May 12, 2011

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 ]

Preet Bharara, ‘sheriff of Wall Street’ The U.S. attorney in Manhattan has ramped up white collar enforcement in his 21-month-old tenure. (Washington Post) [ I still say: ‘Where’s the beef … you know, the big boys, ie., goldman et als … Raj Rajaratnam Found Guilty On All Counts [ I share the following sentiments from Wall St Cheat Sheet: ‘…2) Insiders are finally getting busted. Although the media loves the Raj Rajaratnam trial and his guilty on all 14 counts, who really gives a s*** compared with what large banks, investment banks, and mortgage companies did to the US economy. So long as the Dick Fulds of the world are sipping champagne in Capri, Italy, these insider trading cases are basically sideshows…’ ] SEC urged to ease fundraising rules (Washington Post) [ REDUNDANT! I mean come on! Any more ‘easing’ and we’d be in negative territory where they actually reward you for breaking the rules which is currently the reality in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt, meaningfully lawless america. Roche 'The worst part of it ...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 ). 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 WP | Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown.

‘THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

People must realize that though having but 5% of the world’s population, america can boast 76% of the world’s serial killers and the highest crime rates in the world by far. 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 ).

U.S. to raise fuel efficiency standards Over the next few months, regulators are scheduled to set the next round of fuel standards for automakers. Among the proposals under consideration is one that would lift average fuel economy under the law to as much as 62 mpg by 2025. (Washington Post) [ Well, there you go … problem solved … and the auto cos can really afford the retooling costs … I can’t remember how many times I heard reference to such legislative mandates … have they been in effect … have they changed … have they worked? Look at How Producer Prices Continue Getting More Expensive Wall St. Cheat Sheet [This spells big trouble affecting corporate earnings (some costs can’t be passed on without decreasing sales) and disposable income / consumer spending. ] Weekly Unemployment Claims Still Above This Scary Level WSCS Short ‘The Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report was released this morning for last week. Claims fell 44,000 from a 4,000 upward revision of the previous week, which takes the number back to approximately the level prior to last week’s blip. Here is the official statement from the Department of Labor:In the week ending May 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 434,000, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 478,000. The 4-week moving average was 436,750, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 432,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending April 30, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.0 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 30 was 3,756,000, an increase of 5,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,751,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,718,500, an increase of 13,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,705,250.Today’s number was 11,000 above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 423,000 claims.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.

http://dshort.com/charts/weekly-unemployment-claims-charts.html?weekly-unemployment-claims

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).

http://dshort.com/charts/weekly-unemployment-claims-charts.html?weekly-unemployment-claims-NSA

a 52-week moving average gives a better sense of the long-term trends.

http://dshort.com/charts/weekly-unemployment-claims-charts.html?weekly-unemployment-claims-NSA-52-ma

Krauthammer: Obama's demagoguery in El Paso (Washington Post) [ What else can you expect from a demagogue … suddenly he’s talkin’ immigration with the election ‘round the corner, as he courts the Hispanic vote. Aren’t people on to this unctuous jive-talker yet, failed president that he is. Davis ‘… This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). There is no fixing this and even a Republican said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING FOLKS – PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! ‘ … Suckers’ rally to keep suckers suckered: Philadelphia Fed Depresses Economists Durden ‘..the Philadelphia Fed collapsed from a revised 43.4 (a 27 year high) to 18.5, the lowest since November 2010… This is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! U.S. Economy Remains on Life Support Hansen ‘

• The Fed press conference contained almost no new economic insights;
• An FOMC meeting with no policy changes or insights..

CIVIL RIGHTS PANEL TO PURSUE FED PROBE IN BLACK PANTHER CASE... ‘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 Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. ):

‘THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv ]

Meanwhile, things are not looking up for the economy, global / domestic, and the solvency issues of nations, particularly defacto bankrupt america. Mohamed A. El-Erian [ In an interview with Frank Motek, El-Erian states that the nations are facing not debt issues per se, but solvency issues (ie., america’s defacto bankrupt, etc.) and (PIMCO dumped their u.s. treasury holdings) that it will take higher interest rates to sell those debt securities. Moreover, he stated that the subject nations have only exacerbated their fiscal problems by piling more debt on debt … the following is an excerpt from El-Erian in part, from the PIMCO website: …http://www.pimco.com ]

Milbank: The medical mystery of Mitt Romney (Washington Post) [ Does anyone else think Mr. Milbank’s reference to the Chinese twin girls born with a single body and two heads was at the least in poor taste. Moreover, I would further say his reference is probably better suited as applicable to ‘wobama the b’ (for b***s***) whose actions in office have belied most every campaign pledge and rhetoric. This is not to say that Romney gets a pass; though I did previously say and still on my website is (what I write thereon is ‘forever’ as if engraved on stone) that I recommended that war criminal, coward, incompetent cheney be replaced by Romney, and then the same, whether by impeachment or ‘encouragement’ (kind of like that Nixon / Ford dynamic), for war criminal, coward, incompetent moron dumbya bush. I doubt there’s anyone other than mental cases (ie., limbaugh, hannity, o’reilly, etc.) who could seriously argue that the country wouldn’t have been better off to this day. That said, 2012 is a whole new year, and a whole new ‘ballgame’, and wide open, so to speak. Ultimately, for me, the next president will have met criterion that for me is measurable in terms of justice, in accordance with long lost (for pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america) constitutional principles. For me, it’s what I can see, touch, and measure as being right. As such, for me, the clear resolution of long standing, justice delayed, justice denied RICO litigation is that measure and criterion. . 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 ). That perverse field of dreams I’ve previously alluded to, the american nightmare, if you build / contrive war, they will come. And, they do; seals of them (among others); and when their ‘tours’ are done, it’s murder inc./contract killing for hire that they’ve won (cia, mob, etc.). The 20th century, the ‘bloodiest century’, not coincidentally referred to as the american century, brings longings of nostalgia to american criminals who, like Pavlov’s dogs salivate at the prospect of killing, raping, pillaging, and plundering which primitive mindset they have mistakenly been conditioned to connect to their now irretrievably lost success as a nation state; and to the contrary, has become globally and domestically self-destructive / self-defeating. The entire 911 / Bin Laden scenario just doesn’t pass the smell test and reeks of political desperation and Orwellian opportunism.

Reversals challenge hope of Arab Spring (Washington Post) [The power of the autocrats … as in Saudi Arabia? Oh they’re okay … they’re good bad guys … war criminal american buds. Riiiiight! Just remember … the Arabs won’t forget. And, who will they blame, as if culpability of u.s., nato, israel, england, etc.. . [Who is foolish enough to believe anything they say; particularly their scripted, ever-changing, evolving, self-serving accounts belied only by truth / reality as told by those with true courage and integrity; as, for example Jessica Lynch, etc Red Alert: Government Had Osama bin Laden Frozen for Years Nimmo / Jones [ I personally believe Osama’s been dead for quite some time. Indeed, for one on dialysis, he otherwise would have been nothing less than a modern day miracle in terms of longevity / mortality rates for those so afflicted, particularly under the ‘stressful’ circumstances involving evading capture, betrayal for money, etc.. His ‘surfacing’ for a ‘talk’ wouldn’t even pass muster in the most rudimentary requirements for ‘proof of life’. The release at this time of the ‘announcement’ is, rather than a victory lap so to speak, but rather a sign of weakness and desperation on the part of america whose global and domestic economic, financial, and geopolitical position is substantially diminished and declining rapidly and whose military industrial complex welfare plan along with the Orwellian diversion of the masses could at best yield but a pyrrhic victory. Moreover, the same comes at a time of systemic failure for pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america. While the ‘announcement’ plays well to the dumb back home, the same will galvanize resistance in the name of their now martyr, Osama Bin Laden.] [ Osama bin Laden: A dead nemesis perpetuated by the US government ...May 1, 2011 ... U.S. intelligence is that bin Laden needs dialysis every 3 days ...
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/osama_dead.php

Osama bin Laden is dead..: died in December [2001] ..buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan [Telegraph, 12/28/2001]

Musharraf: Bin Laden probably dead

[A Bush administration official] said U.S. intelligence is that bin Laden needs dialysis every three days ..." [CNN]

Karzai: bin Laden 'probably' dead .. but former Taliban leader Mullah Omar is alive [CNN]

FBI: Bin Laden 'probably' dead

The FBI’s counter-terrorism chief, Dale Watson, says he thinks Osama bin Laden is "probably" dead. [BBC]

The editor-in-chief of a London-based Arab news magazine said a purported will it published Saturday was written late last year [2001] by Osama bin Laden, and shows "he's dying or he's going to die soon." [CNN]

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication .. [FOX News] Renal dialysis is reserved for patients in end-stage renal failure. .. it's unlikely that you'd survive beyond several days or a week at the most. [CNN] ]

Weekly Unemployment Claims Still Above This Scary Level WSCS Short ‘The Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report was released this morning for last week. Claims fell 44,000 from a 4,000 upward revision of the previous week, which takes the number back to approximately the level prior to last week’s blip. Here is the official statement from the Department of Labor:In the week ending May 7, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 434,000, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 478,000. The 4-week moving average was 436,750, an increase of 4,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 432,250. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending April 30, unchanged from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 3.0 percent. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending April 30 was 3,756,000, an increase of 5,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 3,751,000. The 4-week moving average was 3,718,500, an increase of 13,250 from the preceding week’s revised average of 3,705,250.Today’s number was 11,000 above the Briefing.com consensus estimate of 423,000 claims.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.

http://dshort.com/charts/weekly-unemployment-claims-charts.html?weekly-unemployment-claims

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).

http://dshort.com/charts/weekly-unemployment-claims-charts.html?weekly-unemployment-claims-NSA

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.

http://dshort.com/charts/weekly-unemployment-claims-charts.html?weekly-unemployment-claims-NSA-52-ma

The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides an overview on seasonal adjustment here (scroll down about half way down).

Doug Short Ph.d is the author of dshort.com.’

Look at How Producer Prices Continue Getting More Expensive Wall St. Cheat Sheet [This spells big trouble affecting corporate earnings (some costs can’t be passed on without decreasing sales) and disposable income / consumer spending. ] ‘The Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.8 percent in April, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This advance followed increases of 0.7 percent in March and 1.6 percent in February.

At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by manufacturers of intermediate goods climbed 1.3 percent in April, and the crude goods index rose 4.0 percent. On an unadjusted basis, prices for finished goods moved up 6.8 percent for the 12 months ended April 2011, the largest year-over-year gain since an 8.8-percent increase in September 2008.

Stage-of-Processing Analysis

About three quarters of the April advance in the finished goods index can be traced to a 2.5 percent jump in prices for finished energy goods. Also contributing to the rise in the finished goods index, prices for both finished goods other than foods (NYSE:RJA) and energy (NYSE:XLE) and for finished consumer foods moved up 0.3 percent in April.

Finished energy: Prices for finished energy goods increased 2.5 percent in April, the seventh consecutive monthly advance. Over half of the April rise can be attributed to the gasoline index, which climbed 3.6 percent (NYSE:USO). Higher prices for liquefied petroleum gas and residential natural gas (NYSE:UNG) also were factors in the increase in the finished energy goods index. (See table 2.)

Finished core: The index for finished goods less foods and energy moved up 0.3 percent in April, the fifth straight monthly rise. Nearly one-fourth of the April monthly advance can be traced to a 1.2-percent jump in civilian aircraft prices. An increase in the index for light motor trucks also contributed significantly to the rise in finished core prices.

Finished foods: Prices for finished consumer foods rose 0.3 percent in April after falling 0.2 percent in the prior month. Leading this advance, the index for eggs for fresh use surged 56.7 percent.

Intermediate goods

The Producer Price Index for intermediate materials (NYSE:XLB), supplies, and components rose 1.3 percent in April, the ninth consecutive monthly advance. The broad-based April increase was led by prices for intermediate goods less foods and energy, which moved up 1.1 percent. The indexes for intermediate energy goods and for intermediate foods and feeds also contributed to the intermediate goods advance, rising 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively. For the 12 months ended April 2011, prices for intermediate goods climbed 9.4 percent, the largest increase since a 9.8-percent jump in October 2008. (See table B.)

Intermediate core: Prices for intermediate goods less foods and energy moved up 1.1 percent in April, the ninth consecutive monthly rise. About fifteen percent of the April gain can be attributed to the index for primary basic organic chemicals, which increased 3.2 percent. Higher prices for ethanol and steel mill products (NYSE:DBB) also contributed to the advance in intermediate core prices. (See table 2.)

Intermediate energy: The index for intermediate energy goods climbed 1.9 percent in April, the smallest advance since a 1.5-percent increase in November 2010. Prices for diesel fuel, which moved up 3.5 percent, were a significant contributor to the April rise. Higher prices for gasoline also were a factor in the increase in the intermediate energy goods index.

Intermediate foods: The intermediate foods and feeds index advanced 1.8 percent in April, the
ninth straight monthly increase. A 5.6-percent jump in prices for beef and veal accounted for a quarter of the April advance in the intermediate foods and feeds index.

Crude goods

The Producer Price Index for crude materials for further processing increased 4.0 percent in April. For the 3 months ending in April, prices for crude materials moved up 7.0 percent following an 11.4-percent jump for the 3 months ending in January. Leading the broad-based monthly advance in April, the index for crude energy materials rose 4.8 percent. Prices for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs and for crude nonfood materials less energy increased 4.0 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

Crude energy: The index for crude energy (NYSE:XLE) materials moved up 4.8 percent in April. From January to April, crude energy prices advanced 5.3 percent compared with a 17.9-percent jump in the previous 3-month period. For the month of April, the index for natural gas rose 9.4 percent, accounting for over half of the increase in prices for crude energy materials. Advances in the indexes for crude petroleum and coal also contributed to higher crude energy prices.

Crude foods: Prices for crude foodstuffs and feedstuffs (NYSE:RJA) advanced 4.0 percent in April. For the
3 months ending in April, the index for crude foods jumped 11.4 percent subsequent to moving up 5.5 percent from October to January. Accounting for about half of the monthly rise in April, the grains index increased 15.5 percent. Higher prices for slaughter steers and heifers also were a factor in the advance in the crude foods index.

Crude core: The index for crude nonfood materials less energy rose 2.6 percent in April. From January to April, crude core prices moved up 2.5 percent after a 10.1-percent advance in the previous 3-month period. For the month of April, a 4.5-percent increase in the index for copper base scrap was a factor in higher crude core prices.

Services Analysis Trade Industries

TTrade industries: The Producer Price Index for the net output of total trade industries moved up 0.1 percent in April, the third consecutive increase. Trade indexes measure changes in margins received by wholesalers and retailers (NYSE:RTH). Leading the April advance was a 5.3-percent increase in margins received by department stores (NYSE:IYR). Higher margins received by women’s clothing stores and by electronic shopping and mail order houses also contributed significantly to the rise in the total trade industries index.

Transportation and warehousing industries: The Producer Price Index for the net output of transportation and warehousing industries rose 0.3 percent in April, the seventh consecutive increase. Accounting for forty-five percent of the April advance, prices received by couriers climbed 1.4 percent. Increases in the indexes for long distance general freight trucking (truckload) and line-haul railroads also were factors in the April rise in the transportation and warehousing industries index.

Traditional service industries: The Producer Price Index for the net output of total traditional service industries moved up 0.7 percent in April after no change in the previous month. Leading this advance, prices received by the depository credit intermediation industry group rose 7.3 percent. Higher prices received by insurance carriers and by general medical and surgical hospitals (NYSE:XLV) also contributed to the increase in the total traditional service industries index.’

“Made in America”: The Comeback [ Come on! Let’s get real! Not in a million years … though citing the increased exports, what’s absent from this article is that we saw an INCREASE in the trade deficit (hence, I haven’t included this ‘feel good’ fluff piece). Some ‘pay to play’ and other manipulations, but this structural shift is forever and a done deal; however foolish and misguided by pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt america, they can’t unring the bell on yet another policy / strategic blunder at all levels of the u.s. government, and that short –sighted corporate american hierarchy. [video]GDP Fears Going Up - Trader NEW YORK (TheStreet) - - Trade deficit data is causing concerns over a lowered GDP says Alan Valdes of DME Securities. ]

Mohamed A. El-Erian [ In an interview with Motek, El-Erian states that the nations are facing not debt issues per se, but solvency issues (ie., america’s defacto bankrupt, etc.) and (PIMCO dumped their u.s. treasury holdings) that it will take higher interest rates to sell those debt securities. Moreover, he stated that the subject nations have only exacerbated their fiscal problems by piling more debt on debt … the following is an excerpt from El-Erian in part, from the PIMCO website: http://www.pimco.com] ‘ … BALANCE OF RISKS Most baselines are subject to two-sided risks. Our Secular Outlook is no different in this regard and, in this case, the risks are well balanced.

On the one hand, the baseline could prove to be too pessimistic on three major counts: First, emerging economies (and China in particular) could show greater willingness and ability to unleash domestic consumption; second, the balance sheets of central banks in industrial countries could indeed be used very aggressively without undermining inflationary expectations and fueling a political reaction; and third, some of the remarkable scientific advances could translate quickly into massive productivity gains.

These three factors would facilitate economic growth in industrial countries. And growth is critical for enhancing the capacity of the world economy to deal with its balance sheet problems, reverse the involvement of governments in markets and, thereby, reduce the likelihood of government failures following the recent string of market failures.

On the other hand, the baseline could be too optimistic on (also) three major counts: First, households and companies could embark upon a renewed cycle of self-insurance in reaction to the medium-term uncertainties facing the global economy. This paradox of thrift would further weaken the growth and debt dynamics; it would also increase the risk of trade protectionism. Second, some of the super-secular issues (such as climate change, demographics and the atomization of societies) could play out in secular time, significantly increasing the structural headwinds facing the global economy. Third, the world could face a geopolitical shock, either because of frictions and tensions between certain nation-states or due to vulnerability to acts of terrorism perpetrated by small groups or individuals.

In Conclusion
We are living through a remarkable time of change for the global economy, where several anchoring parameters have become variables. It is a time of friction, collisions and renewal as we journey to a de-levered and re-regulated world with weaker growth dynamics in industrial countries and less political enthusiasm for unfettered globalization and markets.

This brings us back to the image of a car that, having used its spare tire(s), is still embarked on a bumpy road through unfamiliar territory and to a less-than-stable destination. Parts of the car are up for this journey; others will likely hold up but in a tentative and fragile manner; and yet others will fail.

For investors, this translates into a secular period of changing risks and opportunities:

• The distribution of global outcomes is going through a transformation, both in terms of overall shape (flatter) and tails (fatter);
• It is a world where several of the old simplifying adages that once brought comfort to investors – such as industrial country governments constitute interest rate risk while emerging economies involve credit risk – require considerable refinement;
• It is a world that calls for a broader investment universe and guidelines and, for those who use them, revamped benchmarks that better capture the world of today and tomorrow rather than that of yesterday;
• It is a world of significant country, regional and instrument differentiation when it comes to harvesting equity and credit premiums in high-quality corporates, financials and emerging markets;
• It is a world where the currencies of the emerging (as opposed to submerging) economies will continue to warrant a greater allocation over time; and
• It is a world where the safest of carry will come from duration and curve in sovereigns that, due to their economic and financial fundamentals, are truly core countries in the midst of this global paradigm shift…’

Look How the Federal Budget Deficit Will Exceed $1 Trillion Again Wall St. Cheat Sheet ‘Yesterday the Federal Budget Deficit reminded us that even during the season when Uncle Sam collects your taxes — 45% more than last year — we still can’t create a surplus! Superficially, we can blame the recent economic crisis for the issue. However, if we dig deeper into the historical data, below we can see politicians have been out of control for decades. More specifically, the fall of 2001 kicked off a drunken binge on Federal deficit spending (Click for Larger Image) We haven’t seen a single budget surplus since the economic crisis, and future budget projections from the Congressional Budget Office indicate we shouldn’t sit on the shore waiting for one to dock anytime soon. Check Out “CHART OF THE DAY: Watch the US Debt Set a 60 Year Record“. In fact, the CBO increased their annual deficit projection for 2011 from $1.1 trillion to $1.5 trillion — the third straight year of $1 trillion-plus deficits. The record monthly deficit of $222.5 billion in February beat last February’s record by almost $2 billion. At least we didn’t set a new record so soon.’ Debt ceiling battles have negotiation experts shaking their heads Professional negotiators weigh in on lawmakers’ inept attempts to negotiate the national debt ceiling. (Washington Post) [ Boehner seeks more than $2 trillion in cuts (Washington Post) [ I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking ‘Riiiiight! … that’ll happen … and all without cuts to endless war spending … while the situation’s more than that dire, the advice is … don’t hold your breath! Milbank: The GOP’s juvenile debate (Washington Post) [ Mr. Milbank has lamentably become the rush limbaugh / sean hannity of the newspaper world, though he barks and apologizes for dems (and wobama the b for b*** s***) only (as they for the gop / bushies only). A political minefield in Treasury plan (Washington Post) [ What plan! . Let the budget battle begin Congress returns to fight over the nation’s solvency. (WP) [ Stated another way, the nation’s solvency is over. .. america’s defacto bankrupt with no end in sight.. interest alone is eating progressively into GDP beyond the subterfuge.. Gerson: How serious are we about the deficit? (WP) [ Not much! I mean come on! Davis ‘… This is how we pay off our current debts and I think bondholders are simply happy to get anything out of a country that admits it owes $15Tn (1/4 of global GDP) but probably owes closer to $60Tn (entire global GDP) in the form of unfunded liabilities. The funniest thing about this (and you have to laugh) is to see Conservative pundits get on TV and talk about how we need to cut $100Bn worth of discretionary spending to "fix" this (while continuing to spend $1Tn on the military and $1Tn on tax cuts for the top 1% each year). There is no fixing this and even a Republican said you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. THIS HOUSE OF CARDS IS TEETERING FOLKS – PLEASE BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! ‘ … Suckers’ rally to keep suckers suckered: Philadelphia Fed Depresses Economists Durden ‘..the Philadelphia Fed collapsed from a revised 43.4 (a 27 year high) to 18.5, the lowest since November 2010… This is an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! U.S. Economy Remains on Life Support Hansen ‘

• The Fed press conference contained almost no new economic insights;
• An FOMC meeting with no policy changes or insights..

CIVIL RIGHTS PANEL TO PURSUE FED PROBE IN BLACK PANTHER CASE... ‘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 Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown. ):

‘THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv ]

Hedge fund billionaire convicted of fraud Raj Rajaratnam was convicted on all 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy in the biggest insider-trading case in a generation, handing the government a victory after it was pummeled for bringing so few high-profile prosecutions out of the financial crisis. (Washington Post) [

Raj Rajaratnam Found Guilty On All Counts [ I share the following sentiments from Wall St Cheat Sheet: ‘…2) Insiders are finally getting busted. Although the media loves the Raj Rajaratnam trial and his guilty on all 14 counts, who really gives a s*** compared with what large banks, investment banks, and mortgage companies did to the US economy. So long as the Dick Fulds of the world are sipping champagne in Capri, Italy, these insider trading cases are basically sideshows…’ ] SEC urged to ease fundraising rules (Washington Post) [ REDUNDANT! I mean come on! Any more ‘easing’ and we’d be in negative territory where they actually reward you for breaking the rules which is currently the reality in pervasively corrupt, defacto bankrupt, meaningfully lawless america. Roche 'The worst part of it ...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 ). 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 WP | Obama has promised to hold Wall Street accountable for the meltdown.

‘THE OBAMA DECEPTION’ http://albertpeia.com/obamadeceptionhighqualityversion.flv

People must realize that though having but 5% of the world’s population, america can boast 76% of the world’s serial killers and the highest crime rates in the world by far. 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 ). That perverse field of dreams I’ve previously alluded to, the american nightmare, if you build / contrive war, they will come. And, they do; seals of them (among others); and when their ‘tours’ are done, it’s murder inc./contract killing for hire that they’ve won (cia, mob, etc.). The 20th century, the ‘bloodiest century’, not coincidentally referred to as the american century, brings longings of nostalgia to american criminals who, like Pavlov’s dogs salivate at the prospect of killing, raping, pillaging, and plundering which primitive mindset they have mistakenly been conditioned to connect to their now irretrievably lost success as a nation state; and to the contrary, has become globally and domestically self-destructive / self-defeating. The entire 911 / Bin Laden scenario just doesn’t pass the smell test and reeks of political desperation and Orwellian opportunism.

AIG to sell Treasury shares The government soon will begin unloading its 92.1 percent ownership stake in the bailout company. (Washington Post) [ Who’s the unlucky sucker? Ultimately, a pension fund or two or three, etc., or maybe you or an equally unlucky member of your family. Stock market on a roll despite slowing economic growth, lingering unemployment[Also known as reality! Roll … yes, indeed … everyone’s to get rolled! ] (WP) Dow is up more than 10 percent for 2011, to its highest point in nearly three years. [ Same bubble scenario preceeding last crash (including currency manipulation); yet, far worse this time owing to insurmountable debt and defacto bankruptcy of the nation.

Fed Chairman Bernanke does reality TV (WP) [ Except the ‘NO-RECESSION HELICOPTER BEN B.S. BERNANKE’ show is scripted unreality … even with his reduction in estimate for ‘economic growth’, the frauds on wall street still rallied. Bernanke prepares to make history (WP) [ He already has! $6 gas acomin’, $1,508+ gold, $46+ silver, other commodities at record levels, hyperinflation as predicted well on the way from over-printing of fiat paper currency by fed as predicted, etc., Equity Valuations Are Forming the Second Biggest Bubble in U.S. History Kaspar 'Despite the terrible economic performance of the past ten years, equity valuations are the 2nd largest bubble in U.S. history... According to Yale University’s Dr. Robert Shiller, the market is now 41% overvalued according to this valuation metric. The only time the markets have been more overvalued was a few brief months in 1929 and the tech bubble

... growth in earnings have been artificially manufactured...

· The change in accounting rules for the financial sector by FASB has generated massive “false” account profits beginning in 2009.

· The extended (and then further extended) unemployment benefits have kept an artificially higher demand for consumer consumption. As a result, the US government has artificially subsidized corporate profits.

· The billions saved through “free loading” by homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgages yet maintained their residence, thus living without a mortgage payment.

· The artificially suppressed interest rates...

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-- … an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come!

24 Signs Of Economic Decline In America ‘The United States is in the middle of a devastating long-term economic decline’ ] States face shortfall for retirees]

Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding Stocks slip after three-day rally (Washington Post) [ Top 3 Reasons Markets Tanked with Oil WSCS‘DJI -1.02% SP500 -1.11% Nasdaq -0.93% Gold -0.82% Oil -4.63% at $98.88. Gold sold off ..Silver lost over 8%.

1) Commodities and Oil got slaughtered. .. widening trade gap.

2) Insiders finally getting busted.. but what about what large banks, investment banks, and mortgage companies did to the US economy…these insider trading cases are basically sideshows…

Fed official calls for vigilance (WP) [ Who’s still buying their b***s***! Much higher prices / inflation’s already here. 24 Signs Of Economic Decline In America ‘The US is in the middle of a devastating long-term economic decline’ ] States face shortfall for retirees (WP) (The frauds on wall street et als should be criminally prosecuted, jailed, fined, and disgorgement imposed), and have used the mideast turmoil to obfuscate their failure. 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-- … an especially great opportunity to sell / take profits while you still can since there's much worse to come! America Is a Failed State Because It Won’t Prosecute Financial Crime Washington’s Blog / the grim economic reality [ http://albertpeia.com/grimreality.htm ]. Selling In May Is Very Good Advice This Year Harding / April Is a Good Time to Sell Adler Equity Valuations Are Forming the Second Biggest Bubble in U.S. History Kaspar ... According to Yale University’s Dr. Robert Shiller, the market is now 41% overvalued …only time the markets have been more overvalued .. 1929 & tech bubble. http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2011/4/12/saupload_cape_thumb1.png PRECHTER: We're Still In A Massive Bear Market And Stocks Will Crash To New Lows Bernanke prepares to make history (WP) [ He already has! $6 gas acomin’.. hyperinflation as predicted well on the way from over-printing of fiat paper currency by fed as predicted, etc., Equity Valuations Are Forming the Second Biggest Bubble in U.S. History Kaspar 'Despite the terrible economic performance of the past ten years, equity valuations are the 2nd largest bubble in U.S. history... According to Yale University’s Dr. Robert Shiller, the market is now 41% overvalued according to this valuation metric. The only time the markets have been more overvalued was a few brief months in 1929 and the tech bubble

... growth in earnings have been artificially manufactured...

· The change in accounting rules for the financial sector by FASB has generated massive “false” account profits beginning in 2009…’

Treasury Auctions To Take US Over Debt Ceiling On Monday Dow Jones News | The Treasury Department auctioned $56 billion in new debt this week.

Fed warns politicians to raise US debt ceiling AFP | Bernanke warned politicians to raise the debt limit soon or risk destabilizing the financial system.

Republicans unveil cuts as Democrats eye tax hike Reuters | Republicans planned sharp cuts to foreign aid and education on Wednesday, while Democrats weighed a tax hike on millionaires.

25 Cent Gas Price Spike In D.C. Prompts Criminal Investigation Some local gas stations raised prices overnight, in some cases by as much as 20 cents. Maryland’s AG is looking into the issue.

28 Statistics About The Gutting Of The U.S. Economy That Will Blow Your Mind ‘Red alert! Over 40 billion dollars of America’s national wealth is being shipped out of the country every single month. Our economy is being gutted and we are bleeding wealth and we are bleeding jobs. The American Dream May 12, 2011 Red alert! Over 40 billion dollars of America’s national wealth is being shipped out of the country every single month. Our economy is being gutted and we are bleeding wealth and we are bleeding jobs. This is a distress call. Is anyone listening? Thousands of our factories and millions of our jobs are being shipped overseas. Over the past decade over 6 trillion dollars have been transferred into the hands of foreigners. Our national government is so broke that they constantly have to go and beg those foreigners to lend us back some of that money in order to finance our exploding debt. The number of good jobs continues to decline and there are millions upon millions of my countrymen that are unemployed. Can anybody help us? Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!Sadly, the vast majority of Americans really are dead asleep on this issue. They just continue to run out to the big retail stores and fill their carts with products made in China and yet they seem completely bewildered by the fact that the number of good jobs continues to decline.Over the past decade, the number of middle class jobs has fallen by about ten percent. There is a reason for this. America is becoming poorer. The economic pie is shrinking. When we ship 40 to 50 billion dollars into the hands of foreigners every single month, that means that there is a lot less wealth for all of us to divide up.Every single month, the U.S. ships in massive amounts of foreign oil and massive amounts of cheap plastic trinkets from places such as China which we greedily consume. In return, we send them a giant pile of money.This happens month after month after month. You see, we always need more of their oil and more of their plastic trinkets. They are more than happy to keep getting richer and richer.Meanwhile, thousands of our factories and millions of our jobs continue to be sent overseas where labor is far cheaper. Thanks to globalization, American workers much now directly compete for jobs with workers that are willing to work for less than a dollar an hour on the other side of the globe.

The dismantling of our economy is happening right in front of our eyes and most of our politicians are not doing a thing to stop it.

The following are 28 statistics about the gutting of the U.S. economy that will blow your mind….

#1 According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. trade deficit for the month of March was $48.2 billion. That was up from $45.4 billion in February.

#2 The United States has had a negative trade balance every single yearsince 1976.

#3 Between December 2000 and December 2010, the U.S. ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars.

#4 The U.S. trade deficit with China in March was $18.1 billion. This is money that is not going to support U.S. businesses and U.S. workers. If that money was actually going to our businesses and to our workers it would increase tax revenues.

#5 Since China entered the WTO in 2001, the U.S. trade deficit with China has grown by an average of 18% per year.

#6 During 2010, we spent $365 billion on goods and services from China while they only spent $92 billion on goods and services from us.

#7 Since 2005, Americans have gobbled up Chinese products and services totaling $1.1 trillion, but the Chinese have only spent $272 billion on American goods and services.

#8 The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2010 was 27 times larger than it was back in 1990.

#9 According to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute, between 2001 and 2008 the United States lost 2.4 million jobs due to the growing trade deficit with China. Every single state in America experienced a net job loss due to our trade deficit with China during that time period.

#10 The United States has lost an average of 50,000 manufacturing jobs per month since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.

#11 The United States has lost a staggering 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#12 Between December 2000 and December 2010, 38 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Ohio were lost, 42 percent of the manufacturing jobs in North Carolina were lost and 48 percent of the manufacturing jobs in Michigan were lost.

#13 Back in 1970, 25 percent of all jobs in the United States were manufacturing jobs. Today, only 9 percent of the jobs in the United States are manufacturing jobs.

#14 China produced 19.8 percent of all the goods consumed in the world last year. The United States only produced 19.4 percent.

#15 According to the IMF, China is going to have the largest economy in the world by 2016.

#16 Nobel economist Robert W. Fogel of the University of Chicago is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040 if current trends continue.

#17 Back in 1998, the United States had 25 percent of the world’s high tech export market and China had just 10 percent. Ten years later, the United States had less than 15 percent and China’s share had soared to 20 percent.

#18 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry was actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

#19 In 2002, the United States had a trade deficit in “advanced technology products” of $16 billion with the rest of the world. In 2010, that number skyrocketed to $82 billion.

#20 Last year, China produced 11 times as much steel as the United States did.

#21 Do you remember when the United States was the dominant manufacturer of automobiles and trucks on the globe? Well, in 2010 the U.S. ran a trade deficit in automobiles, trucks and parts of $110 billion.

#22 In 2010, South Korea exported 12 times as many automobiles, trucks and parts to us as we exported to them.

#23 According to one recent study, China could become the global leader in patent filings by next year.

#24 China is now the number one supplier of components that are critical to the operation of U.S. defense systems.

#25 In 2010, the number one U.S. export to China was “scrap and trash”.

#26 Thanks to our exploding trade deficit with China, the Chinese have accumulated nearly 3 trillion dollars in foreign currency reserves. That is the largest stockpile of foreign currency reserves on the entire globe.

#27 The amount of the trade deficit that can be attributed to foreign oil is at the highest level that we have seen since 2008.

#28 It is being projected that for the first time ever, the OPEC nations are going to bring in over a trillion dollars from exporting oil this year. Their biggest customer is the United States.

Our dependence on foreign oil is literally bleeding us dry. Once we have burned up all of that foreign oil in our cars we are left with nothing. But the people we bought all that oil from are still sitting on all that cash.As we ship our wealth, our factories and our jobs out of the country, America is getting poorer.That means that individual Americans are getting poorer.According to one estimate, between 1999 and 2009 real median household income in the United States declined by 5.0%.Today, over 44 million Americans are on food stamps and over 47 million Americans are living in poverty. This is not an accident and it didn’t happen overnight. Our economic policies are absolutely killing us.This economic downturn has hit men particularly hard. As thousands of manufacturing facilities have shut down, millions of blue collar workers have been dumped out on the street. Most blue collar workers are men.Since January 2008, male employment has declined by 4,932,000 jobs.Ouch.During 2010, only 66.8% of American men had jobs, which was a new all-time record low.There are a lot of blue collar workers that are sitting at home on their couches today that are still trying to figure out what in the world happened to their good jobs.There are now more than 6 million Americans that the government says have given up looking for work completely. Most of them are men.Sadly, in our society today most of the people that pursue higher education are women. Today, 61% of all college degrees are earned by women.Not that a college education is a ticket to success in today’s world. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the unemployment rate for college graduates younger than 25 years old was 9.3 percent in 2010.In fact, the majority of all of our college graduates end up running home to Mom and Dad after they graduate.According to a poll conducted by Twentysomething Inc., 85 percent of U.S. college graduates will move back home with their parents (at least initially) after graduation. That is up from 67 percent back in 2006.The truth is that there are not nearly enough jobs for everyone and that is a huge problem.We have become a nation that consumes far more wealth than it produces. That is a recipe for disaster any way that you cut it.Until we have some fundamental changes to our trade policy, these long-term trends are just going to continue. We are going to continue to bleed wealth, bleed factories and bleed jobs.Tax revenues go down when factories shut down and when American workers are sitting at home on their couches. This is a huge factor in why our federal, state and local governments are drowning in debt. We have got to have more wealth creation inside this country or else we are going to continue to see our government debt problems get even worse.If you walk into just about any major retail store today, what do you find?You find loads and loads of products that have been made somewhere else.I hope that you are enjoying “the low, low prices” because they come at a very high cost.We once had the greatest economic machine in the history of the world but now it is being gutted like a fish.If we continue on the road that we are on, the entire country is eventually going to become just like Detroit.Is that what you want?’

How the US government will seize your retirement account Following in the footsteps of a rather ignominious list of nations like Argentina and Hungary, the government of lreland is set to take its ‘fair share’ of private retirement funds.