Business Summary Links By Day

Business Summary Links By Day

Graham Summers’ Weekly Market Forecast (Here Comes Spain Edition) 4-23-12 By gpc1981 [ http://albertpeia.com/spainpain.htm ] ‘As expected Francois Hollande won the first round of the French elections. He and Nicolas Sarkozy will run against each other in the second round, which will occur on May 6th.The Euro isn’t taking this news well. As I write this Sunday night the Euro currency futures have gapped down. I’ve added this move to the chart below.130 remains the line in the sand for the Euro. If we take it out with conviction then we’re in BIG trouble.I believe we’re at most a month or so away from this. Spain has now stepped center stage in the Euro Crisis. And the Spanish Ibex has just taken out its 15-year trendline:This spells MAJOR trouble for Spain and the rest of the EU. Unlike Greece, (which has its own elections, which could go very wrong for the EU, on May 6^th by the way), Spain is too big to bail out. Indeed, the Spanish banking system is a toxic sewer of bad mortgage debt: over half of all mortgages were generated and owned by the unregulated cajas. If you’re unfamiliar with the caja banking system, let me give you a little background…Until recently, the caja banking system was virtually unregulated. Yes, you read that correctly, until about 2010-2011 there were next no regulations for these banks (which account for 50% of all Spanish deposits). They didn’t have to reveal their loan to value ratios, the quality of collateral they took for making loans… or anything for that matter.As one would expect, the cajas have been collapsing like dominos in the last few years. Spain’s been trying to prop them up by merging them with larger (likely equally insolvent) banks with no success (the merged banks have all collapsed to new lows in the last month).On top of this, Spanish Banks are drawing a record €316.3 billion from the ECB (up from €169.2 billion in February).Things have gotten so bad that Spanish citizens are pulling their money out of Spain en masse: €65 billion left the Spanish banking system in March 2011 alone. And all of this is happening at a time in which relations are breaking down between Germany and the ECB as well as between Germany and France.In other words, the EU collapse is about to enter its next round. Remember, all collapses follow the same pattern: 1) the initial drop 2) the re-test/ attempt to reclaim upwards momentum 3) the roll-over/ REAL fireworks…’ , Dave’s Daily: http://www.etfdigest.com MONDAY MARKET BLUES 4-23-12 ‘Eurozone issues stole the show on Monday… again. An austerity deal in the Netherlands hit a stalemate, meaning the country could lose its AAA rating. In France election results weren’t kind to Sarkozy and it’s uncertain, especially with the strong right wing showing, how the final vote on May 6^th will work out. If Sarkozy loses and the socialist Hollande wins then the financial alliance for the EU between France and Germany could be undone. To make matters worse Monday, the eurozone reported the important PMI (Purchasers Managers Index) at weak 47.4 vs expectations of 49.3 and prior 49.1. China also reported another weak manufacturing survey also at 49.1. Toss-in recent U.S. data and the three important regions in the world are experiencing clear economic contraction…’ , Guest Post: Where’s The Crisis? Durden 4-23-12 The thing about GDP, is that it doesn’t really measure wealth creation, or the size of the economy. It measures a derivative of that: money circulation. If Congress passed a law saying that everyone in America had to smoke meth (hey, if you can mandate the purchase of health insurance, why not mandate drug consumption in the name of increasing GDP?) and gamble all their disposable income on horse racing, GDP would almost certainly improve. And that’s growth, right? Except it isn’t. Real growth comes from innovation, productivity, imagination, and hard work. You can attempt to quantify it, but there is no easy catch-all number that will give you a quick and simple insight. , Gold Outperforms As Stocks Suffer From Wal-Mart's 'Sinko-De-Abril' , NFLX Beats But Guidance Stuns Stock -19% From Friday's Close, Margins Implode , Scam Trek Caption Contest http://albertpeia.com/scamtrek.htm , Global Systemic Risk At 3 Month Highs In a little over a month, the risk of the 30 most systemically important global banks has jumped an impressive 45%. At 235bps, the FSB30 stands just shy of the peak levels that were seen in the initial March 2009 crisis moment - though remains below Q4 2011 peak crisis levels. Perhaps, despite all the protestations of 'zee stabilitee', self-sustaining record-profit-margin-driven recovery, and Chinese soft-landing, the vicious circles of austerity in Europe (and perhaps the US) and financials squandering their newly-found liquidity (and certainly not capital) is becoming too large to ignore? , Rosenberg Roasts The Roundtable Of Groupthink http://albertpeia.com/grantham.htm It appears that when it comes to mocking consensus groupthink emanating from lazy career 'financiers' who seek protection from their lack of imagination and original thought, 'creation' of negative alpha and general underperformance (not to mention reliance on rating agencies, only to jump at the first opportunity to demonize the clueless raters), in the sheer herds of other D-grade asset "managers" (for much more read Jeremy Grantham explaining this and much more here http://albertpeia.com/grantham.htm ), David Rosenberg enjoys even more linguistic flexibility than even us. Case in point, his just released trashing of the latest Barron's permabull groupthink effort titled "Outlook: Mostly Sunny." And just as it so often happens, no sooner did those words hit the cover of that particular rag, that it started raining, generously providing material for the latest "Roasting with Rosie." , Guest Post: Gasoline Is Expensive - Deal With It , Think The US Student Loan Bubble Is Bad? You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet , US Welfare State To Run Out Of Cash Sooner Than Hoped For Headlines via Bloomberg:

*MEDICARE COSTS RISE 5 PERCENT TO $549 BILLION IN 2011 :UNH US
*LONG-TERM PROJECTIONS FOR MEDICARE WORSEN, TRUSTEES SAY :UNH US
*HOSPITALS TO FACE MEDICARE PAYMENT CUTS IN 2024, U.S. SAYS
*TRUSTEES SAY FUND TO RUN OUT THREE YEARS EARLIER THAN PREDICTED

Nigel Farage Batters Barroso But Noyer Self-Deludes On European Crisis Ending

Juxtaposing the market's recent movements, Nigel Farage's 'when-not-if' perspective on the end of the Euro, Weidmann's concerns, and now ECB's Noyer stunning self-delusion that, as Bloomberg notes:

*NOYER SAYS STEPS TO EXIT EURO CRISIS BEGINNING TO BEAR FRUIT
*NOYER: BANK FUNDING, MONEY MARKET CONDITIONS ARE MUCH BETTER
*NOYER: RECENT EXCEPTIONAL STEPS LET BANKS, GOV'TS STRENGTHEN
*WEIDMANN: RENEGOTIATION OF AUSTERITY A 'BLOW TO CREDIBILITY'

is more than some can bear. As Mr.Farage notes, in the face of the rapidly deteriorating situation in Europe, Barroso and his colleague's ever-smiling perspective on the Euro, "look ridiculous". With Spanish yields over 6%, banks trading at near record high levels of funding costs, Italian risk elevating, political event risk becoming critical, and now macro data turning even worse perhaps Noyer's comments that "delaying fiscal consolidation may lead to greater risks" are spot on - and yet nation after nation ~~rises-up~~ votes to 'deny' austerity.

Guest Post: Project “End Up Like Japan” Continues To Advance Well In The West

Durden

One scene from the movie Titanic depicts a lounge in one of the upper class quarters of the ship as it slowly sinks beneath the waves. Notwithstanding the vessel listing alarmingly, a motley band of toff revelers are determined to go out in the finest style. Some continue to play at cards with a fatalistic resolve while others determinedly quaff spirits direct from the bottle. Having considered for some time the most appropriate metaphor for the current market environment, we think this may be it: one may be doomed, but one can still party on. Having already hit the iceberg, one major problem we see is the common perspective for both investors and the asset management industry to view debt and equity as the entire universe of investor choices available. Having long exhausted the armory of conventional policies to keep the unsustainably indebted show on the road, increasingly desperate politicians are doing increasingly desperate things, be that gifting money to the IMF in a brazen display of fiscal denial that we can ill afford (US, UK) or simply stealing from other sovereigns (Argentina). The ironic triumph of the Keynesians means that, in trying to save the economy, our central bank may end up destroying it completely by means of the printing press; as a consequence, we now get to experience some of the full-on horror of the Japanese malaise.

Guest Post: The Future Is Unknown, But We Know The Unsustainable Will Implode ‘… we do know two very important things: 1) that which is unsustainable will implode, and 2) the present Status Quo is unsustainable. That ultimately leaves us with a single question: what are we going to do about it? In my view, it's not important that we agree on solutions--agreement would in fact be a catastrophe, for dissent and decentralization are the essential characteristics of any sustainable "solution." What is important is that we realize the future boils down to a simple choice: do we passively comply with the Status Quo feudalism or do we resist?.... That is the false choice provided by the Status Quo: do you want to buy/sell/drink sugar water or saccharine? There is another choice: do we want to passively self-destruct in servitude to the Status Quo or do we want to join those with a positive vision for the future? Every act is a choice, and the future is in our hands.’

Breast cancer survivor handcuffed and thrown in jail over a mistaken $280 medical bill

dailymail.co.uk | Return of debtor’s prisons in the U.S.

One Nation Under Debt With Endless Debt Slavery For All

End of the American Dream | Debt is a “soft” form of slavery.

MF Global’s Jon Corzine Still Bundling for Obama

Weekly Standard | Corzine, according to the Obama campaign, has once again helped raise more than $500,000.

Goldman Sachs facing a new insider trading probe

Reuters | Federal prosecutors in California are investigating a Goldman Sachs employee for insider trading.

Food Stamp Rolls to Grow Through 2014, CBO Says

Wall St Journal | The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday that 45 million people in 2011 received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, a 70% increase from 2007.

Dutch Government Resigns Over Budget Crisis

HuffPo | The Dutch government quit Monday after failing to agree on a plan to bring its deficit in line with EU rules.

Measures needed to end UK’s ‘late payment culture’

telegraph.co.uk | More than half of companies said late payment affected their trading.

53 Percent Of All Young College Graduates In America Are Either Unemployed Or Underemployed

The Economic Collapse | Many hard working college graduates cannot seem to find a decent job no matter how hard they try.

Epic Fail – Part One

The Burning Platform | The next six months leading up to the November elections will surely provide a shining example of the degraded society we’ve become.

Israel’s Key Energy Provider, Egypt, Cuts Off All Natural Gas Supplies

Zero Hedge | Two months ago, we warned that while the world had decided to blissfully move on from last year’s topic #1, the MENA revolutions, and specifically the massive power vacuum left in their wake, things in the region were far from fixed.

Spain’s economy plunges into recession

AFP | Spain’s jobs-scarce economy plunged back into recession in the first quarter of 2012 as employment slumped even further, the Bank of Spain said Monday.

Nancy Pelosi Wants to Amend the First Amendment Kurt Nimmo | When Pelosi says “special interests,” she means interests opposed to establishment Democrats. [ Here’s a look at the pelosi / wobama styled new california ( 16 Reasons To Move Away From California `http://albertpeia.com/16reasonstomoveawayfromcalifornia.htm` ) . pelosi’s incompetent / senile in that chronological order. At this point, wobama the b for bs is just incompetent but acts and seems as if he’s senile, particularly with regard to previous things he’s said and prior promises that he’s made. ]

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{ some prior links of current interest }

A Warning Sign For The World http://albertpeia.com/warningsignfortheworld.htm, Inventor of World Wide Web Savages Government’s Big Brother Plans http://albertpeia.com/bernersleeantibigbrotherwebintrusion.htm , 16 Reasons To Move Away From California `http://albertpeia.com/16reasonstomoveawayfromcalifornia.htm` , 20 Signs You Might Be A Typical American Worker http://albertpeia.com/20signsoftypicalamericanworker.htm , 10 Signs That America Is Decomposing Right In Front Of Our Eyes http://albertpeia.com/10signsamericadecomposing.htm , 8 Reasons Why The Greek Debt Deal May Not Stop A Chaotic Greek Debt Default http://albertpeia.com/8reasonsgreekdebtdefaultstillcoming.htm , 55 Interesting Facts About The U.S. Economy In 2012 http://albertpeia.com/55factsaboutus2012economy.htm , http://albertpeia.com/debtpercapita.jpg , Double-dip recession setting in across eurozone: EU , America 1950 vs. America 2012 http://albertpeia.com/downhillslideofamerica.htm , Society’s Five Stages of Economic Collapse http://albertpeia.com/5stagesofcollapse.htm , No Housing Recovery - Case Shiller Shows 8th Consecutive Month Of House Price Declines Durden , Goldman: Germany Is Now On The Hook By €1 Trillion (Or 40% Of GDP) Durden, , 20 Economic Statistics To Use To Wake Sheeple Up From Their Entertainment-Induced Comas http://albertpeia.com/20ecostatstowakesheeple.htm , Central bank balance sheet expansion since end 2007 Mar 1st, 2012 by News (ZeroHedge) — SNB +230%; Fed +222%, BOJ +125%, BOE +87%, PBOC +93%, ECB +51%. USA Gold / PG View: Pretty strong evidence that the rally in bonds — and by extension the rally in stocks — is nothing but a charade. , 10.7 Percent: Unemployment In Europe Is Worse Than It Was At The Peak Of The Last Recession http://albertpeia.com/europeunemploymentworsethanrecession.htm , Inflation Is A Tax And The Federal Reserve Is Taxing The Living Daylights Out Of Us http://albertpeia.com/inflationisatax.htm , 15 Potentially Massive Threats To The U.S. Economy Over The Next 12 Months http://albertpeia.com/15massivethreatstoeconomy.htm , 1 Through 30 – The Coming U.S. Financial Crisis By The Numbers http://albertpeia.com/1-30usfinancialcrisiscoming.htm , Greece Has Defaulted - Which Country In Europe Is Next? http://albertpeia.com/greecehasdefaultedwhonext.htm , Five Charts That Prove We’re in a Depression and That the Federal Reserve and Washington Are Wasting Money gpc1981 http://albertpeia.com/usindepressionfedandgovwastingmoney.htm , Broken Promises: Pensions All Over America Are Being Savagely Cut Or Are Vanishing Completely .http://albertpeia.com/uspensionscutorvanishing.htm , America Is Being Transformed From A Wealthy Nation Into A Poor Nation At Breathtaking Speed http://albertpeia.com/ustransformedfromwealthytopoor.htm , ECRI Stays with Recession Call New American | The vicious cycle is starting where lower sales, lower production, lower employment and lower income [leads] back to lower sales…BOB ADELMANN New American Tuesday, March 13, 2012 http://albertpeia.com/ecricallsrecession.htm , Consumer prices rise on high gas costs But outside higher pump prices, inflation stayed mild. (Washington Post) [ Wake up! They’d have a hard time denying what’s in plain sight for everyone to see. Yet, apparently they’ve not gone grocery shopping lately; you know, all that catered food for fools in Washington. , 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…’ , Conned 2012: Joseph Kony Is A CIA Contractor [ Yeah, cia, mossad, kony, they look like and are a bunch of spooks. ] Saman Mohammadi | Former European MP, journalist, and author Richard Cottrell says Lord Resistance Army is backed by CIA and Mossad. , 11 Reasons Why America Would Be A Better Place Without Goldman Sachs [ If only it was just 11 and not an endless number of reasons why the aforesaid is true! And, though america particularly, not just america, but the entire world as well! ] http://albertpeia.com/americabetterwithoutgoldmansachs.com , The Obama Flag: Who Decided That It Was Okay To Replace The Stars On The American Flag With The Face Of Barack Obama? http://endoftheamericandream.com http://albertpeia.com/monkeyflag.htm [Aside from the desecration issues, from a purely aesthetic perspective, that picture on the flag of that ugly monkey obama is an absolute disgrace and affront to any rational person’s aesthetic sensibilities!] , Who Decided That It Would Be A Good Idea.... http://albertpeia.com/misplacedfaith.htm , Chimps Throwing Poop And 29 Other Mind Blowing Ways That The Government Is Wasting Your Money http://albertpeia.com/whydochimpslikeobamasthrowpoop29waysgovernmentwastesmoney.htm , Failed Wobama model illustrated: 16 Reasons To Move Away From California `http://albertpeia.com/16reasonstomoveawayfromcalifornia.htm ,` No Housing Recovery Until 2020 In 5 Simple Charts
http://albertpeia.com/nohousingrecoveryuntil2020in5charts.htm Durden `,` The Mother Of All Infographics: Visualizing America's Derivatives Universe http://albertpeia.com/usderivatives221trillionof707trillionglobal.htm , Fasten Your Seatbelts: High Frequency Trading Is Coming To The Treasury Market `[` http://albertpeia.com/highfrequencytradingcomingtotreasuries.htm , As US Rakes Largest Monthly Deficit In History, 2012 Tax Revenues Net Of Refunds Trail 2011 Durden, Guest Post: Money from Nothing - A Primer On Fake Wealth Creation And Its Implications (Part 1) Durden 3-12-12 What is fraud except creating “value” from nothing and passing it off as something? Frauds interlink and grow upon each other. Our debt-based money system serves as the fraud foundation. In our debt-based money system, debt must grow in order to create money. Therefore, there is no way to pay off aggregate debt with available money. More money must be lent into the system to make the payments for old debts. This causes overall debt to expand as new money for actual people (vs. banks) always arrives at interest and compounds exponentially. This process is called financialization. Financialization: The process of making money from nothing in which debt (i.e. poverty, lack) is paradoxically considered an asset (i.e. wealth, gain). In current financialized economies “wealth expansion” comes from the parasitic taxation of productivity in the form of interest on fiat lending. This interest over time consumes a greater and greater share of resources, assets, labor, and livelihood until nothing is left., Guest Post: Money from Nothing - A Primer on Fake Wealth Creation and its Implications (Part 2) ZeroHedge.com 3-14-12 Only in a debt-based money system could debt be curiously cast as an asset. We’ve made “extend and pretend” a quaint phrase for a burgeoning market for financial lying and profiteering aimed toward preventing the collapse of a debt- (or lack-) based system that was already doomed by its initial design to collapse. , Guest Post: The Audacity of Bonuses At MF Global Durden 3-12-12 In the spirit of George Orwell’s Animal Farm commandment: “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal then others” comes the galling news that bankruptcy trustee, Louis Freeh, could approve the defunct, MF Global to pay bonuses to certain senior executives. This, despite the fact that nearly $1.6 billion of customer funds remains “missing” or otherwise partially accounted for, yet beyond the reach of those customers, perhaps forever, since before the firm declared bankruptcy on October 31, 2011... ,

Nigel Farage Batters Barroso But Noyer Self-Deludes On European Crisis Ending

Guest Post: Project “End Up Like Japan” Continues To Advance Well In The West

53 Percent Of All Young College Graduates In America Are Either Unemployed Or Underemployed

http://albertpeia.com/53percentununderemploymentforyoungcollegegrads.htm

Metal News for the Day

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