washington Times
The National Labor Relations Board should be "insulated" from the congressional Republicans who are pressuring the agency to drop a case against aerospace giant Boeing, because it could "intimidate" the group and “taint” the case, legal experts said Thursday in a panel hosted by the liberal-leaning American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.
The NLRB has blocked the opening of a major new Boeingmanufacturing plant in South Carolina, saying the company will illegally punishing its unionized workers in Washington state over past strikes. The case has brought fierce complaints from leading business groups and from prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill, who accuse the agency of regulatory overreach and favoritism to the unions.
The Elite under Capitalism
Mises Daily: by Ludwig von Mises
[Economic Freedom and Interventionism (1980)]
A long line of eminent authors, beginning with Adam Ferguson, tried to grasp the characteristic feature that distinguishes the modern capitalistic society, the market economy, from the older systems of the arrangement of social cooperation. They distinguished between warlike nations and commercial nations, between societies of a militant structure and those of individual freedom, between the society based on status and that based on contract. The appreciation of each of the two "ideal types" was, of course, different with the various authors. But they all agreed in establishing the contrast between the two types of social cooperation as well as in the cognition that no third principle of the arrangement of social affairs is thinkable and feasible.[1]
One may disagree with some of the characteristics that they ascribed to each of the two types, but one must admit that the classification as such makes us comprehend essential facts of history as well as of contemporary social conflicts.
The US Ministry of Truth... Even Bill Clinton Knows It's Over! Bill Clinton wants one, which means even he knows the jig is up.
by Butler Shaffer - LewRockwell.com
The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
~ H.L. Mencken
Bill Clinton – the examplar of truth in modern America – has proposed the establishment of a government "ministry of truth" – to be run by either the United States government or the United Nations – that would supervise the content of the Internet, requiring individuals and websites to conform to agency factual standards. Such a proposal is consistent with Hillary Clinton’s long-standing interest in establishing a government "gatekeeper" for the Internet; one that would prevent justanyone from putting their opinions out into the world.
Democrats Insist That Weiner Must Quit
By DEVLIN BARRETT And PATRICK O'CONNOR - WSJ.com
House Democrats insisted Sunday that Rep. Anthony Weiner must resign—not just take a leave of absence to undergo psychological treatment—as they prepare to return to Washington contemplating a possible vote to expel him from the party caucus due to the scandal over his sexually-charged online messages.
The Democrats' struggle to force the New York congressman out of Congress came as new sexually suggestive photographs of the congressman surfaced on a website.
Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, said Sunday that he did not believe Mr. Weiner could effectively represent his constituents and urged him to quit. He followed other top party lawmakers who on Saturday signaled that his move to seek treatment was insufficient. Mr. Hoyer also said the pending House ethics investigation would take too long.
Missing Iraq money may have been stolen, auditors say U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq's reconstruction after the start of the war.
By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington— After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bushadministration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.
West unsuccessful in attempts to undermine Iran from within
By Sergei Balmasov - Pravda.ru
The West, particularly the U.S., is trying to undermine Iran from within. In addition to terrorism and spying they utilize ethnic and religious cards. Foreign special services are particularly active in regard of the Iranian Azeris and Kurds, trying to provoke them to oppose the central government.
Will this idea work? The chairman of Russia's Islamic Committee Heydar Jemal shared his thoughts in an interview with Pravda.ru.
"The seriousness of the national and religious issue in Iran is clearly exaggerated. Of course, the most important group for the subversive forces is Azerbaijanis as the largest minority in terms of numbers. There are some liberal-minded residents of the city of Tabriz who would really like to get a new state of Azerbaijan. It is them who the West is trying to feed, particularly the U.S.
Is Syria Hopeless? With military forces massacring civilians unopposed
and the international community divided,
nothing short of a mass humanitarian awakening
among security forces is likely to save Syria
By Max Fisher - TheAtlantic.com
In 1982, Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad sent his military to put down a revolt in the city of Hama. His began by shelling the city with artillery and bombing it from the air, then sent in tanks and paratroopers. Many civilians who had not been killed in the initial attack starved, were killed attempting to flee, or were shot in the purges that immediately followed the siege. When Assad learned that terrified survivors were hiding out in the tunnel system, he blocked off the entrances with tanks, then had the tunnels soaked with gasoline and lit on fire. The three-week assault killed an estimated 20,000 civilians and suddenly ended an uprising that had slowly grown for six years. The act, which drew vast international condemnation but little international action, shut down dissent and allowed Assad to rule until the day of his death 18 years later.
Sen. Graham: Military intervention in Syria should be 'on the table'
By Ben Geman - TheHill.com
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that it's time to consider international intervention in Syria to avoid the further "slaughter" of people there by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
"If it made sense to protect the Libyan people against Gadhafi, and it did because they were going to get slaughtered if we hadn’t sent NATO in when he was on the outskirts of Benghazi, the question for the world [is], have we gotten to that point in Syria," Graham said on the CBS' "Face the Nation."
Tripoli welcomes the expulsion of U.S. air base
Translated from the Spanish version by: Lisa Karpova Pravda.ru
NATO expanded and intensified their operations with the introduction of British and French attack helicopters.
Amid the imperialist attacks by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) against Tripoli (capital) to force the departure of Libyan leader, Muammar Al Gaddafi, the people of this city celebrated on Saturday 41 years since the expulsion of the U.S. from their air base, Wheelus Air Force Base. The people said that this was an act of sovereignty and independence.
"Tripoli today celebrates the expulsion and closure of the U.S. air base, Wheelus Air Base, June 11, 1970, reported through their Twitter TeleSUR special envoy to the city, Rolando Segura.
Qaddafi Running Out of Money: Ex-Bank Head
By Lara Setrakian and Gregory Viscusi - Bloomberg.com
Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s rule may end in weeks as international sanctions starve him of funds and rebels and NATO-led forces cut off fuel shipments, said Farhat Bengdara, who ran Libya’s central bank before defecting.
Qaddafi's government had $500 million in cash at the end of February, when Bengdara fled, the former banker said in an interview in Dubai yesterday.
"It's almost run out," Bengdara said. "They have no fuel for tanks. It's a matter of weeks" before Qaddafi is forced out of power, he said.
'US ruling elites silent about Libya war'
Palestinian statehood: What is the U.N.'s role? A divisive showdown is almost certain.
Op-Ed - LATimes.com
Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook insists that a vote this fall in the General Assembly cannot be stopped.
The Israeli prime minister's recent trip to the United States was a blatant effort to stop the march of history.
Increasingly, nations throughout the world community are refusing to acquiesce to the U.S.-Israel axis that has kept Palestinians voiceless in the world community for more than six decades. An international movement currently underway will probably culminate this fall in a vote by the U.N. General Assembly to recognize statehood for Palestine on the basis of the pre-1967 borders. Because this movement is beyond the control of the United States and Israel, their agenda has become one of obstruction, and the public relations battle has begun.
Is NATO Being Used by Washington In Libya to Hurt Chinese Interests?
by John Daly - OilPrice.com
As U.S. Secretary of Defense continues his victory lap around U.S. foreign bases, scolding NATO allies along the way for failing to pull their weight in the alliance, it is well worth noting that many of the NATO member states committed only under intense U.S. pressure to operations in Afghanistan, while Libya has generated even less enthusiasm in European capitals.
One of the great advantages of the end of the cold War two decades ago, coupled with the rise of the Internet is that readers worldwide now have an open window into the Russian press and society. Of course, there are ideological holdovers from the Soviet era, most notably Russian paranoia about hostile military groupings on their frontiers, most notably NATO, which Russia not unreasonably sees as dominated by the U.S.
America's lost trillions
By Chris Isidore - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- One reason that the U.S. economy still struggles to achieve sustained growth is that Americans are a long way from recovering the trillions of dollars of household wealth lost during the Great Recession.
U.S. household wealth fell by about $16.4 trillion of net worth from its peak in spring 2007, about six months before the start of the recession, to when things hit bottom in the first quarter of 2009, according to figures from the Federal Reserve.
Dan Rather Reports, Excerpt from "Barofsky"
Our Economic Future: From Best to Worst Case By Doug Casey - The DailyReckoning.com
War is the worst thing that can happen to an economy, but it’s also the most likely thing at this point. When the going gets tough, the people in charge like to blame somebody else for the problem. That’s compounded by the foolish – but widely accepted – notion that war is good for the economy and that, for instance, it pulled the U.S. out of the last depression.
Like all wars, this one results in a complete stifling of civil and economic freedoms. If my second scenario is unpleasant, this alternative is grim.
The big conflict has already been teed up – the continuation of the Forever War between Islam and the West. I’ll hazard the major situs will be Europe – which has pretty much always been the case for wars in general for the last 2,000 years. Europe will be the worst place to be over the next two decades. And North America will be locked down like a police compound.
The Bankruptcy of Corporate America (June 10, 2011)
By Charles Hugh Smith
The bankruptcy of Corporate America has seeped into the society and those who toil in its machinery.
Corporate America is profoundly bankrupt. Not in a financial sense, of course; the Federal Reserve's slow destruction of the U.S. dollar has boosted corporate profits most handsomely as the majority of their earnings and profits are obtained overseas; when stated in dollars, those outsized profits swell even higher.
No, the bankruptcy of Corporate America is not found on the bottom line; it is measured by altogether more profound metrics than mere money. Corporate America is bankrupt on levels which are difficult to describe; morally and spiritually bankrupt, not just in the pathologies that guide corporate goals and behaviors, but in the Potemkin shell of free enterprise they present to the world in ceaseless propaganda, and in the manner in which they have cut America loose from their corporate souls.
The Practical Implementation of Honest Money Get ready. It's coming.
BY DOUG TJADEN - FinancialSense.com
Get ready. It's coming.
Now it gets interesting. For several months I have been writing on the issue of honest money and its return to America, via the states. Judging from the response (or lack thereof), the issue is still very much off of the radar of the average American, including many hard asset advocates. Honest money is, however, quietly – and quickly – making its way into the main stream discussion.
Having attended the ceremonial signing of HB317 on June 2nd, I can assure you that the people of Utah are serious about providing the protection this law offers to their citizens. Rep. Brad Galvez, sponsor of the bill stated, "The law is not merely symbolic. Our intention is to strengthen the existing law and implement it.
Spending Battle Heats Up On Capitol Hill -
The Dylan Ratigan Show jun 10 2011
'Perfect Storm' May Threaten Global Economy
By Shamim Adam - Bloomberg.com
A "perfect storm" of fiscal woe in the U.S., a slowdown in China, European debt restructuring and stagnation in Japan may converge on the global economy, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.
There's a one-in-three chance the factors will combine to stunt growth from 2013, Roubini said in a June 11 interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are "anemic but okay" global growth or an "optimistic” scenario in which the expansion improves.
Fed wants yearly capital plans from 35 biggest banks
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Reserve is considering new rules that would require the nation's 35 largest banks to submit their annual capital plans for review.
But before the Fed makes a final decision, the central bank wants the public's input on the rules.
The proposed regulations would require any U.S. bank with more than $50 billion in assets to submit capital plans to the Fed each year. As of the end of March, 35 large banks fit that bill.
The goal is to force those banks to plan ahead for tough times.
China ratings house says US defaulting
AFP - Yahoo Canada
A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order.
"In our opinion, the United States has already been defaulting," Guan Jianzhong, president of Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., the only Chinese agency that gives sovereign ratings, was quoted by the Global Times saying.
Washington had already defaulted on its loans by allowing the dollar to weaken against other currencies -- eroding the wealth of creditors including China, Guan said.
Guan did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.
Greece Update
by CalculatedRisk
Everyone is focused on June 20th when the 17 euro zone ministers will meet in Luxembourg. There is also a meeting on Tuesday this week (June 14th), although there will not be a press conference following the meeting. Someone will probably blink before the 20th.
So next Sunday might be the new Monday once again (like during the U.S. financial crisis)!
Private Creditors Could Agree to 35-Billion-Euro Rollover
Spiegel.de
In the end, banks and other creditors may be forced to take part in the next bailout of Greece. SPIEGEL sources say a plan is taking shape that could see private creditors conduct voluntary rollovers extending the terms of Greek bonds and creating up to 35 billion euros in relief.
Calls for private creditors to bear some of the costs in the Greek debt crisis appear to be taking on more concrete form in Brussels this week. SPIEGEL has learned from sources with close knowledge of the situation that European Union finance ministers are considering a plan in which private creditors possessing Greek state bonds would be asked to cover €20 to €35 billion of the costs.
ECB's VP calls for private euro bank resolution fund
Reporting by Paul Carrel and Sakari Suoninen
(Reuters) - Establishing a banking sector resolution fund financed by the private sector could provide a vehicle to act swiftly in the event of bank failures, the European Central Bank's vice president said on Friday.
Vitor Constancio said he favoured a more centralised framework for the resolution of banking sector problems in the euro zone.
"The establishment of an Euro Area Resolution Fund, funded by ex ante private sector contributions, is an avenue that could be considered," he said in a speech delivered to a conference in Frankfurt.
"Such a fund could both mitigate the systemic impact of bank failures and help to solve the burden sharing problem, which could allow a swift intervention in a crisis," he added.
Bank of Israel’s Fischer vies for top IMF job Former IMF deputy joins front-running Lagarde,
Mexico’s Carstens
By Robert Daniel, MarketWatch
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) – Bank of Israel Gov. Stanley Fischer, strongly praised for helping guide Israel’s economy through difficult recent years, has joined the race to run the International Monetary Fund.
In a Saturday evening statement, Fischer said he had notified Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz of his intention to seek the managing director’s post at the IMF.
Higher prices seen this week for gold
CommodityOnline.com
Gold prices are expected to rise next week as fears of a ratcheting up in Europe’s sovereign debt crisis will encourage buyers to return to the metal, participants in the Kitco News Gold Survey said.
In the Kitco News Gold Survey, out of 34 participants, 21 responded this week. Of those 21 participants, 14 see prices up, while three see prices down and four see prices sideways or unchanged. Market participants include bullion dealers, investment banks, futures traders and technical chart analysts.
Inflation: Theory & reality-
On the Edge with Max Keiser-06-10-2011-(Part1)
Inflation: Theory & reality-
On the Edge with Max Keiser-06-10-2011-(Part2)
What Constitutes Hyperinflation
Published by Ian R. Campbell - StockResearchPortalBlog.com
Many media commentators and newsletter writers speak to what they see, or think they see, as the possibility or probability of 'hyperinflation' in the United States or on a broader world economic level. I have yet to see or hear even one of them attach a % inflation rate to 'hyperinflation'. From my perspective, the worst offenders are those who continuously write expansively about the 'coming higher price' of physical silver, followed closely those that write (often somewhat less expansively) about the 'coming higher price' of physical gold.
A simple definition of inflation is that it is a rise in the general price levels of goods and services in a given economy over a specific period of time. Hyperinflation is level of inflation that is very high relative to a ‘norm’, and that may or may not be 'out of the control' of financial regulators. In a fiat currency environment, which is what currently prevails worldwide, with the U.S.$ being recognized as the 'World Reserve Currency', hyperinflation specific to a given economy results in the purchasing power of the fiat currency of that economy deteriorating rapidly in relative value when measured against the fiat currencies of other economies.
In Hyperinflation's Aftermath, How Germany Went Back to Gold
Nathan Lewis, Forbes.com
It takes almost nothing, and little to no gold, to return to a gold standard.
Germany, as is well known now, had a hyperinflation from 1919 to 1923. At the end, the mark was worth one trillionth of its original value. Afterwards, the new German mark was pegged to gold, at its prewar parity.
How did this happen? How did the new gold standard emerge?
The first thing that happened was that Gustav Stresemann was appointed Chancellor on Aug. 13, 1923. On Sept. 26, 1923, in the midst of hyperinflationary chaos, he suspended seven articles of the Weimar constitution, and declared a State of Emergency. This effectively rendered Germany a military dictatorship.
More Temporary Solutions To Long Term Economic Problems
By Bob Chapman - TheInternationalForecster.com
The lifeblood is being sucked out of America by free trade, globalization, offshoring and outsourcing. Over the past 11 years manufacturing jobs have fallen by 11.7 million and 440,000 businesses have been lost. Those figures should make Americans very disturbed, when it is obvious that American business, and the House and Senate are aiding and abetting in this job destruction, which has not only ended the American dream, but the destruction of the American economy. In essence quantitative easing, the creation of money and credit, are a cover for wealth and job destruction, as are food stamps, Medicaid and extended unemployment. These are short-term solutions.
The dismantling of the American economy came into focus in the late 1970s as major manufacturers began to move production out of the US. As of the past 11 years we have seen an effort first to create a bubble in real estate, which was accompanied by unusually low interest rates and a major increase in money and credit. Once the real estate bubble had broken the deflationary aspects appeared and the Fed had to create ever more money and credit taking the increase up some 18%. Then 3-1/2 years ago the credit crisis began and that prompted the Fed to directly pour trillions of dollars into the financial sector in both the US and Europe. A good part of which was done secretly. Thus, we have seen the creation of money and credit initially to create the real estate bubble and then to offset the credit crisis that it caused. During these periods banks, hedge funds, and other financial institutions engaged in aggressive speculation. Banks leveraged up to 70 to 1, when 9 to 1 was normal and hedge funds over 100 to 1. Banks are still leveraged at 40 to 1 and hedge funds up to 70 to 1.
Dow finishes below 12,000, longest losing streak since 2002
By Daniel Wagner, Associated Press - USAToday.com
Fears that the global economic recovery is stalling pushed the Dow Jones industrial average below 12,000 for the first time since March and drove the stock market lower for the sixth straight week.
Friday's drop extended the longest weekly losing streak for stocks since the fall of 2002.
Weak economic news has dampened hopes for a steady recovery, sending stocks down. Traders worry that weaker hiring, sluggish industrial output, and a moribund housing market are reversing a bull market that has lifted the Dow 20% over the past year.
The War on Digital Currency
By Joel Bowman - DailyReckoning.com
06/09/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – A joke for you, Fellow Reckoner: How many Senators does it take to change a light bulb? Oh, wait, we’ve got a better one: How many Senators does it take to dismantle a cryptographically secured, completely decentralized, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network of voluntary, free market traders exchanging goods and services across six continents using tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of individual computers and some of the most advanced cyber technology and software coding known to date?
Answer: we don’t know…but Senators Charles Schumer (D, New York) and Joe Manchin (D, West Virginia), seemingly immune to common ignominy, have taken on the challenge anyway.
Your editor has no idea of the cybercryptography aptitude of the two senators but, as with most endeavors undertaken by politicians in the name of "your own damned good," practical experience and a sufficient understanding of the issue at hand are rarely prerequisites for intervention, again, "on your (unsolicited) behalf."
Jim Rogers on FSN 09 June 2011
Obama's Dilemma – and Ours
by Patrick J. Buchanan - LewRockwell.com
Seventy-one years ago this spring, after the German army had broken through the French lines, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill flew to France to consult his embattled allies on how to stop the advance.
"Where is the strategic reserve?" Churchill urgently asked the French commander in chief, Gen. Maurice Gamelin, and then he repeated himself in French: "Ou est la masse de manoeuvre?"
"Aucune," came Gamelin's reply. "There is none."
The French had no reserves to stop the Germans from overrunning their country. The Battle of France was lost.
The Post-Economic Age
By Bruce Walker - AmericanThinker.com
The Left, grounded in the childish superstitionsof Marx, views life as economics. One awful flowering of this dangerous silliness is the proliferation of victims. The resource-rich nations of long decolonized Africa and Asia, for example, remain poor because of imperialist exploitation by America and Europe. Women and racial minorities are still, officially, "exploited," although how that can be taken seriously forty years after the Women's Liberation Movement and fifty years after centerpiece Civil Rights legislation is never really considered. The Left needs victims and victimizers and the easiest way to invent these clumps of humanity is dreary socialism and its dull-normal offspring, like feminism.
Most of all, the Left needs all things to be, at their core, economic. Although many Americans and many Europeans face daunting problems finding work and paying bills, this is less the result of true economic problems and more the consequence of the awareness by Leftists that the full flowering of prosperity would end the need for their noxious hatreds and coveting.
The Next Financial Crisis
by Gary North - LewRockwell.com
The mainstream financial media are running stories on the next financial crisis. This is unheard of two years into a so-called economic recovery. So weak is this recovery that the old pre-2008 confidence has not returned.
The first sign that "this time, it's different," was Treasury Secretary Geithner's statement, which received widespread coverage, that there will be another crisis.
On May 18, The Daily Beast ran a story on Geithner's unexpected appearance at the initial screening of an HBO movie, Too Big to Fail, which dramatizes the crisis of late 2008, during which time Geithner was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In an interview, Geithner said this. "It will come again. There will be another storm. But it's not going to come for a while."
Why Income Investors Should Pursue Alternative Income Strategies
By Addison Wiggin - DailyReckoning.com
06/09/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Whatever is left of the baby boom generation’s retirement is about to get wiped out. It’s the third and final step in the systematic destruction of a whole generation’s wealth.
OK, bold statement… we agree. But hear us out.
The first step came with the dot-com crash. Retirement accounts stuffed with tech stocks pumped by CNBC – or funds that bought tech stocks pumped by CNBC – were vaporized.
Boomers picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and a few years later they figured they were riding high again. Yes, their retirement accounts were a shadow of their former selves… but their homes were rising in value 10% a year, every year. So who complained?
Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert - Saturday, 11 June 2011
Americans in a funk as housing, jobs stall Disillusionment rife since recession
By Patrice Hill-The Washington Times
The economy is entering the third year of an expansion that has been marked by robust business profits and a historic revival of Detroit's automaker industry, among other boons, but most Americans don't feel satisfied, opinion polls show.
What is generating the national economic funk, analysts say, is the lagging recovery in sectors that matter most to ordinary working people: jobs and housing. Moreover, an old nemesis for Americans — high gasoline prices — has made an unwelcome return even as consumers struggle without the growing incomes needed to deal with such higher prices.
Freddie Mac: Very low Cash-Out Refinance Activity
by CalculatedRisk
When the Fed's Q1 Flow of Funds report was released on Thursday, I mentioned that some homeowners were paying down their loan amounts when they refinanced. I received some email questions about this, so I dug up the most recent Freddie Mac data.
Some borrowers are paying down their loans because they do not have sufficient equity in their homes to qualify for a loan (a downpayment in arrears). Others are probably paying down their loan amount to meet the conforming loan limits and obtain a better rate.
Housing Market Forecasting: Don't Even Bother The only thing we know about the future of the housing market right now is that we don't know anything
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Are home prices at the bottom, near the bottom, or far from the bottom? Will sales pick up later this year, next year, or in a decade? When will defaults slow to a trickle? The answers to these questions depend on who you ask. The truth is that nobody really knows. In fact, no one has a clue.
This point became quite clear on Thursday at a housing conference where Robert Shiller, Yale economist and co-creator of the much-cited S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, spoke about the uncertainty plaguing the market. Diana Olick at CNBC reports him saying:
Statisticians deal with things that repeat themselves. This housing boom and bust is so historic and unprecedented, you can't forecast the future because you have no comparison.
Existing Home Inventory: Data for 54 Metro Areas
by CalculatedRisk
As a followup to Tom Lawler's post on how the NAR estimates existing home inventory, Ben at HousingTracker.net (aka deptofnumbers.com) has put the aggregate monthly inventory data online.
UPDATE: The NAR does NOT aggregate data from the local boards (see Tom's post for how the NAR estimates inventory).
Note: Sometime this summer, I expect the NAR to revise down their estimates of inventory and sales for the last few years. Also the NAR methodology for estimating sales and inventory will be changed. Until then, I think the HousingTracker data might be a better estimate of changes in inventory (and always more timely).
Food prices climb further at grocery stores Milk up 16 cents a gallon, cereal up 12 cents a box
By Matt Andrejczak, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Shoppers paid 4% more for a basket of 16 food items at the supermarket in May compared to February, the American Farm Bureau Federation said Thursday in its latest informal survey.
The total average cost of 16 items used to prepare one or more meals was $51.17, up $2.10 from the previous survey, with sirlion tip roast, russet potatoes, sliced deli ham and bacon increasing the most in price.
Squatter Nation: 5 years with no mortgage payment
By Les Christie - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Charles and Jill Segal have not made a mortgage payment in nearly five years -- but they continue to live in their five-bedroom West Palm Beach, Fla. home.
Lynn, from St. Petersburg, Fla., has been living without paying for three years.
In Thousand Oaks, Calif., an actor has missed 30 payments, and still, he has not lost his home.
They're not alone.
Some 4.2 million mortgage borrowers are either seriously delinquent or have had their cases referred to lawyers to pursue foreclosure auctions, according to LPS Applied Analytics. Of those, two-thirds have made no payments at all for at least a year, and nearly one-third have gone more than two years.
Borrowing Against Retirement Accounts Hits New Highs
By Catherine New - DailyFinance.com
Like a tree laden with ripe summer fruit, plump 401(k) accounts can appear astempting sourcesfor an easy loan, especially when other financial resources have dried up. And more people than ever have been plucking from that tree.
Loans againstretirementplans were up overall last year, with one in seven workers borrowing money, according tonew datafrom human-resources consulting group Aon Hewitt. Fidelity Investments toldDailyFinancethat it saw an increase in 401(k) loans over the last few several years, but reported a slight decline in the last quarter for the company's 11 million plan participants.
Barack Obama, George Soros and the Religious Left
By Jason Lee - AmericanThinker.com
Periodically, the professional left and their comrades in the traditional news media highlight religious leaders cheering for President Obama's compassionate statism or denouncing Republicans as sons of the devil. I'm sure we can expect this pattern to become more frequent and more frantic as we approach the 2012 elections.
As Obama's allies on the Religious Left step forward to promote Obama's agenda and build momentum for his 2012 campaign, we should be prepared to expose them for who they really are. In many cases we will discover that these religious leaders are well-compensated hyperpartisan mercenaries whose religious rhetoric is merely a threadbare cloak for their core values -- values that have no basis in traditional religion or biblically-based teachings.
Panetta:
Military healthcare costs are on my radar in efforts to save money
By John T. Bennett - TheHill.com
President Obama’s nominee to lead the Pentagon has made it clear military personnel programs, once considered sacrosanct, will be scrutinized as the administration looks for spending cuts.
In written answers to advance policy questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee prior to his confirmation hearing, Leon Panetta endorsed proposals put forward by the Pentagon in its 2012 budget plan.
"I believe that the proposed healthcare efficiencies are sensible efforts to control DOD’s health care costs while maintaining the same level of care,” Panetta wrote. “I also believe the modest increases in beneficiaries’ costs are reasonable."
IMF struck by cyber attack
By Nathan Olivarez-Giles - LATimes.com
The International Monetary Fund was recently struck by a cyber attack on its computer system, but just what the incident entailed isn't being disclosed.
"I can confirm that we are investigating an incident," David Hawley, a spokesman for the IMF, said in an email. "I am not in a position to elaborate further on the extent of the cyber-security incident."
Hawley declined to say whether any sensitive data was stolen from the IMF, an international group that oversees the financial system of its 187 member nations.
He also wouldn't say when the attack took place or how the IMF was altered to the issue, stating only that "we became aware of the incident recently" and that "the Fund is fully functional."
IMF hack opens door to global market fraud
IBTimes.com
The IMF security breach is bearing hallmarks of a sophisticated and targeted cyber-attack, putting sensitive global financial data at risk that may be used to manipulate markets.
The International Monetary Fund collects sensitive information about the financial systems of its 187 member nations.
If leaked, some data in IMF computer systems could be used to manipulate or profit from bonds and currencies around the world.
Tom Kellermann, a former cybersecurity specialist at the World Bank who has been tracking the incident, told the "Wall Street Journal" that the infiltration involved significant reconnaissance before the actual attack and code written specifically to penetrate the IMF.
10 Signs That Wall Street Is About To Go Into Panic Mode
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Can you smell the fear? Right now world financial markets are visibly nervous and many are worried that Wall Street is about to go into panic mode. It really is eerie how 2011 is shaping up to be so similar to 2008. Major Wall Street banks are laying off workers in droves, oil prices are at very high levels, pessimism is permeating the financial markets, debt ratings are being downgraded all over the place and consumer confidence is stunningly low. Sadly, none of the fundamental things that were wrong with the financial markets back in 2008 have been fixed. In fact, many believe that Wall Street is even more vulnerable now. A ton of bad economic numbers have come pouring in lately and that has put investors in a really sour mood. All it would probably take is for one really significant "trigger event" to take place for Wall Street to go into full-fledged panic mode.
Queasy feeling The equity markets are struggling
in the face of slower growth and central-bank inaction
Buttonwood - The Economist.com
THE cavalry may not ride to the rescue this time. Equity investors have been relying on the Federal Reserve for support ever since the American central bank presaged a second round of quantitative easing (QE) last August.
In a November article for the Washington Post, Ben Bernanke, the Fed’s chairman, acknowledged the impact of QE on shares, stating that "higher stock prices will boost consumer wealth and help increase confidence, which can also spur spending. Increased spending will lead to higher incomes and profits that, in a virtuous circle, will further support economic expansion." But with the current round of QE about to end, Mr Bernanke gave no hint that a third programme was on its way in a keenly awaited speech this week, acknowledging merely that "economic conditions are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal-funds rate for an extended period."
There's No Such Thing as a Temporary U.S. Default
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
What if the debt ceiling debate causes the U.S. to miss just a couple of interest payments, say for the months of August and September? As long as the Treasury resumes payments in October, then no harm done, right? This misconception was put to rest by the rating agency Fitch in a statement yesterday. The firm makes clear that there's effectively no such thing as a temporary default: the nation's rating will not quickly bounce back.
At this time, the Treasury is already taking "extraordinary measures" to meet its debt obligations, since the debt ceiling needed to be raised in May. In August, those extraordinary measures won't be enough, and the Treasury must prioritize debt payments above its other obligations to avoid default. At that time, the U.S. will be in "technical default" even if it doesn't miss a payment.
Five Out of Five Pessimists Agree: QE3 Is Coming
By Jonathan Cheng - WSJ.com
How’d you spend your weekend? Some of the biggest (and most bearish) guns in economic and market prognostication put their heads together at a small confab on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire this past weekend. In attendance: David Blanchflower, formerly of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England; Swiss doom-and-gloomer Marc Faber; Fred Hickey, the bearish editor of the High-Tech Strategist newsletter; Morgan Stanley exec Stephen Roach; and economic forecasters David Rosenberg, Nouriel Roubini and Gary Shilling.
QE2 - The Bernanke Chronicles
BY JAMES QUINN
Our self proclaimed "expert" on the Great Depression, Ben Bernanke, seems to be feeling the pressure. His theories worked so well when he modeled them in his posh corner office at Princeton. He could saunter down the hallway and get his buddy Krugman to confirm his belief that the Federal Reserve was just too darn restrictive between 1929 and 1932, resulting in the first Great Depression. I wonder if there will be a future Federal Reserve Chairman, 80 years from now, studying how the worst Federal Reserve Chairman in history (not an easy feat) created the Greatest Depression that finally put an end to the Great American Military Empire. Bernanke spent half of his speech earlier this week trying to convince himself and the rest of the world that his extremist monetary policy of keeping interest rates at 0% for the last two years, printing money at an astounding rate, and purposely trying to devalue the US currency, had absolutely nothing to do with the surge in oil and food prices in the last year. Based on his scribbling since November of last year, it seems that Ben is trying to win his own Nobel Prize – for fiction.
The Wolfgang at Greece's Door
By SIMON NIXON - WSJ.com $$
[Google title for free article pass]
Wolfgang Schäuble has been an avowed advocate of Europe's single currency throughout his career. The German finance minister also admits he always saw monetary union as a precursor to political union. That makes his insistence on a restructuring of Greek government debt even harder to fathom. His proposal to extend maturities by seven years threatens to blow the euro apart.
Mr. Schäuble's frustration is understandable. "The single currency wasn't supposed to be a system of redistribution," he said recently. In fact, monetary union was supposed to encourage profligate members to live within their means and strengthen their competitiveness. In other words, member states were supposed to become more like Germany.
THE COMING CRISIS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
By Barry Rubin - Gloria-Center.org
The gap between dominant Western perceptions of the Middle East and the region's reality is dangerously wide. While the "Arab Spring" is celebrated as an advance for moderation and democracy, in fact the advance is going to revolutionary Islamists. Developments in Turkey and Egypt especially threaten to plunge the Middle East back into an era of conflict, instability, and the worst threats to Western interests in decades.
There are several things very much predictable about the future of the Middle East area during the next year. First, on June 12, 2011, Turkey will have an election. That election will probably be won by the government, whether or not it gets a two-thirds majority. The current rulers will interpret this as a signal to take a much tougher line toward Israel and the United States. It is possible that the extent of the increase of Turkey's enmity toward Israel after that election will astonish the world.
Are U.S. Bureaucrats About to Make a Huge Oil Supply Blunder?
Written by Brian Westenhaus - OilPrice.com
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got the file Monday as the State Department concluded a public comment period on its draft environmental impact statement, and will publish a final one some time this summer, before making a determination as to whether permitting construction of the cross-border TransCanada pipeline would be in the U.S. national interest.
The reality check is about the project called The Keystone Pipeline, that will carry 7-800,000 barrels per day of oil made from Canadian bitumen to the massive U.S. Gulf Coast petroleum hub, where refineries are particularly suited to process the heavy oil made from Canada’s bitumen resource.
Jim Rogers RT America Interview 09 June 2011
Dr. Paul's Case for Gold
Mises Daily: by Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.
forward to 2nd edition: A Minority Report of the U.S. Gold Commission
This country had the chance to avoid the disastrous meltdown of 2008 and following, the one that has led to the nationalization of industries, the creation of oceans of paper money, and the destruction of so many American dreams. The answer that might have been is the one you hold in your hands: the minority report of the US Gold Commission of 1982, written by Ron Paul and signed by Lewis E. Lehrman. It provides an outstanding history, wonderful theoretical analytics, and a proposal for the return of sound money, which is gold.
Alas, it was the minority report and therefore killed by political forces. Of course, the fix was in from the beginning. The commission only came to exist in the first place as payoff to certain "goldbugs" in the Republican Party in the those years. Ronald Reagan was one of them. So his influence was part of the reason the Commission was created. But it wasn't created to institute a gold standard. It was created to bury the idea once and for all.
Gold often consolidates in summer,
but this year could be exception with unresolved issues
CommodityOnline.com
(Kitco News) - Gold often undergoes a period of summer doldrums in which the metal meanders sideways, and in fact it has been in a roughly $35 range for the last two weeks.
Analysts said this summer could be different, however, as gold could make a bolder move due to some unresolved issues such as U.S. and Greek deficits.
Gold for August delivery has not been below $1,520 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange since May 26. However, it also has been unable to make a sustained push above $1,550, although it did get as high as $1,555 on Monday.
Why George Soros unable to create ripples in gold market
By Dr Jeffrey Lewis - CommodityOnline.com
George Soros has broken central banks, built a billion dollar fortune, and awarded himself fans around the world who adore his no-nonsense speculative approach. While he was once a kingpin of the financial markets, he took a backseat years ago to step away from his Quantum fund, only to return to an audience that has long gone.
Ordinarily, a man of his influence would have the power to sculpt the financial markets as he saw fit. Empowered with billions of dollars, he could find an emerging trade, announce his stake, and allow the financial followers to make his vision a reality. This had been the case with many of his investments; they were necessarily part of the playground that is social proof.
Read this speech, then sell the dollar
G.I. - The Economist.com
BEN BERNANKE'S speech on Tuesday got all the attention, but the speech later that day by Bill Dudley, head of the New York Fed, is more intriguing. In it he analyses the macroeconomic origins of the global imbalances that precipitated the crisis and prescribes the policy path forward.
He does so in logical, crisp and accessible language. Mr Dudley is, however, still a central banker, which means he must be translated, especially when it comes to the delicate subject of the dollar. In a nutshell, Mr Dudley tells us that aggressively easy monetary policy is essential to both the cyclical recovery and to a structural rebalancing of the American economy away from consumption and toward exports. This process will go more smoothly for everyone if emerging market economies (EMEs) cooperate and let their exchange rates appreciate (i.e. let the dollar fall), but absent such cooperation, don’t expect the Fed to change course.
The War on Digital Currency
By Joel Bowman - DailyReckoning.com
06/09/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – A joke for you, Fellow Reckoner: How many Senators does it take to change a light bulb? Oh, wait, we’ve got a better one: How many Senators does it take to dismantle a cryptographically secured, completely decentralized, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network of voluntary, free market traders exchanging goods and services across six continents using tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of individual computers and some of the most advanced cyber technology and software coding known to date?
Answer: we don't know…but Senators Charles Schumer (D, New York) and Joe Manchin (D, West Virginia), seemingly immune to common ignominy, have taken on the challenge anyway.
It's Not the Debt Ceiling -- It's the Dollar
By Lewis E. Lehrman - The American Spectator.org
Today, the chorus line of the debt ceiling and dollar bears is "all fall down." The missing issue of this President election is monetary policy -- America's need for a stable dollar. But massive Federal Reserve credit expansion, QE1 and QE2, has forced the volatile dollar down to such a depreciated level on the foreign exchanges that, absent QE3, a reversal of trend should appear with rising interest rates by the upcoming Presidential election.
Even more confusion pervades the public controversy over the future of the world dollar standard and its alternative -- the true gold standard. The international debate focuses on the longevity of the dollar as the world's official reserve currency. The debate stems from two, recent, contradictory events. On the one hand, an unstable dollar, caused by the Federal Reserve credit contraction of 2005-2007, led to the deflation of 2007-2009. On the other hand, the steady rise of the gold price -- also caused by the subsequent Fed expansion of QE1 and QE2 -- has signaled the threat of inflation. The painful economic consequences of alternating deflation and inflation have refocused the historic American monetary debate. Americans must choose between paper money and gold. The choice will be either: (1) floating paper currencies mixed with pegged exchange rates for key currencies -- such as a fixed link between the paper dollar and the paper Euro; or (2) on the other hand, a non-national, neutral American monetary standard such as gold, i.e. a dollar defined in statute by a stable, fixed weight of gold.
Our Economic Future: From Best to Worst Case
By Doug Casey - DailyReckoning.com
06/09/11 There is a great deal of uncertainty among investors about what the future of the US economy may look like – so I decided to take a stab at what’s likely to happen over the next 20 years. That's enough time for a child to grow up and mature, and it’s long enough for major trends to develop and make themselves felt.
I'll confine myself to areas that are, as the benighted Rumsfeld might have observed, "known unknowns." I don’t want to deal with possibilities of the deus ex machina sort. So we'll rule out natural events like a super-volcano eruption, an asteroid strike, a new ice age, global warming, and the like. Although all these things absolutely will occur sometime in the future, the timing is very uncertain – at least from the perspective of one human lifespan. It’s pointless dealing with geological time and astronomical probability here. And, more important, there’s absolutely nothing we can do about such things.
Keiser Report: GIABO! (E154)
U.S. Hurtles Toward System Failure
BY JIM WILLIE - FinancialSense.com
The combination of $trillion bond fraud, dependence on inflating home equity for economic development, oversized cars, oil dependence, constant market intervention, insolvent banks, insolvent homes, outsourced industry, endless war, budget deadlock amidst runaway deficits, raided US gold treasury, mammoth future benefit obligations, and handing over the keys at USDept Treasury to Goldman Sachs has left the United States to fend off systemic failure. The creeping price inflation that stems from USFed hyper monetary inflation and total ignorance on basics of capitalism like business formation have left the US vulnerable to disorder and chaos. The chaos in fact grows with the passage of time and the ruin of money, against a background of a cruel middle class squeeze. With one citizen in seven on food stamps and over 22% of the population jobless, the sunset of the American Empire is well along. The banker oligarchs are gradually killing the nation, its democracy, and its wealth engines during a sustained strangulation process.
The Economy Is Worse Than You Think Expect more bad news until someone enacts a plan to bring deficits under control without raising taxes.
By MARTIN FELDSTEIN - WSJ.com
The policies of the Obama administration have led to the weak condition of the American economy. Growth during the coming year will be subpar at best, leaving high or rising levels of unemployment and underemployment.
The drop in GDP growth to just 1.8% in the first quarter of 2011, from 3.1% in the final quarter of last year, understates the extent of the decline. Two-thirds of that 1.8% went into business inventories rather than sales to consumers or other final buyers. This means that final sales growth was at an annual rate of just 0.6% and the actual quarterly increase was just 0.15%—dangerously close to no rise at all. A sustained expansion cannot be built on inventory investment. It takes final sales to induce businesses to hire and to invest.
Economy Brakes Before Fed Takes Foot Off Accelerator
BY PAUL KASRIEL WITH ASHA BANGALORE - FinancialSense.com
In our April 28 update, we emphasized that our forecast was in "transition" from stronger to weaker in large part depending on the behavior of bank credit. This month we have made the transition to a significantly weaker outlook, not only because of the current behavior of bank credit, but also because of the current behavior of the overall economy. With regard to the latter, even before the Federal Reserve has terminated its second round of quantitative easing - that is, even before the Fed has taken its foot off the monetary accelerator - the underlying pace of U.S. economic activity already appears to be coming in weaker than we had anticipated. Consistent with our downwardly-revised real GDP growth outlook, we have revised up our forecast for the unemployment rate. In addition, we have revised down our forecast for the yield levels of the Treasury 2- and 10-year securities. (See tables at the end of this commentary containing our current and April 28 forecasts.) If we are close to the mark on our second-half GDP and unemployment rate forecasts, we could envision another round of Fed quantitative easing commencing early in 2012 with no Fed policy interest rate hikes occurring until early 2013.
Gerald Celente: Let Them Vote, Let Them Vote! 1/3
Gerald Celente: Let Them Vote, Let Them Vote! 2/3
Gerald Celente: Let Them Vote, Let Them Vote! 3/3
Why Americans Are So Bummed Out on the Economy
By Regina Lewis - DailyFinance.com
So much for hope. We're apparently not exactly feeling it. Anew pollindicates that a record number of Americans think the country is headed toward a depression -- with a capital D. I joined Gretchen Carlson for a Fox News Channel "Power Panel" Thursday to discuss just why we're so bummed out by the one-two punch of unemployment and foreclosures. And, they're not mutually exclusive -- the new number one reason for foreclosures is not subprime mortgages. It's losing your job.
And the malaise is broader. Even if you're worried about losing your job or are underemployed, that's enough. After all, fear is the hallmark of depression. Plus, even if you're not officially "under water" your feet are probably a little wet. Your nest egg is worth a goose egg. Not having the fallback position of being able to sell the house "if we ever really needed to" is unsettling. It's just not that liquid an asset in the clutch.
America's lost trillions
By Chris Isidore @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- One reason that the U.S. economy still struggles to achieve sustained growth is that Americans are a long way from recovering the trillions of dollars of household wealth lost during the Great Recession.
U.S. household wealth fell by about $16.4 trillion of net worth from its peak in spring 2007, about six months before the start of the recession, to when things hit bottom in the first quarter of 2009, according to figures from the Federal Reserve.
U.S. Economy At 'Risk' Of Falling Into Double-Dip Recession: Shiller
Reuters - AOLNews.com
NEW YORK - Recent housing and employment data suggests the U.S. economy is at a tipping point where a double-dip recession is possible and home prices could have much further to fall, a veteran economist said on Thursday.
Robert Shiller said the recent uptick in unemployment is not yet enough of a sign as to which way the recovery is heading. But if unemployment continues to rise in the coming months, it could suggest another recession.
"Whether we call it a double-dip or not, I think there is a risk," Shiller told Reuters Insider in an interview.
China Launches Propaganda War Against Small Maine Town, Loses
By Max Fisher - TheAtlantic.com
The Global Times, China's state-owned, state-operated newspaper, which enjoys a print readership just under twice as large as that of the New York Times, often serves as a regime tool to flatter the Communist Party and to assail its enemies. Still, Global Times' Monday edition chose an unusual target for its latest onslaught: the quaint New England hamlet of Millinocket, Maine.
Stearns is a run-of-the-mill high school and doesn't appear on any "best high school lists."
The school building is over 40 years old. The school has only one Advanced Placement class and the school maps date from the Cold War era.
Millinocket is isolated. The closest mall and movie theater is one hour away. The town gets 93 inches of snow per year. Millinocket has about 5,000 residents but has experienced increasingly hard times since its paper mill filed for bankruptcy eight years ago. There were about 700 students at the high school in the 1970s. Today there are about 200 and the biggest kick for kids is hanging out in a supermarket parking lot.
States' foundations are crumbling... Why TSA, Wars, State Defined Diets,
Seat-Belt Laws, the War On Drugs, Police Brutality
and Efforts to Control the Internet, Are Essential to the State
by Butler Shaffer - LewRockwell.com
The title of this article encompasses topics that arouse attention and criticism among persons of libertarian persuasion. The discussion of such matters usually treats each issue as though it were sui generis, independent of one another. Most of us respond as though the woman who is groped at the airport has no connection with the man who is tasered by a police officer; that the person serving time in prison for selling marijuana is unrelated to the men being held at Guantanamo. The belief that one person’s maltreatment is isolated from the rest of us, is essential to the maintenance of state power.
What we have in common is the need to protect one another’s inviolability from governmental force. When we understand that the woman being groped by a TSA agent stands in the same shoes as our wife, mother, or grandmother; when the man being beaten by a sadist cop is seen, by us, as our father or grandfather, we become less willing to evade the nature of the wrongdoing by invoking the coward’s plea: "better him than me." The state owes its very existence to the success it has had in fostering division among us, a topic I explored in my Calculated Chaos book. Divide-and-conquer has long been the mainstay in political strategy.
Census Bureau on Homeownership Rate:
We've got "Some 'Splainin' to Do"
by CalculatedRisk
CR Note: Economist Tom Lawler has written severalarticles on the different measures of homeownership and vacancy rates. Although some readers’ eyes will glaze over, this information is critically important for analyzing housing and the U.S. economy. I'm still thinking about the implications!
"Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do!"
Ricky Ricardo, "I Love Lucy", 1951
From economist Tom Lawler:
My frustration with the conflicting data on US housing that comes from different reports from the Census Bureau, and the inability of Census analysts to explain the differences or even tell "private" analysts what time-series data they should use to analyze US housing trends, has existed for at least a decade. Occasionally that long-standing "frustration" has led me to write that it almost appears as if Census officials and analysts "don't care" about the conflicting data.
Treasury punishes top servicers for failing troubled homeowners
By Tami Luhby - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Three top mortgage servicers are finally being taken to the woodshed by the Obama administration.
Federal officials say these banks are doing such a bad job at foreclosure prevention that the government will stop paying them for modifying delinquent loans.
The Treasury Department announced on Thursday that it will withhold incentive payments to Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) until they substantially improve their performance in the federal Home Affordable Modification Program, known as HAMP.
Americans' equity in their homes near a record low
AP via AOLNews.com
WASHINGTON -Falling home prices have shrunk equity so much that the proportion of their homes that Americans actually own is near its lowest point since World War II.
The Federal Reserve says average home equity plunged from more than 61 percent at the start of 2001 to 38 percent in the January-March quarter this year. That drop comes as home prices in big metro areas have reached their lowest level since 2002.
Housing expert sees another price plunge
By Les Christie - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- In an off-hand remark before cameras and microphones, economist and housing market guru Robert Shiller opined earlier this year that he would not be shocked if there was another 10% to 25% in the nation's home price plunge -- and he's not backing down from that statement.
At a S&P Housing Summit in New York, Shiller on Thursday reiterated his fears of falling home prices. It's not a forecast, he said, just a comment on his understanding of housing market trends.
Tension Building over Arctic Energy Riches
Written by Andy Soos - OilPrice.com
The Arctic Ocean is a vast frozen sea bordered by Russia, Canada, Denmark, and Norway. It has been explored but it’s potential for mineral deposits and oil and gas deposits is not known clearly. Some or these resources are near these nations and the gradually melting northern areas are revealing more deposits and allowing readier access. Then there are other regions that may be fought over. Those reserves have been known about for centuries, yet a combination of new extraction technology and rising demand means that the human race is ready to fight for them while raising the threat of devastating pollution to a uniquely clean environment. The melting arctic is a sign of global warming but the net result may be more exploitation and environmental change.
No country owns the geographic North Pole or the region of the Arctic Ocean surrounding it. The surrounding Arctic states that border the Arctic Ocean — Russia, Norway, the United States, Canada and Denmark (via Greenland)—are limited to a 200 nautical miles economic zone around their coasts.
Center for American Progress Finally Comes Out in Favor of Tyranny
By MARK HEMINGWAY - The WeeklyStandard.com
Yuval Levin highlighted this yesterday, and it's one of the most revealing things I've seen recently, not just about Obamacare, but how the left generally views the exercise of power.
First, a refresher: Buried deep within the Obamacare bill is the Democrats' plan for lowering Medicare costs -- something called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Here's how it works:
It's a panel comprised of 15 presidential appointees who are tasked with reducing Medicare spending. The panel is is given certain spending targets that kick in in 2014. At first those targets are on a sliding scale, but by 2018 the spending targets are set at the rate of GDP growth with an additional half of a percentage point tacked on. (Originally, it was GDP plus a full percentage point, but according to the "framework" released prior to the President's speech the spending target has been reduced.)
Doctors Shaken By Outbreak's Neurological Devastation At first, doctors were most concerned about the kidneys of patients with enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, or EHEC. In the past week, howver, it has become apparent that neurological side effects of the bacterial infection could be even worse.
By SPIEGEL Staff - Spiegel.de
The patient at the Hamburg-Eilbek Hospital describes to doctors how she first had diarrhea, and then grew progressively weaker to the point where she could no longer eat and barely make it to the toilet. When blood appeared in her stool, she became terrified. The young woman at the hospital's intensive-care unit in the northern German port city suspects that lettuce was responsible for putting her in this deadly situation. She then breaks out in tears, completely distraught.
Something Stinks in Washington, D.C It's Time for the FDIC to Stop Trashing American Jobs.
WASHINGTON, June 9, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a powerful new ad campaign launched this week, Astani Enterprises points out the perverse incentive that the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) has created for the hedge funds tasked with managing the assets of failed banks. The more seized assets a hedge fund keeps on its books, the more taxpayer dollars the hedge funds receive in "management fees." While these hedge funds profit, more Americans are thrown out of work, more construction projects are junked, and communities across America continue to struggle.
With almost 20 million people unemployed in our country (construction unemployment 40% in LA County alone!), many Americans wake up every day and ask, "how did this happen?" Wall Street and the Federal Government told us our country's economy and financial systems were too big to fail. But they did fail and some of the biggest banking institutions in our country crumbled. The Federal Government's troubled assets bailout totaled more than $700 billion, with much of the money going to some of the largest banking institutions in the country. But many banks failed anyway. Now, the FDIC is allowing hedge funds to buy the assets of failed banks – giving these favored hedge funds the ability to turn quick profits while enjoying perks like zero percent government loans.
Rense & Pastor Manning - What Went Wrong
Defining Mortality After Dr. Death There are new questions about the concept of 'brain death.'
By DAVID GIBSON - WSJ.com
Jack Kevorkian was back in the news last week, as the infamous practitioner of physician-assisted suicide died of natural causes at the age of 83. Throughout his life, "Dr. Death" provoked fraught questions of mortality, morality and end-of-life care. One of the most contentious: At what point is a person dead?
Like caring for the dying and the dead, defining death was traditionally a role for religious communities. Priests must administer last rites before a soul departs the body, and rabbis need to know the moment of death so that burial can take place within 24 hours. In the Judeo-Christian view, body and soul are inextricably linked, so life must be cherished. Death snaps that bond and leaves a corpse that should be honored with due rites and care, yet not mistaken for the person who is no longer there.
Panetta expected to be confirmed as Pentagon chief
By: Susan Ferrechio - WashingtonExaminer.com
President Obama's nominee for defense secretary told Congress on Thursday that killing Osama bin Laden has given the United States "the greatest chance since 9/11 to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda."
But Leon Panetta, the outgoing director of the CIA, admitted he would have to make "tough decisions" and "tough choices" in the face of new fiscal policies that will likely shrink the defense budget, even while the nation is fighting multiple wars.
Gabrielle Giffords' staffer talks about congresswoman's health
by E. J. Montini - The Arizona Republic
Pia Carusone knew the day would come when the questions about her boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, would become more indelicate.
After answering some of those questions, Carusone, Giffords' chief of staff, told me: "We want to give people a clear picture (about Giffords). It's not in anyone's interest to have anyone feel misled. But it's hard because we satisfy one person and one set of questions, and tomorrow, we're on to the next. The feeling is like it's never enough."
It won't be. Not from now on. The inquiries will keep coming until the day Giffords decides if she will return to Congress.
Newt Gingrich advisers resign en masse
By JONATHAN MARTIN & MAGGIE HABERMAN - Politico.com
Newt Gingrich's top staff quit en masse Thursday, throwing into question whether his already troubled presidential campaign can continue.
Two sources close to the situation confirmed that campaign manager Rob Johnson, strategists Sam Dawson and Dave Carney, spokesman Rick Tyler and consultants Katon Dawson in South Carolina and Craig Schoenfeld in Iowa quit to protest what one called a "different vision" for the campaign.
The Problem Was the Wife
BY FRED BARNES - The WeeklyStandard.com
The problem was the wife. Aides to Newt Gingrich have resigned from his presidential campaign in protest of what they felt was a takeover by Callista Gingrich, the candidate's wife since 2000.
The euphemism offered by departing staffers was they disagreed with Gingrich's "strategy" for the campaign. Indeed, they did disagree. But it was a strategy – a part-time campaign, in effect – that Gingrich’s wife favored.
Several aides, including campaign manager Rob Johnson, met with Gingrich on Thursday morning and told him of the senior staff's unanimous decision to quit. Gingrich later put out a statement saying he was staying in the race.
Clinton spox denies Bank bid
By GLENN THRUSH - Politico.com
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's top spokesman went to the rhetorical barnyard to describe a Reuters story claiming that Clinton is angling to run the World Bank.
"It's Grade A bullsh*t," Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines emailed POLITICO after the account hit the wire.
U.S. PRESSES COVERT AIRSTRIKES IN YEMEN
Truthdig.com
Following Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s emergency departure for medical treatment last week, the U.S. government has taken advantage of the resulting power vacuum to resume covert fighter jet and drone attacks that have killed civilians and suspected terrorists alike.
Washington officials report that American intelligence services have been receiving more leads about the locations of terrorist suspects, but that recent, intensifying conflicts between groups competing for power in Saleh’s absence have increased the likelihood that rival factions could contrive to manipulate U.S. forces into attacking their own political opponents. And the U.S. campaign against al-Qaida forces in the south could backfire if the airstrikes kill civilians and feed al-Qaida’s call for jihad. —ARK
John Moore, Green Beret, Predicting Armageddon... soon
Forget the Measly $14 Trillion U.S. Debt:
The Government Owes $62 Trillion
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
According to the Department of Treasury, U.S. debt totaled $14.3 trillion yesterday. That number might sound bad, but it's actually only a part of the obligations that the government faces. According to an analysis by USA Today, the U.S. actually owes far more: $62 trillion.
Dennis Cauchon explains that the government added $5.3 trillion in new obligations in 2010, which are made up mostly of entitlements. Medicare added $1.8 trillion and Social Security added $1.4 trillion. He writes:
Corporations would be required to count these new liabilities when they are taken on -- and report a big loss to shareholders. Unlike businesses, however, Congress postpones recording spending commitments until it writes a check.
It's Obama's Economy, Stupid
By Jonah Goldberg - PatriotPost.us
"Now, my administration has a job to do as well, and that job is to get this economy back on its feet," President Obama declared on July 14, 2009, in Warren, Mich. "That's my job, and it's a job I gladly accept. I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, well, this is Obama's economy. That's fine. Give it to me."
OK. It's yours.
The unemployment rate then was 9.5 percent. It's now 9.1 percent, well above the 8 percent cap that the administration advisors projected under the stimulus bill. But that's not the amazing part. According to a White House report written by economic advisors Jared Bernstein and Christina Romer in January 2009 in support of the bill, if we had passed no stimulus package at all, the unemployment rate would have topped out at around 8.8 percent in the last quarter of 2010.
Sorry Mr. Bernanke: There Will be a Double-Dip Recession
BY MARTIN HUTCHINSON, Contributing Editor, Money Morning
Despite what U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said in his speech at the International Monetary Conference yesterday (Tuesday), it looks very much like we're headed for a double-dip recession.
Indeed, the economic reports of the last week or so demonstrate that the U.S. job machine was never really jump-started after the Great Recession of 2008-09. The upshot: The U.S. economic recovery is stalling, and we're almost certainly looking at a double-dip downturn.
Recessions are always painful - and double-dip recessions are even more so.
And this second "dip" may be more of the same - a bloody economic downturn that leads into a feeble recovery with unemployment spiking to even higher levels than we're currently seeing.
The Bernanke Scandal: Full-Frontal Cluelessness
By Robert Scheer - Truthdig.com
How I wish that Ben Bernanke would get caught emailing photos of his underwear-clad groin. Otherwise we don't stand a chance of reversing this administration’s economic policy, which is shaping up to be every bit as disastrous as that of its predecessor.
Indeed, the Fed chairman's much anticipated remarks on Tuesday take one back to the contemptuous indifference of a Herbert Hoover to the public’s suffering: Bernanke dismissed the wobbly economy with its anemic 1.8 percent first-quarter growth as merely "somewhat slower than expected." The rise in unemployment to 9.1 percent was "some loss of momentum."
Bernanke versus NY Fed – Who's Telling the Truth?
BY BRUCE KRASTING - FinancialSense.com
I listened to Big Ben yesterday and what I heard is a guy who's on the defensive. He spent most of his talk describing in some detail why the Federal Reserve and its cheap money policies of ZIRP and QE have not added to the inflation picture.
IMHO Ben should have stepped up to the plate and said to the world that in fact his policies have contributed to inflation. He should have confirmed, what we already know, the objective of current monetary policy is to stimulate inflation. After all, the idea that zero interest ratesdo not contribute to inflation is, well, a dumb idea that has no basis in fact.
While Ben was doing his best to convince the suckers that believe in his drivel the NY Fed was publishing a blog that concluded quite the opposite.
Bernanke June 7
Published by Ian R. Campbell - StockResearchPortalBlog.com
As you very well may know, yesterday afternoon U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke delivered his views on the U.S. Economic Outlook to the International Monetary Conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. You can read the full text of his address here – reading time 15 minutes. If you participate in the equity markets, the precious metals market, or other commodity markets I strongly suggest you take the time to do that.
As I read Mr. Bernanke's address, in essence he provided what I think in many ways a quite realistic current picture of the U.S. economy. While he continues to be optimistic that current high rates of non-durable inflation, largely he thinks oil-price driven, are 'transitory', he expects non-durable inflation to remain 'subdued' in the 'medium term'. That said, from my perspective he covered 'much of the waterfront' of the problems that exist in the U.S. economy today, and hence are facing American policymakers fore-square. Among the things he spoke about were:
Marc Faber - Signs of an Imminent Market Crash Are Here
The Economy Is Worse Than You Think Expect more bad news until someone enacts a plan
to bring deficits under control without raising taxes.
By MARTIN FELDSTEIN - WSJ.com
The policies of the Obama administration have led to the weak condition of the American economy. Growth during the coming year will be subpar at best, leaving high or rising levels of unemployment and underemployment.
The drop in GDP growth to just 1.8% in the first quarter of 2011, from 3.1% in the final quarter of last year, understates the extent of the decline. Two-thirds of that 1.8% went into business inventories rather than sales to consumers or other final buyers. This means that final sales growth was at an annual rate of just 0.6% and the actual quarterly increase was just 0.15%—dangerously close to no rise at all. A sustained expansion cannot be built on inventory investment. It takes final sales to induce businesses to hire and to invest.
Government Heads For Budget Collapse
By Lee Adler - WallStreetExaminer.com
The US Treasury, running short of cash, announced a $15 billion, 6 day cash management bill to carry it through to June 15 tax collections and settlement of new notes and bonds. The government is massively overshooting Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC) borrowing estimates issued in May. As I pointed out in the Treasury update at at the time, the government’s and the TBAC's economic assumptions have been way too optimistic. This week, the government is $24 billion over the TBAC estimate for what it would need this week. Debt ceiling issues notwithstanding, revenue is way behind projections. The US government is headed for a budgetary collapse. Buyers of long term Treasuries are whistling in the graveyard.
Fitch issues warning on U.S. credit ratings;
default could cause global shock, Fed official says The comment by St. Louis Fed President James Bullard comes after Fitch warns it could slash U.S. credit ratings if the government misses bond payments.
Reuters - LATimes.com
A U.S. default would have severe reverberations in global markets, a top Federal Reserve official said just hours after Fitch Ratings warned it could slash U.S. credit ratings if the government misses bond payments.
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said "the U.S. fiscal situation, if not handled correctly, could turn into a global macro shock."
"The idea that the U.S. could threaten to default is a dangerous one," he said. "The reverberations in those global markets would be very severe."
Bernanke - It's Complicated!
BY AXEL G MERK - FinancialSense.com
Get ready for more money to be printed – this time not to subsidize an overly indebted American consumer, but to stem against the credit destruction caused by the Federal Reserve (Fed) itself. Tuesday evening at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta, J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon gave a laundry list of changes that have already incurred in the banking system, including
No more Special Investment Vehicles (SIVs)
No more sub-prime, no more “Alt-A” mortgages
No more CDOs
Higher underwriting standards
On top of these changes, the Fed now wants to introduce 300 new regulations. Has anyone at the Fed studied what impact these regulations will have on credit?
The Coming Crash of 2013
By Peter Ferrara - Spectator.org
On Inauguration Day, 2009, President Obama seemed so politically blessed by the timing of developing economic trends. I expected that based on American economic history, recovery from the recession should have occurred some time during 2009. Even the longest previous recession since the Great Depression would have resulted in a recovery in summer 2009, as the recession began in December 2007.
Moreover, prior American history had shown that the deeper the recession the stronger the recovery. So I was expecting President Obama to pass his economic recovery plan, as foolhardy and ineffective as I believed it would be, and then to ride a wave of adulation as the economy roared back later in the year, which it should have done just on its own according to long established rhythms of the business cycle.
Death By Debt Expect more thin-air money printing
BY CHRIS MARTENSON PHD - FinancialSense.com
Expect more thin-air money printing
One of the conclusions that I try to coax, lead, and/or nudge people towards is acceptance of the fact that the economy can't be fixed. By this I mean that the old regime of general economic stability and rising standards of living fueled by excessive credit are a thing of the past. At least they are for the debt-encrusted developed nations over the short haul -- and, over the long haul, across the entire soon-to-be energy-starved globe.
The sooner we can accept that idea and make other plans the better. To paraphrase a famous saying, Anything that can't be fixed, won't.
How Financial Oligarchy Replaces Democracy
By Michael Hudson
Will Greece Let EU Central Bankers Run Riot Over Sovereignty?
When Greece exchanged its drachma for the euro in 2000, most voters were all for joining the Eurozone. Their hope was that it would ensure stability, and that this would promote rising wages and living standards. Few saw that the stumbling point was tax policy. Greece was excluded from the eurozone the previous year as a result of failing to meet the 1992 Maastricht criteria for EU membership, limiting budget deficits to 3 percent of GDP, and government debt to 60 percent.
The euro also had other serious fiscal and monetary problems at the outset. There is little thought of wealthier EU economies helping bring less productive ones up to par, e.g. as the United States does with its depressed areas (as in the rescue of the auto industry in 2010) or when the federal government does declares a state of emergency for floods, tornados or other disruptions.
EU says yes to gold bullion collateral-
On the Edge with Max Keiser -06-03-2011-(Part1)
EU says yes to gold bullion collateral-
On the Edge with Max Keiser -06-03-2011-(Part2)
Is Ireland's Economy Doomed? The nation's mortgage mess may lead to huge bank losses, whether borrowers default or not
By Gabriel O’Malley - TheAtlantic.com
The great Irish wit, Oscar Wilde, famously confessed that he could resist everything except temptation. His words could serve as a fitting epitaph for the Ireland that existed in the first decade of the millennium, where bankers, property developers, politicians, and ordinary citizens engaged in a credit-fueled spending spree the likes of which few, if any, countries have ever witnessed. Seemingly overnight, the "Celtic Tiger" transformed from a garden box of legitimate business growth to a property-inspired, carnival success story to a cautionary tale of excess. Now with its economy in shambles, the country is struggling to dig itself from the rubble of a nationwide housing bust.
Sterling slides as Moody's warns UK
By Jessica Mortimer - Reuters.com
LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Sterling fell to a one-month low against the euro and slid against the dollar on Wednesday after a media report quoting a Moody's analyst saying the UK was at risk of losing its top-notch rating.
According to the report, the analyst said the UK could lose its AAA rating if growth remained weak and the government failed to meet its fiscal consolidation targets.
The rating agency subsequently said its outlook for Britain was stable, though it might reconsider if targets were missed.
The Million Dollar Gold Arbitrage
BY JASON KASPAR - FinancialSense.com
During the Civil War, an independent thinker from San Antonio named Edward Steves made a savvy business move that would forever change his fortune and that of his family for generations. He made a bet against a dying currency in favor of the only currency that has never failed.
In Texas, truth and myth are often blurred as stories of what the human spirit accomplishes are stretched into tall tales for open camp fires and star filled nights. Perhaps the story of Mr. Steves borders on exaggeration. Perhaps not. In either case, the moral offers a profound lesson in wealth preservation and accumulation.
Secret Bilderberg Agenda Leaked by Mole
By Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
Alex Jones and Infowars.com have received inside information regarding the Bilderberg agenda now unfolding in the idyllic Swiss countryside.
According to AFP journalist and legendary Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker’s inside sources, the agenda now under review includes a number of critical issues at the top of the elite’s to-do list. These breakdown as follows:
The elite are concerned that the American Congress may soon turn against the illegal and immoral invasion under humanitarian cover by NATO and the U.S. against the north African dictator Moammar Gaddafi
pt 1/3 Gerald Celente on the Alex Jones show 08 June 2011
pt 2/3 Gerald Celente on the Alex Jones show 08 June 2011
pt 3/3 Gerald Celente on the Alex Jones show 08 June 2011
Bonds are toast... Bill Gross: Treasury investors will 'get cooked'
By Hibah Yousuf
CHICAGO (CNNMoney) -- Pimco founder Bill Gross reiterated his warning to cash out of Treasuries Wednesday afternoon.
Investors who have been betting on Treasuries are destined "to get cooked like frogs in an increasingly hot pot of water," the well-known bond bear told attendees at a Morningstar Investment conference in Chicago.
Gross, who manages the $235 billion Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTAX), said real interest rates, which remove the effect of inflation to measure the actual yield an investor receives, have fallen into negative territory.
Spending, Not Much. Borrowing, Billions.
by Portfolio.com Editors
Consumers may be reluctant to open up their wallets and shop for everyday items, but when it comes to buying a car, taking out a student loan, or paying off debt, they’re willing to borrow in order to do so, reports the Federal Reserve.
The monthly consumer credit report showed that Americans took on $6.25 billion in additional debt in April, marking the seventh straight month of increased lending activity, the government agency reported today. The Fed noted that in March, consumers added $4.82 billion to their debt load.
"What appears to be a turnaround in the credit cycle is mostly an increase in student-loan debt as people go back to school to improve skills amid high unemployment and as state budget cuts push up tuition," an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities told Reuters.
Koch Brothers-Funded Group
to Launch Campaign Blaming Obama for Gas Prices
by: Nadia Prupis, Truthout.org
The Americans for Prosperity Foundation (APF) will launch a campaign this week blaming the White House for rising gas prices, Politico reports. The conservative group, chaired by David Koch, will introduce rallies and media movements in a number of states to promote the idea that the Obama administration's energy regulation is causing the increasing numbers at the pump. "We want the public to know there's a reason these prices are going through the roof: It's because of the environment produced by the regulatory practices of this administration," APF President Tim Phillips told Politico. Most analysts blame the recovery from the global recession and the unrest in the Middle East for the prices, but many Republicans and high-profile figures from the oil industry disagree.
Job cuts loom at Morgan Stanley
By AARON ELSTEIN - Crain's New York Business
"At this point, we've tackled most of the problems we inflicted upon ourselves."
Those words, delivered Tuesday by Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat at an investor conference, are just about the cheeriest Wall Street executives can muster nowadays. The securities business is in a funk--and Morgan Stanley is feeling the worst of it, with its stock price on Tuesday hitting its lowest point since Chief Executive James Gorman took the helm early last year.
Morgan Stanley's problems boil down to this: It pays people too much for doing too little.
U.S. JOB SEEKERS IN FOR A LONG, FRUSTRATING HUNT
Truthdig.com
Anyone who’s reading this while in the midst of looking for work may not be surprised to hear that Americans who quit their search for gainful employment spent five long months hunting before throwing in the towel. —KA
The Wall Street Journal:
The amount of time the unemployed spent hunting for jobs rose sharply last year. Those out of work tended to search for about 20 weeks before quitting in 2010, compared to 8.5 weeks in 2007, according to a recent Labor Department report. The report studied how long unemployed workers took to either find a new job or quit looking.
No, You Can't Keep Your Health Insurance A new study by McKinsey suggests that as many as 78 million Americans could lose employer health coverage.
By Grace-Marie Turner
ObamaCare will lead to a dramatic decline in employer-provided health insurance—with as many as 78 million Americans forced to find other sources of coverage.
This disturbing finding is based on my calculations from a survey by McKinsey & Company. The survey, published this week in the McKinsey Quarterly, found that up to 50% of employers say they will definitely or probably pursue alternatives to their current health-insurance plan in the years after the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act takes effect in 2014. An estimated 156 million non-elderly Americans get their coverage at work, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
Obamacare may be overturned... Healthcare overhaul fight in pivotal Atlanta court
By The Associated Press - Alabamas13.com
ATLANTA (AP) - The latest round in the fight over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul was held Wednesday in the federal appeals court in Atlanta.
A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on whether to reverse a Floridajudge's ruling that struck down the law. The judges seemed receptive to arguments from critics challenging the health reforms as unconstitutional during the three-hour hearing.
Some 26 states opposing the law and an alliance of small businesses argue that Congress didn't have the power to require virtually all Americans to maintain health insurance. The Justice Department says the legislative branch exercised its "quintessential" right.
N.J. Nears Deal to Cut Pensions, Benefits
By Lisa Fleisher - WSJ.com
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Senate legislative leaders have reached a deal to cut pensions and benefits for current public employees, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The deal would require workers to pay more of their salaries into the pension system, give up annual cost-of-living increases and pay a percentage of their health care premiums in a tiered system based on their salary, this person said. New employees would have to work longer to get full benefits. Current retirees would not be affected by the deal, nor will people who have at least 25 years in the system.
U.S. House Foreclosures / Banking
Published by Ian R. Campbell - StockResearchPortalBlog.com
A few days ago a U.S. newspaper carried a story under a headline 'U.S. House Foreclosures Down'. My reaction when I read this: "I wonder if that is simply because U.S. Banks are not bothering to put mortgages into foreclosure because equity values are under water, or for reasons on the basis it is better for the current owners to be living in their house rather than let the squirrels, raccoons, etc. move in with resultant 'owner vacancy deterioration' occurring – hoping for sunnier days for the U.S. residential real estate market.
An article titled '(U.S.) Banks Still Have Huge Mortgage Losses to Come' – reading time 3 minutes – says that mortgage delinquency rates have skyrocketed in New York City while foreclosure actions have declined, with some empirical evidence from the Borough of Queens to support that proposition). The article goes on to say that in New York City it takes on average 644 days from the time a mortgagor stops paying for a Notice of Foreclosure to be issued, and up to a further year for lender repossession of a foreclosed property to be completed. Nation wide, the article reports the corresponding averages to be 450 days and a further 294 days (or collectively over two years) from the time of first mortgagor non-payment to lender possession.
Koch-backed group's fake eviction notices rile up Detroit
By Stephanie Condon - CBSNews.com
Residents in a Detroit neighborhood received a scare this week when they found what appeared to be eviction notices on their doors. The flyers, however, turned out to be political pamphlets in opposition to the construction of a controversial new bridge.
The fake eviction notices were posted by a local chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political advocacy group backed by Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who run Koch Industries and are longtime libertarians. Local political leaders and columnists are condemning the group for scaring residents -- whose homes sit in the epicenter of the nation's foreclosure crisis -- while refusing to disclose which of its corporate backers are funding the flyers.
The Subterranean Homelessness Blues
By NICOLAS RAPOLD - WSJ.com
In 2000, the black-and-white documentary "Dark Days" shined a light on about 100 New Yorkers who literally lived out of sight and out of mind. Deep in a disused Amtrak tunnel beneath the west side of Manhattan, homeless men and women inhabited jerry-built huts, living off scraps and siphoning electricity to cook and brighten the way. Their resilience, ingenuity and tenacity were extraordinary, even as their subterranean circumstances seemed an all-too-apt expression of this city's conflicted relationship with its least fortunate.
"We made the film and naively said, 'We're going to make this film and sell it, and the money is going to get everybody out of the tunnels,'" recalled Marc Singer, the London-born filmmaker who shot "Dark Days" between 1994 and 1997 with almost no experience, assisted by the tunnel's residents.
Will Tweet for Food
by Nicola Kean - Portfolio.com
When unemployed social-media strategist Hagan Blount ran out of money in April, he took to the streets. Literally.
Tired of résumé websites, he donned a sandwich board saying "Will Tweet for Food," and wandered around outside one of New York's Apple Stores. On a suggestion, he put together an infographic résumé that got the attention of websites like Mashable. Out of the process he earned three months of living expenses, four job interviews outside New York, a contract with Coke, an offer to co-found a startup, and a couple of dates.
On Monday, Blount led a panel with GroupM's Kimberly Cropper and Peppercorn's Richard Ouyang at Internet Week New York on how to use social media to get what you want. Here are some top tips they shared:
E coli outbreak: bean sprouts may not be to blame Organic farm in Germany tests negative so far for bacterium, throwing source of contamination into doubt again
By Peter Walker and Siobhan Dowling in Bienenbüttel - Guardian.co.uk
The source of Europe's E coli outbreak remains a mystery after German scientists said there was as yet no evidence from tests to link the bacterium to a farm in the northern state of Lower Saxony.
The results of laboratory tests came as a surprise, as ministers had earlier said there were "strong and clear indications" that bean sprouts from the Gärtenhof organic farm had spread the new and particularly virulent strain of E coli, which has so far killed 22 people and left 2,200 people ill.
A first set of 23 results from 40 samples taken at the farm were negative, Lower Saxony's agriculture ministry said in a statement.
Major Net slowdown may be hours away
ByStephen Shankland - (CNET)
The computing industry has begun a major 24-hour test today to work the kinks out of IPv6, a disruptive but necessary overhaul of the Internet's inner workings.
Starting at midnight, Universal Coordinated Time on June 8--or 5 p.m. PT today--dozens of companies lit up servers, Web sites, and network infrastructure that communicate using Internet Protocol version 6. The test, called World IPv6 Day, provides a bit of deadline, albeit one that's more artificial and less pressing than the Y2K bug's January 1, 2000, zero hour.
Unfortunately, the IPv6 test could disrupt the Net for some people who have badly configured hardware or software, with a Web site taking more than two minutes to load instead of a few seconds. Fortunately, though, the problem probably won't affect very many people, and the test will help identify any trouble spots.
LED light bulbs have a bright future They look odd and are expensive, but LEDs could someday replace compact fluorescent lights as the main alternative to incandescent bulbs.
By Troy Wolverton - LATimes.com
You may have started to see some odd-looking — and expensive — light bulbs show up at your local home improvement store.
This year, Home Depot started selling a Philips AmbientLED bulb that is designed to replace the standard 60-watt light bulb used in lamps and other fixtures. If you had seen it, you might have quickly passed it by after seeing its price: a whopping $40 each.
But it's worth another look, if only because many people are betting that the bulb represents the future of home lighting.
U.S. - Venezuelan Relations - Just Frozen or Beyond Repair?
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
According to the U.S. Energy Administration, two months ago the United States total crude oil imports averaged 9,033 thousand barrels per day (tbpd), with the top five exporting countries being Canada (2,666 tbpd), Mexico (1,319 tbpd), Saudi Arabia (1,107 tbpd), Venezuela (930 tbpd) and Nigeria (918 tbpd.)
Notice anything odd about this list? First, three of the top five oil exporters to the U.S. are in the Western hemisphere, and two of them are neighbors.
Secondly, only two of the five states can comfortably be described as stable. Mexico is slowly unraveling due to the drug war, Nigeria's militant regularly attack foreign oil concessions in the Niger delta and Saudi Arabia's geriatric monarchy is nervously watching events unfold in the Middle East, wondering if the "Arab spring" may impact their autocratic hold on power, a view no doubt made more nervous by the sudden arrival on 6 June of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.
A Look at US Military Energy Consumption
Written by Daily Energy Report - OilPrice.com
Since the beginning of the 20th century energy has been a critical factor for armed forces worldwide. From the end of the Cold War to the first years of the 21st century, the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) energy consumption dropped by some 40 percent, but with the Global War on Terror consumption has raised again.
In fiscal year 2009, the DoD consumed 932 trillion Btu of site delivered energy at a cost of 13.3 billion dollars. Energy consumed per active duty military and civilian personal is 35 percent higher than the U.S. energy consumption per capita, which is amongst the highest in the world. While consuming that amount of energy, DoD emitted 73 million metric tons of CO2, corresponding to over 4 percent of the total emissions in USA
Congress tiring of war powers scam
By Patrick Buchanan - Creators.com - MiamiHerald.com
Late last month, when U.S. air strikes caused civilian casualties in Afghanistan, an angry Hamid Karzai issued an ultimatum.
If future U.S. strikes are not restricted, we will take "unilateral action" and America may be treated like an "occupying power."
That brought this blistering retort from one Republican hawk.
"If President Karzai continues with these public ultimatums, we must consider our options about the immediate future of U.S. troops in his country. If he actually follows through on his claim that Afghan forces will take 'unilateral action' against NATO forces which conduct such air raids to take out terrorists and terrorist positions, that should result in the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and the suspension of U.S. aid."
The Next American Revolution Won't Be Like the First
Mises Daily: by Wendy McElroy
One of my friends believes that a second American revolution is imminent and will be sparked by the economic instability now rocking the continent. Frankly, I doubt it. Insurrections may occur, but I expect the US government to lumber along, dragging the world deeper into poverty and conflict for many years to come.
Upon hearing my friend out, however, my first thought was, "if a revolution erupts, it will resemble the French one of 1789 more closely than the American one of 1776." Then I sat back and tried to figure out why I had arrived at that sudden conclusion, and whether or not it had merit.
Paul Craig Roberts:
Will Washington Foment War Between China and India? 1/2
Paul Craig Roberts:
Will Washington Foment War Between China and India? 1/2
BAHRAIN: Formula 1 boss says Grand Prix canceled
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Cairo - LATimes.com
Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says October's reinstated Bahrain Grand Prix iscanceled this year as the Persian Gulf nation continues to grapple with reports of human rights violations a week after the king lifted martial law imposed to quell a pro-democracy uprising.
The race was due to open the season in March but was called off after anti-government protests erupted in February, leaving more than 20 people dead. Last week, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) restored it to the calendar despite complaints by human rights organizations of an ongoing crackdown by the gulf monarchy against dissidents.
Reflections on Israel: From Idealism to Ethnic Cleansing
By Larry Gross - Truthdig.com
In 1953 my family—my parents and their four boys, aged 4 to 12, I was 10—moved from the suburbs of Washington, D.C., to Israel, where we remained for seven years. My father was what might be called a McCarthy refugee, a former Truman administration official who was also a "premature anti-fascist" (look it up) and thus not eminently employable in that chilly era of Red-hunting. I've since read my father's FBI file and I know how close he came to being fingered as a former Communist Party member (my parents both left the CP after the 1939 Hitler-Stalin pact). My father received offers to join many other former government officials in taking overseas posts in such imperial outposts as Japan, Indonesia and Pakistan, but my mother said she wouldn't raise her children in a "foreign nationals" bubble surrounded by servants. An offer to my father to join a group of economic advisers to the prime minister of the then 5-year-old state of Israel was another matter. To my mother, the daughter of longtime Labor Zionists, this was an appealing option, and we left the States for what was to be a two-year stint. After the two years were over, my father moved to the Hebrew University, where he taught for the next five years before we returned to the United States and I started college.
China admits 'secret' aircraft carrier is nearly ready for launch Officials suggest refurbished former Soviet vessel will operate in disputed waters including Taiwan Straits
By Jonathan Watts in Beijing - Guardian.co.uk
China has moved a step closer to launching its first aircraft carrier with senior generals in the People's Liberation Army finally confirming one of the world's worst kept military secrets.
Officers from the general staff acknowledged the existance of a carrier, which one of them described as a "symbol of a great nation", amid reports that it could set sail within weeks.
The vessel in question is a defunct Soviet-era carrier formerly named the Varyag that was bought in 1998 from Ukraine by a Hong Kong company on the pretext that it would be used as a floating casino off the shores of Macau.
Fukushima nuclear plant may have suffered 'melt-through' Japan admits Fuel rods have probably breached containment vessels – a more serious scenario than core meltdown – according to report
By Justin McCurry in Tokyo - Guardian.co.uk,
Molten nuclear fuel in three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is likely to have burned through pressure vessels, not just the cores, Japan has said in a report in which it also acknowledges it was unprepared for an accident of the severity of Fukushima.
It is the first time Japanese authorities have admitted the possibility that the fuel suffered "melt-through" – a more serious scenario than a core meltdown.
The report, which is to be submitted to the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA), said fuel rods in reactors No 1, 2 and 3 had probably not only melted, but also breached their inner containment vessels and accumulated in the outer steel containment vessels.
DIMON GRIPES TO BERNANKE JPMorgan Chase's CEO tells Fed chief
that financial reform is stifling recovery
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is still griping about financial reform, and this time, he took his complaints straight to the top official at the Federal Reserve.
"I don't personally buy the argument that because it was a financial crisis it has to take a long time coming out," Dimon said in a Q&A session following a speech by Ben Bernanke at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta Tuesday.
In his speech, Bernanke acknowledged that the economy was "below its potential," following a recent onslaught of negative economic news including a disappointing jobs report andweaker than expected-economic-growth.
Dimon Asks Bernanke If Regulators Went Too Far
By Dawn Kopecki - Bloomberg.com
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimonasked Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke today whether regulators have gone too far in supervising U.S. banks and are holding back employment growth.
Dimon, questioning Bernanke at a conference in Atlanta, asked whether the central banker has studied the cumulative effects of newcapital requirements, mortgage standards and other rules imposed on the system in the wake of the U.S. financial crisis. He asked Bernanke if he "has a fear like I do" that overzealous regulation "will be the reason it took so long that our banks, our credit, our businesses and most importantly job creation to start going again. Is this holding us back at this point?"
The Fed doesn’t have the quantitative tools to study the net impact of all the changes over the last three years, Bernanke responded.
Bernanke: We 'urgently' need to fix the debt problem
By Martin Crutsinger, Associated Press - USAToday.com
WASHINGTON — There were no surprises in Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks to an international banking conference in Atlanta Tuesday.
He gave his assessment of the weak economic recovery, but said he expects growth to continue without dangerous inflation.
He did, however, emphasize the need for a long-term solution to the nation's debt problem that doesn't cut federal spending in the near term so sharply that it affects the fragile recovery.
'Uneven' Recovery Still Needs Stimulus: Bernanke
By Caroline Salas Gage and Steve Matthews - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said record monetary stimulus is still needed to boost a “frustratingly slow” recovery and repeated that a rise in inflation is likely to prove temporary.
"The economy is still producing at levels well below its potential; consequently, accommodative monetary policies are still needed," Bernanke said today in a speech to a conference in Atlanta. At the same time, the Fed "will take whatever actions are necessary to keep inflation well controlled," he said.
Recent data showing weakness in the economy, including a rise in theunemployment rate to 9.1 percent in May, have increased the odds the Fed will hold the benchmark interest rate near zero into next year. Bernanke said growth is likely to pick up in the second half of the year as fuel prices recede and disruptions of parts supplies dissipate as factories in Japan recover from an earthquake and tsunami.
Stocks in U.S. Fall,
Treasuries Gain as Bernanke Signals No New Stimulus
By Michael P. Regan and Inyoung Hwang - Bloomberg.com
U.S. stocks fell for a fifth day, the longest drop for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in 11 months, and Treasuries erased losses as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke gave no sign he is planning new stimulus efforts to bolster the weakening economy.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.1 percent to 1,284.94 at 4 p.m. in New York, its lowest closing level since March 18. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield decreased less than one basis point to 2.99 percent after rising as much as six points earlier, and two-year yields fell to their 2011 low. The euro climbed 0.8 percent to $1.4688, the strongest since May 5, as the European Central Bank signaled it may back Greek debt rollovers. Oil climbed on speculation increase in OPEC production quotas will reduce spare capacity.
Decline and fall of the American empire The economic powerhouse of the 20th century emerged stronger from the Depression. But faced with cultural decay, structural weaknesses and reliance on finance, can the US do it again?
By Larry Elliott, Economics editor - The Guardian.co.uk
America clocked up a record last week. The latest drop in house prices meant that the cost of real estate has fallen by 33% since the peak – even bigger than the 31% slide seen when John Steinbeck was writing The Grapes of Wrath.
Unemployment has not returned to Great Depression levels but at 9.1% of the workforce it is still at levels that will have nerves jangling in the White House. The last president to be re-elected with unemployment above 7.2% was Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The US is a country with serious problems. Getting on for one in six depend on government food stamps to ensure they have enough to eat. The budget, which was in surplus little more than a decade ago, now has a deficit of Greek-style proportions. There is policy paralysis in Washington.
US warns against light touch bank rules that 'ended tragically' for UK US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner wants global regulations
By Jill Treanor - The Guardian.co.uk
The US urged other countries to avoid a "race to the bottom" with new financial regulations – and pointed to the experience of the UK to show the dangers of experimenting with "light-touch" rules.
Tim Geithner, US treasury secretary, said the UK's strategy before the banking crisis had ended "tragically".
Taxpayers ended up pouring £65bn into Royal Bank of Scotland andLloyds Banking Group, as well as nationalising Northern Rock, and were last night sitting on £15bn of losses on their stakes in the bailed-out banks.
Bernanke on Economy's Wobble:
Move Along, Nothing to See Here
In a speech on his U.S. outlook on Tuesday, the Fed chairman focused on price stability, saying that the recovery hasn't stalled
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
What really has Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke concerned? He provided some hints on Tuesday,speaking at the International Monetary Conference about the U.S. economic outlook. Considering thedisappointing jobs report last week, falling home prices, and weakening consumer sentiment, you might think that he would have spent most of his time talking about challenges the recovery faces. Instead, however, he focused on why we shouldn't worry about commodity prices or inflation.
Just a Bump on the Road to Recovery
About the first quarter of Bernanke's speech was dedicated to his outlook for U.S. growth. Essentially, he hasn't changed his view. He still expects the recovery to be slower than everyone would like. Although the economic indicators have been somewhat rotten lately, this fits into the narrative of an uneven, "frustratingly slow" recovery.
Bernanke sounds hopeful note on growth
By Patrice Hill-The Washington Times
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke sounded an optimistic note Tuesday that economic growth will pick up in the summer and fall after softening this spring under the weight of high gasoline prices and disruptions from the Japanese earthquake.
"Growth seems likely to pick up somewhat in the second half of the year" from the sub-par 2 percent pace in the first half, he told an International Monetary Conference in Atlanta, "with the effects of the Japanese disaster on manufacturing output likely to dissipate in coming months, and with some moderation in gasoline prices in prospect."
Bove: Fed Is Clueless On Bank Regulations
By Halah Touryalai - Forbes.com
A speech on Friday by Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo has bank analyst Dick Bove up in arms.
In a 12-page note yesterday, the Rochdale Securities analyst said Tarullo’s suggestion on Friday that systemically important financial institutions (SIFI) should increase their capital ratios by 20% to 100% above current levels is “a perfect example of what is wrong” with the Fed’s approach to the banking system.
From the note:
The suggestions being made indicate that the Fed has no understanding:
Of what caused the financial collapse
The current structure of the banking industry’s balance sheet
How banks interact with the economy
Why QE2 was a boondoggle for investors in financial instruments but had no impact on the economy
Containing (or Restraining) Systemic Risk
The Need to Not Fail on 'Too Big to Fail' The biggest problem is now worse than ever
By Richard W. Fisher - Fed Res Bank of Dallas
.... I confess that in matters of monetary policy and regulation, I am often in the minority. This does not make me the least bit uncomfortable. The majority opinion is not always right; indeed, my experience as an investor has biased me to conclude that more often than not, the consensus view is the wrong view, even among the most erudite. Exhibit A of the fallibility of consensus thinking is the herd mentality among supposedly sophisticated financiers as well as theoretical economists who believe in efficient-markets theory and other nonsense themes that led us into the recent financial crisis. I happen to believe that Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, was right when she said, "You cannot lead from the crowd."[1] There is a role for contrarians, not just in the investment arena, but also at the highest level of policymaking; at a minimum, it is important to question and challenge consensus views, even when they are formed by the most credentialed individuals.
Will The Banksters And The Corpocracy Eventually Own It All? 29 Statistics About Extreme Income Inequality In America
That Will Blow Your Mind
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Today, average Americans have less power relative to the monolithic corporate and governmental institutions that dominate our society than at any other point in U.S. history. Sadly, this is not what our founding fathers ever envisioned. Our founding fathers established a government "of the people, by the people, for the people", but what we have today is very far from that ideal. In America today, wealth and power are very highly concentrated, and if you have neither wealth nor power than most of our politicians really do not have any interest in you. Over the past several decades, those with huge amounts of money and power have been busy rigging the game so that the rest of the money and power slowly but surely funnels into their hands. If current trends continue, the banksters and the corpocracy will eventually own it all. Below you will find 29 statistics about extreme income inequality in America. Sadly, most of these statistics will be out of date in a year or two because wealth and power will be much more concentrated by that time.
Are We Fated to Live 1929-1930 All Over Again?
BY RICHARD RUSSELL - FinancialSense.com
September 3, 1929 -- The Dow surges to a record high of 381.17. Months later, years later, decades later, I wonder, "Will the Dow ever reach its 1929 high again?" All during the Depression years of the '30s I wonder, all during the War Years of the 1940s I wonder, all during the early '50s I wonder, and then on November 23, 1954, the Dow finally rallies above its "impossible" 1929 high of 381.17. I blink my eyes in excitement. I can't believe it. It's finally happened after 25 years of waiting.
On October 9, 2007, the Dow rallied to a record high of 14164.53. Three years have passed since then, and I wonder, "Will the Dow ever climb back to its 2007 peak again?" Following the 1929 peak, it took 25 years to reach the 1929 high again. How many years will it take to better the 2007 high? Memories -- memories and comparisons.
Marc Faber: Why I am bullish on gold
LONDON (Commodity Online): Noted global economic analyst and investor Marc Faber says gold is the best investment among commodities and there is no harm in investors amassing the yellow metal even at these high prices.
In his latest June outlook on the global economy, Faber asked investors to stay away from industrial commodities. "Global growth is slowing, which means weaker demand and lower prices for industrial commodities," he said.
Faber who publishes the widely circulated Gloom, Boom, and Doom Report said that he still likes gold and recommends a gradual accumulation despite market fluctuations.
Traders Are Dumping Stocks and Buying Gold and Silver
By: John Melloy - Executive Producer, Fast Money - CNBC.com
Gold [GCCV1] and silver [SICV1] have outperformed the S&P 500 by 8 percentage points over the past month as traders choose precious metals over stocks to stash cash.
The move is fueled by a number of worries: The European Union is planning its second Greek bailout, the Federal Reserve is angling to keep interest rates low while the second round of quantitative easing runs out—and global economic growth is slowing.
"Gold is more valuable at this juncture as the flight to quality accelerates," said Stephen Weiss of Short Hills Capital. "Global equity indices will all be in decline as multiple growth engines sputter: US, China, Eurozone and Japan. Only place is commodities, and specifically gold, because that is where perceived safety and momentum will be."
Gerald Celente Slams Steve Forbes
Smoke, Mirrors, and Inflation Expectations
Mises Daily: by Frank Shostak
Some influential commentators believe that the Federal Reserve's timing for the withdrawal of its record monetary stimulus could be determined by inflation expectations. (A popular measure of inflation expectations is the difference between the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note and the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury inflation protected security [TIPS]). After settling at 1.5 percent in August last year, this measure of inflation expectations shot up in April to 2.6 percent. For most experts, including Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, inflationary expectations are the underlying driving force of the inflationary process as depicted by changes in the consumer price index (CPI).[1] (In fact there is a time lag between changes in inflation expectations and the yearly rate of growth of the CPI [see chart].)
China Inflation: The Canary In the Coalmine
John Rutledge - Forbes.com The real inflation story is here in the United States.
Rising inflation in China has investors running scared, fearing that Chinese central bank tightening will end global growth. They are worrying about the wrong problem. China's inflation problem is transitory and will not interrupt China's growth. But it is a canary in the coal mine that should warn us of a serious, long-term, inflation problem building up in the U.S.
China's most recent inflation figure, 5.3%, is a very big deal in China. In Chinese history, periods of high inflation are associated with social, economic, and political unrest, something China's leaders do not want. In spite of their extraordinary growth record since Deng Xiao Ping opened China in 1978, China's per-capita GDP is just $4,399 ($7,481 purchasing power adjusted), less than one-tenth of the $48,157 U.S. level. They need 30 to 50 years of uninterrupted high growth to bring Chinese living standards up to current developed country levels. That's why their central bank, the People's Bank of China, has raised reserve requirements for Chinese banks five times so far this year to more than 20% today and adopted a number of other policies to curb price increases, such as selling food from government stockpiles.
10 Tipping Points Which Could Potentially Plunge The World
Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The global economy has become so incredibly unstable at this point that it is not going to take much to plunge the world into a horrific economic nightmare. The foundations of the world economic system are so decayed and so corrupted that even a stiff breeze could potentially topple the entire structure over. Over the past couple of months a constant parade of bad economic news has come streaming in from Europe, Asia and the United States. Signs of an impending economic slowdown are everywhere. So what "tipping point" will trigger the next global economic downturn? Nobody knows for sure, but potential tipping points are all around us.
Today, the global economic system is even more vulnerable than it was back in 2008. Virtually none of the systemic problems that contributed to the 2008 collapse have been fixed.
European Banks’ Capital Shortfall
Means Greece Debt Default Not an Option
By Aaron Kirchfeld and Elena Logutenkova - Bloomberg.com
A failure by European regulators to make banks raise enough capital to withstand a sovereign default is complicating efforts to resolve Greece's debt crisis.
The "fragilities" of Europe’s banking industry mean a Greek default isn't an option, European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said in New York last week. By delaying a decision some investors consider inevitable, policy makers risk increasing the cost to European taxpayers and prolonging Greece’s economic pain.
"European officials are trying to buy time for the troubled economies to get their house in order and the banks to be strengthened," said Guy de Blonay, who helps manage about $41 billion at Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. in London.
Fed Revises Away March Credit Card Balance Growth Americans continue to pay down revolving debt balances after all, as pessimism may be curbing consumer credit growth
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
It turns out that Americans are still paying down their credit card balances after all. Last month, the Federal Reserve reported that revolving debt grew by about 3%, which marked the first non-holiday shopping driven increase in card card balances since August 2008. But a report the central bank released today revised that uptick to virtually flat growth -- and it was entirely erased by a subsequent decline in credit card balances in April. [see chart]
Besides March, revolving credit levels were also revised in this month's report to show bigger declines in January and February. At month's end, the total balance of revolving credit was just $790 billion -- the lowest level seen since August 2004. That brings revolving credit down 18.9% since it peaked in August 2008. That's pretty incredible: Americans have paid down their credit cards by nearly 20% in less than three years.
U.S. funding for future promises lags by trillions
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
The federal government's financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for.
This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product.
Citizen Sues Atlanta Fed
Based on Allegation that It's Issuing Federal Reserve Notes
That It Has No Intention of Redeeming,
Which Amounts to Counterfeiting ...
Asks that Atlanta Fed's Charter be Forfeited
George Washington's blog
Scott Beach sent me this link to his complaint against the Atlanta Fed.
In his complaint, Beach points out that 12 United States Code Section 341 provides that Federal Reserve Banks can be sued, and can that they can:
Forfeit [their] franchise for violation of law.
The complaint alleges that all of the Federal Reserve Banks (including Atlanta) stopped allowing Federal Reserve Notes to be redeemed in the early 2000's and that - because 12 United States Code Section 411 requires the notes to be redeemable - continuing to issue notes without allowing redemption amounts to counterfeiting.
What "Backs" Today’s Money?
BY STEVE SAVILLE
All of the major central banks hold currency reserves in the form of gold or other national currencies, but it is not strictly true that these reserves "back" the associated currencies. For example, if the US' gold reserves or Japan's US$ reserves disappeared tomorrow, the US$ and the Yen wouldn't be worth any less than they are today. What, then, backs today's fiat money?
That's a trick question, because money isn't backed by anything. Money is what it is -- the most commonly used final means of payment within the economy. For example, when the US was on something close to a genuine "gold standard" during the last quarter of the 19th Century, gold was money and the gold wasn't backed by anything. Pieces of paper known as dollars circulated within the economy during this period, but the paper dollars weren't money; rather, they were receipts for money (gold) held in a vault somewhere. Of course, banks created more receipts for money than there was actual money, but this fraudulent practice -- known as fractional reserve banking -- is a separate issue.
The Oil Beneath California
Written by Dave Summers - OilPrice.com
The development of oil in Texas produced, in its time, the four richest men in the world (H.L. Hunt, Sid Richardson, Roy Cullen and Clint Murchison) and the single richest acre of oil production at Kilgore but is not where the greatest number of productive fields of oil per acre, or perhaps the most expensive acre in the country lies. (And the current richest American, Harold Hamm, incidentally is now from Oklahoma - oh, tempora). That expensive acreage is found in and around Los Angeles in California, and so it is California that I will write about today.
The first productive oil well in California was drilled in the northern part of the state in the Mattole River Valley in 1865, after an initial well had been tried in 1861. The oil was taken west to San Francisco for refining and apparently sold for $1.40 a gallon. This started the production in the state, but it was not until the Southern California fields around what is now Los Angeles began to develop that Californian production became a significant player on the national stage.
China Wants To Construct
A 50 Square Mile Self-Sustaining City
South Of Boise, Idaho
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Thanks to the trillions of dollars that the Chinese have made flooding our shores with cheap products, China is now in a position of tremendous economic power. So what is China going to do with all of that money? One thing that they have decided to do is to buy up pieces of the United States and set up "special economic zones" inside our country from which they can continue to extend their economic domination. One of these "special economic zones" would be just south of Boise, Idaho and the Idaho government is eager to give it to them. China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach for short) plans to construct a "technology zone" south of Boise Airport which would ultimately be up to 50 square miles in size. The Chinese Communist Party is the majority owner of Sinomach, so the 10,000 to 30,000 acre "self-sustaining city" that is being planned would essentially belong to the Chinese government. The planned "self-sustaining city" in Idaho would include manufacturing facilities, warehouses, retail centers and large numbers of homes for Chinese workers. Basically it would be a slice of communist China dropped right into the middle of the United States.
Cross-Dressing: From "Prime" to "Subprime in Drag"
BY BILL FLECKENSTEIN - FinancialSense.com
Overnight markets were a bit of a nonevent, though stocks here got the bit in their teeth early and managed to gain about 0.5% in the first couple of hours. The proximate cause for the rally appeared to be the fact that our illustrious Fed chairman would be making a speech later in the day and folks were hoping to hear dovish sweet nothings emanate from his lips. Whether that will happen, I don't know, but one can be fairly certain that, given that the real estate and job markets are both a mess, combined with deterioration in the economy, QE3 is a high-probability bet.
In addition, as Jim Grant has pointed out recently, Bernanke has essentially taken ownership of the stock market by publicly trumpeting the rally in stocks since QE2 began, and using it as a measure of that program's success. The Fed really has trapped itself and has no choice but to deliver more easing, we just don't know when that will be or what sort of weakness will precipitate it (some lower level of the S&P500 is most likely).
Keiser Report 153
Oregon housing defaults skyrocket Foreclosures increase 236 percent in April,
but all are cases refiled by a single loan servicer
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - RegisterGuard.com
PORTLAND — Oregon is bucking a declining national trend in new foreclosure filings with a big increase in April, all of it from one loan servicer.
The surge in "notices of default" by Bank of America Corp.'s foreclosure arm, ReconTrust Co., boosted the number of notices in Oregon by 236 percent, to 3,700 from 1,100, according to figures from ForeclosureRadar.com.
Another foreclosure data tracker, RealtyTrac Inc., showed 3,200 notices in Oregon. Nationally, RealtyTrac said the number declined by 14 percent in April.
66% Of Las Vegas Mortgages Are Underwater,
27.7% Of Total US Housing Debt
Has Negative And Near-Negative Equity
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Following yesterday's news out of Zillow of a 0.77% drop in April home values compared to March, today we get an update from CoreLogic which in turn looks at the latest trends on "underwater" (or negative equity) mortgages in the US. In summary: "10.9 million, or 22.7 percent, of all residential properties with a mortgage were in negative equity at the end of the first quarter of 2011, down slightly from 11.1 million, or 23.1 percent, in the fourth quarter. An additional 2.4 million borrowers had less than five percent equity, referred to as near-negative equity, in the first quarter. Together, negative equity and near-negative equity mortgages accounted for 27.7 percent of all residential properties with a mortgage nationwide. In the fourth quarter, these two categories stood at 27.9 percent." The most impacted state is Nevada, which has 62.6% of all mortgages underwater (with another 4.8% in near-negative), followed by Arizona, Florida and Michigan. California is fifth with 30.9% of all homes underwater. We doubt these millions of "homeowners" are benefiting much from the wealth effect.
Harvard study finds severe problems for U.S. housing market
Phoenix Business Journal - by Michael DeMasi
A new Harvard study on the struggles in the nation's housing market reaches a not-very-surprising conclusion: a recovery depends on job growth and stronger consumer confidence.
Arizona has been at the center of the housing crash, with local home values steadily dropping. The state and the Phoenix area have also been plagued by high numbers of home foreclosures.
The 44-page report by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies has some interesting — and sobering — facts:
More Americans Think Economy Will Never Recover
By: Christina Cheddar Berk - News Editor - CNBC.com
The mixed signals regarding the economy's health are taking a toll.
Americans are growing increasingly doubtful about direction of the US economy, according to the latest survey from business-advisory firm AlixPartners.
In fact, an increasing number, some 61 percent, say they don't expect to return to their respective pre-recession lifestyles until the spring of 2014, if ever.
What's worse, a full 10 percent said they expect they will never return to pre-recession spending.
That's a more pessimistic view than last year, when those surveyed expected that they could be back to pre-recession spending levels by the middle of 2013.
ObamaCare's Next Constitutional Challenge The Medicaid provision of the health law
spells the death knell for competition among the states.
By RICHARD A. EPSTEIN And MARIO LOYOLA - WSJ.com
The constitutional battle over ObamaCare has largely focused on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. Namely, does forcing individuals to buy health insurance violate the commerce clause? But as the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals prepares to hear Florida v. United States, a second issue is of equal importance: Was District Court Judge Roger Vinson correct to rule that the federal government can force states to expand their Medicaid programs as a precondition for continuing to receive matching federal funds for the program?
Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, states have a choice: Expand their Medicaid rolls or bear the full cost of caring for their state's current Medicaid population, while continuing to subsidize the Medicaid programs of other states. The constitutional danger of such a scheme has long been recognized. In 1936, the Supreme Court warned in U.S. v. Butlerthat if conditional federal grants were not restrained, the taxing and spending power "could become the instrument for the total subversion of the governmental powers reserved to the individual states."
With nurse shortage looming, America needs shot in the arm
By Claire Courchane-The Washington Times
At a time when many Americans are in desperate need of a job, the field of nursing will soon be in desperate need of Americans.
The economic downturn of the past few years has temporarily eased the nation’s shortage of nurses, but university nursing schools say they are struggling to keep up with what is expected to be soaring demand and chronic shortfalls in years to come.
Employment services routinely list nursing as one of the hot hiring professions of the next decade, but supply never seems to catch up with demand - even as the national unemployment rate tops 9 percent.
A third of employers may drop health benefits
Dayton Business Journal - by DBJ Staff
Nearly a third of employers may drop health benefits come 2014, according to a new report from McKinsey Quarterly.
The report shows how employer-sponsored health benefits may be impacted by the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Many of the law’s relevant provisions take effect in 2014.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated just 7 percent of employees would be forced into subsidized-exchange policies. However, the survey of more than 1,300 employers suggests that 30 percent of employers said they would “definitely or probably” drop health insurance policies.
5 Surprising Things That Hurt Your Credit Scores
Lynnette Khalfani-Cox - WalletPop.com
We all know that making late payments or having credit card accounts in collections can hurt your credit scores. But you might be shocked to learn that a lot of other seemingly innocent actions can also negatively impact your credit rating.
Here's a list of five surprising things that can lower your credit scores -- and keep you from having a stellar credit report.
Renting a Car With a Debit Card...
Saying Yes to a Department Store Credit Card...
Closing a Credit Card With a Zero Balance...
Buying Furniture From a Local Merchant and Using Their Financing...
Having a Credit Card Company Not Report Your Credit Limits...
Can the Image of Congress Get Any Lower?
By Frank Newport - Gallup.com
I was asked Monday night on a television talk show about the impact of the revelations by Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York that he had "exchanged messages and photos of an explicit nature with about six women over the last three years…" and then engaged in a cover up when the photos became public.
My reply was that it probably wouldn't have much of an effect. The public's image of Congress as an institution, and of the members of Congress as a body, cannot get much lower.
This incident will, in all probability, serve to reinforce existing low perceptions of Congress rather than lowering them any further. In other words, by this point, when confronted by the sight of a tearful member of Congress confessing into the camera that he had "made terrible mistakes that have hurt the people I care about most," and that he lied about it afterwards, the average American most likely says,"So, what else is new?"
Jesse Ventura "These 2 Parties Have Create
A Corrupt System Based Upon Panhandling & Bribery!"
4.2 Magnitude Earthquakes Strikes St. Louis
By Chad Garrison - River Front Times
Update 3:30 p.m. The U.S. Geological Survey has now downgraded the earthquake to a magnitude 3.9.
Originally story follows...
A 4.2 magnitude earthquake rattled the St. Louis region around 3:10 a.m. today, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The temblor originated near Richwoods, Missouri, (approximately 51 miles southwest of St. Louis) and could be felt as far away as Alabama. No injuries or major damage have been reported.
Ten Signs The Double-Dip Recession Has Begun
24/7WallSt.com
The US has entered a second recession. It may not be as bad as the first. Economists say that the Great Recession began in December 2007 and lasted until July 2009. That may be the way that the economy was seen through the eyes of experts, but many Americans do not believe that the 2008-2009 downturn ever ended. A Gallup poll released in April found that 29% of those queried thought the economy was in a "depression" and 26% said that the original recession had persisted into 2011.
It is any wonder that many Americans believe that the economic downturn is still in progress? Home prices have fallen to 2002 levels. Values have dropped nearly 50% in parts of Florida, California, Nevada, and Arizona. Property values are also down that much in parts of troubled big cities like Detroit. Estimates are that as many as 11 million homes have underwater mortgages. Banks have inventories of as many as 2 million foreclosed homes which have not even been released to the market. Home prices could fall another 10% if current trends persist.
Daily economic briefings disappear
from Obama's White House schedule
By Sam Youngman - TheHill.com
At some point during the first two years of his administration, President Obama stopped receiving the daily economic briefing that he requested when he took office.
Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced at his own first daily briefing reporters that Obama asked for the daily economic briefing, described then as comparable to the daily intelligence briefing the president gets every morning.
"The president asked that this be added every day to his schedule," Gibbs said at the time. Gibbs added that Obama believed it is "important that each day he receive the most up to date information as it relates to the economy."
Obama Tunes Out, and Business Goes on Hiring Strike
By Michael Barone - PatriotPost.com
Last week, I noted that various forms of the word "unexpected" almost inevitably appeared in news stories about unfavorable economic developments.
You can find them again in stories about Friday's shocking news, that only 54,000 net new jobs were created in the month of May and that unemployment rose to 9.1 percent.
But with news that bad, maybe bad economic numbers will no longer be "unexpected." You can only expect a robust economic recovery for so long before you figure out, as Herbert Hoover eventually did, that it is not around the corner.
Exogenous factors explain some part of the current economic stagnation. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused a slowdown in manufacturing. Horrendous tornados did not help. Nor did bad weather, though only a few still bitterly cling to the theory that it's caused by manmade global warming.
Meredith Whitney: State finances are worse than estimated The outspoken municipal bond bear follows up with more evidence that the fiscal troubles in many states are far greater than we've been told. -- By Shawn Tully - CNNMoney.com
FORTUNE -- Meredith Whitney is issuing a fresh warning to mutual funds, banks, and politicians: The state of state finances is far worse than what you think, or at least than what you've been willing to tell the investors and taxpayers who will eventually carry the burden. In a new report released today to her clients, Whitney summons what appears to be the most comprehensive set of data ever assembled on state budgets and debt.
Her conclusion is that the future deficits that need to be closed, either by new taxes or draconian cuts in social services, are far bigger than the official numbers show, and that debt levels, when all liabilities are counted, vastly exceed the official estimates.
Top Obama economic adviser to leave
By Kara Rowland - The Washington Times
President Obama's chief economist, Austan Goolsbee, will step down later this year to resume his teaching post at the University of Chicago in time for the fall semester, the White House announced Monday night.
Mr. Goolsbee, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), has played a central role in crafting Mr. Obama's economic policies over the past two and a half years, and is a regular fixture on political talk shows and the White House website.
Regulators shut small SC bank; 45 failures in 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — Regulators on Friday shut down a small bank in South Carolina, the 45th U.S. bank failure this year in the wake of economic distress and piles of bad loans.
The pace of closures has slowed, however, as the economy improved and banks worked their way through the bad debt. By this time last year, regulators had closed 81 banks.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Atlantic Bank and Trust, based in Charleston, S.C., with $208.2 million in assets and $191.6 million in deposits. First Citizens Bank and Trust Co., based in Columbia, S.C., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of the failed bank.
Banks risk crisis trying to 'starve' reform: Geithner
By Jennifer Liberto - CNNMoney.com
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner called out Wall Street and lawmakers on Monday for trying to undermine last year's landmark financial reform law.
In a speech to bankers in Atlanta, Geithner singled out congressional efforts to block presidential appointees to agencies as well as efforts to "starve" regulators of funding they need to hire top-flight staffers.
"Over time these efforts will make it less likely there will be enough capable people to ensure the rules will work," Geithner warned.
Slow Pace Of Bank Failures Holding Back Recovery
By Jeff Harding - TheDailyCapitalist.com
The Trepp bank failure report confirmed that the problems with banks are mainly with commercial real estate (CRE) (76%) followed by residential real estate (16%). They noted that the number of failed banks in May was way down (5): [see chart]
Has Economic Power Replaced Military Might?
Joseph S. Nye - Project-Syndicate.org
CAMBRIDGE – At the Cold War's end, some pundits proclaimed that "geo-economics" had replaced geopolitics. Economic power would become the key to success in world politics, a change that many people thought would usher in a world dominated by Japan and Germany.
Today, some interpret the rise in China's share of world output as signifying a fundamental shift in the balance of global power, but without considering military power. They argue that a dominant economic power soon becomes a dominant military power, forgetting that the United States was the world's largest economy for 70 years before it became a military superpower.
Mansori: Betting On the PIGs
by CalculatedRisk
Kash Mansori at the Street Light looks at some interesting data released by the BIS today on who owns the debt, and who sold the default insurance, for Portugal, Ireland and Greece: Betting On the PIGs. It ends up most of the debt is owned by European creditors, but US institutions are more exposed to a default. Kash writes:
If Greece were to default, for example, approximately 94% of the direct losses would fall on European creditors, and only 5% would fall on US creditors. However, US banks and insurancecompanies would have to make about 56% of the default insurance payouts triggered by such an event, while European agents would make only 43% of those payouts.
The Euro’s PIG-Headed Masters
Kenneth Rogoff - Project-Syndicate.org
CAMBRIDGE – Europe is in constitutional crisis. No one seems to have the power to impose a sensible resolution of its peripheral countries’ debt crisis. Instead of restructuring the manifestly unsustainable debt burdens of Portugal, Ireland, and Greece (the PIGs), politicians and policymakers are pushing for ever-larger bailout packages with ever-less realistic austerity conditions. Unfortunately, they are not just "kicking the can down the road," but pushing a snowball down a mountain.
True, for the moment, the problem is still economically manageable. Eurozone growth is respectable, and the PIGs account for only 6% of the eurozone’s GDP. But by stubbornly arguing that that these countries are facing a liquidity crisis, rather than a solvency problem, euro officials are putting entire system at risk. Major eurozone economies like Spain and Italy have huge debt problems of their own, especially given anemic growth and a manifest lack of competitiveness. The last thing they need is for people to be led to believe that an implicit transfer union is already in place, and that reform and economic restructuring can wait.
Gaddafi's Stolen Billions:
Max Keiser Explains 'Financial Terrorism'
"Lloyd Blankfein And Tony Blair Have Been Marked For Death By Libyan Hit Squads"
Goldman CEO Blankfein's Fate in Hands of DOJ
By Charlie Gasparino - FOXBusiness.com
Wall Street executives and senior people inside Goldman Sachs (GS: 133.90, -1.43, -1.06%) say Lloyd Blankfein may want to hang on as CEO of the big Wall Street firm, but the final decision will not be his to make. Rather, his fate rests in the hands of the U.S. Justice Department, which is probing statements he made before a Senate committee investigating Goldman’s role in the 2008 financial crisis, FOX Business has learned.
If a probe by the DOJ into Goldman’s conduct ahead of the financial crisis is expedited and the focus turns to Blankfein’s actions, the thinking goes, Goldman’s board of directors will likely offer Blankfein up as a sacrifice in exchange for leniency.
Bankrupt Lehman Brothers May Face Public Rebuke and Little Else
by Marian Wang - ProPublica.org
There are growing indications that federal investigators at the Securities and Exchange Commission will opt to publicly scold the failed firm Lehman Brothers instead of filing fraud charges against former executives. The 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, readers may remember, was the largest in U.S. history and sent shock waves through the global financial system spiraling into crisis.
In March, the Wall Street Journal had reported that charges were becoming less likely. Bloomberg came out with a more detailed story Friday that noted the possibility of a public rebuke instead. Securities law professor James Cox of Duke University told Bloomberg that the public rebuke "is about the least harmful sanction anybody could get." Here's more from Bloomberg:
What Can Washington Do to Fix the Economy?
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
The economy has hit a bump. Does the government have any tools it can use?
If the weakness we've been seeing since April from various economic indicators hasn't been enough, last Friday we learned that the U.S. only added a measly 54,000 jobs in May. This number is disturbingly low at a time when an economic recovery should be providing at least five times that many net new hires. This morning, my colleague Derek Thompson explained why the government won't fix the economy. Let's take that question a step further: should the government act and how might it be able to do so?
Should the Government Act?
Ron Paul vs FED Secrets 06/01/11
Don't count on stimulus. It's not coming
By Charles Riley @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Congress will not be riding to the rescue.
Economic indicators are pointing to slower growth. More Americans arelooking for jobs, and the housing market is in a confirmed double dip.
In another time and place, lawmakers might have responded with economic stimulus measures to get the country back on track.
This time around, it's not in the cards.
Having spent the majority of the current legislative session operating at a truly glacial pace, Congress is sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see how the debate over the debt ceiling pans out.
Liquidity Flows Suggest Big Problems Ahead
BY LEE ADLER - FinancialSense.com
Bonds rallied but stocks were left in their wake last week. There should have been plenty of cash around after Tuesday’s huge settlement of $61 billion in net new Treasury paper was put to bed, but the boys threw a stock market party instead of paying the bill for the Treasuries on Tuesday. That left them with a hangover for which they paid a price the rest of the week in spite of the gusher of incoming cash from the Fed and Treasury.
The Treasury paid down T-bills to the tune of $10 billion on Thursday and the Fed pumped in another $14 billion from Wednesday to Friday. All of that cash high tailed into the Treasury market, ignoring stocks. The charts suggest that yields will fall further as the insane Treasury buying panic continues. That’s bad news for stocks.
Debt-limit clock ticking Conservatives remind House leadership
of need for real spending cut By The Washington Times
Moody's Investors Service added urgency to the congressional debate over the debt limit by threatening to downgrade the nation's credit rating unless a deal is struck in the coming weeks making a "substantive change in the debt trajectory." That was Thursday. On Monday, more than 100 of the most conservative Republicans in the House insisted such an agreement would have to be big.
Republican Study Committee (RSC) members made their thoughts known in a letter sent to House Speaker John A. Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor. "The bond markets won't buy a deal unless it has teeth, and neither will I," RSC Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, told The Washington Times. "We need real changes that will balance the budget." Mr. Jordan and the 102 co-signers want to slash the deficit in half for 2012 by reducing government spending by $380 billion; by capping discretionary and mandatory federal spending to 18 percent of gross domestic product (excluding interest on the debt); and by passing a Balanced Budget Amendment through the House and a Democratic-controlled Senate. The RSC does not specifically mention entitlement reform, but it’s implicit in the mechanisms used to hold the line on outlays.
Ron Paul - Gold Is Money 06/01/11
Federal Reserve does not own any gold (only gold certificates after 1934) - Gold swaps; fed balance sheet; lack of transparency.
Financial Repression: A Sheep Shearing Instruction Manual
BY DANIEL R AMERMAN CFA - FinancialSense.com
Overview
"Financial Repression" is currently a hot buzzword in the global economic community, and its effects are even worse than it sounds. Like other recent economic buzzwords such as "monetary sterilization" and "quantitative easing", the average person will never understand the meaning, if they hear the phrase at all. That is too bad, because governments around the world deliberately and methodically stripping wealth (and therefore security and retirement lifestyle) from hundreds of millions of people is the quite explicit objective of Financial Repression.
From Dodd-Frank to Dud:
How Financial Reform May Be Going Wrong
by Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein - ProPublica.org
Early last year, as they weighed whether to bar banks from speculative trading with their own money, congressional staffers turned to a key regulator for advice.
The response from Julie Williams, the chief counsel of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, was startling, according to people familiar with the conversations. Williams insisted new rules were unnecessary since this type of trading did not play a major role in the financial meltdown.
Low Yields on Treasury Debt
No Guarantee Financial Crisis Won’t Hit U.S.
By Rich Miller - Bloomberg.com
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner takes comfort from the government’s ability to borrow at low interest rates as the budget deficit hits a record high. “There’s a lot of confidence” in America’s capacity to meet its commitments, he told Bloomberg Television.
History suggests that such faith may prove to be misplaced in the long run. A study of 116 financial crises in 25 countries found that rates had a poor track record in foreshadowing financial difficulties, said Carmen Reinhart, a co-author of the analysis and the female economist whose work is most frequently cited by other researchers. European debt markets were “complacent” about the growing repayment risks there “even three years ago,” James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said in a May 18 interview.
WSJ – Pension Reform Goes to Washington
By John Frisby LuxLibertas.com
Federal retiree benefits deserve a scrub.
Much recent taxpayer fury has been directed toward state and municipal worker benefits, so it’s only fair that federal pensions are finally drawing some scrutiny.
As part of negotiations over raising the debt limit, Republicans are asking federal workers to share more equitably in the cost of their retirement. Mind you, their health-care and other benefits wouldn’t be cut at all. But by the sound of their protests over pensions, you’d think that Sarah Palin had been elected President and was proposing to send them to drill, baby, drill in Alaska.
Federal retirement benefits aren’t as generous as those of their state and municipal counterparts, but they still exceed what is common in the private sector. Those hired after 1984 are entitled to a hybrid pension, which includes a 401(k)-style plan that the government matches up to 5% and a defined-benefit payment. Private workers typically only get a 401(k) with a 3% match.
Nazi-era Technology
Embraced by Republicans in U.S. Congres
in the Name of National Energy Security
by John Daly - OilPrice.com
Twentieth-century American military history has two iconic dates - 7 December 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor and 6 June 1944, D-Day, when the liberation of Europe began.
The subsequent vicious Allied fight from Normandy to Germany saw the Nazis largely fueled by a technology that is now being promoted by the Republican Congressional leadership, in collusion with its munificent fiscal campaign energy supporters, as a way to lessen U.S. dependence on energy imports.
Max Keiser:
The Private Federal Reserve Bank,
"A Global Mafia Cartel" 1/2
Max Keiser:
The Private Federal Reserve Bank
"A Global Mafia Cartel" 2/2
Productive Vs. Unproductive: Manufacturing Vs. Financialization The Status Quo heavily rewards financialized profiteering and resource extraction while penalizing productive capital investments in manufacturing.
By Charles Hugh Smith
There is so much ideological, quasi-religious fanaticism around "free trade" (there is no such thing as "free trade," there are only various permutations of managed trade)and "industrial policy" (every nation has one, explicit or implicit) that it is difficult to make any sense of the many intertwined issues.
Ideological purity is not a substitute for knowledge, any more than a superficial admiration of machines equals actually knowing how to assemble, maintain and repair them.
Wheat Fields Wilt in Drought
as Parched Earth Spreads From China to Kansas
By Luzi Ann Javier, Madelene Pearson
and Whitney McFerron - Bloomberg.com
The worst droughts in decades are wilting wheat fields from China to the U.S. to the U.K., overwhelming Russia’s return to grain markets and driving prices to the highest levels since 2008.
Parts of China, the biggest grower, had the least rain in a century, some European regions are the driest in 50 years and almost half the winter-wheat crop in the U.S., the largest exporter, is rated poor or worse. Inventory is dropping 8.8 percent, the most in five years, Rabobank International says. Prices will advance 20 percent to as high as $9.25 a bushel by Dec. 31, a Bloomberg survey of 14 analysts and traders shows.
Harvard study paints ugly picture of single-family housing market
Business First - by Brian Ball - BizJournals.com
A Harvard University study on the nation’s housing market offers little short- or mid-term comfort for single-family homebuilders but should offer further encouragement for owners and developers of rental housing.
A decline in the establishment of households and continued foreclosure activity in an era of weak job growth will continue to push down demand for single-family housing, particularly at the entry level, according to The State of the Nation’s Housing, a study released today through the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.
Weekly Standard: Tax Credit = Lost Home Value?
by CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL, The Weekly Standard - NPR.org
There was supposed to be some good news amidst the dismal report card the U.S. real estate market got last week. On average, houses have lost a third of their value since their peak in 2006. Blighted Detroit has seen home prices fall to half their old level, and overbuilt Las Vegas is off by 60 percent. Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller index showed that home prices are falling again, at their fastest rate since the days of the financial crash. Minneapolis real estate has lost 10 percent of its value over the past year.
The good news is that these declines were "widely anticipated." But all this means is that there is a two-month lag between most housing statistics and those of Case-Shiller, whose latest numbers date only from March. It decidedly does not mean that anyone in the government has a clear idea of how the real estate market works or a sense of what it will do next.
The State and Local Government Job Problem
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
In May, 30,000 jobs were lost as state and local government employees were laid off. Without those losses, the net jobs created would have totaled 84,000. That's still not wonderful, but it's certainly better than the54,000 that we saw during the month. Unfortunately, this result isn't new: state and local government layoffs have been a headwind to a labor market recovery since the financial crisis hit its climax in the fall of 2008. How bad has it been?
Jobs report has White House playing defense
By David Eldridge - The Washington Times
The drumbeat of sobering economic news in the country has the White House on the defensive.
White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee, in an appearance Sunday on ABC's "This Week," objected testily to the use of the term "jobless recovery."
"It is not a 'jobless recovery.' That is an incorrect phrase," Mr. Goolsbeetold host Christiane Amanpour. "After the last recession, in this comparable period post-recession, we had lost 100,000 jobs. We have added more than 200,000 jobs."
Social Security - Boomers Will Have to Pay
BY BRUCE KRASTING - FinancialSense.com
I have several dozen articles relating to Social Security over the past three years. They all say the same thing. The Social Security system was dealt a hammer blow by the 08-09 recession. At this point there is no possibility that the SS program can be stabilized without significant and prompt action to address the underlying imbalances. Failure to deal with the problem in a timely way will result in a systemic problem for the US economy in less than ten years.
While there are a number of proposals to address the imbalances, there really are only two possible out comes. Either the 60-70% of the baby boomer population who are highly dependent of SS are going to have the benefits cuts, or younger workers are going to have to dig into their pocket to pay for the Boomers for the next 30 years.
Sinking Manufacturing Is A Stagflationary Trend
By Jeff Harding - DailyCapitalist.com
It is not a surprise to me that the economy is stagnating, but apparently to everyone else it is. In almost every data report coming in are the words "unexpected”or "surprising." One wonders why most economists didn't see it coming. Actually I don't wonder about it: I know. It is all about economic philosophy. One would think if the data didn’t fit the theory, economists might check their premises, but no,they do not. That is because as conformists they shut their minds to heterodoxy.
What I see is economists focusing on the wrong things. They tend to believe that what I see as "good" things are bad. And conversely,what I see as "bad" are seen as good things. Housing and quantitative easing are the most obvious examples of this phenomenon.
Sinking Manufacturing Is A Stagflationary Trend
By Jeff Harding - DailyCapitalist.com
It is not a surprise to me that the economy is stagnating, but apparently to everyone else it is. In almost every data report coming in are the words "unexpected”or "surprising." One wonders why most economists didn't see it coming. Actually I don't wonder about it: I know. It is all about economic philosophy. One would think if the data didn’t fit the theory, economists might check their premises, but no,they do not. That is because as conformists they shut their minds to heterodoxy.
What I see is economists focusing on the wrong things. They tend to believe that what I see as "good" things are bad. And conversely, what I see as "bad" are seen as good things. Housing and quantitative easing are the most obvious examples of this phenomenon.
Boeing, Microsoft give $25M for students in high-demand fields
Puget Sound Business Journal - by Clay Holtzman
Microsoft and Boeing announced today that they are donating $25 million apiece over the next five years to support college scholarships for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in high demand career fields.
The donations are the first in establishing a $1 billion scholarship program, an idea that was first announced earlier this year by the Washington State Higher Education Funding Task Force. (I blogged about the concept of using publicly subsidized corporate donations to support higher education back in January.)
Why Grocery Shopping May Never Be the Same
ByRegina Lewis - DailyFinance.com
If there are "two Americas," there are exponentially more grocery shopping behaviors marked by several distinct trends -- buying natural and organic, gravitating toward private-labels, grabbing items on an as-needed-basis and seeking rock bottom prices.
So you're definitely not alone if you find yourself springing for organic strawberries, only buying soda on sale and walking into a dollar store to stock up on canned goods. This seems to be the new give and take formula, as Americans become more health and environmentally cautious while also fighting for their economic lives.
With Local Probes Roiling, Sheriff Joe Arpaio Settles With Feds In his home county, officials are investigating the outspoken Arizonan's fiscal mismanagement and the ways he targeted a politician -- By Andrew Cohen - TheAtlantic.com
America's (so-called) "most famous" lawman, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, did a prudent thing Thursday when hesettled a civil rights lawsuit brought by the federal government against him and his Maricopa County, Arizona law enforcement colleagues. And by "settled" I really mean Sheriff Arpaio "gave the feds what he was legally required to give them months and months ago and what every law enforcement office in the country ought to give promptly when asked to do so by the Justice Department."
Washington agreed to dismiss its lawsuit after Arpaio finally gave federal investigators access to records -- and to hundreds of individuals who were then questioned about the sheriff office's treatment of Hispanic suspects and prisoners. When the feds first filed suit, last September, they said that the Sheriff's refusal to make those resources available "makes [Maricopa County] an extreme outlier ... the Department is unaware of any other police department or sheriff's office that has refused to cooperate in the last 30 years." Now, federal investigators will cull through the material to determine whether further action against Arpaio is required. Don't bet against that.
Colorado insurance regulators fine Humana units
Denver Business Journal - by Ed Sealover
The Colorado Division of Insurance has fined two Humana companies a cumulative total of $299,000, saying that the insurer violated multiple state laws between July 2007 and June 2009.
Humana Insurance Co., which sells individual and small-group health insurance, received a fine of $184,000, while Humana Health Plan Inc., which functions as a health maintenance organization, tallied a fine of $115,000. Both are headquartered in Louisville, Ky.
Apple's Mobile, PC Worlds Converge in iCloud
By Brian X. Chen - Wired.com
Apple unleashed a flurry of software news related to its Mac and iOS operating systems during its annual developers conference Monday.
Most significant was the unveiling of iCloud, Apple’s solution for synchronizing content such as photos, music and documents across multiple Apple devices.
iCloud is Apple's big push into online storage and data synchronization, after its previously failed attempt with MobileMe. CEO Steve Jobs said the company is killing MobileMe, which cost $100 per year, and replacing it with iCloud, a free service for all Apple customers. It will debut with the release of the iOS 5 operating system, due this fall.
CERN: Scientists Create Antimatter They Can Actually Study
By Alexis Madrigal - TheAtlantic.com
In one of those physics announcements that may or may not prove important when we figure out the ultimate nature of the universe, scientists at CERN, the European lab for particle physics, announced that they'd trapped antimatter with very strong magnets for 1,000 seconds. With that length of time to study the antihydrogen they'd created, the physicists may be able to coax some of the secrets out of the anti-atoms.
Now, we tend to think of antimatter as something exotic and possibly weaponizable, but in the physics world it's fairly commonplace. We've been generating antimatter since the 1950s through all kinds of different experiments like shooting a special laser at a gold target, no big deal. But it's difficult to keep the antimatter around because, as any good science fiction fan knows, when antimatter meets matter, both particles get annihilated (and release some energy). The CERN scientists got around that problem by using superconducting magnets to trap them.
Latest Hacks Could Set The Stage For Cyberwar
by TOM GJELTEN - NRP.org
In March, unidentified hackers penetrated RSA, a top U.S. cybersecurity company, and stole complex security codes. At the same time, intruders broke into Google's Gmail system and stole passwords, enabling them to potentially gain access to sensitive facilities or information.
Cybersecurity experts say these recent intrusions are the most sophisticated hacking efforts ever perpetrated against private computer networks. Even more worrisome, such actions could have set the stage for cyberwar. The perpetrators may have gained the capability to identify targets, assess vulnerabilities and position themselves for future attacks.
"I think what we're seeing today are the reconnaissance activities of cyberwar," said Herbert Thompson, who teaches cybersecurity at Columbia University.
In Yemen, Both Leadership and Opposition Face Possible Collapse Before President Saleh was injured on Friday, he had fractured the opposition and begun a violent conflict that continues without him -- By J. Dana Stuster - TheAtlantic.com
Late Saturday night, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh flew to Riyadh for emergency medical treatment for wounds suffered in an attack on the presidential palace on Friday. Other wounded officials -- reportedlyincluding the prime minister, a deputy prime minister, the heads of each chamber of the legislature, and the president's security advisor - had been evacuated for treatment in Saudi Arabia earlier in the day while Saleh received treatment in Sanaa. He may have lingered with the understanding that departing during the months-long revolutionary movement would make his return to power, or even the country, difficult.
German Police Training Saudi Military
theTrumpet.com
German federal police have been training Saudi Arabian forces in how to deal with protesters, according to a report by Fakt shown on German tv on May 30. Officially, the police officers are aiding in border security, but the report showed classified documents and anonymous German police saying that their job goes beyond the official government description.
Even the police’s border security mission is controversial in Germany. Their presence is linked to a contract with eads subsidiary Cassidian to provide border monitoring equipment—including infrared cameras, laser sensors and ground radar—to Saudi Arabia.
OPEC Overshadowed by Qaddafi
in Most-Hostile Meeting Since 1990 Gulf War
By Ayesha Daya - Bloomberg.com
OPEC’s decision on production quotas this week may be complicated by hostilities in Libya as members meeting in Vienna find themselves supporting opposing camps of a military conflict for the first time in 21 years.
Not since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 has the producer group gathered with some nations giving financial and military support to a movement seeking to topple the government of a fellow member. While Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is trying to quash a rebellion in a country that holds Africa’s largest crude reserves, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are backing the insurgents.
Danger: Falling Tyrants As dictatorships crumble across the Middle East, what happens if Arab democracy means the rise of radical Islamism? Does promoting American values while protecting American interests—most notably, containing Iran and preserving our access to oil—require the Obama administration to call for more democracy in one country while propping up the monarch next door? In a word, yes.
By JEFFREY GOLDBERG - TheAtlantic.com
THE LIBRAIRIE AL KITAB is a crowded bookstore on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the main boulevard of Tunis, the once-drowsy capital of the previously lethargic North African republic of Tunisia. Today, of course, Tunisia is known as the cockpit of the Great Arab Revolt of 2011. During the reign of the now-deposed president, the debauched kleptocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali—whose capitulation in January in the face of furious street protests triggered uprisings across the Arab world—the employees of the Librairie al Kitab kept a weather eye on the secret police. As luck would have it, the secret police kept their headquarters just across the street, in a whitewashed building housing the Interior Ministry. If the Librairie al Kitab had dared to carry a book containing even an insinuation of Ben Ali’s perfidy, it would have been "goodbye to the bookstore," Kamel Hmaïdi, one of the employees, told me when I visited in late March. "We would go to jail," he said, pointing out the window toward the looming ministry building. "Just there."
Iran Wants the Bomb, and It's Well on Its Way
By Jeffrey Goldberg - Bloomberg.com
The Iranian government, which is known neither for transparency nor candor, has insisted for many years that the goal of its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. And for many years, the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose motto is "Atoms for Peace," has tended to give the ayatollahs the benefit of the doubt on this question.
The agency's former chairman, Mohamed ElBaradei, now a candidate for the presidency of Egypt, seemed to take the attitude that anxiety about Iran’s nuclear objectives was motivated by the strategic self-interest, even the paranoia, of the U.S., Israel and the Arab states near Iran, rather than by the reality-based worry that bloody-minded mullahs bent on dominating the Middle East aren't the sort of people who should have the bomb.
War-powers crisis Obama’s Libyan debacle could undercut U.S. credibility elsewhere
By John R. Bolton-The Washington Times
Last Friday's House of Representatives vote on President Obama's Libya policy was characterized widely as re- flecting bipartisan dissatisfaction with Mr. Obama's failure to consult with Congress. There was indeed ample Capitol Hill disagreement with his handling of Libya - for a variety of reasons - but the real story is even more troubling.
Certainly, Mr. Obama has ignored the War Powers Act, but so have all his predecessors since its enactment, and rightly so, given the statute's manifest unconstitutionality. Undoubtedly, Mr. Obama's approach inLibya has grown increasingly incoherent even as NATO slowly comes closer to achieving the one legitimate U.S. national security interest involved: overthrowing Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
Greece's Papandreou Is Facing Growing Backlash
as Final EU Bailout Premier
By Maria Petrakis and James Hertling - Bloomberg.com
George Papandreou is the last man standing among the euro-area leaders who needed a handout after Jose Socrates’s defeat in Portuguese elections yesterday.
For Papandreou and the investors and taxpayers who will share the cost of a beefed-up bailout for Greece, questions are increasing about whether he will complete a term that runs until 2013 and enact the budget cuts and asset sales that his benefactors demand.
Gartman Says Greece Default 'Inevitable,' Will Leave EMU
EU: Class War Declared Replacing Economic Democracy with Financial Oligarchy
By Michael Hudson
"But if a country is still not delivering, I think all would agree that the second stage has to be different. Would it go too far if we envisaged, at this second stage, giving euro area authorities a much deeper and authoritative say in the formation of the country's economic policies if these go harmfully astray? A direct influence, well over and above the reinforced surveillance that is presently envisaged? Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the ECB on receiving the Charlemagne prize for European unity (Aachen, 2 June 2011)
Soon after the Socialist Party won Greece's national elections in autumn 2009, it became apparent that the government’s finances were in a shambles. In May 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy took the lead in rounding up €120bn ($180 billion) from European governments to subsidize Greece's unprogressive tax system that had led its government into debt – which Wall Street banks had helped conceal with Enron-style accounting.
If Yemen Falls, so Does the Dollar Reserve?
Anthony Wile - SilverBearCafe.com
How is it that the world's fortunes hang on the life or death of a murderous thug that the US has been supporting for 30 years? And why, in fact, if Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh is so important, isn't it common knowledge? Saleh was wounded yesterday when opposition forces blew up his palace. But as I'll discuss, below, there's more to the story. (Isn't there always?)
In my opinion, this story is so big it should be on the front pages of the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal: "US dollar hegemony hangs in the balance." Or how's this: "Future of the world's monetary system may be decided in Yemen's Sana'a."
How can one silly, little and desperately poor country full of people in ankle-length white robes be in the position to shake the foundations of the current monetary system of the Anglo-American empire?
The IMF and Moral Hazard
Mises Daily: by Philipp Bagus and David Howden
The late 1990s saw a strengthening of the International Monetary Fund's core mandate as a global financial parent on the lookout for perceived instabilities to correct in the name of economic development. Several alterations in the scope of its operations following the crises of the previous 20 years had given the Fund a far wider range of policy options, as well as far greater resources, with which to support faltering economies.
The crises of the late 1980s and '90s — the Mexican peso crisis, the Russian debt default, the Asian crisis, the Brazilian currency crisis, and the Argentine crisis, among others — all were used to strengthen the Fund's core operating mandate, which is to stabilize exchange rates in order to facilitate global trade. The IMF's failures to immediately stabilize previous crises were reckoned to have been due to a lack of procedural guidelines allowing it to speedily aid the ailing economies. Each time a shortcoming appeared following the IMF's rush to maintain global financial stability, it was assumed that the existing scope of operations was inadequate, not that there was something fundamentally wrong with the very existence of these operations.
Global Financial Markets Tremble
As Bad Economic News Continues To Pour In
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
As the U.S. economy starts to slow down once again, global financial markets are beginning to tremble. Over the past couple of weeks, all kinds of bad economic news has been pouring in. The ADP jobs report was a "disaster", the housing numbers are dismal, manufacturing has slowed way down and consumer confidence is dropping like a rock. The Democrats and the Republicans are bickering over the debt ceiling and this is causing a lot of uncertainty as well. All of this bad news is starting to spook investors. On Wednesday, the Dow was down 279 points and the NASDAQ was down 65 points. It was the worst day of the year for the Dow, and many are wondering what is going to happen next if we see even more bad economic data. QE2 is slated to end at the end of the month, and already the bond markets seem to be anticipating QE3. If the U.S. economy enters another significant downturn during the second half of 2011, it seems quite likely that the Federal Reserve would attempt to do something to stimulate the economy and that would probably mean more money printing.
We're toast... in more ways than (this) one. China Has Divested 97 Percent of Its Holdings in U.S. Treasury Bills
By Terence P. Jeffrey - CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) - China has dropped 97 percent of its holdings in U.S. Treasury bills, decreasing its ownership of the short-term U.S. government securities from a peak of $210.4 billion in May 2009 to $5.69 billion in March 2011, the most recent month reported by the U.S. Treasury.
Treasury bills are securities that mature in one year or less that are sold by the U.S. Treasury Department to fund the nation’s debt.
Playing With Default
By Joe Conason - Truthdig.com
The current puppet play in Congress—where Republicans sponsored a bill to raise the nation’s debt ceiling only because they wanted to vote it down—would be funny, if only they weren’t risking economic disaster. Unfortunately they’re not joking, as they push the country closer and closer to a potentially ruinous default.
If the showdown over debt and spending between the House majority and the White House isn’t resolved before the first week of August, the federal government will no longer be able to send out Social Security checks, run Veterans Administration hospitals, pay Medicare costs or operate the national park system, to mention just a few significant items. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed without pay, and millions of seniors would stop spending money, slamming an economy that already seems stalled.
How the Debt Ceiling Issue Will Hit Ordinary Americans in the Wallet
ByLoren Berlin - DailyFinance.com
The ongoing debate surrounding America's looming debt ceilingis big news inside the Beltway and in the press, but for many of us, even the phrase "debt ceiling" sounds too far removed from daily life to be of much interest. But ignoring this latest political battle would be a mistake: How the government handles the nation's debt limit will directly affect our personal finances in all sorts of important ways.
Before we dive into how all this could hit your wallet, here's a quick refresher course on the issue. Like every other country on Earth, America borrows money to pay for its services. But legally, there's a limit to how much money the federal government can borrow. Congress holds the purse strings: If more borrowing is needed, they have to approve it. Every time we've bumped up against that ceiling in the past, the legislative branch has simply increased the nation's credit limit.
Niall Ferguson on the Financial Crisis
Treasury Continues To Dip Into Retirement Accounts,
Prepares To "Take Out" $66 Billion Chunk
To Make Room For New Bond Issuance
Submitted By Tyler Durdan - ZeroHedge.com
Today [6/02/201], very quietly, the Treasury released its latest refunding announcement, in which it disclosed it would issue another $66 billion in 3, 10 and 30 Year notes next week. The irony of course is that the US is and continues to be at its debt ceiling limit (or just $25 million short of it), at a total of $14,293,975 million. Furthermore, as was also disclosed by the Treasury, this gross issuance will also be the net amount added in marketable debt, as upon settlement on June 15, there will be no redemptions of maturing bonds. Which simply means that the continued "disinvesting" (which is merely a polite word for plundering) from intragovernmental debt, also known as retirement accounts, is about to kick into high gear. As a reminder, the only solution that Geithner currently has to run the government, at least until August 2 when even this runs out, is to slowly drain the debt in non-marketable accounts, in the form of Suspension of G-Fund and ESF reinvestments, as well as the Redemption and suspension of of CSRDF Investments, measure which when combined will provide a short-term buffer of $232 billion. Yet for all practical purposes, what is happening is that retirement accounts are now being seriously plundered, and if the unthinkable were to happen, and the debt ceiling would not rise, not only would the US be in technical default, but various retirement funds, which already are underfunded, would find themselves even more severely in the Red.
Fed Ignoring Sinking Economy? [NBC: 5-18-2011]
Big time trouble dead ahead thanks to the Federal Reserve
Free Market Economics - FreeMarketFan.com
The paper money dollar experiment of the last 40 years has reached an unsolvable impasse.
Since 1971, when Nixon defaulted on the dollars convertibility into gold there has been no restraint whatsoever on the Federal Reserve's ability to finance the U.S. government's boondoggle spending programs both foreign and domestic.
The government doesn't have to rely on tax receipts any more. It simply issues bonds to borrow the money. The Federal Reserve ensures those bonds are always bought, buying them itself if necessary as it has done with QE1 and QE2.
Gross Says More Quantitative Easing Unlikely
By Liz Capo McCormick and Tom Keene - Bloomberg.com
Pacific Investment Management Co.'s Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund, said the Federal Reserve is unlikely to do a third round of quantitative easing even with the economy adding fewer jobs than forecast.
Central bankers are likely to "extend the extended period” language for longer in their policy statements, Gross said in a radio interview on "Bloomberg Surveillance" with Tom Keene. The less-than-projected pace of jobs growth in May that the Labor Department reported today shows that "there is a persistency here. It's back to our old new normal," he said.
After the Dollar: What Comes Next?
Peter Schiff - SilverBearCafe.com
The Dollar's Terrible Fate
My readers are familiar with my forecast that the US dollar is in terminal decline. America is tragically bankrupt, unable to pay its lenders without printing the dollars to do so, and enmeshed in an economic depression. The clock is ticking until the dollar faces a crisis of confidence like every other bubble before it. The key difference between this collapse and, say, the bursting of the housing bubble is that the US dollar is the backbone of the global economy. Its conflagration will leave a vacuum that needs to be filled.
Mainstream commentators often discuss three main contenders for the role: the euro, the yen, or China's RMB (known colloquially as the "yuan"). These other currencies, however, each suffer from a critical flaw that makes them unready to carry the reserve currency role in time for the dollar's collapse. When it comes to fiat alternatives, it appears the world would be going out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Peter Schiff: 'US economy heading for disaster'
Keep The Change:
20 Ways That The U.S. Economy Has Gotten Worse
Since Barack Obama Became President
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
By almost any measure that you can think of, the U.S. economy has gotten worse since Barack Obama became president. Unemployment is higher, the cost of food and gas are skyrocketing, the number of Americans living in poverty has spiked dramatically, the housing market is in nightmarish shape and our national debt has absolutely exploded. Meanwhile, Barack Obama continues to prance around the country declaring that "we can live out the American dream again" and that what we are experiencing right now are simply "bumps on the road to recovery". But such mindless platitudes are of little comfort to the millions of American families that are slowly descending into poverty or the tens of millions of American families that are already there. If this is the "change" that Barack Obama was promising then he can just keep the change.
Seven reasons to buy silver this year
By Graham Vidler - CommodityOnline.com
There is a growing body of evidence, ominous economic indicators and precious metals expert opinion that supports the notion that silver is massively undervalued. If correct, we could be about to see a silver and gold boom of unprecedented levels.
Are you positioned to take advantage of this boom and secure the financial well-being for you and your family? Here is a snippet of the indicators that the silver price is on the verge of an explosion:
The US Dollar - The phenomenal printing of money that is being conducted under the banner of Quantitative Easing and the resultant inflation this will cause (even hyperinflation), could trigger a rush to the security of precious metals, driving up the silver price.
OPEC Overshadowed by Qaddafi
in Most-Hostile Meeting Since 1990 Gulf War
By Ayesha Daya - Bloomberg.com
OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna this week will find themselves supporting opposing camps of a military conflict for the first time in 21 years, with hostilities in Libya complicating an agreement on oil quotas.
Not since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990 has the producer group gathered with some nations giving financial and military support to a movement seeking to topple the government of a fellow member. While Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi is trying to quash a rebellion in a country that holds Africa’s largest crude reserves, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are backing the insurgents.
Trade Gap in U.S. Probably Widened in April
as Imported Oil Prices Climbed
By Alex Kowalski - Bloomberg.com
The U.S. trade deficit probably widened in April to a 10-month high, reflecting higher crude oil costs that have since retreated, economists said before a report this week.
The gap expanded to $48.9 billion from the $48.2 billion shortfall in March, according to the median of 61 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey ahead of the Commerce Department’s June 9 report. Other figures may show prices of goods from abroad decreased in May by the most in almost a year, showing the surge in commodity costs is fading.
Gerald Celente and Jeff Rense -
People Want to Live in Fantasy
Abuse of Power and Ending American Apathy
Szandor Blestman - SilverBearCafe.com
I see and understand his point in many ways. The world of politics, and more specifically the world of the political and power elite, certainly does seem impenetrable for people of little means. In many ways it seems nearly incomprehensible to anyone who operates on common sense. This is particularly true of federal politics. As far as that goes, we all have our own personal lives to worry about. Why should we have to worry about the laws and regulations coming out of Washington DC which is so far away? As long as those laws don't affect our personal lives, why should we worry about them? And the perception is that as long as we are law abiding citizens going about our business and bothering no one else, such laws and regulations will not affect our lives. So it is that many of us common folk remain apathetic and believe ourselves helpless against the federal leviathan, if we think about it at all.
Economic Recovery Is Languishing
as Americans Await Signal of Better Times
By Peter Coy - Bloomberg.com
In 1901, William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal launched a cartoon featuring two overly polite friends named Alphonse and Gaston. Each insisted with conspicuous courtesy that the other go first. Amid elaborate bowing, scraping, and apres-vous-ing, Alphonse and Gaston never managed to make it through an open doorway.
Now, 110 years later, economists have a name for the Alphonse and Gaston routine that's hobbling the U.S. economy: "coordination failure," Bloomberg Businessweek reports in its June 6 edition. Companies won’t hire because customers won't spend. Customers won't spend because companies won't hire. This stare-down has been going on since approximately December 2007, when the worst slump since the Great Depression took hold. Many Americans would like someone to make a move so they can get back to prosperity. Yet they've lost confidence in the actions that were designed to build confidence and restore growth --namely, near-zero overnight interest rates, the bailout of the financial system, a weakening dollar, and stimulus measures that add to the federal budget deficit and the national debt.
The Sky Is Falling, It Is Time To Panic
And The U.S. Economy Has Fallen And It Can't Get Up
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
So many economists and financial pundits seem absolutely shocked that the U.S. economy is slowing down again. It is as if this latest wave of bad economic data has caught them completely by surprise. Now, in the mainstream media we are seeing all kinds of headlines declaring that the U.S. economy is headed for disaster. But anyone with half a brain could have seen this coming. This year alone, we have seen the worst tsunami in Japanese history, the worst U.S. tornado season in recent memory and the worst Mississippi River flooding in decades. In addition, chaos in the Middle East has pushed the price of oil up to very high levels. Of course all of those things were going to have an effect on the economy. In addition, all of the long-term trends that have been destroying the U.S. economy for decades have not been taken a breather. In fact, the truth is that all of our long-term economic problems have been accelerating. So yes, the sky is falling, it is time to panic and the U.S. economy really has fallen and it really can't get up. It is just that everyone in the mainstream media seems to have believed that Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama would just sprinkle a bunch of fairy dust on the economy and everything would just magically get better. Well, in the real world things simply do not work that way.
Job Market Loses Momentum U.S. Adds Just 54,0000 Positions in May,
as Unemployment Rate Ticks Up to 9.1%;
Stocks Tumble
By JUSTIN LAHART - WSJ.com $$
Employers spooked by a sputtering economy hit the brakes on hiring last month, postponing the upswing needed to put 14 million unemployed Americans back to work.
The government's snapshot of the labor market showed the U.S. added only 54,000 jobs in May, the fewest since September. With employment gains failing to keep up with a growing population and people re-entering the work force, the unemployment rate ticked up to 9.1%, from 9% in April.
Employers Add Fewest Jobs in Eight Months;
Jobless Rate Hits 9.1%
By The Associated Press - DailyFinance.com
Employers hired only 54,000 new workers in May, the fewest in eight months, and the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent.
The Labor Department report offered startling evidence that the U.S. economy is slowing, hampered by high gas prices and natural disasters in Japan that have hurt U.S. manufacturers.
The pace of hiring has weakened dramatically from the previous three months, when the economy added an average of 220,000 new jobs. Private companies hired only 83,000 new workers in May - the fewest in nearly a year.
Foreclosures reducing spending in other spheres
PressOfAtlanticCity.com
A wave of foreclosures has weighed on the real estate market, reducing the prices and sales of houses that aren't distressed.
Research by three economists have found that foreclosures have also reduced two other important components of the economy: new residential construction and auto sales.
In "Foreclosures, House Prices and the Real Economy," Atif Mian, Amir Sufi and Francesco Trebbi report that foreclosures were responsible for a 20 percent to 40 percent drop in auto sales and a 15 percent to 30 percent decline in residential investment from 2007 to 2009.
Tables Turn:
Deputies and movers show up at bank
to seize property for homeowner
WINKNews.com
COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. - A bank foreclosure story you've got to see to believe. A Collier County couple turns the tables on Bank of America, the bank that tried to foreclose on their home. Now, the family is foreclosing on the bank! Even bringing trucks and deputies ready to seize property.
The foreclosure nightmare started when Warren and Maureen Nyerges paid cash for a home owned by Bank of American in the Golden Gate Estates. They never had a mortgage whatsoever. But, the bank fouled it up and wound up issuing a foreclosure through their attorney.
AJC Home Sales Report:
No telling when we'll hit bottom The money pit gets deeper
By Rachel Tobin and Tammy Joyner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First of two parts: Our annual analysis tracks the sales of 43,000 houses in metro Atlanta in 2010, and the trend is still going in the same depressing direction. In one area the median price of a house was $15,250 — the median price! That means half the 260 houses sold there fetched less than that.
The stock market got its groove back. The economy found its pulse. But our biggest investment spent 2010 right were it spent 2009: in the tank.
The U.S. Postal Service Nears Collapse Delivery of first-class mail is falling at a staggering rate. Facing insolvency, can the USPS reinvent itself like European services have — or will it implode?
By Devin Leonard - BusinessWeek.com
Phillip Herr looks like many of the men who toil deep within the federal government. He wears blue suits. He keeps his graying hair and mustache neatly trimmed. He has an inoffensively earnest manner. He also has heavy bags under his eyes, which testify to the long hours he spends scrutinizing federal spending for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the congressional watchdog agency where he is Director of Physical Infrastructure Issues. As his title suggests, Herr devotes much of his time to highway programs. But for the past three years he has been diagnosing what ails the U.S. Postal Service.
Strapped States Curb Spending on Safety Net
By SARA MURRAY - WSJ.com
At least half the states have begun to rein in safety-net programs that swelled during the downturn, even as high unemployment and slow job growth persist.
States offer a range of assistance programs such as tax credits for the working poor, unemployment benefits for the jobless and cash for low-income mothers and children. Governors from both parties have begun to make or propose cuts to these programs as they face another year of yawning budget gaps.
The reductions come as the demand for social services remains high but the ability and willingness to pay for them reach their limits.
Idaho to be first Chinese state
By Bill Turner
Governor Butch Otter, in league with notorious Marxist, B. Hussein Obama, have hatched a plan to make Idaho the first Chinese owned state in America. Otter and company have named this Project 60. Sounds innocent enough, until you realize that Otter and his minions are afraid to call it what it is, globalization of America and surrender of sovereignty. If it were called that someone may want to charge Otter with sedition. Under B. Hussein Obama it has become increasingly difficult to do business in America, unless you are from a foreign nation. Idaho, under the stewardship of Governor Butch Otter, has opened the door for a Chinese invasion wherein the sovereignty of Idaho and America will be sodomized by all parties involved.
Unions Push to Undo Ohio Law Showdown Looms Over Referendum
to Repeal Public-Employee Bargaining Limits
By KRIS MAHER - WSJ.com
NILES, Ohio—Organized labor is bringing 10,000 volunteers and a $25 million budget to the latest round of the union-rights fight in Ohio, pushing an effort to repeal a new state law reining in public-employee unions.
Unions argue that Republicans overreached this spring when they passed Senate Bill 5, boosting health-care and pension contributions for the state's 360,000 public employees and taking away most of their legislated collective-bargaining rights. The state and regional Democratic Party is offering technical assistance and support to the repeal effort, recruiting thousands of volunteers, providing voter lists for canvassers and helping with fund raising.
Why the white working class is the most alienated
and pessimistic group in American society.
BY RONALD BROWNSTEIN - NationalJournal.com
Almost no one noticed, but around George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004, the nation crossed a demographic milestone.
From Revolutionary days through 2004, a majority of Americans fit two criteria. They were white. And they concluded their education before obtaining a four-year college degree. In the American mosaic, that vast white working class was the largest piece, from the yeoman farmer to the welder on the assembly line. Even as late as the 1990 census, whites without a college degree represented more than three-fifths of adults.
But as the country grew more diverse and better educated, the white working-class share of the adult population slipped to just under 50 percent in the Census Bureau’s 2005 American Community Survey. That number has since fallen below 48 percent.
SKIMPY 54,000 U.S. JOBS ADDED IN MAY
While Congress continues to deliberate over how best to reduce the national deficit, our volatile and indifferent economy added only 54,000 jobs during May—178,000 fewer than were were created in April—and the official unemployment rate ticked back up to 9.1 percent. The federal focus on debt elimination has crippled the government’s ability to assist in the creation of jobs that would provide the reported 14 million victims of the Great Recession with basic social and financial security. —ARK
The New York Times:
The Labor Department reported on Friday that the United States added 54,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month, following an increase of 232,000 jobs in April. May’s job gain was about a third of what economists had been forecasting.
Jobless Rate Unexpectedly Rises
in Sign of Extended U.S. Economy Slowdow
By Shobhana Chandra - Bloomberg.com
The unemployment rate in the U.S. unexpectedly climbed to 9.1 percent in May and payrolls grew at the slowest pace in eight months, showing employers are losing confidence as the economy slows.
The jobless rate increased to the highest level this year from 9 percent a month earlier, Labor Department figures showed yesterday in Washington. Employers added a less-than-projected 54,000 jobs last month, after a revised 232,000 gain in April that was smaller than initially estimated. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey called for payrolls to rise 165,000.
Unemployment During the Great Depression Has Been Overstated
and Current Unemployment Understated
(We've Now Got Depression-Level Unemployment)
Washington's Blog
The commonly-accepted unemployment figures for the Great Depression are overstated.
Specifically, government workers were counted as unemployed by Stanley Lebergott (the BLS economist who put together the most widely used numbers) ... even though gainfully employed and receiving a pay check.
If we're trying to compare current unemployment figures with the Great Depression, the calculations of economists such as Michael Darby are more accurate.
local ordinances run amuck...
In tornado zone, a helping hand gets slapped with a $275 fine
by: JON TEVLIN , Star Tribune
Mike Haege had the day free between jobs and just wanted to do some good. That wasn't uncommon for Haege and his family, who have been featured in their local newspaper for everything from raising money for the Orphan Grain Project in Liberia to holding Bible study groups in their Hastings home.
This time, however, Haege learned the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished. But stay with me: It's a little more complicated than it sounds.
When a tornado hit north Minneapolis that Sunday, Haege was with his sister, who once lived in the neighborhood. She told him about how poor the area was and guessed that many of the homes damaged didn't have insurance.
Three arrested, accused of illegally feeding homeless Orlando police say they violated a city ordinance
restricting the feedings.
June 02, 2011|By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
Members of Orlando Food Not Bombs were arrested Wednesday when police said they violated a city ordinance by feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park.
Jessica Cross, 24, Benjamin Markeson, 49, and Jonathan "Keith" McHenry, 54, were arrested at 6:10 p.m. on a charge of violating the ordinance restricting group feedings in public parks. McHenry is a co-founder of the international Food Not Bombs movement, which began in the early 1980s.
Gmail Hack Targeted White House
By DEVLIN BARRETT and SIOBHAN GORMAN - WSJ.com
People who work at the White House were among those targeted by the China-based hackers who broke into Google Inc.'s Gmail accounts, according to one U.S. official.
The hackers likely were hoping the officials were conducting administration business on their private emails, according to lawmakers and security experts.
The government has acknowledged senior administration officials were targeted in the "phishing'' attacks on hundreds of users of the email service. White House officials declined to discuss who was targeted.
Europe's E. Coli Cases Rise
By LAURA STEVENS And KATHERINE HOBSON - WSJ.com
FRANKFURT—Europe's severe outbreak of Escherichia coli bacterial infections worsened further as more people succumbed to the lethal strain in Germany and around Europe.
Total reported cases in Germany reached 1,733, with 520 of those resulting in severe complications that can lead to kidney failure, according to the Robert Koch Institute, a research body funded by the German Health Ministry. Cases have been reported in at least 11 other European countries.
Three of 'World’s Worst' Regimes Sit on U.N. Human Rights Council
By Patrick Goodenough - CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) – Three of the world's 17 most repressive regimes, as identified in a new report released this week, have been members of the United Nations' Human Rights Council since its inception and have never been censured by that body.
China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia have never been the subject of a condemnatory resolution or a special session at the Geneva-based HRC, an entity created by the U.N. in 2006 with the purpose of promoting and protecting human rights "around the globe."
All three won seats in the council’s inaugural election in 2006, and were re-elected in 2009 for further three-year terms.
Gaddafi's Stolen Billions:
Max Keiser Explains 'Financial Terrorism'
Yemen's Saleh Being Taken to Saudi Arabia
By National Journal staff
Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, agreed to be taken to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment after he waswounded in attacks on Friday, the media reported on Saturday.
Saudi officials said that Saleh, who has ruled for more than three decades, agreed to be taken to Riyadh for treatment, according to The New York Times. It is unclear if Saleh has left the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, yet.
New Al Qaeda Video:
American Muslims Should Buy Guns, Start Shooting People
By MATTHEW COLE - ABCNews
In a new video message released on the internet Friday, American-born al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn calls on Muslims living in America to carry out deadly one-man terrorist acts using fully automatic weapons purchased at gun shows, and to target major institutions and public figures.
"What are you waiting for?" asks Gadahn in English, and then adds that jihadis shouldn't worry about getting caught, since so many have been released. "Over these past few years, I've seen the release of many, many Mujahideen whom I had never even dreamed would regain their freedom."
Violence Flares Up at Israeli Border
By JOSHUA MITNICK - WSJ.com
TEL AVIV—Violence along the border between Syria and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights escalated, claiming casualties on Sunday, as Israeli soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in two locations who sought to march across the frontier on the anniversary of the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Syria's state news agency said 23 people were killed and more than 350 were injured.
Israeli officials accused Syria of backing the protests to distract attention from its repression of weekslong antiregime protests, and said Lebanese authorities avoided a flare-up by declaring the border a closed military zone.
Pakistan Seen Readying to Cross Nuclear Threshold
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE STAFF - TheAtlantic.com
Pakistan's test launch last month of a new short-range ballistic missile, when added to its quickly growing arsenal of lower-power nuclear weapons, indicates the South Asian country is seriously readying to use its nuclear deterrent should war break out again with India, the Times of India reported on Sunday.
Federation of American Scientists Nuclear Information Project Director Hans Kristensen said the nuclear-capable Hatf 9 missile appears to be designed to attack an invading force of Indian soldiers.
Greek Default Risk Raised by Moody's
as European Countries Ready Bond Aid
By John Fraher - Bloomberg.com
Greece's risk of default was raised to 50 percent by Moody's Investors Service as European officials rushed to put together the second bailout plan in two years to stave off renewed financial turmoil in the region.
Moody's downgraded Greece to Caa1 from B1, putting it on a par with Cuba, according to a report published late yesterday. The move came after policy makers considered asking investors to reinvest in new Greek debt when existing bonds mature.
Keiser Report 152
Fed Gave Banks Crisis Gains
on $80 Billion Secretive Loans as Low as 0.01%
By Bob Ivry - Bloomberg.com
Credit Suisse Group AG (CS), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) andRoyal Bank of Scotland Group Plc (RBS) each borrowed at least $30 billion in 2008 from a Federal Reserve emergency lending program whose details weren't revealed to shareholders, members of Congress or the public.
The $80 billion initiative, called single-tranche open- market operations, or ST OMO, made 28-day loans from March through December 2008, a period in which confidence in global credit markets collapsed after the Sept. 15 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Goldman Said to Get Subpoena From New York Prosecutor
By Christine Harper - Bloomberg.com
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), the fifth- biggest U.S. bank by assets, received a subpoena from the Manhattan District Attorney's office seeking information on the firm's activities leading into the credit crisis, according to two people familiar with the matter.
"We don't comment on specific regulatory or legal issues, but subpoenas are a normal part of the information request process and, of course, when we receive them we cooperate fully," said David Wells, a company spokesman.
Goldman Sachs Served Subpoena Over Credit Crisis
BY ERIK HAYDEN - TheAtlanticWire.com
They expected it weeks ago, but today it's official: Goldman Sachs has been subpoenaed by the Manhattan District Attorney's office in connection with the firms role in the credit crisis. Both Dealbook andBloomberg independently reported the development, which led to a "choppy" morning for traders at the New York Stock Exchange.
The firm has previously been subpoenaed by an independent commissionand unnamed regulators looking into mortgage securities. Now, the Manhattan DA is investigating the firm in connection with a 639-page Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report alleging that Goldman made "a huge bet against the housing market, misleading investors," reported the The Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times Skirts Privacy Laws to Get Inside Goldman Sachs
BY ADAM CLARK ESTES - TheAtlanticWire.com
The New York Times published an A1 story today on Fabrice Tourre, the young Goldman employee targeted by the Securities Exchange Commission for mortgage trading-related misbehavior. The piece is long, rigorously sourced and, according to blogger Felix Salmon, pushes the boundaries of journalistic ethics. In a reaction posted not long after the story by Pulitzer-winner Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story went live late last night, Salmon asks bluntly, "Did the NYT Hack Fabrice Tourre's email?" His post points to two grafs from the Times story detailing how some confidential emails found their way into reporters' hands:
These legal replies, which are not public, were provided to The New York Times by Nancy Cohen, an artist and filmmaker in New York also known as Nancy Koan, who says she found the materials in a laptop she had been given by a friend in 2006.
Moody's warns U.S. on debt ceiling
By Colin Barr - Fortune.CNN.com
Moody's put Congress on notice Thursday, warning that it will review the United States for a downgrade if it doesn't see progress on raising the debt ceiling.
The rating agency blamed fractious politicians for failing to address the unsustainable U.S. debt position. Public debt now exceeds 60% of annual economic output and is growing at a good clip thanks to trillion-dollar-plus budget deficits.
That fix seems to call for firm action, but instead what we have is a game of chicken that looks increasingly likely to make Lehman Brothers' collapse look like a lazy afternoon's game of croquet. Thanks so much, John Boehner.
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Dollar Swoons on Moody's Warning on US Credit
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
Intraday commentary here: Shenanigans as Moody's Warns on US Rating.
I thought it was rather cute when Adam Johnson of Bloomberg pointed to the weaker price of gold this afternoon as proof that the Moody's warning on US credit rating is no big deal. Perception management at its finest, and most obvious.
At the same time the dollar was rolling over hard, but no one seemed to notice.
Goldman Sachs received a subpoena from the Manhattan DA, and the financial sector was pulling down stocks after yesterday's big sell off.
QE3 and the Globalist Plan to Destroy the Dollar
By Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer at Pacific Investment Management Co., told Bloombergtoday the Fed’s quantitative easing policy failed to meet the "ultimate objective" of boosting employment and economic growth.
Pimco is the world’s biggest manager of bond funds. Under QE2's bond-purchase program, investors are doing fine with higher-yielding assets in the rigged stock market casino – QE2 pushed the S&P up 9 percent – but as usual the little guy on Main Street continues to lose his socks.
Ron Paul on Neil Cavuto talks the economy 6-01-2011
Warning: Economic recovery at risk
By Annalyn Censky - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Job growth seems to be losing momentum, home prices just slumped to new lows and consumers are feeling far from rosy about the economy.
Can you blame them? Two years have passed since the recession officially ended, and the recovery appears to be slowing down -- not accelerating.
"We've had a poor economic recovery to begin with, and now it appears to be segueing into an end," said Robert Brusca, chief economist at FAO Economics.
How did this happen?
Economists blame a complicated web of factors.
Gold and Silver showing greed and fear
By Chris Vermeulen - CommodityOnline.com
It was a crazy session as the stock market slid over 2% on heavy volume. This type of price action means fear has taken control of masses and they are unloading (selling their stocks) in anticipation of much lower prices.
Trading off extreme levels of fear can be very rewarding if done right. That’s because fear is the most powerful reaction we as humans have and it’s somewhat predictable. Fear can make people do crazy and or stupid things and it’s these extreme reaction which investors do in the market that lead to great trading opportunities. Buying into fear and selling into greed is what I focus on.
Currency volatility favours precious metals
By Jeb Handwerger - CommodityOnline.com
Global debt issues combined with weakening US economic data has reignited the quest to protect capital. Investors are seeking the ultimate safe havens in the US dollar (UUP), long term treasuries (TLT), gold (GLD), and silver (AGQ) in order to protect their wealth from the onslaught of currency instability and US economic weakness.
This month we have witnessed the US dollar gapping higher in response to euro (FXE) weakness. This may have been a head-feint, wherein the U.S. dollar has mainly shown strength in response to a comparatively weaker Euro. These gap movements are apt to be short-lived and filled quickly.
Can We Please Stop Pretending the GDP Is "Growing"?
By Charles Hugh Smith
The Federal Government borrowed and spent $6.1 trillion to get $700 billion in total GDP "growth" from 2008-2011. In constant dollars, there was no growth at all.
The Federal government borrowed and spent $6.1 trillion over the past four years to generate a cumulative $700 billion increase in the nation's GDP. That means we've borrowed and spent $8.70 for every $1 of nominal "growth" in GDP.
In constant dollars, GDP is flat: we got no growth at all for our $6.1 trillion: zip, zero, nada. In constant dollars, the GDP in 2011 might return to the 2007 level, if the economy continues "growing" at the same pace reached in the first three months of 2011. If not, then the GDP will actually be lower than pre-recession levels.
Yastrow: "We Are on the Verge of a Great, Great Depression"
George Washington's Blog
But this is not news to anyone who has been paying attention.
As I pointed out Tuesday, billion dollar fund managers agree: the government never fixed the underlying economic problems, so we'll have another crash.
I provided details last month:
As I noted in January, the housing slump is worse than during the Great Depression. [Confirmed here]
As CNN Money points out today:
Wal-Mart's core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.
"We're seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure," Duke said at an event in New York. "There's no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact."
Interview with John Perkins-
On the Edge with Max Keiser -05-13-2011-(Part1)
Interview with John Perkins-
On the Edge with Max Keiser -05-13-2011-(Part2)
States pour money into Medicaid
By Tami Luhby @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- States are gearing up to spend nearly 19% more of their money on Medicaid as enrollment rises and federal stimulus funds dry up.
Governors have proposed spending $15.9 billion more on Medicaid in fiscal 2012, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers.
The record spending on Medicaid is forcing governors to recommend slashing expenditures on higher education by $5 billion, on public assistance by $3.5 billion and on K-12 education by $2.5 billion.
Foreclosure settlement to come in a 'matter of weeks,'
HUD secretary says
By Alejandro Lazo - LATimes.com
A settlement between a coalition of federal and state agencies and banks over foreclosure practices will come in a "matter of weeks," Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, told the Los Angeles Times.
Donovan’s agency is involved in the negotiations with the banks, which also includes attorneys general from all 50 states and officials from theJustice Department and other federal agencies.
The attorneys general and the federal regulators began investigating the practices of the big mortgage servicers after it was revealed last year that they commonly foreclosed on homeowners using faulty paperwork.
The Uneven Home Price Collapse
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Earlier this week, Americans' began worrying a little more seriously about home prices. One of the most trusted market indicators, S&P/Case-Shiller, reported a new recession low for its National Home Price Index in the first quarter. The index was down 4.2% during the period. Although a double dip had already been reported by other sources, S&P/Case-Shiller made this result a little more real. But prices are off in some regions more than others.
Here's a chart showing the index for 10 selected major cities, based on data through March. In 2000, all of these cities started their index at 100, which means that if it rose to 150, prices increased by 50%.
US House Prices: Worse Now Than During Subprime Crash
EconomyWatch.com
Just when you thought the US housing market was recovering, S&P/Case-Shiller house price index fell by 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2011, the lowest its been in 8 years.
Capital Economics says the latest double-dip in housing should come as no surprise. It's very much following a pattern seen in the early 30s, when a brief recovery also petered out. The same has also happened in other big housing busts around the world, the think-tank says. It believes prices are going to fall even further before we hit rock bottom, maybe sometime next year according toMarketWatch.
77,000 federal workers paid more than governors Government salaries put under scrutiny
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times
More than 77,000 federal government employees throughout the country — including computer operators, more than 5,000 air traffic controllers, 22 librarians and one interior designer — earned more than the governors of the states in which they work.
The findings, from a Congressional Research Service report requested by Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, were released at a time when public workers’ salaries and benefits are under scrutiny across the country as governments try to streamline.
Scary signs for jobs
By Annalyn Censky @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Psssh. That's the sound of the air being sucked out of the job recovery.
All eyes in the financial world are on the government's monthly labor report due Friday, hoping to see that the job market continued to grow in May.
But after several indicators pointed to a recent slowdown in job growth, the glass is now looking closer to empty than full.
"You could call it a soft patch, but it's the second or third soft patch we've seen in the recovery," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist with Capital Economics. "For a recovery that is less than two years old, it's troubling to say the least."
US labor market stuck in low gear New jobless claims drop less than expected;
all eyes turn to Friday's jobs data
Reuters and The Associated Press - MSNBC.com
There was gloomy news about the labor market on Thursday and some not-so-gloomy news.
New claims for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, according to a government report that could add to fears the labor market recovery has taken a step back. All eyes will now focus on the crucial employment report coming Friday.
On the brighter side, other Labor Department data showed that gains in productivity slowed in the first quarter: so, companies are still squeezing more work out of their current employees, but if they want productivity to pick up again, they may need to hire more workers.
More job seekers give up, reducing unemployment
By PAUL WISEMAN AP Economics Writer - DenverPost.com
WASHINGTON-Where did all the workers go?
The labor force-those who have a job or are looking for one-is getting smaller, even though the economy is growing and steadily adding jobs. That trend defies the rules of a normal economic recovery.
Nobody is sure why it's happening. Economists think some of the missing workers have retired, have entered college or are getting by on government disability checks. Others have probably just given up looking for work.
U.S. Jobless Claims Fell Less Than Forecast
By Shobhana Chandra and Bob Willis - Bloomberg.com
More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, signaling the job market is weakening as employers trim staff to cut costs.
Jobless claims fell by 6,000 to 422,000 in the week ended May 28, exceeding the 417,000 median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, according to Labor Department figures today in Washington. Another report showed consumer comfort stabilized last week as gasoline prices retreated.
Retailers report muted May revenue growth
By MAE ANDERSON - MSNBC.com
NEW YORK - Shoppers are showing signs of pulling back on spending on discretionary items like clothing and home goods as gasoline and groceries eat up more of their paychecks.
Those pressures led many retailers on Thursday to report only modest revenue increases in May, the latest sign of the economy hitting a soft patch.
Most of the spring, consumers seemed to shrug off rising prices. Now, gasoline at more than $1 per gallon more than last year and higher grocery bills are "finally taking a bite and affecting sales," said Ken Perkins, president of research firmRetail Metrics. "It definitely raises the caution flag going into the summer."
Internet Traffic to Quadruple by 2015
by Nicola Kean - Portfolio.com
The future of the Internet is bigger, faster, and more mobile.
Cisco’s fifth annual Visual Networking Indexing Forecast, released today, predicts that by 2015 annual worldwide Internet use will grow to 966 exabytes—or 966 billion gigabytes. By then, five minutes worth of traffic will be the equivalent of every single movie ever made.
The implications of such large amounts of data crisscrossing the earth, along with rapid increases in smartphone use and video content, mean technology is going to have to move quickly to catch up. "4G adoption will have to happen fast, and perhaps faster than what we have anticipated," Cisco's vice president Suraj Shetty told CNNMoney.
If you like news videos,
contact your congressmen on this legislation:
Embedding YouTube Videos May Soon Be a Felony
Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
Techdirt reports that Senate bill 978 – a bill to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for other purposes – may be used to prosecute people for embedding YouTube videos.
According to Mark Masnick, if a website embeds a YouTube video that is determined to have infringed on copyright and more than 10 people view it on that website, the owner or others associated with the website could face up to five years in prison. Read Masnick's article here. He explains how the new law would expand copyright violations from reproducing and distributing to performing – including streaming video over the internet.
Full text of the bill. Text of S. 978: A bill to amend the criminal penalty provision for criminal infringement of a copyright, and for...
House Blocks Vote on Kucinich Libya Bil
Over Fears It Might Pass
BY ELSPETH REEVE - TheAtlanticWire.com
House Republicans postponed a Wednesday vote on Rep. Dennis Kucinich's resolution to end U.S. involvement in the bombing of Libya because they were afraid it would pass. Speaker John Boehner thinks the legislation--which would take effect 15 days after it's adopted--would hurt the NATO mission to topple Muammar Qaddafi, Politico's John Bresnahan and Jonathan Allen report. Republican Dan Burton, a co-sponsor of the resolution, is urging an up-or-down vote on the resolution--sort of like Tuesday's vote on raising the debt limit, which GOP leadersheld a vote on only because they were sure it would fail. (Likewise, last week Senate Democrats forced moderate Republican senators to vote on Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare overhaul just to force moderate senators to vote on it. It failed, as expected.)
Constitutional Myth #2:
The 'Purpose' of the Constitution Is to Limit Congress
What really drives this idea today isn't legal theory; it's the political fear that the people of the United States will enact progressive legislation
By Garrett Epps - TheAtlantic.com
"The Constitution was written explicitly for one purpose -- to restrain the federal government," Rep. Ron Paul said in 2008.
Bless his heart. (For those of you who didn't grow up in the South, that expression in context means, "He means well, but sometimes I just want to slap him.") Dr. Paul is a likeable and honest person, but he knows as much about the Constitution as I do about obstetrics--the difference being that I don't try to instruct the nation on how to deliver babies.
Yemen's chaos is good news for Al Qaeda With Yemeni forces diverted to protect President Ali Abdullah Saleh's beleaguered regime, U.S. spying and special military operations have suffered. As result, Al Qaeda has had more opportunities to recruit and plot attacks.
By Ken Dilanian, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington— The escalating violence in Yemen is hampering critical U.S. counter-terrorism operations and has given Al Qaeda's most active affiliate increased opportunities for recruitment and plotting, current and former U.S. officials warn.
Yemeni forces trained by the U.S. to help hunt Islamic militants have been diverted to protect the beleaguered regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, making it more difficult to support American spying and special military operations. At the same time, the U.S. has been forced to evacuate nonessential personnel from its embassy in the capital, Sana.
Russia Warns U.S., NATO
Against Military Aid to Syria Protests After Libya
By Henry Meyer, Brad Cook and Ilya Arkhipov - Bloomberg.com
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the U.S. and European nations not to encourage anti-government protesters in Syriaby holding out the prospect of military support like they provided in Libya.
"It is not in the interests of anyone to send messages to the opposition in Syria or elsewhere that if you reject all reasonable offers we will come and help you as we did in Libya," Lavrov, 61, said yesterday during an interview in Moscow. "I's a very dangerous position."
America's New 'Anaconda Plan' in Libya The U.S. hopes to strangle its enemies just as Union forces did 150 years ago. But don't Americans prefer going for the jugular?
By Dominic Tierney - TheAtlantic.com
In Libya the squeeze is on. There will be "no let-up in the pressure" on Qaddafi's government, Obamaannounced, before adding: "Ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we are able to wear down the regime forces."
This is not the first time that the United States has pursued a policy of slow strangulation in wartime. In May 1861, 150 years ago, at the start of the Civil War, General Winfield Scott outlined a military strategy for the North, which became known as the "Anaconda Plan."
---- odd stuff -------
[note: some say Sorcha Faal (possible alias for David Booth) has a disinformation blog - caveat lector - let the reader beware]
Russia Says IMF Chief Jailed For Discovering All US Gold Is Gone
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers - Posted by EU Times,net
A new report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Federal Security Service (FSB) says that former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged and jailed in the US for sex crimes on May 14th after his discovery that all of the gold held in the United States Bullion Depository located at Fort Knox was 'missing and/or unaccounted' for.
According to this FSB secret report, Strauss-Kahn had become "increasingly concerned" earlier this month after the United States began "stalling" its pledged delivery to the IMF of 191.3 tons of gold agreed to under the Second Amendment of the Articles of Agreement signed by the Executive Board in April 1978 that were to be sold to fund what are called Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) as an alternative to what are called reserve currencies.
Russia Warns American Police State Now Rivals That Of Nazi SS
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers
A grim report prepared by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for President Medvedev warns that the 'Deep State' intelligence and security organizations in the United States have now grown larger than those same forces established under the fascist dictatorship of Nazi Germany in the 1920's.
According to this report, the Nazi Schutzstaffel (otherwise known as the SS) reached their pinnacle during World War II when over 1 million Germans joined its ranks to become one of the most dreaded, and feared forces in all of Europe, especially after 1934 when they were given control over the Concentration Camps said to have killed nearly 10 million.
Deathbed confessions,
photos support claims that George H. Scherf(f), Jr.,
was the 41st U.S. president
By Don Nicoloff - ProLiberty.com
What we are taught about history in American schools is not history, but a fairy tale. Better yet, it is propaganda designed to hoodwink an unsuspecting society about its true heritage and the treasonous acts and sabotage that were conceived in order to bring about a New World Order. You are about to learn the real identities of those who have infiltrated your nation on behalf of secret societies intent on bringing about the total slavery of mankind. In the past, others have written about the numerous conspiracies to control natural resources, energy, food and our sovereign right to live on planet Earth — not as slaves of a wealthy few — but as free men, women, and children exercising the free will given to them by God.
Deathbed Confessions:
Was George H. Scherff The 41st U.S. President?
Geithner and Goldman, Thick as Thieves
By Robert Scheer - Truthdig.com
What was Timothy Geithner thinking back in 2008 when, as president of the New York Fed, he decided to give Goldman Sachs a $30 billion interest-free loan as part of an $80 billion secret float to favored banks? The sordid details of that program were finally made public this week in response to a court order for a Freedom of Information Act release, thanks to a Bloomberg News lawsuit. Sorry, my bad: It wasn't an interest-free loan; make that .01 percent that Goldman paid to borrow taxpayer money when ordinary folks who missed a few credit card payments in order to finance their mortgages were being slapped with interest rates of more than 25 percent.
One wonders if Barack Obama was fully aware of Geithner's deceitful performance at the New York Fed when he appointed him treasury secretary in the incoming administration. The president was probably ignorant of this particular giveaway, as were key members of Congress. "I wasn't aware of this program until now," Barney Frank, D-Mass., who at the time chaired the House Financial Services Committee, admitted in referring to Geithner's "single-tranche open-market operations" program. And there was no language in the Dodd-Frank law supposedly reining in the banks that compelled the Fed to reveal the existence of this program.
2 More Warning Signs for the Economy
By James Picemo - SeekingAlpha.com
Here we go again: Another batch of economic updates and another round of disappointment. That sums up the latest numbers released this morning via the ADP Employment Report and the ISM Manufacturing Index. In both cases, the trend has taken a turn for the worse. The bad news arrives on the heels of yesterday's discouraging trio of economic reports. Stepping back and considering the latest updates suggests that we've entered a nasty pattern for macro news.
Let's take a closer look at today's data releases, starting with ADP's estimate of private payrolls for May. Although the labor market continued to expand last month, it did so by the thinnest of margins, according to ADP. May's nonfarm private payrolls rose by a net 38,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis — the smallest gain since last September and a huge drop from April's 177,000 increase.
No more quick fixes for US economy in rehab House prices are still falling, jobs and factories are struggling and there's no more QE. So it could be a long haul for the US
By Nils Pratley - Guardian.co.uk
Avert your eyes for a moment from the weak UK economic data and look at what we've learned about the US in the last couple of days. House prices have fallen 4.2% since the start of the year, meaning the 33% tumble from the 2006 peak is greater than the 31% decline seen during the Great Depression. The manufacturing sector appears to have stalled, with the purchasing managers' index at its lowest level this year. And private-sector jobs are being created at the slowest rate since last September. It looks – just as the bears predicted – as if the US economyis struggling to cope with the end of quantitative easing (QE).
A Conversation with Three Central Bankers
By Clive Crook - TheAtlantic.com
In Madrid on Monday I moderated a discussion on global finance organized by the Aspen Institute Espana. The speakers were Paul Volcker, Agustin Carstens (head of the central bank of Mexico, and a candidate to succeed Strauss-Kahn at the IMF), and Henrique Meirelles (until recently head of the central bank of Brazil, now in charge of preparations for the Rio Olympics). In due course I might be able to post a link to a recording. Meanwhile, three things struck me as notable.
First, none of the speakers had much time for the idea that Greece's debt would have to be restructured. Paul Volcker's impatience with this idea especially surprised me. He is usually willing to be outspoken and has no particular reason (unlike Carstens, for instance, a serving rather than former central bank chief) to avoid controversy and choose his words carefully. He usually says what he means. His point was that a modest restructuring would make no great difference to Greece's fiscal problem--it has to get to a primary budget surplus regardless--and so was probably not worth the risk. Yes, I suggested, but who said anything about a modest restructuring? An immodest restructuring, together with "internal devaluation" (lower wages) and further fiscal tightening, still seems to me the least bad of the terrible alternatives that Greece and the EU are now contemplating. The central bankers weren't having it.
The Fall Of Wall Street..The Dylan Ratigan Show
Moody’s Cuts Greece, Calls Greek Default Odds 50-50…
Lessons For Other PIIGS (NBG)
247wallst.com
If you wonder why ratings agencies are still hated so much, just wait until the Greek finance ministers come out attacking Moody's now that a fresh downgrade has been seen. Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Greece in its local and foreign currency bond ratings. The new rating is Caa1, down from B1. Moody's also assigned a negative outlook on Greece’s ratings. The decision to downgrade was after the negative review was started back on May 9.
Moody's sees higher risks that Greece will not stabilize its debt without restructuring. Moody’s also noted the Troika group supporters like the ECB, IMF, and the E.U. Commission will likely require private creditors to participate in a debt restructuring. Moody's calls it "at least an even chance of default over the rating horizon."
Why a Greek Default Could be Worse Than the Lehman Collapse
BY MARTIN HUTCHINSON, Contributing Editor, Money Morning
The 2008 collapse of Lehman Bros Holdings Inc. ignited a financial meltdown that resulted in widespread bank failures and caused the Dow Jones Industrial Average to lose 18% of its value in just one week.
Yet a Greek default - which (even with a bailout) becomes increasingly likely with each passing day - would actually be much, much worse in many respects.
Sure, it's possible that European Union (EU) taxpayers will soon be dragooned into yet another rescue plan. But that would only delay the inevitable - a catastrophic collapse that will drudge up feelings of panic we haven't witnessed since the global financial crisis hit its apex nearly three years ago.
Here's why. Dodgy Debt and a Dozing Economy
Greece's need for expanded bailout
means tough choices to avoid euro-zone disaster
By Howard Schneider - WashingtonPost.com
There is no secret about the tab coming due — Greece will need more than $40 billion over the next year or so to keep itself afloat and avoid what European officials consider their nightmare scenario, a default by one of the countries that use the euro.
But deciding who will pay has left European, International Monetary Fund and Greek officials locked in another round of crisis talks as they try to figure out a series of tough issues. How hard should Greece’s citizens be pushed for further cuts in social programs and other concessions? How much of the bill should shift to taxpayers from other European countries? Should investors in Greek bonds — including Europe’s major financial institutions and the European Central Bank itself — take a hit?
IMF to eat Belarus alive
By Sergei Nikolayev - Pravda.ru
The government of Belarus applied to the International Monetary Fund for a stabilization loan. The work of the IMF mission will last during June 1-14. Belarus is not ready either for large-scale liberalization in the currency sphere, or for a considerable reduction of state spending.
Those were the requirements, which the IMF previously set forth as a condition to give a loan to Belarus. The National Bank of Belarus raised the refinancing rate by tow percentage points - up to 16% per annum. The bank has thus met one of the requirements of the international financial organization.
John Williams (Shadow Stats) on FSNH 31 May 2011
Fed Ready to Print More Funny Money on QE3 Rumors
Kurt Nimmo - Infowars.com
Simon Maughn, co-head of European equities at MF Global, has told CNBC that a third round of so-called quantitative easing is in the works. The private Federal Reserve will again become the marginal buyer of bonds.
The latest effort by the Fed to finance the government's staggering deficit will end in June.
The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families
by Dean Henderson - GlobalResearch.ca
(Part one of a four-part series)
The Four Horsemen of Banking (Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo) own the Four Horsemen of Oil (Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, BP Amoco and Chevron Texaco); in tandem with Deutsche Bank, BNP, Barclays and other European old money behemoths. But their monopoly over the global economy does not end at the edge of the oil patch.
According to company 10K filings to the SEC, the Four Horsemen of Banking are among the top ten stock holders of virtually every Fortune 500 corporation.[1]
So who then are the stockholders in these money center banks?
This information is guarded much more closely. My queries to bank regulatory agencies regarding stock ownership in the top 25 US bank holding companies were given Freedom of Information Act status, before being denied on "national security" grounds. This is rather ironic, since many of the bank’s stockholders reside in Europe.
SM Manufacturing Index Tumbles
By Tim Iacono - SeekingAlpha.com
The Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing activity in the U.S. grew at the slowest pace in almost two years, the closely watched ISM Manufacturing Index dropping from 60.4 in April to 53.5 in May, the sharpest monthly decline in 27 years.
Why Gold Is Still a Good Long-Term Investment
George Washington's Blog
Utah has declared gold and silver to be legal tender - with the value of the coin determined by the weight of precious metal it contains
As the New York Times notes:
The law is the first of its kind in the United States. Several other states, including Minnesota, Idaho and Georgia, have considered similar laws.
World Bank president Robert Zoellick noted last year: Although textbooks may view gold as the old money, markets are using gold as an alternative monetary asset today. Alan Greenspan told the Council on Foreign Relations: Fiat money has no place to go but gold.
Get Set for Another Sustained Run in Silver
By Ananthan Thangavel - SeekingAlpha.com
Silver has rebounded nicely as of late, rising 13% from May 17 to May 27. The volatility in the market has scared off many participants, but we feel that rebuilding a long position in silver is prudent at current market prices.
Posted below is a chart of silver prices in gray and Managed Money net longs in green. [see chart]
As can be seen, in the same time period that silver prices have increased 13%, Managed Money net longs have decreased by 12%. This suggests that renewed strength in silver prices is once again due to silver ETF and physical metal buyers. As we have surmised in the past, we believe that ETF and physical ownership of silver is a bullish long-term development. As more and more silver is taken out of world supply by physical silver investors and the ETFs, there is less silver available to satisfy new investment demand as well as industrial demand. As a result of the supply constriction, prices must rise over time.
Peter Schiff on RT - Dollar Could Collapse This Fall
Wall Street Baffled by Slowing Economy, Low Yields
By: Margo D. Beller - Special to CNBC.com
Wall Street is having a hard time figuring out what to do now that the U.S. economy appears to be sputtering and yields are so low, Peter Yastrow, market strategist for Yastrow Origer, told CNBC.
"What we’ve got right now is almost near panic going on with money managers and people who are responsible for money," he said. "They can not find a yield and you just don’t want to be putting your money into commodities or things that are punts that might work out or they might not depending on what happens with the economy.
Secondary markets and the next big fraud
By Vivek Wadhwa - WashingtonPost.com
Shares of the social networking company LinkedIn doubled in price on the first day of its initial public offering last Thursday, prompting tech experts and stock watchers to call it a clear sign of a new bubble for Internet stocks. They may be right. New York Times columnist Joe Nocera noted that LinkedIn bankers may have shortchanged management by underpricing the IPO — behavior that was epidemic during the last Internet bubble.
But the bubble in publicly traded Internet shares pales in comparison to a much larger bubble that has inflated in the private markets where companies and investors can buy and sell shares. This secondary markets bubble, which is well into the hundreds of billions of dollars, represents a danger to America’s leadership position in the technology sector and a serious threat to the culture of innovation that made Silicon Valley great. Worse still, secondary markets have the potential to generate fraud on an Enron-like scale.
ISM manufacturing gauge tumbles in May Third straight decline puts index at lowest level in one year
By Jeffry Bartash , MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector receded in May, owing to fewer orders and less production, according to a closely followed index.
The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing gauge fell to 53.5% last month from 60.4% in April, marking the third straight decline and the biggest one-month drop since 1984. It's also the lowest reading in 13 months.
Bonds Rise on Weak Data; 10-Year Yield Below 3%
Reuters - MSNBC.com
U.S. Treasury debt prices rallied Wednesday after weak data on jobs and factory activity drove fears that the economic recovery could be derailed, pushing the yield on the 10-year note below 3 percent for the first time in nearly six months.
The data, which came in well below expectations, suggested the economy is facing more than just a soft patch and drove speculation that the Federal Reserve will step in again to stimulate growth after its second round of stimulus, known as QE2, is completed at the end of this month.
DJIA Drops 279.65 on Economic Worry
By STEVEN RUSSOLILLO - WSJ.com
NEW YORK—Stocks suffered their biggest declines since the middle of last year, as several downbeat reports prompted fears the economic recovery is running out of steam.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 279.65 points, or 2.2%, to 12290.14, the biggest point drop since June 4, 2010.
Caterpillar dropped $4.56, or 4.3%, to $101.24, while Alcoa shares sank 72 cents, or 4.3%, to 16.09, and Bank of America fell 50 cents, or 4.3%, to 11.24.
Why the bulls are set up for a fall in June Commentary: The end of quantitative easing matters a lot
By Thomas Kee
LA JOLLA, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Analysts have in the last month and I’m sure will keep on proclaiming in future articles the c
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