Weekday NEWS to Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable.
Friday 06.15.2012
Fear of a dollar collapse will make the Chinese
the biggest buyers of gold this year
By: Peter Cooper - GoldSeek.com
China is widely expected to overtake India as the world's biggest consumer of gold this year with gold purchases rising by 10 per cent, according to the leading Chinese bank ICBC. Why?
The Chinese are moving out of the dollar and into gold. That is what a seemingly ill-educated gold trader in the Sharjah Gold Souk told us earlier this year.
King for a day
You don't need to be a genius to see the logic behind this move. The dollar might be king today but only against the faltering euro. But what happens when we are reminded that US debts are running at levels comparable with Greece?
Safe haven signs appearing in Gold: UBS
NEW YORK (Commodity Online): A safe haven trade may be starting to form in gold, said Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in a commodities briefing.
According to the Zurich based bank, yellow metal is sensitive to U.S. economic data, as weak reports lead to higher expectations for more quantitative easing.
As per UBS precious-metals strategist Edel Tully, "This remains the most powerful driver for gold at the moment. But with so much uncertainty hanging over Europe, it is quite possible that the safe-haven trade is starting to creep in.
The Disconnect Between Household Wealth and GDP Growth
By Bill Bonner - DailyReckoning.com
06/14/12 Baltimore, Maryland – Twenty years of going nowhere! Where are we, Hokohama?
Dear Reader…and anyone who has been paying attention…you already knew there was something wrong. The world's leading economy, in the most dynamic, inventive period in human history, failed to make people a penny richer.
GDP went up. But real wages did not. In fact, people got nowhere financially — if they were lucky. And many families got caught in the credit/housing bubble. When it blew up they got knocked back…actually losing wealth.
The cloud of uncertainty Dithering in the dark Quantifying the effect of political uncertainty
on the global economy
The Economist - print edition - June 16, 2012
EUROPE teeters at the edge of an economic abyss, its fate in the hands of political leaders at odds over how to solve the continent's twin debt and bank crises. America may be pushed over a "fiscal cliff" at the end of the year by political dysfunction. And even China, although unlikely to take a deep dive, is hostage to the will and ability of its government to stimulate growth. More than at any point in recent history, the global economy's fate is tied to the capriciousness of policymakers. How much does such uncertainty cost?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that it costs a lot. Customers of Cisco Systems, the world's biggest maker of internet gear, are taking longer to make decisions, according to John Chambers, the company's boss. Their orders tend to be smaller than before, and to require more in-house approvals. They say they are planning to buy more stuff later this year, reported Mr Chambers recently, but "then in the very next breath they say it depends on what happens on a global and macro scale."
America will soon need to take advice it offers Europe It should not have been a surprise that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner veered between fits of laughter and a tone of chilling gravity when he spoke to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington this week.
By Richard Blackden - Telegraph.co.uk
The only member of President Barack Obama's original economic team still in office, Geithner must surely have a full-blown case of crisis fatigue. When he became the 75th Treasury Secretary in early 2009, the epicentre of the crisis was on Wall Street and rippling out with devastating effect across the rest of America. As he embarks on his final five months - Geithner has said he is quitting even if Obama wins another four years in the White House - the darkest clouds are coming from across the Atlantic.
Inflation: A Five-Month X-Ray View
BY DOUG SHORT - FinancialSense.com
Here is a table showing the annualized change in Headline and Core CPI for each of the past five months. I've also included each of the eight components of Headline CPI and a separate entry for Energy, which is a collection of sub-indexes in Housing and Transportation.
We can make some inferences about how inflation is impacting our personal expenses depending on our relative exposure to the individual components. Some of us have higher transportation costs, others medical costs, etc.
Europe on Edge Over Crisis
[Google title for free article pass]
U.K. Unveils 'New Firepower' to Shield Financial System; Fed Readies 2008 Playbook
BY DAVID ENRICH, JASON DOUGLAS
AND AINSLEY THOMSON - WSJ.com - $$
LONDON—The U.K. on Thursday unveiled an extraordinary series of measures designed to insulate the British financial system and economy from the euro zone's deepening crisis.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and Bank of England Gov. Mervyn King announced plans to flood banks with cheap funds in an attempt to jump-start lending to British households and businesses and to fend off potential financial problems at big U.K. lenders.
The British programs resemble some of the emergency measures enacted by central banks in Europe and the U.S. earlier in the financial crisis. The British announcement on Thursday, at an annual black-tie ...
ECB last hope as dam breaks in Spain
Spain's borrowing costs have surged to record highs and are perilously close to the point of no return, threatening a full-blown sovereign crisis unless the European Central Bank comes to the rescue.
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard - Telegraph.co.uk
"We're facing maximum tension. The situation is unsustainable over time," said the country's finance minister Luis de Guindos. Yields on 10-year Spanish bonds yields punched to almost 7pc, above levels that triggered ECB intervention to back stop Spain last November.
"The ECB needs to intervene very quickly or it is game over," said Nicholas Spiro from Spiro Asset Management. "There is a whiff of capitulation in the air."
Keiser Report: Con Games Go Global (E301)
In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, the european short change con in which debt and debt facilities are created and swapped at ever increasing speeds in order to defraud the population. In the second half of the show Max talks to economist Yanis Varoufakis about the ponzi austerity screwing Europeans right down to the ground with more debt.
Greek Banks Under Pressure
[Google title for free article pass] Customers Increase Withdrawals as Major Foreign Lender Plans Potential Exit
By NOÉMIE BISSERBE - WSJ.com - $$
The owner of Greece's largest foreign-held bank is making plans to walk away from the bank if the country leaves the euro zone, the latest sign of growing international concern over the future of Europe's currency union.
The contingency plan for Crédit AgricoleSA, France's third-largest publicly traded bank, comes ahead of pivotal elections in Greece Sunday that could set the country on a path to leave the 17-nation currency bloc.
A host of international companies have said they are preparing contingency plans, with many voicing concerns about how to retrieve cash in the country if Greece exits the euro zone. But none have disclosed potentially walking away from their assets in Greece.
Euro Has Collapsed! Email warning to Steve Quayle
from International Investor source.
SteveQuayle.com
It is with trepidation that I write to you....The Euro has collapsed unofficially. The money is OUT of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, France, Belgium and the German Elites have begun to shore up their wealth in hard assets and precious metals. RBS has given orders to close two of their major equities sectors, thousands of jobs are going to be lost the next few days/weeks. Credit Sussie has called on top investors to head to Swiss safe harbor and hard asset diversified portfolios.
Report from Greece: Limited Capital Controls Implemented
by John Galt - johngaltfla.com
The reports of capital controls being implemented should Greece leave the Eurozone have been flying throughout the internet over the last twenty-four hours, leaving many to wonder if the European Union is about to descend into the status of a large latte sipping banana republic. Switzerland's central bank (SCB) is already rumored to have a plan in place to freeze all incoming funds at their borders and penalize anyone attempting to convert deteriorating Euros into Swiss Francs along with currency exchange controls (See ZeroHedge, Bruce Krasting's May 28th article – Capital Controls Coming to Greece and Switzerland). The problem with this approach is the large underground economy which it creates and unfortunately for the nation of Greece, that has already begun.
The Euro's Collapse Is Not Just About the Euro
By Gene Schwimmer - AmericanThinker.com
How do you say Schadenfreude in French? Or Spanish? Or Greek? Because, three years into the failed economic policies of a failed president, Schadenfreude -- knowing that, however bad our situation may be, the state of affairs in the Eurozone is much worse -- is all that is left to us.
And it is worse, make no mistake about that. And, it increasingly appears, irreversible. Which is why those of us who saw this day coming must resist the urge to gloat now that the poulets européens have come home to roost. Let us instead, let out a sigh of relief as we observe the Euro-debacle from a safe distance and draw what lessons we can, lest their fate become ours. For the euro's increasingly probable collapse is about more, much more, than the euro.
Rich Greeks look the other way... Greece's super-rich maintain lavish lifestyles and low profiles Since the outbreak of the Greek crisis, the country's moneyed class has been notable mainly by its absence
By Helena Smith in Spetses - Guardian.co.uk
Scudding across the turquoise waters of the Argo-Saronic gulf, Ioannis Arnaoutis singled out the pearl-white sands of a little bay. The shore glistened in the midday sun. "It was especially imported from Asia by the owner of the mansion above the bay," said the boatman, one hand on the steering wheel of his water taxi, the other pointing in the direction of the cove. "It's a private beach, which is why there is only one umbrella on it."
Nearly three years into their country's worst crisis in modern times, life goes on as normal for Greece's super-rich. As the sun sets, oligarchs, shipowners, singers and media stars gather at the Poseidonion hotel on the island of Spetses opposite the little bay. They tuck into a menu that includes pasticcio laced with foie gras. Among them is a middle-aged man in a T-shirt proclaiming: "More is less".
Greek Election: 'Collapse' Possible No Matter Who Wins
Reuters - CNBC.com
An upstart radical leftist is racing neck and neck with the conservative heir of a prominent Greek family in an election on Sunday that will decide if Greece stays in the euro zone and could spread turmoil across global financial markets.
Voters fed up with the harsh measures prescribed by international lenders in a 130 billion euro bailout punished mainstream parties in an inconclusive May 6 election and appear split over the choices offered in the repeat vote.
Greeks Return To Ballot Box
As Crisis Approaches Decisive Moment
By Maria Petrakis - Bloomberg.com
Greeks head to the ballot box in two days for a contest that may determine the fate of the world's first democracy and the future of the newest reserve currency, while roiling markets from Wellington to Wall Street.
Almost 10 million Greeks will vote for the second time in six weeks after a May 6 ballot failed to yield a government. The constitution permits a third election too. The final polls, published on June 1, showed no party set to win a majority. Exit polls will be released when voting ends at 7 p.m. in Athens, with a first official result estimate due around 9:30 p.m.
Angela Merkel: Germany cannot save the euro on its own Germany cannot save the euro single-handedly, Angela Merkel has warned, expressing her growing anger over British, American and G20 demands that she does more to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.
By Bruno Waterfield - Telegraph.co.uk
The German Chancellor is furious that France and Italy, countries that she regards as shirking their responsibility to cut their high levels of national debt, has rallied the G20 behind their calls for eurobonds and EU-funded bank rescues.
"All eyes are on Germany," she told German MPs on Thursday. "But we also know that Germany's power is not infinite. So our responsibility as Europe's largest economy is to deploy our strength credibly."
Germany opens door for crisis solution as Spain downgraded
BY VALENTINA POP - EUObserver.com
BERLIN - Moody's on Wednesday (13 June) was the last ratings agency to strip Spain of its A status, making it harder for the government and banks to borrow money, despite recent bail-out plans.
The US-based agency downgraded Spain from A3 to Baa3 - one notch above so-called 'junk status' where investors are no longer guaranteed a safe repayment on the bonds. It also warned it may soon further downgrade the eurozone country.
Hollande urges common euro debt, greater ECB role
By Elizabeth Pineau and Steve Scherer
(Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande called on Thursday for the euro zone to adopt bold new mechanisms to insulate member states and their banks from market turmoil, such as a joint fund to pay down debt, putting him on a collision course with Berlin.
After a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome, Hollande said he would urge EU leaders at an end-June summit to adopt a series of measures to strengthen economic growth and financial stability in the euro zone and deepen economic integration.
Hollande said he had submitted details of his proposals to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
Greek health system crumbles under weight of crisis
By Karolina Tagaris
(Reuters) - Greece's rundown state hospitals are cutting off vital drugs, limiting non-urgent operations and rationing even basic medical materials for exhausted doctors as a combination of economic crisis and political stalemate strangle health funding.
With Greece now in its fifth year of deep recession, trapped under Europe's biggest public debt burden and dependent on international help to keep paying its bills, the effects are starting to bite deeply into vital services.
World economies prepare for panic after Greek polls
By Stella Dawson and Jan Strupczewski
(Reuters) - Authorities in the world's major economies are preparing for a possible market storm or public panic after cliffhanger Greek elections this weekend, officials said on Thursday, should radical leftists win and cast doubt on the nation's future in the euro zone.
Britain announced on Thursday it would flood its banking system with cash as the euro zone's crisis casts a "black cloud" over the nation's economy.
World economies prepare for panic after Greek polls
By Stella Dawson and Jan Strupczewski
(Reuters) - Authorities in the world's major economies are preparing for a possible market storm or public panic after cliffhanger Greek elections this weekend, officials said on Thursday, should radical leftists win and cast doubt on the nation's future in the euro zone.
Britain announced on Thursday it would flood its banking system with cash as the euro zone's crisis casts a "black cloud" over the nation's economy.
Central banks ready to combat Greek market storm
By Stella Dawson and Lesley Wroughton
(Reuters) - Central banks from major economies stand ready to take steps to stabilize financial markets by providing liquidity and preventing a credit squeeze if the outcome of Greek elections on Sunday causes tumultuous trading, G20 officials told Reuters.
A senior U.S. official cautioned that the Greek election will not provide "the definitive signal on what happens next" in the euro zone debt crisis.
FX Markets Bracing For Major Event
by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Last night we noted that OandA will shut-down trading on Sunday ahead of the market-moving events surrounding the Greek election (as it seems they are unwilling to take the agency risk and potentially counterparty risk on a large gap). Nowhere is this more clearly priced into the market than the short-dated FX option market.EURUSD 1 week implied vol is at its greatest premium to realized vol ahead of this weekend than at any time in the last three-and-a-half years. The last time the level of short-dated vol was near this high (in absolute and relative terms) was December 9th 2011 and EURUSD fell 400 pips in the next few days.
Here Comes The Herd: "Highly Volatile Trading Conditions Expected Ahead"
by Tyler Durden - ZeroHedge.com
Last night we presented a very disturbing warning from one FX broker, Oanda, on what Sunday's election could mean for FX trading on Sunday (nothing good). And, as often happens in such instances, the idea has now been "incepted" - look for every FX brokerage to follow suit, likely followed by the plain vanilla exchanges to issue comparable warnings ahead of Monday.
Irish Tell Spain To Imagine The Worst In Banking Bailout
By Dara Doyle and Joe Brennan - Bloomberg.com
Ireland has this banking advice for Spain:
imagine the worst and double it.
Like Ireland, Spain sought a bank bailout after being felled by a real-estate crash. Now, just as the Irish did, the Spanish are awaiting the results of outside stress tests gauging the size of the hole in the banking system.
"Think of the worst possible scenario on banking losses: then double it," said Eoin Fahy, an economist at Kleinwort Benson Investors in Dublin. "Adopt the most conservative assumptions."
Ex-Soros Adviser Fujimaki Says Japan
To Probably Default By 2017
By Mariko Ishikawa and Yumi Ikeda - Bloomberg.com
Investors should buy assets in U.S. dollars and other currencies of strong developed nations because Japan may default within five years, said Takeshi Fujimaki, former adviser to billionaire investor George Soros.
"Japan is likely to default before Europe does, which could be in the next five years," the president of Fujimaki Japan, an investment advising company in Tokyo, said in an interview yesterday. Japanese should hold foreign-currency products, such as those denominated in the greenback, Swiss franc, sterling, Australian and Canadian dollars, Fujimaki said.
Keiser Report: Hot Potato Counterfeit Cash (E300)
In this episode, Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, discuss hot potatoes, big fish, counterfeit collateral and a stealth British default. In the second half of the show Max talks to Charles Hugh Smith of OfTwoMinds.com about austerity death spirals and phantom wealth.
O'Neill's BRICs Risk Hitting Wall Threatening G-20 Growth
By Simon Kennedy - Bloomberg.com
Even Jim O'Neill is asking whether the BRICs need reinforcing 11 years after he coined the term to describe the world's future powerhouse economies.
O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, says his thesis that Brazil, Russia, India and China would together increasingly buoy the global economy faces "a more challenging test" as investors dump the countries' stocks. China pared its growth target to the lowest since 2004, Standard & Poor's may cut India's investment-grade credit rating, Brazil is on pace to expand less than 3 percent for a second straight year and falling oil prices may hurt Russia.
New Bond Market Discussed... Large Institutions Discuss New Marketplace for Bonds
By SERENA NG And KIRSTEN GRIND - WSJ.com
Big money managers and Wall Street banks are laying the groundwork for a new marketplace for corporate bonds, an effort that highlights the heft of large investors and the impact of new rules limiting bank risk-taking.
In recent weeks, senior traders at investment managers and big Wall Street banks have been discussing how the financial industry can set up a centralized electronic market that would let all participants trade bonds freely with one another, according to people involved in the talks.
Treasuries Advance On Bets
Fed Will Take Steps To Spur Economy
By Monami Yui - Bloomberg.com
Treasuries rose, halting a decline from yesterday, before U.S. data forecast to show production slowed and consumer confidence fell, adding to prospects that the Federal Reserve will take more steps to stimulate growth.
The central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee will meet June 19-20 as slowing employment growth at home and a deepening crisis in Europe weigh on the economic outlook. Demand for the safety of U.S. government debt was limited on speculation central banks will coordinate assistance if Greek elections on June 17 increase financial-market turmoil.
Data points to soft U.S. economy, possible Fed action
By Jason Lange
(Reuters) - New claims for U.S. state jobless benefits rose for the fifth time in six weeks and consumer prices fell in May, opening the door wider for the U.S. Federal Reserve to help an economy that shows signs of weakening.
Though the data released on Thursday showed only a small increase in claims last week, it undermined hopes that a recent slowdown in hiring would prove temporary.
"There is very little sign of life," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors in Albany, New York. "The economy as measured by employment conditions has slowed and there doesn't appear to be any change when you look at the claims numbers."
JPMorgan bets sent false signals to wider debt market
By Carrick Mollenkamp and Cezary Podkul
(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co's disastrous bets on corporate debt may have caused unexpected collateral damage: erratic behavior in a barometer that measures the financial health of blue-chip U.S. companies.
Those bets used Wall Street derivatives called credit default swaps. They are supposed to act like homeowners insurance, allowing bondholders, banks and hedge funds to buy protection against declines in the value of corporate debt, and ultimately protection against a default.
Rising Asia Will Soften West's Economic Decline
By: Rick Ackerman - GoldSeek.com
Does it not occur to any pessimist that a massive region of the world is expanding, not contracting, and that this statistical fact portends well for the future demand of all "stuff" across the globe? While assuredly not discounting disturbing global financial and economic pressures, pessimists and permabears seem to relish discounting the powerful, upward expansionary forces across the global economy that also clearly exist.
Here in Shanghai, I now sit in the new upper middle class mall called Kerry Parkside, where we have a marketing location for our various services. Forget the fact that prices are annoyingly high and that the mall is still packed on the weekends. Let's consider right now only of this part of the story which gives us a glimpse of the future:
Americans Sees Biggest Home Equity Jump In 60 Years: Mortgages
By Kathleen M. Howley - Bloomberg.com
Americans are digging themselves out of mortgage debt.
Home equity in the first quarter rose to $6.7 trillion, the highest level since 2008, as homeowners taking advantage of record-low borrowing costs to refinance their loans brought cash to the table to pay down principal. The 7.3 percent gain was the biggest jump in more than 60 years, according to an analysis by Bloomberg of Federal Reserve data.
Warren Buffett makes record bet with $9.6bn private jet order Billionaire Warren Buffett has placed the largest ever order for private jets as his company, NetJets, anticipates rising demand from companies and the growing number of wealthy individuals around the world.
By Richard Blackden - Telegraph.co.uk
NetJets has agreed to buy up to 425 planes from Canadian company Bombardier and US rival Textron, which makes the Cessna jet. The order is valued at $9.6bn (£6.2bn) and is the third significant order NetJets has made in the last two years.
Although aviation analysts said the sheer size of the order will have secured Mr Buffett a hefty discount on the prices the jets are listed at, it is still a bold bet on an industry that was devastated by the financial crisis and subsequent global recession. NetJets, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway - Mr Buffett's holding company, would have collapsed without Berkshire's support in the months after the crisis.
10,000 workers to get pink slips... Nokia's Problems Haunt Microsoft
[Google title for free article pass]
By ANTON TROIANOVSKI, SVEN GRUNDBERG
and SPENCER E. ANTE - WSJ.com $$
Nokia Corp. warned Thursday that its cellphone business is quickly deteriorating and that it will cut 10,000 workers, a setback that threatens partnerMicrosoft Corp.'s mobile aspirations.
The companies bound themselves together last year in a last-ditch effort to compete in a smartphone market dominated by Apple Inc. and Google Inc. Now, Microsoft faces the possibility that the company responsible for two-thirds of its mobile software shipments may not be strong enough to give it influence in mobile computing.
Why Technical Studies Will Broaden Your Career Options
By Max Castera - Wired.com
You will not find any statistics or quotes from an expert in this post. I am simply sharing my experience, my observations and my conclusions.
Fourteen years ago, as a high school freshman, I had to choose between three options, which already way too early started shaping my life a little bit. In the French education system, I was given the choice between Scientific path, Literature path and Economics path. Already at that time, it was common knowledge that picking the scientific option was likely to give you more flexibility in choosing a college few years later. I suppose my parents and I did not question the common knowledge and I am now glad we did not.
Eventually, I did get very much interested in sciences, went on with undergraduate and graduate schools in engineering and landed a first job in a large corporate company and later on in a SME, both in fairly technical sectors, X-ray imaging and aerospace.
Social Security and the Plight of the Elderly The Real Retirement Crisis
by ERIC LAURSEN - CounterPunch.org
"The lifespan of any civilization can be measured by the respect and care that is given to its elderly citizens, and those societies which treat their elderly with contempt have the seeds of their own destruction within them." —Arnold J. Toynbee
The astounding, and potentially tragic, aspect of Washington's three-plus-decade Social Security debate is that it carries on with little regard to the challenges facing the program's participants. Politicians on the right and center-right feel free to decry resistance to even "modest cuts" in Social Security benefits while ignoring the vulnerability of seniors who are living the effects of reductions already mandated in the program's last major overhaul, in 1983.
U.S. Probes Cable for Limits on Net Video
[Google title for free article pass]
By THOMAS CATAN And AMY SCHATZ - WSJ.com - $$
WASHINGTON—The Justice Department is conducting a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into whether cable companies are acting improperly to quash nascent competition from online video, according to people familiar with the matter.
Justice Department officials have spoken to several online video providers, includingNetflix Inc. and Hulu LLC, those people said. Investigators have also questionedComcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc. and other cable companies about issues such as setting data caps, limits to the amount of data a subscriber can download each month, these people said.
Representatives of all those companies and the Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation.
The New MacBook Pro: Unfixable, Unhackable, Untenable
By Kyle Wiens - Wired.com
This week, Apple delivered the highly anticipated MacBook Pro with Retina Display — and the tech world is buzzing. I took one apart yesterday because I run iFixit, a team responsible for high-resolution teardowns of new products and DIY repair guides. We disassemble and analyze new electronic gizmos so you don't have to — kind of like an internet version of Consumer Reports.
The Retina MacBook is the least repairable laptop we've ever taken apart: Unlike the previous model, the display is fused to the glass, which means replacing the LCD requires buying an expensive display assembly. The RAM is now soldered to the logic board — making future memory upgrades impossible. And the battery is glued to the case, requiring customers to mail their laptop to Apple every so often for a $200 replacement. The design may well be comprised of "highly recyclable aluminum and glass" — but my friends in the electronics recycling industry tell me they have no way of recycling aluminum that has glass glued to it like Apple did with both this machine and the recent iPad.
New Front Opens in Wireless Battle
[Google title for free article pass]
Verizon Overhauls Plans to Shift Bulk of Bill to Data Use; AT&T Ready to Follow
By ANTON TROIANOVSKI and THOMAS GRYTA - WSJ.com - $$
After years of waging a price war, the largest U.S. wireless carriers have reversed course and are adopting a series of changes that in many cases raise costs and reduce consumers' options.
The latest move came Tuesday, when Verizon Wireless introduced its biggest overhaul of pricing in years with plans that let customers share data allotments among as many as 10 devices under a single account.
SPENDING OFF THE HOOK: FREE PHONES
COSTING TAXPAYERS $2.1 BILLION PER YEAR
by JOHN SEXTON - Breitbart.com
You're probably familiar with the food stamp program which grew from $35 billion in 2008 to $75 billion last year. But did you know that getting food stamps also makes you eligible for a free government cell phone?
A program called Lifeline provides free phones and free monthly minutes to anyone on food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, Head Start, and several other government programs. And just like food stamps, Lifeline (aka "phone stamps") has been growing by leaps and bounds since 2008, at significant cost to taxpayers.
When Your Credit Card Stops Working
By Bill Bonner - dailyreckoning.com
06/13/12 Baltimore, Maryland – CYBERGEDDON!
What's the latest? We don't know. We spent the last couple of days in Florida. Nobody knows anything in Florida. They're all retired down there. They don't have to think anymore.
And one of the things they don't think about very much is the zombie wars. You know what's happening. The productive sector of our economy is being eaten alive by the unproductive, zombie sector — including many of those retirees in Florida.
Which is probably a good point to make a distinction. There are honest retirees…and zombies. The honest ones worked hard, saved their money…and now they live off the fruits of their own labor.
OBAMA'S BIG ECONOMY SPEECH: NO HOPE, NO CHANGE
By Ben Shapiro - Breitbart.com
President Obama's campaign speech on the economy today was an utter disaster for him. It was a bromide of tired old arguments, pathetic blame-placing, and shopworn con tricks. And even liberals like Jonathan Alter had to admit that it was, overall, a dramatic failure.
He began where he always does: with blame. "We've been wrestling with these issues for a long time," he said. "The problems we're facing right now have been more than a decade in the making …. For more than a decade, it had become harder to find a job that paid the bills, harder to save, harder to retire, harder to keep up with rising costs of gas and health care and college tuitions." Translation: Blame Bush.
Bill Clinton's words could haunt Obama today
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
President Obama's campaign speech on the economy today will be delivered in the same spot where Bill Clinton delivered a 2010 campaign speech Obama might just as soon forget.
In September 2010, Clinton told his Cuyahoga Community College audience in Cleveland that Democrats deserved two more years to fix the nation's economy.
"The Democrats are saying something like this: 'We found a big hole that we did not dig. We didn't get it filled in 21 months, but at least we quit digging,'" Clinton said at the time. "'Give us two more years. If it doesn't work, vote us out.'"
Oil near $84 a barrel; OPEC holds ceiling
By Myra P. Saefong and Kate Gibson, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude futures rose Thursday on thinking the Federal Reserve would take further action to bolster economic growth and OPEC left its production ceiling as is.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries left its collective production ceiling unchanged, the 12-member group said in a statement released after its meeting concluded in Vienna.
Saying worries about contracting global growth overshadowed calls by some members to cut supply to boost price, the 12-member group agreed to leave the ceiling at 30 million barrels a day.
BP Announces that Venezuela
Now Have the Largest Oil Reserves in the World
By Charles Kennedy - OilPrice.com
BP has just released its annual Statistical Review of World Energy in which it claims that Venezuela now holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, overtaking the original leader Saudi Arabia.
The South American nation's oil deposits were increased from last year's figure to an estimated at 296.5 billion barrels, more than Saudi Arabia's 265.4 billion barrels.
Global reserves have been increased by 1.9 percent from last year's 1.62 trillion barrels to 1.65 trillion. Robert Wine, a spokesman from BP, explained that the reason for the revisions is that BP's review is published in June, before most countries issue their annual reserve figures.
Britain warns Argentina over Falklands "aggression"
By Michael Holden
(Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron warnedArgentina on Thursday that London stood "ready and willing" to defend the Falkland Islands, 30 years after Britain recaptured the South Atlantic archipelago whose sovereignty remains a hotly contested issue.
In a speech to commemorate the 1982 British victory over Argentina, Cameron accused Argentina's government of "aggression" and said there would be "absolutely no negotiation" over sovereignty of the tiny islands, about 300 miles off the Argentine coast.
Obama Plans to Grant International Tribunals
Power to Supersede US Law and Impose Sanctions
By Shepard Ambellas - TheIntelHub.com
Have you ever heard of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact?
Obama recently proposed a deal to 8 Pacific Nations pertaining to free trade — however, there is more to it then that.
Under the documented arrangement pushed by Obama's masters, foreign corporations will essentially be able to slip past all regulations as domestic corporations will continue to be heavily regulated.
Under the arrangement proposed, International Tribunals would be able to impose sanctions on the United States if the US did not uphold the rulings made by a select few whom profiteer from behind the curtain.
Treaty Negotiated In Secret –
Hidden Even from Congressmen Who Oversee Treaties –
Threatens to Destroy National Sovereignty
Submitted by George Washington - ZeroHedge.com
The normally-reserved Yves Smith asks whether Obama should be impeached over it.
Democratic Senator Wyden – the head of the committee which is supposed to oversee it – is so furious about the lack of access that he has introduced legislation to force disclosure.
Republican House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa is so upset by it that he has leaked a document on his website to show what's going on.
What is everyone so furious about?
An international treaty being negotiated in secret which would not only crack down on Internet privacy much more than SOPA or ACTA, but would actually destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. and all other signatories.
It is called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Egypt's supreme court
dissolves parliament and outrages Islamists Highest court also rules army candidate can remain in election race in moves denounced as a coup by Muslim Brotherhood
By David Hearst and Abdel-Rahman Hussein in Cairo - Guardian.co.uk
Two days before the second round of presidential elections, Egypt's highest court on Thursday dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament and ruled that the army-backed candidate could stay in the race, in what was widely seen as a double blow for the Muslim Brotherhood.
The decision was denounced as a coup by opposition leaders of all kinds and many within the Brotherhood, who fear that they will lose much of the political ground they have gained since Hosni Mubarak was ousted 16 months ago.
Tehran Hardens Nuclear Stance
BY FARNAZ FASSIHI - WSJ.com $$
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator said Iran wouldn't compromise on its right to enrich uranium, casting doubts on whether the country could reach a deal during talks with international powers in Moscow this month.
Saeed Jalili, the negotiator, updated lawmakers in Iran's parliament on Wednesday over the status of the country's nuclear talks, in a speech that was aired live on radio and published by official media.
Mr. Jalili's narrative of several rounds of nuclear talks dating to last year suggested a hardening of Iran's position. The diplomat, who represents the views of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed a suspension ...
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TRANSHUMANISM with Tom Horn
It's here, just like the days of Noah when Fallen Angels mixed with earthly women to create the Nephilim. This is the reason God destroyed life on earth, with the exception of Noah's family who remained genetically pure.
Transhumanism Agenda Enforced with 'Nanotech Weapons'
On the Wednesday, June 13 edition of the Alex Jones Show, Alex covers the latest developments on the engineered implosion of the global economy as the embattled eurozone heads for economic Armageddon with Spain and Italy begging for bankster handouts. Alex also talks about the betrayal of Rand Paul as the senator from Kentucky attempts to merge the liberty movement with the establishment Republican Party. Alex confronts multiple aspects of the emerging police state -- from TSA pedophiles gone wild to new surveillance technology -- and he also takes a large number of calls on today's show.
Tiny, the Mouse, Takes a Giant Step for Mankind
By Severine Kirchner - dailyreckoning.com
06/14/12 You've probably heard of Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal. But you've probably never heard of Tiny the mouse…one of the first creatures ever created from "reprogrammed" adult cells
Don't be fooled by this little mouse's name, what Tiny represents in the world of regenerative medicine is anything but tiny…
In July 2009, a team from the Beijing's Institute of Zoology reported in the journal Nature that it created healthy, fertile animals (Tiny and its brethren) by using so-called pluripotent stem cells (iPS). IPS cells are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed back to a pluripotent state. A pluripotent cell is simply a cell that can become most or all of the 200 cell types of the body.
Russia's Nuclear Industry is a Disaster Waiting to Happen
By Diplomatic Courier - OilPrice.com
The state of Russia's civilian nuclear power should be cause the entire planet to shudder: Radioactive waste deposal sites are full to the bursting point, and many reactors are outdated and fail to meet even the most basic of safety standards. In short, as one reads between the lines, a new disaster is pending.
The now-famous disaster in Japan has taken on tragic proportions and caused massive public health problems. Explosions in Japanese atomic power plants are forcing world experts to question once more the future of nuclear energy, as well as the existing and engineered safety level for various nuclear facilities around the world. Is nuclear energy "outdated"? Is it a source of energy that should be abandoned out of safety concerns? The time has arrived once again for a cold-eyed and careful assessment of nuclear energy security in the world. This is especially pressing in the case of Russia.
Life Under the Radioactive Cloud
by LINDA PENTZ GUNTHER - CounterPunch.org
Mothers in Fukushima, Japan, worry that the food and milk that they must feed daily to their infants and children may one day kill them. Is that a fear that an American parent can even begin to fathom? That because of the secrecy, the intransigence and, ultimately, the criminality of your own government, you might be unwillingly killing your own children by feeding them produce contaminated with radioactive fallout? And yet, that is life in Fukushima Prefecture today.
You are a grandmother whose grandchildren can never visit you. You are a farmer whose crops are too contaminated to sell. You are a teacher who must tell children to jump into the school swimming pool's cesium-laced waters. You are suffering ailments not unlike those found among populations exposed to the Chernobyl fallout. And whether your sufferings are physical or mental they are all equally real and equally serious and they are all caused, one way or the other, by the devastating nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima Daiichi that, far from being over, could actually get worse. Much worse.
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