We The Sheeplez- The Coming Economic Collapse.."A Nation Of Sheep Ruled By Wolves" Thomas Jefferson

Greek Bondholder Talks Stalled, Agreement Unlikely By Monday Deadline

We were not at all surprised to learn this morning that not only has an agreement not been met ahead of Monday's critical Eurozone FinMin meeting (the first of many for 2012) in Brussels, but talks have "stalled". Dow Jones reports: "Talks between Greece and its private sector creditors over a debt writedown plan appeared to stall Saturday as the banks' top negotiator left Athens amid signs of fresh disagreements over how much Greece would pay its bondholders in the future. Officials close to the talks said they may not conclude before a meeting Monday of euro-zone finance ministers where a second bailout which will keep Greece from defaulting is supposed to be discussed. Without a deal on the write-down of the debt held in private hands, the loan can't be released. Institute of International Finance chief Charles Dallara, who has been negotiating with Greek officials on the bond swap plan for the last two days, left Athens Saturday as hurdles remained over the interest rate the new bonds would pay private sector creditors. "Right now there are no talks. There will be consultations with the EU and the IMF to determine where we stand and then we'll see. It (negotiations) has again become complicated with the new demands over the coupon," said a person with direct knowledge of the talks." Which is why any statements that Greece, or the ECB, has all the leverage are total rubbish - if Greece wanted to get the deal done over Hedge Funds' dead bodies, it would have. It hasn't. And yes, a forced cram down of UK-indentured Greek bonds is still a possibiliy, but we will shortly make all too clear that should Greece proceed with this last ditch scorched earth approach, it would mean a complete overhaul of the entire PIIGS bond market, and why a sell off in €800 billion of it would be imminent.

Eurozone Burns Money While the Banks Fiddle Their Balance Sheets

‘Nothing is safe that does not show it can bear discussion and publicity.”
by Liam Halligan, Telegraph.co.uk:

These words, among the many pearls uttered by the celebrated 19th century historian Lord Acton, have often come to me in recent years as the sub-prime crisis has unfolded. They’ve been particularly on my mind over the past week or so as I’ve watched events in the eurozone.
Investor sentiment in Western Europe appears to have improved over the past few days. In the aftermath of last weekend’s French sovereign downgrade, financial markets have staged a counter-intuitive rally, with European equities reaching a five-month high on Thursday.
At the same time, and perhaps even more surprisingly, France and Spain between them offloaded no less than €14.6bn (£12bn) of government paper last week, at relatively favourable borrowing costs.
Downgrade or not, Paris sold close to €8bn of medium-term state bonds, with yields falling across the board. Spain then flogged €6.6bn of government IOUs, exceeding its €4.5bn target, with investor demand driving yields well below expectations.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk

Corzine, MF Execs and JPM Named in RICO Lawsuit

Ron Paul – South Carolina Primary Speech 01/21/12

Ron Paul Comments on 4th Place Finish in South Carolina

Silver tracking the CCI - risk trade measurement

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 11 hours ago

One look at this tells you all you need to know about whether or not silver is going to perform. If risk is in and hedge fund money flows are coming into the commodity complex in general, it will move higher. When it does, silver goes right along with it. When risk is out and money flows OUT of the commodity complex, silver sinks like a lead brick. Notice that chart pattern is almost identical between the two.

Long term View of the Gold/Silver ratio

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 11 hours ago

You will note on this chart that since Silver peaked near $50 back in April of last year, gold had generally been outperforming it for the remainder of the year. I am of the opinion that this was due to the anticipation of the end of QE2 in June of last year. Traders began preparing for the loss of the liquidity being supplied from that front. When you couple this with the fact that European sovereign debt woes began to gain ascendancy in the minds of traders worldwide, it is easy to see why gold held up better than silver. DEFLATION was back in; INFLATION was out. If, and this is... more »

Trader Dan on King World News Weekly Metals Wrap

Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 12 hours ago

Please click on the following link to listen to my regular weekly radio interview with Eric King on the KWN Weekly Metals Wrap. *http://tinyurl.com/74dmqmm*

Health Care, Gun Control, and Peaceful Freedom

Why I’m Suing Barack Obama

by Chris Hedges, GlobalResearch.ca:

Attorneys Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran filed a complaint Friday in the Southern U.S. District Court in New York City on my behalf as a plaintiff against Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to challenge the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force as embedded in the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by the president Dec. 31.
The act authorizes the military in Title X, Subtitle D, entitled “Counter-Terrorism,” for the first time in more than 200 years, to carry out domestic policing. With this bill, which will take effect March 3, the military can indefinitely detain without trial any U.S. citizen deemed to be a terrorist or an accessory to terrorism. And suspects can be shipped by the military to our offshore penal colony in Guantanamo Bay and kept there until “the end of hostilities.” It is a catastrophic blow to civil liberties.
I spent many years in countries where the military had the power to arrest and detain citizens without charge. I have been in some of these jails. I have friends and colleagues who have “disappeared” into military gulags. I know the consequences of granting sweeping and unrestricted policing power to the armed forces of any nation. And while my battle may be quixotic, it is one that has to be fought if we are to have any hope of pulling this country back from corporate fascism.
Section 1031 of the bill defines a “covered person”—one subject to detention—as “a person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.”
The bill, however, does not define the terms “substantially supported,” “directly supported” or “associated forces.”
Read More @ GlobalResearch.ca

The Right to Bear Arms: Over 10,800,000 Guns Sold in the USA in 2011

by Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan.com:

The United Nations may think they’re weapons of mass destruction, but Americans seem to disagree.
2011 was yet another record breaking year for gun sales, with Americans purchasing some 10.8 million firearms, a 14% increase over the previous year and up over 50% from ten years ago as reported by the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

Many indicators, including a record-setting 2011, show the firearms industry continues to thrive in a down economy and that the potential exists for another strong sales year in 2012, reports the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industry.

…

Indicators such as background-check statistics, firearms production and importation, firearm-retailer surveys and on-the-ground reports from retailers nationwide reveal that interest in firearm ownership is high. “More and more Americans are choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights, and they are doing so in a safe and responsible manner,” said NSSF President and CEO Steve Sanetti.

Read More @ SHTFPlan.com