Sunday, January 22, 2012

Italy and Spain Call For Eurozone Rescue Fund Booster

Political leaders in Italy and Spain have called for a massive boost to the EU rescue fund and a blast of monetary stimulus by the European Central Bank (ECB), putting them on a collision course with Germany over the handling of the eurozone crisis.
by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph.co.uk:
Italy’s premier Mario Monti has told Berlin that the new European Stability Mechanism (ESM) must be doubled to €1 trillion (£828bn) to restore investor confidence in southern European debt, according to Der Spiegel.
The move comes days after Mr Monti warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel that austerity fatigue is growing in the debtor states and there will be a “powerful backlash” unless the creditor powers led by Germany do more to correct North-South imbalances and lower borrowing for the whole eurozone.
In what appears to be a coordinated move by the Latin bloc, Spanish foreign minister José Manuel García-Margallo y Marfil backed the plan for a bigger rescue fund. He called for an EMU debt union and sweeping changes to the structure of the eurozone.
Mr García-Margallo exhorted the ECB to step up bond purchases in a fully-fledged campaign of quantitative easing, implicitly suggesting a blitz of up to €2 trillion on top of the unlimited credit already provided to banks at 1pc for three years.
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk




United Welfare States of America: In 2011 Nearly Half The Population Received Some Form Of Government Benefit


While politicians may debate whether or not America is the most "generous" (with other generations' money of course) socialist welfare state in the history of mankind, the undoctored numbers make the affirmative case quite clear and without any chance for confusion. The single most disturbing statistic: in 2011 nearly half of the population lived in a household that receives some form of government benefit. And yet some people out there still think these people, long since indoctrinated to do little but mooch off the welfare state (which will continue subsidizing its existence so long as debt rates are so low that the government can issue trillions each year without fears of consequences) will halt their iTunes purchases, will voluntarily stop subsisting on the government's teat, or will rebel against a government which is their only source of income? Why?




Must Read...and email to family and friends... 

Warning Signs That We Should Prepare For The Worst




Sprott Silver Trust (PSLV) Premium Collapse Costly

HOUSTON — Just below is a good reason to pay attention to the premium over net asset value a metals trading vehicle is carrying BEFORE buying it. On January 16 when we issued our last full Got Gold Report, we warned in clear and unambiguous terms that the premium then extant for the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (NYSE:PSLV, more than 24% over net asset value then) “could evaporate at the drop of a hat.” Failure to pay attention to overly high premiums can be disappointing and costly.
We went further in that Subscriber update, saying: “If we held any PSLV at the moment we would immediately trade it for a vehicle with little or no premium. Or, we would buy an equivalent amount of physical metal and then cash in the bloated shares of Mr. Sprott’s vehicle.”
Anyone following the action in silver could have predicted that a new offering for PSLV was coming. Recall in our public offering on January 8, entitled, “Silver, You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet,” we said then that: “Mr. Sprott can see and smell the same imbalance we are talking about and has moved into position for it in a very big way. Indeed, with his recent shelf offering, we think Mr. Sprott’s next very large purchase of silver metal is more or less imminent. Mr. Sprott can see the same chart we do.”
Read More @ GotGoldReport.com





I Was Wrong About Everything

by Charles Hugh Smith, OfTwoMinds.com:

I was wrong: doing more of the same has solved all our problems.
Time for a mea maxima culpa: I’ve been wrong about everything: the stock market, the economy, globalization, energy, everything. Heck, I’ve even been wrong about the American diet and poor fitness; it’s now clear that ice cream sundaes are health food that have been shown to extend life dramatically. Fast food is nutritious and cheap, a great combination, and there is basically nothing in the mind-body that can’t be fixed in a jiffy with a handful of pills, all of which are almost free once you qualify for government healthcare programs.
The economy has not just dodged recession, it’s in full-blown recovery. The only two indicators that are going down are the VIX volatility index, which might just fall to near-zero as investors realize there’s no longer any downside in the market and therefore no need to buy hedges, and the unemployment rate, which is steadily declining.
2012 is like 1956, 1964, 1984 and 1996: the economy is booming, and a sitting president has wisely overseen the application of brilliant policies by the Pentagon, the State and Treasury departments and the Federal Reserve. The policies were simple: when “more of the same” didn’t work, do even more of the same. That did the trick in everything from waging war to finding new energy sources to stabilizing the financial and housing markets.
Read More @ OfTwoMinds.com




Why Isn’t Illinois A Bigger Story Than Greece?

by John Rubino, DollarCollapse.com:

As the Greek default (and it is a default no matter what they end up calling it) is finalized this week, the consensus seems to be that failure to reach a deal would cause a global financial apocalypse.
That may be true. And if it is, why aren’t we more worried about Illinois? It’s more or less the same size as Greece, its finances are in the same generally catastrophic shape, and its leaders are just as feckless and dishonest. It owes tens of billions of dollars to various investors and stakeholders and will clearly have to stiff many of them at some point. The following article captures the “failed state” dilemma perfectly:
Read More @ DollarCollapse.com




Gold-Market Rigging Has Many Whistleblowers; They’re Just Always Ignored

by Chris Powell, GATA:
Many people ask why, if there really is a gold price suppression scheme — a scheme of currency market intervention to support the dollar and other currencies against the true international reserve currency, gold — some whistleblowers haven’t come forward to expose it.
In fact, the whistle has been blown on the gold price suppression scheme many times over the years, and by the highest authorities. They just haven’t yet been recognized as whistleblowers by the news media and financial analysts.
Many of you may have heard of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s famous remark about gold in his testimony to Congress in July 1998: “Central banks stand ready to lease gold in increasing quantities should the price rise.”
That is, Greenspan contradicted the usual central bank explanation for leasing gold — supposedly to earn a little interest on a dead asset — and admitted that gold leasing is all about suppressing the price. Greenspan’s admission is still posted at the Fed’s Internet site:
Read More @ GATA.org




More On Ron Paul

by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, PaulCraigRoberts.org:
If Ron Paul’s libertarian handlers and support base could escape their ideology, Ron Paul could be much better positioned to win the Republican nomination.
Here are some suggestions.
Ron Paul should be making the point that Social Security and Medicare are threatened by multi-trillion dollar wars that are funded by debt, by bailouts of a deregulated banking system, and by money creation to keep the banks afloat. Libertarians support deregulation, but their position has always been that deregulated industries must not be bailed out with public subsidies, much less subsidies that are so extensive that they threaten government solvency and the value of the currency.
Instead of hitting hard on the serious threat to Social Security and Medicare posed by Obama and Republican candidates for the nomination, all of whom serve Wall Street, the military/security complex, and the Israel Lobby, Ron Paul has been positioned both by his supporters and his opponents as the danger to Social Security and Medicare. This is an amazing strategic mistake by the Ron Paul campaign.
Read More @ PaulCraigRoberts.org




Buckle Up

from TFMetalsReport.com:
As Barney Fife would say: “Boy ohboy ohboy ohboy ohboy ohboy ohboy ohboy”. Do we ever have a humdinger of a week ahead of us. So, to get our heads screwed on straight and prepare, I thought it best to roll out a little Sunday afternoon warm up.
First things first. Since December, many have commented and emailed looking for me to call another “Turd’s Bottom”. In a way, I did. After the breakdown last September, I kept trying to warn everyone that gold and silver could fall all of the way to their long-term trendlines, projected to be near 1550 and 25. As we now know, they came pretty close. Gold got to about 1535 in the last week of December, silver reached down and double-tapped 26 and that was that. I could have rolled out another grandiose bottom call but I chose, instead, to use it as a teaching moment. Judging by the emails I received, only a few of you seemed to notice what I was doing. To recap, here is the path upon which I was trying to lead you:
Read More @ TFMetalsReport.com




Ron Paul: Preserve the Free and Open Internet! Down with SOPA and PIPA!





Activism-In-Motion

After months of increasingly aggressive shareholder activism, the long-standing co-CEOs (Balisillie and Lazaridis) of the struggling Blackberry maker have resigned as the former COO takes over as CEO and former-exchange executive takes over as chairperson.
  • *RESEARCH IN MOTION CO-CEOS/CHAIRMEN QUIT POSTS :RIM CN, AAPL US
  • *RIM NAMES BARBARA STYMIEST INDEPENDENT BOARD CHAIRMAN   :RIM CN
  • *RESEARCH IN MOTION NAMES THORSTEN HEINS PRESIDENT, CEO
Research In Motion has clearly morphed into Activism-in-Motion as the Globe and Mail reports: "The catalyst for change appears to have been the entry of a new personality: reserved but revered investor Prem Watsa, the CEO of Fairfax Financial. Mr. Watsa, who has been called Canada’s Warren Buffett." While chatter appears to be that change-is-good, G&M go on to note, "Critics of the company’s performance may not be immediately impressed by a management shakeup that involves so little fresh blood." as the Playbook fiasco is fresh in many people's minds but perhaps new CEO's Heins view that "We are not at a point where we try to define a strategy, that’s done" will not hearten those looking for real change.





As the name implies. What is funny is how only after the advent of the Federal Reserve in 1913 did Financial crises expose increasingly more of world GDP to a crisis state. But at least the Fed and ECB tell us all they do is enforce price stabeeletee. Could they be lying!? We thought it was all the gold standard's fault for causing unprecedented economic volatility... Guess not. From History Shots: "The giant wave in the top section of the graphic depicts the percentage of world GDP by region in crisis during the 200 year period. It includes the four major financial crisis types (sovereign default, banking, currency, and inflation) along with stock market crashes. The bottom section provides a detailed chart of all sovereign defaults by country, region and year. It shows the repeating nature of sovereign default, a central theme of Reinhart and Rogoff's book."




Weekly Recap And Key Events In The Coming Week

The market will look for any signal on the pace of discussions over the ESM pre-funding details and the fiscal compact. Flash PMIs in the Eurozone and the IFO will also be key to watch given market fears over the activity impact of tight fiscal policy linked to the Eurozone fiscal crisis. Attention will likely shift to the US this week. Q4 GDP will likely exceed 3% mostly due to one-off drivers and less so due a genuine pick-up in final demand in our view. The FOMC statement and press conference are unlikely to lead to a change in US monetary policy. However, we will be focusing on the publication of the FOMC participants’ views of appropriate policy (specifically the path for the federal funds rate and guidance for the size of the balance sheet going forward). In addition, President Obama will give his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.




What To Expect: QE3, $2,200 Gold, and The Trillion Dollar Bazooka


 
Kinsley: About Rising Inflation, Please Remain Worried



Silver and the Gold Standard



Government Math Hides True Unemployment



Hungary May Be First To Default





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