Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Wednesday 11.30.2011
New Developments In MF Global Collapse
Celente: MF Global Receivers
Have Defaulted On Underlying Contracts
If this is indeed the case, then then this is a few orders of magnitude worse than understood for the past month or so.
The staggering thing here seems to be that they simply out-and-out defaulted on the underlying contracts (offering a "correction" to a new contract at a higher price, which you can re-up the cash to accept, is a default of the exchange). I hadn't heard anything about that previously -- supposedly they just raided the "excess" cash balances (if not collateral). Indeed; upping the value of the contract, and then asking for the entire par value to accept it, is an additional two instances of theft.
Gerald Celente:
The Prestitutes are Out to Pillage All Accounts 1/2
Gerald Celente:
The Prestitutes are Out to Pillage All Accounts 2/2
KPMG Recovered $500 Million of MF Global U.K. Client Assets
By Kit Chellel - Bloomberg.com
MF Global (MF)’s U.K. administrators have recovered about half of the estimated $1 billion of customer funds frozen when the brokerage collapsed on Oct. 31.
The final recovery amount will depend on how much can be taken back from the third-party financial firms which held money for MF Global’s U.K. clients, said Richard Heis, a partner at KPMG LLP.
KPMG, which was appointed to supervise the administration of MF Global UK Ltd., said Nov. 27 that it hoped to return some money to the broker’s clients by March.
BofA, Goldman, Citi Credit Ratings Cut by S&P
By Dakin Campbell - Bloomberg.com
Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) and Citigroup Inc. had long-term credit grades reduced to A- from A byStandard & Poor’s after the ratings firm revised criteria for dozens of the world’s biggest lenders.
S&P made the same cut to Morgan Stanley and Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch unit today. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) was reduced one level to A from A+. S&P upgraded Bank of China Ltd. (3988) and China Construction Bank Corp. to A from A- and maintained the A rating on Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (1398), giving all three lenders higher grades than most big U.S. banks.
Lehman Brothers’ Liquidation Plan
Is Supported by $450 Billion in Claims
By Linda Sandler - Bloomberg.com
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) won support for its latest payout plan from more than 150 creditors holding about $450 billion in claims, moving it closer to paying some of its debt, the defunct firm said.
Lehman, which filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history in September 2008, had said it can probably get a judge’s approval for a $65 billion liquidation plan next month, with the first distributions starting early next year. The company, whose creditors range from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) to the New York Giants and individual bondholders, gave its vote count in court filings today after a Nov. 4 voting deadline.
Bank of America stock nearing $5 danger zone
By Maureen Farrell - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Another trading day and another low for Bank of America's stock.
Shares of Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) dropped more than 3% Tuesday, hitting a new 52-week low of $5.03 -- its lowest level since March 12, 2009.
After the close of trading Tuesday, Bank of America was one of 37 financial institutions downgraded by S&P.
Beyond the S&P downgrade, trading could become even more complicated in Bank of America's stock, if it falls below $5. Under that threshold, many broker-dealers will not allow investors to buy or short a stock on margin, according to a spokesperson for the New York Stock Exchange.
* * * * *
How Paulson Gave Hedge Funds Advance Word
By Richard Teitelbaum - Bloomberg.com
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson stepped off the elevator into the Third Avenue offices of hedge fund Eton Park Capital Management LP in Manhattan. It was July 21, 2008, and market fears were mounting. Four months earlier, Bear Stearns Cos. had sold itself for just $10 a share to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
Now, amid tumbling home prices and near-record foreclosures, attention was focused on a new source of contagion: Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac, which together had more than $5 trillion in mortgage-backed securities and other debt outstanding, Bloomberg Markets reports in its January issue.
Fed's Yellen Sees Scope
for Further Asset Purchases to Spur U.S. Recovery
By Vivien Lou Chen - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Janet Yellen said the central bank has leeway to spur the U.S. recovery and reduce unemployment by buying more assets or clarifying its plan to sustain record-low borrowing costs.
"The Federal Reserve has some scope for action," Yellen said today. “We are actively considering methods that we could use to provide greater clarity” on the central bank’s pledge to keep rates low through at least mid-2013, and new purchases have the potential to "flatten the yield curve."
Fed's Lockhart Is 'Skeptical'
More Bond-Buying Will Help Stimulate Economy
By Steve Matthews - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said expanding securities purchases is unlikely to give a sufficient boost to U.S. growth, without ruling out the strategy or other easing options.
"I am skeptical that further asset purchases will produce much gain in terms of increased economic activity," Lockhart, who votes on monetary policy next year, said in a speech in Atlanta. "I don’t believe further bond purchasing by the Fed is a potent policy option given the set of circumstances we currently face."
Will central banks' hidden gold demand boost gold prices?
LONDON (Commodity Online): The release of last week’s IMF statistics for October revealed a continuation of central bank appetite for Gold with net purchases of just over 20 tonnes. A number of existing buyers, such as Russia, added to holdings (a sizeable 19.5 tonnes), said Barclays Capital in a research note.
According to Barclays, data to October shows Russia has increased reserves by 82 tonnes so far in 2011, compared to 139.6 tonnes last year. Russian central bank First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev has said, "We have been implementing a programme of raising the share of gold in the reserves for several years... we are acquiring huge volumes... we are not planning to step away from this path".
John Williams:
Hyperinflation Warning, Preserve Value with Gold
JT Long of The Gold Report - IBTimes.com
Among the specters lurking in ShadowStats.com's Editor John Williams' gloomy outlook for the U.S. are the demise of the dollar, hyperinflation and the ongoing lack of political will to take sound corrective measures. Still, as he tells The Gold Report in this exclusive interview, investors have options. Williams contends that turning to gold, silver and strong foreign currencies would protect wealth and position savvy investors to take advantage of extraordinary opportunities likely to flow out of the turmoil ahead. The Gold Report: When we talked in May, you predicted that hyperinflation could be a reality as soon as 2014, something you addressed at length in your Hyperinflation Special Report. Have six months of euro debt crises, Middle East revolts and U.S. Treasuries' downgrading altered your outlook? John Williams: Not a bit. We still seem to be moving down that road to a relatively near-term break toward hyperinflation. The most important thing that's happened since we last talked was the global response to the U.S. legislators' negotiations over the debt-limit ceiling and the deficit reduction problems at that time. Clearly, no one controlling the White House or Congress was serious about addressing the nation's long-term solvency issues. That sparked a panic selloff on the dollar against currencies such as the Swiss franc, and of course gold, which made the gold price rally sharply.
MARC FABER ON GOLD 26 NOV 2011
Why Politicians Are Good for Gold
By: Julian D. W. Phillips - GoldSeek.com
After a long and lengthening political debacle on both sides of the Atlantic, the developed world remains embedded in a crisis that the political systems are unable, or unwilling, to resolve despite all the hopeful talks. The leaders of the developed world are capable, competent men who have what it takes to surmount the debt crises that are consuming confidence day by day. So why don’t they?
Current Status - U.S.
Fitch Ratings gave the United States until 2013 to come up with a "credible plan" to tackle its ballooning budget deficit or risk a downgrade of the country's coveted, AAA rating. The ratings agency revised the outlook from stable to negative on the U.S. credit rating after a special congressional committee failed last week to agree on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures. The committee failure made it unlikely that any meaningful deficit plan will be adopted next year, increasing the fiscal burden on the next administration that will be elected in late 2012, Fitch said. Fitch said the chance of a downgrade is "slightly greater than 50%".
BNP Paribas forecast:
Gold to hit $2025 in 2012 and $2280 in 2013
LONDON (Commodity Online): The growing demand forGold bars and coins reflects safe haven demand, while exchange-traded fund buying in November has recorded inflows, said Anne-Laure Tremblay, precious metals strategist at BNP Paribas.
According to Tremblay, the sell-off in gold holdings may have occurred in the over-the-counter market, which is dominated by institutional participants. The decline in exposure to gold may be linked to large-scale, cross-asset liquidation. Notably, gold holdings may have been sold to meet losses elsewhere and added that selling in indexes may have also resulted in price falls.
Gold, oil, natural gas & agri:
What to expect in 2012
Hard Assets Investor: Since oil and Gold are the big headline makers, which will perform better in 2012? Dennis Gartman: Gold will probably continue to move from the lower left to the upper right on the charts. With the continued problems and the budgetary circumstances here in the United States, along with the political circumstances in Europe that are not going to go away and are probably only going to get worse, we’ll tend to put a bid to the gold market, all other things being equal.
What if Europe uses Gold as collateral for loans?
By Julian Phillips - CommodityOnline.com
If Eurozone governments secured their borrowing with gold, what would that do to the Gold Price...? We have never believed it would return as day-to-day money. That is why for years Gold Forecaster has pointed to gold's coming monetary role as collateral.
We have always seen its return tied into its use on a global basis, most likely between governments, as we saw under the Bretton Woods system after the Second World War. We have always pointed to a time when it would return to a key monetary position in the global financial system.
Greek banks suffer surge in withdrawals
By Kerin Hope in Athens - FT.com
The head of Greece’s central bank said on Tuesday that deposits had shrunk significantly in the past two months as the public withdrew billions of euros in reaction to mounting political tension.
George Provopoulos, the central bank governor, told a parliamentary committee that outflows from the banking system increased to €5.5bn in September and €6.5bn in October.
"These were two very bad months because of political uncertainty," said Mr Provopoulos, who was presenting the bank’s first-half report on the Greek economy to the house economic affairs committee.
What Is the European Central Bank Thinking?
By Clive Crook - TheAtlantic.com
Paul De Grauwe explains why the ECB, rationally by its own lights, is refusing to act as a lender of last resort. Once it has to deal with a full-scale banking crisis, it will step up, says De Grauwe: the costs of failing to do so are vast and instantaneous. But a sovereign debt crisis, which is all we have at the moment, unfolds more slowly, which makes delay seem more attractive.
The sovereign debt crisis occurs at a snail's pace compared to banking crises. When investors sell government bonds and push the interest rate upwards, they affect the cost of borrowing of governments with some delay because the maturity of the bonds is typically of the order of five to seven years. As a result, there is not the imminent threat of a rapid collapse as there is with a banking crisis.
European ministers
plan to turn to IMF for more help in debt crisis
By Howard Schneider and Michael Birnbaum - WashingtonPost.com
European officials said Tuesday that they plan to appeal for deeper involvement by the International Monetary Fund in addressing the region’s debt crisis, an acknowledgment that their own efforts to date have fallen short.
With international investors continuing to press on weak links in the euro currency union, European finance ministers said they would turn to the IMF to help supplement their own emergency bailout fund.
The British economy just got worse Autumn Statement 2011: it just got even worse We knew it was going to be bad, but as the Chancellor George Osborne made clear in his Autumn Statement, Britain is facing many more years of misery.
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
This piece carries a government health warning; be careful not to choke on your cornflakes. Everyone knew, when Lehman Brothers went bust three years ago, that we were facing an almighty economic adjustment; it is only now becoming clear just how long that adjustment will take.
New forecasts contained in the Office for Budget Responsibility’s assessment of the Autumn Statement paint a grim picture of relative economic decline and ballooning debt. It’s now going to take six years to eliminate the structural deficit, two years longer than originally forecast, and even then, cash spending on public services will be higher at the end of the period than at the beginning.
Wolfgang Schauble admits euro bail-out fund won't halt crisis Europe's "big bazooka" bail-out fund is not ready and won't stem the debt crisis that on Tuesday pounded Italy and the European Central Bank (ECB), admitted Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's finance minister.
By Louise Armitstead - Telegraph.co.uk
Mr Schauble said eurozone finance ministers, who are meeting in Brussels, could not agree on the terms of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). He told Germany’s Handelsblatt that although Europe needed a fund "capable of action", plans for the EFSF were too "intricate and complex" for investors to understand.
The finance ministers, who were meeting ahead of a full Ecofin summit today, acknowledged the €440bn (£376bn) fund would not win support to leverage it up to €1 trillion. Its capacity would be betwen €500bn and €700bn instead – a total that is unlikely to be big enough to rescue Spain and Italy.
Brian Pretti−A Macro Potpourri:
The Sovereign Debt Crisis, Who Is Next? Eventual Day of Reckoning Coming for the US [audio files]
James J Puplava CFP with Brian Pretti CFA - FinancialSense.com
Brian Pretti joins Jim for a macro potpourri, including who will be next in the sovereign debt crisis, shorter business cycles coming, and surviving zero interest rates with dividends.
Brian is the managing editor of ContraryInvestor.com and is written, edited and published by a very small group of "real world" institutional buy-side portfolio managers and analysts with, at minimum, 20 years of individual Street experience. Their credentials include CFA, CPA and CFP, as well as the obligatory MBA's in Finance. They are all either partners or employees of institutions with at least $1 billion under management.
Treasury 30-Year Yield
Below German Bond for First Time Since May 2009
By Cordell Eddings and Daniel Kruger - Bloomberg.com
Yields on U.S. 30-year bonds dropped below those on similar maturity German government securities for the first time since May 2009 as European officials struggle to contain the region’s sovereign-debt crisis.
Treasuries fell as finance ministers from the 17-member European monetary union meet in Brussels amid speculation regional officials are struggling to support member nations' debt markets. Government debtdeclined earlier after a boost in U.S. consumer sentiment eased concern the U.S. economy may falter.
Despite earmark ban,
lawmakers try to give money to hundreds of pet projects
By Kimberly Kindy - WashingtonPost.com
Members of the House and the Senate attempted to pack hundreds of special spending provisions into at least 10 bills in the summer and fall, less than a year after congressional leaders declared a moratorium on earmarks, congressional records show.
The moratorium, announced last November in the House and in February in the Senate, is a verbal commitment by the Republican leadership to prohibit lawmakers from directing federal funds to handpicked projects and groups in their districts. Lawmakers have tried to get around the moratorium by promising to allow other groups to compete for the funds. But the legislative language is so narrowly tailored that critics consider the practice to be earmarking by another name.
Bitcoin on Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano
Nov. 27, 2011
The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin
By Benjamin Wallace - Wired.com
In November 1, 2008, a man named Satoshi Nakamoto posted a research paper to an obscure cryptography listserv describing his design for a new digital currency that he called bitcoin. None of the list’s veterans had heard of him, and what little information could be gleaned was murky and contradictory. In an online profile, he said he lived in Japan. His email address was from a free German service. Google searches for his name turned up no relevant information; it was clearly a pseudonym. But while Nakamoto himself may have been a puzzle, his creation cracked a problem that had stumped cryptographers for decades. The idea of digital money—convenient and untraceable, liberated from the oversight of governments and banks—had been a hot topic since the birth of the Internet. Cypherpunks, the 1990s movement of libertarian cryptographers, dedicated themselves to the project. Yet every effort to create virtual cash had foundered. Ecash, an anonymous system launched in the early 1990s by cryptographer David Chaum, failed in part because it depended on the existing infrastructures of government and credit card companies. Other proposals followed—bit gold, RPOW, b-money—but none got off the ground.
"Where would be if we didn't have rules?"
"FRANCE!"
"And where would we be if we had too many rules?"
"GERMANY!"
– UK comedian Al Murray, the (very British) Pub Landlord
"The GREAT DEPRESSION was caused by the Gold Standard," reckons NYU professor and professional media star, Nouriel Roubini.
Like pretty much everyone else, Roubini thinks the Gold Standard's tiresome rules brought about that cataclysm. Those manacles meant having to swap paper for bullion every time investors and savers got jumpy about the size of your deficit, your debt or your money-printing.
Really, what an idea! So 80 years later, the Gold Standard is deader than punk. Yet here we are in another depression again.
What's caused this catastrophe if gold was to blame before?
Altering health law by executive order a no-go, report says
By Paige Winfield Cunningham - The Washington Times
Despite promises by Republican presidential candidates that they would gut key parts of President Obama’s health care law on their first day in office, Congress‘ nonpartisan research agency says that trying to repeal major components of the overhaul through executive order just won't work.
The Congressional Research Service has weighed in on questions of whether a Republican successor to Mr. Obama could halt portions of the Affordable Care Act by wielding an often-controversial power reserved exclusively for the president.
No consensus among states on tack for health law
By Paige Winfield Cunningham - The Washington Times
Love it or hate it, states across the country are facing a looming dilemma over whether to get to work implementing a key component of President Obama’s massive health care overhaul.
With deadlines approaching to set up mandatory state-level "exchanges" to offer affordable health insurance, some states are scurrying to get started, others are refusing to play by the rules and still others are falling somewhere in between.
Medicare in America: 'It has to get better'
By Amanda Gengler - CNNMoney
(MONEY Magazine) -- As administrator of Medicare and Medicaid, Donald Berwick has been in charge of paying for the health care of nearly one in three Americans. He has also had an important role in implementing last year's health reform law, which uses the Medicare system as a big lever to change how doctors and hospitals do business, in hopes of containing costs.
Before taking the job -- which he'll leave in early December -- the Harvard-trained pediatrician was a leading advocate for quality and patient safety, and often a blunt critic of our health system.
States face bleak economic forecast, report says
By Michael A. Fletcher - WashingtonPost.com
States are caught in a fiscal vise as weak economic growth, dwindling federal help and increasing appeals from hard-pressed local governments squeeze their budgets.
Things have improved since the worst of the recession, but states still face a dire fiscal situation, according to a report to be released Tuesday by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO).
The Fiscal Survey of States says that even as states struggle with tepid revenue growth, they will be called on to spend more because of the economic distress caused by continued high unemployment.
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Fall More Than Forecast,
Case-Shiller Says
By Alex Kowalski - Bloomberg.com
Residential real estate prices dropped more than forecast in the year ended September, showing the industry at the center of the 2008 financial crisis continues to struggle.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities dropped 3.6 percent in September from the same month in 2010 after decreasing 3.8 percent in the year ended August, the group said today in New York. The median forecast of 32 economists in a Bloomberg News survey projected a 3 percent decrease.
Home prices fall to 8-year lows
By Les Christie @CNNMoney
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Home prices continued to sink in the third quarter, falling to levels not seen since early 2003.
Home prices dropped 3.9% year-over-year during the three months ended Sept. 30, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller national home price index. On a quarterly basis, prices were slightly higher, squeezing out a 0.1% gain.
One bright spot was that the declines have started to slow. During the second quarter, prices were down 5.8% year-over-year.
As Home Prices Sink, Home Ownership Heads to New Lows
By: Diana Olick - CNBC Real Estate Reporter
Home prices across the nation are now right back where they were at the beginning of 2003. All that was gained is largely now lost, and the effect on home ownership could continue for decades.
"Consumer attitudes have gotten a lot more negative about long-term commitment," said Standard and Poors' David Blitzer, after reporting home prices through September had fallen a deeper-than-expected 3.9 percent compared to the third quarter of 2010. "They dropped to new lows. This takes them below the point we saw in 2009, where briefly we all thought this thing was about to turn around."
And that's the problem.
Economy is So Good People are Living in Cars
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
I have never seen, in all my time, so many people holding signs on street corners asking for money, food and work. My wife spotted a couple in their forties living in their car in the middle of a crowded WalMart parking lot. I am seeing more of that, too. I was watching CNBC Monday, and one analyst basically said the economy was good and getting better. He pointed to the great sales numbers on Black Friday. Of course, no one adjusted the sales numbers for inflation. Also, many think the retailers just stole sales from the rest of the holiday shopping season. The number of people living in cars and tents have gone up, and it is not the sign of a healthy economy. The true unemployment rate is nearly 23% (according to Shadowstats.com) if it was calculated the way Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported it in 1994 and earlier. The homelessness phenomenon is making it’s way into the mainstream media because it is a national problem that is also reflected in the record numbers of people on food stamps. The number is nearly 46 million and growing as the real economy sinks. Please watch the story below from 60 Minutes that aired this past weekend. It is a sad mile marker on the road to perdition here in the U.S.:
Tens Of Millions Of American Families
Are Living On The Edge Of Desperation –
And The Economy Is About To Get A Whole Lot Worse
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Have you ever been so poor that you had to live in your car? Have you ever been so low on funds that the only place you could afford to live was a rat-infested motel? Have you ever spent a night living in a tent city or sleeping in the streets? If not, you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. As the recent Black Friday madnessdemonstrated, there are still lots of Americans that are doing well enough to go on wild shopping sprees, but the reality is that there are also millions of American families that are falling through the "safety net" to a place of total desperation. In a previous article I talked about the fact that the U.S. Census Bureau recently announced that a higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty than has ever been measured before. Not only that, 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty last year. That was also a new all-time record. As you read this, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and one our of every four U.S. children is on food stamps. Tens of millions of American families are living on the edge of desperation. In many communities across the United States, there is so much despair in the air that it is almost tangible. When you look into the eyes of many Americans these days, it almost seems as if all the hope has been sucked right out of their hearts. Economic despair is at epidemic levels, and unfortunately the economy is about to get a whole lot worse.
Growth of Online Retailers
Makes Internet the New Shopping Battleground
BY DAVID ZEILER, Associate Editor, Money Morning
While online retailers have celebrated the growth of online shopping, conventional retailers determined not to lose customers have been ramping up their Internet efforts.
Forrester Research Inc. (NYSE: FORR) estimates that online shopping will increase by 15% to $59.5 billion this holiday season. And more Americans said they were planning to shop online yesterday, "Cyber Monday," this year - 122.9 million, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch for Shop.org, up from 106.9 million in 2010.
Cyber Monday spending last year exceeded $1 billion for the first time.
Researcher’s Video Shows
Secret Software on Millions of Phones Logging Everything
By David Kravets - Wired.com
The Android developer who raised the ire of a mobile-phone monitoring company last week is on the attack again, producing a video of how the Carrier IQ software secretly installed on millions of mobile phones reports most everything a user does on a phone.
Though the software is installed on most modern Android, BlackBerry and Nokia phones, Carrier IQ was virtually unknown until 25-year-old Trevor Eckhart of Connecticut analyzed its workings, revealing that the software secretly chronicles a user’s phone experience — ostensibly so carriers and phone manufacturers can do quality control.
Malignantocracy
By Thomas Berry - PatriotPost.com
A new word recently surfaced: Ineptocracy. While not yet officially part of the language, it has been defined as, "A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers." As good a working description of our current culture as that is, I submit another: Malignantocracy.
Merriam-Webster defines "malignant," as "evil in nature, influence, or effect: injurious," as "passionately and relentlessly malevolent: aggressively malicious," and, in the context of health, "tending to produce death or deterioration <malignantmalaria>; especially: tending to infiltrate, metastasize, and terminate fatally < a malignant tumor>."
Obama ordering agencies to keep better digital records
By Ed O’Keefe - WashingtonPost.com
President Obama has ordered federal agencies to make wider use of digital-based recordkeeping systems in what his aides promise will be the most significant change to government archiving since Harry S. Truman’s presidency.
The White House on Monday gave agency bosses four months to draft plans to improve how they archive government records, with specific government-wide instructions to follow soon after. The goal is to make federal recordkeeping cheaper, faster and easier to access for Americans eager to explore government data, deliberations and decisions.
Horton Named CEO as AMR Files Bankruptcy
By Phil Milford, Mary Schlangenstein
and David McLaughlin - Bloomberg.com
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR) filed for bankruptcy after failing to secure cost-cutting labor agreements and sitting out a round of mergers that dropped it from the world’s largest airline to No. 3 in the U.S.
With the filing, American became the last of the so-called U.S. legacy airlines to seek court protection from creditors. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company, which traces its roots to 1920s air-mail operations in the Midwest, listed $24.7 billion in assets and $29.6 billion in debt in Chapter 11 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.
Federal Judge Orders Google,
Facebook to Disappear Hundreds of Sites
By Nate Anderson, Ars Technica - Wired.com
After a series of one-sided hearings, luxury goods maker Chanel has won recent court orders against hundreds of websites trafficking in counterfeit luxury goods. A federal judge in Nevada has agreed that Chanel can seize the domain names in question and transfer them all to US-based registrar GoDaddy. The judge also ordered "all Internet search engines" and "all social media websites" — explicitly naming Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Bing, Yahoo, and Google — to "de-inde" the domain names and to remove them from any search results.
Jim Rogers - China Money Podcast 25 Nov 2011
China made me do it Will Obama endorse the one-child policy next?
By Eric Wang-The Washington Times
Of the adjectives commonly associated with Washington policymakers, "childish" inevitably ranks among the most frequently used. This month’s congressional hearing on the Solyndra scandal is a perfect example of why. Listening to Energy Secretary Steven Chu and members of Congress citing China as justification for the deeply troubled federal clean energy loan program, we are reminded of parents admonishing recalcitrant children that just because someone else jumps off a bridge, that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to follow suit.
Georgetown students shed light
on China’s tunnel system for nuclear weapons
By William Wan - WashingtonPost.com
The Chinese have called it their "Underground Great Wall" — a vast network of tunnels designed to hide their country’s increasingly sophisticated missile and nuclear arsenal.
For the past three years, a small band of obsessively dedicated students at Georgetown University has called it something else: homework.
Led by their hard-charging professor, a former top Pentagon official, they have translated hundreds of documents, combed through satellite imagery, obtained restricted Chinese military documents and waded through hundreds of gigabytes of online data.
Iranian hard-liners storm British Embassy,
residential compound
By Thomas Erdbrink and Joby Warrick - WashingtonPost.com
TEHRAN — Young Iranians stormed the British Embassy compound and a separate diplomatic residence here on Tuesday as security forces looked on, triggering a dramatic escalation in tensions between Iran and the West at a time of already high anxiety over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
The apparently deliberate decision by Iranian authorities to allow demonstrators and paramilitary members to pillage the two sites is likely to increase Tehran’s global isolation. It also could increase the strain in Iran between two rival blocs: forces loyal to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and those aligned with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
What Housing Risk? The FHA says there's nothing
for taxpayers to worry about. Oh-oh.
WSJ.com - $$
[Google title for free article pass]
Before the 2007 housing bust, financial analysts who raised questions about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's shaky finances were dismissed as cranks. So it's worrying to see a thoughtful critique of another taxpayer-backed monolith—the Federal Housing Administration—receive a similar brush-off.
The flap centers around an American Enterprise Institute paper "Is FHA the Next Housing Bubble?" by Wharton real-estate finance professor Joseph Gyourko earlier this month. Mr. Gyourko notes that while the FHA's loan exposure has grown to more than $1 trillion this fiscal year from $305 billion at the end of 2007, the agency hasn't "increased its capital reserves commensurately." Sure enough, the Department of Housing and Urban Development recently reported that the FHA's capital reserves are 0.24%, a far cry from the 2% statutory minimum.
Fannie and Freddie watchdog under fire
By Shahien Nasiripour in New York - FT.com
The US regulator overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has displayed "undue deference" to the mortgage giants' decision-making, says a federal auditor.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency “too often” accepts assertions made by the mortgage financiers, which have been operating under a federal conservator since September 2008, the FHFA Office of Inspector-General said in a report to be released on Tuesday.
In one case, the FHFA’s failure to properly examine Freddie’s procedures for determining how lenders repurchase soured loans probably saddled US taxpayers with billions of dollars in losses, the report said. In another, it said, the housing regulator readily accepted Fannie and Freddie’s justification for paying their top six officers more than $35m in compensation for 2009 and 2010, declining to consider other factors that may have led to lower payouts.
Bond Dealers See Fed Buying $545 Billion
of Home-Loan Debt in Third Easing
By Daniel Kruger and Cordell Eddings - Bloomberg.com
The biggest bond dealers in the U.S. say the Federal Reserve is poised to start a new round of stimulus, injecting more money into the economy by purchasing mortgage securities instead of Treasuries.
Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his fellow policy makers, who bought $2.3 trillion of Treasury and mortgage-related bonds between 2008 and June, will start another program next quarter, 16 of the 21 primary dealers of U.S. government securities that trade with the central bank said in a Bloomberg News survey last week. The Fed may buy about $545 billion in home-loan debt, based on the median of the firms that provided estimates.
How the Dollar Rules by Fiat How did the dollar become
the world's principal currency and what is its future?
By JAMES GRANT - WSJ.com
The Founders defined the dollar as a weight of gold or silver. We moderns have undefined and disembodied it. The 21st-century greenback is neither connected to nor—as they say on Wall Street—collateralized by anything tangible. You can materialize it on a computer, like a tweet.
"Greenback Planet" is the story of this amazing monetary transformation. The narrative begins in the 18th century and races to the present, pausing to catch its breath at some of the great American monetary landmarks: Andrew Jackson's veto, in 1832, of legislation rechartering a predecessor to the Federal Reserve; Abraham Lincoln's recourse to greenbacks, or fiat currency, to finance the Civil War; resumption of the gold standard in 1879, with which it once more became possible to exchange gold for paper and vice-versa at a fixed and statutory rate; J.P. Morgan quelling the Panic of 1907; the Federal Reserve not quelling, never mind preventing, the Great Depression; the crazy-quilt monetary improvisations of the 1930s; the halfway gold dollar of the post-World War II era; and the creation, in 1971, of the pure paper (later digital) model of today.
The Path to Constitutional Money
Ron Paul's Plan for Monetary Freedom
NY Fed Issues Mea Culpa, with Caveat
BY LEE ADLER - FinancialSense.com
In a report released on Black Friday around 6 PM, when nobody is around, let alone paying attention, except for crazy people like me, the NY Fed posted a mea culpa on just how lousy its economic forecasts have been, a function which I had already performed over a year ago (The Fed - Clueless, Delusional, or Both?) . The author of the report stated the crux of the failure thusly:
One source for such metrics is a paper by Reifschneider and Tulip (2007). They analyzed the forecast error performance of a range of public and private forecasters over 1986 to 2006 (that is, roughly the period that most economists associate with the Great Moderation in the United States).
Unleashing the Future Advancing Prosperity Through Debt Forgiveness - Part 1
BY CHARLES HUGH SMITH - FinancialSense.com
This week we present a timely and important series on debt renunciation and forgiveness by longtime contributor Zeus Yiamouyiannis. Today: Part 1.
Given accelerating conditions and trends in Europe, the U.S. and Asia, debt will be renounced, forgiven or written down, and how that process unfolds is now of paramount importance. Will private entities who dined so gloriously on their profits now eat their losses? Can the public who has seen its fortunes commandeered mount an effective response? Will there be convincing practical alternatives to a rigged world economy based in debt expansion and servitude? The answer is "yes" to all three, contends this five-part series by longtime contributor Zeus Yiamouyiannis. The series offers practical analyses and blueprints for liberating the world from debt and thus freeing its people to pursue greater, more productive purposes. Introduction:
My last article on debt forgiveness, Endgame: When Debt is Fraud, Debt Forgiveness is the Last and Only Remedy must have struck quite a chord in discussions of the future of the economy. It was re-posted on scores of websites and received over 20,000 reads on Zero Hedge. It also resulted in a reference on the Max Keiser Report and a subsequent interview with Max Keiser. This led in turn to a popularization of a term I used, "fake assets," to denote the true nature of "toxic assets".
OECD Warns on Threat of EU and U.S. Recession
247wallst.com
The OECD has warned in its latest Economic Outlook that both the euro area and U.S. could quickly move into recession. The organization says that only a sharp change in economic policy will prevent another recession.
The OECD reports that:
The euro area crisis remains the key risk to the world economy. Concerns about sovereign debt sustainability are becoming increasingly widespread. If not addressed, recent contagion to countries thought to have relatively solid public finances could massively escalate economic disruption.
Business scramble as credit tightens Europe Crisis in Europe Tightens Credit Across the Globe
By ERIC DASH and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ - NYTimes.com
Europe’s worsening sovereign debt crisis has spread beyond its banks and the spillover now threatens businesses on the Continent and around the world.
From global airlines and shipping giants to small manufacturers, all kinds of companies are feeling the strain as European banks pull back on lending in an effort to hoard capital and shore up their balance sheets.
The result is a credit squeeze for companies from Berlin to Beijing, edging the world economy toward another slump.
Germany told to act to save Europe
By Quentin Peel in Berlin, Jan Cienski in Warsaw
and Norma Cohen in London - FT.com
Germany is the only country in Europe that can act to save the eurozone and the wider European Union from "a crisis of apocalyptic proportions", the Polish foreign minister warned on Monday in a passionate call for more drastic action to prevent the collapse of the European monetary union.
The extraordinary appeal by Radoslaw Sikorski, delivered in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate in the German capital, came as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development called on European leaders to provide "credible and large enough firepower" to halt the sell-off in the eurozone sovereign debt market, or risk a severe recession.
Barack Obama says
US willing to help Europe resolve debt crisis US President Barack Obama pressed European Union officials on Monday to act quickly and decisively to resolve their sovereign debt crisis, which the White House said was weighing on the US economy. -- Reuters - Telegraph.co.uk
After meeting European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, President Obama said he was keen to see the eurozone crisis end.
"I communicated to them that the United States stands ready to do our part to help them resolve this issue. This is of huge importance to our economy," he told reporters.
A possible step would be for Washington to support more aid to Europe from the International Monetary Fund, where the United States is the biggest shareholder.
Euro-Area Finance Chiefs
to Meet
as Obama Renews Pressure to Solve Crisis
By Patrick Donahue and Margaret Talev - Bloomberg.com
President Barack Obama renewed pressure on European leaders to prevent a dismantling of the single currency before euro-area finance ministers meet today to seek a resolution to the two-year-old crisis.
Agreeing on a sufficient response to Europe’s problems is of "huge importance" to the U.S., Obama told reporters after meeting yesterday with European Union President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President José Barroso.
Treasuries Drop for Third Day
as Stocks Gain on Prospects of Euro Solution
By Wes Goodman and Monami Yui - Bloomberg.com
Treasuries fell for a third day, the longest streak of losses in five weeks, as stocks gained globally on optimism European leaders are intensifying their efforts to contain the region’s debt crisis.
Benchmark 10-year yields were nine basis points away from the highest level in two weeks before U.S. reports today that may show the economy is improving. Demand for longer-dated debt was limited after Fitch Ratings gave U.S. sovereign securities a negative outlook while affirming its AAA grade yesterday.
Europe's shrinking money supply flashes slump warning All key measures of the money supply in the eurozone contracted in October with drastic falls across parts of southern Europe, raising the risk of severe recession over coming months.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The three main gauges – M1, M2, and M3 – have each begun to decline in absolute terms after slowing sharply over the Autumn.
The broad M3 measure tracked closely by the European Central Bank as an early warning indicator shrank last month by €59bn to €9.78 trillion, a sign that Europe's long-feared credit squeeze is underway as banks retrench to meet tougher capital requirements.
"This is very worrying," said Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research. "What it shows is that the implosion of the banking system on the periphery is now outweighing any growth left in the core. We are seeing the destruction of money and it is a clear warning of serious trouble over the next six months."
Italy Set for a ‘Sizeable’ Cost Increase
at 8 Billion-Euro Bond Auction
By Lorenzo Totaro - Bloomberg.com
Italy may again be forced to pay above the 7 percent threshold that prompted Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek aid when it auctions as much as 8 billion euros ($11 billion) in bonds today.
The Rome-based Treasury aims to sell as much as 3.5 billion euros of a three-year bond, 2.5 billion euros of 2022 bonds and 2 billion euros in 2020 bonds. Italy had to pay more than 7 percent in debt auctions yesterday and on Nov. 25. Today's results are due shortly after 11 a.m. Rome time.
Iceland wins in the end
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The OECD has come very close to predicting a depression for Europe unless EU leaders conjure up a lender-of-last resort very quickly, and somehow manage to make the world believe that the EFSF bail-out fund really exists.
Even if disaster is avoided, the eurozone growth forecast is dreadful. Italy, Portugal, Greece will all contract through 2012, while Spain, France, Netherlands, and Germany will bounce along the bottom.
Unemployment will reach 18.5pc in Greece, 22.9pc in Spain, 14.1pc in Ireland, 13.8pc in Portugal.
Moody’s Signals Possible Cut for Europe Banks
By Chitra Somayaji - Bloomberg.com
Moody’s Investors Service said it’s considering lowering debt ratings for banks in 15 European nations reflecting the potential removal of government support.
All subordinated, junior-subordinated and Tier 3 debt ratings of 87 banks in countries where the subordinated debt incorporates an assumption of government support were placed on review for downgrade, the ratings company said in a statement today. The subordinated debt may be cut on average by two levels, while the rest of the debt by one grade, it said.
Keiser Report:
Unemploy Wall Street (E215 ft. Danny Schechter)
U.S. Outlook Cut to Negative by Fitch
By John Detrixhe - Bloomberg.com
The U.S. lost its last stable outlook from the three biggest credit-ranking companies after Fitch Ratings lowered the nation to negative following a congressional committee’s failure to agree on deficit cuts.
Fitch’s outlook on the U.S., which it still assigns its top AAA grade, reflects “declining confidence that timely fiscal measures necessary to place U.S. public finances on a sustainable path will be forthcoming,” making the probability of a downgrade greater than 50 percent over two years, the company said yesterday in a statement. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service said Nov. 21 that the so-called supercommittee’s inability to reach an agreement didn’t merit downgrades because the inaction will trigger $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts.
Judge rejects $285-million settlement between SEC, Citigroup Federal Judge Jed Rakoff in his order criticizes the SEC for its 'relatively modest' punishments on big Wall Street banks for wrongdoing during the financial crisis and describes the proposed settlement amount as 'pocket change to any entity as large as Citigroup.'
By Nathaniel Popper, LATimes.com Reporting from New York—
A federal judge in New York issued a stern challenge to the government's recent history of imposing "relatively modest" punishments on big Wall Street banks for wrongdoing during the financial crisis.
Jed Rakoff, a federal judge in Manhattan, issued a sharply worded order Monday rejecting a proposed $285-million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup Inc. that would have allowed the bank to avoid admitting it defrauded investors over toxic mortgage securities. He said that other similar settlements had not stopped banks from breaking the law, and added that the fines are "pocket change to any entity as large as Citigroup."
Peter Schiff on The Alex Jones show - 28 Nov 2011
Corzine Asked to Testify
Before Senate on MF Global Collapse
By Silla Brush - Bloomberg.com
Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and U.S. senator who led MF Global Holdings Ltd. before the firm sought bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31, has been called to testify Dec. 13 at a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing on the collapse.
Corzine, who was chairman and chief executive officer of the New York-based firm, was asked to testify alongside MF Global customers who face as much as $1.2 billion in missing funds, Senator Debbie Stabenow, the Michigan Democrat who leads the panel, said in a statement today.
Money Found in Britain May Belong to MF Global
BY BEN PROTESS AND AZAM AHMED - NYTimes.com
About $200 million in customer money that vanished from MF Global is believed to have surfaced at JPMorgan Chase in Britain, according to people briefed on the matter. The discovery could be the most significant breakthrough in a monthlong hunt for the missing funds.
During MF Global’s last chaotic days, the brokerage firm overdrew an account at JPMorgan, according to another person who is close to the matter. Some investigators now believe the firm used customer funds to patch at least some of the hole, which would have been a significant breach of federal law.
MF Global Wins OK to Break Leases
By JOSEPH CHECKLER - WSJ.com $$
[Google title for free article pass]
NEW YORK—A judge on Monday gave the trustee unwinding MF Global Holdings Ltd.'s brokerage permission to reject the leases on at least a half-dozen U.S. offices, as it continues to make its balance sheet leaner in hopes of eventually returning brokerage customers all their money.
Martin Glenn of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan signed off on the request by the trustee, James W. Giddens, which will allow MF Global to back out of lease agreements in New York, Boston and elsewhere by Wednesday.
MF Global Explained
Did Barney Frank Cause the Housing Crisis? As one of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's biggest advocates, conservatives have blamed Frank for helping bring on the housing crisis. Is that fair?
By Jordan Weissmann - TheAtlantic.com
Now that Rep. Barney Frank has announced his decision not to run for another term in Congress, the world is once again revisiting the notoriously combative politician's role in U.S. housing policy.
As the lead Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Frank was one of Capitol Hill's staunchest advocates for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which many conservatives have blamed for fueling the housing bubble. Republicans say that Frank failed to police the GSE's (i.e.: government-sponsored enterprises) as their lending standards deteriorated and they bought up more and more sub-prime mortgage debt in years before the crash.
Keiser Report: Corruptify! (E214)
Comfortably Numb
BY JAMES QUINN - FinancialSense.com
As I observe the zombie like reactions of Americans to our catastrophic economic highway to collapse, the continued plundering and pillaging of the national treasury by criminal Wall Street bankers, non-enforcement of existing laws against those who committed the largest crime in history, and reaction to young people across the country getting beaten, bludgeoned, shot with tear gas and pepper sprayed by police, I can’t help but wonder whether there is anyone home. Why are most Americans so passively accepting of these calamitous conditions? How did we become so comfortably numb? I’ve concluded Americans have chosen willful ignorance over thoughtful critical thinking due to their own intellectual laziness and overpowering mind manipulation by the elite through their propaganda emitting media machines. Some people are awaking from their trance, but the vast majority is still slumbering or fuming at erroneous perpetrators.
Occupy L.A. protesters to seek court order to block eviction
By Abby Sewell and Kate Linthicum - LATimes.com
Protesters plan to file for a federal injunction that would prevent police from dismantling the Occupy L.A. encampment around City Hall.
The complaint, which was to be filed at 10 a.m. Monday in federal court, names the city of Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, alleging that the protesters' civil rights were violated. The three protesters who planned to file the suit would be seeking a court order to prevent the city from evicting the camp from the City Hall lawn.
The complaint accuses the city of engaging in "arbitrary and capricious action in violation of the 1st and 14th Amendments by first approving the Occupy presence for 56 days before suddenly revoking permission through the unilateral action of defendants."
The Best Siri Hacks So Far
By ADAM CLARK ESTES AND REBECCA GREENFIELD - TheAylanticWire.com
Dissatisfied with Siri's already impressive personal assistant skills, hackers have taken her to the next level, manipulating her technology to do more than just send text messages. Within weeks, we got a glimpse of Siri's capabilities when an ad agency rigged her to open a can of beer and another hacked her to unlock a door, using arduino technology. Since then, developer Pete Lamonica hasprovided a new platform for others looking to extend Siri's abilities, developing Siri Proxy, a server that can be used to connect the iPhone command system to other objects. Lamonica's hack can be traced back further to Steven Troughton-Smith, who successfully found a (complicated) way to bypass Siri's authentication servers in order to install the voice-controlled miracle on any iOS device, including iPads, iPod Touches and the iPhone 3GS just a few days after Siri hit the market. On Monday, fellow jailbreaker Eric Day released a set of instructions that simplifies that process and makes it easy to install Siri on any jailbroken Apple iOS device.
Siri Can Do Anything
Thanks to Siri Proxy, developers can hook Siri up to anything. The following video by developer Ian McDowell explains how to use the plugin for any possible task:
Plugins for Siri Proxy
America's Next Killer Ideas From Google,
Under Armour, and More A flashlight that finds cancer. Fake leaves that turn sunlight into fuel. A shirt that tells you if you're feeling sluggish. They're all real products, and they're all right here, in The Atlantic's "Killer Ideas" series. -- By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
What does the next generation of innovation look like? We wanted know. So we got in touch with some of the most famous and creative companies and research universities in the country with a very simple request.
Tell us the coolest thing you're working on.
Below are the best responses from the last three weeks. It's a kaleidoscopic range of products and ideas, from bendable smartphones to a $100 DNA-sequencing machine to a brand new Internet. These are the coolest ideas in America right now.
Google Translate with Conversation Mode -
English & French
The Refreshing Seriousness of Tim Tebow In a sports culture dominated by ironic humor, the Broncos quarterback is unusually earnest
By Kevin Craft - TheAtlantic.com
We live in world saturated with irony and post-irony, and this affects how we consume mass culture—including sports. Athletes today are not judged solely on their on-field abilities but by how willing they are to show the culture at large that they get it, that they have their own brand of ironic humor.
Peyton Manning isn't popular just because he was on pace to smash every meaningful NFL passing record before his career-threatening neck injury. Fans like him because of the look-at-how-goofy-I-am sense of humor he displays in commercials hawking everything from credit cards to cell phones. Cam Newton is the frontrunner for rookie of the year due to his strong arm and able legs, but his Superman celebration and knowing smile help make the case that he is destined to be a superstar in the NFL.
S.1867
Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012
Sponsor: Sen Levin, Carl [MI] (introduced 11/15/2011)
Cosponsors (None) Bill Summary
S.1867: The hunting of America expands
By Marti Oakley - PPJ Gazette
Many of us have wondered if directed to; would our own military turn on us? It appears that this is the plan and has been all along, yet the question remains……would they actually do it if ordered to?
S.1867, the National Defense Authorization Act bill. Senators Carl Levin (D) MI and John McCain (R) AZ, are bringing this bill to the Senate floor on Monday after having held secret committee meetings while never holding even one hearing on this bill which authorizes military action against US citizens, right here in the United States.
While the bill appears on the surface to be about authorizing defense funding for the illegal wars, the ongoing unwarranted surveillance of the US population and the continuing violations of the 4th Amendment as applied to US citizens, many of the provisions of the bill do not pertain to unidentifiable terrorists or any other villain carefully crafted to terrorize the country. The fact is, as a result of the false flag attacks on 9/11, we have massive numbers of police state “laws” on the books which created “terrorists” or redefined “terrorist activity” to include everything from political dissent and free speech, even including targeting of US citizens for mentioning or referencing the Constitution or supporting third party, non-approved candidates for public office.
Major rifts emerge on first day of UN talks The United Nations climate change summit in Durban, South Africa, opened in disarray yesterday after violent storms, the late arrival of the host president and a major rift emerging between some of the world's biggest polluters.
By Aislinn Laing - Telegraph.co.uk
As delegates arrived in the coastal city on Sunday, dark skies gave way to thunder and lightning storms and torrential rain which waterlogged parts of the city's conference venue and swept away tin shacks in townships on the outskirts of the city, killing eight people.
By yesterday, many of the estimated 15,000 delegates packed into the main hall for the opening session, only to be kept waiting for 40 minutes by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma.
Climategate 2.0 A new batch of leaked emails again shows some leading scientists trying to smear opponents.
By JAMES DELINGPOLE - WSJ.com
Last week, 5,000 files of private email correspondence among several of the world's top climate scientists were anonymously leaked onto the Internet. Like the first "climategate" leak of 2009, the latest release shows top scientists in the field fudging data, conspiring to bully and silence opponents, and displaying far less certainty about the reliability of anthropogenic global warming theory in private than they ever admit in public.
The scientists include men like Michael Mann of Penn State University and Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia, both of whose reports inform what President Obama has called "the gold standard" of international climate science, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
China Pushes Back
Against Growing U.S. Influence in East Asia American outreach to China's neighbors
has Beijing on the defensive
By Elizabeth Economy - TheAtlantic.com
Now that President Obama has completed his victory lap in Asia and is safely ensconced--or is that mired?--in Washington's political mess, the Chinese are busy recalibrating their message to the region. After watching the United States once again be voted most popular, the message from China seems to be twofold:
First, the United States is not one of us. As Tsinghua University scholar Tao Wenzhao writes in the China Daily, "East Asian countries have to face another thorny issue: How to deal with the United States in their push for regional integration. Despite being a non-Asian country and despite lying on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. has been on high vigilance against East Asian integration that in its eyes could lead to its exclusion from the region's affairs." Or, as Premier Wen Jiabao noted at the East Asia Summit, "East Asian countries are capable of solving the [South China Sea] dispute by themselves."
U.S. Declares Cold War With China
by Robert Maginnis - HumanEvents.com
Last week, President Barack Obama was in Asia to declare a cold war with China. Hopefully the U.S.-China cold war won’t be like the one fought with the Soviet Union that brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation and cost trillions of dollars over 60 years.
The crux of the conflict is China’s attempt to assert its sovereignty over the South China Sea, a resource-rich conduit for roughly $5 trillion in annual global trade, of which $1.2 trillion is American, which U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared last year a matter of "national interest."
China’s Precarious Military Rise
BY GHASSAN ABDALLAH - FinancialSense.com
Speculation in the international relations "balance-of-power" literature has progressed to narrowly focus on China as America's most likely future military rival. This academic focus on China has recently been reinforced by the Pentagon's 2011 report on China's future military capabilities. The report stressed that China is on track to develop a modern military by the year 2020, a rapid buildup that is likely to destabilize the Asia-Pacific region, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. This assessment by Pentagon analysts triggered an immediate rebuke from the Chinese embassy in Washington which called the report "a reflection of a Cold War mentality." The Chinese embassy statement went on to add: "we hope the U.S. will take practical steps to work with China for stable and healthy military ties by following the spirit of mutual respect, mutual trust, reciprocity and mutual benefit." A call destined to fall on deaf ears.
A Hot Flash in the Cold War With Pakistan A NATO attack kills 24 Pakistani soldiers and Pakistan responds by closing U.S. supply routes into Afghanistan. Is the relationship between Washington and Islamabad about to disintegrate?
By Marc Ambinder - TheAtlantic.com
The relationship between Pakistan and the United States is, for both sides, like a raw nerve that keeps getting exposed. And at a tenuous time too: the NATO coalition in Afghanistan that errantly killed at least 24 Pakistanis on Friday is relying on Pakistan's help to broker peace negotiations between militants and the Afghan government as the coalition prepares to withdraw. The U.S. claims to be on the verge of defeating al-Qaida's core, thanks to the latest bombardment by unmanned armed drones launched from Shamsi Air Base inside Pakistan.
NATO Messes With Pakistan
By Steve Clemons - TheAtlantic.com
As my Atlantic colleague Jeffrey Goldberg and his co-author Marc Ambinder outlined in last month'sAtlantic cover story, Pakistan can be the ally from hell. But this week, the tables are turned -- and from the perspective of ferociously independent, nationalistic Pakistan citizens, the United States and NATO appear to be approximating the behavior of enemies.
A two hour siege on a site inside Pakistan by NATO forces killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The siege continued even after alleged appeals by Pakistan military command staff to NATO commanders to stop the assault. Various Afghan intelligence sources are reporting that a joint US-Afghan patrol was fired upon by heavy Pakistan-based artillery -- and thus the NATO air attack was against the source of that attack. Turned out the site targeted involved two Pakistan Army-manned check points.
How to Lose in Afghanistan
BY JR NYQUIST - FinancialSense.com
NATO military moves near Afghanistan recently backfired when NATO airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Western diplomats apologized, saying the strikes were "tragic" and "unintentional." But the Pakistani’s remain angry. For several years the Islamist forces in Afghanistan have been using the wild and mountainous regions of Pakistan as a sanctuary. Reacting to this, NATO aircraft mistakenly pounded Pakistani troops while attempting to strike the enemy. Mistakes of this type are common to military operations, and should have been prevented by commanders tasked with a broader view of operations.
* * * * *
Is someone trying to start WWIII?
Explosion rocks Iran city of Isfahan,
home to key nuclear facility Semi-official Fars news agency says blast heard distinctly in several parts of the western Iran city; a uranium conversion plant near Isfahan went online in 2004.
By Yossi Melman and Reuters - Haaretz.com
An explosion rocked the western Iranian city of Isfahan on Monday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, adding that the blast was heard in several parts of the city.
According to reports, frightened residents called the fire department after the blast, forcing the city authorities to admit there had been an explosion.Residents reported that their windows shook from the explosion's force.
Image shows Iranian missile site was destroyed
By Jason Ukman - WashingtonPost.com
Two weeks after a mysterious explosion at an Iranian missile base, a Washington-based research group has released a satellite image showing extensive damage to the site.
The image of the compound, near the city of Malard, doesn’t provide any clues as to what caused the Nov. 12 explosion, which Iranian authorities described as an "accident" involving the transport of ammunition. But it does make clear that the facility has been effectively destroyed.
Enemy of Iranian state The expulsion of Britain’s ambassador to Iran has provided a vivid insight into the mindset of the Islamic regime.
By Telegraph View
By urging the expulsion of Britain’s ambassador, Iran’s parliament has provided a vivid insight into the mindset of the Islamic Republic’s leadership. Their first thought as they retreat further into isolation and economic malaise is to credit Britain with prime responsibility for all their problems.
For over a century, British statecraft was indeed the dominant factor in Iranian politics, causing the downfall of leaders who were thought to threaten London’s interests. But the era when a string of Royal Navy bases guaranteed that the Gulf was a British lake ended several generations ago. However, the old men who misrule Iran still claim to detect a British hand behind every significant event.
Iran says 150,000 missiles pointed at Israel
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said that the Islamic Republic has up to 150,000 missiles pointed at Israel, according to the semi-official Iranian FARS news agency.
According to the report, Vahidi questioned threats against the Islamic Republic from Jerusalem, asking "How many missiles have they prepared themselves for? 10,000? 20,000? 50,000? 100,000, 150,000 or more?"
On Saturday, Tehran made a rare threat against Turkey, saying it could target the recently installed NATO anti-missile shield in any future conflict.
Central bank gold buying
to rise from 142 to 450 tons in 2011
says World Gold Council
By: Peter Cooper - GoldSeek.com
Purchases of gold bullion by the central banks of the world will rise from 142 tons last year to 450 tons in 2011, predicts the World Gold Council. However, gold industry experts are still expecting a pull-back in gold prices as global equity markets fall sharply over the next two months as the eurozone crisis comes to a head.
IMF data shows that the central banks of the world added a net 142 tons of bullion to their reserves last year. The tripling of purchases this year has added to the upward pressure on the gold price helping to make gold the second best performing commodity after gasoil.
"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail" –Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Balneotherapy" (from latin, "balneum", or "bathe"), is a holistic treatment for promoting good health and relaxation, requiring one to bathe in naturally occurring hot springs or mineral-enhanced water. Because hot spring waters retain high levels of dissolved solids and mineral content (such as iron, salt, calcium & radium), they have historically been looked upon by indigenous peoples as “healing waters”. [i] Documents from early 7thcentury Japan indicate "Onsen" (hot spring) culture gaining social popularity, as wintertime retreats offered hot spring relaxation amid snow-capped views. In centuries since, hot spring therapy has become a routine part of medical care in Japan and parts of Europe.[ii]
Gold to Profit from Economic Uncertainty
By: The Gold Report and Clive Maund - GoldSeek.com
The mountains of debt engulfing Western economies is likely to lead to hyperinflation according to Clive Maund, president of clivemaund.com. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Maund details the scenario he sees for collapse. The Gold Report: Clive, on clivemaund.com you said "for fundamental and technical reasons the U.S stock markets look set to plunge soon." So, it seems we're headed for either deflation or hyperinflation. The course seems set for hyperinflation, but what's your best guess as to what's going to happen? Clive Maund: The key point to grasp is that the world needs a "reset" and sooner or later it is going to get it. By that I mean that all the dross of debt and derivatives that have accumulated over many years and are now dragging the world economy into the mire are going to have to be cleared away before the world can move forward again. Many readers will be familiar with the experience of working at a computer that "locks up" when too many applications and programs are open. When you arrive at this point, you cannot move forward or back, and there is nothing else for it but to hit the reset or restart button. That is the point the world economy has now arrived at with this debt crisis, and the longer business leaders and politicians take to grasp the nettle and write all this debt and derivative mess off, the worse it is going to get. So what if banks go bust? You can always create new ones later.
Exclusive Interview With Ronald-Peter Stöferle:
"$10,000 Oz. Gold Would Not Surprise Me"
By Tekoa Da Silva - BullMarketThinking.com
I had fascinating conversation Thanksgiving Day with Ronald-Peter Stöferle, publisher of "In Gold We Trust", and analyst at Erste Group Bank in Vienna, Austria. We had a very confirming conversation on the strength and duration of the current bull market in both gold and silver. Ronald sees very weak sentiment in the metals—meaning participants are easily convinced at every correction that the bull market may be over. This indicates the absence of a bubble, and suggests much higher prices coming down the road.
Exclusive Interview With Jim Rogers:
"If We Have A Major Sudden Crisis,
Gold & Silver May Be All People Can Think Of"
By Tekoa Da Silva - BullMarketThinking.com
I had the absolute pleasure of spending a few minutes on the phone yesterday with Jim Rogers, Chairman of Rogers Holdings. Jim is a legend of the investment world, has published many books, and is the number one expert in the world for insight on the commodities markets.
During the interview Jim shares his thoughts on commodities, gold, silver, the debt crisis and what he sees as the world’s cheapest trade in existence today. When asked about the West Jim says, "the Western world is careening of a cliff due to the debt situation." He goes on to say, "Commodities are still cheap, although not as cheap as they were ten years ago." In regards to the safety of gold & silver, Jim says, "People may grab gold & silver out of desperation if the U.S. [dollar] fell into the sea tomorrow. If we have a major sudden crises gold & silver may be all people can think of."
Record Gold Hoard Spurs Bullish Bets
By Nicholas Larkin - Bloomberg.com
Gold traders are more bullish after investors accumulated the biggest-ever hoard of the metal, with Europe’s deepening debt crisis driving them to protect their wealth with this year’s second-best performing commodity.
Eighteen of 26 surveyed by Bloomberg expect bullion to rise next week. Holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold reached a record 2,350.8 metric tons on Nov. 23, now valued at $127.6 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Hedge funds and other speculators increased their net-long position, or bets on higher prices, for four weeks, the longest stretch since March, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.
Will Gold and Stocks Christmas Rally Be Like 2007 and 2008?
By: Chris Vermeulen - MarketOracle.co.uk
Thus far in 2011 the overall stock market movement has been much different from what we had in 2010. This year we have seen nothing but sideways to lower prices with wild price swings on a day to day basis. There just has not been any really solid trends to take advantage of this year. Instead we had to actively trade the oversold dips and sell into the overbought rallies to just pull money out of the market on a monthly basis. Last year we saw 3 major rallies that lasted several months making it easy for anyone who bought into the trend to make money if managed properly.
Trouble
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The global economy is heading for a massive amount of trouble in the months ahead. Right now we are seeing the beginning of a credit crunch that is shaping up to be very reminiscent of what we saw back in 2008. Investors and big corporations are pulling huge amounts of money out of European banks and nobody wants to lend to those banks right now. We could potentially see dozens of "Lehman Brothers moments" in Europe in 2012. Meanwhile, bond yields on sovereign debt are jumping through the roof all over Europe. That means that European nations that are already drowning in debt are going to find it much more expensive to continue funding that debt. It would be a huge understatement to say that there is "financial chaos" in Europe right now. The European financial system is in so much trouble that it is hard to describe. The instant that they stop receiving bailout money, Greece is going to default. Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain and quite a few other European nations are also on the verge of massive financial problems. When the financial dominoes start to fall, the U.S. financial system is going to be dramatically affected as well, because U.S. banks have a huge amount of exposure to European debt. The other day, I noted that investor Jim Rogers is saying that the coming global financial collapse "is going to be worse" than 2008. Sadly, it looks like he is right on the money. We are in a lot of trouble my friends, and things are going to get really, really ugly.
Dow, S&P Log Worst Thanksgiving Week Since 1932
By: JeeYeon Park - CNBC.com
Stocks closed in negative territory in thin, shortened trading Friday as investors were reluctant to go long ahead of the weekend and amid ongoing worries over the euro zone.
The Dow and S&P posted their worst Thanksgiving week since the Great Depression on a percentage basis.
Whose Fuse is Shorter?
BY PETER D SCHIFF - FinancialSense.com
With fiscal time bombs ticking in both Europe and the United States, the pertinent question for now seems to be which will explode first. For much of the past few months it looked as if Europe was set to blow. But Angela Merkel's refusal to support a Federal Reserve style bailout of European sovereigns and her recent statement the she had no Hank Paulson style fiscal bazooka in her handbag, has lowered the heat. In contrast, the utter failure of the Congressional Super Committee in the United States to come up with any shred of success in addressing America's fiscal problems has sparked a renewed realization that America's fuse is dangerously short.
Euro’s Failure Imminent, Says "The Economist"
BY BOB ADELMANN - TheNewAmerican.com
In its attempt to quell rising uneasiness in the wake of the failed German bond sale last week, the establishment magazine The Economist rushed in over the weekend with a series of four separate articles promoting its globalist and internationalist perspective on the matter.
The first article noted that the risk to the euro within the next few weeks is "alarmingly high" unless measures are taken. The article blamed lack of leadership — "denial, misdiagnosis and procrastination" — for the unfolding and accelerating crisis. First, a recession appears to be imminent as the austerity measures are taking hold across the euro zone and slowing already shaky economies.
The eurozone really has only days to avoid collapse
By Wolfgang Münchau - FT.com
In virtually all the debates about the eurozone I have been engaged in, someone usually makes the point that it is only when things get bad enough, the politicians finally act – eurobond, debt monetisation, quantitative easing, whatever. I am not so sure. The argument ignores the problem of acute collective action.
Last week, the crisis reached a new qualitative stage. With the spectacular flop of the German bond auction and the alarming rise in short-term rates in Spain and Italy, the government bond market across the eurozone has ceased to function.
Banks, Politics Seen Pushing Euro Zone Into Recession
By: Antonia Oprita - CNBC.com
More and more analysts looking at the euro zone predict that another recession is inevitable, as banking sector tensions combined with political wrangling over the debt crisis will depress consumer confidence further and will choke funding for business.
Disappointing government debt auctions this week – on Wednesday for Germany, wheredemand was very weak and on Friday for Italy, which saw yields hitting record euro lifetime highs – show that investors are losing faith in political leaders' ability to rein in bulging deficits and are punishing the whole area.
The Mega Banks Seizing Control of Europe
By: Bob Chapman - MarketOracle.co.uk
In Europe each time a new player is presented we find he is a Goldman Sachs’ alumnus. Recent entries are Mario Monti "appointed" PM of Italy, Lucas Papademas "appointed" PM of Greece and Mario Dragahi "appointed" President of the European Central Bank. The banks blatantly control governments and agencies presenting us with an oligarchy, which controls most of the nations on the planet. In America politicians are bought and paid for. In Europe there is a different mind set, a shared worldview of bureaucrats, technocrats, politicians and the elite bankers of world government and domination. What has happened in this process is that Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and other mega-banking has retained power for decades. They control all the players in the field, so the outcome is always in their favor. The bankers and others in turn are paid via billions of dollars in bonuses. Banks are now bank holding companies having become that to avoid failure as brokerage firms. That is the case in the US, UK and Europe.
Bond market hammers Italy, Spain ponders outside help
By Barry Moody and Elisabeth O'Leary
(Reuters) - Italy's borrowing costs soared to their highest levels since Rome joined the euro on Friday, piling pressure on the newly installed government of Mario Monti at the end of a week in which the euro zone crisis tainted even safe haven Germany.
A punishing bond sale, in which Italy was forced to pay a record 6.5 percent for six months paper, came after a disastrous German bond auction earlier in the week and the leaders of France, Germany and Italy failed to make headway in tackling the growing debt crisis.
Markets pricing in endgame for the euro, warns UBS Markets are "pricing in the endgame" for the euro as the situation moves faster than politicians can act, UBS has warned ahead of a key meeting between eurozone leaders and US President Barack Obama.
By Garry White - Telegraph.co.uk
Mr Obama is hosting this year's EU-US summit at the White House today, with the debt crisis at the top of the agenda. Attendees include European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso.
The meeting will be held amid Italian media reports that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is preparing a €600bn (£514bn) loan for Italy. This will give Mario Monti, the new Italian prime minister, breathing space to implement reforms before debt refinancing is needed, La Stampa reported. Speculation is also mounting that Spain may also need to apply to the IMF or the European Financial Stability Facility after its borrowing costs soared last week.
IMF Readying Loan
of as Much as $794 Billion for Italy, La Stampa Reports
By Tommaso Ebhardt - Bloomberg.com
The International Monetary Fund is preparing a 600-billion euro ($794 billion) loan for Italy in case the country’s debt crisis worsens, La Stampa said.
The money would give Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti 12 to 18 months to implement his reforms without having to refinance the country’s existing debt, the Italian daily reported, without saying where it got the information. Monti could draw on the money if his planned austerity measures fail to stop speculation on Italian debt, La Stampa said.
Italy would pay an interest rate of 4 percent to 5 percent on the loan, the newspaper said. The amount could vary from 400 billion euros to 600 billion euros, La Stampa said.
Prepare for riots in euro collapse, Foreign Office warns British embassies in the eurozone have been told to draw up plans to help British expats through the collapse of the single currency, amid new fears for Italy and Spain.
By James Kirkup - Telegraph.co.uk
As the Italian government struggled to borrow and Spain considered seeking an international bail-out, British ministers privately warned that the break-up of the euro, once almost unthinkable, is now increasingly plausible.
Diplomats are preparing to help Britons abroad through a banking collapse and even riots arising from the debt crisis.
The Treasury confirmed earlier this month that contingency planning for a collapse is now under way.
Euro "Stability Union" could be achieved fast: Schaeuble
(Reuters) - Euro zone countries could create a Stability Union to secure deeper fiscal integration relatively quickly, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday.
"One can do that quickly," he told ARD television, referring to changes to the Lisbon Treaty that Germany has wanted to allow much tighter budget controls in the 17 euro zone countries.
"The goal is for the member states of the common currency to create their own Stability Union and to concentrate on that," Schaeuble said.
In Brussels earlier on Sunday, EU officials said Germany and France are exploring radical methods of securing deeper and more rapid fiscal integration among euro zone countries, aware that getting broad backing for the necessary treaty changes may not be possible.
It is now becoming clear
Germany has had enough of this euro mess The Anglo-Saxon world is feeling smug this weekend. UK and US policymakers are counting their blessings they’re not directly embroiled in the historic debacle that is the single currency.
By Liam Halligan - Telegraph.co.uk
This euro crisis is obviously very seriously undermining global investor sentiment. The negative impact on growth, both in Britain and the States, is clear. It is axiomatic that the financial chaos stemming from a fully-blown, market-induced "euroquake" would cause deep aftershocks everywhere, not least across the rest of the Western world.
There is palpable relief, though, in London and Washington that attention is now squarely on the eurozone’s woes. That makes life easier for the deeply indebted Anglo-Saxon governments – which is particularly welcome for Chancellor George Osborne, given that he is about to give his Autumn Statement.
Why a German downgrade
is the next logical step in the euro crisis If someone suddenly says "Grunderkrach" to you today in an animated state, they're not hurling abuse with an obscure Germanism, no matter what it might sound like.
By Damian Reece - Telegraph.co.uk
Instead they're more likely to be students of German history eager to share their latest conclusions with you about what the late nineteenth century can teach us.
I'm indebted to Strategy Economics for nudging my own memory in this field. Grunderkrach or "Founders crash" hit Germany in 1873 after the collapse of the then powerful Vienna Stock Exchange and led to the Long Depression which, until the 1930s, was known as the Great Depression but lost the title to the years following the 1929 Wall Street crash.
Should the Fed save Europe from disaster? The dam is breaking in Europe. Interbank lending has seized up. Much of the financial system is paralysed, setting off a credit crunch just as Euroland slides back into slump.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The Euribor/OIS spread or 'fear gauge' is flashing red warning signals. Dollar funding costs in Europe have spiked to Lehman-crisis levels, leaving lenders struggling frantically to cover their $2 trillion (£1.3 trillion) funding gap.
America’s money markets are no longer willing to lend to over-leveraged Euroland banks, or only on drastically short maturities below seven days. Exposure to French banks has been slashed by 69pc since May.
Time Runs Short for Europe to Resolve Debt Crisis
By LANDON THOMAS Jr. - NYTimes.com
LONDON — Eighteen months into a sovereign debt crisis — and after many futile efforts to resolve it — the endgame appears to be fast approaching for Europe.
While its leaders may well hold to the current path of offering piecemeal solutions, nervous investors are fleeing European countries and banks.
Two main options exist: either the euro zone splits apart or it binds closer together.
Each of these paths — Greece, and possibly others, dropping the euro or the emergence of a deeper political union in which a federal Europe takes control of national budgets — would lead to serious political, legal and financial consequences.
But with financial panic now threatening to move beyond Italy and Spain to Belgium, France and Germany, the euro zone’s paymaster, the pressure to arrive at a solution is at a new level of intensity.
IMF drawing up £517bn package
to save Italy, Spain and the euro The International Monetary Fund is being lined up potentially to help Italy and Spain amid growing fears that a European rescue scheme will not be able to prop up the countries.
By Robert Winnett - Telegraph.co.uk
The International Monetary Fund is being lined up potentially to help Italy and Spain amid growing fears that a European rescue scheme will not be able to prop up the countries, it emerged last night.
Reports in Italy suggested that the IMF is drawing up plans for a €600 billion (£517 billion) assistance package for the country. Spain may be offered access to IMF credit, rather than a rescue package, to avoid it being "picked off" by the markets in the coming weeks.
Italy's Monti in austerity race as IMF role eyed
By James Mackenzie and Francesca Landini
(Reuters) - Prime Minister Mario Monti faces a testing week seeking to shore up Italy's strained public finances, with an IMF mission expected in Rome and market pressure building to a point where outside help may be needed to stem a full-scale debt emergency.
Monti is expected to unveil measures on December 5 that could include a revamped housing tax, a rise in sales tax and accelerated increases in the pension age. But pressure from the markets could force him to act more quickly.
Monti Says Merkel, Sarkozy Agree
Italy Default Would Lead to End of Euro
By Lorenzo Totaro - Bloomberg.com
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy agreed with Prime Minister Mario Monti that Italy succumbing to the region’s debt crisis would lead to the end of the euro, Monti’s office said.
Sarkozy and Merkel "confirmed their support for Italy, saying that they are aware that the collapse of Italy would inevitably lead to the end of the euro," Monti told ministers at a Cabinet meeting in Rome today, according to an e-mailed statement. That "would provoke a stalemate in the process of European integration with unpredictable consequences."
Italy’s Banks Back Patriotism
to Spur Demand for Sovereign Debt
By Sonia Sirletti and Flavia Rotondi - Bloomberg.com
As Italian bond yields hover close to euro-area highs, the country’s biggest banks are backing a plea for local investors to purchase the securities and help restore confidence in the nation's sovereign market.
The Italian Banking Association is promoting "BTP-Day" today, with lenders waiving fees for clients who buy government bonds and bills known as BTPs and BOTs at branches. The initiative, originally proposed by a Tuscan businessman, will be repeated on Dec. 12.
Borrowing costs surged as the euro region's debt crisis pushed the yields of six-month Italian Treasury bills to a 14- year high. The rate on benchmark 10-year bonds ended last week above 7 percent, a level that locked Greece, Portugal and Ireland out of the capital markets and forced them to seek aid.
Europe agrees on EFSF; IMF to aid Italy: reports
Germany, France study ways to deepen fiscal union
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — European officials have agreed on how to leverage a key rescue fund to provide more fire power in dealing with the region's debt crisis, while the International Monetary Fund may act to backstop Italy, according to reports.
Finance ministers from the euro zone are slated to meet Tuesday and expected to sign off on rules for borrowing against the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), as well as guidelines for intervening in the euro-zone bond markets and providing credit lines to governments, according to a Reuters report Sunday.
Bond market hammers Italy, Spain ponders outside help
By Barry Moody and Elisabeth O'Leary
(Reuters) - Italy's borrowing costs soared to their highest levels since Rome joined the euro on Friday, piling pressure on the newly installed government of Mario Monti at the end of a week in which the euro zone crisis tainted even safe haven Germany.
A punishing bond sale, in which Italy was forced to pay a record 6.5 percent for six months paper, came after a disastrous German bond auction earlier in the week and the leaders of France, Germany and Italy failed to make headway in tackling the growing debt crisis.
Euro Rescue Fund
May Insure 30% of Bonds
to Help Fight Crisis, Draft Shows
By Brian Parkin - Bloomberg.com
The European Financial Stability Facility may insure bonds of troubled countries with guarantees of between 20 percent and 30 percent of each issue to be determined in light of market circumstances, according to EFSF guidelines to be considered by finance ministers this week.
The insurance would be in the form of tradable partial protection certificates, to be issued by an independent Luxemburg-based special purpose vehicle, the guidelines show. The step is one of several new tools including setting up private funds with investors and selling short-term debt aimed at increasing the EFSF’s power to combat the debt crisis.
"Awful" Italy debt sale ups stress
By Valentina Za
(Reuters) - Italy paid a record 6.5 percent to borrow money over six months Friday and its longer-term funding costs soared far above levels seen as sustainable for public finances, raising the pressure on Rome's new emergency government.
The auction yield on the six-month paper almost doubled compared to a month earlier, capping a week in which a German bond auction came close to failing and the leaders of Germany, Franceand Italy failed to make progress on crisis resolution measures.
Though Italy managed to raise the full planned amount of 10 billion euros (8.6 billion pounds), weakening demand and the highest borrowing costs since it joined the euro frightened investors, pushing Italian stocks lower and bond yields to record highs on the secondary market.
Belgium forms government
as four eurozone states plan bond auctions
Belgians prepare to face €11bn in budget cuts
Belgium, France, Italy and Spain aim to raise €17bn
By David Gow - Guardian.co.uk
A bond auction in Belgium will kick off another week of fear and loathing in the eurozone today as four key countries including France, Italy and Spain hope to raise €17bn in the coming days.
Elio Di Rupo, a Francophone socialist due to become the next prime minister of Belgium after a 600-day wait for a new government, said the €11.3bn (£9.3bn) of budget cuts agreed by six parties met EU demands in advance of Monday's auction.
If the Foreign Office
is preparing for a eurozone crash,
why isn't it warning British citizens travelling abroad?
By Charles Crawford - Telegraph.co.uk
This appears to be a well-sourced Telegraph piece revealing that the FCO has instructed Embassies to start making contingency plans for a eurozone crash.
If so, it's startling.
Startling!
Partly because our much-diminished Embassies across the EU – cheerily cut back by Labour and this Coalition government alike to redeploy diplomats to the "emerging markets" – just won't be able to handle the tens of thousands of consular cases which could come their way.
Margaret Thatcher knew
that capitalism must deliver for the masses Propping up failure – in the euro and elsewhere – is hardly the recipe for renewed prosperity.
By Charles Moore - Telegraph.co.uk
Friends of Lady Thatcher tend to deplore The Iron Lady, the new film about her starring Meryl Streep. They do so because they are upset at the portrayal of a still living person as suffering from dementia. Their feelings do them credit as friends. As someone who knows her himself, I find bits of the film, which I have just seen, distressing.
But friends are often the last people to understand how things look in a wider setting. When the general public (who, for some reason, will not be allowed to see the film until January) walk into the cinema and watch the Streep version of Thatcher, I am convinced that they will be moved by the human story. They will also absorb a most powerful piece of propaganda for conservatism (though not necessarily Conservatism). One reason it is so powerful is that it feels uncalculated: it just arises, inescapably, from the tale it tells. And its lessons apply, pointedly, to the current state of the Western world.
Latest Economic Surveys Show Little Optimism
BY BOB ADELMANN - TheNewAmerican.com
The Republican Small Business Committee reported on November 8 that small-business optimism "remains extremely low," and that business owners "simply are not hiring because they are pessimistic about consumer sales, the nation's economic climate, and the amount of regulations to comply with." Committee Chairman Sam Graves (R-Mo.) added, "The overall mood of the nation's job creators is still at historic lows. The [Optimism Index of the National Federation of Independent Business] shows that over the next three months, only 9 percent of small business owners plan to increase employment [while] 12 percent plan to lay off workers. These numbers are … worse than the previous two months."
"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."
Across the uncertain ways of space and time our hearts echo those words, for the days are with us again when, at the gathering of the harvest, we solemnly express our dependence upon Almighty God.
The final months of this year, now almost spent, find our Republic and the nations joined with it waging a battle on many fronts for the preservation of liberty.
In giving thanks for the greatest harvest in the history of our nation, we who plant and reap can well resolve that in the year to come we will do all in our power to pass that milestone; for by our labors in the fields we can share some part of the sacrifice with our brothers and sons who wear the uniform of the United States.
Mayor: Occupy LA must leave City Hall camp Monday
By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave a lengthy tribute to Occupy LA protesters on Friday before telling them they must leave their encampment on the lawn of City Hall by 12:01 a.m. Monday, citing public health and safety concerns.
Villaraigosa, who has expressed sympathy for the protest's aims from its beginning seven weeks ago, announced the ouster at an afternoon news conference with police Chief Charlie Beck. He said the movement that has spread in two months from New York to numerous other U.S. cities has "awakened the country's conscience" — but also trampled grass at City Hall that must be restored.
Regulator wants foreclosure problems fixed by Q1
Reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; editing by John Wallace
(Reuters) - A U.S. bank regulator said mortgage servicers must fix problems in their foreclosure processes by the first part of 2012.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees the nation's biggest banks, has forced banks to hire independent consultants to review their foreclosure practices, after evidence emerged last year of widespread abuses.
On Tuesday, the OCC gave an update on the reviews, which were required as part of an April settlement with 12 banks and thrifts.
"The OCC expects the servicers to complete implementation of new processes, policies and enhanced controls during the first part of 2012," the regulator said in a press release.
Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13B
By Bob Ivry, Bradley Keoun and Phil Kuntz - Blomberg.com
The Federal Reserve and the big banks fought for more than two years to keep details of the largest bailout in U.S. history a secret. Now, the rest of the world can see what it was missing.
The Fed didn’t tell anyone which banks were in trouble so deep they required a combined $1.2 trillion on Dec. 5, 2008, their single neediest day. Bankers didn’t mention that they took tens of billions of dollars in emergency loans at the same time they were assuring investors their firms were healthy. And no one calculated until now that banks reaped an estimated $13 billion of income by taking advantage of the Fed’s below-market rates, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its January issue.
25 Bitter And Painful Facts About The Coming Baby Boomer Retirement Crisis That Will Blow Your Mind
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
For decades we were warned that when the Baby Boomers started to retire that this country would be facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Well, that day has arrived ladies and gentlemen. Back on January 1st, the Baby Boomers began to retire and more than 10,000 of them will be retiring every single day for years to come. Most of them have not saved up nearly enough money for retirement. At the same time, private sector pension plans are failing all over the place, hundreds of state and local government pension plans from coast to coast are woefully underfunded, and the Social Security system is on the road to complete and total disaster. A massive wave of humanity is hitting retirement age at a moment in history when the U.S. economy is coming apart at the seams. We do not have the resources to keep the promises that we made to the Baby Boomers, and most of them have not made adequate preparations for retirement. What we have is a gigantic mess on our hands, and millions of Baby Boomers are going to find retirement to be very bitter and very painful.
Holiday Weekend Sales Rise to Record $52.4B
By Lauren Coleman-Lochner - Bloomberg.com
U.S. retail sales during Thanksgiving weekend climbed 16 percent to a record as shoppers flocked to stores earlier and spent more, according to the National Retail Federation.
Sales totaled $52.4 billion, and the average shopper spent $398.62 during the holiday weekend, up from $365.34 a year earlier, the Washington-based trade group said in a statement today, citing a survey conducted by BIGresearch. More than a third of that -- an average of $150.53 -- was spent online.
Black Friday Violence
Worse Than Ever
As American Consumers Fight
Over Deals Like Crazed Animals
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
We all knew that this was coming, didn't we? Each year Black Friday violence just seems to get worse and worse. What does it say about American consumers when they are willing to fight like crazed animals just to save a few bucks on cheap plastic crap made in China? Not that retailers are innocent in any of this. It certainly seems as though many of them purposely create wild situations on Black Friday where customers will rush like crazy people into their stores and nearly riot as they fight over discounted merchandise. The more Black Friday madness there is, the more of an "event" it becomes, and the higher the profits of the retailers go. This year there was more Black Friday hype than ever and there was also more Black Friday violence than ever. It is being projected that this year a record-setting 152 million Americans will go shopping between Thanksgiving and Sunday night. That may be good news for the big corporate retailers, but the shocking lack of character being displayed by American consumers all over the country this weekend is very bad news for the future of this nation.
Cell Phones Are Tracking Devices
That Governments, Police, Big Corporations
And Stalkers Can Use To Easily Track Your Movements
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
If you regularly carry a cell phone around with you, you might as well say goodbye to your privacy. The truth is that any cell phone you buy is going to track you wherever you go 24 hours a day. Just as you leave "footprints" wherever you go on the Internet, so also your cell phone is constantly recording wherever you go in the physical world. Most people do not realize this, but the reality is that cell phones are tracking devices that governments, law enforcement authorities, big corporations and even stalkers can use to easily track your movements. If you do not know about this yet, then you are going to be absolutely amazed by what you are about to read. Not only do cell phones track you wherever you go, they can also be used to listen to your private conversations even when they are turned off. We live in a brave new world, and there are a lot of control freaks out there that love to monitor where we go and what we do. Unfortunately, it seems like every time technology advances, we lose a little bit more privacy. Eventually, we may wake up someday in a world where there is absolutely no privacy left.
Putin uses Cold War rhetoric Vladimir Putin launches Cold War rhetoric at mass rally Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, reached back to the rhetoric of the Cold War on Sunday to angrily accuse the West of trying to meddle in his country's forthcoming elections.
By Andrew Osborn - Telegraph.co.uk
Speaking ahead of a parliamentary vote this weekend that his party is expected to win, the country's de facto president-in-waiting told the West to butt out of his country's internal affairs and to stop funding human rights groups that he disdainfully likened to Judas Escariot.
"We know that representatives of some countries meet with people they fund, so-called grant receivers, and give them instructions and guidance for what work they need to do to influence the election campaign in our country," he alleged.
* * * * *
The Russian Bear Is Back,
The Soviet Union Is Being Revived
And The Cold War Is Not Over
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
If you believe that the United States is the "sole superpower" in the world, then you really need to read the rest of this article. Most Americans have very little idea what is actually going on in the rest of the world and how the global balance of power is shifting. For example, can you name the country that is the number one oil producer in the world, the number one oil exporter in the world, the number one exporter of natural gas in the world and that also has the second most powerful military in the entire world? In case you need a hint, it is not Saudi Arabia, it is not China and it is not the United States. The correct answer is Russia. The Russian Bear is back in a big way. Did you know that Russia is rapidly becoming one of the top suppliers of oil to the United States? Russia has vast natural resources, a national debt that is very low (ratio of publicly held debt to GDP is less than 10%) and an economy that has boomed over the past decade. Russia is busy flexing its muscles in many different ways. For example, many are pointing out that the "Eurasian economic union" that Russia is putting together is a significant move in the direction of a revival of the Soviet Union. Russia is also rapidly modernizing its military and developing very powerful new weapons systems. Most Americans believe that the Cold War is over and that Russia is a toothless bear that no longer represents a threat. It is difficult to find words to describe how wrong that assessment of the situation is.
Nato braces for reprisals
after deadly air strike on Pakistan border post Concerns the ISI intelligence agency could use its suspected influence over insurgent groups to launch reprisal attacks
By Julian Borger in Kabul and Saeed Shah in Karachi - Guardian.co.uk
Nato forces in Afghanistan were braced on Sunday for possible reprisals from Pakistani-backed insurgents following the coalition air strike along the border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Senior officers from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), were scrambling to resume contacts with their Pakistani counterparts in the hopes of setting up a joint investigation into the incident.
But Pakistani officers severed communications and Islamabad cut Isaf's two supply routes running through Pakistan.
In Fog of War, Rift Widens Between U.S. and Pakistan
By STEVEN LEE MYERS - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — The NATO air attack that killed at least two dozen Pakistani soldiers over the weekend reflected a fundamental truth about American-Pakistani relations when it comes to securing the unruly border with Afghanistan: the tactics of war can easily undercut the broader strategy that leaders of both countries say they share.
The murky details complicated matters even more, with Pakistani officials saying the attack on two Pakistani border posts was unprovoked and Afghan officials asserting that Afghan and American commandos called in airstrikes after coming under fire from Pakistani territory. NATO has promised an investigation.
Pakistan orders US
to leave airbase in row over deadly Nato assault
Islamabad says US must leave Shamsi base in 15 days after deaths of at least 24 Pakistani soldiers in mistaken attack
By Saeed Shah in Karachi - Guardian.co.uk
Pakistan has given the US 15 days to vacate an airbase used as a key launchpad for drone strikes in Afghanistan in retaliation for a mistaken attack on a Pakistani border outpost that killed at least 24 soldiers and injured 13.
American forces were told to leave the remote Shamsi airbase, secretly given over to the US after 9/11, following an emergency meeting of Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership late on Saturday. Pakistan has also blocked supply routes for US-led troops in Afghanistan.
Airstrike Ravages U.S.-Pakistan Ties Kabul, Western Officials Say NATO and Afghan Forces Came Under Fire Before Deadly Attack; Relations Further Imperiled
By DION NISSENBAUMin Kabul, TOM WRIGHT in New Delhi
and ADAM ENTOUS in Washington - WSJ.com
Afghan and Western officials on Sunday said NATO and Afghan forces came under fire from across the Pakistan border on Saturday before they called in a deadly airstrike on two Pakistani military posts, in an incident that has left U.S.-Pakistan relations in tatters.
Pakistan's military denied firing on North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces, calling the "unprovoked" raid on the border posts an "irresponsible act."
Syria isolated after unprecedented Arab League sanctions Syria, already facing a growing military insurgency, was left isolated after its Arab neighbours voted for an unprecedented package of sanctions.
By Richard Spencer - Telegraph.co.uk
Arab League ministers meeting in Cairo voted overwhelmingly to carry out their threat to hit financial and transport ties to Damascus after it failed to let in a mission of observers or to alleviate its war on protesters against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Qatar, which has become the Arab world's most prominent voice in support of the "Arab Spring", warned that international intervention against Mr Assad was coming closer. Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, the prime minister, said the League's efforts were intended to prevent a repeat of what happened earlier this year in Libya.
"All the work that we are doing is to avoid this interference," he said.
Tehran votes to expel Britain's ambassador Iran erupted in a fresh frenzy of animosity towards its old imperial foe on Sunday as MPs chanting "death to England" voted to expel Britain's ambassador to Tehran and threatened his mission with a reprise of the 1979 hostage crisis.
By Adrian Blomfield - Telegraph.co.uk
Dominic Chilcott, who took up the position of ambassador just a month ago, could be forced to leave the country within weeks after a motion to downgrade Iran's diplomatic ties with Britain was passed overwhelmingly by the Islamist republic's parliament.
The step was taken after Britain, Canada and the United States announced fresh sanctions against Iran last week in the wake of a report by UN weapons inspectors which provided the most compelling case yet that Tehran is trying to build a nuclear bomb.
Israel threatens to cut water and power to Gaza
Israel has warned it might cut all support to the Gaza Strip, including vital water and power supplies, if the Palestinian Authority pursues its path towards reunification with militant group Hamas.
By Phoebe Greenwood in Tel Aviv - Telegraph.co.uk
The threats were issued by Danny Ayalon, Israel's deputy foreign minister, on Israeli Radio on Saturday in response to a recent meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Cairo.
Mr Ayalon claimed a deal with the extremist faction would turn the Palestinian Authority into "an authority of terrorism and this would block any hope of reaching any peace agreement with Israel".
Is Gold Still the Answer for Investors? ....Gold is by far the best "answer,"
and now is still the best time to invest.
By Bud Conrad, Casey Research - GoldSeek.com
Though late to the party as usual, the proverbial man on the street – along with members of mainstream media and Wall Street heavyweights – is finally waking up to the decade-long, 700% increase in the price of gold, joining a growing buzz around the monetary metal. From questions whether gold is in a bubble to predictions that soaring prices are just around the corner, one thing is clear: a new phase of awareness for gold is upon us. How far might it move before these troubling times are over?
Major Catalysts Ahead to Trigger Next Breakout in Gold Market
By Jordan Roy-Byrne, CMT - Goldseek.com
In bull markets, corrections and consolidations are needed to periodically cleanse the market of extreme optimism and an overbought condition. After a market has strong run it inevitably reaches a point of resistance. This is where there are more buyers than sellers. A market can correct in two ways. Either it declines and retraces much of the preceding gains relatively quickly or a market will consolidate near its highs for a long period of time. The first correction is a function of price while the second, time. The correction or consolidation ends when a fundamental catalyst emerges which triggers greater demand that overwhelms current supply.
The Two Prerequisites for Hyperinflation
By: Steve Saville, The Speculative Investor - GoldSeek.com
Relatively rapid inflation of the money supply -- say, a monetary inflation rate averaging 10% per year -- can occur for a long time without the "inflation" becoming "hyper". The reason is that a certain mass psychology must be present to create the condition known as hyperinflation. At the same time, hyperinflation cannot result from psychological factors alone. There must also be rapid growth in the money supply.
To further explain, assume that an economy's money supply has been increasing at around 10% per year for many years, leading to a roughly 8% per year reduction in the purchasing power (pp) of money. (Under normal circumstances the long-term reduction in money pp will be less than the long-term increase in money supply due to the effects of productivity and population increases.) At this point, a critical mass of people comes to believe that the "inflation" will be endless and that money is guaranteed to be worth significantly less in 12 months time than it is today. These people react by becoming much quicker to spend whatever money they get, which has the effect of reducing the pp of money at a faster rate than the money supply is increasing. The accelerated rate at which prices are rising throughout the economy leads to wider recognition of the inflation problem and a more widespread desire to spend money as quickly as possible. In other words, a vicious cycle begins whereby rapid price rises cause people to accelerate their spending, leading to even faster increases in prices, and so on. This is hyperinflation.
Pimco’s El-Erian Says U.S. Economic Setting ‘Terrifying’
By Cordell Eddings and Betty Liu - BusinessWeek.com
Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Chief Executive Officer Mohamed A. El-Erian said U.S. economic conditions are “terrifying” as the nation struggles to recover from recession.
The odds of the U.S. returning to recession are as much as 50 percent, El-Erian said during an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop” with Betty Liu. U.S. economic growth was worse than expected and congressional policy makers are gridlocked over what to do about the economy and the deficit, which risk exacerbating an already weak recovery, he said.
McDonald's chief: Curb spending and cut taxes America must cut taxes and reduce government spending in order to kick-start an economic recovery, Jim Skinner, the chief executive of McDonald's, has warned.
By Jeff Randall, Illinois - Telegraph.co.uk
"The question is, how can we get the ox out of the ditch?" Mr Skinner said. "In order to create jobs in America, you're going to have to cut taxes… particularly in the business community.
"We pay some of the highest [corporate] taxes around the world. There needs to be some levelling."
Asked about federal borrowing, he said: "It's not a good story… the government has to spend less. We have to grow the economy, grow GDP… and you have to be able to do it in an organic way and not through borrowings and increasing debt."
Cutting The Deficit:
They Won’t Because They Don’t Have To
By Wolf Richter - ZeroHedge.com
The Supercommittee did what it was expected to do. There should have been a sense of urgency: outlays in fiscal 2011 rose by 4.2% to $3.6 trillion, of which a sickening 38% was paid for with borrowed money. Yet lawmakers dug in their heels. Why? They didn’t have to make painful choices. Unlike Greece or Italy, the US has a miraculous money machine that takes care of the deficits.
The idea was flawed from the outset: to cut the deficit by a small fraction—$1.2 trillion in reductions spread over ten years would amount to $120 billion a year, starting in 2013, while annual deficits are in the $1.3 trillion range. Practically a rounding error. Then came the next impossibilities.
The Fed Hints That It Won't Provide More Stimulus Its November meeting minutes imply that its next move will be better communication -- not additional asset purchases
Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
If the market is hoping for relief from the Federal Reserve, then it will find the monetary policy committee's November meeting minutes very disappointing. Although we already knew that no additional stimulus measure were taken by its statement released a few weeks ago, the minutes released today appear to preclude the possibility of a new asset purchase campaign. Even though inflation is declining and the labor market remains stuck, more quantitative easing doesn't appear to be coming.
One key paragraph from the minutes reveals this. Here's the most important part:
A few members indicated that they believed the economic outlook might warrant additional policy accommodation. However, it was noted that any such accommodation would likely be more effective if it were provided in the context of a future communications initiative, and most of these members agreed that they could support retention of the current policy stance at this meeting. One member dissented from the policy decision on the grounds that additional monetary policy accommodation was warranted at this time.
China bank report warns of bad loans in 2012 CICC says banks should expect defaults
in year-end credit crunch
By Zhao Jingting
BEIJING ( Caixin Online ) — China International Capital Corp. warned in a recent report that banks are likely to see an increasing number of loans go bad during the first half of 2012, due in part to the scarcity of credit available to small and medium enterprises.
Based on a survey conducted by CICC in the cities of Hangzhou and Shaoxing in Zhejiang province, home to many SMEs, the report said that even though banks have loosened credit controls on SMEs, many SMEs may still suffer a credit crunch in the first quarter of next year.
America insists on speedy end to turmoil in eurozone America has demanded a "commitment of significant resources" from Europe to stem its debt crisis as the US announced a shock cut to its growth forecast.
By Louise Armitstead - Telegraph.co.uk
Amid growing US impatience with European indecision, William Kennard, the American ambassador in Brussels, insisted on faster and more radical action.
The US Department of Commerce said America’s economy was slowing and would grow by just 2pc rather than the 2.5pc expected. A drastic drop in confidence was responsible, shown by the first fall in business inventories for two years. Analysts said the fact businesses were drawing on their reserves rather than ordering new stock was proof that the debt crisis was causing global concern.
Understanding the European Crisis: Greece Is Not the Problem
By Michael Lombardi, MBA for Profit Confidential
Greece’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 was only $304.87 billion. The proposed Greek "bailout" by the European Union includes about $180 billion in cash and a 50% cut in Greece’s debt. This is equal to more than one year’s GDP for Greece. It’s a huge bailout. It’s free money. The Greeks would be silly not to take it… that's why, at the end of the day, they’ll grab it with both hands.
The perceived risk is that if Greek defaults, the first member of the 17-country euro zone could be eliminated and other countries would follow. This would cause problems for the relatively neweuro (an ill-conceived idea in the first place). But the real problem is not Greece; it is Italy. The third largest economy in Europe after Germany and France belongs to Italy. According to the World Bank, Italy’s GDP in 2010 was $2.05 trillion, almost seven times bigger than Greece’s economy.
Three Doomsday Scenarios:
What Happens If the Eurozone Breaks Up?
BY MARTIN HUTCHINSON,
Global Investing Strategist, Money Morning
The time has come to confront an ugly truth: The possibility that the Eurozone will break up, or rather fall apart, is growing increasingly likely.
In fact, I'd say given recent developments in Italy the probability of a breakup is as high as 40%.
Indeed, if a country as small as Greece or Portugal were to default or abandon the euro, the effect on the Eurozone would be manageable. The debts of those countries are too small to make more than minor dents in the international financial system, and they represent too small a share of the Eurozone economy for their departure to have much impact.
The psychological effect of their departure would be considerable - if only because Eurozone leaders have expended so much money and effort to bail them out. However, devastated credibility among the major Eurozone leaders is more of a political problem than an economic one.
IMF UNVEILS HUGE LIQUIDITY PROGRAM TO STEM CONTAGION
By Simone Foxman - BusinessInsider.com
The IMF will offer a new credit line program to allow sovereigns to "break the chain of contagion."
A new "Precautionary Credit Line" would allow governments with sound financials who have made prior agreements with the IMF to access liquidity of 1000% of a member's quota for 1-2 years. It would also allow them to access up to 500% of their quota in liquidity on a 6-month basis.
The funds would be offered to sovereigns suffering from "exogenous shocks."
Markets and the euro spiked immediately on the news.
There are, however, a few big problems with this new proposal.
First, it is unclear whether the IMF actually has access to the amount of funds that would be necessary to bail out a sovereign like Italy.
Spain in race against time to avert bail-out Markets have dashed any lingering hopes of an investor honeymoon for Spain's incoming leader Mariano Rajoy, sending the IBEX index in Madrid crashing through the 8,000 level and pushing borrowing costs to toxic levels.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Yields on three-month Spanish notes jumped to 5.11pc at a sale on Tuesday, higher than rates paid by Greece last week.
Mr Rajoy's team is scrambling to find ways to shorten the paralysing hiatus until mid-December when the new government is finally able to take charge under Spanish law.
"We have to go beyond strictly legal requirements because the markets are not going to wait," said Miguel Arias Canete head of the Partido Popular's top body.
Hungary May Have to Give in
to IMF Conditions for Financial Aid
By Agnes Lovasz - Bloomberg.com
Hungary’s government may have to reverse its position on ruling out International Monetary Fund conditions in exchange for financial aid, according to Barclays Plc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Capital Economics.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban last week abandoned his policy of shunning the Washington-based lender, seeking help after a Standard & Poor’s threat to downgrade Hungary’s debt to junk sent the forint to a record low. He may have to do another reversal and scrap emergency taxes on some industries and ease the burden of a mortgage-repayment plan on banks, said Neil Shearing, an emerging-markets analyst at Capital Economics Ltd.
2012 is going to be bleak
but selling up would be a mistake It’s not just Mayan scholars, New Age hippies and the producers of disaster films who think 2012 might be an interesting year. The world may not come to an end on December 21, 2012 as the doom-mongers predict, but it is still likely that the next 12 months will be a particularly tricky time for investors.
By Tom Stevenson - Telegraph.co.uk
If 2011 was the year in which the markets re-assessed the risk of sovereign debt in Europe’s periphery, I fear that 2012 may stage the sequel in the core countries that until now have been seen as safe havens.
The show has already begun, with the yields on government debt in countries as apparently secure as Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands and France parting company with the one remaining port in the storm, Germany.
U.S. may lose second triple-A rating within months
By Sue Chang, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The failure of the supercommittee to reach a compromise on a debt-reduction plan exposes the U.S. sovereign rating to more downgrades, with ratings agencies expected to fire their first salvo by the year’s end.
"It is just a matter of time before the government’s rating is cut," Steve Ricchiuto, Mizuho Securities’ chief economist, said in a report.
"I would not be surprised if S&P puts the Treasury on watch for another downgrade in the weeks ahead and that Moody’s or Fitch move before the Dec. 23 date when the legislation implementing the Super Deficit Committee’s recommendations were scheduled to be enacted," he added.
CME Boosts MF Global Guarantee -
Corzine & Gensler Called to Testify At House Hearing
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
It is good to hear of the increasing likelihood that the customers will be repaid. It may take some time for full repayment.
It is also good that Corzine, Gensler et al. are being asked to appear before the Congress. The article does not mention subpoenas, or whether the testimony will be sworn.
The facts of the case will most likely be buried under a smokescreen of 'accounting errors' and misunderstanding.
But the Congressmen will have their chance to express their 'outrage' as they did with the bank bailouts, and put on a good show for the folks at home.
I wonder if they will ever reveal who had taken the customer funds from MF Global as last minute collateral before the bankruptcy filing? I notice no one from JP Morgan has been called. Although I doubt it, it would be interesting if Corzine pleads the fifth.
MF Global Customers Missing $1.2 Billion Denied Committee
By Tiffany Kary - Bloomberg.com
MF Global Inc. brokerage customers, who may be missing more than $1.2 billion from their accounts, won’t be allowed to form a committee to represent their interests in bankruptcy court, a judge ruled.
Customer accounts believed to hold $5.45 billion were frozen Oct. 31, the day after the New York-based company reported a shortfall in funds that are required to be segregated under rules of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A previous estimate of about $600 million in missing funds was raised to $1.2 billion yesterday by James Giddens, the trustee appointed to liquidate the company and distribute refunds to customers.
MF Global trustee doubles estimates of shortfall
By Nick Brown and David Sheppard
(Reuters) - The shortfall of commodity customer funds at MF Global Holdings Ltd may be around $1.2 billion, about double initial estimates from regulators, the trustee liquidating the company said on Monday.
The news was a blow to customers still hoping to get more of their cash out of frozen broker accounts and raised new questions about why the authorities managed to locate only about 60 percent of the segregated customer funds three weeks after the parent firm's October 31 bankruptcy.
BofA warned by regulators to get stronger
(Reuters) - U.S. regulators have informed Bank of America's (BAC.N) board that the company could face public enforcement action if they are not satisfied with recent steps taken to strengthen the bank, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
BofA has been operating under a memorandum of understanding since May 2009. The memorandum, which is not public, identified governance, risk and liquidity management as problems that had to be fixed, the paper said, citing people familiar with the document.
In recent months, regulators met with BofA's board and said they wanted to see more progress on the bank's compliance with the memorandum, the Journal said.
Supercommittee Failure Poses Risk
to U.S. Economy Even as Rating Affirmed
By Heidi Przybyla - Bloomberg.com
The implosion of the congressional supercommittee is likely to delay any major deficit-reduction agreement until after the next presidential election and may pose an immediate threat to the struggling U.S. economy.
The committee’s failure to reach a deal means several tax programs, including a payroll tax holiday, risk expiring at the beginning of next year, weighing on the household spending that accounts for about 70 percent of the world’s largest economy.
Good Riddance to the Super Secret Supercommittee Why Washington should kick
its spending habits in the clear light of day
By Ira Stoll - Reason.com
The idea was laughable to begin with—that a "supercommittee" including Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) would be able to do what President Obama and the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, had failed to do in months of negotiations, and come up with a workable plan to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion.
Enough people fell for it back on August 1, though, that Congress was able to rush through an increase in the federal debt limit of $2.1 trillion. Everyone was so inspired at the time by the return of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) to cast her vote in favor of the debt increase that they failed to focus on whether the spending cuts promised in exchange would actually materialize. Even the page of the House Web site that lists the roll call vote is an illustration of what frauds our politicians are. Instead of describing the vote as "Borrow $2.1 trillion against a promise that a 'supercommittee' including John Kerry will come up with some cuts sometime in the future," the House describes it as "To make a technical amendment to the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002."
Supercommittee Failure Confirms
What Most Americans Believe About Congress The way the Supercommittee was set up to fail demonstrates why public disgust with Congress is rightfully at a high point
By Linda Killian - TheAtlantic.com
The failure of the Supercommittee, and by extension Congress, to come to any agreement about how to deal with the nation's fiscal problems came as no surprise to most of the American people who have pretty much lost faith in Congress' ability to do its job.
A Quinnipiac poll released Monday found that by a 45 point margin Americans expected the Supercommittee to fail. Only a quarter of those questioned thought there was a chance Congress would reach an agreement.
It turns out that the public is pretty smart. People have been disappointed so often by Congress they don't really expect much.
Blame Supercommittee’s Failure on the Income Gap
By Peter Orszag - Bloomberg.com
The supercommittee’s failure to reach a substantial agreement this week is disappointing but unsurprising. The old model of politics, in which bipartisan agreement was the key to success, simply doesn't work anymore. In the new model, there is almost no overlap in views across party lines, and government function requires either domination by one party (as was the case for much of President Barack Obama’s first two years in office) or more automatic decision-making (as I have suggested elsewhere).
What’s causing today’s hyper-polarization? Although political scientists still debate the issue, a growing body of evidence suggests that, as economists such as Paul Krugman and Ed Glaeser have argued, increases in income inequality may play a significant role.
Ratings Shrink President’s List for Judgeships
By CHARLIE SAVAGE - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — The American Bar Association has secretly declared a significant number of President Obama’s potential judicial nominees "not qualified," slowing White House efforts to fill vacant judgeships — and nearly all of the prospects given poor ratings were women or members of a minority group, according to interviews.
The White House has chosen not to nominate any person the bar association deemed unqualified, so their identities and negative ratings have not been made public. But the association’s judicial vetting committee has opposed 14 of the roughly 185 potential nominees the administration asked it to evaluate, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Fed discussed formal inflation target
By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — There isn't enough support as yet for the Federal Reserve to adopt a formal inflation target even as the central bank is moving toward providing more guidance on where its interest rates will be in the future, according to minutes of the last meeting released Tuesday.
The Federal Reserve on Nov. 2 held interest rates unchanged and decided to continue its "Twist" program of shifting $400 billion in its bond portfolio toward longer maturities and continue reinvesting maturing principal payments into mortgage-backed securities.See previous story on Fed decision.
Health Care Sticker Shock In California:
Claims Data For ObamaCare's
High Risk Pool Program
Comes in Three Times Higher Than Expected
By Peter Suderman - Reason.com
Before ObamaCare's state-based high risk pool program—the pre-existing condition insurance plan (PCIP)—went into effect, critics (including me) warned that enrollment in the program would run high and that as a result the program would go overbudget.
In California, at least, it turns out that prediction was half wrong. Enrollment in the program is much lower than expected. But program administrators are now worried it might go over budget anyway. Via California Healthline:
The threshold for the number of Californians who might participate in PCIP was estimated at about 23,000 people. Since a few more than 5,000 people signed up in that first year -- and new enrollees came on board at a rate of roughly 500 a month -- it seemed that the program was financially stable and able to take on more participants.
More Americans than not want health law repeal: poll
(Reuters) - As the Supreme Court prepares to review President Barack Obama's healthcare reform, more Americans want to see it repealed than want to keep it, a poll released on Wednesday shows.
A Gallup survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults found that 47 percent favor the repeal of healthcare reform, versus 42 percent who want the law kept in place. Eleven percent had no opinion.
But the survey also showed that 50 percent of Americans believe the federal government has a responsibility to make sure everyone has health coverage, compared with 46 percent who do not.
The results, which have a 4 percentage point margin of error, suggest a sharply divided U.S. public as the Supreme Court prepares to begin hearing legal arguments next March from 26 states and an independent business group that want the law struck down as unconstitutional.
Credit Markets: The Default Deluge This year will see a record volume of default in corporate debt, in line with expectations, as the U.S. continues to be the epicenter of economic and credit-market weakness
From Standard & Poor's RatingsDirect - BusinessWeek.com
Following the end of the summer, the final stretch of 2009 offers a good opportunity to take stock of the events that roiled the economy this year and assess the tone of the financial markets for the rest of the year.
Buoyed by an encouraging stream of positive economic data, sentiment in the financial markets has been relatively upbeat. Much of the recovery has stemmed from the monetary and fiscal stimulus the government pumped into the financial system in copious amounts to revitalize critical pipelines of money and credit.
U.S. Postal Service Hires Evercore for Restructuring Advice
By Angela Greiling Keane and Jonathan Keehner - Bloomberg.com
The U.S. Postal Service, which forecasts a record $14.1 billion loss for the 2012 fiscal year, said it hired Evercore Partners Inc. (EVR) to "review and advise" the agency on restructuring.
"The U.S. Postal Service must make fundamental changes to its business model to return to profitability and continue its mission of providing quality service to every address in the nation," the agency said today in an e-mailed statement.
Retailers sue Fed over debit-card rules
By Steve Goldstein - MarketWatch.com
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Retailers have taken the Federal Reserve to court, arguing the central bank didn't follow the law in setting controversial debit swipe fee regulations.
Wall Street Unoccupied With 200,000 Job Cuts
By Max Abelson and Ambereen Choudhury - Bloomberg.com
John Brady, co-head of MF Global Inc.'s Chicago office, was having a vodka cocktail at the Ritz- Carlton in Naples, Florida, overlooking theGulf of Mexico, on the day his company reported its largest-ever quarterly loss.
"Wow, the sun just set," Brady said to his wife and two colleagues attending a conference with him, he recalled in an interview. "I hope it doesn’t set on MF Global"
Searching for the Perfect Candidate
By Cal Thomas - PatriotPost.us
Now it's Newt's turn. Having risen to the top in some opinion polls, the former speaker of the House is taking heat for large consulting fees paid to him by the government-sponsored mortgage company Freddie Mac for wisdom a New York Times editorial said was so simplistic it might have come from a fortune cookie.
As Republican presidential candidates rise only to fall when their imperfections are brought to light, Republican voters risk disappointment in 2012 by playing the left's game on their turf and by their rules. What they must do instead is to protect their "product" at a time when the opportunity to hold Barack Obama to one term, while taking the Senate and increasing their House majority, has never looked better.
Obama's Nanny-State Socialism
By Ken Blackwell, co-authored by Ken Klukowski - PatriotPost.us
....There are two types of socialism. One is authoritarian socialism seen in the Eastern Bloc countries (many of which are now free-market economies) and some nations in Central and South America. It's used by harsh and oppressive authoritarian regimes that repress their people.
The other type of socialism is a big-government philosophy that uses wealth redistribution to fund a massive nanny state of cradle-to-grave entitlements. We see this type of socialism in many Western European and Mediterranean countries that are friends and allies of our country, such as Spain, Italy, France, and Greece.
Newsweek Cannot Help
But Follow Media Tradition
of Panic Over Right Wing Extremists
By Lucy Steigerwald | Reason.com
Newsweek misses the '90s. Or maybe just 2009. But to be fair to the tanking chunk of old media, this week's cover article by R.M. Schneiderman isn't as bad as it could be. It's mostly just the story of John Matthews, a man who spent two decades undercover for the FBI, moling about various "extremist" groups. It's certainly an interesting human interest story. But Newsweek wouldn't be Newsweek if they didn't paint with broad strokes:
"What we’re seeing today is a resurgence," says Daryl Johnson, the former senior domestic terrorism analyst for the Department of Homeland Security. In 2009, the department issued a report warning that "right-wing extremism is likely to grow in strength." And because today’s extremists, unlike their predecessors, have at their disposal online information — bomb-making instructions and terrorist tactics—as well as social-networking tools, the report said, "the consequences of their violence [could be] more severe."
Palantir, the War on Terror's Secret Weapon A Silicon Valley startup that collates threats has quietly become indispensable to the U.S. intelligence community
By Ashlee Vance and Brad Stone - BusinessWeek.com
In October, a foreign national named Mike Fikri purchased a one-way plane ticket from Cairo to Miami, where he rented a condo. Over the previous few weeks, he’d made a number of large withdrawals from a Russian bank account and placed repeated calls to a few people in Syria. More recently, he rented a truck, drove to Orlando, and visited Walt Disney World by himself. As numerous security videos indicate, he did not frolic at the happiest place on earth. He spent his day taking pictures of crowded plazas and gate areas.
None of Fikri’s individual actions would raise suspicions. Lots of people rent trucks or have relations in Syria, and no doubt there are harmless eccentrics out there fascinated by amusement park infrastructure. Taken together, though, they suggested that Fikri was up to something. And yet, until about four years ago, his pre-attack prep work would have gone unnoticed. A CIA analyst might have flagged the plane ticket purchase; an FBI agent might have seen the bank transfers. But there was nothing to connect the two. Lucky for counterterror agents, not to mention tourists in Orlando, the government now has software made by Palantir Technologies, a Silicon Valley company that’s become the darling of the intelligence and law enforcement communities.
U.S.-South Korea Trade Deal Ratified in Seoul
By Eunkyung Seo and Sungwoo Park - Bloomberg.com
A free-trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea reached more than four years ago will take effect as early as Jan. 1 after lawmakers in Seoul approved the deal over objections from opposition legislators.
The ruling Grand National Party used its majority in the National Assembly to ratify the deal yesterday in Seoul amid violent protests. Local television stations and newspapers showed images of opposition lawmakers shouting and one shooting a tear gas canister in the room where the voting took place. President Barack Obama signed bills for the pact to go into law in the U.S. last month after Congress passed them.
Egypt Heads for Showdown
By CHARLES LEVINSON And MATT BRADLEY - WSJ.com
CAIRO—Egypt's military leadership was on a collision course with newly energized protesters Tuesday, as its promise to hand over power to an elected president earlier than expected and other concessions fell flat with a growing crowd of demonstrators who have renewed their hold over the capital's Tahrir Square.
Activists dismissed the overture and drew parallels to February, when then-President Hosni Mubarak offered reforms that they said weren't sincere and appeared designed to preserve his power. This time, protesters are pressing their demands on a far more formidable opponent—the military, backbone of power in the country for 60 years.
U.S. Targets Iran’s Oil,
Central Bank in Effort to Thwart Nuclear Program
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan and Cheyenne Hopkins - Bloomberg.com
The U.S. expanded measures aimed at thwarting Iran’s nuclear program, targeting its central bank and oil industry with actions intended to cut the regime off from international financial transactions.
Yesterday’s actions, matched by similar steps from the U.K. andCanada, are in response to a Nov. 8 United Nations atomic agency report concluding that previous sanctions have not stopped Iran from clandestine nuclear-bomb work.
Is it time for economic war on Iran? Why the U.S. Is Holding Back
on Its Most Powerful Iran Sanction—for Now Congressional leaders are pushing the White House to sanction Iran's central bank, which would devastate the country and, possibly, the world energy market
By Yochi Dreazen - TheAtlantic.com
The Obama administration on Monday unveiled a sweeping new set of sanctions against Iran, but the White House held off on directly targeting Iran's central bank, a hard-hitting move that would damage Iran's economy but risk sending global oil prices skyrocketing and sparking potentially violent Iranian retaliation.
The administration has been steadily escalating its diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran in response to intelligence showing that Tehran has come closer to successfully building a nuclear weapon than ever before. The sanctions unveiled by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are designed to further tighten the screws on Tehran by making it virtually impossible for foreign companies to invest in Iran's oil sector or complete transactions with any components of Iran's financial system.
Nations Coordinate Moves to Squeeze Iran
By KEITH JOHNSON - WSJ.com
The U.S., U.K. and Canada each took new steps to further isolate Iran's financial sector, and France called for more such measures by the international community in the wake of a recent report that Tehran is working to develop nuclear weapons.
The coordinated measures are intended to block Iranian banks from doing business with any financial institutions in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. The U.S. also announced fresh sanctions on dozens of Iranian companies believed to be involved with Iran's nuclear program, as well as new sanctions targeting companies and executives in Iran's petrochemical and oil industries.
$15 Trillion US National Debt
‘Supercommittee’ Impasse to Support Gold
GoldCore - Goldseek.com
Gold is lower in all currencies today except Australian dollars and is down another 1% in USD and 0.5% in EUR.
Last week’s 3.5% fall (in USD) created negative short term technicals. Support is at the $1,700 and $1,680 mark. The 144 day moving average is at $1,652 and a further correction of just 3% could result in gold again testing and finding support at this level.
Equities in Asia and Europe have fallen and headline risk is to the downside. The crisis in Europe is unlikely to improve in the short term and the US cross-party ‘supercommittee’ established to negotiate budgetary savings seems destined to miss the deadline for reaching agreement.
The Gold Triple Play – Volatility, Currencies and Europe
By Frank Holmes - GoldSeek.com
Resurgent investment lifted global gold demand 6 percent from the previous year to just over 1,000 tons during the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest Gold Demand Trends Report from the World Gold Council (WGC). The potent cocktail of inflationary pressures in the emerging world and the European sovereign debt fiasco left investors searching for a safe haven—they looked for it in gold.
In an uncertain era where many asset values are declining, gold has thrived. Gold prices averaged $1,700 an ounce during the third quarter of 2011, 39 percent higher than the same time last year and 13 percent above the previous quarter, according to the WGC.
The New Price Era of Oil and Gold
Gregor Macdonald - SilverBearCafe.com
The New Oil Cycle is Suffocating Economic Growth
There was a time when central bankers used to fight high oil prices with interest-rate hikes. But we are now in a different era with that equation, and central bankers are more likely to lament, as Ben Bernanke quipped in his spring 2011 press conference, that "the FED can't print oil." Yes, precisely. At the zero bound of interest rates and with debt saturation coursing through the private and public sector, the developed world faces not an inflationary restraint from oil prices, but rather an additional deflationarybarrier. Welcome to the new oil cycle.
Why Silver For A Monetary Collapse? Part 1
Hubert Moolman - SilverBearCafe.com
We are at the edge of a major economic crisis. Our monetary system is the underlying cause of this major crisis. The massive debt bubble created by our monetary system is about to burst. The demonetization of gold and silver, has over the years diverted value from these metals, to all paper assets (such as bonds) linked to the debt-based monetary system.
The process of the devaluation of gold and silver, started by the demonetization of gold and silver, is about to reverse at a greater speed than ever before. This is similar to what happened during the late 70s, when the gold and silver price increased significantly. However, what happened in the 70’s was just a prelude to this coming rally. The 70’s was the end of a cycle, this is likely the end of a major cycle; an end of an era of the debt-based monetary system (dishonest money).
Bill Gross, Larry Fink talk economy, jobs and the markets
By Joe Bel Bruno - LATimes.com
Want to know more about the bond barons featured in Sunday's edition of The Los Angeles Times?
Bloomberg TV is airing tonight an hour-long interview with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Pimco co-founder Bill Gross, in which the two financial titans discuss the global economy, job creation and even the Occupy Wall Street protests. (The financial news channel also has online video here and here.)
The Economy Has Changed Expect Hopes,
Dreams and Lifestyles to Follow
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
11/21/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Not much action in the markets on Friday. It was a helluva week, though. At the beginning it looked like Europe wouldn’t make it to the end. Yields were rising to dangerous levels. Greece was clearly bankrupt. Italy would fall too, unless Germany came to the rescue. And investors weren’t too sure about France.
But as the week progressed investors calmed down. Or, at least they got used to being frightened. "Maybe they’ll muddle through after all," they said to themselves.
And so the week ended. Nothing decided. Nothing resolved. More questions than ever.
A World on the Brink of Change
BY JR NYQUIST - FinancialSense.com
Europe is financially deteriorating, absorbing the attention of economic and political actors around the world. Change is coming. The New World Order proclaimed by George H.W. Bush is no longer in effect. Economic optimism has evaporated. Crises have multiplied. The military power of the United States has begun to decline while China continues to enlarge its army and navy. In the Middle East, Iran is continuing to advance its nuclear weapons program. The global economic crisis has triggered revolutions (through food shortages) – the fall of Egypt’s Mubarak and Libya’s Kadafi. Today Russia’s government is facing a crisis of confidence that will force a decision in Moscow: either genuine reform, or a return to outright Stalinism.
17 Quotes
About The Coming Global Financial Collapse
That Will Make Your Hair Stand Up
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Is the world on the verge of another massive global financial collapse? Yes. The western world is drowning in an ocean of debt unlike anything the world has ever seen before, and our financial markets are gigantic casinos that are dependent on huge mountains of risk and leverage remaining very stable. In the end, this house of cards that has been built on a foundation of sand is going to come crashing down in a horrifying manner. Usually in this column I go on and on about why things will soon get much worse. But today I am going to take a bit of a break. Today, I am going to let some of the top financial professionals in the world tell you why things will soon get much worse. Many of the quotes that you are about to read just might make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Most people out there have no idea what is about to happen. Most people out there are working hard and are busy preparing for the holidays and they are hopeful that the economy will turn around soon. But that is not going to happen. We are heading for another major global financial collapse, and when it happens the U.S. economy is going to get even worse.
Stimulus Measures Set to Expire
at Year’s End Will Be Next Fiscal Battle
By ANNIE LOWREY - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — The likely failure of the bipartisan Congressional deficit committee has opened the door for a year-end showdown on expiring stimulus measures that are adding billions of dollars to workers’ pockets and, economists say, buoying the fragile recovery.
The committee had been charged with trimming federal deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years. But it had also considered continuing some temporary provisions — a payroll tax reduction and an expansion of unemployment benefits — given an unemployment rate stuck at 9 percent and anemic economic growth.
According To The Fed,
Just Over One More Year Of ZIRP
Will Lead To 38.36% Annual Inflation
Tyler Durden - SilverBearCafe.com
Everywhere you look these days, it seems that ZIRP, or the Fed's Zero Interest Rate Policy, is the panacea to all the world's problems. In fact, ask any tenured economy Ph.D. what inflation is and you will get a stare down, be told you are a moron, that banks need to print more, more, more and that we are really roiling in deflation, with some latent mumblings about buying their economics textbook for theinflationary price of $124.95.
Everywhere, that is except the Fed itself. Because in an extremely ironic twist, it is none other than the San Francisco Fed, which operates the "Be Fed chairman for a day" simulation, where you try to keep both unemployment and inflation within the "price stabeeleetee" barriers, that reveals the reality of ZIRP. The laughter really begins when one recreates precisely what the Fed is doing: namely the policy of Zero Interest Rates, now well in its third year, that things take a turn for the surreal.
Monday Morosity - "Hard Times Ahead" says Rajoy
By Phil of Phil's Stock World - ZeroHedge.com
Hard times ahead!
Mariano Rajoy won the biggest majority in a Spanish election in almost 30 years, and told Spaniards to brace for hard times as the nation fights to avoid being overwhelmed by the debt crisis. Bonds continued to drop. Rajoy’s People’s Party swept the ruling Socialists from power after eight years, winning 186 of the 350 seats in Parliament, compared with 110 for the Socialists’ candidate Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba.
"Hard times lie ahead," Rajoy, 56, told supporters outside the PP’s headquarters in Madrid, giving no new details of his plans. "We are going to govern in the most delicate situation Spain has faced in 30 years."
Your Monies and Positions are Not Safe
Simon Black - SilverBearCafe.com
Denver based Barnhardt Capital Management is a futures brokerage firm that focuses on agriculture, round-the-clock broker access, and inexpensive commissions. At least, it used to be.
Barnhardt shuttered its operations yesterday after six-years in the business. The firm's founder Ann Barnhardt posted the reasons online for the entire world to see:
"I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets, because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse."
MF Global Revelations Keep Getting Worse
By Janet Takavoli - TavakoliStructuredFinance.com
When MF Global collapsed on October 21, it was the biggest financial firm to collapse since Lehman in September 2008. Then Chairman and CEO Jon Corzine is connected to the head of one of his key regulators, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), through his former protégé at Goldman Sachs, Gary Gensler. He also knows the Fed’s William Dudley, a key member of the Fed’s Open Market Committee, from their days at Goldman Sachs. The Fed approved MF Global’s status as a primary dealer, a participant in the Fed’s Open Market Operations, just before Jon Corzine took its helm and beached it on a reef called leveraged credit risk.
Max Keiser:
FINRA Let Corzine Run MF Global
with Expired Broker License 1/3
Max Keiser:
FINRA Let Corzine Run MF Global
with Expired Broker License 2/3
Max Keiser:
FINRA Let Corzine Run MF Global
with Expired Broker License 3/3
Farm belt rage over MF Global could chill markets
By Bob Burgdorfer and Philip Shishkin
(Reuters) - When the CME Group pledged $300 million of its own money to help former MF Global customers get their cash back faster, the exchange was likely thinking of customers like Kansas cattle rancher Tim Rietzke.
Fed up and frustrated with his broker's collapse and what he sees as the CME's slow efforts to help him retrieve $30,000 in stranded capital, Rietzke says his faith in the futures industry has been shaken to its core.
"I would be hedging some feeder cattle right now, but I'm not going to do it. I'm leaving them exposed to the cash market and I don't like that," Rietzke said.
Sell-off runs into fourth day on Europe, U.S. debt worries
By Angela Moon
(Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell for a fourth session on Monday, as the lack of progress in dealing with heavy debt both in the United States and Europe further sapped investor confidence in equities.
Risky assets like commodities also fell, sparking a sell-off in shares of industrials and energy companies. Volume was lower than average, with investors more inclined to sit on the sidelines amid the uncertainty.
Late on Monday, the co-chairs of a U.S. congressional "super committee" said they have failed to reach a deal on reducing federal government deficits.
Only way to stop the run on eurozone debt
By Peter Bofinger and George Soros
The current turmoil in the eurozone bond markets shows striking parallels to the situation in autumn 2008. Then, bank depositors had lost confidence in the stability of the institutions holding their assets, and the threat of a run on a bank could only be avoided by comprehensive government guarantees for all banks. Today, we are observing a bond-run: a self-fulfilling crisis of confidencein the stability of most eurozone sovereign borrowers. This is driving long-term rates up, so that for more countries a temporary liquidity problem is becoming a permanent solvency problem. As regulators still treat government bonds as the safe core of the financial system, this spiral threatens the stability of financial institutions not only in the eurozone but also in the rest of the world. It intensifies the recessionary tendencies in the global economy so that, in turn, the financial situation of governments becomes worse. It is a vicious circle.
Soros Funding Paul Volcker
to Develop Plans for Handling a US Financial Crisis
By Robert Wenzel - EconomicPolicyJournal.com
Well, this is super interesting.
It turns out, Paul Volcker (84) shares office space with Richard Ravitch (78), in Rockefeller Center. Ravitch, reports WSJ, "built a career as a fix-it man for New York City and the state." Ravitch was at one time chairman of New York State's Urban Development Corp.
Both Volcker and Ravitch are expecting serious financial problems for state governments. Reports WSJ:
Now, they are working together as they focus on a looming crisis at once local and global in scope: the financial distress of U.S. states...
Ravitch worries Congress will try to balance the federal budget with billions of dollars in state aid cuts.
Dollar Pre-Eminence Grows
as Foreign Banks Double Deposits at New York Fed
By Catarina Saraiva - Bloomberg.com
Foreign bank deposits at the Federal Reserve have more than doubled to $715 billion from $350 billion since the end of 2010 amid Europe’s debt turmoil, buttressing the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.
Forty-seven non-U.S. banks held balances of more than $1 billion at the New York Fed as of Sept. 30, up from 22 at the end of 2010, according to a survey of 80 financial institutions by ICAP Plc, the world’s largest inter-dealer broker. The dollar has appreciated 7.2 percent since Standard & Poor’s cut the nation’s AAA credit rating Aug. 5, the second-best performance after the yen among developed-nation peers, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Currency Indexes.
A World on the Brink
Erich Simon - SilverBearCafe.com
There is a beginning and end to everything, and I find it interesting that Italy and Greece, two of the oldest, are "winding down" as expressed by their financial dredge. Meanwhile, the countries to the north, whose social thrust is mediated by harsher environments, continue to service existing loans into managed growth and a semblance of balance. The debt game is all about growth into a finite environment. We are witnessing countries at the margin of both demographic and cultural surge beginning to falter. Perhaps this is indictment that nothing can last forever because the universe doesn't allow for that; like immortality, it would never allow for "turnover" or "progress." How many Michelangelos before it's time to move on?
HOT Insider Warns:
Europe’s Banking System Could End Up Shut for Days
by Robert Wenzel - EconomicPolicyJournal.com
Dr. Pippa Malmgren has just posted on her web site her latest analysis of the eurozone crisis. I will point out, again, what I have pointed out in the past. They don't get more insider than Malmgren.
She served as financial market advisor in the White House and on the National Economic Council from 2001-2002, where she was responsible for financial market issues. She founded Malmgren and Company, in London, England in 2000 and was previously the Deputy Head of Global Strategy at UBS and the Chief Currency Strategist for Bankers Trust. She headed the Global Investment Management business for Bankers Trust in Asia. She has an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. She completed the Harvard Program on National Security. The World Economic Forum named Malmgren a Global Leader for Tomorrow, in 2000. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Chatham House, the Economic Club of New York and the Institute for International Strategic Security. And she was the liaison between the Treasury and the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, aka, The Plunge Protection Team.
Hungary turns to IMF as stress mounts in Eastern Europe Hungary has returned cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund after kicking out inspectors last year, becoming the first country in Eastern Europe to succumb to contagion from eurozone debt stress.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Rising bond yields and a weakening forint has forced the country's Fidesz government to swallow its pride and request a "precautionary" credit from both the International Monetary Fund and Europe, reportedly of €4bn b(£3.4bn).
The growing likelihood that Hungary's debt will be downgraded has accelerated capital flight, causing two-year debt yields to jump from 5.5pc to 7.5pc since September.
Debt crisis sweeps towards heart of Europe
By Robin Emmott and Fiona Ortiz - Reuters.com
(Reuters) - The euro zone's debt crisis swept closer to the heart of Europe despite a clear-cut election victory in Spain for conservatives committed to austerity, adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to act more decisively.
Spain's Socialists became the fifth government in the 17-nation currency area to be toppled by the sovereign debt crisis this year. Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Greece went before, while Slovakia's cabinet lost a confidence vote last month and faces a general election in March.
Kissinger's 'Favorite Communist'
Paves Way for Mario Monti to Govern Italy
By Jeffrey Donovan - Bloomberg.com
Italy’s new government, headed by former European Union Commissioner Mario Monti, has an unlikely supporter in President Giorgio Napolitano, an ex-communist who once praised the Soviet Union for crushing the 1956 reformist movement in Hungary.
Napolitano, whose post is usually ceremonial, earlier this month emerged as the key Italian contact for foreign leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy as Italian bond spreads widened to a record during a deepening debt and political crisis.
The Coming European Superstate
That Germany Plans To Cram Down
The Throats Of The Rest Of Europe
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
A lot of people were puzzled about what German Chancellor Angela Merkel meant when she recently stated that the ultimate solution to the financial crisis in the EU would "mean more Europe, not less Europe". Well, now we are finding out. A leaked internal German government memo entitled "The Future of the EU: Required Integration Policy Improvements for the Creation of a Stability Union" actually proposes the creation of a "European Monetary Fund" which would be given the power to run the economies of troubled European nations. This "stability union" would be quickly followed by the creation of a full-fledged "political union". Essentially, this leaked memo proposes the creation of a "European Superstate" which will be crammed down the throats of the rest of Europe whether they like it or not. National sovereignty would be a thing of the past and European bureaucrats would run everything. Of course this will never be accepted by the people of Europe until they feel the bitter pain of the coming financial collapse, but we are starting to see that there is already a clear plan for what the Germans wish to implement in the aftermath of the coming crisis.
German Growth May Grind to Halt
as Region’s Crisis Saps Exports: Economy
By Matthew Brockett and Gabi Thesing - Bloomberg.com
Growth in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, may slow to a near standstill next year as the region’s debt crisis saps demand for exports, the Bundesbank said.
The Frankfurt-based central bank cut its 2012 growth forecast to between 0.5 percent and 1 percent from a June prediction of 1.8 percent, and said a "pronounced" period of economic weakness can’t be ruled out if the crisis worsens.
French and German eurozone woes rock markets Germany and France, Europe's cornerstone economies, were dragged into the eye of the debt storm on Monday, triggering a collapse of stock prices around the world.
By Louise Armitstead - Telegraph.co.uk
The Bundesbank sharply lowered Germany's growth forecast for next year to 0.5pc - savagely knocking confidence in Berlin's ability to solve the rapidly intensifying crisis. Meanwhile there were fears that France would succumb to spiralling borrowing costs as Moody's warned that the country could lose its cherished AAA rating.
A total of £36.2bn was wiped off the UK's biggest companies on Monday as the FTSE 100 dropped 2.6pc. European markets lost more. The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 3.2pc; the French CAC and German Dax sank 3.4pc each; Italy's MIB dropped 4.7pc and Spain's Ibex fell 3.5pc. US markets also fell, with the deadlock on plans to cut America's debt driving the declines. The costs of insuring Spanish, Italy and French debt rose.
France warned on outlook for AAA credit rating by Moody's Moody's warned France that a sustained rise in its debt yields coupled with weakening economic growth could harm its ratings outlook, fuelling concern the eurozone's second largest economy might lose its AAA status.
Reuters - Telegraph.co.uk
Worries about a high fiscal deficit and banks' exposure to other troubled European sovereign debt have drawn France into the firing line of the bloc's crisis, despite the government's insistence it would do everything necessary to protect its top rating.
Moody's announced in mid-October it could place France's AAA rating on negative outlook in three months if the costs for helping to bailout French banks and other eurozone members overstretched the country's budget.
Gerald Celente - Financial Sense Newshour - 19 Nov 2011
Here You Go: It's Over
Karl Denninger - SilverBearCafe.com
We're done folks
CNBC is reporting that there are now clients running out of the markets entirely because they do not believe their customer funds are safe.
That's the end of it. The belief that there are more MF Globals has now taken hold. The thieves have pushed it too far and now we've got the start of a global liquidity run, and with good reason.
The authorities both in the regulatory side and on theprosecutorial side have refused to put a stop to the thievery and now the risk factors have turned intorealized risk.
From Tottenham to Tennessee,
capitalism is destroying politics Democracy is at stake unless the huge and growing pay gulf between the very rich and ordinary workers can be narrowed.
By Mary Riddell - Telegraph.co.uk
Tottenham Jobcentre Plus is shut. Boards mask its charred frontage, and a notice screwed to the door announces that the building "has closed due to fire damage and will remain closed until further notice". Clients are directed to a government website or to a "Temporary Service Arrangements fact sheet". There is no guidance on how that document might be procured.
In a country with more than a million unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds, this centre, just down the road from where the riots of 2011 began, stands as a monument to dole-queue Britain. A young man with a toddler in his arms hovers outside. He has just arrived from Ghana with an HND in marketing, he says, and he needs a National Insurance number in order to find a job. Someone told him he should start here. They were wrong.
Boeing studying potential closure of Wichita facility
Puget Sound Business Journal -
by Daniel McCoy, Wichita Business Journal
The Boeing Co. on Monday said that it is evaluating the extent of its future in Wichita, Kan., as part of a study that includes the possible end of its Wichita facility.
In a statement, Boeing said current defense budget woes combined with some expiring contracts have cast doubt on the future of its operations in the Air Capital. The study is expected to be complete by the end of the year or early in 2012.
On the Super Committee
By: Dr. Ron Paul, U.S. Congressman - GoldSeek.com
This week marks the deadline for the so-called congressional Super Committee to meet its goal of cutting a laughably small amount of federal spending over the next decade. In fact the Committee merely needs to cut about $120 billion annually from the federal budget over the next 10 years to meet its modest goals, but even this paltry amount has produced hand-wringing and hysteria on Capitol Hill. This is only cutting proposed increases. It has nothing to do with actually cutting anything. This shows how unserious politicians are about our very serious debt problems.
To be fair, however, in one sense members of the Super Committee face an impossible task. They must, in effect, cut government spending without first addressing the role of government in our society. They must continue to insist the federal government can provide Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits in the future as promised, while maintaining our wildly interventionist foreign policy. Yet everyone knows this is a lie.
Debt-panel failure clouds economic outlook Fate of payroll tax cut, jobless benefits unclear in 2012
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The failure of a bitterly split Congress to compromise on a major debt-reduction deal casts another shadow over a U.S. economy still struggling to recover from the 2007-to-2009 recession.
A so-called supercommittee of Democrats and Republicans announced Monday it failed to agree on a plan to reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. As a result, spending cuts equal to that amount are slated to take effect automatically in 2013 — just two months after the next presidential election.
Epic Failure: The Supercommittee Was A Super Joke
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Does anyone need any additional evidence that our political system is completely broken? The bipartisan congressional supercommittee that was given two months to come up with at least $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over the next decade has failed to reach an agreement. It is an epic failure and a national embarrassment. The truth is that they never even came close to an agreement. In fact, as you will read below, the two sides on the panel have been barely even talking to each other. In the end, the supercommittee was a super joke. Meanwhile, the U.S. national debt has passed the 15 trillion dollar mark and we are facing trillion dollar deficits as far as the eye can see. We are heading directly for a national financial disaster, and our "leaders" seem powerless to do anything about it.
Super Committee fails to reach spending cuts agreement
For Deficit Panel, Failure Cuts Two Ways Behind Deficit Panel’s Failure, a Surprising Outcome
By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM and ANNIE LOWREY - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — The latest Congressional failure to agree on a plan for balancing the government’s books could yield a surprising result: a sharp reduction in annual federal deficits, larger than anything contemplated by the special panel that reached its fruitless finale on Monday.
But the absence of an agreement also threatens to significantly slow growth in an already ailing economy by raising taxes on almost everyone while reducing government spending on almost everything.
Supercommittee failure? No, the U.S. voter failed It should be no surprise the current Congress can’t act
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — If only we had brave, smart politicians. And also perhaps pigs that can fly.
Of course, the U.S. is facing a debt problem, not so much in the near term but in the years to come when an aging population will combine with the most expensive per-capita health care in the world — more than double that of France! — to send the federal deficit skyrocketing.
Democrats know this. Republicans know this. Any informed voter realizes this.
At the same time, the U.S. economy is still crawling, hemmed in by the debt overhang from the housing bubble crash and that subsequent Great Recession. So to simply take a knife to spending or jack up taxes risks not just sending the economy into a tailspin but potentially making the deficit problem even worse, because of the cost of unemployment benefits and other payouts that are triggered when the economy turns down.
Congratulations, average American! It's your turn to be blamed for President Obama's -- and America's -- problems.
This is the biggest honor you've won since Time magazine named "you" the Person of the Year.
Being the root cause of our dire national predicament puts you in some very august company indeed. You are joining the ranks of George W. Bush, the Japanese tsunami, the Arab Spring, Wall Street fat cats and other luminaries, both living and merely anthropomorphized.
Last week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Obama explained that, "We've been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades. We've kind of taken for granted -- 'Well, people would want to come here' -- and we aren't out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America."
Congratulations, average American! It's your turn to be blamed for President Obama's -- and America's -- problems.
UN Owns National Parks: Infowars Nightly News 1/2
UN Owns National Parks: Infowars Nightly News 2/2
No check in mail for U.S. Postal Service debt woes Ideas on stemming the red ink include laying off about 150,000 workers and eliminating Saturday delivery. Higher postal rates are likely. One proposal floated by this columnist: Stop delivering to rural areas.
By David Lazarus - LATimes.com
Richard Maher can't remember the last time he wrote a personal letter to anyone — and he works for the U.S. Postal Service.
That's how bad things have gotten for the government agency that, in the age of email, Facebook and Twitter, not to mention FedEx and United Parcel Service, announced last week that it lost $5.1 billion in the last year.
And the losses would have been more than double that amount — a record $10.6 billion — if Congress hadn't allowed the postal service to engage in a little creative bookkeeping and shift an outstanding $5.5-billion payment for retiree healthcare into the current fiscal year.
The Big Data Boom Is the Innovation Story of Our Time The data revolution has turned customers into unwitting business consultants, as our purchases and searches are tracked to improve everything from websites to delivery routes
By Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee - TheAtlantic.com
In the 1670s, in Delft, Netherlands, a scientist named Anton van Leeuwenhoek did something many scientists had done for 100 years before him. He built a microscope.
This microscope was different, but it was not extraordinary. Like so many inventions, he borrowed and tweaked his predecessors' ingenuity. But when he looked through this microscope, he found things that did seem extraordinary. He called them "animalcules," microbes in water droplets and human blood that ultimately provided the foundation for the germ theory of disease and eventually inspired a host of medicines and treatments.
Senator Promises To Filibuster Internet Blacklisting Bill
By David Kravets - Wired.com
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) promised Monday to filibuster a controversial Senate proposal that greatly expands the government’s ability to shutter and disrupt websites "dedicated to infringing activities."
The Protect IP Act, similar to the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act, largely grant rights holders the unfettered power to effectively kill websites they believe are dedicated to infringing activities — all in a bid to combat piracy.
Wyden tried to kill the bill six months ago by putting a hold on it, a rarely used Senate rule (.pdf) allowing one senator to block a measure from a floor vote.
But Wyden’s office reports Monday that there’s movement afoot to undo that hold, 60 Senate votes are needed. And the vote could come following the Thanksgiving holiday.
If PIPA reaches the floor, Wyden promises he will exercise another Senate rule: the filibuster.
Wyden Call To Arms --
Ask Him To Read Your Name During Filibuster
Of SOPA/PIPA Censorship Bills
This Is How Protesters Are Dealt With In America:
Pepper Spray To The Face, Rubber Bullets At Point Blank Range And Brutally Dragging Women By Their Hair
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
How in the world can the United States condemn other nations for how they are handling their protest movements when we treat our own protesters so brutally? No matter what you may think of Occupy Wall Street and the other protest movements that have sprung up across the United States, the truth is that you should be incredibly alarmed about the tactics that law enforcement authorities are choosing to use against them. If we decide to accept these tactics now, then the exact same "police state" tactics will be used against you when the time comes that you want to protest against the government. In recent weeks, we have seen law enforcement authorities brutally dragging female protesters to the ground by their hair. We have also seen them use pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang stun grenades against protesters. If this is how protesters are going to be dealt with from now in America, then we have completely lost the moral high ground. How will we ever get other nations to take us seriously when we criticize their brutality against protesters when we are so brutal ourselves?
Pepper-Spray Brutality at UC Davis
By James Fallows - TheAtlantic.com
Let's stipulate that there are legitimate questions of how to balance the rights of peaceful protest against other people's rights to go about their normal lives, and the rights of institutions to have some control over their property and public spaces. Without knowing the whole background, I'll even assume for purposes of argument that the UC Davis authorities had legitimate reason to clear protestors from an area of campus -- and that if protestors wanted to stage a civil-disobedience resistance to that effort, they should have been prepared for the consequence of civil disobedience, which is arrest.
Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis
California’s Campus Movements Dig In Their Heels
By JENNIFER MEDINA - NYTimes.com
LOS ANGELES — It has become something of an annual tradition on California college campuses, in what is perhaps the most prestigious state university system in the country: the state makes large cuts in public universities, they in turn raise tuition, and students respond with angry protests.
But this year, propelled in part by the fervor of the Occupy Wall Streetmovement and in part by the state of the economy and California’s mountainous budget woes, the battle is sharpening. Indeed, the Occupy movement — on campuses, at least — is transforming itself into a student-led crusade against increases in tuition.
False Narratives
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
If you listen to the narrative coming from the right, you would think the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters were social deviants. Sean Hannity said on his show last week, "What have we seen here, violence, rape, arson, destruction of property, sex in public, masturbation in public, naked people, drugs, drug paraphernalia, anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, anti-capitalism." I am sure that this stuff happened in the dozens of cities around the country where protests were held, but these are isolated incidents. The front page of the USA Today, last week, said the protests around the country were "largely peaceful legal marches."
If you want to know what the protests are about, ask one of the protesters. Jesse LaGreca, an unofficial spokesman for the movement, said last week, "What we are doing is engaging in civil disobedience in non-violent manner throughout the country." LaGreca says the bigger issues are things like "crimes that took place on Wall Street" and "corporations bribing our politicians with campaign funding." No big Wall Street bankers have been jailed for causing the biggest financial meltdown in history (in 2008), and I think everyone can agree both parties are bought and paid for. What the Republicans are trying to do to the OWS protesters is the same thing the Democrats are still trying to do to the Tea Party–make OWS look crazy and unworthy of respect. Nothing could be further from the truth. OWS is all about the First Amendment at its core. People have the Constitutional right to petition government for redress of grievances. Anyone who supports the Constitution should support the rights of the Tea Party and OWS protesters. The Tea Party and OWS did the exact same thing, and I think the Republicans are making a big mistake for bringing out the attack dogs. When you think of it, the Tea Party and OWS are really only separated by a few degrees.
A New Way to Look at Alzheimer's The prevailing theory suggests the destructive buildup of plaques occurs when cells secrete too much beta-amyloid peptide, but a new study argues the problem is clearance, not production
Alice G. Walton, Ph.D. - TheAtlantic.com
The prevailing theory of Alzheimer's suggests that the destructive buildup of plaques outside brain cells occurs because brain cells secrete too much beta-amyloid peptide, the precursor to plaques.Recent studies have suggested that the problem in Alzheimer's lies not in the brain's production of the plaques, but in its clearance of them.
However, there may be even more to the story than what we knew up until now. New research shows that brain cells may actually have trouble secreting beta-amyloid peptide that has built up inside the cells, rather than secreting too much. The team showed that beta-amyloid builds up within the neuron first, presumably because the neuron has trouble pushing it out. And it's this early step -- the internal buildup of the beta-amyloid -- that may be the cornerstone of the disease.
China vice premier sees extended global recession
By Jean Yung - MarketWatch.com
SHANGHAI (MarketWatch) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said the world is likely to experience a prolonged economic recession, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday, setting a gloomy undertone for domestic policy as the reality of slower economic growth sets in.
It wasn't clear whether Wang was referring to an extension of the global recession that started in 2008 or defining a fresh one, but his comments come after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday that uncertainties and instability in the global economy are likely to persist for a long time.
China warns US on territory disputes
By Kathrin Hille in Beijing and Anthony Deutsch in Bali - FT.com
China has issued a veiled warning to the US to keep out of Beijing’s disputes with several of its neighbours over the South China Sea.
"The disputes over the South China Sea between the relevant countries in the region have existed for many years. They should be settled through friendly consultation and negotiation between the sovereign states directly concerned," Wen Jiabao, premier, told Asean leaders in Bali on the sidelines of a regional summit on Friday. "Outside forces should not get involved under any excuse."
Official List of 'Too Big To Fail' Protected Banks
by Robert Wenzel, Economic Policy Journal - LewRockwell.com
Here they are. The Financial Stability Board has released a list of 29 banks that it considers global systemically important financial institutions (G-SIFISs) and thus considered Too Big To Fail.
U.S. to name Iran area of "money laundering concern"
By Arshad Mohammed and David Lawder - Reuters.com
(Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department plans to designate Iran as an area of "primary money laundering concern" on Monday, a U.S. official said, a move that will prompt new steps to isolate Tehran from the international financial system.
The moves are expected to be coordinated with Canada and Britain, where the finance ministry ordered all UK financial institutions to stop doing business with their Iranian counterparts and the Iranian central bank.
Paul Craig Roberts: Military Works for The 1/% 1/2
Paul Craig Roberts: Military Works for The 1/% 2/2
Regulators close 2 banks in Iowa, Louisiana
By Drew FitzGerald - MarketWatch.com
Regulators on Friday closed a bank in Iowa and another in Louisiana, bringing the nationwide tally of bank failures up to 90 for the year.
Johnston, Iowa-based Polk County Bank was closed by the Iowa Division of Banking, which allowed Grinnell State Bank of Grinnell, Iowa, to take over the failed bank as part of a purchase-and-assumption deal with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It was the state's first bank failure this year.
Regulators also shuttered Lacombe, La.-based Central Progressive Bank. New Orleans-based First NBC Bank agreed to take over the bank and its 17 branches. The FDIC-assisted transfer was also Louisiana's first this year.
SF Fed confirms they are a private corporation
and pay dividends to shareholders
By David Haynie – Pacific Progress
Humboldt State University was visited by David Lang andYelena Takhtamanova from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and they presented some information about the Federal Reserve System.
I along with the department took video of this event. I was unable to take footage of the entire event unfortunately, but I did get David Lang’s presentation as well as a short portion of a question and answer period.
There were also presentations from students from an Economics class. Each group had to play the role of private central banking head for each of the 12 Federal Reserve branch banks. They had to make policy suggestions for the Federal Reserve banking system going forward.
San Francisco Federal Reserve Employee
Admits FED IS PRIVATE - Pays Dividends
Fed alone cannot cure economy's ills: Pianalto
By Steve Bailey
(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve must do its part to boost a "frustratingly" slow recovery, a top Fed official said on Thursday, but low interest rates alone cannot get households spending again.
"Our policy is appropriate in this economic environment; it is supporting a stronger recovery while ensuring that inflation remains consistent with our mandate," Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Sandra Pianalto told the Rotary Club of Lexington, Kentucky. "But in this economy, monetary policy alone cannot cure all of the economy's ills."
Ron Paul: How To END THE FED 1/2 FED Crimes / Solutions
Ron Paul: How To END THE FED 2/2 FED Crimes / Solutions
When will gold take off?
By Jeff Clark - CommodityOnline.com
Because the Fed continues to pour money in to the economy, it’s difficult to say for certain when Gold will make a dramatic move. The historical record indicates that a surge in money growth has its peak effect on economic activity about 9 to 18 months later. Add another 12 months or so for the peak effect on consumer price inflation.
In other words, the Federal Reserve is always driving with a loose steering wheel. Most of the experience behind those numbers is with relatively tame ups and downs in the business cycle – not the kind of financial violence we've been seeing over the last several years – which adds another variable. And on top of that, the numbers are about peak effect, not initial effect.
Gold Housing Ratio Falls to Historic Low
BY DANIEL AMERMAN CFA - FinancialSense.com
In gold terms, an average single family home in the United States can now be purchased for only 18% of its pre-bubble price in 2001. The term "pre-bubble" merits emphasis: the average house can be purchased at an 82% discount (in ounces of gold) not from the peak real estate values of 2006, but the much lower home prices of 2001, before the real estate bubble began.
These numbers are based upon the Gold / Housing ratio, which is a measure of relative value between gold and real estate. When we take the $171,900 current median national price for an existing single family home (per the National Association of Realtors) and divide by the $1,785 price per ounce of gold as of November 15, 2011, we come up with a Gold / Housing ratio of 96, meaning it takes 96 ounces of gold to purchase an average single family home.
Print or Die:
When you need a truck full of dollars
to buy a loaf of bread
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Someone's going to print a boatload of money—and soon. And when that happens, assets like Gold and oil will rise in price. This is not a guess. It is a fact. We are already seeing the wise guys and speculators get their early bets in. . .
They will do it in Europe with some kind of ultra massive TARP program. The French and Germans have already knocked on every door, looking to borrow the specie they need to keep an entire continent solvent. It just ain't happening. (Heck, the Chinese laughed in their faces and told them to work harder.)
Interview: Jim Rickards on Inflation and Currency Wars
BY RON HERA - FinancialSense.com Hera Research Newsletter (HRN): Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. Let’s talk about the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program (QE2). Is there a risk of price inflation? Jim Rickards: I think there is a definite and highly significant danger of inflation coming from QE and QE2 specifically. A lot of people have said, in fact, the Fed has said, that, if you look at the key price indices, the Producer Price Index (PPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI), and the Personal Consumption (PC) price deflator, they are very, they use the phrase, "well behaved". For the past year and a half, the critics, and I would include myself, have been saying that this situation is dangerous and unstable. The Fed has been pointing to the price indices and saying that you can’t find inflation under a rock, you can’t find inflation with a microscope, so what are you worried about?
Rising silver & gold demand in China-
On the Edge with Max Keiser 11-18-2011
China's premier: Yuan reforms already effective
By Andrew Galbraith - MarketWatch.com
SHANGHAI (MarketWatch) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told U.S. President Barack Obama that liberalization of the yuan has already shown clear effects, but indicated that China may boost its currency's trading flexibility, state broadcaster CCTV reported Saturday, the latest sign that Beijing sees the yuan's exchange rate as nearing balanced levels.
"We are closely watching the changes to the yuan's exchange rate ... and will encourage the yuan's flexibility in both directions," Wen was quoted as saying at a meeting with Obama on the sidelines of a regional summit in Indonesia.
Supercommittee failure
could trigger US credit downgrade, economists warn Economists predict dire consequences if committee fails to reach agreement on how to reduce America's massive debt
By Dominic Rushe in New York - Guardian.co.uk
Economists are warning of dire consequences if US politicians fail to make progress this weekend in tense talks aimed at reducing America's massive deficit ahead of a Wednesday deadline.
The bi-partisan congressional super-committee is charged with drawing up plans for a $1.2tn reduction in the nation's deficit by the middle of next week. Failure to do so will trigger an automatic "sequester" that will make cuts of that size to defence and social welfare programmes starting in 2013. But the two sides seem far from finding a solution after clashing over tax revenues.
ON DEADLINE, NO SIGN OF A DEBT DEAL
Truthdig.com
Talks between congressional leaders charged with coming up with a plan by Wednesday to cut the national deficit by $1.2 trillion have descended into squabbling and finger-pointing, suggesting that automatic cuts to domestic programs, Medicare and defense spending —rather than a mix of cuts and tax increases — are inevitable.
Republicans remain stubbornly opposed to raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, while Democrats insist that a deal could be reached if Republicans would agree to allow the Bush tax cuts for the rich to expire. —ARK
Supercommittee likely to admit defeat on debt deal
By Lori Montgomery and Rosalind S. Helderman - WashingtonPost.com
The congressional committee tasked with reducing the federal deficit is poised to admit defeat as soon as Monday, and its unfinished business will set up a year-end battle over emergency jobless benefits and an expiring payroll tax holiday.
Those provisions are among a host of measures set to lapse at the end of December. During nearly three months of negotiations, the "supercommittee" had been weighing whether to extend at least some of them as part of a broader plan to shave a minimum of $1.2 trillion over the next decade.
Debt supercommittee members brace for failure
By Paul Kane - WashingtonPost.com
Admitting gridlock was at hand, lawmakers on the so-called supercommittee cast blame and pointed fingers at one another Sunday as the panel’s leaders prepared to formally acknowledge their failure early this week, bracing for the reaction from financial markets.
Using the weekly Sunday political news shows as their outlet, Republicans and Democrats on Congress’s special deficit committee did not officially throw in the towel on their mandate of finding $1.2 trillion in savings before Thanksgiving. However, most of the lawmakers spoke of their efforts in the past tense and said it would take something akin to a miracle to reach a deal, which unofficially must be unveiled before midnight Monday to meet the panel’s parliamentary rules.
Eurozone crisis:
European Union prepares for the 'great leap forward' As EU politicians desperately try to save euro, plans emerge to deepen the union, widening Brussels regulatory powers
By Julian Coman, The Observer - Guardian.co.uk
As the skies over euroland darken, at least the jokes in Brussels are getting better. At a recent gathering to discuss the crisis that threatens to unravel the euro, one former member of the European parliament observed acidly: "They ought to give this year's Charlemagne prize [for services to European unity] to the bond markets. Who has done more for the cause?"
Could gold-backed bonds
be the answer to the eurozone crisis? The security of gold would allow Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland to leave the eurozone, devalue and start growing again
By Neil Behrmann - Guardian.co.uk
A solution to the eurozone crisis is staring European leaders in the face. Remarkably, they have failed to consider gold as the asset of last resort. Eurozone member nations and the European financial stability facility (EFSF), the bailout fund, could use gold to back new bond issues.
The security of gold-backed bonds would encourage investors. Indeed, central banks purchased 4.8m ounces of gold worth $8bn (£5bn) in the third quarter. The application of gold backing would allow stricken nations such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland to depart from the restrictive eurozone and the accompanying depressive austerity policies, if they wished. The bonds would give them time to devalue, adjust and grow again, and also isolate the crisis from other European nations.
Greek bailout deal hits new obstacle
By Ronald D. Orol, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) – One of three leaders in a new Greek coalition refused to sign an oath that he will approve austerity measures, creating a new obstacle for Greece’s bailout deal, according to reports Saturday.
Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece’s top conservative party, New Democracy, said there is no need for him to offer a written declaration because he can be trusted, according to reports.
The euro is
a macro-economic weapon of mass destruction -
it simply must be defused. "There’s no such thing as an orderly break-up", argued my friend, a perceptive and highly-educated man, as we discussed the eurozone over dinner. His argument was that a down-sizing of the single currency should be resisted at all costs.
By Liam Halligan - Telegraph.co.uk
"The prospect of one or more countries leaving, or being forcefully ejected, is now very real, whether you like it or not," I replied.
"So we should face reality, take the decision, prepare for it now, and do what we can to manage the transition, rather than enduring the horrendous consequences of a market-imposed outcome".
The euro must be split up Only way to rebalance economies of North & South
By David Marsh, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — The world's greatest macroeconomic imbalances are not between the U.S. and China, as many believe, but within the not-so-united states of Europe.
This is just one result of the currency and competitive distortions caused by what German Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the "common destiny" of economic and monetary union. Destabilizing European current-account imbalances will need to be eliminated, sooner or later, by splitting up the euro area into a creditor and a debtor group.
Center Can’t Hold
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
11/18/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Italy seems to have gone too far. Its 10-year bonds yields are back over 7%. It is "the beginning of the end" say analysts.
But the end of what?
When the going is good people have little patience for questions. They are too busy, earning and spending, buying and selling, and getting where they are going. But then comes a major turnaround, all of a sudden, and they develop the deep torments of a retarded poet in an unhappy marriage.
'What really matters?' they ask themselves. 'And what the hell am I doing here?'
Spain - the fifth victim to fall in Europe’s arc of depression Let us all extend our sympathies to the Spanish people. They face the greatest national emergency since the Civil War yet their vote for drastic change is palpably useless, even if democracy has in this case at least been respected.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
As union leader Javier Dos put it, the EU-imposed austerity plans of the incoming Partido Popular are "nothing more than the continuation of policies leading Europe toward disaster".
The new government of Mariano Rajoy has precious few policy levers at its disposal and cannot alone do anything at this late stage to prevent a death spiral within the strait-jacket of EMU.
Freedom: The New and Future Experiment
By Joel Bowman - DailyReckoning.com
11/17/11 Buenos Aires, Argentina – Before I get started… Anybody here know what glossophobia means? The word derives from the Greek glossa, meaning tongue, and phobos, meaning fear or dread. Glossophobia, also known as speech anxiety, is a fear of public speaking.
And I suffer from it terribly.
Glossophobia aside, I’m going to press on today anyway because what I want to talk to you about is very important. Maybe more so now than ever.
The title of my speech is "Freedom: The New and Future Experiment."
China could overtake US economy by 2027 Jim O'Neill, the head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has predicted that China could overtake the United States as the world's largest economy by 2027 and urged a fundamental rethink of the operation of the G7 which he believes is too dominated by the West.
By Kamal Ahmed - Telegraph.co.uk
In his long awaited update to his seminal 2001 paper on the BRIC economies of Brazil, India, Russia and China, Jim O'Neill says that the economies he highlighted have exceeded even his expectations in the way they have become global powerhouses.
Mr O'Neill says that the four countries should no longer be considered "emerging" economies but rather "growth" economies and should be given their rightful place as the top table of power.
Anger mounts as MF Global clients see $3 billion still stuck
By David Sheppard and Jeanine Prezioso
(Reuters) - Three weeks after MF Global's collapsed, furious former customers are still fighting for access to billions of dollars as they question why as much as two-thirds of their money is still stuck.
While authorities have touted the fact that they are returning 60 percent of the collateral and cash that had been frozen in the wake of the broker's October 31 bankruptcy, a closer look shows that in fact only about 40 percent of customers' total funds have been authorized for release so far.
The remainder, more than $3 billion, ostensibly remains on hand to cover a shortfall originally estimated by MF Global to regulators at just $600 million.
Keiser Report: Vampire Banker Hunter (E212)
JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs Are Sued
Over Alleged Misstatements on MF Global
By Joel Rosenblatt - Bloomberg.com
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)units were sued by two pension funds over claims they made misleading statements about the exposure of MF Global Holdings Ltd. securities to European sovereign debt.
As a result of the misstatements, MF Global’s stock traded at "artificially inflated prices," the funds said in the complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Manhattan. "While the extent of MF Global’s exposure to European sovereign debt was concealed, the defendants were able to raise some $900 million in the offerings."
Treasuries slip, watching Congress, Europe Long-term bonds, see a for weekly gain
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices drifted down Friday, pushing yields up for the first day in three as the bond market focused on news out of Europe.
Analysts also noted concern that the committee in Congress charged with coming up with a deficit-reduction plan is reportedly at an impasse, days before it’s supposed to report back recommendations on how to cut the federal budget.
Yields on 10-year notes, which move inversely to prices, rose 4 basis points to 2.01%. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point.
Sale of Pension Income Targeted by Senator
By LESLIE SCISM - WSJ.com
A U.S. Senate committee is considering tackling a burgeoning and controversial business in which veterans and other retirees sell some of their future pension income to investors, with an array of middlemen profiting from the transactions.
"The sale of pensions to investors in secondary markets is a worrisome new practice that deserves careful scrutiny," said Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "In tough economic times, hard-working people are often forced to make difficult choices between immediate economic needs and their future retirement security.
Main Street making a comeback
at the expense of the shopping mall
By Jonathan O’Connell - WashingtonPost.com
Shopping malls gained stature in many corners of America by evolving into mini-cities, places where senior citizens took exercise walks and Girl Scout troops sold cookies. Some malls leased space to Post Offices and libraries. On Halloween, the mall became a place to trick-or-treat and come Christmas time, it was where Santa Claus spent the day accepting wish lists.
In short, the most successful malls usurped the role of Main Street as the commercial and even cultural center of the communities they served.
Foreign Investors in U.S. Real Estate: Beware!
BY MARK NESTMANN - FinancialSense.com
Since the beginning of 2011, nearly one out of every four purchasers of real estate in the Phoenix area has been a foreigner. Wealthy Chinese and Indian investors, among others, regularly visit the area, sometimes in "real estate investment tours."
It's not hard to see why foreign real estate investors find Phoenix attractive. The weather is near-perfect most of the year, and prices are 50%-70% below their 2007 peaks. I've confirmed from contacts in southern California, Las Vegas, and Atlanta that foreign buyers are very active in those real estate markets as well.
Congress Supports Homes for the Wealthy Over the Poor Somehow the government is managing to do exactly the opposite of what it should be doing: it's subsidizing home ownership for the rich while cutting funding for affordable housing for the poor
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
When Congress allowed the conforming mortgage limit to decline slightly to $625,500 in October from $729,750, it was an important test. Could the private market step back in and take on this small portion of mortgage risk? The test was short-lived. This week, Congress reinstated the higher limit for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority. To make matters stranger, it simultaneously cut funding to build and renovate housing projects for the poor.
Lending Very Wealthy First-Time Homeowners a Helping Hand
Let's start with the conforming limit news. In fact, Congress did not raise the conforming limit for loans that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy or guarantee. It only raised the limit for FHA loan guarantees. This is a very odd move.
Older, Suburban and Struggling,
'Near Poor' Startle the Census
By JASON DePARLE, ROBERT GEBELOFF
and SABRINA TAVERNISE - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by.
Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called "near poor" and sometimes simply overlooked — and a new count suggests they are far more numerous than previously understood.
Housing hypocrisy
Editorial - WashingtonPost.com
BEFORE THE housing market meltdown, the Federal Housing Administration was a pokey little agency with a limited mission — insuring mortgages with low down payments for a limited segment of humble but relatively creditworthy home buyers. The idea was to encourage homeownership by directing capital to a low-income market segment that could not attract it otherwise.
Since the crisis, Congress and the last two administrations have used the FHA to prop up housing more broadly, so much so that the agency’s portfolio exceeds $1 trillion and it backs about one of every three purchases of new homes.
* * * * *
The 32 Rules of Thanksgiving Touch Football
By Jason Gay - WSJ.com
Thanksgiving is Thursday and there's no avoiding it—make the drive, eat the turkey, pass the cranberry goo, and try not to say something you regret. If you can survive until dessert without crying at the table or sticking a fork in someone's arm, you're home free—just inhale the pecan pie, hit the couch, and pass out watching the NFL.
But for the love of Lombardi, go outside and play some Thanksgiving touch football. It's a perfect opportunity for family bonding, or at least calorie-burning. Unless you're in a fraternity or live inside a Tommy Hilfiger commercial, you probably play touch football only once a year, and Thanksgiving is that day.
Is Obama Utterly Focused on Jobs
or Just Worried About Reelection? The administration's dismissal of new smog rules may show a growing preference for a practical approach to encouraging the economic recovery over progressive priorities
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Are we just seeing an election year flip-flop, or is President Obama heeding Republicans' warnings about job-killing regulation? Although some parts of the administration continue to play down the potential negative effects of regulatory uncertainty on the economy, the president's recent decision to take a less aggressive approach to new smog rules is telling. Either he worries that the right may be onto something, or he's trying to show swing voters that he has moved to the center.
Vets Join Tough Job Market Returning Military Personnel
Are Prime Candidates but Face Array of Obstacles
By EMILY GLAZER - WSJ.com
As the U.S. pulls troops out of Iraq, some companies say they are looking to add a few former soldiers to their ranks.
That may be easier said than done.
Following President Barack Obama's October troop withdrawal announcement, tens of thousands of service members are expected to leave Iraq by Dec. 31. Those who don't re-enlist, join the reserves or ride out a contract will re-enter civilian life and for most, that means getting a job.
America's Jobless, Yearning for Oz Mining Isn't Pretty, but Tale of a Well-Paid Australian Unleashes Pleas for Work
By JOHN W. MILLER - WSJ.com
When John Salisbury, a 51-year-old unemployed chef in Winchester, Va. — population 26,000 — read a profile of an Australian miner making $200,000 a year, published in The Wall Street Journal, he asked how to apply.
"There's nothing within a 30-mile radius of me, so why not Australia?" said Mr. Salisbury in a phone interview. After all, he'd worked as a chef at a gold mine in Peru.
Mr. Salisbury was not alone. Hundreds of others — most of them among the 13.9 million Americans who are unemployed — also inquired, providing an informal survey of the ambitious and jobless.
We're Hiring Many business schools have trouble filling faculty positions
By BETH GARDINER
When it comes to hiring, business schools are running up against one of their most basic classroom lessons — the law of supply and demand.
While thousands of new schools have opened around the world in recent years, the number of new Ph.D.s in business subjects has held relatively steady, and many schools are now facing a serious shortage of well-qualified faculty.
For top institutions in the U.S. and Western Europe, it has mostly meant a jump in the salaries that professors with strong research records can command. But some less-wealthy schools in the West, and many B-schools in the developing world, are having real trouble filling teaching posts. Often, the jobs remain vacant or are filled by visiting or part-time faculty, or by moonlighting businesspeople without doctorates.
Get Elected, Get Money
By Al Lewis - WSJ.com
People who say Washington should be run like a business don't realize that it is a business.
First, you pretend you're in it for the people, or America, or some nonsensical ideology. Then you get elected. Then you chase money.
Remember, you are not a lying, self-dealing scoundrel, you are a bold entrepreneur, entitled to speaker's fees, consulting contracts, and insider stock and real-estate deals. And if you end up taking a spin through the revolving door, you can be a highly paid lobbyist one minute and America's greatest hope the next.
UPS to raise rates 4.9% for ground, air shipments
By Joan E. Solsman - MarketWatch.com
United Parcel Service Inc. plans to raise its rates next year 4.9% for ground package shipping, air shipping and, for packages originating in the U.S., international shipping.
The new net rates reflect higher base rates but lower fuel surcharges. The rate increase for ground shipments is based on a 5.9% increase in the base rate minus a one percentage point reduction to fuel surcharge. The rate increase for air and international shipments is based on a 6.9% increase in the base rate minus a two-point reduction in fuel surcharge.
Tech Gifts That Don't Break the Holiday Budget
Edited by CRISTINA LOUROS-RICARDO - WSJ.com
Electronic gadgets are huge holiday sellers, but it's hard to find really cool stuff for $100 or less. With a half-nod toward thriftiness in these tough economic times, here are some gifts to consider that won't cost more than a C-note.
Technology companies see 'monster opportunity'
in federal shift to Apple, Google phones
By Kathleen Miller and Juliann Francis - WashingtonPost.com
Citrix Systems and Juniper Networks are among the technology vendors that could benefit from a U.S. government search for ways to secure Apple’s smartphones and tablet computers for the use of federal employees.
Apple’s devices, along with those using Google’s Android software, are drawing interest from U.S. agencies responding to a workforce that increasingly wants an alternative to the Research in Motion BlackBerrys that have long dominated the federal market.
Follow Your Heart:
Darpa’s Quest to Find You by Your Heartbeat
By Adam Rawnsley - Wired.com
The U.S. military can see you breathing on the other side of that wall. It can even see your heartbeat racing while you crouch behind the door. But if you think running farther away or hiding in a crowd will make you invisible to the Defense Department’s sensors, you might be in for a surprise. The Pentagon’s geeks are looking to tweak their life-form finder so they can spot your tell-tale heart no matter what you do.
Darpa, the Pentagon’s mad-science shop, announced last week that it’s looking to improve on technologies that sniff out biometric signatures like heartbeats from behind walls. Dubbed "Biometrics-at-a-distance," the program seeks to build sensors that can remotely identify humans from farther away and tell them apart in a crowd.
Cyber-attack claims at US water facility FBI and Homeland Security to investigate shutdown of a water pump suspected to be work of foreign hackers
By Dominic Rushe in New York - Guardian.co.uk
US homeland security and FBI officials are investigating an apparent cyber-attack on a water utility near Springfield, Illinois.
The attack may have been the cause of a water pump shutdown, and could be the first case of foreign hackers successfully targeting a US industrial facility.
The shutdown did not result in any supply issues, but the incident triggered a high-level investigation.
When—and Why—U.S. Foreign Policy
Stopped Being About Democracy Roosevelt's democracy-promotion plan saw some of its greatest success in the same place where it would later die in a power struggle between American diplomats, spies, and policy-makers: Southeast Asia
By Joshua Kurlantzick, fellow, SE Asia (CFR) - TheAtlantic.com
When Jim Thompson arrived in Thailand, in 1945, the United States' global prestige had never been higher. "They Love us in Siam," boasted one article in the Saturday Evening Post. It was true. While average people in Bangkok filled up any container they could find when water from bombed-out pumping stations actually flowed, Thais held massive parties for the Americans arriving in Bangkok after the Japanese surrendered. One American working in Thailand after the war remembered "a dinner which will live long in my memory" at the house of one Thai prince: turtle soup in fresh coconuts, lobster thermidor, goose, Thai curries, shrimp soufflé, and ice cream made from steamed bananas.
Airstrike Against Iranian Nuclear Facilities
Could Kill 100s of North Koreans and Russians
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
As the drums for direct military intervention to derail Iran’s purported covert military nuclear weapons program beat louder in both Jerusalem and Washington, an overlooked issue is the possibility of international "collateral damage," to use the Pentagon’s favourite euphemism for civilian casualties.
On 14 November South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo stated, "Hundreds of North Korean scientists and engineers are working at about 10 nuclear and missile facilities in Iran, including Natanz, The North Koreans are apparently rotated every six months." Russian technicians also remain at Iran’s first nuclear electrical energy facility, Bushehr. So, any aerial strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities could result in significant numbers of dead Russian and North Korean specialists as “collateral damage,” with all the diplomatic uncertainties that might ensue from Moscow and Pyongyang as the body bags start arriving home.
Dr. Bill Deagle MD -
Fukushima Radiation Continues To The US 1/3
Dr. Bill Deagle MD -
Fukushima Radiation Continues To The US 2/3
Dr. Bill Deagle MD -
Fukushima Radiation Continues To The US 3/3
US Celebrates $15 Trillion In Debt
By Announcing Latest $99 Billion
Forward Issuance Calendar
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Barely has America had the pleasure of enjoying its new found status as a 15-handle country (as in $15 trillion, or $15,033,607,255,920 to be specific) that the US Treasury went ahead and announced its latest forward issuance calendar of $99 billion in bonds and $11 billion in TIPS. Sure enough, by the end of next week, total US debt will be greater by $62 billion including a Bills auction, bringing the revised total to just under $15.1 trillion, and less than a $100 billion from the re-re-revised debt ceiling, even as the Supercommittee is deadlocked beyond fixing. Also, this means that even assuming the Q3 GDP is not revised lower, total debt-to-GDP will almost certainly surpass 100% by the end of the calendar year since December will have at least another $100 billion in issuance net of redemptions.
Fed Now Largest Owner of U.S. Gov’t Debt—
Surpassing China
By Terence P. Jeffrey - CNSNews.com
(CNSNews.com) - At the close of business on Tuesday, the debt of the federal government exceeded $15 trillion for the first time--with the largest single owner of the publicly held portion of that debt being the Federal Reserve.
Over the past year, as the Federal Reserve massively increased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities and entities in China marginally decreased theirs, the Fed surpassed the Chinese as the top owner of publicly held U.S. government debt.
BCM Has Ceased Operations (source)
Posted by Ann Barnhardt -
November 17, AD 2011 10:27 AM MST
Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management,
It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator.
Celente:
CME Did Not Guarantee Oversight in MF Global Scandal
By Kurt Nimmo - InfoWars.com
Bloomberg reports today that CME, the world’s largest futures exchange, may face liability in the MF Global scam that has bilked customers out of nearly a billion dollars.
Back on October 30, it was reported that CME noticed a shortfall in MF Global’s segregated client funds, but did not immediately report it to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CME Group’s regulator.
CME oversees its futures-broker members such as MF Global under its authority as a self-regulatory organization and is required to report irregularities immediately.
What actually happened with MF Global -
15 Nov 2011 Trends Research Institute
MF Global Is Said to Have Used Customer Cash Improperly
BY AZAM AHMED AND BEN PROTESS - NYTimes.com
MF Global improperly diverted customers’ cash for its own use in the days before its bankruptcy, an act that regulators believe may help explain why $600 million of customer funds remains missing, people briefed on the investigation say.
Investigators have now zeroed in on hundreds of millions of dollars in suspect borrowing at the commodities and derivatives brokerage firm, which at the time of its collapse was run by Jon S. Corzine, the former Democratic governor of New Jersey. At least some of that money was used to cover trading losses at MF Global, regulators suspect, meaning the money may no longer be simply missing. It may be gone.
MF Global Raiding Client's Accounts & More:
Infowars Nightly News
European Contagion Getting Worse
US has short time-frame to get its house in order [MP3]
Interview by James J Puplava CFP with Bill Laggner - FinancialSense.com
Jim welcomes Bill Laggner of Bearing Asset Management this week to discuss theEuropean Debt Crisis. Bill believes the contagion is spreading and the US has a limited time to get its house in order or US bond yields will start climbing.
It’s All About Gold Now
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
At the beginning of this month, the G20 met in France to try to find a way to solve the European sovereign debt crisis. It ended with world leaders in disarray over a way to come up with a solution. At first blush, it appears that nothing of any importance came of the meeting of the 20 leading economies of the world, but that is not the case. It was widely reported the G20 came up with the idea that Germany might put up its gold reserves to back a bailout fund called the European Financial Stability Facility or EFSF. Of course, Germany, with its more than 3,400 tonnes of gold (number 2 in the world), quickly shot that idea down. End of story? Quite the contrary–the gold story is just beginning to get interesting.
Do Not Sell Your Gold
BY RICHARD RUSSELL - FinancialSense.com
Day after day, everyone asks whether gold has topped out. Nobody ever asks whether the market has topped out. Think about it, we're in a low inflation, low investor fear environment, a dollar that appears to have bottomed and is now firming, and still gold holds above 1700 an ounce. This is a remarkable performance aided by heavy buying of gold in China, India, and Asian nations. But what happens when we hit the inevitable inflation; when investors’ fears are on the rise. To conclude, gold is holding well in an environment that is not bullish for gold, but in due time, the environment will turn highly bullish for the yellow metal. Do not time your gold purchases. Simply continue to accumulate gold. The skyrocketing phase lies ahead. Maybe 1-3 years ahead.
World Bank President: Gold is Still a Good Investment
By Robert Wenzel - EconomicPolicyJournal.com
I spent some time Tuesday afternoon at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, which was being held at the Four Seasons in Washington D.C. The usual suspects were there, everyone from Rupert Murdoch to Dick Cheney to Tim Geithner.
The most fascinating conversation I had was by far with Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank. If you recall, a year ago he wrote an op-ed in the Financial Times stating that the Group of 20 leading economies should consider adopting a global reserve currency based on gold as part of structural reforms to the world’s foreign-exchange platform. He wrote that the increasing use of gold as a monetary asset was an "elephant in the room" that was being ignored by policymakers in the debate over how to correct global trade and fiscal imbalances.
Gold: Chicken Soup For Ailing Portfolios
By Robert Lenzner, Forbes Staff
Many tutors have informed my writing for the past 40 years, starting with famous economists Henry Kaufman and the late Otto Eckstein of Harvard. As a longtime Buffett groupie, I learned about value investing but never had the discipline to be a card-carrying buy-and-hold club member. As far as gold was concerned, I considered it to be the domain of end-of-world kooks and slicksters trying to scare people into buying gold coins to hide under the floors of their mountain cabins.
Gold & Whirlwind Crisis
By: Jim Willie CB - GoldSeek.com
What an incredible whirlwind of crisis from seven foul winds around the globe. Most emanate from Europe, which is far from its climax in crisis. Three steps will lead to full blown eruption, the first Italy with rising bond yields and a bank run, the second Spain with rising bond yields and admission that banks are far more insolvent than recognized, and third the failure of all three largest French banks as the principal swine creditor. In fact, a great split has occurred, as France has been cut off from the future world by Germany, which looks East to Russia and China. The Berlin leaders will not be needing French squires to carry their bags, but instead will watch as Paris becomes the appointed leader of the PIIGS. As the most exposed banks to Southern European sovereign debt, pig slop of immeasurable weight is tied around the laced Parisian necks. The common link across the Atlantic pond is derivative corruption. The Europeans are doing their best to force feed a convenient but cockeyed definition of a debt default event. The Americans resort to old fashioned theft, calling it missing funds, blaming the crisis, while breaching the sacred segregated client fund directive. The crisis struck the US shores with the hidden JPMorgan chamber implosion and urgently needed theft, whose visible face is the MF Global heist and failure. My belief is that JPMorgan used its MFG patsy to anchor derivative trades, that just happened to be long sovereign debt in Europe. Nobody in his right mind, even a Corzine of GSax pedigree would place such large wrong trades unless obligated as a syndicate cog in the machinery. The big US banks will sit on the bankruptcy boards and decide the fate of victim accounts without client representation in a full scale insider exercise that makes a mockery of justice. That has been the American norm.
Not Your Father's Gold Market
By: Adrian Ash - GoldSeek.com
SO THIS isn't your father's bull market in gold, and it certainly isn't your grandfather's.
Where gold amid the Great Depression was all about three T's – teeth, trinkets and terror – it had morphed by the end of the 1970s into a finger-lickin' combination of Krugerrands, futures, and those "certificates of confiscation" that were government bonds paying way less than inflation.
This saw gold coins pour into Europe from South Africa, while US investors geared up their gains (and subsequent losses) on gold derivatives. By the end, and with gold prices more than 20 times higher inside a decade, the supply of gold coming back to market – from all those old teeth and trinkets – swamped new demand. The slow death of inflation, killed by double-digit interest rates, also killed gold. What was gold for if no-one could afford to buy jewelry but investors no longer needed inflation defense?
"Never argue with a fool, because they will only drag you down to the level of stupidity, and then beat you with their experience." -- Michel de Montaigne
Today was December Option Expiration Metals Takedown Part Deux. As you know the actual expiration will be next Tuesday.
The pampered princesses of Bloomberg TV spent most of the morning frothing about the protesters outside the NYSE. And having been short stocks, expecting a hit on the metals, it actually was a fairly boring day.
So what next. The shorts cannot possibly deliver the silver on the Comex to cover all the options and contracts, but that has not phased them before. I have a running theory that says the Comex will default in an event or a scandal. I almost thought MF Global was it, but apparently not.
The 2011 Gold Price: What Correction?
BY JEFF CLARK - FinancialSense.com
I've told more than one concerned investor that when the gold price falls, they should "come back in three months" and see if they're still worried. The idea is that the daily and monthly gyrations are nothing to fret over, that the price will recover and, in time, fetch new highs.
That advice has worked every time gold underwent any significant correction (except in late 2008, when one had to take a longer view than three months). Here's proof.
Gold demand hits record high of $58 billion
By Dan Burrows - CBSNews.com
(MoneyWatch) Financial instability in the euro zone and a downgrade of the U.S. government's credit rating touched off a record gold rush among investors in the third quarter, an industry group said Thursday.
Global demand for gold rose 6 percent to 1,054 metric tonnes for the three months ended Sept. 30, setting an all-time high of nearly $58 billion in value terms, the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a new report.
The jump in demand for gold was driven primarily by investors seeking shelter from global fiscal and macroeconomic uncertainty. Investment demand for gold rose 33 percent year-over-year to 468.1 tonnes, generating record quarterly demand of $25.6 billion, WGC said.
Steve Forbes Predicts a Return
to the Gold Standard Within Five Years
By E.D. Kain, Contributor - Forbes.com
Whatever the merits of the gold standard, I don’t see it happening in the next five years. Where is the political will? Ron Paul remains steady in the polls, even surging a bit lately, but still a long ways from the White House. And unless I’m mistaken, Paul is the only serious contender for the 2012 GOP nomination who agrees that a return to gold is a good idea.
Even if Paul were to be elected, would he find the political backing for such a move? Could he return us to gold with the stroke of a pen? I doubt it. I like Ron Paul, and I like his stance on foreign policy especially, but even there he would be severely hampered by political realities.
Steve Forbes: The Dollar Will Be Re-Linked To The Dollar
Where Your Gold Comes From:
the Story of an Exploited Town in Bulgaria The Bulgarian government says gold mining will bring jobs and wealth to the impoverished town of Krumovgrad. But local residents fear the project might pollute their real treasure: water.
By Dimiter Kenarov - TheAtlantic.com
KRUMOVGRAD, Bulgaria -- In 2005 when Dundee Precious Metals, a Canadian mining company, announced the discovery of a large gold deposit near the town of Krumovgrad in the Rhodope Mountains of southeast Bulgaria, nobody was surprised. The Rhodopes had once been the home of Thracian tribes, consummate goldsmiths of the Ancient World, who had extracted the metal from the slopes and streams. Dundee's plans, however, were more elaborate and much less romantic: an open-pit gold mine operation, generating millions of tons of waste in the process.
Germany's Merkel Yields More Sovereignty to the EU
TheNewAmerican.com
At a joint briefing on Wednesday with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (left) announced the next step towards the creation of the supra-national European state: "Germany sees the need…to show the markets and the world public that the euro will remain together, that the euro must be defended, but also that we are prepared to give up a little bit of national sovereignty…" It must be done, she said, so that the euro is "strong and inspires confidence on international markets."
Asian powers spurn German debt on EMU chaos Asian investors and central banks have begun to sell German bonds and pull out of the eurozone altogether for the first time since the debt crisis began, deeming EU leaders incapable of agreeing on any coherent policy.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Andrew Roberts, rates chief at Royal Bank of Scotland, said Asia's exodus marks a dangerous inflexion point in the unfolding drama. "Japanese and Asian investors are for the first time looking at the euro project and saying `I don't like what I see at all' and fleeing the whole region.
"The question on everybody's mind in the debt markets is whether it is time to get out Germany. The European Central Bank has a €2 trillion balance sheet and if the eurozone slides into the abyss, Germany is going to be left holding the baby. We are very close to the point where markets take a close look at this, though we are there yet," he said.
Rising Chinese Redback
Could Overtake Debased Greenback - Part 2 How Long Will the Greenback Last?
BY DAN COLLINS - FinancialSense.com
In part one of "Rising Chinese Redback Could Overtake Debased Greenback" published on Financial Sense in July of this year, we reviewed the major tectonic shift that is happening in the global currency markets with the rise of the Chinese currency, also known as the Redback or Renminbi (RMB).
This rise of the renminbi is starting to get focus in the mainstream media this week with the announcement from the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 406 page published report to the U.S. Congress that said "it is no longer inconceivable that the RMB could mount a challenge to the dollar, perhaps in the next five to ten years."
China's yuan could challenge dollar: US commission
By Jim Wolf - Reuters
WASHINTON, Nov 16 (Reuters) - China's economy is moving up the value chain and its currency could "mount a challenge" to the U.S. dollar in five to ten years, a congressionally created commission reported on Wednesday.
Gone are the days when Beijing was content to be the low-end factory of the world, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its 2011 report to the U.S. Congress.
China's planners are intent on joining the realm of advanced technology products. high-end research and development and next-generation products, the bipartisan, 12-member body said in a 406-page report.
U.S.-China tensions risk spilling over into Asia summit
By Caren Bohan and Laura MacInnis
(Reuters) - Tensions between the United States and China threaten to spill over into meetings of Asia-Pacific leaders from Friday, with U.S. President Barack Obama declaring his intention on the eve of the gathering to assert U.S. influence in the region.
Obama said in Australia on Thursday, on his last stop before jetting to the meetings in neighbouring Indonesia, that the U.S. military would expand its Asia-Pacific role despite budget cuts, declaring America was "here to stay" as a Pacific power.
And days earlier, as host of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-Operation forum in Hawaii, Obama had voiced growing frustration at China's trade practices and pushed for a new Asia-Pacific trade deal with some of Beijing's neighbours.
Obama Refocusing From Middle East to Asia—
and China Knows It The U.S. wants to be a Pacific power,
and so far it's on the right track
By Elizabeth Economy - TheAtlantic.com
President Obama is having a good week. He held court in Hawaii at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, pushed through a reduction on tariffs for environmental goods, and gained steam on what has become his signature regional free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with interest from Japan, Canada, and Mexico. On to Australia, President Obama and Prime Minister Gillard agreed to enhance joint military training and provide the United States with access to Australian bases. Score two for the president. His last stop will be Bali for the East Asian Summit. For a home run, the president need only let Washington's allies take the lead in setting the agenda--thereby allaying quietly-voiced concerns among some of the smaller Asian nations that the United States would try to control the agenda--and reaffirm the willingness of the United States to support its partners' interests.
Restructuring Euro Debt and Latin Lessons
Interview - Council on Foreign Relations - cfr.org Interviewee: William R. Cline, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics Interviewer: Christopher Alessi, Associate Staff Writer, CFR.org
As part of a deal to tackle Greece's sovereign debt crisis and provide it with a second EU bailout package, private holders of Greek sovereign bonds agreed to take a haircut of 50 percent, paving the way for a restructuring of the country's massive debt. Comparing past sovereign restructurings, William R. Cline, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, says that Uruguay's orderly default in 2003 offers a constructive example for Greece. The tentative Greek plan is similar to the path Uruguay took in that "the creditors are cooperating on a fairly voluntary basis because they think that the relief that's being asked under the circumstances is reasonable," says Cline.
Can you provide an overview of Argentina's and Uruguay's debt restructurings at the beginning of the last decade?
The Argentine default was at the end of 2001 [It officially began its restructuring in 2002]. It involved a deep devaluation from a fixed exchange rate to the dollar and a very confrontational debt default that, by 2005 [when Argentina conducted the first of two restructurings], finally wound up with a very deep debt reduction. [Argentina defaulted on $100 billion in mainly foreign debt, forcing foreign investors to take haircuts worth two-thirds of their investments].
New premier Monti says Italy faces emergency New Italy PM wins confidence vote on tough reform plans
By James Mackenzie and Gavin Jones
(Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti comfortably won a vote of confidence in his new government on Thursday after promising rigor and fairness in painful reforms to dig the country out of a financial crisis that threatens the entire euro zone.
Outlining his program earlier in the day, Monti, 68, told the Senate that the survival of the euro partly depended on Italy embarking on radical reforms within weeks. The European Union is facing its most difficult challenge, he added.
UBS takes axe to investment bank UBS has unveiled a dramatic restructuring of its once-dominant investment bank that will see the unit's size cut by 50pc as the Swiss group refocuses on its wealth management arm.
By Jonathan Sibun - Telegraph.co.uk
Sergio Ermotti, the bank's new chief executive, used his first public appearance to unveil a restructuring programme that will dramatically scale back UBS's "casino" banking activities in favour of more predictable returns.
UBS plans to shrink risk-weighted assets in the investment bank from Sfr300bn (£207bn) to Sfr145bn and reduce its staff levels from 18,000 to 16,000, predominantly through redundancies that have already been announced.
First Felony Charges Brought Against Robosigners
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Up until now, fraudclosure and robosigning were both merely civil offenses, and as such the banks were actively doing all they could to bury any and all pending litigation under a large settlement umbrella, wash their hands of the whole affair and move on, with nobody in danger of actually walking the plank and certainly not in danger of going to jail. That has all changed as of now, following a Nevada Grand Jury handing down criminal indictments against two title officers employed by Lender Processing Services Inc. for allegedly directing and supervising a robo-signing scheme, in which documents filed in foreclosure cases were signed without proper legal review, Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto said Wednesday. The case which, if won on behalf of the plaintiffs, could easily mean several lifetime sentences for one Linda Green, is likely just the beginning of a wave of criminal charges against the thousands of robosigners involved at every stage of housing bubble, and quite possibly is starting as a midlevel fishing expedition which will see gradual escalation up the ranks as the "robotic" ones rat each other out in succession until the elevator goes to the very top floor. Just which floor that is remains to be see although somehow we have a feeling it will be found in the Bank of America tower.
Real Free Market Capitalists
Demand that Financial Fraud Be Prosecuted
By George Washington - ZeroHedge.com
There is a widespread myth that free market supporters are against regulation or prosecuting fraud.
In fact, Adam Smith – the father of free market capitalism – was for regulation of banks, and believed that trust is vital for a healthy economy. Because strong enforcement of laws against fraud is a basic prerequisite for trust, Smith would be disgusted by the lack of prosecution of Wall Street fraudsters today.
Smith railed against monopolies and their corrupting influence. And Smith was pro-regulation, so long as the regulation benefited the little guy, as opposed to the wealthiest:
"When the regulation, therefore, is in support of the workman, it is always just and equitable; but it is sometimes otherwise when in favour of the masters."
The Keiser Report 211
Sorry Europe: China's Pockets Are.. .Empty
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
As every central banker, politician (except Chuck Schumer), and bank CEO looks towards Chinese central planners as their apparent bottomless pit of dumb money, it seems that perhaps the cupboards are bare. Reuters, via The China Post, highlights in a recent article that while there are indeed reserves, they are gainfully employed and the unwinding of those positions (in size enough to matter) to provide the cash that is so desperately needed to keep the ponzi going, will itself cause a vicious circle of negative sentiment. In fact, analysts reckon China's armory has only about US$100 billion to spare.
Analysts suspect China's forex may be weaker than perceived (Reuters, via The China Post)
Europeans searching for a bazooka to blast away eurozone debt problems might well eye China's US$3.2 trillion foreign exchange arsenal with envy, but Beijing has far less firepower available than many assume.
Euro zone, technicals unnerve Wall Street
By Rodrigo Campos
(Reuters) - Trigger-happy investors dumped U.S. stocks on Thursday, scared by the market's sudden fall through a key technical level brought on by more worries about Europe's debt troubles.
The S&P 500 steadily slipped through the morning until it broke through 1,225, when selling picked up in both the futures and cash markets.
Investors have been increasingly focused on Europe, and markets were cautious early as bond yields in Spain and Italy rose to levels viewed as unsustainable.
U.S. Debt Downgrade by Chinese Rating Agency Is "Inevitable"
BY BOB ADELMANN - TheNewAmerican.com
A year ago Dagong Global Credit Rating reduced its rating on the sovereign debt of the United States from AA to A+. In August it dropped it another notch to A. In an interview on Saturday the agency’s chairman, Guan Jianzhong, said it is nearly inevitable that the agency will further reduce its rating of U.S. sovereign debt: "We are continuing to monitor this closely. First of all we need to look at this year’s economic growth [in the US] and then predict next year’s trends. If in the year 2012 the overall projections are not very good, meaning that the sources of payment – and liabilities – are bad and cannot be changed, or change for the worse, then we will lower the rating once again."
This would bring the Chinese agency’s rating on U.S. sovereign debt to BBB, "medium high rating" or just one notch above "junk."
1 Through 30 –
The Coming U.S. Financial Crisis By The Numbers
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
The United States is drowning in a sea of red ink from coast to coast and most Americans have absolutely no idea what is about to happen. Hopefully you have started to prepare for the coming U.S. financial crisis. If not, hopefully this article will be a wake up call for you. Right now, governments all over Europe are on the verge of financial implosion. Most Americans aren't paying much attention to that, but they should be, because what is happening to Greece and Italy right now will eventually be happening here. Just recently, the U.S. national debt passed the 15 trillion dollar mark. State and local government debt is also at record levels. Tens of millions of American families are in debt up to their eyeballs, and millions more Americans fell into poverty last year. Meanwhile, the "too big to fail" banks just keep getting larger and the Federal Reserve continues to inflate the debt bubble. At some point this debt bubble is going to burst, and when it does it is going to unleash financial hell all over America.
The Fed and the 'We Owe the Debt to Ourselves' Fallacy
by Bill Anderson - LewRockwell.com Blog
As of now, the largest holder of U.S. Government debt is the Federal Reserve System (something ignored by the mainstream media), and I would look for this situation to accelerate rapidly, as the government is going to claim it now can fund its expenditures with "free money." No doubt, Paul Krugman and the others will promote the fallacy of "we owe it to ourselves" and that there is no opportunity cost in the Fed directly monetizing government debt. (Krugman now is screaming for more inflation, as though we can save the economy by printing more dollars.)
Why Wall Street's Layoffs Are More Serious Than You Think
By Halah Touryalai, Forbes Staff
And so it begins. All that talk about cutbacks and layoffs on Wall Street are coming to a head.
Bank of America has reportedly started the first phase of a massive layoff plan by notifying some of its employees that they no longer work for the company. The layoffs are part of a larger cutback plan that is intended to save the bank $5 billion over the next couple of years.
One of the biggest areas where firms like BofA save money is compensation. That’s why the bank has plans to cut about 30,000 jobs by the end of 2012.
Debt committee locked in stalemate Deficit panel struggles for a deal
By Donna Smith and Rachelle Younglai
(Reuters) - Members of a Congress deficit-reduction committee considered scaling back their efforts on Thursday amid a Republican split over taxes and mounting doubts of reaching a deal by next week's deadline.
The 12-member "super committee" has until midnight on Wednesday, the day before the Thanksgiving holiday, to reach a deal to cut U.S. deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
"I feel we're caught in a tailspin," said a senior aide familiar with stalled talks.
Voicing the sentiment of many on Capitol Hill, another aide said: "It doesn't look particularly promising. But this is a place that works deadline to deadline. We shall see."
The Supercommittee's Worst-Case Scenario Caught between the untenable and the unlikable, a dozen members of Congress face the prospect of throwing Washington into chaos
By Chris Good - TheAtlantic.com
As a symbol of government dysfunction, the deficit supercommittee has succeeded gloriously.
Its basic premise, which arose from the summer's debt-limit stalemate, is that President Obama and congressional leaders could only agree on the fact that they could not agree. We can't decide what to do about deficits, they said, so let's make these other guys decide later. As solutions go, it wasn't one.
It's easy (and fun!) to look on the supercommittee cynically, but the idea could in theory actually work. If the six Republicans and six Democrats can agree on a plan, the supercommittee will look like a brilliant instance of managerial delegation.
FOX: DeMint Says Super Committee
Needs to Cut Spending, Not Raise Taxes
The Supercommittee Spectacle:
A Short History of the Deficit Wars Another deficit commission up, another deficit commission down? Here we go again ... again.
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
The congressional "supercommittee" created in August to cut the deficit is six days away from failing and triggering a deep and automatic $1.2 trillion cut to defense and domestic programs. The primary reason for this stalemate is that Republicans have refused tax increases and additional stimulus; although Democrats have also resisted deep cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.
The impending collapse of the deficit-reduction group isn't an isolated failure. It's the latest chapter in a two-year saga on Capitol Hill that has consistently, inevitably, produced nothing that resembles long-term fiscal reform.
Super Committee Dems Want Rich Tax Cuts
Sanders on the Super Committee
Prudential may offer more value if broken up Some interesting noises have emerged from Prudential's investor presentation in Malaysia over the past couple of days.
By Damian Reece - Telegraph.co.uk
Chief executive Tidjane Thiam has been impressing upon shareholders out there the "optionality" which the Pru has over its operations, highlighting his willingness to break up the insurer if the market is undervaluing the sum of its parts.
The Pru is embarked on a strategy of ensuring each of its units, be it Asia, the US, the UK and M&G are generating sufficient capital to stand on their own two feet come 2013.
The Villain Occupy Wall Street Has Been Waiting For
By Robert Scheer - Truthdig.com
In the pantheon of billionaires without shame, Michael Bloomberg, the Wall Street banker-turned-business-press-lord-turned-mayor, is now secure at the top. What is so offensive is that someone who abetted Wall Street greed, and benefited as much as anyone from it, has no compunction about ruthlessly repressing those who dare exercise their constitutional "right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances" that he helped to create.
You would think that a former partner at the investment bank Solomon Brothers, which originated mortgage-backed securities, a man who then partnered with Merrill Lynch in the high-speed computerized trading that has led to so much financial manipulation, would have some sense of his own culpability. Or at least that someone whose Wall Street career left him with a net worth of $19.5 billion would grasp the deep irony of his being the instrument for smashing Occupy Wall Street, the internationally acknowledged symbol of opposition to corporate avarice.
Sessions Demands Written Testimony
from Holder on Kagan and Obamacare
By Terence P. Jeffrey
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder provide the committee with written testimony related to Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s possible involvement in President Barack Obama’s health-care legislation or litigation that was filed against that legislation during the time she was solicitor general.
A federal law, 28 USC 455, says that a Supreme Court justice must recuse from "any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned" or anytime he has "expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy" while he "served in governmental employment."
Supreme Court Justice Breyer warns of 'Orwellian' government
by: J. D. Heyes - naturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) There's an old saying used by serial conspiracy theorists who get a little tired of being told they're crazy: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean someone'snotout to get you!" That said, it's no secret among politicos and administration watchers that political nemeses of President Barack Obama have warned early and often during his tenure that he is a borderline dictator and hell bent on trashing the Constitution.
And while such statements tend to sound a bit over the top, they take an entirely different meaning when you have a Supreme Court justice warning Americans that their own government is in danger of getting out of hand.
The Police State Vs. Occupy Wall Street:
This Is Not Going To End Well For Any Of Us
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Right now, we are watching the early rounds of a heavyweight fight between two extremely determined opponents. Occupy Wall Street has no plans of losing this fight and neither do law enforcement authorities. Perhaps those running the show actually believed that raiding Zuccotti Park and more than a dozen other "Occupy camps" around the nation would end these protests, but that is just not going to happen. Whatever your opinion of Occupy Wall Street is, everyone should be able to agree that this is one dedicated bunch. They are absolutely obsessed with their cause and in response to the recent raid on Zuccotti Park organizers are calling for "a national day of direct action" on Thursday. But if Occupy Wall Street protesters want to take things to "the next level", they should not underestimate the resolve of the police state. Over the past decade, the homeland security apparatus of the federal government has been slowly but surely turning this country into a "Big Brother" police state. Today, our law enforcement authorities are obsessed with watching us, listening to us, tracking us, recording us, and gathering information on all of us. We are constantly reminded that we live in a prison grid (just think about what they do to you before you are allowed on an airplane) and they are not about to put up with anyone challenging their authority or their control. Have you even known parents that constantly feel the need to prove that they are "the boss" of their children? Well, that is essentially what the homeland security apparatus in this country has become. All over the United States, law enforcement personnel are taught that every American is a potential terrorist and they are actually trained to "act tough", to bark orders at us and to not let anyone question their authority. If Occupy Wall Street believes that it can get the police state to "back down", they are sorely mistaken.
Occupy Wall Street Is Not an Altruistic Movement Occupiers should stop pretending they know what’s best for everybody else.
By Mike Riggs - Reason.com
Of all the chants and slogans to come out of Occupy Wall Street, none stinks more than "We are doing this for you."
"We're doing this for you...love us back," protesters in New York chanted at the NYPD last month. "We’re doing this for you! Po-lice are the nine-ty nine percent!"
"We're doing it for your generation," Occupy Portland protesters told a little girl as she wandered through the crowd interviewing people on Nov. 1.
"I can't believe they are being that aggressive over a paycheck, over your own people fighting for you," an Oakland Occupier said when a truck-driver refused to stop at the blockaded entrance to the Port of Oakland.
AIG CHAIRMAN LOOKS DOWN HIS NOSE AT OWS
Truthdig.com
The chairman of AIG, which is now majority owned by the United States Treasury thanks to a $182.3 billion bailout, was on Bloomberg TV, appropriately enough, when he declared that the "Occupy Wall Street crowd” has "a very simplistic view of things." Bloomberg News:
"It’s lost on them," he said. "They think, 'Why are you bailing out Wall Street and not Main Street?' You have to have a view as to what would have happened if Wall Street had been allowed to just implode. I think it would have been devastating for our whole economy and that would have been far worse for Main Street than what did happen."
Where Does Occupy Go From Here?
By William Pfaff - Truthdig.com
The program to oust the Occupy Wall Street movement from its sites of occupation is now under way. The Occupied, who own the police, have grown tired of the Occupation.
The advantage they possess is that the Occupiers have not provided a coherent statement of what they want. Their other advantage is that Americans are not revolutionaries— after all, isn’t the American system the best in the world?
The Occupiers dismiss this demand for a program as contrary to the spirit of the Occupation. There is not and cannot be an agreed upon program because that is not the nature of the movement, which is anarchistic in quality (yet having nothing to do with anarchism itself).
STOP SOPA, SAVE THE INTERNET
By Cory Doctorow - BoingBoing.net
Google knows it. Viacom knows it. The Chamber of Commerce knows it. Internet democracy groups know it. BoingBoing knows it. But, the Internet hasn't been told yet -- we're going to get blown away by the end of the year. The worst bill in Internet history is about to become law. Law is very real here in the United States and legal language is often different than stated intentions -- this law would give government and corporations the power to block sites like BoingBoing over infringing links on at least one webpage posted by their users. Believe the EFF, Public Knowledge, Google when they say this bill is about much more than copyright, it's about the Internet and free speech everywhere.
PROTECT IP / SOPA Act Breaks the Internet
Congress needs to hear from you, or this bill passes
The video above discusses the Senate version of the PROTECT IP Act, but the House bill that was introduced TODAY is much much worse.
It'll give the government new powers to block Americans' access websites that corporations don't like. The bill would criminalize posting all sorts of standard web content -- music playing in the background of videos, footage of people dancing, kids playing video games, and posting video of people playing cover songs.
This legislation will stifle free speech and innovation, and even threaten popular web services like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.
The bill was just introduced: We need to act now to let our lawmakers know just how terrible it is. Will you fill out the form above to ask your lawmakers to oppose the legislation?
35 Facts About The Gutting Of America’s Industrial Might
That Should Make You Very Angry
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Did you know that an average of 23 manufacturing facilities were shut down every single day in the United States last year? As World War II ended, the United States emerged as the greatest industrial power that the world has ever seen. But now America's industrial might is being gutted like a fish and both political parties seem totally unconcerned. Yes, we will always need trading relationships that are fair and balanced with other countries that have economic systems that are similar to our own. However, the truth is that most of our trading relationships are neither "fair" nor balanced. For example, China manipulates currency rates so that Chinese products are much cheaper than they should be, they brazenly steal our technology and we let them get away with it, they deeply subsidize their most important industries and they exploit their citizens by allowing them to be paid slave labor wages. How in the world does that resemble the "free market" at work? Predatory nations such as China do everything that they can to distort the free market. So why in the world would any rational economist ever recommend that we should keep trading with other countries that are cheating us blind? After you read the facts in this article about the gutting of America's industrial might, hopefully you will get very angry. We need the American people to start getting very upset about these very important issues.
The Solyndra Scandal:
What Was Secretary Chu Thinking?
By Megan McArdle - TheAtlantic.com
Energy Secretary Chu testifies before Congress today on the Solyndra mess. Naturally, I'll be watching, and reporting if he says anything interesting.
But first, the pre-game.
There's a very popular narrative in books and magazine articles about the super-smart outsider CEO who comes into a dysfunctional organization and sweeps away all the ludicrous inefficiency through the sheer power of his genius, common sense, and wide-eyed incredulity at the behavior of the morons who have been running things.
DOJ Wants to Criminalize Uploading of YouTube Videos
BY RAVEN CLABOUGH - TheNewAmerican.com
The erosion of our freedoms continues as the Department of Justice is criminalizingactivities that it deems may be detrimental to public security. Among those activities are "lying on the Internet" and "uploading videos that break YouTube’s terms of service," as well as any other action determined to "contravene a website’s usage policy."
"In a statement obtained by CNET that’s scheduled to be delivered tomorrow, the Justice Department argues that it must be able to prosecute violations of Web sites’ often-ignored, always-unintelligible "terms of service” policies," writes Declan McCullagh.
U.S. reserves right to meet cyber attack with force
By David Alexander
(Reuters) - The United States reserves the right to retaliate with military force against a cyber attack and is working to sharpen its ability to track down the source of any breach, the Pentagon said in a report made public on Tuesday.
The 12-page report to Congress, mandated by the 2011 Defense Authorization Act, was one of the clearest statements to date of U.S. cybersecurity policy and the role of the military in the event of a computer-borne attack.
"When warranted, we will respond to hostile attacks in cyberspace as we would to any other threat to our country," the report said. "We reserve the right to use all necessary means - diplomatic, informational, military and economic - to defend our nation, our allies, our partners and our interests."
As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information
Swords (military weapons) to plowshares (tools that benefit mankind) is a concept in which military weapons/technologies are converted to peaceful civilian applications. "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." Isaiah 2:4
The destruction of some of the former USSR’s nuclear weapons and the down-blending of HEU to LEU would be a good example.
When the USSR collapsed Russia inherited over a thousand tons of weapons-grade uranium and a massive nuclear refining and fabricating infrastructure – 40% of world total.
During the twenty year Megatons to Megawatts Program Russia will convert 500 tonnes of highly enriched uranium (HEU - uranium 235 enriched to 90 percent) from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons into low enriched uranium (LEU - less than 5 percent uranium 235) for nuclear fuel and sell it to the US. The terms of the Megatons to Megawatts Program also required that the HEU be converted to LEU in Russian nuclear facilities.
Syria defiant in face of Arab League warnings over crackdown Reports of 13 killed by security forces as Damascus ignores Arab warnings amid international divisions over way out of crisis
By Ian Black, Middle East editor - Guardian.co.uk
Syria ignored condemnation from other Arab countries as repression continued, with reports of at least 13 people killed by the security forces amid international divisions over a way out of the crisis.
Opposition local co-ordination committees said three of the latest dead were from Homs, the focus of recent heavy clashes, and from where video clips appeared to show soldiers digging trenches and tanks deploying in residential neighbourhoods.
Federal Orchestrated Debt Tops $15 Trillion:
A Time Bomb Of Another $12.8 Trillion Lies In Wait ~
Total $27.8 Trillion.
BY VOLUBRJOTR - PoliticalVelCraft.org
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that federal debt now tops $15 trillion — a staggering figure that has risen precipitously over the last decade.
The exact debt total stood at $15.034 trillion as of the end of business Tuesday, an increase of $56 billion over Monday’s tally.
All told, federal debt has risen $4.41 trillion since President Obama took office, and is nearly triple the size of the debt in 2001, when PresidentGeorge W. Bush landed in the White House.
Congress earlier this year raised the debt ceiling, which cleared the way for Wednesday’s new record figure, but tasked a special committee with finding ways to at least slow the staggering pace of growth.
Under this summer’s debt deal, the government can only sustain a total debt of $15.194 trillion.
[Beware of the Ruskies and the global elite. They will tell you exactly what they will do to the rest of us, and then proceed to do it. The Russians still want to 'bury US' and the globalists just want to own and control it all, but they need a few intelligent, well-trained slaves to maintain the life style. China and Russia could team up in mutual hatred of America - they both want what we've got left; who would be able to stop them (hint: it's a biblical question)? Watch this video very carefully...] Six Principles of Global Manipulation
JPMorgan Joins Goldman
Keeping Italy Derivatives Risk in Dark
By Christine Harper and Michael J. Moore - Bloomberg.com
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), among the world’s biggest traders of credit derivatives, disclosed to shareholders that they have sold protection on more than $5 trillion of debt globally.
Just don’t ask them how much of that was issued by Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, known as the GIIPS.
As concerns mount that those countries may not be creditworthy, investors are being kept in the dark about how much risk U.S. banks face from a default. Firms including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan don’t provide a full picture of potential losses and gains in such a scenario, giving only net numbers or excluding some derivatives altogether.
We're In The Middle Of A Run On Europe—
And It’s Gonna Get Worse Specifically, a run on European debt.
By Gonzalo Lira
So this morning, I woke up—hung over and alone, except of course for the Nympho Twins and the Thai hooker they insistedwe hire last night—and was confronted with some bond market action that was . . . absurd.
Actually, kind of scary.
Yeah, Italian bonds are back to yielding over 7%, Greek debt is ludicrous (28.85%? Really?) as it has been for the last year, Portuguese 10-years are at 11.29%, the Irish at 8.20%, Spain at 6.33%—numbers that more or less fit where we are supposed to be insofar as the PIIGS are concerned, following the whole Greek Drama and Italian Farce, right?
Debt Diets & Riots: Euro Lose/Lose?
U.S. Banks Face Europe Contagion Risk: Fitch
By Dakin Campbell - Bloomberg.com
U.S. banks face a "serious risk" that their creditworthiness will deteriorate if Europe’s debt crisis deepens and spreads beyond the five most-troubled nations, Fitch Ratings said.
"Unless the euro zone debt crisis is resolved in a timely and orderly manner, the broad credit outlook for the U.S. banking industry could worsen," the New York-based rating company said yesterday in a statement. Even as U.S. banks have "manageable" exposure to stressed European markets, "further contagion poses a serious risk," Fitch said, without explaining what it meant by contagion.
U.S. Stocks Drop
After Fitch Warns of Debt Contagion;
Crude Oil Tops $102
By Michael P. Regan and Rita Nazareth - Bloomberg.com
U.S. stocks fell, erasing yesterday’s gains in benchmark indexes, asFitch Ratings said further contagion from Europe’s debt crisis would pose a risk to American banks. The euro weakened, while oil climbed to a five- month high above $102 a barrel.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lost 1.7 percent to 1,236.91 at 4 p.m. in New York. Most stocks in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated. The euro slipped 0.6 percent to $1.3460 after losing as much as 0.8 percent. Credit-default swaps insuring Italian and Spanish debt retreated from records and Italy’s 10-year yield fell as the European Central Bank bought the nations’ debt. Oil rallied as Enbridge Inc. (ENB) planned to reverse the direction of a pipeline, potentially alleviating a bottleneck that had reduced prices.
Latin showdown with Germany over ECB Germany is facing a moment of strategic truth. The sacred union with France that has held together through thick and thin for half a century is in growing danger as contagion spreads North, engulfing the French bond market.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.yk
For EU veterans, the drama has has echoes of 1993 when the Bundesbank ditched orthodoxy to rescue France, after first cutting Britain and Italy adrift in the Exchange Rate Mechanism. But this time the stakes are much higher.
On that occasion, Chancellor Helmut Kohl pulled rank, more of less ordering his bankers to obey. "We must always bow three times before the Tricoleur", as he famously put it.
France and Germany clash over ECB crisis role
By Nicholas Vinocur and James Mackenzie
PARIS/ROME
(Reuters) - France and Germany, Europe's two central powers, have stepped up their war of words over whether the European Central Bank should intervene more forcefully to halt the euro zone's debt crisis after modest bond purchases failed to calm markets.
Facing rising borrowing costs as its 'AAA' credit rating comes under threat, France urged stronger ECB action, adding to mounting global pressure spelled out by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Bond market turmoil is spreading across Europe. Italian 10-year bond yields have risen above 7 percent, unaffordable in the long term. Yields on bonds issued by France, the Netherlands and Austria -- which along withGermany form the core of the euro zone -- have also climbed.
Angela Merkel in bold unity bid to save the euro Angela Merkel said she would "give up a piece of national sovereignty" to save the euro, amid explosive rows between Germany and its neighbours over bail-outs, fiscal policy and financial taxes.
By Louise Armitstead - Telegraph.co.uk
The German Chancellor’s bid for unity, made at a summit with Ireland, was lost on a day of division and deadlock which led to Europe’s core economies being punished by the bond markets yet again.
Italian borrowing costs were pushed to 7.1pc, back into the "bail-out zone", despite radical intervention by the European Central Bank (ECB). Spanish 10-year bond yields at 6.4pc were dangerously close to the danger area, while French bonds remained at record peaks above German bunds.
Jump in euro-zone interest rates hits France
By Howard Schneider and Anthony Faiola - WashingtonPost.com
Borrowing costs for European governments jumped across the board Tuesday, and new data confirmed that the region’s economy is slowing, evidence on two key fronts that leaders of the euro area have yet to contain its stubborn financial crisis.
The rise in interest rates hit Spain, Italy and — perhaps most worrisome — France. French borrowing costs outstripped German costs, which serve as a regional benchmark, by the most since the adoption of the euro more than a decade ago.
Marc Faber - Bloomberg TV - 14 Nov 2011
Spain Set to Purge Banks of Property Hangover
By Charles Penty and Emma Ross-Thomas - Bloomberg.com
Spanish banks face deeper losses on 176 billion euros ($243 billion) of soured real-estate assets as Mariano Rajoy, the favorite to win national elections on Nov. 20, pledges to enforce a cleanup.
"You have to remove any kind of shadow of doubt over the valuation that you have of these assets in your balance sheet," Luis de Guindos, named by newspapers as a contender for finance minister in a newPeople’s Party government formed by Rajoy, said in an interview. De Guindos said he favored stricter rules on how banks account for depreciated land values.
Why we cannot keep trying to breath life into the euro corpse The world economy is on the brink of recession because those countries which have a natural tendency to spend don't have the money, while those who do have the money don't want to spend it.
By Roger Bootle - Telegraph.co.uk
Because the congenital spenders are also the countries which have built up the most debt, this is also the key to the debt crisis.
At the root of this dual disaster lie two fixed exchange rate systems.
The first is the informal system under which various emerging market currencies are managed against the American dollar. This links the world's biggest congenital spender and deficit country with a series of high growth, and relatively low-spending surplus countries led by China.
The exchange rate aspect is crucial because, if they were free, the currencies of the surplus bloc would rise. This would boost net exports for the US, thus increasing incomes and reducing deficits.
Gadhafi’s Gold-money Plan Would Have Devastated Dollar
By Alex Newman - SilverBearCafe.com
It remains unclear exactly why or how the Gadhafi regime went from "a model" and an "important ally" to the next target for regime change in a period of just a few years. But after claims of "genocide" as the justification for NATO intervention were disputed by experts, several other theories have been floated.
Oil, of course, has been mentioned frequently - Libya is Africa‘s largest oil producer. But one possible reason in particular for Gadhafi's fall from grace has gained significant traction among analysts and segments of the non-Western media: central banking and the global monetary system.
This Will Be The Decade Of Silver -
Interview With Eric Sprott
SilverBearCafe.com Patrick MontesDeOca: Mr. Sprott, can you please give us the current situation in terms of price in the silver market? What you might see in the short term as it unfolds in the next six to twelve months, what is your forecast? Eric Sprott: Sure, I take a longer term view than six to twelve months. I’ve been involved in silver for about probably almost ten years now and of course the price of silver has done wonderful things in that time period even though recently it has come under a lot of pressure. My thesis being that even though the last decade has been the decade of gold, this decade will be the decade of silver. I can only imagine that it will go back to its historical relationship to gold of 16 to one in term of price. And as an example of 16 to one, with gold at $1600 it would suggest that the silver price should be $100. And most of the data that I look at certainly as it pertains to day to day markets, and I don’t mean the Comex, we're not talking about that, we're talking about the physical market for silver, and we have data points that suggest that buying for silver by the public is almost on a ratio of dollars of silver being bought to dollars of gold being bought. We can see that the U.S. Mint’s data that comes out every month, and pretty much every day, so for example, the amount of silver coins being bought through the mint’s service - they sold 50 times the number of silver to gold coins. This month it’s actually running around 70 to one. This really means people are putting as many dollars into silver as they are into gold. But there is nowhere near the amount of silver to invest in as there is gold.
US Federal Prosecutions For Financial Fraud
In the Obama Administration Fall to 20 Year Lows
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
The declines in US Federal prosecutions for financial fraud that began under G.W. Bush have followed that down trend that in the first three years of the Obama Administration. That might make more sense if Obama had not been elected as areform president in response to one of the greatest financial frauds in American history.
In the first three years of the Obama Administration, federal prosecutions have been running at new highs. Over half of the prosecutions involve illegal immigration.Another 17% are drug related.
Illegal immigrants and drug dealers have the reputation for being notoriously cheap in providing campaign contributions.
Prosecutions for financial fraud however have dropped to the lowest levels in over 20 years.
China’s Longer-Term Treasury Holdings Rise
By Daniel Kruger - Bloomberg.com
China, the largest foreign lender to the U.S., boosted its longer-term Treasury holdings in September by the most since March 2010 as Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis helped fuel a push for safer assets.
China bought $20.7 billion of U.S. government notes and bonds, raising its total long-term holdings to $1.14 trillion, according to Treasury data released yesterday. The nation’s amount of bills fell 68 percent to $4.4 billion. Overall, China’s position in Treasuries climbed 1 percent to $1.15 trillion, the largest monthly increase since October 2010.
Where you stand on China depends on where you sit
By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Hedge-fund managers in Asia are more upbeat towards China than their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, according to industry insiders, who see a growing correlation between China outlooks and where clients are based.
Funds in Hong Kong and other Asian cities tend to see prospects for a Chinese hard landing — often regarded as annual gross domestic product growth cooling to less than 5% — as less probable than a moderation in its growth rate to around the 8% level, consistent with a "soft landing," according to brokers in Hong Kong.
The Coup Continues 'We Have Allowed Our Elected Officials
To Cede Our National Sovereignty To Bankers'
By Andy Sutton - SilverBearCafe.com
Early last December, I wrote a piece entitled 'Crisis or Coup?' in which the anatomy of the 2008 financial crisis was analyzed in further detail and some conclusions drawn. These conclusions were drawn based on facts and actions, not opinions. It was obvious at the time that the USFed and our own government were acting not in the best interests of the people, but rather in the best interests of banks and large corporations. Crony capitalism, as it has often been called - where profits are kept and losses are written off or passed on to the 'Plebeians' of a particular society - ramped into high gear in the US. Remember the fact that the absurd financial structure that is in place was the 'solution' to a crisis, which had the fingerprints of the solution providers all over it.
Dylan Ratigan Outraged
Over Congressional Insider trading Story
Judge Napolitano Grills Congressman
On Insider Trading Scandal
Debt Supercommittee Opponents
Dig in With Deadline for Accord a Week Away
By Heidi Przybyla and Laura Litvan - Bloomberg.com
With a week remaining before the deadline to find a way to cut the U.S. deficit, the anti-tax and entitlement-protecting camps of Congress’s supercommittee are hardening their positions.
Texas Representative Jeb Hensarling, the panel’s Republican co-chairman, said today his party won’t go beyond its offer to increase tax revenue by $300 billion to cut the debt until Democrats offer a plan to address the long-term growth in federal spending on entitlement programs such as Medicare.
Drop in US inflation strengthens hand of the Fed's doves US inflation dropped for the first time in four months in October, strengthening the hand of those at the Federal Reserve eager to add fresh stimulus to the economy.
By Richard Blackden - Telegraph.co.uk
The consumer price index declined 0.1pc in the month after gaining 0.3pc in September, according to figures from the Labor Department released yesterday. An almost 4pc decline in the price of petrol accounted for much of the overall fall.
The Fed has publicly promised to keep interest rates at a record low level until at least the middle of 2013. But a battle is raging between officials at the central bank who want to take more measures to shore up the recovery and those anxious any extra steps will only stoke inflation.
What Inflation Means to You:
Inside the Consumer Price Index
Doug Short - SilverBearCafe.com
The Fed justified the previous round of quantitative easing "to promote a stronger pace of economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate" (full text). In effect, the Fed has been trying to increase inflation, operating at the macro level. But what does an increase in inflation mean at the micro level - specifically to your household?
Let's do some analysis of the Consumer Price Index, the best known measure of inflation. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) divides all expenditures into eight categories and assigns a relative size to each. The pie chart below illustrates the components of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers, the CPI-U, which I'll refer to hereafter as the CPI.
U.S. Savings-Rate Drop Shrieks Disaster
By Jeff Nielson - SilverBearCafe.com
By now, most readers should be familiar with the way the mainstream propaganda machine "spins" the news. When the U.S. savings rate experienced a short, sharp jump higher in response to the Crash of '08, media talking-heads saluted a "new generation of thrifty Americans", whose savings would finance future economic expansion.
Now, with that savings rate having suddenly plummeted again, the propagandists are crowing about how this means "more consumer spending". What's truly remarkable about these media pundits is that they will argue either side of the same issue - and yet manage to be wrong both times.
Lindsey Williams Exclusive dollar crash end of 2012
As New Graduates Return to Nest, Economy Also Feels the Pain
By CATHERINE RAMPELL - NYTimes.com
Like most of her friends, Hollis Romanelli graduated from college last May and promptly moved back in with her parents.
As a result, she didn't pay rent — or a broker’s fee or renters’ insurance, for that matter. She also didn’t buy a bed, desk, couch, doormat, mop or new crockery set. Nor did she pay the cable company to send a worker to set up her TV and Internet, or a handyman to hang a newly framed diploma. She didn't even buy drinks and snacks for a housewarming party.
In other words, Ms. Romanelli, 22, saved a lot of money. But she deprived the economy of a lot of potential activity, too.
Crisis of Generations
My Budget 360 - SilverBearCafe.com
Younger Americans moving back home in large numbers. Student loan default rates surging largely due to for-profit college expansion.
The United States has over 4,000 college institutions many which have been raising tuition and fees far faster than the overall rate of inflation. Combine this with a younger and poorer population and you have a recipe for massive debt serfdom.
As the recession drags painfully on, being the deepest and longest economic contraction since the Great Depressionmany people are questioning once deeply held mantras ofeconomic prophesy. A home never goes down in value. You can't go wrong with a college education.
McDonalds: Illuminati Exposed Part 2
Is this food 'real'... or totally 'dead' and dangerous?
* * * * *
Pension guaranty agency sees deficit swell
By Michael A. Fletcher - WashingtonPost.com
The federal agency that guarantees private-sector pensions saw its deficit swell to $26 billion in the past year — the largest in its 37-year history. The agency guarantees the pensions of 44 million workers.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. reported the growing deficit in its latest annual report, released Tuesday. The disclosure adds new urgency to the agency’s efforts to persuade Congress to change its premium structure in ways that could triple pension guarantee costs for businesses whose retirement funds have the greatest risk of running out of money.
F.H.A. Audit Sees Possible Bailout Need
By ANNIE LOWREY - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — Chances are nearly 50 percent that the Federal Housing Administration will need a bailout next year if the housing market deteriorates further, the agency’s independent auditor said ina report released Tuesday.
The F.H.A., which offers private lenders guarantees against homeowner default, has just $2.6 billion in cash reserves, the report found, down from $4.7 billion last year.
The agency’s woes stem from the national foreclosure crisis. In the last three years, the F.H.A. has paid $37 billion in insurance claims against defaulting homeowners, shrinking its cash cushion.
How Fannie and Freddie
Learned to Stop Worrying
About Home Ownership and Love Taxpayers
After a massive effort to expand the number of Americans who own a home, the agencies are now directed to pursue profit and minimize losses
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
During the housing boom, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were all about boosting home ownership. Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner wrote an entire book, Reckless Endangerment, about how Fannie built a culture around increasing mortgage availability as a cover for loosening credit standards and pursuing short-term profits. Years later, as millions of Americans struggle to make mortgage payments and avoid foreclosure, the companies have done a 180. They will help troubled borrowers to keep their homes only if doing so is in their self-interest. This might seem particularly strange, considering that the government now owns the companies, but it shouldn't: they're now focused on protecting taxpayers.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
Executives' Bonuses Draw Rebuke From Lawmakers
Want to save this for later? Add it to your Queue! Gingrich Said to Be Paid at Least $1.6 Million by Freddie Mac
By Clea Benson and John McCormick - Bloomberg.com
Newt Gingrich made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement.
The total amount is significantly larger than the $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac that Gingrich was asked about during a Republican presidential debate on Nov. 9 sponsored by CNBC, and more than was disclosed in the middle of congressional investigations into the housing industry collapse.
AMERICA’S MIDDLE-CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS ON THE DECLINE Middle-Class Areas Shrink as Income Gap Grows
By SABRINA TAVERNISE - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — The portion of American families living in middle-income neighborhoods has declined significantly since 1970, according to a new study, as rising income inequality left a growing share of families in neighborhoods that are mostly low-income or mostly affluent.
The study, conducted by Stanford University and scheduled for release on Wednesday by the Russell Sage Foundation and Brown University, uses census data to examine family income at the neighborhood level in the country’s 117 biggest metropolitan areas.
U.S. 54.5 MPG Fuel-Economy Standard
May Cost $157 Billion
By Angela Greiling Keane - Bloomberg.com
A proposed U.S. rule requiring automakers to double average fuel economy of vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 may cost $157 billion, two agencies said in a draft.
The standard would add an average of $2,000 to the price of each new passenger vehicle sold by 2025, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Environmental Protection Agency said in a proposed rule posted today on NHTSA’s website. Benefits of $419 billion to $515 billion in fuel savings would offset the costs, the highway agency wrote.
Keiser Report: Corporations Fear OWS (E210)
Occupy Wall Street:
Michael Bloomberg under fire from the left
By TIM MAK - Politico.com
Left-leaning bloggers erupted in outrage Tuesday morning as they awoke to news that Mayor Bloomberg had cleared the Occupy Wall Street demonstration site in Zuccotti Park overnight.
Liberal activists decried the move online, and accused the mayor of silencing the press and violating the right to peaceful assembly.
"Bloomberg’s NY is no place for the 1st amendment. Bloomberg serves Wall Street, now and forever. And Wall Street cannot handle free speech," tweeted liberal actor Alec Baldwin.
Demonstrators complained that the early Tuesday morning raid involved beatings and violence.
Occupy Cal Makes Occupy History at Berkeley After their tents were pulled by the university, UC Berkeley students turned the school's celebration of a '60s icon into massive Occupy meeting
By Tina Dupuy - TheAtlantic.com
Mario Savio was a UC Berkeley student in the '60s and a key member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement. He's become an activist icon; Mario Savio Youth Activist awards are given out by his memorial fund. By the '90s, the steps of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus where he gave his now famous "put your bodies upon the gears" speech were renamed the Mario Savio Steps. It was there last Wednesday that police raided an hours-old Occupy Cal protest and pounded student activists with batons. Yes, the chancellor of the university that celebrates Savio in its brochures, Robert J. Birgeneau, waited mere minutes before setting in motion a response that saw students beaten on the very steps bearing Savio's name ... just for setting up tents.
As the massive Occupy crackdown unfolded nationally, students facing yet another tuition hike -- in a UC system that has seen its tuition triple in 10 years -- took note and took to organizing.
OWS Exposed! [from a conservative view point]
The 84 year old face of Occupy Seattle Dorli Rainey becomes unlikely face of the Occupy movement Dorli Rainey, an 84-year-old woman in Seattle, has become a face of the national Occupy Wall Street movement after she was hit with pepper spray during a march.
Telegraph.co.uk
A graphic photo of the former teacher after she was hit with the chemical irritant went viral, becoming one of the most striking images from the protests that have taken place in cities across the globe.
"It's a gruesome picture, I'm really not that bad looking," Rainey said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.
The photograph shows Rainey, wearing a scarf and jacket, being helped by two people. One man is cradling her head in his arms as they walk away from the area.
U.S. Sheriffs Rise Up Against Federal Government:
Sheriff Threatens Feds With SWAT Team ~
Grass Roots Take Charge!
BY VOLUBRJOTR - PoliticalVelCraft,org
Sheriff Threatens Feds With SWAT Team
As more people became dissatisfied with federal government controls and land grabs, it was inevitable that local law enforcement would eventually see the bigger picture. At the northern California fairgrounds of Yreka last month, seven California sheriffs and another from Oregon gathered with a large group of citizens to say that they are finally going to do something about it.
"A giant has been awakened," said Plumas County, Calif. Sheriff Greg Hagwood, "and they didn’t count on that," speaking of the federal bureaucracy.
With exposure of the Emergency Management Center in San Luis Obispo a few decades ago, California began to offer the rest of the nation some evidence of the psychological conditioning aimed from the federal level at state, county and city law enforcement.
Censoring the Internet:
It's Not Just for China Any More!
By James Fallows - TheAtlantic.com
For the record, like nearly everyone else who has thought about the importance of a freely operating Internet to the cultural, political, and economic vibrancy of the United States, I take a dim view of the Orwellian-named "Stop Online Piracy Act" being considered in Congressional hearings today.
For more of the reasons why opponents of the bill have declared today "American Censorship Day," go to the ACD site, or Fight for the Future, or Mozilla's site. And for a how-to of Internet censorship a la Chinoise, there is this Atlantic piece from three years ago, still basically true to the operations of the Great Firewall. In the NYT Rebecca MacKinnon makes the Great Firewall-SOPA connection.
China's Economy on the Brink of Collapse
By Jane Lin & Alex Wu - SilverBearCafe.com
China's economy is on a dangerous track and may soon experience a crisis worse than the European debt crisis, Chinese economists say.
Since the Chinese regime implemented a series of "tightening" policies to curb the real estate market, home prices have been falling across China. Meanwhile, land sales - the main source of local governments' revenues - have also dropped sharply.
In late October, several developers in Shanghai abruptly lowered home prices in new developments by 20 to 40 percent. Soon after, price cutting spread to Beijing, Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province, and Nanjing in Jiangsu Province. Recent homebuyers, unhappy about the sudden devaluation of their investments, staged protests with many demanding refunds.
Hyundai Motor’s New Union Leader
Demands End of Overnight Shift
By Rose Kim - Bloomberg.com
Hyundai Motor Co. (005380)'s new labor union chief said workers will demand that South Korea’s biggest carmaker end overnight shifts and improve medical benefits.
The union will also insist on a review of the carmaker's overseas expansion plans, said Moon Yong Moon, who beat incumbent Lee Kyung Hoon in this month’s election to lead the roughly 45,000-member union for a two-year term. He said the union would "fight for its rights," when asked whether the organization may strike.
Obama's 'lazy' remark catches fire with GOP
By JONATHAN ALLEN & ALEX ISENSTADT - Politico.com
A video clip of President Barack Obama calling America "a little bit lazy" is quickly becoming a focus of Republican campaigns, and GOP operatives say it will get plenty of play not only on the presidential battlefield but also in down-ballot congressional races.
Obama was talking about America’s pursuit of foreign investment, but the context may not matter as much as the punch line.
"Can you believe that? That’s what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy?" Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry said in a campaign ad released Wednesday. "That’s pathetic."
Rival Mitt Romney struck in less expensive fashion on Tuesday: "Sometimes, I just don’t think that President Obama understands America," he said at a campaign event.
After Bullet Hits White House, a Manhunt and Arrest
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and MARK LANDLER - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — Federal law enforcement officials on Wednesday arrested a 21-year-old Idaho man suspected of firing a semiautomatic rifle at the White House on Friday night, and the Secret Service reported finding that at least one bullet had struck the presidential residence.
The suspect, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, was arrested at a hotel near Indiana, Pa., about 12:35 p.m. by the Pennsylvania State Police, acting on information from Secret Service agents in Pittsburgh, the Secret Service said.
"Ortega-Hernandez is currently in the custody of the Pennsylvania State Police," the statement said.
Germany's New Old Problem:
The Rise of Neo-Nazi Violence The factors that can lead to the rise of far-right movements appear increasingly common in Germany today, where residents worry about immigration and eurozone crises
By Heather Horn - TheAtlantic.com
When German authorities last week connected neo-Nazis to several murders of foreigners in Germany between 2000 and 2007, it shocked the country and its leaders. Chancellor Angela Merkel struck early and hard, calling the attacks "shameful" for Germany, pledging action. Meanwhile, of course, the European debt crisis isn't going away, and Merkel has fought to stay on-message, encouraging Germans to stick with other European countries on the bailouts.
It's possible, though, that these two topics might not be as separate as they seem.
U.S. Expands Military Ties to Australia, Irritating China
By JACKIE CALMES - NYTimes.com
CANBERRA, Australia — President Obama announced Wednesday that the United States planned to deploy 2,500 Marines in Australia to shore up alliances in Asia, but the move prompted a sharp response from Beijing, which accused Mr. Obama of escalating military tensions in the region.
The agreement with Australia amounts to the first long-term expansion of the American military’s presence in the Pacific since the end of the Vietnam War. It comes despite budget cuts facing the Pentagon and an increasingly worried reaction from Chinese leaders, who have argued that the United States is seeking to encircleChina militarily and economically.
U.S. troops headed to Australia, irking China
By David Nakamura - WashingtonPost.com
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — The Obama administration announced plans Wednesday to establish a permanent military presence in Australia, part of the president’s high-profileforeign policy shift toward Asia that is intended to counterbalance China’s growing power.
The move to send 250 Marines to bases here for six-month tours starting next summer, eventually rotating 2,500 troops through the country, is the first step toward the administration’s larger goal of repositioning the United States as a leader on economics and security in the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region. The pivot appears to be aimed at rethinking Washington’s global commitments at a time when the White House is attempting to draw down troop numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan and when budget cuts threaten to curtail defense spending.
China uneasy over US troop deal in Australia Beijing fears a policy of encirclement as Barack Obama announces plans to station 250 troops in northern Australia from next year
By Alison Rourke in Sydney
and Jonathan Watts in Beijing - Guardian.co.uk
Strains between China and the United States look set to overshadow a key Asian summit later this week after Barack Obama unveiled plans to station troops in Australia and step up Washington's commitment to the entire Asia-Pacific region.
Amid growing tensions over the oil-rich South China Sea, China's foreign ministry questioned the need for the US to strengthen military alliances, and the state media accused Washington of making a grab for assets.
Iran says missile base blast was not caused by Israeli intelligence Tehran dismisses reports that Mossad or US was behind the explosion that killed the architect of country's missile programme
By Saeed Kamali Dehghan - Guardian.co.uk
Iran has insisted that an explosion that killed the architect of its missile programme was not carried out by Israel or the US, despite widespread reports that it was the work of the Israeli secret service, the Mossad.
On Saturday a huge blast at the Alghadir missile base at Bid Ganeh, 30 miles to the west of Tehran, killed 17 of the country's elite revolutionary guards, including Major General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, a senior commander described as the pioneer of the regime's missile programme.
A senior Iranian military official on Wednesday denied reports that Israel was linked to the blast. Speaking at a ceremony commemorating those killed on Saturday, Iran's armed forces joint chief of staff, Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, said in quotes carried by the semi-official Fars news agency: "The recent incident and blast is not related to Israel or America."
Syria crisis:
Arab call to work with the west for diplomatic solution Britain and France preferred partners in a Libya-style 'contact group' to co-ordinate policy, but no question of military action
By Ian Black, Middle East editor - Guardian.co.uk
Britain is being urged to help set up an international "contact group" to co-ordinate western and Arab policy towards the crisis in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is defying mounting outrage over the violent suppression of mass unrest.
It has emerged that King Abdullah of Jordan raised the idea, borrowed from the recent Libyan uprising, in talks with David Cameron on Tuesday.
Those discussions are just part of the feverish diplomatic activity focused on the escalating situation this week.
Lindsey Williams:
The 2012 Agenda &
The Fall of the New World Order - Part 1
Lindsey Williams:
The 2012 Agenda &
The Fall of the New World Order - Part 2
Lindsey Williams Exclusive
Nwo to Target Iran _ Saudi Arabi
Gold to break $1800 in coming days: Credit Suisse
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Gold’s positive momentum continued last week with Gold recording a 1.8% gain. Gold has now risen three weeks in a row and looks set to record a second monthly gain after October’s monthly gain with Credit Suisse expecting a $1800/oz break in the coming days.
Gold remains up 25% year to date in US dollars and (22% in Euros and British pounds) and thus the recent correction and consolidation was a healthy development that took the short term froth out of the market and has now left the gold market with stronger foundations.
-Physical demand from Asia continues but for now is below the very high levels seen in recent weeks.
Gold as a Positive Economic Indicator
GoldSeek.com
The Gold Report: Gold prices reached historic highs during the last quarter. However, in a recent Kaiser Bottom-Fish newsletter, you showed the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture (TSX.V) listings since February have had dramatically more down than up days. Is this a correction or a long-term trend?
John Kaiser: What we have seen is a negative response by ordinary investors to a deteriorating economic outlook for the United States and the world, which we might call a correction of expectations. But what worries me about a long-term trend is the growing prevalence of volatility-based profit harvesting, high-frequency and algorithmic trading paired with the elimination of the downtick rule for short selling, which allows traders to push markets down or up at will and in the process destroy perceptions of value in the market. This has been particularly intense in the junior resource sector, which the TSX.V is dominated by, because these companies, generally, do not have revenues and cash flow, the usual measures by which value is assigned.
Paulson, Soros, Einhorn
views on gold and how it affects the market
By Ross Norman - Commodity Online.com
Some of the most powerful US funds have shifted their allocations in gold, but drawing conclusions from it remains as difficult as ever.
John Paulson, George Soros and David Einhorn (of Greenlight Capital) are some of the most influential investors in gold. In fact such is their status that their predictions can become self-fulfilling.
News out this week that Paulson shed a third of his Gold ETF holdings in September from his $30bn fund is surely cause for concern, particularly given that, notwithstanding the sale, he still remains the largest holder of the SPDR gold trust. Paulson has an enviable record and where he leads, others follow. It remains unclear however whether this is a fundamental shift in investment strategy, or whether it is a case of needing to take profit in bullion to cover losses in other asset classes, or whether it is a shift from the ETF into physical bars (to reduce costs) which of course would be price neutral. Paulson bought 31.5 million gold ETF shares back in Q1 2009 in which time the value has increased from £2.84b to $5.3b.
Gold Tactics & Silver Set For Surge
By Stewart Thomson - GoldSeek.com
Gold at $1800 was a touch “up there”, but in the bigger picture, the weekly chart is ultra-bullish. The commercials (banks) have added both longs and shorts, as of the Tuesday, November 8th cut-off date for the latest COT report.
Their action of adding some longs suggests they expected a short term move higher, which happened.
The heavy add of short positions suggests they understand that gold has ran about $270 higher, from $1530 to about $1805. It’s definitely not a time to be adding long positions for anything but a flip trade.
Keiser Report: Cameron & Osborne on the Run (E209)
Why Isn't Anyone Talking
About Writing Off 3 Trillion Euros of Bad Debt? The only solution to bad debt is to write it off--renounce it all. Why aren't those who took the risks for their own private gain being forced to absorb the losses?
BY CHARLES HUGH SMITH - FinancialSense.com
We all know some 3 trillion euros of debt in Europe is uncollectible. So why isn't anyone talking about the one and only solution, which is writing off all that debt?Since nobody knows how much bad debt there actually is in the Eurozone--care to guess on themarket value of all those underwater mortgages in Spain or the true size of Italy's debts?--that 3 trillion is just a guess, but it's probably a reasonable starting point.
Let's start with the most basic fact about all this uncollectible, impaired, bad debt:every euro of debt is somebody else's asset. Wipe out the debt and you wipe out the asset. That's why there's no willingness to accept the writedown of debt: somebody somewhere has to suck up 3 trillion euros of loss.
Europe Has Three Choices – None Good
BY JOHN HUSSMAN PHD - FinancialSense.com
The repeated waves of fresh crisis and temporary hope in Europe are starting to look a lot like the Hokey Pokey. Last week, Italy briefly put its right foot in. Then, thanks to purchases of Italian debt by the European Central Bank, it put its right foot out. Meanwhile, everyone is calling on Germany to turn itself around, and Greece is still just shaking all about.
Until last week, much of the concern about European debt focused on relatively small countries with high debt/GDP ratios. In particular, Greece, Ireland and Portugal have debt/GDP ratios of 166%, 109%, and 106%, respectively. But Italy actually comes in at 121% debt/GDP, the highest of any European nation next to Greece. Far worse, Italy has a GDP that is 7 times the size of Greece, and is 3 times the size of Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. So Italy's debt is not just huge relative to its own economy - it is just plain huge, at about $2.5 trillion in dollar terms. This is a terrible problem for France, whose banks are the largest single creditor to Italy, holding Italian debt worth about one-fifth of Italian GDP.
No Stopping Technocrats Rule
as Debt Crisis Brings Down Europe Governments
By Gregory Viscusi - Bloomberg.com
The European debt crisis has toppled four elected governments with the last two, in Greece and Italy, falling last week without a shove from voters.
The appointment of prime ministers in Athens and Rome to push through unpopular austerity measures echoes efforts in the past five decades by European leaders to control policy-making when democratic means fall short.
"The euro zone would never have been created if voters had been given a say," Fredrik Erixon, head of the European Centre for International Political Economy in Brussels, said in a telephone interview. "It's an elite project but that doesn't mean it’s a bad project."
Why the sovereign debt crisis began in Europe
By: Steve Saville - GoldSeek.com
This is a point we touched on in a couple of earlier commentaries, but it is important enough to reiterate. The point is that the sovereign debt crisis began in Europe because the countries of the euro-zone (EZ) do not have captive central banks. A captive central bank is one that stands ready, willing and able to monetise all government debt should it become difficult or impossible to find other buyers for the debt.
A government with a captive central bank could always CHOOSE to directly default on its debt, but it will never be FORCED to do so because it will always have the option of selling more debt to the central bank in exchange for newly-created money. In other words, it will always have the option of going down the inflation path. The US federal government, for example, will never run short of dollars as long as the Fed exists. Earlier this year there was a brief period when it seemed as if the US government was in danger of running out of money, but this was just for show.
Euro Drops to One-Month Low Versus Dollar, Yen
By Candice Zachariahs - Bloomberg.com
The euro declined to a five-week low against the dollar and the yen asSpain and France prepare to sell notes tomorrow after Italy led a slump in euro-area debt, signaling Europe’s debt crisis is spreading.
The 17-nation currency weakened for a third day after the extra yield investors demand to hold bonds from France, Belgium, Spain and Austria instead of German bunds climbed to euro-era records. The dollar rose against 14 of its 16 most-traded peers as investors sought safer assets.
Jim Rogers On Why There Is No Way To Stop Global Meltdown
Lessons for Life and Investing with Author,
Investor Jim Rogers 1/3
Lessons for Life and Investing with Author,
Investor Jim Rogers 2/3
Lessons for Life and Investing with Author,
Investor Jim Rogers 3/3
The Assault on Financial Privacy Goes Parabolic
BY KEVIN BREKKE - FinancialSense.com
The conflict of ideals that ultimately determine the circumstances that define the human condition at any given point – freedom, privacy, human rights, morality, charity, entitlement, obligation, promising – are the ingredients of the world’s oldest and perpetual ideological battles. It is said that if you isolate any two people in a room long enough they will find something about which to disagree. True enough.
It is not so much that the dominant beliefs and accepted norms that throughout history have evolved through a cycle of embracing and rejection that disconcerts people. Homo sapiens seem genetically hardwired to ideological rivalries. It is the process of failing ideological paradigms and progression into the terminal phase that unfolds just before failure that can be alarming.
Treasury Swap-Spread Surge May Reverse on RSI Signal
By Wes Goodman - Bloomberg.com
U.S. interest-rate swap spreads surged to levels that suggest the move may be about to reverse, based on the relative strength index, a technical indicator.
The two-year spread widened to 49 basis points yesterday, a 17-month high. Investors use swaps to exchange fixed and floating interest rates. The difference, or the gap between the fixed component and the yield on similar-maturity Treasuries, has increased asEurope’s sovereign debt crisis spurred demand for the relative safety of government debt.
John Williams:
Third Quarter GDP Numbers Have No Relation to Reality
All Measures Are Contracting [MP3]
James J Puplava CFP with John Williams - FinancialSense.com
John Williams from Shadow Government Statistics joins Jim to discuss 3rd Quarter GDP numbers, and how he sees all measures contracting. John believes unemployment hasn’t really recovered from the 2001 Recession.
Fed's Evans Calls For More
Economic Stimulus Steps to Address Unemployment
By Caroline Salas Gage - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said he is calling for "increasing amounts of policy accommodation" to reduce a 9 percent unemployment rate that’s far above the Fed’s objectives.
"We ought to be behaving as if there’s a very big problem out there," Evans said in New York today at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Evans, 53, voted against the Federal Open Market Committee’s November decision to maintain its level of stimulus, casting the U.S. central bank’s first dissent in favor of further easing since December 2007. He said today that his position is "unusual" among policy makers.
Obama administration
quietly bracing for debt supercommittee failure
By Anne E. Kornblut - WashingtonPost.com
White House officials are quietly bracing for "supercommittee" failure, with advisers privately saying they are pessimistic that the 12-member Congressional panel will find a way to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit as required.
In public, however, the official administration stance is that failure is not an option.
"I don’t think it makes sense to anticipate their failure," White House Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew said Tuesday. "I think it’s important that they succeed. The president made that clear in the calls he made on Friday."
How Can The American People
Ever Trust Congress Again After Learning
Of The Rampant Insider Trading That Has Been Going On?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Will the shocking insider trading revelations that have come to light in recent days finally be enough to motivate the American people to start throwing all of the con men and charlatans out of Congress? On Sunday, 60 Minutes opened up a huge can of worms when it did a feature story on insider trading by members of Congress. Up until now, the vast majority of Americans had no idea that insider trading was actually legal for members of Congress. In fact, as will be documented later on in this article, members of Congress have been using secrets that they have learned during the course of their duties to make huge amounts of money in the stock market. If you can believe it, during the financial crisis of 2008 some members of Congress were making huge stock moves that would only pay off if the stock market crashed really hard at a time when they should have been focusing on creating legislation that would help the U.S. financial system survive. It is hard not to feel sick after learning how low some of our "leaders" have stooped to enrich themselves. Now that the American people are learning the truth, how can they ever trust Congress again?
MF Global Trustee Seeks To Charge Additional Fees
By DANIEL P. COLLINS - FuturesMag.com
Attorney’s for James W. Giddens, the trustee for the liquidation of MF Global Inc. have filed a motion to approve and authorize the establishment of procedures to return misdirected wires including a provision to charge a service fee in such cases.
The motion "seeks to establish protocols, similar to those established in the SIPA proceeding of Lehman Brothers Inc. in this District, 2 to proactively address requests that the Trustee has already started receiving for the return of funds alleged to have been sent in error to MFGI bank accounts, including potential wires intended for the benefit of parties that were previously MFGI customers, but whose accounts were or will be transferred out of the MFGI."
The Koch Brothers and MF Global - Friends to the End
By Daniel Dicker - Huffington Post.com
So much about the collapse of MF Global, the international commodity firm, has revisited the worst sins of the 2008 financial meltdown. There's been outsized betting with other people's money using Wall Street created derivative instruments. Ongoing investigations now show that leverage in these wagers had even eclipsed the worst of the Lehman failure. As in 2008, there's been the total lack of oversight from regulatory agencies, as customer funds were diverted and used as collateral for Corzine's wagers and 50,000 accounts are now being moved without the cash that they came in with.
But perhaps the most stunning piece of news we're getting in the wake of the MF Global collapse is in the clients of the firm who managed to get away scot-free, with no freezing of accounts or capital -- particularly the accounts of the mega-cap independent oil company Koch Industries, run by the politically active Koch brothers.
Tiny Rule Change at Heart of MF Global Failure
By William D. Cohan - Bloomberg.com
Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Laurie R. Ferber has quite a resume. She is currently the general counsel of MF Global Holdings Ltd., the New York-based futures and commodities brokerage that filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 31, listing some $40 billion in liabilities....
Before that, she spent more than 20 years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., where first she was general counsel for J. Aron & Co., a commodities business that Goldman Sachs bought in 1981, and then was the co-general counsel of Goldman’s principal business, known as FICC -- for Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities -- when J. Aron was merged into the rest of Goldman’s fixed-income division.
What Other MF Globals Are Lurking In the System?
By Graham Summers
Without trust, the financial system cannot work. The regulators and Federal Reserve have done nothing to assuage these concerns. Instead they've shifted all trust onto their own shoulders: the defining bull argument for the market and economy is that "the Fed will save us", or "don’t fight the Fed."
As powerful as it may be, the Fed is not the market. And since the Fed failed to restore trust in the system by forcing all bad debts to light, the financial world has grown increasingly volatile and broken as investors grow increasingly distrustful of the system and begin to pull their money from it: investors have pulled $266 billion from stock based mutual funds since January 2008.
Economic Law vs. Occupy Wall Street
Mises Daily: by Eric Phillips
In their 1995 book, Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage,David Card and Alan Krueger argued that increases in the minimum wage in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the early 1990s not only did not lead to unemployment, as classical economic theory would predict, but actually coincided with an increase in employment.
As it turns out, there were many problems with the Card and Krueger study. But even before these problems came to light, economists who understood that the laws of supply and demand are just that — laws — immediately disregarded the study. Nobel Laureate James Buchanan, writing in the Wall Street Journal, argued,...
Occupy Wall Street protesters
return to Manhattan park despite ruling New York mayor wins legal battle to have them removed, but activists make Zuccotti Park their base again
By Karen McVeigh, Paul Harris and Dominic Rushe in New York - Guardian.co.uk
Occupy Wall Street protesters are back inside the lower Manhattan park that has been their home for almost two months, despite losing a tense legal battle with New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and the site's owners.
Almost 16 hours after police moved in and cleared Zuccotti Park of the protesters and their tents, a New York supreme court judge ruled that the city had not breached their first amendment rights.
Earlier, the mayor had defended the decision to clear the site on the basis that "health and safety conditions became intolerable".
Hubbert's Third Prophecy
ClubOrlov.blogspot.com
....Hubbert didn't mention one other notable feature of a debt-money system. It systematically pumps wealth from the bottom 80% of the population in wealth to the top 20%. The bottom 80% pay interest while the top 20% collects it, and of course most of the interest is collected by the top 10%. When all money is debt, that's a lot of money going to the top. The Occupy Wall Street people aren't stupid. They know the game is rigged. A SOLUTION
A solution is some form of Public Credit Money. That means that money is issued without interest:
100% reserve requirements (abolish bank money)
Abolish Federal Reserve notes (end private central banking)
Issue Treasury Notes INTEREST-FREE (Greenbacks)
Issue state or local currency (warrants, bills of credit, zero interest bonds)
Social Credit (CH Douglas)
Kucinich NEED Act
Finally, a Judge Stands up to Wall Street
By Matt Taibbi - RollingStone.com
Federal judge Jed Rakoff, a former prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s office here in New York, is fast becoming a sort of legal hero of our time. He showed that again yesterday when he shat all over the SEC’s latest dirty settlement with serial fraud offender Citigroup, refusing to let the captured regulatory agency sweep yet another case of high-level criminal malfeasance under the rug.
The SEC had brought an action against Citigroup for misleading investors about the way a certain package of mortgage-backed assets had been chosen. The case is very similar to the notorious Abacus case involving Goldman Sachs, in which Goldman allowed short-selling billionaire John Paulson (who was betting against the package) to pick the assets, then told a pair of European banks that the "designed to fail" package they were buying had been put together independently.
Clinging to a Bankrupt Monetary System
By Eric Fry
11/15/11 Laguna Beach, California –"Europe is in one of its toughest — perhaps the toughest — hours since World War II," German Chancellor, Angela Merkel declared yesterday.
Who would argue with her?
The Second World War crippled the European economy. The victors suffered almost as much as the vanquished. Nearly ten years after the war ended, the British were still rationing sugar and meat.
Notwithstanding these hardships, however, the history of the post-WWII European economy is mostly a story of economic renaissance. From the rubble of war, the European Continent produced decades of economic growth.
Post office near default? Losses mount to $5.1B
By HOPE YEN - AP
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday it has lost $5.1 billion in the past year, pushing it closer to imminent default on a multibillion-dollar payment and to future bankruptcy as the weak economy and increased Internet use drive down mail volume.
The financial losses for the year ended Sept. 30 came despite deep cuts of more than 130,000 jobs in recent years and the closing of some smaller local post offices.
Losses will only accelerate in the coming year, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned, citing faster-than-expected declines in first-class mail. He implored Congress to take swift, wide-ranging action to stabilize the ailing agency's finances as it nears a legal deadline Friday to pay $5.5 billion into the U.S. Treasury for future retiree health benefits.
David Morgan - The Financial Sense Newshour 09 Nov 2011
22 Signs That The Thin Veneer Of Civilization
That We All Take For Granted Is Starting To Disappear
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
In order for a society to function, there has to be a certain level of trust. Each day when we leave our homes, we take for granted that most people are not going to attack us for no reason, that there will only be isolated incidents of theft in our community and that rioting and violence are not going to erupt in the streets. Whether we realize it or not, we depend on the fact that the vast majority of the people around us are going to act in a civilized manner. Unfortunately, the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted is starting to disappear. When I was growing up, I was taught that challenging times reveal our true character. There are many that believe that the declining economy is causing a lot of the chaos that we are now witnessing, but perhaps what is going on is that these challenging economic times are simply revealing the character that has been there all along. For decades, a "false prosperity" that was fueled by unprecedented amounts of debt has masked a lot of the internal rot that has taken hold in America. But now that our prosperity is crumbling, our lack of values is becoming startlingly clear.
Nearly HALF of Members of Congress are MILLIONAIRES! Most Members of Congress Enjoy Robust Financial Status,
Despite Nation's Sluggish Economic Recovery
By Michael Beckel - OpenSecrets.org
These days, being a millionaire typically qualifies you as part of the one percent. But in Congress, it only makes you average.
About 47 percent of Congress, or 249 current members of Congress, are millionaires, according to a new study by theCenter for Responsive Politics of lawmakers' personal financial disclosure forms covering calendar year 2010. The Center's analysis is based on the median values of lawmakers' disclosed assets and liabilities.
That lofty financial status is enjoyed by only about one percent of Americans.
Anonymous Educational Series-
John Perkins Speaking Freely
Economic Slowdown on the Way
by Leigh Thomas - Portfolio.com
None of the world's major economies will escape a slowdown, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said on Monday, highlighting increasing signs that growth momentum is dwindling across the board.
The Paris-based organization's composite leading indicator (CLI) for its members fell for the seventh straight month to 100.4 in September, down from 100.9 in August and hitting the lowest reading since December 2009.
Readings for individual countries and big developing world economies were broadly lower at levels indicating slowdowns, and were in many cases below their long-term averages.
Solyndra put off word of layoffs until after election Emails: Energy pushed 'very hard' for a delay
By Jim McElhatton-The Washington Times
The Department of Energy pushed "very hard" for failed solar panel maker Solyndra LLC to delay announcing layoffs until after the Nov. 2, 2010, midterm elections, contradicting claims that politics played no role in the administration’s handling of the now-bankrupt company.
Newly released emails show staff at one of the major investors forSolyndra discussing how the Energy Department was being cooperative, but "they did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd - oddly they didn’t give a reason for that date."
House Panel Backs Bill to Block Bonuses for Fannie, Freddie
By Phil Mattingly and Carter Dougherty - Bloomberg.com
A House committee approved a suspension of bonus packages for executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage firms currently under the control of the U.S. government.
The House Financial Services Committee, responding to lawmaker anger over compensation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, approved a measure that would suspend the compensation packages for executive officers at the companies. The bill also would require employees of the two firms to be moved onto a pay scale that lines up with federal financial regulators including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Housing Market Is Still in a Depression The industry continues to suffer
and remains a drag on the rest of the economy
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Following the bubble, the housing market's pain has been deep and persistent. This isn't merely a cyclical downturn. Even six years after the market peaked, the healing process has not yet begun. The industry isn't in recession: it's in a depression.
On Monday, billionaire investor Warren Buffett made this assertion. He's right, but not for the reason he states. Here's the Associated Press quoting what Buffett said to CNBC, via Bloomberg:
Buffett told CNBC on Monday that housing construction is "in a depression, not a recession" because there is still an oversupply of homes.
By digging into the data, the depth of the industry's problems becomes clearer, but it appears to have little to do with the current supply of homes.
Charlotte Iserbyt:
Secrets Of Skull And Bones Blown Wide Open 1/4
Charlotte Iserbyt:
Secrets Of Skull And Bones Blown Wide Open 2/4
Charlotte Iserbyt:
Secrets Of Skull And Bones Blown Wide Open 3/4
Charlotte Iserbyt:
Secrets Of Skull And Bones Blown Wide Open 4/4
The High Court and Obamacare
By William Murchison - PatriotPost.us
As anticipated, the U. S. Supreme Court will join 300 million fellow Americans in rendering judgment on Obamacare. But with this difference: The high court's judgment, expected next June, will be the judgment that sticks.
The rest of us -- members of Congress and lower court federal judges included -- merely spout off with force and vehemence. We love the health care law. We hate it. It makes us sick, except when it excites rejoicings. The sole reaction we withhold from the law is indifference.
That's the problem, isn't it? A law meant to reorder the way 300 million people receive and pay for health care -- a law that strokes all of our mental and physical muscle -- requires broad popularity and acceptance.
Obamacare FAILURE Number of Uninsured (and Untreated) Americans Grows
By Noel Brinkerhoff - AllGov.com
Americans are continuing to lose health insurance coverage and to struggle paying for serious medical conditions, according to two separate surveys.
A Gallup poll found the proportion of adults with no health insurance has been above 17% for the last six months. The rate in the third quarter of 2008 was 14.4%.
One positive impact from President Barack Obama’s health care reform is that the uninsured rate for 18-25 year olds is down to 24.2%; it was 28% in mid-2010. The change is attributed to the law’s provision allowing parents to keep their children on their health insurance plans until age 26.
Medicaid Rule, Not Individual Mandate,
May Undo Health Care Law Does giving money to states also give Washington the power to dictate the size and scope of their programs? The Supreme Court will say next year.
By Garrett Epps - TheAtlantic.com
My long-suffering colleagues can testify that when I read the order granting review in the Affordable Care Act cases, I rushed out of my office yelling "NERDAPALOOZA!" The complexity of the issues, the brilliance of the advocates on both sides, and not least the stunning length of the oral argument granted (five-and-a-half hours when most cases get a total of one hour) makes the upcoming court drama the equivalent of Wagner's Ring Cycle for those of us whose living involves Constitutional law.
Oh, yeah, the issues are important for ordinary people, too.
USPS Weighs Hiring Restructuring Advisers
By Jeffrey McCracken, Jonathan Keehner
and Angela Greiling Keane - Bloomberg.com
The U.S. Postal Service, which is projecting a $14.1 billion loss this fiscal year, is discussing restructuring options with potential advisers, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Officials at the Postal Service have met in recent weeks with Moelis & Co., Rothschild and Perella Weinberg Partners LP, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. As of last week, the service hadn’t hired any of the firms and was still deciding whether it needs an outside adviser, the people said.
Open Mic, Closed Minds
By Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison - PatriotPost.us
The whole world was watching, and listening. The leaders of the G20 nations gathered in Cannes, France, for another of those endless schmooze fests we now call summits, Presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy were caught on tape telling us what they really think of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Los Angeles Times reported:
"I can't stand to see him anymore, he's a liar,'' Sarkozy told Obama, according to a French translation of the exchange.
"You are fed up with him, but me, I have to deal with him every day,'' Obama replied.
This embarrassing leak was the result of the two media savvy leaders' failure to note that their microphones were still on. We can't demand their resignations, but we should not let this gaffe pass without probing into its deeper significance.
Paul Craig Roberts:
Neo-Cons want war with Iran just like Iraq
Was Israel Behind a Deadly Explosion
at an Iranian Missile Base?
By Karl Vick - Time.com
Israeli newspapers on Sunday were thick with innuendo, the front pages of the three largest dailies dominated by variations on the headline "Mysterious Explosion in Iranian Missile Base." Turn the page, and the mystery is answered with a wink. "Who Is Responsible for Attacks on the Iranian Army?" asks Maariv, and the paper lists without further comment a half-dozen other violent setbacks to Iran's nuclear and military nexus. For Israeli readers, the coy implication is that their own government was behind Saturday’s massive blast just outside Tehran. It is an assumption a Western intelligence source insists is correct: the Mossad — the Israeli agency charged with covert operations — did it. "Don’t believe the Iranians that it was an accident," the official tells TIME, adding that other sabotage is being planned to impede the Iranian ability to develop and deliver a nuclear weapon. "There are more bullets in the magazine," the official says.
Mission over, Congress ready to agree on Libya
By Ben Pershing - WashingtonPost.com
It finally looks like Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are ready to agree on something related to the uprising in Libya. All it took was for the revolt to succeed, longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi to be captured and killed and American involvement to end.
On Tuesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is to consider a resolution, sponsored by Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.), along with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), applauding Libyans for their successful rebellion and U.S. troops for their "bravery."
Pacific trade pact boost for Obama - but China remains cool Canada and Mexico voice support for the deal as Obama accuses Chinese of 'gaming the system' with currency valuation
By Dominic Rushe - Guardian.co.uk
Barack Obama's plan to forge a Pacific-region trade pact received a big boost over the weekend as Canada and Mexico joined Japan in expressing support for a deal. But the proposals, potentially the biggest for 17 years, received a cool reception from China, as Obama accused Beijing of "gaming" the system.
Obama had made progress on the pact, one of his top priorities for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, being held in his home state of Hawaii. The progress was a major coup after a disappointing G20 meeting in Cannes earlier this month.
China's poisonous exports PRC products aren't just cheap, they're dangerous
By Brett M. Decker and William C. Triplett II - The Washington Times
The Chinese have peddled numerous toxic products to American consumers, including everything from children’s toys to adult vitamins to pet food. The U.S. government regularly stops more poisonous or faulty products at the border that were imported from the PRC than from any other nation. In April 2011, for example, the Food and Drug Administration issued 197 import refusals for Chinese goods, compared to 107 for India and 105 for Mexico, the two next most prolific purveyors of bad merchandise. Some of the 197 goods refused for entry into America included hazardous cardiograph machines, cosmetics, pet medicine, diet drugs, orthodontic parts, surgical bandages, frozen spinach, asparagus and candy.
Vladimir Putin scoops Chinese peace award Russian prime minister is unlikely winner of newly established Confucian peace prize
By Jonathan Watts in Beijing - Guardian.co.uk
The Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, is used to receiving accolades in friendly nations, but even he may raise an eyebrow at the prize he has just been awarded in China: peacemaker of the year.
After two wars in Chechnya, one conflict in South Ossetia and two of the deadliest hostage relief operations in modern history, the former KGB officer was named on Monday as the winner of the second Confucian peace prize.
Currency control efforts worry Argentines
By Kelly Hearn - Special to The Washington Times
BUENOS AIRES — Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has placed strict controls on the foreign-exchange market and forced oil, gas and mining companies to keep their export earnings in the country.
The moves are designed to shore up foreign-currency reserves and discourage citizens from sending their assets abroad. But they have set off alarm bells among her critics, prompting comparisons to the heavy-handed economic tactics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Mrs. Fernandez, a center-left leader known for lax fiscal and monetary policy, was re-elected last month in a landslide.
Healthcare Law's Fate Now In Supreme Court's Hands
By: Reuters - CNBC.com
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide the fate of President Barack Obama's healthcare law, with an election-year ruling due by July on the U.S. healthcare system's biggest overhaul in nearly 50 years.
The decision had been widely expected since late September, when the Obama administration asked the nation's highest court to uphold the centerpiece insurance provision and 26 states and a business group separately asked that the entire law be struck down.
The justices in a brief order agreed to hear the appeals.
At the heart of the legal battle is whether Congress overstepped its powers by requiring that all Americans buy health insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, a provision known as the individual mandate.
Obama administration launches $1 billion healthcare drive
By Alister Bull and Anna Yukhananov
(Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday said $1 billion of federal funds allocated in last year's health reform law will go toward innovation programs designed to boost jobs and improve patient care.
The announcement is the administration's latest attempt to show that it is working outside of a deeply divided Congress to create jobs.
The administration will award grants in March to people who come up with the best ideas to lift care and save money for those enrolled in the federal healthcare programs Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
However, the administration did not say how many jobs the measure would create.
Whatever Court Rules,
Major Changes in Health Care Likely to Last
By REED ABELSON, GARDINER HARRIS
and ROBERT PEAR - NYTimes.com
For the nation’s health care system, there may be no going back.
No matter what the Supreme Courtdecides about the constitutionality of the federal law adopted last year, health care in America has changed in ways that will not be easily undone. Provisions already put in place, like tougher oversight of health insurers, the expansion of coverage to one million young adults and more protections for workers with pre-existing conditions are already well cemented and popular.
And a combination of the law and economic pressures has forced major institutions to wrestle with the relentless rise in health care costs.
Supreme Court to rule on Obama healthcare law
amid election frenzy
By Sam Baker - TheHill.com
The prospect of a June Supreme Court decision on the new healthcare law, which observers are already calling the biggest case of the century, ensures a raging debate over President Obama’s signature legislative achievement through Election Day.
In granting an appeal on a lawsuit filed by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the high court set up the lengthiest oral arguments for any challenge in decades, formally clearing the way for a decision at the height of the 2012 campaign season.
The justices said they would hear every part of the states’ lawsuit, including issues that many experts didn’t think would make the cut.
The Odds:
Betting on the Supreme Court's Health Care Decision Making a wager on the Court's actions on the controversial law? Here's a handy guide.
By Andrew Cohen - TheAtlantic.com
We are 216 days away from Thursday, June 28, 2012, which figures to be the last day of the United States Supreme Court's spring term. That means that we are no more than 216 days away from knowing what the justices think about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. To give you a sense of where we are in the process, it has been 601 days since President Barack Obama signed into law the federal health care measure on March 23, 2010. We are, at last, closer to the end than to the beginning.
Millions of words of commentary and analysis already have been written and read about the controversial new law. And over the next 216 days millions more will be offered up by lawyers, journalists, and politicians. Obsess at your own risk. For example, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi may want you to believe that the "individual mandate" contained in the new law poses an "unprecedented threat... to the liberty of Americans simply because they live in this country." But remember you are free to exercise a little bit of that liberty to tell her she's nuts.
Dems fear Obama will lose the case
By Julian Pecquet - TheHill.com
Democrats on Capitol Hill are worried that the Supreme Court will rule against President Obama’s healthcare reform law.
Over the last couple weeks, congressional Democrats have told The Hill that the law faces danger in the hands of the Supreme Court, which The New York Times editorial page recently labeled the most conservative high court since the 1950s.
While the lawmakers are not second-guessing the administration’s legal strategy, some are clearly bracing for defeat.
"Of course I’m concerned," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). The justices "decide for insurance companies, they decide for oil companies, they decide for the wealthy too often."
The pessimism is fueled in part by the John Roberts court’s decision in the 2010 Citizens United case on corporate spending in elections, which Brown has called the “worst” in his memory.
Why Gold Should Set New Highs for the Holidays
By Jeff Clark, BIG GOLD
Most gold followers know the metal has a seasonal tendency to perform better in the fall and winter than in the spring and summer. Indeed, since 2001, the annual high for the gold price has occurred after Labor Day every year except two (2006 and 2008). Further, that peak was hit in November or December in seven of the last ten years.
So, are we destined for new highs in the gold price between now and New Year's Eve? And what about gold stocks?
Perhaps one way to answer the first question is to determine if gold has been following its seasonal price trends so far this year. If it has, we might have a reasonable expectation of higher prices ahead. Let's take a look…
Is gold headed to $2,200? Do charts sense Chinese buying?
By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — A rugged and alarming week for gold (and other markets). But not all the news is negative.
In the end, gold closed up $32 or 1.82% on the week at $1,788.10, its highest in eight weeks. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index gained 2.2%, outperforming both gold and the S&P 500 Index, which was up 0.85%.
Which means the interesting prospect of gold shares taking the lead, which I noted last week, is still present.
Gold’s action is frightening some of the more fundamentalist analysts. On Friday Edel Tully of UBS, a very powerful gold dealer, said: "Gold hit our one-month forecast of $1,775 this week, but we’re sitting tight for now, rather than making any short-term forecast changes. Right now, physical demand has moved to the background, leaving gold heavily dependent on the actions of specs and investors, a less-than-ideal position. Physical buying out of Asia is much diminished."
Gold steady as prices target $1840/oz
By Deepak Rangan - CommodityOnline.com
COMEX Gold broke through the resistance at $1775 and is currently trading around $1780/oz. With both Greece and Italy taking quick action in forming their governments, gold investor may calm down and prices might not thus exhibit frenzied swings of volatility.
However, only a strong political and economic action will inspire investor confidence in world economies and as long as it remains absent, the case for bullishness in gold will remain.
What’s Driving Gold Eurozone Driving the Markets
By Scott Silva - GoldSeek.com
There is no doubt that the European sovereign debt crisis is a major factor driving the global markets lately. The imminent Greek default and the loss of confidence that Italy can avoid contagion and its own severe debt crisis has toppled both governments and set the stronger Eurozone nations on a path to socialized bailouts and eventual monetization (printing trillions more Euros). These actions may forestall immediate catastrophe but also create other serious economic problems, such as inflation, recession or both (stagflation) across the Continent.
The Eurozone crisis pushed global equity markets up and down in triple digit waves, as drama played out first in Greece with the resignation of Prime Minister George Papandreou, and then the ouster of Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned over the weekend.
Gold supported by weak global economy,
currency debasement
By Chirag Mehta - CommodityOnline.com
Recovering from the sharp fall of last month, Gold prices continued its upward momentum in October 2011. The increase in gold prices came as a result of the European debt escalation. Gold reclaimed its negative relation with the dollar but this meant that gold largely traded alongside with the “risk off” trade. However, this behavior was non persistent during times when debt crisis in the Euro zone intensified, and gold reclaimed its previous position.
Gold closed at $1718 on the London AM Fix, showing an increase of + 5.46%. Measured in Indian rupees, gold established an increase of +5.31%.
Dr Deagle Show 111109 1/3 - BOB CHAPMAN - COMING ECONOMIC STORM
1.5 QUADRILLION in derivatives... problem is worse than you think
Dr Deagle Show 111109 2/3 - BOB CHAPMAN - COMING ECONOMIC STORM
Europe has given up - recapitalization of banks coming
Dr Deagle Show 111109 3/3 - BOB CHAPMAN - COMING ECONOMIC STORM
Beginning of downside for markets; Doctors will walk away in droves - losses in Medicare paymants with health care reform; thermonuclear attack on Medical system starts Jan 1, 2012.
Dollar Teetering on the Abyss
By Toby Connor, GoldScents - GoldSeek.com
We all better hope I'm wrong on this one, but I think the CRB just put in its three year cycle low in October. I'm also afraid that Bernanke has done irreparable damage to the dollar. If I'm right about both of those assumptions then we are on the brink of a historic inflationary period.
I've marked the major three year cycle bottoms in both the CRB index and the dollar index on the chart below with blue arrows. (Actually the CRB cycle tends to run about two and half years on average).
European Debt Crisis Threatens the Dollar
By: Dr. Ron Paul - GoldSeek.com
The global economic situation is becoming more dire every day. Approximately half of all US banks have significant exposure to the debt crisis in Europe. Much more dangerous for the US taxpayer is the dollar's status as reserve currency for the world, and the US Federal Reserve's status as the lender of last resort. As we've learned in recent disclosures, this has not only benefitted companies like AIG, the auto industry and various US banks, but multiple foreign central banks as they have run into trouble. Nothing has been solved, however, by offering up the productivity of Americans as a sacrificial lamb. Greece is set to be the first domino to fall in the string of European economies at risk. Rather than learning from Greece's terrible example of an over-consuming public sector and drowning private sector, what is more likely from our politicians is an eventual bailout of European investors.
China Wary of Choking on Dollar
Driving Hong Kong Dim Sum Bonds
By Fion Li - Bloomberg.com
The helicopter swooped over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor trailing a huge red-and-white banner: RMB SOVEREIGN BONDS. There were billboards on buses and banks and at the entrance to the cross-harbor tunnel.
The city’s biggest sale of bonds in China’s currency, the renminbi, may not have blown away the man and woman on the street. Yet the burst of advertising in August did signal just how important the event was to the Beijing government and to the bankers and traders who feed off the Chinese economy, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its December issue.
Nicknamed Dim Sum bonds after Hong Kong’s favorite dining pastime, the securities are the hottest financial innovation in town.
Asia stocks slide on resurgent Europe debt fear
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Asian stock markets followed their U.S. peers lower Tuesday, as a rise overnight in Spanish and Italian government-bond yields stoked concerns that Europe’s debt crisis was deepening.
Hong Kong again led the decline, with the Hang Seng Index down 1.1% at the midday break, while Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average traded 0.6% lower in the early afternoon, South Korea’s Kospi also lost 0.6%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4%, and China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1%.
The moves came after the Dow industrials lost 0.6% on Wall Street and the S&P 500 fell 1% as Italy’s and Spain’s costs for borrowing climbed.
Is Europe On The Verge
Of Another Great Depression –
Or A Great Inflation?
By Simon Johnson - BaselineScenario.com
The news from Europe, particularly from within the eurozone, seems all bad. Interest rates on Italian government debt continue to rise. Attempts to put together a “rescue package” at the pan-European level repeatedly fall behind events. And the lack of leadership from Germany and France is palpable – where is the vision or the clarity of thought we would have had from Charles de Gaulle or Konrad Adenauer?
In addition, the pessimists argue, because the troubled countries are locked into the euro, there are no good options. Gentle or even dramatic depreciation of the exchange rate for Greece or Portugal or Italy is not in the cards. As a result, it is hard to lower real wages so as to restore competitiveness and boost trade. This means that the debt burdens for these countries are likely to seem insurmountable for a long time. Hence there will likely be default and resulting global financial chaos.
Merkel: Europe in toughest times since World War II
By Noah Barkin and Stephen Brown
(Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Europe must move step-by-step toward political union, calling the euro zone debt crisis the continent's "toughest hour since World War Two".
In a one-hour address to thousands of delegates from her Christian Democrats (CDU), Merkel offered no new ideas for resolving the crisis that has forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and has stirred worries about the survival of the 17-state currency zone.
But she made clear that Germany will have to make more sacrifices.
"The challenge of our generation is to finish what we started in Europe, and that is to bring about, step by step, a political union," Merkel told the party congress in the east German city of Leipzig.
Out Of Control Goverment
Turns Off The News & Fix The Numbers
Merkel Urges Overhaul of European Union
By Tony Czuczka and Brian Parkin - Bloomberg.com
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for an overhaul of the European Union, advocating closer political ties and tighter budget rules, in her most explicit prescription for ending the debt crisis.
Speaking to her Christian Democratic Union party’s annual congress in the eastern German city of Leipzig today, Merkel said leaders must create a "new Europe" by deepening ties in the 27-nation EU. At the same time, she repeated Germany’s rejection of jointly sold euro bonds.
"The task of our generation now is to complete the economic and currency union in Europe and, step by step, create a political union," Merkel said. "It’s time for a breakthrough to a new Europe."
Utopian Germans risk full-blown EMU depression The relief rally from technocrat takeovers in Italy and Greece has already wilted, once again reviving the elemental question of whether Germany will go beyond rhetoric and commit its full strategic power to halt Europe's debt crisis.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Yields on Italy's 10-year bonds jumped back up to 6.7pc after Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann dashed hopes for muscular intervention by the European Central Bank to stabilise bond markets and buy time for the new government of Mario Monti.
"Monetary policy cannot and must not solve solvency problems of states and banks," he told a Frankfurt forum, calling for a halt to incessant pressure from the rest of the world for the ECB to violate its own legal mandate with debt monetisation.
Hours later, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a "breakthrough to a new Europe, and political union" but ruled out Eurobonds, debt-pooling or any form of fiscal transfers to weaker EMU states in a speech to the Christian Democrat (CDU) party conference in Leipzig.
France frets about prized AAA debt rating
By Sarah DiLorenzo - AP -WashingtonTimes.com
PARIS — The interest rate France pays to borrow money was rising again Monday — and along with it fears that the country will lose its cherished AAA credit rating.
Theoretically at least, that rating — the highest a nation can have — allows France to borrow money from the markets cheaply. But Francepays more than other European countries that have a Triple A — likeDenmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
On Monday, the yield on its 10-year bond — the usual yardstick for a country’s borrowing costs — rose 0.05 percentage points to 3.42 percent. That’s roughly twice Germany’s and well above the roughly 2 percent on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes.
Lagarde to China: Help Europe, help thyself IMF chief tells Caixin that China can help Europe by relaxing policy -- By Li Zengxin and Wang Shuo
BEIJING ( Caixin Online ) — International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned in a Nov. 9 speech in Beijing that the global economy risks "a lost decade of low growth and high unemployment" unless countries work together to resolve debt crises.
And China’s monetary-policy makers, she said, have a key role to play.
"When inflation pressures are high and monetary policy is accommodative, monetary tightening makes sense," she said at the 2011 International Finance Forum. "But when inflation is under control and exposure to external dangers is high, countries can hold off on monetary tightening."
Keiser Report: Cameron & Osborne on the Run (E209)
There Is 'No Way Out' for Europe: Economist
By: Shai Ahmed - CNBC.com
There is no solution to the current debt crisis plaguing the euro zone, and it’s an illusion to think that one lies on the horizon, an economist told CNBC Monday.
"There is no way out, I never thought there was, not for any of the countries that are in trouble. Once one of these countries goes into this sort of problem, there is no escape," Roger Nightingale, economist at RDN Associates, said.
He dismissed the current, positive sentiment among investors regarding Italy as temporary and fleeting.
"In a few days time or a few weeks, things will go wrong again, yields will go up and the whole thing will skid into decline. It's a foregone conclusion most of Europe is already in recession. It is relatively uncompetitive, and it is facing extra bond yields, extra interest rates which of course it can't live with, and (it) will have slower rates of growth," he added.
The World Is Drowning in Debt,
and Europe Laces On Concrete Boots Three metaphors describe Europe: drowning in debt, circular firing squad and trying to fool the money gods with an inept game of 3-card monte.
By Charles Hugh Smith - OfTwoMinds.com
The world's major economies are drowning in debt--Europe, the U.S., Japan, China. We all know the U.S. has tried to save its drowning economy by bailing out the parasite which is dragging it to Davy Jones Locker--the banking/financial sector-- and by borrowing and squandering $6 trillion in new Federal debt and buying toxic debt with $2 trillion whisked into existance on the Federal Reserve's balance sheet.
Greek PM: Remaining in euro 'is only choice'
By Demetris Nellas and Derek Gatopoulos -
AP - WashingtonTimes.com
ATHENS, Greece — New Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said Monday he is determined to keep the country in the eurozone, but acknowledged it is set to miss its deficit reduction target this year.
Papademos was sworn in last week to head a 15-week coalition government supported by the outgoing Socialists and rival conservatives. It was created to secure the approval of a new massive bailout deal worth €130 billion ($177.6 billion) from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
A vote of confidence in Papademos‘ new government will take place in parliament Wednesday.
Presenting an outline of his policies, Papademos told lawmakers that for his government, Greece’s euro membership is "our only choice."
European Debt Crisis: You Haven't Seen Anything Yet
By: Jeff Cox - CNBC.com
Though the daily market gyrations might indicate otherwise, realization is beginning to creep in that the European debt crisis and its effect on the U.S. will not take days, weeks or months to unwind—but years.
How many years is up for debate, but a common range bandied about among investment experts is two to five.
That prolonged time frame — which entails the period it will take to reduce government spending, come up with workable debt repayment plans, and, most likely, witness the contagion that will follow — means thatthe market tumult that the crisis has brought also won't be going away anytime soon, either.
Obama Says 'Enough's Enough'
on China’s Undervalued Yuan as Hu Pushes Back
By Julianna Goldman and Margaret Talev - Bloomberg.com
President Barack Obama kept up his pressure on China's foreign-exhange policy and trade practices, saying "enough’s enough" on what the U.S. views as a too-slow appreciation of the yuan.
While there's been a "slight improvement," China's exporters “like the system the way it is” and are resistant to any moves to loosen the reins on the yuan, Obama said.
"Changes are difficult for them politically, I get it," Obama said at a news conference concluding a summit with Asia- Pacific leaders inHawaii yesterday. "But the United States and other countries, I think understandably, feel that enough’s enough."
Timothy Geithner's Best Asset: Everybody Hates Him A lack of ideological bias has allowed him to pursue practical solutions to deal with crises
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
If you're a conservative, then you probably have no love for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. He wanted to end the Bush tax cuts for the rich in 2010. You might think his foreclosure prevention plan was a mess. But if you're a progressive, then you probably don't love the guy either. He wasn't particularly aggressive in pursuing cramdowns or principal reductions for struggling homeowners. He also doesn't tend to be too hard on the banks. So who does like Geithner? President Obama must -- he worked to ensure that Geithnerwouldn't resign earlier this year when his family moved back to New York. It isn't hard to see why: Geithner is a rare breed of high-level official who looks for practical solutions without letting politics get in the way.
Jackie Calmes at the New York Times highlights the president's surprising unwavering desire to keep Geithner around as other economic advisors departed over time. Calmes notes that both sides of the aisle have attacked Geithner's policies and positions over the past couple of years. Let's look at some of the chief reasons why people don't like Geithner.
Europe’s woes pall U.S. economic rebound Italy’s debt crisis seen as threat to eurozone, beyond
By Patrice Hill-The Washington Times
Just as the outlook for the U.S. economy finally brightened in recent weeks, the darkening clouds in Europe threaten to overshadow budding signs of growth.
Some critical parts of the U.S. economy recently have cast off the doldrums and shown signs of improving. Exports and manufacturing have gotten a second wind, joblessness is slowly declining, and even the stressed-out American consumer has shed some gloom and is getting into the holiday spirit, recent reports showed.
Chance of 2012 U.S. recession tops 50 percent: Fed paper
Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Padraic Cassidy
(Reuters) - The European debt crisis is raising the odds of a U.S. recession, with economic contraction more likely than not by early 2012, according to research from the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.
While it is difficult to gauge the odds precisely, an analysis of leading U.S. economic indicators suggests a rising chance of a recession through the end of the year and into early next year, researchers at the regional Fed bank wrote on Monday. The risk of recession recedes after the second half of 2012, they found.
Odds of 'double-dip' recession about 50-50,
S.F. Fed report says
By Marc Lifsher - LATimes.com
Fallout from the current European debt crisis could help plunge the United States economy back into recession by early next year.
A report released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco pegged the chance of recession at 1 in 2 during the first half of 2012.
"The deteriorating fiscal realities in Europe have been keeping many a trader awake at nights, reliving the nightmare of the near-collapse of financial markets in the wake of the Lehman Bros. bankruptcy " of Sept. 15, 2008, the bank's Economic Letter said.
Treasuries Rise on European Debt Crisis;
Gross Sees Low Rates
By Monami Yui and Wes Goodman - Bloomberg.com
Treasuries rose for a second day as declines in Italian and Spanish bonds added to concern that Europe will struggle to contain a debt crisis that is threatening to slow global economic growth.
The Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low "for a number of years" to support the U.S. economy, said Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co. The central bank is scheduled to buy as much as $5 billion of Treasuries due from 2017 to 2019 today as part of its policy of swapping holdings of shorter-term securities for longer maturities, according to its website.
"Concerns surrounding Europe are likely to keep yields from rising," said Hitoshi Asaoka, a senior strategist in Tokyo at Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., part of Japan’s third-largest publicly traded bank. "Treasuries are being bought in a mild risk-off environment."
Fed’s Fisher Sees U.S. Poised for Growth
By Vivien Lou Chen - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said the U.S. economy is "poised for growth" going into next year and that he sees a declining likelihood the central bank will need to ease further.
"The direction we’re moving in is positive," the policy maker said today in an interview from Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. He said he expects gross domestic product to expand by 2.5 percent to 3 percent in the fourth quarter, "gradually getting better as we go through time."
Fisher’s comments contrast with those of Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, who predicted on Nov. 2 that the pace of recovery will be "frustratingly slow," and with researchers at the San Francisco Fed, who project a better than 50 percent chance of recession early next year. The Dallas Fed president is among the most vocal critics of Fed policy, dissenting twice this year against moves to push down long-term rates and keep the benchmark U.S. interest rate low until at least June 2013. He voted five times in 2008 in favor of tighter policy.
Super-committee will reach debt deal before deadline–
House majority leader
Eric Cantor says he believes members of Congress will put differences aside and agree to reduce debt by at least $1.2tn
By Ewen MacAskill in Washington - Guardian.co.uk
Eric Cantor, one of the leading Republicans in Congress, claimed on Monday that the 12-member super-committee will be able to meet next week's deadline for reducing the US national deficit by at least $1.2tn over the next decade.
Cantor's cautious optimism came in spite of widespread speculation that the gap between Democrats and Republicans remains too big to bridge, with less than a week left to reach a compromise.
The House majority leader, at a press conference in Congress, repeatedly refused to be drawn on how much progress has been made by the committee, which is meeting in secret. But, according to AP, Cantor finally acknowledged: "I believe they will reach an agreement by the deadline."
The Not-So-Super Committee |
THE PLAIN TRUTH by Judge Napolitano 11/07/11
Banks Quietly Ramping Up Costs to Consumers
By ERIC DASH - NYTimes.com
Even as Bank of America and other major lenders back away from charging customers to use their debit cards, many banks have been quietly imposing other new fees.
Need to replace a lost debit card? Bank of America now charges $5 — or $20 for rush delivery.
Deposit money with a mobile phone? At U.S. Bancorp, it is now 50 cents a check.
Want cash wired to your account? Starting in December, that will cost $15 for each incoming domestic payment at TD Bank. Facing a reaction from an angry public and heightened scrutiny from regulators, banks are turning to all sorts of fees that fly under the radar. Everything, it seems, has a price.
Protesters hope to shut down New York's Wall Street
By Chris Francescani
(Reuters) - Protesters hope to shut down Wall Street on Thursday -- home to the New York Stock Exchange -- by holding a street carnival to mark the two-month anniversary of their campaign against economic inequality.
Protest organizers acknowledged that the "day of action" could be the group's most provocative yet, and could lead to mass arrests and further strain relations with city authorities.
"I think we're certainly going into this with our eyes wide open, but (the march is) to provoke ideas and discussion, not to provoke any violent reactions," said Occupy Wall Street spokesman Ed Needham.
War savings and debt reduction: Take two
By Lori Montgomery - WashingtonPost.com
The congressional "supercommittee" is looking to count as budget savings as much as $700 billion that the nation no longer plans to spend on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next decade, an accounting gimmick that has drawn fire from both Democrats and Republicans.
In deference to that criticism, aides from both parties said the panel would not count war savings toward its primary debt-reduction goal of at least $1.2 trillion. Instead, they are considering using the savings to "pay for" other priorities, such as extending emergency unemployment benefits and a temporary payroll tax cut currently enjoyed by every American worker.
Congress: Trading stock on inside information?
They Walked Away, and They’re Glad They Did
By TESS VIGELAND - NYTimes.com
JON WITTENBERG and Bill Sawyer have never met. One lives in Walnut Creek, Calif., the other in Wilsonville, Ore. But if they did, the conversation might be littered with exclamations like, "That’s exactly what happened to me!"
Their stories start with a mid-decade home purchase and turn sharply as they simply walk away from those homes and the mortgages that accompany them. What was supposed to happen next was that their financial lives would crash and burn for years.
Or so the dire warnings went. In reality, both men said, walking away turned out to be the best financial decision they made.
Unions geared up for Ohio referendum vote
By Kevin Bogardus - TheHill.com
Unions are feeling confident heading into a crucial vote next Tuesday on an Ohio state referendum dealing with collective bargaining rights.
After Ohio state lawmakers passed legislation in March — known as Senate Bill 5 — that curbed collective bargaining rights for all of the state’s public workers, labor gathered signatures for a voters’ referendum to repeal the bill. The vote next week will be a test of labor’s political strength, much like the Wisconsin state recall elections earlier this year, and has helped motivate a union base in a vital swing state for the 2012 elections.
Eric proved 'right' again... Recycling Export Boom Turns Green Into Gold
By: Trevor Curwin, Special to CNBC.com
"Buy American" is back.
At least when it comes to recycled scrap materials.
Scrap materials are now the nation's largest export category by volume, and continue to set yearly records, with nearly $30 billion in recycled commodities — notably metals and paper fiber — moving overseas, up from $22 billion in 2009.
"Scrap exports play a vital role for the recycling industry specifically, and also generally for the U.S. economy," says BobGarino, vice president at Export Tax Advisors, a firm that helps U.S. firms export scrap.
Gerald Celente - Jeff Rense Radio Show
10 November 2011
NYT Comes Pretty Damn Close
to Reporting that Obama and Geithner
May Have Known Each Other
When They Were Children in Asia
By Robert Wenzel - EconomicPolicyJournal.com
Whoa! It's buried deep in an NYT profile of the Geithner-Obama relationship, but check this out:
Born two weeks apart in August 1961, the president and Mr. Geithner each spent childhood years in Asia because each had a parent working for the Ford Foundation on overseas development.
As I have reported many times, I suspect Geithner's father is/was high level CIA and used the Ford Foundation as cover to travel Asia.
What NYT fails to mention is that Geithner's father was in charge of microfinance in Asia for the Ford Foundation and the Obama's mother ran microfinance for the Ford Foundation in Indonesia. In other words, Geithner's father was the boss of Obama's mother. This is what I wrote in March. 2009:
The problem with calling food, natural... Would You Consider High-Fructose Corn Syrup Natural?
The FDA Does
By Marion Nestle - TheAtlantic.com
Are you puzzled, annoyed, or irritated beyond belief by the word "natural" on food product labels?
FoodNavigator must think so. It conducted an opinion survey on what to do about marketing foods as "natural".
FoodNavigator asked: Do we [food companies] need a clearer definition of 'natural' for food marketing?
The response options:
Yes. The FDA should come up with a formal definition (63 percent checked this one)
Yes. The industry should develop voluntary guidance (20 percent)
No. The FDA's 1993 guidance is sufficient (about 1 percent)
No. The term is meaningless and manufacturers should stop using it (16 percent)
Gerald Celente hammers MF Global's "MF'ers"
on Capital Account (11/14/11)
Heart Failure May Be Cut by Stem Cells, Study Shows
By Natasha Khan - Bloomberg.com
Patients with heart failure can reduce the risk of further occurrences by as much as 80 percent using an experimental stem-cell treatment, according to a study whose results are among the most promising for such therapies.
In research by Mesoblast Ltd. (MSB), 45 patients who had moderate to severe congestive heart failure were given a shot of the Revascor treatment in addition to standard medicines, while 15 didn’t receive the experimental drug. The first group cut its risk of further cardiac events by almost 80 percent, according to results of the Phase II study to be presented today at an American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Google Is Said to Be Near Deal
With Universal Music for Planned Service
By Andy Fixmer and Brian Womack - Bloomberg.com
Google Inc. (GOOG) is near an agreement to secure songs fromVivendi SA (VIV)’s Universal Music Group for its new music service, said a person with knowledge of the situation.
An accord with Universal, the world’s biggest music company, may be signed as early as tomorrow, said the person, who isn’t authorized to talk publicly. Google sent out invitations for a music event on Nov. 16 in Los Angeles. EMI Group Ltd. has already signed on, two people said.
Google aims to open a music-download store that allows for copies of songs to be stored online and accessed from multiple devices, three of the people said. The company also seeks rights for its Google+ social-network users to share music with each other, the people said.
N. Korea makes fast progress on construction of nuclear plant
By Chico Harlan - WashingtonPost.com
TOKYO — North Korea has made rapid progress on the construction of a new nuclear reactor, with work nearly complete on the outside walls of the reactor building, according to an analysis of recent satellite images.
Because the reactor building hasn’t yet been loaded with sensitive nuclear equipment, the plant might not be operational for two or three more years, one analyst said. But the accelerated pace of construction, coming one year after North Korea disclosed the plant publicly, lends credence to Pyongyang’s claim that it has the materials and know-how to build nuclear plants on its own.
EU ministers postpone decision on new Iran sanctions
By Sebastian Moffett and Justyna Pawlak
(Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers spoke out in favor of tougher sanctions against IranMonday, but decided to wait until their next meeting on Dec 1. before taking further action.
The ministers, meeting in Brussels, also ruled out any military action for now, despite last week's conclusion by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Tehran had worked on designing a nuclear bomb.
"The Council will continue to examine possible new and reinforced measures and revert to this issue at its next meeting, taking into account Iran's action," the ministers said in a statement.
The United States and Israel have refused to rule out any way of stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear arsenal. But the EU ministers limited themselves to condemning Iran's expanding uranium enrichment program and expressing concern over the IAEA findings that Iran was developing military nuclear technology.
Attack on Iran could risk Gulf oil supplies Powerful option if Israel hits nukes
By Rowan Scarborough-The Washington Times
Iran is contemplating violently shutting down shipping in the Persian Gulf as one of several counterattack options if Israel strikes its nuclear facilities, regional and intelligence analysts say.
Such attacks would present the Obama administration with the option of undertaking a limited war against Iran by striking its warships and shore-based anti-ship missiles to keep the Gulf open for business.
Former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson said Iran has enough firepower to effectively close the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 percent of all the world’s oil moves.
Dr Deagle Show 111110 1/3 - TIM ALEXANDER -
COMING STRAIT OF HORMUZ OIL CHOKEPOINT
Dr Deagle Show 111110 2/3 - TIM ALEXANDER -
COMING STRAIT OF HORMUZ OIL CHOKEPOINT
Dr Deagle Show 111110 3/3 - TIM ALEXANDER -
COMING STRAIT OF HORMUZ OIL CHOKEPOINT
Dr Deagle Show 111111 1/3 -
Preparedness and Earth Changes Panel
Dr Deagle Show 111111 2/3 -
Preparedness and Earth Changes Panel
Dr Deagle Show 111111 3/3 -
Preparedness and Earth Changes Panel
Regulators close a bank in Georgia
By ALEX VEIGA - BusinessWeek.com
LOS ANGELES - Regulators on Friday closed a bank Georgia, bringing to 88 the number of bank failures in the U.S. this year.
The number of closures has fallen sharply this year as banks have worked their way through the bad debt accumulated in the recession. By this time last year, regulators had shuttered 146 banks.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Community Bank of Rockmart, based in Rockmart, Ga.
The bank had about $62.4 million in assets and $55.9 million in deposits as of Sept. 30.
Century Bank of Georgia, based in Cartersville, Ga., agreed to assume all of Community Bank's deposits and buy $40.7 million of the failed bank's assets.
Pace of Bank Failures Picks Up Again
By Mark Heschmeyer - CoStar.com
Eleven banks failed in October, up sharply from six in September and seven in August. The count through October is now 85 failures year-to-date, putting the annualized pace just over 100 for the full year 2011, according to Trepp LLC.
The pace of closures in October was above the year-to-date average of 8.5 per month.
"We maintain our estimate of a total failure count of approximately 100 for 2011, as there does seem to be some seasonality with the pace of closures picking up in quarterly reporting months (like July and October), then falling in the next two months," Trepp reported. "We expect closures to extend into 2012 and possibly beyond. This will depend largely on the strength of the economy in general, and real estate market conditions in particular."
On supercommittee,
growing doubts about reaching a debt deal
By Lori Montgomery and Rosalind S. Helderman - WashingtonPost.com
With just 10 days left before a Thanksgiving deadline, members of a congressional supercommittee appear increasingly pessimistic about the odds of forging a debt-reduction deal, despite an unprecedented offer by Republicans to raise taxes.
The public debate has grown more divisive since both sides laid out new offers last week. Negotiators, already under attack from the left, are facing fresh pressure from the anti-tax right. And charges of betrayal are expected to intensify Monday when the House returns from a weeklong break, fueling concerns that a deal could emerge from the supercommittee only to die in the House or the Senate.
"Super committee" well short of a deal, members say
By Lisa Mascaro - LATimes.com
With a week remaining for the congressional "super committee" to strike a deficit-reduction deal, a top Democrat said his party is not in agreement on an offer.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), one of the 12 members of the bipartisan panel, said he is "not as certain" the committee could find consensus between Democrats and Republicans as he was just days ago.
"The fact of the matter is Democrats have not coalesced around a plan," said Clyburn, the No. 3 Democrat in the House, on Fox News Sunday.
Fed's Yellen urges Europe to act on crisis
By Ann Saphir
(Reuters) - The euro zone's debt crisis could substantially damage the U.S. economy if not contained, the Federal Reserve's No. 2 official warned on Friday as she urged bold action by Europe.
"Concerns about European fiscal and banking issues have contributed to strains in global financial markets that pose significant downside risks to the U.S. economic outlook," Fed Vice Chair Janet Yellen told a conference sponsored by the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank and the European Central Bank.
While U.S. banks have "manageable" direct exposure to sovereign debt in the smaller European countries, they have substantial links to banks in larger European countries, some of which are facing funding difficulties, Yellen said.
Global security trumps economics at APEC conference
By David Nakamura - WashingtonPost.com
HONOLULU — Try as he might to focus Asia Pacific leaders on forging new economic partnerships during a regional summit here, President Obama has spent as much time in private meetings with his counterparts discussing another pressing concern: national security.
Among the key issues Obama raised in formal bilateral discussions were containing nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea, establishing clear maritime rights in the South China Sea and working out the future of U.S. military forces in Japan, senior White House officials said.
APEC leaders seek firewall against Europe crisis
By Caren Bohan and Emily Kaiser
(Reuters) - Asia-Pacific leaders sought a united front on Sunday to prop up economic growth despite divisions over trade and currency policies as they face a common threat from Europe's debt crisis.
Fresh from a rare success over agreement on the outlines of a regional trade deal, the 21 nations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit looked to the immediate challenge of safeguarding themselves against the fallout from Europe.
President Barack Obama, seeking to reassert U.S. leadership to counter China's expanding influence around the Pacific Rim, opened talks with APEC leaders declaring the region was "absolutely critical" to America's prosperity.
Obama: China needs to play fair President meets with counterpart for 'frank' policy talk at APEC summit
By Dave Boyer - The Washington Times
A U.S.-backed initiative to create a Pacific free-trade bloc to counter China’s economic power gained momentum at an international summit Sunday when Canada and Mexico said they want to join the fledgling partnership.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his country needs Asia as a market for its energy exports and that the pact-in-progress would be "an important priority of this government going forward."
Obama at APEC summit: China must ‘play by the rules’
By David Nakamura - WashingtonPost.com
HONOLULU — President Obama moved quickly Saturday to project the image of renewed American leadership in the Asian Pacific, announcing broad agreement on a multi-nation free-trade pact and warning China that it must "play by the rules” as its international influence increases.
On the first day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit here, Obama sketched out his administration’s vision of an expanded U.S. role, telling a ballroom of hundreds of business leaders that the newfound engagement is a “reaffirmation of how important we consider this region."
Stage Is Set for a Possible China Suprise in 2012
BY CHRIS PUPLAVA - FinancialSense.com
Since late 2009 China has maintained a monetary tightening regime in which money supply growth rates have fallen and bank reserve requirements have risen. The monetary tightening programs have been aimed at cooling Chinese property prices as well as overall inflation levels. With a tight monetary backdrop, Chinese equities have made little headway after a strong showing in early 2009. However, with Chinese inflation in the process of peaking China may soon be able to reverse course and adopt a monetary easing policy to spur economic growth from cooling too far. If the country does move in this direction then Chinese equities may be a surprise story for 2012.
Obama: China’s stooge President blames America
while running economy into the ground
By Brett M. Decker - The Washington Times
President Obama is overseas on a nine-day Blame America First tour. He’s ostensibly spending time on the other side of the Pacific to explore ways the United States can work better with Asian economies. Instead, he’s using his time in the spotlight to criticize the nation he’s supposed to be leading.
"We’ve been a little bit lazy over the last couple of decades," Mr. Obama said at anAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Honolulu over the weekend. "We’ve kind of taken for granted — 'Well, people would want to come here' — and we aren't out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new businesses into America." This is the height of chutzpah from the elected official who has done more than anyone else to undermine the competitiveness of U.S. industries. Economic uncertainty is the chief reason businesses aren’t hiring or investing in new projects. The main causes for corporate uncertainty are out-of-control government regulation, spending and taxation – problems Mr. Obama has exacerbated.
What’s Best For China: Geithner’s Hubris Knows No Bounds
By Addison Wiggin - DailyReckoning.com
11/11/11 Baltimore, Maryland – "It is better for China, it’s better for the world and the United States if China allows its currency to appreciate more rapidly," thus spake Lord Treasurer, er, Secretary of the Treasury, the honorable Mr. Tim Geithner after a summit in Honolulu yesterday.
Recall Mr. Geithner, on his first visit to China as Treasury Secretary in June 2009, assured a roomful of students that their government’s investment in US Treasuries was rock solid.
"Chinese assets are very safe," Geithner declared. The statement elicited "loud laughter" from the assembled crowd, according to accounts at the time. Ever since, he’s been in a snit about China.
Physical gold to trump ETFs by 500% in 2011
hears Dubai conference
By: Peter Cooper - GoldSeek.com
Physical gold will outsell ETFs by 500 per cent this year, Standard Bank’s Walter de Wet told the 8th Dubai City of Gold Conference today. Two years ago the position was completely reversed with physical gold sales running at only 20 per cent of ETFs.
'It's a complete flip from ETFs to physical gold,' he said. 'And it seems to reflect people’s lack of trust in financial systems and the shift in investment flows towards Asia and the Middle East.'
The public is ignorant of Gold's worth
at a time when Euro is dying
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): The failure of the Eurozone and the European monetary union looks increasingly likely. This has incredible political, economic and monetary implications for the world and could Lead to shockwaves akin to or surpassing that seen after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Merkel has called for changes in EU treaties and French President Nicolas Sarkozy advocated a two-speed Europe in which euro zone countries accelerate and deepen integration while an expanding group outside the currency bloc stays more loosely connected -- a signal that some members may have to quit the euro.
Gold outlook positive for remainder of 2011
By Ross Norman - CommodityOnline.com
Gold's edging higher over the last few weeks can be attributed to a host of factors but certainly the rising cost of funding. Italy's debt towards the pivotal 7% has had the market in thrall. The 7% has been seen as the level beyond which Italy would be forced to seek support from the ECB and IMF and, to put it frankly it remains, a moot point whether there is sufficient funding to do much for them. In short, Gold prices have benefited from what has appeared to be a slow speed train crash in the Eurozone.
When will the market say 'no more' to U.S. debt binge?
By Tom Petruno - LATimes.com
Soaring interest rates on Italian government bonds over the last five weeks show how quickly the market can send a powerful message to debtor nations: You've borrowed enough.
So where is that market comeuppance for the U.S. Treasury, the world's single largest debtor, with nearly $15 trillion borrowed?
It now appears that the congressional "super committee" set up to rein-in the government's massive deficit spending could fail to arrive at an agreement by its Nov. 23 deadline.
Yet that seems unlikely to trigger a surge of selling in Treasury bonds that would drive up interest rates from their current near-record-low levels.
Whose Economy Has It Worst? With Europe, China and the U.S. in crisis, the real question is which of them will stumble first
By IAN BREMMER and NOURIEL ROUBINI - WSJ.com
It's no wonder that global markets are so jittery. The world's three largest economies can't continue along their current paths, and everybody knows it. Investors watch nervously for signs that China is headed toward a hard landing, that America will sink back into recession, and that the euro zone will simply implode.
In all three cases, kicking the can down the road has staved off disaster so far, but the cans are getting bigger and heavier. Which economy will be the first to stumble on its problems?
Europe's mess gives U.S. a reprieve on debt comeuppance
By Tom Petruno - LATimes.com
It's wrong to take comfort in the suffering of others.
But for millions of Americans who've sought refuge in bond investments since 2008, it's hard not to be appreciative of Europe's grinding financial crisis.
The threat of a meltdown across the Atlantic has kept money pouring into high-quality U.S. bonds, particularly Treasury issues, as a haven. That has held interest rates near generational lows since early August, in turn boosting the value of older bonds issued at higher rates.
Europe’s Woes Pose New Peril to Recovery in the U.S.
By ANNIE LOWREY - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — For the second time in two years, European debt troubles threaten to slow the momentum of the fragile recovery in the United States.
Although American financial institutions have taken steps to protect themselves from Europe’s long-simmering problems, the likely slowdown in Europe could damage consumer and business confidence in America and strengthen the dollar, making United States exports less competitive.
"Financial contagion can lead to the very rapid global spread of recession," said Chris Varvares, senior managing director for Macroeconomic Advisers, a forecasting company. "If trouble intensifies and spills over to equities and other U.S. risk assets, we could see a soft patch."
Why Is There a Euro Crisis?
Mises Daily: by Philipp Bagus
On Thursday, October 28, 2011, prices of European stocks soared. Big banks like Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank or Deutsche Bank experienced fantastic one-day gains. What happened?
Today's banks are not free-market institutions. They live in a symbiosis with governments that they are financing. The banks' survival depends on privileges and government interventions. Such an intervention explains the unusual stock gains. On Wednesday night, an EU summit had limited the losses that European banks will take for financing the irresponsible Greek government to 50 percent. Moreover, the summit showed that the European political elite is willing to keep the game going and continue to bail out the government of Greece and other peripheral countries. Everyone who receives money from the Greek government benefits from the bailout: Greek public employees, pensioners, unemployed, subsidized sectors, Greek banks — but also French and German banks.
Where is the ECB Printing Press?
By: John Mauldin - GoldSeek.com
Europe remains the focus of markets, and rightly so. But the picture is not as clear as one would like. Different analysts point to different problems – if only this one problem could be solved, then all this would go away, they tend to say. Sadly, it is not one problem but three that must be solved, and none of them is easy. In today’s letter I try and offer a basic primer on the problems facing Europe. My challenge to myself is to do it in a short piece rather than the book-length tome it could easily become. Thus, in the pursuit of brevity, we will not be as in-depth as usual, but I think it helps us to step back a few feet and look at the larger picture before we focus on minutiae.
Eurozone bail-out fund has to resort to buying its own debt Europe's €1 trillion (£854bn) rescue fund has been forced to buy its own debt as outside investors become increasingly concerned about the worsening eurozone sovereign debt crisis.
By Harry Wilson and Kamal Ahmed - Telegraph.co.uk
The European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) last week announced it had successfully sold a €3bn 10-year bond in support of Ireland.
However, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal that target was only met after the EFSF resorted to buying up several hundred million euros worth of the bonds.
Sources said the EFSF had spent more than €100m buying up its own bonds to help it achieve its funding target after the banks leading the deal were only able to find about €2.7bn of outside demand for the debt.
EFSF denies report that it bought its own bonds
(Reuters) - The euro zone's bailout fund said on Sunday that it did not buy its own bonds last week, denying a British newspaper report that it spent more than 100 million euros ($137 million) to cover a shortfall of demand.
Britain's Sunday Telegraph said that the EFSF had to step in after banks leading the deal were only able to find about 2.7 billion euros of outside demand. The 10-year bond sale raised 3 billion euros last Monday.
"The EFSF did not buy its own bonds and the book was 3 billion euros," an EFSF spokesman said, referring to the 3 billion euros raised in last Monday's 10-year bond issue.
How Greece and Italy Can Avoid a Deep Recession
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
11/11/11 Paris, France – You say Papandreou
I say Papademos
Let’s call the whole thing off!
How many dear readers have any idea what that little ditty is about? You have to be a certain age to remember… You have to recall Louis Armstrong…
But heck, who cares about song lyrics?
Europe is falling apart. “Italy’s days in the eurozone may be numbered,” writes Nouriel Roubini in The Financial Times.
"France plots eurozone breakaway group," adds The Daily Telegraph.
And here’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, at the Telegraph: "Europe’s debt crisis is threatening to push large parts of the world into recession."
Are Italy and the Euro Doomed, Together? Italy and the euro need to stay together, but even if they do, they still might not survive.
By Jordan Weissmann, Reuters - TheAtlantic.com
Global markets finally relaxed today after a week of mania over Italy's debt crisis. Despite some initial waffling, the country's government is poised to pass a series of reform measures meant to fix its shambling economy. That paves the way for Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to make good on his promise to bow out and let his likely successor, a widely respected former European commissioner, step in. Markets are up. European bond yields have eased.
Surely, as your read this, some frazzled banker is kicking back with a Campari and soda.
Yet, it's still too early to celebrate. Italy's reform legislation is the start of a solution, not the end of a crisis. Its economy, along with its marriage to the euro, will continue to be tested. And as desperately as the world needs that relationship to work, it may be doomed to fail.
Pressure on the ECB grows as Mario Monti rides to rescue The European Central Bank (ECB) is under intense pressure to step up purchases of Italian bonds after premier Silvio Berlusconi finally relinquished power in Rome, clearing the way for former EU commissioner Mario Monti to form an emergency government of technocrats.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The "halo effect" of Mr Monti helped bring Italian bond yields back from the brink of a catastrophic spiral on Friday but the gains are likely to be tested again as the new team faces the stark reality of Italy's fractured politics.
"The ECB must make it clear that it will not allow Italy's bond yields to rise above 5pc, however much it costs," said Thomas Mayer, chief economist at Deutsche Bank.
He described the current policy of half-hearted bond purchases as "a recipe for failure", signalling to markets that the ECB is not willing to see the job through with overwhelming force.
Even as Governments Act, Time Runs Short for Euro
By NICHOLAS KULISH and STEVEN ERLANGER - NYTimes.com
BERLIN — The window of opportunity to save the euro is rapidly closing, as the sovereign debt crisis erodes the solvency of Europe’s banks and drives up borrowing rates for even once rock-solid countries like France.
On Saturday, the crisis swept away another leader, when Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned after 17 years of dominance in Italian politics to the jeers and cheers of crowds in Rome.
Both there and in Greece, jumbled parliaments came together with urgency to install more technocratic governments that are committed to delivering the difficult reforms and austerity measures demanded by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The great euro Putsch rolls on as two democracies fall Europe’s scorched-earth policies have begun in earnest. The inherent flaws of monetary union have created a crisis of such gravity that EU leaders now feel authorized to topple two elected governments.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
As I long feared, the flood of cheap credit into Southern Europe and the slow death of Club Med industry by currency asphyxiation have together created such a dangerous situation for world finance that informed opinion is willing to turn a blind eye to EU sovereign trespass. Some even applaud.
The Greeks were ordered to drop their referendum on measures that reduce their country to a sort of Manchukuo, with EU commissars "on the ground", installed in each ministry, drawing up lists of state assets to be liquidated to pay foreign creditors.
Out Of The Ashes
Of The Collapse Of The Eurozone
Will A "United States Of Europe" Arise?
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
All over Europe, headlines are declaring that the eurozone is on the verge of collapse. Many people falsely assume that this will mean the end of the euro and a return to national currencies. Unfortunately, that is not going to be the case at all. Instead, this is going to be yet another example of how the elite attempt to bring order out of chaos. The European elite have no intention on giving up on a united Europe. Rather, they hope to be able to bring to life a new "United States of Europe" out of the ashes of the existing eurozone. Over the coming months we will see widespread panic and fear all across Europe. The euro will likely sink like a rock and there will probably be huge financial problems in Europe and all around the globe. But for the European elite, a great crisis like this represents a golden opportunity to tear down the existing structures and build new ones. The solution that the European elite will be pushing will not be to go back to the way that Europe used to be. Instead, they will be pushing the idea of a much more tightly integrated Europe really hard.
Chinese ratings agency threatens US with new debt downgrade
By Peter Beaumont - Guardian.co.uk
The head of China's biggest ratings agency, Dagong Global Credit Rating, is warning that it may downgrade the US's sovereign debt rating again because of Washington's failure to tackle the federal budget deficit.
The remarks by Dagong's chairman, Guan Jianzhong, to be broadcast in an interview with al-Jazeera on Saturday morning, come at the end of another week of deep turmoil for the world economy.
Dagong, which has maintained a pessimistic outlook on US fiscal policy, has been leading the charge to downgrade US debt over the last 12 months, lowering the US rating from AA to A+ a year ago.
Now Is the Time for an Economic Bill of Rights
by: Ellen Brown, Truthout | News Analysis
Henry Ford said, "It is well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning."
We are beginning to understand, and Occupy Wall Street looks like the beginning of the revolution.
We are beginning to understand that our money is created, not by the government, but by banks. Many authorities have confirmed this, including the Federal Reserve itself. The only money the government creates today are coins, which compose less than one ten-thousandth of the money supply. Federal Reserve Notes, or dollar bills, are issued by Federal Reserve banks, all 12 of which are owned by the private banks in their district. Most of our money comes into circulation as bank loans, and it comes with an interest charge attached.
Credibility Trap:
US Congressmen and Their Staffs
Regularly Engage In Insider Trading
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
These dozen Congressmen are just the ones that would brag about it openly to Jack Abramoff.
Trading in insider information amongst the Congress and their staffs is a form of soft bribery that undermines the character of the legislation, and is a relative side dish compared to the huge amounts of lobbying funds being thrown around by corporate special interests. And both parties are in on it to varying degrees.
K Street's Super Committee Splurge
By Michelle Malkin - PatriotPost.com
The bipartisan debt panel to nowhere is exactly where K Street lobbyists want it to be: hopelessly deadlocked. A November 23 deadline for agreement on $1.2 trillion in budget savings is looming, but no real reductions in the size, scope or spending of government are on the table. Instead, we are witnessing another obscene special-interest splurge to preserve the status quo. All in the name of "reform," of course.
The only thing "super" about the so-called budget control super committee is the size of lobbying muscle exerted on its members. Almost 100 registered lobbyists who are former employees of super committee members are now "representing defense companies, health-care conglomerates, Wall Street banks and others with a vested interest in the outcome of the panel's work," the Washington Post found in September. This includes two dozen former staffers to Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, including three former chiefs of staff.
MF Global fires all 1,066 staff as trustees hunt for lost $600m MF Global, US brokerage run by former Goldman Sachs boss Jon Corzine, fires 1,066 staff, while regulators search for funds that went missing before collapse
By Dominic Rushe in New York - Guardian.co.uk
The bankrupt brokerage MF Global has fired all of its 1,066 staff as trustees hunt for $600m (£375m) in missing funds.
The trustee's office responsible for liquidating MF Global, the broker-dealer run by former New Jersey governor and Goldman Sachs boss Jon Corzine, said all employees had been sacked but that between 150 and 200 would be rehired to assist in the winding down of the business.
Employees were notified of the layoffs in meetings at MF Global's offices in midtown Manhattan and in Chicago. The layoffs will affect staff in cities across the US including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington DC.
How the U.S. Will Become a 3rd World Country
By Ron Hera - GoldSeek.com
The United States is increasingly similar to a 3rd world county in several ways and is accelerating towards 3rd world status. Economic data indicate a harsh reality that obviates mainstream political debate. The evidence suggests that, without fundamental reforms, the U.S. will become a post industrial neo-3rd-world country by 2032.
Fundamental characteristics that define a 3rd world country include high unemployment, lack of economic opportunity, low wages, widespread poverty, extreme concentration of wealth, unsustainable government debt, control of the government by international banks and multinational corporations, weak rule of law and counterproductive government policies. All of these characteristics are evident in the U.S. today.
Santa’s coming, and higher PC prices will follow Expect to pay more as Thai floods wash over supply chain
By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or something else, the holiday-shopping season is effectively under way. Because of end-of-the-year deals, this is always one of the best times of the year for consumers to buy personal computers.
But don’t expect those times to last much longer.
That’s because shipments of PCs, and the hard-disk drives that go inside them, are set to decline, and their prices will soon go up. The effects of ongoing flooding in Thailand has crippled, and in some cases shut down, production at many hard-drive manufacturing facilities in that country.
Health Law Puts Focus on Limits of Federal Power
By ADAM LIPTAK - NYTimes.com
WASHINGTON — If the federal government can require people to purchase health insurance, what else can it force them to do? More to the point, what can’t the government compel citizens to do?
Those questions have been the toughest ones for the Obama administration’s lawyers to answer in court appearances around the country over the past six months. And they are likely to emerge again if, as expected, the Supreme Court, as early as Monday, agrees to be the final arbiter of the challenge to President Obama’s signature health care initiative.
The case focuses on whether Congress overstepped its constitutional authority in enacting parts of the law. Lower courts have reached divergent conclusions.
* * * * *
Cities Hit as Funds From Bonds Pay Other Bills
By IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN,
JUSTIN SCHECK and BOBBY WHITE - WSJ.com
When the recession squeezed Miami's budget in recent years, officials reached into funds raised for road repairs and other projects to plug the shortfall.
Now, the city is paying a price. The moves triggered lawsuits and a federal investigation, in a brouhaha that holds ramifications for how municipalities nationwide maneuver around unprecedented money problems.
Cities and states across the country are using money designated for specific purposes—such as fixing roads or sewers—in order to fill financial holes elsewhere, according to public officials and records. The moves are exposing municipalities to controversy, as federal regulators and local auditors are more heavily scrutinizing their finances to protect bond buyers and taxpayers.
Jumbo mortgages may be next in line to default
By Kenneth R. Harney - WashingtonPost.com
Do you have a big mortgage and good credit scores but not much equity — maybe you’re even underwater? Do you see little chance that your home’s market value will improve much during the coming three to seven years?
If you answered yes to both questions — and thousands of homeowners across the country could do so — new research suggests that you are in a category that lenders need to worry about most: prime jumbo borrowers who once were thought to be among the safest bets but who now are the most likely to opt for a strategic default and walk away from their homes.
Housing woes won’t yield to quick fix
By Robert J. Samuelson - WashingtonPost.com
We Americans think of ourselves as problem-solvers, but the housing collapse has so far eluded all solutions. Perhaps 10 million homes have gone into foreclosure since 2006; millions more will follow. From their peaks during the real-estate bubble, home prices aredown 30 percent, new housing construction has dropped 75 percent and existing home sales are off almost 30 percent. Housing’s collapse is one reason the economic recovery is so weak. Construction remains depressed, as are the appliance and furniture sales spurred by home buying.
Right to Rent:
The Foreclosure Crisis Solution Banks Love to Hate
by Loren Berlin - HuffingtonPost.com
Brad Meyer occupies the real estate equivalent of the twilight zone. He lives in Milwaukee with his wife and children in the three-bedroom ranch house they purchased a decade ago. Except today, they rent it through American Homeowner Preservation, a small, Ohio-based company that purchases distressed properties and leases them back to the previous homeowner.
The rental program -- the brainchild of Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research -- is part of a broader effort to identify alternatives to traditional foreclosure. Instead of having to give up their homes, delinquent borrowers are able to remain under their roofs, albeit as tenants.
Mayor "1%" Bloomberg
Tries to Make it Harder
for Homeless to Get Into Shelters
by: Tana Ganeva, AlterNet | Truth-Out.org
Last week the Bloomberg administration announced new eligibility rules that would make it harder for homeless people to get into city shelters, a cost-cutting measure astutely timed to coincide with the approach of winter. After a major outcry by homeless advocates and city council members including Speaker Christine Quinn, the city agreed last night to delay the measure pending a court review on December 9th.
Under the policy, originally set to go into effect next week, the city could refuse someone a bed at a shelter unless they proved they had no other housing options, such as staying with relatives or friends. Department of Homeless Services commissioner Seth Diamond claimed the new eligibility guidelines would prevent people who have alternatives to the shelter (like a princely spot on someone's floor) from filling up space reserved for the chronically homeless. Critics pointed out that redefining what counts as "homeless" and throwing bureaucratic obstacles at people in desperate financial straits is not the same thing as actually combatting homelessness.
Voices From the Occupations
by: Jeremy Gantz, In These Times | Truth-Out.org
The Occupy protesters have been ridiculed by the press, celebrated by the left, and reviled by the right—but rarely allowed to speak for themselves. After the initial New York protest morphed into a national movement in October, reporters struggled to understand the spectacle and pundits stepped in to pontificate and prognosticate.
They were right about one thing: United in anger, the mostly young protesters have lost faith in America’s political and economic system—but they don’t always agree on how to repair it.
In late October, In These Times held a conference call with protesters around the country, hoping to illuminate their intentions, ideals and ultimate goals.
DEATHS HAVE CITIES CALLING FOR OWS SHUTDOWN
Truthdig.com
Three deaths in or near Occupy Wall Street encampments in different cities late last week have given authorities reason to insist that shutting the protests down is in the public’s best interest.
City leaders in Oakland cited the fatal shooting of a man Thursday just outside the Occupy site as proof that the camp itself bred crime, though the homicide was the city’s 101st this year. “Why is the media even here?” one protestershouted after the event, according to The New York Times. “This happens every day in Oakland.” Protesters say the killing was connected to the movement only insofar as the poverty generated by the activities of U.S. financial institutions breeds violence.
Police in Denver Move on Protesters
by: The New York Times | Truth-Out.org
Denver - The Denver police cleared a protest encampment allied with the Occupy Wall Street movement in a downtown square Saturday evening. Sixteen people were arrested, according to the police.
"We warned the individuals about blocking right of way and setting up tents," said a police spokesman, Sonny Jackson. "We asked them to take some of the items down, and they refused."
The police arrived at Civic Center Park early Saturday evening and began dismantling the camp.
"We asked them to step back, and collected anything that was left behind," Mr. Jackson said.
US officials worried about security at London 2012 Olympics US plans to send 500 FBI agents to protect its athletes as organisers admit underestimating number of security guards needed
By Nick Hopkins and Richard Norton-Taylor - Guardian.co.uk
The US has raised repeated concerns about security at the LondonOlympics and is preparing to send up to 1,000 of its agents, including 500 from the FBI, to provide protection for America's contestants and diplomats, the Guardian has learned.
American officials have expressed deep unease that the UK has had to restrict the scope of anti-terrorism "stop and search" powers, and have sought a breakdown of the number of British police and other security personnel that will be available next summer.
Boeing secures record Emirates deal
By Andrew Parker, FT.com - CNN.com
(Financial Times) -- Boeing on Sunday won its single largest ever commercial aircraft order when Emirates, the fast-growing Gulf carrier, announced it would buy at least 50 twin-aisle passenger airplanes from the US manufacturer.
The order for 50 Boeing 777 long-haul aircraft is worth $18bn at list prices, a record contract by value for the US company.
Unveiled at the Dubai air show, the deal provides a much-needed boost for Boeing, which has been badly trailing Airbus -- its arch rival -- in the number of orders won this year.
Syria calls for emergency Arab League meeting over suspension Bashar al-Assad's regime demands talks after 22-state regional body announces that it will suspend country amid growing violence
By Martin Chulov in Beirut - Guardian.co.uk
Syria has called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League after the regional body announced it will suspend Damascus from its membership ranks on Wednesday and impose sanctions – a move that has sharply escalated tensions across the region.
The regime of President Bashar al-Assad wants the urgent meeting held before the suspension is due to take effect. Syrian officials made the demand after a night of apparently sponsored violence against the diplomatic missions of states that had voted to punish it because of a crackdown against demonstrators in defiance of an earlier understanding.
Is Italy Next to Fail and Will Gold Go to $3,000 an Ounce?
by Peter Morici, Ph.D. - AmericanEconomicAlert.org
Europe is approaching the end game. Credit markets and other governments know what its leaders won't admit, namely the euro is failing. And then gold, more than the dollar, is set to rocket in value as the crisis unfolds.
In addition to looser monetary policy, i.e., generous European Central Bank purchases of member country bonds,and austerity-higher taxes and less spending across most of the EU states, Eurozone governments have a three pronged policy for avoiding a contagion: the European Financial Stability Fund to purchase and insure bonds of troubled governments; IMF supervision of finances for those governments; and direct loans to several governments -- and in Greece's case, a 50 percent haircut on private holders of the debt. None of those three policies are working out.
Max Keiser: China to beat IMF to Italy's gold
Bernanke Says Treasuries Still 'Safe Haven'
By Scott Lanman and Steve Matthews - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said U.S. Treasury securities remain a "safe haven" for investors after Standard & Poor’slowered its credit rating on the nation’s debt in August.
"The downgrade didn't scare off any investors," and the action, along with the prospect of other downgrades, hasn’t done “significant damage” to the economy, Bernanke said today in response to a question at a town-hall-style event in El Paso, Texas. At the same time, the nation must take measures to establish a sustainable path for the national debt amid rising Social Security and health-care costs, he said.
Bernanke Knows He’s Powerless This Time Around
Submitted by Phoenix Capital Research - ZeroHedge.com
During Round 1 of the Great Crisis, the US tried to combat the collapse of the private banking sector (especially the TBTFs) by shifting debt onto the public’s balance sheet and printing money to buy Treasuries so we could maintain a massive deficit (north of $1 trillion).
Put another way, the powers that be attempted to solve a MASSIVE debt implosion by issuing more debt. Aside from the fact this is outright insane, the problem with this is that we’re at a point of debt saturation in the system.
Keiser Report: Gold Wars (E208)
Investors Fleeing Bonds,
Savings Spur Record Flows Into Gold: India Credit
By Tushar Dhara and Swansy Afonso - Bloomberg.com
Investors in India are withdrawing from government bonds and national-savings schemes to pour record amounts into gold.
Funds that invest in sovereign debt shrank 4 percent from a month earlier to 30.2 billion rupees ($606 million) in September and those that buy gold rose 8 percent to an all-time high of 81.73 billion rupees, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India that is also known as AMFI. Individual investors withdrew 78.7 billion rupees between April and September from small-savings deposit plans such as those run by post offices, the most since at least 2000, government data show.
Could the Euro Trigger A 2008-Like Crash? Si, Oui, Yes.
By Charles Hugh Smith - OfTwoMinds.com
If we dispense with all the fancy stuff, we end up with a simple see-saw with the euro and global equities on one end and the much-hated U.S. dollar on the other.
If we scrape away the ever-hopeful headlines predicting a new figurehead lackey or another vote will magically fix Greece, Italy, the euro, Europe's crumbling banks, etc., the global stock markets can be distilled down to one chart. And here it is: a see-saw with the U.S. dollar on one end and the euro and equities on the other.
DEATH OF THE EURO
By Macer Hall - Express.co.uk
PREPARATIONS were under way last night for the break-up of the euro as Europe’s debt crisis spiralled out of control.
As Treasury officials worked through the night to soften the impact on Britain, David Cameron warned that the single European currency was facing its "moment of truth".
Business Secretary Vince Cable went further and spoke about "Armageddon" while Brussels officials warned that the chaos threatened to plunge us all into a new recession.
Ministers are understood to be deeply concerned that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel are secretly plotting to build a new, slimmed down eurozone without Greece, Italy and other debt-ridden southern Euro- pean nations.
The Death of Money How America's cheap money addiction is inflating the next bubble and undermining faith in government.
By PETER HARTCHER - The-American-Interest.com
Time magazine starred Alan Greenspan on its cover in 1998 for cutting interest rates, naming him one as of three people comprising a “Committee to Save the World.” Eleven years later, the same magazine indicted him as one of three people most culpable for the great economic collapse of 2008–09. Then, in 2009, Time named Greenspan’s successor, Ben Bernanke, as “Man of the Year” for cutting interest rates as part of “an effort to save the world economy.” Guess what comes next in this sequence of praise and blame, relief and recrimination. You have to work hard not to see it on the horizon, and the reason is clear: When money is too cheap for too long, it inevitably creates a problem.
Euro has one of worst drops this year Italian 10-year yield tops 7% after margin boost;
sterling weakens
By Deborah Levine and William L. Watts, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The euro took one of its biggest hits this year against the U.S. dollar Wednesday after Italian government bond yields surged, raising fears the euro zone’s third-largest economy could need a bailout.
Risk-averse investors moved to the perceived safety of the U.S. currency.
The euro fell to $1.3553, down from $1.3836 in North American trading late Tuesday. It’s only the fourth time this year the shared currency has fallen 2% or more.
Greenspan:
Europe’s Debt Crisis Comes Down to North vs. South
By Javier E. David - WSJ.com
The divergence between northern Europe’s powerhouse economies and the comparatively less competitive southern region is an "odd dilemma" that euro-zone leaders must confront, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday.
In a wide-ranging discussion at the Council of Foreign Relations, the man who was once considered the most powerful central banker in the world said the introduction of the euro currency never resolved the fundamental north-south divide of the continent’s economies.
EU warns of 'deep, prolonged recession'
By Matthew Dalton - MarketWatch.com
BRUSSELS -- The European Union Thursday slashed its growth forecast for the 27-nation bloc in the coming year and said it can't exclude the possibility of a deep, prolonged recession.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said in its semiannual forecast the economy is struggling with weak confidence, financial turmoil, government austerity packages and a slowdown in Europe's main trading partners.
It said the EU's gross domestic product in 2012, adjusted for inflation, would grow just 0.6%--sharply down from its forecast only six months ago of 1.8%.
New recession threatens the globe as debt crisis grows Europe's escalating debt crisis has cast a black shadow over the world's fragile recovery, threatening to tip large parts of the global economy into a deep downturn and even outright recession.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The OECD's index of leading indicators for China, India, Brazil, Canada, Britain and the eurozone have all tipped below the warning line of 100, with the pace of the decline in Europe exceeding the onset of the Great Contraction in early 2008.
Professor Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the IMF, rattled nerves earlier this week by warning the world is "looking straight into the face of a great depression".
The grim data is coming thick and fast. Japan's machinery orders fell 8.2pc in September as the post-Fukushima rebound lost steam and the delayed effects of the super-strong yen began to bite. Export orders have been declining for eight months. "Outright contraction is possible in the quarters ahead," said Mark Cliffe from ING.
Lindsey Williams -
2012 The Beginning of The End -
Full 3 DVD Set - October 2011 (3:21:04)
New Greek Premier Lucas Papademos
seeks unity over euro
BBC.co.uk
New Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has said the priority of his incoming coalition cabinet is to seek unity to keep Greece in the eurozone.
"The choices we make will be decisive for the Greek people," he said, adding that the euro was vital for prosperity.
Debt-laden Greece must quickly approve a EU bailout to secure vital loans.
Mr Papademos, a former European Central Bank vice-president, was named on Thursday after protracted talks. His cabinet is to be sworn in on Friday.
Merkel’s Greek Strategy Risks Backfiring
as Euro's Exit Routes Are Mapped
By Simon Kennedy - Bloomberg.com
Germany and France’s drive to force Greece to honor its euro commitments risks backfiring on Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy.
A week after the currency’s guardians declared for the first time that countries can be ejected from the 17-nation bloc, U.S. stocks tumbled on concern German politicians are already creating exit chutes for the weakest members.
The sell-off suggests Europe’s crisis is spiraling into a new stage as investors bet on which countries are most likely to quit the euro, starting with Greece. The risk is that this will make it harder for debt-laden countries to convince investors they can get their finances in order and for policy makers such as Merkel, Sarkozy and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to bolster the euro’s defenses.
The European Debt Crisis, Two Years On
By Eric Fry - DailyReckoning.com
11/10/11 Laguna Beach, California – No doubt, most Daily Reckoning readers are aware of yesterday’s shocking headlines: Mariah Carey lost 70 pounds… and Taylor Swift won the Country Music Award for "Entertainer of the Year."
Meanwhile, the European Union continued to unravel faster than a Kardashian marriage.
Because the European leaders have failed to contain the crisis within the economic boundaries of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, it is now fanning out across the Ionian Sea and up the Adriatic like a toxic plume… and is washing ashore in Italy.
Investors are terrified to wade into the water. Italian bond yields are spiking higher and stocks are plummeting worldwide.
Jim Rogers ET Now - 08 Nov 2011
A Financial Nightmare For Italy:
The Yield Curve For Italian Bonds Is Turning Upside Down
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
What we are all watching unfold right now is a complete and total financial nightmare for Italy. Italian bond yields are soaring to incredibly dangerous levels, and now the yield curve for Italian bonds is turning upside down. So what does that mean? Normally, government debt securities that have a longer maturity pay a higher interest rate. There is typically more risk when you hold a bond for an extended period of time, so investors normally demand a higher return for holding debt over longer time periods. But when investors feel as though a major economic downturn or a substantial financial crisis is coming, the yield on short-term bonds will often rise above the yield for long-term bonds. This happened to Greece, to Ireland and to Portugal and all three of them ended up needing bailouts. Now it is happening to Italy and Spain may follow shortly, but the EU cannot afford to bail out either of them. An inverted yield curve is a major red flag. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be much hope that there is going to be a solution to this European debt crisis any time soon.
France plots eurozone 'breakaway group’ France is drawing up plans to create a breakaway organisation of eurozone countries with its own treaty, parliament and headquarters – a move that could significantly undermine the existing European Union.
By Bruno Waterfield - Telegraph.co.uk
The proposal would see a formal "union within a union" created, but would lead to a significant deterioration in Britain's influence in Europe.
David Cameron is drawing up urgent plans to stop Britain being "railroaded" into agreeing to decisions taken by the new eurozone bloc.
France and Germany are understood to want to strengthen the union between eurozone countries with new taxes and legal measures to stop nations borrowing and spending too much in future.
Weaker countries such as Greece could even be barred from the new eurozone, under radical suggestions from some of those involved in discussions over the plan.
S&P accidentally announces downgrade of French debt
Business News - BBC.co.uk
Standard & Poor's accidentally released a message to some of its subscribers on Thursday saying that it had downgraded French debt from its top AAA rating.
S&P said it was investigating what had gone wrong and stressed that France still had an AAA rating.
The French market regulator AMF said it was also investigating how the error could have happened.
It came on the day that the difference between the yield of French and German bonds hit a record high.
At the end of Thursday's trading, the yield on a French OAT 10-year bond was 3.456% while the yield on a German 10-year bond was 1.776%.
Peter Schiff on Goldseek Radio - 09 Nov 2011
Sorry, there is no euro break-up plan – yet
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Very quickly, I have grave reservations about the Reuters story claiming that top German and French officials have had "intense consultations" on plans to reshape or "prune" the currency bloc, reducing it to a manageable core.
The Brussels press corps do not believe it. Nobody seems to know which German official is briefing behind the scenes that "you’ll still call it the euro, but there will be fewer countries."
The claims do not remotely reflect the stated position of Chancellor Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy. Merkozy might like to see Greece tossed to the wolves. That is a different matter.
The euro is being held together only by fear There has been a lot of "thinking the unthinkable" over the past week. If the euro is ultimately unsustainable, why not just face up to reality and let this grand exercise in political hubris go?
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Would the consequences really be quite as bad as conventional analysis makes out? These questions need deconstructing.
The announcement of a referendum last week by Greek (then) prime minister George Papandreou prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French premier Nicolas Sarkozy to ask in exasperation whether Greece wanted the euro or not.
Their intention was to frighten the Greeks into submission, and it worked. Papandreou is gone, and a government of national unity is being formed under the fully signed up eurocrat Lucas Papademos. Berlin and Paris have got their way.
ECB’s Policy Makers Say
They Can’t Do Much More to Stem Financial Crisis
By Jana Randow and Gabi Thesing - Bloomberg.com
European Central Bank policy makers said the bank can’t do much more to stem the region’s sovereign debt crisis, suggesting they are reluctant to significantly ramp up bond purchases to lower Italy’s borrowing costs.
"Not much more can be expected from us, it's up to the governments," Governing Council member Klaas Knot, who heads the Dutch central bank, told lawmakers in The Hague today. Three other policy makers have also publicly rejected calls for more ECB intervention and two further officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the central bank has no plans to make its purchase program unlimited.
Gerald Celente -
Tommy Schnurmacher Show - CJAD- 09 Nov 2011
As Italian Drama Persists,
Fears of Credit Crunch Spread to Small Businesses
By Catherine New - DailyFinance.com
The Atlantic Ocean is wide, but maybe not wide enough. On Thursday, markets had a mixed reaction to the deepening economic crisis in Europe. With Silvio Berlusconi's exit as Italy's prime minister, the nation is expected to name a new government within days. Some sources reported that the European Central Bank would step in and buy Italian bonds, easing fears that yields of more than 7% would cause the European economy to fracture.
In the U.S., small business owners grew nervous, while the equities markets took a slight hit. The crisis impacted oil prices, which fell on Europe's political news but were buoyed by reports of weak U.S. supplies. Gold prices fell nearly 2% to just above $1,750 an ounce, as the sell-off included precious metals. The wider commodities markets took a hit as well, with holiday treats like chocolate and sugar both trading down.
Italian Banks Are 'Free'-To-Trade
As Short-Sale-Ban Is Not Extended
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Unlike their French counterparts, it appears the hapless (or sensible) Italian demagogues have decided not to extend the short-sale ban that was enacted three months ago. With the US Treasury market closed and volumes likely thin elsewhere, we wonder what outlet the flight-to-safety flow will take as Italian bank equity reality is unleashed. In general the CDS market took the systemic brunt of the hedging and protection-seeking since the 8/11 ban and it seems likely that Intesa Sanpaolo and Mediobanca have the most to fall to catch up with peers in equity and credit.
Europe Must 'Move Quickly' to Stability: Geithner
By Cheyenne Hopkins - Bloomberg.com
U.S Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Europe remains the "central challenge" to global growth and must "move quickly" to restore financial stability.
Geithner, who is in Honolulu attending the 21-member Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, said in prepared remarks that the APEC countries are all directly affected by the Eurozone crisis and he encouraged them "to take steps to strengthen growth in the face of these pressures from Europe."
Geithner urges Asia-Pacific economies to spur growth
BBC.co.uk
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has urged Asia-Pacific countries to increase efforts to restore growth to the global economy.
He was addressing finance ministers from the 21 countries that are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) group.
Mr Geithner also pressed Europe to put in place a "strong plan" to resolve its debt crisis.
The comments come ahead of a summit of Apec leaders in Hawaii.
"We are all directly affected by the crisis in Europe," said Mr Geithner.
"But the economies gathered here are in a better position than most to take steps to strengthen growth in the face of these pressures from Europe."
Bernanke Says That Any Criticism
Of The Federal Reserve Is Based On "Misconceptions"
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is taking his show on the road in at attempt to help Americans feel better about the Federal Reserve. During a visit to the Fort Bliss headquarters of the Army’s 1st Armored Division this week, Bernanke held a town hall meeting during which he took questions from some of the soldiers. Bernanke tried to sound as compassionate as possible as he assured the soldiers that the Federal Reserve is looking out for the American people and is doing everything that it can to help create jobs. At one point, Bernanke even made the following statement: "For a lot of people, I know, it doesn't feel like the recession ever ended." That probably helped a lot of people feel better. A few probably even had a good cry. But what Bernanke did not explain to the troops is that the Federal Reserve is very much responsible for the fact that unemployment is rampant, for the fact that the U.S. dollar is rapidly being devalued and for the fact that we have accumulated the largest national debt in the history of the world.
"This means they can take segregated funds and leverage them to kingdom come. It means nothing is safe."
-- Andy Abraham
If you have a commodity account with Wall Street, they may gamble with your money, with your assets, the rule on segregated accounts be damned. If they lose the money you might be reimbursed, or not. The losses may have to be 'socialized' and haircuts received.
This is most likely a distortion of the principle known as 'rehypothecation' in which a broker can use customer positions and holdings as collateral pledged for a margin loan for the purpose of securing funding from a third party to service that loan.
Employers "scared" of taking on permanent staff
By Caroline Copley
(Reuters) - Employers burned by the cost of laying off workers in the last crisis are uneasy about taking on permanent staff amid faltering economic growth putting pressure on the current workforce, a staffing industry executive said on Thursday.
Demand for temporary workers often acts as a leading indicator for overall economic growth, as firms hire flexible workers at the start of a recovery and cut staff ahead of a downturn.
Staffing firms Randstad, USG People and Manpower have warned of slowing jobs growth in Europe as the region's debt crisis hammers consumer and business confidence.
Foreclosure Filings in U.S. Increase 7%
By Dan Levy - Bloomberg.com
U.S. foreclosure filings rose 7 percent in October to a seven-month high as lenders started to speed up action against delinquent borrowers after a yearlong review into documentation, according to RealtyTrac Inc.
A total of 230,678 properties received notices of default, auction or repossession, compared with 214,855 in September, the Irvine, California-based data seller said today in a report. One in every 563 U.S. households got a filing.
Notices plunged almost 31 percent from October 2010, when banks and loan servicers began slowing the process after complaints over the way they handled documents for defaults and home seizures. The monthly gain in filings signal that a “rain delay” in foreclosures may be easing, according to RealtyTrac Chief Executive Officer James J. Saccacio. The backlog has been partly to blame for a stalled U.S. housing recovery, he said.
Risk Rises for Housing Agency
By NICK TIMIRAOS - WSJ.com ($)
Concerns are rising that the Federal Housing Administration could run out money if the economy doesn't recover soon, raising the risk the agency would seek a taxpayer bailout for the first time in its 77-year history.
Since the mortgage crisis erupted five years ago, the FHA has played a critical role in housing finance as private lenders retreated. It backs about a third of all new mortgages originated for home purchases, up from around 5% in 2006.
Thanksgiving Dinner's Pricetag Rises 13 Percent This Year
By Eamon Murphy - DailyFinance.com
Nothing is sacred, it seems, when it comes to the whims of the global economy.
The American Farm Bureau Federation announced ina statementon Thursday that the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner -- turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie and all the basic trimmings -- will increase about 13% this year, the biggest jump since 1990.
This figure is the result of the group's twenty-sixth annual informal price survey of classic Thanksgiving dinner menu items. The average cost of a 2011 Thanksgiving dinner for 10 will be $49.20, the group projects -- a $5.73 increase from last year's average.
GOP effort to stop FCC’s 'net neutrality' push fails
By David Eldridge-The Washington Times
Senate Democrats voted down a Republican-led effort to stop theFederal Communications Commission from enforcing new "net neutrality" regulations that critics have called a federal takeover of the Internet.
Republicans called the rules, set to go into effect Nov. 20, a regulatory overreach and an attempt by the FCC and the Obama administration to fix something that isn’t broken.
"The FCC has essentially granted itself power over all forms of communication — including the Internet. Regulators and bureaucrats all over government are overstepping their bounds," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Texas Republican who sponsored the resolution, which failed on a 52-46 party-line vote.
Secret Service renews Biden rental Vice president to get $26,400
By Jim McElhatton-The Washington Times
Vice President Joseph R. Biden, the landlord, can count on at least 12 more months of rental income from the agency that protects his life.
Federal spending records show the U.S. Secret Service approved a purchase order on Nov. 2 to pay Mr. Biden $26,400 for agents to stay at a cottage on lakefront property he owns in Delaware.
Edwin M. Donovan, special agent in charge at the Secret Service's Office of Public Affairs in Washington, said Mr. Biden isn’t receiving all that money at once. Instead, he said, the purchase order shows plans by the Secret Service to pay Mr. Biden $2,200 per month for another year.
Rense & Marti Oakley - Total Surveillance, Total Control
Rense & Marti Oakley - Total Surveillance, Total Control, Pt 2
U.S. seeks new Keystone pipeline route
By Arshad Mohammed and Timothy Gardner
(Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it will study a new route for the Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, delaying any final approval beyond the U.S. 2012 election and sparing U.S. President Barack Obama a politically risky decision during an election year.
The decision was a victory for environmental groups, who say producing oil sands crude emits large amounts of greenhouse gases. It was a blow to TransCanada Corp, which planned to build and operate the conduit.
The State Department said that based on past experience a study of the new route could be completed as early as the first three months of 2013, well past the November 6 2012 U.S. presidential election.
Keystone XL:
Nebraskans take pipeline issue all the way to the White House Nebraskans with generations of passion for their land stand up to Big Oil in fight to preserve their natural treasure
By Suzanne Goldenberg in Lincoln, Nebraska - Guardian.co.uk
The woman seated before the row of suited state legislators in her red Husker team hoodie was choking on tears. She had grown up on a farm in Nebraska. Her parents had grown up on farms, in the days before electricity and running water, and now she said generations of toil and sweat could be destroyed in an instant by a $7bn pipeline project.
A leak from the pipeline, which would run from the tar sands of Alberta to the refineries of Texas, could poison her land forever, Donna Roller told the hearing this week during a special session of the state legislature.
Canadian pipeline to Texas on hold until 2013 Unions, GOP call review a 'job killer'
By Tim Devaney-The Washington Times
Citing environmental fears, the State Department on Thursday ordered a new review of a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, effectively delaying a final decision until after the 2012 elections and prompting a wave of criticism from businesses, unions and congressional Republicans, who called the move a "job killer."
The State Department instructed thatTransCanada’s planned Keystone XL pipeline be moved yet again, saying the current route could destroy Nebraska’s sandhills and the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water for much of the Midwest. The needed environmental reviews and approval processes for any new route for the pipeline will put off final approval for the project until at least early 2013.
China mocks U.S. political model
By Patrice Hill-The Washington Times
HONG KONG — Chinese political and business leaders are increasingly triumphant after two decades of rapid economic growth that lifted unprecedented millions of people out of poverty and turned the nation into an economic superpower, saying their success proves its political and economic system is superior to the Western model.
In extensive talks with a series of Chinese leaders, an oft-cited point of criticism is the gridlock and "dysfunction" they see in Washington. They say fawning by U.S. political leaders seeking re-election has created an "entitlement culture" where the public has grown dependent on government largesse. Now, with the United States facing monumental economic and debt problems, the political system has been unable to curb generous entitlement programs or counter the economic downturn.
Palestinians may push for UN vote they expect to lose Palestinians may demand vote on UN membership to force other countries to publicly justify their refusal of support
By Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem - Guardian.co.uk
The Palestinians are resigned to losing their battle for majority backing within the United Nations security council for their application for full UN membership but may still press for a vote next week in an attempt to discomfort countries who abstain or vote against.
The security council is to meet in New York on Friday to consider a report on the Palestinian bid. However, the Palestinians have failed to muster the required two-thirds majority among its 15 members, thus sparing the US the need to use its veto to prevent the application being approved.
Iran's supreme leader
warns West of 'strong slap and iron fist' Iran's supreme leader has warned Israel and the United States that Tehran would respond with "a strong slap and iron first" if either launched a military strike aimed at crippling the country's nuclear programme.
By Alex Spillius - Telegraph.co.uk
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was speaking two days after the United Nations atomic agency released a report that for the first time said Iran was conducting experiments whose sole purpose was the development of nuclear arms.
"The enemies, particularly the United States and its pawns and the Zionist regime, should know that the Iranian nation does not seek to invade any country or nation," he said, addressing officers at a military academy in Tehran.
'Iran cornerstone of possible WW3 over Mid East'
Adrian Salbuchi
A Nuclear Iran Would Be the Gravest Threat
By Jeff Jacoby - PatriotPost.us
Ron Paul, the Texas congressman and isolationist would-be president, is against using tough economic sanctions or military force to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. How then, he was asked on "Fox News Sunday," would he persuade Teheran to abandon its quest for the bomb? "Well," Paul suggested, "maybe offering friendship to them."
Hmm, there's an idea. How might it work in practice?
Perhaps Paul could demonstrate his friendly intentions by announcing now, while still a candidate, that if elected he would be prepared to meet Iran's rulers without preconditions. Perhaps he could launch his presidency with an inaugural address urging "a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," and promising the mullahs and their ilk "that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist." Perhaps he could follow that up by taping a video greeting for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, in which he quotes Persian poetry and assures the "leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran" of his eagerness for "partnership and commerce."
With Iran This And Iran That,
Here Is The Weekly US Naval Update
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Let's face it: with the Iranian invasion foreplay having gone on about 3 years too long, everyone is just waiting for the flashing red "GDP boosting" headline. But to know how close we are to I-day, there is one question needing an answer: where are the boats? Below we share the latest weekly update of US naval positioning, as usual courtesy of Stratfor. The chart is self explanatory: the 5th Fleet AOR is getting just a little too crowded.
Paul Craig Roberts:
Neo-Cons want war with Iran just like Iraq
Resolving Nuclear Issue Wouldn't End U.S.-Iran Tension Even if Iran ended its nuclear program forever, the two sides disagree over so many issues that their conflict will almost certainly continue to be fought on the margins and in the shadows
By Patrick Disney - TheAtlantic.com
The alleged Iranian terror plot exposed last month served as a reminder of just how wide the gulf between the United States and Iran has become. While the ongoing conflict over its nuclear pursuits is generally the top Iranian priority of U.S. policy makers and analysts -- as the overwhelming attention on this week's International Atomic Energy Agency report on the Iranian nuclear program demonstrates -- the breadth of issues on which the United States and Iran are fundamentally at odds suggests that, even if the nuclear question were resolved tomorrow, U.S.-Iran ties would be unlikely to change for the better.
Steve Quayle -
The Truth About Nephilim Giants (Coast to Coast AM)
Lindsey Williams - Special Guest:
Patriot News Hour with Eric and Joe
Alabama’s Jefferson County
Files for U.S.’s Biggest Municipal Bankruptcy
By Steven Church, William Selway and Dawn McCarty - Bloomberg.com
Jefferson County, Alabama, filed the biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy after an agreement among elected officials and investors to refinance $3.1 billion in sewer bonds fell apart.
The county, home to Birmingham, the state’s most-populous city, listed assets and debt of more than $1 billion in Chapter 9 papers filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Birmingham.
The county’s bankruptcy attorney, Kenneth Klee, said the filing was necessary because talks with creditors and the receiver in charge of the sewer system built by the bonds broke down.
Alabama county files biggest U.S. municipal bankruptcy
By Melinda Dickinson, BIRMINGHAM, Ala
(Reuters) - Alabama's Jefferson County filed for bankruptcy court protection on Wednesday in the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Despite a tentative deal reached with creditors in September to settle $3.14 billion of debt, the county said it had filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy court protection after county commissioners voted 4-1 to declare insolvency.
The vote by the commissioners, who are elected and not political appointees, came after they met behind closed doors for two days in a last ditch-attempt to restructure the county's debt out of court.
The filing by the county will add to concerns of more problems in the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market, which last month was hit by the high-profile debt crisis in Pennsylvania's capital of Harrisburg.
Why gold is stable and will always be stable
By Nathan Lewis - CommodityOnline.com
Something that you often hear about gold, as a monetary asset, is that the supply of Gold – the amount of gold in the world – increases by about 2% each year due to Gold Mining activities, writes Nathan Lewis, of New World Economics.
We don't really consume gold. Most of the gold that has ever been mined (the US Geological Survey estimates 85%) still exists today as bars, coins and jewellery. Even the small bit that is used in industry is often recycled.
US Mint Gold Coin Data and Research
Casts Doubt on 'Gold Bubble'
By: GoldCore - MarketOracle.co.uk
Gold remains firm in all currencies after yesterday’s sharp gains which saw gold rise 2% in dollar and euro terms and nearly 4% in Swiss franc terms.
Gold appears to be breaking out after another period of correction and consolidation. We have now had a higher monthly close in October and two consecutive higher weekly closes. This strongly suggests the short term trend is again aligned with the long term trend of a secular bull market.
Record nominal highs seem likely given the strong fundamentals and improved technical picture – possibly as soon as before the end of 2011.
Gold rebuilds the wall of worry
By: Clif Droke - FinancialSense.com
Gold has come into its own since October as traders continue to hang on every word coming out of Europe. Investors have breathed a collective sign of relief in recent days as Europe’s financial ministers plan to unveil a new rescue fund next month. In the meanwhile Italy and Greece are left to deal with their own debt crises until then. Greece must provide written acceptance of bailout terms before it receives its next 8 billion euro loan installment.
European officials are also consulting with credit ratings agencies over options for increasing the rescue fund’s 440 billion euro guarantee into as much as 1 trillion euros. "In the end," wrote the Wall Street Cheat Sheet, "many investors believe Europe will resort to money printing to 'solve' the sovereign debt crisis." As we’ve discussed in recent reports, gold therefore has a dual impetus to propel its recovery: fear of the unknown in regard to the euro zone crisis and loose central bank monetary policy in response to the crisis.
Silver: The People's Money
Jeff Nielson - SilverBearCafe.com
In my writing a couple of themes occur with regularity: how "fractional-reserve banking" (with purely fiat currencies) is nothing less than serial stealing from the general population; and how gold and silver can protect people from this cycle of theft.
With respect to fractional-reserve banking, the theft is obvious. The bankers print up vast quantities of their paper currencies 'out of thin air', at no cost to themselves - but with the full benefit of that money. Thus their own "wealth" increases exponentially, and without the bankers earning a single penny of it. However, by diluting our currencies in this reckless manner they drive down the value of our money - reflected in higher prices (i.e. reduced purchasing power). We get poorer and poorer; they get richer and richer.
MF Global bankruptcy could rattle silver for days
By Dr Jeffrey Lewis - CommodityOnline.com
It now appears that the 200 year old trading and processing firm MF Global will go into bankruptcy following rumors that the firm did not have enough capital on hand to protect accounts. The company, which has seen its share price tumble by more than 85% this year, is expected to send several waves through the commodities market, mostly due to its expansive reach.
Through a restructuring plan that would allow the CME Group to go public, the operator of major global exchanges privatized market-making and clearing functions to companies like MF Global. Earlier on Monday, it was reported that smaller firms which routed orders to MF Global for batch processing were experiencing difficulties placing trades. Later, it was made public that MF Global would not process new trades, and instead only allow for the liquidation of investments held by the firm on behalf of clients.
ROUBINI:
The Next MF Global Collapse Could Be Goldman Sachs
Henry Blodget - SilverBearCafe.com
Nouriel Roubiniwas in fine form yesterday, scaring the bejeezus out of his followers on Twitter by saying that several huge financial institutions could collapse in the blink of an eye like MF Global.
These houses of cards, Roubini tweeted, include:
• Goldman Sachs
• Morgan Stanley
• Jefferies
• Barclays
The problem, as Roubini has consistently warned, is the banks' dependence on short-term financing to maintain their long-term asset leverage and run their businesses.
What killed MF Global, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns,AIG, and other huge financial firms, after all, was the sudden refusal of short-term lenders to continue lending money to the firms.
U.S. stocks dive as Italian yields rise Blue chips tally steepest one-day hit since Sept. 22
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock indexes dropped sharply Wednesday, with the Dow industrials hammered in their worst single-day hit in nearly seven weeks, as Italy’s borrowing costs shot up to levels seen as unsustainable, further worsening Europe’s credit mess.
"Those Italian bond yields run up and the market takes a dump, I think it’s a reflection of the concerns that are still out there. There is nothing new; I don’t think long-term investors are running for the door because Silvio Berlusconi is no longer going to be [Italy’s] prime minister," said Bob Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners.
Italy Sparks Market Bloodbath: Financial Stocks Collapse
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
So much for the US decoupling. Following 5 days of persistent refusals to deal with reality, the real world finally came back with a bang, and while the overall market tumbled the most in two months, it is really financial stocks that took the brunt of today's beating. As the chart below shows, the XLF has literally collapsed with most major banks on the ropes, and the broker dealer index down 6.45% the most since August 10. The reason? Italy of course, and the fear that once the country is forced to write down its debt, the bank failures will proceed in waves: first Italian banks, then French, and then everyone else, especially those that have already been in the market's crosshairs for their exposure. And if today was ugly, tomorrow promises to be an absolute bloodbath with Italy deciding to proceed with the issuance of €5 billion in 1 year Bills into what may well be a bidless market.
US stock markets plummet on Italian debt worries Dow Jones records biggest losses since mid-September as investors absorb news of mounting debt woes in Europe
By Dominic Rushe in New York - Guardian.co.uk
Italy's mounting debt woes and the widening euro crisis sent US stock markets plummeting on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones recording its biggest losses since mid-September.
The sell-off started even before the US markets opened as yields on Italian bonds were driven over 7% by investors who fear the country may be unable to repay its debts. The yield on Italian debt is now at levels experienced in Ireland, Greece and Portugal before their bailouts.
The losses followed two days of gains on US markets after investors reacted positively to news from Greece that it was pushing ahead with Europe's bailout plans.
Sovereign Debt is Everybody’s Problem
By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com
The most pressing problem on the planet right now is the European sovereign debt crisis. It is a gigantic highly leveraged mess caused by greedy reckless bankers. It was nurtured with the help of regulators who turned a blind eye and allowed the problem to mushroom into an uncontrollable financial cancer. The European Union is struggling to come up with a plan or bailout fund big enough to truly end the crisis, but there is none in sight. Every time there is a plan, it is shot down or falls apart. There was talk of Germany backing the EU bailout fund with its gold reserves, but that was rejected by the Germans. (Germany is the world’s number two holder of gold with 3,412 tonnes.) Can you blame them? It is ironic this so-called bailout fund is looking for tangible backing and that world leaders would turn to the yellow metal. Didn’t they all have a pact to sell gold not so many years back? This tells me any country with toxic sovereign debt that wants a bailout better be considering putting up its gold reserves.
A Financial Nightmare For Italy:
The Yield Curve For Italian Bonds Is Turning Upside Down
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
What we are all watching unfold right now is a complete and total financial nightmare for Italy. Italian bond yields are soaring to incredibly dangerous levels, and now the yield curve for Italian bonds is turning upside down. So what does that mean? Normally, government debt securities that have a longer maturity pay a higher interest rate. There is typically more risk when you hold a bond for an extended period of time, so investors normally demand a higher return for holding debt over longer time periods. But when investors feel as though a major economic downturn or a substantial financial crisis is coming, the yield on short-term bonds will often rise above the yield for long-term bonds. This happened to Greece, to Ireland and to Portugal and all three of them ended up needing bailouts. Now it is happening to Italy and Spain may follow shortly, but the EU cannot afford to bail out either of them. An inverted yield curve is a major red flag. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be much hope that there is going to be a solution to this European debt crisis any time soon.
Europe pushes Italy into the abyss It has taken three trading days since the failure of the G20 summit to detonate the explosive charge on Italy's €1.9 trillion (£1.6 trillion) bond market, the world's third-largest stock of public debt.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Europe's purported "firewall" to safeguard Italy does not, in fact, exist. The EU's vague plans to leverage its EFSF rescue fund to €1 trillion have come to nothing. Investors could see at once that plans to use the fund as a "first loss" bond insurer concentrates risk, dooming France's AAA rating and accelerating contagion to the core.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has been buying Italian bonds, but too slowly to stop the debt spiral. The ECB's new chief, Mario Draghi, kicked off his term with a blunt warning that it would be "pointless" for the bank to try to cap the yields of struggling debtors for long. It was an invitation for frightened investors to dump their bonds.
Italian bonds shatter 7% bail-out ceiling
BY LEIGH PHILLIPS - EUObserver.com
BRUSSELS - The interest rate on Italian 10-year government bonds breached seven percent on Wednesday, shattering the psychological bail-out ‘ceiling’.
Greece, Portugal and Ireland all had to seek multi-billion-euro bail-outs when their 10-year bonds exceeded this threshold.
The cost of government short-term borrowing for the country exceeds even these levels, with one-year bonds having soared to above eight percent.
Italian contagion pushes Spanish spreads
to near-record 414 basis points
By EDWARD HARRISON - CreditWritedowns.com A translation from El Pais:
Since last summer, markets have made it clear that they are more suspicious of the Italian government than the Spanish, a sad sorpasso that Spanish authorities and analysts celebrated quietly. But now, the degree of distrust is such that the financial crisis threatens to overwhelm euro zone leaders. If the comparison is Italy, the punishment for Spanish public debt is lower. However, if the comparison is with Spain itself, the conclusion is far more unsettling: the risk premium has returned to levels that forced the European Central Bank to buy Spanish bonds (and Italian ones) en masse in early August.
Italy's debt crisis: 10 reasons to be fearful The European debt crisis is getting ever more serious, and attention is moving away from Greece to one of the biggest – and potentially most explosive – economies in the world: Italy
By Dominic Rushe - Guardian.co.uk
Greece and Italy were the cradles of European culture: now they are threatening to drag the European Union to the grave. While Greece's fiscal woes were worrying, Italy's are monumental. Even Silvio Berlusconi, one of the great political survivors of our age, hasn't escaped this one. The Italian premier is out as the country's debts threaten to take down stock markets around the world. Here are the top 10 reasons to be concerned:
Barclays Says Italy Is Finished:
"Mathematically Beyond Point Of No Return"
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Euphoria may have returned briefly courtesy of yet another promise for a resignation that will likely not be effectuated for weeks or months, if at all, and already someone has done the math on what the events in the past several days reveal for Italy. That someone is Barcalys, the math is not pretty, and the conclusion is that "Italy is now mathematically beyond point of no return."
Summary from Barclays Capital inst sales:
At this point, it seems Italy is now mathematically beyond point of no return
While reforms are necessary, in and of itself not be enough to prevent crisis
Reason? Simple math--growth and austerity not enough to offset cost of debt
On our ests, yields above 5.5% is inflection point where game is over
Debt crisis: while Rome burns, the eurozone fiddles
Italy on Wednesday became the first major economy to require an international bail-out as its debts hit "totally unsustainable levels".
By Robert Winnett - Telegraph.co.uk
The country's escalating crisis prompted questions about whether European leaders had sufficient will or financial firepower to rescue it.
The interest rate at which the Italian government borrows on the international bond markets hit seven per cent – the point at which the smaller eurozone economies of Ireland, Portugal and Greece had to be rescued.
Italy, the world’s eighth largest economy, has more than £1.5 trillion worth of debt, which has prompted speculation from some world leaders that it is too big to rescue.
European debt crisis spiralling out of control Reports that Germany and France have begun talks to break up the eurozone amid fears that Italy will be too big to rescue
By Larry Elliott, Heather Stewart
and John Hooper in Rome - Guardian.co.uk
Fears that Europe's sovereign debt crisis was spiralling out of control have intensified as political chaos in Athens and Rome, and looming recession, created panic on world markets.
Reports emerging from Brussels said that Germany and France had begun preliminary talks on a break-up of the eurozone, amid fears thatItaly will be too big to rescue.
Eurozone debt crisis:
this time, trouble over the channel is deadly serious The eurozone debt crisis is fast approaching its denouement.
Telegraph.co.uk
Greece, Ireland, and Portugal — these were all serious events, but they were too small in themselves to bring matters to a head. But Italy, the eurozone’s third largest economy — both "too big to fail" and "too big to bail" — matters.
Eurozone policy-makers hoped to build a firewall around Italy, to prevent its cost of borrowing from following the others to unaffordable levels. They failed, as they were always doomed to with the wholly inappropriate set of remedies they had applied to the problem.
Greek half-default leaves trillion dollar market in limbo
by Dr Jeffrey Lewis - CommodityOnline.com
The European Debt Crisis seems to have found resolution. Those holding Greek securities will have to tolerate a one-half reduction in the value of their securities, essentially allowing Greece to halve its current debt overnight. Questions linger about Greece’s ability to pay, and some are suggesting that the change might not produce immediate benefits; a write down will just encourage investors to demand greater returns when new securities come on the market.
In at least one market, however, Greece’s debt problem seems to have manifested internationally. Often described as the sovereign debt derivatives market, buyers and sellers agree to insure one another on the possibility of default for sovereign debt. In buying and selling this insurance, investors can essentially hedge risky bets with private insurance.
If the eurozone implodes, Britain will go with it Unless Germany acts soon,
this country could find itself going the way of Italy.
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Britain’s economy may already have dipped back into recession, but thanks to developments in Italy over the past few days, the chances of it being pushed into something very much worse have got a whole lot bigger. As was always predictable, getting rid of Silvio Berlusconi hasn’t helped matters one jot – yields on 10-year Italian bonds soared past 7 per cent yesterday.
This was the level that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek support from European and IMF bail-out funds, and there is no reason to believe Italy is any more capable of weathering the storm. Economic contraction, reinforced by repeated rounds of austerity, has put Italian sovereign debt on an unsustainable path. It’s taken less than a week for the Cannes summit to prove itself wholly irrelevant, and the crisis is again spiralling out of control. Italy, the eurozone’s third largest economy, is not just “too big to fail”, but it may also be too big to bail.
America and China must crush Germany into submission
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
As we watch Italy's 10-year bond yields near 7.5pc and threaten to detonate the explosive charge on €1.9 trillion of debt, it is time for the world to reimpose order.
You cannot allow the biggest bankruptcy in history to run its course – with calamitous domino implications – before all options have been exhausted.
One can only guess what is happening in the great global centres of power, but it would not surprise me if US President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao start to intervene very soon, in unison and with massive diplomatic force.
Germany estimated to have made €9bn profit out of crisis
BY VALENTINA POP - EUObserver.com
BRUSSELS - Germany has profited to the tune of €9 billion from the eurozone crisis over the past two years, an ING economist has calculated for EUobserver, as investors flock to "safe" but near zero interest rate bunds while southern euro-countries struggle with unsustainable rates.
"For a long while, the German economy has been one of the few beneficiaries of the sovereign debt crisis. In fact, the German government can get market funding almost for free," Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist with the ING bank in Belgium told this website.
Germany estimated to have made €9bn profit out of crisis
BY VALENTINA POP - EUObserver.com
BRUSSELS - Germany has profited to the tune of €9 billion from the eurozone crisis over the past two years, an ING economist has calculated for EUobserver, as investors flock to "safe" but near zero interest rate bunds while southern euro-countries struggle with unsustainable rates.
"For a long while, the German economy has been one of the few beneficiaries of the sovereign debt crisis. In fact, the German government can get market funding almost for free," Carsten Brzeski, a senior economist with the ING bank in Belgium told this website.
Italy at Breaking Point, Merkel Calls for 'New Europe'
By: Reuters - CNBC.com
Italian borrowing costs reached breaking point on Wednesday after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's insistence on elections instead of an interim government opened the way to prolonged instability and delays to economic reform.
Italian 10-year bond yields shot above the 7 percent level that is widely deemed unsustainable, reflecting investors' concerns that they may not get their money back and prompting German Chancellor Angela Merkel to issue a call to arms.
Soros: EU disintegration poses threat to Roma
BY LEIGH PHILLIPS
BRUSSELS - International financier and philanthropist George Soros has warned that a European process of “disintegration” is heightening the threat to the continent’s minorities, in particular the Roma.
As a result of both government cuts and the increase in support for far-right parties, the eurozone crisis is having a dangerous affect on the Europe’s most vulnerable groups.
He also said that EU leaders’ attempts to preserve the Union’s political "status quo" are "unsustainable".
"The problem of the Roma is deteriorating with the economic situation. And the majority of the public is releasing its anger and frustration at its own economic situation by attacking the Roma," he told EUobserver in an exclusive interview while in the European capital for a conference on Roma rights in the European Parliament on Tuesday (8 November).
65% Chance of Banking Crisis by End November: Think Tank
By: Patrick Allen - CNBC EMEA Head of News
There is a 65 percent chance of a banking crisis between November 23-26 following a Greek default and a run on the Italian banking system, according to analysts at Exclusive Analysis, a research firm that focuses on global risks.
Having tested a number of assumptions in a scenario modeling exercise, the Exclusive Analysis team warned it is becoming less and less likely that EU leaders will simply "muddle through" and have made some bold calls with clear timelines on when the euro zone will be thrown into a major financial crisis.
US Bancorp Sued by Oklahoma Pension Fund
Over Mortgage-Bond Trustee Role
By David McLaughlin - Bloomberg.com
U.S. Bancorp was sued by an Oklahoma pension fund over claims the bank hurt investors in mortgage bonds by failing to ensure that their securities were backed by loans.
U.S. Bancorp knew mortgage loans underlying the bonds weren’t properly transferred to trusts and caused investors to suffer millions of dollars in losses, Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System said in a complaint filed today in federal court in Manhattan.
"U.S. Bank’s violations of its duties have resulted in certificate holders unnecessarily suffering millions of dollars of losses because they were dependent on a faithless trustee to protect their interests," the fund said in its complaint.
Ignorance Exploited
By Walter E. Williams - PatriotPost.us
Many Wall Street occupiers are echoing the Communist Party USA's call to "Save the nation! Tax corporations! Tax the rich!" There are other Americans, on both the left and the right -- for example, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner -- who call for reductions in corporate taxes. But the University of California, Berkeley's pretend economist Robert Reich disagrees, saying, "The economy needs two whopping corporate tax cuts right now as much as someone with a serious heart condition needs Botox." Let's look at corporate taxes and ask, "Who pays them?"
Virginia has a car tax. Does the car pay the tax? In most political jurisdictions, there's a property tax. Does property pay the tax? You say: "Williams, that's lunacy. Neither a car nor property pays taxes. Only flesh-and-blood people pay taxes!" What about a corporation? As it turns out, a corporation is an artificial creation of the legal system and, as such, a legal fiction. A corporation is not a person and therefore cannot pay taxes. When tax is levied on a corporation, who pays it?
15 Statistics Which Prove
That The U.S. Economy Is In Much Worse Shape
Than Most Americans Think
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Yes, most Americans realize that the economy is not doing well right now, but most of them also believe that this is just a "temporary" downturn. The mainstream media tells us over and over that a "recovery" has either already begun or that one is right around the corner. Sadly, the truth is that the U.S. economy is in much worse shape than most Americans think. Yes, there will be economic "peaks and valleys" as we move along, but it is absolutely imperative that all of us understand that we are in the middle of a long-term economic decline that has been caused by decades of horrendous decisions. Thousands of businesses and millions of jobs have left the country and they aren't coming back. Last year, 23 manufacturing facilities a day were shut down in the United States and we have lost more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities since 2001. Without enough good jobs to go around, millions of American families have lost their homes and millions of American families have been pushed into poverty. Less good jobs also means that there are less people to pay the taxes we need to keep government services going.
The Double-Dip Housing Recession Has Begun
By CHRISTOPHER MAAG, Credit.com - ABCNews.com
The number of people falling behind on their mortgages increased over the last quarter for the first time since 2009, according to a new report by the credit bureau TransUnion.
And while the news surprised many people, it came as no surprise at all to some mortgage experts, who have known for years that a wave of wildly risky mortgages written in the waning days of the mortgage boom would come back to haunt the American economy in 2011.
Fannie and Freddie Need Another $14 Billion,
but Losses May Be Slowing Although their performance was worse in the third quarter, it had more to do with derivatives than the housing market
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
Late Tuesday, U.S. taxpayers got some more bad news: Fannie Mae announced a big quarterly loss and requested another $7.8 billion from taxpayers. This comes a few days after Freddie Mac posted a big loss and needed $6 billion more from the government. These Treasury draws, which amount to nearly $14 billion, easily dwarf their second quarter cash request of $6.6 billion. As bad as this looks, it isn't really due to housing market deterioration. The Devil's in the Derivatives
Although each company still lost plenty of money due to defaulted mortgages, their bad derivatives bets really hurt them this quarter. The firms use derivatives to hedge interest rate risk. In this case, the hedge created a sizable loss for each company as long-term interest rates declined more in the third quarter than in the second. How big were those losses? Freddie lost $4.8 billion, and Fannie lost $4.5 billion -- on derivatives alone.
Ron Paul: Obama Presidency
On The Verge Of Being A "Dictatorship"
RealClearPolitics.com
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) says President Obama's continued use of the executive order "brings the modern presidency dangerously close to an elective dictatorship."
"That is arrogant," Paul said of Obama frequently using the executive order function as of late. "It is flaunting the Constitution and the whole principle of how we’re supposed to operate. The idea they can just do this and take over the legislative function and brag about it -- and Congress does nothing and the courts do nothing about it, it's very, very bad."
"He's dictatorial, is what he is," Rep. Paul said before the end of the interview.
The economic treadmill is throwing millions
out of the middle class and into poverty. In 2010 75 percent of unemployed
received unemployment benefits while today it is down to 48 percent. From unemployment to food stamps.
MyBudget360.com
The economy is being pulled apart from the center as if two mighty horses on both sides were set to run in opposite directions of the financially strapped middle class. This seems to be the current trajectory of our economic progress. The ranks of the poor continue to grow while the financial sector continues to strive based on government favoritism and a strong form of corporatacracy. Take this startling fact under consideration that last year 75 percent of the unemployed received some form of unemployment benefits. That figure is set to fall to 48 percent this year. Part of the main reason has been the long-term structural unemployment in our economy. The current economy resembles two different worlds and most Americans are still feeling the pangs of the recession that began in 2007. The main question many are asking is where will this country be heading if the same financial sector that created rampant disorder in the last decade is still at the helm of the ship? We can look at current trends and the results do not look promising.
Need a job? Getting creative works for some Find the company for whom you want to work,
and then pursue it
By Marty Orgel
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Some companies, no longer relying on traditional job posts to attract candidates, are asking job seekers to tell them what kind of job they want. That’s proving to be a boon to creative candidates.
The business communications company SlideRocket, based in San Francisco, Calif., posts this statement on its career page: "If you don't see a job that is right for you, email us and tell us what you can do for us."
Feds: Cyber Criminals Hijacked 4 Million Computers
By RICHARD ESPOSITO and LEE FERRAN - ABCNews.com
An Eastern European pack of cyber thieves known as the Rove group hijacked at least four million computers in over 100 countries, including at least half a million computers in the U.S., to make off with $14 million in "illegitimate income" before they were caught, federal officials announced today.
The malware allegedly used in the "massive and sophisticated scheme" also managed to infect computers in U.S. government agencies including NASA and targeted the websites for major institutions like iTunes, Netflix and the IRS -- forcing users attempting to get to those sites to different websites entirely, according to a federal indictment unsealed in New York today.
What the Death of Mobile Flash Means for the Web
By Scott Gilbertson - WebMonkey.com
Adobe Software has let slip that it plans to abandon its Flash Player for mobile web browsers. Instead, the company will refocus its mobile efforts on web standards like HTML5, along with tools like Adobe AIR, which allows developers to convert Flash content into native mobile applications.
The move comes as something of a surprise given how vigorously Adobe has defended mobile Flash in the past. Lately, however, Adobe has been proposing new web standards and even bought the non-Flash mobile development tool PhoneGap, both of which indicate that Adobe is looking toward a future without Flash.
U.S. Government Confirms Link
Between Earthquakes and Hydraulic Fracturing
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
On 5 November an earthquake measuring 5.6 rattled Oklahoma and was felt as far away as Illinois.
Until two years ago Oklahoma typically had about 50 earthquakes a year, but in 2010, 1,047 quakes shook the state.
Why?
In Lincoln County, where most of this past weekend's seismic incidents were centered, there are 181 injection wells, according to Matt Skinner, an official from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the agency which oversees oil and gas production in the state.
Cause and effect?
The practice of injecting water into deep rock formations causes earthquakes, both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Geological Survey have concluded.
Major Earth Changes Coming?
Earthquakes Are Becoming Much More Frequent
And Much More Powerful
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Are earthquakes becoming more frequent and more powerful? With only two months to go, we are on pace to have more earthquakes of magnitude-5.0 or greater this year than we have had during any other year over the past decade by far. In fact, as you will see in this article, since the year 2000 there has been a very clear upward trend in the number of major earthquakes. So is this an indication that major earth changes are coming? Is our planet becoming increasingly unstable? We are currently witnessing tremendous political, social and financial upheaval all over the globe. Every week the economic crisis in the United States and elsewhere seems to get even worse. So what is going to happen if the shaking of the earth becomes even more intense and major cities all over the planet start getting leveled? For most of human history we have seriously underestimated the awesome destructive power of natural disasters, and the fact that the number of earthquakes around the world seems to be going up consistently should be a huge wake up call for all of us.
The Alarming Results of IEA's Latest World Energy Outlook Oil prices to reach $210 by 2035
BY CRIS SHERIDAN - FinancialSense.com
The International Energy Agency just released their World Energy Outlook for 2011. Here's a quick summary with slides and quotes provided below: Oil prices will more than double over the next 20 or so years despite a short-term reduction in global GDP since 90% of population growth and energy demand comes from emerging markets. Also, if increasingly volatile regions where most of current oil is located don't significantly increase production, expect to see $150/barrel in the next few years. Lastly, the abandonment of nuclear energy will cause oil prices to increase significantly and also put further strain upon already highly indebted countries reliant upon energy imports.
Merkel, Medvedev
Launch Nord Stream Pipeline Beneath Baltic Sea
Written by RFE/RL staff - OilPrice.com
The leaders of Germany and Russia have inaugurated the Nord Stream pipeline, linking Western Europe directly with Siberia's natural gas reserves.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev turned on a tap that opened the flow of gas at the western end of the new link during a ceremony in the northeastern German town of Lubmin.
"Today marks a remarkable, long-awaited event," Medvedev said. "We are launching the first pipeline of Nord Stream, which opens a new page in our country's cooperation with the European Union, and all previous speakers took note of that. For the first time, Russian gas will reach countries of the European Union directly."
Some Things You Should Know About China
BY CHARLES HUGH SMITH - FinancialSense.com
I know it's tough to think about anything but the fast-melting ice cream cone that is Europe, but there are some things you should know about China. All the reassurances you've been reading about China's "soft landing" and its "they know what they're doing" central government are probably false. Here's why: very little in China is as it seems on the surface, or as it's presented to the Big Noses (Westerners). There are three reasons for this.
Before I explain, let me stipulate that I am not passing judgment on what's "good" or "bad" about China, or any other nation. Each country functions in its own peculiar way, and there are always productive and counterproductive elements to each nation's way of doing things. But it is important not to gloss over reality and accept illusion as truth.
French expert:
There will be no military strike on Iran
BY ANDREW RETTMAN - EUObserver.com
BRUSSELS - Publication of UN evidence on Tuesday (8 November) that Iran is making nuclear weapons and recent Israeli war-talk is designed to stimulate new sanctions but is not a prelude to military strikes, a French expert has said.
Bruno Tertrais, a fellow at the Paris-based Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique and a former advisor to the French ministry of defence, told EUobserver on Wednesday there are three options for military action against Iran.
The first is Israeli air strikes designed to delay the nuclear programme.
The scenario would see Israeli F16s fly over Saudi Arabia to Iran in a one day operation that would likely achieve little in terms of damaging facilities.
Dr Deagle Show 111102 1/3 - Harley Schlanger/Tim Alexander:
Financial Geopolitical Analysis
Dr Deagle Show 111102 2/3 - Harley Schlanger/Tim Alexander:
Financial Geopolitical Analysis
Dr Deagle Show 111102 3/3 - Harley Schlanger/Tim Alexander:
Financial Geopolitical Analysis
Emergency Alert System Nationwide Test (EAS) - FCC.gov Background
The first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, or EAS, will take place at 2:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on November 9, 2011. The purpose of the test is to assess the reliability and effectiveness of the system in alerting the public. What exactly is the EAS?
The Emergency Alert System is a media communications-based alerting system that is designed to transmit emergency alerts and warnings to the American public at the national, Tribal, state and local levels. EAS participants broadcast alerts and warnings regarding weather threats, child abductions and other types of emergencies. EAS alerts are transmitted over television and radio broadcast, satellite television and satellite radio, cable television and wireline video services.
Gold to hit $3,000, silver $50 by March 2013 The Gold Report: Richard, last month, you made a presentation at the Casey Research/Sprott Inc. "When Money Dies" Summit entitled "The War that Will Kill the Dollar." You explained that the corrupting influence of power had sent our country's leaders shopping for war, disregarding Westphalian respect for sovereignty and hastening the collapse of society. What are the signs that we are reaching a critical point? And, is there any way we can change course? Richard Maybury: You can see the signs very clearly in the Middle East and North Africa. The Federal government is involved in several wars there that have nothing to do with America. One of the best examples is Libya. U.S. officials are taking credit for Moammar Gadhafi's death just a year after they were bragging about having tamed the threat. Now Libya is a mess. It will very likely be taken over by some sort of Islamic government that isn't going to be very friendly to America.
Buy gold in November or watch prices go higher
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Gold prices have broken above the $1750 level and COMEX gold is currently trading around $1790/oz. Traditionally, the November-December season has been bullish for gold.
The main reasons for higher gold prices during the end- year are the wedding season in India, jewellery buying on account of Christmas in the US and the increased Chinese buying ahead of their new year.
China's Gold Imports Jump Sixfold
By: Leslie Hook in Beijing
and Robert Cookson in Hong Kong, FT - CNBC.com
Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong, a proxy for the country’s overall overseas buying, leapt to a record high in September, when monthly purchases matched almost half that for the whole of 2010.
The buying spree follows a sharp drop in the price of the precious metal. After hitting a nominal all-time high of $1,920.30 a troy ounce in September, gold fell to a three-month low of $1,534 an ounce later in the month. Chinese investors snapped up the metal as prices fell.
China gold imports gain 470%, more buying expected
BEIJING (Commodity Online): China's imports of Goldfrom Hong Kong, leapfrogged by 470% in September as per data released by the Hong Kong government. Chinese imports from Hong Kong are considered a good indicator of overall Chinese demand since the Chinese government does not release official figures.
As per the data, gold imports rose to 56.9 tonnes in September against the average monthly imports of around 10 tonnes, a 470% increase. In the 3 month period of July-September, Chinese gold imports stood at around 140 tonnes against 120 tonnes in entire 2010!
US banks have huge exposure to European debt market
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): US banks have an exposure of $767 billion to the European debt market as per recent data by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). This includes $518 billion in Credit Default Swaps (DCS) and $181 billion in direct lending. With these banks stating that their exposure has been covered, it raises the question who insures the insurer?
A Credit Default Swap (CDS) is like an insurance whereby the insuring institution provide a guarantee to the buyer of the CDS to pay the debt in the event the debt holder defaults. In exchange, the buyer of the CDS pay a fee until the expiration of the CDS. But a CDS is different from an insurance in the sense that an outside party can buy a CDS.
Jim Rogers:
European leaders pushing problems into the future
ECB stymied on debt crisis without fiscal union Germany's top banker has vehemently rejected demands from David Cameron and other world leaders for drastic action by the European Central Bank to stop the eurozone crisis spiralling out of control.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Jens Weidmann, head of the Bundesbank and the ECB's dominant governor, said that any move to leverage Europe's €440bn rescue fund through central bank financing would be a "clear violation" of the ECB's legal mandate.
He said Article 123 of the EU Treaty imposed a legal "prohibition on monetary financing", implying that the ECB cannot attempt to shore up the debt markets of Italy and Spain for covert fiscal support.
Mr Weidmann said Germany learned the bitter lesson under the Weimar Republic that funding public debt "via the money printing press" leads to hyperinflation and disaster.
Germany refuses to use gold reserves for Eurozone bailout
BERLIN (Commodity Online): Gold is fast becoming a "currency" in Europe with many nations clearly aggressive about their gold holdings. The latest is Germany's rejection of using its gold to fund the bailout. Though Germany has contributed billions of dollars in the bailout fund, the very action of rejecting to sell its gold highlights the importance nations have attributed to the yellow metal-that of safety in these turbulent times.
Germany rejected proposals by France, Britain and the US to have German gold reserves used as collateral for the Eurozone bailout fund. German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said on Monday that the German people's gold reserves cannot be touched and "must remain off limits."
Once Greece goes, the whole euro project will unravel
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Robert Jenkins, a member of the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee, does a good job in setting out the potentially disastrous economic and financial consequences for Greece and the wider European Union if Greece is allowed to default via exiting the eurozonein this morning's FT (£).
That possibility was admitted for the first time by eurozone leaders at the Cannes summit last week. Obey or leave the club was their message. But, as Mr Jenkins explains, the consequences, not just for Greece but everyone else in the eurozone, would be potentially catastrophic. Once Greece goes, the other PIGS would sit there like ducks in a row, waiting to be picked off one by one, or perhaps all in one go.
Eurozone crisis: You ain't seen nothing yet
France cuts frantically as Italy nears debt spiral France has unveiled the toughest austerity measures since World War Two despite the looming danger of a double-dip recession, vowing to slash borrowing by €65bn over the next five years in a last-ditch effort to save the country's AAA rating.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
"We wish to protect the French against the grave problems facing other European countries. Bankruptcy is not an abstract word," said premier Francois Fillon.
The belt-tightening plan -- the second package since August, taking total cuts to €112bn -- include a 5pc super-tax on big firms, a rise in VAT on restaurants and construction, and cuts on pensions, schools, health, and welfare. It is the latest squeeze in a relentless campaign of fiscal tightening across the eurozone.
Will Greece unravel by Christmas?
President Hu left the G20 meeting in Cannes Saturday without committing China to very much, merely saying: "We believe Europe has the wisdom and ability to solve the debt problem." At this point, however, regardless of the amount of wisdom floating around Brussels I think it is pretty unrealistic to expect a happy solution.
We’re well past that stage. By now, it seems to me, neither wisdom nor cooperation among world leaders is going to get us out of the debt and currency problems we face. Rather than try to prevent a major disruption the policy goal now should be to engineer as quickly as possible the least disorderly and disruptive unraveling of financial markets in the peripheral countries. And while it may help relieve frustration to excoriate European leaders for having made poor decisions, we shouldn’t assume that there really is a set of "right decisions" that will lead us out of this mess. I think there isn’t.
Britain ranks below Peru
in new 'sovereign risk' world order "The emerging markets have the savings; the developed world has the debt. Sooner or later, prices will reflect those facts."
By Ian Cowie - Telegraph.co.uk
Britain ranks below Peru in a new analysis by one of the world’s biggest fund managers of the risk to investors who buy government bonds. Norway, Sweden and Switzerland are the least risky bond issuers among 44 countries analysed in the BlackRock Sovereign Risk Index. At the other end of the scale, also in descending order, Egypt, Portugal and Greece are reckoned to be the most risky.
Britain falls near the middle of this new world order, ranking directly below Russia, China, Czech Republic, Israel and Peru. Some small comfort may be taken from the fact that gilts issued by the British Government are reckoned to be a better bet than bonds issued by France, the Philipines and Poland; which rank directly below Britain.
Credit Suisse asked to hand over U.S. client data
By Katie Reid and Martin de Sa'Pinto
ZURICH | (Reuters) - Credit Suisse will hand over details of wealthy Americans with hidden Swiss accounts to the Swiss government, bringing U.S. authorities one step closer to obtaining names of alleged tax cheats.
The bank said on Tuesday it was complying with a request from the Swiss government for account information after U.S. authorities requested Switzerland's help in catching Americans suspected of tax fraud.
Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday that Credit Suisse had begun notifying U.S. clients it intended to give their names to Swiss tax officials following a request from their U.S. counterpart.
Max Keiser on the Irish Economy; Nov 2011
29 Systemically Dangerous Global Banks
By Barry Ritholtz - Ritholtz.com
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) unveiled a range of policy measures to address "systemically important financial institutions" (Sifis) — or as Bill Black terms them, "systemically dangerous institutions (SDIs)."
They also released a full report, seen in the Think Tank (its a big PDF, give it a moment to load).
Here are the 29 global banks that the FSB considers systemically dangerous institutions:
Chicago's Harris Bank plays role in MF
By Matthew Goldstein, Lauren Tara LaCapra,
David Henry and Jennifer Ablan
(Reuters) - The hunt for the missing $600 million in customer money at MF Global Holdings Ltd (MFGLQ.PK) may begin with Harris Bank, a Chicago-based lender that often holds client money for many large futures brokerage firms.
A Harris Bank branch office in downtown Chicago was the main repository for money from many of MF Global's 150,000 customers, according to customers and representatives with smaller investment firms that introduced clients to the New York-based brokerage.
End Bonuses for Bankers
By NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB - NYTimes.com
I HAVE a solution for the problem of bankers who take risks that threaten the general public: Eliminate bonuses.
More than three years since the global financial crisis started, financial institutions are still blowing themselves up. The latest, MF Global, filed for bankruptcy protection last week after its chief executive, Jon S. Corzine, made risky investments in European bonds. So far, lenders and shareholders have been paying the price, not taxpayers. But it is only a matter of time before private risk-taking leads to another giant bailout like the ones the United States was forced to provide in 2008.
Keiser Report:
Financial Rape, Financial Pornography (E206)
Kocherlakota:
Fed Should Make Public Contingency Plan
By Joshua Zumbrun - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota said the U.S. central bank should develop and make public a contingency plan that would explain how it would react to developments in the economy.
Such a contingency plan by the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee would “provide clear guidance on how it will respond to a variety of relevant scenarios,” Kocherlakota said today in a speech in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Kocherlakota said a contingency plan would reduce uncertainty about the Fed’s actions among consumers and companies, which he said has reduced incentives to spend and hire. It would also enhance the central bank’s credibility and transparency, he said.
Senate bill powers up state online sales taxes
By Patrick Temple-West
WASHINGTON | (Reuters) - State governments would be able to collect online sales taxes under a bill due to be introduced in the Senate on Wednesday, said sources familiar with the bill.
Supporters of the online sales tax collection requirement include Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Target Corp and other "big box" retailers who argue they are at a disadvantage against online-only competitors.
A bipartisan group of up to seven senators will introduce the bill, which is broader than similar legislation introduced in the Senate in July. The new bill will differ from a bill in the House of Representatives by affecting more small businesses under a lower exemption threshold, the sources said.
Jefferson County, Alabama
Board Postpones Decision on Municipal Bankruptcy
By Margaret Newkirk - Bloomberg.com
Jefferson County commissioners, who were meeting in Birmingham,Alabama, to consider a record municipal bankruptcy, have recessed until tomorrow.
They will reconvene at 1 p.m. local time, said Commissioner Joe Knight.
A provisional agreement with creditors led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and approved by commissioners in September included $1.1 billion in concessions and called for sewer-rate increases of as much as 8.2 percent for the first three years. JPMorgan, which arranged most of the debt, would take the biggest loss.
Texas' drought means a pricey Thanksgiving Holiday Meals More Expensive This Year?
Blame the Weather in Texas Get ready to pay more for beef, corn, nuts, and other Thanksgiving staples. And it's all because of a little cooling off the coast of South America.
By Brian Resnick - TheAtlantic.com
A narrow swath of ocean off the coast of South America drops three degrees, and a year later the cost of Thanksgiving turkey rises in the United States.
Last September, abnormal cooling in the Pacific Ocean, known as La Niña, shifted rain away from the southern United States, resulting in one of the worst droughts in recent history. Today, every inch of Texasis in a state of extreme or exceptional drought and has been for months, Texas lakes and reservoirs are drying up, and state officials project long-term water shortages. Three million acres of Texas -- equal to 34 Manhattans -- have burned in wildfires this year.
Fannie Mae Seeks $7.8 Billion
in U.S. Aid After Reporting Loss
By Lorraine Woellert - Bloomberg.com
Fannie Mae, one of two mortgage companies operating under U.S. conservatorship, said it will seek $7.8 billion in Treasury Department aid after reporting a third-quarter loss.
The company had a net loss of $5.1 billion for the three- month period that ended Sept. 30, driven by defaults on loans made before 2009 and derivative losses linked to a decline in interest rates, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
"Fannie Mae is working to reduce losses on our legacy book and limit taxpayer exposure," Susan McFarland, the company's executive vice president and chief financial officer, said in a statement.
Half of US Mortgages Are Effectively Underwater
By: Diana Olick - CNBC Real Estate Reporter
A new report on still-falling home prices today highlights the fact that the lower those prices go, the more American borrowers fall into an negative equity position; that is, they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
Most analysts will tell you that negative equity is the number one problem in thehousing market today, even worse than foreclosures, because it causes foreclosures, stymies consumer spending and traps potential home buyers and sellers in place.
Negative equity rose to 28.6 percent of single-family homes with mortgages in the third quarter of this year, according to Zillow. That's up from 26.8 percent in the second quarter. In real terms, that's 14.6 million borrowers.
U.S. 'Underwater' Homeowners Rises to 28.6%
By Prashant Gopal - Bloomberg.com
The number of U.S. homeowners who owe more than their properties are worth climbed in the third quarter as lenders repossessed fewer houses, Zillow Inc. said.
The share of borrowers with negative equity rose to 28.6 percent, up from 26.8 percent in the second quarter and 23.2 percent a year earlier, the real estate data provider said today. Last quarter’s portion was the biggest since Seattle- based Zillow began tracking the measure in the first quarter of 2009, when 22.3 percent of households were underwater.
Bob Chapman - Radio Liberty - November 07, 2011
American Says Pilot Accord Possible
By Mary Schlangenstein and Thomas Black - Bloomberg.com
AMR Corp. (AMR)’s American Airlines, the subject of bankruptcy speculation as it seeks to cut costs, said a contract agreement with pilots may be reached within days while adding the "window of opportunity is closing."
"The time to act is now," Sue Gordon, a spokeswoman, said today in an e-mailed statement. With bargaining in the "deciding phase," Fort Worth, Texas-based American is crafting formal proposals on pay and job protection and seeking operational flexibility and productivity gains, Gordon said.
Diesel shortage shuts down fuel pumps
CBC News
A diesel shortage in Manitoba has dried several pumps in and around Winnipeg.
And the supply at a major trucking station on the Trans-Canada Highway just outside the city is running low, forcing it to put a limit on the amount drivers can put in their tanks.
For the past 10 days, there has been a major shortage of diesel across the Prairies due to a fire and explosion at a Regina refinery as well as problems at Suncor operations near Edmonton.
Toronto trucker Mike Gondosch said he had been warned about the diesel shortage.
* * * * *
Obama Health-Care Law
Ruled Constitutional by Appeals Court
By Tom Schoenberg and Andrew Harris - Bloomberg.com
President Barack Obama’s health-care legislation requiring almost all Americans to have medical insurance beginning in 2014 is constitutional, a U.S. appeals court ruled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington today upheld the measure Obama signed into law in March 2010 by a 2-1 vote. It was the third appellate court to rule on the constitutionality of the statute, and the second to reject a challenge to its insurance mandate by opponents who argue the government has no right to force an individual purchase a service or product.
KanCare replaces Medicaid in KS (private management) Kansas turns to managed care to curb state health costs
By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter - KansasReporter.org
TOPEKA — Kansas plans to reorganize its Medicaid program into a managed-care program using private contractors to slow the growth in state health care costs.
The changes reflect ongoing state budget challenges as costs for Medicaid, education and the state's pension system continue to rise while the state's economic recovery from the Great Recession is slow. "Last budget year, we borrowed $200 million from (the Kansas Department of Transportation) to help pay for Medicaid," Kansas Gov.Sam Brownback said. "We don't have that $200 million this time, so we really need to look at the organizational structure and how we deliver this."
Brownback and his cabinet's top social services officers announced the proposal, called KanCare, on Tuesday.
Occupy protesters
plan 300-mile march from NYC to Washington Protesters to set off from Wall Street to meet up with other Occupy movements on the way to DC
By Adam Gabbatt - Guardian.co.uk
A group of Occupy protesters plan to march nearly 300 miles from New York to Washington DC in a bid to end tax cuts which they say benefit the richest 1% of Americans.
The group will set off from Occupy Wall Street on Wednesday and walk 20 miles a day en route to the capital, their arrival planned to coincide with the Congressional deficit reduction super-committee meeting on 23 November.
Occupy Protests Get Further Out of Hand
By Megan McArdle - TheAtlantic.com
Last week when I wrote about Occupy Oakland's creepy turn, I was surprised at the number of people who assured me that the violence was the work of a tiny minority, and that most of the day had passed entirely peacefully as thousands of protesters descended on the Oakland port to blockade it. Physically blocking people from entering or leaving their normal place of business is not what I normally think of as "peaceful".
I encountered a similar disconnect this weekend. As you may have heard by now, this weekend, at the Americans for Prosperity dinner (a group with which the . . . sigh . . . Kochs are affiliated), Occupy DC decided that it would be a good idea to blockade the attendees into the DC convention center. The video is pretty disturbing to me:
"Occupy DC" Violently Raids Tea Party's
"Defending the American Dream Summit"...many injured
OCCUPY WALL STREET ORGANIZER
PUTS L.A. IN THE HOT SEAT
Truthdig.com
Everyone moves to Los Angeles eventually, so it was only a matter of time before the epicenter of the occupation movement, which has shifted at times between New York and Oakland, would find its way to La-La Land. David DeGraw, who is said to have coined "we are the 99 percent" and was among the first campers in Zuccotti park, told the crowd atOccupy L.A. this weekend that they would have to pick up the slack once winter hits New York.
Neon Tommy quotes DeGraw as saying, "L.A. is going to blow up over the next few months and through the winter," adding "The winter is brutal. People in New York are talking about coming out here. We're going to keep pushing, but it’s definitely going to slow [OWS] down. You are all going to have to step up. It’s your turn to lead the leaderless."
How the War on Terror Has Militarized the Police Over the past 10 years, law enforcement officials have begun to look and act more and more like soldiers. Here's why we should be alarmed.
By Arthur Rizer and Joseph Hartman - TheAtlantic.com
At around 9:00 a.m. on May 5, 2011, officers with the Pima County, Arizona, Sheriff's Department's Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) team surrounded the home of 26-year-old José Guerena, a former U.S. Marine and veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq, to serve a search warrant for narcotics. As the officers approached, Guerena lay sleeping in his bedroom after working the graveyard shift at a local mine. When his wife Vanessa woke him up, screaming that she had seen a man outside the window pointing a gun at her, Guerena grabbed his AR-15 rifle, instructed Vanessa to hide in the closet with their four-year old son, and left the bedroom to investigate.
Are the Koch brothers denying your vote?
Beijing amps up R&D competition with U.S.
By Patrice Hill-The Washington Times
BEIJING — Stepping up its long-running struggle with the United States over access to technology, China this year embarked on a campaign to target advanced industries such as aerospace, medicine and information technology for its next stage of development.
Those industries are long-standing strengths in the U.S. and important sources of wealth and high-paying jobs. Many in Washington remain reluctant to see a rising competitor in the economic and geopolitical spheres gain access to valuable trade secrets and technical know-how.
Iran worked on nuclear bomb design: U.N. watchdog
By Fredrik Dahl and Sylvia Westall
VIENNA | (Reuters) - Iran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be conducting secret research, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report likely to raise tensions in the Middle East.
Citing what it called "credible" information from member states and elsewhere, the agency listed a series of activities applicable to developing nuclear weapons, such as high explosives testing and development of an atomic bomb trigger.
The report immediately exposed splits among the big powers about how best to handle the row over Iran's nuclear aims: the United States signaled tougher sanctions on Tehran but Russia said the report could hurt chances for diplomacy.
Iran Sought Miniaturized Nuclear-Weapon Design
to Fit Missiles, IAEA Says
By Jonathan Tirone and Margaret Talev - Bloomberg.com
Iran continued working on nuclear weapons at least until last year, including efforts to shrink a Pakistani warhead design to fit atop its ballistic missiles, a report from United Nations inspectors said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, drawing on evidence collected over eight years, reported yesterday that Iran carried out “work on the development of an indigenous design of a nuclear weapon including the testing of components.”
The IAEA document shows that Iran worked to redesign and miniaturize a Pakistani nuclear-weapon design by using a web of front companies and overseas experts, according to the report and an international official familiar with the IAEA’s investigation.
Iran may be researching nuclear warhead, claims watchdog Weapon construction may be continuing after IAEA discovers evidence of work being done under a structured programme
By Julian Borger, diplomatic editor - Guardian.co.uk
The UN's nuclear watchdog on Tuesday expressed "serious concerns" that Iran had been carrying out research work on the construction of a nuclear warhead, and said the effort could still be underway.
In its report on Iran's nuclear programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had accumulated more than 1,000 pages of documentation that had let it to believe that suspected nuclear weapons work was done under a "structured programme" up to 2003, and that "some may still be ongoing".
Gold rises 2 percent on Italy worry, technical buying
By Frank Tang and Susan Thomas
(Reuters) - Gold rose more than 2 percent on Monday, boosted by technical buying, expectations of easier monetary policies and political uncertainty in Italy which threatened to further complicate the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.
Bullion biggest one-day gain in two weeks reflected improving sentiment after Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out using gold to boost the euro zone bailout fund. In Italy, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's defying pressure to resign also added confusion to the bloc's effort to contain a two-year old crisis.
Gold tops $1,790 to end at over six-week high
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures closed higher Monday, topping $1,790 an ounce, as ongoing concerns over the euro-zone debt crisis and reports that Germany rejected calls to use its gold reserves to help shore up the region’s rescue fund helped boost prices.
Gold for December delivery rose $35, or 2%, to settle at $1,791.10 an after reaching a session high at $1,794. It was the highest close for a most-active contract since Sept. 21.
Gold finished last week with a 0.5% gain after ending Friday with a $9-an-ounce loss.
Gold and Economic Confidence
BY PATER TENEBRARUM - FinancialSense.com
We are taking a brief look at gold and gold mining stocks again, updating our previous reports on the sector. We last wrote about gold itself on October 5 ('Gold, positive signals emerge') and on the sector including gold stocks on August 15 and September 12. In the latter article we took note of the fact that the HUI index had broken out to a slight new high, but also commented on the flaws we perceived with regards to this breakout at the time – notwithstanding the fact that gold stocks represented and continue to represent good value relative to gold itself. We wrote:
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
The metals ripped higher, with gold tearing through key resistance at 1780 and running up to 1800 into the close.
Now that the bulls have stuck a close here, they need to hold it and post a weekly close in the 1780+ area.
If they can do this then the next big trial will come with the December option expirations, barring fresh headline jitters.
As noted on the chart, the last big smackdown was an exceptional buying opportunity. For those 'waiting on the sidelines' if you did not take that low price, then you should stop kidding yourselves. You are out of the metals market, and have joined the ranks of bystanders.
Is counterfeit China gold, silver coins and bars
flooding global markets?
By Commodity Online
Chinese counterfeit Gold and Silver coins, and gold bars may be flooding US and international market place as there is growing evidience regarding it, according to The Global Piracy and Counterfeiting Consultants.
The Global Piracy & Counterfeiting Consultants says, "Apparently it is legal in China to produce counterfeit coins, and or counterfeit silver, or gold bars, so buyer beware. There is growing evidence that Chinese gold, or silver coin counterfeiters are flooding the U.S. and international marketplace with knock off's, along with silver, or gold bar knock off's, and we are urging buyers to be extremely cautious about who you do business with. You are not buying anything, if it turns out to be a Chinese counterfeit U.S. silver dollar, or other precious metal coin, or gold-silver bar. You just enriched the thieves, who make up 10% of China's GDP."
Gold Market Update
By: Clive Maund - GoldSeek.com
Gold did exactly as predicted in the update last weekend - it dropped back briefly to touch the bottom of our short-term reaction target range at $1680 before rebounding, as we can see on the 4-month chart below, and we were buyers around $1705 and below. The rebound on Tuesday left behind a clear bull hammer on the chart, which is positive. After the rebound gold advanced to the next resistance level shown, which may force another reaction this coming week, especially as Commercial short positions, which are still overall bullish, rose significantly last week - any such reaction should again be bought, although with downside volume now lighter than upside volume and silver now looking set for another upleg, there may be no reaction at all. The Prime Minister of Greece Mr Papandreou got "taken behind the woodshed " by Mr Sarkozy and Mrs Merkel for threatening to tip over the apple cart and wreck their plans with his referendum brainwave, but as this is a family website, we won't repeat here what they said to him, but it served to put him back on side.
German gold reserves must remain untouchable - Minister Germany's Economy Minister Philipp Roesler has responded to recent media reports that the G20 summit at Cannes discussed using reserves to boost euro zone bailout funds by saying the country's gold reserves must remain untouchable.
BERLIN (REUTERS) - Mineweb.com
Germany Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said on Monday the country's gold reserves with the central bank cannot be touched, adding his voice to opposition to an idea reportedly discussed at the G20 summit of using reserves to boost euro zone bailout funds.
"German gold reserves must remain untouchable," Roesler, who is head of the Free Democrats (FDP), a junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition, told ARD television.
Silver still a runaway winner
from the coming economic mayhem
By: Peter Cooper - SilverSeek.com
If you could only invest in one asset class to hold until the next big bubble is fully inflated then it has to be silver. Gold is already increasingly popular for the same reason.
It is a precious metal of fixed supply and proven monetary value in a world of electronic money creation. Just look at the staggering sums of money magicked out of thin air by the eurozone debt deal at the end of last month.
CFTC says silver market investigation ongoing since 2008 In spite of 2004 and 2008 investigations determining no illegal activity in the silver futures market, the CFTC says it has been continuing to investigate the issue since late 2008.
Author: Dorothy Kosich - Mineweb.com
RENO, NV - The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has recently issued a one-paragraph statement, announcing it is still pursuing an investigation into the possibility of unlawful acts in the silver market.
The investigation has been ongoing since September 2008. Since that time, the commission has received a number of comments and letters asking the government to investigate the COMEX silver futures market. Several complaints have asked the CFTC to limit the activities of large banks in the silver market.
The Dollar is Done - Deal with It 5 Stages of Grief over the Loss of the Dollar!
By: Jason Hommel - SilverSeek.com
Psychologists tell us that there are five stages of grief over loss of whatever kind, usually death, or breaking up with a loved one, which are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. I've applied these to the loss of the dollar, as I see most people today are still stuck in denial, and here's how to deal with that.
Denial. Most people in America are in total denial. But the dollar is done. Most probably don't think it's done, because we all still use dollars to buy things. But do you notice prices going up? That's the key sign that the dollar is done. The dollar is abandoning you, the dollar does not care about you, and you have to deal with it. People in denial will repeat the many lies taught to us all by the media and schools. The most popular of these delusions are, in order, "gold is too high now," "how would I sell it," "gold bugs are crazy," "I'm not sophisticated enough to invest in gold," and the classic denial line, "I don't want to hear anymore about gold."
Is the euro about to capsize?
By Laurence Knight - BBC News
In seafaring, there is a concept called the "free-surface effect".
It happens when a surprisingly small amount of fluid can move freely inside a boat.
It is an accident waiting to happen.
As the boat tilts in the waves, the water starts to flood across the floor, pushing up against the boat's lower side.
Instead of righting itself again, the boat begins to list more and more as the water moves inside it, until the boat capsizes.
Something similar is happening to the euro.
Euro Falls for 3rd Day Before Berlusconi Vote
By Candice Zachariahs and Kristine Aquino - Bloomberg.com
The euro fell for a third day before Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces a budget vote amid pressure to quit and a surge in borrowing costs, stoking concern the region’s debt crisis is spreading.
The 17-nation currency slid against most major peers ahead of a report today that economists said will show German exports fell in September, underscoring signs Europe’s biggest economy is losing momentum. The franc reached its lowest level in more than two weeks against the euro on speculation the Swiss National Bank will weaken its currency to support growth. Australia’s dollar fell for a third day against the yen as the nation’s trade surplus was narrower than economists forecast.
Eurozone ministers fail to create €1 trillion bail-out fund Eurozone finance ministers have failed to sanction measures to create the bloc's crucial €1 trillion bail-out fund – despite warnings that Europe is dangerously ill-equipped to cope with the financial and economic crisis enveloping Italy.
By Louise Armitstead - Telegraph.co.uk
Despite publishing a more detailed mandate following a summit in Brussels, the Eurogroup delayed agreeing specifics on how to leverage the €440bn European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), risking further market turmoil ahead of votes on Tuesday that could topple Silvio Berlusconi's government.
The EFSF also pushed ahead with a 10-year bond auction which it had put off from last week because of lack of demand. The fund, which is supposed to be the eurozone's key weapon against the debt crisis, managed to raise €3bn but only after having to pay record returns to entice investors.
European leaders refuse to release
€8bn aid tranche unless Greece adopts reforms
European leaders have refused to release the €8bn (£6.86bn) tranche of international aid to Greece until its new government has "adopted down to the last detail" the Brussels programme of reforms.
By Louise Armitstead - Telegraph.co.uk
The tough message was delivered to Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos in meetings with Jean Claude Juncker, the head of the eurogroup, and Olli Rehn, the European economic commissioner, ahead of the latest crisis summit. Mr Juncker said: "I expect that the new government will make clear very soon that what was decided on October 26 and 27 here in Brussels will be adopted down to the last detail."
Wolfgang Schauble, the German finance minister, said: "The programme's conditions must be met before we can decide about the payment of the tranche."
Without a cash injection Greece will run out of cash in mid-December.
The eurozone decouples from the world
By Gavyn Davies - FT.com
The G20 summit last Friday certainly did not measure up to the billing it was given by the UK Chancellor in September, when he said that policymakers had “six weeks to save the world”. Nevertheless, equities and other risk assets have risen markedly over the same period. As Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill argues this weekend, this is probably due to improvements in economic data in the US, and to the rising prospects of a soft landing in China. A less optimistic way of summarising recent news is to say that Europe has now decoupled from the rest of the world. It is already in recession, which may prove to be a deep one, and the debt crisis is arguably getting worse, not better.
Are Americans Ready For Europe's Collapse?
By: Rick Ackerman - GoldSeek.com
.... Europe is headed for a major depression … like the good old days of 1929! The Great Depression lasted over a decade in the U. S., even with all the market and job creating stimulus FDR could beg, borrow and steal from Congress. It took World War II to get us working again. Then, if we, our allies and even our enemies, hadn’t bombed just about every factory and storage facility in the world, leaving the U.S. with the only working factories and cargo fleet intact in the world, we still might not have gotten out of it. The Great Depression could easily have gone on for decades and decades.
The Euro 'Event' Will Cause Depression: HSBC
By: Patrick Allen - CNBC EMEA Head of News
With no end in sight to the euro zone debt crisis, events in Athens and Rome are likely to dominate investor sentiment over the coming days.
Whether it is Berlusconi hanging onto power or the talks over forming a new government in Greece, it will be impossible to ignore the euro zone debt crisis.
Analysts at HSBC have been looking at what they call the "risk on – risk off paradigm" which they believe has been the dominant feature of the market since the start of the financial crisis back in 2007. Their analysis does not make good reading, unless you are betting on risk off.
France cuts frantically as Italy nears debt spiral France has unveiled the toughest austerity measures since World War Two despite the looming danger of a double-dip recession, vowing to slash borrowing by €65bn over the next five years in a last-ditch effort to save the country's AAA rating.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
"We wish to protect the French against the grave problems facing other European countries. Bankruptcy is not an abstract word," said premier Francois Fillon.
The belt-tightening plan -- the second package since August, taking total cuts to €112bn -- include a 5pc super-tax on big firms, a rise in VAT on restaurants and construction, and cuts on pensions, schools, health, and welfare. It is the latest squeeze in a relentless campaign of fiscal tightening across the eurozone.
'Arrivederci, Roma'
Patrick J. Buchanan - SilverBearCafe.com
Will popular democracy bring down the New World Order?
A fair question. For Western peoples are growing increasingly reluctant to accept the sacrifices that the elites are imposing upon them to preserve that New World Order.
Political support for TARP, to rescue the financial system after the Lehman Brothers collapse, is being held against any Republican candidate who backed it. Germans and Northern Europeans are balking at any more bailouts of Club Med deadbeats.
Italy on the brink as yields soar past point of no return
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
The eurozone debt crisis has again conformed to pattern this morning; just as one fire abates, temporarily at least – with news of the formation of a government of national unity in Greece – another lights up. Lamentably, this one – Italy – may be too big to douse.
The yield on ten year Italian debt rose to 6.59pc this morning, widening the spread on German bunds to an unprecedented 4.81pc. These are the sort of levels at which Greece, Ireland and Portugal began to find themselves shut out of markets.
Berlusconi rejects pressure to quit; Italian crisis grows
ROME (AP) – Italy became the latest target in Europe's financial crisis Monday, as soaring borrowing rates intensified pressure on Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign and let a new government reform the country's spendthrift ways.
Berlusconi batted away reports that he was considering stepping down in favor of early elections, saying they were "without foundation."
But the prospect of financial disaster was real because of Italy's huge debts and slow growth. Unlike Greece, Ireland and Portugal — the three countries that Europe has already bailed out — Italy's economy could be too large to rescue.
Greece's next prime minister to be announced Tuesday
By the CNN Wire Staff
Athens, Greece (CNN) -- A new prime minister will be named Tuesday to replace George Papandreou, a Greek government spokesman said Monday.
Ilias Mosialos made the announcement, noting that discussions about Greece's shaky political and economic future had concluded for the night.
His comments came hours after Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters that the tense economic situation in Athens had changed dramatically over the weekend and that there was cause for optimism.
Ex-ECB's Papademos Front-Runner for Greek Prime Minister
By: Reuters with CNBC.com
A former deputy head of the European Central Bank emerged on Monday as frontrunner to become Greek prime minister, as party leaders bargained over who will lead a "100 day coalition" to push through a bailout before the nation runs out of money.
Under EU pressure, an unaccustomed spirit of compromise seeped into Greek politics as the top parties haggled over the jobs in a government which will run Greece only until early elections in February.
Greece Runs Into Trouble Picking a New Prime Minister
By: Reuters - CNBC.com
Greek party leaders are struggling to agree on a new prime minister, despite EU demands that the political class commit itself fast to the nation's financial salvation and end the chaos threatening the entire euro project.
Monday came and went without any accord on who will lead a new national unity coalition, despite plenty of talk that a former vice president of the European Central Bank, Lucas Papademos, would get the job.
The cabinet was due to hold an emergency session on Tuesday and officials said negotiations were under way on the "100-day coalition" which must win parliamentary approval for a euro zone bailout and save the country from bankruptcy.
The US, Not Greece, Is Cause of EU Collapse
Elaine Meinel Supkis - SilverBearCafe.com
The Eurozone collapse has hammered global stock markets. This is due to Europe teetering on the brink of dissolution. Like all previous Confederations, even the slightest of stresses can destroy the illusion of unity. The EU is run from afar by the US. The US pays 75% of the costs of NATO, up from 50% just ten years ago. And the US is stumbling down the slope to bankruptcy. So goes Europe.
Greece has basically declared bankruptcy. The EU ‘rescue operation' will have to be an amputation. The EU expanded swiftly and drastically in the last 10 years. Like any bubble, it popped on the periphery. Greece's debts are miniscule. The giant debt country is the US. By far, and great. All of Europe's debts equal the US debt. Which means, essentially, that Europe is as bad off as the US.
Reduce Risk
John P. Hussman, Ph.D. - HussmanFunds.com
A quick note on Greece - as of Friday, the yield on 1-year Greek debt has soared to 212%, up from 144% a week ago, just after the grand "solution" to the crisis was announced. Over the past week, the price of 1-year Greek debt has plunged by 20%, to 38.4 (bid 35.81, ask 40.97 to be exact). Which begs the question - if everyone has agreed that Greek debt will only be written down by 50%, why is the 1-year note trading at just 38% of face value, with longer maturities trading below 30% of face? This sort of incongruence isn't inspiring.
World Dodges Slump With China-U.S. Buoy
By Rich Miller - Bloomberg.com
The global economy is showing signs of withstanding a European recession triggered by the debt debacle in Greece.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 9 percent last month, the lowest since April, from 9.1 percent in September, the Labor Department reported Nov. 4. Chinese manufacturing continued to expand in October, based on an index compiled by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. Even in Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, growth is coming to life: Gross domestic product climbed last quarter for the first time in a year, rising 6 percent according to the median estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg News.
Banks put brakes on easier credit, Fed says Some foreign institutions actually tightened lending standards
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Fewer U.S. banks have eased standards on business loans in the third quarter than in prior quarters given the uncertain economic outlook, the Federal Reserve reported Monday.
For instance, a net 6% of banks eased standards in the third quarter compared with 22% in the prior quarter, the survey found.
A number of foreign banks actually tightened their standards, the Fed said in its quarterly survey of senior loan officers at 51 U.S. banks and 22 foreign banks doing business in the country.
* * * * *
Hit With Big Withdrawals, Fed Sells Assets, Borrows Cash
By Lee Adler - WallStreetExaminer.com
The Fed was hit with withdrawals of $83.3 billion last Wednesday, the largest withdrawals from its deposit accounts that were not associated with quarterly tax payments since February of 2009. $7 billion of that was the net cash transferred to the US Treasury from its note and bond sales less outlays. The Fed still had to meet the other $76 billion. These transactions were revealed in the Fed’s weekly H.4.1 report.
The Fed was apparently forced to take extraordinary measures to fund these withdrawals. These included the outright sale of nearly $24 billion in its Treasury note and bond holdings from the System Open Market Account. As a result, the Fed’s System Open Market Account (SOMA) fell to $2.611 trillion, some $43 billion below the Fed’s stated target of $2.654 trillion. Prior to this week, it had not strayed from by more than $7 billion since June. The Fed’s action was not only a direct contradiction of its stated policy, but it was done without warning or explanation. It ran counter to Bernanke’s penchant for telegraphing every important move the Fed makes so that the banking/speculating organizations can front-run it.
Fed Intervention and the Market: A New Update
BY DOUG SHORT - FinancialSense.com
At present we are in the early stages of the latest Federal Reserve intervention, Operation Twist, which was officially announced on September 21 after several days of rumors. We've now seen several bouts of aggressive Fed attempts to manage the economy following the collapse of the two Bear Stearns hedge funds in mid-2007 about three month before the all-time high in the S&P 500.
Initially the Fed Funds Rate (FFR) underwent a series of cuts, and with the bankruptcy of Bear Stearns, the Fed launched a veritable alphabet soup of tactical strategies intended to stave off economic disaster: PDCF, TALF, TARP, etc. But shortly after the bankruptcy filing, the Fed really swung into high gear. The FFR fell off a cliff and soon bounced in the lower half of the 0 to 0.25% ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy). The thud to the FFR bottom coincided with the first of two rounds of quantitative easing in an effort to promote increased lending and liquidity.
SEC To Propose More Money-Fund Overhauls Soon
By ANDREW ACKERMAN Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES - WSJ.com
The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to propose within the next four months additional overhauls for the $2.6 trillion money-market mutual fund industry, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said Monday.
Speaking in Manhattan, Schapiro said the SEC is closely considering at least two policy options designed to ensure that money funds are less susceptible to "breaking the buck," or dipping below the $1 net asset value that money funds seek to maintain. They include proposing a "capital buffer" to ensure funds have access to sources of capital during times of stress, as well as a floating net asset value, though Schapiro suggested she didn't yet support the latter idea.
MF Signs Death Warrant for Short-Term Funding
By William D. Cohan - Bloomberg.com
People ask me all the time: How could Wall Street powerhouses such as Bear Stearns Cos., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. disappear virtually overnight?
How could MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MF) be here one day and gone the next? Why was Jefferies Group Inc. (JEF), the midsized investment bank, whipsawed last week by rumors about its very survival because of questions about its exposure to European debt?
The True Cause of America’s Troubles
Martin D. Weiss Ph.D. - MoneyAndMarkets.com
Are you wondering why the U.S. economy has now stagnated — despite the largest government stimulus, bailouts, and money printing of all time?
Are you puzzled why the real income of American households has just suffered its worst plunge in recorded history — despite the so-called “recovery” of 2009-2011?
Do you want to know why it now takes 40.5 weeks for the average unemployed worker to find a new job — also the worst in recorded history?
And are you flabbergasted by the utter failure of the U.S. Congress to do anything about trillion-dollar federal deficits for years to come?
Then, let me tell you precisely what’s causing this mess.
Is an Ivy League Diploma Worth It? Fearing Massive Debt, More Students Are Choosing to Enroll at Public Colleges Over Elite Universities
By MELISSA KORN - WSJ.com
Daniel Schwartz could have attended an Ivy League school if he wanted to. He just doesn't see the value.
Mr. Schwartz, 18 years old, was accepted at Cornell University but enrolled instead at City University of New York's Macaulay Honors College, which is free.
Mr. Schwartz says his family could have afforded Cornell's tuition, with help from scholarships and loans. But he wants to be a doctor and thinks medical school, which could easily cost upward of $45,000 a year for a private institution, is a more important investment. It wasn't "worth it to spend $50,000-plus a year for a bachelor's degree," he says.
Wall St. Pessimism About Holiday Sales
247WallStreet.com
Wall St. has voted on how strong holiday sales will be this year. Shares of Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Target (NYSE: TGT) are down year to date. Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Sears (NYSE: SHLD) are barely higher than the S&P 500, which is flat for the period. The stock price of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is an exception to the trend. It is up by 20% since the start of January, although it has sold off recently.
The National Retail Federation expects sales for November and December to be 2.8% higher. A number of industry observers believe that means some retailers will add jobs. Reuters recently reported that expectation is an illusion, fostered by hiring at several large retailers, including Toys ‘R’ Us and Macy’s (NYSE: M). Many smaller retailers may add no workers at all. The retail employment trend is a strong indication that a holiday sales recovery is already dead. The industry cannot afford that. There have been too many lean years over the past four.
New Social Security formula could cut benefits, raise taxes
By Stephen Ohlemacher, AP - USAToday.com
WASHINGTON – Just as 55 million Social Security recipients are about to get their first benefit increase in three years, Congress is looking at reducing future raises by adopting a new measure of inflation that also would increase taxes for most families — the biggest impact falling on those with low incomes.
If adopted across the government, the new inflation measure would have widespread ramifications. Future increases in veterans' benefits and pensions for federal workers and military personnel would be smaller. And over time, fewer people would qualify for Medicaid, Head Start, food stamps, school lunch programs and home heating assistance.
Generation Jobless:
Young Men Suffer Worst as Economy Staggers
By CONOR DOUGHERTY - WSJ.com
PORTLAND, Ore.—Few groups were hit harder by the recession than young men, like Cody Preston and Justin Randol, 25-year-old high-school buddies who didn't go to college.
The unemployment rate for males between 25 and 34 years old with high-school diplomas is 14.4%—up from 6.1% before the downturn four years ago and far above today's 9% national rate. The picture is even more bleak for slightly younger men: 22.4% for high-school graduates 20 to 24 years old. That's up from 10.4% four years ago.
In contrast to those men, Messrs. Preston and Randol are old enough to have had some time in the job market. They worked together installing granite counters before the housing bust.
Jobless and Clueless
Joel S. Hirschhorn - SilverBearCafe.com
When Americans who are the most victimized by our cruel economy still believe in something that is demonstrably no longer true, they are deeply delusional. They desperately want to believe in something once great about American society. The reality is that upward economic mobility has been destroyed, replaced by widely observable downward mobility. Some of the mostly younger jobless that have embraced the Occupy Wall Street and related Occupy efforts know the truth.
Consider the results of a new survey of unemployed adults this month:
"More than half of those polled said that they had experienced emotional or mental health problems like anxiety or depression because of their lack of work, and nearly half said that they had felt embarrassed or ashamed not to have jobs."
Your Parents Were Richer Than You Are
By Conor Dougherty - WSJ.com
Your parents were much better off than you are at the same age, according to this report by the Pew Research Center that shows that over the past quarter century households head by older adults have grown far richer faster than their counterparts at the same age.
From the Pew Report:
In 2009, households headed by adults ages 65 and older possessed 42% more median net worth (assets minus debt) than households headed by their same-aged counterparts had in 1984. During this same period, the wealth of households headed by younger adults moved in the opposite direction. In 2009, households headed by adults younger than 35 had 68% less wealth than households of their same-aged counterparts had in 1984.
And You Thought the Real Estate Bust Was Over
BY JOHN RUBINO - FinancialSense.com
This week all eyes are on Greece and Italy, which is reasonable since they’re likely to be pretty entertaining. But as incredible as it sounds, PIIGS country sovereign debt might not even be the biggest banking-system threat on the immediate horizon. It turns out that the largest European banks have held onto — and apparently failed to mark down — a mountain of crappy paper from the housing bubble:
Old Debts Dog Europe’s Banks
European banks are sitting on heaps of exotic mortgage products and other risky assets that predate the financial crisis, adding to pressure on lenders that also are holding large quantities of euro-zone government debt.
Unions object to parts of postal rescue plan
By Jennifer Liberto @CNNMoney
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- Union groups don't like big parts of a new bipartisan proposal in the Senate to save the U.S. Postal Service that would cut services and workers.
The new legislation announced Wednesday would, among other things, help the cash-strapped Postal Service by allowing the agency to tap a $6.9 billion overpayment to the Federal Employment Retirement System to relieve its pressing financial crunch.
The Senate panel that oversees the postal service, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, will consider the proposed deal to save the Postal Service next Wednesday.
U.S. wealth gap between young and old is widest ever
By Hope Yen, AP - USAToday.com
WASHINGTON – The wealth gap between younger and older Americans has stretched to the widest on record, worsened by a prolonged economic downturn that has wiped out job opportunities for young adults and saddled them with housing and college debt.
The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater than a household headed by someone under 35, according to an analysis of census data released Monday.
While people typically accumulate assets as they age, this wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago, after adjusting for inflation.
Koch brothers:
secretive billionaires
to launch vast database with 2012 in mind
David and Charles Koch, oil tycoons with strong right-wing views and connections, look set to tighten their grip on US politics
By Ed Pilkington in New York - Guardian.co.uk
The secretive oil billionaires the Koch brothers are close to launching a nationwide database connecting millions of Americans who share their anti-government and libertarian views, a move that will further enhance the tycoons' political influence and that could prove significant in next year's presidential election.
The database will give concrete form to the vast network of alliances that David and Charles Koch have cultivated over the past 20 years on the right of US politics. The brothers, whose personal wealth has been put at $25bn each, were a major force behind the creation of the tea party movement and enjoy close ties to leading conservative politicians, financiers, business people, media figures and US supreme court judges.
Internet routing glitch kicks millions offline
By Laurie Segall - CNN.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The seemingly indestructible Internet relies on a few backbone systems to keep traffic flowing smoothly. Sometimes, one of those systems blips -- and millions of devices get abruptly kicked offline.
That's what happened Monday morning, when a software glitch in the Internet's wonky sounding "Border Gateway Protocol" created a ripple effect that crashed data networks around the world.
Earthquake insurance: 8 things you need to know
By Kathy Kristof - CBS MoneyWatch - CBSNews.com
(MoneyWatch) The 5.6-point Oklahoma earthquake -- the strongest in recorded history for that state -- underscores the harsh reality that fires, storms and floods are not the only perils that can damage or destroy your home. And it doesn't matter where you live. In fact, the Oklahoma quake was the third major quake to shake an area where earthquakes are rare. Virginia and Colorado also felt major quakes this summer. California, of course, is the nation's highest-risk area and is considered long overdue for a major shaker.
But while there's little question that you should insure against the risk of fire, deciding whether or not to buy earthquake coverage is tougher. That's because the coverage is costly and varies in many significant ways from other types of homeowner's coverage.
Russia warns against Iran attack Russia: Israeli threat of strikes on Iran 'a mistake'
Military action against Iran would be a "very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences", Russia's foreign minister has warned.
Sergei Lavrov said diplomacy, not missile strikes, was the only way to solve the Iranian nuclear problem.
His comments come after Israeli President Shimon Peres said an attack on Iran was becoming more likely.
The UN's atomic watchdog is expected to say this week that Iran is secretly developing a nuclear arms capability.
Niall Ferguson - on the new world order pt1 (March 1, 2010)
Niall Ferguson - on the new world order pt2 (March 1, 2010)
Niall Ferguson - on the new world order pt3 (March 1, 2010)
Regulators Close Two More Banks;
Failure Tally Rises To 87 In 2011
(RTTNews) - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or FDIC said Friday it closed two more banks, one each in Nebraska and Utah, bringing the nationwide tally of bank failures in 2011 to 87. This compares to 157 bank closures in 2010.
The two banks were closed by the regulators on Friday, with the assets of the failed banks beings assumed by other banks in FDIC-assisted transactions. The FDIC estimates that the cost of the two bank failures to the Deposit Insurance Fund or DIF will be a total of $62.4 million.
Omaha, Nebraska-based Mid City Bank Inc. is the first bank to be closed this year in Nebraska. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was TierOne Bank, Lincoln, on June 4, 2010.
The Collapse of Our Corrupt,
Predatory, Pathological Financial System
Is Necessary and Positive We are being throttled by the Big Lie: we're told that if the predatory financial system implodes, we'll all be ruined. The opposite is true: the only way to save our economy is to let the corrupt, pathological and flawed financial system implode.
By Charles hugh Smith - OfTwoMinds.com
I was recently challenged by a contributor to write something positive, and so I decided to write about the single most positive outcome of the current financial crisis in Europe: the complete collapse of the corrupt, predatory, pathological global banking sector and its dealers, the central banks. Exploring why this is so reveals the insurmountable internal conflicts in our current financial system, and also illuminates the systemic political propaganda which is deployed daily to prop up a parasitic, corrupting, pathologically destructive financial system.
NIALL FERGUSON:
We're Playing Russian Roulette With Our Debt And Deficits
By Henry Blodget - businessinsider.com
For the past several years, an argument has raged about about how the U.S. should deal with its lousy economy and debt-and-deficit problem.
On the one side are the "austerians," who think the U.S. should immediately cut government spending to balance its budget, "taking our medicine" in one painful dose.
On the other side are the Keynesians, like Paul Krugman, who think the U.S. should launch more government stimulus, increasing the debt in the near-term, but helping the economy to grow out of the problem.
Niall Ferguson: It's the Stupid Economy
G-20 Wishes Europe Good Luck, But Gives No New Aid
By SCOTT STODDARD, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
With the governments of Greece and Italy teetering on collapse, the world's economic powers wished Europe luck with its crisis, but didn't offer any new aid.
Group of 20 leaders concluded their meeting in France on Friday without agreeing to boost the International Monetary Fund's reserves or take other steps to prevent Greece's debt crisis from spreading to bigger economies such as Italy and Spain.
IMF's "Nouveau Rich" Willing To Bail Out Old Europe Europe: meet the "nouveau rich".
Forbes.com
For some months now, the big emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China have been discussing providing more capital to the International Monetary Fund above their current quota in order to bail out Europe.
At Friday’s close of the G20 Summit in Cannes, countries that were once kept on life support from the IMF agreed that they would indeed provide more relief to Europe through IMF loans. Earlier reports on Friday said G20 leaders spent much of the weekend in the resort French town discussing just how to lend billions of dollars to Europe through the IMF. Reuters reported that French president Nicolas Sarkozy was pushing to include a reference to special drawing rights – or SDRs, which is a basket of currencies used in lending to borrowing nations, as a supplementary foreign exchange reserve unit in addition to the widely held U.S. dollar.
G-20 Demands German Gold
To Keep Eurozone Intact;
German Central Bank Tells G-20 Where To Stick It
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Going back to the annals of brokeback Europe, we learn that gold after all is money, after the G-20 demanded that EFSF (of €1 trillion "stability fund" yet can't raise €3 billion fame) be backstopped by none other than German gold. Per Reuters, "The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS) reported that Bundesbank reserves -- including foreign currency and gold -- would be used to increase Germany's contribution to the crisis fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) by more than 15 billion euros ($20 billion)." And who would be the recipient of said transfer? Why none other than the most insolvent of global hedge funds, the European Central Bank.
Tough-talking Germany
takes the eurozone to the brink of a break-up I ended last Sunday’s column by predicting that the latest eurozone bail-out would unravel within two weeks. Amid the post-deal euphoria, this statement raised a few eyebrows.
By Liam Halligan - Telegraph.co.uk
As it turned out, though, far from being alarmist, I was actually too optimistic.
Within three days, the much-trumpeted Franco-German "complete strategy" solution, having previously caused share prices to surge, collapsed in a heap. No one should be surprised. The failure of last weekend’s agreement was inevitable – not least because there was no agreement.
The "50pc haircut" that private sector holders of Greek sovereign bonds "voluntarily accepted" was a myth. There was no resolution in terms of coupons, maturities or participation ratios – as was clear to anyone who looked beyond the headlines. Presented as a victory for courageous politicians over nasty bankers, the Greek bond-holders’ deal, the centre-piece of last weekend’s entire rescue-plan, has been exposed as a tawdry publicity stunt.
Jim Grant's Best Moments on Money,
Banking & The Federal Reserve
the dollar... America's greatest export; pre-meditated inflation is the Fed's plan; Grant in favor of a gold standard instead of a PhD standard; let market place set interest rates instead of central bank
Europe's rescue fiasco leaves Italy defenceless The sixty days allotted to save monetary union have expired. The G20 has come and gone, yet no workable firewall is in place as the drama engulfs Italy and threatens to light the fuse on the world’s third largest edifice of debt.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
As of late Friday, the yield spread on Italian 10-year bonds over German Bunds was a post-EMU record of 458 basis points. This is dangerously close to the point where cascade-selling begins and matters spiral out of control.
The European Central Bank has so far bought time by holding a series of retreating lines but either it has reached its intervention limits after accumulating nearly €80bn of Italian debt, or it is holding fire to force Silvio Berlusconi to resign – if so, a foolish game.
Berlusconi: Life was cheaper before the euro
BY PHILIP EBELS - EUObserver.com
BRUSSELS - Italians are poorer today than before the introduction of the euro, Prime Minister Berlusconi said Friday (4 November) after failing to gain the trust of world leaders and markets about the reforms his government still has to implement.
"A family used to be able to live easily with two million lire per month, but today that is difficult with one thousand euro," he told press in Cannes after the G20 summit on Friday (4 November). "I don’t blame the euro, I blame the exchange rate."
Behind The Scenes European Panic
As Interbank Liquidity At Worst Level Ever
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedg.com
Yesterday we reported that in the aftermath of MF Global, and concurrent with Greece nearly allowing democracy for one brief second, European banks had scrambled to put a record amount of cash with the Federal Reserve. Next we get confirmation from the ECB that like in the US, so in Europe, in the absence of any confidence in one another (ignore Liebor, which while up again is and has always been a collusive joke intended to convey bank strength), the only place banks have left to dump money is the ECB. As of this morning, a 16 month high of €275 billion in cash had been parked with Mario Draghi, an amount which is promptly removed from the Keynesian money multiplier myth, and which confirms that there is a behind the scenes liquidity panic unlike anything we have seen since Lehman, and in fact, as the second chart from Sean Corrigan showing ECB fixed and deposit usage as well as Fed reverse repo and overall foreign bank cash parking, the liquidity in the market now from a European point of view, contrary to what broken indicators may show, is the worst it has ever been with nearly $1.6 trillion in liquidity removed from broad circulation and parked with either just the Fed or the ECB. Translated: as goes democracy, so goes confidence.
ICE Follows CME in Lowering Margin Requirements
to Mute MF Global Impact
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
ZeroHedge initially misinterpreted the somewhat vague release from CME, raising an alarm amongst a number of people who sent it to me. And a number of people have since been critical of their mistake, which from what I could see was understandable. The CME release was very misleading.
ZH has since corrected it. And the ICE release makes the exchanges' intentions abundantly clear. When you are on the 'cutting edge' of releasing and interpreting news, it is possible to get it wrong once in a while. And it is to your credit to correct it as soon as you can, which has been done.
Jim Rogers Reuters Interview - 04 Nov 2011
on Greek drama now unfolding - Greece should declare bankruptcy
Papandreou, Samaras Agree
to Create National Unity Government for Greece
By Marcus Bensasson, Maria Petrakis
and Natalie Weeks - Blomberg.com
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to step down as premier to allow the creation of a national unity government that will secure international financing for the country and avert a default.
Papandreou met with Antonis Samaras, the leader of the main opposition party, and “agreed to form a new government with the aim of leading the country to elections immediately after the implementation of European Council decisions on October 26,” according to an e-mailed statement from the office of President Karolos Papoulias in Athens. Papandreou has already said he won’t lead this new government, the statement said.
Papandreou to quit as Greece forms new government New coalition will try to win approval of debt-bailout plan
By Sam Mamudi, Kate Gibson and William L. Watts, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Greece’s main political parties agreed Sunday night to form a new national unit government in a deal that will see Prime Minister George Papandreou step down, according to a media report.
After reaching the outline of the agreement Sunday night, Papandreou and Antonis Samaras, the leader of the opposition party, were to meet Monday to work out details, including selection of a new prime minister, the New York Times reported.
The Entire Global Economy is at the Mercy of Tiny Greece?
BY SY HARDING - FinancialSense.com
It’s incredible when you think about it.
Greece is one of the smallest countries and economies in the world. Its population is 11 million people out of the 492 million in the combined European Union countries, and compared to 312 million in the U.S., 1.3 billion in China, 1.2 billion in India.
Its economy is 32nd in size globally, with annual GDP of only $0.3 trillion, compared to $63 trillion for the world as a whole, $16.2 trillion for the combined European Union countries, $14.5 trillion for the U.S., $6 trillion for China, $5.5 trillion for Japan, and so on.
Chaos in Greece amid battle
to form a 'government of national salvation' European leaders watch nervously as embattled premier tries to find allies and avoid being thrown out of the eurozone
By Helena Smith and Tom Kington - Guardian.co.uk
Politicians in Greece were engaged in frantic negotiations to form a government of "national salvation" on Saturday in a desperate bid to prevent debt-stricken Athens plunging into bankruptcy and possible exit from the EU.
As Europe's leaders looked on nervously, embattled prime ministerGeorge Papandreou visited head of state president Karalos Papoulias to ask to form a broad-based transitional administration that could navigate the country out of its worst crisis in modern times following a week of high political drama.
Goldman: euro could split apart The chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management has said that the need for a German-led fiscal integration in the eurozone would make it increasingly unattractive for all the countries who joined to stay in the single currency.
By Kamal Ahmed - Telegraph.co.uk
Jim O’Neill, whose division manages more than $800bn (£500bn) of assets, said that countries as diverse as Portugal, Ireland, Finland and Greece could pull out of the single currency rather than have to operate under a single eurozone treasury.
Yesterday, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said the market turmoil could last for a decade and there was still "a chunk of work" to do.
"The Germans want more fiscal unity and much tougher central observation – with the idea of a finance ministry,"
Subprime Moment Looms for 'Risk-Free' Sovereign Debt
By: Gillian Tett, Financial Times - CNBC.com
When future financial historians look back at the early 21st century, they may wonder why anybody ever thought it was a good idea to repackage subprime securities into triple A bonds. So, too, in relation to assumptions about the "risk-free" status of western sovereign debt.
After all, during most of the past few decades, it has been taken as a key axiom of investing that most western sovereign debt was in effect risk-free, and thus expected to trade at relatively undifferentiated tight spreads. Now, of course, that assumption is being exposed as a fallacy. Just look at those Greek haircuts, or the scale of future losses now being implied in the credit derivatives markets for Portugal, Ireland and Italy.
Gerald Celente - 01 Nov 2011 Talk Radio Europe, the evening show with Lisa Grant
PIMCO's Gross says banks need further capitalization
By John McCrank
(Reuters) - U.S. banks have not done enough to ensure they are well capitalized, and getting back to a system where retail and investment banking are separated would be attractive in terms of reform, Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund, said on Tuesday.
"Do we have a better example today than MF Global in terms of the mingling of those two particular aspects of capital allocation," Gross, who runs the $242.2 billion PIMCO Total Return portfolio, said at Charles Schwab Corp's IMPACT conference in San Francisco.
$4 Trillion Debt Deal Possible
By James Rowley and Brian Faler - Bloomberg.com
A "bold" deficit-reduction deal worth $4 trillion is possible, say two influential lawmakers, one a Democrat the other a Republican, who expressed willingness to compromise over their previous positions on taxes and spending.
Representative Xavier Becerra, a California Democrat who last year voted against a plan put forth by President Barack Obama’s debt commission, said this time he is prepared to back something close to it as long as about one-third of the plan includes higher revenue.
14 Reasons Why We Should Nationalize The Federal Reserve
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
One of the most important steps that we could take to bring prosperity back to America would be to nationalize the Federal Reserve. Doing so would allow the federal government to quit borrowing money, dramatically reduce taxes and eventually pay off the entire U.S. national debt. Instead of inheriting the largest debt in the history of the world, future generations would actually have a chance at economic prosperity because they would not be forced to pay off the horrific debt of previous generations. The Federal Reserve is a perpetual debt machine, it has almost completely destroyed the value of the U.S. dollar and it has an absolutely nightmarish track record of incompetence. There are no good reasons to keep the status quo. Our current debt-based monetary system will inevitably lead to a complete and total economic collapse. We desperately need to make a change while we still can. As you will see below, there are a ton of good reasons why we should nationalize the Federal Reserve.
G. Edward Griffin on Corporations and OWS
Happy Days Aren't Here Again
By Peggy Noonan PatriotPost.us
Why the Democratic Party still lays claim to Americans' affection
The Republican Party continues to struggle with its brand. A Washington Post-ABC poll this week tells us that in spite of Barack Obama's relative unpopularity, and in spite of the economy, the Democratic Party is still more popular with voters than the GOP. Forty-eight percent said they view the Democratic Party favorably, while the Republicans came in at 40%. (Neither of the parties in our two party system broke through to fifty, which tells you something about the moment we're in.) Only 13% said their view of the GOP was "strongly" favorable, down from 19% in February 2010 and well below the 21% who "strongly" favor the Democrats. Also in the poll a nameless Democrat beats a nameless Republican for the presidency. Republicans are lucky the president has a name.
14,000 Coloradans move $100M into credit unions
By Jon Collins - ColoradoIndependent.com
As the social media-sparked Bank Transfer Day approaches, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) reports that over 650,000 people have joined credit unions in the last four weeks. In Colorado, the group reports 14,000 new accounts and $100 million in new deposits.
Credit unions nationally have added $4.5 billion in new accounts since the end of September, CUNA says, reporting that four out of every five credit unions affiliated with the group report that the increase is due to attempts by big banks to raise fees on customers or Bank Transfer Day, a movement birthed by social media that will take place tomorrow.
The Department of Health and Human Services' Death Panel
By Steve Forbes & staff
We already have one. It’s called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a committee of “experts” appointed by the Department of Health & Human Services. This group recently de-clared that men should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer. The most common test is the PSA, which is part of a blood test. The panel also said no to rectal exams and ultrasounds, claiming that testing does no good, that it doesn’t save lives.
Two years ago this task force said wom-en under the age of 50 shouldn’t get annual mammograms—a "finding" so preposterous even the Department of Health & Human Services ran away from it.
States worried they'll bear the brunt
of anger over health law’s shortcomings
By Julian Pecquet - TheHill.com
State officials are pushing back hard against what they view as shortcomings in the healthcare reform law for fear they'll be barraged with complaints when people have trouble affording insurance.
Federal regulators are writing the rules governing key aspects of the law, including the guidelines to determine who's eligible for subsidies to buy private insurance.
Those benefits will be delivered through state-based exchanges, however, leaving state officials on the receiving end of angry phone calls if glitches in the law aren't ironed out by 2014.
Keiser Report: Make Love, Not Debt (E205)
Opponents to TransCanada Pipeline
Protest by the Thousands at White House
By Katarzyna Klimasinska - Bloomberg.com
An Academy Award nominee, a Nobel laureate and thousands of protesters gathered in front of the White House, urging PresidentBarack Obama to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s planned oil pipeline across the U.S.
"Yes, we can!" demonstration organizer Bill McKibben shouted today, referring to Obama’s 2008 campaign slogan. "Yes, we can stop the pipeline!" McKibben is the founder of 350.org, an organization dedicated to minimizing climate change.
Mark Ruffalo, who vied for this year’s best supporting actor Oscar, and Jody Williams, winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, also were part of the crowd in Washington that numbered as many as 10,000 people, according to Sierra Club, one of the environmental groups coordinating the action.
Democrats / socialists prefer unemployment to non-union jobs IBD Editorial - Investors.com
Pelosi Vs. Boeing — And Jobs
Policy Errors: The ex-House Speaker who promised millions of jobs from ObamaCare says that not creating jobs is better than creating nonunion jobs. But then she also believes unemployment checks grow the economy.
The Peter Principle applies to politics, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should be its poster child, having risen to the level of her incompetence. Her latest pearl of wisdom came in an interview with CNBC in which she said if you can't be a union worker you should be unemployed.
"Do you think it's right that Boeing has to close down that plant in South Carolina because it's nonunion?" asked host Maria Bartiromo.
Pelosi's quick answer was "yes."
Jobs crisis deepens
as MAJORITY of unemployed now receive no benefits
because they have been out of work so long
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER - dailymail.co.uk
The jobs crisis has left so many people out of work for so long that most of America's unemployed are no longer receiving unemployment benefits.
Early last year, 75 per cent were receiving cheques. The figure is now 48 per cent - a shift that points to a growing crisis of long-term unemployment.
Nearly one-third of America's 14million unemployed have had no job for a year or more.
Congress is expected to decide by year's end whether to continue providing emergency unemployment benefits for up to 99 weeks in the hardest-hit states.
Improving Employment or Dead Cat Bounce
BY LEE ADLER - FinancialSense.com
The real measure of sustained and sustainable improvement in the US economy isn't just total employment; it's full time employment. Part time jobs normally don't pay enough to even pay the rent (The rent is too damn high.) let alone support a family. When business won't invest in hiring full time workers, that may be good for their profits in the short run, but it can't support sustained economic stability, and it certainly won't promote long term growth.
By that standard, even though today's jobs report showed great growth, it is not the kind of growth that will sustain a stable or growing economy. Instead the numbers show an economy retarded by the dead weight of too many people not working.
Unions geared up for Ohio referendum vote
By Kevin Bogardus - TheHill.com
Unions are feeling confident heading into a crucial vote next Tuesday on an Ohio state referendum dealing with collective bargaining rights.
After Ohio state lawmakers passed legislation in March — known as Senate Bill 5 — that curbed collective bargaining rights for all of the state’s public workers, labor gathered signatures for a voters’ referendum to repeal the bill. The vote next week will be a test of labor’s political strength, much like the Wisconsin state recall elections earlier this year, and has helped motivate a union base in a vital swing state for the 2012 elections.
Extreme Poverty Is Now At Record Levels –
19 Statistics About The Poor That Will Absolutely Astound You
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty than they have ever measured before. In 2010, we were told that the economy was recovering, but the truth is that the number of the "very poor" soared to heights never seen previously. Back in 1993 and back in 2009, the rate of extreme poverty was just over 6 percent, and that represented the worst numbers on record. But in 2010, the rate of extreme poverty hit a whopping 6.7 percent. That means that one out of every 15 Americans is now considered to be "very poor". For many people, this is all very confusing because their guts are telling them that things are getting worse and yet the mainstream media keeps telling them that everything is just fine. Hopefully this article will help people realize that the plight of the poorest of the poor continues to deteriorate all across the United States. In addition, hopefully this article will inspire many of you to lend a hand to those that are truly in need.
Gerald Celente - Alex Jones Show 03 Nov 2011
Ron Paul:
Drone attacks are reason
'people of Pakistan can't stand our guts'
By Mike Lillis - TheHill.com
GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul said Sunday that the U.S. military is inciting a civil war in Pakistan.
The Texas Republican said the civilian casualties resulting from the Pentagon's drone attacks over Pakistan and other countries only create more enemies at the expense of homeland security.
"Sometimes they miss and sometimes there's collateral damage. And every time we do that, we develop more enemies," Paul said on Fox News Sunday.
Western world given reminder of the ticking bomb in Iran Report leaves little doubt that Tehran is determined to build a bomb. Stopping it is fraught with danger
By James Blitz in London - FT.com
Anyone who has followed the saga of Iran’s nuclear programme knows the story can only have one of three endings. Either Iran will get the bomb. Or Iran will be bombed, with Israel and the US attacking its nuclear sites. Or a mixture of diplomacy and sanctions will triumph – with Iran meeting the world’s demand that its atomic programme should be harnessed solely for electricity production.
For much of 2011, the agony over which of these outcomes will prevail has not been at the forefront of western leaders’ minds. Discussion about the Iranian nuclear question has been dormant, with the west’s attention on the Middle East focused on the upheavals of the Arab spring.
Paul Craig Roberts:
Obama is more of a war monger than Bush/Cheney
IAEA report on Iran set to raise Middle East tension
(Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog is expected this week to issue its most detailed report yet on research in Iran seen as geared to developing atomic bombs, heightening international suspicions of Tehran's agenda and stoking Middle East tensions.
Western powers are likely to seize on the International Atomic Energy Agency document, which has been preceded by media speculation in Israel of military strikes against Iranian nuclear sites, to press for more sanctions on the oil producer.
'Chance for Iran diplomacy fading, military option closer' Peres tells Channel 2 time running out, Iran close to becoming nuclear-armed; contends it is Israel's role to warn world leaders of threat.
By JPOST.COM STAFF
President Shimon Peres on Friday said that he believes Israel is closer to utilizing the military option in dealing with Iran's nuclear program than it is to finding a diplomatic solution to the threat.
In an interview with Channel 2, the president suggested that the media speculation about a potential attack on Iran may have some basis in truth. "Intelligence services in many countries are looking at the clock and warning their leaders that not much time remains. I do not know if these world leaders will act on this advice."
Security and Defense: Rattling the cage Jerusalem is signaling to the world that it is time to get serious about putting a stop to Iran's nuclear program.
By YAAKOV KATZ - JPost.com
On Wednesday, Israel test fired a long-range ballistic missile believed, according to foreign reports, to be a version of the Jericho 3 missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads up to ranges of 4,000 kilometers.
That same day, the Israel Air Force announced that it had returned from a week of joint maneuvers with Italy over Sardinia that included long-range flights, midair refueling and complicated bombing runs. On Thursday, the Home Front Command held a large-scale civil defense exercise aimed at preparing the public for missile attacks in the center of the country.
Israel Government Bonds Advance
as Strike Threat Boosts Safety Demand
By Sharon Wrobel and Shoshanna Solomon - Bloomberg.com
Israel’s benchmark government bond rose, pushing the yield to the lowest level in a month, as the threat of a possible general strike tomorrow boosted demand for safer assets.
The yield on the 5.5 percent Mimshal Shiklit bond due in January 2022 dropped three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 4.53 percent at the 4:30 p.m. close in Tel Aviv, matching the level on Oct. 5. The Tel-Bond 40 Index of corporate bonds slipped 0.1 percent.
"Investors are reluctant to take positions today on concern of a possible strike tomorrow," Ehud Itzhakov, a bond trader at Bank Hapoalim Ltd. in Tel Aviv, said by telephone. "In addition, the decline in world markets is pushing investors to safer assets."
Iranian nuclear facility
'moving towards production of nuclear weapon' An Iranian facility is being prepared for the production of weapons-grade uranium that would allow Tehran to move rapidly to the construction of its first nuclear weapon, according to the Government.
By Alex Spillius - Telegraph.co.uk
Officials expressed grave concern about activity at the underground site in Qom, where centrifuges are being installed that could enrich uranium to the density required for an explosive device.
A United Nations report to be released next week will reveal details about the Iranian nuclear programme that the Government hopes will persuade doubting nations that Iran is on course to building a bomb and not, as it claims, merely creating nuclear energy simply for civilian or medical needs.
'15,000 strong' army gathers to take on Syria An insurgent army which claims to be up to 15,000 strong is being coordinated from Turkey to take on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, which risks plunging the region into open warfare.
By Ruth Sherlock, Antakya, Turkey - Telegraph.co.uk
The national "Syrian Free Army" aims to be the "military wing of the Syrian people's opposition to the regime", its leader told The Daily Telegraph from a heavily guarded camp in eastern Turkey.
Confirmation of an armed force operating with the covert approval of the Turkish authorities follows evidence that attacks inside Syria are causing high levels of casualties in the security forces. It also shows the anger of Recep Tayipp Erdogan, the Turkish premier, with Mr Assad, a former ally whose failed promises of reform have caused a deep rift.
US would be 'satisfied' with Brotherhood win in Egypt The United States will judge elected parties in the MidEast based "on what they do and not what they're called," AFP
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND REUTERS
The United States would be "satisfied" should free elections in Egypt produce a victory for the Muslim Brotherhood, AFP reported Friday according to the US's special coordinator for transitions in the Middle East, William Taylor.
Taylor said the US would judge elected parties in the Middle East based "on what they do, and not what they're called," AFP quoted him as saying. He added that he did not meet with Brotherhood officials in his latest visit to Cairo, but would have had he been given the chance.
* * * * *
Integrated Public Alert and Warning System(IPAWS)
"It is the policy of the United States to have an effective, reliable, integrated, flexible, and comprehensive system to alert and warn the American people....and to ensure under all conditions the President can communicate with the American people."
George W. Bush, Executive Order 13407, signed June 26, 2006
REMEMBER: The Nationwide EAS Test will occur November 9, 2011 at 2:00pm, Eastern
Nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test Introduction
FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will conduct the first nationwide Emergency Alert System (EAS) Test on November 9, at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
FEMA, the FCC, and NOAA’s vision for improving the EAS is incremental, which means testing the readiness and effectiveness of the EAS as it currently exists today is the first step. A more effective and functional EAS requires continual testing to identify necessary improvements so that all levels of the system can better serve our communities and deliver critical information that will save lives and property.
FEMA, FCC Nationwide 'Emergency Alert System' Test 11/9/11
Only a Test:
T-Mobile Jumps the Gun on Emergency Alert System Dry Run
by Lance Ulanoff - Mashable.com
T-Mobile scared me, and likely thousands of other subscribers when it inadvertently conducted a test of a new cellphone-based emergency alert system this morning.
I’d had the new HTC Radar 4G smartphone for just 12 hours when it started to make the oddest sound. The phone was in my pocket and I heard what sounded like a siren. It was a bit like the emergency alert noise your TV or radio makes right before a test of the "Emergency Broadcast System." I pulled out the phone and saw this message on screen: Presidential Alert. Underneath, in smaller letters, were the time and the word "Test." Slightly confused, maybe a little alarmed, I took a photo of the phone’s screen and then tweeted it out in hopes that someone would know what it’s all about.
Gold targets $2350 as Wave 5 begins, $1680 critical
By David Banister - CommodityOnline.com
It’s been several weeks since I’ve written about Gold and we have had a wild ride since the $1910-$1920 highs in August. At the time as we approached I forecasted a major correction was due and we were shorting the rise from $1862-$1910 prior to a huge $208 drop that took place over just a few days. We covered our short at $1725 and then Gold rallied back to a double top at $1920 and then fell back to $1531.
That pullback to $1531 qualifies as a Fibonacci retracement of the 34 month rally from $681 to $1920, and would also qualify for a price low for a 4th major wave correction. My initial targets for the Gold pullback were $1480-$1520 if the $1650 area was violated. Most recently we have seen Gold run up to 1681 which is another Fibonacci resistance zone a few times and then back off to the low $1600’s.
US Mint's gold bullion coin sales at lowest level in October
WASHINGTON (Commodity Online): The United States Mint witnessed lowest monthly sales of the year in OCtober while Silver bullion sales remained at elevated levels. However, silver bullion coin sales marked a decline from the strong numbers of the previous month.
The United States Mint offers 22 karat American Gold Eagles in one ounce, half ounce, quarter ounce, and tenth ounce sizes. Their other gold bullion option is the 24 karat American Gold Buffalo coins available in one ounce size only. For the month, total sales across all options reached 62,500 ounces. This was comprised of 46,000 one ounce Gold Eagles, 12,500 one ounce Gold Buffaloes, and the balance in fractional Gold Eagles.
G-20 Urges EU to Quell Crisis as Greece Teeters
By Simon Kennedy and Henry Meyer - Bloomberg.com
World leaders expressed impatience and irritation with Europe’s inability to defeat its two-year financial crisis as they urged swift resolution for the sake of the global economy.
With Greece's debt-ridden government at risk of collapsing as soon as today, Group of 20 chiefs meeting in Cannes, France, yesterday pushed European authorities to flesh out and enact a week-old rescue plan that has already shown signs of unraveling.
"We are grappling with a lack of confidence in markets that leaders will act," Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said in the French seaside resort. "It is therefore very important for leaders to act."
Greece Hold’em – Calling Papandreou’s Bluff
BY RYAN PUPLAVA CMT - FinancialSense.com Note:Texas Hold'em is a high-stakes poker match consisting of five shared cards dealt on the table, the first three called "the flop", the fourth referred to as "the turn", and the fifth as "the river". With each consecutive move, as the stakes increase, a number of players are often eliminated along the way. The Flop
As most of our readers are well aware by now, Papandreou shocked the markets on Monday, at about 2:00 p.m. EST, by announcing plans to hold a confidence vote and a subsequent referendum on the Eurozone debt deal as a last resort to build support within his government. (Trying to pass the buck, huh?) The reason for the dodge: further austerity measures would likely result in more social chaos in Greece. The uncertainty rippled through financial markets this week. Papandreou thought he’d play his hand in the Greek bailout politics but later in the week, his bluff was called.
Greek Leader Calls Off Referendum on Bailout Plan
By RACHEL DONADIO and NIKI KITSANTONIS - NYTimes.com
ATHENS — In a tumultuous day of political gamesmanship, Prime Minister George A. Papandreou called off a referendum on Greece’s new debt deal with the euro zone on Thursday after winning a measure of support from his opposition and managing to repair, at least for a day, a major rupture in relations with Europe.
The decision to abandon his idea of holding a popular vote on the European debt deal did not end the political turmoil here; Mr. Papandreou still faces a rebellion in his own Socialist Party and the fury of some opposition figures, and he will have to weather a difficult confidence vote on Friday. But talk of a possible unity government eased international fears of immediate new elections and a looming default if he did not survive in office, cheering markets in Europe and abroad.
Greek PM Papandreou 'ready to drop' bailout referendum
BBC.co.uk
Greek PM George Papandreou has said he is ready to drop a proposed referendum on the country's eurozone bailout deal.
He said he was focusing on talks to secure opposition support in parliament which would make the vote unnecessary.
His announcement of a referendum angered European leaders and sent shockwaves through its markets.
The main opposition has called for his resignation and snap elections, and walked out of a debate in parliament ahead of a confidence vote on Friday.
Mr Papandreou's Socialist party (Pasok) holds a slim majority in parliament, 152 out of 300 seats.
Whispers of Return to Drachma Grow Louder in Greek Crisis
By LANDON THOMAS Jr. - NYTimes.com
The political upheaval in Athens has suddenly made the once unspeakable — Greek debt default — a distinct possibility.
So now it is time to ponder the once unthinkable: that Greece might end its 10-year use of the euro and return to its former currency, the drachma.
Such a move is still officially anathema in Athens. But a growing body of economists argues that it would be the best course, whatever the near-term financial and economic implications. And now, with a referendum on the European-led bailout facing Greek voters, a vocal minority that has long called for a return to the drachma might find itself with a growing group of listeners.
Greece has to exit the Euro or hang itself
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): The possibility of a return to the drachma has raised its head after Papandreou said a referendum on Europe’s rescue package will confirm Greece’s membership of the Euro.
There are increasing calls in Greece for a return to the drachma – polls show 33% in favour of a return to the Greek drachma at this time.
The fact that it is impossible for Greece to regain competitiveness while clinging to the Euro is becoming increasingly evident. Prominent economists such as Nouriel Roubini, as well as investor George Soros have said as much and influential voices in Greece are now questioning the wisdom of clinging to the Euro.
In short, either Greece has to exit the Euro and if they do not do that, they will be hanging themselves.
Papandreou Struggles to Hold on To Power
By Maria Petrakis and Natalie Weeks - Bloomberg.com
Prime Minister George Papandreou struggled to hold on to power after Greece’s largest opposition party rebuffed his overtures to form a national government, raising the prospect of elections that could delay aid needed to prevent default.
Opposition leader Antonis Samaras rejected sharing power with Papandreou and called on the premier to quit. Papandreou, 59, scrapped a referendum on an accord with the European Union to avert a split in his party before a confidence vote scheduled for midnight tonight.
"I never excluded any topic from the discussion, not even my own position," Papandreou told lawmakers in Parliament. "I am not tied to a particular post. I repeat I am not interested in being re-elected but just in saving the country."
Greece PM Papandreou faces fresh call to resign
BBC.co.uk
Greece's centre-right opposition has demanded Prime Minister George Papandreou resign, throwing into disarray plans for a unity government.
Opposition leader Antonis Samaras also called for snap elections before leading his MPs in a dramatic walkout of parliament.
Mr Papandreou's government faces a crucial confidence vote on Friday.
He earlier said that opposition support could mean dropping controversial plans for a referendum on an EU bailout.
Mr Papandreou had faced a rebellion in his governing Socialist party (Pasok) over the proposed referendum, which sent markets into turmoil.
The BBC's Gavin Hewitt in Athens says Greece had seen 24 hours of political horse trading and power struggles.
Obama's Reelection Could Hinge on Greece As he attends the G-20 summit in Cannes, the president has added incentive to prevent European debt from slowing the U.S. recovery
By George E. Condon Jr - TheAtlantic.com
There is no Cannes primary on the U.S. political calendar. But what happens in the south of France over the next two days while President Obama is at the G-20 Summit may have as much to do with his political fate in 2012 as anything happening in Iowa or New Hampshire. From his first meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, which will happen a little after 4 a.m. EDT Thursday, until he departs for home Friday afternoon, the president will be focused on a worsening European crisis that threatens to complicate his own reelection.
BNP Paribas Writes Down Greek Debt as Earnings Slump
BY DAVID JOLLY - NYTimes.com
PARIS — BNP Paribas, France’s largest bank, reported a sharp decline in its third-quarter profit on Thursday and said it was writing off 60 percent of the value of its holdings of Greek debt, a belated acknowledgment that the loans were largely unrecoverable.
The bank, based in Paris, said it was setting aside about 2.1 billion euros ($2.9 billion) of the value of its Greek sovereign debt, while also writing down about 116 million euros of exposure to Greek corporate bonds.
BNP said it was also moving to reduce its exposure to the debt of troubled European governments, selling 1.9 billion euros worth of Greek sovereign debt, 8.2 billion euros of Italian debt and 2.5 billion euros of Spanish debt, more than $16 billion.
Berlusconi Arrives at G-20 'Empty-Handed'
After Vowing Economic Overhaul
By Lorenzo Totaro - Bloomberg.com
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived at today’s Group of 20 summit with pressure mounting on him to overhaul Italy’s economy after European leaders for the first time raised the prospect of the euro area splintering.
Berlusconi is going "to Cannes empty-handed," Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy’s leading financial daily, said in a front-page editorial. The Cabinet last night only agreed on a "mini-plan" to fight the debt crisis, rather than accelerating a promised economic revamp through an emergency decree, the Milan-based newspaper said.
Italy's 10-year bond yield rose to a euro-era record today after Berlusconi's Cabinet only included some promised measures in an amendment to a spending bill that Parliament must pass this month. The amendment will be presented next week and the government will seek a confidence vote on the bill, an Italian government official told reporters in Cannes, France.
Solutions from a CFR globalist...
6 Ways That World Governments
Can Address the Global Economic Crisis Ideas for the G-20 meetings in Cannes today
By Stewart M. Patrick, senior fellow - Council on Foreign Relations
Leaders of the Group of Twenty (G20) meet on the French Riviera this week, but their stay on the Cote d'Azur will be anything but relaxed. The world economy is in deep trouble again, plagued by sovereign debt crises in Europe and the United States, persistent global imbalances and currency misalignments, low growth and stubborn unemployment in developed countries, and inflationary pressures in emerging economies. A year ago at Seoul, the G20 seemed finally poised to transition from an emergency crisis committee to a global economic steering group. The Cannes summit finds the G20 once again at the heart of the maelstrom, in full crisis-management mode.
The narrowed Cannes agenda reflects this reality. When France assumed the G20's rotating presidency a year ago, President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed a sweeping summit agenda. Paris' ambitions included an overhaul of the international monetary system and comprehensive "global governance reform"--including enlargement of the UN Security Council.
Corzine Forgot Lessons of Long-Term Capital
By Roger Lowenstein - Bloomberg.com
Thirteen years ago, when the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management was desperately negotiating with Wall Street banks for a bailout, Jon Corzine, the chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), called John Meriwether, LTCM’s founder, and read him the riot act. Wall Street would invest, Corzine said, but "JM" would have to accept more controls, including strict supervision over his firm’s trading limits.
Corzine, I wrote soon after, "understood the flaws" at LTCM better than anyone. The firm had no controls over risk limits, no accountability to anyone who wasn't a trader.
Corzine was also tempted by the upside of high-risk trading -- and by Meriwether in particular. Perhaps his admiration for Meriwether didn’t begin when they were classmates at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, in the early 1970s, but it blossomed soon after, when Corzine became a bond trader at Goldman and Meriwether one at Salomon Brothers.
THE WHOLE AGENDA RADIO SHOW GUESTS
BOB CHAPMAN AND STEVE LENDMAN
SEC Said to Review Possible Insider Trading in MF Bonds
By Joshua Gallu and Shannon D. Harrington - Bloomberg.com
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing trades inMF Global Holdings Ltd. (MF) convertible bonds to determine whether some investors sold the debt based on confidential information before the firm’s demise, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Investigators are in part focusing on trades that were made ahead of announcements that the firm’s credit rating had been downgraded, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter isn’t public.
With few options, Fed turns to 'jawboning'
By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer - MSNCB.com
With little ammunition left in its armory, the Federal Reserve has entered the "jawboning" phase of its campaign to spur stronger economic growth.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his fellow policymakers emerged from a two-day meeting to declare they planned no major changes in their policy of using low interest rates to get the job and housing markets back on track. In a statement, the Fed pointed to a recent improvement in the outlook but warned that the recovery is still very fragile.
Get Ready for Another Big Bailout
BY DOUG HORNIG - FinancialSense.com
Thanks to an outpouring of complaints and a reversal of similar plans by major competitors, Bank of America finally canceled its plan to start charging customers a $5 fee to use their debit cards for purchases. The plan had particularly rankled those who contend that it had nothing to do with covering legitimate expenses and everything to do with covering bad bets that the bank has made in other areas. (The amount the bank charges merchants for its service is about three times what it actually costs to process a transaction.)
Dollar Holds Two-Day Decline Versus Euro
Before Reports on U.S. Employment
By Candice Zachariahs and Monami Yui - bloomberg.com
The dollar held a two-day drop versus the euro before data forecast to show U.S. jobs growth slowed and the unemployment rate was unchanged, supporting the case for the Federal Reserve to consider monetary easing.
Europe’s common currency climbed versus the greenback yesterday, paring this week’s drop, after Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou signaled he won’t call for a referendum on a bailout plan. The yen is set for its first five-day drop against the dollar in three weeks after Japan on Oct. 31 sold its currency to curb appreciation.
"If you get a better-than-expected payrolls result, but it’s not good enough to bring the unemployment rate down, then that will probably keep expectations that there may be further policy easing down the track alive," said John Kyriakopoulos, Sydney-based head of currency strategy at National Australia Bank Ltd. That "tends to hurt the U.S. dollar," he said.
The End of the Credit Card? A new app called Card Case
foretells a world without cash and plastic
By Farhad Manjoo - SilverBearCafe.com
Paying for stuff with your phone sounds awesome until you stop to think about it. It seems like every major tech company, including Google, is touting the fact that we'll soon be able to buy anything and everything by waving our phones against a pay pad. Wait a second: Why is this supposed to be any better than pulling out a credit card? It's not faster, it's not more convenient, and it's not any safer. Plus, many phones - and most stores' pay pads - don't yet have the necessary "near-field communication" chips required for these sorts of transactions, so the whole idea is kind of a fantasy anyway.
I pointed out this flaw several months ago, and I still haven't heard any good argument for why we should be paying for stuff with our phones. Sure, I'd like to ditch my wallet, and I'd love if old-school shops and services (like buses and parking meters) stopped requiring cash. But if we're going to adopt some new way of paying, shouldn't we choose something with obvious advantages over how we do things now?
Canadian Dollar Rises
as Greece Scraps Referendum,
Buoying Demand for Risk
By Chris Fournier - Bloomberg.com
Canada’s dollar rose for a second consecutive day after Greece signaled that it won't hold a referendum on its financial rescue, encouraging demand for higher-yielding assets.
The Canadian currency advanced earlier versus its U.S. counterpart as the European Central Bank lowered its benchmark interest rate and Group of 20 leaders discussed a bigger role for the International Monetary Fund in the European debt crisis. Canadian government bonds fell for a second day.
"People are feeling a little bit more comfortable with the outlook for the markets," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at the online trading firm GFT Forex, by phone from New York. "They’re relieved to see one of the major uncertainties eliminated,” she said, referring to the referendum. "That’s why the Canadian dollar is trying to climb higher."
The Collapse of the Tower of Financial Babel
By Ashvin Pandurangi - SilverBearCafe.com
The Tower of Babel, according to the Book of Genesis,was an enormous tower built in the plain of Shinar.
According to the biblical account, a united humanity of the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where they resolved to build a city with a tower "with its top in the heavens...lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the Earth."
God came down to see what they did and said: "They are one people and have one language, and nothing will be withholden from them which they purpose to do." So God said, "Come, let us go down and confound their speech." And so God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel "because God there confounded the language of all the Earth."(Genesis 11:5-8).
Glendale Westgate City Center now owned mostly by lenders
by Rebekah L. Sanders - The Arizona Republic
Westgate City Center is now almost completely owned by its lenders.
An auction Thursday wrested control of the last major part of the complex from developer Steve Ellman, after foreclosure proceedings split the property in two this summer.
Lender Credit Suisse received no offers for the second parcel, after setting an opening bid of $25 million, said trustee Scott Klundt of Phoenix-based Quarles & Brady LLP. The 95 acres of open land and parking lots near Glendale Avenue and Loop 101 was planned for future Westgate development.
Chicago: Forcing Banks to Secure Foreclosed Homes
By AMY BIEGELSEN - TheAtlanticCities.com
Raccoon infestations. Squatters. Fires. Drug dealers.
Second Ward Chicago Alderman Robert Fioretti has a lot of headaches thanks to vacant properties in his district. The foreclosure crisis has only compounded them.
The thing that really gets Fioretti, though, is how many of these headaches are minutes from schools. The Basil campus of the Chicago International Charter School, for instance, has 515 vacant houses in its immediate neighborhood, many of them bank-owned foreclosures. One mother in his ward told him she instructs her daughter to avoid one walking to school along one block that has boarded up buildings on both sides. "She sees lights on in the buildings at night," he says. "I have heard that kind of thing over and over and over again."
Charles Biderman - CEO of Trimtabs - "The Global Write Off"
Trimtabs follows the flow of money into and out of the stock market. This video contains a money flow forecast comparing a flat economy versus a stable-rising market. When the market goes up its easy to make money. This easy money means that we have tons of people in hedge and mutual funds who may not have jobs shortly. Unfortunately, our money seems to be in a state of drawdown by retirees and pension funds, as corporations account for most of the current inflows. These inflows would be impossible without easy money policy by government actions. Money has been created magically. Do we need to hit rock bottom? It appears that we must
Who Are the Long-Term Unemployed?
Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
Nearly a third of the 14 million Americans who are officially unemployed have been out of work for more than a year, enough to fill the state of Louisiana. That share of total unemployment has grown by 50 percent since December 2009. These aren't merely the long-term unemployed, a term the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines as being out of work for more than six months. These are the long-long-term unemployed. The 52-weekers.
What do we know about them? The Pew fiscal analysis of the long-term unemployed gives us a picture. They tend to be older. Forty-five percent of the unemployed people over the age of 55 have been out of work for more than a year. They also tend to be
less educated. More than a third of those unemployed without a college degree have been out of work for more than a year. Where they work is harder to say. The industries with the highest shares of long-term unemployment are mining and financial activities, which are also among the highest-paid. But transportation and manufacturing also suffer high long-term unemployment rates, despite representing more middle- and low-wage jobs.
15 Trillion Dollars In Debt,
45 Million Americans On Food Stamps
And Zero Solutions On The Horizon
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
How does a country end up 15 trillion dollars in debt? 30 years ago, we were just a little over a trillion dollars in debt. How in the world do supposedly rational people living in "the greatest nation on earth" allow themselves to commit national financial suicide by allowing government debt to explode like that? It almost seems like there should be some sort of official ceremony in Washington D.C. to commemorate this achievement. It really takes something special to be able to roll up 15 trilliondollars of debt. To get to this level, we really had to indulge in some wild spending. For example, did you know that the U.S. national debt grows by more than 2 million dollars every single minute? All of this debt has fueled an unprecedented boom of prosperity for the last 30 years, but now that prosperity is drying up. Today, there are over 45 million Americans that are on food stamps. America is being deindustrialized at a blinding pace and there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone. Poverty is exploding all over the nation, and millions of families have lost their homes to foreclosure. Unfortunately, there are zero solutions on the horizon. The leaders of both major political parties seem even more clueless right now than in past years. We really could use some hope, but hope is in very short supply.
Will the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment End Obamacare? Tea Party Leader Chris Littleton on Mandates, Markets, and Occupy Wall Street
Jim Epstein & Nick Gillespie - Reason.com
.... Littleton's group is pushing an upcoming ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to prevent citizens' involuntary participation in any health-insurance system. The U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected to issue a ruling on the constituationality of what's known as the "individual mandate" in Obamacare and Littelton thinks passage of the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment will give his state unique legal standing: "This is citizen-initiated, which is very unique. If it passes, Ohio will be the only state that's done something like that." While most challenges to the individual mandate revolve around the limits of Congress' commerce clause powers, Littleton believes the amendment will activate due process and 10th Amendment considerations.
Will the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment Sink Obamacare?
What's the Matter With Oakland?
By Megan McArdle - TheAtlantic.com
Cards on the table: y'all know that the Occupy protests and I don't agree politically. Nonetheless, I've been basically supportive of their right to protest, sympathetic to their frustrations with the system, and interested in their problems (and solutions) of self organization in a rather chaotic and fluid situation. Unless there were clear and dramatic harms to the community, I figured the cops should leave them alone until the protests dispersed naturally.
This Is Only Just The Beginning
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
For a long time, there have been those that have warned that economic riots are coming to this nation. Anger and frustration with the economy and with our financial system have grown to unprecedented levels, and this has fueled the rise of the various protest movements that we have seen over the last couple of years. People are fed up and they want solutions. Unfortunately, anger and frustration can express themselves in dangerous and unpredictable ways. What we have seen in Oakland, in Seattle and in other major U.S. cities this week is only just the beginning of the massive economic riots that are coming to this country. Yes, "anarchists" were responsible for quite a bit of the violence that we have seen this week, but they were not the only ones involved. Some protesters were getting violent too, and there has also been quite a bit of police brutality. Of course the vast majority of Occupy Wall Street protesters do not want anything to do with violence and they recognize that violence is not the answer. But that is the thing with anger and frustration. It is hard to contain them in neat, self-disciplined packages. As the economy continues to get worse, the protests will grow and unfortunately so will the violence. You can preach the benefits of non-violence all day long to some people but they just will not get it. America has reached a turning point, and what we are seeing now is only just the beginning of the madness. In the years ahead we are going to see rioting that is going to be absolutely unprecedented.
Apple’s Siri is eating Google's lunch
By Nigam Arora - MarketWatch.com
Apple’s Siri is beginning to eat Google's lunch. Google has spread its wings, but Google's bread and butter is still selling advertising on search pages. Siri from Apple is the start of disintermediation from Google search.
Siri is a voice controlled virtual personal assistant from Apple that relies on artificial intelligence. When I asked Siri to find the best Indian restaurant nearby, it came up with the right answer. It did not answer with the nearest restaurant but found the highest rated restaurant nearby. Before Siri, I would have gone to Google and searched for an Indian restaurant. Google would have made money if I clicked on any one of a number of advertisements for restaurants on the search page. Siri completely bypassed Google and went to a data base called Yelp.
Businesses to be hit as Google starts charging for maps service
By DANIEL BATES - DailyMail.co.uk
Google's services have famously been built on the principle of offering something for nothing.
But that approach is over - at least where Google maps is concerned.
The 'API' - script that allows sites to build Google Maps into their sites or apps will no longer be free for heavy users from January 1, 2012.
Google is keen to emphasise, though, that the changes won't hit sites or apps who are light users of Google Maps.
Ordinary restaurants or hotels, say, won't be affected.
To be charged, you have to hit 25,000 map loads per day.
But a substantial number of sites could be affected. Worldwide, there are 1,115,421 different websites and apps using Google Maps into their site, according to site metric specialist Builtwith.
US: Russia, China stealing online from US companies
BBC.co.uk
China and Russia are the most active perpetrators of economic cyber-espionage against US companies, a US intelligence report says.
The report specifically cited Chinese "actors" and Russian intelligence as the top culprits.
Robert Bryant, US national counterintelligence executive, told reporters that online spying is "a quiet menace to our economy".
Both China and Russia's embassies have denied the allegations.
The report, titled Foreign Spies Stealing US Economic Secrets in Cyberspace, says both private firms and cybersecurity experts have reported an "onslaught" of computer network intrusions that they say originated from China.
What George Washington Thought About the Constitution Hint: He probably wouldn't agree with Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas -- By Andrew Cohen - TheAtlantic.com
One of the joys of reading Ron Chernow -- one of the joys of reading any great historian -- is learning new detail and nuance about long-ago great events. I've known for years what Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams thought of the Constitution. But I never really knew precisely where George Washington stood -- apart from the general view that he supported strong federal authority and stayed purposely aloof from the sturm und drang of the 1787 Convention.
Further Collisions of Old Wiretapping Laws,
New Technologies, and Police Who Claim a Right to Privacy
By Lucy Steigerwald - Reason.com
An Oregon Court of appeals recently ruled that a man who taped his own traffic stop in 2008 should not have been arrested for that act, even though Oregon is one of the many states with a frustratingly vague wiretapping law. (Though not one of the 12 that officially require both parties to consent.)
So says Oregonlive.com:
The Eugene Police officer who pulled over Shane Neff had already told the motorist that he was recording their interaction with his in-car patrol camera. A majority of judges ruled that was enough notice, and Neff needn't announce to the officer that his phone also was capturing their conversation....
[Neff's attorney said the] 33-year-old dad, was doing nothing wrong on Nov. 4, 2008 when Eugene Officer Sam Ou ran Neff's license plate through his computer, then stopped Neff because he mistakenly believed Neff had a suspended license.
The Drone War Coming to a Town Near You?
Argentina Wants To Keep Its Inflation in the Bag
Seth McKelvey - Reason.com
Argentina's novel solution to inflation? Silence anyone with evidence that it exists. The Argentinian government issued $125,000 fines and criminal charges to at least two private economists who published data contradicting official inflation figures, The Washington Post reports.
Plenty of people aren't buying the official numbers, however:
"No one believes the government’s statistics — not the [International Monetary Fund], not the World Bank, not the U.N.," said Robert Shapiro, who helps oversee a Washington group lobbying for Argentina to pay its debt to American investors. "You can't change underlying economic reality by decreeing it isn’t so."...
Abbas, Palestinians Take a Destructive Detour
on Road to Statehood
Bloomberg.com
Unesco chose a poor time to return to its foolish ways. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which had shed its reflexive anti- Americanism (and resultant ban on U.S. funding) in 2002, overstepped into politics this week, voting overwhelmingly to give membership to Palestine as an independent state.
The minor tragedy here is that, by law, the U.S. cannot provide financing to any UN group that recognizes Palestinian statehood. So the vote will cost Unesco about $80 million a year, or 22 percent of its budget. Director-General Irina Bokova is pleading for special treatment from Washington, but the State Department was correct in saying it would comply with Congress’s intent. She might enlist one of the wealthier of the 107 nations that voted in favor -- France or Saudi Arabia, perhaps -- to make up the shortfall.
US and Israeli Tech Teams Develop "Malworm"
to Take Down Iran's Computer Software
by: Richard Sale, Truthout | Report
Facing mounting concern about Iran's nuclear program, a top US and Israeli technical team has developed an improved computer "malworm" designed to take down all of Iran's computer software.
According to former and serving US intelligence officials, leaders of the three major software companies, Sergey Brin at Google, Steve Ballmer at Microsoft and Larry Ellison at Oracle have been working with Israel's top cyber warriors and have now come up with a new version of a Stuxnet-like worm that can bring down Iran's entire software networks if the Iranian regime gets too close to breakout, according to US intelligence sources.
Thanks To Obama,
The Al-Qaeda Flag Is Now Flying
High And Proud Over Libya
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
The Al-Qaeda flag has been flying high over Libya and the governments of the western world that helped remove Gaddafi from power don't seem to mind at all. The flag, which contains the phrase "there is no God but Allah" with a full moon underneath, has been photographed flying beside the new national flag of Libya at the courthouse in Benghazi. The courthouse in Benghazi is where the "rebels" established their provisional government, and it is where the "media center" for communication with foreign journalists was located during the fight against Gaddafi. So it isn't as if the al-Qaeda flag has been flying over some insignificant building. But this should be no surprise. It has been known all along that al-Qaeda was very heavily represented in the army of "the rebels" and among the leadership of "the rebels". Now, thanks to Obama, they have taken over Libya and they intend to impose a brutal form of Sharia law on the entire Libyan population.
UK and U.S. 'draw up joint plan to attack Iran':
Evidence of nuclear programme raises tension in Middle East
JohnMcCarthy90066
The UK and U.S. are drawing up plans to attack Iran amid growing tensions in the Middle East, it was claimed last night.
Barack Obama and David Cameron are preparing for war after reports that Iran now has enough enriched uranium for four nuclear weapons.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hardline regime in Tehran has been linked to three assassination plots on foreign soil, according to senior officials in Whitehall.
Iran has come sharply back into focus following the end of the Libya conflict.
And the unrest has been inflamed by sabre-rattling from top politicians in Israel.
Yesterday it was revealed that Tel Aviv had successfully test-fired a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear warhead which could strike Iran.
City Attorney files charges against Goldline International
By Kevin Herrera - Santa Monica Daily Press - SMDP.com
CITY HALL — Attorneys with City Hall's Consumer Protection Unit said Tuesday they have filed criminal charges against Santa Monica-based Goldline International for allegedly using conservative spokespeople such as Fox News' Glenn Beck in a "bait-and-switch" operation to sell overpriced gold coins.
The 19-count criminal complaint was filed Tuesday against Goldline, one of the nation's largest precious metal dealers, and several key executives and salespeople.
Glenn Beck-backed gold dealer charged with fraud
blogs.star-telegram.com
A California company that sponsored conservative talk show host Glenn Beck's radio program has been charged with fraud in a 19-count criminal complaint in Santa Monica.
The company, Goldline, is accused of using Fox News' Beck and other conservative spokespeople in a bait-and-switch operation to sell overpriced gold coins, according to a report on the Santa Monica Daily Press website.
Goldline's salespeople supposedly lured money from customers with a promise of delivering gold bullion, with the intent of later switching the sale to the coins.
Mining for Gold on Wall Street
By Addison Wiggin - DailyReckoning.com
11/02/11 Baltimore, Maryland – Many technical analysts are saying the gold and silver markets are “breaking down.” I say the precious metals markets are cracking up…with laughter at the monetary shenanigans going on in the US, Europe and elsewhere.
Sure, gold and silver have suffered a sharp correction over the last few weeks. But so what; corrections always occur during long-term bull markets. Gold and silver are still cheap, which means that long-term investors cannot afford to ignore the recent weakness in the precious metals markets.
The gold price, at $1,664 an ounce, is still well below the inflation-adjusted all-time high of $2,330. Likewise, the silver price, at $32 an ounce, could quadruple and still not reach its inflation-adjusted all-time high of $136.
Opponents Of Gold, Get On Your Mark
By Brian Domitrovic - Forbes.com
As the essential Nathan Lewis, of Forbes and Gold: The Once and Future Money fame, once put it, "monetary interpretations of the [Great] Depression had fallen out of favor somewhat by the 1970s. It wasn’t until the 1980s, as a political drive for a gold-linked currency gathered force, that academics revived old notions about an unstable gold standard."
Well, academics, you’d better dust off those old notions and start spiffing them up. Because the same individual who set your thoughts a-reeling in 1982 is making waves again in 2011.
But first let’s go back to 1982. In that year, the United States came fairly close to getting back on the gold standard – the very gold standard that had done little things in the past like supervise the industrial revolution. In 1982, the U.S. was considering a guarantee whereby any holder of $500 could claim an ounce of gold in exchange from the Treasury.
October Surprise:
Can Gold Be The Panama Canal Treaty Of 2012?
By Ralph Benko - Forbes.com
Superpollster Scott Rasmussen has pulled the pin and rolled one of his patented hand grenades under the chair of the Political Class. Rasmussen's "October Surprise" is contained in a recent poll showing 44% of likely voters favor returning to the gold standard, 28% opposed. That intensifies. If the public knew that it would "dramatically reduce the powers of bankers and the political class to steer the economy" support goes up to 57%. Opposition drops to 19%.
Reducing the power of bankers and the political class — along with gold's empirical record of turbo-charging job-creation and economic growth — is core for gold's proponents. Thus, that inevitably will become public knowledge and make gold a potentially huge electoral asset.
Chinese Silver Investment Going Parabolic
BY DAN COLLINS - FinancialSense.com
When 1.3 Billion people start investing in something…you might want to pay attention.
Chinese investment in silver has exploded since last year, with the trading volume going exponential. The China Daily reported today that the trading volume of silver forwards on the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), China's only exchange for the precious metal, surged 751 percent year-on-year in 2010. Meanwhile, the volume in September of this year was more than six times that of the same period in 2010.
Adam Fergusson talks to James Turk
History of Weimar hyperinflation - from "When Money Dies"
Two Financial Nukes Explode
By Greg Hunter - USAWatchdog.com
On Monday, I said at the end of my post, "I think someday we will "grow" our way out of the economic mess we are in but not before a very big fall." I didn't think the fall would come the very next day–but it did. Two monster nukes exploded on the financial landscape. They are the surprise MF Global bankruptcy and the equally surprising Greek referendum on the second bailout package. Kaboom and kaboom!!! I see not one, but two giant mushroom clouds on the horizon, and destruction is headed our way. Anyone underselling these two bombs is on some pretty heavy Prozac. This is a turning point, and the turn is decidedly bad. It’s a global financial crash.
Two weeks ago, I wrote, "When European banks start failing, there is no way U.S. banks will be able to avoid being sucked into a vortex of default. For anyone who thinks this crisis can be resolved with a pain free plan—forget it. Welcome to the age of bank failures." I didn’t think MF Global, headquartered in New York City, would beat everyone to the punch.
Fed, Markets Concerned About Deflation
BY CHRIS CIOVACCO - FonancialSense.com
As we noted on November 1, a rally back toward 1,250 is well within bear market bounds. How we rally (volume, conviction, etc.) will tell us quite a bit about the odds of a more lasting upside move in stocks. We also outlined in a recent video reasons why the improvement inmarket breadth does not necessarily lean toward bullish outcomes. We are open to higher highs in stocks and the onset of a new bull market, we just do not have the evidence in hand to support those outcomes at this time.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke
says growth will be 'frustratingly slow'
By Jim Puzzanghera in Washington - LATimes.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank is doing all it can to spur the economy and reduce unemployment, but admitted that growth “is likely to be frustratingly slow.”
That slower growth -- reflected in a downgrade of the Fed’s economic projections for the rest of the year and beyond -- is not satisfactory, Bernanke told reporters at a news conference Wednesday.
"I certainly understand that many people are dissatisfied with the state of the economy,” he said. "I’m dissatisfied with the state of the economy."
Bernanke said the Fed was prepared to take stronger action, but for now it was standing pat.
The Fed’s policymaking Open Market Committee took no new actions at the conclusion Wednesday of its two-day meeting, citing somewhat improved economic growth recently, including increased household spending and continued investments by businesses in equipment and software.
Bernanke Keeps QE3 In Fed Holster As Growth Firms Up
By Steve Schaefer - Forbes.com
Ben Bernanke’s Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy picked up speed in the third quarter as temporary factors from earlier in 2011 faded, but more importantly the central bank’s statement at the close of a two-day meeting appeared to raise the hurdle for further monetary stimulus.
In a surprise switch, one of the more dovish members of the Federal Open Market Committee, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, was the lone dissenter from the statement. Evans called for additional action by the FOMC, beyond the shifting of the duration in the central bank’s portfolio of Treasury securities, known as Operation Twist, which began last month.
US Fed: no new measures to boost economy The Federal Reserve is holding off on any new actions to help the US economy because stronger growth is giving it time to gauge the impact of steps it's already taken.
By AP - Telegraph.co.uk
Fed policymakers made the announcement after a two-day meeting.
In a statement released today, the officials said the economy has strengthened and consumers have stepped up spending. But they said the economy continues to face significant downside risks, including strain in global financial markets - a reference to the crisis in Europe.
The Fed left open the possibility of taking further steps later to try to boost the sluggish economy. But it gave no hint as to what those moves might be.
The vote was 9-1. Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank, dissented. The statement said he wanted to take stronger action.
Fed lowers economic forecast
to take into account significant slowdown in growth
By Associated Press - WashingtonPost.com
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve has lowered its growth forecasts and raised its unemployment projections, suggesting the economy has a longer path to recovery.
The central bank’s latest forecast released Wednesday predicts that the economy will grow just 1.6 percent to 1.7 percent for all of 2011. For 2012, growth will range between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent. Both forecasts are roughly a full percentage point lower than the Fed’s projections from June.
The Fed's Grim New Economic Projections
By Daniel Indiviglio - TheAtlantic.com
What the Federal Open Market Committee's November statement lacked in newsworthiness, its new economic projections made up for. Until today, it hadn't released any specific expectations for GDP, unemployment, and inflation since June. After that time, we learned that first half growth was much weaker than anticipated, so the Fed's projections released in this afternoon were noticeably weaker.
The cyclical P/E ratio using the trailing 10-year earnings as the divisor
The Q Ratio, which is the total price of the market divided by its replacement cost
The relationship of the S&P Composite to a regression trendline
To facilitate comparisons, I've adjusted the two P/E ratios and Q Ratio to their arithmetic means and the inflation-adjusted S&P Composite to its exponential regression. Thus the percentages on the vertical axis show the over/undervaluation as a percent above mean value, which I'm using as a surrogate for fair value. Based on the latest S&P 500 monthly data, the market is overvalued somewhere in the range of 22% to 42%, depending on the indicator.
Bernanke To GOP Critics: It's Jobs, Not Inflation, Stupid
By Agustino Fontevecchia - Forbes.com
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke took a stab at the GOP in his press conference on Wednesday, essentially asking those who criticize him to get their argument right. Inflation has been under control, said Bernanke, so it's job creation they should be criticizing the Fed about.
In his latest press conference appearance, Ben Bernanke struck back at Republicans for criticizing his Fed's extraordinarily accommodative stance. In response to a question by Steve Leisman of CNBC, Bernanke said "politics is politics" and then added "the Fed tries to remain non-partisan."
Bernanke: More Stimulus 'on the Table'
By Caroline Salas Gage and Scott Lanman - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said unemployment is still "far too high" and the Fed may take further steps to boost growth, such as buying mortgage bonds or changing the way it communicates its policy goals to the public.
Additional stimulus "remains on the table," Bernanke said today at a press conference in Washington, declining to specify conditions that would prompt a move. "While we still expect that economic activity and labor market conditions will improve gradually over time, the pace of progress is likely to be frustratingly slow."
Fed Officials May Prepare Ground
for Further Bond Purchases, Survey Shows
By Joshua Zumbrun - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve officials are probably engineering a third round of large-scale asset purchases, while they are unlikely to announce a decision today, according to economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed say Chairman Ben S. Bernankewill embark on a third round of quantitative easing, or QE3, with a plurality of 36 percent predicting the move in the first quarter of next year, according to the poll of 42 economists from Oct. 26-31.
The Expected Continuation of Currency and Trade Wars
BY MICHAEL PETTIS - FinancialSense.com
Last week’s Senate bill on Chinese currency intervention predictably enough brought out all the same old arguments about international trade, and just as predictably has hardened the opposing positions in the debate. Unfortunately the difference between a good outcome, intelligently negotiated, and a bad outcome, is pretty large, but with each side hardening its position the likelihood of a good outcome is declining.
The biggest problem with the debate, I think, is the muddled thinking and half-baked arguments that characterize each side. For example many of those who believe China is cheating on trade go through complicated exercises to prove the currency is undervalued and should be sharply revalued.
Dick Bove: We’ve Gone Nuts
By: Michelle Fox - CNBC.com
Investors dumping U.S. bank stocks are overreacting to all the European debt crisis speculation, Rochdale Securities’ Dick Bove told Larry Kudlow Tuesday.
"I think we’ve gone nuts," he said. "I think these [U.S. bank] stocks are so cheap, that people should be buying them as aggressively as they could."
The financials lead the S&P lower Tuesday after investors fled the market on fears that the European debt deal could fall apart. After conflicting reports on whether Greece plans to hold a referendum on the debt agreement reached last week, the government jumped in to say the vote is on.
European woes will take G-20 spotlight off Obama
Sarkozy, Merkel to grab star roles
By Dave Boyer-The Washington Times
In a rare global summit where the U.S. leader is not the center of attention, President Obama leaves Wednesday evening for the Group of 20 summit in Cannes, France, with a diminished international presence and an economic-growth message being drowned out by the scramble to deal with Europe’s unresolved debt crisis.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, not the American president, will be the focus at the meeting of the 20 leading rich and developing nations, and European leaders have been looking in recent days to Beijing, not Washington, as a source of capital.
Fed issues dire predictions
on growth and unemployment...
and warns Europe crisis will spread
By MARK DUELL - dailymail.co.uk
Europe’s debt crisis poses huge risks to America - while improvements in growth and unemployment are going to be much slower than first thought.
Those were today’s dire warnings from the U.S. central bank, although it did note the strengthening in the country’s economy in the third quarter.
The Federal Reserve held monetary policy steady in a 9-1 vote and offered no direct hints it is looking at fresh ways of helping the economy.
Freedom Watch -
Nigel Farage + exposing the IMF,
EUSSR bureaucrats and fraudsters.
The European Mess: How We Got Here
By Peter Wallison - RealClearMarkets.com
The financial crisis in Europe seems very complex, but we understand that how it comes out will have important and perhaps painful consequences for Americans as well as Europeans. At its center is the fear that if Greece defaults on its debts that could endanger the health of European banks, and that in turn may cause a financial crisis not unlike what followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. How did we get into this fix, so soon after 2008?
Last week, EU leaders agreed on a rescue plan for Greece that involves investors (primarily banks) writing off 50% of the value of their loans. Is this another case of the banks doing something dumb, or is there more to the story of these investments in Greece?
Soros:
Greek debt "agreement" will collapse in three months
MacedoniaOnline.eu
Veteran investor George Soros has attacked the lack of leadership at the top of the eurozone and said that the new Brussels ''deal'' to solve the debt crisis will last only between ''one day and three months''.
Mr Soros, who achieved worldwide fame when he bet against sterling remaining within the Exchange Rate Mechanism in the 1990s, said the 50per cent ''haircut'' on private bond holders would reduce Greek debt by only 20per cent.
He said that was insufficient to stop an economic decline in Greece which would lead to greater social unrest.
This Is Yet Another Glaring Example
Of Why The EU Is A Mind Blowing Failure
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The debt crisis in Europe just seems to get worse with each passing day, and it is yet another glaring example of why the EU is a mind blowing failure. The EU is made up of 27 nations that all have their own economic policies, and 17 of those nations are trying to use the euro as a common currency. But when you have 27 different governments pulling in different directions, it is inevitable that there are going to be major problems. The stunt that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou just pulled is a perfect example of the nightmare that the EU has become. European officials worked really hard to pull together a deal to address the debt crisis (of course the deal was a total mess, but that is another matter), and a couple of days later Papandreou decides that Greece should hold a national referendum on it. It is so bizarre that it almost defies words. But that is what happens in the EU. Someone else always wants to have a say. Someone else always wants to throw a fly into the ointment. Someone else always want to throw in their two cents. The EU is a bureaucratic nightmare and this latest episode is yet another example of that fact. First the politicians in Europe come up with an idiotic plan that is going to make the financial crisis much worse, then Papandreou comes forward and pulls a stunt that shatters what little confidence the financial markets still had in Greece. That is why the EU should break up. It is a total failure and it is time that we all admitted it.
Europe’s voters threaten crisis backlash
By Quentin Peel in Berlin - FT.com
The debt crisis in the eurozone is causing a growing backlash from voters towards their governments in many of the 17 member states, with fears rising about the impact of the euro on daily life and economic activity, according to a new poll for the Financial Times.
The shock decision by George Papandreou, Greek prime minister, to call a referendum on the latest Greek rescue package to save his government, is the most extreme example of how eurozone leaders are struggling to maintain popular support.
EU Pushes Papandreou on Greek Euro Vote
By Simon Kennedy and Helene Fouquet - Bloomberg.com
European leaders urged Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to swiftly spell out how he intends to stick to the terms of a bailout plan after he handed voters a veto over the week-old package.
Crisis talks were under way in the French resort of Cannes on the eve of a Group of 20 summit after Papandreou was summoned by European counterparts to explain his call for a referendum that risks delaying aid the country needs to avert default. In Athens, Greek lawmakers debated a confidence motion that could bring down his government.
Greek Premier
Pledges Vote in December on Debt Deal
By STEVEN ERLANGER and RACHEL DONADIO - NYTimes.com
CANNES, France — Prime Minister George A. Papandreou of Greeceemerged from a meeting with Europe’s leaders here on Wednesday pledging to hold a referendum on a new European debt deal on Dec. 4 or 5.
After the talks, held before a summit meeting of the Group of 20, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and others said that they regretted that Greece had reached this point but that it was best to clear up the uncertainty.
In a news conference late Wednesday night, Mrs. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy also said that the comprehensive package to protect the euro, agreed to last week in Brussels by all 17 nations that use the currency, had to be upheld. It was up to the Greek people, they said, to decide whether they want to commit to the agreement — which includes banks’ taking a 50 percent loss on the face value of their Greek debt — and to continue to use the euro.
China to discuss financial crisis
with Russia, Central Asian nations
By Associated Press,WashingtonPost.com
BEIJING — Premier Wen Jiabao will discuss the global economic crisis and his vision for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization when he meets next week with his counterparts from the regional grouping, seen by Beijing as a vehicle for extending Chinese influence in Central Asia.
Wen and the other prime ministers of the six member countries would issue a statement on the world financial problems at the SCO meeting Nov. 7 in St. Petersburg, Vice Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping told reporters.
Experienced deficit cutters
urge supercommittee to triple its goal Worry that members will ‘fail the country’
By Sean Lengell-The Washington Times
The co-chairmen of two past deficit reduction panels warned the congressional supercommittee on Tuesday that the nation could face economic turmoil unless it went "big" and more than tripled its minimum goal of finding $1.2 trillion in government savings.
Yet despite the stern words from the authors of the Simpson-Bowlesand Rivlin-Domenici proposals, the 12 members of the bipartisan supercommittee seem far from reaching a deal as the clock ticks down toward a critical Thanksgiving deadline.
Regulating Wall Street [NBC 11-01-2011]
America's Other 87 Deficits
Stephen S. Roach - ProjectSyndicate.com
NEW HAVEN – The United States has a classic multilateral trade imbalance. While it runs a large trade deficit with China, it also runs deficits with 87 other countries. A multilateral deficit cannot be fixed by putting pressure on one of its bilateral components. But try telling that to America’s growing chorus of China bashers.
America’s massive trade deficit is a direct consequence of an unprecedented shortfall of domestic saving. The broadest and most meaningful measure of a country’s saving capacity is what economists call the "net national saving rate" – the combined saving of individuals, businesses, and the government. It is measured in "net" terms to strip out the depreciation associated with aging or obsolescent capacity. It provides a measure of the saving that is available to fund expansion of a country’s capital stock, and thus to sustain its economic growth.
North Dakota Sues Minnesota
Over Next Generation Anti-Global Warming Law
By Andrew Harris - Bloomberg.com
North Dakota sued Minnesota, claiming the neighboring state’s 2007 law limiting carbon emissions from electricity generated outside Minnesota and used within the state is unconstitutional.
"Minnesota’s Next Generation Energy Act has direct and serious consequences for North Dakota," Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said today in a press statement announcing his filing with the federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota.
North Dakota power plants export most of their generated power to other states, including Minnesota, Stenehjem said. The Minnesota statute unconstitutionally interferes with his state’s energy production, the attorney general said. North Dakota seeks a court order invalidating the measure.
Anarchy – An Investor’s Best Friend
By Eric Fry - DailyReckoning.com
11/01/11 Laguna Beach, California – A revolution is underway — one that will topple the existing order.
It’s not the sort of revolution that decapitates monarchs or murders czars. But a revolution is underway, and it is the kind that’s going to overthrow faith in government.
But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it might be a very helpful thing.
I think it is time now to begin investing as if there were no government guarantees…or at least no reliable government guarantees.
For my entire lifetime, no financial guarantee has been more reliable than the guarantee of the US government. The T-bond was the safest security, the dollar, the safest currency. No one doubted that Medicare, Unemployment insurance, food stamps, Social Security, etc., would be there for them if and when the time came.
Why Government Promises Aren’t What They Used to Be
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
11/02/11 Paris, France – The Dow dropped 297 points yesterday. October may have been the best month for stocks in 37 years. But November could be the worst.
Gold fell a little yesterday, too, down $13. Oil is still over $90.
The newspapers tell us that investors are disappointed over the European deal. They thought they had that problem wrapped up with a bow. Apparently not…
First, Italian bond yields rose. All of a sudden the problem wasn’t solved at all. It was bigger than ever.
And then the Greeks said that they were going to have to vote on any further austerity measures. And you know what that means. They’re going to vote no. No sensible people would agree to give up their ill-gotten goods so that they could be given to investors, speculators and the banks.
Senators pave way for tense USPS talks
By Bernie Becker - TheHill.com
A bipartisan group of senators released a legislative blueprint Wednesday that paves the way for tense negotiations with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) over how to fix the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service.
The bill — from Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) — differs significantly from Issa’s proposal.
The legislation includes major changes to how the agency pre-funds retiree healthcare benefits, and would give the Postal Service access to a $6.9 billion surplus in a federal fund to help transition 100,000 or more employees into retirement.
Zombie Wars
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
11/02/11 Paris, France – Man may fight for his country or his family or his religion, but for the cause of honest capitalism he will take a dive every time. That is as true of the fighters as it is of everyone else. They may pretend to defend the nation, but in the absence of a real enemy, they’re happy to take the money and fall to the mat.
Like education and health care — and most charitable activity — spending on ‘defense’ is not subject to market pricing. So, you never know if you’re getting your moneys’ worth. As time goes by, spending on ‘defense’ becomes spending for a variety of purposes that have little to do with ensuring the safety of the nation or its people. One congressional district wants a military base to provide jobs. Another is hoping a local company gets the contract to build a new software system. Still another produces airplanes. One man wants a sinecure. Another wants to boss people around. Still another hopes for a contract without competitive bidding.
Every Breath You Take,
Every Move You Make –
14 New Ways That The Government Is Watching You
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
If you live in the United States today, you need to understand that your privacy is being constantly eroded. Our world is going crazy, government paranoia is off the charts and law enforcement authorities have become absolutely obsessed with watching us, listening to us, tracking us, recording us, compiling information on all of us and getting us all to spy on one another. If you doubt that we are rapidly getting to the point where the government will monitor every breath you take and every move you make, just read the rest of this article. The truth is that the government is watching you more closely than ever, and they are spending billions upon billions of dollars to enhance their surveillance capabilities even further. If our society stays on this current path, we will eventually have zero privacy left. At this point, it is not too hard to imagine a society where we will not be able to say anything, buy anything, sell anything, assemble with others or even leave our homes without government permission. We truly are descending into a dystopian nightmare and the American people had better wake up.
Obama administration
mulled Solyndra bailout days before company's demise
By Andrew Restuccia and Ben Geman - TheHill.com
As California solar panel maker Solyndra teetered on the brink of financial collapse, Obama administration officials weighed and rejected a last-ditch plan to keep the ccompany afloat.
Under the August plan, which was outlined in nearly 1,200 pages of documents the Obama administration released Wednesday evening, private investors would have put about $100 million into Solyndra, the company that received a $535 million loan guarantee in 2009.
Obama Has Little Leverage at G-20 Summit
By Mike Dorning - Bloomberg.com
The leader of the world’s largest economy may have limited influence on the biggest current threat to the global recovery, the main topic for a two-day Group of 20 summit in France.
President Barack Obama arrives today in the resort city of Cannes for discussions on Europe’s financial rescue plan with U.S. standing diminished on the international economic stage.
Obama, who enjoyed greater appeal in many European nations than at home even at the height of his popularity and who as a presidential candidate attracted an estimated 200,000 people to a speech in Berlin, is hampered in shaping the continent’s response by lingering resentments over the U.S. origins of the 2008 financial crisis, a sluggish domestic economy and political gridlock in Washington.
U.S. Food-Stamp Use
Reaches Record 45.8 Million, USDA Says
By Alan Bjerga - BusinessWeek.com
Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The number of Americans receiving food stamps reached a record 45.8 million in August, the government said.
The figure was 1.1 percent higher than the previous month and 8.1 percent more than a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report on its website. Assistance rolls are increasing as joblessness remains at 9.1 percent of the workforce.
Texas had the most food-stamp recipients in August, at 4.12 million, followed by California with 3.82 million, according to the USDA. Spending was a record $6.13 billion.
"The blunt truth is that Obama’s jobs plan will not work."
By Damon W. Root - Reason.com
New York University law professor Richard Epstein (read his contributions to Reason here) summarizes his part in a recent public debate over the merits of President Barack Obama’s jobs plan:
It is never fun to be the bearer of bad tidings, but the blunt truth is that Obama’s jobs plan will not work. The audience, however, was in no mood to acknowledge that there is no magic short-term fix of the sort that [debate opponents] Zandi and Rouse promised. Indeed, the full set of proposals in the Obama jobs plan is likely to set matters back even further. Zandi and Rouse’s misguided optimism demonstrates everything wrong in today’s thinking about job creation in the United States.
Richard Epstein on Barack Obama,
his former Chicago Law Colleague
What Does the Occupy Oakland Strike
Have to do With 1946?
By Tasneem Raja and Gavin Aronsen - MotherJones.com
When the acrid fog of flash-bang grenades and tear gas cleared on last week's violent clash between protesters and police in Oakland, the city emerged as a new focal point of the worldwide Occupy movement. On Wednesday, thousands are expected to flood downtown and march on the Port of Oakland—the country's fifth-largest—in a massive daylong protest and general strike. It's an impressive escalation from a patchy idea first tossed out just days ago at a General Assembly meeting in Frank Ogawa Plaza, the scene of last week's showdown. This is collective action on speed, and while most (not all) Occupy protesters are calling for a peaceful protest, city officials are preparing for trouble, just in case.
Occupy Oakland:
Thousands gather for general strike
By Lee Romney in Oakland - LATimes.com
Thousands of peaceful protesters gathered in downtown Oakland Wednesday morning to kick off a planned "general strike" to draw attention to the Occupy movement's core concern over economic inequality.
The day's actions -- which some believe will mark the largest East Bay protest since the Vietnam War -- include marches on banks, teach-ins, a dance flash mob and an attempt to shutter the Port of Oakland come evening.
Wednesday morning, loud music played in Frank Ogawa Plaza, the City Hall square that has been the site of the Occupy Oakland encampment. The camp was fully reestablished just days after the city ordered it razed last week.
Occupy Oakland Protesters
Bring Fifth Busiest U.S. Port to a Standstill
By Christopher Palmeri and Alison Vekshin - Bloomberg.com
Protesters from the Occupy Oakland movement flooded the California city’s port, the fifth-busiest container-handler in the U.S., shutting it down in a show of strength.
About 4,500 people assembled in a downtown plaza, according to a police estimate, and thousands of demonstrators later marched through the streets, chanting and carrying signs.
"Operations are effectively shut down in the maritime area of the Port of Oakland," according to a port statement. "Operations will resume when it is safe and secure to do so."
Occupy Oakland, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement that began in New York Sept. 17 and spread to other cities, had called for a general strike of local workers. The demonstrations prompted hundreds of downtown workers to stay home or leave their jobs early.
Why Siri Is a Google Killer
By Eric Jackson - Forbes.com
It’s now been a couple of weeks since Siri debuted as part of Apple’s 4S. The response from most people has been very positive.
However, in my opinion, Siri is tremendously under-valued. People see it as it is today, which is already the best voice recognition application in history. But people (including high-priced sell-side Wall Street analysts) fail to see where the puck is going for Siri. Siri will be vastly more improved in as little as 2 years from now. And the boundless number of applications using Siri will explode.
In the way that the January 2007 launch of iPhone set a ripple in the ocean that would eventually overtake Research In Motion(RIMM) in an all-out tsunami, I believe Siri’s launch this month spells a future crippling of Google’s business.
California high-speed rail to cost $98B, plan says
By Juliet Williams - AP - WashingtonTimes.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The new business plan for California’s high-speed rail system shows the nation’s most ambitious state rail project could cost nearly $100 billion in inflation-adjusted funding over a 20-year construction period, according to a draft copy of the plan shared with the Associated Press.
But the plan also says the system would be profitable even at the lowest ridership estimates and wouldn’t require public operating subsidies.
The report reviewed late Monday estimates the actual cost at $98.5 billion if the route between San Francisco and Anaheim is completed in 2033. The plan assumes private investment will account for roughly 20 percent of the total cost, with much of the rest coming from additional borrowing.
Siberians 'share DNA with extinct human species'
MacedoniaOnline.eu
Researchers have found that people in East Asia share genetic material with Denisovans, who got the name from the cave in Siberia where they were first found.
The new study covers a larger part of the world than earlier research, and it is clear that it is not as simple as previously thought.
Professor Mattias Jakobsson, of Uppsala University in Sweden who conducted the study together with graduate student Pontus Skoglund, said hybridisation took place at several points in evolution and the genetic traces of this can be found in several places in the world.
He said: "We'll probably be uncovering more events like these.
Web Security Expert Warns Of Cyber World War
Sam Kiley, security editor - News.Sky.com
A leading internet security expert has warned that a cyber terrorist attack with "catastrophic consequences" looked increasingly likely in a world already in a state of near cyber war.
Eugene Kaspersky is not given to easy hyperbole. But the Russian maths genius who founded an internet security empire with a global reach, clutched at his thick mop of hair with both hands.
"I don't want to speak about it. I don't even want to think about it," he said.
"But we are close, very close, to cyber terrorism. Perhaps already the criminals have sold their skills to the terrorists - and then...oh, God."
Speaking privately at the London Cyber Conference, Kaspersky told Sky that he believed that cyber terrorism was the biggest immediate threat to have emerged to confront nations as diverse as China and the US.
World unites to discuss internet freedoms and dangers
by Niall Firth - NewScientist.com
The whole world has finally decided to talk about the internet.
The London Conference on Cyberspace, the first international gathering of its kind, kicked off today, bringing together senior political figures from across the world and tech royalty such as Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
Among the topics scheduled for discussion are how to ensure global access to the internet and dealing with net's darker elements: child safety, cybercrime and cyberwar.
Nations that try to restrict internet use, like China and some in the Middle East, particularly during times of peaceful uprisings, came in for harsh criticism.
FBI says Russian spies got close to Cabinet Breaking codes led to roundup
By Bill Gertz-The Washington Times
The FBI rounded up a network of deep-cover Russian spies last year after the group came close to placing an agent near a Cabinet official in the Obama administration, a senior FBI counterspy said Monday as the bureau released once-secret documents on the case.
Frank Figliuzzi, assistant FBI director for counterintelligence, did not identify the Cabinet official, but other U.S. officials said it was Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Mr. Figliuzzi said in an interview that the FBI decided to end its more than 10-year-long counterspy investigation of the network because of concerns that the spies were "getting very close to their objective."
Alleged Waffle House Terror Plotters
Inspired By Former Militia Author
By Stephanie Mencimer - MotherJones.com
It's not unusual for people cooking up a terrorist plot to take their inspiration from a novel. Timothy McVeigh was reportedly inspired to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building by the book The Turner Diaries. The Georgia seniors meeting at Waffle House who were recently apprehended by the FBI for allegedly plotting to kill millions of Americans to save the Constitution also seem to have had a literary influence: Mike Vanderboegh, and his novel, Absolved.
Vanderboegh is a longtime militia activist, often associated with the Oath Keepers(thought he says he's not a member), and he's been active in the Minutemen group that "patrols" the US border to keep illegal immigrants out of the country. His book is about small groups of underground miliita groups who plot to assassinate key law enforcement and judicial officials as a way of fighting back against gun control and gay marriage. Vanderboegh has called it "a combination field manual, technical manual and call to arms for my beloved gunnies of the armed citizenry."
Iran and Northern Iraq - Thaw North of Baghdad?
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
Iraq’s announcement last week that U.S. forces would be required to leave Iraq under terms of the Status of Forces Agreement by 31 December blindsided Washington, and aroused predictable partisan cries of Iraqi ingratitude.
Since 2003 Washington has watched with growing alarm Iraq’s rapprochement with neighboring Iran, though any Middle Eastern specialist could have observed that a military intervention that overthrew a brutal but secularist dictatorship would allow the country’s repressed Shi’a majority an increased say in a new democratic regime, and the subsequent government would undoubtedly look more kindly on its Shi’a neighbors than Washington might like.
The Green Light is on to Strike Iran: Alex Jones
Israeli missile test, air drill heat up talk of attack on Iran
By Abraham Rabinovich - WashingtonTimes.com
JERUSALEM — Israeli defense officials on Wednesday announced the successful test-firing of a new ballistic missile and a recent air force exercise that included refueling for long-range flights, amid growing talk about an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Officials said Wednesday’s missile test and last week’s air force exercise in Sardinia were planned long ago and had nothing to do with recent media speculation about an attack on the Islamic republic’s atomic sites.
But the announcements - and foreign reports that the new missile can carry an atomic warhead and hit Iran - highlight the Israeli government’s debate over the Islamic republic, which has emerged into public view in recent days.
New International Report
Shreds Japan's Carefully Constructed Fukushima Scenario
Written by John Daly - OilPrice.com
Japan’s six reactor Fukushima Daichi nuclear complex has inadvertently become the world’s bell-weather poster child for the inherent risks of nuclear power ever since the 11 March Tohoku offshore earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, triggered a devastating tsunami that effectively destroyed the complex.
Ever since, specialists have wrangled about how damaging the consequences of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami actually were, not only for the facility but the rest of the world.
Lindsey Williams - Radio Guest Patriot News Hour with Eric and Joe
Get Your Financial House In Order Now
By Michael T. Snyder - SeekingAlpha.com
Do you hear that sound? It is the sound of Europe being hit with a cold dose of financial reality. The air has been let out of the balloon, and investors all over the world are realizing that absolutely nothing has been solved in Europe. The solutions being proposed by the politicians in Europe are just going to make things worse.
You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by shredding confidence in sovereign debt. But that is exactly what the "voluntary 50% haircut" has done. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by pumping up your "bailout fund" with borrowed money from China, Russia and Brazil. More debt is just going to make things even worse down the road. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by causing a massive credit crunch. By giving European banks only until June 2012 to dramatically improve their credit ratios, it is going to force many of them to seriously cut back on lending. A massive credit crunch would significantly slow down economic activity in Europe and that is about the last thing that the Europeans need right now. If the deal that was reached last week was the "best shot" that Europe has got, then we are all in for a world of hurt.
'Gold poised for a move significantly higher'
By Ross Norman - CommodityOnline.com
The Greek referendum decision has thrown financial markets back into turmoil and not uncharacteristically Gold has stoically stood its ground and pondered - rarely shaken by sudden news as it is. Another interpretation is that gold has some large and powerful forces acting upon it which are presently cancelling each other out. Those forces are phenomenal flows of investment money into gold reflected by a surge in demand for ETFs and physical bars on the one hand - and the negative impact on gold from a stronger dollar (the corollary to a weaker Euro on the freshly announced Greek referendum). So, its safe haven status against dollar strength - two traditional and powerful drivers of the gold price at odds with each other.
Gold, silver witness correction, may resume upward trend
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): Gold and Silver futures have weakened following the crisis caused by the suspension of MF Global from trading in London Metal Exchange and CME Group. Safe-haven demand for precious metals continue to be inatact on concerns about the Eurozone's efforts to resolve the debt crisis and a stronger dollar has weighed on commodities at the beginning of the week.
"Some investors were also spooked by the news that securities firm MF Global Holdings Ltd. will declare bankruptcy. The large securities company had deals signed with many traders who will lose money after the bankruptcy. Those traders might have to sell big quantities of gold, silver and other commodities to cover their losses, Gero said. That stoked worries that there might be a shortage of buyers in the future, depressing prices," according to an Associated Press report.
Gold Drops through $1700,
Draghi Faces "Baptism of Fire"
after "Referendum Curveball" from Greece
By: Ben Traynor - GoldSeek.com
London Gold Market Report
U.S.DOLLAR gold prices dropped through $1700 an ounce Tuesday lunchtime in London – at one point showing a 3.3% fall from last week's close – as stock and commodity markets were also hit following news that the Greek prime minister has called for a referendum on last week's Euro Summit deal.
Physical gold trading was quiet, news agency Reuters reports, with premiums in Hong Kong falling to around $1 per ounce, having been $1.50 last week.
Make sure you hold some gold
as Government 'Ponzi Schemes' escalate As governments continue to perpetuate the chaos that is already occurring in the currency markets, the advice is make sure you own some gold - the oldest form of sound money.
Author: David Levenstein - Mineweb.com
JOHANNESBURG - The price of gold pushed through and held above the key resistance level of $1700 an ounce last week, as the US dollar dropped sharply due to the euphoria from Europe about the agreement made at the Euro Summit in Brussels. No one was more excited about the outcome than French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who seems determined to save the world.
Royal Canadian Mint launches gold exchange traded receipts
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): The Royal Canadian Mint recently announced the launch of their new Goldinvestment product -Exchange Traded Receipts (ETRs). Each ETR will provide the buyer an evidence of ownership of physical bullion held in its facilities in Ottawa and Ontario.
"We believe that this new program will build on our reputation and continued success as a world-class custodian of precious metals. With the introduction of the Canadian Gold Reserves ETR program we hope that investors will see this as a convenient, efficient and secure method for investing in and owning physical gold", Ian E. Bennett, President and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint said.
Silver Money: A Thought Experiment
Hugo Salinas Price - Plata.com.mx
Earlier this year I wrote a piece with the title "Dorothy’s Silver Shoes", in which I proposed the re-monetization of the Constitutional silver currency of the US; there is a significant amount of this coinage still in existence.
Here’s a "Thought Experiment" regarding the re-monetization of the Constitutional silver dollar, the silver half-dollar, the silver quarter and the silver dime. The Thought Experiment:
At present, the old silver currency of the US cannot circulate as money because the silver content in the coinage is actually worth a lot more (fiat) dollars if melted down into silver bullion bars. Everybody knows that, but you still can’t use those coins for everyday purchases because nobody knows exactly what they are worth as money in commercial transactions such as purchasing groceries.
Why copper, platinum and silver look appealing now
By Commodity Online
Investors now need to look beyond the traditional safe haven and book profits with less-expensive metals, according to some analysts. Silver demand is set to zoom in India as investors shy away from the costlier yellow metal.
India, the world's largest importer of silver is expected to import 250-300 tonnes of silver during the present quarter, according to Prithviraj Kothari, President of the Bombay Bullion Association.
Gold prices are expensive relative to platinun aand Platinum is a far rarer metal than gold, according to Charles Sizemore in Market Watch. Both silver and platinum get support from its industrial demand with the latter being used in auto catalaysts apart from jewellery.
Striking Euro Gold (and Silver)
By Harold James - ProjectSyndicate.com
PRINCETON – The alternatives for Europe’s currency, the euro, seem increasingly limited to a desperate muddling through or a chaotic collapse. But there is a bolder and more productive approach that relies on past experience with multiple currencies.
The threat posed by Europe’s current policy impasse can hardly be overestimated. In the early 1930’s, monetary-policy incoherence paralyzed US policy, with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York locked in insurmountable conflict with the Chicago Fed over monetary easing (at that time through open-market securities purchases). Today’s chronic policy disputes between Germany and France are producing a level of uncertainty that is potentially even more destructive.
Why Are European Leaders Losing It
Over a Possible Chinese Bailout? European public figures are deeply concerned about the chance that China might want to make a big contribution to their rescue fund -- By Heather Horn - TheAtlantic.com
It's fascinating to watch European public figures freak out over a possible "bailout" from China. Though the president of the European Central Bank, according to the BBC, "has denied that eurozone countries are going 'cap in hand' to China" to raise money for their rescue fund, clearly this is exactly what others think is going on, and they're far from okay with it.
Nicolas Dupont-Aignant, a current candidate for the French presidency, has called potential Chinese assistance "dirty money," saying China "exploits its people" and is "a Communist dictatorship." Granted, Dupont-Aignant isn't quite mainstream, being the leader of the Gaullist, euroskeptic Debout la République party. But the Socialist candidate for president, Francois Hollande, has also come out against the plan. "Can we imagine that China ... were it to come to the aid of the euro zone, would do so without any compensation?" he's asked. The French Le Monde has reported that he sees the proposal as an "admission of weakness."
Eurozone debt ‘resolution'
hasn't seen gold and silver plunge. Why not? You might have thought a ‘resolution' to the Eurozone debt crisis would have caused gold to tumble, the euro to soar, and the dollar to fall - perhaps with the gold price in the dollar steady. So why is the price of gold behaving as it is?
Author: Julian D. W. Phillips - Mineweb.com
BENONI - There are so many imagined relationships between gold and other factors and as each one proves incorrect, another takes its place. Is this because the media needs to keep our attention? In part yes, but the credibility that's given to these stories comes from the markets' desire for hope, often unrealistic desperate hope. Gold and silver, in their role as counters to currencies, are harbingers of uncertainty, fear and (to the banking system) a threat to the credibility of paper currencies.
Want to save this for later? Add it to your Queue! Greek Gamble on Calling Referendum
Stuns Euro Partners, Merkel Allies Say
By Brian Parkin - Bloomberg.com
Greece’s decision to call a referendum on its five-day-old bailout blindsided its European partners and placed another hurdle in the way of efforts to staunch the debt crisis.
The announcement came “out of the blue, it’s surprising, very risky,”Norbert Barthle, the ranking member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party on parliament’s budget committee, said in a telephone interview. "There’s an enormous amount at stake. Do we know how the Greek people will treat their government in this referendum? No. We have a new unknown."
Greece's Papandreou Seeks Euro Referendum
By Maria Petrakis, Natalie Weeks
and Marcus Bensasson - Bloomberg.com
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said a referendum onEurope’s rescue package will confirm the nation’s membership of the euro as he stuck to plans to hold the vote amid signs his government may collapse.
"The referendum will be a clear mandate and strong message within and outside Greece on our European course and our participation in the euro," Papandreou told his ministers in Athens early today, according to an e-mailed transcript. It will "ensure this course in the most decisive way." The cabinet voted unanimously to endorse the plan.
Greek government teeters on brink of collapse
in wake of referendum plan France and Germany battle to save the single currency as Europe is plunged back into turmoil days after rescue deal
By Phillip Inman, and Helena Smith in Athens - Guardian.co.uk
The French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel will hold emergency talks on Wednesday in a desperate attempt to hold the eurozone together and formulate a response to the Greek prime minister's plan for a referendum on the austerity measures imposed by his European partners.
George Papandreou's socialist government was on the brink of collapse after his referendum plan sparked an angry reaction within his own party and plunged Europe back into turmoil, just days after a complex rescue deal had been agreed – requiring Greece to embark on tough cost-cutting measures.
This Is Yet Another Glaring Example
Of Why The EU Is A Mind Blowing Failure
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The debt crisis in Europe just seems to get worse with each passing day, and it is yet another glaring example of why the EU is a mind blowing failure. The EU is made up of 27 nations that all have their own economic policies, and 17 of those nations are trying to use the euro as a common currency. But when you have 27 different governments pulling in different directions, it is inevitable that there are going to be major problems. The stunt that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou just pulled is a perfect example of the nightmare that the EU has become. European officials worked really hard to pull together a deal to address the debt crisis (of course the deal was a total mess, but that is another matter), and a couple of days later Papandreou decides that Greece should hold a national referendum on it. It is so bizarre that it almost defies words. But that is what happens in the EU. Someone else always wants to have a say. Someone else always wants to throw a fly into the ointment. Someone else always want to throw in their two cents. The EU is a bureaucratic nightmare and this latest episode is yet another example of that fact. First the politicians in Europe come up with an idiotic plan that is going to make the financial crisis much worse, then Papandreou comes forward and pulls a stunt that shatters what little confidence the financial markets still had in Greece. That is why the EU should break up. It is a total failure and it is time that we all admitted it.
Greek vote sets off 'pandemonium', engulfs Italy Greece's startling decision to call a referendum on last week's EU summit deal has set off wild tremors across the eurozone, pushing Italy to the brink of a perilous downward spiral.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The country's ruling Pasok party appeared to be splintering on Tuesdsay night, leaving it unclear whether the government of premier George Papandreou can survive a parliamentary vote of confidence on Friday.
Signs that the EU's pain-stakingly negotiated Grand Plan is unravelling within days has been a profound shock to confidence.
A frantic search for safe havens led to the second biggest one-day fall ever recorded in Europe's AAA bond yields. Ten-year German Bund yields tumbled 25 basis points to 1.77pc, with similar moves in non-EMU Swedish and Danish debt. British Gilt yields fell to 2.2pc.
Italy, Europe, and Red Brigade terror
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Matters are turning serious.
Italy’s labour minister Maurizio Sacconi has just warned that a rushed shake-up of the labour market – as demanded by the EU – risks setting off a fresh cycle of terrorism in the country.
Here is the story from Il Sole.
“We must stop creating tension over labour reform which could lead to a new wave of attacks. I am not afraid for myself because I have (armed) protection. I am afraid for the people who are not protected and could become a target of political violence that is not extinct in our country,” he said.
This is not exaggeration. The Red Brigades-PCC assassinated Massimo D’Antona in 1999 and Professor Marco Biagi in 2002 for spear-heading labour reforms.
Greece risks meltdown after bailout vote bombshell
By Dina Kyriakidou and Lefteris Papadimas
(Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Wednesday he would push ahead with a referendum on an EU bailout deal, defying demands from lawmakers of his own party that he quit for jeopardizing Greek membership of the euro.
"The referendum will be a clear mandate and a clear message in and outside Greece on our European course and participation in the euro," Papandreou told a late-night cabinet meeting, according to a statement released by his office.
"No one will be able to doubt Greece's course within the euro," he said, adding that market turmoil triggered by his announcement of the referendum late on Monday would be short-lived.
Global markets plunge
with Greek government on brink of collapse Global markets plunged as the Greek government teetered on the brink of collapse, while the country's Prime Minister said that his controversial referendum will offer a "clear mandate" on whether Greece stays in the EU.
By Louise Armitstead - Telegraph.co.uk
European stockmarkets led a global rout in the wake of Greece's shock decision to call a referendum on the bail-out agreed last Wednesday.
Credit rating agencies and bondholders said the risk of a disorderly Greek default had soared, threatening the agreements made in Brussels on bank re-capitalisations and bond haircuts.
A crisis cabinet meeting was called in Athens on Tuesday amid demands for Prime Minister George Papandreou's resignation. Opponents of the Greek premier derided his calling a referendum as an "act of unprecedented irresponsibility". Mr Papandreou said his government would face a vote of confidence on Friday night.
* * * * *
U.S. Lawmakers to Propose Transaction Tax
By Phil Mattingly - Bloomberg.com
Two U.S. lawmakers will introduce measures to impose a transaction tax on financial firms that resembles a proposal released by the European Union.
Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat, and Representative Peter DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, will introduce the bills tomorrow in their respective chambers. The bills will give the United States an increased role in the international debate over a transaction tax, which is likely to be discussed at the Group of 20 summit this week in Cannes, France.
"It’s a significant way to raise some needed revenue," Harkin said in an interview today in Washington. "Quite frankly, I bet nobody would even feel it."
Gross Says Collapse
of Corzine’s MF Global May Erode Investor Confidence
By Margaret Collins - Bloomberg.com
Bill Gross, manager of the world’s largest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said the collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MF) may further erode investor confidence.
Investors may be "more concerned about the return of their money than the return on their money," Gross said today in San Francisco at a conference for investment advisers held by Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW)
MF Global filed the eighth-largest U.S. bankruptcy yesterday, after failing to find a buyer over the weekend. The New York-based futures broker suffered a ratings downgrade and loss of customers after revealing it bet $6.3 billion on Italian, Spanish, Belgian, Portuguese and Irish debt, leading to the filing.
Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts -
MF Global Is the Tip of a Pyramid of Lies
JESSE'S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN
MF Global, the latest brokerage firm to start slipping under the waves, was using customer funds to back their proprietary trades according to a story from Associated Press.
The CME, the exchange on which the MF Global acted as clearing company, has a reported $4 billion in member contributed funds to cover any customer losses from a member firm. But obviously the guardians of the system cannot risk a run on the exchanges and brokerages.
I fully expect a strong effort will be made to hush this one up and sweep it under the rug. The $700 million was merely misplaced, left it in the other coat pocket, never missing, simple accounting error, completely safe. They will just juggle the books and shift the equity around, increasing the leverage on positions. You don't go to prison for carrying excessive leverage. MF Global should have bought a small bank like Goldman did, and then buried their losses at the Fed.
6 things no one will tell you about MF Global This is what’s wrong with the economy
By Brett Arends, MarketWatch
BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Here’s a brain-teaser for you.
Which corporate honcho bragged recently about his company’s strong resources, positive outlook and outstanding "execution" skills? Who said he was "particularly pleased" at recent developments, and predicted “competitive returns to shareholders in the quarters ahead”?
Tim Cook at Apple? Alan Mulally at Ford? Mike Duke at Wal-Mart?
None of the above. The answer is Jon Corzine, who runs MF Global Holdings Ltd.MF -16.08% He made those remarks a week ago. Yesterday the company filed for bankruptcy.
One week. No kidding.
MF Global Broke Law, Did Not Keep Client Funds Separate
By Megan McArdle - TheAtlantic.com
The bankruptcy of MF Global has attracted a lot of attention on the internet, for obvious reasons. It seems that its head, former New Jersey Senator and Governor Jon Corzine, was not a popular man with, well, pretty much anyone. (And having had him speak at my business-school graduation, I can see why.) The unholy glee in his fall has been surprisingly well distributed across the many corners of the internet.
But I held off--in part because I was mired in that somewhat excessive post on elites and expectations, and in part, because I wasn't sure exactly what to say. It seemed a shame to kick a man when he was down. But the execution of the bankruptcy seemed to have gone pretty smoothly. Absent worries that this was the start of the second US banking panic, a la 1932, I didn't have much to say.
All MF Global Funds Accounted For
By Tiffany Kary and Linda Sandler - Bloomberg.com
MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MF), run by former New Jersey governor andGoldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) co- chairman Jon Corzine, has accounted for all its customer funds, said Kenneth Ziman, a lawyer for MF Global, citing the company’s management.
"To the best knowledge of management, there is no shortfall," Ziman told U.S. Bankruptcy judge Martin Glenn in Manhattan, who inquired about whether a shortfall in customer accounts would affect the case, citing media reports that hundreds of millions of dollars were missing. Most of MF Global’s U.S. assets are held at its brokerage unit, Ziman said.
MF Global accounts shock leaves clients scrambling
By Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer
(Reuters) - MF Global Holdings Ltd failed to protect customer accounts by keeping them separate from its own funds, said a top U.S. exchange regulator, another shock for commodity markets scrambling to contain fallout from the brokerage's bankruptcy.
The revelation on Tuesday by CME Group Inc suggests Jon Corzine's MF Global violated a central tenet of futures brokerages. It could erode confidence in a market that for decades has enjoyed a sterling reputation for safety.
Are the Clients of MF Global Insured Against Fraud?
FMXConnect.com
A question has been raised as to if the clients of MF Global are insured on their losses as a client of a bank or securities firm would be under FDIC or SIPC? The answer is maybe.
While there is no regulatory insurance agency to cover the losses of MF Global clients, the CME itself has a guarantee fund for losses. This fund is financed by the other Primary Clearing members. So all FCMs bear some burden of MF Global's indiscretions. We believe it amounts to a $4BB Clearing Member "error Account"
And Obama makes 13... Supercommittee must not 'fail the country,'
Bowles says, offering his own plan
By Lori Montgomery - WashingtonPost.com
Erskine Bowles, the former White House chief of staff who has worked for months to tamethe national debt, bluntly warned members of a congressional panel Tuesday that they will “fail the country” if they do not break the impasse over taxes that is blocking a far-reaching agreement.
"I know most of you. . . . I have great respect for each of you individually," Bowles told the 12 lawmakers gathered before him in an ornate House hearing room for the fifth public meeting of the debt-reduction supercommittee. "But collectively, I’m worried you’re going to fail. Fail the country."
Treasuries Decline,
Snapping 3-Day Gain Before Sale Announcement
By Candice Zachariahs - Bloomberg.com
Treasury 10-year notes fell, snapping a three-day advance, after yields dropped below 2 percent yesterday and before the U.S. announces the size of next week’s auctions.
Yields on 10-year Treasuries rose after yesterday touching the lowest level in almost a month as Wrightson ICAP LLC projected that the Treasury Department will probably announce today the sale next week of $72 billion of securities maturing in three, 10 and 30 years. Thirty-year bonds snapped their biggest rally since 2008, which came amid renewed concern Greecewill default on its debt.
Manufacturing in U.S.
Comes Close to Stagnating as Global Demand Weakens
By Bob Willis - Bloomberg.com
Manufacturing in the U.S. was close to stagnating in October as cooling global demand prompted factories to pare production and reduce inventories.
The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index dropped to 50.8 last month from 51.6 in September, the Tempe, Arizona- based group’s data showed today. A reading of 52 was the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Fifty is the dividing line between growth and contraction.
Manufacturing weakened from China to the U.K., partly a reflection of Beijing’s efforts to cool its economy and Europe’s debt crisis. Signs the industry that spearheaded the U.S. recovery is stumbling highlight the risks to growth as Federal Reserve policy makers meet to determine if more monetary easing is needed to spur demand.
12 Reasons To Be Extremely Pessimistic
About The Direction That The Economy Is Headed
EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Do you want to feel optimistic about the U.S. economy? If so, you might not want to read the rest of this article. In many areas of the United States today, you can almost smell the fear and the anxiety in the air. Survey after survey has found that the American people are extremely pessimistic about the direction the economy is headed. In fact, many recent surveys have found that economic pessimism is at the highest levels ever recorded. There has been an astonishing loss of faith in the system. In general, people are extremely dissatisfied with how things are going right now, and they do not believe that things will get better any time soon. When the majority of the population starts losing hope like that, it creates a very unstable economic environment. Once people are gripped by desperation, they start behaving much differently. Desperate people do desperate things, and we are already starting to see this in many parts of the country.
For Whom The Bell Tolls
By: CAPTAINHOOK - GoldSeek.com
If you have taken the time to read Hemmingway’s For Whom The Bell Toll’s, one could not help but be struck by the genius in his method of making the most from a good title, and this is my aim here today as well. Because like a picture, a good title can capture the essence of a story in one concise statement, providing the writer with a great deal more ease and effectiveness in making his point(s). In this case, Hemmingway was making the point that modern machinery (today it's computerized trading) was destroying the concept of romantic / ancient war, which is a way of saying, mankind, is maturing in an undesirable and tragic fashion. And in this regard I would have to agree, for to me it appears we are ‘hell-bent on our own destruction’, where everything from the vulgarities associated with technological innovation to excessive population growth are coming together to create the need for a ‘profound shift’ in the way we will be living moving forward, in our socio-economic systems as it were.
Bernanke Reviving Housing
May Rely on Wider Access to Mortgage Refinancing
By Scott Lanman and Caroline Salas Gage - Bloomberg.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke can’t go it alone when it comes to reviving the U.S. housing market.
Fed policy makers, who started a two-day meeting today, are considering buying mortgage-backed securities to push down borrowing costs and help homeowners refinance their debt. That would reduce monthly payments, freeing up cash for other purchases that could spur the economy and reduce unemployment, Fed GovernorDaniel Tarullo said Oct. 20.
Allied Mortgage Hit with DOJ Suit, HUD Suspension
BY JANN SWANSON - MortgageNewsDaily.com
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Ginnie Mae have suspended Allied Home Mortgage Corporation, thereby preventing the company from originating and underwriting new mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or issue securities through Ginnie Mae's Mortgage-Backed Securities program. The suspensions include by name the company's president and chief executive officer, James C. Hodge, and its executive vice president and chief compliance officer Jeanne L. Stell and come in the wake of a suit filed earlier in the day by the Justice Department (DOJ) in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan against the company and its two officers.
The suit alleges that Allied, one of the largest of the lenders approved to write for FHA, had engaged infraudulent lending practices that have cost the government more than $834 million in FHA insurance claims. The suit said that the lenders had engaged "in reckless mortgage lending, flouting the requirements of the FHA mortgage insurance program, and repeatedly lying about its compliance."
Mortgage Crisis Goes Primetime
By John Downs - GoldSeek.com
A near-death experience often provides needed perspective to effectuate real change. But no matter how often the over-regulated and over-subsidized US banking sector flirts with disaster, it never seems to change its ways.
Three years have gone by since subprime mortgage exposure threw the financial system into cardiac arrest. Experienced analysts are under no illusions about the progress since then: the banks are still not eating right and they're certainly not slimming down. It seems these institutions feel trapped by their situation and are just waiting for the inevitable. This month, the PrimeX group of indices, a measure that quantifies the likelihood of default in prime residential and commercial mortgages, began flashing red.
4 million borrowers eligible for foreclosure review
By Brady Dennis - WashingtonPost.com
More than 4 million borrowers who have faced foreclosure since early 2009 will have the chance to have their cases reviewed for potential wrongdoing, federal regulators and some of the nation’s largest mortgage servicers announced Tuesday.
The reviews stem from a deal forged earlier this year in which 14 servicers agreed to hire independent consultants to evaluate whether borrowers suffered financial injury during the foreclosure process. If a review finds errors or abuses by the financial firms, the consultants will determine what recompense wronged homeowners deserve.
U.S. Faces Much Worse 'Japanization'
By Jeff Nielson - Implode-o-Meter Blog
As the collapse of the U.S. economy quickly evolved into the Crash of ‘08; politicians, "experts", and mainstream media shills were unanimous: the U.S. economy would/could "never experience the Lost Decade" experienced by Japan's economy after several, huge asset bubbles simultaneously burst.
At that same time I was equally adamant in my own writing: the U.S. would be extraordinarily lucky if its economic collapse was no worse than that of Japan. In fact my expectation was that the collapse of the U.S. economy would be many times worse than what has become a "Lost Generation" for the economy of Japan, resulting in my dubbing the collapse of the U.S. economy to be its "Greater Depression".
Boeing brings space taxi jobs to Florida
By Irene Klotz
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida
(Reuters) - Boeing Co will bring hundreds of jobs to Florida by basing a program to develop passenger spaceships at the Kennedy Space Center, first for NASA and later for commercial use, officials said on Monday.
Boeing's plans will ease some of the pain over thousands of job losses in the so-called Space Coast region of central Florida from the end of NASA's space shuttle program earlier this year.
Boeing will ramp up its workforce to about 550 by 2015 to make, test and operate the seven-passenger spaceships, called CST-100s, said John Mulholland, vice president and program manager of commercial programs for Boeing Space Exploration.
Obama's 'Snitch' Policy Threat to Us
By Sharon Sebastian - PatriotPost.us
Before Barack Obama swore to uphold the Constitution and to protect Americans from enemies foreign and domestic, early warnings were pinging about like signals off a cell tower. Predictions: 1.) The economy would nosedive and 2.) America would have a renewed military presence in Africa before the end of Obama's first term. What was not foreseen was the Obama administration's fixation on "snitching." They are for it. Obama brazenly initiated his report-on-your-neighbor, big brother initiative via a White House run "snitch website" called "flag."
Democracy Versus Mob Rule
By Thomas Sowell - PatriotPost.us
In various cities across the country, mobs of mostly young, mostly incoherent, often noisy and sometimes violent demonstrators are making themselves a major nuisance.
Meanwhile, many in the media are practically gushing over these "protesters," and giving them the free publicity they crave for themselves and their cause -- whatever that is, beyond venting their emotions on television.
Members of the mobs apparently believe that other people, who are working while they are out trashing the streets, should be forced to subsidize their college education -- and apparently the President of the United States thinks so too.
But if these loud mouths' inability to put together a coherent line of thought is any indication of their education, the taxpayers should demand their money back for having that money wasted on them for years in the public schools.
Condoleezza Rice says
prospects for Mideast peace have worsened under Obama
By Associated Press - WashingtonPost.com
WASHINGTON — Prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace are far worse today than when she left office, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday, and she partly blames the Obama administration’s tough line against Israeli settlement-building for spoiling chances for new talks.
"When you look at where we are now, we’re a long, long way back from where we were," Rice said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Rice said she had hoped that the Obama administration could revive stalled peace talks quickly when it took office in 2009, but she said she was disappointed by the new administration’s handling of the delicate issue of new Israeli housing construction in the West Bank.
* * * * *
What may be involved in an Israeli strike on Iran Israel is believed to have a fully prepared plan to launch a strike, which would likely involve at least several hundred aircraft.
By YAAKOV LAPPIN - JPost.com
Over the past several days, Hebrew media reports have been engaged in intense speculation regarding a possible imminent Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak appeared to have made a veiled reference to the issue again on Tuesday, when he told the Knesset that Israel may have to protect its vital interests alone, while other reports focused on comments by Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who stated this week that difficult decisions were 'keeping him up at nights," without elaborating further.
Analysts Believe Israel is Moving Closer to Iran Strike
By Jeffrey Goldberg - TheAtlantic.com
Haaretz is reporting a new diplomatic initiative by Israel to convince Western countries to increase sanctions on Iran. The work comes ahead of an IAEA report to be released on November 8, which is expected to detail the scope of Iran's nuclear program and submit evidence that Iran is attempting to build a nuclear bomb:
"The significant progress that has taken place on all the components of the Iranian nuclear program should be emphasized, especially uranium enrichment," said a classified cable sent to Israeli ambassadors in several dozen countries. "The Iranian program is military, and in light of International Atomic Energy Agency reports, there is an increased fear that the Iranians are developing a nuclear warhead for ballistic missiles."
Israel hikes missile range over Iran fears
TEL AVIV, Israel, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Israel is reported to be seeking to extend the range of its Jericho- 3 ballistic missile, which could be used for pre-emptive military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
Amid persistent concerns that Israel may launch unilateral attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, a hawk on the issue, warned Monday that a nuclear Iran will pose a direct threat to Israel.
The Haaretz daily reported Tuesday the Israeli government stepped up its diplomatic campaign for tougher action to force Tehran to abandon its contentious nuclear program.
US fears uncoordinated Israeli strike on Iran Washington concerned Israel will mount military operation against Islamic Republic, State Department official says. US consequently putting greater pressure on Security Council to impose harsher sanctions on Iran
By Alex Fishman - YNetNews.com
Fearing an uncoordinated Israeli attack against Iran, the United States is working on several levels to pressure the UN's Security Council into imposing harsher sanctions on Iran, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.
A senior US State Department official said there was growing concern among Obama administration officials ahead of an IAEA report set to be published in November indicating considerable progress in Tehran's development of its military nuclear program.
Israel to speed up W. Bank building after UNESCO vote
By TOVAH LAZAROFF AND KHALED ABU TOAMEH - JPost.com
Move comes after Palestinians gain entry to UNESCO, planning similar moves with other UN agencies; State to halt tax transfers to PA; 'Peace process could be destroyed,' warns Ramallah official.
n a series of retaliatory moves against the Palestinian Authority, Israel on Tuesday night decided to accelerate Jewish construction over the pre-1967 lines and temporarily suspend the transfer of tax funds to the PA.
The PA immediately slammed the two decisions made by the Inner Cabinet, a forum of eight ministers, which had convened for several hours.
Israel’s decision to build new housing units in east Jerusalem and two West Bank settlements will destroy the peace process, the PA warned.
Tepco Detects Possible Nuclear Fission
By Tsuyoshi Inajima - Bloomberg.com
Tokyo Electric Power Co. detected signs of possible nuclear fission at its crippled Fukushima atomic power plant in northern Japan, raising the risk of more radiation leaks.
The company, known as Tepco, began spraying boric acid on the No. 2 reactor at 2:48 a.m. Japan time in an attempt to prevent accidental chain reactions. Tepco said it may have found xenon, which is associated with nuclear fission, while examining gases taken from the reactor, according to an e-mailed statement today.
The amount of detected xenon is “very small” and results of the utility’s analysis may be wrong, said Hiroyuki Usami, a spokesman for Tepco. No significant changes in temperatures and pressures of the reactor and radiation levels at the site have been detected, he said.
The Division of Europe EU Summit Paves the Way for a Split Continent Last Wednesday's summit in Brussels took important steps toward saving the European common currency. But it also made it clear that the European Union is being divided in two. Germany is the new Europe's leader -- for better or worse.
By SPIEGEL Staff - Spiegel.de
At 7:45 p.m., European Council President Herman Van Rompuy could no longer avoid the embarrassing and unpleasant task of throwing out 10 people. Friendliness was called for, of course, and nice words. But so too was firmness: Their presence was no longer required, and they were asked to leave the assembly hall of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels.
They were all proud people, the sort who usually do the throwing out themselves: national leaders like British Prime Minister David Cameron and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk -- all from the 10 countries that are part of the European Union but don't use the euro.
The Coming Global Credit Glut
By Andrew Sheng - ProjectSyndicate.org
HONG KONG – With world leaders meet at the end of this week at the G-20 summit in Cannes, France, the next economic minefield that they will face is already coming into view. It is likely to take the form of an opaque global credit glut, turbocharged by the fragile mixture of too-big-to-fail global banking with a huge and largely unwatched and unregulated shadow banking sector.
To be sure, that is not what many see. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke and others have blamed the financial crisis of 2008 on a global savings glut, which fuelled flows of money from high-savings emerging-market economies – especially in Asia – that run chronic balance-of-payments surpluses. According to this school of thought, excessive savings pushed long-term interest rates down to rock-bottom levels, leading to asset bubbles in the United States and elsewhere.
Central banks top up gold reserves Central banks have used gold's recent plunge to top up their holdings of the precious metal.
By Garry White, and Emma Rowley - Telegraph.co.uk
Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Thailand spent a collective $1.52bn (£942m) buying 26.7 tons of gold. However, the Mexican central bank was a seller, reducing its holding by 0.1 ton, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Thailand's gold reserves rose 11pc to 152.41 tons and Bolivia's bullion reserves increased 17pc to 49.34 tons. Bolivia increased its holdings by 5pc to tons and Tajikistan's bullion stockpile increased 26pc to 4.74 tons.
Over the past 20 years, central banks have been reducing their holdings of the precious metal, but concerns about paper money and global debt has turned them into net buyers. Also, the gold price has increased every year for the past 11 years. The price is up 23pc in the year to date, closing at $1,743.75 an ounce on Friday.
Keiser Report: Bring down Bernanke Gaddafi style (E203)
Dollar surges as global fears rise
and Japan tries to beat down yen
By Tom Petruno - LATimes.com
The dollar is back to playing the strongman of world currencies -- a bad sign for markets if it continues.
The buck soared Monday against other major and minor currencies as Japan intervened to halt the yen’s surge and as new worries about Europe fueled a classic rush for safety.
Markets also were on edge after securities firm MF Global filed for bankruptcy, a casualty of Europe’s financial crisis.
The DXY index of the dollar’s value against six other major currencies jumped almost 2% to 76.54, its biggest one-day move this year. But the gain just pushed the index back to where it was Oct. 20.
The Air Has Been Let Out Of The Balloon
TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
Do you hear that sound? It is the sound of Europe being hit with a cold dose of financial reality. The air has been let out of the balloon, and investors all over the world are realizing that absolutely nothing has been solved in Europe. The solutions being proposed by the politicians in Europe are just going to make things worse. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by shredding confidence in sovereign debt. But that is exactly what the "voluntary 50% haircut" has done. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by pumping up your "bailout fund" with borrowed money from China, Russia and Brazil. More debt is just going to make things even worse down the road. You don't solve a sovereign debt crisis by causing a massive credit crunch. By giving European banks only until June 2012 to dramatically improve their credit ratios, it is going to force many of them to seriously cut back on lending. A massive credit crunch would significantly slow down economic activity in Europe and that is about the last thing that the Europeans need right now. If the deal that was reached last week was the "best shot" that Europe has got, then we are all in for a world of hurt.
Italy's crisis deepens on eurozone slump, bail-out doubts Italy's borrowing costs have once again surged to danger levels amid growing doubts over the viability of Europe's bail-out machinery, dashing hopes that last week's summit deal would at last contain the crisis.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
Yields on 10-year bonds jumped to 6.18pc on Monday, while spreads over German Bunds reached 410 basis points, nearing the critical level where LCH Clearnet raises margin requirements. This, in turn, triggers further selling.
Intesa Sanpaolo Giovanni Bazoli said the spreads are unstainable "not just in the medium run, but in the short run as well". He warned of a credit crunch in Italy as banks struggle to meet higher capital ratios set by EU leaders.
Greece to hold referendum on EU debt deal Greece is to hold a referendum on whether to accept the rescue package from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund troika.
By Philip Aldrick, and Richard Blackden - Telegraph.co.uk
Responding to the riots that followed last week’s proposal, as well as dissent from within his own Socialist party, Prime Minister George Papandreou said: "The command of the Greek people will bind us. Do they want to adopt the new deal, or reject it? If the Greek people do not want it, it will not be adopted."
Staging a referendum, reportedly to be held in January, threatens to throw the eurozone further into crisis as the majority of Greeks object to the bail-out, according to a survey published last week.
Greece must vote no to the bailout terms
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
Eurozone policymakers will view with horror George Papandreou's decision to hold a referendum on the Greek bailout package. Less than a week after agreeing a "comprehensive" deal to resolve Europe's sovereign debt crisis, the whole thing already seems to be coming apart at the seams. The Greek prime minister's commitment to a plebiscite introduces a further element of extreme uncertainty.
But for everyone, it could also be a blessing in disguise, for a vote on the bailout package would also in effect be a vote on continued membership of the euro. If it went against Mr Papandreou, his government would fall, and given that Greece could no longer deliver on the conditions attached to the bailout, public money to pay wages, pensions and bills would soon run out. The country would descend into chaos.
Three Out Of Four: Spain Joins Ireland,
Portugal With A Gun To Its Head, Demanding Concessions
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Previously we noted that, just as expected, the weakest PIIGS -Portugal and Ireland - wasted no time to start rumblings about a "suddenly slowing economy" in the aftermath of the Greek bail out which achieved nothing but to delay contagion by 48 hours (we won't bother readers with the blow out in Italian bond yields any more), andto unleash demands by everyone else to get the same concessions, in essence pushing Europe into an even deeper hole, forcing Golum Van Rompuystiltskin to say he was only kidding about the 4-5x EFSF leverage: he really meant 45x. Confirming that the tsunami of demands has been unleashed is today's announcement from the Bank of Spain that not only was Q3 GDP flat (read: negative), but that the deficit target for the year would not be achieved. Google translated from Expansion: "The Bank of Spain says the Spanish economic growth was zero in the third quarter from the previous quarter and warns that there are significant risks that may prevent achieving the deficit target this year. The Bank of Spain said that the information available for the third quarter suggests that the pattern of decline shown in the previous quarter "would have continued in the middle months of the year, in an environment marked by the deepening crisis of sovereign debt euro area." Truly nobody could have seen this coming, yet it is odd how it was casually slipped in broader discussion three short days after the Greek bailout.
MF Global is first big US victim of Europe crisis
APNews - Townhall.com
The European debt crisis has claimed its first big casualty on Wall Street, a securities firm run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine.
MF Global Holdings Ltd., which Corzine has led since early last year, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday. Concerns about the company's holdings of European debt caused its business partners to pull back last week, which led to a severe cash crunch, the company said in its filing.
Corzine, the former head of investment banking giant Goldman Sachs Group Inc., oversaw MF Global as it amassed $6 billion in debt issued by financially strapped European countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal. Their bonds paid bigger returns than U.S. Treasury debt because bond investors believed that they were more likely to default.
Corzine's MF Global collapses under euro zone bets
By Jonathan Spicer and Nick Brown
(Reuters) - Jon Corzine's bid to revive his Wall Street career crashed and burned on Monday when his futures brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd filed for bankruptcy protection following bad bets on euro zone debt.
Corzine, 64, who once ran Goldman Sachs before becoming a U.S. senator and then governor of New Jersey, had been trying to turn the more than 200-year-old MF Global into a mini Goldman by taking on more risky trades.
But once regulators forced it to fully disclose the bets on debt issued by countries including Italy, Portugal and Spain, it rapidly unraveled with no buyers willing to step in.
Regulators Investigating MF Global for Missing Money Regulators Searching MF Global for Millions in Missing Customer Funds
BY BEN PROTESS,
MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED
AND SUSANNE CRAIG - NYTimes.com
Federal regulators have discovered that hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money has gone missing from MF Global in recent days, prompting an investigation into the brokerage firm, which is run by Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor, several people briefed on the matter said on Monday.
The recognition that money was missing scuttled at the 11th hour an agreement to sell a major part of MF Global to a rival brokerage firm. MF Global had staked its survival on completing the deal. Instead, the New York-based firm filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
Someone Is Going To Jail For This:
MF Global Caught Stealing
Hundreds Of Millions From Customers?
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Say you are the head back office guy at MF Global, it is the close of trading on Thursday, the firm has already completely drawn downon its revolver, and all the resulting cash in addition to all the firm's cash at your disposal in affiliated bank accounts, up to and including petty cash, has been used to satisfy margin demands due to declining collateral value, yet the collateral calls just won't stop, and impatient voices on the other side of the phone line demand you transfer even more cash over immediately or else risk default proceedings commenced against you within minutes. What do you do? Do you go ahead and tell your superior that the firm is broke even though the co-opted media is trumpeting every 5 minutes that "MF Global is fine", knowing full well you will be immediately fired for being the bearer of bad news, or do you assume that courtesy of your uber-boss being the former head of the Vampire Squid, and thanks to infinite moral hazard which after Lehman made sure nobody would ever fail ever again, that there is simply no way that you will be left without some miraculous rescue, if only you can last one more day, and as a result proceed to "commingle" some client funds with the firm's cash.
Presenting The Bond That Blew Up MF Global
Submitted by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Reaching for yield (and prospectively capital appreciation) while shortening duration had become the new 'smart money' trade as we saw HY credit curves steepen earlier in the year (only to become the pain-trade very quickly). The attraction of those incredible yields on short-dated sovereigns was an obvious place for momentum monkeys to chase and it seems that was the undoing of MF Global. The Dec 2012 Italian bonds (of which MF held 91% of its ITA exposure in), as highlighted in today's Bloomberg Chart-of-the-day, appears to be the capital-sucking instrument of doom for the now-stricken MF.
Will other banks go the way of MF Global?
by Felix Salmon - Reuters.com
John Carney wonders whether MF Global might turn out to be simply the first of many banks to go bust in a European financial crisis.
All the very serious people on Wall Street keep saying that the problems at MF Global are “isolated” or “unique.” It’s not a bellwether or a canary in the coal mine, they say.
I’m not so sure. There were lots of firms that were supposedly not canaries in coal mines in 2007. Heck, even the entire subprime market was supposedly not a canary in the coal mine for the broader housing market.
There’s a lot of sense here. Banks are reliant on trust — it doesn’t matter whether or not they areinsolvent. All that matters is whether the market thinks that they might be insolvent. In fact, all thatreally matters is whether market participants think that other market participants might think that they might be insolvent. Whenever you think there’s a risk of a run to the exits, the smart thing to do is to run to the exits before everybody else does. And runs kill banks.
John Perry Barlow:
Financial Activism, Capitalism & Marxism:
Keiser Report
A Delusional Belief in Debt-Based Growth
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
10/31/11 Paris, France – Last week, the bull market continued. Investors were sure that the bailout of Europe’s wobbly debtors was a done deal. The details of the deal have yet to be worked out. Just details, of course…such as who’s going to pay for it and where they’re going to get the money.
That, and whether Europe’s 17 nations will go along with it…when they finally figure out what "it" is.
For now, nobody knows.
Here’s how we look at it. After WWII, Europe rose from its ashes while America went from strength to strength. The entire developed, non-communist world — including Japan — enjoyed its "30 glorious years" of growth.
GOLDMAN SUX?
Giant Squid Strikes Again
at Occupy Wall Street's Credit Union Goldman Sachs Intensifies Threat on Credit Union
By Greg Palast
What have I done? There's one angry squid out there.
Last week, Democracy Now! and The Guardian ran our story about Goldman Sachs yanking financial support from a community credit union for honoring one of its largest customers. The customer: Occupy Wall Street.
Our report so enraged Goldman that, within days, it doubled down on its attack on the little community bank.
Goldman had already demanded the return of its $5,000 payment to the Lower East Side Peoples Federal Credit Union. Now, sources say, the trillion-dollar Wall Street mega-bank sent the following message to the not-for-profit community bank: "You will never get a dime from any bank ever again."
FOMC Meeting Preview
by CalculatedRisk.com
There will be a two day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. I expect no changes to the Fed Funds rate, or to the recently announced program to "extend the average maturity of its holdings of securities" (scheduled to end in June 2012), or to the program to "reinvest principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities".
The FOMC statement will be released at 12:30PM and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a quarterly press briefing at 2:15 PM ET.
Fed programs can not keep up with foreclosures
HistoricCity.com
Florida’s foreclosure epidemic continues to haunt the state, but federal programs designed to keep people in their homes are having a hard time trickling down to distressed homeowners.
After a lull resulting from the "robo-signing" controversy last fall, Florida’s foreclosure rate is picking back up, leaving courts jammed with cases. For the third quarter alone, the state’s 67,886 foreclosure filings were second in the nation.
The Hardest Hit Fund is a state-run program funded by the U.S. Treasury, designed to help underemployed or unemployed workers make their mortgage payments until they find work again. As of Oct. 14, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, the state agency administering the program, has approved just 3,572 (11.7 percent) of the 30,640 applications it has received from Florida homeowners.
Focusing on the Fed
By Edwin J. Feulner - PatriotPost.us
"I'd prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him and keep him as long as I could." That's John McCain in 1999, referring to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. The joke was that Greenspan was so good at his job that if anything were to happen to him, we'd need a Weekend at Bernie's solution to extend his reign.
The financial crisis and Great Recession, a portion of which at least can be laid at Greenspan's door, has taken the bloom off the Greenspan rose, and then some. Current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has also taken his share of hits. With unemployment high and monetary policy bouncing from one experiment to the next amid inflation fears, the Fed attracts few defenders anymore. Even presidential candidates are making Fed policy part of their platforms.
Fed leveraged 53 to 1 : End the Fed : Keiser Report
Christina Romer Calls For a New Fed Target
By Clive Crook - TheAtlantic.com
The Fed should target nominal GDP not inflation, argues Christy Romer in the NYT. I agree with her, for reasons I argued here.
There are two parts to this, and one is more troublesome than the other. The simpler part is that the Fed can influence changes in NGDP--the money value of output, or "demand"--more directly than it can influence inflation. The Fed has no control over the way a change in demand divides between higher real output and higher prices. Therefore, it should not be held accountable for the split. But it can and should be held accountable for how the combination of the two--NGDP--evolves.
Americans Feeling Less & Less Financially Secure
By Paul Ausick - 247WallSt.com
A mere 17% of Americans believe that their overall financial situation is better now than it was a year ago. Only 19% say their net worth is higher today than it was 12 months ago. Just 11% are more comfortable with their savings.These are just a few of the results from a recent surveyconducted by Bankrate, Inc. (NYSE: RATE). The only surprise in the survey may be that 75% of Americans feel as or more secure about their jobs than they did a year ago. But the pre-holiday layoff season is now upon us and recent job cut announcements might have changed that survey outcome if the survey were to be conducted at the end of this month.Feelings of financial security depend on a growing economy, a robust housing market, and some stability in the equity markets. All have gone missing, and until they return in force, Americans will continue to feel less secure.
Why Consumer Spending Increase
is Bad News for Consumers and Economy
By Constantine von Hoffman - BNet.com
Last month’s increase in consumer spending helped the GDP to grow at 2.5 percent annually, according to the government.The GDP number is provably false but the spending increase is true - and it is very, very bad news.
Why is it bad news? Because consumer spending increased while consumer earningand saving decreased. That is why consumer confidence dropped to 39.8 percent this month at the same time as people were shopping more.
Personal income has dropped during each of the last three months and is now dropping at 2 percent annually, according to a Commerce Department report. So the increase in spending doesn’t show a healthy economy. It shows just the opposite. What people spent was from their savings.
Gail Tverberg: 65 year debt bubble: Keiser Report
Home prices heading for triple-dip
By Les Christie - CNNMoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The besieged housing market has even further to fall before home prices really hit rock bottom.
According to Fiserv, a financial analytics company, home values are expected to fall another 3.6% by next June, pushing them to a new low of 35% below the peak reached in early 2006 and marking a triple dip in prices.
Several factors will be working against the housing market in the upcoming months, including an increase in foreclosure activity and sustained high unemployment,explained David Stiff, Fiserv's chief economist.
Nevada Makes Illegal Foreclosures Felony
By Mike Colpitts - HousingPredictor.com
Responding to homeowner complaints, Nevada has become the first state in the nation to make illegally repossessing a home a felony, and may send bankers to jail for doing such. The new law was enacted after tens of thousands of homeowners complained to lawmakers about their homes being foreclosed without proof of ownership.
The outcry of consumer complaints over illegal robo-signing tactics has produced a series of lawsuits against mortgage servicing companies and banks in Nevada, which has led the U.S. in foreclosures six straight years.
The Nevada law makes it a felony for a mortgage servicer or trustee of a mortgage to make false representations concerning a title such as claiming that they are an executive of a bank or mortgage servicer, which was the case in at least hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of robo-signings. A $5,000 fine will also be assessed if fraud is found. The law requires mortgage companies to provide a new affidavit with the amount owed on the loan, the person who is in possession of the note and the individual with the authority to foreclose on the property.
Jobs crisis threatens global wave of social unrest, warns ILO
By Larry Elliott, economics editor - Guardian.co.uk
The International Labour Organisation has warned that a jobs crisis caused by the slowdown in the global economy threatens a wave of widespread social unrest engulfing both rich and poor countries.
Highlighting the darkening prospects for employment, the Geneva-based ILO said policymakers were running out of time to head off a double-dip recession in labour markets.
"We have reached the moment of truth", said Raymond Torres, director of the ILO International Institute for Labour Studies to mark the publication of the organisation's World of Work report.
Dissenting, or Seeking Shelter?
Homeless Stake a Claim at Protests
By ADAM NAGOURNEY - NYTImes.com
LOS ANGELES — Robert Gaffney, who came here from Oklahoma 10 years ago, settled on a scrap of burlap the other day on a grassy hill outside City Hall, surveying the tents and crowd that make up Occupy Los Angeles. For many of his neighbors at City Hall Park, this is a center of protest and political grievance. For Mr. Gaffney, it is the latest piece of land that he calls home.
It is, he said, more comfortable than the sidewalk in Hollywood that he has been living on for the last few months. It is safer and less sketchy than Skid Row, the homeless colony a few blocks away.
"It's different here," said Mr. Gaffney, 31. "I find myself getting sleep. Interesting conversation." He held up a pair of dirty socks. "But I haven’t figured out how to do laundry."
About 1.7 million still without power
as Northeast recovers from storm
By the CNN Wire Staff
Boston (CNN) -- Widespread power outages and transit delays marked the start of a challenging week for millions of residents of the Northeastern United States, where a freak October snowstorm dropped more than 2 feet of snow in some places.
Close to 1.7 million customers in five states remained without power Monday evening, and officials warned it could be Friday before power is back on everywhere.
Utilities throughout the region reported significant progress in restoring power, but the cold, snowy conditions and house-by-house nature of the damage was slowing work, officials said.
Obamaland:
American Mules Must Eat Certified Weed-Free Hay
By Marita Noon - Townhall.com
Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country and is one of the worst in foreclosures. "In my district," Nevada Assemblyman Hansen reports, "one in seventeen houses is in foreclosure. One in eight is vacant. The people are economically desperate. Meanwhile we have an industry that would love to open up mines and create jobs with an average salary of $80,000. Unfortunately we also have a government that takes ten years to permit a mine."
No wonder 77% of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.
"Couldn’t we streamline the process or eliminate some steps?" asks Nevada State Senator Settelmeyer. He points out that the high gold and silver prices present a huge opportunity but he’s afraid that if we do not strike while the iron is hot, gold prices may fall before the mining projects get approved and get into production. "We have the resources and people need the jobs."
Barack Obama's Allegiance
Is Not To America And God,
But To The New World Order And Satan
By SAMAN MOHAMMADI - The Excavator blog
It is hard to pierce the psychology of psychopathic rulers and politicians without having some understanding of their philosophy towards life. Our civilization would be better served if the belief system of politicians was discussed on the campaign trail and on television. We would all be in for some stomach-turning surprises.
It is a well understood fact that a number of high-level Iranian politicians believe in the coming of the Mahdi. President Ahmadinejad and his closest advisers produced a documentary for senior government officials that showcased their belief in Islamic end times prophecy. Watch the documentary with English subtitles here.
The Coming is Upon Us - Translation:
Reza Kahlili (Author of "A Time To Betray")
Concerns Are Raised
About Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes
By ANDREW POLLACK - NYTimes.com
These mosquitoes are genetically engineered to kill — their own children.
Researchers on Sunday reported initial signs of success from the first release into the environment of mosquitoes engineered to pass a lethal gene to their offspring, killing them before they reach adulthood.
The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria.
But the research is arousing concern about possible unintended effects on public health and the environment, because once genetically modified insects are released, they cannot be recalled.
The UAW's Grand New Bargain
and the Future of Organized Labor
By Jordan Weissmann - TheAtlantic.com
Even in its diminished state, the UAW is still a leading indicator of middle class security. What does its latest deal tell us about what a 21st century middle-class manufacturing job looks like?
In the flurry of headlines about Netflix's stock price and Europe's debt crisis, it was easy to miss the news, but last week, the American auto-industry quietly embarked on an experiment that could help define the future of the middle class.
On Oct. 26, the United Auto Workers ratified a new, four-year labor contract with Chrysler, capping off the union's negotiations with Detroit's three big automakers. There were no huge surprises in the agreements, but in light of Detroit's long history of labor dysfunction, the new contracts are a thing of wonder. Here are the new rules of the road: The unions' fortunes are tied to the companies' fortunes. If the companies profit, the workers profit. If the companies stumble, they can break the promises they can't afford
Saab Auto Clinches $844 Million Lifeline
From China’s Pang Da, Youngman
By Ola Kinnander - Bloomberg.com
The two Chinese companies that plan to buy Saab Automobile pledged to invest 610 million euros ($844 million) in the Swedish carmaker, prompting a court to extend the manufacturer’s protection against creditors.
Pang Da Automobile Trade Co. and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile will also provide an immediate 50 million-euro bridge loan to help debt-laden Saab survive as it reorganizes, Guy Lofalk, the attorney overseeing the program, said in Vaenersborg District Court yesterday. Saab’s owner, Swedish Automobile NA, said separately that about 500 jobs will be cut.
Boeing to establish center
in Florida for new spaceship program
By W.J. Hennigan - LATimes.com
Aerospace giant Boeing Co. announced plans to establish a headquarters for its new spaceship program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The Chicago company is in the process of developing a seven-person spaceship, dubbed the Crew Space Transportation-100, for the job of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station now that the space shuttle program is over.
Boeing will consolidate the program’s engineering and manufacturing operations, which are now spread across the country in space-centric cities like Huntington Beach, Houston and Huntsville, Ala. Boeing’s decision is expected to bring back high-paying aerospace jobs to the nation’s "space coast," near Cape Canaveral, which lost thousands of jobs when the shuttle program was retired this year.
Internet becomes a new battleground in Mexico's drug wars Hackers are hoping to pressure the Zeta drug cartel by exposing their collaborators, starting with a former state attorney general
By Jo Tuckman in Mexico City - Guardian.co.uk
An internet assault inspired by Anonymous, the hacking activist network that promised to expose collaborators with the Zeta drug cartel, has targeted a former senior law enforcement official from the Mexican southern state of Tabasco.
Hackers blocked a website dedicated to promoting Gustavo Rosario, the former Tabasco attorney general, with the words "Gustavo Rosario is a Zeta" against a background of pumpkin Halloween candles and signed by Anonymous México.
US pulls Unesco funding
after Palestine is granted full membership Controversial move endorsed in UN cultural agency vote despite US threat of withholding £50m in funds
By Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem - Guardian.co.uk
The United States has cut off funds to Unesco as a punitive action after the Palestinian Authority was accepted into the UN agency as a full member in defiance of American, Israeli and European pressure.
The overwhelming backing for the Palestinians' bid to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation was a huge boost for their campaign for international recognition of an independent state, and a blow to Israel and the US, who had opposed the move.
Members voted by 107 votes to 14 to accept Palestine as a full member state to loud cheers from delegates in Paris. Fifty-two countries, including the UK, abstained.
U.S.-China Nuclear Talks Stymied
by Distrust and Miscommunication The two powers are struggling to come together on a shared policy for their nuclear weapons, with everything from mixed messaging to shoddy translations making cooperation harder and a deal less likely
By Rachel Oswald - TheAtlantic.com
Poor communication and divergent goals are hampering efforts by China and the United States to improve their understanding of each other's nuclear-arms policy, issue experts said on Wednesday.
In more than 10 years of bilateral talks on their respective nuclear-weapons programs, the United States and China are frequently "like chickens talking with ducks," according to Gregory Kulacki, a senior analyst in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program. Neither side really believes or comprehends what the other is saying, he said.
S. Korea Plans $50B Fund for Reunification
By Brian Fowler and Eunkyung Seo - Bloomberg.com
South Korea will set up a fund as early as this year to begin raising up to 55 trillion won ($50 billion) to pay for its eventual reunification with North Korea.
Individual Koreans at home and abroad will be able to make donations to the fund and the government in Seoul may earmark money including budget surpluses, Unification Minister Yu Woo Ik said in his first interview since being sworn in on Sept. 19. While foreigners will also be allowed to donate, there is no plan to ask overseas governments to contribute, he said.
Assad warns west
Pravda.ru
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned that an attack against Syria by Western countries could trigger a scene equal to that of Afghanistan. In an interview published in the Sunday edition of the British Sunday Telegraph, the first granted to a Western journalist since the early protests for seven months, Assad said that any problem (a possible military intervention) in his country would cause "an earthquake" that "burns the whole region."
Since March, Syria has been the scene of riots and armed insurrection against the Assad regime. It is estimated that 3,000 people have been killed, in numbers provided by the UN (United Nations).
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Attacking Persia Would Bring A Catastrophic End
To The Wests Long War of Terror
Leaving Iraq?
By Ron Paul - Safehaven.com
It is not too often I am pleased by the foreign policy announcements from this administration, but last week's announcement that the war in Iraq was in its final stage and all the troops may be home for Christmas did sound promising. I have long said that we should simply declare victory and come home. It should not have taken us nearly a decade to do so, and it was supposed to be a priority for the new administration. Instead, it will be one of the last things done before the critical re-election campaign gets into full swing. Better late than never, but, examining the fine print, is there really much here to get excited about? Are all of our men and women really coming home, and is Iraq now to regain its sovereignty? And in this time of economic crisis, are we going to stop hemorrhaging money in Iraq? Sadly, it doesn't look that way.
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