Fed´s QE Ponzi Scheme begins to Backfire

In a taped interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that aired on December 5th, Federal Reserve chief Ben “Bubbles” Bernanketried to brainwash the American public, into believing that “Quantitative Easing” (QE), is absolutely necessary in order to prevent further losses of jobs, and tried to assure his listeners that he has the skills to keep inflation under control. The US-jobless rate would have been far higher, “something like it was in the Depression, at 25%,” -- had the Fed not provided tens of trillions in loans to Wall Street banks and other financial companies, he said.

Two-years ago, the Wall Street Oligarchs played the central role in the greatest financial scandal in the history of the world, - one which wiped out tens of trillions of dollars in wealth, nearly bankrupted giant corporations and entire countries, and plunged the world into the deepest slide in global trade since the Great Depression. Huge profits were made in sub-prime mortgages, based on a Ponzi scheme of exotic financial derivatives and packages. When it came crashing down, the public treasury was looted to cover the financial aristocracy’s losses.

http://www.sirchartsalot.com/article.php?id=149

Taking down America

A soft landing for America 40 years from now? Don't bet on it. The demise of the United States as the global superpower could come far more quickly than anyone imagines. If Washington is dreaming of 2040 or 2050 as the end of the American Century, a more realistic assessment of domestic and global trends suggests that in 2025, just 15 years from now, it could all be over except for the shouting.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/LL07Ak01.html

Folding the Fed Central bank isn't equipped to save the economy

The Fed does have the tools to increase or decrease the money supply, which means it can control the rate of inflation or deflation. However, the Fed has done a poor job of maintaining the value of the currency, as the dollar is now worth only about one-twenty-second of its 1913 value. The Fed also was supposed to maintain a sound and stable banking system; however, since the Fed was created in 1913, bank failures have been at a higher rate than during the pre-Fed period.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/6/folding-the-fed/?page=1

U.S. Posts $150.4 Billion November Budget Deficit

The U.S. government ran its 26th straight monthly budget deficit in November amid wrangling over a package that would extend big tax cuts to Americans trying to recover from recession.

The Treasury Department, in its regular budget monthly statement, said the government spent $150.4 billion than it collected in the second month of fiscal 2011.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704457604576011683555582342.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLTopStories

J.P. Morgan and the Great Silver Caper

By selling massive amounts of paper silver in the futures market,” SFGate continues, “J.P. Morgan has been able to suppress the price of the precious metal. It is believed that these short positions are naked (i.e. they are not backed by any physical silver).”

If the silver price were falling, Morgan’s (alleged) short position would be lauded as a stroke of genius. But since the silver price is soaring, Morgan’s (alleged) short position looks much less laudable.

Read more: J.P. Morgan and the Great Silver Caper http://dailyreckoning.com/j-p-morgan-and-the-great-silver-caper/#ixzz17fwAeH00
“In recent days,” SFGate notes, “rumors have been swirling on the Internet that J.P. Morgan’s massive short position is about to blow up in its face in the form of an almighty short squeeze and potential COMEX default, as large traders demand physical delivery of silver that COMEX does not have in its vaults.”

http://dailyreckoning.com/j-p-morgan-and-the-great-silver-caper/

Ron Paul, Author of `End the Fed,' to Lead Panel Overseeing Central Bank

House Financial Services chairman-elect Spencer Bachus, an Alabama Republican, selected Paul, 75, to lead the panel’s domestic monetary policy subcommittee when their party takes the House majority next month, the committee chairman said today.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-09/ron-paul-author-of-end-the-fed-to-lead-fed-oversight-panel.html

Tighter food supplies, high prices to persist

World food prices are set to remain high in 2011/12 with supplies tightening and demand running strong, the United Nations' food agency economist told Reuters on Wednesday after a new jump in prices.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B02GY20101201

No end in sight to U.S. economic crisis as 'scariest jobs chart ever' shows post-recession unemployment is at its worst since World War Two

As unemployment in the U.S. nears the dreaded 10 per cent mark, it is a chart to chill the bones of any job hunter.

Comparing previous recoveries from all 10 American recessions since 1948 to the current financial crisis, the stark figures show almost no improvement in employment figures in the past year.

Some commentators have described the comparison as 'the scariest jobs chart ever', pointing to the fact that only the 2001 recession took longer to bring employment back to pre-crisis levels.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336078/Post-recession-unemployment-scariest-job-chart-worst-WW2.html

U.S. Military Prepares for Economic Collapse

Ever since the crash of 2008, the Defense Intelligence establishment has really been paying a lot of attention to global markets and how they could serve as a threat to U.S. National security interests. At one upcoming seminar that we’re going to see here next month, they’re going to be taking a look at a lot of the issues … [including] the use of sovereign wealth funds to manipulate markets, currencies; nation state economic collapse, sovereign default, nation state instability; U.S. Allies’ budgets, deficits, national security infrastructures.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/5418-us-military-prepares-for-economic-collapse

At Least One Swiss Bank Has Started Refusing To Hand Over Physical Gold To Clients

“Correct, and through all of that eventually the individual did get his gold...it took lawyers, it took threats of publicity, it took a lot of pressure to do that, which my inference is that that gold was not there. The bank had to scramble, go out and find it somewhere before they could make good delivery.”

http://www.businessinsider.com/jim-rickards-take-gold-out-of-the-bank-2010-12

Food Stamp Rolls Continue to Rise

More people tapped food stamps to pay for groceries in September as the recession and lackluster recovery have prompted more Americans to turn to government safety net programs to make ends meet.

Some 42.9 million people collected food stamps last month, up 1.2% from the prior month and 16.2% higher than the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Nationwide 14% of the population relied on food stamps as of September but in some states the percentage was much higher. In Washington, D.C., Mississippi and Tennessee – the states with the largest share of citizens receiving benefits – more than a fifth of the population in each was collecting food stamps.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/12/08/food-stamp-rolls-continue-to-rise/

US Treasuries hit by biggest sell-off in two years

US Treasuries suffered their biggest two-day sell-off since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, following a torrid month that has seen borrowing costs for western governments soar.

Germany, Japan and the US have all seen their benchmark market interest rates rise by more than a quarter in the past month while the UK’s has risen by nearly a fifth.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e550f996-0304-11e0-bb1e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz17ZwUNafO

Firewall needed as eurozone stands on brink of meltdown

Unless Europe’s policymakers seize the initiative to secure the position of Spain and Italy, we could see a new seizure in bank funding markets which would force the euro area either to underpin monetary union with some mutual fiscal guarantees or to fragment.

In the first half of 2008, the banking industry seemed to be recovering from the initial sub-prime shock. Capital was raised and interbank spreads narrowed. Liquidity support and the rescues of Bear Stearns and European banks demonstrated the authorities’ determination to stabilise markets if necessary with public funds.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8182445/Firewall-needed-as-eurozone-stands-on-brink-of-meltdown.html

Banks to taxpayers: Get over it

In the throes of an investor panic in the fall of 2008, U.S. financial institutions stuck to their story: We’re fine, trust us.

Last week, more than two years later, the Federal Reserve unveiled how those same financial institutions tapped emergency lending programs to survive. The final tally — $3.3 trillion in loans — exceeded even the most skeptical analyst expectations.

The Fed had been hesitant to release the data for fear it could rattle the markets. But the markets actually rose on Wednesday, the day of the release. I have a theory why, which we’ll get into later.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mind-boggling-losses-at-the-banks-2010-12-06?link=kiosk

We're all doomed!!! We still haven't woken up to how much poorer the West is going to be in the future...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336300/Were-doomed--We-havent-woken-poorer-West-going-future-.html

Bond Prices Plunge for 2nd Day on Deficit Fears

U.S. Treasurys plunged Wednesday, extending Tuesday's sharp losses and pushing benchmark yields to a six-month high, after a deal in Washington to extend tax cuts fueled fears of inflation and a swelling budget deficit.

The dip in prices brought some buyers to the table in an auction of $21 billion of reopened 10-year notes, which was part of $66 billion of coupon-bearing securities sales this week. Trade was volatile and prices bounced off the lowest levels of the day after the auction, which analysts said saw about average demand.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40565833

Metal hoarders playing a dangerous game

Several banks and funds, including JP Morgan and BlackRock Asset Manangement have signalled that they plan to create exchange-traded products in physical copper. Like the gold exchange-traded products, investors will be able to buy an amount of real metal, held on their behalf in warehouses, rather than copper futures and it is the need to acquire the physical product that has roused suspicion that it is a financial institution hoarding physical metal in preparation for the launch of its ETP.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/economy-lab/carl-mortished/metal-hoarders-playing-a-dangerous-game/article1827727/?bcsi_scan_24DE46460B4E2EF0=d+cs4Aw7/suWcjs/Vs90bd9Vn48SAAAAL5feDA==

How To Prepare For The Coming Financial Apocalypse

Apocalypse Preparation #1: Become Less Dependent On Your Job
Apocalypse Preparation #2: Get Out Of Debt
Apocalypse Preparation #3: Reduce Expenses
Apocalypse Preparation #4: Purchase Land
Apocalypse Preparation #5: Learn To Grow Food
Apocalypse Preparation #6: Find A Reliable Source Of Water
Apocalypse Preparation #7: Explore Alternative Energy Sources
Apocalypse Preparation #8: Store Supplies
Apocalypse Preparation #9: Protect Your Assets With Gold And Silver
Apocalypse Preparation #10: Learn Self-Defense
Apocalypse Preparation #11: Keep Yourself Fit
Apocalypse Preparation #12: Make Friends

http://www.munknee.com/2010/12/how-to-prepare-for-the-coming-financial-apocalypse/

Will governments buy silver?

Over the last several months we have been pondering if governments will come into the silver market. Before we get into that, it is important to note that governments are very different animals and there are over two hundred of them out there. Therefore, it is a very liberal generalization to lump them all together as if their needs, objectives and agendas were the same, thus expecting them all to act in the same fashion for the same reasons, is a big stretch. That said, it's the stigma, the psychological effect, the sentiment and the message it would send to markets that prompts us to group them together in investors' minds as a market force.

http://news.silverseek.com/SilverStrategies/1291311666.php

H.R. 6162: Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-6162&tab=summary

Why Americans Should Expose J.P. Morgan By Buying Silver

The Federal Reserve, an unconstitutional fourth branch of government, is a plague upon our land that operates under the guise of legitimate authority while reaping great rewards for its private shareholders, among whom J.P. Morgan Chase is one of the biggest.

J.P. Morgan Chase, a company whose roots are about as American as Sputnik or Mao Tse Tung, has directly profited from printing enormous sums of money to the Central Government in D.C. and loaning each cursed dollar with interest on the backs of our children. (Morgan himself owned only 19% of Morgan assets. The rest was owned by the European Rothschild family after a series of bailouts and rescues.) Despite the warnings, cries and curses of leaders from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson, the American people have handed the International Bankers control of our nation, our foreign policy and the protection of our liberties.

http://statesmansentinel.com/americans-expose-jp-morgan-buying-silver?bcsi_scan_24DE46460B4E2EF0=eIBxHCqKL+Nw/XWs69ipaqwkF2USAAAAlC7QDA==

Global Food Prices About To Break An All Time High

Inflation in emerging markets is hitting food prices hard, and now we have raw data from the UN to confirm.

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-un-food-price-index-2010-12

America Bails Out A Thankless World

So America has once again saved the rest of the civilized world — this time financially. But don't expect to hear many thank-yous from the recipients of trillions in secret Federal Reserve cash.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/555577/201012021902/America-Bails-Out-A-Thankless-World.htm

Government can’t print money properly

Now this is interesting. Was this a mistake, a heist or a way to remove US dollars from the system?


As a metaphor for our troubled economic and financial era -- and the government's stumbling response -- this one's hard to beat. You can't stimulate the economy via the money supply, after all, if you can't print the money correctly.

Because of a problem with the presses, the federal government has shut down production of its flashy new $100 bills, and has quarantined more than 1 billion of them -- more than 10 percent of all existing U.S. cash -- in a vault in Fort Worth, Texas, reports CNBC.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101206/us_yblog_thelookout/government-cant-print-money-properly;_ylt=AhAYvdfipB.tOnoQMmiSNCms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNmZXBpN2tyBGFzc2V0A3libG9nX3RoZWxvb2tvdXQvMjAxMDEyMDYvZ292ZXJubWVudC1jYW50LXByaW50LW1vbmV5LXByb3Blcmx5BHBvcwM4BHNlYwN5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA2dvdmVybm1lbnRjYQ--#mwpphu-container

Consumer Price Inflation: The Wolf at the Door

And things must be heating up over here in the USA, too, as James Turk of The Free Gold Money Report notes that “since the date of its March 18, 2009 QE announcement, the CRB Continuing Commodity Index has risen 61.7%. Gold has risen 54.0%, while the US Dollar Index has dropped -7.2%.”

http://dailyreckoning.com/consumer-price-inflation-the-wolf-at-the-door/

A Day of Reckoning

One European country after another has been forced to swallow painful and abrupt spending cuts after years of borrowing too much. That borrowing spree came to an ugly end in Greece where the public reacted angrily when the government had to cut pensions and other spending.

And many worry that the U.S. is headed in the same direction.

And he notes that being that far in debt sends us down a dark economic road. "We do face a future that looks like stagnation, high unemployment, low wage growth, and a real problem with inflation and high interest rates."

"And we don't have any money left over," says economist Doug Holtz-Eakin. "So that things we think of as government -- building roads, educating our kids, national defense and securing the borders -- there's no money for that."

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/12/02/day-reckoning

America’s Leading Export: Inflation

Inflation is on everyone’s lips these days…everyone in Asia, that is. Because Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke is so busy pumping up the US money supply to battle a perceived deflationary threat here at home, he is putting pressure on overseas economies to print money at the same pace, in order to prevent their currencies from appreciating against the dollar and, thereby, become less “competitive.” The mechanics of all this are a bit complicated, but suffice it to say that the US is “exporting inflation.”

http://dailyreckoning.com/americas-leading-export-inflation/

Rice May Triple in 18 Months as Supplies Tighten

Rice, the staple food of more than three billion people, may as much as triple in 18 months as flooding in exporters including Thailand tightens supplies and demand climbs, according to Duxton Asset Management Pte.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-01/rice-may-triple-in-18-months-as-supplies-tighten-duxton-s-peter-forecasts.html

Federal Reserve reveals trillions dished out to world banks to aid financial crisis

The Federal Reserve has revealed details of the trillions of dollars it gave in emergency aid to U.S. and foreign banks during the financial crisis.
New documents show it paid out a staggering $1.5trillion (almost £1trillion) to British banks - over a third of the total money lent - in an effort to prop up the financial sector.

The Fed dished out $2.2trillion to banking giant Citigroup, $2.1trillion to Merrill Lynch and $2trillion to Morgan Stanley.
In addition, payments have also be made to Bear Stearns ($960billion), Bank of America ($887billion), Goldman Sachs ($615billion), JPMorgan Chase ($178billion) and Wells Fargo ($154billion).

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1334929/Federal-Reserve-reveals-trillions-dished-world-banks-aid-financial-crisis.html

Euro slide gathers pace on debt crisis fears

The currency fell to $1.2997 against the dollar during trading on Tuesday morning, its lowest point in two months although it later clawed back losses after US consumer confidence brightened in November to the highest level in five months.

One area of concern is that Spain’s economy is twice as big as that of Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined, prompting fears the euro region’s €750bn safety net may not be big enough if the country requires aid.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8170267/Euro-slide-gathers-pace-on-debt-crisis-fears.html

Mounting State Debts Stoke Fears of Looming Crisis

The State of Illinois is still paying off billions in bills that it got from schools and social service providers last year. Arizona recently stopped paying for certain organ transplants for people in its Medicaid program. States are releasing prisoners early, more to cut expenses than to reward good behavior. And in Newark, the city laid off 13 percent of its police officers last week.

While next year could be even worse, there are bigger, longer-term risks, financial analysts say. Their fear is that even when the economy recovers, the shortfalls will not disappear, because many state and local governments have so much debt — several trillion dollars’ worth, with much of it off the books and largely hidden from view —that it could overwhelm them in the next few years.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40514947/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times