Wednesday, June 20, 2012


The Chart That Scares The "1%" The Most

Capitalists have been gripped by 'systemic fear' making them worry not about the day-to-day movements of growth, employment, and profit, but about 'losing their grip'. An interesting recent article by the Real-World Economics Review on the Asymptotes of Power focuses on the fact that the capitalists are forced to realize that their system may not be eternal, and that it may not survive in its current form. The authors fear that, peering into the future, the '1%' realize that in order to maintain (or further increase) their distributional power (their net profit share of national income - which hovers at record highs) they will have to unleash even greater doses of social 'violence' on the lower classes. The high level of force already being applied makes them increasingly fearful of the backlash they are about to receive (think Europe to a lesser extent) and nowhere is this relationship between the wealthy capitalists and social upheaval more evident than in the incredible correlation between the Top 10% share of wealth and the percent of the labor force in prison. In order to have reached the peak level of power it currently enjoys, the ruling class has had to inflict growing threats, sabotage and pain on the underlying population. Although there are no hard and fast rules here, it is doubtful that this massive punishment can be increased much further without highly destabilizing consequences. This crisis is rooted in our past sins and we are unlikely to escape the punishment we justly deserve.




Markets Losing Hope After China PMI Hits 7 Month Low


HSBC's Flash Manufacturing PMI printed at 48.1 - its lowest in 7 months as contraction continues in the world's growth engine - as inventories rise at a faster rate and new export orders plunged at the fastest rate since March 2009. Risk markets were already leaking lower before this but extended losses with ES down 6pts from the close (and over 11 from the day's highs). Treasuries are bleeding a little lower in yield but the real action is an exaggerated slide in WTI (which is rapidly heading towards a sub-$80 handle) and EURUSD which has dropped back to the day's lows around 1.2660. Copper, Gold, and Silver are also sliding lower as AUD weakens (as we suggested last night) back to 1.0150.



Abandoning Ship - The Eurozone Is Failing At An Accelerating Rate


Despite what her officials say publicly, austerity has limited support within the ECB itself, because it is run at the top by neoclassical economists. Instead, the real constraint is Germany, whose citizens’ savings are on the line and which faces the prospect of its third currency collapse in a century. So this is where the lines are drawn up: spendthrifts desperate for more money, a conflicted central bank, and Germany. Angela Merkel has made considerable progress in pushing the German electorate in a direction that is completely against its instincts by playing the political card marked “there is no alternative.” With her considerable political skills, she may be able to push her people some more, but it is becoming increasingly difficult, because everyone in Germany can see that committing real savings to bailing out the spendthrifts only wipes out the savings. These are not euros simply conjured out of thin air, because the Bundesbank cannot print them and probably wouldn’t do so anyway. But the pressure is mounting on her, and she is being squeezed by governments such as the British and the Americans, who are now panicking over the consequences of failure. This is why both countries went public last week, with David Cameron even visiting Merkel in person. It is a sure indication that major governments outside the Eurozone are beginning to expect the worst, and that unless Germany gives way, it will happen quickly.



What’s next…

One of the things that’s really unique about this part of the world is having access to so many people with first-hand experience of living under Soviet rule. It’s a bizarre thing to say, but the stories they have to tell are extraordinary. ast night I had dinner with some friends, including one woman who was just a child at the end of World War II. She explained to me that her family had been wealthy landowners near the capital city… until the Soviet-controlled government came in, confiscated all of their property, and shipped the adults off to Siberia. “There were so many opportunities to leave beforehand,” she explained, ”but they just never thought things would ever get that bad here. Everyone saw what happened in other countries, but my family never expected that it would happen to them.” While most people probably aren’t going to end up in Siberia anytime soon, the lesson is still valuable.



The "American Exceptionalism" Paradigm Is Broken

The revaluation that is underway now is beyond the simple scope of corporate earnings valuations, going to the very core of the system itself.  Just like the equity pricing regime (and investor expectations for equity assets) needs to adjust to the twelve-year-old bear market reality, pricing within the global banking system as a whole needs to adjust to the reality that the artificial growth of the economic textbook is not replicable.  The economic truth of 2012 is that much of the science of economics, and the foundation that gives to finance and financial pricing, was a temporal anomaly befitting only those specific conditions of that bygone era.  In other words, the entire financial world needs to reset itself outside the paradigm of pre-2008.  The secular bear market in US equities is one strand of this changing landscape, perhaps the first stirring of the collapse of the activist central bank experiment. In the end, the potential selling pressure of the dollar shortage is irresistible, no matter how “cheap” stock prices are to earnings, but none of it may matter in the grander scheme of a dramatic reset to the global system.  The inability of that global system to escape this critical state, to simply move beyond crisis and function “normally” again, demonstrates conclusively, in my opinion, the foundational transformation that is still taking place well beyond the stock bear.  Everything is a locked feedback loop of negative pressures in this age, no matter how much we want to see “value” where and how it used to exist. 
Paradigm shifts are rarely orderly, but there are warning signs.


China Has To Buy Commodities

Admin at Jim Rogers Blog - 2 hours ago
China has to buy commodities. They need the stuff and they don’t have it. If you have nickel they’re going to pay you, and pay you on time. - in CNBC Related ETFs: United States Oil Fund LP (ETF) (NYSE:USO), SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSE:GLD), iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE:SLV), iPath Dow Jones-UBS Cotton Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE:BAL); *Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest ... more » 


Operation Twist is extended until end of year and in duration/

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen: Gold closed down today by $7.40 to $1614.80.  Silver rose by 2 cents to $28.38. The entire world checked to Ben Bernanke today and as I forecasted to you yesterday, he extended operation twist to include the purchase of longer dated bonds and the selling of treasury bonds of three year duration or less. Because the net effect is zero, it does not add to the


China: It`s A Huge Place

Admin at Jim Rogers Blog - 5 hours ago
China has 1 billion 300 million people. It’s much bigger than the US both in population and land area. It’s a huge place. - *in CNBC * *Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a regular guest on Bloomberg and CNBC.* 


Prepare For Market Seizures

Eric De Groot at Eric De Groot - 8 hours ago
Liquidity or velocity always contracts during panics. They're particularly acute when debt burdens and complacency are high. Headline: Prepare for Lehmans re-run, Bank official warns Banks and traders must prepare for a devastating market seizure as governments grapple with the escalating economic crisis in Europe, a Bank of England policymaker has warned. Cheap and ready access to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]



What Is Executive Privilege?

There has been much talk today about Obama's use of the "executive privilege" yet few are familiar with the details of this relatively unknown presidential option. The AP sheds much needed light on this practice: perhaps the most fitting, to the constitutional expert president, is that the "privilege" isn't in the Constitution nor has been clearly defined by the courts. In other words - just the kind of loophole that one needs to mask the fact that the very person tasked with imposing justice is himself guilty of performing just the opposite. Yet Obama has only used it once (so far) during his tenure as president. Dubya used it six times, Bush Sr used it once also. Slick Willie however takes the cake with 14 cases of executive privilege during his 8 years on top.



Audit The Fed: Hip Hip Hooray!




NSA refuses Congress’ plea for spy stats

from RTAmerica:



Raw and Unplugged: Max Keiser and The Silver Liberation Army

from 21stCenturyWireTV:

Financial guru Max Keiser speaks with Patrick Henningsen from Infowars.com in London, about financial terrorism, the Euro crisis in Ireland and Greece, and chronicles the devastation of JP Morgan’s balance sheet by a new and emerging “Silver Liberation Army”, led by Mexican billionaire Hugo Salinas Price.



Obama Hides Behind ‘Executive Privilege’ In Damage Control Over Fast and Furious

The federal government’s criminal Hegelian plan to create crime along the US border and then ride in as the savior with new gun restrictions – is now in retreat
by Patrick Henningsen, Infowars:
The House Oversight Committee hearings have put both Eric Holder and the White House on their back heels this morning, further fueling a scandal which has now forced the White House into a rear-guard action.
In a move that is certain to fuel speculation about Barack Obama’s knowledge of the Federal government’s clandestine gun-running operation into the Mexican black market, the President has moved to claim ‘executive privilege’ regarding any documents relating to the notorious “Operation Fast and Furious.”
The case has reached a critical juncture as the House panel has finally moved to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in criminal contempt after he failed to comply with official Congressional requests to hand over thousands of cables and documents relating to the scandal.
Read More @ Infowars.com



Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver End Lower In Mixed Trade after Fed

by Chris Mullen, Gold Seek:
The Metals:
Gold fell $28.82 to as low as $1590.78 just after the fed’s announcement before it climbed back above $1620 over the next couple of hours of trade, but it then fell back off into the close and ended with a loss of 0.82%. Silver slipped to $27.73 just after the fed’s announcement before it also bounced back higher, but it then dropped again in late trade and ended with a loss of 1.23%.
Euro gold fell to about €1266, platinum lost $19.50 to $1455, and copper fell 6 cents to about $3.37.
Gold and silver equities fell over 2% in the first 40 minutes of trade before they rose to see about 1% gains after the fed’s announcement, but they then fell back off again in late trade and ended with almost 1% losses.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com


China’s Central Bank Willing To Share $3 Trillion

by Kenneth Rapoza, Forbes:
Brazil, Russia, India and China, the BRIC countries, are back to talking about creating a unified financial system where they can avoid euro and dollar volatility. This time, a pooling of Central Bank dollars from the countries in case liquidity dried up as the world tracks the West’s crisis momentum.
Regardless of the amount of difficulty involved, the big four emerging markets plus South Africa said earlier this week they were considering setting up a foreign-exchange reserve pool and a currency-swap arrangement in an effort to avoid any credit crisis stemming from the advanced economies.
Read More @ Forbes.com



Spain and Italy to be Bailed Out in £600bn Deal

from Silver Doctors:
While the market is fixated on $267 billion in TWIST but no new QE announcement, the G20 has proposed a £600 billion bailout for Spain & Italy.
The will he or won’t he QE debate is meaningless. The Western Central banks will print unfathomable amounts- when it is required. They can pretend it is not currently required, but delaying the implementation will only require a bigger counterfeiting gun when the time comes.
European leaders are poised to announce a £600 billion deal to bail out Spain and Italy, it emerged at the G20 summit on Tuesday night.
Read More @ SilverDoctors.com



Back to the Future … Millennium-Old Thaler Seen for Northern EU as Elite Dream Dies?

by The Daily Bell:
The professors called for study laying out the pros and cons of a return to the D-Mark, or the creation of a new currency or “North Euro” led by Germany, the Netherlands, and like-minded states. The idea of a North Euro — or “Thaler”, the coin of the late Holy Roman Empire — was first noted by the former chief of the German Industry Federation, Hans-Olaf Henkel. It would let southern EMU states to keep the euro and uphold euro debt contracts. The region could reflate and regain trade competitivenes with a weaker exchange rate. While the letter is unlikely to sway thinking in Berlin, such radical proposals are gaining a wider hearing. Georg Schuh, chief investor of Deutsche Bank‘s DB Advisers, said the crisis is terminal. “A break-up of the eurozone is very likely. Capital markets have already priced it it. I think we are in the end-phase,” he said. – Washington Times
Dominant Social Theme: We need new ideas so why not return to an old one?
Free-Market Analysis: As the EU continues to unravel the idea of a Northern EU complete with its own currency seems to be becoming more feasible.
Read More @ TheDailyBell.com



World War 3 & Dollar Devaluation 2012

from Fabian4Liberty:



Fleckenstein – Fed Takes Half Step, Will Be Forced to Act Again

from KingWorldNews:
With the Fed extending Operation Twist, today King World News interviewed Bill Fleckenstein, President of Fleckenstein Capital, to get his take on what the Fed has done. Fleckenstein was quite candid in his criticism of the Fed. He told KWN, “Bernanke has taken a half-step towards doing something aggressive,” but “The reality is the Fed’s optimism is misplaced because the Fed doesn’t understand that the Fed is the problem.” Here is what Fleckenstein had to say about today’s move by the Fed: “When we spoke after the last FOMC meeting, at that time everyone was concerned there would be no more easing of any kind because the Fed was so sanguine about its outlook. I suggested they were dead wrong about that and they would be back easing before long.”
Fleckenstein continues @ KingWorldNews.com



Obama’s Nixon moment: Executive Order invoked to block release of incriminating Fast and Furious documents

by Mike Adams, Natural News:
The level of outright criminality in the Obama administration is now apparent to almost everyone. In the face of incriminating documents being released regarding the lawbreaking Fast and Furious operation pulled off by Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama has invoked executive order to prevent their release.
He followed it by saying, “I am not a crook.”
Oh wait, that was Nixon. But it’s hard to tell the difference anymore except that Nixon’s crimes pale in comparison to the crimes being committed by the Obama administration.
This is an administration that has abolished due process and legalized secret military arrests, interrogations and imprisonment, seized control over U.S. farms, livestock and seeds, created secret “kill lists” of American citizens to be murdered by the state (including at least one young girl), escalated the failed War on Drugs, paid off Wall Street banksters with another trillion dollars in bailout money, conspired with Monsanto to eliminate regulation of GMOs, and expanded both DHS and the TSA to keep violating Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights across the airports (and city streets) of America.
Read More @ NaturalNews.com


Ron Paul Can Still Win the Nomination if GOP Delegates Are Free to Vote their Conscience

from RonPaul2008dotcom:



We The Sheeplez... is intended to reflect excellence in effort and content. Donations will help maintain this goal and defray the operational costs. Paypal, a leading provider of secure online money transfers, will handle the donations. Thank you for your contribution.

I'm PayPal Verified    
  

No comments:

Post a Comment