U.S. Mint reduces delivery of silver eagles

 

Yikes! NYTimes (online) columnist finds silver price rigging plausible

 

ShadowStats' John Williams Explains Why It's All Been Downhill Since 1973

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2011 10:27 -0500

John Williams says: "If you look at the government’s latest statistics - the poverty survey of 2009, which is the most recent release, with average and median household income adjusted for inflation (and they use a really gimmick low inflation rate with that one) - it shows that not only has household income been falling the last year or two, but it’s below its near-term peak before the 2001 recession. Household income has not recovered above that, and if you use the CPI-U (the usual inflation rate to deflate that by instead of the gimmick one) it shows that household income today is below where it was in 1973. Again, the average household has not been able to keep up here. If income growth is not keeping ahead of inflation, very simply you can’t have consumption growing faster than inflation on a sustainable basis." Government statistics guru John Williams believes the most important economic indicators used by our political leaders in their decison-making - the Consumer Price Index, the unemployment rate, the Gross Domestic Product - are deeply flawed in how they're calculated. Whether these flaws result from letting theory trump reality or by machinating politicians, the result is the same: we are fooling ourselves at our peril. 

 

 

 

What Happens If There Is No QE3? David Rosenberg Responds

 

On Charles Ponzi Day We Celebrate Another All Time Record In Food Stamp Usage

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2011 12:00 -0500

Bernanke's plan to recreate Libya in our own back yard is continuing to work magnificently. It is no surprise that on Charles Ponzi day, the update to food stamp usage indicates that in December those receiving an average of $134 per month has just hit 44.1 million people. These lucky people will soon be able to buy an inflation adjusted 2.3 crumbs of notional bread with this generous handout from the Chairsatan. In other words, America is now the land of the free, home of the brave, of whom 14.3% can't afford to eat, even with all the new jobs created by both the old QE1, Lite and 2, and soon to be 3. Don't forget that according to the Bernank, QE2 has already created 250,000 new jobs... all at the a modest cost of $1.3 million per job. 

 

 

 

Paul Farrell On The 4 Time Bombs That Would "Ignite A Wall Street Revolution"

 

Obama Approves Military Planes In Libya For Evacuation Purposes As Gaddafi Son Says "Bombs Used Only To Frighten Protesters"

 

Luscio Report Finds State Tax Receipts "Losing Momentum" In February

 

Visualizing The Government's Massive Budget Deficit Forecasting Error

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 03/03/2011 14:39 -0500

That government projections are not worth the price of the paper (especially not in today's dis-disinflationary environment) they are printed on is no secret. As Zero Hedge recently demonstrated the margin of error in the most recent budgetary prediction can only be classified as insane. We wrote: "On February 28, 2001 George Bush said this about his 2002 Budget: “It will retire nearly $1 trillion in debt over the next four years.” Instead, US debt, which at that point was $5.7 trillion, rose to $7.7 trillion. $3 trillion rounding error? Also in the same budget, Bush predicted a $5.6 trillion surplus over the next ten years, which would wipe out all of America's debt by 2011. The latest debt figure was $14.1 trillion. A $14.1 trillion rounding error, or a nearly five fold increase in "rounding errors" in a decade." So that's debt, what about budget surplus and/or deficit projections? It's not any prettier. And courtesy of the NYT we can now see this in an easy to comprehend animation. Following the jump readers can see just how endlessly upward biased projections tend to almost without fail deviate with reality (and unemployment rates as well). The best indication: the 2012 projection to the 2008 budget forecast callsed for a surplus. Now we are expecting a massive deficit. So why do we listen to these monkeys with typewriters again?