Three Charts That Confirm Greece's Death Even After Restructuring

  Perhaps after today's budget miss in the Hellenic Republic it is time that the focus shift from the reality of a pending #fail for the voluntary PSI (for all the reasons we have at length discussed no matter how many headlines the markets tries to rally on) to a post-restructuring real economy reality in Greece. Whether self-imposed by devaluation or Teutonia-imposed by Troika, austerity is in the cards but there is a much more deep-seated problem at the heart of Greece - a total and utter lack of innovation and entrepreneurship. As Goldman's Hugo Scott-Gall focuses on in his fortnightly report this week "the competitive advantage of innovation is one that developed markets need to keep" and in the case of European nations that desperately need to find a way to grow somehow, it is critical. Unfortunately, Greece, center of the universe for a post-restructuring phoenix-like recovery expectation, scores 0 for 3 on the innovation front. Lowest overall patent grant rate, lowest corporate birth rate, and highest cost of starting a new business hardly endear them to direct investment or an entrepreneurial dynamism that could 'slow' capital flight. Perhaps it is this reality, one of a Greek people perpetually circling the drain of dis-innovation and un-growth, that Merkel is starting to feel comfortable 'letting go of'. Maybe some navel-gazing after seeing these three doom-ridden charts will force a political class to open the economy a little more, cut the red tape (after a drastic restructuring of course) and shift focus from Ouzo, Olive Oil, and The Olympics. We also suggest the rest of the PIIGS not be too quick to comment 'we are not Greece' when they see where they rank for innovation.

Ron Paul Takes 2nd in Minnesota Which Appears Accurate, I Was There.

By SGT
The Minnesota results are in (despite taking 3 days in Nevada) – and the results suggest that there is NO real “front runner” in the GOP race for the Presidency.
Rick Santorum took 1st place in the “non-binding” Minnesota Caucus, which means “bragging rights” only, no Delegates. The esteemed Dr. Ron Paul finished in a very strong second place with 27% (7,224 votes). Romney garnered 16% and Newt Gingrich managed to round up 11%.
My experience at the Caucus was similar to the nationally reported results. Here’s a picture of the results from my Precinct tonight:

Fellow You Tuber and my friend Bob attended my Precinct’s Caucus tonight as well. He made the very good point that most people attending Caucuses are either first-timers – or led by first-timers. And often confusion is the result.
In the case of my Precinct, the “chair person” failed to offer the opportunity for folks to make a statement on behalf of the candidate they support, BEFORE the ballots were handed out, as the rules dictate. Having been to the Caucus in 2008, I knew this was an incorrect procedure so I immediately approached her, pointed out her error and asked to speak to the crowd in my Precinct. But many folks had already begun to vote. Fortunately, the Chair checked the rules and then allowed me to speak on behalf of the candidate I support, Dr. Paul.
The point is, YOU can make a difference by going to YOUR Caucus and speaking on behalf of Ron Paul BEFORE the straw poll vote takes place. Read More…

Mike Maloney: Politicians Don’t Understand Economics (or Gold & Silver)

Huge Inflation Down The Road

Admin at Jim Rogers Blog - 3 hours ago

I'm short technology stocks in the US and i'm not buying anything in the US. I do think that this year is going to be better in the economy and the stock market partly because they're printing a lot of money, that will help some parts of the economy and help commodities. But you also have to remember this leads to huge inflation down the road. - *in CNBC* *Jim Rogers is an author, financial commentator and successful international investor. He has been frequently featured in Time, The New York Times, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and is a r... more » 

According To A New DHS Report, If You Love “Individual Liberty” Of If You “Believe In Conspiracy Theories” You Are A Potential Terrorist

from End of The American Dream:

Do you love America? Are you against a one world economy and a one world government? Do you deeply love individual liberty? Do you believe in conspiracy theories? If you answered any of those questions affirmatively, then you are a potential terrorist according to a brand new Department of Homeland Security report that was just released in January 2012. The report is entitled “Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008“, and it was produced by the “National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism” for the Department of Homeland Security. As you will see detailed later on in this article, the most shocking part of this report is when it discusses the “ideological motivations” of potential terrorists. The report shamelessly attempts to portray red-blooded Americans that love liberty and that love their country as the enemy. Once upon a time, deeply patriotic Americans were considered to be the backbone of America, but today they are considered to be potential terrorists.
Read More @ EndOfTheAmericanDream.com


 

  

An Orderly EMU Break-up, à la Française

by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph.co.uk:
Salut souverainistes. For those wanting more details on the euro break-up plan drafted by French economists, here is the link to the L’Observatoire de L’Europe website.
A few extracts, loosely translated: “The obstinate determination of governments to take us by forced march deeper into the euro impasse can only lead to the general aggravation of the economic situation in Europe.”
“Even though our American and Chinese competitors have an interest in the survival of the single currency, the euro is condemned to an uncontrollable explosion sooner or late”. (A nice twist that one, inverting the false and widely believed conspiracy theory that the US is trying to destroy the euro.)
“National currencies should be recreated in each eurozone country”. There will be a short transition period of dual notes as old euros are stamped by country (‘U’ for France) until new francs etc are printed. (This is what happened when the Austro-Hungarian monetary union fell apart in 1919.)
Read More @ Telegraph.co.uk

Why Is Global Shipping Slowing Down So Dramatically?

If the global economy is not heading for a recession, then why is global shipping slowing down so dramatically? Many economists believe that measures of global shipping such as the Baltic Dry Index are leading economic indicators. In other words, they change before the overall economic picture changes. For example, back in early 2008 the Baltic Dry Index began falling dramatically. There were those that warned that such a rapid decline in the Baltic Dry Index meant that a significant recession was coming, and it turned out that they were right. Well, the Baltic Dry Index is falling very rapidly once again. In fact, on February 3rd the Baltic Dry Index reached a low that had not been seen since August 1986. Some economists say that there are unique reasons for this (there are too many ships, etc.), but when you add this to all of the other indicators that Europe is heading into a recession, a very frightening picture emerges. We appear to be staring a global economic slowdown right in the face, and we all need to start getting prepared for that.
If you don’t read about economics much, you might not know what the Baltic Dry Index actually is.
Read More @ TheEconomicCollapseBlog.com

Gabelli Gold's Bryan expects another leg higher in King World News interview

Goldcorp, gold council chairman Telfer implicated in insider scheme; he denies it

 

 

Jim Sinclair’s Commentary

The official definition of an extremist? oh my!

FBI warns of threat from anti-government extremists By Patrick Temple-West
Mon Feb 6, 2012 7:21pm EST
Reuters) – Anti-government extremists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States, the FBI warned on Monday.
These extremists, sometimes known as "sovereign citizens," believe they can live outside any type of government authority, FBI agents said at a news conference.
The extremists may refuse to pay taxes, defy government environmental regulations and believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard.
Routine encounters with police can turn violent "at the drop of a hat," said Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director in the FBI’s counterterrorism division.
"We thought it was important to increase the visibility of the threat with state and local law enforcement," he said.
In May 2010, two West Memphis, Arkansas, police officers were shot and killed in an argument that developed after they pulled over a "sovereign citizen" in traffic.
More…

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