Russia Will Not Reopen: "The Situation Has Been Recognized As An Emergency"

US Welfare State To Run Out Of Cash Sooner Than Hoped For

UPDATE: Added Tim Geithner's ever-positive spin-fest...
Medicare trustees just released their annual report on the program's finances and it does not make for healthy reading. In fact the main headline takeaway is that the social security fund itself will now run dry three years sooner than was projected in 2011. While 2035, the new deadline, seems a long way off, the 5% rise in medicare costs in 2011 should be enough to worry most and perhaps more disturbing is the separate disability program is set to run dry in 2016 (two years earlier than expected) and Medicare is to be depleted by 2014. Headlines via Bloomberg:

• *MEDICARE COSTS RISE 5 PERCENT TO $549 BILLION IN 2011 :UNH US
• *LONG-TERM PROJECTIONS FOR MEDICARE WORSEN, TRUSTEES SAY :UNH US
• *HOSPITALS TO FACE MEDICARE PAYMENT CUTS IN 2024, U.S. SAYS
• *TRUSTEES SAY FUND TO RUN OUT THREE YEARS EARLIER THAN PREDICTED

Europe Slumps To Three-Month Lows As Spain Nears 2009 Lows

As we noted this morning, the perfect 'reality-check' storm hit Europe this morning and with Draghi dismissing hope for more printing and nationalism raising its ugly specter, broad European equity markets made nearly their largest drop in five months. With the BE500 (Europe's S&P 500 equivalent) at three-month lows and Spain's IBEX within a few points of the March 2009 lows, things are becoming critical once again. Spanish yields jumped back over 6% but Italian spreads actually underperformed on the day +14bps vs Spain +12bps as Holland 5Y CDS blew past 130bps to near crisis-peak levels - leaving GDP-weighted European sovereign risk at three-month highs. The LTRO Stigma has broken above 150bps for the first time since before the LTRO as the realization of the implicit subordination of LTRO-encumbered banks is crushing unsecured bond-holders (on average trading at 350bps near four-month wides). EUR-USD basis swaps deteriorated a little remaining near their worst levels in three months but EURUSD remains miraculously just above 1.31 (though almost 100 pips off Friday's close) as repatriation flows are not helping correlation-driven algos in the US anymore.

The Gold Standard Shuffle

Dave in Denver at The Golden Truth - 8 minutes ago

*What we are witnessing is a sea change in which market forces are driving a de facto return to the gold standard. All that is missing for this to be a de jure gold standard is some regulatory and legal recognition and one has been proposed. The Basel Committee for Bank Supervision, the maker of global capital requirements is studying making gold a bank capital Tier 1 asset. *- Professor Lew Spellman, University of Texas from The Spellman Report (link below). The source of that quote is a must-read essay written by Lew Spellman, who is a professor of finance at the University ... more »

 

 

Banking On Fear: Why the Policy of Stuffing the Banks With Money Does Not Help the Real Economy

 

 

Because Currency Wars Are So 2010

There are those who think that Currency Wars are a brand new thing. They are not. More importantly, we now have finally moved on to the real deal:

• EU SAID TO PLAN WTO COMPLAINT AGAINST ARGENTINE IMPORT CURBS - BBG

This perfectly objective and otherwise impartial decision has nothing to do with recent collectivist decisions of what is for the greater good... At least one's greater good that is, which just happens to be the biggest problem with central planning at the global level.

 

Guess The Mystery Chart

So far, so good as far as euphoric stock bubbles are concerned... but now what?

Think The US Student Loan Bubble Is Bad? You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Frankly, by now the topic of US student debt has been discussed to death, and like every other bubble, it will keep growing, as the very fungible proceeds are used to purchase such mission critical "student" addenda as iPads and booze, until it bursts. Yet is it really that bad? And how does it look compared to some other countries' bubbles. Like that of the UK? Courtesy of Bloomberg we now know how a similar bubble is blowing across the Atlantic:  “In this country, we will be on an order of magnitude ahead of the U.S.,” Lampl said in an interview. “We’re loading up these kids with debt. The whole thing is an absolute disgrace.” 

Nigel Farage Batters Barroso But Noyer Self-Deludes On European Crisis Ending

Juxtaposing the market's recent movements, Nigel Farage's 'when-not-if' perspective on the end of the Euro, Weidmann's concerns, and now ECB's Noyer stunning self-delusion that, as Bloomberg notes:

*NOYER SAYS STEPS TO EXIT EURO CRISIS BEGINNING TO BEAR FRUIT
*NOYER: BANK FUNDING, MONEY MARKET CONDITIONS ARE MUCH BETTER
*NOYER: RECENT EXCEPTIONAL STEPS LET BANKS, GOV'TS STRENGTHEN
*WEIDMANN: RENEGOTIATION OF AUSTERITY A 'BLOW TO CREDIBILITY'

is more than some can bear. As Mr.Farage notes, in the face of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Europe, Barroso and his colleague's ever-smiling perspective on the Euro, "look ridiculous". With Spanish yields over 6%, banks trading at near record high levels of funding costs, Italian risk elevating, political event risk becoming critical, and now macro data turning even worse perhaps Noyer's comments that "delaying fiscal consolidation may lead to greater risks" are spot on - and yet nation after nation rises-up votes to 'deny' austerity.

Got Silver and Gold?

Project “End Up Like Japan” Continues To Advance Well In The West

One scene from the movie Titanic depicts a lounge in one of the upper class quarters of the ship as it slowly sinks beneath the waves. Notwithstanding the vessel listing alarmingly, a motley band of toff revelers are determined to go out in the finest style. Some continue to play at cards with a fatalistic resolve while others determinedly quaff spirits direct from the bottle. Having considered for some time the most appropriate metaphor for the current market environment, we think this may be it: one may be doomed, but one can still party on. Having already hit the iceberg, one major problem we see is the common perspective for both investors and the asset management industry to view debt and equity as the entire universe of investor choices available. Having long exhausted the armory of conventional policies to keep the unsustainably indebted show on the road, increasingly desperate politicians are doing increasingly desperate things, be that gifting money to the IMF in a brazen display of fiscal denial that we can ill afford (US, UK) or simply stealing from other sovereigns (Argentina). The ironic triumph of the Keynesians means that, in trying to save the economy, our central bank may end up destroying it completely by means of the printing press; as a consequence, we now get to experience some of the full-on horror of the Japanese malaise.

Gasoline Is Expensive - Deal With It

The White House announced it was getting into the commodities game in an effort to protect consumers from some of the geopolitical factors spilling over into the retail gasoline market. OPEC and the IEA both said in their monthly reports that market perceptions were behind higher energy prices, not physical shortages. High gasoline prices make for angry constituents. That means politicians, especially politicians fighting to keep their paychecks, start pointing their legislative guns at Wall Street almost as soon as the gavel strikes. Apart from the murky waters of economic nuance, however, President Obama said that, no matter what, American commuters need gasoline. Speculation aside, maybe that's the problem. Gasoline is a necessity and that's in part why the debate ensues. Without massive subsidies, gasoline is going to get more expensive no matter what the politicians say. And until commuters move beyond the carbon mindset, that ride to work will continue to be a rough one.

More Secrets on State Surveillance, Part 2 : NSA Whistleblower William Binney

from Democracy Now! :

In part two of our national broadcast exclusive on the growing domestic surveillance state, we speak with National Security Agency whistleblower William Binney, and two targeted Americans: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Laura Poitras, and hacker Jacob Appelbaum, who has volunteered for WikiLeaks and now works with Tor Project, a nonprofit organization that teaches about internet security. Binney left the NSA after the 9/11 attacks over his concerns about the agency’s widespread surveillance of U.S. citizens. He describes how the FBI later raided his home and held him at gunpoint and notes there is still no effective way of monitoring how and what information the NSA is gathering on U.S. citizens, and how that data is being used.

 

Judge Napolitano Last Week: Defending the Constitution & Rule of Law

from RonPaulFriends2:

 

It’s Official & As I Foretold Years Ago, Greece Is Now In A True Depression As Reality Hits Greek Banks

by Reggie Middleton, BoomBustBlog.com:
Roughly two years ago, I penned a piece called How Greece Killed Its Own Banks! It outlined the end result of Greece attempting to hide sparse demand for its debt by forcing its banks to binge on it using excessive leverage. Of course, once you eat too much garbage, you start to stink, and eventually… Well, let’s look at it from a visual perspective.
Greece and the ECB kicked the can down the road for two years, but as fate would have it… Reality rears its ugly head, as exemplified in today’s MSM headline from CNBC: Record Losses at Greek Banks Show Pain of Bond Swap

Greece’s top banks posted historic losses for 2011 on Friday, hit by a bond swap last month that blew holes in their balance sheets and nearly wiped out their capital base.

Together, National, Alpha, Eurobank and Piraeus, posted an aggregate loss of 28.2 billion euros ($37.3 billion), about 10 times their current market worth or 13 percent of the country’s GDP .

Read More @ BoomBustBlog.com

The Future Is Unknown, But We Know the Unsustainable Will Implode

by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds:
There are no apolitical “personal choice” acts; there are only profoundly political
acts of resistance or complicity.
I don’t how the future will unfold, not just because I’m an idiot but because it’s
unknowable. Though we cannot know the future, we do know two very important
things: 1) that which is unsustainable will implode, and
2) the present Status Quo is unsustainable.
That ultimately leaves us with a single question: what are we going to do about it?
In my view, it’s not important that we agree on solutions–agreement would in fact be a
catastrophe, for dissent and decentralization are the essential characteristics of
any sustainable “solution.” What is important is that we realize the future boils down
to a simple choice: do we passively comply with the Status Quo feudalism or do we
resist?
Read More @ OfTwoMinds.com

 

UNCONSTITUTIONAL NIGHTMARE: The TSA ‘Counter-Terrorism’ Bus Program

Police Chief tries to cover up Fourth Amendment violations
by Paul Joseph Watson, Info Wars:
Criminal defense attorney Mark Bennett has slammed the Houston METRO and the TSA for a “counter-terror” exercise that involved cops and TSA agents riding buses as undercover spies, as METRO Police Department Chief Victor Rodriguez denied that random bag searches had taken place despite a post-exercise METRO press release stating bag searches had occurred.

As we reported last week, TSA VIPR agents and undercover police officers were placed on buses in Houston as part of a program labeled BusSafe. Their job was to to perform bag searches, watch for “suspicious activity” and interrogate passengers in order to ‘curb crime and terrorism’.

Unsurprisingly, the expensive drill didn’t turn up any terrorists, it snagged a few prostitutes and drug dealers, but given that the whole idea is to condition Americans to accept TSA goons getting in their face every time they try to travel anywhere, consider it mission accomplished.

However, Attorney Mark Bennett isn’t letting it go lightly, pointing out that using 81 uniformed feds to conduct such a pointless operation at a time when local governments can ill afford it is unforgivable.

“This isn’t about terrorism — they’re not busting terrorists, they’re not finding bombs. And that’s not even what they’re trying to do,” Bennett told ABC 13.

Read More @ InfoWars.com

 

 

UN Seeks New Powers to Remake World at Rio Sustainability Summit

by Alex Newman, The New American:
The United Nations plans to use its upcoming UN Conference on “Sustainable Development” (UN CSD or Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro to amass a vast array of unprecedented new powers and literally re-shape civilization, the global economy, and even peoples’ thoughts, according to official documents. All of it will be done in the name of transitioning toward a so-called “green economy.”
Among the new authorities being sought by the world body are global carbon taxes, wealth redistribution amounting to trillions of dollars per year, and a barrage of programs dealing with everything from poverty and education to health and resource allocation. Virtually no realm of human activity will be unaffected by the scheme, which analysts have described as a “mammoth exercise in global social engineering.”
The global transformation agenda was laid out in a recently published report entitled “Working towards a Balanced and Inclusive Green Economy: A United Nations System-wide Perspective.”
Read More @ TheNewAmerican.com

 

 

Department of Homeland Security buying up enough ammo to wage seven-year war against the American people

by Mike Adams, Natural News:
As we recently reported, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), an agency that says its main purpose now is to thwart “homegrown terrorism,” has awarded a contract to ammunition manufacturer ATK for acquiring 450 million rounds of .40 caliber hollow point ammo.
Many NaturalNews readers may not know this, but “hollow point” ammunition is never purchased for practice or training. This ammunition is purchased for the sole purpose of being used in active fighting. At the same time, it is a violation of the Geneva Convention to use hollow point ammunition on the battle field.
This is crucial to understand. It means the occupying federal government is acquiring this ammunition to be used against the American people. Furthermore, DHS does not fight wars overseas. It is a domestic agency with domestic responsibilities. Its purchase of .40 ammunition is a clear and obvious indication that DHS plans to wage war on the American people.
Read More @ NaturalNews.com

EU Unraveling – Now It’s Holland’s Turn

from The Daily Bell:
The Dutch government’s failure to reach an agreement in talks to achieve tough spending cuts could see ratings agencies cut the country’s prized AAA-rating and nervous investors push up the country’s borrowing costs, and it will also have wider implications for the euro zone as a whole, analysts said on Monday. Prime Minister Mark Rutte will meet the Dutch queen on Monday afternoon to tender the government’s resignation, Dutch broadcaster RTL reported. – CNBC
Dominant Social Theme: This is only to be expected. Wars are not won in a day, and neither will be the battle to save the EU.
Free-Market Analysis: Like some kind of rolling contagion, the insolvency affecting the Southern PIGS is spreading northward toward the supposedly solvent part of the EU.
Now it’s Holland’s turn. We learn that austerity hasn’t been a soft sell in Holland any more than it has been in Greece, Portugal, Spain or Italy. Or Ireland, for that matter.
Read More @ TheDailyBell.com

Is There No Escape from the Euro?

by Philipp Bagus, Mises.org:
As I discussed recently, the costs and risks of maintaining the eurozone system are already immense and rising. So is an exit possible? Intuitively, the exit from the euro should be as easy as the entrance. Joining and leaving the club should be equally simple. Leaving is just undoing what was done before. Indeed, many popular articles discuss the prospects of an exit of countries such as Greece or Germany.[1] However, other voices have rightly argued that there are important exit problems. Some authors even argue that these problems would make an exit from the euro virtually impossible. Thus, Eichengreen (2010) states, “The decision to join the euro area is effectively irreversible.” Similarly, Porter (2010) argues that the large costs of an exit would make it highly unlikely. In the following we address the alleged exit problems.
Read More @ Mises.org

 

Ann Barnhardt Rants: The REPUBLIC IS DEAD. And All The “Rat Bastards” in DC Know Obama Is Not Eligible!

from BirtherReportDotCom :
“These people are the scum of the known universe. There is no hope in Washington DC. You have to understand this.”

 

Thank You

 

 

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