These 100 Analysts Now Say Gold Will Go to $5,000/ oz. – or More!

 

 

Bank Of America's Legal Woes Go Global After Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund Sues For Mortgage Fraud

It was only a matter of time. A few weeks after every money losing firm in the US and the kitchen sink disclosed it would sue Bank of America in an accelerating attempt to salvage something through litigation, the worst case scenario for Brian Moynhian just got real. As of minutes ago, Norway's Government Pension Fund, which is another name for its Sovereign Wealth Fund, has just announced it is suing Bank of America for mortgage fraud. Not only that but it is also going after Countrywide, obviously, but far more importantly, is also suing KPGM, the auditor on the Countrywide transaction, and, drumroll, ole' Agent Orange himself. If US bank analysts were busy quantifying the damages from every bank in the US suing BofA, just wait until the calculation is expanded to included every firm that bought mortgages from Bank of America... ever...in the entire world.

Howard Marks Explains "What's Behind The Downturn"

Oaktree's Howard Marks once again cuts through what he perceives is the market's irrationality to explain what, to him, was the cause of the historic market collapse in early August: "Markets usually do a pretty good job of coping with problems one at a time. When one arises, analysts analyze and investors reach conclusions and calmly adjust their portfolios. But when there’s a confluence of negative events, the markets can become overwhelmed and lose their cool. Things that might be tolerable individually combine into an unfathomable mess whose extent and ramifications seem beyond analysis. Market crises are chaotic, not orderly, and the multiplicity and simultaneity of contributing causes play a big part in making them so. It’s my sense that it was the simultaneous nature of these occurrences – in addition to, or perhaps rather than, their force individually – that rendered the markets so incapable of maintaining their equanimity.Certainly that was the case in early August. For the first time in history, the Dow Industrials either rose or fell by at least 400 points four days in a row... Importantly, we saw the onset of one of those negative feedback loops where intelligence is imputed to market developments. We’re told the falling prices reflect problems lying ahead, and thus investors sell in response to the message being provided by . . . investors who’re selling. Again, I think it was the collective force of these things that convinced people the world was a scary place. What could be worse than the convergence of a number of major worries whose extent, interaction and solution seem beyond comprehension."

"A Time For Choosing"

Earlier today we saw several republican candidates debate at the Ronald Reagan Library, to a general response that can best be described as disenchanted, and at worst: outright ridicule (don't get us wrong - this debate is the funniest thing in prime time entertainment until Obama's "This time Keynesianism will work, I promise" aka "Change you can bereave in" speech tomorrow). So speaking of Ronald Regan we decided we would present to our readers this 30 minute clip from a televised address for the 1964 Goldwater presidential campaign. What is most eerie is that the adverse conditions described by Reagan then are almost identically comparable to those in our current deplorable state, nearly half a century later. What is also just as eerie, although probably not surprising, is that while the GOP debates induced mostly a sense of loathing (either for the self, or others), speeches such as this, which actually force the listener to stop and think, are truly a rarity nowadays. Perhaps America should first ask itself what happened to real leadership and real leaders, those it can be proud of, before it rushes headlong to elect the next one.

Guest Post: Obama's Speech, His Banks, Our Jobs

Before tomorrow's 2012 pre-election speech in which President Obama's vocal elocution will be earnest, and results - to put it mildly - tepid, about about how he could create jobs dammit, if only the Republicans would behave, it's interesting to note who's supporting Obama keep his job. A cursory look at the early stages of his campaign fundraising reveals that the same group of people that benefitted from policies (bi-partisan) that lavished them with cheap money, secret loans, debt guarantees and other forms of perks not available to the average citizen, are backing him for President. Big Time.  And whereas it's true, Obama's most recent poll numbers look as abysmal as any President (save FDR who he will never, ever be) facing a depressed economy and a near double-digit 'official' unemployment rate (worse if you get beneath its massaged surface), this isn't effecting his most important support, the financial kind. To date, Obama's Presidential bid dosh comes largely from - wait for it - the financial sector. Yes, the same sector that screwed the country over, and that, despite some unpleasant lawsuits they will likely settle,  remains as powerful, unrepentant, unaccountable, selfish and Main-Street-destabilizing as before Obama took office. No wonder he's been able to keep Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner by his side - someone has to allay Wall Street concerns that true retribution or meaningful regulatory repercussion will befall them.

Embry covers nearly everything in King World News interview

 

 

Bolivia's central bank will buy domestic gold production to boost reserves

 

 

 

 

You Decide...

I first posted this 11-20-2010...What would happen if the Euro Collapses?

 

Dr. Housing Bubble: The California contradiction – Record high unemployment and highest home prices in the nation.

 

 

Greece: Pensioners turn back to living off the land 

 

 

Stocks Fall Again as Europe's Debt Worries Deepen





Oil Tumbles on Fears of Economic Slump





Service Firms Grew at Slightly Faster Pace





Gold Hits New High as Fear Stalks Financial Markets





All Work and No Pay: The Great Speed-up

 

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