Whenever Margin Debt Goes Over 2.25% Of GDP The Stock Market Always Crashes

by Michael

What do 1929, 2000 and 2007 all have in common?  Those were all years in which we saw a dramatic spike in margin debt.  In all three instances, investors became highly leveraged in order to “take advantage” of a soaring stock market.  But of course we all know what happened each time.  The spike in margin debt was rapidly followed by a horrifying stock market crash.  Well guess what?  It [...]

Retirement Crisis: Trillions of Your Pension Dollars Stolen in Broad Daylight… And it’s All “Legal.”

‘Retirement Heist’ Overlooked Causes of the Retirement Crisis

 

The decline in employer-sponsored pension and retiree health plans is a troubling trend that has eroded the retirement security of millions of Americans. Stock market losses and low interest rates have weakened pension funding, and employers say that this — combined with retiree longevity, rising costs and the need to compete globally — is forcing them to freeze pensions and cut retiree [...]

$9 Trillion Missing From The Federal Reserve. Why Should Any American Pay Their Taxes?

 

Rep. Alan Grayson questions the FED inspector General where $9 TRillion dollars went… and Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman hasn’t a clue…Dunno whether to laugh or cry – I am still getting over the shock and have watched 4 times – LISTEN carefully to what she says – THEY HAVE NO JURISTRICTION to investigate the fed!!! Only their programs?? OK the world has been fooled long enough ENOUGH ENOUGH!!! Get the [...]

Biggest Bond Bubble In History Is Turning Into Carnage

Wolf Richter   www.testosteronepit.com   www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter

“We’ve intentionally blown the biggest government bond bubble in history,” confessed Andy Haldane, Executive Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England, to Members of Parliament in London last week. The bursting of that bubble was a risk he felt “acutely,” he warned. There have already been “shades of that.” And he saw “a disorderly reversion in the yields of government bonds” as the “biggest risk [...]

21 Facts About NSA Snooping That Every American Should Know

by Michael

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what the NSA is actually doing.  Are they reading our emails?  Are they listening to our telephone calls?  Do they target American citizens or is it only foreigners that they are targeting?  Unfortunately, the truth is that we aren’t going to get straight answers from our leaders about this.  The folks running the NSA have already shown that they are willing [...]

Art Cashin – “People at the Fed are Notorious for Faulty Estimates”

…but i’m telling you what the floor kind of thinks he’s going to do. and i agree with you wholeheartedly, but i think they’re frustrated. money has no velocity. it’s a dangerous game

Awkward! Putin, Obama disagree over Syria. Both leaders looked tense and uncomfortable as they addressed reporters

Both leaders looked tense and uncomfortable as they addressed reporters after about two hours of talks, with Putin staring mostly at the floor as he spoke about Syria and Obama only glancing occasionally at the Russian leader.

Just started watching – body language says a lot – look at Obama’s legs compared to Putin’s

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke together at the G8 conference.

 

A PICTURE IS WORTH [...]

Amateur video of the fighting in Syria!

Another update:

http://yallasouriya.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/syria-aleppo-warjets-shoting-tal-refaat-with-heavy/

#Syria, Aleppo, warjets shoting Tal Refaat with heavy machineguns

Kurds Fight For Place In Syrian Civil War

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=192785452

 

Alert for the second half of 2013 – Global systemic crisis II: second devastating explosion/social outburst on a worldwide scale

by GEAB

 

The 2008 shock was certainly violent, but the reactions of the system, countries and central banks with their bailouts on an unprecedented scale, managed to hide the worst consequences: downgrading of the West in general and the United States in particular, a forced cleanup of the economy, a heavy fall from an artificial standard of living, mass unemployment, the beginning of social unrest… have been able to be partly neglected [...]

“This Is A Glock Block” – Frustrated Homeowners All Over America Are Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

by Michael

All over the United States, frustrated homeowners are banding together, arming themselves and patrolling their own streets.  One of the primary reasons this is happening is because police budgets all over the nation are being slashed at a time when violent crime rates in the United States are increasing and many our our largest cities are being transformed into crime-infested war zones.  So instead of waiting for government to come up with a [...]

They Know: Billionaires Are Quietly And Rapidly Dumping Millions of Shares of Stock

Mac Slavo
June 17th, 2013
SHTFplan.com

 

 

After the massive crash that rocked global markets in 2008, as Congress, central bankers and major financial institutions met in secret to mitigate the crisis, billionaires like Warren Buffet were buying up shares of some of the hardest hit companies.

At the time, the world was literally on the brink of an unprecedented economic collapse. It was so serious, in fact, that members of Congress were told that should they fail to [...]

Can Bernanke Keep the Rally Going?

by Phoenix Capital Research

 

The markets are rallying today because Bernanke and the Fed meeton Wednesday and will announce their new policies (if any).

Someone might want to explain to them that the Nikkei just collapsed in spite of Central Bank policy. The bank of Japan announced it would buy $1.4 trillion worth of assets (roughly 25% of Japan’s GDP) in early April. The Nikkei has already wiped out almost all of the gains since that time.

Still, [...]

National Immigration Sweep… Federal Authorities Raided and Shutdown 7-Eleven Stores… Store-owners Used Social Security Numbers of Children and Dead People on the Workers’ Paystubs

 

NY, Va. 7-Eleven stores raided as part of US probe

Nine owners and managers of 7-Eleven stores on Long Island and in Virginia were charged on Monday in a scheme to exploit immigrants from Pakistan, including some business-owners who used Social Security numbers of children and dead people on the workers’ paystubs.

Most of the defendants were arrested early Monday as federal authorities raided 14 franchise stores.Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were inspecting other stores across the country [...]

American Debt Crisis for Dummies. VERY Effective Way To Reach Your Dumbed Down Loved Ones

Immortality by 2045? 3D Printers Are Reshaping Medicine… Electronic Pill, Future of Medicine?

Russian Tycoon Aims to Make Immortality a Reality Using Robots

A Russian multimillionaire is targeting the business community to raise money to fund a project that aims to make immortality a reality by 2045.

t may sound like something straight out of a science fiction novel, but 32-year-old Dmitry Itskov is seeking investors to fund research for technology that will make eternal life possible by transferring human consciousness in an artificial form [...]

The Later The Fed Raises The Interest Rates, The Worse The Collapse: Housing, Bond, Credit Bubbles Are Now All Unprecedented!

Fitch Analyst: China’s Credit Bubble About to Implode, Unlike Anything In Modern History

China’s shadow banking system is out of control and under mounting stress as borrowers struggle to roll over short-term debts, Fitch Ratings has warned.

The agency said the scale of credit was so extreme that the country would find it very hard to grow its way out of the excesses as in past episodes, implying tougher times ahead.

“The credit-driven [...]

Indian Economy Facing Serious Risk Of Plunging Into Crisis

 

The Indian economy is facing further trouble. There is a financial crunch in the global markets. This will dry up the foreign investments in the country. Rising interest rates in United States has triggered the crisis. Investors are selling-off in the Asian stock markets. They have already withdrawn heavily from Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. Indian rupee too has already depreciated by 8% in the last few weeks and that is [...]

School scanned children’s eyes for biometric program without permission

Report: School district scanned children’s eyes for bus program without permission

A series of behind-the-scenes mistakes by educators in a Florida school district led to children’s biometric information being culled without their parents’ permission, TheLedger.com reported.

In May, parents of students in the Polk County School District received a letter stating a pilot program would track bus riders using each child’s iris.

Parents could opt out, but by the time they learned about [...]

U.S. Could Soon Become A Large-Scale Spain Or Greece, Teetering On The Edge of Financial Ruin. Billionaire Tells Americans To Get Prepare!

U.S. Is Going To Be ‘A Lot Worse’ Than Greece

Dark days are ahead for U.S. investors.

That’s according to a well-respected author and investor, making a recent appearance on Yahoo Finance’s “Breakout.”

Peter Schiff, the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, says that the during President Obama’s second term, the country will face both a currency crisis and a sovereign debt crisis. “It’s going to be the same thing that is happening in [...]

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER SCANDAL: US Backed Plan to Launch chemical weapon attack on Syria, blame it on Assad govt’: Report

London, Jan 30 (ANI): The Obama administration gave green signal to a chemical weapons attack plan in Syria that could be blamed on President Bashar al Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country, leaked documents have shown.

A new report, that contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence, showed a scheme ‘approved by Washington’.

As per the scheme ‘Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to [...]

Chinese Economy on Brink of Collapse, Panic in the Streets! “Unprecedented” Credit Bubble Emerging In China, Borrowers Struggle To Roll Over Short-Term Debts, Thousands of People Lining Up to Buy Gold

Gold Buying Hysteria Hits China

http://etfdailynews.com/2013/06/14/gold-buying-hysteria-hits-china/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The Commodity Investor: China Becoming Most Important Factor In Global Gold Markets

http://www.hardassetsinvestor.com/the-commodity-investor/4894-the-commodity-investor-china-becoming-most-important-factor-in-global-gold-markets.html

June 11, ten thousand people line up in front of a gold shop to buy gold. The buyers lined up during the three day Dragon Boat Festival.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2013/06/Gold%20Line%201_0.jpg

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2013/06/Gold%20Line%204_0.jpg

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2013/06/Gold%20Line%206_0.jpg

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2013/06/Gold%20Line%205_0.jpg

Gold Buying Panic In China: 10,000 People Wait In Line For Their Chance to Own Precious Metals (Stunning Pictures)

One day in the near future Americans will finally realize that [...]

BREAKING in Aleppo, Syria: 80,000 troops are about to storm the city (VIDEO)

Some 80 thousand military forces trained by Lebanese Hezbollah were preparing to launch a ground offensive to recapture Syria’s commercial city of Aleppo.
According to a report in the UK-based Sunday Times, a Hezbollah commander said the fighters belonging to Syria’s National Defense Force (NDF) have been taught “to fight street by street.”

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/06/16/Hezbollah-trains-Assad-forces-for-Aleppo-offensive-.html

Here We Go! 80,000 Hezbollah Trained Troops to Storm the Northern Syria City of Aleppo!

I thought 20,000 was [...]

Gold Demand Extraordinary In Vietnam – Paying $217 Premium Over Spot

by GoldCore

 

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,386.00, EUR 1,038.59 and GBP 881.79 per ounce.
Friday’s AM fix was USD 1,379.75, EUR 1,035.54 and GBP 882.76 per ounce.

Gold climbed to $1391.50/oz on Friday, its first close above $1390/oz in four weeks and silver climbed 1.2 percent to $22.07 an ounce.

Gold is marginally lower today in most currencies after last week’s small gain which was positive from a technical perspective.

Geopolitical tensions in the [...]

Rotting, Decaying And Bankrupt – If You Want To See The Future Of America Just Look At Detroit

by Michael

Eventually the money runs out.  Much of America was shocked when the city of Detroit defaulted on a$39.7 milliondebt payment and announced that it was suspending payments on $2.5 billion of unsecured debt, but those who visitmy site on a regular basis were probably not too surprised.  Anyone with half a brain and a calculator could see this coming from a mile away.  But people kept foolishly lending money to the city of [...]

Marriage rates at historic lows

U.S. marriage rates are at historic lows but may soon rebound a bit, demographers predict.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/17/marriage-trends-demographics/2424641/

Beware The Great Central Bank Bubble

I guess it all came to a head for me when I saw the story of the Thai billionaires.

This pair has dropped about $27 billion in acquisitions this year. In April, one of them pulled together a $6.6 billion deal in a week.

You can’t refinance a house in that kind of time.

That’s when I realized this global central bank easing is starting to develop some very dangerous consequences.

The U.S. Federal [...]

Is This Volatile Stock Market Trying To Warn Us? By Gregory Mannarino

Has inflation fueled the two income household trap in the US? How inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the working and middle class.

mybudget360.com

Inflation in the United States is largely seen as a built in part of our economy.  People take it for granted as if this was simply the order of things.  Yet our central banking system has inflated our debt based financial system and subsequently, the value of money has eroded.  For example, most items that are financed through debt have increased dramatically during a time when household income has reverted to inflation [...]

Rigged-Benchmark Probes Proliferate From Singapore to UK

The probe of Libor manipulation is proving to be the tip of the iceberg as inquiries into assets from derivatives to foreign exchange show that if there’s a chance to rig benchmark rates in world markets, someone is usually willing to try.

Singapore’s monetary authority last week censured 20 banks for attempting to fix interest rate levels in the island state and ordered them to set aside as much as $9.6 [...]

“This Is A Big Middle Finger To The United States” Russia Sends Advanced Cruise Missiles To Syria

New report warns the Fed will reveal QE “tapering” at meeting this week

From Zero Hedge:

It seems not only the entire developed world is sick and tired of [Jon] Hilsenrath’s “leaks” which have now become so grotesquely self-contradictory, not even Hilsenfollowers can make out the Hilsenfact from the Hilsenjoke.

So it appears the Fed has now picked the FT as its interim pass through vehicle:

Ben Bernanke is likely to signal that the U.S. Federal Reserve is close to tapering down its $85 billion-a-month in asset purchases [...]

DHS Claims Billions of Bullets Purchased Were “Clerical Error”! with recorded interview

All cleared up, Just a tiny clerical error.

Snip; The information that Mr. Knepp had seen, such as the work orders from the DHS that millions have seen, are just a mistake.

“I do find it to be absurd. It’s grotesquely inaccurate. It’s offensive to me,” the DHS agent told Knepp.

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/06/19229-dhs-claims-billions-of-bullets-purchased-were-clerical-error/

House votes to curb DHS ammunition purchases

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/05/house-votes-to-curb-dhs-stockpiles-ammo/?test=latestnews

This surprising technology will power 99% of our cars in 2035

From Carpe Diem:

… The automobile stands as an enduring symbol of mobility and opportunity in America – and of innovation that’s at the core of our nation’s economic strength and prosperity.

Yet the conventional gasoline-powered engine is sometimes disparaged and treated as if it’s yesterday’s technology. Listening to politicians, environmentalists, and media pundits, you might think that the gas engine is inefficient and old-fashioned, a relic of the past that ought [...]

Those who are ignorant of what’s happening will be wiped out

From The S&A Digest:

… [G]uru trader Dennis appeared on CNBC yesterday. He said he’s seeing extraordinary volatility in the currency markets. He says he hasn’t seen such volatility since the Russian crisis of the late 1990s.

In the past seven months, the Japanese yen has plummeted. But it has spiked higher in the past month. The Australian dollar has plummeted since April. The U.S. dollar has gone through several spikes higher and [...]

If coffee perks you up, you need to STOP drinking it

Scientists differ on the effects of caffeine, but a new study reveals that…
Coffee-drinkers aren’t more alert than their caffeine-free counterparts
What’s more, regular consumption of tea and coffee leads to dependency

 

Every morning, millions of people perform an essential daily ritual – having their first cup of tea or coffee. It concentrates the mind and acts as a pick-me-up. 

Or does it? The latest research suggests that familiar buzz doesn’t so much as [...]

Alcohol doesn’t just slur speech – it tells people where you’re from by enhancing your regional accent

Accents take considerable brain power to suppress – even if we think we have forgotten our regional twang
But alcohol makes it difficult to maintain motor skills
Accents also emerge when ill or tired for same reason

 

Drinking alcohol can make it easier to guess a person’s background because it affects the brain’s ability to control speech and accent.

Adapting or changing the accent we grew up with takes considerable effort by the brain, [...]

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly slams federal phone & Internet monitoring… ‘NSA Should Come Clean’

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly launched a stinging rebuke to the federal government’s secret phone and Internet monitoring campaign — and suggested leaker Edward Snowden was right about privacy “abuse.”

“I don’t think it ever should have been made secret,” Kelly said today, breaking ranks with US law-enforcement officials.

His blast came days after the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric Holder outraged New York officials by endorsing a federal monitor for the [...]

BREAKING: 6 US Fighter Jets Flew 5 km Inside Syrian Airspace This Evening, Jordanian Army Says!!! Waiting For Confirmation

U.S FIGHTER JETS FLEW INTO SYRIAN AIRSPACE THIS EVENING, JORDANIAN ARMY SAYS

https://twitter.com/L0gg0l

Tonie Rosa@tonierosa2m

“@RamiAlLolah: BIG! 6 #US air fighters reportedly violated #Syria airspace ‘mistakenly’ at 6pm #Damascus time & entered a distance of 5 km!”

Gregor Peter@L0gg0l12s

6 U.S fighter jets ‘mistakenly’ violated Syrian airspace this evening near Daraa, Jordanian army says

AMMAN, Jordan — The U.S. military began laying the groundwork to arm and support Syrian rebels more than a week ago, using [...]

Detroit Default, Restructuring Plan to Break Ground in Municipal Market: Moody’s

Detroit’s default and debt-restructuring plan are precedent-setting in the U.S. municipal market, Moody’s Investors Service said on Monday, because the city is looking to bondholders, as well as labor unions and pensioners, to share the pain.

The city on Friday defaulted on a $39.7 million payment on certificates of participation and presented a plan to restructure its finances.

“The restructuring plan is unconventional and precedent-setting in the municipal market. It builds a [...]

China Stimulated Its Economy Like Crazy After The Financial Crisis … And Now The Nightmare Is Beginning

China is seeing slower economic growth.

 

Concerns are building over a massive credit bubble, and some say it is no longer an engine of global growth.

Excess capacity — in which demand for products is less than potential supply — continues to be one of China’s biggest problems.

An excellent piece by Jamil Anderlini in today’s Financial Times looks at how excess capacity and subsidies are threatening specific industries and imperiling the Chinese economy.

A major [...]

Pettis on China, Europe, Japan: Bad News for Those Looking for Growth

Via email here is another update from Michael Pettis at China Financial Markets. What follows is from Michael Pettis.

Special points

Europe is attempting to resolve domestic imbalances by forcing them onto their trade partners. This will end badly, especially for Germany.
China’s new lending, exports, investment, housing starts and GDP growth all continued to slow in May. Many of the numbers came in well below market expectations.
This is par for the course. Although we [...]

Didier Sornette: How we can Predict the Next Financial Crisis

Good stuff here from Didier Sornette. Sornette has done some superb risk on behavioral finance and risk management. This recent Ted Talk is a must watch:

BREAKING: LONG ISLAND RAILROAD DERAILED AT 7TH AVE. NYPD REQUESTING ESU AND EMS TO STAGE

Minor LIRR derailment in East River tunnel

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=resources/traffic&id=9142533

http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/1189/web

http://www.myfoxny.com/category/237002/skyfoxhd

BREAKING UPDATE: FDNY: 1 train car derailed, 1 partially derailed at NYC’s Penn Station; 700 people onboard, half already removed @kimdillon

https://twitter.com/NewsBreaker

911 Operator ‏@911BUFF 3m
MANHATTAN: LONG ISLAND RAILROAD DERAILED AT 7TH AVE. NYPD REQUESTING ESU AND EMS TO STAGE

https://twitter.com/911BUFF

911 Operator ‏@911BUFF 1m
MANHATTAN: BREAKING NEWS – LIRR TRAIN DERAILED AT PENN STATION. NYPD REQUESTING EMS. #911BUFF

https://twitter.com/911BUFF

NewsBreaker ‏@NewsBreaker 3m
BREAKING: Confirmed trail derailment at NYC’s Penn Station track [...]

BREAKING: Evacuation of Lake Pflugerville (Tx) guests, barrel with unknown material found in lake!

PFLUGERVILLE, Texas — The City of Pflugerville has closed and evacuated guests from Lake Pflugerville due to a barrel of unknown material found in the lake.

The 55-gallon barrel drum was removed from the north shore of Lake Pflugerville, at 18216 Weiss Lane, around 3:30 p.m.

City crews discovered the barrel and contacted the Pflugerville Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety since the barrel was labeled and may contain [...]

BREAKING NEWS – BRITISH ROYAL MARINES ON THEIR WAY TO BOARDER OF SYRIA!

The British newspaper “Daily Star Sunday” reports that More than 350 Royal Marines from 42 Commando are on their way to Syrian border.
The British troops will go to Jordan and wait to get into Syria after David Cameron slammed the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons.
Coalition Special Forces from the US, Poland and the UK are also working with Jordanian special forces, who are trained by the SAS, with the [...]

Not just Obama… Last Thursday, Congress quietly betrayed the American people again

From Liberty Blitzkrieg:

In case you missed it, last Thursday, our illustrious House of Representatives voted on an amendment that would have blocked the possibility for the President to lock up American citizens without a trial.

Unsurprisingly, our so-called “representatives” once again voted against protecting the constitutional rights of the citizenry in the name of the Orwellian, never-ending “war on terror.”

If you need a refresher on the NDAA and the authoritarian power [...]

Free Trade Zone USA And Europe Incoming

 

As the G8 Summit opens in Northern Ireland, President Barack Obama and European leaders launch an ambitious bid to craft a sweeping transatlantic free-trade deal.

Obama’s Approval Rating Plummets

•General job approval is down from 53% in May to 45% now.
•Approval on the economy is down 2 points, to 42%.
•On foreign affairs, Obama has fallen 5 points to 44%.
•On illegal immigration, Obama’s disapproval is up to 56%.
•49% of respondents say Obama is honest/trustworthy, a big drop from 58% in the last reading.
•Among those aged under 30, Obama has seen a 17% (!) drop in approval.

Read more:

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-approval-plummets-in-cnn-poll-2013-6#ixzz2WTEQGyaP

BREAKING – First video and pictures from Syrian Airport! Destroyed tanks and Helicopters!