If the dollar collapses, silver would be more practical for exchange than gold. How are you going to change a $2000+ gold coin? Physical silver coins can be had for about $20 a pop right now. Old Peace silver dollars from the 1920s are very cool. Even if the dollar hangs in there, the old coins are cool for collecting/conversation pieces.

Adjusted for inflation since 1980, silver prices should be trading at roughly $128 an ounce. But massive manipulation from four major short-sellers, including J.P. Morgan (JPM), has placed enormous pressure on silver over the last several months even as investment demand soars - mainly from booming coin sales and ETFs, or exchange-traded funds.

With global silver production projected to barely grow in 2010, the odds favor a major recovery off the March 2008 high of $20.78 an ounce. That price is still way below the all-time high of $49.45 per ounce in 1980 as the Hunt brothers tried to corner the market.

- Gamera

The question is without any regulatory reform (even a half hearted attempt with reenstatement of Glass Steagall) and trillions in new debt we simply pushed off financial armageddon.

Below is more proof of government’s reward for Government’s role in this crisis…and it’s in mainstream media. This is also why people are angry…

http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/03/government_rewarded_bank_audit.html

Another reason for anger. Talk of the “too big to fail” - but look at who is/was really orchestrating the bailout of the “too rich to fail.”

http://blog.oregonlive.com/frontporch/2010/03/with_12_trillion_to_watch_blac.html

Americans are angry - and rightfully so - because NO one was held responsible for incompetence, fraud, or negligence.

The government almost killed our financial system. They did specific actions that brought this on. It was driven by lobbying and campaign contributions from Wall St.

1) 1999 Repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act
2) Legislation to prevent people from using bankruptcy to ditch credit card debt … so the credit card companies got very aggressive about issuing cards to people who shouldn’t have them.
3) 2005 Congress increased allowed bank leverage from 12.5-to-1 to 30-to-1, making banks “hedge funds in drag”.
4) Wall Street bailouts. Wall St didn’t do these, Washington did, paid off through lobbying and campaign contributions to do it. The deals were so bad that the US taxpayer won’t get more than pennies of it back. TARP payback is a smokescreen. Joseph Stiglitz (IMF economist, Nobel prize) describes this in his talk to the California Commonwealth Club, video/audio is online. We gave more to bail out AIG, $180B, than the total aid to Africa … ever.

This is like thanking a fireman for saving your house, after throwing gasoline on you house and tossed a match on it.

The government saved us from a quick and easy death maybe.. but we will all suffer a very slow and painful one at the hands of our government.

- Castor-PolluxM35

The elite bankers (the topmost echelon) have gamed the system so eloquently that they can effectively cover their tracks in any deal. By hook or crook, they’ve installed a central bank three times. Third time was a charm when they found (caused) congress’ session ‘open’ late at night on the eve of Christmas vacation and voted in the Federal Reserve system with just 3 votes and a paid off president. Since then, they have lobbied enough to get one little tidbit from this congressman or one from that so that each rule change they need ultimately gets passed. This has taken place for 97 years of them controlling the two most important parts of our monetary system. (Those being money supply and interest rates). In this way, they cause a bubble by allowing easy credit (to both personal and commercial interests) and then pulling in the reins so quickly that the bubble bursts and people lose their real property to the banks. Sorry to digress there…

So we’ve had this influence in our politics for so long that now they are allowed to bribe the politicians AND government officials (regulators, etc.) so that they can get this little help on this one little item. The high paid CEOs of the big corporations that get their monopolies are put in place BECAUSE they have the connections to make their bribes work. How else would we get 1-4 companies in 99% control of every market we have. (I can’t think of a single market that’s not monopolized…?)

Now, when we want to fix any problem, we get mad, protest and march on some government steps. What do they do? They organize us, co-opt our message, change a few little things (think patriot act, health care and cap&trade) and secretly lobby for congress to pass some 2000 page bill that we don’t get to read first.

I say, we first flat out BAN all campaign donations. We label them as they are - bribes. Where does it say that “free speech” entitles one to pay off a lawmaker? It doesn’t. That’s a bastardization of the original intent as interpreted by some judges that were appointed by some paid off, ahem… well supported… politicians. So, ban donations and then mandate all elections to undergo a public debate with the questions being pre-debated by the public individuals. If this lasts 2 freakin’ months for some office, so be it. It’s debate that’s needed. Then when we see which person we want to represent us and vote him in, we should have the capability of voting his ass back out if he doesn’t stick to his original convictions. If he knowingly violates the Constitution with proposed legislation, after being shown how it does so, then he should face criminal charges of coversion.

Honestly, we’ve been duped into thinking we have a free market or the we run on capitalism. The truth is that lobbyists from big monopolies determine that the regulations all run in their favor so what we really have is closer to fascism but the public can’t see that because they only see what’s on the audience side of the curtains.

Regarding the bailouts, what people miss is that the average Joe investment, coupled with the other Joes, makes a small part of the entire value of stock in the big banks. If they should fail, the few ultra rich bankers will collectively lose much more money than all the Joes combined. Most of those Joes’ 401Ks are diversified across too many different stocks to even see a dip from one big bank failure. The problem is that, like any other obedient monopoly (of which the government has become just another one), the media scares the public into thinking that the trickle down would be much worse than reality would dictate.

Short version:
1) Ban all campaign contribution and nationalize debates.
2) Avoid at all costs, paying any money to any big banks, financial institutions or insurance companies.
3) Consult the Constitution in every political decision.

- tamckissick

quote
Almost half of the loans were originated by Silverton Bank NA, whose collapse in May was the biggest in Georgia history. Community banks that joined Silverton in providing $80 million for the hotel-condo complex, as well as backing for 39 other projects, could be forced to write down their stakes to reflect sale prices.

…“These banks can’t believe that the regulator they pay to protect them is going to sell these loans to someone who can flip them and cause them serious losses,’’ said Robert Reynolds,…. who represents 25 lenders that took part in financing the W Hotel.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2010/03/09/fdic_auctions_apt_to_hurt_some_banks/
================

This is why a credit collapse recession is different than a normal inventory recession like all have been since WW II. The waves keep coming as one segment in trouble causes another to be in trouble.

It is like the cities and states laying off people and cutting spending. That causes cuts in consumer spending and profits in businesses that sell to cities and states. That causes another drop in tax revenues creating a need for more layoffs and cuts in spending by cities and states.

Each wave takes time due to the lag factor but, it still is there building for the next down cycle until there just isn’t any way left to go down at which time you could see such a loss in faith in government that the currency collapses and loans for deficit spending are cut off.

That is why many analysts have said, I believe, we are in the “eye of the storm.” The lag factor is giving us a respite but, for how long? Months? A couple years?

Just as bank failures can lead to more bank failures, cuts in spending can lead to more cuts in spending.

- JanPaul

They belong to EFTA European Free Trade Association though the EU counts Iceland as a member of the EU of sorts that is they can’t be muted. The 27 members would like or have forced Iceland to share the burden & did. As a result Iceland, spoke and told them two years ago we’re bankrupt again.

As far as Ireland is concerned, they have a well educated population, cheap labor but unfortunately are a full fledged member of the EU, they have threaten to pull out, but signing in red ink as a member & are at the mercy of the rest of the members of the EU.
And so are the rest of the members including Greece. It’s definitely the word whether to seek the IMF for assistance. At least the American economy is itemizing their losses every FDIC Friday.

When and how to stop the hemorrhaging of US bank Failure’s is a several hundred billion dollar question.

Yesterday history, tomorrow’s mystery.

- changethegardener

But in the deep of the night Financial Times published an article that resoundingly calls “BS” on that claim:

Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Reserve officials were warned by a leading Wall Street rival that Lehman Brothers was incorrectly calculating a key measure of its financial health months before its collapse in 2008, people familiar with the matter say.

Former Merrill Lynch officials said they contacted regulators about the way Lehman measured its liquidity position for competitive reasons. The Merrill officials said they were coming under pressure from their trading partners and investors, who feared that Merrill was less ­liquid than Lehman.

Beyond the apparent perjury (which our Congress seems to ignore any time a “powerful” person commits it) there is the larger problem in that if the Chairman of The Fed has lied about this, what else has he lied about?

Most critically, what about all those other banks out there with HELOC exposure behind underwater first mortgages that are not being paid on time?

The Market Ticker has reported on the wildly inaccurate and ridiculous treatment of firsts in this environment - people being “allowed” to remain in a home even though they haven’t made a payment in a year - and sometimes two, loans that are reported to credit bureaus as having payments made on them “by agreement” when the consumer is not only not paying but has never talked with the financial institution involved about it. A quick look at the 10Qs and 10Ks filed by the big financial institutions discloses that these institutions have literal hundreds of billions of HELOCs and Second Lines on their balance sheets that are behind underwater first mortgages. Each and every one of those loans is worth nothing if the first mortgage it is subordinate to fails to pay.

There is thus every reason to believe that not only did Lehman materially misstate its balance sheet position and financial strength but that this deception is ongoing right here and now.

Further, Diana Olick of CNBS has reported on what I have asserted repeatedly over the last three years:

If the banks really accounted for all the losses in the home loan market, they’d all be insolvent.

I have every reason to believe that not only is there a pattern of conduct here in deceiving the American People as to the “financial strength” of the banks and other financial institutions in this nation but that this deception is willful, ongoing, and reaches all the way to The Federal Reserve Chairman.

This Financial Times report, along with the report on Lehman Brothers (which asserts that The Federal Reserve Bank of NY had the information necessary to discern what Lehman was doing - whether it acted on it or not) makes a prima-facie case of willful and intentional regulatory blindness to balance sheet fraud and intentional misrepresentation of capital positions.

This is not the only regulator against which such charges have been lodged. OTS appears to have intentionally permitted Indymac Bank to backdate deposits - and the firm subsequently failed.

This sort of regulatory malfeasance must not be allowed to stand.

These are not accidents, they are intentional acts.

When multiple people conspire together to break the law you have the very sort of act that the Racketeering Statutes were designed to prohibit - and punish.

The assertion by The Fed (and FDIC) that “it lacks the authority” to resolve large failed institutions is a lie. “Prompt Corrective Action” (Title 12, Chapyer 16, Sec 1831o) of US Code not only provides all the authority necessary to close a bank - any bank - that fails to meet statutory capital limits it mandates that action.

There is no discretion permitted in that statute and The Federal Reserve, as one of the Federal banking agencies, has no right to ignore this section of black-letter law.

Yet it, along with the FDIC, OTS and OCC all have.

The balance-sheet games and holding of loans that have no collateral and are behind non-performing firsts yet have not been written down to their recovery value, which as a matter of statutory law is zero, is an outrage.

We must not permit federal officials, including Bernanke, to come before Congress and thumb their nose at the rule of law, just as we must not permit so-called “federal regulators” to thumb their noses at the black-letter law that not only is more than sufficient to resolve these failed and failing institutions but mandates that these regulators do so.

(Denninger)

One of the three is Advanta Bank Corp. which is not small potatoes. Issued a lot of business credit cards.

And I remember FDIC used to include assets figures when they closed banks. I do not see that today. Or again, am I missing something? Or are the banks getting bigger and bigger and the asset amounts too scary?

More banks have failed in other historical periods. But there used to be a lot more little banks. We’re getting above the community bank level quite quickly,

Bank Name City State CERT # Closing Date Updated Date
State Bank of Aurora Aurora MN 8221 March 19, 2010 March 19, 2010
First Lowndes Bank Fort Deposit AL 24957 March 19, 2010 March 19, 2010
Bank of Hiawassee Hiawassee GA 10054 March 19, 2010 March 19, 2010
Appalachian Community Bank Ellijay GA 33989 March 19, 2010 March 19, 2010
Advanta Bank Corp. Draper UT 33535 March 19, 2010 March 19, 2010
Century Security Bank Duluth GA 58104 March 19, 2010 March 19, 2010
American National Bank Parma OH 18806 March 19, 2010 March 19, 2010

- onebadbear

‘It took Greenspan until the 24th October 2008 to admit to any culpability over the banking crisis. I have no idea if he was in denial or just arrogance personified.

‘Certainly manners have never been high on the good doctor’s agenda. He should have remembered that when Paul Volcker, his predecessor, left the Fed, he made no comment on monetary policy until he was appointed as an adviser to the Obama administration.

‘As everyone so repeatedly reminded him, we sat at his shrine for 18 years listening to every pearl of wisdom or philosophical gem that dripped from his lips on the economy and unfortunately accepted his comments as gospel. He surely should have had the courtesy to allow Ben Bernanke to do his job in the most difficult of circumstances – much of it of Greenspan’s making.

‘At the turn of the century, he encouraged banks to indiscriminately lend money to every Tom, Dick and Harry from the consumer to the corporate without sensible regulatory controls. The stock exchange bubble was created by him in 1998 when thousands of people borrowed money at very little cost to play the stock market and to buy their houses. This created an unhealthy global environment where all international banks were in fear of the ramifications of not jumping on the bandwagon.

‘Unfortunately, governments in the US, UK and Europe were sufficiently ignorant as to what was happening before their very eyes, as it suited to be supportive of the service sector which was creating so much wealth – much of it falsely.

‘In recent weeks, after having admitted that he had found a flaw in his economic philosophy and that he had been wrong about deregulation, this octogenarian misfit has decided to spout forth yet again to the BBC – unbelievable! He had the temerity to tell the BBC that he predicts that the crisis will happen again but it will be different.

He then went on to make platitudes as follows – “the bankers knew that they were involved in an under-pricing of risk and that at some point a correction would be made”, he then went on to say, “I fear too many of them thought they would be able to spot the actual trigger point of the crisis in time to get out”. Uncle Al, the horse has bolted, Old Horse. It’s all over! We don’t want to hear from you any more.

‘We have to build our lives again and you have nothing to bring to the party. You only have three months to wait until the snow sits on the hills of Vermont, the mountains of Colorado or perhaps even on the Ozarks and the Ouachita mountains for you to get your skis out!

‘Now dear friends, you can understand why so many people metaphorically are happy to think of Alan Greenspan as a “Tonton Macoute voodoo doll” with the necessary pins not too far away. This is tough talk and there is little doubt that I am being discourteous, for which I apologize for. However, he has been even more discourteous to Bernanke and the market place as well as damaging our lives for many years to come.’

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=490488&in_page_id=2#ixzz0ifKjd0bD

• 1)  Sengoku Says Japan Has Very Little Room for Stimulus

““Japan is closer to the edge than any other major economy,” said Julian Jessop, chief international economist at Capital Economics Ltd. in London. “There is the risk that the higher the debt numbers are, the more another stimulus package is going to backfire by pushing up interest rates or by making people worry about the need for even bigger fiscal tightening in the future.””

• 2) Yuan Poised to Become Reserve Currency, Goldman’s O’Neill Says

“March 19 (Bloomberg) — China’s yuan is destined to become a global reserve currency rivaling the dollar and the euro, as the nation’s economic power increases the currency’s allure, said Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.”

• 3) Think tanks urge SDR-led, multi-currency reserve system

“The report, by UK-based think tank Chatham House and the ESRC World Economy and Finance Programme, said the recent credit crisis and global recession exposed serious shortcomings in the international monetary system.”

“The study outlined recommendations on a move to a multi-currency reserve system and greater use of SDRs alongside, rather than instead of, the dollar. “Historical experience has shown that two or more reserve currencies can operate simultaneously,” it said.”

• 4) Central Bank Gold Holdings Expand at Fastest Pace Since 1964

“March 18 (Bloomberg) — Central banks added the most gold to their reserves since 1964 last year amid the longest rally in bullion prices in at least nine decades, data compiled by the World Gold Council show”

“Central banks, holding about 18 percent of all gold ever mined, are expanding their holdings for the first time in a generation as investors in exchange-traded funds amass bullion as an alternative to currencies.”

“Official reserves of central banks and governments may expand by another 187 to 218 tons this year, CPM Group forecast last month. The council’s data also includes the holdings of the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and other international and regional bodies.”

““Gold is quietly, at the edge, becoming the world’s second reservable currency, supplanting the euro and rivaling the dollar,” Dennis Gartman, a Suffolk, Virginia-based economist and hedge-fund manager, said in his Gartman Letter today. “The trend shall continue months, if not years, into the future.””

• 5) Stiglitz, Sakakibara Say US Wants Weak Dollar to Spur Growth

“March 18 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. wants a weaker currency to support its exporters, a possible departure from its “strong” dollar mantra, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Japan’s former top currency official Eisuke Sakakibara said.

There is a “contradiction between national interest and global, international interest here,” Stiglitz said at a forum in Tokyo today. “Right now, it’s not in the interest of the U.S. to have a strong dollar. We want a weak dollar and we want exports.””

“If you are secretary of Treasury, you have to make a speech about believing in a strong dollar, but you know that no one believes you,” Stiglitz said.

• 6) [NOURIEL ROUBINI] Unsustainable private-debt problems

“In countries that borrow in their own currency and can monetize the public debt, a sovereign debt crisis is unlikely, but monetization of fiscal deficits can eventually lead to high inflation. And inflation is - like default - a capital levy on holders of public debt, as it reduces the real value of nominal liabilities at fixed interest rates.

Thus, the recent problems faced by Greece are only the tip of a sovereign-debt iceberg in many advanced economies (and a smaller number of emerging markets). Bond-market vigilantes already have taken aim at Greece, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Iceland, pushing government bond yields higher. Eventually they may take aim at other countries - even Japan and the United States - where fiscal policy is on an unsustainable path.

In most advanced economies, aging populations - a serious problem in Europe and Japan - exacerbate the problem of fiscal sustainability, as falling population levels increase the burden of unfunded public-sector liabilities, particularly social-security and health-care systems. Low or negative population growth also implies lower potential economic growth and therefore worse debt-to-GDP dynamics and increasingly grave doubts about the sustainability of public-sector debt. ”

“Provision of liquidity by an international lender of last resort - the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, or even a new European Monetary Fund - could prevent an illiquidity problem from turning into an insolvency problem. But if a country is effectively insolvent rather than just illiquid, such “bailouts” cannot prevent eventual default and devaluation (or exit from a monetary union) because the international lender of last resort eventually will stop financing an unsustainable debt dynamic, as occurred Argentina (and in Russia in 1998). ”

• 7) Russia to Meet US Investors for 1st Bonds Since ‘98

“Russia is borrowing to help plug a forecast budget shortfall equivalent to 6.8 percent of gross domestic product.”

• Fed’s balance sheet hits record high

“The U.S. Federal Reserve’s balance sheet rose to a record high in the latest week, Fed data released on Thursday showed, on the back of the central bank’s soon-to-end mortgage support program.

The Fed’s balance sheet — a broad gauge of its lending to the financial system — rose to $2.290 trillion in the week ended March 17 from $2.265 trillion in the previous week.

That beat the previous record of $2.274 trillion set in January.

The Fed’s holdings of mortgage-backed securities backed by U.S. housing finance agencies Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N) rose to $1.066 trillion from $1.029 trillion a week earlier.”

• 9) TREASURIES-Prices hit session lows on supply preparation ($118 billion next week)

“NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury prices fell to session lows in late Thursday morning trade, as investors made room for $118 billion in longer-dated government debt supply next week.

The U.S. Treasury said it will sell $44 billion in two-year notes; $42 billion in five-year debt and $32 billion in seven-year notes. The amounts matched those sold in February and what analysts had forecast.”

• 10)  China could scrap Iraq’s $8.5b debt

“Iraq is keen to see China play even a bigger role in the reconstruction of the war-torn country, the country’s top envoy to Beijing told the China Daily in an interview last week.

“After 2003, China has supported us very much and reduced Iraqi debts by 80 per cent, which is greatly appreciated,” Iraqi Ambassador to China, Mohammad Sabir Esmail, told the paper, referring to a $6.8-billion debt cut announced by China last month.

Esmail also invited Chinese companies to invest and operate in the country.

“I call on all Chinese companies to come and take up projects in rebuilding Iraq,” he told China Daily.”

• 11) Jefferson County projects to face delays

“Surgical procedures, roof repairs and road pavings will be delayed for months — in some cases years — since the Jefferson County Commission decided not to borrow money under a federal stimulus program, some county officials said Thursday. ”

“A majority of Jefferson County commissioners said last week they will not borrow $26.8 million through the sale of taxable bonds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 because the county cannot afford to go deeper in debt.

Commissioners say the county — which is struggling under $3.2 billion in sewer debt, $800 million in school construction debt and about $250 million in general obligation bonds — is not in a position to borrow more money.”

• 12) Hard times send hotel industry into ’survival mode’

“Hit by a declining demand for rooms, low room rates and plummeting revenue, hotel companies have laid off hundreds of thousands of employees and are struggling to maintain quality. A record number of hotels are defaulting on mortgage payments. Hundreds have been taken over in foreclosures, and some have closed or are about to.

“Because of the recession and the credit bust,” says Ed Watkins, editor of the trade publication Lodging Hospitality, “it’s the worst downturn in decades — perhaps ever.”"

• 13) Bubble prophet fears new disaster (Hyperinflation in Japan?)

“Economist Noguchi warns soaring public debt may bankrupt Japan, bring back hyperinflation

By REIJI YOSHIDA

Staff writer

Prominent economist Yukio Noguchi is one of the few who correctly predicted the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy in 1987, warning the preceding euphoria was based on a major distortion in land prices.

Now the doomsday prophet is making another terrifying prediction: Japan is likely to be devastated by a snowballing public debt that will bankrupt its government and trigger catastrophic hyperinflation.

“There is little hope,” Noguchi said in an interview with The Japan Times at Waseda University’s Graduate School of Finance in Tokyo. “Japan’s fiscal conditions are so bad, it can no longer be fixed without causing inflation. I’m very pessimistic.”

Noguchi is not the only one deeply fretting the debt.”

• 14) Bernanke Asked by Congress About Friedman’s Goldman Sachs Stake

“March 19 (Bloomberg) — A House committee requested that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke turn over documents related to Stephen Friedman’s purchase of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares while he was on the boards of both the Wall Street firm and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“At a time when Mr. Friedman was prohibited from owning Goldman Sachs stock, he bought over a million dollars more of it without notifying the Federal Reserve,” said Representative Edolphus Towns, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in a statement today. “This raises serious questions about transparency, fairness and the appearance of a cozy relationship between Wall Street and the government.” ”

• 15) India Raises Interest Rates for First Time Since 2008

“March 19 (Bloomberg) — India’s central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates for the first time since July 2008 after inflation accelerated to a 16-month high.”

• 16) Budget cuts run deep as officials try to stay afloat (New Jersey)

………………….16A) State aid to municipalities may be cut by $445 million (New Jersey)

• 17) Revenue hit proposal throws budget planners for loop (Illinois)

“The proposed 30 percent reduction in income tax reimbursements to municipalities has area budget planners preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best.

Hinsdale, which made significant budget cuts last year and faces more in the future, could triple its contingency fund to partially offset any loss of revenue from Gov. Patrick Quinn’s plan, officials said.”

• 18) Senate Democrats Report: Illinois Owes Schools Nearly $730 Million

“$728,591,449.56. That is the amount of money that Illinois schools are waiting to receive from the State as of March 11, 2010. ”

“Senate Democrats issued the report to expose the grim reality and impact of the long economic recession facing Illinois and virtually every other state in the Union. Checks have not been issued to schools because revenues have dropped significantly and state bank accounts do not have the cash flow to make the payment on vouchers as they come in. As a result, the backlog of bills due has reached into the billions of dollars.”

Ukraine Government Faces 20% Spending Cut April-July, Citi Says

Florida Suspends Build America Sales, Official Says

Merkel Edges to IMF in Greek Crisis as Germans Oppose Bailout

Tax rises hit Greece as EU meets on debt crisis

Greece close to being unable to borrow: PM

Greece Current Account Deficit Widens In January

Waukegan school board approves layoffs for 560 (Illinois…1/4 of their staff)

World Bank is warning Eastern Europe of an energy crunch

Federal Workers Owe $1B in Back Taxes

Lehman Had $39 Billion in Encumbered Cash Before Bankruptcy

How Does It Cost $940 Billion—and Cut Deficit? (Wall Street Journal …health care)

Fulton Co. schools cutting 1000 jobs (Georgia)

Presidential approval rating ties record low again (for this president)

Dennis Gartman: The Euro Is Doomed

Gerald Celente: Great 2010 Crash is looming

- Saxplayer00o1

“The real problem is that this . . . sucking sound of money has been going into this health-care reform,” Cahill said. “And I would argue that it’s being propped up so that the federal government and the Obama administration can drive it through.”

Gov. Deval Patrick argues the state’s universal health care program has added 1 percent to the budget, but Cahill said the real impact is buffered by federal dollars.

Meanwhile, Republican Charles Baker’s campaign said Patrick “has consistently failed to address rising health-care costs in Massachusetts.” Baker, the former Harvard Pilgrim CEO, advocated for years for greater transparency on the part of medical service providers.

Cahill called on congressional Democrats yesterday to go “back to the drawing board,” saying he fears they will “bankrupt” the country.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politic…

- Suthrnly

Switch to CFL lightbulbs.

Set your thermostat to 78 in the summer and 68 in the winter when you are home. And raise it 3-4 degrees during the summer if you are gone during the day. And lower it 3 -4 degrees during the winter if you are gone during the day. Or you can buy a programmable thermostat that will adjust at different times of the day so you don’t have to mess with it.

Turn your water heater temp down to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Or you can even buy a timer for it and have it cut off during the day when you aren’t home or in the middle of the night when you are asleep. You can also buy a blanket for it to help keep the heat in.

Also if you live in an older home the windows aren’t as efficient and tend to leak a lot of air through. So outdoor air will go in and indoor air will go out.

A fan can draw the cool air through the room. The ceiling fan helps to bring the heat down.

Keeping the sun out when it is hot works. Let the sun in when it is cold.

Only use the cold water setting on your washer. It keeps from the water heater having to turn on to warm up more water. And always wash full loads. Try not to run your dryer for longer than necessary also.

Running the dishwasher only when full and running on save works too.

Digital picture frames use as much energy as your washing machine or fridge.

We live in a 2500 sq ft home and our electric bill averages about $200 a month. My MIL lives in a 1500 sq ft house and hers is close to $500 a month. She keeps her A/C at 70 during the summer and winter, they have their water heater turned up to who knows what. I get scalded hands everytime I use her kitchen sink. And they leave lights on ALL the time.

- Dragonfly girl ~ Haley’s mom

1) if the economy is really improving http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/2099-If-The-Economy-Is-Recovering….-CAT.html

2) Now Bernanke wants to eliminate reserve requirements completely

http://www.businessinsider.com/now-bernanke-wants-to-eliminate-reserve-requirements-completely-2010-3

3) Website’s instant posts of Wall Street research banned http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62H4NJ20100318?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FbusinessNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Business+News%29

4) Did bernanke mean Supervision - or bailout http://www.themarketguardian.com/2010/03/did-bernanke-mean-supervision-or-bailout/

5) The financial terrorism of Wall St.

- Rustyrayl

Dates back to the Knights of Templar and their protection racket for the rich of England and the Vatican.

Word traces to Ancient Roman Empire, where moneylenders set up their stalls in courtyards!

Moneychangers did not invest money but converted foreign currency.

Banks borrow money from Government via Bank Owned FED and from depositors
Banks pay LOW or Currently NO Interest for their Borrowing!
Banks now loan money at 5% to 650% (non-bank loan sharks)
The BANK GAIN is called USURY and is ILLEGAL in many Cultures!

Government provides MOST MONEY to Banks which act as Middle-Men to PEOPLE/Business!

BofA is now automating virtually all its Banking Functions

http://www.bankofamerica.com/onlinebanking/

98% of Banking can be automated via Internet Computing removing need for the Middle-Men!

With direct banking from Government where Money is printed a layer of corruption is removed.

Regulation is then done on the Central Government BANK which offers low rates and fees.

Accounts: Indispensable for most businesses and individuals are direct from government.

Commercial Banks are left to Primary source of Income-AUTOMATED TRADING SCAMS!

See Wikipedia for more!

- How-R-U-doin

*The coming Greatest Depression
*Obama: 1 year no change
*The fraudulent banker bailout/Federal Reserve
*Healthcare and other total fraud

Start taking action like this people or loose the Republic. Your choice.

Yeah, it is cute your stocks are going up. But would you rather have that or a country left?

- GloomBoomDoom

According to the Federal Reserve’s most recent report on wealth, America’s private net worth was $53.4 trillion as of September, 2009. But at the same time, America’s debt and unfunded liabilities totaled at least $120,000,000,000,000.00 ($120 trillion), or 225% of the citizens’ net worth. Even if the government expropriated every dollar of private wealth in the nation, it would still have a deficit of $66,600,000,000,000.00 ($66.6 trillion), equal to $214,286.00 for every man, woman and child in America and roughly 500% of GDP. If the government does not directly seize the nation’s private wealth, then it will require $389,610 from each and every citizen to balance the country’s books. State, county and municipal debts and deficits are additional, already elephantine in many states (e.g., California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York) and growing at an alarming rate nationwide. In addition to the federal government, dozens of states are already bankrupt and sinking deeper into the morass every day.”
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/dougherty/dougherty012210.html

off topic but interesting take on how JPMorgan denied us utopia:
“…All this was known to the ruthless financier J. P. Morgan, still angry and smarting at his own backing of Edison and DC power systems being soundly defeated by Tesla’s much more practical AC power systems. So he was already setting up the total suppression of Tesla, by first breaking his backer Westinghouse (which he did) and then deliberately breaking Tesla (which he did also).

Morgan had already had his technical advisors check the work of Tesla, and they found that Tesla’s confounded “energy freely from the active medium” systems (asymmetric systems) were for real.

As a result, Morgan’s tech advisors did a group analysis on the Heaviside equations and showed that the Heaviside equations were still ASYMMETRICAL — and thus they still contained some of those confounded Tesla “free excess energy from the active medium” (i.e., asymmetric) systems. At Morgan’s bidding, Lorentz was then elicited to eliminate those “free energy from the active medium” systems from this new-fangled electrical engineering that was being formed.

…Hence before the very birth of EE, the model and subject were already deliberately mutilated and crippled to prevent free energy from the vacuum systems — i.e., such systems as now have been rigorously developed and demonstrated by Klimov et al. and validated by both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Recoverable Energy Laboratory. The work of Klimov et al. is rigorously published in leading physics and nanocrystalline journals, and it is now accepted in both fields — and INDEPENDENTLY verified by those two great national labs.”
http://www.cheniere.org/correspondence/030110.htm

Massive downgrades across the board mean that banks implode at a faster rate than they are now. That is one of the reasons why the Fed and Treasury were so anxious to get all of the CDOs etc into their coffers and exchanged out of the bank books because otherwise, many of the banks would have become insolvent becasue their investment grade assets turned into junk. At that point in time, the ratings agencies become irrelevant as they will not get huge fees for rating junk bonds. They are only of value to the system when there are lots of investment grade bonds that need rating so they can be used in financial statements of banks and insurance companies.

Threatening to drop a high rating has more clout than actually doing it. Doing it means that banks and insurance companies are scrambling to adjust capital ratios etc. Threatening to do it means that the actual borrowers might actually pay attention to what you are saying.

- Frodo

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ
Published: March 15, 2010
NYTimes

When the Mayans envisioned the world coming to an end in 2012 — at least in the Hollywood telling — they didn’t count junk bonds among the perils that would lead to worldwide disaster.

Maybe they should have, because 2012 also is the beginning of a three-year period in which more than $700 billion in risky, high-yield corporate debt begins to come due, an extraordinary surge that some analysts fear could overload the debt markets.

With huge bills about to hit corporations and the federal government around the same time, the worry is that some companies will have trouble getting new loans, spurring defaults and a wave of bankruptcies.

The United States government alone will need to borrow nearly $2 trillion in 2012, to bridge the projected budget deficit for that year and to refinance existing debt.

….

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/business/16debt.html?ref=business

The reasoning behind the ever-popular market maxim is pretty simple: Skeptical investors tend to wait until a market peaks to truly buy in. By that time, it’s too late, and sellers start taking over. When the market is dull and makes quiet moves up, as has been the case for most of 2010, the direction often continues higher.

“People are content to make 5 percent and not worry about losing money. As long as that mentality is there, the path of least resistance is to the upside for the market,” says Ryan Detrick, analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research in Cincinnati. “The public is very skeptical where they need to be. The market climbs a wall of worry and we still feel that worry is present and that makes us comfortable to be long.”

Indeed, some of the market’s worst days have been on its highest volume, again indicating more conviction from buyers than sellers.

2. Low Volume = High Market

Though the pattern doesn’t hold universally, it’s a good bet that big dips like the Feb. 4 268-point Dow drop will come on respectable trading levels (1.48 billion in primary volume) and moves higher will happen on weak days, such as the Feb. 16 pop of 170 Dow points on just 1.07 billion shares. Testament to the market’s low-volume strength has been the willingness of buyers to jump in after those high-volume big-drop days.

“The market has been trending higher as buyers have been reluctant to chase stocks,” says Bennett Gaeger, managing director of tech trading at Stifel Nicolaus in Baltimore. “Where there are some negative liquidity events (such as bad economic news) people are taking advantage when we see stocks for sale and buying on the dips.”

“Volume doesn’t seem to be the indicator it was,” Detrick adds. “We are comforted by this slow and steady rise with some scary pullbacks. We like those, also. To us that’s a nice mixture.”

3. Capitalize on Complacency

Most analysts agree on two points: The market is substantially overbought, but the low level of fear among investors means the rally remains largely unthreatened. The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index [VIX 16.91 -0.78 (-4.41%) ] has tumbled to its 2010 low—in fact to a level it hasn’t seen since its pre-financial-collapse levels of May 2008.

“The volume is so anemic in so many areas—it’s flashing red for us all the way across the board—but they keep pushing (stocks) higher,” says Kathy Boyle, president of Chapin Hill Advisors in New York. “This feels like a game of musical chairs.”

Following the 2009 run-up in high-beta, low-performing stocks that took the worst of the beating in the 2007-08 collapse, many advisors are focusing on large-cap big-balance-sheet companies. The lack of market conviction, though, has some believing the opposite strategy could prove fruitful.

“We still think the places you should invest are the areas considered riskier by most people,” says Detrick, who recommends restaurants, retailers, consumer discretionary and real estate investment trusts, which have become a favorite whipping boy for a growing number of analysts who think REITs will get crushed by the commercial mortgage troubles likely for this year.

4. But Don’t Get Crazy

Gaeger says most of his clients are putting aggressive stop-loss provisions in their trades to make sure they don’t get caught if sellers come crashing into the market.

Unbridled optimism would be the market’s biggest enemy now, and the most recent survey from the American Association of Individual Investors shows bulls outnumbering bears by 20 points—a gap that has been indicative of a looming mini-correction in the 5 to 7 percent neighborhood.

“The majority of people get in at the top and get in high. Volume conviction only shows itself when people are convinced the market is going up,” Global Arena’s Cohn says. “It’s a lot harder to pick tops than bottoms.”

Boyle says technicians seem convinced the Standard & Poor’s 500 is inexorably headed to 1,200—a 3 percent gain from here—but investors should be careful not to get caught in a crosswind.

“Lack of volatility and light volume does mean that any trade you do you’ve really got to watch what you’re doing,” she says. “Most of my trading clients are putting trailing stops on. So you’re forced to go long, even though you may not have conviction.”

Published: Wednesday, 17 Mar 2010 | 2:32 PM ET
By: Jeff Cox
CNBC.com