Sunday, August 12, 2012


Are The Government And The Big Banks Quietly Preparing For An Imminent Financial Collapse?

Something really strange appears to be happening. All over the globe, governments and big banks are acting as if they are anticipating an imminent financial collapse. Unfortunately, we are not privy to the quiet conversations that are taking place in corporate boardrooms and in the halls of power in places such as Washington D.C. and London, so all we can do is try to make sense of all the clues that are all around us. Of course it is completely possible to misinterpret these clues, but sticking our heads in the sand is not going to do any good either. Last week, it was revealed that the U.S. government has been secretly directing five of the biggest banks in America “to develop plans for staving off collapse” for the last two years. By itself, that wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But when you add that piece to the dozens of other clues of imminent financial collapse, a very troubling picture begins to emerge. Over the past 12 months, hundreds of banking executives have been resigning, corporate insiders have been selling off enormous amounts of stock, and I have been personally told that a significant number of Wall Street bankers have been shopping for “prepper properties” in rural communities this summer. Meanwhile, there have been reports that the U.S. government has been stockpiling food and ammunition, and Barack Obama has been signing a whole bunch of executive orders that would potentially be implemented in the event of a major meltdown of society. So what does all of this mean? It could mean something or it could mean nothing. What we do know is that a financial collapse is coming at some point. Over the past 40 years, the total amount of all debt in the United States has grown from about 2 trillion dollars to nearly 55 trillion dollars. That is a recipe for financial armageddon, and it is inevitable that this gigantic bubble of debt is going to burst at some point.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollpaseBlog.com



Merkel Is Baaaaaaack

Hold on tight boys and girls, cause Merkel is back from vacation, and she is not happy despite that healthy Santorini due diligence-inspired tan (as deputy-Chancellor Fuchs telegraphed earlier today, when he made it quite clear what his boss thinks about Greece, and about more printing). Per Bloomberg: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel returns to the front line of the European debt crisis this week as the bloc’s leaders squabble over measures including bond purchases to relieve concerns the single currency may fragment. Merkel ends her summer vacation and travels to Canada Aug. 15-16 for talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper as a spiraling euro crisis threatens to constrain the global economy. With the region’s leaders awaiting a German high court decision on bailout funding next month, they’re struggling to smooth divisions over a European Central Bank plan to buy the bonds of indebted nations."



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Obama camp: 1,000 attended ‘half-full’ fundraiser

by Jennifer Epstein, Politico:
Republicans quickly jumped on a report that President Obama’s largest fundraiser here Sunday was only “half full,” but the crowd for the event was larger than the Obama campaign had initially anticipated.
“At Obama fundraiser in Chicago. Admission only $51, but room is half full,” New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor wrote on Twitter.
The Romney campaign seized on Kantor’s estimate, as spokesman Ryan Williams tweeted, “Thrill is gone.” The Drudge Report also piled on, linking to Kantor’s tweet, which has been reposted by a few hundred others. (Kantor quickly followed up with additional tweets noting that only some tickets to the event cost $51 and that the campaign said the event was sold out.)
But the crowd for the afternoon fundraiser at the Bridgeport Art Center totaled 1,000, an Obama campaign official said – more than the 850-person estimate the campaign offered earlier in the weekend. Tickets for the Gen44 fundraiser, targeted at younger supporters, started at $51, but many were more expensive.
Read More @ Politico



Obama May Be In Contempt For Violating NDAA Detention Ruling

A federal judge warned the US government may be in contempt after Obama attorney’s refused to assure NDAA detention isn’t currently being used on citizens.



Obama On America's Drought: Blame Congress

Last week Obama insinuated that in the aftermath of the "amazing" post-bankruptcy GM recovery, his next plan is to bailout, well, everyone: "I believe in American workers, I believe in this American industry, and now the American auto industry has come roaring back... Now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs, not just in the auto industry, but in every industry." Also, as it appears, the Bailout'er-In-Chief has taken the saying "make it rain" a little too close to heart, and is now taking the worst drought in decades as a personal central planning challenge. Just because he can. There is one thing preventing him for bailing out US farmers: that thing apparently is evil congress. From his weekly address: "This is an all hands on deck response...  But my administration can't do it alone. Congress needs to do its part too. They need to pass a farm bill that not only helps farmers and ranchers respond to these kinds of disasters, but also makes necessary reforms and gives them certainly year round.... So call your members of congress, write them an email and tell them that now is the time to come together and get this done. Too many Americans are suffering right now to let politics get in the way." All righty then GOP - you heard the president: stop blocking the man who would end the drought if not for your disturbing lack of faith, and vote promptly for "Let's All Make It Rain: It's Only Fair" bill. How else can the systematic bailout of everyone and everything proceed as planned?





On Gold's Recent Resilience

Some might be surprised by the title's positivity, but while the barbarous relic has meandered in an ever-compressing (triangle pattern) series of waves in the last few months, it has rather notably outperformed relative to global risk aversion, CFTC positioning, and central bank balance sheet dynamics - especially in the last few weeks. Whether the yellow metal's zero-yield is now 'technically' attractive to safe-haven flows relative to the NIRPs of Germany and Switzerland - or in fundamental anticipation of the next bout of central bank largesse, Citi's global macro strategy group remain bullish of the precious metal and the charts below suggest they are not alone - as the view that precious metals are a put on political stupidity remains front-and-center.



10,000+ ROMNEY-RYAN RALLY in Wisconsin

[Ed. Note: So Ryan is a dedicated Cheesehead. Got it. The question is, is he a constitutional patriot like Ron Paul whose allegiance is to the people of the United States, rather than to the Banksters?]
from m.jsonline.com:
Brushing aside tears and responding to cheers, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan returned to Wisconsin Sunday for an emotional homecoming in front of thousands of people on the grounds of the Waukesha County Expo Center.
“It’s good to be home,” Ryan said in a speech that wove personal history and national aspiration.
A day after he was named Mitt Romney’s running mate and vaulted on to the Republican Party’s biggest political stage, Ryan spoke of his roots as a fifth-generation Wisconsinite and his ties to Janesville, where “we live on the block I grew up on.”
“My veins run with cheese, bratwurst, a little Spotted Cow, Leinie’s and some Miller,” he said. “I was raised on the Packers, Badgers, Bucks and Brewers.
“I like to hunt here, I like to fish here, I like to snowmobile here. I even think ice fishing is interesting. I’m a Wisconsinite through and through.”
Read More @ m.jsonline.com

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World Crumbles as Thug Bankers Rule

from crabbydogtrix:




Reuters: Banks to Collapse

from AnotherBoringWeek:





The Keys To Understanding the Collapse of the Status Quo: Credibility and Expectations

by Charles Hugh Smith, Of Two Minds:
When expectations are raised to impossible heights based on the promise of exponential financialization, the credibility of the Status Quo is doomed.
Data is important, but not all trends can be quantified. Longtime readers know that I value data and often use charts to explain the forces of transition/collapse. But there are profound dynamics that are not easily quantified, instances in which quantification may obscure our understanding.
Credibility and expectations are two such dynamics. Both credibility and expectations are very real forces, despite their status as inner states immune to direct measurement.
Beneath the surface of financial statistics, the real bedrock of any political and financial Status Quo is its credibility in the minds of its subjects. Once the people lose faith in the system, it will collapse under its own weight, a process I described in When Belief in the System Fades (March 12, 2008).
The corollary to this structural need for highly motivated, dedicated people to work the gears is that if their belief in the machine fades, then the machine grinds to a halt.
Read More @ OfTwoMinds.com


The Funnies

And Then There Is Disaster C

by John Mauldin, Gold Seek:

They say that breaking up is hard to do.
Now I know, I know that it’s true
Don’t say that this is the end.
Instead of breaking up
I wish that we were making up again.
– Neil Sedaka, 1962
I have contended for some time that Europe is faced with two choices: Disaster A, which is the break-up of the eurozone, or Disaster B, which is the creation of a fiscal union, which keeps the euro more or less intact. Over the last few months I have come to realize that there is indeed a third option, which now looks increasingly possible. This is rather sad, as the third option is just an even worse Disaster C. Each choice carries with it its own unique set of problems, but the outcome of any of the choices will be that the people of Europe face a serious recession, if not a depression. This will impact global growth for more than a short time and, depending on the choice, could plunge the world into a crisis as bad as or worse than the recent credit crisis. In today’s letter we look at all three choices, meanwhile musing on how we arrived at the bottom of such a deep hole, shovels flailing.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com



Darrell Issa to Sue Eric Holder Monday

by Jonathan Strong, Roll Call:
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa plans to sue Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday for refusing to provide documents related to the “Fast and Furious” gun-smuggling operation.
“The committee expects to file the civil contempt suit against the attorney general Monday,” a Republican source said. The suit will be filed in the federal district court for the District of Columbia.
The action is the latest escalation in the dispute between House Republicans and the Justice Department over the documents, which relate to a botched gun-smuggling operation.
On June 28, the House voted to hold Holder in contempt of Congress and authorized the Oversight panel to bring suit to enforce its rights.
In Fast and Furious, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed assault guns to “walk,” which meant ending surveillance on weapons suspected to be en route to Mexican drug cartels.
Read More @ RollCall.com



Anniversary of the credit crunch

by GoldMoney News Desk, Gold Money:
We are coming up to the fifth anniversary of the financial crisis, at least for the UK’s banking system, because it was five years ago that anxious depositors were queuing up to withdraw their money from Northern Rock, leading to its inevitable rescue by the tax-payer. Anniversaries are often a time for reflection. The Northern Rock failure marked the popping of the UK’s residential property bubble. The signs of excessive valuation were all there, particularly speculation in the buy-to-let market, wide-spread public participation in a “sure thing”, and Northern Rock offering loans with a loan-to-value of 120%. The same extremes of sentiment were visible in the US where there was a lending frenzy on the false assumption that a diverse portfolio of mortgages was somehow risk-free.
Bubbles everywhere went pop. It was completely unexpected by academic economists, a point made deliciously by the Queen, who when opening the New Academic Building at the London School of Economics was moved to ask why no one saw the crisis coming. They had no answer. The same academics reassured us the crisis was a just a temporary blip, and normal economic growth would shortly resume. Yet, here we are five years later, still awaiting the recovery while sinking deeper into the mire; and Her Majesty might still be reflecting on this fact.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com



Five years on, the Great Recession is turning into a life sentence

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The Telegraph:
Five years into the Long Slump it almost seems as if we are back to square one.
China is sufficiently alarmed by the flint hardness of its “soft-landing” to talk up trillions of fresh stimulus. The European Central Bank is preparing to print “whatever it takes” to save Spain and Italy. Markets are pricing in an 80pc chance of yet more printing by the US Federal Reserve in September or soon after.
There is no doubt that the three superpowers acting in concert can launch a mini-cycle of growth early next year – assuming they deliver on their rhetoric – but the twin headwinds of debt-leveraging and excess manufacturing plant across the globe cannot easily be conjured away.
The world remains in barely contained slump. Industrial output is still below earlier peaks in Germany (-2), US (-3), Canada (-8) France (-9), Sweden (-10), Britain (-11), Belgium (-12), Japan (-15), Hungary (-15) Italy (-17), Spain (-22), Greece (-27), according to St Louis Fed data. By that gauge this is proving more intractable than the Great Depression.
Some date the crisis to August 9 2007, the day it became clear that Europe’s banks were up to their necks in US housing debt. The ECB flooded markets with €95bn of liquidity. It seemed a lot of money then. The term “trillion” was still banned by the Telegraph style book in those innocent days. We have since learned to swing with the modern dance music from central banks.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk



The British imperialists snapping up swathes of Africa to cash in on the world’s food shortage – and forcing out small farmers

by Fred Pearce, DailyMail.co.uk:
It is an odd retirement hobby. Britain’s top soldier, the former commander of British Land Forces and the man who capped his military career by presiding over the funeral of the Queen Mother, has been planting crops in the African bush.
Not personally, you understand. But Sir Charles Redmond Watt has been mixing with Chinese billionaires, Saudi sheiks, Wall Street whizzkids and a motley array of British adventurers who agree with the financial guru George Soros that ‘farmland is one of the best investments of our time’. And for those wanting lots of land, nothing comes cheaper than a slice of Africa.
I have spent the past two years on the trail of these land grabbers, who have between them taken control of an area roughly ten times the size of Britain, most of it in Africa. And I discovered that Britain is the world’s biggest centre for private land grabbers. City financiers are the new imperialists, returning to colonies we walked away from half a century ago.
Upon leaving the Army, Sir Charles, who once commanded 125,000 military personnel, became chairman of a shell company, Las Vegas-registered Kryptic Entertainment, which later changed its name to Farm Lands of Guinea.
Read More @ DailyMail.co.uk



Direct Registration


Jim Sinclair’s Commentary:

So far 4 out of every 5 investors who speak to their brokers and/or banks are talked out of direct registration by ignorance or lies.
Direct registration takes you out of the system.
Direct registration takes you off the balance sheet of the broker and/or clearinghouse.
Direct registration can increase protection for tax favored accounts.
However, how can I help people who will not help themselves and who fully know that they are rolling the dice on the integrity of their financial agent for theirs and their families’ financial survival?





Jim Sinclair’s Commentary:

This is an interesting position for all of you that believe assets held by your securities and commodity brokers are safe!

RED ALERT: It’s Open Season on All Customer Funds
“This ruling and precedent will be used by every brokerage, every bank, every insurance company and every pension fund to deny you your money when the financial system finally collapses, be it on Monday, or be it two years from now. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? You have GOT to GET OUT.”
by Ann Barnhardt, Barnhardt.biz:
The National Futures Association is collusion with the Banksters, government and judiciary and have achieved their goal. The entire concept of “customer segregated funds” is officially, completely, legally dead.
Guys, it is OVER. I know that many of you are still cowering in normalcy bias, unable to deal with reality, unable to face the world as it is, but you have GOT to snap out of it. The marketplace is DESTROYED. You CANNOT be in these markets. All legal protections are now officially gone.
More...


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