This why you should own physical metals...So governments can't steal your wealth.
Think it can't happen here? It has before...
Maybe that's why the Vietnamese want gold so much



US, Europe Will All Default On Their Debt: Marc Faber

Nations Most Likely to Default

Faber: Debt Interest Will Lead to Default, Then War


Dow to Dip Near 8300-8400 Soon: Chief Investor


Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
You could say that the s**t has hit the fan, and the sheeple sleep on.
Top banker Jean-Claude Trichet cuts Aussie trip short George Lekakis February 10, 2010 7:28am
EUROPE’S top central banker Jean-Claude Trichet yesterday cut short his visit to Australia as fears intensified in global bond markets that Greece, Portugal and Spain would default on sovereign debt this year and trigger a new financial crisis.
Mr Trichet, the president of the European Central Bank, left a meeting of central bank governors in Sydney a day early to attend an emergency summit of European Union leaders later this week.
His sudden departure came as risk premiums continued to blow out on bonds issued by debt-laden European governments such as Greece, Portugal, Italy and Britain.
Mr Trichet arrived in Sydney at the weekend where he had high level talks with the governor of the People’s Bank of China, Dr Zhou Xiaochuan.
European financial leaders are agitating for China to invest in bonds issued by troubled European countries in an effort to head off a regional financial crisis in the region.
Rumours last week that China was set to invest in southern European sovereign debt triggered a rally in Greek bonds, but this was short-lived after the speculation was rejected by officials.
More…


Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Although it is argued that states do not, as municipalities, have access to Chapter 9 bankruptcy, more than a few are in the process of construction.
The list of municipalities filing chapter 9 bankruptcy grows daily.
While focusing on Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain weakness, consider that bankruptcy is a MOPE moment away in the USA.
Bankruptcy Bloodbath May Hit Muni Bond Owners Next: Joe Mysak February 09, 2010, 11:50 PM EST Commentary by Joe Mysak
Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) — Public officials shouldn’t think about filing for Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy to solve mounting labor costs and pension liabilities.
Even talking about this action will invite an inquiry from Fitch Ratings, the company said in a report published Jan. 27.
“The more bankruptcy is publicly discussed as an option for financial relief, the more its tarnish wears off, increasing the likelihood of its actual use,” Fitch said.
The biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression is squeezing municipalities across the country. Since Vallejo, California, successfully petitioned for bankruptcy protection in May 2008, California’s towns, Detroit’s schools and Pennsylvania’s capital city of Harrisburg have all talked about Chapter 9.
That should make bondholders nervous because it “questions whether a local government’s labor contracts would be surgically undone with bondholders’ rights left intact,” Fitch said.
Or as John H. Knox, a partner with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in San Francisco, which is counsel to Vallejo in its bankruptcy, said in an interview: “Any plan is going to impair all classes of creditors, including bondholders.”
More…


China orders retreat from risky assets

1/5 of US Mortgages "Underwater" in Q4

Truckers Index Drives US GDP Fears

Gap for CA Retiree Health Care Grows to $52B

Italy Seizes Bank of America, Dexia Assets in Derivatives Probe

In Praise of Mammoth Deficits

Baltic Dry Index Collapses 40%, Signal Further Worldwide Economic Weakness

Crisis Looms in Japan as its Economy Slowly Melts




Laffer: Obama Budget Is Plan for Catastrophe
Wednesday, 10 Feb 2010 11:25 AM
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By: Julie Crawshaw
Economist Arthur B. Laffer, head of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan and founder and chairman of economic research and consulting firm Laffer Associates, says President Barack Obama’s proposed budget “is the perfect plan for catastrophe.” “It shows no spending restraint and is raising tax rates,” Laffer told Newsmax.TV’s Kathleen Walter.He said the budget blueprint puts a greater burden on people who work and gives more money to people who don’t.Video — Laffer: Obama Budget Is Plan for Catastrophe“If you tax people who work and pay people who don’t, do not be surprised if you find a lot of people not working,” Laffer says. “If you tax rich people and give the money to poor people, you’re going to have lots and lots of poor people and no rich people,” he says.
“The dream in America has always been to make the poor rich, not to make the rich poor. Obama’s budget literally tries to make the rich poor and does not try to make the poor rich,” he says. If you have two locations with different tax rates, producers and manufacturers will move to the locale with lower rates, he says. Obama takes no account whatsoever on the effect this will have on global competitiveness and the creation of jobs in the United States, he says.Obama, Laffer says, is wrong on every single issue, is unrealistic, lacks experience and is causing a lot of damage to the economy. “It’s just incredible how systematic he is in making errors,” Laffer observes. “It’s a classic professorial response: In the classroom, you never have skin in the game, you’re never held accountable for your pronouncement, and that’s exactly what’s going on here,” he says. Laffer would like to return to the tactics Paul Volcker used when he took over the Fed, which include intervening in the money markets to maintain purchasing power and parity of the dollar. “The results were incredible,” Laffer says. “The dollar soared, interest rates tumbled and inflation literally disappeared from the U.S.”Laffer also suggests eliminating the alternative minimum tax and reinstating the Bush tax cuts that are currently scheduled to expire this year. Not reinstating the cuts will make 2010 look very good on paper and cause a major recession in 2011.“If you know that tax rates are going to go up on January 1, 2011, you try to accelerate all the income you possibly can into 2010, which will make 2010 look a lot better than it should,” he points out. “Then, on January 1, 2011, the train goes off the track.” The sheer size of unfunded liabilities is “awesome, just amazing,” Laffer says. Civil service and military retirement and medical benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and that’s not even taking into account things like California and unfunded pensions. The Obama administration needs to go through each of these and literally change the rules. “You’ve got to go through all these programs meticulously and make sure you eliminate things that increase unfunded liabilities, which now exceed $100 trillion,” Laffer says. “Our GDP is only worth $14 trillion.”Laffer wants to see unspent bailout funds returned. “Not only have those programs not done any good, they’ve actually hurt the economy, and they’ve hurt it a lot,” he says. “You can’t bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble. For every stimulus check written, there is a liability to someone else," he says. "The sooner we stop the stimulus packages, the better off we’ll be.” Laffer expects the U.S. economy will look very strong for 2010, but none of the things that will make it appear strong will be present in 2011. The government has printed huge amounts of new money, he points out, which has stimulated stock and bond prices and commodity prices, but the effects of that will be short-lived.However, we should not lose hope that the United States will once again become the land of opportunity, says Laffer. “All we have to do is go back to common sense economics. If we had a low flat-rate tax … can you imagine how this economy would boom with that? It would be beautiful,” he says.“And if you make the dollar solid … people won’t have to go into gold and silver. We can do that just the way Paul Volcker did.”Video — Laffer: Obama Budget Is Plan for Catastrophe © Moneynews. All rights