Business / Economic / Financial

[ This link to a somewhat more cumulative blog posts page will precede current days news since most all topics remain current in terms of impact and longer-term effect and can be searched by topical index term more easily. The same is provided since the blog site http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com has just been censored as to size by google which is typical for google as nsa / cia / gov’t shill as more are becoming aware of. The same is true for microsoft, another co. that’s seen their best days and relies on the government to maintain their monopoly. Up to now the better page http://www.scribd.com/alpeia is provided for ease of formatting and clarity thereby while the Washington Post page is the real deal but without formatting http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- srv/community/mypost/index.html?plckPersonaPage=PersonaComments&plckUserId=alpeia&newspaperUserId=alpeia (Only up to 3-11-11-you must be logged in - (Washington Post) [ Comments COMMENTS ARE CLOSED WHILE WE UPGRADE OUR SYSTEMS ] the comments are no longer archived on their site ) . The following is the cumulative archive of blog posts / topics for 2010 as the new year starts anew (and archived by quarter): http://albertpeia.com/December312010postsarchive.htm or PDF formatted version
http://albertpeia.com/December312010postsarchive.pdf ]

War blurs humanitarian focus in Libya (Washington Post) [ Wow! Call me naïve, but it's getting difficult … blurs? … as in fact from fiction … truth versus falsity … propaganda as opposed to reality … and then there's the no small task of keeping up with gates' positions.

Obama Sends Murder Incorporated to Libya Nimmo | The CIA specializes in overthrowing governments and orchestrating mass murder.

Secret Illegal War Of Aggression Has Been Raging In Libya For Weeks Watson | UN Resolution or no UN resolution, US and British spies have been coordinating war for oil for some time.

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | [UPDATED].

Tarpley on Libya Rebels: A CIA Secret Army of al-Qaeda Terrorists RT | Libyan Rebels in Full, Chaotic Retreat New Yorker |

US set to give arms to Libyans SMH |

Are US Soldiers Using Rape, Murder, And Bombing Of Children As War Strategy? Mary Lynn Cramer Countercurrents.org 3-30-11 ...

With the reports of rape of women by US troops in Iraq (not to mention the alarmingly high rate of rape of women soldiers within the US military); the bombing of civilian wedding parties, children at play, and innocent villagers in their homes in Pakistan and Afghanistan, why is it that Amy has not headlined that “Murder And Rape Are Being Used By Obama And US Soldiers As Weapons of War”? (And who arrested those accused Libyan soldiers in Tripoli so quickly? It takes forever to get charges brought against American troops and contractors accused of rape, torture and murder in US occupied countries; and even then they most often go free.) ..

This is a video of several testimonies repeating the same lie about Iraqi soldiers killing babies in incubators as they fled Kuwait in 1990.

” A key event in generating momentum for the first U.S. War on Iraq, “Operation Desert Storm” was a fraudulent report of the murder of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers...The girl relayed a shocking story while sobbing:

'… I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die.

The massacre never occurred. The girl was actually the daughter of a Kuwaiti emir, and had been coached by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton to give persuasive false testimony.” ( How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf , by Stauber and Rampton) http://911review.com/precedent/decade/incubators.html ...'

At least 40 civilians dead in Tripoli strikes: Vatican official Reuters

Obama in Libya for long haul

Rangel: Obama Did Not Have Constitutional Authority to Act Unilaterally in Libya Without Congress’ Approval

Obama On Energy Sec Chu: “He Actually Deserved His Nobel Prize” Obama jokes about the fact that deep down he is a warmonger

The false choice (Washington Post) [ This truly is well said and needed sayin'. That Ms. Marcus said it in so kindly a way is forgivable if only because of the expected cordiality of the forum. The truth is, I believe it's no longer just the false choices. I further believe the american electorate is snookered virtually all of the time, and has been so for quite some time with pronounced recognition of same with the last two failed presidents particularly. Thus, I conclude that the american political system has become so fatally flawed that it must be deemed broken and unfixable. After all, america is ever more widely known to be pervasively corrupt and as well, defacto bankrupt. This sad state of affairs precludes that somewhat amorphous conclusion attendant to an unknowing shrug of the shoulders and nonsequitur; viz., they must be doing something right … No they are not! / Then there is the b* s* concerning treasury turning a profit on the (ongoing fed / pomo / wall street) bailouts that taxpayers have and will continue to pay for in higher prices from oil to grains to other commodities to fewer jobs, now and in the future. There is no modern day alchemy that 'spins more paper into gold'. That value has to come from some place; viz., you! M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you / ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ’ 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems...most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. ]

Europe financial problems deepen (Washington Post) [ Yet you'd think, and that they expected you to think, with all the 'bread and circuses', schemin', and perpetual war as here in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america that everything was just 'hunky-dory'. That the eu's financial problems were solved was touted to the tune of about a 1,000 points on the DOW over the course of just days. We Are Looking at Trillion-Dollar Plus Annual Interest Payments on U.S. Debt Owens Krugman: We’re Going To Have To Default On Our Debt One Way Or Another Some dour commentary from Paul Krugman this morning on the implications of our monster debt. Harry Dent Warns Major Crash Is Coming! Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011...
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012).

J. P. Morgan Wants $5 ATM Charge CNBC.com |

Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low Politico | Half of the registered voters surveyed for the poll think that the president does not deserve a second term in office.

Why your local Hospital could soon shut down (Ad)

European Central Bank Set to Raise Interest Rates Before Fed Reuters |

OPEC Could Reap $1 Trillion This Year National Journal |

Fragile Budget Talks Resume as Parties Trade ‘Extreme’ Label Fox |

The Fed Releases Thousands Of Secret Bailout Docs In The Least Transparent Way Possible The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the names of banks that borrowed from its main emergency lending facility during the financial crisis after having run out of legal appeals to block publication.

A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Realise That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country

China economist blasts dollar dominance on eve of G20 Dollar dominance is sowing the seeds of financial turmoil, and the solution is to promote new reserve currencies, a Chinese government economist said in a paper published on the eve of a G20 meeting about how to reform the global monetary system. ]

Portugal discloses new and larger budget deficits for last year, and Ireland says its banks need tens of billions of dollars in additional capital. The fresh round of bad news is likely to further shake confidence in Europe’s ability to resolve its lingering financial problems anytime soon.

Jeff Immelt faces major PR crises (Washington Post) [ Well, here's my experience in this suburb to new york, GE's home-state of connecticut which they dominate: RICO VERIFIED COMPLAINT (see infra). Such includes and as set forth in the case, inter alia,

· A judgment had been entered in my favor in the case, United States District Court Case #3:93cv02065(AWT)(USDCJ Alvin Thompson), worth approximately now in excess of $300,000 remains unaccounted for and which could be used for payment to creditors, Los Angeles, etc..

· Counsel Robert Sullivan on my behalf documented by way of certification upon investigation that Alan Shiff, USBCJ, had falsely stated a dismissal upon which false statement he predicated a retaliatory and spurious contempt proceeding against me causing substantial damage, and for which he sought Judicial Notice of those and related proceedings as did I in some of my filings.

· The Order of Dismissal With Prejudice by Alan Shiff, USBCJ, owing to Defendant Coan’s failure to file anything whatsoever by the court’s deadline causing creditors and me substantial damages: [ Shiff Order of Dismissal With Prejudice on Coan’s Failure to File Page 1 Page 2 ]

Defendant Coan had filed an action against me to prevent me from suing him which necessitated me to fly to Connecticut for a hearing before The Honorable Robert N. Chatigny, Chief Judge, USDC, District of Connecticut, who denied Coan’s requested relief as to Coan but precluded my action against Shiff (although there is no immunity, judicial or otherwise, for criminal acts, ie., fraud connected with a case under Title 11, USC, etc.) . [ transcript in pertinent part - crossexamofcoanbypeia.pdf ] … GE chief executive is under heat as he addresses tax issue, nuclear technology.

Liars (sic-lawyers). In Productive Societies as China, Japan List of Files Regarding Filed Attorney Grievance Against Fraud coan et als

Or Here For A Clearer View Of Filed Grievance Complaint, Response, Exhibits, and Related RICO Filings

Note the Committee of Frauds/Liars (sic-lawyers). Included are DOJ Rep., State Court Rep., State Atty. General Office Rep., and even a Vegetable Garden yale law prof who probably never practiced law in his life. How Pathetic!

On NBC, the missing story about GE (Washington Post) [ Ya think! … Seriously though, this is as important a story as can be since these scenarios have been a significant problem for the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt u.s. for quite some time. After all, there are no Washington Posts in the Northeast to cover their denizens quite like the Washington Post fearlessly covers theirs (ie., that not too long ago story of the ubiquity of top level clearances, 'cia ops / covers' (real estate / businesses), in the Washington metropolitan area, literally putting their lives on the line so to speak. In the northeast, sinkholes new york (they even did a book 'The Wall Street Gang' and movies, ie., 'Gangs of New York', fact-based 'Goodfellas', etc.) / mob infested jersey (I've not been to chicago, but count them in here) particularly, it's what is not said that invariably stands out to the substantial detriment of the rest of the nation. The day in, day out continued churn and earn wall street fraud at a total cost yet to be fully realized by the rest of the nation to support those lavish / overly high-cost lifestyles will not make for front-page reading in the wall street journal, new york times, etc., nor the lead story if at all on the 6 / 11 o'clock news. Therein lies the rub, and the need for alternate media sources so castigated and belittled by the main-stream news media, particularly in those regions which have a lot to hide (and not talk about). Sadly, the internet is increasingly targeted toward the end of silencing those who brave to tell the truth. One might hope that The Washington Post might enter the televised news sphere with waivers based on national need.] “NBC Nightly News” didn’t report on the fact that its parent company paid no federal taxes last year.

Documents shed light on Fed lending (Washington Post) [ Au contraire … far from shedding light, the fed remains a significant part of pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america's problems and should be abolished, including their ability to print fiat currency facilitating their fraudulent, destructive machinations in favor of the frauds on wall street and to the detriment of the nation. Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you’ … 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. The Economic Collapse ] The Fed lent vast sums of money to banks during the financial crisis, documents show.

Bulls Look Ahead to Inflation: Dave's Daily 'Stocks ended the quarter with a whimper. Bulls were able to "stick" a good return and portfolio managers will earn their bonuses. Most news surrounded rising commodity prices (grains and energy--you know, the stuff we don't measure and are supposed to ignore), a negative inflation outlook from WMT and the Buffett compliance breakdown. Meanwhile Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota cautioned interest rates will be higher by the end of the year. He's far off team talking points it seems--or, is he? Nevertheless, all eyes are focused on Non-farm Payrolls report set for Friday. Volume again was ultra-light as it's been all week so those that can prop it had a field day. Per the WSJ breadth remains positive. This will push the $NYMO (see end of posting) close to short-term overbought conditions...'

Then there is the b*** s*** concerning treasury turning a profit on the (ongoing fed / pomo / wall street) bailouts that taxpayers have and will continue to pay for in higher prices from oil to grains to other commodities to fewer jobs, now and in the future. There is no modern day alchemy that 'spins more paper into gold'. That value has to come from some place; viz., you! Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you’ … 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. The Economic Collapse]

Will ISM Peak Portend Doom for Stocks? Iacono 'Add this to the growing list of data points foretelling a rough road ahead for stocks, last month’s 27-year high for the ISM Manufacturing Index apparently a sign of a top for equity markets as detailed in this Chart of the Day [ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-29/manufacturers-signal-u-s-stock-rally-to-fade-chart-of-the-day.html ] at Bloomberg Along with the monthly labor report – where hopes are high that payroll gains will keep pace with the growth in the U.S. population for the second month in a row – the latest ISM data will be released tomorrow, a rare occurrence when these two important gauges of the U.S. economy are reported on the same day, possibly producing a little extra market volatility.' [ ' U.S. manufacturers are signaling that a two-year surge in stocks may give way to smaller gains, according to Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial Corp. The CHART OF THE DAY compares the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index, based on a monthly survey of corporate purchasing managers, with the year-to-year percentage change in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. February’s ISM reading of 61.4 matched its peak in May 2004, which in turn was the highest level since 1983. The March figure will be published on April 1, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg anticipate a drop to 61 on average. Readings of more than 50 signal growth. “With momentum in the ISM at or near a peak, stock-market performance is likely to soften,” Kleintop wrote yesterday in a report. He cited the S&P 500’s performance before and after nine highs in the manufacturing gauge since 1976. In the first six months after the ISM topped out, the S&P 500 rose by an average of 1.3 percent. The comparable 12-month figure was 5.2 percent, far from the 18 percent average during the preceding 12 months. “It would be (April) foolish to expect the powerful pace of gains over the past two years to continue,” Kleintop wrote. At yesterday’s close, the S&P 500 was 94 percent higher than its March 2009 low. High-yield bonds and commodities may be more rewarding than stocks “in the near future,” he added. To contact the reporter on this story: David Wilson in New York at dwilson@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.net ' ]

Unemployment Claims: Headlines vs. Upward Revisions Short 'The Department of Labor's Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report was released this morning for last week. As we saw in the previous week, the headline number is a decrease from the previous week (good news), but the previous week had been upwardly revised — in this case, double the headline decrease (the bracketed bold text below is my annotation). But check out the positive spin on CNBC and Bloomberg. Here is the official statement from the Department of Labor:

In the week ending March 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 388,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 394,000 [up 12,000 from 282,000]. The 4-week moving average was 394,250, a increase of 3,250 from the previous week's revised average of 391,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending March 19, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.0 percent.

The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending March 19 was 3,714,000, a decrease of 51,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 3,765,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,765,250, a decrease of 32,750 from the preceding week's revised average of 3,798,000.

Today's number was above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 383,000 claims. (Briefing.com's own estimate was for an extremely optimistic 370,000).

As we can see, there's a good bit of volatility in this indicator, which is why the 4-week moving average (shown in the callouts) is a more useful number than the weekly data. [chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/31/saupload_weekly_unemployment_claims.png ]

(Click to enlarge)

Occasionally I see articles critical of seasonal adjustment, especially when the non-adjusted number better suits the author's bias. But a comparison of these two charts clearly shows extreme volatility of the non-adjusted data, and the 4-week MA gives an indication of the recurring pattern of seasonal change in the second chart (note, for example, those regular January spikes). [ chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/31/saupload_weekly_unemployment_claims_nsa.png ]

(Click to enlarge)

Because of the extreme volatility of the non-adjusted weekly data, a 52-week moving average gives a better sense of the long-term trends.

[chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/31/saupload_weekly_unemployment_claims_nsa_52_ma.png ]
(Click to enlarge)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides an overview on seasonal adjustment here (scroll down about half way down). For more specific insight into the adjustment method, check out the BLS Seasonal Adjustment Files and Documentation.

The Reason There Is No Pent-Up Consumer Demand

Harry Dent Warns Major Crash Is Coming!

We Are Looking at Trillion-Dollar Plus Annual Interest Payments on U.S. Debt Owens Krugman: We’re Going To Have To Default On Our Debt One Way Or Another Some dour commentary from Paul Krugman this morning on the implications of our monster debt. Economists Herald New Great Depression The world is currently experiencing the modern day equivalent of the Great Depression, according to a prominent economist who has added his voice to scores of others now forecasting ongoing economic doom on a scale not seen since the 1930s.) , and my position and that of demographer Dent ( Prechter and many others are also in this camp although I believe he does not factor in sufficiently the debasement of the u.s. currency / dollar in arriving at his numbers which do however, at 1,000 on the DOW reflect real, as opposed to inflated values of 3-4,000 owing to the ever more worthless Weimar dollars which provides ‘spin material’ for the wall street frauds but is really quite ominous going forward, and very detrimental in real economic terms.) [This is a global depression. This is a secular bear market in a global depression. The past up move was a manipulated bull (s*) cycle in a secular bear market. This has been a typically manipulated bubble as has preceded the prior crashes with great regularity that the wall street frauds and insiders commission and sell into. This is a typical wall street churn and earn pass the hot potato scam / fraud as in prior crashes’. This national decline, economic and otherwise, will not end until justice is served and the wall street frauds et als are criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed.] [ The reason for the necessity of prosecution is founded in the circumstances surrounding and the mindset of what one would deem ‘antisocial personalities’ (disorders) ( I prefer the prior descriptor of such as psychopathic; the euphemistic ‘sociopathic’ was ‘far too understanding’ in my view of the social / environmental factors allegedly giving rise to such negative / destructive behaviors. I don’t buy it.) Specifically, accepted studies / findings have concluded that the essential defect in those with antisocial (psychopathic) personality disorders is an inability to respond normally to fear-inducing stimuli, leading in turn to an inability to inhibit responses that should, but, as with wall street, have not resulted in punishment. Thus, while I think most on wall street have proven themselves criminally insane (for the money, ie., Stewart, ‘Den of Thieves’ / ‘Liar’s Poker’, the most recent financial debacle / crisis, which continues to this day); at the least, owing to a lack of fear of prosecution / punishment, they have become defacto sociopathic / psychopathic. ] Krugman: It's All Downhill From Here Cullen Roche Love him or hate him Paul Krugman has been awfully right with regards to the macro picture in the last few years. He’s one of the rare economists who had the foresight to see the housing bubble and the likelihood of economic downturn that would result from it. Krugman recently caused a stir when he said the US economy was headed for the third depression. Here Are 13 Signs That We’re Actually In A Depression Right Now Gregory White** | David Rosenberg has outlined, in his latest letter, the 13 reasons with this so-called recovery is actually a depression… David Rosenberg has outlined, in his latest letter, the 13 reasons with this so-called recovery is actually a depression.Rosenberg sums it up like this:

This is what a depression is all about — an economy that 33 months after a recession begins, with zero policy rates, a stuffed central bank sheet, and a 10% deficit-to-GDP ratio, is still in need of government help for its sustenance.

Harry Dent, Jr. Economy will be in a Depression by 2011
The worst of this next depression is likely to hit between mid-2010 and mid-2013, especially around early 2011, but if the banking system continues to implode a deep downturn or depression could begin sometime in 2009 instead of 2010.
Dow will Fall to 3,800 – 4,500 by 2012
Nasdaq will Fall Below 1,100, its 2002 low, by late 2010 or mid-2012 at the latest.
Inflation will Increase until mid- 2010 and then turn to Deflation
Interest Rates will Increase
U.S. Dollar will Decline
Housing will Decline by 40 – 60% from Today’s Levels
Greatest Economic and Banking Crisis since the 1930s will Occur Between 2010 and 2012). ]

http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates

J. P. Morgan Wants $5 ATM Charge CNBC.com | Higher ATM fees and other rising costs penalize small depositors.

Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low Politico | Half of the registered voters surveyed for the poll think that the president does not deserve a second term in office.

Why your local Hospital could soon shut down (Ad)

European Central Bank Set to Raise Interest Rates Before Fed Reuters | Change from the traditional pattern reflects the ECB’s greater preoccupation with inflation pressures.

OPEC Could Reap $1 Trillion This Year National Journal | OPEC is set to make a record-breaking $1 trillion in export revenues this year.

Fragile Budget Talks Resume as Parties Trade ‘Extreme’ Label Fox | Fragile budget negotiations have resumed on Capitol Hill.

The Fed Releases Thousands Of Secret Bailout Docs In The Least Transparent Way Possible The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the names of banks that borrowed from its main emergency lending facility during the financial crisis after having run out of legal appeals to block publication.

A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Realise That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country What in the world is happening to America? Perhaps you have asked yourself that question from time to time. Today it seems like everything is falling apart.

China economist blasts dollar dominance on eve of G20 Dollar dominance is sowing the seeds of financial turmoil, and the solution is to promote new reserve currencies, a Chinese government economist said in a paper published on the eve of a G20 meeting about how to reform the global monetary system.

Faber Expects QE3 From Fed ‘But Not Right Away’ Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom report, talks about the outlook for a third round of quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve, his investment strategy and the outlook for global stock and commodity markets. Faber, speaks with Matt Miller and Carol Massar

(3-31-11) Dow 12,319 -31 Nasdaq 2,781 +4 S&P 500 1,326 -2 [CLOSE- OIL $107.46 (-54% for year 2008) (RECORD TRADING HIGH $147.27) GAS $3.65 (reg. gas in LAND OF FRUITS AND NUTS $4.00 REG./ $4.05 MID-GRADE/ $4.20 PREM./ $4.27 DIESEL) / GOLD $1,433 (+24% for year 2009) / SILVER $37.74 (+47% for year 2009) PLATINUM $1,767 (+56% for year 2009) Metal News for the Day / DOLLAR= .70 EURO, 83 YEN, .62 POUND STERLING, ETC. (How low can you go - LOWER)/ http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates 10 YR NOTE YIELD 3.47% …..… AP Business Highlights ...Yahoo Market Update... T. Rowe Price Weekly Recap – Stocks / Bonds / Currencies - Domestic / International This Is a Secular Bear Market and The End of Buy and Hold … and Hope MARKET MANIPULATION AND HOW THE LATEST BUBBLE-FRAUD PRE-COMING CRASH IS BEING ACCOMPLISHED 3-11-10 The bull market that never was/were beyond wall street b.s. when measured in gold Property Values Projected to Fall 12% in 2010 Jan 31, 2010 THE COMING MARKET CRASH / CORRECTION 1-28-10 Maierhofer (01-15-10) 11 Clear Signs Economy Sinking Economic Black Hole 1-22-10: 20 Reasons Why The U.S. Economy Is Dying And Is Simply Not Going To Recover 1-7-10 Crash is coming! ‘WORST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE EVER’ Must Read Economic / Financial Data This Depression is just beginning The coming depression… thecomingdepression.net The Next Wave of Collapse is Coming Sooner than you think Sliding Back Into the Great Depression ABSOLUTELY, ABSURDLY, RIDICULOUS! SELL / TAKE PROFITS WHILE YOU CAN SINCE MUCH, MUCH WORSE TO COME!

National / World

Obama Sends Murder Incorporated to Libya Kurt Nimmo | The CIA specializes in overthrowing governments and orchestrating mass murder.

Secret Illegal War Of Aggression Has Been Raging In Libya For Weeks Steve Watson | UN Resolution or no UN resolution, US and British spies have been coordinating war for oil for some time.

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | Alex Jones addresses the multitude of evidence that al-Qaeda works for the Pentagon and the CIA [UPDATED].

Tarpley on Libya Rebels: A CIA Secret Army of al-Qaeda Terrorists RT | Rebel held territory in Libya the world capitol for jihadi terrorism.

Fukushima Radiation Double Chernobyl Outside Evacuation Zone Kurt Nimmo | Farming may become impossible near the crippled nuclear plant.

Man Obtains Obama’s Purported Social Security Number The Gazette | Foray into online Social Security data base reveals problems with Obama’s Social Security number.

Libyan Rebels in Full, Chaotic Retreat New Yorker | The second Libyan rebel advance didn’t last very long.

US set to give arms to Libyans SMH | The United States has paved the way for Libya’s rebel groups to be armed by the international community.

Are US Soldiers Using Rape, Murder, And Bombing Of Children As War Strategy? Mary Lynn Cramer | She was also seen pulling a battered and empty incubator behind her, yelling that Gaddafi forces had broken into the hospital maternity ward. Mary Lynn Cramer Countercurrents.org March 30, 2011 Amy Goodman’s Take on One Reported Rape Case in Tripoli, Libya: “Pro-Gaddafi Forces Accused of Using Rape as War Strategy”

“Some doctors in Libya have accused pro-Gaddafi fighters of using rape as a weapon of war. On Sunday, five men were arrested for raping and torturing a Libyan woman. The international press learned of the incident when the woman, Eman al-Obeidi, burst into a hotel full of foreign journalists in Tripoli. She was quickly detained by Libyan security officers. (http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/28/headlines )

She was also seen pulling a battered and empty incubator behind her, yelling that Gaddafi forces had broken into the hospital maternity ward, pulled babies out of the incubators and thrown them on the ground, and stamped them to death…oh, sorry, that was another dramatized lie told to the US Congress to justify another grossly destructive invasion and slaughter of thousands by US air power in the Middle East.*

The doctors commenting on this single incident in Tripoli were no doubt the same romantic, pure and idealistic, pro-democracy “rebels” adored by DemocracyNow in their overtly sympathetic interviews with these courageous, US armed, financed, and supported fighters with radical Islamist, Al Qaeda, and CIA operative backgrounds….but why should we care who they are or where they come from or how they are armed? And Democracy Now will the the very last to do any serious questioning of this issue.)

If you find my commentary more offensive than Democracy Now’s lack of responsible, investigative journalism and Amy’s blatantly biased propaganda regarding Libya, that may be indicative of just of how little integrity is left in the so-called American Left.

This is a video of several testimonies repeating the same lie about Iraqi soldiers killing babies in incubators as they fled Kuwait in 1990.

” A key event in generating momentum for the first U.S. War on Iraq, “Operation Desert Storm” was a fraudulent report of the murder of Kuwaiti babies by Iraqi soldiers. On October 10, 1990, the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus held a hearing on the subject of Iraqi human rights violations. The centerpiece of the event was the emotional testimony of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, known only by her first name, Nayirah. Her full name was supposedly being kept secret to protect her from Iraqi reprisals. The girl relayed a shocking story while sobbing:

I volunteered at the al-Addan hospital. While I was there, I saw the Iraqi soldiers come into the hospital with guns, and go into the room where . . . babies were in incubators. They took the babies out of the incubators, took the incubators, and left the babies on the cold floor to die.

The massacre never occurred. The girl was actually the daughter of a Kuwaiti emir, and had been coached by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton to give persuasive false testimony.” ( How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf , by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton) http://911review.com/precedent/decade/incubators.html ...'

At least 40 civilians dead in Tripoli strikes: Vatican official Reuters | So-called humanitarian raids have killed dozens of civilian victims in some neighborhoods of Tripoli.

Webster Tarpley: Al Qaeda does US dirty work in Libya It’s been nearly two weeks since the US entered Libya and there is still no clear indication on who the rebels really are. Webster Tarpley, an investigative journalist says the US is supporting al-Qaeda, and racists on the ground. The world should ask America, “What are you doing arming and promoting al-Qaeda fighters in Libya?” he said.

NATO rules out arming Libyan rebels THE NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today the alliance was opposed to arming the Libyan rebels fighting against Muammar Gaddafi.

Obama in Libya for long haul Writer and radio host Stephen Landman says the US is committed for the long haul and that American, British and French forces have actually been supporting the rebel forces for some time.

Rangel: Obama Did Not Have Constitutional Authority to Act Unilaterally in Libya Without Congress’ Approval Rangel says he would “like to believe” that members of Congress are looking into whether or not the President’s actions are an impeachable offense.

Obama On Energy Sec Chu: “He Actually Deserved His Nobel Prize” Obama jokes about the fact that deep down he is a warmonger that was ridiculously awarded a Nobel peace prize.

Modern America too close to 1933 Germany? Are corporate interests and big business taking over the US political system to a degree where it is inevitable democracy will become obsolete and ruin the entire system of American government?

America’s Planned Nuclear Attack on Libya A war on Libya has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for more than 20 years.

The Congress is Obsolete Under The New World Order System There are probably many reasons why President Barack Obama didn’t bother to seek the approval of Congress before committing the U.S. military to an undefined mission in Libya, some of them may even be legitimate and reasonable, but none are more important and more alarming than the fact that the Congress is obsolete under the new world order system.

Japan’s Nuclear Rescuers: ‘Inevitable Some of Them May Die Within Weeks’ Workers at the disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan say they expect to die from radiation sickness as a result of their efforts to bring the reactors under control, the mother of one of the men tells Fox News.

Smoke Rises from DIFFERENT Nuclear Complex … 7 Miles from the Leaking Reactors The same nuclear power plant operator that runs the Daiichi complex – Tepco – runs a separate nuclear complex 7 miles away, called Fukushima Daini. There are 4 reactors located at the Daini complex.

4 of 6 Daiichi reactors can’t be fixed (Washington Post) [ I continue to believe this to be a far more serious catastrophe with further reaching consequences, economically, financially, and otherwise than are being sloughed off by markets, pols, and media. It truly is sad to even think about what seem likely to be 'suicide jobs' but I must say I was incredulous regarding the $5,000 / day offer of recruitment for such workers (short-term? … for as long as they live?... Wow! … I immediately thought of skid row, the bowery, and admit to being somewhat ashamed for having done so.) Fukushima Nuke Plant Now in Full Meltdown Kurt Nimmo | Smoke was reported at a second nuclear power plant in Japan today.

Japan Considers Entombing Nuclear Plant as Workers Fight to Stop Radiation Bloomberg | Japan will consider entombing its crippled atomic plant in concrete.

Reactors now leaking plutonium into soil New York Post | “The situation is very grave,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said today. ]Workers continue to endure soaring radiation levels as they work to stave off a full-scale meltdown.

Drudgereport: Obama 2002: Toppling a Brutal Dictator Is 'A Dumb War'...
OBAMA POLL HITS NEW LOW...
BLACK LAWMAKERS SUE TO DISSOLVE CITIES THAT ARE TOO 'WHITE'...
WANTED: U.S. workers for crippled Japan nuke plant...
CHERNOBYL SOLUTION: WORLD'S LARGEST CONCRETE PUMP DISPATCHED TO JAPAN
FLASHBACK: 'Chernobyl Solution' Once Considered Final, Worst Option...
OIL SOARS...
Crude climbs to highest since 2008...
Pump prices have doubled under Obama...
Highest March price ever...
WALMART chief warns of 'serious' inflation in coming months...
FUKUSHIMA 50: WE EXPECT TO DIE...
REPORT: Crew faces '100-year battle'...
Up to 1,000 bodies left untouched around plant...
Radioactivity 10,000 times limit found in groundwater...
Japan ignores UN, won't widen evacuation zone ...
EPA Says Radiation Found in U.S. Milk...
Radiation levels at nuclear plant reach new highs...
100,000X NORMAL...
Radioactive Water Extends One Mile Into Ocean...
Trace Amounts Found in Florida...
At the gates of stricken Fukushima nuke plant...
Radiation levels highest since crisis began...
'Bad Readings' Plague Effort...
Concern grows over sea contamination...
Tokyo blackouts to resume Monday...
Radioactivity detected in China...
And Nevada... And SC, Fla... And Mass...
Gaps in US radiation monitoring system revealed...
Four of EPA's 11 Sensors in CA Were Down...
Inflation worries push consumer confidence lower...
Home prices STILL falling in cities...
13% of all U.S. homes are vacant...
PAPER: Gaddafi envoy in Britain for secret talks...
NATO to Rebels: No Arms For You...
GATES: 'It’s pretty much a pick-up ballgame at this point'...
BLOODBATH: 40 civilians dead in Tripoli strikes...
REPORT: Obama sends in CIA teams to find out who rebels are...
Gadhafi's blonde lawyer daughter joins soldiers on front line...

4 of 6 Daiichi reactors can’t be fixed (Washington Post) [ I continue to believe this to be a far more serious catastrophe with further reaching consequences, economically, financially, and otherwise than are being sloughed off by markets, pols, and media. It truly is sad to even think about what seem likely to be 'suicide jobs' but I must say I was incredulous regarding the $5,000 / day offer of recruitment for such workers (short-term? … for as long as they live?... Wow! … I immediately thought of skid row, the bowery, and admit to being somewhat ashamed for having done so.) Fukushima Nuke Plant Now in Full Meltdown Kurt Nimmo | Smoke was reported at a second nuclear power plant in Japan today.

Japan Considers Entombing Nuclear Plant as Workers Fight to Stop Radiation Bloomberg | Japan will consider entombing its crippled atomic plant in concrete.

Reactors now leaking plutonium into soil New York Post | “The situation is very grave,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said today. ]Workers continue to endure soaring radiation levels as they work to stave off a full-scale meltdown.

In Washington, what’s not said can be a powerful (Washington Post) [ One can only hope that what's not said is not what's not smart ...

AT&T’s lobbyists well positioned (Washington Post) [ The ultimate regression. You'd think that with all the negative fallout / consequences from unbridled k street lobbying, that such a scenario as this could not be … yet in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, 'it is!' … AT&T, T-Mobile USA merger deal questioned (Washington Post) [ Questioned? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending.] A day after AT&T announced it would buy T-Mobile USA to create the biggest wireless carrier in the country, consumer advocates and some members of Congress blast the deal.

Merger a disconnect for consumers (Washington Post) [ Yeah! True enough! I had to drop my land line (att/sbc – jersey/bushland) which I kept for the public listing and which became disfunctional / unusable to the point where it was impacting my DSL line; both of which I dropped in favor of MagicJack (I recommend it) and Time Warner Cable / Internet (also better). Deal to combine AT&T, T-Mobile raises questions (AP) [Questions? Is that all? att / sbc is a horribly managed company that can't even do the simplest things well; ie., land lines and dsl thereby, my direct experience. We've seen this all before. When they can't do, they go monopoly bigger with disasterous results. This is an old story with a familiar ending. AP - AT&T's surprise announcement that it plans to acquire T-Mobile USA will force federal regulators to confront a difficult antitrust question: Can American consumers get good wireless service at a ... ] OPINION | Your choice for wireless service would get smaller should AT&T carry out its plan to buy T-Mobile USA. ] Firm confident it will win over regulators to its bid to buy T-Mobile USA, even as critics continue to bash the deal. Here's that other story of what's 'unsaid' being very costly to the nation : On NBC, the missing story about GE (Washington Post) [ Ya think! … Seriously though, this is as important a story as can be since these scenarios have been a significant problem for the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt u.s. for quite some time... (0 taxes paid)'

] A call by lawmakers for a careful review of AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile is really more code language for something else, analysts say.

CIA operatives in Libya to gather intel on rebels (Washington Post) [ Well, that's a plan … albeit after the fact … but, as that old saying goes … 'better late than never' … but it's still the 'what' that obscurely remains somewhat of a mystery ... Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | There is plenty of evidence al-Qaeda works for the Pentagon and the CIA. Former Libyan Al Qaeda Leader Says There Are 1000 jihadists Amongst Rebels Steve Watson | US, UK still want to supply them with weapons. Constitutional Problems with the Libyan War Ron Paul | The costs of this terrible mistake cannot be ignored. Obama Raises American Hypocrisy To A Higher Level Paul Craig Roberts | Gadhafi is being demonized while Bush/Cheney/Obama are sitting on their high horse draped in cloaks of morality. Reuters: Obama Signs Secret Order Authorizing Covert CIA Support For Libyan Rebels Obama has signed secret order authorizing covert US govt support for rebel forces in Libya, officials tell Reuters. Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low President Barack Obama’s approval rating and prospects for reelection have plunged to all-time lows in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. Americans worried about Libya conflict: poll A new poll published on Wednesday found nearly half of Americans were opposed to US military involvement in Libya, reflecting tricky political ground being navigated by President Barack Obama. ] The Obama administration has sent teams to gather intelligence on the identity, goals and progress of rebel forces, according to U.S. officials.

Twice a victim of retail violence (Washington Post) [ True americana … highest crime rates in the world by far, even not counting major crimes as on wall street with impunity sounding in corrupt immunity. Though having but 5% of the world’s population, america can boast 76% of the world’s serial killers, http://www.albertpeia.com/realifeamericaserialkillers.mpg . Defacto bankrupt, fraudulent america also spends more on military spending than all the nations of the world combined... federal employees / contractors, cia, all 3 branches of the u.s. government, etc., are included in this evolved american trait of inherent criminality ( http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/ricosummarytoFBIunderpenaltyofperjury.pdf http://www.albertpeia.com/112208opocoan/PeiavCoanetals.htm ]:

CRIME STATISTICS > TOTAL CRIMES (MOST RECENT) BY COUNTRY (america’s No. 1).

Rank	Countries	Amount
# 1	United States:	11,877,218
# 2	United Kingdom:	6,523,706
# 3	Germany:	6,507,394

Financialization and Our Increasingly Unstable Economy Roche ‘.. I highly recommend it to anyone... It will certainly infuriate you...excellent job of showing how Wall Street and government have become overrun by deregulation and sheer greed. A combination of flawed economic theory and greed have combined to create the beast that we now call a “functioning” economy. The worst part of it all is that President Obama, who vowed change, has done almost nothing to fix any of it and in fact continues most of the policies that helped get us here in the first place’ ‘INSIDE JOB’ Ferguson wins Oscar for Documentary on the unprosecuted massive extant fraud in the (many) TRILLIONS by the frauds on wall street ( and declares with oscar in hand that not one high level wall street exec has been prosecuted … despite ‘earning’ billiions from the fraud ), the commentator / experts recommend getting rid of the corrupt eric holder ( what do holder and wobama have in common … wall street money? … a proclivity for jive-talking / b*** s*** ?...all/some of the above … or is it something else ... a hint - UPDATE: MORE CLAIMS OF RACE BIAS AT JUSTICE... ‘In emotional and personal testimony, an ex-Justice official who quit over the handling of a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party accused his former employer of instructing attorneys in the civil rights division to ignore cases that involve black defendants and white victims ' Cases against Wall Street lag despite Holder’s vows to target financial fraud Washington Post | Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown.

’Inside Job’ New Documentary Exposes Wall Street Fraud And How Banksters Continue To Steal Our Money

http://www.albertpeia.com/insidejob.flv

China’s criticism of Fed may get little traction at G-20 meeting (Washington Post) [ Yeah … China's a bit too rational to be given much of an ear by the corrupt, warring, defacto bankrupt euro-american luNATOns who are also too busy manufacturing 'paper' (fiat currency / 'securities') … Yet, others have taken notice … This Fed Governor ADMITS the Federal Reserve is Anti-Capitalistic [ No surprise here … the fed has literally destroyed the american free enterpise, capitalist system in favor of the frauds on wall street to the detriment of this and many other nations. ] WSCS 3-30-11

'There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen… the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.

–Frederic Bastiat Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' ...The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis... Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law … ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you’ … 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans don't understand what the Fed Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. The Economic Collapse]

Light Volume Rally Continues: Dave's Daily ' It may be it's the stupid person that fights this trend reversal. The Fed has injected $500 billion (another $7B in POMO Wednesday) to the financial system since January 2011 and that wave of liquidity is overwhelming most thoughtful analysis. So, give it up to the beard! Sure it's the end of the quarter and a jam-job to close things out puts a smile on investors' faces and bonuses in portfolio managers' pockets. Painting the tape and window dressing is against the law but show me someone who's been caught. ADP data indicated job growth for Thursday's Jobless Claims data and Friday's all important Unemployment report. ADP data has misled before but Wall Street is awash with cash from on high and finds little other place to invest beyond stocks. Bull's are betting on a good report to close out the week, and if not, they're just April Fools. Only a hardy few are pumping this market higher as volume remains ultra-light. Of course, volume data isn't on your monthly brokerage statement since that would only confuse you, right? No, TPTB just wants you to see higher prices to boost your confidence...' Chemist charged with insider trading (Washington Post) [ This remains incredulous to me. Everyone but the big boys / frauds! Not just corruption, but bad time /resource management. The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed (this would also help significantly the hapless, hopeless budget scenario). Drop in home prices raises fear of double dip (Washington Post) [ Fear of double dip? We're in a continuing dip that never really ended with obfuscations of reality including more insurmountable debt and fed-based manipulations (Dave explains infra) Case-Shiller Chairman: Here’s Why the Housing Market Recession is Not Over Wall St Cheat Sheet 'Welcome to 2003! The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index 10-City Composite was down 2% and the 20-City Composite fell 3.1% in January on a year-over-year basis. On a monthly basis, the 10-City Composite was down 0.9% and the 20-City Composite fell 1.0% in January versus December 2010.San Diego and Washington D.C. were the only two markets to record positive year-over-year changes. However, San Diego was up a scant 0.1%, while Washington DC posted a healthier +3.6% annual growth rate. The same 11 cities that had posted recent index level lows in December 2010, posted new lows in January.

David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s commented:

“Keeping with the trends set in late 2010, January brings us weakening home prices with no real hope in sight for the near future. With this month’s data, we find the same 11 MSAs posting new recent index lows. The 10-City and 20-City Composites continue to decline month-over-month and have posted monthly declines for six consecutive months now.These data confirm what we have seen with recent housing starts and sales reports. The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery . At most, we have seen all statistics bounce along their troughs; at worst, the feared double-dip recession may be materializing. ..., but both series have moved closer to a confirmed double-dip for six consecutive months. At this point we are not too far off, and that is what many analysts are seeing with sales, starts and inventory data too...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you… (see infra)’ ] False / fake data / reports galore … High oil price rally! Come on! What total b*** s***! Previous rally sparked by upward revision of GDP by the scandal-scarred commerce department? You can’t believe anything these desperate self-servers say! This manipulated bubble in this secular bear market based on b*** s*** alone and today’s suckers’ rally on more bad/worse than expected news (consumer confidence down) provides an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! Fed to hold regular news conferences (Washington Post) [ Wow! Just what everyone needed … more spoon-fed b*** s*** / jawboning by the flawed, flatulent, faultful fed … for the sake of fraudulent wall street … you do remember those 'no-recession' jawbone sessions that sent the prior bubble expanding faster than 'the big bang' itself … until every got and continues to get banged from the last bubble-fraud crash. Chairman Bernanke’s move is part of efforts by the central bank to make the institution appear less secretive. States target jobless benefits (Washington Post) Durable goods (leading indicator) 200% worse than expected, stocks rally. ‘ February Durable Goods Orders Disappoint NEW YORK (TheStreet) Bharatwaj …’ This is the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. Looking Like A Good Time To Sell Into Strength - Harding BOB PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows ] The government charged a chemist at the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday with insider trading.

5 Reasons to Be Bearish About the Market The Dividend Guy '... as economists say, there are a few clouds on the horizon:

Bearish Reason #1: Inflation in China

Considering their current economic growth, inflation in China is just normal. However, since China’s inflation is around 5% lately, rumors of interest rate increases and protectionism rise along with inflation (look at the graph, click to enlarge).

[chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/30/saupload_china_inflation.png ]

Since emerging markets growth (led by China & Brazil) is supporting the world’s economy, any news about restricting their economic pace will be bad news for North American stock markets.

Bearish Reason #2: Catastrophe and politics

You have seen what happened in Japan (catastrophe), Egypt and Libya (politics). When we hear about catastrophe, we think about economic slowdown. Uncertainty in both cases (catastrophe & political instability) has not been the best friend of the stock market. I guess this is why we saw a slump in the stock market each time we hear bad news about other countries.

Bearish Reason #3: Oil and other commodities’ prices rising

Speaking of which, political instability in Arab countries will obviously push the price of oil to higher levels. This is not a good thing for the overall economy as the cost of oil acts like a “natural” tax on the pockets of each individual. More tax = less money to spend = less economic growth. Obviously, investors don’t want to see that either.

Bearish Reason #4: Europe and their tight budgets

Another reason why the world’s wallet seems smaller is the austerity measures in several European countries. While they live like irresponsible teenagers being sponsored by their parents, some of them have to face the results of their oversights. Generous social programs, pension plans and a lack of rigor in the tax authorities combined created a huge gap in the Governments’ budgets. They are currently cutting everywhere and there is nothing to help consumers’ spending! Here’s a picture illustrating how indebted some countries are (click to enlarge):

[chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/30/saupload_european_debts.png ]

Bearish Reason #5: US employment and housing prices

If you look at the US unemployment rate, you will notice that while the situation is better, we are hardly seeing an employment boom (click to enlarge):

[ chart http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/3/30/saupload_us_unemployment_rate.png ]

This is the same thing when we consider new construction (596,000 annualized as of March 2011 vs 2,100,000 at its peak a few years ago). In order to see the US market become more bullish, we will need stronger numbers from both employment and new construction in upcoming months.

Final thoughts: Bullish or Bearish?

As I have mentioned before, I do think that we will have a bullish 2011. However, it won’t be without market fluctuations. I think that we will have a strong VIX (volatility index)… and this will only create more investing opportunities .'

This Fed Governor ADMITS the Federal Reserve is Anti-Capitalistic [ No surprise here … the fed has literally destroyed the american free enterpise, capitalist system in favor of the frauds on wall street to the detriment of this and many other nations. ] Wall St Cheat Sheet On Wednesday March 30, 2011, 12:23 pm EDT

–Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850)

Nothing defined Alan Greenspan’s tenure as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank more than his wholehearted embrace of capitalism . With early roots in his 30-year association with the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand , that faith grew into an unconstrained confidence in the free market and deregulation to steer the economy and ward off crises.

According to a current Fed governor, however, both Greenspan’s Fed and the Fed today have not been the stalwarts of capitalism that the Maestro believed them to be.

On March 7th, I had the great pleasure of listening to Thomas Hoenig speak at the Colorado CFA Society forecast dinner. Hoenig, the only member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who I respect, is the board’s lone rational dissenting voice.

After his speech, a lengthy Q&A, and a short conversation with him, I left the event even more impressed with him.

Hoeing was equally critical of both the Fed’s zero-interest rate policy and of QE2 . He said these policies encourage speculation and don’t allow for price discovery, and consequently they lead to imbalances, unintended consequences, and misallocation of resources.

He said it is important to judge QE2’s success over the right time frame, one long enough to encompass not just its stimulative benefits but also its consequences. (In other words, there is a good reason why we don’t judge steroids solely based on what they do for an athlete’s performance during the race, ignoring the strokes and other health problems they often cause after the race).

Throughout his speech, Hoenig warned that there are no shortcuts to greatness in monetary policy. The Fed’s intervention in the economy will have unintended consequences, and it is impossible to know where they’ll show up. For example, Hoenig recalled that the Fed lowered the interest rate to 1% in 2003 and, though the economy was improving, kept rates low levels for over a year in order to bring unemployment below 6.5%. The asset bubble that deflated in the financial crisis (NYSE:XLF) resulted, and today unemployment is 10%.

Hoenig’s comments are extremely important. I too believe that the Fed’s actions in 2003 played a very large role in the subsequent real estate bubble (NYSE:IYR), financial crisis, and today’s high unemployment, but this was the first time I’ve heard such an admission come directly from a Fed governor. To the contrary, Greenspan has been outspoken in denying the role he and the Fed played in the crisis.

Hoeing said he questions whether quantitative easing , which failed in Japan (NYSE:EWJ), will work in the US (NYSE:SPY). He bluntly stated that too-big-to-fail financial institutions like Citigroup (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), and others should be broken up. (I argued that point in this article.) Commercial banks are in charge of our domestic and international payments system, but their access to FDIC insurance and the Fed’s discount window (use of which swelled from $900 million to $3 trillion over the last two years), constitutes “an enormous protection” to the financial sector, encouraging risk-taking through an implicit guarantee in the event of a crisis or failure.

Smaller institutions that don’t have access to the Fed’s fund window have to compete in that space, and they start behaving and taking risks as if they have access to the window. The walls between commercial and investment banks have been demolished, Hoenig argued, and the two functions within banks (NYSE:XLF) are now joined at the hip. In the wake of this crisis, Hoeing said we did the same things we did after previous crises: added supervision and regulation and raised capital requirements. But history suggests that as time goes by we’ll forget about the crisis and history will repeat itself, he said – unless we break up too-big-to-fail institutions.

It is a fundamental tenant of American capitalism that central planning of economies doesn’t work in the long term, whether in Soviet Union historically or in China (NYSE:FXI) today. But I often wonder: How is the Fed’s Board of Governors – the proverbial 12 guys in a room – any different than the 24 guys in a room who make up the Chinese politburo? The non-democratic Chinese may have a few more levers to push – an ability to force banks to lend, for example – but short of that, how is the Fed’s micromanagement of interest rates any different from China’s? After Hoenig came off the stage, I posed the question to Hoenig, and I asked him point-blank whether the Federal Reserve is an anti-capitalistic entity.

To my shock, Hoenig agreed with me: The Fed is anti-capitalistic.

I went further. In the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, to prevent the freezing up of the US financial system and possible bank runs, the Fed put in place QE1 – it purchased over a trillion dollars of mortgage and agency debt. Like J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM) in the pre-Fed era, the Fed was the lender of last resort. But QE2 is drastically different from QE1, because the banking system is far from choking, and now the Fed’s goal is to lower unemployment and grow the economy at a higher rate (here is my article on QE2).

I asked Hoenig if he thinks the Fed should stick to its mission as lender of last resort, as it was during QE1, letting the free market set interest rates. He looked at me with an expression that implied he couldn’t have said it better himself and agreed.

I am very familiar with confirmation bias, our desire to seek out people with whom we agree. But Hoenig is not your usual person; he is member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors , and he disagrees with almost everything that institution does.

Hoeing’s courage and principled vision elevate him to the status of a “good economist,” as defined by Frederic Bastiat over 150 years ago. Let’s hope that his voice, in a room full of bad economists, does not fall entirely on deaf ears.

Vitaliy N. Katsenelson, CFA, is a portfolio manager/director of research at Investment Management Associates in Denver, Colo. He is the author of The Little Book of Sideways Markets. You can read more at his blog Contrarian Edge.

Don’t Miss: Exclusive Interview: How to Succeed in Sideways Markets – with Vitaliy Katsenelson.'
Caught On Tape: Fed Admits It is Private Knox Harrington | The Federal Reserve banking cartel is in fact a PRIVATE entity, and NOT Federal at all. 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Most Americans do not understand what the Federal Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or the Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. The Economic Collapse
March 30, 2011

Most Americans do not understand what the Federal Reserve is or why it is at the heart of our economic problems. When Americans get into discussions about the economy, most of them still blame either the Democrats or the Republicans for inflation, for the housing crash, for our rampant unemployment and for the national debt. But the truth is that the institution with the most power over our economic system is the Federal Reserve. So exactly what is the Federal Reserve? Most people would say that it is an agency of the federal government. But that is absolutely not true. In fact, the Federal Reserve itself has argued in court that it is not an agency of the federal government. Rather, the Federal Reserve is a privately-owned banking cartel that has been given a perpetual monopoly over our monetary system by the U.S. Congress. This privately-owned central bank has been destroying the value of the U.S. dollar for decades, it has run our economy into the ground and it has driven the U.S. government to the brink of bankruptcy. The Federal Reserve operates in great secrecy, it has never been subjected to a comprehensive audit and it is not accountable to the American people. Yet the decisions that the Federal Reserve makes have a dramatic impact on the lives of every single American citizen.

If you really want to understand what is causing our economic problems, it is absolutely crucial that you understand exactly what the Federal Reserve system is and how it is systematically destroying our economy. Once you understand the truth about the Federal Reserve, you will view economic issues a whole lot differently.

The following are 19 reasons why the Federal Reserve is at the very heart of our economic problems….

#1 The Federal Reserve system is a debt-based financial system.

The way our system is designed, normally no money comes into existence without more debt being created.

But this creates a huge problem, because when a new dollar is created, the interest owed to the banking system on that dollar is not also created at the same time.

Therefore, the amount money that is created is not equal to the larger amount of debt that is also created.

This is a Ponzi scheme that is designed to drain wealth from the American people and transfer it to the banking system.

Today, the amount of debt in our economic system is far, far, far greater than the total amount of money.

The only way to keep the game going is to create even more money which creates even more debt.

#2 The Federal Reserve and the bankers have a monopoly on the creation of this debt-based money.

In the United States today, the only people that can create money are the bankers.

You cannot create money.

You would go to jail if you tried.

Even the U.S. government cannot create money.

Although the U.S. Constitution specifically gives Congress the power to create money, the U.S. Congress has given that power to the Federal Reserve and to the banking system.

This gives them an enormous amount of power.

So how does money creation actually work?

Most Americans don’t understand this.

As I have written about previously, the way our system is designed is that all money is supposed to originally come into existence as government debt….

When the government wants more money, the U.S. government swaps U.S. Treasury bonds for “Federal Reserve notes”, thus creating more government debt. Usually the money isn’t even printed up – most of the time it is just electronically credited to the government. The Federal Reserve creates these “Federal Reserve notes” out of thin air. These Federal Reserve notes are backed by nothing and have no intrinsic value of their own.

The Federal Reserve then sells these U.S. Treasury bonds to investors, other nations (such as China) or sometimes they “sell” them back to themselves. In fact, the Federal Reserve has been gobbling up a whole lot of U.S. Treasuries lately. Some refer to this as “monetizing the debt”, but that is not quite an accurate statement.

When the Federal Reserve creates money this way, it does not also create the money to pay the interest on the debt that has been created. Eventually this puts pressure on the U.S. government to borrow even more money to keep the game going. So what this creates is a spiral where the U.S. government must keep borrowing increasingly larger amounts of money, where the money supply is endlessly expanding and where the value of the U.S. dollar is destined to continue going down forever.

Once “Federal Reserve Notes” are in circulation, there is another way that money is created.

It is called “fractional reserve lending”.

Once you or I deposit money into a bank, the bank is only required to keep a very small amount of it actually in the bank. The rest of it the bank can loan out to others (at interest of course). This process can be repeated over and over and over, creating more money and an even larger amount of debt.

But the important part to take away from all this is that normally money is only created when debt is created, and the amount of debt to be paid back is always larger than the amount of money created.

This entire system is designed to drain our wealth and to put it into the hands of the bankers.

#3 The power of money creation and debt creation is in the hands of private individuals – not the government.

The Federal Reserve claims that it is an “entity within the government, having both public purposes and private aspects.”

That sounds so reasonable, but the truth is that the Federal Reserve is a legalized banking cartel that is privately-owned.

In fact, the Federal Reserve is about as “federal” as Federal Express is.

In defending itself against a Bloomberg request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Reserve objected by declaring that it was “not an agency” of the U.S. government and therefore it was not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. It is kind of funny how Fed officials are always talking about how important their “independence” is, but whenever anyone starts criticizing them for being private they start stressing their ties with the government.

So who owns the Federal Reserve?

As the Federal Reserve’s own website describes, it is the member banks that own it….

The twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks, which were established by Congress as the operating arms of the nation’s central banking system, are organized much like private corporations–possibly leading to some confusion about “ownership.” For example, the Reserve Banks issue shares of stock to member banks. However, owning Reserve Bank stock is quite different from owning stock in a private company. The Reserve Banks are not operated for profit, and ownership of a certain amount of stock is, by law, a condition of membership in the System. The stock may not be sold, traded, or pledged as security for a loan; dividends are, by law, 6 percent per year.

In particular, as we will see below, the banks of the New York Federal Reserve have the most influence over the system.

So who owns the member banks?

Well, when you trace the ownership of the member banks to the very top you find that the international banking elite are very strongly represented.

#4 The Federal Reserve itself is not much of a profit-making institution. Rather, it is a tool that enables others to make obscene amounts of money.

There are many that think of the Federal Reserve as an evil profit-making machine. But the truth is that the Fed doesn’t make that much money. Rather, the system was set up so that others could make an obscene amount of money from U.S. government debt.

Many of those opposed to the Federal Reserve point to the record $80.9 billion in profits that the Federal Reserve made last year as evidence that they are robbing the American people blind. But then those defending the Federal Reserve will point out that the Fed returned $78.4 billion to the U.S. Treasury.

In the end, those numbers are not nearly as important as the hundreds of billions of dollars in interest that are made off of U.S. government debt each year.

If the U.S. government had been issuing debt-free money all this time, the U.S. government would likely not be spending one penny on interest payments. Instead, the U.S. government spent over 413 billion dollars on interest on the national debt during fiscal 2010. This is money that belonged to U.S. taxpayers that was transferred to the U.S. government which in turn was transferred to wealthy international bankers and other foreign governments.

This is where the magic of the Federal Reserve system is. It is in getting the U.S. government enslaved to debt and using that debt to transfer hundreds of billions of dollars of our wealth into the hands of others.

As interest rates go up, this phenomenon is going to become even more brutal. Right now it is being projected that the U.S. government will be paying900 billion dollars just in interest on the national debt by the year 2019.

As you fill out your tax return this year, just keep in mind that vast quantities of our money is going to pay interest on debt that the U.S. government never needed to become enslaved to.

There are some very happy people out there that are becoming fabulously wealthy at our expense.

What a system, eh?

#5 The Federal Reserve is a perpetual debt machine.

As mentioned above, the U.S. government is enslaved to debt.

So how did it get enslaved?

Well, instead of printing up and spending the money that it needs, the U.S. government borrows it through the Federal Reserve system at interest.

In fact, as noted above, the U.S. government cannot create a single new dollar without borrowing it.

But each new dollar that the U.S. government borrows creates more than a dollar of new debt.

As a result, the government eventually has to collect more in taxes than what it has borrowed.

This phenomenon creates an endless debt spiral.

And is that not what we have in the United States today? In fact, you see this in almost every nation on earth where a similar central banking system has been established.

Did you know that the U.S. national debt is more than 5,000 times larger than it was 100 years ago?

That’s right – back in 1910, prior to the passage of the Federal Reserve Act, the national debt was only about $2.6 billion.

The only way that the U.S. government can inject more money into the economy is by going into more debt. But when new government debt is created, the amount of money to pay the interest on that debt is not also created. In this way, it was intended by the international bankers that U.S. government debt would expand indefinitely and the U.S. money supply would also expand indefinitely. In the process, the international bankers would become insanely wealthy by lending money to the U.S. government.

However, things did not have to turn out this way.

If the Federal Reserve had never been created, and the U.S. government had been issuing debt-free currency all this time, it is entirely conceivable that we would have absolutely no federal government debt at this point.

Unfortunately, we are now trapped in a debt-based system.

The U.S. national debt simply cannot ever be paid off. U.S. government debt has been mathematically designed to expand forever. It is a trap from which there is no escape.

Sadly, we have now gotten to a terminal phase of the debt spiral. The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that U.S. government debt held by the public will reach a staggering 716 percent of GDP by the year 2080. Remember when I used the term “debt spiral” earlier? This is what a debt spiral looks like….

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#6 The Federal Reserve system is designed to cause inflation.

As U.S. government debt expands at an exponential pace, it inevitably causes inflation.

Most Americans believe that inflation is a fact of life, but the truth is that the United States has only had a major, ongoing problem with inflation since the Federal Reserve was created back in 1913.

Sadly, the U.S. dollar has lost well over 95 percent of its value since the Federal Reserve was created.

If the Federal Reserve did not exist, it is theoretically conceivable that we could have an economy with little to no inflation. Of course that would greatly depend on the discipline of our government officials (which is not very great at this point), but the sad truth is that our current system is always going to produce inflation. In fact, the Federal Reserve system was originally designed to be inflationary. Just check out the inflation chart posted below. The U.S. never had massive problems with inflation before the Fed was created, but now it is just wildly out of control….

#7 The Federal Reserve has decided to play bizarre games with our money supply.

In a desperate attempt to revive the dying U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve has resorted to chucking gigantic quantities of cash into the financial system.

[chart]

Remember how earlier I explained that normally whenever new money is created that more debt is created?

Well, lately the Fed has been resorting to a trick called “quantitative easing”. What “quantitative easing” means is that the Federal Reserve zaps massive amounts of money into existence out of thin air and starts spending it on anything that it wants to buy. Lately, this has primarily been done to buy up U.S. government debt.

But isn’t that “monetizing the debt”?

Of course it is, and it is a blatant Ponzi scheme.

However, what is even more alarming is what this is doing to our money supply.

Just look at what has happened to our monetary base since about mid-2008….

[chart]

Does anyone in their right mind believe that this is not going to cause horrible inflation?

Right now most of the new cash is tied up in the financial system, but once it gets out into the regular economy watch out!

#8 The Federal Reserve is undemocratic.

In a previous article, I asked the following question:

“So what makes the central economic planning that the Federal Reserve does different from the central economic planning that communist China does?”

In both cases, a bunch of unelected elitists run the economy and make important economic decisions for the rest of us.

So what really is the difference?

#9 The Federal Reserve runs the U.S. economy.

Most Americans want to blame Obama or Bush or the U.S. Congress for the state of the economy.

But the truth is that it is the Federal Reserve that sets interest rates, it is the Federal Reserve that determines the money supply, it is the Federal Reserve that sets the “target rate” of inflation, it is the Federal Reserve that determines if unemployment is too high or too low and it is the Federal Reserve that watches over all of our banks.

Yes, Obama, Bush and the U.S. Congress all have things to answer for as well.

But none of them have the direct power over the economy that the Federal Reserve does.

#10 The Federal Reserve favors the big banks.

Not all financial institutions are treated equally by the Fed.

The truth is that the big banks (particularly those on Wall Street) are treated with great favor by the Federal Reserve.

If the Federal Reserve did not exist, the big Wall Street banks would not have such an overwhelming advantage. Most Americans simply have no idea that over the last several years the Federal Reserve has been giving gigantic piles of nearly interest-free money to the big Wall Street banks which they turned right around and started lending to the federal government at a much higher rate of return. I don’t know about you, but if I was allowed to do that I could make a whole bunch of money very quickly. In fact, it has come out that the Federal Reserve made over $9 trillion in overnight loans to major banks, large financial institutions and other “friends” during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009.

Wouldn’t you like to be able to zap trillions of dollars into existence and loan it out to your friends at very favorable terms?

Sadly, most of the “help” from the Federal Reserve always seems to go to the big boys.

When “small enough to fail” banks need assistance, they are usually told to go sell themselves to one of the big banks.

#11 The worse the debt problems caused by the Federal Reserve become, the more money the IRS needs to collect from the rest of us.

If the U.S. government could issue debt-free money, it is conceivable that we would not even need the IRS. You doubt this? Well, the truth is that the United States did just fine for well over a hundred years without a national income tax. But about the same time the Federal Reserve was created a national income tax was instituted as well. The whole idea was that the wealth of the American people would be transferred to the U.S. government by force and then transferred into the hands of the ultra-wealthy in the form of interest payments.

If the Federal Reserve was shut down, it is entirely possible that we would be able to shut down the IRS as well.

But the only way that the current system works is if massive amounts of wealth continue to be drained from the American people.

#12 The Federal Reserve creates artificial financial bubbles.

When you look back over the last several decades, you will find financial bubble after financial bubble.

So who created all of those bubbles?

It was the Federal Reserve.

The ridiculous policies of Greenspan and Bernanke have wrought disaster after disaster and yet most of our politicians still will not even consider major changes to the Federal Reserve.

#13 The Federal Reserve is anti-free market.

In a true free market system, the marketplace would determine what interest rates are.

In a true free market system, the marketplace would determine which financial institutions survive.

In a true free market system, artificial financial bubbles would be far less likely.

But we don’t have a true free market system.

#14 The Federal Reserve tells the rest of the our banks what to do.

Most Americans don’t understand just how much power the Federal Reserve actually has over our local banks.

For example, just last year Federal Reserve officials walked into one bank in Oklahoma and demanded that they take down all the Bible verses and all the Christmas buttons that the bank had been displaying.

#15 The people currently running the Federal Reserve pretty much have no idea what they are doing.

In case anyone has not noticed, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hasa very long track record of incompetence. Nearly every major judgment that he has made since taking over that position has been dead wrong.

If one of us could go down the street and appoint the manager of the local Dairy Queen as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, it is very doubtful that person would do a worse job than Bernanke has done.

#16 Even though the Federal Reserve has such extraordinary power over the financial system, the American people are not permitted to examine their books.

The Federal Reserve claims that they are regularly audited, but when some members of Congress attempted to push through a true comprehensive audit of the Fed last year Federal Reserve officials threw a hissy fit.

The truth is that the Federal Reserve has never undergone a true comprehensive audit since it was created back in 1913.

Whenever the subject of an audit comes up, Bernanke and others at the Fed keep repeating the mantra of how important “the independence of the Federal Reserve” is.

Sadly, Ron Paul’s proposal to audit the Federal Reserve last year, which had previously been co-sponsored by 320 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, ultimately failed by a vote of 229-198.

Instead, a very, very limited examination of Fed transactions that occurred during the recent financial crisis was approved.

So what did that limited examination reveal?

Well, the Federal Reserve was forced to reveal the details of 21,000 transactions stretching from December 2007 to July 2010 that combined were worth trillions of dollars. It turns out that the Federal Reserve was just handing out gigantic piles of nearly interest-free cash to their friends at the largest banks, financial institutions and corporations all over the globe.

Many members of Congress were absolutely stunned by these revelations.

So what would a more comprehensive audit reveal?

#17 The Federal Reserve has way too much power.

If the Federal Reserve did not exist, we would not have an unelected, unaccountable “fourth branch of government” running around that has gotten completely and totally out of control. Even some members of Congress are now openly complaining about how much power the Fed has. For example, Ron Paul told MSNBC last year that he believes that the Federal Reserve is now more powerful than Congress…..

“The regulations should be on the Federal Reserve. We should have transparency of the Federal Reserve. They can create trillions of dollars to bail out their friends, and we don’t even have any transparency of this. They’re more powerful than the Congress.”

#18 The Federal Reserve is dominated by Wall Street and the New York banks.

The New York representative is the only permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee, while other regional banks rotate in 2 and 3 year intervals. The former head of the New York Fed, Timothy Geithner, is now U.S. Treasury Secretary. The truth is that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has always been the most important of the regional Fed banks by far, and in turn the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has always been dominated by Wall Street and the major New York banks.

The cold, hard reality of the matter is that the Federal Reserve is just another one of the tools that the Wall Street banking elite use to dominate all the rest of us.

#19 The Federal Reserve has brought us to the brink of economic collapse.

If the Federal Reserve had never been created, the American people would not be so enslaved to debt. At the very core of our economic problems is debt. American consumers are swamped with debt, state and local governments are facing horrific debt problems from coast to coast and the federal government has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world.

We are living in an absolutely massive debt bubble, and when it bursts the world is going to experience financial chaos like it has never seen before.

Things did not have to turn out this way. We did not have to adopt a debt-based financial system. We did not have to allow the bankers to enslave us with debt.

But that is what happened.

Sadly, most Americans and the vast majority of our politicians are still clueless about these issues.

In 1922, Henry Ford wrote the following….

“The people must be helped to think naturally about money. They must be told what it is, and what makes it money, and what are the possible tricks of the present system which put nations and peoples under control of the few.”

Hopefully this article will help people understand our debt-based financial system a little bit better.

Until we fundamentally change our system, many of the economic and financial problems we are currently experiencing will never go away.

Thankfully, it does appear that some Americans are waking up.

According to a recent Bloomberg National Poll, the number of Americans that would like to see the Federal Reserve held more accountable or even completely abolished is increasing….

Asked if the central bank should be more accountable to Congress, left independent or abolished entirely, 39 percent said it should be held more accountable and 16 percent that it should be abolished. Only 37 percent favor the status quo.

Those are very exciting numbers.

Hopefully we can awaken many more Americans to the dangers of a debt-based economy.

In the book of Proverbs, it tells us the following….

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Well, by allowing ourselves to become enslaved to debt, we have become the servants of the international banking system.

Not only that, we have also sold our children and our grandchildren into perpetual debt slavery.

Thomas Jefferson tried to warn us about this.

He believed that when the government borrows money in one generation which must be paid back by future generations it is equivalent to stealing….

And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

In fact, Thomas Jefferson said that if he could add one more amendment to the U.S. Constitution it would be a ban on all government borrowing….

I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing.

Where would we be today if we had listened to Thomas Jefferson?

The amount of government debt that we have racked up is a great evil. We have stolen the future away from our children and our grandchildren. We have put them in a position where they will spend the rest of their lives paying off our debts to the bankers.

We owe it to future generations to fix the problems that we have created.

That is why so many of us believe that it is time for the U.S. Congress to shut down the Federal Reserve. Our current financial system is a complete and utter failure and we need to start over.'

Consumer Spending and the Debt Problem Econophile '… The real story of this chart is the high level of debt. If we just focus on the last three years, we get a skewed sense of the data. But since the 2001 recession, consumers added $800 billion in consumer debt (i.e., doesn't include mortgage debt), about a 44% increase in seven years. Total household debt (consumer and mortgage debt) grew from $7,659 trillion, or 75% of GDP ($10,205.6) in 2001 to $13,803 trillion, or 95% of GDP ($14,061.8) in 2007. (All numbers come from latest NIPA tables.)

This is a problem. Consumers will continue to shed debt, not just by walking away from mortgages on underwater homes, but by paying down their consumer debt. As David Stockman pointed out in his article today, 78 million Boomers are headed toward retirement and it is unlikely that they will take on more debt. Stockman raises the obvious question: where has the post-crash increase in spending been coming from? His answer: government transfer payments of about $500 million. I would add to that spending from upper tier of income earners, the ones who are driving "luxury" goods sales as noted in the sales reports, plus the draw down in savings by average consumers. Regardless, we know how the $500 million was paid for: federal deficit spending and consequent borrowing.

If the near and distant future is fiscal sanity by Boomers, then where is consumer spending coming from? Will it be from the younger generations who continue to pile up student loans? It depends, but not likely in the near term and they struggle with debt. How long can we assume that the government will continue to fund deficit spending at the expense of future generations? My guess is: not long. We are heading toward fiscal crisis unless the Republicans can tame federal spending. And unless savings continue to grow and household debt service is substantially reduced, we have a problem with long-term economic growth in America.'

Home Prices Continue to Decline; How Low Can They Go? Suttmeier 'The S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index shows continued declines in home values. Keep an eye on Dow Transports and Dow Industrials as additional strength puts the focus on another Dow Theory Buy Signal. Stocks remain overvalued according to ValuEngine so stock strength is not supported by fundamentals.

The S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index -- I focus on the 20-city composite which declined 3.1% year over year to just 1.1% above the April 2009 low. From the mid-2006 high this index declined 31.8%. The index began in the year 2000 at 100 and now reads 140.86. My prediction since the end of the home buyer tax credits is that home prices as measured by the S&P Case Shiller Home Price Index will decline back to 100 to clear out the existing home inventory and inventory still to come from additional foreclosures, short sales, and sales of Other Real Estate Owned (OREO) by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the FDIC-insured financial institutions. This would be a decline of 29% from current home values. On the FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile for the fourth quarter of 2010, OREO totals $52.8 billion.

[chart]

Tracking Dow Theory -- The Dow Transports is within striking distance of a potential close above its February 17 closing high at 5298.10. If that happens and is followed by the Dow Industrial Average closing above its February 18 closing high at 12,391.25, we will have a Dow Theory Buy Signal. The Dow Industrials and Dow Transports are only 0.9% below their February 18 and February 17 highs with the other major averages further below their February highs; S&P 500 by 1.8%, NASDAQ by 2.9%, NASDAQ 100 3.3%, Russell 2000 by 1.0% and the SOX by 7.0%.

The Trading Range Scenario -- It appears that the Dow Industrial Average, which did not turn negative on its weekly chart, will stay in a trading range between its March 16 low at 11,555.48 and its February 18 high at 12,391.29. Strength can stretch to this week’s risky level at 12,488, which would still be a high below 12,600. Given weakness a close below the five-week modified moving average at 12,038 this week and rising shifts the weekly chart profile to negative, which would target my annual risky level at 11,491. New monthly and quarterly levels will be available Friday.

Stocks Remain Overvalued Fundamentally -- We are not operating under a ValuEngine Valuation Warning, but 60.8% of all stocks are overvalued. In addition all 16 sectors are overvalued with five by double-digit percentages.

10-Year Note -- (3.493) The short-term rise in yields moved above its 50-day simple moving average at 3.463. This yield was as low as 3.139 on March 16. Rising yields is a drag on equity valuations. The weekly chart shows an important support at the 200-week simple moving average at 3.554. Today’s value level is 3.548.

[chart]

Comex Gold -- ($1417.7) Gold has been fading since reaching its new all time high at $1448.6 on March 24. The 50-day simple moving average is $1387.0 with daily, semiannual and weekly risky levels at $1444.2, $1452.6 and $1469.8.

[chart]

Nymex Crude Oil -- ($104.78) The daily chart shows a potential double-top just shy of my semiannual risky level at $107.14. My annual pivots are $101.92 and $99.91. My weekly pivot is $105.31. Today’s risky level is $106.99. A close below $99.91 signals a double-top for crude oil.

[chart]

The Euro -- (1.4105) The weekly chart shows the euro overbought versus the dollar with the 200-week simple moving average as support at 1.3967. The 50-day is 1.3798 with a weekly pivot at 1.4119 and the November 4th high as resistance at 1.4281. Today’s risky level is 1.4257.

[chart]

Daily Dow -- (12,279) My annual value level lags at 11,491 with the February 18 closing high at 12,391.25 and daily and weekly risky levels at 12,480 and 12,488. Given a Dow Theory Buy Signal and a new high for the laggard SOX, the upside is to my annual risky level at 13,890. Without a Dow Theory Buy and given a weekly close below 11,491 the downside is to semiannual value levels at 10,959 and 9,449. The Dow is the only major average to hit a new high since its March 16 low at 11,555.48. After all the positive hype in March the Dow is up only 53 points month to date.

[chart]

Key Levels for the Other Major Equity Averages

· The S&P 500 (1319.4) My annual value level is 1210.7 with the 50-day simple moving average at 1306.58 and daily and weekly risky levels at 1335.5 and 1353.7. The S&P 500 needs to close Thursday above 1327.2 to achieve a positive March.

· The NASDAQ (2757) The 50-day simple moving average is 2743 with daily and weekly risky levels at 2795 and 2830. The NASDAQ needs to close Thursday above 2782 to achieve a positive March.

· The NASDAQ 100 (NDX) (2326) The 50-day simple moving average is 2318 with daily and weekly risky levels at 2351 and 2389. The NDX needs to close Thursday above 2351 to achieve a positive March.

· Dow Transports (5261) My annual pivot is 5179 with weekly and daily risky levels at 5295 and 5324, and the February 17 closing high at 5298.10. The Dow Transportation Average is the first major average to become overbought since its March 15 low at 4906.63.

· The Russell 2000 (829.49) My annual value level is 784.16 with daily and weekly risky levels at 847.65 and 857.75. The Russell 2000 is positive for March above 823.45.

· The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) (441.04) I show no nearby value levels with the five-week modified moving average at 439.10 and the 50-day simple moving average at 445.66, and daily and weekly risky levels at 446.10 and 459.29. Semiconductors need to provide leadership, but are lagging. The SOX needs to close Thursday above 458.62 to achieve a positive March.'

OPEC Could Reap $1 Trillion This Year National Journal | OPEC is set to make a record-breaking $1 trillion in export revenues this year.

Fragile Budget Talks Resume as Parties Trade ‘Extreme’ Label Fox | Fragile budget negotiations have resumed on Capitol Hill.

Treasuries Decline After Bullard Says Fed Should Review QE2 Bloomberg | Treasuries fell, pushing 10-year yields to the highest in more than two weeks.

On NBC, the missing story about parent company General Electric It’s the kind of accountability journalism that makes readers raise an eyebrow, if it doesn’t raise their blood pressure first. General Electric Co., reported the New York Times last week, earned $14.2 billion in worldwide profits last year, including $5.1 billion in the United States — and paid exactly zero dollars in federal taxes.

Ron Paul & Rand Paul Voice Concerns Over Government Spending Congressman Ron Paul joins Neil Cavuto to discuss the potential of a government shutdown, his concern for spending, the implications of the current political climate, the consequences of fiscal irresponsibility and hope for reform, and the pending threat of price inflation. Senator Rand Paul joins Neil Cavuto to discuss the current virtual stalemate in Wisconsin, the financial reality of tax-payer dependent unions, and piecemeal attempts at trimming the fat in Washington.

Broke And Getting Broker: 22 Jaw Dropping Statistics About The Financial Condition Of American Families Most American families are really struggling in this economy and they see most of the families around them really struggling, but they don’t have any hard numbers to back up the feelings of economic despair that they are experiencing.

The American Dream March 30, 2011 'Most American families are really struggling in this economy and they see most of the families around them really struggling, but they don’t have any hard numbers to back up the feelings of economic despair that they are experiencing. Well, below you will find 22 statistics that prove that American families are broke and getting broker. Today, the financial condition of most middle class families is rapidly deteriorating. The number of good jobs is declining, incomes are down, debt loads are up and bankruptcies and foreclosures just continue to increase. If you step back and really examine the statistics, it becomes really hard to deny that American families are getting poorer. Well, the wealthiest 5 percent are still thriving, but everyone else is really having a tough time. The truth is that a large percentage of the U.S. middle class is slowly but surely going broke. Unfortunately, this is being caused by long-term economic trends that simply are not going to be fixed overnight.

Most Americans had just assumed that the United States would always have a dominant, prosperous economy. But in the world we live in today there are no guarantees.

The era when almost anyone could find a good job is over. Millions of good jobs have already left the United States, and vast numbers of legal and illegal workers have been shipped in to the country to compete for the jobs that are still here.

There are millions of Americans that would give just about anything for a good job right about now. But the good jobs are very few and far between at this point.

Every day there is more depressing news. For example, a recent job fair in Massachusetts was shut down because of a lack of jobs.

In fact, with jobs so scarce these days, more Americans than ever are willing to work for free.

This is not just a “recession” or an “economic downturn”. The U.S. economy is fundamentally changing for the worse. Millions of American families are already experiencing economic despair and millions more will be experiencing it very soon.

The following are 22 jaw dropping statistics about the financial condition of American families….

#1 In 2010, one out of every eight American families had at least one family member that was unemployed. In fact, the figure for 2010 was the highest it has been since the U.S. Labor Department began keeping track of this statistic back in 1994.

#2 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 8 million Americansare working part-time jobs because they can’t get full-time jobs.

#3 There are now more than 6 million Americans that the government sayshave given up looking for work completely.

#4 After accounting for inflation, the average income for an American family has fallen 5 percent since the year 2000.

#5 According to the New York Times, as of 2009 the wealthiest 5 percent of all Americans had 63.5 percent of all the wealth in America. Meanwhile, the bottom 80 percent had just 12.8 percent of all the wealth.

#6 During this most recent economic downturn, employee compensation in the United States has been the lowest that it has been relative to gross domestic product in over 50 years.

#7 According to the Federal Reserve, between 2007 and 2009 median household net worth in the United States fell by 23 percent.

#8 The Federal Reserve also says that median household debt in the United States has risen to $75,600.

#9 Total U.S. credit card debt is more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.

#10 Today, 46% of all Americans carry a credit card balance from month to month.

#11 Of U.S. households that have credit card debt, the average amount owed on credit cards is $15,788.

#12 Americans now owe more than $887 billion on student loans, which is even more than they owe on credit cards.

#13 A staggering 25 percent of all American adults now have a credit score below 599.

#14 When you adjust wages for inflation, middle class workers in the United States make less money today than they did back in 1971.

#15 American workers that are unemployed are nearly twice as likely to have been told by a doctor or a nurse that they suffer from depression.

#16 In 2010, for the first time ever more than a million U.S. families lost their homes to foreclosure, and that number is expected to go even higher in 2011.

#17 According to RealtyTrac, one out of every 45 U.S. households was hit with a foreclosure filing in 2010.

#18 U.S. home values have fallen an astounding 6.3 trillion dollars since the peak of the real estate market. Most of that pain has been felt by ordinary American families.

#19 Approximately half of all American workers make $25,000 a year or less.

#20 According to a survey released very close to the end of 2010, 55 percentof all Americans are now living paycheck to paycheck.

#21 1.5 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2010. That represented the fourth yearly increase in bankruptcy filings in a row.

#22 As 2007 began, only about 26 million Americans were on food stamps, but today over 44 million Americans are on food stamps which is an all-time record high.'

National / World

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | There is plenty of evidence al-Qaeda works for the Pentagon and the CIA.

Former Libyan Al Qaeda Leader Says There Are 1000 jihadists Amongst Rebels Steve Watson | US, UK still want to supply them with weapons.

Fukushima Nuke Plant Now in Full Meltdown Kurt Nimmo | Smoke was reported at a second nuclear power plant in Japan today.

Constitutional Problems with the Libyan War Ron Paul | The costs of this terrible mistake cannot be ignored.

Obama Raises American Hypocrisy To A Higher Level Paul Craig Roberts | Gadhafi is being demonized while Bush/Cheney/Obama are sitting on their high horse draped in cloaks of morality.

Syrian President Blames ‘Conspirators’ for Unrest WSJ | Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad blamed foreign enemies for plotting unrest in Syria.

Japan Considers Entombing Nuclear Plant as Workers Fight to Stop Radiation Bloomberg | Japan will consider entombing its crippled atomic plant in concrete.

Reactors now leaking plutonium into soil New York Post | “The situation is very grave,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said today.

London set to limit right to protest Press TV | Plans to ban protesters from taking part in public gatherings.

Reuters: Obama Signs Secret Order Authorizing Covert CIA Support For Libyan Rebels Obama has signed secret order authorizing covert US govt support for rebel forces in Libya, officials tell Reuters.

Former Libyan Al Qaeda Leader Says There Are 1000 jihadists Amongst Rebels A former leader of an al Qaeda linked group in Libya claims that there are around 1000 fundamentalist Islamic fighters in the country that have joined the uprising against Col. Moammar Gaddafi’s forces, a number that jives with intelligence reports and independent estimates. Yet still the allied NATO forces are considering arming the rebels.

Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low President Barack Obama’s approval rating and prospects for reelection have plunged to all-time lows in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

Americans worried about Libya conflict: poll A new poll published on Wednesday found nearly half of Americans were opposed to US military involvement in Libya, reflecting tricky political ground being navigated by President Barack Obama.

Qaeda: Arab revolts herald “great leap forward” Al Qaeda’s most influential English-language preacher said revolts sweeping the Arab world would help rather than harm its cause by giving Islamists freed from tyranny greater scope to speak out.

A New Chernobyl: Fukushima Nuke Plant Now in Full Meltdown Reactor number two at the Fukushima Daiichi has gone into full meltdown, although this is not being reported by the corporate media. The core has melted through the floor of the containment building and is now releasing large amounts of radiation.

CIA Operative Appointed to Run al-Qaeda Connected Libyan Rebels On Saturday, McClatchy reported that Khalifa Hifter, a former Gaddafi military officer, was appointed to lead the rebel army supported by the United Nations, the United States and the Globalist Coalition.

Obama Raises American Hypocrisy To A Higher Level What does the world think? Obama has been using air strikes and drones against civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and probably Somalia.

Government Responds to Nuclear Accident by Trying to Raise Acceptable Radiation Levels and Pretending that Radiation is Good For Us So now that Japan is suffering the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl – if not of all time – is the government riding to the rescue to help fix the problem, or at least to provide accurate information to its citizens so they can make informed decisions?

Drudgereport: Obama 2002: Toppling a Brutal Dictator Is 'A Dumb War'...
OBAMA POLL HITS NEW LOW...
EPA Says Radiation Found in U.S. Milk...
Inflation worries push consumer confidence lower...
Home prices STILL falling in cities...
13% of all U.S. homes are vacant...
REBELS ON THE RUN
OBAMA DEFENDS...
'World Conscience'...
New Committee to Set Libya's 'Political Direction'...
U.S. says rebels may sell oil?
Brits fear becoming another Iraq...
Gadhafi tells West to halt 'barbaric genocide'...
Camp Lejeune Marines sent to Libya...
Clinton, Hague meet senior 'rebel' figure...
Intelligence shows 'flickers' of al Qaeda...
MAG: NEW 'KILL TEAM' PHOTOS RELEASED...
REPORT: U.S. soldiers hacked off part of dead man's skull?
HORROR: Cut off 15-year-old boy's finger and kept as trophy...[We all knew the u.s. Military was recruiting / is now composed of felons, war criminals, etc.; but clearly, these are the blatant signs of serial killers – then that 360 tons of $100 bills still missing in Iraq, etc., serial thieves, particularly at the top down.)...
VIDEO: Two on motorcycle gunned down...***WARNING: GRAPHIC***
PHOTOS...
500,000 MARCH IN LONDON TO PROTEST BUDGET CUTS...
Turns violent; Anarchists blitz the Ritz...
ANARCHY IN THE UK
NOT DAYS, NOT WEEKS -- LIBYA OP TO LAST MONTHS...
NATO likely to expand mission...
Energized Muslim Brotherhood eyes a prize...
Unrest in Syria, Jordan Poses New Test...
Clinton: U.S. won't intervene...
REPORTER CONFINED IN CLOSET DURING BIDEN'S FLA FUNDRAISER...
'Extremely inappropriate'...
OBAMA DEFENDS...
'America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security'... NOT IN OVAL OFFICE...
NETS BALKED AT PRIMETIME ADDRESS...
HILLARY OFF TO LONDON TOWN...
WAR COST: $600 MILLION, IN 6 DAYS...
Radiation levels at nuclear plant reach new highs...
100,000X NORMAL...
Radioactive Water Extends One Mile Into Ocean...
Trace Amounts Found in Florida...
At the gates of stricken Fukushima nuke plant...
Radiation levels highest since crisis began...
'Bad Readings' Plague Effort...
Concern grows over sea contamination...
Tokyo blackouts to resume Monday...
Radioactivity detected in China...
And Nevada... And SC, Fla... And Mass...
Gaps in US radiation monitoring system revealed...
Four of EPA's 11 Sensors in CA Were Down...
Obama says he didn't know of fed op smuggling guns into Mexico...
SOROS GROUP PLOTS 'GUERILLA WAR', 'SABOTAGE' ON FOXNEWS...
AL QAEDA FIGHTERS JOIN LIBYAN REBELS...
'Al Qaeda snatched missiles'...
Boehner: Obama needs to 'provide clarity' on military objective...
U.S. officials assisted visit by Gadhafi son just before uprising...
Despite airstrikes, Tripoli residents live in terror...
British Minister Warns of Another Lockerbie...
'Black Swan' double claims Portman did only 5% of dance shots...'The ballerina who served as a dancing double for Natalie Portman’s Oscar-winnning role in Black Swan tells EW she has been the victim of a “cover-up” to mislead the public about how much dancing Portman actually did in the film. “Of the full body shots, I would say 5 percent are Natalie,” says Sarah Lane, 27, an American Ballet Theatre soloist who performed many of the film’s complicated dance sequences, allowing Portman’s face to be digitally grafted onto her body. “All the other shots are me.”

Lane’s claim follows a March 23 L.A. Times article in which Portman’s fiancé and Black Swan choreographer Benjamin Millepied said Lane’s work in the film was far less significant. “There are articles now talking about her dance double [American Ballet Theatre dancer Sarah Lane] that are making it sound like [Lane] did a lot of the work, but really, she just did the footwork, and the fouettés, and one diagonal [phrase] in the studio,” he said. “Honestly, 85 percent of that movie is Natalie.”

Lane disagrees. “The shots that are just her face with arms, those shots are definitely Natalie,” she says. “But that doesn’t show the actual dancing.” Lane admits that she was never promised a particular title for her six weeks of work on the film, though she was disappointed to see that she is credited only as as “Hand Model,” “Stunt Double,” and “Lady in the Lane” (a brief walk-on role).

Lane also says that Black Swan producer Ari Handel specifically told her not to talk about her work to the press, even though she claims there was no such stipulation in her contract. “They wanted to create this idea in people’s minds that Natalie was some kind of prodigy or so gifted in dance and really worked so hard to make herself a ballerina in a year and a half for the movie, basically because of the Oscar,” says Lane. “It is demeaning to the profession and not just to me. I’ve been doing this for 22 years…. Can you become a concert pianist in a year and a half, even if you’re a movie star?”...'

House GOP leaders turn to Dems for deal(Washington Post) [ Of Dees, Dems, Does, and Gops … Sounds like a plan … Not! … The people are still hoping, praying … will their dream come true? … Government shutdown looms-Paul Kane (Washington Post) [ Shutdown? ... One can only hope, and pray ... after all, they can't muck up what they're not in session to f*** up ... Government shutdown looms Paul Kane (Washington Post) ]Unable to find consensus within their own ranks, House Republican leaders have begun courting moderate Democrats on a budget deal to avoid a government shutdown next week.

On NBC, the missing story about GE (Washington Post) [ Ya think! … Seriously though, this is as important a story as can be since these scenarios have been a significant problem for the pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt u.s. for quite some time. After all, there are no Washington Posts in the Northeast to cover their denizens quite like the Washington Post fearlessly covers theirs (ie., that not too long ago story of the ubiquity of top level clearances, 'cia ops / covers' (real estate / businesses), in the Washington metropolitan area, literally putting their lives on the line so to speak. In the northeast, sinkholes new york (they even did a book 'The Wall Street Gang' and movies, ie., 'Gangs of New York', fact-based 'Goodfellas', etc.) / mob infested jersey (I've not been to chicago, but count them in here) particularly, it's what is not said that invariably stands out to the substantial detriment of the rest of the nation. The day in, day out continued churn and earn wall street fraud at a total cost yet to be fully realized by the rest of the nation to support those lavish / overly high-cost lifestyles will not make for front-page reading in the wall street journal, new york times, etc., nor the lead story if at all on the 6 / 11 o'clock news. Therein lies the rub, and the need for alternate media sources so castigated and belittled by the main-stream news media, particularly in those regions which have a lot to hide (and not talk about). Sadly, the internet is increasingly targeted toward the end of silencing those who brave to tell the truth. One might hope that The Washington Post might enter the televised news sphere with waivers based on national need.] “NBC Nightly News” didn’t report on the fact that its parent company paid no federal taxes last year.

Drop in home prices raises fear of double dip (Washington Post) [ Fear of double dip? We're in a continuing dip that never really ended with obfuscations of reality including more insurmountable debt and fed-based manipulations (Dave explains infra) Case-Shiller Chairman: Here’s Why the Housing Market Recession is Not Over Wall St Cheat Sheet 'Welcome to 2003! The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index 10-City Composite was down 2% and the 20-City Composite fell 3.1% in January on a year-over-year basis. On a monthly basis, the 10-City Composite was down 0.9% and the 20-City Composite fell 1.0% in January versus December 2010.

San Diego and Washington D.C. were the only two markets to record positive year-over-year changes. However, San Diego was up a scant 0.1%, while Washington DC posted a healthier +3.6% annual growth rate. The same 11 cities that had posted recent index level lows in December 2010, posted new lows in January.

David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s commented:

These data confirm what we have seen with recent housing starts and sales reports. The housing market recession is not yet over, and none of the statistics are indicating any form of sustained recovery . At most, we have seen all statistics bounce along their troughs; at worst, the feared double-dip recession may be materializing. ..., but both series have moved closer to a confirmed double-dip for six consecutive months. At this point we are not too far off, and that is what many analysts are seeing with sales, starts and inventory data too...' M&A, Ben Resuscitate Bulls: Dave's Daily 'If you can keep interest rates this low this long, its inevitable cheap financing can allow companies to start cobbling each other up. Further Ben's policies allow companies like IBM to sell bonds at 1% and buy back shares with the proceeds (total paper bubble-scam). POMO is occurring almost daily and Primary Dealers can buy back their shares and pay dividends with what essentially is taxpayer money--nifty trick eh? With all the geopolitical and nuclear events going on little noticed was Fed "stress tests" of financial institutions to see if they were healthy enough to buy back shares and pay dividends. Making the matter sinister and less transparent is their gag order on the entire process. The Fed also has some toxic waste they'd like to sell you… (see infra)’ ]

Rebels in ‘tactical’ retreat as leaders meet (Washington Post) [ Tactical … riiiiight! … Well, that sounds like a plan … right out of the manuals on trench warfare from WWI … works every time … you know, those manual tactics … meanwhile, back at the other american induced wartime disasters ...

Iraqi insurgents kill dozens in Tikrit

Taliban seizes eastern Afghan district

Drudgereport: Inflation worries push consumer confidence lower...
Home prices STILL falling in cities...
13% of all U.S. homes are vacant...
REBELS ON THE RUN
OBAMA DEFENDS...
'World Conscience'...
New Committee to Set Libya's 'Political Direction'...
U.S. says rebels may sell oil?
Brits fear becoming another Iraq...
Gadhafi tells West to halt 'barbaric genocide'...
Camp Lejeune Marines sent to Libya...
Clinton, Hague meet senior 'rebel' figure...
Intelligence shows 'flickers' of al Qaeda...
MAG: NEW 'KILL TEAM' PHOTOS RELEASED...
REPORT: U.S. soldiers hacked off part of dead man's skull?
HORROR: Cut off 15-year-old boy's finger and kept as trophy...[We all knew the u.s. Military was recruiting / is now composed of felons, war criminals, etc.; but clearly, these are the blatant signs of serial killers – then that 360 tons of $100 bills still missing in Iraq, etc., serial thieves, particularly at the top down.)...
VIDEO: Two on motorcycle gunned down...WARNING: GRAPHIC
PHOTOS...
500,000 MARCH IN LONDON TO PROTEST BUDGET CUTS...
Turns violent; Anarchists blitz the Ritz...
ANARCHY IN THE UK
NOT DAYS, NOT WEEKS -- LIBYA OP TO LAST MONTHS...
NATO likely to expand mission...
Energized Muslim Brotherhood eyes a prize...
Unrest in Syria, Jordan Poses New Test...
Clinton: U.S. won't intervene...
REPORTER CONFINED IN CLOSET DURING BIDEN'S FLA FUNDRAISER...
'Extremely inappropriate'...
OBAMA DEFENDS...]

Libyan rebels flee under fire from a key town in eastern Libya as world leaders convening in London insisted that Col. Moammar Gaddafi step down but offered no new suggestions for how to dislodge him from power.

Chemist charged with insider trading (Washington Post) [ This remains incredulous to me. Everyone but the big boys / frauds!Not just corruption, but bad time /resource management.The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed (this would also help significantly the hapless, hopeless budget scenario).

Go to following pages for above links:
http://www.albertpeia.com/currentopics2ndqtr10108.htm
http://www.albertpeia.com
http://www.albertpeia.com/alresume.htm

http://www.albertpeia.com/wallstreetlunacy2ndqtr10108.htm

http://www.scribd.com/alpeia

You may post a comment on my blog on any topic: http://alpeiablog.blogspot.com

Friday, April 1, 2011

March 31, 2011 posts

Business / Economic / Financial

War blurs humanitarian focus in Libya (Washington Post) [ Wow! Call me naïve, but it's getting difficult … blurs? … as in fact from fiction … truth versus falsity … propaganda as opposed to reality … and then there's the no small task of keeping up with gates' positions.

Obama Sends Murder Incorporated to Libya Nimmo | The CIA specializes in overthrowing governments and orchestrating mass murder.

Secret Illegal War Of Aggression Has Been Raging In Libya For Weeks Watson | UN Resolution or no UN resolution, US and British spies have been coordinating war for oil for some time.

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | [UPDATED].

Tarpley on Libya Rebels: A CIA Secret Army of al-Qaeda Terrorists RT | Libyan Rebels in Full, Chaotic Retreat New Yorker |

Obama On Energy Sec Chu: “He Actually Deserved His Nobel Prize” Obama jokes about the fact that deep down he is a warmonger

The Fed Releases Thousands Of Secret Bailout Docs In The Least Transparent Way Possible The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the names of banks that borrowed from its main emergency lending facility during the financial crisis after having run out of legal appeals to block publication.

Portugal discloses new and larger budget deficits for last year, and Ireland says its banks need tens of billions of dollars in additional capital. The fresh round of bad news is likely to further shake confidence in Europe’s ability to resolve its lingering financial problems anytime soon.

Jeff Immelt faces major PR crises (Washington Post) [ Well, here's my experience in this suburb to new york, GE's home-state of connecticut which they dominate: RICO VERIFIED COMPLAINT (see infra). Such includes and as set forth in the case, inter alia,

Or Here For A Clearer View Of Filed Grievance Complaint, Response, Exhibits, and Related RICO Filings

This is what a depression is all about — an economy that 33 months after a recession begins, with zero policy rates, a stuffed central bank sheet, and a 10% deficit-to-GDP ratio, is still in need of government help for its sustenance.

The Fed Releases Thousands Of Secret Bailout Docs In The Least Transparent Way Possible The Federal Reserve on Thursday released the names of banks that borrowed from its main emergency lending facility during the financial crisis after having run out of legal appeals to block publication.

A List Of 28 Things That Will Make You Realise That There Is Something Seriously Wrong With This Country What in the world is happening to America? Perhaps you have asked yourself that question from time to time. Today it seems like everything is falling apart.

Obama Sends Murder Incorporated to Libya Kurt Nimmo | The CIA specializes in overthrowing governments and orchestrating mass murder.

Secret Illegal War Of Aggression Has Been Raging In Libya For Weeks Steve Watson | UN Resolution or no UN resolution, US and British spies have been coordinating war for oil for some time.

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | Alex Jones addresses the multitude of evidence that al-Qaeda works for the Pentagon and the CIA [UPDATED].

Tarpley on Libya Rebels: A CIA Secret Army of al-Qaeda Terrorists RT | Rebel held territory in Libya the world capitol for jihadi terrorism.

Fukushima Radiation Double Chernobyl Outside Evacuation Zone Kurt Nimmo | Farming may become impossible near the crippled nuclear plant.

NATO rules out arming Libyan rebels THE NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said today the alliance was opposed to arming the Libyan rebels fighting against Muammar Gaddafi.

Obama in Libya for long haul Writer and radio host Stephen Landman says the US is committed for the long haul and that American, British and French forces have actually been supporting the rebel forces for some time.

Rangel: Obama Did Not Have Constitutional Authority to Act Unilaterally in Libya Without Congress’ Approval Rangel says he would “like to believe” that members of Congress are looking into whether or not the President’s actions are an impeachable offense.

Obama On Energy Sec Chu: “He Actually Deserved His Nobel Prize” Obama jokes about the fact that deep down he is a warmonger that was ridiculously awarded a Nobel peace prize.

Modern America too close to 1933 Germany? Are corporate interests and big business taking over the US political system to a degree where it is inevitable democracy will become obsolete and ruin the entire system of American government?

America’s Planned Nuclear Attack on Libya A war on Libya has been on the drawing board of the Pentagon for more than 20 years.

Smoke Rises from DIFFERENT Nuclear Complex … 7 Miles from the Leaking Reactors The same nuclear power plant operator that runs the Daiichi complex – Tepco – runs a separate nuclear complex 7 miles away, called Fukushima Daini. There are 4 reactors located at the Daini complex.

Reactors now leaking plutonium into soil New York Post | “The situation is very grave,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said today. ]Workers continue to endure soaring radiation levels as they work to stave off a full-scale meltdown.

Reactors now leaking plutonium into soil New York Post | “The situation is very grave,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said today. ]Workers continue to endure soaring radiation levels as they work to stave off a full-scale meltdown.

In Washington, what’s not said can be a powerful (Washington Post) [ One can only hope that what's not said is not what's not smart ...

CRIME STATISTICS > TOTAL CRIMES (MOST RECENT) BY COUNTRY (america’s No. 1).

Al-Qaeda 100% Pentagon Run Infowars.com | There is plenty of evidence al-Qaeda works for the Pentagon and the CIA.

Former Libyan Al Qaeda Leader Says There Are 1000 jihadists Amongst Rebels Steve Watson | US, UK still want to supply them with weapons.

Fukushima Nuke Plant Now in Full Meltdown Kurt Nimmo | Smoke was reported at a second nuclear power plant in Japan today.

Constitutional Problems with the Libyan War Ron Paul | The costs of this terrible mistake cannot be ignored.

Obama Raises American Hypocrisy To A Higher Level Paul Craig Roberts | Gadhafi is being demonized while Bush/Cheney/Obama are sitting on their high horse draped in cloaks of morality.

Reuters: Obama Signs Secret Order Authorizing Covert CIA Support For Libyan Rebels Obama has signed secret order authorizing covert US govt support for rebel forces in Libya, officials tell Reuters.

Poll: Obama’s approval hits new low President Barack Obama’s approval rating and prospects for reelection have plunged to all-time lows in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.

Americans worried about Libya conflict: poll A new poll published on Wednesday found nearly half of Americans were opposed to US military involvement in Libya, reflecting tricky political ground being navigated by President Barack Obama.

Qaeda: Arab revolts herald “great leap forward” Al Qaeda’s most influential English-language preacher said revolts sweeping the Arab world would help rather than harm its cause by giving Islamists freed from tyranny greater scope to speak out.

CIA Operative Appointed to Run al-Qaeda Connected Libyan Rebels On Saturday, McClatchy reported that Khalifa Hifter, a former Gaddafi military officer, was appointed to lead the rebel army supported by the United Nations, the United States and the Globalist Coalition.

Obama Raises American Hypocrisy To A Higher Level What does the world think? Obama has been using air strikes and drones against civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and probably Somalia.

Libyan rebels flee under fire from a key town in eastern Libya as world leaders convening in London insisted that Col. Moammar Gaddafi step down but offered no new suggestions for how to dislodge him from power.

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