Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams said
the Fed should maintain an “extraordinarily supportive policy” to reduce
an unemployment rate that will probably exceed 7 percent for years.
“This is clearly a situation in which we have to keep applying monetary policy stimulus vigorously,” Williams said yesterday in a speech in Honolulu. “Looking ahead, we may need to do more if the recovery falters or if inflation stays well below 2 percent.”
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told a U.S. Senate committee yesterday that sustained stimulus is warranted even as the expansion gains strength. He gave no indication the Fed is considering providing more accommodation. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in January pledged to maintain low interest rates through at least late 2014 and is scheduled to meet on March 13.
Read More @ Bloomberg.com
“This is clearly a situation in which we have to keep applying monetary policy stimulus vigorously,” Williams said yesterday in a speech in Honolulu. “Looking ahead, we may need to do more if the recovery falters or if inflation stays well below 2 percent.”
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told a U.S. Senate committee yesterday that sustained stimulus is warranted even as the expansion gains strength. He gave no indication the Fed is considering providing more accommodation. The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee in January pledged to maintain low interest rates through at least late 2014 and is scheduled to meet on March 13.
Read More @ Bloomberg.com
European Solidarity - "Everybody Knows The Spanish Are Lying About The Figures”
Back in October, when Greece was rewarded with further bond haircuts
for progressively missing its economic targets, even after having
gotten caught on at least one occasion making its economy appear worse
than it was, we said that it is only a matter of time before "Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy will promptly commence sabotaging their economies (just like Greece) simply to get the same debt Blue Light special as Greece." In the aftermath of this statement, we got the Irish and the Portuguese proceeding
to slowly but surely do just that. Today, it was Spain's turn to make
it 3 out of 4 after as Reuters noted so appropriately, "Spain defies
Brussels on deficit target" clarifying that "Spain set itself a softer
budget target for 2012 on Friday than originally agreed under the euro
zone's austerity drive, putting a question mark over the credibility of
the European Union's new fiscal pact. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy
insisted he was acting within EU guidelines because the plan was still
to hit the European Union public deficit goal of 3 percent of gross
domestic product (GDP) in 2013." That Italy is sure to follow is
absolutely guaranteed, however just because the ECB is now indirectly
monetizing BTPs the true impact will be delayed far more, and instead of
taking prompt steps to remedy the situation, the European complacency
will be accentuated by the fact that bond yields are very low, and
supposedly indicates the true state of the economy. No.
All it indicates is the conversion of future inflation (courtesy of €1
trillion in new money in the past 3 months) for a very temporary
respite before all hell ultimately breaks loose as countries pretend
everything is ok as bond yields are pushed artificially low. And in
doing nothing, the fundamentals in the economy only get worse and
worse. Germany knows this very well, and the Economist explains the reaction to Spain's surprising statement today perfectly...
iFoodstamps
Think Apple is the only thing allowed to hit new records every month? Think again: presenting iFoodstamps - the number of Americans living in poverty (or at least doing a damn good job of fooling the government in pretending they do). As of December, per SNAP this number just hit another record high of 46.5 million, an increase of 384,000 in one month (and ending the trend of declines from October and November), 2.4 million in 2011 (about as many as have dropped out of the Labor force, hmmmm), and 14.3 million since Obama took office.
Iceland Wants To Adopt The Dollar... No, Not That One, The Other One
Not the US Dollar of course: why would the only country to successfully overthrow the chains of banker tyranny and default in their face want to ever have anything to do with the USD, the source of all the world's problems. No, the dollar in question is that of Canada. According to the Globe and Mail tiny Iceland, "is looking longingly to the loonie as the salvation from wild economic gyrations and suffocating capital controls...And for the first time, the Canadian government says it’s open to discussing idea. There’s a compelling economic case why Iceland would want to adopt the Canadian dollar. It offers the tantalizing prospect of a stable, liquid currency that roughly tracks global commodity prices, nicely matching Iceland’s own economy, which is dependent on fish and aluminum exports." Yes, yes, there are all the fundamental reasons, but more importantly, it is a huge slap in the face of those statists (and the United States of course) who keep repeating no matter the facts that the USD will never lose its reserve status. Here's a hint: it can and it will. And so much for the thought experiment of printing endless amounts of currency in non-reserve format and getting away with everything unpunished. Finally, there is this startling dose of reality from an earlier and calmer time, when S&P, back in 2006, released its long-term baseline scenario of sovereign debt ratings. This oddly prescient table speaks for itself.Bonds and other assorted topics
Trader Dan at Trader Dan's Market Views - 9 hours ago
Please see the following charts for some comments on the US long bond
market - in my opinion this is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT MARKET ON THE
PLANET.
The weekly chart is very interesting as it shows a market that has the
POTENTIAL (not there yet) to be developing a ROUNDED TOP FORMATION. That
pattern is an especially reliable one because it indicates a SLOW but
STEADY SHIFTING OF SENTIMENT occurring over a generally longer period of
time as the realization slowly dawns on traders that the fundamentals are
shifting in the other direction. This formation will not be validated
unles... more »
As Greek CDS Hit Record, German Economy Minister Accuses Greece Of Reneging
Remember Greece, where everything is supposedly fixed, except that nothing is until Greek bondholders all agree to get nothing for something? Or in other words, where Germany is hoping it can assign blame to hedge funds for not allowing the 75% PSI trigger threshold to be reached so there is a faceless monster that can be accused to achieving Germany's political goals? No? As the following reminder from Germany's Economy Minister Roseler shows, whose report has been acquired by Bloomberg, if not German anger then certainly confusion, is seething: "For the Greek government, the programs “obviously have no priority,” the ministry said. “This is unacceptable from the German standpoint." Wait, you mean a record February collapse in the Greek economy is inadmissable? Sure enough, Greek CDS, contrary to expectations for a no trigger event, just hit an all time high earlier at 76 points up front (i.e., more buyers than sellers), as basis player are loading up on protection and preparing for the March 8 PSI deadline.Guest Post: If This Is Such a Strong Economy, Why Does This Chart Look Recessionary?
One
way to gauge the real economy is to look at charts of the GDP, wages,
household debt and the price of oil; another way is to correlate all of
these on one chart. The following chart (courtesy of frequent
contributor B.C.) plots these four metrics thusly:
GDP/(wages/household debt)/price of oil. What pops out of the chart is what happens when oil spikes higher or declines.
In 1973, the first oil shock sent the economy off a cliff. Conversely,
when oil fell to $12/barrel in the late 1990s while wages were rising
strongly, the plotline peaked, reflecting a strong economy. In 2008,
oil spiked to $140/barrel in 2008, household debt reached record
heights and wages began stagnating, and the economy fell into a sharp
recession. When oil plummeted back to $40/barrel in early 2009, the
plotline spiked up. When oil prices and household debt are high while
wages stagnate or decline, the economy sinks to recessionary
levels....The current plotline is hovering just above the recessionary
levels of late 2008. Does this reflect a strong economy, or one that is
weak? If oil keeps climbing, what will that do to a visibly weak
economy?
Obama’s Weather Underground friends wanted Communist dictatorship set up in America:
by Paul Joseph Watson, InfoWars.com:
The footage that Andrew Breitbart planned to release just hours after his untimely death would have proven hugely damaging to President Obama’s re-election hopes, because it shows Obama fraternizing with Weather Underground terrorists whose goal it was to set up a Communist dictatorship inside the United States.
According to former FBI agent Larry Grathwohl, who was assigned to infiltrate the Weather Underground’s Central Committee, the organization run by Bill Ayers carried out bombings targeting the Pentagon, the State Department, as well as police stations and federal buildings, in an attempt to cause the United States government to collapse and open the door for Cuban, North Vietnamese, Chinese and Russian troops to occupy the country.
Read More @ InfoWars.com
.by Paul Joseph Watson, InfoWars.com:
The footage that Andrew Breitbart planned to release just hours after his untimely death would have proven hugely damaging to President Obama’s re-election hopes, because it shows Obama fraternizing with Weather Underground terrorists whose goal it was to set up a Communist dictatorship inside the United States.
According to former FBI agent Larry Grathwohl, who was assigned to infiltrate the Weather Underground’s Central Committee, the organization run by Bill Ayers carried out bombings targeting the Pentagon, the State Department, as well as police stations and federal buildings, in an attempt to cause the United States government to collapse and open the door for Cuban, North Vietnamese, Chinese and Russian troops to occupy the country.
Read More @ InfoWars.com
With more than 40 years as an economist to his credit and claiming gold as the “biggest position in my life,” Gloom Boom & Doom Report Publisher Marc Faber assures us that gold is nowhere near a bubble phase, but cautions that corrections of 40% are not unusual in a bull market. At the end of March, Faber will share his secrets for surviving corrections at the World MoneyShow in Vancouver. In advance of that appearance, he sat down with The Gold Report for this exclusive interview where he discusses his bias for portfolio diversification in terms of geographies as well as asset classes.
The Gold Report: After Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded a cluster of Eurozone countries in January, you came out saying that downgrades should have been even deeper, depending on the country’s credit-worthiness. S&P did give below-investment-grade ratings to Portugal and Cyprus—BB and BB+, respectively—but you indicated that some of these countries warrant CCC ratings. Do you anticipate additional downgrades?
Marc Faber: If you accounted for the unfunded liabilities of most European countries, as well as the U.S., the quality of the government debt would be significantly lower. In other words, yes, I do expect to see more and more downgrades over time.
Read More @ TheAUReport.com
from King World News:
Today billionaire Eric Sprott told King World News that a staggering 500 million ounces of paper silver traded hands during the takedown in the metals this week. Eric Sprott, Chairman of Sprott Asset Management, had this to say about what took place the day of the plunge in gold and silver: “I can only imagine it’s the same forces that for the last twelve years have been at work in the gold market, trying to keep the volatility very large on the downside. As you are aware, we hardly ever get days when you get an intraday $100 rise in gold. When we look back at what happened (on Wednesday) we saw huge sell orders in gold and silver.”
Eric Sprott continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com
Today billionaire Eric Sprott told King World News that a staggering 500 million ounces of paper silver traded hands during the takedown in the metals this week. Eric Sprott, Chairman of Sprott Asset Management, had this to say about what took place the day of the plunge in gold and silver: “I can only imagine it’s the same forces that for the last twelve years have been at work in the gold market, trying to keep the volatility very large on the downside. As you are aware, we hardly ever get days when you get an intraday $100 rise in gold. When we look back at what happened (on Wednesday) we saw huge sell orders in gold and silver.”
Eric Sprott continues: Read More @ KingWorldNews.com
by Andrew Hoffman, MilesFranklin.com:
At Miles Franklin, we watch all trends involving the regulation of capital flows in and out of the countries we have clients in, particularly the United States. Our largest concern is Precious Metals, but more broadly anything that might influence asset allocation decisions. Tops on our list would be anything related to government confiscation of private assets – such as Precious Metals or retirement accounts – and secondarily anything related to tax and liquidity policy changes on such.
Thus far, we have seen NOTHING indicating potential confiscation or tax law changes regarding Precious Metals, but numerous signs portending both in the world of retirement plan assets, as espoused in numerous RANTS in recent months. Changes will be legislated for nearly all assets classes in the coming years, but what form such changes take will be dictated by highly uncertain political outcomes, essentially all of which will be for the worse. In the meantime, we all need to anticipate those outcomes as best we can, starting with the only premise we can be certain of – COLLAPSING FIAT CURRENCIES.
Read More @ MilesFranklin.com
At Miles Franklin, we watch all trends involving the regulation of capital flows in and out of the countries we have clients in, particularly the United States. Our largest concern is Precious Metals, but more broadly anything that might influence asset allocation decisions. Tops on our list would be anything related to government confiscation of private assets – such as Precious Metals or retirement accounts – and secondarily anything related to tax and liquidity policy changes on such.
Thus far, we have seen NOTHING indicating potential confiscation or tax law changes regarding Precious Metals, but numerous signs portending both in the world of retirement plan assets, as espoused in numerous RANTS in recent months. Changes will be legislated for nearly all assets classes in the coming years, but what form such changes take will be dictated by highly uncertain political outcomes, essentially all of which will be for the worse. In the meantime, we all need to anticipate those outcomes as best we can, starting with the only premise we can be certain of – COLLAPSING FIAT CURRENCIES.
Read More @ MilesFranklin.com
by Peter Schiff, EuroPac.net via GoldSeek.com:
While you may agree with me that the world desperately needs the gold standard, you may be equally convinced that the day global leaders embrace it is still a long way off. Fortunately, regular people no longer have to wait for the leadership to come to their senses. It is now possible for individuals to establish a personal gold standard using the world’s first Gold Debit Card. The service, offered by my company Euro Pacific International Bank, allows users to save in gold but spend in local currency.
Nearly all economists who actually influence policy continue to regard gold as a failed and obsolete relic. Much as the automobile supplanted the horse and buggy, these economists see the “elasticity” of fiat paper money as a major improvement over the inflexibility of the gold standard. But what they see as progress has been, in reality, a major step backward.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com
While you may agree with me that the world desperately needs the gold standard, you may be equally convinced that the day global leaders embrace it is still a long way off. Fortunately, regular people no longer have to wait for the leadership to come to their senses. It is now possible for individuals to establish a personal gold standard using the world’s first Gold Debit Card. The service, offered by my company Euro Pacific International Bank, allows users to save in gold but spend in local currency.
Nearly all economists who actually influence policy continue to regard gold as a failed and obsolete relic. Much as the automobile supplanted the horse and buggy, these economists see the “elasticity” of fiat paper money as a major improvement over the inflexibility of the gold standard. But what they see as progress has been, in reality, a major step backward.
Read More @ GoldSeek.com
by Alasdair Macleod, GoldMoney.com:
Recently
there have been reports that if Greece defaults on the new bail-out
package, creditors will be entitled to seize her gold. Whether or not
this is true, it raises one big question: given the severe financial and
economic crisis in Europe, what is the current collective attitude of
the eurozone central banks to gold?
Bear in mind that these central banks sort to end any monetary role for gold after the Bretton Woods system fell apart in the early 1970s. More recently, as signatories to the three consecutive Central Bank Gold Agreements, they have perhaps seen gold as a source of funds as well. But those were “happier times” for them, when progressively greater central planning and increased regulation went unchallenged by the markets. But now that monetary authorities are facing increasing criticism, the central banks’ strategy towards gold today must logically be completely different: either gold is an asset whose value has to be maximised as collateral, or it has to be held on to as a “last resort” asset. Vested interests have fundamentally altered with the change in circumstances now forced upon eurozone governments.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
Recently
there have been reports that if Greece defaults on the new bail-out
package, creditors will be entitled to seize her gold. Whether or not
this is true, it raises one big question: given the severe financial and
economic crisis in Europe, what is the current collective attitude of
the eurozone central banks to gold?Bear in mind that these central banks sort to end any monetary role for gold after the Bretton Woods system fell apart in the early 1970s. More recently, as signatories to the three consecutive Central Bank Gold Agreements, they have perhaps seen gold as a source of funds as well. But those were “happier times” for them, when progressively greater central planning and increased regulation went unchallenged by the markets. But now that monetary authorities are facing increasing criticism, the central banks’ strategy towards gold today must logically be completely different: either gold is an asset whose value has to be maximised as collateral, or it has to be held on to as a “last resort” asset. Vested interests have fundamentally altered with the change in circumstances now forced upon eurozone governments.
Read More @ GoldMoney.com
from DollarVigilante.com:
FBI
Director, Robert Mueller, appeared to be drunk this week when he
stumbled in to an annual gathering of cyber-security professionals on
Thursday and requested the help of the private sector to help combat
what he believes is becoming the nation’s No. 1 threat, cyber-security!
Mueller went on to blather paranoidly, ‘We are losing data, we are losing money, we are losing ideas and we are losing innovation. Together we must find a way to stop the bleeding.”
For starters, Robert, who is this “we” you keep talking about. I’m not losing data. I’m not losing money or ideas or innovation. And, the FBI isn’t losing any of those things… well, it does lose billions every year, but that’s just normal operating procedure for government agencies.
Read More @ DollarVigilante.com
FBI
Director, Robert Mueller, appeared to be drunk this week when he
stumbled in to an annual gathering of cyber-security professionals on
Thursday and requested the help of the private sector to help combat
what he believes is becoming the nation’s No. 1 threat, cyber-security!Mueller went on to blather paranoidly, ‘We are losing data, we are losing money, we are losing ideas and we are losing innovation. Together we must find a way to stop the bleeding.”
For starters, Robert, who is this “we” you keep talking about. I’m not losing data. I’m not losing money or ideas or innovation. And, the FBI isn’t losing any of those things… well, it does lose billions every year, but that’s just normal operating procedure for government agencies.
Read More @ DollarVigilante.com
from End of The American Dream:
Have you ever known someone that loves death? When someone truly is in love with death, it can take that person to a very dark place. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of scientists, politicians and global opinion makers that believe that we must reduce the size of the human population for the good of the planet. They are convinced that humanity is causing global warming, killing off other species and making this planet unlivable. In their quest to save the future of the planet, they are becoming bolder and bolder with their calls for population control. They love death because they believe that it will help save the earth. They figure that with less humans around, there will be less carbon emissions, less pollution and more room for other species. So how will this be achieved? Well, as you will read about in the rest of this article, “after-birth abortions”, “mobile euthanasia teams”, “sperm-destroying ultrasound technology” and putting contraceptives in the tap water are just some of the ways that are being proposed to reduce current human numbers. This hatred of life and love of death is being taught in colleges and universities all over the western world, and this population control philosophy is becoming increasingly dominant with each passing year.
Read More @ EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
Have you ever known someone that loves death? When someone truly is in love with death, it can take that person to a very dark place. Unfortunately, there are a growing number of scientists, politicians and global opinion makers that believe that we must reduce the size of the human population for the good of the planet. They are convinced that humanity is causing global warming, killing off other species and making this planet unlivable. In their quest to save the future of the planet, they are becoming bolder and bolder with their calls for population control. They love death because they believe that it will help save the earth. They figure that with less humans around, there will be less carbon emissions, less pollution and more room for other species. So how will this be achieved? Well, as you will read about in the rest of this article, “after-birth abortions”, “mobile euthanasia teams”, “sperm-destroying ultrasound technology” and putting contraceptives in the tap water are just some of the ways that are being proposed to reduce current human numbers. This hatred of life and love of death is being taught in colleges and universities all over the western world, and this population control philosophy is becoming increasingly dominant with each passing year.
Read More @ EndOfTheAmericanDream.com
from WealthCycles:
One
of the most punishing aspects of the financial crisis and its aftermath
has been the steadily growing price inflation at the same time that
American wages, for those fortunate enough to have a job, have remained
stagnant.
Even as Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke claims that inflation remains at low and manageable levels, U.S. households are living the reality that costs of the things essential to day-to-day life are steadily rising—most recently prices at the gas pump, as gas prices nationwide push past $4 a gallon.
But how then can Bernanke continue to pooh-pooh the notion that inflation is a problem? As the axiom variously attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, American author Mark Twain and other pundits goes, “There’s lies, damn lies and statistics.” In other words, statistics can be twisted to support just about any point one wants to make. Ben Bernanke has several good reasons to discount the danger of inflation: it is his and the world’s other central bankers’ policies of cheap credit and massive currency debasement that has created the inflationary storm.
Read More @ WealthCycles.com
One
of the most punishing aspects of the financial crisis and its aftermath
has been the steadily growing price inflation at the same time that
American wages, for those fortunate enough to have a job, have remained
stagnant.Even as Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke claims that inflation remains at low and manageable levels, U.S. households are living the reality that costs of the things essential to day-to-day life are steadily rising—most recently prices at the gas pump, as gas prices nationwide push past $4 a gallon.
But how then can Bernanke continue to pooh-pooh the notion that inflation is a problem? As the axiom variously attributed to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, American author Mark Twain and other pundits goes, “There’s lies, damn lies and statistics.” In other words, statistics can be twisted to support just about any point one wants to make. Ben Bernanke has several good reasons to discount the danger of inflation: it is his and the world’s other central bankers’ policies of cheap credit and massive currency debasement that has created the inflationary storm.
Read More @ WealthCycles.com
from Across The Street:
Hard to believe, but CNBC and the World’s chartologists missed a very important point: In the last three days JP Morgan’s house account has taken possession of 3 times more physical silver than it did in all of 2011 (626 contracts, or 3.1 million t oz.) bringing their 2012 total to 1,058. The last time the Morgue took delivery of this much silver was September, 2010 at around $20.55 (it’s almost like they knew QE2 was coming – more on that later).
On Tuesday, when silver shot up more than 4%, the CMEgroup initially issued blank trading reports, as in “!!!! NO DATA !!!!”, but eventually published this:
Read More @ AcrossTheStreetNet.Wordpress.com
Hard to believe, but CNBC and the World’s chartologists missed a very important point: In the last three days JP Morgan’s house account has taken possession of 3 times more physical silver than it did in all of 2011 (626 contracts, or 3.1 million t oz.) bringing their 2012 total to 1,058. The last time the Morgue took delivery of this much silver was September, 2010 at around $20.55 (it’s almost like they knew QE2 was coming – more on that later).
On Tuesday, when silver shot up more than 4%, the CMEgroup initially issued blank trading reports, as in “!!!! NO DATA !!!!”, but eventually published this:
Read More @ AcrossTheStreetNet.Wordpress.com
Last
year the US ran a $272 billion trade deficit with China, which means we
sent the Chinese that many extra dollars in return for the clothes,
toys and iPhones they sent us. This lopsided relationship has been in
place for a long time, allowing (or requiring) China to accumulate about
$1.7 trillion dollars of various kinds of US paper.
Considering
the dramatic smash in the gold and silver markets on Wednesday, both
metals put in impressive performances yesterday – a testament to the
fact that no matter what goes on the futures market, physical demand for
gold and silver from around the world continues to increase. The April
gold Comex futures contract gained 0.6% to settle at $1,722.20 per troy
ounce, while the May delivery silver contract was up an impressive 2.9%,
settling at $35.66 per troy ounce.
PHOENIX
– An investigative “Cold Case Posse” launched six months ago by
“America’s toughest sheriff” – Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County –
has concluded there is probable cause that the document released by the
White House last year as President Obama’s birth certificate is a
computer-generated forgery.
As
with most crime scenes, evidence can be difficult to uncover. First,
you have to know where to look for the evidence. Then, how do you build a
case if the only evidence you find is circumstantial? Well, your humble
correspondent is willing to give it a try.
Today
multi-billionaire Hugo Salinas Price told King World News that central
banks were definitely behind the smash in the gold price yesterday. He
also said people should ignore it and continue buying gold and silver.
But first, here is what Hugo Salinas Price had to say when asked about
the plunge in gold yesterday: “I definitely think the central banks
were behind it. I look at the graph of the gold price yesterday and
when it collapses down $100 in about an hour, that is not natural market
action. I think people are getting used to this. This is standard
procedure and it doesn’t worry me at all.” 
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