Gold Prices on the Move- The Street
Blaming China Will Not Solve America's Problems- Financial Times
John Rubino: The coming precious metals short squeeze
Deceit, secrecy surround British gold sales as records are pried loose
Supply Fears Start to Hit Treasuries
Ned Naylor-Leyland: Gold market is a game of musical chairs
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
This is not new news to us.
The US dollar is no safe haven from anything.
California is a greater risk than Greece, warns JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan Chase, has warned American investors should be more worried about the risk of default of the state of California than of Greece’s current debt woes. By James Quinn, US Business Editor in New York Published: 8:20PM GMT 26 Feb 2010
Mr Dimon told investors at the Wall Street bank’s annual meeting that "there could be contagion" if a state the size of California, the biggest of the United States, had problems making debt repayments. "Greece itself would not be an issue for this company, nor would any other country," said Mr Dimon. "We don’t really foresee the European Union coming apart." The senior banker said that JP Morgan Chase and other US rivals are largely immune from the European debt crisis, as the risks have largely been hedged.
California however poses more of a risk, given the state’s $20bn (£13.1bn) budget deficit, which Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is desperately trying to reduce.
Earlier this week, the state’s legislature passed bills that will cut the deficit by $2.8bn through budget cuts and other measures. However the former Hollywood film star turned politician is looking for $8.9bn of cuts over the next 16 months, and is also hoping for as much as $7bn of handouts from the federal government.
Earlier this week, John Chiang, the state’s controller, said that if a workable plan to reduce the deficit and increase cash levels is not reached soon, he will have to return to issuing IOU’s, forcing state workers to take additional unpaid leave and potentially freezing spending.
Last summer, California issued $3bn of IOU’s to creditors including residents owed tax refunds as a way of staving off a cash crisis.
"I can’t write checks without money; that’s against the law. My main goal is to keep the state afloat, but I won’t be able to do it without the help of new legislation," said Mr Chiang.
More…
Sell-off in US Treasuries raises sovereign debt fears;Investors are braced for a further sell-off in US Treasuries after dramatic moves last week raised fears that the surfeit of US government debt is starting to saturate bond markets.
Treasuries Find Greenspan's Canary Fainting in Mine
MGM Bankruptcy Likely
Not Hiring (In California)
Gold Prices Set to Soar as Demand Outpaces Supplies
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
I hope your paying attention... Watch this video 2x ...Finally someone telling the truth on the mainstream media.
ECU Group’s Philip Manduca "We Are At A Tipping Point" And The Only Thing That May Save The Euro Is A Collapse Of The US
Tyler Durden on 03/25/2010 15:31 -0500
For once, some actually good insight from a CNBC guest. Philip Manduca, Head of Investment of the ECU Group, discusses Greece and the very severe implications of what the final outcome will look like. "Trichet said the Greeks are crooks, and they’ve been lying about the numbers. There is a deeply embedded corruption within the Eurozone. Combined with the endemic European socialism and there is just no way you are going to get spending cuts and tax raises and maintain a GDP that makes any sense of the percentage aspect of debt to GDP. So the whole show is wrong. This is an intractable situation, this is going to continue on and on. The only hope for the Eurozone, and the Euro as a currency, is that someone takes the spotlight soon, and that may be the United States." Watch the rest as Philip’s perspective is spot on…Not to mention that he sees gold as the only alternative to the fiat bonfire soon to engulf the western world.
Please go here and watch the video.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ecu-groups-philip-manduca-we-are-tipping-point-and-only-thing-may-save-euro-collapse-us
State Debt Woes Grow Too Big to Camouflage
Do you think they know something you don't???
Jupiter Financials Star Puts Half His Fund in Cash
CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP
Could This Be Start of 'The Great Bear Market in Bonds'?
I told you this was coming...
Housing Prices May Be on Their Way to a Double Dip
Think housing prices have reached a bottom? Think again. Despite a report showing smaller declines in January, housing prices may already be in another free fall.
From Bucolic Bliss to "Gated Ghetto"- LA Times
Kudlow: The Tax Attack on America
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Just like in the 70s when gold began its historic climb, the final Pillar of Gold (a bear market in US Treasuries) must be cemented to attain $1650 and above.
US Treasuries breaking down, as they are with the 25 year plus uptrend about to be decimated, must happen. Then you can make a living selling US Treasuries rallies short for many years to come.
In the 70s rates on ten year bonds went from under 4% to 14 7/8%. Overnight money went above 21%. It will happen again as gold climbs to and through $1650.
The Formula of 2006 clearly points out that this MUST happen. It was simply common sense as gold is now heading for $1650 and better.
There is another salient point that not only is the Health Bill the biggest grab of centralized power since Roosevelt, it was desired by only 37% of the population while 48% did not want it in that form or at all.
Confidence is what makes currency value and that is sundering fast. The US dollar is no safe haven.
Sell-off in US Treasuries raises sovereign debt fears Investors are braced for a further sell-off in US Treasuries after dramatic moves last week raised fears that the surfeit of US government debt is starting to saturate bond markets. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Published: 9:06PM BST 28 Mar 2010
The yield on 10-year Treasuries – the benchmark price of global capital – surged 30 basis points in just two days last week to over 3.9pc, the highest level since the Lehman crisis. Alan Greenspan, ex-head of the US Federal Reserve, said the abrupt move may be "the canary in the coal mine", a warning to Washington that it can no longer borrow with impunity. He said there is a "huge overhang of federal debt, which we have never seen before".
David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff said Treasury yields have ratcheted up 90 basis points since December in a "destabilising fashion", for the wrong reasons. Growth has not been strong enough to revive fears of inflation. Commodity prices peaked in January and US home sales have fallen for the last three months, pointing to a double-dip in the housing market.
Mr Rosenberg said the yield spike recalls the move in the spring of 2007 just as the credit system started to unravel. "The question is how the equity market is going to handle this back-up in rates," he said.
The trigger for last week’s sell-off was poor demand at Treasury auctions, linked to the passage of the Obama health care reform. Critics say it will add $1 trillion (£670bn) to America’s debt over the next decade, a claim disputed fiercely by Democrats.
It is unclear whether China is selling US Treasuries after cutting its holdings for three months in a row, or what its motive may be. There are concerns that Beijing may be sending a coded message before the US Treasury rules next month on whether China is a "currency manipulator", though experts say China is clearly still buying dollar assets because it is holding down the yuan against the greenback. Some investors may be selling Treasuries as a precaution against a trade spat.
More…
ECU Group’s Philip Manduca "We Are At A Tipping Point" And The Only Thing That May Save The Euro Is A Collapse Of The US
Tyler Durden on 03/25/2010 15:31 -0500
For once, some actually good insight from a CNBC guest. Philip Manduca, Head of Investment of the ECU Group, discusses Greece and the very severe implications of what the final outcome will look like. "Trichet said the Greeks are crooks, and they’ve been lying about the numbers. There is a deeply embedded corruption within the Eurozone. Combined with the endemic European socialism and there is just no way you are going to get spending cuts and tax raises and maintain a GDP that makes any sense of the percentage aspect of debt to GDP. So the whole show is wrong. This is an intractable situation, this is going to continue on and on. The only hope for the Eurozone, and the Euro as a currency, is that someone takes the spotlight soon, and that may be the United States." Watch the rest as Philip’s perspective is spot on…Not to mention that he sees gold as the only alternative to the fiat bonfire soon to engulf the western world.
Please go here and watch the video.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/ecu-groups-philip-manduca-we-are-tipping-point-and-only-thing-may-save-euro-collapse-us
State Debt Woes Grow Too Big to Camouflage
Do you think they know something you don't???
Jupiter Financials Star Puts Half His Fund in Cash
CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP
Could This Be Start of 'The Great Bear Market in Bonds'?
I told you this was coming...
Housing Prices May Be on Their Way to a Double Dip
Think housing prices have reached a bottom? Think again. Despite a report showing smaller declines in January, housing prices may already be in another free fall.
From Bucolic Bliss to "Gated Ghetto"- LA Times
Kudlow: The Tax Attack on America
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Just like in the 70s when gold began its historic climb, the final Pillar of Gold (a bear market in US Treasuries) must be cemented to attain $1650 and above.
US Treasuries breaking down, as they are with the 25 year plus uptrend about to be decimated, must happen. Then you can make a living selling US Treasuries rallies short for many years to come.
In the 70s rates on ten year bonds went from under 4% to 14 7/8%. Overnight money went above 21%. It will happen again as gold climbs to and through $1650.
The Formula of 2006 clearly points out that this MUST happen. It was simply common sense as gold is now heading for $1650 and better.
There is another salient point that not only is the Health Bill the biggest grab of centralized power since Roosevelt, it was desired by only 37% of the population while 48% did not want it in that form or at all.
Confidence is what makes currency value and that is sundering fast. The US dollar is no safe haven.
Sell-off in US Treasuries raises sovereign debt fears Investors are braced for a further sell-off in US Treasuries after dramatic moves last week raised fears that the surfeit of US government debt is starting to saturate bond markets. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Published: 9:06PM BST 28 Mar 2010
The yield on 10-year Treasuries – the benchmark price of global capital – surged 30 basis points in just two days last week to over 3.9pc, the highest level since the Lehman crisis. Alan Greenspan, ex-head of the US Federal Reserve, said the abrupt move may be "the canary in the coal mine", a warning to Washington that it can no longer borrow with impunity. He said there is a "huge overhang of federal debt, which we have never seen before".
David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff said Treasury yields have ratcheted up 90 basis points since December in a "destabilising fashion", for the wrong reasons. Growth has not been strong enough to revive fears of inflation. Commodity prices peaked in January and US home sales have fallen for the last three months, pointing to a double-dip in the housing market.
Mr Rosenberg said the yield spike recalls the move in the spring of 2007 just as the credit system started to unravel. "The question is how the equity market is going to handle this back-up in rates," he said.
The trigger for last week’s sell-off was poor demand at Treasury auctions, linked to the passage of the Obama health care reform. Critics say it will add $1 trillion (£670bn) to America’s debt over the next decade, a claim disputed fiercely by Democrats.
It is unclear whether China is selling US Treasuries after cutting its holdings for three months in a row, or what its motive may be. There are concerns that Beijing may be sending a coded message before the US Treasury rules next month on whether China is a "currency manipulator", though experts say China is clearly still buying dollar assets because it is holding down the yuan against the greenback. Some investors may be selling Treasuries as a precaution against a trade spat.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
And this will be spun as "Strategic Asset Returns." Sounds almost smart and surely not harmful.
Commercial real estate to see ‘storm’ of foreclosures BY ALESHIA HOWE March 29, 2010
The 2010 Tarrant County commercial real estate market looks to be similar to 2009 with one big difference according to local foreclosure expert George Roddy Sr.: a ‘closing window of opportunity.’
Roddy, president of Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Inc., said his company is predicting a yet-to-come storm of commercial foreclosures in Tarrant County, but those foreclosures will mean investment opportunities.
“We think ’09 was a dud market and 2010 will be close to being the same as ’09 … but by the end of the third quarter, the fourth quarter of this year, you’re going to see an increase of [investors] in the market and from our vantage point, the window of opportunity – believe it or not – is beginning to close,” Roddy said at a March 24 Society of Commercial Realtors breakfast. “The smart money is out there today taking advantage of the negative publicity commercial real estate is getting.”
For all of 2009, Roddy said overall commercial property sales in Tarrant County were down 44 percent compared with sales seen in 2008 – a telling number, he said, and the lowest number of commercial property sales in the last 20 years for the county. The numbers exclude foreclosure sales.
“This is the most important number in the viability and health of a local commercial market,” he said.
At the peak of the commercial property sale market in Tarrant County, which was 2007, Roddy said there were 2,405 sales transactions. In 2008, that number dropped to 1,958 commercial properties sold, and in 2009, 1,097 commercial properties changed hands in Tarrant County.
More…
Monday, March 29, 2010
This is just the beginning...Things will only get worse...Got GOLD?
Tax horror: White House secretly passes currency controls
Rapid Rise in US Budget Deficit Projection by CBO- CNBC
Stocks Soar, but Many Analysts Ask Why- NY Times
Rising Spending + Flat Incomes = Savings Plunge- Reuters
In Gold We Trust- The Globe and Mail
WGC: China's Gold Demand "Snowballing"- Reuters India
4 New Bank Failures, YTD Total at 41- BusinessWeek
Recession Brings First Drop in Incomes since '49- The Tennessean
Half of Commercial Mortgages to Be Underwater: Warren
By the end of 2010, about half of all commercial real estate mortgages will be underwater, Elizabeth Warren, chairperson of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel, said in a wide-ranging interview.
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
Rates Rise After Weak Auction Demand on Seven-Year Notes
Half of US Loan Modifications Default Again
Bernanke: US Economy Not Ready to Fly Solo Yet
Sun Belt Loses its Shine
Grasshopper outlook strikes fear on Western range
Tax horror: White House secretly passes currency controls
Rapid Rise in US Budget Deficit Projection by CBO- CNBC
Stocks Soar, but Many Analysts Ask Why- NY Times
Rising Spending + Flat Incomes = Savings Plunge- Reuters
In Gold We Trust- The Globe and Mail
WGC: China's Gold Demand "Snowballing"- Reuters India
4 New Bank Failures, YTD Total at 41- BusinessWeek
Recession Brings First Drop in Incomes since '49- The Tennessean
Half of Commercial Mortgages to Be Underwater: Warren
By the end of 2010, about half of all commercial real estate mortgages will be underwater, Elizabeth Warren, chairperson of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel, said in a wide-ranging interview.
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis
Rates Rise After Weak Auction Demand on Seven-Year Notes
Half of US Loan Modifications Default Again
Bernanke: US Economy Not Ready to Fly Solo Yet
Sun Belt Loses its Shine
Grasshopper outlook strikes fear on Western range
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Zero Hedge follows admission to CFTC that London gold market is unbacked paper
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/former-goldman-commodities-research-analyst-confirms-lmba-otc-gold-market-paper-gold-ponzi
FDIC trims guarantee for buyers of failed banks
With that little gem old Ms. Bair is guaranteeing that nobody in their right mind will buy a lot of these little banks that are failing or due to fail nor any of the big ones. Somehow though there is this belief that suddenly home prices will vault up back to pre-2008 levels, employment will actually drop to 5% on U-3 and U-6 will crater below 10% giving us an economic boom that has been unseen since all of 1937.
With morons like this in charge is there little doubt as to why I’m so pessimistic on our future as a nation devolving into a Eurosocialist steaming pile?
Boom is the correct word for this. Keep putting the guns in our mouth government and pulling the trigger. Eventually you bureaucratic morons will figure out that in the end, this nation is bankrupt at every level.
Kern unemployment continues to climb: 17.4% in February. H2O's comment: "The bulk of Kern's population is located in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, where agriculture and oil are the lynchpins of the local economy. With the legislative/judicial droughts being imposed on California, local farmers have been allocated just 15% of their annual contractual water supplies. This means that they cannot secure the crop loans necessary to grow the crops to feed the nation for the fourth year in a row. Food shortages are right around the corner, I fear."
My fear is that the government is setting up to do exactly, what they did during the depression.
If you read your history, you will see that fields were plowed under to create artificial shortages to raise prices. During that time the farmers had big problems plowing the fields under, you see the mules refused to walk on the crops as they were trained to only walk the furrows, showing that the mules were alot smarter then Congress...Some things never change...This time they will just cut the water and let California DIE...
Charles Krauthammer at NRO: The VAT Cometh.
"We Are At A Tipping Point"--The Only Thing that May Save the Euro is a Collapse of the US
Supply fears start to hit Treasuries
Regulators shut 2 Georgia banks, 1 in Florida, 1 in Arizona; makes 41 US bank failures in 2010.
Banks Unlikely to Cut Mortgages for Many Borrowers
Eurozone Agrees On Bailout Plan for Greece
Underemployment Hits 20% in Mid-March
Jobless Rate Rose in 27 States in February; 4 Hit Record Levels
Spring Outlook: Housing Sales Are Looking As Bleak As Ever
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/former-goldman-commodities-research-analyst-confirms-lmba-otc-gold-market-paper-gold-ponzi
FDIC trims guarantee for buyers of failed banks
With that little gem old Ms. Bair is guaranteeing that nobody in their right mind will buy a lot of these little banks that are failing or due to fail nor any of the big ones. Somehow though there is this belief that suddenly home prices will vault up back to pre-2008 levels, employment will actually drop to 5% on U-3 and U-6 will crater below 10% giving us an economic boom that has been unseen since all of 1937.
With morons like this in charge is there little doubt as to why I’m so pessimistic on our future as a nation devolving into a Eurosocialist steaming pile?
Boom is the correct word for this. Keep putting the guns in our mouth government and pulling the trigger. Eventually you bureaucratic morons will figure out that in the end, this nation is bankrupt at every level.
Kern unemployment continues to climb: 17.4% in February. H2O's comment: "The bulk of Kern's population is located in the Southern San Joaquin Valley, where agriculture and oil are the lynchpins of the local economy. With the legislative/judicial droughts being imposed on California, local farmers have been allocated just 15% of their annual contractual water supplies. This means that they cannot secure the crop loans necessary to grow the crops to feed the nation for the fourth year in a row. Food shortages are right around the corner, I fear."
My fear is that the government is setting up to do exactly, what they did during the depression.
If you read your history, you will see that fields were plowed under to create artificial shortages to raise prices. During that time the farmers had big problems plowing the fields under, you see the mules refused to walk on the crops as they were trained to only walk the furrows, showing that the mules were alot smarter then Congress...Some things never change...This time they will just cut the water and let California DIE...
Charles Krauthammer at NRO: The VAT Cometh.
"We Are At A Tipping Point"--The Only Thing that May Save the Euro is a Collapse of the US
Supply fears start to hit Treasuries
Regulators shut 2 Georgia banks, 1 in Florida, 1 in Arizona; makes 41 US bank failures in 2010.
Banks Unlikely to Cut Mortgages for Many Borrowers
Eurozone Agrees On Bailout Plan for Greece
Underemployment Hits 20% in Mid-March
Jobless Rate Rose in 27 States in February; 4 Hit Record Levels
Spring Outlook: Housing Sales Are Looking As Bleak As Ever
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Supply fears start to hit Treasuries
You mess with the big boyz and they will kill you....
CFTC whistleblower injured in London hit-and-run
US Budget Deficit Projection Seeing Historic Rise
Time is Running Out for the US Dollar
The US Government will have to pay higher rates of interest in order to keep selling our debt in order to keep spending and going deeper into debt.
Another indication of inflation
A new tool to fight home foreclosures: borrowers don't have to pay lenders!
Re-writing delinquent mortgages. Not even 50% have been successful at solving problem
Personal Income Drops Across the Country.
Credit Growth? Not In Mortgages!
To Save New York, Tax Wall Street
EU Faces Bleakest Period for a Decade
Europe in Crisis as Debts Grow
You mess with the big boyz and they will kill you....
CFTC whistleblower injured in London hit-and-run
US Budget Deficit Projection Seeing Historic Rise
Time is Running Out for the US Dollar
The US Government will have to pay higher rates of interest in order to keep selling our debt in order to keep spending and going deeper into debt.
Another indication of inflation
A new tool to fight home foreclosures: borrowers don't have to pay lenders!
Re-writing delinquent mortgages. Not even 50% have been successful at solving problem
Personal Income Drops Across the Country.
Credit Growth? Not In Mortgages!
To Save New York, Tax Wall Street
EU Faces Bleakest Period for a Decade
Europe in Crisis as Debts Grow
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Whistle blower GOLD and Silver Manipulation.
Watch both video's.
GATA Chairman Murphy's CFTC testimony posted at YouTube
A London trader walks the CFTC through a silver manipulation in advance
A great day at the CFTC, and another one's coming
Sudden Drop-Off in Demand for US Treasuries- Wall Street Journal
U.S. Is Riskier Than Euro Zone; So Says CDS Market.
Bernanke: US Fiscal Outlook "Somewhat Dark"- Bloomberg
Housing Sales: Forget It!
Fed's Balance Sheet Rises to Record- Reuters
How the Middle Class Slowly Evaporated Over the Past 40 Years
Personal Income Drops across the Country- Wall Street Journal
States Look Beyond Borders to Collect Taxes Owed
1.6M US Households Facing Foreclosure in 4Q- NY Times
Stocks Give Up Steep Gains on Renewed Greece Woes
Obamacare Gets Big Endorsement - Fidel Castro- Washington Post
They will print money till we run out of trees...Every state will be bailed out...and your money will be worth-less...
Bernanke: Record-Low Rates Needed to Aid Economy
Watchdog Blasts Obama Loan Relief Plan
Watch both video's.
GATA Chairman Murphy's CFTC testimony posted at YouTube
A London trader walks the CFTC through a silver manipulation in advance
A great day at the CFTC, and another one's coming
Sudden Drop-Off in Demand for US Treasuries- Wall Street Journal
U.S. Is Riskier Than Euro Zone; So Says CDS Market.
Bernanke: US Fiscal Outlook "Somewhat Dark"- Bloomberg
Housing Sales: Forget It!
Fed's Balance Sheet Rises to Record- Reuters
How the Middle Class Slowly Evaporated Over the Past 40 Years
Personal Income Drops across the Country- Wall Street Journal
States Look Beyond Borders to Collect Taxes Owed
1.6M US Households Facing Foreclosure in 4Q- NY Times
Stocks Give Up Steep Gains on Renewed Greece Woes
Obamacare Gets Big Endorsement - Fidel Castro- Washington Post
They will print money till we run out of trees...Every state will be bailed out...and your money will be worth-less...
Bernanke: Record-Low Rates Needed to Aid Economy
Watchdog Blasts Obama Loan Relief Plan
Central Banks Stashing Away Gold at Brisk Pace
Thursday, 25 Mar 2010 09:00 AM
Article Font Size
By: Dan Weil
Central banks around the world added 425.4 metric tons of gold to their reserves last year, the biggest increase since 1964, according to the World Gold Council.That represents a 1.4 percent gain to put their holdings at 30,116.9 tons in total. The increase was the first since 1988.Central banks in India, Russia and China were among those boosting their gold reserves last year, as the precious metal jumped 24 percent, hitting a record of $1,226 an ounce in December.Central banks now possess 18 percent of all gold ever mined.“There’s clearly been a renaissance of gold in central bankers’ minds,” Nick Moore, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland, told Bloomberg. “It’s not just been central banks taking on gold, but a general shift for physical gold in the investment sector.” Many are now singing gold’s praises, with the precious metal up about 3 percent so far this year.“Gold is quietly, at the edge, becoming the world’s second reservable currency, supplanting the euro and rivaling the dollar,” money manager Dennis Gartman wrote in his Gartman Letter, obtained by Bloomberg.“The trend shall continue months, if not years, into the future.” David Skarica, editor of The Gold Stock Adviser, tells Moneynews.com that central banks will continue to buy gold. “The next lot sold by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) will go to China’s central bank,” he said. “The IMF has a supply overhang.”© Moneynews. All rights reserved.
Treasury Sees Another Weak Auction as Supply Issues Loom
The final of three Treasury auctions this week was another flop, with investors wary of increased supply and government debt staying away from the sale of seven-year notes.
Treasury Will Soon Have to Pay More to Finance Growing Debt
"If you're going to continue to auction off record amounts of debt—you're going to spend, spend, spend—hey, we're going to make you pay for it," one bond trader says.
Why Bond Auction Fizzled: Fears of a 'Fiscal Train Wreck'
Impasse Over Derivatives Slows Senate Banking Bill
U.S. health insurers' Credit Default Swaps widen after reform
Sales of New U.S. Homes Dropped in February to Lowest on Record
Stocks Fall After Agency Cuts Portugal's Debt Rating
New Homes Sales Hit a Low; Durable Goods Orders Up
US Has Lost 2.4 Million Jobs to China
The Tipping Point at Zero
Fed's Exit Strategy Is Fraught With Danger: Monetary Experts
China Central Bank Issues Sovereign Debt Warning- Financial Times
Britons Cling to Services, Despite Debt- NY Times
Soc Sec Running Deficit 6 Yrs before Projections- NY Times
US Treasury Dumps Citi Stake before Double Dip- Reuters
Don't Blame Short-Sellers for Financial Crisis- Bloomberg
Portugal Downgrade Boosts Sovereign Risk- Bloomberg
Amid budget crisis, California makes parole easier - Yahoo! News. Eric commented: "24,000 prisoners released in one year due to budget cuts, not rehabilitation. and this will not affect the public's safety?"
Record numbers now licensed to pack heat; The "right-to-carry" movement has succeeded in boosting the number of licensed concealed-gun carriers to about 6 million. Mike's favorite quote from the article: "Because the gun death rates parallel an overall drop in crime, Hemenway suspects that the decline 'has nothing to do with concealed-carry laws.'" Mike's comment: "Did a PhD actually say that?"
Thursday, 25 Mar 2010 09:00 AM
Article Font Size
By: Dan Weil
Central banks around the world added 425.4 metric tons of gold to their reserves last year, the biggest increase since 1964, according to the World Gold Council.That represents a 1.4 percent gain to put their holdings at 30,116.9 tons in total. The increase was the first since 1988.Central banks in India, Russia and China were among those boosting their gold reserves last year, as the precious metal jumped 24 percent, hitting a record of $1,226 an ounce in December.Central banks now possess 18 percent of all gold ever mined.“There’s clearly been a renaissance of gold in central bankers’ minds,” Nick Moore, an analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland, told Bloomberg. “It’s not just been central banks taking on gold, but a general shift for physical gold in the investment sector.” Many are now singing gold’s praises, with the precious metal up about 3 percent so far this year.“Gold is quietly, at the edge, becoming the world’s second reservable currency, supplanting the euro and rivaling the dollar,” money manager Dennis Gartman wrote in his Gartman Letter, obtained by Bloomberg.“The trend shall continue months, if not years, into the future.” David Skarica, editor of The Gold Stock Adviser, tells Moneynews.com that central banks will continue to buy gold. “The next lot sold by the IMF (International Monetary Fund) will go to China’s central bank,” he said. “The IMF has a supply overhang.”© Moneynews. All rights reserved.
Treasury Sees Another Weak Auction as Supply Issues Loom
The final of three Treasury auctions this week was another flop, with investors wary of increased supply and government debt staying away from the sale of seven-year notes.
Treasury Will Soon Have to Pay More to Finance Growing Debt
"If you're going to continue to auction off record amounts of debt—you're going to spend, spend, spend—hey, we're going to make you pay for it," one bond trader says.
Why Bond Auction Fizzled: Fears of a 'Fiscal Train Wreck'
Impasse Over Derivatives Slows Senate Banking Bill
U.S. health insurers' Credit Default Swaps widen after reform
Sales of New U.S. Homes Dropped in February to Lowest on Record
Stocks Fall After Agency Cuts Portugal's Debt Rating
New Homes Sales Hit a Low; Durable Goods Orders Up
US Has Lost 2.4 Million Jobs to China
The Tipping Point at Zero
Fed's Exit Strategy Is Fraught With Danger: Monetary Experts
China Central Bank Issues Sovereign Debt Warning- Financial Times
Britons Cling to Services, Despite Debt- NY Times
Soc Sec Running Deficit 6 Yrs before Projections- NY Times
US Treasury Dumps Citi Stake before Double Dip- Reuters
Don't Blame Short-Sellers for Financial Crisis- Bloomberg
Portugal Downgrade Boosts Sovereign Risk- Bloomberg
Amid budget crisis, California makes parole easier - Yahoo! News. Eric commented: "24,000 prisoners released in one year due to budget cuts, not rehabilitation. and this will not affect the public's safety?"
Record numbers now licensed to pack heat; The "right-to-carry" movement has succeeded in boosting the number of licensed concealed-gun carriers to about 6 million. Mike's favorite quote from the article: "Because the gun death rates parallel an overall drop in crime, Hemenway suspects that the decline 'has nothing to do with concealed-carry laws.'" Mike's comment: "Did a PhD actually say that?"
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Former CBO Director: Obamacare Will Bankrupt Us
Wednesday, 24 Mar 2010 10:01 AM
Article Font Size
By: Julie Crawshaw
While the Congressional Budget Office reported that President Barack Obama’s healthcare bill would lower federal deficits by $138 billion, the budget office “is required to take written legislation at face value and not second-guess the plausibility of what it is handed,” says former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.“So fantasy in, fantasy out.”Strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The healthcare reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, Holtz-Eakin writes in The New York Times.“Removing the unrealistic annual Medicare savings ($463 billion) and the stolen annual revenues from Social Security and long-term care insurance ($123 billion), and adding in the annual spending that so far is not accounted for ($114 billion) quickly generates additional deficits of $562 billion in the first 10 years,” Holtz-Eakin points out. “And the nation would be on the hook for two more entitlement programs rapidly expanding as far as the eye can see.”The federal deficit, he notes, is expected to exceed at least $700 billion every year over the next decade, doubling the national debt to more than $20 trillion. “By 2020, the federal deficit — the amount the government must borrow to meet its expenses — is projected to be $1.2 trillion, $900 billion of which represents interest on previous debt,” Holtz-Eakin says — and Obamacare will only increase this crushing debt.An especially vivid example of how the legislation manipulates revenues, Holtz-Eakin says, is the provision to have corporations deposit $8 billion in higher estimated tax payments in 2014, thereby meeting fiscal targets for the first five years. “Since the corporations’ actual taxes would be unchanged, the money would need to be refunded the next year,” he says.“The net effect is simply to shift dollars from 2015 to 2014.”The House of Representatives narrowly approved the Obama administration’s healthcare legislation Sunday night, voting 219-212 for passage.
© Moneynews. All rights reserved.
Fitch Lowers Portugal's Debt Rating to AA-- Bloomberg
Underemployment Hits 20% in Mid-March
Yellen Says She's Ready to Raise Rates... Someday- Bloomberg
Japan Joins China in Reducing Holdings of US Treasury Debt
Home Prices Have 'Double Dip' in 12 US Cities- Bloomberg
Bonds Reveal US Losing AAA Status
Obama Program HAMPering Mortgage Market- Wall Street Journal
IMF Warning Wealthiest Nations About Their Debt
Explain Why You Sold UK's Gold, Mr. Brown- Daily Telegraph
Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids.
Sun Belt Loses Its Shine- Wall Street Journal
"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves." - D.H. Lawrence
Wednesday, 24 Mar 2010 10:01 AM
Article Font Size
By: Julie Crawshaw
While the Congressional Budget Office reported that President Barack Obama’s healthcare bill would lower federal deficits by $138 billion, the budget office “is required to take written legislation at face value and not second-guess the plausibility of what it is handed,” says former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.“So fantasy in, fantasy out.”Strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The healthcare reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, Holtz-Eakin writes in The New York Times.“Removing the unrealistic annual Medicare savings ($463 billion) and the stolen annual revenues from Social Security and long-term care insurance ($123 billion), and adding in the annual spending that so far is not accounted for ($114 billion) quickly generates additional deficits of $562 billion in the first 10 years,” Holtz-Eakin points out. “And the nation would be on the hook for two more entitlement programs rapidly expanding as far as the eye can see.”The federal deficit, he notes, is expected to exceed at least $700 billion every year over the next decade, doubling the national debt to more than $20 trillion. “By 2020, the federal deficit — the amount the government must borrow to meet its expenses — is projected to be $1.2 trillion, $900 billion of which represents interest on previous debt,” Holtz-Eakin says — and Obamacare will only increase this crushing debt.An especially vivid example of how the legislation manipulates revenues, Holtz-Eakin says, is the provision to have corporations deposit $8 billion in higher estimated tax payments in 2014, thereby meeting fiscal targets for the first five years. “Since the corporations’ actual taxes would be unchanged, the money would need to be refunded the next year,” he says.“The net effect is simply to shift dollars from 2015 to 2014.”The House of Representatives narrowly approved the Obama administration’s healthcare legislation Sunday night, voting 219-212 for passage.
© Moneynews. All rights reserved.
Fitch Lowers Portugal's Debt Rating to AA-- Bloomberg
Underemployment Hits 20% in Mid-March
Yellen Says She's Ready to Raise Rates... Someday- Bloomberg
Japan Joins China in Reducing Holdings of US Treasury Debt
Home Prices Have 'Double Dip' in 12 US Cities- Bloomberg
Bonds Reveal US Losing AAA Status
Obama Program HAMPering Mortgage Market- Wall Street Journal
IMF Warning Wealthiest Nations About Their Debt
Explain Why You Sold UK's Gold, Mr. Brown- Daily Telegraph
Beans, Bullets, and Band-Aids.
Sun Belt Loses Its Shine- Wall Street Journal
Irish Bank: Wisconsin School Trusts In Default
posted by Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 20 minutes ago
An Irish bank that loaned $165 million to five Wisconsin school districts for investments that went bust says it has seized most of their remaining value. These are but a few of many school districts s...
Bond Auction Fizzles on Fears of 'Fiscal Train Wreck'
"Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grandchildren are once more slaves." - D.H. Lawrence
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Poll: Most Americans FearU.S. Economy Could Collapse
Fox News Poll: Most voters think economy may fail, and majorities don't think leaders have ideas to fix it PDF
Wall Street Journal article: Public Pension Deficits Are Worse Than You Think
Reader S.M. sent us some
some more evidence that the US is slipping towards the edge of a bond rating downgrade by Moody's: Obama Pays More Than Buffett as U.S. Risks AAA Rating. Also, further economic difficulties with managing growing public debt: Lipsky Says ‘Acute’ Debt Challenges Face Advanced Economies.
Exclusive: Manipulation Standard Needs to Change - CFTC Commissioner Chilton tells Kitco News - Kitco News, Mar 23 2010 6:05PM
Think Outside the Box: Maverick Investing in the Age of Obamanomics Part 3
Fannie/Freddie's Messy Govt Ties Tough to Cut- Reuters
States Are Canaries in the Fiscal Coal Mine- RealClearMarkets
PIMCO Bets on Asia as US, EU Risk "Policy Mistakes"- Bloomberg
Shlaes: Obamacare Cost Makes Us Sing the Blues- Bloomberg
IRS to Enforce Health Reform- CNS
Microcosm of Housing Crisis on an Arizona Street- NY Times
Average US County Was Economically Stressed in Jan- Hartford Courant
Agora Financial's Five-Minute Forecast
Court Says Fed Must Disclose Bank Bailout Records
A Salon opinion piece by Gene Lyons: It's Time for Wall Street to Pay
Spain Approves Bill to Overhaul Economy as Jobless Rate Hits 20%
Stiglitz: Fed Stimulus Withdrawal to Hurt Economy
Tuesday, 23 Mar 2010 01:38 PM
Article Font Size
By: Forrest Jones
The Federal Reserve’s decision to allow mortgage-debt purchase programs to end this month could drive up home-loan rates and worsen the housing crisis, says Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz.The Federal Reserve said it will end one of its main support programs for the U.S. economy — purchases of $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities, according to Fox News. That, Stiglitz says, is a bad idea at this time.“The withdrawal of the support risks increasing the interest rate, increasing the number of foreclosures and exacerbating the strain, the stress, that American families are already facing,” Stiglitz tells Bloomberg. The decision will lead to greater foreclosures, and bank failures for this year will exceed 2009 and 2008 totals, he said.One of the biggest threats to the global economy is if central banks start yanking stimulus money out too early due to “irrational” fears among investors that inflation is going to be a problem.Consumer demand, Stiglitz says, isn't strong enough to fuel inflation rates.Nevertheless, the Fed's decision to stop buying mortgage-backed securities comes at the same time when the monetary authority decided to keep interest rates at nearly zero percent.Marvin Goodfriend, a former research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, says the Fed is basically conducting an experiment with its decision to stop buying mortgage securities. “It would like private money to come back into the mortgage market, but if the interest-rate spread on mortgages over government securities that is needed to bring private money back is too high, it could impede the recovery of the housing market,” Goodfriend says.
"Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think." - Thomas A. Edison
Fox News Poll: Most voters think economy may fail, and majorities don't think leaders have ideas to fix it PDF
Wall Street Journal article: Public Pension Deficits Are Worse Than You Think
Reader S.M. sent us some
some more evidence that the US is slipping towards the edge of a bond rating downgrade by Moody's: Obama Pays More Than Buffett as U.S. Risks AAA Rating. Also, further economic difficulties with managing growing public debt: Lipsky Says ‘Acute’ Debt Challenges Face Advanced Economies.
Exclusive: Manipulation Standard Needs to Change - CFTC Commissioner Chilton tells Kitco News - Kitco News, Mar 23 2010 6:05PM
Think Outside the Box: Maverick Investing in the Age of Obamanomics Part 3
Fannie/Freddie's Messy Govt Ties Tough to Cut- Reuters
States Are Canaries in the Fiscal Coal Mine- RealClearMarkets
PIMCO Bets on Asia as US, EU Risk "Policy Mistakes"- Bloomberg
Shlaes: Obamacare Cost Makes Us Sing the Blues- Bloomberg
IRS to Enforce Health Reform- CNS
Microcosm of Housing Crisis on an Arizona Street- NY Times
Average US County Was Economically Stressed in Jan- Hartford Courant
Agora Financial's Five-Minute Forecast
Court Says Fed Must Disclose Bank Bailout Records
A Salon opinion piece by Gene Lyons: It's Time for Wall Street to Pay
Spain Approves Bill to Overhaul Economy as Jobless Rate Hits 20%
Stiglitz: Fed Stimulus Withdrawal to Hurt Economy
Tuesday, 23 Mar 2010 01:38 PM
Article Font Size
By: Forrest Jones
The Federal Reserve’s decision to allow mortgage-debt purchase programs to end this month could drive up home-loan rates and worsen the housing crisis, says Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz.The Federal Reserve said it will end one of its main support programs for the U.S. economy — purchases of $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities, according to Fox News. That, Stiglitz says, is a bad idea at this time.“The withdrawal of the support risks increasing the interest rate, increasing the number of foreclosures and exacerbating the strain, the stress, that American families are already facing,” Stiglitz tells Bloomberg. The decision will lead to greater foreclosures, and bank failures for this year will exceed 2009 and 2008 totals, he said.One of the biggest threats to the global economy is if central banks start yanking stimulus money out too early due to “irrational” fears among investors that inflation is going to be a problem.Consumer demand, Stiglitz says, isn't strong enough to fuel inflation rates.Nevertheless, the Fed's decision to stop buying mortgage-backed securities comes at the same time when the monetary authority decided to keep interest rates at nearly zero percent.Marvin Goodfriend, a former research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, says the Fed is basically conducting an experiment with its decision to stop buying mortgage securities. “It would like private money to come back into the mortgage market, but if the interest-rate spread on mortgages over government securities that is needed to bring private money back is too high, it could impede the recovery of the housing market,” Goodfriend says.
"Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think." - Thomas A. Edison
Monday, March 22, 2010
North Korean finance chief executed for botched currency reform.
North Korea has executed a senior official blamed for currency reforms that damaged the already ailing economy and potentially affected the succession, a news agency in South Korea reported today.
Had Mr Nam-gi done this in the US he would have been rewarded with taxpayer funded bonus and many offers for his book titled, "I’m Doing God’s Work".
Source: guardian.co.uk
More…
In The News Today Posted: Mar 22 2010 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: March 22, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Filed under: In The News
Dear CIGAs,
I am preparing to leave for Tanzania today. Please consider these thoughts as I will be in the air for nearly 19 hours.
There is NO way the debt disaster is going away. There is no way that the US dollar is a store house of value.
The US and Great Britain have the most serious debt problems and it is still growing. Gold will trade at $1650 and above. According to Martin the action of the gold price is a perfect setup cycle wise for a major April – October rally.
Seasonality does not now exist in gold, but it does exist in gold trader’s minds.
Lipsky Says Debt Challenges Face Advanced Economies (Update1) By Joyce Koh
March 21 (Bloomberg) —
Advanced economies face “acute” challenges in tackling high public debt, and unwinding existing stimulus measures will not come close to bringing deficits back to prudent levels, said John Lipsky, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
All G7 countries, except Canada and Germany, will have debt-to-GDP ratios close to or exceeding 100 percent by 2014, Lipsky said in a speech today at the China Development Forum in Beijing. Already this year, the average ratio in advanced economies is expected to reach the levels seen in 1950, after World War II, he said. The government debt ratio in some emerging market nations had also reached a “worrisome level.”
“This surge in government debt is occurring at a time when pressure from rising health and pension spending is building up,” Lipsky said. Stimulus measures account for about one-tenth of the projected debt increase, and rolling them back won’t be enough to bring deficits and debt ratios back to prudent levels.
Rising public debt could lead governments to seek to eliminate it through inflation or even default if they fail to carry out fiscal measures in time, Mohamed A. El-Erian, co-chief investment officer at Pacific Investment Management Co. warned earlier this month. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of “The Black Swan,” a book arguing that unforeseen events can roil markets, said March 12 he is concerned about hyperinflation as governments around the world take on more debt and print money.
More…
IMF: Debt Situation "Grim" for Wealthy States- NY Times
Here is a real Economic Indicator: Box makers wait for signal of economic growth
Stocks Fall on Worries Regarding Greek Debt Return
The Four Cities that Best Weathered the Recession (As if the "recession" were in the past?)
Germany and France Split Over Solution to Greek Debt Problem
When Credit Falls and Equities Rise, Stock Investors Beware
Bernanke Suddenly Worried about "Too Big To Fail"- Dow Jones
New US Tax Laws Push Out Foreign Banks- SwissInfo
Don't worry be happy...The resession is over right...Really...
Unemployment Soars in US Metro Areas- Reuters
US MBA Grads Flocking to Asia for Jobs- MSNBC
Study: Shopping Rules Have Changed for Americans- Charleston Post and Courier
Sunday, March 21, 2010
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." Were freaking DOOMED...
News from Idaho and South Carolina: Idaho's plan to downgrade the dollar.
Veteran analyst Jim Rogers talks about the world’s financial woe: Another recession ahead. It was nice of him to use the more kind term for it.
In Feburary OUR true inflation rate was 9.2 % for one freaking month...
Food prices push Indian inflation up to 9.9 percent
"Wall Street" Sequel an Omen of US Collapse
To Fill Budget Gaps, "Stealth" Taxes are Creeping Up
Strategic Defaults are Soaring in California, and Now they Might Really Explode
Rebellion in America heats up as fifth state exempts guns. We also read in The New York Times: States’ Rights Is Rallying Cry for Lawmakers.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
One way or another Greece and all the states of the USA will be bailed out.
In the final analysis all these potential bankrupts can say bailout or anarchy.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
If health care bill passes tomorrow... 3-21-2010 will be remembered as the day America Died.
How Can Anyone Claim that the Housing Crisis is Over When the Delinquency Rate on U.S. Mortgages Continues to Explode at an Exponential Rate?
an interesting graph on debt figures in the U.S.. Per capita debt almost $41,000 per person, and rising about $20 per day.
Regulators shut 7 banks in 5 states; 37 in 2010
article from the Philippines, wherein the government pleads with its citizenry to spend their coins back into circulation, to co-mingle with the new debased steel slugs. JWR's Comment: People aren't that naive. I think that they'll wisely keep their real coins at home. This is a foretaste of things to come here in the States, once inflation kicks in.
Will Your State Ban Employer Credit Checks?
Wachovia Settles Money Laundering Case for $160 Million
Economic Mixed Bag: No Inflation But Little Hiring
Psychopaths' Brains Wired to Seek Rewards, No Matter the Consequences. (Thankfully, only 1% of the population is psychopathic, and perhaps 4% is sociopathic. But taken together, that is around 15 million people in the United States. Got ammo?)
How Can Anyone Claim that the Housing Crisis is Over When the Delinquency Rate on U.S. Mortgages Continues to Explode at an Exponential Rate?
an interesting graph on debt figures in the U.S.. Per capita debt almost $41,000 per person, and rising about $20 per day.
Regulators shut 7 banks in 5 states; 37 in 2010
article from the Philippines, wherein the government pleads with its citizenry to spend their coins back into circulation, to co-mingle with the new debased steel slugs. JWR's Comment: People aren't that naive. I think that they'll wisely keep their real coins at home. This is a foretaste of things to come here in the States, once inflation kicks in.
Will Your State Ban Employer Credit Checks?
Wachovia Settles Money Laundering Case for $160 Million
Economic Mixed Bag: No Inflation But Little Hiring
Psychopaths' Brains Wired to Seek Rewards, No Matter the Consequences. (Thankfully, only 1% of the population is psychopathic, and perhaps 4% is sociopathic. But taken together, that is around 15 million people in the United States. Got ammo?)
Friday, March 19, 2010
Goldman: Yuan Poised to Become Reserve Currency- Bloomberg
Dear CIGAs,
Having participated in the 1970s gold bull market, I witnessed overnight money go from under 3% to over 21% as 10 year money went from under 3% to 14 7/8 %. Gold went from under $40 to $887.50.
As such, India raising its interest rate does not seem to be a reason to worry about gold. India’s move and the EU riding a bucking bronco was reason enough for a CRIMEX gold raid.
Relax, you have done everything right.
Jim Sinclair
EU Exports to China as UK, US Sales Shrink- Bloomberg
Canada's 'Loonie' Inches toward Parity with US$- Seattle Times
FDIC: Many Small Banks Dependent on Guarantees- Reuters
Supply of Foreclosed Homes on the Rise Again- Wall Street Journal
This is caused by pure inflation...
Gas Prices Highest since Oct 08, May Pass $3 by Spring- Austin American-Statesman
Derivatives debate splits U.S., European regulators
Roubini Economist: We're Headed For World of Inflation
My Inflation Nightmare
I'll bet you haven't heard this from the main stream media...
Latvia government collapses amid economic crisis
You won't need to wait this long...Inflation for Feburary was an astounding 9.2% for just 1 month...
U.S. Hyperinflation Possible by 2015
Any ideas as to what will happen in cities, when welfare spending is cut...hint: they will RIOT...
Moody's Fears Social Unrest as Triple A States Implement Austerity Plans
Idaho's Plan to Downgrade the Dollar
Hipsters on Food Stamps
Sovereign Debt = Subprime Debt
China Trims Holdings of US Treasury Securities
Social Security: "Here It Comes"
Dear CIGAs,
Having participated in the 1970s gold bull market, I witnessed overnight money go from under 3% to over 21% as 10 year money went from under 3% to 14 7/8 %. Gold went from under $40 to $887.50.
As such, India raising its interest rate does not seem to be a reason to worry about gold. India’s move and the EU riding a bucking bronco was reason enough for a CRIMEX gold raid.
Relax, you have done everything right.
Jim Sinclair
EU Exports to China as UK, US Sales Shrink- Bloomberg
Canada's 'Loonie' Inches toward Parity with US$- Seattle Times
FDIC: Many Small Banks Dependent on Guarantees- Reuters
Supply of Foreclosed Homes on the Rise Again- Wall Street Journal
This is caused by pure inflation...
Gas Prices Highest since Oct 08, May Pass $3 by Spring- Austin American-Statesman
Derivatives debate splits U.S., European regulators
Roubini Economist: We're Headed For World of Inflation
My Inflation Nightmare
I'll bet you haven't heard this from the main stream media...
Latvia government collapses amid economic crisis
You won't need to wait this long...Inflation for Feburary was an astounding 9.2% for just 1 month...
U.S. Hyperinflation Possible by 2015
Any ideas as to what will happen in cities, when welfare spending is cut...hint: they will RIOT...
Moody's Fears Social Unrest as Triple A States Implement Austerity Plans
Idaho's Plan to Downgrade the Dollar
Hipsters on Food Stamps
Sovereign Debt = Subprime Debt
China Trims Holdings of US Treasury Securities
Social Security: "Here It Comes"
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Marc Faber: We Have a New Gold Standard
Visualizing US Foreign Debt- Kiplinger
To Fill Budget Gaps, 'Stealth' Taxes Creeping Up- NY Times
You have a choice to make, and you better make it soon.
Eric,
When I guaranteed this would happen in 2005 I was laughed at by the Establishment Intelligencia. Gartman swings both way.
Jim
Central Bank Gold Holdings Expand at Fastest Pace Since 1964 CIGA Eric
Central banks added the most gold to their reserves since 1964 last year amid the longest rally in bullion prices in at least nine decades, data compiled by the World Gold Council show.
“Gold is quietly, at the edge, becoming the world’s second reservable currency, supplanting the euro and rivaling the dollar,” Dennis Gartman, a Suffolk, Virginia-based economist and hedge-fund manager, said in his Gartman Letter today. “The trend shall continue months, if not years, into the future.”
In terms of the message from the markets, I would hardly use the word quietly or second. Turn off the TV and follow the money. Global money has been moving into gold since 2001.
Source: bloomberg.com
More…
Visualizing US Foreign Debt- Kiplinger
To Fill Budget Gaps, 'Stealth' Taxes Creeping Up- NY Times
You have a choice to make, and you better make it soon.
Eric,
When I guaranteed this would happen in 2005 I was laughed at by the Establishment Intelligencia. Gartman swings both way.
Jim
Central Bank Gold Holdings Expand at Fastest Pace Since 1964 CIGA Eric
Central banks added the most gold to their reserves since 1964 last year amid the longest rally in bullion prices in at least nine decades, data compiled by the World Gold Council show.
“Gold is quietly, at the edge, becoming the world’s second reservable currency, supplanting the euro and rivaling the dollar,” Dennis Gartman, a Suffolk, Virginia-based economist and hedge-fund manager, said in his Gartman Letter today. “The trend shall continue months, if not years, into the future.”
In terms of the message from the markets, I would hardly use the word quietly or second. Turn off the TV and follow the money. Global money has been moving into gold since 2001.
Source: bloomberg.com
More…
We are about the same...Britain is ‘four meals away from anarchy’
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
‘Black Swan’ Author Concerned About Hyperinflation
These IDIOTS are about to piss off the only people loaning us money...Haven't they ever heard of NOT biting the hand that feeds them?
Senate May Force Currency War with China- Bloomberg
FACT...WAR STIMULATES THE ECONOMY...Economics 101
A new war will be started...
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The material to lock and load against Iran is in shipment.
Final destination Iran? Exclusive: Rob Edwards Published on 14 Mar 2010
Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.
Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.
Although Diego Garcia is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is used by the US as a military base under an agreement made in 1971. The agreement led to 2,000 native islanders being forcibly evicted to the Seychelles and Mauritius.
The Sunday Herald reported in 2007 that stealth bomber hangers on the island were being equipped to take bunker-buster bombs.
More…
FedEx Chart Means Double-Dip for Economy
Buyers for Puerto Rico Banks? FDIC Has Three Institutions to Sell; Downside Is They May All Need Capital
Construction Unemployment Rate Hits 27.1% as Another 64,000 Construction Workers Lost Jobs in February
Moody's Warns US Debt Could Test Triple-A Rating
Dodd Unveils Sweeping Financial Regulation Plan
More Homeowners Opting for 'Strategic Defaults'- LA Times
Forbes: Fannie & Freddie Are Godzilla & King Kong- Forbes
Gold Rises as US$ Remains on Defensive- MarketWatch
The Lone Dissenter - KC Fed Prez Stands Firm- Wall Street Journal
The most important court case since derivative were invented is coming to a head.
This is not a civil suit. This is a criminal case.
Assuming that the defendants are deemed guilty the civil suits will be a slam dunk. This could cost these entities everything they have and more.
Google this and see how little is said about it.
Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, UBS Are Charged With Fraud By Elisa Martinuzzi and Sonia Sirletti
March 17 (Bloomberg) —
Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG and Hypo Real Estate Holding AG’s Depfa Bank Plc unit were charged with fraud linked to the sale of derivatives to the City of Milan.
Judge Simone Luerti scheduled the trial of the four firms, 11 bankers and two former city officials for May 6, Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said after a hearing in Milan today. The banks allegedly misled the city over swaps that adjusted interest payments on 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of bonds sold in 2005.
Prosecutors across Italy are investigating banks as local and national government agencies face potential losses of 2.5 billion euros on derivatives, lawyers say. The Milan probe may also affect cases as far away as the U.S., where securities firms have faced charges for price-fixing and bid-rigging in the sale of derivatives to municipalities, though not for fraud, according to former regulator Christopher “Kit” Taylor.
“This case could have repercussions over here if the trial showed deliberate intent,” said Taylor, a former executive director of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the national regulator of the municipal-bond market. “What happened in Europe was the continuation of a pattern in the U.S.”
JPMorgan is “vigorously” defending its position against the charges, the New York-based firm said in a statement. “The employees involved in the transactions acted with the highest degree of professionalism and entirely appropriately.”
More…
These IDIOTS are about to piss off the only people loaning us money...Haven't they ever heard of NOT biting the hand that feeds them?
Senate May Force Currency War with China- Bloomberg
FACT...WAR STIMULATES THE ECONOMY...Economics 101
A new war will be started...
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The material to lock and load against Iran is in shipment.
Final destination Iran? Exclusive: Rob Edwards Published on 14 Mar 2010
Hundreds of powerful US “bunker-buster” bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran.
The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.
Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons.
Although Diego Garcia is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is used by the US as a military base under an agreement made in 1971. The agreement led to 2,000 native islanders being forcibly evicted to the Seychelles and Mauritius.
The Sunday Herald reported in 2007 that stealth bomber hangers on the island were being equipped to take bunker-buster bombs.
More…
FedEx Chart Means Double-Dip for Economy
Buyers for Puerto Rico Banks? FDIC Has Three Institutions to Sell; Downside Is They May All Need Capital
Construction Unemployment Rate Hits 27.1% as Another 64,000 Construction Workers Lost Jobs in February
Moody's Warns US Debt Could Test Triple-A Rating
Dodd Unveils Sweeping Financial Regulation Plan
More Homeowners Opting for 'Strategic Defaults'- LA Times
Forbes: Fannie & Freddie Are Godzilla & King Kong- Forbes
Gold Rises as US$ Remains on Defensive- MarketWatch
The Lone Dissenter - KC Fed Prez Stands Firm- Wall Street Journal
The most important court case since derivative were invented is coming to a head.
This is not a civil suit. This is a criminal case.
Assuming that the defendants are deemed guilty the civil suits will be a slam dunk. This could cost these entities everything they have and more.
Google this and see how little is said about it.
Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, UBS Are Charged With Fraud By Elisa Martinuzzi and Sonia Sirletti
March 17 (Bloomberg) —
Deutsche Bank AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., UBS AG and Hypo Real Estate Holding AG’s Depfa Bank Plc unit were charged with fraud linked to the sale of derivatives to the City of Milan.
Judge Simone Luerti scheduled the trial of the four firms, 11 bankers and two former city officials for May 6, Prosecutor Alfredo Robledo said after a hearing in Milan today. The banks allegedly misled the city over swaps that adjusted interest payments on 1.7 billion euros ($2.3 billion) of bonds sold in 2005.
Prosecutors across Italy are investigating banks as local and national government agencies face potential losses of 2.5 billion euros on derivatives, lawyers say. The Milan probe may also affect cases as far away as the U.S., where securities firms have faced charges for price-fixing and bid-rigging in the sale of derivatives to municipalities, though not for fraud, according to former regulator Christopher “Kit” Taylor.
“This case could have repercussions over here if the trial showed deliberate intent,” said Taylor, a former executive director of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, the national regulator of the municipal-bond market. “What happened in Europe was the continuation of a pattern in the U.S.”
JPMorgan is “vigorously” defending its position against the charges, the New York-based firm said in a statement. “The employees involved in the transactions acted with the highest degree of professionalism and entirely appropriately.”
More…
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
House may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it By Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane Washington Post Staff Writers Tuesday, March 16, 2010
After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate’s health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it.
Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The House would vote on a more popular package of fixes to the Senate bill; under the House rule for that vote, passage would signify that lawmakers "deem" the health-care bill to be passed.
The tactic — known as a "self-executing rule" or a "deem and pass" — has been commonly used, although never to pass legislation as momentous as the $875 billion health-care bill. It is one of three options that Pelosi said she is considering for a late-week House vote, but she added that she prefers it because it would politically protect lawmakers who are reluctant to publicly support the measure.
"It’s more insider and process-oriented than most people want to know," the speaker said in a roundtable discussion with bloggers Monday. "But I like it," she said, "because people don’t have to vote on the Senate bill."
Republicans quickly condemned the strategy, framing it as an effort to avoid responsibility for passing the legislation, and some suggested that Pelosi’s plan would be unconstitutional.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
More…
Social Security to start cashing Uncle Sam's IOUs.
Another Record Month of Red Ink: Government Racked Up Record Monthly Deficit of $220 Billion in February.
Is There Gold in Fort Knox?
UK: Another Banking Crisis Looms
Five Lies about the American Economy- Reason
Gold Prices Rise in N.Y. on Demand for Alternative to Currency CIGA Eric
“Gold is a good spot to be parking your money for the time being,’ said Frank Lesh, a trader at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago. “Gold has that flight-to-safety aspect to it. It’s going to hold its value.”
Demand for alternative to currency and flight-to-safety aspects to it. You don’t see that combined with gold to often in printed media. Keep this up and spin that labels gold holders as gold bugs (implied a little crazy and fanatic) get as many laughs as in the past. In the end, gold will go mainstream in terms of demand and general acceptance within the investment community.
Source: businessweek.com
More…
Thoughts For This Morning:
Do you think the present revelations about Lehman are plausible denial for having flushed it?
Do you really believe that Lehman was the only entity to play outside the rules?
Do you think Lehman was attending to all the details and ethics of finance when securitizing mortgages it bought?
Did your mortgage pass through Lehman’s hands?
Do you want to buy the Brooklyn Bridge?
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The criminals stay on the payroll, the victims get thrown out.
OTC derivatives are not a victimless crime.
Pink slips sent to thousands of Calif. teachers By ROBIN HINDERY, Associated Press Writer Monday, March 15, 2010
California’s budget crisis could cost nearly 22,000 teachers their jobs this year.
State school districts had issued 21,905 pink slips to teachers and other school employees by Monday, the legal deadline for districts to send preliminary layoff notices.
Not all the threatened layoffs will be carried out. The final tally depends on the state budget to be adopted for the coming fiscal year.
Last year, 60 percent of the 26,000 teachers who received pink slips ended up losing their jobs.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell expected this year’s actual job losses to be high, given the state’s persistent budget problems and the smaller pool of education stimulus money available from the federal government.
More…
Rich Chinese Channel US Tea Party in Tax Debate- Bloomberg
States Wait for Hand from Rich Uncle Sam- Wall Street Journal
Junk Bond Avalanche Looms for Credit Markets- NY Times
Pelosi Plans to Pass Health Care Bill w/o Vote- Fox News
China, Japan Sell More US Treasuries in Jan- Bloomberg
Moody's: US Debt Could Test AAA Rating- NY Times
Monday, March 15, 2010
Video Interview On Yahoo Finance
posted by HMS at Marc Faber Blog - 11 hours ago
"It's beyond repair - it's too late to avert fiscal disaster" "You have to slowly accumulate some gold" Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and fu...
James,Chris Wood, of CLSA and author of the Greed & Fear newsletter, was recently interviewed on CNBC and stated that the collapse of the Dollar would likely take place within five years. CNBC's Dennis Kneale, however, asserts that the Dollar is "self-healing", so that when the panic begins, "...suddenly people want to go into the Dollar, because the US Government is the most stable government on the planet". I had to rewind, because I couldn't believe what I had just heard.
This is precisely why looking to mainstream news sources as reliable conduits of factual information is so dangerous. If the USgovernment is the most stable government on the planet, then the world is in worse shape than I'd ever imagined. Cheers, - H.H.
British newspaper article: Detroit family homes sell for just $10
CNN Money offers a baker's dozen of articles about America's fiscal disaster.
States Facing Financial Doomsday as Debts Mount
New round of foreclosures threatens housing market
Iceland, the Mouse that Roared.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The dollar is no safe haven.
U.S., U.K. Move Closer to Losing Rating, Moody’s Says (Update1) By Matthew Brown
March 15 (Bloomberg) —
The U.S. and the U.K. have moved “substantially” closer to losing their AAA credit ratings as the cost of servicing their debt rose, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The governments of the two economies must balance bringing down their debt burdens without damaging growth by removing fiscal stimulus too quickly, Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s in London, said in a telephone interview.
Under the ratings company’s so-called baseline scenario, the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K., and will be the biggest spender from 2011 to 2013, Moody’s said today in a report.
“We expect the situation to further deteriorate in terms of the key ratings metrics before they start stabilizing,” Cailleteau said. “This story is not going to stop at the end of the year. There is inertia in the deterioration of credit metrics.”
The pound fell against the dollar and the euro for the first time in three days, depreciating 0.8 percent to $1.5090, while the dollar index snapped a four-day drop, adding 0.3 percent to 90.075.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
There is a rule among thieves that if you steal, do it big enough so you can buy a dream team to get you off.
Click here to watch the video…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
This is but a start. Now the snowball meets gravity.
This is a creative way to cull the gene poll.
Still no money for Prichard pensioners City given two months to figure out payments Updated: Thursday, 11 Mar 2010, 3:12 PM CST Published : Tuesday, 09 Mar 2010, 9:38 PM CST
PRICHARD, Ala. (WALA) –
A bankruptcy court judge has given the City of Prichard two more months to figure out how they will pay retired city workers. Prichard pensioners have gone six months without a pension check.
Prichard is operating under the protection of Title IX Bankruptcy, and for many people, that means no promised pension payments.
After six months with no pay, Prichard pensioners put their faith into the courts. They hoped a judge would force the city to pay some, if not all, of the pension money it owes. However, the bankruptcy court judge said the city is not obligated to pay the retired workers just yet. The judge gave the city two more months to restructure the budget and present it to the courts.
The city got more time, but unfortunately reality has already set in for Bobby Holifield and his family.
"You can’t begin to know the stress of this. My daughter is in college right now, my son just graduated from high school, he wanted to go to college. My daughter had to miss last semester in college and she will have to miss this semester. I can’t afford to pay it. My son wants to go to technical school; I can’t afford to pay for it. It makes me feel like a failure more than anything, when I did my part. I worked 32 years to get my pension. They owe it to me, it’s not something I’m asking them to give me," Holifield said.
More…
Moody's to Fire "Warning Shot" on US AAA Rating- Financial Times
10% of Homeowners Not Paying Mortgages- Washington Post
Banks Face Mark-to-Market Reality- Wall Street Journal
For US Jobless, Time Not Healing Wounds- NY Times
Saving US Water & Sewer Systems Would Be Costly- NY Times
On Friday, Banks Shut in NY, FL, LA; 2010 Total to 30- Associated Press
Retired and Broke: How to Move Forward- Wall Street Journal
"Are you where you want to be if it doesn’t work?" - Novelist Louis L’Amour (1908-1988)
posted by HMS at Marc Faber Blog - 11 hours ago
"It's beyond repair - it's too late to avert fiscal disaster" "You have to slowly accumulate some gold" Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and fu...
James,Chris Wood, of CLSA and author of the Greed & Fear newsletter, was recently interviewed on CNBC and stated that the collapse of the Dollar would likely take place within five years. CNBC's Dennis Kneale, however, asserts that the Dollar is "self-healing", so that when the panic begins, "...suddenly people want to go into the Dollar, because the US Government is the most stable government on the planet". I had to rewind, because I couldn't believe what I had just heard.
This is precisely why looking to mainstream news sources as reliable conduits of factual information is so dangerous. If the USgovernment is the most stable government on the planet, then the world is in worse shape than I'd ever imagined. Cheers, - H.H.
British newspaper article: Detroit family homes sell for just $10
CNN Money offers a baker's dozen of articles about America's fiscal disaster.
States Facing Financial Doomsday as Debts Mount
New round of foreclosures threatens housing market
Iceland, the Mouse that Roared.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The dollar is no safe haven.
U.S., U.K. Move Closer to Losing Rating, Moody’s Says (Update1) By Matthew Brown
March 15 (Bloomberg) —
The U.S. and the U.K. have moved “substantially” closer to losing their AAA credit ratings as the cost of servicing their debt rose, according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The governments of the two economies must balance bringing down their debt burdens without damaging growth by removing fiscal stimulus too quickly, Pierre Cailleteau, managing director of sovereign risk at Moody’s in London, said in a telephone interview.
Under the ratings company’s so-called baseline scenario, the U.S. will spend more on debt service as a percentage of revenue this year than any other top-rated country except the U.K., and will be the biggest spender from 2011 to 2013, Moody’s said today in a report.
“We expect the situation to further deteriorate in terms of the key ratings metrics before they start stabilizing,” Cailleteau said. “This story is not going to stop at the end of the year. There is inertia in the deterioration of credit metrics.”
The pound fell against the dollar and the euro for the first time in three days, depreciating 0.8 percent to $1.5090, while the dollar index snapped a four-day drop, adding 0.3 percent to 90.075.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
There is a rule among thieves that if you steal, do it big enough so you can buy a dream team to get you off.
Click here to watch the video…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
This is but a start. Now the snowball meets gravity.
This is a creative way to cull the gene poll.
Still no money for Prichard pensioners City given two months to figure out payments Updated: Thursday, 11 Mar 2010, 3:12 PM CST Published : Tuesday, 09 Mar 2010, 9:38 PM CST
PRICHARD, Ala. (WALA) –
A bankruptcy court judge has given the City of Prichard two more months to figure out how they will pay retired city workers. Prichard pensioners have gone six months without a pension check.
Prichard is operating under the protection of Title IX Bankruptcy, and for many people, that means no promised pension payments.
After six months with no pay, Prichard pensioners put their faith into the courts. They hoped a judge would force the city to pay some, if not all, of the pension money it owes. However, the bankruptcy court judge said the city is not obligated to pay the retired workers just yet. The judge gave the city two more months to restructure the budget and present it to the courts.
The city got more time, but unfortunately reality has already set in for Bobby Holifield and his family.
"You can’t begin to know the stress of this. My daughter is in college right now, my son just graduated from high school, he wanted to go to college. My daughter had to miss last semester in college and she will have to miss this semester. I can’t afford to pay it. My son wants to go to technical school; I can’t afford to pay for it. It makes me feel like a failure more than anything, when I did my part. I worked 32 years to get my pension. They owe it to me, it’s not something I’m asking them to give me," Holifield said.
More…
Moody's to Fire "Warning Shot" on US AAA Rating- Financial Times
10% of Homeowners Not Paying Mortgages- Washington Post
Banks Face Mark-to-Market Reality- Wall Street Journal
For US Jobless, Time Not Healing Wounds- NY Times
Saving US Water & Sewer Systems Would Be Costly- NY Times
On Friday, Banks Shut in NY, FL, LA; 2010 Total to 30- Associated Press
Retired and Broke: How to Move Forward- Wall Street Journal
"Are you where you want to be if it doesn’t work?" - Novelist Louis L’Amour (1908-1988)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
"They Are Going To Print, Print And Print"
posted by HMS at Marc Faber Blog - 7 hours ago
"When the economy's bad, governments pile up these fiscal deficits and they print money to offset the deleveraging of the private sector, he says. They're going to print and print and print. If the economy...
Why the U.S. can't inflate its way out of debt
It's Going to Implode, Buy Physical Gold Now
Some Tough Love from the editors of Der Spiegel: Built on a Lie; The Fundamental Flaw of Europe's Common Currency
Powerline piece: Buy Gold.
Why Italy Faces a Derivatives Time Bomb
Why California is Doomed
Double Dip is Coming in 2011
Welcome to the United States of Iceland
Big Ax Looming at FDNY: More than 1,000 Layoffs, 62 Fire Companies to be Closed
$2,000/oz. Gold by the End of the Year
States May Hold Onto Tax Refunds for Months
Subprime Lending Crisis: Auto Loans Thrive, Housing Down
Mass School Closures in Near Bankrupt Kansas City, Missouri
Hard Times Turn Coupon Clipping Into the Newest Extreme Sport
Michelle Malkin: Obama’s war on fishing?
posted by HMS at Marc Faber Blog - 7 hours ago
"When the economy's bad, governments pile up these fiscal deficits and they print money to offset the deleveraging of the private sector, he says. They're going to print and print and print. If the economy...
Why the U.S. can't inflate its way out of debt
It's Going to Implode, Buy Physical Gold Now
Some Tough Love from the editors of Der Spiegel: Built on a Lie; The Fundamental Flaw of Europe's Common Currency
Powerline piece: Buy Gold.
Why Italy Faces a Derivatives Time Bomb
Why California is Doomed
Double Dip is Coming in 2011
Welcome to the United States of Iceland
Big Ax Looming at FDNY: More than 1,000 Layoffs, 62 Fire Companies to be Closed
$2,000/oz. Gold by the End of the Year
States May Hold Onto Tax Refunds for Months
Subprime Lending Crisis: Auto Loans Thrive, Housing Down
Mass School Closures in Near Bankrupt Kansas City, Missouri
Hard Times Turn Coupon Clipping Into the Newest Extreme Sport
Michelle Malkin: Obama’s war on fishing?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Faber and Mish: We're Doomed and Washington Can't Do Anything About It
World faces a day of financial reckoning
Canadian dollar likely to trump US greenback: experts.
Four more banks bit the dust in the past couple of days.
US Sales Tax Rates Hit Record High
US Dollar Gains as Rating Agencies Warn on Europe
Toledo, Ohio Likely to Face "Fiscal Emergency"
Robbing The Old to Pay the Rich
Virginia State Police Help The Budget Crunch. This will probably become a nationwide practice.
First Iceland, Next The World
Now who could of saw this coming?
UK: New Credit Crunch Risk as Banks Face Funding Crisis
Wyoming Governor Signs Sovereignty Resolution. This comes on the heels of several recent legislative victories for the Firearms Freedom Act movement, which also has the 10th Amendment at its heart.
World faces a day of financial reckoning
Canadian dollar likely to trump US greenback: experts.
Four more banks bit the dust in the past couple of days.
US Sales Tax Rates Hit Record High
US Dollar Gains as Rating Agencies Warn on Europe
Toledo, Ohio Likely to Face "Fiscal Emergency"
Robbing The Old to Pay the Rich
Virginia State Police Help The Budget Crunch. This will probably become a nationwide practice.
First Iceland, Next The World
Now who could of saw this coming?
UK: New Credit Crunch Risk as Banks Face Funding Crisis
Wyoming Governor Signs Sovereignty Resolution. This comes on the heels of several recent legislative victories for the Firearms Freedom Act movement, which also has the 10th Amendment at its heart.
Friday, March 12, 2010
"Money, when considered as the fruit of many years’ industry, as the reward of labor, sweat and toil, as the widow’s dowry and children’s portion, and as the means of procuring the necessaries and alleviating the afflictions of life, and making old age a scene of rest, has something in it sacred that is not to be sported with, or trusted to the airy bubble of paper currency."
–Thomas Paine
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Commercial loans carried on the books of regional banks are in general not being marked down to a proper value.
When the loan goes bankrupt it can no longer be carried at this false value. This is now starting and in its own way will be many little Lehmans in terms of commercial loans.
The US dollar is no safe haven.
Inflationist likely to be Obama's pick for Fed vice chairman
Over at Zero Hedge, Tyler Durden asks: Is The Federal Reserve Insolvent? (He's warning that monetization is the logical next step. So beware of inflation ahead!)
Doug Casey on Surviving Financial Apocalypse Now
Are Unemployment Benefits No Longer Temporary?
Public Pension Funds are "Going to Vegas"
National Debt to be Higher than White House Forecast, Says CBO
"What our generation has forgotten is that the system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. It is only because the control of the means of production is divided among many people acting independently that nobody has complete power over us, that we as individuals can decide what to do with ourselves. If all it be nominally that of ‘society’ as a whole of that of a dictator, whoever exercises this control has complete power over us."
- Friedrich A. Hayek
–Thomas Paine
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Commercial loans carried on the books of regional banks are in general not being marked down to a proper value.
When the loan goes bankrupt it can no longer be carried at this false value. This is now starting and in its own way will be many little Lehmans in terms of commercial loans.
The US dollar is no safe haven.
Inflationist likely to be Obama's pick for Fed vice chairman
Over at Zero Hedge, Tyler Durden asks: Is The Federal Reserve Insolvent? (He's warning that monetization is the logical next step. So beware of inflation ahead!)
Doug Casey on Surviving Financial Apocalypse Now
Are Unemployment Benefits No Longer Temporary?
Public Pension Funds are "Going to Vegas"
National Debt to be Higher than White House Forecast, Says CBO
"What our generation has forgotten is that the system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. It is only because the control of the means of production is divided among many people acting independently that nobody has complete power over us, that we as individuals can decide what to do with ourselves. If all it be nominally that of ‘society’ as a whole of that of a dictator, whoever exercises this control has complete power over us."
- Friedrich A. Hayek
Thursday, March 11, 2010
All You Need to Know About Bank Balance-Sheet Fraud
Part Two Of Jim’s King World News Interview Released
In The News Today Posted: Mar 11 2010 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: March 11, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Filed under: In The News
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Few understand that hyperinflation has already occurred in the bailouts and gifts to the financial industry, and the result of this hyperinflation are coming towards us like a freight train.
Maybe you should send this to those that are lost in semantics and therefore will be lost period.
Bernanke’s Dilemma: Hyperinflation and the U.S. Dollar March 10, 2010 Ron Hera
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, faces a Sisyphean task because US banks are experiencing debt deflation and, because lending is now at much lower levels, monetary deflation is encumbering the domestic US economy as existing debts continue to be serviced. Government deficit spending can only offset lower consumer spending to a degree, and the mushrooming debt of the US government raises the question of whether the US can repay or roll over its debt obligations, given that tax receipts are likely to fall.
Despite deflationary pressure, the value of the US dollar is in a downtrend trend pointing to higher prices for imported goods and energy. Devaluing the US dollar will reduce the value of debts in real terms, thus it can make debt levels sustainable, but higher prices will exacerbate debt defaults, worsening the condition of US banks. Mr. Bernanke’s dilemma is how to salvage the balance sheets of US banks without sparking high inflation or unleashing hyperinflation.
Where the US dollar is concerned, opinions on hyperinflation range from the view that hyperinflation of the world reserve currency is impossible in principle (because, for example, the values of other currencies are linked to that of the US dollar), to the view that hyperinflation of the US dollar has already happened and that all that remains are the consequences.
The two most widely accepted theories of hyperinflation are the monetary model, where a positive feedback cycle is caused by a disproportionate increase in the velocity of money as a consequence of increasing the money supply too quickly, and the confidence model, where the monetary authority issuing a given currency is perceived to be insolvent or no longer legitimate.
The view that hyperinflation is the inevitable result of a central bank issuing too much money or of a government taking on too much debt, while correct, both states the obvious and presupposes that some previously known or predictable limit is reached. The ability to service debt is one such measure, but the value of a debt in real terms depends on the value of the currency.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Is there any question about that having occurred?
Mess with a Connecticut Yankee and there will be payback.
Connecticut gets moody over false ratings. Connecticut’s attorney general is suing Moody’s (MCO) and S&P (MHP) over their ratings of risky investments. AG Richard Blumenthal claims the firms "violated public trust" by knowingly providing false ratings on investments that subsequently pushed the country into a recession. Blumenthal is seeking penalties and fines that could total hundreds of millions of dollars.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Knowing the efficiency of government management of financial entities, can you imagine how many seniors that do not owe anything on loans will find the social security check garnered or non-existent?
Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors by Ellen E. Schultz Monday, March 8, 2010
A little–noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old.
Social Security benefits are off–limits to creditors, such as credit–card companies and banks. But the U.S. can collect debts to federal agencies by "offsetting," or withholding Social Security and disability payments.
The Treasury currently withholds benefits of 3.1 million Social Security recipients to recover defaulted student–, farm– and small–business loans, unpaid income taxes, amounts veterans owe for health care, and other debts to the government.
Previously, the U.S. hasn’t been able to withhold Social Security payments to recover most debts delinquent for more than ten years.
But a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill lifted the ten–year statute of limitations on the government’s ability to withhold Social Security benefits in collecting debts other than student loans—for which the statute of limitations was lifted in 1997—and income taxes, where the limit remains 10 years.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The snowball is rolling down hill and will obliterate December’s promised Jobless Economic Recovery.
Big ax looming at the FDNY: Threat of 1,000 layoffs, closing of 62 fire companies
BY Jonathan Lemire DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, March 11th 2010, 4:00 AM
The FDNY is bracing for doomsday.
The department will be forced to close a staggering 62 fire companies and lay off more than 1,000 firefighters if the bad-news state budget becomes reality, Commissioner Salvatore Cassano told the City Council Wednesday.
"We would be very, very taxed," warned a grim-faced Cassano. "Our operations would be impacted and every neighborhood in this city would feel the effect."
Even if lawmakers in Albany – already facing an April 1 deadline and a $9 billion budget gap – find a way to pump in more cash, the city’s fiscal woes may still force the FDNY to shutter 20 companies, Cassano warned.
"We’re going to try not to close a single company or a single firehouse," Cassano told the Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee, "but if we have to, we will."
Sixteen fire companies were set to close last year until the Council restored funding for an extra 12 months.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
It would be quite wise to use the resources given here to see if your bank is on the list.
List of banks under stress keeps growing Check the financial health of your financial institution with BankTracker By Bill Dedman updated 5:45 a.m. MT, Wed., March. 10, 2010
The number of banks with risky levels of bad loans rose only slightly in the last quarter of 2009, partly because the FDIC closed so many failing banks, according to federal data analyzed by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University in Washington.
Four ways to check your financial institution:
Look up any bank in the BankTracker.
Look up any credit union.
Check the list of the 400 largest banks.
Check the banks with the highest levels of bad loans.
A total of 389 banks had “troubled asset ratios” above 100 at the end of December, up slightly from 369 banks in September, according to the analysis. A ratio above 100 means a bank had more troubled loans than money set aside to cover potential losses.
The FDIC closed 140 failed banks in 2009, including 45 in the fourth quarter alone. Nearly all had very high levels of bad loans.
The new analysis relies on information reported by banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as of Dec. 31. Journalists at American University calculated each bank’s troubled asset ratio, which compares troubled loans against the bank’s capital and loan loss reserves.
More…
Biggest Question for the Next two Months
Chris Laird
US Ran Up Largest Deficit in History Last Month- Associated Press
Washington Must Ban U.S. Credit Derivatives as Traders Demand Gold.
No Rush to Restructure Fannie/Freddie- Washington Post
Coming to your area very soon...
Kansas City, Facing Bankruptcy, Closing Half Its Schools
US May Lose Billions on GMAC. Where's Exit Strategy?- Wall Street Journal
Commercial Real Estate Owners Beginning To Walk Away From Properties
Cash-Poor Shoppers Sticking to Basics- Forbes
The F.D.I.C. is BANKRUPT...The government will print them ALL the money they need.
ALL the money printed will cause INFLATION...So to hide this, they will STEAL YOUR pension funds and gamble with it...what could possibly go wrong?
Failed Banks May Get Pension-Fund Backing as FDIC Seeks Cash
NY State Gov Has a Bridge to Sell You- Financial Times
Europe Bars Wall Street Banks from Government Bond Sales
Unemployment Tops 20% in 8 CA Counties- LA Times
The $21 Billion Hot Potato
Los Angeles to Pull Investments from Foreclosure-Heavy Financial Firms
Amazon pulls the plug on online business affiliates in Colorado
SPY Volume Back to 2010 Lows as Equity Mutual Funds Run Out of Cash
New welfare program...If they stop paying...10 million unemployed people will riot...
Jobless Aid Bill Passes Key Senate Hurdle
Strike Paralyzes Greece; Protests Turn Violent
Two news items about Nanny State Britannia: Countryside ban for children because mums cannot read maps and hate mud, and Britain May Force Owners to Microchip Dogs to Curb 'Weapon' Pets.
Part Two Of Jim’s King World News Interview Released
In The News Today Posted: Mar 11 2010 By: Jim Sinclair Post Edited: March 11, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Filed under: In The News
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Few understand that hyperinflation has already occurred in the bailouts and gifts to the financial industry, and the result of this hyperinflation are coming towards us like a freight train.
Maybe you should send this to those that are lost in semantics and therefore will be lost period.
Bernanke’s Dilemma: Hyperinflation and the U.S. Dollar March 10, 2010 Ron Hera
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, faces a Sisyphean task because US banks are experiencing debt deflation and, because lending is now at much lower levels, monetary deflation is encumbering the domestic US economy as existing debts continue to be serviced. Government deficit spending can only offset lower consumer spending to a degree, and the mushrooming debt of the US government raises the question of whether the US can repay or roll over its debt obligations, given that tax receipts are likely to fall.
Despite deflationary pressure, the value of the US dollar is in a downtrend trend pointing to higher prices for imported goods and energy. Devaluing the US dollar will reduce the value of debts in real terms, thus it can make debt levels sustainable, but higher prices will exacerbate debt defaults, worsening the condition of US banks. Mr. Bernanke’s dilemma is how to salvage the balance sheets of US banks without sparking high inflation or unleashing hyperinflation.
Where the US dollar is concerned, opinions on hyperinflation range from the view that hyperinflation of the world reserve currency is impossible in principle (because, for example, the values of other currencies are linked to that of the US dollar), to the view that hyperinflation of the US dollar has already happened and that all that remains are the consequences.
The two most widely accepted theories of hyperinflation are the monetary model, where a positive feedback cycle is caused by a disproportionate increase in the velocity of money as a consequence of increasing the money supply too quickly, and the confidence model, where the monetary authority issuing a given currency is perceived to be insolvent or no longer legitimate.
The view that hyperinflation is the inevitable result of a central bank issuing too much money or of a government taking on too much debt, while correct, both states the obvious and presupposes that some previously known or predictable limit is reached. The ability to service debt is one such measure, but the value of a debt in real terms depends on the value of the currency.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Is there any question about that having occurred?
Mess with a Connecticut Yankee and there will be payback.
Connecticut gets moody over false ratings. Connecticut’s attorney general is suing Moody’s (MCO) and S&P (MHP) over their ratings of risky investments. AG Richard Blumenthal claims the firms "violated public trust" by knowingly providing false ratings on investments that subsequently pushed the country into a recession. Blumenthal is seeking penalties and fines that could total hundreds of millions of dollars.
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
Knowing the efficiency of government management of financial entities, can you imagine how many seniors that do not owe anything on loans will find the social security check garnered or non-existent?
Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors by Ellen E. Schultz Monday, March 8, 2010
A little–noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old.
Social Security benefits are off–limits to creditors, such as credit–card companies and banks. But the U.S. can collect debts to federal agencies by "offsetting," or withholding Social Security and disability payments.
The Treasury currently withholds benefits of 3.1 million Social Security recipients to recover defaulted student–, farm– and small–business loans, unpaid income taxes, amounts veterans owe for health care, and other debts to the government.
Previously, the U.S. hasn’t been able to withhold Social Security payments to recover most debts delinquent for more than ten years.
But a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill lifted the ten–year statute of limitations on the government’s ability to withhold Social Security benefits in collecting debts other than student loans—for which the statute of limitations was lifted in 1997—and income taxes, where the limit remains 10 years.
More…
Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
The snowball is rolling down hill and will obliterate December’s promised Jobless Economic Recovery.
Big ax looming at the FDNY: Threat of 1,000 layoffs, closing of 62 fire companies
BY Jonathan Lemire DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Thursday, March 11th 2010, 4:00 AM
The FDNY is bracing for doomsday.
The department will be forced to close a staggering 62 fire companies and lay off more than 1,000 firefighters if the bad-news state budget becomes reality, Commissioner Salvatore Cassano told the City Council Wednesday.
"We would be very, very taxed," warned a grim-faced Cassano. "Our operations would be impacted and every neighborhood in this city would feel the effect."
Even if lawmakers in Albany – already facing an April 1 deadline and a $9 billion budget gap – find a way to pump in more cash, the city’s fiscal woes may still force the FDNY to shutter 20 companies, Cassano warned.
"We’re going to try not to close a single company or a single firehouse," Cassano told the Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee, "but if we have to, we will."
Sixteen fire companies were set to close last year until the Council restored funding for an extra 12 months.
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Jim Sinclair’s Commentary
It would be quite wise to use the resources given here to see if your bank is on the list.
List of banks under stress keeps growing Check the financial health of your financial institution with BankTracker By Bill Dedman updated 5:45 a.m. MT, Wed., March. 10, 2010
The number of banks with risky levels of bad loans rose only slightly in the last quarter of 2009, partly because the FDIC closed so many failing banks, according to federal data analyzed by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University in Washington.
Four ways to check your financial institution:
Look up any bank in the BankTracker.
Look up any credit union.
Check the list of the 400 largest banks.
Check the banks with the highest levels of bad loans.
A total of 389 banks had “troubled asset ratios” above 100 at the end of December, up slightly from 369 banks in September, according to the analysis. A ratio above 100 means a bank had more troubled loans than money set aside to cover potential losses.
The FDIC closed 140 failed banks in 2009, including 45 in the fourth quarter alone. Nearly all had very high levels of bad loans.
The new analysis relies on information reported by banks to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as of Dec. 31. Journalists at American University calculated each bank’s troubled asset ratio, which compares troubled loans against the bank’s capital and loan loss reserves.
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Biggest Question for the Next two Months
Chris Laird
US Ran Up Largest Deficit in History Last Month- Associated Press
Washington Must Ban U.S. Credit Derivatives as Traders Demand Gold.
No Rush to Restructure Fannie/Freddie- Washington Post
Coming to your area very soon...
Kansas City, Facing Bankruptcy, Closing Half Its Schools
US May Lose Billions on GMAC. Where's Exit Strategy?- Wall Street Journal
Commercial Real Estate Owners Beginning To Walk Away From Properties
Cash-Poor Shoppers Sticking to Basics- Forbes
The F.D.I.C. is BANKRUPT...The government will print them ALL the money they need.
ALL the money printed will cause INFLATION...So to hide this, they will STEAL YOUR pension funds and gamble with it...what could possibly go wrong?
Failed Banks May Get Pension-Fund Backing as FDIC Seeks Cash
NY State Gov Has a Bridge to Sell You- Financial Times
Europe Bars Wall Street Banks from Government Bond Sales
Unemployment Tops 20% in 8 CA Counties- LA Times
The $21 Billion Hot Potato
Los Angeles to Pull Investments from Foreclosure-Heavy Financial Firms
Amazon pulls the plug on online business affiliates in Colorado
SPY Volume Back to 2010 Lows as Equity Mutual Funds Run Out of Cash
New welfare program...If they stop paying...10 million unemployed people will riot...
Jobless Aid Bill Passes Key Senate Hurdle
Strike Paralyzes Greece; Protests Turn Violent
English Town Fills Empty Storefronts with Fake Shops- BBC News
Two news items about Nanny State Britannia: Countryside ban for children because mums cannot read maps and hate mud, and Britain May Force Owners to Microchip Dogs to Curb 'Weapon' Pets.
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