MACC panel wants ministers, MBs, banned from government projects

BY CLARA CHOOI
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 – The MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel (CCPP) proposed today that all government administrators and their family members at both federal and state levels be barred from bidding for government projects.
The panel also suggested a mandatory declaration of assets by all MPs and state assemblymen at least once in every three years to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and a one-year “cooling-off” period before retired civil servants are allowed to hold posts in professional practices or the corporate sector.
“At present, there is no specific cooling off period in allowing civil servants who have retired from holding appointments in the corporate sector or professional practice,” CCPP chairman Datuk Johan Jaaffar said in a statement here.
“The risks of corruption could arise when retiring officers could make use of their public positions to lobby for posts and certain personal benefits when they retire,” he added.
CCPP, which is one of the MACC’s five oversight advisory bodies, made the suggestions today after noting that the call to combat corruption had been among the key issues raised during the just-concluded 13th general election.
Johan said it was “imperative” for the government to take into account all views, criticisms and allegations on the issue from the public, regardless the authenticity of the claims.
“Although a section of these views, criticisms and allegations did not have a strong basis or were merely perceptions, these were used as grounds to allege that the government is not transparent, clean and does not have integrity,” he said in the statement on behalf of the nine-member panel.
He added the panel was of the view that to allay public perception on cronyism in the government, all Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers, mentris besar, chief ministers, state executive councillors and their immediate family members should be barred from bidding for government projects.
“This proposal is aimed at preventing acts of conflict of interest and to plug loopholes and opportunities that could lead to corruption,” Johan said.
He added that the previous practice whereby any minister, mentri besar or chief minister is absolved from liability by merely leaving a meeting related to an application by a company where his or her family members have an interest in, should not longer be made applicable.
“The panel proposes that this be implemented with immediate effect at the federal, state, local government levels and government agencies,” he suggested.
On the proposal to declare assets to the MACC, Johan said this would help boost the commitment of elected representatives to fight corruption.
“By the same token, the panel fully supports the declaration of assets by members of the Cabinet and Administration only to MACC.
“Such a move shows transparency on the part of the government over assets of ministers and their immediate family members.
“It would also protect the interest of other parties in the event of allegations related to their respective positions and ‘wealth’ during their tenure with the government,” he said.
Prior to Election 2013, all BN candidates were made to undergo a strict vetting process, which included checks on their background by the MACC.
Johan had at the time suggested that the anti-graft body makes it compulsory for all political parties to submit their list of candidates for vetting but this was criticised by the Election Commission (EC) as inappropriate as it would purportedly restrict an individual’s right to contest in the polls.
The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) emerged triumphant for the 13th time running in the just-concluded May 5 polls but bled a significant amount of support from an electorate that voted against what they believed was an over 50-year-old political system entrenched in excesses, cronyism and corruption.
With all the results in, BN polled just under 48 per cent of the popular votes cast and was beaten by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties of PKR, DAP and PAS, who collectively snapped up 51 per cent of votes.
But thanks to what the opposition has labelled unfair gerrymandering and a disproportionate distribution of voters across the country’s 222 federal constituencies, BN still emerged the victor of the day with 133 seats to PR’s 89 seats.
The last time an Umno-led coalition lost the popular vote was in 1969, then contested by BN’s predecessor, the Alliance Party.
Disorientated from the results, the Najib government has been scrambling to keep its house in order to face the next five years with smaller representation in the august House, and a loud and robust opposition bloc.
Now in his second term as prime minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will roll out a 100-day programme designed to win over doubters and persuade Umno that he is the best to lead the party and the country, according to sources.
The Malaysian Insider understands that borrowing some ideas from the Abdullah administration, the Najib government will also work to improve the public delivery system, cut crime and corruption, enhance transparency and strengthen inter-ethnic harmony.

Gold & Silver Price Subject To Greediness Of Traders

Earlier today, Bloomberg announced that bearish bets on Gold are reaching record highs (source). While that is completely true it is exactly 50% of the story. Based on the weekly Commitment of Traders reports it appears that the spread between the short positions of speculators and the long positions of commercials have reached a historic high as well. The divergence started in November 2012, as one could clearly see in the following chart indicated in the red area (our emphasis). For the writers at Bloomberg it was apparently the most convenient thing to highlight the short positions instead of talking about the divergence. It would have taken only the following chart to bring the full story and truth. John Rubino rightfully points to the abuse of mainstream media to paint a desired picture.

The above chart shows the open interest in gold on the cutoff on Tuesday May 14th. What we know for sure is that the short bets have become too crowded, making inverse reactions not only likely but also violent. Just moments ago the gold and silver price moved vertically up. That’s the inverse of the movements we have been used to see starting December 2012, i.e. since the announcement of QE4 (read more about the mysteries in the gold market).
Zerohedge points to rumours of a potential US downgrade from Moody’s. Bloomberg indeed announced that “US policy makers must address debt loads projected to rise later this decade to avoid a 2013 downgrade according to Moody’s Investors Service”. RT adds to it that America’s ticking debt bomb has been reset. “Washington has suspended the debt ceiling, setting a date, and not a concrete dollar sum as a deadline, an unprecedented first in US history.”
While that could have been the trigger it is clear that “under the hood” the dynamics of short covering are at play. Too many bets were made on the short side; the trade became overcrowded.
The move higher comes after a very suspicious spike this night in which the silver price was pushed 10% lower within the first hour of Asian trading (with a bank holiday in Europe). Gold and silver did recover quite fast and remained somehow flat … until some minutes ago. The following charts show the price action in today’s trading sessions. In our own words: folly of the highest degree, or the metals being subject to greediness of traders. Readers can judge themselves.
Only today, the highs and lows for each of the metal:

• The gold price briefly touched $1,336 and peaked at $1,400, which is almost 5% from low to high
• The silver price briefly touched $20.20 and peaked at $23.20, which is 15% from low to high

Looking at what is happening in the precious metals markets lately we can only underline the importance of holding the metal in physical form. We wrote about that in great detail in Gold – You better hold it. The forces that are driving the paper market (i.e. derivatives and the fractional metals market) and the physical market are simply too diverse. People seeking monetary safety in the metal have really different motives than traders or speculators. At least, bullion owners should be aware of that. It should help them understand the price spectacle on days like these.

Let us repeat the fundamental idea of the precious metals again: you hold them because of their monetary protection!

Corporations Are Stealing Billions in Tax Breaks, While the Confused, Screwed Citizenry Turn On Each Other

As global capital becomes ever more powerful, giant corporations are holding governments and citizens up for ransom — eliciting subsidies and tax breaks from countries concerned about their nation’s “competitiveness” — while sheltering their profits in the lowest-tax jurisdictions they can find. Major advanced countries — and their citizens — need a comprehensive tax agreement that won’t allow global corporations to get away with this.
Google, Amazon, Starbucks, every other major corporation, and every big Wall Street bank, are sheltering as much of their U.S. profits abroad as they can, while telling Washington that lower corporate taxes are necessary in order to keep the U.S. “competitive.”
Baloney. The fact is, global corporations have no allegiance to any country; their only objective is to make as much money as possible — and play off one country against another to keep their taxes down and subsidies up, thereby shifting more of the tax burden to ordinary people whose wages are already shrinking because companies are playing workers off against each other.
I’m in London for a few days, and all the talk here is about how Goldman Sachs just negotiated a sweetheart deal to settle a tax dispute with the British government; Google is manipulating its British sales to pay almost no taxes here by using its low-tax Ireland subsidiary (the chair of the Parliamentary committee investigating this has just called the do-no-evil firm “devious, calculating, and unethical”); Amazon has been found to route its British sales through a subsidiary in low-tax Luxembourg, and now receives more in subsidies from the British government than it pays here in taxes; Starbucks’ tax-avoidance strategy was so blatant British consumers began boycotting the firm until it reversed course.
Meanwhile, At a time when you’d expect nations to band together to gain bargaining power against global capital, the opposite is occurring: Xenophobia is breaking out all over.

Here in Britain, the UK Independence Party — which wants to get out of the European Union — is rapidly gaining ground, becoming the third most popular party in the country, according to a new poll for The Independent on Sunday. Almost one in five people plan to vote for it in the next general election. Ukip’s overall ratings have risen four points to 19 per cent in the past month, despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s efforts to wrest back control of the crucial debate over Britain’s relationship with the European Union.
Right-wing nationalist parties are gaining ground elsewhere in Europe as well. In the U.S., not only are Republicans sounding more nationalistic of late (anti-immigrant, anti-trade), but they continue to push “states rights” — as states increasingly battle against one another to give global companies ever larger tax breaks and subsidies.
Nothing could strengthen the hand of global capital more than such breakups.

Robert B. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He also served on President Obama’s transition advisory board. His latest book is Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future. His homepage is www.robertreich.org.

This article originally appeared on : AlterNet

Shocking: 12 Year-Old Kid Exposes Criminal Banking System On TV

A 12 year-old kid has taken the Internet by storm, as she easily explains and describes to the general public how the criminal banking system actually works in Canada.

Flashback: WASHINGTON – APRIL 11: (L-R) G-7 central bank Governors Mark Carney, of Canada, Ben Bernanke, of the United States, Mario Draghi, of Italy, Christian Noyer, of France, and Alex Weber, of Germany, arrive for a photo outside the U.S. Treasury April 11, 2008 in Washington, DC. The finance ministers and central bank governors of the G-7 nations met at the U.S. Treasury today during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

by Shepard Ambellas
Intellihub.com
May 20, 2013
CANADA — A lot of 12 year-old kids would say economics are boring. In fact, a lot of adults would agree.
However, some kids have an overwhelming urge to learn all they can at a young age.
Victoria, 12, has done just that. She says that her and her father watch documentary films together on various subjects. This could pay off as most kids are busy playing first-person shooter video games, watching TV programs bases on senseless subjects, and sucking down high fructose corn syrup by the gallon.
What bothers this 12 year-old girl the most is what should be bothering us all. “What’s been bothering me is that our government has been borrowing money from private banks and not paying it back”, she stated during an RT interview.
Victoria speaks well for her age, and is likely to become a future leader in my opinion.
When asked if she has any solutions for world economic problems, she replied, “We need to stop borrowing from private banks, and start borrowing from the Bank of Canada at little to no interest.” Really hitting the nail on the head, explaining to the viewers of the broadcast what is really going on behind the curtain, summing it up for the sleeping zombies.
Victoria later went on to say, “What I have discovered is that the banks and governments have colluded to enslave the people of Canada. When a bank gives you a mortgage, which actually means a death pledge or loan. They don’t actually give you money. They click a key on a computer and generate fake money out of thin air”.

Rumors Spark Bank Run, Break-Ins in Brazil

Source: CNBC
Rumors that Brazil’s social security fund called Bolsa Familia was to be cancelled led thousands of people to rush to withdraw money from a Brazilian bank over the weekend.
Customers lined up at ATMs at dozens of bank branches of Caixa Economica Federal, a government-owned bank, which pays the social security subsidy on Saturday and Sunday.
“The bank branches themselves aren’t open on Saturdays. What happened is that once the rumor gained momentum, people flocked down to their local branches to try to withdraw money from the ATMs,” Rafael Carregal, a journalist at Brazil’s main TV network Globo told CNBC.
Brazilian newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo reported that at five branches in the northeastern city of Sao Luiz and four others in the state of Maranhao, depositors broke into branches. Most of the branches that were affected were in the poorer northeast region of the country.
In all, branches in 12 states were affected as the government tried to quell the rumors.
“Police had to intervene in many states, trying to keep the masses in order. The minister of national development had to make a speech (on Sunday) reassuring the people that nothing was to be changed in their benefits program,” Carregal said.
Read More...

Moody's: US Faces Downgrade Without Budget Deal

U.S. policymakers must address debt loads projected to rise later this decade to avoid a 2013 downgrade, even as the latest budget projections are “credit positive,” according to Moody’s Investors Service.
The U.S. budget deficit will drop to $378 billion in 2015 from a record $1.4 trillion in 2009, according to Congressional Budget Office data. The federal government will post a $642 billion deficit this year, the first time in five years that the shortfall has been less than $1 trillion. Moody’s said Sept. 11 that the U.S.’s top Aaa rating would likely be cut to Aa1 if an agreement on the debt ratio isn’t reached.
“The fact that it showed much lower debt levels going forward, we view as a positive development,” Steven Hess, senior vice-president at Moody’s and based in New York, said in a telephone interview of the CBO forecast. “More needs to be done on the policy front to address this rising debt ratio.”
While projections from the non-partisan budget office forecast the ratio of U.S. debt to gross-domestic-product declining to less than 71 percent by fiscal year 2018, the CBO forecasts the measure will increase “thereafter, pointing to the uncertain long-term outlook if reform of entitlement programs does not take place at some point,” Moody’s said in a report.
Budget Proposals
President Barack Obama sent a $3.8 trillion budget to Congress in April calling for more tax revenue and slower growth for Social Security benefits. The House passed a plan that balances the U.S. budget by fiscal 2023 without raising taxes.
“All of the proposals that are out there, including the budget by the Republicans in the House, and also the administration’s Obama budget that was proposed, all of those show a lower debt ratio in the second half of the decade,” Hess said. “We will wait and see the outcome of all of those negotiations.”
Downgrades don’t necessarily correspond to higher borrowing costs.
Yields on sovereign securities moved in the opposite direction from what ratings suggested in 53 percent of 32 upgrades, downgrades and changes in credit outlook last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg published in December on Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s grades.
Debt Ceiling
S&P, the world’s largest credit rater, cut the U.S. ranking to AA+ from AAA in August 2011, contributing to a global stock-market rout and sending yields on Treasury bonds to record lows rather than driving up rates. Yields on 10-year Treasurys dropped 0.74 percentage point in the seven weeks following the downgrade to a then-record 1.67 percent. The yield stood at 1.97 percent. Moody’s is the second-biggest credit rater.
Political wrangling over raising the U.S. debt limit was among the reasons S&P downgraded the U.S. in 2011. Hess said the debt ceiling will likely be raised to avoid a default.
“It always has been, and we think always will be” increased and default avoided, he said.
The date the nation hits the ceiling on borrowing could be pushed back as far as mid-September to Sept. 30 from a previous estimate of late August to mid-September, Steve Bell, senior director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, said in an interview. The date has moved as changes in tax policy and an economic rebound boost federal revenue.
There are “big differences between the parties still,” Hess said. “On the positive side, the economy is doing a bit better than one might have expected.”
© Copyright 2013 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.

Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why

Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.

Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.

In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.

With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.

Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.

Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar and consumer-goods maker Sara Lee.

Finally, billionaire George Soros recently sold nearly all of his bank stocks, including shares of JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs. Between the three banks, Soros sold more than a million shares.

So why are these billionaires dumping their shares of U.S. companies?

After all, the stock market is still in the midst of its historic rally. Real estate prices have finally leveled off, and for the first time in five years are actually rising in many locations. And the unemployment rate seems to have stabilized.

It’s very likely that these professional investors are aware of specific research that points toward a massive market correction, as much as 90%.

One such person publishing this research is Robert Wiedemer, an esteemed economist and author of the New York Times best-selling book Aftershock.

Editor’s Note: Wiedemer Gives Proof for His Dire Predictions in This Shocking Interview.

Before you dismiss the possibility of a 90% drop in the stock market as unrealistic, consider Wiedemer’s credentials.

In 2006, Wiedemer and a team of economists accurately predicted the collapse of the U.S. housing market, equity markets, and consumer spending that almost sank the United States. They published their research in the book America’s Bubble Economy.

The book quickly grabbed headlines for its accuracy in predicting what many thought would never happen, and quickly established Wiedemer as a trusted voice.

A columnist at Dow Jones said the book was “one of those rare finds that not only predicted the subprime credit meltdown well in advance, it offered Main Street investors a winning strategy that helped avoid the forty percent losses that followed . . .”

The chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor’s said that Wiedemer’s track record “demands our attention.”

And finally, the former CFO of Goldman Sachs said Wiedemer’s “prescience in (his) first book lends credence to the new warnings. This book deserves our attention.”

In the interview for his latest blockbuster Aftershock, Wiedemer says the 90% drop in the stock market is “a worst-case scenario,” and the host quickly challenged this claim.

Wiedemer calmly laid out a clear explanation of why a large drop of some sort is a virtual certainty.

It starts with the reckless strategy of the Federal Reserve to print a massive amount of money out of thin air in an attempt to stimulate the economy.

“These funds haven’t made it into the markets and the economy yet. But it is a mathematical certainty that once the dam breaks, and this money passes through the reserves and hits the markets, inflation will surge,” said Wiedemer.

“Once you hit 10% inflation, 10-year Treasury bonds lose about half their value. And by 20%, any value is all but gone. Interest rates will increase dramatically at this point, and that will cause real estate values to collapse. And the stock market will collapse as a consequence of these other problems.”

See the Proof: Get the Full Interview by Clicking Here Now.

And this is where Wiedemer explains why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros could be dumping U.S. stocks:

“Companies will be spending more money on borrowing costs than business expansion costs. That means lower profit margins, lower dividends, and less hiring. Plus, more layoffs.”

No investors, let alone billionaires, will want to own stocks with falling profit margins and shrinking dividends. So if that’s why Buffett, Paulson, and Soros are dumping stocks, they have decided to cash out early and leave Main Street investors holding the bag.

But Main Street investors don’t have to see their investment and retirement accounts decimated for the second time in five years.

Wiedemer’s video interview also contains a comprehensive blueprint for economic survival that’s really commanding global attention.

Now viewed over 40 million times, it was initially screened for a relatively small, private audience. But the overwhelming amount of feedback from viewers who felt the interview should be widely publicized came with consequences, as various online networks repeatedly shut it down and affiliates refused to house the content.

“People were sitting up and taking notice, and they begged us to make the interview public so they could easily share it,” said Newsmax Financial Publisher Aaron DeHoog.

“Our real concern,” DeHoog added, “is the effect even if only half of Wiedemer’s predictions come true.

“That’s a scary thought for sure. But we want the average American to be prepared, and that is why we will continue to push this video to as many outlets as we can. We want the word to spread.”

Editor’s Note: For a limited time, Newsmax is showing the Wiedemer interview and supplying viewers with copies of the new, updated Aftershock book including the final, unpublished chapter. Go here to view it now.




© 2013 Moneynews. All rights reserved.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.moneynews.com/MKTNews/billionaires-dump-economist-stock/2012/08/29/id/450265?PROMO_CODE=110D8-1&utm_source=taboola#ixzz2Tv3KmjIl
Urgent: Should Obamacare Be Repealed? Vote Here Now!

Ceiling suspended: US takes on $300bn in new debt after hitting $16.7 trillion

America’s ticking debt bomb has been reset. Washington has suspended the debt ceiling, setting a date, and not a concrete dollar sum as a deadline, an unprecedented first in US history.
Citing ‘extraordinary measures’, the US Treasury has further delayed tackling America’s debt, and will wait until Labor Day, September 2nd, to revisit the burgeoning crisis. The ceiling has been lifted, and the Treasury has promised it will keep cash pumping into government spending programs beyond the debt limit through a series of emergency cash tools.
“It will not be until at least after Labor Day” when Washington will have reached their full borrowing capacity, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, told CNBC television on May 10th.

US Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew. (AFP Photo / Saul Loeb)

Until then, the Treasury will borrow money to mend any gaps between government spending and revenues, adding to the already $16.7 trillion debt.
On Friday, the Treasury Department announced it will suspend sales of State and Local Government Series loans (SLGS) until further notice. The suspension applies to demand deposit and time deposit securities.
In the last four months, the US has accumulated $300 billion in debt. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts that the federal deficit will be $642 billion in FY13.
Full story here.

Sellers Starting to Emerge in the Bull Market: Economy Is Hitting Escape Velocity, Wal-Mart’s Customers Are More Broke Than Anyone Realizes, House Farm Bill Moves Ahead With Big Cut in Food Stamps

Sellers Starting to Emerge in the Bull Market

The stellar rally in global equity markets appears to be far from over. Still, some market watchers say they are starting to spot something that they haven’t seen for a while: sellers moving back in.
Fueled by monetary stimulus from major central banks, stock markets in the U.S., Europe and Asia have enjoyed seven months of strong gains, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 setting new record highs overnight.
Analysts say that although the trend remains intact for now, signs of selling in recent days suggest some caution is starting to emerge.
“We are starting to see a little bit more of two-sided type trade, we see some sell-side participants and today [Wednesday] was a good example of that, whereas before trade was so heavily weighted towards the buy-side,” Ben Lichtenstein, president of Tradersaudio.com, told CNBC Asia’s “Squawk Box” in response to a question about whether cracks in the market rally are starting to show.

Wal-Mart’s Customers Are More Broke Than Anyone Realizes

Living paycheck to paycheck.
Wal-Mart released earnings today and revealed that it’s grappling with a slump in sales.

Sales rose 1% to $113 billion, falling below Wall Street’s expectations.
The largest U.S. retailer blamed the miss on a slew of economic factors, including the payroll tax increase, tax refund delays, and even bad weather.
But the scary truth about Wal-Mart’s customers?
They’re broke, said Brian Sozzi, chief equities strategist at Belus Capital.
“They are still living paycheck to paycheck, something that’s not captured in headline jobs numbers but is captured in weak wage growth,” Sozzi said. ”Bottom line here: Food and gas price deflation have not yet caused the Wal-Mart shopper to spend more during each trip.”
…
Wal-Mart profit, sales miss views; shares fall

Philly Fed Slips Into Contraction (Again); Current Conditions Recessionary, Future Expectations Far Too Optimistic

Received The Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey shows regional activity weakened with current indicators negative. The Six-Month Outlook brightened in what I believe is rampant over-optimism.
“The current activity index has shown no pattern of sustained growth over the past seven months, generally alternating between positive and negative readings.”

Note the negative slope of current conditions and future expectations. Current conditions are in recession territory.
We Just Got A Bunch Of Crappy Data!!! Tragic Trifecta: Initial Claims Soar, Housing Starts Plunge, CPI Below Expectations, Philly Fed Misses, Key Indicators Negative Across The Board!!!
Canada’s Economy Is Entering A World Of Hurt

S&P DOWNGRADES BUFFETT’S BERKSHIRE

 

US Macro Data At Its Worst In 8 Months

Presented with no comment…

US Macro data is its worst in 8 months…
(note – the US Macro index is Bloomberg economic surprise index which not only tracks absolute performance but relative to consensus – so we missing expectations and macro data is dropping…)

House Farm Bill Moves Ahead With Big Cut in Food Stamps

A Republican-controlled panel in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the biggest cuts in food stamps for the poor in a generation and a potentially expensive expansion of federally subsidized crop insurance.
The House Agriculture Committee approved a five-year, $500 billion farm bill on a 36-10 vote. The next step will be debate by the full House, which is likely to start in June.
Congress is months late in writing a new farm law. The Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version on Tuesday and the full Senate is set to begin debate on Thursday.
The House and Senate bills each end the $5 billion-a-year direct-payment subsidy, long a target of reformers, and spin off at least three new types of crop insurance.
Almost half the savings in the House bill would come from a $20.5 billion cut over 10 years in spending on food stamps for low-income Americans.

Morgan Stanley: “Most Of The Buying Has Come From Shorts Covered Rather Than Longs Bought”

Money-on-the-sidelines!! not so much… Massive short-covering rally – yes…
Quoting from MS’ John Schlegel:

L/S funds have been consistently covering over the past month, which has driven gross lower and net higher.

One way we measure long and short activity is by looking at the activity z-scores on a rolling basis where the past 20 days’ cumulative activity is compared to all 20-day rolling periods over the past 12 months. On this basis, the short activity z-score reached -2 as of this week, indicating significant covering by L/S funds. Other times we’ve seen a minus 2 z-score: late April 2010, early July 2011, and late Oct 2011.

Looking at the long activity, it had been relatively paired off (i.e. longs bought approximately equal to longs sold), prior to a small increase very recently. This illustrates that most of the buying has come from shorts covered rather than longs bought

Mystery solved.

IMF: Diminishing returns from QE programs

Global central bank bond-buying efforts were warranted and helped stabilize the financial system, but they may need to be wound down as long as the economy is able to grow moderately, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

The study, coming at a time when the Federal Reserve is considering whether and how to exit, will add to the debate around the still-controversial practice.

The IMF found the bond-buying efforts of the Fed, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan were able to restore the functioning of financial markets and provide accommodation with interest rates at near zero levels. The IMF found asset prices benefited globally, though capital flows increased to emerging markets.

“While additional unconventional measures may be appropriate in some circumstances, there may be diminishing returns, and benefits will need to be balanced against potential costs,” the IMF study said.

Some of the risks include greater risk-taking behavior that may undermine stability, delayed reforms and potentially volatile capital flows.

WARNING from BIS and IMF: Loose Central Bank Policies Looking Increasingly DANGEROUS!!! Risks Include Greater Risk-Taking Behavior, Delayed Reforms and Potentially Volatile Capital Flows!!

Loose Central Bank Policies Looking Increasingly Dangerous, BIS Official Warns

The latest to take up the refrain is Jaime Caruana, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, who warned in an unusually frank speech in London that, while the ultra-low interest rates and ultra-easy monetary policy adopted by advanced economy central banks might have been the right response to the crisis when it broke, they are looking increasingly dangerous the longer they last.
“A vicious circle can develop, with a widening gap between what central banks are expected to deliver and what they actually can deliver,” Mr. Caruana said. “This may ultimately undermine their credibility and, with it, their legitimacy and effectiveness.”
Low rates may have helped keep banks alive and keep a roof over the heads of overextended borrowers—but they are threatening the ability of insurance and pension funds to meet their commitments, and tempting them into all kinds of wrong investment decisions in the meantime. Although he didn’t spell it out, he painted a picture of a massive and stealthy transfer of wealth from savers to borrowers.
…
His views also matter for another reason: the BIS is one of the few international financial institutions (some say the only one) to see the financial crisis coming and to issue clear warnings ahead of time.
…
“If you don’t get financial stability, you will not be able to get price stability,” he said in follow-up comments to his speech, making clear that he understood financial stability as something to be defined globally, not just in a single country or region.
….

IMF: Diminishing returns from QE programs

“While additional unconventional measures may be appropriate in some circumstances, there may be diminishing returns, and benefits will need to be balanced against potential costs,” the IMF study said.

Some of the risks include greater risk-taking behavior that may undermine stability, delayed reforms and potentially volatile capital flows.

The IMF, like the Fed, also is worried about the impact on financial markets once central banks begin to sell assets. The IMF also sees the possibility of “political inference” should profits drop or diminish altogether during the tightening cycle.

The general manager of the Bank for International Settlements — an organization for central banks — made a similar warning in a speech in London.

“After five years of buying time, one has to ask whether that time has been – or will be – used wisely. Refocusing the policy mix to rely more on repair and reform and not to overburden monetary policy is crucial because the balance of risks of prolonged very low interest rates and unconventional policies is shifting,” said Jaime Caruana of the BIS. He also warned the global bond market crash of 1994 is a cautionary tale of the risks involved in exiting a period of low interest rates.

Stocks are going up because the Fed is making them go up

…
So-called margin debt hit $379.5 billion in March, the highest level since July 2007 when such debt hit an all-time record of $381.4 billion, according to the most recent data available compiled by the New York Stock Exchange.
The trend signals that investors are more comfortable with stocks and are more willing to use borrowed money to buy more securities in hopes of garnering fatter returns in a hot market that has pushed the Dow Jones industrials up more than 15% in 2013.
Why are investors so bullish? Because the economy is coming back? Because the future is rosy? Because stocks are going to earn even more?
Nah… What do you take us for, dear reader? We know the story. Stocks are going up because the Fed is making them go up. Here’s David Rosenberg in Canada’s Financial Post:
The US Fed has always been important in influencing trends in the financial markets, even if the economic effects have been far less than dramatic. This influence has actually strengthened in recent times to the extent that the correlation between the Fed’s balance sheet and the direction of the stock market, which was barely 15% before all these rounds of quantitative easings began four years ago, is 85% today.
…

Bill Gross: “We See Bubbles Everywhere”

Druckenmiller: I See Storm Coming, Bigger Than 2008

BIS and IMF attacks on quantitative easing deeply misguided warn monetarists

Monetarists across the world have warned that the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements are making an historic error by calling for a withdrawal of emergency stimulus before the global economy has fully recovered.

This Crisis Is 30 Times Bigger Than Greece

by Phoenix Capital Research

Japan has fueled much of this latest rally in stocks, driving the marketing first with promises of money printing by the Prime Minister in November 2012, and then a massive $1.2 trillion QE program announced by the Bank of Japan last month.
The result of this has been a collapse in the Yen and a 70%+ rally in the Nikkei in the last six months.
This has been the fundamental driver of this latest risk on rally. Remember that the US Federal Reserve has begun changing its language regarding QE and has even hinted at tapering QE before the year-end. So it’s the Bank of Japan who’s in the driver’s seat for asset prices today.
If Japan has been bad for the Yen and good for stocks… it’s been an absolute disaster for Japanese bonds. Since the Bank of Japan announced its latest QE program, Japanese Government bonds have triggered circuit breaks no less than four times due to incredible volatility.
And last week, they briefly violated their multi-year trendline.

Many investors are probably looking at this chart and thinking, “who cares what happens to Japanese bonds… why does a trendline violation matter here?”

First and foremost, Japan is the second largest bond market in the world. If Japan’s sovereign bonds continue to fall, pushing rates higher, then there has been a tectonic shift in the global financial system. Remember the impact that Greece had on asset prices? Greece’s bond market is less than 3% of Japan’s in size.
For multiple decades, Japanese bonds have been considered “risk free.” As a result of this, investors have been willing to lend money to Japan at extremely low rates. This has allowed Japan’s economy, the second largest in the world, to putter along marginally.
So if Japanese bonds begin to implode, this means that:
1)   The second largest bond market in the world is entering a bear market (along with commensurate liquidations and redemptions by institutional investors around the globe).
2)   The second largest economy in the world will collapse (along with the impact on global exports).
Both of these are truly epic problems for the financial system. But even worse than any of them is the following.
If Japan’s bond market implodes, then global Central Bank efforts to hold the system together will have proven a failure.
Japan is truly the leader amongst global Central Banks when it comes to progressive and accommodating policy. The Bank of Japan has kept interest rates at ZERO for nearly two decades. It’s also launched NINE QE plans adding up to an amount equal to nearly 25% of Japanese GDP. So far it’s managed to do this with minimal consequences.
Central Bankers around the world have monitored these efforts and believed that they can implement similar plans. So if Japan’s bond market begins to collapse, then it’s Game. Set. Match. for Central Banker policy. And what follows will make Lehman look like a joke.
Investors, take note… the financial system is sending us major warnings…
If you are not already preparing for a potential market collapse, now is the time to be doing so.

We produced 72 straight winning trades (and not a SINGLE LOSER) during the first round of the EU Crisis. We’re now preparing for more carnage in the markets… having just seen another SIX trade winning streak…
To join us…

Best Regards,
Graham Summers

No Bear Market In Gold — Paul Craig Roberts

Institute for Political Economy – by Paul Craig Roberts
You know that gold bear market that the financial press keeps touting? The one George Soros keeps proclaiming? Well, it is not there. The gold bear market is disinformation that is helping elites acquire the gold.
Certainly, Soros himself doesn’t believe it, as the 13-F release issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 15 proves. George Soros has significantly increased his gold holding by purchasing $25.2 million of call options on the GDXJ Junior Gold Miners Index. http://bullmarketthinking.com/soros-reports-over-239mm-in-gold-positions-buys-25mm-in-call-options-on-juniors/  
In addition the Soros Fund maintains a $32 million stake in individual mines; added 1.1 million shares of GDX (a gold miners ETF) to its holdings which now stand at 2,666,000 shares valued at $70,400,000; has 1,100,000 shares in GDXJ valued at $11,506,000; and 530,000 shares in the GLD gold fund valued at $69,467,000. [values as of May 17]
The 13-F release shows the Soros Fund with $239,200,000 in gold investments. If this is bearish sentiment, what would it take to be bullish?
The misinformation that Soros had sold his gold holdings came from misinterpreting the reason Soros’ holdings in the GLD gold trust declined. Soros did not sell the shares; he redeemed the paper claims for physical gold. Watching the gold ETFs, such as GLD, being looted by banksters, Soros cashed in some of his own paper gold for the real stuff.
The giveaway that Soros is extremely bullish on gold comes not only from his extensive holdings, but also from his $25.2 million call option on junior gold stocks. This is a highly leveraged bet on the weakest gold mines. With high production costs and falling gold price from constant short selling in the paper market, Soros’ bet makes no sense unless he thinks gold is heading up as the short raids concentrate gold in elite possession.
In previous articles I have explained how heavy short-selling triggers stop-loss orders and margin calls on investors in gold ETFs. Scared out of their shares or forced out by margin calls, investors’ add to the downward price pressure caused by the shorts. Bullion banks and prominent investors such as Soros are the only ones who can redeem GLD shares for physical metal. They purchase the shares that are sold in response to the falling gold price, and present the shares for redemption in gold metal.
Insiders familiar with the process describe it as looting the ETFs of their gold basis.
In my last column I described how the orchestration of a falling gold price in the paper market protects the dollar’s value from the Federal Reserve’s policy of printing 1,000 billion new ones annually. The other beneficiary of the operation is the financial elite who buy up at low prices the ETF shares sold into a falling market and redeem them for gold. Like all other forms of wealth in the West, gold is being concentrated in fewer hands, while the elite shout “bear market, get out of gold.”
The orchestrated decline in gold and silver prices is apparent from the fact that the demand for bullion in the physical market has increased while short sales in the paper market imply a flight from bullion. As a hedge fund manager told me, it is a Wall Street axiom that volume follows price. Bull markets are characterized by rising prices on high volume. Conversely bear markets feature declining prices on low volume. The current bear market in gold consists of paper gold declining steadily while demand has escalated rapidly for physical metal. This strongly indicates that demand for physical gold continues to be in a bull market despite the savage attacks on paper gold.
If the orchestration is apparent to me, a person with no experience as a gold trader, it certainly must be apparent to federal regulators. But don’t expect any action from the Commodities Future Trading Corporation. It is headed by a former Goldman Sachs executive.
And don’t expect any investigation from the financial press. The financial press sees a bear market while supplies of bullion decline, premiums over spot rise, and even publicly declared bears such as George Soros make highly leveraged bets that will fail in the absence of a bull market in gold.

The moral case on tax avoidance is overwhelming - and we all know Google wants to do the right thing

There is nothing law-breaking about tax avoidance and this is of course the point. The law is rigged in favour of the wealthy and the state is at the service of the rich

 

Share

+More

 

Ads by Google

Eric Schmidt is an ambitious sort of bloke. The chairman of Google says his tax-avoiding company “has always aspired to do the right thing.” Well, I’ve always aspired to go the gym three times a week, learn Spanish and play the guitar. None of these things are going to happen, of course.

This is the scandal that currently happens in modern Britain. While low-paid and disabled people are having their state support shredded – no money left, you see – corporate giants like Google are allowed to get away with paying a pittance. From 2007 onwards, the company made £11.9bn worth of revenues in Britain, but gave the taxman only around £10m in corporation tax. Here’s their entirely legal scam: their British sales are registered in Ireland, meaning they technically don’t have to cough up here. Clever, eh?
Google aren’t the only company gifted with an infinite supply of smugness courtesy of a slick team of accountants and lawyers. Amazon.co.uk is British: the clue is in the name. Yet because it directs its sales through Luxembourg, it has paid just £2.4m tax on sales worth £4.2bn. Starbucks use all sort of clever tricks: routing profits through Switzerland, using foreign entities to make it look as if they’re not making any profits in Britain. Ingenious, really. Or, as Margaret Hodge, the crusading chair of the Public Accounts Committee, might put it, “devious” and “unethical”.
The truth is, life becomes a lot cheaper when you are rich. The average taxpayer or small business cannot afford an army of accountants to systematically exploit every possible loophole to divert their profits to Bermuda or Ireland.
And while the 0.7 per cent of social security spending lost to fraud costs the taxpayer £1.2bn, tax justice pioneer and chartered accountant Richard Murphy estimates avoidance is worth £25bn a year. Guess which one the state cracks down on without mercy or hesitation?
Ah – an objector might say – but benefit fraud is illegal, and there is nothing law-breaking about tax avoidance. This is of course the point. The law is rigged in favour of the wealthy: the state is at the service of rich types who don’t fancy paying their taxes. Accountancy firms like PricewaterhouseCooper and Deloitte get their teams seconded to the Treasury, help draw up tax laws, then go off and give advice to multinational companies on how to get around legislation they’ve helped create. Multimillion-pound lobbyists put pressure on policy makers. No such assistance for the poor, though. Get 50 quid cash in hand when you’re claiming benefits, and it’s game over.
A few years ago, the issue of tax avoidance languished on the fringes: it was something wonks and geeks worried about. Everyone is now talking about it because an inspirational motley crew of activists called UK Uncut started occupying shops and banks who were guilty of scamming the taxpayer. They stand in Britain’s fine tradition of peaceful civil disobedience, and show it is not just right-wing fronts like the Taxpayers’ Alliance who can create political space – the left can do it, too, with a bit of nous. They helped draw attention to the likes of Richard Murphy, who has drawn up suggested detailed legislation to crack down on the avoiders. Ed Miliband is now pledging an offensive against tax avoidance. Protest works.
This month, UK Uncut’s legal team dragged HMRC to court over a sweetheart deal with Goldman Sachs. It was unlikely they would ever have won – a ruling against HMRC’s legal responsibility for collecting taxes would have been stunning – but the case was damning and revealing. It was “not a glorious episode in the history of the Revenue”, the judge ruled, because it was shrouded in secrecy and lacked proper legal approval. Dave Hartnett, then the permanent secretary for tax, took the  “potential embarrassment” to George Osborne into account. UK Uncut have helped expose the murky relationship between corporate titans and the British state.
The arrogance of wealth tax avoiders comes from being drunk on three decades of free market triumphalism. “They will all flee if they are taxed properly”, or so the blackmail goes. But research suggests that wealthy individuals do not emigrate en masse when they pay a fairer share. Tax flight “is almost entirely bogus – it’s a myth,” says Jon Shure, the director of state fiscal studies at Washington’s Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “I don’t hear about many billionaires moving to Moscow,” says former US Federal Reserve economist of low-tax Russia. And it is laughable to think big companies will abandon a lucrative market like Britain if they have to pay taxes: and if the likes of Starbucks do, other taxpaying competitors will fill the vacuum.
Then there is an arrogant attitude of “well, we employ people, don’t we?” Large companies appear to regard themselves as charities, and paying tax is an act of corporate generosity. But large companies are dependent on the state. As economist Ha-Joon Chang points out, their property rights are defended by the state, capping the downside risk for investors and stopping their ideas and products being ripped off. They depend on government-funded research and development. The internet itself was a public sector creation, invented at taxpayers’ expense: you’d think Google might be a bit more grateful.
There is the infrastructure all companies depend on: like having roads and railways. They need a workforce educated by state-provided schools and universities, and kept healthy by the health  service. The banks they rely on were rescued by the taxpayer. Because companies are unwilling to pay their workers proper wages, the state steps in to subsidise them through tax credits, housing benefit, and so on. Tax avoiders expect to benefit from corporate welfare but pay nothing in, yet no one calls them “scroungers”.
Perhaps we should take Schmidt’s “aspiration” to do the right thing at face value. But if Mr Schmidt is anything like me, he might need a bit of outside assistance to achieve his aspirations. So, how about we legislate to crack down on all forms of tax avoidance: like passing the General Anti-Tax Avoidance Bill, drawn up by Richard Murphy and introduced by Labour MP Michael Meacher. It’s for your own good, Mr Schmidt. And who knows. Those undoubted occasional pangs of guilt at benefiting from state largesse and paying so little back may even subside.

Portugal bankers warn EU to stop ‘playing with fire’

The heads of Portugal’s biggest banks Millenium BCP and Banco Espirito Santo, have called on European leaders to stop “playing with fire” and alarming depositors in Eurozone economies.
The top bankers expressed concern that the treatment of Cyprus
has set a new precedent and as a result nervousness in the region
is reaching dangerous levels.
“Leaders need to moderate their language. This could be very
bad,” Ricardo Espírito Santo Salgado, chief executive of Banco
Espirito Santo, told the Financial Times.
“If someone had designed a plan to hurt the European market, it
would be difficult to think of something better.  You can’t keep
playing with fire,” President of Millenium BCP, Nuno Amado
said, talking about a “Cyprus virus.”
In March Cypriot account holders were told to take a cut on their
savings so that their government could qualify for a bailout
package from the troika of international lenders.

The impact of the shock decision is still being felt in Portugal
and other Eurozone countries, economist Tobias Blattner told RT,
stressing that EU leaders need to come up a concrete plan before
they meet for an EU Summit in June this year.
“There is a very strong consensus that the Cypriot bail-out was
certainly not made in the best way, because it was made in
unpredictable way and I think it clearly rose to the uncertainty
among investors everywhere in euroarea. So there is a strong
consensus there should be a bail-in, which is certainly something
good in a long run but it should be according to clear spelled out
rules and that essence it’s now very important that leaders in
summit in June at the very latest will come out with a very clear
bail-in packing order that uninsured depositors will not be hit in
any restructuring of banks in euroarea in the future.”
This article originally appeared on : RT

The Currency War Is Bullish For Gold

The Currency War Is Bullish For Gold

Jeff Gundlach: “We Are Drowning In Central Banking”

Star bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach says central banks around the world are distorting markets with enormous and ever-increasing quantitative easing programs, which he doesn’t see ending anytime soon.

Ax hovers over food stamp program as costs grow

Getty Images file

A sign in a market window advertises the acceptance of food stamps in New York City.

By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News
A heated battle is brewing on Capitol Hill over cuts to the food stamp program, with lawmakers quoting Bible verses at each other and benefits for millions of people hanging in the balance.
Nearly 47 million people – one in seven Americans – rely on food stamps for some or all of their daily sustenance, according to the Department of Agriculture, a number that has grown nearly 70 percent since the financial collapse of 2008.  
The increased enrollment has caused costs to soar from $35 billion in 2007 to $80 billion last year, and now lawmakers in both the House and the Senate are targeting program for cuts even as advocates cry foul.
Legislation making its way through Congress would eliminate billions of dollars in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps. Last week, a Senate committee approved striking $4.1 billion from the program over 10 years and a House committee backed cuts five times as large.
Those actions set the stage for a congressional showdown not only over how much to slash the program, but also over the role of government in fighting hunger and poverty.
During contentious debate over the Farm Bill, which funds food stamps, in the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif., invoked the Book of Matthew as he noted his opposition to the cuts.
“[Jesus] says how you treat the least among us, the least of our brothers, that’s how you treat him,” Vargas, adding that Jesus specifically mentions the importance of feeding the hungry.
Republican Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, who supports cuts to the program, had his own Bible verse from the Book of Thessalonians to quote back to Vargas: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” he said.
The left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the House version of the farm bill making would throw nearly 2 million people off food stamps, most of whom are working families with children or senior citizens. More than 200,000 kids would lose access to free school lunches, according to the group.
The more modest Senate proposal would cost half a million SNAP recipients $90 each month, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. For a family of four, the current maximum monthly allotment is $668; recipients get less as their income rises. The cuts come on top of the looming expiration of a temporary funding boost the program received in 2009 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will also slash recipient benefits.
“It is impossible to impose these types of cuts to SNAP without having the most vulnerable in our society suffer,” said Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy for the center.
Most households that get food stamps include either a child, a person over 60 or someone who is disabled, according to federal data. And all are either poor or low-income:  To be eligible for food assistance, income must not exceed 130 percent of the federal poverty line -- roughly $30,000 annually for a family of four.    

AP

Stacks of paperwork await members of the House Agriculture Committee as they consider the 2013 Farm Bill, which includes cuts to the $80 billion-a-year food stamp program.

As the economy slowly improves, dependence on food stamps has yet to decline. Decreased enrollment in the program typically lags substantially behind economic recovery, and congressional forecasters predict that under current law more people will seek benefits from the program before the rolls go down. Advocates for food stamps argue that many of the jobs created during the recovery have been low-wage, and as result the working poor often qualify for food stamps even though they are employed.
Rachel Sheffield, a policy analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the proposed cuts to the food stamp program are minimal and are part of a much larger issue over how much the government spends on welfare as the country continues to go into debt.
"The approach of the federal government really has been throwing money at the symptoms of poverty rather than addressing the causes of it," said Sheffield. The think tank calls for adjusting spending on SNAP to pre-recession levels, taking into account inflation, and also strengthening the work requirements for able-bodied adults.
Some Republicans believe the expansion of food stamps under President Barack Obama has been an intentional political strategy to win the support of low-income voters, an issue that took prominence during his 2012 re-election campaign.
“It seems to me that the goal of this administration is to expand the rolls of people who are on SNAP benefits, the purpose of which is to expand the dependency class," said Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa.
Advocates for the program say it has helped stave off hunger and deprivation for many families at a time when jobs have been hard to come by.   
James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, is working with food banks and organizations that focus on hunger issues to lobby Congress against slashing food stamp spending. For them, it is not a matter of politics or theories on the role of government, but a matter of getting people the assistance they need.
“People in the field know how much harm these cuts can cause,” said Weill. “Those who actually work with low-income Americans around the country know they can’t provide a sufficient amount of people with the help they need if these cuts take place.”

How The British Banking Industry Became An Organised Crime Enterprise

RINF Alternative News

I know it. You know it. We all know it. It’s the elephant in the room that the subservient cowards in the mainstream media are too afraid to mention; the banking industry is run and controlled by criminals.
Among the growing mountain of evidence that has been gathered over the decades to prove this accusation, a former Scotland Yard Fraud Squad detective has now spoken out.
Speaking on BCFM radio, Rowan Boswell-Davies revealed to host Tony Gosling the depth of criminal activity within the banking industry and the lengths that the government will go to, to conceal the evidence.

Boswell-Davies, who spent 12 years on the force investigating major investment fraud as the City lawlessly regulated itself, received a sinister response when he submitted his evidence of fraud to the Parliamentary Banking Commission.
Listen to the interview as he sheds light this vast criminal conspiracy.
Listen to the Second Hour Here  (Second Hour with Rowan Boswell-Davies)
Or Listen to Both Hours Here (Both Hours)

Interview with lawyer & former Scotland Yard Fraud Squad detective for 12 years Rowan Boswell-Davies who submitted evidence of widespread organised crime in the City of London under US, EU, Australian and British definitions of Organised Crime to the Parliamentary Banking Commission chaired by Andrew Tyrie. This evidence was initially ’lost’ by the Commission and after Rowan contacted Mr Tyrie they found it again.
They have suggested the evidence might have to be ‘redacted’, or blanked out, so Rowan has published it in full for the public to view online. Mr Boswell-Davies believes that unless the authorities institute a series of criminal trials and convictions of ‘blue blood’ City bankers, the ‘Princes of the City’, will continue to defraud the nation, loot and bring about an eventual collapse of the national economy and the pound.
He has identified the ‘Blue Arrow’ trial as the most important city fraud case where the message went out that it was ‘open season’ for city fraudsters, that they would never again be prosecuted. This trial had rattled the ‘self-regulating’ City criminal club and they then knocked back the police and went back to a tame, pre Sir Robert Mark, system of ‘light touch’ regulation by their friends. Rowan explains who should be arrested and put on trial, as well as why and how to do it.

The QE Scam Is Going To End With A Financial Collapse That Will Shake The Financial Foundations Of The World

It is generally well known that the major new york banks and hsbc are naked shorting gold and silver, aka selling contracts that they do not have the gold and silver inventory to deliver on if the buyer asked for delivery.
On the other hand the privately owned central banks of the world are taking delivery of gold and so this puts the lie to bernankes trashing of gold, but of course when doesnt bernanke and the central bankers not lie.
China and the rest of asia are also loading up on gold, they know that the feds house of cards or hologram of QE is headed for catastrophe , the QE scam is going to end with a financial collapse that will shake the financial foundations of the world.
The elite banking cartel privately owned fed is destroying america by debasing the currency and the stock market is going up because the actual value of the dollar is going down.
No nation including the roman empire ever survived debasing its currency, this debasement in every case led to financial collapse.
A nation can withstand the enemy from without , but a nation can never withstand the enemy from within, the fed is an enemy from within.

Gold and Silver Are Manipulated

The Guardian and Telegraph report that gold and silver prices are “fixed” in the same way as interest rates and derivatives – in daily conference calls by the powers-that-be.

Everything Can Be Manipulated through High-Frequency Trading

Traders with high-tech computers can manipulate stocks, bonds, options, currency and commodities. And see this.

Manipulating Numerous Markets In Myriad Ways

The big banks and other giants manipulate numerous markets in myriad ways, for example:

• Engaging in mafia-style big-rigging fraud against local governments. See this, this and this

• Shaving money off of virtually every pension transaction they handled over the course of decades, stealing collectively billions of dollars from pensions worldwide. Details here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here and here

• Charging “storage fees” to store gold bullion … without even buying or storing any gold . And raiding allocated gold accounts

Read more at http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/05/is-every-market-rigged.html

Washington Signals Dollar Deep Concerns — Paul Craig Roberts
If the dollar were not the reserve currency, Washington would not be able to finance its wars or continue to run large trade and budget deficits. Therefore, protecting the exchange value of the dollar is Washington’s prime concern if it is to remain a superpower.
The threats to the dollar are alternative monies–currencies that are not being created in enormous quantities, gold and silver, and Bitcoins, a digital currency.
The Bitcoin threat was eliminated on May 17 when the Gestapo Department of Homeland Security seized Bitcoin’s accounts. The excuse was that Bitcoin had failed to register in keeping with the US Treasury’s anti-money laundering requirements.
Washington has stifled the threat from other currencies by convincing other large currencies to out-print the dollar. Japan has complied, and the European Central Bank, though somewhat constrained by Germany, has entered the printing mode in order to bail out the private banks endangered by the “sovereign debt crisis.”
Read more at http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2013/05/18/washington-signals-dollar-deep-concerns-paul-craig-roberts/

Everything Is Rigged in Favor of the Rich!!! The Stock Market Doesn’t Need The Economy To Surge, The Distribution Of Income And Wealth Looms Larger, Fed Holds $2 Trillion (And Rising) Of US GDP Hostage. Americans Past Point Of No Return?
Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/everything-is-rigged-in-favor-of-the-rich-the-stock-market-doesnt-need-the-economy-to-surge-the-distribution-of-income-and-wealth-looms-larger-fed-holds-2-trillion-and-rising-of-us-gdp-hosta/#WSzWvQTZuwO6UKji.99

 Markets are on a crazy, sugar-fuelled journey
The then chief executive of the US banking giant Citigroup was admitting that growing concerns about sub-prime loans could ultimately shatter what we now know was “irrational exuberance” on global financial markets.
“As long as the music is playing, though, you’ve got to get up and dance,” Prince continued. “And we’re still dancing.”
There’s a “we’re still dancing” mood on global markets today, just as there was six years ago in the run-up to what turned out to be the disastrous market meltdown of September 2008.
Rather than the securitisation of recklessly extended commercial credit providing the music, the beat now comes from “quantitative easing”, courtesy of the world’s leading central banks.
Read more at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/liamhalligan/10066060/Markets-are-on-a-crazy-sugar-fuelled-journey.html

ferret

The dollar – and the USA – is toast

Obama has done it. He has brought America down. It only took him just over four years. The Republicans could have stopped him. They didn’t.

How did the nihilistic left succeed in destroying America? Simple. They learned just a little of the capitalism they hate, and they drove your nation into outright bankruptcy.
And here is what the GOP has to say about it: just about nothing.
The once-mighty United States is now the most indebted nation on Earth. In round numbers, here are just some of the vital statistics as the patient dies:
National debt: $17 trillion, or $50,000 per man, woman and child, or $150,000 per taxpayer. Annual federal deficit: $1 trillion. Medicare/Medicaid/Obama”care”: $1 trillion a year. Social Security: another $1 trillion a year. Defense: two-thirds of a trillion. Unemployment handouts: $2 billion per working day. Debt interest: $1 billion per working day. Federal pensions, ditto.
Now for the big numbers. Your government’s Social Security liability is as big as the national debt: $17 trillion. Its prescription drug liability is $22 trillion. Then there’s the Medicare liability of $86 trillion. Total unfunded liabilities of the U.S. government are $125 trillion.
Net assets for each U.S. citizen are $300,000. The net liability of the U.S. government, shared among its citizens, amounts to almost four times that: $1.1 million a head. And the government’s debt is growing at $1 million every 45 seconds. To cover its annual deficit, it is printing $1 trillion a year of currency that is not backed by any asset whatsoever.
Here is what will happen next. When the crash comes, don’t say you weren’t given fair and clear warning.
First, the dollar will cease – no, make that “is already ceasing” – to be the world’s reserve currency. China, as I have been warning you she would, has realized the dollar is finished. So she is quietly making startling progress with bilateral and multilateral deals to replace the dollar with the yuan as the world’s currency of choice.
Sterling, once the world’s reserve currency, went precisely the same way in 1967 under orders from Moscow, which then largely controlled the governing Socialist Labor party in Britain.
After the Second World War, the Socialist/Communist governments of Attlee and Wilson bankrupted Britain with health-care and welfare programs and nationalization of industries. Inflation rose to 27 percent.
Obama’s copycat policies are different in only one respect. Moscow is no longer calling the shots. International totalitarianism no longer needs direction. Its cruel, hate-filled, destructive mission now advances on autopilot.
Watch some of the straws in the wind. China and Korea have come to a little-noticed agreement that international trade between them will no longer be denominated in U.S. dollars, but in yuan, or Won.
Behind the closed mahogany doors of the world’s finance houses, elaborate and secret preparations are being made for the upheaval and international financial collapse that will follow the deliberate printing-out and consequent implosion of the dollar.
Your GOP representatives should be, but are not, asking the administration to reveal to them the ever-tougher terms on which the Chinese continue – with ever-greater reluctance –to lend money to keep their communist ally in the White House afloat.
Do not believe China cannot afford to let her biggest creditor fail. She can, she will, and she is making careful preparations to do just that.
If you thought the crash of 2008 was bad, think again. The crash that is coming –I cannot put a date on it, but it is not far away now – will be orders of magnitude worse.
So, what should you do to protect yourself and your family? First, get rid of every dollar you have. Dollars are now all but worthless. When the crash comes, they will have no value at all.
In hard times, most financial instruments – currencies, stocks, bonds – are not worth the paper they are printed on. Get rid of them now. Buy silver coins. They will quintuple in price once the crash sets in, and they are small enough to be fungible when the dollar dies.
Buy land, some of it well-wooded, some of it arable, some of it grassland. You will need the timber to power your steam tractor. Gasoline will be a costly rarity. And make sure you can defend yourselves. Starving mobs are no respecters of persons. Do what the Mormons do: Get three months’ supply of imperishable foodstuffs and hide them in the basement.
Absurd though this advice may now seem, there is a real danger that the crash will sudden. If so – perhaps for several months, and even for years – the fabric of civilization, including the food-supply chain, will fail.
It is not my custom to write in millenarian or apocalyptic terms. But the very best that can be said for your current administration is that it simply has no idea what damage it is doing. It is printing money in the vain hope of buying itself time. Yet every fake dollar that comes off the printing-presses makes the problem worse and the solution harder.
At worst, what is now happening to your nation may be deliberate. In that event, your current “president” will go down as history’s greatest villain. In any event, he will go down as history’s greatest incompetent.
Do not believe none of this can happen. Psychiatrists study what they call “normalcy bias.” People expect that everything will carry on and that America is too big to fail. She is not. She has failed. You will pay a heavy price for her failure, unless you act now to defend yourselves against what your government, with the culpable, silent acquiescence of the GOP, is doing to destroy your nation.
Finally, pray. God bless America. It has been nice knowing you. Only when you are gone will the world realize how much it misses you, and – paradoxically – how much it owes you.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/the-dollar-and-the-usa-is-toast/#UIRKUdG1vMAmttSS.99