Pink Slime Maker Files For Bankruptcy: Pink Slips Galore As The Pink Sheets Beckon
In
the first of two major bankruptcy stories du jour (the next one coming
up shortly), we learn that AFA Foods, best known for being the maker
of "pink slime", and a portfolio company of labor unions and Clinton
afficionado Ron Burkle and his PE firm Yucaipa, has just filed for
bankruptcy. The reason? The sudden public realization what pink slime
is, and just how prevalent it is - perhaps it is best to think of it as
the Bernie Madoff of the food industry - it was always there, yet it
took a wholesale shift in public awareness and consciousness for
the firm to realize it would have been prudent to come up with a
slightly different name for its ground-beef product. As for whether or
not the company is going to the pink sheets, well no. But one thing is
certain: the management team is about to get a pink slip.Foodstamp Usage Remains At All Time High, Record Number Of Households Receive $277 In Poverty Assistance Monthly
While we do not know if foodstamp usage is seasonally adjusted, we do know that in January it was virtually unchanged at 46.5 million recipients. And while the actual number of recipients declined by a whisper, the number of households actually receiving benefits increased to a new record of 22.2 million. Lastly, the average monthly benefit per household slide to a multi-year low of $277.27. First the quality of jobs gets diluted, next the poverty benefits. All in line with the continued dilution of real wealth, simply so nominal indexes can hit fresh 5 year highs - today the S&P hit an intraday high not seen since December 31, 2007. Luckily, soon everyone will be rich and can retire.
VIX Pops As AAPL Snaps Stops With Action Between US Open And EUR Close
As
AAPL surges over 3% on the second lowest volume in 3 weeks, the start
of Q2 was exuberance-exemplified as stocks, commodities, and Treasuries
all enjoyed a bid - though most of the excitement was from the US open to the European close only.
A weak start as European credit and equity markets leaked lower (as
did ES - S&P 500 e-mini futures) was extinguished as the US day
session opened and while construction spending was a bust, ISM managed a
small beat. This didn't seem like the catalyst really but we were off
to the races as everything rapidly levitated into the European close - except US credit markets
which were far less sanguine once again. Stocks stalled at that point
and limped on to test last Tuesday's overnight highs before sliding
back 6pts or so into the close. Typical high-beta QE-driven sectors
outperformed with Energy and Materials heavily bid but even they gave
back some advantage into the close as did Tech and Financials. Oil staged a magnificent recovery (best performance from low to high today) topping out over $105 but just outperformed (from Friday's close) by Copper and Silver which ended up around 2.4%. Treasuries rallied
8bps from overnight weakness to their best of the day but son after
the macro data, TSYs sold off with the long-end underperforming -
though the entire complex ended lower in yield on the day. AUD and JPY
strength matched on another providing little support from carry FX as
the USD limped weaker - though Gold tripled the USD's performance managing +0.47% and a close above $1675 once again. VIX gapped notably higher at the open but rapidly compressed but from the close of the European session it pushed considerably higher to end the day fractionally higher (oddly on a decently higher equity market performance).Hunger Games
Dave in Denver at The Golden Truth - 3 hours ago
*A bankrupt empire still trying to police the world is the ultimate act of
hubris*
- quote is from the article linked below
I woke up today in a bearish mood for some reason and the commentary below
from The Burning Platform blog was perfect fuel:
•We’ve increased our national debt by $5.6 trillion in the last three and a
half years. It took from 1789 until 2000, two hundred and eleven years, to
accumulate the first $5.6 trillion of debt.
•Our average annual deficit from 2000 through 2008 was $190 billion. Our
average annual deficits since 2008 have been $1.3 trillion. Our defici... more »
Rosenberg Recaps The Record Quarter
What a quarter! The Dow up 8% and enjoying a record quarter in terms of points — 994 of them to be exact and in percent terms, now just 7% off attaining a new all-time high. The S&P 500 surged 12% (and 3.1% for March; 28% from the October 2011 lows), which was the best performance since 1998. It seems so strange to draw comparisons to 1998, which was the infancy of the Internet revolution; a period of fiscal stability, 5% risk-free rates, sustained 4% real growth in the economy, strong housing markets, political stability, sub-5% unemployment, a stable and predictable central bank. And look at the composition of the rally. Apple soared 48% and accounted for nearly 20% of the appreciation in the S&P 500. But outside of Apple, what led the rally were the low-quality names that got so beat up last year, such as Bank of America bouncing 72% (it was the Dow's worst performer in 2011; financials in aggregate rose 22%). Sears Holdings have skyrocketed 108% this year even though the company doesn't expect to make money this year or next. What does that tell you? What it says is that this bull run was really more about pricing out a possible financial disaster coming out of Europe than anything that could really be described as positive on the global macroeconomic front. What is most fascinating is how the private client sector simply refuses to drink from the Fed liquidity spiked punch bowl, having been burnt by two central bank-induced bubbles separated less than a decade apart leaving David Rosenberg, of Gluskin Sheff, still rightly focused on benefiting from his long-term 3-D view of deleveraging, demographics, and deflation - as he notes US data is on notably shaky ground. This appears to have been very much a trader's rally as he reminds us that liquidity is not an antidote for fundamentals.Europe's Tallest-To-Be Building Is Burning - Live Feed
First
the Costa Concordia was a sinking example of the failing European
experiment, now we may have an even better case study of the continent's
burning ambitions, as the Moscow Federation Tower, designed to be the
tallest building in Europe, is engulfed in flames. As RT says,
"As firefighters try to put out the flames on the top floors, the
danger the incomplete building might collapse is growing every minute."
Watch live here until the feed is shut off.Biderman On April's Equity Inflection Point As Fed's Front-Loading Fades
The Fed has undertaken the same front-loading of the US economy for three years in a row (QE1, QE2, and Operation Twist)
and each of the three times the performance of the US equity market to
this sudden flush of liquidity has been almost identical in terms of
velocity (speed and direction) - even though the underlying
macroeconomic impact has been lesser and lesser as we pointed out here earlier.
What is also most notable is that as we head into April (as Biderman
reminds us, a typically positive 'flow' month for US equities given the
tax-based moves and quarter-start) we are nearing what has been the
inflection point in the previous two pump-and-hope episodes. While
sounding eerily bullish in the very short-term, Charles is critically
clear that he expects the short-lived nature of money-printing's impact on the market economy to fade rapidly
as he fully expects the government agencies to revise their growth
expectations more in line with his 'fact'-based growth expectations
which are considerably lower. Though he notes the timing of the election
may mean more of a sustained 'hope', the fact that in 2012 (starting
Nov2011) equity performance is better now than the previous two
Fed-infused rallies is perhaps why corporate insider-selling is so dominating insider-buying now through March.
The avuncular antagonist concludes with his expectations that once the
April surge is done with (which it may already have done today?) he fully expects the stock market to give up all its first quarter gains (and
need we remind you that high yield credit is sending the very same
signals of concern that it did in Q2 of the previous 2 rallies).10 'Facts' That Should Worry Europe's Equity 'Fiction'
As the first day of the quarter brings new money and new hope for global asset allocators, Credit Suisse has shifted to a more negative 'underweight' stance to European equities.
Laying out 10 reasons for their displeasure, they dig into the details
a little with a positive view on domestic German equities and the
broad DAX index (and USD earners) while notably negative on France and Spain in general (with Spain expected to underperform Italy). Varying from too much complacency on the resolution to the crisis, to political flash points,
valuations, and relative economic momentum. This smorgasbord of
anxiety-inducing 'facts' may well prove enough to topple the 'fiction'
of a liquidity-levitated equity market - that credit seems to have
already realized. Most notably the five factors that need to be 'fixed'
before the Euro crisis is resolved, and the under-estimation of the
de-leveraging required in the periphery, leaves mutualization of debt as the game-changer that still seems a long-way off. The
complacency angle seems the most relevant to us - and we see equities
once again pull away from any sense of reason indicated by the
sovereign, financial, and corporate credit market, this complacency
becomes more and more dangerous.Getting what should be public information about major Wall Street firms can be maddeningly difficult.
Bloomberg News discovered this in its ultimately successful effort to get information on the $1.2 trillion in “secret loans” the Fed doled out during the financial crisis. And I’ve had no small experience of it myself.
As I started each of my three books — about Lazard Freres, Bear Stearns and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) — I submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to the appropriate government agencies (the Securities Exchange Commission, the State Department and the Federal Reserve) to obtain whatever documents, memos and e-mails they had about these companies and their senior executives.
I was hoping to find, among other nuggets, details of enforcement actions, or settlements that were reached where the firms “neither admitted nor denied” guilt, or other documentary evidence of the coziness that has for too long existed between Wall Street and Washington.
Read More @ Bloomberg.com
Below is Jim Rickards’ submitted testimony as a witness in the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Policy hearing entitled: “Retirement (In)Security: Examining The Retirement Savings Gap”
Introduction
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member and members of this Subcommittee, my name is James Rickards, and I want to extend my deep appreciation for the opportunity and the high honor to speak to you today on a subject of the utmost importance to the financial well being of scores of millions of Americans. The Subcommittee on Economic Policy has a long and distinguished history of examining the validity and efficacy of policies pursued by the Congress, the Administration and government agencies. In the wake of a stock market collapse in 2000, a housing market collapse in 2007 and a banking collapse in 2008, government policy choices to repair the damage have never been more important. Everyday Americans are frightened, confused and in many cases angry at the results of government stewardship of economic policy. A proper understanding of the impact of policy is critical and this Subcommittee is well placed to advance that understanding.
Read More @ FinancialSense.com
by Simon Black, Sovereign Man:
After a long trip up from Santiago and making stops in both Miami and Dallas, I arrived to Vancouver last night a bit tired… but excited for the the trip ahead. I’m leaving in just a few hours for a 2 1/2 week, 11-country tour that includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and much more.
[By the way, I highly recommend the new Fairmont Pacific Rim if you find yourself in Vancouver.]
Aside from getting a lot of business done and inking a few deals that my partners and I have been working on, I’m excited to just be spending time in the region again. I enjoy strong, vibrant economies where optimism and opportunity dominate the scene– not chaos and negativity.
Read More @ SovereignMan.com
After a long trip up from Santiago and making stops in both Miami and Dallas, I arrived to Vancouver last night a bit tired… but excited for the the trip ahead. I’m leaving in just a few hours for a 2 1/2 week, 11-country tour that includes Hong Kong, Singapore, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, and much more.
[By the way, I highly recommend the new Fairmont Pacific Rim if you find yourself in Vancouver.]
Aside from getting a lot of business done and inking a few deals that my partners and I have been working on, I’m excited to just be spending time in the region again. I enjoy strong, vibrant economies where optimism and opportunity dominate the scene– not chaos and negativity.
Read More @ SovereignMan.com
from Gold Money:
Turkey is one of the Eurasian countries with great expectations about
increasing gold production. According to experts, Turkey has 23 million
troy ounces of the yellow stuff waiting to be mined. The Turkish
government is subsidising gold production in the hope of encouraging
further growth in the sector. Last week the Canadian mining company
Wardell Armstrong announced the discovery of 31 tonnes-worth of gold in
the province of Kayseri.
Many Turks are culturally predisposed towards buying gold, as is true of citizens of other Asian countries. The serious devaluation of the Turkish lira in recent decades has also acted as an impetus; in 2011 alone the lira lost 23% against the US dollar – and far more against gold. Little surprise then that the market for gold bars, coins and jewellery is thriving, with the country’s precious metals businesses experience an unparalleled boom.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
Turkey is one of the Eurasian countries with great expectations about
increasing gold production. According to experts, Turkey has 23 million
troy ounces of the yellow stuff waiting to be mined. The Turkish
government is subsidising gold production in the hope of encouraging
further growth in the sector. Last week the Canadian mining company
Wardell Armstrong announced the discovery of 31 tonnes-worth of gold in
the province of Kayseri.Many Turks are culturally predisposed towards buying gold, as is true of citizens of other Asian countries. The serious devaluation of the Turkish lira in recent decades has also acted as an impetus; in 2011 alone the lira lost 23% against the US dollar – and far more against gold. Little surprise then that the market for gold bars, coins and jewellery is thriving, with the country’s precious metals businesses experience an unparalleled boom.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
by John Rubino, DollarCollapse.com:
One of the problems with the debate over the “national debt” is that there’s no generally agreed upon definition of that term. Is it what the federal government owes, or what it owes foreigners, or what the whole country, private and public sector together, owes? Does it include off-balance-sheet items and contingent liabilities?
There’s a hundred-trillion dollar gap between lowest and highest on this spectrum, which allows each commentator to confuse the rest of us by picking the measure that best suits their point of view. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, for instance, uses “net debt” — the amount that the US owes foreigners — to argue that since this number is relatively small and slow-growing, we’re actually fine. Analysts using broader definitions of debt come to the opposite, more apocalyptic conclusion.
Read More @ DollarCollapse.com
One of the problems with the debate over the “national debt” is that there’s no generally agreed upon definition of that term. Is it what the federal government owes, or what it owes foreigners, or what the whole country, private and public sector together, owes? Does it include off-balance-sheet items and contingent liabilities?
There’s a hundred-trillion dollar gap between lowest and highest on this spectrum, which allows each commentator to confuse the rest of us by picking the measure that best suits their point of view. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, for instance, uses “net debt” — the amount that the US owes foreigners — to argue that since this number is relatively small and slow-growing, we’re actually fine. Analysts using broader definitions of debt come to the opposite, more apocalyptic conclusion.
Read More @ DollarCollapse.com
Just In Time: When the Trucks Stop, America Will Stop (With Immediate and Catastrophic Consequences)
by Mac Slavo, SHTF Plan:
Most Americans take for granted the intricate systems that make it possible for us to engage in seemingly mundane day to day tasks like filling up our gas tanks, loading up our shopping carts at the local grocery store, obtaining necessary medications, and even pouring ourselves a clean glass of water. When we wake up each morning we just expect that all of these things will work today the same way they worked yesterday. Very few have considered the complexity involved in the underlying infrastructure that keeps goods, services and commerce in America flowing. Fewer still have ever spent the time to contemplate the fragility of these systems or the consequences on food, water, health care, the financial system, and the economy if they are interrupted.
Read More @ SHTFPlan.com
Most Americans take for granted the intricate systems that make it possible for us to engage in seemingly mundane day to day tasks like filling up our gas tanks, loading up our shopping carts at the local grocery store, obtaining necessary medications, and even pouring ourselves a clean glass of water. When we wake up each morning we just expect that all of these things will work today the same way they worked yesterday. Very few have considered the complexity involved in the underlying infrastructure that keeps goods, services and commerce in America flowing. Fewer still have ever spent the time to contemplate the fragility of these systems or the consequences on food, water, health care, the financial system, and the economy if they are interrupted.
Read More @ SHTFPlan.com
Our sponsors were chosen to help you prepare for the coming global financial collapse...If you wait until TSHTF (the shi! hits the fan) it will be too late...
Some
swingeing criticisms of Central Bank policies. Jim Grant talking on the
Gold Standard and manipulation among others – and also expressing
confidence in the gold price and gold and silver stocks.
by Lawrence Williams, MineWeb.com:
One of gold’s most respected mainstream commentators, Jim Grant of the highly regarded Grants Interest Rate Observer, appears not only to have come out with some overt criticism of the New York Fed’s position on a Gold Standard, but according to GATA may have also joined the ranks of those who accept that the gold price is being manipulated and suppressed – although he didn’t mention gold manipulation specifically in both an interview with CNBC and a presentation to the New York Fed itself, but spoke more in generalities about Fed manipulation in a number of less-defined market sectors. In his Fed address Grant said “What passes for sound doctrine in 21st-century central banking-so-called financial repression, interest-rate manipulation, stock-price levitation and money printing under the frosted-glass term “quantitative easing”…
Read More @ MineWeb.com
by Lawrence Williams, MineWeb.com:
One of gold’s most respected mainstream commentators, Jim Grant of the highly regarded Grants Interest Rate Observer, appears not only to have come out with some overt criticism of the New York Fed’s position on a Gold Standard, but according to GATA may have also joined the ranks of those who accept that the gold price is being manipulated and suppressed – although he didn’t mention gold manipulation specifically in both an interview with CNBC and a presentation to the New York Fed itself, but spoke more in generalities about Fed manipulation in a number of less-defined market sectors. In his Fed address Grant said “What passes for sound doctrine in 21st-century central banking-so-called financial repression, interest-rate manipulation, stock-price levitation and money printing under the frosted-glass term “quantitative easing”…
Read More @ MineWeb.com
by Chris Powell, GATA.org:
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
The latest episode of the History Channel program “America’s Book of Secrets” was broadcast last night and GATA and your secretary/treasurer play a big part at its beginning and toward its end, separated by a lot of odd tangents that, while they do not involve GATA’s work, may keep the lay viewer engaged until GATA’s main points are pressed emphatically: market rigging and the likely encumbrances on the U.S. gold reserve. The program is 44 minutes long and, for the time being, at least, full video of it is posted at Hulu here –
http://www.hulu.com/watch/329727/americas-book-of-secrets-fort-knox
Read More @ GATA.org
Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:
The latest episode of the History Channel program “America’s Book of Secrets” was broadcast last night and GATA and your secretary/treasurer play a big part at its beginning and toward its end, separated by a lot of odd tangents that, while they do not involve GATA’s work, may keep the lay viewer engaged until GATA’s main points are pressed emphatically: market rigging and the likely encumbrances on the U.S. gold reserve. The program is 44 minutes long and, for the time being, at least, full video of it is posted at Hulu here –
http://www.hulu.com/watch/329727/americas-book-of-secrets-fort-knox
Read More @ GATA.org
by Jordan Awan, Bloomberg.com:
1) 2.2 percent is the average interest rate on the U.S. Treasury’s marketable and non-marketable debt (February data).
2) 62.8 months is the average maturity of the Treasury’s marketable debt (fourth quarter 2011).
3) $454 billion is the interest expense on publicly held debt in fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30.
4) $5.9 trillion is the amount of debt coming due in the next five years.
For the moment, Nos. 1 and 2 are helping No. 3 and creating a big problem for No. 4. Unless Treasury does something about No. 2, Nos. 1 and 3 will become liabilities while No. 4 has the potential to provoke a crisis.
Read More @ Bloomberg.com
1) 2.2 percent is the average interest rate on the U.S. Treasury’s marketable and non-marketable debt (February data).2) 62.8 months is the average maturity of the Treasury’s marketable debt (fourth quarter 2011).
3) $454 billion is the interest expense on publicly held debt in fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30.
4) $5.9 trillion is the amount of debt coming due in the next five years.
For the moment, Nos. 1 and 2 are helping No. 3 and creating a big problem for No. 4. Unless Treasury does something about No. 2, Nos. 1 and 3 will become liabilities while No. 4 has the potential to provoke a crisis.
Read More @ Bloomberg.com
‘US intelligence is turning the nation into a battlefield’
by David Schectman, Miles Franklin:
Today I want to comment on the “manipulation” of the gold and silver
markets. I have been a long-time booster of GATA, LeMetropole Cafe and
Ted Butler. I hold Ranting Andy Hoffman in the highest regard, in fact I
so admire his passion and rants, I hired him to write for Miles
Franklin and offered him the position of Director of Marketing. All of
them share one thing in common. They all believe that the “Cartel,”
a.k.a. the bullion banks, are behind the manipulation. They present an
impressive volume of data to prove their point. Many of you have seen
Ranting Andy’s charts, showing the “water-falI” drops at exactly 3 a.m.
You have read about the ever repeating “plan A, B and C” that Bill
Murphy discusses in every issue of the LeMetropole Café. If you follow
the moving ball, it is hard to dismiss the premise that the precious
metals markets are manipulated. In fact, Chris Powell, founder of GATA,
states that, “There are NO free markets anymore.” All of them,
including the stock market, the currency markets and the commodity
markets are manipulated. I have been in his camp too from the onset in
2001.
Read More @ MilesFranklin.com
Today I want to comment on the “manipulation” of the gold and silver
markets. I have been a long-time booster of GATA, LeMetropole Cafe and
Ted Butler. I hold Ranting Andy Hoffman in the highest regard, in fact I
so admire his passion and rants, I hired him to write for Miles
Franklin and offered him the position of Director of Marketing. All of
them share one thing in common. They all believe that the “Cartel,”
a.k.a. the bullion banks, are behind the manipulation. They present an
impressive volume of data to prove their point. Many of you have seen
Ranting Andy’s charts, showing the “water-falI” drops at exactly 3 a.m.
You have read about the ever repeating “plan A, B and C” that Bill
Murphy discusses in every issue of the LeMetropole Café. If you follow
the moving ball, it is hard to dismiss the premise that the precious
metals markets are manipulated. In fact, Chris Powell, founder of GATA,
states that, “There are NO free markets anymore.” All of them,
including the stock market, the currency markets and the commodity
markets are manipulated. I have been in his camp too from the onset in
2001.Read More @ MilesFranklin.com
by Jeff Nielson, Bullion Bulls Canada:
In writing about the relentless collapse of Western economies, I
frequently point to “forty years of plummeting wages” for Western
workers, in real dollars. However, where I have been remiss is in
quantifying the magnitude of this collapse in Western wages.
On several occasions I have glibly referred to how it now takes two spouses working to equal the wages of a one-income family of forty years ago. Unfortunately that is now an understatement. In fact, Western wages have plummeted so low that a two-income family is now (on average) 15% poorer than a one-income family of 40 years ago.
In writing about the relentless collapse of Western economies, I
frequently point to “forty years of plummeting wages” for Western
workers, in real dollars. However, where I have been remiss is in
quantifying the magnitude of this collapse in Western wages.On several occasions I have glibly referred to how it now takes two spouses working to equal the wages of a one-income family of forty years ago. Unfortunately that is now an understatement. In fact, Western wages have plummeted so low that a two-income family is now (on average) 15% poorer than a one-income family of 40 years ago.
from ETFDailyNews.com:
J.R. Crooks:
I’ve spilled much ink on the subject of why central banks are hazardous
to our financial health. And it seems more and more people are arriving
at similar conclusions. But that doesn’t seem to thwart the efforts of
central banks. Short-term gain is masking long-term pain, insofar as
central bank policy consequences are concerned.
So rather than get into the details of why centralbank
policy is hollowing out underlying economies, let’s just worry about …
Read More @ ETFDailyNews.com
J.R. Crooks:
I’ve spilled much ink on the subject of why central banks are hazardous
to our financial health. And it seems more and more people are arriving
at similar conclusions. But that doesn’t seem to thwart the efforts of
central banks. Short-term gain is masking long-term pain, insofar as
central bank policy consequences are concerned.So rather than get into the details of why central
Read More @ ETFDailyNews.com
56. No One Is Coming To Save You
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