Gold's Equilibrium Price Is Rising

posted by Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 1 hour ago

Gold's equilibrium price is rising. The movement of capital suggests that 'smart money' knows why. Gold equilibrium without Mainland China Adjustment is $16,679 Federal Debt Held by Foreign & International...

 

 

 

 

Greek Opposition Leader Samaras Says Will Not Agree To Austerity Measures 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2011 11:17 -0400

My big fat Greek.. oh whatever.

• GREECE'S SAMARAS SAYS EU BAILOUT MUST BE RENEGOTIATED
• GREECE'S SAMARAS SAYS GOVERNMENT PLAN IS WRONG
• GREECE'S SAMARAS SAYS WON'T ACCEPT BEING BLACKMAILED
• GREECE'S SAMARAS SAYS NEED TAX RATE REDUCTION FOR GROWTH

Next up: Linda Green signs the Greek agreement to hand over all its assets to the world banker cartel.

Video From The Second "Egyptian Revolution" 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2011 10:50 -0400

A week ago we disclosed that the second Egyptian revolution (because the first one apparently was a dud) was scheduled for May 27. As expected, this is precisely what has happened: "Thousands of Egyptians packed Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday in what organisers called a "second revolution" to push for faster reforms and a speedy trial for ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his former aides. Activists complain of delays in putting Mubarak, his family and members of his ousted regime on trial and that the army has not restored order quickly enough to the country of 80 million. Egyptians are also demanding an end to endemic graft, one of the main grievances that drove thousands of protesters onto the streets in the uprising that began on Jan. 25. "After some 1,000 martyrs ... people do not see any change," said Mustafa Ali Menshawi, a 38-year-old accountant, who was helping marshal crowds flooding into the square." Granted there has been some change: "The only change we see is that the Mubarak metro station has been changed to the Martyrs station," he said." This is happening even as deposed president Hosni Mubarak could face the death penalty as he prepares to face charges of "pre-meditated killing" of protesters during the uprising that ousted him on Feb. 11. Yet the revolution was not a failure for all: in continuation of the tried and true "economic hitman" practice, whereby MNCs land in a country and generously provide it credit, merely to extract its resources, take control of its infrastructure, and subjugate people with unmanageable credit card interest payments, the IMF just announced it will lend $35 billion to Arab countries to "stabilize their economies." Oddly there was no reference to "humanitarian" intervention or doing god's work. 

Greek Political Leaders Meet, Fail To Reach Consensus On Debt Crisis 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2011 09:24 -0400

Reuters reports that following the anticipated meeting of Greek political leaders, absolutely nothing has been achieved, and, dramatic pause, no consensus was reached on the debt crisis. Expect more protests, more violence, more boosts to GDP expectations following Keynesian logic that the greater the destruction the higher the bounce, etc. 

 

 

 

 

Spanish Police Brutality Multiple Choice Time 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2011 09:16 -0400

When is the best time to attack a woman if you are a Spanish policeman?

a) When she is non-threatening

b) When she is defenseless

c) When you are caught on tape

d) Anytime really

e) All of the above

This Spanish upholder of the law has just passed with flying colors: fast forward to 30 seconds in.

Savings Rate Remains At Lowest Since 2008 As Impact From "Squatters' Rent" Increasingly Negligible 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2011 08:53 -0400

Today's Personal Income and Outlays data confirmed that the plight of the US consumer is deteriorating: while Personal Income increased at a 0.4% M/M rate, in line with expectations and flat adjusted for inflation (under 0.1%), Spending missed consensus of 0.5%, instead rising at 0.4%, the same number as predicted by Goldman previously. What is notable is that the "rental income" which as was discussed previously is not remotely based on "rents" but to a big part comes from "squatters rent" or pseudo income as a result of not paying one's mortgage continues to have an increasingly mitigating impact, rising just $3.1 billion in April, following $8.4 billion in March. As expected, the economic "benefits" arising from those who don't pay their mortgage are starting to have an increasingly lesser impact. This is very bad news for the economy, as sooner or later those living rent and mortgage free (even in New York where the average foreclosure process takes 900 days, meaning  2.5 year of mortgage free living) will have to start paying for the roof over their head, which will have a massive impact on disposable income, and will result in a wipeout of one of the best performing sectors to date: consumer discretionary. Lastly, as expected, courtesy of a ramp in Spending in recent months, not offset by Income, the savings rate, which was at 4.9% in April, the same as March, is at the lowest level since October 2010. In other words, even as consumers continue to deleverage as presented in the latest Flow Of Funds report, they are still eating away at whatever savings they have.

The Pain In Spain Comes Mainly In The Form Of A Police Baton 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2011 08:31 -0400

A few weeks ago some rather disturbing scenes of police brutality were caught on tape following that particular day's austerity protest (now a daily occurrence). It now appears that Spain police has learned a thing or two from Greek Policemen especially when it comes to dispersing protesters. Expect these videos showing a violent smackdown of protesters on Barcelona's main Plaça Catalunya, to go viral shortly.

Continuing Equity Outflows Confirm Declining Risk Appetite 

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 05/27/2011 08:20 -0400

After peaking in Q1, retail investment in equity instruments courtesy of ongoing disenchanment with performance continues and as Lipper reports, "for the third week in a row equity fund investors were net redeemers from their accounts, taking out approximately $5.6 billion for the week ended May 25, 2011. The three-week total now stands at -$12.7 billion, the worst figure for this group since August 2010." This follows the latest ICI weekly report which saw a 4th consecutive outflow from domestic equity mutual funds. Which llikely means that as margin account cash continues to drop, margin debt has to offset it. As we disclosed recently, April margin debt grew to a fresh multi year high. Expect this number to grow even more in May, then June, and so forth until the levered beta chase ends in tears. More observations on what Goldman dubs "declining risk apetite" below.