20 Signs That Europe Is Plunging Into A Full-Blown Economic Depression

from End of The American Dream:
An economic nightmare is descending on Europe. With each passing month, the economic numbers across Europe get even worse. At this point it is becoming extremely difficult for anyone to deny that Europe is plunging into a full-blown economic depression. In fact, some parts of Europe are already there. In Spain the overall unemployment rate is over 22 percent, and in Greece one out of every five retail establishments has already been closed down. All over Europe, economic activity is rapidly slowing down, unemployment is skyrocketing and bad debts are unraveling. It isn’t even going to take a default by a nation such as Greece or a collapse of the euro to push Europe into an economic depression. All Europe has to do is to stay on the exact path that it is on right now and it will get there. Normally, European governments would respond to an economic slowdown by increasing government spending. But this time most of them are already drowning in debt. Instead of increasing government spending, most governments in Europe are actually cutting back. All over Europe, national governments are being encouraged to implement even more tax increases and even more budget cuts. The hope is that all of this austerity will help solve the nightmarish sovereign debt crisis that Europe is facing. But unfortunately, all of these tax increases and budget cuts are also going to involve a tremendous amount of economic pain.
Read More @ EndOfTheAmericanDream.com

Davos Post Mortem

And like that, this year's Davos World Economic Forum has come and gone, having achieved nothing except allowing a bunch of representatives of the status quo to feel even more self-righteous and important in the world's biggest annual circle jerk, in which fawning journalists ask the questions their cue cards demand, knowing too well their jobs are on the line if they ask anything even remotely provocative (and with the price of admission in the tens of thousands of dollars, one wonders just how many Excel classes these "journalists" could have taken as an alternative, in order to actually do some original math-based research, yes, shocking concept, to present to their readers instead of merely regurgitating others' talking points). Bloomberg TV has compiled the best video summary of the highly irrelevant soundbites by economists, CEOs and other people of transitory power, who provide absolutely no original insight into anything, and in which ironically it is Mexico's Felipe Calderon who summarizes it best: "we have a timebomb the bomb is in Europe and we are working together to deactivate it before it explodes over all of us." Lastly, we provide a quick glimpse into current and previous guests of Davos to show just how utterly worthless is the "braintrust" of those present.

3 Months After The MF Global Bankruptcy, We Find That $1.2 Billion (Or More) In Client Money Has "Vaporized"

On the three month bankruptcy anniversary of the company whose rehypothecation gimmicks will one day be seen as a harbinger of everything that is  broken with the multi-trillion ponzi system, but not just yet despite loud warnings otherwise, we are getting close to a final verdict of where the $1.2 billion (and possibly more as originally predicted by Zero Hedge - see below) in commingled client money may have gone. Note the use of the passive voice because using the active, as in money that MF Global executives stole from clients, is prohibited in a legal system in which nobody goes to jail for something as modest as $1.2 billion in theft. That verdict? "Vaporized." No really (and yes, in the passive voice of course). From the WSJ: "As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that a "significant amount" of the money could have "vaporized" as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, said a person close to the investigation." Uh huh... Because money simply vaporizes. Which means one of two things: i) the "vaporization" is merely the phrase that so called investigators use to avoid the far more troubling sounding "stolen" as it would imply guilt, something which the former NJ governor and Goldman CEO (and not to mention JP Morgan which most likely was on the receiving end of the $1.2 billion + transaction) will, under guidance from counsel, sternly disagree with, or ii) the capital markets are such an unprecedented and manipulated fraud, that nobody has any clue at any moment, where any client money is, and that any residual capital still "invested" in mythical representations of "assets", which are likely rehypothecated so many times, that not even Bank of America's robosigning division would have a clue where to start unraveling, will promptly be converted into tangible manifestations of capital. So when someone asks what happened to stock market volume, and to investor confidence in the "stock market" feel free to use just that phrase: "it vaporized."

“We Like Ron Paul” – Fox News Focus Group and Fox Five Panel

Beyond SOPA: The Past, Present and Future of Internet Censorship

Exposing Silver Mythology, Part III

In Parts I and II, we were presented with a shocking perspective on the silver market. The principal record-keepers for the silver sector, and the largest single regulator of the silver market both display not only an abysmal level of ignorance concerning the silver market, but the seeming incapacity to even understand basic arithmetic operations.

The result of this display of ineptitude is that the mainstream data and analysis which reaches the market from these official and quasi-official sources has absolutely no basis in reality. It is precisely this sort of vacuous nonsense which is relied upon by mainstream silver bears when they spew their negative drivel.

And one cannot say the words “negative drivel” in connection with precious metals without immediately thinking of Kitco’s Jon Nadler – the man who has gone through a 10+ year bull market for gold without ever once stating that today was a good day to buy it. Apparently his banker biases simply run too deep. Speaking of Nadler’s biases, they were clearly on display in a recent hatchet-job on silver by the Globe & Mail which was so shoddy that it didn’t even rank as good fiction. First the context:

Read More @ BullionBullsCanada.com

Outrageous! The Government Is Giving Out Free Cell Phones And Free Cell Phone Minutes To Welfare Recipients

from The Economic Collapse Blog:
Did you know that the federal government is giving out free cell phones and free cell phone minutes to welfare recipients? It may be hard to believe, but it is true. Right now, there are companies that are running advertisements specifically targeted at low income Americans informing them of the fact that all they have to do is sign up and they can get a free cell phone and hundreds of free cell phone minutes every single month and it will all be paid for by the federal government. Some have referred to this as “The Obama Phone”, but that is not exactly accurate. The outrageous federal programs that are paying for this were initiated before Barack Obama entered the White House. But the fact that welfare recipients have been receiving free cell phones and free cell phone minutes under both the Bush and Obama administrations has been confirmed as being true by Snopes. All of this is paid for by “the federal Universal Service Fund”. That is one of those annoying little taxes that you may have noticed on your phone bill. So what is essentially happening is the federal government is taking money from all of us so that they can provide free cell phone service for welfare recipients every single month.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com

Michael Pento: Gold Shines as West Continues to Destabilize the World

Today Michael Pento told King World News real inflation is running as high as a staggering 9%, and continued inflationary Fed policies are going to wipe out what’s left of the middle class in America. Pento, who founded Pento Portfolio Strategies, said the Fed is creating a bubble which is 10 times greater than the real estate bubble. Pento had this to say about the situation: “The middle class was already on the endangered species list and now it’s moved right to the top of that list. The reason the remnants of the middle class face even more danger is the Fed is now guaranteeing minimum targets of decline in the purchasing power of the dollar each and every year.” Michael Pento continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com

Ron Paul on CNN: “When They Say Nothing Is Off The Table, They’re Even Talking About Nuclear First Strikes”

Guest Post: The Banker Tax

Because our political system is corrupted by corporate lobbyists, it leaves the people with few choices. Those who do not wish for a violent revolution are left with the one alternative of taking control of their own money. Money can be anything two parties in a transaction choose it to be. Precious metals is one good choice. Converting ones savings from Federal Reserve Notes into precious metals is not some kooky survivalist ploy. It is empowering a person to vote against the immoral monetary system. Hoarding food is not a kooky survivalist ploy, it is hedging against an immoral banker tax. We all have the moral obligation not to pay the banker tax. Refuse to deposit your funds into a money center bank. Support efforts to end the Federal Reserve System.

SocGen Answers: "Is Greece Unique?"

Greece is now yesterday's news. The only question is if, and when, Portugal will follow in the Greek footsteps. SocGen explains, answering key "client questions."

Key Events In The Coming Week

In addition to telling everyone to short the euro and go long the dollar (wink) Goldman Sachs is kind enough to summarize what the recurring Eurocentric rumor-based headlines of the coming week will be: "The week ahead starts with the EU Heads of State Summit, where discussions will be focused on finalizing negotiations around the fiscal compact, where we think important progress has been made, not least by allowing individual countries to police each other's budget policies. Attention will also be squarely focused on Greece, where negotiations over PSI continue, in addition to negotiations between the Troika and the government. The IMF mission is scheduled to remain in Athens at least through Friday. The week also brings important bond auctions, starting with Italy on Monday (at 5- and 10-year tenors), followed by France and Spain on Thursday. Outside of Europe, key data include the slew of global PMI's on Wednesday. Consensus sees China's PMI slipping below the 50 threshold in January. We are slightly more cautious than consensus on the ISM, expecting an essentially unchanged reading. The week ends with the all-important nonfarm payroll release. We think nonfarm payroll growth probably slowed somewhat in January given less of a boost from favorable weather and seasonal factors. However, we think the pace of employment growth, combined with weak labor force participation, may still be enough to pull the unemployment rate down a touch."

 Silver: Epic Reversal.






Are Soros, IMF, & World Bank Trying To Scare The Living Daylights Out Of Us?



Fed Says Benchmark Rate To Stay Low Until 2014.



Housing Data Points To Slowdown In Sales



Crude Price Rises On Iran Threat To Stop Oil Sales



Bernanke Says Fed Pondering Further Stimulus.



Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Words this hard could indicate actions soon.

Israel warns time is running out before it launches strike on Iran
Growing body of opinion suggests that Iranian response to an attack would be muted Saturday 28 January 2012
Kim Sengupta
Economic sanctions by the European Union and the United States can only be allowed a limited time period to prevent Iran from attempting to acquire a nuclear arsenal before a military strike must be contemplated, Israeli leaders have declared.
The tough public stance from Tel Aviv comes amid conflicting reports on the readiness of the Israeli military establishment to carry out an attack on Iran.
One account claims that Israel’s security agencies have concluded that the turmoil predicted from a strike, and the likely response from Tehran, has been widely exaggerated. However, a senior British official told The Independent that the hierarchy of the intelligence service, Mossad, and the armed forces continued to have deep trepidation about conflict in the region.
Speaking at the Davos economic summit yesterday, the Israeli Defence Minister, Ehud Barak, yesterday warned that a situation could be rapidly reached when even "surgical" military action could not block the Tehran regime from getting the bomb. "We will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons," following measures such as the recently announced EU oil embargo, he said.
Mr Barak continued, "We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear. It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them".
More…

 

 

In The News Today

January 28, 2012, at 6:22 pm
by Jim Sinclair 

CIGA Ed’s Commentary

Anonymous? What’s he afraid of, getting kicked out of the club?

Hedge Fund Guru Sees Gold Price Soarin
By Jonathan Buck
January 26, 2012, 1:15 PM ET
DAVOS, Switzerland—In the current uncertain environment, one hedge fund guru is in no doubt where investors should put their money – gold.
The fund manager, who wishes to remain anonymous, was unequivocal in his belief and was bullish on the longer-term outlook for the value of the precious metal: “Thousands of dollars per ounce,” he says. “Thousands.”
By the end of 2012, he sees the price of gold at between $2,000 and $3,000 per ounce. Even the bottom end of that range would represent a handsome gain. On the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday, gold was trading at $1,726.10 per ounce.
“Gold is at the intersection of money trends,” says the hedge fund boss. “The only non-fake money is gold.”
The investor says there are lots of ways to get low-risk exposure to gold if there is a sustained loss of confidence.
More…

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