Futile Attempt | InvestmentWatch

Statistics: US Census Data Worst In 50 Years – Nearly 100 Million Poor In America

Despite the government’s well massaged economic statistics the latest census data shows its bad out there. Really bad.

As world leaders finally begin to admit that we are smack dab in the middle of another Great Depression and the economy stands at the cusp of another earth-shaking collapse of the financial system, the US census reports that nearly 100 million Americans are now classified as living in poverty or are considered “near poor.”

That’s [...]

The global “currency wars” could soon take a surprising turn

From AlphaVN:

Since instituting a peg to the euro of €1.20 to 1 in August of 2011, The CurrencyShares Swiss Franc ETF (AMEX:FXF) has lost 37%. The Swiss franc has also lost 31% versus the Japanese yen.

The Swiss were the first to blink in the game of chicken in who will print first to stave off the debt deflation emanating from the periphery of the eurozone. But the Swiss do not [...]

Student’s ordeal in DEA jail sparks outrage

Elected officials are demanding answers after Daniel Chong, a 23-year-old UC San Diego student, was left unattended for five days in a Drug Enforcement Administration detention cell.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) called on U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. asking for an “immediate and thorough” Department of Justice investigation into the matter.

“After the investigation is completed, I ask that you please provide me with the results and the actions the department will [...]

Central Banks Favour Gold as IMF Warns of “Collapse of Euro” and “Full Blown Panic in Financial Markets”

From GoldCore:

Gold’s London AM fix this morning was USD 1,646.50, EUR 1,258.41, and GBP 1,030.80 per ounce. Friday’s AM fix was USD 1,652.00, EUR 1,255.51 and GBP 1,035.54 per ounce.

Silver is trading at $31.61/oz, €24.16/oz and £19.78/oz. Platinum is trading at $1,577.25/oz, palladium at $656.90/oz and rhodium at $1,350/oz.

Cross Currency Table – (Bloomberg)

Gold fell $1.50 or 0.09% in New York and closed relatively unchanged at $1,650.20/oz yesterday. Gold traded sideways prior [...]

Israel: An attack would be highly counterproductive

The United States intelligence agencies, the Israeli Mossad and the IAEA don’t believe that Iran is currently developing nuclear weapons, although they agree that they have the means to do so. Therefore, an attack would be highly counterproductive. The moment Israel attacks Iran – a futile attempt, since the facilities are buried deep into the mountains – the Iranians will immediately start a nuclear weapons program. Perhaps Iran is even [...]

Gordon T Long: ECB’s LTRO Won’t Stop Collateral Contagion

Via Gordon T Long of GordonTLong.com,

How long can the European media keep the EU credit implosion a secret? The disgraced former IMF Director, Demonic Strauss Kahn said on Tuesday December 12th, 2011 that No ‘Firewall’ Exists and Europe Has ‘Only Weeks’. Of course within minutes of this Financial Times news release which detailed his vent on EU leadership and the perilous situation in Europe, the article disappeared.

The details of the European liquidity [...]

New Day, Same Stuff: Once again equities are responding to events with more excitement than the credit markets.

Via Peter Tchir of TF Market Advisors

Once again equities are responding to events with more excitement than the credit markets.

Yes, Germany approved the changes to EFSF first announced back in July. That was fully expected and a No vote would have been a shocking disaster at this stage. The level of cynicism has hit a new high. I have heard a lot of chatter that now that [...]

From The Hill: “There’s no doubt in my mind that the debt that we’ve now incurred is already weakening our economy…”

by ZH

In a move that will surprise exactly nobody, the Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions has signaled that “Republicans would oppose the jobs plan President Obama is expected to announce Thursday, saying it would only put the United States further in debt at a time when the debt is already weighing on the economy.” So while nobody even knows yet just what the full [...]

The missing element for a real bull market:

by Zebra

The retail buyer.

The equity market has failed to be a store of value for the large majority of retail buyers. They have left the market in droves, mostly by selling equity mutual fund shares, many never to return.

The fund managers have sold the rallies, and the rallies only exist because of mindless buying by the proxies of the Fed Permanent Open Market operations team as the Fed [...]

Bob Chapman is always a good read:

http://www.theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/Banks_Will_Still_Profit_in_this_Faltering_Economic_Recovery

An excerpt:

“There is no exit strategy and that now is very obvious, at least from a conventional viewpoint. If economists, analysts and strategists understood what this is all about their viewpoints would change dramatically. This crisis just didnâ€™t happen â€“ it was created. Eventually the people behind the curtain will pull the plug and those inside the matrix wonâ€™t know what hit them.

The $5 trillion the Fed intends to inject [...]

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