Sunday, March 11, 2012

Saturday, March 10, 2012 – by Ron Holland

Ron Holland
I would also say of Ron Paul -- he doesn't need to win. In his view he is winning already. This is an ideological point he is making. But here's why it's electorally significant – a lot of people, I mean 41 percent in Virginia, only two people on the ballot, still a lot of people voted for Ron Paul. A lot of those voters are portable. They're not Republican – they're not dedicated Republican voters." – Tucker Carlson, Editor, The Daily Caller
It is time for a groundswell of Ron Paul supporters to quietly, respectfully but firmly make their position clear to the mainstream media and the GOP establishment. Simply put, "No Paul on the ticket means no vote for the GOP in November."
The Ron Paul Campaign has the GOP establishment stuck between a rock and a hard place even though they have not won a single state in the primaries to date. Every Paul supporter knows the underhanded tactics used by the Republican leadership at the state and national level as well as the organized smear and news blackout campaign carried out by the mainstream media.
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Michael Pento: Inflation to Rapidly Increase Around the World in 2012

from King World News:

Today Michael Pento told King World News that Europe’s economy is falling off a cliff, along with other parts of the world, as inflation continues to take a toll on global GDP. Pento, who founded Pento Portfolio Strategies, also noted that one of the largest corporations in the world is seeing a global slowdown. This is what Pento had to say about what is taking place: “Back in early 2011, I was one of the few economists to warn that global GDP growth would slow dramatically in the near future and that the emerging market economies would not be immune from that upcoming contraction. My prediction was based on the premise that the then incipient sovereign debt crisis in the developed world would cause the export-driven BRIC economies to stall.”
Michael Pento continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com



Petrodollar Warfare: Why The U.S. Economy Requires Perpetual War

by Jerry Robinson, FTMDaily.com:
Jerry Robinson begins this week’s program with a commentary on the recent shocking exchange between U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions. If you have not yet seen this exchange, you can watch the video below.
Click Here to Listen to the Podcast
Read More @ FTMDaily.com




The Biggest Debt Write-Down In Human History

by David Freedom, TheVictoryReport.org:
In case they didn’t cover it in your weekly programming, the biggest debt write-down in human history occured on 3.9.12.
ISDA Announces a Credit Event Has Occurred

No need to worry, the ISDA, IMF, ECB, US Fed, Euro Zone Leaders and every other Frankenstein group have everything under control. Don’t worry that they changed their minds more times than your wife changes shoes before coming to this “solution.” This time they’re sure. Sure this is going to be a huge benefit to the Greek people. Sure the triggering of CDS’ in no threat to financial institutions and sure overall payouts will be around the $3.2B in net outstanding CDS contracts linked to Greece. And sure the exact level of payouts will be determined on March 19. I am sure not one of these sureties is accurate.
The biggest debt writedown in history, will be followed-up with additional bailout funds being given to the money masters, I mean the poor people of Greece. It’s for the children. IMF head, Christine Lagarde wants to contribute $36.4B from the IMF to the $169B upcoming bailout. Ms. Lagarde says this will be needed to avoid a disorderly default that could be destabilizing. I guess skyrocketing suicide rates and pleas from Greek parents to give their children up for adoption is considered stable. Their oppression reeks of their greed and disgrace.
Read More @ TheVictoryReport.org




Forget ‘Economic Spring’ – Greek Outlook is Stormy

While last week’s debt swap was obviously important, there is still a very real danger of Greece needing yet another bail-out quite soon and eventually leaving the euro.
by Liam Halligan, Telegraph.co.uk:

A couple of weeks ago, I sat on the speakers’ podium during the opening panel of the Euromoney Bond Investors’ Congress in London. Together with leading industry experts, including senior ratings agencies’ officials, we engaged in a detailed discussion of the contentious aspects of the Greek debt debacle and the fate of the eurozone.
The audience was “top drawer; the room packed with 500 of the world’s biggest bond market participants; the combined assets under management measured in the trillions of dollars.
“Who thinks the upcoming Greek bail-out will be the last, drawing a line under the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis?” asked the senior Euromoney staffer chairing the panel. “Put your hands up”.
Delivered with a serious demeanour, this was exactly the right question. So deadly was the inquiry, and so germane, that the mood in the room grew uneasy, barely camouflaged by an outbreak of coughing. Scanning this ultra-influential audience, I saw rows of delegates cowed, keeping their eyes locked forwards but staring down slightly, not daring to look elsewhere.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk




One Way To Contain China

Admin at Marc Faber Blog - 1 hour ago

The Americans and the western powers know very well they cannot contain China economically.... but one way to contain China is to switch on and switch off the oil tap from the Middle East. I happen to think the Middle East will go up in flames. - *in Reuters* *Related, United States Oil Fund ETF (USO)* *Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures markets around the world.*



Clarification on the Recent King World News Interview


Dear CIGAs,

In my interview with Eric King, I was asked what Bert would do in the middle of the conflicting information concerning the ISDA and the size of the situation. My answer was to go flat. You need to recall he was not an off the floor trader, but a market maker type specialist since the time he sat in the window of a gin mill hand signaling his partner trading on the outdoor Curb Exchange which became the American Stock Exchange. He was a businessman and not a gambler. When there was no clear definition of an event he would not accept risk. That does NOT mean sell gold.
In fact Bert held his core personal physical gold position taken in 1968 all the way until 1980. He never sold an ounce of his core position. If he was long or short something was more a matter of what time of day it was since he would be on the right side of his markets, whatever they did. The man traded like a master painted. I am ok, but I do not have his talent. It was rare and unique. It was more an art than a science. He was a born merchant.
Bert, when he retired, lived in Lugano, Switzerland and was a Swiss citizen. He was a guest of the UBS trading department, and spent his retirement trading still. UBS then was the true conservative Swiss banking institution of the grand old tradition. Bert also spoke the language.
One of the nine times he fired me, I asked him why. His answer was simple. He said; "We are in business to make money, not to lose it." It is hard to argue with that. Yes, we drove home together in silence, and ate dinner the same way. Mother was the peace maker. Add to this Mom was an Irish chef. It is no wonder why I still have acid reflux.


In The News Today


Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Now we are up to $79 billion from $3.5 billion.
What tells me this figure has a lot to go on the upside?

Post Greek PSI Deal, We Are Not BULLish Or BEARsh, We Are GORILLAish
The Greek PSI deal is done, deadline passed, the ISDA has called a credit event on bonds that did not voluntary sign up for a 70% plus haircut. However what all the folks in Wall street are doing this weekend are trying to work out how long the queue is outside the door of the ISDA  (the folks who trigger CDS deals) Monday morning coming, to see what debts will be forced to be reported on profit and loss statements.
After the forced accounting standards change back in 2009,a loan need not be written down to its true value until it has been proven [via default] to be worthless. This means bailouts of banks and countries allowed loans to maintain full value on banks balance sheets. The Greek default and soon to follow cascade of loan defaults and more ISDA meetings triggering CDS means that more losses will be printed on Profit and loss statements in the near future. How large this is, will determine what happens to the market starting Monday.
Mark J Grant makes this point in The Eight Hundred Pound Greek Gorilla Enters The Room
Extract..
I expect the ratings agencies to place Greece in “Default” and with their banks following. The markets are “Ho-Humming” and the conversations revolves around “Net” CDS exposure and the write-downs that have already taken place at the European banks. Please recall AIG and what happened with Lehman and what do we find this morning; KA Finanz, the Austrian bad bank, faces $1.32 billion in losses due to their exposure to the Greek CDS contracts according to a Bloomberg article. So now we will wait and see who else is on the hook, who may be seriously impaired, because the Gross number of about $79 billion for Greek CDS is about to enter center stage.
I hold up my hand, “One moment please” as I introduce you to the 800 pound Greek Gorilla that is about to enter the room. Allow me to now present to you the “OTHER” Greek debt that is outstanding and will have to be accounted for as the country defaults. Detailed below are some of the “OTHER” sovereign obligations of the Greek government which have now been submitted to the ISDA and I list some of them below. You will note that there are bank bonds, Hellenic Railway bonds, Urban Transportation bonds et al that are guaranteed by Greece. (RTT Etc etc the list grows)
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Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

According to Forbes the ISDA finally (2:48 pm 03.09.12) used the "D" word.
So much of this is convoluted when you look at the BIS gross figures that I have a strong feeling the drama of the CDSs has a lot further to go. There is an assumption in all the reports that a bond paper market must be equal to, not larger than, the physical bonds issued. That is so far from the way a derivative market works that it is comical.
Check the BIS figures for yourself on gross CDSs outstanding nominal value. You too will see that $3.5 or less makes no sense at all.
Greece was a main target of the bond vigilantes yet the outstanding claims of all the CDS is too small to even consider. In the paper market 2 plus 2 is much higher than 4.
The drama of the CDSs has much further to go

ISDA Says Greece In Default, CDS Will Trigger 3/09/2012 @ 2:51PM
UPDATE 2 (2:48 p.m.): ISDA has now declared that Greece’s restructuring does represent a default, meaning credit default swaps will trigger. Read the statement here.
UPDATE (2:43 p.m.): An ISDA spokesman told Forbes no decision has been reached regarding on whether Greece’s restructuring qualifies as a credit event, which would in turn trigger CDS protection.
A report by Derivatives Intelligence published around 2:00 PM New York time said the ISDA had indeed considered the PSI/debt restructuring deal a credit event.  Their report from the supposed ISDA release, noting the application of collective action clauses had “reduced” bondholders’ ability to receive payments, and that an auction for outstanding CDS would be held March 19.
Kevin Dugan, the journalist who published the initial report, tweeted a picture of the ISDA’s supposed press release.
Greece did it!  The Hellenic Republic executed the highly controversial PSI or debt restructuring deal, getting 85.8% of holders of Greek-law governed bonds and 69% of foreign-law bonds to tender.  All eyes will now fall on the ISDA as the Greek government uses collective action clauses (CACs) to force holders of bonds governed by domestic law to take the debt swap, potentially triggering credit default swaps (CDS).
While Greece hasn’t missed a bond payment yet, it has effectively defaulted by forcing a 74% haircut on those creditors that held out, as Fitch’s calculations in their recent downgrade of Greece’s sovereign rating to “selective default” show.  The question of a Greek default may appear superfluous to some, given the country is relatively small and has been bailed out, but the resolution of the situation will set historical precedents that could take on massive importance if other peripherals, particularly Spain and Italy, face serious financing problems.
More…






Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

More lies and deception are the standard operating practice blessed by the system.

Banks are using government loans to repay TARP Posted by Suzy Khimm at 12:45 PM ET, 03/09/2012
The federal government seems to be on track in recouping the $414 billion in taxpayer money spent under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, with $120.7 billion now outstanding. But it turns out that over 130 bailed-out institutions paid back their TARP money simply by taking out loans from yet another government program, suggesting that the government–and taxpayers–actually haven’t gotten paid back yet.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office, flagged by the Roosevelt Institute’s Matt Stoeller, shows that 40 percent of the 341 institutions that have exited TARP’s biggest single initiative–the $205 billion Capital Purchase Program–simply refinanced their loans through a separate, $30 billion government program known as the Small Business Loan Fund (SBLF below).
(SOURCE: GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE)
The Small Business Loan Fund was part of legislation that passed in September 2010; it closed a year later. Some deemed it to be a flop for having failed to disperse most of its funds, so it was an obvious choice for qualifying TARP banks who still need government loans. But like the original TARP, the Small Business Loan Fund–dubbed “TARP 2.0” by its opponents–wasn’t paid for up front, so its ultimate fiscal impact will depend on if and when banks finally pay their loans back.
That’s not to say that the Capital Purchase Program–or TARP itself–has been a failure. Only 4 percent of institutions left the CPP because they went bankrupt. Twenty-eight more institutions left by refinancing through another part of TARP, Community Development Financial Institutions, which aims to operate in underserved markets. And the Congressional Budget Office still expects the ultimate cost of the bailout to be $34 billion, which is a fraction of what similar interventions cost elsewhere, as Deborah Solomon explains.
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Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

Don’t take this lightly as international settlement is the heart and soul of a reserve currency. The dollar has lost its soul to the demonic banksters and will have a coronary this year. .80 to .82 USDX is where the in the know are selling.

India to make 45% of Iran oil payments in rupees Sat Mar 10, 2012 2:11PM GMT
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Iran and India have signed an agreement regarding Tehran’s oil exports to New Delhi based on which India will pay for 45 percent of its crude imports in rupees.
During an official visit to Iran on Saturday, head of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations Rafeeq Ahmed announced that the two sides had reached an agreement on oil payments.
He added that India currently imports USD 9 billion in Iranian oil and USD 2 billion worth of goods and exports about USD 2.7 billion worth of goods.
A 70-member Indian delegation arrived in Tehran on Saturday for a five-day visit to discuss expanding trade relations between the two countries.
Mohammad Mehdi Rasekh, the secretary general of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce, also addressed the delegation in the meeting, urging the two sides to boost trade ties.
"There are many capabilities in India that we need them in Iran for example in the fields of food industry, metals, car spares, and automobiles, and in return Iran has capabilities that India needs them in plastic material, polymers and chemicals," Rasekh said.
India’s increasing interest in expanding trade ties with Iran comes after Western states imposed sanctions against Iran’s oil and financial sectors and seek to pressure other countries to follow suit.
More…






Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

It might not be this week or this bond issue, but Harrisburg is toast.
This is a trickle becoming a torrent.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Set to Default on $5.27 Million GO Bond Payments By Romy Varghese – Mar 9, 2012 3:49 PM ET
The city, carrying a debt load of more than five times its general-fund budget, will miss $5.27 million in bond payments due March 15 on $51.5 million of bonds issued in 1997, according to a notice its receiver posted on the Electronic Municipal Market Access system, a database for filings by debt issuers.
A welcome sign stands in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Photographer: Paul Taggart/Bloomberg
The default is the latest for the $3.7 trillion municipal market, which has seen the number grow while remaining rare. The rate of U.S. municipal-bond defaults doubled to 5.5 a year in 2010 and 2011, from 2.7 in the previous 39 years, Moody’s Investors Service said this week in a report. Stockton, California, last month voted to default on some of its bonds.
“It’s a worrisome trend if it becomes more commonplace” for communities to expect bond insurers to pick up debt payments, said Alan Schankel, director of fixed-income research at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. Municipal issuers may become increasingly willing to default even if there is no insurance for bondholders, he said.
“If it’s OK to hurt the bond insurer, is it OK to hurt bond holders?” Schankel said.
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Jordan Trendsman Interview March 9 2012

from WallStForMainSt:
In this approximately 30 minute interview, Jason Burack of Wall St for Main St, LLC interviews CMT (Chartered Market Technician) and editor of The Daily Gold newsletter and website, Jordan “Trendsman” Roy-Byrne. Jordan talks about if he thinks the major indexes are having a bear market rally/dead cat bounce/sucker’s rally or if Ben Bernanke has financially engineered a new nominal bull market with cheap money and stimulus after the market crash in 2009. Jordan also talks about his technical and fundamental views of the oil market as well as Gold and Silver. Jordan also gives us his opinion on where Gold is heading along with the mining stocks.




Tens of Thousands of Bahraini Protesters Occupy Four-Lane Highway

from Los Angeles Times:

Every day on World Now, we choose a striking photo from around the globe. Today we selected this shot from Bahrain, where tens of thousands of people filled a four-lane highway outside Manama to protest for reform. This shot from above shows the scope of the Friday demonstration.
The massive march was a rebuke to Bahraini leaders who have claimed the protests are sputtering out. Bahrain, an island monarchy near Saudi Arabia, has faced more than a year of demonstrations urging greater democracy and an end to discrimination against Shiites in the Sunni Muslim state.
Human rights groups say the Bahraini government cracked down on dissenters last year with arrests, torture and disproportionate punishments in new military courts. Although the government created an independent commission to investigate the allegations, activists say it hasn’t followed through on its recommendations, continuing to hold unjust trials and cracking down on protesters.
Read More @ LATimes.com




Judge Napolitano This Week




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