Tuesday, July 24, 2012


Art Cashin On Chief Justice Bernanke's "Delay And Pray" Strategy

A few weeks ago America had to go through the supreme political theater that was the SCOTUS' unprecedented and uber-political decision on Obamacare, which in attempting to overcome allegations of partisanship, only succeeded in reinforcing these even deeper. Now, with everyone expecting Bernanke to launch QE every time there is a 1% downtick in the Russell, our honorable Chairsatan is in the same position: he needs to do something but can not afford to appear political with the presidential election just over 3 months away. In other words, from the soap opera about the Supreme Court of the US, we now move to the one about the Supreme Federal Reserve of the US. And the trouble for those whose investment strategy is hope and prayer is that the Fed is becoming aware of this reflexive phenomenon, and just for that reason may delay QE until September, by which point the US, and global economy, will be in freefall.





Treasury Yields Tumble To New All-Time Lows

Despite some early angst, Treasury yields have been crushed lower today. Down 7bps from their European close levels, 30Y is trading with a 2.45% handle for the first time ever and 10Y now with a 1.39% handle. Both all-time record lows as the 2Y auctions with a 4x bid-to-cover as 2s5s flattens to almost five year lows as the Fed's ZIRP and Europe's NIRP has pushed investors to front-run into preservation of capital instead of pushing them out on the risk spectrum. For those who care (instead of preferring to listen to dividend-stock-touting talking heads), 10Y TSYs have plenty of room to run if rates keep falling (15% upside if Japanification takes hold) - which prompts the question - just what is the interest expense convexity for the Government if rates were ever to rise from here?





Biderman Goes All-In Bearish

"While there are many reasons to be bearish on stocks, there is only one good reason to be bullish. The only bullish hope is that the Bernanke Put again will save the stock market" is the salient reality that TrimTabs' CEO Charles Biderman exclaims in his latest clip. Shifting to 100% bearish this weekend for his institutional clients, he believes that even if the Fed QuEases again, the equity pop is well-discounted and will have at most a 10% impact before he sees at least a 20% drop from April highs followed by potentially worse as the realization of the fiscal cliff begins. The glass-half-full-of-truth Biderman notes four specific reasons for his bearish call: from wage and salary growth slowing to barely positive YoY, to the Fed's inability to create any multiplier effect to boost the economy; and from the slowing global economy where "low tides will uncover all the hidden garbage created by booms" to the basic supply/demand of stock and money based on his 'Demand' index dropping to six-month lows. His bearish view is not even predicated on Europe's conflagration accelerating which would simply add more fuel to the growing fire.





David Einhorn Throws France Under The Bond Vigilante Bus

David Einhorn throws France under the bond vigilante bus, last seen meandering back and forth all over Spain and Italy: "Under the new regime, France is now cozying up to its new anti-austerity, pro-money-printing allies, Italy and Spain. This makes sense when one considers that France's economy is more akin to that of its southern neighbors than it is to the German economy. Strangely, the French bond market hasn’t figured this out just yet."




Precious Metals Succumbing to Deflationary Forces Today

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 1 hour ago
Both Gold and Silver are under selling pressure today as the sell off in the grains seems to have pushed a large amount of hot money out of the commodity sector. Soybeans are currently locked at limit down as is the front month corn contract. Talk that Smithfield is importing corn from Brazil has sent supply side bulls scurrying for cover and demand side bears are pressing their case. The pool in the July was 112K at one time and is now down to 26K currently. In the November Beans, the pool is at 37K as I write this. Traders had been bidding up commodities in general of late as evid... more » 



FX Market Gives Up On NEW QE; Leaving Only US Equities 'Believing'

Back in early May we noted that the 'strength' of EURUSD (at the time around 1.30) implied an expectation of a $700bn Fed NEW QE is on its way very soon - in fact, as recent developments by the two central banks have demonstrated, it was the ECB that added assets (and liabilities) over the past two months, even as the Fed has shed some excess weight. In those following six weeks, EURUSD has fallen nearly 1000pips in our favor as the FX market has finally given up hope of imminent printing (with only the most addicted of markets - US equities - left 'believing'). As Fed and ECB balance sheets have shifted in the last few weeks, so the new 'QE-less' target for EURUSD is around 1.1850 (200 pips lower), though we would suggest taking some healthy profits to leave a runner.



Defining “Intrinsic Value” in Precious Metals Investing

by Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Gold Seek:
The mainstream financial media touts a variety of ‘anti-inflation’ investments that can be used to protect wealth against the ravages of inflation. These typically range from buying commodities like oil and coal to more sophisticated instruments like inflation-protected treasuries and annuities.
While such investments may appear to be inflation-proof on paper, none of these investment vehicles have the solid intrinsic value of gold, silver or any of the other precious metals.
Intrinsic Value is Everlasting
Intrinsic value does not mean that the product may have value for some time, or even for a long time. Instead, intrinsic value signifies that the item has value forever.
Unlike the steadily declining value of intrinsically worthless paper fiat currency, the worth of an item with true intrinsic value remains relatively unchanged over time and is roughly worth the same amount today as it was thousands of years ago.
Gold and silver are some of the few products with intrinsic value, which would also include necessities of life such as food and shelter. Furthermore, these metals have been in demand for thousands of years for their natural beauty and use in jewelry.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com



Hey U.N. – You WON’T Get Our Guns: Firearm Sales Spike By Almost Double After Batman Massacre

by Steve Watson, Prison Planet:

Gun sales in Colorado and elsewhere in the country have spiked exponentially since Friday’s tragic mass shooting in Aurora.
The Denver Post reported today that 1,216 background checks were conducted in Colorado on Friday alone for people looking to purchase a gun. That equates to a 43 percent increase compared to the average number of checks for the previous two Fridays,
Friday through Sunday, Colorado approved a total of 2,887 background checks, again a 43% rise on the same period in the previous week.
“A lot of it is people saying, ‘I didn’t think I needed a gun, but now I do,’” Jake Meyers, a worker at the Parker gun store, told the Denver Post. “When it happens in your backyard, people start reassessing – ‘Hey, I go to the movies.’”
“It’s been insane,” Meyers added, referring to the amount of people seeking training for a concealed carry permit, a legal right in 49 of the 50 US states.
Read More @ PrisonPlanet.com



Richard Russell: Bear Market to Last Another 15 Years to 2027

from KingWorldNews:
Today the Godfather of newsletter writers, Richard Russell, shocked King World News with this remarkable and extremely dire prediction: “The primary bear market — the leveraging and inflation and lying and cheating and shenanigans lasted from 1945 to 2007, about 62 years. My guess is that it will require maybe one-third of that time or roughly 20 years to clean out the economic stupidity and nonsense of those 62 years. That could take this bear market out to the year 2027.”
“Twenty years would be a long time for a bear market, even a secular bear market. Therefore, you should know that I do not expect the market to head straight down for 20 long years. Actually, in the coming 20 years I expect to see a number of short cyclical bull and bear markets (much like the 1956 to 1974 period), and I expect to see many periods of boring trading ranges — all occurring within the overall pattern of a secular bear market.
Richard Russell continues @ KingWorldNews.com



Jim Rogers Lashes Out at Hendry, Edwards on China

by Patrick Allen, CNBC:
China’s economic resilience is under the spot light following a slowdown in growth rates in recent months. The big question facing investors in China and the global economy is can the world’s second biggest economy avoid a hard landing.
A rather interesting argument over the future of the Chinese economy has erupted following Jim Roger’s, the CEO of Rogers Holdings decision to call out two China bears in an interview with Investment Week.
Rogers dismissed fears over a hard landing and said both Hugh Hendry, who runs the Eclectica Absolute Return Fund and SocGen’s Albert Edwards are dead wrong to be so negative on the Chinese economy.
“Hugh has been dead wrong about China for three years now and China has not collapsed as he predicted, loudly, verbally and widely” said Rogers. Hendry used an interview with the Financial Times last week to predict bad things for investors and the global economy but has otherwise been keeping a low profile after betting on difficult times for China.
Read More @ CNBC.com



Things That Make You Go Hmmm…

by Grant Williams, Financial Sense:
The following is an excerpt of Grant Williams’ free weekly newsletter “Things That Make You Go Hmmm…” Click HERE to subscribe.
“You’ve got to jump off cliffs and build your wings on the way down” – Ray Bradbury
“Doctors say that Nordberg has a 50/50 chance of living, though there’s only a 10 percent chance of that.” – ‘Ed’ (George Kennedy), The Naked Gun
“Well, it’s true: “inevitable” is not the same thing as “imminent.” When people see that something is inevitable — and I’m guilty of this mistake myself — they tend to believe those things are also imminent, even when that’s not so. But the inevitable is inevitable, and that means it must happen. We usually can’t predict exactly when — and such things often take far longer to arrive than we imagine they possibly can — but once things start to unravel, they tend to accelerate quickly.” – Doug Casey
For whatever reason, there are not very many famous ‘Cliffs’ in the pages of history. It just appears, by pure happenstance, to be one of those names bestowed upon people destined for lives of quiet dignity as opposed to great fanfare. Such is the way of the world I suppose, though do spare a thought for your humble scribe who shares a name with the actor and operatic tenor who ‘famously’ played Scott Carey, the hero of the ‘seminal science fiction film’ “The Incredible Shrinking Man” – trust me, not a claim-to-fame one advertises readily. There was a mild improvement in my fortunes in 1974 when a boy was born who would also share my nomenclative misfortune but eventually grow up to become a marginally successful New England Patriots offensive linebacker.
Read More @ Financial Sense.com



USA Police State: “THE DRONES ARE COMING!” Congressman Ted Poe

from MOXNEWSd0tC0M:



Focus: China Gold Scam Could Translate Into Higher Demand

by Kitco, Forbes:
While this has not been widely reported in the Western media, news broke this week of a massive illegal gold-futures trading scam in China. Not only does it underscore the growing hunger for gold among the newly minted Chinese middle class, but also hits home the rationale for owning physical gold, according to one U.S. based asset manager.
Over 5,000 investors were bilked out of 380 billion yuan, or $59.62 billion in a scheme involving Loco London gold since 2008, according to a report in the China Daily.
While details are unclear how the scam worked, the implications could be bullish for gold in a number of ways. Perhaps gold prices could be at even higher levels than they are right now, if this money had been properly invested.
“That is obviously a very significant amount, this is an enormous scam,” said Adrian Day, president of Adrian Day Asset Management. Looking ahead, Day noted that “It might make Chinese investors turn towards the physical rather than esoteric contracts.”
I don’t think it will make Chinese people not buy gold, it will just make them want to buy physical gold and keep it,” Day said.
The newly minted Chinese middle class has a natural cultural affinity towards gold, it is a cultural distinction that many Westerners underestimate and perhaps don’t appreciate.
Read More @ Forbes.com



How Bernanke Can Get Banks Lending Again …

by The Daily Bell:
If the Fed reduces the reward for holding excess reserves, banks will have to find something else to do with their money, like making loans or putting it in the capital markets. The U.S. economy could use another boost, and it won’t come from fiscal policy. Can the Federal Reserve provide it? Chairman Ben Bernanke keeps insisting that the central bank is not out of ammunition, and in a literal sense he is right. After all, the Fed has not yet exhausted its bag of tricks. It is still twisting the yield curve. It can purchase more assets. It can tell us that its federal funds target interest rate will remain 0-25 basis points beyond late 2014. – Wall Street Journal
Dominant Social Theme: These banks have got to lend!
Free-Market Analysis: Well known Princeton University academic and Keynesian economist Alan Blinder has written an article posted by the Wall Street Journal that urges Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to stop paying banks so much money in interest on funds that the banks hold in reserve.
These funds have been printed by the Federal Reserve and shipped to commercial banks so that the banks can circulate the money as they choose.
Read More @ TheDailyBell.com



Hitting the Tail-End of the Spanish Economy

By Greg Canavan, Daily Reckoning.com.au:
What will become of Spain’s economy and the Eurozone? What will it mean for Australia if Europe does fracture in the coming weeks? We’ll seek to answer those questions, and more, in today’s Daily Reckoning.
By the way, we’re taking the reins from regular DR editor Dan Denning for the next few weeks. Dan’s currently in Vancouver presenting at Agora’s annual symposium. Dan will be mixing it with the likes of economic historian Niall Ferguson, Marc Faber and Doug Casey. We’re sure he’ll have some worthwhile stories to share upon his return.
By the time he gets back, the financial world could look decidedly different. We are but weeks away from the Spanish economy losing access to capital markets entirely. Overnight, yields on all government debt maturities shot up to extreme levels. The 10-year yield hit a peak of 7.56%. The two year bond yield jumped a huge 100 basis points to a peak of 6.74%, indicating investors have no faith in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) efforts to calm markets (via its Long Term Refinancing Operation — LTRO).
Before the recent sharp spike in yields, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast Spanish debt-to-GDP to hit 96% next year, up from 84% this year. This is some deterioration. The terrible equation of ‘debt dynamics’ for Spain’s economy consists of starting with the current debt-to-GDP ratio. You then add economic growth, the budget surplus or deficit and subtract the yield on 10-year bonds to work out whether the ratio is improving or deteriorating.
Read More @ DailyReckoning.com.au



Europe Smashes All Market Records On Its Way To Total Insolvency

from Zero Hedge:
Spain’s IBEX equity index closed at Euro-era lows today having dropped over 10% in the last 3 days (crushing the hopes of the afternoon post-short-sale-ban squeeze yesterday). This leaves IBEX down over 30% for the year (and Italy down over 18% YTD). Add to that; inverted long-end curves in Spain (and almost Italy), all-time record high short- and long-term spreads for Spanish debt and euro-era record high yields, record wide CDS-Cash basis, dramatic short-end weakness in Italy, new low negative rates in Switzerland (-46bps) and Germany (-7bps), and EURUSD at its lowest since June 2010 at 1.2059. But apart from that, the EU Summit seems to have done the trick nicely. Financials have been crushed in credit-land as subs notably underperform seniors and HY and IG credit continues to lead the equity markets lower in reality. Meanwhile, remember Greece? 30Y GGBs have dropped almost 20% in price in the last few days and have closed at all-time record low closing price at just EUR11.55!! S’all god though – where’s Whitney?
Read More @ Zero Hedge.com




Bungled Bank Bailout Leaves Behind Righteous Anger, Justified Rage

“Americans should lose faith in their government. They should deplore the captured politicians and regulators who distributed tax dollars to the banks without insisting that they be accountable. The American people should be revolted by a financial system that rewards failure and protects those who drove it to the point of collapse and will undoubtedly do so again.
Only with this appropriate and justified rage can we hope for the type of reform that will one day break our system free from the corrupting grasp of the megabanks.” -Neil M. Barofsky
by Neil M. Barofsky, Bloomberg:
In the year since I stepped down as the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the sadly predictable consequences of the government’s disparate treatment of Wall Street and Main Street have only become worse. As the banks amass size and power, Main Street continues to get pummeled.
Part of the current economic malaise can be traced directly to Treasury’s betrayal of its promise to use TARP to “preserve homeownership.” The Home Affordable Modification Program has brought little meaningful improvement, with fewer than 800,000 ongoing permanent modifications as of March 31, 2012, a number that is growing at the glacial pace of just 12,000 per month.
In June 2011, Treasury appeared to take a tentative step toward holding the mortgage servicers accountable for the widespread misconduct in the program by pledging to withhold the incentive payments to three of the largest banks — Wells Fargo (WFC) & Co., Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) — until they came into compliance with HAMP’s rules.
Read More @ Bloomberg.com

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CoT Tuesday & Option Expiry = No Fun

from TF Metals Report:

As we wait to see if Tuesday will be “Happy” or “Terrible”, here are some items to help you pass the time.
First up, we had a nice pop this morning in the metals. Nothing of real consequence but it’s still better than a sharp drop. Again, no one should get overly excited or committal until after August gold option expiration on Thursday. Until then, we’ll likely fight a losing battle against the Forces of Darkness, centered around the 50-day moving average, near 1585.
Now that TTM is finally operating like a “normal” website, it appears that Gonzalo has a little more time on his hands. He has written an excellent piece on Spain where his current thinking is that they will be forced to exit the euro by September. Yikes! With the Spanish 10-year at 7.57%, he may be right. ( http://gonzalolira.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-country-rationally-exits-eurozone.html) & ( http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GSPG10YR:IND)
Read More @ TF Metals Report.com



Risk On, Risk Off and the Spanish/Chinese Tug of War

by Doug Noland, PrudentBear.com:
“Global macro” has of late been relegated more of a backseat role, with earnings and market “technicals” driving a largely upbeat marketplace. Things might have changed today, with spiking Spanish bond yields proving increasingly difficult to disregard. Spain’s 10-year yields surged 26 bps Friday to 7.19%, increasing the rise for the week to 61 bps. Perhaps more alarming, Spanish two-year sovereign yields jumped 61 bps Friday and were up 134 bps for the week. At 5.62%, two-year yields are almost back to panic spike highs from last November – and are essentially at the highest level since 1997. Despite the EU’s recently negotiated 100bn euro bailout, Spain’s borrowing costs have moved only further into unsustainable territory. The Spanish stock market was hit for 5.8% today. Things have reached the boiling point, as mass public discontent with the latest round of austerity measures recalls Greece’s unraveling.
And while the EU’s plan to finance a Spanish banking bailout has come together, the market takes no comfort. There is today little foreign interest in owning Spanish debt. Meanwhile, recent poor auction results indicate that domestic demand, chiefly from Spain’s troubled banks, has also meaningfully waned. Problematically, Spain has huge deficits and large debt maturities to finance going forward, as the scope of the holes in banking system and local government finances seemingly expands by the week. Between the sovereign, the banks and regional governments, the markets fear an unending and, in the end, unmanageable quantity of debt to refinance. Friday saw the cash-strapped Valencia region prepare to tap Spain’s newly created 18bn euro facility for bailing out the regions. The highly-leveraged and badly maladjusted Spanish economy has begun to buckle.
Read More @ PrudentBear.com



Ron Paul: When the FED Says It Needs “Independence” What It Really Means Is “Secrecy”

from RonPaul2008dotcom:




GOLD, DEFAULTS, INFLATION, EUROPE, DROUGHT EFFECTS, KEY MARKETS & MORE – Don Coxe

from KingWorldNews:
“We have gotten a plateau, at a higher level, that we are going to see of higher food costs. And, as you say, this is not a time where consumers have that extra margin to easily absorb it.”
Coxe issued this warning regarding Europe: “The situation (in Europe) has gone from worse to truly awful in the last week. There was so much idiocy about (speculation) that Angela Merkel had been beaten up by them and that they had triumphed over the ‘Iron Lady.’
The only agreement that they really got was one that’s going to take months and months to implement, and only if all of these countries live up to their promises. There’s very little chance of that.
Right now, in Spain, which was one of the supposed victors in this, not only is the central government in trouble and Spanish bond yields have soared, but in addition you’ve got the various provinces going broke one after another. They are coming desperately, cap in hand, and it’s not clear who supplies it.
LISTEN NOW @ KingWorldNews.com



BANKS Say INVEST in PRECIOUS METALS? – David Morgan




Dangerous levels of Fukushima radiation headed for West Coast, say scientists

by Ethan A. Huff, Natural News:
In the immediate wake of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that occurred in Japan last year, radioactive releases of epic proportions flooded the waters of the Pacific Ocean, where they now flow adrift. And even though more than a year has passed since the time of the first releases, some scientists believe the worst is yet to come as these water-borne radioactive plumes head for the U.S. West Coast.
Russia Today (RT) reports that a team of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory recently constructed some models designed to assess the impact of Fukushima radiation over the longer term. To do this, they simulated ocean currents in the Pacific, and evaluated how radiation would both disperse and travel.
They discovered that, within the next few years, the worst of Fukushima’s radiation releases will make its way across the Pacific and hit the American coastline. So-called “packets” of radiation are also expected to continue forming as the larger plumes travel via the ocean currents, which could result in highly radioactive waves of ocean water striking West Coast beaches in the very near future.
Read More @ NaturalNews.com



25 Reasons Why We Need to Preserve Our 2nd Amendment

Communication Symbol
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and survivors of the Aurora, Colorado shooting as well as to their families and the brave first-responders.
Such a senseless tragedy leaves us all saddened and speechless for a brief moment…but then inevitably we find ourselves being drawn into the national debate over gun control.  The timing of the shootings combined with the rabid media attention has seemingly diverted national attention from President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder’s Fast and Furious debacle as well as the upcoming United Nations Gun Treaty vote in two weeks–both of which are blatant attempts to restrict our God-given rights to bear arms.
Thomas Jefferson, himself a liberal in the truest sense of the definition, stated,“The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”
Read More @ TheDailySheeple.com



Dollar Printing to Follow Renewed Stock and Oil Market SellOff

from Wealth Cycles:
It is obvious today, after years of first-hand evidence, that money supply and expectations for changes in the money supply–in other words, dollar printing–impact asset prices and investing more than any other factor.
On March 19th we penned End of Covert Dollar Printing Expected to Result in Stock SellOff, making the claim, in the midst of a field of green shoots and sprouts, that sentiment would begin to reflect reality as doubts over further printing became more prominent.
We will look at where we stand today, and the criteria for further printing at this point.
Tyler Durden, our anonymous friend, provides the chart below. We note that the bottom pane (the blue bars) illustrate average trade size. What we can observe (bottom green circle) is that those with the capability of larger trades sizes, executed at the highs. We alerted our readers of the erroneous excess in sentiment, and therefore an opportunity to reposition from stocks at the highs, into savings, rather than an investing-mode as the storm approaches. A stance we maintain.
Read More @ WealthCycles.com



Federal Government’s Debt Jumps More Than $1Trillion for 5th Straight Fiscal Year

By Terence P. Jeffrey, CNS News:
By the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012, the new debt accumulated in this fiscal year by the federal government had already exceeded $1 trillion, making this fiscal year the fifth straight in which the federal government has increased its debt by more than a trillion dollars, according to official debt numbers published by the U.S. Treasury.
Prior to fiscal 2008, the federal government had never increased its debt by as much as $1 trillion in a single fiscal year. From fiscal 2008 onward, however, the federal government has increased its debt by at least $1 trillion each and every fiscal year.
The federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30. At the close of business on Sept. 30, 2011—the last day of fiscal 2011—the total debt of the federal government was $14,790,340,328,557.15. By June 29, the last business day of the third quarter of fiscal 2012, that debt had grown to $15,856,367,214,324.44—an increase for this fiscal year of $1,066,026,885,767.29.
Read More @ CNSnews.com



China, Metals, and Your Money

by Louis James, Casey Research:
I’m in Shanghai as I type, and the “China Miracle” is in full bloom. Few variables are more important in the world of metals and mining investment than the strength and sustainability of the extraordinary bull run the Chinese economy has enjoyed for years. So many pundits, critics, and cheerleaders keep pouring out opinions on this question that they saturate the news – but leaves no one the wiser.
I’m sorry to say that, as arrogant as I am, I do not have quite the hubris to tell you that I have figured China out and know what is and will be. Certainty is not an option here, and if anyone offers it to you, I suggest you check your wallet afterward.
But I can tell you that I’ve traversed China from south to north, from east to west. I’ve spent days driving through the countryside, passed through China’s largest cities and smallest villages. I have seen a China that is visibly, radically different than the China I saw for the first time a mere six years ago. Ten percent growth compounded over six years is a 177% difference – and the reality behind such numbers is unmistakable. Yes, there is still great poverty here and a lot of people living on a subsistence basis, but this is not a poor country. The fraction that has been lifted to middle class and above is enormous, and the country’s GDP is now the second largest in the world.
Read More @ CaseyResearch.com



Embry – Expect Shortages Of Gold As Soon As Next Month

from KingWorldNews:

Today John Embry stunned King World News when he warned, “We are moving toward a fundamental shortage of gold, and I believe it may start as soon as next month.” Embry also cautioned, “The problem now is that the global economy is contracting at a time when the debt levels are catastrophically high.”
Embry, who is Chief Investment Strategist of the $10 billion strong Sprott Asset Management, also discussed Europe, but first, here is what Embry had to say about the drought and inflation: “I am very concerned about this drought that is happening, particularly in the United States. You look at a weather map in the Midwestern United States, the temperatures are just staggeringly hot and there’s no moisture.
Already the corn crop has been reduced dramatically. Aside from the fact that it will have a big impact down the road in the economy, because food prices will move up sharply, on a basic level this is the difference between starvation and survival for people in certain parts of the world.
John Embry continues @ KingWorldNews.com



The U.S. Constitution: “Does It Still Matter?”

The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power. — Alexander Hamilton
by Steve Nolan, The Intel Hub:
Recently Time Magazine published a cover story depicting the U.S. Constitution passing through a paper shredder with the headlines “Does It Still Matter?”
The article portrays the Constitution as an outmoded document that we should ignore to whatever extent is expedient to pursue someone’s vision of a better society. There is little doubt that America is in a constitutional crisis.
Once upon a time in the United States, Americans held firm to the belief that the Constitution was the supreme law of the land. We believed that our elected officials swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
We believed that our sworn law enforcement officers were “public servants” who also took that same oath and were totally committed to protecting the lives and property of the people they served.
In today’s America, many of our elected officials (both Republicans and Democrats alike), seem to have forgotten that oath and have become indifferent to the constitutionality of their legislation.
Read More @ The Intel Hub



Oligopolies: Too Big To Shrink

from, Bullion Bulls Canada:
As regular readers know, one of the first things learned by beginning economics students is that monopolies and oligopolies are unmitigated evils in any free-market economy . They are (by definition) non-competitive and totally parasitic; and in the rare instances when one of these abominations is perceived to be a necessary evil, that inherently parasitic nature demands that they be securely restrained in a regulatory straitjacket.
Sadly, this appears to also be one of the first lessons forgotten by economics graduates, apparently moments after accepting their degrees. For what do we see in the global economy today? A world which is not only saturated with these mega-monstrosities, but where much, most, and in some cases all regulation has simply been put through a paper-shredder – and all with the complete blessing of the intellectual zombies in the economics community.
After a quarter-century of allowing these corporate oligopolies to rampage out of control, the carnage is plain to see. The worst revenue-crisis in the history of Western democracy threatens to bankrupt most if not all of these economies. Our tax-base continues to wither and die. We see on the one hand Big Business and the ultra-wealthy refusing to be taxed (while parasitically enriching themselves at the fastest rate in history). Meanwhile everyone else simply has nothing left to tax.
Read More @ BullionBullsCanada.com



NY Times Admits Virtually Every Major News Organization Allows The News To Be Censored By Gov’t Officials

from End of the American Dream:
In one of the most shocking articles that the New York Times has ever put out, a New York Times reporter has openly admitted that virtually every major mainstream news organization allows government bureaucrats and campaign officials to censor their stories. For example, almost every major news organization in the country has agreed to submit virtually all quotes from anyone involved in the Obama campaign or the Romney campaign to gatekeepers for “quote approval” before they will be published. If the gatekeeper in the Obama campaign does not want a certain quote to get out, the American people will not see it, and the same thing applies to the Romney campaign. The goal is to keep the campaigns as “on message” as possible and to avoid gaffes at all cost. But this kind of thing is not just happening with political campaigns. According to the New York Times, “quote approval” has become “commonplace throughout Washington”. In other words, if you see a quote in the newspaper from someone in the federal government then it is safe to say that a gatekeeper has almost certainly reviewed that quote and has approved it. This is another sign that “the free and independent media” in this country is a joke. What we get from the mainstream media is a very highly filtered form of propaganda, and that is one reason why Americans are turning away from the mainstream media in droves. People want the truth, and more Americans than ever realize that they are not getting it from the mainstream media.
Read More @ EndoftheAmericanDream.com



12 Signs That Spain Is Shifting Gears From Recession To Depression

Where have we seen this before? Bond yields soar above the 7 percent danger level. Check. The stock market crashes to new lows. Check. Industrial activity plummets like a rock and the economy contracts. Check. The unemployment rate skyrockets to more than 20 percent. Check. The bursting of a massive real estate bubble pushes the banking system to the brink of implosion. Check. Broke local governments beg the broke national government for bailouts. Check. The international community pressures the national government to implement deep austerity measures which will slow down the economy even more and hordes of violent protesters take to the streets. Check. All of this happened in Greece, it is happening right now in Spain, and mark my words it will eventually happen in the United States. Every debt bubble eventually bursts, and right now Spain is experiencing a level of economic pain that very, very few people saw coming. The recession in Spain is rapidly becoming a full-blown economic depression, and at this point there is no hope and no light at the end of the tunnel.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollpaseBlog.com



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