PLEASE JOIN THOUSANDS OF PATRIOTIC CITIZENS FROM ACROSS THE WORLD, IN SENDING BANKERS A CLEAR MESSAGE ON AUGUST 12th...
On August 12th 2010, citizens across the world will be withdrawing $ 500.00 each from their local ATM's...
This action will cause no problems with the financial institutions, but will send a clear message to the Banks...
PLEASE HELP, This is one simple way to have your voice heard, where it will do the most good...
***PLEASE forward this to family and friends.

 

Japan Redux: An Case Study Of The Upcoming U.S. Lost Decade

The Worrying Numbers Behind Underwater Homeowners. A bit of good housing news came in a recent report issued by real estate analytics firm CoreLogic: The number of mortgaged residential properties with negative equity declined slightly to 11.2 million by the end of the first quarter this year, down from 11.3 million at the end of 2009. The bad news: Those 11.2 million loans are 24% of all U.S. mortgages. Add the 2.3 million borrowers who are close to slipping underwater (those with less than 5% equity), and the numbers rise to 13.5 million -- 28% of mortgages.


Fannie Mae Seeks $1.5 Billion From U.S. Treasury After 12th Straight Loss.


It's Official: Social Security System Now in the Red. It finally happened: The nation's Social Security system will pay out more than it takes in this year and next, as aging baby boomers enter retirement. On the plus side, according one estimate, health-care reform should keep Medicare solvent for an extra 12 years.



Growing Alarm Over Deflation Could Be a Buying Opportunity. Some analysts are now worried about falling prices, sending big investors fleeing stocks for safer assets. But earnings are healthy and pockets of strength are emerging, suggesting it's a good time to go against the grain.


The latest from the Dr. Housing Bubble blog: Million dollar California foreclosures – 35 examples of massive upper-tier foreclosures including one home that is underwater by $2.2 million. Santa Monica housing still in a bubble.


Oakland Police: No Money to Respond to Crime The city of Oakland, Calif., has laid off over 10 percent of its police force after failing to negotiate a settlement with the police union — whose members earn an average compensation of $162,000 a year.
“What’s going on in Oakland is an example of a phenomenon being seen across the country: states and cities choosing between providing services to the public or maintaining luxury compensation for public employees,” Josh Barro, the Walter B. Wriston Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, writes for the Real Clear Markets website.
“More often than not, public employee unions have been winning this fight.
As the result of the loss of 80 police officers, Oakland’s police chief says cops will no longer respond to 44 categories of crimes, including grand theft.
“At current levels of compensation, Oakland cannot afford to maintain a police department with 776 employees,” Barro observes. “That’s because total compensation for an OPD employee averages an astounding $162,000 per year. But at a more reasonable level of pay and benefits, Oakland could afford to maintain its force, or even grow it.”
OPD officers finishing training receive a starting salary of up to $90,459, before overtime, plus a health plan worth $15,859 last year — compared to California’s private sector mean of about $9,100 — and a pension contribution equal to 9 percent of their salary and overtime pay.
The generous wage and benefit package was negotiated with the police union two years ago. When layoffs were threatened, the union agreed that officers would begin making contributions to their retirement benefits if the city agreed that there would be no layoffs for three years. The city offered only a one-year pledge, and the union declined the offer.
So police staffing “will be cut in one of California’s most crime-ridden cities,” Barro notes.
“The trouble is that localities have been boxed in by unwise contracts and rigid labor laws,” and no city should have to “say it can’t afford a large enough police force because it has to pay each officer $162,000 per year.”


Dear Free-Market Thinker,
To view today's Daily Bell, click here now.
Exclusive Interview
Bill Bonner on Deleveraging, the Collapse of the Dollar and Rise of a 'Lost Decade'
Sunday, August 08, 2010 – with Ron Holland
The Daily Bell is pleased to present an exclusive interview with Bill Bonner (left). We caught up with Agora Financial's founder, Bill Bonner, at Agora's annual conference in Vancouver, BC. 
Introduction: Since founding Agora Inc. in 1979, Bill Bonner has found success and garnered camaraderie in numerous communities and industries. A man of many talents, his entrepreneurial savvy, unique writings, philanthropic undertakings, and preservationist activities have all been recognized and awarded by some of America's most respected authorities. Along with Addison Wiggin, his friend and colleague, Bill has written two New York Times best-selling books, Financial Reckoning Day and Empire of Debt. Both works have been critically acclaimed internationally. With political journalist Lila Rajiva, he wrote his third New York Times best-selling book, Mobs, Messiahs and Markets, which offers concrete advice on how to avoid the public spectacle of modern finance. Since 1999, Bill has been a daily contributor and the driving force behind The Daily Reckoning. 

Read Interview Now ... 
A brief synopsis:
Daily Bell: So one way or another the economy is continually headed down? 
Bill Bonner: This economy is probably headed down for years. Deleveraging takes a long time. If you have currently, 350% GDP in debt in the US, if you add in the unofficial debt, the unfunded liabilities of the government, you are talking about a debt that reaches beyond 600% of GDP. So, in order to get that debt down to a more reasonable level you have got to pay off and foreclose and default and all that takes a lot of time.
Daily Bell: The Internet has exposed Keynesianism, and shown clearly that it doesn't work, along with many other government policies and plans. Are you worried about government attacks on the Internet as a result?
Bill Bonner: I am not, but maybe I should be. I am just not alert to them. I am more worried about Google attacks on the Internet.
Read More ...
We look forward to hearing your feedback on today's Daily Bell. 
Sincerely, 
The Editors
theDailyBell.com



Here's a graph from reader 'David'.  It's been 'borrowed' from calculatedrisk.com... and dates back to June... but it's still very relevant now.  It's not the percentage decline which is shocking [and about to get worse]... but it's the horizontal axis... "Number of Months After Peak Employment" that's the killer.  As I've said before... I'll be a very old man before this depression breaths its last.