‘You’re Fired’ Doesn’t Mean Fired to Four of 10 Air Controllers - of those targeted for firing over drug or alcohol violations

More than four of every 10 air-traffic workers the FAA tried to fire over almost two years kept their jobs or were allowed to retire: that included two-thirds of those targeted for firing over drug or alcohol violations.



‘You’re Fired’ Doesn’t Mean Fired to Four of 10 Air Controllers


Moments before a single-engine aircraft and a helicopter collided over the Hudson River near Manhattan in 2009, an air-traffic controller who should have been advising the plane’s pilot was on the phone, joking with an airport worker about a dead cat.


Nine people, including three teenage boys, died. The Teterboro, New Jersey, controller, whom safety investigators said was distracted and partly to blame for the accident, still works for the Federal Aviation Administration. Although the agency tried to fire him, his punishment was reduced to a suspension, a transfer and a demotion.


What happened to the controller isn’t surprising, according to data obtained by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act. More than four of every 10 air-traffic workers the FAA tried to fire over almost two years kept their jobs or were allowed to retire, the data show. That included two-thirds of those targeted for firing over drug or alcohol violations.


“Americans should be outraged,” said Marc Scribner, transportation analyst for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit Washington group that advocates limited government. “Most government employees are good people and are not screwing up, not doing drugs, but there are bad apples in all levels of government and they should be fired.”


The findings spotlight Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s challenge in carrying out his pledge to fire three controllers caught sleeping on the job in Seattle, Miami, and Knoxville, Tennessee. The Miami worker still works for the FAA after the proposed termination was reduced to a lesser penalty, the Seattle case is pending and the Knoxville worker retired, according to an agency official who isn’t authorized to speak on personnel matters and asked not to be named.

Disciplinary Data

Workers in 58 of 140 proposed firings who kept jobs had penalties rescinded, reduced or deferred, the data show. The disciplinary information was culled from a pool of 20,486 FAA workers, including about 15,600 controllers, and excludes employees with less than one year of service who lack disciplinary protections in the union contract.


The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union for the 15,600 employees, declined three requests to respond to the findings of the Bloomberg analysis and offered an e-mailed comment.


Controllers “work to ensure the safety of 70,000 flights every day and make our system the world’s safest,” Doug Church, the group’s spokesman, wrote. “This is the story that the public needs to hear.”


The Senate aviation subcommittee will “ensure that safety standards are a top priority” as the panel evaluates FAA personnel practices, said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the panel’s leading Republican, in a statement.


“While many factors need to be considered when making air traffic control personnel decisions, safety must be the FAA’s guiding principle,” Thune said.


more

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-25/-you-re-fired-doesn-t-mean...

GOP lawmaker admits he’s extorting Congress to rewrite Constitution

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Monday that he is giving Congress ten days to pass a constitutional amendment that would make raising taxes nearly impossible. And if he doesn’t get what he wants, he will do everything in his power to force the U.S. to default on its debts.
“Okay, in ten days you want to change the United States Constitution by two-thirds vote in both houses?” Matthews asked. “That’s what you’re demanding.”
“Yes,” Lee admitted. “If possible we can’t change the Constitution just in Congress but we can submit it to the states. Let the states fight it out.”
“You want the Democratic Senate, by a two-thirds vote, to pass a constitutional amendment or you want the house to come down?” Matthews pressed.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying and I’ve been saying this for six months,” Lee said.
Lee’s amendment would require a two-thirds majority to raise taxes, making future tax hikes nearly impossible. He would also require spending to return to 1996 levels.
Watch this video from MSNBC’s Hardball, broadcast July 25, 2011.
(H/T: Think Progress)

Drivers can disregard red-light camera tickets in L.A.

Source: LA Times

Motorists who get tickets under the city's controversial red-light camera program can shrug them off, Los Angeles officials agreed Monday.

That was one of the few points of consensus to emerge from a three-hour City Council committee hearing on the future of the much-debated photo enforcement system. The session ended with a recommendation to stop issuing citations at the end of the month and "phase out" the program.

Richard M. Tefank, executive director of the city's Board of Police Commissioners, told the Budget and Finance Committee that the tickets are part of a "voluntary payment program" without sanctions for those who fail to submit fines.

"The consequence is somebody calling you from one of these collection agencies and saying 'pay up.' And that's it," said committee member and Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "There's no real penalty in terms of your driver's license or any other consequences if you don't pay."


Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-red-light-camer...

Coffee Wars: Is Dunkin’ Donuts More Valuable Than Starbucks?

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Dunkin' Donuts may soon really be able to live up to its slogan -- "American runs on Dunkin'".
After Tuesday's close, Dunkin' Brands Group is slated to go public in a highly anticipated IPO. The company expects to raise roughly $400 million to help expand the Dunkin' Donuts store and brand across the Midwest and to the West Coast. Right now the chain operates only 100 of its 6,800 stores outside the Northeast. The company also owns Baskin-Robbins ice cream stores.
Dunkin', which ranked #1 ahead Starbucks in terms of customer loyalty over the last five years, plans to double U.S. storefronts over the next two decades. That means a new store and fresh cup of joe could be coming very soon to a location near you!
But the expansion of the blue-collar, no-frills brand could have negative implications for small local coffee shops and it could even stir up a brewing rivalry with high-end retailer Starbucks. (Check out this video spot released after Dunkin' conducted a consumer taste test: Dunkin' Beat Starbucks.)
The Dunkin' IPO is set to price Tuesday night after markets close. The company hopes to sell 22.25 shares at $16 to $18 a piece. If the sale price is $17 or more, Dunkin' Brands Group would have a market value of roughly $2.5 billion. "Based on those figures, the company's shares would trade at 3.7 times 2010 sales, a richer valuation than Starbucks, which at the close of trade on Monday traded at 2.8 times calendar 2010 sales," reports Reuters.
If those aren't fightin' words, then what are?

In the latest installment of The Daily Dish, Aaron Task and Daniel Gross discuss the Dunkin' Donuts vs Starbucks rivalry, what the Dunkin' IPO means for consumers and whether investors should bet on Dunkin'.
Stay tuned for additional coverage..and tell us what you think! Are you a Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks fan, and do you think Dunkin' is worth more than Starbucks?
For more coverage like this, see:
How Domino's Delivered a Tasty Turnaround
American Fast Food: From Supersize to Downsized
Onward: CEO Howard Schultz on How Starbucks Got Its Groove Back
Does Going Upscale Make Sense for McDonald's?

"Official CPI Is Running 3.6%, But If It Were Still Calculated The Way It Was Before The Greenspan Commission Went To Work, It Would Be 11.1%"

Addison Wiggin notes:

Whatever agreement emerges from the backroom dealing [on the debt], it is now almost sure to include what we’ve labeled a “stealth default” on Social Security. The White House quietly put out the word two weeks ago that it’s on board. Congressional Republicans think it’s a super idea, too. “There hasn’t been any economist anywhere that says we shouldn’t do that,” says Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).
Of course, they don’t call it a stealth default. They call it “chained CPI.”
This stealth default has occurred before. When Social Security was in trouble in 1983, one of the Greenspan Commission’s fixes included an adjustment to the consumer price index known as “substitution.”http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
It works like this: If steak gets too expensive and you start buying hamburger instead… well, your price of beef hasn’t really gone up and your cost of living is unchanged. This is one of the reasons official CPI is running 3.6%, but if it were still calculated the way it was before the Greenspan Commission went to work, it would be 11.1%.
Because Social Security benefits are keyed to CPI, this has resulted in a substantial savings for Uncle Sam. But fast-forward 28 years and Uncle Sam has burned through all the trust fund money just to pay his bills, and “substitution” alone isn’t good enough. Hence, “chained CPI.”
Under “chained CPI,” if your hamburger gets too expensive and you start buying beans instead… well, your price of protein hasn’t really gone up and your cost of living is unchanged.

See this and this, and this for background.

Gold Demand Outstrips Inventory For the First Time Since 2008

The Wall Street Journal noted last week:

Swiss bank UBS said that gold, which cracked the $1,600 a troy ounce mark on Monday, will be the only precious metal with a supply deficit this year, as demand outstrips inventory for the first time since 2008.

See this for background.

Pelosi: ‘It Is Clear We Must Enter An Era Of Austerity’

In a statement that is shocking many pundits, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) warned the country, “It is clear we must enter an era of austerity; to reduce the deficit through shared sacrifice.” However, Pelosi denounced the plan put forward by Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) as “a short-term plan that burdens the middle class and seniors and continues debate about whether we will default in a few months from now.” Democrats have given up on their demands for a balanced plan with new revenue, but the two sides remain divided over their respective plans for deficit reduction. And both sides seem to be expecting the worst and preparing the country for the same. “We’re about to go over a cliff here,” Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said Monday afternoon.

IMF Cites ‘Urgency’ in Raising $14.3 Trillion U.S. Debt Cap

The International Monetary Fund said today it is urgent for the U.S. Congress to approve an increase in the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. Republicans and Democrats are preparing rival debt-ceiling plans after they were unable to break a partisan stalemate over the weekend. The Treasury Department says U.S. borrowing authority will end on Aug. 2 unless Congress acts.
The 24-member IMF board “highlighted the urgency of raising the federal debt ceiling and agreeing on the specifics of a comprehensive medium-term consolidation plan,” according to an IMF statement on the U.S. economy. “With a well-defined, credible multiyear framework in place, the pace of deficit reduction in the short run could be more attuned to cyclical conditions.”
“The deficit reduction plan will need to include both changes to entitlement programs and revenue-enhancing measures,” the staff of the Washington-based lender said in a separate report on the U.S. The staff also said a fiscal strategy can include savings in health care and “reducing tax expenditures.”
Unfavorable fiscal outcomes “could take the form of a sudden increase in interest rates and-or a sovereign downgrade if an agreement on medium-term consolidation does not materialize or the debt ceiling is not raised soon enough,” the IMF staff said. “These risks would also have significant global repercussions, given the central role of U.S. Treasury bonds in world financial markets.”
U.S. ‘Stability’
“Directors agreed that placing public debt on a sustainable path is critical to the stability of the U.S. economy, with positive spillovers to other countries,” the IMF statement said.
Overall, the lender said the U.S. outlook is for “sluggish private domestic demand” while the unemployment rate “has declined only modestly from its recent peak.” The jobless rate was 9.2 percent in June, down from 10.1 percent in October 2009.
The IMF staff said it is projecting U.S. growth of between 2.75 percent and 3 percent “from 2012 onwards.” The IMF, in an update to its World Economic Outlook released in June, said it expected the U.S. economy to grow 2.7 percent next year.
“A number of directors cautioned that the extraordinarily low level of interest rates in the United States may have encouraged excessive risk-taking, affected cross-border capital flows, and added to global inflationary pressures,” the IMF said in today’s statement, which accompanies the lender’s annual review of the U.S. economy.
The IMF said “U.S. spillovers on growth abroad are uniquely large, mainly reflecting the pivotal role of U.S. markets in global asset price discovery.”
“Spillovers from credible and gradual fiscal consolidation are limited and ambiguously signed, while those from the tail risk of a potential loss of confidence in U.S. debt sustainability are universally large and negative,” the IMF said.
© Copyright 2011 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.

Read more: IMF Cites ‘Urgency’ in Raising $14.3 Trillion U.S. Debt Cap
Important: Can you afford to Retire? Shocking Poll Results

You are Relaxing in Your Caribbean Beach Villa on your Ill-gotten Gains and your Victim is only the Bank... (and Maybe the Whole Spanish Economy)

Conspiracy theory or did this really happen? You be the judge…

Written by: Graham Hunt & Nick Snelling
1) You come up with a plan to build a development of (say) 100 homes maybe on rustic non-buildable land. To this effect, you set up a limited company, an SL, with 3000 Euros in the bank and 500 Euros in notary costs (this is important because limited companies have limited liabilities)
2) You ingratiate yourself with the local Mayor (I will leave you to imagine how, but let’s just say, for example, you offered him a cut of your profit)
MORE HERE: spainpropertyguide.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/spanish-property-crash/

Quantitative Easing Explained by Omid Malekan to Minyanville

Destructive Force of Bubbles Created By Fed And Greenspan - Dr. Marc Faber

http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=15850

Wealth gap widens between whites, minorities

WASHINGTON (AP) — The wealth gaps between whites and minorities have grown to their widest levels in a quarter-century. The recession and uneven recovery have erased decades of minority gains, leaving whites on average with 20 times the net worth of blacks and 18 times that of Hispanics, according to an analysis of new Census data.

The analysis shows the racial and ethnic impact of the economic meltdown, which ravaged housing values and sent unemployment soaring. It offers the most direct government evidence yet of the disparity between predominantly younger minorities whose main asset is their home and older whites who are more likely to have 401(k) retirement accounts or other stock holdings.

"What's pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade — because that was the American dream — are seeing big declines," said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who specializes in income inequality.

The median wealth of white U.S. households in 2009 was $113,149, compared with $6,325 for Hispanics and $5,677 for blacks, according to the analysis released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. Those ratios, roughly 20 to 1 for blacks and 18 to 1 for Hispanics, far exceed the low mark of 7 to 1 for both groups reached in 1995, when the nation's economic expansion lifted many low-income groups to the middle class.

The white-black wealth gap is also the widest since the census began tracking such data in 1984, when the ratio was roughly 12 to 1.
"I am afraid that this pushes us back to what the Kerner Commission characterized as 'two societies, separate and unequal,'" said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau, referring to the 1960s presidential commission that examined U.S. race relations. "The great difference is that the second society has now become both black and Hispanic."

Stock holdings play an important role in the economic well-being of white households. Stock funds, IRA and Keogh accounts as well as 401(k) and savings accounts were responsible for 28 percent of whites' net worth, compared with 19 percent for blacks and 15 percent for Hispanics.

According to the Pew study, the housing boom of the early to mid-2000s boosted the wealth of Hispanics in particular, who were disproportionately employed in the thriving construction industry. Hispanics also were more likely to live and buy homes in states such as California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, which were in the forefront of the real estate bubble, enjoying early gains in home values.

But those gains quickly shriveled in the housing bust. After reaching a median wealth of $18,359 in 2005, the wealth of Hispanics — who derived nearly two-thirds of their net worth from home equity — declined by 66 percent by 2009. Among blacks, who now have the highest unemployment rate at 16.2 percent, their household wealth fell 53 percent from $12,124 to $5,677.

In contrast, the median household wealth of whites dipped a modest 16 percent from $134,992 to $113,149, cushioned in part by a stock market recovery that began in mid-2009.

"The findings are a reminder — if one was needed — of what a large share of blacks and Hispanics live on the economic margins," said Paul Taylor, director of Pew Social & Demographic Trends. "When the economy tanked, they're the groups that took the heaviest blows."

The latest data come as President Barack Obama and congressional leaders try to reach a deal to avoid a U.S. default on its financial obligations after Aug. 2. Democrats and Republicans have been wrangling over proposals that could cut trillions of dollars from programs such as Medicare and Social Security; they are divided over whether to bring in new tax revenue, such as by closing corporate tax loopholes or increasing taxes for the wealthy.

The NAACP and other black groups urged Obama to resist deep cuts to housing assistance or safety net programs, saying it would disproportionately hurt urban areas with high poverty and unemployment. The U.S. poverty rate currently stands at 14.3 percent, with the ranks of the working-age poor at the highest level since the 1960s. Some analysts believe the poverty rate will climb higher when new figures are released in September.

"Typically in recessions, minorities suffer from being last hired and first fired. They are likely to lose jobs more rapidly at the beginning of the recession, and are far slower to gain jobs as the economy recovers," said Harrison, who is now a sociologist at Howard University. "One suspects that blacks who lost jobs in the recession, or who have tried to help family members or relatives who did, have now spent whatever savings or other cashable assets they had."

Other findings:
—About 35 percent of black households and 31 percent of Hispanic households had zero or negative net worth in 2009, compared with 15 percent of white households. In 2005, the comparable shares were 29 percent for blacks, 23 percent for Hispanics and 11 percent for whites.
—Asians lost their top ranking to whites in median household wealth, dropping from $168,103 in 2005 to $78,066 in 2009. Like Hispanics, many Asians were concentrated in states like California hit hard by the housing downturn. More recent arrivals of new Asian immigrants, who tend to be poor, also pushed down their median wealth.

—Across all race and ethnic groups, the wealth gap between rich and poor widened. The share of wealth held by the top 10 percent of U.S. households increased from 49 percent in 2005 to 56 percent in 2009. The threshold for entry into the wealthiest top 10 percent, however, dipped lower: from $646,327 in 2005 to $598,435.

The numbers are based on the Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation, which sampled more than 36,000 households on wealth from September-December 2009. Census first began publishing wealth data from this survey, broken down by race and ethnicity, in 1984.

___

Online:

Pew Social & Demographic Trends: http://pewsocialtrends.org/

Census Bureau: www.census.gov

Ala. county readies for possible record bankruptcy

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama's largest county began laying the groundwork Tuesday for what would be the largest-ever U.S. municipal bankruptcy after three years of trying to work out a solution with Wall Street to more than $3 billion in debt linked to a massive sewer rehabilitation project tainted by corruption.

Officials in Jefferson County hope to avoid new layoffs but may have to raise sewer rates or trim public services. On Tuesday, county commissioners approved resolutions to hire prominent bankruptcy lawyers and to sell bonds later in case money is needed to emerge from a Chapter 9 bankruptcy, the type that can be filed by governments.

Two of the five commissioners said there's an 80 percent chance the county will file bankruptcy, and a vote could come at a meeting scheduled for Thursday in Birmingham, the county seat and Alabama's largest city.

The commission president, David Carrington, said other possibilities include extending talks with creditors led by JPMorgan Chase & Co. or accepting a settlement offer. But something must be done to resolve a crisis that has cast a shadow over the county for so long, hurting economic development and industrial recruiting amid the uncertainty, he said.

"This county deserves a resolution to this problem. We cannot let this thing go on another three years," said Carrington. "We will do what we were elected to do."

Jefferson County's bankruptcy filing would be nearly twice as large as the record one filed by Orange County, Calif., in 1994 over debts totaling $1.7 billion. One of the attorneys retained by Jefferson County had a leading role in representing Orange County.

Jefferson County Commissioner Jimmie Stephens said he favors bankruptcy unless there's "meaningful progress" in talks with creditors, and quickly.

The county already has laid-off hundreds of workers and reduced services because of problems unrelated to the bankruptcy threat, and commissioners said they did not anticipate additional immediate reductions should the county file for bankruptcy.

But Andrew Bennett, who works in a courthouse annex in Bessemer, said he worries that the county will repay lenders at the expense of needy people who cannot afford to pay more for sewer service and would be harmed by any possible cuts in county services.

"It's always the poor people who get left behind," he said.

The county — Alabama's historic economic hub with some 658,000 residents — has been trying to avoid filing bankruptcy since 2008. The deal it offered last week to JPMorgan Chase and other creditors would erase more than $1 billion of its debt with the promise of repaying the remaining amount through a combination of modest sewer rate increases and loans. But lenders have yet to respond to what amounted to a last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy.

"The fact that we have not received a counteroffer speaks volumes to me," said Commissioner Joe Knight.
JPMorgan Chase declined comment.

A court-appointed official last month recommended a 25 percent rate hike for sewer customers, whose average residential bill would increase from $37.74 a month to $46.88, calling it a necessary step toward financial viability. Commissioner Sandra Little Brown said the 25 percent increase is too high, and she prefers filing bankruptcy since cost increases could be limited to the single digits.

The county's problems result from a mix of outdated sewer pipes, the rough economy, court rulings and public corruption.

A federal court forced Jefferson County to begin a huge upgrade of its outdated and overwhelmed sewer system to meet federal clean-water standards in the '90s, and officials used bonds to finance the improvements. Acting at the suggestion of outside advisers in a series of deals that were later shown to be laced with bribes and influence-peddling, the county borrowed money for the project in a complex and risky series of transactions.

Loan payments skyrocketed because of increasing interest rates as global credit markets struggled, and the county could no longer afford to repay the money. In the meantime, a string of elected officials, public employees and business people were convicted of rigging the sweetheart deals that helped put the county in dire straits.

Those convicted in the graft investigation include then-Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford, a former president of the Jefferson County Commission; and ex-Commissioner Chris McNair, whose daughter was one of the four black girls killed in an infamous Ku Klux Klan church bombing in Birmingham in 1963. Langford is in federal prison, and McNair's lawyer is now asking President Barack Obama to pardon him for his crimes.

As if the sewer debt wasn't enough, the county has another major problem: Jefferson County already has laid off about 550 of its 2,300 workers and scaled back government services because courts struck down an occupational tax and business license that provided more than $74 million annually for its operating budget. Callers to a main county telephone number now get a recording telling them the automated system has been taken out of service because of the budget and to look up department numbers the old-fashioned way, in a phone book.

Commissioner Stephens, whose duties include overseeing county finances, said residents wouldn't immediately feel any fallout from a decision to file bankruptcy, but it is unclear what would happen in the coming weeks or months.
Likewise, a decision to file bankruptcy in Jefferson County may not affect the broader municipal bond market.
Matt Fabian, managing director at research firm Municipal Market Advisors, said a filing by Jefferson County was not likely to rattle investors across the country since many have been anticipating the move for years and already have factored it into their risk assessments of municipal bonds in general.

"Probably half the muni market thinks Jefferson County is in bankruptcy already," he said. "It's been so well telegraphed."

___

AP business writer Bernard Condon contributed to this report from New York.

"US is not AAA Anymore, Moody's Report Insignificant" The Jim Rogers interview with the WSJ 25 july 2011

http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=15847

Merkel Facing German Revolt Over Greek Bailout

A few days ago, when summarizing the key weakness of the second European bailout, we suggested that the fatal flaw in the entire package (which is predicated upon the expansion of the EFSF to about €1.5 trillion for full efficacy) are the "82 Million Soon To Be Very Angry Germans, Or How Euro Bailout #2 Could Cost Up To 56% Of German GDP." Specifically, we explained, "by not monetizing European debt on its books, the ECB has effectively left Germany holding the bag to the entire European bailout via the blank check SPV. The cost if things go wrong: a third of the country economic output, and the worst case scenario: a depression the likes of which Germany has not seen since the 1920-30s. Oh, and if France gets downgraded, Germany's pro rata share of funding the EFSF jumps to a mindboggling €1.385 trillion, or 56% of German GDP!" Sure enough, as the Telegraph's Ambrose Evans Pritchard confirms, the backlash has now officially begun.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing a storm of protest at home after yielding to EU calls for radical action to shore up Spain and Italy, raising doubts over her ability to implement the package.
Frank Schäffler, finance chair for the Free Democrats (FDP) in the ruling coalition, said the summit deal threatened "the castration of Germany's parliament" by shifting budget power to Europe.
Jens Weidmann, the Bundesbank's chief, said the accord exposes Germany and other creditor states to "sizable risks" and greatly alters the EU's constitutional landscape.

Yes, that would be the head of the Bundesbank... The German Fed... The bank which, unlike the ECB, is actually putting the interests of the German people up front and center:

"The euro area has taken a big step toward a collectivisation of risks. This weakens the foundations of a monetary union where each is responsible for its own budget.
In the future, it is going to be even harder to uphold incentives for solid fiscal policies," he said. The choice of words undercuts claims by Ms Merkel, who has specifically denied that there is a "collectivisation of risks".
The outburst may complicate a forthcoming ruling by Germany's Constitutional Court on the legality of the bail-outs, though most legal experts expect the judges to tread carefully.
"Weidmann is like Thomas à Beckett," said David Marsh, author of a book on the Bundesbank. "He is no longer a Merkel man. He has gone over to the institution and is now sworn to defend the sanctity of German monetary conservatism."

It has gotten so bad in Germany that Merkel is now relying on the Social Democrats to endorse ger agenda. This is akin to Obama expecting the republicans to demand tax hikes for the uber wealthy.
Jacques Cailloux from RBS said EU leaders are at last "getting the message" but the deal is not enough to halt the crisis at any level. Greece's debt burden will fall by just 10 to 20 percentage points of GDP, still leaving it "unsustainably high" near 140pc next year.

Ms Merkel is relying on support from opposition Social Democrats to push the deal though the Bundestag, but this is politically dangerous and may threaten her grip on power if Germany has to put yet more money behind the summit pledges, as appears likely. Mr Schäffler said there is already talk of a "third rescue package" for Greece.
Jacques Cailloux from RBS said EU leaders are at last "getting the message" but the deal is not enough to halt the crisis at any level. Greece's debt burden will fall by just 10 to 20 percentage points of GDP, still leaving it "unsustainably high" near 140pc next year.

Cailloux looks one step ahead and reaches the same conclusion we derived last week: that the EFSF will need to get a place where more than a third of German GDP is tied to backstopping this particular CDO:

While the bail-out fund (EFSF) will be able to intervene pre-emptively to cap Italian and Spanish bond yields, it lacks the €2 trillion (£1.8 trillion) funding to be credible. "Nice tools but no firing power. A rolling crisis is still likely," Mr Cailloux said.

Translation: while FX markets have already opened in Australia, and the dollar has dropped to 78.1 against the JPY, and under 0.81 against the CHF, on ongoing uncertainty over the debt ceiling , it is once again the EUR whose role will be put into question this week once the market realizes that the "cohesive" European bailout may not be quite as cohesive as previously thought.

Hay, alfalfa prices stun NM farmers

LAS CRUCES - Hay prices are spiking in Do a Ana County and throughout the state - part of a larger-scale disruption that's stretching across the West, experts said.
Not only is the price soaring, but the crop is becoming increasingly scarce. The situation is impacting the pocketbooks of horse owners and dairy farmers across the area.
Dean Horton, owner of Las Uvas Dairy southwest of Hatch, said he's paying as much as 30 percent to 50 percent more for forage crops, which include alfalfa, than a year ago. Even locating hay has been a challenge, he said.
"It's a mess," he said. "I've been doing it 31 years, and this is a first for me."
A perfect storm
Behind the skyrocketing prices is a perfect storm of factors that originate locally, regionally and, in at least one instance, internationally, growers and experts said.
Part of it stemmed from a extreme, nearly four-day freeze that struck a multi-state region in early February, Horton said. That freeze dramatically hurt the first harvest of alfalfa, a crop which stays in the ground several years and is cut a handful of times each year, and another forage crop called triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye, he said.
The first and second alfalfa harvests each summer are considered the best-quality, said Justin Boswell, executive director of the New Mexico Hay Association. They usually fetch a premium price, which usually declines with subsequent cuttings. But that wasn't the case this year.
"This year, most farmers
are seeing hay prices equal to those higher-quality cuts or greater than" the first cuttings, he said.Also factoring in locally is a shift away from alfalfa. There's been a gradual shift over the past five years toward more pecan acreage, growers noted.
But heightening that effect this year is a shift on other acreage away from alfalfa and toward cotton, thanks to a couple of factors, growers have said. Record cotton prices is one of them, Horton said.
Also, going into the spring planting season, Do a Ana County farmers were anticipating a small supply of river water. Cotton is less water intensive than alfalfa, growers said.
The official cotton acreage numbers aren't yet available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Not only is the drought affecting New Mexico, but it's also reaching into other states, affecting their hay supply, Boswell said.
"I'd love to say there's going to be some relief in sight, but high hay prices are probably going to extend into next year," he said.
Not a pretty picture
Boswell said hay is selling to dairies on the eastern side of the state at about $220 per ton.
In mid-July last year, alfalfa sold for about $157 per ton, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
The cost of smaller bales - often bought by people who own just a few horses - has ranged from about $8 to $12 a bale, Boswell said.
"Probably last year at this time of year, you'd be looking probably at $7 a bale, maybe $8," he said.
In addition, other pressure on the market stemmed from alfalfa that was being purchased by Japan from California and Washington, Horton said. California moved into Arizona's market, which New Mexico also relies upon.
Jason McClure, owner of Landmark Mercantile in Mesquite, said he's seen a 30 percent increase in the cost of alfalfa the purchases for resale over the past year. That's mostly from freight costs alone, he said. The problem has escalated during the past six months.
"We just have to take it and deal with it and move on," he said. "If there's less product out there, there's going to be a higher demand and a higher price."
McClure said the price for a 150-pound bale in his store is selling for about $24 now, compared to $14 a year ago. He said the public often doesn't understand that farmers are facing increasing production costs, such as fertilizer and fuel expenses.
"Personally, I'm having to dig a little deeper into my pockets to find a little more money because I'm committed to feeding my horses alfalfa," said Don Patterson, vice president of the Back Country Horsemen in Las Cruces.
Patterson said he owns two horses so the impact is not as pronounced.
"But for somebody with 10 or 20 horses, it's quite a bit," he said.
How is Horton coping?
"We've switched to oats and straw, whatever you can find. We're just doing whatever we need to do to get it done."
Horton also said he has contracted with farmers to grow Sudan grass in the late summer to help fill the hay void. But, the dairy industry struggled in 2009 and 2010 because of the economic recession and isn't in the best position to cope with another economic hit, he said.
"It's not a pretty picture," he said. "The end result will be, as long as we have these high feed prices, that milk production in this six-state area is going to be down," he said.
Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443

The Dynamics of Doom: Why the Eurozone Fix Will Fail

The only way out of the Eurozone end-game is massive debt forgiveness and a return to national currencies. The first will destroy the banks, the second will destabilize the German export economy. “Extend and pretend” is an endgame, not a fix.
Let’s dig into the dynamics of doom:
1. The consequences of austerity. The kleptocratic “fix” is to divert more of the debtor nations’ national incomes to debt service. In other words, money that once went to labor (wages) and social services now goes to debt repayments and interest.
What are the consequences of this massive diversion of income? The economy shrinks.Less income means less spending, which means negative growth.
The Eurozone’s “happy story” counts on debtor economies “growing their way out of debt.” If labor’s share of the national income is falling, and both private and government spending and income are falling, precisely where is the “growth” supposed to come from? As private income falls, tax revenues fall, causing the government to raise taxes and junk fees. This further reduces private income, and so on in a self-reinforcing feedback loop of contraction.
Austerity sets up a positive feedback loop of less income and less spending. The people in these debtor economies can look around and see the consequences: everyone has less money, and less confidence that the “austerity fix” will do anything but put debt-junkies into fatal withdrawal.
Once an economy becomes dependent on debt that rises faster than the resulting “growth,” then that economy is set on an unwavering path to implosion. (The Cycle of Dependency and the Atrophy of Self-Reliance).
As belief in the system fades (When Belief in the System Fades March 12, 2008) and institutions lose their legitimacy ( The Three Ds: Delegitimization, Definancialization, Deglobalization July 1, 2011), then people naturally save more as insurance against an uncertain future. Fewer people are willing to risk their capital in new ventures, and as the economy loses vitality then these trends reinforce each other.
2. This loss of faith and confidence triggers hoarding and capital flight. As Ludwig von Mises noted long ago, the only way to organically “grow” an economy is for capital to accumulate faster than the population, that is, capital increases on a per capita basis. Capital means savings/cash, not debt, that is invested in productive assets and enterprises.
So what happens when you skim more of a nation’s income to service debt? There is less capital accumulated, and thus less capital available for investment.
What happens when people lose faith in the financial institutions and their coercive “fixes”? They move their capital to less-risky, more productive climes. In other words, capital flight is another positive feedback: as people move their capital out of the country, then there is less available per capita for productive investment. Toss in a kleptocratic government which increases taxes while misallocating precious capital on crony Capitalism and corruption, and you get a death-spiral of capital flight and risk avoidance.
The irony of a loss of faith is people instinctively place their capital in non-productive savings: in gold, Swiss lock boxes, and so on. This instinct removes capital from the pool of investments in productive assets.
3. Taxes must be raised to fund higher debt service. There is no other way to service sovereign debts, so taxes must rise, adding another positive feedback to the contracting economy: higher taxes reduce net income, create disincentives to earning more via productive enterprises and incentivizing tax avoidance and capital flight.
4. The frantic rush by the EU and European Central Bank (ECB) into a domino-like series of short-term “fixes” effectively destroys the possibility of long-term solutions. Injecting more debt into debtor nations is like “fixing” the debt-junkie’s withdrawal symptoms with massive doses of euro-denominated smack: the “fix” dooms the “patient” in the long run, even as it “makes everything better” for a brief interlude of faux “normalcy.”
But like any other addiction, resistance to the “fixes” rises and the interludes diminish in length.
The dynamics of austerity without massive debt renunciation doom the EU, and the dynamics of using taxpayer-funded debt to “fix” over-indebtedness also dooms the EU. Massive debt renunciation will doom the big European banks, and of course those banks are the raison d’etre for the entire project: it’s all about saving the banks, isn’t it?
5. These dynamics set up a double-bind endgame. The EU Overlords and the ECB can busily move their last knight around their king, but the game is already lost. Austerity triggers a positive feedback of economic contraction, debt fixes to over-indebtedness launches a cycle of diminishing returns, and the reliance on short-term fixes over long-term solutions sets off self-reinforcing losses of legitimacy and faith in the system’s sustainability.
The only real solution to the Eurozone end-game is massive debt forgiveness and the resulting destruction of “too big to fail” banks, and a return to national currencies, which will enable structural imbalances to be resolved via currency devaluations. This will of course destabilize the German export economy; but that is inevitable.
“Extend and pretend” is an endgame, not a fix.

Read more http://inteldaily.com/2011/07/the-dynamics-of-doom-why-the-eurozone-fix-will-fail/

The Federal Reserve ADMITS that Its 12 Banks Are PRIVATE Not Government – Entities

Much of the tens of trillions in bailout money and “easy” money from quantitative easing went to foreign banks (and see this, this and this).
Indeed, Ron Paul noted recently that one-third of all fed bailout loans – and essentially 100% of loans from the New York Fed – went to foreign banks.

The New York Fed is the most important Fed bank. As Bloomberg pointed out in 2009:

The New York Fed is one of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks and the one charged with monitoring capital markets. It is also managing $1.7trillion [now up to at least $1.9 trillion] of emergency lending programs [and accepting collateral from the banks in return].

However, the country’s most powerful “agency” – the Federal Reserve – is actually no more federal than Federal Express. The Fed itself admitted (via Bloomberg):

While the Fed’s Washington-based Board of Governors is a federal agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act and other government rules, the New York Fed and other regional banks maintain they are separate institutions, owned by their member banks, and not subject to federal restrictions.

For that reason, the New York Fed alleged in the lawsuit brought by Bloomberg to force the Fed to reveal some information about its loans - Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) – that it was not subject to Federal Freedom of Information Act. As Bloomberg reported in a separate article:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York … runs most of the lending programs. Most documents relevant to [a freedom of information lawsuit filed by Bloomberg news] are at the New York Fed, which isn’t subject to FOIA law, according to the central bank. The Board of Governors has 231 pages of documents, to which it is denying access under an exemption for trade secrets.


As the long-time Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee (Charles McFadden) said on June 10, 1932:

Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are private monopolies ….

Similarly, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) – often called the “central banks’ central bank”, as it coordinates transactions between central banks, and which is the entity determining the level of reserves banks are required to keep worldwide – is itself owned by the central banks of the world.

As Spiegel reported in 2009:

The BIS is a closed organization owned by the 55 central banks. The heads of these central banks travel to the Basel headquarters once every two months, and the General Meeting, the BIS’s supreme executive body, takes place once a year.

In, other words, the private banks own the Fed (and mos other central banks), and the central banks – in turn – own BIS, the global bank regulator.

Interestingly, Spiegel points out that BIS is largely immune from regulation, oversight or taxes:

Formally registered as a stock corporation, it is recognized as an international organization and, therefore, is not subject to any jurisdiction other than international law.It does not need to pay tax, and its members and employees enjoy extensive immunity. No other institution regulates the BIS, despite the fact that it manages about 4 percent of the world’s total currency reserves, or €217 trillion ($304 trillion), as well as 120 tons of gold…

Central bankers are not elected by the people but are appointed by their governments. Nevertheless, they wield power that exceeds that of many political leaders. Their decisions affect entire economies, and a single word from their lips is capable of moving financial markets. They set interest rates, thereby determining the cost of borrowing and the speed of global financial currents.
http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-federal-reserve-admits-that-its-12-banks-are-private-not-government-entities.html

Asian Buying to Fuel Massive Short Squeeze in Gold

With gold and silver strong this summer, today King World News interviewed James Turk.  When asked about the action in gold Turk replied, “Today’s action was very significant Eric as both gold and silver closed above previous resistance points.  In the interview that we did last week, I said $1,640 to $,1650 is the near-term target.  That is the level we should be focusing on, but readers have to remember that option expiry starts tomorrow.  Given the recurring downward price pressure that we normally see during option expiry, the action over the next two days should be watched closely.”

</frame>

Turk continues:

“If gold cannot be pushed back below $1,600 during option expiry, we should take that to mean that the shorts are losing control.  The consequences of that would be the potential for an upside explosion, which as you know is consistent with what I have been expecting for the gold price this summer.  

Here is another interesting development Eric, the support under $1,600 regardless of how you measure it looks solid.  Asian buying has been following the market up since gold went over $1,000.  I was surprised to see how quickly the bids under $1,600 developed.  So my view of market conditions at the moment is that as bullish as I am, even I might be surprised by how quickly gold accelerates from here.

As Marc Faber said in his KWN interview, in reality there are very few participants currently in the gold market, but to take his observation a little bit further, when I look at the price action it suggests to me that a lot of this big money on the sidelines wants to be in.  Therefore we are seeing some aggressive bidding on any pullbacks.

So tomorrow is shaping up to be an interesting battle between the option sellers and the physical buyers.  Remember to Eric, some of these options sellers have to delta-hedge as the price rises into option expiration, this is where we get the explosion because the sellers will have to buy gold to maintain their hedged position....
more http://kingworldnews.com/

"The Greatest Increase in Poverty and Hardship Produced by Any Law in Modern U.S. History"

"The Greatest Increase in Poverty and Hardship Produced by Any Law in Modern U.S. History"

Mathew Yglesias:

CBPP Analysis of John Boehner’s Plan: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities concludes that if enacted, John Boehner’s debt ceiling plan “could well produce the greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history.”
That sounds to me like something that would create strong incentives to not be poor and, indeed, to fully incentive richness. Consequently, we’ll have massive economic growth. Right?

Think of all the old people who will be willing to do odd jobs, whatever, in order to pay for health care. No more free-riding from grandma and grandpa to slow the economy down.
The CBPP adds:

This may sound hyperbolic, but it is not. The mathematics are inexorable. ...
In short, the Boehner plan would force policymakers to choose among cutting the incomes and health benefits of ordinary retirees, repealing the guts of health reform and leaving an estimated 34 million more Americans uninsured, and savaging the safety net for the poor. It would do so even as it shielded all tax breaks, including the many lucrative tax breaks for the wealthiest and most powerful individuals and corporations.

As for the way the debt ceiling talks are going, what a disaster.

Gulf oil spill victims weary of wait for payouts - In other news, BP may be broken up and sold for $100 billion

NEW ORLEANS — Robert Campo once believed the TV commercials by oil giant BP that promised to "make it right" and compensate those along the Gulf Coast who lost work during last year's disastrous oil spill. More than a year after the spill ruined his oyster beds, however, Campo is still waiting for what he believes is full payment. The $20 billion fund created by BP to compensate those ruined by the spill has offered him less than one-third of what he requested. He's still waiting to hear why. "I'm not looking for a handout. I'm just looking for them to make right what they did wrong," says Campo, an oyster fisherman from St. Bernard Parish, La. "It's taken way too long." Campo joins a chorus of local fishermen, seafood processors, hoteliers and others who say that nearly a year since it opened its doors, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility that administers the BP fund has not moved fast enough to pay those hurt most by the spill. Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder ordered an independent audit of the fund. Kenneth Feinberg, the fund's administrator, has agreed to the audit, scheduled for sometime this year. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility has paid nearly $5 billion in claims to about 200,000 claimants, one of the largest payout efforts in U.S. history, according to the facility. more http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-25-Gulf-oil-spill-compensation_n.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomNation-TopStories+%28News+-+Nation+-+Top+Stories%29

The Federal Reserve ADMITS that Its 12 Banks Are PRIVATE - Not Government - Entities

Much of the tens of trillions in bailout money and "easy" money from quantitative easing went to foreign banks (and see this, this and this).
Indeed, Ron Paul noted recently that one-third of all fed bailout loans - and essentially 100% of loans from the New York Fed - went to foreign banks.
The New York Fed is the most important Fed bank. As Bloomberg pointed out in 2009:

The New York Fed is one of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks and the one charged with monitoring capital markets. It is also managing $1.7 trillion [now up to at least $1.9 trillion] of emergency lending programs [and accepting collateral from the banks in return].

However, the country's most powerful "agency" - the Federal Reserve - is actually no more federal than Federal Express. The Fed itself admitted (via Bloomberg):

While the Fed’s Washington-based Board of Governors is a federal agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act and other government rules, the New York Fed and other regional banks maintain they are separate institutions, owned by their member banks, and not subject to federal restrictions.

For that reason, the New York Fed alleged in the lawsuit brought by Bloomberg to force the Fed to reveal some information about its loans - Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan) - that it was not subject to Federal Freedom of Information Act. As Bloomberg reported in a separate article:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York ... runs most of the lending programs. Most documents relevant to [a freedom of information lawsuit filed by Bloomberg news] are at the New York Fed, which isn’t subject to FOIA law, according to the central bank. The Board of Governors has 231 pages of documents, to which it is denying access under an exemption for trade secrets.

As the long-time Chairman of the House Banking and Currency Committee (Charles McFadden) said on June 10, 1932:

Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government institutions. They are private monopolies ....

Similarly, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) - often called the "central banks' central bank", as it coordinates transactions between central banks, and which is the entity determining the level of reserves banks are required to keep worldwide - is itself owned by the central banks of the world.
As Spiegel reported in 2009:

The BIS is a closed organization owned by the 55 central banks. The heads of these central banks travel to the Basel headquarters once every two months, and the General Meeting, the BIS's supreme executive body, takes place once a year.

In, other words, the private banks own the Fed (and mos other central banks), and the central banks - in turn - own BIS, the global bank regulator.

Interestingly, Spiegel points out that BIS is largely immune from regulation, oversight or taxes:

Formally registered as a stock corporation, it is recognized as an international organization and, therefore, is not subject to any jurisdiction other than international law. It does not need to pay tax, and its members and employees enjoy extensive immunity. No other institution regulates the BIS, despite the fact that it manages about 4 percent of the world's total currency reserves, or €217 trillion ($304 trillion), as well as 120 tons of gold...
Central bankers are not elected by the people but are appointed by their governments. Nevertheless, they wield power that exceeds that of many political leaders. Their decisions affect entire economies, and a single word from their lips is capable of moving financial markets. They set interest rates, thereby determining the cost of borrowing and the speed of global financial currents.

Sinclair: When Gold Reaches $1764 It Will Go Hyperbolic!

Raising The Debt Ceiling Does Not Fix The Problem

My Dear Friends,
The idea that an increase in the debt ceiling is a solution to anything is nonsense. The event would be simply a can kick forward for a very short period of time. Increasing debt is not a solution to a debt problem. It actually makes the problem worse. It is an act of extending your Federal credit card borrowing line so you can use it to pay your mortgage.
Calling increasing the debt ceiling a solution to a debt problem is too stupid to be stupid. The unwind is deeply entrenched since the failure of OTC derivatives in 2008. There has been no meaningful intervention in this economic downward spiral at the level of the cause. The downward spiral therefore continues unabated.
All downward spirals go to zero unless an intervention takes place at the level of the cause of the problem in the first place. OTC derivatives are what turned a four year correction into the greatest economic accident in human history.
OTC derivatives only go one way in size and that is up. Changing the way nominal value is determined does not solve the problem. All that does is add camouflage to the problem. It does not solve it.
$1600 in gold is simply another round number which will create drama, but no opposition to the increasing price.
Nothing additional is required for a higher price of gold. The damage is done. The debt of the entire Western world is beyond out of hand. The so called solution, just like raising the debt ceiling, will be acts of kicking the can down the road.
We have come to the end of the road. The result of no financial discipline anywhere in the Western world is unfolding.
Gold will challenge $1764 where a hyperbolic price appreciation will start.
Respectfully,
Jim [Sinclair]

Original source:    http://www.jsmineset.com/2011/07/20/raising-the-debt-ceiling-does-not-fix-the-problem/
Related Articles:

1. Update: These 90 Analysts Believe Gold Will Go to $5,000/ozt. – or More!  http://www.munknee.com/2011/06/update-these-90-analysts-believe-gold-will-go-to-5000ozt-or-more/
2. $14,300,000,000,000 Debt Ceiling About to go Even Higher! Here’s Why   http://www.munknee.com/2011/07/14300000000000-debt-ceiling-about-to-go-even-higher-heres-why/
3. Raising the Roof – On a Higher Debt Ceiling That Is!  http://www.munknee.com/2011/05/raising-the-roof-on-a-higher-debt-ceiling-that-is/ 
4. Top Myths on the U.S. Debt-ceiling Crisis   http://www.munknee.com/2011/05/top-myths-on-the-u-s-debt-ceiling-crisis/ 
5. America’s Political Process Guarantees Another Financial Crisis!   http://www.munknee.com/2011/03/america%e2%80%99s-political-process-virtually-guarantees-financial-crisis-2-0/
6. Americans Have Thrown in the Towel as They Await “The Big Splatter”  http://www.munknee.com/2011/02/americans-have-thrown-in-the-towel-as-they-await-the-big-splatter/
7. Washington Faces Possible Armageddon Unlike Any Since Civil War  http://www.munknee.com/2011/01/washington-faces-possible-armageddon-unlike-any-since-civil-war/
8. Remedies to Fiscal Gap Guarantee Hyperinflation!  http://www.munknee.com/2010/11/remedies-to-fiscal-gap-guarantee-hyperinflation/
9. Warning Signs Suggest U.S. Headed for a Complete Societal Collapse!http://www.munknee.com/2010/10/warning-signs-suggest-u-s-headed-for-a-complete-societal-collapse/
10. Let’s Get Real: The U.S. is Bankrupt and the Consequences Will Be Dire!http://www.munknee.com/2010/09/lets-get-real-the-u-s-is-bankrupt-and-we-dont-even-know-it/
11. U.S. Between a Rock and a Hard Place and Its Options Are – At Best – Dire!  http://www.munknee.com/2010/09/u-s-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-and-its-options-are-at-best-dire/
12.  Nielson: America’s Debts are Staggering – It is Hopelessly Insolvent!  http://www.munknee.com/2010/07/debt-denial-and-default-why-every-investor-needs-to-protect-their-wealth-with-precious-metals/
13.  Batten Down the Hatches: A Hurricane of Debt, Deficit and Demographics is Coming!  http://www.munknee.com/2011/07/boomers%e2%80%99-legacy-of-odious-debt-has-created-a-new-normal/
14. Telling it Like It Is: Monetary Policy, the Federal Reserve, and the National Debt Problem http://www.munknee.com/2011/06/telling-it-like-it-is-monetary-policy-the-federal-reserve-and-the-national-debt-problem/
15. Another Economic Collapse and Great Depression are Coming! Here’s Why  http://www.munknee.com/2011/07/another-economic-collapse-and-great-depression-are-coming-heres-why/
16. “Financial Repression” May Soon Become Our Worst Nightmare! Here’s Why  http://www.munknee.com/2011/06/%e2%80%9cfinancial-repression%e2%80%9d-may-soon-become-our-worst-nightmare-heres-why/
17. The U.S. is Headed Towards Self-inflicted Disaster: Here’s Why  http://www.munknee.com/2011/04/the-u-s-is-headed-towards-self-inflicted-disaster-heres-why/
18.  IMF: Major Changes Required to Close U.S. Fiscal Imbalance – Here’s Why, What and How  http://www.munknee.com/2011/04/imf-major-changes-required-to-close-u-s-fiscal-imbalance-heres-why-what-and-how/
19. America: The Party is Over! Here’s Why  http://www.munknee.com/2011/04/america-the-party-is-over-heres-why/

Dancing with Default

http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=15842

DSK accuser goes public with 'rape' story - Americas - Al Jazeera English

DSK accuser goes public with 'rape' story - Americas - Al Jazeera English

The Money Junkies Want Police and Fire Fighter Pension Funds,Not Just Half, But all of it.

  Let me just say this and let it stick in your brain. The Robber Barons want all the pension funds and not just half. They are saying half for now to sucker the Police and Firefighters into surrendering half; not knowing the end game is to take it all. Just trust the government with your pension fund to keep it safe, just like they did with social security trust fund. This is like appointing Al Capone to run the reform the Organized crime unit in the FBI. Never trust your pensions to Wall Street or the US Government. That is like asking the Homeland Security to protect our freedoms from big government.



           The government is has been looking for a reason to steal the pension funds and to rob the nation if it wealth. The US Government has been looking for a reason to steal the countries pension funds to only if we are lucky get crumbs left on the table after the money junkies go an on spending binge. The US government has been taking away from the Federal Pension fund, diverting to other spending programs. No matter what the government say about our pension funds. They are not entitlement program, just like social security. People contributed into the system all their lives with years of hard work and playing by the rules.



            I can remember how many times I watch a cop shows were a high ranking Police official and city council members goes to jail tinkering with the city pension fund. I just wonder how many politicians will go to jail for raiding Social Security trust fund? Will the banks on Wall Street and the Federal government go to jail stealing the people's pension funds to cover the Robber Barons loses? Eventually the party will be over for the money junkies on Wall Street and the Central Bankers.



           Before you allow the government takes half of anyone’s pension fund to give to another. Take it all out and put it into gold and silver. An asset you can hold into your hand and it is not at the mercy of thieves holding an official title. They do not want half of the pension funds. They want it all from you. Not just the firefighter or police, it will not stop with them. They want everyone's money. We have politicians and Robber barons who believe your lifetime, your labor and you substance belong to them. These people never produced a thing in their lives; they know how to steal fro other who made a life for themselves. Get you money far away from them as fast as you can. Put it in gold and silver assets you can hold on your person and not in the hands of people who will steal, it is your money and not theirs. Pull your money out and let them know it does not belong to them.