We The Sheeplez- The Coming Economic Collapse.."A Nation Of Sheep Ruled By Wolves" Thomas Jefferson

John Williams – Real Earnings Collapse, Nearly 50% Below 1973

from KingWorldNews:

John Williams, of Shadowstats, has warned that real earnings continue to literally collapse. Also note that the above graph illustrates consumer sentiment still remains below the 2003 market crash levels. Williams’ graphs are excellent depictions of what a collapsed economy truly looks like. They also show why the middle class in the Western world continues to be destroyed. Williams also shocked KWN with his graph showing real earnings tumbling, now nearly 50% below 1973. Here is what Williams had to say: “The latest consumer earnings and credit numbers show ongoing structural deterioration in consumer liquidity. With lack of positive, real (inflation-adjusted) growth in income, there can be no sustainable growth in real personal consumption (71% of GDP).”
John Williams continues @ KingWorldNews.com

The Bernank's Full Unredacted Frontal

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal's Jon Hilsenrath was kind enough to present to the general public some 515 pages of massively redacted Fed transcripts from the oh so very interesting period of 2007-2010, ahead of schedule. Unfortunately those curious to find out the details of just what was going on in that critical period between March 2008 and March 2009 will have to wait another 3 years for the full declassification to take place. That said, digging among the unredacted data, one does find the occasional pearl. Such as the following exchange between CHAIRMAN BERNANKE and the Fed staff, from the October 28-29, 2008 meeting, in the days when AIG was dying, when Lehman had failed, when money markets had frozen and when the end of the world was nigh. Ironically, it is this one unredacted piece of data that pretty much says it all.

I’d like first to do the open market operations, which I hope are not too controversial. [Laughter] (source: page 231 of 513)

And that, as they say, is that.

Professor Obama Gets an F

from Ron Paul:

Last week President Obama made some rather shocking comments at a press conference regarding the Supreme Court’s deliberation on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. His comments belie a grasp of constitutional concepts so lacking that perhaps the University of Chicago Law School should offer a refund to any students “taught” constitutional law by then-Professor Obama!
He said, “Ultimately, I’m confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.” It almost sounds as if he believes the test of constitutionally is whether a majority approves of the bill, as opposed to whether the legislation lies within one of the express powers of the federal government. In fact, the very design of the Constitution, with power split amongst two branches of the legislature which write the laws, an executive who administers the laws, and an independent judiciary which resolves disputes regarding meaning of the laws, was designed to thwart popular will and preserve liberty.
Read More @ Paul.House.gov

Ron Paul REVOLUTION – Lets See The Media Black This Out!

A Return to the Gold Standard, or Gold Behind Currencies – Part 3/5

This is the third part of a five part series on how gold will return to the monetary system globally but not in the form of the defunct Gold Standard.
by Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold Seek:
Return of Gold to an Active Role in the New, Global Monetary System

The questions gold investors have to ask themselves is, “if the days of the dollar are numbered, how will gold be used in the monetary system that follows? Will there be a global monetary system that all nations subscribe to or will the monetary world fragment?” For one thing, we will continue to live in a global world with nations trading amongst each other. To gold investors, such an eventuality –let alone its potential reality—would cause a return to the use of gold as a foundation for any monetary system, but not as a means of exchange, ever again. That journey has already started. Whether in a cooperative or uncooperative world, gold will have to provide international liquidity and facilitate trade between nations in place of the dollar. This will include the U.S. too. The world is headed irrevocably to a multi-currency system with the dollar as one of the world’s leading currencies, but not the sole one. Gold, as always, will have to inspire the trust it once did. It will have to fill the gap left by the world of currencies that occurred when the developed world removed itself from gold and at the same time removed currencies from supplying adequate measures of value.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com

Chris Martenson: "The Trouble With Money"

Recently I was asked by a high school teacher if I had any ideas about why students today seem so apathetic when it comes to engaging with the world around them. I waggishly responded, "Probably because they're smart." In my opinion, we're asking our young adults to step into a story that doesn't make any sense. Sure, we can grow the earth's population to 9 billion (and probably will), and sure, we can extract our natural gas and oil resources as fast as possible, and sure, we can continue to pile on official debts at a staggering pace -- but why are we doing all this? Even more troubling, what do we say to our youth when they ask what role they should play in this story -- a story with a plot line they didn't get to write? So far, the narrative we're asking them to step into sounds a lot like this: Study hard, go to college, maybe graduate school. And when you get out, not only will you be indebted to your education loans and your mortgage, but you'll be asked to help pay back trillions and trillions of debt to cover the decisions of those who came before you. All while operating within a crumbling, substandard infrastructure. Oh, and by the way, the government and corporate sector appear to have no real interest in your long-term future; you're on your own there. Yeah, I happen to think apathy is a perfectly sane response to that story. Thanks, but no thanks. To understand how our national narrative evolved (or, more accurately, devolved) to become so unappealing, we have to take an honest look at money.

Paper to Cash Exchanges Would Be Accompanied By Loud BOOM

Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 42 minutes ago

Agreed. Paper exchanges and their key second derivative markets absorb demand and leverage paper attacks. Watch the spreads between bullion and paper markets swing from one statistical extreme to another before paper attacks to better understand why Jim screams BOOM! Chart: Silver London PM Fixed (SLVL) And SLVL to Silver ETF Ratio ZScores (SLVLSLVR), Monthly Dear Ian: Paper... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

There's No "BS" Like Government "BS"

Dave in Denver at The Golden Truth - 2 hours ago

*The Government reports garbage and the morons in the financial media reports that garbage as hard facts* - Charles Biderman, Trim Tabs Independent Research Mr. Biderman didn't exactly discover plutonium here with this revelation, but he provides excellent analyis of why the Government-released retail sales report this week is a complete farce. Yesterday's retail sales report for March was reported to up strongly led by auto sales. However, as Biderman details in the brief video presentation linked below, the Government numbers on auto sales for March are at an extreme divergenc... more »

Wall Street climbs, boosted by earnings, Spain debt sale

Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 3 hours ago

The blissful charade of headline interpretations never gets old. Wall Street climbs because liquidity lifts all boats, but the boosted earnings is the explanation investors want to read (believe). Headline: Wall Street climbs, boosted by earnings, Spain debt sale NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose at the open on Tuesday, with the Dow industrials climbing as much as 1 percent, as investors... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

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If China Slows Down, Australia Suffers

Admin at Marc Faber Blog - 3 hours ago

If there is a meaningful slowdown in China, then obviously the Australian economy will suffer very badly. - *in abc.net.au* Related, iShares MSCI Australia Index Fund ETF (EWA), iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index ETF (FXI) *Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures markets around the world.*

The Quebec Students Strike

Stolpered

Because no day can be truly complete without a brief comic interlude by everyone's favorite FX strategist...

Bank Of Spain Releases Details Of Additional Capital Needs For Spanish Banks

First we got Italy telling the world quietly it would not meet its deficit target for 2013, and will in fact experience debt/GDP growth in all outer years, and now we get the Bank of Spain, also taking advantage of today's market rally to dump its own set of bad news, namely that Spanish banks will need to provision another €29.1 billion, and will have higher core capital requirements of €15.6 billion (this is fresh capital). 90 banks have already complied with the capital plan, 45 have yet to find the needed cash. Putting this into perspective, the amount already written-down is €9.2 billion. So, just a little more. And this assumes there are no capital shortfalls associated with any impairment from the YPF -> Repsol follow through, which as Zero Hedge already showed, would leave various Spanish banks exposed. In other news, there is one more hour of trading: we suggest every insolvent entity in the world to quickly take advantage of the interim euphoria, as tomorrow may not be so lucky. Of course, in the worst case, Japan will just bail everybody out.

All Transactions To Be Conducted In The Presence Of A Tax Collector"

In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay. The tax 'reforms' of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to starvation and bankruptcy. The state went so far as to chase around widows and children to collect taxes owed. By the 4th century, the Roman economy and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in order to receive public entitlements. At this point, the imperial government was spending the majority of the funds it collected on either the military or public entitlements. For a time, according to historian Joseph Tainter, "those who lived off the treasury were more numerous than those paying into it." Sound familiar?

LTROver

It will come as no surprise that the Spanish 'experiment' with the euro is not going well. Spain now relies more heavily on the ECB than at any time and today's bill auction sums up all that is wrong about our financial markets when an event that absolutely should be expected to be a non-event (a sovereign nation selling a small amount of short-dated debt) becomes a catalyst for algorithmic excess. In perhaps the greatest analogy for today's auction, Micheal Cembalest pronounces "throughout my career, central banks having to buy or finance sovereign debt to avoid a debt crisis was like going to the prom with your sister: there’s something very unnerving about it, even though it looks normal from a distance." It did not take long for the honeymoon following LTRO2 to end and despite today's exuberance, Italian and Spanish equity markets (as well as financial credits) have collapsed as Spain's sovereign risk has skyrocketed. While Spanish bank holdings of Spanish govvies, ECB lending to Spanish banks, and Spanish credit risk are surging so is one other much more worrisome fundamental trend - that of corporate non-performing loans. Dismissing the dichotomous relationship between consumer and residential delinquency calmness relative to unemployment's explosion (much as the market has in its pricing of bank stocks), the JPM CIO remains underweight Europe arguing that while contrarian calls are often the most profitable, this time being underweight European equities is the gift that keeps on giving.

Repsol Demands $10.5 Billion From Argentina (And Argentina's Counteroffer)

Sure enough, just out from the FT: Argentina will not pay Repsol of Spain what it is asking ($10.5bn) in compensation for nationalization of YPF, says deputy economy min
... but will settle for what it ends up getting: nothing. Of course, in the meantime, there will be a lot of kicking and screaming, but that's great: Risk On - Off markets demand distractions. From the FT: "These acts will not go unpunished" said Antonio Brufau, Repsol’s executive chairman during a two-hour press conference on Tuesday, at which he attacked Argentina’s “revisionism” over YPF’s success, and its energy policy over the past decade." Said otherwise, this aggression will not stand, man. Ok, fine. Here is Argentina's counteroffer.

The European North-South Divide Is Exploding

While a lot of time is spent scrubbing through the details and nuance of each and every macro data point, auction result, earnings comment, central-banker hint, and politician's demeanor, from the top-down the imbalances created by the euro between the North and the South are, in Michael Cembalest's opinion, skyrocketing. They are far greater than any that preceded the Euro, even during the bouts of inflation and devaluation which beset the South in prior decades. Nevertheless, the region appears committed to soldiering on with it, despite the costs. These developments are amazing for a project like the Euro, which was designed to harmonize and sustain Europe’s post-war social, political and economic integration.

The Delays Begin: Italy Pushes Back Balanced Budget Target By One Year

As reported last week, and as shown brilliantly by Artemis Capital, the end of every reliquification phase by the Fed, such as the imminent end of Operation Twist with nothing firmly set to replace it, is always accompanied by a surge in vol, which in turn leads to market days like the past week, when market summaries are simple: either it is all Risk On, or Risk Off. Expect many more of these until Twist finally ends in just over two months at which point much more liquidity will be needed to achieve the same "flow" results. It just so happens that today is a risk On day, driven by previously noted "catalyst." Yet what is great about such days is that they allow all the bad news to be packed into a tidy little package and disseminated without anyone noticing, or pretending to notice. Such as the just announced headline from Reuters, which on any other day would have crippled the mood, that "Italy will delay by a year its current plan to balance its budget in 2013, according to a draft forecasting document to be approved by the cabinet on Wednesday." And while we have seen this over and over in the past 2 years, first with Greece, then with all the other PIIGS, it merely exposes the fact that exuberant optimism never pans out in a world in which the real average debt/GDP is what Reinhart and Rogoff would simply call "unsustainable." And while this news will matter once Germany realizes that its precious fiscal pact is already been soundly rejected, first by Spain and now Italy, for now it is but a footnote in the otherwise lacking newsflow: after all Spain managed to issue €2 billion in Bills, which contrary to yesterday, provides that all is again well in Europe. Until Thursday at least when Spain has to issue 10 year bonds, which just happen to mature outside of the LTRO. The narrative then may be somewhat different.

Apple Denies Newton, Back Over $600

Just as with the broad market, Apple is showing the schizophrenic signs of a market caught between two increasingly distinct Known Unknown scenarios. From down over three-standard deviations (most in 6 months) to up over two standard-deviations (most in 3 months) - even as implied vols remain elevated (as realized vol starts to pick up once again), Apple manages to deny gravity (for a day so far) as it has its best up day in over a month.

Guest Post: Mother Nature's Bail Out Coming To An End

The Fed and the Administration should be on their knees and giving thanks for the blessings they have received for the economy over the past 9 months. First, falling oil prices last summer gave individuals an effective $60 billion tax cut. Then during the winter where normally heaters are turned up to stave off the wintery blasts the balmy winter added roughly $30 billion to consumer's wallets due to decreased utility costs. Those impacts gave individuals more dollars to spend and when combined with seasonal adjustments it gave the illusion of a strongly recovering economy. With "Operation Twist" now rapidly coming to an end and the Fed apparently in a trap of rising inflation I am not sure what the next "support" for the economy will be. My expectation continues to be that the economy will continue to run at a sub-par growth rate though the end of 2012 and that we could see a recession by the end of 2012 or by mid-2013. Of course, that is assuming we are boosted by further rounds of artificial intervention by the Fed or Mother Nature.

Best Day In 5 Months As Europe Soars On Second "Bill Issuance" Catalyst In One Week

While many are celebrating the all-clear again as Spain manages to sell Spanish bills to Spanish banks at a huge risk premium to the last time it did the same, it is perhaps not surprising to hear that this was the biggest gain for the broad European equity market since November. What concerns us most is the absolute schizophrenia that the market is undergoing as the swings in European (and for that matter US) markets is extremely reminiscent of the absolute chaos that reigned last summer as markets suddenly flip-flop +/-2 standard deviations. The sad fact is how quickly our memories (or the algos that surround us) forget just last week we saw the same - exact same - euphoric response to Italy managing to sell short-term Italian bills to Italian banks (again at a significant yield premium to their prior attempt) and the mainstream-media's irrational pump that this is somehow important or noteworthy (remember even Greece managed to sell short-dated bills during the middle of its PSI discussions). European equities are back to pre-NFP levels (same as last week) and credit markets have snapped tighter today (just as they did last week as they got squeezed). This time, however, financials are lagging still and the squeeze in credit is not as hard as overall they remain less ebullient than equities. Sovereign spreads are following the same path as last week also, Italy and Spain yields compressed - though we note that they remain (especially Spain) notably wider than last week's rally. Will the rest of the week play out in a similar manner to last week? As longer-dated auctions and financials weigh heavily on risk sentiment?

MUST SHARE: Amazing Speech by a Young 12 Year Old – “Victoria” on The Corrupt Banking System

[Ed. Note: When I say 'The genie is out of the bottle', I mean it. Even kids are waking up. If we throw off the corrupt mockingbird media and corrupt debt-based central banking system, we will be free.]
from ravenise00:

Meet Victoria Grant. When I first saw her speech online a few days ago I knew I wanted to interview this young intelligent Canadian. I gave her an idea of what my questions would be like and she prepared for the interview all on her own in a very short period of time. Victoria is a courageous young warrior for Truth and we can all learn from her example.