MUST WATCH, MUST SHARE: Troops Ordered To Kill All Americans Who Do Not Turn In Guns

from TheAlexJonesChannel :

Only UN “peacekeepers” will be allowed to carry firearms.

Capitalism Versus Cronyism

The sad 'this-is-how-politics-works' punchline of this brief animated clip is "those who can afford political influence get the benefits; and those who cannot afford it suffer the consequences" as Professor Matt Zwolinski attempts to balance the question the common claim that 'capitalism exploits the masses for the benefit of the few' - implicitly advocating increased government power - by suggesting (shock, horror) that government power may be more exploitative than free-market capitalism. In just over two minutes, Zwolinski argues that bigger government (thanks to cronyism among other things) makes citizens more vulnerable to exploitation given its power to coerce - intriguing given the recent comments by Obama.

Why Eurobonds Are Pointless

It may be blasphemy but we ask "Is a Eurobond necessary?" UBS' Paul Donovan suggests the short answer to this question is “no”. The long answer is “no, of course not, not like this”. The Euro area seems to have drifted into something of a fiscal backwater with the debate over Eurobonds. German Chancellor Merkel has rather melodramatically declared that Eurobonds will not be an option as long as she lives. As Donovan notes, European politicians go back and forth over the merits, necessity, and preconditions for Eurobonds. He sees this as "a waste of time". Eurobonds are not a necessary condition for the survival of the Euro, even though (in our view) fiscal union in some form is a necessary condition. The Eurobond debate is diverting valuable political and economic resource into what is at best an irrelevance, and at worst may actually undermine the stability of the Euro area.

Spanish 10 yr yields remain elevated/Big problems over in Sicily which may default momentarily/Moody's lowers the boom on Unicredit and 13 other Italian banks

Harvey Organ at Harvey Organ's - The Daily Gold and Silver Report - 1 hour ago

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen: The price of gold fell by $2.10 to $1589.10.  The price of silver finished the comex session down one cent to $27.29.  Today's trading was nothing but a reaction to the Bernanke testimony. In a nutshell, here was what Bernanke stated today: CIGA Vivi *Bernanke Repeats Fed Prepared To Act, Declines To Specify Steps*Bernanke Reiterates FOMC Prepared To Ease

 

Gold Daily and Silver Weekly Charts - Pretty Much Meaningless

SP 500 and NDX Futures Daily Charts - Slowing Volume, Creeping Economy

 

How To Lose 75% In One Year

Whitney Tilson may have met his match. Canadian commodities hedge fund Salida Capital is no stranger to media notoriety: last October none other than Zero Hedge wrote that "Fund Blamed For Gold Sell Off, Salida Capital, Tumbles 37% In September, 49% YTD" after the fund's infamously timed bet on more easing by the Fed backfired and resulted in losses so severe it was enough to warrant liquidation rumors across all commodity classes, which in turn set off follow on liquidations worries in a self reinforcing feedback loop. In retrospect, anyone who read the caveats about the Toronto-based asset manager would have been wise to get the hell out of dodge, because the firm that simply had used massive amount of leverage to generate ridiculous returns such as +35.84%, -66.50%, +188.55%, 44.88%, and -53.39%, is now down 75% in the last 12 months, meaning anyone who invested $100 with the fund, is down to just $25 (and realistically less when management fees are accounted for). It also means that the fund's Sharpe ratio is borderline negative. Finally, it is precisely such fantastically leveraged contraptions on coin toss-based outcomes that even further undermine what little credibility and standing the last vestiges of real, alpha not beta-focused, asset managers remain in this New Normal of ubiquitous central planning.

Coming To Terms With A Borderless World Economy

Wealth has become stateless, and as a consequence it is becoming increasingly less accountable to any state’s laws or tax codes. Over the last quarter century it has become increasing easier to transfer large sums of money, what is more, large financial institutions find it far easier today to relocate to a different legal and tax jurisdiction than at any previous time, because it is easier to re-establish the necessary business infrastructure, the cost of relocation has lessened. Recognising this trend over the last quarter century, and being desirous of any slice of revenue they can get their hands on, governments around the world have competed with each other, to provide the ‘best business environment’ for those financial institutions. Let’s not delude ourselves about this, the ‘best business environment’ is the least regulation and the most advantageous tax breaks. And by competing with each other in this way, governments around the world created the regulatory environment which was, in part, responsible for the current financial crisis. And then there are the ‘Tax Havens’

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The Trade Off To Record Corporate Profits: Your Miserable Salary

Getting paid miserable wages? Don't fret - just buy the stock of your (hopefully public) employer, and hope and pray that this time is different, and that light at the end of the tunnel is the not the next latest and greatest (and likely last) stock market collapse, in the ultimate trade off of current pay for capital gains: 13 quarters in and Labor Comepnsation is still lower than where it was when the Great Financial Crisis began.

Stocks Drink Gold's Kool Aid Milkshake

Equities managed to rally after slumping on heavy volume to the 1340 level (scene of crime for Greek election, Spanish bailout, and EU-Summit) pushing up to close at the mid-June swing high levels and post EU-Summit close levels around 1358 (back over its 50DMA). Total volume for the S&P 500 e-mini (ES) was just below average but the average trade size was dismal - around the lowest of the year. Whether due to VIX options expiration squeeze sending VXX and other derivatives tumbling (with VIX almost testing a 15 handle intraday); or a safety 'algo' running things up and over VWAP; or a reflexive reaction to bad is good and Bernanke has our backs no matter what happens, equities pushed 20 points off their lows but stagnated for much of the afternoon. The surge in stocks far outpaced risk-assets and what was more worrisome was the notable divergence in gold as the afternoon wore on - if this was QE-hope then the main QE-sensitive asset class of choice was not playing along at all into the close. Gold and Silver ended the day down modestly, Copper worse, but WTI ended the day up 2.3% on the week and back over $89. Treasuries pushed higher in yields (oh yes very QE-on?) - no higher in yield on the week with the long-end underperforming. FX markets were a little more aggressive - like Treasuries - and extended their rallies relative to USD with AUD now up almost 1% and the USD now down 0.36% on the week - which is interesting given Gold is also down around 0.5% on the week.

 

Intel Cuts 2012 Outlook

INTC missed the Q2 topline ($13.5 billion vs Exp. of $13.54 billion), even as it met bottom-line estimates of $0.54, but it is the company's forecast for 2012 that has caught traders off guard, because the technology company is merely the latest one to revise its outlook for the year lower. To wit: "Revenue up between 3 percent and 5 percent year over year, down from the prior expectation for high single-digit growth."

ZIRP Strikes Again: Pension Under-Funding For S&P 500 Companies Hits Record

The public pension and retirement 'schemes' are in considerable trouble (as we noted here and here) and now, according to a recent S&P study, private companies are at record levels of pension under-funding. Fiscal 2011 shows that the under-funded level for S&P 500 companies' defined pensions reached an epic $354.7 billion - an increase of over $100 billion from 2010 and surpassing the 2008 record of $308.4 billion - and OPEB under-funding reached $223.4 billion. An aggregate $578 billion or 29.5% underfunding or the $1.96 trillion in obligations is increasing as the rates of return are reduced thanks to yet more unintended consequences of the Fed's ZIRP and perhaps most worrying is there comment that "The American dream of a golden retirement for baby boomers is quickly dissipating; plans have been reduced and the burden shifted with future retirees needing to save more for their retirement.  For many baby-boomers it may already be too late to safely build-up assets, outside of working longer or living more frugally in retirement."

Quite Possibly The Dumbest Thing I’ve Heard An Economist Say

In the eyes of our most decorated ‘scientists’, the brilliance and guile of Ingvar Kamprad, Sam Walton, Ray Kroc, Asa Candler, Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and millions of others are far less important than an effective government bureaucracy. His entire book, in fact, is an impassioned argument for even more government control and redistribution of wealth. Right… because it’s been working so well. These ideas are totally absurd. Yet this what passes as science today. And because it’s science, society simply believes it to be true. No doubt, people in the future will look back, and they’ll wonder… but they won’t understand one bit.

The Post-World War II American Renaissance Lightning Will Not Strike Twice

There have been quite a few stories comparing the post-WWII American economic "renaissance" with expectations that the same confluence of beneficial circumstances may repeat now, resulting in the same benign outcome. Many of these stories touch upon the key points debated in today's everyday politics: taxes, massive debt overhang, and the treatment of private business. Sadly, most of these stories are also just that: mythical representations of an idealized reality, which however have no analogy to what actually happened in the 1950s. In other words, none of the conditions that were in place in 1950 which allowed net US debt to decline from 80% of GDP to just 46% in one decade, are here now.

Are 401(k) Loan Defaults Set To Resurge?

Since the financial crisis hit and exposed the reality of a credit-fueled economic growth strategy, Americans have tried to maintain any kind of quality of life. With the HELOC ATM empty, they switched to Credit Cards and once limits were full, there was only one place left - their retirement plans. As the LA Times reports today, Americans are borrowing huge amounts of money from their 401(k) retirement plans - and then having big trouble paying off their debt. Stunningly, in recent years 20% to 28% of people eligible to borrow from their 401(k) accounts have an outstanding loan at any given time, the Navigant Economics study said, having borrowed a collective $105 billion from their 401(k) accounts as of 2009 - and likely considerably more since. Estimating the 'leakage' from these retirement funds, they see loan-loss rates typically double that of the average unemployment and estimate up to $37 billion of loan defaults per year. In the 12 months through May 2012, they estimate the 401(k) default rate hit 17.4% - more than double its pre-crisis average and only marginally lower than its peak in 2009. As they note, many people use the money to pay off other debt or to meet day-to-day expenses, and "Of course, participants are not deliberately defaulting," the study said. "They only do so when they have no other option." As unemployment rates look set to rise, one can only imagine that these 401(k) loan losses, based on their study, are set to rise significantly.

CLIMATE SCAM: IPCC Admits Its Past Reports Were Junk

by Joseph L. Bast, American Thinker:
On June 27, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a statement saying it had “complete[d] the process of implementation of a set of recommendations issued in August 2010 by the InterAcademy Council (IAC), the group created by the world’s science academies to provide advice to international bodies.”
Hidden behind this seemingly routine update on bureaucratic processes is an astonishing and entirely unreported story. The IPCC is the world’s most prominent source of alarmist predictions and claims about man-made global warming. Its four reports (a fifth report is scheduled for release in various parts in 2013 and 2014) are cited by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. and by national academies of science around the world as “proof” that the global warming of the past five or so decades was both man-made and evidence of a mounting crisis.
If the IPCC’s reports were flawed, as a many global warming “skeptics” have long claimed, then the scientific footing of the man-made global warming movement — the environmental movement’s “mother of all environmental scares” — is undermined. The Obama administration’s war on coal may be unnecessary. Billions of dollars in subsidies to solar and wind may have been wasted. Trillions of dollars of personal income may have been squandered worldwide in campaigns to “fix” a problem that didn’t really exist.
Read More @ AmericanThinker.com

Cell phone – a tracking device?

from RTAmerica:

Neustar – a company which has in many ways laid the foundation for the
surveillance infrastructure in America. It connects people with
companies that want to market to them aggressively and it does this neither with their knowledge nor their approval and very few people are talking about it.

Rule – The Physical Silver Market Is Getting Dangerously Tight

from KingWorldNews:

With continued volatility in global stock markets, and gold staging a big rally off of the lows, today King World News interviewed one of the wealthiest and most street-smart pros in the business, Rick Rule. Rule told KWN that when it comes to silver, “there is the strong case for some very substantial upside.”
Rule, who is now part of Sprott Asset Management, discussed silver and gold at length. He also talked about the problems the world currently faces. But first, here is what Rule had to say about Sprott’s very successful offering in the Sprott Physical Silver Trust: “I think it’s evidence of two things: One, we felt we had reasonably good chances of buying the silver if we raised the money. Second, this points to the continuing strength of the high end retail investment market for silver in North America.”
Rick Rule continues @ KingWorldNews.com

Fifty Years of Silver Manipulation

by Brittany Stepniak, Wealth Wire:
Sophisticated precious metals investors are well-aware of the rampant manipulation of the gold and silver markets. They are also generally aware of the reason for such manipulation. A rapid rise in the price of gold and silver is like an economic “warning siren” – alerting savers that their wealth (i.e. the purchasing power of their currency) is being rapidly eroded by the monetary depravity of bankers.
In a world with a “gold standard”, this isn’t a problem. With currency which is redeemable in gold (or silver), the value of a currency (i.e. its purchasing power) is anchored by the gold and silver backing it. However, in a world of nothing but “fiat currencies” (i.e. money backed by nothing), a loss of public confidence in paper “money” is the worst nightmare of bankers.
This fear can be most easily illustrated by simply looking at the example of Alan Greenspan. In 1966, Greenspan was a respected academic, who wrote a famous essay extolling the virtues of a gold standard, where he simply stated the evils of “fiat money”:
“In the absence of a gold standard there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation.”
Read More @ WealthWire.com

U.S. Retail Collapse Accelerates

by Jeff Nielson, Bullion Bulls Canada:
Less than two weeks ago I wrote “Crash Warning.” It outlined the current economic parameters of the global economy and explained that we were careening toward a particular form of economic Armageddon which I believe was first described by John Williams of Shadowstats.com, when he coined the phrase “hyperinflationary depression” nearly a decade ago.

The debt-laden, fraud-saturated paper Ponzi-schemes of Western bankers are now all about to implode in a deflationary (debt-default) collapse – most notably all their fraud-bonds. Simultaneously, the rabidly excessive money-printing of these reckless gamblers is causing (and will cause) the prices for hard assets (i.e. assets which actually have value) to spiral upward, with the most likely final destination being hyperinflation.

Read More @ BullionBullsCanada.com

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