Business Summary Links By Day

America 1950 vs. America 2012 http://albertpeia.com/downhillslideofamerica.htm , S&P Declares Greece in Default Wall Street Journal [Breaking] , 3 doomsaying experts who foresee economic devasation ahead... By Adam Shell NEW YORK – ‘Behind the mainstream Wall Street happy talk about more stable financial markets and an improving economy are grim warnings of tough times ahead from a small cadre of doomsayers who warn that the worst of the financial crisis is still to come. , Military Keynesianism Can’t Work … Because WWII Was Different from Current Wars Washington’s Blog | “Military Keynesians” – people who think that war is good for the economy – base their theory on the mistaken idea that World War 2 pulled us out of the Great Depression. , David Rosenberg: "It's A Gas, Gas, Gas!" Durden 2-27-12 "It Is completely ironic that we would be experiencing one of the most powerful cyclical upswings in the stock market since the recession ended at a time when we are clearly coming off the poorest quarter for earnings... , Mountain Of Worry Shifts From Olympus To Zagros Durden 2-27-12 , It's Official: S&P Cuts Greece To (Selective) Default From CC Durden 2-27-12 From S&P: "We lowered our sovereign credit ratings on Greece to 'SD' following the Greek government's retroactive insertion of collective action clauses (CACs) in the documentation of certain series of its sovereign debt on Feb. 23, 2012....We do not generally view CACs (to the extent that they are included in an original issuance) as changing a government's incentive to pay its obligations in full and on time. However, we believe that the retroactive insertion of CACs will diminish bondholders' bargaining power in an upcoming debt exchange , Brodsky On Buffet On Gold Durden 2-27-12 We have repeatedly voiced our views on Buffett's relentless bashing of the only asset that is a guaranteed protection against now exponential currency debasement and central planner, and other PhD economist, stupidity, most recently here. We are happy that other, more politically correct asset managers, have decided to share how they fell, and take the crony capitalist to task. The first (of many we are sure), are Lee Quaintance and Paul Brodsky of QBAMCO who have just penned "Golden Boy" or the much needed "high society" response to the old man from Omaha… We strongly disagree with Mr. Buffett’s views and we thought it would be best to explore his comments and provide our counter-arguments." , Name The Bubble Durden 2-27-12 As the title suggests, please name the latest bubble , Here Is Why Someone Will Be Disappointed By The LTRO Durden 2-27-12 Gaming out the impact of this week's LTRO2 demand on global risk assets is complicated by the ability of banks to mobilize collateral (how much can they pledge to the ECB and how much of that will be 'optimal' given the implicit subordination of senior unsecured debt holders), the use of those funds (carry trade economics are considerably lower and refinancing needs remain high), and the market's expectations (just how much more back-door QE is priced into European - and for that matter - US asset prices). , Merkel: "No Guarantee Second Greek Bailout Will Work" Durden 2-27-12 , Art Cashin On The World Running Out Of Ideas To Bail Out Itself Durden 2-27-12 , Guest Post: The Trajectory Of Tragedy Durden 2-27-12 With an economy of just $3.2Tn versus the United States $14.3Tn Germany is trying to prop up a Eurozone that is more than one trillion dollars bigger than America. They just do not have the resources for the task they are undertaking and I predict serious consequences, eventually, from their efforts. Germany is “best of class” and will be the last to go but they cannot evade the European recession in the end and I think it is only a matter of time and unfortunate decisions before the austerity demands made on so many will wind their way back home to those who made the demands. They used a timeline that was much too short for the job at hand and payment will eventually be forced upon them. They obviously get the joke where Eurobonds and other ploys of this nature average the economies of Europe and the standards of living over some period of time so that Germany, in the end, will suffer most as they have the furthest to fall. They have approached the G-20, China, the emerging market countries and all polite responses to the side; the results have been about zip. The Germans are running out of both time and money and Franz is squirming in the beer hall. , The (European) Placebo Effect Durden 2-27-12 , Guest Post: Extend And Pretend Coming To An End Durden 2-26-12 … The Federal government, Federal Reserve, Wall Street banks, regulatory agencies and commercial real estate debtors have colluded since 2008 to pretend cash flow doesn’t matter. Their plan has been to “extend and pretend”, praying for an economic recovery that would save them from their greedy and foolish risk taking during the 2003 – 2007 Caligula-like debauchery. DEBT DEFAULT MEANS HUGE LOSSES FOR THE WALL STREET CRIMINAL BANKS. Of course the banksters will just demand another taxpayer bailout from the puppet politicians. This repeat scenario gives new meaning to the term shop until you drop. Extending and pretending can work for awhile as accounting obfuscation, rolling over bad debts, and praying for a revival of the glory days can put off the day of reckoning for a couple years. Ultimately it comes down to cash flow, whether you’re a household, retailer, developer, bank or government. America is running on empty and extending and pretending is coming to an end. , The Key Players Are Showing Their Hands… Will Germany Go “All In”? February 27, 2012 By gpc1981 http://gainspainscapital.com ‘As I’ve stated time and again, Germany is the only EU member that has the money to get Greece through this next round of debt payments (14.4 billion Euros coming due March 20). But Merkel isn’t going to give the money without Greece submitting to German fiscal demands.However, there is no way Greece will submit to German fiscal authority. Heck the Greeks are even going so far as to bring up German war reparations from WWII!Greek MP’s raise the issue of German war reparations. The Athens News reported that the MP’s have stressed that Germany owes Greece a debt of 54 billion euros before interest (70 billion with interest). They are calling for the issue to be raised as a national issue as Greece was the only country to which Germany failed to pay war reparations. , Dave’s Daily: http://www.etfdigest.com SPRINT TO DOW 13K FALLS SHORT 2-27-12 ‘Stocks started the day on the wrong foot as more worries from the eurozone surfaced. On Monday the G-20 didn’t provide any additional fire power for IMF lending to increase a firewall. Most authorities just said it wasn’t a need at this time. But after, Pending Home Sales rose 2% from 95.1 (revised lower) to 97.0. Stocks then rallied reversing the lower gap open. Evidently algos paid no attention to the revision lower of previous data preferring to trade the better headline instead. , German Minister Calls for Greek Euro Exit Feb 27th, 2012 , Why China will have an economic crisis — Time , Gasoline Prices Are Not Rising, the Dollar Is Falling Louis Woodhill | Eventually, all prices equilibrate with gold. , The Perfection Of Crony Capitalism: Use Regulation To Destroy Competitors Zero Hedge | Crony capitalism uses its wealth to impose government regulations designed to hinder, cripple and destroy small business competitors., George Osborne: UK has run out of money London Telegraph | The Government ‘has run out of money’ and cannot afford debt-fuelled tax cuts or extra spending, George Osborne has admitted. , Gas Prices Signal Tsunami of Inflation Greg Hunter | Most Western countries are engaging in QE to prop up an insolvent system bloated on bad debt.