8-12-11 Posts

Unions angry over Postal Service cuts They said any move to break labor contracts to lay off 120,000 would hurt the already ailing movement. (Washington Post) [ I reiterate my call for the well managed, efficient, and reliable company, UPS to take over the operation of the poorly managed, inefficient, and unreliable USPS. Postal Service seeking 20 percent staff cut EXCLUSIVE | In cost-cutting bid, USPS also proposes withdrawing employees from existing health and retirement plans and creating its own benefit programs. Congress would need to sign off. (Washington Post) [ I think it’s a great idea. Indeed, 50% would be substantially better. Even better yet, UPS should take over their entire operation. After all, UPS is well managed and efficient; and also, very reliable. On the other hand, the USPS is poorly managed, inefficient, and very unreliable: October 15, 2010 (*see infra {ultimately delivered by UPS})

SHARE YOUR OPINION ON THE DEBT LIMIT
Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard:

The following is my comment to an LA Times article regarding a Justice Department cover-up! As for your inquiry, all I think about day and night is a long overdue resolution to the RICO litigation as set forth therein:

ATF Chief Melson:Justice Department trying to shield officials (LATimes) Serrano

I believe him!

I truly empathize with the ATF in terms of government cover-ups, notably by even the DOJ. You’ll recognize some familiar names (ie., Alito, Trump, Freeh (Louis Freeh now has dual citizenship with Italy), and some familiar crimes (ie., drug money laundering, etc. – real cash cow for gov’t ops, bribes, etc.). [Did you know this about the following ATF Agents who were probably viewed as loose ends: Steve Willis, Robert Williams, Todd McKeahan & Conway LeBleu: Died February 28, 1993 by gunfire at Waco. All four were examined by a pathologist and died from identical wounds to the left temple. All four had been body guards for Bill Clinton, three while campaigning for President and when he was Governor of Arkansas.They also were the ONLY 4 BATF agents killed at Waco. ]

Here’s some real, complicit cover-up / fraud on the part of the federal government, et als:

October 15, 2010 (*see infra {ultimately delivered by UPS})

Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director In Charge
Federal Bureau of Investigation, USDOJ
11000 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1700

Los Angeles, CA 90024

Dear Sir:

I enclose herewith 3 copies of the within DVD rom autorun disk (which will open in your computer’s browser) as per your office’s request as made this day (the disk and contents have been scanned by Avast, McAfee, and Norton which I’ve installed on my computer to prevent viral attacks / infection and are without threat). I also include 1 copy of the DVD as filed with the subject court as referenced therein (which files are also included on the aforesaid 3 disks in a separate folder named ‘112208opocoan’). The (civil) RICO action (as you’re aware, the RICO Act is a criminal statute which provides a civil remedy, including treble damages and attorney fees, as an incentive for private prosecution of said claims probably owing to the fact that the USDOJ seems somewhat overwhelmed and in need of such assistance given the seriousness and prevalence of said violations of law which have a corrupting influence on the process, and which corruption is pervasive). A grievance complaint against Coan was also filed concurrently with the subject action and held in abeyance pending resolution of the action which was illegally dismissed without any supporting law and in contravention of the Order of The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District Connecticut. The files below the horizontal rule are the referenced documents as filed. (Owing to the damage to the financial interests of both the U.S. and the District of Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, viz., Los Angeles, the Qui Tam provisions of the Federal False Claims Act probably would apply and I would absent resolution seek to refer the within to a firm with expertise in that area of the law with which I am not familiar).

The document in 5 pages under penalty of perjury I was asked to forward to the FBI office in New Haven is probably the best and most concise summary of the case RICO Summary to FBI Under Penalty of Perjury at Their Request (5 pages) [ ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://albertpeia.com/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf ].

The correspondence I received from the Congresswoman by way of email attachment (apparent but typical problem with my mail) along with my response thereto is included on the 3 disks as fbicorrespondencereyes.htm . With regard to the calls to the FBI’s LA and New Haven, CT offices: There was one call to the LA office and I was referred to the Long Beach, CA office where I personally met with FBI Agent Jeff Hayes to whom I gave probative evidentiary documents of the money laundering which he confirmed as indicative of same (he was transferred from said office within approximately a month of said meeting and his location was not disclosed to me upon inquiry). The matter was assigned to FBI Agent Ron Barndollar and we remained in touch for in excess of a decade until he abruptly retired (our last conversation prior to his retirement related to the case and parenthetically, Rudy Giuliani whose father I stated had been an enforcer for the mob to which he registered disbelief and requested I prove it, which I did – he served 12 years in prison, aggravated assault/manslaughter? – and no, there is no Chinese wall of separation – Andrew Maloney’s the one that prosecuted gotti).

In contradistinction to the statement in said correspondence, there is a plethora of information including evidence supporting the claims set forth in the RICO VERIFIED COMPLAINT (see infra). Such includes and as set forth in the case, inter alia,

A judgment had been entered in my favor in the case, United States District Court Case #3:93cv02065(AWT)(USDCJ Alvin Thompson), worth approximately now in excess of $300,000 remains unaccounted for and which could be used for payment to creditors, Los Angeles, etc..
Counsel Robert Sullivan on my behalf documented by way of certification upon investigation that Alan Shiff, USBCJ, had falsely stated a dismissal upon which false statement he predicated a retaliatory and spurious contempt proceeding against me causing substantial damage, and for which he sought Judicial Notice of those and related proceedings as did I in some of my filings.
The Order of Dismissal With Prejudice by Alan Shiff, USBCJ, owing to Defendant Coan’s failure to file anything whatsoever by the court’s deadline causing creditors and me substantial damages: [ Shiff Order of Dismissal With Prejudice on Coan’s Failure to File Page 1 Page 2 ]
Defendant Coan had filed an action against me to prevent me from suing him which necessitated me to fly to Connecticut for a hearing before The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District of Connecticut, who denied Coan’s requested relief as to Coan but precluded my action against Shiff (although there is no immunity, judicial or otherwise, for criminal acts, ie., fraud connected with a case under Title 11, USC, etc.) . [ transcript in pertinent part - crossexamofcoanbypeia.pdf ]
Newly appointed judge, Maryanne Trump Barry, Donald Trump’s sister, was assigned the RICO case despite the conflict of interest in light of hundreds of thousands of dollars of illegal (drug) money being laundered through the Trump casinos by the RICO defendants, and despite my motion to recuse her which motion she heard herself and denied, and U.S. Trustee Hugh Leonard with whom I met personally refused to join or file a separate motion to recuse and not long thereafter left said office for private practice at Cole, Shotz, et als on retainer with the RICO defendants as his primary client.

Probative and evidentiary documents, affidavits, exhibits, including those turned over to FBI Agent Jeff Hayes in Long Beach, CA, had been given to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lacey with whom I met personally at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, N.J., at which time Samuel Alito was U.S. Attorney, and went over said documents and their probative value with him. Within approximately a month thereafter upon inquiry I was told that Jonathon Lacey was no longer with the office, that the file/documents could not be located, and that there was no further information available concerning contacting him or his location. I thereupon delivered by hand, copies of said documents to the office of then U.S. Attorney Alito, addressed to him, with assurance they would go directly to him. In addition to being inept [ I looked in on the one mob case he had brought, bungled, lost (accidently on purpose?) since I was suing some mob-connected under RICO and the court (I had known / previously met outside of court the judge Ackerman through a client) was absolute bedlam and a total joke since incompetent corrupt Alito brought in all 20 mob defendants (rather than prosecute one or a few to flip them first) who feigning illness had beds/cots in the courtroom along with their moans during testimony and had the jury in stitches. As much as I hate the mob, it truly was funny, if not so tragic.], Alito is also corrupt (and maybe corrupt because he is inept). After a reasonable (but still rather short) time I called to determine the status and was told that Alito was no longer with the Office of the U.S. Attorney, that he was (appointed) a federal judge, and that neither the documents nor any file or record of same could be located. Alito did parley the same / cover-up into quid pro quo direct lifetime appointment to the Court of Appeals, 3^rd circuit, despite the absence of judicial experience or successful tenure as U.S. Attorney (Maryanne Trump Barry as well). This is the same Sam Alito that now sits on the purported highest court in the land. The real application of the illegal rule ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’.

There is applicable insurance / surety coverage and neither LA, nor creditors, nor I should continue to have been damaged by this brazened corrupt and illegal scenario, which should be resolved in accordance with the meaningful rules of law apposite thereto.

Sincerely,

Albert L. Peia

611 E. 5^th Street, #404

Los Angeles, CA 90013

(213) 219-**** (cell phone)

(213) 622-3745 (listed land line but there are unresolved problems with the line, computer connection may be the reason but I hesitate to chance greater non-performance / worsening by their ‘fix’ so cell phone best for contact).{recent change 323-786-6651 -magic jack}

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*The foregoing and as indicated therein was previously send 9-14-10 but delivery confirmation was flawed as set forth below and my inquiries to the u.s. postal service rebuffed (I believe tampered with inasmuch as your office could not locate same). This cover letter (9-13-10) is on the 3 disks with navigable hyperlinks to the subject files for ease of reference, including the files in the RICO action as indicated. (10-15-10) I spoke with Rose, FBI, ADIC Secretary, who indicates once again that your office has not received the aforesaid and which can reasonably be presumed to have been tampered with, and hence, a violation of the federal statute concerning same. (Ultimately delivered by UPS) ]

http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud WP Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. America Is a Failed State Because It Won’t Prosecute Financial Crime Washington’s Blog / the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm

CRIME STATS(u.s.No.1)

Rank	Countries	Amount
# 1	United States:	11,877,218
# 2	United Kingdom:	6,523,706
# 3	Germany:	6,507,394

UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE... ‘ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims ' Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud WP | Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown.

THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

http://www.albertpeia.com

Sincerely and Regards,

Al Peia

Five myths about the Dow What drives it up and down? Is it a good market barometer? (Washington Post) [ Yeah! This is a great topic which seems an age-old quandary manifesting in different forms at different times. Indeed, in my evening MBA program studies at NYU, GBA (MBA Finance, 1977) the ‘questions’ concerning the Dow from an investment perspective were in no short supply (ie., from not being representative of the market, to higher p/e multiples, to slower growth from mature companies, to higher prices per share on an absolute basis, etc.). When asked why the Dow, the Security Analysis Professor, Dr. Douglas Bellmore, an extremely successful analyst / investor / author on finance in his own right, and head of the research arm / department of an institutional wall street brokerage firm by day, would respond simply by saying, ‘ he wasn’t interested in ‘buying the market’ (cited were concerns of liquidity with his oft-repeated rhetorical quip, ‘sell … to whom?’, which was often problematic to the substantial downside then, particularly for Nasdaq / Over-the-counter’ issues which is far less problematic today with computer efficiency undreamed of then (though also now used for nefarious fraudulent purposes undreamed of then)[ I began my MBA thesis with him and completed same owing to his vacation in the summer, 1977, with the great, eloquent, and astute Economist / Professor, Dr. Robert Kavesh (‘Economic Forecasting’ Butler and Kavesh – I had his course of the same name as his book) since I was beginning law school evenings that fall. ] ( Interestingly, in the bond analysis portion of the course I asked whether you can and should rely on the rating companies, predominantly S&P. He paused, and said ‘that’s a good question’ – it was also the only time he said such of my questions – then responded affirmatively, ‘yes, you can rely on them’ (different time, different place – I’m sure his answer would have been substantially different today). The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed! So what’s changed of significance (other than the full moon and consequent effects on the lunatic wall street frauds Train Reading: The Stock Market Is Insane The Wall Street Journal ). Nothing! Absolutely nothing, yet a manipulated computer-programmed ( high frequency trading bots ) churn-and-earn suckers’ rally based on desperation, fraud and b***s*** alone (ie., backward looking, ‘revisions’, faked data, etc.) to keep suckers suckered, which makes for an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! Regulators close 64th U.S. bank this year , U.S. consumer sentiment grim but retail sales jump with gasoline prices up , [$$] 'Junk' Bonds Point to Recession , Stock Market Parallels to 2000 and 2008 Should Not Be Ignored , How Low Will Stocks Go? ‘ Michael Kahn, who writes the Getting Technical column for Barrons.com and the QuickTakes Pro blog, has long argued we’re in a secular (long-term) bear market, and he thinks the cyclical bull is over, too. Like Arbeter, he sees 1,010 to 1,050 as the next level of support for the S&P, and below that 930.’ 50% unemployment & 90% Dow crash also predicted. Newsmax

Here’s a picture of obama voters / backers: http://www.albertpeia.com/wobamavoters.gif

Ahamed: What is the market really telling us? (Washington Post) [ Whatever it is, it ain’t good! Indeed, ‘the market’ in terms of communicating anything must fall within the ambit of the term ‘brain-damaged’ at best, insane at worst, with all the concomitant disabilities attendant thereto, including a penchant for criminal, fraudulent activities to obfuscate in self-interested fashion the damage attendant to their criminally insane, brain-damaged condition for their own gain to almost everyone else’s detriment. ‘THE STOCK MARKET HAS LOST ITS MIND — Bethany McLean in Slate Risk On! Do the Fed, computer trading, and a few hedge funds rule the market? That might explain why it's lost its mind. After the madness of last week and the rollercoaster at the beginning of this week, the stock market recovered from its Aug. 10 rout to bounce 423 points on Aug. 11. It was the fourth day in a row in which the index moved by more than 400 points, which has never happened before in history. As I write this, stock prices are leveling off, but the big swings may not be over. Has the market gone mad? Actually, yes.

In theory, the stock market is supposed to reflect the prospects for the economy—the earnings potential of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But there's more than one reason to believe that what's going on now has little to do with any rational view of the future, and a lot to do with the market itself. "Dip your toes into any risk asset right now and understand that you are not entering into anything remotely resembling a normal market environment," wrote David Rosenberg, the well-respected former Merrill Lynch analyst who is now the chief economist at Canadian firm Gluskin Sheff, in his recent newsletter. "Dysfunctional is more like it."

The first factor to consider is that the huge rebound in stocks and in all sorts of risk assets from the spring of 2009 until May of this year wasn't necessarily driven by a belief that better times were coming. It was driven by a belief that investors had to buy riskier assets given the Fed's determination to hold interest rates near zero. Because investors can't get a return in "safe" assets—indeed, a small return will get chewed up by inflation—they are driven to riskier assets. As more investors pile in, everyone is driven further out along the risk curve.

This is what traders call "risk on." What they mean is that you'll be rewarded for buying risk, regardless of reality. The Fed's second round of quantitative easing ("QE2"), in which it bought $600 billion of Treasuries in order to keep interest rates low, encouraged this investment strategy. "We had a nice two-year rally in risk assets and something close to an economic recovery, but as we had warned, it was built on sticks and straw, not bricks," wrote Rosenberg. "This isn't much different than the financial engineering in the 2002-07 cycle that gave off the appearance of prosperity."

The Fed intended this to end happily. The fake wealth created by a soaring market was supposed to turn into real wealth, because rich people, who control much of the economy and who have much of their money in the market, were supposed to spend more. But it hasn't worked, partly because of problems in the rest of the world—the tsunami in Japan, the financial crisis that's brewing in Europe—and partly because our own economy is too deep in hock to achieve the necessary stimulus. As Howard Marks, the chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, put it in his recent letter, "The world has awakened to the undesirability of ever-growing government debt."

You can think of the Fed's medicine as a painkiller. It allows everyone to pretend that bad stuff isn't happening, until something shatters the illusion and the comfortable numbness abruptly gives way to panic. There's massive selling. Then the Fed reassures everyone that its toolbox isn't empty just yet—witness the big upturn on Aug. 9 after the Fed said it would likely hold rates near zero until mid-2013 (a worthless prediction if inflation surges)—and the market soars. Risk on!

It's hard to develop any real conviction about the direction of the market when so much depends on the actions of the Federal Reserve. That's especially true because even the members of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee aren't all in agreement. Three members voted against the Fed's Aug. 9 announcement. Complicating matters is that the short term direction of the real economy is also at the mercy of the government. The key line in this Wall Street Journal story: "As goes government spending, so goes the U.S. economy."

Another possible factor in the madness is forced selling by big hedge funds. There are rumors that funds are getting hit by margin calls, or that funds that are having a bad year are getting redemption requests from investors, thereby forcing them to sell. Most of the gossip has focused on John Paulson (the hedge fund manager who famously made his fortune by shorting securities backed by subprime mortgages), given the big positions he was known to have in stocks that have gotten trashed. But if Paulson is hurting, he's probably not alone. "No way big guys could have gotten out," one trader tells me via email. "Big hedge funds with all the same big positions. This move down happened so fast that they are trapped." If this theory is right, then sudden rallies like Thursday's upturn will be followed by more selling, as hedge funds take advantage of the ability to get out.

The last explanation I've heard is that most of the buying and selling hasn't been driven by real people, but rather by computers. Hello, HAL 9000! In the last five years, computer-driven trading, whether controversial high-frequency trading or just programs that buy baskets of stocks based on technical figures, has become a bigger and bigger part of the market. Depending on how you define it, sources tell me it constitutes 70 percent to 90 percent of trading now. "The human element is gone," one trader tells me. At least some people believe that the presence of computers exacerbates the big moves up and down. According to this paper by X. Frank Zhang, an associate professor of accounting at the Yale School of Management, "high frequency trading is positively correlated with stock price volatility." Zhang goes on to say that the "positive correlation is stronger among the top 3,000 stocks in market capitalization and among stocks with high institutional holdings. The positive correlation is also stronger during periods of high market uncertainty." Zhang's academic work is supported by the observations of those who have been in the market for a long time. "I suspect that the real culprits here are the computers Wall Street has programmed and unleashed to trade and manage portfolios," wrote John Bollinger, who has been publishing his Capital Growth Letter for more than two decades. "The sort of mindless selling that we are seeing is most likely the result of machines trading and human beings desperately trying to keep up with them."

Should you buy? Should you sell? No one knows. The world is always an uncertain place, but right now it's more uncertain than usual, whether about the ultimate resolution of Europe's crisis or about how the U.S. will reduce its debt and get the economy growing again. Or perhaps I should say reduce its debt or get the economy growing, since it's unlikely to achieve both at the same time. This inability to guess what the future holds means that madness rules.’

Meyer: Why aren’t Americans rioting? (Washington Post) [ It really is quite surprising inasmuch as they’re getting quite a royal screwin’ from the so-called ‘powers that be’. There might be a tinge of masochism coupled with a feeling of punishment-deserved remorse in light of the overridingly inherent criminal nature of americans generally, propelling them to wrongful acts for which they should be sorry, based upon my own experience and direct observation. That said, I’d also say ‘give them time’, the worst is yet to come. Moreover, we’re already seeing it, and not just in britain, greece, italy, etc., but here in the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt disunited states of america; viz., detroit, chicago, philadelphia, etc., with predictions consistent with the reality of much worse to come. Europe’s crisis and the psychology of fear (Washington Post) [ Given the reality and magnitude of Europe’s problems going forward, dwarfed only by the magnitude of those of pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, it brings to mind the words of the former Intel CEO (co-founder) Andy Grove ‘ Only the paranoid survive’ (of course, having survived the Nazis and escaped Communist-controlled Hungary in Europe, as a jew, one has to assume his perspective / outlook was somewhat ‘skewed’ thereby). Yet, let’s not kid ourselves to the point where virtual survival is threatened and at stake as is so for the EU. America isn’t alone in the downgrade spiral (WP) Indeed, the EU has followed the contra-indicated perma war, evermore worthless Weimar currency, and a predispositon / tacit acceptance of paper securities schemes / scams / frauds which are integral to america’s ongoing, albeit obfuscated, debacle / crisis which given the unfunded debt load pegged at $211 Trillion among other estimates, is insurmountable and will end quite badly. Poll: Sharp dissatisfaction with D.C. The public doubts the government can fix the nation’s economic problems, Post poll shows. An unlikely landlord: Uncle Sam (WP) [ No surprise there (the doubts)! Uncle Scam as landlord? Sounds like a typical scam / fiasco / debacle in the making! Add limey (brits)-looking (green) frogs (french) to the mix(ed up) in the pervasively corrupt defacto bankrupt disunited states Italy unveils plan to calm fears of escalating crisis (WP) [ Yeah, dem piigs were back in the news. ’ Dem PIIGS still got problems. Europe’s debt crisis threatens Italy (WP) [ Yeah, dem’ darn PIIGS. Reminds me of that joke (I won’t repeat it here except the punch line): ‘That’s black bart’s girl’. Pelosi: ‘We are not Greece’ ( but greecy Italy Italians voice concern over Italian debt crisis scenario [ Whew! Close call! There you go. Nothing to worry about now that wobama’s got a boehner … so not to be so hard on them; if pelosi says it, it must be true … Not! …Pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, they, she look pretty greecey to me. After all, if the same’s wobama’s ‘far-reaching plan on debt’, we all know ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) is total b***s*** which means like Greecey PIIGS they’ll be back to the trough for more … slop … py. Deficits And Stimulus Only Delay The Inevitable Collapse Bob Chapman | America is insolvent and has been so for a long time. US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco’s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Maierhofer: ‘USA INCOME STATEMENT:Total federal spending in 2010 amounted to $3.456 trillion. Total receipts added up to $2.162 trillion. USA Inc.'s 2010 deficit was $1.294 trillion.The 2011 federal budget is $3.7 trillion with a projected deficit of$1.6 trillion. …USA BALANCE SHEET: Consensus estimates for unfunded obligations vary. Mary Meeker pegs the shortfall at $31 trillion, PIMCO's Bill Gross estimates the unreported debt to be $75 trillion, while other estimates exceed $100 trillion (these amounts are insurmountable) …’ Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1 Watch for fake gov’t data / reports owing to political desperation!

Will: Kennedy’s Berlin blunder (Washington Post) [ Oh come on Mr. Will! I’d say Kennedy’s blunder was, as Caesar and the ides of March, not heeding warnings concerning that Dallas ride. A bit of a reach though factually accurate are the implications, consequences of those highlights which in terms of results were foreseen years before by ‘Warrior-General Patton’. Indeed, for the rising military industrial complex, one way or another, conflict whether hot or cold, requiring substantial defense spending was fait accomplis. I’m disappointed to hear of Kennedy’s unfounded criticism of the last great leader / president, the substantially underrated but great President General Eisenhower which I would attribute to Kennedy’s own insecurity regarding such matters and possibly in psychiatric terms, a form of displacement. Krauthammer: Our political system is working well (Washington Post) [ Wow! There was a time back in the late sixties, early seventies when there were these long-haired people chastised by the so-called ‘establishment’ that would have just loved to be doin’ whatever it is that Mr. Krauthammer’s been doing to arrive at such a conclusion, so glaringly devoid of any reality whatsoever. Psychedelics, hallucinogens, magic mushrooms; what could it be that has brought Mr. Krauthammer into this fantasy world where even ‘Alice’ of Wonderland fame might feel comfortable in this netherland (sic) / netherworld created from the depths of Mr. Krauthammer’s imagination. I’m truly at a loss for words. After all, the warning by the underrated but great President General Eisenhower of the impending inherent danger of the military industrial complex came to fruition with the assassination of JFK and the reality of a coup d’etat thereby. All presidents, along with the two remaining branches of the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt american government since have been at best stooges for such as the military industrial complex, the banksters / frauds on wall street, etc., to the substantial detriment of the vast majority in this country and throughout the world (ie., perma wars, huge securities frauds still extant / now marked to anything as per congressional FASB rule change, and unprosecuted. Beyond the immediate reach, or at least ‘penetration’ of american propaganda, an intelligent and astute individual, Legendary Investor Jeremy Grantham: America is a Banana Republic Washington’s Blog | Just different bananas perhaps? { Of course this is absolutely true! And not just from the meaningfully lawless perspective – I had made such a statement on the record in a LA Superior Court Appellate Dept. proceeding in which said court literally ignored the law (the same is true of the costly, plushly accoutered lifetime appointee federal courts) which courts should indeed be abolished in these difficult economic / budgetary times. Additionally, from pervasive corruption, to debased over-printed currency, to gunboat diplomacy, to total incompetence, etc., america is indeed a banana republic at most. } I didn’t see the debates {what does it matter what they say – the egregious ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) fatigue factor / experience} nor have I read Mr. Robinson’s article, ‘GOP Debate Land’ but I’m sure I’d agree with his conclusion, ‘I didn’t recognize the America the GOP candidates described;’ but unfortunately, I do recognize the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america of ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***), failed president like his predecessor, moron war criminal dumbya bush, that he is. The powerless president Obama remains indecisive, and ignored, as larger forces bring down the country. Robinson: S&P downgrades the GOP (WP) [ Riiiiight! It’s everything but ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) that’s to blame for the nation’s meltdown according to wobama aficionados / intractable wobama apologists, Messieurs Milbank and Robinson. Sweet Mr. Milbank even points to wobama’s personal character flaws (among many unmentioned) to exculpate the failed president wobama. Wobama’s failed miserably and yet had the easiest act in the world to follow in the persona of fellow failed president war criminal dumbya bush whose failed policies up to the real start of the election cycle he’s largely followed. After all, Mr. Robinson, how different really are the parties these days when profligate spending on illegal, unnecessary wars was continued when democrats controlled congress, and then even the executive office when continuing failed president and war criminal dumbya bush’s nation bankrupting, nation destroying war policies, protection for unprecedentedly huge wall street frauds, bush tax cut extensions for the wealthy, and then some (spending on top of it).
Drudgereport: HARRY BELAFONTE: Obama 'has failed'...
NOONAN: 'HE IS A LOSER'...
GALLUP: 40% APPROVAL...

Obama takes debt battle to TWITTER, loses more than 33,000 followers...
FARRAKHAN: 'THAT'S A MURDERER IN THE WHITE HOUSE'...

Most importantly, realize that if wobama’s actions had not belied his words/campaign promises, the nation’s position, though still ominous, would have been substantially improved.
Poll: Sharp dissatisfaction with D.C. The public doubts the government can fix the nation’s economic problems, Post poll shows. An unlikely landlord: Uncle Sam (Washington Post) [ No surprise there (the doubts)! Uncle as landlord? Sounds like a typical scam / fiasco / debacle in the making! Add limey (brits)-looking (green) frogs (french) to the mix(ed up) in the pervasively corrupt defacto bankrupt disunited states Italy unveils plan to calm fears of escalating crisis (Washington Post) [ Yeah, dem piigs were back in the news. ’ Dem PIIGS still got problems. Europe’s debt crisis threatens Italy (WP) [ Yeah, dem’ darn PIIGS. Reminds me of that joke (I won’t repeat it here except the punch line): ‘That’s black bart’s girl’. Pelosi: ‘We are not Greece’ ( but greecy Italy Italians voice concern over Italian debt crisis scenario [ Whew! Close call! There you go. Nothing to worry about now that wobama’s got a boehner … so not to be so hard on them; if pelosi says it, it must be true … Not! …Pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, they, she look pretty greecey to me. After all, if the same’s wobama’s ‘far-reaching plan on debt’, we all know ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) is total b***s*** which means like Greecey PIIGS they’ll be back to the trough for more … slop … py. Deficits And Stimulus Only Delay The Inevitable Collapse Bob Chapman | America is insolvent and has been so for a long time. US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco’s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Maierhofer: ‘USA INCOME STATEMENT:Total federal spending in 2010 amounted to $3.456 trillion. Total receipts added up to $2.162 trillion. USA Inc.'s 2010 deficit was $1.294 trillion.The 2011 federal budget is $3.7 trillion with a projected deficit of$1.6 trillion. …USA BALANCE SHEET: Consensus estimates for unfunded obligations vary. Mary Meeker pegs the shortfall at $31 trillion, PIMCO's Bill Gross estimates the unreported debt to be $75 trillion, while other estimates exceed $100 trillion (these amounts are insurmountable) …’ Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1 Watch for fake gov’t data / reports owing to political desperation! Why You Shouldn't Buy Into This Plunge Forbes/O'Neil‘The market is building momentum to the downside’. Wall Street closes worst week since '08 with wild day NEW YORK (Reuters) S&P on U.S. downgrade: Debt pact 'falls short' - Reuters S&P downgrades US credit rating from AAA S&P Shocks the U.S. with Credit Downgrade to AA+ from Prestigious AAA Rating Wall St. Cheat Sheet What Recovery? Forbes ‘…we can’t call this a recovery. There’s no reason to celebrate when a job report was better than expected. Why? Because the expectation was abysmal to begin with. And while we’re at it, we can’t ignore increasing sovereign debt problems in Europe…’ ‘Top 3 Reasons Markets Erased the Year’s Gains Wall St. Cheat Sheet 1) Japan and Europe 2) Unemployment.3) Capital goods - billions of dollars in lost revenue. Financial Crisis Phase II Is Ahead at Forbes Bert Dohmen ‘ In late 2007, I wrote the book Prelude To Meltdown, predicting the global crisis that occurred the following year. I now see a similar confluence of events that warns of phase II of the global crisis… My work shows that “the new recession has started.”… Over the past 33 years, we have called the start of every recession, often on the exact month, or within one month, of the official start as determined one year later by the official arbiter of recession, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)… However, inflation is far understated for political reasons. Currently, the GDP deflator is 1.8%, which hardly reflects the true rise in prices. Therefore, what is counted as “growth,” is actually price increases. Actual inflation, according to free market economists who calculate inflation as it was done in 1980 before the politician re-engineered it, is now more than 11%. Using that to adjust GDP for inflation, would show that the economy is now in a very sharp contraction…’FLASHBACK HERE: Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding Remember: Sell in May and Go Away and If You’ve Not Sold by June, You’re a Loon! ‘ ‘Albert Edwards: Thinks the Market Could Fall 70%’ [ He’s not alone! PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows Stock Market: 4 Current Warning Signs Navin ‘…1) The 5-year high in the level of insider corporate stock sales is telling. At 565 sells for every 1 buy, it’s never been higher.
Is Obama’s fate written in numbers? Recent economic data amounts to a formidable headwind for any incumbent president hoping for a second term. And Democrats worry time is running out. (Washington Post) [ Let’s just say the fate of ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) is written, period. Quite simply, he’s done! Here’s a picture of obama voters / backers: http://www.albertpeia.com/wobamavoters.gif . ‘Don’t cry for him new argentina, the truth is he really screwed you’ … well you know that familiar theme and can ad lib, insert your own words!
It’s still Obama’s party Why he won’t face a primary challenge: Republicans and racial politics. (Washington Post) [ It’s true … so right you are! Al Gore’s even pitchin’ in by donating the talents of his long lost secret love child, ‘Leslie Gore’ to pen and sing a song in wobama’s honor (kidding) which goes something like this , ‘It’s his party and he’ll cry if he wants to, cry if he wants to, cry if he wants to, you would cry too, if obama happened to you … Well, there you go … if the song says it it must be true. Yeah! And those dern republicans and their racial politics … UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE...‘ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims' – Time to get whitey, at last, at last, etc., say holder / wobama who go on to say ‘and they ain’t talking about Whitey Bulger, the mobster, either!’

8-12-11 News / Topics

The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed! So what’s changed of significance (other than the full moon and consequent effects on the lunatic wall street frauds Train Reading: The Stock Market Is Insane The Wall Street Journal ). Nothing! Absolutely nothing, yet a manipulated computer-programmed ( high frequency trading bots ) churn-and-earn suckers’ rally based on desperation, fraud and b***s*** alone (ie., backward looking, ‘revisions’, faked data, etc.) to keep suckers suckered, which makes for an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! Regulators close 64th U.S. bank this year , U.S. consumer sentiment grim but retail sales jump with gasoline prices up , [$$] 'Junk' Bonds Point to Recession , Stock Market Parallels to 2000 and 2008 Should Not Be Ignored , How Low Will Stocks Go? ‘ Michael Kahn, who writes the Getting Technical column for Barrons.com and the QuickTakes Pro blog, has long argued we’re in a secular (long-term) bear market, and he thinks the cyclical bull is over, too. Like Arbeter, he sees 1,010 to 1,050 as the next level of support for the S&P, and below that 930.’ 50% unemployment & 90% Dow crash also predicted. Newsmax

This an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits, particularly if you missed Tuesday or May, since there’s much, much worse to come! Thursday, Aug.11, 2011: what changed from yesterday which warranted a more than 500 point plunge with paper stocks still over-valued? Well, some bad news labeled as better than expected 1) 7,000 fewer jobless claims than expected (just a little over 1% better even if you believe them – I don’t) 2) Cisco shows results ‘better than expected’ 3) Record monthly trade deficit [ What Recovery? Forbes ‘we can’t call this a recovery. There’s no reason to celebrate when a job report was better than expected. Why? Because the expectation was abysmal to begin with.’ ‘Cisco Systems Inc’s quarterly results edged past Wall Street’s scaled-back expectations ...“They beat a low bar. A lot of it is coming from cost cutting, which we anticipated. In that sense it’s a relief,” Joanna Makris of Mizuho Securities USA told Reuters. ‘Cisco, which depends on government spending for about a fifth of its revenue, said in July it would cut 15 percent of its workforce and sell a set-top box factory in Mexico.. Cisco bulls may underestimate tough road ahead Randewich.’ ] Tuesday, Aug.9,2011: what changed from yesterday which warranted a more than 600 point plunge with paper stocks still over-valued and a 545 bounce off of afternoon lows? Nothing! Absolutely nothing, yet a manipulated computer-programmed churn-and-earn suckers’ rally based on fraud and b***s*** alone to keep suckers suckered, which makes for AN ESPECIALLY GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO SELL / TAKE PROFITS SINCE THERE’S MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME! Tech up? Is this some kind of a joke? Absolute confirmation of dire prospects worldwide since american tech is horrendous. Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1      50% unemployment, 90% stock market drop, 100% inflation. See the Evidence (Newsmax.com) ‘Robert Wiedemer’s new book, “Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown,” quickly is becoming the survival guide for the 21st century. And Newsmax’s eye-opening Aftershock Survival Summit video, with exclusive interviews and prophetic predictions, already has affected millions around the world — but not without ruffling a few feathers.    [ The instant video on the economic / financial collapse from Stansberry and Associates is so well researched and succinctly presented that I’ve archived same on my website; also, because the facts and views presented comport with the facts and views I’ve presented on my site which I believe to be correct. This is a must-view, must-see that I strongly recommend!
The complete url:     http://www.albertpeia.com/stansberrysinvestmentadvisory.flv ( 146mb – approx. 1 hr. 17 min. )         http://www.albertpeia.com/stansberrysinvestmentadvisory.mp4    ( 374mb )     Written text of presentation (without pictures / charts)] [A lot of pre-election year obfuscation, manipulation but the debacle is already here: Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012).   Dow 1000? Robert Prechter Thinks So      Prechter Reiterrates Call For Dow 1,000, Even As Surging Gold And Plunging Dollar Leave Much Credibility To Be Desired        Bulls Go to Extremes: Don't Buy the "Breakout", Sell It, Prechter Says     Russell: This Is One Of The Largest Tops In Stock Market History My old friend, Bob Prechter, is talking about Dow 400. I used to think this was an absurd joke. I no longer think it’s a joke. The ultimate result will be a primary bear market shocking in duration and extent. …’    Forecasts from Dent, Napier, and then Prechter: Depression is Imminent The Dow Jones Industrial Average will go down to at least 1000, most likely to below 777 which was the starting point of its mania back in August 1982, and quite likely drop below 400 at one or more times during the bear market.
Russell Napier is the author of the book “Anatomy of the Bear”, a professor at the Edinburgh Business School and a consultant to CLSA Ltd. which is one of the top research houses in Asia. Napier’s research indicates (and I paraphrase) that: The S&P 500 will Decline to 400 by 2014 (the Dow 30 to 3800) The S&P 500 will then undergo a major crash that will see U.S. equity prices bottom at almost 50% below current levels (i.e. to 400 or less; the Dow 30 to 3800 or less) sometime around 2014 as Tobin’s “q” drops to 0.3 signaling the end of the bear market, as it has done at the end of the four largest U.S. market declines in 1921, 1932, 1949 and 1982. U.S. Treasury Sales Collapse Leading to End of U.S. Dollar as Reserve Currency Robert R. Prechter Jr. is author of a number of newsletters and books including “Elliott Wave Principle” (1978) in which he predicted the super bull market of the 1980s; “At the Crest of the Tidal Wave – A Forecast of the Great Bear Market” (1995) in which he predicted a slow motion economic earthquake, brought about by a great asset mania, that would register 11 on the financial Richter scale causing a collapse of historic proportions; and “Conquer the Crash: You can Survive and Prosper in a Deflationary Depression” (2002) in which he described the economic cataclysm that we are just beginning to experience and advised how to position one’s self financially during that period of time. Depression is Imminent The Dow Jones Industrial Average will go down to at least 1000, most likely to below 777 which was the starting point of its mania back in August 1982, and quite likely drop below 400 at one or more times during the bear market.   Watch for fake gov’t data / reports owing to political desperation! [ Is this some parallel universe where unfounded criticism is levied at S&P for the downgrade when they’ve actually cut the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt disunited states a break by not rating what america truly is; viz., junk status for the paper / liabilities / obligations that cannot and will not be paid (or the equivalent vis-à-vis what would be in worse than evermore worthless Weimar dollars or some other ‘ponzi-like’ subterfuge, obfuscation). The amounts are insurmountable going forward. They point to Moody’s and Fitch; yet, let’s not kid ourselves, S&P is the ‘800 pound gorilla’ in this world among rating agencies and moody’s, fitch have substantially diminished themselves as entities consistent with their ‘mission and purpose’ and as well, their credibility. I mean, come on! Consider the pressure that was and continues to be applied. Moody’s and fitch, quite frankly, folded. China’s rating agency has already downgraded u.s. paper and they’re ‘holding’ (huge amounts of that u.s. junk); and hence, against their own interest. Wake up! ]    8 More Reasons Why You Should Be Deeply Concerned That The U.S. Government Has Lost Its AAA Credit Rating The Economic Collapse ‘… #8 The U.S. national debt continues to get worse by the day. Just check out what economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff recently told NPR….“If you add up all the promises that have been made for spending obligations, including defense expenditures, and you subtract all the taxes that we expect to collect, the difference is $211 trillion. That’s the fiscal gap” ..’   Why You Shouldn't Buy Into This Plunge Forbes/O'Neil‘The market is building momentum to the downside’.   Wall Street closes worst week since '08 with wild day NEW YORK (Reuters) S&P on U.S. downgrade: Debt pact 'falls short' - Reuters S&P downgrades US credit rating from AAA   S&P Shocks the U.S. with Credit Downgrade to AA+ from Prestigious AAA Rating Wall St. Cheat Sheet    What Recovery? Forbes   ‘…we can’t call this a recovery. There’s no reason to celebrate when a job report was better than expected. Why? Because the expectation was abysmal to begin with. And while we’re at it, we can’t ignore increasing sovereign debt problems in Europe…’ ‘Top 3 Reasons Markets Erased the Year’s Gains Wall St. Cheat Sheet 1) Japan and Europe 2) Unemployment.3) Capital goods - billions of dollars in lost revenue. Financial Crisis Phase II Is Ahead at Forbes Bert Dohmen ‘ In late 2007, I wrote the book Prelude To Meltdown, predicting the global crisis that occurred the following year. I now see a similar confluence of events that warns of phase II of the global crisis… My work shows that “the new recession has started.”… Over the past 33 years, we have called the start of every recession, often on the exact month, or within one month, of the official start as determined one year later by the official arbiter of recession, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)… However, inflation is far understated for political reasons. Currently, the GDP deflator is 1.8%, which hardly reflects the true rise in prices. Therefore, what is counted as “growth,” is actually price increases. Actual inflation, according to free market economists who calculate inflation as it was done in 1980 before the politician re-engineered it, is now more than 11%. Using that to adjust GDP for inflation, would show that the economy is now in a very sharp contraction…’FLASHBACK HERE: Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding   Remember: Sell in May and Go Away and If You’ve Not Sold by June, You’re a Loon! ‘ ‘Albert Edwards: Thinks the Market Could Fall 70%’ [ He’s not alone!   PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows    Stock Market: 4 Current Warning Signs Navin ‘…1) The 5-year high in the level of insider corporate stock sales is telling. At 565 sells for every 1 buy, it’s never been higher. Yes, it’s normal for insiders to be selling some of their stocks so they can buy new yachts and some of this is pre-planned. But that ratio — which has spiked recently — is extraordinarily high, one might even say off-the-chart‘ previous‘…1) Job cuts. 2 ) ISM service-sector report. Monday’s ISM manufacturing report contributed to market losses on Monday, but today’s report, though equally negative, didn’t quite have the same effect as markets began to level out this afternoon. The ISM service-sector index declined to 52.7% in July. The U.S. service sector accounts for three-fourths of all economic activity, and employs four out of every five U.S. workers , so a 0.5% decline speaks volumes about the state of economic recovery…’ Factory orders for June fell by 0.8% (just because they say the bad news isn’t as bad as expected does not make such bad news ‘rally material’. Indeed, the huge ralleys based on now revised downward data never seem to retrace that fake data induced stock surge based thereon.    Service sector growth slowest since 2010   Moody's sets negative outlook on BNY, JPMorgan         S&P ends string of losses on tech rebound Tech rebound? Is this some kind of a joke? Tech up today? Absolute confirmation of dire prospects worldwide since american tech is horrendous. Yet, sizzling ‘child’s play’ is the order of the day and credit still must be given to those [ie., Steve Jobs-I’m truly glad he saved Apple, my first computer (apple IIc for word processing / data based records / forms / templates / data which I interfaced with an electric typewriter for letter quality)] who could (as he) identify such novelties as the biggest over-priced / over-valued sensations since the hoola hoop (hoopla hoops - which were pretty cheap and with some minor health benefits to boot).Take this run-up as a gift based on fraudulent wall street b***s*** alone and take this opportunity to sell / take profits / ‘sell today if you missed in may and then go away’! Nothing has been solved; maybe forestalled. Rout spells trouble for Wall Street / Moody's confirms U.S. rating at Aaa, outlook negative / Chinese rating agency cuts U.S. debt again / Minyanville's T3 Daily Recap: Signed Debt Deal No Cure for Sickly Market / US auto industry uneasy after weak July sales / Fitch Unimpressed By Debt Deal, GDP; Markets Unimpressed By Fitch / US debt deal alone won't sustain AAA rating / Stocks now down for year as economic concerns grow – AP    The Daily Market Report Aug 1st, 2011 PG ‘Relief? What Relief? http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum …Late last night when party leaders and the President announced that they had reached a bipartisan deal that would allow the debt ceiling to be raised, gold dropped about 1%. Global stocks rallied in relief and briefly, ever so briefly, gold was out of favor…CBO scores the package as accomplishing $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10-years, the CBO baseline also has the deficit rising $6.7 trillion over the same period. The premise apparently being that we’re working our way to actual cutting by cutting to slow the pace of the nation’s proliferate spending. In actuality — and as evidenced below — that CBO baseline may prove to be way too optimistic. What really lit an intraday fire under gold today was the big miss on US July ISM, which plunged to 50.9. The market was expecting a modest downtick to 55.0 from 55.3 in June…’ The Truth About The Debt Deal: It’s Pretty Much Meaningless Business Insider/ Come on! Who believes their pre-election year data, reports, b***s***? There’s desperation in the air and like never before! One commentator, Peter Shiff, to Frank Motek of 1070am Bus.Report references the sham in Washington; and regardless, points to default by way of inflation, further stating that the debt ceiling’s already been breached by borrowing. Moreover, he additionally states that default is inevitable by way of inflation; that the fed will be buying the evermore worthless american paper (bonds) and creating/printing evermore worthless american dollars; that there’s been a quid pro quo with at least one of the 3 (S&P, Moody’s, Fitch) federal licensed rating agencies, viz., of reaffirming the u.s. AAA rating in return for no prosecution surrounding their role in the S&P AAA rated worthless (fraudulent, mortgage-backed, derivative) paper securities (fraud) giving rise to the previous leg of this continuing, ongoing debacle / crisis. He finally goes on to recommend non-u.s., non-dollar denominated assets, precious metals, and alternate currencies. Initial unemployment claims rise to 418000 - Jul. 21, 2011 which bad news sparked wall street rally … what total b***s***. No budget deal, celebrated Greek Plan – DEFAULT! … sounds like a plan!…, backward looking earnings results … riiiiight! Watch Out: 2011 Looks A Lot Like The Market Top In 2007 at Forbes Sean Hanlon / Deficits And Stimulus Only Delay The Inevitable Collapse Bob Chapman | America is insolvent and has been so for a long time. US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco’s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Maierhofer: ‘USA INCOME STATEMENT:Total federal spending in 2010 amounted to $3.456 trillion. Total receipts added up to $2.162 trillion. USA Inc.'s 2010 deficit was $1.294 trillion.The 2011 federal budget is $3.7 trillion with a projected deficit of$1.6 trillion. …USA BALANCE SHEET: Consensus estimates for unfunded obligations vary. Mary Meeker pegs the shortfall at $31 trillion, PIMCO's Bill Gross estimates the unreported debt to be $75 trillion, while other estimates exceed $100 trillion (these amounts are insurmountable) …’ Huge suckers’ rally to keep the suckers suckered in this market based upon backward looking data discounted multiple times to the upside (including the apple numbers as recently as last week on ‘leaked’ expectations of ‘better than expected’, etc.), taxpayer funded QE results, and b***s*** alone. This is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits since there’s much, much worse to come!   IT'S GOING TO HURT 'FOR LONG TIME TO COME' [ Says tiny tim geithner … thanks for the heads up tiny tim ‘God bless us everyone’! … As if we didn’t already know it / feel it!Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money-- Why The Dow Will Plunge To 7,000 By 24/7 Wall St.    S&P Poised For Dropoff, Says Initial Jobless Claims Forbes / Maureen Farrell ]

A Decade of Decline in Equity Markets Faisal Humayun [ This is a must read and explains how the market’s been artificially propped, the dow relative to hard assets, ie., gold (dow/gold ratio), has actually crashed 78%, and comparable prospects for the next decade, etc.. ‘…The Dow Jones Index was trading at 11,357 levels at the beginning of the year 2000. More than a decade later (as of beginning July 2011), the index is at 12582. Therefore, the index has gained 11% in the last ten years…’ Yet, the inflationary dollar (declining) debasement rate was 31%. (-31%) {See the inflation calculator infra – and that’s just the government (inflation) numbers … reality is much worse!} Meanwhile, the frauds on wall street are churnin’ and earnin’ like never before at lightning computerized speeds enabling the high-frequency trades that are commissioned in unprecedented large volumes; a big net negative in real economic terms.] While Washington Fiddled The Economy Burned at Forbes [ Oh come on! Let’s get real here! The economy was already burning (see infra), Washington notwithstanding! Indeed, the frauds on wall street with those contraindicated paper stock computer programmed commissioned churn-and-earn rallies would love for you to think it’s Washington only {that aw shucks, coulda’ been clear sailin’ otherwise moment; but the reality is that things are far more dire financially and economically than their window-dressed scams would indicate, though washington’s no help, incompetent, unknowledgeable, and ineffectual as they are (although fraudulent wall street, aside from their consummate scammin’, is little better and probably overly relied upon and light in those very areas one would expect to find profiency; viz., finance and economics.) Most importantly, realize that if wobama’s actions had not belied his words/campaign promises, the nation’s position, though still ominous, would have been substantially improved.} ] Check out this inflation calculator: http://www.albertpeia.com/inflationcalculator.htm

Here’s a picture of obama voters / backers: http://www.albertpeia.com/wobamavoters.gif

Beneath the Market’s Swings, Some Real Cause for Worry News Jeff Cox August 11 (CNBC) — ‘So whether this equals, falls short of, or exceeds the financial crisis of 2008 hardly seems to matter—investors are afraid, very afraid, and the question as much as anything in the minds of many market pros will be what soothes that fear. Analyst Dick Bove at Rochdale Securities says he knows why: More restrictive capital requirements and near-zero interest rates set at the Federal Reserve [cnbc explains] that make lending neither easy nor lucrative, a trend that will make it difficult for the economy to grow. “If one thinks through these limitations it can be seen that banks must shrink their balance sheets and change their business patterns to maintain their profits. What they are unlikely to do is to expand their lending activities in order to grow the economy,” Bove wrote in a lengthy banking analysis Thursday.“However, the Federal Reserve is suggesting that the economy is unlikely to grow,” he wrote. “If the Fed is prescient, then banks are facing higher loan losses, lower loan volume, and reduced margins on a wide array of banking products. The outlook is not appealing.”“Even though the United States is able to both print and borrow money, it is as bankrupt as the Europeans,” Bove wrote. “Covering deficits and paying debt with borrowed funds, some of which is newly printed, does not constitute meeting debt service requirements.”…’

The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed! Previous, full moon and fraudulent wall street, get this, rallies on not as bad as expected EU stress tests and better than expected google results but forget the dire consumer (recession level) consumer sentiment number ‘cause after all, consumer spending just a paltry 70% of GDP. Think about this: short-lived Pavlov dog rally (the conditioned stimulus) on hopes for more welfare for wall street and some good results in communist China. This despite the previous failure of QE for everyone but the frauds on wall street and ultimately, though circumlocuted, at great taxpayer expense. Titans of capitalism? How ‘bout the biggest unprosecuted frauds in the world. Preposterous! Roche 'The worst part of it ...Obama, who vowed change, has done almost nothing to fix any of it and in fact continues most of the policies that helped get us here in the first place’ ‘INSIDE JOB’ Ferguson wins Oscar for Documentary on the unprosecuted massive extant fraud in the (many) TRILLIONS by the frauds on wall street ( and declares with oscar in hand that not one high level wall street exec has been prosecuted … despite ‘earning’ billions from the fraud ) … I want just one person with courage enough to stand up and explain to all that these huge commissionable computerized trading volumes like never before are a net negative in a very big way … that’s a fact … that’s economic reality in real terms! … Trade deficit up, growth predictions by fed scaled down [ do you recall how many upside market points for the false, more positive growth projections by the ‘no-recession’ fed, then there’s also the costly, hyperinflationary failed QE hopes, more fed jawboning rallies the frauds on wall street off their lows to keep suckers suckered – they all belong in jail! Housing Woes to Cause Recession in 2012, Says Gary Shilling - Peter Gorenstein STOCKS BARELY FALL AFTER MOUNTAIN OF BAD NEWS: Here's What You Need To Know Business Insider Weisenthal Economic scenario far worse than expected (and in this pre-election year the reality is still far worse than reported), yet stocks still rallied off lows to keep suckers sucked in to this fraudulent market Click here to see the new scariest jobs chart ever http://www.businessinsider.com/details-from-the-awful-june-june-jobs-report-2011-7 > See all 12 charts from St Louis Fed: http://static8.businessinsider.com/image/4e1712edcadcbba25f030000-595-356/chart.jpg Previous:Stocks rally on jersey-based, former Lautenberg ADP still paltry, better than expected 157,000 private jobs number and one’s got to wonder ‘who got paid’, one way or another, for the fudge. Then there’s the horrific ‘american tech’. Retail? The defacto bankrupt government’s probably buying with money they don’t have, at best; and, as with other data in these desperate pre-election-year times, plain false, falsified, fudged, spun. Previous day, all bad news … from eurozone (protugal, et als), to asia zone (china worse than expected), to america (where to begin, from defacto bankruptcy, to debased currency, to insurmountable debt / dervice, to pervasive corruption, etc.) … stocks rally on fraud and b***s*** alone. Previous, higher oil price rally, along with Netflix ‘technology rally’ … Don’t make me laugh! … Total desperation on wall street and in Washington … How pathetic! … Jobless claims at 428,000 much worse than expected; and, don’t forget, these are desperate ‘pre-election times’ when regardless of factual reality (ie., fake reports, data, as, ie., ‘wobama hometown’ corrupt chicago ISM is up as even their youth gangs are showing increased criminal activity which probably accounts for the rise; ie., meth, crack labs, etc.?) data / reports are fudged / faked / spun. Foreclosure, distressed sales up, at least on paper with contracts signed, so no surprise nor reason to cheer here, as markets worldwide jump on the american crazy train for a short-lived bounce as all problems remain. This is the same month end (and quarter, half) spurt / window dressing based on b***s*** alone to keep the suckers suckered and an especially great time to sell / take profits since there’s much worse to come! Talk about milking the greek crisis for the umpteenth time a so-called solution (and there are loads of greecy scenarios worldwide … I don’t think so and neither does Schaeffer who says: ‘…even once such a package is passed it only buys time. Actually fixing the fiscal condition of Greece is not something that can be solved in a matter of weeks, or even months…‘ but it’s great press for the churn and earn and to keep the suckers suckered. Technology rally? Defacto bankrupt american technology is horrendous but great sizzle for the new fraud as in the dotcom bust days. Then there’s the greasy b.s. new greecy b.s. factor. The rally into the close and the previous so-called (4 day) ‘rally’ was based on b***s*** alone to keep the suckers suckered and for ‘smarter money ‘ along with the frauds to sell into. This is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding Remember: Sell in May and Go Away and If You’ve Not Sold by June, You’re a Loon! ‘ ‘Albert Edwards: Thinks the Market Could Fall 70%’ [ He’s not alone! PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows Stock Market: 4 Current Warning Signs Navin ‘…1) The 5-year high in the level of insider corporate stock sales is telling. At 565 sells for every 1 buy, it’s never been higher. Yes, it’s normal for insiders to be selling some of their stocks so they can buy new yachts and some of this is pre-planned. But that ratio — which has spiked recently — is extraordinarily high, one might even say off-the-chart. Wall Street 'Vastly Underestimating' Risk of Debt Default Forbes / Robert Lenzner StreetTalk ‘ “Meet the Press” climaxed Sunday with a startling market prognostication from David Brooks, conservative columnist for the NY Times. The risk of a debt default over the combustible issue of the Medicare deficit hangs over the course of the stock market. Buyers Beware!“I was up in Wall Street this week,” Brooks said. “They’re vastly underestimating the source of piolitical risk here. We could have a major problem, I think, either this summer or the next couple years. And I’d be worried about investing too much in the market. That’s my financial advice.”…’ Another Financial Crisis Is On The Way, Mobius Says Market Crash 6/30/11?Technical indicators suggest market collapse may begin by June 30th Dennis Slothower is one of the world’s leading technical analysts. He’s one of the few advisors whose readers completely avoided ALL losses during the disaster that was 2008. And now he’s issuing another dire warning. His technical indicators suggest that the market manipulation we’ve seen over the last several months is about to come to an end…and that means thousands of investors are about to get clobbered. This correction could begin as soon as June 30th– so it’s important that you take action now to prepare yourself. StealthStocksOnline.com STOCKS HAVE BIG RALLY AFTER PILES OF UGLY NEWS: Here's What You need To Know Harry Dent: “Major Crash” Coming for Stocks, Commodities Already Topping Out 24 Signs Of Economic Decline In America ‘The US is in the middle of a devastating long-term economic decline..’ ] States face shortfall for retirees (WP) Public workers’ retirement funds had a gap of $1.26 trillion at the end of fiscal 2009 Study: Affordable rentals scarce (WP) Poll: For Obama, low marks on Afghan war (WP) Fuel prices cut into Obama popularity (WP) They’ve used the contrived mideast turmoil and their wars to obfuscate and divert attention from their failure. Davis ‘This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). There is no fixing this and even a Republican said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING FOLKS – PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! ‘ Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money-- Why The Dow Will Plunge To 7,000 By 24/7 Wall St. S&P Poised For Dropoff, Says Initial Jobless Claims Forbes / Maureen Farrell

How Low Will Stocks Go? at Minyanville By MoneyShow.com Aug 12, 2011 ‘Up 500 points one day, down 500 the next. That’s the way the market is these days.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 520 points, erasing all of Tuesday’s gains from the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep short-term interest rates near zero. As of noon Thursday, it’s up about 250.

By Wednesday’s close, the Dow had lost 2,000 points, or more than 15% of its value, since July 21. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes lost slightly more during that time. All three are perilously close to the 20% decline from the late April-early May top that many pundits (particularly in the media) use as a rule of thumb to determine a bear market.

Unfortunately, I think stocks have still lower to go. How low? Later in this column I’ll tell you what some respected technical analysts think.

But let’s start with the fundamentals.

First, the economy. Need I say more? Jobless figures were somewhat better in June, but economists have revised downward their estimates of GDP growth. Measures of consumer confidence are pretty weak.

And did anybody get the real message the Federal Open Market Committee put out Tuesday? The economy is so sick, the Fed is willing to guarantee exceptionally low rates for two years! I’ve never seen the Fed telegraph its moves so far in advance, and the FOMC’s statement said over and over again how lousy the economy is.

Meanwhile, the open rebellion by three voting FOMC members makes it highly unlikely we’re going to see another round of quantitative easing anywhere near as big as the last two.

Third, there’s the debt crisis. Everyone agrees the European Union just doesn’t have the money to bail out Italy and Spain, its third and fourth largest economies, if it comes to that. Rumors are swirling about the health of French banks and the safety of France’s AAA rating.

And the debt-ceiling standoff here, which culminated in S&P downgrading the US’s AAA credit rating, means more government action to “fix” the economy is likely off the table.

So there’s no way President Obama will get much additional stimulus. He’s desperately trying to extend unemployment benefits and the payroll tax holiday for another year, but that looks pretty iffy at best. (You can read more from me about the "end of the welfare state" on The Independent Agenda.)

Finally, there are earnings, which have been great. But we’re getting much later in the cycle, and their momentum appears to be slowing. It’s hard for me to see how earnings growth alone is going to power the market much higher when everything else appears to be going in the opposite direction.

And while valuations are looking attractive by some measures, they don’t exist in a vacuum, either.

So, where does that leave us? Four prominent technical analysts I contacted all agreed: Stocks are heading lower, likely into a new bear market.

David Sneddon, head of technical analysis research at Credit Suisse in London, said the 1,370.58 intraday high in the S&P we saw on May 2 was the likely top. There’s critical technical support around 1,100, which is just about from where the market bounced back this week. So far, we seem to be holding that.

The next level of technical support below that is at 1,020-1,022. “You’d have to get below [1,000-1,010] to have a genuine bear market.”

Another London-based technician, Sandy Jadeja of City Index, who watches the Dow, thinks that’s where we’re going.

A few weeks ago, he predicted the Dow would drop to 10,428, which it did. Now, he told me by e-mail, “the rally that follows will be brief, and then lead to another leg down to 9,673 and further.”

“Lows are not to be expected until 2012,” he concluded. “Next month is critical. If we break the low of August in September, there is worse to come.”

Mark Arbeter, chief technical analyst of Standard & Poor’s, said back in May and June that the bull market was probably over, as I reported in this column. He hasn’t changed his position.

By e-mail, he said he “would look for some stabilization and a potential short-term rally now that the S&P 500 has fallen into a major zone of chart support…between 1,023 and 1,128.”

Ultimately he thinks the S&P could fall to 1,020, or maybe as low as 935. That would be 15% below Wednesday’s close, and would definitely mark a new bear market.

Michael Kahn, who writes the Getting Technical column for Barrons.com and the QuickTakes Pro blog, has long argued we’re in a secular (long-term) bear market, and he thinks the cyclical bull is over, too. Like Arbeter, he sees 1,010 to 1,050 as the next level of support for the S&P, and below that 930.

“I think it stops at 930 to make the 2000s-2010s follow the 1970s very closely,” he wrote me by e-mail. That’s one decade for which investors have little nostalgia.

The technicians are unanimous that stocks are going lower, though some are looking for a strong rally that goes against the bearish trend. Arbeter doesn’t expect that rally to go much beyond 1,250-1,260 before it sells off again. Sneddon doesn’t think it’ll bounce much higher than 1,200.

“We’ve clearly seen a lot of technical damage done in a lot of markets,” he told me. “I would be personally [inclined] rather to lighten up and reduce my positions” on rallies.

That would be my position, too, if I hadn’t already taken profits and sold what I wanted to a couple of months ago.

If you missed that chance, I wouldn’t sell in panic now, but would wait for stocks to mount a rebound to sell off positions in riskier small-cap stocks (which already may be in a bear market) and emerging markets, whose time in the sun has come and gone. That also may be a good time to permanently reduce your exposure to equities.

But I certainly wouldn’t buy into a market like this with all its wicked swings and uncertainties. Even mighty Goldman Sachs (GS) lost money on 15 trading days in the second quarter! And John Paulson, the hedge-fund genius who masterminded “the greatest trade ever” by shorting subprime mortgages, has lost 31% so far this year in his largest fund.

If people like that who have the best information and technology are losing money in this market, do you really think you’re going to beat them at their own game?

There will be a time to buy again, but it’s not now. This market is heading lower.’

Editor's Note: This article was written by Howard R. Gold, editor at large for MoneyShow.com.

S&P Triggers 200-day MA Death Cross - What Does this Mean? Simon Maierhofer, August 12, 2011 ‘… Just a few months ago the S&P was trading at 1,370. Those were golden times, but they've passed. Reality paid a visit and the S&P dropped as much as 267 points, or 19.48%.

The S&P has recovered somewhat but is still 15% below the May high. If you're holding on to long positions until you get the crossover sell signal (or death cross), the last few months have been a grueling experience.

Why? Simply because your sell signal has been late to the party, 15% too late.

The Serious Flaw

Merely using the SMA crossover as buy/signal is like having to wait for an important document sent via snail mail when it could have just been sent via e-mail.

Yet, that's exactly what the financial media is doing - investment advice in the snail mail format. To illustrate what I mean, allow me to quote some headlines featured around May 2, 2011:

'The S&P Breaks Out'

'Sales growth the Big Surprise on Wall Street'

'Why Berkshire and Buffett Never Lose'

'World revs up U.S. Profits'

'Geithner: No risk U.S. will lose AAA Credit Rating' …’

3 Reasons Markets Finished Up For the Second Straight Day Wall St. Cheat Sheet ‘August 12, 2011, 5:01 pm EDT

Markets closed up on Wall Street today: Dow +1.13% , S&P +0.53% , Nasdaq +0.61% , Oil -0.44% , Gold -0.20% .

On the commodities front, Oil fell to $85.34 a barrel, while precious metals were mixed, with Gold falling to $1,748.00 an ounce and Silver rising 1.15% to $39.12 an ounce.

Don’t Miss: The 10 Most Indebted Governments in the World.

Today’s markets were up because:

1) Retail sales. In July, retail sales posted their largest gain since March, climbing 0.5% according to the Commerce Department, which released the sales data this morning. Considering that consumer spending accounts for roughly 7o% of the economy, a 0.5% increase in retail sales bodes well for the economy.

2) Short-selling ban. France , Italy , Belgium, and Spain all enacted short-selling bans in order to stabilize European markets amid fears that their banks, especially those in France, are falling short on funding and could be facing downgrades in the near future. Before the movie, European bank stocks were down to their lowest market valuations since the financial crisis. The ban seems to have had its intended effect, with European markets trading up today, especially French bank stocks like BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, both of which have declined significantly in the last month. However, that effect may not last, as short-selling bans tend to be a sign of panic, and a last resort for regulators.

3) Capital goods. The capital goods sector made a particularly good showing today, with gainers far outweighing losers. Some of the most heavily traded stocks today included Caterpillar , Boeing , Honeywell , and United Technologies . Dresser-Rand Group was the best performer in terms of percent gains in the capital goods sector, climbing nearly 7% today.

BONUS: Gold Haters: Contrarian Investing Gone Wrong.’

Europe on the Brink: Does Their Fall Ensure Our Recession?Zacks

Fed Pledge Let's You Know The Fix Is In Forbes Peter Schiff ‘ Last week’s wild actions on Wall Street should serve as a stark reminder that few investors have any clue as to what is really going on beneath the surface of America’s troubled economy. It did bring startling clarity on at least one front. In its August policy statement the Federal Reserve took the highly unusual step of putting a specific time frame for the continuation of its near zero interest rate policy.

Moving past the previously uncertain pronouncements that they would “keep interest rates low for an extended period,” the Fed now tells us that rates will not budge from rock bottom for at least two years. Although the markets rallied on the news (at least for a few minutes) in reality the policy will inflict untold harm on the U.S. economy. The move was so dangerous and misguided that three members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee actually voted against it. This level of dissent within the Fed hasn’t been seen for years.

Many economists have short-sightedly concluded that ultra low interest rates are a sure fire way to spur economic growth. The easier and cheaper it is to borrow, they argue, the more likely business and consumers are to spend. And because spending spurs growth, in their calculation, low rates are always good. But, as is typical, they have it backwards.

I believe that ultra-low interest rates are among the biggest impediments currently preventing genuine economic growth in the US economy. By committing to keep them near zero for the next two years, the Fed has actually lengthened the time Americans will now have to wait before a real recovery begins. Low rates are the root cause of the misallocation of resources that define the modern American economy. As a direct result, Americans borrow, consume, and speculate too much, while we save, produce, and invest too little.

It may come as a shock to some, but just like everything else in a free market, interest rate levels are best determined by the freely interacting forces of supply and demand. In the case of interest rates, the determinative factors should be the supply of savings available to lend and the demand for money by people and business who want to borrow. Many of the beneficial elements of market determined rates are explained in my book How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes. But allowing the government to determine interest rates as a matter of policy creates a number of distortions.

It was bad enough that the Fed held rates far too low, but at least a fig leaf of uncertainty kept the most brazen speculators in partial paralysis. But by specifically telegraphing policy, the Fed has now given cover to the most parasitic elements of the financial sector to undertake transactions that offer no economic benefit to the nation. Specifically, it will simply encourage banks to borrow money at zero percent from the Fed, and then use significant leverage to buy low yielding treasuries at 2 to 4 percent. The result is a banker’s dream: guaranteed low risk profit. In other words it will encourage banks to lend to the government, which already borrows too much, and not lend to private borrowers, whose activity could actually benefit the economy.

This reckless policy, designed to facilitate government spending and appease Wall Street financiers, will continue to starve Main Street of the capital it needs to make real productivity-enhancing investments. American investment capital will continue to flow abroad, denying local business the means to expand and hire. It also destroys interest rates paid to holders of bank savings deposits which traditionally had been a financial pillar of retirees. In addition, such an inflationary policy drives real wages lower, robbing Americans of their purchasing power. The consequence is a dollar in free-fall, dragging down with it the standard of living of average Americans.

Until interest rates are allowed to rise to appropriate levels, more resources will be misallocated, additional jobs will be lost, government spending and deficits will continue to grow, the dollar will keep falling, consumer prices will keep rising, and the government will keep blaming our problems on external factors beyond its control. As the old adage goes, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” ‘

Peter Schiff is CEO of Euro Pacific Capital.

Immolate The IMF
Currency Manipulation

ETFs Step Away From the Fray

Train Reading: The Stock Market Is Insane The Wall Street Journal

‘The stock market has lost its mind — Bethany McLean in Slate

Are US banks turning Japanese? — FT Alphaville

How’s that austerity working out for you, UK? — Econbrowser

Can Jeremy Grantham profit from ecological mayhem? — NY Times Magazine

Authors and critics reveal which lit classics they consider overrated — Slate

It’s not so easy applying Moneyball principles to soccer — WSJ ‘

THE STOCK MARKET HAS LOST ITS MIND — Bethany McLean in Slate Risk On! Do the Fed, computer trading, and a few hedge funds rule the market? That might explain why it's lost its mind. After the madness of last week and the rollercoaster at the beginning of this week, the stock market recovered from its Aug. 10 rout to bounce 423 points on Aug. 11. It was the fourth day in a row in which the index moved by more than 400 points, which has never happened before in history. As I write this, stock prices are leveling off, but the big swings may not be over. Has the market gone mad? Actually, yes.

In theory, the stock market is supposed to reflect the prospects for the economy—the earnings potential of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. But there's more than one reason to believe that what's going on now has little to do with any rational view of the future, and a lot to do with the market itself. "Dip your toes into any risk asset right now and understand that you are not entering into anything remotely resembling a normal market environment," wrote David Rosenberg, the well-respected former Merrill Lynch analyst who is now the chief economist at Canadian firm Gluskin Sheff, in his recent newsletter. "Dysfunctional is more like it."

The first factor to consider is that the huge rebound in stocks and in all sorts of risk assets from the spring of 2009 until May of this year wasn't necessarily driven by a belief that better times were coming. It was driven by a belief that investors had to buy riskier assets given the Fed's determination to hold interest rates near zero. Because investors can't get a return in "safe" assets—indeed, a small return will get chewed up by inflation—they are driven to riskier assets. As more investors pile in, everyone is driven further out along the risk curve.

The Fed intended this to end happily. The fake wealth created by a soaring market was supposed to turn into real wealth, because rich people, who control much of the economy and who have much of their money in the market, were supposed to spend more. But it hasn't worked, partly because of problems in the rest of the world—the tsunami in Japan, the financial crisis that's brewing in Europe—and partly because our own economy is too deep in hock to achieve the necessary stimulus. As Howard Marks, the chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, put it in his recent letter, "The world has awakened to the undesirability of ever-growing government debt."

You can think of the Fed's medicine as a painkiller. It allows everyone to pretend that bad stuff isn't happening, until something shatters the illusion and the comfortable numbness abruptly gives way to panic. There's massive selling. Then the Fed reassures everyone that its toolbox isn't empty just yet—witness the big upturn on Aug. 9 after the Fed said it would likely hold rates near zero until mid-2013 (a worthless prediction if inflation surges)—and the market soars. Risk on!

STOCKS SURGE TO END AN UNBELIEVABLE WEEK: Here's What You Need To Know Business Insider Joe Weisenthal, August 12, 2011, Breathe.But first, the scoreboard:

Dow: 125.67
NASDAQ: 15.21
S&P 500: +6.33

And now, the top stories:

Obviously the story all week has been the extraordinary volatility (each of the first four days was basically either a mini-crash or a surge). Finally that's tapered out (just a little bit), but Europe still saw a massive surge, and the US held on for a decent rally. Click here to see some perspective on this week's extraordinary action >

In Europe, regulators in four countries instituted a partial short-selling ban, and that seemed to help goose the markets to nice gains. But still, massive concerns remain. And this week saw the sharks really begin to swim around France (French banks, in particular), which means the endgame for this crisis has to be fairly near.

Data in the US was interesting and mixed. First we got a really strong retail sales report. Not only did it beat expectations, but prior months were revised upward, which is a big positive for the economy. Then at 9:55 markets fell a bit after UMich Consumer Sentiment came in at its lowest reading since 1980!. Those two points confirmed an ongoing trend: Sentiment is very negative, but actual real economic data (including earnings) have been decent. Something has to give.

The most ominous thing today: The financials. They've been getting killed all week, and even though the broader market was up nicely they had it rough. Morgan Stanley, especially, was sickeningly weak, falling over 6.5%. Bank of America, which lost 20% on Monday lost another 1%. Following the crisis in Europe, the return of 2008-like moves in American banks has to be among the huge worries. One thing that seems possible is that the short-selling ban on financials in Europe is prompting some to short US i-banks as a proxy…’

Withdrawals From Stock Funds Biggest Since ’08 Aug 12th, 2011 15:32 by News (Bloomberg) — Investors pulled the most money from global stock funds since 2008 in the past week as the Standard & Poor’s downgrade of Treasuries and the deepening European debt crisis prompted a flight into cash and gold. Funds that buy global equities suffered $3.5 billion in net withdrawals in the week ended Aug. 10, the most since the second week of October 2008, according to Cameron Brandt, director of research at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based EPFR Global. Investors removed $11.7 billion from funds that invest in U.S. equities, the most since May 2010 when investors pulled money following a one-day market crash that briefly erased $862 billion.“This week had a feeling of capitulation as we saw investors running for cover,” Brandt said in a telephone interview. “The last time we saw this kind of flight to safety” was in 2008, he said.’

U.S. Consumer Confidence Drops to Three-Decade Low Amid Economic Headwinds Aug 12th, 2011 13:10 by News (Bloomberg) — ‘Confidence among U.S. consumers plunged in August to the lowest level since May 1980, adding to concern that weak employment gains and volatility in the stock market will prompt households to retrench.The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment slumped to 54.9 from 63.7 the prior month. The gauge was projected to decline to 62, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.’

(8-12-11) Dow 11,269 +126 Nasdaq 2,508 +15 S&P 500 1,179 +6 [CLOSE- OIL $85.69 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.59 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $3.90 REG./ $4.00 MID-GRADE/$4.10 PREM./ $4.32 DIESELL) / GOLD $1,746 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $39.06 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,792 (+56% for year 2009) Metal News for the Day / DOLLAR= .69 EURO, 76 YEN, .61 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ Interest Rates: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/Pages/TextView.aspx?data=yield 10 YR NOTE YIELD 2.24% AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

Pity the Policymakers July 21st, 2011 by News by Mohamed A. El-Erian (Project Syndicate) — ‘I don’t know about you, but whenever I am in an airplane experiencing turbulence, I draw comfort from the belief that the pilots sitting behind the cockpit’s closed door know what to do. I would feel very differently if, through an open door, I observed pilots who were frustrated at the poor responsiveness of the plane’s controls, arguing about their next step, and getting no help whatsoever from the operator’s manuals. So it is unsettling that policymakers in many Western economies today resemble the second group of pilots. This perception reflects not only the contradictory pronouncements and behavior of policymakers, but also the extent to which economic outcomes have consistently fallen short of their expectations.This perception is evident in Europe, the United States, and Japan, where indicators of economic sentiment are deteriorating again, already-weak recoveries are stalling, and over-stretched balance sheets are becoming even more precarious.’

Greek finance minister brushes off downgrade [ Sounds like a plan! ]

Is America The Next Greece? at Forbes Marc Schindler ‘After many years of overeating (overspending) Greece is in the emergency room with a major financial heart attack and America isn’t far behind.

The doctors (IMF, European finance ministers, the ECB, etc.) are running around trying to save it. Open heart surgery (loans guaranteed by others) has averted the immediate crisis, but Greece is just as overweight today as it was before the crisis. Attempts to lose weight through exercise (austerity measures) cause serious chest pains (riots). The doctors don’t want to admit it, but all signs point to a heart transplant (default) as the only way to get Greece onto its feet again.

Greece isn’t the only one. It is a veritable epidemic. Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and a host of other countries are having chest pains. Iceland is feeling better now with its freshly transplanted heart. The American home owner is still in the hospital from his financial heart attack after gobbling up vast quantities of real estate, and it has been many decades since Uncle Sam last could see his toes.

By most accounts (e.g. here or Bill Gross‘ statements in a recent interview) total hidden government liabilities add up to about $60-$100 trillion. That is on top of the $14 trillion of debt carried on the balance sheet. Adding up those liabilities, the US owes at least five times GDP, which currently sits at about $15 trillion. For comparison, Greece’s debt is about 1.5 times its GDP.

This is not really a fair comparison, because it leaves out any hidden liabilities Greece may have. The US debt figure includes unfunded entitlements, state and local debt, and underfunded public pensions. Nevertheless, it is clear that this is an unsustainable debt load even if the estimates turn out to be off by a factor of two or four.

Uncle Sam is already more overweight than Greece ever was. If he doesn’t change his ways, he will end up in the hospital like Greece, but at present he is partying like there is no tomorrow, gorging himself on entitlement spending, costly wars, bailouts, subsidies, and countless other delicacies.

Perhaps it would not be such a bad thing if the talks about raising the debt limit failed. After Uncle Sam suffers the resulting self-inflicted mild heart attack (temporary default) and finds out how much fun it is to fetch up in the emergency room, he might be more inclined to take care of himself, slim down, and stick with an exercise regime.

Some kind of a wakeup call is necessary while there is still time to deal with our debt problem. The only way to address it is for Washington to do its job: get everybody to recognize that there is a problem, find a solution that demands some sacrifices from everyone, and work together across party lines to implement it. In the current political environment that does not seem to be possible. Something needs to change the environment. Greece shows that the alternative is not pretty.’

Corporate Earnings Soar Amidst a Dismal Job MarketWall St. Cheat Sheet [That game’s about to end! In fact, that game’s over! Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money-- ]

Standing on the precipice – and ready to jump July 21st, 2011 News By Wolfgang Münchau ( Financial Times) — ‘It looks like there will be deal on a eurozone package for Greece. The full details are still missing, but it appears that the eurozone is forcing Greece into a selective default. As part of such a package, short-term Greek debt will be more or less forcibly converted into long-term debt. The wretched bank tax is mercifully off the table. And the European financial stability facility will most likely be allowed to purchase Greek debt at a discount. LET US NOT MINCE WORDS HERE. THIS WOULD BE A DEFAULT, THE FIRST BY A WESTERN INDUSTRIALISED COUNTRY IN A GENERATION. I am not quite sure how it is possible for the European Central Bank to agree to this, or to all of this. But I will surely be intrigued to hear how Jean-Claude Trichet will manage to be consistent with what he said a few days ago. There are also reports that the eurozone leaders may accept a more flexible EFSF beyond those bond purchases.’

State Finances Are Worse Than You Think at Forbes

So Far, Market Ignoring Dire Warnings at Minyanville

The Greater Depression Is Upon Us by David Galland http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/galland34.1.html Casey Research Recently by David Galland: The Road to Perdition ‘The phrase “Greater Depression” was coined by Doug Casey a decade or so back as a way of describing the economic crisis he foresaw as inevitable, and which is now materializing.

Because I think it is important for every organization to constantly challenge its own assumptions, I’ve long acted as something of a devil’s advocate here at Casey Research. By constantly pushing our analysts to revisit their assumptions and calculations, it is my firm intention for us to spot the fork in the road that indicates it is time to shift strategies away from investments designed to do well in the face of a currency debasement and to something else.

Being attentive to that fork in the road is hugely important, because even though we urge our subscribers not to overdo their exposure to inflation hedges, we recognize that many do. Many a good person had their clocks cleaned in the early 1980s solely because they had become overly enamored of their precious metals – so much so that they stopped thinking of them as an asset class and began thinking of them more in the terms one might associate with an amorous dinner date. Thus these investors were utterly unprepared when said date stood up and broke a dinner plate over their heads.

With that brief setup, I want to make our views clear: While we correctly anticipated the recent correction in precious metals, this correction is but a blip in a secular bull market that is very much intact.

Doug Casey has often said that the unfolding crisis is going to be even worse than he expects (which is saying something), and the longer the rest of us at Casey Research study the tea leaves, it is hard to disagree that the Greater Depression is still ahead.

Consider:

THE EUROZONE IS GROWING INCREASINGLY DESPERATE. Watching the heads of Europe dither and debate over further bailouts to the unhappy Greeks and other troubled PIIGS – before ultimately reaching back into the pockets of the equally unhappy citizens in Germany and the decreasing number of still-functioning economies in the eurozone – reminds me of a down-on-his-luck blackjack player. He’s mortgaged his home to play the game but is now down to his last chips. He doesn’t want to risk his remaining resources but has no choice, because to walk away now will mean taking up residence in a cardboard box. And so, reluctantly, he shoves across another pile. The problem is that the game is rigged – and not in his favor. As the PIIGS start to default and either leave the eurozone entirely or are shunted off into some sort of sidecar organization, there will be great volatility in the euro and in the European markets.
THE U.S. DEBT SITUATION IS FAR WORSE THAN ANYONE IN WASHINGTON IS WILLING TO ADMIT. We keep hearing calls for more, not less debt creation. But if people would stop kidding themselves and tally up all the many demands the U.S. government has against it, the actual debt-to-GDP ratio rises to something on the order of 400% – and even that is likely understating things. The fundamental flaws in the U.S. monetary system – flaws that have given license to the bureaucrats to smash the limousine of state straight into a wall – have required a remaking every 20 to 30 years or so. The problem is that there is pretty much nothing else that can be done to save the status quo at this point, and so the monetary system is likely to collapse. That means big changes ahead, including – or perhaps starting with – a poisonous ratcheting up of interest rates.
CHINA’S MIRACLE MIRAGE. While having aspects of a free market, the hard truth is that China is run as a command economy by a cadre of communist holdovers. This is apparent in the cities that have been built for no purpose other than creating jobs and boosting GDP. It is also apparent in the growing inflation in China – the inevitable knock-on of the government’s decision to yank on the levers of money creation harder than any other nation at the onset of the Greater Depression. Meanwhile, signs of social unrest crop up here and there. Though so far they have been swiftly put down, there is no question that the ruling elite has to walk a very fine line. If the Chinese economy stumbles seriously, all bets are off. That we are talking about the world’s second-largest economy means this is not of small consequence.
JAPAN IS ESSENTIALLY OFFLINE. Reports from friends in Japan – including one who was initially skeptical about the scale of the problems at Fukushima – have now changed in tone by 180 degrees. You can almost feel the growing sense of desperation as the already massively indebted nation begins to slide toward an abyss. There is little standing in the way of the world’s third-largest economy’s slide.
THE MIDDLE EAST IS IN FLAMES. This, too, is far from settled. As usual, the U.S. government has been hopping here and there in an attempt to maintain its influence, but at this point pretty much everything is up for grabs. The odds of the U.S. retaining the same level of influence in the region that it has enjoyed over the last century are slim to none, especially now that even the Saudis are shipping more of their oil to China than to the U.S. Again, big changes are ahead…’

Watch Out: 2011 Looks A Lot Like The Market Top In 2007 at Forbes Sean Hanlon Back on December 12, 2007 I wrote a market commentary that started as follows:

The equity markets have been very volatile this year, but also range bound. A picture speaks a thousand words so all one needs to do is view the chart below of the S&P 500 Index to understand just how volatile and range bound things have been. Specifically, since February 20, 2007, only nine and one half months or so ago, the S&P 500 Index has been down 5.86%, up 13.02%, down 9.43%, up 11.26%, down 10.09%,
and now up 7.73% – through 12/10/07 – so far in this
latest up leg! All this in ONLY nine and one half months!

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/advisor/files/2011/07/market-commentary-1.jpg

History is repeating itself so far in 2011, which has been fraught with ups and downs in both international and domestic equity markets. This is due to many things, including the considerable economic doubts and various countries debt situations. This uncertainty has translated into market performance with direct impacts on portfolio returns and more prominently in portfolio volatility. This volatility is best seen in the chart below of the S&P 500 Index beginning 1/1/11.

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/advisor/files/2011/07/market-commentary-2.jpg

2010 ended positivity and the momentum carried into the first two months of 2011 however the end of February began a series of events that led market returns on a whipsaw ride of ups and downs, resulting in the current universal mid-year views of market uncertainty.

What news was associated with this volatility? All the usual; crude oil prices, natural disasters, corporate earnings, politics, economic forecast revisions for both developed and emerging markets, the European debt situation, the United States debt situation and more to name just a few.

One thing is for certain; the current volatile, range bound market activity is difficult at best to profit from. In this investing environment patience is the most important attribute. I will be patient and will be careful until the trends are preferable.

Our strategy at Hanlon Investment Management is to attempt to minimize downside risk by exiting risk asset classes, such as equities, during periods of uncertainty, getting invested in more conservative asset classes, such as money markets and short-term bonds, and re-entering into risky asset classes when we identify them as attractive, when the trend is our friend and positive!

Having identified this volatility, in June we made defensive, tactical investment decisions that provide less exposure to these volatile, range bound markets and prepare us to re-enter the markets when they possess improved risk characteristics.’

Deficit Ceiling and Stocks - Expect the Unexpected ETFguide Simon Maierhofer, July 19, 2011, ‘A number of cliches come to mind when talking about the U.S. debt situation. The most appropriate might be: 'You can't have your cake and eat it too.' The least applicable is probably: 'Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.'

But if you think the U.S. will default on some of its obligations anytime soon, you don't have enough faith in the government's most potent weapon - extend and pretend (another cliche that's become the modus operandi).

Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 separate times to permanently raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit. Chances are Congress will act again before the August 2 deadline. That however isn't good news.

By the end of this article you will know the common sense, no nonsense, deficit ramifications for the stock market and why even 'a deal' isn't good news.

USA Inc. - Income Statement

If the United States was a corporation - USA Inc. - here's what the Income Statement would look like:

Total federal spending in 2010 amounted to $3.456 trillion. Total receipts added up to $2.162 trillion. USA Inc.'s 2010 deficit was $1.294 trillion.

The 2011 federal budget is $3.7 trillion with a projected deficit of$1.6 trillion. But there's no reason to despair, just before April 15,Congressional leaders were able to agree on $39 billion worth of budgetcuts for the remainder of the year.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hailed this heroic effort as a 'historic' level of cuts. To quantify just how 'historic' that effort was we'll put it in percentage terms -1%. The cut amounted to only 1% of the 2011 budget. Apparently it wasn't enough. Thanks to extend and pretend we've arrived at the next deadline.

Stocks Applaud ... and Decline

Keep in mind that back in mid-April when the 'historic' $39 billion cut was hammered out, the S&P was at about 1,300. Following the 'resolution' of the budget problem stocks rallied about 5%.

The April 3 ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter featured the chart below (due to size restrictions the chart had to be reduced). As per the chart and accompanying analysis, the Newsletter expected a rally to the next Fibonacci resistance at 1,369, followed by a bounce off the Fibonacci support at either 1,229 or 1,255 and an attempt to take out the previous high.

http://www.etfguide.com//contributor/UserFiles/8/Image/5%20-%20April%203%20TF.jpg

This outlook was based purely on technical analysis with no regard for the deficit problem or European debt woes (we'll take a look at an updated technical forecast in a moment). The S&P did top at 1,370 on May 2. Thereafter it dropped to 1,259, and tried to take out the previous high (the S&P rallied as high as 1,356 on July 7and stumbled thereafter).

USA Inc. - Balance Sheet

If you think the Income Statement looks bad, you may not want to look at the Balance Sheet. Consensus estimates for unfunded obligations vary. Mary Meeker pegs the shortfall at $31 trillion, PIMCO's Bill Gross estimates the unreported debt to be $75 trillion, while other estimates exceed $100 trillion.

The Deficit and Stocks

When President Obama took office in January 2009, the federal debt was 70% of GDP or $10 trillion. Today the deficit is close to 100% of GDP at $14.3 trillion. As per a recent AP report, President Obama had to scroll down his demands and would now be content with a $2.4 trillion debt ceiling increase to make it last beyond the 2012 elections.

No doubt, the President would like the deficit issue put on hold until he's re-elected. It seems like everyone has an agenda that takes priority over solving the actual debt issue. The whole game could be summed up as White House budget director Jack Lew put it: 'That all these ideas do is say let's kick the can down the road so that others will deal with it.'

This, by the way, is why the pre-election year of the Presidential election year cycles has seen gains consistently since 1939, because the incumbent party will do what it takes to remain in office longer.

A lose-lose Situation

The drawback of the deficit situation is that there is no easy way out. The government has to either cut spending (as in fewer benefits for Americans) or increase revenue (as in higher taxes).

Pick your poison. Either choice will kill the economy. Of course, you can extend and pretend, which is probably what will end up happening. No matter how much lip stick you have at your disposal, a pig remains a pig. The deficit is a big (red) pig.

What is worse, a $14.3 trillion deficit today, or a $16+ trillion deficit (according to Obama's wish) in 2012? Debt is like gangrene, dry rot or mold, it doesn't just go away, it gets worse (ask Greece, Ireland, Portugal or any of the other PIIGS).

Eliminate Variables

Using European (NYSEArca: VGK - News) debt troubles as a benchmark, there hasn't been a direct correlation between U.S. stocks and European debt. To generalize this even further, there hasn't been a real correlation between the U.S. deficit issue and U.S. stocks.

It was in June 2009 that Greece admitted to having a 'small' problem. Stocks rallied throughout the remainder of 2009, most of 2010 and some in 2011. The same is true for the MSCI EAFE ETF (NYSEArca: EFA - News) and Emerging Market ETF (NYSEArca: EEM - News).

Admittedly, the U.S. is a much bigger problem than the PIGGS, but the principal remains the same - basing investment decisions on the outcome of debt negotiations is tricky because the market has a mind of its own.

Since early 2010, every single time the major indexes a la S&P (SNP: ^GSPC), Dow (DJI: ^DJI), and Nasdaq (Nasdaq: ^IXIC) sold off more than a few percent, it's been blamed on Greece. What many don't consider is that the market was helplessly overbought in January, and April 2010 and 2011 and due for a correction anyway. It seems like Greece has been a scapegoat more often than the actual cause. Perhaps it's a game of chicken and the egg. Which came first?

No Chicken-Egg Game

It has been more beneficial and profitable to rely on solid technical analysis rather than playing the chicken and egg game.

Technical analysis along with sentiment readings pegged a market bottom of the same degree at S&P 1,259 - 1,245. That was the opinion of the ETF Profit Strategy Newsletter on June 15 (one day before the 1,258 bottom):

'The 200-day SMA at 1,257 is sandwiched between the 1,255 Fibonacci projection level dating back to 2002 and this week's s1 at 1,259. Wednesday's low was at 1,261.9. If this low is not enough, there is a strong cluster of support at 1,259 - 1,245. A drop into the 1,259 - 1,245 range would prompt us to close out short positions and leg into long positions' (long positions were closed out at S&P 1,345 on July 7).

There was no fundamental good news on June 15 or 16. Some of the headlines featured on June 15 were:

'Is the bull market over? A look at four different sentiment measures suggests that more pain may await investors.' - Barrons

'Greek default could trigger chain reaction' - AP

'Confidence is eroding among U.S. factories, consumers' – Bloomberg …’

Fed Keeping Market Afloat: QE Rally Not Sustainable http://regator.com/p/252365030/fed_keeping_market_afloat_qe_rally_not_sustainable By Matthew Claassen

Financial Crisis Phase II Is Ahead at Forbes Bert Dohmen ‘ In late 2007, I wrote the book Prelude To Meltdown, predicting the global crisis that occurred the following year. I now see a similar confluence of events that warns of phase II of the global crisis.

Once again I see all the “canaries in the mine,” which warned of the 2008 crisis. My just released book, Financial Apocalypse , provides the clues and the road map, with charts, of how my indicators successfully predicted the meltdown that occurred in the fall of 2008. This book is a guide for detecting the next crisis whenever it occurs. History repeats, or at minimum, it rhymes.

My work shows that “the new recession has started.” The May 9 issue of the Wellington Letter was headlined: “Return of the Double-Dip.” At the time, economists were looking for a great economy in the second half. Now they talk about a “soft patch.” Over the past 33 years, we have called the start of every recession, often on the exact month, or within one month, of the official start as determined one year later by the official arbiter of recession, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

How can we be in recession now when the GDP still shows growth? Because of improper inflation adjustments. “Real” GDP growth, the headline number, is nominal growth minus the rate of inflation. However, inflation is far understated for political reasons.

Currently, the GDP deflator is 1.8%, which hardly reflects the true rise in prices. Therefore, what is counted as “growth,” is actually price increases. Actual inflation, according to free market economists who calculate inflation as it was done in 1980 before the politician re-engineered it, is now more than 11%. Using that to adjust GDP for inflation, would show that the economy is now in a very sharp contraction.

When the current euphoric earnings forecasts of Wall Street finally reflect that via significant “earnings downgrades,” the stock market will see a serious “adjustment” as well.

On July 18, Goldman Sachs (GS) substantially lowered its economic growth forecast. Marketwatch.com had this headline: Goldman Sachs slashes Economic Forecasts. The next step will be for them to substantially reduce earnings forecasts for the S&P 500.

Will the phase II be as bad as the 2008 crisis? The last crisis was confined to the private sector, i.e. financial institutions. The next one will be involve the threatened default of entire countries. The last time, the central banks bailed out the financial firms and even Warren Buffett bailed out several firms. Who is big enough to bail out entire countries? Or will the term of “too big to fail” turn to “too big to bail?”

Bert Dohmen is editor of the Wellington Letter and author of Financial Apocalypse.’

Retail Sales: The "Real" Consumer Remains in a Recession Doug Short Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/author/doug-short#ixzz1TAkuAIOK

3 Top Crooks Still Roaming Free After the Economic Crash Wall St. Cheat Sheet July 25, 2011, The global economy and stock markets took a nose dive in 2008. But that hasn’t stopped some of the biggest masterminds from escaping a day of luxury.

Here are three financial crooks who are probably sipping daiquiris in Capri at our expense:

Lehman Brothers CEO Richard S. Fuld, Jr.

Few executives were as intimately and extensively involved in the downfall of their firms as Dick Fuld . At the time of the financial collapse, Fuld had worked for Lehman Brothers for nearly 40 years, and had been the firm’s chief executive since 1994. In that role, not only was he the longest-tenured CEO on Wall Street at the time of the financial crisis, but he was considered one of the best. He was named Institutional Investor magazine’s top chief executive in the private sector in 2006. The following year, he was paid more than $21 million in cash and stock on top of his base salary of $750,000 a year after the bank’s net profit rose 5% to a record $4.2 billion. And as recently as March 2008, Barron’s listed him on their list of the 30 best CEOs, referring to him as “Mr. Wall Street”.

When the financial crisis hit, Fuld was one of the few executives to hold onto his position. He counted himself responsible for the company, but didn’t realize just how much real estate loans and other toxic assets were weighing on his balance sheet. Instead, he remained confident in the firm that he helped grow from a negative profit in 1993. His hubris can somewhat be understood, given the firm hadn’t reported a single quarterly loss since it went public. But Fuld was wrong. He overestimated the value of his firm, rejecting offers that could have saved it from collapse because they didn’t adequately reflect what he felt the firm was worth.

We know that sub-prime mortgages were almost solely responsible for the financial crisis, and a large part of the Wall Street’s fourth-largest investment bank’s worth was held in its mortgage business, where mortgages were re-packaged and sold to other investors, often for more than they were really worth. In fact, Lehman was the top U.S. underwriter of mortgage bonds in 2006 and 2007, accounting for roughly 10% of the market. As CEO, Fuld was responsible for buying those assets, which ultimately became toxic and impossible to unload. But whether or not Fuld can be held wholly responsible for the firm’s loan practices, he can be held responsible for the firm’s bankruptcy. As late as August 2008, after many CEOs had already been forced to resign, he rejected an offer by state-run Korea Development Bank to buy a 25% stake in Lehman for $4 billion to $6 billion.

There’s no question that the firm Fuld helped build, that he’d been a part of since 1969, where he held the top position for 14 years, was criminally responsible for the financial crisis. In fact, it may be the most culpable, given the sheer volume of sub-prime mortgages underwritten by Lehman in the years leading up to the market collapse. On September 15, Lehman became the largest firm to file for bankruptcy in history, dealing a devastating blow to an already fragile financial system. A few weeks later, Fuld was summoned to appear before Congress as part of an inquisition. He was also investigated by three United States Attorneys offices in New York and New Jersey. But ultimately Fuld walked away from Lehman Brothers having pocketed nearly $500 million just in his last six years with the firm, years during which Lehman’s sub-prime mortgage practice was contributing to what would ultimately cost taxpayers $700 billion in a government-issued bank bailout program. Fuld was never charged with or convicted of any crimes.

AIG Financial Products CEO Joseph J. Cassano

As a founding member and head of AIG Financial Products, Joe Cassano was responsible for selling hundreds of billions of dollars worth of credit protection in the form of credit-default swaps (CDS) on U.S. sub-prime mortgages, a form of insurance that didn’t require that AIG put down any form of collateral. So when the financial crisis hit in 2008 and investment banks requested the insurance money for their collapsing derivatives, AIG was unable to pay what was owed and ultimately had to be bailed out by the government, receiving about $170 billion in taxpayer money.

Cassano resigned from his position at AIG FP in March 2008, having pocketed $280 million in cash and an additional $34 in bonuses. He even managed a $1 million-a-month retirement package that kept him on at AIG as a “consultant”. Cassano even went on record denying any fault on the part of AIG, saying,

“We believed until late 2005 that banks and other mortgage originators were applying appropriate standards when writing mortgages. When we recognized — well before many others — that changes in the mortgage market likely presented increased risk for future deals, we decided to exit the subprime business. We thought the decision was appropriate, despite the lost profits at the time. With hindsight, the decision looks even more prudent.”

Cassano went so far as to blame the bailout for losses on CDS contracts, saying there would have been few, if any, had they not been unwound by the bailout. Testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Cassano fully defended his firm’s CDS practices, outlining the careful approval and monitoring system that, “specifically identified risk factors and provided an analysis of those risks.” Cassano insisted that AIG had not miscalculated the risks of sub-prime mortgages.

However, Cassano was directly responsible for AIG’s credit-default swaps program that put the firm’s many clients, including Goldman Sachs, in danger when it was unable to pay out on insurance claims. He essentially sold billions of dollars worth of vapor — he failed to provide what had been paid for by the firm’s clients. That sounds remarkably like fraud, the grounds upon which many investors have filed suit against Cassano. In fact, regulators in both the U.S. and the U.K. investigated Cassano’s acts to determine whether they had been criminal. But like just about every executive responsible for the financial crisis, Cassano was not ultimately charged with any wrongdoing, and remains a free man.

Countrywide Financial Chairman and CEO Angelo Mozilo

Ranked second by Condé Nast Portfolio on their list of the “Worst American CEOs of All Time”, Angelo Mozilo was charged in 2009 of insider trading and securities fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mozilo personally sold hundreds of millions of dollars in stock while using shareholder funds to buy back stock to support the share price. He is also responsible for what has been termed the “Friends of Angelo” VIP program under which several influential lawmakers, including Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, as well as many Fannie Mae employees and other “Friends of Angelo”, received discounted mortgages.

However, Mozilo was allowed to settle with the SEC on all charges. He agreed to pay $67.5 million in fines, the most ever exacted from an individual in connection with the 2008 financial crisis, and he was banned from ever serving as an officer or director of any other public company. Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said that “Mozilo’s record penalty is the fitting outcome for a corporate executive who deliberately disregarded his duties to investors by concealing what he saw from inside the executive suite.” But in settling, Mozilo was able to avoid a trial and any subsequent criminal charges, and was not required to acknowledge any wrongdoing.

Mozilo’s net worth has been estimated at roughly $600 million. And because of the indemnification agreement in his contract with Countrywide, the firm was responsible for paying roughly one-third of his fines, leaving Mozilo with a bill of $47.5 million — that’s less than 10% of his worth. Aside from Bernie Madoff, the only executive tied to the financial crisis to be criminally prosecuted and convicted, Mozilo’s settlement is the greatest punishment inflicted on any executive responsible for the country’s economic collapse, and falls desperately short of true justice.’

Debt, Deficits and the Demise of the American Economy' - Author Peter Tanous Discusses Risk

US Equities Forecast and the Anticipated Path of the Market at Minyanville Peter Prudden July 25, 2011 ‘… the headline risk remains to the downside and the bogey to lower equity prices in the short to intermediate term is concentrated on the U.S. Debt ceiling. At some point, not only must all developed economies deal with marking down to the level of income, but we must restructure large amounts of excess leverage. Until we accomplish this, growth will be problematic…’

Putin says U.S. is "parasite" on global economy [Unfortunately, this is very true. More unfortunately is the fact that most worldwide don’t realize that fact! I mean, think about it: pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america’s cancerous perma wars, over-printed debased ‘Weimar’ paper ‘reserve’ currency, huge frauds in securities and otherwise, etc.. ]

3 Reasons Why This Summer Could Get Ugly Simon Maierhofer, July 29, 2011 [ Well, before getting to the article, we all know why: because … ‘Sell in May, and go away!’ … Quite simple, as previously set forth here and elsewhere, you should have ‘sold in May, and went away!’ Why? Because … as Rosanne Rosanna Danna formerly of SNL fame and as her mama always used to say, ‘it’s always somethin’’ … but unfortunately, that somethin’ is not necessarily what they say it is. ] ‘It seems like the European Union and U.S. government are stuck in a never ending game of Whac-A-Mole. It seems like more moles are popping up more quickly, needing more force to be subdued (ironically the moles come back just as the problems do)…’

Mapping the Myths of the U.S. Economy - Stacy Curtin ‘In The Real State of America Atlas: Mapping the Myths and Truths of the United States, authors Cynthia Enloe and Joni Seager paint a vivid picture of life in the U.S., using a series of charts, graphics and short essays that cover almost every aspect of the nation's economy and society as a whole.

Not only do they give state-by-state comparisons, they show how the U.S. measures up to the rest of the world in areas such as health care, housing and defense. But while analyzing what it's really like to live in the U.S. today, they also uncovered a few "myths and truths" as the title of the book suggests.

Enloe and Seager joined The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task to share three of the most surprising misconceptions they uncovered.

#1 Land of Homeowners

The dream of owning a home is actually more the reality in other countries. In the book, the authors point to the most recent data, which show only 68% of Americans owned their home in 2002, compared with 92% in Hungry, 84% in Mexico, 72% in the U.K. and 71% in Australia.

"One of the things that is a cherished notion about America is we are a nation of homeowners, and homeownership has long been seen as kind of the bedrock of the American dream," says Seager. "I think the current economic crisis and the housing crisis is really shaking that American cherished view of ourselves as having easy access to homeownership."

This is evident in another stat laid out in the book, which shows 83% of people agreed that buying a home was a safe investment in 2003, compared with 70% in 2010. (See: Why I Am Never Going to Own a Home Again) { Home ownership hits lowest level since 1965 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Les Christie August 5, 2011 As the foreclosure crisis continues to wreak havoc on the housing market, a source of national pride has taken a sour turn. Home ownership is on the decline and, according to a recent Morgan Stanley report…’ }

#2 Land of Opportunity

Just like the ideal of owning a home, opportunity in this country is now also on the brink.

"Opportunity in this country means a chance for an education … [and] a chance for a decent job that allows you to have a decent life," says Enloe, who points to two key factors that hinder people making it here in America.

The cost of a college education continues to rise year after year.

The unemployment rate remains high at 9.2%, but it doesn't factor in the millions of "underemployed" workers -- those who are currently working part-time but would like full-time work -- and discouraged workers who have tired of looking for a job and have just dropped out of the job market.

#3 Land of Givers

While the U.S. does give more money in foreign aid than any other country in the world, as a percentage of GDP it falls way behind many other nations.

Whereas Sweden gives almost 1% of its GDP in 2008, the U.S. gave 0.19%.

"I think it really should shake Americans' self-perception of two things," says Enloe. "[One] is cutting foreign aid actually the ticket to balancing the budget, but also how do we shape up compared to other countries' generosity?" ’

Debt Deal Is A Blank Check at Forbes

U.S. Economic Pessimism Grows - Stacy Curtin ‘While Democrats and Republicans were arguing over how to prevent the U.S. from a default, families across the country have become increasingly concerned about the overall state of the economy, according to the American Enterprise Institute's latest compilation of recent polls taken in various regions.

Friday's worse than expected GDP numbers only reaffirm this notion. The U.S. economy grew less than expected in the second quarter at 1.3%, but the bigger shock came after Q1 GDP was revised down to 0.4% from 1.9%. These numbers suggest the country could be headed for another recession and Americans are definitely feeling the pain. (See: 2011 Is Proving to Be a Horrible Year For the Economy)

One of the most disconcerting findings in the AEI report is a CBS/New York Times poll from June. It showed that over the last year, more Americans have come to believe the current economic downturn is part of a long-term permanent decline and that the economy will never fully recover. In October 2010, 28% of respondents agreed with that statement, versus 39% last month.

"Americans are so pessimistic about the economy now ... . And the level of public pessimism is actually higher than the deep 1981-82 recession overall," due to grim personal outlooks on a number of issues like jobs, retirement and health care, says Karlyn Bowman, a senior fellow at AEI who co-authored the report. "Their negative sentiments are affecting the way they feel about their family's future, and interestingly, the way they feel about their state governments. Usually negative attitudes about the national government don't seep into attitudes about the state government, but this time it is really different. This negative, gloomy mood is pervasive.

Speaker of the House John Boehner echoed these concerns Thursday before one of the many failed House votes to raise the country's debt ceiling. "This is a challenging time for our country," he said. "Americans are worried about their jobs. They're worried about our economy. And they're worried about our debt."

Since the polls in the report were conducted before the debt-ceiling debate really began heating up over the last few weeks, one might conclude that if the same questions were asked today the responses would be even more pessimistic.

Here are other key findings from the AEI report:

Job anxiety: In the past six months, about 5% of Americans surveyed had lost their job, two in 10 said a family member had lost a job, and six in 10 knew someone who lost a job.

In June 2011, 58 percent were very or somewhat worried they could lose a job in the next 12 months. Nearly eight in 10 say jobs are difficult to find where they live. Around a quarter are worried about benefit or pay cuts.

Cutting back: Americans are cutting back on everything from health care to haircuts. Fewer than four in 10 say their personal financial situation is in excellent or good shape right now. Almost as many people say they are falling behind as believe they are getting ahead, but the vast majority describe their financial situation as having just enough money to maintain their standard of living. Inflation worries are high and steady.

Retirement: There's been a dramatic drop in the number of Americans who say they have enough money to retire. In 2002, around six in 10 believed they would have enough money. In the latest survey by Gallup in April, only about four in 10 say they will.’

10 Reasons We Are Heading for a Recession

USAGOLD RoundTable: Debt Ceiling “Resolution” – EU Sovereign Debt Crisis Aug 3rd, 2011 15:53 by News We’re pleased to present our latest RoundTable video discussion with our staff experts George Cooper, Peter Grant and Jonathan Kosares {Immediate access here} Excerpt: Now that the debt ceiling debate is over, and the dust is settling, the market is beginning to get a picture of what, if anything, was accomplished, and can be expected moving forward. The $2 trillion in cuts over ten years amounts to a small dent in our annual deficit, suggesting that the U.S. will continue to increase its debt to GDP ratio over the coming decade. The cuts suggested will merely slow, not reverse, this trend. In the end, this debt deal is nothing more than a giant kick of the can down the road, and a short road at that. The hike to the debt ceiling looks to only buy about six months, so this issue is set to be revisited next year. The market has digested this “resolution” as such, and gold has responded sharply higher, rising $60 in two days. The DOW meanwhile has come under significant pressure, shedding over 800 points in a week. Things across the pond are not looking any better. The credit facility set up by the ECB is insufficient at best, and contagion remains an enormous risk. Spreads on sovereign debt in Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal and Ireland are at or near all time highs. As talks of dramatically expanding the credit facility heat up, we’re left to wonder if its even possible for Europe to “go big enough” to calm market jitters. With Peter Grant, George Cooper, and Jonathan Kosares. (24 min) The Daily Market Report Aug 1st, 2011 12:01 by PG Relief? What Relief? http://www.usagold.com/cpmforum Late last night when party leaders and the President announced that they had reached a bipartisan deal that would allow the debt ceiling to be raised, gold dropped about 1%. Global stocks rallied in relief and briefly, ever so briefly, gold was out of favor. However, as the details were revealed, doubts were reignited: Doubts as to whether such legislation could actually make it to the President’s desk. Doubts that the deal would avert a downgrade of US sovereign debt.While the CBO scores the package as accomplishing $2.1 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10-years, the CBO baseline also has the deficit rising $6.7 trillion over the same period. The premise apparently being that we’re working our way to actual cutting by cutting to slow the pace of the nation’s proliferate spending. In actuality — and as evidenced below — that CBO baseline may prove to be way too optimistic.What really lit an intraday fire under gold today was the big miss on US July ISM, which plunged to 50.9. The market was expecting a modest downtick to 55.0 from 55.3 in June. On the heals of last week’s much weaker than expected quarterly GDP data, it has become abundantly apparent that the US economy has slowed to just above stall-speed. David Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff and Associates, noted last week that once the economy slows to a growth rate of 1.6% it has proven historically to be a “point of no return” and recession follows. With Q1 downgraded to just 0.36% and Q2 an anemic 1.3% — and likely subject to future negative revision as well — the writing may well be on the wall.The debt deal is a short-term kick of the can that at least initially focuses on spending cuts. However, with no mitigation of the uncertainties that have kept private capital sidelined for the past two-years of the so-called recovery, there is little reason to think that a more robust economy is just around the corner. In fact, the opposite may be true. That realization, tipped in by the ISM data, has further escalated the QE3 talk, which prompted gold to retest the record high set Friday at 1632.39. Relief? What relief?If we get another negative surprise on Friday when July nonfarm payrolls comes out, as the ISM employment index suggests we might, the QE3 talk will intensify ever more in the weeks ahead of the Fed’s Jackson Hole summit. Consensus on July payrolls are running around +100k, although we could see some tempering of those expectations in light of the ISM data.Even with the announcement of the debt ceiling deal, the dollar remains on the ropes, falling to new record lows against the Swiss franc and the yen. If this deal makes it through both Houses of Congress and is signed by the President, it is just another kick of the can — and a very short one at that — down the road. And with the specter of yet another round of quantitative easing hanging over the market, there is little incentive to buy dollars. Now the BoJ is once again contemplating direct intervention in the market, as I suspect the SNB is. If there are concerted efforts to slow the rise of these currencies, it may make gold an even more alluring option.’

S&P downgrades US credit rating from AAA The United States has lost its sterling credit rating from Standard & Poor's.

U.S. triple-A debt rating cut by Standard & Poor’s Aug 5, 2011 The United States late Friday lost its triple-A debt rating from Standard & Poor’s for the first tie ...

Text of S&P downgrade of U.S. rating 06 Aug 2011 The following is the text of Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the United States. ...

S&P Shocks the U.S. with Credit Downgrade to AA+ from Prestigious AAA Rating Wall St. Cheat Sheet August 5, 2011,

‘Standard & Poor’s is out with an official downgrade of the U.S. credit rating:

• We have lowered our long-term sovereign credit rating on the United States of America to ‘AA+’ from ‘AAA’ and affirmed the ‘A-1+’ short-term rating.

• We have also removed both the short- and long-term ratings from CreditWatch negative.

• The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.

• More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.

• Since then, we have changed our view of the difficulties in bridging the gulf between the political parties over fiscal policy, which makes us pessimistic about the capacity of Congress and the Administration to be able to leverage their agreement this week into a broader fiscal consolidation plan that stabilizes the government’s debt dynamics any time soon.

• The outlook on the long-term rating is negative. We could lower the long-term rating to ‘AA’ within the next two years if we see that less reduction in spending than agreed to, higher interest rates, or new fiscal pressures during the period result in a higher general government debt trajectory than we currently assume in our base case.

Investing Insights: Is the Debt Ceiling Raise Bullish for Gold?’

13 Reasons Why The U.S. Is Now OFFICIALLY BANKRUPT Daily Bail | Stop the budget lies; there are NO cuts. House passes bill to INCREASE spending by $7 trillion over the next 10 years. ATTENTION IDIOTS IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA – Stop The Budget Lies – There Are NO Cuts – House Passes Bill To INCREASE Spending By $7 Trillion Over The Next 10 Years

Lies, Damn Lies And Government Budgets

I am so pissed off by the misreporting I could spit Ken Lewis hairballs.

#1) Corporate journalists and financial pundits know NOTHING about budgets.

#2) The Boehner led House passed legislation this evening that INCREASES spending by $7 TRILLION over the next ten years versus a baseline budget that would have increased spending by $9.5 TRILLION over the same period.

#3) CBO said today that LESS than 2% of the decrease in the GROWTH of spending will come before the 2012 elections. The remainder come after the election.

#4) Defense and war machine spending will grow at 3% per year instead of 4% per year.

#5) This was nothing but an agreement to agree at a later date to look for reductions in planned spending GROWTH.

#6) A Super Congress will decide on a mix of tax increases and reductions in planned spending growth to meet the targets at a later date.

#7) No one in Congress even considered Ron Paul’s simple plan, now endorsed by Time Magazine as well as liberal economist Dean Baker, to wipe out $1.6 trillion in fake debt owned by the Federal Reserve. Debt that we owe to ourselves, that is entirely legal to wipe away.

#8.) CBO says under this plan, the national debt will INCREASE from $14.4 TRILLION currently to more than $25 TRILLION over the next 10 years.

#9) The assumption for #8 above assumes the economy grows at 3% per year over the next 10 years, and that Treasury interest rates stay at historic lows. When rates increase, and bet your life that they will, interest on the debt will increase and so will annual deficits, leading to a national debt much higher than the $25 TRILLION that CBO estimates.

#10) Regarding Treasury rates and interest on the debt, get educated about a concept called ‘DURATION RISK.’ Turbo Geithner and his MENSA bed-fellows at Treasury have chosen to finance the great majority of recent and future borrowing in short-term bills, which means that they have to be rolled over frequently. This is perhaps the least-discussed and most dangerous issue related to Treasury debt.

#11) If S&P or Moody’s has the sack to downgrade the U.S. AAA rating, a Sovereign CDS default will be triggered and Global Financial Armageddon will be unleashed.

#12) The bill passed by Boehner tonight was the BEST they could do after 6 weeks of fighting.

#13) Due to #12, the United States is officially f*cked.

Thank you and good night.’

US Closer to ‘Junk Bond’ Status Than Triple-A: Bove Aug 9th, 2011 14:41 by News August 9 (CNBC) — ‘ “You’ve got a company which is losing about $1.4 trillion this year, probably will lose somewhere around a trillion dollars over the next couple of years. It owes $14.4 trillion (and) over the next five years that will get up to $20 trillion,” the Rochdale Securities analyst said.“So there’s no likelihood whatsoever that this particular company is able to pay down from its own resources the amount of debt that it has, nor is there any likelihood that it’s going to get rid of its deficit,” he added. “If that was a real company, of course, that would be a junk bond.”“I still would expect to see a thousand-point down day at some point in this market as people come to realize there has been a complete change in the financial structure of the world,” he said’

If U.S. Slides Into Recession, S&P 500 Could Drop To 830 at Forbes [The pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt u.s. is already in recession (actually worse)! Financial Crisis Phase II Is Ahead at Forbes Bert Dohmen ‘ In late 2007, I wrote the book Prelude To Meltdown, predicting the global crisis that occurred the following year. I now see a similar confluence of events that warns of phase II of the global crisis… My work shows that “the new recession has started.”… Over the past 33 years, we have called the start of every recession, often on the exact month, or within one month, of the official start as determined one year later by the official arbiter of recession, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)… However, inflation is far understated for political reasons. Currently, the GDP deflator is 1.8%, which hardly reflects the true rise in prices. Therefore, what is counted as “growth,” is actually price increases. Actual inflation, according to free market economists who calculate inflation as it was done in 1980 before the politician re-engineered it, is now more than 11%. Using that to adjust GDP for inflation, would show that the economy is now in a very sharp contraction…’FLASHBACK HERE: Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding Remember: Sell in May and Go Away and If You’ve Not Sold by June, You’re a Loon! ‘ ‘Albert Edwards: Thinks the Market Could Fall 70%’ PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows Stock Market: 4 Current Warning Signs Navin ‘…1) The 5-year high in the level of insider corporate stock sales is telling. At 565 sells for every 1 buy, it’s never been higher. Why The Dow Will Plunge To 7,000 By 24/7 Wall St. S&P Poised For Dropoff, Says Initial Jobless Claims Forbes / Maureen Farrell ]

3 Ring Circus: Geithner, Buffett, and Obama Wall St. Cheat Sheet ‘…Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner , who said last April that there was no risk the U.S. could loose its AAA credit rating, voiced his thoughts on the downgrade. He said, “ They’ve handled themselves very poorly, and they’ve shown a stunning lack of knowledge about the basic U.S. fiscal budget math.” What exactly are they misunderstanding? The U.S. is the largest debtor nation in the world, and spending outlays vastly outnumber revenue. Geithner went on to say that U.S. bonds were just as safe after the downgrade as before, and predicted that China and investors would remain strong buyers of government debt.On Monday morning, with stock futures heading sharply lower, Warren Buffett tried to inject confidence into the financial markets. Buffett explained that he believes the U.S. debt is still rated AAA, and the downgrade does not change his mind about government debt. In fact, the legendary investor holds $47 billion in cash and equivalents as of June 30th. He said, “ If I have to buy Treasuries at zero percent yield, I will.” At least the large cash hoard shows that Buffett puts his money where his mouth is. However, one also has to wonder if Buffett’s shareholdings in Moody’s , a rival credit agency to S&P, has anything to do with his criticism of S&P. To add fuel to the fire, S&P also cut Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway outlook from stable to negative.Not to be outdone by Warren Buffett’s AAA endorsement, President Obama made a public announcement of his own on Monday. Despite America’s financial hardship across the board, the President said, “ I’d give U.S. a quadruple-A rating.” This was puzzling for many reasons ( besides the fact there is no quadruple-A rating). America has a hard enough time keeping its AA+ or AAA rating, let alone achieving some pipe dream quadruple-A rating. S&P may be the credit agency causing controversy now, but it’s not the only credit agency to downgrade America. China’s credit rating agency Dagong , recently cut America’s debt rating from A+ to A, with a negative outlook. Dagong had already cut America’s credit rating last November from AA to A+ after QE2 was announced.By the end of Monday, it was announced that the Senate banking committee had started a probe into the downgrade actions of S&P. However, the damage is already done, confidence is broken in the markets. Gold constantly reaching new highs is a clear example of this. Perhaps the Senate banking committee should probe Fitch and Moody’s and investigate why they still have AAA ratings on U.S. debt?...’

Edwards says this has nothing to do with that downgrade http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/08/09/648126/edwards-says-this-has-nothing-to-do-with-that-downgrade

Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Aug 09 2011

Thought the current turmoil was down to the downgrade of US debt? Wrong!

According to Societe Generale’s uber bear, Albert Edwards, this has absolutely nothing to do with S&P, the White House, Tea Party etc. It’s the economy stupid:

The simple fact is that the global economy is falling back into recession or indeed is already in recession. Equity markets were sliding before the downgrade and bond yields were reacting as one would have expected to the dire economic data. The S&P downgrade may have caused the breach of critical support levels of 1250 on the S&P, but anything could have caused that breach and triggered the technical rout. Expect some sort of retest of this neckline before the market ultimately meets its date with destiny.

Recent US GDP revisions revealed QE2 to be an abject failure as far as producing an economic recovery is concerned with dire 0.9% annualised growth reported in H1 2011. Yet to a man with a hammer, everything is a nail. Hence despite rising core inflation, there is certainly a level of economic and/or market pain to prompt QE3. But expect the real fireworks to occur when the adrenalin rush of QE3 wears off even quicker than QE2.

There are still some diehard ‘happy clappies’ out there who think we are going to avert recession and the markets will recover. Yet US GDP growth has now fallen below the wellknown 2% stall speed, below which the economy does not seem to be able to regain altitude but instead crashes directly into recession.

Which means it’s time to come to terms with the fact that recession 2.0 (or was it ever really a recovery?) is on its way whether you like it or not:

At the current (Q2) rate of 1.6% yoy GDP growth, my fellow bear (realist?), David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff, points out in the chart below that a US recession is almost certainly a done deal (never say certain, as in 1956, when recession was temporarily averted for all of nine months). But with this sort of record the onus is now on the optimists to demonstrate why on earth they still believe in a second-half recovery and growth in 2012.

Now, anyone who bought into the dulcet tones of the bullish brigrade is likely to do very badly. A fact which will come as hubris. In Edwards’ opinion if you were dumb enough to listen to that story, well… you reap what you sow:

And in the same way that a country is said to get the government it deserves, I believe the market gets the macro commentators it deserves: i.e. perpetually bullish analysts, taking no personal risk with their never-ending consensus chatter.

After all it was always pretty obvious what was going to happen.

It was just a question of when, rather than if:

Put into its proper Ice Age context, the events of the past decade are entirely explicable. As we see a short-lived economic recovery failing only two years into the cycle and a plunge back into recession, we remind investors that this was exactly the Ice Age template that Japan showed us. A fragile recovery undermined by private sector deleveraging collapses as a semi-bankrupt government tries to rein in runaway deficits.

What next? Well, it’s Ice Age 3.

Here’s how it goes and this is very much of the moment (especially if you are a London resident):

We are now entering the third phase of the Ice Age when another cyclical failure combines with a secular de-rating of equities and re-rating of government bonds. I and many others have been pointing out for a long time now the simple fact that the global economy has been living way beyond its means for years. A massive transfer of income to the very rich has occurred while middle class real incomes stagnated. The middle classes only tolerated this because Central Bankers created housing booms to keep the impoverished middle classes borrowing and spending to give them the illusion of prosperity and stop them from revolting.

I believe the Fed and Bank of England, in particular, were wholly complicit in this ‘daylight robbery’ (see link). These unsustainable private sector, debt mountains were transferred to the public sector in 2008 to prevent the adjustment to the depression-era reality that the debt unwind would undoubtedly have brought about. Yet, those debts are as unsustainable in the hands of the public sector as they were in the private sector.

Central bank polices haven’t changed though. Print and print and print. And if that doesn’t work, print some more. And as London burns, the point I have always made is that the US and UK are not like Japan in one very special way. Although Japan suffered a decade of pain it is a very homogenous, equal society. The UK and US are not. Some readers may not know that rioting and looting has broken out around London. While I hear the UK politicians denounce the looters as common criminals (which of course they are), I can’t help but think that Louis XVI in 1789 and Tsar Nicolas II in 1917 might have said the same thing.

Crikey,

Here comes the revolution. Prepare.’

Fed Move, Pavlovian Market Response: Reactions The Wall Street Journal Mark Gongloff ‘Paul Krugman scoffs at the Fed-fueled rally:

The Fed didn’t announce a new policy. And despite what some press reports said, it didn’t even commit to keeping rates low; all it did was say that if the economy stays weak, rates will stay low — well, duh — and that it might think about doing other stuff one of these days.

Tyler Durden is amazed:

Following a 600 point plunge in the DJIA yesterday, today we see a 400 point surge following the presentation of the weak case of the expected Bernanke Put. And completing the amazement, the 10 Year bond, moved to almost record lows, and then retraced virtually the entire move, as nobody knows what central planning has in store for America any longer. Additionally, after being up 50%, VIX is now down 22%. Congratulations Ben: in taking central planning to n^th double-down levels, you have now broken not only the stock, but the bond market as well…’

2011 By EconMatters: Markets saw the worst day since the 2008 financial crisis on Monday, August 8th, the first trading day since Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States' credit rating. Under the weight of a possible twin crisis in Europe and in the U.S., Dow Jones industrial plunged 634 points. Stocks have lost 15% of their value in just two and a half weeks. On a day like this, who else other than Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, would be more appropriate to appear on Bloomberg to talk about the aftermath of the U.S. debt downgrade... Faber indicates a bear market already started on May 2, 2011…’

The 10 Most Indebted Governments in the World http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/the-10-most-indebted-governments-in-the-world.html ‘…Coming in first place is Japan (NYSE:EWJ), with a whopping $13.795 trillion in debt, just short of the the $14.27 trillion in debt the U.S. carries .. Coming in second against Japan in terms of its debt-to-GDP ratio is Greece, where debt is a relatively low 139% of GDPHot Feature: Who Owns U.S. Debt? Following Greece on the list is Italy (NYSE:EWI), then Iceland, Belgium, Ireland, and the U.S. So why isn’t Japan enduring the same kind of financial crisis that so many countries with significantly less debt are currently facing? The answer is simple: Japan owes most of its debt to itself. In comparison, the U.S. owes about 30% of its debt to foreign investors, with China (NYSE:FXI) holding $1.1 billion in U.S. debt, more than any other country…’

Fear Index VIX Up 50%, And In Backwardation, Confirms Fully Fledged Bear Market Volatility slapped markets in the face on Monday, surging 50% in its biggest one-day move since February 2007. Furthermore, the whole VIX futures curve has been inverted and is in backwardation, indi...

The Entire World Is Going Bear Market Business Insider | A scary aspect of this selloff: There’s nowhere safe.

8 More Reasons Why You Should Be Deeply Concerned That The U.S. Government Has Lost Its AAA Credit Rating The Economic Collapse | Are you ready for part two of the global financial collapse? When we examine this “deal” that way, what does it look like? The Economic Collapse Aug 9, 2011 ‘Are you ready for part two of the global financial collapse? Many now fear that we may be on the verge of a repeat of 2008 after the events of the last several days. On Friday, Standard & Poor’s stripped the U.S. government of its AAA credit rating for the first time in history. World financial markets had been anticipating a potential downgrade, but that still didn’t stop panic from ensuing as this week began. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 634.76 points, which represented a 5.5 percent plunge. It was the largest one day point decline and the largest one day percentage decline since December 1, 2008. Overall, stocks have fallen by about 15 percent over the past two weeks. When Standard & Poor’s downgraded long-term U.S. government debt from AAA to AA+, it was just one more indication that faith in the U.S. financial system is faltering. Previously, U.S. government debt had a AAA rating from S&P continuously since 1941, but now that streak is over. Nobody is quite sure what comes next. We truly are in unprecedented territory. But one thing is for sure – there is a lot of fear in the air right now.So exactly what caused S&P to downgrade U.S. government debt?Well, it was the debt ceiling deal that broke the camel’s back.According to S&P, the debt ceiling deal “falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.”As I have written about previously, the debt ceiling deal was a complete and total joke, and S&P realized this.Forget all of the huge figures that the mainstream media has been throwing at you concerning this debt ceiling deal. The only numbers that matter are for what happens before the next election.The only way that the current debt ceiling deal will last beyond the 2012 election is if Obama is still president, the Democrats still control the Senate and the Republicans still control the House. If any of those things change, this deal ceiling deal is dead as soon as the election is over.Even if all of those things remain the same, there is still a very good chance that we would see dramatic changes to the deal after the next election.So in evaluating this “deal”, the important thing is to look at what is going to happen prior to the 2012 election.Well, Barack Obama and the Democrats get the debt ceiling raised by over 2 trillion dollars and will not have to worry about it again until after the 2012 election.The Republicans get 25 billion dollars in “savings” from spending increases that will be cancelled.The “Super Congress” that is supposed to be coming up with the second phase of the plan may propose some additional “spending cuts” that would go into effect before the 2012 election, but that seems unlikely.So in the final analysis, the Democrats won the debt ceiling battle by a landslide.25 billion dollars is not even 1 percent of the federal budget. The U.S. national debt continues to spiral wildly out of control, and our politicians could not even cut the budget by one percent.Somehow our politicians believed that the rest of the world would be convinced that they were serious about cutting the budget, but it turns out that global financial markets are tired of getting fooled.It has gotten to the point where now even the big credit rating agencies are being forced to do something. Not that they really have much credibility left. Everyone still remembers all of those AAA-rated mortgage-backed securities that imploded during the last financial crisis. The reality is that the big credit rating agencies are a bad joke at this point.Several smaller credit rating agencies have already significantly slashed the credit rating of the U.S. government. But a lot of pressure had been put on the “big three” to keep them in line.But now things have gotten so ridiculous that S&P felt forced to make a move.Sadly, our politicians are still trying to maintain the charade that everything is okay. Barack Obama says that financial markets “still believe our credit is AAA and the world’s investors agree”.Once again, Barack Obama is dead wrong.The truth is that the credit rating for the U.S. government should have been slashed significantly a long time ago. This move by S&P was way, way overdue.Moody’s might be the next one to issue a downgrade. At the moment, Moody’s says that it will not be downgrading U.S. debt for now, but Moody’s also says that it has serious doubts about the enforceability of the “budget cuts” in the debt ceiling deal.This crisis is just beginning. It is going to play out over time, and it is going to be very messy.The following are 8 more reasons why you should be deeply concerned that the U.S. government has lost its AAA credit rating….

#1 The U.S. dollar and U.S. government debt are at the very heart of the global financial system. This credit rating downgrade just doesn’t affect the United States – it literally shakes the financial foundations of the entire world.

#2 As the stock market crashes, investors are flocking to U.S. Treasuries right now. However, once the current panic is over the U.S. could be faced with increased borrowing costs. The credit rating downgrade is a signal to investors that they should be receiving a higher rate of return for investing in U.S. government debt. If interest rates on U.S. government debt do end up going up, that is going to make it more expensive for the U.S. government to borrow money. The higher interest on the national debt goes, the more difficult it is going to become to balance the budget.

#3 We could literally see hundreds of other credit rating downgrades now that long-term U.S. government debt has been downgraded. For example, S&P has already slashed the credit ratings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from AAA to AA+. S&P has also already begun to downgrade the credit ratings of states and municipalities. Nobody is quite sure when we are going to see the dominoes stop falling, and this is not going to be a good thing for the U.S. economy.

#4 10-year U.S. Treasuries are the basis for a whole lot of other interest rates throughout our economy. If we see the rate for 10-year U.S. Treasuries go up significantly, it will suddenly become a lot more expensive to get a car loan or a home loan.

#5 The current financial panic caused by this downgrade is hitting financial stocks really hard. The big banks led the decline back in 2008, and it looks like it might be happening again. Just check out what CNN says happened to financial stocks on Monday….

Financial stocks were among the hardest hit, with Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) plunging 20%, and Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) dropped roughly 15%.

#6 China is freaking out. China’s official news agency says that China “has every right now to demand the United States to address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China’s dollar assets”. If China starts dumping U.S. government debt that would make things a lot worse.

#7 There are already calls for the Federal Reserve to step in and do something. If the U.S. economy drops into another recession, will we see more quantitative easing? It seems like we have reached a point where the Fed is constantly in “emergency mode”.

#8 The U.S. national debt continues to get worse by the day. Just check out what economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff recently told NPR….

“If you add up all the promises that have been made for spending obligations, including defense expenditures, and you subtract all the taxes that we expect to collect, the difference is $211 trillion. That’s the fiscal gap”

Dick Cheney once said that “deficits don’t matter”, but the truth is that all of the debt we have been piling up for decades is now catching up with us.The United States is in such a huge amount of financial trouble that it is hard to put into words. The days of easy borrowing for the U.S government are starting to come to an end. We have been living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world, and it has fueled a tremendous amount of “prosperity”, but now the party is ending.

A whole lot of financial pain is on the horizon. Please prepare for the hard times that are coming.’

Don't Fall For The Market's Head Fakes at Forbes David Trainer ‘The market decline experienced thus far is closer to its beginning rather than its end. Tuesday’s refreshing market rise was likely just a flash in the pan.

There is nothing that politicians or regulators can do to prevent the natural price discovery that is critical to the long-term health of our capitalist system.

The market needs to go down again before it can sustain any future rise.

We simply must deal with the loads of toxic and mis-allocated capital that our profligate society has created over the past 20+ years.

Allow me to explain how we got ourselves in this situation. The figure below highlights the three successive stock market bubbles in just over 10 years. Compare the size of these bubbles and the rise in stock prices over the last 25 years compared to the prior 65 years. A simple trendline further accentuates just how much stock prices have appreciated compared to historical trends.

Figure 1: Historically Enormous Stock Market Bubbles Keep Coming Back

http://blog.newconstructs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/figure1.jpg

Sources: New Constructs, LLC and Ibbotson Ibbotson, 2010 Ibbotson Stocks, Bonds, Bills and Inflation Valuation Yearbook, (Chicago: Morning Star, 2008), 228–229. *Large Cap Stocks as defined by Ibbotson are the best comparison for the S&P 500, which did not exist as it does today in 1926.

I am not suggesting that stock prices should revert to the long-term trendline. I fully appreciate the accelerating pace of innovation realized by our society and its impact on standards of living and improved utilization of resources.

There is no question that we live in unprecedented times of prosperity and wealth creation. And technology holds great promise for the future achievement of mankind and will drive improvement in the standards of living around the world.

The problem is that we have gotten ahead of ourselves. By how much, I am not sure. But I am sure that we are due a (lasting) correction in the stock market, and the longer that correction is put off, the more painful it will be.

To illustrate, let’s review what drove the last two market bubbles.

Tech bubble – irrational exuberance about the value in tech stocks combined with rather loose monetary policy pushed stocks and capital flows to ridiculously high levels
Housing bubble – lax lending standards, unscrupulous bankers, conflicted regulators, a bottomless appetite for consumer spending and a seemingly infinite amount of cheap money to finance consumption.

Now, let’s review what happened after these bubbles burst.

After the tech bubble: monetary policy remained highly accommodative and government stimulus was aplenty
After the housing bubble: monetary policy remained highly accommodative and government stimulus was aplenty

See the response pattern? See how it affected the markets?

It is as if the bubbles never burst. Game back on. Like a high-school party, the music stops and everyone is quiet when the cops show up. Someone convinces the cops that nothing unscrupulous is going on and all will be calm and quiet. Then, as soon as the cop car is out of sight, the music gets turned back on and the party goes harder.

What will be the response to the third bubble that is forming?

That is the question that I think the market is finally facing. The answer is not the same as before.

The government has run out of stimulus and policy bullets.

Really, what else can politicians and regulators do to engineer a soft landing, or should I say, another bubble.

Figure 1 shows that we never really landed. We rocketed from one bubble to the next.

Let’s take a look at the options available via the two main forces for stimulating economic recovery:

Fiscal policy – given the federal, state and municipal debt and budget problems, another round of stimulus spending or another TARP-like program is probably not in the cards. The funds are simply not available. Not to mention, I do not think another bailout plan would go over very well with tax-payers.
Monetary policy – here we have three potential options.

Lower rates – can they go any lower? The answer is not meaningfully lower unless the Federal Reserve wants negative nominal rates. In addition, low interest rates undermine long-term economic growth potential.
Extend QE2 to QE3 – given that the point of QE2 was to keep interest rates, especially mortgage rates low, I do not think additional quantitative easing in the form taken so far would have much if any impact on rates given how lower they already are. Moreover, driving oil and other commodity prices higher by further undermining the value of the dollar is not exactly conducive to growth.
A new type of QE3 – suppose the Fed were to purchase large amounts of assets other than treasuries such as foreclosed homes. I think that action would likely spook investors because it would signal that the carrying value of those homes were too high. Otherwise, private investors would have already bought them for their own portfolios. And bank stocks would sink as investors realize that additional write-offs might be coming. The same reaction applies to any other asset that the Fed might choose to take off private investors’ hands.

So, who is going to bail us out this time?

My overriding message is that no one should have bailed us out to begin with. The longer we avoid the painful process of deleveraging and returning to a more deliberate and rational mode of capital allocation, the more we delay the inevitable. The more we shift the blame for our financial mistakes to the public sector, the deeper the hole we must dig out of.

Which brings me to the next point: shifting responsibility to the public sector, i.e. government, presents some very serious problems and headwinds for future growth:

The government is not bailing anyone out, taxpayers are. In essence, the government is using hard-earned tax revenue to pay for the mistakes of certain members of our society.
Moral hazard is confused with moral obligation. Re-distribution of wealth to those that are in genuine need of assistance from society is in our long-term best interests. But moral obligation quickly becomes moral hazard when the re-distribution applies to people who should, but prefer not to, care for themselves.
When the people who make mistakes do not pay for mistakes, they keep making them…bigger and bigger. Can you say “mortgage back securities”?
We run out of money. When capital from productive sources is siphoned away to subsidize unproductive investments, capital is destroyed and never to be found again. When there is less capital available for productive investments, growth is forced to slow as are incomes and payrolls.
When growth slows and jobs are not available, bad things happen. For an example of bad things happening now, take a look at the riots in the streets in London.

Until we allow the natural price discovery that unfettered markets are designed to provide, we continue to subsidize unproductive investments. And the longer we subsidize unproductive investments, the more wealth (and jobs) we destroy in the present and in the future.

Sure, it feels better when the stock market skyrockets, bank accounts are fat, growth is strong and the financial future is bright. Wasn’t that what we got in the 1990s, then again in the first decade of this century?

It cannot go on forever. Consider how much the housing bubble was driven by too much borrowing? Though financing might be cheap and easy to get for extended periods of time, there is not an infinite supply.

At its core, borrowing is simply a method of cashing in today on future earnings. The more we borrow against future earnings, the less we have in the future.

Using borrowed funds to subsidize unproductive investments only compounds and accelerates wealth destruction.

Keynesian policies can be successful in certain situations and for limited amounts of time, but they cannot be sustained infinitely. Borrowing and spending by the government can help the economy survive a soft patch or decrease the depth of a recession, but it does not fix the underlying capital allocation problem.

Keynesian economic policies are patches to economic problems, not fixes. If extended for too long, they only make matters worse.

Before the housing bubble, the government was levered to the hilt. After the housing bubble, consumers are also levered to the hilt. Both are struggling to balance their checkbooks.

So who is left to bail us out? Only two potential candidates: American corporations and foreign countries.

A quick survey of the status of the other major economic powers is not exactly inspiring. China is slowing growth to fight its inflation problems. The European Unions, well, they have their own problems. Japan is not exactly prospering. In general, there are few, if any, global economic bright spots. None are large enough to bail out anyone.

There are many bright spots in corporate America. Companies like Apple (AAPL-very attractive rating), Google (GOOG-very attractive rating), Microsoft (MSFT-very attractive rating) and many others are as profitable as ever. Their returns on capital rank among the very best in the world. They are shining examples of capital realizing its highest and best use. For the country as a whole, cash flow returns on assets are near all-time highs. Much of the recent profits, however, have come at the expense of the consumer as wages have grown much more slowly than profits.

Then, there are the banks. US banks recently enjoyed the largest bailout in the history of the world. Further, their profit margins have been subsidized by sustained low interest rates. And yet, they are lending little money.

Is the problem that banks do not want to lend or that there are not enough borrowers?

I think the answer is both. Many banks are still carrying a great deal of toxic assets. With so much risk already on their balance sheet, they cannot afford to take on more.

As for borrowers, the uncertain tax, regulatory and economic outlooks are not exactly enticing entrepreneurs, small and large businesses to take risk.

To summarize, there is no one left to bail us out this time.

So, what happens next? We buckle down and face the long hard road to true, not artificially subsidized recovery.

We recognize facts:

We cannot spend more than what we make forever. Seems like an obvious statement, but that is not how the United States has operated over the past several years.
We have wasted lots of capital by subsidizing unproductive investments.
We have delayed the process of creative destruction whereby unproductive investments are replaced by productive investments.
Because of our wastefulness and the delay in creative destruction, much time is required to restore wealth back to the levels to which we have become accustomed.
We must rebuild diligently, rationally and deliberately to ensure capital realizes its highest and best use.
Kicking the can down the road, Euro-style, only delays the inevitable and makes the problem worse.
Eventually, we will be much better off than what we started.

In the meantime, the stock market and economic activity will continue to suffer. No pain no gain.’

Stock Market Slide Is the Latest Blow to the Middle ClassThe Daily Ticker Peter Gorenstein ‘Stocks resumed their decline on Wednesday -- the third big drop in the last five trading days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 520 points, or 4.6%. The S&P 500 fell 4.4% to close at 1,121, while the Nasdaq was taken down more than 101 points to the end the day at 2,381.In other words, Tuesday's gains, in which the Dow jumped 430 points, are a distant memory.Stocks are on track for their worst monthly drop since after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in the fall of 2008. After making steady gains in their 401(k) plans since then, average Americans are once again falling further behind on their retirement goals. The recent drop in the market is making headlines, but as Aaron Task and the Breakout team discuss in this clip, it's by no means the only economic hardship facing the middle class -- it's just the latest. Here are some other headlines you might have missed while you were watching your portfolio shrink over the last few days.

HORRIFIC HOUSING MARKET

Existing home sales fell 2.8% in the second quarter compared to a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. The number of home sales is also off, falling 5.4% from the previous quarter and is down almost 13% compared to the sometime last year. At this rate the housing market will continue to be a drag on the economy.

BACKDOOR BAILOUT FOR BANKS

Meanwhile, as homeowner pain reaches new heights, it appears banks continue to receive favorable treatment from the government. The Wall Street Journal reports Fannie Mae -- essentially a government entity (that by the way continues to receive billions in taxpayer aid each quarter) -- just spent $500 million to buy the servicing rights to a Bank of America (BAC) portfolio of "seven million loans still causing the most problems." That's what they call a backdoor bailout.Speaking of Bank of America, the stock continued to mirror the pattern of steep sell-offs and furious rallies seen in the broader market. This time, shares of BofA were down 10.9% to $6.77. A conference call held by CEO Brian Moynihan with investors, led by Fairholme's Bruce Berkowitz, didn't help the bank's cause. According to a summary of the call in the WSJ, Moynihan pushed back against those who would question how he has performed while leading the company, and he said BofA would not part ways with brokerage firm Merrill Lynch. Additionally, he said there weren't "many days when I get up and think positively about the Countrywide transaction in 2008."BofA bought the big mortgage firm during the 2008 credit crisis, and it has been responsible for a gigantic financial drag on the firm in the time since.

FED'S FOLLY

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday said it will keep interest rates "exceptionally low" through the middle of 2013. That and the possibility of more quantitative easing may eventually reflate assets -- a good thing for stock portfolios. The problem is the Fed's reaction to the crisis has and will continue to do little to improve real economic conditions, such as stubbornly high unemployment, which remains at 9.1% more than two years after the financial crisis. And, for those able to save some money, the low interest rates aren't rewarding your bank accounts. Add it all up, and unfortunately there's little to feel good about.’

Dow jumps 4 percent as markets rebound A volatile day on Wall Street ends with a last-minute rally that pared some of Monday’s historic losses and shrugged off an uncertain outlook from the Fed. (Washington Post) [ ‘Shrugged off’? So that’s what those lightning fast computer manipulated buy programs are for. Who woulda’ thunk it? After all, it’s not as if ‘Atlas Shrugged’ in this decimated, collapsing economy of this pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt american nation / economy. Oh pshaw … that was just fiction; ask former ‘objectivist’ Ayn Rand afficionado ‘senile alan greenspun’ who recommends gettin’ those Weimar dollar printing presses rollin’ at warp speed which has in large part helped to get the nation rollin’ to this forlorn point. Well, ‘senile alan greenspun’ can always say he was really meant to be that ‘cobol programmer’ that he was and was meant to be. The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed! What changed from yesterday which warranted a more than 600 point plunge with paper stocks still over-valued and a 545 bounce off of afternoon lows? Nothing! Absolutely nothing, yet a manipulated computer-programmed churn-and-earn suckers’ rally based on fraud and b***s*** alone to keep suckers suckered, which makes for an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1 50% unemployment, 90% stock market drop, 100% inflation. See the Evidence (Newsmax.com)

AAII Sentiment Survey: Investors Remain Averse to Stocks Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Train Reading: The Insider-Buying Lie - Mark Gongloff

Not all insider buying is created equal — Reformed Broker

Is there enough money to save the world’s banks? — Jonathan Weil at Bloomberg

Warren Buffett is issuing bonds and buying stocks — Fortune

US births declined in 2010 — Calculated Risk

Efficient markets in action — Paul Krugman

Consumers now need Treasury approval on all purchases over $50 — The Onion

Report: Mutual Fund Outflows In July Most Since End Of 2008 at Barrons.com

Is debt downgrade an alarm bell for U.S.? (Washington Post) [ Do bears s*** in the woods? Is the Pope Catholic? Is this question some kind of a joke? I mean, duh! Ya think? I mean, if it isn’t, what could be? After all, this was long in the making and the pressures applied to preclude this long overdue downgrade were substantial. Yet, this mild slap on the wrist was at once, charitable and a gift inasmuch as reality warrants far worse. 8 More Reasons Why You Should Be Deeply Concerned That The U.S. Government Has Lost Its AAA Credit Rating The Economic Collapse ‘… #8 The U.S. national debt continues to get worse by the day. Just check out what economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff recently told NPR….“If you add up all the promises that have been made for spending obligations, including defense expenditures, and you subtract all the taxes that we expect to collect, the difference is $211 trillion. That’s the fiscal gap” ..’ Previous: Is this some parallel universe where unfounded criticism is levied at S&P for the downgrade when they’ve actually cut the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt disunited states a break by not rating what america truly is; viz., junk status for the paper / liabilities / obligations that cannot and will not be paid (or the equivalent vis-à-vis what would be in worse than evermore worthless Weimar dollars or some other ‘ponzi-like’ subterfuge, obfuscation). The amounts are insurmountable going forward. They point to Moody’s and Fitch; yet, let’s not kid ourselves, S&P is the ‘800 pound gorilla’ in this world among rating agencies and moody’s, fitch have substantially diminished themselves as entities consistent with their ‘mission and purpose’ and as well, their credibility. I mean, come on! Consider the pressure that was and continues to be applied. Moody’s and fitch, quite frankly, folded. China’s rating agency has already downgraded u.s. paper and they’re ‘holding’ (huge amounts of that u.s. junk); and hence, against their own interest. Wake up!

Stock markets rally on jobs report In fourth day of wild swings, markets surge amid mixed signals about direction of U.S. economy. (Washington Post) [ The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed! This an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits, particularly if you missed Tuesday or May, since there’s much, much worse to come! Thursday, Aug.11, 2011: what changed from yesterday which warranted a more than 500 point plunge with paper stocks still over-valued? Well, some bad news labeled as better than expected 1) 7,000 fewer jobless claims than expected (just a little over 1% better even if you believe them – I don’t) 2) Cisco shows results ‘better than expected’ 3) Record monthly trade deficit [ What Recovery? Forbes ‘we can’t call this a recovery. There’s no reason to celebrate when a job report was better than expected. Why? Because the expectation was abysmal to begin with.’ ‘Cisco Systems Inc’s quarterly results edged past Wall Street’s scaled-back expectations ...“They beat a low bar. A lot of it is coming from cost cutting, which we anticipated. In that sense it’s a relief,” Joanna Makris of Mizuho Securities USA told Reuters. ‘Cisco, which depends on government spending for about a fifth of its revenue, said in July it would cut 15 percent of its workforce and sell a set-top box factory in Mexico.. Cisco bulls may underestimate tough road ahead Randewich.’ ]

World Bank warns against future economic hardship Press TV | Zoellick pointed out that the world is now involved in redesigning the international financial system.

Debt ‘supercommittee’ ready for action AFP | Pelosi appointed three close allies to a “supercommittee” tasked with finding deficit cuts.

What QE3 Will Look Like Robert Bonomo | The recent financial fireworks in the US and in Europe have made it clear that QE3 is close at hand.

The World’s Money Is Draining Away … Where’s It Going? Washington’s Blog | All of the monetary and economic policy of the last 3 years has helped the wealthiest and penalized everyone else.

Both Consumer Confidence And The Labor Participation Rate Are At A 30 Year Low … That’s Not A Coincidence Washington’s Blog | A new poll from Thomson Reuters and University of Michigan shows that consumer confidence is the lowest its been for 30 years.

National / World

Legendary Investor Jeremy Grantham: America is a Banana Republic Washington’s Blog | Just different bananas perhaps? [ Of course this is absolutely true! And not just from the meaningfully lawless perspective – I had made such a statement on the record in a LA Superior Court Appellate Dept. proceeding in which said court literally ignored the law (the same is true of the costly, plushly accoutered lifetime appointee federal courts) which courts should indeed be abolished in these difficult economic / budgetary times. Additionally, from pervasive corruption, to debased over-printed currency, to gunboat diplomacy, to total incompetence, etc., america is indeed a banana republic at most.]

Ron Paul Wins Iowa GOP Debate; Is Right On Iran SF Chronicle | The verdict is in – Ron Paul won last night’s GOP Presidential debate in Ames, Iowa.

Ron Paul’s message hits America RT/Fox News | Is a new era of political thought around the bend?

Obama’s Political Support Is Collapsing Business Insider | Let’s be blunt. If it was a stock, it would be a short.

Average Teen Unemployment Rate in D.C. is 50.1%, Analysis Shows CNS News | The 50.1 percent figure is almost double the average teen unemployment rate in June 2007 in the District.

Bob Chapman & Alex Jones: The Fed Leads By Deception The Alex Jones Channel | Alex talks with regular Friday guest Bob Chapman of the International Forecaster.

INFOWARS SPECIAL REPORT: Globalists’ Extermination List Exposed Aaron Dykes | Global population database apparatus used by eugenicists to target populations for reduced births, soft kill and extermination.

Evidence of U.S. Effort to Arm Syrian Opposition Emerges Kurt Nimmo | Arms smugglers connected to group supported by U.S., Israel and Saudis.

Ron Paul Vs GOP Warmongers: Congressman Romps To Victory In Iowa Debate Steve Watson | Paul is the only candidate who will end ceaseless foreign invasions.

NATO Massacres of Civilians Aimed at “Cleansing” the Libyan People’s Resistance Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya | Photographic evidence of NATO war crimes.

NATO urged to investigate civilian deaths during Libya air strikes Amnesty International | Amnesty International wrote to the NATO Secretary General asking for clarification on incidents in which unarmed civilians were reportedly killed.

Pentagon Caught Lying: SEAL Team 6 Wasn’t On a Rescue Mission Federal Jack | CNN piece exposes another lie in the official story about SEAL Team 6′s demise.

Ron Paul could be a surprise victor in Ames straw poll Washington Post | There is a strain of thinking that Paul could seriously challenge for supremacy.

Ron Paul Wins Iowa GOP Debate; Is Right On Iran SF Chronicle | The verdict is in – Ron Paul won last night’s GOP Presidential debate in Ames, Iowa.

Ron Paul’s message hits America RT/Fox News | Is a new era of political thought around the bend?

INFOWARS SPECIAL REPORT: Globalists’ Extermination List Exposed Aaron Dykes | In a Special Infowars Report, researcher Aaron Dykes exposes the global population database apparatus used by eugenicists to target populations for reduced births, soft kill and extermination.

Obama’s Political Support Is Collapsing Business Insider | Let’s be blunt. If it was a stock, it would be a short.

Average Teen Unemployment Rate in D.C. is 50.1%, Analysis Shows CNS News | The 50.1 percent figure is almost double the average teen unemployment rate in June 2007 in the District.

UNICEF using African refugee crisis to target 300,000 Kenyan children for vaccination Ethan A. Huff | You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.

Appeals Court Rules Obamacare Is Unconstitutional Reuters | A U.S. appeals court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require all Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty.

Evidence of U.S. Effort to Arm Syrian Opposition Emerges Kurt Nimmo | Arms smugglers connected to group supported by U.S., Israel and Saudis.

Insider: CIA Orchestrated Operation Fast and Furious Paul Joseph Watson | Federal government allowed Mexican drug cartel to import tons of cocaine into United States.

Democrats want a bolder Obama The president’s allies are getting nervous about what they see as the lack of a coherent strategy. (Washington Post) [ Well, tell it to the teleprompter. Without a head per se, at least no one could say as with ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) that the teleprompter was in over its head. Bolder b***s*** is still b***s***! ]

Gallup: Disapproval of Obama Ties All-Time High CNS News | American’s approval of President tied its all-time low of 42 percent.

Taliban who downed U.S. copter killed U.S. officials say Taliban fighters who shot down a helicopter with 30 U.S. troops were killed in airstrikes (Washington Post) [ Oh come on! The Taliban don’t even know who among them downed the u.s. killer copter! Great propaganda, ‘u.s. gi’s always get their man’. Doesn’t anyone get tired of their endless b***s*** in their end run to the end? After all, the nation is defacto bankrupt in large part as a direct consequence of these ‘military-industrio-inferiority-complex’ follies / welfare warfare programs. Then there’s the cocomitant typical skullduggery which includes inter alia:

Same ritual, a changed president This time, President Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base to greet the remains of Americans he had ordered to Afghanistan himself. Some victims of crash are identified (Washington Post) [ Changed? I think we could all agree that despite campaign promises to the contrary, nothing’s changed; except, pervasively corrupt defacto bankrupt america is more hopelessly bankrupt and the dismal economic picture has become more dour.

“Bin Laden” Heroes Probably Murderered to Keep Them Quiet ... Gordon Duff Veterans Today

FLASHBACK: Eyewitness to OBL Raid Saw Helicopter Explode (TRANSCRIPT) [ As indicated on this albertpeia.com website, I didn’t buy the administration’s desperate and politically opportunist Osama event and still don’t buy it; and further, I believe this! ]Veterans Today | TRANSCRIPT of critical interview with Pakistani eyewitness to Bin Laden raid. Is this the key to SEAL Team 6′s demise?

“Bin Laden” Heroes Probably Murderered to Keep Them Quiet Gordon Duff Veterans Today August 7, 2011 | Some Possibly Killed in Abbottabad Helicopter Crash Months Before. [ As indicated on this albertpeia.com website, I didn’t buy the administration’s desperate and politically opportunist Osama event and still don’t buy it; and further, I believe this! ] Today 31 NATO troops, 20 of them Navy Seals from the Osama bin Laden operation died in what is reported as a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

‘The chance of this story being true is almost nil. The chances of this being a staged coverup is over 80%. We believe these people were murdered to silence them. This is why.

We have solid information on two areas:

1. Osama bin Laden died in 2001 as an active CIA employee and his body was recovered in Afghanistan and taken to “the sand box.” We were told it was frozen. We have so much verification from this, CIA, ISI, US military and top officials. I have a direct confirmation from Bin Laden’s CIA handler who I grilled mercilessly on this.

2. The Abbottabad operation involved numerous American deaths, witnessed, bodies all over, a helicopter crash. (suppressed translated TV interview below) These bodies were recovered by land vehicle from Islamabad and there was NO “successful” bin Laden operation of any kind. There was and has been a CIA safe house in Abbotabad where terror suspects were stored for years.

This gave the US several areas of severe vulnerability. Generally, Navy Seals are the best people in the world at keeping their mouths shut, these are real team players, as the term “Seal Team” belies.

We at VT were informed that the bin Laden operation was staged at this time, a theatrical farce, to cover the exit of Secretary Gates, the move by former CIA Director Leon Panetta into the DOD as Secretary of Defense and to stem any heroic claims by new CIA Director Petraeus of killing the long dead Osama bin Laden, the long frozen CIA operative.

Petraeus is a possible presidential contender and had to be denied this “gift from heaven,” a fast track to the oval office for sure.

Again, I remind you, I went over specific meetings on bin Laden with his handlers, getting every last detail. I have watched what has gone on, the continuing need to vilify a long dead top CIA operative to provide residual cover for the Bush administration…

The reason? Bush and his cronies are all facing charges of war crimes, not just in minor jurisdictions but heading for the ICC, putting them on the dock with Gaddafi ( a far less harmful character).

As for the timing of this incident? This we will work on. What we can easily surmise is that some of the dead have been dead since their bodies were taken away from the helicopter crash site in Abbotabad.

Who would order such a thing? We are going to have to wait but we are going to find out. However, we expected this, the timing is exactly as predicted. Read full article ‘

World at War Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind! Veterans Today | TRANSCRIPT of critical interview with Pakistani eyewitness to Bin Laden raid. Is this the key to SEAL Team 6′s demise? ...

Deaths of SEAL Team 6 Exposed Aaron Dykes & Alex Jones | We predicted shortly after the raid on bin Laden’s compound that SEALs would soon be reported dead in a helicopter crash or staged incident following multiple reports from military sources.

SEAL Unit Supposedly Responsible for Osama Hit Killed in Copter Crash Kurt Nimmo | Is it possible the Pentagon took out the helicopter to send a message to the SEALs, just in case some of them decide (like Pat Tillman did) to tell the truth?

Questions raised by the SEAL Team 6 deaths in Afghanistan Madison Ruppert | It took minutes before the Internet was ablaze with chatter about the deaths of these American commandos.

Tea Party hypocrisy Fueled by populist anger, but hijacked by plutocrats. (Washington Post) [ Ah, sweet Mr. Milbank. His love for wobama knows no bounds. Yet, given the choice between hypocrisy and inveterate lying, assuming arguendo, Mr. Milbank’s premise to be true (doubtful and I think most would say no), most would take hypocrisy any day. By now, most have realized that at best wobama’s a b***s*** artist, and at worst, an incorrigible liar; certainly as measured by his campaign promises that got him elected, belied by his actions. If Mr. Milbank had only said the nation’s been hijacked by plutocrats to whom wobama’s paid homage, I’d certainly agree in part. After all, there has been and continues a huge wealth transfer at the expense and to the detriment of the middle class, to the substantial benefit of the ‘plutocrats’ who in america are of that small percentile criminal class for whom everyone else must (and must be) sacrifice(d), ie., the wall street frauds, military industrial complex, government contractors, etc.. And, yet another casualty … if wobama’s peace-prize is not revoked, then that ignoble nobel thing should be disbanded for lack of credibility and moral compass. Deal fails to soothe foreign critics (Washington Post) { Let’s not kid outselves! I consider Russia a rational, great nation (their painful, yet peaceful transition from their mistake is a testament to their greatness as a people / nation and Gorbachev particularly – China’s recent success is as far from communism as can be imagined) and have high regard for Putin though lamenting his youthful, albeit inherited indiscretion (kind of like that Tiger hunt which he’s now wisely disavowed) in dabbling in the failed system of communism (the great lie where everybody’s equal except some are more equal than others, ie., party members, bureaucrats, etc., kind of like america today with the addition of the plutocratic wealthy thieves, criminals, frauds, etc.). That said, most of these so-called ‘foreign critics’ fall predominantly into either of two categories; viz., ‘pots calling the kettle black’, or ‘enablers’. Putin Calls U.S. a “Parasite,” Demands New Reserve Currency Activist Post The powerless president Obama remains indecisive, and ignored, as larger forces bring down the country. Robinson: S&P downgrades the GOP (Washington Post) [ Riiiiight! It’s everything but ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) that’s to blame for the nation’s meltdown according to wobama aficionados / intractable wobama apologists, Messieurs Milbank and Robinson. Sweet Mr. Milbank even points to wobama’s personal character flaws (among many unmentioned) to exculpate the failed president wobama. Wobama’s failed miserably and yet had the easiest act in the world to follow in the persona of fellow failed president war criminal dumbya bush whose failed policies up to the real start of the election cycle he’s largely followed. After all, Mr. Robinson, how different really are the parties these days when profligate spending on illegal, unnecessary wars was continued when democrats controlled congress, and then even the executive office when continuing failed president and war criminal dumbya bush’s nation bankrupting, nation destroying war policies, protection for unprecedentedly huge wall street frauds, bush tax cut extensions for the wealthy, and then some (spending on top of it). Drudgereport: HARRY BELAFONTE: Obama 'has failed'...
NOONAN: 'HE IS A LOSER'...
GALLUP: 40% APPROVAL...

Obama takes debt battle to TWITTER, loses more than 33,000 followers...
FARRAKHAN: 'THAT'S A MURDERER IN THE WHITE HOUSE'...

Most importantly, realize that if wobama’s actions had not belied his words/campaign promises, the nation’s position, though still ominous, would have been substantially improved.

Banks still struggling, despite bailout (Washington Post) [ Yeah … that’s the way it is for banks in the midst of recession / depression / economic decline! The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed! What changed from yesterday which warranted a more than 600 point plunge with paper stocks still over-valued and a 545 bounce off of afternoon lows? Nothing! Absolutely nothing, yet a manipulated computer-programmed churn-and-earn suckers’ rally based on fraud and bs alone to keep suckers suckered, which makes for an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1 50% unemployment, 90% stock market drop, 100% inflation. See the Evidence (Newsmax.com) [ The instant video on the economic / financial collapse from Stansberry and Associates is so well researched and succinctly presented that I’ve archived same on my website; also, because the facts and views presented comport with the facts and views I’ve presented on my site which I believe to be correct. This is a must-view, must-see that I strongly recommend!
The complete url: http://www.albertpeia.com/stansberrysinvestmentadvisory.flv ( 146mb – approx. 1 hr. 17 min. ) http://www.albertpeia.com/stansberrysinvestmentadvisory.mp4 ( 374mb ) Written text of presentation (without pictures / charts)] [A lot of pre-election year obfuscation, manipulation but the debacle is already here: Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012

Dollar down against major currencies Global investors are becoming antsy about the dollar’s role as the currency at the core of the world’s financial system. (Washington Post) [ Antsy? At this point, if it was only just ‘antsy’ there’d be room to hope. Despite the understatement, this is now way beyond ‘antsy’. Reality counts! For first time, U.S. credit rating cut from AAA Standard & Poor’s announces that it has downgraded U.S. government debt to AA+, dealing a huge symbolic blow to the world’s economic superpower in what was a sharply worded critique of the American political system. (Washington Post) [ Come on! Let’s get real here! Symbolic? If it were only that. If it were only the american political system, there’d at least be a plausible reason for hope, albeit futile even at that. Indeed, pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, literally causing destruction domestically and internationally, is a testament to the failure of the american system generally, or more specifically what it has devolved into. Whatever america was and purports to be, it certainly doesn’t take a PhD in Poli Sci to know, ‘it ain’t that no more’. Moreover, the ‘genie’s out of the bottle’ and try as they may, like ‘trying to put toothpaste back in the tube’, or ‘unringing the bell’, perceptions of america will never be the same in the most negative but realistic and factual sense; that is, beyond the propaganda, efforts at censorship, and spin. Those ‘propaganda dogs don’t hunt no more.’ I can further say that in america, by close observation and direct experience (with more than sufficient representative sampling), I’ve seen and experienced the worst of human nature; behavior so egregious so as to defy any known norms of civilized behavior. Quite simply, there is no excuse for america! Deficits And Stimulus Only Delay The Inevitable Collapse Bob Chapman | America is insolvent and has been so for a long time. US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco’s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Maierhofer: ‘USA INCOME STATEMENT:Total federal spending in 2010 amounted to $3.456 trillion. Total receipts added up to $2.162 trillion. USA Inc.'s 2010 deficit was $1.294 trillion.The 2011 federal budget is $3.7 trillion with a projected deficit of$1.6 trillion. …USA BALANCE SHEET: Consensus estimates for unfunded obligations vary. Mary Meeker pegs the shortfall at $31 trillion, PIMCO's Bill Gross estimates the unreported debt to be $75 trillion, while other estimates exceed $100 trillion (these amounts are insurmountable) …’ America’s shine is wearing off

The powerless president Obama remains indecisive, and ignored, as larger forces bring down the country. Robinson: S&P downgrades the GOP (Washington Post) [ Riiiiight! It’s everything but ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) that’s to blame for the nation’s meltdown according to wobama aficionados / intractable wobama apologists, Messieurs Milbank and Robinson. Sweet Mr. Milbank even points to wobama’s personal character flaws (among many unmentioned) to exculpate the failed president wobama. Wobama’s failed miserably and yet had the easiest act in the world to follow in the persona of fellow failed president war criminal dumbya bush whose failed policies up to the real start of the election cycle he’s largely followed. After all, Mr. Robinson, how different really are the parties these days when profligate spending on illegal, unnecessary wars was continued when democrats controlled congress, and then even the executive office when continuing failed president and war criminal dumbya bush’s nation bankrupting, nation destroying war policies, protection for unprecedentedly huge wall street frauds, bush tax cut extensions for the wealthy, and then some (spending on top of it). Drudgereport: HARRY BELAFONTE: Obama 'has failed'...
NOONAN: 'HE IS A LOSER'...
GALLUP: 40% APPROVAL...

Obama takes debt battle to TWITTER, loses more than 33,000 followers...
FARRAKHAN: 'THAT'S A MURDERER IN THE WHITE HOUSE'...

Most importantly, realize that if wobama’s actions had not belied his words/campaign promises, the nation’s position, though still ominous, would have been substantially improved.

A win for opponents of SEC’s new rules Court decision could spell trouble for the agency as it puts in place some of the most far-reaching financial regulations in years. (Washington Post) [ Oh come on! The biggest frauds in the multi-trillions have been hands off despite the campaign promises to the contrary. The u.s. courts are so corrupt, it’s doubtful they’d rule against ‘the big money’. That they don’t understand the economics / finance is irrelevant to them; as is also so of the law and the facts which they probably understand but ignore anyway. The most important consideration should be what is obvious to all; viz., that the way things were not only facilitated the fraudulent schemes that have brought down the nation, but will continue prospectively as the frauds on wall street have been emboldened by the lack of enforcement / prosecution. That said, there’s corruption thoughout the ranks of the pervasively corrupt american government. . Report: SEC lawyer exposed FBI informant (WP) [ Clearly, the sec liar (sic – lawyer) is one of those typically with a ‘pre or post’ arrangement, whether implicit or explicit; you know, that ubiquitous ‘bribe thing’ in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt, fallen america. Indeed, the scenario typifies that national drain / sinkhole new york (new york / new jersey metro) where, for example, FBI informants were routinely exposed by ‘italians’ in the new york d.a.’s office over the objection of the FBI, and were promptly ‘dispatched’/assassinated / hit by mafia / organized crime [ this was documented with authority in the book ‘Goombata: The Improbable Rise and Fall of John Gotti and His Gang’ Cummings / Volkman Though having but 5% of the world’s population, the u.s. has 76% of the world’s serial killers, http://www.albertpeia.com/realifeamericaserialkillers.mpg bankrupt america also spends more on military than all the nations of the world combined... fed employees / contractors, cia, all 3 branches of u.s. gov’t, etc., are included in this evolved american trait of inherent criminality http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud WP Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. America Is a Failed State Because It Won’t Prosecute Financial Crime Washington’s Blog / the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm

CRIME STATS(u.s.No.1)

Rank	Countries	Amount
# 1	United States:	11,877,218
# 2	United Kingdom:	6,523,706
# 3	Germany:	6,507,394

THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

Rubin: Fed to the country: the economy stinks

‘…information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June indicates that economic growth so far this year has been considerably slower than the Committee had expected. Indicators suggest a deterioration in overall labor market conditions in recent months, and the unemployment rate has moved up.The report adds: “The Committee now expects a somewhat slower pace of recovery over coming quarters than it did at the time of the previous meeting and anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline only gradually toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate.”

(Washington Post) [ As if we didn’t know and needed them to tell us. Don’t forget, this pre-election year is as good as it gets; yet is as dismal as can be imagined with substantially worse to follow. Dual Mandate? I’m surprised they had the audacity to use the term. The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed! What changed from yesterday which warranted a more than 600 point plunge with paper stocks still over-valued and a 545 bounce off of afternoon lows? Nothing! Absolutely nothing, yet a manipulated computer-programmed churn-and-earn suckers’ rally based on fraud and b***s*** alone to keep suckers suckered, which makes for an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits since there’s much, much worse to come! Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1 50% unemployment, 90% stock market drop, 100% inflation. See the Evidence (Newsmax.com)

What can the Federal Reserve do? With the U.S. economy at risk of a double-dip recession, the central bank lacks tools to do anything. (Washington Post) [ Oh I’d say they’ve done quite enough … wouldn’t you? … Is Bernanke Failing His Fed Mission Or Just Delusional? at Forbes Robert Barone [ How ‘bout both! I mean, come on! This catering to fraudulent wall street was a loser ab initio! That so-called ‘wealth effect’ market froth was used previously by senile ‘maestro’ greenspan and failed miserably except for the frauds on wall street who commissioned up and down; and, make no mistake, those computer-programmed high-frequency trading volumes have now been maximized for nation-economy-draining profits for the frauds like never before and have never been higher. The QE and dollar-debasement policies were always predictably inflationary, ultimately hyperinflationary, particularly for stocks; that ‘feel good’ obfuscation that was but in reality good only for the frauds on wall street. No, there is no modern day alchemy that spins worthless paper into gold except fraudulently for the frauds on wall street who’ve literally oftimes done exactly that; ‘cashing out’ for hard currency and gold, precious metals, at everyone else’s expense including main street. ] In his June 7 speech, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke stated, “the best way for the Federal Reserve to support the fundamental value of the dollar in the medium term is to pursue our dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability, and we will certainly do that.”

.. Bernanke’s results .. since Ben took the reins:

Feb ’06 – April ’11

Items in a Typical Budget	% Change
Food and Beverages	16.54%
Water and sewer and trash collection services	31.88%
Rent of primary residence	13.82%
Housing	8.68%
Fuels and Utilities	11.93%
Apparel	4.83%
Medical Care	20.11%
Gasoline (all types)	65.12%
Transportation	23.36%
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare	29.28%
Recreation	2.87%

.. The standard unemployment rate most often used by the Fed is currently at 9.1%, up 90% since Bernanke started. The more inclusive (realistic) U6 number stands at 15.8%, up 75% in the same period. The Civilian Participation Rate has declined 2.87% to 64.2%.

This is the lowest level the U.S. has seen since March, 1984. The decline amounts to 8,946,844 fewer Americans in the labor force. Had they not dropped out because of a lack of jobs, the “official” unemployment rate would be significantly higher. While we can debate the meaning of the term maximum employment, it is clear that the jobs data has deteriorated considerably since Bernanke took the reins at the Fed. ..

In conclusion, it is evident that Ben Bernanke is failing his mandates. We believe it must come down to one of the following reasons:

1. Bernanke does not know how to achieve his mandates;

2. The policy tools employed don’t work;

3. He does not have the ability to implement policies that would work;

4. He is not trying to achieve his mandates;

5. He has goals other than his legal mandates;

6. He does not look at the data, and believes he is succeeding.

Matt Marcewicz & Robert Barone, Ph.D.

.. ‘

Europe’s crisis and the psychology of fear (Washington Post) [ Given the reality and magnitude of Europe’s problems going forward, dwarfed only by the magnitude of those of pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, it brings to mind the words of the former Intel CEO (co-founder) Andy Grove ‘ Only the paranoid survive’ (of course, having survived the Nazis and escaped Communist-controlled Hungary in Europe, as a jew, one has to assume his perspective / outlook was somewhat ‘skewed’ thereby). Yet, let’s not kid ourselves to the point where virtual survival is threatened and at stake as is so for the EU. America isn’t alone in the downgrade spiral (WP) Indeed, the EU has followed the contra-indicated perma war, evermore worthless Weimar currency, and a predispositon / tacit acceptance of paper securities schemes / scams / frauds which are integral to america’s ongoing, albeit obfuscated, debacle / crisis which given the unfunded debt load pegged at $211 Trillion among other estimates, is insurmountable and will end quite badly. Poll: Sharp dissatisfaction with D.C. The public doubts the government can fix the nation’s economic problems, Post poll shows. An unlikely landlord: Uncle Sam (WP) [ No surprise there (the doubts)! Uncle Scam as landlord? Sounds like a typical scam / fiasco / debacle in the making! Add limey (brits)-looking (green) frogs (french) to the mix(ed up) in the pervasively corrupt defacto bankrupt disunited states Italy unveils plan to calm fears of escalating crisis (WP) [ Yeah, dem piigs were back in the news. ’ Dem PIIGS still got problems. Europe’s debt crisis threatens Italy (WP) [ Yeah, dem’ darn PIIGS. Reminds me of that joke (I won’t repeat it here except the punch line): ‘That’s black bart’s girl’. Pelosi: ‘We are not Greece’ ( but greecy Italy Italians voice concern over Italian debt crisis scenario [ Whew! Close call! There you go. Nothing to worry about now that wobama’s got a boehner … so not to be so hard on them; if pelosi says it, it must be true … Not! …Pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, they, she look pretty greecey to me. After all, if the same’s wobama’s ‘far-reaching plan on debt’, we all know ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) is total b***s*** which means like Greecey PIIGS they’ll be back to the trough for more … slop … py. Deficits And Stimulus Only Delay The Inevitable Collapse Bob Chapman | America is insolvent and has been so for a long time. US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco’s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Maierhofer: ‘USA INCOME STATEMENT:Total federal spending in 2010 amounted to $3.456 trillion. Total receipts added up to $2.162 trillion. USA Inc.'s 2010 deficit was $1.294 trillion.The 2011 federal budget is $3.7 trillion with a projected deficit of$1.6 trillion. …USA BALANCE SHEET: Consensus estimates for unfunded obligations vary. Mary Meeker pegs the shortfall at $31 trillion, PIMCO's Bill Gross estimates the unreported debt to be $75 trillion, while other estimates exceed $100 trillion (these amounts are insurmountable) …’ Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1 Watch for fake gov’t data / reports owing to political desperation! Why You Shouldn't Buy Into This Plunge Forbes/O'Neil‘The market is building momentum to the downside’. Wall Street closes worst week since '08 with wild day NEW YORK (Reuters) S&P on U.S. downgrade: Debt pact 'falls short' - Reuters S&P downgrades US credit rating from AAA S&P Shocks the U.S. with Credit Downgrade to AA+ from Prestigious AAA Rating Wall St. Cheat Sheet What Recovery? Forbes ‘…we can’t call this a recovery. There’s no reason to celebrate when a job report was better than expected. Why? Because the expectation was abysmal to begin with. And while we’re at it, we can’t ignore increasing sovereign debt problems in Europe…’ ‘Top 3 Reasons Markets Erased the Year’s Gains Wall St. Cheat Sheet 1) Japan and Europe 2) Unemployment.3) Capital goods - billions of dollars in lost revenue. Financial Crisis Phase II Is Ahead at Forbes Bert Dohmen ‘ In late 2007, I wrote the book Prelude To Meltdown, predicting the global crisis that occurred the following year. I now see a similar confluence of events that warns of phase II of the global crisis… My work shows that “the new recession has started.”… Over the past 33 years, we have called the start of every recession, often on the exact month, or within one month, of the official start as determined one year later by the official arbiter of recession, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)… However, inflation is far understated for political reasons. Currently, the GDP deflator is 1.8%, which hardly reflects the true rise in prices. Therefore, what is counted as “growth,” is actually price increases. Actual inflation, according to free market economists who calculate inflation as it was done in 1980 before the politician re-engineered it, is now more than 11%. Using that to adjust GDP for inflation, would show that the economy is now in a very sharp contraction…’FLASHBACK HERE: Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding Remember: Sell in May and Go Away and If You’ve Not Sold by June, You’re a Loon! ‘ ‘Albert Edwards: Thinks the Market Could Fall 70%’ [ He’s not alone! PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows Stock Market: 4 Current Warning Signs Navin ‘…1) The 5-year high in the level of insider corporate stock sales is telling. At 565 sells for every 1 buy, it’s never been higher.

Krauthammer: Our political system is working well (Washington Post) [ Wow! There was a time back in the late sixties, early seventies when there were these long-haired people chastised by the so-called ‘establishment’ that would have just loved to be doin’ whatever it is that Mr. Krauthammer’s been doing to arrive at such a conclusion, so glaringly devoid of any reality whatsoever. Psychedelics, hallucinogens, magic mushrooms; what could it be that has brought Mr. Krauthammer into this fantasy world where even ‘Alice’ of Wonderland fame might feel comfortable in this netherland (sic) / netherworld created from the depths of Mr. Krauthammer’s imagination. I’m truly at a loss for words. After all, the warning by the underrated but great President General Eisenhower of the impending inherent danger of the military industrial complex came to fruition with the assassination of JFK and the reality of a coup d’etat thereby. All presidents, along with the two remaining branches of the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt american government since have been at best stooges for such as the military industrial complex, the banksters / frauds on wall street, etc., to the substantial detriment of the vast majority in this country and throughout the world (ie., perma wars, huge securities frauds still extant / now marked to anything as per congressional FASB rule change, and unprosecuted. Beyond the immediate reach, or at least ‘penetration’ of american propaganda, an intelligent and astute individual, Legendary Investor Jeremy Grantham: America is a Banana Republic Washington’s Blog | Just different bananas perhaps? { Of course this is absolutely true! And not just from the meaningfully lawless perspective – I had made such a statement on the record in a LA Superior Court Appellate Dept. proceeding in which said court literally ignored the law (the same is true of the costly, plushly accoutered lifetime appointee federal courts) which courts should indeed be abolished in these difficult economic / budgetary times. Additionally, from pervasive corruption, to debased over-printed currency, to gunboat diplomacy, to total incompetence, etc., america is indeed a banana republic at most. } I didn’t see the debates {what does it matter what they say – the egregious ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) fatigue factor / experience} nor have I read Mr. Robinson’s article, ‘GOP Debate Land’ but I’m sure I’d agree with his conclusion, ‘I didn’t recognize the America the GOP candidates described;’ but unfortunately, I do recognize the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america of ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***), failed president like his predecessor, moron war criminal dumbya bush, that he is. The powerless president Obama remains indecisive, and ignored, as larger forces bring down the country. Robinson: S&P downgrades the GOP (WP) [ Riiiiight! It’s everything but ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) that’s to blame for the nation’s meltdown according to wobama aficionados / intractable wobama apologists, Messieurs Milbank and Robinson. Sweet Mr. Milbank even points to wobama’s personal character flaws (among many unmentioned) to exculpate the failed president wobama. Wobama’s failed miserably and yet had the easiest act in the world to follow in the persona of fellow failed president war criminal dumbya bush whose failed policies up to the real start of the election cycle he’s largely followed. After all, Mr. Robinson, how different really are the parties these days when profligate spending on illegal, unnecessary wars was continued when democrats controlled congress, and then even the executive office when continuing failed president and war criminal dumbya bush’s nation bankrupting, nation destroying war policies, protection for unprecedentedly huge wall street frauds, bush tax cut extensions for the wealthy, and then some (spending on top of it).
Drudgereport: HARRY BELAFONTE: Obama 'has failed'...
NOONAN: 'HE IS A LOSER'...
GALLUP: 40% APPROVAL...

Obama takes debt battle to TWITTER, loses more than 33,000 followers...
FARRAKHAN: 'THAT'S A MURDERER IN THE WHITE HOUSE'...

Most importantly, realize that if wobama’s actions had not belied his words/campaign promises, the nation’s position, though still ominous, would have been substantially improved.

Poll: Sharp dissatisfaction with D.C. The public doubts the government can fix the nation’s economic problems, Post poll shows. An unlikely landlord: Uncle Sam (Washington Post) [ No surprise there (the doubts)! Uncle as landlord? Sounds like a typical scam / fiasco / debacle in the making! Add limey (brits)-looking (green) frogs (french) to the mix(ed up) in the pervasively corrupt defacto bankrupt disunited states Italy unveils plan to calm fears of escalating crisis (Washington Post) [ Yeah, dem piigs were back in the news. ’ Dem PIIGS still got problems. Europe’s debt crisis threatens Italy (WP) [ Yeah, dem’ darn PIIGS. Reminds me of that joke (I won’t repeat it here except the punch line): ‘That’s black bart’s girl’. Pelosi: ‘We are not Greece’ ( but greecy Italy Italians voice concern over Italian debt crisis scenario [ Whew! Close call! There you go. Nothing to worry about now that wobama’s got a boehner … so not to be so hard on them; if pelosi says it, it must be true … Not! …Pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, they, she look pretty greecey to me. After all, if the same’s wobama’s ‘far-reaching plan on debt’, we all know ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) is total b***s*** which means like Greecey PIIGS they’ll be back to the trough for more … slop … py. Deficits And Stimulus Only Delay The Inevitable Collapse Bob Chapman | America is insolvent and has been so for a long time. US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco’s Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Maierhofer: ‘USA INCOME STATEMENT:Total federal spending in 2010 amounted to $3.456 trillion. Total receipts added up to $2.162 trillion. USA Inc.'s 2010 deficit was $1.294 trillion.The 2011 federal budget is $3.7 trillion with a projected deficit of$1.6 trillion. …USA BALANCE SHEET: Consensus estimates for unfunded obligations vary. Mary Meeker pegs the shortfall at $31 trillion, PIMCO's Bill Gross estimates the unreported debt to be $75 trillion, while other estimates exceed $100 trillion (these amounts are insurmountable) …’ Famed economist predicts economic calamity in 2012. See the evidence.Newsmax http://w3.newsmax.com/a/aftershockb/video.cfm?promo_code=CA79-1 Watch for fake gov’t data / reports owing to political desperation! Why You Shouldn't Buy Into This Plunge Forbes/O'Neil‘The market is building momentum to the downside’. Wall Street closes worst week since '08 with wild day NEW YORK (Reuters) S&P on U.S. downgrade: Debt pact 'falls short' - Reuters S&P downgrades US credit rating from AAA S&P Shocks the U.S. with Credit Downgrade to AA+ from Prestigious AAA Rating Wall St. Cheat Sheet What Recovery? Forbes ‘…we can’t call this a recovery. There’s no reason to celebrate when a job report was better than expected. Why? Because the expectation was abysmal to begin with. And while we’re at it, we can’t ignore increasing sovereign debt problems in Europe…’ ‘Top 3 Reasons Markets Erased the Year’s Gains Wall St. Cheat Sheet 1) Japan and Europe 2) Unemployment.3) Capital goods - billions of dollars in lost revenue. Financial Crisis Phase II Is Ahead at Forbes Bert Dohmen ‘ In late 2007, I wrote the book Prelude To Meltdown, predicting the global crisis that occurred the following year. I now see a similar confluence of events that warns of phase II of the global crisis… My work shows that “the new recession has started.”… Over the past 33 years, we have called the start of every recession, often on the exact month, or within one month, of the official start as determined one year later by the official arbiter of recession, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)… However, inflation is far understated for political reasons. Currently, the GDP deflator is 1.8%, which hardly reflects the true rise in prices. Therefore, what is counted as “growth,” is actually price increases. Actual inflation, according to free market economists who calculate inflation as it was done in 1980 before the politician re-engineered it, is now more than 11%. Using that to adjust GDP for inflation, would show that the economy is now in a very sharp contraction…’FLASHBACK HERE: Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding Remember: Sell in May and Go Away and If You’ve Not Sold by June, You’re a Loon! ‘ ‘Albert Edwards: Thinks the Market Could Fall 70%’ [ He’s not alone! PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows Stock Market: 4 Current Warning Signs Navin ‘…1) The 5-year high in the level of insider corporate stock sales is telling. At 565 sells for every 1 buy, it’s never been higher.

Is Obama’s fate written in numbers? Recent economic data amounts to a formidable headwind for any incumbent president hoping for a second term. And Democrats worry time is running out. (Washington Post) [ Let’s just say the fate of ‘wobama the b’ (for bs) is written, period. Quite simply, he’s done! Here’s a picture of obama voters / backers: http://www.albertpeia.com/wobamavoters.gif . ‘Don’t cry for him new argentina, the truth is he really screwed you’ … well you know that familiar theme and can ad lib, insert your own words!
It’s still Obama’s party Why he won’t face a primary challenge: Republicans and racial politics. (Washington Post) [ It’s true … so right you are! Al Gore’s even pitchin’ in by donating the talents of his long lost secret love child, ‘Leslie Gore’ to pen and sing a song in wobama’s honor (kidding) which goes something like this , ‘It’s his party and he’ll cry if he wants to, cry if he wants to, cry if he wants to, you would cry too, if obama happened to you … Well, there you go … if the song says it it must be true. Yeah! And those dern republicans and their racial politics … UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE...`‘`ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims' – Time to get whitey, at last, at last, etc., say holder / wobama who go on to say ‘and they ain’t talking about Whitey Bulger, the mobster, either!’

Postal Service seeking 20 percent staff cut EXCLUSIVE | In cost-cutting bid, USPS also proposes withdrawing employees from existing health and retirement plans and creating its own benefit programs. Congress would need to sign off. (Washington Post) [ I think it’s a great idea. Indeed, 50% would be substantially better. Even better yet, UPS should take over their entire operation. After all, UPS is well managed and efficient; and also, very reliable. On the other hand, the USPS is poorly managed, inefficient, and very unreliable: October 15, 2010 (*see infra {ultimately delivered by UPS})

SHARE YOUR OPINION ON THE DEBT LIMIT
Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard:

ATF Chief Melson:Justice Department trying to shield officials (LATimes) Serrano

I believe him!

I truly empathize with the ATF in terms of government cover-ups, notably by even the DOJ. You’ll recognize some familiar names (ie., Alito, Trump, Freeh (Louis Freeh now has dual citizenship with Italy), and some familiar crimes (ie., drug money laundering, etc. – real cash cow for gov’t ops, bribes, etc.). [Did you know this about the following ATF Agents who were probably viewed as loose ends: Steve Willis, Robert Williams, Todd McKeahan & Conway LeBleu: Died February 28, 1993 by gunfire at Waco. All four were examined by a pathologist and died from identical wounds to the left temple. All four had been body guards for Bill Clinton, three while campaigning for President and when he was Governor of Arkansas.They also were the ONLY 4 BATF agents killed at Waco. ]

Here’s some real, complicit cover-up / fraud on the part of the federal government, et als:

October 15, 2010 (*see infra {ultimately delivered by UPS})

Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director In Charge
Federal Bureau of Investigation, USDOJ
11000 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1700

Los Angeles, CA 90024

Dear Sir:

I enclose herewith 3 copies of the within DVD rom autorun disk (which will open in your computer’s browser) as per your office’s request as made this day (the disk and contents have been scanned by Avast, McAfee, and Norton which I’ve installed on my computer to prevent viral attacks / infection and are without threat). I also include 1 copy of the DVD as filed with the subject court as referenced therein (which files are also included on the aforesaid 3 disks in a separate folder named ‘112208opocoan’). The (civil) RICO action (as you’re aware, the RICO Act is a criminal statute which provides a civil remedy, including treble damages and attorney fees, as an incentive for private prosecution of said claims probably owing to the fact that the USDOJ seems somewhat overwhelmed and in need of such assistance given the seriousness and prevalence of said violations of law which have a corrupting influence on the process, and which corruption is pervasive). A grievance complaint against Coan was also filed concurrently with the subject action and held in abeyance pending resolution of the action which was illegally dismissed without any supporting law and in contravention of the Order of The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District Connecticut. The files below the horizontal rule are the referenced documents as filed. (Owing to the damage to the financial interests of both the U.S. and the District of Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, viz., Los Angeles, the Qui Tam provisions of the Federal False Claims Act probably would apply and I would absent resolution seek to refer the within to a firm with expertise in that area of the law with which I am not familiar).

The correspondence I received from the Congresswoman by way of email attachment (apparent but typical problem with my mail) along with my response thereto is included on the 3 disks as fbicorrespondencereyes.htm . With regard to the calls to the FBI’s LA and New Haven, CT offices: There was one call to the LA office and I was referred to the Long Beach, CA office where I personally met with FBI Agent Jeff Hayes to whom I gave probative evidentiary documents of the money laundering which he confirmed as indicative of same (he was transferred from said office within approximately a month of said meeting and his location was not disclosed to me upon inquiry). The matter was assigned to FBI Agent Ron Barndollar and we remained in touch for in excess of a decade until he abruptly retired (our last conversation prior to his retirement related to the case and parenthetically, Rudy Giuliani whose father I stated had been an enforcer for the mob to which he registered disbelief and requested I prove it, which I did – he served 12 years in prison, aggravated assault/manslaughter? – and no, there is no Chinese wall of separation – Andrew Maloney’s the one that prosecuted gotti).

A judgment had been entered in my favor in the case, United States District Court Case #3:93cv02065(AWT)(USDCJ Alvin Thompson), worth approximately now in excess of $300,000 remains unaccounted for and which could be used for payment to creditors, Los Angeles, etc..
Counsel Robert Sullivan on my behalf documented by way of certification upon investigation that Alan Shiff, USBCJ, had falsely stated a dismissal upon which false statement he predicated a retaliatory and spurious contempt proceeding against me causing substantial damage, and for which he sought Judicial Notice of those and related proceedings as did I in some of my filings.
The Order of Dismissal With Prejudice by Alan Shiff, USBCJ, owing to Defendant Coan’s failure to file anything whatsoever by the court’s deadline causing creditors and me substantial damages: [ Shiff Order of Dismissal With Prejudice on Coan’s Failure to File Page 1 Page 2 ]
Defendant Coan had filed an action against me to prevent me from suing him which necessitated me to fly to Connecticut for a hearing before The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District of Connecticut, who denied Coan’s requested relief as to Coan but precluded my action against Shiff (although there is no immunity, judicial or otherwise, for criminal acts, ie., fraud connected with a case under Title 11, USC, etc.) . [ transcript in pertinent part - crossexamofcoanbypeia.pdf ]
Newly appointed judge, Maryanne Trump Barry, Donald Trump’s sister, was assigned the RICO case despite the conflict of interest in light of hundreds of thousands of dollars of illegal (drug) money being laundered through the Trump casinos by the RICO defendants, and despite my motion to recuse her which motion she heard herself and denied, and U.S. Trustee Hugh Leonard with whom I met personally refused to join or file a separate motion to recuse and not long thereafter left said office for private practice at Cole, Shotz, et als on retainer with the RICO defendants as his primary client.

Probative and evidentiary documents, affidavits, exhibits, including those turned over to FBI Agent Jeff Hayes in Long Beach, CA, had been given to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Lacey with whom I met personally at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, N.J., at which time Samuel Alito was U.S. Attorney, and went over said documents and their probative value with him. Within approximately a month thereafter upon inquiry I was told that Jonathon Lacey was no longer with the office, that the file/documents could not be located, and that there was no further information available concerning contacting him or his location. I thereupon delivered by hand, copies of said documents to the office of then U.S. Attorney Alito, addressed to him, with assurance they would go directly to him. In addition to being inept [ I looked in on the one mob case he had brought, bungled, lost (accidently on purpose?) since I was suing some mob-connected under RICO and the court (I had known / previously met outside of court the judge Ackerman through a client) was absolute bedlam and a total joke since incompetent corrupt Alito brought in all 20 mob defendants (rather than prosecute one or a few to flip them first) who feigning illness had beds/cots in the courtroom along with their moans during testimony and had the jury in stitches. As much as I hate the mob, it truly was funny, if not so tragic.], Alito is also corrupt (and maybe corrupt because he is inept). After a reasonable (but still rather short) time I called to determine the status and was told that Alito was no longer with the Office of the U.S. Attorney, that he was (appointed) a federal judge, and that neither the documents nor any file or record of same could be located. Alito did parley the same / cover-up into quid pro quo direct lifetime appointment to the Court of Appeals, 3^rd circuit, despite the absence of judicial experience or successful tenure as U.S. Attorney (Maryanne Trump Barry as well). This is the same Sam Alito that now sits on the purported highest court in the land. The real application of the illegal rule ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’.

Sincerely,

Albert L. Peia

611 E. 5^th Street, #404

Los Angeles, CA 90013

(213) 219-**** (cell phone)

(213) 622-3745 (listed land line but there are unresolved problems with the line, computer connection may be the reason but I hesitate to chance greater non-performance / worsening by their ‘fix’ so cell phone best for contact).{recent change 323-786-6651 -magic jack}

----------

http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud WP Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. America Is a Failed State Because It Won’t Prosecute Financial Crime Washington’s Blog / the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm

CRIME STATS(u.s.No.1)

Rank	Countries	Amount
# 1	United States:	11,877,218
# 2	United Kingdom:	6,523,706
# 3	Germany:	6,507,394

THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

http://www.albertpeia.com

Sincerely and Regards,

Al Peia

Drudgereport: TEMPLETON chairman: Financial Crisis 'Around Corner'...
'WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF A GREAT, GREAT DEPRESSION...'

Obama Economists Admit: 'Stimulus' Cost $278,000 per Job...

GALLUP SHOCK: 'REPUBLICAN' BEATS OBAMA BY 8%
APPROVE: 42%
Return of Mass Layoffs a Grim Sign...
RON PAUL WEEKEND WINNER IN AMES?

TEEN UNEMPLOYMENT HITS 50% IN DC

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE CRASHES...
Lowest since Jimmy Carter...

APPEALS COURT: OBAMACARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL...
Dem Judge Rules Against Obama's Signature Achievement...
'Unbounded assertion of congressional authority'...

Emergency Decree: Italy Approves Tough Austerity Measures... Developing...
RIOTS BREAK OUT AROUND GLOBE AMID ECONOMIC ANXIETY

Dollar Tumbles on Fed Pledge; Swiss Franc Soars Most Since 1971...

Merkel faces revolt over eurozone deal...

Philadelphia Implements Strict Curfew To Combat Violent Mobs...
MAYOR TO BLACK YOUTH: 'You have damaged your own race'...
OBAMA APPROVE HITS NEW LOWS...
'There is something wrong with our politics'[ Yeah! You, among many others! All those false campaign promises, etc.! ] ...

6 YEAR OLDS CAUGHT WORKING ON FARMS...
Thirty-year Treasury yields rise most since 1980s...
CHICAGOLAND: State can no longer afford to bury dead poor...

Feds Called In To Curb 'Wild West' Violence In E. St. Louis...
REPORTS: Olympics ambassador is London rioter!
5 more US troops killed in Afghanistan...

SAVE THE EURO: Sarkozy, Merkel in emergency meeting...

HYPERSONIC PLANE LOST (What was the cost?) ...
REPORT: ENTIRE US STEALTH FLEET GROUNDED...

OBAMA CONSIDERS BECOMING NATIONAL LANDLORD...
Still going on vaca...
Approval: 40%...
Highest approval among Muslims...
WRONG TRACK: 73%...
Obama Marks Ramadan with Iftar dinner...

BANK STOCKS PLUNGE...
MOODY's warns states, local govts...
Treasury sells 10-year notes at record low rate...

SONY 'CLASSIFIED' BIN LADEN MOVIE;
WHITE HOUSE REJECTS FAVORS CLAIM

UK locks down as nights of unrest spread...
Manchester riots on scale not seen in 30 years...
Rioters rob people on street, force them to strip naked...
DOW -634...
CURSED: S&P falls 6.66%
IT TANKED AS HE TALKED...
BARACKALYPSE NOW

CHINA: Dollar to Be 'Discarded' by World...
Lectures How 'Good Old Days' of Borrowing Have Ended...
NOW BUFFETT DOWNGRADED!
Tel Aviv stocks fall 7% after USA debt downgrade...
Nikkei drops 2%...
Wall St braces...
European leaders scramble to calm investors...
S&P: 1 in 3 chance USA will fall ANOTHER notch!
Recession without shock absorbers...
Gold soars above $1,700...
PRE-MARKETS... DEVELOPING...
BLOODY WEEKEND

USA DOWNGRADED: FIRST CREDIT RATING CUT IN NATION'S HISTORY...
DETAILS [.PDF FILE]...
DEMOCRATS CALL FOR HIGHER TAXES...

CHINA: 'Good old days' of borrowing are over...

LONDON BURNS...
...the underclass lashes out
Violence continues...
Rioting spreads beyond capital...
DAY 3...

Riot Hits London After Police Shooting...
...shops looted
RAMPAGE...
Fears of more...
DOWNGRADED!
DETAILS [.PDF FILE]
FLASHBACK: 'No risk' USA will lose its top credit rating, says Treasury's Geithner … [ Well, we all know the powers of foresight possessed by ‘no-recession-helicopter ben’ and tiny tim geithner ] ...
FOOD STAMPS: Record 45.8 million dependent...
One in seven Americans...

Postal Service warns it could default…[ No surprise here .. the usps is totally unreliable! ] ...
Post Office proposes cutting 120,000 jobs, pulling out of healthcare plan …[ Let UPS take over the usps! ]...
Controversy over White House 'Hip-Hop BBQ'...

'Mob' beatings at WI state fair...
'Hundreds of young black people beating white people'...[ Typical n*****s! Good thing there are food stamps; otherwise they’d be reverting to their inherent proclivity for canabalism (send them back to africa … even give them a lump sum for an irrevocable repatriation incentive … a huge cost-saving beyond the first year with substantial salutary effects for the nation, the economy, and the remaining civilized non-blacks). The other major crimes they do anyway. It’s their nature. You’ll never change the nigger … they evolved only to ‘a point’ and no further. ]
Fairgoers 'pulled out of cars'...
'They were just going after white people'...
Heightened security...

[ I refrained from using the ‘n word’ (or even blacks / negroes) in referring to the culprits in the following two incidents (those tender sensibilities) but I’m sure you’ve guessed that they were niggers and I include same here in light of the foregoing incident (and yes, the victims were white), which is typical. ‘.. while walking through Military Park (a sliver of a “park” - more a pedestrian thoroughfare/cement walks) in newark, new jersey on the way to the bank during lunch hour, I heard the clearly audible screams/cries of what turned out to be an old lady on the ground with blood streaming from her mouth. I ran toward the sound of the cries, the source of which I could not see because there were so many people in and about this thoroughfare so as to block any vision of the source of the cries. When I came to the woman, on the ground, blood streaming from her mouth, I asked what happened, to which she responded she had been hit in the mouth and knocked to the ground, her purse stolen/put inside her shopping bag, and she pointed out the criminal casually now walking across the main street. Nobody stopped to help her, many having passed her by. I slammed the thug to the ground so hard that, in light of all the blood and confusion (limbic system / adrenalin flow) I thought I had been stabbed (the blood was from his elbows hitting the pavement so hard - no one helped / a crowd gathered / an undercover cop happened along). When I testified at the Grand Jury Proceeding I made sure his threat on my life was set forth in prima facie fashion so as to maximize the DA’s position with both felonies ( he went to prison – pled out ). The other case I wrote about here ( This was included on my website in the Psychology forum discussion of ‘bystander effect’ / diffusion of responsibility. ) - Having had occasion to have run down a mugger in newark, n.j. who apparently had followed a girl from the bank on her way to the bursar to pay tuition, though in pretty good shape, I was astounded by how totally exhausting such a pursuit was, how much like rubber my arms were when I traded punches with the perpetrator, and truth be told, if I had a flashlight on my belt, I have little doubt that I would have probably used it to subdue the perp (a police officer here in California was the object of intense criticism for having used a flashlight to subdue a criminal / nigger after a long chase so I included that here) . The girl was not that seriously injured, did get her pocketbook and tuition back, and the criminal / nigger went to jail (where they belong). The other thing about such a pursuit that amazed me was that no one else assisted the girl or me despite being in a position to do so. I was also mugged by 4 niggers and 2 hispanics in an incident here in Los Angeles, CA. But, to be fair and balanced, the RICO litigation involves those uncivilized who consider themselves ‘whites’ http://albertpeia.com/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf (predominantly but not exclusively jews / romans-italians / mobsters / government slugs). ]

UGLY!

DOW PLUMMETS 512...
OBAMA HAS BBQ COOKOUT...
GAINS FOR YEAR GONE...
'CORRECTION'...
PANIC RIPS THROUGH GLOBAL MARKETS...
Intervention fails to quell nerves...
'NOT SINCE JIMMY CARTER'...
Military money on chopping block...

Grim economic news clouds Obama 50th...

Two-year Treasury yield drops to record low...
RACE TO CASH: Bank imposes fee on rapidly growing deposits...
DEM RUNS FROM OBAMA...
Leaders Issue Warning on Joblessness...

Woman dies from heat after AC stolen...
San Fran tourist mugged of money, clump of hair...
RENTER STEALS AC, SELLS FOR GAS MONEY...
HUMAN HAIR TRADE SURGES...
Bronze Dog Statue Stolen From Humane Society...
Thieves steal school's bleachers!
Mom Arrested For Robbing Girl At Gunpoint -- For Bike...
10-Year-Old Boys Held Up For Sneakers At Summer Camp...
MOODY'S: 'NEGATIVE'

Massive rout spells trouble for Wall St...

Europe on Brink of 'Major Financial Collapse'...

DOW PULLS OFF A WIN! [ Based as usual on b***s*** alone! ]
Scary Chart Pattern Suggests More Selling on Way...
Economy struggles to find footing...
Obama, Bernanke out of ammo to boost jobs, growth...
Gold at $2,000 by year-end...

MORNING AFTER: BORROWING TOPS 100% OF GDP

European leaders feel the strain...
Berlusconi fails to stem rising panic...
'The coming crises of governments'...
Silent bank run hits Greece...
...exodus
Italy under fire...
Pain in Spain...
Woes Get Messier...

DEBT DEAL BACKLASH:
LIMBAUGH: A Total Waste of Time and Effort...
SAVAGE: America has been 'hoodwinked'...
DAILY SHOW: Where are the Tax INCREASES?
FT: Obama's image takes beating...
Ron Paul Sounds Alarm on 'Disturbing' Super Congress...
DER SPIEGEL: 'Civil War Atmosphere' in Washington...

Dollar falls to all-time low against Swiss franc...

PUTIN: USA 'parasite' on global economy... [Unfortunately, this is very true. More unfortunately is the fact that most worldwide don’t realize that fact! I mean, think about it: pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america’s cancerous perma wars, over-printed debased ‘Weimar’ paper ‘reserve’ currency, huge frauds in securities and otherwise, etc.. ]

House approves debt deal -- day before deadline!
Borrowing to surge after cap raised...
May not save AAA rating...

BIDEN [‘Lobotomy Joe’]CALLS TEA PARTY 'TERRORISTS'[ Riiiiight, ‘Lobotomy Joe’; anything you say joe, now calm down… ]

Manufacturing drops to lowest level in two years...
'Double Dip Here'...
RI Town Files for Bankruptcy...

Dog Airlifted Out of National Forest After Growing Too Tired to Finish Hike... [ Just another dog day afternoon in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america. ]

SURVEY: Internet Explorer users have lower IQs...

GOP REVOLTS

Obama Threatens Another Veto...
Just hours after urging compromise...
Carney Admits Obama Has No Plan...

OBAMA'S BASE CRUMBLES

BALL IN YOUR COURT, HARRY[, aka Mr. Milktoast, aka Majority Leader of Harry’s Wh*r* House]!

SWEAT CEILING: House approves debt bill...
NO! 22 REPUBLICANS BUCKED BOEHNER...
DC racing against clock...

HARRY BELAFONTE: Obama 'has failed'...
NOONAN: 'HE IS A LOSER'...
GALLUP: 40% APPROVAL...

Obama takes debt battle to TWITTER, loses more than 33,000 followers...
NYT reporter advises WH staff?

Illegal Aliens Head South to Mexico in Search of 'American Dream'...
4.9% unemployment in Mexico vs. 9.4% in US...
Black Middle Class Eroding As Unemployment Rate Soars...

CHAOS... CLOCK TICKING... NO PANIC...
THE VOTE: 'TEA PARTY' IN CHARGE!
Boehner Delays Vote on Debt...
Limbaugh: We've Been Played...
GALLUP: Obama Rates Higher Than Boehner, Reid on Debt Situation!
Ron Paul: 'Default Is Coming'...
Treasury Contingency Plan on Debt Gives Priority to Bondholders...
Carney: If We Have No Other Alternative We Will 'Take Action'...
Obama faces legal bind if time runs out...

PELOSI: 'We're Trying to Save Life on Planet as We Know it'… [ Riiiiight! Keep feeding those perma wars despite bankruptcy of this nation … Is life as she knows it on this planet really death? … Why does ‘doo,doo,doo,doo’ to the tune of Twilight Zone Theme come to mind when hearing her total b***s***?…Oh, riiiiight! She’s caught wobamanoid fever ] ...
6 days from 'default', both sides scrambling...
FURY OVER STALEMATE BOILS OVER...

House Dem leader urges Obama to raise debt ceiling without Congressional approval...

SHOCK POLL: 46% Think Most in Congress Corrupt...
WASHPOST/ABC: Blacks, liberals flee in droves...
SANDERS: Obama should face primary challenger...

The Immelt Way: WH Advisor on Jobs Moving GE X-Ray Business to China...
OBAMA SECRETLY SIGNALS BANKS: 'NO DEFAULT'...
WH to FOXNEWS: 'Tell your viewers there's nothing to worry about'...
BORGER: 'Nobody today is talking about tax increases -- except Barack Obama'...
TWT: Liberals hijacking Reagan to raise taxes...
PANIC: WH'S PFEIFFER SAYS DEFAULT COULD LEAD TO 'DEPRESSION'...

CA seeks bridge loan to pay bills...
Guv OKs financial aid for illegal aliens...
Brazilian currency at highest level since '99...
USA Can Avoid Default 'at Least Until September'...
Obama still pushing for tax hikes...
Endorses New Plan with 'Sham' Savings...
'Cuts' include money not spent in Afghanistan over next 10 years...
BOEHNER: Plan 'full of gimmicks'...

'DOING THINGS ON MY OWN VERY TEMPTING' [Why would anyone believe or follow anything ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) says when his actions belying his words have led to this disaster? Hasn’t he ‘done things on his own’ and contrary to campaign promises leading to this debacle? Indeed, he cannot be trusted! ]
Widest wealth gap between whites, minorities on record … [and they’re thanking ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***)] ...
DEPENDANT STATES OF AMERICA: Geithner Warns: 'We Write 80 Million Checks a Month'...

BOEHNER TO OBAMA: 'CONGRESS WRITES THE LAWS, YOU DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO SIGN'...
...President 'worried about his next election'

...Putin considering Kremlin return
Pelosi splits, heads to fundraiser...
CNN: OBAMA LOSING LIBERALS...
Farm thieves target grapes, avocados -- even bees...
Thieves target ambulances...
Thieves Steal 100 Storm Drain Covers In Sacramento...
RASMUSSEN SHOCK POLL: Obama 41% Ron Paul 37%...

DEBT DEAL DEAD...
BOEHNER WALKS...

80+ DEAD IN NORWAY

Terrorism shatters peace in home of Nobel prize...
NYT: 'Helpers of Global Jihad' claim... Fake cop opens fire at youth camp...
'Tall, blond, of Nordic looks'...
REUTERS UPDATE...
BBC LIVE...
Obama, Boehner discuss new debt plan... Developing...
PRESSURE: S&P renews warning...

SCORCH: HIGH TEMPS TO LAST WEEKS...
Now covers 1 million sq miles...
NEW YORKERS WARNED TO EXPECT ROLLING OUTAGES...

Rolling Blackouts Begin In Detroit...

Fears mount about 'Big Brother' database in Massachusetts...
Florida made $63M selling names, addresses, dates of birth...
Latin America Lectures US over Debt Crisis...
US talks get 'messy'...
Obama now open to short-term deal...

Euro meltdown: Sarkozy jets into Berlin for crisis talks with Merkel...
24 HOURS TO 'SAVE GREECE'...

Ron Paul: 'We Will Default, Debt Is Unsustainable'...
DEAL: SENATE HUDDLES TO HIKE TAXES...
Obama praises...
RESTATES THREAT TO VETO SPENDING CUTS...
LIBS EYE DEEP CUTS TO NATIONAL DEFENSE...

Cash-Strapped Connecticut Fire Sale, To Axe 365-Year-Old Ferry, Nation's Oldest...

OBAMA MAKES JOKE; NO ONE LAUGHS...

Gold Has Longest Run of Gains Since 1980...
Gas prices on the rise; top $4 in eight states...

Cash-Strapped SF To Shutter Courtrooms; Lay Off 200 Court Workers (and yet another feinstein? From direct experience with the superior courts of california, no loss here, and eliminating them entirely not a bad idea in light of their costly corruption as in the federal system! )...
DEM FLASHES RACE CARD IN DEBT DEBATE...[ Oh come on! This jive-talking, failed ‘president’ has been indulged in every way imaginable and possible (all those false campaign promises that got him elected, etc.). He may not have been the first (clinton has been said even by blacks to have been the first ‘black president’), but he most assuredly is the last black president, fitting every negative stereotype imaginable including racist hypocrisy.UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE... ‘ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims ' Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud WP Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. America Is a Failed State Because It Won’t Prosecute Financial Crime Washington’s Blog Roche 'The worst part of it ...Obama, who vowed change, has done almost nothing to fix any of it and in fact continues most of the policies that helped get us here in the first place’ ‘INSIDE JOB’ Ferguson wins Oscar for Documentary on the unprosecuted massive extant fraud in the (many) TRILLIONS by the frauds on wall street ( and declares with oscar in hand that not one high level wall street exec has been prosecuted … despite ‘earning’ billions from the fraud )THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv
'Only THIS president has received the kind attacks and disagreements'...

BOEHNER: HE HAS NO PLAN... [ It’s true; ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) has no plan whatsoever. Ask Mr. Teleprompter. ]
KRAUTHAMMER: CALL THE BLUFF!

Feds Issue Warning After 4 Mailboxes Lifted From Post Offices...

O'DRAMA...
'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'...
WALKS OUT OF WHITE HOUSE MEETING...
'DON'T CALL MY BLUFF'...
REID CALLS CANTOR NAMES...
CAMP DAVID SUMMIT?
BOEHNER: NO NEED...

MCCONNELL: GOP won't be 'tax collectors for Obama economy'...
Hometown congressman tells Obama to 'quit lying'...
PELOSI: 'Almost too busy' to continue debt talks...
GEITHNER: Out of time...
Cash-Strapped NYC Fines Man $2,000 -- For Not Watering Beehive?

STUDY: Black men survive longer in prison than out...
Man falls into Maui blow hole, disappears...
PRESSURE: MOODY'S PUTS USA ON DOWNGRADE WATCH

Boehner Rails on Obama: 'Like dealing with Jell-O'...

WH Cracks Down on Press: No Yelling at Obama Today...
President 'chafes' at unscripted questions...

BERNANKE BARKS BACK AT PAUL...
Fed May Launch New Round of Stimulus...
DOLLAR TUMBLES...
Putin calls Feds 'hooligans'...

Gold hits new high...
DEBT TALKS BREAK DOWN...
McConnell: Deal Not Possible With Obama … [ I think this shoe fits wobama ... African-American unemployment at 16% ... (But there’s rationality in this stat as people avoid their disgustingly uncivilized noisy rap ‘boomboxes’. Then there’s the attitude. I truly believe from direct experience that even when their outright aggression, assaults on persons and the senses, and otherwise obnoxious behavior is not apposite, the personality disorder ‘passive / aggressive’ is applicable, however indirectly expressed.) ] ...
'Backup plan'...

OBAMA THREATENS TO HOLD UP SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS
RUBIO: Every Aspect of Life in America is Worse Since Obama Took Over...
GE Immelt lectures biz owners: 'Stop complaining about government'...
FLASHBACK: (GE )Company Paid NO TAXES Last Year...

OBAMA: LET'S STAY IN IRAQ...
FLASHBACK: 'I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011'...
KARZAI'S BROTHER ASSASSINATED IN KANDAHAR...
Gunned down in home by bodyguard...
'Huge boost for Taliban'...
Obama 'far apart' from Republicans on debt deal...
Boehner: Debt Deal Not Imminent...
TORMENT @ 9.2%

State and local governments bleeding jobs...
Top Obama adviser says unemployment won't be key in '12 … (riiiiight!…talk about wishful thinking and self-delusion)...

BUCHANAN: DC Establishment 'in Panic'...
S&P WARNS GREECE OF DEFAULT -- EVEN WITH BAILOUT!
'Impossible knot'...
SANTELLI: 'The answer is easy: Spend less!'
Italy's borrowing costs soar... Berlusconi appeals for national unity and 'sacrifices'...

New Fears on Italy Jolt Europe...
Soros: Europeans now need 'plan B'...

Mob Of Teenage Girls Attacks Minneapolis Mom, 4-Year-Old Daughter...

Air Conditioner Thieves Hit 7 Churches In Texas...

THEY'RE HERE! [ Uh! That ‘nausea’ factor; though not nearly of the magnitude of america’s unctuous duo, ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) and michelle his belle (see infra). After all, the cloyingly cutesy couple from across the pond is hardly in a position to do damage as are the wobamas. Yet, one must ask: just what exactly are they? Mascots? Non-emmissary emissaries? Indeed, in this economy it’s quite embarrassing for members of the so-called commonwealth, struggling economically and otherwise, england/uk being no exception (royals wealth’ is ultimately the product of common expense) to be celebrating celebrity for the sake of nothing more than celebrity. Worse is the pathetic display here in the defacto bankrupt disunited states (uk not much better and in many ways worse) relative to their former colonial masters. Then there was that ostentatious marriage display so well publicized even as the uk’s (eu, u.s. et als) ‘rank and file’ are sacrificing and the respective nation states crumbling. Even so-called celebrities here shun such meaningless displays of themselves and at least serve a cinematic (art form) purpose. Truth be told, I bear them no ill will; but, I bear them no good will either. After all, quite simply, they are but a meaningless, extravagantly costly welfare couple that are simply irrelevant. How pathetic and embarrassing for their fans, followers, onlookers and their liege. And, though I’m biased (I think Grace Kelly to have been the most exquisite of creatures to have graced this earth – Alfred Hitchcock with an eye for such things thought so too and said as much), clearly Prince Albert of Monaco and his bride’s wedding was tastefully and not cloyingly about right. Now that’s real royalty via Grace Kelly; with a purpose; the management / leadership of a prime travel / gambling / entertainment / resort destination; viz., Monaco. ]
BOEHNER: Taxes 'off table'...
Debt Talks Turn to Social Security Cuts...
CHARGE: Bypassing Congress to raise debt would be 'impeachable'...

Mullen Accuses Tehran of Arming Iraq Militias… [ Riiiiight! Iraq’s the ‘boogey-man / bad guy’ in Iraq … not war crimes nation america which invaded based on known lies ] ...

LONDON BRIDGES FALLING DOWN: Coulson 'to be arrested tomorrow'...
Gov't decision on SKY takeover 'delayed'...

UPDATE: China warns U.S. officials not to meet Dalai Lama...

CHICAGOLAND: THIEVES STEAL ENTIRE A/C UNITS FROM HOUSES

UPDATE: Teen Dead After Beach Brawl...
Wisc beating victim: 'They just said "Oh, white girl bleeds a lot"'...

US Lawmakers Accuse DOJ of Cover-up in Botched Gun-Running Op...
CA Prison Shrink Paid $838,706 Last Year...
CA companies flee state...
No recession for 454 White House aides: They'll make $37,121,463 this year...
United States of 'gloom'...

Iran Ridicules: America is Not Independent...

SHOCK: Father with HIV raped 6-month-old son...

MEDIA BLOWS IT, AGAIN...
NANCY GRACE LEFT SPUTTERING: 'SOMEWHERE OUT THERE, THE DEVIL IS DANCING TONIGHT'...
Attorney: Case Was 'Media Assassination'...
'Now you have learned a lesson'...
CBS host breaks down...
'TOT MOM' CLEARED BY COURT...

JURY: NO MURDER!
Only guilty of lying to cops...

Portugal's Debt Downgraded to Junk...
CHINA: USA 'ALREADY DEFAULTING'...
DOLLAR TO 'LOSE RESERVE STATUS'

Economy Expected to Have Major Slide in Months Ahead...
NEW IMF CHIEF FROM CHICAGOLAND...
MARK HALPERIN CALLS OBAMA 'A DICK' ON LIVE TV...
POLL: Obama 42%, any Republican 46%...
Campaign signals fundraising fail...
UPDATE: Minnesota Government Shuts Down...
Washington state closes tourism office...
Florida state workers get pink slips, more cuts ahead...

FEDS STRIKE DOWN STATE'S BAN ON RACE CONSIDERATION IN COLLEGE ADMISSIONS...

SoCal Looks to Secede from California...

REPORT: U.S. Air Force, Navy still flying hundreds of missions over Libya...(FLASHBACK: Obama: U.S. Involvement Would Last 'Days, Not Weeks'... OBAMA FIGHTS FOR HIS RIGHT TO BOMB LIBYA...)
GETTING NERVOUS

NEWT: Obama 'most successful food stamp president in American history'...

Bachmann: Media wants 'to see two girls come together and have a mud wrestling fight'…[Well, I don’t know about the mud wrestling, but voyeurs all, ‘come together’ sounds about right … playing ‘victim’ does not become a presidential candidate. ] ...

Palin: Hollywood stars as 'full of hate'... ["What would make someone be so full of hate?" palin asks … answer: resistance to someone as dumb and full of war-mongering hate as she is! ]

REPORT: NATO forces ARE trying to assassinate Qaddafi...

Los Alamos under siege from wildfire...
'Throwing absolutely everything at this that we got'...

BLAGO LIKELY HEADED TO PRISON...
'What happened?'
But he gets to keep his hair...
Fitz finally wins one!

GUILTY IN CHICAGOLAND...
17 of 20 counts...
Tried To Sell Obama's senate seat...
Jury DEADLOCKED on Rahm shakedown...
Blago to lawyer: 'What happened?'
'Stunned'...

JOBLESS WEAK: 429,000...
...disappointed
Economic trouble puzzles Fed chief...

FARRAKHAN: 'THAT'S A MURDERER IN THE WHITE HOUSE'...
THE NEW 'NORMAL'
GALLUP PLUNGE...
Approval -4, disapproval +5 -- in one day!

DOWN TO THIRD: USA 'TO FALL BEHIND INDIA' IN TRADE...
DEM FIX: MORE SPENDING!
Bernanke speaks, stocks sink...
FORBES: 'Admits he's clueless'...

CBO: Long-Term Debt Picture Worsens...
Would reach 101% of GDP by 2021...
STUDY: State, local gov'ts must raise taxes $1,400 a year for 30 years to fund pensions...

Millionaires shrug off downturn; Wealthy richer than before crisis...

Zuckerman: 'We now have more idle men, women than at any time since Great Depression'...

SHOCK POLL: ONLY 3 in 10 WILL VOTE FOR OBAMA...
66% say US headed in 'wrong direction'...

Greece Agrees on New Austerity Plan With EU, IMF...
ANGER IN ATHENS...
'BLACK HOLE'...

WH TRANSCRIPT: 'Over the last 15 months we’ve created over 2.1 million private sector jobs. (Laughter.)'...

REPORT: GANNETT to slash more jobs across the country… [ No surprise here for this pathetic shill, rag publisher. The only real newspaper consistent with a tradition of courage, excellence, and respect for the first amendment is The Washington Post …] ...

DEBT TALKS BREAKDOWN; TAX BUST

S&P: Risk of U.S. credit rating downgrade increased...

Chicago county faces $108 billion gap in pensions....

Greek Streets 'Explosive'...
PM wins confidence vote 'but outlook remains dire'...

Huntsman announces presidential bid at Statue of Liberty...
Harry Reid endorses...
Bachmann surges to primary lead...

Iraq hunting $17 billion missing after U.S. invasion...
NATO NIGHTMARE: 9 CIVILIANS KILLED [NATO strike kills 15 Libyan civilians]

Census: Whites lose majority among babies...
German Giant Says US Workers Lack Skills...
PAPER: AMERICA'S LOST DECADE?
States look to Internet taxes to close budget gaps...

SPANIARDS ON MARCH OVER BLEAK PROSPECTS...

House will move this week to limit funding for effort in Libya...

'DON'T BE SURPRISED IF ATHENS GOES UP IN FLAMES'...
GREEK PM PLEADS FOR UNITY!
...warns against default
Threat to downgrade Italian debt raises contagion fears...
Princess Diana Conspiracy Movie Headed to Theaters... [ Uh, oh! Time to gear up the already harsh ‘censors’ in england. ]

PAPER: AMERICA'S LOST DECADE?

Bachmann: Obama 'has failed' blacks, Hispanics... [ Come on! ‘Wobama the b’ (for b***s*** has failed everyone. ]
Presidential no-show miffs Hispanics...
African-American unemployment at 16%... [ But there’s rationality in this stat as people avoid their disgustingly uncivilized noisy rap ‘boomboxes’. Then there’s the attitude. I truly believe from direct experience that even when their outright aggression, assaults on persons and the senses, and otherwise obnoxious behavior is not apposite, the personality disorder ‘passive / aggressive’ is applicable, however indirectly expressed. ]

SHE'S OFF! (on the road again) Michelle Obama embarks on Africa visit … (stay there!) ...
Michelle Obama Admits: 'Fortunately, We Have Help From The Media'...
CHICAGOLAND: Rahm's Top Cop Blames Gangs, Crime on 'Gov't-Sponsored Racism'...
Likens federal gun laws to 'racism'...

Teen Mob Of 50 Hits Chicago WALGREENS...
Teen brutally beaten by mob of blacks; cops mull 'lynching' charge...
Princess Diana Conspiracy Movie Headed to Theaters... [ British queen arrives in Ireland Queen Elizabeth II’s visit overshadowed by security scares. (Washington Post) [ ‘How sweet she is’ … that ‘sweet liz’ … that is … Diana film causes stir at Cannes “Unlawful Killing” has a combination of celebrity, controversy and canny hype-mongering. (Washington Post) [ Let’s not kid ourselves … and, Dodi Fayed’s father was no dope and knew the score. Indeed, it’s not coincidental that William’s the over-riding favorite of granny Liz II; after all, Harry’s the bastard son of Hewitt (don’t buy into their DNA proffer which they did buy – you know, that ‘bloodline thing’). Moreover, it was reported that Diana had another ‘potential challenger in the oven’ at the time of her death and we all know how dicey such english affairs of state can be (ie., Henry VIII, Richard III, etc.). Then there’s the contempt of Diana for having brought the son of her bosom, Chas, down. Do I think she said flat out ‘kill Diana’. No … more of a ‘do what’s necessary’ to mi6 et als. Ultimately, William will require some substantial therapy to sort out this looming conflict. After all, Diana was his mother. Drudgereport: British woman decapitated in grocery store; killer flees with head... Cannes: Diana doc slams UK royals as 'gangsters'... ]
Drudgereport: Protesters burn American flag during Obama visit to Puerto Rico -- a U.S. territory... [ I find even his retirement costs objectionable.Obama: My family is ‘fine’ with one term Politico | President Barack Obama says his family is “not invested” in a second term. The unctuous pandering by the wobamas is nauseating. And, michele’s fundraisers? What’s up with that? Wobama’s such a glomming golem / slug.Obama says if he were Weiner, he’d resign President Obama on Monday waded into the debate over whether embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner should step down, saying, “If it was me, I would resign..Barack Obama: The Naked Emperor Shocking but true revelations from David Icke| ..Obama is just more of the same, a big smile with strings attached, and controlled completely by those that chose him, trained him, sold him and provided his record funding, kept his many skeletons under wraps, like the gay sex and crack cocaine .. Larry Sinclair (from affidavit: 1. Who is Ron Allen that claims to be with your Presidential camp, who is alleged to claim that someone claiming to represent me called asking for $100,000, to keep me from coming forward about our (Obama and I) November 1999 encounter of sex and cocaine use?), ... Obama is just another Banksters' moll prostituting himself .., and that's why he supported the grotesque bail-out of the banking system and why he will always put their interests before the people. ] http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

SHARE YOUR OPINION ON THE DEBT LIMIT Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard:

ATF Chief Melson:Justice Department trying to shield officials (LATimes) Serrano

CRIME STATS(u.s.No.1)

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CRIME STATS(u.s.No.1)

SHARE YOUR OPINION ON THE DEBT LIMIT Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard:

ATF Chief Melson:Justice Department trying to shield officials (LATimes) Serrano

CRIME STATS(u.s.No.1)

SHARE YOUR OPINION ON THE DEBT LIMIT
Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard:

SHARE YOUR OPINION ON THE DEBT LIMIT
Dear Congresswoman Roybal-Allard: