Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Wednesday 05.09.2012
All the gold and silver roads now leading to China With the opening of silver futures trading in Shanghai, China could rapidly become a major player in silver trading given its position as now almost certainly being the world's largest silver consumer.
Author: Lawrence Williams - MineWeb.com
LONDON (MINEWEB) - This week the Shanghai Futures Exchange will start trading silver futures from Thursday. In a commentary on this the newspaper, The Australian, comments that nowadays all the gold and silver roads are leading to China, and speculation that the next few years could see the Chinese dominating the global silver market much as they appear to be doing with the global gold market.
Indeed a big inflow of silver into China - a country which has a long association with the metal having had a silver related currency standard up until the 1930s - is felt by some to be likely to end some of the metal's price volatility and perhaps end what some see as excessive manipulation of the market through COMEX.
Silver at lowest since January,
China should offer key support for gold Gold and silver both slip as market digests the various European elections and their 'anti-austerity' moods, but on the positive side India has withdrawn its 1% tax on gold jewellery and Chinese gold imports have risen again.
Author: Ben Traynor - MineWeb.com
LONDON (BULLION VAULT) - Gold prices fell to $1625 an ounce during Tuesday morning's London trading - their lowest level in over a fortnight - as stocks and commodities also ticked lower and the Dollar extended recent gains, with markets still digesting the weekend's French and Greek election results.
"Support [for gold] is at $1625, where we have seen very good support since early April," says the latest technical analysis from bullion bank Scotia Mocatta
Turkey Exports "Massive Quantities of Gold"
to Iran and Arab Spring Nations
BY MARK O'BYRNE - FinancialSense.com
Gold's London AM fix this morning was USD 1,627.00, EUR 1,250.77, and GBP 1,008.99 per ounce. Friday's AM fix was USD 1,629.50, EUR 1,240.20 and GBP 1,007.54 per ounce.
Gold fell $3.70 or 0.23% in New York yesterday and closed at $1,638.70/oz. Gold started out sideways in Asia then gradually dropped lower and this weakness continued in early European trading.
Gold edged lower on Tuesday despite the weaker euro and stock markets after furious citizens in Greece and France voted against austerity measures. Gold prices are being supported by bargain hunters who continue to buy dips around the lower end of the metal's recent range between $1,620/oz and $1,680/oz.
* * * * *
Interview with John Boehener,
by Maria Bartiromo - May 8, 2012
CNBC TRANSCRIPT: SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE JOHN BOEHNER SITS DOWN ONE-ON-ONE WITH MARIA BARTIROMO TODAY ON CNBC
....BARTIROMO: I'm going to come back to taxes and spending in a moment. But you mentioned Rome is burning, and it, in fact, is. Europe rejecting austerity, a new election in France, a Socialist president there, tell me how all of this impacts the United States, in your view.
Rep. BOEHNER: Well, I think it's pretty clear that the European economy is slowing. It's certainly going to affect our growth this year, and it's going to affect our growth in the future. But secondly, when you look at the problems that Europe has from a financial standpoint and their debt load, we're next. I mean, the picture's as clear as it can be. And I look back over the last year and a half, one of my greatest disappointments is that the president and I were unable to come to an agreement to take a significant chunk out of our long-term debt. It's--it is a real concern, and it's a real problem. But you can't address these problems from Congress alone. You need a president who will lead, and the president's not leading.
Economic Alert: If You're Not Worried Yet…You Should Be
By Brandon Smith - Alt-Market.com
For the past four years I have been covering the progression of the global economic crisis with an emphasis on the debilitating effects it has had on the American financial system. Only once before have I ever issued an economic alert, and this was at the onset of the very first credit downgrade in U.S. history by S&P. I do not take the word "alert" lightly. Since 2008 we have seen a cycle of events that have severely weakened our country's foundation, but each event has then been followed by a lull, sometimes 4 to 6 months at a stretch, which seems to disarm the public, drawing them back into apathy and complacency. The calm moments before each passing storm give Americans a false sense of hope that our capsized fiscal vessel will somehow right itself if we just hold on a little longer...
Fed reform plans percolate on Capitol Hill
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Key members of Congress presented distinctly different measures Tuesday to fundamentally reform the Federal Reserve, a sign that the central bank remains very much under the microscope in the wake of the extraordinary policy steps it took during and after the financial crisis.
Rep. Kevin Brady, an eight-term Republican from Texas, used a hearing of the House Financial Services subcommittee on monetary policy to make a strong pitch for his bill, which would strip the Fed of its dual mandate and see it focus solely on inflation.
Greek threat to the euro scares world's stock markets Financial markets have taken fright after Greece took another step towards leaving the euro by rejecting "barbarous" international bail-out deals.
By James Kirkup - Telegraph.co.uk
Stock markets around the world fell sharply as fears grew that Greece was moving towards a euro exit following Sunday's general election, where parties rejecting internationally-imposed austerity measures made major gains.
Alexis Tsipras, the head of Greece's radical Left-wing Syriza party, said that the result "nullified" bail-out deals with the European Union and International Monetary fund.
The Difference Between the U.S. and Europe in 1 Graph
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
The euro zone has Greece. The United States has Mississippi. Or Missouri.
The difference between the U.S. and Europe is that when the Greek economy "pulls a Mississippi" (or perhaps I should say, when Mississippi "pulls a Greece"), the EU and the U.S. have 180-degree opposite reactions. Over here, we calmly write checks to Mississippi in the form of Medicaid and unemployment insurance, no questions asked. Europe has no comparable "Peripheraid" for its weak peripheral states. Instead, it has chaos.
New IMF Working Paper
Models Impact of Oil Limits on the Economy
BY GAIL TVERBERG - FinancialSense.com
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently issued a new working paper called "The Future of Oil: Geology versus Technology" (free PDF), which should be of interest to people who are following "peak oil" issues. This is a research paper that is being published to elicit comments and debate; it does not necessarily represent IMF views or policy.
The paper considers two different approaches for modeling future oil supply:
• The economic/technological approach, used by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and others, and
• The geological view, used in peak oil forecasts, such as forecasts made by Colin Campbell and forecasts made using Hubbert Linearization.
After Austerity
By Joseph E. Stiglitz - Project-Syndicate.org
NEW YORK – This year's annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund made clear that Europe and the international community remain rudderless when it comes to economic policy. Financial leaders, from finance ministers to leaders of private financial institutions, reiterated the current mantra: the crisis countries have to get their houses in order, reduce their deficits, bring down their national debts, undertake structural reforms, and promote growth. Confidence, it was repeatedly said, needs to be restored.
It is a little precious to hear such pontifications from those who, at the helm of central banks, finance ministries, and private banks, steered the global financial system to the brink of ruin – and created the ongoing mess. Worse, seldom is it explained how to square the circle. How can confidence be restored as the crisis economies plunge into recession? How can growth be revived when austerity will almost surely mean a further decrease in aggregate demand, sending output and employment even lower?
Forget France, the Greek Elections
Are the Beginning of the End for Europe
By IAIN MURRAY - The American Spectator.org
And that means big trouble for U.S. banks as well.
While much of the world's attention was concentrated on France's presidential election last Sunday, the real action was in Greece. French President-elect François Hollande may be promising 75 percent income tax rates and a renegotiation of the European Union's fiscal treaty, but it was the result of the Greek elections that will determine the future of Europe.
The irony is that Greece should never have been allowed into the euro in the first place. It did not meet the entrance criteria, but Eurocrats in Brussels turned a blind eye because they viewed the creation of a European identity as more important than financial stability. When the process began to unravel, a panicked EU, along with the International Monetary Fund, responded by throwing money at the problem, in exchange for a promise of austerity.
Greece sinks into chaos Greece's New Leftist Leader Says Bailout Deal Is Dead
By: Reuters - via CNBC.com
Greece sank even deeper into crisis on Tuesday when a centrist conservative party said leftist candidate for prime minister Alexis Tsipras would drive the country out of the euro with his proposal to reject an international bailout.
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said in a televised statement that Tsipras was asking him to sign up to the destruction of Greece with his demand that an EU/IMF bailout be rejected as the condition for a coalition government.
S&P 500 Declines to Lowest Level in One Month on Greece
By Rita Nazareth - Bloomberg.com
U.S. stocks retreated, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index to the lowest level in almost a month, as political tension in Greece intensified concern about a euro exit and a deepening of the region's debt crisis.
Equities trimmed earlier losses after the S&P 500 dropped below 1,350, a so-called support level being watched by traders. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Co. and Bank of America Corp. fell at least 2.1 percent to pace declines among the biggest companies. McDonald's Corp., the world's largest restaurant chain, slumped 2.1 percent as April sales trailed projections. Fossil Inc. (FOSL) plunged 38 percent, the most since 1995, after the owner of the namesake watch brand reduced its full-year earnings forecast.
The Countdown To The Break Up Of The Euro
Has Officially Begun
By Michael Snyder - TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
The results of the elections in France and Greece have made it abundantly clear that there is a tremendous backlash against the austerity approach that Germany has been pushing. All over Europe, prominent politicians and incumbent political parties are being voted out. In fact, Nicolas Sarkozy has become the 11th leader of a European nation to be defeated in an election since 2008. We have seen governments fall in the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Greece. Whenever they get a chance, the citizens of Europe are using the ballot box to send a message that they do not like what is going on. It turns out that austerity is extremely unpopular. But if newly elected politicians all over Europe begin rejecting austerity, this puts Germany in a very difficult position.
Euro Near Three-Month Low on Greek Leadership Concern
By Catarina Saraiva and Lukanyo Mnyanda - Bloomberg.com
The euro weakened for a seventh day against the dollar as Greek politicians struggled to form a new government after elections over the weekend raised the prospect of the country withdrawing from the currency bloc.
The 17-nation euro extended its longest run of declines against the greenback since September 2008 as German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected government stimulus as the way to spur economic growth, setting up a clash with French president-elect Francois Hollande. The pound dropped against the dollar as a report showed U.K. house prices fell in April. Australia's dollar declined after the trade deficit widened.
Europe's FDR?
How France's New President Could Save Europe Is the new French president a "dangerous man"? Let's hope so, for the continent's sake.
By Matthew O'Brien - TheAtlantic.com
The only thing Europe has to fear is fear of 3 percent inflation. That's the truth the Old Continent desperately needs to hear. Unfortunately, Franklin Roosevelt figures are in short supply nowadays. But this weekend's seismic anti-austerity votes in France and Greece -- the latter for other, darker reasons -- have given Europe one last, best chance to come to terms with this reality. Nothing less than the future of the half-century European Project is at stake.
Newly-elected French president François Hollande has already inspired an impressive amount of hand-wringing on the part of the commentariat. His proposal to raise the top marginal tax rate to 75 percent has drawn ire from conservatives. So too has his emphasis of growth over so-called structural reforms. More broadly, his proclaimed opposition to German-led austerity and tight money has created uncertainty about the future of the euro. It's all been enough for The Economist to editorialize that Hollande is "a rather dangerous man."
Let's hope so. If he's not, the euro is certainly doomed.
Crisis escalates
as insurrection breaks German control of Europe The political dam has broken in Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel no longer has enough allies in the club of EU prime ministers to impose her hairshirt agenda. Her methodical plans are disintegrating on every front.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
The immediate fate of Greece - and the euro - is in the hands of a boyish motorcycle Marxist. Syriza leader deal Alexis Tsipras has vowed to tear up the hated Memorandum, as the EU-IMF "troika" loan package is known.
He showed no sign of backing off as he met his country's president and began talks on the formation of an implausible Left front. "The popular verdict clearly renders the bailout null and void," he said.
Zurich: A Financial Behemoth
at the Heart of a Financial Meltdown The Atlantic's new special report on the past and future of the world's global capitals begins with the 10th most powerful city in the world, which resides at the center of a continent in crisis
By Derek Thompson - TheAtlantic.com
Alfred Escher was gravely ill. Not for the first time in his life, nor the last.
In 1856, the Swiss academic-turned-politician-turned-entrepreneur had already served as a foundational Zurich statesman and as the architect of the nation's famous railway system. But Escher had higher ambitions for his rail empire, and he needed money to pay for them. So he founded a bank, Schweizerische Kreditanstalt, which changed the direction of Zurich's economy for the next two centuries.
The bank still exists to this day. You know it as Credit Suisse.
Markets Clubbed On Yesterday's News
BY BILL FLECKENSTEIN - FinancialSense.com
Overnight equity markets in Europe were a little bit soft, but didn't really turn ugly until after New York opened. The headline culprit for the angst appeared to be plunging stocks in Greece (which lost 4%) and all the associated problems with uncertainty over the lack of a new government there. However, I think that was just an excuse for markets to do what they were primed to do.
In the first 90 minutes here our indices lost about 1.5%, with Europe a little bit worse and virtually everything red. Perhaps this was a delayed reaction to last weekend's political events, but with the prevalence of computerized trading, trying to make sense out of short-term action is next to impossible.
Iran Quietly Infiltrates Europe's Underbelly The Islamist push against Europe continues.
theTrumpet.com
Iran employs an unusually large number of employees at its embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, as part of its effort to radicalize the majority-Muslim European nation and to extend its reach "closer and closer into the heart of Europe."
On May 3, radio talk show host John Batchelor interviewed Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Hoenlein said Iran staffs its Sarajevo embassy with over 400 employees, sharply exceeding the usual number for a facility of its kind.
Charlie Munger is Out of Touch
By Greg Hunter - USAWatchdog.com
You haven't heard much from Charlie Munger (Warren Buffett's right hand man) since he said this, a few years ago, about the massive bailouts the financial system received from taxpayers and the Federal Reserve: "So I think when you have troubles like that you shouldn't be bitching about a little bailout. You should have been thinking it should have been bigger." And for those not doing so well in the downturn, the 86-year old Munger says "suck it in and cope." Now, Mr. Munger is back, and he doesn't like gold. Well, I don't like massive money printing to bail out companies and the financial system. I think this is why many people are kind of partial to an investment that has a 5,000 year track record. Of course, all the bailouts benefited Munger, Buffett and the Berkshire fund they run.
John Williams:
The Real Unemployment Rate: 22%−Not 8.1% [audio]
The coming fiscal cliff: hyperinflation on track for 2014
Jim welcomes back John Williams from Shadow Government Statistics. John believes the real unemployment rate is 22%, not 8.1%, which is why it still feels like a recession. He also calculates the CPI at 6%, not 2.8%, and explains how the government manipulates the rate of inflation. Lastly, John believes the US is still on track for hyperinflation in 2014 as we near the coming fiscal cliff.
BofA's New Black-Belt Data Chief Targets Blinding Gaps
By Hugh Son - Bloomberg.com
John Bottega's path to becoming Bank of America Corp. (BAC)'s first data chief started two decades ago in a smoke-filled back office of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
It was 1991, and Bottega was supervising one of several teams scattered across the New York-based investment bank that did pretty much the same thing: entering data on securities, monitoring the accuracy and sucking on cigarettes.
Consumer Credit in U.S. Increases by Most in 10 Years
By Meera Louis - Bloomberg.com
Consumer borrowing in the U.S. surged in March by the most in more than a decade on growing demand for educational financing and autos.
Credit rose by $21.4 billion, the biggest gain since November 2001, to $2.54 trillion, Federal Reserve figures showed today in Washington. The advance was paced by a $16.2 billion jump in non-revolving debt, including student and car loans.
Americans may have been trying to get school financing before a possible increase in interest rates takes place on July 1. Rising consumer confidence also means that households are more willing to take on debt to boost spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy.
Will Uncle Sam Takeover Your IRA?
Larry Doyle - SilverBearCafe.com
Those engaged in massive strategic maneuvers know all too well that progress is typically made not in one fell swoop but painstakingly inch by inch.
With deficits beyond the scope of imagination but oh so very real, I cautioned people to keep a watchful eye on Uncle Sam. Where might the old man go to beg, borrow, or steal money to fill that enormous fiscal hole? Your retirement accounts. I first broached this topic in early 2010 in writing, Blueprint for Government Takeover of IRAs and Will Uncle Sam Takeover Your IRA?.
Fast forward and we now witness rumblings around Washington that the drunken sailors disguised as our political leaders are discussing how to make a move on your retirement savings.
Americans: Too broke to go bankrupt
By Blake Ellis | CNNMoney.com
This year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to be too broke to file for bankruptcy.
The average cost to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, the most common form of consumer bankruptcy, is more than $1,500, according to recent research submitted to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
As a result, anywhere between 200,000 and one million consumers are estimated to be unable to afford that steep cost this year.
The research, conducted by a group of professors from Columbia University, the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis, examined how bankruptcy filings spiked after people received their tax rebates in previous years. They estimate that another 200,000 consumers, who would otherwise not have enough money to file, will use their tax refunds to pay for bankruptcy this year.
Where are the non-performing GMAC/Ally assets?
....BANKRUPTCY not far off.
Ally's mortgage unit problems come full circle
By Soyoung Kim, Rick Rothacker and Paritosh Bansal
(Reuters) - In the fall of 2009, the board of GMAC, one of the largest U.S. auto and home-loan companies, gathered in New York to discuss whether to put its troubled mortgage unit into bankruptcy.
GMAC, now called Ally Financial, was just about to receive the last of $17 billion in taxpayer bailouts. The board, including directors named by the U.S. government, discussed whether to use bankruptcy to get rid of toxic mortgage assets that were pulling down the rest of the company, according to people who attended the meeting.
13 Investigates: IRS tax loophole
Eyewitness News shows a massive tax loophole that provides billions of dollars in tax credits to undocumented workers and, in many cases, people who have never set foot in the United States.
Will lawmakers act to close tax loophole
for illegal immigrants?
By Bob Segall - WTHR.com
INDIANAPOLIS - Congressman Dan Burton (R – Ind) is frustrated – very frustrated – after learning the details of an Eyewitness News investigation.
"Why in the world are we doing this?" he asked. "Are you kidding me? The cost to the American tax payer is huge!"
The veteran lawmaker is responding to what 13 Investigates discovered all across Indiana: illegal immigrants getting big tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service thanks to a loophole in federal law.
Behavioral Placement:
TaxPayers Paying for Brainwashing!
Alex talks with Dr. Katherine Albrecht, an expert in the area of privacy and technology. She is the founder of Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering and hosts "The Dr. Katherine Albrecht show" on the GCN Radio network.
Hate Obamacare? Keep Tax Cuts? You Do the Budget
By: Cindy Perman - CNBC.com
With all this "fiscal cliff" talk about the US economy plunging when tax cuts expire and government spending cuts hit early next year, it's easy to second-guess the presidential candidates about their plans.
That will never work! We're headed for a cliff!you shout from your living room, spilling a little beer on your armchair amid the hoopla of your enthusiastic critique.
Well, arm-chair politicians, it's time to put the beer down and see if you can do better than President Obama, Mitt Romney and the other candidates.
Is Obama Negotiating A Treaty
That Would Essentially Ban All "Buy American" Laws?
By Michael Snyder - TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com
69 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sent Barack Obama a letter expressing their concern that a new international treaty currently being negotiated would essentially ban all "Buy American" laws. This new treaty is known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and it is going to be one of the biggest "free trade" agreements in history. Critics are referring to it as the "NAFTA of the Pacific", and it would likely cost the U.S. economy even more jobs than NAFTA did. At the moment, the Trans-Pacific Partnership includes Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. Barack Obama is pushing hard to get the United States into the TPP, and Australia, Peru, Malaysia, Vietnam, Canada, Japan and South Korea are also reportedly interested in joining. But quite a few members of Congress have heard that "Buy American" laws will essentially be banned under this agreement, and this has many of them very concerned. You can read the entire letter that was sent to Obama right here. Unfortunately, the leaders of both major political parties are overwhelmingly in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, so the objections of these 69 members of Congress are likely to fall on deaf ears. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will accelerate the flow of American jobs out of this country, and meanwhile our politicians will continue to insist that they are doing everything that they can to "create jobs".
Senate Republicans Block Student Loan Rate Freeze Plan
By Kathleen Hunter - Bloomberg.com
U.S. Senate Republicans blocked Democrats' proposal to cover the cost of a one-year freeze in government student loan interest rates by requiring some professional services firms to pay withholding taxes on their income.
The Senate, in a 52-45 vote with 60 required, didn't advance the plan to avert a July 1 increase in college-loan interest rates to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent. No Republicans joined Democrats in voting to advance the measure.
"Republicans claim that they want to stop student-loan interest rates from doubling this summer," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters after the vote. "That's what they say. But Republicans showed today that it's only talk."
A Leaderless World
BY JOHN MAULDIN - FinancialSense.com
I recently had a chance to speak at a conference where Dr. Ian Bremmer spoke after me. I was very impressed with his thought process and asked him to give me an outline of his speech to share with you for this week's Outside the Box. It's a shorter version of his powerhouse book, Every Nation for Itself: Winners and Losers in a G-Zero World. I highly recommend it.
And what, you're asking, is a "G-Zero world"? In a word, it's a leaderless world. A world in which, as Bremmer says, "Not so long ago, America, Western Europe and Japan were the world's powerhouses. Today, they're struggling to recover their dynamism…. But nor are rising powers like China, India, Brazil, Turkey, the Gulf Arabs and others ready to take up the slack…. If not the West, the rest, or the institutions where they come together, who will lead? The answer is, no one."
Jeff Rense Reads Orwell - The End Of Freedom
The proletarians will never revolt, not in a thousand years or a million. They cannot. I do not have to tell you the reason: you know it already. ... There is no way in which the Party can be overthrown. The rule of the Party is for ever. Make that the starting-point of your thoughts.'
China's Biggest Challenge Isn't Military or Economic,
It's Basic Governance Bo Xilai and Chen Guangcheng are reminders that corruption, human rights, and rule of law could check the rising power's might.
By Michael Fullilove - TheAtlantic.com
For at least a decade, think tanks and government offices have echoed with tales of China's rise.
The narrative is familiar. China has remade its economy and is now eating America's lunch. The country is growing rapidly, laying roads and high-speed rail at a frenetic pace. The Chinese authorities sit atop a hoard of foreign exchange reserves that symbolize the country's new financial clout.
Increasingly, China's economic strength is mirrored in its military capability. It is, according to its boosters, destined for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific. Soon, they say, it may even be a peer-competitor of the United States.
Obama Official Endorses Marx on Class Warfare
By JEFFREY LORD - The American Spectator.org
Well now.
One Rick Bookstaber has come out with a defense of class warfare.
And endorsing Karl Marx.
Who is Rick Bookstaber, you may ask?
He is a member of the Obama Administration. Specifically, in his words:
I am Senior Policy Adviser to the Financial Stability Oversight Council in Treasury, and also am Senior Policy Adviser in the Division of Risk, Strategy, and Financial Innovation at the SEC.
Mr. Bookstaber has some interesting views on class warfare, which he has just discussed yesterday on his blog. Apparently following the Daily Caller's Tucker Carlson at a Washington event, an event where Mr. Carlson denounced class warfare, the Obama appointee took offense at the notion there was something wrong with class warfare.
After The Government Microchips Our Soldiers,
How Long Will It Be
Before They Want To Put A Microchip In YOU
By Michael Snyder - EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
What would you do if someday the government made it mandatory for everyone to receive an implantable microchip for identification purposes? Would you take it? Such a scenario may not be as far off as you might think. In the United States today, millions of dogs and cats have been microchipped, thousands of elderly Americans with Alzheimer's disease have been microchipped, and the U.S. military is developing "medical devices" that contain microchips to monitor the health of soldiers. Once the government has microchips implanted in all of our soldiers, how long will it be before they want to put a microchip in all government employees for the sake of national security? Once the government has microchips in all government employees, how long will it be before they want to put a microchip in you? Of course this technology is not going to be "required" for average citizens any time soon. For now, it will creep into our lives at an incremental pace. But after enough people have voluntarily accepted the "benefits" of implantable microchips, it will only be a matter of time before they become mandatory. Are you ready for that?
The Dark Side of the Prestigious Marine Barracks
By Col. Ann Wright - Truthdig.com
According to Marine Corps lore,semper fidelis, a Latin phrase for "always faithful," commands Marines to remain a "brotherhood, faithful to the mission at hand, to each other, to the Corps and to country, no matter what. Becoming a Marine is a transformation that cannot be undone and once made, a Marine will forever live by the ethics and values of the Corps."
The Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., is the official residence of the commandant of the Marine Corps. It is the home of the Marines who are the ceremonial guard for the president during official U.S. government functions and the security force for the White House and Camp David. The Marine Band, also located at the Barracks, is known as "The President's Own." The Barracks is the showplace of the Marine Corps with its Silent Drill Platoon giving weekly military precision performances for the public during the busy summer tourist season.
The web's about creating vast wealth for the few,
not jobs for the many Don't bother with the lottery, or even the fast buck attributes of finance; design an app. It'll make you richer. Much, much richer.
By Jeremy Warner - Telegraph.co.uk
How long the phenomenon will last is anyone's guess but, for now, the commercial value of innovation has never been higher. Rarely, if ever before, in history has it been possible to make so much wealth in so little time and with so few employees.
Even hedge fund billionaires such as George Soros would struggle to match the extraordinary value-creative powers of the latest generation of technology entrepreneurs.
Google gets first license for self-driving cars Nevada issues license for Google to test autonomous cars on state roads, highways
By Sharon Gaudin - Computerworld.com
Computerworld - The people of Nevada may be in for a surprise when they drive to the market or down the highway -- driverless cars.
The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles on Monday issued the first state license to Google for self-driven cars. It is also the nation's first autonomous vehicle license, according to the Nevada DMV website.
"It's still a work in progress," said Tom Jacobs, a DMV spokesman, told theLas Vegas Sun. "The system regulates the brakes, accelerator and steering."
Have we totally lost our perspective... ?
'Angry Birds' Now a $100 Million Revenue Business
WSJ.com
"Angry Birds" started in December 2009 as a silly mobile-phone game that involves sling-shotting cartoon birds at smirking pigs. Now it's a $100 million-a-year business.
Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish game developer behind the "Angry Birds" franchise, said today its revenue totaled EUR75.4 ($98.7 million) last year.
That revenue didn't come solely from the game downloaded 648 million times last year. About 30% stemmed from merchandising and licensing. Last year Roviobegan turning "Angry Birds" into an entertainment franchise, pushing into movies, books, toys and even "gummy" candy.
Drug-Defying Germs From India Speed Post-Antibiotic Era
By Jason Gale and Adi Narayan - Bloomberg.com
Lill-Karin Skaret, a 67-year-old grandmother from Namsos, Norway, was traveling to a lakeside vacation villa near India's port city of Kochi in March 2010 when her car collided with a truck. She was rushed to the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, her right leg broken and her artificial hip so damaged that replacing it required 12 hours of surgery.
Three weeks later and walking with the aid of crutches, Skaret was relieved to be home. Then her doctor gave her upsetting news. Mutant germs that most antibiotics can't kill had entered her bladder, probably from a contaminated hospital catheter in India. She risked a life-threatening infection if the bacteria invaded her bloodstream -- a waiting game over which she had limited control, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its June issue.
Civil Defense of Peru issues earthquake warnings
after two days of abnormal tremor activity
By Alvin Conway - The Extinction Protocol Blog
May 8, 2012 – PERU - The Civil Defense in Peru (Indeci) intensified today a prevention drive warning of a potential massive earthquake now preceded of two daily tremors average. Indeci called on every workplace and home to ready an emergency evacuation plan after a median quake and two replicas were recorded Sunday in Ica (south) and in Lima. Marco Tantalean, an expert from the institution, said planning must include safe routes and refuges, plus staples like your ID cards, drinkable water, first-aid material, flashlight, non perishable food and saving phone calls for emergencies to prevent the lines from collapsing.
Beaches closed in Peru as bird and dolphin deaths continues
By Alvin Conway - The Extinction Protocol Blog
May 8, 2012 – PERU - Officials insist that the two die-offs are unrelated. The dolphins are succumbing to a virus, they suggest, and the seabirds are dying of starvation because anchovies are in short supply. But even three months after officials began testing the dolphins, the government has not released definitive results, and there is growing suspicion among the public and scientists that there might be more to the story. Some argue that offshore oil exploration could be disturbing wildlife, for example, and others fear that biotoxins or pesticides might be working their way up the food chain. At least 877 dolphins and more than 1,500 birds, most of them brown pelicans and boobies, have died since the government began tracking the deaths in February, the Environment Ministry said last week.
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